Second Chances

by knightcommander

The Wounded

Chapter One: The Wounded

Darkness.

Everything was darkness.

Her hands reached out in seemingly every direction, desperate to figure out where she was. It didn't feel like the tiny apartment she shared with her sisters. It felt empty, like a void. There was literally nothing there.

She continued to flail around until she spotted something emerging from the darkness. Her heartbeat began to increase and her breath came in ragged panicked gasps when she realized it was a pair of glowing, blood red eyes right next to her. Her terror only increased when the eyes were revealed to belong to a monstrous creature, seemingly human but sporting the aforementioned eyes and a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. From the creature's back sprouted two sinister red wings, like the fins of a fish. The creature grinned at her with a wicked malevolence, like a sadistic predator who had found its prey and was ready to do something unspeakable before it finally devoured it.

She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came forth before the monster grabbed her by the throat and dragged her closer to it. Her eyes felt like they were burning staring into the malevolent light that shined from the eyes, and she could feel the creature's hot breath on her face as it glared seemingly into her very soul. She desperately tried to tear the thing's hands from her throat, but the creature just laughed wickedly before tossing her through the void. She screamed in terror as she flew through darkness before a light overwhelmed her and her face slammed into something. Grunting in pain, she rolled over to see the twilight sky above her, the stars beginning to emerge from the shroud of the lingering daylight.

She tried to get up, only to feel something latch on to her wrists and feet. She looked to either side to see them held down by streams of arcane energy. She screeched in terror and tried to free herself, only for them to tighten their grip to a painful extent. In her struggle, she spotted something out of her peripheral vision. She winced as she forced her upper body up as far as it could go.

And then she saw them. Seven very familiar looking girls, all glaring at her. The hands of the lead girl, her violet and lilac hair seemingly flowing in an unseen wind, had her hands engulfed in a magic aura. Her violet eyes bored right into her own, and the words that she spoke dripped with contempt.

"Monsters can't be allowed to exist." The girl raised her glowing hands up above her head, and before her terrified eyes, an enormous horse composed seemingly entirely of pure magic rose above her. Its whinny sounded like thunder as it reared up above her. She felt her eyes begin to sting with tears as she realized what was about to happen.

"No! No, please no!" She cried out in terror and desperation. "Don't hurt me!" Her pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears as the lead girl brought her hands down. She screamed in terror as the horse brought itself down upon her.

The last thing she saw was it's hoof slamming into her head.

"No!" She gasped as she shot awake. Her skin was clammy and her pajamas and sheets were drenched in sweat. Her eyes darted about the dark room she was in before she realized she was home. She leaped out of bed and raced to the bathroom. A quick twist of a faucet and she was soon drenching her face in warm water. Finally managing to calm herself down, she looked into the bathroom mirror.

Her hair was matted and sticking to her face in places the water didn't touch. Her skin was pale and her pupils were nearly pinpricks from the stark terror she had experienced.

It was just like before. She had been having the same nightmare for weeks. Seemingly every night her sleep had been disturbed by the same horrors. She felt her eyes begin to sting with tears as she clambered out of bathroom and back into her bed. Overcome by fear and a familiar sensation of her heart being crushed, she began to softly sob until sleep slowly began to overtake her again and she drifted off hoping that morning would soon come.

The first thing that hit her was the smell of grilling burgers and french fries along with the sound of soft rock music playing from an ancient jukebox that seemingly sat alone and unused in the corner of the diner as she opened the door to the sound of the ringing shop bell. The smell never failed to get Rainbow Dash's mouth watering whenever she entered Tom's Diner. Perhaps the greasiest of greasy spoons in Canterlot City's downtown, it was nevertheless one of her favorite hangout spots during the summer months. The food was always fantastic and the atmosphere was perfect for when she wanted to just sit and think, or enjoy a day out with her friends like she was preparing to do now.

Out of habit, she scanned the dining area before pulling out her phone. A quick text to Fluttershy told her the pink-haired girl would be running a tad late, as the animal shelter was shorthanded and needed her to take up some extra duties. Rainbow wasn't bothered by this as she took her preferred corner booth, however; it gave her some time to relax after a grueling day at the gym keeping in shape for her numerous sports activities. Stretching some of her aching muscles, the rainbow-haired teen sighed with content as she settled into her booth to await the arrival of her friend.

A quick glance around the diner revealed the place was decked out with framed newspapers dedicated to just about every single major event that ever happened to Canterlot High. It wasn't a surprising choice, given that the diner's cheerful owner was an alumnus. Rainbow's magenta eyes focused on a few in particular.

Wondercolts Take State! Blared one. She grinned proudly at that one, remembering when she scored the winning goal in the finals and finally put a sock in the collective mouths of the preppy uptown school they had demolished.

Friendship Games ends in rare tie. Said the one next to it. Tom seemed to like organizing them by content rather than date. A warm smile came to her face when she beheld the photograph accompanying the article, showing her standing next to a bespectacled girl with very familiar hair and eye color. It was the first time in a long time that the Friendship Games had lived up to their name when they had befriended Twilight Sparkle from this side of the portal.

Canterlot High Celebrates 50th Anniversary. Another sounded, with a group photo of several current and former students dressed in formal wear standing in front of the school's front entrance. A chuckle escaped the blue-skinned girl when she remembered how her friend Rarity had nearly panicked when several dress orders fell behind during the preparations for the anniversary Golden Ball. She looked around at a few more before her eyes fell on a more recent one, which she remembered all too well.

Strange Happenings at Canterlot High. It read. She recognized the stage, set up as though for a music concert, and the wreckage that had befallen it when the events in question had gotten through. Judging from the spot the photo had been taken from, it was by their friend Shutter Speed. Seeing it brought back memories for the athletic teen, from back during the spring semester of their sophomore year. Back when the infamous Battle of the Bands had reached its crescendo.

She remembered when the three of them took the stage, decked out in their concert gear to an audience bedeviled by their dark powers. She remembered when they pulled out all the stops and banded together to try and cast Equestrian Twilight's musical counterspell, and how the three of them had come some close to beating them finally.

That is before Sunset Shimmer stepped up and provided the boost they needed to undo the dark hate plague they had infected the school with and destroy their blood-red pendants, the source of their power. Her memory drifted back to those harrowing moments afterward, when the defeated trio bolted from the stage and into the night, and how the entire student body was prepared to basically chase them down and lynch them for what happened.

Then Sunset Shimmer stepped up again. Though physically and emotionally drained from the effort, she stood up before the enraged crowd and began to speak to them more boldly than she had in months. She spoke about how she knew how it felt to be hated and cast aside after doing something terrible. She cried out how despite her own misdeeds, Rainbow and her friends were willing to extend their friendship to her and how this friendship ultimately redeemed her and gave her the strength to help save the school. From her lips an impassioned plea sounded forth; let them have the same chance that she had been given, to embrace the magic of friendship and have a second chance to become better people.

By the end of it, Sunset was on the verge of sobbing.

And perhaps most amazingly, it worked. One after another, students stepped forward to volunteer to go find them, until it seemed at least half of the student body was soon out searching the city for any sign of the missing trio.

Rainbow herself remembered how she was the first to find any trace of them. In an alley deep in the city, she managed to find a shoe that had been worn by one of them. Which, she couldn't remember. The pigtailed one with the star barrettes? Maybe, her mind couldn't place it. She couldn't even remember their names. That is if she ever learned them. It ended up being the only trace they ever found of the missing Sirens. Sunset seemed on the verge of tears when she realized they would not be finding them, but a promise from Rainbow and the others that they would find them and extend the gift of friendship to them soothed her.

Rainbow sighed. They had been looking for them ever since. Even during the Friendship Games, she hadn't stopped thinking about where they might have gone. Some of her friends thought that they might have skipped town and gone elsewhere. Some others thought that some tragic fate might have befallen them; that they had become homeless drifters, or that they had withered away from lack of power. Rainbow wasn't the giving up type, but it had been so long since they had seen any trace of them that it was looking like her promise to Sunset might go unfilled.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she wouldn't have noticed the door opening had the shop bell not rung. Thinking it was Fluttershy, she looked up to greet her. She stopped when she noticed it was not Fluttershy, but a girl wearing blue jeans and, strangely for the hot summer air, a hoodie tightly drawn up around her face. It didn't quite do the job of concealing her features, however; Rainbow was still able to make out the arctic blue skin and shock of cerulean hair poking out from under the hood. Her raspberry eyes scanned around the diner, evidently looking for an empty seat before deciding on one near the entrance.

Wait, those eyes!

Rainbow felt her breath catch in her throat. Could it be? Her question was soon answered when the girl dropped her hood. There was no mistaking that high ponytail.

It was one of them, one of the Sirens. Rainbow couldn't believe her eyes. For months she and her friends had been looking for them, and now one of them had seemingly run into her. Rainbow was about to get up and say something when she noticed something else about her.

She remembered this one in particular. She had always come off as a ditz and airhead, but her eyes always seemed filled with light and her face seemingly without a smile. In a way, she was kind of like her friend Pinkie, if said girl had been evil. But now? Her face was devoid of a smile, and her eyes seemed lifeless and devoid of any spark or energy. Even on this girl, it seemed alien. A waitress came over and offered to take her order. The girl looked into her hoodie's pocket and then said something that Rainbow couldn't make out. Curious, she decided to simply sit quietly and watch for a bit.

So she sat there, watching the girl for seemingly an eternity. An order of nachos and water was soon brought to her, which seemingly went untouched, with only an occasional nibble as the girl stared off into space. Something was on her mind, Rainbow could tell. She had figured they had hit a rough patch after they had been defeated. Could something really bad have happened? And why was she alone? The whole time she watched her she never saw the other two show up. Where were they? This and other questions burned in her mind as she watched, but her questions would have to wait as she saw the shop door open up again and Fluttershy entered the diner, not seeing the blue teen sitting in the nearby booth as she waved to Rainbow.

"Hi Rainbow!" She cheerfully called. Rainbow sucked in a breath and frantically waved at her and made chopping noises at her neck. To say that Fluttershy was surprised would be an understatement. She immediately clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with surprise. Rainbow began nodded her head in the direction of the booth next to her. Taking the hint, Fluttershy took a long, and her surprise only grew.

"Eep!" She softly yelped. Thankfully the blue siren did not hear her but simply continued to pick at her food while taking an occasional nibble. Rainbow beckoned Fluttershy to come and sit down, who hastily did so.

"Is that who I think it is?" She asked. Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah, I'd recognize that face anywhere." She replied. She took a gaze at the siren, who had busied herself playing with a jalapeno pepper. "You notice anything?" Fluttershy looked at her. She too noticed the complete lack of life in her eyes.

"Something's bothering her," Fluttershy spoke up. "You think it might have something to do with what happened back at school." Rainbow nodded. A waitress soon came over.

"What can I get you?" She asked.

"I think I'll start off with a strawberry shake." Fluttershy replied.

"I'll have a funky monkey if you have it." Rainbow ordered. The waitress jotted down their orders and left. "So, what are we going to do? We promised Sunset we'd reach out to them." Fluttershy thought for a moment.

"We need to be careful. She may still be upset with us over it. Seeing us again might make it worse." She explained. She turned back. "Oh dear..."

"What is it?" Rainbow asked. She took a look where her companion was watching and her face fell at the sight. The siren's lips were starting to quiver and her eyes, though it was hard to see, were misting up. It wasn't long before she pushed her food aside and buried her face in her arms, her body shaking with quiet sobs. Both girls looked at each other, sympathy clear in their eyes.

"That kills it." Rainbow said. "Screw caution, I'm going over there." She scooched out of the booth before Fluttershy put a hand on her arm.

"I'll go with you." She explained. Rainbow nodded, and the two girls together made their way slowly over to where the siren sat. "Try to be gentle." Fluttershy advised.

"Uh, hey, what's up?" Rainbow asked as softly as she could when they approached her. The cerulean girl didn't hear them, but simply wiped the tears from her eyes. Dark streaks of mascara could be seen running down her cheeks. Fluttershy felt her own heart break at the sight. Despite what this girl had done to her and her friends, she couldn't bear to see her suffering. It was just not in her nature.

"Um, excuse me? Are you OK?" She said, giving her a gentle tap on the shoulder. The siren's sobs lessened and she finally looked up at them with one teary eye.

Both girls expected her to possibly ignore them, or tell them to go away and leave her alone. They expected her to possibly get angry at them, and Rainbow felt herself tense up a bit in case the siren decided to start swinging. They weren't expecting what actually happened.

The pupil of the lone eye suddenly contracted into a pinprick as her eye widened in shock. A muffled cry of fear escaped through her clenched jaws as she shot up and started to flail as she backed herself as far as she could into her booth, sending her water spilling. Both girls were shocked at this display. Never had they expected that one of the sirens would react with stark terror at the sight of them.

"Oh, no no no no, it's OK!" Fluttershy tried to reassure her.

"Easy, easy, easy!" Rainbow said as the siren curled up into a ball in the corner of her booth, trembling with fright with both eyes now staring at them.

"I... I'm sorry! I d-didn't know this was your diner! I'll leave! P-p-please don't b-blast me with rainbows again! I'll g-g-go!" She whimpered. Even Rainbow felt her heart ache at the sight.

"No, we're not here to kick you out or shoot rainbows at you." She tried to explain, reaching out a hand to comfort the shaking girl and causing her to flinch as though she was about to be hit. Rainbow wisely retracted it.

"You seemed upset, and we wanted to see if we could help. That's all, we promise." Fluttershy said. The siren said nothing, just looked at them with her jaws shaking and her teeth chattering in terror.

"Y-you're not?" She asked them.

"Yeah, totally. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Rainbow did a series of bizarre motions. When the siren looked at her with confusion, she chuckled. "It's something my friend taught me. It's an unbreakable promise. If you break, you'll never be trusted again." All of them could have sworn they heard someone shouting "forrr-EEEEH-verrrr!" in the distance. The siren's eyes continued to dark back and forth between them, as though still afraid they would do something. Fluttershy thought for a moment, then gave her a warm smile.

"Um, if you want to... you can come and sit with us." She suggested. "We were just about to order lunch, and, well, I noticed the other three you're usually with aren't here, so I was thinking maybe you could use the company since you're upset." She looked over at Rainbow, who nodded.

"Yeah, totally. I'll even buy. Anything you want." She grinned. The siren lowered her head, seemingly unsure. Both girls anxiously awaited her answer, but she said nothing for a long while. Both of them looked at each other with a frown, slightly saddened that this first overture wasn't being accepted.

"Well, um... you don't have to if you don't want to. But if you change your mind, we're sitting right over here." She pointed to their booth, where the waitress had just dropped off their shakes. They turned to go back to their booth, dejected.

"W-Wait!" They turned to see the siren pick up her nachos and slowly begin to make her way out of the booth and cautiously shuffle over toward their own. Both of them brightened at the sight of this and sat down, beckoning her over. She cautiously crept over before gingerly taking a seat next to Fluttershy, who was beaming her warmest smile at her. The waitress soon returned, surprised to see that she had joined them. Luckily she had an extra menu with her.

"If you three are ready to order, I can ahead and take that." She said. The siren was hesitant at first, but a gentle coaxing from Fluttershy convinced her to open her own menu.

"I'll have my usual." Rainbow ordered.

"A garlic butter steak burger with lettuce and tomato, double order of fries." The waitress replied with a smile.

"I'll try the turkey burger with mayonnaise and the usual fixings, please?" Fluttershy, ever the demure and polite girl, asked. She then turned to the siren, who looked between her, the menu and her companions anxiously.

"It's OK. Get whatever you want." Fluttershy said. "Cost is no issue." She took a few more moments to look over the menu and study their gazes before giving a soft sigh.

"I'll... just have what she's having." The blue-haired girl said, gesturing toward Rainbow. "With a r-root beer float, please?" She sunk down in her seat a bit. The two Wondercolts frowned a bit, but said nothing while the waitress was there.

"I'm sure we can swing that." The waitress said with a soft smile before taking their menus and heading back with their orders.

An eternity of awkward silence passed, it seemed. All three girls looked at each other, unsure of who should speak first. Rainbow kept looking back between the siren and Fluttershy, as though looking for advice on what to say. They could feel the awkwardness deep in their bones. Finally, it was Fluttershy who broke the silence.

"So, um, why don't we introduce ourselves?" She suggested. Rainbow slapped her own forehead and mouthed "why didn't I think of that". Fluttershy gave a soft giggle. "I'll go first. I'm..."

"Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash." The siren finished for her. Both girls looked at each other. "The others... we learned your names from them." She explained to them. Fluttershy smiled at that.

"Oh, OK." She said.

"So, what's yours?" Rainbow asked the siren. She looked away from her for a bit, as though unsure if she should answer.

"S-Sonata Dusk." She replied, brushing a bit of her cerulean hair out of her face. "My sisters are Aria Blaze and Adagio Dazzle."

"Sisters?" The two girls asked.

"Mmhmm." She said. Fluttershy beamed.

"Oh, those are such pretty names!" She said with light "squee" and a light in her eyes. Sonata stared back at her in confusion.

"You... think so? For realzies?" She asked, her face betraying a sense of being dumbfounded that they could ever think such a thing. The two girls weren't slow to pick it up and both offered reassuring smiles.

"Oh heck yeah! I know my friend Rarity would love 'em! She's big on that fancy schmancy stuff." Rainbow replied with a friendly slap on the shoulder. Sonata winced a bit at the sudden contact but managed a small smile after a few moments of contemplation. Fluttershy beamed in response.

"And what about you and the others?" She asked, "How have you been?" Sonata's smile faded a bit, and she lowered her head to look at the table.

"They've been... OK." She said, rubbing her arm in a manner that displayed her sudden increase in discomfort.

"Just OK?" Rainbow followed with a look of sympathy. Sonata nodded.

"I mean, I can't complain," she said. "We have a place to live, and food to eat. It's near the city center, I think."

"You mean the public apartments near Bridle?" Rainbow asked. Sonata gave an affirmative nod. Fluttershy's face bore a concerned expression. The public apartments were mostly used by low-income families and weren't the best equipped and furnished places in the city. She had also heard rumors that crime was high in those areas and that robberies and even assaults were common. She said a silent prayer that Sonata and her sisters were safe in their home.

"And where are they now?" She asked.

"They're at work." Sonata replied. She pointed out the window toward the downtown area. "Ari works at a record shop over there. Adagio got a job at a hotel. I think she works in front? It's not a whole lot, but it keeps us comfortable, for the most part." Both Canterlot High girls looked at each other with a look of relief at hearing that the three of them had managed to find a home and a living.

"What do you do?" Rainbow asked, after inwardly sighing in relief. Sonata shook her head with a sad sigh.

"I... don't have a job. I tried to find one, but nobody's really hiring at the moment, at least nobody that would take in on a girl who looks like she's still in high school." She noticed that their expressions had fallen again. "But it's OK. They leave me a little bit of money so I can still go around and do... well, stuff. Today I went to the Canterlot Zoo." Fluttershy's expression brightened right back up.

"You mean the big new one that just opened downtown?" She asked. Sonata managed another small smile and nodded in the affirmative. Fluttershy gave a soft squee. "Ooooh, I've been wanting to go to that one for a while now! I hear it's so amazing, they even have dolphins. Ooh, I love dolphins!" Rainbow chuckled but quickly stopped when she noticed that Sonata's expression had not changed. Fluttershy noticed this too and briefly cleared her throat.

"You'll have to forgive her, she gets really excited when it comes to animals. I keep telling her she should look into being a vet or something." Rainbow explained. "So... are you OK? And I don't just mean money wise or housing wise." Sonata fidgeted nervously.

"Um, why do you ask?" Fluttershy looked her straight in the eyes.

"Because we noticed that you were crying back at your booth. Is something bothering you?" She asked with a voice filled with compassion. Sonata gulped and started to look away, rubbing her arms and curling her knees up to her chest.

"I... I don't want to talk about it." She said quickly. Both girls looked at her with their warmest smiles.

"We're only trying to help," Fluttershy said. "If there's something bothering you, talking about it can help. If we can help you feel better, we'd like to try." Sonata's response was only to grimace and tear up again, her grip on her sides getting tighter.

"Can you p-p-please stop asking me?" She asked, her voice cracking. Fearing that she was about to have another breakdown, Rainbow calmly motioned for Fluttershy not to question her on the topic any further.

"Hey, hey, it's alright?" Rainbow said. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." Fluttershy put a soothing hand on Sonata's knee, smiling at her. It seemed to work as she began to calm down, but now the mood was even tenser than it had been. By now their food had been brought out, but nobody seemed very interested in eating. Sonata just stared at her own, while the other two just stared at her. Both of them feared that they had made a mistake in broaching such an obviously painful topic with her. The silence seemed to pass between them for an eternity before finally, a soft chortle began to rise to a chuckle. Fluttershy was surprised to see her friend laughing. Sonata just looked at her in confusion.

"Um, huh?" She asked.

"What's funny?" Fluttershy followed. Rainbow stopped chuckling for a brief moment.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something funny." She explained. "Remember the time that Applejack fell in the pig pen and got covered in gunge?" She asked. Fluttershy wracked her memory for a bit, and in spite of herself felt a gentle chortle begin to emerge from her own being.

"Oh, that was kind of silly wasn't it?" She asked, covering her mouth as she giggled. "Or how about the time that Sweetie Belle put green dye in Rarity's shampoo? I think it was the last slumber party we had at her house." Rainbow's chuckles became outright belly laughs.

"Oh, heck yeah! I think she chased her halfway down the block screaming bloody murder. I think I counted at least a half-dozen swear words too." She laughed. "Oh hey, how about the time Sunset got super-excited at the movies and neighed? You should've seen that one, Sonata. I mean she literally horse-whinnied." Fluttershy was by now snorting in between giggles and if she hadn't been gripping the table, Rainbow would have fallen out of her seat.

Fluttershy was the first to notice it. Sonata's confused expression soon began to be replaced as the smallest of smiles began to creep across her features, before a gentle giggle was heard. Fluttershy motioned for Rainbow to look at it, and mouthed "keep going" at her.

"So, you got any funny stories?" The athlete asked her. Sonata put her finger in front of her mouth in thought.

"Well, there was one time that Dagi found out she had a zit on her nose." She said. "She locked herself in her room for about three days and just cursed fate for 'bestowing such a blemish upon her perfect features'."

"Three days?" Rainbow asked with a chuckle. "Oh man, even Rarity didn't do that when she got a zit, and it was just a tiny one." Sonata gave another brief giggle.

"And there was the time that Aria tore her pants in the middle of the mall when we first came here," Sonata said, snickering. Rainbow Dash was by now laughing so hard that she was wheezing, and Fluttershy was clutching her sides. "And, there was the time we were rehearsing for the Battle of the Bands. There was this hole near the edge of the stage and Dagi somehow managed to get her heel caught in it just as we were getting to the chorus of 'Under our Spell', and down she went." She capped off her explanation with a slap to the table a fake explosion noise. Fluttershy stopped laughing.

"Oh dear, was she OK?" She asked. Sonata nodded.

"Yeah, she managed to flip over and land on my lunch that I had forgotten I put near the stage. It broke her fall." Rainbow laughed so hard she started to cough and sputter in between guffaws.

"She landed butt first on tacos!?" She said between laughs. "Oh man! That beats all of us by a mile!" Fluttershy went back to clutching her sides while giggling up a hurricane. Even Sonata got a few laughs at the memory. It had been one of her favorites from an otherwise unpleasant series of memories.

A few more funny stories, belly laughs (and a threatened spurge of shake from Rainbow's nose) later, and all three girls were now smiling. Sonata, for her part, looked like she had completely forgotten her earlier troubles. Though she remained mostly silent, her newfound smile never left her face as she listened to Fluttershy and Rainbow chat about their summer thus far. Their fellowship was soon interrupted when Rainbow's phone dinged.

"Must be AJ." She said, taking a look. "Yep, I'd better get going. I promised I'd help set up for band practice." She polished off the rest of her food while the others followed suit. True to their word, the two girls paid Sonata's meal in its entirety. The siren couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth in her chest as they left the diner. Rainbow mounted her curb parked cruiser motorcycle, decked out true to form with blue paint and rainbow lightning bolt patterns. Sonata couldn't help but give an admiring glance at it as Rainbow helmeted up and kicked the engine to life. "Cya later, Flutters!" She called out before shifting into gear and taking off down the road with a wave. Fluttershy waved back until she was out of sight before turning back to her companion and noticing her stifling a yawn. She put a comforting hand on Sonata's shoulder.

"Would you like a ride home?" She asked. Sonata looked at her with an expression of surprise. She had already paid for her food and offered her a seat at their table. Surely that was enough, right?

"Oh, it's OK." She said. "It's only a few blocks. I can manage. You don't have to go out of your way again." She yawned yet again, her eyes beginning to droop slightly. Fluttershy frowned.

"Sonata, you're tired, dead on your feet in fact. It wouldn't feel right to let you exhaust yourself further." She said, taking Sonata's hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze. "Please?" Sonata looked into Fluttershy's eyes, seeing nothing but care and concern. She was actually worried for her well-being enough to offer this to her. How could she say no?

"I... OK." She said. "It's not far, I can direct." Fluttershy smiled warmly before gesturing to a nearby hybrid hatchback. Both girls climbed in and Fluttershy started the motor before allowing Sonata to select the radio station she wanted. Picking a lively pop radio station, Fluttershy complimented her on her choice before they were both off, Sonata giving directions.

Except for her turn directions, the youngest siren was deep in thought. She was with one of the Rainbooms, one of the seven girls she had been ready to crush under her boot just months ago just for trying to stop her. And yet, here she was, not only paying for a meal and inviting her to sit with her, but she was driving her back home. It was like the Battle of the Bands had never happened. But how? Weren't they supposed to hate her, or want to see her punished? Nobody would have blamed the seven if they had cursed them with their fullest fury, and indeed they probably would have joined in.

This just didn't make any sense.

She was soon brought out of her pensive reverie when she spotted a familiar building coming into view. "There, on the right." She said. Fluttershy changed lanes just in time to make the turn to park in front of what turned out to be a rather cozy looking apartment, despite clearly being low-income.

"It looks nice." She said with a smile. Sonata gave her an appreciative nod before they both got out of the car and stood before the front entrance. "Well, it was nice to see you again. Have a good day Sonata." She said, before turning to get back into her car. However, a voice soon stopped her.

"Wait! Why?" She turned to see Sonata looking at her. Her arms were clutching her sides and her knees were knocked in. The expression on her face was a mixture of confusion and a seemingly returned sadness.

"Why what?" Fluttershy asked her, cocking her head slightly.

"Why are you doing all this? I mean, you bought me lunch and let me sit with you, and you drove me back home and... you've just been so nice to me. Why?" Fluttershy walked up to her and gave the surprised siren a hug.

"Because that's what friends do for each other." She said matter-of-factly, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sonata's eyes went wide, and she felt her heart skip a beat. She gently pulled away and looked Fluttershy dead in the eye.

"F-Friend?" She asked in a small voice. Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes. I know... that we didn't leave on the best of terms the last time we saw each other, but still, I... I would like to be your friend." Sonata's jaw dropped, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. "Friends are there for each other and help each other when they need it. In fact... do you have a phone?" Sonata nodded and produced a small smartphone from her hoodie pocket. Fluttershy gently took it and started typing away.

"Um..." She started, but Fluttershy flashed her a reassuring look.

"I'm just adding me and Rainbow to your contacts. I'm sure that she won't mind." Her look then became more solemn. "I understand that you didn't want to talk about what was bothering you before, but I'm still a phone call away if you ever change your mind. Whatever it is, I'll help you, as your friend." She smiled and gave her one last hug before handing her phone back to her and walking to her car.

"Um... thank you." Sonata managed to get out.

"You're most welcome," Fluttershy said. "And remember, I'm just a phone call or a text away. Anytime you need someone to talk to." She got into her car, powered up the motor and pulled away, taking a moment to wave at the siren one last time. Completely speechless, Sonata waved back before turning around and entering the lobby. A short elevator ride later and she was back in her apartment. It was a homely place, wallpapered a light cream with red carpeting and modest furniture; a sofa, recliner, and kitchen set with refrigerator and microwave. Sonata took off her hoodie to reveal a faded pink tank top and sat down on the brown sofa across from a small television set, staring at her knees.

She thought about meeting the two Rainbooms, and everything they did for her. She thought about Fluttershy's words to her, and her friendly embrace and kindly demeanor toward her. She looked at her entry in her contacts and thought about her telling her she was there for her, like a friend.

Friend...

She... she wants to be my friend....

After everything I did to her.... she wants to be my... my...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sting of tears filling her eyes as more sobs began to wrack her body. So much kindness... directed at someone they should hate... but they didn't hate her. They cared about her. They wanted her to be a part of their circle.

She finally broke down into loud sobs, so moved was she. Nobody had ever shown her such kindness, much less offered her friendship. It just didn't seem real, but it was happening.

She wasn't sure how long she cried, but when she finally had no tears left to shed, her sobs lessened and she wiped her cheeks and eyes. She took several deep breaths to calm herself before she noticed her eyes begin to droop closed. Fluttershy had been right, she was dead on her feet. Not bothering to take her shoes off, she allowed herself to lie down on the sofa and slowly drift off into a slumber, her last conscious thought being on Fluttershy's smiling, warm face.