//------------------------------// // Friends // Story: The Forsaken // by AmberSun //------------------------------// Turns out that the school’s exterior castle like design also applied to the interior as well. It was huge; even more so than what Sunset had initially believed. She allowed her three tour guides to lead her around the major parts of the school - indead there were parts - ranging from entire buildings dedicated to math and science, engineering, art and theatre, even athletics. If anything, the whole set up reminded her of a small college rather than a high school. Then again, private schools could probably afford enough to maintain all of this. Due to the vast area of the school, this part of the day went on a little longer than her initial greeting by Dean Cadance. A few classes had already been let out and resumed as the sirens - led by the ever enthusiastic Sonata - walked her around. Quite a few of the other students who passed through the halls on their way to their next classes had stopped to gawk at the new girl. The whispering and collective glances were uncomfortable to say the least. The old her would have probably relished in the attention and her reformed self wouldn’t have really cared, but after what had been going on before she switched schools, Sunset could do without the extra attention. But she handled it as well as she could. Her posture and downturned gaze though whenever some of the students appraised her with curious stares didn’t go unnoticed by her associates, even if the three of them never said anything. Now it was almost lunch, and with little else to show that Sunset wouldn’t be able to discover on her own, they were on their way to the cafeteria. Sonata skipped ahead, singing something about tacos in the tone deaf way Sunset had last heard from her at the Battle of the Bands, leaving the other three behind as she opened the cafeteria doors. “And here’s my favorite part of this school!” she exclaimed. On the other side, Sunset stared in awe at the large hall before her. The closest half held isles of food sitting out as the students freely picked their respective meals. Sections that catered to specific tastes supplied vegan, vegetarian, meat, and mixed lunches were lined one after another. To Sunset’s surprise, it all appeared to be freshly made as well. The students merely picked up one item before moving on to another section almost like an assembly line with the continuous stream of bodies. It was amazing that that the room seemed to fit that many people at one time. Beyond that were tables, chairs and stools facing the walls and situated higher that was reminiscent of a bar setting. “Tch...of course it’s YOUR favorite Sonata. Here, you can apparently satisfy your weird taco fetish.” Aria lightly shouldered past Sunset’s stunned figure to stare down the blue girl in annoyance. “In all the years we’ve known each other, I still don’t know where the hell that came from. But you’re the worst, so whatever,” she sneered. “Nuh uh. You are!” Sonata shot back. She stuck her tongue out in an action that seemed more akin to that of a five year old child than a couple hundred year old sea monster. Their bickering slightly shook Sunset from her admiration of the school eating facilities. She must have been quiet for longer than she thought though, because Adagio had also stepped forward to pull the two off of one another when they started to slap at each other. “Ugh, that is ENOUGH. If I have to listen to your petty arguments one more time, so help me…,” she grumbled. “If you want to do something useful, how about you find us a table so we’re not standing around like morons.” With that, she shoved them both by their shirt collars in the direction of the lunch tables, glaring as they went before turning to Sunset, who was watching the exchange in interest. “Please forgive those two. I know I’ve said this to you before, but they're idiots,” she sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “They’re MY idiots though, so I have to look out for them to make sure they don’t kill each other.” “Uh, no problem, I guess?” “Anyway, I suppose we should get our food now, yes? Follow me.” With that, Adagio led Sunset to the food aisles while they chose their own trays as well as two additional ones. She began describing the serving system for all of the food that seemed to be overflowing from the tables. Apparently Crystal Prep made enough money to hire high tier chefs most days of the week, making meals cooked and placed ready before students were even let out for break. Sunset wasn’t going to complain. She stacked her plate high with fruits, vegetables, and even choice selections of meat, which got a strange glance from the older girl. “Just because I’m a pony on one side of the mirror, doesn’t mean I’m a vegetarian here. We have farm animals there just like humans do. Chickens, pigs, and some non sentient cattle are abundant in Equestria, but we hardly use any of it. Just because most ponies don’t eat meat doesn’t mean we can’t. I suppose you can say even as a pony, I had some interest in what meat must taste like to dragons, griffons, etcetera, it’s just that here it’s more necessary for human survival,” Sunset explained with a shrug. After that, they continued on looking for the other two members of their party, finding them sitting at a table farther out of the way than most of the others. The less people around to hear their discussion, the better. Especially since there were still some of the other students who would send the odd glance every now and then. When they were all situated and began eating, a tense silence followed. Or at least tense for Sunset. Here she was surrounded by three girls who were at once people she considered enemies and yet now they sat together, in the same school, at the same table and eating lunch so casually as if nothing had happened between them. From an outside perspective to one who was ignorant of the past they all shared, they seemed normal. Sunset knew otherwise though, and it was grating. But she was supposed to be getting some explanation for how things ended up this way for the sirens and they weren’t giving off any kind of manipulative or dangerous vibes, so Sunset allowed some of the tension to bleed from her shoulders. Someone clearing their throat broke her from her reverie and she looked up and saw Adagio with an expectant expression. “I believe, Sunset, that our arrangement was that during lunch your were free to ask any questions you had of the three of us. We will do our best to answer, and in return, you answer some for us. Does that seem fair?” “Yeah, it does,” she murmured uncertainly. “I guess the first question I have then, would be what happened to you three after the Battle of the Bands.” “Hmm, I thought it would. Well, as Aria said before,” she gestured to the purple girl, “we were incredibly angry with you and your friends after you had defeated us.” Sunset cringed at the term, but tried not to let it be too obvious. “Should you have found us earlier, I can almost assure you, things wouldn’t have ended up in your favor at all. We ran from the stage and made it to our home. Throughout our life spans, we tried to be smart in how we lived so as to not draw attention to ourselves. Or at least, any more so than usual.” At this, she shared a knowing smile among the other two. “But for a while, we attempted to plan ways to getting back at you. Revenge for what you Rainbooms had done to us and denied what we thought was our right. Nothing ever got very far though. We had no more magic, but our voices returned after that night. We assumed it must have been from the initial shock of the rainbow laser you all had sent towards us that broke our pendants. To a siren, our voices are everything, and to know that we hadn’t entirely lost them was a welcome relief, so it took some of the sting out of our defeat. Siren pride and all that.” she waived a dismissing hand in the air as she said this, and Sunset couldn’t help but grin somewhat. To know that her actions hadn’t caused a complete loss of what must be their only reminder of home lessened her guilt. “Time passed, and we noticed something additional as well,” Adagio continued. “And what was that?” Sunset asked in interest. “Our hunger.” Attention was turned to the side where Aria sat, arms folded as she added in her two cents. “Before, we had to constantly eat. Constantly cause the slightest amount of strife to feed because the amount of nourishment here is far weaker than the magical energy of that in Equestria. But without our pendants, we didn’t have a way of doing that. We thought we would die from starvation eventually. Imagine our surprise when that DIDN’T actually happen.” Sunset’s eyes widened. “But wait. Weren’t those gems a part of you? I thought they were the only way for you to store negative energy.” “Nope.” Sonata finally spoke. She had been quiet for the longest considering the amount of time she had spoken through the entire day. “Those gems helped to amplify our powers and made it easier, but they weren’t the sole reason for us being able to eat.” “That’s right,” Adagio finished. “Those gemstones more or less became cursed objects on this side of the portal, rather than pieces of ourselves like how they were in Equestria. They constantly needed a...recharge....so to say, like an inefficient phone battery. Without them, we noticed that our need for negative emotions was nonexistent. We just hadn’t noticed that in the beginning.” Sunset nodded in understanding. “So what you’re saying is…” “What we’re saying, is that we owe you Sunset for helping us. Something we held so precious before, slowly corrupted us here because of Starswirl. I assume he wanted us to eventually perish without enough energy to maintain ourselves like we did in Equestria. YOU however saved us from that fate.” Sunset made to interject. “And don’t say that it wasn’t just you. I’m sure we all know that if it wasn’t for your addition to the magic that was used on us before, the Rainbooms never would have defeated us.” Sonata and Aria nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Besides, there’s no way that a group so easily letting themselves get torn apart by some stupid band war would ever have hope of beating us,” Aria smugly stated. “I see….well, what happened after?” “Meh, nothing too exciting. We had to figure out how to do things for ourselves without mindless human zombies to do it for us mostly,” Sonata said. “We got small jobs, and it was only a few months ago that we enrolled here.” “As anticlimactic as Sonata makes it sound, that is about right. We enrolled here and the rest, they say, is history. Now,” Adagio made  show of folding her hands on the table as she leaned forward in interest, something that was somewhat mirrored by the girls on either side of her. Sunset felt a chill run down her spine at where this was heading. “I think what my sisters and I would like to know is what YOU are doing here Sunset Shimmer. Last we saw of you was a happy ending for you and your Rainboom friends.” Again with that word. “So, care to enlighten us?” Sunset looked around at the three of the other girls at the table, attempting to stop herself from trembling. Eventually she glanced down at the table surface, her hair casting a shadow over her eyes, but leaving her tight lipped scowl visible. A hand touched hers for a moment, though the yellowish tint identified the owner as Adagio. A slight glance upward showed that she as well as her sisters had varying looks of concern. “I understand if you’re uncomfortable, but tell us as much as you’d like or are able.” Eventually after calming herself down enough, Sunset let out a small sigh, realizing that she wouldn’t be able to get out of this, or that it would be fair considering what they had shared with her. “They’re not my friends. At least not anymore,” she said finally. “Huh? What do you mean?” Sonata asked. “I mean that they’re not my friends. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie. They’re not. And I don’t know if they ever really were.” Sunset then went on to explain everything that had been going on for her in the past few weeks - nearly a month and a half - before deciding to switch to Crystal Prep. Through it all, the other three made no move to interrupt, though by the end of her story Sonata seemed ready to cry, Adagio adorned a look of disgust, and Aria looked downright murderous. “Oh so they tell US not to cause strife and fighting among their school, but they turn around and do it to the person that SAVED their fucking asses. And with a flimsy ass frame job to fall back on? What the fuck!” she hissed before being silenced with an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Adagio. “Not the time. Though I do have to share Aria’s sentiment. What we gathered from the school while we were there was that you were Queen Bee, holding the entire student body by the throat. You, unlike this Anon-a-Miss however, were clever in the way you executed your plans. This is just shoddy. I’m surprised they actually fell for something that obvious.” “I’m not...well, not really. You heard from the school about the things I did all the way to becoming a she demon - yes that was real Sonata.” The blue skinned girl closed her mouth with an audible clack. “You heard about it, but you never experienced it. They did. For three years. Obviousness aside, this does seem like something the ‘old Sunset’ would do,” she finished with her head gazing down in shame. It was quiet for a while. The surrounding sounds of the cafeteria were the only things permeating the silence for what seemed like minutes, until the scraping of a chair followed by close footsteps added to it. A gentle hand then guided Sunset’s face upward to look at Adagio. Her gaze was firm and determined as she spoke, “Well, we know otherwise. We know that you were reformed. And we also know that you’re too intelligent to stoop to something so low and petty. I mean, you used the elements of harmony, and I doubt anyone can fool a force that powerful. We also know that were you actually guilty, you wouldn’t have put up with all of that drama for as long as you did to plead your innocence. Take it from experience,” she looked towards the other two. Sonata had a watery smile, nodding in agreement while Aria sent a small, but surprisingly gentle smirk. “So you shouldn’t worry about that now. You know you’re not Anon-a-Miss, and now you have REAL friends who know that too.” Sunset, who was struck and wide eyed by this display, choked up at their admission. All she had wanted was for someone to believe her, someone who would give her the benefit of the doubt. She had just wanted her friends to be by her side through it all. They weren’t though, and it hurt terribly. But now, how ironic was it that a former villain found comfort in the companionship of other former villains - ones who had arguably been worse for a longer period of time. The corner of her eyes began to water, and her lip trembled. Her shoulders began to shake as the first tears fell, but not before a blue blur shot past Adagio and all but tackle hugged Sunset out of her chair. Sonata seemed to squeeze with all the strength of a vice, allowing Sunset to bury her head in the other girl’s neck to muffle her sobs. She was sure some of the surrounding tables were glancing their way in confusion, though none of the current party were paying them any mind. Huh… making friends out of enemies. Can’t say I saw that coming, but right now I wouldn’t ask for anything different.