Aria’s POV
The days I spent in the hospital were slow… so, so very slow. However, it also gave me time to spend with Twilight. On my first day, Twilight stayed with me until late in the evening. Then, her parents came for her. For the next few days I was mostly alone, except when she or my sisters came to see me. My girlfriend did give me her tablet, and even brought her star plushie as well.
“I just thought Eve would like to meet Cynthia.”
Twilight held the star plush up in her hands. Eve. I have to admit, that’s a cute name.
I chuckled. “So what, you’re now going to make them hug and sing friendship songs?”
Twilight gently punched my arm. “No, nothing like that. But if you want...”
“No, no, no, no. I don’t do friendship songs. It’s my number one rule,” I said with a glare. “Besides, I can’t really sing thanks to your friends.”
“Huh?” Twilight looked at me, dropping her smile.
I sighed. “Sorry, that came out harsh. When your friends defeated my sisters and I, they also took away our ability to sing. If we try to sing, our voices will sound off-key.”
“Oh, I’m sorry...” My girlfriend looked guilty, so I placed my hand on her shoulder to catch her attention and have her see my reassuring smile.
“It’s okay. Singing wasn’t really my thing. I just did it out of necessity,” I quickly tried to swap subjects to help change the mood and distract my girlfriend. “Anyway, how was school today?”
Twilight returned the smile and sat on the bed with me. “It was okay. The Principals asked me if I was sure I wanted to return to class. Other than that, it was a normal day.”
“No magic incident then?” I said with a half joking smirk. Twilight smiled but seemed to be giving it more thought than I anticipated.
“That would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that my friends told me that they had to deal with magic problems quite often.”
I chuckled. “And my sisters and I were one of those incidents. At least they didn’t get bored.”
My girlfriend lost her smile. “Oh, I don’t know. They’re tired of having to deal with magic, and frankly, so am I. I only had one experience and it was too much for me.”
I felt guilty when I saw her sad expression. I was so used to having magic, and even after losing it, I often forgot some might not enjoy it. Losing my powers was a serious blow for me, but I got over it. I felt bad knowing Twilight had to face this, but she would do it alone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories.”
Twilight smiled at me. “It’s okay.” She reached for my hand and I took it while I smiled.
“So, none of your friends want to deal with magic? Not even Sunset?”
“Actually, she didn’t say anything about it.”
“Hmm… I’m not surprised. She’s a pony after all.”
“Right. She once mentioned that she’s a Unicorn.”
“Now it makes sense.” I looked out the window for a moment before turning back to Twilight. She was looking at me expectantly, patiently waiting for me to continue. ”I bet a part of her misses magic.”
Twilight looked at me with curiosity. “You think so?”
I nodded. “Unicorns use magic for everything, from grabbing objects to casting spells, but here, she has to use her hands.” I held up my hands showing them to Twilight as an example. “Magic for a unicorn isn’t that different from a siren at its core. It’s an extension of ourselves. It’s a part of us, makes us whole. To be separated from it is a real struggle for any magical being.”
“Oh, I never thought about it...” My girlfriend lost her smile again. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as I waited. “Do you think she would ever want to return to her homeland? Sunset must miss it an awful lot...”
I frowned, taking a moment to think about Twilight's words. “I think… that if she wanted to go back she would have left already.”
Twilight sighed in relief. “That’s a relief. I would hate to see her go, but I would understand her reasons.”
My girlfriend turned back to me, suddenly her face showing a worried expression and my heart skipped a beat. “What about you? Do you or any of your sisters miss Equestria?”
Do I miss Equestria? I had to admit, I didn’t know how to answer that right away. I looked away to think. My sisters and I gave up on finding a way back before encountering the Rainbooms. To this day, we still haven’t found one. We looked for a long time trying to find a way back but after never finding any means we just gave up and accepted this was our home.
It made me wonder, I don’t know if Sunset Shimmer came here willingly or was forced here like us, but the pony Twilight did come on her own. My sisters are in good terms with them, so if they ask, they might tell her how to go to Equestria. Would they want to return?
Hmm… I think we got so used to this world I don’t think we’d want to leave. At least that’s the impression I got. Adagio wouldn’t be able to wear clothes underwater, not to mention that our Siren forms are huge so it would be impractical. Sonata made a bunch of friends here and she wouldn’t want to leave them for sure. I… I have nothing back in the oceans of Equestria. Nothing but scars and bad memories. Memories that should sink to the murky depths and remain forgotten with time. Not to mention feeding without our amulets would be next to impossible for us.
I looked back at Twilight and saw her worriedly looking at me. I shouldn’t leave her in suspense anymore and give her a proper answer.
I put on a kind expression before speaking. “Nah… we don’t miss it. We’re happy here.” I said before taking one of her hands in mine squeezing hers. “Besides. If i left I would be leaving you and your family behind, and I would never do that.”
Twilight smiled wobbly and I also noticed her eyes getting wet before she hugged me. “Oh, Aria...”
I hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. We remained holding each other for a long time. Neither of us wanted to break the embrace.
One day later, I was still at the hospital with nothing to do. So, so boring! I was so bored I felt like clawing my eyes out, instead though, I tried watching a T.V. show on my girlfriend’s tablet called The String Theory, when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in!” I said as I paused the video and put the tablet away. My visitor opened the door. To my surprise it was my older sister, Adagio who entered.
“Hello, my dear sister.” My sister said, wearing a smug smile.
“Hello leader.” I said, smiling smugly back as she frowned back at me giving a sarcastic laugh. It’s the first time I’ve seen her since I was brought here. Twilight told me she looked after me the first night but I haven’t heard from her ever since. I don’t know why that bothered me so much since I hate it when she hovers over me all the time. I guess I must really have missed her deep down. I have really changed.
My sister walked in, closing the door slightly behind her, but not completely.
“I am sorry for not coming earlier, but I figured you preferred it that way.” Adagio said as she approached me, walking with her usual elegance.
I rolled my eyes. “Lone wolf or not, I still want to see my sisters.” I crossed my arms looking at her. “That means both of you.”
“That’s… awfully sweet of you.” Adagio kneeled by my side and pressed her palm to my forehead. “Are you sure there were no side effects to your allergy?”
I rolled my eyes, grabbing my sisters hand and pushing it away.
“Har, har, I have been locked up in this room for two and a half days now with nothing to do except laying in this uncomfortable bed and without much to see on T.V. Now even you are welcomed company if only to stifle my boredom.”
“There we go.” My sister smiled and hugged me. “I know you have changed a lot lately, but you got me worried there for a moment.”
I sighed. “Please, tell me you didn’t just come here to insult me.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop.” Adagio said as she raised both of her arms.
“Thank you.” I said before getting more comfortable in my bed, or at least tried to. “So tell me, what have you been doing? Besides sleeping, of course.”
My sister gasped. “How dare you? A lady like me doesn’t just sleep!”
“Uh huh. What about those ‘beauty sleeps’ of yours.” I made the air quotes gestures while saying the last.
“That’s different!” Adagio got a little angry, but she took a deep breath to calm down before sitting on the chair beside me. “If you want to know, I have been working on more designs. Mr. Toity seems to like my ideas, but I’m still just making outfits of his designs.” My sister sighed. “I wish I could work on my own creations more often instead of just when he requests so.”
“I thought he loved the designs you gave him when you first started to work for him.”
“He did, but I have been following his designs ever since. He’s passionate about them and won’t take any critique whatsoever.”
“So… you don’t like his ideas?” I raised an eyebrow, confused.
“No, he’s good at what he does. And I mean really good.” She looked at my while she answered my question, but then she moved her gaze away from me. “But I have my own ideas to help improve his, but he refuses to listen. ‘Perfection cannot be perfected’ he says.”
I felt my brain stop working as the gears inside grinded together to make sense of what I just heard. Sometimes the things I hear this guy say from Adagio makes me wonder about where his mind is. Or if he hasn’t lost it yet.
“‘Perfection can’t be perfected.’ What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know!” Adagio placed both of her hands on her forehead and supported her elbows on her knees, groaning in frustration. “He can be so frustrating sometimes, but-” My sister raised her head again.
“Other than that, he’s a good boss. Not to mention that he has good connections. If I’m patient and play my cards right, I’ll find something better.”
“Or you could open your own shop. Be your own boss.” I suggested.
Adagio let out a single chuckle. “Too soon for that, Aria. I need more experience and money for that. One day, though. Maybe I could get Rarity on board too. She has similar problems as me with her boss. Speaking of her...” My sister smiled at me. “She returned your outfit. It’s now clean and back in your room.”
“Oh, yeah, Twilight and I gave it to her when she visited me.” I said.
“I’m glad that you allowed Twilight’s friends to see you.” My sister said before placing a hand on mine. “I know you did it for Twilight, but it was a good step forward for you too.”
“They were all already here. Turning them down would have made me look bad.” I said while crossing my arms.
“And since when do you care about looking bad?” My sister wore a smug smile as she spoke. Damn it, Adagio!
My sister chuckled and then received a text message. She read it and smiled afterwards. “I’m afraid I have to go. Someone else is here to see you.”
“What?” I raised an eyebrow, confused. “Who?”
Adagio didn’t reply. Instead, she stood up and stroked my hair. “Be good, okay? Obey the hospital staff and the next time we see each other might be at home.”
I sighed waving her off. “Whatever, see you later leader.”
“See you soon, lone wolf.”
I groaned and watched my sister as she approached the door. She gave me one last wave before opening it. “Hello. She’s all yours.” She spoke to the mysterious visitor before walking away. The door didn’t close because a hand took hold of it. Then, a man walked in. I gasped. H-He was…
“Shining Armor?”
“Aria Blaze.” Twilight’s brother smiled. He was dressed in his police uniform. He took off his hat before speaking again. “How are you doing?”
Shining Armor stepped into the room and took a seat beside my bed in a spare chair. He sat very casually leaning back, and crossing one leg over the other and gave me a million dollar smile. I smiled back.
"Well, this is unexpected," I said to him.
"Yeah well, there was no reason to interrogate my sister since there was no murder. Soooo, I decided to forgo the investigation and come see how you were doing," Shining Armor said with a playful chuckle. "But seriously, are you doing well?"
I was surprised by the level of concern in his voice. He had a certain sternness to his tone but I could also get a sense of worry and compassion behind his words. I could tell because my senses have honed over the years since my sister does the same thing. It made me feel safe being around him hearing him talk like that.
"Thanks for asking. I'm fine really, just bored out of my mind," I said running my fingers through my hair out of habit. "Also thanks for not arresting Twilight. I'd hate to have to beat you up for throwing my girlfriend in jail."
I grinned and Shining Armor gave a thoughtful nod grinning at my joke. "Yes, it was tough, but, as a cop, I have the duty of protecting the common citizen afterall."
"That is very true." I nodded in agreement.
We both sat in silence for a few seconds. It was just a few, maybe five of six counts at best before Shining Armor spoke breaking the silence. “I heard Twilight’s friends came to see you as well. Must have been something.”
I nodded remembering each encounter.
“I have to admit it’s nice to see my sister have such good friends around her,” He then placed a hand comfortingly over mine. “And a good protective girlfriend like you as well.”
I blushed, looking away taking my hand with it. I may have been getting used to showing my feelings around my cub, Twilight, but I was still getting used to showing it to others. Even Shining Armor was no exception despite me knowing he was a cool dude. I rubbed my hand thinking about the last time I held Twilight’s soft dainty hands. The hands that would one day change the world, hands that could create magnificent things, hands that in just their finger tips had more talent than I did in my entire body.
Twilight was amazing.
I stared at my hand thinking about Twilight then looked back at Shining Armor who was giving me a thoughtful look. I guess he was waiting to see what was on my mind. I decided on a whim to share my thoughts. He seemed nice enough and if Twilight trusts him I guess I could make an effort to.
“Did Twilight ever tell you how we met?” I asked cautiously.
He shook his head in response. “Only that you met at the bookstore sometime ago and that was really it. Why?”
I sighed looking back at my hand clenching it into a fist. I looked back to that day in my mind. The book I wanted, the place I found it, and the time when we had our encounter. I brought it all back as I recounted the tale to Shining Armor leaning back to get comfortable in the bed.
I took a deep breath then began.
“It is as she said, we met at the bookstore. At the time I was looking for a new book in a series called: Young Sorceress Academia. I had found the book, but it was the last copy in the whole store. As fate would have it, Twilight ended up there too because she couldn’t find the book elsewhere.” I said, pulling out the book from a drawer.
I showed the hard covered book to Shining as he took it in his hands. I had my sister bring it to me so I could re-read it while I had nothing to do. He opened the book, flipping the pages from beginning to end looking it over once more then giving it back to me.
“I remember Twilight talking about this one. She was really excited to get her hands on it,” He said.
I visibly cowered, thinking about what happened next. “Y-yeah, she really was.”
I paused and stared blankly at the book feeling worried about what Shining would think about me if I told him the rest of the story. He stared back patiently waiting for me to continue, his smile never faulting as he did. It was encouraging even, so I continued.
“I remember I was excited to get my hands on it too. Plus, I was in a particular mood back then so I wasn’t happy to see her when we reached and grabbed it at the same time.”
I paused opening the book to the first few pages and thumbed through them as I mentally prepared myself. There was no turning back now, whatever happened I knew Twilight would still want me. In the end, even if by some chance Shining did hate me for this, Twilight’s affection is all I needed. So, I continued.
“When this happened I lashed out at her, scaring her out of the bookstore. I was rude to her because she looked like someone I met in the past. Someone I didn’t like. My little sister, Sonata, was with me. She went after Twilight and apologized on my behalf,” I still felt slightly guilty about my behavior back then. “But I’m still glad I acted that way,” I said smiling.
“Why’s that?” He asked, tilting his head.
I sensed no hostility in his voice and decided to take that as my que to continue.
“I ended up buying the book for her as an apology gift and in return she essentially became my friend. . . She didn’t give me a choice,” I added. “From that day I started to change for the better. I’ve never been so happy in my life as I am now. And it’s all thanks to your sister.”
“When I’m around her there is a different side to me that I don’t often show around others. All my life I've held deep resentment for the world for things that happened to me.” My mind flashed back to my old pack back in Equestria, and how I was treated for standing up for myself only to get beat down again.
“I know Twilight was bullied too.” I said looking at Shining once more. His expression became more serious.
“Yeah, Twily, was a really smart kid. She still is mind you, but sometimes her smarts get the better of her. She was picked on by her classmates and there wasn’t much we could do until our friend Cadence took over the school.” His expression softened as he looked me in the eye again.
“Cadence and Twilight both told me what happened at Crystal Prep that day.” Shining continued. “The way you stood up for Twilight is something I wish I could have done for her. But as it stood I couldn’t. So it fills me with pride knowing my baby sister has someone like you at her side.”
“R-Really?” I smiled slightly at him.
The next thing I knew he reached his hand out to offer as a handshake to me. Hesitantly I took hold of his hand and we shook, his grip was firm and strong.
“Really.” Shining smiled confidently. “It’s nice that you’d stand up for her,” He reassured me. “That and I know Twilight can be kind of a pushover. I love her to death but she was never one to take conflict head on like us.”
I chuckled in response remembering how much she shivered in fear of those dumb girls at CPA. I hated them and wanted to do so much harm to them, but thankfully Twilight got me to hold back. That and I didn’t want to get into too much trouble back then without my powers. In the end I couldn’t help but agree with Shining Armor that Twilight was like that once, but then I remembered the claw machine.
“She’s grown a lot too you know?”
Shining Armor looked like his brain stopped working for a moment before it finally caught up with what I said. His expression changed from happy to confused in an instant.
“What do you mean?”
I reached behind my pillow where I stashed Cynthia before my sister came in. I paused, feeling the soft fake fur under the pillow giving Shining a warning glare to which he flinched slightly. Still got it! I internally fist pumped.
“You say anything about this to anyone-”
“Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone, Aria,” He said kindly.
I still hesitated but eventually pulled the wolf plushie out, showing her to him. He looked at the wolf plush curiously as if he was trying to figure out where I was going with this in our conversation. After letting his brain rack itself a minute I filled in the blanks for him.
“This was a gift from Twilight as thanks for a gift I got for her at a claw machine,” I said, petting the plushies head.
“Oh! That star doll right? Twilight told me you won that for her. I was never good at those,” He chuckled and I nodded.
“Yes, but shortly after those bitc… jerks from CPA came and started picking on her again. They were trying to steal her star from her,” I said feeling my temper rise.
“I see…”
Shining Armor went silent and I could tell he was mulling things over. Before he thought too long I spoke again before his mind went wild with presumptions.
“The point I was getting to was Twilight actually tried to stand up to them.” I hugged Cynthia close to my chest.
Shining glanced at me once more.
“They were trying to take her star, and she stood there trying to tell them to leave her alone. Trying to keep it away from them. And not once did she strike at them in anger. I didn't realize it at the time, but she never would have done that in the past.” I sighed thinking how proud I was seeing her stand up for herself. Even if she failed ultimately.
Shining seemed to agree. “Yeah, if you asked me prior to that, I would have told you she’d have cried or just given up the star doll before.”
We both nodded at the same time.
“She has come a long way since the day I moved to live on my own.” He said, standing. He placed a hand on my shoulder gently squeezing it. “You and her friends have been a good influence on her, so, thank you. For being there for her when she needed it. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “And truth be told, I’m lucky to have her too. I only started opening up to others because of her.”
“Then you two are two peas in a pod!” Shining joked around, smiling. He was about to say something else, but a voice came from his walkie talkie.
“Armor, I just got a call from officer Gordon requesting 10-33. We have to go, now!”
“Roger Chrysalis, on my way.” Shining replied to the walkie talkie before looking at me. “I hate to leave in a rush, but I do have to run. I’m glad you’re doing well. I hope we can meet again for dinner or whatever.”
I laughed watching him run to the door as I waved to him. “Yeah, and this time no peanuts please!”
“No promises!” We both laughed. “See you around Aria.”
“Later,” I waved as he closed the door behind him. I remained staring at the door after he left, petting my plushie. His visit was unexpected, but not unwelcome. He might have come in uniform, but he came as Twilight’s brother, not as a police officer. He’s a real nice guy. I just met him and I already told him personal things I once struggled to say out loud. What we said was right. Twilight changed me just as I changed her.
I put Cynthia around my arm before taking the tablet again to continue watching the show I was enjoying before Adagio came. I always treated the plushie as I would treat my girlfriend. It was a good way to feel as if she was here with me.