Sunset Shimmer unleashed a great yawn as she approached the entrance to Canterlot High School. “I really didn’t sleep well last night,” she said, stretching her arms as she climbed the steps towards the front doors.
“Really? Ah slept great!” Applejack proclaimed. “Would’ve been easier if Trixie hadn’t hidden a cassette player blastin’ that darn song of hers in our orchard.”
“She did that to you, too?” Rarity asked. “Goodness. That girl can certainly hold a grudge.”
“Count yourselves lucky,” Rainbow Dash said in a deadpan tone. “Because I live in an apartment complex, she had to personally keep me up by deciding she was having a sleepover with me.”
“Why didn’t you just turn her away?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
“My dad said I need more friends,” Rainbow Dash answered with a shrug. “At least she fell right asleep after some peanut butter crackers and chocolate milk.”
“Well, the reason I didn’t get much sleep is because I had an awful dream last night. About Adagio and the Dazzlings. I don’t think we should have let them go.”
“They lost their powers.” Applejack pointed out. “What threat can they be?”
“You’d be surprised,” Sunset Shimmer said. “I never gave in with my attempts at taking over the school, even when things didn’t go my way. They’re also resourceful creatures. Who’s to say they won’t find another way to get what they want?”
“Well, why don’t you ask them?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Look! It’s Sonata Dusk!”
The group stopped mid-walk down the school’s hallway and all turned at once. Sonata Dusk was standing at the school’s trophy cabinet, staring at all of the various awards inside whilst people around gave her dirty looks.
“W-What’s she doin’ here?!” Applejack asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out,” Sunset Shimmer declared, a determined look on her face.
“We’ll help ya.”
“No. You girls get to class. It’s my duty to protect this world with Twilight away.”
“… Well, jus’ holler if ya need any help,” Applejack said, walking past Sunset Shimmer and Sonata Dusk with the rest of the group of friends.
Sunset walked over to Sonata Dusk and called out, “What are you doing here?”
Sonata turned to Sunset Shimmer and gasped. “Oh! It’s you! I was just looking at all these trophies. You guys sure have an awesome collection.”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re up to something, aren’t you?”
Sonata Dusk shrugged. “I’m not really allowed to plan things. That’s Adagio’s thing. I just do what she tells me, when she tells me.”
“Okay, then why don’t you tell me what she told you? If you think for one moment that I’ll let you do anything to this school-”
“Uh, we can’t do anything right now. We can’t use our magic, remember?” Sonata pointed to her chest, where her jewel was missing.
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m a student here, remember? I enrolled and everything!” Sonata looked around and scratched her head. “Though I’m not quite sure where to go. Nobody’s talking to me for some reason and Adagio threw away our timetables.”
Sunset Shimmer raised a suspicious eyebrow. “You expect me to believe you came here… just to learn? Like, as a student?”
“I never went to a real school before!” Sonata exclaimed in an excited tone, bouncing in-place. “All I got was Adagio teaching me and Aria how to sing!”
“… And your friends?” Sunset asked, looking around. “They’re not hiding nearby?”
“Nah. Aria’s at the spa and Adagio’s throwing darts at pictures of you and your friends while drowning her sorrows in apple juice! She said: ‘If you want to go to that stupid human school and waste your time with stupid human filth, be my guest!’.”
Sunset Shimmer narrowed her eyes, eyeing the smiling girl intensely for several seconds. “… Just so you know, I don’t trust you.”
“Well, duh!” Sonata said, rolling her eyes. “Trusting a siren is like, the worst! Besides maybe trusting a changeling… Oh, wait, that made me sound totally racist!”
“Well then, if you’re going to be a student here, the first thing you need to do is apologise for your behaviour at the battle of the bands.”
“Awww! But I don’t like apologisiiiiiing!” Sonata complained. “Can’t I just, like, bake everyone cookies and leave it be?”
“No. I’ll arrange a slot in this afternoon’s assembly for you to apologise. Are we clear?”
Sonata Dusk sighed. “Fiiiiine,” she said with a pout.
“Now, as for your lesson plan, we’ll have to get a new one from Principal Celestia.”
“… Come to think of it,” Sonata began, tapping a finger against her chin, “I don’t think I recall those two at the battle that night. Did they ever break free of our control?”
Sunset Shimmer simply stared into the space ahead of her for several moments.
“Okay, so now that we missed first period gathering our band together to fix Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, we should be going to second period, but I’m guessing you don’t have a sport suit.”
“Nope!” Sonata replied in a cheerful tone.
Sunset sighed. “Fine. Then we’ll take this time to give you a thorough tour of the campus. We’ll start with…”
“The science labs.”
“Do you guys do magic here?” Sonata asked, taking out the remnants of her shattered jewel from her pocket.
“No.”
“The library.”
“Any books on repairing ancient magical artefacts here?”
Sunset Shimmer narrowed her eyes. “… No.”
“The swimming pool, and no, there’s nothing to do with magic here.”
“Duh. It’s a swimming pool.”
“The music room.”
Sonata groaned. “I hate music since I lost my singing voice.”
“Did you voice only come from your magic?”
“It’s the curse of a siren,” Sonata said. “Our voices are terrible, repulsive! We mask them into something beautiful, but once we lose that disguise, we’re powerless.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have abused your powers like that,” Sunset said in a stern tone, crossing her arms in disapproval.
“But Adagio wanted to rule the world, so we needed lots of power!”
“And what about you?” Sunset asked.
“Oh, Adagio needed my help, of course. She even said she’d put up with my stupidity and clumsiness if I could do my job right.”
Sunset Shimmer tilted her head. “I… see…”
“So, what’s next?”
“I guess next would be…”
“The cafeteria.”
Sonata sniffed around in the air. “Hey, what smells good?”
“Oh, it’s Taco Tuesday… That means the cooks are making lots of tacos for everyone.”
“What’s a taco?” Sonata asked.
“It’s… Well, maybe it’d be easier to show you.” Sunset Shimmer approached Granny Smith, who was busy preparing the snack trolley for the day’s first break, and asked, “Excuse me. I know it’s early, but is there any chance you could give a taco to the new girl? I’m showing her around, and-”
“Of course!” Granny Smith said with a smile, walking into the kitchen and returning with two tacos. Sunset gave a worried look. “Don’t worry. It’s vegetarian this week, since Applejack said ye’re always left out. I always make plenty, so enjoy!”
Sonata and Sunset took their tacos and the former simply stared at it with an inquisitive look for a few seconds. “You eat it,” Sunset said in a flat ton, taking a bit out of her own piece.
“I know that! I’m just… preparing myself is all.” Sonata opened her mouth and moved the taco closer, taking a big bite out of it… “Mmm… MMMMM!” Sonata took another bit, and a third, consuming the entire thing in record time. “That was great!” she declared, spraying taco pieces out of her mouth as she spoke.
“Glad you like it,” Sunset said, wiping the taco pieces from her face and giving the girl an annoyed look. “Maybe next time you could try swallowing it?”
Sonata Dusk took a massive gulp, swallowing the contents of her mouth in one go. “Why didn’t anyone tell me the humans here make such good food! I’ve gotta take some of these to Adagio and Aria!”
“You think they’ll enjoy them, too?”
Sonata thought about it for a second. “Nah. They’ll probably just throw in my faces and tell me to stop enjoying ‘stupid human things’. Still, that just means more for me!”
“Uh-huh…” Sunset Shimmer turned around and scratched the back of her head, biting her lip as she began to sweat. “Uh, anyway, we should move on if we want to make progress.”
“Sure! What room’s next?”
“The computer room.”
“Ooooh. What are those box things?”
“They’re computers,” Sunset Shimmer said, leading Sonata to one of active computers. “They’re an amazing technology you won’t find anywhere in Equestria.” Sunset sat down and typed on the keyboard. “You should have your own username and password. ‘SDusk001’ and ‘login’. You’ll want to change that password later.”
“‘Username’? ‘Password’?” Sonata watched as the screen changed and a box appeared within. Sunset typed ‘kittens’ and clicked a button titled ‘search’, and in an instant, the screen was filled with pictures of kittens doing cute things. “AWWWWWW! How did you do that?! You summoned kittens with magic!”
Sunset shifted her head to the side as Sonata swiped at the screen with her hand, failing to grasp any of the cute kittens to hug. “They’re just images. Computers are a way to store and share data, even across the entire world.”
“Hmmm… This all seems waaaay too complex for me. Oh!” Sonata pushed Sunset Shimmer aside and typed ‘magic’. She gasped as she looked at the first result. “You lied to me! There is magic in this world!”
Sunset’s eyes widened as the mouse’s cursor hovered over a link that read ‘HOT BEDROOM MAGIC’. “Uh, I wouldn’t click that if I were-”
The screen changed to images of strange devices and women using them. “… What’s she doing with that wand?” Sonata asked, tilting her head. “Why aren’t they wearing clothes? Ooh, does nudity improve your magic in this world? That explains a lot, actually.”
Sonata attempted to remove her top, but was stopped by Sunset Shimmer. “No! That’s… not the case.” Sunset’s face was an ocean of red as her eyes kept flicking between Sonata and the screen. “This ‘magic’ isn’t the same as in Equestria. It’s… uh… L-Let’s just move on.”
“Hm? Well, it looks like this magic doesn’t do much, anyway,” Sonata said. Suddenly, several messages appeared on the screen. “Hey! It says I won a prize!”
“Don’t-”
“… Why did everything just go black?”
Sunset Shimmer facepalmed. “… I’ll go let Principal Celestia know we need to run a complete system wipe.” She grabbed Sonata Dusk by the collar and dragged her along. “Come on, let’s go.”
“What a day,” Sunset sighed as she sat down on a bench in the school’s quad.
“You said it!” Sonata followed with a smile, stretching her arms as she stood beside her. “I haven’t had so much fun since Adagio and Aria were too sick to argue with me and I got to be in charge for the whole day!”
Sunset regarded Sonata with a curious gaze. “You had fun?”
Sonata nodded her head. “Yup! All I ever really did before was sing and steal energy. I never got to play with all the ponies because Adagio said they were stupid, and I never got to check out the human world because Adagio wanted me where she could see me. With our magic gone, though, she doesn’t seem to care anymore…”
“Have you… never interacted with anyone besides your two friends?” Sunset asked. “You never had a day where you did what you wanted to do?”
Sonata shifted a foot along the ground as she looked up towards the sky. “Adagio said it was just a waste of time, so I never bothered.”
“Do you do everything she says?” Sunset asked.
“She is the smart one,” Sonata replied. “When she has a plan, it works! … Well, except our most recent one, at least.”
Sunset Shimmer bit her lip. She really want to say something, but she wasn’t sure how. She was still only a apprentice in friendship, after all.
“It’s almost time for the assembly,” Sunset said, looking down at her watch. “Let’s go set everything up for your apology.”
Sonata Dusk remained still as Sunset started to walk away, pursing her lips and playing with her fingers. “Uh, I’ve never really apologised before… I know I said I hated it, but that’s only because I don’t know how to do it.”
Sunset Shimmer gave a gentle smile to the other girl and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Well, I could help, if you like. I… had to give an apology for my actions, and I know it isn’t easy to come up with the words.”
Sonata smiled. “Maybe I could sing it instead?”
“Do you think that would be a good idea?”
“… Yes?” Sonata noted Sunset’s silence. “I mean no?”
“Just say you’re sorry,” Sunset said. “Say it from the heart. Let everyone know how sincere you are.”
“But I’m not sincere,” Sonata returned. “I don’t regret what I did, just that it didn’t work out for us.”
Sunset Shimmer frowned and turned her gaze to the ground. ‘What would Twilight say at a time like this?’ “… Then, how about you don’t dwell on the past. Simply say that you’re sorry, and that you hope to move past what happened and get along with everyone in the future.” Sunset paused for a second. “You do want to get along with the other students, right?”
“I guess, if it means I get more friends like you.”
Sunset’s eyes widened and her hand retracted quickly. “F-Friend? Me?”
Sonata nodded, smiling as a red tint crossed her cheeks. “You were so cool to me today and we got along really well! That makes us friends, right?”
“… I… I don’t know. I mean, I guess we could be friends, if you really do plan on turning over a new leaf… But you have to apologise first!”
“Right! One super-sincere apology coming right up!”
“Well that could have gone better,” Sonata sighed as she slumped into her seat just outside of the assembly hall. “Maybe I should have reworded that part about them being lesser creatures existing to feed us.”
“You could have worded it better, yes,” Sunset said, shaking her head solemnly beside Sonata Dusk. “You also could have omitted the part about being sorry they broke out of your spell.”
Sonata pouted. “You said be sincere!”
“Some white lies are fine!”
“Well, at least I did it! Thanks to you, Sunset Glimmer!”
“You deserve most the credit- What did you just call me?”
Sonata jumped out of her seat with a gasp. “I know! Maybe you could convince Adagio and Aria to come here and apologise, too!”
“I thought you said they weren’t interested.”
Sonata Dusk nodded her head. “But that’s only because they haven’t seen how much fun stuff exists in this world! I mean, you can see pussies with a box whenever you want, or make potions without alchemy, or learn about how humans are vicious fighting machines that like to kill each other!”
“We did kinda walk into that History class at a bad time…”
“You’re just like us! You used to be their enemy, but you became their friend! You’re the perfect person to help us!”
Sunset Shimmer averted her eyes. “I don’t know…” ‘On the other hand, maybe this is my destiny? To help these new girls as Twilight and her friends helped me?’
“Come ooooooooon!” Sonata pleaded. “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”
“… Ugh, fine. But only because you used the magic word,” she said with a victorious grin.
“Ah-hah! So there is magic in this world!” Sonata shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Sunset Shimmer.
“N-No, I meant- Argh, forget it! Let’s get back to class and I’ll talk to your friends later.”
“‘Kay, but you’d better show me this ‘magic’ later!”
After classes were over, Sunset Shimmer followed Sonata Dusk back to where the Dazzlings were hiding out. Her friends wanted to follow, but Sunset insisted on handling it alone. ‘I don’t want to scare them off. Besides, if this is truly my destiny…’
“We’re hereeeee!” Sonata sang, pointing towards a garbage dump where green fumes could be seen rising into the air.
“… It… looks lovely,” Sunset said, laughing nervously as her eyes watered and twitched.
“Really? I think it looks like a dump,” Sonata said, walking by the entrance in the fence and entering the building beside it. “It smells a little, but we get this place for free because we hypnotised the lady that lives here with our singing!” An awkward silence fell between the two. “Uh, I mean, because she’s such a nice lady?”
“… We’ll work that part out later,” Sunset said, holding her nose as she passed the dump and followed Sonata to the entrance of the small house. “For now, I just want to meet your two friends and see if they’re interested in turning their lives around.”
“Sure! Aria should be home by now.” Sonata opened the door and walked inside, leading Sunset Shimmer through a narrow hallway. They passed by a room where they saw a white-haired woman in a brown leather jacket slumped in a recliner whilst watching television. “Gilda! I brought a friend over!”
“Whatever,” she said before taking a puff of her cigarette. “Just keep it down, or you’re sleepin’ outside tonight.”
“That’d be bad,” Sonata muttered. She motioned for Sunset to remain quiet, and then crept up the stairs. Sunset simply raised an eyebrow and followed after Sonata Dusk.
“What is she doing here?” Aria asked as she noticed Sunset following Sonata into their attic bedroom. “Sonata, why are you always such an idiot?”
“You’re the idiot!” Sonata retorted, blowing a raspberry before stepping aside to introduce Sunset Shimmer. “Sunset’s my new friend, and she said she’d come here to convince you to come to school and apologise.”
Aria groaned and rolled her eyes. “See, this is why we never let you go anywhere. Your mind’s so small, you get influence by the stupidest things.”
Sonata frowned. “School’s fun, and apologising is… hard, but also easy! Like… ripping off a Band-Aid!”
“Uh, s-she’s right, you know?” Sunset said, sweating as she met Aria’s eyes. “School is really a lot of fun. You make a lot of friends, and you learn all kinds of useful things.”
“Nobody asked you,” Aria spat, glaring daggers at Sunset Shimmer. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”
“It’s not, I swear! I just want to help you see how wonderful it can be to make friends, that’s all.”
“What a joke,” Adagio said, startling Sunset with her presence in the corner of the room. She was holding an empty glass in her hand, her clothes and hair were dishevelled, and she was staring forward with an angry look in her eyes. “You? You want to teach us how ‘wonderful friendship can be’?”
“Uh… T-That’s right-”
Adagio threw her glass down and turned to Sunset Shimmer with a heated glare. “Don’t give us that! You should have been on our side from the start! You were an enemy of Equestria, too, after all!”
“That’s not true!” Sunset Shimmer protested. “W-Well, my grudge was against Princess Celestia, and still is! But Equestria and Canterlot High have nothing to do with that, and I never should have used them as part of my revenge to begin with!”
“You’re pathetic!” Adagio yelled. “That’s why you were beat by that stupid ‘friendship’ of yours! That’s why you’re stuck in this world, with all your powers gone!”
“Well so are you,” Sunset said, and regretted it immediately. She slammed her hands over her mouth and took a step back as Adagio rose to her feet.
“Get out,” Adagio said.
“B-But-” Sonata began.
“SHUT UP SONATA! You brought this girl here, and turned against us! We don’t need a traitor like you! Both of you, get out now!”
“H-Hey,” Aria said. “Sonata’s always been an idiot, y’know?”
“Aria, shut up, or I’ll make you leave, too.”
Aria froze up immediately. Sunset sighed and turned around. “It’s fine. I’ll leave. Sorry to have disturbed you from… whatever.”
“Sunset…” Sonata looked at Adagio and gulped. That gaze was fierce. She followed Sunset Shimmer out of the room, through the house and back outside.
“… I’m sorry,” Sunset Shimmer said. “I was supposed to convince them to come to school, but instead, I made them mad at you.”
Sonata smiled and shook her head. “Nah. Adagio’s just a bit on edge lately. I’ll give her some time to cool down and then I should be able to walk back in, as long as I’m quiet.”
Something inside of Sunset Shimmer snapped, and she asked, “Why do you put up with her?! You seem like a decent person, mind-controlling and energy-absorbing aside, and she treats you like dirt! Like a slave!”
“It’s not that bad,” Sonata replied.
“They’re always badmouthing you, and giving you orders, and putting you down! Even after all you’ve done for them!”
Sonata’s smile fell. “Well, yeah… but isn’t sticking together through thick-and-thin what friends do best?”
“What?” Sunset stared at Sonata with a look of utter disbelief. “F… Friends? You consider them your friends, even after they just kicked you out?”
“Don’t you fight with your friends sometimes?”
“Never on that kind of scale!” Sunset scoffed.
“Well then it’s different. But those two have always been with me, ever since I can remember. Aria’s annoying, but Adagio is… I love her, and I want to help her however I can. That’s why I collected energy for her, and always did as she said.”
“… So, you won’t give up on trying to get them to come to school?”
Sonata shrugged. “I don’t know if I can change their minds, but since we’re stuck in this world, I at least want them to learn how to smile again.”
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “I thought it was my destiny to help you three discover the magic of friendship, but I failed.”
“Aww, don’t worry!” Sonata slapped Sunset’s back pretty hard several times. “I fail lots of times, too!”
“… Thanks. That makes me feel so much better.”
“Happy to help!” Sonata turned back towards the house. “It’s probably been enough time. You can go home. I’ll think of something… even if it’s not my thing.”
Sunset Shimmer put a finger to her chin. “At times when friends are out of sorts, maybe that’s when it’s up to us to assume their roles until they’re feeling better?”
“Hey, that’s pretty good!”
“You think so?” Sunset asked with a blush. ‘I’d better write that down in my book later…’
“Well, I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow!”
Sunset nodded and waved goodbye to her newest friend. “Yeah, see you then.”
“So… why’re we eatin’ lunch with Sonata Dusk again?” Applejack asked, staring warily towards the blue-haired girl stuffing tacos into her mouth.
“And why is she getting taco crumbs in my hair?!” Rainbow Dash demanded, scooting away as much as she could from the new girl.
“Sonata, I’m glad you agreed to eat lunch with us, but could you maybe slow down a bit?” Sunset asked, finding it difficult to look away from the spectacle of the world’s fastest taco-eater. “I wanted to ask how things went between you and your friends last night.”
Sonata swallowed the tacos in her mouth and licked her lips. “Oh, you’ll see! I think I came up with an ingenious plan!”
“SONATA!” The entire cafeteria shook and then froze before all eyes turned to the doorway to find two angry-looking girls stomping through. Whispers and dirty looks spread throughout the room, but Adagio and Aria powered through them and stopped at Sonata’s table. “What is the meaning of this?!” Adagio demanded as she dumped a brown paper bag onto the table.
“It’s your lunch!” Sonata answered.
“It’s your lunch!” Adagio corrected, pulling out a cheese sandwich from within. “I’m lactose intolerant! One bit of this could kill me!”
“What a drama queen,” Rarity whispered, causing Applejack to facepalm.
“Ooooh, that explains why the lunch I had didn’t taste right!” Sonata said.
“Honestly, how stupid can you be to confuse cheese with beef?” Aria asked.
Sunset nearly choked on her milk. “Y-You eat meat?”
“Sirens are omnivores,” Sonata explained.
“You bring idiocy to a whole new level!” Aria followed up.
“Whatever, just give me my lunch!” Adagio demanded.
“Oh, I threw it away! Sorry ‘bout that!” Sonata offered a taco to her friend. “But since you’re here, why not try a taco, and maybe sit down and talk about your day with us?”
Adagio grabbed the taco from Sonata’s hand and slammed it into the girl’s face. “I guess I have no choice. I’ll have to eat out. Let’s go, Aria.” Adagio and Aria turned to leave, with the former stopping for a moment to add, “Tomorrow, get it right!”
As the taco fell from Sonata’s face, Sunset asked with a deadpan look, “That was your ‘ingenious plan’?”
Sonata moaned and used a paper towel offered by Fluttershy to wipe her face. “I thought it would worrrrrrk!”
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “We’ll work on those two later. For now, though, I’m happy just having one friendship pupil to deal with.”
“But did you see how she smashed the taco in my face but left the rest intact?” Sonata asked. “That means she’s getting better! Getting her out of the house worked!”
“Um… yay?” Fluttershy asked.
“Next step is getting her to come to classes, and after that, we’ll all be eating tacos together around this table and coming up with ways to repair our jewels!” Sonata laughed, but then stopped when she noticed everybody’s eyes narrowed towards her. “What? I miss singiiiiing!”
Sunset Shimmer sighed and pressed her fingers on the bridge of her nose. “One step at a time, Sunset. One step at a time…”