Sonata Dusk ignored the piercing stares and smattering of ugly remarks as she rushed through the school, burst into the cafeteria, and nearly threw herself on the table that the girls that had defeated her not long ago were sitting at.
“Please…” she heaved, trying to catch her breath, “You have to help me!”
Unsurprisingly, Sonata was immediately met with hostility,
“What in tarnation do you think you’re doing here?” Applejack rose.
“Oh, we’ll help you, all right. Help you get a well-deserved butt whooping!” Rainbow Dash followed suit. Sonata shrank back to defend herself, but before Rainbow could grab her by the collar, Sunset Shimmer stood in between them, outstretching her arms to block her friends’ advance.
“Wait!” she said, “Don’t just go attacking people out of nowhere, girls. Look.” Sunset moved aside to allow the others to get another look at Sonata Dusk.
The siren’s face was sunken. She looked tired, both from the running she had just done and from an apparent lack of sustenance. Her face carried the same desperation she spoke with. This was certainly no villain come by to harm anyone. Rainbow Dash and Applejack backed off.
“Sonata Dusk, right?” Sunset asked, putting a friendly hand on her former enemy’s shoulder. No one knew better than her how it felt to come back to this school after attempting to take it over—as oddly specific as that situation was. Sonata nodded.
“You look like you’ve seen better days. What is it that you need?”
“It’s Adagio, she’s started singing!” Sonata told them. This, of course, meant little to the HuMane 6, who looked at her and each other with expressions of confusion.
“Um, singing?” Fluttershy echoed. Sonata lightly knocked herself on the head,
“Oh, right, you girls aren’t from Equestria. Sunset, you know what I’m talking about, right?”
“I’m sorry, I never learned anything about sirens before leaving Equestria. I’m as lost as the others are,” Sunset admitted.
“Could you tell us why it’s so bad that she’s singing?” Rarity prodded.
“It’s not bad that she’s singing, it’s her singing that’s bad now that we totally blew up their amulet thingies!” Pinkie Pie attempted to joke, but the mood wasn’t right for it, and she was quickly chastised by Applejack with a light chop to the head.
“Actually,” Sonata continued, “we do still have a little bit of our magic, but it’s not enough to try to make people fight and get stronger like before. We have enough magic to carry a tune, and do one other thing: a swan song.” Sonata looked down. Her expression dropped even lower at the mention of this mysterious power, which she went on to explain.
“As long as we have magic, we sirens are nearly immortal. No amount of physical injury can kill us. Only two things can destroy us for good. One is deadly illnesses, and the second is a swan song. It’s a form of suicide in which a siren sings non-stop for five days straight. At the end of the five days, they fade away and die.”
“Oh, dear!” Rarity gasped and covered her mouth.
“Adagio started singing one?” Sunset asked. Sonata nodded again,
“Yes; it’s been two days already. All this time Aria Blaze and I have been trying to talk her out of it, but she just won’t listen! We’ve tried everything we can think of. We didn’t want to come to you because we were sure you wouldn’t help, but no one else in this world has magic—or the ability to touch people the way you do.”
“Why don’t you just cover her mouth or tackle her to get her to stop?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“It’s impossible. A barrier surrounds the singer to prevent things like that from happening. The only way to stop a swan song is to have the singer stop it themselves.”
“Why would magic like that even exist?” Fluttershy wondered.
“Because it’s the only way a siren gets to move on with honor and dignity. We can’t die of age, so when a siren feels that their time in the world is up, they sing a swan song. Usually it’s a happy occasion because swan songs are the most beautiful melodies we can sing. Loved ones bring by gifts and last tributes to the departing siren and say their goodbyes, but occasionally,” Sonata brightened up slightly when speaking of the culture of the swan song, but returned to her somber visage at the last part, “Occasionally there are deaths like this, where it’s too soon and a siren goes far before their time. Adagio feels so helpless, but I know there’s more we can do! We don’t have much magic anymore but there’s an entire world out there that we haven’t even explored yet! I don’t want to lose her!” Sonata began sobbing as she spoke. She was now attracting the attention of other cafeteria patrons, whose only glances at her up until then were of suspicion.
“Now don’t you worry none,” Applejack came over to Sonata Dusk and put her hand on her shoulder, “We’ll do everything we can to snap Adagio out of it. No matter what y’all have done in the past, I ain’t letting anyone die when they’re just a teenager.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash cut in, “How do we know this isn’t just another trick to get us all in one place so you can suck out our magic?”
“Rainbow Dash, look at her. Siren or not, Sonata is throwing herself at our mercy to help save her friend from dying. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt, like you did for me.” Sunset’s comment drove the point home to Rainbow.
“Right. I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head.
“Thank you, thank you so much! We really don’t deserve this!” Sonata squeezed Sunset Shimmer in a tight hug.
“Nonsense,” Sunset said, “Everyone deserves life.”