//------------------------------//
// Deliberations 
// Story: Saving the Sirens. 
// by SkyeSilverwing 
//------------------------------//

“Twilight!”
Twilight Sparkle barely managed to regain her feet on the far side of the portal when she was enveloped in hugs all around by five of her best friends in this world. “It’s nice to see you girls, too.” She said, “Where is Sunset Shimmer?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I don’t know.” she said, “She just sent us all some cryptic message about how we made a big mistake and asked us to meet us here.”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah, she didn’t even tell us you were coming, Sugarcube.” She said. “You got any idea what is going on?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, I don’t know.” she said, “I brought a lot of books to help us figure it out, whatever it is.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Books?” she said incredulously, “What use are those when we have the Magic of Friendship to blast enemies in the face with?”
Twilight gave the girl a withering look. “That’s not really how it works.” She said, “Friendship is a passive magic. It is incredibly powerful, but it can’t hurt anyone. It mostly banishes power opposed to it, like hatred or greed.”
“That doesn’t mean it can’t hurt anyone.”
All of their eyes turned to see Sunset Shimmer walking up, her eyes filled with concern. “It just means that it can’t hurt them directly.” She said. “I am glad you’re all here. I just found out… We’ve done something awful.”
Twilight’s eyes filled with worry at the concern of her friend. “What happened, Sunset Shimmer?” she asked.
Sunset sighed. “I just saw the Sirens.” She said, “Without their gems, they can’t feed anymore. They… They’re starving to death. And it is all our fault.”
Twilight felt a tremor of sympathy run through her body.
Fluttershy was the first to speak. “This is terrible!” she said, “We have to find some way to help them.”
Rainbow Dash let out a growl. “I don’t see why it’s our problem.” She said, “They are the ones who cast their stupid spell over the whole school. We just beat them. It’s their own fault if their plan backfired. They deserve what they get.”
Sunset Shimmer’s face fell, and she turned to look at Rainbow directly. “Part of me wants to think like that, too.” She said, “But it sounds too much like the old me. Sure, maybe they deserve to die for what they tried to do. Maybe they deserve it. But who are we to make that call?”
Rainbow’s face fell, as she was unable to develop a response, but Sunset was not done.
Sunset turned to cast her gaze over the others. “What have they done, that I did not do worse at the Fall Formal?” she asked, “I deserved far worse of a punishment than I got for what I did, and you all know it. Instead, I got forgiveness, and love, and the best friends I have ever had.” Her eyes filled with tears. “If I was worthy of a second chance, why shouldn’t they be?”
All of the girls seemed a little lambasted by Sunset’s impassioned plea. She looked around at each of them. “We could leave them to die.” She said simply, “We could cling to the excuse that we did not know that our actions would destroy them. We could even try to claim that it is their own fault, and that they deserved it… But if we did, what does that make us? No one that I would want to be. And I don’t think that any of you would want to be either.”
Applejack stepped up and put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Sunset, if you think that we need to save them, and we can, I think we need to try.” She said, “Because we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.”
Rarity and Fluttershy both nodded, Pinkie Pie cheered, and Even Rainbow seemed ready to help. Their eyes turned to Twilight. 
The Erstwhile pony stared at the ground. “I was afraid this would happen.” She said, “The books I had were never that clear on the use of the gemstones… But I knew Star Swirl the Bearded would not have left them with the Sirens if it would not have meant their destruction to do otherwise. I wanted to believe that I was wrong. That or if I was right, I did not want any of you to find out about it.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped. “Why would you keep something like that from us?” she asked.
Twilight sighed. “I didn’t want any of you to be concerned about it… Especially if I could not find a way to make it right.” She replied, “Sometimes it is just best not knowing.”
Sunset and the others stared at Twilight for a long moment.
Sunset nodded to herself. “I can understand that, at least.” She said, ultimately, “I suppose if there was nothing that could be done for them, I would rather not have found out about it.”
The others nodded in agreement. “That said,” Rarity said, “Did you find any ways to help them?”
Twilight nodded slowly. “Maybe.” She said. “I found a spell a few months ago that allows me to take the Genotype of one race and apply it partially to members of another race. I think that it might be possible to modify it to suit our purposes.”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “You think you can do that?” she asked. 
Twilight smiled at her. “We will have to take them back to Equestria with us, but once we are there, I can contact the other Princesses.” Her smile broadened. “With all five of us working on it, we should be able to figure it out.”
Pinkie suddenly raised a hand. “Wait.” She said, with an excited tone to her voice, “Does that mean we all get to go through to Equestria?”
That brought an excited murmur from all of the girls who had been born on this side of the portal. Twilight had previously forbade even Sunset from going through the portal into Equestria, citing the possibility that, without all of their magic on this side of the portal to hold the connection, it was possible that the magic Connecting the books that held the portal open might be severed trapping them in Equestria until the next convergence.
Twilight sighed and nodded. The truth was, she was more than a little concerned that her human friends were too like her pony friends, which could cause issues if they were to meet. With each pair serving as a mirror to each other’s flaws, she feared they might not like each other. Add that to her worry about them being trapped, and it could be a very bad situation.
It could not be helped, though. They would need all the magic they could get if they wanted to have any chance at saving the Sirens. This was literally life or death.
“Alright.” Twilight said, finally, “Let’s go get them.”
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o.
They found the Sirens where Sunset had left them less than an hour before. When Twilight saw them, she could tell immediately that they were in trouble. They looked drawn and pale, the same way you would expect a starving pony to look after several days without food.
Sonata now lay sleeping with her head in Adagio’s lap, with Adagio gently stroking the back of her head. Aria sat against the wall, head resting on her knees. 
Both of the conscious sisters looked up as the group of girls walked into the alley, and Adagio’s eyes widened and pulled Sonata a little closer protectively. 
Aria stood, swaying slightly as just moved between the girls and her sisters. “What are you doing back?” she demanded, “Can’t you just let us die in peace?”
Sunset stepped forward. “We have discussed it, and we want to help you.” She said.
Aria glared at her. “I think we have had enough of your ‘help’.” She said bitterly.
Adagio held up a hand, forestalling her sister. “You can’t help us.” She said sadly, “Our heartstones are destroyed. Without them, even if you gave us all your magic, we couldn’t metabolize more than a trickle of it. All it would do is buy us some time.”
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward and looked at the three girls. “That time might be just what we need.” She said, “If we can get you back to Equestria, we might be able to keep you going long enough for us to work out a way to make it so that you can draw sustenance from regular food, just like anypony else.”
Adagio looked doubtful, but Sonata stirred from her lap, propping herself up on her elbows so that she could look at Twilight, a slightly hopeful look in her eyes. “Even tacos?” she asked in a thin, willowy voice.
Adagio’s resistance broke as she heard the tone of hope in her sister’s voice. She too, turned a hopeful gaze on Twilight. 
Twilight nodded and gave the girl a gentle smile. “Yes.” She said, “Especially Tacos.”
.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.