The Siren only glared at her offered arm. Sunset smiled slightly wider, trying to put her at ease. Finally, after a visible internal struggle, the Siren grabbed Sunset's hand and slowly got up from the ground.
Sunset quietly gagged as the Siren rose up; she could now easily smell that the Siren hadn't bathed in weeks, perhaps months given the grime that was on the purple girl's face.
As Sunset led the Dazzling out of the alley, the Siren paused, looking uncertain. Turning around, Sunset gave another reassuring smile, cringing as another strong gust of wind whipped at her hair and scarf.
After the wind gust had died down, the Siren slowly followed Sunset as she made her way back to her apartment. They walked in relative silence, only a couple of angry grunts coming from the Siren when Sunset blocked another gust of wind from ripping through the minimal insulation her worn clothes provided.
Entering the lobby of the small apartment building where Sunset lived, the pair walked in to one of the two elevators, which chimed softly as its doors closed.
Sunset glanced at the Dazzling, now easily seeing the dirt and grime that covered her. A few patches of her hoodie and sweatpants had rips or holes in them, and the stars on her pigtail ties were chipped and a couple were outright missing.
Her hair was matted and greasy, some of the teal highlights barely visible. Sunset could also swear that there was a small patch of dried blood on her head as well, although with all the dirt and grease it was impossible to tell for sure.
This was a far cry from a once beautiful creature (although she did admit to her friends that the 80s-like clothes that they wore to school were a bit gaudy), broken and starving, voiceless and ambitionless.
Sunset had obviously been staring long enough at the Dazzling for the other girl to notice, casting an aside glance before glowering in her direction. Deciding not to push matters too much, Sunset pressed the button for the fourth floor and the elevator started its climb.
After a couple more seconds of silence, Sunset said, "W-we were never properly introduced, I don't think. I'm Sunset Shimmer, what's your name?" She gave the Siren a friendly smile, hoping to figuratively crack the ice a bit.
The Siren only glared at Sunset for a moment, then sighed and looked away from her. "It's Aria," she finally muttered. "Aria Blaze."
Sunset only nodded. Obviously Aria didn't really feel in the mood for talking at the moment. "I want to apologize again, Aria. I never intended to harm any of you girls."
"Well it's a bit late for that," Aria huffed under breath as the elevator doors opened with another chime.
"Be patient, Sunset." Sunset reminded herself, sighing mentally. "If Twilight and the others could forgive me, I can do the same for her."
Exiting the elevator, Sunset and Aria walked down the carpeted hallway. Sunset stopped in front of one of the doors at the far end of the hallway, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a keyring.
Fumbling to find the right key, she finally opened the door to her apartment, flicking a lightswitch in the narrow entrance, casting the apartment's hallway in artificial light.
As she set down her backpack by the door and opened a small wall-closet on the left side, she pointed down the hall and said, "The bathroom is at the end of the hall on the right of the living room; take as long a shower as you want."
Aria muttered a neutral response, but pushed past the girl and made her way down the hallway, dropping Sunset's jacket on the floor as she went. A moment later, Sunset heard a door slam, followed shortly by running water.
Sighing contentedly, she finished putting away her winter gear and entered the living room, throwing her backpack on the leather couch. In the middle of the room was a large tree, blocking part of the view out of the windows.
Mechanically, Sunset went behind the tree, bent down and plugged in an electrical cord. The tree lit up with reds, greens, blues and yellows, reflecting off some of the ornaments and the waxed exterior of her Les Paul, which was on its stand in a corner near the partial wall of the connected kitchen.
After closing the blinds on the windows, she walked down the hall to her bedroom, hanging her leather jacket that she had grabbed from where Aria dropped it on a small knob on the back of the door. She was going to have to get that cleaned before she even thought about putting it on again, but it wasn't like it had been doing her any good against the cold in her backpack when she found Aria.
Cracking her neck to release some previously unnoticed tension, she opened one of her dresser drawers and started digging through it. After a few moments of searching, she had gathered a spare set of clothes for Aria to wear and went out and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Aria?" she called. Receiving no answer, she cracked the door open and asked, "Is it all right if I bring in a pair of clothes?"
The running water of the shower, combined with some low, off-key singing was the only answer she got. Aria must have been enjoying her first shower in a long time to not hear Sunset's question.
Deciding that she would leave the clothes anyway, Sunset spied Aria's old hoodie and sweatpants and quickly switched them out for the spare set of clothes. As she closed the door, she felt something inside one of the pockets of the hoodie. Reaching her hand into the pocket, she pulled out a small paper bundle which was wrapped around something.
Curious as to what it held, she walked into the kitchen and placed the worn clothes on top of the garbage container. Sitting down in one of the small kitchen table's chairs, she unwrapped the bundle, revealing the thing to be a broken red jewel. After a few seconds of staring at the shards, she recognized it as the broken remains of one of the Sirens' pendants.
Putting down the broken pendant, she saw that it was wrapped in a photo. Picking it up, she looked at the photo, which was of the three Sirens, for once actually happy, standing near a banner of the Wondercolts. A few students were milling about in the background, and she could just barely see one of her boots facing away from the camera.
"They must have taken this right after I gave them the tour..." she realized, putting the photo pack down. While it was crumpled, it wasn't really that damaged. Aria must have carefully wrapped and re-wrapped the photo around the pendant shards many times for it to look as worn as the photo was.
Breaking her out of her thoughts, she heard the opening of the bathroom door and quickly hid the pendant shards and photo in one of her jeans pockets.
A couple of minutes later, Aria skulked in, wearing the clothes that Sunset had set out for her. While Sunset's clothes would probably not have fit properly on the Siren anyway, the fact that Aria was little more than bones made the magenta long-sleeve shirt and black jeans all the more loose-fitting.
Aria's hair was still visibly quite wet, although she apparently was able to dry it enough so that it wouldn't drip water onto the floor. Without being tied into pigtails, her hair fell well past her waist.
"Is there anything to eat here?" Aria muttered, brushing one of her long bangs out of her eyes.
"She finally speaks." Sunset thought semi-sarcastically. Putting on a friendly smile, she said, "Sure I'll fix something up quick."
With a "humph" from Aria, whether it was just something she normally did or it was actually out of satisfaction wasn't clear to Sunset, the fiery-haired girl searched through the kitchen cabinets. A moment of searching later, and she pulled out a couple boxes of mac'n'cheese along with some leftovers from the fridge.
"You were lucky that I found you," Sunset began, setting some water to boil for the noodles. "They were calling for the temperature to drop to around minus twenty."
"Yeah, thanks, I guess." Aria mumbled, swirling a finger around on the table in apparent lack of interest as she sat down.
Setting a dish of leftover lasagna in the microwave to reheat, Sunset pushed further, "How-how did you end up on the streets?"
"I already told you!" Aria grumbled, crossing her arms and glaring at Sunset.
"I was just curious," Sunset replied, taking out the reheated lasagna, putting some macaroni on the plate, and handing Aria the plate along with some cutlery.
As soon as Sunset let go, Aria dug into the food, her ravenousness causing her to forgo any table manners she otherwise might have demonstrated.
Chuckling under breath, Sunset placed some more leftovers in the microwave and sat down across from Aria, who had already finished most of her plate. She smiled as Aria quickly went up for more macaroni when she finished her plate.
"You know you could have come to me or one of my friends for help, right?" Sunset asked, getting up as the microwave finished heating her food. She sighed as Aria only glared at her in return.
"Well you're talkative." Sunset muttered, lightly munching on her food. The only answer she received was another glare from Aria as the Siren went up to get a third helping.
"She needs it more than I do." Sunset decided, watching Aria serve herself the rest of the food left on the counter.
As Aria sat back down, she brushed some hair out of her eyes and eyed Sunset, who calmly stared back. Rolling her eyes, she went about finishing her food.
"Look," Sunset began, breaking the tense silence the kitchen had fallen into, "you have every right to be angry at me. But I don't appreciate being given the cold shoulder when I just saved your life."
Aria only stared at Sunset. Sunset couldn't tell if it was because Aria was in shock from her experiences and the cold, or if she always acted this way. Getting up, she took Aria's plate and placed it in the small kitchen sink along with her own.
Without saying a word, Aria pushed her chair back from the table and left the kitchen, flopping onto the old leather couch in the living room and flicking on the bulky cathode-tube TV. She flicked through a few channels before settling on one that was playing a marathon of some crime thriller series.
While she washed the supper dishes, Sunset asked, "Do you mind turning that down? I need to do some homework soon and I don't need the TV distracting me."
She heard an annoyed grunt come from the living room, but the volume of the TV did decrease.
Finishing the dishes, she went out into the living room and grabbed her backpack. She walked down the hall and into her bedroom, ignoring the irritated gaze of Aria and keeping the door ajar to keep an ear out for any activity from the Siren.
While Sunset was decent at math and physics, it didn't stop the subjects from being as boring as could be. After what felt like an eternity reviewing subjects in her textbooks, she stopped and got up from the bed she’d been sprawled on. Accidently knocking her backpack off the bed as she got up, she opened her bedroom door and walked out into the hallway.
The living room was silent, although she did spy a bit of Aria's hair over the couch. As she entered the living, she quietly giggled to herself as she saw the rather interesting position the Siren had adopted.
Aria's unkempt and loose bangs covered most of her face, only her nose poked through the mass of hair. A light snore came from beneath the hair, signaling that the Siren was fast asleep.
Sunset glanced at the clock hanging on the far wall of the living room, and jumped a bit. More time had passed than she had originally thought: she was going to have to go to bed soon if she wanted to wake up early enough to get to school.
Turning back down the hallway, she searched her linen closet, pulling out a flannel blanket. She walked back to the living room and gently pulled the blanket over Aria, who shifted a little as she let go, then turned off the lights and unplugged the Christmas tree.
Yawning, she turned back and went into her bedroom. After readying herself for bed, she pulled out the novel that she was working on and read for a bit. As she turned off the lamp on her nightstand, she mulled over the events of the day before sleep soon overtook her.
***
A shrill and insistent beeping broke through the haze of sleep in Sunset's head as she opened her eyes to glare at her alarm clock: six-forty-five came too early for her liking.
Groaning, she turned off her alarm clock and slowly stretched. As she got out of bed, she slipped her feet into a pair of sunset-orange slippers emblazoned with her cutie mark. She stretched and yawned again and opened her door, shuffling down the hallway and into the living room.
She could tell that Aria was still fast asleep as she entered the living room. Giving a tired smirk, she walked into the kitchen and turned on one of the lights over the stove before turning and opening the fridge. She grabbed a carton of eggs and moved back to the stove.
Soon the sound of sizzling eggs filled the apartment along with the smell of toast and coffee.
Sunset quietly hummed to herself as she flipped the pair of eggs she was cooking. "Hopefully I can make progress with Aria when I get back from school." she mused as she continued frying her eggs.
When her breakfast was ready, she slipped into one of the chairs around the table, jerking up as the photo and pendant that she decided to slip into one of her pajama pockets poked her. Reaching in to the pocket, she placed the re-wrapped pendant on the table.
After she finished her breakfast, she grabbed the pendant and quickly went to her room to change. Throwing on a dark sweatshirt, she put the pendant in her jeans pocket, deciding to confront Aria about what she found in the Siren's old clothes this evening.
She stared sadly at her leather jacket as it hung on the door, wishing she had a second one, but she was not wearing it after Aria wore it and got it filthy. Grabbing her backpack, she stuffed her textbooks and notepad into it and walked out of her room, ready for another school day.
The clock informed her that she still had some time before she had to leave, so she quietly sat down in the old easy-chair in the living room and turned on the TV. She scrambled to lower the volume as it turned on, wiping her brow in relief as she saw the quick blast of the TV hadn't woken Aria.
Watching the morning news, Sunset noted the frigid forecast for the next few days. She looked over at Aria, who had shifted during the night to lie on her side, her long hair reaching and slightly spreading out on the floor. She sadly smiled at Aria before looking back to the TV.
Soon, she turned off the TV and grabbed her backpack, moving out into the entryway and putting on her winter gear. Unlocking the door, she quietly left the apartment and locked the door as another day of fitting in as a teenager awaited her.
The walk over to CHS was just as cold, if not more so, than the one she had the night before. She hugged her scarf closer to her face as a gust of wind blasted full force on her.
Soon enough, she saw the wings of the high school appear on the horizon, relief flooding her as she saw the end of her frosty torment.
Stepping up her stride a bit, she again waved to a few students who were arriving from either the bus or their parents dropping them off. She was met only with cold stares.
Lowering her head, she watched her feet move as she approached the entrance of CHS, pushing the doors open and sighing as the heating of the building along with that of the student body started to permeate her body.
Thankfully mornings were not as busy in the halls as the late afternoons and Sunset quickly pushed her way towards her locker. As she reached it, she put down her backpack and searched through her pockets to find her locker key.
After she put away her winter gear, she proceeded to her first class, although her mind kept drifting to Aria, hoping that she wouldn't find the apartment in disarray when she returned. All through the morning, she moved from class to class, lunch hour finally rescuing her from the droning of her teachers.
Entering the cafeteria, she grabbed a tray and waited in line. After she was served, she searched the crowd, soon spotting her five friends at their usual table.
"Hey Sunset!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as Sunset sat down beside Applejack.
Sunset mumbled a response, her mind turning yet again to the Dazzling in her apartment. Absentmindedly, she munched on her food, a couple of her friends exchanging glances as she continued on eating quietly.
"Is something on your mind, dear?" Rarity asked, breaking through Sunset's thoughts.
"What?" Sunset asked, shaking her head to clear it of the haze. "Oh, not really. Nothing more than usual anyway."
"Don't you worry none about your exams." Applejack said, biting on an apple and giving Sunset a reassuring pat on the back. "We all know that yer smart; almost as smart as Twilight -- no offense."
"None taken." Sunset replied automatically, smirking as her friend tried to cheer her up with one of their inside jokes.
Obviously her expression still remained clouded, as her friends all gave her concerned looks. However, they decided to not bring it up: if something was bothering Sunset that was important, she knew to tell them.
"Hey, does anyone want to hear the new song I came up with?" Rainbow Dash asked, strumming a few power chords. At her friends' rather lack of interest, she huffed, "Fine, the solo needs some work anyway."
"Can't you talk about something else than your guitar, or sports, or how 'awesome' you are?" Rarity asked, taking a dainty bite out of her sandwich. "You've been unbearable at points since we stopped the Dazzlings."
"You do have to admit; my guitar playing was awesome there." Dash stated, giving a quick belch after taking a swig of soda just to annoy Rarity.
"D-did you ever stop to think of what happened to those girls after we defeated them?" Sunset asked halfheartedly, nudging the last few scraps of food on her plate with her fork.
"No." Rainbow Dash bluntly stated, flicking a string on her guitar.
"Nope." Pinkie piped up.
The rest of her friends echoed the same sentiment, casting another round of strange looks at Sunset.
"Not really, dear." Rarity said. Scratching her head and raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Why do you ask?"
"I-I was just wondering. Like, maybe we should have gone after them. They've sung all their lives, taking something like that away from them could be pretty catastrophic." Sunset said, finishing her drink.
"If you ask me, they got what they deserved." Rainbow replied, shooting Sunset a weird look. "Those girls were a bunch of wh--"
"Wonderful singers!" Rarity interrupted, placing a hand over Dash's mouth. After receiving a few questioning looks from the group as well as a glare from Dash, she continued, "Well, objectively speaking of course." When she still received a couple of unconvinced stares, she laughed awkwardly, "And while their necklaces were still active. Go team?"
"Whatever." Dash muttered, taking Rarity's hand off her mouth.
A moment later, and the school bells were clanging again, signaling that the students needed to get to their next class.
"Well, I guess I've got to run, girls. See ya!" Sunset exclaimed, grabbing her backpack and heading out the cafeteria doors into the crowd of students scrambling for class.
***
"Finally!" Sunset mentally cheered as the school bells rang once more to end the day. Pushing back against her desk, she got up from her seat and put her biology textbook in her backpack.
As she left the classroom, she was caught in the sea of students, once again all milling in the halls of the high school. At least this time it started to thin faster, as friends needed not to catch up on as many things as yesterday.
Approaching her locker, Sunset cringed slightly as she heard her name being called by Pinkie. She turned around and put on a rather forced smile, her need to get home causing her patience to run a bit thin.
"Hi girls!" she called, turning back to her locker.
"Hey, what's got you in such a rush?" Rainbow Dash asked as Sunset hurriedly put on her winter gear.
"More homework," Sunset lied. In reality, the homework she received today was next to nothing. That was where being protégé to Celestia had at least one of its pros: you had consistent tasks.
"Real killer. I wish I could stay and chat, but I want to get a good start on it before I get too tired." She finished putting on her scarf and turned to head towards the exit.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rarity proclaimed, grabbing one of Sunset's arms. Staring concernedly into Sunset's eyes, she said, "I'm not having one my friends going back out into that horrid weather for a second night. I'll drive you home."
"I-I appreciate the offer, Rarity," Sunset said, squirming out of the white girl's grasp. "But it's really no big deal. It's not much colder than yesterday."
Rarity gave Sunset a warning glare. Sunset gulped. She knew that that face that Rarity had meant she wouldn't take "no" for answer. Sighing, she said, her shoulders slumping, "Fine. I'll wait by the exit."
Pushing her way through the thinning crowd of students, she stopped beside the front entrance, looking through the glass doors at the courtyard outside.
She could tell that it was windier than last night; wisps and small tornado-like drifts of snow were blowing in multiple directions. A moment later and Rarity appeared, dressed in a fluffy white parka and mitts and earmuffs that matched her hair.
Her friend motioned for her to come, to which she hesitantly complied. As she followed Rarity outside, Sunset put up an arm to block some of the fierce wind in the courtyard.
Soon they were out in the parking lot, the gales becoming even stronger now that there was no building to deflect them.
Rarity fished in her parka's pocket and pulled out her keys, clicking the fob for her car to unlock its doors. A white Mini chirped as she pressed the button, and Rarity opened the passenger door.
Thanking her, Sunset sat down on the leather seat, placing her backpack on the floor. She'd never admit it, but she still had some lingering apprehension whenever entering one of these things. The fact they propelled themselves without steam, magic or horsepower was off-putting to her.
Getting into the driver's seat, Rarity turned the ignition, the small car's engine rumbling to life. After fastening her seatbelt, Rarity said before driving out of the parking lot, "Are you sure you don't have something bothering you, darling? I didn't want to make a fuss, but you're making a different fashion statement than you normally do. I mean, you'd never part with your leather jacket."
"Oh, yeah." Sunset muttered, rubbing her arm awkwardly at Rarity's prodding. "I spilled some jam or something on it. I'm going to have to get it cleaned."
Unconvinced, Rarity just shook her head and replied, "All right. Just make sure you tell us if you do have something that is bothering you."
"Yeah." Sunset breathed, taking her mitts off.
The rest of the quick drive was made in complete silence. As Sunset got out of the car, she thanked Rarity again and waved as her friend drove off.
Turning around, she entered her apartment building and went up one of the elevators.