Three Little Visitors: Pt 6
In belated fashion, the group greeted Twilight back to Earth with a renewed stab at friendship and forced cheer. Sunset herself directed the muscles in her face to morph into something approaching a smile and hugged Twilight earnestly. Given everything that had happened, she was honestly happy to see Twilight.
“It’s so great seeing you all again,” Twilight said, beaming. “I don’t know how, but it always feels like I’ve been away for ages whenever I visit.”
“I dare say that it’s just your royal duties,” Rarity said charitably. “I suppose they keep you busy.”
“I thought Princess’s had lots of servants and stuff to do that for them,” Rainbow wondered.
“I don’t really have any servants,” Twilight commented, shrugging.
Rainbow frowned. “Then what’s the point?” she asked, speaking in a tone that suggested all sense had departed the world.
“So what’s up?” Twilight inquired. “What’s this about the sirens? Are they around?” Twilight looked left and right, apparently with the hope of seeing them standing close by. Everyone gave each other sideways glances under Twilight’s encouraging smile. “Sunset told me that they’d changed.”
Rainbow let out a snort of laughter. “Oh, is that how she put it?”
“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, frowning. “Am I not getting something?”
Probably with the intention of getting to the bottom of things, she turned to Sunset. Then she paused, her mouth half-way to forming a word.
“Yeah,” Sunset began awkwardly. She side-stepped, allowing Twilight to see the little figure standing behind her. “They changed. Just not how any of us expected.”
Twilight stared for a moment or two, and then walked hurriedly over and knelt down. Sonata looked at her briefly, but was still too listless to do anything else. Twilight took her chin gently in her hand, and looked closely into her face. Then she tugged at a lock of hair, gripped her shoulders briefly, and then turned her around a full circle. Everyone watched her with a mixture of fascination and confusion.
“Amazing,” Twilight breathed. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Aging spells are advanced enough, but this...” she stood up, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “When did this happen?”
“We don’t know,” Sunset said. “We found them like this a few days ago. Although we think they might have been like this since a little after the battle of the bands.”
“They looked sick when I saw them last,” Fluttershy added helpfully.
“They?” Twilight asked. “Where are the other two?”
“Ah,” Pinkie Pie said guiltily. “Well, you see...”
Twilight looked between them all and sighed. “What happened?”
As Sunset’s apartment was the closest of their houses to the school, Sunset was soon playing host to their entire coterie in her patently too small apartment. Twilight took the chair, whilst at Sunset’s insistence Rarity and Fluttershy took the sofa with Sonata. Applejack sat on the floor whilst Rainbow lounged next to her, and Sunset stood in the kitchen, leaning on the counter.
“I’m so sorry, Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight said wholeheartedly. “I know that you were honestly trying to help them.”
“Yeah, well,” Sunset said gloomily. “That didn’t work out, did it?”
“Oh come on,” Applejack protested. “T’ain’t over till it’s over, Granny Smith always says. We’ll find them.”
“We should be out there,” Rainbow said, punching a fist into her palm.
“We don’t know where to look,” Applejack pointed out, giving Rainbow a raised eyebrow.
“So, what?” Rainbow asked, spreading her arms. “We sit here and do nothing?”
“No,” Twilight interjected. “We need to find out where they are. To do that, we need information. It’s only mid afternoon, we have time.”
“What kind of information, Twilight?” Rarity asked curiously.
“Well, where did they live?”
“In a broken down warehouse in the industrial sector,” Rainbow answered blithely. “It’s kinda scorched a bit now though, thanks tot he blue arsonist over here.” She jabbed a thumb at Sonata.
Twilight shook her head. “I don’t mean that, I mean before. When they were older. Surely they lived somewhere else then?” She looked around at them all.
“Oh...” Rainbow said, blinking a few times. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. They didn’t look homeless back then, did they?”
“That’s a good point,” Sunset muttered. Her immediate impression was to ask Sonata where she thought this former residence might be; if Aria and Adagio knew of it, Sonata would surely know as well. But there again lay Sunset’s uncertainty, her hesitancy.
Should she ask Sonata? Should she even look for the other two? He desire to help had led to all this trouble to start with. Why hadn’t she simply done what she knew to be the right thing, and simply informed the authorities? Sure, she’d told herself that it was because their sudden transformation was an unknown, potentially dangerous phenomena, and whilst she knew that to be true, that hadn’t been why she’d done things the way that she had. The reason that she’d took them in herself had been because she wanted to be the one to do it. She’d felt responsible for it.
Seen from a dispassionate point of view, it was arrogant of her. Arrogant and irresponsible. Sure she had her friends to help her, but they were six teenagers taking on the role of parentage.
“Sunset?” Twilight asked. “You look like you have an idea.”
Sunset looked up. “I...” she hesitated. Her friends weren’t stupid. They would figure out to ask Sonata sooner or later. Sunset couldn’t let them do it though, there had to be another option. And then it occurred to her. “Yeah, I do.”
As they all knew, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna didn’t leave the school for a good hour or so after the students went home. Five o’clock was pushing it, but when they arrived at the office, Sunset breathed a sigh of relief to hear voices from within.
“I got this, guys,” she said to her friends. We shouldn’t be a minute.
Her friends all looked faintly surprised.
“Shouldn’t we come in too?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, what’s the deal?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s nothing,” Sunset said hastily. “I just want to ask something personal as well. Nothing about any of this,” she explained in reply to the curious looks this elicited. Sunset was forced to give into a little duplicity here. “Just something about my grades.”
“Oooh,” Rainbow said, sneering. “It’s okay guys, she just doesn’t want to hurt our feelings.” She placed both hands on her heart like a Shakespearian actor and let out a protracted sound of false agony. “Oh woe is we poor stupid people!”
“It’s not like that,” Sunset grumbled, the heat rising in her cheeks.
“If it’s about the speech, dear,” Rarity said. “I think you’re going a bit far. We all have to give presentations as well, and we’re not—“
“It’s not about the speech,” Sunset cut in. “Please, it’s just something personal, okay?”
Her friends all looked at each other. Sunset felt a little guilty for snapping at them.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“It’s fine,” Applejack said robustly, clapping her on the shoulder. “Personal stuff ain’t nuthin ta be ashamed of. T’ain’t none of our business to ask.” Here she turned to Rainbow and Rarity to bestow a stern gaze upon them. Rarity looked suitably uncomfortable, and even Rainbow had the grace to turn a little pink, even if she did roll her eyes and fold her arms contemptuously.
“Thanks,” Sunset said with a tight smile. “I’ll be right back.”
The inside of the office was darker than last time given the latter time of day. Even though the sun was shining directly through the window now as opposed to the oblique angle of noon, the sun simply didn’t seem to have the same power to light up the space as it had.
Principal Celestia sat behind her desk as before, the glow of her computer monitor giving her face a whitish glow. Vice Principal Luna on the other hand, perhaps because of her similarity to the Luna in Equestria, seemed to emit her own dark radiance that meant, even in the darkened corner next to the photocopier, she was easily seen.
“Welcome back, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said, smiling. “I assume everything has worked...” her sentence tailed off. “You only have one of the girls with you,” she observed. Luna looked around as well at this, frowning.
“Yes,” Sunset began, but paused as Celestia gestured for her to sit. She lifted Sonata onto the seat next to her and sat down.
“Is something wrong?” Luna asked, eying Sonata with a concerned-looking gaze.
Sunset took a moment to properly gather her thoughts. “Yes,” she began. She proceeded to explain the gist of what had happened in the past few hours, and her concern of what might happen as a result. Both Celestia and Luna looked grave and worried.
“Those poor children,” Luna whispered, apparently to herself. Owing to the room’s dimensions, her voice carried so that everyone could hear her.
“This is a most serious turn of events,” Celestia concurred, interlacing her fingers.
“That’s mainly why I’ve come,” Sunset said tensely. “I wondered if maybe you had records here of where the Dazzlings used to live.”
Celestia raised her eyebrows. “You believe that might be where they are?”
“I can think of nowhere else they could go that wasn’t some other makeshift home,” Sunset stated. “If they found somewhere else after leaving my apartment, it may take weeks to find them, if at all.”
“I have their records here,” Luna said, closing a filing cabinet. “Hard copies of their applications. Incomplete at best, but it does have an address on it. I dare say they didn’t intend to stay at school long after conquering the world.”
“Oh my,” Celestia said, looking rather surprised when she looked at the file. “They certainly did have high opinions of themselves.”
She turned the file around and showed Sunset the address. Sunset’s eyebrows shot up her forehead faster than someone stepping on hot coals. “Stepton House Road!” she exclaimed.
“Indeed,” Celestia said, shaking her head. “Just about the most expensive urban land in the city. Taking a house there...” she let her sentence tail off impressively.
“If they left or were evicted from that home after Sunset Shimmer and her friends stopped them,” Luna said speculatively, “I can’t imagine the house being occupied very quickly. It may still be vacant.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Sunset said, her brow contracting seriously.
“You said that this was the main reason that you had come to us,” Celestia added, fixing Sunset with a wary look. “Did the person we sent you to—“. She paused and pursed her lips as Luna coughed pointedly. “Did the person I sent you to, help you?”
Sunset bit her lip, the contents of her kitchen drawer springing back into her mind. “She got me the girl’s paperwork, yes,” she said, inclining her head.
Celestia looked somewhat relieved, although Luna’s folded arms tightened and her lip curled. “Good. So you have the paperwork then? I took the liberty of putting their applications through beforehand. Once we have those papers we can fill in the gaps in our information and we can set up a date for their admission.”
“That wasn’t the only thing she sent though,” Sunset added awkwardly. She took a deep breath as Celestia and Luna waited for her to go on. “She set me up for welfare. I received a check in the mail along with their papers.”
Sunset was just steeling herself to say what else had come with it, when Luna and Celestia both seemed to catch on without being needed to be told. The colour drained from their faces, and Luna’s folded arms unknotted.
“Oh my...” Celestia breathed.
“I told you that she couldn’t be trusted!” Luna erupted.
“I know, Luna,” Celestia said, still looking distracted.
“You can be sure that she hasn’t done this out of the kindness of her heart!” Luna carried on.
“Most likely she hasn’t,” Celestia agreed, staring into space.
“She’s played you for a fool!”
“So it would seem.”
Luna pursed her lips, the anger in her face giving way to irritation. “Why must you always agree with me when I’m right, sister? It makes it so hard to argue with you.”
Celestia paused, the shadow of a smile briefly appearing on her worried face. “In order to grant you welfare on behalf of the Dazzlings,” Celestia began, fixing Sunset with a serious look, “you would have to be granted legal status as their caregiver.”
Sunset felt the heat in her face intensify. If her name were a description of her physical attributes, then she’d no longer be shimmering, but blazing.
“I’m their... their...” she swallowed. “Legal guardian.”
A long pause followed this, after which Luna let out a sound of disgust. “I told you that woman was nothing but trouble!”
Celestia ignored her, but sat there regarding Sunset Shimmer grimly over her interlocked fingers. After a little while she sighed.
“I trust that you understand what this means?” she asked.
“I think so,” Sunset said, suddenly not sure.
“Among many other things, it means that, officially, any and all disciplinary issues that the school has must be reported to you, as their legal caregiver.” She licked her lips. “Which in short means that the very moment any of them acts up to such a degree that the parent needs to be notified, it will be discovered that you are said caregiver. And at that point, we the staff would be required by law to inform the authorities to your situation.”
Sunset’s insides went cold. “And then it might even be discovered that you had a role in it all.”
“Precisely,” Celestia said gravely.
“If I ever get my hands on that harpy...” Luna growled.
“But isn’t she endangering herself in all of this?” Sunset asked desperately. “Surely as the person who actually orchestrated all of this—“
“She’s a wary person, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia sighed. “And a clever one as well. I feel certain that she will have covered her tracks very well indeed. No, it was foolish indeed to place any degree of trust in her.”
Luna’s fiery expression softened a little at this. “But it was a necessary one though, sister.”
“I thought so at the time, yes,” Celestia said. “Well, it can’t be helped now. We can only pray that they do not give trouble in school. Or that we can intercept any disciplinary action. Although even that will be considered suspicious if done enough times.”
Sunset bit her lip. Of all the things to be placing all of their hopes on, the siren’s compliance to authority was not one of the first of their traits Sunset would have chosen. In fact it was pretty far down the list. Like, a sticky note stuck to the end of the list, kind of far down. Underlined in red ink. With a skull and cross-bones drawn next to it.
“Oh, Sunset!”
Sunset jumped a little as she exited the office. “W-What?” she asked, bewildered.
Rarity, who’d been the one to cry out, pointed to the window. Sunset’s mouth fell open as she stared at the sky. In the opposite direction to the sun, like a mighty hand stretching forward across the sky, was a dark cloud, deep and black as smoke, blighting the skyline. In front of the window, little flakes of snow were beginning to tumble down onto the already frosted grass.
“The storm’s early,” Applejack said darkly. “Never trust a weatherman.”
“Did you get the address?” Flutterhsy asked, her voice full of nervous concern.
“Yes,” Sunset confirmed, holding up a piece of scrap paper.
“Lets hope they’re there,” Rainbow said, her expression set. “Where to?”
As Sunset had described, the area of town where the siren’s former residence stood was on the richer end of town. In summer the area was intensely green, almost unnaturally so, interspersed with the myriad colours of exotic flowers maintained by the gardening staff of the sensitive home owners. In winter, the area lost a great deal of its beauty to an austerity imposed by the grey faces of the house fronts, and the skeletal winter trees that stood like wasted hands clawing at the sky.
Sunset rather hoped that none of these chilling thoughts were occurring to her friends. The rapidly thickening snow only served to compound the dismal scene, since the blank whiteness blocked from sight even the faded colour of the houses and road signs. The entire place was very cold, the wind biting at their cheeks and noses.
“It’s a good thing we went back for these!” Rarity called over the howling wind, indicating the bags Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hauling. They had returned to Sunset’s apartment before heading out, retrieving the clothes that Rarity had made for the girls, and Sunset was heartily glad for it now. If this storm persisted, the other two sirens would be frozen to death before the next day’s sunrise.
Holding tight onto Sonata’s gloved hand, she could still feel the girl shivering violently. Sunset had tried to persuade her to remain at the apartment, but Sonata had been firm; she refused to stay behind. It couldn’t have been plainer when they’d exited out onto the first two inches of fresh snow that Sonata had never seen it before. Sunset didn’t imagine that they got much weather like that where ever Sonata originated from. The sight of the mysterious weather seemed to have steeled her resolve to find her sisters.
“Whoa...” Rainbow breathed, impressed.
The address they had come to wasn’t the largest affair in the neighbourhood, but it was the most unusual. It had a bone-white facade with a rich purple trim, and gold-painted double doors; Adagio’s trademark colours. Like many grand houses, it attempted to make itself glorious by borrowing from an older style, in this case that of the ancient Roman portico with an arrangement of white pillars, and a 19th century theme on the windows. A fountain to one side displayed an impressive statue of a rearing hippocampus, with three beautiful maidens standing in classical postures before it.
Sunset curled her lip a little at the blatant, tacky ego-stroking the sirens had evidently indulged in during their stay here. The house itself had evidently not suffered too greatly in the relatively short time since the battle of the bands, but the dilapidation of the place could be easily seen in the untended lawns and overflowing letterbox.
“Notice of Eviction,” Pinkie read aloud, looking at a bright yellow sign stuck to the golden doors. “Do you think that means they’re—“ She cut off as Sunset gave the doors a push. They swung open with a creak, letting a flurry of snowflakes into the dark interior. “Well, they might still not be here,” she said defensively.
“Look, there’s a light,” Applejack said, pointing through a doorway to a set of stairs.
Pinkie paused, and then grinned awkwardly. “It could be someone else,” she said feebly.
“She’s right,” Twilight said, frowning. “It might be someone else up there. Keep on your guard, girls.”
They crept inside, Twilight trying politely to shrug off Pinkie’s grateful hug. Sonata tugged her hand from Sunset’s and walked more confidently inside, looking around. Before Sunset could stop her, she let out a worried little mew and pelted towards the stairs.
“Sonata, stop!” Sunset hissed. Sonata didn’t listen, but disappeared into the room with the stairs and out of sight.
They all ran after her, trying to move as quietly as possible. The thick and luxuriant carpets made this relatively easy, their footfalls masked in the fabric and thin layer of dust they were kicking up from the floor.
Up a wide set of stairs they found themselves on an extensive landing with four different hallways. Sunset caught the end of Sonata’s ponytail whipping out of sight to the left and followed. They passed door after door; the place could have been an apartment complex in and of itself.
“Music room, bedroom, bathroom, storage room,” Pinkie sang in a whisper, skipping silently down the corridor as she looked in at all the rooms.
“Pinkie!” Rarity hissed. “We need to be quiet!”
They all came to a halt as Sonata stopped, looking around as though lost.
“What?” Pinkie asked, cupping a hand to her ear.
“I said you need to be quiet!” Rarity hissed louder.
“Girls—“ Sunset began.
“I can’t hear what you’re saying,” Pinkie said in a stage whisper.
“Rarity don’t!” Twilight gasped, as both she and Sunset realised what was about to happen.
Rarity took a deep breath. “I said that you need to be quiet!”
She blinked, looking around at all of the tense and shocked faces staring at her. Her face went pink.
A sound up ahead. Everyone’s heads snapped in its direction, not daring to move. Up ahead on the right was a door that was open. A feeble, sputtering light like that of a low flame issued from it.
“Did you hear that?” Rainbow asked, her eyes darting around in the dark.
“Wind maybe?” Applejack suggested. “The draft in here is terrible.”
“Well that’s what you get with an over-the-top heating system and no proper insulation,” Rarity muttered, apparently unable to stop herself rolling her eyes.
“No, I think that’s a someone,” Sunset said tensely.
“We won’t know unless we go check it out,” Twilight stated.
None of them moved.
Sunset looked around at her friends without moving. Sonata alone of them seemed eager to press on, and it was only with a firm grip on her upper arm that Sunset held her back.
“So, err... anyone gonna go check it out?” Rainbow whispered, trying to sound jovial.
No one answered her.
“I mean, I would of course.” She gave a small chuckle. “But I... got this twisted ankle, you know? Ow!” She yelped as Applejack stood on her foot.
“Yeah, looks like it hurts,” Applejack said, smirking.
“Will you both be quiet!” Rarity snapped.
“Twilight, can you hold onto Sonata, please?” Sunset asked. “I’ll go check it out.”
“You sure?” Twilight asked solicitously. “I can go if you—“
“We’ll get nowhere if we keep second guessing ourselves.”
Sunset walked forward, trying not to make any noise. The door ahead wasn’t fully open, but ajar. As Sunset came level to it, leaning against the wall to get a look through the opening, she reached out a hand to push it open. Her heart, already beating harder than usual, gave a lurch as the door creaked. She froze, eyes wide, listening for any sounds from within.
Nothing.
Then she noticed that she wasn’t breathing, and drew in a slow, deep breath.
Taking a hold of the handle, she opened the door a little more forcefully. It gave the slightest of grinding noises as it opened.
The first thing to occur to Sunset was that the room seemed to be empty, yet oddly there were candles all over the place, flickering and sputtering in the persistent draft. This puzzled her, and she stepped into the room with her trepidation transitioning smoothly into confusion. She took stock of the bed, the make-up table, the wardrobe in the corner, the desk next to the bed, the slightly moving curtains, a pile of laundry in a dark corner. A number of bubbly posters full of cartoon characters plastered the walls, some from shows Sunset knew, and others utterly foreign to her. Candles stood on every surface, gilding the room in an orangey light, but probably because of the light, gave the room no additional warmth. The air was icy and metallic, the bite of winter eating into Sunset’s exposed face.
“It’s okay, there’s no one in—Eek!”
She had been walking around the room in search of some indication of who’d been inside, when she drew near the pile of laundry. It wasn’t laundry, but the covering from the bed, which she now realised had been stripped bare. And the little pile had moved.
“What’s up?” Rainbow yelled, exploding into the room with her fists raised. “Come out and fight, cowards!”
“Rainbow, it’s not—“ Sunset tried to explain, but all of the rest of her friends broke inside after Rainbow, all looking as battle ready as they could. Except for Fluttershy, who peeped her head around the corner, trembling and trying to look small.
“Where are they?” Pinkie demanded. “Let me at ‘em, let me at ‘em!” She threw a few test punches at the air, shifting from one foot to the other.
“Girls, stop!” Sunset snapped, raising both of her hands. “It’s okay. At least I think so.” She looked down at the covers on the floor. They were moving again, but shiftily, as though whatever was underneath was moving slowly and deliberately.
She reached down, and took a hold of the cover. With all of her friends watching, she yanked the sheets away.
If Sunset was entirely honest with herself, she rather expected there to be some more energetic reaction. Flailing arms and legs was the very least she’d expected, if not to be tackled to the floor. Instead, Adagio and Aria sat huddled against the wall, staring up with wide and frightened eyes. To be sure they both made a job of looking angry and threatening, but in the cold their efforts were made exceedingly feeble.
“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy cried, finally entering the room herself and leaping down next to the pair of them. “Look how cold you are!”
Sunset did look. It was startling to see just how blue their arms and legs had gone. The blanket and sheets had done little to help them, and she doubted being wrapped in ten such sheets would have done any better. The house was simply too cold, and the snow outside was making it colder.
“Rarity, pass me the bags, please. Quickly!” Sunset snapped her fingers to break Rarity from her trance.
Somewhat flustered, Rarity passed around the bags, and everyone extracted the clothing.
“Come on,” Sunset said gently, reaching out her hand. “Come on, lets get you out of here.”
Neither of the two girls moved. Trembling with the cold, Aria was shutting her eyes hard, as though resisting physical pain, whilst Adagio stared up at Sunset with oddly blank eyes. After a short pause, Sunset retracted her hand.
Without preamble, Pinkie sidled up beside Sunset and jabbered something at the two. Still, neither responded. “I asked what was wrong,” Pinkie explained at Twilight’s prompting.
“Well duh,” Rainbow scoffed with her usual tactfulness. “They’re freezing. Let’s get them off the floor.”
This process sounded easier than it actually was. Aria put up a little struggle, not wanting to be separated from Adagio, but once again Adagio herself put up a voluble degree of protestation. It bordered on panic. Eventually, with Rainbow and Applejack’s physical assistance, and Fluttershy’s soothing voice, they managed to get both girls onto the bed, and wrapped them in the clothes Rarity had made for them. Sunset discovered that where the two had been sitting had been the least drafty area in the room, screened by the proximity of the wardrobe. They hadn’t been there just to hide.
Whilst Aria sat munching on a Twix bar she’d managed to swipe from Rainbow’s coat pocket, Fluttershy sat singing to Adagio. It didn’t seem to make Adagio feel any better, judging by the look of her eyes and face, but it did seem to calm her down.
“Fascinating,” Twilight muttered to Sunset. “It really is them. All three of them.”
“Any ideas of how it happened?” Sunset whispered back. “We had a few ideas, but nothing concrete. I don’t think even they know what happened to them.”
“If their memory went when... whatever happened to them occurred,” Twilight went on speculatively, “it might not necessarily be that the age regression took their memories, like reversing a tape recorder.”
“What are you thinking?” Sunset asked, sensing an epiphany coming.
Twilight bit her lip. “What if I said that I found it strange that the sirens lived for so long as they did?”
“What do you—“ Sunset stopped. “Starswirl the Bearded... he banished them a thousand years ago. So you don’t think that that was their natural lifespan?”
“I think we’re making too many assumptions about them,” Twilight said seriously. “If you think about it, what did we really know? That they possessed dark magic, and that that magic was geared towards their absorbing negative energy in order to mind control people through magical spells cast in the form of music. That is the substance of what we know about them. But everything else is pure speculation. How long they live, whether their powers were hereditary or obtained, to what degree their magic influenced their personalities; none of this we had any way of knowing.”
“So what do you think they are now?”
Twilight smiled. “I do not know, former student of Celestia. What do you think?”
Sunset felt a little warmth re-enter her cheeks. She thought for a moment. “I think we need more definite information. Something we can study and gleam definite answers from. I don’t think the girls themselves will be much help with that though, not in their current state.”
“I agree,” Twilight said grimly. “What we need is some kind of record. Maybe they left diaries or journals?”
“If so, this was their house,” Sunset said thoughtfully, looking around. “If anywhere, they’d keep them here.”
“Do you think that we should look around?” Twilight asked uneasily. “I mean, I know it’s likely important and they aren’t the same girls that they were before, but... Sunset?”
Sunset looked up. “Hm?”
Twilight gave her a sympathetic grimace. Sunset had been watching Sonata as they talked. “Concerned?”
“To be honest, yes. Given what happened between them.”
Despite Sonata’s initial eagerness to find the other two, when they had actually found Aria and Adagio, Sonata had stealthily maintained her distance. Currently she was crouching behind Rarity, making adequate use of the superfluous decorative fake fur around the middle of the coat the fashionista was wearing to hide herself.
“They’re practically sisters,” Twilight said in a rallying tone. “I’m sure they’ll get passed it. I have a brother of my own; fights are part of the occupation.”
Sunset, who had no brothers or sisters of her own, was forced to concede to Twilight’s greater experience of these matters. She supposed in the end that Twilight was probably right. Maybe. For the moment their happiness wasn’t exactly the highest priority.
“I think they’ll be fine,” Fluttershy said uncertainly. “Children aren’t exactly the same as animals, but I think if we just get them somewhere warm and let them recover a little, we’ll be able to move them from the house soon.”
It became immediately apparent that they could not move them outside yet. The snow storm was as fierce as ever, and the wind howled against the side of the house, penetrating unseen spaces and making sounds like ghostly wails surge through the halls.
Downstairs in what appeared to be the main lounge, which had the proportions of the school gymnasium, was a working fireplace. All holding candles from the bedroom, they moved through the darkening house, Sunset feeling like a character from a cartoon about teenage detectives in a haunted house.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sunset said tentatively.
“Why not?” Applejack asked. In true always-prepared farmer fashion, she’d produced a silver lighter from her back pocket, and Rarity had discovered that the metal cabinet next to the hearth contained lighter fluid and shapely chunks of charcoal. Disdaining to touch the dusty fuel herself, Rainbow had shoved her aside impatiently and casually tossed a pile of them onto the blackened logs in the fireplace.
“After what they’ve gone through, I don’t think they appreciate fire as much as they used to,” Sunset explained, glancing at Aria.
“Well ah don’t see that we got much choice,” Applejack sighed. “How else we supposed ta keep warm?”
“Maybe there’re electric heaters around here,” Rarity suggested. “Battery powered ones,” she said pre-emptively, as it was clear Applejack was about to protest.
“I’ll search the basement,” Rainbow said, raising her own candle. “That’s probably where all the storage is. Come on Fluttershy.”
“W-What!?” Fluttershy squeaked. “B-b-but R-Rainbow—“
“Oh come on, just think of all the cute little spiders and creepy-crawly things we’ll find down there. You love that stuff.”
“B-but I—“
“I’ll search the kitchen!” Pinkie announced, skipping out of the room.
“Ah’ll see to making this fire ready in case nothin’ turns up,” Applejack said, snapping the lighter head shut.
“Then I shall search the surrounding rooms,” Rarity said composedly. “There’s sure to be a cupboard or something with supplies here somewhere. Perhaps a lantern or some torches.”
“Sunset, could you help me search upstairs?” Twilight asked.
“Sure,” Sunset said. “Maybe we can find some answers while we’re at it.”
They both moved off towards the door back to the stairs, when Sunset felt a tug on the back of her coat.
“Sunset?” Sonata said hopefully.
“Oh.” Sunset turned around and bent down. “You want to come too?” She pointed up stairs.
“You want to come too,” Sonata parroted, nodding.
Sunset couldn’t prevent a smile creeping across her face. She took Sonata’s hand, but was suddenly brought up short by Aria appearing on her other side and taking firm hold of her other hand. Sunset blinked.
“You want to come as well?”
Aria didn’t reply, or even look at her. She and Sonata were looking determinately away from each other, but Sunset got the idea that Aria didn’t want to be left here with Applejack tending the fire. Her little face was burning red, which was only partially obscured by the diamond patterned scarf wrapped around it.
Odder still, Adagio had sauntered over, her arms folded moodily and her face in the most determined scowl she could force it into. This appeared to be difficult, thanks to the numbness in her still cold face.
“They should really wait here and wait for the others to find a way of warming them,” Twilight said, sounding concerned. “They’re still so blue looking.”
“I would agree,” Sunset said, “but I doubt that they will, if the grip Aria has on my hand is any indication.”
Twilight snorted with laughter, but tried to pass it off as a cough. “Fine. Maybe we’ll find something whilst we’re looking. Let’s keep an eye on them though, we don’t want them overexerting themselves.”
As the house was so large, and they had the entire second floor to themselves, Twilight and Sunset decided in the interests of overlooking nothing to begin from the west wing, and proceed incrementally to the east wing.
One thing that Sunset immediately noticed was that all of the sirens seemed to have two or three bedrooms, and that they had very few clothes in them. Those they did have were reminiscent of the ones they’d worn during their period at Canterlot High. This puzzled her, until she found a drawer in one of Adagio’s rooms crammed full of receipts for rent clothing. All of the receipts were charged nothing, despite the fact that much of what they had numbered in the hundreds of dollars.
Sunset’s lip curled; their obvious vanity nudged something inside her a little close to home.
It seemed that the sirens had alternated rooms, since they were all relatively close to each other, presumably simply for variety’s sake. Sonata’s rooms were the most radically different, with colour schemes, bed styles, and even the windows changing with each room. The room with posters seemed to have been hers as well, a small monument to a wide array of her favourite media.
Aria’s changed the least; all were plain and brooding, but filled with a variety of things seemingly collected, as though she took things and threw them aside the moment she got bored with them. Sunset remembered the piles of toys in the warehouse, and wondered if this was just part of Aria’s personality. What few decorations she had were dark posters of bands or black and white posters of noir and thriller films.
Adagio’s had the most grandiosity by far. The first room had a four-poster with silken banners, and velvet covered chairs with matching coloured carpets on a dark wood floor. A walk-in closet, again with few to no clothes in it, stood dark and empty, interspersed with mirrors that repeated their reflections infinitely like a fairground ride. Sunset glanced discreetly at Adagio pouting behind her, and imagined her older self strutting around in front of the mirrors, trying to get that perfect look.
In Adagio’s third room, they found a change. Whilst it could still be said to be grand, this room showed a lot more wear than the previous two, indicating in Sunset’s mind that this was where Adagio spent most of her time, and perhaps had some sentimental value to her. She ran this theory by Twilight.
“Possibly,” she replied, looking at Adagio for any signs of emotional response. “Difficult to say, but we found no personal effects in the other rooms.”
“True, just furnishings,” Sunset concurred. “Not even any jewellery. I thought they’d have diamonds and gold and whatever else they could get their hands on.”
“Well,” Twilight said gravely, opening a set of drawers, “they did already have special jewels of their own.”
Sunset raised her eyebrows. She supposed Twilight had a point there. Perhaps the sirens hadn’t been greedy, just incredibly narcissistic and vain. And you don’t need to acquire wealth to get attention when you have magic.
“Oh hey, look,” Sunset said, picking up a wireless hairdryer. “I think this still works.”
Sonata, who’d been hovering close to Sunset’s leg, jumped and let out a squeak of alarm as Sunset switched the device on. Aria laughed openly, whilst Adagio maintained her look of lofty disdain. Sunset turned the end of the dryer on Sonata, who flinched, but then almost instantly became intrigued. Taking it in her hands, she held it to her face and grinned into the hot air.
Predictably, no sooner had the other two noticed Sonata’s delight with it, Aria and Adagio converged, Aria darting forward and seizing it from her grasp whilst Adagio approached quietly from behind, evidently intent on snatching it from Aria when she least expected it.
“Um... should we stop that?” Twilight asked, giving Sunset an inquiring look.
“Nah, it’ll keep them happy whilst we look around.”
“I guess. Oh! Look at this,” Twilight said, looking down at the station of make-up where Sunset had found the hairdryer. In and amongst the spiked hair bands, enormous cans of hair spray, and nail-polishes of seemingly every colour known to mankind, was a number of objects that didn’t seem to belong there.
“Is that an account book?” Sunset asked, peering at the little leather-bound journal Twilight had picked up.
“It is!” Twilight said with glee. “Household arrangements and everything! She was so organised!” She coughed as she glanced back down at the scattered mess of the makeup table. “Well, on paper anyway.”
“Perhaps she felt responsible for the other two,” Sunset said thoughtfully. “As their de facto leader.”
“It might have just been another power trip,” Twilight said more seriously. “Keeping tabs on the other two’s spending I mean.”
“Perhaps we shouldn’t be speculating on her motives,” Sunset suggested. “It doesn’t do us any good now.”
Twilight shrugged. “Anything might be helpful. But you’re right, we’ve got nothing concrete on this.” She moved away.
Sunset however stayed to mooch through the rest of the odd items, holding her candle high to cast its dim light over the area. Instantly, something caught her eye; a small jewellery box of purple and gold dotted with little spikes nestled between a large hairbrush and a rack of curlers. On an impulse she opened it, and the gasp that came out of her mouth drew Twilight instantly back.
“What?” Twilight asked, holding her candle up as well.
Sunset didn’t reply, but reached down into the box, and pulled up a clear, plastic bag. She and Twilight stared into it, their eyes wide.
“This is perfect,” Twilight breathed. “This is better than I could have hoped for! If those are what I think they are...”
Sunset could hardly be less excited.
Setting down her candle, she tugged off her gloves and pulled the top of the bag open. With Twilight watching her eagerly, Sunset carefully fished out a few hard, spiky objects, and held them in her palm. They both looked down at them, two students of magic roving expert eyes over the curious items... and frowning.
“This is one of their pendants, right?” Twilight asked, squinting her eyes at the chunks and shards.
“I think so,” Sunset said slowly.
“Then what are these clear parts?” Twilight asked.
Sunset had no answer. Even in the flickering light of the candles, it was clear that the shards in Sunset’s hand were mostly red, but that some of them were clear. Sunset picked one up and held it closer to the candle flame. It felt coarse, and had a matte quality to its surface, like glass on a beach.
Confused, Sunset held up the bag itself, and saw a word written in permanent marker on its side.
Adagio
“Perhaps they just got mixed in with the pendant shards somehow?” Twilight suggested.
“Maybe...” Sunset muttered. “I don’t think so somehow though. Possibly it’s an effect of them being destroyed. Perhaps the red colour is some sort of power gauge. That would explain why they glowed brighter when the three of them grew more powerful.”
“That’s a thought,” Twilight said, nodding. “Or perhaps it’s some kind of magical scarring from when they were destroyed. We didn’t get a good look at the pendants when we won. We might not have noticed these pieces.”
Their academic musings were interrupted when Twilight’s eyes were caught by something to her right.
“I think she wants you for something,” she whispered.
Following Twilight’s line of sight, Sunset found that Adagio was standing next to them, looking up with a look of impatient curiosity. One shapely eyebrow was raised at a sharp angle, and her magenta eyes glittered with perceived authority. Sunset had to stop herself snorting at the adult way in which Adagio carried herself in her teeny child’s body.
“Did you want something?” Sunset asked, hoping her tone would interpret her question. She noticed that Aria had won, or been allowed to win the fight for the hairdryer. She stood wafting it at her face whilst Sonata stood uneasily off to one side.
Adagio fixed her eyes on the shards in Sunset’s hand.
“Oh, you want to see?” Sunset asked, holding her hand out.
Adagio frowned at the shards, as though she’d not been expecting that to be what Sunset had been holding. Giving Sunset one last look of condescending suspicion, she reached out a hand to pick one of the shards.
No sooner had her skin come into contact with the roundish chunk of red stone, then everything in Sunset’s senses changed. Touch, sight, smell, hearing, even the dusty taste on the air altered, turned into something unfamiliar.
A whirl of new feelings washed through her in the space of less than a second, and... and then everything changed.
- To be Continued