In Sunset's kitchen, The Dazzlings were sitting at the table with Mr. Feathers in his cage, their heads hanging low. Sunset paced back and forth in front of them, shaking her head from time to time.
"Really?" Sunset asked, taking a moment to glance at The Dazzlings. "Really?"
"We were hungry." Sonata defended, not making eye contact with Sunset.
"We ate at the mall!" Sunset said a little too loudly.
"But it was a long walk!"
"Fifteen minutes at most!" Sunset said, throwing her hands in the air. "None of you looked tired when we got to my porch! What changed between your walk from the living room and to the kitchen?"
"Three steps." Aria muttered under her breath, crossing her arms.
"Its obvious that I'm going to have to set up some rules." Sunset said with a sigh. "I assumed that I wouldn't have to because of how well behaved you were at Pinkie's, but apparently I was wrong."
"Rules?" Aria asked, looking up. "Really?"
"Rule number one, no raiding the kitchen."
"She's serious, isn't she?"
"Rule number two, don't talk when I'm talking."
Aria humphed.
"I don't like this either, Aria." Sunset said with a sigh. "But I have to take precautions. If any of you could go around doing whatever you want, we won't have any food left in the kitchen, and we would go hungry."
"Alright, 'Mom'." Aria said, rolling her eyes. "What are the other rules?"
"Rule number three, no fighting."
"Uh, hello?" Aria asked, raising her hand. "Sonata and I are together now."
"Yes, but even couples have their spats." Sunset said, nodding. "Rule number four, there are three meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper. You can have a small snack between lunch and supper, but it has to be something small. I will buy some snack cakes and a few other things that can be used as a snack, but nothing more than one of those."
"That seams reasonable." Adagio said. "Anything else?"
"Yes, now that all of you are living with me now, I expect weight to be pulled. I can't go around cleaning up after all of you, so if you make a mess, you need to clean it. That includes keeping your room clean." Sunset said, looking to Aria and Sonata. "I'll also set up some chores for you three."
"Chores?" Aria asked in disbelief. "We're not kids you know!"
"Like I said, everyone needs to pull their weight. Some might call this 'earning your keep'. To be fair, everyone will have a chance to do each chore at least once until we find out who does what the best."
"Alright, who does what?" Adagio asked, tilting her head.
"I'll be cooking for the first week. Adagio, you'll do the dishes, Sonata, you'll be doing the laundry, and Aria, you'll keep the floors clean. This includes sweeping, moping, and vacuuming."
"Ugh, I hate moping." Aria said, crossing her arms.
"But you're so good at it." Adagio cooed as she pinched Aria's cheeks.
"Don't touch my face." Aria grumbled as she smacked her hand away.
"Only I can do that!" Sonata said happily as she pinched Aria's other cheek.
"Not even you." Aria said as she smacked Sonata's hand as well.
"Aww..."
"Anything else?" Adagio asked, leaning back in her chair.
"Just keep Mr. Feather's fed, watered, and keep his cage clean. Other than that, I really can't think of anything else."
When no one said anything else, Sunset nodded her head proudly and walked out of the kitchen. But she was still close enough when she heard Mr. Feather's say something.
"Damn, what a bitch."
"Hey!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that evening Sunset was in the kitchen, making a nice supper for everyone. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and sweat peas. For a while when she first came to this world, she had a hard time eating meat. Of course, she didn't know what it was at first, but when she figured it out, she had a hard time staying away from it. She eventually gave up and started eating it again.
Sure, she still felt bad about it at times, but she found comfort in learning that humans were Omnivores. She learned this by finding that she had canines in her mouth, and confirmed it by reading books on the subject. She hoped that The Dazzlings also knew this, seeing that they have been around for a thousand years. More than likely, they did know. She had seen them eating meat after all.
She pulled out four plates from the cabinets and set them out on the table, then put out an equal portion on each plate. When each plate was full, she saw that she still had left-overs, not being used to cooking for four people. She sighed then placed the left-overs on the counter. At least there was more in case someone wasn't full. She paced over to the kitchen door and called out.
"Supper's ready!" With her hands cupped around her mouth.
She then saw Aria and Sonata racing around the corner, struggling to beat each other into the kitchen. Sunset narrowly dodged the two as they ran past her, quickly taking a seat at the table. She simply shook her head as Adagio calmly walked past her.
"Are they always like this?" Sunset asked.
"Only on the days that end in 'Y'." Adagio said with a chuckle.
Sunset shared the laughter as she went to one of the empty chairs, seeing that Aria and Sonata had already started eating.
"Dis eh eally ood!" Sonata said with her mouth full.
"Sonata, don't talk with your mouth full." Adagio said, laying a napkin on her lap.
"Ah, Onata!" Aria agreed, also with her mouth full. "Don alk wih our mough ull!"
"Smart Ass!" Mr. Feathers shouted from the living room.
"Did he really just hear her from in there?" Sunset asked, confused.
"Bacon Bitch!"
"I guess that answers that." Adagio said with a chuckle.
"I wonder just how many words he knows." Sunset said while tapping her chin. "I could ask Fluttershy, but even she was surprised that the largest portion of his vocabulary being curse words."
"I wonder if one of them is pussy fart." Sonata said after swallowing, causing Sunset to drop her fork in laughter.
"Sonata, ha ha ha!" Sunset said while laughing. "Thats not funny, ha ha ha!"
"Then why are you laughing?" Sonata asked, tilting her head.
"Sonata, pussy fart is two words." Aria said dully.
"Can we please stop talking about pussy farts at the table?" Adagio asked with a serious tone.
After taking a moment to compose herself, Sunset straightened up her shirt and once again attempted to eat.
"Adagio is right, we shouldn't talk like that at the table." Sunset said before giving a small chuckle. "Anything else, just not that."
Sunset picked up some of her meatloaf on her fork, and brought it toward her mouth. But just before she could bite down on it, her doorbell rung. Normally, it would be funny, but now it was just aggravating. With a small grunt, she put down her fork and got up.
"I'll get it." Sunset said, walking out of the kitchen.
A small part of her wanted to yell at whoever rung her doorbell, but that side of her was locked deep inside and wasn't getting out anytime soon. She still felt bad for yelling at Twilight at the Friendship Games. As calmly as she could, she went to her front door and opened it, seeing Granny on the other side, accompanied by Air Guitar, A.R., and Star Gazer. Star Gazer was the overly-friendly neighbour, a little shorter than Air Guitar, wearing blue jeans, a black Tee Shirt with stars all over it, and was a little on the heavy side. He had more facial hair than he did on the top of his head, but that wasn't really saying much since he only had a buzz cut.
"What are all of you doing here?" Sunset asked, confused.
"Oh, we just wanted to give your friends a little 'Welcome to the Neighbourhood Gift Basket'." Granny said as A.R. revealed the gift basket from behind his back.
"Even though one of them is a little more than a friend, eh Sunset?" Air Guitar said with a grin.
Sunset couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so Air Head."
"Air 'Guitar'." He corrected.
"Bullshit!" Mr. Feathers shouted while flapping his wings.
"Did that bird just cuss?" Granny asked, peeking past Sunset.
"Yeah, Adagio adopted him from the Animal Shelter." Sunset said with a nod. "We didn't teach him."
"Adagio, the girl with the really wild hair?" Granny asked with a smile.
"Yeah, thats her." Sunset nodded.
"I really don't know today's fashion, but maybe she should consider getting it cut." Granny suggested.
"I don't know... I kinda like it like that." Sunset said with a shrug.
"Well, can they come out so we can give them the basket?" A.R. asked, holding it up.
"You're really looking for an excuse to see them, aren't you?" Sunset asked, raising her eyebrow.
"I just don't want to be that guy who hears all about someone and never sees them." A.R. defended, a little taken back.
"Alright, alright, I'll go get them." Sunset said, holding up her hands.
Leaving the front door open, she went into the kitchen, seeing that Sonata and Aria had already finished eating. Looking at Adagio's plate, she saw that she wasn't even close. Probably just taking her time to be lady-like.
"Hey, girls." Sunset said, getting their attention. "Theres some people who want to see you."
"If its the police, I didn't do it!" Aria said, holding up her hands.
"Uh... what?" Sunset asked, confused. "No, its just some of the neighbours."
"Oh, thank goodness." Aria said in relief.
Even though Sunset was still confused, The Dazzlings got up from the table and passed by her, heading for the living room. She shook her head to help straighten her thoughts and followed, seeing that the neighbours had already came inside.
"Are you the three girls who just moved in?" A.R. asked, holding up the basket.
"Nah, we're just visiting for an extended period of time." Aria said, rolling her eyes.
"Are those cookies?!" Sonata asked, taking the basket from A.R.
"Uh, yeah." A.R. said, slightly confused. "Granny cooked them."
"Maybe I should introduce myself." Star Gazer said, getting the girls' attention. "My name is Star Gazer. If you girls need anything, you can count on me. And I mean, absolutely anything."
"So if I asked you to paint the sky yellow, you would do it?" Adagio asked sarcastically with a small grin.
"Well, I don't know if I can do THAT, but anything within reason... And possible."
"I'll keep that in mind." Adagio said, patting Star Gazer on the head like he was a dog.
"And what's your name?" Sonata asked, looking up at A.R.
"My name is A.R. It stands for ArmaLite." A.R. informed with a nod.
"You mean, like the guns?" Aria asked, intrigued.
"Exactly. Thats actually why I shortened it to A.R. Most people thought that I would have an entire armoury of weapons because of my name. Which, isn't far from the truth, but I don't like being profiled like that."
"I so hate those people." Aria agreed.
"Hey, what's this?" Sonata asked, holding up a small blue box.
"Oh, those are laxatives, honey." Granny said with a wave of her hand. "Just in case any of you gets constipated."
"Wow, ew!" Air Guitar said, holding up his hands. "T.M.I.!"
"Everyone gets constipated from time to time, Air Guitar." Granny lectured. "Its always nice to have a way to fix the problem. Even if the girls don't get constipated, its always good to have something and not need it, than need it and not have it. Need I remind you of that one time when-"
"Moving on!" Aria said quickly.
"Yes, thank you for the gift basket." Adagio said with a thankful smile, more for the change of subject.
"Its no problem at all." A.R. said with a nod. "I added a few bottles of Pepper Spray in there, just in case."
"Like I'd need it." Aria said dully. "I can open up a can of whoop-ass if it comes to it."
"What if you don't see it coming?" A.R. said, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't worry about it, Aria." Sunset said, putting her hand on Aria's back. "I keep some Pepper Spray with me at all times."
"See, this girl knows whats right." A.R. said, waving his hand to Sunset.
"Its for Air Guitar so he doesn't try anything funny."
"One time!" Air Guitar said, holding up his index finger. "Just one freaking time!"
"And you regretted it, didn't you?"
Air Guitar wanted to argue, but he simply settled for grumbling to himself. Sunset giggled at seeing this, knowing that she had won this battle. Before anyone could say anything else, the doorbell rang once again. Sunset walked to the door and opened it, seeing a worried Twilight Sparkle.
"Sunset, I am so sorry!" Twilight said, holding up her bag. "I tried to come sooner, but the bus was running late, and then there was a flat tire, and we had to wait until someone could come to fix the tire, but then he got a flat tire on the way-"
"Twilight, Twilight." Sunset said, putting a hand over Twilight's mouth. "Don't worry about it. Yeah, you're late, but its not the end of the world."
"I know, but I hate being-" Twilight quickly cut herself off when she saw that Sunset already had company. "Please say you weren't composing a search party."
"No, I wasn't." Sunset said with a good natured sigh. "Some of the neighbours wanted to give the girls a gift basket."
"Oh, thats nice." Twilight said with a smile.
Sunset stepped to the side to let Twilight enter, which she accepted. Instead of giving the Dazzlings their pendents back like she planned, she simply sat down on the couch to wait for everyone else to leave.
"Hello, Twilight." Granny said with a wave. "Its been a while since you've been back here."
"Yeah, I've been kinda busy lately." Twilight said sheepishly.
"You really should come around more often." A.R. said with a smile. "I can show you how to use a Bo Staff!"
"You know Twilight isn't a violent person." Sunset said with a small punch to A.R.'s shoulder.
"Yeah, but everyone should know how to defend themselves."
"But a Bo Staff?" Sunset said while raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit advanced?"
"Well, yeah, but..." A.R. couldn't think of an argument, so he simply humphed while crossing his arms.
"Anyhow, we just wanted to give this gift basket and welcome you three to the neighbourhood." Granny said before leaning to Adagio and whispered. "I experimented a little when I was your age, so the lesbian thing doesn't really bother me."
Adagio's jaw dropped with mixed emotions of shock and disgust, but this didn't bother Granny. She simply smiled and followed Air Guitar and the others out of the door. Sunset waved as they left and closed the door behind them. When the door was secure, Twilight stood back up with a smile on her face.
"So, you girls want to see your pendents?" Twilight asked, holding up her bag.
This snapped Adagio back into reality as she and the other two girls rushed to Twilight. She pulled out three familiar red rubies with new black leather bands attached to them. Each pendent had the name of their owner taped to the ruby. The girls couldn't believe their eyes. They looked good as new, like they were never even broken.
"I'm sorry, but I don't really know your girls names." Twilight said sheepishly.
"I'm Sonata!" Sonata said excitedly, holding out her hands for Twilight to place her pendent.
"I'm Aria." Aria said, just holding out one hand.
"And I'm Adagio." Adagio said, not holding out either hand.
One by one, Twilight gave back their pendents. None of them wasted any time as they put on their pendents. They didn't feel the same anymore, no longer brimming with the power they once held. No more magic, no more negative energy. But that didn't matter to any of the ex-sirens. It was the sentimental value that the pendents held that made it so great to have once again. But something was still missing. It wasn't the magic, or the power. It was something more.