Sunset tried to keep her smile warm, and friendly. It wasn't so easy, though, with the way Adagio and Aria were staring at her. Truthfully, she hadn't been able to stop herself from imagining, even hoping, that the trio would be overjoyed, grateful, and maybe even ready to embrace this peace offering and give friendship a try.
More realistically, she'd told herself, the Dazzlings would simply take what was on offer without a single thought of gratitude crossing their minds. She'd be OK with that, too — Canterlot wasn't built in a day, after all. There was even a chance the three of them would be completely uninterested, now that their pendants were gone.
Sunset hadn't quite been prepared for the death-stare Aria was now giving her, nor the suddenly intense way Adagio seem to be focussed on her, as if the siren was trying to decide Sunset's fate. Even Sonata seemed suddenly cold, though Sunset suspected the normally bouncy girl was only following her sisters' lead.
Finally, it was Adagio who broke the silence.
“Yeah…” she drawled, “… we do want to go back to Equestria. But if you're saying you can make it happen, I need to know what it's gonna cost us.”
“Well I'm not saying it's a sure thing,” said Sunset, quickly, “that's why I wanted to ask you some questions, first.”
“Isn't it obvious?” Aria snarled, “They want us to become their obedient little friends. I knew they were up to some goody-goody trick.”
Sunset was about to protest, when Adagio held up a hand to silence both of them, her gaze never leaving Sunset.
“Alright,” she said, her voice low and menacing, “ask your questions. I'm not making any promises, but we'll hear you out.”
“… right. Well, first of all, uh, do you know where the portal is?”
“Of course we do. We're not stupid.” Seeing Sunset's questioning expression, Adagio continued, “Of course we tried going back through the portal as soon as it opened again. The old coot who banished us here put some kind of curse on us, so we can't go through. If you're going to help us go back, you need to remove the curse.”
“I could've broken whatever spell he used easily,” bemoaned Aria, “if we'd gotten our full power back.”
Sunset nodded, head bowed in thought. “That's more or less what we figured. Okay, second question: did you ever try going through without your pendants?”
Sunset looked up in time to see the momentarily stunned look on Adagio's face, before the orange-haired girl turned her head towards Aria.
“You mean he might have cursed our pendants, not us?”
Aria looked uneasy. “I… don't know. Maybe? It's not like it matters, right? I mean, you never would have given up your pendant to go home, would you?”
“No…” admitted Adagio, “… probably not. Still, now you mention it, it does seem like the kind of thing he would have done.”
“I guess that also means you haven't tried going back since the Battle of the Bands, either,” said Sunset.
“No,” replied Adagio, “what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I've written to Princess Twilight, we thought you might be cursed, and she thinks the most effective way to remove it would be a powerful, all-purpose, harmony-based, counter-spell.”
Sunset waited for this to sink in.
“You mean,” said Sonata, “like the giant-ghost-horse-powered-rainbow-laser-cannon-thing you beat us with?”
“You mean,” said Aria, “you already removed it?”
“You mean,” said Adagio, “if we wait for the next time the portal opens, we can just walk through?”
Sunset coughed. “Erm… actually, Twilight's figured out a way to open the portal any time we feel like it.”
“Fine,“ said Adagio, “but that doesn't mean she can stop it opening, at the usual time, right?”
“I doubt it,” grinned Aria.
“So…” smirked Adagio, “we don't actually need you — we can just wait a few moons and get back all by ourselves, and you can't stop us.”
“That's true,” replied Sunset, “I mean, Princess Twilight could set up a bunch of alarm spells around the mirror, maybe have a few guards waiting to arrest you, or just stick the mirror itself in a locked room, but we won't try to stop you going back.” Watching the way Adagio's face fell, and enjoying it just a little bit more than she really should, Sunset continued, “Then again, we don't know for certain that the curse really has been lifted, and if it hasn't then you're going to need our help.”
Adagio looked to her sisters, the three of them exchanging some unspoken thoughts. Then she looked at the floor, thinking things over. Finally she sighed, blinked, and looked back up at Sunset.
“Alright,” she said quietly, “you win. We'll… be your friends, if you help us get home. Right, girls?” Her last question was directed at her sisters, who looked at each other for confirmation. Neither of them looked happy about the prospect.
“Yeah,” said Sonata, eventually, “OK”.
Aria shrugged. “I guess.”
“No.” said Sunset.
“WHAT!?” cried Adagio, “oh, come on! What do you want from us?”
“I never said anything about friendship,” shrugged Sunset, “you came up with that one on your own.”
“Actually, that was Aria,” offered Sonata.
“Don't make me hurt you.”
“Not the time, girls.”
“The 'price',” continued Sunset, “as you put it, is this: No more evil. No more stirring up trouble, no more hurting people, and no more dark magic, even if you find a way to do it without your pendants. If you want to learn about friendship, that's up to you, but the choice is yours.”
“Question!” chimed Sonata, “What about hurting people who want to be hurt?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “So long as it's all between consenting adults, and no-one suffers long-term harm, that's fine. Though I really think you girls should look into safewords, if you haven't already.”
At this, Aria only chuckled.
“Well…” said Adagio, “fine. It's not like we have our pendants now anyway. We can play nice, I guess.” Then she frowned, “But is Princess Twilight willing to promise we wont be arrested the moment we step through?”
“Or any of the moments after that?” added Sonata.
Sunset nodded. “She says that, uh, whatever crimes you may have committed in the past, it's too long ago for there to be any outstanding warrants now. So long as you promise not to commit any new crimes, Equestria will grant you amnesty.” She paused for a moment. “She can't speak on behalf of other countries, of course.”
“Good enough.”
“Great.” smiled Sunset, “Just, well, let us know when you're ready. Princess Twilight will set up some recording equipment, so if it doesn't work, we should at least be able to get a better idea of why.”
Adagio looked over at her sisters. “I guess… how about this evening, say around seven?”
Sunset blinked. “That soon?”
Aria snorted. “We travel light. Always gotta be ready to move on… We just need to grab our things, I guess we should drop the landlord a note…” she rubbed her chin, “we could come back here, right? If there was anything we really needed.”
“Oh, I'm sure Princess Twilight wouldn't mind that,” replied Sunset, “so long as you don't make a habit of jumping back and forth all the time.”
Adagio stood up. She seemed slightly dazed. “Great, well, we'll get going, and uh, meet you at the portal at seven.”
Outside Fluttershy's house, Adagio stopped, and stared up at the sky. Aria and Sonata stepped forward just enough to see her face clearly. The leader of the Dazzlings wore an expression neither of her sisters had seen on her face for a long time. A smile, not scheming or filled with malevolence, nor even Adagio's signature fake-sweet-prelude-to-sarcasm. It was a smile filled with the simple, pure innocence of someone who has found the weight of the world lifted from their shoulders, with the contentment of being able to simply enjoy the moment.
Honestly, they found it a little disturbing. No less so, when they heard the softness in her voice, as she uttered, perhaps to them, or herself, or to the world in general:
“We're going home.”