• Published 31st Oct 2015
  • 8,823 Views, 538 Comments

Perspective - Orpheon



Sunset finds herself without purpose as graduation reaches Canterlot High's most famous class. Uncertain about what she wants and unfulfilled, she agrees to try a change of perspective.

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The Right Choice

Twilight's eyes opened slowly and with great resistance as a pleasant smell filled her nose. Spike must be making breakfast already, she thought, a sleepy sense of pride and gratitude in her mind as she rolled over, eyes meeting the fabric of a sofa she wasn't familiar with. Alarm replaced the other emotions in her mind with startling speed before the facts of the previous night returned to her. She paused, slowly bringing a hoof--no, hand-- to her face and examining the lines in her...palm, a sense of deja-vu and mild wrongness surfacing as she lifted herself to a reclining position.

Twilight peeked over the back of the couch, noting the warm cascade of Sunset's mane facing her as she moved about the kitchen, apparently unaware of her guest's wakefulness. It took another moment before she realized that the unicorn was humming a tune, a strange sort of progression that seemed somewhat repetitive to Twilight's ears. Still, there was something so heartwarming about the scene before her. She could feel herself trying subconsciously to transpose an equine form over Sunset, to picture what it would be like back home. The idea made her sigh wistfully, which had the regrettable effect of making Sunset startle and turn about, a wry smile on her face.

“Morning, Princess. Smell of food wake you up?”

Twilight flushed a little, sheepish. “Heh heh, well...ah, you wouldn't happen to have any coffee, would you?” She knew Sunset wasn't a coffee pony like she was, but maybe...

“Afraid not, Princess. There's a fresh bowl of oatmeal in it for you all the same.”

Twilight let out a theatrical groan and awkwardly clambered to her feet to approach the island, taking a seat on the stool across from Sunset, who placed a bowl of oats before the lavender girl as she yawned widely, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The oats smelled rather bland; Twilight wrinkled her nose as she eyed the concoction. Sunset must've seen as she sat down because she remarked sardonically, “It's what I had the pantry, Princess. You don't have to eat it if you don't want to.”

Twilight shook her head vigorously, guilt rising. She rushed to reassure the cook, “No, no! It's...uhm, well...”

“Smell kinda plain, huh?” Sunset remarked, lifting a spoon to her mouth.

“Ah, yeah...”

“Well, that's because they are. Since humans are omnivores, it seems they haven't put much effort into cultivating different kinds of oats, so most oatmeal brands come out to the same thing with varying amounts of seasonings thrown in.” She took a moment to chew and swallow a spoonful before continuing, “I wasn't exactly swimming in supplies before we left, so all I had was a little sugar and cinnamon to put in ours. It's...well, they're tasteless but filling. That's all there is to it.” She furrowed her brow, an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry, Twilight.”

The honest consternation in her voice made the alicorn want to cry in a distant way. “Don't be sorry! They smell fine! Good, even! I bet they're delicious.” As if to emphasize the point, she seized her spoon (awkwardly--fingers were so strange) and lifted a mouthful to her lips. As soon as it was past her teeth she regretted it. Sunset was wrong--these weren't just plain, they were FLAT. They didn't taste bad, per se, but they seemed so paper-like to her that they were almost objectionable in another way. The scant amount of sugar and cinnamon her host had thrown in just wasn't enough to disguise the lack of any distinguishing flavors. Twilight didn't consider herself a food critic but she honestly wondered how Sunset could tolerate this practically criminal blandness of such a dietary staple. She swallowed the oats and fixed the other girl with a doleful expression.

“Sunset. I'm so sorry.”

The amber-skinned girl was stone-still for an instant before clapping a hand over her mouth as she broke into messy, entirely ungraceful laughter, barely saving Twilight from being covered in half-chewed breakfast as she rushed to the sink to spit the rest out and alternate between cackling and groaning in annoyance at the mess she'd just made of herself.

Twilight was at first seized with shock and then a fit of giggles of her own as Sunset washed her hands, still trying to get her own snickering under control.

–---

Twilight was in the process of dabbing her mane dry from the shower when Sunset's handheld device rang noisily, vibrating against the living room table and adding the clatter of metal against wood while terrifying the alicorn as she jumped out of her seat, nearly falling down over the arm of the sofa. She picked up the offending device, the sensation of it against her entirely too soft hand surreal and disturbing. The front panel read Rainbow Dash, along with a series of numbers that Twilight assumed had to be her personal contact code. But how to activate the device?

She decided to tap the green dimly banana-shaped emblem, gingerly poking at it with a free fingertip. This was how Sunset made the thing work, if she remembered correctly, and green meant yes 91% of the time (she'd checked) in Equestrian signage (unless it meant street), so it stood to reason since humans seemed to echo ponies in many respects this was one more. Twilight wasn't quite able to hold in a small yelp of surprise as the Rainbow Dash's scratchy voice sounded on the other side.

“Sunset? What took you so long to answer?”

Twilight placed the flat little thing to her ear, answering cautiously. “Rainbow Dash...?”

“...Twilight? Why are you--how're you answering the phone when you're right over--OH! Pony Twilight? Uh, why is your voice so quiet?”

“I'm not sure...I thought I was doing this right, but...” Twilight felt sheepish, flushing there being none to see her.

“You're holding the phone backwards, aren't you? Got the ear part and mouth part turned around?”

“What? I mean, maybe.” The lavender girl rotated the device, embarrassment mounting.

“Yeah, there's your breath. Mystery solved, Princess. Anyway, what're you doing answering Sunset's phone? She playing some kinda trick on me?”

“No, no. She's in the bath right now, and the little device started making a racket, so I picked it up and the little glass panel said your name, so I decided that I should try to use it because you might be upset if Sunset didn't answer--” Twilight began to run out of breath as she went on, only to be cut off.

“Easy, easy there, Twilight. I get ya... Man, you and Sci-light have the same speaking habits even, Princess. It's kinda spooky.” The voice on the other side laughed, the scratchy voice bringing a smile to the alicorn's face, amused at the similarity between the pony and the human that bore the name Rainbow Dash. It also brought a shard of shame to the back of her mind. Spike had said that she was 'still being kind of chilly to Rainbow and Pinkie' back home. She had been disappointed with them as far as their reactions to Sunset, but it had still been far too long since she'd just spoken with either of them. A sickly guilt rose in her mind as she realized that she had prioritized Sunset over them, regardless of the rationale or her personal feelings on the matter.

Twilight resolved to sit down with Dash and Pinkie as soon as she got back to the other side. She wasn't going to let two of her best friendships languish for the sake of one, even if it was Sunset. This wasn't a case where there had to be a trade; the bonds of friendship were without an upper limit.

“Twi? You okay?” The human Dash's voice brought her back to reality. “You went kinda quiet there.”

“Uh! Sorry, Rainbow. Just remembering something I had to do.”

“That's chill. Uh, listen...Since you're answering the phone instead of Sunset, I'll just tell you. Applejack told us about a big team meeting that we're gonna have to all get together for, which is surprising considering you two left only a week ago, but whatever! You caught us all before we scattered anywhere so it's all good. Anyway, AJ says we're getting together at...” There was a pause. Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion.

“...what? AJ, no. You can't be for real. Seriously? THAT'S the only place you had? Man, whatever...ah, sorry. Wait a minute, even if I tell you, it wouldn't help.”

The alicorn responded with an indignant, “What do you mean?”

“I mean you wouldn't know where it was, Twi. Chill out. Tell you what; tell Sunset to text me back when she's done showering.”

“Rainbow, wait--” The device clicked, and silence answered Twilight as she pulled away to look at the screen, where the worlds 'Call ended' greeted her. She put the flat thing down on the table with a wordless groan of annoyance. That was another thing both instances of Rainbow Dash had in common: a penchant for going ahead and doing things without listening to her. Petulantly she folded herself up on the sofa, knees to her chin as she was reminded that as much as she was good friends with those around her it didn't mean they didn't annoy her sometimes.

Still, now she had some time to kill before Sunset was out of the bath; what to do until then? She cast about the room, the search for literature the first priority in her (immaculately organized) mental checklist for “Things to Do When I'm Bored”. Twilight's gaze was naturally drawn to the bookshelf to the left of Sunset's projection screen. There were Sunset's copies of the human version of the Lord of the Reins, and though tempting they were almost certainly too much even for her to pick up and put down in the space she had remaining. Instead, she rifled through the nonfiction offerings, scant though they were, presented to her. One seemed to be an elementary-level history textbook, so it would do for now. She could take the time to brush over the past of humanity while she waited.

The thing Twilight noted about textbooks was that they were almost insultingly simplistic in their writing and presented facts in a manner almost childish (which was appropriate, she supposed). For this reason, the inveterate scholar already knew to take what she found with a grain of salt, if only because it was likely to be spun in such a way that it would be something that a foal could read and not be troubled by. She wondered if human textbooks were made the same way, pulling open the cover only to hear the washroom door behind her click as Sunset stepped out, making an indistinct noise of pleasure.

“I swear the greatest achievement of intelligent life on any realm ever is the hot shower. EVER.”

Twilight set the book aside, her academic intellect offended by the very implication. “What? No, that's silly. I mean, hygienic standards were definitely a strong contributor to modern society and overall quality of life, but the greatest achievement would by far have to be the printing press!”

Sunset raised a hand, a sardonic grin on her face. “Easy there, Professor. I'm not ready for a serious academic debate.” She hummed, tousling her still-moist mane. “Taking a look at humanity's sordid past, eh? I brought a newer edition of that with me through the portal, but I ended up not having a chance to contribute it to the Royal Library.” She frowned as sat down next to Twilight, a pair of socks in her hand. “Come to think of it, how would you file a book from another dimension?”

Twilight's mind instantly spun into motion. “By the standard Dewhoof Decimal System, it would go under non-fiction history, but it's an educational text so it might be filed with them, except that it's foreign literature, so it'd be filed under specialty books, but there's no section in specialty literature for extraspatial literature...” She tapped her chin, thoughtful. “Honestly I don't know that there's a standard answer for that. I suppose there's an argument for it being set in the vault with dangerous texts, considering how very foreign it is, but--”

“Foreign maybe, but it's still ultimately just a history textbook.” Sunset responded, an eyebrow quirked.

“But there'd be no telling what something brought over from this dimension might have, Sunset! Look at the mess my crown made of things--”

“That I made of things.” The unicorn corrected quickly.

“Sunset, what have I--ugh, anyway, it was a magical artifact from another space that ended up adversely affecting the human world and changing the nature of your friends, including my counterpart! Who's to say a human artifact doesn't have a magic we just haven't seen yet?” Twilight argued, her irritation at Sunset's self-deprecation translating into passion for the debate.

“Fair point, Sparkle; if my bath towels start acting up, I'll be sure to let you know.” Sunset stood with a cackle as she picked up her little metal device from the table, thumbing it nonchalantly and frowning. “Dash called? And you answered?”

Twilight started, nodding. “Ah! Uh, yes. I just mimicked the thing you do with it, and it worked! Which reminds me; Dash told me to tell you to 'text' her (whatever that means) when you were done in the bath. Which I have done, uh, just now. Yep.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she continued to slide her fingers across the panel of the little block. Twilight found herself envious of her host's effortless dexterity, but supposed that Sunset had earned that skill the old fashioned way and on the run by necessity, compared to her own very brief sojourns. That said, she still couldn't shake the lingering wrongness of fingers and toes. It just wasn't right, in her mind. Her musing was cut short when Sunset pulled a grimace, sighing.

“Something wrong?”

“Yes. No Sort of? I don't know what I expected when AJ said she'd handle a meeting place for this discussion, but I guess I did leave it to her so I have no room to complain.”

Twilight's neck prickled, a seed of worry planted. “Why? Where are we going, anyway?”

–----

“Applejack, I swear by everything you and your rustic family find holy in tree and soil--” Rarity's refined, practiced accent was cut off by the farmer's drawling response.

“It wasn't my first choice either, Rares. You try findin' something to accommodate a dozen on a day's notice and we'll talk. We needed a place to discuss a Friendship Problem and I found one, so that's that. Cousin Ambrosia owed me a favor and works here for the summer, so I got it for free.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle didn't quite understand the consternation of her friends, who were wearing varying shades of irritation and nausea as they beheld the structure before them. It seemed like any of the other human businesses around...

“Ah, girls? What's so bad about this place?”

The collected assembly of Rainbooms plus the native Twilight Sparkle traded significant looks with one another.

“You wanna tell her?” Dash spoke to Sunset, the latter's nervousness evident.

“I'm not sure how I would, honestly. You can't really articulate it...”

“I can try.” Fluttershy, her sundress waving in the warm breeze as she took Twilight's hands. The alicorn felt a surge of fear in the back of her mind as the blue-green eyes of the other girl met hers, a bottomless well of sorrow greeting her.

“Twilight, this place is, nominally, a place where children gather for parties. There are games and machines that give you tickets and prizes, food and drink.”

“That doesn't sound so bad. What's the catch, then?”

“It's...they...” The girl faltered, a shudder causing her curtain of hair to cover her eyes as she looked away.

Twilight felt a hand on her shoulder, surprised as she turned to face Pinkie Pie. Her curly mess of a mane framed an uncharacteristically somber expression as she spoke.

“A place for tickets and soda, pizza and prizes, yes. But also a house of abominations. There are things in there that will haunt you. Listen to me, Twilight.” The usually-cheery girl cupped Twilight's face, locking her gaze to the alicorn's. “When we enter this building, do not look around. Face forward or focus on one of us.”

“Girls, what on earth is in that place that's so horrifying?” Twilight furrowed her brow, a truth she was hesitant to accept beginning to creep up on her mind.

–---

“How could...how could any creature find those things acceptable, let alone endearing?” Princess Twilight sat, staring a hole into the table before her while Fluttershy rubbed her shoulders. Sunset rubbed the back of her head, remembering her first encounter with the automatons in the main hall of the combination restaurant-party hall while exploring the town. Unsettling things, with awkward, stilted movements and beady eyes that seemed to follow you around the room regardless of where you stood. Their anachronistic 'attire' did little to dull the unease they inspired, and it was among the strongest evidence Sunset had that humanity as a rule was a disturbed species.

“Honestly, I don't think they're meant to be acceptable.” Rarity sniffed from another seat. The group had been given a thankfully rather plain party room off the main hall with a long table dominating the center of the room. It seemed to suppress sound, as the cacophony of music, games, and shrieking children was muffled severely to their ears. There was space enough for sixteen, which would be more than adequate for their purposes. “Are we one-hundred percent certain there was no other--”

“For the last time, yes. I checked as many places as I could, and this was the only spot that could handle a dozen people talkin' that was private, free, and wasn't my family's barn in the middle of summer.” Applejack stared pointedly at the ivory-skinned girl, irritation evident. “Maybe you'd rather have stood in a compact space surrounded by hay, farm animals and all the smells that go with that, Rares? Would that've suited you better?”

Rarity pulled a face, answer clear.

“I don't think it would've been so bad.” Fluttershy supplied helpfully, which caused most of the group to smile.

“So, who else is coming for this Problem?” The bespectacled Twilight Sparkle inquired, adjusting the glasses on her face. “Is it someone from school?”

Sunset and the Princess glanced at each other, a silent communique passing between them.

“I guess it'd be better to tell you now so you don't freak out.” Sunset remarked dryly. “The others are--”

“The Dazzlings.”

Eight faces turned to the room's entrance simultaneously, the majority with mixed shock and anger on their faces. Through the door stepped the unmistakable form of Adagio (and presumably the namesake of the trio), followed closely by her cohorts Sonata and Aria Blaze. Sunset frowned as she took in the latter two. While their leader seemed able to keep up appearances as healthy and proud as she'd ever been, Sonata's usual energy seemed to have already departed her, the Siren rubbing her eyes and taking a seat without a word before flopping on the table. She seemed to be even leaner than when she and her comrade had been in Sunset's apartment the previous day.

Aria looked worse, if that was possible. She seemed leached of color and her formerly vibrant hair was drawn into a single tail, utilitarian and without decoration. She carried herself with a certain defiance that Sunset could find she appreciated, but it did little to disguise how drawn she appeared. She raised a hand in silent greeting to the assembly giving the unicorn pause as she realized that this was the most civility she'd seen from any of the three as Aria sat down, a quiet sigh escaping her.

A moment of silence passed between the two groups as Adagio settled down, apparently still determined not to show any kind of weakness to her adversaries. Hard stares leveled all around (except from Sonata).

“Uhm, who are they?” The native Twilight spoke first.

“A trio of troublemakers is what they are.” Applejack growled, slamming a hand on the table and making most of the assembly start in surprise. “Look here, Sunset. You didn't say anything about them.”

“I had a feeling you'd react that way.” Sunset responded, standing and folding her arms. She primed herself internally to argue, hoping she wouldn't have to. “But they came to us and made what seems like a sincere request to me. We should at the least hear them out.”

“Why should we?! They're a bunch of emotional vampires that drove everyone in school against each other!” Rainbow yelled, fixing Aria with a venomous gaze that earned nothing more than a listless stare in return.

“And yet here we are, as Shimmer said, sincerely asking for help from you.” Adagio retorted primly, tenting her fingers before her in an eerie echo of Rarity.

Applejack scowled. “...Yeah, here you are. I guess we can see what you're after. Or say you're after, anyway.” She placed her hat on the table before her, frown still plastered on her face as she leaned back in her chair. Rainbow Dash tsked and folded her arms even as the rest of the group took up seats on the other side of the table, as far away from the Dazzlings as they were able.

“Uhm, no one really answered me. Who are these three?” The lavender girl asked again, confusion evident as she spoke.

Sunset opened her mouth to explain but was cut off by Aria, to her surprise.

“Long story short: we're Sirens, an Equestrian species that was banished here for reasons related to our powers and habits. We came to CHS to get Equestrian magic to go home, they stopped us and permanently neutralized our primary talent, so here we are.” Aria spoke with all the enthusiasm of a public service announcement, dry and without inflection.

“Wait, YOU'RE the sirens? I mean, I'd heard of you, but I never got the details...” Twilight's eye gleamed, sensing potential for inquiry, only to be shot down by Aria's dull response.

“The details aren't important. Let's get this wrapped up. Time's wasting.”

Twilight balked, glancing to her friends. “...Is she always this brusque?”

“Honestly, I don't know that any of us could tell you. We didn't exactly spend a great deal of time with them...” Fluttershy remarked with an apologetic shrug.

“Brusque is a good way to describe her, but her heart doesn't seem to be it. As she said, time is wasting.” Adagio interjected. “You don't want to be here or speak to us, and we're just as interested in leaving this den of horrors as some of you must surely be. Humans really are warped creatures...

“But here's our request, for the sake of those here who clearly haven't been brought up to speed.” She fixed Sunset with a measuring expression before continuing. “We want to go back to Equestria.”

Pinkie spoke up without warning. “So you and your pair of meanie-pants sisters wanna go back to ponyland so you can conquer them with your music? But you don't have your little glowy gems so you can't use your magic music to control other people so you're gonna go conquer ponyland the old fashioned way?” She didn't seem aware of almost half the congregation rolling their eyes at the label 'ponyland'.

“We're not entirely powerless, we just have to try a lot harder now.” Aria chimed in, earning a scowl from Adagio that didn't seem to move her in the least.

“Ahem! Well, Aria is correct. We're not without our talents completely, but they are greatly diminished. In either case conquest isn't our aim. We just want to go home. Back to the sea of our birth.”

“Still not seeing why we should reward you jerks for your trouble by turning you loose in a world where you're free to go and ruin entire towns.” Rainbow remarked, voice laden with scorn. “Honestly this seems like you getting what you deserve.”

“You will find we disagree on that notion, hypocrite.” Adagio retorted with considerably more venom that she'd displayed thus far.

“Hypo--how are YOU gonna call ME a hypocrite?!” Rainbow snarled as she jumped to her feet.

Sunset raised her hands. “Dash, calm down. We can talk this out. Adagio, if you want us to take you seriously, you're gonna have to argue that point. With no insults, please.”

Adagio huffed and reasserted her control. “Fine then. Here are the facts of the matter. My sisters and I are creatures from Equus. We need to return home; we're going to continue to waste away because we can't adhere to our basic nature. However you want to paint it on a moral scale, we're Sirens. To consume the emotions that come from others is our innate talent and our magical biology, so to speak. If we're not doing it, it's not healthy behavior for us. You could scarcely tell an Earth Pony to never touch the soil, a Unicorn to never cast spells, or a Pegasus to stay on the ground permanently.

“You look at us and see us as monsters who sow strife and reap hatred and anger, but that's only as monstrous as perspective paints it. It's who we are, it's what we are. If you're not going to help us, then we're just going to keep looking for another way until we're no longer able to. Which, frankly speaking, might not be far off.” Adagio concluded, clasping her hands in front of her. She paused a moment, her eyes measuring the group before adding, “This little meeting is already among the final options we had left. At least back home we'd prefer to go in familiar waters.”

“Counter-argument,” Rarity responded, her voice clear. “Your nature or not you seemed to be doing just fine before you caused our entire high-school to devour itself with infighting and rage. It seems reasonable to conclude that you were quite able to get along without all of this negative energy business.”

“We'd been doing that for months before encountering you and your school. Moreover, without our gems to actually absorb that power we're barely able to process anything we get. Combine that with our depleted talents and you find us as we are now.” Aria quipped. Sunset wasn't sure, but she though she was detected a ghost of a smile at the corners of her mouth.

“I hope you're not tryin' to argue that you're not guilty of somethin' that just ain't right.” Applejack interjected. “What you did was plain mean and you know it. You went outta your way to make our classmates bicker with each other, hypnotized our staff, and who knows who else so you could take our magic from us. And y'all have the wherewithal to know it was wrong, so don't pretend you don't.”

Adagio stared at Applejack again, apparently having decided that the farmer was going to be her primary opposition in this debate. “I never said anything about rightness or wrongness in our actions. We did what we do. Playing ponies...and people against each other and feeding on the struggles therein is how we exist. It's how we persist. That's our nature. Do you get morally offended at a mosquito that sucks your blood? A wolf that kills your sheep? A tidal wave that drowns the coast?” She punctuated her list by narrowing her eyes, managing to bring back a measure of the intimidation she displayed months prior. “No. Those things are acting on instinct or lack even that and simply are what they are. You can try to apply your right and wrong to it, but if it's our basic nature to sow strife and feed on the resulting energy, that's our basic nature.” She wore a cruel smile as she finished, “But it is entertaining to watch people struggle with one another, yes.”

"You can't really compare yourself a wild animal or natural disaster, dear. It only reflects poorly on you." Rarity retorted airily, earning her a withering scowl from Adagio.

“I-is it possible for you to just use the ambient negative energy of people around you? People can be pretty mean...” Fluttershy chimed in, her voice barely audible. “You don't have to get others to fight all the time, do you?”

Aria's emotionless tone responded, “That's the equivalent of telling someone not to go to the market to get food and instead hope they get lucky foraging in the woods for something edible.”

Rainbow Dash spoke, "We broke your gems permanently. Even if you guys go to the other side, you'll just end up giving out over there, won't you? Or do you know something we don't...?" She finished, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"We're aware." Aria answered. "But it's the last chance we have. We're guaranteed to fade away here, so we might as well take a chance there. If it doesn't work, then we can die in our homeland."

"How do we know you won't just try to hypnotize everyone around you as soon as you get over there if it turns out you can, huh?"

"You don't." Aria stated simply. The ghost of a smile returned as she finished, "You'd just have to...trust us."

A sinking sensation came over Sunset as the conversation went back and forth. She could already tell where this was headed. Princess Twilight's voice, ironically, brought them to that point.

“You three don't plan on changing your ways at all, do you?” Her face was calculating, a furrowed brow the only clue that she was deep in thought.

Adagio responded haughtily, “Why would we want to? You see what your self-righteousness has done by stopping us. We're withering away bit by bit, day by day, while you 'heroes' pat each other on the back and congratulate yourselves for a job well done!” Her voice slowly rose in volume as she continued, “We can promise that we won't cause trouble for you personally, Princess, but if something good comes of this then we're going to do what our very nature tells us because doing otherwise is KILLING US!” She finished, slamming both hands on the table as she stood.

The impact was enough to rouse Sonata, who woke up snarling and clutching her armrests, head snapping back and forth like a cornered animal as she bared her teeth at anything in sight. Sci-Light, as Dash referred to her, was the next nearest person on her left and spent a solid thirty seconds leaning as far away from the suddenly quite animated siren as she could while the argument went back and forth with or without them.

Sunset rubbed her temples, struggling to keep her own temper under control as Adagio and her friends bickered hotly with one another even as Aria seemed to find the energy to join the debate and prod things along, an unmistakable smirk now on her face as she observed proceedings and periodically verbally jabbed at the other Rainbooms and sometimes even Adagio. It seemed she was more interested in watching the carnage than actually contributing, for all her talk of time-wasting.

She frowned, feeling the headache coming on.

To one side, she observed the the Rainbooms. AJ and Rainbow might be the most animated of the bunch, but she could already see that Rarity had decided she wasn't going to rule in their favor just by looking at her face. Fluttershy seemed to be trying to hide behind her hair, which wasn't going to help bring any kind of closure to this argument. Pinkie remained cheery, but Sunset was pretty sure she was watching Sonata out of the corner of her eye (who thankfully had stopped snapping at poor Twilight and was now sullenly folding her arms). The Princess seemed to be starting to panic, sweat beading on her brow and pupils constricting more and more with each passing second. She supposed the alicorn wasn't used to out and out fighting or settling such disputes (especially when the ethics involved were thorny).

On the Dazzlings side, Adagio was had now lost herself in puerile insults and thinly veiled threats, her appearance now obviously haggard as she stopped bothering to try to appear collected. Aria was more awake, but she was actually egging everyone on instead of trying to settle anything, which could only be the pointless malice of the incredibly mean-spirited or those beyond caring (or both). Sonata just sat there, sulking and looking a blend between miserably tired and extremely put out about being woken up.

It was all so stupid.

Frustration surged in her mind, rapidly transforming into a pure indignant rage that she had tried to avoid since that night months ago. Why had they even bothered? It wasn't like her friends would ever yield to the sirens. They couldn't understand. They had no way of grasping the truth of their plight any more than they could hers. Humans couldn't know what it was to have to ignore your basic nature.

And the sirens; of course they were going to be combative and rude and unhelpful. Why would they be otherwise? It wasn't like their very survival was on the line, and they weren't stepping on the toes of the very people that held the sirens' fates in their hands.

It was all so stupid. They were all so stupid. Every raised voice wormed its way into her skull, exacerbating the mounting migraine. Boiling resentment rose. Why had the sirens come to her? Why now? What were the odds that they'd pick the very day she got back to come and drop this at her doorstep?

The logical answers came to her in order: They were desperate. They noted that she was home, or perhaps one of them saw her and Twilight in town. They had no other options, else they wouldn't have. Adagio's entire demeanor made that clear. It was possible even that her cohorts had prevailed on her to do so to start with. A nauseating sensation of guilt both for her friends and for the sirens began to fester alongside the anger, which ironically just made her more irritable, which in turn made her even guiltier in some sort of warped loop. She tried to breathe, to steady her thoughts and calm the pounding in her skull, but would've been easier if they COULD ALL JUST--

“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS!”

Sunset started, the sudden shrill volume of her voice returning her to the present. Ten pairs of eyes stared at her in surprise as she rubbed her throat, now sore. Rainbow slowly lowered a fist she'd been balling up. Sonata seemed to be wearing a thousand yard stare in her direction. Princess Twilight blinked slowly, reaching out and touching Sunset's hand with worry on her face.

The unicorn blanched as all attention came to her. She needed to...she could...

“....Please be quiet, I mean. Everyone.”

Yep, improv was the name of the game. Again.

Twilight squeezed her hand, brow furrowed. Sunset swallowed and continued, struggling to piece together a coherent stream of thought on the run.

“Aria has the right of it. We're wasting time that the Dazzlings might not have. Look at them.” She motioned with her free hand. Adagio was unwilling to bother trying to recover her composure, mountain of curls seemingly hanging somewhat limp despite her defiant mien. Sonata was having trouble keeping her eyes open, while Aria stared at Sunset with intense interest, which only seemed to accentuate the sunken, hollow look of her countenance.

The Rainbooms assembled paused, Dash in particular glowering.

Sunset took a breath (partially to buy herself precious seconds to think), and spoke again.

“This is gonna sound really cheesy, but--” She sighed, the phrasing sounding trite even as she spoke. “To guarantee we protect ponies--and people-- from the sirens means to condemn them to a life of skirting magical starvation for the rest of their days, which will probably be brief if I know anything about the subject. At best, they scrape by miserably, barely able to meet the rest of their bodies' needs. At worst they die slowly in the next little while.” Sunset found herself clenching Twilight's fingers firmly, a weird kind of satisfaction taking shape alongside her other conflicting emotions; it was the sort of self-congratulatory pride of someone who'd barely slipped by an audition, but succeeded nevertheless.

“...a fair summation, Sunset Shimmer.” Adagio remarked, a strange smile on her face and amusement sparkling in her eyes. “So, Rainbooms, what'll it be? Do you let us die, and we most assuredly will, to keep ponies you'll never meet or care about safe...” She paused, probably for emphasis. “Or do you 'save' us like the heroes you pretend you are and deal with the uncertainty of what comes after, knowing that we not only can't but won't change what and who we are?” She chuckled, the sound wheezy and dry as she leaned back (Sunset involuntarily rolled her eyes; this was surely theatrical). “I have to say, I don't envy you! What's the 'right' decision? Is there a 'wrong' one?”

Aria chose this moment to chime in, “For the record...I won't hold not helping us against you.” Adagio looked at her compatriot, aghast, even as she continued, “You're in a tough position. As much fun as it is to watch you fight with Adagio, I understand what it is to have conflicting priorities. Think hard.” She stopped only when Adagio elbowed her roughly, to which she responded with a sardonic smile. Sunset stared at the violet siren, trying to understand her intent; was she playing for sympathy, or did she genuinely mean that?

Pinkie nodded, a sunny smile on her face as she chirped, “Welp, that's probably everything that everyone was gonna say, right? So let's take a vote and blow this popsicle stand before the robots in the next room try to eat us!” A wave of fervent nods answered. No one was interested in being in this place for much longer, however real or imagined that danger might be.

Earth's native Twilight opted to abstain, lacking perspective on the matter. This was probably for the better anyway, Sunset mused. No need for a potential tie vote.

“Okay...all in favor of helping the Dazzlings, raise your hand.”

Author's Note:

First things first: I'm sorry for taking so long on this chapter, but it was finicky and I had to think hard about it. I'm still not totally satisfied, but if I spend all month revising it then it'll never get posted and then where would we be? Not here, surely. Also, I finally cracked down and made COVER ART go me

Second things second: Lots of conversing but not a lot of DOING this chapter, but such is the nature of a debate, plus a little headcanon. There won't be another such unwieldy multi-man word melee in this story, I can promise you that. Blegh. Juuust a little more drama and we can get back to fluffy stuff. It's already gotten more gnarly than I intended, but that's the way the cookie crumbles!

It's an interesting subject, I think, to look at the basic essence of a creature. As Adagio says, we don't fault a wild animal or natural disaster for their actions; they're doing what comes naturally to them and in the case of the second its more an event than anything. As Rarity kindly points out, sapient creatures, on the other hand, can choose their course of action. The Sirens are definitely up to shenanigans that are 'wrong', but would they really be ashamed for their basic nature? I don't think so. We have scant information on how they came to be, and the only backstory we have on them is that they were punted elsewhere like basically all of Equestria's problems only to be solved at a later date with Protagonist Power MK. SPRKL only to be half-solved.

Morality is a stretchy, ambiguous thing that differs from person to person. The sirens have a definite capacity for cruelty, no matter how you look at it, but I just have a hard time believing that they'd see any wrongness in their actions. We'll see what comes of them moving forward.

As always I welcome constructive criticism and hope you guys enjoy the story!