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When Adagio turned up shortly after the Battle of the Bands with apparently no memory of ever being a siren, Sunset wasn’t convinced right away. But since then, she and the former siren have grown very close and carved out new lives for themselves. They’re stable, and happy with each other.
Until Adagio starts remembering.
An entry for (and 4th-place winner of) Oroboro’s Sunset Shipping Contest.
Edited by forbloodysummer and preread by Tethered-Angel.
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Uh, I've got a shipment of black spoiler boxes here for you?
This is such a lovely image. It's her discovering who she is, and you can see how she claws her way towards something she can't even see, but knows when she arrives. It's an innocent delight in something terrible. And I think it's maybe the first strong suggestion that, whatever happens, Adagio will find her way sooner or later, and the truth will out
I really like the story's use of Rarity, too! That it's the girl with the flaws who isn't sucked in entirely by Sunset's idealism and zealotry, and the one who loves to gossip about relationships (and indeed to find her perfect prince one day) who recognises something's up with this one.
I mentioned it before, but this moment is wonderful. It feels so real, it's so effective at showing what Adagio is feeling, and it's also a hammer blow for Sunset realising what she just said, and who to.
Hasbro take note!
I hadn't before thought about how this line can work on a meta level. Adagio usually escapes rewriting slightly better than her sisters (one of whom is totally nice on the inside and the other is just as smart and not-ditzy as anyone else, didn't you know?), but still, it's good to see Ambergris held to account in the Similar column.
This is such a fantastic capturing of some of the attributes that villains possess where heroes so often fall short. And also of Adagio's willpower, which I think we've said before is probably the most powerful force in the FIM universe. For both reasons, it's a great illustration of how much better she is in stories when she's evil, and how much she's reduced when not.
This is my favourite moment in the story. It's where Adagio finds her voice enough to stop Sunset from framing the situation on her own terms. Adagio mentions that Sunset gets final say in everything, and this is the first time that's broken, and it's so very empowering to read.
I think this story is not only very special, it's also very important. And it takes a very difficult premise and sells it admirably.
This story didn't sit well with me. I think that Sunset's character here is definitely contradictory to every ounce of real character development she's made, especially taking into account "Forgotten Friendship" and her own decisions through the series to always acknowledge who she is and what's she's done and that she's better for being able to see her changes.
It's well written. Just... felt like the wrong character to me.
9138325
Thanks for reading, and especially for commenting! Sorry to hear it didn’t sit well with you--I’d expected this to get a bit of a backlash from some people, so it’s not much of a surprise to hear you saying it.
For what it’s worth, I do agree with you to an extent--while I would like to think that Sunset is at least consistent here, it did always feel to me that it took a bit of a leap to say that Sunset here and Sunset in Rainbow Rocks and onwards were the same person. Especially if you pictured it after Forgotten Friendship (Which was never how I pictured it--I’d imagined it fairly shortly after Rainbow Rocks, and only now realized that, uh, no, that’s not stated anywhere, which is entirely on me). Personally, I can kind of see her coming to the philosophy she shows here; she’s seen from her own experience how having a second chance/fresh start can be a wonderful change for the better, so I think it’s reasonable that she’d view Adagio’s memory loss as an overall good thing. Between that and her being something of a magic expert, I could see her perceived position of authority breeding a bit of arrogance and self-righteousness.
I can completely see where you’re coming from, just so we’re clear. I think it’s a valid criticism, and I’m glad you voiced it
Thanks again for reading!
9138112
Ooo, I was hoping someone would ask, I prepared a big little blurb/speech/announcement thingy!
*ahem*
It was--
Oh.
Well, fuck, this is awkward. Sorry, if you’re looking for someone who’s both those things, I’m not certain one exists
9138392 *Can vouch that Naiad is indeed not a person.
9138325 I can't agree with you there, I'm afraid. Sunset denied her past for a while, singing her song about how it didn't define her. What was it about Forgotten Friendship that changed things? The most relevant thing I can find in the end scene on the transcript is "Listen. I used to be just like you. Sure, I was popular, but I was lonely."
So I think that if, say, Wallflower had erased Sunset's memories of everything pre-Rainbow Rocks, she would be mostly ok with it?
I think she wouldn't say that Applejack, Rainbow or anyone else are weaker for not having a dark past, so I don't think it'd be seen as essential in that way? And if Adagio has a chance to forget, I think she'd see it more as not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
9138508 Not letting your past define you is an immensely different thing from denying it ever happened. She would never deny them the choice of knowing what happened. In this story we are seeing her hide away someone's past and deny them the knowledge of it. In Forgotten Friendship she jumps in front of everyone else to stop Wallflower from stealing their memories of who they were and what they had done together.
And I also disagree that she would be okay with losing her memories and then having other people decide for her that "it's best that she doesn't remember." That's her choice. Not theirs. Also, to clarify, the only reason she has the empathy to forgive Wallflower is precisely because she remembers what it was like.
Character development is not a blank slate every time. That's actually part of the whole point of Forgotten Friendship.
As for Adagio, there's no reason she'd even think her past actions were wrong. At least none given in the story. For all we know, she smacked her head one day on the wall and forgot who she was, meandered around the street and was swept into a relationship with Sunset. Here, it's presented that she doesn't remember, and Sunset abuses that trust from the beginning, which is another issue I have with her characterization in this.
Also, I have no idea what you're trying to say about her judging anyone as strong or week depending on dark pasts or not. That was never relevant nor brought up by me.
One final edit: and just to clarify, I reiterate, I think the story is well written. I'm not attacking the story at all, just the chosen character for Adagio's pairing in this. I would expect this kind of thing from a different, more possessive character than Sunset. I'd expect this more to come from a human version of Starlight Glimmer
9138325
I haven't read any of the comments yet, and that's on purpose.
Having just finished this story myself, I think I'd disagree. To me this actually felt like a completely plausible (and heartbreaking) story spun off of Rainbow Rocks, where Sunset had just grasped the concept of "friendship" after being rewritten herself with a rainbow laser upon her defeat very recently. I can easily see those concepts being warped by someone who's still trying to figure out right and wrong herself to do what she did here, fully believing that she was benevolent. I don't see anything in the story that contradicts this, either.
Meanwhile, the "paradise" of Sunset and Adagio living together calls back to the Siren insta-redemption fics that utterly flooded the site between 2014-2016, for purposes of easy shipping with the Rainboom of the author's choice. On a metafictional (and metafannish) level, this fic is a goddamn scalpel.
Honestly, I posit that this story's only "mistake" (outside of being a little too vague as to the cause of Adagio's amnesia for my tastes) is that it was published three years too late. If this had been written in 2014-2015, none of us (who weren't hardcore Sunset Can Do No Wrong fans) would be batting an eye at Sunset's "characterization" here--even me, who praises the show up and down and whose motto is Redeem All The Things.
I really like this gray-area take and consider it totally valid.
More chilling: one could even make a logical progression path for Forgotten Friendship having inspired this course of action in a weird, twisted way. The mind boggles with scary possibilities. Embrace the magic, Sunset.
Anyhow, time for me to go read the comments and find out how much of this was already covered.
As for you, Naiad
Just for the record, you've now inadvertently made me miserable twice in one day. And this time, it wasn't my fault.
Fortunately, this time I was also awake, so, just long as I have this plot point straight: Sunset found Adagio with Amnesia one day and decided to take full advantage? Is that what happened? I consider this story to be absolutely fantastic and chilling and no I was NOT sobbing uncontrollably while holding my Rarity plush as tightly as possible what are you talking about the sort of thing I wish I'd've been able to read in 2014. Alongside some good Siren redemption fics for balance of course (the number of which I can count on one hand).
As far as being something that could exist alongside the show... I personally would say that that status is dubious, yet still wholly arguable. But I'm pretty sure that was nowhere near the front of your mind when you wrote this. No, this is one of those kinds of "what if"s that fanfic was created for--and I love when I get to witness it up close.
9138629 We'll have to agree to disagree on that, then. Redemption of a character has no bearing on this, since that's never been argued.
The obstinate denial of the past which is what happened here is not something I ever saw her doing or justifying in RR. In fact, it is painfully obvious how aware of her previous actions she is and how she wants to be judged by who she is now, but she never pretended it never happened. It's not that I think that Sunset can do no wrong, thank you very much, it's that I interpreted her character growth in a considerably different way than where this story took it. You say you can see it, however, and that's cool too.
9138655
Preface: perfectly willing to agree to disagree as well! We probably have interpreted the canon differently. That said, I like to play around with tiny variations on what canon gives us, a lot.
Re: redemption: not arguing (honestly, I despise arguing), merely exploring. I like getting into the meat of why creative works were created in the first place, and the subject of saccharine redemption fics rang out to me like a billion alarms while reading this, along with the opinions of Siren fans I've talked to over the years. I considered it relevant as a Cool Thing if nothing else.
While this could be construed as "obstinate past denial", I also find this and the surrounding paragraphs (as well as any paragraphs where Sunset talks about Adagio's past and what's best for her) to be totally consistent with Sunset right after RR ended. My Past Is Not Today. Getting Twilight to deny Midnight Sparkle outright in LoE. Being really paranoid about any possible magical evils And How To Stop Them in both Mirror Magic and FG. Even her "hating to lose" in RoF. Sunset acknowledges that her past sucked, yes, but aside from that she moves ever forward, and encourages those around her to do the same, every chance she gets, because every time she's acknowledged that past, it has canonically brought her nothing but pain and lack of confidence that she's had to lean on others to get through.
Thus, as much as I feel that Sunset has learned and come a damned long way, and also that Forgotten could complicate things a bit (but also just as much not), from my reading, the author here just kind of... pulls a couple of really easy Sunset strings that could lead us to what we see here in a heartbeat.
(Hilariously, the best ammo against this story's characterization appears to be Anon-A-Miss, but people seem to love to hate that one :3)
The only question remaining is: would Sunset pull the figurative trigger? This fic explores if she did. I suppose we disagree on if she would. That's 100% fair. Speaking for myself, I personally see several scenarios where she misguidedly would, if she felt the safety of two universes was in mortal danger. But I totally see the other side of the coin, because, well, that's the side I prefer to write. :D
Related: reading one of your other comments, I also disagree that this ship/scenario would work better with a human Starlight. While in Season 6 she was really freaking awful at respecting boundaries (because she had to be re-taught right and wrong like an infant), there's ample evidence to suggest that Starlight has since come to terms with her past and melded her present reformed self with it--easy examples are her now-infamous Guidance Counselor scene, and her convincing Twilight to buck the rulebook in the S8 premiere. This sort of thing can even be traced to episodes like Shadow Play in S7. Thus I feel Starlight would have had less of a chance to do what Sunset did here, and might even be a better ship for Adagio overall.
...oh god what have I done
9138550 Oh dear, this got very long. Sorry.
In Forgotten Friendship she prevents someone from deliberately erasing the happy memories of bystanders who'd done nothing to deserve it. Here, she's encountered someone who, as far as they know, doesn't have a malicious bone in their body and has never done anything to hurt anyone, and she's working to preserve that unique opportunity for a fresh start. I think there are enough differences between the two that how she acts in Forgotten Friendship doesn't necessarily reflect how she'd act here.
Not letting your past define you and denying it ever happened are different, absolutely, but, with how she approaches it ("The old me really was just awful, wasn't she?") I think both of them are her trying to weasel her way out of taking responsibility for her actions. Forgotten Friendship is indeed relevant here, because that's how long it takes for her to go back and try to make amends with Princess Celestia. We know Equestria Girls is set in Autumn/Fall ('Fall Formal'), so the soonest Legend of Everfree could be is the next summer. I don't know how long after that Forgotten Friendship is supposed to be set, but in all that time of Sunset being good, she does not go back and apologise to Celestia, and wouldn't have done in Forgotten Friendship if she hadn't needed help. That, to me, suggests Sunset would rather forget the past and move on with her new life.
With that in mind, I think she would be more receptive than most to the idea of a spell that would erase the memory of her past. Or, much more importantly, she'd be receptive enough to the idea that that's what she'd tell herself is the right thing to do with Adagio. In point of fact, Sunset in this story might be very unwilling to give up control of herself like that. But of course she doesn't see herself as controlling of Adagio, just concerned for her, so she never has that thought.
It's an interesting thought that remembering what it was like herself is what gives Sunset the empathy to forgive Wallflower - is that suggesting that none of the other mane cast would have done so, as they didn't have that experience and therefore that empathy? That was what I meant about the others being weak or strong depending on dark pasts. If we are saying that Sunset is better at friendship because of her dark past, then the others must be not as good, right? Since they don't have villainous pasts?
And if that's the case, I disagree. Perhaps the others, lacking that perspective, wouldn't have forgiven Wallflower in Sunset's position. But I don't think Sunset would ever think such a horrible thing about her friends? And by extension, therefore, I don't think she'd think the memories of an evil past would be that much help to Adagio, since (in Sunset's opinion) her friends do just fine at friendship without needing troubled pasts?
Can I ask what you mean about character development not being a blank slate every time? Is it that, if a character's memory is wiped, they may develop in new and unexpected ways compared to before, as their circumstances will be different?
This leads us to Adagio! I think Adagio as seen in Rainbow Rocks would have no reason to think her actions were wrong, absolutely. I think if she'd retained her memories after losing her power when defeated, she still wouldn't think they were wrong. But here, Adagio has been 'raised' by Sunset - the nurture side of her upbringing comes entirely from someone who (thinks she) knows all about friendship, and as a result, Adagio in this story has a very different character, basically being a younger-seeming, more innocent copy of Sunset. And I think she'd be devastated to learn about her past, as most people who consider themselves decent humans would. And the final possible version of Adagio: this, raised-by-Sunset Adagio, but after regaining her memories? That's tougher to say, I think. I don't think we see enough in the story to be sure whether all the old memories coming back will bring more of her old personality and principles, too. She does say that she and her sisters were awful people, but then she's only just starting to get her memories back even when the story ends.
Yeah, I think Adagio turned up one day - I'd guess her memory loss came from her gem shattering, or the after-effects of that, rather than a random head injury, but either way - and Sunset looked at her and (much to Sunset's surprise) saw no evil in her. Nothing to need redeeming. Just a defenceless girl who wouldn't hurt a fly, and needed help. And at first, I think her instinct would be to help. Then, as they grow closer, and Adagio learns from Sunset and becomes more like her, Sunset's priorities shift more towards protecting Adagio from anything that might risk stopping her from being the nice, friendly person she's become. I don't think there's any suggestion, prior to the events of the story, that Adagio is likely to remember - I think everyone believes it's a risk, but there's been no suggestion of it actually happening yet.
So, if I think therefore I am, and therefore I am my thoughts, and Adagio lacks the thoughts of all the bad things she did, then she is in some ways a different person. She doesn't deserve the guilt or shame of her past actions, because she is completely separated from the personality, the bundle of thoughts, feelings and principles, which led to them. In Sunset's eyes, this new version of Adagio has done no wrong, and so should be spared from all that pain.
And that's how Sunset sees it. I'm reminded of the film Total Recall, come to think of it (the Schwarzenegger version, of course), where the twist is an amnesiac protagonist discovering a video from his own past revealing that he was in league with those he's viewed as villains since returning to consciousness from his memory loss. Which he is rather upset by, and that's what Sunset hopes to help Adagio avoid.
There's also the simple fact that Sunset doesn't know whether Adagio will stay 'good,' if she does regain her memories. It's not just about protecting her from the horrors of her past, but also from stopping her from becoming that person again. Sunset has no idea how strong siren instincts are, or even that much about who Adagio used to be (other than that Sunset assumes Adagio used to be someone much like Old Sunset), so she really doesn't know if the ethics she's raised Adagio to now believe in will stick if Adagio gets her memories back. The humane seven stopped the sirens once before, so Sunset probably needn't rationally fear the end of the world if Old Adagio comes back. But it would scupper this chance Adagio has at being a good person, which might be the only one she gets - if her older personality is able to resurface and make her a villain again, even with however long Sunset's been teaching her to be a good person for, then post-defeat redemption like so many others have gone through in MLP probably won't work so well for her.
I have to disagree about Starlight, or perhaps suggest that it might work but in a different way. There's Every Little Thing She Does, of course, in which she's gleefully indifferent to the concept of free will. But, firstly as Bookish says, that was a long time ago, and Starlight has come a long way since. But secondly, it's not indifference that's driving the oppressing character here. Sunset is driven in this story absolutely by the need to control. That's why the end comes when Adagio steps out of the front door, because once she's outside and away from Sunset, she can break free of Sunset's influence and make her own choices. And Starlight, as far as I see, doesn't really have that drive to control? She did depower a whole village, true! But I don't think many of her actions since then have suggested that that's a motivator for her, so I'd suggest that, even back then, that was more out of absolute idealism from her.
The one I'd suggest, if the story were to take place with any other character, would be Twilight. We see in both Lesson Zero and It's About Time that Twilight goes into total meltdown when her carefully-ordered life starts to unravel. But it's not just because she likes order, since things are in disarray plenty anytime there's a proper crisis, and she keeps herself together. It's more that her own life is something she feels she can control down to the smallest detail with checklists and schedules, and so when she loses her autonomy over that most basic of areas, she becomes unhinged. As such, I could see her (at a stretch!) keeping a firm hold over Adagio's rehabilitation. Just look how she tries to control who Starlight makes friends with in No Second Prances. Twilight realises her mistake by the end of the episode, but Starlight is much, much more confident standing up for herself and explaining than Adagio is here, and that's what it takes for Twilight to appreciate being wrong.
Then there's the angle of Twilight being the Princess of Friendship, so she does have more experience (and, more frighteningly, more authority) in deciding things regarding the best approach to the magic of friendship than most. Still, though, you'd hope Twilight would know better. Whether Sci-Twi would work is an interesting one - I always thought Friendship Games should have had Midnight Sparkle fixated on control rather than knowledge, because, as above, I think that's the flaw haunting Pri-Twi which she tries to rise above. But, as that did pan out, I don't think what applied to Pri-Twi would apply to Sci-Twi in this context.
I think it's most in-character, of the mane cast, for Sunset. She's the one with the hair-trigger temper on several occasions when someone says something she doesn't like, most recently when a fairground stall doesn't deliver the results she's expecting. She needs to be in control. She's also the one who most lectures villains on their failings, and helps them rehabilitate to embrace the magic of friendship. And it's that zealotry that leads her astray here, giving her the illusion of ultimate justification for her actions, so much so that the bad things she's doing controlling Adagio like that don't even occur to her.
Just in case it doesn't come across, I agree with every word you say about how wrong Sunset's actions are. I cannot condemn them strongly enough, and absolutely don't think she's in the right. Where I disagree is in whether or not they're out of character for her.
9138629
This I think is the most addressable story technical issue raised!
I know Naiad has a theory of exactly what's responsible for that, but it didn't make it into the story for practical reasons (neither Sunset nor reborn-Adagio would know) and because it didn't actually affect the plot, whatever it was. Would that have helped make the premise more solid for you, then, rather than been an extraneous detail?
Totally, totally fine that you'd have different tastes in that respect!
Purely from a technical standpoint, that seemed like something irrelevant, so it's really good you mention it or stuff like that would never be included next time 
9138838
No, I totally see where you're coming from and I thought for a long time about whether to point it out! I even read the story a second time to decide whether or not I cared. Lord knows wanting to know random irrelevant details derails a lot of discussion in this fandom. >_<
So, I pretty much guessed the twist of the story after the first scene--from there my mind went to so many different possible scenarios as to what Sunset had done to recondition Adagio. Was the Memory Stone involved? Were the Elements of Harmony or Geodes involved since they've been shown to be able affect people and ponies psychologically? Did the Dazzlings' magical defeat at the end of RR (and their subsequent gems cracking) perhaps have an amnesiac effect that took hold until Sunset found Adagio one day? Simply put, how much was my heart going to break at the end of all this, and how plausible would it be given how I much I know about your feelings regarding Sunset, and have tangential cause to believe that Naiad agrees with a lot of those feelings ~_^?
So in my mind, the cause of Adagio's amnesia determines just how proactive Sunset was in the proceedings, which speaks to where Naiad would be taking the character as an author. Did she decide, as I can actually see in my darkest thoughts, to "finish the job" post-RR via magical means while convincing herself she was performing a kindness given that her own past causes her no end of guilt? Or did she take advantage of a situation that dropped into her lap? And what events/rationalizations led to her making the decision in the first place? It's story garnish, to be sure, but of the type where you can clearly taste a (non-dish-ruining) difference if not present.
Hope that helps.
Holy SHIT that's a good short description you have. I'd make it the short and long, honestly. I almost never read ponyfics anymore, but you earned yourself a reader just off that.
9138805
9138635
Firstly, thanks for reading and commenting! I’m very glad you found stuff to like here
If it’s any consolation, a big big part of this story was me kinda eviscerating one of my all-time favorite ships, so you’re not the only one to have gotten a bit of misery out of this one--bits of it were very very very hard to write.
Heartbreaking was exactly what it was meant to be, though, so I hope you don’t mind if I indulge myself and giggle gleefully
That’s more or less what happened, yeah--there is, I believe, a bit alluding to there being some discussion amongst Sunset and her friends on what to do about Adagio. Sunset was the magic expert, so they deferred (Reluctantly, in at least one case) to her judgment and left her watching over Adagio.
I’m inclined to agree with that, yeah? I think there was probably more effort put into making the story internally consistent than there was in making sure it fit neatly with canon; Adagio in particular has very very little in common with her canon self, and, though the comments section shows the extent is clearly up for debate, Sunset kinda doesn’t either.
Ah, so, this part. Some explanation, first: I legitimately had not once considered, throughout the writing process, that it was anything but the breaking of Adagio’s gem that did it, nor did I ever stop to think about what conclusions other people might draw in that regard. I did, however, want to leave at least the possibility of Aria and Sonata being in the same circumstances, which in my mind ruled out the possibility of Sunset having been the one to take Adagio’s memory from her--or it would have, if I’d considered that possibility, but, again, I didn’t.
And there isn’t much in the story to draw much of a conclusion from, really--the first line of the long description, “When Adagio turned up shortly after the Battle of the Bands with apparently no memory of ever being a siren, Sunset wasn’t convinced right away” is the only place I can think of where there’re even scraps of information related to the cause of it.
So, uh, thanks for bringing it up!
It’s super helpful to know that you were thinking and theorizing about that kind of thing as you were reading, because I would not have guessed that anyone would’ve been!
Out of interest, would you say that you guessing the twist had just to do with the text of the story itself? Sorry, it’s just that you also say later on that you suspected I had some issues with Sunset (Which isn’t completely wrong), and I’m curious whether or not that significantly colored how you read that first scene.
9139051
I appreciate that you thought of that, but I think you’re bringing up some very good points, so as long as it’s at least mostly related to the story, I’m totally fine with the conversation staying here
9139030
Thank you! I’ve never thought of myself as being good with descriptions, so it’s nice to know that I can get one right sometimes
... And now that you propose it, the idea of making it the long one as well is kinda tempting. Will give that a think tomorrow
Lol
Sequel?
9140494
Not likely. To be blunt, the ending is about where the story stops being interesting for me.
Wow that's a long comment section, Summer must be here!
That last scene was a good addition! It definitely feels more resolved, and gives some nice extra insight to Sunset's thinking. Poor thing. Best intentions pave the road to hell
9143108
I have no idea why you would you say such a slanderous thing! Summer’s comments only account for about 40% of the cumulative comment wordcount so far (Not counting quotes).
If there’s one thing that’s been consistent in my stories as of late, it’s that best intentions and Sunset sleeping with Adagio do not go well together at all
I had something between a frown and a grimace on my face the entire time I read this. At first I thought that it was a case of a super-happy redemption fic being taken well beyond the pale into the realm of the extremely inappropriate, but by the time I got to the end I saw how it was intentional.
What Sunset did here--grooming a person with no (remembered) life experience--might as well be child abuse. She was grooming Adagio to be her perfect little pet, whether she was able to admit it or not. I'm sure this was the intention of the story, given that Adagio eventually calls Sunset out for how she's isolated her. Even knowing that this was the intended effect of the story, I couldn't enjoy it, simply for how unpleasant the material in question is. Of course, I don't think it's supposed to be enjoyed, so good job?
9138655
I have to agree with WandererD about Sunset not being a great choice for the role that she played. I'm also of the opinion that she wouldn't deny someone their memories. More than that, I find it difficult to imagine Sunset's friends allowing Sunset to do what she's done in the story. Yes, Rarity did seem to protest Sunset's actions in some small way, but after six months I feel like they would've figured out that what Sunset has been doing isn't on the level.
9163025
Thanks for commenting, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts
I can definitely appreciate how the subject matter of this one isn’t for everyone. But, the underlying premise of Sunset being abusive was present from very early in the writing process, so I knew from the beginning that I wanted this to be a bit uncomfortable to read. In that sense, I’m kind of glad it was.
The matter of whether Sunset fits this story is an odd one, I think. Bookish Delight put it this way, which I’m inclined to agree with:
And my own stance is that Sunset’s seen, in her own life, only positive changes from ridding herself of her darker past, so, in my mind, if she had reason to think that Adagio’s memories would drudge all that back up, she’d be at least tempted to try and stop that from happening. Throw in a bit of underlying selfishness and a position of some power/authority and I can see something like this happening. While I will concede that Sunset might not fit the role she had in this story exactly, I personally can’t really see anyone fitting it better.
That being said, I will admit that it is a bit of a leap to go from Canon Sunset to Sunset as she’s depicted in this story. I get the impression that you and Wanderer D see the character differently than I do, which is completely fine.
Yep, totally fair! I think, to an extent, I can see that happening, if reluctantly (I mean, obviously, I wrote the darn thing), but there’s not much rationalization for it presented in the story itself
So I will file that away as something I perhaps could have made more clear.
9163129
Thanks for the response! I'm definitely going to check out a few of your other stories; I just hope the other Adagio x Sunset stories are a bit happier!
9163181
I’m a bit flattered that you’d want to seek out more of mine when this one wasn’t quite your thing
As you might’ve noticed by now, happy SunDagio is oddly not so much a thing for me--the closest I’ve come to unambiguously happy SunDagio lately is in a story that likely won’t be published for quite some time, and everything else has been I think bittersweet at best
I hope you find something to enjoy in my other stories, though
Another really well done horrible twisty mess. Remind me to not read your stories when I want to be in a good mood...
Not a lot of things to say that haven't been covered yet though. Road to hell...good intentions...only bright side being that Sunset's not so far gone as to realize at the end that she was wrong. Not too much canon characterization but eh...it works well for what it does. Filing it under ‘horrifyingly plausible alternate universe’.
Also, Sunset here demonstrates the classic problem of smart people: being really good at rationalization.
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As I said above, I’ve done happier things, but they’re likely not coming out for a long time, so the best I have right now is bittersweet, doubly so when it comes to SunDagio.
Yeah, “horrifyingly plausible” seems to be a recurring theme of my work lately
You’re right, not a lot of canon characterization here. I think Sunset’s outlook here is a natural extension/exaggeration of bits of how she is in canon, personally, but I won’t deny that it’s a bit of a leap to get from canon to here.
Thanks for reading, glad you liked it
I decided to give this a read once the contest results came in, and I was not disappointed. This was excellent, you really put me right there with Sunset.
To throw in my two cents regarding the debate, I was actually perfectly fine with how Sunset was characterized. However, I do have another critique. I'm not sure you captured a romantic relationship here. If you take away the physical intimacy, this could easily be read as a mother/daughter dynamic, with Sunset as the protective mother overflowing with affection and Adagio as the inquisitive teenage daughter growing into a more independent life. It's a good story either way, just not necessarily the one you set out to write, I guess.
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Thanks for reading and commenting, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts
And I was going to say I've been meaning to read your entry too, but nope, the stories you've written recently I've been interested in have been for every contest except this one
I completely agree with you, though! One of the reasons I was so surprised to see this one place was that I didn't feel like I'd written a story about romantic love. Even the physical intimacy, I was hesitant to include much of, because I thought that having Sunset be potentially emotionally and sexually abusing Adagio would've been too much. So, yeah, I completely believe that this could come across as a mother/daughter kinda thing.
Whether that makes it not the one I set out to write is... maybe not quite true, though? I was sort of going for a parent/child relationship, in a way, with Sunset perceiving Adagio as being like a child and therefore in need of protection even though they nominally should've been equals. And I think that really fits Sunset's character here, since she's kind of inserting herself as a figure of authority and moral guidance, almost like a mother. A commenter above compared Sunset's actions here to child abuse, which I don't completely disagree with. But, when all was said and done, I was much more fixated on what Sunset was doing than what kind of label best fit their relationship, so I wouldn't necessarily call that an error on my part.
This story was really hooking from start to finish. I see what people mean when they say Sunset was out of character, but I just say this is AU and it's fine.
You can has review!
Oh geez. That was really hard to read, in all the right ways. I swear this needs a Thriller tag. You are the real deal.
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What makes you say that? Not saying you're wrong, just curious what your reasoning was--I've not read many Thriller stories at all, so I'm not exactly clear on what the distinguishing qualities of them would be.
I seem to be steadily convincing more and more people I am, anyway
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I'll be honest and say I don't really know what defines it, either.
But this was thrilling, to be sure. So much tension and suspense!
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I won't argue with that interpretation of it!
I think that tag would be a bit of a spoiler, though, and maybe raise false expectations--I tend to think of more action-ish stuff when I hear Thriller, and this was just two confused lesbians agonizing over their emotions.
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Understandable. :)
I just reread this, having not read it since it was first published, and I'd left it long enough to forget some of the specifics of the lines. Having been involved in its creation before, this was kind of like my first look at it as a reader, from the outside looking in. That said, I hadn't forgotten any of the plot directions, so I had an expectation of how I expected it to read, and it didn't always line up with how it actually did.
One thing I really noticed was how much I felt for Sunset, whereas I recall always being on Adagio's side every step of the way through the story coming into being. Sunset's controlling moments still stand out right from the outset as bad, and pitting me against her. They're like little moments of dissonance in an otherwise-nice piece of music, and you kind of mentally try to ignore them and focus on the good. And obviously by the end one is desperate for Adagio to get out. But the real skill on display here is how you write Sunset as internally separating her own ills from the collapse of her relationship.
So, the truth of the situation is that Adagio is gradually building steam enough to break free from an abusive relationship. The further she's pushed, the more she realises she has to stand up for herself. And, what Sunset should be feeling, if she were being totally honest and objective with herself, is that she's losing control of Adagio. And, if Sunset's narration reflected that, we'd see her as the villain of the piece right away.
But of course, Sunset does what all controlling spouses do (indeed, all humans) and phrases the situation in her own terms. She sees it as her relationship falling apart, just as she would a relationship where she wasn't controlling and manipulative and definitely to blame. And that bit hits really hard, too! Like, obviously the Adagio breaking free angle does, but we're right there with Sunset feeling the light walk out of her life.
So you're left with this wonderful triple impact of the edge-of-your-seat tension and tragedy of Sunset going through a breakup which she obviously doesn't connect with being her own fault - which feels far too familiar, as no one going through a breakup ever does feel like they're to blame or that it's deserved. So in that way, you're rooting for the breakup not to happen. But simultaneously, there's the yearning for Adagio to manage to escape, because she's in a horrible situation and that's the only positive outcome for her. And then there's the final thing of the crushing realisation of what you've been supporting in hoping they stay together, and of how you relate to an abuser, and why you need to sit down and think about your conduct.
It should be a fairly black and white story of right and wrong, but you wrote Sunset so well that the reader really connects with what she's going through, and that's what gives the story its biting dissonance of changing 'this is a villain' to 'this is someone just like you or I.'
...Which she isn't, of course. She's firmly in the wrong here, and it would be nice if we, in that situation, realised it a lot earlier than she did. I'd really like to think we would realise it before we went into it at all. But the point is that we relate to her.
Also, I see exactly what a previous commenter means about the mother/daughter vibe; I think that's right for the story, as Sunset does subconsciously believe that she's the adult in the situation empowered to make the decisions, and knows what's best for Adagio. I think it's just that we far more often encounter happy parent/child situations than we do abusive relationships. I think it was pitched right for the latter, too, though.
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Such a lovely thing to be surprised by! 
This is some of the most thoughtful, articulate feedback I've gotten in recent memory
One of the questions that came up early in the writing process was which POV the story would be shown from, and I think your reasoning here reinforces not only how crucial that decision was, but also how much the story would have suffered if it'd been made differently. Because I think you're totally right: I struggle to call Sunset a 'villain' here, and I think that's a big part of why the story works, and I think that part of the reason I see her that way is due to how we do get to see her not only rationalizing things, but suffering alongside Adagio. And while I think that the more thriller-ish side of the story people have mentioned might have benefitted from a shift in perspective, I don't think that could've been done without badly compromising Sunset's character.
That being said, I think one of the big reasons I did want to show the story from Sunset's side of things was because it'd make her more sympathetic, because everyone's assumption going into this story is going to be that she's more or less a good person, and seeing her so warped from the outside, I thought would've been too jarring for most people to handle. Which makes me wonder if I'd have thought differently if it was a character besides Sunset taking on the role of the abuser here--that might be one area in a flawed ship suited the situation quite well, which is an odd thought.
(I'd like to think not, in some ways. Writing the story from Adagio's POV, the story I think would've had to hinge on Adagio's discoveries, which feels like it'd be building up to a 'twist' that the reader would've seen coming from far off, which seems rather pointless)
Why. Has. No. Guitar. Player. EVER. Called. It. This. To. Me?
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Couldn't tell you, I'm afraid, but that's, as far as I'm aware, the technical term and I thought it made sense for Sunset to use it here even if it was a bit unusual.
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I just feel lied to. Not by you, but every human who's ever told me, "I play guitar," and proceeded to explain the instrument and its pieces to me.
Naiad: “I have some favorite ships. I like Sunset & Adagio, Rarity & Sunset, and Adagio & Rarity
Fylifa: After reading the stories
Though teasing aside. Sometimes we have to hurt the ones we love because conflict is what makes a story and putting our beloveds through the emotional wringer makes for compelling narrative. It’s easy to write a story that is “And then the villain changes their wicked ways and becomes friends and they live happily ever after ever! Preferably also smooching said hero(s) who reformed them.”
I’m gonna be real. I didn’t like Sunset like at all in EqG1. I thought she was an asspull outta nowhere. “Oh yeah I had tons of students before you Twilight, so hard to keep track of them. This one ran away and like whoopsie daisy looks like she’s back for revenge. Guess I should have done something about that than nothing at all.” and I thought her resolution was terrible. “Mwhahaha I am an evil demoness now.” “Friendship Laser to the face!” “Oh. I am so sorry everyone.” “It’s okay. Be friends with these weird clones of my friends. Not. Like. Come back to Equestria and make up with Celestia or anything. Stay here in the alternate reality.” “Okay bye, Twilight!”
It’s a miracle that we got Rainbow Rocks. Which introduced the best songs, best villains and actually gave Sunset a realistic grounding since it starts off with people (justifiably) hating her.
In a paradoxical way. Rainbow Rocks is actually less about the sirens themselves and is more about giving Sunset a movie long redemption arc. Which I still get teary eyed up over when I hear the mic pickup part of Welcome to the Show.
I read the comments who say that Sunset wouldn’t be such a manipulating person, but its an interesting question.
Getting harmony beamed doesn’t actually seem to change someone fundamentally. Take Luna. She gets zapped out of NMM form, but you can easily see the Luna in Luna Eclipsed if she didn’t have Twilight to help her angry and telling Celestia “It’s just like how it was 1000 years ago! They all think I am a monster. I tried and I canceled their stupid holiday and it made everypony hate me more. I am not going to try with people anymore. Brood. brood. brood.” and then you get Nightmare Moon again in few years.
Conversely, Sunset is an angel figurative and literal sense of things… but how she is in Forgotten Friendship shows she isn’t above her flaws. She trembles in anger. She is pretty accusatory of Trixie. And when she finds about Wallflower she literally looks ready to pound Wallflower’s face in.
And this is Post-Friendship Laser, Post-Daymare Angel, Post-Legends of Everfree Empathy-stone Sunset! Is she really all that different from how she was before?
My point is that I can totally see Sunset falling into your characterization here. Where she might not exactly have a holier-than-thou attitude, she could definitely have a “Listen to me because I know what’s best.” And it provides an interesting contrast. In her efforts of trying to save Adagio from her past, Sunset slips into the worst habits of her own. Genuinely and honestly trying to do good. But ‘being good’ is a recent thing for her and telling lies to spare someone pain also stops people from growing from that pain.
I think it makes this story all the more tragic. That moment where Sunset impulsively shuts the door and stands above a trembling, fearful Adagio is a fantastic visual. A nice moment of “Wait...am I the bad one? How can I be the bad one if I did everything right?” that haunts her afterwards. I also enjoyed the word choice of “I don’t want you (to leave)” not something like “Please don’t leave me” or even “I am sorry.”
It’s a thing that people who are abusive sometimes don’t even realize how abusive they are. No one sets out to be a villain in relationship. No one who gets married plans on getting divorced. I did like that self reflection and almost bewilderment on Sunset’s part at the end. It’s very realistic which is why its so heart wrenching.
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ok ok look in my defense
one of those stories was for a contest about cheating, and I couldn't let poor sweet fluffsiren stay in a relationship that went in that direction
and one of them was for a contest that explicitly called for a relationship to end
… don't have an excuse for this one, tho. Thought it'd be funny to make Sunset the bad guy. the judges would never see that coming!
I didn't either
Admittedly, I didn't like EqG 1 just generally speaking, but Sunset wasn't a redeeming quality. If nothing else, like. Twilight's fought Discord and Tirek, but suddenly this surly high school student's supposed to be menacing? 
And her redemption at the end was probably one of the big reasons I was so sure Rainbow Rocks was going to be awful. I don't think it was until I saw the rest of the school still throwing shade at Sunset that I thought okay maybe this won't be so bad (Actually it was maaaybe a bit before that, since I giggled when Adagio pulled her hood down and it was just like suddenly three people worth of hair is here).
This is an interesting question! I'd certainly like to think it doesn't, absolutely. Whether it's ultimately a "better" change or not, just rewriting someone with a laser beam like that is pretty quality dystopia fuel.
But I think probably the biggest issue I have with what they've done with Sunset since Rainbow Rocks is that it feels like she actually was fundamentally changed, in a pretty drastic way, by that beam event. Or perhaps it just seems that way because we have Starlight Glimmer to compare her to; that's a pony who was obviously a villain at one point in her life, and I love how the show gives a little nod to that now and then, whether it's her trying to solve friendship problems with mind control or admiring Cozy Glow's deviousness during a counseling session.
With Sunset, I don't really get that same impression. She talks about "the old me" in Rainbow Rocks, and I think it really does feel like EqG 1 Sunset is a completely different person from post Rainbow Rocks Sunset, who feels more and more like walking talking waifu bait. I think you're right, her flaws still surface now and then, but I think the underlying morals are pretty different? I got a sense of entitlement and kind of vindictiveness from her in EqG 1--she thinks she deserves power and respect and all that sort of thing, so she lashes out in anger at people who aren't letting her get it. I think that's a pretty fundamentally different behavior from snapping at people for hurting her friends.
And perhaps that did come about for from being accepted and all that than directly from the rainbow beam. I'd say there's enough of a time skip... probably... does time even exist in Equestria Girls world...? Whatever.
But regardless, part of the motive for this story, the way I always saw things, is that whether the rainbow beam really did change Sunset on a fundamental level or not, she saw the change that came about from it as being almost a start of a completely different life. To her, the person she used to be is bad, she's gone, and that's a good thing. The life she used to live is over, and that's a good thing. So when she sees bits of Adagio's older self creeping back, she leaps to the conclusion that that's a bad thing and she has to stop it, because her experience had been that suppressing her past and throwing it away was fairly objectively the best decision she'd made in her life.
… That got pretty meaty
Definitely an interesting topic, though, and I love that you brought it up 
I am really glad this came across! And that Sunset's character as a whole felt plausible to you. I always thought that was the big leap I was asking people to take with this one; I certainly hoped that this story's portrayal of Sunset is consistent with herself, but consistency with the canon Sunset, I expected would be a lot harder for some people to swallow.
Thanks so much for reading! It's been quite a while since I got comments this fun