The system of caverns following the spider lair was dark, dank, narrow, and a little crowded with giant, poison-spitting lizards. Despite normally being mostly in favor of such solutions, Sunset strongly recommended against hugging them in an ill-advised attempt to win their friendship. Thinking on her first experience, Adagio wasn't in a hurry to try, and not just because these creatures lunged at her right away. The spider had stopped biting after a minute or so, but they agreed that they didn't have the potions to do that for every enemy.
"I'm surprised you barely felt the bites, but I guess you've got extra endurance, which is good for a tank class. So, if things get hectic, you can probably take a lot more damage than that!"
Adagio made a face. "That doesn't mean I want to!"
"Okay, okay," Sunset giggled through a placating smile, "just saying, you probably don't need to be afraid in here."
"Maybe not, but I don't want to get used to thinking I'm stronger or more resilient than I actually am."
"Heh, fair enough."
"Thank you." Adagio raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, is that why you looked so frightened? Are you more vulnerable as a mage than in the real world?"
"Well, no just... spiders, y'know?"
"I wouldn't have guessed you were an arachnophobe."
"It's a primordial fear," Sunset countered as her cheeks colored, "like fire or the dark!"
"You didn't seem too bothered about the darkness in Fatbear's and I could have sworn you once mentioned being particularly capable with fire spells back in Equestria. Which you've demonstrated a few times in this game, come to think of it."
"Yea, but, it-...!" Sunset sighed. "I don't know, I guess it's more of a land-dwelling species thing; we had to live in fear of the little monsters pretty much since before recorded history."
Adagio chuckled. "It might not be that. I don't know if this makes sense for someone with changeling lineage (though if it doesn't, I'm sure it does for the Discord lineage), but Sonata compulsively shrieks and attacks pretty much any insect she sees. Or arachnid, they're all apparently the same thing to her."
Sunset smiled a little. "Does Aria?"
"She mostly just laughs at Sonata's freak-outs. At least until the time a fly landed on her nose."
"I'm guessing that ended in tears."
"Surprisingly, no. Sonata actually apologized and the two of them hugged." Chuckling, Adagio wore a tiny smirk. "Remind me to show you the picture some time." Her grin quirked toward genuine mirth. "They've been pranking each other less and less in the last so many weeks, by the way, but hurting one another on accident is something they've always apologized for."
Warm, Friendship-Is-Magic™ tingles in her chest, Sunset smiled brightly too. "Rarity hates bugs and bug-like things too, where Rainbow just hates ants. I don't know about Pinkie, and I think Applejack's gotten used to bugs from living on a farm, but I know Fluttershy wouldn't even squish a mosquito if it landed on her."
"And you're arachnophobic."
"Y-yea, but..." Smiling somewhat sheepishly, Sunset briefly held a finger in front of her lips in a hushing motion. "Don't go spreading it around, please? On the topic of pranks, I kind of kicked Rainbow's butt in a friendly prank-war back when we were getting to know each other (she started it, but tensions had been high and the shouting match it led to helped us get over some of our issues with each other), and she'd probably leave realistic-looking rubber spiders all over the place if she found out." For a worrying moment, Sunset thought Adagio was honestly considering it as she thoughtfully hummed to herself.
"...Would it help if I shared one of my own fears?"
"Huh?!"
Adagio shrugged, nonchalant. "It's only fair, right? You exploit mine and I'll exploit yours, so we're even."
Sunset had trouble making words for a moment. "I, it, you don't-... You're sure you're okay with letting me know something like that?"
There was a pause, but to Sunset's surprise, Adagio didn't back down. "I am. There's a considerable difference between knowing someone isn't the bravest person in general and knowing what specifically rattles them."
Part of Sunset felt like she should contest the aspersion cast on the bravery of someone who hugged a giant spider, but Adagio's word choice was light enough that she didn't quite feel compelled to do so, instead focusing on the proposal. "Well..." She smiled. "Okay then! Is it killer animatronics? Because I think anyone in their right mind would find those pretty scary."
Adagio chuckled. "No. It's... slime, I suppose? Any thick, gooey, sticky substance."
"Hair problems?"
"Oddly enough, no, just can't stand having these things touching my skin." Her brow furrowed. "It's frustrating, because intellectually, I know most things aren't going to cause any damage even if they aren't frantically washed or wiped off, but when I-" she shivered, her jaw tightening a little as her face tinted green, "feel some kind of ooze, I just-"
Sunset was worried Adagio might throw up in her VR pod when she actually gagged, but she steadied herself with a shaky breath while briefly rubbing her own arms. Sunset very gently reached out to pat Adagio's shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yes, fine, just... do not like. I learned to make an exception for shampoo because it comes in a bottle with controllable output, smells nice, and can immediately be washed off in the only reasonable place one would use it, but in general? Can't stand getting goop and sludge on me."
"Do Aria and Sonata know?"
There came a small, tamer version of a familiar smirk. "Yes, but I know more than enough about their weaknesses."
Sunset chuckled, remembering keenly that those two had always left Adagio out of their prank wars. Apparently with good cause. "Glad to hear that, I guess." She stopped walking, giving Adagio a wide, sincere grin when she stopped to look back at her. "Thank you for trusting me with this, Adagio." The immediate reward was another lovely Friendship-Is-Magic™ tingle when Adagio smiled back, idly twirling a lock of hair around a fingertip.
"...You're welcome. Um..." Her mouth opened as she looked Sunset in the eye, but she immediately whirled around to face the cave path again. "We should keep moving," she said quickly, "still have to reach the end of this thing."
And she marched off, Sunset nodding once as she moved to follow. Before long, the path took them to a narrow series of tunnels Sunset determined to be a catacomb, which clued her in to what exactly those low, distant moaning sounds were.
"What the Hell is wrong with these people?!"
"They're called zombies, pretty much just dead guys who-"
"No, I mean, they're corpses! Rotting, mutilated corpses!! Who even gets the idea to put something like that in a game?!"
"Uhh..." Sunset got a brief chance to cherish Adagio's apprehensive expression.
"...I'm afraid to ask, but I get the feeling I'll need to know."
"Undead are actually pretty common video game enemies, Adagio. Like, ridiculously so."
"You're joking."
The two stood in the middle of a ring of vanquished, withered soldiers and unfortunate adventurers, Sunset idly kicking one of the re-fallen. "Afraid not. They make for easy targets, I guess; no guilt for killing what's already dead, right?"
"That doesn't change the fact that they're decaying bodies! I can even see shriveled organs and broken bones in some of them! Aren't there supposed to be censorship laws or something?"
"Dead people just aren't considered all that graphic, I guess."
"Nor our having to... dismantle them even further, it seems."
"Don't worry," she replied cheerfully, "you'll get desensitized to it in no time!"
"This world is horrifying."
Smiling, Sunset made sure to keep her voice gentle as she placed a hand on Adagio's shoulder. "Are they as bad as the goop?"
Folding her arms, Adagio averted her eyes, though Sunset could still see a faint blush. "...The goop is much worse."
"Hehe, okay then! C'mon, let's keep moving."
The only noteworthy loot they seized from the catacombs was a sleek, black witch hat, which Sunset promptly equipped in place of her circlet. It made her feel a little silly (and self-conscious, knowing that her biggest, most concealing article of clothing was her hat), but from the way Adagio smiled at her, she was sure it looked good on her anyway.
The pair was discussing how to compose little songs to help remember school lessons (mostly just Adagio giving pointers on the process) when they came to an increasingly dim, claustrophobic, and mostly flooded area, which Sunset took to mean they were in the inevitable Sewer Level.
"What?"
"Pretty much every video game will take the player to a sewer sooner or later, probably because it makes for an easy explanation as to why you have to navigate a pretty simple series of corridors that happen to be away from the public eye. Suspension of disbelief, y'know?"
Thankfully, the area here was much, much cleaner than any realistic sewer would be, which made wading through the waist-high, if murky water a lot easier on the nose.
"I suppose I could kind of see that reasoning for something set in modern times, like the heist game, but we just got here through a cave that fit the same description and actual dungeons before that."
"Which brings us to the second use for sewer levels: Keep an eye out while we're in here, because water is a likely hiding spot for aquatic enemies to lie in wait."
"What?!"
Drinking in Adagio's terrified expression, Sunset giggled. And then she had an idea. "Don't worry too much, this is probably just a prelude to a water boss or something."
"A what?!"
"Oh, y'know," she answered while trying to keep her laughter down, "some kind of huge, half-submerged super monster, probably a giant octopus or something with tentacles that can grab you by the ankle and drag you under in a heartbe-"
She immediately sunk into the water, keeping as low as possible so as to sell the illusion that she had just been seized by something and dragged under, just as she'd outlined to Adagio. It was a good thing that she was able to see even while submerged, because she turned to see Adagio's long, nearly bare legs in a fearful, knees-inward stance. Sunset beamed in delight at the thought of the look on Adagio's face just then, but before she got up again, noticed a small, blue bar at the bottom of her vision, slowly getting shorter.
Oh, a breath meter! I guess they can't exactly simulate water torture in their virtual reality games, so...
She took a breath while still under water, finding that it had no effect on the meter or her lungs. Then she had another idea. She lightly pushed off the floor and let herself float up, coming to the surface face-down as though she'd drowned. When her ears were mostly out of the water, she could hear Adagio's voice.
"-et?! Sunset, ca-"
The rapid sloshing of water as Adagio came closer made it hard to hear her, but she still got plenty.
"-ease, get up! Are-" SLOSH "-rt?! Do you need a po-" SLOSH "-ill hurting you?! Pleasepleaseplease don't leave me alone here, I-"
When Adagio started to pull her up by the shoulders, Sunset sprung to life, raising her arms and shouting "BOO!" with a big smile. Adagio, a priceless expression of wide-eyed fright on her face, shrieked and fell backward, Sunset doubling over in laughter as the other girl frantically splashed about in the water.
"Y-you shuh, you should see your fa-hay-haace, hahahahaha!"
She laughed a little longer, but when she looked up, Adagio hadn't joined her. Standing perfectly still with her clenched into fists at her sides, she actually looked kind of-
In a blink, Adagio grabbed Sunset, picked her up, painfully folded her into a ball-
"Ack!!"
-and chucked her several meters back through the tunnel. Sunset met the water with a loud splash, sputtering for several seconds before untangling her limbs to stand up.
"Oww, jeez! That kinda hurt, Adag-"
Adagio was already leaving, large splashes in the water suggesting that she was stomping her way down the tunnel. An all-too-familiar tug in Sunset's chest told her she'd made a mistake, spurring her to follow.
"Uh, h-hey, Adagio?"
Adagio just kept walking, Sunset jogging along to catch up.
"Are you mad at-"
"Aquatic enemies."
"What?"
A sudden, forceful impact just above Sunset's foot threw her off balance, immediately making her fall face-first into the water again. For a moment, she thought there really were some kind of sewer monsters, but looking around and seeing nothing but the water, walls, and Adagio walking away from her again, she was pretty sure Adagio had just tripped her.
A sharp spike of indignation flared up in her gut, but it cooled off and sunk down again when she remembered most of her interactions with Adagio today. Yes, Adagio was definitely mad at her, but she had experience in people being mad at her, and she could fix this!
Okay, she thought as she got to her feet, following just a little behind Adagio without a word, think: What did you do that time Fluttershy lost her temper with you?
She had been doing a little too much teasing then, too, but she thought Fluttershy being comfortable with her meant-
Well, that didn't matter now. The first thing had been giving her some space, letting her cool down, which she hoped was what Adagio was doing right now instead of compiling the day's offences and letting them fester and boil inside her until she was a mad, raging torrent of heartache and fury.
Pestering her for a straight answer and insisting that she talk to me will only make it worse, so onto part 2.
That would be composing her apology in line with what she had specifically done to upset the offended party, then proceeding to part 3: Delivering the apology without sticking her foot in her mouth. As she was getting the words together in her head, they came to the end of the tunnel.
Stepping out of the pipe rewarded the two of them with a gorgeous vista even more colorful and detailed than what they had seen from the mountaintop. In front of them was a long, cobblestone path of dirt and smooth, faintly shining rocks leading upwards in a gentle slope, lush grass and flowers on both sides of the path leading downward into distant, glittering pools of water, both of which stretched out of sight through a cool mist. Looking up to see where the path led, Sunset couldn't find an answer, but did find a beautiful, starry sky of probably unrealistic color and detail, complete with aurora borealis floating and fluttering high above.
It was what she imagined a staircase would look like if it were crafted by forest sprites or something.
Are we outside? Why would a sewer lead to a place like this?
...Did we die? Blunder into some giant boss monster or deadly trap and this is the loading screen for respawn?
She tried to guage Adagio's non-angry-at-you-now thoughts and couldn't hold back a little smile at the sight of the siren's wide-eyed look of wonder, taking in the scenery as though it were a fireworks display. It was so easy to read this girl when she wasn't consciously masking her thoughts, and the myriad of expressions never failed to tickle Sunset.
"So, yes, the three of us, most of all myself, don't exactly have much going for us."
"Maybe your face."
"What?!"
It was said without thinking, and the reward was yet more priceless expressions to heartily enjoy, but that was what led to her current problem. Still, Adagio was probably as calm now as she was going to get, and if there were no enemies in this area, she might not get a better chance to apologize.
"Hey, Adagio, I-"
She was startled by Adagio quickly seizing her wrist, that ever-expressive face now wearing a frightening smirk.
"Hey, Sunset," she said with an evil glint in her eye, "we know that I have high endurance in this game, but we don't really know about yours, do we?"
"Well, I'm uh, I'm a mage, so-"
Adagio pointed up the path with her free hand. "Let's test it!"
And off she ran, taking Sunset with her. She didn't have trouble keeping up at first, and the first minute or so of running along the pretty path together was actually kind of fun, but when she started to run out of breath, Adagio didn't slow down.
"Uh," panted Sunset as the struggle to keep pace crept up on her, "A-Adagio? I think I'm nearing my limit! Endurance test done!"
Adagio just giggled, not slowing in the slightest as she dragged Sunset along. The path proved to be even longer than it first looked, because while they ran and ran and ran, there was still no end in sight. The increasingly painful strain in her legs kept Sunset from thinking too much about why such a segment would exist in a game like this, if it wasn't just unfinished and there was supposed to be something else here. When she started to really struggle to stay on her feet, she swore they were going faster now, making it even harder to keep up and avoid falling on her fa-
Oh, I get it now...
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for dragging you around this morning! And slapping you earlier! And the water thing! And, everything else!!"
To Sunset's great relief, they stopped, Adagio letting go of her wrist and allowing her to catch her breath. There was no one else around at the time, but Sunset's pride demanded that she at least remain standing, not collapse into the soft, welcoming (and tasty?) grass nearby. She hadn't quite gotten to share the more eloquently-worded apology she had in mind, but considering that Adagio looked more annoyed than furious, she took it as a good sign for now.
"Not fun, is it?"
It hurt a little that Sunset wasn't sure if she meant being dragged, or the way she'd been borderline bullying Adagio in general. "I'm sorry. Really. I don't mean to keep picking on you, and I really do think of you as a friend, just, it's like I can't help myself when- a-and I know this sounds like I'm just making excuses, but like, I bullied everyone at CHS for years just because I could get away with it, not just for the sense of power over other people, but because I couldn't get enough of their reactions, and, um... I-I kind of forget where I was going with- I don't hate you, don't think of you as a 'sub-friend' that it's okay to kick around or whatever, I just-"
"Alright," Adagio softly said while raising one hand, a very faint smile on her lips, "I think I get it." Sunset wasn't smiling back at her, but that sad, anxious face was difficult to stay mad at. She could practically taste how badly Sunset wanted them to stay on good terms (a heavy, almost sickly sour flavor that melted into a lingering sweetness, if one was curious), and in that, knew that the sentiment was sincere.
Frustrating though it could be to deal with this girl, Adagio blamed herself for not quashing what she'd felt that morning in Fatbear's Pizza. Even so, it was because of those same feelings that she found herself with the capacity to tolerate things that, from anyone else, would have earned them ruinous revenge when Adagio had the time and capability.
"Come on," she said while turning back towards the path, "we have a bit of a walk ahead of us."
The antsy, heart-prickling feeling hadn't quite left Sunset yet, but for now, she settled on being glad Adagio didn't utterly despise her as they walked up the path together. Even with how far they'd run, she still couldn't remotely see where the cobblestone was taking them, if only due to the ethereal, otherworldly mist in the air. Glancing back, she couldn't see the sewer tunnel at all either, which made the experience a little extra eerie.
She tried to picture what this area could be used for, from a fast-paced, aerial battle as they rode flying mounts in pursuit of a target (whether it was just as a chase or a thing shooting back at them Bullet Hell style), to a puzzle section that wouldn't let them get through the fog until they'd found the solution, to a massive boss they had to either climb/ride atop in a weak-spot search-and-destroy mission or flee from as it rained projectiles down on them, or even just a cool-down period between more exciting things. Maybe it was that last one and maybe this area just wasn't done yet, but either way, she was excited by the prospects of this segm-
"I took your advice."
Blinking twice, Sunset was internally delighted that Adagio wasn't giving her the silent treatment for the rest of the day. "Huh?"
Adagio turned her head just enough to make eye-contact. "About Fluttershy? I kept calm, refrained from anything resembling a menacing look, and..." She smiled. "There were some worried stares, but for the most part, she hardly seemed to mind my presence."
Sunset beamed. "So the spa visit went okay?"
"I think so." Looking away again, she idly brushed a hand over her neck. "Of course, I didn't know that we were going to the same spa from which I learned my massage techniques."
Connecting the dots, Sunset kept herself from laughing out loud, but couldn't restrain a smile. "I'm guessing that got a little awkward?"
"Yes. When I practiced on those girls, they reacted rather... strongly? Which told me that despite their profession, they don't get a lot of TLC themselves, but more importantly, when they saw me again with two of their regulars, it, er-"
"I think I can imagine. What happened next?"
"Rarity defused the situation by asking Lotus and Aloe to join us in the mudbaths (they very professionally refused) and acting as though nothing were the least bit out of place and we continued normally from there." She glanced at Sunset. "Did anything like that happen on your group spa trip, or-"
"Nah," she answered with a playful smile, "but I never brought the masseuses halfway to climax."
Adagio quickly turned her head away, muttering with an audible scowl and possibly a warm blush. "It wasn't on purpose. I never even touched anywhere indecent!"
You actually did that?!
By some miracle, Sunset didn't shout her thoughts out loud, but they buzzed in her head just the same. Maybe it was for the best that she hadn't taken Adagio's offer when she was sick, or things might have gotten... awkward.
"Anyway," sighed Adagio, "you were right about Rarity's reason for bringing us both, too; she later told me that it was to help Fluttershy get used to me. Would you believe she considered me the most intimidating of the three of us?"
"Yea."
Adagio turned to look at her in shock. "What?!"
A tentative look on her face, Sunset shrugged. "Well, just like Fluttershy, ironically, you are kind of scary when you're really mad. Remember our talk on Rarity's birthday? How even Aria and Sonata used to be terrified of you?"
"...Oh," she replied passively, "I, suppose that makes sense. Intimidation isn't really my go-to for getting what I want, but, I suppose, if it's public knowledge that Aria and Sonata obeyed me rather than another arrangement, it must have logically followed that I was more powerful than either of them, and therefore-"
"Kinda scary," Sunset finished for her, "especially when the three of you are together. You know you behave a lot differently when you're by yourself versus when you're near them?"
"And you don't?"
"Huh?"
Adagio shrugged. "Maybe it's just the changeling in me talking, but doesn't everyone adjust their persona to best suit whoever they're immediately dealing with? Rainbow Dash is brash and cocky in general, doubly so in her sporting clubs from what I hear, but would you say she doesn't ease up a little when spending time with just Fluttershy or Rarity?"
"Uhh..."
"Do you wear the exact same face around Pinkie Pie that you do Vice Principal Luna?"
"I... don't know, but... if you don't mind me saying? Pointing out stuff like this-" and stuff like everyone ultimately being selfish at heart, even if Sunset had found a bright side to that one, "-pushes you a little more towards 'scary.'" She was happy to hear Adagio snort with amusement at this, even if it earned her a wry smile.
"I see. At any rate, if Fluttershy can stand being around me, then I'm sure she can tolerate the others, and if she can, the rest of your friends shouldn't be an issue, as I would guess was Rarity's plan."
"I'm a little surprised that you sound like you're okay with that. I-I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad, but I've been feeling like there was a wall between groups that I could barely put a dent in, much less a door."
"Yes," chuckled Adagio, "we did hate all of you for a while, and I doubt any of your friends, or even you, were in a hurry to have us back before..." her cheeks faintly colored as she continued with a genuine little smile, "certain incidents. At this point, I doubt even Aria really still bears a grudge, and with how many names we confirmed didn't belong on the enemy list, I think we can consider all tomahawks buried."
"Hatchets."
"Hm?"
"The term is 'burying the hatchet.'"
"Is there a practical difference?"
"...Uhh-"
"I have to ask, because I'm not an axe-wielding barbarian, either."
Sunset took a moment to look at the weapon on Adagio's back, then at her face, finding a playful grin that told her that Adagio very much did that on purpose. They giggled like dolts for the next minute and a half.
"Oh, hey," Sunset said cheerfully as she pointed ahead, "there we go! Exit-ville!"
Before them stood a tall, gleaming, golden double-door of ornate design, wide enough to block off the path entirely with the way the descending slopes at each side had come up to form a flat walkway. Big, fancy doors being a minor favorite in Sunset's virtual adventures, she wasted no time, running up to grab the handle and pull.
Then she found out that her Strength stat was lacking, but working together, she and Adagio were able to slowly get it open.
"Now," Sunset said with a smile as they stepped through, "let's see what-..."
Somehow, after all that walking, Sunset had expected some kind of prize, like an important-looking piece of jewelry on a pedestal or a room full of riches, or at least a really great view since it was a (gradually) uphill climb, but the shift of environments was every bit as jarring as the sewer leading to where they were now. In front of them was a rocky gorge full of crudely-built battlements; scrap metal and massive bones held together with bent, broken, and inconsistently-sized wooden planks to form what Sunset immediately recognized to be an orc fortress. Sure enough, she even saw a few large, green, hide-and-bone-clad warriors with jagged weapons patrolling at random. In the distance stood the ominous mountain range she remembered from before; much closer now and with grey, stone watchtowers and castle architecture much plainer to see. She was pretty sure she knew what this meant; they had to fight their way through the orcs to reach the main objective, where Aria and Sonata's path was most likely leading them.
And Sunset smiled.
While she very much appreciated that rush of joy and accomplishment upon seizing valuable loot, even in the Skinner-box kind of way it was sometimes used, two more of her favorite adventuring pastimes were taking down giant monsters and clearing out enemy camps. At least she knew she'd get to do one of those things before this was over.
"I don't see any signs of Aria and Sonata," Adagio said while scanning for evidence of senseless destruction and general mayhem, or even X's carved into things like they'd agreed, "do you think those green people have seen them?"
Shaking her head a little, Sunset chuckled.
Ohh, Dagi.
"Have you ever seen an orc before?"
"A what?"
It promised to be a fun level.