//------------------------------// // Prelude to Adagietto // Story: Adagio for a Sunset // by Hubris Von Ego //------------------------------// It was hard to believe the girl who had bolted out Sunset’s parlor, that’s what she called it, had once been a fish. Like, she ran really fast. Sunset stood frozen, eyes locked on the doorway, morbid dread plastered on her face. She stepped back, bumping into her coat rack and spilling her leather jackets across the room. “No.” She whispered to herself. “No, no, nononono!” She locked the door and ran to her makeshift bedroom. Her stride echoed in the halls with every step. Ragged breaths echoed off hollow walls, and her legs burned from the sudden exertion. She arrived at her room and opened the door in a panicked exaggerated shove. The door whipped around on its hinges slamming into a stack of cardboard boxes, with a muted THUD! knocking the topmost box off the stack. She scrambled across the room not looking at the mess now adorning her living space. Her heart raced, each beat echoing louder as she searched her desk frantically. Books, stationary, an old handheld gaming system, and more flew off the desk. Her arms moving almost faster than her thoughts, she tore through every nook and drawer on her old writing desk. After a few exasperated moments she collapsed down onto her floor, pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Her room was a mess, between what she had thrown in her frantic search and the preexisting clutter the particular object she needed evaded her. Wrapping her arms tightly around her nails dug into her skin, an all consuming panic enveloped her like the last rays of sun over the horizon. A small noise from above her pulled her from her stupor. There was a tiny buzzing noise coming from above her. Sunset lunged upwards, only to trip as her feet got tangled. She braced herself on the chair at her desk and got her feet under her, before scrambling up the ladder onto the bed up above her formerly organized desk. When she dug through the blankets on the bed she found her journal, the one that allowed her to communicate with Princess Twilight, vibrating and glowing wildly. She flipped the journal open to the message from her last friend. - My Faithful Friend Sunset Shimmer, I know things at CHS have been rough lately, but I take it you talked with the girls today. I am sure you are probably busy with them at the moment, so I will keep this brief. I know times get tough, and you are having a hard time adjusting what with the opinions of the school constantly changing. I just wanted to let you know I am proud of all the effort you have made. I am happy that you have embraced friendship and are now on a better path. This Anon-A-Miss thing sound kind of familiar, if I think of anything that will help I will write back to you as soon as I can. That being said, I am going to Canterlot for the Hearth's Warming Play, and will not be back for several days. Don’t forget to bundle up, I assume it's winter there now and you are probably cold. Your Friend, Twilight Sparkle P.S. Pinkie wanted me to tell you to be careful when it snows, I am not quite sure what she is on about. Anyway just take her advice just in case. - Sunset sat on the bed after having read the entire message. Shame Twilight would be out of touch for a bit. She felt the last bit of friendly warmth fade away, a chill raced down her spine. She reached for a pillow, only to just gently fall across her bed. The room had already been cold, but now she felt as if ice were forming across her skin. She curled up into a ball to fight the cold, but nonetheless, color drained from her sight. Everything in the room seemed to grow, towering over her lone, pitiful form. She was annoyed by the fact that her meeting with the girls didn’t go as Twilight presumed. She was scared to not have any friends, that was sure. She ran a hand through her hair. She was angry at the girls, they should know better. Why would she be Anon-A-Miss? The thought of losing her friends left her reeling, but the idea of what the sirens could do downright terrified her. She shivered at the thought them showing up for revenge, or worse leaking her living arrangements to the students or staff at CHS. Sunset had barely gotten by with the Principals before, if they knew she was homeless she definitely would not be able to clear her name.   “I mean, at least Rainbow considered that I didn’t do it,” she mumbled into her old pillow. Tears started to well up in her eyes. She didn’t want to bother Twilight with the news of the day yet, that would possibly ruin her trip. She didn’t have anywhere besides this old abandoned factory to go, and the sirens could return to enact some sort of revenge scheme at any time. She wrapped the pillow tightly around her face and screamed, cold wet spots forming on the pillow as she vented all the air in her lungs into the pillow as loud as she could with the feathered bag on her face. Finally removing the downy muzzle from her face she sprawled out on the bed. Her tears fell, streaks of liquid crystal fell from her eyes down her face. She wanted something to do to distract her, someone to tell her it would be okay. Sunset continued to cry, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket of her bed for comfort. All she had to do at the moment was attempting to figure out who Anon-A-Miss was, sadly, she didn’t have wifi at the factory. Not that she was very good with a computer anyway. She cocooned herself in the blanket, its embrace doing little against the cold inside. Sunset had no distractions, only the remnants of her own choices to live with. She knew the only reason that she could be blamed for Anon-A-Miss was that she was at least that horrible before. She embraced the blame, accusing herself, sinking deeper into her despair. Her friends left her because she had been terrible, Christmas was coming up and they needed family. She wanted a family. She cried until she was worn out. She cried until there were no more tears, she was still sad, she was still scared, but she didn’t know what to do. After several moments Sunset got off her bed and set her packed bag beside the door with her journal in it. She then shuffled back to her bed and collapsed into a fitful sleep. “Anyways! That was when Black Snooty told the Crusaders that Sunset probably wasn’t Anon-A-Miss, because you know, she is too smart to incriminate herself. Apparently she thinks Sunset wouldn’t make herself obvious just because she was overconfident.” Pinkie Pie prattled perplexing pastel people perfectly. “Pinkie dear, we have told you to stop calling the Vice Principal that dreadful nickname for years,” Rarity said. “Just because she doesn’t approve of your methodology as the premier party planner of Canterlot High,” Rarity paused to check her makeup in a small compact, “I still cannot believe you had that title approved by the student council, it doesn’t mean she is going to turn into an evil dictator principal bent on upstaging her sister,” Rarity chided her friend as she touched up her mascara. Pinkie frowned. The two girls had gone out with Fluttershy to get donuts from a place Octavia had recommended to Rarity. They had got off the public bus a few stops from Crystal Preparatory Academy and immediately started to traverse the inner city following Fluttershy, who had gotten directions from her phone. “I don’t know if I believe Sunset is guilty. I mean, she did do this kind of thing before the Fall Formal, regularly.” Fluttershy spoke barely above a whisper. Of course she never spoke any louder, except when cheering at sporting events. Pinkie’s smile grew three times that moment, a grin of cartoonish proportions covered her face, much to the displeasure of her companions. “Well, my duly appointed Watsons!” she exclaimed. “I smell a mystery! And—” she raised her head and started to sniff the air “— donuts!?” She pondered this clue about as long as it took Fluttershy to tell them they had arrived at Joe’s Donut and Pastry. “Shall we?” She held the door for her friends. As the trio entered, they took in the diner theme to the inside of the shop, checkered floors, matching booths, and a magnificent display of sugary goodness spanning the far end of the room. “Then their eyes shrank to pinpricks, one of Rarity’s eyes may even have twitched.” Pinkie narrated, “the smell of sugar and tension filled the air.” “Pinkie, darling,” whispered Rarity,”I know you have…unique quirks, but this is most definitely not the time.” Pinke quieted at the suggestion from her friend. Meanwhile, Sonata cowered behind the counter, watching the girls through the display glass, oblivious to the fact that they could see her. Aria, as it happened, was working today, not Adagio. After her semi-successful espionage the day before, Aria was feeling particularly brave. Smirking she just put a hand on her hip and waited for the girls who just entered to make the first move. Sparks ignited between the gazes of Aria and Rarity. The standoff lasted many seconds longer than was comfortable for the rest of the patrons. Rarity looked back over her shoulder at Fluttershy, when their eyes met the timid girl gave a slight nod. Rarity, then, in an attempt to stop drawing attention to the trio, proceeded to the counter to confront Aria.  Fluttershy followed in tow while Pinkie bounced along behind the couple. The shy yellow girl hid behind her two friends, shaking, but took comfort in the Rarity and Pinkie’s confidence. Rarity faced the siren, “we will have 3 donuts, one with sprinkles and chocolate frosting, two chai teas and a chocolate milkshake.” She struggled to keep her tone even and even bit back a scathing remark about sucking out their souls or some other ploy. “Okay, so I have two plains, one sugar rush special, with two sides of spice and a cold chocolate milk, did you want anything for the other two?” A smirk worthy of a shark materialized on Aria’s face, her eyes surveying Rarity’s body. “Might I also suggest a diet? Your skirt and blouse are looking a bit tight.” “Uh-bu-whaa!” Rarity proclaimed, her face rapidly flashing various shades of red in surprise, offence, and irritation. She was not angry; she was a lady. Ladies did not get angry. She repeated that in her mind several times, in a vain attempt to maintain her image. “Alright, the total will be-” Rarity slammed some money down on the counter, cutting off whatever Aria was going to say. “Keep the change,” Rarity said, a thin, forced smile on her face. Fluttershy was practically crushing Rarity’s hand, and was nuzzled right between her shoulder blades. Rarity didn’t know where in the establishment that Pinkie had gotten off to. She waited as a receipt printed, took it, turned on her heel, and stormed over to a booth out of the way to wait for their order. Meanwhile, Sonata still hid behind the glass display counter, terrified of the Rainbooms. “Here, have some popcorn and enjoy the show,” someone chirped next to Sonata. Sonata smiled and reached over toward the voice. “Thank you, but this isn’t really a show I want to see–” There, crouched next to her was the pink poofy, though not as poofy as Adagio, Rainboom. Sonata’s eyes shrank to pin pricks. A high pitched quiet squeal escaped her lips. “EEEEEEEEP.” “Hey, you sound just like Fluttershy!” Pinkie declared in a still-hushed tone. “She makes that same noise when she’s scared…which is, like, eighty one point two five percent of the time.” Pinkie finally caught up to what was happening. Sonata for her part didn’t scream or jump or run away. Instead she quickly called on the words of a movie she had once watched and stayed perfectly still. One itty bitty movement, and the pink one would see her. That, or it was dinosaurs that couldn’t see you when you didn’t move. Sonata really hoped the first one was correct. Pinkie had put her hand up to her face and tapped her chin quizzically. “She also freezes up like that! I thought it was because she had mixed humans up with certain giant lizard bird things, but as it turned out she just does that as a natural reaction.” Pinkie clapped a reassuring hand on Sonata’s back. She bounced off to join Rarity and Fluttershy at their table. After a few minutes, Aria brought their order over and continued her smug taunting. “How is Sun-bitch? She must really be hectic right now.” The three girls looked up at her with various expressions of confusion. PING! Six phones went off at once. Rarity pulled out her phone and looked at the notification, her eyes narrowing at Aria. “Unless there is a ridiculous coincidence I believe you follow Anon-A-Miss.” Aria smiled back at her and crossed her arms. “Yeah, the crap they post is hilarious. Much better than the memes on my regular feed.” Pinkie spoke up, “I mean it would be funny if it weren’t so mean. The posts from Sunset are terrible.” Fluttershy leaned further into Rarity, letting her hair hide her face. She didn’t want to let her fear of the siren make her leave her friends. Aria frowned. “Wait, you actually believe Sunset Shimmer is-” “Sunset Shimmer is Anon-A-Miss??” Sonata leaped in. “How awful! Isn’t she supposed to be your friend? Someone should go all sugar, spice, everything nice, and chemical X on her.” Sonata was absolutely livid. “She tried to play all nice when we came to CHS before all the battle of the bands. Oooh, I can’t stand anyone being so fake.” Aria raised an eyebrow, Sonata seemed pretty peeved, and the friendship patrol seemed equally surprised by this. Fluttershy, finally at her limit got up and looked at Aria. “C-could we just g-go?” she asked Rarity and Pinkie, while awkwardly playing with her hair. They both nodded, still momentarily stunned by the siren’s outburst, and got up to follow the shy girl out of the shop. After the Rainbooms had left, Sonata turned to Aria. “I heard you two, I know you know where she is. Tell me.” Sonata was serious, and Aria wasn’t sure why that mattered to her. “Sure, she is in an abandoned factory on the old industrial side of town. Over a few blocks passed Borden. Just check the alleys, there is one with partially hidden door just a few feet in, probably the most graffitied one.” Aria acted put out telling Sonata this, but something in her mind was saying this was a bad idea. Eh, it was probably nothing anyway. After her shift Sonata went home and got a bit of rest, she had plans for that evening. She was going to go and put that Anon-A-Miss in her place. Adagio had been out when Sonata got home, and she was supposed to work that evening so she would more than likely not get a chance to dissuade Sonata from going to give Shimmer a stern talking to. The stuff Sonata had seen leaked on the MyStable page upset her, they were on par with Adagio’s meanest plans. That afternoon’s post about the colorful rainbooms low grades was actually a bit lame compared to some of the other posts. For example the post about Vapor Trail’s cheating to get Sky Stinger onto the soccer team, or the post accusing Saffron Masala of using out of date ingredients at her's and her father’s restaurant. These targeted posts risked ruining people’s livelihoods and destroying their dreams. Both instances were unacceptable to Sonata. After showering and changing into some street clothes, specifically jeans and a hoodie, she ate a light snack before setting out. It was getting colder, the light breezes of autumn had turned to harsh winds ready to sheppard in the freezing snows of winter. She expected a blizzard really late at night, courtesy of the weather woman Sunshower. Glad that she watched the news that morning, Sonata knew she had to get this done and be back before night fell. She walked all the way to Borden where she tipped a busker for his entertaining performance on the bongos. Then she went over to the industrial district, and started to check the alley ways for one matching Aria’s description. She only got distracted by kitties like twenty times, she was proud of her progress. She regretted not asking for more details. Her eyes crossed every time she tried to find a door hidden behind the copious amounts of graffiti. After a few excursions she finally found a building with leather jackets spilled and a picture of the Rainbooms on a table by the door. There was also a cactus. In a bowl. Named Kevin.   She proceeded into the building, making sure to tiptoe so as not to get caught before she had the chance to tell the girl off for her actions. Small creaks sounded as she snuck along, causing her to wince with every step. She checked the first few doors, but got nothing but the factory floor, broom closets, and a break room. She kept going until she found an intersection. On one side the path wrapped around the factory floor, and down the other, it went on to what looked like a business office with big windows facing the street. She turned to go further in the factory. As she progressed down the hallway she paused at a door that read Supervisor’s Office. She gently opened the door to reveal the object of her irritation pacing lounging and reading a book, her brow furrowed in deep thought. Honestly, now that she was here, she realized that she was terrified. Before her stood the girl who had lead the Rainbooms in defeating her and her sisters, before her was an object from her nightmares. Before her was someone who looked completely ragged, and honestly a bit malnourished. Sonata frowned, this girl would have nothing to gain from spreading rumors about all the people at CHS, she didn’t even look like she would be capable of beating Sonata in at arm wrestling. Nonetheless, Sonata took a brave step forward and cleared her throat to get the girl’s attention. Sunset had woken up from her sleep early, before the sun had come up, and was freezing. Without her leather jacket she only had her blue blouse and some jeans on. She had become unwrapped from the covers on her bed at some point in the night, and as such was still very tired when waking from her slumber. After getting a spare set of clothes, a sweater with her cutie mark on it and some maroon sweatpants that matched, she left her bedroom. Her bare feet smacking the floor with each step on the hard floor. She walked down a few doors until she reached the factory’s old communal shower room. Once inside she turned on a shower head to warm up and proceeded to disrobe. Occasionally the shower head would sputter, spreading water ever chaotically across the room. After a minute Sunset reached into the stream of water only to be disappointed. “Oh, just great,” she grumbled slapping her dry hand palm down on the polystyrene wall. “Looks like I am gonna freeze my ass off in a cold shower!” Afterward she dressed, opting to not brush her hair, instead she left the shower to go to her kitchenette to get some coffee. Having cleaned up and gotten her coffee she headed back to her room. She spent a few hours at her desk drafting a plan in case she had to relocate, followed by just doodling in an old sketchbook. Eventually she stopped that and started to try and calm herself, which just ended with her pacing away the afternoon. Eventually having tired her legs out she just sprawled on bed with a Daring Do novel, Spectrum of Lightning, to escape the ever present woes of her life. That was until, an angry childlike voice pulled her back from fulgurite fiction “Ah-HEM!” Sunset froze. She was terrified, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and turned to face whoever was with her. Fearing the worst, she opened her eyes, only to reveal a blue girl: Sonata, the youngest of the sirens to be precise. Scared, Sunset grabbed something to use as a weapon. Unfortunately she had only grabbed a black snap back off of her desk, which she decided would make a terrible weapon. She tossed the black snap back onto her couch dejectedly, and in a most defeated tone acknowledged the girl. “Go on with it, I expect the other two are in the hall ready to jump in and join in on your revenge?” Sonata continued to be puzzled, she addressed that momentarily before starting her tirade about Sunset’s blatant betrayal of her friends. “R-revenge? For what?” Sonata asked, still slightly scared of the girl in front of her. “I am only here because of what you are doing to your school. I mean, how could you just go online and start posting all that stuff? Why would you subject them to that? Why are you ruining the lives of the others at CHS? I mean, I know that my sisters and I did that whole magic-y thing and that was horrible, but that was our chance to go home. We had to do that so we could stop starving. What you are doing is the absolute worst. There is nothing to be gained from just ruining people’s lives. So why are you doing it?” Sonata’s outburst surprised Sunset. She had gotten a bit excited and had blurted all of that out without taking any breaths, so it left her breathing hard. Sunset was taken aback. What had she meant starving? Why was she so upset at this? Sunset had thought that maybe the sirens had done Anon-A-Miss to get back at the students of CHS, this definitely debunked that idea. “Look, since you seem to be of the same mind as everyone else, just leave. I am tired of being accused.” Sunset said as she looked at the floor, the tone of surrender clear in her voice. She turned away from the girl, and away from the scorn she presented. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to hug herself. The action helped to calm her and kept her from slipping into a panic attack, though it didn’t prevent her from starting to shake. This gave Sonata a pause. She shifted her weight between her feet, her eyes going between the floor the tormented form before her. The girl in front of her reminded her of a time before her sisters had found equestrian magic. This was a sort of attitude that Sonata was very familiar with. The girl in front of her had given up, she was tired, and did not seem to have much in the way of fight left in her. She raised her hand out in front of her, as if she could grab the words she needed in this situation. Sonata was not sure how to take this. She did not know people like Adagio did, and could not tell when people were pretending like Aria. Though she could feel the depression of the girl in front of her, she did not know what to do with it. Her plan had been to come and confront the girl, then expose her and maybe stop her tyranny before it got too far out of hand. What she had not expected was that she would find someone so utterly defeated. The last time she had seen this was from Adagio, in the days following the battle of the band. Sonata felt like the girl was not faking, the sincerity was almost tangible. “I-I should not have come,” she whispered to herself shuffling her feet as she turned to leave. “Look, I guess I m-might have been wrong. Just um… I will see you around I guess,” she said as she turned to leave, more confused than before. As Sonata left, closing doors echoing throughout the empty halls, Sunset collapsed on the couch. A knot formed in her stomach and worked its way up, as if uncorking her emotions once more. She finally put her face in her hands, and cried as panic overtook her. As Sonata stepped out of the factory and proceeded to trudge back home, as she reached Borden street again she felt the cold sting of a snowflake hit her nose. Instead of the joy of getting to play in the snow the next morning all she felt was worry over what had just happened. She wrapped her arms around herself, hands in armpits, as the snow grew heavier. She continued her trudge all the way home. Occasionally casting a glance over her shoulder, wondering exactly what was going on. When she got into the shared apartment she went immediately to her room, ignoring her sisters, shut the door, and lay on the bed thinking about what all had transpired.