//------------------------------//
// The Sunset Also Rises (Part 1) 
// Story: Living On An Emu Farm Just Outside Of Town 
// by Peni Parker 
//------------------------------//

“Hello?” Adagio Dazzle called out apprehensively into the darkness. “Aria? Sonata? Anyone?”

Adagio had no idea where she was. Even more troubling though was that she didn’t even know how it was she’d gotten there in the first place. The only thing she did know was that at the moment she was completely alone in what appeared to be a dimly-lit hallway with a variety of doors lining the walls on either side, stretching as far as the eye could see. 

“Hello?” The Dazzling reiterated.

There was no answer.

The lack of any response to her call filled the Dazzling leader with a sense of trepidation that was practically foreign to her. Normally she was able to remain calm and cool under even the most daunting of circumstances, but given that she was currently in an unfamiliar location for reasons unknown, she was finding it difficult to maintain her usual unperturbable demeanor. Fortunately though, these newfound feelings of anxiety weren’t so strong as to paralyze the poofy-haired girl, and slowly but surely she began to walk down the mysterious hallway in the hopes of finding a way out. Or, at the very least, finding another person.

As Adagio passed the multitude of doors lining the hallway, she subconsciously took note of a few of them. One was a chateau style painted a light purple, another was a more traditional style in a dark brown color. One that particularly caught her eye was a Stratford abbey style that was light brown in color but very faded and old, almost to the point of appearing completely decrepit. It didn’t take the Dazzling long to deduce that no two doors were exactly the same. Each one was different from the others in at least one way. There were, however, two commonalities that she couldn’t help notice that every single door had; they were all windowless, and none of them had any signs or placards or what have you to indicate where it was they led. 

The thought of opening one of the doors crossed Adagio’s mind as she continued to walk done the seemingly endless hallway, but something in the back of her mind strongly urged her against doing so. Given that the Dazzling had no idea where she was or where any of the doors might lead, she decided to heed the subconscious caveat for the time being. Though if she didn’t find anything that looked like an exit soon, she felt she’d have no choice but to start opening random doors in the hopes of finding a way out.

“You’re supposed to be so smart,”   

“Hello?” She called out once more when she thought she heard a voice.

No answer.

The hallway was really starting to get to Adagio now. Every aspect of it filled her with fret, and with each passing second that she continued to be there those feelings of fear began to morph into feelings of dread and helplessness. The seemingly illimitable nature of the hallway, the constant dim-lighting throughout it, the fact that she was alone, all of these things and more were becoming too much for the Dazzling leader to handle. She knew she needed to find a way out or another person soon or else she was going to succumb to her rapidly growing feelings of fright.

“More power than I could ever imagine,”

The voice was a little bit louder this time, but not loud enough for Adagio to be able to make out what it was it was saying. However, the voice had been loud enough for her to recognize who it belonged to; Sunset Shimmer.  

“Sunset? Is that you?” The Dazzling then called out as she began to look around franticly. “Where are you?”

As soon as Adagio finished speaking, she felt a pair of ice-cold hands grab ahold of her shoulders from behind, causing her body to involuntarily tense up and freeze to the point where she found herself unable to even turn her head to see who the pair of hands belonged to. Despite not being able to turn her head though, she could feel the mysterious person behind her leaning in closer until their head was right up against her own. 

“Hello, Adagio,” The unmistakable voice of her mother then whispered impishly into her ear. “Lovely to see you again, dear.”

Hearing her mother’s voice instantly broke Adagio out of her paralyzed state, and filled her with a terror that she had prayed she’d never know again for as long as she lived. She opened her mouth to let out a frightened scream as she quickly pulled herself free from her mother’s grip. 

Almost as soon as Adagio no longer felt the icy-touch on her shoulder, the Dazzling inexplicably found herself sitting up on her bed in almost total darkness. 

A dream. It had all just been a dream.

The fact that what Adagio had just experienced had been nothing more than a bad dream did little to comfort the girl’s current distress. For what seemed like thirty minutes instead of merely thirty seconds, all she could do was continue sitting up on her bed as she breathed heavily in an attempt to calm herself down.

“Come on, Adagio. Get it together,” She said aloud once her breathing was more under control. “It wasn’t real. She wasn’t real. She’s not around anymore. She’s gone.”  

As the Dazzling tried to talk herself down, she found that she wasn’t quite sure to whom it was she was referring to when she said, ‘She’s gone’. Was she really referring to her mother, or was she referring to whoever – or whatever - had been impersonating her mother back at the Overlook Hotel. Either one was a possibility. There was no denying that her mother had easily been the greatest source of her fears when she’d been growing up, but the fake Madrigal from the Overlook had been terrifying in her own right. After all, her magic had been strong enough for her to somehow manipulate the abandoned hotel into looking like it was still in business, complete with hotel staff and everything. Not only that, but she’d also been powerful enough to put all of the CHS students, the Rainbooms included, to sleep like it was nothing.

Not knowing which Madrigal it was that had elicited such a fearful response from her in her dream only served to make Adagio feel even more uneasy than she already felt. Was she really still so afraid of her long-dead mother, or was she simply more afraid of the fake Madrigal than she’d consciously admitted to herself? It was difficult for the Dazzling to determine which one was correct, and even more difficult for her to determine which one she was hoping was correct.

Just as Adagio felt that she had calmed down enough to try and go back to sleep, she heard someone gently tap at her bedroom door.

“Adagio?” Kiwi Lollipop’s voice then asked in a hushed-tone from out in the hall. “You okay in there?”

The orts of fear Adagio felt on account of her bad dream quickly gave way to feelings of embarrassment as soon as she heard her housemate’s question. As if simply having the nightmare hadn’t been bad enough, it just had to elicit a scream from her so loud that she’d woken Kiwi up. 

Marvelous.  

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” She assured the former popstar, making a conscious effort to ensure she didn’t sound distressed. “I just…had a bad dream is all. Sorry if I woke you, Kiwi.”

“It’s alright,” Kiwi replied. “Honestly, I’m kind of glad you woke me up. I wasn’t having an especially good dream myself.”

Adagio let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh of relief in response, happy that Kiwi wasn’t upset with her.

“Well sorry anyways,” The Dazzling leader said affably. “I hope you have better dreams next time.”

“You too,” Kiwi said back. “Goodnight, Adagio.”

“Goodnight, Kiwi,” Adagio reiterated as she heard the soft pitter-patter of feet moving away from her door.

With Kiwi gone, Adagio laid back down on her bed in the hopes of returning to sleep before it came time to get up for breakfast. Once her head was once more resting comfortably on her pillow, she turned it to the side towards the nightstand to see what time it was. The clock read 4:17 am. The Dazzling let out another soft sigh when she saw this, though this one was out of irritation. Even if she managed to fall asleep right this second, she’d only end up getting a couple more hours of rest. And what were the odds of her falling asleep quickly after the flood of adrenaline she’d received from her nightmare?

By the time the sun began to rise and the alarm on the clock went off, the Dazzling had only managed to get around another hour of sleep. Despite wishing more than anything in that moment to remain in bed for at least a few more minutes, she sluggishly got up and got dressed for what was sure to be a long day of work at CHS for her. Her listless mood wasn’t so bad as to cause her to dilly-dally in her usual morning preparations though, thankfully, and she managed to make it out to the kitchen in time to have breakfast with her sisters and housemates, who were all already there except for Kiwi.

“Morning,” She greeted everyone, sounding half-dead.

“Morning, Dagi!” Sonata greeted back in her usual upbeat manner from over by the counter.

How it was Sonata managed to be so energetic and cheerful most mornings Adagio would never know.

“Morning,” Aria then greeted indifferently from the table, not even bothering to lift her eyes up from her phone.

Normally Adagio would feel a tad slighted by her sister’s relative indifference to her languor, but right now she was too tired to really give a damn.

Su-Z, who was sitting next to Aria, said nothing as Adagio pulled out the chair at the other end of the table and practically collapsed into it. Though the silent look of concern on the PostCrush girl’s face that the Dazzling leader noticed spoke more volume than any regular-old morning greeting ever could.

“Are you feeling okay, Adagio?” Su-Z eventually spoke up. “Because you seem a little…‘bleh’ this morning.”

Su-Z’s question prompted both Sonata and Aria to cease what they were each doing and look over at their older sister, which was when they noticed just how torpor she was at the moment.

“I’m fine. I just didn’t get much sleep is all,” Adagio answered Su-Z.

Adagio had intentionally left out the fact that her lack of sleep had been caused by a bad dream involving Madrigal Moonlight. The last thing she wanted to bring up around Aria and Sonata was their mother. Even though the three of them had more-or-less vanquished their fear of Madrigal after the incident at the Overlook, she was still a touchy subject for each of them. On top of that, the Dazzling leader really didn’t want to have to explain who Madrigal was to Su-Z, and inevitably Kiwi. The two PostCrush girls may have become family as far as she was concerned, but she wasn’t ready to discuss her mother around them quite yet. 

“Aww, I’m sorry, Dagi,” Sonata sympathized with her older sister as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “You want some coffee to help wake you up?”

“Sweet Celestia yes, please,” Adagio replied as she reached out her hand.

As soon as Sonata finished pouring a second cup of coffee, she made her way over to the table and handed Adagio the highly-caffeinated beverage her sister so desired. Wasting no time, Adagio took a big gulp of her morning brew, and the instant the coffee hit her tongue she felt noticeably better. Not a whole lot better, but better enough that at least now she felt she could make it through the workday.

After downing about half of her coffee in five seconds flat, Adagio gave a sigh of contentment and put her cup down on the table just as Kiwi entered the room.

“Morning,” The older of the two PostCrush girls greeted everyone, sounding even worse than Adagio had when she’d entered the room.

“Oh my gosh, Kiwi,” Su-Z said with a bit of alarm as she got up from her seat and made her way over to her best friend. “Are you okay? You sound and look like you just woke up from a dirt nap.”

“I feel like I just woke up from a dirt nap,” Kiwi replied as Su-Z helped her over to the kitchen table to take a seat. “I didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night.” 

The looks on Su-Z, Aria, and Sonata’s faces all gave the indication that they were each wondering what could have caused Kiwi to get such a bad night’s rest. Adagio though, knowing perfectly well why it was Kiwi had gotten so little sleep, just looked on at the girl with an expression of sympathy.  

“Here, Kiwi,” Sonata said as she passed her cup of coffee over to Kiwi once the girl was seated next to her. “You need this more than I do.”

“Thanks, Sonata,” Kiwi said just before taking a small sip of the drink.

Much like Adagio had done, Kiwi gave a small sigh of contentment once she’d gotten a little caffeine into her system. 

“So how come you weren’t able to get much sleep?” Su-Z inquired. “Did you drink some Efflux soda right before bed again?”

“Efflux?” Aria chimed in. “I thought they took that stuff off the market years ago because some people had heart attacks from drinking too much of it.”

“Yeah, they did, but we managed to get ahold of some that were produced but never made it to market,” Su-Z replied. “We used to have some a few hours before a show to get our energy up, but one time when we were on-tour in Manehattan Kiwi accidently drank some too close to bedtime.”

It was at this point that Su-Z inexplicably began to giggle lightly.

“You should have seen her that night,” The girl continued. “At first she was all hyper and talking about how she wanted to parachute onto the stage at our next show, but after she wore herself out all she could do was lay in bed and stare up at the ceiling all night.”

A few soft chuckles could be heard escaping Aria and Sonata’s mouths after hearing Su-Z’s small tale from when she and Kiwi had been on-tour together. Kiwi simply rolled her eyes back and brought her hand up to cover her face in embarrassment. Adagio gave no visible reaction.

“No, Su-Z, I didn’t have any Efflux before bed again,” Kiwi eventually explained, sounding slightly annoyed. “What happened was I had this bad dream.”

“Ooh, ooh, was it the one where you have a test that you didn’t study for?” Sonata eagerly chimed in. “I get that one from time-to-time.”

“No it wasn’t that,” Kiwi answered. “It was one I don’t think I’ve ever had before. I was in this dark hallway with a whole bunch of doors along the walls and I kept hearing this voice softly saying something that I couldn’t make out.”

Adagio was grateful that she hadn’t been drinking any coffee as she listened to Kiwi describe her dream. For if she had been, she knew without a doubt she would have involuntarily performed a spit take. Regardless though, she struggled to conceal the growing shock she felt as Kiwi described the very same dream that she herself had had last night. Thankfully all eyes were on Kiwi at the moment, so no one noticed her aghast reaction to the girl’s dream. 

“Ouch,” Aria said. “I hate those dreams where you hear some disembodied voice saying things to you.”

“The voice wasn’t what made the dream so bad,” Kiwi replied. “I mean, it was creepy, but it wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the woman at the end of it.”

“The…woman?” Adagio tentatively asked, fearful of what woman it was to whom Kiwi was referring.

“Yeah, there was this woman with scarlet hair wearing one of those flapper dresses from the 1920s,” Kiwi continued. “And when I saw her all she did was look at me with this wicked smile and say, ‘Hello, Kiwi’, in this beautiful but really eerie voice.”

By the time Kiwi finished speaking, Adagio wasn’t he only one with an expression of stupefaction on her face. Aria and Sonata had dawned similar expressions as well. Soon enough the three siren sisters were exchanging worried looks with one another, leaving both Kiwi and Su-Z confused and a bit worried themselves.

“Um, is everything okay, girls?” Su-Z addressed the Dazzlings.

None of the Dazzlings knew what to say, mostly because none of them were entirely sure if everything truly was okay or not. Fear and anxiety began to set into each of them as they tried to make sense of what it was they’d just heard Kiwi say. Sonata silently tried to convince herself that the PostCrush girl hadn’t really dreamed about Madrigal Moonlight, but rather just some random person that happened to look an awful lot like her. Aria also silently tried to cast doubt that the woman in Kiwi’s dream had been Madrigal, though all she did was tell herself that it couldn’t have been Madrigal. That it was impossible for it to have been Madrigal. Adagio, however, didn’t try to cast any doubt about who the woman in Kiwi’s dream had been, because she knew that there was no doubt about it. It had been Madrigal, just like it had been in her own dream.

The thought of bringing up her dream crossed Adagio’s mind for a brief moment, but she quickly decided not to mention it for the time being. Her sisters were already feeling unsettled enough by the fact that Kiwi had dreamed about their mother, the last thing she wanted to do right now was unnerve them even more by revealing that she too had dreamt about Madrigal.

“Girls, what’s wrong?” Kiwi addressed the Dazzlings after none of them answered Su-Z’s question. “Why are you all looking at each other like that?”

“W-Well, you see…” Sonata attempted to reply. “The woman you said you saw in your dream, s-she sounds an awful lot like…like…”

“Like Madrigal Moonlight,” Aria sedately finished Sonata’s sentence.

Kiwi and Su-Z quickly exchanged puzzled glances after Aria mentioned Madrigal’s name, as if silently asking one another if they knew who that was. Both girls just raised an eyebrow and shrugged at one another to indicate that they didn’t have a clue. 

“Who’s Madrigal Moonlight?” Kiwi eventually inquired aloud.

Aria and Sonata both looked off to their side and down at the floor as soon as they heard Kiwi’s question, making it clear to the other three girls at the table that neither of them wanted to answer said question. Naturally, Adagio didn’t want to be the one to answer either, but she knew that, as the eldest amongst the Dazzlings, she would ultimately end up being the one to explain who Madrigal was to the two PostCrush girls. Whether she was ready to or not. 

“Madrigal is…Madrigal was our mother. If you can call her that,” The poofy-haired girl reluctantly began to say. “She died a long time ago but we had a pretty bad run-in with her recently. Or rather, someone pretending to be her.”

Not surprisingly, Adagio’s answer only raised more questions within Kiwi and Su-Z regarding Madrigal. Many, many more questions from the looks of it, judging by the fact that their puzzled expressions from a moment ago were now expressions of sheer and utter bewilderment.

“We best just tell you two everything,” Adagio then said, picking up on the obvious confusion of the two PostCrush girls.

Sure enough, Adagio did as she said and proceeded to tell the two PostCrush girls everything about Madrigal, with Aria and Sonata chiming in from time to time. Through the Dazzlings’ tale, Kiwi and Su-Z learned about how Madrigal had been the girls’ biological mother, but hadn’t been much of a mother in the sentimental sense. They learned about all of the abuse the three sisters had suffered under her and how even after her death she’d seemingly returned during their trip to the Overlook Hotel. The only thing that they weren’t told about was how Madrigal had met her end the first time around; when Adagio, Aria, and Sonata had left her for dead in a trench. Other than that though, they learned practically everything there was to know about Madrigal Moonlight. And by the conclusion of their lesson, Kiwi found herself speechless.

“Geez, and I thought my family was messed up,” Su-Z remarked.

“Everyone’s family is messed up, Su-Z,” Aria replied staidly. “Some are just more messed up than others.”

“Way more messed up,” Sonata added so agilely that no one heard her.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room for a few seconds. During which time, each of the five girls avoided making eye contact with one another by either looking down at the table or off to their side. 

“I just…I don’t understand any of this,” Kiwi eventually broke the silence, without taking her eyes off of the table. “I’ve never met Madrigal before, I’m sure of it. So how is it possible that I dreamt about her last night? And why?” 

“I don’t know. But you and I are going to figure all of this out, Kiwi,” Adagio said just before precipitously getting up from her seat. “And to do that, you’re going to be coming with me to CHS today.” 

“She is?!” Aria, Sonata, and Su-Z all said simultaneously as they looked up at Adagio, having been caught completely off-guard by the Dazzling leader’s statement.

“I-I am?” Kiwi then said as she did likewise, though with a tiny hint of fright in her voice.

“You are,” Adagio said as she looked down at Kiwi and patted the girl’s left shoulder a couple of times before heading towards the front door. “Now come on, we better get going.”

“You’re leaving right now?” Sonata asked her older sister. “But you haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“We’ll grab something on the way to school,” Adagio replied.

Once Adagio reached the front door, she grabbed a couple of keys from the key bowl on a nearby table and opened the door to head on out. But before she crossed the threshold, she looked back to see if Kiwi was right behind her. Much to her surprise, Kiwi wasn’t right behind her. In fact, Kiwi hadn’t even gotten up from the kitchen table yet. The girl was just sitting there staring at her like she had no idea what was going on.  

“Come on, Kiwi,” The Dazzling leader reiterated, though more authoritatively this time.

Kiwi neither got up nor said anything in response to Adagio’s ukase. All she did was look over at Su-Z, Aria, and Sonata with a look that silently suggested she was asking them what it was she should do. Much like earlier, Su-Z simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Aria and Sonata each gave a shrug as well. However, when the two Dazzlings finished shrugging both of them then slightly jerked their heads in the direction of the front door. Kiwi took this as a quiet communique that meant, ‘You better go with her’.

Reluctantly, Kiwi nodded in agreement.  

“C-Coming, Adagio,” The older of the two PostCrush girls said as she got up and headed for the front door.

The instant Kiwi was right behind her, Adagio stepped outside and proceeded to make her way over to the car. In no time at all both she and Kiwi were piled into the vehicle – Adagio in the driver’s seat and Kiwi in the passenger’s – and they were on their way to CHS. 

As Adagio backed the car out of the driveway, Kiwi noticed that Su-Z, Aria, and Sonata had gathered onto the porch to watch them leave. At first Kiwi felt a twinge of warmth in her heart that her friends had come out to see them off, but that feeling quickly grew cold when she saw the way they were looking at them. It was difficult for her to tell exactly how it was the three girls were staring at them, but it wasn’t difficult for her to tell how those stares made her feel; they made her feel like she was a puppy that was about to be taken to a farm upstate. Well, a different farm upstate. The kind of farm that she wouldn’t ever be returning from.

“So, um, where are we going to stop for breakfast?” Kiwi asked just as Adagio pulled out onto the street, trying to distract herself from the unsettling stares.

“We aren’t stopping for breakfast,” Adagio informed the girl. “At least not first thing.”

“So…We’re going to stop at CHS first?” Kiwi inquired. 

“No,” Adagio replied. “We’re going to stop at Sunset Shimmer’s apartment first.”

Kiwi didn’t respond right away, mainly because she wasn’t sure she’d heard Adagio correctly.

“…Huh?” The PostCrush girl eventually said.

Adagio easily picked up on Kiwi’s growing confusion, and she wasn’t surprised by it in the least. After all, she’d essentially strong-armed the poor girl into coming with her without providing any real reason as to why. So rather than allow Kiwi’s confusion to continue burgeoning, the Dazzling decided that it was time for her to spill the beans about the dream she’d had last night. 

“Look, I’m sorry I pulled all of this on you so abruptly, Kiwi,” She started out saying. “But please understand that I did it because I didn’t want to say what I’m about to tell you in front of my sisters.”

“O…kay,” Kiwi replied, now sounding half-confused, half-curious.

Without even realizing it, Adagio took a deep breath before she began explaining things to Kiwi.

“That dream you had last night, I…I had the exact same one,” She confessed. “I was in a dark hallway, I heard a voice calling out to me, and at the end of it I saw my mot – Madrigal.”

Not surprisingly, Kiwi immediately dawned an expression of surprise upon hearing this. Adagio didn’t see this though, on account of the fact that she was driving and therefore keeping her eyes on the road. 

“And I highly doubt it’s a coincidence that we both just happened to have had the same dream,” The Dazzling continued. “Something’s going on here, and if Madrigal is involved I guarantee you it’s not something good. I’m not exactly sure how Sunset fits into all of this, but I’m fairly certain that she’s at the center of it.”

There was a moment of silence in the car as a great many questions ran through Kiwi’s head. So many, it turned out, that the girl had trouble choosing just one to ask first. For the time being at least, she decided to ignore all questions pertaining to how it was that both she and Adagio had ended up having the same dream. Instead, she chose to focus on only questions pertaining directly to what the Dazzling had told her.

“What makes you think Sunset’s at the center of all this?” She ended up asking first. 

“A couple of things,” Adagio replied. “Primarily it’s because in my dream I was able to make out the voice as Sunset’s, but also because of how she was acting when I saw her at school yesterday.”

All of Kiwi’s various questions were temporarily put by the wayside as she began to recall Adagio’s story of her interaction with Sunset during her trip to CHS the other day with Princess Thunder Guts. Specifically, she began to recall how the Dazzling had said that Sunset had been acting uncharacteristically aloof and hadn’t been wearing her beloved geode. Despite not having witnessed the encounter personally, the tale had given Kiwi a weird feeling that something was seriously wrong with the Rainboom. A weird feeling that she was still feeling, even now. 

However, Kiwi wasn’t fully convinced that this feeling meant that Sunset was somehow connected to hers and Adagio’s dreams. After all, she hadn’t been able to make out the voice in her dream, so how could she be sure that the Dazzling leader’s claim was even a possibility?

“I don’t know if I believe your theory about Sunset being at the center of whatever’s going on,” The PostCrush girl admitted. “But…I think that going to see her is probably a good idea. Just in case.”

Kiwi’s skepticism came as no surprise to Adagio. Frankly, if their roles were reversed right now she knew she’d most likely be skeptical too. But thankfully, despite the former popstar’s doubt, she was still willing to believe her enough to agree that seeing Sunset wasn’t completely unwarranted. And that was really all the Dazzling needed from Kiwi right now; a bit of faith.

Before Adagio had a chance to thank Kiwi for her credulity though, her phone began to chime and vibrate. Instinctively, the Dazzling took a quick glance over towards the dash, where she’d placed her phone, and saw the icon that indicated she had a text message.

“Always when I’m driving,” She dryly commented before taking her right hand off of the wheel, grabbing her phone, and handing it off to Kiwi. “Can you see what that text’s about for me?”

“Y-Yeah, sure,” Kiwi hesitantly replied as she took the phone from Adagio.

The PostCrush girl looked down at Adagio’s phone and tapped the text message icon on the screen, which opened the message to reveal that the text had been sent by Sonata. She then read the message silently to herself for a second so that she could give Adagio a simple summary of its contents rather than the whole, somewhat lengthy message.

“It’s from Sonata,” The former popstar said aloud once she was finished reading. “She said she forgot to ask you if you found that $100 surplus in the household budget for her before you left.”

“Ah geez,” Adagio replied, having completely forgotten about all of that due to the chaos of the morning’s events thus far. “Just…text her back and tell her that I’m still working on the budget so I don’t know if there’s a $100 surplus yet.”

In truth, Adagio had finished working on the budget the other day, and she hadn’t found a $100 surplus that she could give to Sonata so that her sister could buy Rainbow Dash a gaming chair for her birthday. But despite this, the Dazzling leader still believed that somehow, someway she would find Sonata that money, if not within the household budget than from some other source. She just didn’t want to let her sister down, thus she felt the need to keep hope alive; even if that hope potentially ended up being false hope.

Kiwi, however, didn’t share Adagio’s outlook on the situation. She hadn’t from the very beginning. Back when she’d heard Adagio promise Sonata the money if she found it, she’d warned the Dazzling leader about how giving someone false hope was sometimes worse than giving them no hope at all. It was a belief that she held very strongly, and one that she wasn’t willing to compromise.

“Is that true?” She asked Adagio. “Are you really still working on the budget?”

As Adagio pulled up to a red light, she looked over at Kiwi, who was looking back at her with an almost accusatory stare. 

“No, I finished it last night. And I didn’t find the $100,” The Dazzling replied, choosing to be truthful. “But I will find it somehow, so just text Sonata back and tell her to hold on for now.”

“No,” Kiwi replied fervently as she placed Adagio’s phone back on the dash. “I’m not going to help you give Sonata any more false hope than you already have.”

The judgmental tone in Kiwi’s voice struck a real nerve with Adagio. Who was Kiwi to say that she was giving Sonata false hope? She wasn’t the one dealing with the situation and she didn’t know all of the details about it. So how was it that she was so certain that the hope being given to Sonata was false hope?  

“Are you serious right now?” The Dazzling heatedly asked. “I’m doing everything I can to find the money my sister needs to get her girlfriend a nice birthday present, and you have the gall to accuse me of giving her false hope?”

“Because you are giving her false hope, Adagio,” Kiwi retorted just as heatedly. “You just said you finished going over the budget and didn’t find a $100 surplus.”

“I know what I said, Kiwi,” Adagio replied. “But just because I didn’t find the money in the household budget doesn’t mean I won’t find it somewhere else.”

“Will you find it somewhere else though?” Kiwi asked. “Do you have a plan to get it from somewhere else? Are you going to ask a friend to loan it to you, or ask your boss for an advancement on your next paycheck?”

Adagio said nothing in response. The two options for getting the money Kiwi had just mentioned had occurred to her at one point, but she knew neither option was feasible. No one, other than maybe her sisters, would loan her that kind of money simply on good-faith, and Luna had a strict policy of not allowing advancements on faculty and staff paychecks.

“I know you want to spare Sonata’s feelings, Adagio,” Kiwi continued, a bit calmer now. “But you can’t keep on giving her hope when you know there is none. It’s better to just be honest with her.”

With each sentence that Kiwi spoke, Adagio could feel the girl’s words becoming more and more personal.

“That way when Sonata feels disappointment at not being able to get that gaming chair for Rainbow Dash’s birthday it won’t be so crushing,” Kiwi went on, sounding pretty emotional at this point. “And she won’t feel like giving up on hope entirely.”

By the end of Kiwi’s semi-vituperation, Adagio was left speechless. The Dazzling still felt upset with Kiwi for being so judgmental about how she was choosing to deal with Sonata and the $100, but the emotional adiposity of the PostCrush girl’s words weighed too heavy on her heart for her to continue arguing. Instead, she chose to get her emotions in-check and approach the situation from a more level-headed standpoint. 

After a few quick mental breaths, it became clear to Adagio where it was Kiwi’s feelings were most likely coming from. 

“Is that what someone did to you, Kiwi?” She asked, being mindful not to sound antagonistic at all. “Did someone give you false hope once?”

Kiwi didn’t answer right away. She just turned her head towards the window and brought her right hand up to her face. It was difficult for Adagio to tell for certain, but she was fairly certain she saw the girl wipe a tear from her eye.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Adagio,” Kiwi eventually replied.

The traffic light turned green right after Kiwi finished speaking. Without saying another word, Adagio took her foot off the brake and proceeded to continue down the street towards Sunset Shimmer’s apartment. Neither girl spoke up again for the rest of the journey until they arrived at their destination about ten minutes later.

“We’re here,” Adagio informed Kiwi as she parked the car right in front of Sunset’s apartment.

Before Kiwi stepped out of the car, she took a second to take a look out the window at the place Sunset Shimmer called home, and, much to her surprise, it was a lot nicer than she’d imagined it being. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was she’d been expecting, but whatever that was it certainly hadn’t been the charming, spacious-looking townhouse before her. 

“How does a high school student afford a place like this?” She softly asked herself as she got out of the car.

Adagio remained silent as she placed the car keys in her back pocket and walked around the back of the car. As soon as the Dazzling was in front of her, Kiwi followed closely behind as they made their way towards the door.

“So what do we do if Sunset’s left for school already?” The PostCrush girl inquired as the two of them walked. “Do we head to CHS and try to catch her there?”

“Oh, I guarantee you Sunset hasn’t left for school yet,” Adagio replied, sounding almost amused by Kiwi’s question. “She never leaves this early.”

The Dazzling then reached into her front right pocket, took a quick look at her phone, and then put it right back.

“Based on what time it is I’d say she’s probably making breakfast right about now,” She postulated. 

“How do you know that?” Kiwi then asked.

“Because I know that girl’s whole weekday morning routine like the back of my hand,” Adagio answered just as they reached the door. “Don’t forget, my sisters and I lived with her for a few months.”

Kiwi had, in fact, forgotten that Adagio and her sisters had lived with Sunset prior to them living on the emu farm. Though in her defense, it had only really been mentioned to her and Su-Z once by Sonata during one of the young Dazzling’s sugar-induced ramblings.

Wasting no time, Adagio clenched her right hand into a fist and proceeded to knock on Sunset’s front door. Both she and Kiwi waited a few seconds for an answer, but none came.

“Sunset?” The Dazzling called out as she knocked again.

Still no answer.

“Maybe she’s still in bed?” Kiwi postulated.

“Maybe,” Adagio replied skeptically. “But I highly doubt it.”

After a second of fidgeting around in her pocket, the Dazzling withdrew a key that clearly wasn’t for the car. Kiwi had noticed Adagio take this key out of the key bowl earlier before they’d left, but as to why the poofy-haired girl had done so she couldn’t say. She’d seen the key in the key bowl many a times before, but until today she’d never seen any of the Dazzlings remove it from there. A small part of her had always wondered what the key unlocked, but now she felt had a pretty good idea about that.

“Why do you have a key to Sunset’s apartment?” She asked.

“Sunset gave it to me while we still lived with her, and she left it with me after we moved out,” Adagio explained. “She sometimes forgets her keys when she goes out, so she wanted me to have a spare in case she ever locked herself out. I think Twilight might have one too.”

Admittedly, Kiwi was a little surprised to hear this. Not the part about Sunset leaving Adagio with a key to her apartment, but the part about Sunset being so forgetful with her keys at times that she’d leave a spare with not one but two people.  

“I never pegged Sunset for the forgetful type,” The PostCrush girl remarked as she watched the Dazzling insert the key into the lock.

“She isn’t, not really. She’s only ever forgetful when she oversleeps and she has to rush out the door to get to school on time,” Adagio replied as she unlocked the door. “Don’t tell her I told you this, but one time when we were living together she overslept and almost left for school without wearing a shirt underneath her jacket.”

Kiwi couldn’t help but giggle as the mental image involuntarily formed in her mind of Sunset stepping out of her apartment with only her leather jacket covering up her chest. It wasn’t just this image that she found so amusing though. She also found it amusing how Adagio talked about Sunset with such familiarity, as if the girl were one of her sisters. It was rare that Adagio spoke about anyone other than Aria or Sonata with such a sense of closeness, and given that Sunset had been the Dazzlings’ enemy at one point the former popstar found it humorous that Adagio was speaking about her so intimately right now.    

“But one thing that Sunset’s never forgetful about is her geode,” The Dazzling continued, much more sternly than a moment ago. “That’s why when she claimed to have forgotten it the other day I knew she was lying.”

The sudden, serious tone of Adagio’s voice instantly brought Kiwi back down from her amused state, and reminded her of why it was she and the Dazzling were at Sunset’s apartment in the first place.

As soon as the door was unlocked, Adagio gently swung it open and stepped inside.

“Sunset?” She called out into the large studio apartment.

There was no response to Adagio’s call. At least, no direct response. After taking a few more steps inside to allow Kiwi entrance as well, the Dazzling leader thought she heard some soft murmurs coming from the loft where Sunset slept. 

“Do you hear that?” She asked her companion as she looked up at the loft.

“Y-Yeah,” Kiwi replied as she did likewise.

Neither girl could make out what it was that was being murmured, if the murmurs were even actual words, but both of them could tell that the voice behind them definitely belonged to Sunset Shimmer.

“Come on,” Adagio said worriedly as she headed for the loft.

Kiwi silently nodded as she followed the Dazzling up the small flight of stairs.

It didn’t take Adagio and Kiwi long to reach the top of the stairs, and when they did they saw a sight that was almost downright horrifying; Sunset Shimmer, lying unconscious on her bed in a cold sweat, muttering something that didn’t sound like it belonged to any known language, and tossing and turning about like she was having an especially awful nightmare. 

“Sunset!” Adagio hollered in fright as she rushed over to her friend.

The sight of Sunset in such a distraught state filled Kiwi with a sense of dread, one so strong that she found herself unable to move for a second or two.

“Sunset?!” Adagio shouted once she was by Sunset’s bedside. “Sunset, wake up!”

Adagio desperately tried to awaken Sunset by gently shaking her, but the effort proved futile. No matter how much she shook the Rainboom, Sunset remained trapped within her slumber and unable to acknowledge her pleas. Despite this though, the Dazzling continued to try and rouse her friend from her sleep.

While Adagio tried in vain to awaken Sunset, Kiwi slowly began to walk over to the bed as well. With each step the PostCrush girl took, the more clearly she was able see just how much torment Sunset appeared to be in, and the more she could feel her sense of dread take hold of her. Not because of how bedeviled Sunset was, but because of how powerless she felt to do anything about the girl’s current state. If shaking her and shouting at her like Adagio was doing couldn’t wake her up, what could? 

About halfway to the bed Kiwi stopped and pulled out her phone to call an ambulance. Whatever was wrong with Sunset, it was obvious that the girl needed professional medical help. Just as the former popstar was about to dial 911 though, she noticed something odd on the nearby nightstand that caused her to put her phone down for a moment.

“Adagio,” She said to try and get her companion’s attention.

The Dazzling didn’t answer her. All Adagio did was continue to call out Sunset’s name as she desperately tried to shake her awake.

“Sunset! Sunset!” She cried out hysterically.

“Adagio!” Kiwi repeated as she grabbed the Dazzling leader by the shoulder and spun her around to face the nightstand. “Look!”

After the initial shock of being involuntarily spun around wore off, Adagio saw what it was on the nightstand that had caught Kiwi’s attention; Sunset’s geode, pulsating with an ominous orange glow.

“What the-” The Dazzling leader uttered as she got up and moved over to the nightstand.

While she didn’t fully understand the magic behind any of the Rainbooms’ geodes, Adagio understood it enough that she knew something was wrong with Sunset’s right now. The pulsating glow it was currently giving off wasn’t normal, especially considering that it wasn’t even on Sunset’s person at the moment. As far as she knew each Rainboom had to be physically touching their geode in order for it to work, so the fact that it was active at all just lying on the nightstand was a very troubling sign to the Dazzling. 

“Why’s it glowing like that?” Kiwi inquired as she too got in for a closer look at the geode.

“I don’t know,” Adagio admitted. “I’ve never seen a magical item act like this before.”

The longer Adagio and Kiwi stared down at Sunset’s geode, the more they each felt like it was somehow trying to communicate with them. Like it knew that something was wrong with its owner and it was trying to call out for help. 

“I…I think we should…touch it,” Kiwi precipitously said, sounding almost like she were in a trance, as she slowly reached her right hand out towards the geode.

“Y-Yeah,” Adagio agreed catatonically as she did likewise.

Both girls touched the geode at exactly the same moment, and when they did they each experienced what could only be described as temporary blindness. Their vision went completely dark for a few seconds as they felt like they were being pulled into another dimension. Though the strange thing was that they didn’t feel like they were being pulled there physically, but rather mentally. Like their minds were somehow leaving their bodies behind as they were sent off to who-knows-where.

Soon enough Adagio and Kiwi’s journey came to an end and their sight returned to them, but when it did they found themselves in quite possibly the last place either of them wanted to be.

“T-This is the place from my dream,” Kiwi said in frightful astonishment as she looked around the dimly-lit, door-covered hallway that she’d seen in her sleep.

Adagio said nothing in response as she too took a look around her new, yet somewhat familiar, surroundings. There was no denying that the hallway she and Kiwi were in right now was the same as the one from her dream as well, right down to the various styles of doors lining the walls. The light purple chateau, the dark brown traditional, the light brown Stratford abbey that was nearly decrepit, they were all there along with countless other doors. 

As she took in her surroundings, Adagio noticed that Kiwi was looking more than a little frazzled by their current situation. And it only made sense, after all Kiwi wasn’t as used to dealing with magical and bizarre occurrences like she was. True, the PostCrush girl had dealt with magic back at the Starswirl Festival when she’d used the Time Twirler, but that one occurrence could hardly be expected to have steeled her enough to become completely undaunted by the strange power. Heck, even Adagio herself, who’d been dealing with magic her whole life, still found herself daunted by it from time-to-time. But the Dazzling knew that she couldn’t afford to feel daunted right now. Nor could Kiwi.

“Kiwi, you doing okay?” She inquired.

“I…I’m not sure,” Kiwi replied as she ceased her scanning of the hallway and focused her attention on the Dazzling. “This place…it creeps me out. I mean, really creeps me out. But…but I can’t help but feel like we’re meant to be here. Like we’re here for a reason, you know?”

Kiwi’s words caught Adagio by surprise, though not entirely. Although she didn’t say so aloud, internally the Dazzling agreed with her companion’s assessment of their current situation. She couldn’t deny that she also had an unexplainable feeling that wherever it was they were right now it was for some yet unknown reason.

“I don’t want to be in this hallway any longer than we need to be, but I think it’s important that we accomplish whatever it is we’re supposed to do here,” Kiwi concluded, sounding much more steadfast than she had a moment ago.

Hearing Kiwi sound so ardent filled Adagio with relief. The sheer resolute tone of the PostCrush girl’s statement washed away any doubts she had about Kiwi being able to keep her composure during their ordeal.

Sometimes she forgot just how strong Kiwi truly was.

“I agree,” The Dazzling concurred wholeheartedly before looking over to her right at the light purple chateau door. “Tell me, Kiwi; In your dream, did you open any of these doors?”

“No,” Kiwi replied as she too turned her attention to the chateau door.

Adagio had figured that Kiwi, like herself, hadn’t dared open any of the doors whilst in her dream. Despite seeming like nothing more than ordinary doors, both in her dream and now, the Dazzling felt that each one was giving off an emanation that whatever was behind them wasn’t pleasant. However, this emanation wasn’t enough to deter Adagio from acting on her curiosities this time. Not when the reason she was in the hallway again was because she’d come into contact with Sunset’s geode.  

“Well, let’s open one now and see where it leads to,” The Dazzling leader said as she walked over to the chateau door.

Kiwi gave no objection as she followed behind Adagio.

As soon as Adagio reached the light purple door, she grabbed hold of the knob but didn’t turn it right away. She took a couple of seconds to steel herself for whatever might be awaiting her on the other side of the door first.

“Here goes,” She said softly to herself as she slowly turned the knob and opened the door.

A brief yet powerful flash of light emanated from the other side of the door the instant Adagio opened it, causing both the Dazzling and Kiwi to shield their eyes. When the light subsided and both girls slowly re-opened their eyes, they saw that the door led to an outdoor area. A track and field area to be more specific, one with a group of about half a dozen people gathered on it.

“Wait a minute,” Adagio started to say as she scanned the outdoor area from the threshold. “Is this…CHS?”

Upon closer examination, the Dazzling was able to determine that it was indeed the grounds of Canterlot High School on the other side of the door. And upon even closer examination, she was able to determine that the people standing on the field were Sunset Shimmer and the other Rainbooms, all of whom were wearing what appeared to be athletic outfits of some sort.

“You’re supposed to be so smart,” Sunset angrily addressed Twilight Sparkle. “But did you ever think that you shouldn’t be messing around with things you don’t understand?!”

As Sunset spoke, she closed a device that Twilight was holding in her hand. 

“But I wanna understand!” Twilight replied.

“But you don’t!” Sunset retorted as she got right up in Twilight’s face. “And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger!”

“Sunset?” Kiwi said in stunned awe as she watched the scene unfold from over Adagio’s shoulder.

Sunset didn’t answer to Kiwi’s call. She didn’t even turn her head in Kiwi’s direction to acknowledge that she’d heard her, nor did any of the Rainbooms. They all just continued to act as if she and Adagio weren’t watching them.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Twilight said tearfully before running off.

“Twilight! Wait!” Twilight’s dog, Spike, called out to his owner as he chased after her.

Once Twilight and Spike were gone, Rainbow Dash walked up behind Sunset and placed a hand on the girl’s left shoulder. The gesture immediately brought Sunset down from her angered state and she gave herself a dejected facepalm, as if suddenly understanding that she’d just made a huge mistake.

Before Adagio or Kiwi had a chance to respond to the scene that they just witnessed unfold, the door quickly slammed shut in front of them. Fortunately Adagio was able to take a step backwards before being struck by it.

“W-What was all that just now?” Kiwi inquired with a mixture of shock and confusion.

“I…I’m not sure,” Adagio replied.

Truthfully though, Adagio did know what all of that had just been. It’d been when Sunset had first met Twilight at the Friendship Games and yelled at her for messing with Equestrian magic. She remembered Sunset telling her about the incident when they were living together, and she especially remembered how the fiery-haired girl had said that it was one of the moments in her life that she regretted most. What the Dazzling was so unsure of was how it was she and Kiwi had just watched it unfold, given that it had happened quite some time ago.

Almost as if she were drawn to it, Adagio quickly moved over to the next door on her right - the dark brown traditional - and opened it without hesitation. Like with the light purple chateau there was a sudden and quick flash of light as soon as the door was opened, but this time it didn’t blind the Dazzling. After being temporarily blinded while opening the last door, she’d made sure to shut her eyes before opening this one. As soon as the light subsided and Adagio opened her eyes again, she once more saw the grounds of CHS on the other side of the door. Only this time she didn’t see the athletic field. Instead she saw the courtyard where the Wondercolts statue was, and Sunset Shimmer standing before the Rainbooms and Snips and Snails with a crown held firmly within her hands.

“At last,” Sunset said wickedly. “More power than I could ever imagine.”

Sunset then placed the crown on her head and she was enveloped in a beam of dark magic that was almost just as blinding as the light from the door. After a few seconds the beam disappeared and Sunset was seen floating in midair, now transformed into what appeared to be a winged-demon of some kind.

“Ahahaha!” Sunset manically laughed as she inspected her new self.

Adagio knew what this moment was as well. It was when Sunset had stolen Princess Twilight’s crown from Equestria and tried to use its power to turn the students of CHS into her own personal army. The Dazzling leader had witnessed part of this moment from a distance with her sisters when their gems detected the presence of Equestrian magic, but she’d never seen Sunset in her demon form before now. 

She found the fiery-haired girl both intimidating and slightly attractive like this.

“Is…Is that Sunset?” Kiwi suddenly said from right next to her.

Adagio turned to her left to see Kiwi standing practically shoulder-to-shoulder with her, watching the events on the other side of the door unfold. She’d been so captivated by what she’d been watching that she hadn’t noticed the PostCrush girl get so close to her.

Before the Dazzling had a chance to answer Kiwi’s question, the door slammed shut and silence once more filled the hallway. But the silence didn’t last very long.

“Okay, I am officially done with this place,” Kiwi stated as she backed up a few steps from the door. “I don’t care why it is we’re here anymore. I just…I just want to go home. Now.”

It wasn’t hard for Adagio to tell that Kiwi was just about at her limit. And, if she was being completely honest, so was she. She had no idea where they were, why they were there, or why all the doors were showing them moments from Sunset’s past. She could tell that the lack of all this information was pushing her to her breaking point, but the only thing she felt she could do about it was try to press on and hope that things didn’t get any worse for her and Kiwi.

“Adagio, dear, it’s been far too long,” An all-too-familiar voice suddenly said from just up the hallway. “How about giving your ole mom a hug?”

Adagio and Kiwi instantly turned their attention up the hallway and saw the person that each of them had seen in their dream; Madrigal Moonlight, standing there with her arms held out wide in anticipation of a hug.

The moment Adagio made eye contact with her mother, she could feel her heart skip a beat. Not only had things just gotten worse for her and Kiwi, they’d just gotten about as bad as she could’ve possibly imagined.