//------------------------------//
// Who We Choose to Be 
// Story: Once Monsters 
// by SkycatcherEQ 
//------------------------------//

	Sunset arrived at the cafe around half-past ten. As she was fixing the cover over her bike, she could see Adagio through the window stirring some whipped cream into her mocha. A second mug sat on the table, its unmuddied black contents still letting off steam. 

She smiled softly to herself. Just the way I like it.

And that’s interesting, she thought while walking toward the door. Despite the number of empty seats, Adagio had chosen the same corner booth which had made her so uncomfortable the last time she’d brought Sunset to this cafe. 

Sunset stepped inside. The door's bell jingled behind her. Rounding the corner into the aisle, she met eyes with Adagio. The two looked at each other for a few moments before Sunset let out a heavy breath and lowered her head.

Adagio’s calm voice offered some reassurance. “Sunset. It’s alright. Come sit.”

Sunset considered for a few more moments before sitting down and placing her helmet on the seat. “Adagio, I’m so—”

“Mmm—” Adagio halted her with a raised palm. She gave Sunset a soft look and then placed both of her upturned hands across the table. “Just sit with me for a moment?”

Sunset looked down at Adagio’s hands and joined them with her own. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.

Always so warm…

When Sunset looked up again, she was met with a gentle smile. 

“Look,” Adagio began. She lowered her eyes to their clasped hands. “I know that wasn’t really you back there earlier. After everything we’ve been through, I know that something must be going on right now that’s stressing you out, or… something.” She rubbed her thumbs over Sunset’s fingers and met her eyes again. “But whatever it is, I’d like to help you with it. If you’ll let me? You’ve done so much for me, Sunset.”

Sunset smiled at Adagio and blinked away a few tears. She took in another shaky breath and felt the weight of the past few days fall off her shoulders as she let it out. How in the world could I ever have doubted you?

“Thank you. And yeah, I would.” 

Sunset pulled her hands back and wiped her eyes. “Oh, and also…” She reached into a pocket and gently placed Adagio’s broken necklace on the table between them. “I… brought this back.”

Adagio picked up the necklace and stared at it for a few moments. She let out a long breath before setting it down on the table again.

“But I also brought something else,” Sunset added. “I’m sure that necklace still has a lot of painful memories for you.”

Sunset pulled out the gift from Rarity and handed it across the table to Adagio. “So I thought that maybe... we could start making some new ones instead?”

Adagio took the pendant gently in one hand. With her other, she stroked the band just as Sunset had done earlier. She choked out a breath and then dried her eyes with a sleeve. “Sunset. This is beautiful. Where did you…?”

“I’m so sorry, Adagio. Sorry for putting you through all of that. For doubting you. When it really comes down to it, I think I was just scared.”

“Scared… Of what?”

“Of... what I used to be. Of what you used to be. Of whatever dark place we might slip back into. Your friendship means so much to me. 

“And lately... this past week especially, I’ve realized just how much I want you to be a part of my life. And I guess it just scared me. And then my nightmares, and all the ‘signs’ lining up like they did... Even if it was all my imagination.” She lowered her head and wrapped her upper arms. “My mind was just a mess.”

Still looking at the necklace, Adagio took in another long breath. Sunset could see a weight drop off her shoulders as well when she let it out. “Thank you,” she said softly. “For telling me. That really does help. It means a lot to hear it from you.”

Adagio met Sunset’s eyes again. “And... there’s a reason I asked you to meet me here, Sunset. I'd suspected something like that was bothering you.” Opening the clasp on the necklace, she held it up to her neck. “But first, would you?”

Sunset stood up and took the seat next to Adagio. She reached over and latched the band behind her neck.

After situating the pendant between her vest, Adagio hooked an arm with Sunset and pointed out the window. “Look there. Do you know what’s just over those foothills?”

“Well, the main part of Canterlot City is over that way. If that’s what you mean?”

“Yes. And within that part of the city is the school, of course.”

Adagio looked down at the table. A long, slow breath followed. “I suppose it was just over a year ago now that I was sitting here, in this very same booth, with Aria and Sonata there in the other seat.” 

“And this must have something to do with what was bothering you last time we were here?”

“Yes.” She pointed out the window again, and Sunset followed her indication back to the hills in the distance.

“It was the night of your Fall Formal.”

Sunset's eyes widened. She took in a long, shaky breath and let it out raggedly as her forehead rested against Adagio’s. All the while she stared out the window at the sky above the hills. One after another, memories of that night flooded into her mind. 

In a matter of seconds, she relived every moment of that darkness she’d experienced while Twilight’s element consumed her. The greed, the surge, the loss of control, the despair. And finally, the hollow of utter emptiness as she lay broken in the crater, stripped bare by the cleansing magic of Harmony.

Looking down at the table, her mind still reeling, she managed to choke out a whisper. “So that’s when you knew…”

“That Equestrian magic could exist in this world, yes.”

Sunset placed her other hand on Adagio’s arm and lowered her head. A few steadying breaths later, she felt settled enough to continue. “So I guess… everything that’s happened to you since then, and everything you’ve lost; I’m sort of responsible for it in more ways than just one.”

Sunset felt a hand lift her chin, and she looked up at Adagio.

“Yes. But also for everything we’ve gained, Sunset.” Adagio took both of Sunset’s hands in her own. “Don’t you see? Even with everything you and I used to be, look at who we are today. This last month has brought me more happiness than any... decade of my old power. Aria and Sonata feel the same way. And we have you to thank for that.” 

Sunset let out the breath she’d been holding and smiled softly. “Hearing you say that warms my heart so much. But I still feel like I don’t deserve it.” She leaned in and gave Adagio a warm hug. “I’m so sorry I doubted you, and that I hurt you like that.” She pulled back and took both of Adagio’s hands again, looking down at them with a frown. “Because... I know exactly what that feels like.” 

Sunset took a long drink and then closed her eyes. “After that day, when I decided I really wanted to change, I tried so hard. So hard. And still—after everything—there are people who don’t trust me or don’t believe it’s genuine. Those two jerks by the restaurant, for example.

“And it hurts. I know I’ve only got myself to blame, but it still hurts. And then what? I go and do the same thing to you.” She ran her hands through her hair, and her voice began to tremble. “Some friend, huh?”

“You’re right,” Adagio said flatly. “It did hurt. I could hardly see straight when I was walking away, between the anger... and the tears.”

Guilt rose again in Sunset’s throat. But as she looked up, Adagio put a hand over hers.

“You’ve been such an inspiration to me, Sunset. And if I’m honest, the reason I’ve been trying to so hard to change lately is for you as much as myself. So for you, of all people, to say those things to me…” 

Sunset went to speak, but Adagio again held up a hand.

“But I get it now. I think we both do. I think this whole thing has actually helped us both to grow.”

“I… guess it has. And the way you’re handling this is something I’ve always admired about you.” Sunset put an arm around Adagio and leaned her forehead against hers again. She brushed Adagio’s cheek with her nose and whispered, “Thank you.”

Sunset pulled back and smiled softly. “I really mean it. Thank you Adagio—for bringing me here. This has really... helped me put things in perspective. All this time, I’ve been so worried about that part of me escaping again that I’ve kept her shut away in a dark corner—tried to ‘kill’ her, even. But I get it now. That is a part of me. I can’t just bury it or... run away from it. I did those horrible things.”

“But that’s not who you are today.”

Sunset nodded firmly. “All that stuff shaped me, yeah. But I see now it doesn’t have to define who I am. That comes from how I take each new day. And... now that I’ve honestly accepted all this, I think those nightmares will be a thing of the past, too.”

After a drink of her coffee, she took Adagio’s hands again, giving her a soft smile. “And what about you? You have told me—just again tonight—that you’re happier now... and don’t often miss what you used to be.”

“I am, yes.” Adagio let go with one hand and took another drink as well. Her focus appeared to turn inward with a slow breath. “It’s also what I tell myself when I look in the mirror every morning. And I really do believe her now, when the girl in the reflection says it back to me.”

She looked back to Sunset and continued, “But there is always that shadow over her shoulder. That alluring... immortal memory of everything she and I used to be.”

Sunset rubbed a hand behind her neck and asked ashamedly, “Is... that part of what was going on Saturday morning? I sort of… eavesdropped a bit, and saw you playing dress-up in front of the mirror.” She winced and shook her head. “That was so stupid of me. Because when I saw you in that dress again, with your ‘still got it’ bit, that was a big part of what set me off on this whole paranoia binge.”

“And let me guess. You ran off at just that moment and didn't hear what I said right after.”

“Hmm... yeah.” She laughed and felt her cheeks blush. “Guilty.”

Adagio grinned back at her playfully. “My, how positively Heathcliff of you.”

Sunset perked up again with a matching grin. “Oh yea, Catherine? Well then... What did I miss?”

Adagio narrowed her eyes and laughed. “Clever pony.” 

She placed both hands on her coffee mug and looked down at it with a deep breath. “I had a realization that morning in front of the mirror. And I can still remember my exact words. I'd said, while looking at myself, ‘Yeah, I do still got it. But I really don’t need it… Not any more.’ And then I remember smiling softly at my reflection, undoing my belt, and changing into something more comfortable.” 

She took another drink. “And, while it wasn’t a new thought, something in that moment struck me again about everything you'd done for me. And I really felt the need to get out there and give you a hug.” Her eyes fell to the space between them. “But then… Sonata told me you’d just rushed out of the house with hardly a word.”

Sunset took a heavy breath. “Well…” She placed her hand over Adagio’s and met her eyes when she looked up. “How about a rain-check?”

When Adagio raised an eyebrow in response, Sunset slowly wrapped her in another tight hug—which was warmly returned.

After holding the embrace for a minute or so, they went back to their drinks, and Adagio smiled softly to herself. “I’d been putting that dress on in front of the mirror once a week or so for the last several months. I guess... it was part longing for what we’d lost, but also out of regret for everything we'd done. Though after that morning, I knew it was the last time. I needed to finally be rid of the dress—and its memories—once and for all.”

Sunset chuckled. “So... what. You’re just gonna bury it in your closet to get eaten by moths?” After a moment, she grinned with a flash in her eyes. “Orrrr, we could burn it.”

Adagio smiled back and shook her head with a laugh. “Always the fire with you, isn’t it. Hmm...” She lifted a finger to her chin for a few moments and then turned to meet Sunset’s eyes. 

“I have a better idea.”


***


Sonata took a bite out of her dinner roll as she looked out the wide, grand windows of the banquet room. The sequins on her evening gown glittered like the sun on the white-capped waves outside. “This was a good idea, Dagie. It feels so good to be out here. Like… we’re close to home. Even if that was so long ago.”

Aria chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “It does, doesn’t it? Why didn’t we do this more often back when we could get it all for a song?”

Adagio laughed and then smiled at both of them. “Well, we’re here now. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from her these past few months—” she picked up Sunset’s hand and kissed it softly “—it’s that finding happiness means simply making the most of each day as it’s given to us.”

She lifted her glass, and the others did the same.

After drinking to their toast, Sunset shook her head with a light laugh. “I still can’t believe the variety—and the amount—of food here. It’s just… And there’s no charge for any of it beyond the tickets? I’ve never been on a cruise before, so this is all kinda blowing my mind.”

Aria smiled and sat forward again. “Well, you’ve got two weeks to get used to it. Even if your clothes may hate you by the end.” She ran her fingers along the black straps of her gown with an approving look down both sides. “And I know I’m usually ‘whatever’ when it comes to clothes, but damn. These dresses look amazing, Adagio.”

“They really do,” Sunset said. “You and Rarity outdid yourselves. I’m glad you two found so much in common with your creativity. And she really enjoys having your help, and someone to finally talk to about all of that… design stuff.” She waved a hand in the air at the last few words.

“The girl is quite the creative genius, yes,” Adagio replied. “Rather amazing on a number of levels.”

Sunset glanced at the pendant hanging just below Adagio’s neck and smiled warmly. “Yeah. She is, isn’t she?”

“I just love the way my dress sparkles,” Sonata added. “Even when I’m walking, it reminds me of how I used to feel swimming through the water back in Equestria. It just makes me happy.”

Sunset looked at her plate and poked the salad with her fork. “So much really has changed for you guys, huh? And then with what you said, Aria—about ‘getting all this for a song.’ Even though I know things are good now... I do still regret having to take so much away from you three.” She looked up at each of them in turn.

Adagio smiled. “Yeah. We kinda would have had everything, if not for you. And I don’t mean you all. I mean you, Sunset Shimmer. But then, what would any of it really have accomplished?”

Aria looked down at her plate for a moment, but then smiled as well. “Yeah, she’s right.”

Sonata rubbed Aria on the shoulder with an, “Mm-hm.”

Adagio went on, “Granted, if your other friends had found some way to pull it off without you, I’m sure they would have also tried to... ‘help’ us. But I think you know what I mean when I say... it wouldn't have been the same.”

Sunset closed her eyes. She thought on the bond they shared by way of their contact with the Elements, and it warmed her heart to hear this realization from Adagio as well. She gave Adagio a soft smile, returning her touch on the hand from earlier. 

“Yeah,” she said. “I do.”

After a few more bites, Aria leaned back in her chair and turned toward Adagio. “So. You ready?”

Adagio looked out the window toward the sun hanging low over the water. “Hmm, yes. I suppose it’s that time, isn’t it?” She slid out her chair and stood up. “I’ll see you girls there?”

Sonata clasped her hands with a smile. “Yeah. Let’s do it.” She and Aria stood up and followed Adagio toward the door.

Sunset shared a wave with the three of them before they split off to their cabins. 

Taking a deep breath and looking out the windows, she sat for a moment and considered everything that had happened over the last eight months. From their encounter in the dark school hallway, to the magic battle on the hill, through the pain of the past week, and then finally to where the four of them were now.

She closed her eyes and smiled as a warm glow settled in. With another deep breath, she stood up and made her way to the rear deck of the ship. 

Following a few minutes of looking out across the waves at the dipping sun, Sunset turned around and saw the three of them walking toward her with a bundle under each of their arms.

When they reached the railing, Sonata took her old stage outfit between both hands and then stroked the small necktie on its shirt. “I can at least keep this, right? I love my little tie.” 

Aria placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Just let it go, Sona.”

With a sigh, Sonata said, “You’re right…” After another few moments of hesitation, she leaned over the railing and let the clothes fall into the water. “Bye bye, little tie.” She sniffled as Adagio put a hand on her other shoulder.

Aria looked down at her own outfit and then pressed her eyes closed. “All those years. And all that anger.” She gripped fistfuls of the material. Her knuckles went pale as tears streaked her face. With another breath, she whispered, “Take it with you.” and tossed the clothes into the wind.

Adagio moved to stand in between them. She lowered her head and closed her eyes with a look of introspective calm. Following a few silent breaths, she looked up again and released her bundle over the edge. Placing arms around Aria’s and Sonata’s shoulders, she pulled them into an embrace. And as the dresses disappeared beneath the waves, she said softly, “Back to the ocean.”

A minute or so of silence followed, before Sunset walked up to the railing beside them. “How do you feel?”

Adagio lifted her head and responded, “Light.” She took a breath through her nose and let it out again. “I feel lighter.”

Aria leaned her elbows on the rail and nodded. “You’re right. I feel it too.”

“Dessert.” Sonata looked up as three faces turned to stare at her. “What? I feel happier now. I want some dessert.”

“And I suppose you’re right, too.” Moving to her other side, Aria put an arm around Sonata’s shoulders and led her away. “Let’s go, dork. Time to make ‘em regret putting ‘24-hours’ together with ‘all you can eat.’”

Adagio stepped over next to Sunset. The two leaned on the railing together, shoulder to shoulder with their evening gowns fluttering in the wind.

“This really was a great idea, Adagio. I do feel… free out here. Like we’re finally putting all of that behind us.” Sunset lowered her head and closed her eyes. “You really were there for me this week, even with everything I put you through. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome. And it’s gone both ways. You know that.”

Sunset opened her eyes with a contented smile and nodded her head.

Adagio looked off toward the setting sun. “There’s just something about this time of day—about the colors in the sky as the sun touches the water. Even after hundreds of years, it’s still one of the most beautiful sights in either of these worlds.”

Sunset felt a hand rest gently over hers. She placed her other hand over Adagio’s and took in the beauty of her profile for a few moments before turning to look out across the horizon herself.

So warm.

She nudged Adagio playfully with her shoulder. “So. You do realize you're stuck with me for the next two weeks now.”

Adagio chuckled softly. With her eyes still locked on the distant waves, she pulled her hand back and placed a gentle arm around Sunset’s shoulders. Smiling, she said, “I think I'll manage.”

Sunset slid an arm around Adagio’s waist and brushed her cheek softly with her lips. 

In silent reply, Adagio turned to face her. 

The two closed their eyes and shared a tender kiss as the sun departed in a soft flash of green.



~fin~