Each month we will be spotlighting one pairing, or suggesting a writing prompt. As you may have seen on the main page, this month's area of focus is Aria x Sunset.

SunDagio is a siren ship so popular we don't allow it here, and its widespread domination means that Aria x Sunset can often be overlooked. But in many respects, Aria is closer to Villain Sunset than Adagio - a permanent scowl, a badass jacket, a willingness to resort to violence to get the job done (which one tends to associate more with Aria, though there isn't so much to support it in canon), and even a history of rebellion towards the authority figure in their life (in Aria's case Adagio, in Sunset's case Princess Celestia). Even for a story set after Sunset's redemption, that provides a lot of common ground she can relate to with Aria. Curiously, there are currently lots of friendshipping stories for these two, but only a couple of romances.

Why would someone whose every distressed fibre screams 'edgy' be interested in someone as pure and virtuous as Sunset? What might someone as dedicated to the magic of friendship as Sunset Shimmer find to appreciate in someone who's never said a nice thing about another person ever, ever, ever? Here's a well-regarded sample of the ship, but we need you to write more! Maybe it's Aria who beats the daylights out of Zephyr Breeze when he tries to slip something into Sunset's drink at a party. Maybe Sunset knows she'll need someone tough as nails to survive in the barren wasteland post-apocalyptic Canterlot has become, and tracks down Aria for her quest across the shimmering sands. Maybe Aria seeks out Sunset to befriend her, purely for how much it will annoy Adagio.

Enchanting artwork provided by lashesgem, with the piece further up by spottedlions, may they inspire you to come up with a delightful new tale of the Sunshine and the Storm Cloud.

If this is a ship you like the sound of, this thread is probably a good place to discuss it. I joined this group not just to see all the unusual siren ships in one place, but to encourage others to write more of them, so if you're thinking of writing an Aria x Sunset story or have one in the works already, by all means let us know in the thread below. Or just discuss the ship: what you like about it and why, what problems you've encountered with it before, what scenarios you can envision for the two of them. Just talking about it like that can inspire others with new story ideas, some of which might get written down, at which point we all benefit

YES! I've been waiting for this. I might be able to write one, but I'll read them all~!

Really happy to see this one getting some attention

And oh my goodness that first picture It’s weird to see Aria that smiley, but she wears it really really well

This one’s always been a weird one--in terms of the strength of the pairing itself, I think I actually like it as much or more than SunDagio, but Adagio is so much more fun for me to write than Aria is that I’ve rather badly neglected this pairing.

Which is a travesty, really. Aria needs some love too

But really, I like this one. Aria, weirdly, seems like the one of the sirens I can kinda most easily see not holding that strong a grudge against the Rainbooms for the gem-shattering thing--Adagio’s prideful, Sonata’s childish and petty, while Aria I can see being oddly nonchalant about it all. Maybe not nonchalant, exactly, but I think she could be the most matter-of-fact of the three about what’s happened.

Or the most devastated, really. Gloomy and depressed and all that.

But at the same time, when someone already hates the world all the time, as Aria does, there’s not much room in her to hate any one person more than she does everyone--and everything--else.

Maybe Aria seeks out Sunset to befriend her, purely for how much it will annoy Adagio.

This, though. Yes. I like this Aria would totally try to make love into a spiteful thing like that. The tricky part would be getting it to actually turn into something more positive, though. I guess maybe if Aria’s rubbing Sunset in Adagio’s face enough, they’d eventually be able to bond over agreeing on whats bit of Adagio drive them crazy? Or Sunset could point out that playing two guitars loudly at night would annoy Adagio more than one would?

6565438 That's lucky! It was so nearly almost Aria x Starlight instead, because of all the Sunset around with the shipping contest, but in the end it won out with Sunset as there are more existing examples

I should probably mention that I think we've yet to have a story actually written in response to a prompt in the group, but this could be the first time! And discussing it is always enjoyable

Arrrgh... I was even thinking of writing one of these as my entry into the shipping contest, but I had to stick with my girls. I even have a good idea for it, but I'm so swamped with writing Featherfall.

maybe another time.

6565442 It should be so much more of a thing than it is! Looking closely at the first picture, I think Aria's lower eyelashes are much smaller than normal, which wouldn't work in the show where they need to be seen from a distance, but here in a big closeup they look really delicate and pretty, and I think that makes her smile look happier.

I think you're right, it could go either way with Aria's grudge. I could certainly see her being the first to accept that it was nothing personal, because I think that's how she'd treat a lot of things. I also think she might have the least in her life, though, aside from singing, so bouncing back towards something new might take her a lot longer.

Two guitars would definitely be advantageous! Aria could talk about how it's no fun just playing with herself, and if there's someone else playing underneath you then you can enjoy yourself more, and at that point Adagio has to retire to her room to fan herself from all the guitar innuendo.

6565526 Sometimes there are characters you just can't not write, and that's perfectly ok

Though there's also an alternative option: you could always ship Gilda with Aria, missing out Sunset for now.

I have yet to really see a well written story or story I like based on this ship and I wanna see one. Now personally speaking? I would love to see Aria shipped with Pinkie Pie or even Starlight Glimmer. I just think it would be hilarious to see pinkie constantly trying to get a smile and a laugh out of Aria or Starlight getting into a battle of sass with Aria.

6565744 Yeah, there are quite a few already written, but many of them don't deliver in quite the way you'd like. This one is probably the best of the lot, but it's not as good as its Adagio-centric prequel. This one I like a lot, but the AdAria scene stands out so much more than the SunAria one. This one I remember being short but not bad, and this one wasn't bad either, I think? It's been a very long time since I read either of those two, though. I did read Punch Therapy a couple of days ago, which has some good character writing, but all its best ideas are kind of left hanging and not mentioned again

I must say Aria x Pinkie is one of those pairings I never found remotely convincing; I think Aria would see Pinkie as an even more annoying Sonata, and Pinkie would see Aria as an even meaner Villain Sunset. I can't see a single thing about Pinkie that Aria would admire, and not really anything in reverse either? But they're also not opposites in ways good for meaningful interactions, as Aria might get with Fluttershy for example.

Aria x Starlight, though, is a glorious thing! There's Justice3442's story about them meeting, which has plenty of funny moments. As far as I know there's only one story shipping them in a romantic sense, and that's one that I co-wrote, and so I can attest to how very sweet they are to write together. Oh, I also wrote one with Aria x Sunset, come to think of it, going back to this month's prompt

6565773
Out in the cold is on my Read it Later, but it's the only one I haven't gotten to of those four. I liked the idea of Back in Black, but I'm not sure I like the story itself.

SunSaria seems like a really fun ship, and the more I think about it the more surprising it is that there's so little of it. I have been wanting to do some with it for a while, so maybe I'll see what I can get done this month haha.

6567765 It's been a long time since I read either, but I remember Out in the Cold being more distant, hardly even friend-shipping. Aria's very guarded and private through it, and because it's (or I'm pretty sure I remember it being) Sunset POV, we don't know too much of what's going on with her. I think it treats the other two sirens fairly one-dimensionally, too. Likewise, I hardly remember Back in Black, but I did like the idea of Aria knowing far more than Sunset about what is or isn't Punk or Goth.

I think it's mostly just overlooked because it's so overshadowed? Sunset has more stories with each siren than any other mane cast member I think, but I imagine a lot of people see Aria as second-best-Adagio, so might as well just write Adagio with Sunset instead

I remembered I wrote a story a while ago with Sunset talking about why she liked Aria, so added that to the group to celebrate SunAria month

If people haven't already seen it, I should highlight one of the story possibilities mentioned in the initial prompt here:

Maybe Aria seeks out Sunset to befriend her, purely for how much it will annoy Adagio.

NaiadSagaIotaOar has now written this story, and it's every bit as good as you'd hope it would be!