• Published 6th Nov 2014
  • 27,656 Views, 2,678 Comments

The Evening Sonata - Daniel-Gleebits



When Sunset Shimmer hears strange sounds outside her apartment, she finds an old enemy who seems down on her luck. Can Sunset Shimmer help Sonata Dusk to cope with her life as a normal teenage girl?

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The Morning Sonata, Part 2

The Morning Sonata Pt2


The trip to Whitetail was a short one. The bus going to Cloudy Dale in the north west passed through the cosy little town, which looked to Sunset Shimmer like an old farming village from the 17th century. As the group all stepped off onto the dusty road, the bus grinding away behind them, Sunset had to admit that she had a really difficult time imagining Adagio Dazzle in a place like this. It was just so... low-key. So humble.

“Hey, there’s my great uncle, Apple Strudel,” Applejack pointed out cheerily, indicating an elderly man in Bavarian clothes manning a road-side stand.

Rarity was looking around with that critical eye that they all knew so well. It couldn’t have been clearer that she was getting ideas from the homely-looking country attire of the townspeople. Sunset fervently hoped they didn’t come within half a mile of a sewing machine or they might be having a rather extended visit.

“Pinkie, where did you say you saw Adagio?” Sunset inquired. Pinkie, who’d been balancing on some wooden stumps in the ground, looked up with both arms stretched out and one leg horizontal like a ballerina.

“Who?”

“Adagio,” Sunset said. She waited, but Pinkie seemed unenlightened. “The one with the poofy orange hair,” she added, exasperated.

“Oooh!” Pinkie said, comprehendingly, leaping over Fluttershy’s head and landing between Sunset and Sonata. She wrapped her arms around their necks and pointed to a small complex of wooden buildings. “Over there!”


It had been at least five weeks since Sonata had seen Adagio, perhaps longer, and Sunset could tell by the slightly forced felicity in her friend’s mannerisms that she was feeling rather anxious.

The place that Pinkie showed them was a low, log-constructed building with a large wooden sign over the main door. Mrs. Needle’s Fabric Emporium.

“There’s another relative of mine,” Applejack said, shaking her head and smiling.

“Who aren’t you related to, AJ?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh hah, hah,” Applejack snapped, folding her arms.

The interior smelled like fresh pressed linen, and the shop was warm despite the cold outside. A single long aisle ran between two rows of shelves stuffed full of rolls of fabric, knitting tools, and even in one corner, a fully functional, old-fashioned spinning wheel. A young man at the till smiled over at the group.

“Howdy there!” he said in a faux-country accent, pushing the half-moon spectacles up his shapely nose. “If I can help any of you, don’t be afraid to ask!” he flashed his nametag, which read Hello! My name is Trenderhoof.

Rarity stared at the man for a moment or two, and then let out a scream of shock that sent her friends scurrying for cover. The young man’s smile vanished as Rarity pushed herself across the counter to stare at him. She read the tag several times over.

“Trenderhoof?” she gasped. “The Trenderhoof!?”

The man straightened his blonde hair, his face turning pink. “Um... yes?” he said, awkwardly.

“Um, why is Rarity assaulting the cashier?” Applejack asked, dispassionately. Sunset frowned thoughtfully.

“Trenderhoof... why does that sound familiar?”

“He’s a famous journalist and critical writer,” Sonata explained. “Although he’s gone into talent scouting recently too.”

Everyone stared at her as she smiled vaguely at them.

“How in the world do you know that?” Sunset asked, breathlessly.

“It was in a magazine on your coffee table,” Sonata said, sounding amused. She put her head to one side and smiled innocently.

“You can read?” Rainbow Dash thought out loud. Applejack elbowed her.

As Rainbow and Applejack glared at each other and the others watched Rarity ogling Trenderhoof, Sunset heard a voice coming from the back of the shop.

“Could you bring more velvet #072 please, Ballad?”

“Coming, Mrs. Needle.”

Someone emerged from a backroom, the top of their head visible. The head was utterly unfamiliar, but Sunset was sure that she’d recognised the voice. Watching where the head was going, she jogged down the main aisle and peered around the corner. At first she couldn’t be sure if this were the person they were looking for. Her hair was long, straight and held back in a loose ponytail. Her formerly thin frame was bulkier than before, her skin tanned. Her clothes were worn, but spotlessly clean. All in all she looked like a self-respecting farmhand. Kind of like Applejack if Sunset were honest with herself.

As this person deposited a hefty roll of red velvet onto a shelf, she seemed to notice Sunset’s head and looked round. There could be no mistaking those eyes.

“Adagio?” Sunset whispered, disbelievingly. The girl’s eyes widened slightly, and she looked momentarily slightly shocked, but then her expression lapsed into a steady unconcern.

“Hello,” she said. There was no mistaking it.

“It is you!” Sunset said, walking up to her. “Dear Celestia, what-... I mean, you look different.” She flushed a little, but Adagio didn’t look offended. Or respond at all, really. “So, um... how are you doing?”

“Good,” Adagio said, tonelessly. Sunset felt like she was talking to Maud.

“So, you work here?”

“Yeah.”

“You like it?”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you live around here too?”

“Yes.”

Sunset was out of questions. Adagio stocked the shelf as she spoke, her expression unchanging. It was hard to tell exactly whether Adagio was being cold or just unresponsive. This behaviour, like her appearance, was just so far removed from the Adagio she’d known.

“Hey um, Adagio. Are you-“

“If it’s all the same, could you not call me that, please?” Adagio asked, quietly. “It’s Ballad now.”

“O-Oh,” Sunset mumbled. “Sure, no problem.”

“Hey, who you talkin’ to?” Pinkie asked, popping her head over the shelf between them. She looked at Adagio, then at Sunset. Then she looked at Adagio again. Then at Sunset again. “You guys know each other?” she asked brightly.

“Um...” Sunset stalled, looking to Adagio for some indication of how to respond.

“Oh, are you all here?” Adagio asked, looking up unconcerned.

“Err, yeah,” Sunset said, awkwardly. “Actually there’s someone else with-“

“Hey Sunny,” Pinkie called in a stage whisper. “Who’s your friend?”

Adagio sighed quietly. “It’s me. Adagio,” she mumbled, as though eager not to be heard. Pinkie stared at her, frowning slightly. She turned her head this way and that as Adagio stared back at her, the faintest of crease lines between her brows.

“No way,” Pinkie chuckled. “You’re- pfft! Hey, guys!”

“What?” Rainbow called, trying to coax Rarity away from a practically fleeing Trenderhoof. “What are you guys doing over there? We need the jaws of life over here!”

“This girl says she’s Ada-“ Sunset leapt forward and slapped a hand over Pinkie’s mouth. “Mm-mmph-uhm!”

“Pinkie, not so loud!” Sunset hissed.

“Nmph Sho Lwd?” Pinkie repeated.

“Yes!” she glared at her meaningfully. Pinkie gave the A-okay sign and winked conspiratorially. Sunset exhaled and took her hand from Pinkie’s mouth.

“Hey guys!” Pinkie hissed in her stage whisper again. “This girl says that she’s Adagio!”

Sunset wanted to strangle her, and may have seized her neck if her head hadn’t popped down behind the shelf. A sound like a herd of antelope thundered to Sunset’s left as she felt herself buffeted out of the way by a crowd of eager teenagers. Gotta love good friends.

Adagio looked at them all one by one as they all stared back, all trying to see features they recognised. “No Twilight Sparkle?” Adagio asked, although her tone suggested that she was not much interested.

“Adagio...?” Sonata pushed her way gently to the front. For the first time, true emotion broke over Adagio’s face, and even beyond all of the physical differences, it was easy to see the girl the siren had once been.

“Sonata,” she breathed. “You’re...” she hesitated. To the surprise of all present, she took several quickened steps forward and embraced Sonata. Everyone stepped back a little awkwardly. Rainbow and Fluttershy suddenly developed an interest in a roll of foul yellow cotton, whilst Pinkie blushed and slid out of sight. Sunset was the only one who didn’t look away, but found herself staring at the display of affection with a faint feeling of disapprobation. Quite why she couldn’t explain

This affecting scene may have gone on for some time, but the universe has an aversion to tenderness of any kind, and cannot suffer it to continue for extended periods of time. That which had the honour of shattering this particular moment of nauseating public affection was a shrill cry emanating from the back room.

“Ballad!” Adagio and Sonata jumped apart.

“Ballad?” Sonata frowned. “Is she talking to-?” she fell silent at the look Adagio gave her.

“Yes, Mrs. Needle?” she called back.

“Are you done with those rolls yet? I need help with these boxes!”

“Be right there, Mrs. Needle.” She looked back at the group, her indifferent expression and tone back on. “It was nice seeing you again, Sonata,” she said, giving the faintest of smiles.

“You need some help back there?” Applejack offered, apparently on an impulse. “I know old auntie Needle can be a little... well, sharp.” She chuckled nervously.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“No, thanks,” Adagio said, gratefully. “Really, I’m fine. It was nice meeting you all again.”

So saying, she turned away, and disappeared into the back room.


Needless to say, Sonata was somewhat distressed by this turn of events. Sunset had lived with her now long enough to know that her fellow sirens were the root cause of all of her current insecurities. Aria’s rage and resentment at having failed bore a side of her that Sonata had never seen, and Adagio’s shattered confidence had caused her to leave Sonata alone to fend for herself. A few times Sonata had espoused a wish to find them, but never as much more than a side-thought, and Sunset imagined that given time she would move passed them. Now however, she wasn’t so sure.

Sunset sat next to Sonata on a bench by the bus stop, Fluttershy on her other side, trying to cheer her up.

“She might just have been busy,” Fluttershy said kindly. “Applejack did say that her great auntie Needle is a stickler for working hard.”

“I’m sure if we meet her when she’s off work she’d want to talk to you.” Sunset rubbed Sonata’s back. “Look, there she is now.”

Adagio exited the emporium with a bag in hand. Treading a path she’d clearly trodden many times before, she made her way to the stand where Applejack’s great uncle Apple Strudel stood and began a conversation over his counter.

With a little support, Sunset and Fluttershy convinced Sonata to go over and talk.

“Oh,” Adagio said at their approach. “You’re still in town?”

“Friends of yours?” Apple Strudel asked, good-naturedly.

“You could say that,” Adagio said, her eyes darting sideways. “Is there anything else that you needed, sir?”

“Deary, I told you to stop calling me sir,” Apple Strudel said sternly, jabbing a finger onto his stand top. “This’ll be alright. We’ll be having fish for dinner tonight, okay?”

“Sounds great,” Adagio waved the man off as he hobbled away on his cane. Then she noticed Sunset and co still standing there. “Was there something you wanted?” she asked eventually. Sunset and Fluttershy glanced at each other nervously.

“Um, Sonata wanted to talk with you.”

“Oh? What about?” Adagio looked politely inquiring. Sunset simply stared. The utter change in Adagio’s personality just kept taking her entirely by surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Sonata burst out. Adagio looked faintly puzzled.

“What do you mean?” Sonata seemed at a loss for words.

“I think what she means is, how did you get here?” Fluttershy added. “That’s what you meant, right?”

“I walked here,” Adagio replied.

“Look,” Sunset put in, holding up both hands. “How about we sit down and talk? Do you have somewhere you need to be?”

“Not particularly,” Adagio said. “I’m not expected back until six.”

They seated themselves in front of a cafe. Fluttershy timidly bought the drinks from an incongruously French waiter. Sunset and Sonata sat one side, opposite Adagio and Fluttershy. As per usual, Flutters looked rather as though she were trying to sink under the table, and kept looking edgily at Adagio, who sat twiddling her thumbs and staring into space.

After several moments of rather painful silence, Sunset broke the silence.

“So, heh, um... why exactly are you here?” she asked, forcing her mouth to form a smile.

“No particular reason I suppose,” Adagio said, shrugging. Sunset looked at Fluttershy for help, but Fluttershy seemed determined to remain out of the conversation if at all possible. She was rather ostentatiously sipping her drink and avoiding Sunset’s eye. Sunset spared her a scowl before turning to Sonata, and felt her insides turn cold.

Teeth gritted, her eyes over bright, Sonata stood up suddenly, knocking her chair flying. “Say something!” she screamed. People all around turned to stare, but Adagio kept her eyes fixed on the table. “Please, just say something!” she slammed both hands onto the table and leaned over, trying to look up into Adagio’s eyes. “Tell me I’m stupid, order me around, think of some plan for world domination! Anything!”

Sunset suddenly felt sympathetic towards Fluttershy, and would have given any amount of bits to slip down under the table and hide. As Adagio continued to sit where she was, saying nothing however, she felt it would be wrong to do so, and fortunately so did Fluttershy.

“Is there something wrong, um, Ballad? Fluttershy asked Adagio. “Is there a reason why you can’t-?” Adagio stood as well, effectively cutting Fluttershy off.

“I have to go. I have farm work to do.”

“Well that explains the tan and the muscles,” Sunset muttered to herself, still noting how Adagio looked startlingly like Applejack. In her mind’s eye, she pictured a cowboy hat on her head, but then Sonata rushed out from behind the table. Leaping forward she grabbed Adagio’s wrist and held her back.

“Please. Why won’t you talk to me?” Adagio was silent for a few moments, her head bowed.

“Leave, Sonata. You have friends. You don’t need me anymore.”

“Is that what this is about?” Sonata cried, anger mixing with the grief. “Are you angry with me because I’m friends with them?”

“No!” Adagio snapped, her voice rising. A trace of the old passion entered her face, and was then quickly overshadowed again. “I’m not angry, Sonata. Like I said, you don’t need me anymore.” Without undue force, she pulled her arm from Sonata’s slackened grip and walked away, not looking back.

Sonata stared after her, her breathing shallow, her eyes brimming. Sunset stepped forward and took hold of her arm as she swayed a little. Fluttershy mumbled incoherent words of worry to herself.

“Hey!” called Rainbow Dash. She, Aj, and Pinkie all sprinted over, looking alarmed. “What’s up, we heard shouting and-“ she stopped at the sight of Sonata. “Um, what did we miss?”

“Nothing!” Sonata snapped, yanking her arm away from Sunset and pushing between Rainbow and Pinkie. Sunset didn’t try to stop her. Somehow she got the feeling Sonata wanted to be alone for a little while.

“Whoa!” Rainbow scowled. “What’s her problem?” Sunset put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, shaking her head.

“What happened?” Applejack asked, looking serious. “Did, uh, Ballad revert back to type or something?”

“No,” Sunset said, ponderously. “Something else is going on. Where’s Rarity?”

Applejack tutted irritably. “With her new boyfriend, that’s where. Doe-eyed like a love-sick puppy, and scarin’ that guy half to death.”

“O-kay,” Sunset said. “Rarity’s love-life aside.” As she said it though, a strange and frankly startling idea came to her. But it was surely impossible.

The others continued to talk amongst each other, but Sunset was only dimly aware of it all. Again, it was surely impossible. Adagio and Sonata were sisters after all. Weren’t they?

Applejack, Pinkie and she all sat back down at the cafe table whilst Fluttershy promised to try to extricate Rarity from Trenderhoof’s personal bubble.

“Hey guys?” Sunset looked up.

To be perfectly honest, she was only half surprised to find Rainbow Dash asleep on the table, and even less surprised to find Pinkie Pie taking advantage of the opportunity to decorate Rainbow Dash’s face with straws and sachets of salt.

“What is it, sugar cube?” Applejack asked, routinely ignoring her friend’s antics.

“Do you... could I roll something by you? About Sonata, I mean.”

“Sure,” Applejack said slowly, evidently both intrigued and puzzled by Sunset’s diffidence.

“Well,” Sunset mumbled, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks. “Do you think that, maybe, Sonata... well, likes Adagio?” It was an incredibly embarrassing thing for Sunset to say, but thankfully she saw that Applejack understood immediately. Her eyebrows shot up so far they disappeared under her hairline.

“You mean like, like her, like her?” she asked. Sunset nodded, almost imperceptibly. “It’s a thought I suppose.” Applejack scratched her cheek absently. “But I thought that the sirens were all sisters, or related or something.”

“But don’t they all have different last names?” Pinkie asked seriously as she put the finishing touches on a pair of straw glasses perched on Rainbow’s nose.

“I don’t think that counts for very much,” Applejack pointed out. “Most of mah family and yours have different last names, even though we’re all related.”

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie hm’d for a moment. “That is weird isn’t it. Is there any particular reason that your face is red?”

Sunset looked up and felt her face. “Um.”

“Oooh,” Applejack sat back in her chair narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “That would explain it.”

“Explain what?” Sunset asked. She didn’t like the looks Pinkie and Applejack were giving her.

“It’d explain why you’re interested in Sonata liking Adagio.”

“What would?” Sunset asked, frowning. Then it hit her, and her face burned even brighter. “Oh, you can’t be serious.”

“Well, you guys do live together,” Pinkie chimed in, twirling a plastic fork between her fingers.

“Yeah, as roommates!” Sunset protested. “You act like we’re married or something.”

“And you’re awful eager to help her out a lot of the time,” Applejack said with a shrug.

“She’s my friend,” Sunset spread her arms out, as though asking nearby people to bear witness to how ridiculous this was. “I mean I- You know what, we’re not talking about this.” She glared at them as both Pinkie and Applejack smirked and winked at each other. “We’re not talking about this. I don’t like Sonata that way. End of discussion. Now back to the topic at hand, please.”

“I think the topic at hand was trying to guess who Sonata likes,” Pinkie Pie said blithely.

“Holy Celestia, will you drop it!”


Sonata came back an hour later, rubbing her neck and looking apologetic.

“Sorry,” she said to them all. Sunset was pretty sure she didn’t know it, but Sonata’s large magenta eyes had a default puppy-dog-stare quality to them whenever she got overly emotional. Even Rainbow Dash, lips pursed, found the urge to accept her apology irresistible. Sunset thought it a good thing that Sonata wasn’t a naturally manipulative person, or they might all be in real trouble.

“You’ve had a rough day,” Rarity said generously, apparently unconsciously patting her hair back into its flowing curls.

“Will ya leave your hair alone, for lands sakes!” Applejack snapped, smacking Rarity’s hand away. “You haven’t left it alone all day.”

“We can go home if you like,” Sunset offered. Sonata’s expression tightened. She gave no answer.

“Actually, I was rather hoping to stay and buy some more fabrics, you know. They have such a selection here.” Rarity smiled.

No one was fooled by the hollow attempt at aloofness, nor were any of them deceived to the true nature of the suggestion.

“For Pete’s sake, you’re scarin’ the poor fella’,” Applejack frowned. Rarity glared at her, cheeks puffed out indignantly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed in a dignified whisper. Applejack rolled her eyes.

Sonata’s spirits were dented, but she still managed to smile.

“I appreciate you all coming out here with me,” she said. “Even if it all turned out to be pointless.”

“I wouldn’t say it was pointless,” Applejack said. “I got to meet a bunch of my relatives that I don’t usually see outside of the reunion.”

“And I got to meet a celebrity!” Rarity squeed.

“I hate to drop a bag of expired candy apples on this tender moment,” Pinkie Pie said, examining a sign next to the bus stop. “But I think we might have just the teensiest, weensiest, itty-bitty little problem here.”

“Which is?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The last bus back left about two hours ago,” Pinkie said, matter-of-factly. They all stared at her, utterly silent except for the wind. They all looked around at the dark of twilight. It’d be full dark in a matter of minutes. They certainly couldn’t walk back.

“She’s right,” Sunset said, her eyes widening. “The last one left at five o’clock.”

“Well,” Rarity puffed out her cheeks. “That’s awkward.”


Adagio exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. Not much beat a bath at the end of the day in her opinion. Newly clothed in jeans and a shirt, she hurried downstairs as she heard Apple Strudel call her for dinner. As she turned the corner, she heard a knock on the front door. That was odd. No one usually called at this late hour.

Opening the door, her insides fell as she saw seven figures crowding the door. The leader leaned forward and removed her hat.

“Hi,” said Applejack, nervously. “Ya’ll mind if I talk to uncle Apple Strudel for a sec?”


- To be Continued