"Great, you made it!"
Closing the door to Canterlot High's music room, Adagio chose not to ask what Sunset thought would intercept her on the way. "Yes. You wanted to talk about something?"
"Uh-huh!"
And as this room is hardly used by pretty much anyone else anymore, we've even got privacy!
She didn't say that out loud for fear of making things awkward again, instead raising an eyebrow. "So, where are the others? You're the only one whose number I have and I sorta thought they'd be with you."
Idly inspecting her nails, Adagio shrugged. "We were on our way home when I got your text, I told them I'd relay whatever you wanted to tell us and they could go play with their respective friends." She answered Sunset's hopeful look with a very flat one, communicating that Aria and Sonata still only had the friends Sunset already knew about. Even so, Sunset kept an optimistic expression.
"So, I know things have been shaky for you guys lately, but I was thinking that if we gave it one good push, the three of you could finally break through and get past all this weird, awkward, mistrust stuff. If you're all sorry about the Battle, what if you just told everyone that? You wouldn't even have to lie about anything!"
Adagio raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Because everyone forgave you when you said a few particular words, not continuing to shun you for months?"
"Uh..." Her grin faltered a little. "Well, maybe not, but... I mean, if you are sorry, why not say it?"
"We have our regrets, Sunset Shimmer, but I'm not sure myself if it's more because of what we were doing or because of what we lost as a result. It's at least a little of both, but would you like us to pretend it was entirely the former?"
"No, but, you don't have to pretend. I mean, you kind of owe the school an apology anyway, right?"
Adagio's eye twitched. "Do we? Please, tell me all about what anyone else lost that we should owe them anything. Was taking our voices and magic, along with the general Undesirable treatment we've received since we got here, not enough to make everyone feel nice and vindicated?" There was also the dream of being lavished and adored by magically-enthralled masses, but she could see how they were wrong to pursue that one in the first place.
Sunset hesitated. "What about doing it just to mend fences a little? Trying to get along for getting along's sake? That's the sort of thing Twilight wanted everyone here to do."
"If that's the case, then why are you talking to me and not the rest of CHS? Are we not the ones going out of our way to play nice?"
"Oh, come on," Sunset urged, her brows lightly furrowed, "you know everything would go a lot easier if you just did the right thing here."
"'The right thing'? Really?" Adagio struggled to keep the resentment out of her tone, fighting down the urge to strangle Sunset while she was at it. "Perhaps you could clarify what you meant when you told us about searching our hearts and being true to ourselves in that first talk we had, because my feelings are that it makes no sense for us to beg forgiveness when so much of your school treats us the way it does. If anyone had actually gotten hurt from the Battle, if anyone were killed, debilitated, or otherwise permanently worse off as opposed to being better than ever like they actually are, then yes, we'd have gladly swallowed our losses and apologized to everyone by now, but as it is? No. So tell me; would that little betrayal still be 'the right thing' to do if it makes everyone else happy? Ignoring that, going by your own experience, it may not even make a difference? Or does being 'true to yourself' not apply when it's more convenient to just do what everyone wants you to?"
Sunset grit her teeth. "Look, you've tried things your way and it isn't working, so you might as well just suck it up, tell everyone you're sorry, come over to our table, and let everyone know what's been going on between the nine of us. It's not like anyone will treat you any worse and someone even told us that that was exactly what everyone's waiting for!"
"And I told you; in addition to the fact that your group may lose a lot of trust itself if it comes out that three of you have been getting along with the three of us this whole time, if the rest of the school only accepts us because we're 'safe,' because we're standing next to you, then it's meaningless anyway; friends that only care who you know aren't friends at all! Furthermore? If our way isn't working, however slowly, explain Trixie."
Oh, right. Forgot about that.
The aggression slowly faded from Sunset's face. "I, I know that, but, everyone here eventually came to accept me even though I tortured them for much longer. I've been trying hard to give you three what I have, so if you just cleaned up your acts a little more, you could-"
Unfortunately, Adagio's clenched fists and teeth said she had only gotten angrier.
"Just 'clean up our acts'? That's all it would take? That's all that keeps us below desirable status? You make me sick." Raising her voice, she moved closer, Sunset stepping back as Adagio stabbed an index finger just under her neck. "Do you not remember why they grew to accept the likes of you? Does flowery friendship play havoc on your memory, or was forgetting just more convenient to your little message?" Pressing harder with her finger, Adagio slowly pushed Sunset backward as she advanced. "It wasn't that they saw you as a good, caring person, it wasn't about your behavior, it was because of us!"
Sunset's back hit a wall, pressure tightening in her throat as Adagio's hateful gaze bore into her. "I-"
"Did you forget your song, too? The one you crippled us with?!" Her face twisting with scorn and a long-held fury, Adagio's impression was fractured as her voice began to crack. "'Not singing just for pop-u-larity!' Funny how it got you just that, isn't it?! You're the same liar you always were, Sunset Shimmer!" Ignoring the tears in Sunset's eyes, Adagio used the palm of her hand to push her harder against the wall the second her mouth opened. "Save it! I know you're going to say it wasn't like that, that you really only wanted to stop us, and maybe you even believe it, but that's not how it turned out, is it?! You remembered what happened when it was your turn, that everyone hated you no matter what you did after that! Then we showed up, gave you a chance to turn it around and be the hero!"
Her eyes still full of sheer loathing, Adagio managed a faux-sweet smile. "And you've been living it up ever since, haven't you?! Must be nice; having things work out in your favor so easily, getting everything you wanted with just one song, having all the power you could ever need right there when you needed it, not having to work to build up that kind of strength, all you want and more at the drop of a hat," the fake grin died away as Adagio's fingers sank harder into Sunset's skin through her shirt, "but the rest of us aren't so lucky! I'm so sick of you; acting so nice in the way only a condescending, know-it-all 'hero' could, even when the only reason you're free to do so is at our expense, your perfect comeback at a cost solely to us, free to befriend and frolic as you like, even though if we had never shown up, this school would still be treating you the same as it did before!"
With Sunset's tearful whimpering, the intensity of Adagio's glare died down as she slowly transitioned from yelling at someone to just describing something that happened without much more than quiet contempt. "These people, these 'good' people we've bent over backwards to appease? They're just as bad as you are. They're fine with you now not because you changed, not because you haven't hurt anyone they cared about lately, not because they give a damn about you, but because you saved their worthless hides from a bigger threat, just like Twilight Sparkle did with you. And you know it, don't you?"
As Adagio let her go, Sunset slid down to the floor, hid her face in her knees, and shook with quiet sobs.
Staring down at her, Adagio loosed a quiet sigh, debating with herself whether or not to say anything more. After about a minute, she turned and walked away.
---
[Um, hey, Dr. Seuss? I think something bad happened. Sunset texted Dagi to talk to her in the music room, and when she got home, she was sending bad-mood vibes all over the place, went to her room, slammed the door, and isn't coming out. I'm kinda worried, but she isn't talking to us right now, and she's crazy about you, so like... help? please?
-Nata
PS, Ria's trying to act all cool and indifferent, but I'm pretty sure she's really worried too, because she said if I'm so worried, I should just call you like four times! It's not her fault, she's just sorta awkward with this stuff.]
---
Stopping at the black door to the Dazzlings' house, Fluttershy took a deep breath. She had rushed back to the school to check on Sunset first, and got the full story from her once she'd calmed her down. Wanting a little time alone, Sunset said she would stay in the music room until everyone's feelings were worked out, or at least until the school staff made her leave.
Fluttershy didn't like to use puppy-dog stares to get her way, but a quick stop by Luna's office had felt necessary. It wasn't like Sunset sticking around for a while would hurt anyone.
She knocked a little more quietly than she'd intended, but the door startled her by flinging open anyway, Sonata grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her inside.
"Great, you're here! No costumes this time, you just head up-" she switched to Aria's wrist, pulling her along with no resistance as the two moved for the front door, "-and we'll head out."
"W-wait," Fluttershy pleaded, "where are you going?"
Aria shrugged. "Well, given that all she's willing to tell us is that she blew up at Sunset, apparently thinks she's wrecked any chance of us making friends with the rest of the school -which I would worry more about, but she's kinda told us that one before- after spelling out how much she hates one of their heroes, we've kinda eavesdropped on her too much already, and keeping people emotionally balanced is sorta your shtick? Figured we'd leave you two alone for a few hours, or at least until we got a text that the smoke had cleared." She slapped a lightning-fast hand over Sonata's mouth. "And that's all we're doing."
Sonata murmured in disappointment before nodding her head.
The two left, but unfortunately, Fluttershy pieced together herself what Sonata was probably about to say. She was alone in the house with Adagio. Who was probably waiting for her in her bedroom. In any other circumstances, it would have been a beautiful thought, but she had to remind herself that her girlfriend was almost definitely in an extreme emotional state right now (either from sadness or rage, she'd find out in a minute) and proceeded up the stairs to meet her.
Once again, she gently rapped her knuckles on the door. "Adagio...?"
No response.
Increasingly anxious, but not wanting to force Adagio to do anything she didn't want to (again), she kept her voice as soft as possible. "I know you're upset, but, I was hoping we could talk. Please? I won't ask you to talk about it if you don't want to, b-but, just like before, if you do want to talk, if you need me for anything, I'm-"
The door opened to reveal Adagio still wearing the outfit she'd been wearing to school lately, offering a weak smile. "Hello, Sweetie."
With her make-up wiped away for the day, the dark bags still lingering under Adagio's eyes (it looked like they were getting better, at least) were plainly visible, but despite her worries about Adagio's sleep schedule, Fluttershy smiled back. "H-hello. Um-"
Without a word, Adagio stepped back into her room to let Fluttershy in, crossing her arms when she turned to face her. "So?"
She got right to it. "I think you might have been a little hard on Sunset."
Adagio raised a doubting eyebrow. "Is that all?"
"Well, sh-she was just trying to help."
"Help?" It was clear to Fluttershy that she was still leaning towards anger. "Telling us to forsake all our efforts up to now, efforts that she fully outlined and encouraged, 'suck it up,' and submit to her having complete control over our social lives, is help?! Like the 'Magic of Friendship' couldn't happen without her say-so?!"
"It wasn't like that!"
"I wonder!" Adagio started pacing the floor as she talked, making a few frustrated hand-gestures along with it. "She invited us back with the anticipation that we would inevitably just give up and come to her, implying that she had little faith in Twilight's idiot minions, her own idiot minions now, and fully expected them to reject us from the start, exactly the way damn near all of them did! She even told me just today that everyone -which I know is false if people like Trixie exist- is actually waiting until we give in! Call me crazy for suspecting that maybe she's been up to something all this time!"
Knowing that it was mostly anger talking, Fluttershy didn't let the aspersions on Canterlot High as a whole get to her. "Do you really feel that way?"
Glaring, Adagio turned to her in a snap. "Tell me why I shouldn't!!"
Fluttershy could feel her knees shaking, but thinking about how far Sunset had come since the Fall Formal, she steeled herself. "Because, s-she, she talks to us all the time about how she hopes the three of you can make friends here. I think she's been looking forward to it for as long as you have, because even before she knew about what any of us had been doing together, she was always excited to hear any remotely good news about the three of you getting along, with the school and each other."
Remembering the earnest smiles Sunset had always greeted her with in fourth period, the clumsy attempts at small-talk, the hopeful comments relating to the sirens finding lasting friends, Adagio couldn't fully convince herself of her new theory. She let out a long breath through her nose. "I suppose it's only recently that she's grown tired of waiting for us to manage on our own?"
"I don't think that was it, exactly, just... she wants to see everyone getting along, to see you three be welcomed and accepted like she was."
Adagio snorted in derision and contempt. "You want to point out a magical evil we can help vanquish?! Be my goddamn guest!!"
Fluttershy flinched, but didn't let herself take even the tiniest baby-step backward. "Even if she had her own struggles, Sunset has been fortunate, in having friends and enemies when she needed them, in the form of your group and mine when Twilight first came. Thinking about it like that, I know it doesn't feel fair to you that your circumstances have been so different, but that isn't Sunset's fault."
"And it's not what I'm angry at her about! I've had it with her; acting as though she has everything figured out when all she does is pour salt in our wounds, wounds she helped to make! I know you would never see it from her, but the insufferable air she carries when 'reaching out' to us is always so obliviously condescending, so full of good-natured conceit, that it's like she thinks we couldn't possibly get along with anyone without-" she briefly used a mocking tone, "-her grace and benevolence, acting like it's us that aren't trying hard enough!"
Though her eyes were full of fury, there was a faint glimmer of tears as Adagio pointed at her. "And you're here to do the same thing, aren't you?! To say that since your perfect little school mostly rejects us, it must be a fault on our end, because saying otherwise would imply that Twilight's little message meant nothing to your 'unified' community and admit that for all that talk of how important friendship is to all of you, it doesn't actually matter to anyone but those who directly draw tangible power from it!"
Fluttershy didn't speak, so Adagio stepped closer, an unsteady, lopsided smirk on her face. "Go on, say it; say I was wrong about everything and Sunset was right! Well?!"
Holding her arms close to her chest, it took considerable effort to meet Adagio's eyes. "...Do you feel like you've done something wrong?"
Anger giving way to uncertainty, Adagio struggled with the question for a moment. She carefully scanned Fluttershy's face to glean an idea of which direction she was expected to lean toward, but there was no judgement or challenge in her expression to suggest that she was waiting for an apology, nor the sense of a shared complaint, like she, Aria, and Sonata had worn many times while discussing these matters. Fluttershy wasn't conflicting or agreeing with her, she was earnestly asking.
Have I done anything wrong today? I feel like going off on her has been a long time coming, but I'm not exactly thrilled that she was crying. Definitely not in the happy way, either.
She certainly didn't feel like anything she'd said was false, but she'd felt the same thing in thinking that no one could recognize or appreciate anything but that which hurt them back when she was sick, herself included. The key factor to changing her mind back then, of course, had been Fluttershy.
"I feel like something is out of place," she admitted with a passive, though faintly irritable expression, "but I wouldn't say I was out of line in my response. Is there a reason I should?"
"Well, not 'out of line,'" Fluttershy started, "but, maybe up to a line that was set too far?" Now was a bad time to appreciate Adagio's perplexed stare. "I mean, yes, you got really angry with Sunset and hurt her feelings, but the way she explained it to me, she realized that she kind of pushed you first. I hope you can forgive her, because even if she hadn't thought things through, her heart was in the right place." The sad, tender look on Adagio's face said she knew that, but had forgotten it for a little while. Sunset herself had moments like that, but now probably wasn't the time. "And, if she can be forgiven for pushing too hard in trying to help with the wrong methods, I think you can be forgiven for losing your patience." She smiled a little. "It, has to work both ways to work at all, right?"
Even if she hadn't forgotten the seriousness of the subject, Adagio was having one of those smiling-against-her-will moments, eased by averting her eyes. "It does."
It wasn't as though Adagio had shouted at the object of her scorn until she'd said everything she'd ever wanted to say, she'd walked away when Sunset clearly couldn't take any more. That was how she determined what had been wrong; for all the time she spent hating her, she was still grateful for what Sunset had tried to do for her, Aria, and Sonata, and in spite of that, ended up hurting someone that, however distantly, she did care about in a fit of rage. Even if it was Sunset herself that repeatedly kicked that particular hornets' nest this time, it hadn't felt good to yell at her. She wouldn't just suddenly take her advice and give up everything they'd worked toward up to now, but half the reason for staying away from Sunset in the first place was that she didn't want to hurt her anymore.
"...Do you know where Sunset might be around now?"
---
Still sitting exactly where Adagio had left her slumped against the wall, Sunset idly looked over her reflection on the screen of her phone, and the lack of messy smears on her face made her glad she never wore make-up. That wasn't what she'd told Adagio the few times she tried to talk to her about it in fourth period, but she'd learned that little, white lies were fine if it was for friendship-building purposes. She'd only said she'd thought about trying something herself, anyway, not going completely Rarity with it, but Adagio never took the bait. At least now she knew why.
Anyway, the just-cried-my-eyes-out look was fading, so she wouldn't have to worry too much about anyone getting all guilt-inducingly worried about her on the way h-
"Sunset?"
Nearly jumping out of her skin, Sunset looked up to see Adagio wearing a slightly confused face. Standing up, she cleared her throat. "Uh... hi?"
While she remembered Applejack's advice, Adagio had approached quietly in an effort to be sensitive. She'd keep working on it. "Can we talk?"
"Yea, sure. Um-"
"You probably didn't mean for things to turn out like they did, and even if I still think the contrast between what your group overall tends to say and what actually happens is odd, what I said earli-"
"Wait, stop," Sunset said while shaking her head, palms upraised, "please don't apologize. I did pretty much the same thing to my own friends on several occasions, and a few times, they even did it back at me, so I'd like to think I've learned enough about emotional breaking points to not begrudge you. Besides, I was the one that lost my temper first, so if anyone is to blame for things getting heated, it's me. It was like, 'who the Hell is she to lecture me about this stuff?! I've been doing this for months longer than her!' But, it doesn't really work that way, huh?"
Folding her arms, the subtle shift in Adagio's face almost showed annoyance. "In our first talk, you said-"
Sunset frowned. "I know, I know, it's kinda scummy of me to go back on all that integrity stuff we talked about just for the sake of resolving things faster, especially considering that there'd be a lot of underlying resentment and bitter feelings bubbling under the surface for years that way, but I just-"
"You said," Adagio interrupted with an arched eyebrow, "that shouty arguments tend to lead to apologies, so I was trying to follow through."
Sunset's mouth hung open for a second. "Oh," she said with a sheepish smile, arms bashfully folded behind her back as her cheeks colored, "right."
"You dolt," Adagio sighed, no venom in her tone as Sunset kept making that endearingly awkward little grin. Fluttershy had mentioned that Sunset might not be willing to be forgiven right away, as was something of a regular occurrence in their first weeks together, so she didn't press it. Several months ago, Adagio had decided she didn't want to be friends with this girl for a short list of reasons, but she wondered now what might have been had she given Sunset a chance.
Well, things being what they are, it wouldn't have worked out anyway.
"So," Sunset asked with a hopeful smile, "now that you've gotten all that out of your system, how are you feeling?"
"...Different. I don't know if it's better or worse, but, different."
Sunset chuckled. "Lighter, maybe? A little less tense?"
"You have experience here."
"Yup! I think it was Rarity that first explained it to me as venting, or airing grievances, that getting angry even at people you care about isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you work through those feelings together. Like I said, I did it a lot after the Fall Formal, especially once I figured out how just bottling it all up is bad for you and having a friend who-" She stopped, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "...I'm doing the 'condescending, know-it-all hero' thing again, aren't I?"
Smiling a little, Adagio shook her head. "Even if you are, I know that you're only trying to help. I'm not annoyed this time, and I'd like to hear what you have to say."
Sunset softly smiled back. "Right, so... Having someone to talk to about your feelings is good, even the painful ones." Adagio waited for more, but Sunset offered a sheepish shrug. "That's kinda the end of that one."
Adagio snorted in amusement. "Of course it is." Then her humor fell away. "And, I'm sorry if it sounds at all like I'm rubbing it in, but... about what I said earlier, the reason everyone forgave you...?"
"Uh..." Sunset frowned. "Well, I mean, you're not wrong. I've kinda known for a while that it was weird how no one cared what I did until I got my own 'hero' moment, but no one was apparently hurt by the results and it looked like everything was fine, so I didn't think about it much. And, I only ever hang out with the friends I have anyway, because even before you guys came along, I picked up that it can be hard spending time with everyone on a regular basis, that having too many friends is just as bad as being lonely." She shrugged. "Maybe some people can pull that off without any problems, but for someone that pretty much used to live in the royal library (I had my own little pillow fort in one of the long-forgotten back rooms), I'm just happy not to be scorned by the whole school anymore."
"I can respect that," more-so that you didn't make excuses for your fellow students, or flat-out deny it. "I just wanted to make sure my little rant earlier won't leave any bad blood between you and anyone else."
Smiling, Sunset shook her head. "Nah. I might not have gotten most of the town to like me through the best means, but the friends I have are as real as it gets." The smile quickly became forced. "And, hey, at least my problem could be resolved, right?" Adagio wasn't grinning back even a little bit, so Sunset dropped hers and said it before Adagio even opened her mouth to reply. "It was me. You three losing your voices was all my fault."
And then something weird happened. In Sunset's experience, a confession like that directly led to some kind of emotional outpour, but Adagio just passively stared back at her, and when she finally responded, she sounded almost skeptical!
"Really, now? Please, do tell."
"I'm serious!!"
Adagio studied the nails of one hand. "Perhaps you are, but I'm afraid Fluttershy already pulled this one."
"Did she corrupt Twilight's spell at the Battle?!"
That got Adagio to look up again, noting the tears in Sunset's eyes.
"Do you know why I've been trying so hard to help you three make friends and be happy? It isn't just that I was given another chance myself and I'd feel like a total hypocrite if I didn't at least try to share that with you, though that's p-part of it, but because, back then, the spell, b-before that, I..." Not wanting to say or do something stupid again, she forced herself to breathe and collect her thoughts. "When we got out from under the stage, by the time Twilight called out to me for help, I hated you guys. Deep down, after everything you'd put me, my friends, and my school through, I wanted you to be hurt, I wanted you to suffer like I did when the Element of Magic betrayed me. And, thinking that some amount of aggression needed to be there, that you needed at least a little malice to fire off the kind of spell Twilight used on me, I let my anger at you into my spirit for the song."
Letting out a hollow chuckle, she shook her head ruefully as she lowered her eyes to the floor. "I never asked if that was actually how Twilight and the others stopped me, but never felt like I needed to, and it was so satisfying to see you three taken down after what you'd done to me, but it was only later that I realized it wasn't a will to harm an enemy, but a wish that they'd stop harming others. I alone corrupted Twilight's magic, and you three losing your gems, your magic, and your singing voices is all my fault!"
In the ensuing quiet, Sunset realized how hard she was breathing. She hadn't meant to shout, but felt distantly relieved to know that the music room was sound-proofed. Eventually, she managed to look directly at Adagio, but despite the clenched fists and tears in her eyes, Adagio was stony calm, even if she wasn't saying anything yet. To Sunset, the anticipation was murderous.
"As... I said... Fluttershy tried to pull this too. You may have more legitimacy than she did and I'd love to pour all my hatred on one target, but you must know that I could easily have paid all of you back by now single-handedly. Did getting your revenge make you happy?"
"It wasn't for reve-..." She felt the tears slide down her face. "I've felt horrible ever since our first talk, when I learned exactly what all of you lost, and the guilt has been eating away at me ever since. I won't ask you to forgive me, but I'm truly sorry, and I'd do anything to make the three of you happy again."
More silence. Even if she couldn't see that Sunset was already hurting for what she did to them (which she hadn't, until a moment ago), she knew that 'getting even' didn't bring Sunset any lasting joy, and it was clearer than ever now that it wouldn't really do anything for her, Aria, and Sonata, either. One more reason not to bother. And yet, knowing that her primary hate figure would most likely suffer this guilt for the rest of her life, she found it harder to begrudge her. It wasn't the same as when she forgave Trixie, but the seething resentment had definitely lost a lot of its fire, even though she was just a little annoyed about drawing no satisfaction in knowing that she and the others weren't suffering alone.
"Well," she said with a shrug, "thank you for telling me, but I'm afraid it doesn't change anything for us; we're still mostly songless no matter who's responsible."
Sunset had heard about the lullaby thing from Fluttershy, but it didn't make her feel any better. "I can't fix your voices," she admitted sullenly, "but whatever you do, please don't give up hope, or it really is over."
"Hmph. I assume you mean hope of finding more friends? Because if there's nothing we can do about it, abandoning our voices is the only sensible choice." Sunset was looking at her like she just said she was dying. That was odd, considering... "Do you not remember? You were the one that suggested we find something else to do in the first place, and making some friends was your first recommendation."
"You're..." Her brain shook as she processed what she was hearing. "You're, only here, only trying to make friends, to distract yourselves from your loss?"
"As opposed to spending the rest of our lives sulking," Adagio deadpanned, "like we talked about? Those were your exact words, and how you got Aria and Sonata to listen to you in the first place." Sunset's confused face made her raise an eyebrow. "You hadn't even suspected? I had thought that part was painfully obvious."
"Didn't you tell Fluttershy you were here to kill time?"
"Yes. Kill time. Do you not recall how we did that before?"
"Well, no, I mean yea, I get that, but..."
But what? Try as she might, Sunset couldn't grasp how the three of them trying to make friends was a bad thing, even if it wasn't for the purest reason. Friendship as a coping mechanism. As a means of moving on. Had she been any different? Something about it just didn't sit right with her, but what was the alternative? To tell them to stop trying? Maybe it was the fact that they hadn't really gotten over what they'd lost yet, but damned if they weren't trying. She shook her head, sighing.
"N-nothing, I guess."
Adagio nodded, turning toward the door. "If that's all, both of us should probably head home; if the school hasn't closed yet, it will soon, and I left Fluttershy with Aria and Sonata."
Sunset managed a little smile. "See you in Math?" To her quiet glee, Adagio actually glanced over her shoulder to offer a tiny smile back.
"See you in Math."
---
This time, Adagio's quiet approach was deliberate, but only because she hoped to catch a glimpse of the 'screaming ball of crazy' the others had told her Fluttershy became when they played together. When she crept to the living room, however, it seemed like everything was normal.
"Quick, use the warrior dress-sphere, Ria!"
"I'm trying, Nata, but the turns in this game are all wonky!"
From the back of the couch, Adagio could see Fluttershy tilt her cute little head. "It was turn-based in the last game, right? Why would they change it here?"
"They changed a lot of stuff, Squeaky, but at least we've only got three party members to worry about this time."
Sonata shrugged. "Could've just skipped the ones we never used all that much."
"And what happens when the three you rely on constantly get taken out?"
Fluttershy raised her hand. "You'd be forced to fight with weak characters against something that already incapacitated your strongest?" She squeaked as slender, yellow arms seized her from behind.
"Right! You're a trap-layer extraordinaire and an adequate tactician, Sweetie."
Not really minding either way what being an 'adequate' tactician might have meant, Fluttershy turned her head toward Adagio and smiled. "How did it go?"
"I'll still refrain from talking with her more than necessary in school, but for now? I think we're good."
Fluttershy smiled wider, and not just because Aria and Sonata looked happy to hear that too. "Okay, I should probably get home, but I'll see you tomorrow!"
Cheek-kisses were exchanged before Fluttershy left. The three of them huddled on the couch together, small-talk was made regarding what Aria and Sonata did while they were waiting for her to come back, how they'd started the sequel to that JRPG with the sad ending so Fluttershy could see the happier one, to the details of Adagio's most recent talk with Sunset. As per something else Sunset urged them to do, she kept no secrets from them, explaining what Sunset had told her about her influence on Twilight's spell, making it perfectly clear how Sunset now felt about the whole thing. When it was done, Aria was the first to say anything.
"...Yea, and?"
Adagio shrugged. "That's what she told me, and this distinctly felt like a 'when were you going to tell us' kind of thing." She hadn't expected Aria to hug her for that, but she offered no resistance as Sonata swiftly followed. When they separated, she regarded the two of them with a raised eyebrow. "So, no comment at all?"
Sonata scratched her head. "Well, like, 'it's all Sunset's fault' was sorta our default anyway, right? Wasn't that why we kept away from the Rainbooms as a group?"
"And the fake-friends thing," Aria said while reaching over to give Sonata a little nudge, "but, yea. I mean, would either of you two actually care if those girls were the only ones we ever got along with? 'Cuz I know I don't."
"But," Adagio said leadingly.
"But, even if it was a little shaky at first, we probably couldn't do it if Sunset was around or we'd be biting our tongues the whole time, and that's if things didn't turn sour anyway. Even if the other Rainbooms somehow picked us over her..." She let Sonata finish, which she did with a frown.
"Sunset would be pretty much alone, and that's way too mean to her after all she's done and tried to do for us, even now."
Adagio nodded. "Especially given that the rest of the school seem to be acquaintances with her at best and we haven't seen a hair of Twilight since the Battle. I suppose Sunset could just follow Twilight back to Equestria, but that wouldn't make it any less cruel to her, to say nothing of the fact that if she wanted to go back, she probably would have by now."
"And like," Aria said with a hint of exasperation, "it's not even like Sunset is a bitch or anything, she's great, but at the end of the day, living with what we got out of the Battle while she gets off easy; her having been unpopular for a few months while we lose our voices forever on top of that? Sucks!"
"Indeed." Adagio briefly made a show of scrutinizing the others. "Neither of you have breathed a word of this to your respective Rainboom buddies, I hope?"
Aria waved a dismissive hand. "They don't need that kinda drama in their group. Besides, it's not really their problem that we still haven't found anything to help get over what they took from us. It's easy to hate Twilight if she's not around to feel it from us, but Sunset's the one that dragged us out of our dark spot, sooo...?"
"So we stick with the plan;" Adagio nodded, arms crossed, "make some friends outside their group, get all the feelings they enjoy together, and finally forget about everything we lost when the gems were destroyed. Who knows? Maybe some day, we can completely let go of this, play along with Sunset just like she hoped."
Sonata leaned over, resting her head on Adagio's shoulder. "That might be cool."
"Mhm," Aria concurred, leaning on Adagio's opposite side.
They stayed together like that for a little while, quietly joining hands before starting a soft, slow tune.
Final Fantasy 10-2 was brilliant, I don't know what you're talking about.
Dawwww
8029835
It's only in recent years that I got to try the active-time battle system as opposed to relaxed, comfortable turn-based where I had more time to think, so that might just be me.
Dayumn, Dagi projecting so hard she should work at a Cinema
Nah they didn't forgive Sunset, because she defeted Dazzlings. They forgave her because she interupted Dash's song and because of the musical show in the end. Why would they even forgive her for defeating Dazzlings, when they even didn't know the whole time, that Dazzlings are dangerous?
8029948
The looks on the crowd's faces during Welcome To The Show tell me they were fully aware of what the sirens really were by that point. That, and the picture of the sirens' true forms during Dash's song in the next movie being held up as a point to 'the school' overcoming challenges together leaves little doubt that they understood what Sunset helped save them from.
I don't think Sunset would cried like that. She's still has her dark side that wouldn't​ take Adagio's shit. She's not a total goody two shoes like Twilight
I would love to say how I enjoyed the chapter, but I can't lie- this whole "Sunset feels guilty over Dazzlings" and "Adagio is stubborn and just won't take her offer" thing has been getting nowhere. Not saying it's badly written or unexplained (it's overexplained, if anything), only that out of every parts of the story, this one is the least interesting and it got an entire chapter and I'm not enjoying it.
I rewritten this post like ten times and every time I sound like a ranting jackass, even though I'm just trying to give feedback.
8030333
It's a fair view to have, I think, as I'm not exactly crazy about writing people losing their patience with each other either ("write the story you'd like to read"), but this felt every bit as necessary as the chapter with Trixie. This chapter overall was pretty much "Person X feels this way about Subject Y, for Reason Z", which I can agree isn't always a riveting read, but I kind of needed everything here to happen, both to give some exposition and closure on Sunset and to set up the events of the rest of the story.
Saying any more would be spoilers.
This is between Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games, right?
Because I really would not want to be the human Twilight Sparkle.
8029835 Oh that's 10-2? Kinda thought they were playing XV when "only having 3 party members" was mentioned and the active combat thing.
Aww, no crazy gamer FS? I hope Dagi gets to see it soon.
So, have the Dazzlings tried voice lessons? :P I doubt it'd work, but it might be worth a try. Maybe only their magical talent was taken away, and they still have the capability. And if that doesn't work, they should try instruments.
I liked the argument a lot. I was reading it thinking Sunset was being insufferable, and then Adagio was thinking the same thing and reacting accordingly So that was very satisfying to read, and felt like it had been a long time coming, especially after the sirens have been so nice to everyone recently.
Sunset's anger corrupting the musical counterspell is a very interesting angle, I'd not thought of that before, but it certainly fits. Her beam of light is the crimson one, after all, but, more than anything, it's this look:
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/db/be/87/dbbe87a29cdd9244d1c058be23083774.png
That's not the look one should be wearing when finally accepted into a group of friends, sharing the magic of friendship with them for the first time. That's the look of a girl who says 'The students here at CHS don't just wanna win. They wanna beat Crystal Prep. It isn't gonna count if the other side doesn't really think they lost.'
Huh, look at me, I just went off a character.
Not sure she has that much ground to feel that angry about the sirens during their battle, though - ultimately, the sirens made the school a bit fighty for a few days, but as Adagio says here, no actual harm was done. And they tore Sunset down in the darkened corridor, but she was the one who started that fight (my presumption is that she showed up alone there because she knew Twilight and the others wouldn't really approve of intimidation as an underhand tactic for winning, and that that was Sunset's pragmatism as a former villain taking the initiative - and not wrongly).
One also has to wonder why exactly Sunset thought the sirens were trying to make friends...? I mean, it was lovely to hear them say it, but since they'd never been interested in friendship before, what else did Sunset think had turned them around? Her own pithy speech?
8031053
That's kinda where I got the idea. When the moment started happening in the movie, I thought Sunset was going to look all serene and beautifully peaceful as she fully embraced her new(-ish) friends, showing in clear and emotionally-packed detail just how far she'd come from the selfish, short-sighted brat of EQG1. She did still come a very long way, I have no doubt about that, but that she wore the same arrogant smirk as before was a detail I didn't miss even on the first view.
I don't know that she was feeling vengeful in canon, but it wouldn't surprise me, especially as she tends to treat beaten enemies with nothing but smug satisfaction.
Sunset's biggest weakness is her temper, and I was thinking that a day or so of feeling powerless (especially after having her own shtick turned against her in that hallway) on top of watching her friends fall apart because of them, and all that would come with it, she had pretty clear blame figures for all of it. Whether or not this justifies her reaction to it (as depicted here) is another issue.
I probably could have made that a little clearer. In Sunset's mind, the Magic of Friendship, clearly proven as an overwhelmingly powerful force and nigh-endless source of lovely, warm, fluffy feelings, doesn't really need much reason to be pursued. It was like, "I offered them something that would only improve their daily lives, so why wouldn't they go for it?"
Sunset tends to be a stronger feeler than a thinker, and she (reasonably, I think) felt that it was a no-brainer that they'd happily join her just like she joined the others after the Fall Formal rather than, as they discussed, just sulking forever. It might have had to do with how, in her own case, there was really nowhere else to go that didn't sound cold and miserable, and as they went along with her in that talk (which I'm increasingly glad I never depicted), she figured they had arrived at the same conclusion, if that makes sense.
That was a poor choice of words.
8031183 I don't really have a lot to say to this other than I agree completely And I'm glad, because I think Sunset's salvageable from that, when I'd spent an evening considering if I could feasibly write her out of my own story.
If only Sunset had stopped to consider that she was offered friendship the second she was defeated, and maybe those that weren't might not be quite so enamoured with its power?
Meant to mention this yesterday, but:
No, Fluttershy, that's not how relationships work. You send Applejack to check on Sunset, while you go see Dagi. By all means seek out both sides of the story, but hear hers first, not Sunset's; you don't want to turn it into a fight between the two of you, which is all the more likely if you're prejudiced towards Sunset's point of view from having heard it first (meaning Sunset's received a neutral reception, where Adagio's will receive a negative one). Sunset may have been a friend for longer, and may be closer to the magic of friendship thing and so perhaps, all else being equal, be more likely to be correct about a friendship issue, but that's overruled by the difference between friends and girlfriends, and your first priority there should have shifted. Instead, Adagio concludes that Fluttershy arrives at the siren house with her mind already made up - they're able to find a way out of it, but they could have done so more painlessly if Fluttershy had changed which party she asked first.
8033231
Well, not the second she was defeated, Twilight made sure to stop and throw off a heroic little speech first. I'm not sure if that actually helped with anything or if Sunset was going to break down in tears anyway, but it's possible Twilight would have left it at that.
Basically, I needed Flutters to know what was going on for the scene I had in mind (some of it was written almost two years ago) to work and having her go check on Sunset first was the version I settled on with not a lot of thought.
The scene played out pretty much as you described there and it probably would have gone over a little smoother had she gone to the sirens' house first. However, not wanting to fiddle with the other Rainbooms all that much in this scenario was part of the reason I left them out. Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack holding and hugging Sunset while Pinkie fed her a favorite confection might have made for a touching moment, but messier than I'd have liked to work with when Adagio came back.
The whole conflict could have been handled differently, but I'm content with how it turned out. Up next; something hopefully a lot more fun for everyone!
My most prevalent problem with the relationship between the Sirens and Sunset is the absolute lack of understanding on Sunset's part about what was actually done to the sirens. Not just from the way the other students treated them, but also from the fact that the Sirens were MAIMED. That second point is especially important considering how serious it actually is. This wasn't even some tertiary ability that the Sirens rarely used, it was a core part of who they were and as such had a much larger impact on their lives. That's like an olympic runner taking shrapnel and becoming a paraplegic, or a 5 star chef suddenly losing his senses of taste and touch. Couple that with Sunset literally benefitting from their defeat, and you have a fairly non-reconcilable relationship.
This sounds a little disjointed, maybe "I wonder," then the later bit "that she invited as back at all," with the commas added for the continuation it seems to be?
Well that's something, maybe a bit of reconciliation on the road of repair.
8033231 At the point of Sonata's text, Flutters only had good thoughts about both of them, an argument contains generally an antagonist and a protagonist, at this point she can't know which is which so she approaches the nearest one first, being Sunny, and Dagi later as she might also want to spend more time helping her. After appraising Sunny's condition, it would be also easy to choose the best of the group to see to Sunny next.
8033607
Sunset does understand, it's the reason she felt so guilty and wanted them to make friends and be happy together. However, so many months of wanting that, her eagerness to see things finally fixed made her lose sight of things a little bit, leading to this chapter.
But yes, 'non-reconcilable relationship' is a darn good summary for the situation, and least between the sirens and Sunset personally.
I really want to get started on that story in which the sirens are pretty much apathetic about their voices, the gems having been nothing but tools to them, just for a change of pace, but I've got way too much stuff going as it is.
8034347
You're probably right about them being disjointed, because they're two separate thoughts, the second being an explanation of the first. If I meant them to be part of one sentence, though, I'd have probably done it like that, yes.
8034379 A story where the gems were just tools probably wouldn't end up with the Sirens being maimed. I just feel that the fact a permanent injury to something incredibly important is being understated. There shouldn't be any confusion or guilt on Adagio's part for the way she blew up at Sunset there shouldn't be any apology because Adagio was objectively in the right here.
8034379 Then the 'at all' in the second thought should come out, it's messing up that sentence.
8034410
I thought I was actually overstating it with how often it comes up, it being the reason they're still bitter and refused to play along with the Rainbooms all this time. Everyone involved is well aware of what the sirens have lost, even if some of them (Rainbow especially, as we'll see when I get around to that spin-off) forget about it sometimes. Just in case it's the least bit ambiguous; I agree, the interpretation here is that their singing voices just going poof after the Battle is like ripping Rainbow's wings off for her little stunt at the weather factory.
I might have been able to show it better, but the thing Adagio feels she did wrong was hurting someone she cared about, even through all that pent-up hatred. The feelings involved are a little complicated (to almost soap-opera levels, now that I think about it), but despite everything, Adagio knows she'd have never given CHS another look, never gotten so close to Her Sweetie, and possibly never even talked things out with Aria and Sonata had Sunset not found them. The sirens' general dislike of Sunset and what she took from them was outweighed by their gratitude and appreciation for what she tried to do for them, or, Friendship is Magic.
If you wouldn't mind me trying to explain things with a long metaphor, I think I can paint a picture of the feelings at play here. If you would mind, please disregard the following paragraph.
Picture a thin pipe connected between two points, clean, pure water running from point A to point B. The pipe is set over a puddle of black, toxic ooze, but the water in the pipe is totally safe. Now imagine if, while the flow from the thin pipe continued at exactly the same rate, the area the pipe went through was slowly drowned in more and more of the black ooze, until it was pretty much impossible to find the pipe at all. The ooze makes any hope of installing more pipework pretty much impossible (a pipe-dream, even!), but that first pipe is still there, untainted by the poisonous mess that came after.
The pipe and pure water are the sirens' good feelings toward Sunset, unbroken no matter how much their resentment (the ooze) builds up, but that didn't stop the ooze from splashing on Sunset when she tried to install bigger pipes anyway. And that's where the non-reconcilable relationship comes in, at least until the ooze is cleaned up.
I hope that made some kind of sense.
Adagio may not have necessarily been wrong for losing her temper, but she felt bad enough about it to apologize (or at least try to) anyway because no matter what happens, she cares enough about Sunset to not want to hurt her.
8034446
Eh, fair enough. Will fix!
8034492 Sorry.
8034410 To copy and paste a comment I left on another story a couple of months ago:
I remain, as is my permanent state of being, on the sirens' side. But it is worth pointing out that it was they who chose to take their amulets into battle, placing their magical abilities at risk, and the Rainbooms were only defending themselves, their friends and their world. It must be said they were very quick to shoot down the sirens, making the gym failure scene in the movie incredibly satisfying, but blaming the Rainbooms for the Dazzlings' predicament is objectively one-sided.
Simply put, if their pendants were too precious to be worth risking, then they shouldn't have risked them. It's like a cavalryman lamenting the death of his horse after riding it into battle - it's sad someone else attacked it, sure, but whose fault is it that the valuable thing was in the precarious situation in the first place? And if the notion that they might lose their jewels simply hadn't occurred to the sirens, then that's their mistake too - of all the MLP villains, the ones who have already lost one attempt at world domination are the ones who really should have known better.
8033374 Absolutely, and it makes perfect sense from a scene construction standpoint. I just think it's a little detrimental to Fluttershy's character - but then Adagio is presumably her first major relationship, so she's not exactly experienced with the situation, and just handled it in the way that seemed most obvious (and perhaps most familiar, given that she goes back further with Sunset) to her. She may not even realise her mistake. I do think Rainbow might have the odd thing to say to her about loyalty, though.
8034347 She approaches first the one who's nearest to her geographically, which in that situation is hardly the most pressing matter; she should make her first overture to whoever's closest to her emotionally. Her default position, when all else is equal, should lean towards taking her partner's side. Not blindly or in a way that's unalterable once all the facts emerge, but part of being in a relationship is that it's not you against the world, it's us against the world, and that means that in the absence of anything else to go on, by Adagio's side should be Fluttershy's starting point.
I suggested sending Applejack because Rarity and (to a lesser extent) Rainbow have divided loyalties when the sirens are involved, much like Fluttershy. So that left Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and AJ seemed the more stable choice for the comforting role.
8036098
Thaaat seems kinda iffy to me. The last time they were stopped, they didn't lose anything at all, they were just deported and left for dead, and the closest thing I can think of to any other villain losing something other than power (usually not theirs in the first place) and freedom was Nightmare Moon, whose armor probably wasn't all that precious to her. If anything, they were taught that the only danger to their gems/voices/way of life was that they might be less powerful and have to start again, not irreparably destroyed.
8036157 I dunno, deported and left for dead sounds pretty bad... But also, exiled, without the faintest hope of ever returning to the only land or people they've ever known, trapped in bodies a fraction of their former size, and cut off from the magic they'd drawn power from all their lives (in fact, given that the Equestrian magic powered their voices, according to Twilight, for all we know when they were in Equestria their voices could have sounded a hundred times better still). I kinda think the opening scene of the film shows they rather feel they've lost something in the experience, what with even Sonata thinking Earth is the worst.
I didn't phrase it too clearly, though - my point was more that they know they aren't infallible. Chrysalis, for example, may have been thinking that she couldn't possibly lose during the wedding, and so may never have even considered the consequences should that happen. The sirens know there's always that possibility, because they've lost before. Given Adagio slapping Sunset's hand away, they may well realise how precious and vulnerable their pendants are, and yet they go through with it anyway. It's a calculated risk, I'm sure, and the odds were no doubt good. But even when the odds are firmly in your favour, you still have only yourself to blame if you bet something and lose.
Edit - Oh, and you mentioned Rainbow having her wings ripped off - I'd point out that the sirens could fly before their exile, so they kind of experienced exactly that when forced into human bodies.
8036257
That makes a bit more sense, but doesn't change the fact that as far as they knew (since it seems only ponies have any understanding of friendship, and even then, some of them are jerks), it was either take that risk or stay in a situation they hated forever. Maybe it was their own fault, in the sense that they chose the option that gave them the best chance at not being stuck where they were for the rest of their lives and that chance still cheated them (Deus Ex Vinyl Scratch and all), but given that Sunset Shimmer and a few others took the exact same chance, also lost, and came up better than ever, some might find it hard to blame them, even if they hadn't been screwed out of everything.
EDIT:
Flying probably wasn't an important part of their identity like it is with pegasi, especially Rainbow, as much as it was a convenient way to explain how fish-creatures easily got around, and if swimming meant much to them, they probably wouldn't have left the ocean.
And on the topic of things we forgot to reply to the first time, I feel like I should mention that the exile thing doesn't carry much weight as long as the notion that they could just go back if they found the way exists. If someone were to tell them about the portal prior to gem destruction, their entire banishment could have been rendered moot. The same is probably not true of the gems being destroyed.
8036310 I'm not so sure; it's easy to back them up in their situation, but all the analogies I think of make them look all the worse. If your only way out of a life of poverty was to bet your life savings on something likely to win, you'd still be thoroughly to blame if it lost, and you in turn lost everything. It'd be more understandable, of course - although it is worth pointing out that the sirens were only in that situation they hated to begin with because of their own actions. A prisoner shot when scaling the jail walls to escape kind of has it coming.
Sunset took the same risk facing the mane six, sure, but she didn't have the obvious tactical weakness of having everything she cared about hanging in a fragile crystal around her neck And, again, Adagio's reaction to Sunset reaching for her necklace suggests she knew how important it was to protect them. I'm reminded of the ood from Doctor Who, born with a secondary brain attached to them by an umbilical cord, creatures described as so vulnerable in that state that they'd have to trust anyone they met.
True, the sirens probably weren't as attached to flying as Rainbow is; the only indicators I could offer are that they're flying in all but one of the flashback shots, never not flying in their projection forms, and even their ponied-up hybrid forms have wings (where they don't have the distinctive sharp teeth of their hippocampi projections), but I agree it's probably more for convenience. They might be about as attached to their wings as Fluttershy.
I haven't watched the first EG film in quite a while, but doesn't it imply that the magic mirror is guarded on the Equestrian side? I remember that being mentioned on the Adagio section of the Best Villain Glass of Water video, which suggested that the sirens were the whole reason for it being guarded in the first place. And I'd compare it to a prison sentence in a prison where there's a hidden escape tunnel - except you don't know where the tunnel is, or have any reason to believe that it might exist in the first place; I'd say their banishment was still very much a banishment, even if a way back existed that they didn't know about.
Also, I'm sorry if any of this comes across as hostile, it's really not meant to be aggressive or defensive; I do notice certain phrases are sounding that way though, sorry
8036427
That they wound up in the human world and lost the gems might be their fault by virtue of having tried what they did, but using the same reasoning, we don't know enough about the sirens to say whether or not they were on the path that took them there as a result of their own choices, or if something pushed them there, if only by way of just not understanding any other kind of behavior a la most non-pony races from that world.
Like, are dragons jerks, or are they all raised that way pretty much without exception? Sunset, student of Celestia that was regularly told to make friends, cried "I didn't know there was another way!", which tells me that friend-making really might be considered a form of arcane practice over there. How much sense that makes if various lifeforms already prove capable of getting along, I have no idea.
But again, I'm not trying to argue that it isn't their fault, I'm saying I don't blame them for making the choices they did (at least after banishment) and their situation was pretty borked no matter what. If they hadn't tried, if they had just accepted whatever they had (especially post-banishment) and never made any effort to improve their own (if only their own) lives, you could just as well say it was their own fault for not trying.
Sunset was (as usual) lucky enough that her magic source didn't happen to turn into breakable jewelry. In fact, unless her horn is a broken stub the next time she goes back to Equestria (and as she apparently has plenty of magic again, I doubt that would be the case. Any chance we'll see the Rainbooms get their power sources destroyed in front of them too, I wonder?), she's been given a much lighter sentence for the same crime. Part of what had Adagio so angry in this chapter, actually.
The only time I can think of in which a member of the Equestrian military did anything right was Shining Armor keeping the changelings out for a while. That in mind, are we even taking the notion that the guards would do any good at all seriously? The whole EQG series started because they couldn't keep one pony from getting through apparently any time the portal was open.
Maybe they were well and truly trapped (at no point do they seem to entertain the idea of going back), but my point was that if the punishment was being in a location they didn't want to be, it's easily understood that they may have been able to leave, the idea existing that they could undo the punishment altogether if they ever found the way back. No such fix seems to exist for having one's magic source broken.
Don't worry, I haven't been getting any hostile vibe in all this. While I've encountered some people who think people simply cannot disagree or entertain (not necessarily believe, just consider) opposing viewpoints without hating each other, I am not one of them, and haven't gotten the impression that you were either.
8036603
Fair enough, I see what you mean. And I agree, I'm not saying that they shouldn't have gone ahead with their plan, and I think they did all they could to maximise its chances of success.
That is an intriguing idea! One that has just given lots of thoughts on potential plot applications Given that Daydream Shimmer appears to have a horn (I say appears as it's a cone of light, which could be simply symbolic and on actually returning to Equestria she wouldn't have one), we can probably rule out the broken stub thing, which yes, does highlight a double standard.
Would it be fair to compare this to incarceration versus corporal punishment, such as being sentenced to have a hand cut off? The idea being that after the prison sentence has ended (or if you find a way to escape), you're physically no different, whereas the loss from the corporal sentence will last forever?
I'm sorry if that's constructing a straw man fallacy, it's not supposed to be, but...
That's not how I think of imprisonment/banishment as a sentence. I appreciate that if they found the way back very quickly, then yes, that absolutely might be the case. But since you use the word ever, as in if they ever found the way back, I don't think it does undo the punishment altogether if you're able to get back after having spent quite some time there against your will. Since the sirens aren't immortal (in this story), those years spent banished have been taken from them. The percentage of their lives they get to spend enjoying their freedom will have been reduced, and they can never get those years back, just as surely as a removed limb or magic source. Ultimately, all a mortal has is time alive to spend how they choose, and that's what's been taken from them.
That said, they are of course a lot more free on Earth than they would be in prison. And, apart from magic, there aren't that many things they could do in Equestria that they couldn't do on Earth. So my prison metaphor certainly isn't watertight!
I agree One just worries that there are only so many paragraphs you can write in comments on a story arguing over plot points before the implication becomes 'you should do it my way, author, or you're doing it wrongly!'
8037997
Sort of. The idea was that imprisonment could be fixed, losing a body part couldn't. In that regard, one could at least perceive being jailed, even in another dimension, as not being that big of a deal in comparison. Mileage may vary from there.
True! If they aren't immortal, they have at least lost time that theoretically could have been spent being fanned by adoring mind-slaves. However, I don't know if that loss should have implanted the idea "By the way, we might lose body parts/abilities/memories/life next time." If the most powerful wizard in pony history (I think? He's certainly hyped up to be) couldn't do more than throw them to another world, it doesn't seem illogical to think that even the team that stopped Sunset (who walked off her crater-blasting in minutes) wouldn't hurt them much either.
So, they could feasibly have connected the dots that hindsight lets us see right away, and they could not have. Even if they had, if the choice was using their gems and risking not being able to use them ever again for a chance at their fondest dreams (or 'ambitions,' since we're describing villains here) vs. just not using them for anything but singing (however they feel about the activity) ever again, I can still see why they'd be willing to give it a shot.
Being adored by countless thralls was apparently the big one, and bothered them enough that they spent every moment wanting to get that particular freedom back, so I think it still mostly works.
8038094
That is a good response! They would of course be more vulnerable now that they're weakened by being cut off from Equestrian magic, and so would not be at higher-than-Star-Swirl levels anymore, but they may not have consciously realised it with regard to their necklaces being at risk. Even when facing enemies who do have Equestrian magic, when they themselves do not.
...Although maybe I'm wrong with that whole line of thinking, as the sirens did have a fair bit of harvested Equestrian magic running through them at the time of their pendants' destruction, and that's how they were able to pony up and project their siren forms. And while they perhaps might not have been up to the same power level as they were when conquering Equestria, that does suggest that perhaps the power of the airborne rainbow alicorn is greater than that of Star Swirl.
Which, again, is obvious now I say it. Because he was one wizard, and they're the Elements of Harmony (a power that the sirens quite possibly don't even know about). One does wonder quite how much was meant to be conveyed with, "We know all about you, Sunset Shimmer" - do they know she's from Equestria and used to be a pony? Do they know about the elements of harmony that defeated her? They clearly saw the rainbows in the sky, but how much else have they been able to piece together? How much do the CHS students know about Sunset's defeat, as most were magic zombies at the time?
I think I'm mostly just confusing myself now. The main gist was that whether or not their defeat at Star Swirl's hooves would have prompted them to consider that they might be so vulnerable to the rainbow double helix that defeated Sunset that they might lose their amulets in the process is probably debatable enough that I think a writer could come down either way on it, depending on what their story needs, so it's all good
8038147
They may not have realized that the apparent weakening effect on them didn't apply to omnipotent hero magic, either. Seriously, this is the same stuff that fixed everything after Tirek's rampage, located and returned magic to a population of one guesses at least a few thousand, everypony getting back exactly what they lost, and built a magical crystal palace (conveniently enough, the library having been destroyed maybe an hour before) inside of about 30 seconds.
I got the impression that the sirens knew she was Queen Bitch for a while, was stopped with Equestrian magic, and everyone hated her after. They might have gathered more info on her somehow (possibly just keeping tabs on Pinkie's MyStable page...), but that's left to fanfics for now.
CHS probably knows the above three tidbits as well, particularly the first and last ones.
8038225 I'm afraid it may be worse than that; it's Contrivance and Handwave again. Were it down to just the magic, it would apply to the sirens just as much, since they're juiced up on Rainboom magic at the time of their defeat. That might also have something to do with why the magic recovered from Tirek was kind enough to build Twilight a castle, but not replace the stuff in the school playground, which Pip mentions being damaged in the attack.
Frustratingly, I think you're right. Can't see her letting the knowledge that she used to be a pony spread around the school. Bang goes the plotline I thought of this afternoon!
8038319
That...!
...
...Dangit, I tried to give the Elements (or the tree or Twilight's coffee table or whatever it is now) credit this time, and shouldn't have.
Yea, come to think of it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that the sirens absorb the same power and don't get the same benefit. One could say it was because it's friendship-based power and the Rainbooms were seven (or more, depending on how much Spike and Vinyl contributed, if at all) friends while it's possible that the sirens really are strictly together for practical reasons (though the message of the show itself frowns on the thought), but that doesn't explain how it goes from just barely too weak to stop the sirens to Godzilla-sized crystal alicorns with one out of seven joining in. I've known since the first viewing that Sunset's big moment was unnecessary, but hadn't realized it was a borderline plothole, too.
Weeelll...
"Okay," sighed Sunset, her face still flushed from when she had to explain cutie marks, "that's my whole damn origin story, now will you please stop asking?!"
Her five friends for all of a couple days smiled, nodding affirmatively.
---
"...Oh, uh... did you, want us to keep that secret?"
"Girls...?"
"We were just thinking that if everyone else understood you a little better, maybe they'd forgive you too or-"
"Run."
"Huh?"
Fire in her eyes, Sunset raised her hands in a strangling motion. "Run."
Sunset was eventually calmed down by being (very frantically) reminded that she'd sworn off violence, and while she forgave her loose-lipped friends within a week, it was an uncomfortable couple of months. Still, once everyone had gotten their fill of comments and giggling behind her back, it was over. Trixie had not been fun to deal with, but at least nobody really dangerous had that information, right?
---
Could have happened, I guess. I still don't remember where I got the idea that it was five months between EQG1 and 2, but that's plenty of time for everyone to have a laugh, get bored, and mostly forget about it.
8038423 For all we know, Spike and Vinyl are the bearers of those two elements. Or one is either Fluttershy or Rarity, with their named elements being a cover story (since kindness and generosity aren't that far apart, and perhaps don't need two separate elements).
I think you'd get around Sunset's moment by saying that it was reinforcing the bond between the other six, or something like that, now that they've all embraced each other despite being former adversaries?
I love that Sunset backstory idea! Funny and plot-convenient! At first it seemed far-fetched, but now I think about it it's in some ways hard not to imagine something like that happening.
8038556
I think pretty much by definition, the spirits of the Elements of Contrivance and Handwave are wherever they need to be at any given time.
Maybe, but boosting it that much? When the six of them didn't even get the double-helix this time? Why would cherished friendships that, previously said to be the most powerful force of all, suddenly be so weak compared to forgiveness and the ridiculously overwhelming power it apparently offers? The scary part is that I can kind of see how that might work, given the contributions a reformed enemy can offer versus a dead/jailed/debilitated one. If that's the case, that may mean that every villain not immediately offered friendship is a catastrophic loss for Harmony as a whole. Which kind of reinforces what Pri-Twi told Starlight about even one friendship being lost/never started making the world at large poorer, I guess.
Case in point? If Sunset had simply gotten her teeth kicked in and run out of town (which she'd have brought on herself and all present would be within their rights to say she completely deserved...), things may have gone very, very badly when the sirens/Sci-Twi showed up. There are too many factors to say how much would have changed (whether they just track down and capture/talk to/enlist/drain/seduce* Sunset, whether Contrivance and Handwave let the remaining five Rainbooms get through to Pri-Twi somehow, whether the lone Sunset's actions somehow keep the sirens from ever being sure where the surge of magic came from and/or ensuring things happen exactly the same way give or take her being on the Rainbooms' side this time, etc.), but you can probably see how not converting Discord, Trixie, Starlight, and Thorax eventually might have left things.
But luckily, good ol' C&H mean nothing bad will ever happen that doesn't turn around and leave the heroes better than they were before, so I feel a little silly for worrying.
*Yes, I added that last one for fun. Heck of a consolation prize for a recently-battered Sunset, though!
I mean, unless the Magic of Friendship was just feeling sorta dozy and "Wait, we have one more!" was all it needed to wake up and shoot rainbows at things that day. Seems as good an explanation as any at this point.
It could happen in a number of different ways, but yes, Sunset being a pony (a cute widdle unicorn complete with a pretty mane and tail, even) could very well be common knowledge at CHS.
8038682 I know, the power jump seems bizarre. But you could also see the first round as the Rainbooms still partly in their 'bad counterspell' mode; they haven't quite got their game back on at that point, because there's still tension they perhaps don't even realise with Sunset. So once she steps in, the magic happens? Or, maybe the giant shining sky alicorn head really doesn't like biker jackets, and refused to come out until Sunset took it off?
As in, if they'd attacked Sunset after defeating her with the rainbows? I'd quite like to think that somewhere in a parallel world that did happen, and as you say, they then had to track her down when the sirens showed up, and Sunset told the Rainbooms where to stick their friendship offer (I'd honestly consider that a more fitting consolation prize for her recent battering). And thus the sirens conquered the world, and smiled fondly on Sunset for helping them out, giving her a more privileged spot in their brainwashed paradise.
Thing is, if reforming a villain really does offer that much of a harmonic power boost, I don't think it fits that they make so little effort with some. No attempt made whatsoever with Sombra, and as far as we know none with Tirek (although there could be legions of friendship-conversion priests chanting around his cell day and night on Celestia's orders). Nopony lifted a hoof to stop Chrysalis the first time or sought her out afterwards, and no visible power boost came from converting Nightmare Moon. Discord's redemption seemed an afterthought, too. So it's inconsistent, to say the least.
But it might be just different with Sunset, as she was so close to the six around her. They were high up on the list of those she bullied for 2.5 years, and then they were her only friends for six months, so she's personally connected with them in ways no other villain has been. That might be it, I guess?
Sorry, I've just remembered you asking about where we got the window between EG 1 and 2 from - it was on the Rainbow Rocks DVD commentary (apparently), Meghan McCarthy said that it had been six months, I think. But that was long before Legend Of Everfree, which I vaguely remember implying a much shorter timeline and suggesting that all 4 EG films happened within the same school year?
Oh, no, wait, I think I've got it.
The rainbows didn't appear the first time around with the Dazzling battle because the Rainbooms had been half-drained of their magic by the sirens. So the extra power from a seventh person was needed to make up for the shortfall, especially one who hasn't spent any of her magic so far doing any fighting, just sitting on the sidelines.
I think there might be a story idea in the idea of C&H working for the villains for once. Midnight managed to capture the first six elements, after all, so if the last two could be found...?
Not a bad idea to help dispell her intimidating reputation, but I can't help thinking Apple Bloom might not have glared at her quite so much at the beginning of Rainbow Rocks if that were the case.
8038828
Maybe, but it sure looked like they'd mended their fences by then to me. If we're talking residual damage, Sunset herself should have had plenty of that after her many demoralizing moments throughout the movie.
I don't really go for Bad End scenarios, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't smile a little at the thought of Governess Shimmer reigning over her personal city (populated largely by former students of CHS) with six particular slaves, all powerless, but fully aware of their every waking moment, to attend to her villa.
(I realize these lines don't make sense if she was beaten up and shunned before her befriending, but one of those twisted other-universe outcomes must include the Anon-A-Miss incident ending sour and the sirens finding new power sources, right?)
"No offense, but you missed a spot."
"This cake tastes bland compared to the three from yesterday. No offense."
"No offense, but your needlework on my eighth Royal Power-Walk dress was half a millimeter off. Sew it up again!"
---
"All your sweaty laboring is making you smell like a dead rat."
"..."
Sunset stood there, smiling.
"Aren't you going to say-"
"Nope."
---
Whether or not answering back "None taken, (ego-inflating title)" would be mandatory depends on just what Sunset went through until the sirens found her, I guess.
Which quite possibly renders what we do here an exercise in futility. Fun, though!
I figured it went Fall Formal -> 5-6 months -> Sirens show up in spring -> The time between Twilight getting her crystal palace and Starlight's time-travel shenanigans (which, with the way holidays jump around in the chronological episode order, I don't want to think about trying to sort out an actual time frame from that tangled mess) -> Summer vacation at Camp Everfree (they do spend at least a week there, I think).
EGQ 5 might pick up with the next Fall Formal, marking a year.
I've heard that theory before, but as actual draining of magic has always been clear and visible every other time it's ever happened, I still think the sirens don't take anything from their targets, just capitalize on an excess that only they can see. No one shows the faintest hint of fatigue or discomfort when the green mist harvests happen, a sharp contrast to when Sci-Twi and Tirek did their thing and the heroes pulled more magic out of nowhere (as far as the audience knows, my own theory being that they sorta made more) anyway. In Midnight Sparkle's case, it looked like Sunset was barely holding on with MS having stolen everyone's magic, and she only won when Twilight got distracted.
So, I'm not so sure about that one.
They'd be gained in the most contrived possible fashion and handwaved to work for the heroes anyway, the way the Element of Magic did in Sunset's hands? (she gets it at all because Twilight has a derpy moment by throwing it over her head when it gets back to her, and the Element flies away from Sunset on its own, communicating that it only works for the wrong wielder long enough to keep things dramatic)
But hey, anything goes in fanfics.
(I won't be writing that one either, however.)
Maybe, maybe not, but that could be chalked up to a lack of approval of the former bully now hogging up so much of her sister's time (a la her motive in the Winter Special).
8039053
But wouldn't that only add to it, with her doubts finally laid to rest?
I don't know about it making an interesting story, but I would love someone to draw that. Many happy thoughts were had just picturing it. And that was just for the innocent reasons, I haven't made it onto the others yet.
Loved reading this so much Do you think there's enough potential that it would work as a comedic one-shot?
That sounds about right - it puts 2, 3 and 4 quite close together, but that would help to explain how they haven't repaired the horse statue after the Midnight damage by the end of Legend of Everfree.
True. I wondered if it might be different in this instance; we've seen the sirens feed on negative energy and not really drain anything from the sources, but the same wouldn't necessarily apply for magic. I think it's established that the only magic existing in the EG world at that point is what Twilight, Sunset and co. have brought with them, so if there's a finite supply, and the Dazzlings definitely gain some, then some of those have to lose some?
You're definitely right, though, it's nothing like when Sci-Twi does it, which does suggest otherwise.
Yeah, ok, maybe not
That could well be it, good thought (I presume the Winter Special was Anon-a-miss?)
8039285
Then wouldn't the other Rainbooms have already been plenty powerful on their own, their own doubts and quarrels similarly dismissed?
I would take pretty much any excuse to see the sirens treating Sunset like a sister/dear friend/equal of some sort... but everyone else being miserable and enslaved isn't high on the list.
Like, even now, I'm thinking-
Heh, glad you enjoyed! -thinking of fixing it so that Sunset, not enough of a monster (anymore) to mistreat what were once her friends for the rest of their lives, eventually easing up on her subjects, very gently urging the sirens to do the same in their own lands (truth be told, Adagio offered Sunset first dibs on any continent she wanted*, but Sunset just wanted to kick back and relax, so she took a city somewhere), and things relax to the point that it's the smoothest, softest reign of tyranny in history. Helps that they can convince any rabble-rousers to just stop what they're doing and take a a trip to the communal baths.**
*If I actually end up writing this, I'll borrow Handwave and say that with Sunset's help, the sirens got powerful enough that they conquered the world with ease, no further exposition on the matter.
**Aaaand I already have too much not to at least think about this as a thing to maybe do in the summer.
That bloody statue. What would have happened if the school had been demolished while the portal was open? The statue and column it was on smashed to bits while the magic was flowing? The human world would have had no warning at all.
(Correct! For any who don't remember, the gist is that Sunset is blamed for Wikileak-ing the whole school, what with how she used to do that, but it turns out the CMC were jealous of how she took up their sisters' (and Rainbow) time, so they Gabby Gums'd their sisters, their friends, and then everyone, Sunset was dropped like a rock, but then everyone made up and everything was fine.)
8039443
Something about them still not being fully welcoming to Sunset until that moment, maybe? So none of them are at full strength?
I think it really depends if you go for the after Anon-a-miss version, or straight after the end of EG1. In the latter, having never known friendship, I don't think Sunset would be too nice to people. Whereas the former would be hard to say, I think; could go either way. For what it's worth, I'd caution against making her too nice, personally, as I think a lot of the appeal would come from seeing her in such a different situation, and enjoying it. So my suggestion would be to play it for very black comedy, as in the excerpts you made below.
I could absolutely see certain pragmatic realities, though, making the siren rule the most benevolent dictatorship imaginable. Unless they have an established link to Equestria, then they have only the magic already in the EG world to work with, which is hardly limitless. So that means keeping the populace at least reasonably not-constantly-uprising, as they might not have the power to quell it time and again. So if Sunset could make appeals based on simple efficiencies, I imagine they'd be listened to.
Although, there'd need to be a balance struck between their desire to be adored, and their need to absorb negative energy, since adoration and anger aren't far off mutually-exclusive. But then, there'd still be only three of them, and with a whole planet to choose from, feeding the sirens wouldn't exactly take huge swathes of the population. Hmmm.
It's a mess, isn't it? Half of me forgets about movies 3 and 4, and remembers how the EG world was set up for Rainbow Rocks. It seems to have been neglected a bit since then.
8040410
I guess that's sorta feasible, if Handwave deigns that they were just kinda 'meh' about her stirring friendship speech and only really started to trust her when she started singing. In their defense, that was exactly what did it for the rest of CHS, too.
I know it'd have to be over the top and silly to not be miserable and depressing, but I was actually thinking of setting it after the events of all the movies (that we've seen thusfar); incidents similar to Anon-A-Miss happening again and again (not necessarily her friends dropping her, just leaving her the short end of the stick a few too many times), Sunset forgiving them right away each and every time.
"Picked me to be the beautiful sacrifice to lure The Pain Monster out? Hey, at the time I was flattered, just wish they hadn't shown up so late. Left me with the enchanted jewels from the museum (THAT WE WERE JUST TRYING TO RETURN THERE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH) when the cops showed up? Bad timing. Sprayed me with the clothes-dissolving anti-magic solution in the middle of Times Square? I get it, she thought I was the doppleganger. Knocked me into the water with the hyper-aggressive lobsters with the extra-large claws? Accident, just wasn't watching where she was pointing her party cannon again."
Stuff like that, maybe not as bad as the Anon-A-Miss incident, but definitely things that call for apologies. But when Sunset makes a huge mistake that makes them go through an extremely unpleasant experience, they don't extend the same favor to her.
Then she snaps, chews them out, storms off, a few days go by without apologies extended, Sunset absolutely refuses to meet them halfway after all that's happened to her, she finds the sirens (who may have gotten some amount of magic back, what with the statue carelessly throwing the stuff wherever it wants) either on purpose or by dumb luck, and offers them a deal...
I'd rather do it that way because pre-friending Sunset in charge makes for a downer ending and Anon-A-Miss-gone-wrong (more wrong?) feels sort of overdone. Depending on how it's handled, there might be something to say for the whole Easy Forgiveness shtick too, if only that it has to work both ways to work at all.
She might not even care if her plan actually works, just lashing out like she did against Celestia, only this time she stops, reassesses what she's doing, and still feels pretty damn justified (even if she isn't). That way, we'd still get Sunset being hilariously bitchy, but not without hope of a happy ending (and MoF ultimately winning out, even if not in the expected way) anyway.
As dealing with rebellions would impose on Sunset's Comfortable Rule plans, yes, she probably would help work something out there. I was thinking Aria (and her love for looking as powerful as possible, that being the reason she goes around in full plate-mail armor that looks like it was designed by fantasy writers after they take over) would orchestrate war-games, have those willing non-fatally fight each other to please their goddesses (and Sunset), whole battlefields of people beating the stuffing out of each other to draw negative energy from.
Or, since magic is apparently limitless when it's from the heroes (unless those new pendants stopped working when the group left Everfree?), maybe Sunset works something out in her go-for-broke attitude using what she's pieced together about the magic to hook up the only magical enemies that hadn't been forgiven/talked to/thought about by the time this happens with the same power supply as her and her friends, even if she has to teach them to hold hands and say nice things about each other first.
Aria: "Ugh, why are we doing this?"
Sunset: "Ultimate power?"
Aria: "Oh, yea."
Sonata: "Pfft, and you say I'm the worst!"
Aria: "Shut up, Sonata!"
Sunset: "Ahem?"
Aria: "Err, I mean... I respectfully disagree with your viewpoints and would appreciate it if you would be quiet?"
Sunset: "Better." *Glances to her side* "...You okay?"
Adagio: *tearfully* "Twenty years... twenty years... twenty years..."
Sunset: "..." *Awkwardly pats her back* "There, there. Actually, now's a good time to talk about crying together."
Aria: "Uggggh!"
Sunset: "Good start!"
These things get away from me sometimes...
Unless the portal just tidies up after itself, neatly hopping from place to place so as not to complicate the plot. That's certainly the only thing that makes sense if one assumes the sirens have been in the other world for a thousand years, before the school and statue were likely built.
8040585
Yeah, but even after she gives that speech and solves their friendship problems, they still leave her on the sidelines, just as the sirens predicted. It's only after Twilight invites Sunset to take up the microphone that that changes; could that be it?
Ok, yes, I'm afraid you very much need to go ahead with this. Because that sounds like it would be completely amazing. And I would think that out of everyone, the sirens would be mostly likely to appreciate the hardships of dealing with hyper-aggressive lobsters ("shoo be doo, bottom feeder!") How much would you show of those incidents? I think they might work best as just the single-sentence dialogue summaries you added here, unless you wanted to focus on them more in the story.
That definitely seems the best way to set it up, and I think it's more interesting to have events building over time than a single big thing - it's much harder to apologise for, because it means that several bad decisions must have been made instead of a single mistake.
Again, that would be in-character, and it's a side of her we don't get to see too often. And I like that her stopping and reconsidering it first shows some character growth without changing who she is, it's showing that being grown up about things doesn't always mean taking the hit and then later talking about feelings.
Hunger Games-type scenario seems a good way to generate negativity without spreading it, and to do so voluntarily. Would negative thoughts still count if done for a reward, like the champion fighter gets a personal lunch with the Dazzlings? Sunset would be the obvious choice of negotiator for ending uprisings, although I could see Adagio thinking that even talking at all in such situations is weakness, and so Sunset might have to argue her corner for it. They'd both have a point, too: if any concessions are made by a negotiating Sunset, then others will try uprising (the old thing about not negotiating with terrorists), but putting rebellions down with force will inspire terror rather than adoration. Probably a bit of a heavy debate for a comedic story though. After using the word 'rebellion,' I wouldn't put it past Sonata to start one deliberately, so that she can put on a disguise and play out a fantasy of being Luke Skywalker.
Sure, that works, or the sirens just camp outside the leaking statue until they absorb enough magic to form new crystals or use their voices without. If going with the LOE gems, Sunset could be particularly sneaky and steal the Rainbooms' gems to offer the sirens, if able to do so surreptitiously? She could perhaps also use her telepathy to see just what a siren vision of the future might look like, if she read Adagio's thoughts, so she could decide if it would be all that bad before going ahead with enabling it.
That would be hilarious! "I'm sorry I called you the worst, Sonata; I'm upgrading you to 'below average.'"
Sorry, I'm afraid I'm missing the significance of the twenty years line; as in they've been depowered for that long, or Adagio's been putting up with the bickering of the other two for that long?
8041523
Hm... Could be, maybe, but I'm still not sold. They left Sunset on the sidelines, but I thought they'd made up with each other at least, which was more than enough last time. There are a few assumptions one has to make for it to check out perfectly, but it's certainly one explanation!
Quick summaries of pretty much everything up to Sunset sitting cozy in her skyscraper palace was what I had in mind.
It's that same growth that allows for eventually forgiving her friends, even if she orders them to play with her pet hydra* a few times first.
*will explain when I get around to this thing.
Something like that, probably. Adoring thralls of two particular goddesses might have a bone to pick with each other.
---
Under one banner, reading "Sonata is Stupid," stood a legion of warriors in purple SWAT armor, their rubber-bullet-filled guns primed and ready. On the other side of the field stood a similar force in blue, their own banner reading "No, YOU are!!"
Truly, both forces felt blessed that their benevolent queens would personally visit to offer their battle cries.
Incidentally, Sunset Shimmer was said to live very peacefully in the lands owned by Adagio, whose countermeasures against such
immature bickeringhonorable disagreement were spoken only in whispers.---
Unless I go with "Sunset hooked the sirens up with the limitless power of friendship" or something, rendering the negative energy moot. Or just saying "the magic in this world changed and they didn't need to harvest anymore," if Handwave is to be wielded like a club.
I was thinking more:
"We will never accept your tyrrany, you vile-"
"Do-re-me-fah-soooo~!"
"What is thy bidding, Master?"
I can agree that Sonata might do something like make herself the head of a rebellion and conquer her own territory (or Aria's, if Aria had messed up her fringe again recently), but after a few years of probably working dull/irritating retail jobs and all their strict no-nap policies, the most work Sonata would want to do in this rebellion business is picking up the mic so she could drop it after overriding the wills of her would-be usurpers.
I have about as much interest in writing war stories as I do in writing clop (none!), so I'd keep that part as bare-bones as possible.
Could go with that, if it makes for faster summarizing. The last part definitely sounds like something Sunset would do (during her more lucid moments, at least), and letting Sunset see that voluntarily would be a good way to build a little more trust between the four of them.
I was thinking twenty years of being with them by the time Sunset finally made them start getting along; the three of them meeting, a little more than a decade together in Equestria, a few years of banishment, a few years of just trying to get by before Sunset finds them to make her deal, or vice versa if they know about the falling out somehow.
8041617
No, I wouldn't exactly call it a convincing argument
Sounds like the best plan
That would be both funny and satisfying, but I really don't think an explanation is needed for having/wanting/needing a pet hydra
That would be a wonderful solution! It does suggest the question of where Adagio gets her own negative food from, but I think the unanswered horror is better than any answer could be. Unless, of course, you go the cruel, manipulative route and have it that Adagio is feasting on the emnity between Sunset and her former friends, without any of them knowing. ...Maybe not quite the right tone for the story?
I think the staged battle explanation is both solid enough to stand up to scrutiny and funny enough to definitely be worth including, which would render the Handwave solutions unnecessary, but whatever you think best.
-From nowhere, an irate former-principal Celestia appears and exasperatedly tells people to stop dropping microphones-
This is completely understandable I don't have any interest in reading them, personally, but I think the mock-battle you described above would be funny enough to be an exception, and even then, very little detail of the actual fighting would be required.
That might be the final straw; that she feels she owes one last obligation to the magic of friendship (before rediscovering it later) to make some attempt to check the world will be in reasonable hands, and goes ahead with it when she sees that it'll be pretty ok. And you're right, that would be a great initial trusting exercise. Would it be just Adagio, or all three of them? And which would have the most embarrassing thoughts they're trying to keep Sunset from seeing? "I thought the image of Aria's nihilist poetry nights were bad, but the view inside Sonata's head is just a loop of Princess Luna dressed as Mexican food being chased by kittens."
That sounds about right, sure. "So, you've had twenty years, and you couldn't bring peace between these two? And now you want to expand your scope to the whole planet?"
8041761
I never said Adagio wasn't getting her own steady supply, but the specifics may be left in question. And no, it probably wouldn't fit for the happy ending I have in mind either.
I pictured it being all three, just not at the same time. I don't know if I'll detail the specifics of what she sees, but the touching trust exercise (provided Sunset finds a way to let them see into her head, as it has to work both ways), should at least be mentioned somewhere.
"I couldn't bewitch these two into doing my bidding, like shutting up and getting along! Not without making them even less intelligent, at least."
"What was that last part?"
"'Not without making them even less intelligent,' I said."
"..."
"...You didn't expect an honest answer?"
"W-well-"
"You can just touch me again to make sure if-"
"NO! I DON-err, uh... ahem, No thanks, I trust you." And really don't want to see... whatever that thing was again!
8041875
"Do you mind if I touch the three of you? You can touch me, too, if you want, I mean it's only fair."
<Aria snickers uncontrollably, Sonata looks taken aback, confused, and faintly offended, and Adagio grows the biggest smirk known to mankind>
"Oh, Sunset, having you around is going to be so much fun!"
More seriously, I can't really think of a way that Sunset would be able to return the exchange using her telepathic power, but, perhaps after deciding she can trust the sirens, she offers them the magic power and asks that the first thing they do is use their hypnotic siren powers to make her give truthful answers to their questions? It would require a bit of faith on their part, to let her read them but not vice versa at first, but they might be willing to go along with it for a shot at renewed power?
Well, she did call them idiots only minutes after meeting Sunset for the first time...