Equestria Girls - The Tale of Two Sunsets

by HumanSunset63

Chapter 9: Friend or Foe?

As Sunset had walked Twilight home, she went about her own way back to her apartment, as it was going to get dark soon. She didn't feel the need to use a bus, as her apartment wasn't too far from where she was now. The route she had in mind also took her past CHS, which did also give her an opportunity to go back to her locker to gather her personal bookbag, as she had suddenly remembered that the day before graduation, all lockers were expected to be cleaned out. As Sunset walked toward CHS on her way home, she noticed that there was a purple van covered in graffiti in the parking lot. Why did it look so familiar? She then remembered seeing the Dazzlings once again during the events of the festival to see Postcrush, and how this looked just like the van she snuck into when trying to figure out what was causing the timeloop. But was it really them again? Why would they come back to CHS of all places? But before Sunset could even go past the van to her locker, a familiar pair of spiked boots stepped out of the Van, along with a large orange poof of hair. The girl was looking at a CHS graduation invite on her cell phone, before she turned around and noticed Sunset Shimmer in her direction. Both girls initially gave a dirty look toward each other before the siren girl spoke up.

"Well, I should've definitely expected to see you again, ever since you and your band girls blasted magic toward me and my sisters." Adagio said. "Hard to believe it's been this long, we haven't seen you since the Battle of the Bands, I wish we would've kept it that way."

Sunset was confused at first, until she remembered this would be the case, since in the alternate timeline where she didn't confront the Dazzlings back at the festival, they would have no memories of meeting her back then, and only remember their last confrontation here at CHS. Still though, even if they were merely a red herring at the festival, Sunset kept her guard up, trying to understand what they were doing back. "What do you mean by that, you manipulative witch? Why would you be back here of all places, let alone around the time of graduation for us seniors? You're planning something to ruin everything, aren't you? For revenge against me and this entire school?"

"Please." Adagio snarked, rolling her eyes at Sunset's accusations. "You really think me and my sisters plan on playing such childish games of petty revenge, when we can barely survive on our own without magic? We don't have time for anything of the like, but that's not to say we still hate you. In a way, we did actually grow some form of respect for you for what you did."

"Excuse me?" Sunset questioned. "Respect for me would probably be the last thing you'd give to someone who destroyed your magic and humiliated you in front of a whole school. Don't try any of your tricks, I still think you're up to something. Why else would you be back here at CHS when it's nearly graduation?"

Adagio sighed. "You really don't understand, do you? Well, imagine it like this. If you could simply have whatever you wanted in life anytime, anywhere, that would make life too easy, right? Well, because you destroyed our gems back then, it did admittedly force us into finding jobs, since you gotta make money to survive. Most places rejected us, and thought we were just pretty girls with no actual work experience. So, we ended up trying to recreate what we did best, singing and performing."

Sunset spoke up. "Sounds like quite a struggle, what kind of respect do I gain from you then?"

Adagio continued. "It was certainly much more difficult without our pendants, but this change did make us realize, we relied too heavily on their magical influence to really ever truly appreciate the art of singing and performing. In a way, it's kind of a relief we no longer have to feed on negative energy anymore like our lives depended on it. You might've unintentionally done us a favor in destroying those gems. No more do we have the urge to feed on this energy, let alone cause massive turmoil with it. You've even taught us how to be independant without magic at our disposal, even if it has made life more difficult. But hey, this is how life should be, it's every girl for herself, and life is not a free lunch."

Sunset began to internalize this. She remembered how at one point, Princess Twilight wrote to her about how when a species known as changelings had embraced friendship fully, they no longer had to feed on love ever again like they always used to. Was this the case with Adagio and the other sirens? They were never truly doing any of this out of pure malice, but because those siren gems forced them to? Everything that Adagio just told her, it felt like it made sense, but what if this was all simply a clever trick done by Adagio into manipulating her to let her guard down?

Sunset crossed her arms and questioned them on their intentions now. "All right, fair enough, and I would say you've gained my respect in a way by having this talk with me. But may I ask what you're doing here at CHS of all places?"

Adagio went on. "Well, if you must know, the graduation here at Canterlot High is lacking professional singing and music to celebrate the event. Most other performers have already been booked and closed for commission, so we were told that CHS was desperate in searching for anyone might be able to fill the role, and they'll even triple our salary for playing the part."

Sunset, still somewhat skeptical, internally wished she had her mind-reading geode with her, so that she could grab Adagio's arm to absolutely guarantee she's telling the truth. However, she remembered last time she actually did do so back at the festival, and Adagio WAS telling the truth about not having anything to do with magical occurrences. Adagio would also have no memories of this event at all, so Sunset eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps this was all a mistake, and Adagio probably wasn't lying.

Sunset went on to apologize for the accusations. "Okay, so... this is all just for filling in to get paid for an honest job. And everything you told me about the siren gems, they do make sense to me. I'm sorry for straight up accusing you of being up to no good without any proof. I shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions, like I've done before with you."

Adagio raised her eyebrow at this, not knowing when Sunset has accused her of doing something she wasn't in on, but shrugged it off, thinking she was probably referring to something else. At the same time, she was also a little surprised Sunset was really convinced, and not going further to assume she and her sisters were up to something.

Adagio smiled and put her hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Well, then I guess you can say my respect for you has increased even further. It sure is hard to find forgiveness for your wrongdoings, but I'm glad you see things my way. I'm also sorry about acting snarky toward you at first, I guess it's simply a spur of the moment thing with suddenly seeing someone you've grown to resent for years. Now that we've had this talk, if you don't mind, I have to go fill out the band performance paperwork with your principal. It's on such short notice, but at least we'll get a pretty handsome salary."

As Adagio walked toward CHS's back entrance, Sunset went about the main entrance to her locker, still taking in this new revelation about the Dazzlings she never would've imagined.