Adagio climbed the three steps leading to the open door. As she peered inside the living room she took in its extravagance; with its hardwood floors, wood paneled walls lined with bookshelves, the sofa, which was probably worth more than she had made in the past few months, and the chestnut stained mahogany coffee table that looked to be in about the same price range. The unusual aroma that hung around Sunset filled the house, making it feel cozy despite all of its splendor.

Sunset soaked in her bewilderment. Adagio had given her the exact reaction she had hoped for, that subtle mix of awe and envy that was only apparent to those looking for it. "How on earth do you afford something like this?" Jealousy tinged Adagio's voice as she gestured toward the display of wealth. She scowled down at her maid's outfit, a gnawing bitterness seeping through her mind. She reminded herself that she didn’t have the luxury of hatred at the moment and let out a soft sigh before looking back up to Sunset, who still hadn't answered.

Adagio noted that the topic made Sunset visibly uncomfortable.

“Why don’t we save questions for later, you look starved, let’s get you something to eat.” Adagio didn’t like the change of subject, but before she could voice her opinion, her stomach let its own be heard. She hadn’t eaten all day and hadn’t had a proper meal in weeks. "I've got some left over daffodil soup if you'd like some, or would you prefer something fresh?" Adagio perked up from her mild slouch as she heard the words.

"You did say daffodil soup, right?" She asked, the beginnings of a smile raising the corners of her mouth.

Sunset began walking towards the kitchen. "Yeah, it was my favorite dish back in Equestria, and despite the vast differences in my human palate and the one I had as a pony I found myself craving it lately."

"I'd love some, but daffodil soup is a peasant's dish. Why was the princess’ disciple eating something so, lowly?" They reached the kitchen before Adagio had finished speaking. Sunset retrieved a moderately sized pot from her massive refrigerator as she gave her answer, "It's not like I was born her student. It was a pretty common dish where I grew up.” Adagio found the answer acceptable, and the subject was dropped. Sunset placed the pot on the stove, giving a knob a nonchalant twist before walking towards the table. She pulled out a chair for Adagio, who practically fell into. Her legs had been killing her since the feeling started coming back into them. Sunset pulled out her own chair, plopping into it with as little grace as Adagio had. The two sat there in silence, which gave way to awkward stares.

Sunset's gaze fell upon Adagio's figure, taking more notice of it than she had before. Her outfit isn’t very flattering, and she’d likely appreciate a shower. Her eyes roamed Adagio's form taking in her peculiar shabbiness.

"If it's bothering you that much just ask." Adagio drawled when she grew tired of Sunset's prying eyes. "Actually I'll save you the trouble yes, I'm a maid. I clean houses and do chores while wearing a tacky gown for money!" Adagio, noticing the unnecessary harshness she had put into her words, took a slow calming breath. "Sorry it's... just been a long day, I didn't mean to be quite so severe." Adagio reminded herself that she couldn’t afford such outbursts. .

"It's all right, you've clearly been through a lot" Sunset gave Adagio a warm, knowing smile.

Adagio let out a strained laugh. "What's so funny?" Sunset's face was painted with concern.

"We're enemies, but you treat me better than my friends."

"We don’t have to be enemies, wouldn’t you rather move on?"

"It can’t be that easy, it just can’t be."

"I don't see why not, my best friends are the girls who stopped me from taking over the world.”

“You took everything from me, I can’t just move on from that.” Adagio’s tone was growing more heated despite her efforts to stay calm.

”If you had won, would you be any happier?” Sunset let her words sink in before continuing. “If you're going to be staying here it makes sense to at least try and get along right?"

"I guess you have a point. So what, now we braid each other's hair?" Adagio grabbed hold of her fluffy mane and presented it to Sunset, "Gotta warn you though, mine has been known to attack people."

Sunset wasn’t sure how to respond to the abrupt change in tone. It was uncanny how quickly Adagio had changed her entire demeanor. She decided it would be best to go along with the change of topic, it’s not like they were going to work out all of their problems in one night anyway.

"You know I've been to a lot of slumber parties since I started making friends, but I've never done the braiding thing."

"So I would be your first... You ok Sunset, your face is really red."

"I'm fine." Sunset yelped frantically. "You just caught me off guard is all."

"All I said was that I'd be your... oh." Adagio felt warmth spreading through her cheeks as she let the awkward silence return.

"The soup should be at a good eating temperature by now, shouldn't it?" Adagio asked trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, probably so." Sunset walked over to a cabinet hanging above the kitchen sink and retrieved a bowl. She sat it down in front of Adagio after filling it. Adagio carefully lifted the bowl and took a deep drink of the brothy soup. She swallowed the mouthful she had, then sat the bowl down, smacking her lips together as if she had tasted something unsavory. Sunset gave her a knowing smile. "Let me guess, just the way you remember but for some reason it's unappealing."

"Better than I remember actually, but yes, for whatever reason I just can't bring myself to have more."

"The burden of a human palate I suppose." Sunset's words came out in a mock depression, as she paced over to her monster of a refrigerator, and began to pull things out.

"Hope you like pancakes, because I don't have much else at the moment." Adagio's eyes lit up with pure delight at the mention of what she believed to be this world's greatest delicacy.

"Yes!" Adagio held back as much of her excitement as she could, but it had been a long day; she was tired, hungry and didn't have pancakes nearly often enough for this to be anything less than a celebration. Sunset had retrieved all of her materials and began mixing them together while Adagio was daydreaming about stuffing as many of the fluffy, syrupy bites of heaven into her mouth as possible. She was pulled from her fantasy by something she saw out of the corner of her eye. As she honed in on it she realized that what had caught her attention was the gentle bouncing of Sunset's chest as she stirred vigorously.

How did I not notice those before? Warmth built in Adagio's cheeks as she took in Sunset's generous curves.

"Is something wrong? You've been staring at me for awhile now." Adagio snapped upright from the unanticipated noise.

"Oh, uh, yeah... I'm fine, I just sort of zoned out there for a bit."

"You sure it wasn't something you saw?" Sunset punctuated her words with a deliberate bounce of her chest.

"You... noticed, huh?"

"Hard not to, I could practically feel your eyes on me."

"Sorry." Adagio's face grew redder with her apology. Why am I acting so shy? I've never cared if someone caught me looking before. Probably because no one was capable of minding before.

"Eh" Sunset gave a light shrug. "I'll take it as a compliment, besides the look on your face right now is priceless." And it's not like I wasn't looking you over too.

The rest of the cooking went unhampered and before long Sunset was placing two plates of pancakes on to the table. Adagio briefly admired the stack of strawberry pancakes, oozing with butter, syrupy goodness, with a dollop of whipped cream on top. Sunset went back around to her chair to sit down and Adagio's plate was empty. "Um...did you, want more?" Adagio answered her with a hungry glare. Sunset gave a gentle smile, and passed her own plate over to Adagio.

"You...aren't going to have any?" Adagio asked in a guilty tone as she looked down at the untouched stack of pancakes.

"It isn't a big deal, I didn't really need the calories anyway." Sunset's voice was full of reassurance, but Adagio noticed a glint of disappointment in her eyes. She seems to be assuring herself more so than me. She must have really been looking forward to these, can't blame her they're delicious. Why do I care? Just because I agreed to play nice doesn’t mean I like her. Though I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to pretend that I do.

"You know," Adagio said as she was struck by inspiration, "This is an awfully big plate I'm not sure I could eat it all by myself." Adagio picked up the clean fork from in front of Sunset and put it into her hand. "Why don't you help me?" Sunset sat there for a few moments in a perfect still as she comprehended what was happening. She then scooped her fork through the dollop of whipped cream and retrieved a small portion. She used the flat of the fork to cut a bit of the pancake away from the stack. She took the chunk of pancakes into her mouth and let out a satisfied noise. She tightened her lips and pulled the fork out clean. Then she did it again; first a dab of whipped cream, then a bit of pancake, all the way in, all the way out, and again in a slow, consistent, hypnotizing manor. Adagio realized that she was staring again around the same time that Sunset did.

"Do I have something on my face?" Sunset teased, knowing very well that she didn't.

"No...it's just," dammit why can't I speak right around her?

"Look, I'm glad you like what you see, but it's rude to stare." Adagio wanted to get away, she was too tired to deal with the teasing.

"I'd like to take a shower now, if that's ok with you."

"But you haven't touched the second plate yet."

"I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was."

"The bathroom is the second door on the left heading back towards the living room. I'll bring you a change of clothes." Adagio took a few weary steps out of the dining room before looking back and muttering a quick "thanks."

Author's Note

Wow this took me a lot longer to get out than I wanted it to, but it's here now.
Hope it lives up to expectations.