Old Enemies and New Begnnings

“So what do you want to do today?” Sonata asked while jumping on Adagio’s queen-sized bed.

“Nothing…” said Adagio as she laid there, staring aimlessly at the ceiling.

It had been several days since Aria’s banishment and Sonata was doing everything in her power to make sure that Adagio didn’t fall into a deep depression, all while trying to keep her own spirits up as well.

“C’mon Dagi, there’s gotta be something?” Sonata plopped on the bed. “We can do anything you want.”

Adagio grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it. She knew Sonata was just trying to cheer her up, but things just weren’t the same without Aria.

Sonata crawled over to Adagio and sat on top of her. “What about the mall, we can do that. You LOVE shopping.”

“Hmph mft pha hme mmthph aphia.” Adagio mumbled incoherently into the pillow.

“What?”

“Hmph…mft pha hme…mmthph aphia.”

Sonata sighed and rolled her eyes, “I still don’t know what you’re saying.” She grunted while trying to pry the pillow off Adagio’s face.

“I said, it’s not the same without Aria!” Adagio shouted, as she let the pillow be removed.

“What do you mean not the same, Aria hates shopping?”

“I know,” Adagio smiled. “But she was always fun to go with because she would always find something or someone to make fun of. Not to mention, she was the only one who was honest enough to tell me how I looked while I tried things on.” Adagio could feel the tears forming in her eyes. “The truth is, as much as I hate to admit it, I really miss Aria…I miss having someone to watch Murder/Mystery shows with, or make fun of you with, or-”

“Hey!” Sonata interjected.

“Sorry, but it’s true.”

Sonata’s heart sank. She hated seeing Adagio so sad. “Y’know, you could always just call her and say sorry if you miss her so much.”

“Yeah right,” Adagio scoffed. “There’s no way in hell, she’d forgive me after what I did. I can’t even forgive me…”

Sonata shook her head and removed herself from Adagio’s midsection. “C’mon Dagi, you really think that after all the years we’ve spent together, that Aria wouldn’t forgive you for something like this?” Before Adagio could answer, she walked out of the room and returned shortly with her cellphone.

Adagio watched as Sonata dialed a number and put the phone to her ear. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Calling Aria, this has gone on long enough.”

Aria sat on the living room couch, reading an old comic that she had found in Sunset’s treasure chest of books. She wasn’t much of a reader of this kind of genre, but this particular one had managed to capture her attention far longer than she thought it would.

“Whatcha reading?” a voice came from overhead.

Aria tilted her head back and saw Sunset grinning down at her. “A comic.” She replied.

Sunset hopped over the back of the couch and sat next to her soon-to-be girlfriend. “Comic?” she asked, giving Aria a puzzled looked. “Where the hell did you find a comic?”

“In your book chest thing.”

“Are you sure?” Sunset asked, scratching her head. “I don’t recall owning any comics. What’s it called?”

Aria folded the cover over and read the title, “Uhhh, Rosario Vampire.” She raised an eyebrow at Sunset, whose facial expression clearly indicated that she knew what comic it was.

“Riiiight…” Sunset chuckled sheepishly. “I bought that a long time ago. It was during my whole vampire/werewolf fantasy phase.”

“Uh huh, so Team Edward or Team Jacob?” Aria teased.

“Team Ed-Oh shut up, it’s not like that.” Sunset protested.

Aria snickered at the thought of Sunset being a Twilight fan. “Never would’ve taken you for a ‘Twi-hard’,” she commented as she tickled Sunset.

“I’m not!” shouted Sunset. She did her best to squirm away, but inevitably fell prey to Aria’s itching fingertips. Within seconds, she was on the floor, “A-Aria, please, s-s-stop.” Sunset laughed and tossed wildly, trying to free herself from Aria’s grasp.

“I’m sorry, what?” Aria smirked, pretending not to hear Sunset’s pleas. “I can't hear you.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Sunset had no idea who it was, but she was eternally grateful for them showing up at that moment.

“We’ll continue this later.” Aria said, kissing Sunset on the forehead. She stood and made her way over to greet whomever was at the door. Aria barely had time to open the door before being immediately tackled to the ground by a blue streak of lightning.

“ARIIIIII!!!” Sonata squeed.

Aria laid stunned on the ground. She had never been hit by a truck before, but this had to be pretty damn close to what it felt like. “What the-Sonata?” Aria groaned, holding her head. She blinked several times as three smiling Sonatas appeared in front of her. “Why are there three of you?” she asked dizzily.

“Three? There's just one of me, silly.” Sonata giggled.

It took a minute for Aria to regain her vision and for the three Sonata’s to collide into one. “What are doing here…how did you find me?”

“Well, I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer so I had to look up Sunset Shimmer’s address online. Where is Sunset by the way?”

“Over here…” Sunset answered, picking herself off the floor.

“Oh hey, Sunny, I didn’t see you there!” Sonata said cheerfully, before looking at Aria. “Were you two having sexy time or something?”

Aria eyes widened as she pushed Sonata aside and stood up, “No, we-why would you even ask that?”

Sunset chuckled as she stood next Aria.

“I don’t know. “Sonata shrugged. “I heard laughing and other noises, so I just thought-”

“Well, don’t ‘just thought’, okay.” Aria interrupted. “And you never answered my question, what are you doing here?”

“Oh yeah! I brought Dagi here to apologize.” Sonata smiled, pointing over her shoulder at the door.

“Adagio?” Aria and Sunset said in unison. Both girls glanced at the empty doorway.

“Uhm, Nata, there’s no one there.” Aria said.

Sonata whipped around and indeed saw that there was no one there. “Seriously!” she exclaimed, standing to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

Sunset and Aria looked at one another and shrugged as they listened to Sonata tussle and argue with someone out in the hallway. All of a sudden, they heard a yelp and then saw Adagio stumble in front of the door, rubbing her butt.

“There, I told you she was here.” Sonata said out of breath.

Adagio desperately tried to avoid eye contact with Aria as she entered the house. She really didn't want to be there in the first place, but she knew that this would probably be her only chance in a while to make things right.

“Dagi?” Aria asked, “What are you doing here?” Secretly, she was ecstatic to see Adagio, but she decided to play it cool until after Adagio said her piece.

“Sonata says I need to apologize.” Adagio replied while looking at the floor.

“Sonata, huh? So, there's no part of you that thinks you did anything wrong?”

Adagio sighed in frustration, she hated apologizing, especially when she knew she was in the wrong. “Perhaps, I too, feel as though my behavior was less than acceptable and I need to apologize for it.”

“Well, I'm waiting.” Aria smirked as she folded her arms and tapped her foot. She had no intention of truly making Adagio apologize to her, because she was never mad at her to begin with. However, this was a rare time that Adagio was uncomfortable and she was going milk to it for all it’s worth.

Adagio groaned, the thought of apologizing was actually causing her physical pain. “I…am so-I…I’m s-sor-ugh.” She stammered before giving up. “I can't do this, Aria. You know that I feel bad about what I did. Please don't make say it.”

“I swear Dagi, getting you to apologize is like pulling teeth.” Aria laughed. “But alright, I won't make you say it…”

“Thank god.”

“…to me, that is.”

“Wait, what?”

Aria wrapped her arm around Sunset’s shoulders. “Because I think you owe Sunset more of an apology.”

“I’d rather gargle acid.” Adagio hissed.

“Fine, then there's the door,” said Aria, pointing at the door.

Adagio hemmed and hawed for a couple minutes. Personally, she didn't feel that she owed Sunset anything, but if it was going to appease Aria, then so be it. “Fine. Sunset, I'm sorry for whatever you think I should be sorry about.” Adagio said dismissively.

“What the hell kind of apology is that, Adagio?” Aria blurted out.

“What, you said-”

“It's fine,” Sunset interrupted, placing a her hand on Aria’s chest. “Look Adagio, I think it's time that you and I had a serious conversation.”

“Oh really, because I think that I have absolutely no interest in what you have to say.” Adagio replied.

“You better cool it, Adagio, because Sunny’s gonna be comin’ around a lot more, so might as well get used to it.” Aria cut in.

Sonata and Adagio glanced at one another and then at Aria. “What do you mean?” Adagio asked suspiciously.

“I mean, Sunset and I are dating…or are going to be,” said Aria proudly. “So, whatever issues you have with her end today.”

Adagio was lost for words. Her brain couldn't even begin to process the information she just received. ‘What the fuck is happening right now?’ she thought.

“AHHHHH!!” Sonata screamed in delight. “I'm so happy for you guys!” She ran over and hugged both Aria and Sunset.

“Thanks, Nata.” Aria laughed.

“You have to tell me EVERYTHING! When it happened, how it happened, why it happened!” Sonata rambled on to Sunset. “Do you know where she's taking you? Oh, oh, oh, you should have Aria take you to that taco place downtown, their tacos are just the BEST! They have all kinds of--MMPH.”

Aria put her hand over Sonata’s mouth to keep her from going on about tacos. “Nata, slow down. I'm not taking Sunny to some taco joint, okay?” Sonata sighed, but then nodded. Satisfied that she understood, Aria removed her hand. “Good.” She smiled.

“Hey Dagi, can you believe it?!” Sonata turned around. “Where’d she go?”

Amidst all the excitement, Adagio managed to sneak out the apartment. She just couldn't stand the thought of Aria being with Sunset. ‘How could Aria choose her over me?’ she asked herself.

“ADAGIO!” a voice called out from the distance. “WAIT UP!”

Adagio turned around and saw Sunset chasing her. “You've gotta be kidding me.” She grumbled, turning back around and continuing her walk home. She stopped at the corner and vigorously pressed the button on the stop light pole, hoping that it would change color before Sunset caught up with her. “C’mon,” she looked over her shoulder. Realizing that the light wasn't going to change it time, Adagio half-contemplated jumping in front of traffic just to avoid Sunset.

“Adagio.” Sunset said breathless after finally catching up with siren. “You walk surprisingly fast, you know that?”

Adagio rolled her eyes, “What do you want?” She asked impatiently.

Sunset took several deep breaths before answering, “I just wanna talk, please. I know you hate me, but I still think that we can be friends. All I'm asking is that hear me out, after that, if you still want to believe that I'm…the devil incarnate, then I'll leave you alone.”

“You're persistent, I'll give you that much.”

“So, is that a yes?”

“Do you see that stop sign, four blocks down?” Adagio asked.

Sunset squinted but saw the sign. “Yeah,” she replied. “What about it?”

“You have until we reach it to convince me that we can be friends. If you do, then congratulations, you've done the impossible. But if you don't, you turn around and I never see your face again. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Perfect, I'll start us off.” Adagio said as she and Sunset crossed the street. “Why are you so interested in being friends?”

Sunset was surprised that Adagio asked her a genuine question. She thought Adagio had some crazy stalling tactic planned. “Uh, I already answered this at the restaurant. I think we have a lot in common.”

“So you said, but I don't see it.”

“Well, we're both power hungry. We both tried to take over the school, got destroyed by the same magic of friendship blast, and were defeated by the most random, rag-tag group of girls ever.” Sunset explained.

“So what? Just because our situations were similar, that doesn't qualify us to be friends.” Adagio argued.

Sunset had to admit that Adagio had a point. She should've known, circumstance alone was going to be enough to convince Adagio to be friends. She had to think of something else and fast. “Okay, how about because I’m the only other person besides and Aria and Sonata who knows exactly how you feel.”

“Oh yeah, prove it.”

“Before the Fall Formal, my entire reason for existence revolved power and control. I had this great plan to use Equestrian magic to take over the school and Equestria, but that all came to a grinding halt after Twilight and her friends beat me.” Sunset paused as the memories of that night played in her head. “It was the worst day of my life. I felt lost, confused, embarrassed, angry…afraid even. Everything I worked to achieve was gone and I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness and emptiness inside.”

Sunset noticed that they were only a couple steps from the stop sign. She looked at Adagio, who remained expressionless but seemed to be in some kind of deep thought. She wanted to ask if she was close in describing what Adagio might be feeling, but she had a hunch that she was right on. “Well, we're here.” Sunset said, stopping at the corner. But Adagio turned kept walking. Sunset didn't know if she should go back or keep walking. “Uhm, Adagio?”

“How did you get over it?” Adagio asked flatly.

Sunset did a little hop-skip to catch up with Adagio, “Get over what?”

“What you felt, how did you make it go away?”

“I didn't. There are times I still feel that pull to power, or feel angry about losing, and there are days where I still feel alone and empty inside.” Sunset explained. “But it helps to have my friends around when those feelings arise.”

“How? They have no idea how you feel.” Adagio pointed out.

“True, but they do their best to understand and to remind me that I'm a much better person now, and for me that's good enough.”

Adagio returned to her walk of silence. Sunset had definitely proved that she knew how she felt, and while the idea of being friends was still up in the air at the moment, Adagio did feel as though Sunset had earned the right not to be treated poorly anymore. “I owe you an apology…a real one.”

“You don't have to-”

“Yes I do. This whole time, I've been blaming you for things that really aren't your fault and I realize now that you were just trying to help. So, I'm sorry.”

“It's alright, I've been there remember?” Sunset smiled. “So does this mean that I've done the impossible?”

Adagio chuckled slightly, “I suppose this whole friendship thing might be worth exploring.” She replied.

“Sweet!” Sunset celebrated by jumping in the air.

“But let me be clear,” Adagio placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “I have no interest in extending this invitation to the rest of your friends. Got it?”

Sunset had really hoped that the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms could all be friends with one another, but after what almost happened in the gymnasium and in the park, perhaps it was best to not have them associate with each other for a while. “Absolutely.” Sunset nodded.

“We should probably head back, before your lover starts to worry.”

“Yeah probably.” Sunset laughed.

Back at the apartment, Aria anxiously paced back and forth across the living room floor. “Sunset should be back by now,” she said.

“Calm down, Ari. I'm sure Sunset is fine.” Sonata replied from the couch.

“What makes you so sure? You know how Adagio feels about Sunset.”

“Yeah, but do you really think Dagi would hurt someone who means so much to you?”

“I don't know,” Aria replied as she took a seat next to Sonata. “Adagio hasn't exactly been predictable lately.”

“Since when has she ever been?” Sonata laughed.

Aria cracked a smile and nodded in agreement. “I guess you're right, maybe I do just need to-SUNSET!” Aria shouted as the door opened and Sunset entered the house. “Are you okay? Did Adagio hurt you?” She asked while searching Sunset for any bruises.

“Really, Aria?” Adagio replied, walking into the house.

“Well, can you blame me?" Aria defended herself.

“Eh,” Adagio shrugged and went to sit next to Sonata. "You should be glad to know that Sunset and I have finally come to an understanding."

"Really?" Aria asked.

"Mhm," Sunset grinned. "We-"

"DAGIIIIII!!!" Sonata shrieked, wrapping her arms around Adagio's stomach. "I knew you'd come around!"

"Ugh, Sonata, let go." Adagio grunted.

Aria and Sunset laughed as they watched Adagio try extract herself from Sonata's vice-like grip. "Uhm, should we help her?" Sunset asked.

"Nah, she'll be fine." Aria answered as she took Sunset by the waist. “Anyways, I’m really proud of you. I know that it wasn’t easy getting through to Adagio and I have no idea how you actually managed to do it, but good job. And thank you, it's nice to have Adagio back.”

Sunset smiled and draped her arms around neck. “I can’t take all the credit. I couldn’t have done anything without you.”

“I guess we just make a good team.” Aria said, pulling Sunset closer. Both girls stared lovingly into each other’s eyes. Time seemed to slow as their lips grew closer and closer, until they finally locked into a passionate kiss.

“Awwww,” Sonata cooed. “So cute!”

“Definitely a Kodak moment,” said Adagio as she snapped a picture with her phone.

Aria eyes shot open after hearing Adagio take several photos. “You better delete every one of those pictures, Adagio.” She threatened, giving Adagio a death glare.

“But you guys are so adorable together.” Adagio argued with a smile. “These are so going online.”

“The hell they are,” Aria broke from Sunset’s embrace and leapt on Adagio. “Gimme the phone!” She demanded as she wrestled with the orange siren.

The phone landed in Sonata’s lap as she cheered on both girls, “I got it, I got it!!” Sonata danced, holding the phone up triumphantly. However, her celebration proved to be premature as she was quickly tackled by Aria and Adagio.

Sunset simply laughed as she observed the three girls fight over the phone. One minute they were rolling around on the floor, and the next, they were yelling and chasing one another around the apartment. She followed the sound of the three sirens into her bedroom and leaned against the door frame. ‘Who knew these guys were so playful.’ She thought.

“Sunny, help!” Aria shouted as she struggled to keep the prized item away from Adagio and Sonata. In one hand she held the phone, and in the other held Adagio in a headlock while also managing to keep Sonata at bay with her foot firmly planted on Sonata’s face.

“Ah, what the hell.” Sunset shrugged. Without a second prompting, she leapt onto the pile of girls and joined the intense battle for the phone.