//-------------------------------------------------------// The Best -by lavendernoodle- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Best //-------------------------------------------------------// The Best "And you promise you'll be back soon?" Adagio double checked her bag. Sweatshirts, pants, hairband... Adagio lifted the ruby chain. One broken amulet. "Of course, Aria. I'll be back as soon as possible." Aria crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic." Adagio turned around, holding out a stack of cash. "I'm not. Here's 100 bucks to buy Sonata hot chocolate." Aria raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get that?" Adagio shrugged. "I dunno. Stole it a while ago." Aria snatched the cash away. "Fine. I'll take your tainted money." Adagio walked over to Sonata. Dagi's sister's eyes were blank and milky. Dagi kissed Sonata on the forehead. "I gotta go," Adagio said, and then kissed Aria's forehead. "Be strong for Sonata." Aria rolled her eyes. Adagio wandered the Canterlot streets. She was cold and starving. It had been a few days since she left the apartment, and she guessed that she had looped the city a couple times. Sitting down to take a break, Adagio breathed a sigh of relief. My feet are killing me. Her stomach growled and Adagio let out a moan. She felt as if her stomach was eating itself. I can't die out here, she thought. She turned around and read the sign on the building. "Sugarcube Corner," it read. ~~~ Sunset Shimmer was exhausted. Her number of odd jobs just kept growing. Not only was her Thursday job running the night shift at Sugarcube Corner, but she had to drive Pinkie Pie home. When she returned to the shop, she dimmed the lights and turned on the TV. No one ever came to the shop during the night shift, so Sunset had time to bake and relax. She just wished she could sleep. A knock on the door removed her attention from the bright screen, and told her arm to stop the seemingly endless mixing cycle. Sunset walked over to the door and opened it. She gasped. "You!" Adagio Dazzle stood at the door, but she looked quite different compared to the last time they had seen each other, almost fifteen years ago. She was pale and skinny. She wasn't wearing her amulet. Her Siren companions weren't at her side. "Hello, Sunset," Adagio said. Her voice was quiet, weak, and all sorts of awful pitches. "What do you want? How did you know I was here?" Adagio reached out and touched Sunset's cheek before Sunset could react. "You look so young. So lovely." Sunset's brow furrowed. "Get off me." Adagio removed her hand. "I'm starving. Could you spare a morsel?" Sunset didn't want to be tricked by the Siren again, but she couldn't help but see something in Adagio's eyes that she had never seen before. "Fine." It took Adagio a couple tries to gag down her food. "I didn't know you could eat real food," Sunset said. "Isn't it obvious that I can't?" Adagio took another handful of cake and shoved it in her mouth. Sunset couldn't help but laugh. "And you have no table manners." "Shut up," Adagio grumbled. When she'd finished, she and Sunset sat on the floor together. "Where are your minions?" Sunset asked. "You mean my sisters?" Sunset nodded. "At home. I promised them I would bring them back food. They aren't strong like me, so they wouldn't be able to shove down 'cake' like I would..." Sunset slapped Adagio's arm. "So you wanted to bring me home as dinner?" "No, of course not. I need your help finding someone more suitable." Sunset shook her head. "I would never do that, and I believe I've helped you enough already." Adagio looked at her, staring right into her eyes. "This will keep me alive for a few days, but my sisters and I are dying." "I don't care." Adagio placed her hand on Sunset's. Sunset blushed. "Please Sunset," Adagio said. "I...um..." Sunset didn't really understand what had happened with her life. She lost her job because Adagio stole all the money in the Sugarcube Corner cash registers and vault. Sunset was keeping Adagio in her apartment and feeding her ten meals a day. Sunset even... had feelings for Adagio. "So, what's the plan for today, Dagi?" "Don't call me Dagi." Sunset chuckled. "Sorry. I heard Sonata calling you that once and I thought it was pretty cute." Adagio gave her a repulsed look. "You are so immature. And don't talk about Sonata." Sunset sat across from Adagio at her kitchen table. "What happened?" Adagio groaned. "She is losing her mind, basically. She needed the most food since she was the weakest, and if a Siren doesn't get enough food...soon enough, they go insane." Sunset put her hand on Adagio's. "I'm so sorry." "It's not your fault. I should be bringing her food by now, but..." "It's hard?" Sunset asked. Adagio nodded. "Extremely." Sunset bit her lip. "You feed off of hate, don't you?" Adagio nodded again. "I used to. Your stupid friends, the...Rainbooms, they destroyed our amulets. We are powerless now." Sunset walked to her bedroom and peered inside her tiny jewelry cabinet. She returned to the table and grinned. "Adagio Dazzle, do you take me, Sunset Rebecca Shimmer, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Adagio's whole face turned tomato red. "What!?" Sunset took out a ruby ring and put it on Adagio's left ring finger. "You should learn to feed off of love. Not from me, specifically, but from someone." Adagio placed her hand around her mouth. Tears swelled in her eyes as she looked at the ring. Suddenly, Sunset was embraced in a hug. "Thank you, Sunset. Thank you." Sunset closed her eyes, smiled, and leaned into the hug. She mouthed, "I do." ~~~ Adagio loved Sunset Shimmer. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops and let everyone know that she loved Sunset Shimmer. But she also loved her sisters. Sunset had taught her that. All of the love was making Adagio dizzy. So, Adagio decided that she would hate her sisters. Besides, what had they ever done for her? Adagio had always protected them and fed them, and all they did was get her in trouble. Adagio knew that Aria and Sonata didn't love her, anyway. Adagio knew that Sunset loved her. Sunset had helped her get back on her feet. Adagio wasn't starving. She had a home. She had a...girlfriend (even though Adagio nor Sunset had asked the other to be her girlfriend). Adagio breathed in, and the breathed out. Sunset held Adagio's hand steadily. "Are you sure that you're ready to do this?" Adagio nodded, and then the two pushed the door open. "By the way, make sure you say that I told you they were dead. For...sympathy." ~~~ Sunset waited for Dagi to come out. She could hear yelling, and finally Dagi came out. She was biting her lip. "What happened in there?" Sunset said, wrapping her girlfriend into a hug. "Sonata is dead," Adagio sobbed. "And now Aria is crying, and she'll soon starve because she won't want to get up." "Well, you don't know that---" "If I know Aria, that's exactly what'll happen," Adagio chocked. "My sisters, my poor little sisters, I starved them." Oh no, Sunset thought. What if she blames me? "I'm so sorry, honey," Sunset whispered as Adagio slowly stopped crying. "But, you'll always have me." "Yeah." Adagio wiped her cheek. "I'll be the last Siren." Sunset wiped Adagio's other cheek. "It doesn't matter who you used to be, or where you come from, Dagi. 'Cause now you're here, in Canterlot, with me. Your..." Sunset held out a tiny box. Opening it, she revealed a ring with five dazzling rubies. Adagio gasped. "...Wife." Adagio wrapped her arms around Sunset, and the two embraced into a long, "Dazzling" kiss.