Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
To Sunset Shimmer, the battle of the bands was terrifying.
When the leader of the Dazzlings - Aria? Adagio? - sang that one note even higher than Princess Twilight, it sent shivers down her spine and fear as cold as ice into her heart.
Then the microphone went flying only to land at her feet, and Twilight called upon her, but she wasn’t ready for this, she couldn’t beat three powerful monsters when she was still one herself, and-
Sunset had no idea what she did that night. She sang the first words that popped into her head as loud and as proud as she could, and that was all she remembered before the rest of the band took over to drive the sirens back.
(She had no idea why the magic decided to let her ‘pony up’. She didn’t deserve it.)
The rainbow blast from the alicorn practically tore the stage in half, the sheer power of it shaking Sunset back to reality in time to see the sirens enveloped by a cold white light. Their pendants - red, warm - shattered, and in that moment Sunset felt a stab of guilt in her chest.
What had they done?
What had she done?
The leader locked eyes with her before fleeing the stage. Sunset would never, never forget the sheer rage that burned in her gaze, an emotion only lesser than the horror that she felt in her own.
That was November, one month after the fall formal. And though Sunset still saw Adagio’s enraged eyes in her dreams and still felt the guilt ten times as strongly, the pain was subsiding. She had friends beside her to help see she wasn’t a monster, and they told her that defeating the sirens was for the best.
Time passed. Sunset tried to look for Adagio, to apologize, but to no avail. No one had seen the sirens since the battle - it was as if that month they had just disappeared off the face of the earth. Leaves turned colour and let go of their trees, school continued in its unshakable march, and life moved on.
And then one night, it happened.
Bang.
Sunset jolted awake with a yelp and flailed her arms around in a sort of defense. “Gah! Who’s there?!”
Tires squealing. Lights flashing along her windows. The clatter of trash cans being knocked down and rolling along the ground.
As her brain kicked into gear, she realized that the collision had come from outside, not in, from the streets below her apartment. With a groan she wrapped her blanket around herself and shuffled over to the window - maybe it was a stray cat, or something. Fluttershy would never forgive her if she left an injured animal to its own devices just as winter was approaching.
She pulled back the curtain and squinted out to the ground and-
And then she was running as fast as she could out the door and down the hall to the stairs, because holy crap is that blood and that’s a person and oh my god I need an ambulance where’s my phone?!
When Sunset did a 180 and ran back to grab her phone, she noticed three things. First, it was 3:50 in the morning. She definitely wasn’t staying awake in class later.
Second, the person collapsed by the side of the road in her trash cans had seen her. They were conscious at least, which was a good sign.
Sunset made it outside in record time, the frigid air biting through her pyjamas and bringing gooseflesh to the surface of her skin. She darted around the corner with 911 entered into her phone and was just about to call when-
Oh. Yeah, the third thing.
Adagio Dazzle lifted her head from the ground and practically snarled at Sunset, teeth bared and eyes wild. “Put the phone down,” she hissed. When Sunset didn’t move she used one arm to prop herself up and yelled, “I said put it down!”
With a jolt Sunset shoved her phone into her waistband and threw her hands in the air. “Ok, ok! I’m sorry! I just wanted to call an ambulance-”
“I’m perfectly fine,” Adagio grumbled. She used the wall to push herself up, one scraped arm still clamped over her bleeding stomach. “Stupid car- I have to… get back…”
“Hey!” Sunset lunged forwards to catch Adagio as she practically collapsed, one arm around the siren’s waist to steady her. “Whoa, no way. We gotta get you help! What happened?”
Adagio went pale and jerked herself out of Sunset’s grip. “Get off me, you-!”
In a flash Sunset was on the ground, Adagio collapsing seconds later. The injured girl’s breaths came in harsh pants that billowed out in clouds from the cold, while Sunset had to take a few slow intakes to still her beating heart.
Then Adagio turned to look at Sunset, her eyes filled with the very same rage from the battle of the bands.
And Sunset knew.
“You took our voices,” Adagio rasped between gulps of air. “You were the one who defeated us, you were the reason my plan failed, you’re the reason that we’re- ah!” She choked, coughing up a dribble of blood down the front of her sweater.
Sunset felt weak. The once proud and intimidating leader of the Dazzlings looked so different now - her hair was limp, her clothes were dirtied and torn, and she was far scrawnier than before. It made sense, though, for if the pendants were how they ate-
“Are you starving?” Sunset blurted out, and regretted it almost immediately. Adagio wiped her mouth and somehow glared harder, the moonlight glancing off her narrowed eyes.
“...No,” she said eventually. “We’re human.” She paused to grit her teeth and managed, “Three humans who aren’t supposed to exist, with no source of income and barely a place to live.”
Oh.
“But we get by. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Before Adagio could get to her feet again, Sunset threw out her hand with a yelp.
“Y-you can’t just leave! Adagio, you’ve been hit by a car. You have to get to a hospital, or-!”
“And then what?” Adagio was up on her feet now, slightly hunched in order to keep pressure on her stomach. “I have no identification, no money. Tell me, Sunset Shimmer, how will going to a hospital help me in any way?”
Sunset let her hand fall, and averted her gaze. “...I guess you’re right.” Before Adagio could walk off, however, she stood to unwrap her blanket from her shoulders and thrust it towards the former siren. “But, um, here.”
A pause. Adagio made a disgusted face. “What is that?”
“It’s almost December, right? And you said you don’t have somewhere to live, so I don’t want you freezing to death or anything…” she trailed off. “Oh. This looks stupid right? You hate me. Obviously you don’t want some pity gift or-”
Adagio stared at the blanket as if it was what had ruined her life, before snatching it out of Sunset’s arms and pressing it against her chest. “Hmph. Thank you, Sunset Shimmer.”
“Oh. Uh, you’re welc-”
“But don’t think I’m taking it for anything else than survival.” She spun on her heel (well, as best as she could in her battered state) and began her slow march back into the darkness.
Sunset almost called out after Adagio, but stopped herself.
After all, she was right. This was all her fault.
The next time Sunset saw Adagio was in much happier circumstances.
It was the middle of winter, sure - late January, to be specific - and almost three feet of snow blanketed Canterlot City, which wasn’t good news. Sunset had worried about the sirens when the first snowfall came, but had clung to the hope that they were tough enough to survive on their own.
This proved true when, during her weekly shopping trip, she spotted Adagio in the cereal aisle with a list, a basket, and a ridiculously oversized winter coat.
“Hey, Adagio.”
Adagio dropped the box of off-brand cereal on her foot and spun around with a snarl. “I said I didn’t want to try the- oh.” A pause. “Hello, Sunset Shimmer.”
The two stood there in silence for a few seconds before Sunset cleared her throat. “So, uh. You’re alive.”
“Of course,” Adagio sniffed, and picked up the box so she could put it back on the shelf. “As if the cold could hurt a siren.”
“No, I meant- okay, well, the cold too, but the whole car thing-”
“It was nothing. Just scrapes and bruises, if that.” Moving down the aisle to another off brand, Adagio pulled a family-sized box off and tossed it in her basket. Sunset noticed that it was filled with the cheapest things possible - instant noodles and tv dinners were prevalent - but, if they were shopping, the sirens must have found a source of income.
Adagio noticed Sunset’s look and averted her eyes. “We sold a few things. It’s enough, for now.”
There was so much more that Sunset wanted to say, wanted to tell Adagio, wanted to scream at the top of her lungs in the middle of the grocery store I’m sorry, I didn’t want this. But she didn’t.
She didn’t, and let her guilt fester and grow even moreso.
Instead, she opened her mouth and said, “Can I buy you anything? N-not out of pity or anything, but to help-” she paused. A friend? No, of course not. “-an acquaintance,” she settled on.
Adagio’s eyelids twitched slightly, and it was almost as if she was going to say yes. But, with a heavy sigh she shook her head.
“I will not take help from you, Sunset Shimmer. We sirens are too proud to accept anything we did not take as our own.” Her face softened as she added, “But, I appreciate the gesture.”
Sunset frowned, but nodded. “Okay, then. If you’re sure.”
The look on the siren’s face expressed she was anything but. Before anything else could be said, she gripped her basket tighter and took a step away from Sunset.
“I have to go now,” Adagio said, softly. “I promised the girls I’d be home before dark.” She turned to leave the aisle, but paused in her step. Then, slowly, she turned back around.
I’m so sorry, Sunset wanted to say. She held her tongue.
“Sonata says to thank you for the blanket.”
“Oh. Um, you’re welcome.”
She could have sworn Adagio managed a very small smile, but it was gone almost as quickly as she was.
That was the last Sunset saw of her for a very long time.
The third time after the battle was late in May. The weather was nice most days, school was almost out, and the general atmosphere of the city was calm. Sunset almost managed to forget her worry for the sirens, believing that they must have been doing better.
The third time they met was also the first time that Adagio initiated contact.
Sunset had just opened the door to her apartment, expecting one of her friends or the package she had ordered a month ago. What she got instead was one antsy siren pushing into her apartment without even an ‘excuse me’ or ‘pardon the intrusion’.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Adagio said, sitting down delicately on Sunset’s couch and crossing one leg over the other. “I need you. Now”
Sunset blanched. “Wh-wha-?”
“Wait, no. Hold on, let me rephrase.” Adagio thought about it for a second before snapping her fingers. “My sisters and I need your help immediately,” she said, apparently unaware of her faux pas.
“O-oh.” Reigning in her pounding heart, Sunset put one hand on her chest and took a deep breath in. “Okay. Sure. What is it?”
“We need a place to stay. As soon as possible.”
Sunset blinked. Then blinked again, just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Adagio was still there, staring at her expectantly. Shoot.
“So that means… here?” She gave her small apartment a very obvious glance over and said, “No offense, but I have no idea how you’d all fit.”
“Oh, we can make it work,” Adagio said, glancing over her nails. She turned to look at Sunset again, her tone of voice changing from harsh to vulnerable as fast as a stoplight. “It’d just be for a week or so. Until we can find a landlord more understanding than that no good, rotten- well, you get the picture.”
So that’s it, Sunset thought to herself. I don’t see you for almost four months, and now I might have to see you every day? I mean, yeah, I was worried, but isn’t this a bit much?
Seeing her hesitation, Adagio bit her lip. “We can’t offer you much, but if it’s money you need…”
And as much as she wanted to say no, she couldn’t. She’d been the one to do this to the sirens, so wasn’t it her duty to help make it right?
There was one thing, though, that she still had to ask Adagio.
“Why me?” she said. “I thought you hated what I did to you-”
“Oh, we do,” Adagio said. Sunset’s heart sank, but rose again as Adagio continued, “We hate what has happened, not who. I… suppose that came across wrong when you found me in the alley, didn’t it?”
“I thought you hated my guts,” Sunset said, tone dry. Then she smiled. “But that’s okay. I hate my guts sometimes, too.”
And Adagio laughed. It was low and weak, the sound of someone who hadn’t felt happiness in far too long of a time.
Sunset joined in. For a moment the room was nothing but warmth, the ice around both of their exteriors thawing in the light of springtime.
“You can stay,” Sunset finally said. Her heart felt lighter than it had in a long time. “And… I’m sorry.”
Adagio nodded and got to her feet. Her eyes no longer held the hatred they had held over six months ago, the flames of anger replaced with the soft burning of understanding. “Yes. I know.”
One week turned into two, then even more. Before Sunset realized it she’d gotten used to setting the table for four, used to leaving the door unlocked for when Aria came home late, used to Sonata’s wonderful cooking.
Used to Adagio. Used to her hair being almost everywhere, her hatred of mornings, her terrible taste in television. Her surprisingly gentle side, her self-reliance, and the soft, shaky notes she’d hum to herself under her breath.
Sunset was surprised by how much about Adagio she hadn’t known before.
The summer fell into a sort of routine - get woken up by Sonata, get ready, and wake up Aria and Adagio before they slept the day away (the former had the couch, while Sonata and Adagio shared the other bed they’d purchased and placed in the corner of Sunset’s room. She didn’t mind). Then, once they’d all had breakfast together, they’d go their separate ways.
“I’m going out,” Aria mumbled around a mouthful of eggs. She was gone before Sunset could even manage a goodbye, the paintings on the walls shuddering from the impact of the door behind her.
(She had a lot more paintings now, courtesy of Aria. Sunset quite liked them.)
“Yeesh,” Sonata said, halfway through her third plate of pancakes. “She sure likes her job, huh?”
“At least she has one,” Adagio said, though her smile showed she was joking.
“Hey! I do all the cleaning around here, thankyouverymuch.”
Sunset giggled at their antics, another thing she’d gotten used to. Sibling behavior was new to her, and though she didn’t understand a lot of things, like the teasing, it was familiar now in its own way. “Yes, and we appreciate it, don’t we, Adagio?”
Adagio rolled her eyes and stabbed her eggs with her fork. “Yes, mom.”
Sonata giggle-snorted into her juice and wagged her eyebrows. “Some-one’s whiiiiiped,” she sang. Adagio made a noise not unlike a car engine stalling and stood up with enough force to send her chair skittering backwards.
“Says the girl who’d drop anything to go help a certain party planner,” she retorted.
Outwardly, Sunset laughed at Sonata’s blustering attempts to recover, but her eyes never left Adagio’s face, nor the light pink blush that had started to blossom on her cheeks.
Summer ended almost as quickly as it began, leading right back into fall. School started up again - Sunset had decided to do a victory lap at Principal Celestia’s urging. This time, she was going to apply herself like she hadn’t in the years before.
Adagio, surprisingly, was quite good at math.
“Wrong,” she said, and slid the paper back over so Sunset could furiously erase part of her notes. “You used sine instead of cosine.”
“Shoot,” Sunset grumbled. “I thought I had it this time.”
They fell into silence again, side by side in the kitchen, the only noise the scratching of Sunset’s pencil and Adagio’s slow, quiet breathing. Then-
“Sunset Shimmer.”
“I told you that you don’t have to use my last name, you know.”
“Oh. Well. Sunset, then.”
Sunset turned to the side and opened her mouth to reply, only for it to die in her throat.
Adagio’s face was inches away from her, her magenta eyes holding an emotion she had never seen before. She could almost feel her breathing, could count the freckles dotted across her cheeks, could see every flutter of her eyelashes-
And then the moment was gone as Adagio leaned past her to point a finger at her paper. “You’re using the wrong function again. Honestly, have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”
Sunset only managed to nod, heart pounding so hard she could have sworn the strings of her sweater were bouncing overtop of her chest. Instead, she focused on the warmth of Adagio’s shoulder touching hers, and subtly leaned into it. “Y-yeah. Sorry.”
All throughout the rest of the evening Sunset couldn’t focus. She only had eyes for Adagio, who was acting like nothing had happened.
At dinner she joked around with her sisters like usual, and helped Sonata clean up.
Afterwards she read beside Sunset while they put on a movie - it was Sonata’s turn, so they were watching The Little Mermaid for the nth time. Not that Sunset minded, for it allowed her to pretend to doze while she watched Adagio through a crack in her eyelids.
Throughout the movie Adagio would occasionally glance up from her book to her, and smile, which almost made Sunset’s heart leap out of her chest again. Somehow, she managed to keep up the pretence of sleep through the whole film.
Then Aria left for her night shift, complaining bitterly as usual. Sonata retreated to the bedroom to prepare for bed, leaving the other two alone on the couch.
Sunset, still ‘asleep’, heard Adagio shift around a bit beside her for a while. Then there was the snap of a book closing, and weight lifted from the couch - Adagio had left.
Before Sunset could do anything, she came back. She felt a blanket being pulled overtop of her, and the soft, soft humming that was so Adagio. A hand brushed her hair back from her forehead, and the humming grew louder as Adagio moved the covers closer to her face.
This is nice, she thought. Something warm pressed against her cheek for a second, and she let out an involuntary sigh. Yeah. Real nice.
Then, Sunset slept.
It took two more months of fumbling around Adagio before Sunset finally admitted to herself that yeah, okay, she might have liked the siren a bit more than she should have.
(Not that she would ever, ever say that out loud, lest one of her friends find out.)
Maybe they were supposed to have hated each other, to have wanted revenge or vengeance after the battle of the bands. But time had let Adagio come to terms with her humanity and Sunset had never wanted to hurt the sirens in the first place - and they ended up having much more in common than either could have thought.
Surprisingly, Aria figured it out first.
“Just ask her out already,” she said one evening, causing Sunset to nearly spit out her tea. Thankfully, Adagio was in the shower and Sonata was at Pinkie’s, saving her the embarrassment of explaining herself.
“Wh-what? No!” Sunset pushed her tea aside and looked away, not even bothering to deny her horrible, blatant attraction. “I can’t do that.”
Aria stared at her own tea for a second before looking up and saying matter-of-factly, “But you make her happy.”
A pause. Slowly, Sunset turned back to Aria. “I… I do?”
“Um, duh.” Snorting, Aria leaned back in her chair. “I mean, yeah, she was pretty pissed with you right after the battle, but I think she knows that you never wanted this to happen.” She took a sip of her drink and continued, “Plus, you’ve helped us out a lot. She appreciates it, in her own Adagio-y way.”
“Oh. Wow.” Sunset stared at her hands, her chest feeling tight for some reason. She made Adagio happy? Sure, they were friends, but… Did Adagio see her as someone more, too?
The idea of it somehow made her heart ache more than the idea of Adagio hating her.
And that was the dilemma. Should Sunset risk destroying the friends she’d built up around herself for a simple crush? Or did she keep it to herself, if it also meant keeping happiness away from both her and Adagio.
Sunset hated choices. Far better to only have one path to take, than to have to pick one over the other.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. Aria stared at her as if waiting for more, but she said nothing else.
“...Fine. But let me tell you,” Aria said, face stern in the evening light. “If there is one lesson I have learned through all my years on earth, it is far better to regret something you have done, rather than something that you haven’t.”
They were walking back from school together. Adagio was always there to join Sunset, since, as she so eloquently put it, “It’s not like I have anything more important to do after work, anyways.”
The dead leaves crunched under their shoes as they walked, a backdrop of noise to their idle conversation. Overhead was overcast and grey - it seemed the clouds could open up at any second.
“Rain, probably,” Adagio said. “Makes sense; it’s been a while.”
“Or snow,” Sunset offered. She exhaled and pointed to the cloud of air that escaped her lips with a grin. “See? It’s pretty cold.”
“Mm. I suppose it is.”
They walked for a minute in silence, save for the steady crunching of the leaves on the sidewalk. Then Adagio stopped, Sunset halting a second later.
“Adagio? What’s up?”
“I…” The siren’s cheeks were pink, though from the cold or something else Sunset couldn’t tell. Then, slowly, she held out her arm and said, “I suppose my hands are also getting cold, as well.”
Sunset’s heart skipped a beat, and suddenly she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. Time seemed to move slower and the world dropped away behind her. It was only Sunset, Adagio, and the pale hand extended in front of her.
Honestly, it was a bit cheesy, but there was no way Sunset was going to ruin the moment by mentioning it.
She stared at the hand offered to her, and, ever so slowly, reached out to take it in her own.
“I-I guess I could try to help,” she stammered. “I-I mean, if you’d like that.”
And Adagio smiled, warm and gentle like liquid sunshine. It was the sole bright spot in their dreary autumn, a beacon of hope in the chilly air that made all of Sunset’s doubts and worries and fears melt into the back of her mind.
She squeezed Sunset’s hand as they started to walk again and leaned into her with a sigh.
“Yes. I think I would like that very much.”
Author's Note
i like sundagio almost as much as sunlight sue me
