Author's Note
A wise man once said, "Nothing good happens after 2:00 a.m."
This story is proof of that.
You need my what?
The sun shined brightly through the west-facing window of Sunset Shimmer’s apartment on a particularly beautiful Saturday afternoon in Canterlot City, and frankly it was beginning to bother Sunset. The light coming in through said window kept shining right in her eyes as she tried to paint a few clouds onto her canvas.
“Wish I could paint some clouds into the actual sky,” She said to herself as she walked on over to the window and closed the curtains, giving her the slightly darker atmosphere she desired. “Much better.”
Normally on a Saturday afternoon such as this one Sunset would be hanging out somewhere with her friends, but this Saturday afternoon proved to be just about anything but normal. As it so happened, every single one of her friends had plans today that made it impossible for them to get together, so Sunset was forced to find something she could do solo to help pass the time. She considered a few options like starting a new book or recording a video for her gaming channel, but in the end she decided to go with painting since it was something she hadn’t done for a while...outside of art class at least.
While Sunset considered herself more of a street artist than a traditional painter, she still found the act of putting brush to canvas to be a very calming and relaxing experience. Especially when she painted along to a series that promoted the joy of painting, like she was right now.
“Okay, back to it,” She said as she un-paused her TV and picked up her painting supplies.
“Now maybe we have another happy little tree that lives right over here,” A man on the TV said. “Start with just the corner of the brush, just the corner of the brush, and begin pushing, making the bristles bend slightly downward as you paint.”
“This guy sure likes trees,” Sunset commented as she followed along with the man’s instructions and began to paint another happy little tree onto her canvas.
Within no time Sunset finished painting her tree, and just as she was about half-way through adding a few highlights into it she heard the sound of someone knocking on her front door.
“Wonder who that could be?” She asked herself curiously, not recognizing the style of knocking, as she once again paused her painting program and made her way over to the door.
Once Sunset reached the door, she opened it and saw one of the last people she ever expected to see standing on the other side of it.
“Adagio Dazzle?!” She exclaimed as she took a step backwards, not only in surprise but also in worry that the Dazzling leader was at her doorstep because she was seeking vengeance against her.
“Relax, Sunset Shimmer,” Adagio nonchalantly told her, sensing her unease. “I’m not here to fight you or anything like that.”
Upon hearing this, Sunset did relax a little bit and took a step closer towards the Dazzling.
“O-Okay,” She replied, sounding a tad wary. “So, why are you here then?”
“I need your socks,” Adagio answered plainly. "Just a few pairs."
It took Sunset a few seconds to fully process what Adagio had just said, and even then she still felt as confused as a chameleon in a bag of skittles.
“You need my what?” She asked in her confusion.
“Your socks,” Adagio reiterated. “You know, the things you put on your feet before your shoes.”
“Yeah, I know what socks are,” Sunset said, sounding a bit irritated that Adagio seemed to think she didn’t know what socks are. “What I don’t understand is why you’re saying you need me to give you mine?”
“I just need them, okay?” Adagio very crudely answered as she rolled her eyes in a derisive fashion and held out her right hand. “So can I have them already?”
It was at this point that Sunset felt more confused than she’d ever felt before in her life. Not only was Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the Dazzlings, randomly asking her for her socks, but she was acting as though she were somehow entitled to them.
“No!” She answered in a very clear and bewildered manner.
Adagio, in response, lowered her right hand, gently clenched it into a fist, and gave the Rainboom a mildly intimidating glare.
“Why not?” The Dazzling asked irksomely.
“Because they’re my socks and I need them,” Sunset sternly retorted. “And because you won’t even tell me why it is you’re saying you need them in the first place.”
There were a few seconds of silence as the two girls just sort of stared each other down, which only came to an end when Adagio decided to speak up again.
“How many pairs of socks do you have, Sunset?” The Dazzling asked.
In truth, Sunset wasn’t exactly sure how many pairs of socks she owned. Between buying bundles of socks, throwing them away as they got worn out, and buying more bundles of socks to replace them, she didn’t know off the top of her head how many she had.
“I don’t know, maybe…ten,” She answered, going with her best ballpark estimate.
“And how often do you do laundry?” Adagio then inquired.
As soon as Adagio asked her this question, it became clear-as-day to Sunset what the Dazzling was trying to do. She was trying to figure out if there was ever a period of time where she had more socks than she needed, and if there was she’d then ask for all of her extra socks.
“Once a week,” She said.
“Okay then, so if you do laundry every seven days and have ten pairs of socks, that means you have three pairs of socks to spare.” Adagio replied as she once more extended her right hand outwards. “So can I have those extra three pairs of socks, please?”
Sure enough, Sunset had been correct about where Adagio had been heading with her series of questions.
Despite the fact that she’d seen Adagio’s latest request for socks coming, Sunset still felt the need to give an exhausted sigh and lower her head as she closed her eyes and brought a hand up to her forehead. She couldn’t believe that Adagio still wasn’t understanding that the problem didn’t have anything to do with how many socks she could afford to part with, but that she was asking her to part with them for no discernable reason.
“Look, Adagio,” She said as she opened her eyes, lowered her hand, and started to lift her head back up. “I’m not just going to -”
Sunset immediately cut herself off when she noticed something that she hadn’t until just now; Adagio wasn’t wearing any socks.
It was then that Sunset started to recall the last time she’d seen Adagio and her sisters, back at the Starswirl Festival. Specifically, she started to recall the van they’d been using as a tour bus, and how it looked more like a mobile apartment than simply a tour bus. Could it be that the Dazzlings were actually calling that van home because they were struggling so much, and that the reason Adagio was asking for socks right now was because they couldn’t afford to buy new ones? The very thought was heartbreaking, even if it was the Dazzlings.
The more Sunset thought about it, the more likely it seemed that she was right. Not only based off of the fact that Adagio was sockless right now, but it would also explain why Adagio was being so adamant about keeping her reason for needing her socks a secret. Even in the Dazzling’s most desperate hour, Sunset knew that Adagio would never admit to actually needing help.
“You know, I think I can spare a few pairs of socks,” Sunset said as she fully lifted her head back up to address Adagio. “Wait right here.”
Adagio didn’t say anything in response as Sunset gently closed the door on her.
Wasting no time, Sunset hurried over to her dresser and pulled out a few pairs of socks to give to Adagio. She wasn’t quite sure how many she’d grabbed or if she’d left enough to get her through until she did laundry again, but she didn’t care. Adagio and her sisters needed them more than she did, plus she could always go out and get more socks for herself if she needed to anyways.
And so, with socks in hand, Sunset returned to the door, opened it, and held the pieces of clothing out in front of her.
“Here you go,” She said as she handed Adagio her socks.
“Thank you, Sunset,” Adagio replied gratefully with a mild smile before she turned around and started to walk away.
“Wait, Adagio,” Sunset called out to the Dazzling before she got too far away, causing Adagio to turn back around and face her. “If…if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask, okay?”
“Thanks for the offer,” Adagio replied back. “But these should be enough.”
As Sunset watched Adagio turn back around and continue to walk away, she wished that there was more she could do to help the Dazzlings, but she was glad that she’d at least been able to help them in the small way that she just had. Once Adagio was out of site, she closed the door and went back to her painting.
“Okay now, I think our happy little tree needs a friend, so we’re going to give him one,” The man on the TV said after Sunset un-paused it. “Everybody needs a friend, even trees.”
Sunset couldn’t help but dawn a small smile as she started to give her happy little tree a friend.
“Yeah, everybody needs a friend,” She said genially.
It only took Sunset about ten more minutes to finish her painting, after which time she put it aside to dry before hanging it and decided to play a few videogames while she waited. Though, as was usually the case with Sunset when she started playing videogames, she let time completely slip away from her and she continued to play long after her painting had finished drying. It wasn’t until about two hours later when her phone rang that she finally snapped out of her gaming trance.
“Huh, Rainbow Dash,” She said as she picked up her phone, saw Rainbow Dash’s name displayed on it, and answered it. “Hey, Rainbow, what’s up?”
“Sunset, you’re not going to believe this,” Rainbow Dash said through her phone. “I’m at the library right now and -”
“You’re at the library right now?” Sunset interrupted. “You’re right, I don’t believe it.”
“Hey, I’m here to get a book I need for English Lit.,” Rainbow retorted. “And that’s not why I’m calling you. I’m calling because there’s a sock puppet show going on right now in the kid’s section.”
“So?” Sunset asked. “The library usually does stuff like that for kids on Saturdays, what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that the ones who’re putting on the sock puppet show are the Dazzlings!” Rainbow informed her.
Sunset nearly dropped her phone when she heard this.
“Come again?” She very flatly said.
“I said the Dazzlings are putting on a sock puppet show,” Rainbow Dash repeated. “They must have at least two dozen sock puppets made from all different kinds of socks, and they’re actually not half-bad looking. The whole thing is totally crazy. You gotta come and see this.”
“Y-Yeah,” Sunset replied before she hung up her phone.
Silence filled the apartment for the next few seconds as a metaphorical assortment of gears began to turn within Sunset’s head. And as those gears began to move, everything soon fell into place in its own weird and wild way.
“Sock puppets,” She said to herself, as if trying to convince herself of the reality of the situation. “Adagio needed my socks…to make sock puppets.”
While this didn’t quite explain why it was that Adagio had come seeking her socks specifically, it did at least provide a plausible explanation for why Adagio was sockless earlier. In all likelihood, it was because she’d already turned her own socks into sock puppets.
Part of Sunset wanted to go down to the library and take her socks back from Adagio even if they’d already been turned into sock puppets, but that part of her was overshadowed by her curiosity about what a sock puppet show put on by the Dazzlings looked like. That, and she was curious as to why they were even putting on a sock puppet show in the first place.
“Yep, this is definitely something I have to see,” She remarked as she got up from the couch, made her way out the door, and headed straight for the library as quickly as possible so she could catch the rest of the Dazzlings’ sock puppet show.
