Author's Note

The day's coming to a close on Adagio, meaning it's one more day closer to the Apple Family reunion. Adagio thinks about the day so far until she bumps into an old friend, inspiring a conversation that gives her a bit of hope for the future. Things seem to be looking up for the siren.

DISCLAIMER: This story includes references to depression, depressing thoughts, insecurities, anxiety, self-harm and thoughts based around all of these concepts. If you do not want to read a story with slight references to these, I would urge you to click off.

Yeah! It's another double upload! I hope everyone is enjoying their spring breaks! Yes, I used mine to write Sundagio trash, but hey! I love the ship and it makes me happy to write this stuff~ I really enjoyed writing these chapters, but as always, criticism is always welcome! Negative and positive. I'm always willing to hear what people have to say. Once again, I want to give a HUGE thank you to my good friend Mon668 for helping me make this story the best it can be~

An Awesome Meeting

Chapter VII: An Awesome Meeting

I don’t set foot in supermarkets that often. The last time I walked in here was to buy the jacket I planned on giving Sunset for her birthday. Hell, the time before that was months ago to actually buy Sunset a gift for Christmas. Back when we weren’t friends… If groceries can qualify as a gift, I suppose the only three times I’ve gone to a supermarket in the past three years were to buy Sunset a present. This time, the present is a whole host of foods from a list she sent me by text. Apparently, she wants to try cooking a new recipe for us tonight once she gets home. But honestly? What the hell kind of recipe requires this much cheese? I’ve already gotten four packs of lasagne noodles, two jars of tomato sauce, three peppers and two seasonings. Now I’m supposed to get “as much as your arms can carry” worth of cheese. As much as I love the orange girl with a fiery passion, sometimes her antics confuse me.

But, then again, her antics are the things that inspire such nice adventures between the two of us. It’s what keeps me guessing and allows her to think of innovative ways to approach a problem. I suppose it’s another reason I love her honestly. “What is that? Reason number 56?” I ask myself as I close my eyes, putting my phone back into my pocket to pick up some cheese containers. If I wrote down the whole list of reasons to love her, I’m sure it would beat one million without getting half way. She’s just too… perfect not to love. Smiling to myself, I think about the day’s events. Today has been pretty good, honestly. I got to apologize to Fluttershy and start our way towards what can possibly be a friendship. Slowly, I put another one of the cheese containers into my cart, humming slightly to myself. The best part of it all is that I get to go home and have a nice meal with my favorite person in the whole world~ Although, I’m not trying to put down Rainbow or Apple Bloom. They’re still great people and my best friends, but it’s normal to feel this way towards your girlfriend, right? Girlfriend… It’s such an odd word. Sunset told me it’s what people call the person they’re in a relationship with. If I remember correctly, sirens didn’t really have a lot of relationships. We had ceremonies equivalent to weddings, sure, but relationships?

I never really felt attraction for someone before, but even if I did, I was determined to prove my worth as the best siren out there. Not only did I want to satisfy my own ego, I wanted to prove I was better than everyone else. Honestly, there wasn’t much to prove since there weren’t many sirens left anyway. If there’s not a lot of competition, then you’re not fighting so hard. So, I moved onto Equestria to try and get a bigger challenge. At first, it worked out, but later down the line, not so much. It’s funny that only now, in a different world, do I find someone I love. Someone who’s from the same world I’m from, so it’s twice as confusing. Love in of itself is confusing. You spend so much time wanting to make them happy and wanting to be a part of their life. There are so many times that I think about her for no reason at all, just to try and remember her fiery hair and warm smile. Hell, I never thought I would say ‘I love you’ to someone before, but here I am, awkwardly thinking about the girl who has captured my thoughts for so long now.

“Woah, woah, woah! You can’t tell me you’re seriously about to buy those!” a familiar voice exclaims beside me, startling me awake from my daydream. Instantly turning my gaze, I see the welcoming sight of a blue girl with rainbow hair, her jaw agape at my choice of cheese. “Dagi, may I ask you something? Are you out of your bucking mind!?” she asks me with an expression of shock as she instantly grabs a different kind of cheese, handing it to me as quickly as she can. “Trust me, you’ll thank me later!”

“Did you just say… bucking?” I ask slowly, still trying to comprehend the situation I’ve been tossed into. For a moment, the rainbow-haired girl blushes at her own words, bringing her palm to her face and sighing profusely.

“Damn it, AJ… Sorry, Applejack uses bucking as an alternative for the actual swear. She and I hang out a lot and I guess she’s starting to rub off on me. Ugh… Please, if you ever see me in cowboy boots, just shoot me.” Rainbow slowly chuckles at her statement looking up slightly. “But seriously though, don’t pick that cheese. It made me hurl for like weeks.”

“Weeks, huh?” I ask with a look of skepticism to my eyes, adding to my smirk. We both share a light chuckle before Rainbow shrugs her shoulders.

“Well, okay. Maybe that was an exaggeration. It was more like two or three days.” Without warning, Rainbow Dash immediately wraps her arms around me, tightly squeezing me in her embrace. It’s nowhere as strong as Apple Bloom’s hugs, but there’s possibly no way anyone could be as strong as that little steam engine. I swear that girl could pop the eyes out of Bigfoot itself. It only takes a few seconds for Rainbow to let go of me, a confident expression seizing hold of her face once more. “It’s really nice to see you, Dagi~ How are you doing? I didn’t expect to find you here~” A small giggle escapes my lips as I start to grab the cheese Rainbow recommended. Sunset wasn’t specific about which brand of this cheese, so I suppose any kind should work.

“Well, Sunset wanted me to get some groceries for her. Apparently, she wants to try a new recipe for dinner tonight~” My cheerful expression lingers on my face longer than I mean it to. Honestly, I’m really proud of Sunset for always pushing herself to try new things and to get better at the things she’s already a part of.

“Huh? I see~ Do you mind if I see what you have there?” she asks me before looking into my grocery cart anyway. I would have been a little irritated at someone for asking for my permission and doing it anyway, but this is Rainbow Dash. Oblivious comes as a second nature to her. “So, she didn’t say what it was she was cooking?” Rainbow asks me a bit suspiciously, a weird look caught in her eye.

“No, she didn’t. But I’m sure she made a good choice~ She usually does.” Once again putting a cheese container into the cart, Rainbow Dash giggles to herself, seemingly recognizing the materials in the cart. “What? Do you know what she’s making?”

“It looks like she’s planning to make lasagna to me~” Rainbow chuckles to herself, nodding at the idea. “It’s pretty good~ If you haven’t had it before, you’re about to be amazed! Well, unless Sunset uses a shitty recipe, but I feel like she can manage. I mean, she can make good toast~ That’s pretty much all I know of Sunset’s culinary skills.”

“And you can only make cereal, Dashie,” I tease her with a giggle of my own, patting her shoulder slightly.

“That’s not true, actually! I know how to make sandwiches. And I have recently acquired the skill of using a can opener!” Rainbow proudly says with a big smile. Despite my urge to tease her for the skill that is usually learned a lot sooner, I can’t really judge her since I am still learning how to use mundane things. Given, I’m from another world and she was born here. “But hey! What have you been doing recently? We haven’t really talked for like four days now other than you asking me what the address meant. Seriously, girl. Not cool. You could have at least had a small chat with me.”

A silly smile comes across my face momentarily, remembering the things I’ve done this past week. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I’ve been really busy lately, but I did go to the Apple Farm. Applejack and I did chores together as I waited for Apple Bloom, so we got a chance to talk.”

“Oh? Really? Are things going better between you two?” Dash asks me with a smile, leaning against the shelves of food. Again, she forgets her irritation almost instantly after being given an interesting conversation topic.

“I would like to think so~ Though, there’s still a lot to do before we can call each other friends, if you understand what I mean.” A sympathetic smile comes from Rainbow as she nods slowly, brushing the strands of rainbow hair out of her face before it falls right back into place.

“Yeah, AJ can be hard to become friends with. I suppose it’s even harder for someone we had beef with, huh?” A small laugh comes from the athlete as she holds her stomach, walking past me and pulling her own cart along behind her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll like ya soon enough~” Despite her kind words, my eyes are filled with confusion as I watch her walk away from me, slowly throwing a piece of gum into her mouth before locking eyes with me. “Come on~ You can tell me more as we shop~” Stopping in her tracks, our eyes stay locked for a while. I suppose talking with Rainbow for a bit as I find some more of the items on my list wouldn’t hurt…

Redirecting my cart towards Rainbow, my feet take a few short steps, a smile appearing on my lips. “Yeah, I’m coming~”

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“Huh? So, you went to Fluttershy’s house?” Rainbow states with a chuckle to herself, leaning on her shopping cart as I look at the selection of bread available.

“Yeah, I did. It was definitely nerve wracking, but I did it. Though, it made me wonder why you forgot whose house the note was directing me to,” I say with a tone of suspicion, not meeting eyes with her as I inspect the expiration dates on the loaves of bread. A small, nervous chuckle escapes Rainbow’s lips, scratching her head gently. One of her feet rests on the bottom part of the shopping cart as she slowly blows a bubble with her gum. Clearly, the sporty woman had a lot of practice with gum, given the fact that she pops the bubble easily without making a mess on her face.

“Yeah, I… kinda lied,” she admits with an embarrassed tone to her voice. “I just thought if I admitted it was Fluttershy’s house, then maybe you would be too scared to go.” The fact that she’s probably right is what scares me the most. Rainbow Dash being right about me. Well, it’s not the first time, but it means she knows me way too well.

“Maybe it was for the best anyway. At least she and I got to wash the dogs together.”

“Wait, Fluttershy wanted you to help wash the dogs?” Rainbow asks me with wide eyes, gently popping a cherry into her mouth from a container in her cart. Again, a surprised expression grips hold of my face, watching her chew the treat and wondering why she would do so with gum in her mouth. It seems my stare lasted for a little too long though, since Rainbow’s expression also turns to confusion. “What? I’m going to pay for it.”

“I have no idea why, but my first thought was to doubt that,” I state quietly as I return my gaze to the bread, trying to ignore the thought of that damned thing… Cherries are great, but cherry cheesecake is even better… “Yeah, Fluttershy asked me to help clean the dogs. Why?” A nervous laugh escapes her lips before she pops another cherry into her mouth, giggling to the pain I went through.

“Oh! Oh oh! Let me guess! You had soap suds everywhere and the dogs were running all around you, right?” Rainbow chokes out through her heavy laughter, irritating me slightly that she was right.

“What, you went through it too?”

“Of course! Practically every one of Fluttershy’s friends have helped her with it at one point. But damn. I almost feel bad that Flutters runs a daycare for pets. She probably loses sleep all the time.” A small giggle escapes her again, chewing on the berries slowly. “Though, I am glad you two got to spend time together, Dagi. Do you think things will get better between you gals?” Her question, as innocent as it is, inspires another ten questions inside my mind, despite my best efforts to keep the insecure thoughts down. Or at least keep them quiet… Of course, there’s the worry that things won’t get better… Maybe it will all get worse…

“I think so,” I try to lie as best as I can, a stone cold expression on my face as I finally pick the loaf of bread that I want. Rainbow Dash, looking at me in a curious way, nods slowly and shrugs her shoulders.

“Hey, Dagi. Let me tell you something…” Without explanation, the athlete grabs a container of peanut butter and a jar of jelly from her cart, holding one in each hand. “Being friends with someone like me is like spreading peanut butter. It’s easy depending on the circumstance, but you’re usually able to spread it with one swipe of the knife. But Flutters…? She’s more like the thick and hard to deal with jelly.” Should I be amused that her analogy actually makes sense…? “So, I’m sure things will get better between the two of you~ I’m rooting for you guys, you know?” Rainbow’s hopeful eyes stare into mine and despite my insecure thoughts flooding my mind, it still makes me feel better to hear those words said out loud.

For a moment, the urge to thank her takes hold of me, but all that comes out of my mouth is a chuckle, nodding slowly to her words. “Hey, Dashie? Can I have one of those cherries~?”

========================================

Opening the door to our apartment, I rush inside quickly, my body shaking slightly from the cold outside the walls. Even though it was still summer technically, the night’s temperature still drops significantly, whether I want it to or not. Gently dropping the sacks on the carpet, I sigh to myself, feeling the warmth of our apartment hit my skin. A small smile spreads across my lips instantly when the thought of hugging Sunset comes to my mind. I suppose it can’t be helped. I’ve been thinking about her all day, so it’s a little hard to not want to hug her. Especially if it means we can cuddle each other to sleep~ Although, I suppose we do have to have dinner… Still, the thought of it is nice after the long day.

Quickly taking my boots and socks off, I slide my jacket off my body, hanging it on the rack close to the door with my scarf. A small lingering scent of dog shampoo is still faintly in the air, probably due to how soaked my t-shirt got earlier in the day. At least it will offer a good story to talk about during dinner. While we eat lasagna and all. Honestly, Rainbow’s statement about lasagna has intrigued me ever since she said it…

Shaking my head slightly, I instantly walk into the hallway from the living room, a giant smile spread across my face. “Hey, Sunset? I’m home~” I say a little too cheerfully, thinking about holding her in my arms just once more tonight. Perhaps I’m excited due to the fact that we can finally have a movie night together again. Or maybe it’s the thought of Sunset falling asleep on me like she does all too often~ The experience never gets old though. If anything, these small little experiences help remind me how much she means to me and how much I want to be her friend for the rest of our lives~ To be her… one and only for the rest of our lives…

Opening the door knob to our room, my eyes peer inside and instantly locate Sunset sitting on our bed with a smile spread across her face, her eyes turning to me instantly. Her hands are preoccupied with feeling a pink towel in her lap. “Hi, Alligator~” Sunset says with a happy tone to her voice, her warm smile invading my mind again as she opens her arms toward me. “I’ve been waiting for you~”

Instantly walking toward her, I practically sink into her embrace as both of us feel the warmth of our bodies. Sunset’s smell fills the air and my mind equally, that all too familiar feeling of happiness encompassing my thoughts once more. “I missed you~” I tease her with a soft sigh, resting my head on her chest as we hold onto each other. The moments pass by easily enough, nothing breaking the peaceful silence other than the sounds of our own breathing. The occasional whispers of ‘I love you’ are shared between us and the love of my life plants a few kisses on my forehead during our embrace. This is… pure heaven~ I’m sure she feels like it too, since her grip hasn’t loosened at all, still holding me tightly against her own body with peaceful sighs exiting her lips.

Slowly, her hand brushes the hair out of my face, pressing her lips against my forehead once more. “I was planning on taking a shower before dinner and all, but now you’re home and it smells like maybe you need one more than me~” Sunset teases quietly with a loving tone to her voice. “Unless you’d like to join me, my sweet alligator~?”

….

Wait. What?