The first thing I got used to was the hunger. It gnawed away at me for a while, sure; all hunger does that. It's a reflex; chemicals in the body letting you know you haven't eaten, you need to eat, you need to eat now. But hunger is a message, and messages can be blocked.

So I got used to the hunger; after the first week, I hardly felt it any more. I'm not sure if the other two did; if they still do.

Why should I care about them, anyway? Both of them were idiots, are idiots, I remind myself as I slog through the rain. They're too dumb to live, too lucky to die.

I did the right thing, cutting them loose. They were dragging me down. Slowing me, getting in the way. I'd give an order, and Aria would second-guess me, try to read my mind, do what she thought I meant instead of what I said. Always watching, looking for just the right moment to slip in the knife, stab me in the back.

And then there was Sonata. That girl was clumsy, dumb, hyperactive, insane...
...Happy.

Why? Why was she so happy all the time? No matter what happened - the years of scrounging for bits of anger and malice in this putrid city, the Rainbooms' pathetic, then not-so-pathetic, attempts at stopping us...
She was always smiling. always cracking some joke, making some dumb pun just to get us groaning, just to take our minds off of-

No.

She wasn't always smiling, I have to think. Have to think of her as she is now. She was so serious. She frowned. She paced. She got mad - she even yelled at me. Me!

I was the leader! I was the brains of the operation, the glue that kept our team together! I was the cornerstone; the linchpin that everything revolved around! And she yelled at me! Where does she get off, telling me what to do!? I was the one that kept us alive, sharing my power with them when they could've gone and fed off of their own dumb things.

...Come to think of it, I don't even know what they fed off of. It doesn't matter now; I can't-won't share my food with them. They can go find some other way to live. And I'll live too. I have to.

The second thing I got used to was the cold. Equestia got cold during the winter; I can still remember the frigid waters, the floating ice... On land, though, it's strangely colder; the wind whips through my thin clothing, the rain drenching me in icy water. You'd think, after being a seafaring creature for so long, I'd be used to being wet.

...I'm not.

I keep walking. There's light up ahead; a tiny, roadside diner. I clutch my small, plastic baggie of money, green paper bills and metal coins jingling and shaking with every step. I'd scrounged under trash cans, in alleyways, and in gutters for the meager stash of $12 I hold now. I don't even know if it'll work; if I can eat human food and not die, but, at this point, it's the only thing left to try.

The mint-green light comes into clearer focus in the rain, and I see the words 'Moonlight All-Night Diner' shining through the grey. Ten more shaky, stuttering steps, and I'm at the front door, staring at it, pressing up against the glass to read the small sign set behind the door.

Closed.

They can't be closed. Why is the place closed? It's the middle of the day, they should be open! There should be food! I pound at the door, slamming my fists into it as hard as I can; as weak as I am, I barely make the thing shake. I keep at it. If I can break the door, I can get in, and...

Before I quite know what's happening, I'm on the ground, the back of my head exploding from pain. A puddle. I slipped in a puddle and now my head is cracked open, I can feel the blood, and I know I'm dying.

I'm dying.

I can't die. I can't! Not yet, not until I...

I can't think, it hurts so much, and the rain's getting in my face now and I don't care anymore, I'm just going to lie here and die and then they'll see, Aria and Sonata will cry and moan and say 'why did we ever leave her' but it'll be too late for them because I'll be dead, and then everyone will see...

And then the universe decides to taunt me. I hear whistling and footsteps. A person; an audience, someone ready and willing to watch as I breathe my last.

The steps grow closer, and I hear a gasp, a familiar one. Despite myself, despite the situation, I laugh; how fitting that Sunset Shimmer would be the one to stand and watch as I died. She breaks into a run, and a small wave of water washes over me as she skids to a stop, falling onto her knees on the wet concrete.

"Adagio!" she cries, and I feel arms around me, lifting me up.

This...
This is not Sunset Shimmer. This is not how things are supposed to go. I've seen her; she's meek, and timid, and quiet; she wouldn't run and help, she'd stand and watch. Who is this girl, wearing Sunset's face, her eyes boring into mine? I stare into them, and I see the same fire shining in them that I saw that night when she stood in front of us and destroyed us. She's saying something, but I can hardly hear her. I'm just staring at her... Wondering when she got so strong.

"Adagio, answer me!" she cries.

There's no point in speaking, no point in doing anything now. I'm dying, can't she see that? Even if the liquid running down the back of my head is just rainwater, I'm still starving, still about to die. Can't she see that? Can't she just leave me alone?

She scans me, her eyes flitting across my emaciated form before filling with understanding. She knows it's too late. Then... She lifts something from her backpack and presses it to my lips.

"Open." she commands, and, shocked as I am, I obey, the texture of bread on my tongue, the flavor of meat and cheese and that strange non-fluid-non-solid they call 'mayonnaise'. I bite down, and bliss fills my mouth. At this moment, it doesn't matter if I'm dying, or if the person holding the sandwich is the same person who forced me into this life. All that matters is the food, and eating it, chomping down, tearing bites off, trying to get as much of it before she takes it away. But she doesn't. She lets me eat the entire thing, until I'm so full I can barely keep from vomiting. I have to hold it in, have to keep the food, even if it probably won't ease my hunger. I need this.

As deep in concentration as I am, I don't notice what Sunset's done until we're moving, my body slung across her shoulder. My back hits something; an umbrella. She walks, carrying me like this, for what seems like an eternity.

"I-" I try to speak, but she shushes me.

"Save your energy." she says quietly, her voice shaking.

I obey, resting as much as I can as she walks and walks and walks. I can feel the rocking motion, combined with the sandwich, send me slowly down into blackness; not the blackness of death, but of sleep.

The last thing that runs through my head before I black out is that I'm not going to die. It's a comforting thing to know, and I smile as I drift off, still rocking gently in Sunset's arms.