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Sunset's Isekai

by Wanderer D

Chapter 61: Movable Do (Ambergris — Complete)

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Sunset's Isekai
Movable Do (Ambergris — Complete)
By Wanderer D & Pascoite

Canterlot High School’s last bell rang, but it took Sonata Dusk a few seconds to fully register it. She’d spent the last ten minutes staring out the window anyway, and she finally wrested her attention to the notebook and pen she needed to cram into her bag before she went…

Home?

Where was home anymore? She still had the apartment she used to share with Aria and Adagio, but they lived across town now. Had jobs, went to a different school. Left her behind.

Except Adagio started hanging around here again. And being… nice? Not mean, anyway. Adagio had tried to explain to her why, but it never quite made sense. But she thought that was what people called 'nice.' People called Sunset Shimmer and her group of friends nice, and Adagio had been acting a lot like them in the last year.

Still, an empty apartment. Or go to her boyfriend Gridiron’s house.

She stood up and strode out into the hallway, looking down the whole time, which meant accidentally bumping a few people on her way. It didn’t make any of them mad. So many people were 'nice' here. A few even asked her if she was okay. How could they tell?

Her boyfriend’s house. She’d lived there off and on for the past year and a half. Until someone, usually Sunset or Adagio, would tell her to leave him. Well, not tell her. “You need to,” as they’d phrase it. So she obeyed. Then he’d tell her to get back together with him. So she obeyed.

No, he wasn’t nice, but Adagio didn’t used to be either, and they got along fine. All of a sudden that wasn’t good enough? She followed Adagio’s orders, she followed Gridiron’s—what difference did it make?

So what kept nagging at her brain to listen to them? It didn’t make sense! Talking about what she deserved. Sonata wasn’t the leader. She didn’t deserve anything. Why couldn’t everyone just make up their minds?

The sound of motors told her to look up. The crosswalk signal ahead of her still shone green, but it had started to blink. She could make it if she rushed, then go on to her apartment. Or she could turn left, wait for that crosswalk, and go to Gridiron’s house.

Which way?

She walked up to the pole. Two buttons. She rested her forehead against the cold metal. Why couldn’t she decide? Why would that make her cry? There were lots of other people around. Couldn’t she just ask one of them to tell her what to do? That was all she needed: someone to give her an order.

Her ears started to ring.

The traffic signals cycled again and again, and a few times, people asked her something—she didn’t hear what—and put a hand on her shoulder, but moved on when their turn came. Eventually, her turn would have to come, too.

So she sniffled and straightened up. Then she noticed the sign, a colorful chalk drawing propped against the wall. Funny, she didn’t remember ever seeing a door there. But the sign had a nice-looking drink on it, and a line about special appetizers. It was Tuesday today, right? Maybe mini tacos then?

But below all that, taking up the bottom half of the sign, was exactly the thing she needed now. Orders: “Come on in!”

So she obeyed.

Sunset had always considered the image of a bartender incessantly wiping down the counter and cleaning glasses to be hopelessly cliched. Actually becoming a bartender had completely changed her estimation of how often that needed doing. And it seemed like any day she tried to grab a spare moment to retreat into the office and go over the finances, Rarity would conveniently show up and shoo her out of there. At least Sunset still had the stockroom well within her personal domain—far too much dust for Rarity’s taste.

Of course, the bar also had the impeccable timing to let in a new guest just as she finished putting the last mug—

The bell on the door tinkled. Oh, was it already time for one of her regular get-togethers? A captain from the group must have shown up early.

Sonata Dusk stood there, staring at her vacantly.

Sunset patted a hand on the counter and beckoned the other toward a barstool. “Have a seat!” she said with a smile. Sonata did exactly that, and rather robotically, which—well, Sunset had to do a bit of quick mental calculus. A Sonata used to following orders, but not looking very cheerful. That still didn’t narrow it down too much.

Though she did climb into the stool, Sonata’s gaze remained fixed on the countertop. So Sunset slipped one of her laminated menus where her guest would see it. “Just let me know if you see anything that grabs your interest, okay?”

After a good ten seconds, Sonata’s eyes did traverse the top of the menu. But then she looked up and squinted. “I just saw you at school. How’d you get over here so fast?”

Sunset let out a quick sigh. She’d gone through this enough to recite it like a prepared speech. These days, the point was to make it sound like it wasn’t a prepared speech. “I’m not the Sunset you know. I’m from another reality, which may be very similar to yours, judging by your appearance, but—”

“Oh, so that’s what Adagio meant by there being two of you,” Sonata said with a flick of her wrist. And, thank goodness, a hint of a smile.

Well, that made things simpler. “So you already got the lowdown. Nice,” Sunset replied with her friendliest grin. “What can I get you to drink, then?”

And Sonata’s eyes glazed over. “What do you want me to drink?”

Sunset shrugged. "I have a whole selection of drinks for you, anything that strikes your fancy would be a good start. I’d like you to drink whatever would make you happy.”

“It would make me happy to do what you want me to.” Sonata’s weak smile began to look rigid around the edges.

Okay, maybe they’d get back to a drink order a little later. “Did Adagio also tell you that people come in here to talk about their problems?”

“Mmhmm.”

“So… do you have something you wanted to talk about?” Sonata’s shoulders immediately hunched up, so Sunset didn’t let the inevitable silence hang. “Nothing to worry about in here. It helps to talk things over with a friend, but only when you’re ready.”

That did get Sonata’s eyes to clear again, but her tentative smile bent into a frown.

Maybe a little prodding wouldn’t hurt. There was only so much she knew about Sonata, after all, but experience had taught her that sometimes waiting for someone to open up led to very long waits which ended frustrating them. “Is there something bothering you?”

“I dunno,” she said, shrugging.

Getting anything out of this kind of Sonata was always an exercise in careful phrasing. “What were you thinking about just before you came in here?”

Sonata rested her chin on a hand. Not a dead end, then, or Sunset would have only gotten another shrug from her. And back to the matter of drink choice—she could whip up a few different things and see what Sonata liked. Adagio and Aria had enjoyed the Duck Dodgers she’d made them, so that was as good a starting place as any, especially considering that a quick glance at what the bar had chosen for a menu contained nothing alcoholic.

They were rather quick to mix as well, but another prompt might help get Sonata back. “Do you remember? What you were thinking about?” Sunset stirred a few ingredients together in a sample-sized glass.

Still no answer. But Sonata did take the glass and sniff it.

“I was going to ask if you’re old enough to drink, but there’s no alcohol in that, so it doesn’t matter.”

Sonata gave it a taste, then gulped down a bigger swallow. “Mmm. Kinda fruity.”

“How old are you anyway? I guess I never asked any of you before.”

With the hand curled around her glass, Sonata pointed at Sunset. “You know, I never thought about that much. Taking into account how old we were when we got banished and how long we’ve been here… well, I don’t know that time flows the same in both places. Plus I’ve always wondered if there’s some sort of event horizon to the portal Star Swirl used that might cause a time dilation effect, but—” she snorted a laugh and covered her mouth with her free wrist “—if it was a true singularity, then I guess from your point of view, we’d still be hanging suspended and motionless, and we obviously got here, so…”

Sunset gaped at her.

“Totally,” Sonata added before finishing her drink. “Oh, and the sign outside said something about appetizers. I was hoping there was a chance…”

Only one thing Sonatas ever asked for. “They’re just some frozen mini-tacos I can toss in the microwave.”

Of course, Sonata wore an immense grin and nodded rapidly. But as her eyes wandered over Sunset’s shoulder, her smile melted into a scowl. Sunset glanced behind her, and… no surprise.

“The bar knows,” she said, patting Sonata’s hand. “Didn’t you notice? None of the drinks on the menu I gave you had any liquor in them.” Sonata gave her a curious squint. “I assume this has something to do with Aria.”

Sonata almost locked up, but before that could happen, Sunset opened the freezer under the bar and pulled out a box of tacos, shaking it. It only got a halfhearted smile back. “Yeah,” she answered. “That stuff about ruined Aria’s life. I don’t want anything to do with it.”

At least that was a sign that there was a will, hidden in there.

In the microwave the mini tacos went, and Sunset punched in the time. “I understand. We’ll take care of you here.” Halfway turned back to her guest, Sunset paused. Right there by the microwave, appropriately enough. She took down the photo of her, Adagio, and Aria, then set it on the counter next to her drink. “Have you seen this one before?”

Sonata grinned a little more genuinely at it, but did she flinch as well?

“Yeah. Adagio has that on her phone.”

She kept watching the photo as if she expected it to move, and she pulled her ponytail over her shoulder, running her fingers through it. Maybe she’d calmed down enough to try again. But some food wouldn’t hurt either, Sunset noted as the microwave beeped at her.

Soon enough, the steaming plate sat in front of Sonata. “You got any hot sauce?” she said.

“Uh huh,” Sunset replied, reaching for the fridge handle, “I keep some around for Bloody Marys.” And a jolt of ice wrapped itself around Sunset’s skin. Way to mention an alcoholic drink. But Sonata hadn’t seemed to hear. Out on the counter it went, too, and Sonata dumped a generous splotch of it across one of the tacos.

They did smell good, so Sunset helped herself to one. But Sonata could have the rest. “Do you think,” Sunset said as she sucked the grease off her fingers, “you could tell me what’s bothering you?"

Another shrug, and Sonata resumed staring at the counter.

“I won’t make you.” Sunset leaned over the counter and spoke softly. “That’s why the bar is here, though. It knew you needed help with something.”

Sonata had finished chewing. So she stuffed another taco in her mouth, but she did roll her eyes back toward the photo.

“I promise. Whenever you’re ready you can tell me what has you upset.” Oh yeah, watch the phrasing. “Just… what you were thinking about when you saw my sign outside.”

A few times, Sonata’s eyes flicked between Sunset and the wooden surface between them. But knowing Sonata, maybe she was deciding whether to talk and maybe she actually didn’t remember. Finally, she folded her arms and took a breath. “I was going home.”

A start, at least. But Sonata didn’t look poised to continue. “And…? Is something bad happening at home?”

Sonata shook her head. Something else about home, then. Was she missing Equestria? Sweet Celestia, the logistics of getting permission for a siren to visit or, perish the thought, go back to live there? This could get difficult.

“I don’t know where home is.”

When Sunset glanced back, Sonata was staring at her with the most pleading look. How could she say no to that? But it just confirmed—

“Right out there on the corner,” Sonata said, pointing toward the door. “If I go straight, it leads to our apartment. Well—” she pursed her lips “—used to be ours, before Adagio and Aria moved out. Or I could go left, to Gridiron’s house.” She fiddled with a brown friendship bracelet on her left wrist. “Please, just tell me where to go. I’ll do whatever you say.”

Oh. Sunset’s jaw had already clenched, as well as one of her fists. But she managed to keep her voice under control. “You’re still… dating him?”

Sonata cocked her head sideways and shrugged, but she’d resumed watching the counter.

“You won’t look at me when you say that. Does that mean you realize something’s wrong with it?”

Another shrug greeted her, but accompanied by a faint sniffle. So Sunset willed her fist to loosen and gently took Sonata’s hand. “Look,” she said, “I know you’ve heard this lots of times before, but he doesn’t treat you well. You deserve better.”

Sonata tried to shrug again, but she only got one shoulder going. “You always say that.” Then she squinted. “I mean, the Sunset I know always says that. But it’s never made sense.”

Which thread to tackle first? Talking about her Sunset didn’t seem to freeze her up, so maybe save that for the backup plan. She shook her head, pacing behind the bar. "I mean, he doesn't have anything to offer right? He's just some guy that took advantage of you being in a vulnerable state… you're smart, pretty, and you have a long respectable history behind you. Why would you want to be with someone who hurts you?”

“He…” She peered up as if at a parent who’d caught her stealing cookies. “He told me to?”

Sunset balled her other fist and opened her mouth to—

“But then Sunset—other Sunset—tells me not to, and so do her friends, and—” She let out a growl. “Why can’t everyone make up their minds?”

Already, the pitfalls stood out. If Sunset could just step around them. “That’s different, though. Adagio has only ever told you to stay away from him, right? She’s not changing her mind.”

Another shrug. “Iunno. I still keep getting people telling me to do both.”

“What does Adagio say to you?” Sunset asked, leaning in and relaxing her hand.

“She says I don’t have to listen to everyone who gives me orders, and I ask who then, and she says teachers and principals…” She bobbed her head like a child’s recitation. “And then I ask her if she’s one, too. She doesn’t ever answer me. She just looks away. And sometimes cries a bit.” Sonata got that same imploring look again. “Why would she do that? I don’t understand.”

Sunset allowed herself a little smile. This was going well so far. “What does Adagio do after that?”

Sonata straightened up in her seat and shook her head. “She hugs me. And she says she loves me. She never used to do that, never, until maybe a year ago, and I don’t know why. Is she trying to manipulate me or something? But she never asks me to do anything. I wonder what she wants from me, and she says nothing, and why would she be nice to me for nothing? What does she mean by it?” For a moment, she sat there in silence, opening her mouth but not saying a word. Finally, she pushed out: “Something changed with her. Maybe that’s part of it.”

With a smile, Sunset nudged the plate of tacos. “Go on. Have as many as you like.”

Sonata did take one, but she paused while uncapping the hot sauce. “Gridiron tells me that too. He says he loves me.” She glanced down at the friendship bracelet again. “But then so do Adagio and… and Aria, too!” At the mention of that name, Sonata brightened right away. “They both say not to listen to him. But why should I listen to Adagio either?”

This was treading dangerously close to one of those pitfalls. “Does Gridiron still hit you?”

“No, he only did that once. It made a lot of people mad.” Then she slathered on some hot sauce and took a bite of taco. “I dunno. It’s not like it was a big deal,” she mumbled.

“Did Adagio ever do that, even… back then?”

Sonata frowned. “Well… no.”

To be honest, Sunset hadn’t known the answer to that one beforehand. Differentiating Adagio of today from Adagio of a couple years ago might be too subtle for Sonata to follow, but if even old Adagio hadn’t sunk to the level of Gridiron, that would mitigate Sunset’s biggest obstacle. Time to handle it head-on, then.

"But," Sonata continued, oblivious to Sunset's thoughts, "Gridiron also keeps telling me to stay away from them. He doesn't want me around Adagio and Aria, and he doesn't want me around Sunset and the others." She picked up a mini taco from one end and dragged the other end across the sauce on the plate, coating it before throwing it into her mouth. "He's told me that I'll be happier if I just stay with him and not see them."

Red flags turned into warning bells. “Does he still insult you?”

Sonata took her last bite and flicked her empty hand. “Yeah, but Adagio always used to do that, too. But…” She paused in her chewing. “Then she stopped.”

“When?”

“Um. About the time she left, I guess. Just before she—” Sonata gulped and looked up with a new light in her eyes. “Just before she started telling me she loved me.”

“Think about your sisters, and their friends, and people who don't like seeing you hurt, even if you're not too close to them. They all tell you that he's not good for you, and ask you to walk away to be surrounded by others who like you," Sunset said gently. "The only one who tries to isolate you and insult you is him. Maybe that should tell you which one is worth listening to. Loving someone means wanting the best for them, after all. Not mistreating them.”

And now she’d lost Sonata. Her frown returned, and her forehead creased. “But what’s best for me doesn’t matter. Or… the best for me is to make sure things are the best for Adagio.”

“Have you considered that might be the way she feels about you?” If anything, Sonata looked even more confused now. Not quite in full locked-up mode yet; Sunset was rather impressed she’d gotten this far. “Let’s try this: Would you switch places with her? Would you want Gridiron treating Adagio the way he treats you?”

“If she wanted him to, sure,” Sonata replied as if she had something caught in her throat.

“What if she didn’t want him to?”

“Then she’d leave.” Immediately, Sonata let out a short giggle, and Sunset raised an eyebrow at it. “Aria asks me that all the time!”

Yeah, Adagio had mentioned before that those two had formed a special bond. “Okay, make it Aria, then. What if she wanted to leave but couldn’t? What if she was scared to? What would you tell her?”

Now Sonata tensed up like she had forgotten to study for a test. “I… Adagio would tell her—”

“No, what would you tell her?”

“I don’t tell her to do things.”

“Even if she asked you what she should do?”

Sonata traced her finger around the rim of the plate, and she sounded so small. “She wouldn’t ask me that. I’d let Adagio tell her.”

“You don’t even have a wish you keep to yourself? If she stayed only because he told her to, but it hurt her to—” Time for a big gamble. Sunset had heard enough about what Gridiron did, but Sonata might assume Sunset agreed with him if she said it wrong. “If it hurt her to constantly be told how stupid she is?”

Right away, Sonata looked up, blinking back tears and clenching her jaw. “I’m not stupid,” she growled.

“Of course not.” She’d been holding Sonata’s hand for a while now. She gave it a squeeze and flashed a gentle smile. “Anyone can see that. It still hurts to be insulted. Especially by somebody who supposedly loves you.”

“Adagio insulted me all the time,” Sonata muttered.

“But not anymore.”

A sigh escaped her, and Sonata picked at the bracelet. “No.”

“I don’t suppose if Adagio were in your situation you’d ever tell her what to do either.”

Nobody tells Adagio what to do. Well…” She twirled a finger through her ponytail.

The prospect of speaking about herself in third person always felt a bit strange, as used to it as she was by now. “Um… Sunset told her what to do, right?”

Sonata pressed her thumb to a stray bit of shredded cheese on the plate and raised it to her lips. “I guess. I dunno. I get the feeling it wouldn’t make her mad, at least. Not now.”

So Sunset gulped. Sonata had already answered this question, in essence. But she hadn’t made the connection. “Do you think Gridiron loves you, really?”

Sonata shifted her eyes to the side. “No,” she mumbled. “But does it matter?”

"Of course it does," Sunset whispered. "It matters because if you're loved, you're cared for. If you're loved, you're safe." She took a deep breath. "Do you think Adagio loves you?”

Her eyes began to tear up again, but she gave a timid, hurried nod.

“Do you love Adagio?” Minutes stretched on, but still no answer. Sonata would only stare, her eyes glazing over. Frozen up at last. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to invite Adagio in. Aria, too. I think it would help,” Sunset said gently. Even if they didn’t make any more headway, it might comfort her to have them there.

Of course Sonata didn’t reply, but she didn’t seem to react negatively, either. And only a few breaths later, the bell on the door jingled.

Adagio strode in, a couple envelopes clenched in her teeth, a backpack looped over her wrist, and a set of keys dangling from her fingers. She stopped dead in her tracks for a second and blinked once, looking very much like a burglar who realized he’d just broken into the police station. In the next second, she dropped what she was holding and began rushing to Sunset, wearing an enormous grin and with her arms outstretched for a hug, then noticed Sonata slumped over the counter. Her face fell.

She placed a hand on Sonata’s back. “What’s wrong?”

In her current state, Sonata of course didn’t answer. Adagio raised an eyebrow at Sunset.

“I took a crack at her,” Sunset said.

Adagio’s other eyebrow joined its raised companion. “Gridiron?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah. I actually got a lot farther with her than I would have expected before she zoned out. So… progress, maybe?”

With a nod of her own, Adagio leaned in close to Sonata’s ear. “This is the Sunset I told you about,” she murmured. “The one who helped us when Aria got so scared about work.”

Surprisingly, Sonata raised her head. “She already explained that to me,” she slurred.

“I’ve never been able to wrangle getting her or my Sunset here for a visit,” Adagio said, more to the air than anything. But then she did turn to Sunset. “So now you finally get to meet Sonata!” Adagio reached around Sonata to give her a hug, so Sunset let her hand go. “It’ll be okay. I love you. You know that, right?”

Sonata huffed out a sigh. “You’re going to tell me to stay away from Gridiron, aren’t you?”

At first, Adagio opened her mouth. But she lightly touched Sonata’s shoulder with her free hand and… Well, Sunset could describe it best as deflating. “No.”

Sonata whipped her gaze around, a thousand questions dangling from her lips.

“You already know that’s what I want,” Adagio said, “but I’m not going to tell you to. It doesn’t mean anything if I’m the one choosing.” She tapped a finger at Sonata’s forehead, and Sonata crossed her eyes up at it. “Unless you’re the one making the choice, it won’t help. And it’s time to let you make that choice. So no, I’m not going to order you.”

Sonata’s lip trembled, and she began to sniffle again. “But I don’t want to choose! That’s the whole problem! Just… somebody tell me what to do!”

Her eyes squeezing shut, Adagio shook her head. “I love you. I hope you believe that. No matter what you do, I’ll love you. But you need to learn to love yourself enough to make a good choice. You—” Her shoulders hunched for a moment, and she rubbed her eyes. “You also need to love Aria and me enough to avoid causing us the pain of seeing you get hurt.”

“Love… myself?”

Sunset’s ears perked at that. From what she had heard, that was the key realization that had brought Aria around. And it had been a fairly alien concept to Adagio, too. No surprise that Sonata might struggle with it. But…

Wow, it still nearly brought Sunset to tears just thinking about it: how she had sunk to the lowest point herself. So many Sunsets had done that, her included. But this Adagio’s Sunset had triumphed over it so supremely that she’d guided Adagio through her own transformation, then Adagio had passed the favor on to Aria. What a wonderful gift to know a version of herself had made such a difference.

“Yes,” Adagio continued. “That’s part of realizing you deserve good things, just like everyone else. Aria and I both know how hard a lesson that was to learn. We couldn’t understand how anyone would ever like us. And if nobody else did, then why would we either? But… ugh—” she screwed up her face “—as petty and mean as we both were, you’ve rarely been anything but sweet. It’s no wonder people would take to you quicker than us.”

“Speaking of Aria,” Sunset said, “why hasn’t she shown up yet?” Sunset glanced toward the door. As Adagio had told her the first time they’d met, Sonata had gravitated more to Aria in their efforts to help her. She really should be here for this.

Adagio pulled out her phone and checked for any missed texts. She shrugged and shook her head. “She’ll be along soon enough.” Then she turned back to Sonata. “If you make Aria and me out to be something special, and we both love you, doesn’t that mean something? Wouldn’t that say you’re worth it?”

But Sonata’s face went blank again. At least she nestled into Adagio’s hug a little.

Leaning forward, a bit in front of Sonata, Adagio smiled at her, then slid into the barstool next to her. “I see the tacos were a hit,” she said, gesturing toward the empty plate.

“How’d you know—?”

“It’s Tuesday,” Adagio began, keeping a tally on her fingers, “it’s Sonata, and it’s this bar.”

“Fair enough.”

Then Adagio bumped her fist against Sonata’s empty glass. “Looks like she needs a refill, though. I wouldn’t mind one myself.”

“What can I get you? The usual?” Sunset plucked a menu card off its stand and gave it a sidelong glance before sliding it over the counter. A pretty standard assortment of drinks, she noted.

As she traced her finger down the page, Adagio got a faraway look in her eyes. “Y’know, I don’t mind liquor, but it wouldn’t be fair to drink in front of Aria, assuming she’s on her way. And this one—” she jabbed a thumb at Sonata “—knows how it screwed up Aria’s life. She wouldn’t be too keen on it, either.” She slid the menu back and gave Sonata’s glass a sniff. “Duck Dodgers, huh? Go figure. Make it two.”

Sunset busied herself with mixing their drinks, and Adagio squeezed Sonata’s hand. “It may not be the answer you came in here looking for, but Aria and I are always in your corner.”

“Count me in, too,” Sunset added as she popped up from the fridge with a bottle of cola. She couldn’t quite tell if any of that had registered with Sonata, though. Maybe if she brought down the tension a bit. “Hey, Sonata, what clubs are you in at school this year?” A little small talk might lighten the mood.

Sonata did perk up. “Um… I’m helping out some with chorus.”

“Huh,” Sunset replied. “You had some pretty advanced ideas about that mirror portal, too. I’m surprised you aren’t in the physics club.”

“Eh, I dunno.”

“Are you kidding!?” Adagio burst out. “You ace every science test I’ve ever seen you take. If anything, other club members would hold you back.”

A flick of the wrist, and Sunset topped off both drinks with a maraschino garnish. “You know, once you’ve mastered a subject, like, oh, having a positive outlook and being a good friend, there’s value in passing on that knowledge to others.”

Adagio smirked back at her. “Good point.” Then she poked Sonata’s arm. “See, you should be president of that club.”

Sonata started to giggle, but Adagio’s phone rang. “Oh, hey, it’s Aria,” she said, before setting it down on the counter and tapping it into speaker mode. “Hey, girl! I’ve got a couple of people here who’d like to say hi to you.”

Nothing. Odd. Sunset caught Adagio’s eye, but she only shrugged in response.

“Aria?”

“Sorry. ’M sorry,” Aria’s voice droned. She sounded like she’d just awakened from not getting nearly enough sleep.

“You okay?” Adagio asked.

“…So sorry, Adagio. Didn’t want to. Didn’t want to, I promise.”

“What’s wrong?”

“…I can’t, I can’t, I’m sorry—”

“Aria.”

“—so sorry—”

“Aria, listen.”

“—I don’t ever want to disappoint you—”

“Aria, listen to me!” Adagio snapped.

Silence hung in the air. Sonata gaped at the phone like a kid whose older brother had pointed at the movie screen and said, “Here comes the scary part!” And Sunset about had to reach under the bar to find where her heart had sunk to.

“Aria, what happened?”

“I… was walking home from work.”

That had never sat right with Adagio, even if Sunset hadn’t heard her say so explicitly. Adagio had always made it clear the bus was safer, but it was one little way Aria could contribute to reducing their expenses. They’d argued about that at least twice in here.

“And?”

“And they found me. My old gang. They… they found me.”

Sunset’s back stiffened. This was bad. Then came the inevitable accusations.

“You said they wouldn’t!” Aria yelled with all the volume she could muster, which still wasn’t much. “You said that only happens in movies, but they found me, and I thought they were going to rob me or kill me. Clash had his knife, and I don’t carry mine anymore, and even then it’d be four on one. Why would they? You promised!

“Tell me what’s wrong, Aria. We’ve got to fix this first.”

“I was so scared! They said they wanted to have a good time like we used to, and Clash put his arm around me and had his knife. So, so I-I went along. They already stole some booze, so… so they weren’t gonna make me rob nothin’ at least. But they said they had harder stuff back at their crib, so I figured, let ’em, they’d pass out, and I could run. ’Cept they made me use it first. I didn’t know what else to do! I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

She broke down into sobs, and Sunset held a hand over her mouth. This was really bad.

“Aria, where are you?” Adagio said, looming over the phone.

“It—it worked, though. They’re all out of it too much to care, so I got up and ran, but I can’t see straight, and I could barely get out the door, then everything was spinning, and I think… I think I fell down some stairs. I don’t know. It hurts.”

Adagio had squeezed her eyes closed, but the tears leaked out anyway. “Where are you?” she squeaked.

“I tried to stand up, but I got so dizzy I almost puked, so I flopped back down. It hurts.”

Her teeth gritted, Adagio snatched up her phone and turned the speaker off. “Where are you?”

Poor Sonata looked like someone who’d broken her new favorite toy, and Sunset grimaced. One thought stabbed into her mind: why hadn’t the bar picked Aria up just a little earlier? And what would Sunset tell Adagio when she asked that same question?

“Where are you? Aria, where are you? Look around and tell me what you see. No. Look out the window. Is there a window? Okay, look out of it and tell me what you see. …Do you remember anything about how you got there? Well, you started out going home from work. Where did you go from there? …Never mind, just please look out the window. The one with the, um… red letters? On a blue background?”

Adagio took a shuddering breath. “Okay. I have to hang up. I’m going to send help. Then I’ll call right back. You’re not alone, you got that? This isn’t your fault. And from now on, you’re riding the bus, even if I have to pay for it. I’m going to call you right back.”

A few seconds passed, then Adagio swiped across her phone’s screen and started tapping. “You need to send someone to the abandoned hotel at Eighth and Main. Yes, it’s an emergency. I think there are five. At least one is hurt bad. …No, I don’t know. My name’s not important. Just hurry, please! Fine, my name is Adagio Dazzle. Not just an ambulance—you’d better send police, too.”

Even Sunset had begun to shake. What would this do to Adagio? Or Sonata? The one person who’d connected with her like no other, and now…

When Sunset could focus her thoughts again, Adagio had already hung up and redialed her phone. “C’mon, Aria, pick up.”

After her third try, the phone clattered onto the bartop, and Adagio flopped back into her seat, whimpering. Her forehead thumped against the bar, and she felt around for Sonata’s hand. By the grimace on Sonata’s face, Adagio had it seized in a crushing grip. Sunset settled for patting her on the shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Sunset asked. “Is there anything I can do?”

She’d continue asking every few minutes, but she never got a response.

The routine had gone on five or six cycles when Sonata spoke up. “Will Aria be alright?” Her eyes would glaze over, but she’d shake her head and push through whatever mental block usually made her freeze up. “Adagio, will she be alright? I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”

Adagio finally lifted her head and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Can I do anything?” Sunset asked again.

“Not unless you can get the hospital to tell me when Aria shows up there,” Adagio barked.

As if in class, Sonata timidly raised her hand. “I—I can.”

Adagio’s stare bored into her. And Sunset held her breath. Adagio’s lip kept twitching, and if she was gearing up for some verbal assault or flurry of orders, they might lose all their progress with Sonata. But Adagio only managed one word.

“How?”

Briefly, Sonata smiled, but the gravity of the situation must have popped back into her head, because she averted her eyes downward, pursed her lips, and covered her mouth with her hand. “I… kinda got to know Nurse Redheart. Y’know, the CHS school nurse? She has friends who work at the hospital. In the ER. I could… I could ask her.” Her eyes flicked up for only half a second before diverting away again. “If you want.”

Adagio released Sonata’s hand and grabbed onto the loose flap of her jacket. “Yes! Yes, please, please ask her, anything they can tell us!”

So Sonata got out her phone and typed out a message while Sunset came out from the end of the bar to wrap her arms around Adagio. The poor girl just put her head back down and resumed crying as Sonata stood there looking like someone who’d shown up at a party and didn’t recognize anyone.

“Please,” Sunset said, drumming her fingers on Adagio’s shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”

Adagio began shaking her head, but then she snapped upright. “Wait, the bar can pick up and drop off people at any point in space and time, right?”

“Um… yeah, it can. Why?” And here came the inevitable question…

Like a shot, Adagio stood up and took both of Sunset’s arms. “Then you can let me out an hour ago! I-I’ll call Aria, and I’ll warn her—she’s been here before! She’ll believe me! I’ll just warn her, and we can avoid all this before it ever happens.”

Sunset shrunk away, her body suddenly feeling very leaden. “I… Adagio, I don’t think it works that way.”

“Of course it does!” Adagio shot back, her eyes alight with an inner flame. “It’ll work, the bar always knows what we need, and—” She rushed to the door and wrenched it open.

Her manic grin faded.

Through the door sat her apartment. The clock on the far wall read a little after five thirty, well past Aria’s quitting time. “No!” Adagio screeched. She slammed the door, opened it again and again and again.

The scene never changed.

With a huff, Adagio stalked over and grabbed Sunset’s jacket collar. “Make it let me out before Aria left work,” she growled.

Sunset only shook her head and coughed out a few unintelligible half-words.

“Make it,” Adagio repeated, twisting the collar.

“I can’t.”

“You can’t or won’t?”

“I can’t! I can’t make it do anything it doesn’t want—”

“And why doesn’t it want to help me?” Adagio squinted and clenched her other fist. “It’s supposed to know what’ll help, so why is it refusing now?”

“I don’t know! I’m trying to tell you, it has a mind of its own, and it must think that’s not the right way—”

“Then use some of your fancy rainbow magic to make it!” she shouted, raising her fist.

After the dramatic change Adagio had made in her life over a year ago, Sunset never would have believed she could turn violent. And Sonata sitting there, watching it all. Their whole strategy had involved holding Adagio and Aria up as some kind of example. Adagio would never mock Sonata or boss her around anymore, except here she was, practically threatening to beat an answer out of Sunset.

And yet Sunset didn’t understand either! Why not do something to help? Why jeopardize all the progress they’d made with Sonata?

Adagio paled and took in a shuddering breath. She looked at her fist, lowered it, cupped it in her other hand, and slumped into her seat.

“I’m sorry,” Sunset said. Something did prick at the edges of her mind about why the bar wouldn’t let them undo all this. There had to be a reason.

Adagio began to tremble. “Then what fucking good is this place?” she roared.

Sunset didn’t have an answer.

“What fucking good is it?” Adagio whimpered. Then she added a whispered “sorry.”

And everything clicked for Sunset. She leaned over, next to Adagio's ear. “The bar isn’t meant to be some magic token to solve everything that goes wrong for you. That would be way too easy to misuse. But I’ve learned something about it. That’s not the point.” She waited a moment for Adagio to roll her eyes over at her. She was listening.

“The bar doesn’t help you from your problems. It helps you through them.” Sunset took a long breath. “The best I can do is let you out a bit in the future. After you know something, or after all this is resolved. A few hours, a day. But—” she patted Adagio’s back “—in my opinion, that’s not actually helping.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, Adagio wailed, “I don’t know what to do.” And Sonata gaped at her.

Then Adagio turned to look Sonata directly in the eye. “I don’t know what to do. Tell me what to do.”

Sonata’s back twitched straight. “I… I-I don’t… I d-d-d-on’t…” She gulped, and she was breathing so hard Sunset thought she might keel over from a dizzy spell. “Nobody’s ever asked me that,” she said in a small voice. “Nobody’s ever cared what I thought.”

“That used to be true,” Adagio replied, gripping her head as if she had a throbbing migraine. “And then I woke up. Now I know better.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second and gritted her teeth. “So what do I do? I don’t know what to do. Jump past all the bad stuff?”

She choked on a sob and pounded a fist on the counter. “Take a chance that she makes it through? Risk letting her die alone? Be selfish and take the shortcut past the pain?”

“No…” Sonata mumbled. “Y-you shouldn’t ask me.”

Adagio didn’t even look like she’d heard. “Ignore someone I love when they’re in pain?”

“I don’t…”

Adagio gave Sonata a pointed stare. “Let her boyfriend keep abusing her?”

Wide-eyed, Sonata jolted as if she’d tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. “No!” she immediately shouted, then gasped for a breath. “I love her,” she said softly, “and I don’t want… bad things… to happen…”

Sonata wiped her nose and sniffled. Then she slid the friendship bracelet off. Even she started crying, and she bent over to hug Adagio, but her phone dinged. She hurriedly reached into her pocket for it. “Nurse Redheart says they brought Aria in a few minutes ago. It’s serious, but she’s stable, they’ll let a couple family members wait with her. Two DOA, other two also serious but stable. Nonstandard OD, must’ve got their hands on really bad stuff. Hope this helps. Sorry to hear about her.”

“What do I do?” Adagio whispered.

Sonata turned Adagio’s stool toward her and raised Adagio’s chin. “We need to go. We need to be with her.”

With a sniffle, Adagio stood and nodded. “Okay.”

Sunset gave them each a hug. “You’ll get through this. And you know you can always come back here if you need help.”

Adagio flashed her a smile, and then she and Sonata walked together to the door. It opened into a curtained-off hospital bay.

Sunset could never tell when in time her bar would connect to another universe, unless she was actively seeking to go to a specific point in time, such as when she wanted to meet with her friends from her original human world, or whenever she returned to a universe she had been living in, like in the case of Goku and company.

Thus, even when things were out of her control, she'd concentrate on her daily routine, on her own, or with the help of her interdimensional family if they were around. She'd mop the floors and polish the tables. She'd dust the ever-growing collection of picture frames on the wall and water the forget-me-nots sprouting from the pot on the corner table. She'd feed Bernard some kale, update the jukebox selection, and restock the bar if any bottles were running too low. She'd work on Lena's new lesson, or work on new cocktail mixes.

Sometimes… sometimes, when she was alone, she'd open a box where she had not-so-happy memories. A rusty razor blade. Five almost identical gold coins from Gondor, and other small reminders that not everything was perfect or under her control, even here.

She had just put it away when her phone buzzed. Blinking, Sunset pulled it out of her pocket and checked the message. It was from an Adagio.

Aria is better now. They injected her with a couple of things and she stabilized quickly. We also explained what happened to the doctors, so she won't need any additional work on that front. However, she will have to wear a cast for a month or two, depending on how quickly her bones heal.

Accompanying the message was a picture of a very tired-looking yet smiling Aria, doing the love and peace sign with her fingers. She was in bed, with her leg up and several tubes connected to her arm, with a monitor right next to her bed.

Another text message, from two weeks later, suddenly loaded.

Sonata has been keeping track of her too!

The picture accompanying this message was of Sonata obviously berating an amused-looking Aria while holding a prescription slip up in her face, as the latter wobbled in place, keeping steady with one of the pair of crutches Sonata had corralled toward her.

She's come a long way. It was like a switch got turned on in the bar, and ever since, she's been more assertive and taking care of herself. There's still some things to sort out, but I hope I can tell you all about it when we three visit you.

Oh, and check this out!

The final picture was of a Sunset Shimmer and Sonata carrying a couple of boxes out of a dingy-looking apartment.

We helped her move the last of her stuff out of the ex's apartment!

Sunset smiled, walking over to store her little memento chest away and picking up her phone. She thought for a moment, then typed a reply.

Just got the messages. Let's celebrate Aria's recovery and Sonata's bachelorhood next time the bar is around. This time, we'll drag your Sunset in with us. She can't say no to that!

Smirking, she sent the message and leaned back, taking a deep breath. She looked around the bar. It was just a matter of time before it was packed once again, or some of her friends, old and new would cross that oak door, and she'd have another chance to help someone through their troubles.

That was what it was all about, after all.

The End

Author's Notes:

We return this time to the world of Ambergris by Pascoite! If you enjoyed this chapter and for some unknown reason haven't read Ambergris, you totally should!

Next Chapter: A Place to Belong (Star Wars — Ongoing) Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 38 Minutes
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