I Can Smile

Chapters

Chapter 1: Too Much Sugar!
Chapter 2: Too Many Feet!
Chapter 3: Too Many Teeth!
Chapter 4: Too Much Catching!
Chapter 6: Too Many Hugs!
Chapter 7: Too Much Blushing!
Chapter 8: Too Many Friends!
Bonus Chapter! Too Many Loose Ends!
Chapter 5: Too Many Little Trees!

Chapter 1: Too Much Sugar!

Sonata Dusk had a plan.

Walking down the street, she had just finished patting herself on the back for telling off her the other two. That little talk probably wouldn't air on any kids' shows any time soon, but it was still great watching Adagio turn red with rage and even getting mad enough to swear, along with Aria, being Aria, not doing anything but standing there and shouting at her. Nuts to both of them, Sonata was on her own now, and she knew just what to do!

It was a pretty simple thing; she'd walk up to the Rainbooms, their old enemies from a few weeks ago, pour on the charm, get into their good graces, and ride the Friendship Express all the way to easy street!

Not like Sunset Shimmer had, Sonata was smarter than that. No, no, she was just gonna get on their good sides, rob them blind, and book a first-class train to the next town to find someone else to do that with again. She'd do that until she was living the high life in a top-floor penthouse or something, laughing and drinking caviar while Aria and Adagio were eating out of the trash. Her trash.

Yes, eat my trash, you losers! Big, bossy know-it-all and big, mean know-it-nothing!

She shook her head, there'd be time for that fantasy later! For now; Pinkie Pie's house. Silly Adagio, leaving her map of enemies' houses out in plain sight where anybody could swipe it! She knocked on the door, ready to do what the others couldn't, at least not like she could.

I might not be as smart as Adagio or as strong as Aria, but I can do something they can't.

She grinned wickedly.

I can smile!

That grin quickly shifted to a bright, affable one as she heard someone coming to answer the door.

Pinkie Pie stood there with a bright, cheery grin for the first half-second. "Hi-eeee there..." It quickly became a somewhat nervous expression. "Eh, uh, haha, hi! How are you after the whole... thing where you guys lost your singing voices and people threw stuff at you?"

Her wide, happy, grin unchanged by the bitter reminder, Sonata giggled. "I'm okay, thanks for asking!" She folded one arm over the other, bending just slightly forward and shifting her grin toward cute, adding just the right blend of sheepishness and sorryness. "Well, y'know, except my group all hating each other now and the others kicking me out with nowhere to go, but other than that, I'm super!"

That might not have been completely true, but it did what she'd wanted it to as Pinkie stared at her in silence, mouth just slightly open.

Sonata turned on a heel and started walking away, her tone every bit as bright and unfettered as when she began. "Welp, just thought I'd drop by, seeya around! Come visit my cardboard box some time! Sure hope I don't freeze to death by then."

"W-wait!!"

Facing away from Pinkie, Sonata let herself smirk evilly for just a second before turning back, looking happy and oblivious. "Yea?"

There was an almost strained grin. "Uh, I, w-would you like to come inside? I was just getting started on some cupcakes."

She could see the pity in Pinkie's face, poking through the holes in the drummer's increasingly forced smile. Unlike Aria and Adagio, Sonata had nooooo problem letting people pity her, because it just meant they'd let their guard down all the sooner. Internally, Sonata was laughing with maniacal glee, but her face only showed the same cute smile she'd started with. "Sure!"

Infiltration was going great!

"Bowl," ordered Pinkie.

"Bowl," confirmed Sonata, passing the baking equipment.

"Flour."

"Something sweet."

"A bit of salt."

"A bit of salt?"

"Just a pinch!"

After adding a teaspoon of vanilla, Pinkie started stirring the bowl with a big ol' mix-y tool that looked like it could seriously mess up somebody's face. It was something Sonata would keep in mind. Pinkie grinned. "Thanks for helping me out here, Nata! I cook stuff up all the time, but it's always a little lonely by myself!"

Sonata grinned back. "Sure thing, I-" Blink. "Wait, 'Nata'?"

Pinkie shrugged a little. "I thought it sounded a little friendlier than 'Sonata,' not that your name isn't friendly, just that friends tend to call each other more friendly names than their own names, and if we're friends then I'd like to be friendly friends and not just friends like people who add you as friends on MyStable and then you never talk to them again, because that's not very friendly at all!"

Knowing that feel, Sonata found herself beaming in earnest. "Right?! I can't even add Aria and Adagio because they won't make accounts!"

Pinkie gasped. "We should totally fix that!"

They popped the cupcake-goo into the oven after pouring it into a funky tray and set off for the laptop in Pinkie's room. Pinkie was actually kind of fun to be around, so robbing her blind was probably going to suck a little.

"What should we put for Aria's interests?"

Sonata beamed. "Snuggly bunnies, hairless goats, naked old people, sour milk, fairies, balloons, tight pants, and tighter undies!"

Pinkie giggled. "And Adagio?"

"SUPER snuggly bunnies, tons of sand, slow elevators, squeaky doors, ugly hats, unicorns, hairy spiders, and her own big, fat butt!"

Cracking up, Pinkie typed it all in, wiping away a tear as she clicked 'Enter'. "Wow, they're into some weird stuff. I hope they can make plenty of friends this way."

Sonata just kept smiling. Oh, I'm sure they will. She scarfed down another cupcake, which had finished cooking and since been topped with icing while they were assembling the pointless, but funny MyStable profiles. Something about food being free made it extra tasty! Like, three times as much in this case.

Pinkie stopped grinning, instead looking a little worried. "Uh... Nata? How many of those have you eaten?"

"Only like eight." Munchmunchmunch. "Nine."

Looking at the empty tray, Pinkie got a nervous look on her face. "I wondered why it looked like they were going faster than usual..."

Time for sympathy! "Sorry," Sonata said while putting on a pitiful expression, "It's only been like two days since I last ate, but I'm really, really hungry."

"It's not that," replied Pinkie, "it's-well, I probably should have asked if you were normal-hungry first and not just snack-hungry, because there's a big, big, stomach-rumbly difference! Because if you try to fill normal-hungrydom with a lot of snacks, you can get kind of... barfy?"

Sonata paled. "Barfy?"

Pinkie shrugged, starting to smile again. "Well, I don't think that'll happen to you, I mean, even if these were covered in ultra-rich super-sugary frosting that Rarity won't even inhale when it's in the same room, you'd probably only get sick if you ate a lot of it on a full stoma-"

Pinkie jumped with a start as her bedroom door flew open, followed by the bathroom door and immediate sounds of retching.

Sitting in her room, Aria Blaze took out her earphones a few seconds before the very end of the last song and looked around as though expecting someone to be standing there glaring at her. She was alone. Which was great, but that was how it had been for the last hour or two now, which was also great, but unusual. Unexpected. Not that she was worried or anything.

She stood up, opened her door, and opened her mouth with the word already on her tongue, but there was no one to shout it at. Looking through the hall, nobody was around. Which was fine, because Aria didn't care if she saw Orange Bossy or Blue Stupid for the rest of her life. Still, the normal thing after a big, three-way argument, if she remembered right, was that they all storm off, do their own thing for a bit, then Adagio kicks open a door and goes all You-Will-Obey-Me at them. Possibly with a chance of going out for milkshakes, depending on who had been the biggest tool.

Might as well get it over with.

Slowly pacing the house, it was almost eerily quiet. Did Sonata really run off to make new friends or whatever she'd been blabbering about? Aria's best hope was that it was a tribe of cannibals or something, but that still left their 'leader,' whose plans only ever led them from bad to worse.

I totally would have had us on top of the world by now, if they'd ever listen to me.

Not that she had any ideas right now, with their magic gone, but still. That was Adagio's only real job, after all, that and the occasional mind-screw song, which they wouldn't need anymore. Aria was more of a doer than a thinker anyway, so she didn't waste any time in searching the house for any sign of the others. Sonata wasn't in her room, so she dared think that the whole house might all be hers now before knocking on Adagio's bedroom door to find out for sure.

"Hey, Shower-Clog, you awake?"

There was no reply. She knocked harder, getting only more of the same.

Huh. Guess she's out, either wrangling the idiot or doing something shady.

Not willing to jinx things by redecorating the whole house to suit her own tastes just yet, Aria shrugged, turned, and walked away. Adagio would have probably tried to force an apology out of her anyway, even though she said some nasty stuff herself, and Aria wasn't about to take back what she said about her being a useless, stuck-up, flat-chested narcissist.

Actually, she thought with a little smirk, that was maybe one of the nicer things I called her.

Pinkie sat outside the bathroom with a little container of tummy-ache tablets. Frowning, she called through the door. "I'm really, really sorry, Nata." The only immediate reply was a stomach being upended.

Kneeling before the porcelain altar and hacking up her own guts as a chunky sacrifice, Sonata coughed a few times. "D-don't worry 'bout it, Pinks!" My vengeance will be BRUTAL.

Still waiting out in the hall, Pinkie brightened up a little. "Maybe I could make it up to you? It shouldn't be too hard to find a cake aro-"

"HU-UUUURK!!"

"Oh. Right. Sorry!"

When Sonata finally staggered out of the bathroom, feeling a few pounds lighter, Pinkie immediately appeared with a little tablet in one hand, a glass of water in the other, and an apologetic smile. "Here, these should help, and don't worry, the tablet is chewable."

Blinking twice, Sonata smiled too. Maybe my vengeance doesn't have to include fish hooks and a beartrap... She took the offered stomach-calming implements, feeling just a little better after.

Then Pinkie started toward the front door. "I've gotta run now, got a party to set up in town, but I'll text my friends and let everybody know you're okay, okay?"

Infiltration succeeded!! Beaming, Sonata nodded and moved to follow her out. It would look WAY suspicious if she just hung around an empty house that wasn't hers before stuff went missing. "Okay! Is there anyone I can go visit right now?" She followed Pinkie down the sidewalk for a minute while waiting for a verdict from the land of text messages.

"I think Rarity might be free right now!"

"Great!" She's the rich girl, right? She kinda has that vibe, so I shouldn't have to rob Pinkie at all! Win-win! "I'll head there now, buh-bye Pinks!"

Pinkie waved at her. "Catch ya around, Nata!"

Wow, she thought as Sonata sped off in the right direction, good thing she already knows where we all live!

Author's Note

Yes, yet another Sonata-on-her-own fic, so you may very reasonably be wondering "Why should I read this? There's too many of these darn things already and adding more makes me want to whack you with a Twi-cane!"

And I would answer "Because this time, there's a subtle twist! And a less-than-subtle twist. And possibly some other twists that I didn't necessarily intend. The first one, however, probably won't be obvious until the ending, hence my waiting until I've got pretty much the whole story ironed out before publishing." Only took a month or two!

It's kind of a context thing, I guess. I'd have written this as one big chapter to give the whole picture at once, but that would make the story a tad indigestible. I should have the rest of the chapters up within a few days. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2: Too Many Feet!

Huh. This place isn't much of a mansion. Kinda just looks like a normal-ish house.

There was still gonna be loot inside. Right? Right! Sonata marched up to Rarity's door, drew a fist back to knock, and brought it forward in the same instant that the door swung inward and Rarity charged out, clonking the prissiest Rainboob on the forehead.

Rarity fell back, landing on her fat, rich-girl butt. "Ow!!"

Sonata internally screamed with panic, hoping to explain the situation as Rarity looked up at her in a daze. "I, uh, th-that, I, I was just-ubuh-" her arms flailed and gestured as though she were directing invisible air traffic, "I hit, didn't, I, P-Pinkie, phone, and, uh-"

Getting her bearings, Rarity stood up and gave Sonata an appraising look. "Please, Darling, calm down." She took the moment of strained quiet to massage her forehead, using a little pocket mirror to make sure it didn't leave a mark. She smiled a little. No harm done!

"Now," she said in a slightly authoratitive tone, "Pinkie Pie tells me you've turned over a new leaf?"

Blinking once, Sonata scratched her head. "Huh? I don't know about leaves, but I did stop being a bad guy." Apart from randomly punching people in the face. Vengeance felt weird when you got it on accident.

Rarity opened her mouth, then closed it again and giggled. "Of course, dear. I must apologize for my lack of hospitality, but there is a sale to begin soon and I'm afraid I really must go."

Sale! Sale means tons of stuff, tons of stuff I can swipe when she least expects it! Sonata smiled the cutest, friendliest, most sorry-I-smacked-you smile she could manage. "Can I come along?"

It almost felt like Rarity was giving her a pitying look as she stepped past her. "Sorry, Darling, but these scenes can really be rather vicious, and I'm afraid you'd get hurt if-"

She dialed up the Puppy Eyes. "Pleeeease? I'll carry your bags! Just to make up for punching you?"

That gave Rarity pause for thought. I could use a little help if I'm to make the most of this trip... and that blow to the head rather hurt. "Well... I, I suppose if you're certain...?" She took the siren's rapid, happy nodding as a 'yes,' drawing a smile. "Well, let's be off then, and thank you for your help."

No, no, thought Sonata with a devious smirk when Rarity's back was turned, thank you. At this rate, she'd be able to worm her way into Purple Fancy's good graces and probably learn where she kept her valuables at the same time. The others were gonna be sooo jealous when they saw her decked out in jewels and silk and crud!

They were at the mall, with not a whole lot of people wandering around at the same time. For some reason, Rarity was just walking around at a brisk pace, one hand thoughtfully on her chin and the other on that arm's elbow as she occasionally glanced into a store.

"Uh, so," tried Sonata, "what kind of sale is this? Is it a window-shopping special?"

Rarity chuckled. "No, no, Darling, the sale hasn't even started yet, this is just the scouting phase."

Sonata had a bad feeling. "Scouting phase?"

"Mhm. It's generally best to know what you want to pick up before the rush starts so as to go straight to it, but things should heat up in another hour or so."

"ANOTHER HOUR?!"

"Yes," confirmed Rarity without breaking her thoughtful walking-around pose, "a unit of time often used to denote specific points in a day, divided into-" She blinked. Stopping to look at Sonata, she giggled and turned pink. "Oh, sorry about that, I was a touch lost in thought. Glad I have you here to keep me focused!"

Sonata's smile was just a little strained, but she kept up the facade. "Y-yea. Yay me..."

The sale had been going for maybe twenty minutes by the time Sonata started to get scared. "Eh, R-Rarity?" She couldn't think of a cutesy, endearing nickname for this one. "Are there supposed to be this many people?"

The floor of the mall was packed with bodies, Rarity leading the way by slipping through openings in the horde of shuffling, obtrusive, partly obese mall-goers. "One learns not to see people," she said while nimbly weaving between a pair of pensioners, "so much as the one bulky obstacle between shops. Right this way, stick close to me, the crowds can become restless if spooked."

Sonata tried to go through the same gaps, but people kept moving around, making it hard to follow the meal ticket. "Spooked?"

"Yes, th-"

"ATTENTION, SHOPPERS," came a voice over the intercom, "Desktop lamps are now 77% off!"

As though there had been some kind of call to arms, the crowds shifted and charged in one direction, knocking Sonata to the floor and rolling over her like a tidal wave of frantic consumerism and feet.

"Ah!Ooh!Ow!Ooch!Eek!Ow!Ow!Ah!Ouch!"

When the bulk of them cleared, Rarity paced over, looking down at Sonata and her new collection of shoeprints (which didn't go with her skirt at all) with sympathy. "Dear, oh dear, are you alright?"

Sonata shakily got to her feet, letting out a little laugh. "Y-yea, totally! A-Okay!"

Rarity looked relieved. "I did warn you about the crowds, Darling. Well," she said with confident smile, "not to worry, you're shopping with a veteran! Follow my lead and we'll both be-"

"ATTENTION, SHOPPERS-"

"Alcove, left!!" Rarity actually dodge-rolled out of the path just as another wave descended. Sonata was not as quick on the uptake.

"Ack!Ouch!Owie!Ow!Oof!Ah-ow!Ouch!Ow!"

Rarity helped her up this time. "We'll, eh, just have to work on it..."

It had been a good few hours now, so Aria figured she might as well get the train-wreck that was Adagio's series of schemes rolling again. She briefly scouted the house a second time, finding it to be exactly the same as before, give or take a few signs of life, like that someone had taken a shower.

Maybe Sonata really did go out and find someone else to annoy, or at least skipped town and would never bug them again. Maybe she got run over on the way, or fell in a river and drowned, or got eaten by wolves or-

Aria shook her head. It didn't matter what happened to that idiot, she had to get things moving. "Don't walk away from me," she mockingly muttered under her breath while heading for Adagio's room. It was the last thing she'd heard out of the living suffocation hazard before storming off, and it was well-past the time that she'd normally be stringing them back into action. She slammed a fist on the door a few times.

"Hey, wake up!"

Silence.

"Come on, Adagio! You can't just be sulking about a little name-calling, now suck it up and get out here!"

Adagio did no such thing, apparently still pretending not to be home.

"I know you're in there, the hairdryer is still warm!" Overheated, was more like it, but the thing hadn't burst into flames yet.

After a minute of silence, Aria was a little less sure, not so much as being yelled at for the disturbance. She pressed her ear to the door, and after about another minute, she heard what sounded a little like sniffling.

Huh... Does she have a cold?

Well, Aria wasn't in a hurry to catch it, so she walked away. Maybe Adagio would have a plan when she got over her bug.

Moving to the next store on her mental list, Rarity smiled over her shoulder. "I must say, you have much greater stamina than I'd have guessed, Miss Dusk."

Sonata was loaded up on both arms with bags. Collectively, they were very heavy bags, the bands painfully digging into her wrists and forearms as she trudged along after Rarity. "Y-yea," she panted through a forced smile, sweat trickling down her face, "dancing, huff, really, huff, keeps ya, WHEEZE, fit!" Except for Adagio's big, fat butt, anyway. She can say it's muscle all she wants, but she's not fooling anybody!

Slowing down in front of a store with very few people around, Rarity approached a bench, sat down, and patted the seat next to her. "This shop should be offering a considerable discount soon, let's rest a bit until it begins."

Sonata made her way to the open seat as though it were the finish line to a marathon, then turned around and all but fell backward onto it. That the wood creaked had less to do with her own weight, more to do with that of the bags, she was sure. Rarity giggled, reminding the siren-turned-roadie that she still needed to rob this girl at some point.

"Goodness, when you offered to carry the bags, I had been worried you would struggle greatly by the third or fourth shop, but you've held together quite well! Does dancing really give you that kind of upper-body strength?"

Once she caught her breath, Sonata shook her head a little. "Nah, but I've got some experience carrying crud." She opted to make conversation until she could determine the right moment to make off with all this sweet loot! And, a plan to get away at more than a snail's pace. Loot was heavy. Being a bank robber was out of her future career prospects.

Rarity nodded, frowning as she looked away. "You know, I had initially planned to persuade a few strapping young men to assist me in this little venture-"

"I would be totally okay with-"

"-but I've had some time to think since our, err, confrontation, and-"

"And getting someone else to do it is a GREAT id-"

"-looking back, remembering how your group manipulated people, no offense-"

"None taken, so can we please-"

"-I can't help feeling that all this time, what I've been doing was wrong."

"No, no, getting help with heavy stuff is totally-"

"As such," Rarity announced, looking at Sonata with a confident grin, "we shall simply have to tough it out ourselves!"

Sonata deflated, her aching arms now stinging with a side of disappointment at their continued burden.

"So," continued Rarity, not noticing her companion's dismay, "where exactly did you acquire this experience you mentioned?"

"Getting groceries last week." Sympathy chance detected! Despite her crying muscles, she managed a cute grin. "Kinda had to now that nobody will do what we say anymore. It's hard to get people to carry your bags when everybody hates you, y'know?"

Suddenly, Rarity had an idea of why trampling Sonata proved so easy for those frantic shoppers earlier. She frowned again, resting a hand on the songless siren's shoulder. "You three have had it rough, haven't you? I haven't forgotten how Sunset Shimmer struggled following her horrifying incident, and I want you to know that we're here for you." She blinked, smiling sheepishly. "Er, p-provided all that, well, uncivility is behind us, of course."

Sonata beamed. "It's Sonata problem!"

Rarity blinked very slowly, then snorted, covering her mouth with one hand to conceal inelegant snickering as Sonata held the expression that said she was quite pleased with herself. Within a minute, she'd given in to the laughter and the two were giggling like maniacs, to the notice of absolutely none of the frantic shoppers around them.

Still smiling as she caught her breath, Rarity shook her head. "Good heavens, that was awful." She glanced around to see how many fellow sale-savvy shoppers like herself were beginning to congregate in the area and stood up. "Wait here, I'll be back shortly."

With more than a hint of relief, Sonata nodded, more than happy to enjoy a continued break while she worked on that robbing plan.

A bit later, the announcement of stompy doom had been sounded for the store Rarity was in and Sonata, sitting on the bench, wasn't even stepped on once! She had dearly hoped that the opposite was true for Rarity as people flooded in, but Purple Fancy (Note to self: that's more of a make-fun-of-you nickname) walked out without a single shoeprint on her. Darn it.

Rarity stepped out of the store with a little bag on her arm and a satsified smirk on her face. "Sonata, dear, do you know that more affordable purchases aren't the only treasures to be attained in these sales?"

A little confused, Sonata glanced into the now-crowded store. "They, uh, give it up for free in the back rooms?"

Now Rarity turned red. "N...No. No, Darling." She shook her head to dislodge the thought entirely. "The other treasure is the look on a cashier's face when the considerable discount is sounded just as you reach the counter." Looking back into the store, she giggled coyly. "Couldn't have timed that better."

Despite her plans to rob her and see her trampled to death by rabid fat people, Sonata was starting to like Rarity. She was a terrible person in her own way!

"Here," she said, reaching for the many bags resting beside Sonata on the bench, "let me take those for this last stretch, it's only fair that I should do a little of the heavy lifting too, no?"

Or not. Stupid Rainboobs and their decency! But then she remembered that her arms still hated her for having agreed to this trip, so she happily let Rarity take the bags herself.

"Alllright," grunted Rarity as she was loaded up, grinning almost fiercely, "this is how a real shopper makes these ventures! Ho-ho, yes! Feel a burn and all that!" She managed to move much faster than Sonata had when carrying all that, to the achey-armed siren's slight annoyance. "Come along, Darling, there are a few more stops to make."

Sonata stood up, wondering how long it'd be before Money Bags (Not a good nickname either.) threw in the towel. Or gave up, that was good too. Maybe that would be the time to grab the bags and-

"ATTENTION, SHOPPERS-"

Somehow, Rarity took up some kind of medieval shield-maiden stance with all those bags and braced herself against the human swarm. Sonata was not so lucky.

"Ow!Agh!Eep!Ow!Uff!Ouch!Owie!Ack!Ouch!Ow!"

Rarity looked triumphant. "Oh, I'm having a marvelous-... Oh, dear. Maybe we can make a stop by the nearest shop with a first-aid kit or-"

"ATTENTION, SHOPPERS-"

Bag-shields up, Rarity could only leave Sonata to her fate of feet.

"GYAAAAAAAAGH!!"

Author's Note

Rarity might not actually be rich, but Sonata has trouble separating "fancy" and "loaded" in her mind.

Chapter 3: Too Many Teeth!

After what felt like a longer period than the sirens' whole banishment (not that Sonata was keeping track, Aria was the one with the calendar fetish), they wound up back at Rarity's place, carrying half the bags each. The sun was going down as they went through the door, each setting their bags down on the living room table. Rarity gracefully reclined in a puffy chair and Sonata, in all her acheyness, flopped over on the couch.

The next thing she knew, it was early morning. Groggily, she sat up, happy that most of yesterday's pain was gone. To her slight dismay, there was no sign of loot on the coffee table, but there was a shiny little red box with a dark-blue bow next to a piece of paper. A quick look around revealed no Rarity, the coast was clear for swiping stuff! She of course started with the little box, realizing then and there that she had no real way of hiding swiped loot apart from a tiny pocket in her shirt. The box would barely fit, not to mention it would look like she had a weird little rectangle sticking out of her boob. Hoping that the paper was at least a check for all her pack-mule labor yesterday or something, she picked it up and unfolded it. There were no numbers in front of a few zeroes, but there was fancy penmanship!

Dear Miss Dusk,

I fear I must apologize, as it seems I nearly worked you to death today. I had only just caught my breath when I heard you snoring (it was only light, lady-like snoring, don't you worry) on the couch, and had thought you were simply lacking rest in this difficult time for your group. This was four hours ago. I have since attended to the bags myself, but I wish to thank you again for all your assistance.

As it happens, I procured you a little gift while we were out, but now I worry that it undercuts the value of your help. Just the same, I hope the token of thanks (located in the box beside this note) is to your liking, and if you should wake before I do-

"Oh, good, you're up!"

Sonata jumped half a meter in the air, looking around in a panic to see a giggling, apologetic-looking Rarity.

"Oh, goodness, didn't mean to startle you, Darling! I would have volunteered a more comfortable place to sleep than the couch, but I wasn't confident in my ability to move you, post-consciousness. Did you sleep well?"

Her heart still thumping, Sonata managed a shaky smile. "Y-yea, feelin' great!" It was true, this was the softest, plushiest sofa she'd ever partially sunk into!

Rarity nodded. "Pleased to hear it, did you read the note?"

Sonata quickly looked around, but she apparently lost the paper in her jump of terror. Luckily, Rarity opted to summarize.

"Well, the jist of it was; 'I'm sorry to have given you such undue exercise, please accept a gift to make up for it, and I'll be going to Fluttershy's for breakfast soon if you would like to come along.' Would you?"

As Sonata hadn't eaten since the cupcake incident from the day before, free noms sounded pretty good. "Ehm, y-yea, sure!"

Rarity smiled an elegant little rich girl smile. "Splendid! Allow me to prepare a few things and we'll be off shortly." And then she went somewhere else in the house. To do rich girl preparation things, probably.

Alone with the little box and aware that it wouldn't be swiping at all if she took it, Sonata quickly whipped the tiny lid off and looked inside. It was a shiny necklace, the thin, metal (she couldn't even guess what kind, but it was like, grey-shiny) chains leading to a pink, rounded, equally-shiny valentine heart thing as big as her nose. Holding it up, she stared at its shininess, watching what little light pierced Rarity's fancy windows flicker and glint off of it in the dimly-lit living room.

Sonata felt herself smiling, her actual, meaty heart doing little twirls as the awareness sunk in that this was hers, a gift from somebody that trusted her enough not to rob her in her sleep. Then her heart held very still and felt very sad at itself as she looked around, the opportunity to not be able to fit much of anything in her pocket anyway still there as she sat alone in Rarity's living room. There were shiny knick-knacks all over the place, but it didn't look like she'd be able to fit much of it in her outfit. At least not without sticking out, and that was always a dead giveaway. And REALLY uncomfortable.

So, since it looked like it was the only thing that would fit anyway, Sonata smiled, tugged the little flap of her shirt collar open and gently lowered her new necklace into her one pocket. It still felt like a pretty good haul to her.

It was hard to tell if a thing that you didn't plan to happen happening in your plans was a hiccup or not. Adagio would probably know, based on her love of her long, rambly explanations on priorities and direction and targets and blah-de-blah, but Sonata's situation felt distinctly hiccup-ish. Rarity took her over to Fluttershy's place for breakfast (the nickname 'Flutter-Butter' came to her right away, because Fluttershy was just spreading butter on toast at the time) and somewhere in her feeding frenzy, Sonata must have agreed to go help out at the animal shelter. Rarity might have mentioned how willing to offer her servitude Sonata had been the day before, but it was drowned out by enjoyment of some really tasty toast!

Flutter-Butter could do toast. That was what Sonata learned from that encounter. Maybe she could swipe a whole person, just to make toast for her? She didn't know how yet, but fitting her in her shirt was right out.

On the way to the smelly animal shelter, Sonata had some time to think. One of those thoughts was that the place they were going was probably going to suck, because in addition to the many funny smells (wet dog hair and poo, for starters), there probably wasn't much of anything valuable to swipe. On the other hand, there was Fluttershy, whose toast-making capabilities made it worth coming here for her alone. Alone was a good word choice, because Rarity had left Fluttershy and Sonata to go in themselves when they got to the animal shelter's front door.

This was going to be cake!

"Thief!" accused a voice, "Dirty thief, dirty thief, B-waaaark!"

Fluttershy gasped, looking at the offending parrot, perched in a nearby hanging cage. "Mister Tropico, that is not how we treat guests!" She looked at Sonata with wide, apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, he's an old bird and his eyes aren't so good."

Sonata, standing very, very still as the realization that she hadn't totally just been busted by a psychic bird sank in, let out a short, nervous giggle. "Haha, w-what does that have to do with calling people thieves?"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash took one of his crackers once, he's just shouted that at blue people ever since."

Blink.

Fluttershy smiled. "Anywho, right this way, please!"

"So," Sonata began as they walked past the front desk and toward the back rooms, "what's the difference between this place and a zoo, anyway?"

"Well," the Mistress of Toast answered as she led the way, "an animal shelter is meant to take care of the creatures inside, but a zoo keeps them for the entertainment of visitors. I, um, don't really like zoos as much, because the animals there-"

They walked by some cages and Sonata tuned out. Most of them already had dogs inside, but they looked about big enough for a person of about She Who Spreads Butter Beautifully's size. As Fluttershy was walking in front of her, the siren grinned devilishly, the means by which to start this person-swiping all worked out in her head.

"Hey," she said with the friendly smile when there was a break in Fluttershy's I-rather-dislike-zoos meandering, "do you think we could let these doggies run free for a bit?"

Fluttershy stopped to look at her. "Eh, w-well, it's not quite their play time yet-" she noticed several pairs of ears perking up and tails wagging at those words.

Yes, thought Sonata, back me up, fleabags! "C'moooon, you don't want to keep 'em all cooped up like penguin sharks, do you?"

"You mean killer whales?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Uhm, I don't really know if now's the best time for-" The yipping of a smaller dog got her attention, drawing her eyes to his. They were wide. Soft. Pleading. She looked back at Sonata only to be startled by a similar expression.

"Pleeeeease?"

Smiling, The Butterfly of Buttering gave in, unlatching the door to the nearest cage, to the excitement of every canine in the room. "Well, okay, but I should warn you; they might be a little rambunctious at first, especially around new people."

Sonata beamed. "Nooo problem, Flutter-Butter!" Phase One complete: I am a genius! Under ordinary circumstances, abducting a person to make you toast forever might have been a little messed up, but if Sonata remembered right, Fluttershy was the one who shot her in the face with magical butterflies during the Battle of the Bands, so fair's fair. It may have just been her astral projection, but that didn't mean she didn't feel anything, dammit!

They began releasing the hounds together, but Sonata couldn't find any solid opportunities to kick Fluttershy into one of the cages without trapping a mangy mutt at the same time. Dogs were a big responsibility, and she could do without one of those, thank you very much! Luckily, once every cage was empty and the smelly fur-bags were scampering around sniffing each others' butts, The Patron Saint of Cooked Bread turned to her with a little smile and a suggestion.

"We should probably take this opportunity to refill their bowls. Do you think you could run water dishes to the sink while I crawl part-way into the cages to get them?"

Great difficulty accompanied not smiling like Adagio at her Adagiest in that instant. "Sure thing!" Standing behind Future Toast Machine as she turned around, got on her knees, and started crawling in to reach the first water bowl, Sonata chose then to make the evil smile, raise one foot, line it up with the wiggling rear in front of her, wind it up for a kick, and scream in agony as a pointy set of jaws sank into her own bottom.

The next thing she knew, she was on her knees and lightly rubbing the spot she was bitten. Fluttershy had probably jumped and bonked her head on the cage, judging by the way she was doing the same with her scalp. She scolded the dog that bit Sonata for being a bad, bad boy who had to go sit in the corner now.

The Lady of Crispy Bread looked at her with wide, worried eyes. "I'm so sorry for that, I told you they could get rambunctious, but they never just bite people for no reason!"

"Yea, yea, it's okay," Sonata said with a forced, but convincing, and of course, cute smile as she waved off the apology, "don't worry about a thing!"

Fluttershy looked relieved at this, nodding and returning to her task.

Sonata guessed that Toothy McButtchomper must have really wanted his water bowl filled, so she didn't risk making him mad by trying to kick The Goddess of Toasters into his cage again. Instead, she did what she said she would do; took the bowl once it was offered to her, walked over to the nearby sink, filled it up, brought it back, and handed it over for Fluttershy to put back. Simple!

The next cage, however, she stood behind Fluttershy as before, got ready to kick her into the cage, and then looked behind her. There was a dog, just a little one this time, growling at her. When she slooowly lowered her foot to the floor, the dog quit growling, instead standing there wagging his tail. There wasn't time to test his aggression for raised feet as Fluttershy turned around to hand her the next bowl, which she filled in the same way as the first one.

With the next cage, she did the same thing, seeing two growly doggies this time. She quickly thrust a foot backward to shove the dogs away, wound up that same foot to kick Fluttershy, and was surprised from behind by both puppies at the same time, one painfully latching onto each cheek.

Once more, she screamed, Fluttershy hit her Secrets-of-Toast-containing head on the cage, and quickly moved to scold the bum-biters. There were more apologies from Fluttershy and more pretending not to mind getting her butt chewed up at all from Sonata before they continued as before, at the latter's urging.

In the next minute, Fluttershy was on her knees in front of a cage, Sonata was standing with a foot raised, and surrounded by growling dogs. Starting to sweat, she made no move to kick Fluttershy into the cage for a future of well-heated bread, which seemed to spare her a mauling. A few cages later, Sonata understood for sure that she'd only been getting bitten when she tried to kick Fluttershy, most of the dogs now leaving her alone. A few were still watching her, but in less growly, lunge-y ways.

They must REALLY like toast here!

When there were only a few cages left, Sonata realized she was running out of opportunities to swipe Fluttershy, so she glanced around, saw no dogs growling at her, quickly raised a foot, wound up a kick, and got dog-piled on by bitey, growly balls of smelly fur and their many sharp fangs, screaming as she rolled around on the animal shelter floor.

A minute later, Fluttershy (after wincing and massaging the top of her own head again) was doing what she could to pull the dogs off of Sonata, pleading that they stop now please because Sonata wasn't here to hurt anyone. The would-be kidnapper almost made the mistake of correcting her, but it only came out in the form of-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

And much growling and barking, though not from Sonata herself.

A second after another living bear-trap clamped onto her behind, she heard a ripping sound, catching sight of a little dog running off with her skirt. "HEY!!" She managed to push her way out of the dog-pile and quickly stagger to her feet, immediately giving chase through the animal shelter. "Give that back you little flea-hotel!"

She chased it out past the front desk and a family that had just heard all about the joys of owning a dog and out to the parking lot, where it led her in circles as though playing a game other than Murder the Siren.

"Give! Me! Back! My! Skirt!!"

Fluttershy called out. "Mister Fuddlypaws, you drop that skirt RIGHT NOW."

The dog let go of the torn, pink cloth, which Sonata hastily snatched up. "Ha! Stupid little-"

And then she realized she was outside without a skirt on, freezing in place. With a quick look around, she caught sight of several people standing, staring, snickering, and one holding up a cellphone at the sight of the siren covered in scratches and bitemarks, along with her blue-striped underpants.

Flushing crimson, she squeaked, dropped the skirt, and bolted back inside, running all the way to the back-most back room to escape the searing embarrassment.

Sonata sat on a little crate in the back-most room she could find, the lights out and only dim illumination coming from the doorway to the next room. She held her head in her hands as she let out a defeated, depressed, very-much-not-happy-about-how-this-was-going sigh. And then there was another bite.

"AUOCH!!"

Whipping her head around, she saw a little bulldog lightly growling at her, fangs still embedded in her hindquarters as she gave him a withering stare. As this didn't seem to effect him at all, she sighed again. "Sure, bite me all you want, I don't care anymo-" He bit her harder. "OW!!" Wincing, she managed a pained glare. "You know, when I say something like that, you're actually supposed to-" His little teeth loosened only long enough to snap her in a different spot. "YEOWCH!!"

Standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, Fluttershy cleared her throat, the bulldog immediately letting Sonata go and scampering over to her as though she had a treat for him. She did not, and looked down at him with a disapproving stare. "Cage. Now."

With the last butt-biter scampering off for its cage, possibly to shut and lock itself in as well, Sonata stared in amazement while tenderly addressing her sore posterior. "How did you do that?"

Giving Sonata a shy smile and trying not to look at her exposed underwear, Fluttershy shrugged. "Some people tell me I'm good with animals. Now," she said while holding the remains of Sonata's skirt in one hand and a needle with a spool of thread in the other, "why don't we see if I can sew up the damage here?"

In that moment, The Pope of Flat Wheat At Just The Right Heat looked almost angelic to Sonata, the only light in the room shining around her as her forgiveness (or complete ignorance, that was fine too) of the unsuccessful human trafficking shone down like a blessing from the heavens. Because she was standing in the doorway with a lit room behind her, but still. Abandoning her plans to person-swipe entirely, Sonata smiled. "That'd be great!"

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Is she still sick?

Aria trudged through the still-peacefully-quiet house, not having heard a peep out of Adagio since she listened at her door yesterday. It was possible this was more than a one-day cold, but it was gonna suck if Aria had to be the one to nurse her back to health or any of that crap. Approaching the door, she heard a little noise. She didn't knock right away, instead tip-toeing closer to listen in like before. What she heard made her take a step back in shock.

No... She isn't...?

She leaned in again, waiting for almost a minute and a half before she heard what were unmistakably the sounds of someone sobbing.

Quickly, but quietly, Aria backed away from the door and went right back to her room, deciding that she didn't hear any of that.

She... She's just throwing a fit. Must have chipped a nail. Or lost her hairbrush. Or stubbed her toe. Big baby. I'll wait for her to come down from this, THEN we'll be back in business.

The lights in the back-most back room had been flicked on right after Fluttershy left and came back with juice boxes, Sonata stretching the last band-aid over a scratch on her knee as Fluttershy worked on her skirt. "Why did they all bite me in the butt at first, anyway?"

"Oh, I think Pinkie Pie trained them to do that. Don't ask me how. Something about people being less likely to sue or have the dogs put down if the only times people were bitten were funny."

Wincing at a slowly-fading bite-mark on her arm, Sonata chose to think that the damage of her recent mauling being spread out a bit more was probably better than all of the bites being in the same place. It hurt to sit down right now, but it hurt just as much to stand up! She sucked on the straw of her juice box in relative silence, just watching Fluttershy hum a cheerful little tune as she finished sewing up her skirt.

"Here," she said while offering the mended cloth and immediately looking away with a blush, "this should, uh, I mean, i-is this okay?"

Sonata took the skirt, quickly looking it over to find that the stitches were barely even visible, like the needle had been angled from the inside or something. Wow! Animal mind-control AND a freaky knowledge of sewing! She stood up to put in on, finding it to fit as snugly as ever around her hips. When she turned to thank Fluttershy, Sonata found her completely turning her head away, so she stepped over to lean down see what the toast-maker/doggie-tamer/skirt-fixer hybrid was looking at by resting her head on her shoulder.

This immediately elicited a startled yelp from Fluttershy, who scurried out of her seat and stood by the doorway with a flushed face. "W-what are you d-doing?!"

Sonata tilted her head a little. "Just trying to see what you were looking at. What was it?"

Fluttershy blinked twice. Catching on to the thinking, she nervously rubbed the back of her own neck . "Oh, uh, actually, um... It was more about, well, l-looking away from, y-you know, um... D-does the skirt fit right?"

Glancing down, Sonata gave her hips a quick swing back and forth and smiled. "Yep! Thanks for fixing it up, Flutter-Butter!"

Fluttershy (Fluster-shy?) flushed even brighter as she giggled. "Th-thank y-I mean, you're welcome." The blush only grew more vibrant as Sonata kept staring at her, the siren's smile slowly fading to a more contemplative look. "Is, um, s-something wrong...?"

"Huh? Nah, you just kinda remind me of Adagio."

"W-what?!"

"Well, I mean, of how she used to be, back home, before we got-" She reached up to her collarbone, feeling a split-second of panic before she remembered that what she was reaching for no longer existed. "Err... Before we left the sea. She used to be pretty quiet, y'know?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened, but she sensed an opportunity that took her group two weeks to reach with Sunset. "R-really? What was Aria like before?"

Snorting, Sonata giggled. "Ohh, she used to get crazy-mad about stuff, like all the time, but she really mellowed out a while after we got here."

Gingerly returning to her seat on the crate, Fluttershy picked up her yet-unopened juice box and smiled. "What was it like, living in the ocean?"

Almost unconsciously, Sonata sat back down too. "Well, it actually kinda sucked. For most of us, anyway. There were the coral spires in the middle of town, that's where all the hoity-toities lived, along with everybody that didn't wanna get munched by roaming bottom-feeders. If you couldn't get in, you'd probably live somewhere a little less, uh... safe."

Fluttershy frowned, but something in her eyes said it was the I'm-sorry-that-happened-to-you kind and not the oh-shut-up-nobody-wants-to-hear-it kind. "That sounds horrible."

To Fluttershy's slight confusion, Sonata giggled. "It totally was! That's why I came up with a plan to swipe some magic stuff to defend ourselves with, but I couldn't do it alone, so I tried to get help." Without thinking about it, she made her custom Adorably Annoyed pout. "Can you believe nobody even listened to me for the first week? It was like everyone was just okay with having to hide under hollowed-out rocks every night."

"No one wanted to to help?"

"Just one, a quiet kelpie that hardly even looked at anyone that didn't specifically address her. That was Adagio, back then. She was the first I tried to tell my plan that actually listened to the whole thing, but when I was done, she said it could never work because of guard patrols and seaweed-moving logistics and a complete misunderstanding of Abyssal Trench magic or something. But, since she listened to me, I figured I should at least listen to her. Turns out, she totally knew how to fix up the plan so it would actually work, and we only needed three kelpies!" As opposed to thirty-six and a marching band.

It struck Sonata as slightly weird that Fluttershy had no questions about what a kelpie was. "And what happened next?"

"Well, Adagio said that we'd need someone to be a distraction for the first part of the plan and have that same kelpie push a cart around the outer wall of the city real quick to catch the box the magic stuff would be smuggled through. I won't bore you with the details, but long story short, I wound up convincing Aria, kind of a lone-wolf tough girl at the time, that if the plan worked, we'd be the ones the scorpion-crabs were afraid of!"

"Scorpion-crabs?"

"Also known as "Tuesday Night!" And "Wednesday Night." And, pretty much every night, actually. Anywho, my plan as conducted by Adagio worked like a charm, the three of us had magic whichahoozits from the deep vaults under the central spire! She showed me and Aria how they worked," Come to think of it, she had some freaky knowledge too... "and we got to singing like never before!" Sonata giggled merrily, as though recalling a joyful holiday with her friends. "Well, I mean, any kelpie should be able to sing, just not to the point that making the bottom-feeders leave us alone was easy."

"And... that was what separated the 'hoity-toities' from everyone else?"

"Pretty much! The fanciest fish-folk had the magic, the rest of us had to find somewhere to hide, but then we had the magic! After that, I think her plan turning out so well went to Adagio's not-fluffy-yet head, because she was all about coming up with new plans for power and domination pretty much from then on. Ten years, one banishing, and several months later, here we are!"

Fluttershy looked back her wide-eyed. "Wow."

"Yep!" Sonata glanced around, a vacant smile on her face. "How'd we get to talking about this, anyway?"

Blinking twice, Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "I-I'm not entirely sure." There was a short, awkward silence before she remembered what they were doing in the animal shelter to begin with. "Would you like to help me with the gerbils? They could use some exercise."

As this felt like as good a chance to make up for the near person-swiping she did, Sonata smiled. "Sure!"

Author's Note

I can't tell if I'm making Aria borderline inscrutable, or completely transparent with this interpretation. Let's give her a little love! What would you guess are Aria's feelings from scene to scene?

Also; didn't want to dwell on backstories too much, but I think the most important details were included.

Chapter 4: Too Much Catching!

Gerbils proved much easier to work with than dogs, smaller and cuter, too! They were even a little less smelly. Whatever Fluttershy was doing with their cage, Sonata found herself helping the little fuzz-balls into plastic ones to roll around on the floor. She had some fun trying to stop them from smacking into each other, worried they'd get tiny, fuzzy whiplash from too many crashes. Her main method of doing this was to grab a gerbil ball (gerball?) when it was about to smack into another one and turn it another way, the gerbils happily rolling right along as though they really had nowhere in mind to go, just as long as they went somewhere.

The journey beats the destination, huh, little guys? These are some deep gerbils.

An hour or two later, Fluttershy got a text that said she had to head home, and Sonata still figured that sticking around places without friends/possible robbing victims would get her in trouble somehow. Leaving the animal shelter, that stupid parrot called her a thief again, but Fluttershy scolded it for being mean, which made her feel weirdly grateful. They went their separate ways and Sonata found herself wandering the sidewalks, wondering what to do with herself.

The whole rob-'em-blind plan really wasn't going very well. She'd scored an awesome necklace, but that was WAY less than the wheelbarrows of gold and jewels and chocolate she'd envisioned. Maybe she just needed to try something else for a while, do something fun to take her mind off-

She was startled by a hand grabbing her wrist and a familiar voice shouting at her. "HEY!!"

Nearly jumping out of her skin, Sonata whirled around to see Awesome As I Wanna Be girl, whatever her name was, looking all sweaty and out of breath.

"I... been... lookin'... all over for you..."

That was the cue to run, but she was already grabbed by the wrist! Game ov-No, wait! Adagio would talk her way out of a situation like this. I can be just as clever as she can, and now's the time to prove it!

She smiled. "Hey there, Wanna-Be!"

Rainbow blinked twice. "Um. What did you call me?"

The giggle she gave in reply came out 20% more nervous than she'd meant it to, but she pressed on. "Haha, y'know, 'take caution'?"

Letting go of her wrist, Rainbow narrowed her eyes. "'Take caution'? Are you threatening me?"

Ohgawd!! Okay, okay, don't panic, just roll with the punches like Aria!

Putting one foot forward, Sonata did her best impression of the Grump Face, trying to do the same with her voice. "Yea, you got a problem?!"

Ordinarily, Rainbow might have made some kind of show of toughness right back, but Sonata was doing it all wrong if she wanted to look intimidating. As such, Rainbow that guessed she didn't, and snickered. "Heh, not bad, Nata, had me going for a minute there."

Losing the Aria Face entirely, Sonata tilted her head a little. "'Nata'?"

Nodding, Rainbow crossed her arms in a casual pose. "That's what Pinkie said she called you, heard you stopped being a total, eh..." she smiled sheepishly, "well, heard you were okay now, so, I went looking for you." Counting off on her fingers, she looked just a little annoyed. "First thing today, I ran over to Pinkie's place and heard you spent the night at Rarity's, so I ran over there next, but Rarity said you guys went over grab breakfast with Fluttershy before going to the animal shelter and I just went there and that stupid buzzard was all 'dirty thief, dirty thief, I can't forget about one stupid cracker, bwaaaak,' so I texted Fluttershy and she said she had no idea where you were now so I been runnin' around at random!"

Rainbow took a deep breath, then smiled. "So, hi!"

I can see why she and Pinkie Pie are friends. "Yea, uh, hi, I guess! Why were you looking for me?"

"Like I said, I heard you were okay now, so I wanted to see if you'd like to play a game with me, do a little of that breaking-in friendship stuff. Ever played soccer?"

Breaking in?! She's inviting me to go on a robbery with her! Soccer must get a LOT of loot!

Or not.

Soccer had nothing to do with getting rich quick, it turned out. Still, a game where you pretend to be an ostrich or a velociraptor or anything else with weak, puny arms while kicking a ball around still sounded like fun, and fun was just as good as loot right now!

Rainbow (Sonata couldn't remember her real name, so the nickname based on her hair would have to do. Luckily, codename: Rainbow seemed to accept this alias right away) had explained the rules to her when they got to the soccer field, briefly introduced her to her team mates (too many faces to nickname!!), and started the game.

The ball was in the middle of the field, so Sonata sprinted toward it. She was quick enough to get there first, but not quick enough to line up a decent kick before other kicking people started to, so she wildly swung her leg at it. The next thing she knew, she was face-down in the grass, Rainbow helping her up.

"This isn't really an acrobatic sport, but man, that was a heck of a flip!"

Getting to her feet, Sonata glanced around to see the ball was furiously being kicked around near a goal on one side of the field. "Flip?"

Rainbow grinned with what might have been pride. "Yea! The way you charged in -you only beat me there because I started way behind you, by the way- and used your momentum as part of the kick? You missed, but doing a full spin in the air is pretty impressive!"

Roll with the punches, that seems to work with Codename: Rainbow! "Uh, yea, totally what I meant to-

SMACK!!

Sonata was lying on her back this time. Someone might have been shouting 'sorry', but she was more aware of the stingy impact of the ball on her face. "Owie." Rainbow was doing that how-many-fingers-am-I holding up thing, but Sonata got right up, her brain barely rattled at all!

Watching the siren stand up for the second time after being floored, Rainbow gave her a look of admiration. "You're pretty resilient, aren'tcha?"

She thinks I'm pretty! Giggling, Sonata dismissively waved a hand the way Adagio sometimes pretended to. "Aww, stop~!"

They kept playing, Sonata trying not to do the flippy kick again in favor of many attempts at a hit-the-darn-ball kick. Few might have guessed it, but Sonata Dusk was no idiot, at least when it came to games! She could see that more often than not, just rushing in, like half the other players were doing, would only have the ball surrounded by shins, making sure it wouldn't go very far if kicked while everybody was closed in. It'd usually get broken out by the random, uncoordinated flailing of feet would send it up in the air and spinning in a random direction.

This gave Sonata an idea.

She circle-strafed around the crowd the next time it circled ball, watching closely and waiting for her chance. She saw it! The ball started to rise after a lucky series of liberating kicks, it rose over someone's shoulder, Sonata darted forward, jumped on a big guy's back, leapt off, and did a flying drop-kick at the ball!

"WOOPAH!!"

Her foot struck true, sending the ball hurdling toward the goal! Toward it, not straight into it. It smacked hard into side of the goal, then it seemed to get bigger for some rea-

SMACK!!

Thud.

"...Owie."

Rainbow helped her up again. "That looked like it hurt, but again, wow! Can your sisters do that Matrix crap too?"

"Uhh..." The reply came somewhat dizzily as Sonata noticed that this time, more people actually stopped kicking the ball around to see if she was okay. That made her feel warm. "Y'know, I've never really asked-wait, I have sisters?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Sisters, cohorts, whatever, Purple Sourpuss and Puffball Prime? More importantly, are you feeling alright?"

Other than her band-aids, Sonata showed no sign of injury. "Super!"

Worrying about the little voice that said Sonata probably took blows to the head pretty often, Rainbow hoped their newest player could pace herself. "Well... okay." She glanced around to the others. "Let's get back to it!"

Quietly pacing the hall outside Adagio's room, Aria could feel herself going crazy, and for once, she didn't know the exact cause.

Maybe it was the waiting, that the better part of two days had passed now and they still weren't doing anything. Not that the last few weeks were any better, but at least then it felt like they were working towards something, even if it was just some kind of payback, not the total standstill they were at now.

Maybe it was frustration, all the thinking time in the world only leaving Aria with the humbling thought that no, she actually didn't have any great ideas for getting back on top.

I WOULD have, if we still had our magic! Dammit.

Maybe it was worry. Yes, Aria was a big enough girl to admit it to herself, she was worried about what that blue idiot was getting up to, but only because whatever it was might blow back on her! And Adagio, if she ever came out of her room, which led to the last possible source of Aria's growing madness. Looking at the door, she could still hear Adagio quietly crying in there, and every second of the sound was another wire snapping in the piano of Aria's mind. Enough was enough.

She stepped up to the door and pounded on it with a fist. "HEY," she demanded, "will you freakin' suck it up and quit moping already?! We've got stuff to do! I don't know what it is yet, but I know it ain't sittin' around crying rivers!"

As if to slap her in the face, the sound of Adagio's muffled sobbing got a little louder, then dropped in volume again. It sounded like she was crying through a pillow now. Not that Aria would have any idea what that sounded like. Because she didn't, she was too busy almost pulling her hair out with exasperation. Talking to the crybaby was making her feel like a caveman trying to work a supercomputer, so she opted to fall back on her other plan: Walk away and hope it got sorted out before she came back.

Heh, maybe she'll yell at me extra hard for shouting at her while she was having her moment. Her upwards-of-two-days moment. Yea, that'll do it, she hates being disturbed! She'll get so pissed, she'll run out, find Sonata in a blink in that scary way only she can, and we'll be on to the next plan. Everything'll be back to normal soon...

Looking down, Rainbow wore a worried face. "...Sooo, how're ya feeling there, Nata?"

She quickly got to her feet, once again rubbing the stinginess from her face. "I'm okay. Is the ball leaving an imprint?"

"Just a bruise or two..."

"But I don't look like I have a soccer-ball pattern on my face?"

"Not yet."

"Cool! Let's get back to it!"

Despite Rainbow giving her that I'm-worried-about-you look again, Sonata didn't want to quit. Apart from the times she got pegged in the face with the ball, soccer was pretty fun! She hadn't scored a single goal so far, but phooey to actually getting goals, chasing them was the fun part! Well, not actually chasing the goals, those stood perfectly still, but chasing the ball to kick into the-

SMACK!!

Thud.

"Ouch."

While getting to her feet, Sonata could have sworn she heard Rainbow muttering something about something going worse than the time with Sunset and how the others were gonna kill her, but it looked like the other players just kept on keeping on with the game. "Hey, why don't they stop when I get nailed anymore?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Probably just not fazed by it anymore. That was, what, the fifth time? You're sure you're okay?"

She beamed. "SUPER sure!"

For some reason, Rainbow didn't look happy. "Super... Just, try to keep your eye on the ball." Blink. "F-FIGURATIVELY, keep your eye on the ball figuratively!!" Watching Sonata take off after the ball again and making no move to score any goals herself, Rainbow felt strangely helpless.

There was a time (early yesterday) when the idea of one of the sirens being repeatedly hit in the face with a soccer ball would have been comedy gold to her, but this... was only kind of funny. Less so as she realized her friends were probably gonna have her head if Sonata got completely turned off friendship or whatever because Rainbow had to pick soccer, (even deliberately playing with a team mostly comprised of total amateurs so Sonata wouldn't feel overwhelmed) but with how little Sunset had enjoyed dodge-ball (even if she'd won, brutally), she'd just figured soccer would go over better. She had no idea what, if anything, she was going to suggest if the other two ever turned things around.

Well, at least she's not crying or anything...

The game went on, as did Sonata's developing strategy for ball-kickery. Doing what she had been doing, the ball just kinda went all over the place when people crowded around it, so all Sonata had to do was be the first one to the ball when it went long so she could kick it to the goal! She hung back, circle-strafing like a pro as she waited for her chance. It came! She ran! She made it there first! She kicked hard and fast as part of the last step-

SMACK!!

-and sent the ball straight upwards, immediately running into it face-first.

Thud.

She didn't even wait for Rainbow to come over all I-care-about-you-getting-hurt again (though that did make her feel all tingly inside), hopping straight back up and charging after the ball again! Getting smacked in the face hurt, sure, but it was WAY less painful than a bulldog on her butt! If the ball had teeth, though, that would be some nightmare stuff.

Adjusting her strategy again, Sonata did the circle-strafe thing again a little closer to the group, keeping an eye on the ball. Figuratively, of course! Sonata saw her moment, the ball was flying through the air, so that was where she needed to be! She jumped, stretching out a leg and spinning mid-jump to Matrix-kick (I gotta ask Rainbow what that word means later) the ball before it could hit the ground or her face! She nailed it, sending the ball WHOOSHing through the air, past the other ball-kicker people, past the goalie, and into the goal!

"WOO," she cried out while sliding through the grass on her knees, "FREAKIN' SCORE!"

And then everyone went quiet for a second, followed by giggles. Giggling didn't normally follow a freakin' score, so something must have been funny here. Rainbow walked up, smiling and shaking her head in that oh-you-big-dope kind of way Adagio did sometimes.

"Great shot, Nata, you scored a perfect point for the other team."

Sonata grinned. "But I totally scored a goal?" Everyone laughed, but it felt like they were laughing with her for once.

Reigning in her giggles, Rainbow wiped a tear from her eye. "You're a good sport, you know that? Let's keep going."

And so they did!

SMACK!!

Thud.

"Headbutting the ball is allowed, but not really recommended, Nata..."

SMACK!!

Thud.

"That was... creative, but doing a hand-stand doesn't mean you can touch the ball with your hands. Mostly just leaves your head at ball-level, actually."

SMACK!!

Thud.

Rainbow sighed. "Man, I swear your face is some kind of ball magnet." Several other players snickered, Rainbow furrowing her eyebrows in response. "Hey, I'd like to see any of you even touch the ball that often!"

"Yea," agreed Sonata as she again hopped to her feet, the many little welts on her face giving her an almost comical appearance, "I totally get all the balls!"

There were yet more barely-restrained giggles from most of the team, which made Rainbow angrily frown. "What's so funny? What's wrong with being great at catching balls?"

Sonata pumped a fist victoriously! "I practically suck them in! With my face!"

Nearly everyone else was doubled over laughing now, some falling to the floor and clutching their sides. Rainbow shrugged, not seeing where the joke was. "Don't worry about them, Nata, I got an idea..."

Ten minutes later, Sonata stood in front of a goal, the one for her own team, which meant her objective had changed. Now she was to derive fun in preventing a freakin' score, and she would do so with the shiny, new armor she was granted! Rainbow gave her a baseball umpire's helmet, and she wore it with pride! It was a little hard to see through, but that just made Sonata feel like she was training to be a jedi, right down to the part where her enemy was a ball flying through the air. She waited, honing her senses, being ready for-

The ball ricocheted off her helmet, flying harmlessly away from the goal and doing nothing to reintroduce Sonata to the ground! Rainbow called from elsewhere on the field.

"Great block, Nata!"

Ohoho, yes, she thought, when I chased the ball, I was but a learner. Now I am the master.

The ball came at her again, she rapidly stuck out an open palm to stop it!

"WOOPAH!!"

Ball deflected. Perimeter secure.

It cometh again!!

High-kick!

"HUTTAH!!"

The other kids giggled at her and her kung-fu noises, but away sailed their ball, and its will to breach her defenses!

A moment later, her stingy enemy made its return!

VENGEANCE!!

She jumped up in the air, sticking one leg straight out to send it packing!

"HO-AAAAAAAA!!"

She landed in a The Best Around pose, her arms and one leg still up. This actually earned her the rest of the players stopping what they were doing and clapping, Rainbow in particular.

I am a goalie. Like my father before me.

Technically, he was a coral farmer, but details!

The battle raged on, one brave ball-transporter of dark side descent making a direct assault, running closer with the Death Ball at her feet! Master Sonata would show this wayward soul the error of her ways!

Stepping forward, but not out of her defined goalie-zone, Sonata shuffled a foot just under the ball, flicked it upwards, hammered it back down with a fist, and caught it between her feet! This left the teal, gold-eyed sith confused, standing nearly still as she tried to focus her energy on where the ball was at that instant. Sonata grinned under her helmet, quickly kicking the ball straight downwards to bounce it off the floor and send it up, balancing it on the knee of-

Teal Sith frantically swung a foot, landing it straight between Sonata's legs.

Proton torpedo fired into Death Star.

Disturbance in the force.

Many nerves in Sonata's lower body cried out, and then suddenly continued to cry out as she fell over in terrible pain.

Rainbow ran over to find Lyra, nearly in tears as she rapidly apologized for her clumsy kick, kneeling over Sonata. Rainbow, however, was feeling a little less worried as the game had gone on. Maybe Sonata just likes pain? Better call this to a close anyway. "Okay, everybody," she said with a loud clap and a smile, "I think that's enough for today. Thanks for comin' out to play!"

Nodding a little, everyone else kinda dispersed, most of them looking a little tired anyway.

When she looked back, Rainbow found Lyra being hugged and patted on the back by Sonata. Whom she had just... Maybe it was better not to think about it. The two stood, shook hands, and did some kind of weird monk-style bow thing. Lyra walked away smiling, so Rainbow took that as her cue to ask. "Uh... What just happened?"

Popping her helmet off, Sonata was beaming. "I have purged a lost soul of the ways of the dark side!"

...She really IS like Pinkie... "That's... cool. Why don't we head to AJ's for some lunch? If there's one thing they've usually got on a farm, it's plenty to eat."

"Sure!"

Rainbow nodded affirmatively, still not sure how she did in terms of friendship-spreading with the ex-villain this time. It took surprising amounts of willpower to not say anything about how Sonata spent most of the trip to Sweet Apple Acres walking funny.

Author's Note

Speaking of interpretation impressions, I hope it's obvious that I don't mean to make Sonata stupid here, just... short-sighted? And maybe lacking in common sense. Also; not having her refer to Adagio as "Dagi," just to see how it fits.

Innocent Rainbow is best Rainbow. It's practically right there in the name. Think about a rainbow reading porn or smoking in a church or running over a schoolgirl. It's not gonna happen.

Also, even if their efforts are doomed to failure, I think it's important that even the antagonist (if anyone was wondering, yes, Sonata is kind of a small-scale villain here, just on break this chapter) get humanizing moments somewhere in the story, even if it's just losing themselves a bit while having some fun.

Chapter 6: Too Many Hugs!

There needed to be a fallback past the drawing board for when you ran out of ideas that you could feasibly lay out on a big slab of dry-erase whiteness. Aria didn't know what that would be, but there should have been something for when you found yourself trying to come up with a plan of action for something and instead kept absent-mindedly drawing dinosaurs on fire. Or rather, dinosaurs covered in orange and yellow triangles. Drawing fire was hard, but even harder was thinking up a way to pull Adagio out of her depressed little raincloud and back to her big, megalomaniacal one.

That she had been trying to do this on the very board Adagio often used to explain her plans (Sonata usually needed visual aid) added a whole nother level of irony to the situation.

Abandoning the drawing board and its many burning dinosaurs, Aria found herself sitting outside Adagio's room with her back against the door, long having given up a more sophisticated approach than winging it.

"...How ya holding up in there?"

No response. Same as before.

"I haven't heard like, anything from your room today." Besides crying, but she wasn't about to say that. "Doesn't sound like you have a laptop or a TV or even music playing in there. Aren't you getting bored?"

Nothing.

"I'd be bored."

She sat there a few more minutes in silence, trying to find something to fill it with.

"We all said a lot of stuff, huh? I'd worry that you plain lost your voice, like, all of it, from that shouting match the other day, but me and Blue Stupid yelled just as much, and we're fine."

She listened for any sound of movement, any tiny indication that Adagio so much as turned her head, but heard nothing.

"She never came back, so, like, just us now. You and me. If you're still there, I mean."

No answer.

Aria felt a lump in her throat. "For the moon's sake, can't you just say something? Anything?! What do you wanna hear? That I finally came up with an idea to fix our voices, get back at everyone in that stupid school, and put us on the fast road to the high life? Well, I haven't, because I don't know what to do! You know I talk big, that's how it had to be back home, either you were the toughest fish in the sea or you were- well, I guess you wouldn't have known much about that, Miss-"

She stopped dead, her blood going cold.

"No, wait, I-I didn't mean, I know you were in the same boat, before we..." Her eyes started to burn. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean that, I remember what it was like, and, I know you do too, even if you never-" Her throat contracted for an instant. She swallowed while waiting for a reply.

Silence. Agonizing silence.

Aria took a long, shuddering breath. "You're really scaring me here, y'know. Things have been bad before, but you've never acted like this. I mean, yea, I guess we're at a new low here, but, seeing you just... die inside... You used to be unshakable, someone a cockatrice would be scared to look in the eyes, and now you're-" She couldn't even say it. There was another long pause, but she wasn't really expecting much different. "Come out. Talk to me. Please."

One more silence was more than Aria could take. Groaning with exasperation, she got to her feet and stomped away, intending to go blast music just for the sake of hearing something other than her own voice again.

A minute later, she walked back to Adagio's room and lightly rapped on the door. "Just gimme a sign that you're still alive in there."

The silence wore on for the longest eight seconds Aria could recall, but two little knocks back indicated that Adagio was right up against the door.

Aria found herself wearing a tiny smile as she walked away.

Wandering through the streets with her head down, Sonata didn't want to make eye-contact with anyone that might have looked at her; a sad-looking schmoe covered in band-aids from her dog-mauling, a few leaves from the midget trees stuck in her outfit, and a bunch of painful little lumps. She'd tried to defend herself by slinging the empty 'basket' off and throwing it at the swarm, but it didn't even slow them down as she sprinted all the way out of Apple-Land U.S.A. At the least the bees eventually stopped chasing her.

I should probably quit screwing around and come up with a real plan, because this one isn't working at all. Also; pain.

What had happened to her since she declared herself separate from the other two?
-Binged on tasty cupcakes. Yay!
-Barfed up tasty cupcakes. Boo.
-Got trampled by fat mall-goer people. Boo.
-Had to carry tons of heavy crud. Boo.
-Got a cute, super-shiny heart necklace. Yay!
-Had some amazing toast. Yay!
-Got bitten in the butt by a bunch of dogs. Boo.
-Got mauled in a dog pile. Boo.
-Was seen in her und-

Sonata collided with someone and fell backward, which, in addition to the normal pain of falling down, agitated several of her bee-stings. Ow.

-Bumped into somebody on the street. Boo.

"Uh, sorry about that," said the bumper, "I was just-... Sonata?"

She looked up to see none other than Sunset Shimmer, which made her frown a little. "You're not Sonata, dummy, I am."

Sunset blinked twice. "Eh, r-right, I, I just meant, uh..." She shook her head. "Sorry, I was kinda lost in thought. Are you okay?"

Getting up, Sonata didn't even need to look at herself to answer. "Not really, no."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that, do you need any help? I was just heading over to Applejack's place to offer a hand, but you're," she scratched her head, "um, not there anymore, so... Why do you look like you were attacked by bees?"

Sonata shrugged, her voice void of enthusiasm. "I was looking for leprechaun loot."

This was the second time a Rainboom suspiciously had no questions. "Oh, alright then. Would you like to get patched up a little? My place isn't too far from here and I've got painkillers and band-aids in bulk."

Sonata nodded, but if they weren't going to ask questions, she felt like the door was open for her to. "Why do you have those things?"

Smiling a little, Sunset pointed in a direction and they started walking. "When I first made friends with the others, something told me I'd be getting beaten up and kicked around mercilessly, so I planned ahead as best I could. Weirdly, I've used a lot more of those supplies treating them than I ever have myself."

The slightly swollen siren didn't let her irritation show on her face. I hate the universe.

"That should do it," said Sunset as she placed the last sting-covering band-aid, the two of them sitting on her bed, "is the aspirin kicking in yet?"

"I... maybe?" Her various injuries definitely hurt less, which was nice, but she felt a little funny in a way she couldn't describe. She looked around Sunset's lady-bachelor pad. Tiny apartment, but without ashtrays or empty bottles laying on their sides or sleeping hookers or anything. It wasn't a penthouse, but it was all so clean! And normal. Books and such. A calendar on one wall. Shiny window.

Sunset looked hesitantly relieved. "Well, that's something, I guess. So, how have you been?"

Turning to look her in the eye, Sonata frowned. "Not great, Sunset Shimmer. Not great."

Bad Girl Jacket (That's a lousy nickname. You've lost your touch.) looked almost hurt. "I'm, s-sorry to hear that." Then she kind of smiled a little. "But, hey, trust me when I say it gets better. I know how hard it is adapting to life without magic, but believe me, it's not so bad." She'd be lying through her teeth if she said she didn't miss it, telekinesis in particular, but this world had other methods of doing things, at least.

Sonata nodded a little. "And, the getting beaten up all the time...?"

Wincing, Sunset scratched the back of her head. "I, I can't really say, my experience was almost completely different. Like I said, I was paranoid that I'd be getting put through the wringer on a daily basis, so I was always cautious and careful of potential dangers and, in hindsight? Maybe that was part of the reason it took everyone else such a long time to trust me." Making their lives miserable for a few years was likely a much bigger reason, but credit where credit is due.

There was an ominous sense of confusing words coming in like a tidal wave, but Sonata asked anyway. "What do you mean? Why would people trust you more for getting trampled on and stuff?"

Sunset chuckled. "Shopping with Rarity, huh? Just follow her movements and you'll be fine. Anyway, I don't know if it's that simple, but I have a theory. If people see someone in pain, empathy and compassion might be felt enough to turn into sympathy, even if the sufferer is someone the observers hate."

As Sonata understood getting sympathy pretty well, she nodded.

"That being the case, it doesn't seem unreasonable that if everyone hates you and then sees you, I don't know, hit by a car or something, some of them might not call out things like 'Ha, serves you right!' or 'I hope that'll buff out!'" Sunset shrugged. "But I was careful, nothing really bad happened to me, and while I'm not too broken up about it now, I'm thinking maybe everyone might have eased up on me a little if it had. I mean, heck, I like to think I'd be tending to your injuries right now no matter who you were, but-"

"-but somebody told you about the other stuff and now you're giving me pain pills?" Sunset's patient smiled. "I think I kinda get it, yea."

Dr. Shimmer (Better!) smiled a little too. "That, and I remember what it was like where you are now."

Blink. "You remember being in your room?"

Sunset snickered. "Funny. How have the other sirens been, since...?"

"Shouty, moody, kinda depressed, same-old, same-old." Weirdly, Sonata felt a stab of sympathic feelings herself when Sunset looked like she was really not happy to hear that. There was definitely something to her pain theory. "I mean, y'know, they weren't like that all the time, just whenever we weren't singi-" And then Sonata frowned too.

Careful not to put pressure on Sonata's stings, Sunset leaned forward to gently wrap her in a hug. "I'm sorry for your loss." Sonata didn't say anything, but she didn't try to break away, either. "You know, I've been keeping in contact with Twilight. She says she's dealt with dark, magical artifacts before, that last time, the wearer kinda lost their drive for evil a little after it was removed." She didn't want to probe too deeply, remembering her own agonizing ordeal. "I won't ask what those gems did to you, but, how long would you say you were wearing them?"

"About ten years." The good old days. Kinda. Something seemed to change in Sunset's tone, like she was doing the exact opposite of what Adagio did when she was about to get really mad.

"Ten years... And, you lost them a few weeks ago?"

Sonata scowled. "Thanks, I almost forgot."

Quickly, Sunset backed away, holding up both hands defensively. "N-no, nonononono, I don't mean to rub it in, I'm just saying because, Twilight said, I mean, with her example, it, and, I-" She took a quick breath. "She told me that in her experience, the wearer lost a lot of their malice and a lot of their crazy around fifteen minutes after the dark magic was removed, and she had been wearing it for a few days. In your cases, we talked about how if you three were born with the gems and you'd been wearing them your whole lives, which might have been centuries, then-"

Somewhat indignantly, Sonata put her hands on her hips. "Centuries, schmenturies, I'm only twenty-six!" There was a pause as Sonata glanced down at her teenaged body. "Well, kinda."

Sunset giggled. "Sorry. Actually, that might be a good thing. Like I said, Twilight and I talked for a while about how long you guys might be under the influence of the gems, like I was with the Element of Magic." Ohh, to feel like you've been burned alive while riding a power trip of pure, homocidal megalomania. "We thought that, proportionally, if you guys had been wearing the gems for hundreds of years, that it might be a few more before the negative energy was completely worked out of your system, but if it's only been a decade, well..." It was hesitant, but Sunset offered a hopeful smile. "Weeks or months might be all you need, and you should be operating on your own magic by then. It might even heal your voices."

Time stopped. Well, not really, but it sure felt that way. Sonata could almost see Father Time trip and fall down the stairs, lines of words and numbers zipping by in the space around her, and all of them meant 'We might be able to sing again!' The invisible words started to form into lines, into stanzas, into songs! There was hope! there was light! Sonata couldn't even feel the bite marks or bee-stings on her behind as she sat down anymore!

Though maybe this was just the happy drugs getting to her head. Who knew? Who cared? If there was even a tiny little chance that she'd be able to sing again, she wanted to hug everybody in the world! Twice! Even Aria and Adagio! Unfortunately, the happy high started to fade away as Sunset's voice dragged her dozily back to Earth.

"-ata? Sonata? Are you okay?"

Huggin' time! This time it was Sonata that did the hugging, which might have startled Sunset a bit. Well, tough! If she didn't want to be latched onto and squeezed faster than a shark snapping up a fishie that didn't eat all its vegetables, she shouldn't have told Sonata that her life would not have a cold, empty void that she'd spend the rest of it trying in vain to fill! Not that she wasn't grateful, of course.

Her brain catching up with the situation, Sunset managed a giggle. "I'm glad you're happy about this," she said with strained breath, "but do you think I could breathe normally again?"

Reluctantly, Sonata eased up. There would be other hugging in the future, that much was sure.

"I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing, Nata, but if your voices don't come back on their own, I'm sure Twilight can help me work something out."

Heart movement. The wiggly kind. There were tears in Sonata's eyes, but she wasn't sad, angry, or terrified as she backed away enough to look Sunset in the eye. "Why are you so interested in us, anyway? Why do you care this much? I mean, thank you, really, but, is it just the sympathy thing?"

Sunset shrugged, a tinge of pink to her cheeks. "Just, you know, wanted to spread the love. I got off pretty easy after wrecking everyone's day, why shouldn't you guys? That, and what would it say if I was shown mercy, and even lasting friendship, and then denied anyone else the chance?" The look on her face, the shine in her eyes spoke of earnest regret. "I want to show that I learned something from what happened to me, and if I don't even make an effort with people going through the same thing, I don't think I can do that."

Sonata smiled, but without any intention of worming into somebody's head or slipping past their defenses. She'd have hugged Sunset again, but that was starting to lose its meaning, like when you said a word over and over again.

Sunset smiled too. "Would you like to come meet see the others with me? I think everyone should be hanging around Sugarcube Corner around now."

In that moment, Sonata Dusk realized something. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but she knew it was a thing. An important thing! She could feel it, she knew now that she didn't want to rob Applejack, swipe Fluttershy, trick Pinkie, or even see Rarity get stomped on, not anymore! Those girls, the ones that had given her a chance, somewhere along the line, they started to mean something to her, and so did two others! That in mind, she stood up.

"Sorry," she said with an earnestly sorry smile, "but I have to go talk to somebody. Can I meet you guys there in a bit? And, maybe bring... f-friends?"

Sunset smiled warmly, standing up too. "Take your time, we'll be there for you."

There was one last, quick hug before the two headed out of Sunset's smokeless, boozeless, hooker-free lady-bachelor pad. Man, she doesn't do the bad girl thing AT ALL.

Author's Note

Serious chapter is serious. Would you believe I began writing fanfiction with the intent of leaning primarily on wacky comedy all the time? My first story doesn't really reflect this very well...

A few years later, I've come to the realization that 'all crazy, all the time' is a little harder when you don't make everyone a simple caricature of their normal selves, give or take a straight character or two. I think I tried pure, dumb fun once, and even then I had to rationalize it as all just being a movie, so for those who can do it straight, I wonder if some kind of medal is in order. A chocolate metal, but covered in the shiniest damn golden tin-foil stuff there is!

Also, I apologize for the possible mood whiplash this story might be giving you, but if you're wondering, no, none of the sirens were raped back home. They might have lived in an undersea ghetto for a while, but it wasn't Fallout: Equestria or anything. :twilightsheepish:

Semi-Nursemaid Shimmer, based on that scene where she wipes the glitter/paint off Fluttershy's face in RR. That gave me the mental image that Sunset might spend a bit of time taking care of the others when their shenanigans get out of hand, even if it's just in small, simple ways.

Chapter 7: Too Much Blushing!

Nothing had really changed since Aria's last attempt, so again she sat with her back to Adagio's door, just saying whatever came to mind.

"So I guess that's why I kinda like wearing heels."

No questions, comments, or even a hint of mockery for the slightly embarrassing personal story. She sighed.

"Look, about what I almost said before, I really didn't mean to-... You can't help who your parents are, y'know? I think we both had that problem."

It might have been amazing how long I-can-monologue-for-hours Adagio had gone without uttering a single word if it weren't so unsettling.

"Did you ever tell Sonata where you came from?"

As much as she was telling Aria now, it seemed.

"You never told me either, but it wasn't hard to figure out. Nobody born outside the spires would'a known what you knew, knew how to do what you did, what you helped us do. Not like I blame you, spire-folks were always kind of-" She was startled by the doorbell, which knocked her off her train of thought. When it rang again, she stood up, looking over her shoulder to whisper to the door. "I'll get it. Don't go anywhere, 'kay?" She doubted that would be an issue, but felt like she had to say it anyway.

Answering the door, Aria immediately scowled at the blue girl before her. "I told you, you aren't welcome here anymore, we want nothing to do with you, and never to come back!!"

The door was slammed in Photo Finish's face. "Vell, I never!"

Aria hadn't even told Adagio she was back when the doorbell rang again, making her growl and stomp back to the front door in haste. She flung it open. "WHAT?!"

Sonata shrank back a little. "Uh... hi!"

Oh, yea, the deserter. Alive, I guess, despite all those band-aids. Not gonna ask. "What do you want, runt?"

Been a while since she called me that... Aria is NOT happy, but that's kinda normal for her. That's okay, I come bearing friendship! Sonata managed a smile. "How have you guys been doing?"

"Fine."

"What'cha been up to?"

Aria legitimately wanted to smack Sonata right then, and she doubted Adagio would yell at her for it this time. Unfortunately, something in her expression, a weird angle to her smile or a twinkle in her eye, made Aria more curious than mad. "Could ask you the same thing. What are you even doing here? Thought you said you'd be livin' it up with your new pals."

Sonata smiled wider. "I am! Or, I was, and, will be again, but, well..." The grin turned bashful as Sonata folded her arms behind her back. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. For the yelling, the name-calling, the always making a mess when I try to cook, for every time I ever ticked you guys off. I'm sorry, okay?"

Aria's mouth hung open as she gaped in silence.

Tilting her head a little to the side, Sonata looked into the house. "Can I say it to Adagio too? Is she home?"

There was a stab of panic as Aria considered the state their ~~former leader~~ the state their just-on-break leader was in; not one for visits. "No," she answered with a scowl, "no you can't, just go back to your new buddies so they can get sick of you too."

To Aria's immediate surprise, Sonata didn't whine, didn't pout, didn't puff out her cheeks, didn't even shoot back with something stupid, just started making a sad, pleading kind of smile. "Please? It's important."

For some twisted, back-of-your-head little reason, Aria actually kind of wanted to let her in, but she couldn't see Adagio the way she was. Literally. Door was in the way. "Look, she's busy, you can come back some other-"

"What's she doing?"

Sonata was still smiling at her, doing that unplaceable thing with her face that only she seemed capable of doing. It was like Adagio's Obey Me look, but with smiling! "I, she's..." The look persisted, something in the back of Aria's head bringing up tiny kittens playfully wiggling their tails as they stared up at her, eyes quietly begging for something in her hand. It was that look that had been used to recruit Aria for the gem heist all those years ago, and it was that look that made her spill the beans now.

Aria took a deep breath. "Nothing, okay? She's doing nothing. Just been crying in her room the last day or two, and I can't snap her out of it."

For a moment, the smile weakened as Sonata stared in wide-eyed disbelief. "...Like, nothing but crying? She never even went to the bathroom?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, you little dumba-" Aria stopped dead, giving Sonata a pained look. Her mouth twitched a few times before she turned away. "She won't wanna talk to you, so just-"

"Let me try. Please?"

Even with her back to Sonata, she could still feel that look on the back of her head. Clenching her eyes and jaw, Aria tried to be angry, tried to focus on how Sonata ditched them with every intention of leaving them behind forever, but a number of recent thoughts cropped up in her mind. She's here now, right?

To her own surprise, Aria didn't have to force the words. "C-come on."

Sonata followed her inside. "Hey, Aria?" Her oldest frenemy stopped to look at her, getting a warm smile for it. "Thank you."

Not sure how to feel about the eels in her guts, Aria nodded and continued to Adagio's door, Sonata right behind her. She gently knocked once. "Hey, me again. Sonata came back, she wants to talk to you." Part of her would have been insanely annoyed if that were all it took to open the door, but within seconds, it was clear that there was no need to worry that Adagio just liked Sonata better. Looking at Sonata, Aria resisted saying anything about having told her she wouldn't want to talk, nodding to the door instead.

Just a little nervous about the prospect of confronting a very emotional Adagio, Sonata cleared her throat. "Hey, Adagio. Boss-lady. Fluffy-wuffy." She giggled. "Sorry, I know you don't like it when I call you that. Can I come in? There's something I want to talk to you about."

Aria held her breath, but there was no sound from Adagio's room.

Sonata stepped forward, leaning on the door as she pressed an ear to it. "Aria tells me you're in here, but you were always pretty good at hiding. Remember? The first time I tried to talk to you, you slipped away and I couldn't find you for two days. When I found you, though, you swam away."

She smiled again, letting it carry into her voice. "You weren't a very fast swimmer, huh? I'm glad, though, because it meant I could talk to you. If I couldn't, you'd have never told me what was wrong with my plan, maybe nobody would have, and I would have gotten myself, a marching band, and maybe a whole lot of other kelpies in a lot of trouble. You might not have meant to, but you kind of saved me back then, even if it was just in a tiny way. And then, you saved all three of us by helping us get the gems! They might be gone now, but look where they've brought us! I know we've spent a long time just wanting to go home, but when I think about it? Equestria stinks! It's full of monsters and million-year-old evil and snobby, rich jerks that don't care if you get eaten by scorpian-crabs in your sleep. Over here, they just have that last one!"

Listening in silence, she thought she might have heard a stirring. "But there are good things here too. I went out and found some! I came back because I wanted to share those things with you guys, but you have to open the door. Please? We might not be ruling the world any time soon, but that doesn't mean we can't be happy."

Silence... And then a thump. It was soft, but Sonata faintly detected feet shuffling across a carpet. She backed away from the door. To Aria, standing just behind her, the sound of the tumblers moving was like a lullaby.

The door cracked, then slowly swung open to reveal a messy, orange mass of perma-bedhead draped over a yellow girl in a fluffy, black bathrobe. The belt was tied haphazardly, but at least preserved her modesty by holding the robe shut, as this might have been all she was wearing. She stood at an angle to Aria and Sonata, leaning her head enough that her hair hung over her face. "What do you want?"

Sonata kept her smile. "First, I wanted to say I'm sorry about what I said when we were fighting." She had a stroke of brilliance and decided not to apologize for each specific insult. "Remember how I said I'd go make new friends? Well, I did, but I still wanna keep you two, if you'll let me." Adagio still wasn't looking at her. Maybe her face was burned by acid or something and she hadn't found a comfortable mask yet, so she was letting her hair hide it instead. "It's pretty nice, y'know, having friends. I don't know if that's what we were before so much as world-conquest buddies, but friendship is a lot easier!"

"They blasted you with their magic again, didn't they?"

Rainbow-laser-free, Sonata giggled. "Nah. Well, unless just spending time with them counts, then yes, and it wasn't too bad!" Give or take the parts where her plans for swiping stuff literally bit her in the butt, but still! "I learned some stuff from the Rainbooms, like gerbil philosophy and where to dodge-roll in a mall, but most importantly, I learned we might get our singing voices back!"

At last, Adagio looked her in the eye, her own wide and bloodshot. The others could see her face now; red around the eyes and stained with tears. It was at the same time that Adagio caught sight of Sonata for the first time since the argument, seeing the band-aids all over her face, arms, thighs, and presumably some other places. "Sonata, what are all these bandages?" She started to look almost angry. "What have you been doing? Are these from the Rai-"

Sonata held up a finger in an almost disapproving-mother kind of way. "Ohh, no you don't, Missy! We're talking about you crying first!"

"I wasn't-"

Aria winced, still looking away. "There's really no denying it at this point, Adagio."

Adagio's lower lip twitched and she hid her face again, letting out a low whimper. "...I'm a disgrace. You said, both of you, said this was all my fault, and... I t-tried to rationalize it, tried to find a way to blame you instead," her voice became a pitiful squeak, "but you were right. I thought I'd planned everything out, but that mute girl and her shape-shifting vehicle mean I must have missed something, so it is my fault. We've lost that which brought us together, solely because of me."

There was a pause as Sonata, and even Aria, tried to think of some sentiment beyond the plainest platitude to make her feel even a little better.

No such thing was uttered as Sonata smiled. "Yep, you sure goofed!"

Adagio looked back with shock and a twinge of hurt in her face. Aria's jaw had dropped, but Sonata went on, her smile unchanged.

"I mean, not accounting for the chance of a random yahoo who happened to be immune to our magic because she never heard our songs sure is an oversight, like not thinking that same near-deaf person would listen to the first purple dog she saw when it tried to lead her somewhere in the middle of the night! You probably didn't even think there could be someone that we weren't affecting at all that wasn't immediately working with the other girls, who at least had the cohesion to be immune for no reason at all, and that that same person could have a car that transforms into exactly what they needed to beat us!"

She giggled. "It's okay, though, your failure to account for that possibility coming straight outta nowhere at the last minute only left us outnumbered two to one, then three to seven, eight if you count the magic headphone chick, which aren't exactly sporting odds and I kinda thought good guys had rules about that stuff. But yea, you totally should have been able to fight off all of them once Aria and me got knocked down by butterflies to the face, and I think you almost did! Too bad you didn't know what to do when one extra person in their song suddenly turned their magic into a Godzilla-sized glass horsey with even more straight-outta-nowhere-power than we've ever had in our lives, huh?"

Sonata blinked, putting a finger to her chin in thought. "Huh. Y'know, maybe it isn't your fault."

Adagio blinked slowly.

Aria's mouth twitched, the other two immediately taking notice. Unable to stop herself, she snickered, which quickly transitioned to giggling like a dolt, but she still managed to speak. "Feel better, Adagio?"

"I..." She'd done everything she knew how to do before the Battle, taken care of every loose end she caught, and that they'd still failed made the last few weeks all the harder to bear. However, thinking about it, she almost felt cheated. Probably like everyone we've ever influenced might, when they found themselves doing things they wouldn't have if not for us? It seemed fitting somehow.

Adagio smiled a little. "I think I'll get over it." She looked at Sonata. "You said we could get our voices back?" Kelpies were supposed to have an affinity for song, and that she thought she'd permanently cost the three of them a piece of their identity hadn't helped things.

Sonata told them what Sunset had told her, that if nothing else, the very girls that had destroyed their voices would be willing to help get them back, so long as the trio behaved themselves.

When the explanation was over, Adagio started to smile. It wasn't quite her usual, wicked grin, but definitely going that way. "Girls? I think I have a plan."

A wide grin erupting across her face, Aria victoriously pumped a fist in the air. "About damn time!!"

Tickled as she was by the sight, along with Sonata giggling with glee, Adagio contained herself. "But first, a few more questions, Sonata. About these bandages...?"

The three of them had moved to the living room, sipping from soda cans as Sonata regaled them with her journey of discovery, of failed thefts and little bonds formed, of her valiant combat against a pack of toast-loving doggies, and her conversion of a lost soul from the dark side. That last part really perplexed her fellow former weilders of dark magic, but as ever, they shared a look, silently agreed not to say anything, and let the moment pass.

"So," Adagio surmised, "Sunset Shimmer told you that whether our voices come back on their own or not, her group will help us... because, they're willing to forget what happened? Already?"

"Pretty much! They even set up a party for us over at-" Sonata gasped, hopping out of her seat. "The party! I think they're waiting for us, we should go now!" In a blink, she was grabbing Adagio's wrist and pulling her toward the door, which drew some resistance.

"S-Sonata, let go of me!"

"No time! C'mon, Aria, we've gotta get to the big friendship shin-dig!"

Shrugging, Aria stood up to follow, but couldn't help wondering if they'd draw the wrong kind of attention with Adagio looking all-

"I'm not, I-I can't-" Adagio managed to brace against the rim of the front door to avoid being dragged outside as she turned pink. "At least let me get dressed first!!"

It was then that Sonata noticed Adagio was still wearing nothing but her bathrobe with messy hair and reddish eyes. She smiled sheepishly and let her go. "Haha, sorry."

Huffing, Adagio quickly walked back to her room to make herself presentable.

While they waited, Aria looked at Sonata, noticing a shiny little heart necklace

"Where'd you nab that thing?"

Sonata smiled. "Free loot from a friend."

A skeptical eyebrow was raised. "They just give you stuff for hanging around them?"

"One did! Well, that and being her pack mule."

Eyes widening, Aria turned red. "...They're into some kinky stuff, huh?"

"I mean carrying crud around for a while!"

"Oh." There was a short, awkward silence as Aria glanced in the direction of Adagio's bedroom. "Why'd she come out for you, and not me?"

The master of talking to crying people smiled a little. "When you say a lot of mean stuff to somebody you want to be nice to again, you're supposed to take it back, stupid." The last word was delivered without any venom, drawing a similar reply.

"I was just about to when you got here, knucklehead."

"Pfft, likely story."

Aria's eyebrow twitched. "You pickin' a fight? Because it looks like you already lost one today."

Now Sonata did the irritable, puff-out-cheeks thing. "I'd like to see you do better against-"

"Girls, please," said Adagio as she stepped into view, wearing her usual purple dance outfit, massive ponytail, and, somehow, perfectly clean face. "Can't we just agree that you're both idiots?"

Amused, Aria smirked. "Oh, yea? What does that make you?"

So did Adagio. "Very annoyed on a daily basis."

"Wha-? Hey!"

Sonata snrk'd before erupting into gigglefits, the others infected with laughter a moment later.

When it died down, Adagio smiled apologetically. "I heard that, Sonata, and... I'm sorry too."

"Yea," concurred Aria, "same, to both of you."

That wasn't exactly the heart-felt session of touchy-feeliness Sonata was expecting it to be, but baby steps. There were still gonna be hugs somewhere, darnit!

Examining Adagio, Aria cocked her head a little. "How'd you get your eyes all... Not-a-crying-wreck?"

"Well-applied make-up and special contacts."

Aria blinked twice. "You wear contacts?"

"I don't like wearing glasses."

"You wear glasses?"

"Mainly for reading."

Sonata giggled. "Alrighty, but don't start crying again or you'll get all melty-faced!"

Adagio rolled her deceptively clear eyes. "Thank you, Sonata, I'll keep that in mind."

Curious about just how many times Adagio had worn those concealing contacts before, Aria made a mental note to keep an eye on Adagio's in the future. She turned to Sonata. "So, there gonna be food at this thing? Because I'm pretty sure Fuzzy-Wuzzy over there hasn't eaten in the last couple days."

It was said almost affectionately, but Adagio still made a show of huffing and crossing her arms. "I came out to eat while you were sleeping, which is to say, in the early morning and for an hour or two in the middle of the afternoon."

Aria flushed lightly as Sonata giggled at her. "Big ol' lazybones!"

"It's not being lazy, it's, uh..." She knew there was a word for it, she just couldn't remember what it was. She looked at Adagio. "I never saw any new dirty dishes in the kitchen."

"Did you see recently-cleaned ones?"

Aria's mouth opened as she held up a finger, but no words came. She jogged over to the kitchen to play Spot the Difference and was a little surprised to find that someone had clearly cleaned the results of a meal or two. Turning as she heard the others follow her into the kitchen, Aria made an irritated expression. "Do you have to be sneaky in everything you do?"

"I'm not sneaky in everything I-" Adagio stopped, her attention now on the drawing board on the wall near the table. It was placed there so she could go over plans and not have to worry about anyone missing details if they wanted to grab a snack in the process, but the current display left her very confused. "...Aria? What kind of scheme were you putting together here?"

Slooowly turning her head, Aria realized she hadn't remembered to clean the board following her compulsion to draw dinosaurs on fire. "Um..."

Oh, I missed these weird little moments, thought Sonata as she giggled. "Looks like a bunch'a lizards having a rave party!"

Aria scowled a little. "It's not a rave, they're on fire!"

"Because that makes more sense!"

"Whatever you were planning," Adagio said as she moved toward the front door, "you can explain it on the way, I think we have a gathering to attend."

Predictably, Aria's 'plan' had not impressed the others, but its formulation was no less interesting. One short conversation about the possible benefits of drawing spiky, metal bears on fire later, Adagio explained her intention to play along with the Rainbooms for now. They would take the groundwork Sonata's efforts had laid out and build up from there, if only long enough to alleviate the ill will most of the town probably still felt toward them.

"On that note, Sonata, you take point when we get there."

Frowning, Sonata gingerly rubbed her hindquarters. "I think I took enough 'points,' thank you very much."

"No, I mean, walk in front of us, as though we're just following you." She wasn't surprised in the least that Aria and Sonata let out confused noises at the same time. "Remember, we're supposed to be your guests here. They most likely want to think you've completely turned us around, so we'll have to play nice with them. At least until we have our voices back."

Aria nodded a little. "And, from there?"

"Play it by ear, I suppose. As we've learned that outright thievery doesn't go over well," Sonata smiled sheepishly, "we'll have to be a little craftier to benefit from this in the long run."

Chuckling, Aria indicated Sonata's new necklace. "Well, we know they give out freebies themselves, every now and then. More-so if you do a little manual labor for them."

"I have no intention of being their-" She caught sight of Sonata's newest non-band-aid accessory and smiled with amusement. "My, my, a heart? You do work fast, Sonata..."

"Huh?"

Tinting pink, Aria stared at Sonata in shock. "W-wait, you really did get that thing by...?"

"Wha-? No!! They don't do that stuff with random people, I even asked!" Now both of her fellow sirens were staring at her in surprise.

Adagio looked intrigued. "...You specifically asked each and every one of them about their... proclivities?"

"Well, just Rarity, she's the one that gave me the necklace."

There was a smirk. "The pale one with purple curls? Good choice!"

Before Sonata could reply, Aria scratched her head. "Wait, wasn't Flower Girl the one you let see you with your skirt off?"

"I didn't let her, it got torn off when I was screaming and rolling around on the floor in a pile of dogs!"

Adagio flushed crimson, holding both hands to her mouth in wide-eyed shock. "S-Sonata!!"

Sonata blinked. "What?"

"Man," Aria said with a rueful shake of her head, "we leave you alone for a few days and you go all wild. Never knew you were so depraved, Sonata."

When it sunk in, Sonata was glowing red. "TH-THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, YOU PERVERTS!!"

There was a short silence as they walked, eventually broken by Adagio. "So, does that mean you're not cheating on Rarity, or were you with the skittish one first?"

Sonata groaned.

Author's Note

You know how the cliche protagonist's thing of "being nothing without one's true friends at their side" usually falls kinda flat when they prove perfectly competent and capable without much or any help, just to a lesser degree?

This last siren interpretation is someone that well and truly falls apart on her own, depending on her minions' presence (and obedience, ideally) to keep her confidence up. It might work to insane, the-world-will-be-mine degrees, but no matter how smart she might be, without back-up, part of me wonders if Adagio would be much more than a lonely, blubbering wreck for the first few days. The sirens are never apart for a single second in RR, so it's possible Adagio isn't as bold without the others behind her.

Or, they were intended to be a singular entity and the writers only had three sirens in the first place because
1. A singular villain with nobody taking Sonata's role wouldn't constantly explain their thoughts and plans aloud for the audience and
2. Just one person isn't as threatening, or fun, as the comic trio we got. That, and it might have felt more like the heroes were ganging up on them if it were 1 vs. 7. Not that 3 vs. 7 is much better, 8 if you count Vinyl.

...No jokes about 'doggy style,' please.

Chapter 8: Too Many Friends!

When they arrived at Sugarcube Corner, it looked like they had come too late, because the lights were on, but no one was around. Sonata opened the door and her guests followed, the three of them looking around curiously.

The second the door was closed, the Rainbooms sprung from behind the counter and yelled "SURPRISE!!" at the same time as a large, colorful banner reading "WELCOME!" unfolded from the ceiling.

The Dazzlings were startled, to say the least.

Sunset Shimmer was the first to step forward, smiling widely. "Hi, guys! Glad you all could make it!"

Adagio opened her mouth to reply, but remembered her place in the plan and nudged Sonata forward.

Smiling brightly, Sonata seized a wrist of each siren at her side and held them in the air. "We are here to do the friendship!"

Briefly sharing a confused look, Aria and Adagio said a tiny, silent prayer and nodded a little. Now it was their turn.

...Or not.

The party had gotten started right after brief introductions were made, and so far there wasn't so much as a mean-spirited stare cast by anyone. The couple at the counter, presumably the facility's owners, smiled and welcomed them to sit anywhere they liked and indicated the snack table on one side of the shop, where Pinkie Pie stood waving at them.

Sonata grinned. "I'm gonna go see if the cupcakes are the super-sweetened kind, ciao!"

She jogged over, Aria instead moving toward the jukebox. Partly just out of curiosity at the thing's existence in this day and age. "I'll see what tunes they've got here."

Her eyes flicking back and forth, Adagio watched her partners walk away.

Don't leave me on my own, you idiots! Splitting up is exactly what they want us to do!

She glanced around the room to find the girls they were here to... actually try to get along with, mostly spread out around the room themselves. Maybe it was fine. More by the minute, in wandered randoms from the street that possibly just came in for a donut before being unofficially drafted into the party. Adagio opted to stay where she was, leaning against a far side of the counter as she watched the rest.

Over at the snack table, Sonata waved to Rarity and Applejack, who stood close by, before looking at Pinkie. "Hiya, Pinks!"

"Hey, Nata! Don't worry about the cupcakes, these are-"

Sonata beamed. "I was just about to ask!"

The two of them giggled together before Pinkie gestured to the table. "We've also got donuts, muffins, bagels, cinnamon rolls, tiny sandwiches, a bowl of chips," Sonata let out a tiny squee, "a big ol' jello cube, and a pie!" She looked at Applejack and Rarity, who held a glass of punch each. "Thanks again for baking on such short notice, Applejack!"

"T'weren't nothin'," she replied with a smile.

"I second that thank-you," Sonata said while trying to contain her urge to shove her face straight into the snack table, "I love eating your pie!"

Rarity did a spit-take, coughing immediately after. This won her three perplexed stares, which made her reply with a rosy-cheeked smile. "Haha, yes, pies, um... I think Sunset is looking a little lonely, I'll go keep her company, ta-ta!" There was a short, awkward silence as Rarity quickly, but gracefully walked away.

Shrugging, Applejack looked back at Sonata. "So, yer lookin' pretty good fer somebody that wandered into the wrong part'a the farm."

Her head lowering in contrition, Sonata giggled nervously. "S-sorry I went in there." She had expected to be chastised a little more, but Applejack smiled and shook her head.

"Ah reckon you learned yer lesson. Swellin' looks like it's gone down a lot, how ya feelin'?"

Perking up, Sonata looked at the pie and licked her lips. "Like I'm about to be a whole different kind of swollen!"

She, Pinkie, and Applejack giggled together.

Across the room, Aria had engaged a slightly shaky Fluttershy before she reached the jukebox. There was something she badly wanted to know. "So, you're sure nothing happened? Like, other than all the biting?"

"Y-y-yes," Fluttershy answered with a nervous blush, not liking what Aria had been implying for the last few minutes, but touched by her concern for a friend, "and, I'm still not sure what made them do that."

Aria barely stopped herself from spilling the truth. "Ehh... Prob'ly nothing important." She was startled by a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," announced Rainbow with a big, friendly grin, "do you have a favorite sport?"

"Uh..." Sports? I'm more of a dancer... "Not, really...?"

That the answer sounded like a question was Rainbow's first clue that maybe the Dazzlings weren't all that athletic. Or at least, didn't care much for sports. "No sweat, I'll describe the ones I know, you stop me if anything jumps out. Item One: Volleyball! It starts with a big net..."

Hoo, boy, thought Aria, they ARE into some kinky stuff...

The party went on, people moved around, but Adagio stayed put, alone. The Dazzlings, just herself and the other two, were in a building owned by those that by rights shouldn't have been this welcoming, with more and more people showing up. It positively screamed 'trap,' but nothing was happening.

Were they just building their forces? Waiting until a big enough mob had arrived that they could easily seize her group to tar and feather them? Or worse? Or was she worrying for nothing? If Sonata had genuinely won the Rainbooms over with her antics, Adagio didn't want to be the one to ruin that by doing something to come across as unfriendly. That in mind, she wasn't quite feeling up to just walking over and starting a conversation with someone. What would they talk about?

She didn't know, so she kept her focus on Aria and Sonata, both of whom were apparently having no trouble mingling. Well, give or take a few confused, mildly disturbed expressions from Aria while she talked to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

Not far from her, Sunset, Fluttershy, and Rarity stood together as the latter wrapped up her story.

"-and the most delightful arrangement of buttons! Quite the haul for a trip that began with a blow to the head." The three of them giggled as she turned her eyes toward Adagio. She hadn't moved from where she'd been since the party started, which drew a concerned frown. "It looks like she's still wallflowering it over there."

Remembering what Sonata had told her, Fluttershy nodded. "She, uh, m-might be a little nervous, or something. I'd talk to her myself, but, uhm-"

"But," Sunset offered, "those eyes of hers are a little scary?"

"Yes."

Rarity was still looking at her, raising a glass to her lips. "She might be as scared as you are, Darling." Her friends had to wait until she finished a sip for clarification. Rarity shrugged a little. "Look closely, I'm quite certain her legs are shaking."

It was hard to tell at that distance, but scrutinizing her triangle-patterned tights, it looked like Rarity was right.

Fluttershy gasped quietly. "Oh, goodness, her legs are shaking."

"Yea they are..."

Rarity and Fluttershy immediately turned to look at Sunset, the former voicing the question. "What was that, Darling?"

Sunset grinned nervously. "Er, I said, I'll go talk to her!" And off she went.

Watching her walk over, Rarity whispered. "...One minute?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Two."

They giggled together.

Slightly scary eyes were locked onto her as she approached, but Sunset kept a normal stride and friendly expression. "Hey. I've seen your MyStable account."

Adagio inquisitively tilted her head. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Your profile, the... one... that...?" Sunset shrugged, looking away as she smiled. "Nothing, just wanted to get to know my fellow Equestrians a bit. I used to be a pony, back home."

Raising a cautious eyebrow, Adagio leaned in a little to look at her. "...What kind of pony?"

Telling stupid, pointless stories was apparently friendship gold, Aria had learned.

"So, that's why I'm not an artist."

Rainbow and Pinkie both giggled, the latter nudging the former. "Maybe you should have tried triangles, huh, Rainbow?"

"Hey, red and orange scribbles are totally universal for fire, everyone in kindergarten knows that. Ria just improved on the method, is all."

Pinkie blinked. "'Ria'? You mean 'Ari'?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "No, I mean 'Ria.' Sounds better, doesn't it?"

Aria held up a finger. "Um-"

"'Ari' is cuter!"

"Cute has nothing to do with cool nicknames!"

"Cute nicknames are friendlier!"

"I'm sticking with 'Ria.'"

"'Ari!'"

"'Ria!'"

"'Ari!'"

"'Ria!'"

"'Ari!'"
"'Ria!'"

Aria tried to interject. "Guys?"

They only bickered faster.

"'Ari!'"
"'Ria!'"
"'Ari!'"
"'Ria!'"
"'Ari!'"
"'Ria!'"

"HEY!!" She now had their attention, smirking a little. "Why don't we go with 'Aria'?"

Sharing a quick look, Rainbow and Pinkie beamed and answered in unison. "A compromise, that's perfect!"

Aria 'Aria' Blaze facepalmed, trying to keep from smiling as they hi-fived. Now there's three of her...

Festivities carried on for the next hour, all three Dazzlings engaged in conversation with Rainbooms, as well as people they'd never met! Sonata, overjoyed, ran around greeting random people, shaking their hands, and then pulling them by that hand to introduce them to someone else. Friendship to everyone! She had just finished bowing to Padawan Lyra when Aria tugged on her shirt.

"Hey, can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

They moved to a vacant area in the back, by the bathrooms. When they stopped, Sonata smiled. "So, what'd you wanna talk abo-" She was cut off with a gentle hug.

"Been thinking," Aria whispered, "when Adagio was holed up in her room, I thought it was all my fault, that some of what I said really must've got to her." It said something that Sonata offered no arguments right then. "Looks like that wasn't it, but I still wondered. I want you to know that I don't hate you, that when I call you names or belittle what you do, I don't mean it, not a word. Okay?"

Tearing up, Sonata couldn't do words, but she could squeeze Aria in the warmest, cuddliest hug she'd ever given! So she did! A minute later, Aria asked a question.

"I'm still allowed to deny this ever happened, right?"

"Of course."

Still hugging, the two giggled together, at least until Aria quickly reached down to give Sonata a wedgie.

"IPE!!" Breaking away, Sonata immediately moved to adjust her striped underpants. "Hey!"

Aria shrugged, smiling guiltily. "Insurance, in case anyone saw us here." Once again, Sonata gave her the Angry Pout.

The two of them returned to the main party area and were swiftly met with a rosy-cheeked, cross-looking Adagio holding Pinkie Pie (who didn't seem the least bit bothered by it) by the wrist, a worried Sunset Shimmer behind her.

Adagio wasn't sure how Sonata could have known about her vague sense of fondness for unicorns, the only pony race she could recall ever having stood up to them back in Equestria (even if it was just the one), but that wasn't what irked her at this moment.

"Sonata? Perhaps you could explain something to me..."

Aria didn't revise her private speech to Sonata after learning about the MyStable profiles, but she did give one Hell of a glare. For the next 24 hours, Sonata had gorging herself, throwing up, being stepped on, being a beast of burden, fang-marks on her butt, going pantless, balls to the face, and being covered in bees listed as her interests.

"Thanks for making us these profiles, Sonata," said Aria with a smug grin as she sat at the computer, "I'm sure all our new friends will love to see them!"

Sonata stared in mortified silence at the footage of her chasing the bulldog in that parking lot with her skirt off. Much more worrying was the ever-increasing view counter.

Chuckling, Adagio walked in and looked over Aria's shoulder at the screen. "Been customizing your page too, I take it?"

"Yup. Had to, or Fluttershy might'a sent me another-"

Adagio deadpanned. "Another half-gig of rabbit photos? She sent me what was labeled as the special edition..." She had to agree, they indeed looked like super snuggly bunnies. Still, that had to be the least disturbing thing she or Aria were emailed as a result of those interest lists.

Sonata was covering her face with both hands. "I'm sorry I set up embarrassing profiles for you guys, now can you please take down that video?!"

Aria touched a fingertip to her lower lip, her voice and face utterly innocent. "But, dear Sonata, however will people know my interests otherwise?"

Groaning, Sonata stomped a foot and stormed off. "You guys are THE WORST!!"

Aria and Adagio both laughed themselves silly.

When she caught her breath, Adagio leaned in to whisper to Aria. "You really should take that video down." Aria gave her a confused look. She smirked. "...In a few days."

They laughed a little more.

A few weeks later, the many embarrassing events of Sonata's excursion by herself were largely forgotten, even by Aria and Adagio, who had taken to spending time with their new friends more than they'd have ever imagined. The trio even found themselves attending school of their own free will just to see them more often. Not everyone was immediately accepting of the former magical menaces, but the continued presence of the now-friendly Sunset Shimmer often served to make such people feel silly about their grudges.

There were ups and downs, peaks and troughs, but one day, Adagio had called everyone together for a picnic-party at the park, starting with a little announcement.

"Hello, everyone!" It was more than just the Rainbooms that greeted her back. "You may recall that Aria, Sonata, and I once tried to take your school, your town, your world, and make them our playthings. Our efforts were thwarted, but that alone didn't show us what we were doing wrong, and for a time, we didn't know what to do anymore." She frowned. "Personally, I eventually fell into despair, convinced that there was nothing left to do but lie down and die," a hesitant smile returned, "but my oldest friends had other ideas." She stopped long enough to look at Aria and Sonata, who smiled back at her. "Today, the three of us are here with you as friends, happier than we've ever been!"

There was a short cheer, but she wasn't quite done. Adagio let one of her 'scary grins' cross her face. "As such, I've amended my plans for world domination..."

In the crowd, Aria facepalmed. "Aw, jeez, she's really doin' it..."

"Considering how much better off we are now, after having embraced that which once opposed us..."

Sonata giggled. "Never change, Dagi."

"The new plan is to conquer the world-" Sunset Shimmer popped up behind her to deliver the announcement at the same time. "-THROUGH FRIENDSHIP!!" Sunset and Adagio took up villainous poses (hands-on-hips and holding-two-grapefruits, respectively) to laugh maniacally, but Sunset's grin was too wide and cheerful to really pull it off.

Among those gathered, some giggled along with them, some rolled their eyes, some turned their heads away and blushed, and some just backed away slowly.

Following that little spectacle, people spread out. Some joined Fluttershy and Rarity on lawn chairs in the shade, some played soccer with Rainbow Dash and Applejack on a flat feild, some hung around the snack tables to hear Pinkie's stand-up routines, some cartwheeled in the grass and some just floated around. Sunset Shimmer had aptly proven to be in this last category, but she never wasn't having fun.

The Dazzlings, however, met up together a little after the announcement, two having something to say to the other. For once, Aria and Adagio squeezed Sonata in a hug and didn't care who saw, speaking in unison. "Thank you!"

She giggled. "What's this one for?"

"For opening the door for us," answered Aria.

"For finding a way to be happy," Adagio continued, "then coming back to share it with us."

"Yea," Aria said with a little laugh, "I mean, I still can't believe you really went out, made new friends, smoothed things over for us, and..." Giggling, she couldn't even find the words, instead squeezing Sonata a little harder. "Just, this!"

Adagio nodded. "Really, I would never have guessed you could have such cunning as to deduce what we really needed, then formulate a plan to seize it all by yourself!" Hugging a little tighter, Adagio gently nuzzled Sonata, tearful pride in her voice. "You don't need me anymore."

Sonata was glad the others were too close to get a good look at her face right then, because there was no way her wobbly-lipped smile was convincing. They both evidently forgot the specific details of her original plan, but this was the highest praise the two of them had ever bestowed on her. She had made quite a few mistakes, but those mistakes apparently made everyone very happy. The truth of Sonata's scheme, she decided, would have to be a private shame that she would keep to herself. Possibly for the rest of her days.

"Hey," came the voice of Sunset Shimmer, "there you guys are! I hate to break up a group hug, but it's almost time."

Letting Sonata go, Aria and Adagio nodded to Sunset and set off, the former making sure she was following. "Coming, Nata?"

She snapped out of her guilty daze. "Yep!"

The three of them stood on a large, wooden platform, microphones in front of them and Vinyl Scratch operating her sound system behind the stage, visibly aching to get started.

I can't keep it secret forever, thought Sonata as she and her two oldest companions looked out at the crowd, I'll have to tell somebody some day...

Adagio made her malevolent smile again, though most had learned that that was pretty much just her 'excited' face. "Ready, girls?"

But, for now...?

Aria chuckled, looking just a little villainous herself. "We did promise them a song."

I might not be as smart as Adagio or as strong as Aria, but I can do something they need my help for.

She beamed happily.

I can smile!

Author's Note

*LONG RANT AHEAD*

...Predictable ending, huh? Maybe not the specific details, but overall. I guess that's kind of what happens when you take a done-to-death story idea and make yet more of it, even with a little twist. That twist was that nobody* was left out of the happy ending, by the way, along with even the doomed-to-failure bad guy still getting plenty of bright spots to keep her going. That first one might not be completely unusual for an MLP fic, but it's a little disconcerting how often you can see some left in dire straits and miserable fates and everyone pretty much cries out "YAY, TEAM FRIENDSHIP" without irony, in-universe and out. This annoys me because I generally grew up thinking that the good guys are supposed live up to their virtues by doing all they can to save everyone or die trying.

What does it say that not everyone is redeemed? That sometimes, it isn't even tried? If even one person can't be converted to sing about sunshine and rainbows and all that, doesn't that kinda mean the Magic of Friendship has failed? If only on a small, 'acceptable' scale? That something proved too strong for it to overcome?

Redeeming the bad guys might get old after a while, but you know what else gets old? Watching them suffer and/or die because most seem to think it makes the 'hero' look cool. That, or it's screwing over their entire lives and giving no closure whatsoever, writing them off as lost causes because actually putting effort in to making them see things differently is apparently asking too much from what is treated as this limitless, unstoppable power. I don't quite grasp why those are apparently such popular choices for this show, in canon and out, when the stage was set with Luna back in the pilot, but the implications are grim.

Sometimes I get the impression that the old 'F :yay: ck you, got mine' is just one of those things that's okay when the 'good guys' do it. Being able to save everyone might not be realistic, but I kind of thought we abandoned realism when the unstoppable rainbow lasers powered by friendship started up. I used to take the magical instant-win powers (Elements, Cadence/Shining Armor's repulse sheild thing, the Crystal Heart, etc) as a metaphor for teamwork overcoming any obstacle or something, but maybe recent episodes are deliberately moving away from this in favor of sending the Mane 6 to go and share their philosophies in a more effective, less I-win-you-lose-deal-with-it kind of way.

But maybe all of this is just me barking at the moon, getting all worked up about messages nobody ever intended to send? I had a thought that none of these unfortunate implications I see time and time again are deliberate or even noticed in most cases, because things can be interpreted differently than the writer ever meant for them to be.

To show you what I mean, stay tuned for a bonus chapter!

* It isn't stated, but they even mended fences with Photo Finish for the unnamed transgressions that led to Aria slamming the door in her face.

Bonus Chapter! Too Many Loose Ends!

Flashback. Kinda. Or like, memory.

"Bowl," ordered Pinkie.

"Bowl," confirmed Sonata, passing the baking equipment, just like the first time.

"Flour."

Sonata handed her what she asked for, her stomach spinning for more than the memory of what that first batch did to it. "Flour."

"Something sweet."

"Something sweet." She never quite found out what this 'something' was...

"A bit of salt."

"But just a pinch."

Pinkie giggled. "Yep!"

When they sat down while waiting for the cupcakes to bake, Sonata gave an apologetic smile. A real one this time. "Pinkie? There's something I've been wanting to tell you."

"That you were the one who ate most of the cupcakes the first time?" Pinkie snorted. "I know, I was there, silly!"

"N-no, actually, uh..." She gulped, no longer able to look Pinkie in the eye. "I k-kinda need to say 'sorry.' Y'see, when I first came to you, I wasn't actually thinking about making friends, or cupcakes, or MyStable profiles, I just wanted to-" A pink finger pressed her mouth shut. She dared look up to see Pinkie giving her a sympathetic smile.

"It's okay."

Sonata moved her head backward to escape the Pinknese Finger-Trap. "It is?"

"Well, kinda. It's like, lying to your friends when you're not even friends yet is bad, but I still had fun that day, other than when things got barfy, that wasn't fun at all, although I did like popping the cap off the medicine jar! Pop!" She giggle-snorted before going on. "Anyway, it wasn't okay, but right now, we really are friends, and you wouldn't think of doing anything bad to your friends, right?"

"Right!"

"Then it's okay!"

"Ri-..." Sonata scratched her head. "But, I still lied to you, to everybody."

Pinkie nodded, her smile no weaker. "And now you're saying 'sorry,' I'm saying 'I forgive you.' Simple."

"But-"

Pink Finger Word-Seal, Go! "No buts, I'm forgiving you whether you want me to or not!" Sonata couldn't argue, because Pink Finger Word-Seal was go. Genius! She sealed the sealing with words, of all things, giving Sonata a wink. "Because friends forgive each other, silly!"

Freed again from her silence, Sonata smiled gratefully. "You're a good friend."

"Heehee! That's why I had to forgive you!"

Not long after, the two enjoyed the fruits of their labor: Fruit-free cupcakes.

"So," Pinkie asked, "how are things going with you and Fluttershy?"

Sonata choked on her cupcake for a minute. "Wh-WHAT?!"

"Ooh, bad guess? Sorry, are you and Rarity a thing?"

Blue turned red. "DOUBLE WHAT!"

"Wrong again? Hm. You and Aria?"

Sonata was nearly glowing now. "NO!!"

"You and Applejack? I know I've seen you eyeballin' her fresh apples, if you know what I-"

"PINKIE!!"

Pinkie gasped, holding both hands to her cheeks. "It's me?! Aww, shucks, Nata!"

Sonata faceplanted on the kitchen counter.

Meanwhile, back at the Dazzlings' house, Aria once again found herself heading to Adagio's room. The door was rarely closed these days, but only because Adagio got the wrong idea when Aria had vaguely suggested that she didn't like seeing it closed all the time.

Sheesh, she thought with a tiny grin, she worries too much.

The door open, Aria easily popped her head in to see Adagio getting dressed in the poofy, purple outfit she'd worn the night they lost their gems. It felt like a weird choice, considering...

"Getting ready for your date?"

Adagio whirled around to face her. "IT IS NOT A-" she stopped, took a deep breath, and composed herself. "It is not a date. It is a casual meeting between f-friends."

"Uh-huh. You wear that to a casual meeting?"

Crossing her arms, Adagio hoped to hide the color in her face by turning away. "S-Sunset asked me to wear it." The trade-off was that Sunset would keep her bad-girl jacket on through the night. Good deal.

Snickering, Aria took a moment to look around the room, observing the little gifts, nick-nacks, and other little things that weren't there before they found themselves with new friends. "You planned this, didn't you?"

"Well, arrangements to meet are typically ironed out before their fruition."

"Not that," Aria said while giving Adagio an appraising look and holding her arms out to gesture to their surroundings, "this, everything since that big fight we had."

Cinching the belt to her outfit, Adagio rested a hand on her hip and looked back at Aria. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Sonata going to the Rainbooms, getting their trust, and then coming back to us with all their gooey friendship to spread and share, with her, the one we always get to do the innocent, smiley routine, doing all the heavy lifting." She crossed her arms. "I've been thinking about what you said to us during that little three-way shouting match, the exact words you used whenever you yelled at Sonata, saying stuff like "Why don't you do better?" and "I'm sure you'd make... oh, maybe a half-dozen friends at best!" or "Go on, find one person who likes you for more than your 'pretty little smile!'", all the stuff she actually went out and did."

Adagio shrugged, her face passive. "She's an impressionable little dolt, I suppose, but she's still our dolt. Your point?" Aria just stared at her, which drew a look of surprise. "What, you think I set her up to go talk to them?"

"You might've. Along with holing up in your room pretending to cry, or Hell, really forcing yourself to, because you knew I, that I'd-" Aria blushed, but she wasn't about to stop her tirade now. "-th-that I wouldn't just leave you like that, so that I wouldn't be at risk of going out, finding Sonata, and unwittingly ruining the rest of the plan."

Adagio gave her a flat stare before chuckling and shaking her head. "Aria, do you hear yourself? We've been working together for a long time, you know me. Think about it;" Her cheeks tinted pink, "would I really enact a plan that put me in the pathetic, humiliating position of blubbering like an infant for longer than maybe a minute? Let alone doing so for days because I thought it would keep you," she was making her sarcastic, faux-sweet face again, "who is obviously known for being oh-so sensitive to tears, house-bound while relying on Sonata Dusk to go out and pave the way for our recovery by going out and forming special bonds with not just people that hated us, but the very girls who destroyed our magic?"

Aria's eyes narrowed. "It worked, didn't it?"

Adagio blinked twice, then scoffed and walked out of the room. "You are so paranoid."

Watching her go, Aria found herself wearing a tiny smirk. You didn't say "no."

Author's Note

Did Pinkie know all along? Did Adagio engineer the whole thing? Did Pinkie? Was everything that happened according to one or both's plans? Were they secretly working together?! Even though it was never so much as hinted at...? Or was it all a big, crazy series of events that just kinda worked out by the end?

The more I think about it, I'm not sure either. If that doesn't demonstrate that writing can send messages we didn't intend it to, from three evil divas not being all bad, to any of my complaints in the last AN, I don't know what does. I had a real Dear Princess Celestia moment writing this story, so I hope it was as thought-provoking for you as it was for me, or at least half as entertaining.

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 5: Too Many Little Trees!

Lunch when you feed mainly through dark energy focused through artifacts of Abyssal Trench magic: Hatred, resentment, bitterness, envy, anger, and emotional pain.

Lunch when you used to feed mainly through dark energy focused through artifacts of Abyssal Trench magic but now leave Adagio to do the cooking: Sandwiches, some manner of fruit or fruit juice, sometimes deep-fried stuff, and a snack, often a bowl of potato chips or something.

Lunch at Applejack's (Sonata had given up on nicknames) place? Apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples!!

Okay, sure, it was an apple farm, so they practically had the stuff growing on trees, but that was their whole arrangement; apple pies, apple fritters, apple slices, apple-this, or apple-that. Luckily, Sonata found she actually liked apples and their many mutilated incarnations! Some chips wouldn't have gone amiss, though.

Once again, Sonata found herself drafted into a work force following a free meal, but this time it was actually part of her plan, and thus not a hiccup! She'd offered to replace the apples she'd helped munch and crunch for lunch with the super-secret goal of swiping some apples for herself when nobody was looking. Loot was loot and hunger was painful. Rainbow, however, bailed, her real name never uncovered because even Applejack had referred to her by the alias!

That poor, rainbow-haired freak, doomed to walk the earth with nobody knowing her true identity. Like a super hero. Or a homeless person. Or a super homeless person.

So, out they went to the orchard, where lines and lines of short, bushy trees laden with delicious red orbs waited. Also, there were big ol' buckets in some places, like great big wash-tubs with strappy bag-things lying on the ground next to them.

"These here are pickin' baskets," she said while lifting one of the strappy bag-things, "usin' 'em is real simple." She held it out to show that there were two long straps that folded over each other like those of a bra and began to put it on with the bag-part resting over her stomach. "All ya have to do is cross it at the top, put yer arm in one side, then the other, then over yer head, then yer good to go!"

Sonata picked up another 'basket', which looked nothing like what she'd have called a basket, but poor, dumb, backward country people had all kinds of funny names for things, so she didn't say anything. "Just put your arm through it, cross on top, tie it around... No, wait, hold under, I, oop!"

Applejack watched in bemused silence as Sonata tangled herself up in the straps, wondering how many times she'd seen someone do that now. Sunset picked it up right quickly, but I suppose not everyone is that clever. Not that it was hard, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. A few minutes later, she'd de-tangled Sonata and gotten the basket on properly, the two of them moving to begin harvesting.

"Ah really appreciate ya helpin' out here, Nata."

She delivered a big, practiced, happy grin. "No problem-o, Applejack!" And with this 'basket', swiping apples will be even easier! I wish the bags at the mall worked like this.

"The job's pretty straightforward," she said as they stopped by a tree that no kite would ever get stuck in to begin her demonstration, "just reach out, grab an apple, twist it a little to break the stem, put it in the basket, and keep goin'."

Sonata watched Applejack's arms move in an almost rhythmic fashion, like some of the slow, bedroom-eyes dance moves Adagio had her practice. Arm out, grab apple, bend inward close to chest to drop apple in basket while doing it again with the other arm. Apple-picking is kind of sexy...

She shook her head. That kind of thing would have to wait until she was living in a house with its own helicopter pad, right now she had swiping to do! And she'd do it in plain sight! Mimicking her mark, she grabbed an apple, pulled at it, and was met with resistance. Glancing at Applejack, she remembered the twisty part to break the stem's neck and steal its head, so she started doing that and glorious progress was made! Within a minute, Sonata had worked into a rhythm herself, picking apples! ALL the apples! At least until her 'basket' started to get full, which Applejack noticed before she could point out something really distracting and make off with her tasty loot.

"You full up too? Follow me."

They headed to one of the big ol' washtub things, Applejack positioning herself so that her 'basket' was just past the rim before pulling two little straps on the side of the 'basket', which triggered some kind of alien farmer technology to make the bottom of the 'basket' fall open, depositing all the apples into the big ol' washtub. The washtub was actually a super-basket!

Sonata followed the leader, so to speak, partly because knowing a quick way to drop loot would be handy in the future and partly because there was no making a clean getaway with Applejack standing right there. Pulling the little straps on her own 'basket', she released the apples into the washtub with the others. Presumably, there was some kind of apple-collection fairy that came and got all these apples to bring them to the pie-making elves. Yum.

Note to self; swipe your own apple-collection fairy and/or pie-making elves at some point.

Applejack showed Sonata how to tie her bag back up so the juicy loot wouldn't just fall right out of again and they walked back toward the short trees. Sonata moved to start picking from the closest tree, but Applejack pulled her away from it.

"Woooah, nelly, don't wanna go near them trees, Nata. C'mon, this way." She led them toward a row in the opposite direction, but Sonata's brain was working!

Oooh, secret garden, huh? I bet that's where they keep the best apples!

Still, she couldn't make off with any of them with Applejack around, so once they'd started up the smooth arm motions again, she opted to bide her time and reinforce the Apple Clan's trust of her with small-talk. "So, you pick apples like this all day?"

"Not all day, but this is a lot of it. Tirin' work, so lemme know when you wanna call it quits."

Ohh, no you don't! I'll get that loot, and if I have to, I'll outlast you to do it! Sonata grinned her spunkiest grin. "Don't worry about me, I can go all day!"

Applejack let out a surprised chuckle. "Well, Ah'm glad to hear that, but I just don't wanna work ya to the bone, is all. Rarity told me what happened at the mall."

Ack, she knows! "Haha, h-heard about that, huh?"

The possible descendant of pie-making elves gave her an encouraging smile. "Hey, don't worry 'bout a thing. Way Ah hear it, you held up pretty darn good with all them bags, and ya can't go wrong with a can-do spirit."

"Even in going wrong?"

Applejack stopped picking for a second. "Uh, what?"

Sonata's face showed only earnest curiosity. "You said you can't go wrong with a can-do spirit, so what if you put that can-do spirit to going wrong? Does that mean you can't can-do anymore because the can-do can't-do wrong?"

Staring back at the siren in silence, Applejack puzzled for the better part of a minute before giving up and scratching her head. "Ah'm not real good with brain-teasers, Nata."

Sonata beamed. "That's okay, neither am I!"

Applejack felt like she was just stabbed in the brain with a hot poker. Ow... My poor cognition... Not even Pinkie normally got her that confused that fast. This had to register as some kind of weapon, Applejack was sure. Smiling nervously, she wanted to get back to work before things got worse. "What's say we keep cleanin' these trees, huh?"

Blink. "We're supposed to be cleaning them? I thought we were picking apples, I didn't bring soap or anything!"

Ohh, heavens, this is going to be one of those days, isn't it?

Yelling had not worked. At all. It was weird, because Adagio usually got so steamed when they had the gall to yell at her that she'd go into big-evil-bossy mode almost right away. Today, it only seemed to make her cry harder. Aria had listened at the door a few times since the last attempt, and while Adagio apparently wasn't water-logged, shouting at her while she wasn't crying sent her right back to it. It made Aria think of dealing with a little girl, which she didn't have tons of experience with. Still, she had a plan.

She approached Adagio's door with her new weapons in hand; a pair of paper dolls she'd drawn up and cut out to look like tiny, cartoony versions of Adagio and Sonata. They were puppets. Kids liked puppets, right? Sure they did, the stupid little runts liked anything that could keep their attention for five minutes. She knelt by the door, sliding the puppets most of the way under so that they'd be visible on the other side, but still easy to slide around with her fingertips.

"Oh, hi Adagio," she made the Sonata puppet say in a ludicrisly high, squeaky voice while wiggling it back and forth, as was standard puppet behavior, "can you come out to play?"

"No," Aria made the Adagio puppet answer in a low, depressed drone, "I'm busy staying in my room all day."

"Why are you doing that," asked squeaky-voiced PuppetNata, "do you have a split-end?"

"Yes," muttered PuppetDagio, "but the main reason is that I'm just too moody and miserable to do more than sit around on my ever-growing ass."

"That plan stinks, you should just snap out of it and go back to being your old self so we can get that whole be-great-and-conquer-the-world thing!"

"You know, I really should, because sitting in my room and crying my eyes out is starting to leave marks on my face."

"Gasp! So you'll come out now?!"

"Yes, you toothpaste-haired imbecile, I think I will!"

Aria made the puppets dance back and forth in unison.

"Yaaay!"

Then she stopped the performance, listening in complete silence. Come on, don't tell me she slept through that. She pulled the puppets out from under the door, jumping with a start when she noticed some... changes had been made while they were poking into Adagio's room. The puppets had been scribbled on in pen to make it look like their eyes were gouged out, along with red marker to give the impression that they were both weeping blood. All done in surprisingly high detail.

Woah. Metal. Didn't know she could draw... Wonder if I could get her to do like, a big, spiky, bear on fire or something... She even got the blood to look like it was trickling at different angles on their bodies, not just straight down the paper. How did she do this without me noticing?

Well, that was a 'no dice' on this plan. Back to the drawing board. Perhaps literally.

Work was coming along well.

"...And then I thought, 'How can my feet smell if they don't have a nose?' You know what I mean, Applejack?"

The same could not be said for Applejack's sanity. They'd replaced the apples consumed for lunch today ten times over by now, (give or take, Applejack wasn't great with math) but she couldn't help feeling she was losing that many brain cells listening to Sonata talk. It was like Pinkie Pie when she was talking about abstract concepts or whatever it was. Thankfully, Applejack's phone eventually buzzed at her with a text, which she answered eagerly.

About blasted time!

"Ah gotta head out, but I'll be back in a jiffy, think you'll be okay on yer own fer a bit?"

Grinning, Sonata nodded. "Sure thing!" The grin stayed as she watched Applejack go over to the apple-fairy washtub, dump her loot, and drop the bag before jogging off. Then it got wider.

Too. Easy.

At least Aria put up a fight when Sonata annoyed her into leaving, usually to claim the remote to the TV. She wouldn't have to worry about that anymore, though.

Anyway. Apples. Loot. Time to get swiping.

She headed toward that little area Applejack had steered her away from earlier, because if the Apple Munchkins themselves stayed out of that particular magic forest, they'd never notice if something went missing there! It was genius, she was sure Adagio would pat her on the head and-

Sonata stopped where she stood, grabbed her own head in both hands, and shook it furiously. It was out.

There actually weren't all that many apples in the secret area, not in gonna-need-a-dump-truck proportions, anyway, so she went deeper. And deeper. As she wasn't actually sure how deep this untapped treasure trove of fruity loot actually went, she started wandering around at random. This might not have actually been the area Applejack tried to keep her out of, but she was sure she'd find those special apples some time!

Maybe they were big, golden apples that tasted like being rich! Or even better, actual golden apples! I've heard money doesn't grow on trees, but nobody said anything about gold! That would be even better than like, a billion apples! Food was great and all, but with real shiny stuff, she could buy all kinds of food! And that penthouse! The one she'd fly to every day in a helicopter while people ate out of her trash! That was probably what they were hiding here; the apple-collection fairies and pie-making elves were in cahoots with the leprechauns, and possibly some other kind of short, magical people that gathered valuables! She'd rob 'em all blind!

Skulking around like a master hunter, a master hunter with a big ol' apple-picking 'basket' on hanging over her stomach, Sonata carefully scanned the area. Many little trees, many little leaves, and some apples. She skulked yet further, not stopping to ponder about what the word 'skulk' meant, because she had important gold-hunting to do! Before long, she heard a tiny, gone-in-a-blink little noise, whipping her head in that direction only to find...

Nothing!

Leprechauns!

Trying to imagine she was still wearing her jedi helmet, Sonata focused, honing her senses to... sense stuff. She continued to skulk, wishing she had a survival knife or a machete or something to hold out in front of her, but there was no time for pointy things! She heard the noise, some kind of buzzy sound, but she didn't risk scaring it away by rapidly turning her head again. Instead, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound, turning to face away from it. She slowly took a few steps backward, hearing the leprechaun buzz get just a little louder.

Grinning deviously, she continued the backwards advance, knowing that leprechauns only disappeared if you saw them and looked away, and that with her eyes closed, they'd never suspect her! With more steps back, she was sure she was getting closer as the buzzy hum droned a little louder, she'd have that gold in no time fla-

Her behind bumped into something flat and hard. Before she could ponder whether or not leprechauns built little fortresses, the buzzing grew much louder and she felt a few little stabs of pain in her rear.

"OWOWOWOWOWOW!!"

The leprechauns were attacking! She opened her eyes, whipped around, and saw a big, white box thing. Surrounded by bees. Angry bees, which, according to that documentary she had to sit through one day when there was nothing else on, had probably marked her as 'Kill this' now that their pheromones had been released by those first few stings.

So leprechauns are secretly bees and the gold is honey? Who knew?

That in mind, she ran like the wind as the swarm descended on her.

Stepping out of the house, Applejack smiled. Despite the little headache with Sonata, she had a good feeling about today, and all she had to do to help was bake a pie! It was in the oven now, so she jogged out to find Sonata and bring her inside to rest.

I do hope she didn't lose her way out here, she seems like quite the city-girl and I know this place can be confusing for some people. Or worse, perhaps she wandered into the area in which we host the bees for making Zap Apple Ja-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Applejack facepalmed.

Author's Note

Personal headcanon: in the human world, Zap Apple Jam is just a sweetened product.

Another one: Applejack doesn't twang in her own head. In fact, I like to imagine the voice in her thoughts sounds very posh and elegant, Cutie Mark Chronicles style, but it's a secret she'll take to her grave. :pinkiehappy:

Also, this chapter comes with a teeny bit of research.

Arm yourself with knowledge! Or make Twilight cry, that's fine too.