It is the night of the battle of the bands. You're standing in midst of the crowd and slowly regain your self-awareness. The memories of the past days rush back through your mind. Looking around, you see others snapping back to reality like you just did. Some are massaging their temples, others shake their heads in an attempt to dispel the memories. Everyone acted pretty much the same the last days, rivaling with each other, you all did things you're regretting now. Shameful looks are exchanged between everyone.

Some are staring into the sky, jaws agape and their faces covered in sparkling rainbow light. Following their gaze, you look up and just catch a short view on a giant, winged, rainbow-colored unicorn. I rears up, before disappearing together with the music. With the stadium now again in the sunset light, everyone’s attention is going towards the stage. The three Dazzlings stand there, staring at something in their hands. They're trying to chime their tune again, but what sounded smooth and enchanting only minutes ago was merely a pathetic sounding squeak now. The magic of their music was gone. And with fruits flying after them, they're running off the stage.

Suddenly, panic takes a hold of you. If someone remembers seeing you with them, it could become very ugly, very soon for you. Not losing any time, you take to your heels and get the hell out of there. It takes you a short moment to make your way through the crowd. They're cheering at the Rainbooms, and so far no one really paid attention to you. Finally reaching the edge, you jump over the barrier and onto the grass. There, you take to your heels and run out of sight. As soon as you can no longer hear the crowd cheering, you walk normal again. You already covered a fair bit of your way home, and it takes only a short while until you arrive at the front door.

Taking out your keys, you notice that it's left ajar. Confused about how you forgot to lock it properly, you enter. As soon as you cross the doorstep, you hear a quiet sobbing. Careful not to make any noises, you close the door behind you and go further. Crossing the corner to the living room, you see someone sitting on the sofa in the dark. You can only make out their silhouette. Head in hands, you can only see it shaking slightly. Carefully, you sneak over to the light switch and get ready to run again. The light goes on and you can finally see who is sitting there. She is caught by surprise and turns around to see who switched on the light. Sonata is looking into your eyes. Over her face, you can see makeup smeared by tears. As she recognizes you through her blurred vision, she turns away from you and starts to cry again. You haven't seen her since the cafeteria incident.

A part of you wants to comfort her, but another one is still upset on how she treated you. Standing there, unable to decide what to do, you watch her tears running. Finally, you give in and sit down next to her. She feels the sofa bouncing a little as you do. As you put your arm around her, she rests her head on your shoulder. It takes her a few minutes to finally calm a little. All the while, you stroke over her head, comforting her. Finally, she removes herself from your shoulder. Looking down on the floor, she takes a deep breath before she finds the strength to talk.

"I'm sorry for what I did," she starts off "I should have listened to you when you said that it was Aria's idea,"

"Yes, you should," you're still upset that she didn't trust you.

"Now we're not only banished from Equestria, but we can't control the minds of others anymore," she continues to lament.

"There are lots of people in this world who are able to live perfectly without it," you say without responding to her feelings.

"We lived like that for thousands of years," she cries out under tears "I don't know the first thing about mortal life,"

"Then you will learn it," you're still not giving her a ledge to grab with her feelings.

"I have no idea where to sleep tonight. They'll never let us back into the hotel," Sonata buries her face into your shoulder again.

"I think you can stay for the night," you sigh.

"For realzies?" she looks you in the eyes, her makeup smudged, and infinite gratitude in her eyes.

"You can sleep in my bed. I'll take the couch," you say, unsure if this was the right decision.

Without another word, you stand up and get yourself a pair of blankets. Returning to the sofa, Sonata has calmed and is wiping her face clean with a tissue. You show her the restrooms, so she can get herself ready for sleep. While she's in there for a few minutes, you prep the sofa with some pillows to make it as comfortable as possible. Sonata comes out of the bathroom with her hair open and wearing only her panties and shirt. She’s rubbing her arm, looking bit bashful. It's like her personality got changed entirely this day. For now you don't really know if you should forgive her. Only time will tell if she actually changed. After an awkward silence, you scratch the back of your head and suggest going to bed. She nods and leaves for your bedroom. Tucking yourself into the blankets as good as you can, you see the light in your bedroom go out. The sofa is not really most comfortable, but it will work for one night.

Trying to fall asleep, you can hear quiet weeps coming from down the hallway. You're trying to ignore it and roll over. Failing at it, you try to sort everything that happened in your mind. It was Sonata's fault that you ended up under their spell. But then again, you could blame Aria for playing the cards that way. Wasn't this actually what you wanted? Sonata is here, trying to iron out her mistakes and you're pushing her away. She is trying to get a second chance with you. Maybe you should take the advice from the earlier events, and open your heart up. Tearing your hair, you grunt. Lying there like that for a good moment, you pull the blankets away and get up from the sofa.

You take a deep breath and go to your bedroom. With her head in the covers she doesn't hear you coming. Only when you lift the blankets she jerks and looks at you confused. Without a word, you lie down and spoon her. She doesn't say anything, but cuddles herself against you, savoring your embrace. You can feel on your inside that you made the right decision as you rest your head in her hair. With your arm wrapped around Sonata, you can feel her heartbeat going calmer and calmer. The two of you lie there while slowly drifting away into sleep. The next morning, you wake of to find your view obscured by a blue curtain. Shaking your head to regain clear sight again, Sonata's hair slides off your face. You both haven't moved during the night and she is still lying in your arms. She mutters something incomprehensible. You must've woken her up with your movement. She turns around and smiles at you with a sleepy look on her face.

"Good morning," she says with her cute voice.

"Morning," you greet her back.

You get rudely interrupted by your phone. The preset-alarm on your phone makes you get up and search for it. When you finally turn it off, you go and gather fresh clothes, before heading for the bathroom.

"Can't you lie here with me a little longer?" Sonata ask hopefully.

"Sorry, but I have to go to school. I've missed too many days already, and I better not draw any more attention to myself," you explain to her "I can just hope that no one remembers that I hung out with you girls a lot,"

Sonata looks down on the sheets, ashamed of herself.

"I'm going to take a shower now. Make yourself at home while I'm gone," you say, leaving for the bathroom.

You're letting the hot water run over your body and soap up. After you step out, you dry yourself with a towel. Applying a bit deodorant and brushing your teeth, you're ready to face the day. Looking at the clock, you find yourself with not much time left. Hurrying into the kitchen, you pull out some bread and make yourself a quick breakfast. Sonata watches you gulping down your food and topping it off with a glass of milk. Putting your dishes in the sink, you go to your room to get your bag. Before leaving, you stop at the kitchen.

"Make yourself some breakfast and we'll talk about everything when I'm back," you are already leaving while finishing the sentence.

"Have a nice day!" you can hear Sonata calling after you.

You turn around and wave at her. Arriving in time, you take your usual seat in the back. Nobody bat you an eye so far, and over the course of the day that does not change. It's just like it was before the Dazzlings stepped into everyone’s life. No one seems willing to remember what happened the past days. Like a silent agreement between everyone to just forget and forgive. With this already being the second incident where a supernatural force takes over the school, everyone is starting to become an expert in recovering from it. Even though no one stepped forward and put a finger on you, the whole day you're worrying someone might finally put one and one together. But as the bell rings for the final time this day, you're still scot-free. In fact, no one will ever remember your part in the whole act.

On your way home, you think about the girl who will be waiting for you there. Obviously, you can't just send her away, even if you wanted. But you're barely able to afford yourself. Having her living with you would quickly make your savings run dry. There are only two options. Either she finds herself a job in a timely manner or she eventually has to leave. If it were someone else, you might be able to ask a friend for help, but that is not an option. Still in thoughts, you arrive at the door and sigh as you turn the key. Upon your entry, you're getting greeted be a blue ball of hair. Sonata must've waited for you and wraps her arms around you. Hugging her back, you step inside with her still in your arms. When she finally let’s go of you, you close the door behind you. She smiles at you.

"I made us something for dinner!" she points over to the kitchen.

Sonata takes you by the hand and leads the way. On the table are two plates with a burger on each one. She must've found your stash of buns and patties in the freezer. Glancing over to the sink, you see a huge pile of dirty cooking gear. A lot more than making simple burgers should ever produce. Ignoring that fact for now, you take a seat with her and hungrily reach for the food. Taking your first bit, the burger crunches and crumbles. Surprised by the crispiness you lift the top bun, only to find a black disk where the patty belongs.

"Say, how long did you fry those patties?" you tenderly ask her.

"Are they not done?" she asks back, taking a bite herself.

"Not exactly," you answer.

It is funny to see the look on her face change as she reaches the charcoal in her burger. You can't help but chuckle on her reaction as she chimes in with a giggle of herself.

"I guess that didn't work like I planned,"

Taking the patty off your burger, you take another bite. It is quite enjoyable now. After you finished your 'burger', you put the plate aside. It is time to address the things you were thinking about on your way home.

"Sonata, we need to talk," you start off.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asks "It's the mess I made, isn't it?"

"No it's not about the mess, and not about the patties either," you interrupt her "It's about you staying here,"

You can already see her eyes go wide, thinking that you're about to throw her out.

"Now don't worry, you can stay. But I can't really support us both with what I got," you explain to her.

"But I don't have any money either," she says, sounding worried.

"We just got to find you a job or something," you exploit "maybe a groceries store is searching for help or something,"

Sonata is biting her lower lip, thinking about what you just told her.

"You know, I could go into town tomorrow and see if I find anything,"

You agree with her, and start clearing the table. Since the sink is already stacked to the max, you open the dishwasher and place the dirty dishes in it. After you're done, you ask Sonata if she would like to watch a movie. She says yes and you pick an old favorite of yours. While you're setting up the TV, Sonata takes a seat on the sofa. While the legal disclaimers are running, you go and fetch a blanket. Snuggling up with her, you press play. You've watched this movie countless times and know the plot by heart. She doesn't seem too be very interested in the story as well as she rests her head on your shoulder. Reaching your arm around her, she sighs. As the movie nears its end, her head gets heavier and you can hear her snoring. Watching her rest in your arms, how her chest rises and lowers with her breath. How her nostrils flatter and her eyes move under their lids. With your free arm, you stroke over her hair. She wakes up and opens her eyes, looking at you with a sleepy smile.

"Whoops, looks like I fell asleep," she mutters.

"No worries. Maybe we should go to bed and call it a night?" you suggest.

She nods and snuggles you one more time before getting of your chest. You make yourselves fresh at the bathroom, before going to your bedroom. Like last night, you lie next to her and together you fall asleep in the arms of each other. Then next morning you are wakened by the alarm again. Just like the yesterday, you don't really have much time to prepare yourself for school. Sonata tries to make up for the failed burgers from last night and makes you some breakfast while you shower. Having a little more time to spare now, you fetch the newspaper and glance over the headlines. Aside from a few local news, there's nothing that really sparks your interest. You suggest bringing some food home after school, and Sonata gladly accepts. You wish her a nice day and grab your bag. On your way out, you see her picking up the newspaper and looking through the job ads.

School passes just like yesterday. And if there was any tension left between the students, it mostly cooled down during the day. When school is finally over, you think about what food to get on your way home. The decision is made easy for you as a small man in a sombrero hands you a flyer with a 2 for 1 coupon on it. Since the restaurant is not much of a detour, you go there and pick up some food. With the food in paper bag, you hurry home before it gets cold. But when you enter, you find that Sonata is not there. On the table lies a note from her. "I'm in the city, talking to a few people. I will be back soon. xoxo Sonata" it reads. You think about eating alone, but quickly disregard that idea.

The day is almost over, and most places where Sonata could potentially go will close soon. Putting the bag with the food in the fridge, you take out your school stuff and start working on some of your homework. Whilst math and English just flow out of the pen, you get stuck with the history assignment. Since it’s not due tomorrow, you decide to do it tomorrow. With a perfect timing, you hear a faint metal clicking and scratching coming from your front door. It has been a few days, but you still remember this sound. Someone is trying to open the door with lockpicks. Scared for a second, you realize that Sonata probably didn't pick up a spare key on her way out. To ease her entrance, you open the door for her. Sonata is surprised for a second that the door opened all on its own. When she recognizes you as the friendly ghost, a smile comes on her face.

"You'll never guess what happened," She pushes you inside, eager to tell you about her day.

You end up in the kitchen, offering her to warm up the food and talk over it at a meal.

"Sure, what do did you get?"

"I got something from the new Texan restaurant," you open the fridge and get the bag out "hope you like burritos,"

"They're fine, heat em' up, I want to tell you"

While you put them in the microwave and set it to 1 minute, Sonata takes two plates from the cupboard.

"So I was at Barnyard Bargains to see if I could get a job as a cashier or clerk there," she begins to tell "And while I was sitting in the waiting room, there was another guy sitting next to me. We talked a little, and he asked me what I was doing there. So I told him about how I needed a job and that I used to sing in the past."

A beeping interrupts her, as the microwave finished heating the food. Swiftly you take it out and place the plates on the table, eager to hear the rest of her story.

"And what happened then?" you ask.

"He seemed really interested into why I'm no longer singing. I didn't want to tell him about what happened at the battle of the bands, so I told him that I couldn't get a contract," Sonata continues "He said he couldn't believe that such a nice lady, can't get a contract and handed me his business card,"

She pulls out a small piece of paper and hands it to you. Looking at it, you read the name of Fancy Pants along with his phone number and address.

"He said I should totally call him and that he would arrange an audition for me,"

"Do you know who this is?" you ask her.

"His names Fancy Pants, that's all I know about him," she replies.

"He's a pretty big guy in the high society of Canterlot. If he can hook you up with the right people, you might be golden," you say to her.

"Do you really think that he can help me with that?" she suddenly seems a bit insecure about the whole thing,

"I don't know," you start "I'm pretty sure he can. It's you who I'm more worried about."

"Me?" she is clearly confused now.

"Yeah. I mean you three were sounding like heaven when you still had your magic. But after your pendants broke, it sounded -" you pause for a second to think of another word than horrible "rather badly,"

"I know," she says, looking down on her food "I just thought that maybe with a little practice I might sing well enough,"

She sighs and puts the burrito she just wanted to take a bite from back down.

"You know, never mind," she stands up "I'll find another place to stay," Sonata doesn't sound upset, but disappointed in herself.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that," you try to stop her "Maybe you're right. But we'll never know if you just leave now. The least we could do is give it a try,"

Sonata's movement comes to a halt. She seems to be think about what you just said. After a short moment, she sits back down.

"You're right, what’s the worst thing that can happen?" she covers her nervousness with humor.

"But you really should practice before going there," you throw in "Who knows, maybe it was just the shock that you suddenly had to sing without your magic,"

Sonata nods and starts eating. You do the same, and have to find out that the burritos cooled down during the conversation. But since you are both hungry, you eat them as they are. After the dinner, you clear the table and get something from your room. Coming back to the kitchen, you show her the DVD in your hands. It's an old musical with karaoke subtitles. The best thing you could think of to test her singing skills. Showing it to her, she seems to like your idea and prompts you to put the disk into the player. The intro starts to play and after a short moment, you select the karaoke in the menu. Sonata stands in front of the TV and looks at the words running over the screen. She reads the lyrics in her mind, but didn't start to sing yet. You are pretty sure that even here, in the privacy with you, she does not feel confident enough to start singing. Sighing, you pause the movie and Sonata turns around to you.

"You'll never know if you can if you never try," you say to encourage her.

"I - I know, but I'm just too afraid. What if I can't sing anymore? What if the magic really was what gave us our talent?" she ponders.

"Now come on. We're trying this together," you assure, and hug her from behind.

Pressing play again, the first tunes of the song start playing. You can feel her body shiver a little in your arms. Softly, you start to hum the melody into her ear. Soon, she picks up and when the first words appear on screen, she mummers them more than that she sings them. Chiming in with her, you take the lead and as the next verse starts, she picks it up herself. She gets more and more confident with each line, until she finally sings with her full voice again. It feels enchanting to you, not like before when there was actual magic coming from her tunes. This was another magic, closer to the one that defeated her only days ago. And you could tell that she felt it too. Every word she sings now, sounds just as beautiful as it did back when she wore her pendant. The song is over, and Sonata turns around in your arms, a spark of hope and happiness in her eyes.

"I did it!" she says with joy "I can still sing!"

"You sounded really good. But that was probably all thanks to my backup vocals," you tease her.

She punches you in the side playfully.

"What do you say? Let's put another one on and see if it was just a one hit wonder," you try to make a little fun of her, but she is too happy to even recognize it.

Starting the next one, she sings along to it like a superstar. This is pretty much the rest of the evening, you sit on the couch while she goes through the DVD. When the last song is over, she falls into the cushions next to you. She looks exhausted from all the fun she had. Taking a look at the clock, you see that it's already 10pm. The time flew really fast while you had fun. You suggest to her that you should go to bed and call it a night. Together, you go to the bathroom to make yourselves ready for the bed. After brushing your teeth and getting into the fitting wardrobe, you head to your room. You tuck into the blankets with her. Unable to sleep right away, you talk about tomorrow. It's a Saturday, so you won't have to go to school. You think about going for a walk with her.

It's been some time since you two sat on the bench in the park, and you feel like getting her out of the house and into the public might be a good decision. Sooner or later she will have to go out there. And the sooner, the better. Telling her about your idea, she seems to like it. Shortly after, over some lessening chit chat, you both fall asleep. Unlike the other days, you are not woken by the annoying beeping of your phone, but by something warm and wet. Your lips get parted by something and you can feel a stream of air brushing over your cheek. Opening your eyes, you look directly into Sonata's. There is a sheepish look on her face as she back up a little to speak.

"Good morning," she whispers to you.

Instead of answering, you move forward and return the kiss.

"You've been awake long?" you ask after parting from her.

"Just admiring the view," she jokes.

You give her another quick peck on the lips before getting up from the bed. A quick look at the clock tells you that it is 9am. You roll out of the bed and open the curtains to let the morning sun in. Turning back around, you see Sonata stretching before getting up herself. Not bothering with dressing up first, you two go into the kitchen and have a generous breakfast. You're not talking much, but exchange views with each other. After finishing eating, she reaches for the business card that still lies on the table. You can tell by the looks on her face that she wants to call right now.

"I don't think you should call him today,"

"He said I could call him anytime, besides he can always tell me to call back another time," she throws away your point.

Before you can even respond to that, she already grabbed the phone and is dialing the number from the bottom of the card. You can hear a quiet tooting until, after a few seconds, the other end gets picked up. After exchanging formalities, Sonata tells the man on the other end that she would like to take her chance with the audition. You can hear the other end go quiet for a few seconds and after that Sonata just goes 'yes' and 'hmm' before saying goodbye. She has a cheeky grin on her face.

"Guess what he said," she teases you "He said I could come by the Coreblast studios and make a test recording with them,"

"Did he tell you a time, or can you come whenever?" you ask her.

"He said if I could come now or later, but I want to go right now," she answers.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" you are getting already up from the table.

Sonata follows your move, but unlike you, she heads directly for the front door.

"I think you might want to rethink about going out like that," you chuckle lightly at her almost leaving in underwear.

She looks down herself and chimes in with the laughter. Following you the bathroom, you both take a shower. It feels weird at first that she changes around you so naturally and does not even insist on you leaving while she is under the shower. Not that you would mind having a chance to admire her body. Thinking about it, her forwardness was what got the two of you together in the first place. When it's your turn to shower, you're still a bit nervous about undressing in plain view of her. When you catch her looking at you, it's clear that your worries are without a base. Just like you ogled at her, you can see her occasionally glance through the glass while she brushes her teeth. Sonata does not really have many clothes since she appeared on your doorstep with nothing in her hands. The past days she lent herself some of your shirts and wore your jeans, but luckily her clothes from the performance at the battle of the bands came out of the laundry today. Since you plan to accompany her, you choose to wear something more formal than usual. After she is pleased with both her and your attire, you leave towards the studio.

It is not far from your house, so it does not take long before you arrive at the gate of a street that leads to a tall glass building with the name of the company in big letters on it. Announcing your presence over the intercom, you get told to move up to the main entrance where you are greeted by a secretary. She leads you to a room on another floor. You get told to wait in front of a room with the sign 'Recording Room'. Shortly after, the door opens and a man in a tuxedo steps out, followed by a less formal dressed guy. You recognize the first one as Fancy Pants. His face is on TV regularly.

The other guy though looks like works here. Fancy Pants greets Sonata and you, introducing you to the producer of the studio. After a quick exchange of formalities, Fancy Pants has to leave for another meeting, so you are left alone with the casual dude. He leads you into the room they just came out from and lets you have a seat while he discusses what music and song Sonata wants for the recordings. She lists him a few and you recognize one of them being from the DVD you showed her. After they figured everything out, she goes through another door into a room that is separated from yours with a glass panel. The producer puts on a pair of headphones, and so does Sonata on the other side.

The next hours for you are filled with mostly silence, only broken by the occasional talking of the producer. All you can see is Sonata singing into the microphone passionately. As you want to excuse yourself to go to the restroom, he takes down his headphones and Sonata comes back into the room. They discuss her singing a bit more, and from what you can hear he is very impressed with her so far. He wants to play them to some sort of evaluation team to see what they think of it. If they like it, he will call Sonata and discuss a contract with her.

With everything said, you all shake hands and say goodbye. On your walk home, you chat with Sonata about the audition. She seems very confident with her performance. At home, you have lunch and then go for the walk in the park you originally wanted to do with her. The day is a bit windy, but the sun keeps you warm. Apart from occasional chats, you just enjoy each others company. And just like that, you let the day roll out peacefully.

The next weeks, things only get better for the two of you. Your relationship blooms to its full extent and Sonata even gets the contract with Coreblast. There is nothing that can stop you two from being happy together.

The End

Author's Note

I am sorry if this ending might just once again feel too sudden and abrupt, but I wanted it to come to a closure to focus on other works. There is a lot more that could have been elaborated like what happened to Adagio and Aria. To put it as it is, I don't really want to write those things at the moment and knowing myself they won't follow in the future.
I still hope you enjoyed this story regardless.