Silence reigned over the apartment. The only room that wasn’t dark and deserted was the kitchen. Aria had her pale purple feet kicked on the round tabletop, across from her sister, Adagio. Adagio had long since stopped trying to get a conversation out of Aria, who had her earbuds shoved in her ears and her iPod in her hand. She resigned herself to making her own plans in silence, sipping her last mug of tea. Adagio reached forward for a pack of sugar, which she emptied into her cup. That’s when she noticed that their home was far too quiet. She reached forward and yanked Aria’s earbud.
“What?” said Aria, less of a question and more of a way to get through the conversation.
“You’ve been so busy drifting off that you failed to notice something rather important.” said Adagio.
“Like?”
“Don’t you think things have been… quiet?” Aria shrugged her shoulders. “You’re telling me that you hadn’t noticed the lack of a certain blue-haired moron?”
“What am I? Her babysitter?” said Aria dryly. “She’s like ten-thousand years old. I’m sure she can handle herself.”
“You’re just saying that because you don’t feel like going out to find her.” said Adagio. Aria shrugged her shoulders again. “How could you not notice?”
“My music is loud. I wouldn’t hear her anyway.” said Aria. She plugged her headphones in again. “What’s your excuse?” Adagio pulled the iPod from her sister, who was becoming more and more irate.
“My excuse is that I’m actually working. Trying to find a way to fix our pendants, rather than listening to,” Adagio glanced at the iPod she had confiscated. “What in Celestia’s name is an ‘Eminem’?”
“He’s a rapper. Now give it back.” Aria said threateningly.
“You listen to that garbage? It’s blasphemy to call that music.” Adagio cringed at the thought. “What’s the appeal of hearing some guy scream about his courage, or him ‘Losing Himself’?”
“Just give me my music back so you can find Sonata.”
There was a loud thump at the door, followed by a click, and three sharp knocks. Adagio rolled her eyes before sliding the iPod back to Aria. The Siren leader took one last sip of her tea before getting to her feet and crossing the room. She slipped down the short hallway to the living room, and pulled open the front door.
At first, Adagio wasn’t sure what she was looking at. All she could make out was a swamp of straight, shiny cyan hair, with thin stripes of navy. From underneath the waterfall of blue, Adagio could make out two long, thin blue legs poking out from beneath a pink skirt.
“Dagi? Is that you? Am I at the right apartment?” asked Sonata Dusk. “I can’t see anything!”
“Get in here.” said Adagio, dragging Sonata into the apartment. “What happened to you?”
“I tried to crawl underneath a fence, but my scrunchie got caught on it. I was stuck for, like, three hours!” recalled Sonata, although she didn’t seem too upset. Adagio sat her sister on the sofa, smirking when Sonata put her butt right on Aria’s pillow.
“And why were you crawling under a fence?” asked Adagio. She reached into her giant orange hair and retrieved a spare scrunchie, then went to work on Sonata’s hair.
“I thought I saw a quarter.” said Sonata. “It was just a bus token! You can’t buy candy with bus tokens! Can you?”
“No, Sonata, you cannot.” Adagio sighed, rolling her eyes. “So that’s where you’ve been? Stuck on a fence?”
“Yup!” Sonata nodded excitedly. Adagio finished her sister’s ponytail and took a look at her face, checking for any injuries. It wasn’t until Adagio was inspecting her head from when it met the door did she notice Sonata’s expression. She had that big, bright, cheesy smile that always made Aria groan, and Adagio noticed that her huge, cheery eyes seemed to shine even more than usual.
“Alright, fine. Spill it.” said Adagio. “What has you so giddy?”
“I was out in town and I found out something totes amazing!” squealed Sonata. “Guess!”
“What? Did you find a way to fix the pendants?” guessed Adagio.
“Nope.”
“Did one of the Rainbooms get hit by a bus?” Adagio tried again.
“That’s awful!” Sonata gasped in disgust.
“Shame. That white one works me the wrong way.” Adagio said, more to herself than anyone. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she was stealing my voice…”
“Come on! Guess!” insisted Sonata.
“I hate guessing… Ugh. Does it have anything at all to do with tacos?” asked Adagio.
“No! I just saw a calendar today and the day after tomorrow….” Sonata paused for dramatic effect. “Is our birthday!”
Adagio nodded. Despite how it appeared, Adagio was in fact surprised by the news. Sonata looked at her sister strangely. She thought that her leader must not have heard her.
“I said… The day after tomorrow is our birthday!” Sonata tried again. “Isn’t that the greatest!”
“Not especially.” said Adagio. “How can you even remember our birthday? It’s been years since we’ve celebrated. Do you even know how old we are?”
“I did the math, and it’s is our Sweet Sixteen!” said Sonata triumphantly.
“I don’t have a calculator on me, but I’m willing to bet that you’re wrong.”
“Well, not our Sweet Sixteen necessarily, but it’s been sixteen years since we moved to Canterlot City, and I don’t know how old we were then.” admitted Sonata. “We had to be at least a bagillion then, so a bagillion plus sixteen is… sixteen bagillion?”
“And people say you’re the dumb one.” grumbled Adagio. Before Sonata could respond, there was a loud crash from the kitchen, followed by an angry shriek. Aria stomped into the room with a small box in her hand, shooting angry glares at her sisters.
“Who ate my Triscuits?” she said angrily. Sonata raised her hand and shook it in the air.
“That was me! Sorry! I got hungry and they were right there!” apologized Sonata. “I got you some more this morning, though.”
“No, you didn’t. These are Wheat Thins!” Aria threw the box at her sister. “Where have you been, anyway?”
“I was stuck on a fence.” Sonata jumped up and smiled widely. She threw her arms around Aria and squeezed her tightly, causing the pigtailed Siren to hiss.
“What?” Aria tried to push her off, but Sonata was known for being ludicrously strong when it came to hugs.
“Did you know that the day after tomorrow is our Sweet Sixteen?” asked Sonata excitedly. Aria finally pried herself from her sister’s iron grasp.
“Try Sweet Sixteen-Thousand.” Aria growled. “So what? Two days until our birthday. Big whoop.”
“We gotta do something! We have to throw ourselves a party!” Sonata said, not understanding why her sisters weren’t getting as excited as she was.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” said Adagio. “However many thousand years it’s been and we’re all of a sudden going to throw ourselves a party?”
“What’s the point? We lived for another year. Is that supposed to be a milestone?” asked Aria flatly. “Why would we just celebrate all of a sudden? That’s stupid.” For some reason, Sonata felt her ears grow warm. She scrunched her face up angrily.
“You think everything is stupid!” she shot.
“No, I think everything about you is stupid.” Aria returned. “Now scram.” Sonata was, as usual, confused.
“Huh?”
“I’m tired, and tonight’s my night for the couch.” Aria smirked at the confused look of outrage on her sister’s face. Adagio rolled her eyes and went to finish her tea, opting to stay out of the way of their bickering.
“Nuh-uh! Tonight’s my night! I wrote it on my hand!” Sonata pointed to her palm, which was covered in messy scribbling.
“You spelled ‘Sunday’ wrong.” said Aria. “And I get the couch tonight, cause you weren’t here to do your chores. That means I had to do them. I get the couch. You’ll have to deal with the floor.”
“That’s not fair!” Sonata shrieked. Her big purple eyes glistened with tears.
“Life isn’t fair. Now beat it!”
Sonata balled up her fist and stomped her foot firmly, but Aria hardly even noticed. She was already putting in her earbuds.
“You’re so mean! You’re the worst sister ever!” shouted Sonata. Aria shrugged her shoulders, which only served to anger Sonata more. She stomped away to the bedroom, which ironically had no bed, with tears in her eyes.
Adagio leaned against the wall, staring at Aria. The Siren leader didn’t really care about the fight, but if she did, she would have decided in favor of Aria. Sonata wasn’t pulling her weight, so she lost privileges. Still, Aria was being rather harsh. It was Sonata’s first time failing to do her chores, and Adagio would be likely to give her a pass. In any case, Adagio wasn’t worried about that. She was more concerned with the tears in Sonata’s eyes.
“If you think you’re going to make me give up the couch, you’re dreaming.” growled Aria.
“We need to talk.” Adagio crossed her arms and strode across the room. “Did you see Sonata? She’s in tears.”
“Not my problem.” Aria rolled over to show Adagio her back.
“Yes, your problem.”
“How?”
“She’s upset.” said Adagio.
“So?”
“Being upset messes with your focus. Brings you off your game.”
“So?”
“We’ll never be able to fix the pendants if one of us is off our game!” said Adagio impatiently. Aria looked up thoughtfully. Adagio had a point. Maybe she was being too short-sighted. But she needed her sleep. If she didn’t get her sleep, Aria might’ve been the one off her game. Aria considered it for a while before finally responding.
“So?” asked Aria, this time significantly less antagonizing.
“So, we have to make her happy, and I can only think of one way to do that.” said Adagio. She sighed. “We have to throw her a birthday party.”
“No.” said Aria firmly.
“I want to do it about as much as you, but it’s the only option. Sonata can’t be depended on while she’s busy trying to figure out why her sisters don’t love her. Also, are you not in the least bit hurt by the fact that she doesn’t think you love her?”
“She never said that.”
“She didn’t have to. It is important that the two of you have a healthy relationship.” scolded Adagio. “Which means you have to stop being such a-”
“Careful how you finish that sentence.” Aria growled. “So, since Sonata isn’t here, I’ll ask the stupid question. We’re supposed to throw her a party, right? How are we supposed to do that with no money, no friends, and no idea what she likes?”
“Sonata is simple.” began Adagio.
“You’re telling me.”
“I mean that she is easy to please. She likes candy and Mexican food.” continued the leader. “As for money and friends… I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”
“I don’t like anything.” Aria said.
“Be ready to go in the morning. We’re heading up to the school.” said Adagio. “Until everything is ready, leave Sonata alone. Don’t even talk to her.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
A few hours later
Rainbow Dash trudged down the hall tiredly with her soccer ball stowed under her arm. As usual, she was the first of her friends to arrive at school, but not because she had an overwhelming enthusiasm to learn. Quite the opposite, Rainbow Dash just wanted to go back home and sleep. But she knew she couldn’t, so why not get some ball practice in? Not like she needed practice, she was already the best everything player at CHS.
“God, I need a coffee.” yawned Rainbow Dash. She passed the weird, badly lit hallway that had been dark for years when she felt hands grasp her arms. She was pulled into the semi-darkness where a hand was clamped over her mouth. Rainbow didn’t plan on screaming, until she saw her kidnappers. Aria slammed her against the wall while Adagio peeked over her shoulder in watch.
“Oh, great. Just what I need.” said Rainbow Dash. "What are you doing here?"
"We have a problem, Rainboom, and you are going to help us." said Adagio.
"And if I don't?" asked Rainbow.
"Then you'll invoke the wrath of the fearsome Siren race." growled Aria.
"That should be some indication of how dire things have become.” said Adagio. “She never identifies herself with her Siren heritage if she can help it.
"You two don't scare me." spat Rainbow. "But I scare you. Why else would you grab me in a dark hallway?"
"Because this is too important for us to fail." said Adagio. "This is not about us. This is about something bigger. Something more important."
"Like what?" Rainbow Dash was almost intrigued.
"Sonata." Adagio let her answer hang in the air for a moment, waiting for Rainbow to fully process what was happening.
"Sonata? The stupid one?"
"Yes." said Aria blandly. "Tomorrow is our birthday, and you're going to help us throw a party." Dash stared at the Sirens in bemusement for a moment before she opened her mouth.
"So, pigs started flying already?" remarked Rainbow.
"Look, Aria and I understand that birthdays are stupid." explained Adagio. "Sonata is not as bright. We don't have money, and we don't have friends. Can you just help us? She's very distraught, and the only way I can think to cheer her up is to throw her a birthday party."
"Maybe I'd help you if you didn't try to enslave me and my friends." said Dash stubbornly.
"Maybe we were doing what we had to do." growled Aria. "Maybe we were hungry."
"Maybe you should've found another way." returned Rainbow
"Maybe we would have if you humans would've helped."
"Maybe you should've asked!" They were shouting by now. Adagio felt as if she was losing control of the situation.
"Maybe we couldn't." said Aria, something that sounded like passion creeping into her voice. "Maybe we were doing what we were born to do!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have been born, then!"
As soon as Rainbow said it, she wished she could take it back. The look of fury pasted on the Dazzling's face was fierce enough to make even the fearless Rainbow Dash back down.
"I-I'm sorry..." stuttered Rainbow. "That got way out of hand. Look-"
"Whatever. Its not like you hurt my feelings or anything." Aria wiped her rage and replaced it with the blank, bored mask she normally wore.
"Let's go, Adagio. She's not going to give in."
Aria released her grip on Rainbow Dash and slowly stalked away. Only Adagio noticed how Aria grasped at her neck, absentmindedly rubbing where her pendant used to sit.
"Thanks for that." said Adagio when Aria was out of earshot. "Another thing for me to deal with. See you around, Rainbow Dash."
Adagio turned and went the way of her sister. Rainbow stood in the quiet hall confusedly. She expected to have to defend herself, to fight the Dazzlings until someone heard. They did the exact opposite of what Rainbow would've guessed. They asked their favor and left when Rainbow refused. Sure, Aria threw her against a wall, but Dash herself had done dumber things while trying to do right.
"I must be nuts." muttered Dash. She ran to catch up with the Dazzlings, who were slowly dragging themselves down the hall.
"Dazzlings! Fine! I'll help!" said Dash. Adagio turned on her heel immediately, but Aria kept walking.
"Don't mind her." said Adagio. "Will you seriously help us?"
"Yeah, yeah. I figure I may as well give you a second chance." said Rainbow. "It worked for Sunset, so maybe I can make you three into decent people."
"We don't need that much from you." said Adagio, wasting no time. "Sonata likes Mexican food and candy. How can we bring those things together?"
"Pinkie stashes piñatas at my house all the time. I'll grab one of those. And I can get a case of tacos or something. Anything else?"
"Find the most forgiving, gullible morons at Canterlot High School and invite them. We can work out a venue later, when we have an idea of who will be coming." said Adagio. "Give me your number."
"What for?" asked Rainbow.
"So we can discuss details while putting this together." Rainbow shrugged her shoulders.
"390-7345. But don't make a habit of texting me." said Rainbow.
“Do not misunderstand me, Rainbow Dash. This is not meant to form a friendship.” said Adagio. “We are not besties all of a sudden. I will pay you back for your help in some manner, and then we can go back to hating each other.”
“If that’s what you want.” said Rainbow, shaking her head. “Hey, you could pay me back right now, if you have some coffee.”
“Sorry, I haven’t had a coffee in a few days. Honestly, I don’t think anyone has.”
“I guess Pinkie was serious.” Rainbow Dash muttered. “I have to see if she’s okay.”
“I have to go. There are other things that I have to put in place before tomorrow.” said Adagio, turning away. With a small smile, she went off to prepare the party.
The next day
Sonata crept from her room on her tip-toes. She may not have been the brightest, but even she was smart enough to know not to wake her sisters at six in the morning. That might’ve been the last thing she ever did. Sonata quietly slid past Adagio, snoring on the couch, and into the kitchen. She was met with Aria’s back, the pigtailed Siren failing to even notice her.
“Good morning.” said Sonata, though not quite as brightly as she would’ve normally.
“Morning.” returned Aria, much to Sonata’s surprise.
“You okay? I haven’t seen you since the thing with the couch.”
Aria shrugged her shoulders, her favorite defense against questioning, and scurried through the cabinets in search for breakfast. Sonata reached into a cabinet to the left and grabbed a box, which she handed to Aria.
“Cute story, Ari. I totes did buy the Triscuits, but I put them in the wrong place!” said Sonata. “That’s why I was so upset! I thought you were messing with me or something. I was like ‘OMG, am I going crazy?’ and then I remembered and I just laughed!”
Aria muttered something that Sonata decided could’ve been “Thanks”, but probably wasn’t. She hugged Aria (for some reason, she seemed more willing to be hugged), and looked around for her own breakfast.
“Pop-Tarts are to your right.” said Aria. “What’re you doing today?”
“I dunno. Why? You wanna do something?” Sonata asked, shoving her face into the cabinet. She emerged with a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts and a gleam in her eye.
“Adagio gave new instructions. We gotta go back to school.” Sonata’s eyes widened in shock.
“How? Won’t we get in trouble?” she asked.
“There’s, like, five hundred kids at CHS. Blend in. There are cracks in their security.” explained Aria. “Slip through the cracks. You better go now. I still have stuff to do, and someone has to cover for us. You can handle that, can’t you?”
“Uh-huh! What, do you think I’m dumb or something?” asked Sonata.
“Can you spell ‘dumb’?”
“D-U-M-M.” said Sonata victoriously.
“Yeah, school is probably where you need to be.” droned Aria. “Go on, stupid. I’ll catch up.”
“Bye-bye!” said Sonata with a smile. She ripped open her Pop-Tarts and started nibbling as she dreamily drifted out of her home. Sonata skipped down the streets, catching the eye of passersby. She waved and smiled, chomping on her Pop-Tart, all the way to Canterlot High School. She stood outside the front of the school as students swarmed around her, pushing into the school. She earned the glares of quite a few students, those who noticed and remembered what she had done to the school.
“Hm…” Sonata looked around. “Ari said to ‘slip through the cracks’...”.
“Oh my god, did you see that hole in the fence?” someone said from behind Sonata. It sounded vaguely familiar.
“Yeah. That Pinkie Pie broke through the fence by the football field.” said someone else. Sonata recognized her, too.
“Lyra… I think we better go.” whispered the first voice.
“Why? Is everything okay, Bonny?” asked Lyra.
“It’s that Siren girl. Come on, Lyra. Let’s go.”
Sonata barely noticed the fearful whispers. She was used to people treading carefully around her and her sisters. What Sonata focused on was the idea of a hole in a fence.
“Hm… I can slip through there!” Sonata smiled and looped around the school. The football field was deserted, with the exception of some rainbow-haired girl sitting near the rear entrance of the school. The Siren scanned the fence, finally finding the hole that she had heard about.
“There you go!” said Sonata brightly. She stepped through the hole, taking great care not to get her scrunchie stuck on the fence. She learned from her mistakes.
“Hey! Sonata!” the rainbow girl yelled across the field. “Come here! I got something for ya!”
“Hm?” Sonata tilted her head in confusion. She skipped across the field, trying to figure out why the rainbow girl looked so familiar. Something about her face, her hair, her voice sounded familiar. For some reason, her face reminded Sonata of one of the songs from the Battle of the Bands.
“Awesome as I wanna be…” muttered Sonata. She was so deep in thought that she almost walked right past her.
“Singing my song, huh? Yeah, I know. It’s pretty great. Do you remember me?” she asked.
“Uh… Oh! You’re one of the Rainbooms, right?” said Sonata. “Rainbow… Rainbow something. Rainbow Bash? Rainbow Stash? Rainbow Dash!”
“The one and only.” smirked Rainbow. “Hey, Sonata. How’re you doing?”
“I’m great! Dagi told me to go back to school, so here I am!” Sonata smiled widely at Rainbow Dash. “How are you?"
"Eh. Can't complain. Hey, you wanna see something cool?"
Sonata was about to answer, but stopped herself. She suddenly remembered who Rainbow Dash was, what she had done to the Sirens.
“Uh… I dunno. I don’t think Dagi would want me to talk to you.” said Sonata.
“Aren’t you hungry?” asked Rainbow. Suddenly, Sonata realised that she was starving. Her stomach growled angrily, as if it wanted to rebel from the rest of her body.
“Come on. Put this on.” Rainbow pulled a ribbon of red cloth from her pocket. She gently tied the blindfold around Sonata’s eyes, then put her hands on her shoulders.
“Where are we going?” asked Sonata. She felt herself be ushered someplace.
“It’s a surprise…” rang Rainbow’s singsong voice.
“Look, Rainbow Dash? I’m totes sorry about what happened last week with the whole band thing.” said Sonata. “You’re probably really, really, really mad at me.”
“Meh. Believe it or not, I’ve dealt with crazy magic things like you and your sisters before.” said Rainbow. “Now, me and Sunset Shimmer are friends. I think we can be friends, too.”
“For realsies? After all I did, you still wanna try to be friends?” Sonata felt herself be pushed through a door.
“Well, I didn’t really at first. Someone cares about you.” said Rainbow. “Or else they wouldn’t have done all of this. You can take that off, by the way.”
“SURPRISE!”
Sonata ripped off her blindfold and looked around crazily. She was in the gym, and the gym was filled with tables of snacks, tacos, punch, and candy, and many, many students. Among the faces Sonata recognized were Rarity, Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Flash Sentry, Derpy, even some of the younger students like Snips, Snails, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Front and center, however, was Adagio and Aria.
“Happy birthday, Sonata.” said Adagio.
“You were sad and more irritating than normal.” said Aria. “So we threw you this stupid party. Hope you like it, or whatever.”
“OMG! This is the greatest thing ever!” squealed Sonata. She lifted her sisters in a strong, spine shattering hug. Adagio grinned slightly, and even Aria seemed to be okay with the gesture.
“Can you put us down?” asked Aria. “So we can get the piñata?”
Sonata’s head was about to explode from sheer excitement. She had friends now, her sisters were being sisters, she smelled the fabled tacos, and there was a piñata! She dropped her sisters down to their feet and twirled around dreamily, thanking everyone who showed up.
“Thank you sooooo much!” squealed Sonata, hugging Rarity.
“It was no trouble, darling.” insisted Rarity. “Nobody deserves to be alone on their birthday.”
“Ah’m just upset Pinkie Pie ain’t get to make it.” said Applejack. “She said she was comin, but I ain’t seen ‘er. It ain’t like Pinkie to miss a party, is it?”
“I have to thank her when I see her!” said Sonata. “This is so much fun already!”
“Hey, airhead.” Aria’s droning voice wafted over the crowd of chattering.
“Hm?” Sonata turned around and gasped. Hanging from the ceiling, attached to a rope in Aria’s hand, was a big, violet, six-pointed star made of paper. A piñata, filled with all of Sonata’s favorite candy.
“We apologize if this feels a bit rushed, but we only have so long before Principal Celestia gets in.” said Adagio. She tied another blindfold around Sonata’s eyes. Sonata felt a long, wooden stick get shoved into her hands, then she was spinning, spinning, spinning.
“Happy birthday, Sonata!” she heard her sister say. A light push to the back and Sonata was dizzily swinging at nothing. Eventually, she made her way to the piñata, swinging and missing time and time again. Sometimes, it would look like Sonata was going to hit it, but the piñata would mysteriously rise just outside of range.
“I’m gonna hit this if it’s the last thing I do!” declared Sonata. She swung and swung, each time missing the piñata. Sonata calmed herself, then started feeling around for the piñata with her stick. A light, rattling thud told her that she was in the right place.
“There!” said Sonata, swinging her stick. The piñata rose just out of range, and all the stick hit was air. That was when Sonata got frustrated. She rushed forward, swinging her stick at nothing while the partygoers laughed and laughed. Even Aria grinned evilly.
“I found it again!” said Sonata. She brushed her stick against the top of the open door, leading into the hallway. Adagio took a step, but Sonata already disappeared into the school.
“Wait, you idiot! Ugh.” groaned Adagio. “Come on, Aria. We have to get her.”
“Hold on. I wanna try a taco before she gets back and eats them all.” said Aria. She lowered the piñata to the floor and made her way to the snack table.
“She’s going to get in trouble.” said Adagio, although she followed Aria to the taco tray.
“Yeah. So?” Aria unwrapped a taco and reached for a packet of hot sauce.
“Why does that piñata remind me of the Equestrian?” asked Adagio.
“I don’t know. This is what we got. Are you going after her or not?” Aria asked dryly.
Adagio looked to the door, then the piñata, then to Aria’s emotionless face. She pursed her lips in frustrated thought for a second.
“I suppose one taco couldn’t hurt.” said Adagio finally. She joined her sister at the taco station. “Pass the hot sauce.”
Sonata was, as usual, confused. She had dropped her stick ages ago and was blindly stumbling around the gym in search of it. She thought something may be wrong, because the gym suddenly got really quiet and she’d been walking for quite a while. Sonata wanted desperately to take off the blindfold, but that would be cheating.
So, instead of looking with her eyes, Sonata tried to see with her ears. Since she hardly heard any other noise, she knew she must be close. Sonata took a wild step and bumped into something tall and thin. She fell to the ground, landing squarely on her butt.
“Oof! Aria, was that you? Come on, guys!” complained Sonata. “This sooooo isn’t funny anymore.” She heard frustrated, angry breathing sounds, which had to be Aria. Sonata pushed herself onto her feet.
“Dagi! Ari! I can’t find it anywhere! Like, for realsies.” whined Sonata. “Where is that piñata?”
“What are you doing in my school?” a shrill, commanding voice rang out, scaring Sonata half to death.
“Huh? Is that the principal? What is she doing in the gymnasium?” asked Sonata. She extended her hands and felt around for something, anything to let her know where to go. The Siren grabbed at a big mound of poofy something and let out a sigh of relief.
“There you are, Dagi! I was getting worried for a sec!”
“I’m not a Dagi! I’m a Pinkie!” said a bright, cheery voice. One that Sonata felt she should’ve remembered.
“Pinkie? Oh, you were one of the Rainbooms, right?” asked Sonata.
“I will ask you only one more time, and then I am calling the police and having you arrested for assault.” snarled the principal. “What are you doing at my school?”
“Looking for the piñata!” exclaimed Sonata, rolling her unseen eyes.
A few hours later
Sonata sat in the Vice Principal’s bright fuschia office with her arms crossed angrily. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t do anything wrong, that she knew of, and the Vice Principal had yelled at her for doing something to Principal Celestia. Sonata wasn’t sure what it meant exactly, but she didn’t remember salting anything, let alone a person.
“Can I go home now?” asked Sonata.
“You may leave only when someone over the age of eighteen comes to retrieve you.” said Vice Principal Luna for the fourth time.
“I’m over eighteen!” said Sonata. “I’m, like, sixteen bagillion years old! Why can’t I retrieve myself?”
“Because we need clearance from someone who wasn’t involved in the incident.” explained Luna. “Be thankful. Were it up to my sister, you would be in police custody.”
“She’s such a meanie.” muttered Sonata. The door flew open, and the other Sirens appeared into the office. Adagio immediately strode over to Luna’s desk to get paperwork filled, while Aria stayed and enjoyed her favorite pastime: Mocking Sonata.
“So, how’re things in the brig, Airhead?” said Aria with a smirk. “You should join the NFL, if you wanna make some money tackling innocent people.”
“It was an accident!” said Sonata.
“Sure it was. You totally didn’t tackle Celestia for no reason.” scoffed Aria. “How does it feel to do something bad? You finally got a taste of what it’s like to be the bad girl, huh?”
“Aria, Sonata, let’s go.” said Adagio firmly. “Vice Principal Luna has been kind enough to let us go on a warning.”
“Yay! Now we can go back to the party!” squealed Sonata.
“That was hours ago, moron. It’s like 4:00. Everyone went home.” said Aria. Sonata’s smile fell and shattered into a sad, dejected grimace.
“Come on.” said Adagio. The three Sirens left Vice Principal Luna’s office, hearing her mutter about her fuschia walls. The school was mostly empty, with the exception of the occasional chess club nerd or football player. The Sirens left, grumpy and upset. When they got outside, Sonata had a thought.
“Hey! Why didn’t you come to get me earlier?” asked Sonata. “I was stuck with VP Luna for-ev-er!”
“We had stuff to do.” replied Aria flatly.
“What kind of stuff?”
“Big girl stuff. Don’t worry your pretty, little, empty head about it.” mocked Aria.
“We’re the same age! And my head’s not empty! There’s a ton of stuff in it.”
“Yeah, and it’s all stupid.”
“Shut up!” snapped Adagio. “Shut… up. I’m tired of hearing you two morons bicker of who is the idiot when you’re both tied for the title ‘Dumbest thing on the planet’!”
“Sorry.” mumbled Aria. Her sisters glanced at her in shock. Aria Blaze had just apologized. It brought a grin to Adagio’s face, and it stayed there all the way to their apartment.
“There’s something we didn’t tell you, Sonata.” said Adagio. She unlocked the door and let them into their home. “The reason we took so long to get you is because we were at Sears.”
“Doing what?” Sonata had almost forgotten why she was supposed to be upset.
“We were ordering a bed.” said Aria. “Happy birthday, idiot.”
Adagio and Aria plugged their ears with their fingers, but that didn’t entirely block out the loud, high-pitched squeal that burst from their sister. Sonata ran into the house and, judging by the soft THUD, fell face first onto the new mattress. Adagio smiled slightly, and Aria just rolled her eyes.
“I have to step out for a while.” said Adagio. “Try not to murder the idiot.”
“Whatever.” said Aria. That was the end of it, much to Adagio’s surprise. Normally, Aria would be livid at the idea of being stuck alone with Sonata. But, never the one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Adagio didn’t question it, and stepped out of the house.
Three hours later
“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.” said Adagio, leaning against her front door with her cell phone pressed to her ear. “Thank you again for your help. I suppose we shall see each other again tomorrow. You have my respect.”
Adagio closed her phone and shoved it into her pocket. She wondered what sort of chaos would be on the other side of the door. It was probably a mess that, as leader, Adagio would be expected to clean. Or some sort of Cold War between her two sisters.
“I’m home.” said Adagio, pushing open the door. As soon as she crossed the threshold of her home, she caught a whiff of something sweet. It took Adagio a second to place it, but she the smell was clearly coming from cookies, freshly baked and wafting their delicious aroma from the kitchen.
“Sonata must’ve made some treats.” muttered Adagio to herself. She stepped through the house and into the kitchen. When she saw which sister was in front of the oven, complete with an apron, oven mitts, and a tray of aromatic chocolate chip cookies, her jaw hit the floor.
“What?” asked Aria.
“I-I… What?” said Adagio, her mouth agape.
“You’ll catch flies.”
“You made cookies?” asked Adagio in confusion.
“No. The tray just appeared in the oven.” Aria returned flatly. She laid the tray on the counter and grabbed a plate and glass. “Pass the milk, would you?”
“You hate milk.” said Adagio. “I stopped buying milk.”
“I picked up some more. It’s not for me, anyway.” said Aria. She stepped past Adagio and reached into the fridge, returning with a gallon of milk.
“Who is it for?” asked Adagio.
“Who do you think? And we call her the dumb one.” Aria slid the cookies onto a plate and filled the glass with milk.
“Let me get this straight. You, Aria Blaze, the grumpiest, most displeased creature alive, suddenly adopted a sunny disposition and decided to bake cookies for a sister that she hates?”
“I don’t hate her. I hate almost everything about her, but I don’t hate her.” said Aria. She locked eyes with Adagio, whose face had a wide smirk plastered on it. “What?”
“Nothing.” said Adagio, smirking even more. “I did not say anything.”
“You have that shit-eating grin of yours. What?”
“I just think it’s cute and…” Adagio stepped out of the way to let Aria past. “Mom would be proud.”
Aria grunted something under her breath and stepped past her sister. She shuffled away, hearing Adagio’s quiet “I love you, too”. With a scoff, Aria slid into their bedroom, where Sonata was laying on her stomach atop their brand new mattress.
“Here’s your cookies.” said Aria dryly. She laid the plate in front of Sonata and dropped the glass to her right.
“Thanks, Ari!” said Sonata. She grabbed three cookies and shoved them into her mouth. “Mmmm! These are even better than the ones Mom used to make.”
Aria flopped onto the bed and picked a cookie off the plate. She bit into it, but not because she was hungry or had a particular taste for chocolate chips.
“Do you miss her?” asked Sonata.
“What’s the point in missing her? She’s not coming back.” said Aria. Sonata nodded her agreement.
“I guess she won’t. I miss her, though.” said Sonata sadly. “Do you remember the song she used to sing to us? Before bed?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Will you sing it to me? I remember Mom was teaching you.” asked Sonata.
“I can’t sing anymore, doofus. Remember? Our necklaces exploded.” lied Aria. Sonata hummed softly, shoving another cookies into her mouth. She washed it down with a swig of milk, then put on her best begging face, coupled with her most pitiful puppy-eyes.
“Pwease?” she said childishly. “I know you can do it! My sister can do anything!” Aria gave Sonata her best death-glare, but the puppy-eyes overtook her. Sonata knew she had won; Once she pouted her lip, she knew Aria would fold like a lawn chair.
“Fine. English or Siren?” asked Aria.
“Siren, please. Like how Mom used to.” said Sonata. Aria cleared her throat with a little cough, then opened her mouth. It’d been so long, she hoped she could remember any of the Siren language. After a second of preparing herself, she began to sing a soft melody. She sang about a family, gifted with power, cursed with pain. Aria sang about loss, devastation, angst, but also of hope, love, of strength. After a few minutes of singing, Aria was able to forget that the song was about her.
Adagio leaned against the bedroom door, tears running down her face lightly. She looked to the sky and gave a watery smile.
“We miss you.” she said softly.
Author's Note
Well, this also happened. The other half of the story. This was way longer than I intended. I need to start writing with a timer. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and tell me why. I like to know what works and what doesn’t. Now, if you excuse me, I have to do some research on sloths and caffeine 
. Farewell!
