Sonata's Oceanby RB_ChaptersLow TideFlood TideHigh TideEbb TideLow TideThe pounding on the door was sudden, unexpected, and only barely audible over the rain. Sunset laid down her cards—she was positive it was a winning hand—and looked over towards the door. "Who could that be? It's almost midnight." "Well whoever they are, they do seem very eager to come in," Rarity said. A flash of lightening lit Sunset's apartment, followed so closely by a clap of thunder that they might have overlapped. "Not that I can blame them on a night like tonight." The forecast had said that the skies would be clear all week, and the forecast had been wrong. Sighing, Sunset pushed herself to her feet and headed towards the door, taking care not to trip over Pinkie’s and Rainbow's legs on the way. The knocking was more insistent now. "You'd better answer it fast," Pinkie said. "Or else you might need to buy a new door!" Sunset chuckled. She tried to look through the door's peephole, but it was too dark. She opened the door. Upon her doorstep stood Aria Blaze, drenched and scowling. Adagio stood behind her, similarly drenched. A bandage sat over her right eyebrow. "Sunset Shimmer," Aria said. "We—ugh." She grimaced. "We need your help." The sun’s light shimmered off her wet scales as she slipped back above the surface, rivulets of water running along her tail as she leapt into the air. The ocean stretched out in all directions, clear and calm. The sun was warm against her back. The salt in the air burned her nostrils, and it was good. She fell back into the ocean, snout first, angling herself so that she slipped into the water without making a splash. The momentum carried her down, and she looked up at the sky from under the water. She had no fear; she had gills. A school of fish swam past her; she snapped her neck out and caught one in her needle teeth. It slid easily down her gullet. She dove a little bit deeper, her long tail propelling her forward. She wanted to leap again, but she needed more speed, so she kept diving down. But the water below was darker, far darker than it should have been. She turned away and looked back to the ocean’s surface, suffused with sunlight that didn’t carry far enough. “Miss Dusk!” A voice rippled through the water, murky and distorted. She looked about, trying to see where it had come from. “Miss Dusk!” The water became choppy, tossing her about— "Miss Dusk!" Sonata opened her eyes slowly. Something red and blurry blocked her view. She blinked, and it came into focus: a mustache. A very angry looking mustache—no, that was the person attached to it. “Miss Sonata, we do not pay you to sleep on the job,” her boss said. “That’s right,” her other boss said. “It’s bad for business!” “And what’s bad for business is bad for us!” “That’s our motto!” Sonata stretched her arms out, yawned, and tried her best to remember what Moustache’s name was. It was hard to tell her two bosses apart; the only identifying features between the two were the first’s moustache and the pins on their lapels, and that didn’t make it any easier to match names to their faces. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said, giving up on the endeavor. “It won’t hap—” She yawned. “—happen again!” “See that it doesn’t,” the one without a moustache said. The one with a moustache nodded. “Or else you won’t be seeing your paycheck!” She apologized again as the two brothers returned to the back of the store, Moustache giving her a pointed look as he slammed the rear door shut. Sonata sighed and slumped down into a more reasonable posture. She didn’t see what the big deal was; there weren’t any customers around for her to help. People barely ever came to the pawn shop anyway, and never more than once. Still, she supposed she ought to be grateful. The brothers had been willing to give her a job when no one else would, even if they were paying her less for it. Work was work, after all, or at least that’s what Bare Lip kept telling her. So, she put on her best fake smile, stood up straight, and waited for a customer to come in. For a few minutes anyway, before her thoughts began drifting back to the ocean. Sonata thought about the ocean a lot. It had been a long time since she’d last seen it, at least in real life. Canterlot City was almost twenty miles inland from the coast, and Sonata didn’t have a car. Aria used to have one, a truck, and sometimes when she’d been in a good mood she would drive them to the beach for a day. But Adagio had made her sell it for rent money, and it had been a long time since Aria had been in a good mood. Sonata’s hand slipped absentmindedly upwards, to the naked spot around her neck. Then, she blinked. She’d seen something, off to the side—a flash of light? She wasn’t sure. Sparing a quick glance to the back room’s door, she got out from behind the counter and approached the shelf the flash had come from. It was full of the same sort of junk that covered the rest of the store: an old wooden chess set (pieces painted red and blue), a baseball (signed, Sonata wasn’t sure by who), a watch (either broken or not set, probably the former), and… A little scallop shell, mounted on a choker. Sonata reached down towards the necklace. Her fingers tingled as they brushed against the shell, like the thing was carrying a static charge. Picking it up, she examined it. The shell was held to the cloth by a small length of wire. It looked handmade. It was just her size, too. She swallowed. She could hear, faintly, the sound of waves crashing against the shore. She could taste, barely, the salt-laced air of the sea. Sonata looked again to the door to the back room. Then, quickly but with care not to damage it, she slipped the necklace into her pocket. The lock to the Dazzling’s apartment was an old one, tarnished and scratched, and it took Aria a few tries to get it open. “Come on you stupid—aha!” she said as the thing finally turned. Pushing the door open, she dropped the plastic bag she’d been carrying onto the floor. She closed the door again, and locked it. Then, she walked over to the couch against the far wall and collapsed onto it, face down into the cushions. They smelt slightly of dog. The whole apartment smelt slightly of dog. Adagio was working late that night, which meant that Aria had the apartment to herself until Sonata got back, and that wouldn’t be for another hour at least. As was usual for days like today, she’d made plans, and as usual she was going to forego them. She rolled over onto her back, keeping her eyes closed. The grease stains on her jeans made new friends on the upholstery. At some point she must have drifted off, because the scraping of the tumblers in the front door’s lock woke her up. Aria opened her eyes, blinked. She took a deep breath in through her nostrils; the air smelled faintly of dog, and of the Chinese food she’d forgotten to put in the fridge when she’d come in. Perfect. The door opened, finally, and Sonata pushed her way in. “Hey.” “Yo.” “Ooh, is that Chinese?” Sonata said, kicking the door shut behind her. “It smells like Chinese.” “Pay day. Didn’t want to cook.” Sonata grabbed the bag and carried it over to their little table. “Oh. Good!” she said, pulling out the first of the steaming cartons. Aria opened one eye. “What was that?” Sonata looked at her with that blank smile of hers. “I was worried I’d have to eat another Aria Surprise tonight. Your cooking is terrible.” Aria snorted. “At least I’m allowed to use the stove, Miss Oven-Baked-Popcorn. Pass me a spring roll.” “Hey, that wasn’t my fault! The bag said, ‘Microwave Oven’.” A spring roll changed hands. “They should have made their packaging less confusing.” “Whatever, doofus.” She took a bite out of the end of the roll. It was lukewarm, but still good. She could hear Sonata dishing food out for herself. The microwave beeped as she set it going, humming obnoxiously as it always did. The food did smell nice, though. “When’s Adagio getting back?” Sonata asked. “No idea.” “Oh.” Aria finished off the last of her spring roll. Then, groaning, she rolled off the couch. Sonata had amassed a heaping pile of rice and noodles, and was attempting to dig in with a pair of chopsticks. She wasn’t having much success. “Is that my lo mein?” Sonata paused, a dangling clump of noodles halfway to her face. “I didn’t see your name on it.” Her chopsticks slipped, dumping the food back onto her plate. “Aww…” Aria grabbed a box of rice and what was left of the lo mein off the counter and dumped it onto a plate. She didn’t bother microwaving hers, instead grabbing a fork and sitting down at the folding piece of plastic that was their kitchen table. “Come on!” Sonata said, her chopsticks slipping again. A piece of shrimp rolled across the table; Aria speared it with her fork. “Why do you even use chopsticks if you’re so bad at them?” Aria asked, popping the shrimp into her mouth. They’d always tasted different on this side of the mirror. “I’m not bad with them, they’re just—ack—being difficult today!” “That’s because you’re holding them wrong, doofus.” Aria reached into the bag, pulled out another pair of chopsticks, broke them, and held them properly. “You’re supposed to do it like this.” Sonata looked at Aria’s example, then at her own pair. “Oh,” she said after a moment, fixing her grip. “Thanks!” Aria grunted. “So, how was work?” “Same as always,” Aria said. “Did you actually manage to sell anything today?” “Nope.” Sonata sighed, grabbing a roll of noodles with her chopsticks. “No customers.” “You’re probably scaring them off.” Sonata’s face scrunched up. “It’s not me! It’s because everything we sell is junk!” “Well,” Aria said, “At least they’re paying you to do nothing.” “Yeah,” Sonata said. She brought her food up to her mouth and went to take a bite, and with a splat, the noodles dropped back onto her plate. Aria laughed as Sonata gave up and grabbed a fork. Sonata laid down on her bed. It wasn’t much, just an inflatable air mattress, but it was better than the bare floor. Adagio had taken the real bed, of course, and Aria had called dibs on the unfolding sofa. On her first night in the apartment, Sonata had tried to get cosy on a pile of cushions. She’d demanded they buy the air mattress the next morning. Sonata smiled. She didn’t mind the air mattress, really. She liked the way it sank under her when she laid on it, and the way it moved when she rolled over. Some nights, when she was feeling restless, she would close her eyes and pretend she was floating in the middle of a vast sea, the sun warming her face and the water moving gently under her. It never failed to help her sleep. She thought she might have to do that tonight, and that reminded her of the necklace. She fished the thing out of her pocket and held it up to the ceiling. She could feel the same tingle she’d felt in the shop, only now it was stronger, more personal. Sonata wasn’t quite sure why that was the word she’d settled on, but it felt right. The thing seemed to shimmer in the light. She smiled. This, she decided, was a lucky charm. Her lucky charm. Her bosses could jump in a lake for all she cared. Her luck would change soon. She was sure of it. She held the thing to her chest and closed her eyes. That night, Sonata dreamt of the ocean. Flood TideThe necklace bounced comfortingly in Sonata’s pocket as she walked. A breeze blew past, and she pulled the cloth of her hoodie tighter. It had been a long summer, but the air was finally starting to cool down. This would be fine by Sonata, if only for the fact that she walked to work in the mornings. She’d have to start saving for bus fare again, it seemed, if she didn’t want to become a popsicle. She giggled at that. A Sontatacicle. What flavor would she be? Splish. Suddenly, her foot felt a lot colder. She looked down at the sidewalk, and the rapidly spreading puddle that covered it. Well, that wasn’t supposed to be there. It looked like it was coming from further up the street, too, which was weird, because that was the way she was going, and the only building further up this street than her was— A red chess piece drifted past her foot. Sonata looked up. Water was spilling out of the door to the pawn shop, carrying knickknacks and bits of knickknacks out with it. Something had been laid across the doorframe, a two-by four and a towel by the looks of things, in an attempt to stop the flow. It wasn’t doing a very good job. “Ah, Miss Dusk, right on time!” Moustache poked his head out of the door as she walked closer. His normally waxed facial hair looked like it had recently played home to a family of squirrels, and the rest of him looked little better. “What happened?” Sonata asked. “It seems one of our water pipes burst last night,” Moustache said. “The entire shop’s been flooded!” “And all of our stock, too!” Bare Lip said, following his brother out. Sonata peered through the shop’s window. It was a dire scene indeed. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, partially out of obligation, and partially in the hopes it would improve her standing with them. “I’m afraid not,” Bare Lip said. “It’s too far gone. Flam and I are writing it off as a lost cause! We’re just waiting for the plumbers to arrive.” “Good thing we took out those generous insurance packages, eh Flim?” “Good thing indeed, brother-of-mine. But it’s too bad it didn’t go up in flames, instead! We’d have made a fortune!” “Well, it probably would have if the water hadn’t gotten it first!” The two shared a laugh; Sonata was just confused. “So… what do I do?” she asked. “Why, whatever you want, my dear!” Moustache said. “But I’m afraid your services here at Flim and Flam’s Everything Under the Sun Emporium are no longer required, because—as you can see—there is no more emporium!” “So… I’m fired?” “Your position is no longer available,” Bare Lip said. “You will be receiving your last paycheck in the mail, of course.” She wasn’t quite sure what to say, so she settled for “Oh.” Sonata lingered for a little while longer, but when it was clear neither of the brothers had anything more to say to her, she left back the way she’d come. This was a good thing, wasn’t it? No, it wasn’t, she decided. Even if the brothers hadn’t been paying her much, it was still something. Rent wasn’t cheap. And Adagio would be furious she’d lost her job, even if it wasn’t her fault. But, it did mean she had a day off… She turned the corner and stopped. From her pocket, she withdrew the shell necklace. She’d kept it off for fear of her bosses noticing, but that apparently wouldn’t be a problem anymore. She clasped it around her neck. It fit her perfectly. Sonata wasn’t sure where to go. She didn’t want to go back to the apartment, she knew, not yet. Adagio would be there. So, she began walking, not entirely sure of where she’d end up. “This sleepover is going to be the best one ever!” Sunset chuckled. “You say that about every sleepover, Pinkie.” “Yeah, but this one really is going to be the best-est!” Pinkie said, bouncing along beside her. “It’s at your apartment, after all! What could be better than that?” It was lunchtime at CHS, and as the weather was decent (if a little chilly), they’d decided to take theirs out to the school’s front steps. It was a practice the vice principal had long frowned upon, but had yet to actually prohibit so long as students brought their own lunches. Principal Celestia just thought it was a great way to get her students to go outside for once. “Hey now,” Sunset said, sitting down on the topmost step. “Don’t get too excited. It’s nothing special.” “But it’s yours, and you’re cool, and that makes your apartment cool too!” “I have to admit, darling, I’m also curious about your domicile,” Rarity said as she sat down and carefully began unwrapping a sandwich. “In all the time I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen your home, let alone been inside.” “Well, like I said, it’s not much. Just one room and a loft.” “You have a loft!? That’s super neat! Do you have a trampoline under it, or a big pile of cushions that you jump into every morning? ‘Cause that’s what I would do!” “No, I don’t have anything like that.” “Still,” Rarity said, “you’ve been living there a long time. Surely you must have added some personal touches to the place? It can’t just be an empty room, after all, and with your background…” “Ooh, maybe it’s filled with hay!” Sunset snorted. “I can assure you, my apartment is not filled with—hey, is that…?” She set her food down on the step, stood up, and hurried down the stairs, leaving her two friends behind. She weaved her way past the other students sitting on the grass, sitting on the pavement, leaning against the remains of the statue, until she reached the person standing on the sidewalk, watching it all. Or not, as when Sunset said her name, she flinched. “Sonata?” The girl looked at her, and there was no mistaking the face under the hood. “Sunset Shimmer!” Sonata said, taking a step back. “Uh… hi!” “What are you doing here?” “W-what are you doing here?” Sonata shot back. “I go to school here.” “So what? I went to school here, too!” “For like a week, as a ploy to mind control the rest of the students and take over the world!” Sonata swallowed. “What are you up to, Sonata?” Sunset asked, a bit more forcefully. Sonata put her hands up in front of her. “I’m not up to anything, honest! I’m just out for a walk!” “Uh huh,” Sunset said, eyes narrowed. “A walk that just so happens to bring you here. Where’s Adagio? Is she here too?” “Probably at home, sleeping,” she said. “What do you care? It’s none of your business, anyway!” “It is my business if you three are plotting something!” “We’re not!” Sonata said. She took another step back, then tried to make a break for it. Sunset reached out to stop her. “Hey, we aren’t done—” Sunset’s hand contacted Sonata’s shoulder, and the ocean was wide and calm and perfect. “They’ll be begging us to rule them!” someone said. She took one last look at the waters behind her, and then turned away. Two others like her, one golden-scaled, one purple, swam in ahead of her. She resolved not to look back again. She broke her resolution just moments later. A wave of rainbow light impacted her chest. It hurt, but not physically. It hurt in the way a mother’s chastisement hurt, in the way a father’s disapproving stare hurt. A music-summoned alicorn reared up in the sky and cast its judgement upon her, and a piece of her was stripped away forever. The night was cold and the moon was full. “Coast’s clear, let’s go,” Aria said. The three of them ran across the street, towards the statue. She placed her hand onto what should have been solid stone, and was overjoyed when her hand sank into it like water. “It’s open,” Adagio whispered. “They left it open…” She looked to her companions. They seemed hesitant. She didn’t know why. She started to walk through, pushing the rest of her arm through, then her left leg, then the rest— No. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. She was convulsing on a crystal floor. She had scales again, but they were dull. Cold. Wrong. She pushed a leg against her throat. A gaping cavity met her hoof. Cold, just like the rest of her, and now she knew why. Sharp teeth bit into her tailfin and dragged her backwards, back into the mirror and Sonata jerked out of Sunset’s grasp, her hood falling down in the process. “Let go of me!” she shouted. “Just leave us alone!” Sunset, stunned, did nothing to stop her as she ran off. “What was that all about?” Rarity said, coming up behind her. “Was that Sonata?” Pinkie asked. “It kinda looked like Sonata!” “It was Sonata,” Sunset said, frowning. She spared a glance to the ruined statue’s pedestal. She wasn’t sure what she’d just seen, but it worried her. And underlying it all had been an emotion Sunset hadn’t felt in a long time. Then the school’s lawn sprinklers burst into life, drenching everyone present. Rarity’s squeals could be heard across half the city. Going to the portal had been a stupid idea. Sonata had known it was a stupid idea, but she’d gone anyway, hoping no one would recognize her if she wore her hood up. Of course it would be Sunset Shimmer who spotted her. Sonata shivered, even as she ran down the street. The last time she had tangled with Sunset Shimmer, she had lost everything. She had no desire to try her luck again. Once she was far enough from the school, Sonata allowed her gait to slow to a brisk walk. People were giving her odd looks, so she pulled her hood back up and kept moving. Sunset had done something, she’d felt it; her shoulder had prickled at the girl’s touch. But what did it mean? She kept walking. Eventually, she found herself back at the door to the apartment. Adagio would be inside. But Sonata didn’t have anywhere else to go, and the encounter at the school had removed any desire to wander. She was hungry, too. With any luck, Adagio would be asleep. Sonata inserted her key into the lock and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t turn. “Come on...” she whispered. She tried again, harder this time, but all she got for her efforts was a horrible rattling noise. “Come on, you stupid thing…” One more try, and this time the tumblers turned. Sonata smiled as she pushed the door open. The smile disappeared entirely when she spotted Adagio, standing on the other side in a ratty bathrobe. “You’re home early.” “H-hi, Adagi—” “Why are you home early?” Adagio was not sleeping, and she looked it in the way only someone with inconsistently late hours could. Her frizzy hair was matted down to one side of her head, and the other side stuck out at an odd angle. Her glare wore dark shadows. “Why are you home early?” she repeated. Lying wouldn’t help; Sonata knew this from experience. She swallowed before she spoke. “My position is no longer available,” she said in what she hoped was an even voice. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds; Sonata almost thought she could hear the steam building up in Adagio’s head. Then: “You were fired?!” “N-no, not exactly—” “I can’t believe this!” Adagio said, one hand gesturing wildly, the other clenched into a fist at her side. “After all the effort I had to put in just to find you a job, you let yourself get fired!? What did you even do? Break something? How do you get fired from a pawn shop!?” “I didn’t do anything!” Sonata said, holding her arms up defensively. “There was a water pipe—” “I don’t want to hear it!” Adagio said, cutting her off with a knife-like swipe of her hand. Sonata had a sudden vision of her head rolling off a block. Adagio put her forehead in her hand. “I spend my nights slaving away cleaning up other people’s junk for them when they’re too lazy… Aria spends all day doing manual labor until she collapses… And all you had to do was stand there and look pretty! And you couldn’t even do that! How incompetent can you be!?” “H-hey,” Sonata said, but she wasn’t allowed a word. “I mean, you weren’t being paid a lot, but at least it was something! At least you were contributing something! Now you’re just a burden! Aria and I are going to have to work even harder now!” “I can get another job…” “Can you?” Adagio said, leaning in towards her. “Flim and Flam were the only ones who would take you! They were our last resort! Or could your tiny idiot brain not remember that?” Sonata tugged at the neck of her hoodie. She felt like she was suffocating. “I-I—” “Well you know what? I hope you weren’t looking forward to dinner tonight, because you won’t be getting any! You’re not getting anything other than leftovers until you start making the money to pay for more, you understand? Or do I have to use smaller words? And—” Adagio stopped. “What is that?” she asked. Sonata looked down. “What’s what?” she asked, but she knew exactly what Adagio was looking at. “That necklace. Where did you get that?” Sonata brought a hand up to cover the article in question. “I found it.” “You found it,” Adagio repeated. “…Yeah?” “No you didn’t.” Adagio took a step towards Sonata and darted a hand out, knocking Sonata’s aside and grabbing the necklace by the shell, pulling it and Sonata towards her as she examined it. “Hey! Get off!” Sonata yelled. But Adagio wasn’t paying any attention to her. “This is…” “It’s mine!” Adagio’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. “This is—” “Let… go!” The building’s sprinkler system erupted into life, dousing everything in the apartment. The sudden sound and rush of water distracted Adagio enough that she didn’t see Sonata’s fist until it was already buried in her right eye. The punch wasn’t a strong one, but it was enough. Adagio stumbled backwards, letting go of the necklace and covering her face. Sonata looked at her. She hadn’t meant to do that… had she? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything at the moment. When Adagio’s hands fell away from her face, all that was there was a blank, confused, mouth-slightly-open stare, focused on her. Her brow was split and starting to bleed, but she didn’t seem to have noticed. Sonata was confused. Adagio should have been furious! She should be yelling at her, screaming even! “You… you punched me!” Sonata needed to leave, she needed to go somewhere, figure out what had just happened. Things had stopped making sense here. She fled, leaving Adagio and the apartment far behind. Cars thundered under the bridge, the rumbles of their engines and the sound of their tires echoing off of the concrete pillars to reach where Sonata was sitting. She didn’t know where she was, exactly, but she knew she was far enough away to be able to think clearly again. Or maybe it was just that she’d had the time to calm down. Whichever it was, she had found herself here, sitting on the side of a bridge with her legs dangling over the road below. She wasn’t crying. She took a deep breath in, let it out slowly. Exhaust fumes filled her lungs, and she coughed as they burned. Her eyes stung, but she wasn’t crying. She’d hit Adagio. Why had she done that? Because she’d needed to, a part of her said. She couldn’t stay scared forever, it said. Adagio had it coming, it said. It was Adagio’s fault she was here. Adagio’s and Starswirl’s and Sunset Shimmer’s and hers, hers too, for being such an idiot… And there it was. Sonata’s thoughts turned once again to the ocean, but it was not one that could be found here, not in this world. An alien ocean, filled with creatures and plants almost unimaginable, where the waters were bluer and the air above was always warm. An ocean she had abandoned long ago, amidst plans and plots and ideas soon to be regretted. From where Sonata was sitting, on that bridge overlooking the highway, that ocean was farther away than it had ever been. …Or maybe it wasn’t. Sonata unclasped the shell necklace and held it in her palms. It throbbed with static power, making her hairs stand on end and her skin prickle. When she held this, when she looked at it… it reminded her of home. Of that ocean, locked behind a mirror. It had power. It had to have power. She stared into the shell, its ivory exterior shimmering in the light of the sun. “You can do that?” she whispered. Silence, save for the cars driving past. “Would you? Please?” More silence. Sonata smiled. “Thank you,” she whispered. She clasped the thing back around her neck, where it belonged. Aria pushed the door to the apartment open. It was unlocked; this was a bad sign. Adagio sitting on the soaked couch with a black eye and a trickle of blood running down her face was also a bad sign. “What happened to you?” Adagio looked up. “Sonata.” Aria raised an eyebrow. “Sonata did that?” The light suddenly dimmed, and Aria glanced to the window. Storm clouds, dark and heavy with rain, had begun to smother the once-blue sky. “Aria,” Adagio said, drawing her attention back. “What?” Adagio looked at her, her eyes wide and her mouth curled into a smile. “Aria… She had Equestrian magic!” High TideAria was worried. It wasn’t an emotion she felt very often. She didn’t like it. “She had what?” “Magic! She was wearing a necklace, a scallop shell necklace, and it was filled with Equestrian Magic!” Magic. Sonata had magic. “Where did she get—” “I have no idea!” Adagio said. “But she got it from somewhere! There might be more!” Rain began to fall outside, hitting a hard staccato beat against their windows. “Where is Sonata?” “She ran off somewhere,” Adagio said. “Then we need to find her.” She waved her hand dismissively. “No point; she’ll come crawling back here eventually. Magic! Real magic, right under our noses, this whole time!” The room lit with a flash of lightning; thunder rumbled after it moments later. Aria didn’t like the look on Adagio’s face. Something was welling up in her gut, a sudden sinking feeling. She didn’t like that, either. Aria had always trusted her gut feeling over almost everything else, and so far, it had never led her wrong. “What’s up with you?” she asked. “Did Sonata knock something loose in there when she hit you?” “What, don’t you get it?” Adagio said, looking at Aria with a succulent smile and a manic glint in her eyes. “We can use this!” “…For what?” “For revenge!” Adagio practically leapt out of her seat. “If we can get our magic back, we can finally get revenge on Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms! We can finally move out of this apartment! We can quit our jobs! We can make this entire miserable world adore us again!” Aria’s hand drifted to her neck, to the empty spot where a pendant had once sat. What Adagio was saying sounded good. It sounded very good. But her gut knew better, and so did she. “Adagio, the last time you said something like that, we lost everything,” she said. Adagio flinched, only slightly, but it was there. “The time before that, you got us banished here.” “Well, those were just flukes,” Adagio said, quickly, “but this time—” “Will be the same thing.” Aria looked into Adagio’s eyes, and she saw that manic look for what it really was: desperation. “Come on Adagio. You’re supposed to be the smart one.” “But—" “I don’t like Sunset Shimmer,” Aria said. “I hate her guts. I hate this apartment. I hate my job. I wish we could go back to the way things used to be, too. But right now, Sonata is out there, alone, angry, and with a bunch of weird magic hanging around her neck.” Aria could see that the light in Adagio’s eyes had begun to dim. Her manic smile had begun to waver. “You can stay here and plot your revenge,” she said, “or you can help me find Sonata before she does something stupid and everything gets worse again.” “Too late.” Aria spun around. One of their windows was open. They both rushed over to it. The thing that stood on their fire escape, illuminated by flashes of lightning and set against a backdrop of rain, was not Sonata. Sonata did not have scales, at least not lately. Nor did she have gills, or eyes of solid yellow. The webbing between the thing’s fingers and bare toes was also very not-Sonata, and to Aria’s recollection, the girl had never had an anglerfish’s lure dangling from her head, either. The dress she wore, short and loose and the colour of seafoam, was something Sonata had never owned. But the creature’s face was unmistakable. And at her throat, glistening with water, was a single scallop shell. “S-Sonata!” Adagio said in her sweetest voice. “You came back! I was worried about you—” “Liar,” Sonata said. There was no malice in her voice, no anger. To Aria, it sounded hollow. “Sonata,” Aria said, “what are you?” “I don’t know,” the girl said, the gills on her neck opening and contracting as a gust of wind blew through the apartment. “Whole.” Her webbed fingers glided over the shell affixed to her neck. “The shell made me whole again.” “W-well, now that you have magic again, why don’t we put it to good use, hm?” Adagio said. Aria glared at her. “For starters, we can move out of this apartment, I know you never liked it, and then we can finally get back at Sunset—" “Don’t bother,” Sonata said. “I don’t care anymore.” Adagio stopped, blinked. “You… what?” “I don’t care,” Sonata repeated. “I don’t care about Sunset Shimmer, or her friends, or anything else in this horrible world. “I’m sick of this place. I’m going to drown it. And then, I’m going back to the Equestria. I’m going home.” “We tried that already, remember?” Adagio said. “You can’t survive over there! None of us can!” “You can’t,” the not-Sonata said, “but I can.” Her webbed fingers drifted over the scallop around her throat. “I can like this.” She cast her gaze back to them. “The city is going to be gone soon.” “And what about us?” Adagio asked. Sonata fixed her with an empty stare. “I don’t care,” she said, thunder rumbling behind her. “Leave. Or drown, if you want to.” She turned to go, facing back out into the storm. Adagio didn’t move. “You’re going to leave, then?” Aria said. “After everything we’ve been through, you’re just going to leave!?” “Yes. Goodbye, Aria.” She took a step away. “Hey!” Aria shouted, “You can’t—” But, with a flash of lightning and a rush of water, Sonata was gone. Aria ran to the window and stuck her head through. She was immediately drenched, and the wind whipped her hair into her face. She couldn’t see where Sonata had gone. She punched the side of the window frame. It hurt her fist more than it hurt the window. She didn’t care. She turned around. Adagio was just standing there. She looked limp. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. “What do we do now?” Aria asked. Adagio said nothing, so Aria grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. “What do we do?” “I-I don’t know, give me room to think!” Adagio stammered. She pulled free and began wringing her hands. “Um… uh… oh no.” “What? What is it?” Adagio looked at Aria. “I don’t like it. You aren’t going to like it either.” “Just spit it out, already!” “Aria,” Adagio said, “There’s only one person in the city who can stop Sonata.” “You mean—” “We need Sunset Shimmer.” The inside of Fluttershy’s minivan smelled like a pet store. Sunset sat shotgun, eyes fixed out the window… or what she could see out of it. Even with the wipers on full speed, the water streaming down the windscreen made it difficult to see anything. The spray kicked up by the van’s tires rose high enough to be visible, and the sound of the rain hitting the roof was deafening. Sunset was worried they’d end up sliding off the road, especially at the speeds they were going. Aria, however, was proving herself an incredibly competent driver. She’d insisted on taking the wheel; Fluttershy, being Fluttershy, hadn’t needed much convincing before she’d handed over the keys. Adagio and the rest of the girls had crammed themselves into the back. “So her necklace was imbued with magic?” Sunset asked. Aria didn’t take her eyes off the road, even for a second. “Yes. And now she has scales again.” She clenched her jaw as she took a corner at speed, the van sliding around the bend. Its wheels just barely missed the curb before it accelerated out of the skid. “That sounds awfully similar to what happened to Gloriosa Daisy and Juniper,” Rarity said, her voice elevated. “Who?” “It’s a long story,” Sunset said. “But Sonata isn’t the first person to randomly find an object imbued with magic. Or to be transformed into a monster by one.” Adagio looked up. “So there is more magic?” Aria shot a glare into the rearview mirror. “Shut up, Adagio. So you can stop her, right? Like you stopped us, last time?” “Probably, yeah.” “We just need to get a clear shot,” Rainbow added. A pair of red brake lights appeared on the road ahead of them. Aria overtook at speed, the other car honking at them as they passed it. “Well, it would be better if we could talk it out,” Fluttershy said, her voice only barely audible. Pinkie nodded. “Like Starlight did with Juniper!” Aria snorted. “She’s not going to listen to you.” “Well,” Sunset said, “Maybe she’d listen to you?” Aria gripped the wheel tighter. For a little while, only the sound of rain on the roof filled the van. It was Sunset who broke the silence. “Did, um… did you three try to go back through the portal? After the Battle of the Bands, I mean.” Aria’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?” “Sonata came to CHS today. I, uh… I kind of looked inside her head a little bit?” “You’re a mind reader now?” “A telempath, technically,” Twilight said. “Whatever. So you can see into my head right now?” “No,” Sunset said, “I’d need to be touching you.” “Good,” Aria replied. “Don’t touch me.” “Noted. But I did see a vision of you three going through the portal.” “We did,” Adagio said. “Well, Sonata did. It didn’t go well.” “It nearly killed her,” Aria added. “You remember our pendants? The ones you destroyed?” Her teeth grit. “They were kind of important.” “How do you mean?” Twilight asked. “Imagine if you went through the mirror and came out with no heart.” “Oh.” “There she is!” Pinkie cried out. Indeed, they had arrived at CHS. Clouds swirled overhead, their motion centered over the pedestal-portal on the school’s lawn—or, more likely, over the one who was sitting on top of it. Aria slammed the driver’s side door shut as she stepped out into the rain. The rest of the girls in the van piled out, too, and assembled around the front of the vehicle. Sonata looked down on them from the top of the pedestal, her gaze passive and empty. “So,” she said, “you came after me.” “I told you, we weren’t done,” Aria said, yelling over the rain. “You should have left.” “And you shouldn’t have done whatever-that-is,” Aria said, gesturing at Sonata’s body, “but here we are!” The Rainbooms took a step forward, lined up in a row with Sunset in the middle. The gems hanging around their necks flashed with the lightning. “It’s over, Sonata!” Sunset shouted. “Stop all this, now!” Sonata stared at her. “Or what? You’ll shoot me with a rainbow? Summon another alicorn?” “You know it!” Rainbow yelled. Sonata raised a hand, fingers spread, pointing at them. “No. Not again.” What was she—Aria looked down. The water around her ankles was beginning to churn and swell. Her eyes flew open. “Move!” she yelled, jumping to one side and tackling Adagio. They hit the ground just as the water that had been under her—and the rest of the girls—erupted into the air, a massive geyser that must have risen two stories, at least. Fluttershy’s van was sent skidding backwards on its back bumper, nearly flipping end-over-end as its front caught the burst. She looked back at the rest of the girls. They floated in midair, protected by a geodesic shield of bright purple gemstones. “Great job, you two” Applejack said. Rarity and Twilight nodded, their arms outstretched and their eyes narrowed in focus. Gently, they drifted back to the ground, the shield dissipating one facet at a time. Aria, meanwhile, was just standing up, Adagio following her. “Looks like Sunset isn’t the only one with some new tricks,” she muttered. “Yeah,” Aria said. She tugged on Adagio’s wrist. “Come on, let’s move.” Rainbow grinned. “You aren’t getting us that easily!” “Looks like we’re not talkin’ our way through this one,” Applejack said, stepping up and cracking her knuckles. “Well, if it’s a fight she wants…” Rainbow set herself, then took off in a burst of impossible speed, kicking up a rainbow-coloured spray of water in her wake. “Rainbow, wait!” Sunset yelled, but the girl was already halfway to the statue. Sonata shrugged, and Rainbow was sent off her feet, rolling for a few meters and skidding for another. “Rainbow!” Water swirled and built around the girl as she slowly stood up. Just as she began to get to her feet, it collapsed inwards, submerging her. Sunset spun around. “Twilight!” Without a word, Twilight raised both hands. A purple glow surrounded the area Rainbow had gone under in. Before she could do anything, however… “Go away,” Sonata said. She waved an arm, and the swell that had been building up behind them collapsed, knocking them all off their feet. The water churned and built, becoming four feet deep, five. Soon, all seven of the girls trapped inside had to fight to keep their heads above the surface. Sonata stepped off the pedestal, water rising up to meet her feet. She walked along its surface until she was standing over the girls. “I’m done with you,” she said. “We aren’t”—Pinkie’s head bobbed under the water; she kicked and pushed her way back to the surface—“done with you yet!” Taking a deep breath, Twilight ducked under the surface. The entire raised whirlpool began to glow purple, bending and bubbling outward until it popped, dropping the drenched teens onto the center of the courtyard. Twilight landed on her knees, coughing up water. Sunset scrambled to her feet and ran over to her. “I don’t—I don’t think I can do that again!” Twilight said, before breaking into another round of coughs. Sunset laid a hand on her shoulder, then looked towards Sonata, still above them. “Sonata, please!” she shouted. “You’re making a mistake!” “No,” Sonata said. “I’m fixing one.” She brought both arms up, over her head. Huge walls of water, tall enough to tower over the school itself, rose up on either side of the Rainbooms. Thunder rumbled. “I lost everything when Starswirl threw me through that mirror,” Sonata said. “You took everything I had left. This time, I’m taking something of yours.” She raised her hands higher, the waters growing with them. The girls picked themselves up off the ground, standing defiant. “I won’t let you do this,” Sunset said. “You don’t have a choice.” Sonata said, so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t hear the splashing footfalls coming at her from the side. “Goodbye, Sunset Shim—” Snarling, Aria tackled her, Adagio not far behind. The three rolled across the rain-flooded asphalt, Sonata ending up on the bottom, pinned beneath Aria and to a lesser extent Adagio. “Get off of me,” Sonata said, her voice as even as a frozen river. Aria had always trusted her gut. So far, it had never led her wrong, and right now it was telling her that what Sonata needed was a good punch to the face. She agreed, so she obliged, though not very hard. Her knuckles came away from Sonata’s cheek, revealing something new: a look of surprise. Good, Aria thought. That meant it was working. Sonata tried to move, but Aria grabbed one wrist and Adagio grabbed the other and together they held them against the ground. Aria bent down, so that their faces were only a few inches apart. Rain ran off her chin and dropped into Sonata’s yellowed eyes. Thunder rumbled overhead. “I told you we weren’t done,” Aria half yelled, half screamed. “Now you don’t get to leave! We’re talking some sense into you, squid-for-brains, whether you like it or not!” “You can’t say anything that’ll—” “You want to go home, right? You want to go home so badly, you’re willing to leave us, leave me, behind? Destroy everything we’ve done, just so you can go back to the ocean? Huh?” “Yes,” Sonata said. “I’m sick of this world, and I’m sick of living in it. I want to go home.” “Then why are you still here, moron?” Sonata blinked. “What?” “The portal home’s right there,” Aria yelled, “but you’re still here! If your stupid shell is as good as you think it is, then you could have left any time you wanted! But you’re still here!” “I—” “And what were you going to do if you made it through the portal?” Adagio said. “Did you even think that far ahead?” “I-it doesn’t matter!” Sonata shouted back, and the waters churning around them grew more frantic. “Oh yeah? Did you think that you could just hop through that portal and waltz your way back home? Ponies would take one look at whatever you come out of that mirror as, and they’d start attacking! Did you think you could fight off the entire population of Equestria by yourself? We don’t even know where the mirror comes out anymore! For all you know, it dumps you right in the middle of Tartarus! Not much water for you to throw around there! “But you didn’t think of any of that,” she said, “did you?” “S-shut up!” Sonata yelled. “It’s your fault we’re here! It’s all your fault!” “I know!” Adagio yelled. “Do you think I don’t know that? Why do you think I keep trying to fix it?” The waters around them abruptly slowed. “Adagio is a moron, sometimes!” Aria said. “She’s screwed us over twice now, almost three times. But you know what? We need her! She’s the one who got us the apartment, who made sure we all got jobs so we could afford it! Without her, the two of us would be on the side of the road begging!” She paused to take a breath. “And she needs us too, to stop her when she is being a moron! And we both need you, and you need us too, you idiot! We’re the sirens, the Dazzlings! We need to stick together, because we’re all useless on our own!” Aria stopped, her chest heaving and her heart running a million miles an hour. Sonata was saying nothing, just staring up at her. “We need you,” Aria said, finally letting her voice drop back to normal. “Don’t leave us here,” Adagio said. “I know you still care. You came to warn us.” “I want to go home too,” she said. “But not like this.” “Don’t leave me here,” Aria said. “Please.” It was hard to tell if Sonata was crying with all the rain falling on her face. Aria wanted to believe she was, just like she wanted to believe the water running down her own cheeks was only rain. She let her arms go slack, and Adagio did the same, leaving Sonata’s arms free. The water around them continued to move, but it was much calmer. “Please.” Sonata pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around them, pulling both of them close. Her scales were cold where they brushed skin. “I-I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m so sorry—” “I’m sorry,” Adagio said. “I shouldn’t have—” “Both of you, just shut up,” Aria murmured, squeezing them closer. With a burst of harmonious magic, a rainbow of light rose high into the sky, parting the clouds as it passed through them and bathing the sky in colour. Aria, Adagio, and Sonata held each other tighter as it came crashing down around them. It didn’t hurt this time. Ebb TideAria sat in the back of Fluttershy’s van, her legs hanging over the ruined bumper. The trunk was open, facing the beach. The sun was beginning to set over the water’s horizon, bathing it in an orange glow. The Rainbooms sat on the shore, eating a picnic one of them had packed. Adagio hadn’t come; her agency had called. There was no shortage of work for a cleaner following a flood, it seemed. And Sonata was in the water. Aria watched as she swam, sliding under and over the surface of the water. Aria had always been the strongest swimmer, especially back in Equestria, but Sonata would always be the most graceful. And when she surfaced, she was smiling. The trunk dipped as someone sat down beside her. “She looks happy,” Sunset said. “Mhm.” A breeze blew past, cool and salty. “This whole… thing?” Aria said. “This doesn’t make us friends.” Sunset smiled. “Does it at least make us not enemies?” Aria grunted and said nothing. “Look, if you ever need anything… I know it can be hard, living on your own. Having to support yourself.” “We’re fine,” Aria said. “Me and Adagio still have our jobs, and we can get Sonata another one. We’ll need to replace some stuff in the apartment, but at least the water washed out the smell.” “Well, that’s… something! It’s nice that you have each other.” Aria nodded. “Hey Sunset, c’mon!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Applejack brought cider!” Sunset stood up. “Coming!” she yelled. She cast one last look at Aria. “Still, if you ever need anything, you know where I live.” She frowned. “How did you know where I lived, anyway?” “Adagio.” “Ah.” Sunset ran down the beach and rejoined her friends just as Sonata was walking out of the seafoam. Aria grabbed one of the towels from the pile behind her and held it out to Sonata as she got closer. She took it and wrapped it around herself, sitting down beside Aria. “Hey,” she said. “Hey.” Sonata let out a satisfied sigh. “You should have come swimming with me,” she said. “The water’s fantastic.” “I’ve had enough water for a while.” She giggled. “Fair enough.” They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sound of the ocean against the shore, and the chatter of the people on the beach. “Thanks,” Sonata said. “Shut up.” “No, really!” She swiveled around so she was facing Aria. “You stopped me from making the third-biggest mistake of my life!” “Yeah, I know, I was there. Just don’t make it again.” “I won’t.” “You’d better not. You won’t get away with only one punch if you do.” Sonata laughed and wrapped an arm around her. It was a damp hug, but even though she grunted in annoyance, Aria didn’t mind.
Low TideThe pounding on the door was sudden, unexpected, and only barely audible over the rain. Sunset laid down her cards—she was positive it was a winning hand—and looked over towards the door. "Who could that be? It's almost midnight." "Well whoever they are, they do seem very eager to come in," Rarity said. A flash of lightening lit Sunset's apartment, followed so closely by a clap of thunder that they might have overlapped. "Not that I can blame them on a night like tonight." The forecast had said that the skies would be clear all week, and the forecast had been wrong. Sighing, Sunset pushed herself to her feet and headed towards the door, taking care not to trip over Pinkie’s and Rainbow's legs on the way. The knocking was more insistent now. "You'd better answer it fast," Pinkie said. "Or else you might need to buy a new door!" Sunset chuckled. She tried to look through the door's peephole, but it was too dark. She opened the door. Upon her doorstep stood Aria Blaze, drenched and scowling. Adagio stood behind her, similarly drenched. A bandage sat over her right eyebrow. "Sunset Shimmer," Aria said. "We—ugh." She grimaced. "We need your help." The sun’s light shimmered off her wet scales as she slipped back above the surface, rivulets of water running along her tail as she leapt into the air. The ocean stretched out in all directions, clear and calm. The sun was warm against her back. The salt in the air burned her nostrils, and it was good. She fell back into the ocean, snout first, angling herself so that she slipped into the water without making a splash. The momentum carried her down, and she looked up at the sky from under the water. She had no fear; she had gills. A school of fish swam past her; she snapped her neck out and caught one in her needle teeth. It slid easily down her gullet. She dove a little bit deeper, her long tail propelling her forward. She wanted to leap again, but she needed more speed, so she kept diving down. But the water below was darker, far darker than it should have been. She turned away and looked back to the ocean’s surface, suffused with sunlight that didn’t carry far enough. “Miss Dusk!” A voice rippled through the water, murky and distorted. She looked about, trying to see where it had come from. “Miss Dusk!” The water became choppy, tossing her about— "Miss Dusk!" Sonata opened her eyes slowly. Something red and blurry blocked her view. She blinked, and it came into focus: a mustache. A very angry looking mustache—no, that was the person attached to it. “Miss Sonata, we do not pay you to sleep on the job,” her boss said. “That’s right,” her other boss said. “It’s bad for business!” “And what’s bad for business is bad for us!” “That’s our motto!” Sonata stretched her arms out, yawned, and tried her best to remember what Moustache’s name was. It was hard to tell her two bosses apart; the only identifying features between the two were the first’s moustache and the pins on their lapels, and that didn’t make it any easier to match names to their faces. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said, giving up on the endeavor. “It won’t hap—” She yawned. “—happen again!” “See that it doesn’t,” the one without a moustache said. The one with a moustache nodded. “Or else you won’t be seeing your paycheck!” She apologized again as the two brothers returned to the back of the store, Moustache giving her a pointed look as he slammed the rear door shut. Sonata sighed and slumped down into a more reasonable posture. She didn’t see what the big deal was; there weren’t any customers around for her to help. People barely ever came to the pawn shop anyway, and never more than once. Still, she supposed she ought to be grateful. The brothers had been willing to give her a job when no one else would, even if they were paying her less for it. Work was work, after all, or at least that’s what Bare Lip kept telling her. So, she put on her best fake smile, stood up straight, and waited for a customer to come in. For a few minutes anyway, before her thoughts began drifting back to the ocean. Sonata thought about the ocean a lot. It had been a long time since she’d last seen it, at least in real life. Canterlot City was almost twenty miles inland from the coast, and Sonata didn’t have a car. Aria used to have one, a truck, and sometimes when she’d been in a good mood she would drive them to the beach for a day. But Adagio had made her sell it for rent money, and it had been a long time since Aria had been in a good mood. Sonata’s hand slipped absentmindedly upwards, to the naked spot around her neck. Then, she blinked. She’d seen something, off to the side—a flash of light? She wasn’t sure. Sparing a quick glance to the back room’s door, she got out from behind the counter and approached the shelf the flash had come from. It was full of the same sort of junk that covered the rest of the store: an old wooden chess set (pieces painted red and blue), a baseball (signed, Sonata wasn’t sure by who), a watch (either broken or not set, probably the former), and… A little scallop shell, mounted on a choker. Sonata reached down towards the necklace. Her fingers tingled as they brushed against the shell, like the thing was carrying a static charge. Picking it up, she examined it. The shell was held to the cloth by a small length of wire. It looked handmade. It was just her size, too. She swallowed. She could hear, faintly, the sound of waves crashing against the shore. She could taste, barely, the salt-laced air of the sea. Sonata looked again to the door to the back room. Then, quickly but with care not to damage it, she slipped the necklace into her pocket. The lock to the Dazzling’s apartment was an old one, tarnished and scratched, and it took Aria a few tries to get it open. “Come on you stupid—aha!” she said as the thing finally turned. Pushing the door open, she dropped the plastic bag she’d been carrying onto the floor. She closed the door again, and locked it. Then, she walked over to the couch against the far wall and collapsed onto it, face down into the cushions. They smelt slightly of dog. The whole apartment smelt slightly of dog. Adagio was working late that night, which meant that Aria had the apartment to herself until Sonata got back, and that wouldn’t be for another hour at least. As was usual for days like today, she’d made plans, and as usual she was going to forego them. She rolled over onto her back, keeping her eyes closed. The grease stains on her jeans made new friends on the upholstery. At some point she must have drifted off, because the scraping of the tumblers in the front door’s lock woke her up. Aria opened her eyes, blinked. She took a deep breath in through her nostrils; the air smelled faintly of dog, and of the Chinese food she’d forgotten to put in the fridge when she’d come in. Perfect. The door opened, finally, and Sonata pushed her way in. “Hey.” “Yo.” “Ooh, is that Chinese?” Sonata said, kicking the door shut behind her. “It smells like Chinese.” “Pay day. Didn’t want to cook.” Sonata grabbed the bag and carried it over to their little table. “Oh. Good!” she said, pulling out the first of the steaming cartons. Aria opened one eye. “What was that?” Sonata looked at her with that blank smile of hers. “I was worried I’d have to eat another Aria Surprise tonight. Your cooking is terrible.” Aria snorted. “At least I’m allowed to use the stove, Miss Oven-Baked-Popcorn. Pass me a spring roll.” “Hey, that wasn’t my fault! The bag said, ‘Microwave Oven’.” A spring roll changed hands. “They should have made their packaging less confusing.” “Whatever, doofus.” She took a bite out of the end of the roll. It was lukewarm, but still good. She could hear Sonata dishing food out for herself. The microwave beeped as she set it going, humming obnoxiously as it always did. The food did smell nice, though. “When’s Adagio getting back?” Sonata asked. “No idea.” “Oh.” Aria finished off the last of her spring roll. Then, groaning, she rolled off the couch. Sonata had amassed a heaping pile of rice and noodles, and was attempting to dig in with a pair of chopsticks. She wasn’t having much success. “Is that my lo mein?” Sonata paused, a dangling clump of noodles halfway to her face. “I didn’t see your name on it.” Her chopsticks slipped, dumping the food back onto her plate. “Aww…” Aria grabbed a box of rice and what was left of the lo mein off the counter and dumped it onto a plate. She didn’t bother microwaving hers, instead grabbing a fork and sitting down at the folding piece of plastic that was their kitchen table. “Come on!” Sonata said, her chopsticks slipping again. A piece of shrimp rolled across the table; Aria speared it with her fork. “Why do you even use chopsticks if you’re so bad at them?” Aria asked, popping the shrimp into her mouth. They’d always tasted different on this side of the mirror. “I’m not bad with them, they’re just—ack—being difficult today!” “That’s because you’re holding them wrong, doofus.” Aria reached into the bag, pulled out another pair of chopsticks, broke them, and held them properly. “You’re supposed to do it like this.” Sonata looked at Aria’s example, then at her own pair. “Oh,” she said after a moment, fixing her grip. “Thanks!” Aria grunted. “So, how was work?” “Same as always,” Aria said. “Did you actually manage to sell anything today?” “Nope.” Sonata sighed, grabbing a roll of noodles with her chopsticks. “No customers.” “You’re probably scaring them off.” Sonata’s face scrunched up. “It’s not me! It’s because everything we sell is junk!” “Well,” Aria said, “At least they’re paying you to do nothing.” “Yeah,” Sonata said. She brought her food up to her mouth and went to take a bite, and with a splat, the noodles dropped back onto her plate. Aria laughed as Sonata gave up and grabbed a fork. Sonata laid down on her bed. It wasn’t much, just an inflatable air mattress, but it was better than the bare floor. Adagio had taken the real bed, of course, and Aria had called dibs on the unfolding sofa. On her first night in the apartment, Sonata had tried to get cosy on a pile of cushions. She’d demanded they buy the air mattress the next morning. Sonata smiled. She didn’t mind the air mattress, really. She liked the way it sank under her when she laid on it, and the way it moved when she rolled over. Some nights, when she was feeling restless, she would close her eyes and pretend she was floating in the middle of a vast sea, the sun warming her face and the water moving gently under her. It never failed to help her sleep. She thought she might have to do that tonight, and that reminded her of the necklace. She fished the thing out of her pocket and held it up to the ceiling. She could feel the same tingle she’d felt in the shop, only now it was stronger, more personal. Sonata wasn’t quite sure why that was the word she’d settled on, but it felt right. The thing seemed to shimmer in the light. She smiled. This, she decided, was a lucky charm. Her lucky charm. Her bosses could jump in a lake for all she cared. Her luck would change soon. She was sure of it. She held the thing to her chest and closed her eyes. That night, Sonata dreamt of the ocean.
Flood TideThe necklace bounced comfortingly in Sonata’s pocket as she walked. A breeze blew past, and she pulled the cloth of her hoodie tighter. It had been a long summer, but the air was finally starting to cool down. This would be fine by Sonata, if only for the fact that she walked to work in the mornings. She’d have to start saving for bus fare again, it seemed, if she didn’t want to become a popsicle. She giggled at that. A Sontatacicle. What flavor would she be? Splish. Suddenly, her foot felt a lot colder. She looked down at the sidewalk, and the rapidly spreading puddle that covered it. Well, that wasn’t supposed to be there. It looked like it was coming from further up the street, too, which was weird, because that was the way she was going, and the only building further up this street than her was— A red chess piece drifted past her foot. Sonata looked up. Water was spilling out of the door to the pawn shop, carrying knickknacks and bits of knickknacks out with it. Something had been laid across the doorframe, a two-by four and a towel by the looks of things, in an attempt to stop the flow. It wasn’t doing a very good job. “Ah, Miss Dusk, right on time!” Moustache poked his head out of the door as she walked closer. His normally waxed facial hair looked like it had recently played home to a family of squirrels, and the rest of him looked little better. “What happened?” Sonata asked. “It seems one of our water pipes burst last night,” Moustache said. “The entire shop’s been flooded!” “And all of our stock, too!” Bare Lip said, following his brother out. Sonata peered through the shop’s window. It was a dire scene indeed. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, partially out of obligation, and partially in the hopes it would improve her standing with them. “I’m afraid not,” Bare Lip said. “It’s too far gone. Flam and I are writing it off as a lost cause! We’re just waiting for the plumbers to arrive.” “Good thing we took out those generous insurance packages, eh Flim?” “Good thing indeed, brother-of-mine. But it’s too bad it didn’t go up in flames, instead! We’d have made a fortune!” “Well, it probably would have if the water hadn’t gotten it first!” The two shared a laugh; Sonata was just confused. “So… what do I do?” she asked. “Why, whatever you want, my dear!” Moustache said. “But I’m afraid your services here at Flim and Flam’s Everything Under the Sun Emporium are no longer required, because—as you can see—there is no more emporium!” “So… I’m fired?” “Your position is no longer available,” Bare Lip said. “You will be receiving your last paycheck in the mail, of course.” She wasn’t quite sure what to say, so she settled for “Oh.” Sonata lingered for a little while longer, but when it was clear neither of the brothers had anything more to say to her, she left back the way she’d come. This was a good thing, wasn’t it? No, it wasn’t, she decided. Even if the brothers hadn’t been paying her much, it was still something. Rent wasn’t cheap. And Adagio would be furious she’d lost her job, even if it wasn’t her fault. But, it did mean she had a day off… She turned the corner and stopped. From her pocket, she withdrew the shell necklace. She’d kept it off for fear of her bosses noticing, but that apparently wouldn’t be a problem anymore. She clasped it around her neck. It fit her perfectly. Sonata wasn’t sure where to go. She didn’t want to go back to the apartment, she knew, not yet. Adagio would be there. So, she began walking, not entirely sure of where she’d end up. “This sleepover is going to be the best one ever!” Sunset chuckled. “You say that about every sleepover, Pinkie.” “Yeah, but this one really is going to be the best-est!” Pinkie said, bouncing along beside her. “It’s at your apartment, after all! What could be better than that?” It was lunchtime at CHS, and as the weather was decent (if a little chilly), they’d decided to take theirs out to the school’s front steps. It was a practice the vice principal had long frowned upon, but had yet to actually prohibit so long as students brought their own lunches. Principal Celestia just thought it was a great way to get her students to go outside for once. “Hey now,” Sunset said, sitting down on the topmost step. “Don’t get too excited. It’s nothing special.” “But it’s yours, and you’re cool, and that makes your apartment cool too!” “I have to admit, darling, I’m also curious about your domicile,” Rarity said as she sat down and carefully began unwrapping a sandwich. “In all the time I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen your home, let alone been inside.” “Well, like I said, it’s not much. Just one room and a loft.” “You have a loft!? That’s super neat! Do you have a trampoline under it, or a big pile of cushions that you jump into every morning? ‘Cause that’s what I would do!” “No, I don’t have anything like that.” “Still,” Rarity said, “you’ve been living there a long time. Surely you must have added some personal touches to the place? It can’t just be an empty room, after all, and with your background…” “Ooh, maybe it’s filled with hay!” Sunset snorted. “I can assure you, my apartment is not filled with—hey, is that…?” She set her food down on the step, stood up, and hurried down the stairs, leaving her two friends behind. She weaved her way past the other students sitting on the grass, sitting on the pavement, leaning against the remains of the statue, until she reached the person standing on the sidewalk, watching it all. Or not, as when Sunset said her name, she flinched. “Sonata?” The girl looked at her, and there was no mistaking the face under the hood. “Sunset Shimmer!” Sonata said, taking a step back. “Uh… hi!” “What are you doing here?” “W-what are you doing here?” Sonata shot back. “I go to school here.” “So what? I went to school here, too!” “For like a week, as a ploy to mind control the rest of the students and take over the world!” Sonata swallowed. “What are you up to, Sonata?” Sunset asked, a bit more forcefully. Sonata put her hands up in front of her. “I’m not up to anything, honest! I’m just out for a walk!” “Uh huh,” Sunset said, eyes narrowed. “A walk that just so happens to bring you here. Where’s Adagio? Is she here too?” “Probably at home, sleeping,” she said. “What do you care? It’s none of your business, anyway!” “It is my business if you three are plotting something!” “We’re not!” Sonata said. She took another step back, then tried to make a break for it. Sunset reached out to stop her. “Hey, we aren’t done—” Sunset’s hand contacted Sonata’s shoulder, and the ocean was wide and calm and perfect. “They’ll be begging us to rule them!” someone said. She took one last look at the waters behind her, and then turned away. Two others like her, one golden-scaled, one purple, swam in ahead of her. She resolved not to look back again. She broke her resolution just moments later. A wave of rainbow light impacted her chest. It hurt, but not physically. It hurt in the way a mother’s chastisement hurt, in the way a father’s disapproving stare hurt. A music-summoned alicorn reared up in the sky and cast its judgement upon her, and a piece of her was stripped away forever. The night was cold and the moon was full. “Coast’s clear, let’s go,” Aria said. The three of them ran across the street, towards the statue. She placed her hand onto what should have been solid stone, and was overjoyed when her hand sank into it like water. “It’s open,” Adagio whispered. “They left it open…” She looked to her companions. They seemed hesitant. She didn’t know why. She started to walk through, pushing the rest of her arm through, then her left leg, then the rest— No. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. She was convulsing on a crystal floor. She had scales again, but they were dull. Cold. Wrong. She pushed a leg against her throat. A gaping cavity met her hoof. Cold, just like the rest of her, and now she knew why. Sharp teeth bit into her tailfin and dragged her backwards, back into the mirror and Sonata jerked out of Sunset’s grasp, her hood falling down in the process. “Let go of me!” she shouted. “Just leave us alone!” Sunset, stunned, did nothing to stop her as she ran off. “What was that all about?” Rarity said, coming up behind her. “Was that Sonata?” Pinkie asked. “It kinda looked like Sonata!” “It was Sonata,” Sunset said, frowning. She spared a glance to the ruined statue’s pedestal. She wasn’t sure what she’d just seen, but it worried her. And underlying it all had been an emotion Sunset hadn’t felt in a long time. Then the school’s lawn sprinklers burst into life, drenching everyone present. Rarity’s squeals could be heard across half the city. Going to the portal had been a stupid idea. Sonata had known it was a stupid idea, but she’d gone anyway, hoping no one would recognize her if she wore her hood up. Of course it would be Sunset Shimmer who spotted her. Sonata shivered, even as she ran down the street. The last time she had tangled with Sunset Shimmer, she had lost everything. She had no desire to try her luck again. Once she was far enough from the school, Sonata allowed her gait to slow to a brisk walk. People were giving her odd looks, so she pulled her hood back up and kept moving. Sunset had done something, she’d felt it; her shoulder had prickled at the girl’s touch. But what did it mean? She kept walking. Eventually, she found herself back at the door to the apartment. Adagio would be inside. But Sonata didn’t have anywhere else to go, and the encounter at the school had removed any desire to wander. She was hungry, too. With any luck, Adagio would be asleep. Sonata inserted her key into the lock and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t turn. “Come on...” she whispered. She tried again, harder this time, but all she got for her efforts was a horrible rattling noise. “Come on, you stupid thing…” One more try, and this time the tumblers turned. Sonata smiled as she pushed the door open. The smile disappeared entirely when she spotted Adagio, standing on the other side in a ratty bathrobe. “You’re home early.” “H-hi, Adagi—” “Why are you home early?” Adagio was not sleeping, and she looked it in the way only someone with inconsistently late hours could. Her frizzy hair was matted down to one side of her head, and the other side stuck out at an odd angle. Her glare wore dark shadows. “Why are you home early?” she repeated. Lying wouldn’t help; Sonata knew this from experience. She swallowed before she spoke. “My position is no longer available,” she said in what she hoped was an even voice. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds; Sonata almost thought she could hear the steam building up in Adagio’s head. Then: “You were fired?!” “N-no, not exactly—” “I can’t believe this!” Adagio said, one hand gesturing wildly, the other clenched into a fist at her side. “After all the effort I had to put in just to find you a job, you let yourself get fired!? What did you even do? Break something? How do you get fired from a pawn shop!?” “I didn’t do anything!” Sonata said, holding her arms up defensively. “There was a water pipe—” “I don’t want to hear it!” Adagio said, cutting her off with a knife-like swipe of her hand. Sonata had a sudden vision of her head rolling off a block. Adagio put her forehead in her hand. “I spend my nights slaving away cleaning up other people’s junk for them when they’re too lazy… Aria spends all day doing manual labor until she collapses… And all you had to do was stand there and look pretty! And you couldn’t even do that! How incompetent can you be!?” “H-hey,” Sonata said, but she wasn’t allowed a word. “I mean, you weren’t being paid a lot, but at least it was something! At least you were contributing something! Now you’re just a burden! Aria and I are going to have to work even harder now!” “I can get another job…” “Can you?” Adagio said, leaning in towards her. “Flim and Flam were the only ones who would take you! They were our last resort! Or could your tiny idiot brain not remember that?” Sonata tugged at the neck of her hoodie. She felt like she was suffocating. “I-I—” “Well you know what? I hope you weren’t looking forward to dinner tonight, because you won’t be getting any! You’re not getting anything other than leftovers until you start making the money to pay for more, you understand? Or do I have to use smaller words? And—” Adagio stopped. “What is that?” she asked. Sonata looked down. “What’s what?” she asked, but she knew exactly what Adagio was looking at. “That necklace. Where did you get that?” Sonata brought a hand up to cover the article in question. “I found it.” “You found it,” Adagio repeated. “…Yeah?” “No you didn’t.” Adagio took a step towards Sonata and darted a hand out, knocking Sonata’s aside and grabbing the necklace by the shell, pulling it and Sonata towards her as she examined it. “Hey! Get off!” Sonata yelled. But Adagio wasn’t paying any attention to her. “This is…” “It’s mine!” Adagio’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. “This is—” “Let… go!” The building’s sprinkler system erupted into life, dousing everything in the apartment. The sudden sound and rush of water distracted Adagio enough that she didn’t see Sonata’s fist until it was already buried in her right eye. The punch wasn’t a strong one, but it was enough. Adagio stumbled backwards, letting go of the necklace and covering her face. Sonata looked at her. She hadn’t meant to do that… had she? She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything at the moment. When Adagio’s hands fell away from her face, all that was there was a blank, confused, mouth-slightly-open stare, focused on her. Her brow was split and starting to bleed, but she didn’t seem to have noticed. Sonata was confused. Adagio should have been furious! She should be yelling at her, screaming even! “You… you punched me!” Sonata needed to leave, she needed to go somewhere, figure out what had just happened. Things had stopped making sense here. She fled, leaving Adagio and the apartment far behind. Cars thundered under the bridge, the rumbles of their engines and the sound of their tires echoing off of the concrete pillars to reach where Sonata was sitting. She didn’t know where she was, exactly, but she knew she was far enough away to be able to think clearly again. Or maybe it was just that she’d had the time to calm down. Whichever it was, she had found herself here, sitting on the side of a bridge with her legs dangling over the road below. She wasn’t crying. She took a deep breath in, let it out slowly. Exhaust fumes filled her lungs, and she coughed as they burned. Her eyes stung, but she wasn’t crying. She’d hit Adagio. Why had she done that? Because she’d needed to, a part of her said. She couldn’t stay scared forever, it said. Adagio had it coming, it said. It was Adagio’s fault she was here. Adagio’s and Starswirl’s and Sunset Shimmer’s and hers, hers too, for being such an idiot… And there it was. Sonata’s thoughts turned once again to the ocean, but it was not one that could be found here, not in this world. An alien ocean, filled with creatures and plants almost unimaginable, where the waters were bluer and the air above was always warm. An ocean she had abandoned long ago, amidst plans and plots and ideas soon to be regretted. From where Sonata was sitting, on that bridge overlooking the highway, that ocean was farther away than it had ever been. …Or maybe it wasn’t. Sonata unclasped the shell necklace and held it in her palms. It throbbed with static power, making her hairs stand on end and her skin prickle. When she held this, when she looked at it… it reminded her of home. Of that ocean, locked behind a mirror. It had power. It had to have power. She stared into the shell, its ivory exterior shimmering in the light of the sun. “You can do that?” she whispered. Silence, save for the cars driving past. “Would you? Please?” More silence. Sonata smiled. “Thank you,” she whispered. She clasped the thing back around her neck, where it belonged. Aria pushed the door to the apartment open. It was unlocked; this was a bad sign. Adagio sitting on the soaked couch with a black eye and a trickle of blood running down her face was also a bad sign. “What happened to you?” Adagio looked up. “Sonata.” Aria raised an eyebrow. “Sonata did that?” The light suddenly dimmed, and Aria glanced to the window. Storm clouds, dark and heavy with rain, had begun to smother the once-blue sky. “Aria,” Adagio said, drawing her attention back. “What?” Adagio looked at her, her eyes wide and her mouth curled into a smile. “Aria… She had Equestrian magic!”
High TideAria was worried. It wasn’t an emotion she felt very often. She didn’t like it. “She had what?” “Magic! She was wearing a necklace, a scallop shell necklace, and it was filled with Equestrian Magic!” Magic. Sonata had magic. “Where did she get—” “I have no idea!” Adagio said. “But she got it from somewhere! There might be more!” Rain began to fall outside, hitting a hard staccato beat against their windows. “Where is Sonata?” “She ran off somewhere,” Adagio said. “Then we need to find her.” She waved her hand dismissively. “No point; she’ll come crawling back here eventually. Magic! Real magic, right under our noses, this whole time!” The room lit with a flash of lightning; thunder rumbled after it moments later. Aria didn’t like the look on Adagio’s face. Something was welling up in her gut, a sudden sinking feeling. She didn’t like that, either. Aria had always trusted her gut feeling over almost everything else, and so far, it had never led her wrong. “What’s up with you?” she asked. “Did Sonata knock something loose in there when she hit you?” “What, don’t you get it?” Adagio said, looking at Aria with a succulent smile and a manic glint in her eyes. “We can use this!” “…For what?” “For revenge!” Adagio practically leapt out of her seat. “If we can get our magic back, we can finally get revenge on Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms! We can finally move out of this apartment! We can quit our jobs! We can make this entire miserable world adore us again!” Aria’s hand drifted to her neck, to the empty spot where a pendant had once sat. What Adagio was saying sounded good. It sounded very good. But her gut knew better, and so did she. “Adagio, the last time you said something like that, we lost everything,” she said. Adagio flinched, only slightly, but it was there. “The time before that, you got us banished here.” “Well, those were just flukes,” Adagio said, quickly, “but this time—” “Will be the same thing.” Aria looked into Adagio’s eyes, and she saw that manic look for what it really was: desperation. “Come on Adagio. You’re supposed to be the smart one.” “But—" “I don’t like Sunset Shimmer,” Aria said. “I hate her guts. I hate this apartment. I hate my job. I wish we could go back to the way things used to be, too. But right now, Sonata is out there, alone, angry, and with a bunch of weird magic hanging around her neck.” Aria could see that the light in Adagio’s eyes had begun to dim. Her manic smile had begun to waver. “You can stay here and plot your revenge,” she said, “or you can help me find Sonata before she does something stupid and everything gets worse again.” “Too late.” Aria spun around. One of their windows was open. They both rushed over to it. The thing that stood on their fire escape, illuminated by flashes of lightning and set against a backdrop of rain, was not Sonata. Sonata did not have scales, at least not lately. Nor did she have gills, or eyes of solid yellow. The webbing between the thing’s fingers and bare toes was also very not-Sonata, and to Aria’s recollection, the girl had never had an anglerfish’s lure dangling from her head, either. The dress she wore, short and loose and the colour of seafoam, was something Sonata had never owned. But the creature’s face was unmistakable. And at her throat, glistening with water, was a single scallop shell. “S-Sonata!” Adagio said in her sweetest voice. “You came back! I was worried about you—” “Liar,” Sonata said. There was no malice in her voice, no anger. To Aria, it sounded hollow. “Sonata,” Aria said, “what are you?” “I don’t know,” the girl said, the gills on her neck opening and contracting as a gust of wind blew through the apartment. “Whole.” Her webbed fingers glided over the shell affixed to her neck. “The shell made me whole again.” “W-well, now that you have magic again, why don’t we put it to good use, hm?” Adagio said. Aria glared at her. “For starters, we can move out of this apartment, I know you never liked it, and then we can finally get back at Sunset—" “Don’t bother,” Sonata said. “I don’t care anymore.” Adagio stopped, blinked. “You… what?” “I don’t care,” Sonata repeated. “I don’t care about Sunset Shimmer, or her friends, or anything else in this horrible world. “I’m sick of this place. I’m going to drown it. And then, I’m going back to the Equestria. I’m going home.” “We tried that already, remember?” Adagio said. “You can’t survive over there! None of us can!” “You can’t,” the not-Sonata said, “but I can.” Her webbed fingers drifted over the scallop around her throat. “I can like this.” She cast her gaze back to them. “The city is going to be gone soon.” “And what about us?” Adagio asked. Sonata fixed her with an empty stare. “I don’t care,” she said, thunder rumbling behind her. “Leave. Or drown, if you want to.” She turned to go, facing back out into the storm. Adagio didn’t move. “You’re going to leave, then?” Aria said. “After everything we’ve been through, you’re just going to leave!?” “Yes. Goodbye, Aria.” She took a step away. “Hey!” Aria shouted, “You can’t—” But, with a flash of lightning and a rush of water, Sonata was gone. Aria ran to the window and stuck her head through. She was immediately drenched, and the wind whipped her hair into her face. She couldn’t see where Sonata had gone. She punched the side of the window frame. It hurt her fist more than it hurt the window. She didn’t care. She turned around. Adagio was just standing there. She looked limp. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. “What do we do now?” Aria asked. Adagio said nothing, so Aria grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. “What do we do?” “I-I don’t know, give me room to think!” Adagio stammered. She pulled free and began wringing her hands. “Um… uh… oh no.” “What? What is it?” Adagio looked at Aria. “I don’t like it. You aren’t going to like it either.” “Just spit it out, already!” “Aria,” Adagio said, “There’s only one person in the city who can stop Sonata.” “You mean—” “We need Sunset Shimmer.” The inside of Fluttershy’s minivan smelled like a pet store. Sunset sat shotgun, eyes fixed out the window… or what she could see out of it. Even with the wipers on full speed, the water streaming down the windscreen made it difficult to see anything. The spray kicked up by the van’s tires rose high enough to be visible, and the sound of the rain hitting the roof was deafening. Sunset was worried they’d end up sliding off the road, especially at the speeds they were going. Aria, however, was proving herself an incredibly competent driver. She’d insisted on taking the wheel; Fluttershy, being Fluttershy, hadn’t needed much convincing before she’d handed over the keys. Adagio and the rest of the girls had crammed themselves into the back. “So her necklace was imbued with magic?” Sunset asked. Aria didn’t take her eyes off the road, even for a second. “Yes. And now she has scales again.” She clenched her jaw as she took a corner at speed, the van sliding around the bend. Its wheels just barely missed the curb before it accelerated out of the skid. “That sounds awfully similar to what happened to Gloriosa Daisy and Juniper,” Rarity said, her voice elevated. “Who?” “It’s a long story,” Sunset said. “But Sonata isn’t the first person to randomly find an object imbued with magic. Or to be transformed into a monster by one.” Adagio looked up. “So there is more magic?” Aria shot a glare into the rearview mirror. “Shut up, Adagio. So you can stop her, right? Like you stopped us, last time?” “Probably, yeah.” “We just need to get a clear shot,” Rainbow added. A pair of red brake lights appeared on the road ahead of them. Aria overtook at speed, the other car honking at them as they passed it. “Well, it would be better if we could talk it out,” Fluttershy said, her voice only barely audible. Pinkie nodded. “Like Starlight did with Juniper!” Aria snorted. “She’s not going to listen to you.” “Well,” Sunset said, “Maybe she’d listen to you?” Aria gripped the wheel tighter. For a little while, only the sound of rain on the roof filled the van. It was Sunset who broke the silence. “Did, um… did you three try to go back through the portal? After the Battle of the Bands, I mean.” Aria’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?” “Sonata came to CHS today. I, uh… I kind of looked inside her head a little bit?” “You’re a mind reader now?” “A telempath, technically,” Twilight said. “Whatever. So you can see into my head right now?” “No,” Sunset said, “I’d need to be touching you.” “Good,” Aria replied. “Don’t touch me.” “Noted. But I did see a vision of you three going through the portal.” “We did,” Adagio said. “Well, Sonata did. It didn’t go well.” “It nearly killed her,” Aria added. “You remember our pendants? The ones you destroyed?” Her teeth grit. “They were kind of important.” “How do you mean?” Twilight asked. “Imagine if you went through the mirror and came out with no heart.” “Oh.” “There she is!” Pinkie cried out. Indeed, they had arrived at CHS. Clouds swirled overhead, their motion centered over the pedestal-portal on the school’s lawn—or, more likely, over the one who was sitting on top of it. Aria slammed the driver’s side door shut as she stepped out into the rain. The rest of the girls in the van piled out, too, and assembled around the front of the vehicle. Sonata looked down on them from the top of the pedestal, her gaze passive and empty. “So,” she said, “you came after me.” “I told you, we weren’t done,” Aria said, yelling over the rain. “You should have left.” “And you shouldn’t have done whatever-that-is,” Aria said, gesturing at Sonata’s body, “but here we are!” The Rainbooms took a step forward, lined up in a row with Sunset in the middle. The gems hanging around their necks flashed with the lightning. “It’s over, Sonata!” Sunset shouted. “Stop all this, now!” Sonata stared at her. “Or what? You’ll shoot me with a rainbow? Summon another alicorn?” “You know it!” Rainbow yelled. Sonata raised a hand, fingers spread, pointing at them. “No. Not again.” What was she—Aria looked down. The water around her ankles was beginning to churn and swell. Her eyes flew open. “Move!” she yelled, jumping to one side and tackling Adagio. They hit the ground just as the water that had been under her—and the rest of the girls—erupted into the air, a massive geyser that must have risen two stories, at least. Fluttershy’s van was sent skidding backwards on its back bumper, nearly flipping end-over-end as its front caught the burst. She looked back at the rest of the girls. They floated in midair, protected by a geodesic shield of bright purple gemstones. “Great job, you two” Applejack said. Rarity and Twilight nodded, their arms outstretched and their eyes narrowed in focus. Gently, they drifted back to the ground, the shield dissipating one facet at a time. Aria, meanwhile, was just standing up, Adagio following her. “Looks like Sunset isn’t the only one with some new tricks,” she muttered. “Yeah,” Aria said. She tugged on Adagio’s wrist. “Come on, let’s move.” Rainbow grinned. “You aren’t getting us that easily!” “Looks like we’re not talkin’ our way through this one,” Applejack said, stepping up and cracking her knuckles. “Well, if it’s a fight she wants…” Rainbow set herself, then took off in a burst of impossible speed, kicking up a rainbow-coloured spray of water in her wake. “Rainbow, wait!” Sunset yelled, but the girl was already halfway to the statue. Sonata shrugged, and Rainbow was sent off her feet, rolling for a few meters and skidding for another. “Rainbow!” Water swirled and built around the girl as she slowly stood up. Just as she began to get to her feet, it collapsed inwards, submerging her. Sunset spun around. “Twilight!” Without a word, Twilight raised both hands. A purple glow surrounded the area Rainbow had gone under in. Before she could do anything, however… “Go away,” Sonata said. She waved an arm, and the swell that had been building up behind them collapsed, knocking them all off their feet. The water churned and built, becoming four feet deep, five. Soon, all seven of the girls trapped inside had to fight to keep their heads above the surface. Sonata stepped off the pedestal, water rising up to meet her feet. She walked along its surface until she was standing over the girls. “I’m done with you,” she said. “We aren’t”—Pinkie’s head bobbed under the water; she kicked and pushed her way back to the surface—“done with you yet!” Taking a deep breath, Twilight ducked under the surface. The entire raised whirlpool began to glow purple, bending and bubbling outward until it popped, dropping the drenched teens onto the center of the courtyard. Twilight landed on her knees, coughing up water. Sunset scrambled to her feet and ran over to her. “I don’t—I don’t think I can do that again!” Twilight said, before breaking into another round of coughs. Sunset laid a hand on her shoulder, then looked towards Sonata, still above them. “Sonata, please!” she shouted. “You’re making a mistake!” “No,” Sonata said. “I’m fixing one.” She brought both arms up, over her head. Huge walls of water, tall enough to tower over the school itself, rose up on either side of the Rainbooms. Thunder rumbled. “I lost everything when Starswirl threw me through that mirror,” Sonata said. “You took everything I had left. This time, I’m taking something of yours.” She raised her hands higher, the waters growing with them. The girls picked themselves up off the ground, standing defiant. “I won’t let you do this,” Sunset said. “You don’t have a choice.” Sonata said, so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t hear the splashing footfalls coming at her from the side. “Goodbye, Sunset Shim—” Snarling, Aria tackled her, Adagio not far behind. The three rolled across the rain-flooded asphalt, Sonata ending up on the bottom, pinned beneath Aria and to a lesser extent Adagio. “Get off of me,” Sonata said, her voice as even as a frozen river. Aria had always trusted her gut. So far, it had never led her wrong, and right now it was telling her that what Sonata needed was a good punch to the face. She agreed, so she obliged, though not very hard. Her knuckles came away from Sonata’s cheek, revealing something new: a look of surprise. Good, Aria thought. That meant it was working. Sonata tried to move, but Aria grabbed one wrist and Adagio grabbed the other and together they held them against the ground. Aria bent down, so that their faces were only a few inches apart. Rain ran off her chin and dropped into Sonata’s yellowed eyes. Thunder rumbled overhead. “I told you we weren’t done,” Aria half yelled, half screamed. “Now you don’t get to leave! We’re talking some sense into you, squid-for-brains, whether you like it or not!” “You can’t say anything that’ll—” “You want to go home, right? You want to go home so badly, you’re willing to leave us, leave me, behind? Destroy everything we’ve done, just so you can go back to the ocean? Huh?” “Yes,” Sonata said. “I’m sick of this world, and I’m sick of living in it. I want to go home.” “Then why are you still here, moron?” Sonata blinked. “What?” “The portal home’s right there,” Aria yelled, “but you’re still here! If your stupid shell is as good as you think it is, then you could have left any time you wanted! But you’re still here!” “I—” “And what were you going to do if you made it through the portal?” Adagio said. “Did you even think that far ahead?” “I-it doesn’t matter!” Sonata shouted back, and the waters churning around them grew more frantic. “Oh yeah? Did you think that you could just hop through that portal and waltz your way back home? Ponies would take one look at whatever you come out of that mirror as, and they’d start attacking! Did you think you could fight off the entire population of Equestria by yourself? We don’t even know where the mirror comes out anymore! For all you know, it dumps you right in the middle of Tartarus! Not much water for you to throw around there! “But you didn’t think of any of that,” she said, “did you?” “S-shut up!” Sonata yelled. “It’s your fault we’re here! It’s all your fault!” “I know!” Adagio yelled. “Do you think I don’t know that? Why do you think I keep trying to fix it?” The waters around them abruptly slowed. “Adagio is a moron, sometimes!” Aria said. “She’s screwed us over twice now, almost three times. But you know what? We need her! She’s the one who got us the apartment, who made sure we all got jobs so we could afford it! Without her, the two of us would be on the side of the road begging!” She paused to take a breath. “And she needs us too, to stop her when she is being a moron! And we both need you, and you need us too, you idiot! We’re the sirens, the Dazzlings! We need to stick together, because we’re all useless on our own!” Aria stopped, her chest heaving and her heart running a million miles an hour. Sonata was saying nothing, just staring up at her. “We need you,” Aria said, finally letting her voice drop back to normal. “Don’t leave us here,” Adagio said. “I know you still care. You came to warn us.” “I want to go home too,” she said. “But not like this.” “Don’t leave me here,” Aria said. “Please.” It was hard to tell if Sonata was crying with all the rain falling on her face. Aria wanted to believe she was, just like she wanted to believe the water running down her own cheeks was only rain. She let her arms go slack, and Adagio did the same, leaving Sonata’s arms free. The water around them continued to move, but it was much calmer. “Please.” Sonata pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around them, pulling both of them close. Her scales were cold where they brushed skin. “I-I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m so sorry—” “I’m sorry,” Adagio said. “I shouldn’t have—” “Both of you, just shut up,” Aria murmured, squeezing them closer. With a burst of harmonious magic, a rainbow of light rose high into the sky, parting the clouds as it passed through them and bathing the sky in colour. Aria, Adagio, and Sonata held each other tighter as it came crashing down around them. It didn’t hurt this time.
Ebb TideAria sat in the back of Fluttershy’s van, her legs hanging over the ruined bumper. The trunk was open, facing the beach. The sun was beginning to set over the water’s horizon, bathing it in an orange glow. The Rainbooms sat on the shore, eating a picnic one of them had packed. Adagio hadn’t come; her agency had called. There was no shortage of work for a cleaner following a flood, it seemed. And Sonata was in the water. Aria watched as she swam, sliding under and over the surface of the water. Aria had always been the strongest swimmer, especially back in Equestria, but Sonata would always be the most graceful. And when she surfaced, she was smiling. The trunk dipped as someone sat down beside her. “She looks happy,” Sunset said. “Mhm.” A breeze blew past, cool and salty. “This whole… thing?” Aria said. “This doesn’t make us friends.” Sunset smiled. “Does it at least make us not enemies?” Aria grunted and said nothing. “Look, if you ever need anything… I know it can be hard, living on your own. Having to support yourself.” “We’re fine,” Aria said. “Me and Adagio still have our jobs, and we can get Sonata another one. We’ll need to replace some stuff in the apartment, but at least the water washed out the smell.” “Well, that’s… something! It’s nice that you have each other.” Aria nodded. “Hey Sunset, c’mon!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Applejack brought cider!” Sunset stood up. “Coming!” she yelled. She cast one last look at Aria. “Still, if you ever need anything, you know where I live.” She frowned. “How did you know where I lived, anyway?” “Adagio.” “Ah.” Sunset ran down the beach and rejoined her friends just as Sonata was walking out of the seafoam. Aria grabbed one of the towels from the pile behind her and held it out to Sonata as she got closer. She took it and wrapped it around herself, sitting down beside Aria. “Hey,” she said. “Hey.” Sonata let out a satisfied sigh. “You should have come swimming with me,” she said. “The water’s fantastic.” “I’ve had enough water for a while.” She giggled. “Fair enough.” They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sound of the ocean against the shore, and the chatter of the people on the beach. “Thanks,” Sonata said. “Shut up.” “No, really!” She swiveled around so she was facing Aria. “You stopped me from making the third-biggest mistake of my life!” “Yeah, I know, I was there. Just don’t make it again.” “I won’t.” “You’d better not. You won’t get away with only one punch if you do.” Sonata laughed and wrapped an arm around her. It was a damp hug, but even though she grunted in annoyance, Aria didn’t mind.
