Sonata Can't Read

Chapters

Sonata's Lessons
Sonata Cheats
Sonata's Desperation
Sonata's Downfall
Sonata's Lament
Sonata's High Stakes
Sonata Pets the Kitty
Sonata's Hidden Skill
Sonata's Final Test!
Sonata Can Read!
Sonata's Problem
Sonata's Secret is Out!
Epilogue

Sonata's Lessons

Shortly after the gang confronted Trixie, they all headed to the Principle's office and reported everything Trixie and her group had done to Principle Celestia. As punishment, Principle Celestia had Trixie, the Illusions, and Snips and Snails to take down every single posters throughout the school. After that, they will spent their time in detention after school for two months. Despite Principle Celestia's efforts, the damage was already done as many students continued to mock Sonata whenever she was roaming around the hallway to her next class. Luckily, her tormentors were chased away the moment her best friends (especially Aria) sent a glare to their direction whenever they around her.

Word had already spread around the school like wildfire about the bet between Trixie and Sonata. Many students were already placing bets of their own whether Sonata is able to pull it off or not. The gang paid no attention to them as they left the school perimeter after all of their classes were done for the day. Both Adagio and Aria had to go to the mall for their job shifts while the rest of the gang were heading to Twilight’s house.

Once they made it to Twilight’s bedroom (and got some milk and cookies courtesy of Pinkie Pie), they all sat on the floor while Twilight was busy writing something on her trusty chalkboard. When she was finished, Twilight stepped around the chalkboard and then stood facing the girls, specifically at Sonata.

“Okay Sonata,” Twilight began in her lecture mode. “In order for you to learn how to read, you must first learn the basic grammar groups for certain words so that not only they will be useful for reading, but for writing as well.”

Sonata drooped. “Aw… I’ve just spent hours in school and now I have to go to school… outside of school?”

Sunset placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “Listen Sonata, I know this isn’t ideal to you, but we’re trying to help teach you to read. And I think Twilight’s lessons will be the perfect place to start.”

“She’s probably just saying that because she’s kissing up to her girlfriend.” Rainbow whispered quietly to Pinkie, only to received a hard jab on the rib by Applejack.

“Sunset’s right partner, just give Twi a chance Sonata,” Applejack encouraged.

Sonata looked unsure for a moment until she let out her soft sigh. “Well… alright. I’ll give this a shot!”

Twilight nearly squeed in excitement. “Great! Now let’s start with the basics!” She then flipped the board around, revealing many written diagrams on the board. “We’ll start off with identifying the words from three different groups of grammar…”

And so, throughout the whole lesson, Twilight explained to Sonata every detail about basic grammar. As Twilight goes on and on, her friends barley kept up with her. Some of them like Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and even Sunset Shimmer were nodding to every Twilight’s words, while Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were almost at a point of falling asleep. After what it seemed like over a half-an-hour, Twilight concluded her lesson.

“And those are the three basic groups of grammar,” Twilight finished before facing her audience. “Do you have any questions Son—”

Twilight, as well as the others was dumbfounded when they noticed that Sonata was actually falling asleep, while leaning on Twilight’s bed this whole time. Her snores were barely loud and a bit of her drool were leaking from the corner of her mouth. Twilight’s expression changed to a look of annoyance and frustration.

“SONATA!”

Sonata immediately bolted upright from her slumber and her eyes snapped opened. “WHA!? I’M TACO!” When her awareness kicked in and noticed that Twilight was glaring at her, she smiled sheepishly. “I mean... awake. Heh heh.”

Twilight crossed her arms and frown in disapproval. “Sonata! You fell asleep during my lesson!”

Sonata looked down in embarrassment while twiddling with her fingers. “I’m so sorry Twilight! Your teaching voice puts me asleep. Could you please start over?”

Twilight cocked her eyebrow. “Which part?”

“Um… the beginning?” Sonata answered nervously.

Before Twilight could retort, Rainbow groaned loudly in annoyance. “No offense Egghead, but I think your “lesson” is pretty boring!”

“It’s not boring!” Twilight argued indignantly. “It’s a basic lesson about reading!”

“Calm down Twi,” Sunset smoothed as she got up and placed her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Your lesson is good, but I think maybe we should come up with a better method to teach Sonata.”

“I think I know the perfect method to help Sonata!” Pinkie chirped, who suddenly appeared right next to them and startling the couple in the process. “Instead of using some traditional boring lesson, we should teach her with some musical intervention!”

“Musical intervention?” Sonata uttered in confusion.

Pinkie nodded. “Yepperoni! We’ll just go over every single letter of the alphabet, but we’ll learn them from a song!”

“Oh please she not going to sing a rap song again,” Rainbow moaned as she leaned her face on the palm of her hand.

Pinkie shook her head. “It’s not a rap song Dashie,” Pinkie picked up an eraser and erased everything on the board much to Twilight’s protests. Then in a record speed, Pinkie wrote all the letters from “A” to “Z” on the board. “This song!”

Applejack’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Oh Ah get it! Yer gonna use the old “ABC” song to teach Sonata to learn the alphabet.”

Pinkie let out her full tooth grin. “That’s riiiiiiiiiight!~”

Twilight held her chin in thought. “Huh, I guess that could work. Learning the alphabet with that song is a typical method to learn the basic of reading by being familiar to the sound of each letter. Many Preschools used this song for a reason.”

“And it’s so fun to sing along!” Pinkie added cheerfully. “Aaaaaaanywho, I’ll just sing this song and then you can just sing along Nata!”

“Well… okay. Maybe this’ll be fun!” said Sonata with a small smile.

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie chirped. “And everyone can join in too!”

“Uh-uh! No way!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I’m not gonna sing this lame song!”

“Come on Dashie! It’s only to help a friend,” Pinkie insisted with her pleading eyes.

Rainbow could barely resisted Pinkie’s eyes and groaned in defeat. “Fiiiiiiiiiiine! But this better not leave this room!”

And so Pinkie and the Rainbooms sang the ABC song to Sonata a few times. Sonata thought the song is kinda catchy and couldn’t help but hum along. After they concluded the song the third time, Pinkie faced Sonata with a smile.

“See? It’s fun!”

“Oh yeah it’s fun… to torture someone with!” Rainbow muttered.

Ignoring Rainbow, Pinkie pointed the board. “Now you try Sonata!”

Sonata nodded. “Okay.”

Pinkie began to sing the first few letters. “A. B. C. D. E. F. G.~”

“H. I. C. K… and… 2. B.~” Sonata sang in her bad singing tone. She then smiled. “Hey, I’m learning to read already!”

Everyone stared at Sonata with their dumbfounded expressions. Rainbow Dash sighed heavily as she facepalmed. “Well that backfired.”

Sonata cheeks suddenly had a shade of red in embarrassment. “Sorry girls, my singing wasn’t as good as it used to be. A-and I was usually more of a backup singer than a lead singer.”

“It’s alright Sugarcube, no harm done,” said Applejack. “We just need to come up with somethin’ else.”

No one said a word until Rarity spoke up with sparkles in her eyes. “Ideaaaaa!~ I know just the thing that can help you Darling!”

Sometime later, everyone was in Rarity’s bedroom from within her house. As everyone was hanging around, Rarity was busy digging through her closet, looking for something. After a few minutes of searching, Rarity finally found what she was looking for. She took out a small white rectangle box and walked over to Sonata, who was sitting on Rarity’s bed. Once she’s near Sonata, Rarity opened up the box and took out a bunch of stock cards in a shape of a standard writing paper. Each card contained a random image with a word underneath it.

Sonata stared at the stock cards with her curious expression. “What are these Rarity?”

“These are my old visual cue cards that I used back when I was little,” Rarity answered with a look of nostalgia on her face. “I remember struggling with reading myself for the first few weeks at Preschool. When my dear mother noticed that I’m more of a visual learner, she bought these cards for me so I can have a better understanding of reading. And it worked! Sweetie Belle also used these to learn how to read and I have full confidence that these will help you as well.”

“That’s a great idea Rarity,” said Twilight. “Sometime the best way to learn is to just see an image with a word telling you what it is. That way, after she sees them over and over, she’ll recognize the word easily when she reads on her own.”

Rarity nodded. “Indeed Darling!” She then smiled at Sonata. “So Sonata, do you want to try it out?”

Sonata thought for a moment before she shrugged. “Well I am pretty good when it comes to pictures, so I’ll give them a shot.”

“Splendid!” Rarity replied with a smile. Rarity took out a random card with a picture and a word and showed it to Sonata. “Okay Darling, now tell me what this picture and that word is.”

Sonata stared pointedly at the card for a moment, making everyone tensed up with anticipation. After a long minute of silence, Sonata finally answered.

“Um… a Beach Ball?”

Rarity shook her head.

“An orange?

Rarity shook her head again.

“Jellybean?”

Rarity stared blankly.

“A hedgehog?”

Rarity frowned.

“Coconut?”

Rarity’s eyes were half lid.

“OOH I got it! Taco!”

“…not even close.” Rarity sighed.

Rainbow huffed and stood up from the floor. “Okay, these won’t do any good! I have an even better solution that will help Sonata and put everyone else’s methods to shame!”

Sonata blinked as she surveyed around the field of their school. “The track field?”

“Yep!” Rainbow said proudly. “What better way to learn how to read and keep in shape at the same time is to run around the whole track! It helps me study for one of Cheerilee’s test and I’m sure as heck this will help Sonata!”

The track field itself is a typical standard four hundred meter track in a form of a giant oval with eight lanes and a grassy field in the middle. One of the tracks had multiple track hurdles, which spaced several feet apart from each other. Each of Sonata’s friends were standing right next to the hurdle with a huge cue cards with a random word on it. Sunset, who was standing next to the first hurdle, had an unsure expression.

“I don’t know about this Rainbow,” said Sunset. “Sonata isn’t exactly as athletic as you are.”

“It’ll be fine!” Rainbow insisted, waving off Sunset’s concern. She then faced Sonata with her stern expression. “Now Sonata, the directions are simple. As you are running along this track, you’ll see us holding a cute card with a word next to the track hurdle, as you get closer, we’ll tell you what the word is and then the moment we said it, you’ll try to jump over the hurdle while repeating the word loudly back to us exactly as we said. Rise, lather, and repeat for the next one. Any questions?”

Sonata spoke up nervously. “Well I—”

“One two three – GO!”

Rainbow immediately pushed Sonata forward, forcing Sonata to run. With a yelp, Sonata started running towards the first hurdle where Sunset was standing. As she got closer, Sunset flipped her card over to Sonata, revealing the first word.

“Cat!” Sunset shouted.

“CAT!” Sonata repeated loudly as she hopped over the hurdle.

Luckily, Sonata successfully jumped over the hurdle and then sprinted to the next one. As she gotten closer to the next one, Sonata spotted Applejack who was next to the second hurdle. Like before, as Sonata was a few feet away, Applejack immediately flipped her card over, revealing the next word to her.

“Chair!” Applejack hollered.

“CHAIR!” Sonata said loudly as she jumped.

Once again, Sonata had successfully made it over the hurdle and then speed over to the next one. Shortly after that, Sonata spotted the third hurdle with Pinkie Pie standing next to it. As Sonata had gotten closer, Pinkie flipped her card over and showed off the third word.

“Ball!” Pinkie cheered loudly.

“BALL!” Sonata barely shouted as soon as she jumped.

After her third successful jump, Sonata continued to run down the track. Despite her huffing and puffing, Sonata formed into her small smile.

Hey, this is actually kinda fun! She thought. Maybe Rainbow’s method really was the best!

Within seconds Sonata reached the next hurdle with Twilight next to it this time. Confidence was building up within the young Siren, ready to jump for the next word. As for Twilight, she quickly flipped over the card and revealed the next word.

“Duck!” Twilight shouted.

Sonata’s confidence was quickly chanced into panic. “Duck!? Uh oh!”

Sonata quickly bowed her head and covered her head, but she continued to run forward.

Twilight’s eyes were widened into a panic. “Wait Sonata! That’s not what I—LOOK OUT!”

Unfortunately for the Siren, Sonata crashed into a hurdle and she then she tumbled around until she landed into the ground face first. Everyone gasped at the scene and they all rushed over to their fallen friend. Sunset was the first to make it over to Sonata and then she flipped her friend over to look for any sign of injury.

“Sonata! Are you okay?” Sunset asked with worry.

“Da lights went out… all ov’a da world…”

“Yeah… she’s fine.” Rainbow commented. She winced when everyone sent a glare to her way. As Twilight comforting Sonata, Sunset slowly stood up.

“Well that didn’t work!” Sunset sighed before facing Applejack and Fluttershy. “Do either any of you girls know any other method of learning how to read?”

The two girls looked at each other with their unsure expression before they turned back to Sunset.

“Ah got nothin’,” Applejack replied with her apologetic look. “I just kinda learned it naturally. And Ah’m more of a workin’ gal than a readin’ gal.”

Sunset then looked expectedly at her animal loving friend. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked down glumly. “Um… no. I can’t come up with anything… sorry.”

Sonata, after recovering somewhat, sighed sadly. “At this rate, I will never learn to read! Maybe I’m just not cut out to it at all.”

“Don’t say that Sonata,” said Sunset. “I’m sure there’s got to be some kind of learning method that may work for you.”

“Then what?” Sonata asked pointedly.

Everyone just stood around in silence, not sure what to do. Almost everyone came up with their own different tactic and each one failed miserably. It was some time before Twilight faced her girlfriend with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Say Sunset, you mentioned to me earlier that you told Sonata that were learning to read our language when you first entered this world, right?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“How did you do it?” Twilight asked.

Sunset held her chin in thought. “Well, like I told Sonata, I pretty much taught myself throughout the first month of this world.” Sunset frowned deeply. “I’m… not very proud of myself, but I used to sneak into the library almost all the time at night whenever it closes. I would then take out every single self-taught books I could find, including—” Suddenly, Sunset’s eyes were widened as something clicked from her mind. She then had a huge smile on her face. “Wait a minute… of course! Why didn’t I think of this before?!”

Everyone nearly jumped at Sunset’s sudden perky attitude as Twilight questioned her girlfriend out of curiosity.

“What is it Sunset?”

Sunset raised her finger while baring her knowing smirk. “I may have something that will help Sonata learn how to read like how it helped me.”

Some time later, the whole gang was now sitting around at the couch from within Sunset’s apartment. As they were waiting, Sunset was upstairs searching through her dresser, looking for a certain item for Sonata. For each item Sunset took out that was not what she was looking for, she’ll throw them behind her while Pinkie Pie caught each one like it was some kind of fun game.

“No… no… no… oh so that’s where it is—but not what I’m looking for!”

After a few more minutes of digging, Sunset finally found the item she was looking for.

“A-ha! There it is!” Sunset cheered as she took out the item in question.

The item itself was a small blue book with a title that said: “Beginner’s Spelling Book - Volume One.” She clutched the book to her chest and then went downstairs to join her friends. Ignoring everyone’s curious looks (and a hug pile of her stacked things that Pinkie caught.), Sunset went over to Sonata and handed the book over to her.

“Here you go Sonata, this is what I used to learn how to read!” Sunset said with a smile.

Sonata examined the book for a bit and then looked up to her friend with her confused expression. “Um… what is this?”

“What you have here, is the Beginner’s Spelling Book,” Sunset replied.

Rainbow looked over with her eyes furrowed. “Um… isn’t this thing is made for kids?”

Sunset coughed nervously as a sudden shade of red formed on her cheeks. “Well… yes, but since I was new to this world at the time, I figured I need to start something simple.” She then smiled. “This book has simple guidelines of reading and writing and there are a bunch of activities throughout this book for you do as you learn about reading. Like fill in the blacks, word matching, multiple choices and so on. This is like homework, but they’re very simple and fun.”

“How can homework be simple and fun?” Rainbow asked with a look of disbelief.

“Silly Dashie,” Pinkie interjected cheerfully. “You can make fun out of anything you do! Like taking out the garbage while rollerblading backwards and balanced it with your head.”

“…I’m pretty sure that only you would find that fun,” Rainbow replied dryly with an eye roll.

“Well I think it’s a wonderful idea Darling!” said Rarity. “A simple yet effective way to learn with a book like that.”

Twilight nodded. “I agree, sometimes just by using a simple activity book like that will help someone like Sonata to learn to read and write.”

Sunset smiled as the rest of the girls nodded in approval before facing Sonata again. “This book helped me a lot! So I think it will help you too!”

“You… think this will help me?” Sonata spoke softly.

Sunset smiled. “Absolutely, as long as you work really hard, I believe you can do it!”

Sonata wasn’t feeling so sure at first. Everything they’ve done since after school ended in a failure. She truly doubted that she will ever learn to read and regretted ever agreeing to Trixie’s crazy bet. But after seeing all of her friends smiling and nodding at her in encouragement, Sonata felt that maybe she could give it a shot.

Sonata gave Sunset her small smile. “Okay Sunset, I’ll give it a try. But… can I try this at home?”

Sunset nodded. “Sure, I don’t see why not. You worked very hard today!”

“Yeah, and all the teaching we did really made me hungry,” Pinkie added. “So let’s say we’ll go to Sugarcube Corner for a round of milkshakes! My treat!”

Rainbow pumped her fist in excitement. “Aw yeah! Now you’re talking Pinks! Let’s go!”

Everyone spoke up in approval as they were heading out of Sunset’s apartment and onto the streets of Canterlot. As Sonata was following behind them, she looked at the book that Sunset gave her and frowned. Is this book truly the key of helping her learning to read and make her the reading pro before the end of this month? Sonata wasn’t certain, but if this book was the same book that helped Sunset out in the past, then she will give it a shot.

…after getting herself some delicious strawberry milkshake that is.

Author's Note

So almost everyone from the Rainbows helped Sonata out and then Sonata decided to go with Sunset's idea. Will it help her?

Fine out coming soon on the next chapter! :raritywink:

Sonata Cheats

After their trip to Sugarcube corner for shakes, Sonata said goodbye to her friends and went home with the book Sunset gave her. When she got home, she told her sisters about all the teachings the Rainbooms had done to help her and now she is going to give Sunset’s book a shot to learn how to read. Adagio smiled somewhat and nodded in approval while Aria just looked indifferently. After they all had dinner, the two elder Sirens retreated to their own rooms for the night, while Sonata still sat at the kitchen table with the book, papers and pencils out to get ready for her “homework”.

Sonata only sat there, staring at the book for what it seems like hours. She felt like that book was mocking her, trying to get her to open it with that hypnotic cover. In the past, Sonata and her sisters managed to hypnotize the students to fight each other with their magic and nearly take over the school without any fear or efforts. And yet, here she was now, trembling uneasily all just staring at a book!

Sonata gulped nervously. “O-okay Sonata,” she mumbled to herself. “You can do this! Sunset and the others believed that you can do this! Just start on the first page, and then work your way through it. Easy-peasy!”

With a long sigh, Sonata opened the book.

It was early the next morning from within the Dazzling kitchen. Sonata was still at the same spot where she was from last night, except she wasn’t actually reading her book. Instead, she was in a deep sleep, while her face was buried into her book. Her snores were as loud as a chainsaw and her drool was leaking from the corner of her mouth. Her peaceful slumber was interrupted when the alarm from her phone went off, waking her up intently.

“HUH? Wha-wha-WHAT?”

She looked around franticly with wide eyes before she calmed down when she realized where she was. She sighed as she turned off the alarm and wiped her drool off from her mouth. She then looked down at her book, her spirits were crushed when she noticed that she was still on the first page of her book. To make matters worse, she never wrote any of her answers on her activity sheets either. She realized that she must of fallen asleep just minutes after she started “reading,” probably due to boredom.

She groaned loudly out of frustration on herself for not bringing herself to do something simple as working on an activity sheet from a book. She promised her friends that she’ll give it a try, and she failed miserably. She did not want to disappoint her friends, especially Sunset after everything they’ve done for her. And on top of that, she will never get have a whole month’s worth of free tacos from Trixie.

Sonata checked her phone again. She was only about an hour away before she had to go to school. She needed to get those answers filled out before meeting the girls for lunch. But how will she do that when she had no idea of what to fill in in such a short amount of time? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard some footsteps coming into the kitchen. Sonata looked up to see her sister Adagio in her oversized indigo t-shirt, purple shorts and barefooted as she made her way to the coffee maker.

“Morning Sonata, how’s that book thing coming along?” She mumbled as she started to fill up her coffee into her mug.

“Oh… um… not too great,” Sonata replied slowly.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

As Adagio was adding the creamer for her coffee, Sonata came up with a brilliant idea of how to get herself out of her mess. She knew that Adagio is the smartest of the sisters and can be very difficult to convince her, but if Sonata could offer something that may benefit her, then the rest is smooth sailing.

Sonata put on her fake somber expression as believable as possible and then she sighed dramatically. “I’ve spent all night writing these practice sheets, but then I… accidentally spilled my milk all over them, ruining all of my work in the process!”

Sonata mentally winced for laying her performance a little too think, but thankfully, Adagio seemed to have bought it as Adagio rolled her eyes at her.

“Well I’m sorry to hear that Sonata, but you should’ve been more careful," said Adagio with her matter of fact tone. "It looks like you’ll have to start all over.”

“But that’s the thing!” Sonata exclaimed. “My hand is all cramped up after all the writing I’ve done and I can’t just start all over!”

To demonstrate, Sonata picked up her right wrist with her left hand as she pretended to act all sore from her right wrist. Adagio stared at Sonata with her blank expression while cocking her one eyebrow.

“Well what are you suggesting for me to do?” she asked bluntly.

Sonata gave Adagio her sheepish smile as she was twiddling her thumbs. “Well… maybe you could… help me… by redoing the work for me?”

Adagio eyes narrowed. “You can’t be serious! Do you really expect me to redo ALL the work for you! That is your problem not mine!”

“Oh please help me out Dagi!?” Sonata begged. “I’ll do anything you tell me to do! I’ll do all the cooking, I’ll clean the bathroom… anything!”

Adagio huffed while she pinched the bridge of her nose. “First of all, you always do all the cooking! And second, Aria was already assigned to do bathroom cleaning for a month!”

“Okay bad example!” Sonata replied before she held her hands in her begging pose. “There’s got to be something I can do! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!”

Adagio’s expression remained stone-faced even after Sonata gave her the puppy eyes. She slowly took a sip of her coffee and let out her quiet sigh. She gently placed the mug down and then looked at Sonata directly in the eyes.

“Alright… I’ll redo all of your work for you,” she said before giving Sonata her stern look. “But… in exchange, you will have to purchase all of my new clothes I wanted—”

“Done!” Sonata agreed with her huge smile.

“…for two months,” Adagio finished.

Sonata winced. She knew her sister had a bad spending habit, especially when it comes to clothes. No doubt that this will burn a huge hole in Sonata’s wallet for a while, but if that’s the only way to get her worksheets done without her friends knowing, then she has no other options.

“…done,” Sonata sighed.

Adagio then formed into her trademark smirk on her face. “Excellent! Now where is that book!”

It was now lunchtime at the School cafeteria. The Rainbooms and Sonata were all sitting together at their usual seats at their tables. Sonata presented all of “her work” she did last night to Sunset and the others to show. Sunset looked them all over with a smile on her face, not founding a single error at all on any of the answers Sonata had written. She looked up at Sonata with her huge grin.

“Wow Sonata, you actually finished the whole notebook in one night and you never made a mistake! I’m impressed!” Sunset praised.

Sonata tilted her head up proudly. “Well what can I say? Once I started on the first assignment, I just kept going!” she lied. “By the time I realized it, it was already morning!”

“Oh I know what you mean!” Twilight interjected. “One time, I decided to rant out the entire encyclopedia about astronomy from our school library!”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “And… what’s so special about that encyclopedia compared to all the other encyclopedias you’ve read before?”

“This encyclopedia was supposed to be so detailed, it has over three-thousand, five-hundred pages! It would normally take months to read the entire thing! But I actually managed to read the whole thing for the entire weekend non stop!” Twilight sighed fondly. “Best weekend of my life!”

“…you know if there’s ever a contest of who’s the biggest egghead of the entire plant, you will definitely be the winner!” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Ah quit teasing my girlfriend Rainbow Dash,” Sunset scolded playfully before facing Sonata again. “Anyway, I’m just so happy that you did it, but I never expected that you finished it so quickly!”

“I’m happy that I did it too!” said Sonata with a fake regretful expression on her face. “But it’s a shame that I finished it so quickly before I actually gotten into it!”

“You know it’s funny that you say that!” Sunset perked up. “I figured you probably wanted to do some more of that stuff, so that’s why I got you this!”

Sunset dug into her bookbag beside her for a moment before she took out another blue book, much to Sonata’s shock.

“Ta-da! Volume Two!” Sunset announced cheerfully. “Now you can practice some more with another one of the series. Isn’t that great!”

Sonata managed to keep herself composed, despite that her left eye was twitching rapidly. “Y-yeah… that’s… wonderful… you shouldn’t have!”

“Oh I insist,” Sunset said cheerfully, oblivious to Sonata’s expression. “This one should be longer than the first one, but maybe you should do a little section at a time instead of completely finish it all night.”

“R…right,” Sonata stated slowly.

Fluttershy, who noticed Sonata’s state, gave Sonata her concerned expression. “Um… are you okay Sonata?”

“Yeah, you looked like you are about to barf right after you ate a bad cupcake!” Pinkie added.

“Oh... y-yeah!” Sonata answered calmly while her eye was still twitching. “I’m fine! For realsies!”

“You sure Sugarcube?” Applejack pressed skeptically. “You don’t look fine!”

“Were you still bothered from all the teasing you get from other students Darling?” Rarity asked with sympathy. “I know a perfect spa place for you to go that will surely help you.”

“N-no it’s okay guys! Really… I’m fine!”

Suddenly, the school bell rang and Sonata quickly gathered up all of her belongings including her new book from Sunset.

“WhoopsGottago!Needtogettomynextclass!ThanksforthebookSunset!BYE!”

“You’re…”

Before Sunset could finish her reply, Sonata rushed out of the cafeteria with almost the same speed as Rainbow Dash whenever Rainbow used her necklace.

“…welcome.”

Sunset faced her friends with her confused and concerned expression. “What was that all about?”

The girls shrugged in response.

It was late in the evening as Aria was hanging in her room playing her video game. While she never talked about herself with others much, but Aria is well known as a very intense intense gamer from school. She collected almost every single systems she have throughout her decade: Wintendo, Super Wintendo, Wintendo 64, Wintendo Gamebox, XSphere, XSphere 360, Playnations One Two Three and Four, the list goes on. Aria was so focused on her game; she never noticed her bedroom door opened and then her visitor walked up right behind her.

“HEY ARI!” Sonata screamed very loud.

Aria yelped in surprise, causing her to lose her life from her video game and got a “Game Over” as a result. With an enraging growl, Aria spun around towards Sonata with an angry look.

“Sonata! How many times did I tell you to stop sneaking up on me?” Aria exclaimed angrily. “And how many times have I told you to stay out of my room?”

“Last I checked, it’s two-hundred and sixty three for the sneaking and one-hundred and fifty two for the room one,” Sonata answered before she clasped her hands together. “But that’s not important! I need your help!”

“Whatever it is, the answer is no!” Aria responded bluntly.

“But you don’t know what I was going to ask you!” Sonata complained.

Aria crossed her arms. “Was it something to do with me helping you do all the reading activity sheets for you from that book Shimmer gave you?”

“Um… yes?”

“Then no!”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“YES!”

“Sonata!” Aria spat with her warning tone.

“Oh please Ari, I only need you to fill in the answers of the activity sheets and then I’ll leave you alone!” Sonata begged.

Aria huffed in annoyance. “Look Sonata, I may be a grump, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid! You’re doing this just so you don’t have to do the work that you’re supposed to. It may work on Adagio, but it won’t on me!”

Sonata inwardly cursed. She knew she couldn’t get Adagio to do the activity sheets for her again after the first time (and not wanting to put her wallet further into its grave), so she was hoping she could convince Aria to do the same. But unlike Adagio, Aria was far more difficult to convince, even if it’s a good deal on Aria’s end. When she realized that their conversation wasn’t going anywhere, Sonata decided to pull off her secret weapon.

“Well… if you do this,” Sonata trailed off with her sly grin. “I’ll give you this!~”

Sonata slowly dug her hand in her skirt pocket and took out what appeared to be a golden cartridge. Aria’s annoyed glare was quickly chanced to her shocked expression when she spotted the title on the golden cartridge that said: ‘Wintendo World Championships: 1990’. Aria snatched the game cartridge out of Sonata’s hands and examined it very closely to see if it was real. Once she realized that it is legit, Aria stared at Sonata with wide eyes.

“W-where did you get that!?” Aria exclaimed. “How did you get this!? This game is very rare to find! Heck, this game is worth a fortune online!”

Sonata chuckled with her coy grin. “I had my ways…”

One-Hour Ago at CHS

After her lunch with her friends, Sonata ran around the school to look for this particular student to help her in case if her upcoming talk with Aria went south. After she located this student and explained her case, the student agreed and told her to meet her at the abandoned section of the school’s hallway after school. Shortly after the last school bell rang, Sonata spent some time waiting for this person from within the darkest section of the hallway (literally). She was wearing a trench coat, a huge trench hat on her head and dark sunglasses to conceal her identity.

After about ten minutes of waiting, she spotted a short shadowy figure, walking towards her. Once this figure was close to her and stood under the only working light bulb from the ceiling, Sonata took a good look at this person. Judging by this person’s facial features, this student was a young male and he was shorter then Sonata. This boy also wore a trench coat, but unlike Sonata, this person wore a propeller beanie instead of a trench hat and some of his orange bangs were hanging out from his hat. The boy looked around a bit to make sure that they were alone before he took out the golden game cartridge from his coat pocket.

“Okay listen,” the boy said quietly. “I don’t normally sell any of my games to anyone, let alone this one! But, since you’ve helped me with your advice on asking Sweetie Belle out on a date from last week, I’ll make this an exception and sell this to you at a cheep price.”

Sonata nearly squealed in excitement. “Thanks so much pal! You're a lifesaver! So how much do I owe you?”

“I’ll sell this to you for… two hundred dollars,” the boy replied.

Sonata frowned. “Two hundred dollars is too much! I’ll give you a hundred and fifty!”

The boy huffed. “Listen Missy! Do you have [i/]any idea how much this game cost now? You should be lucky that I’m offering you the cheapest price I can give you, so you can either take my offer or leave it!”

“Three hundred and fifty dollars!” Sonata offered.

The boy blinked with his confused expression. “…um… okay?”

“HA! Still got it!” Sonata cheered as she fist pump.

“So what do you say Ari?” said Sonata as she wrapped her arm around Aria’s shoulder and gave her sister her puppy-eye expression. “Will you help me?”

Still with her annoyed expression, Aria looked at the game that Sonata gave her and then back at Sonata’s puppy eyes. Normally, Aria was immune to Sonata’s begging and pleading eyes and never gave in unless if Aria was pushed to her very limit. However, the only weakness that could ever persuade Aria Blaze were video games, especially games that are very rare. She inwardly swore to herself that she let Sonata get to her so easily.

“Alright fine! I will help you with this just this one time!” Aria huffed.

Sonata squeed and then gave Aria her bear hug that was so strong, she could have easily snapped her in half. “You’re the best Ari!”

Aria growled as she was trying to get herself free from Sonata’s grip. “Just get the stupid book!”

Author's Note

Yeah I know that this chapter is very short but I'm building it up for the next couple of chapters. So stay tuned!

Sonata's Desperation

A few weeks had gone by since Sonata’s secret was exposed to the school and that Sonata accepted Trixie’s bet that she’ll learn to read by the end of the week. Despite her friend’s efforts, Sonata wasn’t able to grasp on any of the reading lessons. Even Sunset’s writing assignments from her book couldn’t help her, but because she didn’t want to disappoint Sunset and wanted to have a month worth of tacos from Trixie, Sonata resorted to have her sisters completed the assignments for her. After she had Aria completed every assignments from the second book, Sonata was wise enough to only show her friends one assignment every day instead of the whole book, making it look like that she was progressing. She felt guilty for doing this, but she kept telling herself that she will have to make it up to her friends as soon as she “won” the bet… and getting her tacos.

Today, Sonata once again sat at her usual seat with her friends during lunch and showed off “her work”. Sunset and the others looked over the work sheets with their impressed expressions. With her huge smile, Sunset looked up from the work sheets and beamed at Sonata.

“You did an amazing job Sonata!” Sunset praised. “I knew that these assignments would help you! All of your hard work is really paying off!”

Sonata shyly looked away as she rubbed her neck. “Oh… it was nothing.”

“This is more than nothing Sonata!” said Twilight as she adjusted her glasses. “Just a few weeks ago, you couldn’t even read the pepper shaker. Now, you were able to complete all the reading and writing assignments that Sunny gave you so easily!”

“Yeah! So now you can read anything like a pro!” Pinkie chirped.

“Hold yer horses Pinkie Pie!” Applejack interjected. “Just because Sonata is doing well now, that doesn’t mean she is close to a professional reader just yet.”

Rarity shook her head. “While that may be true dear Applejack, but Sonata completed the assignments from two of Sunset’s books. So I say she’s very close of becoming one.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow cheered. “As soon as you proved Trixie wrong with her bet, the first thing I’m going to do is giving you my Daring Do books for you to borrow! You totally shouldn’t miss out on this awesome series!”

Twilight gave Rainbow her deadpanned look. “You know, there are other books out there for her to read Rainbow.”

“Yeah, but they’re not as awesome as Daring Do!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s remark while Fluttershy gave Sonata her sweet smile. “We’re all very proud of you Sonata. The fact that you work so hard was very inspiring.”

As everyone was beaming at her, Sonata felt guilty again. Everyone was complimenting her for working so hard, even though her sisters did all the work. Something told her that she couldn’t keep doing this and she has to come clean. She only hoped that they will still talk to her again after this.

Sonata turned towards Sunset and cleared her throat. “Um… Sunset, about those activity sheets you gave me—”

“Uh Girls!” Applejack interrupted. “We got company!”

They all turned just in time to see Trixie and the Illusions walking towards them with smirks on their faces. Sonata felt uneasy from the sight of the magician. While Trixie left her alone since the start of their bet, but she would often heard Trixie and her group snickering every time Sonata walked past them from the hallway. They eventually reached to her table with Trixie giving Sonata her smug look.

“Well hello Siren!” Trixie greeted in her mocking tone. “How’s your reading lesson coming along?”

“It been going well,” Sonata answered. “And how’s your time in detention with Mr. Doodle?”

Trixie’s smug expression was quickly changed to her look of unpleasantness. “Oh yes… Trixie’s time in detention was very… pleasant!” said Trixie as she was gritting her teeth.

Sonata tilted her head with her confused expression. “For realsies? I heard that they were terrible!?”

Before Trixie could retort, Sunset intervened.

“What do you want Trixie?”

Trixie breathed through her nose before giving them her smirk. “Well Trixie was just checking up on this Siren to make sure that she didn’t back out on our deal! Trixie was hoping that she’ll win by default!”

“Well jokes on you Trixie!” Rainbow retorted. “Not only is Sonata not backing out on your stupid bet, but she was also working hard on her reading lessons and she aced the activity sheets Sunset gave her!”

Trixie raised her eyebrow with her skeptic frown. “Oh really?”

“It’s true Trixie!” said Sunset. “Sonata did her work for the past couple of weeks and she did an amazing job on them! Right Sonata?”

Sonata sweated nervously. “U-uh… well… I didn’t do that well…”

“Oh don’t be so modest Sonata!” Pinkie chirped. “You’re a reading champ!” Before Sonata could react, Pinkie took a bunch of Sonata’s completed assignments and showed them to Trixie. “Check ‘em out if you don’t believe us!”

Sonata shook her head vigorously. “Pinkie wait—”

“Trixie would gladly see those sheets!”

Trixie snatched the sheets from Pinkie and looked through each of them very carefully. Sonata nearly gulped every time Trixie shot her a look after look over each sheet. As Trixie went through about half of the pile of Sonata’s worksheets, she became suspicious. The answers Sonata had written down on each sheet were perfect… almost too perfect. Even Sonata’s handwriting was strange. Trixie had seen how sloppy Sonata had used her pencil, especially when she drew her tiny taco people on her desk during class, and yet her written answers were very scriptive and neat. In fact, some of the written styles appeared to be different every time she moved on to different sheet. By the time Trixie reached the last sheet, Trixie look up towards Sonata with narrowed eyes.

“She did these?” Trixie pressed. “She actually read and answered all of these questions?”

“Sure did!” Pinkie answered with her bubbly grin. “She finished all of the answers from first book in less than a day! While it took her much longer to work her way through the second book, but she did just as good!”

“…Is that so?”

Based on Pinkie’s response, Trixie knew there was something fishy going on with how that Siren finished these work sheets. She decided to put her theory to the test. Trixie picked a random sheet and showed it to Sonata.

“Alright Siren, Trixie wants you to read all the answers you wrote on this sheet!”

Trixie expected Sonata to squirm after putting her on the spot like that and then her suspicious activity will be exposed. Fortunately for Sonata, she was already prepared for this. Sonata knew that Trixie will confront her about this when her guard is down, so she asked her sisters to pronounced all the words on each sheet so she can get them memorized. Sonata even drew a tiny taco guy with different article of clothing it wore (tie, hat, scarf, etc.) from the bottom left of the page so she could tell the difference on each sheet.

“That’s easy!” said Sonata with full of confidence. She then squinted her eyes at the pages as she pretended to “read” each word. “Um… it said: Dog, Cat, Fish, Bird, Mouse, and… uh… e-guana?”

“It’s actually pronounced i-guana, but that was pretty close!” said Twilight.

Applejack nodded. “Yeah dat word can be pretty tough to pronounce.”

Trixie frowned deeply. She wasn’t fully convinced that the Siren actually worked on any of these sheets. Trixie wasn’t sure how she did it, but she going to investigate this later. Trixie regained her smirk as she handed the sheets back to Pinkie while she secretly stole only two sheets from the pile and hidden them into her back pocket.

“Hmph, Trixie is impressed… somewhat!” said Trixie as she leered at Sonata. “So you’re Mrs. Reader now huh?”

Sonata blinked. “But my name is still—”

Rainbow quickly covered Sonata’s mouth and answered Trixie for her. “Yes Trixie, she can read now, so she won the bet!”

Trixie wagged her finger at them in disapproval, making some ‘tsk-tsk’ sound. “Not quite! There’s still one more thing for her to do! This Siren will have to read whatever book Trixie chooses in front of the whole school to win!” Trixie then gave Sonata her haughty smirk. “And since she did so well with those sheets, Trixie decided to push the date to tomorrow, after school, at the school’s auditorium.”

The gang gasped while Sunset gave Trixie her look of disapproval. “You want her to read in front of the school tomorrow! Now wait a second—”

“If that is what it takes to shut you up, then you can bet that Sonata will show up tomorrow!” Rainbow interjected with confidence, only to blink in confusion when she noticed that all of her friends were glaring at her. “…What?”

“Perfect! Then we’ll let the whole school know that we’re going to have our story time, which will be read by that Siren!” said Trixie with a smirk before her expression changed to a thoughtful look. “Unless of course… she’s not really up for it or… turned out that she’s not much of a reader than what everyone else believed.”

“You watch it Trixie!” Rainbow snarled.

Trixie shrugged. “Just saying.”

Applejack held Rainbow’s shoulder to get her to calm down while Twilight spoke up.

“What was the book that you’re going to make Sonata read?”

“Trixie’s glad you’ve asked!” said Trixie. She snapped her fingers, silently commanding one of the Illusions to dig into her backpack and took out a green book with orange border fame on the front cover of the book. Trixie held it up for everyone to see. “Trixie is choosing this book!”

Twilight gasped after reading the title. “That’s… The Tale of Two Cities!”

“You know this book Twi!” Sunset asked, not familiar with the title.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, it’s one of Charles Dickens well known books! But… this book is old and a bit too complex for Sonata to read!”

Sunset turned towards Trixie with narrowed eyes. “You’re not really going to make her read that entire book are you? Just because Sonata agreed on your terms, that doesn’t mean we’re going let you make her read something that was too—”

“Relax.” Trixie calmly interrupted. “Trixie’s not that cruel! All that Siren has to do is to read only one page of that book, specifically the most classic opening of all literature. Is there a problem with that?”

The Rainbooms looked at each other with unsure expression before Sunset spoke up again. “Well… I guess that’s much more reasonable. But I still don’t know if she’ll—”

“It’s okay Sunset,” Sonata reassured. “I agreed to Trixie’s deal and I’m going to follow through with it! Besides, reading just the first page is going to be a snap!”

“You go Sonata!” Pinkie cheered while everyone nodded in approval.

“Feeling confident all of the sudden, eh Siren?” Trixie scoffed before tossing the book on the table in front of Sonata. “Well then, here is the book. Better start practicing so you don’t make a fool of yourself in front of all the students in this school, otherwise…” Trixie slowly morphed into her sinister look. “You’re getting a special kind of hat with your name on it!”

Sonata stared blankly at Trixie before she formed into a smirk of her own. “Well, if I succeed, then I’ll give you my entire list of tacos that your gonna have to buy for me this entire month!”

Trixie simply glared at Sonata for a moment before she scoffed and walked away along with her bandmates. “See you tomorrow… Siren!”

Once Rainbow was sure that Trixie and her cronies were out of their hearing range, she slammed on the table with her fists and let out a loud snarl.

“Ooooh that Trixie! She always gets on my nerves!”

“Forget her Rainbow,” said Sunset before facing Sonata with her concerned look. “Sonata, are you sure you are up for this?”

“Of course,” Sonata replied with confidence as she picked up the book that Trixie ‘gave’ her. “As I said, this’ll be a piece of cake, and all of those delicious tacos that Trixie is going buy will be as good as mine!”

Applejack frown. “Now don’t count yer chickens before they hatch partner! You need to focus on dat page yer going to read.”

Sonata waved off Applejack’s concern. “Don’t worry Applejack, I got this!”

It was later in a middle of the day as many students were heading to the next class from the hallway, including the two Dazzlings who were walking side by side. As they were heading to the next class, the middle Siren was in the middle of her heated rant from what she had experience from her previous class, while the eldest Siren was trying to drown out her sister’s words with a blank look on her face. Unfortunately for Adagio, her efforts were for naught, as Aria complaints were getting louder by the second.

“And then that student had the nerve to say that Moonlight is a better character than Sunshine!” Aria spat. “I mean, has she been living under a rock this whole time or is she that dumb? Moonlight is practically a poor copy version of Sunshine! With Sunshine, she actually worked through her redemption throughout the movie and then earned it! Moonlight? She was only “redeemed” through a song at the end of season five and then barely appeared throughput the sixth season! And the less I say about her “backstory”, the better! I swear, if the teacher wasn’t there in the room with us I would’ve—”

“Aria,” Adagio injected with a dull monotonous tone. “You can’t get all worked up over her opinion about some stupid kids show about some talking colorful hamsters who were preaching about friendship.”

Aria glared daggers at her eldest sister. “Hey! That show was not—”

Aria was suddenly interrupted when a student bumped into her and her sister, causing everyone’s books and papers to drop on the floor. Arai growled and faced the student who she bumped into.

“Hey! What’s the big idea!?” Aria exclaimed with her nostrils all flared up.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” the student cried, bending over to the floor to pick up the items. “Here let me get them!”

“Yeah you better pick them up!” Aria retorted. “After all it is your fault!”

“Calm down Aria!” Adagio scolded. “Let’s just help her out!”

“No no, it’s alright!” the student spoke up, waving them away from the floor. “It is my fault. Let me at least make it up to you.”

Less than a minute later, the student stood back up and handed the things back to their owners. Once they got their things back, the student then took off and ran down the hallway, away from the sisters.

“Sorry again for bumping into you!” the student called out before disappearing around the corner.

“You better run!” Aria shouted. “The next time I see you, I’ll mark this floor with your face!”

“Aria!”

“What? Am I not allowed to blow off some steam?”

Adagio sighed heavily as she held the bridge of her nose before she resumed her walking. “We’ll talk about this later, let’s just get to class!”

Aria just scoffed in annoyance as she followed behind her sister. Unknown to the two Siren sisters, the student who bumped into them was hiding around the corner, watching them leave. The student smirked as the individual held on to two of the papers she stole from the Dazzlings, which was hidden in between their own schoolwork. This person slowly turned and walked further down the hallway.

It was during her free period that Sonata decided to head to the school’s library. She told her friends that she’s going to spend some time in there, just so she practice reading the first page of the book. But Sonata had a hidden agenda. Since she didn’t do her assignments at all, she still needed someone to read the page for her. Asking any of her sisters again were no longer an option and asking one of her friends were out of the question.

Sonata knew that this will be tricky to pull off. Nearly the whole school knows about the bet and Sonata was pretty sure that the word had spread about her live upcoming reading by now. Besides herself, she knew that there is one other person who is just as obvious as herself when it comes to the events of this school. She only hoped that she could find her in here. Sonata immediately felt relieved when she spotted the person she was looking for, who was sitting at the table from the far side of the library. This student was a teenage girl with a long blonde hair while wearing a blue shirt with a yellow tie and a long green skirt. She also had bright yellow eyes, but for whatever reason, her eyes were crossed in different direction. Sonata always wondered how that girl could see like that, but decided to put that topic for another day and headed towards her.

Once Sonata in within the girl’s hearing range, Sonata cleared loudly her throat and waved at her.

“Hey there buddy!”

The blonde girl looked up from her book and smiled when she saw Sonata.

“Oh hey there Sonata! Do you need something?”

Sonata smiled nervously. “Actually… yes. In fact, could you do me a favor?” Sonata took out the book and showed it to the cross-eye girl. “Could you please read me only the first page of this book over and over until I got it all memorized?”

The blonde titled her head in confusion. “Why? Can’t you read it yourself?”

Sonata’s grin faltered a bit and looked away, while idly scratching her cheek.

“Well… I just need some help… to understand the words?”

The crossed-eyed girl nodded in understanding. “Oh, well I guess that makes sense. That book looks pretty difficult.” She then frowned unsurely. “But… what do I get out of this?”

Sonata faced the girl again with a smirk. “If you help me, I’ll give you a basket of dozen of these fresh baked various flavor muffins!~”

Sonata slowly lifted up the basket from behind her, revealing many mouth-watering muffins that she picked up from Home Ec earlier. Each individual type of muffin was different from another; chocolate chip, double chocolate, triple chocolate, white chocolate, blueberry, apple-cinnamon, banana nut, oatmeal, the list goes on. The blonde girl stared at the muffins with a hungry look in her eyes before she looked back up at Sonata with a stern expression.

“…is one of these muffins… Lemon Muffin Surprise?”

“Um… yes?” Sonata uttered.

The girl then smiled brightly. “Then let’s read!”

Relieved, Sonata placed the basket with muffins on the table and handed the book to the crossed-eye girl. The girl picked up the book with one hand while picking up one of the muffins with the other. The girl then took a huge bite of the muffin and let out a huge satisfied moan. After she swallowed, she opened up the book as she took a bite of her muffin again.

“Okay, here’s the first sentence,” she said with her mouth full as Sonata was giving the girl her undivided attention. “It was the best of times, it was the worse of times.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worse of times.” Sonata repeated slowly.

As they continued on, they both failed to notice that they were being spied on from a mysterious student who was watching them from behind the bookcase.

It was sometime after school that only a few students were sitting in a classroom, serving their time in detention with Mr. Cranky Doodle keeping an eye on them. However, instead of watching them, Mr. Cranky Doodle was sleeping at his desk with his one arm holding his head up. Once she was sure that the cranky teacher was fully asleep, she beckoned the Illusions to come over to her so they can quietly discuss all the dirt they dug up about a certain Siren.

“Alright girls, what did you two found out?” Trixie asked in her hushed voice.

Lavender Lace glanced cautiously at Mr. Cranky Doodle before she leaned towards Trixie. “I followed that girl as you requested and she’s at the library!” she whispered.

Trixie furrowed her brows with a disappointing frown. “That doesn’t sound useful at all.”

“But here’s the kicker,” Lavender Lace added. “She was hanging out with that blonde ditzy girl.”

Trixie blinked. “The one with the crossed-eyes?”

“That’s the one!”

“…what about her?”

“That Siren had that girl read the first page to her over and over and the Siren repeated them every time!”

“…Interesting,” Trixie mumbled quietly before she shifts her focus to the second member of the Illustions. “What about you?”

Fuchsia Blush smirked. “It wasn’t easy, but I managed to snatched these from those other two Sirens after I “bumped” into them.”

She took out two papers that she stole from her pocket and handed them over to Trixie.

“Nice work!” she praised quietly before taking out two assignment papers from her own pocket that she took from Sonata. “Now let’s see…”

Trixie placed four papers on her desk; two of Sonata’s reading assignments on the left side and two school works from each of the siren’s sisters on the right side. Trixie carefully looked over the papers between two sides, specifically the writing styles on each paper. After a full two-minute comparison, her hunch was correct.

The writing styles between the four papers… were identical.

“Well well well… It looks like that the Siren turned out to be a dirty cheater!” said Trixie with a low chuckle before her face formed into her most sinister grin. “This is all turning out wonderfully! Because Trixie already has a plan that will surely crush that good for nothing Siren once and for all!”

Author's Note

Watch out Sonata! Trixie is onto you! :pinkiegasp:

Sonata's Downfall

It was late Friday afternoon after school hours and almost every student showed up in CHS auditorium. Today is the day that Sonata is going to read the first page of the book that Trixie picked out and she was going to prove herself that she can learn to read. Because of Trixie spreading the word yesterday about Sonata’s upcoming performance, the entire auditorium was overcrowded as a result.

Somehow, Sonata’s live reading attracted more people in one place than almost all of the weekend football event games in this school combined. The auditorium was so full, some of the students had to stand from the sidelines because the seats were already taken. Luckily, the Rainbooms and two Dazzlings had already reserved their seats at the front row, but were still shocked nonetheless after they first walked into the room and saw many people in one area.

“Wowie Zowie! That’s a lot of people!” Pinkie exclaimed with her awe expression.

Rainbow shook her head. “Jeez, I knew that that there’s going to be some people coming here to see Sonata reading today, but I didn’t think everyone is going to be here!”

Applejack shrugged. “Well that’s Trixie for ya, when it comes to her, she has a way to bring in a crowd!”

“Oh dear, I hope the crowd doesn’t scare Sonata away!” said Fluttershy with her concern expression before looking down. “I would be scared too if I’m in Sonata’s shoes.”

“Speaking of which, has anyone seen Sonata?” Sunset asked as she looked around the auditorium.

“Here I am guys!”

They all turn to the sound of Sonata’s bubbly voice, only for their eyes widened in shock when they saw the outfit of Sonata’s choice. Sonata was wearing her usual outfit, except she also had some kind of long red cape around her neck and shoulders, which looked like it was actually a shower curtain and triangle hat made of newspaper. She was also wearing rounded pink glasses with no glass in them and she had some kind of plastic wooden pipe in her mouth, but it only blow out bubbles.

Before Pinkie could ask Sonata if she could try out that bubble pipe, Rarity spoke up. “Goodness! What the heck are you wearing Darling?!” Rarity asked, appalled by Sonata’s outfit.

Sonata looked down on herself before giving Rarity her proud grin. “Oh this? This is my reading outfit. I want to be presentable for my presentation, so I made it myself!”

Rarity left eye twitched. “But… I could’ve made you one Darling… a far better one mind you! I wouldn’t mind!”

Sonata shook her head. “I appreciate it Rarity, but this is something I had to do on my own, including making my own outfit!”

Before Rarity could argue further, she was interrupted by a new voice.

“Just save it Rarity, or else you’ll be arguing with her about this for hours!”

They all turned just in time to see Sonata’s two sisters entering the auditorium and walked up towards them.

“Oh! Adagio, Aria!” said Sunset. “You’re here to see Sonata too?”

Adagio smirked. “Of course! As insane as this bet was that Sonata dragged herself into, we’ll both give her our most support!”

“I’m just here to see how she’s gonna screw this up!” Aria added bluntly. She then noticed from the corner of her eye that Adagio was glaring at her. “What? You’re thinking the same thing too!”

Rarity rolled her eyes before facing Sonata. “Okay, Aria’s rude remark aside, we’re here to support you too Darling!”

Sonata beamed. “Thanks you guys! You girls are the best!”

Sunset frowned. “Are you sure you still want to do this?”

“Yeah Siren! Are you still going though with this?”

They all turned at the sound of the voice to see Trixie and the Illusions, standing in front of them. Trixie then crossed her arm and gave Sonata her smirk.

“You know, it’s not too late to back out now so you can save yourself from humiliation!”

Sonata stepped forward towards Trixie and glared at her. “No way I’m backing out now! I’m gonna prove myself once and for all that I can read and you’ll have to get me some tacos!”

“And apology?” Applejack interjected.

“Yeah, that too!”

The former Siren and the young magician were glaring at each other as if they dared one another to make the first move. After a moment of tense silence, Trixie suddenly dropped her glare and then shrugged.

“Alright then,” she said calmly as she walked away from the group and headed up the stage. “I’ll see you up on stage.”

Everyone stared at Trixie’s departing back for a moment before they all turned and looked at each other with their own confused expressions. Finally, it was Twilight who broke their stunned silence.

“That’s strange,” Twilight muttered. “I thought for sure that Trixie is going to give Sonata some insults or discouraging her from reading live. Instead, she seemed… laid back.”

“Forget her Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Once Sonata reads that page, she’ll finally put that blowhard in her place!”

“You’re right Rainbow!” said Sonata with her determined expression. “I think it’s time I made my debut to the crowd!”

Rainbow grinned. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Rarity gently took the bubble-pipe out of Sonata's mouth. "Lose the pipe Darling. Trust me... it's better that way!"

Sonata nodded, despite that she had a pout expression on her face.

“Whelp, whenever yer ready, we’ll be by the front row seats, cheerin’ you on,” said Applejack with a tip of her hat.

“Aaaaand once this is over. I’ll throw you my “Congratulations on Winning the Bet and Learn How to Read” party as a celebration!” Pinkie added with her over excited expression.

As everyone nodded in agreement, Sonata felt her heart all warmed up from the support of her dear friends.

“Thank you girls!” she said softly with her appreciative smile. “I see you all shortly!”

As Sonata made her way to the stage, everyone was heading to the front seats, except for Sunset. Like Twilight, she also felt that something wasn’t right the way Trixie talked to Sonata like that. The boasting magician’s been insulting Sonata for weeks about being illiterate and insisted that Sonata will lose the bet. But today, Trixie didn’t do any of that. Instead, she just backed off and calmly walked away. Sunset may felt like she’s worrying for nothing, but she had a sinking feeling that Trixie may be up to something.

Just as Sonata was halfway up the stairs to the stage, Sunset called out to her.

“Sonata!”

When Sunset got Sonata’s attention, Sunset was about to speak up about Trixie, but she didn’t. Perhaps she was just overthinking this. Maybe Trixie decided to back off because she knew that she couldn’t mess with Sonata when Sonata got all of her friends with her, unless Trixie was waiting for Sonata to chock on her presentation. Whatever the case, Sunset felt that it was probably for the best to not worry Sonata further before her time on stage.

Sunset quickly shook her head and flashed Sonata her encouraging smile.

“Good luck!”

Sonata smiled back before she continued up the stairs while Sunset heading to the front row to join her friends. Even after Sunset found her seat in the middle section of the front row, everyone was still waiting for the show to start for a long time, to the point that both Rainbow and Aria nearly dozed off out of boredom. Finally, after fifteen minutes of waiting, a huge smoke set off in the middle of the stage, revealing Trixie in her magician outfit, while standing next to the microphone stand.

“Come one, come all! Come and witness the opening act of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announced proudly as the two Illusionists threw some sparkle dust in the air, further emphasizing Trixie’s presence.

Unfortunately for Trixie, the entire crowd wasn’t impressed with her flashy appearance. They all had a mixture of flat and bored expressions on each of their faces. There was a long tense silence from the audience until both Aria and Rainbow Dash loudly cried out from the front row; bluntly stating what was on everyone’s minds.

“You suck!”

“Get off the stage!”

Trixie loudly growled out both in frustration and anger from her rival’s words and lack of response from the audience.

“Fine! Then you won’t get to witness Trixie’s magic today!” she latched out, before calming herself somewhat and continued her showmanship. “But… you will get to witness someone, who quite recently, revealed herself to be illiterate, reading the first page of the most classic, yet challenging book, A Tale of Two Cities! She spent weeks of learning just to prove herself to everyone once and for all that she is able to read! …Doubt it! Give it up for our young Siren… Sonata Dusk!”

This time, the crowd cheered loudly as Sonata slyly peaked out from the curtain, only to get shoved out by one of the Illusions. Once she got her bearings and slightly composed herself, Sonata made her way to the middle of the stage where Trixie was waiting for her.

Sonata gave Trixie her cheery smile. “Nice introduction Bixie!”

“…thanks,” Trixie responded flatly before handing the microphone over to Sonata. “Good luck!” As Trixie walked away from Sonata, she softly muttered to herself that Sonata couldn’t hear. “…you’re going to need it!”

Once Sonata received her microphone, she turned to face the audience, who were watching her with interest. She gulped nervously as her hands staring to feel clammy as she seen how many people showed up to see her. For a split moment, she thought about running off the stage but the motivation of getting free tacos and seeing her friends giving her their supporting smiles kept her in place. She cleared her throat before giving everyone her awkward smile.

“Um… hi everyone! M-my name is Sonata Dusk… well… I-I’m sure you all already knew that,” she weakly chuckled somewhat at her weak humor. When no one laughed along, she cleared her throat again. “Um… t-today… I-I’m going to read to you all the first page of this book: A Tale of Two Cities!”

The crowd started cheering again as Pinkie Pie held up her banner that said ‘GO SONATA’ on it. Sonata chuckled at the audience reactions.

“Wow! Lively crowd tonight!” Sonata then picked up her book and opened it. “Okay, here goes!”

She flipped through a few pages until she found a spotted the page she was looking for. While she wasn’t familiar with any of the words, but she did remember what page number the first page of the story supposed to be. Hoping that she remembered all the words that she practiced with the muffin-loving girl yesterday, she began to “read” the page.

“It was the best of times… it was the worse of times.”

Everyone from the audience ceased their cheering and then they quietly listened in on Sonata’s reading voice.

“It was the age of wisdom… it was the age of foolishness.”

The Rainbooms, especially Sunset, smiled proudly at their friend as Sonata continued to read the page from the stage.

“It was the season of Light… it was the season of Darkness.”

Adagio smiled at Sonata with pride while Aria’s stone expression remained unchanged but her eyes it up in surprise.

“It was the spring of hope… it was the winter of despair.”

The two Illusions scowled at Sonata from behind the curtain while Trixie just stared on with her unreadable expression.

“We had everything before us… we had nothing before us.”

Once Sonata concluded her “reading”, the audience stared at Sonata with their awe expressions before they all erupted to their thunderous cheers and applause. The gang got up from their seats and quickly ran up the stage to Sonata. Sunset reached to Sonata first and gave her a big hug.

“You did it Sonata!” Sunset praised.

“That was amazing!” said Twilight with excitement.

“You’re awesome!” Rainbow whooped.

“We’re so proud of you!” Fluttershy said happily.

“Very professional!” Rarity added with her proud smile.

“Yee-haw! You were great!” Applejack cried.

“Best… reading… EVER!” Pinkie cheered loudly.

Adagio slowly walked over to Sonata and placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder with her beaming smile.

“You did well Sonata.”

Everyone then turned to see the only one who hasn’t said anything to Sonata yet, staring at her expectedly. Aria noticed them and looked away with a scoff before muttering in her semi-soft tone.

“Alright I’ll admit… you did good Sonata.”

Sonata smiled widely while keeping her tears at bay. “Thanks girls.”

Their moment was interrupted when they heard loud slow claps behind them. They turned to see that it was Trixie who was slow clapping them while the Illusions were just standing behind her with their arms crossed.

“Oh yes… well done Siren!” Trixie said with a smirk.

The girls scowled at Trixie while Sonata had a deep frown on her face.

“Back off Trixie! Sonata completed your stupid bet! So now you have to do your end of the bargain!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“That’s right Bixie!” Sonata added. “And I do believe you owe me some tacos.”

Applejack turned to Sonata with her cocked eyebrow. “What about your apology?”

Sonata blinked. “Oh… that too, but also tacos!”

Trixie chuckled as she stopped clapping and slowly walked towards them. “Oh no. You got it all wrong girls! Trixie’s not insulting the Si— I mean… Sonata at all! In fact, Trixie is genuinely amazed with your performance!”

Sonata blinked in surprise while the rest of the girls had skeptic frowns on their faces.

“Y-you were?” Sonata asked.

“Oh yes,” Trixie replied. She then wrapped her arm around Sonata’s shoulder while putting on her sweet smile. “Well, not as amazing as the great and powerful Trixie, but it was still amazing that you managed to learn how to read in such a short time. You certainly proved Trixie wrong when she said you’re not capable in learning!”

While the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings looked at each other in confusion with Trixie’s odd behavior, Sonata had a huge smile on her face.

“Wow… that’s the nicest thing you ever said to me Bixie! Thanks!”

“Yeah yeah you’re welcome,” Trixie said nonchalantly. “Now can Trixie have her book back now?”

“Oh sure!” Sonata chirped as she handed Trixie’s book back to Trixie.

With her book back in her possession, Trixie walked away from Sonata and made her way towards the Illusions.

“Now hold on there Trixie, you still owe Sonata an apology!” Applejack called out.

“You’re right, I should do that right now,” said Trixie with her back towards them as she stood by one of the Illusions. She then suddenly turned around and made her way back to Sonata with her book behind her back. “Actually… before she does so, let Trixie say that you really inspired Trixie!”

Sonata’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really really!” Once she reached over to Sonata, she placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder with her left hand while keeping her book behind her back with her right hand. “Because you are such a professional reader now, Trixie would like to hear you read that page… one more time!”

“Wait!” Twilight exclaimed in confusion. “You want her to read again?”

“Absolutely!” Trixie answered. She took the microphone out of Sonata’s hand and then loudly addressed to the crowd. “Does everybody want to hear Sonata read the first page again?”

Everyone in the audience cheered loudly in approval. Trixie handed the mic back to Sonata with a smirk.

“There you have it Sonata! The people have spoken!”

It was at this point, several alarms were ringing in Sunset’s mind. Something was clearly not right with Trixie’s behavior. Trixie can be nice to people when she wanted to, but she’s laying her niceness and complements to Sonata a little too thick. And why would Trixie wanted Sonata to read the first page of the book again when one time was more than enough? Sunset was sensing that there could be some kind of setup against Sonata.

“Hang on a second!” Sunset spoke up. “Why are you making Sonata read the same page aga—”

“Wow! I didn’t think my reading was that inspiring!” Sonata said happily. “I’ll be happy to read it again Bixie!”

Sonata then took the book back from Trixie and faced the crowd, while failing to see Trixie’s sudden sinister smirk. Before Sunset could stop Sonata, Sonata already found the page and began to “read” again.

“It was the best of times, it was the worse of—”

“A-HA!” Trixie cried suddenly, starling Sonata and everyone else in the process. “Trixie knew it! You can’t read at all!”

“Wha— what are you talking about?” Sonata asked both uneasily and frightened tone.

Trixie smirked further. “Care to read the title of that book you are holding now?”

As Sonata looked at the book cover in confusion, it was Twilight who finally noticed a different title on the book.

“Hey is that—” Twilight words were cut off when Fuchsia Blush covered Twilight’s mouth, preventing her from speaking.

“Well… duh!” said Sonata, trying to build up some confidence. “This book clearly said: A Tale of Two Cities… right?”

The whole auditorium was in silence as everyone except for Trixie and the Illusions stared at Sonata out of shock and confusion. Sonata began to feel uneasy from the way her friends and sisters were staring at her.

“W-why is everyone looking at me like that?”

“That’s not the book you twit!” Trixie chuckled evilly. She snapped her fingers, causing Lavender Lace to walked over to her. Lavender then handed Trixie over the real A Tale of Two Cities book to Trixie. Trixie then held a book up for everyone to see. “This is!”

“…wha?”

Sonata looked down at the book she was holding very carefully this time. It was then that she realized that although the color scheme of the book she has was similar to Trixie, the letters of the title of the book looked very different. While Sonata couldn’t read the title of her new book, instead of A Tale of Two Cities, it was actually called War and Peace. Sonata was confused about how she ended up with a different book for a moment, until it finally hit her when she remembered when Trixie’s actions from earlier. After she gave the book to Trixie, Trixie must have switched the book with another one from one of the Illusions and than gave this book to her without her knowing. It was all just a ploy to get her to expose her tricks in front of everyone, including her friends… and she fell for it!

“You… you switched the book!” Sonata accused angrily. “You tricked me!”

“Tricked you?” Trixie retorted with a scoff. “You did this to yourself Siren! You were acting very suspicious at the cafeteria the other day, so I had one of my girls to follow you to the library. She saw that you had someone else reading the book to you multiple times while you repeating it back to her loudly.” Trixie then pointed accusingly at Sonata. “Trixie had a hunch of what you were doing and this confirmed it! You memorized the first page of this book, didn’t ya, didn’t ya?”

Sunset turned to Sonata with a pleading look. “Sonata… is this true?”

“I…”

Sonata looked at each of her friends and her sisters who were staring at her expectedly, pleading for answers from her. Knowing that she was caught and couldn’t lie to them anymore, she looked down and sighed resignedly.

“…yes.”

Everyone gasped in horror from Sonata’s revelation.

“Sonata… Say it ain’t so!” Pinkie cried while grabbing both of her cheeks with hurt in her eyes.

Shaking out of her shocked stated, Sunset asked Sonata with a very hurtful tone. “But… what about all the assignments you’ve done Sonata? I thought you learn how to read by now?”

“Funny you should say that Shimmer!” Trixie interjected, while enjoying the reactions from her rivals. “Trixie hopes you don’t mind, but Trixie borrowed your assignments!”

Trixie took out Sonata’s written worksheets from her pocket that she stole from Sonata yesterday and held them up for everyone to see.

“Hey! Why did you have that?” Sunset demanded, appalled that Trixie stole those sheets from Sonata.

Trixie smirked. “So I can compare them with these!”

With another snap of her fingers, Fuchsia Blush gave Trixie two more papers that they took from another certain two Sirens from the hallway yesterday much to Sonata’s horror. Once Trixie held them up too, the two elder Sirens recognized them right away.

“Hey is that—”

“So that’s what happened to my homework! Why you—”

“I would watch your tone if I was you!” Trixie injected with narrowed eyes, shutting the two sisters up. “After all… you two played a big role to your sister’s assignments!”

As both Adagio and Aria eyes were widened in realization, Trixie’s words angered Sunset further. “What are you talking about Trixie?”

“Just take a look for yourself, Shimmer!” Trixie mocked as she handed the papers over to Sunset.

With a scoff, Sunset snatched the papers from Trixie and began to look them over. Meanwhile, Sonata was shaking real badly as everything she did secretly was about to be revealed. She was about to stop Sunset, but was blocked by Lavender and Fuchsia with cruel smirks on their faces. Sunset looked the papers between Sonata’s assignments and Adagio's and Aria's homework very carefully for couple of minutes until she felt her heart stop when she finally noticed a very crucial detail that Sunset didn’t noticed all this time.

“T-these papers!” Sunset stuttered. “The written scriptures between these papers—”

“Matched? Indeed they are!” said Trixie with her head up, feeling proud of herself. “That Siren had her sisters do the work for her and then take all the credit!”

Sunset turned to the two sisters in question with a demanding look. “Adagio! Aria! …is this true?”

Both the elder Sirens had an uneasy looks before they finally answered.

“…she did,” Adagio confirmed. “But she told me that her work was ruined and need help fill them in before school. And uh… she offered to do clothes shopping for me in return.”

“And she bribed me a rare video game in exchange to complete all of her stupid worksheets!” Aria said bluntly, only to received glares from the other girls. “Hey, don’t judge me!”

Trixie crossed her arms and gave Sunset her arrogant smirk. “Let’s face it Shimmer, that Siren friend of yours is nothing… but a fraud!”

The moment Trixie said these words, everyone in the audience were loudly booing at Sonata along with some jeers and insults thrown at her. Feeling cheated by the young Siren, everyone in the audience stood up from their seats and then they walked out the auditorium one at a time, glaring at Sonata the whole way. As everyone was leaving the auditorium, Sunset along with the Rainbooms and two Dazzlings giving Sonata their angry and hurtful looks.

“I don’t believe this! You were cheating this whole time!” Sunset shouted angrily in disbelief.

Sonata wilted. “Well I—”

“All this time,” she growled. “I actually thought that my method worked and was helping you… and you were lying to me this whole time!”

“You were just doing this for the tacos, weren’t you!” Twilight added with disapproval.

“…I—”

“It’s bad enough that you lied, but cheating? That’s just shameful!” Applejack spat.

“Yeah! That’s lame even for you Sonata!” Rainbow shouted angrily.

“…I—”

“Sonata… how could you!?” Fluttershy cried on the verge to tears.

“I can’t believe I was putting together a “Congratulations on Winning the Bet and Learn How to Read” party, only to find out that my best friend is a cheater!” Pinkie exclaimed with a mixture of anger and sadness.

“…I—”

“I hope you’re proud of yourself Sonata! Do you even care about our feelings at all?” Rarity scolded with a deep frown.

“Especially that you used me and Aria to do your bidding?” Adagio added with a disappointed look. “Even I don’t do that!”

“…I—”

As everyone was walking away from Sonata without a second glimpse, Aria stood in front of Sonata with a deep scowl on her face.

“Sonata… you really are the worse!”

Sonata felt her heart split in two with tears running down her face as Aria abruptly turned and walked away from her and out the side exit door to join the others. While Sonata was deep in her sadness, she didn’t noticed that everyone is the audience was gone, nor she didn’t noticed that Trixie and the Illusions had a gleeful victorious smirks on their faces. As the Illusions were walking out of the auditorium, Trixie walked up to the defeated Siren with a smug look and leaned over to Sonata’s ear.

“Looks like Trixie’s job is done!” she whispered. “Enjoy your new title of being the stupidest person in school loser!”

And with that, Trixie walked away from Sonata and disappeared out through the side exit door and into the hallway, leaving Sonata alone, sobbing in the middle of the stage in an empty auditorium.

Author's Note

...not gonna lie, my heart was broken as I was writing this. Poor Sonata! :fluttercry:

Stay tuned!

Sonata's Lament

Sonata had never felt so miserable in her whole life. After a couple of hours of crying alone in the auditorium, she dragged herself back home after the janitor kicked her out of school. Her sisters weren’t around waiting for her for dinner but Sonata wasn’t in the mood to eat anyway and go straight to bed. The next day wasn’t any better for her. Her sisters were only around briefly, giving Sonata their cold shoulders and angry glares before they left for school. Sonata remained in her spot on the table, staring at her untouched cereal, which were soggy at this point.

Normally, Sonata would be rushing out the door to keep up with her sisters, but she didn’t want to deal with spending ten minutes of painful silence from her sisters. Even if she decided to keep up and dealing with her sisters’ silence, Sonata would end up suffering some more from the torments and jeers from other students from the stunt she pulled. And worse of all, her friends will give her disapproving glares or not speak to her, all because she betrayed their trust for her own selfish goals. The thought of that hurt her further, so she silently decided to not to go to school today… or possibly forever.

She sighed dejectedly as she slowly got up from her chair, leaving her untouched cereal behind and headed to her bedroom to change. After she put on her usual outfit, Sonata left her apartment and walked down the streets of Canterlot. Sonata likes to take walks sometimes to help her think. Since she has nowhere to go and no one to talk to at the moment, she hopes that her walk will help her think about her situation.

After an hour of walking, Sonata ended up in the city area of Canterlot. Despite all of that, Sonata was still in her somber mood. Even the smell of tacos from the nearby food stand wasn’t enough to bring herself out of her funk. In fact, she wasn’t even in the mood to have tacos for once since that’s how she’s in this situation in the first place. It would be quite some time before she ever has an appetite for them again.

Sonata let out a long sigh. No matter how far she walked, her thoughts were still lingered to two things: the fact that she’s a loser for not able to read and the angry and disappointed faces of her friends after she lied to them.

“Um… hey Missy?”

Sonata stopped walking and looked around for the source of the voice.

“Down here Missy!”

Sonata looked down and spotted a young girl, holding her UPad. She had yellow skin, purple eyes and purple hair with a short ponytail on her left side. She was wearing a white shirt with floral pattern on it with a light green jacket over it, maroon pants and pink shoes.

Sonata blinked. “Oh. Are you talking to me little one?”

The little girl titled her head. “Well… who else am I talking to?”

“…good point,” Sonata conceded. “What do you need?”

The little girl held her UPad to Sonata with the screen facing towards Sonata. “I couldn’t understand the directions on my map app. Can you read them for me?”

Sonata had an uneasy look on her face. “Uh…alright. Let’s see here...”

Sonata took the girl’s UPad and looked all over the digital map. Clearly, the map leads to somewhere and the map included written directions to get there, but she couldn’t make out any words or layout of the map itself. She grimaced at herself for being so useless to help the poor girl out due to her illiteracy. She also realized that if she haven’t given up and try to cheat her way to get tacos, she could’ve easily help out.

With a mournful sigh, Sonata handed the UPad back to the girl without looking at her in the eyes.

“I… I can’t! I can’t help you! I’m sorry!”

As Sonata abruptly walked away, the young girl cried out to her, drawing the onlookers attention in the process.

“You can’t? What do you mean ‘you can’t?’ Why won’t you help me? Can’t you read Missy? Can’t you read?”

Sonata kept on walking.

During the first period in one of CHS classrooms, each student was required to call out when their teachers mentioned their names as a daily morning routine of who was in the classroom/school today. Those who did not respond will officially be marked as absent. Cranky Doodle was marking off on his clipboard while announcing each of the names with his dull voice.

“Lyra Heartstrings?”

“Here!”

“Sweetie Drops?”

“Here!”

“Bulk Biceps?”

“YEAH!”

“Sonata Dusk?”

No response.

“Sonata?” Cranky called out again, looking up from his clipboard and surveyed the classroom.

He only spotted an empty desk where Sonata was supposed to be sitting. Cranky hummed at the sight before he shrugged and went back to his clipboard.

“Looks like she’s absent today,” he mumbled nonchalantly.

As Cranky Doodle continued his routine, Sunset Shimmer, who was sitting next to Sonata’s Desk, turned towards it with a worried frown. While she was still mad at Sonata for lying to her, she couldn’t help but to feel guilty for being way too harsh on Sonata. She felt that she and her friends might have chased her away without giving her time to speak. She tried texting Sonata earlier, but she received no response from Sonata. Desperately, Sunset made sure that Cranky Doodle back was towards her before she secretly sent both Adagio and Aria her text. Sunset hoped that any of Sonata sisters knew that Sonata was okay, if not…

…then she will have to gather up her friends to help her find Sonata after School.

It was early evening at the deep section of Canterlot City. Sonata was still walking down on the sidewalk in her glooming mood. She had lost track of how long she was walking, but she really doesn’t care, as long as the incident from yesterday and all the actions she did continued to haunt her. Even if she wanted to check the time, she realized that she left her phone behind back at her apartment. But since her friends and her sisters are still mad at her and not talking to her right now, she felt that this was probably for the best.

As she was walking past the newsstands, she spotted many people were standing around, reading newspapers, magazines and their phones. The sight of other people reading was a huge slap in her face. She wanted to get away from the problem, not to be reminded of the problem. She then quickly picked up the place, while trying to ignore the people who were reading.

However, when she rounded around the corner, she spotted many build boards and ads on the buildings, flashing words right in her face. While each ad had a simple message for selling their products or promote something, but to Sonata, she might as well be seeing scribbly lines. She couldn’t even read the street signs that were place on every corner of the street. If it weren’t the fact that she walked in this area before and was familiar with the area, she would’ve been lost.

Sonata let out a loud sigh. This won’t do for her at all. She needed to go somewhere where there is no words popping up in her face on every block. Thinking of one destination in mind, Sonata decided to head over there as fast as possible.

Canterlot City Park was always a lively place, especially at nighttime. There was usually a lot of people in the park during the day, but now there was only few people at this time. Despite that, Sonata noticed that the people in the park, much to her dismay, were also reading. Some people read their phones as they were walking or reading their phones, newspapers and novels while they were sitting on their own park benches. Sonata was convinced that someone from above her was punishing her for her actions.

Sonata sighed sadly as she sulked on one of the park’s benches with lamp post over her that she was sitting for hours. She hoped that just sitting in a quiet place like the park would help her relax and get away from it all for the time being. Instead, she felt more depressed than ever as many voices from various people played back in her mind like it was an endless record player.

“I actually thought that my method worked and was helping you… and you were lying to me this whole time!”

“You were just doing this for the tacos, weren’t you!”

“It’s bad enough that you lied, but cheating? That’s just shameful!”

“Yeah! That’s lame even for you Sonata!”

“Sonata… how could you!?”

“I can’t believe I was putting together a “Congratulations on Winning the Bet and Learn How to Read” party, only to find out that my best friend is a cheater!”

“I hope you’re proud of yourself Sonata! Do you even care about our feelings at all?”

“Especially that you used me and Aria to do your bidding? Even I don’t do that!”

“Sonata… you really are the worse!”

“Enjoy your new title of being the stupidest person in school loser!”

“Can’t you read Missy? Can’t you read? Read… read... read… read… read.”

Sonata shed out a tear. She couldn’t blame her friends or held against her tormentor words because she knew that they were right. In fact, she felt downright disgusted with herself for taking advantage of her friends and sisters trust. And all for what? To win some stupid bet against Trixie just to rub it in her face and to get free tacos? She originally wanted her friend’s help so they can help teach her to read. But because of her desire to win the bet, not wanting to disappoint her friends, and her greed for tacos got the best of her; she had lost her original motivation along the way.

She thought back to all the times she tried to assist others, only to make a mistake when she came across something that she was require to read. Suppose if her friends and her sisters wanted anything to do with her again, what if they do something fun that requires a lot of reading and then get left out? And what if they need her help for something really important, including saving the world that require reading but she was unable to do it? Her thoughts then went back to the poor little girl again, the same young girl that Sonata turned away from despite her pleas to help her read the map. Sonata still felt guilty about that. What if another lost kid walk up to her and ask for directions on the map too, only she is unable to help.

It was right then and there that Sonata didn’t want to be useless and feel sorry for herself anymore and it was time for her to make the change. Of course, she needed some help, but she knew that it wouldn’t be so easy. She may be a screw up and she messed up big time, but if she’s ever going to learn to read much more seriously this time, then she going to have to fix her mess first, by getting her friends and her sisters trust back.

With a determined look, Sonata got up from her bench and made her way over to her destination. She can only hope that she is willing to hear her out and give her another chance.

The gang was hanging around in Sunset’s apartment with worried frowns except for Aria who only had a look of indifference. Hours ago, Sunset fears were confirmed when both Adagio and Aria responded that they haven’t seen Sonata at school and hen later confirmed that Sonata wasn’t at home and couldn’t get ahold of her. Sunset then tried calling Sonata multiple times, but she only Sonata’s voicemail each and every time. Fearing for the worse, Sunset gathered up all of her friends including Adagio and Aria after school and then they had a search party (after spending the first five minutes explaining to Pinkie Pie that it wasn’t a literal party). After hours of searching, they all returned to Sunset’s apartment and they all reported that they couldn’t find their missing friend.

“So none of you guys have seen Sonata?” Sunset asked with a worried tone.

Applejack sadly shook her head. “I’m afraid we don’t Sugarcube. None of us have seen her since… yesterday.”

There was painful silence from within the room as they all remembered that it was revealed that Sonata has been cheating and how they reacted towards her afterwards. While their anger was justified at the time, but after looking back, they all couldn’t help but feel guilty for shunting Sonata away like that and gave her the cold shoulder. Sunset herself felt horrible for letting her anger get the best of her again and just let Sonata suffer after the way Trixie exposed Sonata. If anything happened to Sonata, she couldn’t forgive herself.

Seeing her girlfriend in so much distressed, Twilight softly placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry Sunset, we’ll find her. We were probably looking in the wrong area.”

“But what other places could there be?” Sunset asked. “We looked everywhere, especially every single Mexican restaurants and food stands we could think of! For all we know, she may not be in town anymore!”

“Do you girls think… something happened to her?” Fluttershy spoke up in her frighten tone.

No one spoke up, afraid of answering Fluttershy’s question. After a long pause, Applejack decided to take the wheel.

“Okay, let’s all try to think this calmly in order to find our friend.” She then turned to Adagio. “When was the last time you and your sisters saw Sonata?”

“The last we seen her was this morning, just sitting on the table staring at her cereal with her mopey frown,” Adagio responded.

“That sounds like Sonata was very upset from yesterday,” said Twilight. “Did any of you girls talked to her?”

Before Adagio answered, Aria scoffed with an angry expression. “Why should we care? That cheater practically used us for her own benefit!”

“Like your one to talk!” Rainbow exclaimed accusingly. “You two practically helped her cheat! Didn’t you helped her because of some stupid video game?”

Aria growled venomously and slammed her fist on the table, nearly startled everyone. “Hey, back off Rainbow Freak! Yes, we’ve helped her for our own selfish way, but that idiot never mentioned to us that she’s going to take all the credit! She’s lucky that she’s related to us!”

“That still doesn’t excuse that you’re are just as bad you hypocrite!” Rainbow snapped.

“I’m a hypocrite!?” Aria screamed. “Then why did you left her behind Ms. Loyalty?”

“Then why did you leave her behind Ms. Worse-Sister-in-the-Universe!” Rainbow shot back.

“Why you—”

Aria made her way over to Rainbow to give Rainbow her ‘a piece of mind’, only to be blocked by Rarity.

“STOP STOP BOTH OF YOU!” Rarity shouted before shooting both Aria and Rainbow her disapproving glare. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves! This is certainly not the time to put the blame on anyone! Right now, Sonata is missing and we don’t know where she is! For all we know, Sonata could be all alone out there!”

Aria grunted in frustration while Rainbow Dash looked down in shame.

Pinkie, with her hair all flat and straight, let out her sad whimper. “Poor Nata. I should’ve have left her behind! Even if she cheated, I shouldn’t have made her cry like that.”

“We were just as upset and angry at her as you are Sugarcube,” Applejack spoke up. “What Sonata did was wrong, but she’s still our friend. This won’t be enough to stop us bein’ friends with her.”

“I bet that’s what Trixie was counting on!” Rainbow spat as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.

“We’ll deal with her later Rainbow,” said Sunset before letting out her somber sigh. “I just want to make sure that she is okay and then talk to her about it… if we can find her.”

Before anyone respond to Sunset, they suddenly heard a doorbell from Sunset’s front door. With her one eyebrow raised, Adagio turned to Sunset.

“Are you expecting any more visitors Miss Shimmer?” Adagio asked.

Sunset look at Adagio quizzingly. “Uh…no. I wonder who could that be.”

Sunset made her way over to her front door and opened it, then let out her surprised gasp.

“Sonata!”

Sonata looked back at Sunset with a nervous gulp before she slightly looked away and held her left arm.

“Um… hey Sunset…I—”

Sonata didn’t get a chance to speak as Sunset pulled her inside and wrapped her into a tight hug much to Sonata’s shock. Sonata was surprised further when she noticed her friends were there too and they rush over and wrapped her into a group hug. Even Adagio came over to try to hug Sonata despite everyone else taking her spot. The only one who didn’t join in was Aria, who just looked away with a scoff. But if one would notice, they could see her lips were barely trembling with emotion. Sonata wasn’t sure what was going on or why the girls made a one-eighty after they were furious with her the other day, but she didn’t care. She happily hugged Sunset and the others back, savoring the warmth and happiness for the first time since yesterday.

After a few long minutes, Sunset pulled back and gave Sonata her demanding look with her wet eyes.

“Don’t you ever scare us like that!” Sunset exclaimed. “Where were you?”

Sonata stared back in shock. “Y…you guys aren’t mad at me anymore? Don’t you guys hate me?”

Sunset was taken back by Sonata’s question. “Hate you? Of course we don’t hate you! Granted, we’re still kinda mad and… very disappointed in your actions, but that won’t make us hate you.”

Everyone but Aria nodded in agreement with smiles on their faces.

Sonata smiled in happiness, glad that her friends are still with her despite her horrible deeds. However, her smile melted away when she remembered her reason of seeing Sunset. She wasn’t expecting to see all her friends in one place and she knew she was about to open up a whole can of worms, but if she is ever going to move herself forward then she might as well get it over with.

With a sigh, Sonata stepped away from Sunset and the others and then she addressed everyone in the most calming, yet very clear tone.

“I want to read.”

The girls blinked from Sonata’s statement.

“What?” Sunset uttered, not sure if she and the others heard her right.

“I want… to read,” Sonata repeated slowly.

Silence was met from the group. They all turned and looked at each other with mixtures between unsure and skeptical expressions; in Aria’s case, she had a deep scowl on her face. While they were willing to help Sonata out once before to solve her illiterate problem, but after what happened yesterday, they were having doubts. Finally, it was Sunset who spoke up for the group.

“No disrespect Sonata, but the last time you said that… you didn’t mean it.”

“That was then, this is now,” Sonata responded.

Sunset sighed. “Sonata… I…I don’t know abou—”

“Listen,” Sonata spoke softly. “I know what I did… was terrible… and wrong. I shouldn’t have lied and abused all of your trust like that. Yes… I did it for the tacos, but… I also didn’t want to disappoint you guys; especially you Sunset that I had a hard time with the worksheets after you all put so much faith onto me. Even if you guys will never forgive me… I wanted to say that I’m sorry for deceiving you all.”

Sonata then turned away from the group and walked over to Sunset’s window and let out a somber sigh.

“I know I have a lot to make up for to earn all of your trust back… but I still wanted to try again. Not for Bixie’s stupid bet, not for the School, not even for tacos. Just… for me.” Sonata then turned to face her friends again. “If I can read, I can pass the pepper during our get together dinners without making any pathetic excuses.”

Sonata turned to Pinkie. “I wanted to read so I can help Pinkie read the recipes from the baking books.”

Pinkie smiled at Sonata’s words as her hair went back to her usual poofy state.

Sonata turned to Applejack. “I wanted to read so I can help Applejack adding soil on her farm without taking the fertilizer by mistake.”

Applejack’s skeptic frown melted away from Sonata’s dedication.

Sonata turned to Twilight. “I wanted to read so I can help Twilight with her science experiment without blowing anything up.”

Twilight formed a small smile both out of Sonata wanting to fix things and out of amusement from the memory.

Sonata turned to Rarity. “I wanted to read so I can help make a dress properly with Rarity.”

Rarity’s eyes soften at Sonata’s willingness to fix her mistake.

Sonata turned to Fluttershy. “I wanted to read so I can help Fluttershy feed all of her animals with the correct type of food.”

Fluttershy nearly shed a tear from Sonata’s thoughtfulness.

Sonata turned to Rainbow. “I wanted to read so I can help Rainbow Dash to put the sport stuff to their right displays.”

Rainbow’s tough demeanor dimmed when Sonata was willing to make things right.

Sonata turned to Sunset. “I wanted to read so I can sign my name on a birthday card for Sunset to pass along.”

Sunset felt her heart out for Sonata for wanting to go so far to make up to her.

Sonata turned to her sisters. “I wanted to read so that my sisters will actually be proud of me for once instead of being their disappointment.”

Adagio eyes widen in surprise before frowned in guilt for not always giving Sonata their affection. Even Aria, despite not showing her emotions, felt guilty for always giving Sonata a hard time.

Sonata then looked down. “And I wanted to read… so I can actually help someone, including reading some map so I can help the lost little girl find her way home.”

Sonata then went down on her knees and looked up to Sunset in her begging pose.

“Please girls… please Sunset… help me,” Sonata pleaded emotionally. “Help me learn to read again… and I promise that I won’t let you all down again.”

After Sonata’s heartfelt words, everyone moved into a huddle to silently discuss about Sonata. Sonata, who was still on the ground, felt agonizing as she waited for their final judgment and hoping that they agree to help her again. Even if they refuse to help her, then Sonata wouldn’t blame them.

After what it felt like forever, they broke out of their huddle and Sunset walked up to Sonata with an expressionless look. Sonata inwardly gulped, as her heart were beating rapidly like a drum with anticipation. When Sunset reached Sonata, she didn’t say anything for a moment longer before she finally spoke up.

“You’re right Sonata. What you did… was awful. And you hurt us a lot.”

Sonata looked down in guilt and in sadness, believing that they were not going to help her after all and was probably going to tell her to get loss.

“…but.”

Sonata’s ears perked up and looked back up at Sunset with hope.

“I understand what it’s like to not want to let anyone down.” Sunset let out her small smile. “On behalf of everyone here… we forgive you… and we’ll give you another chance.”

Everyone else (including Aria) all smiled and nodded in union, some even stuck out their thumbs at her with reassurance that all is forgiven.

Sonata barely burst into tears as let out her huge smile. “Oh Sunset… girls! Thank you so mu—”

Her words were cut short when Sunset held her hand up with a stern expression and then raised her three fingers.

“Under three conditions!”

Sonata realized that despite that they have forgiven her, she still got a long way to go to make up to her friends. Still, it was a start.

Sonata nodded. “Oh… okay, what are your conditions?”

Sunset put down her two fingers except for her pointer finger as she listed her conditions.

“One: while you continue to use my worksheets, we will try to find another method that will help you learn to read.”

Sunset then raised her second finger.

“Two: I’ll see if I can lend you the easier versions of my worksheets, but you have to do it yourself! And if you’re struggling, we’ll go over it together the next time we’ll meet up.”

Sunset then raised her third finger.

“And three: if you had any trouble or couldn’t answer the question, don’t lie to me or to any of us! Be honest! Don’t be afraid of disappointing me if you messed up or not understanding the question. We will do our best to help you. Remember, you are not doing this for us, you are doing this for yourself!”

Sunset put down all three of her fingers and crossed her arms. “Do you understand?”

Sonata nodded without any hesitation. “I understand.”

Sunset still had a stern expression before breaking out into a grin. “Good.”

Sunset reached down her hand to Sonata and then pulled Sonata back up after Sonata grabbed her hand. Sunset then gave Sonata her warm expression.

“Now let’s get started!”

Author's Note

And with that, the girls forgave Sonata. What will happen next.

Find out... next time!

Sonata's High Stakes

Early the next morning at the Dazzlings apartment, the three sisters were already up doing their usual morning routine before heading for school. While the two elder Sirens were at the kitchen, Sonata still lingered in her bedroom, staring at her mirror. Sonata was already dressed for school a half hour ago and way ahead of her sisters, but the reason she remained in her room was because she couldn’t stop thinking about how everything went after her heartfelt apology and requested for another chance to her friends and sisters.

Sonata still couldn’t believe that not only her friends accepted her apology and willing to help out, but also that they still cared about her after everything she had done. Heck, she was almost convinced that it was all just a cruel dream, until Adagio came into her room to wake up with a small smile directly at her. That alone was enough to fill Sonata so much warmth and very happy that her friends have forgiven her. Although she still have a long way to go to truly earn their forgiveness, but if learning how to read the right was the only way to redeem herself, then she will gladly take it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Sonata? Are you ready for school or are you going to ditch it again?” said Adagio from the other side of the door.

“Oh… yeah I’m coming,” Sonata replied.

Sonata picked up her backpack from her bed, placed it on her back and walked out her bedroom. Shortly after that, she met up with her sisters to their kitchen. Adagio was almost done packing up her things for school while Aria was already by the front door with her back towards Sonata.

“Morning Aria!” Sonata chirped.

Aria only slightly turned her head and gave Sonata her one eye glare and scoffed. Without another word, Aria stepped outside and slammed the door behind her.

Sonata sighed sadly. While the Rainbooms and Adagio were not angry at her anymore, Aria was still the only one who still give Sonata the cold shoulder. Even after Sonata gave her an apology, Aria refused to speak to her. The thought that Aria would never forgive her hurts her more then anything.

Sonata hung her head. “She still hates me,” Sonata whispered.

Before Sonata could feel even more miserable, she felt a hand softly grasp her shoulder.

“Just give her time Sonata,” Adagio said softly with her sympathetic smile. “While she usually held a grudge longer than any of us, she will eventfully come around.”

Sonata wanted to believe that, but she doubted that it would ever happen. Anyone they met who would ever dare to cross Aria, not only would they get on Aria’s “bad side,” but she will also held a grudge. It took months for Aria to let go of her grudge towards the Rainbooms (somewhat) after the Battle of the Bands. But what Sonata had done to both Aria and Adagio was worse then the time the Rainbooms took away their magic. As much it pains her, but it would take a long time before Aria will ever forgive her.

Speaking of which, there was something she had in mind about the aftermath after Adagio forgave her. Even since this morning, Adagio… was actually nicer to her than she was before. While Sonata was happy that her eldest sister was now on speaking terms with her and that she was much more kinder then what she used to be, but she couldn’t help but noticed that Adagio also had a look of doubt and guilt from her eyes. While Sonata didn’t want to ruin the nice moment she have with Adagio, but if she wanted to make things right with her sisters, then she would have to know the truth.

Even if it hurts her.

“Hey Dagi?” Sonata spoke up softly with her uncertain look. “Do you… really forgive me for what I did?”

Adagio was taken back, not expecting that kind of question from her youngest sister. She was about to respond that there was noting to worry about, but the look in Sonata’s eyes told her that she really wanted to know her true feelings and if anything she could do to fix their relationship. With a low sigh, Adagio looked away from Sonata.

“What you did Sonata… really hurt me and Aria. Since day one, we pledge to work together and watch each other’s backs. After we found out that you used us just to further your own goals and keeping all the credit to the work that you never did, we both felt betrayed. I may be a despicable leader during our time of trying to conquer both Equestria and this world, but even I never thought of betraying you and Aria once!”

Her eyes were very intense as she spoke out in anger. Then, almost intently, her expression changed to a somber look and sighed.

“But, Aria and I were also at fault too for helping you cheat and… we rarely give you any of our encouragement and support of something you want to do. And the way that you pour your heart out to us that wanted to make it up for your mistakes and wanted to improve yourself from last night… I truly see that you meant every word. Even if you haven’t…”

Adagio turned and look at Sonata in the eyes while wearing her small smile. “Well… I never said this often, but you’re still my little sister and I always love you… and nothing will change that. So of course I forgave you.”

“…Dagi,” Sonata breathed with her lips trembling and her eyes were glossy.

Adagio frowned and looked away with a sigh. “But even though I forgave you, you still lost my trust from that day. It may take some time and for you to work hard before you earn it back. Do you understand?”

Sonata nodded. While she was glad that Adagio forgave her, but she still had to make everything up to Adagio, and hopefully with Aria too before she can fully earn their forgiveness.

“Hey!”

Sonata looked up again to see Adagio beaming down at her.

“Smile. A frown never suits you Sonata.”

Feeling hope that their relationship will truly repaired someday, Sonata did just that.

It was in the middle of the day within the cafeteria of CHS and Sonata walked into the room while carrying her lunch from a small brown lunch bag. She heard many whispers and glares from other students, but she ignored them as she was heading to her usual table with her friends. When she arrived, she was surprised that her sisters were there as well. She guessed that Adagio skipped her class just to check up on her. By the annoyed look and Aria’s face, she was probably dragged along by Adagio. She figured that she was still mad at her, but at least she stuck around so that’s something.

Sonata eventually reached to her seat and gave everyone her small smile. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Sonata,” Sunset replied back with a small smile of her own. “Everything okay with you today?”

Sonata nodded. “Okay so far. I received a few glares and teased by other students but… I’ve been though worse.”

Fluttershy had a sympathetic smile on her face. “Don’t worry, we still got your back Sonata, even if the whole world turned against you.”

Everyone but Aria nodded with Fluttershy with small smiles on their face.

“Do… you guys still mean it that you all still want to help me?” Sonata asked softly.

“Of course we are,” Rainbow responded before narrowing her eyes. “As long as you really are serious to try it again.”

“I am serious! For realsies!” Sonata replied instantly.

Rainbow smiled. “Then we won’t have a problem.”

Sonata smiled warmly. She truly felt lucky to have such wonderful friends by her side after everything had happened. She will never do anything to betray their trust ever again and will do everything in her power to become worthy in their eyes.

“Well well well. If it isn’t our dumbest person in the world!”

Sonata’s pupils shrunk and her heart stopped from that familiar voice. She turned to see Trixie, along with the Illusions with an arrogant smile on her face.

“B-Bixie!” Sonata squeaked in fear.

Trixie frowned and barley let out a growl. “First of all, it’s Trixie! Get it right!” She then calmed down somewhat and regained her arrogant attitude. “Second, Trixie is surprised that you decided to show your face here after that stunt you pulled! But even so, don’t think that Trixie forgets that you still have to honor our deal!”

With a snap of her fingers, one of the illusions took out a very long white cone with bold black letters that said “Dummy” in a vertical format.

Trixie smirked further. “We already made this hat just for you! Staring today, Trixie wants you to ware this thing everyday in school, marking you the title of the dumbest person in the world and you will tell Trixie that she is right that you are just too dumb to do anything!”

Before Sonata could say anything, Sunset spoke up with anger look on her face.

“Forget it Trixie! Sonata will not wear that or to tell you any of that garbage that you said!”

“Yeah! This is low Trixie, even for you!” Rainbow added.

Everyone also glared angrily at the magician for further mistreatment on their friend. Trixie and the Illusions stared back at them with their blank expressions.

“Why are you girls protecting this idiot?” Trixie asked. “Weren’t you all there when she confessed that she cheated and lied to all of you?”

“We were there and we’re still a little upset with her for what she had done, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop being friends with her and let you continue to bully her!” Twilight responded while the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

Trixie scoffed in annoyance. “Trixie will never understand you girls. But the fact remains, she lost and now she have to honor our deal.”

“Honor mah foot!” Applejack exclaimed. “You set this whole thang up just to make Sonata suffer!”

“Yeah, if I recall, you had the Illusions to spy on our deal friend and then tricked her to read a different book!” Rarity added.

“Not to mention, you stole the worksheets and both mine and Adagio’s papers just to make Sonata look bad for using us.” Aria growled before she crossed her arms and looked away. “Which I’m still mad at her for that just so you know!”

“Yeah, while Sonata had made a mistake, the real meanie pants behind here is you Trixie!” Pinkie shouted.

“So Trixie pretty much almost orchestrated the Siren’s demise, big whoop! That still doesn’t change the fact that Sonata agreed to read that book in front of everyone two days ago.”

“Not so fast Trixie!” Twilight interjected. “If I recall, Rainbow Dash was the one who hastily agreed to your terms to read on stage for her and not Sonata herself. Therefore, the agreement to read up on stage in front of the school was null and void!”

Everyone smiled at Twilight’s brilliant observation. They were even glad that Rainbow’s hotheaded decision worked in their favor for once. With this, Sonata will not have to go through Trixie’s terms to humiliate herself further. But their hopes were dashed the moment Trixie let out her wide smirk.

“Nice try Sparkle! But if Trixie recalled, Sonata agreed to do it anyway after Rainbow Crash. Now what were her words again? Oh yeah, that she ‘agreed on our deal and that she will follow through it?’”

Twilight silently cursed herself for missing that small detail. Sunset patted her girlfriend’s shoulder in comfort, letting her know that she appreciated for trying. Everyone else however were angered even further, both at Trixie’s cruelty and feeling helpless that they can’t save Sonata.

Rainbow Dash growled at Trixie with contempt. “You little—”

“Guys… it’s okay,” Sonata said softly, while trying to put on her brave face. “It was my own fault for falling into Bixie’s hands. And it was also my own fault that I cheated and used so much trickery that got me here. If becoming the world’s dumbest person is my penance, then so be it.”

While everyone looked at Sonata with sadness (frustrated in Aria’s case), Trixie was chuckling with glee.

“Glad that you are agreeing with Trixie,” said Trixie before pressing the hat to Sonata. “Now… put it on.”

Sonata’s brave face faltered as Trixie presented the hat in front of her. She noticed that many other students stopped and looked at her while whispering among themselves. Her sight lingered at the hat before looking up at Trixie who had a cruel smile on her face.

“We’re waiting…” Trixie sing-songed.

With some tears leaking from her eyes, Sonata reached for the hat with her shaky hands.

“How about double or nothing?”

Sonata stopped herself the moment Sunset Shimmer spoke up. Sunset’s words also caught attention to everyone around her including Trixie with a stunned look on her face.

“What was that?” Trixie asked in both frustration and confusion.

Sunset let out a long sigh and stared at Trixie with determined eyes. “What if we offer you double the bet… involving us?”

While the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings stared at Sunset both with confusion and worry, one of the Illusions, Lavender Lace, let out her haughty laugh.

“Do you believe this Trixie? She thinks she can actually—”

Lavender was interrupted from an outstretched arm and a glare from Trixie’s way before Trixie turned to Sunset with interest.

“Trixie is… intrigued. What do you have in mind?”

Sunset softly breathed in through her nose. “If you give Sonata two more weeks to learn how to read the proper way, we’ll offer ourselves to your bet. If Sonata wins, you will not only have to apologize to Sonata twice in front of the school, but you will also leave Sonata alone for good!”

“And if Trixie wins?”

“…we’ll do whatever you want. No questions asked.”

“SUNSET!” Rainbow cried out in disbelief, while everyone else stared at Sunset in shock.

Sunset turned to Rainbow with a solemn look on her face. “It’s the only way Rainbow.”

“…you’re crazy Shimmer,” said Trixie with a frown before her mouth formed into her devious smirk. “But I like that! How about this, if Trixie agrees and your Siren friend loses—”

“IF she loses!” Sunset added before Trixie continued.

“I want you, your friends, as well as those has-been Dazzlings to disband your rock band for good and then come work for me as my permanent assistants for my magic shows! And in-between each of my shows, you and your gang will also be my willing test subjects for my magic practice!”

“NO WAY!” Rainbow shouted angrily. “There’s no way we’ll end our band careers and work for the likes of—”

Without taking her eyes off of Trixie, Sunset outstretched her arm to interrupt her friend before speaking in her serious tone.

“If we accepted those terms, you won’t make Sonata wear that thing and give her more time to learn how to read?”

Trixie scoffed and run her finger through hair with a smirk. “Trixie will merely delay giving that Siren her title, but yes. You have Trixie’s word that the Siren is allowed to use the remaining two weeks to learn how to read and not a week more. Do we have a deal?”

“Sunset, don’t do this!” Sonata cried. “Don’t throw yourself away for me!”

“Deal?” Trixie repeated.

Sunset gave Trixie her hard stare for a moment before she slowly lifted her hand. “…deal.”

The girls, especially Sonata stared in horror as both Sunset and Trixie shook hands, sealing the deal.

“You’re a fool Sunset Shimmer,” said Trixie. “Trixie is really looking forward to see you and your little crew fall before Trixie after the little Siren made fool of herself yet again.” She then set her eyes on Sonata again with her arrogant smirk. “As for you, don’t even think you’re off the hook! You’re just delaying the inevitable. But look on the bright side, when you fail, your friends and your sisters will join in the humiliation with you!”

Trixie, along with the Illusions cackled loudly before they turned away from Sonata and the gang.

“See you around, loser!”

As Trixie and her bandmates walked away, the girls continued to stare at Sunset with their disbelief and horror expressions while Sonata was shaking violently and on a verge of tears after witnessing Sunset selflessly sacrificing herself and her friend’s freedom to give Sonata more time to learn how to read.

And she hated herself for it.

Author's Note

Thanks to Sunset, she bought Sonata some more time, but the stakes are now higher than before! Will Sonata succeed?

Stay tuned! :rainbowderp:

Sonata Pets the Kitty

It was several hours since the Rainbooms defended Sonata from Trixie to go through with Sonata’s part of the bargain of becoming the world’s dumbest person and wearing the most ridicules hat, which was made by Trixie and the Illusions. It was thanks to Sunset that Sonata was spared from accepting that terrible fate, but came with a price. In order for Sonata to continue to learn how to read the right way by the end of two weeks, the Rainbooms must include themselves as a price if Trixie won the bet. If Sonata wins, Trixie will finally leave them and Sonata alone for good. But if Sonata loses, the Rainbooms (along with the Dazzlings) careers as a band will be over and will end up become Trixie’s new permanent “assistants” for all of her magic shows.

The girls were now sitting at their usual spots at Pinkie’s dinner for their weekly get together dinners. However, instead of their usual cheerful and fun demeanor, everyone had a mixture of worried and frustrated expressions on their faces except for Sonata, who looked like she was about to break down any second. Rainbow Dash, who was sitting across from Sunset, was glaring angrily at Sunset while the former unicorn had a semi-nervous expression on her face.

With a snarl, Rainbow slammed the table with both of her fists. “Sunset, what were you thinking!?” She shouted. “If Sonata loses, we’ll end up being her slaves for the rest of our years in High School! Heck, possibly for the rest of our lives!”

Sunset winced from Rainbow’s angry tone and then let out a sigh. “I’m sorry Rainbow, I know I should’ve have consulted with you guys first, but I couldn’t just stand there and let Trixie do that to Sonata!”

“Oh I’m for saving Sonata from Trixie, except for using us as a wager of her stupid bet!” Rainbow screamed.

“So you’re just gonna let Sonata suffer!?” Sunset retorted.

“That’s not what I said! Don’t put words in my mouth!”

“Then what would you have done then? I would love to hear it!”

“How about not putting us as part of the bet!”

“GIRLS THAT’S ENOUGH!” Fluttershy screamed loudly, catching the two arguing girls and the rest of the gang off guard from the normally shy girl.

Fluttershy shot both of her two friends her very harsh glare. “You girls should be ashamed of yourselves! Can’t you see that you’re arguments are upsetting Sonata?”

They both turned towards the youngest Siren in question, only to see poor Sonata softly sobbing into her hands with Adagio wrapping her arm around her for comfort. Both Sunset and Rainbow Dash looked at each other with guilt in their eyes before turning back to the sobbing Siren.

“W-we’re so sorry Sonata,” Sunset said glumly.

“Y-yeah. That’s was uncool of us,” Rainbow added, feeling lame for upsetting her friend.

Sonata couldn’t speak up due to her sobbing fit, until she eventually calmed down and looked up at Sonata with tears running down her cheeks.

“W-why? Why did you do that for me, after everything I did?” Sonata asked softly. “You’ll risk suffering the same fate as I do!”

With a low sigh, Sunset placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “Sonata, despite your flaws, you are a dear friend to us. No one deserved to be titled as the Dumbest Person in the World.”

“Sunset’s right Darling,” Rarity spoke up. “While I preferred to not be added in as part of the bet,” Rarity gave her sheepish bacon-hair friend a quick stern look before continuing. “But we’ll always willing to put ourselves at risk just for the sake of our friends. Besides, that dreadful white cone that Trixie made for you does not go well with your outfit Darling.”

Sonata chuckled somewhat from Rarity’s humor, despite the tears still leaking from her eyes.

“My girlfriend’s impulsive aside,” Twilight added before giving her girlfriend her apologetic look. “At least you have more time to learn how to read properly for two more weeks before the end of this month.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie said brightly. “And on the bright side, you won’t have to wear that hat now!”

Unconvinced, Sonata looked down with her guilt expression. “Still, I didn’t want any of you guys to suffer from my mistakes when I lose the bet.”

“If you lose the bet!” Rainbow corrected before giving Sonata her cocky grin. “I fact, I guarantee that you won’t lose Trixie’s stupid bet!”

Sonata shook her head. “But—”

“Listen partner, what’s done is done,” said Applejack. “The only thing you can do is to let us help you and focus on readin’ the best you can. Don’t worry about Trixie and don’t ever worry about us either, ya hear?”

“But how can I?” Sonata argued. “It’s my fault that I got you girls into this mess! I should’ve just accepted the hat so that only I can suffer!”

Before anyone else spoke up, Adagio held Sonata tighter, causing Sonata to look up to her. Adagio looked down on Sonata with her stern, yet soft expression.

“Listen Sonata, while you made some mistakes, Trixie still orchestrated the whole thing. So in a way, the fault was mostly on Trixie. But even so, we’re not gonna let that wannabe magician take any more advantage to you. Just try to focus on your studies and do the best you can when the time comes. We’re all in this together and we’ll help you every step of the way, okay?”

“Well not me,” Aria scoffed as she stood up from her seat and began to walk away. “I’m outta here!”

As Aria was walking away, Rainbow slammed the table and stood up. “Hey, get back here Aria!” Rainbow shouted. “Aren’t going to help your sister?”

Aria stopped in place but did not look back at Rainbow.

“Why should I?” Aria growled. “It’s no thanks to her that we’re all dragged into this mess. Even if I’m stupid enough to help her, then what make you all so sure that she won’t stab us in the back again? As far as I’m concerned, she can just help herself!”

Aria continued to walk until she reached the restaurant’s exit. Just as Aria opened the door, Rainbow called out to her again.

“You know something Aria,” Rainbow spat in her near low volume. “I often heard you say to Sonata that she is the worse every time she made a mistake or say something weird. But the fact that you refuse to help because of your selfish wounded pride and your cold attitude to your sister, tells me that the one who is really the worse… is you!”

Aria did not even look back or moved a muscle for a long minute. Shortly after that, she stepped out the door and letting it shut behind her.

Everyone stared at the door with mixed emotions while Sonata looked down, distraught from Aria’s words and actions. Before she could cry again, Adagio gently rubbed Sonata’s back.

“Don’t let her words bother you Sonata, Aria didn’t abandoned you.”

Everyone including Rainbow Dash stared at Adagio with disbelief.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Okay, where the heck were you been!? Didn’t you just see your sister berated your younger sister? If you ask me, I say that she just ditched us!”

Adagio narrowed her eyes. “What she did and said was uncalled for, I’ll give you that. But you don’t know her like I do!”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow demanded.

Adagio sighed heavily. “Don’t tell her I said this, but whenever she’s worried or upset, she acts more aggressively than usual. While she’s worried about us being part of the bet, but I believe she’s more worried about Sonata.”

Sonata widened her eyes in shock at the revelation. She felt a tiny glimmer of hope that Aria still cared about her. Sonata believed that Aria was too stubborn to let go of her anger and support her. She could only hope that Aria will come around soon.

Rainbow on the other hand had a skeptic look on her face.

“If she’s so worried, then why the mean tough girl act?” Rainbow asked.

“Didn’t you like to act tough too without expressing your feelings?” Adagio countered.

“…well okay, you got me there, but at least I didn’t act so harshly against my friends!”

Pinkie titled her head in confusion. “Um Dashie, what about that time the way you were acting during the Battle of the—”

“That didn’t count!”

Before they could argue further, Sunset interrupted them. “We’ll talk about Dash’s obvious lie and deal with Aria later.” Ignoring Rainbow's indigent look, Sunset turned to Sonata. “I know you’re scared and felt so helpless, but we will help you guide along with your reading lessons… if you let us in that is.”

Sunset extended her arm and reached her hand out to Sonata.

Sonata stared at Sunset’s hand for a moment, still doubting with herself that she could be able to read and save her friends. However, the moment she looked up, she saw Sunset, along with the others, were giving her warm smiles and joined their hands with Sunset’s. With a gentle smile and a small tear leaking from her eyes, Sonata reached out and placed her hand on top of the hands of her friends.

Many days had gone by and Sonata was working much harder than ever to learn how to read not only for herself, but for the sake of her friends too. Everyday was the same routine: surviving through school, visit Sunset or any of the girls for her reading lesson and than work on her homework with Adagio’s supervision. Unlike last time, Adagio was informed with Sunset’s plans and was only there to help guide Sonata along instead of doing the work for her. But Sonata doesn’t mind because she really wanted to prove to her friends that she is serious with her work this time and will not resort into cheating.

Things weren’t always easy for her. Sonata would sometimes get stuck or doesn’t understand the question of her worksheet. When that happens, she would wait until the next day to show her work to Sunset and they would both go over it together. Sometimes Sonata would end up falling asleep in the middle of her work, only to be woken up by Adagio.

Despite her efforts, Sonata hardly improved her reading at all and her first week was nearly over. It was now Friday on the early evening and Sonata was hoping that she and Sunset will spend more time together after school to come up with another strategy to help her learn to read. Unfortunately, life had a change of plans, as both girls were climbing up the stairs, which led to Canterlot’s local library.

“But Sunset, you promised you’ll help me out with my reading today!” Sonata complained as they both reached the top of the stairs in front of the library’s entrance.

Sunset, who was wearing her sushi uniform for work, gave Sonata her apologetic look. “I’m sorry Sonata, but my boss requested my help at work at the last minute and I can’t reschedule it. Luckily, my shift is only a few hours today, so you can do something else in the meantime until I’m done.”

“But I don’t know what to do!” Sonata whined.

“That is why I’m dropping you off here,” said Sunset. “You can practice reading many books in the library for the time being. Just give them a try!” She then waved at Sonata as she ran down the stairs. “I’ll see you after work Sonata!”

As Sunset was on her way to her job, Sonata called after her. “But Sunset, the books in there are too hard!”

When her friend was not responding to her or showed no signs of coming back, Sonata let out a distressed moan.

Many hours had gone by since Sunset’s departure, Sonata spent her time in the library, picking out many random books she could find, and then sat down on one of the reading desks so she can practice her reading. Unfortunately, her efforts were fruitless as she went though each book of trying to read though the sentences, only it was too difficult for her to read because the book was filled with long and complicated vocabulary. Whenever that happens, she would just toss the book aside to a large pile and move on to the next one, hoping that the next book would be easier; rinse, lather, repeat. Sonata was now on her twenty-fifth book, trying to make out the first word of the page.

“E…e…qu…est…tri—”

Sonata threw the book down and let out a frustrated yell, only to receive several “shushes” from other readers. Not paying them any mind, Sonata face slammed on top of her book and groaned quietly.

“I can’t do it!” Sonata whispered to herself. “These books are too hard! There’s no way I’ll learn to read at this rate, but I can’t let my friends down either! I don’t know what to do!”

“Okay everyone, our next book is called: Pet the Kitty!”

Sonata slightly looked up from the sound of a familiar soft voice.

“Does anyone want to read Pet the Kitty? Don’t be shy.”

Sonata then turned to her left to find the source of the voice and saw an open room, which was the children’s section of the library. From where she sat, Sonata saw a whole group of young kids, probably from grammar school, were sitting around a teenaged girl with her back towards her. What really stood out to her was the teen girl had a long, yet familiar pink hair. Curious, Sonata stood up from her desk and walked into the children’s section. Her eyes widened when she finally got a good look of who was in the room with a group of children.

“Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy yelped in surprise and turned towards Sonata.

“O-Oh! Hi Sonata!” said Fluttershy, calming herself down from the sight of her friend. “What are you doing here? I thought Sunset is helping you today.”

“Sunset had to go to work because of her boss requested her there at the last minute. So she sent me here to practice reading these books,” Sonata replied before raising her eyebrow in confusion. “What brings you here?”

Fluttershy shyly played with her hair. “Um… well—”

“Miss Fluttershy is reading a few stories to us!” said one boy.

“Yeah, Miss Fluttershy is the best!” the young girl added.

Sonata faced towards her friend with her surprised expression. “You read to these kids Fluttershy?”

“Y-yes,” Fluttershy uttered. “I… I volunteered to come here every Friday and read a few stories to the kids.”

Sonata beamed. “Aw, that’s so sweet! Why didn’t you tell us?”

Fluttershy rubbed her arm. “I-It wasn’t a big deal.”

Sonata stared back in disbelief. “Are you kidding? It’s a major big deal! What you’re doing is noble! I’m sure our friends will agree with me!”

“Y-you think so?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“I know so! For realsies!” Sonata answered with a grin.

Before Fluttershy could continue the conversation, she felt a small tug from the bottom of her dress. Fluttershy looked down to see that it was a little girl, who was trying to get her attention.

“Yes little one?” Fluttershy said softly.

“How about we let Miss Sonata read that book to us!” the little girl requested.

While the kids voiced out in agreement, Sonata nervously held her hands up and shook her head.

“Oh no no no. I can’t!”

The little girl pouted. “Aw, why not?”

Sonata looked slightly away from the girl’s sad eyes. “I… don’t think I’m a very good reader.”

The little girl then had a confused expression on her face. “Well how do you know unless you try Miss Sonata?”

Before Sonata could refuse further, Fluttershy spoke up.

“Um… why not just give it a try Sonata? This is a children’s book, so it should be much easier than a regular book.”

“Yeah, c’mon Miss Sonata, please?” said the little girl with pleading eyes.

Many other children repeated the girl’s actions by pleading and displayed their sad eyes towards the Siren. Sonata felt a huge stab in her heart from the way the kids were giving her.

“Noooooooo. Not the sad puppy eyes!” Sonata moaned, while trying to look away.

Try as she might, she couldn’t resist the children’s pleas or the sad look from their faces. After a painful moment, Sonata sighed resignedly.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do it!” Sonata conceded before added sternly, “But only one book!”

The kids cheered excitedly at that. Sonata however, gulped nervously.

Fluttershy gave Sonata her encouraging smile as she gave the book to Sonata. “Don’t worry Sonata, I think you can handle it.”

“Easy for you to say,” Sonata whispered. “I couldn’t even read a pepper shaker.”

Fluttershy then got up from her seat and directed her friend to take her spot. Sonata slowly sat down and looked towards the children, who were watching her expectedly. With another gulp, Sonata began to loudly, yet slowly read the title of the cover.

“P…pet… the… Kit…ty. By… Cr… aig… Bart… let.”

Sonata then opened up the book to the first page. She took a moment to observe the cute pictures of the kitty in various poses before she began to read the first page.

“S…see the pre… ty kitty. Pet the pretty… kitty.”

Sonata was surprised with herself that she easily read the two sentences for the first time in her life without any help. Feeling her self-confidence was building up somewhat, Sonata continued read the rest of the story.

“Kitty kitty kitty! Do you want to pet the kitty? Yes, I want to pet the kitty!” Sonata concluded her fifteen-minute reading before she closed the book and then petted the picture of kitty from the cover of the book. “Pet pet pet! Look everybody! I’m petting the kitty!” Sonata joked with her huge smile.

The kids giggled and cheered as they clapped at Sonata’s performance.

Fluttershy beamed down at Sonata. “Wow! That was a very good reading Sonata!”

Sonata stopped petting the book and looked up to Fluttershy with wide eyes. “R-really?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. You were nervous at first but then you had fun as you read along. The way you read even brought excitement to the kids, much more quickly than I ever could! It was impressive!”

Sonata still looked up to her friend in awe as realization slowly came into her mind.

“I... I did it!” Sonata said softly before letting out her huge smile. “I actually read something!”

Fluttershy smiled proudly at her friend. “Yes sure did! Children’s books are a great place to start when learning how to read and you did wonderfully! Well done Sonata!”

Sonata nearly wept in joy. Just fifteen minutes ago, she felt hopeless that she’ll ever learn to read at all. Yet here she was, reading a book to a group of kids like she was a pro. This may be just book made for kids, but she felt happy that she can read a book at all. If she can read this book no problem, then maybe she can read other books too! Her thoughts were soon interrupted when the same little girl spoke up.

“Hey Miss Sonata, I had fun from the way you read that book!” she then looked down shyly. “I… I know you said that you only reading one book, but will you please read us another one?”

“Yeah Miss Sonata, please!” said another kid.

Many more kids joined in a begged Sonata to read another story. After a while, both Fluttershy and Sonata calmed them down before Sonata spoke with her stern expression.

“Listen kids… I said earlier that I’ll only read one book!”

As the kids looked down in disappointment, Sonata then had a teasing grin on her face.

“Buuuuuuuut… since all of you were such a wonderful audience, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to read one more.”

The children then cheered again, causing both Sonata and Fluttershy to chuckle at their enthusiasm. As Sonata picked out the next book to read to the children, neither Sonata nor Fluttershy had notice Sunset, who just showed up awhile ago, was watching them with a warm smile on her face.

Author's Note

While the children's books may be childish to some people, but you'll be surprise how much they can leave an impact to people, especially to both children and adults. I remembered reading a lot of Dr. Seuss books as a child. My favorite was Green Eggs and Ham! :twilightsmile:

What was your favorite children's book you like growing up?

Sonata's Hidden Skill

After her time reading different books to the kids at Canterlot’s public library with Fluttershy, Sonata rented out several different children’s books from the library including “Pet the Kitty” (after she applied herself a library card) and took them home to she can read them herself. Both Adagio and Aria’s were baffled with Sonata bringing in a huge pile of children’s books, but after Sunset explained to them about what happened at the library, Adagio decided to let Sonata be. Those books may be childish, but at long as they help Sonata improving her reading skills, Adagio had nothing to complain about. Aria on the other hand, just rolled her eyes and disappeared into her room without a word.

Since then, Sonata read a few children’s books a day after school and then worked on Sunset’s worksheets. Thanks to these books, Sonata’s reading skills improved significantly. Sonata was able to recognized words more quickly than usual and was able to finish her worksheets on her own much more easily. She still struggled on a few words from time to time, but it was only minor compared to how she struggled last week. Heck, compared to how she struggled several weeks ago!

It was now the middle of the night on Tuesday and Sonata was working on her tonight’s worksheet, specifically, circling all the words she couldn’t read with her red marker so she can show it to Sunset tomorrow. To put lightly, there was a lot of red circles on her worksheet. As she was finishing up circling the words, her phone rang, startling her in the process. Curious as to who was calling her (and not wanting to anger Aria for the loud noise her phone was making), Sonata immediately picked up the phone and answered it.

“H-hello?” Sonata half-whispered.

“Hey Sonata, it’s me!”

Sonata’s smile widened from the sound of one her friend’s voice. “Oh, hi Applejack! What’s up?”

“Ah was just checking up on you partner,” said Applejack. “How was yer lessons?”

“They were really helpful, thanks to Sunset and Fluttershy!” Sonata answered brightly before letting out her somber sigh. “But even after Sunset’s easier worksheets and the children’s books I borrowed from Fluttershy, I am still struggling a little. There are still many other words that weren’t even in the children’s books, especially the long and complicated ones. I’m only a few days away and I’m not even close to learn everything about reading.”

“…ah see.”

There was a long silence from Applejack’s end, made Sonata wondered if her friend accidentally hung up on her until Applejack spoke up again.

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

Sonata blinked and then scratched her chin in thought. “Well… aside from working on a worksheet or two from Sunset, I don’t have anything planned for tomorrow.”

“Well in that case, how about you come visit to mah farm tomorrow after school," Applejack offered. "Ah got somethin’ that may help ya on yer reading.”

Sonata was very curious with Applejack’s request. What did Applejack have that will help her out further with her reading skills? Sonata assumed that her farmer friend was more of a field worker than a book reader, but she was proven wrong many times before. Still, if her friend offered her help to her, then there’s no reason for Sonata to take up on that offer.

“Alright, I’ll be there,” said Sonata before hanging up her phone.

The next day after school, Sonata was walking down the neighborhood, heading her way to Applejack’s family farm. Throughout the day, Sonata was curious about what her farmer friend is going to do to help her with her reading skills further. Every time she asked Applejack how she’s going to help her, all of Applejack’s responses was giving her a wink and simply said, “You’ll see.”

Sonata eventually spotted Applejack’s home, which had red sidings, light purple roof and a white porch with plants hanging from the ceiling. There was also a barn/garage on the left side of the house. There was even a mailbox with the exact replica of the barn, but smaller. Applejack herself was sitting on a chair on the porch, waving Sonata over with a smile. Sonata rushed herself over to her friend until she reached the porch and took a seat next to Applejack.

“Thank ya for comin’ Sonata,” Applejack greeted as she tipped her hat.

“Thank you for taking your time to help me Applejack!” Sonata responded with a smile on her own.

Sonata then glanced at the items next to Applejack with a puzzled look. There were two books right next to Applejack’s chair. One was a normal size hardcover book and the other ‘book’ was more of a square shape and made of hard plastic for some reason. But those two items was not what confused her. What really confused her was a small bulky device, which was right next to the book. It had built-in two small speakers, a few knobs on the front, a few buttons on top, a small screen on the front with some numbers, a long silver antenna and a handle for carrying purposes. There was also two slots; a rectangle shape on the bottom front and a round slot on top.

Sonata blinked in confusion. “Um… why is there a CD player? Are we gonna listen to some music?”

“Not exactly,” said Applejack before giving Sonata her serious look. “Do you remember that you tried to cheat yer bet by memorizin’ the words after you have someone else read the first page for ya?”

Sonata winced from that terrible memory that she nearly destroyed her friendship with the Rainbooms and her relationship with her sisters. “Gee… how can I forget that?”

Applejack gave Sonata her apologetic look for bringing it up and then she continued. “Whelp, it got me thinkin’, maybe you can use dat same memorizin’ skills to help you to read!”

“…wait, what?” Sonata exclaimed, not sure if she heard it right from her friend.

Applejack cleared her throat with her sheepish grin. “Sorry Sugarcube, let me clarify. Based from what you did, it seems to me that you are an auditory learner, meanin’ that you learned things just from listening.” Applejack explained. “Tell me, what have you learned after hearin’ the first page of Tales of Two Cities over and over?”

Sonata placed her finger on her chin in wonder, never actually thought of that before. When Sonata asked the muffin-loving girl to read the first page over and over to memorize the words, she only did it so she didn’t have to read it herself. But even after she got that all memorized, she recalled a few times of how interesting that paragraph was even though she didn’t technically read those words herself.

After a long pause, silently thinking back on that memorable paragraph, Sonata finally answered.

“Well… from what I picked up from that first page of the book (that I heard), that there was a constant struggle between good and evil based on the key words that was used within the paragraph which were opposite to one another; like ‘best and worse,’ ‘wisdom and foolishness,’ and ‘light and darkness.’”

Applejack nodded with a grin. “Exactly! Since you managed to learn one of the basic ideas from the first page of dat book, you might be able to learn many new words and how they pronounced from that too!”

Sonata’s titled her head. “I can do that?”

“Eeeyep!” Applejack answered. She looked around to make sure no one is looking before she leaned in closer to Sonata. “Now this is just between you me, but I used to have trouble reading too!”

Sonata widened her eyes in shock. “R-really?”

Applejack nodded solemnly. “Ah’m not much of a fancy reader mahself, but even Ah know that it was required to read many books just to learn how to do things with farming, as well as many other things for school. It was a real struggle Ah tells ya and Ah wasn’t sure how to do it.” Applejack then let out a soft sigh. “But then… mah pa, rest his soul, taught me a way that really helps me to this very day and Ah’m sure this’ll help ya too!”

Applejack reached down to the side of her chair to pick up one of the books and then handed the book over to Sonata. “Here ya go partner, Ah picked out a book for you!”

With an arched eyebrow, Sonata takes the book and then looked it over. The book itself had an image cover of a boy with glasses and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead while riding on his broomstick. It even had a nice background of the school ground and some mystical creatures. She then open up a book and then went through the pages. Unlike the children’s books that has a few words and many pictures, this book was filled with nothing but words and no images at all except on each of the chapter title page. While she can easily read some of the words, but there were also many other words she wasn’t familiar with. Sonata looked back up to her friend with her concerned expression.

“Um, this looks like a fun book and all,” said Sonata. “But this one had a lot of words in it. Heck, I don’t even know half of these words. I don’t think I could read them as easily as the other books I read to the kids the other day.”

“Dat’s where this comes in!” said Applejack as she held up a rectangle package with the same book cover on it. “Ah made sure that there is also an audio version of the book Ah’m giving you now.”

Sonata blinked. “An… audio book?”

Applejack nodded. “Eeyep, there are actually a lot of recorded media for most books out there that someone reads the book for ya.”

“Huh… if I had known that, then I wouldn’t have to asked that girl to read the first page to me over and over,” Sonata mused, but then she froze when she saw Applejack giving her a blank expression and her raised eyebrow. “I-I’m just kidding! I’m not gonna do that again! Honest!” Sonata pleaded, while waving her hands around in defense. Thankfully, Applejack expression changed to a teasing smirk, letting Sonata know that she was only kidding as well.

Sonata let out a relieved sigh before continued with her confused expression. “Still, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of me learning to read if I had someone else reading several books for me?”

“Not if you read along with the reader,” Applejack pointed out with a knowing smile. “Let me demonstrate.”

Applejack opened up the CD case and took out one of many CDs from the case. Then she opened up the CD lid of the portable CD player, placed the CD in it and then closing the lid.

“Are you on your first page?” Applejack asked.

Sonata flipped through the pages until she reached the first page of the first chapter of the book and then nodded to her friend.

“Alright, let me start the CD,” said Applejack before she pushed play on the CD player.

Shortly after that, there was introduction music with a male voice reading the title of the book Sonata was holding before the person started reading the first paragraph of the page. The reader began describing some proud higher-up couple who lived in some fancy neighborhood who doesn’t believe in magic. Sonata was listening along to the narrator’s voice while reading the same lines as he does. Before the narrator started reading the next paragraph, Applejack pressed stop on the CD player, cutting off the male’s voice.

“Now… re-read it yourself,” Applejack instructed.

Sonata nodded and did as instructed. As she read the same lines as the narrator, she was surprised with herself that she was not only able to read the words with ease, but was also able to pronounced the words as well thanks to the narrators voice. Sonata only mispronounced a couple of words but overall, she was able to read the entire paragraph. Sonata eyes widened and smiled excitedly from her accomplishment.

“Wow… it actually works! I just learn a few words after listening it!”

Applejack chuckled. “Ya see? By reading along with the audio reader, you picked up words you weren’t familiar with. And after seeing each word and know how they were pronounced, you’ll recognized them the next time you see them!”

Applejack took out the CD from the CD player and put it back in the CD case. She then handed both the audio book and the CD player over to Sonata.

“Since this method is working so well for you and that you looked really interested in the story, I’ll let you borrow these until you’re done with them!”

“For realsies!?” Sonata asked eagerly.

Applejack nodded with a smile. “For realsies.”

Sonata squealed happily and gave Applejack her bear hug. “Oh thank you Applejack! I’ll definitely give them a try! Plus, this book sounds amazing! Kinda reminds me of Equestria… only without the wizards.”

Applejack chuckled. “Ah hope you like it. It’s actually the first of seven books of the series.”

“There’s seven of them!?” Sonata shrieked in surprise.

“Eeyep!” Applejack answered simply, unfazed with Sonata’s reaction. “When you finished with this one, Ah’ll let you borrow the next book if you want! The series is so good, they almost put Daring Do books to shame!” Applejack chuckled and then whispered, “Don’t tell Rainbow Ah said that.”

Sonata giggled before giving Applejack her warm smile. “I’ll take your word for it! Thank you again Applejack!”

Applejack smiled back and then winked. “Anythin’ for a friend Sugarcube.”

Somewhere on the other side of town at the Canterlot Mall, Sunset was sitting by one of the tables near a food court, waiting to meet with someone. While Sonata was doing well with her lessons and improved with her readings, Sunset was still concerned with the whole bet thing. No doubt that Trixie will try to pull something just to humiliate Sonata again for her own entertainment. Despite that it nearly cost her friendship with Sonata from last time, Sunset does not want to let that happen to Sonata again. Earlier from one of her classes, she passed a note while a teacher wasn’t looking, just so she could send that person a message to meet with her here alone at the mall. She could only hope that person accepted her request and show up so they can have a somewhat civilize conversation for upcoming Friday.

As Sunset was checking her phone again for time, she heard someone chuckling in front of her.

“Well, well, well. Trixie wasn’t expecting that it was you who wanted to speak to me privately!”

Sunset looked up from her table and spotted the very person she was waiting for, Trixie Lulamoon. Trixie hovered over her table with her arms crossed and a half smirk on her face.

“Seeing that none of your loser friends are around and only ask for Trixie alone, I suppose this has something to do with the upcoming test for that certain Siren tomorrow?”

“You are correct Trixie,” said Sunset before giving Trixie her serious face. “I want to just talk to you about the upcoming final test for Sonata without anyone interfering. Not with my friends, not with your bandmates, just you!”

“Normally Trixie has better things to do,” Trixie said nonchalantly before taking a seat across from Sunset. “But, since you went through the trouble of getting Trixie’s attention, then Trixie will humor you.”

Trixie then changed to her serious expression as both she and Sunset ready to get down to business. “Now, what do you want to talk about Shimmer?”

Author's Note

Audio books can be helpful as to learn how the words were pronounced as long as you have a book with you. I figured that this is something that will help Sonata further with her reading skills.

Anyway, next chapter coming soon... when the time has come for Sonata for real! :rainbowdetermined2:

4/19/18 EDIT: I added the mall scene at the end of this chapter because I felt this chapter needed a proper ending as a build-up for the next chapter. Hope it came out okay.

Sonata's Final Test!

It was finally Friday, the day that Sonata will prove to everyone that she can read. Unlike last time that she cheated so she can get herself a month worth of tacos, she worked hard and took her lessons seriously with some help from her friends. Earlier this morning, Sunset told the gang that she talked to Trixie a few days ago at the mall to convince Trixie to let her be the one to choose which test that will determine whether Sonata can read or not1. After about an hour of discussion, Trixie accepted Sunset’s request, but only under two conditions: Neither Sunset, her friends or any of Sonata’s sisters cannot be there with Sonata to help guide Sonata throughout the test and Sonata has to give up her cell phone. To counter this, Sunset has two conditions of her own: Trixie and the Illusions (or anyone they hired) are not allowed to be around Sonata either (in case if they try to sabotage the test) and Sonata is only allowed to use the intrusion pad (which was written by Sunset) as her only source of guidance for the test. The two finally made an agreement before they parted ways.

The Rainbooms and the two Dazzlings weren’t too happy with those conditions, but they were at least assured to know that Trixie doesn’t have a full control of Sonata’s final test again. Sonata however, felt more nervous and pressured than before. While she was glad that Sunset will be the one to arrange the final test for her, but she didn’t like the idea that she have to do it on her own because of that stupid condition. Sunset’s vagueness about what kind of test Sonata will be taking doesn’t make Sonata feel any better despite Sunset assurances.

After an agonizing full day of school, Sonata quickly left the school building and making her way towards the school’s statue. There were many students hanging around outside as well, watching her from the sidelines. Just like last time, Trixie and the Illusions spread the word that Sonata is going to go through the bet for real this time, but advertised that Sonata is going to fail. Naturally, almost every student were around just so they can see Sonata making a fool of herself again or actually going to succeed this time. Sonata paid them no mind as she reached the statue and waited for Sunset and the others to show up. Shortly after that, all of her friends and sisters arrived at the scene with serious expressions, except for Pinkie of course.

Sunset stood in front of Sonata with her serious, yet soft expression on her face. “You ready Sonata?”

Sonata gulped softly. She turned to her friends and sisters and they each gave their own supporting smiles except for Aria. Feeling a little better, Sonata faced Sunset again and nodded. “I’m ready!”

“Hey Siren!”

They all turned to see Trixie and the Illusions who was giving them all their cocky grins.

“Trixie just wanna say don’t feel too badly when you lose! At least you and your friends will be together serving for Trixie!” Trixie then did a thinking pose in a mocking manner. “That reminds me, would you rather be my test subject for my “sawing in half” or “water tank escape” trick?”

“Back off Trixie!” Sunset warned.

“Yeah, go bother someone else!” Rainbow added.

The rest of the gang nodded and glared daggers at the teen magician.

Trixie just shrugged. “Whatever you say Raindorks! You remember our conditions Shimmer?”

Sunset eyes narrowed. “I didn’t forget Trixie.”

The two stared down for a moment before Trixie and her cronies turned and walked away from them towards the school’s steps with their heads up high. As they walked away, a city’s bus arrived and parked in front of the school, waiting for any passengers.

“That’s our ride,” said Sunset before facing Sonata. “We should get going.”

Sonata nodded and faced her friends and sisters one last time. Everyone but Aria hugged the young Siren, saying good luck her. Pinkie smiled widely at Sonata as she held up a banner that said, “We Believe in You!” Sonata gave them all her watery smile before facing and nodding to Sunset, letting her know that she was ready to leave. As both Sunset and Sonata were making their way to the bus, someone called out.

“Hey Sonata!”

Sonata turned to see Aria, who was standing a few inches away from her with her arms crossed. Sonata was surprised that Aria spoke to her for the first time since that horrible day when she stood on stage. Aria still had a tough expression on her face, but unlike weeks ago, Aria’s expression was a little… softer today. Aria looked like she had something to say, as if it was something urgent, but at the last minute, looked away and sighed softly.

“Please be careful... and good luck.”

With that, Aria turned and walked away back to the statue with the others. While Sonata was a little disappointed at her sisters response, she was at least happy that Aria was finally talking to her… somewhat. Seeing Sonata’s state, Sunset placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder with her concerned expression on her face. Sonata gave Sunset her forced smile before she and Sunset heading to the bus.

It has been about ten minutes since they entered the bus, quietly sitting on their seats as they ride to an unknown destination. After sitting quietly for a while, Sonata finally decided to voice her concern to her friend.

“Um… Sunset? Are you sure about all of this?”

Sunset nodded. “Positive. You did so well for the past couple of weeks, especially after some help from Fluttershy and Applejack. You are more than ready for this final test.”

“I get that, but why am I’m wearing this blindfold around my head?” Sonata questioned, pointing at the black blindfold, which was wrapped around her eyes to emphasize the point.

“It’s because for this final test, I’m gonna take you to another town, to a different neighborhood that you’re not familiar with,” Sunset explained. “Once we reach the starting point, I’ll give you a map in written instructions of how to guide you back to CHS. And all you have to do is read the directions so you can make your way back home safely. If you can do that, not only you pass the test, but that also means that you can read.”

Sonata fidgeted somewhat from the details of the test Sunset was giving her. While the test itself sound so simple, but the thought of going around by herself to an unknown location was a huge deal to her. Worry grew from within her as she looked down towards her lap (or at least assumed she was looking at her lap though her blindfold) with a deep frown.

“I… I don’t know Sunset. I’ve never travel outside of Canterlot City all by myself before. I usually travel with my sisters. Why can’t we just do the test in our own town?”

“That’s because you already knew the entire layout of our town like the back of your hand, which is very impressive. But in order to truly pass this test, you need to rely on reading many street signs as you head back to CHS from a different area.”

Sunset frowned when she sees her friend shaking like a leaf. Sunset gently held Sonata’s hand in attempt to calm her friend.

“Hey, don’t be afraid,” she soothed. “As long as you follow the instructions, you’ll be just fine. You did a tremendous job with your reading exercises and the worksheets I gave you. Our friends and I believe you can do this.”

“…Really?” Sonata asked softly.

Although Sonata couldn’t see her, Sunset nodded with her warmth expression. “Really really!”

Some time has passed since both Sunset and Sonata left CHS and traveled to another town. Even after their bus arrived to their stop, they haven’t reached their true destination. Sunset had Sonata travel through the subway, an uber and even a cart transport service as a precaution, all while Sonata was wearing her blindfold, much to her chagrin. When they finally arrived to their destination point, Sonata was relieved that she can finally take off her blindfold. When she did, her eyes surveyed the city for the first time with a mixture of awe and fear. The city was actually much bigger than Canterlot City, but it was crowded with people, to the point that it made her feel a little dizzy. She wondered how could she possibly read her way back home on her own from an overpopulating place like this? Her thoughts were interrupted when her friend speak up.

“Okay, here’s my bus,” said Sunset as the bus pulled up right next to them. “That’s my cue to leave.” The door for the bus opened and Sunset made her way towards it. Just before she could enter, she suddenly turned around to face Sonata. “Before I go, there’s still one thing I need from you.”

“What’s that?” Sonata asked.

Sunset stretched her arm towards Sonata with her opened palm. “Your phone.”

“M-my phone?” Sonata squeaked.

Sunset nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, it’s another one of Trixie’s “conditions” that we confiscated your phone so that you don’t cheat with a map app.”

“But I’m not going to cheat this time! I swear!” Sonata insisted.

“I know and I believe you!” Sunset assured before she let out a solemn sigh. “But it’s the only way to prove to Trixie as well as the others that you can really read.”

Sonata felt herself trembling at the thought of not having her phone with her, cutting herself off from anyone who could help her. But then her trembling subsided once Sunset’s words had reached her. As much as she hated the idea of being alone to such a big a scary place with no friends or sisters by her side, she knew that Sunset was right. In order overcome the illiteracy and to grow as a person, she needed to do this on her own. If finding and reading her way back home with nothing but Sunset’s written instructions was the only way to do it, then so be it.

“…alright,” Sonata sighed as she took out her phone from her pocket and gave it to Sunset.

Sunset gave Sonata her warmth smile as she put away Sonata’s phone and handed her instructions to Sonata.

“Don’t worry Sonata, you can do this!” Sunset reassured her friend with confidence. “I have faith in you. We’ll see you back at CHS.”

As Sonata made her way into the bus, Sonata called out.

“But what if I—”

“Good luck!” said Sunset with her thumb up before the door closed on her and then the bus drove away, leaving Sonata behind.

Knowing that she was completely on her own now, Sonata just stood still in the middle of the sidewalk and her eyes were moving around at a rapid place.

Okay Sonata, this is it, she thought. You’re on your own… in the middle of some town you don’t know… and unfamiliar with… miles away from home… and no idea where you are… with no phone… or any means to contact with anyone.

Her breathing became irregular and her heart was beating so fast as if she just ran a marathon. Once she noticed that her hands were shaking and griping on the instructions way too hard, Sonata forced herself to stop and started breathing much more slowly to regain her bearings.

Okay… calm down, calm down. I can do this! If my friends really believe in me, then I will not let them down! I will put all of my reading lessons from them to use. All I got to do is to read Sunset’s instructions and do exactly as it said. I just hope I can understand them.

Once she completely calmed herself down, Sonata looked down to her notepad and began to slowly read the instructions.

“Okay, let’s see,” she mumbled to herself. “First… take… R-rock…hoof… S…street… East.”

Sonata then looked around the area until her eyes landed on a street sign, which was right next to her.

“R-rockhoof… Street… East,” she read slowly before she nodded. “Okay!”

So Sonata began to walk down the street with the instructions in front of her. As she was walking, she started to read the next step.

“Next… turn… left… on… Miss… m-mane… A… aven…ue.”

Sonata stopped walking and looked around again until she looked up above her to see another street sign.

“Missmane Avenue!” Sonata read much more smoothly. She then smiled widedly, feeling more confident with herself. “Sweet! At this rate, I’ll get to CHS faster before someone could say, Taco Tuesday!”

Suddenly, she heard many blaring hunks from around her. As she looked around, she quickly realized that she was standing in the middle of the intersection, blocking everyone from their cars to go anywhere. As many more angry drivers continued to honk and screaming at her, Sonata gave them all her sheepish smile.

“Ehehehe… oops.”

Back at the front steps of CHS, Sunset returned to CHS sometime ago, assuring her friends and the Dazzlings that Sonata was fine when she dropped her off. The gang was all sitting on the steps near the front entrance of the school, waiting for their dear friend to come home in one piece. Trixie and her gang just stood near the front doors with a look of boredom on their faces, wishing for something to happen. Everyone else was hanging around the school property, either standing around, sitting on the ground, playing with their phones or whatever activity their doing to pass the time just to see what happen to the youngest Dazzling.

As they sat around, Adagio turned towards Sunset with her worried expression.

“Sunset, are you sure that Sonata is ready to pass this kind of test?”

Sunset nodded. “I’m positive Adagio. Sonata worked very hard and dedicated for the past couple of weeks. I have full confidence that can read her way back home with the road signs and the instructions I gave her.”

“Oh please!” Trixie mocked. “There’s no way that Siren will make her way back here! She can’t read at all!”

Sunset, as well as the others, turned and glared at the self-boasting magician. “You’re wrong Trixie! She can! I have complete faith in her that she will return home safely!”

Trixie scoffed. “Yeah right! Trixie already see what’s going to happen next. She’ll end up get herself lost and got scared like a little puppy. By two o’ clock in the morning, we’ll end up reporting a missing person to the police and then do a search party for that idiot for days.”

“She will make her way back! Don’t count her out yet Trixie!”

Trixie shrugged. “Whatever you say Shimmer. But just remember, whatever happened to her, is your responsibility.”

Sunset continued to glare at Trixie. As annoyingly Trixie can be and she mostly say these things just to get under her skin, deep down Sunset knew that Trixie was right. It was a huge risk, leaving Sonata all alone in another city that she wasn’t familiar with. While Sunset still have faith in Sonata, a part of her was worried if Sonata could even get back home in one piece, even with the help from her instructions. She doesn’t care if she has to be Trixie’s slave for the rest of her life, but if anything ever happened to Sonata, Sunset will never forgive herself.

As Sonata made her way around the city, she felt more and more confident with herself as she gets closer to her home, thanks to the instructions. Some steps took her longer to understand the words for both the instructions and the street signs, but for the most part, she was doing well. She had reached her halfway point when she finally reached the subway. She slowly went down the stairs, until she reached the subway station, which was full of people who were running around in a rush trying to get to their own rides. Sonata paid them no mind as she walked towards the center of the station and smiled at her own accomplishment.

Okay… I made it to the subway! Easy! Sonata thought. Now what’s next?

Sonata looked down and slowly read the next step of her instructions. “Take… the… s-subway to G-ghast… ly… Gorge… Town.”

Sonata surveyed the substation, despite the crowd until she spotted a huge sign, which was a few feet ahead of her. A man with a uniform, assuming to be the Baggage Handler, just stopped pushing a cart full of bags to take a short break in front of the sign, concealing the two town names in the process. But they don’t matter to Sonata as she read the only name of the town that was visible from the very top with a direction facing right.

“Ghastly Gorge Town!” Sonata read loudly. “Okay here it is!” She quickly looked left just as the train to her destination arrived. “And just in time! I better get on that subway right now!”

And so, Sonata ran to her train so she can purchase her ticket to home. Unfortunately for the young Siren, because she was still a little off with her pronunciation skill, she made a grave error. The words she read from the top of the sign didn’t say “Ghastly Gorge Town,” it was actually “Gastly Goreton.” Had she stayed around longer, she would have seen the real direction to the train leading to “Ghastly Gorge Town” after the Baggage Handler resumed pushing his cart.

Sonata was fidgeting in her seat for what seemed like forever. After she took her seat, she spent her time reading the rest of the steps in advance. According to the instructions, she was pretty close to arriving back at CHS. She smiled at the thought of her friends and sisters, cheering and congratulating her for completing the test and passed as a certified reader. But what really mattered her the most, was that she can finally make up to them for her mistakes and save them from Trixie’s cruel bet, tacos be darned.

But after she spent over an hour on her train, she felt something was off. Despite that she had to wear a blindfold at the time, she remembered that her ride with Sunset on the subway took them less than a half-an-hour. At first, she figured that her train was either delayed at a lower speed or Sunset had instructed her to ride on a different train on purpose as an added challenge. But after another half hour on the train has gone by, she was starting to get nervous. Even as she was glimpsing through the window a few time, she couldn’t spot anything that was reassembly close to home.

Finally, after spending a total of two hours on a train, her ride finally comes to a complete stop. Feeling somewhat relieved, Sonata got up from her seat and made her way out of the subway. Once she stepped outside in the subway station, she noticed that she was the only person around except for a few staffs and probably a hobo sleeping near bench. She gulped nervously and cautiously surveyed the area, barely noticed her train car come to life and took off right into the darkness. Not wanting to be around this creepy area, she rushed herself away from the station and took the stairs, hoping that she was close to home.

When she reached the top of the stairs, her eyes widened in horror when she sees the outside world. She assumed that she was in some neighborhood, but it looked run down, dark and everything around her had fallen apart. There were sounds of loud sirens from the background and various sounds of dogs and cats from the alleyways. There were only a few barely lit streetlights, which illuminated certain areas around her like an abandoned building with boarded up windows.

Sonata noticed that there was a wired fencing leading to the next area from across the street. She looked both ways before she ran across the other side. Once she reached to the fence, she tried looking through the fence, but was unable to see anything due to the darkness. She then noticed the sign, which was right next to her. With a little help from a nearby streetlight, Sonata slowly read the sign.

“T-this… prop… er… ty… is… con… demned. No exit!” Sonata read.

Once she fully processed the words she read to her mind, her face went pale, dread growing from the pit of her stomach.

“Okay… I think I made a maaaaaaaaajor boo-boo!”

Author's Note

Uh oh! Sonata made a terrible mistake, which lead her to the wrong area! :pinkiegasp:

Will Sonata get back home? :twilightoops:

Find out... next week! :trollestia:

1) In case if anyone is confused, I added a mall scene at the very end of the previous chapter as a proper build-up for this chapter.

Sonata Can Read!

It was now the late evening at CHS. The sun had already disappeared over the horizon and stars appeared all over the blanket of the night sky. Some students already head home for the evening after feeling bored for waiting too long, but many others stayed and determined to witness the event for the very end. But none of them were more determined to wait for Sonata’s return than the Rainbooms, the two Dazzlings and Trixie and the Illusions. Sunset and the gang were worried sick for the young Siren who have yet to return, while Trixie and the Illusions were both bored and convinced that Sonata really had gotten herself lost and that she won’t make it back to CHS at all.

As the gang was sitting on the school’s steps with worried looks (except Aria, who had a scowled expression), Adagio was pacing back and forth near the school’s entrance, feeling more worried by the minute. Finally, her anxiety for her sister had reached her peak and let out a loud yell.

“Augh! Where is she!?” Adagio shouted before glaring at Sunset. “She’s been gone for hours!”

Sunset was silent for a while before answering with her worried frown. “I… I don’t know Adagio. It wasn’t supposed to take this long.”

“Oh no, I hope nothing bad happened to Sonata!” said Twilight, as she squeezed her girlfriend’s hand for comfort.

Fluttershy whimpered as she grasped her hair. “Oh dear, I’m really worry for her.”

“We’re all worried dear,” said Rarity. “Maybe the subways were delayed today?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, I just checked my phone. The ride Sonata suppose to take is not on any delays today.” She then held her chin in thought. Is it possible, that she took the wrong train?

“This is ridiculous!” Applejack exclaimed. “We shouldn’t be sittin’ around here! We should go out and find our friend now!”

“If we do that, then it’ll be an automatic forfeit for Sonata!” Sunset pointed out. She then sighed through her nose, feeling useless with the situation. “I know this is taking longer than it should, but we need give her more time and have faith in her.”

“More time!? Faith!?” Adagio roared. “My sister’s is out there somewhere in some city she’s not familiar with for hours and with no phone! How am I supposed to know that she is alright? How do I know that something bad happened to her already? I hate not knowing anything Sunset Shimmer, especially not knowing about my sister’s well being! So forgive me for not having the same mindset as you!”

Sunset tried to say something to reassure Adagio that Sonata will get back all right, but she didn’t. She knew that there nothing she could say to calm down Adagio over her missing sister, especially that she was the one who sent Sonata out there in the first place. Even Sunset was staring to lose hope that Sonata would ever make it back to CHS.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud cruel laugh coming from the Trixie.

“Well, well Shimmer. It looks like that Siren that you put so much faith into didn’t show up! Probably got herself lost like an illiterate loser she is!”

“Don’t call her that Trixie!” Rainbow snarled.

“Yeah!” Pinkie added with an angry frown. “And don’t count your cupcakes before you bite! She still got another few hours!”

“Just give up, it’s over before it even started! You all might as well just become Trixie’s official assistant right now!” She and the Illusions laughed again, angering the gang even further. “Trixie’s doesn’t understand why you all put so much faith in her. That girl is too stupid read, too stupid for school, too stupid to do anything! She is a lost cause to our sociality! It’s better for her to get lost so she don’t have to see you or any of your foolish, disappointed faces. Who would want to be friends, let alone be related to an idiotic loser like—”

Trixie’s words were cut off when she was suddenly felt someone grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and then her back was roughly slammed against the wall. When Trixie’s senses came in, she looked up and then was stunned to see an enraged Aria with her face against hers. Everyone, including Adagio was shocked as they saw Aria pinned Trixie against the school’s building, looking like she was about to tear her head off. Before anyone could act, Aria started screaming.

“SHUT YOUR BIG FAT MOUTH, YOU ARROGANT, MANIPULATIVE, MEDIOCRE MAGICIAN B—”

“Whoa, there Ari!” Pinkie spoke up hastily. “You can’t curse! This fanfic is rated ‘E’! There could be kids reading this chapter right now!”

While she still held Trixie’s collar with her iron grip, Aria turned to Pinkie with her anger, yet confused expression. “Fanfic? Kids? What the heck are you talking about? I was going to say Blowhard!”

“…Oh, then that’s okay then. Carry on!” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“…mediocre?” Trixie croaked.

Deciding not to dwell on Pinkie’s randomness, Aria turned and nearly pressed her face against Trixie to give the loudmouth magician a piece of her mind.

“Now you listen and listen well, because I’m going to say this once! I had it up to here of listening to all that garbage that was coming out of your mouth, especially about my sister! She may not be the smartest person on the planet, but she had accomplished and did so much more than you could ever be! I was so mad at her for using us for her own gain, but I was more mad at you for using Sonata’s problems to your advantage and treat her like dirt just to get to get back to us from the event that no one cared about months ago! But the one person I’m angry at the most is myself, for not forgiving my sister and not be there to help her when she needs me the most! And right now, I regretted for not forgiving and apologizing to my sister sooner now that there’s a chance that she may be lost for good! You have no idea of how much I wanted to pulverize you right now! But since I’m “reformed,” I’m willing to keep my hands off of you unless if something ever happened to her. So for yours and your goons sake, you better prey that by some miracle that Sonata will make it back here safely and you will all apologize to her for everything you all put her through, or else I’ll make you regret the day you were ever born! Understand?”

With a loud gulp, Trixie slowly nodded with a look of fear in her eyes. When Aria turned to glare at the Illusions, they too nodded but much more rapidly.

While this was going on, Rainbow leaned towards Applejack’s ear while blocking her mouth with her hand.

“I’m not sure if I should praise her or scared of her for mouthing off Trixie like that,” Rainbow whispered.

“Probably both,” Applejack replied.

While Sunset was glad that Trixie finally stopped taunting them, but she didn’t feel any better with Sonata still missing. She turned towards the horizon where Sonata might be with a worried frown on her face.

Sonata… where are you!?

Meanwhile, from an unknown city, poor Sonata was a nervous wreck. Sonata had spent several minutes of pacing back and forth on the sidewalk near the fence all while trying to keep herself from having a full breakdown.

“Oh man! This is bad! This is really bad!” she exclaimed loudly to herself. “I’m supposed to be close to Canterlot City, but instead… I’m in the middle of nowhere! A-am I even in the right place?”

Sonata stopped pacing and then she started breathing through her nose for a moment. Once she calmed herself, Sonata took out both the instructions and the map so she can review her steps.

“M-maybe I’m reading this wrong. Maybe I made a mistake.”

With both papers in her hands, Sonata made her way over back towards where she came from.

“Okay… okay no problem, I’ll just head back to the subway and—”

Sonata stopped walking when she realized a cruel flaw to her plan.

“Oh wait… that was the last train. Well that subway gave me the creeps anyway.”

Sonata then turned around and started walking towards the opposite direction towards the bus stop.

“I’ll just take the next bus! Easy-peasy!”

Sonata reached the beach and glanced at the bus schedule. While her reading was still iffy, at least she did well with numbers. Once she saw the time when the next bus arrived, Sonata’s hopes were crushed.

“Oh… there’s no more buses until morning… great.”

Sonata turned around and walked down the sidewalk again.

“Then… I’ll just walk… alone… with a map… that I can’t… read.”

Sonata stopped in place when she fully realized that she was completely trapped. There were no transportation service available for her to use and she got no phone or anything she can use to call her friends for help. The only way she could make it back home is for her to read the map and all road signs while on foot, but with this recent mistake, Sonata lost all confidence in herself that she could read her way at all. As far as Sonata knew, she blew it and let all of her friends and sisters down. With a defeated sigh, Sonata tossed both the instructions and the map and then slowly dragged herself to a nearby create and sat on it, resting her head on her right hand.

“Oh who am I kidding,” she said sadly. “I don’t even know where the heck I am! Even if I just take a different way, I won’t be able to understand any of the street signs. Maybe Trixie and a bunch others from school were right, I’m just a dumb loser who can’t even read at all, even from a freaking pepper shaker.” Sonata then buried her head into her hands as tears were leaking from her eyes. “I’m sorry Sunset… I’m sorry everyone… I’ve failed.”

Sonata was snapped out of her depressed state when she heard a loud crash coming from behind her. She immediately hopped out of her seat and go into her fighting stance.

“W-who’s there!” she hollered, while her voice was somewhat shaky in fright. “W-whoever you are, d-don’t come near me! I-I know KA-RA-TE!”

Suddenly, a small dark being leaped out of the bushes, causing Sonata to scream and cowered under her hands. She shut her eyes and shook in fear, waiting for whoever was there to get her. But the moment she heard a soft, yet cute “mew” sound, she immediately stopped shaking and opened her eyes. Thanks to the nearby streetlamp, Sonata was able to identify a tiny little yellow kitten with light brown stripes on its tail, back and top of its head and light green eyes.

Sonata sighed in relief. “O-oh! It’s just kitty! A tiny… harmless… cute… kitty.”

She then knelt down near the kitty and lightly petting its head, making it purr as a response. “What are doing here little one? Are you lost?”

The young kitten mewed in response, making Sonata chuckled a little.

“Yeah, me too. I was trying to find my way back home with Sunset’s instructions. It didn’t go so well.” She sighed again. “If only I am capable of reading all these street signs so I can get us back home… but I can’t. Well at least I don’t have to scared alone.”

The kitten mewed again, but this time it was shaking in fright. Sonata gave the feline her sympatric smile.

“Aw, are you’re scared too? How about if I do this?”

Sonata gently picked up the kitty, which was still shaking and then she sat back down on the crate. Sonata then started to gently pet the kitten, back and forth, from its head to its back. The kitten stopped shaking a little and purred from the comfort of Sonata’s fingers rubbing on its back. While Sonata was glad that the kitten was starting to feel comfortable, she felt like she wanted to do more. Then she remembered the story that she read to Fluttershy and the kids from the library last week and decided to recite those words to the kitty.

“Kitty, kitty, kitty. The kitty is so soft and pretty, do you want to pet the kitty? Yes, I want to pet the kitty.”

This made the kitten purred happily in response, no longer shaking, and snuggled itself further into Sonata’s embrace.

Sonata smiled softly at the happy kitten. “Is that better little one?” The kitty purred in delight, making Sonata smile further. “Good. I’m glad. I hope you don’t mind. I was reciting the words from the book I read to the kids last week. It was about this cute little kitty just like you who—”

Sonata stopped talking and her eyes went wide as sudden realization came into her mind.

“From the book I read!” Sonata repeated in delight with a huge grin on her face.

Sonata immediately stood up and held the kitty in front of her.

“I was able to read that book to the kids like a pro, wasn’t I?” She asked the kitty, only to receive a soft mew in response. “If I can read Pet the Kitty, then I bet can read the street signs too, right?”

The kitten mewed again with the smile on its face.

With a smile and new sense of determination, Sonata gently brought the kitten to her chest and picked up her map before she started walking down the street.

“C’mon little Kitty, let’s go home!”

I was nearly midnight at the school grounds of CHS. More students had already left for home while few students remained, sleeping on the grass or against the school’s building. The only onces around who were fully awake were the Rainbooms, two Dazzling sisters and Trixie and the Illusions with overwhelmingly concern expressions on their faces. With the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings, they were worried about their friend’s wellbeing, while Trixie and the Illusions were worried that they’ll receive Aria’s wrath with each passing minute Sonata didn’t show up.

Adagio was still pacing back in forth in front of the school, waiting for her sister’s return. When she glanced at the time on her phone, she let out a loud yell, awaking everyone in the process.

“I can’t take it anymore! I’m going out to find Sonata!”

Just as the eldest Siren was about to take off, Fluttershy stood up and yelled, “Wait, look!”

Everybody turned to where Fluttershy was pointing and they saw a dark figure walking down the sidewalk towards them.

Sunset squinted her eyes in attempt to make out the details of the figure from the darkness. “Sonata?”

The figure was getting closer and closer towards the school until the light from the streetlamp revealed the figure to be none other than Sonata with a yellow kitty cat in her arms. Sonata stopped walking and looked up towards her friends and sisters with her huge smile on her face.

“…I can read!”

“SONATA!” The girls cried happily as the Rainbooms ran over to Sonata and gave her their group hug.

“You’re okay!”

“Where you been?”

“How’d you get here?”

“You alright darling?”

“Is that a kitten? …how cute!”

“Did you secretly buy us some cupcakes?”

“Alright, settle down everybody! Let the poor girl breathe!” Applejack spoke up, helping the young Siren.

Before Sonata could speak, she felt someone wrapped her arms tightly around her. She looked up to see her eldest sister Adagio, who had a loving smile on her face with tears running down her cheeks.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she spoke softly. “And I’m so proud of you Sonata, for overcoming your struggle and made it here on your own! You’re amazing Sonata and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Thank you… Dagi,” Sonata said softly with her sweet smile, keeping herself from crying.

They were interrupted when they heard someone cleared their throat. They turned to see that it was Aria with a guilt frown on her face. With a heavy sigh, Aria looked away while she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Hey Sonata… listen… I… uh…”

“It’s okay Aria,” Sonata spoke up as she stepped forward towards her sister. “You don’t have to—”

“Shut up and let me speak!” Aria spoke harshly, only to wince from her own outburst. Fortunately, Sonata didn’t even flinch at all, as if she was used to Aria’s outbursts, but even then, Aria felt even guiltier. With another somber sigh, Aria turned to look at Sonata in the eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, okay!? I’m sorry for not supporting you and I’m sorry for giving you the cold shoulder! I wanted to forgive you for that stunt you pulled weeks ago, but my pride and anger wouldn’t let me. But that’s no excuse, if you haven’t returned I…”

Aria clenched her eyes tightly, keeping any tears from escaping. She nearly gasped as she felt someone hugging her. She open her eyes and see it was Sonata who hugged her, despite the tears blocking her vision.

“Aria… It’s okay,” Sonata spoke softly. “From what I did a couple of weeks ago, I deserved all that anger from you. To be honest, despite that I was forgiven by others… I still haven’t forgiven myself. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to talk to me anymore.”

Aria shook her head and then hugged Sonata back. “No Sonata, if there’s anyone who deserved the blame… it was me. I should’ve been more patient and teach you better when you struggled with reading and I shouldn’t let my anger blind me like that. Will you forgive me… Nata?”

“Only if you forgive me… Ria.”

As the two sisters were making up, everyone else smiled at the heartwarming scene. Rainbow Dash in particular had tears in her eyes, to which Applejack had noticed.

“Hey Dash, is that a tear I see?” Applejack teased.

Rainbow yelped as she furiously wiped any trace of tears off of her face. “What, no! I’m not crying! I somehow got dust in my eyes!”

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile on her face.

The two Siren sisters eventually broke out their hug and Aria stared at the kitty in Sonata’s arms with her raised eyebrow.

“So uh… are we keeping the cat?”

Sonata just smiled back at Aria before she faced her friends.

“Sunset…girls,” she began. “I… wanted to thank you… all of you, for helping me, for forgiving me and also… for believing in me. I don’t know how am I going to repay to you guys.”

Sunset smiled warmly at the young Siren. “You don’t have to repay us with anything Sonata. You’re our dear friend to us and we’ll do anything to help a friend. And seeing you happy and succeed… is enough for us. Right girls?”

The Rainbooms nodded in agreement with smiles on their faces, making Sonata teared up in happiness.

“Thank you… girls.”

Their moment was interrupted however when Trixie and the Illusions stepped in with unreadable expressions on their faces. The Rainbooms and Adagio was giving their warning glares while Aria crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“Well? Don’t you or any of your cronies have anything to say to her?” Aria snarled, causing the Illusions to gulp in fear.

Trixie sighed through her nose before she began to speak with her blunt tone.

“Listen Si—”

Trixie halted her words when Aria was giving her her death glare.

“I mean… Sonata,” Trixie quickly corrected before she continued in her mumbling tone. “Trix— I wanted to… apologize for humiliated you by telling the whole school that you can’t read.”

“And?” Aria added.

“…and mocking you for it.”

“And?” Adagio added.

“…and humiliated you again from the stage a few weeks back.”

“And?” Sunset added.

“And for dragging your friends into the bet for my own selfish reasons!”

“And?” Pinkie added.

“OH C’MON, THERE’S MORE!?” Trixie shouted in annoyance.

“Nope. It’s just fun to say it.” Pinkie chirped.

“…Trixie knows you’re doing this on purpose!”

“Trixie,” Sonata spoke up, getting the young magician’s attention who was surprised that Sonata called her name right for once. What also surprised Trixie was that Sonata didn’t look angry at all. Instead, Sonata had a soft forgiving smile plastered on her face.

“Apology accepted. That’s all I really ask for!” She paused for a moment before adding, “And for my friend’s freedom.”

“Yes… of course. Trixie always kept of her word,” Trixie responded with a hint of reluctance in her voice. “And I supposed you also wanted your first of many tacos you wanted me to buy for the month after this, right?”

Sonata’s expression then became serious. “Actually… no.”

“NO?!” Everyone gasped in shock.

“No?” Trixie echoed with her surprised expression.

“No,” Sonata repeated before she explained. “That part of the bet is off. I’m not doing this to upstage you… I’m doing this for me and my friends! I wanted to overcome my illiteracy so I can help them and well as many others by reading cookbooks, instructions, measurements and even directions on a map instead of being useless. And I also wanted to redeem myself for making the worst mistake in my life for betraying my friends and my sisters; so I can be worthy again in their eyes. Most of all… well to be blunt, I don’t want to stoop to your level. I know we don’t see eye to eye, but despite everything that you had done, I’m willing to forgive you and…” Sonata smiled and stuck out her hand towards Trixie. “Maybe we can… call it a truce and… start over?”

Trixie blinked. “So… you won’t make Trixie pay for the tacos for a month?”

Sonata shook her head. “No. You don’t have to buy me tacos for a month.”

“Oh good!” Trixie sighed in relief before shaking Sonata’s hand. “Well for the sake of Trixie’s wallet, Trixie will be more than happy to call it truce… for now.” She then started to walk away from the group. “Til then, The Great and Powerful Trixie bid you ad—”

Trixie suddenly felt someone grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back to the group. She was about to complain, only to see Aria who was towing over her with an evil look.

“Hey, where you going buddy!” Aria sneered with her fake friendly tone. “We still need you and your pals to pay for the milkshakes as a celebration for Sonata!”

Trixie’s, as well as the Illusions eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “H-HEY! Sonata said that part of the bet is off and forgives Trixie!”

“You’re right, she did!” Aria relented before giving them her cruel smirk. “But that doesn’t mean we forgave ya yet!”

Trixie and the Illusions looked past Aria and their eyes widen in horror as the Rainbooms (except for Fluttershy) and Adagio were giving them their own devious smirks, intending to punish the young magician and her gang by going through their wallets.

“Awesome, let’s all have some milkshakes! And then… SLUMBER PARTY AT THE DAZZLINGS HOUSE!” Pinkie cheered.

The Rainbooms cheered at the idea of sleeping over idea while Sonata, as well as the kitty, was giving Adagio their pouting faces, silently begging her have a slumber party. Adagio had a straight face for a moment before she shrugged and formed a smile.

“Sure, why not? Sonata earned it!” said Adagio, making Sonata squeal in happiness. “We could use the company for a change. We’ll just call an Uber for our trip to the Sugarcube Corner and then back at our place afterwards.” Adagio then turned and smirked at Trixie and the Illusions. “Thank you so much in advance for paying the Uber bills girls!”

“Wha— hey now wait just a minute!” Trixie objected, only her words were cut off as Aria was roughly dragging her away by pulling her hair. “Ow, ow, OW! You’re pulling Trixie’s hair!”

The Illusions stared in fright as they watch their boss being dragged away. They were about to make a run for it, leaving Trixie behind, only for their path to be blocked by Rainbow and Applejack, who were giving them their sly grins.

“Going somewhere partners?” Applejack taunted with her arms crossed.

“It wouldn’t be fun without you!” Rainbow mocked as she cracked her knuckles.

Realized that they were beaten, the two girls whimpered as they were forced to tag along to get to the Sugarcube Corner. The rest of the CHS student all seen enough and decided to part way after congratulating to Sonata for passing the test as well as apologizing to her for all the harsh treatments they gave her. Sonata only made brief responses to the students as she joined her friends to wait for the Uber, much to Trixie's distress.

As they waited for the Uber, Sonata felt content that she can finally read (more or less) after a whole month of struggling. She couldn’t have done it without the support and love from her friends, despite that huge hiccup from the stage incident. Most importantly, she felt that she finally regain all of her friends and sisters trust back after nearly losing it all. She felt that she was the luckiest girl in the world to have such wonderful people in her life and she’ll do anything to be there for them like they did for her. Nothing could ruin her mood now, even as Aria spoke up in her usual blunt tone.

“Seriously, are we keeping that cat?”

Author's Note

Don't go away folks! An epilogue will be posted shortly!

And yes, that was the same cat that Sunset petted briefly from Monday Blues short.

It makes my heart warmed up every time I see it! :twilightsmile:

Sonata's Problem

It was the early evening within a small diner near the mall. Only a few customers were present at this time eating their meals at their own tables, including ten teenaged girls. These teenagers in particular were two known groups from the Canterlot High School, the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings. Normally, these two groups would still have been mortal enemies until they became… more or less friends few months ago. The thought of these two different groups together as friends were not possible, if not for the youngest Siren of the group who accidentally brought them together after the school cafeteria incident from all these months ago.

Speaking of the youngest Siren, Sonata was more into her dinner then her other friends, who was happily moaning while chewing on one of ten of her tacos. The amount of tacos would have buried anyone’s wallets to their grave, but luckily, all of their meals are on a discount thanks to Pinkie who works at this very restaurant. Just as the young teenager was finishing up her taco, another girl with rainbowed hair groaned loudly in annoyance.

“URG! Sonata, will you stop it already!?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Sonata blinked at her friend in confusion. “Stop what?”

“The humming!”

“…humming?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah! You kept making these weird loud humming noises as you were eating!”

“I wasn’t humming!” Sonata denied.

“Yeah you were! We all heard it! Heck, anyone within five blocks can hear it!” Rainbow argued.

“For realsies?” Sonata asked as she was tapping her chin in thought. “Well, if anyone can hear it but me, then I guess I should have my ears check.”

Before Rainbow could argue further, one of Sonata’s sister, Aria, spoke up.

“Don’t bother Rainbow freak,” said Aria with so much disdain in her voice. “She always eats like that with her loud humming! You would only end up arguing with her for hours and than nothing gets resolved. Believe me, we’ve tried.”

Adagio, who was sitting next Aria and the eldest of the Siren sister, rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I can attest to that! We lost so many hours of sleeping that day.”

“Even as it may, should we be concern about it?” Twilight asked with concern as she adjusted her glasses. “I’ve read that those who hum while eating or any certain behaviors might lead her to—”

“UGH! Shimmer, does your encyclopedia girlfriend come with a mute button?” Aria complained.

Sunset shot Aria a glare before she turned and put her arm around her pouting girlfriend with her warm smile. “Don’t mind them Twi, I always find it cute to listen all the smart things from you.”

Twilight giggled with a blush as she leaned into her girlfriend, much to the Rainbow’s displeasure.

“BLEH! Get a room you two!” said Rainbow with her tongue sticking out.

“Oh come now Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded. “While I, for one, thought this was very sweet. I wish I have someone who have eyes on me.”

Applejack cocked her eyebrow. “There were at least fifteen boys and four girls lookin’ yer way this mornin’ Rarity!”

“I meant a special someone!” Rarity clarified while ignoring a deadpanned look from the farmer. “Although it is nice to get attention from other students, but still!”

“Whatever,” Rainbow huffed before facing Sonata. “Yo Sonata, pass the pepper over here would ya?”

Sonata froze from her eating and looked up to see everyone including her sisters, staring at her expectedly. She looked down at the two small shakers in front of her and then looked back up again facing her friends with a gulp.

“U-um… s-sure.”

Sonata quickly grabbed the left shaker and then placed it in front of Rainbow Dash. Everyone was dumbfounded from Sonata actions, which made the young Siren even more nervous. After about a minute of stunned silence, Rainbow spoke up while looking at Sonata strangely.

“Uh… Sonata… that’s salt.”

“Oh… for realsies?” said Sonata with a nervous chuckle as she picked up the correct shaker and then placed it in front of Rainbow. “Oh silly me. I guess I'm too tired for my eyes to see anything straight tonight… ehehehe.”

“…Rrrrrriiiiiiight.” Rainbow Dash said unconvincingly while the two other Dazzlings facepalmed in union.

“Um… are you okay Sonata?” Sunset asked with a worried frown.

“Oh—yeah! Yeah totally!” Sonata quickly answered as she stood up from her seat, leaving her tacos behind. “In fact… I’m going home early today! I… got to finish my homework for school tomorrow!”

Sunset raised her eyebrow. “But tomorrow’s Saturday.”

“All the more reason to start early!” Sonata quickly replied as she was rushing towards the exit. “Anyway I’ll see ya girls later!”

Sonata ran out of the dinner without looking back, leaving her confused friends behind. The Rainbooms stared at the doors were Sonata disappeared through for a while longer before they all turn towards each other with concerned expressions while the two Dazzlings gave each other their knowing looks. While Sonata acting like a goofball was nothing new, but the fact that she’s been acting strange for the past week, including the shakers incident and not bother to eat the rest of her tacos just now, clearly means that something was up with the young Siren. After a long pause, Sunset finally spoke up.

“Okay girls, I think we should address the elephant in the room.”

“Where? I don’t see any elephants in here! And why should we dress it?” asked Pinkie as she was looking around the room.

Rainbow sighed irritability. “It’s a figure of speech Pinkie!”

Pinkie stopped looking and then frowned. “Aww! I would’ve love to meet an elephant in person!”

“Oh me too!” Fluttershy spoke up in her quiet-like voice. “I would love to pet one someday where there are no bars in between.”

Pinkie gasped excitedly. “Yeah, maybe we should break into a Zoo sometime and meet one someday Flutters!”

Before Fluttershy could object to Pinkie’s horrible idea, Sunset interjected.

“GIRLS! FOCUS!” After she received apologetic looks from her two friends and that she was sure that she got the full attention from everyone, Sunset continued the topic about a certain blue haired Siren. “Has anyone noticed that Sonata was acting… weird lately?”

“She was acting weird all the time!” Aria scoffed. “You of all people should know that already!”

Sunset shook her head. “No. I mean… weirder than normal? Sonata kind of normal?”

Everyone then thought back to their own memories of when they were together with Sonata during her “weird” moments.

Pinkie and Sonata were partnered up to bake a cake for their Home Ec class. Pinkie was in charge to mix up the ingredients for the frosting while Sonata was tasked to finish up putting the ingredients for the main cake.

While Pinkie was happily mixing (and tasting) the cake’s frosting, Sonata appeared to be struggling as she was reading the cookbook. She was lagging behind for a long time and worried that her friend will notice. Once she knew Pinkie wasn’t looking, Sonata quickly grabbed all the ingredients she could find and then threw them into the bowl. Next, she grabbed a wooden spoon and mixed all the ingredients together into a huge glop. Once that was done, she quickly went to the oven, threw the entire bowl into the oven and then turned the oven on and set the temperature up to about the highest number as possible in hopes to have the cake cook faster.

As the cake was cooking in the oven, Sonata smiled to herself, thinking she had succeeded in baking the whole cake without a hitch. Her victory was short lived when smoke was suddenly coming out of the oven and it was getting thicker by the second. Sonata tried to use her apron to fan out the smoke, but her efforts were all for naught when the smoked reached the fire detectors and set off the entire room.

The alarm got everyone’s attention, including Pinkie and then they all gasped in horror at the sight of a thick smoke coming from a burning cake from within the oven Sonata was using. Thinking quickly, Pinkie took out her fire extinguisher from her hair (for some reason) and then she opened the oven and used it on their burning cake. Once the fire was out, Pinkie wore her oven mitts, turned off the stove and then took the now ruined cake in the bowl out of the oven.

The “cake” itself had seen better days. The bowl was cracked and blacked, the edges around the cake was charred and the very center of the cake had a ugly black bubbly substance like it came from toxic waste. Appalled and upset about their cake, Pinkie glared at Sonata, which made the siren chuckled nervously.

“Uh… I guess there’s a smudge somewhere on this cookbook that said completely different… ehehehe.”

Applejack just stood there motionless, staring at the aftermath of the Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack assigned Sonata to take a huge bag of topsoil from the barn and spread them all over the orchard for the newly planted apple seeds while Applejack herself gathered up some apples from the other orchard. When she came up to check up on the young Siren after an hour later, Applejack was shocked and horrified after seeing what Sonata had done. While Sonata had indeed completed the job on the apple field, but instead of covering the field with apple seeds, Sonata covered the whole field with a certain type of fertilizer. The stench of the area was so bad, even Big Macintosh’s face was green from the smell, despite that he used a clothespin on his nose.

Applejack slowly turned to face Sonata with her peeved expression while the former siren had a sheepish look.

“Um… I guess all that dirt must of covered a lot of letters since the bags all looked the same… ehehehe.”

Both Twilight and Sonata were assigned as lab partners for chemistry class. They’ve carefully been pouring certain amounts of chemicals with their beakers and test tubes into a big rounded glass flack, which was sitting over the flame. Twilight had Sonata to add one more chemical with whatever the textbook instruct them to while she was writing down the results on their paperwork.

Sonata stared long and hard at the book for with slanted eyes. After a while she picked up an eyedropper and took a little amount from one of the chemicals from a beaker. She carefully hovered the eyedropper over the large flack before pressing the rubber bulb of the dropper. By this point, Twilight looked up from her paperwork and her eyes widen in horror when she saw what chemical Sonata had picked up. Before Twilight could try and stop her, Sonata released one drop of the chemical and landed into the big flack, making the contents inside of it explode.

Once the smoke was cleared, the big flack was gone and both Twilight and Sonata were covered in soot from the explosion. Twilight stared at their ruined assignment in disbelief before shooting Sonata her glare. Sonata for her part, chuckled nervously.

“Uh… I had a hard time seeing through these goggles to read the instructions… ehehehe.”

Rarity needed some extra hands to help her out to work on a big order for her client. So she asked Sonata for help with trimming some cloths to make a nice dress. Rarity let Sonata in the other room with a diagram that contained important instructions and measurements of that peculiar cloth for the dress. Rarity left the room for a half-in-hour to check on other orders she had to fulfill for other clients. When she returned to Sonata, she nearly let out a shriek after witnessing Sonata’s “handiwork.”

The cloth that Sonata used was now made into a dress. However, many different parts of the dress were in different proportions. The left sleeve was about five feet long while the right sleeve was nonexistence, the neckline was too small, the waistline was too big, the hem length was too short and one side of the skirt was outrageously longer than the other side. To make things worst, Sonata just used the wrong color cloth. Instead of sky blue, Sonata used a gold color with sparkles. What’s even worse was that cloth was the most expensive cloth and Rarity needed that cloth for another client.

Rarity slowly turned towards Sonata with her twitching left eye while Sonata nervously backed away with a sheepish look.

“Uh… I figured… you’re client would like this dress better this way? …Ehehehe.”

From within the math class, there was a small party (courtesy of Pinkie Pie) in honor of Mr. Doodle for his upcoming wedding with Matilda. While Mr. Doodle wasn’t into parties, but he appreciate his students for their thoughtfulness as he and his students were eating his cake.

Sonata was in the middle of devouring her own piece of cake when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see her friend Sunset Shimmer with a large card on her hand. Sunset gave the card and pen to Sonata and asked Sonata to write a signature on the inside of the card to congratulate Mr. Doodle for the wedding. Sonata was hesitant for a moment before she picked up the pen and started writing on it. When Sonata was finished, she gave the card and pen back to sunset before she excused herself to get to the next class. Sunset looked down on the card and then had a look of confusion to see scribbly circles on the card instead of Sonata’s signature. When she called out to Sonata about this, Sonata replied with a nervous look before leaving the room.

“Uh… I figured… it’d be a lot better to write scribbles instead of writing my name… ehehehe.”

Things were very hectic at the Animal Shelter lately with new animals keep coming in but only a few staffs available. Which was why Fluttershy asked Sonata a big favor to come down and help her out as a volunteer to care for as many animals as they can. Fluttershy had Sonata to go on feeding duty with a list of certain foods to feed with detailed amounts to each animal, while Fluttershy was cleaning out the entire hamster habitat.

Fluttershy was halfway done cleaning the habitat when she heard distressed animal noises from the other room. Worried for the dogs, Fluttershy left the hamsters room and headed towards the back room of the shelter. When she arrived, she was stunned when she saw many different kind of animals were surrounding her with looks of rage on their faces. Before she could ask Sonata what happened, a white bunny hopped towards her and pointed to all the food dishes to each cages. At first, Fluttershy was confused about the bunny’s gesture, but then she quickly found out what made the animals so angry. Each animal got the wrong type of food; the dogs food in the snakes den, the crickets in the rabbit cages, the cat food in the dog cages, and so on and so forth.

Stunned, Fluttershy turned to her friend for explanation while Sonata continued to back away from the animals with a nervous chuckle.

“Um… I figured they should have a change of diet? … ehehehe.”

There was a big sport sell coming up within the sports store and Rainbow Dash was assigned to set up the ball display for each different kind of sport. Normally, Rainbow Dash could handle it herself, but since it was a big job and low on staff, she asked Sonata for help. When Sonata arrived, Rainbow immediately assigned her with a list of displays she had to do for one side of the store while Rainbow takes care of the other half of the store.

After a half an hour, Rainbow finished her third ball display at the baseball section and decided to check on Sonata at the football section. When Rainbow reached her destination, she was dumbfounded of what she saw. Instead of footballs, Sonata had piled up soccer balls all over the football department. Annoyed, Rainbow tapped on Sonata’s shoulder to get her attention and then she informed her that she used the wrong balls for the display. When Sonata didn’t understand what she means, Rainbow picked up the soccer ball and pointed at it and then the image of a football from one of walls of the store.

Sonata mind finally clicked on her error and then she chuckled with her sheepish expression.

“Oh… that football! I thought you guys meant… England football… ehehehe.”

“Yeah… that’s definitely weirder than normal when it comes to Sonata standards,” Rainbow said finally after their long trip down to memory lane. “Either she really suck at what she’s doing or something’s seriously wrong with her. It took me forever to redo all the sport balls to the right display!”

“I have to reorder all the fabrics that Sonata messed up!” Rarity huffed.

“And feed the animals properly,” Fluttershy added.

“And cleaned the entire farm before using the topsoil this time!” Applejack included.

“And cleaned up the lab after that disaster!” said Twilight.

“And baked a brand new cake in Home Ec after Sonata burned the other cake… I never burn cake!” Pinkie shouted loudly with a look of rage that made everyone backed away slightly from the party girl.

Aria rolled her eyes. “What do you girls expect? Sonata is a walking disaster!”

“Well… yes, but not this much!” Sunset said with a frown. “Something is going on with her and I’m very concern for her.”

Twilight placed her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “We all do too Sunset. Sonata made a lot of mistakes and apologized for it, but every time we asked why, she always comes up with an excuse.”

“Do you think maybe she is still bullied from the other students?” asked Fluttershy with her worried expression.

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t think so Darling. Sonata is as happy as a clam whenever I saw her walking down the hall. She still sometimes received glares by some students, but that was it.”

“Well what could there possibly be?” Applejack said in her semi-frustrated tone. “She won’t tell us what it is!”

As the Rainbooms were trying to think up a reason to Sonata’s strange behavior, Sunset noticed the two older Dazzlings sisters were looking at each other as if they already knew the answer. Sunset loudly cleared her throat to get the two sirens attention.

“Adagio… Aria… is there something that the two of you know about Sonata what we don’t?” Sunset asked.

Rainbow leaned forward with narrowed eyes. “Yeah, spell the beans you two! Both of you looked like you guys were hiding something!”

“What we know is none of your business Rainbow freak!” Aria stated defensively.

“Whatever is going on with our friend IS our business! So fess up!” Rainbow fired back.

Aria scowled. “What makes you so sure that we’ll—”

Adagio raised her hand in front of Aria’s face, signaling her middle sister to stop talking. Once she was sure that Aria calmed down a bit, Adagio then began to explain in her calming voice.

“What my sister was trying to say is that we do know what is going on with our youngest sister but we can’t say it because she made us promise to not to tell everyone about it… especially to you girls.”

The Rainbooms frowned deeply at Adagio’s words, feeling hurt that Sonata’s would not want them to help her.

“Why not?” Pinkie uttered sadly with her hair less poofy. “We’re her friends! Doesn’t she know that she can trust us?”

Applejack crossed her arms with a skeptical frown. “Not to drag yer name through da mud but don’t the two of you usually act like you don’t care about her feelings?”

Adagio glared tensely at the farmer girl. “First of all, while we don’t deny that we teased Sonata all the time and gave her a hard time every now and then, but just because we don’t show it much, that doesn’t mean that we don’t care about her!”

Adagio pounded the table to empathize her point, causing everyone but Aria to flinch away from her. She kept glaring at Applejack for a moment longer until her anger was quickly replaced with a sober expression and let out a melodic sigh.

“Second… Sonata does know that you all are her friends. But it’s not that she doesn’t trust you girls, it’s just… well… this is something you should ask Sonata herself… if you’re lucky to get her to open up.”

Everyone was sad to hear that they couldn’t do anything to help out their dear friend. The fact that even the two other Dazzlings clammed up about the issue worried them even more. Wanting to make sure that Sonata is okay, Sunset asked the oldest Siren with her pleading voice.

“Could you please at least tell me if her problem is serious or not?”

Adagio was hesitant for a moment before she replied to the former unicorn. “I can assure you Sunset, that it’s nothing serious at all. All I can say is that this is something that Sonata has been dealing with ever since when we first arrived here in this world. We tried to solve that problem ourselves once but… it didn’t work out.” Adagio then looked away with a bit a guilt expression. “I guess looking back now… we probably should’ve been more patient with her.”

Aria looked away with a stone-face expression before she nodded in agreement.

Sunset frowned. While her worry for her friend was not completely gone, at least she felt a bit better that there was nothing too serious going on with her friend. Despite that, if only she could get Sonata to open up and let them help her.

Even if the problem was very small.

Some time after dinning out with her friends, everyone except for Sunset went home for the night. Sunset decided to make a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up milk and some snacks for Ray. As Sunset was walking down the streets of Canterlot, she was thinking about Sonata again. Despite Adagio assurance that Sonata’s problem wasn’t very serious, Sunset couldn’t help but wonder what issue Sonata was having since her first arrival to this world and how it related to now. Unfortunately, she couldn’t come up with anything.

Just as Sunset was getting closer to the local supermarket, she heard a familiar feminine voice from close by.

“Come on you stupid door! OPEN!”

Sunset knew that voice from anywhere. She quickly walked right towards the store’s front entrance and sure enough, that person was none other than Sonata. She cocked an eyebrow as she watching Sonata trying to pry open the front entrance, to the point of trying to place one leg on the wall while trying to pull them with both of her arms. What’s even stranger was that those were doors were supposed to open automatically for anyone who is close to that door and the store itself is still open at this hour. After less than a minute of watching this bizarre scene, Sunset decided to get her friend’s attention.

“Uh… Sonata?”

Sonata jumped with a shriek before she quickly turned to face Sunset.

“S-Sunset! W-what are you doing here!” said Sonata as she tried to calm herself down.

“I came here to buy some groceries,” Sunset answered while pointing at the store behind Sonata.

Sonata looked behind her and then faced Sunset again with a nervous smirk. “Oh… um… m-me too! My sisters sent me out here to get some food. Nothing weird about that! Ehehehe…”

“Well… why are you out here? Should you be inside?” Sunset asked.

Sonata let out her indigent huff. “I was trying to, but this door won’t open! I walked through this door all the time and it usually opened for me!”

Curious about the door too, Sunset peered at the door behind Sonata and noticed a huge sign on the window of the door. Once she read it, Sunset felt even more confused about the situation. Stunned, Sunset faced her friend again with her one eyebrow raised.

“Um… didn’t you read the sign?”

Sonata titled her head in confusion. “What sign?”

Wordlessly, Sunset pointed at the sign behind Sonata, which caused the youngest Siren to turn around to stare at it. She then turned back to Sunset with a shrug.

“So? What about it?”

“It said: Automatic door temporary disabled. Please use the side door!” Sunset stated.

“…oh… uh… I knew that!” Sonata uttered uneasily.

“If you knew, then why are you here?” Sunset pressed.

“I was… simply testing you!” Sonata lied. “Y-yeah that’s it! I’m testing you and you pass! Now let’s go to the side.”

As Sonata quickly walked away towards the side of the grocery store, Sunset furrowed her eyebrows in thought, feeling more confused than ever. Why would Sonata claimed that it was all a test even though she was actually struggling to get the door open? Even if this wasn’t a test, how come Sonata never noticed that obvious sign on the door with a clear message? For that matter, why was Sonata acting so panicky after Sunset told her what the sign had said? Sunset thought back to all the incidents Sonata had spent with her friends including herself from the past week and then compared to the situation now. Her eyes then widened in realization. All of Sonata’s mistakes and her behaviors made much more sense now.

With her sudden determination, Sunset quickly went after Sonata as she struggled to get a word to Sonata.

“Sonata—”

“I knew it all the time the door is busted!”

“Sonata—”

“I mean, only a real idiot wouldn’t know those doors are busted!”

“Sonata—”

“I mean it’s not that I had to go into the store to buy some food, only to get block by some stupid door for a half-in-hour!”

“SONATA!”

“WHAT?” Sonata screeched, just as she was about to reach the store’s side entrance.

Unperturbed from Sonata’s shouting, Sunset decided to ask the youngest Siren a very crucial question that had just plagued her mind.

“Sonata… do you know how to read?”

“What!?” Sonata shouted indignantly. “W-what are you talking about? Of course I can read!”

Sunset crossed her arms and her eyes narrowed. “Well if you can read, you wouldn’t still be out here right now!”

Sonata eyes shifted back in forth as she tried to come up with an excuse. “Maybe I didn’t notice it!”

“The sign is practically bigger than your head!”

“Well the words were too small to read!”

“The words were big and bold! I doubt anyone would miss it!”

“Well… um… the sign was not clear enough?”

“Sonata, the sign was perfectly clear what it’s telling us!”

Sonata growled angrily. “Look pal! Just because I don’t understand some dumb words from some dumb sign doesn’t mean that I can’t read!”

So the two teens just stared at each other in a standoff with narrow eyes. Neither one was willing to back down from each other. After what it felt like an eternity, Sunset let out a sigh as she uncrossed her arms.

“Okay then… prove it.”

Sonata’s glare melted into her look of confusion. “What?”

“Prove it,” Sunset repeated. She then pointed at the side door behind Sonata. “I want you to open this door.”

Sonata smirked. “What, that’s it? Pfft! Piece of cake!”

With full of confidence, Sonata reached out to grab the door handle.

“Not so fast!” Sunset spoke up, causing Sonata to freeze in place. “I want you to read the sign and then open the door!”

Sonata eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to the size of pin needles. Her eyes slowly looked up to see another sign that was sitting on the side entrance’s door. She gulped.

“Um… out… loud?”

Sunset crossed her arms. “No. You can read it to yourself… for now!”

With sweat slowly dripping from her forehead, Sonata took a close look at the sign. Her eyes darted all over the sign as if she was trying to decipher the message. Her heart was racing and her vision began to blur. Just as she was about to pass out, she heard Sunset calling out to her again.

“Did you read it?”

“Um… yes?”

“Then open it.”

Sonata wasn’t sure why Sunset didn’t ask her what the sign said but decided not to question it in effort to dodge the issue. Without a moment of hesitation, Sonata grabbed the handle and tried to push through the door.

The door wouldn’t budge.

Sonata took a quick glimpse at Sunset behind her who had an expressionless look on her face.

“H-hold on! I can do it!” said Sonata as she tried to open the door again. “I-I can open it, I swear!” She insisted desperately while pushing against the door as hard as she could. “I-it needs more force!”

Sonata tried to push open the door with every method she could use to the point of slamming herself on the door. But no matter what she did, the door remained shut. Tears leaked out of her eyes in despair with every failed attempt she slammed against the door to get it open.

“C-come on… open!”

SLAM

“Open!”

SLAM

OPEN!

SLAM

“OPEN!”

Before she slammed herself against the door again, she felt Sunset hold her in place by her shoulder. “Sonata… that’s enough!”

Defeated, Sonata slumped herself down onto the ground next to the door with her head facing down. She had never felt so low since the time she and her sisters lost her pendants after their defeat at the Battle of the Bands. She sniffled as more tears were pouring down from her eyes while refusing to face her friend.

“…why can’t I open?” she wept with her broken tone.

Feeling sorry for her friend, Sunset sat down next to Sonata while keeping her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “You tell me? What does the sign say?”

Sunset was only greeted with silence when Sonata refused to answer.

“What. Does. It. Say?”

“…I don’t know. I don’t know what it said, okay!?” Sonata replied with a bit of a harsh tone.

“It said… pull,” Sunset said with a sigh.

Realizing that she’d been had by Sunset’s trick, Sonata sighed dejectedly while still refusing to face Sunset. “Okay Sunset… you got me. I never learned how to read.”

“…I thought so.”

Sonata finally looked up to her friend with a surprised expression despite her tears still leaking from her eyes. “Y-you do?”

“Yeah, I figured with all the mistakes you made with us for the past week and the way you acted just now confirmed it,” Sunset explained before giving Sonata her apologetic expression with caring eyes. “I’m so sorry I made you go through all of that, but that was the only way for me to find out the truth.”

Sonata wiped her face with her forearm and then formed a somber smile. “It’s alright Sunset. Out of everyone in this world, I’m just glad that it’s you who found out my secret.”

“But why? Why didn’t you tell us about this?” Sunset asked.

Sonata frowned and then looked away with a pained expression. “Because… I’m embarrassed… a-and ashamed at myself for not being able to learn as simple as reading,” She revealed with a sigh. “When we… my sisters and I… first showed up in this world, we were overwhelmed with the things we never seen before… including a different language from the world we came from. What’s even more overwhelming was that there are many different languages then the one we’re used to in Equestria!”

Sonata then chuckled humorlessly. “Did you know that there are about six-thousand, nine-hundred and nine different languages existed in this world alone? It’s difficult to learn one language, let alone six-thousand.” She frowned again. “Despite that, we narrowed it down to only the basic language around this area. My sisters unsurprisingly adapted and learned to read new language in this world very well. Me… I can’t even read the first sentence. Heck, I can’t even read the first word! My sisters tried to teach me to read, with Dagi’s boring but strict teachings and Ari’s… well let’s just say that her method was much more… rough.”

Sonata then shuddered violently from the memory. Once she stopped her shaking, she continued.

“In the end, they just gave up on me. They told me to just follow them and do what they say and we’ll be able to take over the world in no time.”

Sonata paused and then she quickly faced Sunset with an awkward yet nervous look. “Er… that was before we stopped being evil.”

Sunset nodded in understanding, not offended in a slightest.

Feeling somewhat relieved, Sonata continued with her story.

“Anyway, I didn’t let that bother me since I thought I can still do anything without reading, but lately, I felt more and more useless when I’m incapable to read labels or simple instructions from a cookbook or a chemistry book. And before we arrived in CHS, I remembered running into a few random people who asked me to help read a map or directions. When I failed to do it, they would laugh and made fun of me for being a idiot… well I felt a little better when Ari beat them up a little, but still…”

Sonata sighed sadly as she tiled her head downward and closed her eyes. “I know I’m not the brightest crayon in a box, but if other people from our school knew that I’m incapable of reading, then… it would make me feel worse. That’s why I didn’t say anything about it.”

Sunset felt her heart broke for the crestfallen Siren, so she moved a bit closer to her and wrapped Sonata’s into a side hug.

“Sonata… there nothing to be ashamed of for not knowing how to read,” Sunset said softly. “It took me awhile to read a new language in this world too before I got the hang of it. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. I thought it was difficult for me because I’m not from this world, but shortly after I learned to read, I was surprised when I looked up about learning how to read. Do you know how many people in this world who also can’t read?”

Sonata looked up towards Sunset with her curious expression. “How many?”

“A lot!” Sunset answered with a strong emphasis. “So you’re not alone. But just because you couldn’t read now, that doesn’t mean you’re not capable to learn.”

Sonata looked down dejectedly. “But my sisters tried Sunny! They said I’m incapable to learn anything at all!”

Sunset shook her head. “That’s not true. First of all, no offence to your sisters… but they’re not very good teachers.”

Sonata shrugged nonchalantly. “None taken.”

“Second, I think you are a great learner than you realized,” said Sunset with conviction. “When we all go out to camping last summer, who knew how to set up camp and survive the wilderness after learning from Pinkie Pie?”

“…I did,” Sonata answered with some hesitation.

Sunset nodded. “Right! When Soarin was choking on a big chunk of his cherry pie one time at our school cafeteria, who saved his life after learning about the Heimlich maneuver?”

“I did,” Sonata answered again but with a bit more confidence.

“Right again!” Sunset said enthusiastically. “And when Mr. Cranky Doodle assigned a culture project about foods from other countries, who helped me and then got an A plus on our project after learning about the history of Mexican tacos?”

Sonata giggled and smiled widely. “I did!”

Sunset smiled warmly. “So you see, you are capable of learning. If you can learn those things, then I guaranteed that you will learn how to read too!”

Sonata frowned, unsure about Sunset's encouraging words. “Gee I don’t know. It was a real struggle the last time I tried to learn how to read.”

“I’m sure with the help of our friends, we can figure it out what’s the best learning tactic for you,” Sunset encouraged.

Sonata had a look of panic and then quickly stood up as she frantically waved her hands around. “Oh no! No no no no no! We can’t tell them yet!”

Sunset frowned as she stood back up as well. “Why not? They’re our friends! We can trust them.”

“But what if they laugh?” Sonata whimpered.

“They won’t laugh!” Sunset insisted.

Sonata gave Sunset her skeptical look, which made the former unicorn to rubbed her neck awkwardly.

“Well okay… Rainbow Dash might laugh a little, but they’ll understand. I’m sure they all want to help you overcome with your struggle. We helped you during your first few rough weeks at school after the Battle of the Bands fiasco and we will gladly help you again to teach you how to read.”

There was only silence between the two teens with Sonata thinking about what Sunset had said and Sunset secretly hoping for Sonata to allow Sunset and their friends to help. After what it seemed like a minute, Sonata let out a sigh.

“Well… can I say that I’ll consider your offer and let me think about it for a while?”

“Sure thing Sonata,” said Sunset. While Sonata’s request disappointed Sunset a little, but at least that her friend is open to the idea.

“And can we still not tell them yet?” Sonata added. “It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s just… I want to tell them when I’m most comfortable. I am still new to this friendship thing.”

Sunset nodded. “I understand. I’ll respect your decision and I won’t say a word to our friends.”

“…Promise?” Sonata croaked quietly.

“I pinky promise!” Sunset said reassuringly with a smile. “Just remember, my offer to help you still stands. Okay?”

Sonata smiled and than she brought Sunset into her spine breaking hug. “Oh thank you Sunny!”

“Y-you’re welcome Sonata!” Sunset grunted from the hug but still kept her smile.

Sonata eventually let Sunset go and then she opened the door, this time by pulling it and gestured Sunset to go into the market before her. “Now let’s head inside and get our groceries! And then I’m going to buy us some tacos as thanks for being a good friend!”

Sunset frowned in confusion as she walked through the door and entered the market. “But we just had dinner with the gang two hours ago.”

“Hey, you can’t have too many tacos!~” Sonata singsonged before she entered the store and closed the door behind her.

Unknown to either of them, a figure who was around the corner of the building, was listening to the whole thing from the shadows.

“So… that idiotic siren can’t read at all, eh?” she chuckled with a cruel smile on the figure’s face. “Wait until Trixie tells everyone at the school about this!”

Author's Note

Hey everypony, thanks for reading the first chapter of Sonata Can't Read! I figured I'll start writing another EG story, starring our beloved taco loving Siren! :twilightsmile:

I hope you all enjoy it so far and another chapter will be on the way soon! So stay tuned! :raritywink:

Any mistakes you wanted to point out or something to criticize? Leave a comment below and I'll do my best to improve, but please be polite and respectful about it.

Have a nice day! :pinkiesmile:

Sonata's Secret is Out!

After two days of freedom, it was once again Monday, the most hated day of the week. Many students despite this day the most because they were forced to restart the week of torture of spending hours from one classroom to another, doing nothing but schoolwork and listening to nagging teachers. Why they only get to have two-day weekend and five other days of school was anyone’s guess.

It was around lunchtime within the cafeteria of CHS. Everyone was sitting at their tables eating their meals including the Rainbooms. However, the only two members of the group who was not eating at this time were Sunset and Rainbow Dash. The two of them were too busy engaging in an argument over a particular topic that they both disagreed on since the start of their lunch period.

“Are you kidding me?” Sunset exclaimed angrily. “Tirek’s Revenge is the best game of the series! Why the hay do you think it’s inferior to Rise of Tirek?”

Rainbow huffed. “Tirek’s Revenge is a great game, don’t get me wrong! I just think the storyline is a bit predictable and the gameplay is a bit more limited than the first one.”

“The story isn’t predictable!” Sunset argued loudly. “And what do you mean, “limited?””

“I mean that they made the gameplay much more linear, you have less options to fight, less levels and you can only get much more cooler weapons by purchasing them as DLC!” Rainbow shot back, before throwing her hands up. “I mean, who thought it was a good idea!?”

Meanwhile, the girls stared at their two friends with both amusement and concern while Applejack sighed irritability and rolled her eyes.

“Oh jeez, those two are outta again. Only those two would freak out over somethin’ trivial by some stupid video game.”

“IT’S NOT A STUPID VIDEO GAME!” Both Sunset and Rainbow shouted angrily at Applejack, causing the poor farmer to flinch before they resumed their argument with each other.

“Um… I don’t think it’s wise to bash their love for video games,” Fluttershy spoke up quietly.

“I concur,” said Rarity. “Despite their… taste, we should respect the hobbies that they love like my love of designing many beautiful dresses.”

“But I’m not insultin’ their hobby!” said Applejack. “I was commentin’ about their ridiculous arguments over their silly games!”

“THEY’RE NOT SILLY!” Both Sunset and Rainbow yelled at the farmer again, causing the farmer girl to flinch once again before they resumed their argument.

“Applejack, that’s not a nice thing to say!” Pinkie scolded before crossing her arms. “I supposed the next thing you’ll say is that my love of baking is stupid!”

“I am NOT sayin’ their games is stupid!” Applejack spoke up in frustration. “I just think their arguments related to their games is stupid!”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, while I understand Rainbow’s and my girlfriend’s love for video games, I’ll admit, even I’m concerned that they tend to bicker a lot when they have… different opinions.”

“Good, you get it!” said Applejack and then pointed at their arguing friends. “Now go tell yer girlfriend to stop this pointless argument with Rainbow right now!”

Twilight’s eyes widened with terror. She then raised her hands at Applejack and waved them franticly while shaking her head. “Oooooooh no! I’m not getting involved in this! The last time I tried to do that, one of them threw a cheese quesadilla at me and I’ve spent hours getting all the cheese out of my hair!” She then shuddered at the memory. “So… cheesy!”

“Land Snakes!” Applejack huffed. “Is there anyway to get these two to stop arguing already?”

Suddenly, everyone except for Sunset and Rainbow Dash heard the cafeteria doors burst open, revealing to be Aria with a look of anger on her face. All of the students turned to see what the commotion was, only to quickly turn away to avoid Aria’s wrath. But Aria never paid attention to any of them; her sights were only on the Rainbooms table, specifically the bacon-hair girl.

Aria stomped her way over to the Rainbooms table until she stood just behind Sunset and Rainbow.

“Shimmer! I have a bone to pick with you!” Aria boomed with her most menacing glare.

Unfortunately, Sunset and Rainbow Dash were still to busy arguing with each other to notice Aria’s presence or her loud voice, making the middle Siren angrier.

“Yo, Shimmer!”

No response.

“Shimmer!”

Still no response.

“SHIMMER!”

Applejack, who was the only one not intimidated by Aria’s anger from the group spoke up calmly. “Sorry partner, but these two can’t hear ya because they’re arguin’ which of the Tirek’s games are the best and they’ve been like this since the start of our lunch period.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so? Well I guess there’s only one thing left for me to do!”

Aria took a big breath and then she hollered loud enough to get attention from everyone within the entire cafeteria. “HEY EVERYONE, SONEIGH JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THEY’RE CANCELING THE THIRD TIREK GAME!”

“THEY WHAT!?!” Both Sunset and Rainbow shouted as they turned towards Aria with a look of horror in their eyes but then they blinked in confusion once they finally noticed Aria.

“…clever gal,” Applejack muttered quietly.

“Oh Aria, when did you get here?” Sunset asked.

Aria scowled and leaned her face close to Sunset’s, making the former unicorn backed up a bit.

“Shimmer! You got some nerve!” Aria growled.

Sunset blinked. “Huh? What did I do?”

“I can’t believe after she poured her heart out to you and then you stabbed her in the back!” Aria accused.

Sunset frowned in confusion. “Aria, what are you talking about?”

Aria growled loudly and then roughly grabbed Sunset’s shirt with one hand and then hovered her other hand over Sunset’s face into a fist. “You know what you did! Just for that, I’ll pound you into next week!”

Just before she could do so, Aria was immediately held back by Applejack and Rainbow while Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight managed to separate Sunset from Aria.

“Aria, what are you doing!?” Twilight exclaimed, furious at Aria for trying to attack her girlfriend for no reason. “Why are you acting this way towards Sunset?”

Aria growled and shook herself off from Applejack’s and Rainbow’s grip. “Why don’t you ask her! I’m sure she’ll love to tell you what she did!”

Sunset shot Aria her angry look. “Aria, I seriously don’t know what the heck you’re talking about! What did I ever do to you that made you so upset?”

“It isn’t me who was upset… mostly! It was Sonata!” Aria spat.

Sunset expression changed to a look of concern. “Sonata? What happened?”

Aria paused for a moment and then her anger fade somewhat. “…you really don’t know, do you?”

Before Sunset could answer, Aria grabbed Sunset by the shirt again but this time, she dragged Sunset across the cafeteria and out the door into the hallway. The Rainbooms protested Aria as she dragged Sunset and then they chased after Aria, leaving Applejack behind. Applejack sighed with irritation.

“Will Ah ever get to have my lunch in peace?” she muttered before she ran after her friends.

Sunset and the gang stood in the middle of the hallway in shock as they stared at one of many posters of Sonata scattered across the walls. Each poster had an image of Sonata in her most goofy expressions with crude drawings over her like a dunce cap, dorky glasses or an over exaggerated tongue. There was even a cruel message on each poster in a form of a speech bubble from the image of Sonata like, “I’m too dumb to read” or “If you can’t read this, then you’re a Sonata!” One thing was for certain, whoever did this dastardly deed not only mocked poor Sonata but also exposed Sonata’s secret of being illiterate.

“T-this is terrible!” Sunset spoke up in shock and anger. “Who would do such a thing?”

Aria glared daggers at Sunset. “You tell us Miss Bacon-Hair! These posters were up throughout the halls since this morning!”

Sunset shook her head. “It wasn’t me! I would never do such a thing to my friends!”

“She’s right Aria,” Fluttershy spoke up for her friend’s defense. “Please don’t jump into conclusion that it was Sunny.” Fluttershy then looked down in shame. “Believe me… we made a horrible mistake once.1”

“Besides, Sunset was with each of us from class to class this whole time! There’s no way she could’ve done this!” Twilight added.

Aria wasn’t convinced and crossed her arms. “Even if your girlfriend is innocent, then explain how Sonata’s inability to read got out?”

Everyone was silent for a moment, not sure of the answer until Sunset spoke up. “We don’t know the answer to that Aria, but we’ll get to the bottom of this and make sure whoever does this will pay!”

“You darn right that someone is going to pay when I get my hands on them!” said Aria and she cracked her knuckles.

“For once, I agree!” Rainbow added as she pound her right fist into her left palm.

Applejack walked up towards Rainbow and placed her hand and Rainbow’s shoulder. “Now, now! Let’s not try to tear the whole school apart for the culprit just yet.” She then turned to face Aria with her serious expression. “Where’s Sonata?”

“She’s in the band room, crying her eyes out with Adagio,” Aria answered with a deep frown. “I don't think she wants to be seen right now, especially from you Shimmer!”

“Please take us to her!” Sunset begged. “She’s our friend too and she needs every support from us right now whether you agree with us or not!”

The rest of the Rainbooms nodded in agreement. After a minute of glaring down at Sunset, Aria let out a huff.

“Fine. Don’t say I warned you.”

With that, Aria turned and walked down the hallway with the Rainbooms following behind her. As everyone was walking, there was only silence from within the group and no one was saying a word. After a couple of minutes of walking, it was Rainbow who decided to bring up the elephant in the room to Sunset that everyone else was thinking of.

“So… Sonata can’t read? Like… at all?”

Sunset sighed. She knew that it was only a matter of time that her friends will ask her about Sonata’s problem all because of these posters. Since the cat was out of the bag, she decided that it was probably for the best to let her friends in on this. She only hoped that Sonata will forgive and understand her reasons.

“Yes. She told me last Friday night at the market that she was having trouble reading since she first came into this world,” said Sunset. “That’s why she made so many mistakes lately. But I pinkie promised her to not tell everyone about her difficulty… including you guys.”

Even though that Sunset was walking ahead of the group, she can still sensed that her friends were shock from what she revealed to them. After a minute of walking in silence again, it was Twilight who spoke up this time with a sad tone.

“Well that certainly explains a lot! But… why didn’t she tell us?”

“…because she was ashamed of being illiterate,” Sunset answered with a sigh. “And she’s scared that all of you will laugh and make fun of her for it and didn’t want to be viewed differently for not being able to read.”

Rarity gasped. “Goodness! We would never laugh and make fun of her for that!” She paused for a moment. “Well… maybe Rainbow Dash.”

“HEY!” Rainbow exclaimed but Rarity continued.

“And she’s our friend. Whether she can read or not will not change our views of her.”

“That’s right! And we’ll do everything we can to help her!” Twilight added.

Everyone else spoke up in agreement.

Sunset smiled warmly. She was glad that she can count on her friends for looking past Sonata’s problem and willing to help out when they’re needed. But first, they need comfort their Siren friend and take care of this problem.

“Whelp, we’re here.” Aria stated nonchalant as they reached the doors towards the band room.

Aria opened the doors and let everyone in before them. When they entered the room, their hearts broke in half at the sight of the scene in front of them. Sonata was sitting on the bottom step of the choral risers with her legs up and her head buried in her arms, sobbing her heart out. Adagio, who was sitting right next to Sonata, was rubbing her youngest sister’s back for comfort. Adagio had a somber look on her face, but when she looked up and saw Sunset and the gang, her expression changed to a look of fury.

“What is she doing here?” Adagio spat with her voice full of venom. “Didn’t she caused enough damage to Sonata already?”

“It wasn’t her Adagio,” Aria droned. “She and her friends just confirmed to me that she’s with them all day.”

Adagio just sat there with a look of suspicion before her eyes narrowed and then she slowly stood up and crossed her arms. “You have sixty seconds to explain!”

“Listen Adagio, I’m not the one who revealed Sonata’s secret!” Sunset insisted. “We’re just as shocked and angry as you are! I promise we will find out who did this, but right now, we’re here to check up on Sonata!”

“And just how do we know that you’re not lying?” Adagio challenged.

“…because I made a pinkie promise.” Sunset replied.

“Yeah, she pinky promised!” Pinkie spoke up. “Nobody breaks a pinkie promise!”

Adagio cocked her eyebrow. “And if they did!”

“…I’ll know!” said Pinkie with a very serious look.

Before Adagio could question her, she was interrupted by Applejack. “Trust us partner, she’ll know!” she stressed with a shutter. “We don’t know how, but she’ll know!”

“…Ooooooookay?” said Adagio with a look of confusion before her eyes narrowed at Sunset again. “But how do I know that you set your friends up to put those posters up? For all I know you’ll—”

“Dagi…”

They all turned to see Sonata with her head rose up but still had tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay… I trust them,” Sonata said quietly. “And… Sunset didn’t do this.”

Sunset eyes widened in surprise. “Sonata, you… you didn’t suspect me at all?”

Sonata shook her head. “No… I never once suspected that it was you who was behind this. When I told my sisters who else knew about my secret, they… jumped to conclusions.” The sisters in question grumbled and looked away, refusing to admit that they made a mistake. “But don’t blame them,” Sonata added. “They were just looking after me.” She then looked down sadly again. “But what really upsets me… is that my secret is exposed and… everyone’s making fun of me.”

Sunset felt horrible for her friend, so she knelt down and wrapped Sonata into her hug. “Sonata, I’m so sorry this happened to you! I promise that the girls and I will get to the bottom of this and make whomever did this will think twice before messing with our friend.”

Everyone but the Sirens smiled and nodded, agreed to help out anyway they can. However, their reassurance was short lived when Aria spoke up with her rough tone.

“And just how are we going to do that Shimmer? In case you forget, about half of this school still hates us and have a grudge against us since the Battle of the Bands! Anyone could’ve done it!”

They all frowned at that. Despite her bluntness, Aria made a very good point. Not everyone forgave the Sirens for their actions ever since the Dazzlings hypnotized the students to be very competitive and nearly ripped everyone’s friendships apart. Anyone who had a vendetta towards the Sirens would use Sonata’s secret against them. It’s impossible to narrow down suspects if almost the entire school hated the Sirens.

Suddenly, they heard hushed laugher coming from outside of the room. Before anyone could speak, Sunset raised her finger to her lips, signaling everyone to be quiet. She then led everyone to the door and quietly opened it. When they peered outside, all but Sonata narrowed their eyes from what they saw.

At the end of the hallway, there were two boys putting up another poster of Sonata with their backs turned towards them. One was short with a black t-shirt, jeans and orange hair, and the other was tall with a green sweater, tan pants and turquoise hair. The girls recognized them as Snips and Snails, freshmen students and Sunset’s former lackeys. While they did not work for Sunset anymore, they still get themselves into trouble for being mischievous towards other students, whether it’s harmless or intentional.

“Check this out Snails!” Snips snickered as he held the poster up on the wall. “I bet she’s too dumb to read any of the insults on these posters! Next thing she’ll be to dumb to understand what these images mean!”

“Heh, yeah!” Snails tittered and he put tape on the corners of the poster. “Maybe a little too dumb!”

Snips laugh as he admired their work. “Finally, at least one of these trios will get just desserts!”

Snails had a dreamy look on his face and a small drool leaked from his mouth. “Mmmm! I would love have some desserts too!”

Snips sighed while rolling his eyes. “It was just an expression dummy!”

“Hello… boys!”

The two boys froze in place and felt chill down their spines when they heard an angry, yet familiar tone. They slowly turned their heads and their faces turned as white as sheets when they saw Sunset Shimmer with a raging expression on her face while Sonata hid behind her.

Snips gulped loudly and sweat was pouring from his head. “S-s-Sunset! W-what a surprise!”

“Y-yeah… s-surprise!” Snips added nervously with a gulp.

They quickly looked around in hope of finding ways to escape, but their routes were blocked by each of the girls, bearing their own angry expressions.

“Alright, I’ll cut to the chase,” said Sunset with her no-nonsense tone. “Why are you putting up posters of Sonata all over the school?”

“I-it was joke!” Snips squeaked. “Just a harmless joke!”

Snails nodded rabidly. “Y-yeah! J-joke!”

Sunset glared intensely and leaned her face closer to the two boys. “Oh so you think this is a joke? Well news flash, putting up posters about one being illiterate was not funny!”

“Yeah! While I’m usually like to prank on others, but this is low! Doing this just to hurt someone else is totally uncool!” Rainbow growled.

“Yeah! Especially to our friend you meanies!” Pinkie added angrily.

“You two are horrible!” Fluttershy accused.

“You both should be ashamed!” Rarity scolded.

“It’s downright despicable!” Applejack berated.

“What the two of you have done was unforgivable!” Twilight scowled.

Aria suddenly stood in front of the two quivering boys with her dark look and then cracked her knuckles. “You twerps will be turned into paste when I’m through with you!”

The two boys squealed in fear. “W-wait! We’re sorry! We’re sorry!” Snips spoke up. “We were told to put these poster up all over the school for a few bucks!”

Aria was about to pound him into next week, but Adagio held Aria back and shot the two troublemakers her glare.

“Oh really?” said Adagio. “Well who’s the mastermind?”

The two boys looked at each other and then faced back towards Adagio while trying (yet failing) to act tough.

“We’re not telling!” said Snips with his head up.

“Yeah!” Snails added. “We won’t tell you that it was Trixie who told us to put up these posters!”

Snips eyes widened and then faced his friend. “Y-you idiot!”

“…whoops.”

“Trixie,” Rainbow growled with contempt. “We should’ve known that she was behind this!”

Sonata, who hasn’t said a word since they left the room, spoke up in her quiet voice. “But how did she found out about my secret?”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed with determination. “Looks like we’re gonna have to find out!”

While Adagio and Aria were taking the two boys to Principal Celestia’s office (with Adagio mainly keeping Aria in line from harming the boys), the Rainbooms and Sonata were heading to the press room to confront Trixie. Trixie always considered herself to be the greatest and most powerful magician of the world, but she’s very self centered and likes to boast a lot. Her ego is so big, she even makes Rainbow’s ego very small in comparison. Trixie loves to show off to other people, but if anyone ever upstage her whether it’s intention or not, they will end up on Trixie’s hate list.

It is no secret that Trixie… never really like the Rainbooms or the Dazzlings. It could be because she was jealous that so many people paid more attention to the Rainbooms than her or the fact that they are more talented than her. Or perhaps that she resented them for having actual magical powers and not her. Whatever the reason, Trixie would either not want to be involved with them or go out of her way to put the Rainbooms in her place.

The Rainbooms finally arrived to the art classroom and only three people occupying the room, Trixie and her two band members of the Illusions, Lavender Lace and Fuchsia Blush. They were busy finishing up another set of posters with the Illusionists printing copies out with the printer while Trixie was coming up with new phrases with her notepad and pencil.

“How about this girls?” She called out with a grin. “I may be pretty and cute but I’m a dummy when it comes to reading!”

The three girls laughed cruelly until they were interrupted by Sunset’s angry voice.

“Trixie!”

Trixie stopped laughing and smirked when she spotted her intruders. She placed her notepad on the table and slowly stalked towards the group.

“Well well well. If it isn’t the Raindorks and the main star of the school!” she sneered. “Did you like the posters Siren? What do you think of those slogans?” She stopped walking and slapped her head in a mocking manner. “Oh wait, I forgot! You don’t know how to read!”

The three girls laughed again while Siren whimpered sadly behind Sunset.

“Back off Trixie!” Rainbow spoke up angrily. “We all know it was you who ordered Snips and Snails to put up those posters about Sonata all over the school!”

“Figures,” Trixie muttered while rolling her eyes. She made a mental note to never hire those two bozos again. “So what if I did! Trixie figured she should let the school know that they should go easy on the Siren since she’s too dumb to read anything.”

“Sonata is not dumb!” Pinkie growled.

“That’s right, and you have no right to spread her secrets like that!” Twilight retorted.

Trixie shrugged. “Well it’s not Trixie's fault that the Siren revealed her secret for Trixie spread it around the entire school.”

“Just how did you found out Sonata’s secret?” Sunset demanded.

“Trixie just happened to be at the market last Friday and I overheard you two were talking about it!” she revealed with a smirk. “How can Trixie miss an opportunity like this?”

“But why are you doing this?” Fluttershy asked with her hurt tone.

Trixie smirk was immediately replaced with a scowl. “Because she as well as her sisters made a mockery out of Trixie ever since the Battle of the Bands!” She then pointed at Sonata who was still cowering behind Sunset. “This one especially wronged Trixie from the cafeteria incident!2 So Trixie thought this would be a great way to get back at her!”

Sunset frowned at Trixie words and stepped forward towards Trixie while crossing her arms. “First of all, the incident was your own fault and you have nobody to blame but yourself. Second, even if they wronged you from the Battle of the Bands, that doesn’t mean that it’s right to hurt Sonata that way!”

“Well that doesn’t mean that the only punishment this girl and her sisters will get is a slap on the wrist and offered friendship!” Trixie argued while air quoting the word ‘friendship.’ “If no one can put that Siren in her place then I will! Besides, this girl is dumber than a stack of bricks, there’s no way that this girl is capable to learn anything!”

Sonata was both hurt and terrified of Trixie ever since they walked in the room. Trixie was always on her case ever since she returned to CHS, but as a student instead of plotting to take over the world. While Sonata did had to deal with other people jeering and glaring at her or even gave her the cold shoulder for the first couple of weeks, Trixie would often made her suffer the most out of everyone in school combined. Despite Sonata many attempts to offer Trixie to start over and let bygones be bygones, Trixie would refused the offer and throws it back to Sonata's face each and every time. After what Trixie did to her today, Sonata was starting to think that Trixie will never let her grudge go.

As Trixie continued to mock and berate Sonata in front of her friends, something within Sonata snapped. She remembered the encouragement she got from Sunset after she found out about her secrets. She remembered her best friends comfort and supporting her and not looked at her differently even after word got out. The girls, including Sunset saw the potential in her to do anything whatever her mind comes to. And yet, Trixie dared to keep saying that she will never accomplish anything just for being an illiterate. With those thoughts in mind, her expression changed to a look of anger, determined what she’s going to do now.

Before Sunset could respond to Trixie’s cruel words, Sonata walked around her and stood in front of Trixie.

“You’re wrong!” Sonata shouted loudly, surprising everyone in the room.

Trixie blinked, not expecting Sonata to suddenly have a backbone. “What did you say?”

“I said, you’re wrong!” Sonata repeated. “I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but that doesn’t mean that I’m dumb! I’m fully capable to learn how to read!”

“Oh really?” Trixie challenged.

“Yeah really!” Sonata responded. “I can learn how to read,” Sonata then snapped her fingers. “Just like that Bixie!”

Trixie left eye twitched. “It’s Trixie you Twit!”

While Sonata mispronouncing Trixie name was nothing new and she would apologized afterwards. This time however, something clicked within the former Siren’s mind and decided to use this as her leverage.

Sonata then smirked. “Oh I’m sorry Bixie, you don’t like to be called that?”

“You know darn well that Trixie doesn’t like to be called like that!” Trixie shrieked in rage.

“Well too bad, so sad!” Sonata mocked. “I’ll just keep calling you that… unless you apologize for humiliate me!”

Trixie’s face was not red in anger. “No way! Trixie would rather eat a pine cone!”

Sonata shrugged. “Oh well, I guess you have to get use to your nickname… Bixie!”

Trixie growled in anger while the Rainbooms smirked (in Rainbow and Pinkie’s case, laughing hysterically), silently proud of their friend that she stood up to a bully like Trixie. Trixie, for her part, loathed the Siren further for mocking Trixie with that name and refusing to summit her defeat. She refused to be bested yet again and to apologize to that girl who caused so much of her misery.

Suddenly, Trixie had an idea. The Siren girl practically set herself up for her. She’ll use that opportunity to humiliate that Siren even further and make the Siren acknowledge that’s Trixie is her superior once and for all.

Trixie anger was gone and was replaced with her easygoing smirk. “Okay Siren, how about we put that money where your mouth is!”

Sonata smirk was replaced with a look of confusion. “Oh, okay!” Sonata dug into her pocket and took out a dollar bill. Then she placed a dollar bill over her mouth. “Like this?” she muffed from the dollar bill.

Everyone was stupefied from Sonata’s actions while Rainbow Dash facepalmed.

“Sonata… she means she wants to challenge you!” Rainbow groaned.

Sonata blinked and then puts the dollar bill away. “Oh, then why don’t you say so?”

Trixie quietly mouthed ‘moron’ to her band mates with her hand over her mouth before she faced Sonata and the Rainbooms. “How about this! I bet that you won’t learn how to read before the end of this month! At the end of the month, you will read only the first page from a book of her choosing in front of everyone in school. If you can pull this off (which you won’t), Trixie will not only apologize to you in front of the whole school, but Trixie will also treat you lunch for the entire month!”

“Oooooooh! Can it be tacos?” Sonata chirped excitedly while her eyes were all twinkling.

“Yeah… sure,” Trixie responded slowly. “But if you fail, then you’ll acknowledge that Trixie is right and you will have to wear a dunce cap, marking yourself to be not only the dumbest person in this school, but the entire world! Deal?”

As Trixie stuck her hand out, waiting for Sonata to shake on it, the Rainbooms frowned at Trixie’s so-called bet. Only Applejack spoke up against it.

“Trixie, that’s absurd! There’s no way that Sonata will agree to a deal like—”

“Deal!”

“Why do Ah even bother.”

The two shook their hands, sealing their deal. Then with a smirk, Trixie along with the Illusionists walked around them and heading out the door.

“See you at the end of the month Siren!” she said hauntingly. “Trixie is looking forward to see you make a fool of yourself!”

With a laugh from her and her group, then walked out into the hallway and shut the door behind them. The girls stared at the door where Trixie exited for quite some time before Sonata finally spoke up.

“This just occurred to me that I just made a bad decision.”

Rainbow Dash facepalmed yet again.

Sonata then turned to Sunset with a look of plea from her eyes. “Hey Sunset, about your offer… will you girls help teach me how to read?”

Sunset smiled warmly. “Of course we’ll help Sonata! Right girls?”

The girls all nodded with smiles on their faces.

“Thank you girls so much!” said Sonata with a smile before titling her head in confusion. “So… where do we start?”

Twilight grinned and her eyes twinkled in excitement. “I think I may know where to begin.”

1) Fluttershy was referring to the time that they accused Sunset as "Anon-A-Miss" and then abandoned Sunset without hearing her out from Equestria Girls Holiday Special comic. I for one despised that comic and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

2) This was referenced to my other story, Trixie vs. Sonata: Battle of the Last Taco!. But again, you don't have to read it as a requirement to this story.

Author's Note

Whelp, the secret is out and Trixie challenged Sonata how to learn to read before the end of the month. Will Sonata prevail? What is Twilight's idea?

Find out... in the next chapter! :raritywink:

Epilogue

It was many hours later after the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings celebrated Sonata’s success with her reading test over milkshakes at the Sugercube Corner and they were now sharing the living room where they all slept for the night. Many slept in their own sleeping bags, while others like Sunset and Twilight shared one sleeping bag together with their arms wrapped around each other and the two eldest Sirens slept on their own couches. Everyone seemed to be snoozing away, drifting off to dreamland except for one certain young Siren and her little feline companion, who just decided to turn on the lights and then started to read her favorite book in a loud volume much to everyone’s annoyance.

“See the pretty kitty, pet the pretty kitty.”

“Sonata, will you please keep it down?”

“Please Sonata? We’re trying to sleep!”

“See pet the kitty.”

“Darling, can this wait ‘til morning? A lady needs her beauty sleep!”

“While Ah’m glad that yer reading partner, but will ya go to sleep!?”

“Kitty, kitty, kitty. Do you want to pet the kitty?”

“Oh for crying out loud, will you shut up!?”

“I’m with the Rainbow-freak! Shut your pie hole!”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Yes, I want to pet the kitty.”

“Um… will you please read quietly? …if you don’t mind.”

“Pet. Pet. Pet. Now, I’m petting the kitty.”

“Sonata, I heard this story many times already, I don’t need to hear it again!”

“I don’t mind! In fact, read it one more time!~”

“AW HEY NO!”

“Pet the pretty kitty. See the pretty kitty.”

“Sonata, I swear to Faust, if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll take both that book and your new kitty cat and shove them up your—”

“Aria!”

“What!? I was gonna say mouth!”

“Oh, then that’s okay then… the words I mean, not the mouth thing.”

As Sonata continued to keep reading her book out loud, much to her friend’s protests, Sunset let out a soft groan.

“…what monster did we just created?”

Author's Note

And that was Sonata Can't Read! Thank you all for those who gave this story a thumbs up and added it to your favorite bookshelves! I hope you all enjoyed it! :twilightsmile: