After several minutes of pestering and whining, just outside the doors to the thrift store, Sonata Dusk finally managed to get her grumpiest sister to come along with her by using the most direct of means: dragging Aria inside unwillingly by the wrist. As they entered, the store’s clerk rose an objection to the lit cigarette still within the purple siren’s hand.
“Excuse me, there’s no smoking in here,” announced the frumpy old woman behind the counter in a decidedly passive tone.
Aria had expected as much, but didn’t really appreciate the remark, as it hadn’t been her decision to enter the store in the first place. She responded with an annoyed growl, and by flicking her half-smoked cigarette at the woman, fixing her with a glare. She had no compunctions against punching the elderly.
The confrontation couldn’t last, however, thanks to Sonata continuing to drag Aria through the store to where all the good stuff was. They eventually ended up in the far corner from the entrance, where Sonata could begin about her normal business of thrift store shopping.
There was a dinginess about the air within the small, overstocked thrift store, as Sonata perused up and down each aisle. She never came here looking for anything in specific, but always walked away with something of value. Last time had been an apple peeler, with which Sonata had made several delicious apple pies. The time before that had been a vibrating hand massager, which she had put to great use massaging her hands. And this time… well she would find out soon enough what fate had in store for her. She was feeling good though, because this time, unlike the times before, she had Aria with her.
Aria didn’t really get Sonata’s hobby of buying other people’s garbage. While Sonata tried to explain to her how it was all about the thrill of the hunt, Aria only saw Sonata fooling herself into believing that this junk had any value whatsoever. The older of the sirens was known to be cynical, but that wasn’t her intention today. By some miracle, Sonata had made it onto Aria’s good side recently, and as such she didn’t want her little sister moronically wasting her own money.
As they shopped, Sonata told her new shopping companion how she never knew what she might find beforehand, and sometimes she didn’t even know what she’d found until after she’d bought it, but Aria acted unimpressed. In reality Aria thought every second in this dilapidated garbage dump was a second wasted, but she kept those thoughts to herself for the most part. For the time being, she would experience the thrift store in accordance with Sonata’s vision of it, inasmuch as that was possible for her, and keep her opinions to herself until after they were done for the day. She would make her final decision about the endeavor, after all was said and done.
That mindset lasted for a total of fifteen minutes before Aria reverted back to her normal spiteful self. “Sonata there’s nothing in here but junk. When are you going to realize that so we can go?”
Just after Aria made her remark, Sonata snatched a small box off a shelf and fell to her knees, clutching it to her chest and letting out a high pitched squeal. “Oh my gosh! It’s everything I ever imagined it would be!” she beamed. “Aria, do you know what this is!?”
“Worthless garbage, I’m sure.”
“No. It’s an original Tamagotchi! And it’s still in the box! Oh my gosh,what are the chances of finding this!?”
“So we can leave then? You found something stupid and pointless to waste your money on, that means we’re done, right?”
“Wait!” Sonata felt around in her various coat pockets. “Aria, I just realized I forgot to bring my money. Can you lend me the cash to buy this?”
Aria paused. “You’re asking if I can I let you use the money I worked for to buy an old game for stupid little kids? No. Put it back, Sonata, we’re done here.”
“Ariaaa! I really want it, though!”
“Then steal it. The packaging is already torn. It’s basically begging for you to take it.”
“Shhh! You dummy! I don’t want to be banned from coming here ever again.”
Grabbing the box out of Sonata’s hands, Aria tossed it back onto the shelf. “Guess you’ll have to come back later then, because I’m not giving you the money,” she stated, walking past Sonata toward the exit with a definitiveness in her step. “Now come on, we’re leaving.”
Sonata chased after her. “Aria, someone might buy it, though!”
“No one else is that dumb, Sonata.”
“Aria please, I’ll pay you back double the cost when we get home.”
“No.”
“I’ll make you a homemade cheesecake. Please, Aria, I need it!”
“No.”
Sonata levied several more pleas, but they were similarly ineffective. All hope appeared to be lost until Sonata made the biggest offer of her life. “I won’t step foot in your room for a whole week if you lend me the money for the Tamagotchi. And I won’t bug at all while you’re in there. No talking through the door. No text messages. Nothin’.”
Aria stopped. They were right in front of the register at this point. The clerk woman had decided to make herself busy elsewhere as soon as she’d seen the purple-haired teen approaching.
“Make it a month,” Aria said.
Ever since Adagio had broken the latch on her door, Aria had been subjected unendingly to the full force of Sonata’s bubbly stupidity. Of course, she could always just fix the door so that it could lock once again, but the last two times she’d chosen that option, Adagio had simply re-broken the door like the dictatorial control-freak she was known to be.
“I can do two weeks.” Sonata said, firmly.
“Alright, deal. And go get it before I change my mind, because we both know you can’t keep a promise.”
Sonata ran giddily back to the aisle where she last had the Tamagotchi, and quickly found the spot where Aria had tossed it back on the shelf. The only problem was that the Tamagotchi was gone. She ran up and down the aisle, ensuring she hadn’t been mistaken about where she’d placed it, then briefly checked the next aisle over just in case. She didn’t see it anywhere.
Sonata was convinced now that someone must have taken it and redoubled her search, this time for whoever had the Tamagotchi. After a couple minutes of further searching with no spoils to show for it, Sonata decided she had best call it quits. Whoever had taken it must have already left the building. Sonata walked dejectedly back to the register where Aria was waiting for her, leaning against a shelf with her phone in hand.
She barely spared a glance up, but could still clearly see Sonata’s over-exaggerated disappointment. “Let me guess, you couldn’t find it.”
“Someone took it, I think. You didn’t see anyone, did you?”
“I’ve been trying to block out the fact that I’m standing in this trash heap, so no, I didn’t,” Aria said dismissively. “And that’s too bad. I was looking forward to seeing a lot less of you.”
Sonata didn’t have much else to say. She was ready to leave, so she could get home and mope for the rest of the day in peace. Yet when she glanced up at the exit, she noticed a pink-haired girl leaving the store with a certain familiar box under her arm. In fact, the girl looked exactly like one of the Rainbooms.
“Oh my gosh! Aria! Over there! That’s who bought it,” Sonata said, pointing. By this point, the girl had already disappeared from view.
Aria didn’t turn to look. “Well that proves it then. You’re not the only one stupid enough to buy one of those things. Sometimes I actually think you might be average compared to the morons of this world.”
“I think it was actually one of the Rainbooms. The one with the pink hair.”
“Wasn’t that the crazy one? I mean, at least that explains who would buy that garbage.”
“No, not that one. The other one,” Sonata quickly corrected.
“There’s another one?”
“Yeah, she played, like, the cowbell or something.”
“So she has no talent, and she’s stupid. Sounds like you two should be friends.”
“I’ve gotta get it back,” Sonata stated, ignoring—as she normally did—the neverending stream of abuse from Aria. “It’s just like you always say, Aria: I’ve gotta take back what’s already mine.”
“Yeah, well good luck with that, because I’m not helping.”
Once again stuffing Aria’s unhelpful remark to the side, Sonata grinned. Her mind was made up on the matter: That Tamagotchi would be hers.
Aria noticed her sister’s change of demeanor and rubbed her forehead in exasperation, knowing only bad things would come of it. “Sonata, I swear, if you piss off those annoying Rainbooms, and I have to step in to rescue you, I will make you sleep outside like a dog.”
Sonata’s smile only broadened. No matter what, by the end of the day, that Tamagotchi would be hers.
Sonata watched as Fluttershy entered the front door of her home from across the street. She sighed. Hours of carefully following her target only to have her hopes dashed at sundown. No way could she get her hands on that Tamagotchi tonight. She’d have to resume the hunt tomorrow.
Having all but resigned herself to failure, Sonata began the slow walk home, kicking her feet huffily against the sidewalk. Until a thought occurred to her: How hard can breaking-and-entering really be?
In no time at all, Sonata was in Fluttershy’s fenced-in backyard, hugging close to the side of the house as to avoid being spotted from any of the windows. It was already getting dark, so she wasn’t too worried about anyone coming outside and seeing her. From her vantage point, Sonata could see that one of the upstairs windows on this side of the house was lit up. Sonata contemplated her next move for several minutes. From her vantage point on the ground, it was impossible for her to know whether the window lead to Fluttershy’s room or not. So to find out, she would need to get a closer look.
Thankfully, Fluttershy’s mother was an avid gardener, so Sonata carefully climbed the trellis fixed to the back of the home up onto a crook in the chimney stack. Once she’d gotten a secure footing, she shimmied to the other side of the chimney, and from there she spun around and hopped up onto the pergola covering the patio ten feet below. It was easy enough from there to work her way over to the lit up window.
Ever so slowly, Sonata peaked her head up to get a glimpse of what lay inside. If the pile of stuffed animals measuring four feet high in one corner of the room wasn’t a clear enough sign that this was Fluttershy’s room, then the sight of Fluttershy herself currently lying on her bed certainly was. At the moment she appeared to be occupied with something in her hands. It was unmistakably Sonata’s Tamagotchi.
Sonata ducked back down and grumbled to herself. That was supposed to be her original, unopened Tamagotchi. It was even the lime-green one. The very best one as far as Sonata was concerned. Even so, she wouldn’t have to worry for long, because it would be hers soon enough. What she would do, she decided, was just wait until Fluttershy had fallen asleep, sneak in, take back her property, and then sneak out without anyone ever having to know.
An hour passed and Fluttershy was still lying on her bed, although now she was on her phone and the Tamagotchi was on her nightstand. By this point Sonata’s patience had thinned greatly. “Geez, either get off your butt and do something or just go to bed already, you couch-potato,” she whispered to herself indignantly. After a moment of letting the words sink in, Sonata reflected on what she’d said. “Although I guess you can’t call someone laying on a bed a couch-potato. That would make her a bed-potato. Or is potato already taken?”
Sonata scratched her chin. “Bed-cauliflower. No, wait, does it just need to be a vegetable, or a does it have to be a tuber?” This was turning out to be more difficult than she’d expected. “Get off your butt, you bed… yam?”
Sonata decided that her new insult would have to work for now, however when she looked up once again at that bed-yam of her ire, she saw that the bed was now empty, and that the door was open. Clearly Fluttershy had left the room, but where had she gone? If she was in the bathroom, then she might be back any second. If she was preparing herself a late night snack then maybe she would be gone for a little while longer, but how could she know? Sonata slumped down in frustration. This could be the perfect opportunity, but she had no way of knowing.
So she waited. Begrudgingly.
Several minutes passed and Fluttershy still hadn’t returned. Cautiously, Sonata cracked open the window. She could faintly hear what sounded like a shower running.
New plan, Sonata thought, sneak in while Fluttershy is in the shower, take the Tamagotchi, and get out. Evidently tonight was going to be easier than she’d expected, because now she wouldn’t have to wait for Fluttershy to go to sleep, nor would she have to risk waking her up.
Quickly, Sonata raised the window the rest of the way and clambered through into the bedroom. She darted over to the nightstand, but her Tamagotchi was nowhere to be found. Where the hell did it go? It must have been in the room still. She’d just seen Fluttershy playing with it on her bed.
Sonata slapped herself on the forehead. Of course Fluttershy wouldn’t just leave it laying around. This was a highly valuable object, it would make sense that the shy girl would have hidden it away someplace safe.
After rummaging through Fluttershy’s drawers and looking under her bed, Sonata turned her attention to the closet. She slid open the door and began her search anew, however she didn’t get far before she heard the opening of a door down the hall. Only now did Sonata realize that she couldn’t hear the shower running anymore, which meant that Fluttershy would be back very soon. In a panic, Sonata compacted herself into the over-filled closet, and pulled the sliding doors closed with her fingernails.
Not even a second later, Fluttershy entered the room wrapped in a towel, locking the door behind her. Through the tiny crack between the door and the wall, Sonata watched as Fluttershy tossed the Tamagotchi onto her bed and searched her drawers for her night apparel.
“Are you kidding me?” Sonata whispered angrily to herself. “You took the stupid thing to the bathroom with you? What are you, obsessed or something?”
Fluttershy seemed to slow down slightly in contemplation as she opened several more of her drawers, noticing how they all seemed far messier than the last time she’d opened them. Having no explanation, she found her nightwear, then made her way to the window to close the blinds, failing to notice that the window had opened of its own accord. With her privacy secured, or so she thought, Fluttershy began changing into her nightwear.
Sonata received about as much of a view as any voyeur could have asked for, but she wasn’t particularly bothered one way or the other by the sight of the nude girl. Not when something so important was on the line. In fact, for the most part, she focused her attention solely on the Tamagotchi so she wouldn’t lose track of it again. At this point, all Sonata could really hope for was for Fluttershy to go straight to bed so she could sneak out and go home.
And that hope was only amplified by the fact that the closet she was trapped in was cramped. Really, really cramped. Based solely on the things in her immediate vicinity, Sonata felt pretty confident in assuming that every object Fluttershy had ever owned eventually found its way to this closet. She was being jabbed in the thigh by a popsicle stick arts-and-crafts project, tickled on the ear by an old blanket, and her butt was currently crushing some kind of board game.
Things were made especially uncomfortable as a result of the contortionism she’d been forced to do just to fit into the closet in the first place. At present, Sonata was bent into a half-pretzel shape with one foot lost under a pile of old birthday cards and her neck bent at a ninety degree angle against the wall. But at least she could see what was going on in the room from her body-breaking vantage point.
A half hour later and It looked as though Fluttershy had decided to turn in for the night as she set her phone down on the nightstand and made herself comfortable under the covers. Sonata heaved a silent sigh of relief. “Finally.” she said, in a whisper that was nearly inaudible, even to herself. “I thought she’d never go to sleep! What time is it anyway? Like 9:30?”
With a click, the lights went out and Sonata was encased in total darkness. Now she just had to wait until Fluttershy fell asleep. Although, how she would even know when Fluttershy had fallen asleep remained a mystery. Regardless, if she was going to be here long, then she might as well get comfortable. Slowly, and ever-so-carefully, Sonata spun her body into something approximating a lying position, where her neck was no longer at risk of permanent damage and her butt was now crushing a different board game, all without making a single noise.
In time, it became difficult to maintain a train of thought. Ideas continued to occur to her, but she couldn’t chase them very far before she lost them in the fog. If Sonata had a right mind about herself, she might have noticed she was dozing off. But Sonata only had half a right mind on the best of days, so before she knew it, she was well and truly unconscious.
Sonata’s eyes shot open at the sound of a tremendous crash above her head, which, when combined with the feeling of a box smashing into her dome, was enough to wake her up fairly quickly. “Nfehhh.” She said pathetically. It was meant to be a swear. Or rather, it was meant to be multiple swears at the same time, and thus failed to sound like any of them. She rubbed her head and ended up knocking over an old broom handle in the process, making yet more noise.
Through the crack in the door, Sonata could see that the lights in Fluttershy’s room had come on. She had little time to gather her wits, and conjure a plan of escape.
“W-who’s there?” Came a voice from outside the closet.
Sonata didn’t answer immediately. Who should she say was there? A ghost, maybe? The idea seemed promising at first, but Sonata discarded the idea when she remembered she didn’t speak ghost.
Perhaps it would be better if she just kept quiet. Maybe Fluttershy would think it was all just a coincidence that there had happened to be a loud crash in her closet, and that it had just happened to sound like someone had been at the brunt of that avalanche. Sonata liked this plan, so she stayed as quiet as could be, and listened. Fluttershy had yet to make another noise and she took this as a good sign. Until, of course, the closet door quickly swished open and any illusions Sonata had of being clever were ripped away.
Before Fluttershy lay a girl she immediately recognized as one of the Dazzlings. She had a box containing the game KerPlunk still resting on her head, and she was staring up at Fluttershy expectantly.
Fluttershy had her phone in her hand so she could call for help, but was currently holding it out in front of her with both hands as though it was some kind of weapon. “Y-you’re…”
“Hiding in a closet? Yeah, I guess I am. Wow, how did I get in here?” Sonata said nonchalantly.
“You’re one of the Dazzlings! What are you doing in my room!?”
At this point Sonata had given up, and reached for the most outlandish lies she could think of. “Well obviously I live in here.”
“What!?”
“Yeah, my sister’s kicked me out on the streets, so I’ve just been sleeping in other people’s houses. Closets, attics, just whatever I can find.”
“You’re homeless?” Fluttershy’s tone softened.
Sonata blinked, completely dumbfounded. Holy cow she was totally buying it. “Heck yeah. I’m so totally homeless you wouldn’t believe it. But, like, clean-homeless though, not filthy-dumpster-diving-homeless.”
“And you’ve been living in my closet?”
Feeling a bit ridiculous, Sonata decided it was probably about time she got out of the closet, so she got up and stood in the center of Fluttershy’s room. “I come and go when nobody’s looking. Like tonight, I snuck in while you were in the shower.”
Fluttershy’s face went pale. “You were in there when I got out of the shower?”
“Yeah.”
“And… did you see me…?” Fluttershy mumbled
“Yep. Buttcheeks and all.” Sonata found this quite funny but the look on Fluttershy’s face suggested she felt quite the opposite.
It was then that Sonata realized she’d missed a golden opportunity. If she’d only thought to take pictures of Fluttershy nude, then she could use those as bargaining power right about now to get her to hand over the Tamagotchi.
On second thought, she could just lie and get the same result! “That’s right, I saw you, and I took a whole bunch of pictures of you naked.”
“You what!?”Fluttershy said, the words coming out almost breathlessly.
“Buuut, I won’t have to show them to anyone, if you’re willing to give me what I want.”
“Is that why you’re really here? Why you were hiding in my closet?” Fluttershy asked, referring to Sonata’s apparent illicit intentions. “You’re not really homeless, are you?”
Sonata, being dim as per usual, still didn’t quite realize how Fluttershy had read her intentions. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, that is why I’m here. I’ve been following you literally all day, so I can get what rightfully belongs to me,” she said, snatching the green, egg-shaped device from Fluttershy’s bedside table. Fluttershy, however, thought nothing of the action, concerned instead with all the compromising images the siren must have of her. “But I have it now, and you aren’t going to tell anyone I was here, or else I’ll send out the pictures to everyone you know.”
Fluttershy looked close to hyperventilating, but somehow kept it together. Or at least she stayed standing.
“Anyways, forget about making a deal, I got what I came for, so I’m leaving now. Bye!”
“Wait! You can’t leave.” Fluttershy said, grabbing Sonata by the wrist. “You have to delete them.”
“No, I’m keeping them.” Sonata yanked her wrist free. “And don’t you tell your friends or anyone else that I broke into your house, or else you know what happens.”
“What…” Fluttershy began, eyes fixed on the floor. “What will it take for you to delete them?” she murmured, her heart sinking as she anticipated any number of horrible answers.
Sonata thought for a moment, a single finger on her chin. This blackmailing thing was almost like having her siren powers back. Heck, she could even use this to prove to Aria that she was worth keeping around. Not that she really needed to do that, of course. Aria would never force Sonata to fend for herself. But still, a little appreciation would be nice.
The plan was so simple, really. All they had to do was get loads of nudes, and then they could control a whole army of self-conscious teens!
“If you come over to me and my sisters’ apartment and tell Aria how smart I am, I’ll delete all the pictures.” As the idea stewed in Sonata’s imagination, the grin on her face only grew. “Aria’s gonna be so surprised when she sees what I did!”
Fluttershy was quiet for a moment. “That’s it?”
What a weird thing to say, Sonata thought. It was as if Fluttershy didn’t think her plan was harsh enough. “Uh… unless you’re offering to do more…”
“No! No... I can do that.”
“Sweet! Just meet me at the bowling alley tomorrow. I get off work there at three, so try to show up around then. And then we can walk from there to my apartment. Don’t worry though, it’s not far,” Sonata said happily.
Fluttershy sighed heavily, and sat down on her bed.
“Oh come on, I’m just asking you to take ten minutes tomorrow to help me prove a point. I couldn’t have made it easier than that.”
Not wanting to put herself in any worse a position than she already was, Fluttershy chose to not say anything.
Sonata rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” she said, taking the Tamagotchi with her and approaching the window. “Just be there on time tomorrow.”
Just as Sonata ducked her head out the window, Fluttershy spoke up.
“You said you work at the bowling alley?”
“Yep. Three o’clock. Meet me there.”
After Sonata had gone, Fluttershy reached for her phone, and began texting rapidly. There was one person she felt she could trust to handle this.
Sonata was feeling pretty good about today. Normally she was bummed about having to work—taking people’s money, handing them old shoes, rinse, repeat—but today she had something to look forward to.
In fact the worst part about her job was the fact that so little happened generally. She worked the least busy shift in a town where bowling wasn’t particularly popular, but at least today she had her new Tamagotchi to keep her entertained. And even more than that, she was totally going to prove Aria wrong about her being stupid. If there was any downside to this day, Sonata didn’t see it.
Shortly after her shift started, someone actually did come in for a change: a rainbow-haired girl carrying a gym bag. She approached the counter and waited for Sonata to put aside her Tamagotchi, but Sonata was slow to grant her any attention.
“Hey, that’s cool, what is that?” the girl asked.
Sonata was surprised at first by her interest, but she quickly put on her best smug face. “It’s a Tamagotchi. Original. I just got it yesterday” And to think Aria had called it worthless. She was already getting recognized for her trendiness.
“Wow. You must have tons of cool stuff,” the rainbow girl said, although her tone seemed kind of off to Sonata. “Speaking of cool stuff, do you have a phone?”
Sonata hesitated. “Yeah I have a phone, but... do I know you from somewhere? You look kind of familiar. Like, really familiar”
“Can I see your phone?”
Sonata pulled her phone from her coat pocket and set it down. “Okay seriously, how do I know you. It’s really bugging me now,” she said, giggling.
“I don’t think we’ve met.” Rainbow Dash said. “But y’know, I actually have something that’ll make your phone way better, right here with me.”
Wow. This day was only getting better for Sonata. “No way! Show it to me!”
“It’s right here in my bag.” Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a hammer, and swiftly drove the claw side down onto Sonata’s phone, before repeating the action a further four times. “Hey, look at that, it’s so much better now.”
“Oh my GOSH! What the heck did you do that for!? You totally broke my phone!” Sonata shouted.
Now that they were at the point of shouting, Rainbow Dash dropped the facade. “That’s what happens when you perv on my friends and take pictures of them without their consent!” Rainbow Dash took out a bottle of water and poured it over the remains of Sonata’s phone, which immediately started bubbling and smoking.
Sonata now remembered where she knew this girl from: She was a Rainboom. “I never took any pictures, you psycho! Look at what you did to my phone!”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure you didn’t,” Rainbow Dash sneered. “But you still had fun creeping on Fluttershy and blackmailing her!”
“I wasn’t creeping on anybody! I was just trying to get this!” Sonata held up the green egg-shaped device.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Rainbow Dash demanded, clearly short of patience, but open to explanation nonetheless.
“This Tamagotchi should have been mine, but your friend took it right out from under my nose. That’s why I had to sneak into her house! I don’t care about what she looks like naked.”
“Then why were you blackmailing her!?”
“Because I wanted to show Aria how smart I am! I never took any pictures, I just thought that if Aria saw how I could get other people to do what I want, then she might be proud of me for once.”
Rainbow Dash ground her teeth. The excuses Sonata was giving her did little to assuage her fury. In a flash, she snatched the Tamagotchi from Sonata and smashed that under her hammer as well.
“You maniac!” Sonata cried.
Rainbow Dash stared down the siren. “Mess with Fluttershy again, and you’ll be getting the same treatment.” she said, pointing the hammer threateningly at Sonata, before briskly making her exit.
Outside, Fluttershy was waiting by the door, nervously anticipating the outcome. She stood a little taller when Rainbow Dash came back out.
“She didn’t make backups, did she?” Fluttershy asked.
“Not if you believe her story. She told me she never even took the pictures.”
“What!?”
“Yeah, I guess she was just bluffing to impress her sister,” Rainbow Dash said, but she wasn’t completely sure she believed Sonata’s claims. “At least, that’s what she said she was trying to do.”
“I’m so relieved to hear that the pictures don’t exist.” For the first time that day, Fluttershy let the tension dissipate from her shoulders and took a deep breath.
Inside the bowling alley, Sonata looked down at her destroyed phone and tears began to well-up in her eyes. This wouldn’t go over well with Adagio, given that she was the one who paid for it. And her chance to impress Aria was gone now as well.
She decided she was done working today. Right now, she just wanted to go home. Sorrowfully, she scooped up both the smashed Tamagotchi and her equally-smashed phone, then left her station and began the short walk home. Pushing past the doors to the outside, she crossed the parking lot, and started down the sidewalk, beginning her short walk home
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had still been standing by the door, when Sonata walked out. At first, they expected a confrontation, but Sonata walked by glumly without giving so much as an acknowledgement. Whatever her motivation for ignoring them was, the two girls kept an eye on her all the same.
“Honestly… I kind of feel bad,” Fluttershy muttered quietly.
Rainbow Dash sighed huffily. “I don’t. She had it coming a hundred percent.”
Fluttershy kicked at the asphalt. “Maybe she did… but, for some reason, I just don’t think she’s bad like the other Dazzlings.”
“Are you kidding? Did you already forget about what she tried to do?”
“I know, but… it sounded to me like she really just wanted to impress her sister. She even told me that last night,” Fluttershy said defensively. “Maybe she is bad… but maybe she just wants to be accepted.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. “If what she wants is to be accepted by her sisters, then bad is all she’ll ever be.”
Fluttershy continued to watch Sonata walk down the sidewalk with her head hung low as her form slowly receded into the distance. “I think she could be good... If she had the right friends.”
Author's Note
Possible sequel where Aria has some words for Rainbow Dash?
