Bridges

Chapters

The Ones We Build
The Ones We Burn
The Ones We Cross

The Ones We Build

And to think that Wallflower Blush was the only one in school with the ability to disappear. Pinkie had never even noticed that a certain ex-siren had been in her chemistry class until they were paired together for the end of the year science fair project. Not that she’d been looking too hard, but you’d think that someone previously thought of as a villain would be hard to miss. In the wake of the fall formal, Sunset Shimmer certainly would have liked the ability to fade into the distance. It must have been some kind of talent, Pinkie concluded.

The curly haired girl whipped around to look at the siren, taking up the seat in the back left corner by the window. Wide eyes with no small hint of fear, Sonata Dusk stared back at her with the opened mouth wonder of a guppy.

They locked eyes until Pinkie smiled. The smile was crooked and uncertain, born mostly from habit then a legitimately friendly gesture. Still, Sonata returned it with an equally measured smile of her own. She raised a shaky blue hand in a timid wave.

Mr. Discord grinned from the front of the class, showing too many of his oddly shaped teeth. “Well, class, color me excited. I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with! Feel free to make things explode, implode, and any other variation of something equally loud. Now, get to it. These are due in two weeks.” He concluded.

The students immediately began the shuffle of pairing with their assigned buddies, packing their belongings only to unpack in a different location, scratching their desks on the tiled floors as they pushed them together.

Pinkie followed suit, swiping her papers off the end of her desk to carelessly fall into her glittery backpack. It gave her enough time to school her face into something more cheerful.

Sonata still stared at her approaching form with hesitation. Pinkie pulled a neighboring seat and placed it across from Sonata’s desk.

“Hiya.” Pinkie began with a smile.

“H-Hey.” She replied timidly, offering a nervous smile.

They idly lapsed to a stand still, the chatter of their peers, the only chatter between them.

Not that Pinkie allowed it to be too long. “Sooooo…” she began. “Any ideas…”

Sonata fiddled with her fingers. “It might be dumb.”

Pinkie tilted her head to the side questioningly. “Come on. I bet it’s super duper.”

Sonata looked at Pinkie through the fringe of her hair. “You wanna know for realizes?”

“For realizes-seizes.”

A genuine laugh bubbled out of Sonata’s happy smile, causing Pinkie’s own smile to broaden.

“Well okay. What do you think about an exploding volcano cake?”

Pinkie’s smile stretched to an unreal degree. She was going to enjoy this.

And the science project was probably going to be fun too.

“Is this really where you live?” Sonata asked, a healthy layer of incredulity lathered on for good measure.

It was an old house, from what Sonata could tell, the walls being a faded mauve color with classy wooden accents. The majority of the furniture looked like antiques, sturdy wooden structures that could have been several hundred pounds. Along the walls were a few family pictures and even more of different framed rock formations. She recognized a few, like the grand canyon and Stonehenge. Actually, there was a very heavy rock theme to a lot of the pictures, accented more by the cobble stone fire place in the living room.

Somehow, the house didn’t live up to the expectation that she’d had. The only thing that was even vaguely Pinkie related, was the pink couch that was the brightest piece of furniture in the room. Even that was a little dull compared to Pinkie.

Not that it was a bad thing. Pinkie had a nice place, if a bit dissonant from her personality. If Sonata had to guess, her folks were drastically different from their bouncy haired family member.

The house also wasn’t the basis for her incredulity.

“Yep. Do you like it?”

“I thought it would be more…” Sonata scrunched her brows in thought, “…pink.”

Pinkie giggled. “Yeah. It’s actually my sister’s place.”

Said sister was staring at them, causing Sonata to unconsciously scoot behind Pinkie, trying to evade the blank stare of the older Pie.

“This is Maud. Maud, this is my new friend and science partner, Sonata.”

“A pleasure.” Maud stated, reminiscent of a cardiac failure flatline.

“Maud works at the Canterlot Natural History Museum.” Pinkie announced proudly.

Sonata raised a brow. “You do?”

“Yes. I show the rock exhibits.” That explained the rock themes. “Would you like to hear a joke about the rocks?” She asked.

Sonata’s other eye brow raised to join the other in confusion. “Umm…sure?”

Maude blinked in slow motion. “Give me a second while I dig something up.”

Pinkie slapped a hand over her mouth as she stifled a giggle. “Good one Maud.”

In another show of prolonged action, Maude gave a microscopic smile. “Thank you, Pinkie. I’ll be in my room. Don’t make too much of a mess.” She stated, apparently unable to do anything but state.

As she turned, Pinkie pushed Sonata into the kitchen. “Isn’t she great?” Pinkie asked.

Sonata’s brows had been knit into a contemplative look, staring at a point in the ground.

Pinkie frowned. “Umm…Are you okay?”

Sonata was quiet before her eyes lit up and she giggled. “I get it. Maud sure is funny.”

Pinkie’s frown instantly dissipated as she giggled with Sonata.

Pinkie and Sonata were able to do a huge chunk of their research, which meant that it had taken a huge chunk of time that they hadn’t realized slipped by. It was well past dinner when Maud had insisted that Sonata stay to eat with them. By the time Maud had pulled into the city proper, the moon had moved a fair bit through the sky.

As she stepped out, she threw a smile at the older woman. “Thanks for the ride and the food, Maud. It was really fun.”

Maude nodded. “My sediments exactly.”

Sonata laughed heartily, clenching her gut. “You’re such a riot.”

Maude smiled. “You should consider coming back again. I have a lot of jokes you still need to hear.”

Sonata stoped for a second, thinking about the last time she’d been invited back without having to control someone else’s mind. Then she realized, this would mark the first time she was invited back without having to control someone else’s mind.

She smiled at the growing bubble of warmth in her chest. “If they all rock as much as your other jokes. I’m definitely coming back.”

Maud smiled again and nodded, before speeding off, waving a hand in goodbye until her car was safely around the bend.

She skipped all the way to the top floor, even humming along to the elevator music in the closest approximation to a dying walrus.

Her good mood was instantly put under scrutiny as she waltzed through the condo.

“Sonata, where have you been?” Adagio asked, arms crossed with a glare. Aria was sitting on the couch with a mirrored look of disapproval. They were both in their pajamas, Adagio in a long night gown and a silk robe to Aria’s baggy white shirt and sweat pants. They looked a bit frazzled, and more than a bit irritated as they looked at her.

Sonata briefly wondered if this was how filleted fish felt. “I was over at a classmates house. We were working on a science project.”

Adagio’s glare turned to disbelief. “And you didn’t think to call? Do you know what time it is?”

Sonata was about to pull out her phone to check but Adagio had barreled straight through. Apparently, it had been one of those questions that she wasn’t suppose to answer.

“Sonata, it’s ten o’clock. You were suppose to be home five hours ago.”

Sonata shrugged. “You never told me I had to be home right after school ended.”

“Are you f—… are you serious right now? We had no clue if you were kidnapped or beaten up. Doesn’t that occur to you at all?”

“Well, it’s never mattered before. I didn’t really think anything about it.”

“You didn’t think? Big surprise there.”

Adagio snapped to look at Aria. “Would you kindly let me handle this?”

Aria scoffed. “Fine. You deal with it. I’m going to bed.” Trudging to the hallway, Aria’s departure was marked by the loud thud of a slamming door.

With a shake of her puffy hair, Adagio sighed. “Just, let us know the next time you depart from your usual routine, okay?”

Sonata nodded, still unsure of what was going on, but she was use to complying without too many questions.

When it was clear that there was nothing else to be had by the conversation, Adagio headed back to the hallway that Aria had left from, softly opening and closing the door to her own room, leaving Sonata to wonder.

What had that been about?

Two weeks had gone by quickly, and their exploding volcano cake had absolutely delighted Mr. Discord, mostly because he found it hilarious how Principal Celestia’s face had warped from surprised to utter terror when a metric ton of frosting exploded over her. Needless to say, they hadn’t won the fair but their A+ was more than secured.

Sonata and Pinkie had exchanged jubilant high fives, to the consternation of the Principal. Mission accomplished.

“That was great!”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen frosting do that before.”

“We should go back to my house after school and celebrate. We still have tons of spare cake we can eat.”

Sonata grinned. “Definitely! I’ll call Dagi and Aria right now. They’re probably gonna want to know.”

“Okie dokie loki.” Pinkie replied before looking a little sheepish. “I should probably help with the clean up while I’m here. That was a lot of frosting.”

“Alrighty. I’ll come help as soon as I’m done.”

Pinkie grinned before bouncing off to help in the sugary disaster zone.

Sonata grinned back. She really liked Pinkie. They'd gotten to know each other in such a surprisingly short amount of time. Two weeks didn’t feel like two weeks. It felt like a few days. She had so much fun. And yet, it felt like months all at the same time. Already it was so natural to sit at the table of the Pie sisters. And during the times in private, there were many things that Pinkie and Sonata had shared between chemistry notes and baking pans, a lot more than she’d shared at any one time with any one person. There was just something comfortable and safe that Sonata wanted to cling to.

Sonata gripped the phone in her hand, one sobering thought in her mind.

Their project was done. Pinkie wouldn’t have a need to invite Sonata anymore. She didn’t like that. It wasn’t a pleasant thought to know she would have to go back to the mundane routine of school and home, never mind the fact that she had no problem with it before.

What about Aria and Adagio? Somehow, she was worried about what they would say. In the wake of their lost magic, the three of them had been nicer to each other. Something about no longer being embroiled in misery put a few things into perspective, but a thousand years of bad habits had a way of staying with someone. Often times, they would just stare at each other, before going on their ways. Any conversation had been stunted by the habitual snark that was practically ingrained in their tonality. Without the telepathic link, they felt more distant, and she would be the first to admit that it was lonely.

Pinkie hadn’t needed the link to feel close. Was it really so wrong if Sonata wanted to keep that?

The ex-siren found Adagio’s contact quickly, pressing the phone to her ear before she picked up.

Hello?

“Hey Dagi. I’m going to be over at Pinkie’s again today.”

Okay. Don’t stay out too late. How is the project?

“Good! Pinkie and I almost have it figured out.”

Good. Don’t be too much trouble okay?

“Okie dokie loki”

What?

“Um, you got it. I’ll see you later.”

…Sure. See you later.

With a quick click, Sonata was skipping to where her bubbly friend waved her over. She was smiling that grin Sonata couldn't help but return, baby blue eyes, beckoning her forward.

Why did they need to know anyway?

Author's Note

Heyo!

I decided to take a quick break from the Sunlight ship, and Pinknata has been something I've wanted to write since I read Annuska's Pinkie Pie Swear. Man, that was a good story.

Well, I hope you guys liked it. I made it a really fast paced, throw it all in your face deal. Let me know what you guys think

LTTP

The Ones We Burn

Sonata glanced around the luxurious condo that she’d shared with her sisters.

The furniture was a minimalistic white. Adagio had picked it up from a trendy interior decoration store in the ritzy parts of Manehattan. The coffee table, the small side table, and the TV stand had been a set, but she’d insisted on paying extra for the white leather L-couch that sat squarely in the middle of the room. Sonata didn’t care much. Aria had been extremely supportive. It was nice to have such a comfy couch to sit on while she enjoyed the TV and surround system hook up she’d installed by herself.

As much as she’d complained about the wiring, she’d painstakingly routed them in a way that was barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. Sonata had remembered her curses as she taped the lines to run along the corners, then, much later, the smug satisfaction that stayed plastered on her face for the rest of that week.

Sonata herself had been more focused with the little decorations that added a character to the room. The biggest contribution being the giant logs of driftwood she’d hammered together to be placed on the back wall. In delicate calligraphy, she’d written “Our time is now…” and surrounded it with tiny shells gathered from lengthy walks on the beach.

Together they’d painted the walls to slowly gradate from soft shades of blue, orange, and purple. Even Aria had to admire the effort it took to make the walls look like the changing sky. A job well done was celebrated, admiring their work, leaning against each other, paint smears on their old clothes, the first genuine moment of bonding after a long couple of months in depression and aimlessness. Liberated from the affects of dark magic, they had decided to start new together.

Sonata glanced around the luxurious condo that she’d shared with her sisters.

Not even by the most generous stretch of the imagination was it the most extravagant place they'd lived in. Even with the title of being the highest condo in all of Canterlot Square—being in the tallest building on the very top floor, where they could comfortably spit on the seagulls for payback—it was paltry compared to the castles from the olden time, where they had been lavished with gifts from dukes and barons.

Not even was it the place they’d stayed in the longest. They’d had stints of time where they would hide in heavily populated locations for a few decades before moving on. Large populations allowed them an easy way to get lost and stir up trouble without getting caught.

If Sonata had to pick a merit that no other place held before, the condo was the most them. She couldn’t describe it as any other way than them, as sisters, together, harmonious.

At least, in symbolisms, they were.

Sonata glanced around the luxurious condo that she’d shared with her sisters.

Panning around the furniture, the electronics, the decorations, until she saw the two sets of eyes that looked at her expectantly.

Sonata glanced around the luxurious condo that she’d shared with her sisters.

Adagio sighed. “Sonata…say something.”

The youngest ex-siren clenched her hands on her lap, looking down in nervous shame. “What do I say?”

Aria rolled her eyes. “How about something with why you’ve been leaving the apartment to hang out with this Pinkie McPink Person?”

Sonata flinched but remained quiet.

A beat of silence before Aria growled. “You told us that you had a ‘science project’.” Her voice flowed with sarcasm.

With the scrap of courage that she had gathered, she glared at Aria. “I did have a science project.”

“You did have a science project?” Aria asked, launching the question like a javelin. “As in, you had the project, but instead of just doing what you needed to do, you had to loiter around for—poseidon's tit—three weeks? Like some kind of stray dog?”

Adagio threw Aria a warning glare which went unnoticed by both parties.

“They like me around, okay?”

Aria’s brows rose in amusement. She smelled blood in the waves, and a part of her was blaring with flashing red lights. It wasn’t suppose to come so naturally to her anymore, but old habits die hard, and flourish when angry emotions were doing such a fine job of dampening warning signs.

With a sardonic laugh, Aria grinned in the same way one would after moving their pawns to surround the enemy king. “Oh, do they? That’s great for you, isn’t it, Sonata?”

Adagio looked at her, articulating the same warning that ran rampant in Aria’s head, and just like the warnings in her head, it went ignored.

She stood up with clenched fist and ambled towards Sonata, plopping beside her and dropping her arm behind the blue girl. She moved with deliberate motions, in a jerky caricature of casualness. “I guess that’s a great excuse for leaving Adagio and I in the dark. Didn’t want us to ruin the cozy little fantasy that you’ve got going, huh?

“That’s not it!” Sonata tried to pull away, but Aria just held tighter, just enough to hold her in place. She wasn’t aiming for a choke hold, but even if she was, it wouldn’t have been as effective as the words that wrapped around Sonata’s chest like a cobra.

“Oh, yeah? I bet it’s nice being with someone else, huh? Did you wanna know what it’s like not to be saddled with us? You finally planning to replace us? Is that why you’ve been slinking around behind our backs?”

“Aria, that’s enough!” Adagio was on her feet, stomping the short distance between her sisters.

Sonata finally managed to break free of Aria’s grip, standing and taking a step away, almost tripping on the coffee table. “Well, at least they actually want me around.”

“They aren’t your family, Sonata! We are!”

And suddenly, all three of them were on their feet. A lump was starting to form in Adagio’s gut as she watched the scene unfold.

“Isn’t that just awful for you, Aria! Aren’t you just happy that someone might be willing to take me off your hands? Does it kill you that someone might not think I’m just some brainless idiot? Aren’t you happy that I might leave?”

“You…” she choked “…you are the only other person I didn’t want to leave!” And she kept choking, choking on the blood in the waves, the blaring in her head, the warning in Adagio’s eyes. “The three of us…We’re our only family and you still…” She swallowed past the block in her throat, still smiling that sardonic smile, sacrificing every piece for the win, even with the salty tear tracks that ran thick on her face. “…Sorry that we can’t give you more than that.”

Sonata bit her lip, unfamiliar with the situation she found herself in. She turned on her heal to face away from them, rubbing at her eyes. “And I’m sorry other people can.”

She didn’t know what they looked like after she’d said that. She told herself she didn’t care.

Walking toward the door, Sonata glanced around the luxurious condo that she’d shared with her sisters. The last glance before she ran to Pinkie’s house—into Pinkie’s arms—into the tears that dampened Pinkie’s shirt.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a93WD9y4cug

So you got what you always wanted!
So you got your dream come true!
Good for you, you you!
Got a tast of a life so perfect
So you did what you had to do!
Good for you! Good for you!

I love this song so much! Give it a listen and I guarantee you'll see where my inspiration came from.

The Ones We Cross

In theory, Pinkie Pie had been ready.

Aria had opened the door, like she’d been expecting either a cop or a hitman, but by the surprise that quickly melted into a glare, she found what had actually been at her door to be much worse.

“What do you want?” She asked.

The sheer distaste caused her to almost back step.

In practice, Pinkie quickly realized that she had not been ready. However, it was way too late to back down and she had an important mission. Nothing short of death was going to get in her way.

With anxious trepidation, she gave her most winning smile. “Hiya. I just wondered if you could talk for a teensy bit.”

The purple girl rolled her eyes before slamming the door shut.

Right.

Nothing short of death and, apparently, a wooden door.

Pinkie’s face fell. “Please! It’ll only take a teensy bit.” She yelled, pressing herself to the cold surface of her obstacle. “A teensy-weinsy bit!” She pressed her ear to the door, disappointed by the lack of sound on the other side. Frusterated, she began pounding on it. “A einsy-teensy-weinsy bit! Pleaaaaaaseeeeee.”

She was rewarded by a defeated groan before her obstacle opened and she fell to the other side as Pinkie the Door Conquerer.

Aria didn’t have much respect for her new title, just glaring at her with enough intensity to grill a cow. She crossed her arms. “What do you want, Rainboom?

Pinkie smiled excitedly, picking herself up from the floor.

“My name’s actually Pinkie Pie…”

“I don’t care.”

“…and I wanted to talk to you about Sonata.”

Before she could register the darkening of her eyes, Aria had pushed her against the wall by her shirt.

“What about her?” She demanded.

Pinkie blinked. She would have been afraid had the sequence of events happened at a slower rate. Presently, she only knew that she was being asked a question. “I just had a question about her.”

Aria was doing her best to not punch this Pinkie Pie in the face, but her last dregs of nonexistent patience was wearing down to the bare bones. “So get to the point! What do you want?!”

“Ijustwantedtoaskyourpermission.” Pinkie began, her words running together. “IwantedtoknowifIcoulddateyoursister.”

Shear confusion loosened the grip on Pinkie’s shirt as she felt the pressure between herself and the wall lift.

“What?” Aria asked.

With a deep breath, Pinkie blurted out, “IwantedtoknowifIcoulddateyoursister.”

“Wha—no. Say that slower.”

“I wanted to know if I could date your sister.”

Aria raised an incredulous brow. “Why are you even asking?”

Pinkie Pie rolled her head from side to side like a pendulum. “Well, a looooong time ago Papa Pie said it was important for a man to get the blessings of the father, and that it was proper to show respect. Then I thought that I was a girl, so I wasn’t sure if the rules were the same. So, yesterday, I called Papa Pie to ask him if the rules were different, but I couldn’t just ask because he wouldn’t know what was going on, so I told Papa Pie that I met a really nice girl and that we had a science fair project, and that we had lots of fun, and that I think that she liked me to. So I told Papa Pie that…”

A steady fist was inching upward, ready to reel back, knuckles itching for impact. Aria forcibly hugged it to her chest with her left hand. “Do you have a short version?”

Pinkie halted her lengthy monologue. “I wanted to ask you because you’re her sister and it’s important to get blessings from family. You’re her only family, so I wanted to know, can I pretty please date Sonata?”

Aria was a bit floored, in the same way that the Mariana trench was a bit deep, or the same way she was getting a bit of a headache. Aria rubbed her eyes, taking a slow breath through her nose. “Look, that’s a nice thought, but I could care less about whether you date Sonata or not.”

Pinkie brightened. “So does that mean, yes?”

“No.” Aria deadpanned.

Pinkie deflated. “So, are you saying no?”

“No!” Aria insisted.

Pinkie tilted her head, confused. “So does that mean yes?”

“NO! It means I don’t care!” Aria barked. “Look, you should go. What happens to that barnacle brain doesn’t concern me. She obviously doesn’t care anyway.”

“That’s not true.” Pinkie’s eye brows knitted together as she frowned. “She totally does care. She was crying about you guys and everything.”

“That’s not my problem either.” Aria was getting really irritated now.

“But…it is…” Pinkie stated, simply. “You’re her sisters.”

“Well, that’s not how she acted last time.” Aria was looking down, past the floor, replaying the night Sonata left, the terrible feelings reeling her insides.

Pinkie just clasped her hands to rub her thumbs together, looking away with a sad smile. “I know. Sisters sometimes say dumb things, but she still cries sometimes. She still cares because she loves you two. She’s just not good at saying it. It’s not always easy to say.”

Aria looked at Pinkie. Her eyes were somewhere else. When she noticed that the other girl was staring at her, Pinkie smiled at her. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want me here. I’ll go.”

With a bounce and a whiff of sugar, Pinkie was bounding away.

Aria just watched in the wake of turbulent thoughts. She didn’t even notice Adagio had placed a hand on her shoulder until she began speaking.

“I think she’d make a great girlfriend for Sonata.”

Aria nodded. “I didn’t tell her that.”

“I know. I guess we just have to visit her.”

Mutely, Aria nodded again. The hand on her shoulder slipped, and Adagio started heading to her room.

“Hey Adagio?” Aria began. “Have we ever told Sonata that we…loved her?”

Adagio didn’t even have to think. She just shook her head. “I don’t think so, but Aria.”

Aria turned to look at Adagio’s face. “I don’t think it’s too late to start.”

There was a beat of silence between them. “Hey Adagio,”

“Yes?”

“I…love you.”

Adagio laughed. “I love you too.”

Author's Note

Do you have time to talk about our lord and saviour, Sonata Dusk?
- Pinkie Pie 2018