Sonata Dusk and the House of Wackos

Chapters

Feeling Blue
Avoiding Sunset
What Kind Of Business Is This Anyway?

Feeling Blue

“AAAHH!”

Sonata Dusk woke up screaming, her last moments of joy flashing before her eyes, as they did now almost every night since her sisters and her had been defeated at the accursed battle of the bands. Sitting up in her bed, wrapping the threadbare blanket around herself, it took Sonata a few moments to remember that her sisters had left months ago, each trying to make it on their own once their pendants had broken and they lost their singing voices. Blinking sleepily and shivering in the cold apartment, she looked around and was confronted with the sight of all of her meager belongings piled in the corner of her room. It wasn’t an impressive pile either, just a single box of clothes, another one with cutlery and plates, a single small pot, and a shoulder bag that held her laptop and a few movies. The rest of her room was completely bare, save for the mirror hanging on the wall and the bare mattress she was currently sleeping on.

Sighing, Sonata Dusk stood up and stretched, before wrapping her blanket into a roll and stuffing it in her bag. She opened the door and shuffled out into the hallway, her arms crossed in front of her as she shivered slightly. Looking out the single window in her bathroom she could see the leaves of trees turning orange and red, but she didn’t need to see that to know that autumn was coming; the chill in her tiny apartment was an accurate scale of the time of year.

Washing her face in freezing water was another task Sonata had become accustomed to over these last few months. Rubbing her face in a scratchy towel, she dragged the old cloth to the garbage in the kitchen and threw it out.

“Goodbye, crappy towel.” She stuck her tongue out at it as the lid closed on the bin, before she went back to her room and stacked the boxes on top of one another, and put on her shoulder bag. She hadn’t any need to change clothes, as her last pair of good pyjamas had been ruined last week and she had been sleeping in her clothes since.

Looking at her now frazzled and unkempt hair in the mirror she couldn’t help but sigh. Although she would have loved to take it with her, the mirror neither belonged to her nor did she have any way to carry it adequately. Plus it had a large crack running along the bottom, and if she was seen hauling a broken mirror around people would think she was crazy, on top of thinking she was homeless. Putting her hand up to the mirror and gently touching her reflections’ face she sighed. “Goodbye, crappy mirror.”

Gathering her things at the door, she took one last look around her meager apartment that she had called home for the last three months and then at the eviction notice pinned to the outside of the door. Tearing it down, she stuck her tongue out once again and muttered, “Goodbye, crappy landlord.”

Picking up her boxes, she left her apartment keys on the kitchen counter and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her. Her two boxes weren’t large enough to obstruct her vision, and were actually quite easy to carry, another sad reminder of how far she’d fallen. Stepping out of the building, she didn’t turn to look back anymore and went to sit at the bus stop.

“Goodbye, crappy apartment. Hello broken-er dreams and a box under a bridge.”

Waiting for a few minutes in the gloomy autumn morning, Sonata couldn’t help but pull out her wallet again and check the contents, something she’d been doing an awfully large amount as of late. The sight of three fives and a twenty greeted her and she stuffed it back into her bag before any more bad luck could come and try and snatch it away. Instead she pulled out the tiny, hand-printed flyer which was her last beacon of hope in her desperate time.

Staring at the tiny handwriting on the regular piece of paper, she managed to make out the writing.

Need a place to stay? Out of cash? Don’t mind unusual roommates? Well then come down for a look at your brand new life at Minnie’s Monstrous Mansion! Cheap, reasonable rent, somewhat peaceful and quiet neighbors, and free weekend entertainment to boot! 666 Canterclock Road SW. Inquire within. No Solicitors. Yes I’m talking about you, Jim.

As she finished reading the scrap of paper, the sound of a bus pulling up to the stop pulled her attention away from the flyer, and with a small grumble, she stuffed it in her pocket and picked up her boxes, stepping onto the bus and using the absolute last of her change to pay for her ticket. She now had, in addition to her thirty-five dollars, thirteen cents. Not exactly a lucky number, or at least that’s what humans said. Taking her seat next to a fat man reading a newspaper, she couldn’t help but wonder what caused such superstitions among them.

The bus ride was long, and she had to switch to another bus halfway through the trip that would take her to the proper street, and by the time Sonata had stepped off of it and back onto the street in the heart of downtown Canterlot, it had started to rain, putting a damper on her already terrible day.

The howling wind didn’t help her case much, and the smaller box with her pot and plates in it threatened to blow over twice, nearly falling to the ground and smashing its contents all over the rain-slicked street right then and there. By the time she reached the buildings with the six hundreds however, she had exited the very busy downtown area and was now in the slightly less busy but still respectably busy ring area that mainly had apartments for a few blocks all the way around the downtown proper. She was busy bowing her head against the wind when she heard a commotion up ahead.

Blanching, she recognized seven familiar, all-too familiar, faces, attached to seven familiar bodies that ran down the sidewalk towards her. They were too far away, and she was wearing different clothes, with her hair done up in a bun to hide some of its messy, tangles mass, so it was impossible that they’d recognized her, and yet the Rainbooms were clearly pointing in her direction-

Turning her head to the side where the pink one was pointing, Sonata noticed that she was walking right by a large café, inside of which many patrons warmed up over hot coffee, or else ducked in simply to avoid the rain. Looking back at the girls, she saw them break into a run and her eyes darted around for a place to hide. Seeing a large, slightly run-down looking condo building next to the café, she bolted for it in the hopes she could make it inside before the Rainbooms recognized her. Running up to the door and shivering in the cold rain, she balanced her boxes on her knee with one hand while she used the other to pull open the door and dart inside.

Gasping for breath, she looked back through the glass door and saw the seven friends run obliviously past and head into the café, no doubt to spend their oodles of money on many hot and delicious food item-

Sonata growled and shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her mind, before screaming loudly and jumping as a high-pitched, childlike voice spoke behind her in the dark entry room.

“Well are you going to just stand there or-”

“Aahh!”

“- come inside properly. You can’t just stand in the doorway, other people may need to get in or out.”

Whirling around, her eyes darted all over the tiny entryway, trying to find the owner of the voice, before she looked down and screamed once more. A small furry… thing was poking its head out from behind the second set of doors and she jumped back, fully expecting it to be some sort of rabid badger. Did Canterlot have badgers? Maybe not, she never remembered seeing any, but this thing looked kind of like one, not that she’d had one to compare it with and-

“-getting to you at all? Miss? Helloooo?” The small creature was waving some sort of soft furry paw at her, beckoning her inside, “Can you please stop screaming? There’s really no need for it. Now please, either come in or step back outside, but please don’t block the door.”

Dumbfounded at how a what-she-hoped-was-a-badger was talking to her, she finally quieted down and concluded that perhaps all the anime she’d watched had been preparing her for this moment, and steeled herself as she nodded and followed the creature farther into the building. She didn’t know what compelled her to do it, whether it was from fear, courage, stupidity, or the need to drive the story forward, she’d never figure out, but one thing she did figure out upon stepping after the strange creature into the building’s foyer, was that the strange little furry animal she had first mistaken to be a badger was anything but.

It walked on two legs and came up to her waist, and looked like some sort of crazy cross between a cat, a rabbit, and a squirrel, with solid grey fur and black eyes with two tiny white pinpoints for pupils. Strangely, the foyer they stepped into was also lit and well-decorated, and as the creature jumped straight up four feet and landed on a desk it handed a slip of paper to her.

“You must be Miss Dusk, am I correct? Yes, today is the day, very good. Now, I’m sure you’d like to get a look at your place before you agree to anything, and we can do that right now-”

Sonata, however, wasn’t listening to a word he said. The slip of paper the crazy cat creature had handed her was the same as the one in her pocket, with the same greeting and address on it. Looking up to the grey animal, she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, wait, wait, how do you know my name? And this is Minnie’s Monstrous Mansion? Are you Minnie?”

The unusual creature nodded slowly to every one of her questions before answering. “Yes, yes, I’m Minnie, this is the mansion, and I know your name because the flyer in your pocket was addressed to you. Simple as that.”

Seeing the confused look on her face, the creature, who she now knew was Minnie, jumped down after grabbing a key from its desk and gently tugged on the hem of Sonata’s skirt, shaking her out of her stupor.

“What, you think just anyone can come live here? Oh dimensions, no! The flyers, and well, the whole building as well, can only be seen by anything that has an invitation. You were given the flyer as an invitation to come live here, and so you were able to see and enter it. Now, down to business, I believe you are currently looking for a place to live, yes?”

Sonata, unable to comprehend what the hell was going on here and just how fast things were progressing, just nodded dumbly and allowed the fuzzy owner to put its paw in her hand and lead her deeper into the establishment. It led her to an elevator, chattering away all the while.

“Listen, I understand this might be a bit much to take all in at once, but how about this, you can have the first night completely free! It is a bit large of a prospect to move into somewhere new, I understand that, so spend one night here completely free of charge and then we can talk in the morning, see how well you like it and if you decide to stay, alright?”

Sonata was trying not to scream again. This was the most bizarre situation she’d ever found herself, bar none, and worst of all, she was completely alone with this unknown animal-looking condo owner and she had no previous experience to go off of in this type of situation, nor did she have the help and support of her sisters to think it through for her. As such, she could have sworn there was smoke curling from her ears as she tried to figure out her next step.

As it turned out, the elevator stopped at that very moment, and Sonata’s next step was into a dark oak hallway with a lush red carpet underfoot, and candelabras in wall mounts providing the illumination. As they passed several doors on each side, Minnie made a very rude hand gesture with his paws at an ice sculpture that was set in an alcove. The ice sculpture in question seemed to have been made with the same rude gesture in mind as it was currently flipping off the hallway with both hands. Staring at the sculpture for a few seconds, Sonata could have sworn it was lightly shaking, but quickly hurried to catch up to the short creature that had stopped a few doors down.

“Don’t mind the ice sculpture, he’s rude to everyone. Now this here can be your apartment. Good old 413. If you want to stay after tonight, this will be your living space, home sweet home and all that, yeah?” Tapping its foot somewhat impatiently, Minnie stuck the key into the lock and turned it. To Sonata’s credit, she didn’t scream this time, but she did jump back, as the door had suddenly vanished, leaving the frame completely empty.

Stepping through the doorframe and proving that was indeed nothing there now, Minnie gestured to the interior as Sonata cautiously followed. “Now you can see here, it’s got quite the nice living room, with a slightly offset kitchen, but you also have a large bedroom and a full bath. Plus! Each unit comes with its own washer and dryer! No need to use a coin-operated washing machine! They don’t work well with some of the guests we have staying with us…”

Smiling happily and showing off rows upon rows of tiny, needle-like teeth, Minnie handed the key to her and spoke very quickly, explaining a few of the utilities. “What we have in this building are known as anti-entrance door systems. The door will only open with the key there, and of course, my master key. Also, the room comes with basic furnishings, courtesy of the establishment: a table, a mattress, one rickety chair, and a desk lamp. If there’s anything else you need, please don’t hesitate to ask myself or any of the other staff members.”

With a short bow, the creature tossed the key to Sonata and bolted out the doorway, after which, the door reappeared.

Sonata Dusk, former Dazzling member and evil siren of Equestria, simply stared at the door that the little creature had left through, key in hand, and spoke the only thing that was constantly running through her head.

“What?”

Sonata slowly put her boxes on the ground in the middle of the room and looked around warily, wondering when her life had taken such a turn for the strange and supernatural. Because that’s what it was, what it had to be.

There was no way talking rodents and vanishing doors were a part of normal life, or at least, not as long as she’d been living among humans.

Scratching her head, she looked back at the key in her hand and furrowed her brow. If she was truly going to get the chance at a new place to live, she wanted to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating. If this was anything like all those times she’d eaten plants that Aria had told her not to eat and she was really just laying on the sidewalk and frothing at the mouth then she needed to make sure.

Steeling herself, the siren walked up to the door and pushed against it gently.

It didn’t budge.

Grabbing the key in her hand and jamming it in the lock, she twisted it and instantly the door vanished, leaving her holding the key in the air. Experimentally, she waved her key around, now that it was free to move in any direction, and felt no resistance from any kind of invisible door that might have been lurking there.

Squinting, she poked her head back out into the hall and looked down towards the elevators. Nothing was out there and the world hadn’t devolved into a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds, so she could probably check the mental “not hallucinating” box in her head.

Stepping back into the apartment she watched as the door popped back into existence once she was a half-dozen steps inside, with nary a sound or even a rush of wind to signal its return to reality.

“This is getting really weird…” Sonata mumbled, as she raised an eyebrow. Taking a tentative step forward again, she found herself once more at the door, and this time she slammed her shoulder into it, trying to see if it would disappear.

The door, of course, stayed exactly where it was, rooted in reality for the time being.

“Ow, okay, stupid idea.” As the siren rubbed her sore shoulder and started looking back at the bare apartment, she noticed a small table in the corner of the room next to what was indeed a very rickety-looking wooden chair.

Walking over to the furniture with a tension that suggested the table might come to life and attack her at any moment, she was pleased to discover that the furniture didn’t seem to have any sort of supernatural effects.

Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the kitchen, which was separated from the main room only by an island that was so close to one wall that Sonata wondered why the builders had even bothered to keep it separate.

Opening the fridge showed a cold an empty interior, although with a delightful lack of leftover vegetables that her old place was often wont to have. The dials on the stove worked, and the oven, also unlike her old apartment, was clean and free of burned foodstuffs.

Raising her eyebrow higher, Sonata Dusk allowed herself a smile. If this was all real and she hadn’t lost her mind, then this new place was starting to feel like a miracle that had fallen into her lap. She just hoped she could afford the rent somehow.

Thinking back to her wallet and the few meager dollars she had wiped the smile off her face once more and replaced her hope with a low feeling that she couldn’t quite place.

Her trip to the bathroom didn’t help. Yeah, the toilet flushed with no problem, and there were even three complimentary rolls of toilet paper, but if she couldn’t afford the place then she’d be back to trying to find a place to live tomorrow when Minnie came back in the morning. Although this had been her last hope, so if anything, she’d be out on the street instead of having time to look for anyplace else.

Wandering over to the bedroom, she saw a bare mattress sitting in one corner with a small lamp next to it on the ground, the plug next to a wall socket. Flipping the switch by the door a bare bulb in the middle of the ceiling cheerfully sprang to life, throwing shadows away from the corners of the room and into the folds of the curtains on the right wall.

Giving a small sigh as she was reminded of the apartment she had left just this morning, Sonata crossed over to the curtains and threw them open, seeing the rain coming down hard on the street outside while raindrops battered on the glass. Looking down, she realized she was almost on the corner of the building right next to the café she had seen on her way here, and the siren noticed as seven familiar figures once again stepped out of the building and onto the street, crossing in front of a large blue pickup that nearly didn’t stop in time.

Clenching her fists, Sonata hung her head, realizing it was too much to hope Sunset and her friends would get run over for what they had done to the ex-Dazzling and her sisters.

Her mood thoroughly soured by the inevitability of having to leave and the fact that her arch-enemies were still living their lives happily as though nothing bad could ever happen, Sonata was completely unprepared for what she saw when she checked out the bedroom closet as the last stop on her little apartment tour.

Yanking the door open angrily, the Siren found herself face-to-face with a skull and jumped back, eyes wide as she tried to process what she was seeing.

Taking a step backwards, she realized there was an entire human skeleton leaning against the wall of the closet, old bones only partially bleached with age. Her pupils contracted to pinpricks as she took another step back, and another.

Heart hammering in her chest, Sonata kept a wary eye on the old corpse in the closet until she tripped on something and all reasoning left her mind.

Falling backwards, the lonely siren let out a piercing wail until she landed. Strangely her fall didn’t hurt, but the stress of the whole day, cumulating with seeing what she assumed was the previous tenant, caused her eyes to roll up and her brain to shut down.

Author's Note

Alright, my first attempt at an Equestria Girls fic! Let's get this roller coaster started!
Also, to anyone who might be reading this and wondering where the updates to my other stories might be, they're done i just need confirmation from a couple people I have helping me polish them that they're done and I can give a final look-over before publication.

This story however, will be written, edited, and proofread only by me, because I don't expect this to be very long or impressive, so I'll be releasing chapters of this story during down time when I'm waiting for something else to go through the due process of being picked apart by those helping me.

Avoiding Sunset

Sonata Dusk woke with a start, shivering a bit on the bare mattress. Looking around, she pushed herself up into a sitting position before looking around the room she found herself in.

The walls were bare and colored a pale orange, and although the dark purple curtains on the window were drawn back, the sky outside was dark, the small lights of stars twinkling in the distance over a mirror of shining city lights. The room itself was cheery and bright, the single lightbulb on the ceiling casting enough illumination to make the nearly empty space feel comfortable.

Shaking her head, Sonata remembered the day’s earlier events, which had culminated with her finding a literal skeleton in a closet.

Eyes snapping open, the siren froze while her gaze slowly traveled along the walls to rest on the closet door, which still lay open and held the grisly reminder of someone else having been there at one point. Teeth chattering as a cold worm of dread wrapped around her heart, Sonata grabbed the lamp from the ground beside the mattress she had passed out on and steadily moved towards the grinning image of death.

Eyeing the wall socket next to the closet door, Sonata warily bent down to plug in the lamp and straightened up, staring at the skull grimly. Lifting the lamp close to the skull, she winced and muttered, “This is seriously not cool…” before flicking the switch on and lighting up the skeleton brightly with the closer light source.

Cringing away as she could clearly see the features of the skeleton, no longer clouded by the gloom that seemed to coalesce inside the small closet, the ex-Dazzling almost dropped the lamp and ran out then and there, and she would have if not for one detail that leapt out at her in the light.

Attached to the thing’s collarbone via a small plastic string hung a tag, which Sonata grabbed and furrowed her brow as she read.

“Jinx’s Joke Shop, Halloween Skeleton, nineteen ninety-nine.”

Looking back up at the skull of the skeleton she was practically manhandling now, Sonata’s eyes widened in realization and she nearly passed out again from just the sheer relief that washed over her.

“Oh, thank god, it’s just a prop! I was scared for no reason!” Pressing a hand to her forehead, she placed the desk lamp on the ground and stumbled back, her heart still beating rapidly as her brain tried to tell it everything was okay.

“Still, really weird place to keep a fake skeleton. Why is it even here? Does it count as part of the furniture I get? But that doesn’t make sense, skeletons aren’t furniture, not even fake ones… Urgh! My brain hurts!”

Scrunching her face up and pressing her hands to her temples Sonata tried her best to come up with a logical explanation as to why there would be a Halloween prop in the apartment in the first place, but eventually just chalked it up to some other eccentricity of the building.

After all, they had vanishing doors and the owner was a short fuzzy creature that could speak. Thinking about it in that light, Sonata came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn’t so strange after all.

“Speaking of Minnie…” Sonata thought back to what the strange thing had said.

“I can stay the night and see if I want to rent the place tomorrow morning?” Looking around at the bare walls as she walked back into the main room, the thick carpet squishing softly under her shoes, her meager belongings still sitting forlornly where she had placed them, she shrugged and glanced at the kitchen. “Well… if I can stay the night for free, then I guess that means I can use the stove and stuff too? But I don’t have any food…”

Marching over to the set of curtains in the main room, the siren threw them open and gave herself another good look down at the street below. A frown crossed her face as she looked out at the dark street once more, the lights from street lamps doing little to chase away the shadows that hung around the nearby buildings.

Sighing, Sonata went back to her bag and pulled out her slightly-battered laptop and flicked the power switch. After a rather lengthy boot-up process, she was greeted with the login screen, but really only looked at the numbers in the corner.

“Past nine… I hope too many stores aren’t closed…” Slapping her laptop shut again, she stuffed it unceremoniously back into her bag and placed it on the carpet next to her boxes, pulling out her wallet again and counting all her money once more, hoping against hope that a few more dollars had miraculously appeared in the time she had last checked. Alas, no such change had taken hold of her cash, despite the fact that she was pretty sure by now that the building she was in was some sort of supernatural hotel.

Pulling the room key out of her pocket once more, Sonata strode toward the door and unlocked it, bracing herself for the inevitable disappearing act that the door pulled. After the threshold had cleared itself of door, she stepped out into the hall, checking back to make sure the door reappeared behind her. She didn’t own much, but all that was left of her belongings remained in the room behind that door, and she was a little reluctant to leave it alone.

“Come on Sonata, it’s just some food! You can do this! I can even pop into that café next door!” A small smile graced the siren’s lips as she stopped in front of one of the elevators and pressed the button, waiting for the car to reach her floor, before remembering that Sunset and her friends had been at the establishment earlier, and that meant someone else that might recognize her would be there too.

The soft chime of the elevator reaching her floor shook Sonata out of her thoughts but as she was about to step into the lift, her eyes fell on the other occupant within and her foot froze, half-extended in a step.

Inside the elevator was what could only be described as a miniature flying saucer, complete with a green glass canopy and flashing blue lights along the underside. If hovered gently at head height and emitted a soft whirring sound, giving no indication that it noticed her.

Sweat gathering on her brow, Sonata didn’t know what to do, until the decision was made for her. With a ding, the elevator doors began to close once more, causing the ex-Dazzling to panic. Moving swiftly, she stuck her foot in between the closing doors and yelped as they squeezed her ankle a bit, before reversing and opening again. As soon as there was enough room for her to squeeze through, Sonata threw herself forward into the elevator car, straightening up fast enough to see the doors close.

Quickly delegating herself to the corner farthest from the small floating alien craft, she watched as it completely disregarded her presence, simply turning slowly in place until the ground floor was reached, and Sonata, in her desperate attempt to get away from the strange thing, nearly ran out of the building, only stopping once she neared the rickety wooden fence that separated the property from the sidewalk.

Glancing furtively back at the large building, which was still completely dark and had no lights showing from any of the windows, Sonata shivered in the cold night air and pulled her hood up over her head, struggling a bit with her giant mass of messy hair as she tried to stuff it into her sweater.

Turning back to the street, the siren took a deep breath and brought her mind back to her current task.

“Gotta get food, right. I just need to go out and hope no one recognizes me so that I don’t starve to death. Easy, I’ve been doing it this long, after all.”

Nodding her head after her motivational talk to herself, she stepped out onto the sidewalk and turned back in the direction she had originally come from on her way to Minnie’s. Carefully eyeing the still cheerfully bright interior of the café as she passed it, Sonata stuck her hands in her pockets, one hand wrapping tightly around her wallet as she started looking for a corner store or some sort of mini-mart nearby.

Now that she was outside, the smell of fresh rain and ozone permeated the air, while the slight chill was enough for her to almost see her breath while she walked. Despite the fact that it was dark and the apartment seemed to be in a more run-down area of town, the music drifting from nearby bars and pubs, as well as the high amount of traffic running down the street beside her gave her enough comfort to continue walking down the street, humming a small tune to herself.

After crossing another few streets, Sonata was finally confronted with the bright neon lights of a gas station corner store. She had left the merriment and sound of the busy streets behind and her temporary place of residence could just be barely seen peeking over rooftops behind her. In the absence of sound besides the evening breeze and the occasional car puttering by, the buzz from the station’s neon lights sounded painfully loud to Sonata’s ears.

Stepping into the tiny shop was no easier, as the door set off an electronic chime, alerting the single other occupant of the gas station. The cashier, a middle-aged man with thinning hair, briefly glanced her way, giving her a silent nod, before he leaned back behind the counter once more and his eyes took on a rather glazed look.

Shuffling her feet and trying to seem as insignificant as possible, the siren reached the tiny aisles crammed with assorted snack foods and cleaning supplies, grabbing a few cheap packs of instant noodles before stepping back into view of the cashier.

Letting the man scan the barely-passable foodstuffs, Sonata contemplated all the other times she had bought food, and with a sigh as she realized for the hundredth time, noted they all tended to act out exactly like this. Her paranoia never seemed to bother people more than usual and they simply went about their day rendering whatever goods or service she was purchasing at the time.

But this time, something new happened, and though Sonata wanted to say her fear and paranoia had taught her how to recognize this type of situation, the reality was that she had no idea how to handle herself or the challenges that suddenly presented itself.

The door chimed once more, signalling someone else entering the tiny storefront, and though Sonata absentmindedly tugged her hood a little farther over her face, the sound of the voice that emanated from the newcomer was unmistakable. Besides that, the otherwise expressionless cashier that had taken her precious three dollars was now looking with honest interest on his face, and initiated a greeting.

“Hey! How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you around in a few weeks, huh? You used to come by all the time!”

“Oh, I’ve been alright, thanks. I haven’t been stopping by all that much because my friends have been getting me to buy healthier foods, but tonight I just needed to get some chips.” Replied Sunset Shimmer’s voice from behind the hooded siren.

Instantly, the ex-Dazzling felt a cold sweat break out across her skin and her body locked up, joints going rigid and refusing to obey her commands to exit the store immediately.

If the gas station cashier noticed any signs of distress from Sonata, he didn’t show it, as he went back to counting coins and dishing out change to the girl standing in front of him. Handing over a plastic bag with Sonata’s instant noodle packets, like a man holding out a lifeline to a drowning woman, it took the siren a few moments to gain control of her body once more and shakily reach out to grab the bag from the man, giving him an unpleasant smile all the while.

Brain going a million miles an hour, the siren managed to play off a fake sneeze as she turned, allowing her to cover her face and step away from the counter without being recognized by the red- and gold-haired young woman within two feet of her, quickly bolting out of the store while doing her best to look as if she wasn’t actually bolting out of the store.

Breathing heavily, Sonata forced herself to walk slowly while still in sight of the giant glass window, but as soon as she had made it to the sidewalk and started on her way back towards the, her feet hit the cement running, and she didn’t stop sprinting until she had made it safely several blocks away.

Panting with exertion and still hopped up on adrenaline, she bent double, trying to catch her breath, the pounding of her heart in her ears the only sound in the universe. Suddenly the entire world had shrunk to her, the room she had left her things in, and the diminishing distance in between.

Marching back to the condo with a single-mindedness that wouldn’t have been out of place in a killer robot, but with a shaking of knees that betrayed her fear, Sonata Dusk finally reached the fence in front of the apartment building, having been slowed down somewhat by all the time she spent looking back for any sign of Sunset Shimmer following her. Seeing no one there, she finally Let out a deep breath she didn’t know she had been holding and allowed herself to relax as she stepped into the same dark-paneled foyer and took the elevator up to her suite.

Barely jumping at the disappearing door trick, Sonata carefully placed her bag of packaged food on the floor before kicking off her worn-down shoes and laying face-down in the soft, fluffy carpet, where a loud groan escaped her muffled mouth.

“Well that could have gone better… although I guess it could have gone worse too. What was she doing there though?! I thought Sunset left with her stupid friends already! And that guy, he sounded like he knew her! Why would he talk like that unless he knew her? Is she really that popular now? It’s only been a few months since the battle of the bands… hasn’t it? There’s no way everyone likes her that much already.”

Rolling over onto her back, Sonata frowned as question after question popped into existence inside her mind, each one as unanswerable as the last, until she balled her fists and pressed them against her eyes.

“Ugh, brain… stop thinking of stuff! You’re making me confused! I’m already confused as to how to I got away without that she-demon noticing me!”

Glancing over forlornly at the dropped packages of instant noodles and sighing, her appetite now gone, the siren grumbled to herself and picked herself off the floor.

“Forget about Sunset. That magic-thief isn’t important right now. What’s important is getting some fake food in my stomach, or at least getting a good night’s sleep.”

Steeling herself, Sonata shoved her bag of food packs into her shoulder bag and dragged everything into the bedroom, where she piled it all next to the bed and pulled out her thin blanket, draping it over the bare mattress.

Frowning at the sight for a moment, the blue-haired girl turned back to her boxes and shuffled around inside them for a few moments, trying to find something that would help the situation. Eventually she settled for her only other sweater, which was folded neatly, even if it was a bit wrinkled, and placed it at the head of the bed for a makeshift pillow.

Looking glumly back at the cheerfully bright package of instant noodles poking out of the plastic bag, Sonata sighed went to turn off the light in the room, before crawling under the covers and doing her best to drift off to sleep.

After her encounter at the gas station she didn’t particularly feel like eating, but she was determined to get a good night’s sleep for once.

At least this apartment is warm.

Author's Note

Hello again, dear readers!
I'm pretty sure I caught all the grammatical errors before publishing this chapter, but let me know if I missed any, and if the story is too convoluted or difficult to follow. I want to slow things down for the next couple chapters, but I realize I went through quite a few tone changes in a very short span of time during the first two chapters.
(Also, yes I realize this is yet another filler chapter for not being able to release anything for my other stories yet.)

What Kind Of Business Is This Anyway?

“Mmm… ‘Dagio, close the curtains, I still wanna sleep…”

When no answer came, and bright morning light continued to fall across Sonata’s face, she cracked an eye open, only to close it almost immediately, as the sun seared her retina.

“Augh! Ugh…” Sitting up and shielding her eyes, the Siren looked around and remembered where she was.

“Damn, I thought for a second there it was all a bad dream… Adagio hasn’t woken me up like that in months.”

Turning to look at the window, Sonata saw that the curtains were still drawn back from last night, and this side of the building faced south, giving her a clear view of a very cheerful sun on its journey through the sky. Sighing and rolling her shoulders, she cracked her neck and stretched, savouring the feeling.

“Boy, I haven’t slept that well in ages. Maybe this place isn’t too bad? Oh, who am I kidding, it’s crazy weird, but at this point I’d take anything! And it’s definitely a bit homey…”

Grumbling to herself, the Siren rolled off her bed and rubbed her eyes before stretching lazily and yawning. Smacking her lips, she stood up and wandering out of the room, headed into the kitchen, her shoulder bag dragging on the ground behind her.

Pulling out an instant noodle package, she sighed and grabbed the kettle sitting on the counter. Rinsing it out and filling it up with water, she flicked the switch and stared dully as the water began to heat up. Only when it was mostly boiled did she realize she had left all her tableware in the box beside the bed.

Grumbling yet again, she retrieved a bowl and one of her few spoons, before mixing the dry noodles, mix, and hot water together.

Moving over to the small table and seating herself on the single chair (which squeaked and creaked far too much for her comfort), the ex-Dazzling took several bland bites and thought about what she might be able to do in order to keep the apartment. Charming the owner with her voice hadn’t been an option for months now. Despite not actually singing terribly anymore, her talent wasn’t nearly enough to persuade other people into giving her free stuff, and even if she could feasibly use her magic again, there was no guarantee it would work on whatever creature Minnie was.

It seemed she was stuck.

Groaning out loud and smacking herself in the forehead repeatedly, Sonata tried thinking of alternative ways she could keep herself off the streets. Thinking back to what she knew about the small creature, she realized it wasn’t much; pulling the crumpled note out of her pocket, she re-read the flyer yet again.

Relatively cheap rent… what exactly does that mean? Just how ‘cheap’ is Minnie willing to go?

Her thoughts at that moment were interrupted by a soft knocking on her door and a sound that she recognized as the short apartment owner’s voice calling from the hallway.

“Good mooooorniiiiiing” Came a muffled singsong voice.

Slurping the last of the noodles into her mouth, Sonata stood up and crossed over to the door, jamming her key in the lock and twisting it, barely reacting as the door vanished before her very eyes and lowering her gaze to rest on the waist-high squirrel-creature standing two feet from her.

“Umm… hi? It’s kinda early to be kicking me out, don’t you think?” Sonata asked hesitantly, hoping that the implied rudeness of Minnie’s sudden appearance would allow her at least a couple more hours in the apartment.

“Early? Perhaps, but remember, you don’t actually live here yet. And I did just let you stay the night for free. But now that we’re both on the same page,” the small creature continued, stepping past Sonata and into the room, looking around and noticing the smell of processed food and the bowl sitting on the table, “What do you think of the place? Pretty cozy, huh? If you’d like we can get you set up on a month-to-month payment basis and the place can be yours!”

Blushing slightly, the Siren lowered her head and broke the grey fuzzy creature’s gaze.

“I-I’d love to, but… you see, the flyer said ‘cheap rent’ but I can’t really-”

“Ah, security deposit? I totally understand. You have no idea how many dimensional travellers we get that don’t have enough with them to pay for a whole extra month. If one month is all you feel comfortable paying for then not to worry! Like I said, we can do straight month-to-month payments and there’s no security deposit necessary! But uh, if that’s the case you have to completely care for the room. Anything breaks, you replace it.”

“That’s not exactly what I was-” Sonata started, but the little creature continued, talking over her.

“Of course, if you wreck the place and leave well then, trust me…” the room seemed to grow darker for a second while Minnie’s eyes momentarily flashed red, “… I will run you down and drag you back.”

Taking a cautious step back as the lighting in the room returned to normal, Sonata grimaced a she yelled, causing Minnie to pause in the middle of his sales pitch.

“That’s not it! I can’t afford the apartment in the first place!”

Closing her eyes and hanging her head, the ex-Dazzling shuffled her feet a bit until she felt something soft and furry poke her thigh. Looking up she saw Minnie staring at her with a somewhat cross look on his face.

“Hold you horses, you wee baby, we haven’t even discussed rent price. Now it’s true I do need something of substantial value for a security deposit, Minnie’s Monstrous Mansion prides itself on being affordable for anyone of any world looking for a nice place to stay while they explore the dimensionrift.”

“Even so, I’ve only got thirty dollars, and I need that for food!” she protested, balling her fists as tears entered her eyes, “What place in any world would I be able to pay for a whole month with just that?!”

Holding her watery gaze with his own stern one, the short creature snapped his fingers and scowled as a pair of half-moon glasses appeared on his nose and a clipboard full of papers appeared in one paw.

“Like I said, we haven’t even discussed payment yet, but if I remember correctly…” rifling through several papers, Minnie made a few humming sounds as he looked for whatever it was he was looking for, before he once again pierced Sonata with his stern gaze and spoke up, showing her the page he had flipped to.

“Now, according to my charts here, it quite clearly states that carbon- and silicon- based lifeforms visiting other planes of existence get some leeway on rent; specifically because it is quite hard for them to maintain a solid career outside their home dimension. As such you can choose one of several forms of payment.”

“Forms of payment? What do you mean?” Sonata asked, raising an eyebrow and frowning, confused as to what was going on.

“Well, since you’ve just said you don’t have enough of the region’s currency, then that one’s of the table, so let me see… ah,” turning back to her, Minnie grinned widely, showing off dozens of small, sharp teeth, “You can also pay with an ounce of flesh each month.”

“F-flesh? Like, a piece of me?!” Stumbling backwards, Sonata felt her back hit the wall. With the landowner’s closeness to her in the confined space and her own lack of magic, she suddenly wondered just how quick the creature in front of her was, and what exactly he was planning.

“That’s the idea, kid. There’s a couple other forms of payment we can consider before committing to one though, so don’t worry.” Dropping the hideous smile, the creature once again returned to its semi-cuddly looking self.

“Now there’s also this one that I have to keep on this list because one of my shareholders insisted and I’d be broke without him. Really wish I didn’t have to though. This payment option is for one gallon of bodily fluids.”

“Bodily fluids?! Like, my blood?” Now she was starting to get seriously alarmed. Just what else could these payment options be? It was like she was fuelling dark magic rituals in order to live there.

“You know it doesn’t say.” Minnie replied, squinting at the paper. “Bodily fluids… dah, dah, dah… up to interpretation by the tenant, but must come from the tenant’s body. There you have it. So I’d be allowed to accept blood, pus, sweat, tears, mucus, per-hrk”

The small creature covered his mouth and seemed to be dry heaving for a few seconds while Sonata stared in slack-jawed disbelief. Shaking his head, Minnie glanced back up at her and mumbled, “Uh, if you uh, want to take that option I’d prefer if you used an opaque container and I’ll just trust you on it. I really don’t need to see any of that stuff. Moving on!”

“Final payment option: Entertainment.”

An awkward silence stretched out, as Minnie looked up at her expectantly and Sonata looked down at him, waiting for the explanation. When no one came, she nodded a couple times, “Well?”

“Well what?” the fuzzy creature replied, obviously confused.

“What do you mean, ‘Entertainment’?”

“Oh! That! Well, give me one second and I’ll see. I thought you’d jump on the option considering it’s more normal than any of the others. Let me see here… Entertainment is restricted to live karaoke and either ballroom dancing or dancing the tango. Payment in this form must be provided for one hour straight on the first of each month; no exceptions, and must be up to basic standards.”

Glancing this way and that, Sonata tried to think. One the one hand, she’d love to learn how to dance properly, but on the other she couldn’t dance either ballroom or the tango at all, and she doubted she’d be able to do so for a whole hour immediately. The other option was to try karaoke, but without her gem and her magic to enhance it, she couldn’t sing to save her life, even after all this time, which, she reflected, was very similar to what this situation was asking of her.

“Uh… that uh, flesh thing. Can I see if there’s anything specific on there?” Gulping hard, the ex-Dazzling’s thoughts raced through her head. An ounce of flesh would hurt like Tartarus to cut out each month, but it would be easier than trying to get a… gallon… of herself in liquid form. Grabbing the offered clipboard from the grey building owner, she scanned the page while gears turned in her head.

“So… wait. There’s nothing here that says it has to be my flesh. Just an ounce of flesh. Would that mean…?”

“Give me that!” Snatching back his clipboard, Minnie growled as he scanned the page, before stopping and giving Sonata and narrow stare over the top of it.

“There’s nothing here about it specifically needing to be your flesh, if you go with the ounce payment. However! Payments are still due on the first of each month, regardless of what type of payment plan you decide. Since I gave you last night free, I’m willing to waive it this time, but you’ll have to pay before noon. Is that acceptable to you?”

Nodding her head vigorously, the Siren grinned as she ran to grab her wallet and began putting her shoes on.

“Don’t worry Minnie! I’ll be right back with your payment! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Grabbing the short squirrel creature up into a tight hug, she let him down and sprinted out of the room, leaving the strange creature to roll his eyes and straighten out his fur.

“Damn shareholders and their crazy ideas… what am I even supposed to do with an ounce of meat?”

Happily running down the street, Sonata breathed in the fresh morning air, barely feeling the chill as the possibility of having a place to stay for much cheaper became more than just a dream. If I can keep this place, then it’ll be WAY better than my last apartment, and it’s close to the city to boot! It’ll be way easier to get a job and grab groceries this way!

Smiling to herself, Sonata continued jogging down the street until she had gone a few blocks. Now that she looked around however, she realized she wasn’t familiar with this part of town, and didn’t exactly know where to go to find a grocery store or something similar. Despite it still being early in the morning, with the sun barely above the tops of the houses, she saw that there were quite a few people walking on the sidewalk, as well as driving down the roads.

Is there an office building nearby? Or maybe a strip mall? Ooh! Maybe a grocery store!

Grabbing one of the random people walking by her by the wrist, she smiled and looked at the boy.

“Hey, umm, sorry to bother you, but do you know of like, a grocery store or a deli nearby?” Despite giving her sweetest smile and most sincere puppy-dog-eyes, the blue-haired man, more like a kid, he looked like he could still be in school with his clean-shaven face, gave her a shocked look before glancing around. None of the other people walking down the street seemed to notice anything, and so he gave a weak, uncertain smile and pointed down the road to the corner.

“Thanks!” Letting go of the boy’s arm, she turned and crossed the road, before skipping towards where he had pointed. At the end of the street she found not only a small deli, but an old record store and a bakery that seemed to be combined with a café, and all three buildings were crammed around a small parking plaza.

Giving a small squeal of delight, Sonata rushed into the deli, and asked for half a pound of fresh ground beef. Despite the fact that her mouth watered at the sight of bacon and salami while she waited for the grizzled man behind the counter to ready her order, her glee couldn’t be contained at the prospect that she’d soon have a new place to call home; a new base of operations where she could start on the path back to greatness.

Paying for her meat and humming quietly to herself as she skipped out of the store, Sonata dusk decided not to trouble herself with any thoughts on how exactly she’d return to greatness, but first things first; she needed to pay for the month and familiarize herself with the neighborhood.

She was so happy and relieved that her living conditions would suddenly improve drastically, that she didn’t even notice as she skipped right past a high-school age girl with flaming hair.

Stepping into the foyer of Minnie’s Mansion, she saw that Minnie had come down and was sitting on a tiny stool on top of his desk, while a similarly miniaturized desk stood in front of him on the surface where he wrote on a clipboard. Looking up at her approach, the fuzzy creature raised an eyebrow.

“So, you’re going with the ‘ounce of flesh’ payment for your room?” he asked.

“Yuppers! And uh, keep the change~.” Wiggling her eyebrows, the Siren plopped the bag of ground beef on the desk in front of him and stood there with a triumphant grin on her face.

Of all the times she could have messed up, she was incredibly glad this wasn’t one of those times, and that she had followed through on the thought that told her to check the fine print for her agreement. She much preferred spending a few extra dollars to having to slice herself open like some sort of cultist.

“So uhm… is that it? Do I get the apartment?” Looking over Minnie’s shoulder, she saw the small creature was finishing writing something before he pulled the page away from his clipboard and handed her a pen.

“Even if you’ve got the payment, we still need a landlord-tenant agreement. Look over this and sign at the bottom. I’ve already accepted the terms of payment so my signature’s there already.”

“Yes!” quickly skimming through all the legal jargon, Sonata grabbed the pen and signed her name on the line at the bottom, just above where Minnie had written his name with flourishing strokes.

“So now… does this mean-?”

“Yes, yes, the room is yours now.” Minnie replied with a sigh, gathering up the bag of meat and letting loose a bright beam of light with his eyes directed at the page. When the Siren blinked away the bright spots in her vision, she could see that there were now two copies of the page sitting on the desk.

“One of these is for you, one is for me. Enjoy your stay at Minnie’s Monstrous Mansion, Miss Dusk. We hope you have a pleasant time.” Grabbing one of the copies even before he had finished talking, Sonata giggled to herself and ran for the elevator, finally happy at the prospect that she’d be staying somewhere with warm water and reliable heating for the first time in weeks.

Back at the desk, Minnie hung his head and grabbed the other copy of the agreement.

“Why did I ever agree to let shareholders make rules in my business…”

Author's Note

Yay! More Sonata! More weird situations! More slowly developing plot!
Tune in next month when I'll probably release the next chapter (emphasis on probably, as in might be longer or shorter for it to appear). This one is kinda low on my priority list, if I'm being honest.
Nonetheless, I'm still in the middle of a huge motivation surge for writing so, I'll be continuing work on this and other stories immediately!