A Silent Melody

Robust Reticent was the biggest guy on the school campus at seven feet tall.

His hair was of a smokey white color, which he wore in a messy fashion that just barely covered his eyes, while his skin was faded grey.

He normally wore a loose-fitting green army jacket, grey colored work shirts and blue jeans.

He didn't talk to anybody, and it was to the point most of the students called him 'The Mute Colossus'.

But he didn't really mind.

One of the reasons he didn't talk to anyone was because of his anxieties around larger groups of people.

He didn't fear them, he just never knew what to say in the moment someone spoke to him.

His mind would just lock up and his mouth would seal shut.

The other thing that didn't really help matters was.

"Hey freak!"

Because of the fact that he was so big, every guy who wanted to prove themselves as 'tough' tried to fight him.

A silent huff was breathed from his nose as he turned to the latest in a long line of unwanted challengers.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you. I want to have a 'talk' with you. Follow me."

A small, lime green haired boy gestured for him to follow as he walked away.

With an unseen eye roll and unheard sigh, he fell in step a few paces behind the boy.

Behind the School Gym

This didn't happen every day but every once in a while, some guy is either dared to pick a fight with him or just has too much testosterone and had to take it out on someone.

Either way, it always ended up like this.

"I'm going to show those guys just how much of a badass I am by taking you down a peg or two." The small Lime haired boy postured.

He had heard this all before.

He would ignore these challenges in the beginning but after seeing that they would just look for a new victim afterward, he decided it was better for it to be just him who would take the beating.

He could take it.

The green haired boy balled his fists and charged at him.

"Get ready to get knocked the fuck out, Freak."

There was a lot of things that he had been called through all these confrontations, but none of them hurt him in the slightest.

He honestly didn't care what they called him.

Why care about what someone says about him, if he doesn't care about their opinion in the first place.

As the boy rushed at him, Robust didn't move.

Not to guard, counterattack, or anything for that matter.

He just stood there, silent as a grave.

The boy got a mischievous grin as he came close.

Stopping on one foot, he brought the other up in between Robust's legs, aimed for his testicles.

They connected.

Robust didn't even shiver.

On the other hand, the boy's confident grin slowly changed to that of a grimace.

After extracting his foot from betwixt Robust's legs, he fell backwards, then grabbed onto said appendage.

"Gah! What the fuck?! Are your family jewels actually made out of fucking diamonds or what?! I think I broke something, you son of a bitch!"

He just stood there, looking down at the wincing aggressor.

A moment or two passed till the guy got up, red faced and enraged.

"You think your hot shit, huh?! I'll show you!"

He then threw a punch into Robust's solar plexus, most likely to try and knock the wind out of him.

It was ineffective.

Moreover, the boys hand made a popping sound when he struck Robust's abdomen.

"Fuck! My fucking hand! Fucking-fuck-fuck!" He clutched his hand to his chest and turned away from his opponent.

Shaking out his hand, the boy blew on it like one would to a hot bowl of soup.

Looking back at the non-moving statue that was Robust Reticent, the boy's eyes teared up.

"You're a god damn monster!"

The boy reached down and picked up a rock the size of a golf ball, then threw it as hard as he could at Robust.

It sailed through the air then, with the resounding *Clack* one might hear while stone strikes stone, the rock hit Robust in the forehead, right above his left eyebrow.

Even with this, he didn't move in the slightest.

The rock striking him caused the hair covering his eye to brush aside for just the briefest of moments.

But it was long enough for the boy to see his eye.

The boy froze upon the sight, then turned and hobbled away as fast as he could.

As he left, he shrieked. "Get away from me! You fucking monster!"

When the boy finally left, Robust huffed and moved at long last.

Bending down and picking up his discarded messenger bag, he then slipped the strap over his head.

Robust then started his lonely march back home, leaving the school grounds.

The light at the crosswalk let Robust know that he couldn't cross just yet.

As he stood there, waiting for the light to change, he could tell that his fellow students were actively trying to avoid him.

This was the other reason why he didn't have any friends.

Not only was his size very intimidating, but his quiet demeanor also gave off a sense of 'wanting to be left alone' (to the outside world at least).

The fact that he would be challenged to fights where the challenger would, more likely than not, walk away injured while he walked away unscathed didn't help out his image either.

This pretty much made it seem like he was a brute who could hurt anyone at any time, he didn't even need to try.

'It's always the quiet ones you have to look out for'.

'Let's stay away from him'.

'He's trouble'.

Was the general consensus that the student body made, making every effort to giving him a wide berth.

He didn't mind that so much though.

It was what it was, and most of it was his own doing.

He just wished he had at least one person he could call a friend.

"Hello there." A cheery voice chirped up to him from his side.

Slowly, Robust turned to see what the source of the sound was.

Through the veil of his bangs, his eyes took in the smiling face of Sonata Dusk.

"Wow, you sure are big, aren't you fella. What did you have to eat to get so large? I wish I was huge like you, but then it would be harder to find any cute clothes, so maybe not. Anyway, would you like to be my friend?"

The group of students that were surrounding the pair froze noticeably with a gasp.

Sonata only looked around to the frozen crowd and asked, "What?"

Robust tilted his head in mild confusion, thinking the same thing.

Bringing her attention back to him, she took in a deep breath, then continued.

"Well, Adagio said to me 'You need to get out and make some friends', and I was like 'But I have friends', then Aria was all like 'Online friends for playing video games don't count as friends', and I was like 'Yes they do', then Aria was like 'No they don't', then we had a back and forth for a while, till Adagio got annoyed and yelled 'Just get out there and make a friend and don't come back till you do', So I tried asking a bunch of different people 'Do you want to be my friend', But they all said 'No' Because of what happened at the battle of the bands, Then I saw you get called out by that little guy with the green hair and thought 'He might want to be my friend', So I followed you two behind the school gym and watched as that guy hurt himself by hitting you while you did nothing, then after he threw that rock at you and ran away, you got your stuff and left, then I was like 'Let's go ask him now', But you have a really long stride and it was really hard to catch up to you, till you stopped at this cross walk, and now we're up to this point."

After that long stint of dialog, Sonata panted heavily.

Seeing as there was a lot to unpack in that long run on sentence he just blinked (unseen) for a moment.

That's when the light finally changed.

Turning to cross the street, he offered Sonata his arm to help her cross as well.

His mother taught him it was the polite thing to do.

Sonata saw this and, with a beaming smile, excepted his polite gesture by looping her arm around his.

"Why, thank you kind sir."

Drawing closer to him, she unintentionally pressed her breasts into his arm.

He froze for only a second, then moved to cross the street.

Leaving all the other students who had been looking on, eyes wide and mouths slack at the sight of the biggest, toughest guy in school acting like a gentleman to Sonata Dusk.

They were so shocked in fact that the whole group missed their chance to cross the road and had to wait for the next light, as Robust and Sonata walked off, arms still linked.

After walking for a bit, Sonata spoke.

"Anyway. You seemed like a really nice guy, and you might be a good person to be friends with. so, what do you think?"

Bringing his free hand (that wasn't occupied by Sonata's embrace) to his chin, he gave it some thought.

Well, it's not like she would be giving you a bad reputation, seeing as pretty much the entire school is already afraid of you. So, there's that. Plus, she seems like a nice person from what you've seen of her before now. She more or less has a 'guilty by association' type of thing going for her. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So why not give it a shot.

Bringing his hand back down to his side, he turned his head to look at Sonata as they walked.

She looked up at him with big, hopeful eyes.

He slowly nodded his head and gave an affirming hum.

Sonata had a huge smile explode across her face in an instant.

A high-pitched squeal escaped her mouth as she let go of his arm, jogged out in front of him, then leaped up.

She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and hugged him, as she kicked her feet backward in joy.

"Oh my gosh, Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Robust went stiff in bewilderment at the sudden embrace.

"I swear, you won't regret this!"

After rubbing his thumb and forefingers together for a second in thought, he gradually brought his arms around her to share in the embrace.

She giggled happily at the gentle hug.

They stood there for what seemed like minutes, till Robust loosened his grip.

He then brought his hands up her sides till they were resting under her arms.

After raising her up and shifting her position, he brought her to rest on his forearm, with her legs dangling from his hand like he was carrying a child.

"Wow, you sure are strong too. Anyway, what do you have planned for tonight? Do you want to hang out at my place?"

He nodded but brought a hand to his mouth and acted like he was eating.

"Oh, you want to get something to eat first, then hang out?"

He acknowledged her statement with a nod.

"Like what?"

He pointed a finger as he began to walk once more.

Following his finger, her eyes filled with giddy anticipation.

"OOH! I can tell we are going to be the best of friends!"

The Dazzling's Apartment.

Adagio and Aria were sitting in their apartment, watching a movie on television while munching on popcorn.

During an exciting chase scene, Aria turned to Adagio and asked.

"It's starting to get dark out. Do you think Sonata will be back soon, or will she really not come back if she didn't make a friend?"

"Honestly, I'd guess the latter. She is always taking things way too seriously. I'll give her a call later and tell her to come back. I just wanted her to get out for a bit. She spends way too much time playing games, when we're not at school."

Right then, the door handle to the apartment jiggled.

"Ah crap, I forgot my key." *Knock Knock* "Hey Adagio?! Can you open the door?! I forgot my key!"

"Wow, she actually came back before I called her."

Adagio got up off the couch and headed toward the front door.

"I thought I told you not to come back till you made a friend!"

"That's why I'm back. I made a friend, and he came over to hang out." Sonata replied in a cheery tone. "And he even brought food for dinner."

While resting a hand on the door handle, Adagio knit her brow at those words.

"What? Really?"

She turned the nob and started to open the door.

"What kind of looo...!!"

As soon as she saw Robust standing behind Sonata, she slammed the door shut.

She looked at Aria with wide eyed surprise, causing Aria to ask. "What? What's wrong?"

"Out-out-out there! Bi-bi-big!"

*knock knock*

"Adagio! Why did you slam the door like that?! You're being rude to my new friend!"

After a bit of a pause, Sonata spoke again.

"No, no its fine. I want you to be here. Adagio! Open this door right now! You're making me look bad!"

Adagio once again put her hand on the handle and opened the door.

Peeking out, she saw Robust Reticent holding a bag from 'Paco's Taco's', standing silently behind a slightly annoyed Sonata.

"Come on. Open up. I'm Hungry!" Sonata stamped her foot at her last point.

Adagio reached out, grabbed Sonata by the wrist and pulled her through the door, into the apartment.

"Excuse us for a moment." She quickly said then closed the door once more.

Adagio spun around to face Sonata.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Do you have any idea who your new friend is?!" The whisper yelling was real.

"That's the fucking 'Mute Colossus'! The toughest son of a bitch in school! Why did you bring him here?!"

"I did what you said. I made a friend, and I Invited him over to hang out." Sonata spoke getting tired of explaining the same point over and over.

"You made 'HIM' your friend?!" Aria joined into the conversation while getting off the couch.

"YES! Jeez, how many times do I have to repeat myself?!" She flung her arms out in irritation.

She stomped over to the door and pulled it open. "And I Want him to come in to hang out!"

Holding the door open, she gestured for Robust to come inside.

Stepping forward and ducking under the door frame, he stood in front of the two frozen stiff sirens.

After looking at them for a couple seconds, he turned to Sonata and gave a soft questioning hum.

"They're fine, just come on in and have a seat on the couch. You can put the bag on the end table, and I'll get us some plates."

With a nod and a hum, he moved to the living room, placed the bag wear he was asked to put it, then slowly took a seat on the couch.

After shutting and dead bolting the door, Sonata nonchalantly strode into the nearby kitchen, then sauntered over to the living room, plates in hand.

"Come on you guys. He got enough for all of us."

After placing the plates on the table, she handed one to Robust.

Adagio and Aria were still unable to move because of their shock.

They did, however, jump when Sonata suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh! Your bleeding! Why didn't I notice that before?!"

Sonata rushed into the bathroom, then came back with a small first aid-kit.

Placing the kit on the table, she flipped it open and grabbed some astringent and a cotton swab.

After soaking the swab in anti-septic, she moved in close to Robust.

"Could you bend down a bit, please?" She asked the towering figure, to which he complied.

"This may sting a little." Sonata stated as she brushed his hair away to see where he was bleeding.

His eyes were already closed to keep any of the alcohol from getting in them.

After seeing the small cut from where the rock had hit him, she brought the swab close.

"Just, hold still. Okay?"

He hummed in understanding.

Slowly, she dabbed the swab on the cut to clean the wound and what blood had leaked out.

As she asked, he didn't move.

He didn't even twitch.

After she finished her task, she retrieved a band-aid, then placed it over the wound.

To top it all off, she leaned in and gave the band-aid a small kiss.

"There. All better."

She punctuated her words by tapping his shoulder.

At this, he opened his eyes.

Sonata's eyes locked with his and she gasped in surprise.

"Oh my." she brought a hand to her mouth. "You have really beautiful eyes."

Robust blushed slightly as he brushed his hair back down to obscure his vision once more.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." She apologized.

He shook his head and waved it off.

It was fine, it was just the first time anyone other than his mother said that.

Sonata turned to put the kit back together, then closed it.

"I'll just put this back."

As she moved to do so, he extended a hand to stop her.

Looking to see what was wrong, she tilted her head.

Before she could ask, there was a deep rumbling sound.

"Thank.... You...."

A deep voice that was a mixture of Berry White and Micheal Clark Duncan filled the room.

After a second or two to grasp the situation, Sonata grinned a large smile to her new friend.

"You're very welcome."

Nodding, he lowered his hand to let her pass.

Sonata brought the kit back into the bathroom, returned to the living room and sat down next to him with no hint of hesitation.

He reached into the bag, retrieved a couple taco's, placed them on a plate then handed it to Sonata.

"Thanks. Oh, I remember this movie. This is a good one. Have you seen it, Rob?" She paused, then looked up to Robust. "Er, do you mind me calling you Rob, Robust?

He just shrugged.

Wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever been called and she's not doing it to disparage me.

"Awesome."

When Sonata took a bite out of one of her taco's, she noticed that there was a distinct lack of two sirens.

Shifting on the couch to look around her, she found the two still standing in the same spot they had been in.

The only difference was that they were watching the scene of their sister, sitting next to a giant, eating tacos, after she had tended to his wound.

Raising an eyebrow, Sonata asked with a mouth full of food the question that was heavy in the air.

"Wha?"

This finally caused the two to snap.

"THAT'S OUR LINE SONATA!" They yelled in unison.

Robust continued to plate the food and place them on the table till there was enough for two more people.

He then brought a plate to his lap and leaned against the back of the couch.

"What the hell was that about?! Are you two dating or something?!"

At this Robust's back went ramrod.

His head turned slowly to the two sirens to the point an old rusty gate hinge sound could be heard.

It then creaked down to look at Sonata.

She looked up to him, then blushed profusely.

"W-w-well we just became friends not too long ago, but I do think he's a really nice guy. So, if he was alright with it."

Heat raised up to his face, causing him to share in the blushing.

She's kidding, right? These things just don't happen that quick, right?

Moving slowly as to catch her attention, he turned his hand up and toward Sonata while keeping it on his lap in a hand holding invitation.

Sonata looked at his hand for a moment.

Then slowly, she placed her hand in his, fingers interlocking with each other.

Oh my god this is happening.

He gently closed his hand to finish the hand holding.

If they could've blushed any harder, they would've burst into flame.

Both Adagio and Aria's mouths went slack at the sight of Sonata and Robust's hand holding/blushing fit.

Sonata looked back to her sisters, a pink tinge still evident on her face.

"An-Anyway, come in, sit down, grab some food and meet my." She paused and glanced back to Robust.

"My new Boyfriend?" She questioned.

With a hum and nod, he confirmed.

She turned back too Adagio and Aria.

"Ri-Right. My new boyfriend."

By the School Statue: The Next Day.

Sonata Dusk was waiting to meet her new beau before school started.

Last night was an unexpectedly surprising night.

Not only did she make a new friend, but also, made that new friend into her new boyfriend.

A grin crept across her face as well as a small blush.

"What's that happy smile for?" Pinkie Pie asked in a cheerful tone while bounding up to Sonata's side.

After the battle of the band fiasco had blown over and the Dazzling's had tried to make amends, Sonata and Pinkie had found out they were quite alike, personality wise.

They had many talks while playing games online as well as at school.

Sonata and her sisters have talked to the others as well but there were a few things they were still working through.

They just hit it off a bit better than the others.

"Oh, morning Pinkie. I'm Just waiting for." She spoke in a voice full of glee as her blush deepened. "My boyfriend!"

She covered her face at the admittance.

"What?!" Pinkie beamed. "That's wonderful news! Who is it?! Do I know him?!"

Sonata played coy for a bit. "Well, maybe. I mean he does go to this school and all."

Pinkie pressed against her. "Oh, no keeping secrets now. come on. Who is it?"

"Well." Sonata began but saw her new suitor among the oncoming crowd.

She grinned while waving at Robust enthusiastically. "Here he comes right now."

Pinkie skimmed over the crowd with her eyes as Sonata moved forward, trying to guess which one it was.

To hers and the surrounding peoples surprise, she leaped into the giant while wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Morning." Sonata greeted him giddily.

He returned the hug, then carried her in the same fashion as yesterday.

Only this time, her arms were still draped around his neck.

She whispered into his ear; he nodded then stepped over to Pinkie Pie.

Clearing her throat, Sonata smiled once more. "Pinkie, this is my boyfriend, Robust Reticent. Rob, this is Pinkie Pie."

For a sunny day in late spring, the air seemed to freeze over at that sentence.

Not for the three involved in conversation mind you, but for the surrounding crowd.

It was like they were transported to the lowest level of hell from 'Dante's: Inferno'.

Robust offered his hand for a shake as Sonata buried her face into his neck in gleeful embarrassment.

With a grin, Pinkie gripped his hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"Well, hello there. Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you from around school, but we never actually met."

He could guess what it was she had probably heard about him.

With a sad smile and a hum, he let go of the peppy party girl.

This however caused Sonata to unbury her face and look up to him.

Reading the emotion on his face (or what she could see of it) she leaned close to his ear and began to sing a gentle melody.

It wasn't anything to control him, seeing as their powers had weakened tremendously after their amulets had shattered.

After that, they had to practice quite a bit just to be able to sing in their beautiful singing voices once again.

Now, the only amount of emotion they could sway was about the same as any average vocalist.

Still, this was just a small tune to help ease his troubled mind.

His shoulders relaxed and he brought her closer to himself.

He really liked her singing voice.

It helped to quell his anxieties.

She smiled, then gently kissed him on the cheek.

Looking back to Pinkie, Sonata spoke while Robust blushed at the gesture.

"Just an F-Y-I but, he isn't anything like the rumors make him out to be. I even saw it with my own eyes, he just stood there while the guy hit him, hurt himself, then ran away. He's actually a real sweetheart once you get to know him."

The combo of kiss and complement caused Robust to turn bright red.

He brought Sonata up enough to hide his face behind her.

She turned back to him and rubbed the back of his neck in reassurance.

"It's okay Rob. No need to be embarrassed."

He made a small hum and moved his face enough to look Sonata in the eye.

"Okay, we can go inside now. Come on Pinkie."

Robust, while still carrying Sonata, moved to walk inside the school with Pinkie in tow.

The three left the group of onlookers behind.

They only began to chatter amongst themselves after the trio had disappeared into the school building.

After Entering the school Pinkie gleefully spoke.

"Hey, do you want to come meets with Twilight and the others? Maybe they could help with the whole misunderstanding thing."

Robust glanced to Sonata with a concerned look and gave an unsure hum.

She returned the look, but this was one of reassurance.

"I think you should. They are very nice people as well as very understanding."

She pressed her cheek against his with a grin.

"Plus, I'll be with you, so it won't be so scary."

A tiny smile crept across his lips.

He hummed softly accompanied with a nod.

Pinkie beamed. "Great. They should be in the spare classroom where we like to meet up in between class. This way."

Pinkie pointed then pivoted on her heel to walk down the hall on the left.

Robust followed behind while still carrying Sonata.