Sonata stretched her arms over her head as she stepped out of the recording studio. It had been another stressful day of recording songs with her fellow sirens, accompanied by their usual bickering.
But now all that was behind her and she could have some much deserved Sonata-time. Her stomach gurgled, thinking the same thing she was:
“Taco time!”
Normally, she’d race home to cook some herself, but after a tiring day like today, it was better for someone else to make them. Sonata’s favorite eatery, Taco Gong, was just a few blocks away. Just the thought of her favorite food washed away the stress of the day and put some pep in her step as she all but skipped down the sidewalk.
It was mid-afternoon by now, with most of the lunch hour crowd long gone. That left no lines to impede her progress towards savory flavor heaven. A few customers still eating at the tables around the restaurant glanced at her as she bounced her way to the counter.
“Hey Sonata,” sighed the teenager manning the register.
“Hey Spats,” Sonata said, her friendly wave bring a small smile to the cashier’s face. “I’ll take my usual today.”
“Three deluxes with extra hot sauce on the side, you got it,” Spatula Handle said, ringing up her order. As Sonata handed over the payment, Spatula chuckled. “Did you hear someone at Canterlot High came up with a new taco recipe?”
Sonata froze as she held her hand out for the change, not even registering the coins dropped into her palm. “Say what?” she chirped, eyes wide. “What sort of new taco recipe?”
“Dunno, supposed to be some sort of new dessert taco. It’s called the Choco Taco,” Spatula said. “Just thought I’d let my favorite customer know about it. Maybe one of the students could give you the recipe.”
“Thanks Spats. Yeah, I’ll have to check it out.” Sonata nodded.
As Spatula went about getting her order, her mind wandered to the possibilities. What could this Choco Taco contain? Vanilla ice cream? Caramel sauce? Sprinkles? The possibilities were endless! Why, it could even have a chocolatey shell!
“Sonata?” Spatula said for the third time, snapping her from her sweet trance. “Here’s your order.” He slide a tray of tacos and a small pile of hot sauce packets across the counter to her.
“Thanks Spats!” Sonata sing-songed, walking over to one of the nearby tables. As she dug into her order—lavishing the shells with plenty of hot sauce—her mind wandered back to the dessert delights of this new taco.
At least she knew what she was going to be doing for the rest of the afternoon.
She didn’t see Spatula nod to a familiar redhead, who had been watching the whole exchange at the register take place. The redhead nodded back before getting up from her table and leaving.
Sonata poked her head through the front doors of Canterlot High School, glancing around. The doors were still unlocked, of course, because there were still many extracurricular activities happening. After the whole Battle of the Bands, however, she wasn’t entirely sure how welcome she’d be in these halls, so she decided to be sneaky.
“Now, if I were to invent a delicious new taco, where would I be?” she mumbled to herself, rubbing her chin.
Stepping inside and quietly shutting the door behind her, Sonata made her way through the hallways. She peeked through the windows on classroom doors, frowning at either the clubs meeting within or the darkened expanses of desks and tables.
“Not chemistry… probably not math…” Sonata mentally checked off her list, until she came to the culinary arts classroom, its door wide open.
Cautiously, Sonata poked her head inside, and was met by a dark, imposing figure – Sunset Shimmer, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, dressed in a black trench coat and fedora.
She peeked up from under the brim of her hat and muttered “about time,” before redoubling her efforts to appear dark and brooding.
“Sunset? What are you doing here? I didn’t know you were into culinary stuff,” Sonata remarked, stepping into the classroom.
“I’m not, but I know why you’re here,” Sunset said, her tone suspicious. “You’re here for the Choco Taco.”
Sonata gasped. “How’d you know that?”
“A little birdie told me,” Sunset simply replied, shrugging.
“Darn birds,” Sonata mumbled. “So, wait… did you make the Choco Taco?”
“No, I’m merely acting on behalf of its creator.” She sighed and shook her head, muttering “It’s a good thing she’s my friend.” She pushed off the wall and walked over to Sonata. “If you want to find the Choco Taco, go see this person.”
She offered Sonata a scrap of notebook paper. The siren took it, frowning in confusion at the figure drawn on it: a hastily scribbled blue stick figure, with multi-colored streaks of hair portrayed as wiggly lines in different colors.
“Who is this?” Sonata asked.
Sunset sighed. “Rainbow Dash. You need to go see Rainbow Dash. She should still be outside on the soccer field.” She jerked a thumb towards a nearby window, overlooking the playing fields.
“Oh, ok! Thanks Sunset!” Sonata raced out of the classroom, sketch in hand.
“This had better be worth it,” Sunset huffed, taking off the fedora.
“Go long!” Rainbow Dash called down the field. She dribbled the soccer ball between her feet before launching it down the field towards Lyra.
“I got it! I got it!” Lyra stood in front of the goal, arms outstretched. She indeed got it – smack in the middle of her chest. It bowled her over into the goal itself, but at least she still held onto it. “This would be way easier if I had a magic horn or something,” she muttered.
Rainbow sighed and shook her head, hands on her hips. “Sorry!” she called. “I guess I put too much pepper on that one!”
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow turned and huffed, watching the siren run across the field up to her. “Oh, hey Sonata. I was wondering when you’d get here,” she said. She glanced at her own dark trench coat and fedora, long discarded on the bleachers, but said nothing about it. “Lemme guess, you’re here for the Choco Taco thingie, right?”
Sonata nodded eagerly. “I gotta know the recipe! Did you make it? Can I have the recipe, pretty please?” She clasped her hands together, her eyes getting big and sparkly.
Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, I didn’t make it. The person you’re looking for is in the gym.” She nodded her head towards the building. “I wanted to practice basketball today, but no, she needed the whole gym for this thing. Anyway, she wants something in return.”
“What’s that?” Sonata frowned.
“She wants the secret formula for your fruit punch, apparently.” Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t ask me why, it’s what she told me.”
“My fruit punch recipe?” Sonata gasped. “Well, I suppose that’s fair, a recipe for a recipe…”
“I just think this whole idea was dumb! I don’t know why she couldn’t just—”
“Thanks Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow turned to see Sonata was all the way across the field, waving back to her as she ran for the gym building.
“Head’s up!”
Rainbow looked up in time to see the soccer ball soar over her head and land in a nearby tree. She frowned back down the field towards Lyra, who grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry!” she called. “Too much punt!”
With a defeated sigh, Rainbow’s shoulders slumped and she trudged over to the tree. “Really wish I had my wings right now…” she mumbled.
The metal door into the gymnasium from the outside was loud and creaky, reverberating around the darkened, empty expanse within. Most of the lights were out, save for a series of spotlights across the middle of the basketball courts.
Sonata shivered at the spookiness as she stepped inside, looking around. “Hello?” she called, her voice echoing. “Is anyone in here?”
A door to the girl’s locker room opened with a bang, causing the siren to jump at the booming noise. A figure, too shadowy to make out in the darkness, walked over and stood at the edge of the spotlight farthest from Sonata.
“Hello?” Sonata asked again, slowly walking over to the figure. “Are you the one who made the Choco Taco? Could I please have the recipe?”
The figure was silent until Sonata was standing across the spotlight from her. She appeared to be a female student in a black trench coat and fedora, like Sunset had been, with a curly mustache.
“Depends,” the figure replied, twirling her mustache. “You willing to make a trade.”
Sonata squinted at the figure. While it was true she didn’t know most of the Canterlot High students, she certainly didn’t remember one having a mustache. In fact, she couldn’t remember any student with any sort of facial hair when she and the sirens were there.
“Who are you?” Sonata asked.
The figure chuckled, removing her mustache.
Sonata gasped. “Pinkie Pie?! You made the Choco Taco?”
“That’s right, it was me!” Pinkie broke out into an evil laugh, which sounded all the more menacing in the dark, empty gymnasium. “I knew you couldn’t resist the taco-y goodness of a brand new, super-secret taco!”
“But… why?” Sonata tilted her head.
“When we had that party for the Battle of the Bands, there was the most fantastic, absolutely delicious fruit punch that I had ever tasted! I needed to know the recipe! And when I learned you made it, well…” She chuckled. “I got baking.”
“You mean… you liked my fruit punch?” Sonata blinked, blushing softly.
“It was the best fruit punch ever!” Pinkie declared. “So, here’s what we’re gonna do…”
Pinkie reached into her trench coat, producing a large, sealed, manila envelope. “I got the Choco Taco recipe right here.” She then produced another envelope, a piece of paper, and a pencil, offering all three to Sonata.
The siren took the implements with a confused frown. “What do I do with these?”
“Write down your super-duper scrumptious fruit punch recipe, put it in the envelope, and we’ll swap ‘em. Sound fair?” Pinkie waved her envelope enticingly.
A sly smile slipped across Sonata’s lips as she thought for a moment. “Sure,” she said slowly. Propping the piece of paper on the manila envelope—and angling it away so Pinkie couldn’t see what she was writing—Sonata jotted something down. For extra security, she folded the paper thrice before stuffing it in the envelope.
Slowly, cautiously, the two held out their envelopes to one another. Simultaneously, they grabbed the other’s envelope and held them to their chest. They looked to one another – and broke out into a fit of giggles.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Sonata,” Pinkie said with a smirk.
“You too, Pinkie Pie,” Sonata replied with a sly air.
They watched one another as they inched in opposite directions. Finally, they blushed and turned away, power walking in different directions.
“Sucker,” they each thought as they strolled away with their respective prize. “No way I’d give up a recipe that easily. All they got was my phone number.”
Author's Note
Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 11/03/21, but idea came much earlier.
I originally got this idea after binging Equestria Girls for Scampy's Sunflower Contest, and I finally got around to writing it for NaNoWriMo 2021.
I also made the cover not long after I came up with the idea. Astute viewers might notice the Choco Taco our beloved taco fish is dreaming of resembles the Choco Taco in the recipe list - it's because they're the same taco. That cover was a pain to make, I remember that much.
Once again, I plucked a minute detail (Sonata's fruit punch) and made a story with it, as I am wont to do. She's my favorite of the three Sirens, and I shall forever call her "taco fish." I didn't put in a Romance tag because I didn't feel it was strong enough, but the ending was meant to insinuate that there's attraction.
The song I listened to for this one was "sans" from Undertale.
-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher, Equestria Enthusiast
