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                   Don't Go Out at Dusk                    
                      -by Test4Echo-                       
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                   Laying the Chips Down                   
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Laying the Chips Down
"Why, Miss Cheerilee, the answer to that is incredibly simple," Micro Chips declared with a brief clearing of his throat. Staring straight ahead at the blackboard in the science classroom, he quickly went through his calculations in his head, and nodded. "The arrow would leave the bow with a velocity of forty-seven point four meters per second." Confidently crossing his arms, he leaned back on his seat and grinned.
At the front of the classroom, Cheerilee sighed and slammed closed another textbook that was on her desk. Reluctantly, she added it onto a pile of other books, after straining a short distance, given its height. She held the stack steady since it wobbled after the new weight was added.
One of her eyelids twitching faintly, she smiled and declared, "Correct! Can we finally get to our actual lesson that—" She flicked her gaze to the clock on the wall over the classroom entrance. Softly under her breath, she finished with "—we only have fifteen minutes left in?" She slowly slumped forward and cradled her head in her hands.
"Hang on!" another voice interjected, and Micro Chips grunted and glanced over to his left. Sunset Shimmer had just finished lowering her hand, and he could see a fire in her eyes. Tapping a finger on her own desk, she snapped, "Hit me with another one!" At her demand, Micro barely contained a scoff while the rest of the class groaned.
Begrudgingly pulling herself back from her defeated position, Cheerilee hastily masaged a temple and then cracked open one last textbook she had at her desk. Although her grumbling was faint, Micro could catch her griping about what would happen to Mr. Fission when he returned from his best friend's wedding. Something about not finding bodies.
As he stole a peek at Sunset, she stuck her tongue out and folded her arms testily while leaning back in her chair. The rest of the classroom was mostly absorbed on their phones, as the impromptu, de facto, multi-subject competition that he and Sunset had might have gone for a minute or two longer than intended. Of course, if Sunset had not dared to correct him when he misspoke on answering one of Cheerilee's questions addressed to the class, then they wouldn't be in that situation.
After all, everyone knew that verbally messing up the formula for average velocity and acceleration happened every now and then. Besides, he corrected himself almost instantly, although she had gotten the answer right in Cheerilee's books. Therefore, defending his honor and the right to display his pocket protector was paramount.
As Cheerilee flipped through pages in the textbook, her bellyaching growing louder and more persistent, Micro ducked as he heard the characteristic windup of a spitball, which almost immediately flew over his head. Soaring through the air, it managed to land right on Cheerilee's desk. She slowly lowered the textbook.
A shiver worked down his spine as her face practically advertised all the unspeakable horrors she could inflict, despite only being the substitute teacher. Usually she was so cheery, which was the case when she arrived in that class, for the first two minutes of the fact-off. At this point, whatever joy she might have embodied had truly died.
For a few seconds, she kept her gaze leveled to whoever was behind him. He didn't bother to look. There were already only a couple of suspects.
Bringing the textbook back up just as glacially as when she lowered it, Cheerilee stated, "Okay. Sunset Shimmer, derive the equation for centripetal acceleration, given—"
At that point, Micro tuned her out. Knowing that it was just a derivative meant that it was going to be an easy question for Sunset. Which figured. Despite being an alien from another dimension, she seemed to be a favorite among the faculty. Probably something to do with saving the world a couple of times, or something.
It wasn't like he did that every day, or anything. Maybe it was virtual, in a video game, but still. The Zerg weren't going to be stopped by anyone else! If non-interdimensional aliens ever showed up, he'd know exactly what to do. So long as Earth had enough minerals.
With a loud hum, Sunset ripped his attention away from his thoughts, and she proclaimed, "Too easy, Miss Cheerilee." She kicked her feet onto her desk.
"Don't. Do that," Cheerilee warned.
Sighing and rolling her eyes, Sunset complied and finished by stating, "The centripetal acceleration is given by the radius times the angular velocity squared." It took a couple of seconds for Cheerilee to check the answer before she groaned and nodded. Pumping her fist, Sunset shot him a smug grin and whipped out her phone as Cheerilee added the last textbook to the pile.
After typing a couple of things into her phone, Sunset held it as close to him as she could, so he could see on the screen, "Six more answers than you!" When she had determined he had seen it, she snorted and shot him a lopsided grin before returning to watching Cheerilee.
He exhaled. If it was a battle of statistics, then he'd have to simply fire back. From the way that Cheerilee was holding herself, it potentially would be dangerous to his academic health if he suggested they go through some more from the previous books. Instead, he rolled his finger across the keyboard of his own phone, only having to fix a couple of typos from the prediction algorithms.
As Cheerilee slowly and painfully got up and started to wipe off the equations that she wrote out for the impromptu quizzing conflict, he let out a low "psst" at Sunset, and then flashed her his phone. He didn't need to guess if she saw it, since her face turned a flushed red. After all, he was merely rubbing in the fact that his ratio of correct to incorrect answers was one higher than hers, even after her previous question.
"All right! Now if that is finally over, let's get. To. Our. Lesson!" Cheerilee growled, shooting both Sunset and him a dissuading glare. Micro nodded dutifully, and Sunset merely shrugged her shoulders. "Splendid! Now, if—" Cheerilee halted mid-sentence as she heard another student sharply draw in a breath.
Suddenly growing a razor-thin smile, Cheerilee sweetly and innocently chirped while tilting her head slightly to the side, "Bulk, if you hock another spitball, I will make sure that you find out what exactly I can do with that straw and this pencil." Her grin expanded.
From behind Micro, he could hear Bulk Biceps gag and choke before wheezing a couple of times. However, the promise of a Spitball 2: Saliva's Revenge never came, as after coughing a few more times, Bulk did manage to squeak out, "W-What spitball?"
Instantly reverting to a more pleasant demeanor, Cheerilee clapped both her hands together and then cantered back behind the desk. "Perfect! Now, since we're in the last class of the day, I feel that holding you for a few minutes longer won't affect anything." She tittered. "After all, it's just a Friday, right? It's not like anyone had plans. Not at all!" As her giggle transformed into a low cackle, she started to scratch out some formulas from the actual textbook that they were supposed to be studying from.
Within a minute, she had sketched out with the chalk a diagram of heat transfer from one object to another. She checked the textbook, then a handful of notes that were on the desk. "Getting back to our study on the second law of thermodynamics, can anyone tell me what heat actually is?"
She started to tap a foot after no-one spoke up. "Anyone? Anyone?" Peering around at the assembled teens, her face conveyed all the conflicting emotions that she was probably feeling. Frustration? It was there. Anger. Definitely. Despair. Absolutely. "Ugh," she groaned. Without saying a word, she gestured to Micro and Sunset in unison.
Micro grinned as he adjusted his glasses. As he was about to stand up proudly to proclaim such a straightforward answer, a hand shot up, and Cheerilee whimpered a defeated moan. He also cringed. Two rows in front of him, a girl with an exceptionally long ponytail and spiked bracelets continued to wave it back and forth. "Oh, oh, oh!" she exclaimed.
"Yes. Sonata Dusk." Cheerilee didn't so much sound like she was asking, as she was stating that it was her doom. Again.
Whatever it was, Micro Chips was certain that it would lead to a headache. Aside from giving him flashbacks to being basically turned into a hate-filled version of himself because of Sonata and the other two members of the Dazzlings, she also simply had some of the most... out there questions imaginable. If it could be asked, she could probably, eventually figure something else out that would make the strangest question appear mundane.
Or, at the very least, make it related to Mexican food.
Had it only been a month since she started coming to CHS? It certainly felt longer, since she was in most of his classes. Thankfully, she was the only one of the Dazzlings that continued to attend after they somehow got on the roster of students. After all, his wallet was rather light while the other two were there. That one with the two pigtails, not that he even wanted to remember her name, enjoyed finding creative ways to get him and some of the other techies of CHS to "donate" their lunch money.
There were the classics, of course. A swirlie. Perhaps the occasional threat of physical altercations. But on top of that, there were the more original ones. For instance, although he was pretty sure that she was bluffing, she claimed that she once fought off an entire group of thugs with just her right pinkie finger. From the way that Sonata and the cheese puff haired one pumped her up, it certainly seemed like it was possible. Plus, the finger had looked... quite muscular.
However, Sonata had not really bothered him much after the Battle of the Bands. In fact, the only time that she ever pestered anyone was when she had one of her "Sonata questions" in a class. Granted, almost no-one interacted with her, because why would they? Sure, Sunset had convinced Principal Celestia to allow Sonata to keep coming to the school—provided the "menace" of Adagio Dazzle never returned lest she face multiple convictions of...he wasn't entirely sure—but that didn't mean all was forgiven.
Really, it was only Sunset and some of her friends who even bothered to spend time with the former—he quickly checked his memory from what he overheard Sunset say once—siren. What exactly those fish-horse projections were during the whole big fight at the school between the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings were, they sure as heck weren't sirens. Not enough bare skin.
That was the most entertaining part of Greek mythology, after all. Entertaining from a purely analytical point of view, of course.
"Sonata. You raised your hand," Cheerilee grumbled in another non-question.
At that, Sonata's head jerked like she had been lost in thought, and she gave a small titter. "Well, okay, this may be a dumb question—"
"No, there are no dumb questions, Sonata," snarked back Cheerilee. "Just inane ones. Nonsensical ones. Ones that should never be asked." She shrugged and smiled tightly.
"Right... Anyway, uh, these 'laws', okay? Were they, like, written up by some government thingy? Because I know that I didn't agree to any of them." At the chorus of groans and giggles that followed, Sonata whipped her head around and stared at everyone. "What? It's just a question!"
Cheerilee facepalmed. Tiredly pinching the bridge of her nose, she stated, "No, Sonata, they are not legal laws. They're scientific laws." In Micro's opinion, and not that he'd tell Cheerilee that, but she appeared to age about twenty years just from the sheer amount of density in the question. If it were a physical thing, it might have formed into a neutron star. Or maybe a black hole. A black hole of airheadedness.
"Hmm. Okay," Sonata mumbled as she furrowed her brow before turning back to face Cheerilee. In silent pleading, Cheerilee looked to the ceiling, probably so she could ask for release from further mental torment. Micro was sure that others would begin to bail if it kept up. Not that that was his fault.
As Cheerilee was about to open her mouth, Sonata cut her off. Cheerilee silently screamed into a sleeve as Sonata inquired, "So, does that mean that setting things on fire by setting the oven to nine hundred isn't breaking the law?" After a quiet few seconds, she added, "Don't ask me why I'm asking."
"Okay, ignoring that!" Cheerilee hastily moved forward, doing her best to avoid Sonata's eye contact and instead looking around for anyone who could possibly answer instead. "Could someone please just—"
"I think I can answer it," declared Sonata as she raised her hand again. Against everything Micro knew, he swore that Cheerilee's neck cracked with a sickening crunch as she whirled her head around to glower at Sonata. Regardless, though, she didn't have enough time to react before Sonata pointed with a finger to the ceiling and closed her eyes. "Heat is related to the movement and collisions of atoms and how much they're vibrating. As they lose energy, heat lessens and we perceive that as being cold. If all atomic motion stops, then we reach absolute zero, although nowhere has been observed to have reached that point."
After she finished, she smiled excitedly and pulled both her hands close to her chest. With an innocent blink of her eyes, she inquired, "Did I do it? Did I get it right?"
Everyone simply gawked. Inadvertently, Micro and Sunset exchanged shocked glances, and Cheerilee merely gaped, her posture slumped forward in complete disbelief. Even a couple of students that were walking by in the hall had turned to stare at why everyone else was gazing at Sonata. The whole, figurative world had stopped because of her answer.
Cheerilee shook her head and stammered a few times. Pinching her nose again, she mumbled something under her breath about not questioning non-human creatures disguised as humans and chirped, "Yes! That is correct!" Drawing herself a bit straighter, she added with a bit of a bemused tone, "And with even more detail than needed." She coughed into a fist. "Well, I suppose we have our answer, so I'll just—" she sauntered back to the notes on the desk "—look at what—"
Whatever else she was saying died out in Micro's ears as he locked gaze with Sonata, whose expression had transformed into a cocky, self-absorbed smirk directed entirely at him. When she wiggled her eyebrows to an exaggerated degree and then stuck out her tongue before forming a heart with her two hands.
He wasn't entirely sure what transpired in the next couple of seconds, as all he saw after that was red. Maybe she was going to almost all his classes. Perhaps he'd seen her hanging around where he normally frequented. Mayhap she was also someone who looked to need a bit of help with tutelage. Perchance she had also gotten this answer right by pure luck. Possibly she was rubbing it in at that very moment. But no-one mocked his academic ability without getting schooled.
By the time his faculties had returned to a loosely normal state, he had already shot up his hand and barked at Cheerilee, "Miss Cheerilee, we need to do another quiz. Stat!" At that, Cheerilee looked at him like he had grown three heads, not just a second. Behind the tired eyes, the bags that had formed only within the last hour while she taught the class, and the unquenchable frustration of an adult who was seriously questioning their life choices, he saw something break.
One of her eyelids twitched again, and she calmly—too calmly—rested her hands back on the desk and she leaned forward. In a dangerous tone, she hissed out at him, "I'm sorry?"
Although he could feel the attention of literally every other student in the classroom fixating on him, he mustered up what courage he could and repeated his declaration. When Cheerilee's practiced and placid demeanor started to crack after his emphasis, she bared her teeth through a thin grin, and inquired, "Oh? Really? Why is that?"
Thrusting an accusing finger toward Sonata, who was busily texting on her phone that she dug out of her pocket, he bellowed, "Because she must have cheated! I want to prove it!" Also, he fixed his gaze on Sunset and declared, "And Sunset clearly looked up answers, too." Sunset merely fixed him with a confused stare.
Cheerilee smacked her face into her desk, then looked at the clock. It was now only about five minutes until the class would normally let out. At least once before, the bell had already rung in the school, and sunshine was pouring through the windows, since they were on the west side of the building. Golden rays etched long canyons in Cheerilee's wrinkled brow as she whined, "Why couldn't this just be a normal teaching job? Why do both principals leave early on Fridays?"
"Oh! I accept your challenge!" Sonata proclaimed as she realized she was being singled out. Sticking out her tongue again, she snapped, "Prepare to lose, loser! Because you're the worst!"
Pinching her nose, Cheerilee frowned. "Actually, I think I have a better idea."
***
"And that's how to easily find the trajectory of a body flung at high velocities from a car accident, while also calculating its theoretical escape velocity!" Micro Chips declared triumphantly, although he didn't receive any response back. In fact, it was incredibly silent, and he could feel the glare of one pair of eyes on him. With a small cough, he sat back down and scratched the back of his head. "Anyway," he tittered, "uh, your turn, Sunset?"
"What part of 'you're in detention for this' didn't you get, Chips?" Sunset huffed. She testily crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. At her glower, he shifted in his own seat and looked at the clock. Everything was ticking down so agonizingly. If he didn't get back soon, the slow-heating experiment he was running on some earthworms would probably go south. And by south, it meant "possibly explode."
Perhaps feeding them a small amount of nitroglycerin in their meals wasn't the smartest idea when one was on a trivia answering stint.
"I-It's not like Cheerilee is around to hear us," he protested, since Cheerilee had left them in the small detention classroom and then returned for finishing her class. That had been a couple of hours ago, and during that time, he'd been trying to pick Sunset's brain, and Sonata's, to prove that he was the best at random factoids. It would have been easier if he had had his phone, which was made all the more painful by Cheerilee confiscating them and locking the detention room door.
He could still imagine his device pining for his fingers to play upon it, looking up such interesting facts as the number of hairs on a walrus, or if Planck's Constant could be broken into a smaller constant. Instead, he had to resort to what he could recall in his head, which was enough to at least entertain Sonata. Although, she was currently still thinking on the question that she had been asked over ten minutes ago.
As if his thoughts on her finally roused some activity in her mind, she hummed and asked, "So, would it be E equals MC squared?"
He blinked at her. "How does the speed of light affect the rate at which your fingernails grow?"
"I dunno," admitted Sonata with a sad shrug. "More of that vitamin thingy?"
"Vitamin D?" Micro had to admit, she had gotten a number of answers right that he didn't expect. Still, in the mental tracking he had done, it was him at seventy, her at thirty-three, Sunset at sixty-nine. It was taking everything in his power not to gloat about it.
"That's what Dagi says when—" Sonata interjected, then gasped. "Oh, rotten taco shells! They're probably going to think I got lost in the apartment halls again!" At that, she groaned and smacked both her hands to her face. "Dagi's gonna be mad..."
As Sonata continued holding her head in her hands, Micro glanced toward Sunset, who was still simply glaring, and he quipped, "In case you didn't know, these were all facts I'd memorized." He cleared his throat. "And, by the way, you missed a step in deriving Newton's third law."
Yawning, Sunset checked the window, which was now looking out onto the empty, dark promenade that led to the entrance of CHS. The sun had long since dipped below the city buildings, and now any light that came through was from the street or the few lamps scattered around the yard of the school. For a brief moment, she seemed to longingly stare at the statue in the middle of the pathway to the front doors, but she shook herself.
With a groan, she glanced at the clock, probably to guess how much detention they had left. He did have to admit, time was ticking slowly, even for their level of doldrum.
Long since had the rest of the students been dismissed from their classes and sent packing for the weekend. Only one other student was in there with them, a regular, from what he could infer, since she had nonchalantly set up in the room about ten minutes after they were brought in and had fallen asleep. Which was good, given that it was Trixie.
Every so often, she'd mumble something about peanut butter or crackers, or making out with "the most amazing person she knew": herself.
As Micro was about to go onto a question relating to aardvark mating habits, there was a scratching at the door, and Cheerilee walked in, dark circles under her eyes, and grumbled, "You can go." She checked a watch on her wrist. "And now I can finally go home for my evening. Because teachers have hobbies, too!"
"I thought you slept here?" Sonata mumbled curiously, scratching her head.
At Cheerilee's contorted glower, Sonata meekly whimpered and ducked down, slipping out of the room and taking her phone which Cheerilee handed to her.
"Wait!" he exclaimed, although she had already disappeared before he could catch her attention. "I didn't tell you that you're the loser! Loser!" As he finished, Sunset facepalmed and rose, grabbing her backpack, and sauntered toward Cheerilee. She gave the teacher a bemused smile and a nod.
As she left, she turned and quipped, "Chips, don't forget that my average is five points higher than you!" In a singsong tone, she declared as she waltzed down the hall, "Good luck beating that before our last semester of our last year!"
At that, his blood ran cold, and he shivered. Cheerilee icily tracked him as he took his phone from her. A shudder ran down his spine as she motioned she'd be watching him, and then she left immediately afterward, making him the only one in his portion of the hallway. He flinched when the door to the classroom clicked shut. Shouldering his backpack, he hung his head as he made his way to his locker, which was a short distance away. For a second, he thought he heard pounding on the detention room door, but shrugged. There was nothing else important left behind.
Although he knew better, the darkened corridors of the school set his nerves alight. Aside from the echoing, fading footfalls of Cheerilee elsewhere, the school was empty, and the low illumination from the occasional ceiling light and the street wasn't enough to shake the eerie atmosphere.
As his shoes thudded steadily on the tiling, he sighed and slid his hands into his pockets. His earlier derailment meant he'd probably have to make things up to his classmates in some way later. While catch-up studying on his own wouldn't be a problem, some of his colleagues were a tad... less stringent. It was unlikely that, for example, Bulk would bother with the light reading of about fifty pages over the weekend, but that would be needed so he could keep up with the material.
Arriving at his locker, he visualized what could only be described as a "thinking face" for Bulk and that smoke would no doubt come from his ears.. All at a simple math problem of deriving the cosine of theta while simultaneously finding the correct formula for a quadratic equation starting with x to the power of five, and plotting it out on an intersecting graph with cos theta. Basic stuff, really.
With a groan, he fiddled with his keys to his locker, then swung the door open wide. Unlike both his locker neighbors, Snips and Snails, there was absolutely zero risk of an avalanche of things landing on him. All he had was a jacket, a small lunchbox, and some additional textbooks for later in the week. Nothing fancy, as there really wasn't any need.
Aside from one image of him and his, admittedly small, friend group, it could be forgiven if one might have thought that the locker was unassigned and someone merely forgot their belongings. In the back of his mind, he could still recall what happened in that picture. A surprise bowling alley treat by Sandalwood, who had gotten a new job, and he was razzing Micro about trying to map out all the possible trajectories that could be taken to guarantee a strike.
Despite the noogie he had received, he still managed to outscore Sandalwood by five points. After possibly using three hundred bowling to determine the best angle to bowl, that is. Slamming a hole through one of the floorboards was entirely an accident, and not premeditated at all, after Sandalwood managed to score two strikes in a row.
It also didn't cost him half his wallet, too, in order to keep testing the angles.
Definitely not.
Looking down from the picture which was resting at the back of the locker, near the top, he reached for his jacket. As he was leaning in, from behind him he felt someone collide, solidly, and he stumbled forward. With a small yelp, he tripped on the lip of the locker and whacked his head against the panel. For a second or two, he imagined he heard the sweet sounds of an angelic choir recounting pi's formula, and then he shook himself.
He pushed himself back then saw as he readjusted his glasses that Sonata had hit him. She was also wearing a jacket. She was still holding onto him, like she had just collided with him. Most peculiar.
When she saw that she'd been spotted, she suddenly exclaimed, "Woah!" She squeezed him a bit tighter before repelling herself off of him and reached out, overdramatically, to hold onto his arm. Then she acted like she slipped, struggled to rise, and then pulled to try and bring him close to her. Instead, she bounced away, in a clearly inaccurate representation of physics and screamed in surprise.
Stumbling back and trying to keep her balance, she basically did a full somersault before landing back on her feet, then carried a few more inches to hit the opposite wall, where she acted like she had to peel herself off a faceplant in the locker. The entire time, she was repeating "woahs" and "ohs", in probably one of the most thespian displays of overacting he could envision. When she had finally stopped, she woozily staggered forward a few paces.
"Oh, hi," she stammered. "Didn't see you there."
"I was quite visible the entire time." He gestured up to the light that was directly above him. Even if he wasn't effectively stationed right underneath it, he was also wearing his usual bright-yellow sweater, so it wouldn't be that hard to spot him in dim light, either.
"W-Well, I was coming around a corner, like, for realsies, and you know how it goes." At that, he simply arched a brow, because his locker was very much not near any corner. In fact, he could look to either side of him and not see the end wall from an intersecting hallway for a good fifteen feet on both sides.
Forcing a grin wide upon her face, Sonata kicked on the ground and tittered, "Uh... I was going too fast?"
"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Considering she had gone off in a huff when she was defeated, her still sticking around was unexpected. Not that it really mattered. The less he had to deal with her and remember the strangeness of her and the other Dazzlings' control over the school, the better. He peered more inquisitively at her. "Didn't have to run home?"
"Well, yeah, but, you know, I, uh, forgot, uh, where my locker is! Yeah, I forgot that!" Waving a hand in a dismissive manner, Sonata tittered and lowered her eyelids to flash him a confident, casual expression. "Because, you know, like, that happens to everyone, right?"
"Your locker is just outside room four-two-seven," he retorted back with a small puff of annoyance.
"Oh, I knew that." Sonata flicked another wrist. "I was just... wanting to make sure you knew that." At that, she stuck out her tongue playfully at him. He rolled his eyes. Carrying on without missing a beat, Sonata sauntered slightly closer to him, which made his heart palpitate a few times as a surge of adrenaline was dumped into his bloodstream.
"Why would I need to—" He cut himself off and squeezed his eyes closed as he felt a headache building. Holding up a hand to motion for her to stop moving, he flicked a thumb behind him at his locker. "Congratulations, you figured out I did. Now, can I go?" He started to tap a foot impatiently against the floor.
At that, Sonata bit her lip and then nervously touched her two index fingers together. A faint blush forming on her cheeks, she quiveringly declared, "Uh, not yet? I-I had something else..." She swallowed hard, and then hastily spurted, "Want to hang out sometime because I kinda like you?!" As soon as she finished, her eyes shrunk a bit and she gave a nervous smile.
He simply gawked at her.
Seconds ticked by, and Sonata started to fidget and tapped her fingers together, while she nibbled further on her bottom lip. All the while, he only held her gaze, not blinking, not speaking. Only staring. After a moment further, Sonata smacked her lips and then muttered, "Okay, so I know it may be a bit awkward, and definitely it might be seen as a bit weird, but, uh, yeah?" She whimpered nervously and twiddled with the end of her hair.
Lolling her head to the side, she indifferently declared, "Like, I know that me and my sisters were like, being the total worst by trying to take over the school, and the world, and all that stuff. Maybe I had a bit of fun by seeing if I could get anyone—like you—to put a knife through someone else—"
Finally snapping to his senses, he held up his hands and motioned for her to stop talking. "Wait, wait, wait." His heart pounded in his chest as he replayed what she just said. "You tried to have me kill people?!"
"What?! Did I say that?" Sonata laughed uncomfortably while she held a hand to her chest in an innocent manner. "That so definitely didn't happen!" Under her breath, she hissed as she craned forward, "But seriously, if the cops start looking for you, me, Dagi, and Ari will totally keep you safe." She blocked a laugh with a hand. "But that shouldn't happen!"
In utter shock and horror, he looked momentarily at his hands, then anxiously clenched and unclenched his fists. Without a word, he looked at her, then back at his hands, then back at her. He let out a near-silent, pleading whine. As he did, she reached over and patted him lightly on the head. "Don't worry!" she proclaimed. "You're good! Just don't think too hard."
"T-Then why would the police—"
"No reason!" Interjecting with a smidgen of bite more than she had probably intended, she tightly pressed his lips together with her index finger and thumb and smiled widely at him. For a split second, she blinked naively at him and tilted her head in innocent confusion. "Why would you think that?"
"You just said—"
"Nope! Nothing! I just said that we might have been a bit evil, but we're totally better now!" Her grin expanded further. "Or, you know, at least me."
Perplexed, bemused, and befuddled, Micro Chips merely stared at her as she let go of his lips and gazed deeply into his eyes. When he didn't speak, mainly because his brain was still trying to make heads or tails of everything that she was saying, along with a girl outside of Scribble Dee was actively trying to talk to him without it being related to class work.
Perhaps said girl was a little on the disturbing side, given that she had had a proclivity for world domineering, but still, a girl. He couldn't even help but smell that her hair smelled faintly of some kind of fruit, perhaps blueberries. That, in turn, only made him a bit more nervous as she continued to look at him.
After catching herself peering, she tittered awkwardly and scratched the back of her head. "Well, uh, I wanted to say that, you know, you were kinda nice to include me in that contest thingy back there."
"It was a contest."
"Right..."
Blowing out a small sigh and caressing her chest with her arms, she looked to the floor while absentmindedly twirling her torso from side to side. That, in turn, let him get a better whiff of her perfume, and he could definitely place it. Blueberries, for sure. Fresh blueberries and a hint of lavender, actually.
As he grew slightly flustered at the smell, he stammered and took a step away, before banging his head again on the locker. Accusingly whipping around to glare at the offending locker, he caught her groan in defeat and mumble, "It's just that not too many people are friendly to me, aside from Sunset." Before he could open his mouth to snark at her, she followed up with a pained, "Like, I know why!" She shrugged. "What were me and my sisters supposed to do, though?"
"Maybe just, not that?" Micro furrowed his brow and glared directly at her. As he had dropped his jacket, he began to bend down and reach for it. It was somewhere on the floor of the locker, but he didn't want to keep his eyes off Sonata. To say she was a tad erratic would be putting it mildly.
"I don't know, all that negative energy was pretty tasty." Sonata hummed and licked her lips. "But not as tasty as tacos!" Deflating and slumping forward, she mumbled, "But all that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt when people don't really talk to me, and Ari and Dagi never really talk with me much. They're too busy working." She winced. "Something about spending too much money on buying a taco joint that went under yesterday."
"That seems oddly specific." At that, he found his jacket, then hastily donned it while keeping his attention on Sonata. Although she hadn't moved since her one little spring forward to claim he was now a wanted criminal, not keeping his guard up around her was probably unwise. After all, she just needed to start singing again, and probably she'd get him to do her bidding again.
If all that magic from this Equestria place was actually dumped on Earth like Sunset claimed, then how was he to know if she was actually toothless or not?
She seemed to be pondering for a moment, and with a light skip of his heart's beat, he started to slink away from her. Pausing for just a second, his throat welled up when he saw her hunch over and furrow her brow while she began to nibble on her knuckles. "Well, uh, see you around, I guess," he muttered, then spun back toward the exit hall.
"Wait!" Sonata proclaimed, which, against his better judgment, he obeyed and twisted back around to stare at her. She was zigzagging a foot back and forth and then looked down in shame. Although difficult to spot, she was blushing, if only barely. A couple of times, she started to speak, then cut herself off and paused.
At last, she cleared her throat and stuttered, "I-I just am trying to find another friend, okay?" She gulped, and he could see that a few tears were being held back. Wiping her eyes, she sniffed, "S-Sunset has been trying to help me when she can, but even her friends aren't too excited to hang around me." With hope glistening within her magenta orbs, she moved a bit closer to him, and softly added, "And you've been nice enough to me—"
"I accused you of cheating," he interrupted, his tone growing more curious by the minute.
"Like, duh, I have. But I didn't realize I knew so many answers." With a soft sigh, she stared off into space momentarily and her blush grew deeper. As she started twirling her hair around an index finger again, she mumbled, "And that made me feel kinda smart." She flinched. "I know that I might ask dumb questions, but it just helps me to understand, you know?"
"You still didn't answer half my questions right."
Pointing a finger at him triumphantly, she raised her chin in defiance and smirked. Somehow, he had a feeling that the idea of a failing grade didn't quite get through to her. "But," she began as she leaned in a bit closer, that smug grin still on her face, "that is better than less than a third!" She winked at him.
At that, he simply flushed further. Perhaps it was simply because he was already nervous and flustered from the fact that he was so late for coming back home, or he was close to someone else, or that it was a girl—and a cute, if demented, one at that—but he was far more discombobulated than he liked. When she passed close to him again, his heart started to heave faster, like it was gushing blood at a much heavier rate than was healthy.
If he were being honest, then he would have to say that he was almost flattered that she was trying to do this, but then there was the whole Battle of the Bands thing, magic twisting everyone, and the fact that she might have been playing with one too few marbles. Still, she was admittedly cute.
As he dumbly looked at her, he started to bite his own lip while she hesitated again. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and blurted, "And you're also kinda cute!" She grimaced. "Okay, I said it. Now Ari and Dagi will just make fun of me." Slumping her shoulders, she added, "Like, you're nice, and cute, and I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with you, but Dagi keeps talking about this 'first base' thing, and like, I don't know what baseball has to do with anything romantic, but I guess that means we need to hang out first, and then bed sharing, also whatever that means, so I hope you don't snore, and—"
Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to stop what he was doing and just turn and forget that he was even speaking to her. Yet also his brain was trying to process what exactly she was saying, and the weird word soup that was spilling from her mouth. The best he could gather, from her rambling, was that she wanted to go on a date with him.
When that realization hit, his blood chilled and he felt like he had just been dunked on by an ice bucket. Sweat breaking out across his neck and forehead, he briefly took off his glasses to smear off a couple of streaks, and he stepped back. As his sight cleared again, he nearly screamed when he saw that Sonata had moved within half a foot of him, and she was starting to lean in to gaze directly into his eyes. Or, more accurately, his soul.
Drawing upon a bit of strength left in him, he puffed out his chest and mumbled, "You're honestly making a bit of a mistake." He stammered. This was maybe his one chance to get her away from him. "I-I'm pretty boring, and like, you know, can't really do much most nights." He shrugged. "You know. School. Family? Like, I'd be a pretty drab date."
Emphatically shaking her head, Sonata saddled up right next to him and rested an arm on his shoulder. Squeaking and fighting a nervous recoil, he twisted his head to look at her. She was biting her lip again. Probably attempting to be seductive, or something, although it just made her look more naive than before, given that she was also spinning her hair around a finger automatically.
As she was within a hair's breadth of him, she whispered, "Nope." She then pulled back and visually assessed him. Walking around him once, she stated nonchalantly, "Like, you're the only guy who's really, you know, talked to me? Like that last time we met in the hall."
"You were trying to chase me with a butter knife."
"Because you looked like you had butter on your shirt, okay?!" Sonata rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't have hurt. Much."
"And then there was that time where you walked into the wrong bathroom..."
"Okay, humans are confusing. Never had to worry about that as sirens, all right?!" Puffing out her cheeks and looking away, Sonata merely pouted. "But you really have been the only one who's paid attention to me outside of classes at all." She coughed. "And you're cute. So, I just wanted to get to know you better?"
As she finished, Micro merely stood still, his mind racing as he weighed pros and cons. Pro, she was cute. Con, she was related to the other Dazzlings. Pro, she was admittedly amusing. Con, she asked annoying questions. Pro, she was cute. Con—None other off the top of his head.
When he came to that conclusion, he gazed up at the ceiling for a moment and silently pleaded with whatever above to make him change his mind, yet there was nothing shifting him from the course that he had decided upon. Biting back a couple of nervous coughs, he stated, "Well, we could go to the planetarium on Saturday. I-I have a season pass, and I could probably get them to look the other way once for a plus one." He shrugged. "Then maybe some fast food afterward if we're hungry?"
As Sonata stared at him, he felt like he was going to melt in embarrassment. That was truly far from a romantic suggestion, since that seemed to be what she was hinting at. Besides, he still had to be back at home by ten on weekends, anyway, so it wasn't like they could do too much.
For what seemed like an eternity, Sonata still peered at him, and then her face brightened as she sprang forward. Wrapping him in a hug while she chuckled excitedly, she declared, "Consider it a date!" She squished him more tightly, allowing him to get another whiff of her hair, as well as whatever lotion she used on her skin, and he flushed further. Before she let go, she furrowed her brow. "Oh," she mumbled softly, "I don't need to tear any rums while I'm there, do I? A planet tear rum? How would I even do that with a planet? They're all in space." She gasped. "Unless there are mini ones there?!"
"It's just a fancy astronomy place," he deadpanned, and she shrugged.
"Oh, well, I better be going!" Like that, she skipped off, her hips swaying slightly. She momentarily looked back and blew a kiss. "See you next Saturday!"
When she rounded the corner of the hall, Micro let out a small, pained shriek, and he hugged his backpack to his chest. After a couple of seconds of parsing the entire conversation, he finally arched his brow and asked, "What just happened?"

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Astronomy Sonata                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Astronomy Sonata
"You what?!" Sandalwood blurted as he slammed his locker door closed. As he did, the rest of Micro Chips' small group of friends went silent, which seemed to absorb the din of the other students grabbing whatever supplies they needed before their first class. Sandalwood's frayed beanie slid forward over his face, and he scrambled to keep it from falling off.
"You heard what I said," Micro shot back with a small sigh. Sleeping through the previous night was not the easiest, as his mind had been constantly running over the interaction he had had the day before with Sonata. Even as he had repeated the tale to his group, he had to check himself a few times to make sure he wasn't going to break out in laughter.
Sharing Sandalwood's confusion, Scribble Dee adjusted her thick-lensed glasses and hummed in thought. She furrowed her brow. "Y-You know, I-I-I don't normally a-agree with Sandalwood, b-but you're not really making sense, M-Micro."
With a huff, Micro pulled out his textbooks for biology and then fastened her with a bemused frown. "Oh, yes, I'm totally making it up," he snarked. Behind his eyes, he could feel the pressure of the lack of sleep building. Although he had managed to hide most of his testiness, being asked at least half a dozen times that he was sure he actually had a date was starting to grate.
"Not saying that you are," Wiz Kid stated from the other side of Micro. Unlike Sandalwood, he at least had the courtesy of not adding to the noise in the hallway and lightly closed his locker's door. Shouldering his backpack so he could start fiddling with his phone, he added, "You know, just, uh, how do I put it?" He wriggled uncomfortably under the gaze of his friends. He shrugged. "Girls aren't really interested in us?" At that, he yelped when Scribble leaned over and punched him in the arm.
"Hey!" Sandalwood exclaimed.
"Well, aside from you."
"I'll have you know that I can get a date whenever I want. I just choose not to since the last one thought that watching dolphin mating rituals was disgusting and tried to throw me in Sea Terra's dolphin pool." At that, Sandalwood shook his head. "Don't know why. They're so free, bro. Dolphins are as dolphins do."
"I can-cannot fathom w-w-why she'd think. That." Scribble shot Sandal a smoldering glower. Hugging her books tighter to her chest, she leaned against her locker and started scanning the hallway. "Wonder who she is? How-how-how'd you bag h-h-her?" she inquired of Micro.
Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure himself, and he blinked in thought as he tried to parse exactly how he could have attracted Sonata. Everything that he knew told him that just being nice wasn't likely to attract many girls. Everyone knew that the cute girls—not that Scribble wasn't cute, as she kept emphasizing—liked only bad boys. It wasn't like movies would just lie about everything, right?
It was a rule, from what he could see. If it wasn't them liking bad men, it was the other way around. Flash and Sunset, Derpy and Bulk—although he admitted that was a stretch of the definition of "bad"—or Sweetie Belle and Button Mash. Admittedly, that last one was more like two types of disasters colliding head-on to risk making one super disaster, but still.
How his simply involving Sonata in a competition and also being respectful to her—sometimes—in the past qualified as prospective boyfriend material didn't quite line up. All his senses niggled at him that something else was afoot, but the one conversation with Sonata hadn't yielded any clues as to what.
"You couldn't have just been nice to her, right?" Sandalwood inquired as he started to rummage through his locker. As he did, a good half a dozen posters, one bag of dirt, and a collection of seashells fell out. Plus one tarantula, which quickly skittered off and managed to avoid being stomped on by the students elsewhere.
Some screams carried up as someone must have finally spotted the arachnid, but most students were too involved with their conversations to care. When he emerged, Sandalwood held a partly water-damaged textbook and winced. "So much for my memento from Sea Terra," he mumbled, then dropped the textbook into his backpack. He fixed Micro with a piercing stare. "But tell me, bro, how'd you really get her? You're too nice for most girls to notice!"
Lowering his eyelids into a deadpan glare, Micro huffed, "Try telling me that again when the next chemistry exam comes around. Maybe I won't feel like sharing all the answers next time."
At that, Sandalwood grinned awkwardly and he scuffed one of his sneakers against the floor. As the PA speaker system read off some of the morning news items, he chuckled, "We don't have to go that far." He swallowed deeply. "Just, uh, curious, bro."
With a scoff, Micro rolled his eyes and stated, "Honestly, I don't know myself. She asked me out, I think, and I suggested the planetarium." As he said that, Wiz and Scribble both "ooh'd" and the latter softly sighed as she looked to the ceiling. As he had probably just given them both dreams of doing the same one day, he stated, "I'll let you know if it's a good location for which to have a date."
With the student body beginning to thin out as the first ring of the morning bell echoed through the hallway, he craned his neck to try and spot Sonata. She wouldn't be a hard person to miss, given her massive ponytail. Why exactly he wanted to track her down, he couldn't fully comprehend. Perhaps just to check that he wasn't going crazy, and that she actually did want to spend time with him?
Granted, if he was going crazy, then he'd probably have thrown out his plush collection of every single atom on the periodic table, up to and including Flerovium. Anything else past that? Should never be asked that. Especially if in the same conversation about Pluto.
"But who-who-who could it be?" Scribble pondered. Glancing between the rest of the group, who all collectively stared back at her, she groaned, "Seriously? W-W-Why do I have to-to-to-to be the one who asks?!" She huffed. "Fine. Ap-Ap-Applejack?" When Micro shook his head, she snorted and guessed, "R-Rarity?"
Another denial.
"Derpy?"
Absolutely not.
"Octavia? Vinyl S-S-S-Scratch?"
Also a negative.
Thinking for a moment, Scribble hummed. The glass in her spectacles perfectly bounced the light from the ceiling away, hiding her eyes entirely and making them look like twin balls of fire. If she mused much harder, she'd probably start smoking a bit at trying to figure it out.
At last, she snapped her fingers and then had to dodge as Apple Bloom and her two friends darted through the group. Seconds later, they were followed by Button Mash, and Micro noticed that Sweetie had in her grip Button's beanie. In some fictional language—he assumed—Button was shouting after them, and the teens all rolled their eyes at the younger children's antics.
"You're d-dating Sunset Shimmer!" Scribble proclaimed once the coast was clear. Smugly standing up straight, she smirked and stated, "S-She did seem to. Be the one who liked-liked-liked smart guys." She sighed. "And nice ones."
As soon as the suggestion left Scribble's mouth, Micro recoiled in horror. They knew as well as everyone else that Sunset wasn't from this world. Did they seriously need a reminder? Either way, he stuck out his tongue and gagged. "Are you serious?!" he demanded, but already could tell that she was very much not joking. As the stress of the insinuation hit in full force, he gesticulated with his hands as he saw her pass by. "She's a horse!"
Immediately, Sunset whipped her head around and glowered at him. She didn't stop moving, though, and, if anything, picked up her pace. Raising his voice and cupping a hand to his mouth, he called, "I didn't mean that figuratively! I meant it literally!"
"Not helping your case, Chips!" retorted Sunset as she rounded the corner of the hallway and moved out of sight.
"I mean, she looks pretty human to me," Sandalwood interjected while rubbing his head confusedly. "Seriously, nothing wrong with her vibes, man." Clamping a hand on Micro's shoulder, he gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, "Go for it!" which earned a few tired sighs and shaking of heads from the rest of the group assembled.
"Sandalwood, I don't think you're a good compass, because didn't you almost get arrested at that anti-oil protest last week? You know, the one where some 'mysterious protestor' painted themselves purple and started running around—without clothes, mind you—and started screaming that—" Wiz began before being quickly silenced by Sandalwood placing a hand over his mouth.
"Ah, ah, ah, ixnay on the anderslay, okay?" Sandalwood tittered uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. "I totally wasn't—"
"Oh, there she is!" blurted out Micro as he stopped craning his neck and spotted Sonata among the thinning number of students. All three of his friends followed his pointing finger, and simultaneously exclaimed pained groans, sighs, or whimpers.
"Woah, man, isn't she one of the Dazzlings?" Sandalwood inquired, a bit of fear settling in his voice. Wringing his hands ever so slightly, he stated, "That's like, some bad news bears, bro. They need some serious karmic rebalance after all they did."
"Y-Yeah, sh-sh-she is not someone you should mess with," agreed Scribble with a rapid nod of her head. Although normally Micro would agree with her, Sonata had put his immediate fears to rest, even if she had only raised more questions. If she were dangerous, wouldn't she have tried to end him that night, or enslave him, or something?
"I know this may sound a bit odd, or headstrong, or stupid, but..." Rubbing his chin, he narrowed his eyes as he saw Sonata wave at him, then at a couple of female students that were gazing at him. Turning his back, he didn't see Sonata grab them by their blouses and snarl threateningly at both of them. With a noncommittal shrug and quipped, "I think she's genuine."
At his friends' prying stares, he shot them back a defiant glance and squared his shoulders. "I didn't even have to give her my ace in the hole."
"Good!" Wiz jumped in, although he soon bashfully looked away as Micro arched a brow curiously. Kicking a foot against the ground, he whistled uncomfortably and then mumbled, "It is kinda... cringy?" That earned a series of nods and hums of agreement from the others.
"Plus, don't tell me you're thinking of dating crazy, bro." Leaning down and gazing directly into Micro's soul, Sandalwood sternly stated, "Best bit of advice I ever had was from Pops: don't date crazy. And especially don't go further than that."
Contemplating Sandalwood's tip, Micro pursed his lips and peered back at Sonata just after missing her slipping a butter knife back into her blouse, while her two victims hastily retreated. He arched an eyebrow. Was she really that crazy? All of his memories of her were simply that she was a ditz, and never was as involved in the other Dazzlings' insanity.
He wrinkled his forehead thoughtfully. Holding his backpack tighter, he flinched as the second bell ring for the first period resounded through the halls. "Well, I'm doing it. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Everything," all three of his friends chimed in simultaneously.
Waving a hand dismissively while irately hissing, he swiveled in the direction of his biology class. Frowning and casting a single glance toward Sonata, who had finished with her locker and started stuffing some small boxes into her blouse pockets. When she noticed that she had been observed, she stopped to wave and smile, before forming a heart with her hands.
"I can't back out now. I kinda already agreed. Just not sure what to do for a restaurant." All of his friends exchanged worried glances with each other, then Sandalwood sighed and clapped his other hand on Micro's other shoulder.
Features etched with worry, he stated, "If she actually likes you and doesn't want you for some weird ritual, then she probably won't care." Squeezing Micro's shoulders tighter momentarily, he looked down in concern, "Just, be careful, okay, man? She just seems a bit—" He never finished and instead twirled an index finger around one of his temples.
"That's pretty deep for you, Sandalwood," Wiz remarked as a warning on the PA system threatened detention if students weren't in their class in another two minutes. At that, they all bolted for their separate classes, with Wiz following Micro since they both shared biology.
Breathing heavily for a moment, he finally puffed out, "Um, if this goes okay... do you think that maybe..." He coughed into a fist. "She could help me out?" As their shoes squeaked on the freshly polished tile of another hallway, Micro flashed him a confused look, and he tittered, "You know, the one with the massive ball of orange hair?"
When he finished, his cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson, and he mumbled barely loud enough to be heard, "Because she's kinda hot. We shared a connection when they sang in the cafeteria." He licked his lips. "I know it." His blush only grew deeper as he clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles turned white.
"Who?" inquired Micro as his mind drew a blank to whom Wiz could possibly refer.
A pained groan escaping his lips, Wiz only hurriedly brandished about half a dozen pictures, all taken from the climax of the Rainbooms versus the Dazzlings last month. They all looked to be from the audience pit. When Wiz whipped them back into a pocket, he hissed, "Adagio. Help her help me connect with Adagio."
Blinking a couple of times, Micro simply shook his head and marched forward. He cast a glance back and stated, "I'll try." As Wiz turned and punched the air excitedly, Micro groaned and pictured the formation of new atomic particles to force the concept of those two together out of his head.
***
She was late.
As that thought went through Micro Chip's head, he started to pace back and forth in front of the Canterlot City Planetarium. Its large, dome-shaped roof beckoned to him as he stared at the poster of that night's presentation—or show, whichever was preferred. Astronomer Twinkle Sprinkle, who'd been on part of a research team of the outer planets. The mere thought that she could be announcing Pluto's status returning to glory made his heart thump in his chest.
Since the planetarium was on the outskirts of the city, he determined it was the perfect night for stargazing while he waited, due to the sky being perfectly clear. If he was not already predisposed, he probably would have been out studying the stars. Maybe trying to skirt the law by pointing a laser at a passing jet, if noticed. For experimentation, and only that.
Instead, he was waiting, and waiting, for Sonata to arrive. Since it was just an informal get-together, it wasn't like he had to dress up for it, so he had simply hopped on his bike after brushing back his hair and polishing his glasses, and pedaled as furiously as he could to arrive a few minutes early, just in case she had actually happened to arrive ahead of him.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn't the case, which was something that he was more than familiar with.
Sighing and slumping his shoulders, he rubbed his arms a couple of times to retain some heat in the admittedly chilly early autumn night. The occasional car sped past on the street outside the parking lot, headlights like blinding flares that shot through unopposed by the night.
"Waiting for somebody, Chips?" he heard someone ask from behind.
"Yes, Comet," Micro replied as he turned around. Inside a nearby ticket booth, a young girl watched him while listlessly smacking on a piece of bubblegum. Occasionally, she switched her attention between him and whatever game she was playing on her handheld. Given that she was the one who rang in the extra, all-inclusive ticket for him when he arrived, instead of simply checking his season ticket, she should have known better.
"Who?" she listlessly asked
"A girl."
"Oh!" Dropping her handheld with a solid "thunk", she rested her chin on her hands and stared expectantly at him. "What's she like?" A curious, prying grin formed on her face, and she wiggled her eyebrows playfully.
"I don't know."
Her coyness flickered, but she still managed to keep up her nosiness and joking demeanor. She blew a bubble. "How'd you bag her? Does she like astronomy?" Tilting her head a bit, she giggled. "Is she cute?"
"I don't know. I don't know. And I suppose." Shrugging and giving an uncommitted grunt, he went back to his pacing as he could practically hear the clocks over the doors to inside the planetarium ticking down the minutes. If she didn't show up soon, the first tour would start, and the presentation would have already begun.
Maybe he'd been stood up. It was possible, given that he didn't really have the best luck with women, anyway. Perhaps Sonata had a moment of lucidity and determined that maybe, perhaps, dating someone who ensured that all his suspenders were equally ironed might have been a bit disturbing and simply bailed. So, how long should he wait?
"So, you have no clue about this girl, but she's cute?" Comet whistled. Shaking her head and going back to her game, she stated, "Well, good luck. Don't date crazy, though." She added with a titter. "You could do a lot better than that."
Cringing from hearing the statement a second time, Micro's mind started ruminating on what he could have used the money he had spent for Sonata's ticket instead. There was a perfectly good beaker he had been eyeing for a while, and then there was the upgrade to the centrifuge, which only needed one more large gear to be able to handle three times the number of gs that it currently could.
Or there was simply the option of spending it on another girl who was interested in him. Or bribing them to pretend to be so.
Casting a glance at his watch, his heart started to throb faster as he saw it was only about ten minutes until the presentation started and he'd potentially miss out on important news. Biting his lip, he pleaded for Sonata's ride to show up shortly, yet about another five minutes passed with no luck.
As he was about to turn around and go into the planetarium, so at least he could see what was being discussed, there was a loud screech of tires, and a rusty hatchback barreled into the parking lot and sped to the sidewalk. Rolling to a stop, the car's passenger door started to open, and he caught Sonata's ponytail emerge before she was unceremoniously shoved out by the driver. For a brief second, he saw Sonata's sister, Aria, at the wheel. When she saw him, she pulled the door shut and sped away, but not before flipping him off. Her tires squealed in protest.
Micro coughed and choked at the fumes of exhaust and burnt rubber, and then made his way over to Sonata. Despite it being a Saturday night, the lot was surprisingly barren, with only a few cars parked in different spots. It did provide a perfect location to stargaze, but he had no equipment.
Reaching down as he arrived at Sonata, he asked, "Are you okay?" She coughed a couple of times as she took his hand to stand. Admittedly, she looked rather pretty, with the same outfit she wore to the fight between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms. A bit overdressed, but at least it wasn't the embarrassing opposite.
Sonata nodded at his question and took his hand. Stiffening, he did all that he could to not blush as he felt her smooth skin against his. Suddenly noticing all the little flaws on his shirt and suspenders, he brushed them off and, for once, took off his techie pin to look a little neater. He slipped it into a back pocket.
"That seemed a bit... intense," he mumbled.
"Oh, Ari?" Sonata shrugged. Looking back to where there was still a small cloud of burnt rubber that was rising into the air, she tittered, "She's just cranky for some reason. Don't ask me why."
"She basically kicked you out!"
Tapping a finger against her chin, Sonata arched one eyebrow in thought and hummed thoughtfully. "I think she just wanted to make sure I cleared the broken spring on the seat. It hurts when it pokes you."
With an appraising, bemused stare, Micro pulled out the ticket he bought for Sonata and then passed it to her. When she took it, she gave an excited cry and demanded, "This is where the planet's have their rum?!" She looked between the ticket, him, and the building behind him.
As soon as she said that, Micro felt his head start to pulse in pain again, and he pinched the bridge of his nose and made a long, tired sigh. She's just excited, she's just excited, she's just—he repeated internally to himself time and again. With all the patience and kindness he could muster into his voice, he stated calmly, "No, this is where you'll learn about the planets and other things in the solar system."
"Oh." Sonata blinked a couple of times. "Dagi said if they were selling any rum, that she wanted some." She shrugged. "I guess I brought all this cash for nothing." Briefly flashing a large wallet that was in her blouse's pocket, she returned it when he started to eye it.
Inwardly, he felt his blood burning. If he had known she could have paid for her own ticket, he wouldn't have spent thirty bucks on hers! Save the expense for the meal! Besides, if she didn't even like it, then it was all for naught. The mere idea of—He cut himself off. Breathing in deeply a couple of times, he smiled at her and then motioned to follow him.
"Should we head inside?" he inquired, as he anxiously and internally counted down the seconds until he could see what the presentation was from Twinkle Sprinkle. Fighting his own giddiness, he gave a polite bow and stated, "If you would be so kind, anyway."
Sonata giggled once. "You know, Dagi would also probably like you. When she's not going on about how 'we're all ruined' and stuff." Sticking out her tongue, Sonata gagged and shook her head. "Pretty downer sometimes." Suddenly, she shifted demeanor as they passed through the entrance and she exclaimed, "Hey! Is that a taco stand?!"
He followed her gaze, and shook his head. "If you consider undercooked meat with a side of food poisoning tacos, then sure."
"Eh, I've had worse," Sonata replied with a shrug, which only made his stomach curdle. With a long sigh, she muttered, "But I get what you're saying. It's not authentic enough." He did a double-take at that while she pulled out her ticket and hummed. Printed on it were the two events: the presentation, and then the planetarium tour. They could go in any order, as he had explained on their way up to the building.
Hoping she'd ask to see the former, he withheld cheering when she asked, "Can we see this Twinkle Sprinkle first? She sounds like she could have doughnuts." At that, she licked her lips and mumbled, "Or churros." Practically drooling at the concept of a sweet dessert, she almost wandered off without watching for his direction.
Snatching her by the arm, he huffed and furrowed his brow as he dragged her toward the small auditorium in the planetarium. With each passing step, he felt his heart begin to beat faster as the promise of new astronomical knowledge beckoned him. The posters inside the planetarium implied that it'd be on one of the outer planets, only further bolstering his excitement.
Perhaps in the wake of New Horizons soon arriving at Pluto, they had reconsidered things? Finally restore it to its rightful position, like it had held in his heart for so many years?
"Oh! That's weird-looking," he heard Sonata exclaim, and he whirled around when she managed to break free from his grasp. In silent horror, he cupped both his hands to his head and then darted after her. They were in one of the halls dedicated to the Apollo missions, and she was heading straight for the open-air display of one of the space suits used.
Before he could reach her, she stretched out a hand and snatched one of the sleeves. As soon as she did, she giggled and mumbled, "Feels funky." She yanked on it, and there was a small tearing sound as it slipped from its supporting rungs. Suddenly, it fell forward after another tug, and flopped right onto her, just as he dove to try and stop her.
There was a heavy thud.
Scrambling his arms and legs and kicking in all directions, Micro finally tore off the space suit and got to his feet. His heart practically crashed through the floor beneath him. Sonata lay prone on her back, partly wrapped in the remnants of the space suit. A piece of astronomical and human history. Both the arms were hanging by threads, and there was a crack in the suit's helmet visor.
Sonata simply shrugged. "Whoops. I guess I got a bit too eager?" Awkwardly holding back a small laugh, she flung the limp suit off and inspected it. Raising it to eye level, she hummed and stated, "It's basically like new, okay?" She cantered over to the rung on which it used to be, then gently pressed the arms together and fit it right back on. Three seconds later, the remaining portion of the left arm ripped off, and it dangled by its remaining arm.
Micro squeaked. One eyelid twitched.
Passing a palm over his vision a few times, Sonata demanded, "Hey! You all right?" She shot him a concerned frown.
"I-I-I-I—" he stuttered a few times as his brain tried to catch up to what transpired.
"Wow, it's not that big a deal. Like, it was even falling apart a bit already. For realsies." She brushed aside some of her hair, which swished out in front of her and tickled his nose. Scrutinizing what was left of the suit, she arched a brow and hummed a few times in thought. Snapping her fingers, she waltzed over, grabbed the broken arm, and then slipped it onto one of the rungs. "At least it'll stay all together for them to fix later!" She beamed happily.
"Don't-don't you know what a public display is for?!" he demanded. His vision swam and he could hear ringing in his ears.
Waving a hand dismissively, Sonata blew a small raspberry and retorted, "It'll be fine!" She perked up and grabbed his hands, this time being the one to drag him around instead. "Oh! Let's go to that planet movie thingy. I'm sure it'll cheer you right up!" With that, and with the strength of someone who was easily ten years older, she skipped toward the auditorium and hummed, off-key, a happy tune.
All the while, Micro stammered and whimpered as he figured that Sonata had destroyed not only a priceless artifact, but also desecrated a piece of astronomical history. And she seemed completely unbothered by it.
Cogs turning in his head, he hid his face as a couple of staff walked past them, muttering about a noise in the hall. As far as he could tell, they hadn't paid him mind, but that didn't mean he didn't want to be careful. If they knew that he'd been associated with the person who damaged it, he'd probably be banned for life! The very thought made his stomach churn.
After a minute or so of him limply being yanked along, Sonata finally looked over her shoulder and whispered, "Uh, which way?" He slowly looked up from his dejected gaze to the floor. She was standing right outside the doors. Huffing, he shot her a glare and pointed at the entrance..
"Oh, sorry," she murmured, and let go of him after pulling him toward the auditorium.
Since it was too fast for him to properly act, he let out a yelp as he fell face-first into the floor. Moaning, he pushed himself back up and frowned at her. She simply gave another shrug and repeated, "Sorry." There was a sudden scream from the hallway they left, and her cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Guess I was too curious, huh?"
Grinding his teeth together, he exhaled and stated, "L-Let's just get inside. I-I'll be darned if I'm going to be kicked out before learning what new scientific news is in there."
"Far out!" Sonata interjected and gave him a thumbs up, which only earned another bemused scowl from him. So far, the date was not going quite as planned, to say the least. Sonata scratched her head. "Also, just want to say: this has been kinda fun already." Tittering, she added, "Didn't know that humans had such weird places to visit. Looking at pictures all day would wear me out."
She wiped away some sweat. "Actually, it already is for realsies."
Admittedly, the adrenaline rush wasn't too bad, and if he got banned, at least he'd have more money for his experiments, and for a new GPU. A Titan X sounded about right for all his computational and entertainment needs.
From inside, he heard a couple of claps and then his heart skipped a beat. Frantically grabbing Sonata's hand and then pulling her inside, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they weren't too late. Twinkle Sprinkle was just getting to the front of the auditorium, her laptop in hand and box of doughnuts waiting for her at the table up front. Sonata eyed them hungrily.
Fervently shaking his head at her, he instead tugged her to the left and they found a spot near the middle of the auditorium that was almost empty. Guiding her to sit to his right, at the end of the row, he huffed and then crossed his arms as he eagerly waited for Twinkle to begin her presentation. The woman's white hair was dotted with a rainbow of colors, like that of a doughnut.
As soon as he realized that, he heard his own stomach grumble. Looking to the ceiling, he gritted his teeth. Thank you, Sonata, for making me hungry, he griped to himself. Meanwhile, Sonata simply muttered some things to herself as she started to inspect her surroundings. She patted her legs absentmindedly, letting her hands fall in soft "pats" as Twinkle hooked up her laptop to the large screen on the auditorium and cleared her throat.
With a moment to take in the auditorium, he gazed for a moment to above the small stage, as the staff had apparently been busy preparing for the presentation. Dangling from some different cords were a few moons and a blue giant. Since the lights had already been dimmed, he couldn't tell which of the two ice giants it was, but still, the display lent a bit of splendor and majesty to the auditorium that it otherwise lacked.
There was a soft squeal of feedback as the microphone next to Twinkle's mouth picked up more than it should have. Micro winced. When it was brought back under control, Twinkle nodded and adjusted her plain, tan shirt, and she tapped something on her laptop. As she did, a brilliant, bright blue orb against the inky blackness of space materialized.
Sonata "ooh'd" in wonder as she stared at it. Leaning over, she whispered, "It looks like a gumball." She scrunched her nose. "I wonder if it tastes like blueberry?" At that, he just rolled his eyes and tried to focus on Twinkle as she rapped on the screen with a finger. After she did that a couple more times when the screen froze, she at last gave it a light hit, and the screen moved.
"Percussive maintenance," Twinkle quipped, which earned a couple of chuckles. Afterwards, without even looking, she reached out and snagged a doughnut, which she thoughtlessly nibbled on while she brought out a laser pointer. Micro saw Sonata momentarily follow the pointer like a hawk, and sighed tiredly.
"So, you're probably all wondering what this amazing presentation is going to be," stated Twinkle as she finished scarfing the rest of her doughnut. "Well," she started through a full mouth, "the thing is, for some of you guys, it'd probably be boring. Just some organic compounds found in atmospheres, that sort of thing." Flipping through a couple more slides which sporadically showcased some formulas and equations, she settled on a bright, highlighted picture of a blue gas giant, its form painted with various streaks of brown overtop.
"For others, this will be exciting, because it could mean life!" There was a small gasp from some of the audience members. As much as Micro forced himself to be the same, he couldn't keep his mind from reminding him that it was probably another red herring. Twinkle's dramatic pause was pierced by her declaring, "Life in the clouds of Uranus!"
As soon as the name of the gas giant left Twinkle's mouth, Micro heard Sonata hold back a giggle with a loud "snrk". Admittedly, she was not the only one, as Micro caught a few other snickers ripple through the audience. Even before he felt Sonata lean into him, he held back the most exhausted, exasperated exhale that probably would ever grace the planet.
Sonata pressed right up against his ear, which made her hair tickle against his skin. Slowly turning to whisper to him, she hissed, "She said 'your anus'." She forced down another snigger.
Micro snorted.
"It's not a funny name," he protested softly in return. Fixating her with a miffed frown, he stared directly into her mirth-filled eyes, and couldn't help but feel like he caught her laughter, too. However, he did manage to keep a straight face when he mumbled, "It was named in the eighteen-forties, okay? They didn't see it as funny."
"Hey! Hey!" Sonata lightly punched him in the side of the arm. Almost immediately, he knew what was coming his way. Seeing her grin from a mile away, he cringed as she asked, "Maybe they should go probe your anus next?" At that, she broke into a fit of giggles, and Micro forcefully pinched the bridge of his nose.
He could have been listening to the fascinating subject of organic compounds and the massive storms that were commonplace on Uranus, but instead he had to listen to his date—admittedly still a cute date—break into fits of laughter simply because she had the humor of a child. He was most certainly not going to hear the end of it.
"Hey, hey, I got another one," Sonata quipped as she tapped his arm. "Where do—"
He never bothered listening to the rest of it, as it was something about colonoscopies and the doctors who performed them and their point of origin, or something. Truly classy stuff. Instead, he focused as best he could on the presentation from Twinkle Sprinkle, who was currently showing some slides on how they used Hubble and some ground telescopes to measure reflectivity and albedo of Uranus, and co-related that with organic compounds.
Over time, Twinkle started to transition from the discoveries to just some facts about the planet. Nothing that he hadn't learned a dozen times before, and nothing that seriously held his interest. As she droned on for another couple of minutes, munching on a doughnut every now and then to boot, he leaned over to Sonata.
"Hey, did you hear about Pluto? That's messed—" He stopped when he noticed that she was missing. "Sonata?" he asked, his pulse skyrocketing as he checked this way and that for her. It had only been a few minutes. Where had she run off to?
He didn't even have time to really think, as he caught some shaking from above, and he peered up. Sweat broke out on his neck and back as he saw her narrowly threading the catwalk and supports that held up the display pieces of the auditorium. As soon as he spotted her, he let out a soft hiss and tried to get her attention. She noticed him and waved. At that, she went back to crawling along the support beam.
Glancing in every direction, he felt a whine build up in his chest as the only staff member was the person working the sound, and they had headphones on. He could tap on the staff's shoulder, but the last time he did that, he got a face full of moon dust. With that thought, he looked between Sonata and Twinkle, and then back to Sonata. He sighed.
There was only one thing to do.
Within less than a minute, he had scrambled from his seat, found the ladder up to the catwalk, and then hastily threaded it toward where Sonata was crawling. By now, it was just the metal rafters she was on, and she was inching toward the suspended planets. As soon as he realized what she was doing, he hesitated for only a second before vaulting the railing of the catwalk and then grasping the rafters tightly.
Looking down for only a heartbeat and seeing Twinkle answer a question about why the planet was named after the rear of a person, he furrowed his brow and shimmied after Sonata. Only thanks to adrenaline pumping through his veins at a furious speed was he able to catch up to her. Heaving heavily, he snapped, "What are you doing?!"
"These planet thingies look cool. What makes them float?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, and she looked behind herself and shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? She was putting me to sleep." At that moment, he realized that they were on the rafter supporting the large Uranus planet model, and that it happened to be almost directly over Twinkle.
Peering down for just a second, he looked back up at her, his face paler, and he rapidly shook his head. With a frown, he hissed, "We're not doing this right now! Okay?! We are enjoying this presentation, you're not going to laugh at Uranus's name—"
Sonata broke into another fit of hysterics.
"—and we are going to come back down and have a normal date, okay?!" When Sonata seemed to ponder it for a second, he moved a bit closer to try and grab her heel. Instead, all he received was a light kick to the nose as she started to scoot forward again, and he gave a small howl of pain.
Holding his head momentarily, he waited for the throbbing to subside and then hurried after her. Just as she was reaching the edge of the rafter, he managed to grab hold of an ankle. "Get back!" he hissed at her, and she stuck out her tongue defiantly.
"Just want to see the cool planet, jeez," Sonata shot back, and then wriggled her captured leg. She grunted and moved closer, reaching out her hand to touch the model Uranus. She gasped. "Wait! These aren't floating! They're suspended!" She wrapped her hand around a cable and tugged. "See?" she started to say before she slipped forward, as about half her body was out over empty space.
Micro was dragged as well as she fell off, and he held onto her as tightly as he could. In effect, she acted as a heavy, hempen rope, and as he couldn't find adequate grip, he slid off the metal rafter, too. With a scream, he swung forward and collided with the model of Uranus. Pulling back with a groan, he saw an imprint in the material of his face. He glanced upward. Sonata was dangling above him, and it was only then that he noticed the sagging of the supports for the planet.
He gulped. "Oh, malware-ridden-compu—"
Before he could finish his curse, the planet snapped off the rafter, and plummeted to the floor. Directly on top of Twinkle Sprinkle. Along the way, Sonata let out a gleeful cheer, but hacked once the dust from the impact was kicked up. With a groan, Micro shook his head, and saw that the only evidence of Twinkle was a protruding arm holding a doughnut. He heard a moan below him.
His bones were throbbing, but nothing appeared broken. As his mind became clearer, he heard the doors to the auditorium slam open, and a pair of security guards marched in. They took one look at the ruined planet, the trapped presenter, and the two teens. He winced and gave an awkward wave.
As the guards marched toward them, Sonata noticed the doughnut and uttered a low "oooo!" She snatched it and quipped, "Thanks." When they came close, she smiled sweetly.
"I'm so banned, aren't I?" Micro asked.
***
"I'm so getting grounded after this," Micro Chips mumbled as he kept his hands in his pockets. Already some bruises were forming on his face and arms, his glasses were chipped, and, to top it all off, he now had a delinquency record. Thankfully, by some miracle, Twinkle Sprinkle walked off with only a broken arm, but to say that he was banned from the planetarium would be putting it mildly. Probably his great-grandchildren would be, too.
Also, he didn't get a refund of the remainder of his season's tickets.
"Eh, it's not that bad," Sonata stated as the elevator to the seventh floor of the apartment building they were in chimed. Stepping off it, she led him a few doors in and then stopped outside of a simple door with the same symbol Adagio Dazzle had worn on her outfit when she was at CHS. Sonata gave a single knock.
When there was no response, Sonata shrugged. "Honestly, I think it was more fun than if we just listened to that boring presentation and walked around looking at thingies." As soon as she said that, his face flushed, and he sputtered to come back with a fiery statement, but... she was somewhat right. The presentation was getting rather drab, and he had already seen all the displays in the building a dozen times. What was he really going to learn there?
Still, was he going to admit it was fun? Probably not. A lot of excitement for not much pay-off. But, still, perhaps there was room for a second date. After all, she had promised that she'd make up for being a bit ditzier than she normally was. Apparently nerves could do that to her.
Withholding a sigh, he stated, "Well, I guess this is it. Uh, I escorted you back, and, well, thanks for the... interesting time?" At that, he blushed slightly. As she stared at him, he felt like she was searching his very being. Even if she no longer had magic, she still seemed to be able to discern some people's thoughts.
Her face falling, she mumbled, "I guess I messed up too hard, didn't I?" Softly, she fought back a couple of sniffles.
Instantly resting a hand on one of her shoulders, he declared, "No! S-Sandalwood says that I need to branch out more, and while I don't think that he quite meant this..." He chewed on his tongue. Inwardly cursing himself for what he was going to say next, he muttered, "Maybe we could go to the science fair next week?"
Brightening as soon as he said that, she nodded emphatically and wrapped him in a hug, which made him gag in surprise as she held it for a moment. His heart beating rapidly, he slowly returned it, and she gave a small sigh before pulling back. "It's a date," she quipped with a wink, then pulled out a key from her blouse and undid the lock.
Opening the door, she exclaimed, "Ari, Dagi! I'm home! I didn't ki—" Her proclamation stopped mid-sentence when they saw Adagio pinning Aria underneath her in a choke hold. Adagio looked up, while Aria struggled frantically to wriggle out from under her. Beside the couch they were on, an empty bottle of shampoo was visible, and Adagio's hair was in clear shambles from not being conditioned.
Sonata gawked at Adagio. Adagio gaped back.
With a soft creak, Sonata shut the door and anxiously twirled back to smile at Micro, her eyes nearly the size of pinpricks. "You didn't see that, okay?!" She leaned in and quickly pecked him on the cheek. "Okay?!" she repeated while playing her hand on the same cheek.
Stuttering for a second or two, he finally blinked and asked, "I suppose this would be a bad time to ask about arranging a date with a friend of mine and your sister?"
FIN
Author's Note
Well, this was a change of pace from what I normally write. You'd think after nine years since the last EqG story, I would have more difficulty writing our non-hooved heroes, but it was pretty easy to slip into. Either way, this was another excuse to write stuff with the Dazzlings, even if only partially, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. :twilightsmile: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightsmile.png
Would have been nice for an extra 5k words for the contest, but alas. Slipping in real world references or references to other shows was something that I found most amusing, so, thanks EqG!
Anyway, I would like to thank Gonderlane (https://www.fimfiction.net/user/444864/Gonderlane) for pre-reading this, as it helped to ensure I didn't miss anything glaring.
Until next fic!  
T4E