Home is Where the Hearth Is

"Thanks, Gummy!" Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she snatched a spoon, bowl-first, from her pet alligator, who dumbly blinked at her when she took it from him. When his mouth was free once again, he let out a small hiss and flicked his tongue out. It slapped onto one of his eyes and slowly slid down.

"No, silly! We aren't making those cookies yet. We have to get closer to the Christmas party before that happens." Smirking as she poured in a bowl of flour and then mixed in an egregious amount of melted butter, she tittered and bounced to the soft beat of the fifties Christmas music that was carrying through the Sweet Snacks Cafe. Outside, snow beat heavily against the glass, piling up drifts of it and looking like frosting on a cake.

At the mere thought of that, she felt her mouth water, but she shook her head. Tasting her own treats, which she was kindly allowed to bake at her employer after they closed for the night, was a recipe for disaster. She chuckled. Recipe. Pun totally unintended.

Scattered around the kitchen, various utensils of various cleanliness and bowls sticky with batter laid well-used, casualties of a bakery battle of epic proportions. It was always a tale of love and passion with Christmas goodies. Improvisation was the rule rather than the exception. Maybe a cookie dough recipe called for a touch of vanilla, but instead one used some cinnamon. It'd lend a completely different flavor, but still be all "Christmas-y".

In the end, so long as they were close enough, and one had fun making them, and poured their heart into it, the goods would turn out just right.

Glancing back out of the kitchen, she watched as a couple of silhouettes hastily pushed their way through the delzard. A deluge and a blizzard. Scrunching her forehead, she paused in her mixing of the batter and questioned if the new word was too much, or if something else would be better. Bliphoon? Squaluge? Pnow?

She shook her head. Too many options. Not enough words.

As she pondered the nature of the English language and if it could properly fuse words like its sister tongues, she jolted from her stupor as there was a resounding clank. She whipped around. Gummy was standing in front of one of the stoves and was poking his head in. Along with a can of canola oil.

Pinkie giggled. "Oh, Gummy, you need to coat a tray, not the oven, you silly gator!" At that, she skipped over and snatched the can before taking Gummy. Wriggling in protest, the alligator blinked lopsidedly when he was placed back on one of the cutting surfaces in the kitchen. He croaked and gummed on her fingers.

With a little giggle, Pinkie scratched his nose before putting the can away and closing the oven. Which was turned on. She could catch the small hiss of natural gas. Shrugging, she turned it off, and returned to making her recipe. The flour and butter had been mixed, but all that was needed now was the sugar! And maybe a bit more butter.

Her feet clicked on the tiles of the kitchen as she hastily popped over to where the sugar was kept, then poured in a good two cups of it. After raising up the bag of sugar, she frowned, then shrugged. What was another cup between friends at the party, right?

After dumping a bit more sugar into the batter, she quipped, "Shortbread really is short! Sugar, flour, butter. More sugar. More butter..." She hummed. "Oh, and a pinch of salt!" When all was ready, she beat down the batter, kneaded it into a pan, and then slipped it into one of the ovens. As she got up, she heard Gummy growl pleadingly again, and she turned around.

In his own way, he was stuck to the handle of the door to the employee restroom. Little by little, he used his tongue to turn the handle, and it soon clicked open. He blinked at her.

"Gummy! We can't mix work and play!" Pinkie shook her head. "Have to get this in the oven and then..." After flipping the oven to the right temperature, she clapped her hands together and coughed. A cloud of flour caked her nose and cheeks, and she giggled.

Making a mental note of the time when the shortbread went in, she twirled around, tidied up the kitchen in ten seconds flat, and then brushed off her apron. While she would have preferred to have it part of her standard attire, the chance of giving Rarity a heart attack—likely, given how much she already balked at Pinkie's style—was a bit too high to go through with it.

With a sigh, she took it off and let it rest on a stool she had pulled in from the cafe bar. By now, Gummy had waddled into the restroom, and she followed. As she was about to call out to find him, she stopped and paused, resting a fist on her hip. Gummy gawked at her from the bowl of the sink, which he had managed to fill with water.

Gummy blinked. Each eye. Individually.

"That's for washing our hands, Gummy," Pinkie tsked, gently grabbing her pet from the sink and taking him under her right arm. "Still... I suppose we have a bit of time." After she made sure he was dry, Pinkie leaned out of the restroom doorway and checked the time again. She had enough, probably. At least for a quick mosey.

She clicked the door shut. Taking a five second breather, she went to the mirror above the sink and stated, "Cupcakes. Pie. Ladybug. Cinnamon. Chocolate rain." She waited a moment, and she heard a faint whirring. Stepping back from the sink, she watched as the mirror slowly rose from where it rested, and behind it revealed a passageway she could crawl through.

Its metal plated sides were just wide enough that she didn't have to worry about her poofy hair to get in her way. Granted, she could crawl, or...

She smirked.

Wrapping her fingers around the bottom of the mirror, she hopped up and then thrust herself forward. With a squeal of delight, she slid down the tunnel, and it gradually started to incline downward, just enough that she never quite stopped. After half a minute of slowly slipping down it, she picked up speed and the rush of air started to whizz past her ears. Gummy nommed on one of her fingers, and she could feel him waggling back and forth from the torrents zooming past them.

Shortly, she landed on some concrete with a grunt, and she rubbed her thighs. She hissed. "Probably need something for the landing, huh?" Taking Gummy into her hands, she stroked his head a couple of times before setting him into her hair. He quickly latched onto a lock and began to gum it. With a snicker, she focused her attention on the large door in front of her, and she straightened her skirt before she marched ahead.

Just as she was about to walk right into the door, which was easily ten feet tall and around a couple feet thick of solid metal, it swung open, revealing a chamber with another door. As soon as she passed the first door, it slammed shut with a heavy bang, which echoed through the hallway. When she reached the second door, it slid to either side, providing her a view of yet another, which, when approached, shot upward.

One more followed, which likewise split apart, and behind it, showed yet another chute. However, as she reached it, there was a loud buzzing, and her hair began to be yanked up. With an excited "whee!" she was sucked upward into a second chute, rocketing through a separate tunnel and tube. Gleefully throwing up her arms, she giggled as the air whooshed past her. The breeze managed to knock off any stubborn bits of batter that had remained on her person, and she felt Gummy occasionally bonk against her arms.

As soon as the tube ride began, it ended with a soft "pompf" as she landed on a massive mattress. Bouncing a few times, she giggled and then sprang up in one motion. Gummy continued to rebound, flailing and flopping like a rubber alligator. Every time he hit the mattress, there was an almost inaudible squeak.

Steepling her fingers together, Pinkie glanced around the room. Darkness. Exactly as planned.

Without her sense of sight, it made the bunker feel much larger than it was. Of course, she'd have to eventually bring the lights up, but...

She spun around, just as there was a beep, and she pointed at the terminal that had roused. It occasionally blinked a green light, which pulsed and cast a glow throughout the immediate area, revealing glossy, see-through screens and metal walls behind them. As if they were waiting for one of them to rouse, other computers began to whir to life. When each one booted up, Pinkie switched to point to each one.

To the left of where she fell onto the mattress, there were a number of terminals providing readouts of weather predictions for the next month, with the ever-important December twenty-fifth highlighted in bright pink. Additionally, a smaller, but still bold date of the twenty-third was visible. Both indicated snowy, but not too snowy weather. Absolutely perfect.

On Pinkie's right, a large map of Canterlot City stirred, and glimmering lines traced their way along the glass on which it was displayed. Soon enough, each fluorescent line sketched a path of the streets of the city, and blinking dots darted along them. For a moment, Pinkie merely watched them, then she scratched her chin and jogged toward the map. Throwing her head back to look at Gummy, who had now managed to wrap his tongue around a low-hanging pipe from the cafe, she stated, "Gee, Gummy, you're eager to have me come down here."

Shrugging, she held back a giggle and quipped, "Good thing nop—no-one said the code phrase. That'd be pretty awkward to explain to everyone why I have this down here." Glancing back at Gummy again after catching a bit of movement on the map, she added, "Really lucky that we were able to dig this out with some spoons when I wasn't working or in school, right?"

Gummy gave a muffled growl and swung from his tongue. Painstakingly, he lowered himself from his perch to the floor.

"Right," muttered Pinkie as she went back to looking at the map.

Caressing her chin, she peered intently at the map, watching as the different lights of activity went about. She furrowed her brow and hunched forward, her demeanor slowly growing darker to match the eerie glow of the bunker. Even her hair deflated slightly, although it never went quite straight.

She narrowed her eyes. What could Gummy possibly have sensed? What did the gator, with its flank forever blank, know that she didn't? Sure, Gummy was, well, Gummy. But her own senses tingled enough to trust that something was up, and that was why he had alerted her by going to the restroom door.

Flashing her attention to another screen, she watched as a couple of printouts spewed from the computer beneath it. She tapped the screen, her disposition remaining pensive, as she gazed at the brown, curly-haired boy as he grabbed a couple of rubber chickens and marched out to a Christmas party, the invitation she saw on the small feed of him on the display.

When she heard Gummy make a noise, she looked up. "Not creepy at all, okay?! I just want to make sure he gets on the right path." She blushed and twisted a finger through her hair. Gummy merely gurgled.

"Well, it's my job to protect everyp—one here, so I need to make sure that someone is able to fill my shoes!" With a glance back at the screen, and the readout of Cheese Sandwich's current vitals, she sighed. "But he is—" She shook herself. "No! Not about me!"

She inhaled. "When darkness is everywhere, it's up to me to save the day." Hunching further and shuffling between computers and then back to the map, she continued in an even, emotionless voice, "Even on a wintry night like tonight, there's depression. People aren't happy, but they should be! That's where I come in." Stealing a peek at Gummy, she asked suddenly in a chipper tone, "You got that, Gummy? In case they make a movie about me, I gotta get the brooding personality down pat."

Gummy simply licked his eyeballs. Again.

"Yeah, you're right. Too cliché." With a tired raspberry, Pinkie waved a hand dismissively before she went back to the map. Playing her fingertips across it like it was a delicate soufflé, she pulled up a few more displays of various people. She hummed. Nope, this one wasn't feeling uncheerful. Neither was that one. Not that one, either.

Scratching her chin, she looked to Gummy for any clue, but the alligator just snorted through his nose and then started to gum on its tail. Pinkie shot him a deadpan stare. Of course now he'd choose to be unhelpful. Figures.

She sighed. If he wasn't going to be much assistance, why did she sense that he wanted her to go down here? Brooding was all fun and games, but there was only so much she could do before it started to consume her and she wanted to stick to dark corners, speak in a gravelly voice, dress in black, and repeatedly scream, "I'm Pinkie!"

Humming to herself and scratching her chin, she snatched up Gummy in a single swoop. He wiggled a couple of times, blinked at her, and then settled into her grip, which she turned into a gentle hold while she stalked the bunker. "So," she began as she started to stroke his scales, "you aren't going to tell me what I should be looking for, but it's obviously a party emergency, or you wouldn't have been insistent to get me here."

She pursed her lips. "You know I have to protect this city's cheer. Did you sense a disturbance in the party plan?" When she glanced down at Gummy, he simply stared at her, his purple eyes reflecting the various colors of lights from around the room. "One of my friends?" she added. Another blank look.

"I guess I could check on them," mumbled Pinkie as she spun on her heels and reached up on the map to pull up a few more names to display. Dancing her fingers across it, she let out a couple of "uh-huhs" and "okays" and then declared, "Ha! Prince—I mean Principal Celestia! It must be her because she doesn't have any students in the school!"

At that, Gummy yawned, and his tongue lolled out. While his forked tongue played across her skin, she held back a giggle and patted him on the head. He quickly withdrew his tongue.

After a few seconds, the blinking name of Principal Celestia disappeared and displayed a grainy feed of her sitting in a tram while she rested one of her arms tiredly against the railing near the exit. Her face was flat, and dark circles hugged the bottom of her eyes. It was a bit difficult to make out the entire scene, because she was crowded around by a number of other people. Beside her, one teen girl, dressed in a t-shirt that read, "21% Awesomer!" was tugging on her arm.

Celestia glanced momentarily at the youth, then smiled. Since she straightened up, Pinkie caught her wearing another shirt with a similar tagline to the girl's. In fact, the entire tram appeared to be filled with people all wearing shirts from the same kind of TV show. Pinkie scratched her head.

For a moment, she watched curiously as the girl produced a pair of toys and jabbered—silently, because the sound upgrade for her super-secret spy map was an extra hundred bucks a month—to Celestia; she brought close the toys, a white alicorn mare and a greyish draconequus, and pressed them together. Even without noise, Pinkie could envision the overacted smooching noises the girl made while pressing the toys' muzzles together.

Celestia merely smiled. A couple of her hairs curled up from her head, and she scooted closer to the exit. With a placating nod, she waved the girl off as the tram stopped with a jerk. She sighed, grinning again, and got up when the crowd had left. At that, Pinkie frowned and shook her head.

As much as Celestia appeared uncomfortable, she wasn't unhappy. From what Pinkie could tell, at least. Also, apparently Celestia liked that TV show she heard that everyone raved about. Who knew?

Shaking her head, Pinkie clicked her tongue and muttered to Gummy, "Weird, but not uncheerful. Maybe..." As she trailed off, Gummy squirmed and protested before reorienting himself toward a part of the map. Pinkie traced her gaze from him to where he was pointing, and her eyes lit up. "Of course! Twilight! Sci-Twi! Twiggles! She's so super obsessed with making sure everything is right, she's probably fussing over how much tinsel to put on a Christmas tree!" Blowing a raspberry, she tittered, "Silly me!"

After punching in the commands on the map again, she brought up a view of Twilight sprawled out on her couch, shaking like she was weeping. "A-ha!" Pinkie exclaimed when she saw the image. "I knew it! Christmas cheer is—" With a gag, she stopped and looked at the rest of the view, and saw that Twilight wasn't so much crying as she was guffawing, to the best of her ability to see. The teen was watching TV, alone, and it was that show she'd heard about that followed those two nerds who have to interact with this non-nerdy lady, and one of the nerds was basically Twilight but a guy.

She didn't really see what was so funny about it. In the end, it looked like Twilight did, since she pointed at something happening on the TV screen and burst into another fit of laughter.

"Huh, thought she would have liked more enlightened works," Pinkie mumbled to herself as she closed down that feed and glanced back down at Gummy. "You've been no help, mister! Would have been better if I just started asking everyone if they were sad or not." Gummy blinked.

Furrowing her brow, Pinkie stooped down while her hair began to grow limper. Every brain cell was firing on maximum power. Perhaps she just chose the wrong friends and acquaintances? Then again, she was friends with literally everyp—everyone, and that meant she had far too many options to go through. Still, it was the best possibility, so she sighed and pondered aloud, "Maybe it's Dashie? She can't do sports stuff like she can in the summer, and with all this snow..."

Her mind made up, she whirled back to the map and keyed in Rainbow Dash. After a few seconds of flickering, her mouth hung agape as she stared at Rainbow Dash, who was twirling around in a flowing, very much not cool and awesome dress. The length went well past her feet and created a trail at least two feet long, and it was sewn in pink. All of it.

Eyes watering, Pinkie could feel her brain being seared with secret knowledge, and she could only think what would happen if—She mentally cut herself off. Didn't need to muse about what would happen if Dash thought she was being watched, because Dash suddenly halted, glanced around her bedroom, and then stared right at Pinkie through the display.

Although it seemed like an eternity, it was probably only a couple of beats, as Dash quickly went back to her prancing. However, Pinkie killed the feed. She'd probably have to drown the memory out with half a dozen cans of Crimson Bovine. Shivering as chills worked their way down her spine, she shot a look at Gummy and muttered, "You know, I'm glad that I was able to set up a bunch of hidden cameras powered by Equestrian magic, but then there are days where I'm not." She swallowed. "Today...

"Did you just want me to come down here to plan about world domination?" Holding up Gummy so she could look directly into either one of his eyes, she worked her jaw in thought. She turned around to see the clock above the tube entrance. It ticked down, but not to the end of the world or anything like that, just for when her plans would go in motion.

Recruiting other teens who loved planning and attending parties hadn't been the easiest, but it had so far worked out. All she'd have to do is wait until the President’s birthday, and lure him far enough away that other people wouldn't influence him. Would only work with her party planners' help, though. With Christmas upon them, it would reconvene in the new year.

"Please! It's already planned out, you silly gator!" She pressed her nose against his and daintily tapped on his nostrils. "Boop!" When he wrinkled his nose, just barely, given the length of his maw, she giggled and turned him back around.

"We just need a break, Gummy, then the President of this country will be so knocked off his socks that he'll have to make me Party Planner of the Universe!" Drawing her lips back in a manic grin, she broke into a fitful cackle that echoed through the bunker, albeit it was absorbed somewhat into the noise and hum of the computers there.

In the middle of her fit, she abruptly stopped and hummed, "You know, that's a really awkward name for a place. 'Country in which we live'. You'd think someone would have come up with something better, right?" Gummy didn't answer her, instead wriggling and growling in annoyance as she tried to hold onto him. Shortly slipping out, he waddled a couple of feet closer to the map and then stuck out his tongue. It splatted onto a second alert near the bottom, right over a blinking, red dot.

"Gummy! Now I have to sanitize the screen again!" Pinkie whined as her pet alligator continued to indicate somewhere on the map with his tongue. With a sigh, she stomped after him and snatched him back up. Rotating him around and shaking her head, she clicked her tongue and declared, "You remember how many bits I had to sell to get that? Don't—" Before she could continue admonishing him, however, she spied the dot.

Briefly, she stared at it, and her eyes widened in shock. The map never did that. At least, it wasn't supposed to do that. Then again, maybe it was something other than what it meant, and it was just a glitch. Or perhaps something super important, like a flash sale of cupcake liners or rainbow frosting.

However, the longer she looked at it, the more her heart started to skip. There was only one reason for that, and it was someone experiencing a horrible case of the Christmas Blues. If that was the case, then her job as the main party planner for Po—Canterlot High School wasn't getting accomplished. No-one was meant to be morose or depressed while it was Christmastime! Everyone should be skipping around, enjoying the snowflakes, the lights, the candy—especially the candy—the presents, and time with family. All of it!

Whimpering softly, she put Gummy back down and fought back a couple of quivers of fear. After having installed the map, she'd only seen the red dot once, and that was just a test, because she had Rainbow Dash show Fluttershy some sad tales about beavers, and that would have gotten anyone down in the dumps. Except Dash, because she thought the story was awesome, since the hunters got some "sweet action scenes" in.

Either way, the crippling depression alert was not going away, so it was obviously someone in dire need of an injection of saccharine joy into their lives. They could go back to being mopey after the Christmas season. That way she always had some work to keep her in business.

Swallowing hard and wiping away a bit of sweat from her brow, she reached out to the map, tapped a few times directly on the dot to make sure it wasn't broken, and then zoomed in. She winced as the computers in the bunker whirred to life for a moment as they attempted to connect to the not at all creepy feeds she had basically everywhere in the city.

Again, thank Celestia for Equestrian magic.

While it took a minute or two for the feed to finally appear, she recoiled when she spotted who it was. Sonata Dusk. One of the Dazzlings? Hadn't she blocked the sirens' depression alerts because they were meanies and almost conquered the world? And not in the fun way that she had plans for?

As she continued to rack her brain on whether she had put in those block filters correctly, she spotted Sonata's ostensibly sleeping form quiver a few times, and she could barely catch a glint of tears. Immediately a lump began to form in her throat, and Pinkie instinctively started to rub her neck. There weren't really any other indications of what was going on. It was, after all, rather late—not that she needed sleep. Sugar was enough to keep her going—so whatever had set Sonata off wasn't apparent.

Still, it was one of the Dazzlings, and they had almost taken over the world, and all three were probably still evil. Maybe wanted heads on stakes, that sort of thing.

Despite the plain reasons to not assist, simply for the fact that living could never be overrated, her heart still tugged and felt like it was being squeezed in a vice as she continued to observe Sonata. While Pinkie was one of the girls who saved the world, and she had perfect excuses for not helping, at the same time, it was her Celestia-given duty to help any and all stay cheerful during the Christmas season.

What would it say about her or her friends if she didn't at least try to assume the best about Sonata? Maybe she would turn over a new leaf when reached out to. It wasn't like there wasn't precedent with their own resident she-demon who almost led an army of teens to their deaths by trying to invade a land of ponies with magic and who knew how to use it or anything.

No offense, Sunset, she habitually murmured in her thoughts.

With a small hum, she began to pace around in a circle and occasionally shot glances at Sonata's form on the map. Even if she risked her life and limb and baking time, she should do what she could to help Sonata. Perhaps a pool party would cheer her up? After all, they were fish things before becoming regular girls, so maybe a reminder of the water would clear her mind? Of course, that didn't work in the winter, and indoor pools were boring.

If not a pool party, then maybe a trip to the aquarium? Same logic as the party, but as she began to plan out a possible itinerary for it, her mind jolted, and she smacked her forehead. Sonata would be seeing other sea life, and realize she could never return to that. Probably would make her more upset, if anything.

Pinkie blinked.

Maybe Sonata would like it, but she'd be so enamored with remembering the sea, she'd think herself a fish-horse thing again and try hunting all the sea life! Then she'd go to jail for all the damage she'd caused, and be all over the news, and probably ruin a bunch of other people's Christmases, and it'd just be horrible and she'd never want to be Pinkie or anyone else's friend ever in the history of everness!

So... maybe not anything sea-related. Perhaps it was because of all the cold and snow? If that was the case, then she could maybe pool money together to go down south, but then there were all the safety problems, and both could be just as likely to get stabbed in an alley somewhere, which, while maybe exhilarating, was not a recipe for staying alive long.

Pausing for a second, she blinked, then asked Gummy, "What do you think, Gummy?" Gummy merely looked back at her. "Yeah, you're right," she grumbled. "Should I even do it if it means messing with canon? Like, a bit early, right?" At that, she glanced back at her pet again, and caught the alligator blink in a slow, asymmetrical fashion.

"True..." she drawled, leaning back on the computers and crossing her arms in thought. "That wouldn't be very 'friendship is magic' of me..."

Before she could ponder for much longer, however, there was a faint smell of something acrid in the air. Sniffing and snorting, she looked up as she caught the nearly-transparent wisps of smoke drifting in one of the ventilation vents that connected to the cafe. "Huh," she mumbled. "Somepon—someone must be burning something." She shrugged. "Oh well, I can think about this—"

Like a car crashing into a wall, she halted and gave a soft squeak. In an instant, her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks, and she spun around on her heels. "Gummy! The shortbread!" she shrieked, then bolted for the chute that had deposited her in the bunker. As Gummy blinked and gave a small growl, she leapt onto the mattress that had softened her fall into the bunker and scrambled back up the tube while screaming, "I hope they're not too overdone!"

Wriggling and slithering as best she could, she struggled against the air currents of the pipe and fell back out the chute by the series of doors. Coughing for a second, she dashed to the first door. She tapped a foot impatiently as each one opened on its own, slowly, painfully, and loudly. When there was room, she darted forward, and when she reached the first chute, she paused, then calmly opened a small door that was to the left, then darted up. She popped up outside the cafe in the alley, and then quickly grabbed her keys from her hair and unlocked the kitchen door.

Upon entering, she was hit with a blast of heat, and saw the roar of a fire bursting from the oven in which she had left the shortbread. Placing both hands upon her head, she screeched in surprise, then looked down in a deadpan manner as she felt Gummy waddle up beside her. He glanced up at her. "You could have reminded me," she grumped.

He merely growled. He stuck out his tongue.

With a snort, Pinkie dug into her hair again and managed to pull out a fire extinguisher. If other people were around, it'd be a mix of asking how she had that there, or simply "that's Pinkie," but there was no-one to comment. Secretly, even she wasn't sure sometimes how things got in her hair, but they were always there when she desperately needed them.

Pulling the pin of the extinguisher, she unleashed the entire bottle on the stove, and soon the entire kitchen was covered in a foamy mess. The flame retardant did wonders, but it coated every surface. She gave a small huff as she wiped some of it off the table. Crossing her arms, she kicked the extinguisher away and mumbled, "Well, guess it's overdone."

Gummy clicked a couple of times.

"Yeah, you can say that again, buddy," she murmured. After taking in the scene for a moment, she gasped. "Sonata! And we need to figure out how to make her happy and—" Groaning, she ran her hand down her face and sighed, "After I clean this up, I guess."

She paused. Shooting a look upward, she smiled and muttered, "Well, I guess I'll just have to see her in the next scene."

Gummy blinked.

It was Pinkie. He didn't need to try and figure it out.

***

"Oh, a fajita and ice cream taco with extra cheese and chocolate sauce? Yes, please," Sonata muttered to herself as she rolled over in her bed. Aside from soft snores and the occasional murmur in her sleep, her bedroom was quiet. Since drowsiness had overtaken her, the weather had grown even snowier, and great flakes of white beat against her window, caking the glass before slowly melting from the heat inside the apartment.

With a grunt, she twisted again, ruffling some of the sheets and making her snort and cough. Blearily, her eyes partly opened, and she saw the world through blurry vision. There was a soft glow from the street, and for a second, her sleep-addled brain thought it saw a silhouette cast a shadow on her night stand. However, when she looked a bit harder, it appeared to simply be something from outside, and she yawned and closed her eyes again.

Shifting her weight, she mumbled something incomprehensible under her breath, and then whispered, "Goodnight, creepy shadow sleep demon."

With another huff, she rolled to her side and tucked her hands under her cheek. Her mind paused for a moment. There was a shuffle in the room, and then she heard a voice state, "Goodnight, Sonata! Dream of cupcakes and cotton candy!" Sonata smiled. How nice of the not sleep paralysis demon to wish her well.

Then her eyes shot open.

Startled, her bloodstream pumped instantly full of adrenaline, and she scrambled into a sitting position, her pupils wide in fright. At the end of her bed, there was a shape that looked vaguely human, and had a massive poof of hair. The light from outside played through it, making it look like it was on fire, and all she could see were a pair of glowing dots staring directly at her. On the foot of her bed, radiant purple orbs occasionally winked in and out of existence.

Briefly, her lungs froze, and her heart thudded heavily in her chest. Despite trying to breathe in, she couldn't get enough air to even squeak out a "what." All she could do was whimper and shiver, and gaze back in abject horror at the being at the end of her bed. Was it a nightmare? Was her brain currently punishing her for failing to cheer up her sisters?

She pinched herself. Wasn't a dream. Silhouetted demon was still staring at her from the foot of the bed. Now it was smiling. Nothing but a razor-thin line of white. And a giggle. Oh, a giggle. Perfect.

She was dead.

As her mind flashed to her last thousand years of existence, she could only imagine all the tacos she couldn't eat, all the burritos she hadn't tried. What would Adagio or Aria say when they found her in the morning? Would they toss what was left of her taco mix? Would they honor her last wish of donating it all to the nearest Mexican restaurant?

With a whimper, she pulled her legs up and desperately tried to get enough air to fill her lungs. At last, it seemed to catch, and as she was about to shriek, a hand reached out and covered her mouth. There was a soothing "shhhh" and then she caught the pink skin of her observer. Along with the chipper voice, it sparked a bit of familiarity in her brain.

After a few seconds, she blinked and then frowned. One of the Rainbooms. Great.

"Oh, yeah, you're totally here," Sonata grunted, which made the other girl turn her head. As it revealed a poofy, pink mane, Sonata tried to place her name. Twinkie Tie? Crazy Drummer Girl? She shrugged. Either way, if she was seeing one of the girls who had left her without any power, it must have been a dream. Or a nightmare.

What would one of them be doing in she and her sisters' apartment without the rest of them, in the middle of the night? That'd be simply too absurd to possibly occur. She could only snort as Twinkie continued to project an aura of confusion, as she gave a perplexed, "Huh?"

"Well, duh," Sonata quipped as she threw up her arms in disgust. As she did, she caught the twin purple orbs of whatever was with Twinkie disappear, out of sync, then reappear. She forced back a shudder before she held her gaze on it long. Instead, she pointed a finger at Twinkie and stated, "You're a dream vision, obviously. Maybe it was that quesadilla that I had for breakfast..."

Twinkie gagged. "Don't tell Twilight you had that! She'll be mortified by it in..." She paused and giggled. "Nah, that'd spoil the surprise!" At that, she shimmied a bit closer and leaned in, revealing her blue eyes that glittered like twin diamonds. Although she had a smile on her face, there was a tad hint of sadness that pulled at her cheeks. After a few seconds, it morphed into a concerned expression.

"You okay? You were totally freaking out that I was some monster coming here to suck your blood, or eat your bones, or suck your blood and eat your bones and also make you perform Mariachi for the rest of your undead life and—" Sonata grimaced. Despite the challenge of ignoring the words that were spewing from Twinkie's mouth, Sonata managed to let them filter through without paying them much heed. For the most part, she was rambling on about different things that she thought Sonata believed that she'd do.

Granted, having to cater sugar foods at a diabetic convention and not make any money from it sounded a bit more specific to Twinkie than her.

As the other girl continued to blabber, Sonata rested her chin on the palm of her hand and simply watched. Arching a brow in a bemused manner, she finally asked, "Are you a sleep demon or not? When is this dream going to turn into something horrible already?"

For a second, the other girl stammered and then stopped yammering about the fates of Sonata. Instead, she merely gazed at Sonata, and it was almost like gears were turning in her head. At last, she simply stated, "Um, I'm not a sleep demon." She reached out and pinched Sonata's nose. As Sonata recoiled and covered her sniffer, Twinkie exclaimed, "See! You're awake already." She tittered. "Silly. I'm also not Twinkie Tie, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Sonata's heart suddenly sank. Had she blabbered the name that she thought Pinkie had? It was impossible, unless Pinkie was a mind reader. Maybe she was. Did mind readers eat lots of sugar and play drums?

"All right, if you're not a sleep demon or nightmare, then what are you doing here?" Crossing her arms and pouting, Sonata shot Pinkie a glare. She waggled a finger at Pinkie and added, "You know, I'm still pretty mad at all you Rainbooms." She indicated her empty neck. When she did, Pinkie winced, if barely perceptible, and she scratched the back of her head.

"Yeah... well, about that..." Pinkie mumbled. "Oops? Don't be so evil next time?" Awkwardly, she shrugged her shoulders and then reached down to grab the two purple eyes. As she did, she pulled it back up and revealed a green lizard thing, like a mini-alligator or something. It looked at her for a second and then opened its maw. Where teeth should have been, there was instead nothing but gum.

Pinkie started to stroke the mini-gator.

Nonplussed, Sonata raised a hand in emphasis to say something, but ultimately remained silent instead. She pursed her lips and hummed before she meekly asked, "What are you doing here?" Pinkie blinked in shock. Had she seriously not been expecting to be prodded about that?

As she continued to stroke the lizard, Pinkie simply smiled, revealing a gleaming white set of teeth. Unnaturally white. Unnaturally perfect. Sonata could only scratch her chin in thought. Usually it was only Adagio getting all the cosmetic jobs to be as "perfect as possible." These looked natural, somehow, given she had seen how much Pinkie had eaten at the cafeteria when they had proposed the battle of the bands.

Granted, she might have been the sole reason that Taco Tuesday only had one run at the school, but that was neither here nor there. She had learned moderation afterward. She'd only eat twenty tacos, if given the chance. Far less than literally every last one in the cafeteria.

Maybe she'd have to propose a Fajita Friday or Burrito Bonus as concepts. Would just have to go back to the school, and probably not get beaten into a pulp by a bunch of angry teens.

"You catch all that?" she heard Pinkie ask, and Sonata looked up. With a curious hum, she tilted her head, and Pinkie suppressed a giggle. With a playful poke of Sonata's arm, she declared, "Silly! I was explaining that I was petting Gummy, my pet alligator! That's what I'm doing here!" She pointed right to the floor, where he still stood at the end of Sonata's bed.

Suddenly, jabs of pain shot through Sonata's forehead, and she massaged her temples as she held back a hiss of irritation. Seriously, was she stupid, too? With a renewed bit of vigor and exasperation, Sonata stated gruffly, "No, what are you doing, in my room? How'd you get in? What are you going to do? Bonk me to death with your drumsticks?"

Snorting and sniggering, Pinkie covered her mouth with a hand and then shook her head. She set Gummy back down. The alligator protested, then turned to stare at Sonata. He didn't blink.

Sonata, for her part, nodded her head, and Pinkie stated, "Okay, well, I'm totally not here because I managed to jimmy the lock in your window, and I definitely wasn't doing that just so I could slip in and kidnap you, after observing you in your sleep for a bit to see if you suffered from sleep paralysis demons—congrats! You don't—and I definitely wasn't planning to forcibly reform you with the power of friendship, and then use you to force your sisters to reform, and then get your powers back and then use those powers to take over the party world!"

Despite not being the one who spoke it, Sonata felt her chest tighten and her lungs scramble for air just from listening to Pinkie's monologue. At the end, Pinkie inhaled loudly, to the point of sounding like she had inhaled about half the room. If Sonata wasn't still in shock, she would have noticed a couple of items on her dresser move slightly from the flow of air.

As Sonata's brain parsed Pinkie's information, she gave Pinkie a flat, half-lidded stare. Dully, since her mind was still processing, she said, "What."

"Nothing!" Pinkie replied cheerfully, pressing a hand to her mouth and suppressing a giggle. Beside her, Gummy merely gazed at Sonata. Now that he was more visible, he did not blink once. Once. Despite both eyes peering in slightly different, wall-eyed directions, it was as if the two slit pupils were boring into her own soul. She shuddered, the blackness consuming her thoughts.

Catching Sonata watching Gummy, Pinkie picked him back up and asked, "Wanna hold him?" There was a brief flash of mirth across Pinkie's mouth as she stated, "He doesn't bite. Really." She pulled up part of his lip and revealed the complete lack of any teeth. "See?"

Gummy wriggled his tail and gave a couple of growls. Even though she didn't wish to keep her gaze locked with the alligator, she couldn't help peer at him. As she caught the reflection of Pinkie on his eyes, she shuddered. In the back of her mind, she still couldn't quite figure out why one of the Rainbooms wanted to spend any time with her. Was it some kind of scheme? A way to get her to break and share any secrets Adagio might have been cooking up? Not that Adagio really told her anything, anyway.

Pinkie caught Sonata's hesitation, and she shrugged. Placing Gummy back down, she stated, "It's like you're having a flashback to some horrible memory after you lost your magic." Wincing, she added, "No offense."

At that, Sonata briefly recalled the night of losing her singing. While all three had been distraught and hastily retreated from the stage, she had also been hungry. After all, conquering the world promised to be draining, and already she had worked up an appetite beyond just wanting to feast on emotions. Also, said hunger for emotions was basically all translated into human hunger after becoming a proper girl.

Although Adagio and Aria had basically fled, she had stuck around for a moment when she spied a taco stand that had been set up to one side of the stadium. From what she had seen, it appeared empty and ripe for the picking. Although she should have ran, given that she was probably being chased, the promise of a fresh taco, or even partly fresh taco, was too tempting.

When she arrived there, her heart almost dropped when it was clearly empty. Except for the one geeky kid who was walking away with the last one. For a second or two, she had paused to contemplate, then walked up to him and pretended to be interested in him. Maybe it was a bit soon right after the battle failed so hard, but also, he was one of those geeky kids. Micro Chips, or something, and it was easy enough to promise an evening out, and that she was totally reformed now that she didn't have evil magic controlling her, and she had snatched that taco, no problem.

And then she never saw him again. For good reason.

She held back a gag, then felt something gnawing on one of her toes through the blankets. Glancing down, she spotted Gummy, who was straight as an arrow, on the edge of her foot, gumming on her toe. Although there wasn't any pain, her reflexes instantly kicked in, and she shrieked loudly.

Pinkie covered her ears, and Sonata kicked frantically. For a second or two, Gummy held on, then his jaw slipped from her toe, and he catapulted through the air. After soaring in an arc, he impacted Sonata's saxophone, which fell over and echoed with a loud "clang!" It was silent for nary a moment, as the guitar wobbled on its wall hanger, then it slipped off. With a resounding crash, it whacked into the dresser and then toppled onto the ground. There was a sickly twang from one of its now broken strings.

Sonata winced. If neither of her sisters heard that, she'd be surprised. Also, Pinkie had better pay for fixing things.

As if to answer her worry, there was a sudden pounding on the wall shared by her and Aria, at the far end past Pinkie and near her dresser. "Sonata! If you don't go back to bed right now, you'll have a new first course: out the window!" After a beat, Aria huffed, "That didn't even make sense. You're making me more of an idiot every day!"

With that, there was another grunt, and Aria stormed back to her bed, since the floorboards creaked momentarily and then there was another squeak from her bed, and then pure quiet. Sonata gulped. Pinkie held back a chuckle instead. While Sonata's heart continued to pound, she breathed in a few times and shook herself.

As her mind settled, Sonata glanced to the right and stared morosely out the window. Even when she had an intruder in her room, her sisters cared more about their own problems than her. Granted, they were sirens, or former sirens, and that carried with it a bit of streak of independence, even if they worked together. If Adagio had had her way, she would have simply ordered the other two around completely and never taken their input for anything.

If Aria had wrested control of the Dazzlings, then there could have been any number of outcomes. Might have just fought the entire school and pounded them into submission. Maybe some kind of rap battle. Who knew?

Regardless, her mind danced with the various thoughts swirling through it. If Pinkie had anything malicious planned, she probably would have sprung it by that point, so she was more than likely safe. Probably. Or, Pinkie might have been planning some death by chocolate or something, but that wouldn't work. Sonata was immune. She'd rather die by tacos.

Outside, the weather seemed to worsen by the minute, as fat snowflakes fell from the sky and plopped onto the glass pane. Slight sheets of condensation from the temperature difference coated the edges around the seal of the window. Probably by morning, they'd have grown even larger.

Drawing her legs closer to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and sighed. She caught the faint scratching of claws as Gummy scrambled back up onto her bed. From the slight tearing noise, he probably had left a mark or two. She winced at that. Either she'd have to learn sewing to patch it and risk stabbing her fingers, or risk Adagio discovering it, and probably get chewed out and questioned. Probably get called an idiot or something again.

With another pained inhale, she switched her attention to Gummy. The alligator gazed at her once more, his expression completely blank. Not even the tiniest bit of curiosity or the like. Was there even a brain behind those eyes?

Continuing her stare, she swallowed and hung her head. Her bangs flopped in front of her eyes, and she frowned when Pinkie shifted in her spot. After a few seconds, Pinkie muttered, "Uh, sorry, I suppose maybe, possibly, kinda, sorta, we might have gotten out on the wrong foot. What with me appearing in your room and all, and being one of the girls who did kinda take away your magic and all that stuff." Sonata glanced up from her mopey position and shot Pinkie a death glare.

Awkwardly scratching the back of her head, Pinkie tittered, "But, you know, you were kinda evil." She momentarily looped a finger around her ear and declared, "And you made people go all—" In a flurry of motion, she spun her hand more frantically, and Sonata rolled her eyes.

The point was received.

Placatingly, Pinkie held up her hands and mumbled, "No offense."

"None taken," Sonata finally murmured dejectedly. Was there much point being upset? It wasn't like she could influence anyone to be her thrall and thereby get back at Pinkie or any of the others.

With a shake of her head, Sonata buried herself further into her dejected position. Whistling gusts of wind battered against the window, buffeting fat globs of snow onto the glass. Sonata didn't react, and the room fell silent.

As there was a sound from Gummy, Pinkie gave a soft hum and then Sonata heard her move. "Aw, don't be all mopey, dopey! Pinkie is here to help!" Although a couple of tears threatened to trickle out, Sonata managed to keep her composure. She raised her head to stare at Pinkie. The girl had a hand outstretched, her face gleaming brightly. Somehow her teeth managed to twinkle.

Sonata had heard an expression while at CHS: "It's a Pinkie thing." As she continued to inspect Pinkie's open posture and friendly grin, she mentally shrugged and gave a nod. Might as well go along with it being a "Pinkie thing." She still only stared at the proffered hand.

While seconds ticked down, Gummy randomly licked at his eyes with his tongue, and the howl of the wind continued to pick up. Pinkie's grin slowly expanded, although Sonata could tell that she was beginning to strain at it, given the slight quivering of her cheeks.

Was she supposed to do something? Human customs never clicked with her some days, and especially when she was still in somewhat of a stupor, it made even less sense. After she pondered for a few more seconds, she blinked. It was a handshake. Right. Normal human behavior.

She arched a brow. "Why should I shake it? It could have something to knock me out on it." Crossing her arms, she huffed, "You did say that you were here to kidnap me—"

"Ah!" Pinkie held up a finger. "I specifically and in no uncertain terms told you that I was not here to kidnap you and reform you against your will, remember?" Shoving her hand a bit further forward, she exclaimed as she winked at Sonata, "This is what friends do when they first meet." With Sonata's mouth still wrinkled in a bemused frown, she tittered, "We're totally meeting for the first time as friends, right? Before you were all evil and mean, but now you're just normal, and we can definitely be friends!"

By this point, she was starting to jiggle with what Sonata could only assume was excitement or anticipation. Conversely, all she could think about was how it would probably tick off her sisters more if they found out. Perhaps a bit of her confusion came through, because Pinkie weakly chuckled, "I may feel a teensy weensy bit bad for leaving you a way to not eat."

"Uh, we aren't starving." Perplexed, Sonata leaned back slightly from Pinkie, and she sized her up. As she said that, her stomach rumbled, and she blushed faintly. "Could go for a midnight taco snack, actually." When Pinkie shot her a knowing look, she laughed and looked away. "Or burrito. Or sushi."

"Well, you still can't eat, you know..." Pinkie rotated her free hand on its wrist.

"Emotions? Mind control people?" Sonata sighed. "Yeah, true."

"Yeah, well, anyway, I kinda felt a bit bad, and you also don't have a way to express yourselves!" At that, Pinkie's eyes went wide, and she pushed her shaking hand toward Sonata further. With an insistent whine, she added, "Like, we saved the world and all that stuff, and Equestria, and anywhere else, but you know, if my friends could have done it without making you deafer than a doornail when it comes to singing, I'd go for that." She blushed. "Although, I guess I was a bit on the an-ger-y side because you had all been influencing me and my friends..."

As Pinkie finished, Sonata stared at her offered hand more closely. In her mind, she could already envision Adagio having a fit and Aria probably getting ready to toss her out of the apartment, but what did it matter? Couldn't make Christmas much worse, could it?

Besides, Pinkie seemed like she was all right, all things considered. Another foodie, she supposed. Plus, the sincerity in the girl's eyes shone like twin candles, glittering and sparkling like they were caught in the sunlight itself. What harm could there be if Sonata took the hand?

At her decision, Sonata gave a small shrug and reached past her legs to clasp Pinkie's outstretched hand. Limply starting to give it a shake, she muttered, "I guess I can't look any worse than I already do in Dagi and Ari's—gack!" Before she could finish, Pinkie yanked hard on her arm, which made her tumble forward in her bed and into the waiting embrace of her new friend. Or a supposed friend.

Instantly, Pinkie wrapped Sonata up in an embrace and exclaimed, "Yeee! Hi, new friend!" She paused for a second. "Hmm," Sonata heard her mutter, "feels like somepony else might have said that at some point." After another beat, Pinkie shrugged and, while still keeping her grip tight on Sonata, proclaimed, "Oh well! Reduce, reuse, recycle!"

"What."

"Doesn't matter. New friend friendship squeeze!" Without warning, there was a tight press on Sonata, and Sonata gasped as she felt her ribs be squished together as Pinkie tightened her grip. Spots started to form in front of Sonata's eyes, and she gagged and hacked as she strained to push herself back. Yet, somehow, Pinkie's vice-like hold grew more constricting and lost none of its strength. If anything, it became even more powerful.

With all the breath she had left, Sonata choked out, "Air!"

As if she hadn't thought about it at all, Pinkie let out a weak giggle and then her embrace slackened. Almost immediately, Sonata inhaled deeply, the rush of fresh air making her vision swim. The dots and circles that had been hazing her swiftly vanished. She held her head and massaged her temples. Between breaths, her chest had a few spasms before it finally became nominal.

If it had gotten much worse, she probably could have had a few broken ribs. Remembering correctly, she may have heard a few cracks, though. She checked. After prodding a few times, she didn't feel any lasting pain, so it was most likely only her imagination.

Brushing herself off, Sonata straightened her pajamas and pulled herself back under her sheets again. As soon as the warmth of the blankets hugged her tight, she furrowed her brow and stated, "Okay, well, thanks, friend, I guess." She huffed. "Whatever 'friend' means."

Pinkie opened her mouth. However, before she could say anything, Sonata huffed, "Now, I would like to get back to a dream I had about hosting a Mexican restaurant with First Course, okay?" She whimpered. "They were all singing about cooking tacos." Wiping one of her eyes free of a tear or two, she quiveringly added, "It was beautiful."

"Nope! No can do, bestie!" Pinkie proclaimed as Sonata closed her eyes. As much as the darkness of her room promised to embrace her into sweet slumber, she couldn't escape the seizing hands of Pinkie. Pinkie hauled her back up to a sitting position, and Sonata grumbled as she slowly opened her eyelids.

After cracking them open enough to see Pinkie, she frowned and mumbled, "For realsies, I need my sleep!" Sighing under her breath, she added, "Because that Mexican restaurant looked really good." She rubbed her stomach again afterward.

Seeing that Pinkie still wasn't moving, and Gummy was now climbing onto her hair, Sonata snorted and flicked both her hands in a shooing motion at Pinkie. "You've made a friend, now go do it somewhere else!" At that, she batted away Pinkie's hands and then went back to lying down on her bed.

For how long she was allowed to attempt to sleep, she wasn't sure, but eventually, there was a perplexed and bemused "hmph!" from Pinkie. As much as her brain warned her that it was a mistake to engage with Pinkie, Sonata peeked from under her eyelids at Pinkie, who was frowning.

Despite how stealthy Sonata believed her motion was, Pinkie appeared to pick up on being watched immediately. Although her cross grimace didn't change, she did state, "I came here for a reason, and you're going to help me figure out what it is!" Leaning down, she pulled Sonata, again, into a sitting position. Sonata groaned. One of the blankets slid off, leaving her feeling all the colder.

However, the words Pinkie had stated intrigued her. Either Pinkie was there on a wild goose chase, or Pinkie somehow had sensed her issue with her sisters. Chewing on her thoughts for a second or two, Sonata could only tilt her head in curiosity. Some of her hair flopped over her eyes, and she blew it out with a wimpy puff.

"Oh?"

With another hum and huff, Pinkie briefly scratched her chin and then glanced at Gummy, who was now hanging off of one lock of her hair. Pulling him off, she looked him in the eye, then muttered, "Maybe I shouldn't have revealed my ho—hand so early, Gummy." In a louder voice, she turned back to face Sonata and exclaimed, "Well, I heard that you were feeling pretty down, and I thought I'd come here to help you cheer up!"

Puffing out her cheeks a tad with a pout, she clarified with a small bit of sadness in her voice, "No-one should be unhappy around Christmas! It's, like, the whole reason for the season!" As she threw up her arms for emphasis, there was a tiny burst of confetti along with a party horn that disappeared just as quickly as it materialized.

Sonata blinked and coughed away the confetti. Who could have known, though, that she was so dejected because of her sisters? It wasn't like any of them went to CHS still, and she kept fairly insular when she worked, same with Aria. Who had blabbed? Who could have told?

As the questions went through her mind, her thoughts ground to a halt as she realized, How did she even know I was upset tonight?

Suddenly, her blood ran cold, and she stared into Pinkie's blue orbs. Was she being spied upon? There was no way there was a hidden camera in her room somewhere, was there? That'd be silly. No-one had that kind of ability, right?

Pushing those prying thoughts from her brain, Sonata instead crossed her arms and gave Pinkie a side-eyed look. Pinkie flinched an almost imperceptible amount under it. She darted her gaze to either side, to avoid Sonata's look. Faintly, a couple of sweat drops twinkled in the glow from the streetlight outside.

"So, if there is a person who knows I'm all mopey," she began while Pinkie only squirmed all the more, "who was it?" At that, trickles of perspiration formed on Pinkie's brow, and she tittered and wriggled. Something was up, and Sonata would get to the bottom of it. And then probably have Aria "deal" with whoever it was. If Aria would still talk to her, that is.

"Well, uh, you see," Pinkie replied, her eyes darting from left to right and resting on various objects throughout the room. She gulped. "The thing about that is, you'd probably think I was crazy if I told you." From her skirt, she pulled a couple of handkerchiefs and dabbed furiously at her forehead. She leaned from one side to the other as she stated, "You know, it is just a bit weird..."

Crossing her forearms, Sonata arched a brow at Pinkie and asked, "Oh?" She didn't say anything else, just remained inquisitive and stared at Pinkie. As every second ticked by, Pinkie coiled closer into a sitting fetal position before she suddenly sprung up in excitement. Although she wasn't sweating as much, she still did what she could to avoid Sonata's gaze.

She glanced at Gummy. Gummy peered back. "It was Gummy!" When he was mentioned, the alligator opened and closed its mouth a couple of times, the gums slapping together with a wet, sickly sound. Pinkie tittered. "Yeah! He has this, uh, sadness sense, and he showed me where to go!" Face going a deeper shade of red, she huddled into a tight ball. "Yep! Totally him!"

"Your alligator..." Sonata began with a drawl. "Your alligator told you?" Confused, bemused, and befuddled, Sonata pointed at the pet and arched a brow. Scrunching her nose in thought, she gave a curious hum, and Pinkie frantically nodded her head.

"Yep! It's abso-positively impeccable!" While Sonata continued to remain silent, Pinkie's mouth cracked into an uncomfortable smile. Sonata merely gave her an incredulous look. Before Sonata could open her mouth to protest, however, Pinkie proclaimed, "And he pointed me to you! So now I can make your frownies go upside downies, and then it'll all be better, and you'll have more friends, and you won't ever ask how I found out about you!" Giggling nearly uncontrollably, she added, "Deal?"

Sonata's gaze bored practically through Pinkie. If confusion was infectious, her expression would have probably been the most virulent strain of it around. She finally muttered, "Huh?"

"Christmas is no time to be mopey!" Jabbing a thumb toward her chest, Pinkie straightened her shoulders and posture and declared, "I'm here to make it all better!" There was a growl from Gummy, and she patted him gently on the head. "And Gummy, too."

Sonata scratched her chin. "Hey, if your alligator is so smart and magical, then how come he didn't know about my sisters?" If she was honest, something didn't quite add up, but then again, it was late. Or early. Whichever was most appropriate to being woken in the night.

"Pfft!" With a dismissive wave of her hand, Pinkie rolled her eyes and smirked. "Oh, I've put a blocker on those alerts months ago. Like they were sooo sad and mad and grumpy and frumpy and—"

Pinkie's eyes went wide. Gasping, she clamped her hands over her mouth for a moment and then peered briefly at Sonata. There was a coy flash in her expression, and after releasing her silencing grip, she clicked her tongue a few times. Shaking her head, she merely laughed and shrugged. "I mean, he was focused on you! Because you're the... nicest?"

With a panicked, wall-eyed gaze, she tilted over near Gummy and muttered under her breath, "Almost said the secret part out loud." She got another croak or growl in response.

"Said what part out loud?" Sonata inquired. "I don't follow."

Momentarily blinking at Sonata, Pinkie shot a quick glance at Gummy and then reached out and patted Sonata on the shoulder. With a comforting smile, she told Sonata in a faintly condescending tone, "Don't worry about it." She poked Sonata once in the chest and ordered, "Just tell me what's up, and ol' Auntie Pinkie Pie will cook up something that'll make your down get out of town!"

Sonata gawked at Pinkie. Was she trying to get secret information out to the Rainbooms? Had Star Swirl, if he was still around, put Twilight Sparkle up to something? Maybe he wanted them finally removed as a threat to Equestria? Not like they could, what with their missing powers, but who knew what he knew, if he knew anything? Maybe Twilight wasn't even friends with him. Maybe he was dead.

But there was no way that Pinkie could be as interested in Sonata's plight as she acted. They were enemies! But also friends. Frenemies? Eneriends? As she tried to figure out the right word for it, her head started to throb, which made her groan. Massaging both her temples, she closed her eyes and contemplated.

As she did, Pinkie leaned in and wriggled excitedly. To Sonata's credit, she didn't immediately push away the person who was violating what little personal space she was used to, but she also could have used an extra inch or two of freedom.

Biting her lip, Sonata gave some muffled grunts a couple of times and faintly rocked from side to side in thought. Confliction dancing across her face, she pushed herself back from Pinkie and gave a muted mumble. Pinkie eagerly pushed ahead. With a sigh, Sonata hung her head and muttered, "Fine. I guess you're going to keep bugging me until I break." Softly, she griped, "The worst, for realsies."

Leaning to one side as she thought, she gave a quick recap of the night, with particular emphasis on how irritated Adagio had been. When she finished, she watched Pinkie ponder, and she added, "Like, for realsies, they're just being awful." She balled a hand into a fist, but then slowly unclenched it. "Like, I totally get being mad about us losing our pendants." Pointing past Pinkie, she indicated a small pile of red on her dresser. As if it sensed it had people's attention, the remnants of her magical pendant glittered with a subdued sheen.

"I'm still angry about that, but"—she sighed—"you know, it's just that it's Christmas, and why should we be upset during Christmas?" At that, she got a nod from Pinkie. "But Adagio and Aria are just grumpy. Depressed, maybe? I don't know. Just, even before we lost our magic, they didn't get into the groove much, and now they don't want to at all."

Brushing down her hair and twirling it a couple of times around one of her fingers, she muttered, "Usually they at least pretend for me, but Adagio wouldn't even help set up the tree this year. She at least suffers through it normally." She allowed her one hand to fall to the mattress. It thumped dully and weakly.

With a gasp, Pinkie clasped both her hands to her cheeks and gawked at Sonata. For a second, she merely flapped her mouth, trying to probably form words instead of looking like a goldfish, but no words came out. Finally, she sputtered a couple of times, but the shock and surprise still plastered her face.

Finally, with a couple more coughs and stammers, she exclaimed, "No Christmas tree!" At Sonata's head shake, Pinkie sprang up to her knees and grabbed the ex-siren's shoulders. Shaking Sonata, she yelped, "How could they not have a Christmas tree up?!"

All Sonata could do was weakly murmur a response as her world bobbed up and down. Pinkie continued jostling her for a moment or two, then slowed. At last, she relented and gave a nervous titter. "Uh, well, yeah, that's bad." Sonata only whimpered, since her head throbbed from the constant motion.

"They're just like mean, ol' Windi... days! Yeah! Gusty days! Really bad. Just like Jack Frost, or Faust, or whatever they call him!" Pinkie swung an arm emphatically, to the point of almost smashing into Sonata's bed's frame. She narrowly grazed her knuckles instead and whispered, "Horsefeathers!"

"I know it's horrible!" Sonata whined as her lips pulled downward in a frown. "It's the totally worst thing around! Who can be upset at Christmas?!" After a second, she blinked and muttered, "Right. Me, too." Sighing, she glanced aside and instead stared at one of her bedroom posters. First Course Christmas music probably wouldn't have helped at all, except for maybe her. When she first played their music, Adagio had snapped the CD in half.

Apparently they "had no talent" or something. Not like she and her sisters did now.

Pinkie patted Sonata's shoulder. With a genuine smile, she made sure that Sonata was looking at her, and then stated, "Hey, we'll make all three of you have a great Christmas! As friends, hopefully!" She took her hand off and held it out again. "To friendship?"

Sonata stared at the offered hand again. While she had already shaken it once, it was mostly just because she didn't see a reason not to, rather than a desire to really be friends. But, there was something about Pinkie, that despite how she was a bit over the top, she did appear to actually want to see Sonata improve. When that realization arrived, Sonata's throat tightened, and she huffed.

Reluctantly stretching forth her hand, she muttered, "Sure. To friendship."

"Grr-reat!" Pinkie exclaimed. Another show of confetti somehow materialized from her hands as she threw them into the air in glee. As she saw them settle on the floor and bed, Sonata pinched the bridge of her nose. Cleaning that up would be both a pain and awkward to explain. Definitely couldn't vacuum it up, not without Aria hearing and raising a fuss. Adagio slept through anything, unless it was a soap opera.

She snorted. "Can I go to bed now? I'm pretty sleepy." On cue, she fought back a yawn as Pinkie suppressed a giggle with her hand.

"Not yet! I think that I have an idea on how to cheer them up!" Prodding Sonata in the arm with an index finger, Pinkie proclaimed, "You're going to invite them to the school Christmas party I've hosted every year for the past... three years!" At Sonata's bemused expression, Pinkie added, "Principal Celestia let's me use the school to host a party for all my friends, which is the entire school, so you, and the cheese puff hair one, and the grumpy one—"

"Dagi and Ari," Sonata interjected, although she couldn't help but snicker at Pinkie's mostly accurate depictions of her sisters.

"Right, right, well, you can all come, and it can be a party meant specifically for you, to right those upside down smiles!" Before Sonata could react, Pinkie had looped both her index fingers into the two edges of Sonata's mouth, and she pulled Sonata's cheeks upward in the shape of a smile. Sonata held back a snarl.

After a few seconds, Pinkie pulled them back, and Sonata's cheeks flabbily returned to place. Wiping her fingers off, Pinkie added, "No-one can resist a certified Pinkie Pie classic!" She hastily continued, "And no-one has ever proven that the punch is spiked, except when Spike sleeps in it."

Sonata huffed. "I guess, but I don't think they'd like it." Hanging her head and feeling her hair fall onto the back of her neck, she mumbled, "They don't like a lot of things about this year."

"Ah, don't worry about it. You can even help out with the 'Sorry We Took Your Powers but You Were being kinda Evil but Do You Want to be Friends' Christmas party!" Throwing up her hands again, Pinkie mimed a "ta-da!", but Sonata barely reacted. Face falling flat, Pinkie quipped, "Eh, the name's a work in progress. Probably, anyway."

For a moment, Sonata assessed Pinkie, then she slowly nodded her head. Was there really a point in arguing any further? It wasn't like she had any ideas for what she could do otherwise. It was unlikely that Adagio or Aria would be keen on trying Christmas tacos, even if it would probably knock their socks off. So, giving whatever Pinkie had in mind a shot couldn't hurt anything. Theoretically, anyway.

"Yeah, sure, I can help, I guess," she grumbled in reply. She squawked when Pinkie pulled her into another hug. However, it wasn't quite as rib-cracking, and she managed to wriggle out of it. When Pinkie shot her a puppy-dog-like begging frown, Sonata huffed, "Now, for realsies, I'm sleepy." She glanced briefly at her pillow. "And, uh, the longer you're here, the creepier it's getting."

"True, true," answered Pinkie with a sagely scratch of her chin. After a second, her eyes brightened and she declared, "Well, I guess I'll see you shortly! Sweet Snacks Cafe! Tomorrow! Be there or be square! Although, it is hip to be square..." She shook herself. Snapping her fingers a couple of times at Sonata, Pinkie grabbed Gummy with a quick "yoink!" and then headed toward the window. She pulled up from the bottom of it, and it remained fastened in place.

Frowning, Pinkie glanced back down toward and then strained further. She grunted. She groaned. She moaned. Despite her attempts, to the point of Sonata slipping out from under her sheets to get up to help, the window remained closed. Then Pinkie smacked her forehead. "Oh, silly!" she proclaimed. Grabbing the lock on the middle portion of the frame, she undid it and then opened the window.

As soon as she did, frigid air blasted into the room, leaving the ground caked with snow and ice. Sonata shivered, and Pinkie hopped partly through, to straddle the sill. Giving a final salute, she exclaimed, "Don't forget! Goodnight, new friend whom I'm not kidnapping to forcibly reform and then use her sisters to take over the party world!"

With that long-winded farewell, Pinkie rolled over the sill and into the snow below. Sonata blinked. As Pinkie left, the window closed behind her, and the lock slid back into place.

As the room descended into silence, Sonata shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands. After a few seconds, all she could think to ask was, "What?"