Aria Blaze was not very good at making friends. When she first met Adagio, they had a very strong mutual hatred for each other. Aria despised everything about Adagio; Her arrogance, her holier-than-thou attitude, her irritatingly perfect voice. Above all else, what made Aria hate Adagio was that she was the leader. Who made that decision? Adagio, that's who. So, when she, Aria, and Sonata were thrown from their cushy homes deep in the seas of Equestria, all eyes were on Adagio.

For her credit, Adagio did rather well for them. She kept them all alive and out of prison for over a thousand years (no easy feat, given Aria's anger issues). What's more, Adagio managed to force the three to tolerate each other. Sonata, of course, was all for being "bestiest friends in the whole wide world", as she put it, but Aria was less than excited for her two new roommates. Still, Aria never murdered the other girl, so Adagio thought she did her job as a leader well. Soon enough, Adagio began to enjoy their company, even Aria's. They all started to feel what the Sirens could only assume to be friendship, and a sense of obligation towards one another.

As soon as she saw Sunset Shimmer pick up the microphone during the final confrontation between the Sirens and the Rainbooms, Adagio knew that everything she worked so hard for would fall apart. Even as she and her comrades (Adagio refused to call them her friends. She didn't need that type of stress in her life) were being defeated, the biggest blow was the realization that they were finished. More than their defeat, more than even the destruction of their pendants, Adagio was hit with the reality that Aria would be leaving.

Not that Adagio was especially fond of Aria, but they had spent so many years living under the same roof that life without her was unthinkable. Adagio cursed herself for falling victim to the ploys of friendship, especially knowing what could happen. Defeat was always a possibility, one that Adagio always kept in her mind. She thought she developed a contingency for any scenario, but never had she considered the notion that Aria might leave, or that she might not want her to.

Which is why it came as a massive (and secretly pleasant) surprise to Adagio that Aria continued living with them with no sign of leaving. On the contrary, Aria seemed to make herself even more comfortable in their little two bedroom apartment. Adagio took the slightly smaller bedroom, which forced Aria and Sonata to share a room, much to Aria's chargin.

Two weeks after the Battle of the Bands and still all seemed well. Adagio had started working at the local music shop while Aria did who-knows-what and Sonata… Well, Sonata always seemed to be in her own little world.

It wasn't until a month after their defeat did Adagio notice a change. Aria, who had always pranked and teased Sonata, was getting more and more heinous. Sometimes, Aria could reduce her fellow Siren to tears. Adagio had her theories, but none seemed too plausible. Besides, Adagio had reasoned, what's the harm in a little teasing? Sonata was a big girl, and she could deal with having her feelings hurt every now and then. Eventually, Aria would get bored of bullying Sonata and find a new hobby. Or so Adagio thought.

She wasn't entirely wrong, but things went in a slightly different direction than she thought.

---

"What's for dinner?" asked Sonata, throwing herself onto Aria's lap. Aria managed to move her comic just in time to avoid a terrible rip.

"My fist, if you don't get off me." growled Aria. Sonata just giggled and rolled into a more comfortable position in her bestie's lap. Aria grumbled some form of "move" before giving up and burying her nose in her comic.

"Where's Dagi?" asked Sonata. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, then started flipping through Instagram.

"In the shower. You gonna order something?" asked Aria, flipping her page. A small, sinister grin broke out over her pale purple face. "Or are you going to cook something up for us? Try not to burn down the kitchen this time."

Sonata felt her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment. She did admit that it was a huge screw-up, even for her, but that was almost a year ago! Sonata wondered about statute of limitations for burning food.

"It was a simple mistake!" said Sonata defensively. She rolled onto her stomach to keep from looking at Aria. "Anyone could've made that mistake!"

"You forgot to put water in your instant ramen, you moron." snorted Aria. "Maybe the kitchen isn't the place for you."

"Fine. We can order something. What're you in the mode for, Ari?" asked Sonata, twirling a little strand of her shiny blue hair. "Pizza? Chinese? Tacos?" Sonata put extra emphasis on the last option, as if that would somehow make Aria more inclined to choose it.

Aria's mind started racing evilly. There were a lot of ways to mess with Sonata here, and Aria would settle only for the meanest. She bit her lip slightly when the thought formed in her head, and she had to stifle a chuckle. If Sonata noticed, she didn't act like it. She just kept flipping through her phone and repeated herself.

"I asked you what you're in the mood for." said Sonata. As seriously and darkly as she could, Aria gave her answer.

"Sushi."

At first, Sonata didn't really understand what was said. She knew that word meant something bad, because Adagio had yelled at her the time she suggested they try it. Aria's evil grin grew wider as she heard Sonata's tiny gasp of understanding.

"Sushi?" asked Sonata shakily. "Y-you mean… Like fish?"

"Yup. Fish and rice and seaweed." said Aria, barely choking back her laughter. "Fish. Just like you, Sony. Maybe I'll take a big bite of you."

Sonata tensed slightly, but still didn't move. Aria pondered how far she could push it. She leaned forward until her mouth was a few centimeters from Sonata's ear.

"Yum." snarled Aria. Then, she bit down (none too softly) on Sonata's ear.

"Eep!" Sonata shrieked, then rocketed from her seat. Aria could've sworn she saw a dust-cloud silhouette of Sonata. Aria laughed and laughed and laughed some more, just barely covering the sound of Sonata's crying from the kitchen.

"Ahem." A light cough grabbed Aria's attention and stopped her laughter. On the staircase to Aria's left was a towel-clad, dripping-wet Siren in the form of Adagio Dazzle. Her hair, normally a massive curly mane, was slick, wet, straight, and almost touching her legs. Besides her towel, the only thing Adagio seemed to be wearing was a green face mask (to keep up her flawless complexion) a smug grin.

"That's a good look for you." said Aria sarcastically. She closed her comic book, all hope of getting any reading done gone for the night. "You should go out like that."

"I finally figured it out." laughed Adagio, clutching her towel. She gently and daintily stepped down, her smile growing as Aria's fell.

"What're you talking about?" asked Aria.

"I understand it now. The reason you decided to stay after the Battle, the reason you keep bullying her." Adagio made her way to the couch. "Perhaps the reason you came along with us in the first place."

"And that is?" asked Aria. She kicked her feet up on the sofa and closed her eyes.

"You have a crush on Sonata."

Never in her entire life had Aria moved faster than when she sat up just then. The look on her face went from slight amusement, skipped right past her default mask of indifference, and went straight to the most intense of loathing. Adagio smirked in spite of herself; Normally, the person on the receiving end of one of those glares would also receive a black eye and bloody nose.

"I'm only going to say this once, Adagio, and then we are never, ever going to talk about that again." whispered Aria. She grabbed Adagio by the shoulders."I do not, nor have I ever, nor will I ever have a crush on Sonata."

"It makes perfect sense. You bully her because you don't know how to deal with your feelings." chuckled Adagio, shaking free of Aria's loose grip. "That's rather adorable, I think. You should ask her out."

For a moment, Aria thought she must've learned French at some point.

"Did you not hear what I just said? I don't have a crush on Sonata!" Aria half-shouted. "Now drop it."

"Oh! That orchestra is playing tomorrow! You should take her there. Oh, you two will be so cute together." Adagio's smirk grew wider when she noticed the faint blush rising on Aria's cheeks.

"I don't like Sonata!" shouted Aria loudly. "Get it through your head! I don't like her and I never will! Nobody likes her, and I'm not going to be the first!" Somewhere behind her, Aria heard a tiny gasp and an even tinier sob. Aria locked eyes with Sonata for about half a second before the crying Siren ran up the stairs and off to her room. Aria flinched when she heard the loud slam of the door.

"Wow… I've never seen her so upset." said Adagio. If things were different, she might be inclined to help. But a problem like this, Adagio decided, had to be fixed by the creator. "Well? You have a damsel who is thoroughly in distress. Go save her, Ser Aria."

"When I get back, I am punching your teeth down your throat." growled Aria. She rose to her feet. "Gimme your keys."

Adagio raised an eyebrow in confusion. Not only was she surprised that Aria did indeed intend to fix her mistake, but also by the fact that Adagio's precious car was needed.

"Kitchen counter. What do you intend to do?" said Adagio. Aria didn't answer. She was so angry that the words she was forming in her head could never be properly enunciated. Which, Aria realized, was probably for the best. She had some strong words to say, and they were probably things she could go without saying. That didn't stop Aria from shouting them in her head, even as she grabbed up Adagio's keys, slipped into a pair of sneakers, and slid out of the door.

"Moron." Aria grumbled, the door closing behind her.

---

Aria and Sonata shared a room. When they first moved in, Aria had made things very clear about whose side was whose. The door, conveniently placed in the dead center of the wall, made for a great imaginary boundary line that soon became a physical line of tape down the middle of the room.

The left side was plastered with posters, as many as Sonata could fit. It was an odd mix of One Direction, NSYNC, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and any other artist that Sonata ever liked, all proudly displayed on her wall. Sonata's bed was untidy and her floor littered with paper and candy wrappers.

The right side was the exact opposite. The walls were barren, everything was clean and neat. At first, Sonata assumed Aria was just a neat freak, but it seemed to be more than that. Aria hardly ever slept in her bed, or at all, if Sonata's memory served her well.

Sonata wiped the tears from her face and brought her blanket up her face, covering her nose. She sniffled but still couldn't understand why she was crying. She knew that Aria didn't like her in any way, romantically or otherwise. It also wasn't a secret that she didn't have very many friends. Still, Aria's words stung.

KNOCK!
KNOCK!

"Who is it?" squeaked Sonata.

"Open the door, Sonata." That was definitely Adagio's voice. Sonata threw her protective blanket off of her body and shuffled to the door. She unlocked it and pulled it open. Standing on the other side was Aria, one hand holding her phone and the other hand holding a box of tacos.

"Hey." said Aria.

"Y-you recorded Dagi?" asked Sonata. "Did you really have to do that?"

"Would you have let me in otherwise?" asked Aria. She shook her head. The question was rhetorical. "Here. Got you some food."

"I'm not very hungry." lied Sonata. Her stomach betrayed her almost immediately by letting out a growl that could silence a dragon.

"Eat. I swear, it's not poison." said Aria. She gave the box to Sonata, who reluctantly accepted it. "Sonata…"

"No. It's okay. You were just calling it how you saw it." said Sonata, her hands shaking. "I know that you and Dagi don't really like me, and I don't have any friends at school. I was just being a baby."

"No, you weren't. I was being stupid." scoffed Aria. "I don't know what I was afraid of, but I didn't want you to know the truth."

Sonata tilted her head slightly in confusion. Aria gestured for her to sit down, and they both took a seat on Sonata's bed. Aria would've denied it, and she did for several years after the fact, but she was nervous. Her heart was racing. She was being pumped with more adrenaline than she was during the Battle. Of course she was. What happened here was actually important.

"I was lying, Sony. People like you. Out of all of us, people probably like you the best." said Aria. Sonata was getting nervous. Aria was being way too nice to her, and that normally meant that she was about to try something terrible.

"Are… Are you okay, Ari?" asked Sonata.

"I never meant to make you cry." grumbled Aria. "You're way more irritating when you're bawling your eyes out into a tub of ice cream." Things seemed to loosen up, much to Aria's pleasure. Sonata smiled slightly, just enough to calm her friend.

"It's okay. I know you'd never try to hurt my feelings too hard!" Sonata's smile grew until Aria could see every single one of her shining white teeth.

Aria was about to vomit. Her heart was going to rip itself out of her chest and kick her in the stomach before running away. That was the only explanation for what she was feeling. It couldn't be nerves. Her, Aria Blaze, nervous? Impossible.

"Adagio likes you, Sonata." said Aria. "And I guess I do, too." Sonata's eyes grew brighter, and she let out a delighted squeal. "Don't think that means I'm just gonna start treating you like a goddess. It's just… I realized that you could be a lot more annoying."

Aria had never done anything like this before, so she had no experience. Even a thousand years or more on Earth hadn't been enough to bring the hermit out of her shell for longer than to pick up a comic book from the local nerd hang-out. Aria never talked to humans if she could avoid it. The idea of asking Adagio for advice was unthinkable. If the Siren leader's ego got any larger, it'd have its own zip code. Aria had no time for any research, so she was doing everything based on instinct and her gut feelings.

And something in her gut told her that now was time.

"Look, Sonata." said Aria. She reached into her pocket. "There's a… an orchestra playing in town next week."

"Uh-huh. I tried asking Dagi to take me, but she said 'no'!" complained Sonata. "I really wanna go…"

"Well, uh… I have…" Aria couldn't get the words out. She tried to find a delicate, non-embarrassing way to say it.

Screw it.

"I have tickets, do you want to go with me?" asked Aria as quickly as she could. Sonata jumped from her bed and squeezed Aria in a tight hug. Aria wiggled in her captor's arms, trying (and failing) to hide the blush rising in her cheeks.

"That's so nice! I never thought you'd do something like that for me and Dagi!" squealed Sonata.

"Uh… Adagio said she didn't want to go, so I only bought two tickets." said Aria, breathing as best as she could with her ribs being crushed. "It's just you and me."

"Hm?" Sonata dropped Aria from her hug. "That sounds almost like a date."

"Well, maybe it is. Is that so terrible?" asked Aria, trying to keep her voice from cracking like it did whenever she got flustered. She was doing pretty good.

"Hm… A date with Ari… Don't you think that's weird?" asked Sonata.

"Fine! It doesn't have to be a date, geez! I don't even know why I said that." said Aria. Her voice finally cracked, causing her to blush even more.

Aria felt two thin, spindly arms wrap themselves around her. Sonata pulled her into a hug, this one far less confining. She pecked Aria on the cheek and whispered in her ear.

"I'd love to go with you." said Sonata. Then, she dropped her arms from Aria, took the box of tacos from the bed, and skipped out of the room. Aria stared blankly at the wall, shell-shocked.

"Smooth move, Casanova." snickered Adagio from the doorframe.

"Bite me, Dag." said Aria, smiling uncharacteristically wide. "You'll have the house to yourself Friday night."

"Good. I need a break from you morons."

Aria Blaze was not very good at making friends. But, at that moment, that wasn't important. All that mattered was that she had a date.

On that fateful Friday night, everything was set. By 6:30 p.m., Sonata was getting herself ready for the night. She enjoyed a quick shower, begged Adagio to do her hair, and started preparing her makeup before finally slipping into her new dress, which, while a little on the short side, was still tasteful, and the aquamarine looked perfect on her. Sonata was so glad that she had made peace with everyone after the Battle of the Bands, and that Rarity was kind enough to help her get the proper attire.

Meanwhile, Adagio was making plans of her own. She had decided that today would be a cheat day, and she could eat as many prepackaged cookies and donuts as she wanted. On top of that, she had her secret, guilty pleasure that she had never even partaken in. The other girls would laugh at her, mock her and scorn her for it, which is why Adagio had decided to wait until she knew the other two Sirens would be gone before reaching under her bed, pulling open her shoebox, removing the DVD, and bawling her eyes out to A Fault in Our Stars.

Aria Blaze's plans were a tad bit different. While the other girls were fully prepared for the night, Aria, in a feat of airheadedness that she swore she could never defend, had entirely forgotten about her date. Instead of getting ready for the orchestra, Aria was having a conversation she vowed she would never have. Again.

"You're trying to tell me that you honestly believe that anyone from Marvel could go toe-to-toe with DC's greatest?" asked Button Mash in disbelief.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying. Their roster is amazing, but when you look at DC, they have…" Aria waited a moment, holding her comic in one hand and gesturing for Button to speak with the other. "Superman. That's it! Superman, and Batman on a good day. Meanwhile, Marvel has Ant Man, Black Panther, Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, Deadpool. Should I go on? I think I should, cause I didn't even scratch the surface."

"Look, I'm not saying Marvel doesn't have some good heroes." explained Button. "I'm saying that their best is nothing compared to DC's worst."

"Really? You do remember that you have Aquaman, right?"

"We try to forget about him."

"DC has one hero that can't be beat, and that's Superman. Anyone else, and Marvel has the one. So that's makes it a bajillion-to-one, but hey. That one point is something to be proud of." remarked Aria.

"But all those bajillion are nothing to our one." argued Button. "We have one Million-Dollar Hero. You have a hundred Fifty-Cent ones."

"Whatever. I don't have to defend myself to you." scoffed Aria. Her fingers traced the spines of several comics before she found some she liked and pulled them from the box. "I'm out of here."

"Where ya goin? Got a hot date?" said Button sarcastically.

The comics hit the floor, and a gasp escaped Aria. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks, which was nothing compared to how her gut felt. It seemed as if her insides were folding in on itself.

"What time is it?!" demanded Aria. Button tilted his head in confusion. "Time! What time is it, little man?!"

"Uh…" Button whipped out his cell phone. "6:48. Why?"

Aria screamed something that Button couldn't understand. It wasn't English, he knew that for sure. It was a loud, shrieking yell of some tongue that he had never heard before.

"What?" asked Button.

"The Siren language." explained Aria. "It means… Well, you'll learn what it means when you're older." She gripped one of her pigtails angrily. "How in Tartarus am I supposed to get home in 12 minutes!"

"Where do you live?" asked Button.

"Across town!" shrieked Aria. "I blew it! Game Over, man, Game Over!"

"Dude, calm down. Where do you have to be so badly?"

"I have a date, and I have 12 minutes to find a dress, get into it, put on my make-up, maybe buy some flowers, I dunno." Aria twisted her hair angrily. "Sony's gonna be pissed. This was my one chance and poof! Gone." She dropped her hair and pointed a finger at Button. "And it's all your fault!"

"What?! How is it my fault?!" he demanded.

"If you weren't so terribly wrong about comics, I wouldn't have wasted my time talking sense into you!"

"I was wrong? And that's coming from the girl with three vintage Teen Titan comics in her hand?"

"They're the only ones I don't have! They're for collection purposes!" yelled Aria. While the two were arguing, they didn't notice someone else enter. The blue-skinned girl's smirk fell when she realized that the only two people in the shop couldn't care less that she was there. She adjusted her hair, straightened the star clip near the top of her head, and cleared her throat.

Nothing

"Hello!" she said. "You have a customer!"

"You better get acquainted with the dirt, cause if I miss my date, you're going six feet under!" threatened Aria, grabbing Button by the collar.

"Hello! Does anyone work here?!" asked the girl.

"I do. I'll be with you in a second, Ms…." said Button. The girl smiled.

"Finally! You may call me the sensational, spectacular, unbelievable, unachievable, incredible, intangible, The Great and Powerful-"

"Tripsy." said Aria. "I remember you from the Battle. You were super easy to control."

"Trixie. The name is Trixie. The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"What do you want?" asked Aria. Trixie pouted slightly, but slithered over to the box of comics.

"Trixie is looking for three very special comic books to finish her collection." said Trixie. "You do have them, don't you?"

"We've got everything. What're you looking for?" asked Button.

"Trixie desires Showcase #59: The Return of the Teen Titans, Teen Titans #1, and Teen Titans #22: Origin of Wonder Girl." listed Trixie. Aria scooped up her dropped comics, the three that Trixie was looking for.

"Yo. Tripsy." said Aria. "I have them."

"What?! NO! Trixie has scoured Canterlot City in search for these books, and now she has been beaten to the punch by this…" Trixie flipped through her mental thesaurus for a second. "This jezebel hussy!"

"Hussy?!" Aria's blood went from chilled to boiling.

"Trixie knows what a Siren is! She did her research! What have you to say for yourself, you floozie?"

"That wasn't us! Those myths were made way before we even got here!" growled Aria. "I don't have time for this! I need to get across town in… How long before seven?"

"You have five minutes." said Button. Aria screamed something else profane in her native tongue before dropping onto her butt. She felt the tears coming, but she refused to cry in the middle of a comic book store, in front of a freshman and a narcissistic magician. That would be beyond pathetic. Instead, she buried her head in her lap and let out a stream of swears that only she understood.

"Hm… Trixie needs the comics, you need a ride…" mused Trixie. "It would be an injustice, nay, a travesty if you were to be late. Mayhaps we could make a deal of some sort?"

Aria spiked up, then glared at Trixie. At that moment, Aria was forced to make a decision she never would have thought she would have to: Would she rather read old comics or go out with Sonata?

"You want the comics?" asked Aria. "Get me a dress and bring me home in the next five minutes, and they're all yours."

"Try not to vomit in Trixie's car. Come now, Jezebel." said Trixie, digging in her pocket for her keys. "You don't have a problem with Trixie running a few red lights, do you?"

---

Aria tripped out of Trixie's car dizzily, clutching her bouquet of roses tightly. As much as she disliked Trixie, Aria had to give her some credit. While she was still a few minutes late, she wasn't terribly tardy. On top of that, she was in a nice, short, single strapped black dress, and she had time for some flowers. If Sonata liked it, then Aria thought she could live without her precious comics that she would almost definitely find on eBay for eighty-bazillion dollars more than what she was going to pay for them.

Aria sighed and pulled the hem of her dress down to about half the length of her thigh. Yes, Aria was going for a slightly more daring look than her date. She knocked on the door and waited expectantly.

Then she remembered that she lived there, and pulled open the door to let herself in.

"It's about time you showed up." growled Adagio, wrapped in a large blanket on the couch. "I'm all for being fashionably late, but I don't think Sonata quite understands the concept."

"Shut up, Adagio, I don't have time." snarled Aria. "Where is the little moron?"

"Upstairs. If you two do still plan on leaving, be quick about it."

Aria ignored Adagio, but agreed that they should leave as soon as possible. She half-ran up the stairs and down the short hallway to her room. Their room. Aria gulped and opened the door to find, to her shock (and various other emotions) a very naked Sonata sprawled out on Aria's bed.

"Knock much?" asked Sonata dejectedly. Aria caught an eyeful and quickly averted her eyes, blushing intensely.

"Sorry, I, uh… Sorry." said Aria, staring at the door. "Is there… Is there, like, a reason that you're butt-naked? Or on my bed?"

"Oh, I was already on your bed when I made the phone call." said Sonata.

"Uh-huh. So that's why you're on my bed. What call?"

"Remember when you gave me that phone number earlier? To check on our seats?" said Sonata. "I called it, and they said that the orchestra was cancelled!"

"Why in Tartarus are you naked?!" asked Aria finally. "That's the only problem that really matters!"

"Oh, I was so sad that we couldn't go, so I just took everything off. I was going to change to some jammies, but I just decided to sit here." sighed Sonata. "I was really looking forward to going out with you, Ari."

Aria finally looked away from her door. To her own shock, her eyes naturally locked with Sonata's. They were glistening with tears, her big, bright, once-happy eyes. Aria clenched her jaw, then strode into the room.

"Gimme your phone." demanded Aria. Sonata shrugged slightly and tossed her smartphone to Aria.

"What're you doing?" asked Sonata. Aria didn't say anything, and instead surfed through the web. After a few moments, she let out a triumphant shout.

"Put your clothes back on." commanded Aria. "And try something a little more casual. We have a new venue."

---

Sonata and Aria walked from the concert with their arms hooked, and with Sonata leaning her head against Aria's shoulders. Sonata was beaming and even Aria was clearly happy, though that was more from Sonata than the music.

"OMG, that was the single greatest thing ever." declared Sonata. "How'd you get tickets? Someone at school told me that the One Direction tickets sold out on day one!"

"Niall owed me a favor." said Aria simply.

"And how did you get them to sing for me like that?"

"He owed me a few favors." Aria grinned at Sonata as they walked, chatting and smiling and even laughing. It was an amazing experience; They had lived with each other for over a thousand years, but they were still learning about one another.

"Wait, wait, when did you meet 1D?" asked Sonata as they neared their home.

"Don't judge me." said Aria. "When they were first coming up, I… I was kinda their groupie."

"What?"

"It was a one time thing, but I had a… a night with the boys that they probably didn't want their precious Directioners to find out about."

Sonata nodded and let the thought stew in her head. It wasn't until Aria was unlocking the front door did Sonata connect the dots.

"Hold on a sec! When you say 'they owed you a favor', did you actually mean that you blackmailed them?" asked Sonata.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" asked Aria. Sonata nodded. "Then it doesn't really matter, does it?"

She pushed open the door and gestured for her to date to enter. Another thing that Sonata never knew about Aria, besides the One Direction thing, was that Aria was a perfect gentleman in many ways. Chivalry wasn't dead, Sonata decided. It just switched gender.

Sonata smiled and stepped into the house. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw on the other side.

The T.V. was flipped onto its side, surrounded by an amassment of candy wrappers and soda cans. On the couch was a trembling lump in a blanket, which occasionally let out a pitiful whine. Aria followed behind Sonata, keeping her eyes peeled for whoever had broken into their home.

"Dagi?" Sonata said tenderly.

"Go away, Sonata. I don't want you to see me like this." sobbed the lump

"Who was it? Did you see his face?" asked Aria. She was practically begging to run into the thief. That would surely get her some points with Sonata.

"Of course I saw his face. I watched the whole bloody movie." said Adagio.

"What? Nobody broke in?" asked Aria, slightly disappointed.

"No, no, that was me. Don't worry, I'll bring it in first thing in the morning. I have the warranty." sighed Adagio. "I think I'm ready to come out."

The three of them stood motionless for a while, Aria and Sonata waiting for their fearless leader to shed the safe confines of her blanket.

"What's stopping you?" asked Aria.

"My… my mascara is running. I can't come out like this." said Adagio. "Go upstairs! You must have so much to talk about!"

Aria shrugged her shoulders and offered her hand to her date. She led Sonata up the stairs, the both of them laughing at Adagio. Before they knew it, they were collapsing on Aria's bed, laughing hysterically.

"And we vowed to follow her to the ends of the Earth." laughed Aria.

"She can be really silly sometimes." agreed Sonata. She got her laughs out, and took in a deep breath. "This was fun, Ari. We should do this all the time."

"Maybe we should." said Aria with a smirk. "You should drop out of school. We'll have more time to hang out then. Get closer."

"I have an even better idea! You can start coming to school again!" said Sonata. Aria's smile fell into a glare in record time.

"That'll be the day. You couldn't pay me enough to step foot in that shack." snorted Aria.

"Come on! You need to make some more friends."

"I have friends." lied Aria.

"That one freshman at the comic store doesn't count." said Sonata matter-of-factly. "I swear, the girls are super sweet! And they're willing to look past the whole mind-controlling-the-school thing!"

"I guess that is a be-. Wait, what?!" yelped Aria. "I swear to God, Sony, if you tell anyone that I know that little snot stain, I will slaughter you!"

Sonata let out a girlish giggle, which had the dual effect of infuriating Aria and making her blush at the same time.

"Why do you have to be so friggin cute?" Aria smacked her with a pillow. "I'm serious, by the way. I will make you disappear, Sonata Blaze."

A half-second passed before Aria realized what she let slip. Before she could start taking it back, Sonata had her most smug grin on.

"You know, that's basically proposing." said Sonata. "Already thinking about marriage? It's only the first date, Ari."

"But there will definitely be more, right?" asked Aria.

"Do I get to call you Aria Dusk?" asked Sonata.

"Call me whatever you want." said Aria, closing her eyes in contentment. "Just stay away from 'Jezebel', kay?"

"Jezebel?"

"A long story. Maybe school wouldn't be such a bad move." mused Aria. "At least that way, I could get my comics back from Tripsy."

"Don't you mean Trixie?" asked Sonata.

"Wow, you're already nagging me to death, and we're not even official yet." said Aria. She felt Sonata's lips press against hers softly, lingering for a second before retreating.

"There. Totes official." said Sonata. She pulled out her phone and opened Facebook. She scrolled around, selected her status and changed it with a smile.

In a relationship.

Aria moved through the lunch line as quickly as she could. When selecting her meal, she resigned herself to pointing instead of verbally communicating with anyone. When she had her tray made, she paid her money and strode across the massive cafeteria. She garnered a few glares and looks of terror, which was nothing new to her.

Aria scanned the room for a moment before finding the table she wanted. She made her way to it then, balancing her tray on her right hand, she grabbed a chair from an adjacent table with her left. Aria slid the chair to the head of her table, dropped down, and started eating. After a few bites of her sandwich, she heard the wonderfully shrill shriek that told her Sonata was near.

"Ari!" squealed Sonata. She jumped from behind Aria, both of them wearing matching grins. Sonata dropped her tray next to Aria's and jumped into Aria's lap.

"Hey, Sony." said Aria. She leaned forward and kissed Sonata softly. "What's up?"

"Not much, but I didn't think you'd be here!" said Sonata, though she was obviously pleased. "Oh, sorry, guys. What's up with you?"

Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and even Pinkie Pie managed to remain entirely silent the whole time, watching with similar looks of shock, confusion, and discomfort.

"Howdy, Sonata." said Applejack uneasily. "Uh… Wanna take this one, Sunny?"

"Right. Sorry." said Sunset, shaking her head and making her fiery hair dance. "So… You gonna fill us in here, Sony?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sonata, taking a nibble of her own lunch.

"Well, you know that we're friends now." said Sunset.

"Uh-huh." nodded Sonata.

"And we love having you here, eating lunch with us. You're tons of fun." continued Sunset. Sonata nodded, but didn't answer through her mouthful of food. "Right. I guess what I'm trying to ask is… Well, one of the questions, anyway… Why is Aria here?"

"I can leave." said Aria flatly.

"No, no, that's not what she meant, darling." said Rarity, jutting into the conversation. "We are all just at a loss."

"What's so confusing?" asked Aria.

"Um… Well… You hate us." said Fluttershy.

"Uh-huh."

"And now you're sitting with us at lunch." said Rainbow. "How did you even get in? I thought Celestia expelled you."

"Yes and yes." said Aria, taking another bite.

"If y'all hate us, and yer not even 'posed to be here, why're ya eatin lunch with us?" asked Applejack.

"I hate your guts. I do. Sonata doesn't."

Sunset shimmied uncomfortably in her seat. She cleared her throat and tried to think of a way to word her question that would give her an answer she could work with.

"Alright. Um… What's going on with you two?" asked Sunset. "Why were you two just… making out?"

Aria scoffed and slid her tray to the side. She had fallen into a habit recently of stroking her hand down Sonata's ponytail, which is what she did now.

"First of all, that was hardly 'making out'. There was no tongue going on." said Aria, ignoring how uncomfortable the other girls were. "Second, why do you think we were kissing?"

"Perhaps that was the wrong question." said Rarity.

"Yeah, I guess so." agreed Sunset. "You two are together now, obviously. You guys should know that I don't care who gets with who, so long as everybody is cool with it. I just have to admit that I'm rather curious."

"Oh. Never met a girl who was into girls before, huh?" asked Sonata.

"Nah. That's not what she meant." said Applejack. "Me an' Dash are sorta the resident lesbians here, so she already knows a bit 'bout that."

"I don't want to say the wrong thing in case it offends you." said Sunset Shimmer. "How did it happen? You… You falling for…"

"How'd you end up dating your sister?" asked Pinkie finally.

If everyone else felt their face get warm, Aria's melted onto the table. Even Sonata, who had been calm the entire conversation, found herself with her jaw hitting the floor next to Aria's. The couple looked at each other, then back to the girls, still unable to respond.

"Well… That was certainly not the way I would have asked." said Rarity.

"Sonata is not my sister." said Aria. "Why would I be dating my sister?"

"We're not trying to judge you or anything. Like I said, as long as you guys are both cool with it, I think it's okay." said Sunset Shimmer. "If the love is right, the love is good."

"We have different last names!" said Sonata. "Sonata Dusk, Aria Blaze. See? They don't even sound the same."

"That doesn't actually mean anything. Plenty of siblings have different last names." said Rainbow Dash.

"I swear, me and Nata are not related." said Aria. "I didn't meet her until I was, like, fifty-four!"

"Again, doesn't mean anything." pointed out Sunset. "If you don't want to talk about it, we can drop the subject. I'm sorry for even bringing it up."

"She's not my sister! Both of my parents were dead by the time she was born! I have, like, forty years on Sonata." insisted Aria. The entire table, save for Sonata, seemed intrigued by this fact.

"That is a rather large age-gap, don't you agree?" asked Rarity.

"When you live for a thousand years, age doesn't matter in the same way anymore." growled Aria. She was getting fed up with the group of girls, interrogating her for no particular reason.

This conversation went on for a few minutes more, Aria steadily growing more irate with every second. Even Sonata seemed to be getting a little annoyed, but she never showed it too much. Aria had defended herself in every single way possible, but none of it seemed to be good enough for the six girls. And, Aria noticed, despite Sunset Shimmer's insistence that it didn't matter and that they could drop the subject, she seemed to have no issue with the continued arguing.

"Look, I don't know how else I can say this." said Aria. "You won't accept any proof short of a DNA test!"

"That would make an interesting episode of Maury." said Sunset with a smirk. "I can see it now: '1000 year old Siren wants to prove that she's not dating her sister'! Ratings would be through the roof."

"You are despicable." growled Aria. "Sony, get off me for a sec. I gotta go to the bathroom."

Sonata jumped to her feet, smiling dreamily as if nothing else in that moment mattered. There weren't many areas in which Aria considered Sonata superior, but keeping her cool was definitely one of them. By the time Aria was standing, Sonata had reclaimed the seat and had already started chatting with the rest of the table. Aria shook her head, turned, and walked right into a passer-by.

"Watch where you're-" said Trixie, rubbing her throbbing nose. "Hey! What are you doing here, Jezebel?"

"Last time I checked, it's a free country. Yeah, definitely." said Aria. "Pretty sure I was there when that decision was made, too."

Sonata pivoted her head, saw Trixie, and turned right back to the table. Her smile faded, and she resigned herself to silently eat the remnants of Aria's lunch. Aria noticed and took note, but didn't dare remove her attention from Trixie.

"You have some nerve, Jezebel, bumping into Trixie after she so graciously helped you get ready for your date!" said Trixie, as if Aria should be bowing right about now.

"You screwed me out of three comics and gave me motion sickness." snarled Aria. "Trust me, I am almost regretting it."

"Was your date not worth it?" asked Trixie smugly. "Though Trixie suspects that it was your fault! How did you trick some poor soul into going out with you in the first place?"

"Hey! I'll have you know that Aria was a perfect date!" said Sonata. Trixie looked confused for a second, then all of the pieces fell into place.

"So you're date was with her?" laughed Trixie. "Jezebel Blaze and Slow-nata Dusk. Now that Trixie thinks about it, it is rather fitting."

A meter in Aria's brain went from "fairly irate", went straight past "intense fury", broke through the end of the bar and landed somewhere past "murderous intent".

"Is there anyone who would be offended if I punched Tripsy in the face?" asked Aria. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Sonata raised their hands while the other girls leaned back and watched. After a bit of a glare from Pinkie, Sunset Shimmer reluctantly raised her hand.

"Well, then, sorry in advance." said Aria. She grabbed Trixie by the collar and lifted her off of her feet, the magician letting out a fearful yelp, then reared her fist back. She felt a hand grip her wrist and, with surprising strength, held her fist back.

"Don't hit her, Ari. It's fine." said Sonata. "She calls me that all the time."

"Nobody calls you slow except for me." growled Aria. Sonata gave her a begging look which restrained Aria's punch far more than her hand ever could.

"Listen here, Trixie. If you don't want me to knock your lights out, you're going to listen to everything I say." said Aria. "You're going to apologize to Sony for being a bully. You're going to say 'I'm so sorry, Ms. Sonata, I'll never do it again'. Then, you're going to bring me my comics and pray we never cross paths in the halls. Do you understand me?"

Trixie, incapable of proper speech, only managed to let out a series of whines while nodding her head. Aria dropped Trixie to the ground and stepped out of the way. Trixie practically ran past Aria, stopped in front of Sonata, and bowed her head.

"I am so sorry, Ms. Sonata, I'll never do it again." said Trixie, forgetting to speak in third-person out of fear. Then, she ran out of the cafeteria to get Aria's comics.

"Ms. Sonata?" asked Sunset Shimmer.

"Oh, shut up. I was trying to get Tripsy to show my girl some respect, okay?" growled Aria.

"No, no, I was impressed. It's cute, really."

"I thought it was sweet, if a little aggressive." agreed Fluttershy.

"That's the only way she knows how to do things." said Sonata. Without much warning she leapt into Aria's arms, the latter nearly dropping the former.

"For chrissakes, Nata! One day, you're gonna try that and break your friggin face cause I couldn't catch you!" said Aria.

"Nope! I know that you'll always be there to catch me!" said Sonata, smiling widely and nuzzling her head into Aria's neck.

"Awwww!" squealed the girls, causing Aria's face to grow warm and red.

"I didn't know cuddling was a spectator sport!" snapped Aria. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

RIIING!

Aria stood and savored the moment while everyone else in the cafeteria started to rise and exit. All that mattered was that she was holding Sonata in her arms, and that what she said was true.

"You're right." said Aria. "I'll always catch you.

---

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on this one. I originally intended for there to be no more than a week between chapters, but I realized that I needed to take a little hiatus. Luckily, I finally got over myself and can put out more of this story. Hope you guys enjoyed.

Friday nights were often the saving grace of high school students. Fridays meant freedom, albeit temporary, from all the stress and worries of school life. Monday through Thursday didn't matter anymore; Now, it was Friday. Anything could happen on a Friday. Friends could meet up, relationships could be rebuilt, and one could have the time of their lives.

Except for the Sirens, who were sitting in their living room, groaning in boredom.

"We gotta do something!" exclaimed Sonata for the third time that evening. Since school got out and Adagio's shift ended, the three rendezvoused in the living room and went about their normal routine; Aria picked her way through a large crate of comic books, Sonata rested her head on Aria's lap while flipping through her phone, and Adagio sipped on a mug of tea while reading through whatever novel she had lying around. While this was the norm for the three, tonight Sonata found it unacceptable.

"Even if we wanted to, can't you see that Adagio is busy?" asked Aria. "She can't put that smut down for longer than a minute."

"Shut up. I assure you, I can put down this trash whenever I choose." said Adagio, her nose buried in Fifty Shades Freed.

"If it's so bad, how come you're still reading it?" asked Sonata.

"Because, Sonata, I already read the first two books. You know how much I despise an unfinished story." grumbled Adagio.

"Yeah, Nata, we'd better let her read her book. We don't want another Half-Life 3 situation on our hands." snickered Aria.

"Over seven years and not a single word of its existence!"

For some reason, Sonata chose that moment to have a brilliant idea. She shot up, just barely missing Aria's nose with her forehead. A big, cheesy grin broke out on her face to contrast the irritated frown on Aria's.

"One day, you're going to rip my comic or break my nose." growled Aria. She closed her comic and returned it to the crate "Then, you're going to disappear."

"I know what we should do!" squealed Sonata, ignoring the threat. "We should go out for a drink!"

"A drink?" asked Adagio, raising an eyebrow and sipping her tea "You mean… Booze, correct?"

"Uh-huh! It's been forever! I don't think we've been to a bar since… I dunno when, honestly." said Sonata. "I think Al was still alive."

"That jerk owed me twenty bucks." recalled Aria. "I hope the scars were worth it."

"So what do you say? There's a bar downtown that;s supposed to be totes great! Let's check it out!"

"I don't know. Lately, I've felt like such a third wheel." griped Adagio. "I thought things would be more normal after a few weeks, but you two are always joined at the hip."

"Oh, did I mention that there are some hot guys who go by there all the time?" said Sonata. Adagio rolled her eyes and shut her book in annoyance.

"Come on, now. Did you really think that would be enough to convince me?" asked Adagio. She bit her lower lip in thought for a second. "How hot exactly?"

"Think Robert Pattinson, Chris Brown, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Channing Tatum." listed Sonata. At this point, the only thing keeping Adagio seated on the floor was her own will, and that was quickly waning. She really, really, really didn't want to give in, but she did like the idea of a bunch of Channing Tatum lookalikes all in one place.

"It's not like I have a massive crush on any of those men." said Adagio, in a shockingly unconvincing tone.

"Oh, and they have money. Tons of it." added Sonata. Adagio was upstairs before Sonata could blink.

"Get ready girls!" shouted Adagio from the bathroom. "I'd like to leave before 9!"

Aria snorted her disapproval before getting to her feet and looking to her girlfriend. They shared a small laugh at Adagio, then headed upstairs. Together, they started digging through their respective closets. Over the years, they had acquired quite a few garments, and a select few followed them in every home they'd lived in.

"What're you wearing, babe?" asked Sonata.

"Just some jeans and a tee. I mean, it's not like I have anyone to impress, right?" said Aria. She pulled a pair of black jeans from her closet and went from indifferent to irked in record time. An off-white, almost beige splotching adorned the entirety of the left pant leg, splashing across to part of the right.

"Ugh! Who did laundry?" asked Aria angrily, though she already thought she knew the answer. Only Sonata was dumb enough to do something like this.

"Dagi did a load yesterday, and I hung em up for you." said Sonata. She thoroughly inspected a shirt, then returned it to the depths of her closet when she concluded that chartreuse really wasn't her color.

"Wait, this wasn't you?" asked Aria.

"Nope. Adagio won't let me do laundry anymore, remember? Not since the accident."

"We had to replace all of our clothes and the apartment was flooded for a week." Aria reminisced. "So it was Adagio who ruined these?" She sucked her teeth loudly. "Man, I loved these jeans."

Keeping up with the day's theme of sudden epiphanies, Sonata suddenly had a thought. Unlike her earlier realization, this one didn't make her especially excited. Quite the contrary, she felt what might have been anger, or at least, the start of it.

"Hey! I just thought of something!" exclaimed Sonata.

"Hm? That's new." mocked Aria. "What's that feel like to you?"

"You've never said it! We've been together for, like, a month, and you still haven't said it!"

Aria thought a second, trying to do two things. Primarily, she was searching for a suitable replacement pair of jeans. On a subroutine, she gave herself the task of deciphering what in the world Sonata was talking about.

"I give up." said Aria. "What haven't I said?" She reached back into her closet and took out a pair of similar jeans, these belonging to Sonata. Not caring to ask how they got in there, Aria laid them on her bed.

"You haven't said 'I love you'!" said Sonata dramatically.

"So?"

"So? So?! You should've said it by now! This is a huge deal!"

"You haven't said it." noted Aria. "Why is it my job to initiate?"

"Cause you're the guy! It's the guy's job to say it first!" said Sonata, as if it were obvious. Aria raised a questioning eyebrow, then pulled a violet tank top from her closer.

"I'm the guy? What're you talking about?" asked Aria, pulling off her old shirt and slipping into her new tank top. "I think you might need to start keeping your fantasies in your head."

"You know what I mean! You're way more masculine than I am." said Sonata. "If we were a regular couple, you'd be the guy."

"So, just because I wear the pants, I have to do something I don't feel comfortable doing?" asked Aria. She unbuckled her pants and pulled on Sonata's. "That's not really fair."

"How come you're not comfortable saying it?" asked Sonata.

"Cause I don't. Can we just drop it for now while you get dressed?" said Aria, though it sounded less of a question and more of a demand. "I can practically hear Adagio's ragged breathing.

"Shut up!" Adagio shrieked from the bathroom.

Aria let out a heavy sigh, then rose from her bed. Without a word to Sonata, she simply slid out of the room. Sonata was puzzled, and a little hurt, but didn't pursue the issue. Finding an outfit was more important, and, as soon as she did, she'd be able to get some answers out of her girlfriend.

---

As soon as the three Sirens crossed the threshold of the bar, three very distinct thoughts ran through each their heads. As was usually the case, these thoughts were about as different as its owner's viewpoint.

I'm so gonna have fun!, thought Sonata, for she saw nothing but fun times ahead. There were tons of interesting people to talk to, the entire place had an atmosphere of friendship, and the bartender had a genuine smile on his face. Sonata saw opportunity.

I'm so gonna lose my mind!, thought Aria, who saw everything Sonata saw and hated it. Too many people, too much noise, and what in Tartarus was that bartender grinning at so hard? The only reason Aria didn't turn and leave at once was standing right next to her.

I'm so gonna get laid!, thought Adagio, ignoring everything except the multitude of attractive, lonely, and (presumably) wealthy men scattered across the semi-crowded bar. In a slightly different way from Aria, Adagio also saw opportunity.

"To the bar!" declared Sonata, grinning widely. Adagio and Aria followed as Sonata led them forward. Adagio had a devious, minxy smile on her face, and she set herself a challenge.

"Seven minutes." she said when the three reached the bar. Each of them deposited themselves on the wooden bar stools. "Seven minutes before I talk one these hunks into buying me a drink or twelve."

"Someone's confident." said Aria. "Be careful, now. You don't know what kind of weirdos hand out here."

"Don't you dare try to ruin this for me! This might be the best idea Sonata ever had, and I refuse to let your sour attitude get me down!"

"That's the spirit, Adagio! Just let the good times come to you!" said Sonata. She already felt victorious, and the bartender hadn't even served them yet.

"Whatever. All I know is that the bartender better get over here, ASAP." grumbled Aria. "I need some booze already."

"Excuse me." said a man from behind Adagio. "Is this seat taken?" He pointed to a stool beside Adagio.

Dreamy blue eyes? Check. Chiseled features? Check. Washboard abs? Adagio couldn't be entirely sure, but, at a glance, check.

"Only by you." said Adagio, barely choking back a girlish giggle. The man took a seat and tilted his head slightly at the sight of Adagio.

"Sorry, this might come off as creepy, but…" the man said. "Since you walked in, I couldn't keep my eyes off of you."

"Oh, I'm flattered." said Adagio. "But are you sure you should be talking to me? Your girlfriend can't be very happy with that."

"That's not a problem. I'm not seeing anybody right now."

"In that case, my name is Adagio. I didn't catch yours." Adagio tilted her head in the same way.

"I'm Spencer. Pleased to meet you."

"And you're absolutely sure that you don't have a girlfriend?" asked Adagio. Spencer shook his head. "Would you like to go to a booth and chat?"

"Oh, I couldn't take you from your friends." said Spencer bashfully.

Adagio got up and grabbed Spencer by the wrist, smiling flirtatiously.

"I assure you, they will manage without me." said Adagio. That ended all argument, and Spencer allowed himself to be led by Adagio. Aria and Sonata stared, wide-eyed at Adagio's… skill, for want of a better word. Just before she was out of sight, Adagio managed to mouth "Don't wait up" to the other two, which made her intentions clear.

"Wow. That's something special." said Aria.

"She could talk to someone after two minutes and it took you fifteen hundred years to ask me out?" asked Sonata.

"It is totally not the same thing! I want a girlfriend, she wants a sugar daddy." sneered Aria. Sonata had to agree with that and so decided to leave it alone. An awkward silence threatened to arise, thankfully overturned by the appearance of the bearded bartender.

"Sorry for the wait, ladies. What can I get you?" asked the bartender.

"Irish Trash Can, please." said Sonata.

"Jack Daniels for me." said Aria. Sonata laughed and shook her head.

"She's joking. Get her an appletini." said Sonata.

"What? No. That's a girl drink." argued Aria.

"Babe, you drink like a girl." Aria growled angrily, and Sonata raised her hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. Get her her whiskey, and bring an appletini as well. Just in case."

"On it." said the bartender. He reached under the counter and pulled out a pounder glass, a martini glass, a whiskey glass, then went back down for the multitude of bottles he'd need, as well as a can of Red Bull. He poured and mixed and stirred until the Sirens were looking at three glasses, one filled with a light green liquid and a Red Bull can, one with an amber liquid, and the last with a nearly glowing neon green drink.

"There you are. Just let me know if you need anything else." said the bartender with a smile.

"Thank you." said Sonata, returning the smile. As he walked away, she crossed her arms and looked at Aria. "Well? Aren't you going to drink?"

"Whatever." grumbled Aria. She took her whiskey glass and took a sip, the liquid instantly burning her throat. She slammed the mostly-full glass onto the table and started coughing furiously.

"See?" said Sonata. She took the glass and drained it in one gulp. "You drink like a girl."

"Okay, so maybe I have over-romanticized memories of whiskey." admitted Aria. "That doesn't mean I like appletinis."

"You could at least try it." said Sonata, pulling the can from her glass. She watched in amusement as Aria grabbed the glass in the same way that a zookeeper might grab a sleeping cobra.

"Cheers!" said Sonata brightly, clinking her glass against Aria's.

"I still don't think I'm going to like this." mumbled Aria, taking a careful sip. She looked at the glass, then drank the whole thing.

"Well? Do you like it?" asked Sonata, sipping her own drink.

"Oh, shut up." said Aria playfully. Content with her girlfriend's slightly improved mood, Sonata let out a sigh and sipped her powerful drink.

"Glad you like it." said Sonata.

"Yeah… Guess you do know me pretty well." admitted Aria. "So… What now?"

"We drink, get tipsy, talk about stuff, and maybe get kicked out of the bar." listed Sonata. "Sound fun?"

"Definitely. So, how many of these will it take to get to the second step?"

"Let's find out." said Sonata. She waved the bartender over and asked him to refill Aria's drink. When he was done and had started to walk away, Sonata steeled her nerves enough to ask the question that had been bugging her since they left the apartment.

"So… Can I ask you a question?" asked Sonata. Aria shrugged, but didn't try to stop Sonata. "Kay. Why does it make you uncomfortable to say it? To say you love me?"

"I… It's just that…" Aria couldn't get the words out at first. "Okay. Let's back up a bit. Remember when the three of us split up for a couple of years?"

Sonata remembered, though not very fondly. It was about eleven years that the three had gone their separate ways in search of Equestrian magic. Sonata was lost and lonely for the entire time, and it wasn't an overall pleasant part of her life. When they met back up, they all agreed not to talk about it, and it never resurfaced.

"Yeah… " said Sonata.

"I moved around a lot. Headed to Spain for a couple of years, then I stood in Germany." said Aria. "It was hard. Met some people, and… It was just really difficult, you know?"

"What was so hard for you?" asked Sonata.

Aria didn't say anything for a while, instead busying herself with her drink. She drained her glass and planted it back onto the table.

"You must know what it's like to be with someone, and then something happens to them." said Aria. Sonata shook her head slowly.

"You're the first person I've ever been with." sighed Sonata. "Nobody ever noticed me, no matter how hard I tried to find somebody."

"That's their loss." snorted Aria. "They're missing out on a gem here. Should've taken you when they had the chance."

Sonata beamed, her spirits raised. The look that she gave to Aria made her blush slightly, and she was more than willing to change the subject.

"I've been thinking about heading back there for a little while." said Aria. "Spain. I'd like to take you out there."

"That sounds nice. We should start planning it, huh?" asked Sonata.

"Definitely. I used to stay in Aragon, and I've been thinking about taking you and Adagio there." said Aria. "Or maybe just us. But those are just my plans. What have you been thinking of doing? You must've been making plans since we lost the pendants."

"I've been… Well, I've wanted to do something, but…" Sonata sipped her drink to try and loosen up. "I've been worried."

"Bout what?"

"You'd call me dumb." said Sonata.

"I always call you dumb."

"Yeah, but…" Sonata let out a wistful sigh, then finished off her drink. "Okay. I've always wanted to do this, even before we got banished here. I've never had the chance, because I've been scared, but… I really want to sing."

"What's been stopping you?" asked Aria. She pushed her glass away, making a self note to ask the bartender for a slightly stronger girly drink.

"It's so hard to get noticed. I don't want to get rejected by anyone." said Sonata, staring down at the table. "I don't know how to get myself out there."

"You can't be afraid to jump out and do it. If you want something, you have to grab it." said Aria. "Don't let fear hold you back. You want it, you have to grab it."

For the third time in that day, Sonata had a sudden burst of insight. She realized that Aria was right, that she had to grab it. But, more importantly, Aria needed help to practice what she preached.

Sonata jumped from her stool and hugged Aria tightly, kissing her softly on the cheek. Aria didn't know how to react at first, but soon made a decision. She kissed Sonata deeply, breaking away when their breathing got too ragged.

"I love you." said Sonata.

"I… I-I… I think…." Aria slurred. "I think you gave me contact buzz."

"You wanna head home?" asked Sonata. Aria shook her head.

"No. I need to get some liquor in me, and then we need to talk." said Aria. "Is that okay?"

Sonata called the bartender over, and the two drank some more. Sonata smirked slightly. Aria really couldn't say it just yet. Sonata could deal with that, so long as they had some booze to drink and something to talk about.

---

The first thing Aria noticed was the pounding in her head. It wasn't until she sat up and put her palm to her forehead did she realize that A) Her hair was down, B) She was topless, and C) She was on Sonata's bed. Sonata herself was looking up at the ceiling, her eyes half-shut, and was wearing Aria's tank top, her hair also down and loose.

"Morning, babe." said Sonata drowsily. Aria fell onto her back, her migraine growing in intensity slightly.

"Hey. Last night was fun." said Aria. Sonata rolled over and laid her arm across Aria's chest.

"Sure was. How's your head? Got a hangover?"

"Yeah, a little. I'll be fine, though." Aria laughed quietly. "You know how to party, huh?"

"I just like having fun, especially with you." said Sonata. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have tried to pressure you into saying it. I won't try to rush you anymore."

Aria ran her hand through Sonata's sea of blue hair. The memories from last night came drifting back and Aria tried her best to be upset, but she couldn't bring herself to it. Mostly because she knew that she was being silly.

"I love you, too." said Aria, kissing Sonata on the cheek. She closed her eyes and the two sat warmly, waiting for a reason to get out from the grasp of the other. If they were to guess, they wouldn't find one for quite a while.

Aria slammed her fist angrily down on her bed, crumpling her homework beneath her hand. She couldn't believe it! She had gone through high school a hundred times, gone through public schools and private schools and catholic schools and art schools, time and time again, but still she couldn't wrap her head around a little bit of pre-cal. It was absurd, to say the least.

What Aria didn't know (besides the answers to her homework) was that Sonata was staring at her from the doorway. Like a predator hunting prey, Sonata stalked into the room, creeping quietly towards her target and closing the door quietly behind her. No escape for her target. Silently and with expert dexterity, Sonata slipped off her boots and stepped past them in two swift movements. Now unhindered and entirely silent, Sonata prowled forward. She paused about a foot away from the bed, crouched down, and leapt onto Aria.

Then, the battle began.

"Sonata!" yelped Aria, but it was too late. Sonata had her pinned to the bed and began her work. She expertly ran her thin and nimble fingers down Aria's side, both of them giggling slightly. Aria's eyes widened with fear when she realized what was happening.

"Sonata, don't you dare!" shouted Aria behind her giggles. Taking the challenge, Sonata worked her fingers even harder, sliding up and down Aria's midriff.

"Sony!" laughed Aria madly. "Stop!" Sonata did no such thing. "Hahahaha! Stop!"

"Never!" declared Sonata. She had learned long ago that Aria was dangerously ticklish, but never before had she been able to use such knowledge.

"Nata, I- Hahaha! I swear to God, I will kill you!" cackled Aria, thrashing underneath Sonata's surprising strength.

"You're not very scary when you're laughing so hard that you might pee yourself." commented Sonata, tickling even harder.

"HAHAHA! I swear, if I- Haha! If I piss myself- HAha! Cause of you!" guffawed Aria. The door swung open and Adagio, looking down at her phone, stepped into the room. She must've just gotten off of work, because she was still wearing the bright blue "DJ SC-R4TCH" shirt and cap.

"Pinkie Pie invited us over to her place for Chinese and video games." said Adagio. "Are you coming?"

"HAHA! SONATA, YOU ARE DEA- HAHAHAHA!"

Adagio looked up at the intense battle going on before her. Aria, red in the face and struggling pathetically beneath a girl that Adagio wagered was about 50 pounds, soaking wet. The assault ceased for a second as Sonata and Aria locked eyes with Adagio, triumph, embarrassment, and confusion apparent on each of their faces.

"So… Just me, then?" asked Adagio sheepishly. Aria, ever the opportunist, saw her chance and grabbed it. Using her newly regained strength, she flipped Sonata over onto her back. Now, Aria was the one holding Sonata down.

"Oh, I'm gonna have fun getting my revenge." snarled Aria. "Wanna see just how scary I can be?" Sonata practically shrunk beneath Aria's looming, terrifying form.

"Dagi! Help!" squealed Sonata.

"Pinkie? Yeah, it's Adagio." said Adagio, holding her phone to her ear. "Tell the girls that it'll just be me. Sonata and Aria are… tied up. Hm? Oh, they're… I don't know, really. Girlfriend stuff, I suppose." Adagio looked up and saw Aria slowly lifting Sonata's shirt, revealing her flat, blue tummy. "If you don't mind, I'd like to see you now. Things are getting… Well, girlfriend stuff."

Adagio turned and left the room while Sonata's request for help died away in her throat.

"Ari? What are you doing?" asked Sonata frightfully. Aria only answer was in the form of a sadistic grin and the further lifting of Sonata's shirt. Aria rolled it to a stop just beneath Sonata's breast, running her hands down Sonata's middle. She brought her face down to her girlfriend's belly, pressing her lips just above her navel.

And then she blew.

Pbbbbbbt!

"BWAAAA-HAAAAA!" cackled Sonata. She laughed and laughed, trying her best to escape the torture. Aria would allow no such thing, not yet. She blew the loudest, wettest raspberry on Sonata's tummy, reducing her to baby-like babbling for quite a period. After a while, Aria lifted her face from Sonata's stomach and planted a kiss on her lips.

"What was that about?" asked Aria. "Tickle fights? That's so… normal."

"You seemed stressed. I just wanted to brighten your mood a little bit." panted Sonata. Her laughs had emptied her lungs and thoroughly exhausted her.

"Well, I guess you did." huffed Aria, also rather tired.

"What had you so worked up, anyway?" asked Sonata. Aria reached to the floor and grabbed her fallen homework and passed it to Sonata.

"I can't figure out this friggin pre-cal garbage." grumbled Aria. "I've been at it for an hour and I can't get past the first problem." Sonata looked at the paper for a second, grabbed Aria's discarded pencil and, in a manner of moments, filled out the worksheet.

"There ya go." said Sonata. "You can check my work in the back of the textbook, if you like."

Everything Aria knew about the world was suddenly under investigation.

"I… But, you're…" Aria stuttered, dumbstruck. "You're… You're supposed to be the stupid one…"

"Well, I'm really good with numbers. I guess I'm some kinda samont." said Sonata, shrugging her shoulders.

"Savant. And yeah, you sure are. You might as well be Rain Man."

"OMG, I love that movie!" squealed Sonata in excitement. Aria rolled her eyes and let her homework drop to the floor. Part of her wanted to get up and head over to Pinkie's, but she didn't quite feel up to it yet.

"Feel like going with Adagio?" asked Aria. Sonata shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really. Today feels like a day for tacos and old movies." said Sonata. Aria nodded her agreement, and grinned. She always loved date night.

The next day, Aria turned in her homework to find that every answer Sonata supplied her with was wrong. She hung her head in disappointment, more in herself than anything. She really should've known better. She spent the rest of the day to decide how she would get her back, finally settling on the tried-and-true tickle torture.

Aria slammed her fist angrily down on her bed, crumpling her homework beneath her hand. She couldn't believe it! She had gone through high school a hundred times, gone through public schools and private schools and catholic schools and art schools, time and time again, but still she couldn't wrap her head around a little bit of pre-cal. It was absurd, to say the least.

What Aria didn't know (besides the answers to her homework) was that Sonata was staring at her from the doorway. Like a predator hunting prey, Sonata stalked into the room, creeping quietly towards her target and closing the door quietly behind her. No escape for her target. Silently and with expert dexterity, Sonata slipped off her boots and stepped past them in two swift movements. Now unhindered and entirely silent, Sonata prowled forward. She paused about a foot away from the bed, crouched down, and leapt onto Aria.

Then, the battle began.

"Sonata!" yelped Aria, but it was too late. Sonata had her pinned to the bed and began her work. She expertly ran her thin and nimble fingers down Aria's side, both of them giggling slightly. Aria's eyes widened with fear when she realized what was happening.

"Sonata, don't you dare!" shouted Aria behind her giggles. Taking the challenge, Sonata worked her fingers even harder, sliding up and down Aria's midriff.

"Sony!" laughed Aria madly. "Stop!" Sonata did no such thing. "Hahahaha! Stop!"

"Never!" declared Sonata. She had learned long ago that Aria was dangerously ticklish, but never before had she been able to use such knowledge.

"Nata, I- Hahaha! I swear to God, I will kill you!" cackled Aria, thrashing underneath Sonata's surprising strength.

"You're not very scary when you're laughing so hard that you might pee yourself." commented Sonata, tickling even harder.

"HAHAHA! I swear, if I- Haha! If I piss myself- HAha! Cause of you!" guffawed Aria. The door swung open and Adagio, looking down at her phone, stepped into the room. She must've just gotten off of work, because she was still wearing the bright blue "DJ SC-R4TCH" shirt and cap.

"Pinkie Pie invited us over to her place for Chinese and video games." said Adagio. "Are you coming?"

"HAHA! SONATA, YOU ARE DEA- HAHAHAHA!"

Adagio looked up at the intense battle going on before her. Aria, red in the face and struggling pathetically beneath a girl that Adagio wagered was about 50 pounds, soaking wet. The assault ceased for a second as Sonata and Aria locked eyes with Adagio, triumph, embarrassment, and confusion apparent on each of their faces.

"So… Just me, then?" asked Adagio sheepishly. Aria, ever the opportunist, saw her chance and grabbed it. Using her newly regained strength, she flipped Sonata over onto her back. Now, Aria was the one holding Sonata down.

"Oh, I'm gonna have fun getting my revenge." snarled Aria. "Wanna see just how scary I can be?" Sonata practically shrunk beneath Aria's looming, terrifying form.

"Dagi! Help!" squealed Sonata.

"Pinkie? Yeah, it's Adagio." said Adagio, holding her phone to her ear. "Tell the girls that it'll just be me. Sonata and Aria are… tied up. Hm? Oh, they're… I don't know, really. Girlfriend stuff, I suppose." Adagio looked up and saw Aria slowly lifting Sonata's shirt, revealing her flat, blue tummy. "If you don't mind, I'd like to see you now. Things are getting… Well, girlfriend stuff."

Adagio turned and left the room while Sonata's request for help died away in her throat.

"Ari? What are you doing?" asked Sonata frightfully. Aria only answer was in the form of a sadistic grin and the further lifting of Sonata's shirt. Aria rolled it to a stop just beneath Sonata's breast, running her hands down Sonata's middle. She brought her face down to her girlfriend's belly, pressing her lips just above her navel.

And then she blew.

Pbbbbbbt!

"BWAAAA-HAAAAA!" cackled Sonata. She laughed and laughed, trying her best to escape the torture. Aria would allow no such thing, not yet. She blew the loudest, wettest raspberry on Sonata's tummy, reducing her to baby-like babbling for quite a period. After a while, Aria lifted her face from Sonata's stomach and planted a kiss on her lips.

"What was that about?" asked Aria. "Tickle fights? That's so… normal."

"You seemed stressed. I just wanted to brighten your mood a little bit." panted Sonata. Her laughs had emptied her lungs and thoroughly exhausted her.

"Well, I guess you did." huffed Aria, also rather tired.

"What had you so worked up, anyway?" asked Sonata. Aria reached to the floor and grabbed her fallen homework and passed it to Sonata.

"I can't figure out this friggin pre-cal garbage." grumbled Aria. "I've been at it for an hour and I can't get past the first problem." Sonata looked at the paper for a second, grabbed Aria's discarded pencil and, in a manner of moments, filled out the worksheet.

"There ya go." said Sonata. "You can check my work in the back of the textbook, if you like."

Everything Aria knew about the world was suddenly under investigation.

"I… But, you're…" Aria stuttered, dumbstruck. "You're… You're supposed to be the stupid one…"

"Well, I'm really good with numbers. I guess I'm some kinda samont." said Sonata, shrugging her shoulders.

"Savant. And yeah, you sure are. You might as well be Rain Man."

"OMG, I love that movie!" squealed Sonata in excitement. Aria rolled her eyes and let her homework drop to the floor. Part of her wanted to get up and head over to Pinkie's, but she didn't quite feel up to it yet.

"Feel like going with Adagio?" asked Aria. Sonata shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really. Today feels like a day for tacos and old movies." said Sonata. Aria nodded her agreement, and grinned. She always loved date night.

The next day, Aria turned in her homework to find that every answer Sonata supplied her with was wrong. She hung her head in disappointment, more in herself than anything. She really should've known better. She spent the rest of the day to decide how she would get her back, finally settling on the tried-and-true tickle torture.

Adagio pulled up to the now familiar pink house, stopping her car just in front of Pinkie's hot pink one. She put her vehicle in park and stepped out, then walked across the driveway and to Pinkie's front door. She knocked sharply twice, the door opening almost before she could finish.

"Hello, Adagio Dazzle," said Sunset Shimmer flatly, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her tough leather jacket. "You are alone, correct?"

"Um… Yes? Is Pinkie here?" asked Adagio confusedly. "We were supposed to order take-out and play Halo…"

"Pinkie had to step out for a while, so I let myself in," said Sunset casually. "Please, do come in."

"I don't feel very comfortable going into her house when she's not here," said Adagio. She scratched at her neck nervously. "I'll wait."

"There's no need for that. I promise, Pinkie Pie won't mind. Come in and have a seat," said Sunset, this time a little more firmly.

"I really shouldn't. I just became friends with her, and I really don't want to betray her trust like this. I don't see her being okay with-"

"Come in, and sit down," said Sunset slowly. The way she said it wasn't a request. It was a demand.

"Well, if you say she won't be upset…" said Adagio nervously. She stepped into the house, leaving her better judgement on the doormat. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the home, she knew she had made a terrible mistake. She heard the door close and lock behind her, trapping her in the semi-darkness. From what Adagio could tell, the Pie family had forgotten to pay their light bill. The only source of light came from the lit candles that rested on almost every flat surface.

"Um… Is she having a séance or something?" asked Adagio, chuckling to try to alleviate the tension. Sunset didn't react, which had the exact opposite effect.

"So, you finally came around and apologized," noted Sunset Shimmer. "I gotta say, I expected it to take a little longer. We knew Sonata would be the first, and nobody doubted that Aria would just treat us as nothings at best. But you… You turned from Heel to Face way sooner than we thought."

"I do hope you meant that as a compliment, because that's how I'm going to take it," said Adagio. "Look, Sunset, I would like to officially give you my apology." Sunset Shimmer cut Adagio off with a shake of the head.

"That's why you're here. To prove yourself," said Sunset Shimmer. "There are six rooms in this house with your name on the door. Behind each door, you will face a trial. Complete all six trials, and we will officially forgive you, Sonata, and Aria."

"Is my apology not enough?" asked Adagio, raising an eyebrow.

"Honestly? No. It's super easy to be apologetic when your method of evil is broken," said Sunset. "There's a difference between 'I'm sorry for what I've done and I'd like to repent' and 'I can't do anything to hurt you people, so I may as well simmer down'. I had to do the same thing when I turned."

"Okay, okay. What sort of trials?" asked Adagio.

"No clue. I was only responsible for mine. What the others do is up to them," said Sunset, keeping her same, calm demeanor. "You can go through them in any order you choose, except you have to do mine last. You can go whenever you're ready. I'll be in Pinkie's room, when you've completed the other five."

And, with that, Sunset Shimmer disappeared into the depths of the house. Adagio heard the faint click of Sunset closing the door behind her. Adagio sighed deeply to try and collect her thoughts.

"Alright, Adagio. You can do this," she said to herself. "Honestly, the only one to worry about is Sunset Shimmer. The others don't have the ability to do anything horrible."

When Adagio was done psyching herself up for the coming events, she set off through the house. She found the first door rather easily; A few steps past the kitchen and to her right, a pink slip of paper with her name on it was taped to the door. Adagio opened the door, and descended down the dark stairway.

When Adagio reached the bottom, she was met with a desolate basement, empty with the exception of a wooden table holding a plate of six cupcakes, and a very odd looking Pinkie Pie. She was dressed in all black, and her hair fell flat down her head.

"Hello, Adagio Dazzle," said Pinkie, any trace of her usual excitement gone. "I have a little game for you."

"I did come for games," said Adagio nervously. "But, somehow, I have a feeling you don't have an Xbox under that table.

"Six cupcakes. I baked them myself," said Pinkie, ignoring Adagio's attempt at a joke. "One is dark chocolate. One is red velvet. Another is salted caramel."

According to Sunset Shimmer, who spoke to her after the fact, the sound of Adagio's stomach grumbling could be heard from all the way upstairs.

"What's the catch?" asked Adagio, trying to hide the monstrous, lion-shaming growl she emitted.

"The other three are… not so tasty," said Pinkie, smirking evilly. "You pick three. Whichever ones you don't pick go to me. You taste your cupcakes, and then I taste mine. If you manage to eat all three of your cupcakes without barfing, in their entirety, you pass the trial."

"And what's the deal with the hair?" asked Adagio curiously.

"To throw you off. Did it work?"

"A little. So, do I get any hints?" tried Adagio. Pinkie stared blankly forward, which said to Adagio that, no, she absolutely did not get any hints.

Every cupcake looked exactly the same; The same blood-red frosting, the same pitch-black wrappers. It was, Adagio realized, entirely up to chance. She decided that she could take anything fate had to throw at her, and selected her three cupcakes at random. Pinkie slid the remaining cupcakes to the side for her own consumption.

"Are there peanuts in any of these?" asked Adagio. "I'm deathly allergic."

"I did my research. And I have Epi-Pens ready, just in case," said Pinkie. Before Adagio could even voice her question, Pinkie added "Maud has peanut allergies, too."

"Well… Let's get this over with, then," said Adagio nervously. She picked up her first cupcake and peeled down the wrapper. The cake itself was red, which seemed like a good sign to Adagio. But, knowing Pinkie Pie, she had made all of the cupcakes look like red velvet, in an attempt to further confuse and disorient her poor, unsuspecting victim.

Adagio sank her teeth into the cake which, to her delight, was actually the red velvet she hoped it was. Forgetting her diet, Adagio quickly devoured the entire cupcake in a few large bites, then picked up the second. Confident, she ripped off the wrapper without a care and bit into it. The smell of fish assaulted her nose, the scent alone enough to make Adagio want to vomit. She spat it onto the table, raking her tongue and gagging.

"Pinkie! Did you put fish in this?!" demanded Adagio.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," taunted Pinkie.

"Pinkie! This is not a game! Is this fish?!"

"Calm down, Dag. It's just seaweed and snail juice," said Pinkie. She grinned sadistically. "Enjoy."

Relief passed through Adagio, followed by disgust and shock, mingled with a little dash of respect. It was with a heavy heart and a refusing stomach did Adagio consume the sour, rancid, near-inedible "cupcake", and that was a very giving term.

"Lookin a little green there, Dagi," noted Pinkie. She kicked an orange bucket from beneath the table. "Just in case you need it."

"You think that'll be enough to make me throw up?" scoffed Adagio. "Please! I've lived in the U.K., pre-Gordon Ramsay. I've tasted the worst of the worst. Now, give me that last cupcake."

Adagio took the last cupcake defiantly and shed it of its wrapper. Nothing could stop her now, least of all a bad cupcake. She quickly took a big bite, and instantly felt as if her tongue had been doused in kerosene and she ate a lit match. She began coughing furiously, trying to eject the heat.

"Awww! I was hoping I'd get that one!" complained Pinkie. "I spent a long time perfecting that one! Ghost Pepper cake with Chocolate Habanero frosting and a Scotch Bonnet filling!"

"Are you insane?!" gasped Adagio, though Pinkie Pie's maniacal laughter more or less answered her question. Pinkie expected Adagio to cop out, so she was curiously delighted to see Adagio finish off her treat. By the time she was finished, sweat was consistently pouring down her face, and her tongue was in the most pain she had ever experienced.

"Gah! I'm gonna die," panted Adagio. "Water! Give me water! Now!"

"Sorry, Dagi. If you take water, you lose the challenge," said Pinkie.

"You psychopath!"

"Joking, joking! Water won't help you, anyway," giggled Pinkie. She reached to the top of her head, her hair exploding into it's usual wilde puff. After digging around her hair for a while, Pinkie pulled out a tall glass of ice cold milk. Adagio grabbed it up and drained it as quickly as she could. The fire in her mouth was extinguished, slowly but surely, and Adagio was ready to recommence.

"Okay. I win. Now have your… just desserts," said Adagio, cackling madly at her own terrible pun. Pinkie just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed up the cupcakes. She tossed the first into her mouth.

"Mmmm! Dark chocolate!" Pinkie squealed. She ate the next one in one big bite. "Salted caramel… So the last one is…" Pinkie swallowed the last cupcake. "Right. I thought so. Wheat grass and sawdust. Well, you passed! Go on to the next trial!"

Adagio raised her fist triumphantly, marching up out of the depths of the basement. She ripped the sign from the door and went in search of the next. If that was the first trial, the next could only be easier. That had to be the worst they had to offer, right?

Wrong.

Adagio found the next sign on the back door, leading to the Pie family's yard. Another sign, identical to the last with the exception of color; This one was orange with emerald trimming. Adagio boldly opened the door and stepped out into the backyard. Sitting outside on the grass was a great big cauldron filled with water. It sat upon a makeshift campfire, keeping the contents of the pot on full-boil.

"Howdy, Adagio," A strong voice that scared Adagio out of her skin. Applejack walked around and wrapped an arm around the back of Adagio's neck. "Y'all ready for this?"

"Depends on what 'this' is," said Adagio. "Can't be worse than what Pinkie did."

"Alright. There's a lock box sittin on the kitchen counter. The key's at the bottom of this here cauldron," explained Applejack. "Go on ahead."

"I beg your pardon?"

"To pass this trial, y'all need to grab that there key at the bottom of the boiling cauldron. Plain and simple, really," said Applejack nonchalantly.

"You expect me to dig my hand into a pot of boiling water to grab a scalding hot key to open a lockbox so that you'll forgive me?" asked Adagio. Applejack just nodded her head.

Adagio took a moment to think about just how worth it their friendship was. With an audible gulp, Adagio rolled up her sleeve and reached for the pot. She slowly lowered her hand towards the water, her hand hovering just above the surface. Just as she was about to plunge her hand into the cauldron's depths, Applejack grasped her wrist.

"Whoah, nelly, Ah was just jimmy-rustlin," said Applejack. "Ya don't need to boil yer hand, okay?"

"But how am I supposed to pass this trial?" asked Adagio. Later, she would come to ask herself why she would try to convince someone to let her shove her own hand into boiling water.

"Tha fact that you were willin to do it is nuff fer me," said Applejack. "Go on ahead to the next trial. Good luck, Adagio."

Adagio, extremely grateful for such a twist of fate, ran back inside, slamming the door behind her. She ripped the sign from the door and half-galloped through the house, searching for the next door. Adagio reasoned that she had to head upstairs and she was rewarded for her thinking; There were six doors upstairs, four of which with her name taped on. She picked one, the note yellow with pink trim, and turned the knob. To her surprise, it didn't budge.

"Um… Hello?" said a quiet voice on the other side. "Adagio?"

"Yes. I'm confused," said Adagio, turning the knob again. "There must be a mistake. I'm supposed to come in here for a trial."

"Oh, I know. I had to keep the door locked so Maud would know that I'm using her room," said the voice. The door clicked. "It's open now."

Adagio opened the door, stepped in, and closed it behind her. She barely noticed Fluttershy, and spent most of her attention on the pit bull attached to the leash that was in Fluttershy's hand. It seemed very, very angry, foaming at the mouth, even. That was enough to convince Adagio that she would either walk out of that room with rabies or a new friend.

"Pet the puppy," said Fluttershy softly, using all of her strength to keep the dog in her grasp. "Pet him, and you pass."

"A rabid dog?! Is everyone in this house a lunatic?!" demanded Adagio. Still, she slowly lurched forward, extending her hand gently. The dog barked and snapped at her hand, which would normally be enough for Adagio to withdraw her hand and leave the area. But, today, there were more important things at stake.

Adagio's hand crept ever closer to the obviously angry mutt, sliding dangerously close to its mouth. With a deep breath, she reached forward and scratched the rabid canine under the chin. Instantly, the angry, aggressive dog devolved into a calm, demure puppy. Soon, Adagio was scratching it behind it's ears, rubbing its tummy and speaking to it in baby-talk.

"Awen't you just the cutest little hellhound, yes you are! Yes you are!" babbled Adagio.

"Congratulations. You pass." said Fluttershy. "Achilles really seems to like you."

"Oh my god, you're name is Achiwes? You must make somebody sooooo happy!" squealed Adagio.

"Not really. I just borrowed Achilles from the shelter," said Fluttershy sadly. "Nobody seems to want him," Fluttershy seemed to think for a moment. "I have an idea! When you pass all the trials, and I can prove that you're trustworthy, you can adopt him! Don't worry, he's not really rabid. It's just whipped cream."

"That sounds like a marvelous idea! I'd better get these last three trials down, then," said Adagio boldly. She sprinted from the room, grabbed the sign from the door, and went into the next. On the other side of the door was another bedroom, this one with Rainbow Dash sitting on the bed. As soon as Adagio crossed the doorframe, Rainbow Dash was up and grasping Adagio's left hand in her own.

"Your trial is to beat me in a game of Chicken," said Rainbow.

"What in the world is Chicken?" asked Adagio. Without warning, Rainbow Dash flipped their clasped hands so that Adagio's was facing upward and slapped it as hard as she could.

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for?!" demanded Adagio.

"That's the game. We slap each other until one of us says 'Chicken'," said RD, grinning mischievously. She flipped their hands again, this time offering her own hand to Adagio.

SMACK!

She flipped their hands.

SMACK!

"This is the dumbest, most barbaric game I've ever participated in," growled Adagio. She flipped their hands.

SMACK!

"Could be worse. I used to play games like this with Gilda all the time, back in the day," said RD, trading another slap with Adagio. "We played this, Mercy, Bloody Knuckles, Ro Sham Bo. You should be counting your lucky stars that you got off so easy."

SMACK!

"Am I allowed to scream?" asked Adagio rhetorically. She felt her hand turn and the loud, angry smack of Rainbow's hand against her flesh.

"Nope. Screaming is as good as copping out," said Dash, offering her hand almost lazily to her opponent.

"Fine," grumbled Adagio. She licked her palm, liberally coating it in saliva. She grinned evilly and slapped Rainbow's hand.

SMACK!

"Ah! Crap!" squealed Rainbow, yanking her hand away. "Chicken! Geez, that hurt!" Adagio didn't hear her, because she was already pulling the rainbow-colored note from the door and pulling open the next, this door holding up a white note accented with purple.

It was a full bathroom, with Rarity sitting on the toilet lid, waiting. Adagio practically slammed the door behind her, ready to get this over with.

"Someone's excited," noted Rarity.

"Next trial. I'm on a roll," said Adagio. "What do I have to do?"

"Let me pierce you," said Rarity. "If you allow me to pierce you in any place of your choosing, with a few exceptions, I will take you to Sunset Shimmer for the last trial."

"Is this your first piercing?" asked Adagio.

"My first on a real person, yes. Don't worry, I've read plenty of books on the matter," promised Rarity. "I assure you, I can most likely do it properly. I think. Well, we shall soon find out."

Adagio raised her shirt slightly, just enough to show her belly button. She pinched her eyes shut and clenched her teeth in anticipation. Adagio felt Rarity's poke, followed by a few scratches, a wipe of a wet swab, and finally, a little pinch. Adagio opened her eyes and looked down at the little orange stud now sticking in her navel.

"There. Are we done here?" asked Adagio impatiently. "I'd like to finish this last trial, if you don't mind terribly."

"Not at all, darling," said Rarity, dropping her tools. "I take it you've completed all five you need to see Sunset Shimmer, yes?"

"Yes, yes, I've done them all. Some were better than others," sighed Adagio. She followed Rarity out of the room, pulling the sign from the door on the way out. Not much was said as Rarity led Adagio through the dark hallway, finally stopping in front of Pinkie's bedroom, the final note taped to the door. Adagio grabbed down the last sign, scribbled on a piece of paper with colors that resembled a bonfire. Adagio gripped the door handle, her resolve faltering for the first time that day. She was truly terrified to think about Sunset Shimmer's idea of a trial. If the five that were always good were able to scare her like that, what could the former demon have up her sleeve?

"You can do it, Adagio," said Rarity. "Whatever Sunset has planned, I know you can overcome it." That seemed to restore at least some of Adagio's confidence, and she pushed open the door.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting on Pinkie's bed with a black box on her lap, about the shape and dimensions of a shoebox. Standing beside the bed were the other five girls, standing like sentinels protecting Sunset. Rarity slid into position at the end, completing the line of drones that had assembled.

"Adagio Dazzle. You've managed to pass all of the trials, save for one," said Sunset Shimmer, resting the box on the bed and standing to her full height. "Color me impressed, although I guess Applejack's trial wasn't really a challenge."

"Y'all said Ah could do what Ah thought would be best," huffed Applejack. "An' that's exactly what Ah did."

"Fair enough. But now, it's my turn," said Sunset. "If you pass this trial, Adagio, you will pass initiation and become a proper member of our group. Be warned, my trial is more difficult than the other five, combined. Do you still wish to continue?"

"Today, I've been nauseous, scared, scared again, slapped, then pierced," said Adagio. "And I will not let that be for naught. Bring it on, Sunset."

"You sure? This is your last chance to bail," said Sunset Shimmer. Adagio planted her feet firmly into the ground, fire burning in her eyes.

"I've come too far. I am ready for the last trial," said Adagio boldly. There was no space in her gut for fear, only courage. Sunset Shimmer nodded and flipped open the box. And out of it's depths, buzzing, trembling, nearly growling in Sunset Shimmer's hand, emerged an electric hair razor.

"Congrats, Adagio," said Sunset Shimmer. "Welcome to the family."

---

Sonata had long since fallen asleep on Aria's chest, the litter from their dinner landing on the floor just out of her hand, dangling lazily off of the couch. The television was on, but Aria paid it little attention. She was far more concerned with Sonata's ponytail, running her hand down her slick, shiny locks. The door swung open, and Aria never even looked up to see who had entered.

"Sup, Dag," said Aria lazily. "Where've you been? Sony had to record Empire for you."

"Splendid," she heard Adagio say, her voice dripping liberal amounts of sarcasm. "Absolutely spectacular."

"What has your panties in a bunch?" asked Aria. She finally looked up, and nothing in her thousand-plus year life could have prepared her for what she saw.

The least shocking factor of the situation was the pitbull that was now walking small circles around Adagio's legs. Moving on from the sudden animal was Adagio herself. Her long, poofy, nuclear-explosion of hair was gone. Her head wasn't just shaved, it was completely bald, her yellow dome shining slightly

"Uh… So… What's up?" asked Aria, choking back her giggles. Barely.

"I got a dog. We have a dog now," said Adagio flatly. "He's called Achilles."

"So… You're back from your chemo, then?"

"Shut up. Just… Shut up. In three weeks, Princess Twilight will come back from Equestria with a hair-regrowing potion," said Adagio. "Until then, you'll be doing the grocery runs. I will not leave the house like this."

"Some guys like the shaved head thing," snickered Aria.

"Achilles! Go get her!"

Achilles ran and leapt onto Sonata, pushed off of her head, and began furiously lapping at Aria's face. Adagio stomped up the stairs, calling for her dog to follow. Hearing his mistress' call, Achilles left with a departing lick and bounded up the stairs with the a brooding Adagio. Soon enough, the Siren leader was grinning. It was good to make new friends.

---

Author's Note: That awkward moment when you forget to upload a chapter to both sites. My bad, guys, I've been on a lot, and I forgot to put it up here. By the by, I always post to Fimfiction first, so follow me there ( user/chillbook1) if you want to see my stuff as soon as it gets up (plus, some stuff I will post to Fimfiction only.) Hope you enjoyed, and see you in the next part.

Aria had taken a liking to Achilles, much to her surprise. Nearly a month after Adagio had brought him home, Aria was spending more time with Achilles than his "owner" did. Something about the affinity of a bulldog seemed to resonate with the angriest of the Sirens. They understood each other. Plus, Sonata adored him, so Aria naturally kept Achilles close.

Aria was finishing up a walk with her precious new beast, approaching their home. She opened the door and shooed Achilles off to the kitchen, where he had a bowl of dog food waiting for him. Aria herself flung off her jacket, kicked out of her shoes, and headed upstairs. She was tired, not to mention bored from watching the house and Achilles all day. For once, Aria was the only one who didn't have something important to do; Adagio was currently at Sunset Shimmer's house, getting her hair regrown via Princess Twilight's potion (a process that the Princess projected could take "several lifetimes"), and Sonata was "scouting out the music scene", which she predicted would take all day. Which is why Aria was confused to hear not one, but two voices coming from the other side of her bedroom door. Aria pressed her ear against the door, trying to catch every word that she could.

"I'm telling you, she's not gonna go for it," The first voice was obviously Sonata. "She's not into that sort of thing."

"Sure she is! She just doesn't know it yet!" said the other voice, which Aria had a bit more difficulty placing. "Aria would love it if she just gave it a chance."

"What?" whispered Aria to herself. This conversation was getting a little odd.

"Do you really think so?" asked Sonata.

"Totally," promised the other voice. "This kind of thing is really good for a relationship."

"I don't think she'll be comfortable with people watching us. She tries to hide it, but she's really shy."

"Come on! A little exhibition never hurt anybody!"

That was enough for Aria. Her face burning bright red, she kicked open her door and burst into the room. Sonata was sitting on her bed, back to the door, next to someone who could only be Pinkie Pots (though, Aria admitted, she might've gotten the name wrong). The two looked up and smiled at Aria, Sonata's smile nervous and Pinkie's bright and excited.

"What's going on here?" asked Aria. Sonata looked to Pinkie, who looked back to her in wait.

"Well? She's your girlfriend," said Pinkie. "Go ahead. Ask her."

"Yeah, Sony. Ask me," said Aria, though not quite as happily as Pinkie did. Sonata breathed deeply, then turned to face Aria.

"Okay. Aria, I've known you for a very, really, super long time," said Sonata. "And I've never asked you something like this before. Before you answer, just try to keep an open mind, okay? Pinkie Pie says it's very good for a relationship, and that there's no way we both won't enjoy ourselves."

"Ask the question, Sonata," ordered Aria.

"Okay. Would you… I mean, like, hypothetically, if we were to… Ugh! I'm just gonna say it!" said Sonata, her tongue in a double-knot. "Do you… dance?"

The room went silent, each party in the conversation trying to figure out the other. Aria felt the blush on her face grow, embarrassed at her misunderstanding.

"You frickin perv," Aria muttered under her breath. Out loud, she could only ask, "What?"

"Pinkie is planning a dance party, and she wants us to come," explained Sonata. "And I told her that you didn't really like to dance, especially if we weren't trying to, you know… Feed." Sonata shook her head, trying to disregard the sinking guilt in her gut. "But she said that you'd really like it if you just gave it a chance, and I said that you only really dance when you think nobody's looking, and she said that I should ask you to come to this party, and I said-"

"I get the idea, Nata. What do you mean, 'when I think nobody's looking'?" asked Aria, raising an eyebrow.

"If you're gonna go through the trouble of waiting til me and Dagi go to get groceries, you should really consider closing the blinds," suggested Sonata. You could cook, and burn, an egg on Aria's face after that comment.

"So? You wanna come?" asked Pinkie. "It's gonna be fun! There's gonna be snacks and drinks and games and boys, wait, that last one doesn't really work for you, whoops! There's gonna be snacks and games and boys, even though you aren't interested in boys, there's gonna be boys anyway, so why not come?!" Aria took a few moments to let her brain catch up after hearing the extremely fast string of speech.

"No. I'm not going to some stupid dance party," said Aria. She ignored the whines that came from Sonata and Pinkie. "No! This isn't like Rainbow's Sweet Sixteen! You're not gonna put on the puppy eyes and make me go. Uh-uh, not happening."

"But, Ariiiiiiiii!" whined Sonata. "It'll be so much fun!"

"Look, I'm not going to this dumb party. I'm just not," said Aria, with an air of finality. "You can go, I don't care. You can dance if you want to."

"I'm sorry, Sonata, but we have to leave your friend behind," said Pinkie suddenly, a devious gleam in her eyes. Sonata picked up on it instantly and grinned.

"What are you talking about?" asked Aria. "We're more than friends, you know."

"Is it cause she don't dance?" asked Sonata.

"Yup. Your friend don't dance," said Pinkie shaking her head. "And if she don't dance…"

"Well, she's no friend of mine," said Sonata.

Aria realized what was going on just a second too late.

"Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun! Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun! Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun!"

"Oh my god, are you serious?" asked Aria. She turned out of the door, but Sonata and Pinkie followed behind her, reciting one of Pinkie's all-time favorite songs. Aria groaned loudly, trying to escape their singing. She could not.

"For the love of god, the 80s are done!" snapped Aria. "It was an awful decade, anyway! New wave is dead!"

If Aria thought that would stop the incessant singing of The Safety Dance, she was sadly mistaken. If anything, this only seemed to intensify the impromptu performance. Aria ran throughout the house, stalked by her two assailants, one of which who had a tendency to vanish from behind Aria and appear suddenly right in her path. Eventually, Aria managed to juke and jive her way past both Sonata and Pinkie and slip into her room, locking the door behind her. She slid down the wall, banging her head softly against the door. Finally, she had escaped.

"S! A! F! E! T! Y! Saftey! Dance!"

"Where did you get a ghetto blaster?!" demanded Aria. "What is it going to take to get you to leave me alone?!"

---

As she filled her cup with soda, Aria decided that Sonata should've been the leader of the Dazzlings. Under her rule, her dastardly, maniacal, manipulative rule, there was no doubt in Aria's mind that they would have emerged victorious. Because, apparently, all it took to defeat someone as strong-willed and powerful as Aria was a slice of the 80s.

The party itself wasn't all that bad, though for about ten minutes, the DJ played a loop of the very song Aria had come to escape. She apologized profusely after the fact, explaining that someone had replaced all her music with The Safety Dance. After that debacle was cleared up, she resumed her usual dance party mix (which, she made it her business to remind people, was entirely her own creation, and that you could hear more by subscribing to her YouTube channel, SC-R4TCH That), and the party continued.

And, no matter how much she wanted to, Aria couldn't say that the party was torturous, even if there were far more people than she would have liked. The music was good (though she felt she could do better if given the chance), the snacks were great, and, much to Aria's surprise, there was alcohol. She always saw Pinkie as a goody-goody, not the type to swipe booze from her parents. Seeing as this was her fifth trip to the kitchen to fill her cup with vodka and diet Coke, Aria clearly was not complaining. But it wasn't the booze, or the music, or the food that let Aria enjoy herself. No, that honor rested solely on the massive grin that was plastered on Sonata's face for the duration. So, despite her minor annoyance at being bested by Men Without Hats, Aria decided to let her girlfriend have fun while she herself sat back and watched from the kitchen, growing more and more intoxicated with every passing minute.

"Hey, gorgeous," said a voice, shocking Aria right in the middle of a sip. A fellow partygoer (and apparently, a master ninja) had snuck up to her left, a cup in his hand. His spiked, cobalt hair was a mess, and it took Aria a second longer to place the name.

"Uh… Brad, right?" said Aria, rolling her eyes. The guy was inching closer and closer, breaking through Aria's bubble.

"It's Flash. I remember you, though," he said. "Crazy psycho Siren girl. Not the leader, not the moron. The tough one."

"Yup. That's me," said Aria flatly. She was growing more and more irate, not helped by the heavy stench of alcohol on his breath. "And you're the guy who lost in the semis, right?"

"Lost? Nah, babe. We threw the competition," scoffed Flash. "Wasn't worth the effort, ya know? We decided to let you guys have it."

"Right. It had nothing to do with the fact that our music was literally hypnotic," said Aria. Flash laughed slightly, but showed no signs of leaving.

"You're cute. Just thought you should know that," said Flash. "What's someone as cool as you doing at a lame party like this?"

"I'm here with my girlfriend," said Aria, hoping that Flash would catch the hint. He did not.

"That's cool. Hey, you wanna get outta here?"

"You're drunk," noted Aria dryly.

"Come on, there's a room upstairs that's a little more quiet," pressed Flash. Aria's patience was running thin.

"Dude, did you miss the part where I said I had a girlfriend?" snarled Aria.

"Cool. Bring her, too," said Flash confidently.

The proudest moment in Aria's long, long life was the exact moment in between her deciding to punch Flash in the face and her consciously stopping herself. Aria just kept thinking about how disappointed Sonata would be if she got them kicked out of the party, or worse. She never knew she could be that level-headed, and she would use that moment as evidence that she had restraint for years to come.

"Look, Brad, I was trying to be nice," said Aria. "I'm not anymore. Beat it, before I beat you."

"Are you offering?" This time, it took more than Aria's desire to keep Sonata happy to stop her fist from connecting with Flash's jaw. This time, it was Sonata herself that restrained her, the smiling Siren dancing happily into the kitchen and throwing herself against Aria.

"Heyyy, babe!" said Sonata. "You havin fun?"

"Sony, how much have you had to drink?" asked Aria. Sonata looked upwards, thinking for a moment.

"Uh… I dunno… A lot, though," admitted Sonata. "How're we getting home?"

"You could ride with me," offered Flash.

"Yeah, cause you've been a gentleman tonight," scoffed Aria. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. When she tried to unlock it, the screen never lit. Aria let out a frustrated growl. A dead cell phone, she could handle. A drunk scumbag, she could handle. Both of them at the same time? She wasn't so certain.

"Sonata, were you playing Trivia Crack on my phone again?" asked Aria. "You killed my battery! How're we gonna call Dag?"

"My phone still has battery!" said Sonata. "I'll call her!" She ran from Aria to near the front of the house, where it was slightly more quiet.

Sonata pulled out her phone, dialed Adagio's number, and put the phone to her ear. It rang once, twice, three times, before Adagio picked up.

"What?" demanded Adagio sharply. On her end of the line, the sounds of slashing could be heard from the TV, followed by an utterance of "But a sporting hunt, it was!". "Damnit! Twelve-thousand Blood Echoes down the drain…"

"Adagio? Are you awake?" asked Sonata dreamily.

"No, Sonata, I am not," said Adagio snarkily. "I have finally mastered the delicate art of upholding a conversation, fighting Father Gascoigne, and sleeping, all at once."

"Oh. Sorry. Call me when you wake up, kay?"

"Sonata, are you drunk? I bet you're drunk," said Adagio in exasperation. "And I suppose both you and Aria are too hammered to get home safely. Which means I, as the only responsible one, have to get up out of bed, get dressed, and pick you up. Where are you?"

"Someone's house…" said Sonata drunkenly.

"That narrows it down to every house in town, thanks. Whose house?"

"Uh… Not our house…"

"Are you at Pinkie's party?" asked Adagio. Talking to a drunk Sonata was like pulling teeth. "Look, I'm on my way. Give me twenty minutes. I have to go get my Blood Echoes."

The line disconnected, and Sonata slid her phone in her pocket with a smile. With a drunken grin, she floated back into the kitchen. When she got there, and saw Flash's hand slowly but surely running up Aria's thigh, she realized two very distinct things, one of which being that Aria was showing an impressive amount of restraint.

The other was that Flash Sentry was a drunken douchebag.

"Hey, Brad!" said Sonata.

"Hm?" Flash turned for just a second, which was all Sonata needed to punch him in the nose with all the strength she could muster. Flash fell backwards and didn't get up for a very long time after that. The look on Aria's face was a three-way mix of confusion, admiration, and overwhelming pride.

"Sonata! You… You knocked him out!" said Aria in awe. "That's supposed to be my thing!"

"Hey, you stole my gig, too," said Sonata, shrugging her shoulder. "I'm supposed to be the damsel in distress."

"Guess it works both ways," smirked Aria. She brought Sonata into a hug. "We're gonna get kicked out, aren't we?"

Not only were they kicked out, but the cops soon came because of noise complaints. Those who were able filed out, leaving the police to deal with the vastly drunken majority. Pinkie had her parents called (she wasn't heard from for a while), and the Siren couple (as well as Flash Sentry) were arrested. Adagio was less than ecstatic, but posted their bail anyway. The whole ride home was accompanied by grumblings about lost play hours. If Sonata was sober enough to understand, she didn't show it. She mostly just smiled at the fact that she managed to impress Aria.

"Dude, that was a sweet punch," said Aria.

"I learn from the best," said Sonata.

"Do you two have any idea how much progress I could have made if-" Adagio's tirade was interrupted when she realized that Aria and Sonata were not only ignoring her, but actively making out in the back seat. With a roll of her eyes, Adagio decided to let them have their fun.

"A thousand years in this world and I've managed to keep you out of jail," said Adagio. "And you let your record break on account of some guy at a party?"

"He was a douchebag, though," said Sonata when she had time for a breath.

Adagio couldn't argue with that logic, and so she went the rest of the ride silent. Well, almost silent.

"Twelve. Thousand. Blood Echoes," she grumbled.

Sonata never claimed to be especially bright, and that was fine by her. She was content with being "the dumb one" of the group. The other two had their motifs to fill; Adagio was the manipulative, gold-digging, opportunistic "brains" of the operation and Aria was the tough, no-nonsense, takes-names-in-the-evening "brawn" of the trio. Sonata just thought that it was her contribution to the group to be the cute, adorably-naive airhead. She knew that sometimes she made stupid decisions, and, most of the time, she would clean up her mess, try to learn from her mistakes, and give an apologetic "my bad".

The day that she nearly destroyed the apartment and ruined Christmas was one such time.

Aria had been looking forward to Christmas for most of the year. For the first time ever, she finally saw the magic of the holiday; The snow on the ground wasn't there with the intent of pissing her off, it was just trying to brighten up the town. The Christmas carolers weren't annoying and untalented, they were charming and trying their best. And, most importantly, the gift shops weren't mocking her. They were inviting her in.

It was an age-old question, one that the best thinkers and scientists of the world still failed to find a definitive answer for: What to get for that special someone come Christmas time? As it turns out, Aria wasn't the only one asking herself that question. On the other side of town, wandering near the apartment, Sonata was trying to uncover the same answers. And, as to be expected from two people so different from one another, they would eventually reach two very different conclusions.

Sonata was drifting aimlessly for a while, never straying more than a block from their apartment. It was getting dangerously close to Christmas, and Sonata hadn't even started shopping for her girlfriend yet, let alone Pinkie, Sunset, and the rest of the girls. And the bittersweet truth of it all was that she knew exactly what she would get for the others, or at least had some sort of idea. She knew what they liked; Rarity liked make-up and beauty products, Fluttershy liked animal books and short stories, Rainbow liked anime (though she would fervently deny this in public). What did Aria like? Sonata couldn't think of much, only comic books and, well… her. But that was no good. Sonata didn't know enough about comics to get Aria something she'd really liked, and she couldn't give herself as a present. Well, she could, but Sonata wanted to put a bit more thought into her present.

Aria was having a similar problem as she strolled through the streets of downtown Canterlot City. This was her first Christmas with Sonata as her girlfriend, and she wanted to make it special. It wasn't often that Aria let herself grow attached to anything, so this Christmas gift had to be perfect, to capture her devotion to Sonata. That said, the ideas did not seem to come to her. Aria was always terrible at judging what people wanted or liked, which is why she mostly stood to herself. With Sonata, however, that wasn't an option.

Sonata found herself leaning against her own front door, trying to think of something, anything, that she could get to show Aria just how much she meant to her. It wasn't an easy choice, and nothing that came to Sonata's head sounded any good. Should she go big? Or was this a case of "less is more"? Should the gift be something new and modern? Or maybe something from their past, something that could get Aria feeling sentimental? Whatever she decided on, she realized she should decide soon.

Now, Aria knew that Christmas was crawling ever-closer, but it wasn't until she passed the electronics store and saw the time and date displayed on a flat screen did she realize just how little time she actually had. Christmas Eve was tomorrow! Aria had to find something by tonight, or risk disappointing Sonata. She swore to herself in her native Siren language, thinking to herself that Sonata must've found something great for her by now. Aria ran her hands through her hair, trying to recall if Sonata had dropped any hints about what she might want over the past couple of days.

Sonata realized that Aria must've hinted at something that she could've wanted recently. She tried to remember what they had done lately, any conversations about the holidays. Sonata had always been a sort of dreamy, live-for-today kind of person, and her brain normally shoved yesterday into the back of her head to make room for tomorrow. Over the years, Sonata had learned to leave herself notes, to ensure that she had some way to remember something important. A Christmas present for Aria certainly qualified as "important", so Sonata came to the realization that she probably left a reminder in her phone's memo pad. Among the grocery lists, to-do lists, and video game cheat codes for Adagio, was a list titled Things I've learned about Aria.

Aria walked out of the mall in disappointment. After an hour of looking, she still hadn't found anything worth getting. In the years before, ever since the two met back in their true home, Aria always chalked Sonata up as simple, and, to an extent, that was true. But, looking at her now, Aria realized that Sonata was far more complex than she had ever given her credit for. The daydreaming, taco-eating ditz had layers to her, and each layer was distinct. Sonata was slow and oblivious on the surface, but, underneath all of that, she was attentive. She was devoted. She was warm and loving and fun and creative. Above all else, she was real. A real person with fears and secrets that even Aria didn't know about. Sonata had her demons and angels, strengths and weaknesses. Sonata had her trouble-areas, and Sonata had her talents.

Sonata flipped through the list, studying each point as if she would have to pass a test on Aria Blaze. The list was long, and many items on it had been added in the time since the two became an item. Some things on the list were small facts, seemingly irrelevant details, like the fact that Aria ate almost all of her food with a copious amount of hot sauce. Or the fact that she secretly loved a series of bad street-racing action movies, and in fact cried for hours when the lead actor sadly and ironically lost his life in a fatal car crash. But then there were the bigger things, like her fear of spiders, or her anxiety in groups of people she didn't know. Her fear of being alone. For every tough, box-of-nails-for-breakfast trait Aria had, she had an equal, humbling, humanizing fear or desire. And that's what Sonata found so alluring about her; She had two sides to her, two different people stuck in the same form, sharing thoughts and life.

Aria glanced at her phone to check the time. It was nearing 9 in the evening, and she really should've started heading home. But, as much as she needed to start on her way, she also needed to make a decision. Aria was a very moody and easily-frustrated person, something she had known for a long time. She knew that if she went home, her anger at herself would spill over to Sonata, who didn't deserve that at all. Of course, Aria had ways of coping with her anger, but not all of them were guaranteed to work. She could sing, but it didn't really have the same effect without the absorbing of negative energy. Snacks always made her feel at least a little better, but if Aria ate as much as she felt she needed to, she would gain thirty pounds tonight alone. Finally, Aria had a rather secret and surprising coping-mechanism in the form of painting. She used to paint quite a bit back in Spain, and she got rather good at it. That's when the lightbulb went off in Aria's head.

Sonata's list on Aria wasn't very helpful at first. The top of the list was mostly just little things that weren't really applicable to the situation. Aria was super ticklish. Aria couldn't hold her liquor. Aria blushed really easily whenever they were together. Aria could be cute if she tried. The further Sonata went, the more superficial and irrelevant the list seemed to get. But, just as Sonata was about to give up, the list started getting interesting. Aria was emotional, especially in regards to her dad. She was visibly and tangibly impacted by the movies Big Fish, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Finding Nemo, and the songs Mockingbird and When I'm Gone actually reduced her to tears. Aria loved animals, as hard as was for anyone to believe. Sonata thought it had something to do with her fear of separation, since animals were arguably far more loyal companions than humans (or Sirens). Sonata looked back on their last date, where they had gone to the zoo on Aria's request. They saw a great many animals, but they spent a bit of time near the reindeer enclosure, which for whatever reason stuck in Sonata's head. At the thought of reindeer, the idea burst into Sonata's head.

Aria realized that she had a lot of work to do if she wanted this to work out properly. In fact, she'd likely be up all night working. Knowing that, Aria sent out a text to both Adagio and Sonata to let them know about her absence. With that out of the way, Aria plotted out a course, dialed out a number for some assistance, and put the phone to her ear. The phone rang twice before picking up.

"Yello," said Sunset Shimmer.

"Yo, Sunny," said Aria. "I need your help."

"What kind of help?" asked Sunset, a bit thrown off by the sudden call. "What's going on?"

"I need a ride and a quiet place to work," said Aria. "Can you pick me up by the mall? I'd ask Pinkie, but, ya know…"

"Yeah, she's still super-grounded," said Sunset. "Alright. Mind telling me what you're doing? If you're committing a felony, I'd like to know ahead of time"

"Just picking up an old hobby," said Aria. "Oh, and I'll need to do a little bit of shopping, if that's cool. I'll pay you gas money, I swear, I just really-"

"Dude, calm down. It's no trouble," said Sunset. "I need to head out anyway. Gotta find a present for Twilight. Just sit tight, I'm on my way."

---

Sonata had never been happier to hear that Aria wouldn't be coming home that night. That meant she had plenty of time to get what she needed, which, she realized, would be easier said than done. She flipped through her phone, searching up different methods to acquire Aria's gift. She could probably find a site that would ship what she needed, but it might not get here in time. Besides that, the surprise would probably be ruined. Sonata could always try to find one locally, but that was a bit of a dice-roll. The best, and most cost-effective, option would be to ask for help. Sonata dialed the number of one of her best friends and put the phone to her ear. After a moment of ringing, the other line picked up.

"Hey, Fluttershy," said Sonata brightly.

"Hi, Sony," said Fluttershy softly, barely heard over the loud squawking and flapping in the background. "Um… How are you?"

"I'm great, thanks for asking! Look, are you busy right now?" asked Sonata. "I kinda need your help."

"Oh, well… I'd love to help you, but I can't right now," said Fluttershy. "I'm at work right now. Mom and dad are swamped here. Someone let out a bunch of geese, and now they're-"

"You're at work? Perfect!" said Sonata. "I need to head up to the zoo, anyway! Can you come get me really quickly please? I'll help you over there if you help me."

"Um… Well, I am on break right now…" said Fluttershy. She turned her head from the phone and covered it with her palm, but Sonata still heard the shockingly loud scream of "Mom! I'll be right back!"

"Wow, Flutters, you can be really loud if you need to be," noted Sonata.

"When your dad is Italian and your mom is Puerto Rican, you don't really have a choice," said Fluttershy. "Are you home?"

"Yup! I'll be waiting outside," said Sonata. She hung up and punched the air in triumph. This gift would be perfect and just barely on time! Sonata grinned madly to herself, trying to decide precisely when she became a freaking genius.

---

Aria was proud of herself, not only for getting a proper present, but for doing it in record time. With the help of coffee, Monster Energy, and pizza as provided by Sunset Shimmer, Aria had completed one of her best pieces in a mere thirteen hours. Compared to some of her older works, which had taken three days and more, this was a night-and-day improvement. She was in an undeniably good mood, and actually remembered to thank Sunset when she dropped her off. With a covered canvas under her arm, Aria half-ran to her door in an attempt to hide the gift before Sonata saw her. Little did she know, Sonata had just gotten into the house herself, and was waiting for her in the living room.

Both girls were pretty surprised to see one another, but for two different reasons. Sonata was surprised to see that Aria was back already, and that she had a canvas with her, not to mention the paint splats on her clothes. Aria was surprised to see the reindeer that Sonata had gotten into the house. Neither of them moved for a while, until Aria accidently leaned back, slamming the door shut. Alarmed at the sudden loud noise, the reindeer let out a noise reminiscent of a cat coughing up a hairball and went into full panic, jumping all around the apartment and eventually scurrying up the stairs.

"Merry Christmas!" said Sonata brightly. Aria couldn't properly process what she had just witnessed, so she remained silent for a moment. The reindeer could still be heard galloping across the bedroom floor.

"Sonata… I have, like, a bunch of questions," said Aria. "Why is there a deer in the house?"

"Cause I remember that you really liked the deer at the zoo," said Sonata, grinning widely. "So, I adopted Blitzer. For you."

"How did you get that?" asked Aria.

"Fluttershy," answered Sonata simply.

"And, does Adagio know that you brought this thing into the house?" asked Aria, fighting to hold back her chuckles.

"WHAT IN TARTARUS?!" screamed Adagio from upstairs, answering the question for Aria.

"Babe, I don't think we can keep a reindeer in the house," said Aria from behind her smile. "Why in God's name did you think this was a good idea?"

"I… I couldn't think of what to get you, and I wanted it to be super special, and then I remembered the reindeer thing, so I got that," said Sonata. "I was just trying to get you something super cool and fun and awesome, cause you're super cool and fun and awesome, and-"

"It's great, Nata. I love it," laughed Aria. "Well, since I saw my gift early, I guess you should get to see yours."

Aria held the canvas in front of her chest and uncovered it, showing off her painting. It was a portrait of Sonata, her head tilted slightly and a small smile on her face. Her eyes shined with a certain happiness and serenity, and Aria tried her best to capture Sonata's innocence in the slight blush on her cheeks. The background was pretty simple, an ocean stretching from edge to edge, reflecting an image of an otherwise non-visible moon. Bordering the depiction of Sonata was a heart of purple and light green, the colors of Aria's hair.

"What do you think?" asked Aria, almost nervously. Sonata didn't say anything at first. She walked forward and lowered the painting to the ground, then grabbed Aria in the tightest hug she'd ever been in (which is saying something, considering how long she'd been with Sonata). They kissed for a moment, and it wasn't until they broke apart did Sonata speak.

"I love you," said Sonata softly. Aria smirked slightly, running her hand down Sonata's ponytail.

"Love you too, babe," said Aria. "Merry Christmas."

Summer had swept over Canterlot City quickly and without warning. That said, very few people found the heat unbearable. It was a perfect balance, hot but breathable, and even Aria had trouble complaining about it. The students of Canterlot High were beyond ecstatic, as to be expected with another year of school behind them. Some were heading out of town, some were starting up their summer jobs, and even more were making plans to relax on the beach. Adagio and Aria were two who fell into that last group.

Then, of course, there were people on the other side of the coin; Those who despised the heat and all it symbolized. Those who wanted nothing more than to spread out on their couch, enjoying air conditioning, television, and lethal amounts of ice cream. Sonata was one of those people.

Sonata had to be argued, threatened, bribed, and tricked into the car and to the beach, and even still didn't seem to have any of her usual bright, cheery demeanor to spare. Sonata was grumpy, sour, unsociable, and even rude in several instances. Nothing seemed to make her especially excited or happy, and she developed the mindset that the world was out to get her.

To put it simply, summertime transformed Sonata Dusk into Aria Blaze.

"Look, Sonata, we're already here," said Aria, stretching out on her beach towel, the sun beaming down onto her. "You might as well make the most of it."

"Hmph," grumbled Sonata, rolling to her stomach. "It's so hot."

"Oh, quit being such a baby," said Aria, smacking Sonata lightly with a spare towel. "It's not that bad. Besides, there are some upsides to the heat."

"Really?" asked Sonata dubiously. "Like what?"

"You get to see me in this super hot bikini," said Aria with a smirk. Sonata looked up and studied Aria, who was clearly comfortable with her body. The racy, skimpy microkini was bright green, and left very little to the imagination. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have minded, but something about how free Aria was with her body made Sonata a little upset. She realized she was being a bit unfair, since her bikini was nearly as bad (and neither of them could even compete with what Adagio decided to wear), but Sonata couldn't help but feel sour about it.

"What? Too sexy for you?" asked Aria. She rolled to her side, resting her head in her left hand and slapping her right hand on her hip. An bent leg and an alluring smile completed Aria's ultimate seductive pose. Sonata giggled slightly, flipping to match Aria. The two grinned at each other, raking in the rays and enjoying each other's gaze. Soon, Adagio joined them (dressed in a surprisingly conservative one piece orange swimsuit), spreading out her beach towel to their right. Adagio adjusted her shades, dropped her beach bag down, and glared angrily at Aria for two minutes before either of them said anything.

"Problem?" asked Aria.

"You moron!" exploded Adagio suddenly. "You told me that this was a nudist beach!"

"I definitely didn't say that," said Aria. "Before we left, you said 'Hey, Aria, do you know if this is a nudist beach like where we used to go in San Fran?' and I said 'Any beach is a nudist beach if you're brave enough', and then you got in the car in your robe. I thought you were going to call Rainbow Dash to double check."

"I did!" exclaimed Adagio. "When I asked her about, she just screamed 'Nudist Beach' in a weird accent at the top of her lungs and then hung up."

"You shouldn't have assumed," said Sonata. "Honestly, you should've known better. Does Canterlot City really seem like the kinda place that would pull something like that?" Adagio grumbled something angrily to herself and gently laid herself out on her towel.

"I can't believe I let you trick me into thinking this was clothing optional," grumbled Adagio.

"Where'd you get the suit?" asked Aria.

"I met Sunny in the washroom," explained Adagio. "Apparently, Twilight made the same mistake, and Sunset got a bunch of spare swimsuits that she was gracious enough to let me borrow."

"Speaking of swimming, I was thinking about going in," said Aria. "You coming?"

"I suppose it would be nice," said Adagio. Were this a normal, non-summer day, this would be the moment were Sonata chimed in with her agreement, and the three would proceed together. This time, no doubt due to the heat, Sonata ignored the conversation before her.

"Sonata? Are you coming?" asked Adagio. Sonata made a grunting, whining noise, which did a lot of things. Primarily, it irritated Aria.

"I hate when you get like this," snarled Aria. "What's wrong with you? Do you wanna go for a swim or not?"

"I do," said Sonata flatly, in a pretty decent (but unintentional) impression of Aria. "But I'm not going to."

"Sonata, in a thousand years, you've never made less sense than you do today," said Adagio. "If you want to go, then why don't you?"

Sonata flopped onto her back, staring up at the sky. She was hot, sweaty, grumpy, and embarrassed. She kept her mouth shut for a while, deciding whether or not she should say anything at all. Finally, when she realized that Aria was staring at her with her version of concern, Sonata let out a sigh and spilled the beans.

"I can't swim," said Sonata. Aria and Adagio looked at each other in confusion.

"What?" asked Adagio. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," said Sonata. "I do not know how to swim."

"Sonata, I've called you dumb a lot over the years," said Aria. "I've called you stupid and slow, and even that 'R' word that you told me isn't politically correct. But, I can say now, without doubt, that holy crap, you're an idiot."

"How do you figure?" asked Sonata, with a glare that sent a chill through even Aria's chest.

"I don't know if you know this or not," said Aria. "But we're kinda sorta basically fish. We lived in the ocean exclusively for decades! How can you not know how to swim?"

"I know how to swim in my old body, but not with people limbs," explained Sonata. "It's super easy with fins. With feet, it's impossible."

"Oh my god, we are literally going to teach a Siren how to swim," said Adagio. "I always thought that was just an expression."

"No, if you guys wanna go swimming, be my guest. I'd hate to be a burden," insisted Sonata. Even Aria, who wasn't very good at reading people, could tell that Sonata just said what was likely one of the most loaded, passive-aggressive, respond-to-this-wrong-and-you-sleep-on-the-couch-for-eternity statements ever uttered in a human tongue.

"Well…" said Adagio, rising nimbly to her feet. "If you say so."

"I am going to teach how to swim as a person," said Aria, ignoring the lead Siren. "Come on, babe. Let's get your feet wet."

"No, it's fine," said Sonata near-scathingly. "I wouldn't want you to waste time teaching a moron how to swim." Aria wormed forward and slung her arm across Sonata's waist, slipping her hand beneath her hip. With a jump and a pull, Aria yanked Sonata to her feet, and was soon pushing her onto her back.

"I bet it won't take long," said Aria. "Swimming is in your blood. And you're not a moron. I call you that all the time, but only cause I'm too stupid to find a cute name to give you." Sonata rolled her eyes in disbelief, but accepted Aria's attempts at cheering her up. At the end of the day, an attempt was good enough. The beginnings of a smile spread across Sonata's face. Maybe the heat of summer wasn't the worst thing ever. If it was able to make Aria seem like a cuddly, sappy puppy, then it certainly had some sort of power.

Plus, Sonata thought Aria looked really, really good in that bikini.

---

"Ow! Owowowow!" yelped Aria, limping into the house, her foot stained with an angry red lash. "God! I hate the beach!"

"Oh, quit being such a whiner," said Adagio, slinging her bag onto the couch. "It was fun for a while."

"Yeah, until Sony pissed on my foot!" snapped Aria.

"You're the one who got stung by a jellyfish," said Sonata with a shrug. "You said that would help. Did it?"

"I think it made it worse," said Aria through gritted teeth. She took a few more steps before collapsing onto the couch. Achilles, woken from his nap by his mistress' return, bound into the living room and slid to a stop in front of Aria. He sniffed at her foot, then licked it, sending spikes of pain through Aria.

"You stupid dog!" yelled Aria, and Achilles was soon whimpering and whining on his way to his "shame corner".

"You gonna be okay?" asked Sonata.

"I'll be fine," promised Aria. "God, you were right. Summer sucks."

"I dunno. It was pretty okay," said Sonata. "It was nice to be back in the ocean for a while. Do you think we can go again some time?"

Aria looked at her girlfriend with a gaze that, if summed up and condensed into a single word, would be described as "wrath".

"Fine. We can go next week, when I can walk again," said Aria. "But I'm not stepping foot in the water again."

---

Author's Note: And that's why I stay indoors. Also, this chapter's true title is "Summertime Lovin Beats Lovin in the Summertime". It unfortunately doesn't fit on this site. On a more serious note, the story is drawing to a close, with only two more chapters on the way. Fave, follow, and review for the conclusion to Love Beats Stupid. (P.S. Anyone catch the Kill la Kill reference? It's almost like I like that anime or something.)

Aria Blaze was not very good at making friends. This was a fact of life for a very, very long time, a thousand years or more. Aria didn't like anyone, ever, for any reason at all. She was, for as long as she could remember, an isolated person. All of that changed when she met Sonata Dusk.

The effects weren't immediate, far from it, actually. It took many centuries for any sort of tangible progress, and even that was marginal at best. The process was as slow as it was unintentional and unnoticed, but it eventually made a difference. Aria slowly morphed from the bitter Siren she was born to be into a slightly less bitter being, one who did care for a select few, no matter how hard she denied it.

After their defeat at the hand of the Rainbooms, Aria felt something inside her change. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, least of all herself, but she was scared. When the Rainbooms unleashed their magic, and the great big beam of rainbow light came crashing onto the Dazzlings, Aria found herself concerned, not for herself, but for Sonata. It was this realization that enlightened Aria to the idea that she might have had feelings for Sonata.

Aria, having no real experience with love or anything truly resembling it, found herself struggling to accept her feelings and act upon them. She was so used to bottling up her emotions, to the point where she could blow at any moment. She refused to accept any romance between them, and, more to convince herself than anyone else, would tease and hurt Sonata (Rainbow Dash later informed her that she was filling a classic Japanese trope called "tsundere". Aria still, to this day, has no idea what that means.)

Hurting Sonata's feelings made Aria feel normal, but not necessarily good about it. In fact, and Aria didn't realize this until years after the fact, she was just making herself feel all the worse. It wasn't until she saw with her own eyes just how much she could affect Sonata did she finally consciously decide to make a change.

Her dating Sonata was the first change of many. With Sonata's guidance and example, Aria was able to gain friends, and grow as a person. It was hard at first, for Aria to start to think about how others felt. It went against everything she knew, but she soon began to understand that there was a need for sacrifice and compromise, and that she was a part of something bigger. There were things more important than herself, the most prominent of which being Sonata.

With each year came ups and downs, good and bad. Aria and Sonata had their fair share of fights and arguments, and sometimes it seemed like their relationship was unfixable. But, after every fight, they came back to each other, their love even stronger than before. They grew closer and closer with each Christmas, birthday, anniversary, trip to the bar, day at the beach, and nights home alone. It seemed like their lives were as perfect as could be.

And yet, for some reason, Aria felt like something was missing. One night, while Adagio and Sonata were asleep, Aria sat in thought on the couch. She looked back over the past six years, when her life started to take that turn. Aria didn't know what was wrong with her, but there was something eating at her soul. It pained her to say it, and she never would say it out loud, but she wasn't truly happy. And, after giving a second of thought, it was obvious why. It was also obvious what she had to do. Aria reached into her pocket and withdrew her phone. It was 2 in the morning, but Aria honestly couldn't care less right then. She just needed to talk to someone. She dialed the number, put her phone to her ear, and waited. The phone rang four times before she picked up.

"Aria? What's up?" yawned Sunset Shimmer.

"I know it's really late, and you probably have to be up really early for classes tomorrow," said Aria. "I'd totally understand if you were to hang up on my right now, but I had to at least try. I need to talk to someone, and you're the only one who can probably help me with this."

"You know I'm always here if you need me," said Sunset. "You're more important than my Bachelor's. What's eating you?"

"Have you ever thought about going home?" asked Aria. "Going to Equestria to visit? Get some closure or something?"

"Well, not really. I don't think I could face Celestia again," said Sunset. "I think home would only hurt me at this point. My past is dark, and I plan to leave it behind as I move forward. Why do you ask?"

And then, without warning, Aria spilled her guts out over the phone, sobbing and begging Sunset Shimmer for help.

---

It took Aria a week after her breakdown over the phone to put all the pieces of her plan in place. She had hardly seen Sonata and Adagio during the time, spending most of it with Sunset Shimmer, Rarity and, when she was available, Princess Twilight. Aria spent a lot of time thinking and spent a lot of money, knowing full well that it was very possibly to be for nothing.

Aria pushed open her front door and slipped quietly into the house. Gripping one of her backpack straps nervously, Aria tiptoed up the stairs, hoping, praying that Sonata wouldn't see her. She sneaked down the hall and into Adagio's room, closing the door behind her. Adagio didn't notice her in any way, shape, or form, as her eyes were glued to her TV screen and her ears were covered by large, noise-cancelling gaming headphones, plugged into her Xbox controller. Aria tiptoed across Adagio's field of vision, putting a finger to her lips.

"Where've you been?" whispered Adagio, removing her headset. "Why are we whispering?"

"I've been… I've been thinking," said Aria. She dropped onto the bed next to Adagio. "A lot. And I've realized that there's two things I gotta do. I need your help for one of them."

"What sort of help?" asked Adagio. Aria inhaled deeply, then exhaled, and began searching through her backpack. She returned a short second later with a small, black velvet ring box. She turned to Adagio and opened it, revealing the simple silver band gemmed with a small diamond.

"Maybe 'help' was the wrong word," said Aria. "I need… I need your permission."

"I don't understand," said Adagio, looking closely at the ring. "You need my permission? For what?"

"I want to, someday, marry Sonata," said Aria. "I want to ask her to be with me until the end of time. I couldn't do that in good conscious without asking you first. You're the closest thing to family she… we have. You're like a sister to us, and I need your blessing if I'm going to marry her."

"Why would I ever say no, moron?" asked Adagio with a small grin. "You idiots were made for each other. Who am I to defy fate?" Aria smiled, slightly relaxed.

"Good. Thanks," she said. "Now's the hard part. Where is she?"

"In your room, I believe. She's been keeping quiet ever since you went on your little shopping trip. You really shouldn't just leave her like that," scolded Adagio. "You know how she is. You go to the store, she thinks you're never coming back."

"Yeah… That's why this is the hard part," said Aria. "Come on. You need hear this, too." Aria snapped the ring box shut, slung her backpack over her shoulder and rose to her feet. Aria led the way from Adagio's bedroom to her own. Her hand faltered near the door knob, and it took all of her power to refrain from running away.

"Don't get cold feet on me now," said Adagio. "Just grit your teeth and get over it." That somehow made Aria feel a bit steadier, just calm enough to grip the knob and pull the door open.

Sonata seemed to be in a daze for a while. She heard everything Aria was saying, and she understood what each word meant individually, but she couldn't seem to string it together into a sensible sentence.

"I don't understand," said Sonata.

"It's called a promise ring," explained Aria. "It's like… It's an engagement ring for an engagement ring, if that makes sense. It's a promise that I'm going to come back and I'm going to propose to you and, if you say yes, I'll marry you."

"But… why?" asked Sonata. "Why the promise ring? And what do you mean you'll come back?"

"Last week, I did a lot of thinking," said Aria, digging through her backpack and returning with a large purple book. "I realized that I should be happy, but… I'm just not. And that's not your fault. It's mine. I did some thinking, talked to Sunny and Twilight, and we all agreed that it'd be a good thing for me if I were to go away for a while."

"Wha…" said Sonata, trailing off when she started to understand. "You're… You're leaving me?"

"No! God, that's the last thing I want to do," insisted Aria. "I just need some time to get my head together. I'm gonna go back home for a little while. I don't know for how long, but I will come back. I promise."

"Thus, the ring," said Adagio with a nod. She hadn't said much, mostly just observing and keeping a look out for Sonata.

"Do you have to go?" asked Sonata. She knew better than to ask to tag along. If Aria was going to go through all this trouble, she must've decided from the start that she'd be doing it alone.

"If I want to be on my A-game, for you, then yes," said Aria. "Don't worry. I won't be completely gone. I borrowed this book from Twilight. It's magic. Whatever you write in there appears in another book that Twilight has. She's gonna give that book to me, so we can write to each other."

"Every day?" asked Sonata.

"Well… Not every day," said Aria. "Twilight has to put a bunch of spells on the book to make it waterproof and resistant to corrosion from the salt or whatever, and I guess that dilutes the original spell… But I will write to you every chance I get. I promise."

Sonata nodded with tears in her eyes, and reached out her arms. Aria grabbed her up and hugged her, whispering into her ear how she promised to return, and how it was for the best. Sonata nodded and understood, but that didn't make it any easier. Aria and Sonata held each other for most of the time of Aria's last day before her departure.

---

Aria strolled down the street, the statue portal in clear sight. It didn't take long for her to reach her destination, where a certain pony princess stood with a look of concern on her face. Twilight grabbed Aria's shoulder gently, the latter practically recoiling out of tension.

"Sorry," said Aria. "I'm kinda nervous about going home."

"It'll be okay, Aria," promised Twilight. "Are you ready to go?"

"I think so. I left Sony with the book," said Aria. "And you have mine, right?" Twilight nodded. "Then all I gotta do is put one foot in front of the other." Aria took a step forward, then stopped herself. The portal was right there, and it was mocking her.

"Something wrong?" asked Twilight.

"Something just occured to me," said Aria. "Do you have, like, a fish tank or something on the other side? And how am I going to get into the ocean?"

"I have a large tank filled with seawater waiting for you," said Twilight. "From there, you'll be flown to the beach by me, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and our friend Derpy. We'll get you there, and we have a series of measures in place to keep an eye on you and pull you out if anything goes wrong. Which it won't. But just in case it does, we're prepared."

"So, what you're saying is…" said Aria. "I should stop stalling?"

"In so many words, yes," agreed Twilight. Aria let out a small sigh, put her fears to the side, and stepped one foot in front of the other until she was passing through the portal, on a ride to the home she thought she'd never want to see again.

Dear Sonata,

I just made it into the ocean, and things are so different. It's so weird being back in my normal body. Fins and hooves and gills. No joke, I almost drowned cause I've gotten so used to human limbs. Twilight is flying over me, guiding me and making sure I don't get in any trouble, so that's nice. I'm sorry I had to do this, and I probably should've told you about my plan before the day it went down, but… I couldn't. I'd make excuses, and I'd never end up going.

I want you to understand that this is really important. I wouldn't willingly spend a second away from you if it wasn't. I don't know what I wanna find here, or if there's even a chance of me finding it, but I have to try. The me I am now, you deserve better than her. You deserve someone without baggage, someone who can devote all of them to you, and that's the me I plan to become. God, just listen to me wax poetic and get all girly for you.

I don't know what you're feeling right now, or how you're holding up, but there are a few things you have to remember. We have friends now, Nata, and you can depend on them. I know they might seem busy all the time. Since their lives are so much shorter, time flows differently for them than it does us. They're going through college (most of them) and they can only go through it the once, not like us. They may not be able to talk to you at the exact moment you need them, but Sunny, Pinkie, Rarity, everyone, they'll make time for you.

I want you to go easy on Dag. Shocking, right? Somehow, I think she's taking this harder than she's letting on. Try not to get on her nerves too much, okay? I wanna be there to see her completely lose her mind. Just give her a bit of space. Maybe pick up a job or something, just to get out of the house.

Another thing, I don't want you to give up on your whole singing thing. I know that it's tough, and I'm not expecting a record deal by the time I get home (even though that'd be sick, and if anyone could do it, it'd be you). At least try. If singing makes you happy, you deserve the chance to be happy.

Finally, and this is probably the most important thing I've ever said to you in all of our lives, I need you to promise me that YOU WILL NOT LET BUTTON MASH GET MY COMICS! I can't stress this enough. As soon as he finds out that I'm out of town, he's gonna come for my collection. I repeat, DO NOT LET HIM GET IT! I spent a bunch of years completing that collection. I've paid Stan Lee more money than some people make in their entire lives. Do not let that little skid mark get my collection. He's gonna drop some big numbers, with at least 4 zeroes. Decline every single time. If he refuses to leave without buying something, reach under my bed and pull out my shoebox of trading cards. I bought a couple hundred for just this kind of situation. I got Yu-Gi-Oh, I got Pokemon, I even have Magic. Give him those to get him out of your hair, but don't let him even look at my comic crate!

I don't know how to end this letter. You know how weird I am when I write. So, I love you, I guess, and I promise that this is for the best.

Sincerly,

Aria

---

Dear Ari,

I hope you're getting settled in alright, and that you find what you're looking for. I know it's important to you, and that makes it important to me. I'll try to stay strong, but I'm gonna miss you every day until you get back. I think you're right about Adagio, cause she's been more quiet than normal. As soon as you left, she went back to her game. Thing is, I don't think she ever unpaused it. She just stared at the title screen for a few minutes, then she went to sleep. That's what she said, anyway. The next day, though, she seemed pretty normal. Rarity came by, and she helped a bit.

It's a good thing you warned me about Button when you did, cause he showed up, like, right after I read your letter. A few minutes later and I might've sold away your whole collection. Don't worry, though. I promised to get him into a bar and he hit the road after that. It was kinda funny, actually, just watching his face going from a smug grin to just sadness and regret.

Don't worry about me and my singing. I'm still poking around, seeing who I can meet. I actually have a meeting with this talent agent tomorrow. He thinks I might be "the next big thing", whatever that actually means. Even if he offers me something, I'm gonna pass until you get back. I want you to be here to make a big decision like that.

What's it like being back home? I mean, obviously, you're not home yet, but you're back in Equestria. When Starswirl kicked us out, I never thought we'd ever get to see home again. I guess, someday, I might maybe be able to go? I mean, when things between us have settled? Maybe after the wedding?

Oh, almost forgot to say this: You need to take it easy. I know how you get when you set your mind to something, and you might end up hurting yourself. If you don't know what I'm talking about, think back to the hot dog eating contest you had with Pinkie. Or the drinking contest you had with Pinkie. Basically any time you ever hung out with Pinkie, really. Point is, you're kinda really stubborn, and you sometimes forget to do important things like eat or sleep or breathe.

I love you, babe, and I can't wait to hear from you again.

Sincerly,

Sonata

(P.S. I am taking your reply as a solemn vow to take things easy and get 8 hours of sleep every night and eat 3 healthy meals a day).

---

Dear Sony,

Absolutely not. If I sleep 8 hours a night, I'll never make it home. I know that you have no point of reference, cause you've never been there, but Twilight's place is a bit of a swim from where I'm trying to get. Besides, it's not like we need 8 hours. Trust me, a 2 hour nap every day or two and I'll get there in a decent amount of time.

Glad to hear about your meeting with the agent-whatever. Even if you bomb horribly, you'll probably learn how not to screw up next time. Not saying you're gonna botch it, but there's the silver lining for when if you do. I'm joking, I know you'll do fine. With or without the pendants, your voice is magical.

And with that super-corny statement, I need to get moving. Turns out there's a current I can ride for a little while that'll cut down on my travel time, but it only comes every now and then. Can't miss my chance. Love you, babe.

Next time will be longer,

Aria

---

Dear Ari,

I really hope you're joking about the whole "2 hour nap" thing. I know we Sirens don't need to sleep as much as some other species, but 2 hours isn't very good for us, especially since we've been human for so long. Our brains still work like people, and we developed a psychosomatic desire and dependency for 8 hours of sleep and three meals a day. Before you ask, yes, Sunny let me read her psychology book, and, yes, I only understood, like, half of the stuff I just said.

She's been coming over a lot lately, and I really appreciate it. She's the only one who can kinda understand what you're going through. I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner, talking to Sunset. Of course she understands. We're all from the same cloth, aren't we? Us "bad guys" gotta stick together, right?

Is that why you left? To prove to yourself that you've changed for good? Cause I already knew that. We've all made a change for the better, and I can't help but think that you think that you need to prove it. You've always been pretty silly about things like that. If that's what this is all about, you can come back now and we'll just watch Wreck-it Ralph. Same idea, right? "You are bad-guy, but that does not mean you are bad guy"?

But that's not it, is it? No, I don't think it is. I wish you would tell me, so that I could help you. I'm probably not being fair. This isn't easy for anyone, least of all you. You just feel things, and you can't explain why you feel them, but you just do. That's one of the things I love about you. Even if you're being angry or grumpy or if you're hiding things from people, you're so pure about it. Even if you're keeping a secret about how you feel, you do it from a pure place in your heart. Even if you don't understand it, you act on how you feel, even if it comes out in a weird way.

I think I read too much of Sunny's homework, cause I'm starting to freak myself out. I think I'm having one of those existench exitench existential crises (thank Sunset Shimmer for coming to my rescue after I screwed up trying to spell that)

Love you always,

Sonata

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Dear Sony,

Tell Sunset Shimmer that I'm going to murder her for letting you get into those books. The last thing I need is a ditz like you thinking she knows how the mind works. You're gonna start trying to get into my head. With my luck, it'll probably work.

I've finally seen something familiar. Right now, I'm at the rock we all used to feed on. This is where Starswirl the Bearded kicked us out of Equestria. It's hardly been touched since we left. Do you remember that day? Adagio and I were arguing over something dumb, like where to go next or something, and you were just resting there. Then, he came.

We never really talked about it, did we? When we got over the shock, we just looked to Adagio. That was probably a mistake. Talking about it probably would of made us feel a whole lot better. You were right, all those years ago. When you said that we'd always have each other. If I remember correctly, I bit your head off for saying something that dumb.

It's nuts how much you changed me. You actually got me to talk about my feelings. Being with you makes me feel so alive, even if I feel like I'm gonna die when I hear some of the sugary-sweet crap that comes out of my mouth. I guess that's a good thing, when you can make me actively hate the words coming out of my mouth but I still find myself saying them. You're really that special.

Speaking of special, I know you must be thinking about our special day. I know I am, anyway. We should probably start planning now, don't you think? Just know, I don't mind you making all the decisions, and I reserve the right to three vetoes. Knowing you, you're gonna give off a bunch of super reasonable things and then the last item on the list will be something weird and impossible, like "1 million Chico's Tacos" or something dumb like that.

I'm making the assumption that you even want a big wedding. I think you deserve one, if that's what you want. Putting up with my crap for so long, and agreeing to marry me? (Making assumptions, but pretty confident). I've been planning out how I'm gonna propose to you, and I think you're gonna like it. It may or may not involve a box of tacos. That may or may not be a joke.

Love you forever,

Aria

---

Dear The Future Mrs. Dusk,

How did you know about my Chico's Tacos plan?! I didn't even write that down yet! Babe, you must be a mind reader or something, cause I was just doing the math with Dagi to see how much that would cost. Turns out, it'd be cheaper to just buy the restaurant. I told her that I'd wait until you get back to make that decision. We crunched the numbers, and we can probably afford it if we sold all your comics and Adagio's vintage game collection.

I'm glad that you're actually giving thought to how you're going to ask. I was afraid that you'd just do it without coming up with some sort of plan. Even if you did, I'd totally say yes, but it's cute that you're acting as if I might not. I don't really care what we do, or if we even have a real wedding at all. As long as I'm with you, we can go to the courthouse and sign some papers, and I'll be super duper happy.

Rarity has been helping me think of what I want for the wedding, which I'm pretty sure you guessed. What's kinda surprising is that Applejack has a few ideas of her own, and they're pretty good. I think she's planning on proposing to RD soon, but you didn't hear that from me.

You can have your vetoes, just so long as I have one super-veto, that can veto a veto. Just to balance the game, you know? Wouldn't want you to ban something we absolutely, positively, without doubt need (like Chico's Tacos).

I'm glad to know I changed you for the better. You've changed me, too. I used to be so scared of everything, but you made me feel safe. I remember for a while that you used to scare me more than anything, but you ended up being the one to protect me. How many people have you punched in the face for me? If that doesn't make a gal feel special, I don't know what does.

Your Soon-to-Be Wife,

Sonata

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Dear The Deluded Future Mrs. Blaze,

Ha! That's cute. Look at you, thinking that you get to keep your last name. That's rich, babe. We all know that I'm gonna be the one in the suit, I'll be carrying you through our front door, and, of course, you're the one who's gonna change their name. It's just the way it's gonna be.

I made it to the Trench today. That's where it all started, huh? That's where I met you and Dag. I remember it like it was yesterday. From the first word, I wanted to punch Adagio in the face. She just came up to me and started telling me that we had to stick together, seeing as it was just us three left. At first, I didn't even see you, you were hiding so well. When I did, you started smiling like an idiot and I just yelled at you for an hour. I never did find out what you were grinning so damn hard at.

If I'm at the Trench, that means I should get to my old home in a day or two. I don't know what I expect to find, but I'm gonna find it soon. Part of me wants to turn back. This little adventure was pretty dumb anyway. But the other part knows that I need to do this.

Hold tight for just a little longer. I know these past couple of weeks have been rough, but I promise, they're almost over. I'll be home before you know it.

Your Soon-to-Be Husband(?),

Aria.

---

Dear Ari,

Wow, the Trench must've been nice to see again. If we could have kids, we'd take them there all the time, just to show them where we met. Ya know, I'm thinking really hard, but I don't actually remember smiling too much when we first met. Couldn't tell you why. Maybe it's cause I saw how special you were? Or maybe your memory isn't as good as you think. (Jk, I know it's the first one)

Don't back down now, babe. You need to get this out of your system, you said it yourself. All you gotta do is just keep swimming. We're with you every step (splash?) of the way. Adagio asks about you every time she's here.

Oh! I can't believe I forgot to tell you! Adagio found a boyfriend! He's from out of town, a nice guy named Silver. I think you'll like him. He's kinda sarcastic and smarmy (like you) and he's a big nerd (also like you). He's pretty funny, and he has a mouth on him, but he just folds to Adagio. Like, this one night, Dagi hosted an Street Fighter V tournament, and she and Silver made it to the finals. When Silver was playing everyone else, he was talking trash and antagonizing everybody (I hope I used that word right). But, when he played against Adagio, he got really sheepish and shy. It's cute. Can't wait to see you run him through the rounds.

He's been asking me about you a lot, cause he doesn't believe you're real. I told him that it's all fun and games until you get back and kick his ass. That shut him up (For, like, ten seconds).

Love,

Sonata

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Dear Sonata,

I made it. I'm home. I'm home, and I am freaking out. There's nothing here. Everything is gone. I knew that some stuff would be missing, but have we really been gone long enough for everything to have been washed away?

There's only one thing left that I remember. A big rock, so big that it stuck out way past the surface. Now, it's been eaten away at so much that I could probably lift it if I tried. My name is carved there, my mom and dad's, too. This is the only thing left.

I'm adding your name to the rock. I'm gonna hang here for the night, and then I'm going to head home. My real home, with you and Dag.

On my way,

Aria

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Dear Ari,

Whoa. That's crazy, babe. Are you okay? You must be freaking out pretty bad. I hope you got what you went there for. It must've been kinda scary. Adagio is worried about how you're taking things, but I told her that you're fine. You're the strongest person I know.

The girls are on semester break, so they're hanging around with us. Pinkie wants to throw you a welcome back party, and I almost want to let her. Something tells me you'd be a bit pissed if you walked in the door to streamers and confetti, though.

I don't wanna rush you, but how long do you think it'll take for you to get back? I've lost track of how long it's been, but you must've been gone for close to a month, haven't you? Maybe longer. I can't wait to see you.

Miss you tons,

Sonata

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Dear Ari,

You okay? You haven't responded to my last letter yet, and I'm confused. Did I say something to make you mad at me? I'm sorry if I did, I really didn't mean it. Please write back, even if it's just to yell at me for whatever stupid thing I did to make you mad at me.

My bad,

Sonata

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Dear Ari,

Babe, you're really scaring me now. What did I do? I don't remember doing anything at all, but you seem really mad at me. Please reply. At least tell me what I did. You've never done this to me before, and it doesn't feel very good.

I'm sorry,

Sonata

---

Dear Ari,

I miss you…

Love,

Sonata

---

Sonata was currently giving all of her attention to her book, and the words that it contained. It didn't make sense. Aria just stopped responding. Was it something Sonata said? Did she somehow drive Aria away? A glance at the ring on her finger convinced Sonata otherwise. Aria would never leave her.

Sonata hadn't been out of her room in days. Even Silver, who was currently downstairs with his girlfriend, seemed concerned. Sonata hadn't been eating, and sleep was near-unattainable. All she could spare energy for was Aria.

"Whoa, who the hell are you?" Sonata heard Silver shout from downstairs.

"Bite me, emo-freak," a familiar voice said. Sonata nearly tripped on her way out the door and down the stairs. She slid into the living room, past Silver, past Adagio, and right in front of her.

She was soaking wet, which was to be expected. She stood awkwardly, not daring to put too much pressure on her right leg. Her eyes were bagged and dark, as if she hadn't slept in ages. Sonata was willing to bet that she hadn't. The one thing that was most prominent on Aria's face, however, was happiness.

"Ari…" said Sonata quietly.

"Yeah… Sorry. Books on the spell…" Aria shook herself firmly, sending flecks of salty seawater everywhere. "Sorry. Spells on the book wore off. I got swept up in a current, and screwed up my fin. Sorry I took so long." Sonata was just about to throw her arms around Aria in a hug, when Aria crumpled, hitting the ground and pushing herself to one knee.

"Aria! Are you okay?" asked Sonata.

"I missed you so much. I wanna spend every second I can with you," huffed Aria. "I can't wait to spend the day with you, but I haven't slept in a solid week and I'm 90% sure that I broke my leg." This time, Sonata didn't stop herself, and grabbed Aria in a hug.

"Seriously, babe, I really should go to the hospital," said Aria. Sonata kissed her softly, then smiled as she pulled out her phone to call the ambulance.

This was not the way Aria imagined her reunion with Sonata, although both versions involved her being on one knee. Although not quite the same, Aria decided to roll with it.

"Sonata, will you marry me?" she asked. Sonata grabbed Aria's hand in her own and pressed it to her heart.

"Well, duh!"

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Author's Note: And it ends. Thanks for sticking with it to the end, and I hope you enjoyed. If you did, let me know why and what you didn't like, so that I can improve for next time. Hope I made you laugh and/or squee, and I am ever-grateful for the support and comments this story got.

The next story I drop will be a exclusive, so follow me over there if you wanna catch that. No rush, cause I'm out of the country for a little while and therefore can't get any work done

Like, comment, and follow for more super fluffy stuff like this (and maybe some darker stuff in the future, if that's what you like)