‘I’m off doing errands for the day. I’ll be back late this evening, so stay out of trouble, you two: I can’t stress that enough.’

That was what was written in Adagio's note. Aria’s time in the bathroom turned out better than he thought it would, not falling into the toilet and being able to flush it on his own afterwards. He still needed Sonata to close the lid down for him, but at least there was nothing left that would unintentionally gross her out. It wasn’t long until he succumbed to boredom, but on the other hand he wasn’t going to go out of his way looking for excitement either, especially not after this morning and the earlier hair incident.

He set the note aside and got himself comfortable on the couch, the remote control right in front of him. He was glad that he was able to work the thing in-spite of having hooves; just a simple press of a button using the tip of his hoof and the television comes on.

If there was one thing about the human world that continues to baffle Aria, it’s that human channels and television shows are very, very weird. The things the sirens see on TV range everywhere from mind-boggling to plain nonsensical to just being bat-nuts craziness.

‘I swear, humans must have a loose feel when it comes to their quality TV,’ Aria thought to himself as he started flipping through the channels for something interesting enough to watch. ‘It's as if they have an almost improvisational tone.’

*click*

“It’s Saturday Night Live! Starring… a piece of toast! Two guys with handle-bar mustaches, a man painted silver who makes robot noises, Gar-Ma-Nar-Nar, 3… um, eh, I, um, uh-I’ll get back to that one…”

*click*

“Okay, we have soda, OJ, purple stuff, and two kinds of Sunny Z!”

“Two kinds?”

“Alright!”

*click*

“I couldn’t afford a present this year, so I got you this box.”

“Hey, that’s what I got you!”

*click*

“I’m Ants-In-My-Eyes Johnson, here at Ants-In-My-Eyes Johnson’s Electronics! I mean, I have so many ants in my eyes, and so many TVs, microwaves, radios, I think, I can’t-I’m not one hundred percent what we have here, because I can’t see anything! I hope our prices aren’t too low!”

*click*

“Come on and slam, and welcome to the Jam!”

*click*

“Hey, look! They’re going to start making artificial beavers.”

*click*

“Will the Power Ponies escape the Mane-iac?! What dastardly tricks does she have up her sleeves? Find out next time; same pony time, same pony channel!”

*click*

“HI! I’M MR. MEESEEKS! LOOK AT ME!”

*click*

“No! You don’t get it! I reserve the right to eat human flesh!”

*click*

“HEYA, KIDS! THIS IS PINKIE, FROM PINKIE’S TOY-FARM!” yelled a familiar-looking teenage girl in a chicken suit bouncing around frantically in front of a huge store.

Aria always cringed for some reason whenever that commercial came on screen. “I despise that chicken…”

*click*

“Good night, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“But mom, they don’t bite. They just want to play with me.”

“What?”

“It’s true!” a tall dark creature with the combined features of a tall pony and a bug appeared in the kid’s bedroom. “We aren’t scary. We just want to have fun!”

“Queen Chrissy?!”

“That’s right! You can fun at my place; Chrissy Changeling’s Pizza Hive! No matter your age, the changelings will be here to have fun and show you that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just a little love and you’ll be set for adventure!”

“We love you, Queen Chrissy!” all the children cried as they hugged the tall changeling queen.

“And I’ve grown fond of you, kids.” Chrissy replied happily as she looks at the camera with the creepiest smile on her face.

*click*

“Wait, Weegee!” There was a sudden explosion.

*click*

“This… is crack!”

*click*

“My Little Donkey, My Little Donkey, Ahh~Ahh~Ahh~Ahh~”

*click*

“Silly Lagomorph! Rainbow Bits are for kids!”

“You share!”

*click*

“It’s the Champion of Justice and Love: Muscle Cutie Kokoro, here to pump up and save the day!”

*click*

“Super Duper Great Escape X Prime is now here! It’s bigger, badder, and messier! Destroy the other fruit people while you rise to the top to win! Super Duper Great Escape X Prime, because killing things smaller than you gives you power! Aahahahahaha!”

*click*

“Jump the mushroom!”

“I’ll jump the mushroom when it’s mushroom-jumping time!”

*click*

“Hey, are you tired of real doors cluttering up your house, where you open and actually go somewhere, like into another room? Well get on down to Real Fake Doors! That’s us! Fill a whole room up with them. See, watch. Check this out! This one won’t open. That one won’t open. Not this one. And not that one. None of them open! ‘Fake Doors.com’ is our website, so check it out for really good deals on fake dooooooooooooooooors!”

The man on screen suddenly started walking off stage, much to Aria’s surprise; never has he seen human commercials, as ridiculous as they can be, do something like this before. For once, he was mildly curious about what was going on. The camera seemed to be following the man, who was already in his car driving all the way to his house. The man went straight to his kitchen and made himself a sandwich.

“Hey, everybody! So this is my house, just made myself a sandwich-peanut butter and jelly. Still here, still selling fake doors!”

Aria blinked, surprised to realize that the whole thing was still part of the commercial, made clearer when the man walked into the next room, which was filled with fake doors, uncannily resembling the same room he was in a while ago. Is it even the same room?

“We have fake doors like you wouldn’t believe. What are you worried about? Come get fake doors! Call us up and order some fake doors today. Don’t even hesitate, don’t even worry, and don’t even… give it a second thought. That’s our slogan. See it at the bottom of the screen, below our name? Here’s another slogan, right below that one. What are you worried about? Come get fake doors! Get in here quick, get out quicker, with an arm of fake doors in your arms!”

Now Aria was bored again.

*click*

“Will you just pick something and stick with it?” Sonata called from the kitchen, closing the side door behind her.

Aria shook his head while still pressing the button. “I’ll stick with something when I find something good to watch,” he heard the young woman entering the living room and noticed that she was holding some chopped pieces of wood in her arms, carrying them over to the fireplace and putting them in; there was no shred of doubt what she was intending to do. “You really shouldn’t do that, Sonata,”

“Come on, Aria, it is cold outside,” Sonata insisted as she reached for the box of matches that lay on a shelf hanging from the wall above the fireplace.

“We have heaters throughout the house,” Aria told her nonchalantly.

Sonata puffed her cheeks in annoyance. “But I want to make s’mores with you!” she pouted a little as she showed him a box of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and some wrapped up chocolate bars. “You know, your favorite treat, Aria!”

The pony’s ear flicked and drew his attention away from the TV screen and towards Sonata. “S’mores?” he asked. He didn’t deny that they were his favorite snack, but after everything that Sonata put him through today, he really didn’t feel like going along with this. Plus, he still doesn’t trust her with the firewood.

“Not now, Sonata,” Aria turned away back to the TV screen.

“Aria,” Sonata insisted.

“I said no,” Aria growled and tried to focus on channel surfing.

“I want to do this with you,” and still she persists.

Aria shook his head again, now annoyed. “Sonata, I’ve been through enough today after what you’ve done to me and Adagio, and I’m tired. Whatever you wanna do, leave me out of it.”

But Sonata wasn’t having it. She went over and picked her friend up, surprising Aria who then tried struggling. “S-Sonata, put me down!”

“No, Aria,” Sonata spoke more sternly this time. Aria felt a shiver crawl up his spine, remembering this feeling from earlier. She gave him that freaky glare again and told him “Like I said before, this is going to be a great weekend, having nothing but fun and making happy memories again, just like before. Do I make myself clear, Aria?”

Aria gritted his teeth and folded his hooves across his chest again. “Fine! We’ll make some stupid s’mores, just put me down already.”

“Okay!” the air-headed siren bounced back to her normal, happy, go-lucky self. She plopped her bottom down in front of the fireplace, setting Aria down in her lap, and took out the crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. She stuck some onto metal sticks and held some bars of chocolate on some mini-tongs and held them over the fire. “See? Told you that I can handle the fireplace just fine,”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aria rolled his eyes, then blinked when Sonata had already finished making their first s’mores and handed it down to him. He didn’t say anything and just took a bite out of it. No doubt he enjoyed the delicious, gooey, and crunchy dessert.

“You like it?”

“Yeah,”

“You know, I’ve noticed the times before when you would try to make s’mores, or try to buy s’mores hot-tarts at the grocery store, or order an s’mores shake or sundae at Sugarcube Corner. It’s your favorite snack, right?” Sonata asked as she playfully strokes the side of Aria’s neck. “Just like how I love tacos. Hey, remember the time when Adagio made that big taco that I was in?”

“Don’t remind me,” Aria said dully.

Sonata poked his cheek and giggled. “You were puking rainbows, Aria. Then you held me in your arms, telling me how adorable I was, because no one can resist the power of Sonatabetes!”

Aria shrugged. If it was in any other situation, he either wouldn’t care of just give a nod in acknowledgement. Sonata put a hand to her chin and asked “But with that I mind, I wonder Aria would be like with s’mores?” and then her mind started drifting off, imagining little pony Aria in a blank white space, then suddenly falling down and landing on a giant marshmallow, followed by melted chocolate pouring on his back, and then finally being sandwiched between two huge graham crackers. The image was so amazingly cute and yet so amazingly delicious that Sonata unconsciously took a bite out of the s’mores that she had fed to Aria earlier.

Her eyes widened and her lips spread and parted into a huge opened-mouth smile, her cheeks becoming red, as she put her hands to them and gushed out loud. “Aaaaw! Soooo adorable!” she squeal with most utter delight, surprising the mini-pony in her lap.

“Sonata, you’re scaring m-” Aria was cut off as Sonata immediately squeezed him in her arms. Her hug was incredibly strong that he felt extreme pressure on his small body, much to his dismay.

“I just wanna put you in a giant s’mores sandwich and eat you all up!” Sonata chimed, turning her torso left and right, rocking her little friend in arms. She let out a happy gasp as an idea just popped into her head. “I think I’ve just discovered a new disease!”

Aria’s eyes shot open, remembering long back over that ridiculous name Adagio came up for the diabolical, terrifying, mind-numbing, soul-crushing adorableness that was Sonata as a little pony. And now she has a name for him!

“No, no! Don’t say it! Don’t say it!” and he was suddenly tossed into the air. Sonata’s closed eyes, and with the greatest amount of enthusiasm that she could muster, she cried out loud...

“Ariabetes!”

She caught Aria when he came back down, his face cringing as if saying that… word caused him to feel physical pain. “You’re so cute, Aria!”

“I’m not cute…”

“Come on, don’t be that way,” Sonata ruffled a hand through Aria’s mane.

“Uh, Sonata…?” Aria asked sounding surprisingly worried.

“Yeah?”

Aria tilted his head towards the fireplace. “Marshmallow’s on fire,”

Sonata looked up to see that one of the marshmallows she hanged over the fireplace was now lit and burning. She gasped and grabbed the metal stick by the handle and started shaking the thing in attempt to put it out.

“No, don’t do it like that! Sonata!” Aria yelled, but it was too late; Sonata’s shaking flicked the burning marshmallow right off the stick’s end and into the air. Her shock froze her in place as the marshmallow came falling down, and landed on Aria’s head with an audible ‘Splat!’

It took only a few seconds for Aria to fully comprehend what was happening before he let out a terrified scream. The little pony leaped out of Sonata’s lap and started running across the living room, the still burning marshmallow plastered on top of his head, yelling and screaming “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

Sonata snapped back to her senses and cried. “H-Hang on, I’ll get something!” she jumped to her and ran to the kitchen sink as fast as she could, turning it on and grabbing a large plastic bowl from one of the cabinets.

Aria was in a complete, utter frenzy, throwing himself everywhere, until he dropped down on the floor and started rolling himself around like a mad dog. The marshmallow was burning hot, and he couldn’t tell whether his mane was already on fire or not; either way his head was experiencing a most painful burning sensation and every muscle in his body was working in high gear to make it all stop.

But after seconds or a minute of rolling himself across the floor he finally felt the marshmallow being torn off his head, and now laid on the ground in a stained, charcoal-like mess. “Aria, I’ve got some water! I-WHOA!” Sonata yelled, running back into the living room with a plastic bowl full of water, but immediately slipped on the burnt marshmallow, causing her to accidentally toss the bowl in the air as she fell onto her back. Any sudden pain she felt from her fall was instantly cut out by the coupled mix of Aria’s cry, water splashing over the hard floor, and the plastic bowl landing on top of something.

“Aria?” Sonata slowly got up and crawled towards the upside down bowl, seeing his tail sticking from under it and slowly lifted it up, revealing her little friend, all soaked from the spilt water, with bits of marshmallow now stuck in his mane. She watched her friendly stand up on all fours and then suddenly shook his head from side to side really fast, flicking off water in all directions, even getting some on her clothes. He let out a quick gasp of air, taking in deep breaths through his mouth as his mind tried recovering itself from his rather fiery episode. His muscles burned from exhaustion of tumbling himself everywhere, tired and hurt, but also relieved to still be alive.

“Whoo,” Sonata sighed in relief. “Well, at least your mane hasn’t been burned off.”

Aria slowly turned his head towards the other siren as she reached her hand out in attempt to touch him. With his mind now fully recovered from earlier, his teeth gritted together as his eyes narrowed into a furious glare.

“Get away from me!” he snapped and swung his hoof at her, his voice loud and intense. Sonata was taken back by the sudden display.

“Aria…?”

“That's it! I’ve had enough of this garbage!” Aria yelled, shaking the rest of his body much like a dog trying to get water off his coat. “I don’t want anything else to do with these stupid shenanigans of yours, Sonata!”

“But there’s so much more to do!” Sonata protested in her attempt to calm her little pony friend down.

“Well consider it all canceled, because I refuse to put up with anymore of this!” Aria barked and attempt to walk away, but Sonata blocked his path. “Stand aside, Sonata!”

“No!” Sonata answered, raising her voice as well. “We can still do this, Aria. You haven’t been burned by the fire, so you’re okay now,”

“No, I’m not okay!” Aria shouted. “I’ve been turned into a stupid miniature horse against my will by you, been force-fed pancakes to where I nearly puke by you, have been caught and tangled up in Adagio’s hair because of you, been yanked and pulled across the living room because of you, been thrown into the frickin wall by you, and have just been set on fire because of you!”

“I…” Sonata stuttered, trying to think of a way to argue back. “It was only a mistake, okay?! No big deal!”

“No big deal?” Aria asked, clearly offended. “By Starswirl’s carcass, you never see the ramifications to anything you do! You always have your head in the clouds while you cause me nothing but grief!”

“But you always make fun of me!” Sonata yelled back.

“Because of your own stupidity which causes us grief!”

“I’m not stupid, Aria,” Sonata’s hand balled into fists as she tried to keep her voice from breaking up. “I just want to us to have a nice weekend together with one of as a pony, to make some more happy memories like last time when I was pony! That’s all I ever wanted, Aria!”

“Yeah, that’s all you wanted,” Aria replied bitterly. “I never asked for this, Sonata! I never asked you to turn me into a stupid pony! If you wanted to experience all of this again like last time, how about you turn yourself into a stupid pony again! Leave me out of it!”

Sonata’s attempts to hold back from crying were failing, for she felt a lump forming in her throat and her eyes starting to become watery.

“Why?” she regarded him for a moment. “Why are you always so angry and mean to me, Aria?”

Now Aria was certainly mad. The girl just couldn’t take a hint. “Oh, you want to know why, Sonata? I’ll tell you why: it’s because I hate you! I hate everything about you! You’re stupid, clumsy, always in your little pretend world, never taking anything seriously that should be taken seriously, and like I said before, you cause me nothing but pain and grief! And yet…” Aria slammed his hoof against the floor. “… and yet you have everything, both you and Adagio! You both have gotten what we’ve all been working so hard to get; adoration! Sure, Adagio has her charm and charisma, but you?! You have no redeeming values, and yet you have people adoring you left and right. Tartarus, there are even people who are attracted to your stupidity and clumsiness! I mean, really? How can stupidity be an attractive trait? How can anyone possibly be attracted to those horrendous traits of yours is beyond my comprehension! You cause me grief and ruin things for me while Adagio keeps me in the role of second-bananas while she hogs the glory all for herself whenever I try to stand out on my own! That’s why I’m so angry all the time, Sonata Dusk; you are the absolute worst-no, you’re worse than the worst! You are nothing!”

Sonata was completely silent. Tears had already poured down the sides of her face, her eyes glued onto Aria as if she had just seen a ghost, and her mouth hanging open. “I…”

Aria was breathing heavily, his glare never leaving Sonata’s face. He felt like a heavy burden have been lifted off his shoulders, but at the same time he felt completely drained and his throat burning from all of the yelling. With nothing else to say, he began walking past the young woman, heading for the stairs; nothing would make him feel better than to just go to bed after everything that had transpired today.

But then he heard Sonata shifting behind him and within a heartbeat he suddenly felt a strong force around his throat, as he was pulled and pushed down onto his back forcing him to look back at Sonata. She bore a furious expression on her face, much like he did earlier, tears still pouring down the sides of her face and with murder in her eyes, as she held him down by his neck. “Take it back!”

“S-Sonata…” Aria gasped as he felt the pressure around his neck increasing as she strangled him.

“I’m not nothing! I’m not worthless!” she yelled as she shook him. “Take it back, Aria! Take it back now!”

“I… can’t… breathe…” Aria’s face was slowly becoming pale as his eyes watered, veins forming throughout his sclera and his iris and pupils shrinking into dots.

“ARIA!”

The little pony started squirming, trying to break himself free from the other’s grasp. His hooves batted and kicked against her wrists, trying to scrape against her skin, until a flick and shaking of his head caused her grip to weaken for a brief moment.

Suddenly Sonata let out a very loud cry as she felt a jolt of pain on her left hand, and quickly pulled her hands away from Aria. He quickly jumped back, forming some distance between him and his would-be killer, coughing and wheezing in attempt to fill his lungs with air again.

Sonata held her left hand and looked down at it. On both sides of her hand, on the space between her thumb and index finger was scraped skin, revealing the soft pink flesh underneath that quickly became red with blood, all in an oval shaped formation of what was none other than teeth marks.

Sonata slowly looked back at Aria, shocked over what just happened. “You… bit me?”

Aria didn’t say anything. How could he after that? All that he could think of right now was getting away from her. He turned tail and ran towards the stairs, disappearing from Sonata’s sight. Sonata didn’t have time to say anything either, only to have her hand out beckoning him to come back. She felt as if her whole world was falling apart as she finally broke down and cried.

-

Aria quickly hid himself in the bathroom. He didn’t know what Sonata would possibly do now after her attempted murder, but he knew that if she tried looking for him, she would easily find him if he hid himself in his room, maybe even in her room or in Adagio’s room. The bathroom seemed to at least be one of the last remaining places she would check if she did go looking for him. Either way, he didn’t care as long as he was away from her and every second counts.

A sudden chill was felt in the cramped room, making Aria shiver. He looked around in hopes of finding the source and dealing with it. He found the window on the wall where the shower is hanging open, letting the cold winter air inside. “My gosh, Adagio, you couldn’t even remember to close the bathroom window?” he grumbled under his breath. Granted, he understood the need of wanting to avoid the risk of mildew forming in the bathroom from all of the steam the shower makes, but he also knew the importance of remembering to shut the window after a while to prevent the winter air from coming in and freezing up the house.

Judging from how high the window was, he thought about calling for Sonata to come close it, but then quickly discarded the idea from his thoughts. “No. Not after what happened earlier. I don’t need her for this. I can take care of it myself.”

And so little Aria hopped onto the toilet, and then onto the sink’s counter. He distanced himself as far as he possible could on the edge as he focused himself straight towards the window which lied right ahead of him. With a deep breath, he took off running across the sink’s counter before making a quick leap at the end and towards the window, hoping to land on the edge so that he could pull down the window’s sill. Instead he crashed against the shower wall and slowly slid down with an audible squeak. “Ouch.”

But he wasn’t giving up. He quickly pulled himself together and climbed his way back up to the sink’s counter, analyzing everything set before him. He’ll have to be precise this time, for every movement he makes counts towards either success or plowing himself against the wall again.

“Here we go,” he told himself, and with another deep breath, he took off again, this time making sure he was at the furthest tip of the counter’s edge, putting his hind hooves to them and applying as much force as he could muster, and launching him off towards his target again.

And then it all went wrong.

He successfully made it to the edge next to the window, but it went well in the worst way possible. He landed on the sill with his hind hooves after turning his body upwards during his jump, but the sill was slippery from the shower’s water mixed in with the snow that formed there. He felt himself sliding through the open window itself to the outside. His first thought was to stop himself from sliding any further and quickly rolled around until he was on his stomach, planting his hooves down as hard as he can on the window’s bottom frame.

The freezing air blew against his back as he struggled to pull himself up, but everything was too slippery and his hind hooves couldn’t find anything solid or sturdy enough to press them against.

He gasped as his heart sank, feeling grip weakening on the window’s frame. He tried again to pull himself up, but he just couldn’t muster the strength to do so. He was too exhausted from earlier, but his breathing pace was increasing from sheer terror.

“Adagio? Sonata?” He tried speaking, but his words weren’t loud enough. “Help me?”

His hooves were slipping. He couldn’t hang on anymore.

“Help…”

He gasped, his throat hard as if his heart was caught in it, as everything around felt loose and free, his eyes glued to the bathroom window as it drifted farther away from his reach.

Farther, and farther, and farther away…