A gentle gust of crisp autumn air blows across the sidewalk, picking up a few leaves and scattering them around the neighboring yards and street. This same gust blows through the long, two-toned blue hair of a girl happily skipping down the sidewalk. A brown leather purse is strapped to her side, from which the telltale sound of coins jingling emanates.

Sonata Dusk hugs the curb as she turns a corner and continues down the sidewalk toward the local party store. All the houses she passes on her right are decorated with all manner of Halloween accessories, everything from bats strung from trees to the standard jack-o-lanterns placed on front doorsteps. One house’s front lawn has been dolled up to resemble an actual cemetery, complete with a surrounding wrought iron fence and foam core tombstones scattered throughout the grass, their surfaces etched with pictures of generic monsters’ faces with R.I.P. etched above each one of them.

They’re probably in the special effects biz, or something, Sonata mulls internally.

Seeing all the spooky decorations makes Sonata giddy with excitement about the fact that Halloween is only a scant two days away. She loves the holiday so very much. It’s one of the few things about this world that she doesn’t consider the worst. Mostly for the free candy, but getting the chance to play dress-up also appeals to her. Dressing up as something new each year has been one of her favorite things to do ever since trick-or-treating on Halloween became widespread, and she can’t wait to see what all kinds of fun costumes the party store has this year.

Eventually, Sonata comes out onto a busy shopping plaza where her destination is located. She bobs and weaves her way around dozens of cars, stopping to let a few pass down one lane, before coming up to the front door of the aptly named PARTY HUB. The door makes a requisite chiming noise as she slips inside.

“Well, hello there miss,” the cashier, a tall man wearing a brown trenchcoat and a raptor mask, says. He has his elbow propped up on the counter, right next to a fairly large shark plushie, as his masked gaze tracks Sonata. “What can I help you with?”

“Mind telling me where the Halloween costumes are?” Sonata asks, giving him a friendly smile.

“Sure thing miss.” He points toward the center aisle. “Keep heading straight down that aisle. It’ll be marked as ‘Costumes’.”

“Thanks,” Sonata says before heading that way.

The aisle contains all manner of Halloween-themed merchandise: candy, decorations, plushies even. But it’s the section at the far end which has the ‘Costumes’ sign. Passing by a mother with their son, who briefly regard the teenager with mild confusion before returning to their own business, Sonata skids to a stop and turns toward the shelves with the greatest of eager smiles plastered across her face.

Her heart sinks.

All along the shelves where costumes should be placed, there are none to be found. That is, except for one. Sonata’s eyes fall upon a lone costume, tucked away in a corner, the plastic wrap crinkled and ripped in a few places. The costume itself is black with an armor design, while a toy whip, colored orange with a wooden handle, rests alongside in its casing. The image on the front shows the entire costume in full display, and Sonata can’t help but grimace at its appearance.

Ugh, it looks like something from the sixteen hundreds, she notes with severe disgust. I hated that century.

Sonata leans down and looks underneath the shelf to check in case there’s another costume hidden from her gaze. She finds nothing. She does the same with the other side. Still nothing. The shelves on both sides are otherwise completely empty. Sonata releases a frustrated sigh when this fact registers. Her face sets into a glum expression as she trods back to the dreaded costume and picks it up off the shelf. After giving it another once over she tucks it under her arm and makes her way back to the register.

“Ah, done already, I see,” the cashier says.

Sonata doesn’t respond as she places the costume on the counter. The cashier notices her sullen face, finding it odd that someone could go from being so chipper to downtrodden within only a few minutes.

“Is something wrong, miss?” he asks. His raptor mask hides his concerned frown. “Did something happen back there that I should be aware of?”

“No, nothing like that mister—” Sonata glances at the man’s name tag, “—Geoffrey.” She rests her elbow on the counter, placing the palm of her hand against her cheek in a clear show of disappointment. “This was the only costume left back there. And, well… it looks weird.”

Geoffrey glances down at the costume. “Meh, I’m not a fashion expert,” he says with a shrug. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Is this really the last costume, though?” Sonata asks.

The look of hope in her eyes is enough to melt Geoffrey’s heart, but alas, the truth can’t be hidden. “Sorry miss,” he says with genuine sympathy, “whatever’s on the shelf is all I’ve got. There’s a new shipment coming soon, but it’s not scheduled to arrive until after Halloween.”

Sonata’s expression turns crestfallen as she looks at the costume again. She tries to imagine herself wearing it, but the thought of how dumb it looks prevents her from doing so. For a moment she entertains the idea of making a costume, but discards the notion fairly quickly upon remembering that she, at least according to Aria and Adagio, flat out sucks at crafts and sewing, two skills vital for such a task.

Seeing no other choice, Sonata says, “I guess I’ll take it.” Her tone perfectly illustrates her lack of enthusiasm.

“Alright then.” Geoffrey picks up his scanner and passes it over the costume’s barcode with a requisite beep. After a few moments punching in keys on the cash register, he says, “That’ll be thirty-two eight.”

Sonata opens her purse and fishes out the necessary money, passing it to Geoffrey who places it neatly in the register.

“And here’s your change,” he says, handing her two cents as well as the receipt. “I hope you have a Happy Halloween.”

Sonata says nothing in response as she stashes both in her purse. She then picks up the costume with a sigh and tucks it under her arm before exiting the store, the door letting off another chime as she departs.

She heads home the same way she came, passing by the same houses on her way through the suburbs, but paying no attention to any of the decorations this time. Her focus the entire trip home keeps shifting from where she’s walking to the costume bag. She cringes a little every time she glances upon it, the awkward patterns and overall odd aesthetic bringing a sense of discomfort to Sonata. She briefly considers returning it to the store and getting her money back, but her desire to go trick-or-treating means she’ll need a costume, to which her only feasible option is the one in her hand.

I guess I’ll wear it. Sonata slumps her shoulders as she trudges up the front steps to the sirens’ apartment. At least Aria and Adagio won’t care one way or another.

Sonata steps up to the front door and retrieves her key from her purse, inserting it into the lock and opening the door. Stepping inside, she puts her house key back into her purse and hangs it up on the nearby rack.

“Aria! Adagio!” she calls. “I’m home!”

Silence.

“Girls!?”

More silence.

Sonata is about to call again when she catches wind of a very soft, very subdued intake of breath coming from the kitchen. Confused as to why her sister sirens aren’t responding, Sonata walks down the foyer hallway and through the kitchen doorway.

Aria and Adagio are sitting at the kitchen table, a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup in front of them both and a spoon each in their right hands. But it’s their faces which catch Sonata’s attention, and she frowns at the looks of utter disgust etched into her friends’ faces as they glare knives at each other. They’re gripping their spoons extra hard, enough so that Sonata can see their knuckles both whitening and trembling. Sonata swears she can physically feel the rising tension between her friends even from her distance. It feels almost deathly to her, like one of the two is about to lunge across the table and throttle the other.

Sonata is at first confused by the scene, wondering why her friends seem to be trying to will each other to die. Then realization hits hard like a brick, to which her face falls into a dismayed expression. Clearly, Aria and Adagio just got finished with another argument about who’s to blame for the group’s recent failure at the Battle of the Bands.

Sonata only just starts to contemplate retreating upstairs and leave her friends alone when Aria speaks up.

“Hey, Sonata.”

Her tone is subdued, but none too pleasant. Sonata flinches slightly at the sudden greeting, but quickly recomposes herself and answers with, “Hey.”

Another silence stretches between the sirens. Adagio and Aria merely continue glaring knives at each other, neither seeming willing to pay Sonata any further heed. Seeing how Aria was willing to speak to her, however, convinces Sonata that delving further into conversation would be welcomed by her friends.

“I got my Halloween costume,” she says with a warmth in her tone, and shakes the bag for emphasis.

Sonata watches as Aria’s eyes narrow briefly before she sets down her spoon and turns toward her with a neutral expression, which wasn’t very different anyway. She regards Sonata with disinterest before letting her gaze fall to the costume bag, whereupon her eyes suddenly light up in what looks like genuine surprise to Sonata, something she honestly can’t recall seeing from her sister siren in a long time.

Aria gets up out of her chair and, after flashing one last glare at Adagio, who only rolls her eyes and takes another bite of her sandwich, goes over to Sonata. She kneels in front of the bag and stares at it appraisingly, as if it’s a piece of evidence at a crime scene.

“Ummm… Aria?” Sonata says, feeling awkward at Aria’s uncharacteristic interest toward one of her possessions.

“I’ve seen this costume before,” Aria replies, tapping her chin. “Or at least some variant of it.” She continues to inspect the costume for several seconds before her eyes widen in realization and she snaps her fingers. “Right, that’s where it comes from!”

Sonata tilts her head in confusion. “What?”

Aria stands back up and grabs her hand, leading her back through the doorway. Sonata spares a glance over her shoulder to see Adagio staring with disinterest at the adjacent wall. Silently, Sonata hopes whatever arguments they might have had in her absence are truly over and done with.

Aria takes Sonata into the sirens’ living room and to a rack alongside the wall which is stuffed full of various electronic goods, mostly CDs and games. She kneels down and runs a finger along the end labels, eventually coming to a stop on one in particular before pulling it out. Her mouth pulls back into a half-smile as she breathes a sigh of content through her nostrils.

“I’d forgotten I had this game,” she says, giving the cover a once over. She brushes a speck of grime off the cartridge’s edge before turning it around for Sonata to see. “See the resemblance?”

Sonata looks at the game cartridge’s cover art. The background depicts a castle atop a hill with a superimposed image of Count Dracula against the sky above. The foreground is what catches her interest, however, for what’s shown is a man wearing clothes that — while the design itself is different in many ways — bears a strong resemblance to Sonata’s costume. He stares up at the castle with a warrior’s stance and a whip in his hand, no doubt with heroic intent.

“Yeah, I can kinda see it,” Sonata replies to Aria’s question, then looks down at her costume with a slight frown. “But why do they look so different?”

“Your costume was likely inspired by a later redesign,” Aria answers. “I don’t have the game that uses it, but I’m pretty sure that’s where it comes from.” She turns the cartridge back around and gives it a wistful smile. “It’s been awhile since I played this game and… man, the music was to die for.”

Sonata tilts her head curiously at that statement. “Since when do you like video game music?” she asks out of genuine curiosity.

“On the whole, I don’t,” Aria clarifies as a smug smile crosses her lips. “This game’s soundtrack, however… You know what, I’ll let you hear it for yourself.”

Sonata watches as Aria heads over to the television. Underneath is an assortment of electronics, among them a few video game consoles. Aria inserts the cartridge into a gray one that’s box-shaped and presses the On button, then turns the television itself on to which the game’s title screen soon appears.

Aria and Sonata both retreat to the couch, the former having to sit on the floor in front for the game controller to reach. Sonata watches as Aria hits the controller’s Start button, starting up the game’s intro, which Sonata observes as essentially being a pixelated interpretation of the game’s cover art. The spooky vibe it gives off is perfect fuel for the Halloween spirit she’s feeling.

Then the gameplay starts, and Aria begins moving her character toward the right, whipping at every brazier in sight and collecting every item which emerges. Sonata doesn’t pay any attention to that, keeping focus instead on the game’s background music with her eyes closed, all the while doing her best to ignore the sound effects.

Before then, Sonata wouldn’t have been able to even make a guess as to what kind of video game music Aria could come to adore, and even while listening to the first level’s track she’s still confused as to how her sister siren could find it pleasant, given how upbeat the melody is. Sonata likes it, however. She bobs her head and pats the couch cushion with her hand, even humming along once she’s memorized the tune after a few loops.

Then the music changes.

The upbeat, catchy melody fades out and is replaced by a short series of notes arranged to form a track with a much more ominous vibe to it. Hearing it actually sends a slight chill down Sonata’s spine, impressive for a chiptune track, and her curiosity is piqued enough that she opens her eyes to glance at the television. On the screen, she sees Aria’s character jumping and whipping at a pixelated bat with a wingspan as big as him, swooping down every so often to take away a few units of health from his life bar.

She makes quick work of the giant bat, whereupon it disappears in a pixelated fire, followed by the emergence of a red orb which, upon touching, another upbeat tune plays and the level ends.

“See what I mean about the music being awesome?” Aria asks as the stage interlude plays out, turning back to Sonata with a self-satisfied smile.

Sonata makes a grimace. “Not really…”

A look of shock crosses Aria’s face. “Seriously?” She hits the controller’s Start button to pause before turning around fully with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. “What’s not to get?”

Sonata sheepishly rubs the back of her head. “See, the thing is… I like the music.”

Aria quirks an eyebrow at that. “Then why don’t you understand why I do too?” she asks.

“Because,” Sonata starts, leaning forward while giving Aria a furrowed gaze, “since when have we ever shared a common interest in our lives?”

Aria’s eyes widen for a moment before she scrunches her face in thought over Sonata’s response. “I… Okay, you have a good point,” she says, then picks the controller up again. “I really do love this game’s music, but that first track isn’t my favorite. Just keep listening and maybe then you’ll see what I mean.”

Sonata gives Aria a nod to show her understanding, to which the latter unpauses the game and resumes playing. The second level’s music gives off a much spookier vibe than that of the first, but still keeping an upbeat tune which Sonata also takes to humming along with.

Each succeeding level’s music track brings with it an increasingly gothic vibe than the last, something that clicks so well with Aria in Sonata’s opinion, which helps her finally see why Aria would love the game’s music so much despite it having an upbeat tone.

As she listens to each level’s music, Sonata takes to watching Aria’s playthrough of the game, fascinated by the gameplay. The idea of going around, slaying monsters with a whip finds purchase with her imagination. She pictures herself in place of the character’s sprite, sporting a leather outfit and bandanna, holding a whip in one hand and a cross boomerang in the other.

The mental imagery is surprisingly appealing to her.

She walks up to a medusa head and strikes it hard and fast with her whip, watching it burn away before continuing on to the next. She repeats this with the bone pillars after that. And then the ghosts after that. She has trouble taking out the bothersome little hunchbacks with her whip, but a single shot from her cross boomerang dispatches them with ease. The mummies stand no chance against her triple shots.

Sonata annihilates every single monster she finds like the professional monster slayer she is. No creature of evil can forever hide from her righteousness. No minion of Count Dracula can overcome the holy forces under her control. Not even the Count himself can hope to stop her when she faces him. No dark power he employs can crush her resolve to vanquish his influence from the land. She is the one, the only, Sonata Dusk Bel—

“Hey, Sonata!?”

Aria’s voice, in conjunction with a few loud finger snaps in front of Sonata’s face, bring the blue siren out of her daydream. She blinks a few times to regain focus, finding herself staring back at Aria’s furrowed gaze.

“How long have you been staring at my back like a brainless zombie?” she questions, then takes a closer look at Sonata’s face. “Were you drooling?”

Sonata runs a finger over her lips, wiping off the strands of saliva that had accumulated there before rubbing them off on her skirt. Aria merely rolls her eyes at the display.

“Whatever, I finished the game,” she says. “So, did I convince you or what?”

Sonata stares blankly for a moment before remembering what the whole point of Aria’s playthrough of the game was. “Yeah, sure,” she says, non-committally. “Mind if I give it a go?”

“Sure, sure, go ahead,” Aria says with a dismissive wave. “I’m gonna go finish lunch. And by that, I mean finish it upstairs.”

Sonata almost gives in to her curiosity regarding her sister sirens’ falling out and asks Aria what happened. She ultimately decides against it, however, preferring to immerse herself in the game instead. She picks up the controller and presses the Start button. The game’s intro begins playing again, and Sonata sits down on the couch with an eager smile on her face.

“Halloween can’t come soon enough,” she whispers, and begins playing the game.

Night has fallen. The full moon’s light struggles to shine through the sky’s thick cloud cover, making it little more than a blurry searchlight against the gray expanse. A mist begins rising up from the ground across the local woodlands, giving them an extra spooky vibe which is sure to turn away any potential travelers. Not that any are likely to come, for it’s Halloween night, and everyone is out and about trick-or-treating with their families and friends in town.

Every sidewalk is bustling with activity as trick-or-treaters hurry from house to house, collecting candy which they stuff into ever-expanding bags slung over their shoulders. The costumes on display include everything from classic movie monsters to recent ones, children’s mascots and television personalities, and a number of uninspired ones like a ballerina or astronaut. Strewn among the trick-or-treaters are a fair number of older kids, some of them students of Canterlot High School, and their presence helps make Sonata Dusk stand out less among the crowds.

She stands on the sirens’ front doorstep decked out in her purchased costume, holding her toy whip in one hand and plastic jack-o-lantern in the other, sweeping her gaze along the street at all the visible houses with an ever eager grin plastered against her face. Adagio and Aria look on with indifference from behind her, pointedly ignoring each other with their arms crossed and faces set into small frowns.

Sonata steps onto the sidewalk once the coast is clear of trick-or-treaters. “Alright, I’m gonna hit every house in town or bust!” she declares with a small crack of her whip, then turns back to her sister sirens with a small smile. “Thanks for agreeing to be my escorts.”

Adagio responds with a huff of air and a dismissive wave. “Don’t think I’m gonna like tagging along,” she states gruffly. “I’m only doing this because any trouble you two get into automatically becomes mine to deal with, and the last thing I want is any more of that.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Aria says.

“What did you just say?” Adagio growls, and glares icy daggers at her sister siren.

Sonata looks between the two with a concerned frown. Whatever arguments they’d gotten into the other day hadn’t been laid to rest since, and seeing her sister sirens up in arms over each other has Sonata thoroughly disheartened. She perks up after a moment and, hoping to get them to back off, cheerily says, “C’mon, let’s get going so we can hit all the good houses before all their giant candy bars are gone!”

She proceeds to skip down the sidewalk toward the first house. Aria and Adagio are quick to follow, still pointedly ignoring each other, but no longer bickering. For now, at least.

The driveway leading to the nearest house is lined on both sides with plastic bones and has skeletons hanging from every tree. Sonata playfully whips at a few on her way to the front door while Adagio and Aria wait at the end of the driveway. She makes her way up the front steps and rings the doorbell, rocking back and forth on her heels as she waits for the house’s patron to answer.

The door eventually opens to reveal an older-looking boy with short white hair, orange eyes, and wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, with a pin of a thunderbolt striking through a cloud clipped onto his black jacket. He narrows his eyes at Sonata while his mouth falls into a heavy frown.

“Oh, it’s you,” he grounds out.

The resentful tone to his voice is completely lost on Sonata, who merely holds out her plastic jack-o-lantern with a smile. “Trick-or-treat!”

The boy holds his furrowed gaze for a few moments before reaching beyond the doorframe and producing a candy bowl. He wordlessly presents it to Sonata, and she scours its contents for the biggest candy bar before dropping it into her jack-o-lantern.

“Hey, Thunderlane!” calls a voice from inside the house. “Are you ready to go!?”

With a sigh, the boy turns back inside. “Yeah, yeah, come here Rumble!”

Sonata watches as a younger boy with black hair wearing a stock cowboy costume enters the foyer behind Thunderlane.

“We’d better get going,” he says, keeping his eyes on Thunderlane while he approaches the door. “Mash and Twist are gonna be pissed if we don’t—” He cuts himself off as his eyes finally land on Sonata, to which they widen in shock.

Sonata doesn’t notice and instead smiles and waves to him. “Hi there. Nice costu—”

“Ahhh! Die monster!” Rumble shouts, and hides behind Thunderlane. “You don’t belong in this world!”

Sonata frowns. “Isn’t that my line?”

Thunderlane rolls his eyes. “Look, you got your candy,” he says, a hard edge to his voice. “Mind leaving now?”

A slight frown crosses Sonata’s face at his rudeness, but she complies nonetheless and makes her way back up the driveway to Aria and Adagio.

The two are standing a sizeable distance from each other with their backs turned and unamused expressions on their faces. Sonata ignores the display and steps past them onto the sidewalk. “Just 63 more houses to hit, girls,” she says cheerily. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Whatever,” Aria says, and the three set off again.

Fortunately for Sonata, her experiences at most of the remaining houses are pleasant ones. While she has to tell the confused residents, who are oftentimes noticeably surprised to see a teenage girl trick-or-treating, what her costume is of more often than not, they’re nonetheless pleasant about it and happily offer Sonata some candy. Houses whose residents are students at Canterlot High, however, usually have Sonata being yelled at or candy thrown in her face, or even both. She always shrugs the bad encounters off with ease and proceeds on her merry way, gradually filling her jack-o-lantern with sweet, delicious, cavity-giving candy bars, fully intending to scarf them down en masse over the coming week.

But while Sonata doesn’t let her bad experiences with Canterlot High’s soured student body get to her, the continued animosity between Aria and Adagio over the night’s course does.

Almost every time Sonata returns after visiting a house, she finds her sister sirens radiating hatred with their backs turned to each other. Every other time they’re actively arguing with each other over their failure at the Battle of the Bands, pinning the blame on each other. While they’re quick to quell their argument every time Sonata returns, the tension between Aria and Adagio only continues to grow as the night drags on, which gradually serves to kill Sonata’s happy mood by the time they reach the last house.

“Aren’t you gonna say ‘trick-or-treat’, miss?” asks the owner as he looks upon Sonata’s sullen face and slumped posture.

She returns his gaze for a brief moment before sighing and weakly muttering, “Trick-or-treat,” while holding out her almost full jack-o-lantern.

“... Alright then.” He fishes out a candy bar from his bowl and unceremoniously drops it into Sonata’s jack-o-lantern. “Happy Halloween,” he finishes before retreating back inside.

“As if,” Sonata mutters before turning around and slowly trudging back to Aria and Adagio. The two are once again engaged in another heated argument, and they look about ready to rip each other apart as Sonata nears them, catching the tail end of their bickering.

“—if we had just left the ponies alone and focused on all the other races,” Aria says through gritted teeth, “we wouldn’t have been banished to this garbage world.”

“I’ve said it more times than I care to remember,” Adagio grinds out, “despite their capacity for magic, the ponies were far easier to influence. It was a worthwhile risk to focus on them.”

“Yeah, sure, and look where that got us.”

“We survived, didn’t we!?”

“Yeah, except we’re stuck here forever!”

“Better banished than dead!”

“I’m starting to think otherwise!”

Sonata watches as they butt heads with each other, giving menacing growls as they push against each other like a couple of raging bulls. She sighs, too depressed to be afraid to speak up, and does exactly that once she reaches them.

“I’m done now, girls. Let’s head home.” Her tone is completely devoid of any joy or mirth.

“Good,” Aria says, pulling away from Adagio and crossing her arms, “‘cause I’m tired of walking around with a bunch of living garbage.”

“Ditto,” Adagio replies, also crossing her arms and turning to look away from Aria with a scowl.

Sonata takes lead again as the trio begins their journey home, dragging her whip behind her as she walks sullenly, depression clearly evident in her face as the renewed sounds of Aria and Adagio’s argument emanate behind her.

With no more houses to trick-or-treat at, there’s nothing to take Sonata’s mind off her friends’ bickering. Every semblance of joy Sonata held earlier is gone, replaced by a sense of both tiredness and despair. She wants the arguing to stop more than anything else, but the fear of their ire being redirected onto her is still present and dominant, keeping her from making an attempt to placate her friends.

Sonata tries distracting herself by giving her whip a few cracks at the air, pretending there’s a monster there for her to slay. It doesn’t work. She next tries lightly whipping at a few random passersby dressed as monsters of some kind with a fake smile of bravado, to which they just give her awkward stares before continuing on their way.

Meanwhile, Aria and Adagio’s argument continues unabashed behind her the whole way home, filling her immediate hearing with an ear worm of endless strife and venomous insults. Eventually, their argument becomes so pronounced that Sonata is able to just accept it as little more than background noise, feeling much better in turn.

Upon their return home, Aria and Adagio hang up their coats while Sonata sets her jack-o-lantern on the dining room table.

“So, Sonata,” Aria says, following Sonata into the dining room, “did you get all the candy you could ever wish for?”

Sonata looks downcast while letting out a tired sigh. “Sure, sure.”

“Something the matter, Sonata?” Aria says in her trademark tone of false sincerity.

Sonata imagines Aria wearing a false smile as she stares at her back. The thought of answering Aria’s question crosses Sonata’s mind as well, and she decides that, since they aren’t actively arguing anymore, now might be the best time to let Aria know how she feels about her and Adagio’s feud.

“It wasn’t very pleasant having to listen to your constant bickering all night,” she says. Turning around, Sonata finds that, indeed, Aria is wearing a false smile, which quickly turns into a neutral expression as she continues. “It just got tiring, you know?”

Aria shrugs her shoulders. “Adagio could’ve stayed home so that didn’t happen,” she replies. “Not my fault she’s a distrustful bit—”

“You’d better not finish that sentence.”

Both girls turn to see Adagio leaning against the doorway to the dining room, unamusement clearly expressed in her features. Aria huffs and turns back around while Sonata looks between the two in concern, fearing they’ll start arguing again.

Adagio finally gets off the doorframe and takes a few steps towards the other two girls. She gives Sonata a brief aside glance, to which Sonata looks down and shuffles her feet nervously, before returning her attention to Aria in full force.

“The last thing I want is to find is the police at our door with the two of you in handcuffs,” she says, tersely.

A snort of laughter escapes through Aria’s lips. “Funny, I only went because I would’ve expected the same from you two,” she snidely admits, turning back to Adagio with a self-satisfied smirk that tempts the older siren to smack Aria across the face to rid it from her sight.

“I don’t know how I could’ve possibly done anything of the sort,” Adagio replies, unamused, casually inspecting her fingernails as she speaks.

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time you did,” Aria replies back, her face settling into a light glare. “Or even the second. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even the third.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean!?”

“You tell me.”

“That makes no sense!”

“Try using your brain, then.”

“Why you—”

The two resume their argument in full force while Sonata stalks into the living room and lays down on the couch. She rests her head against a cushion and stares up at the ceiling with tired, bag-ridden eyes, while her ears are once again subjected to the endless strings of profanity and venomous insults of Aria and Adagio’s heated argument.

Finally, her patience runs out, and the sounds become too much for her to bear. With an angry grunt, Sonata slaps her hands against her ears and pushes hard to block the sound. The shouts are too loud, however, and continue reverberating in her eardrums. Sonata next tries burying her face in the couch, but the sounds continue to penetrate through regardless. Desperate to escape the sounds, Sonata gets up off the couch to retreat upstairs. She enters through the kitchen doorway, and stops short at what she sees.

Aria and Adagio aren’t arguing anymore. Instead, they’re simply butting their heads and giving each other vicious snarls.

But the sounds of their arguing still fill Sonata’s hearing.

Time seems to slow for Sonata as her mind’s eye shifts away from her surroundings, becoming embossed with the perpetual auditory hell of her sister sirens’ heated argument. The insults and venom become like a maelstrom of anguish in Sonata’s mind, churning nothing but mental agony. All remaining semblance of coherent thought in her brain dissipates, leaving Sonata’s mind little more than a jumbled mess of random images and memories.

Suddenly, a screeching hiss interrupts the cacophony. Relieved and confused, Sonata glances up, only for her eyes to widen like saucers at what she sees.

Where her friends were once before, monsters now stand. Their bodies are vaguely humanoid in shape with a hideous purple skin tone and covered from head to toe in scales. Their eyes are crimson red, and despite having no visible pupils, Sonata can feel their collective gaze boring through her. Sizing her up.

They want to pounce.

One of the monsters opens its mouth, revealing a couple rows of razor sharp teeth, and sticks out a slimy, forked tongue to lick its mouth in savory anticipation.

It’s hungry.

Sonata stares, unblinking, at the monstrosities before her. A small, barely perceptible voice in the dark recesses of her mind tells her to run, to hide under her bed covers until the monsters go away. Another voice, this one much more pronounced, tells her to slay the monsters, to bash them into submission, make them writhe in agony while crying for their mothers.

The second voice wins out.

Sonata’s eyebrows furrow as she retrieves her whip. She then takes a step closer to the creatures and holds it back, poised to strike. With a triumphant shout, she strikes the hungry monster smack dab between the eyes, to which it doubles back in pain, holding its clawed hand up to its face. The other monster takes a step forward, reaching a hand out as if to grab Sonata. She responds by striking its stomach, sending it reeling back in pain as well.

Sonata proceeds to barrage the monsters with blows to as many parts of their bodies as she can hit, all while they scream and cry with each strike, holding their scaly hands up in a feeble attempt to defend themselves. With each blow to their bodies, Sonata’s mouth pulls back more into a satisfied grin as she lets loose her pent up frustration onto the creatures. She revels in their screams of protest, finding them to be the most pleasant thing she’s heard in a while. Part of her thinks they sound a little familiar, but she ignores this and keeps whipping them until the beasts are lying on the floor, groaning and clutching their injuries.

“Ohhh… my chest,” Aria moans.

“My head,” Adagio follows up. She winces in reaction to a sudden lance of pain shooting across her stomach.

The heavy thud of Sonata’s footstep catches their collective attention. Adagio and Aria glance up to see her looking down at them with glazed eyes, brandishing her whip as if it’s a rope.

“What the fuck was that all about, Sonata!?” Adagio asks through a few more pain spikes.

Sonata doesn’t answer. Instead, she bends down and wraps the whip around both their bodies and ties them together. Aria and Adagio are too speechless to think about struggling, but even then their injuries are too great for them to attempt movement at all. When Sonata finishes tying them together, she grips the whip’s handle and begins dragging the duo across the hardwood dining room floor, ignoring their protests.

She takes them through the kitchen doorway into the main foyer before stopping in front of a closet. She opens it and, with some effort, tosses the bound up pair inside, who both let out pained grunts as they collide with the back wall. A second later and Sonata has the closet door closed and locked.

Sonata stares blankly at the closet for a few seconds, unblinking, before she stumbles back against the wall and slumps down, arms splayed along both her sides. Her eyes return to normal as she comes out of her insanity, then hangs her head down with an exasperated sigh.

“Sonata!”

Even Aria’s sudden screech isn’t enough to startle Sonata, or even do anything besides shift her head slightly to the side.

“Let us out! Right now!” Adagio’s voice calls from inside. There’s a brief sound of shuffling before she follows up with, “If you don’t open this door and untie us by the time I count to five, I guarantee you’re gonna regret it!” Another sound of shuffling. “One… two...”

Sonata stands up.

“Three… four…”

She retains a neutral look as Adagio’s growls emanate from inside.

“Open this door, RIGHT NOW!”

“No, Adagio, I won’t.” Sonata turns to the side, her attention elsewhere, while her mouth falls into a disgruntled frown. “I’m sick and tired of your guys’ arguing. It’s got to stop, and I’m not opening the door until you two make up, and no amount of begging and pleading is gonna change my mind.”

With that, she retreats into the living room, ignoring her friends’ next few protests all the while. A strong sense of pride washes over her for standing firm against Adagio and Aria, but, at the same time, she feels a little sorry for having physically hurt them.

Shrugging it off, she turns Aria’s game console on and takes the controller back to the couch. “Alright Dracula, this time I’ll win for sure!” She presses the Start button, and the game begins.

“Sonata!” Aria shouts. “Come back and open the door!”

Silence.

She struggles against her bindings, eliciting a growl from Adagio. “Sonata! Don’t do this! Please!?”

More silence.

With a sigh, Aria slumps her head. If her arms were unrestrained, she would rest her head in them. “Sonata is the worst,” she mutters in a harsh tone.

“Oh, is that so?” Adagio says slyly. Aria doesn’t look at her as she continues. “With the way you’ve been grilling me, I’d assumed you thought I was the worst.”

“You may be a better leader than Sonata,” Aria replies, still refusing to meet her gaze, “but that doesn’t mean you’re a good leader overall.”

Aria feels a puff of air blow against her pigtails. “Before I shoot down that assertion, I’d very much like to become untied to you.”

“Ditto.”

Wordlessly, the two proceed to untie Sonata’s toy whip from around them. The plastic chain proves to be surprisingly resilient, harder still with how sore their arms are after getting whipped by it repeatedly, but it eventually comes off.

With a grunt, Adagio casually tosses the whip against the backwall before getting up and feeling for the lightswitch. Upon finding it she flicks it on, illuminating the closet and allowing her to see Aria’s annoyed face while she leans against the wall.

“As I was saying,” Adagio starts while leaning against the opposite wall from Aria, “both you and Sonata would be powerless miscreants if it wasn’t for me.”

“Oh really?” The sarcasm in Aria’s tone is painfully obvious. “Because that’s exactly what we’ve become thanks to you.”

Adagio growls and slams her fist against the hardwood floor with a resounding thud. “You should be thankful you ever had any power at all.”

Aria points an accusatory finger at Adagio. “That doesn’t excuse the fact that we lost everything because of you.”

“Again, it wasn’t my fault we got overpowered!” Adagio replies, louder than before. Her features take on a wistful quality as she continues. “Given a second chance, I’d see to our success.”

Aria’s lips turn down slightly. “We had a second chance in this world—” she leans forward, narrowing her eyes at Adagio, “—and you blew it for us.”

“Die monster! Die! Die! Die!” Sonata shouts gleefully at the television. She furiously pounds the controller’s buttons and D-pad, taking a momentary reprieve to quickly wipe a bead of sweat from her brow.

Both her character and the boss she’s fighting are one attack away from dying. On the screen, the boss charges toward her. A smile crosses Sonata’s lips as she waits to hit the button and deal the fini—

“FOR THE LAST TIME, IT WASN’T MY FAULT!”

The sudden outburst startles Sonata, making her drop the controller. Unimpeded, the boss swiftly kills Sonata’s character, followed by an 8-bit death jingle and the continue screen.

Sonata blinks once, then sighs in exasperation. After giving a brief annoyed glance over her shoulder toward the hallway closet, she picks the controller back up and resumes playing.

Once the ringing in Aria’s ears dissipates, and her wince turns into a carefully neutral expression, she gives her next reply.

“You know, Adagio, there’s certain responsibilities that comes with being a leader.” She takes a moment to brush some accumulated closet dust from her pant leg before continuing. “For one, since you’re the leader, and you decide anything and everything that we do, everything that happens to us kinda is your fault. You’re the one who led Sonata and I for two millennia, and we always did exactly as you instructed. Therefore, our failures rest squarely on your shoulders, because you made the wrong choices for us.”

Adagio opens her mouth to make a counter argument, but stops. Aria watches with amusement as the older siren seems to stare off into space for a few moments before gritting her teeth as a hiss of disgust escapes through her mouth. A victorious smile crosses Aria’s lips as she continues. “If you were a good leader, you would’ve known both that Star Swirl was an unbeatable opponent, and that the Rainbooms weren’t quite so breakable.”

Adagio balls her trembling fist, trying to think of a good rebuttal, but nothing comes to her. With a heavy sigh, she slumps against the wall and wraps her hands around her knees. “Okay, I admit it,” she says softly, “I’m to blame for our failures.”

Aria’s smile morphs into a smir—

“But I’m not entirely at fault here!” Adagio points her own accusing finger at Aria. “The only reason I have to make all the decisions is because you and Sonata are always butting heads over the absolute dumbest of things.” She takes a small amount of comfort from Aria’s shocked expression before continuing, looking off to a corner of the room. “Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind us making decisions together as a group, because being a solo leader isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” She sighs. “Not by a longshot.”

Aria gives no verbal response, instead staring blankly for a moment before turning away in embarrassment with a blush on her cheeks.

Adagio continues still. “It really is hypocritical how you put down my leadership because, in all honesty, do you really believe you could’ve done better on your own?”

Aria turns back to face Adagio with her typical unamused expression, her blush a little darker than before. “Okay, maybe I was a little presumptuous,” she says.

Adagio deadpans. “That’s putting it mildly.”

What follows is a heavy silence between Adagio and Aria. They don’t look at each other, nor do they move from their spots. Adagio busies herself tracing a finger along the closet wall’s baseboard while Aria stares upward, idly in thought. The only sounds breaking the silence are those emanating from Sonata’s game in the living room.

“You know,” Aria finally says after a minute, “I’m surprised Sonata took a liking to that game. I mean, I never would’ve pegged her as the type that loves video games, let alone horror games.”

“She’s about as easily understood as the universe at large,” Adagio says while brushing some accumulated dust off her finger.

“Yeah.” Aria nods. “I never would’ve thought she’d be capable of tying us up and throwing us together in a closet.”

Adagio’s mouth lifts into an amused smile. “I never thought Sonata would come home with a Halloween costume that makes her look like a medieval dominatrix.”

Aria chuckles. “Yeah, they do look like that, but remember that she said it was the only costume left at the party store.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Adagio stops as a memory from earlier that night resurfaces. She grimaces. “I saw some older guys taking pictures of Sonata while we were out.”

“I can only imagine what they’ll do with them,” Aria replies coolly, rolling her eyes.

“I wish I didn’t have a clue,” Adagio says, suppressing a shudder. “But you know what else? I never imagined Sonata as the heroic, monster-slaying type.” She snorts a laugh. “She’s too perky and clueless for that.”

“I don’t know about that,” Aria says. She glances down to make eye contact with Adagio, smiling at how timid the older siren looks huddled up against the wall. “After all, she did give us a real beating just now.”

“Yeah, and I’m still hurting from it.” Adagio rubs her arm, wincing as a small lance of pain shoots through it. She returns eye contact with Aria. “You said that that game series has sirens as enemies, right?”

Aria nods. “Not in the game Sonata’s playing, but yeah, it does sometimes.”

Adagio shudders. “And it doesn’t bother you at all?”

“Nah, not really.” Aria shakes her head, a small smile crossing her lips. “To be honest, I’ve always felt kinda flattered to have influenced this world’s mythology. Besides, it’s been so horribly skewed in the time we’ve been banished that there’s practically no resemblance to us left anymore.”

Adagio takes a moment to consider Aria’s words before straightening up with her hands in her lap. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s all fine,” she says softly.

“Anyway,” Aria says, standing up and stretching her arms, “since Sonata won’t let us out until we kiss and make up, let’s agree to a truce.” She walks over to Adagio, who stares up with a raised eyebrow, and reaches her hand down. “What say we just agree to pin the blame entirely on the Rainbooms for our failure?”

Adagio switches her gaze between Aria’s own, her proffered hand and the floor for a while, deep in thought. Finally, with a smile and nod of her head, she accepts Aria’s hand and hoists herself up. “I think I’d like that very much,” she says.

“Glad you agree,” Aria replies, a small twinkle in her eye. She turns to the door and cups her hands over her mouth. “Sonata!”

The sounds of the video game cease, followed by approaching footsteps that stop in front of the closet door.

“Are you gonna behave from now on?” Sonata’s voice asks from the other side.

Both Aria and Adagio roll their eyes before Adagio replies with, “Yeah yeah, we will. Just let us out.”

There’s a sound of the door unlocking before it opens to reveal Sonata, still wearing her costume, with concern etched in her features. “Sorry for whipping you,” she says, meekly.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Aria says with a dismissive wave. She and Adagio step out of the closet and stand before Sonata, who stares down with her hands held behind her, looking ashamed of herself. With a playful scoff, Aria throws an arm over Sonata’s shoulder. “Honestly, we’re the ones that should be apologizing.”

“Yeah,” Adagio says, also throwing an arm over Sonata’s shoulder, “sorry for making you snap. We kinda deserved it, I guess.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have lashed out at you.” Sonata looks between the two of them. “You forgive me, right?”

“Mhmm,” Aria says with a nod, followed by Adagio. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”

Sonata’s lips lift into a small smile. “Thanks girls. And yeah, I promise it won’t happen again, but only as long as you two stop arguing.”

“Deal,” Aria and Adagio say in unison.

Aria glances around the corner into the living room, spying the paused game on the television. “So, how d’ya like the game, Sonata?” she asks, turning back to her.

Sonata lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s hard,” she says. “Really hard. Like, can’t-get-past-the-fifth-boss hard.”

Aria chuckles. “There’s a special trick that makes him a real pushover, in case you’re interested.”

“Oooh, really!?” Sonata’s eyes light with excitement. “What is it?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Aria says, and nods her head toward Adagio. “Anyway, we agreed to stop arguing and pin all the blame on the Rainbooms. That sound good to you?”

“You betcha!” Sonata replies with a nod and pounds her fists together. “And I’m itching for some payback! They can’t take away my beautiful singing voice and get away with it! No siree!”

“Good to see you’re on board, and don’t worry, we’ll pay them back eventually,” Adagio says while stifling a yawn before turning toward the stairs. “For now, let’s just get some sleep. We can brainstorm revenge schemes in the morning over breakfast.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aria says.

“Me too,” Sonata follows.

With that, the three sirens go about preparing for bed. While Adagio and Aria head upstairs, Sonata shuts off her game. On her way toward the stairs she stops by the hallway closet to retrieve her whip. Picking it up, she smiles and holds it up high as if prepared to strike.

Nothing can stop me!