Although the recent heatwave had been a difficult thing for everyone in Canterlot to cope with, things had, thankfully, cooled down quite a bit in the following days. Although, this day was beginning to end, with the sun setting rapidly, allowing the blanket of night to sweep over the skies above the town. Everywhere you looked you could see people heading on home, ready to rest and recuperate after a long and difficulty day. However, in spite of this, there was a fair amount of activity from some of its residents, especially amongst the youth. Although the streets were darkening, there were more than a few teens out and about, ready to enjoy themselves in whatever manner they saw fit. Among those kids was Lemon Zest of Crystal Prep Academy, who was marching down the main street of Canterlot with a wide smile on her face. But she was not alone here tonight, as a rather meek-looking Fluttershy was meandering her way behind her.

“Um…are you sure this is a good idea, Lemon?”

Stopping, the green-haired girl looked to her companion, still smiling as she did so.

“Yeah! Trust me on this, Flutters! A nice night out doing stuff is always gonna be better than staying in!”

Fluttershy looked away, rubbing one arm in a nervous-looking way.

“It’s just…I don’t normally stay out so late.”

Walking up to her, Lemon slapped down a hand upon her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it! Tonight’s gonna be a fun night, I promise you that!”

Although clearly hesitant about it all, there was something about Lemon’s massive energy that was almost hypnotic, making it difficult at best for Fluttershy to really protest. In the end, she simply gave a brief nod, much to Lemon’s delight, as she began to lead the way once more. Following, Fluttershy watched as they passed place after place, eventually stopping at a little-known spot on a street corner. There, Lemon placed her hands upon her hips as she gazed up at the building in triumph.

“Ah! Here we go! Just the kinda place I was looking for!”

Looking up, Fluttershy saw the building, with the words “Canterlot Karaoke” written in neon above the door. Before she could say anything about it, however, Lemon grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her inside. Once in, the two girls saw that there was barely anyone in here, save for the woman at the front desk, who regarded the two girls with surprise.

“Two rounds of customers tonight? Wow, how will I deal with such a busy workload?”

The sarcasm in her voice would have been clear to even a novice of social interaction, and yet, Lemon seemed to be completely indifferent to it, walking up to the desk and placing her hand upon it, smiling in a cocky way as she addressed the woman.

“Evening! My friend and I would like to rent one of your karaoke rooms please!”

The woman took a brief look at a small book that lay on the side of the desk, before looking back up to Lemon again.

“Sorry, girl. We’ve only got one room, and it’s taken. You’ll have to wait.”

Immediately, the smile faded form Lemon’s face, and she now looked quite disappointed, looking to Fluttershy with a huff.

“Ugh! That sucks! I hate waiting for stuff!”

As Lemon walked over to a nearby set of chairs beside the door to the only karaoke room, Fluttershy regarded her for a few moments, before starting to smile sweetly, taking her place right beside her.

“You know, patience isn’t a bad thing, Lemon. I’m sure that, if we just wait a little, we’ll still have a great night together.”

Lemon looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Appreciate you getting into this more, Flutters, but life is short, so why waste time waiting when you can be doing stuff instead?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when, all of a sudden, both she and Lemon began to hear the voice coming from inside the nearby karaoke room. It was clearly a girl from the sound of it, and while both would acknowledge that it was a pleasant-sounding voice she had, there were nevertheless moments when, just for a little bit, she sounded as if she was having difficulty holding certain notes. While Lemon regarded those moments with slight amusement, Fluttershy had a different reaction, as she turned to the door with a look of curiosity upon her face.

“Wait…I know that voice. Is that…?”

Before Lemon could ask what was going on, she watched as Fluttershy got up from her chair, taking a few steps towards the door. The shy girl reached up and turned the knob, opening it and finally seeing who was within. The voice became all the louder as the door opened and, at last, both Fluttershy and Lemon caught sight of that room’s sole occupant. It was a girl who appeared to be their age, with a long blue ponytail, who was currently holding a microphone in one hand as she continued to sing to the karaoke notes appearing on the TV screen before her. She had not noticed the two newcomers, but Fluttershy broke out into a smile when she saw her.

“Sonata?”

The girl, Sonata, stopped signing immediately, turning to the now-open door. Upon seeing Fluttershy she dropped the microphone, breaking out into a massive smile before lunging forward and, to Fluttershy’s shock, embracing her in a tight hug.

“Fluttershy! It’s so good to see you again!”

Although she’d clearly been taken aback by that, Fluttershy soon composed herself, putting on a small smile of her own as she hugged her right back. As for Lemon, she continued to be amused by this, though soon cleared her throat, gaining Fluttershy’s attention.

“Oh! I do apologise, Lemon.”

Breaking away from Sonata, Fluttershy brushed herself off a little before gesturing to the blue-haired girl.

“Lemon, this is Sonata Dusk.”

And then she gestured to Lemon.

“Sonata. This is Lemon Zest, from Crystal Prep.”

Turning to the latter, Sonata took on a look of curiosity.

“Crystal Prep? Isn’t that the place where everyone’s super-serious all the time and don’t look like they know how to have fun?”

Fluttershy, as one would expect, predicted that such a remark might cause some friction. But, to her relief, it didn’t, instead yielding a hearty chuckle form Lemon.

“Yep, that’s the place alright.”

Hearing that, Sonata broke into a smile of her own.

“Neat. Nice to meet you.”

The Siren reached out a hand, which Lemon promptly took, and together, the two shook them in greeting. When they finally let go, Sonata looked as if she’d just had a sudden idea, leading to her looking past the two girls and instead towards the woman at the desk, who had not really been paying that much attention to what was going on.

“Oooh! Miss! Can my friends come in on my session?”

At long last, the woman looked up, looking from one girl to the other, before giving a brief shrug of her shoulders.

“Sure, knock yourselves out.”

Ignoring that half-hearted way she spoke, Sonata squealed with joy before grabbing onto the arms of both girls, dragging them into the room before closing the door behind her. Now in the same karaoke room together, Sonata continued to look as happy as can be.

“Oh my gosh! This’ll be so great!”

Lemon folded her arms and chuckled a little at this.

“Easy there, girl. First things first. What’s your story?”

Sonata looked at her and spoke in a completely casual way.

“Oh, well, me and my sisters were this trio of power-hungry Sirens who tried to take over the world through super-magic-enhanced voices. Then Fluttershy and her friends came along and stopped us by blasting us with friendship magic. One thing led to another and now we’re all friends!”

Lemon stood there in utter silence, as did Fluttershy, who had once more been taken aback by just how bluntly her Siren friend had just blurted out their entire backstory. She looked nervously over to Lemon, who continued to stare at Sonata after having heard all that. In the end though, the Crystal Prep girl broke out into yet another massive smile.

“That…sounds…so…COOL!!!”

Turning, Lemon looked right at Fluttershy.

“Seriously, how awesome must it be at your school to get this kinda stuff happening all the time?”

Smiling a little, Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders slightly.

“Well…it’s usually a lot calmer than that, but…yes, it does get pretty hectic at times.”

Chuckling, Lemon looked right back at Sonata, glancing briefly at the nearby TV before speaking up to her.

“So…ya like singing, eh?”

Sonata nodded enthusiastically.

“Yep! Me and my sisters used to sing all the time! It was, like, how we used to take over stuff. But then we fought Fluttershy and her friends and, well, we couldn’t really sing as well anymore.”

Lemon’s smile faded a little after hearing that.

“Aw man! That totally sucks! I’d have loved to hear you guys!”

But Sonata seemed untroubled by that.

“Don’t worry. Fluttershy’s been helping me to sing better.”

Before the girl in question could do anything, she found yet again that she had become a victim of one of Sonata’s impromptu hugs, and was now being affectionately squeezed by her even more than before.

“And I really really appreciate it, Fluttershy!”

Giggling nervously, Fluttershy used her one free hand to pat Sonata on the back.

“Um…you’re welcome?”

Letting her go, Sonata placed her hands upon her hips, looking from Fluttershy, to Lemon and then back again.

“So…ready to have a whole night of nonstop karaoke singing?”

To that, Lemon reached over to the nearby TV, picked up a pair of spare microphones, handed one to Fluttershy, and then gained a rather mischievous-looking smirk.

“You’re playing my song, Siren-friend. Let’s rock this joint!”

Sonata squealed yet again, and the two girls turned to Fluttershy, both expecting her to be just as enthusiastic about it as they were. Instead, while she was indeed happy to be here and doing this, she simply responded in that usual Fluttershy manner of hers.

“Yay!”