It was a cool autumn night in Ponyville. A thin layer of clouds filled the sky, blocking out many of the stars above and waiting to release their rain just before sunrise. While a few of the ponies around were out having fun for the weekend, most have already gone to bed. Among the latter were the residence of The Golden Oaks Library: Shining Armor, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle.

Outside of the library, a pale blue coated mare walked around. She circled around the large tree turned building, looking at the windows and seeing them all dark. Not a single light was on, and given how late it was, they all should have been asleep by now anyways.

Okay, Sonata, the mare -- Sonata Dusk -- thought, you can do this. This is what you do. Just like you were taught. No problem-o.

So why did some part of her feel bad about it? She was a siren. They used their music to manipulate ponies and get what they wanted all the time. She and her sisters had done it numerous times in the past. Hay, this time she was not even going to hurt anypony. Just use her singing to manipulate the dreams a little. Not even bad dreams either.

But... for some reason, she felt guilty over it. Like she was betraying their trust.

With a shake of her head, she pushed it aside. This is why she was here. This is what she was ordered to do. If it worked, she could prove that she was not some worthless airhead. She was just as much a siren, just as much a hunter, as Aria and Adagio. She would show those stupid-heads.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She then began to sing. As she did, the red jewel on her choker began to glow. A smoky green magic slowly poured out of the jewel, making its way toward the library. The energy made its way up along the building, slipping in through the cracks around the windows and doors. It snaked through the building, crawling along the floor as it made its way toward the bedrooms. As it found the sleeping forms, tendrils slipped out, wrapping around them.

Spike sat on the chair by the counter, head resting on one claw as he watched.

Next to him, Sonata Dusk stood in front of the stove. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she stared at the skillet, and her mouth gripped tightly at the spatula she was holding. All of her attention was on the skillet, scanning the surface of the pancake. Eyes suddenly going wide and a gasp escaping through her nose, she lunged forward. With a twist of her neck, Sonata slipped the spatula under the pancake and gave it a flip.

"Perfect," Spike said, standing up on his chair. "Way to go, Sonata."

"Thanks," Sonata said with a smile. "And thanks for teaching me how to make pancake."

"No problem," the dragon said, puffing out his chest. "We're family now. Besides," he jumped down and gave the mare a hug, "I owe you for helping me get together with Rarity."

With a smile and chuckle, Sonata patted him on the head.

"Plus I bet that having somepony else do the cooking -- letting you have more free time to be with Rarity -- doesn't hurt either."

That got a laugh from Spike as well, rubbing the back of his head.

Still grinning, Sonata turned back to the stove and picked up her spatula. Again she slipped it under the pancake and lifted, but this time, she set it on a plate. It went on top, the latest of the batch that were thought of as "edible" and the one that come out the closest to perfect.

"Well I think that should be enough to start," she declared. "Spike, can you wake up Shiny and Twiley while I set the table?"

"Sure," Spike said as he headed for the doorway. "No problem... sis."

Twilight Sparkle -- Twiley to most -- could barely contain her excitement. The filly's grin was wide, so wide it bordered on the edge of manic, and could give Pinkie Pie's a run for her money. She was excited, she could barely hold still, and even that had her dancing in place a little. Twiley knew it would be better if she held still and saved all her energy -- especially with what was about to happen -- but she could not help herself. It was just too exciting.

She was at The Sisterhooves Social. Not just at it, but participating in it. Something she never thought she would get the chance to do, seeing as both her older siblings were brothers.

Still grinning, the little unicorn filly looked up at the blue earth pony beside her. Sonata Dusk was the best sister (sister-in-law, technically) the filly could have asked for. Not only did Sonata really love Shiny, Spike, and her, but was really nice too. Whenever Twiley was interested in something, Sonata would ask her about it, and listen intently while she explained. Some times, Sonata would ask questions. Plus, she was a really good singer. Twiley had grown to love having Sonata sing her lullabies before going to sleep.

Now, thanks to Sonata, Twilight Sparkle got to be a part of The Sisterhooves Social. She continued to grin, looking up in the stands where the rest of her family was.

"On your mark," a voice shouted. Twiley and Sonata moved closer getting in position.

"GO!"

"We're a dying breed."

"You're immortal."

"We could be Immortal. I-i-i-immortal."

"Permission to kill?"

"Denied!"

"Wimpy unicorn!"

"Old goat!"

"Live! From New Yoke! It's SATURDAY NIGHT!"

With a gasp, Shining Armor shot up in bed. Eyes wide, he sat there, panting and dripping sweat. The unicorn stallion looked around, taking in the dark room. None of it seemed out of place.

"Shiny?" a soft, sleepy voice said from the beside him. "Is something wrong?"

Turning to look, his brow furrowed a moment before remembering who she was. The look of concern vanished with a smile as he leaned closer, running a hoof through the pale blue mane and brushing it aside for the half-asleep mare.

"Everything's fine, Nat," he said. "Go back to sleep."

Instead, Sonata Dusk sat up and moved closer, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.

"Another bad dream?" she asked.

With a sigh, he laid back down, looking up at the ceiling while Sonata moved to rest her head on his chest. Reaching up, he stroked a hoof through her hair gently.

"No," he answered. "Well... not bad. Just... weird."

"Weird how?"

"Well to start, I was Captain of The Royal Guard, and married to Cadance. Except..." his brow furrowed. "She was different. Very flirtatious and sex-obsessed. Like everything was an innuendo or an opening to talk about sex?" He rubbed at his head, trying to remember it all. "Then we were with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and..." His brow furrowed. "...some sort of goat... fish... thing? I think he called himself a cap of corn, and his name was Titan or something? He was really cranky, always complaining about me and wanting to kill anything that annoyed him in the slightest.

"For some reason we weren't in Canterlot. The five of us were on some sort of quest. I think it was to find somepony so Princess Luna could punch them in the flank? Except... none of us had any idea where we were actually going. Plus, we kept getting sidetracked. Like, something would come up, and we would deal with that instead. Except we never had a plan. It was just stupid luck that we even made it out alive, to say nothing of actually succeeding, which we did. Also, there were a bunch of pop culture references. Every conversation had at least one recycled joke and a movie reference."

"What's a movie?" Sonata asked.

The question gave Shining Armor pause. Like so much of the dream, it had somehow made sense at the time. But now, it was rapidly fading away and did not really make that much sense. He tried to keep the memories in place long enough.

"I... I think they were like plays," he said. "Except... it wasn't performed live. It was like... a combination of flipbook and slide show with audio recorded?"

"That sounds silly. How would you flip the slides fast enough to make it look like they were moving?"

"I don't know," Shining answered. "That's the weird thing. It all kind of made sense at the time, like I got a lot of the references, but... now I can't place them. It's like... if you were talking to somepony about a subject, and you just toss out a name without thinking about it, but... when you are thinking about something, and you know the answer but can't think of it."

"Hm," Sonata said as she moved up. "Well... it was just a dream." Her eyes narrowed and a smile spread across her face. "We have plenty of time before morning and we're both awake."

Turning to look at her, Shining Armor raised an eyebrow.

"Do you have something in mind?"

Sonata leaned in closer, her snout almost touching his.

"That depends," she purred out. "Did your Dream Cadance give you any ideas?"

Sonata then leaned forward, pressing her lips to Shining Armor's.

With a gasp, Shining Armor woke up, eyes wide as he stared up at the ceiling. One hoof moved to his barrel, rubbing at it gently. He swore that he could still feel the warmth of the mare's body pressed against his. Just as he could still feel her lips against his. Tongue slipping out, he licked at them, seeing if he could catch a taste.

Nothing. It had just been a dream. A wonderfully vivid dream, but a dream all the same.

No mare was in his bed. No mare was sharing his life.

With a sigh, Shining Armor turned over and pulled the blankets over him more. Closing his eyes, he tried to get back to sleep. As he did, one question popped into his head.

Why her?

Outside of the library, Sonata's song came to an end. The last note floated through the night air before fading away, and with it, the glow of the gem around the mare's neck. With the glow gone, the magic dissipated, like smoke that was being blown away a night breeze.

Several seconds passed as she looked up at the windows, watching. Wishing.

With a sigh, she turned away and started to make her way home.

It would have been nice if she had some actual friends to talk to.