Pink Awakening
“Oh! But Applejack’s huge family reunion isn’t until next week! It’s crazy that we’re fourth cousins twice removed.”
Sonata’s eyes fluttered open. What time was it? What had happened last night? All she could remember was getting kicked out, and trying to sing… then she found she could sing, and she had been so happy… She must have fallen asleep, after singing all night. Sonata stretched and wiggled, feeling (much to her disgust) her snot-and-tear soaked shirt. Sleeping on a bench was not good for your back.
As her vision cleared, she laid eyes on a pink-poofy-haired girl. Wait. Pink poofy hair? Eyes widening, Sonata shot to the far side of the bench, arms flailing in front of her as if they would protect her. Memories of the night her song was stolen flashed before her eyes, memories she had spent all night trying to move past.
She tried to scream some plea to be left alone, but only managed a scratchy whisper. A scratchy whisper that hurt. Singing all night is not good for your throat, she noted.
“What?” Miss Pink Hair was suddenly a lot closer than she was a few seconds ago, leaning in with her ear.
“I said, leave me alone!” Or at least, that’s what Sonata tried to say. It didn’t really come out.
“What!?”
Sonata tried one last cry for personal space, but she had hardly opened her mouth before Pinkums fell over, planting her face into Sonata’s soiled shirt. Sonata sat, frozen in fear. Had she done something wrong? Was she about to be rainbowed? They already took her singing, what was next? Her hair? Oh no, not her hair! She flinched as she watched Pink and Poofy pull her face out of Sonata’s shirt. Despite the muck that covered it, she still wore a broad smile.
“Wow, that shirt is really nasty! Good thing I have my Pinkie Intuition.”
Out of a backpack came not one, but two spare shirts. She wiped her face off with one, and offered the other to Sonata.
This didn’t make sense. This girl had destroyed her, ruined her life! Why was she being so kind to her? Slowly, Sonata took off her shirt, and replaced it with the new one. She looked down at her new attire. It was a white tee-shirt, pink-sleeved, with three balloons on the front. She looked back at… Pinkie? Was that her name?
“Now, how about you tell me what happened to make you so sad?”
She… she wanted to know? Why? By the Old Songs, did she not know who she was talking to?
“Come on! I might not know your name, but I can’t let anyone so sad get away with it!”
Adagio… Aria never asked what was wrong when she was sad… They probably didn’t notice…
“Oh, I get it! It’s a game of charades! So, uhh… you were sitting on a bench…”
Blinking, Sonata realized what was happening. Shaking her head, she scrambled to play along, and started mouthing with her fingers, as if she were wearing two sock puppets. That night… so much shouting…
“You were pretending to be a crab?”
A shake of the head.
“Uhh, you were practicing your flamenco?”
A bewildered look.
“Hmm… You… I got it! You were playing with sock puppets!”
Her hands flew up in exasperation.
“And then you threw a newborn baby into the air! Wait, what? I hope you caught it.”
Sonata buried her face in her hands.
“Oh no! You didn’t? Oh, I’m so sorry.”
Tears started flowing. She had hoped, just maybe, just maybe, she could find a kindred spirit. No, all she got was a mockery of her plight.
“Oh, don’t start crying again! I’m not very good at charades, anyway.“
Sonata was startled out of her shell when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. Slowly, she returned the gesture. Inwardly, Sonata chuckled. Now I get why they always snap at me when I’m being “silly.” Maybe she had found a kindred spirit after all.
“You can just tell me later, okay?”
Sonata gave a small nod with a small smile. Pinkie returned a much bigger smile, which was suddenly replaced with a look of horror.
“Oh my gosh we’ll be late for school come on we have to hurry hurry hurry!” Not having much choice in the matter, seeing as Pinkie had grabbed her wrist and was dragging her along, Sonata rushed to the school she had tried to enthrall not weeks ago.
Alas, today was not Taco Tuesday, but Sonata still grabbed some lunch and stared into the grid of tables in the cafeteria. A thousand kids (probably not, but it sure felt like it) who hated her, across every table. Suddenly the cafeteria seemed a lot bigger than it had been when Adagio, Aria, and she had strut through, singing their siren song. She gazed around for an empty table. She didn’t find one. Perhaps she should eat in the hallway.
She turned to the door and collided with a mass of pink hair. So did her tray, and the contents spilled across the floor. Or they would have, if not for some quick reflexes and broken laws of physics on the part of Pinkie.
“There ya go!” she said as she plopped the tray back into Sonata’s hands. “Can you talk now?”
To her credit, Sonata’s attempt at “Maybe?” was discernable, if still really quiet and scratchy.
“Come on! You can sit with us.”
“You?” Sonata knew she deserved her ditzy reputation, but even she knew sitting with those girls was a bad idea.
“Yeah! Oh, I just know the girls will love you!”
That makes one of us.
Still, it was better than eating in the hallway, so Sonata followed to the far table. Six other girls sat already assembled. Sonata did her best to squeeze in next to Pinkie, even with an open space on the opposite side of the table.
“Why, hello Pinkie, and… oh, my.” The purple-haired girl leaned back ever so slightly as she laid eyes on Sonata. Sonata, in response, shrunk further into table.
“What is she doing here, Pinkie?” Sonata never knew a pointing finger could be so scary. Then again, she hadn’t really met the rainbow-haired one, either.
“Isn’t it great? I made a new friend this morning! Oh, but I need to plan the party for tonight. There’s gotta be balloons, and streamers, and-”
“You befriended her? She tried to take over the school, and the whole world, y’know! Are you nuts? Well, you are, but that’s not the point!” Did she have to be so brutally honest about it? What happened to love and tolerance?
At least the other pink-haired one was doing a remarkable impression of Sonata’s own tucked-away slouch. Oh, wait, that meant she was scared of her….
“Give her a chance, girls. After all, you gave me a chance.” Sonata perked up just a teensy bit, and cast her eyes in the direction of Miss Bacon Hair.
“I dunno,” said the cowgirl, pulling her hat forward. “I just don’t like it.”
“Aww, but she was so sad when I found her sleeping on the bench and her shirt was so messy I gave her mine and she couldn’t talk so we played charades and- “
“Wait, back up, Pinkie. She was sleeping on a bench? Outside?”
“Yup! Just down the road, in fact.”
“Good heavens, darling! Is that true?”
It took a while for Sonata to realize the question was directed at her. She gave a meek nod of confirmation.
“Oh dear. Whatever for?”
“…Adagio and Aria kicked me out.”
“Oh my… That doesn’t sound very nice.”
The girls glanced about each other. Shrugs, nods, and headshakes were traded.
“Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m not totally sure about this, but Sunset Shimmer is right. If you’ve really had a change of heart, there really is no reason to continue holding a grudge against you.”
“Where is she going to stay?” Rainbow Hair asked. “We can’t let her keep sleeping outside.”
“It’s… it’s fine. I’m sure they’ll let me back in. We… we just had a fight last night.”
“One so bad they made you sleep outside? Sugarcube, we ain’t sending you back to a house like that, at least not tonight.”
“Ooh, ooh, ooh! Slumber party at my place?”
Bacon Hair – Sunset Shimmer sighed and rolled her eyes with a smile. “Yes, Pinkie. Slumber party at your place.”
Smiles appeared on the other girls’ faces. Sonata found herself smiling as well. Maybe, just maybe, she could find a place here.
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A decent start! Our styles are different - you know I go for sweeping descriptions, where you seem to prefer getting right into the action. But, I like the way you characterize Sonata's confusion, Pinkie's irrepressibility and the things they have in common.
One constructive thing: My editor would be disappointed in me if I didn't mention that it's easier to follow thoughts and internal dialogue if you italicize or pick a common formatting for internal thoughts versus spoken words.
By the way, you were first to the party for my chapter, so it's only fitting that I return the favor!
Definitely enjoying this so far.
However, the ending section suffered a bit from Talking Heads Syndrome (no, not the band). It was a bit hard to make out who was saying what at times, and that's something you should try and avoid.
I love how you're tying in to the future-tense bits of the original stories (I'm assuming it's a trend that'll continue for all the bits). #thumbsup
5313633 Yeah, that is a problem I have. I was originally going to go for all implied inner thoughts, at least for this chapter, but somethings are better conveyed explicitly.
5313723 "Talking Heads Syndrome," eh? Is that what they call it? Yeah, it's unpleasant, especially when you can't use the character's names. I'm not a big fan of Applejack's "Ah ain't got no accent!" but I was sorely tempted to use it here. Can you put text before the quotation, but after the line break/indentation?
5313746 Actually, Canterlot is a city-sized exhibit/park where people can experience 21st Century-style living. The rest of the story will be taking place in the space age, on the moon.
5313871
Whaddya mean?
5313899
Yes, I know you don't need the closing quotation if it's the same character talking. Work with me here.
5313912
Line #2 is a-okay.
Sonata and Pinkie interactions? YES!