Sonata Dusk tells a bedtime story to her sister, she also has a billion boyfriends, apparently. What other adventures will thid quirky girl get into?
Sonata Dusk is a whimsical, quirky, girl, who is quite unpredictable. Unpredictable, since she just got a new boyfriend nobody could have predicted. Whimsical in telling a bedtime story to her year younger sister, Mystery Mint. Quirky, because she once tried out a billion different hairstyles, and most of them were weird. ~ Cover art by Trainman3985
11-year-old Sonata Dusk lay on her bed, reading a book she had gotten from the library.
"'And then the good fairy blessed Rosebud with the gift of music,'" she murmured under her breath, eyes scanning each row of words. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but Sonata kept her eyes on the walls of text describing the adventures of Princess Rosebud and her fantastic companions.
"Sonata, can you tell me a bedtime story?" Sonata peeked over the book to see a pale girl with a mess of purple hair standing in the doorway. Her hands were twisting the edge of her nightgown, and her mouth was curved into a worried frown. Sonata swung her legs over so they dangled on the edge of the bed.
"Thunder scaring you?" She asked. Her sister nodded. Sonata smiled gently. "You're only a year younger than me, Mystery. You don't need a bedtime story." Mystery began to speak, but was interrupted by a flash of lightning and thunder outside of Sonata's room.
"Please, Sonata?" Mystery begged, scrambling up next to Sonata and clutching her arm. Sonata chuckled and pried Mystery's fingers off her arm.
"Alright, let me think of one," she agreed, falling back onto her magenta pillows. Mystery did the same. Sonata spread her hands out, as if she was showcasing something.
"Now," she began, "once there was a little girl who lived in magical land. Her best friends were ponies and unicorns and fairies, who also lived with her. The girl went to play with her friends in the fields all day, and it was always sunny!" As she spoke, Sonata acted out the scene with her fingers: one finger was the little girl, and Sonata twirled it around the other fingers to show they were dancing.
"What happened?" Mystery asked. Sonata grinned.
"One day, a bad fairy named, uh, Jewel Dazzle, with a magical red amulet came! She made it so that it rained all the time!" Sonata mimicked falling rain by wiggling her fingers and bringing them gently down. Mystery giggled.
"The girl was at first upset," Sonata continued. "She hopped on a Pegasus and flew up to Jewel Dazzle.
"'Why are you making it rain all the time?' She asked Jewel Dazzle."
"What did Jewel Dazzle look like?" Mystery asked.
"She had long, curly hair!" Sonata replied, thinking of a girl at school that she was beginning to know. "And pink wings that were transparent. Jewel Dazzle had a pretty purple outfit on, and her belt was made of golden diamonds!
"The girl asked why she was making it rain. Jewel Dazzle replied, 'I love the rain, and I want others to like it, too!'
The girl was confused by this. She didn't understand why anybody would love the cold, wet rain." Thunder began to rumble, and rain could be heard patterning on the roof, but Mystery and Sonata paid no attention.
"The girl stayed in her home with her friends and stared out at the rain. As she watched it, the girl realized that maybe there was some beauty in rain. She ran outside and began to splash in the puddles! The girl realized that rain was as much fun as the sun was. She confronted Jewel Dazzle again.
"'Jewel Dazzle!' She exclaimed. 'You're right! The rain is beautiful and fun to play in! But the sunshine is also beautiful and fun! We can't have rain all the time, nor sunshine around the clock!' Jewel pondered this. Then she replied, 'You're right. I'll leave my magic so that it only rains some of the time, and it is sunny the rest of the time!' The girl agreed, so she and Jewel shook hands.
"And so," Sonata finished, "the girl learned not to be afraid of rain, and also thunder and lightning, because it was beautiful!" The two sisters were quiet for a moment.
"I like the brilliant flash of lightning," Mystery admitted. "We're learning about stars in science. It reminds me of when a star dies."
"It does, doesn't it?" Sonata agreed, casting a glance at her orange alarm clock. "Hey, Mystery, it's time to go to bed. You can handle the lightning and thunder now, right?" Mystery nodded and wrapped her arms around Sonata. Sonata hugged her back.
"Sweet dreams," she called as Mystery left her room. Thunder rumbled again, and Sonata smiled. She shut her book and turned her lamp off. It was time for her to get to sleep too.
Sonata Dusk crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. She and Aria Blaze were hanging out at Adagio Dazzle's house, sitting around and mostly talking.
"Did you hear that new artist on the radio?" Adagio asked, twirling a strand of curly tangerine hair around her finger. "She is seriously good."
"Did she sing that song 'With All the Music'?" Aria asked.
"Yeah," Adagio confirmed.
"Oh, I heard that!" Sonata chipped in. "It's so awesome!"
"Totally!" Aria and Adagio agreed.
"I especially like the line where she says that music takes her higher than the clouds," Adagio commented. "It does do that!"
Clouds, like cirrus clouds, Sonata thought. Well, she might as well tell them now.
"Hey, you know Cirrus Treble, that guy at our school?" Sonata asked. Aria rolled her eyes.
"More like Cirrus Trouble," she remarked. "He broke about a dozen school rules in the first week of Freshman year."
"And not to mention his suspension that one time. What about him?" Adagio asked. Sonata spun one of her studded bracelets around her wrist.
"Yeah... I'm kinda gonna go on a date with him on Saturday," she explained simply. Adagio's jaw dropped. Aria's jaw started yapping.
"You're going to date him?!" She exclaimed in disbelief, jumping up from her chair. "That guy? Have you seen his hair? It's hideous! Not to mention all the trouble making we just mentioned?!"
"Aria's right, Sonata," Adagio agreed. "Well, maybe not about criticizing his hair, but seriously, why are you getting all these weird boyfriends? Three months ago it was the Flash Sentry person-"
"-who is not only younger than you, but goes to a different school!" Aria added, folding her arms across her chest. "And don't forget that Freeline Zip person you met last year on a role-playing website!"
"They were both really nice!" Sonata argued. Aria rolled her eyes.
"Which is why you still have a boyfriend right now."
"Hey, Flash dumped me!" Sonata argued. "He was going to date that Twilight Sparkle girl instead. And Freeline was great, but he won a contest to go live in Manehattan for a full year, and long distance relationships never work out! He probably would have cheated on me anyways. It's on TV all the time!"
"Sonata, why did you decide to go out with Cirrus?" Adagio asked in a calmer voice.
"Well, remember when you and Aria needed to go with Tempo to that seminar thingy on Monday and I wasn't invited?" Sonata asked.
"Hey, it's not my fault you couldn't go!" Aria defended herself. "I wanted you to come!" Sonata smiled.
"I wasn't blaming you, Air. Anyway, I went down to the roller rink that day and Cirrus happened to be there."
"No way! You went to the roller rink without us?" Aria shouted. "But I wanted to go!"
"And I wanted to go to the seminar," Sonata replied. Adagio smirked.
"She has a fair point. Go on, Sonata."
"So we went to the snack bar," Sonata continued, "and he asked me if I was free of Saturday. Mystery's not dragging me to those charity concerts and I don't have anything planned with you two, or any other friends, so I said no, I was free. And then he asked me if I wanted to go skydiving with him."
Aria facepalmed and Adagio's mouth fell open.
"Smooth," Aria commented. Sonata laughed.
"I was just playing with you guys. He didn't ask me to go skydiving."
"Sonata!" Aria and Adagio exclaimed in indignant unison.
"Sorry," she responded sheepishly. Sonata tugged on the end of her ponytail and continued, "He told me he liked my hair, and asked me to go the skate park."
"Since when do you go to skate parks?" Adagio asked.
"Since I decided to go on a date with Cirrus," Sonata replied simply.
"Well, I still think you've gone off the deep end," Aria commented. "I mean, who goes out with a troublemaker like him? I wonder how he even got in to our top notch school."
"Lighten up, Aria, maybe he won't be so bad," Adagio told her, standing back up. "Will he, Sonata?"
"I wouldn't go on a date if I didn't think it was a good idea," Sonata agreed. Then she tapped her chin and wondered, "Or would I? I wonder if I'd go on a date with a guy I didn't like to spare him the pain of rejection. Does that sound bad a bit, to fake just to make someone feel better?"
"I wouldn't put it past you," Adagio replied. "Hey! Maybe we can find you a cute skating outfit!"
"Yeah, that would be so fun!" Sonata agreed. "We can sing a song about skating and I could wear it, so it's not a one time thing!"
"Spot on genius," Aria added, standing up as well.
"Oh my gosh!" 14-year-old Sonata Dusk exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed. "High school starts tomorrow!" She started across the room into the mirror on her dresser. Her hands flew to her frazzled blue hair, which was sticking out all over.
"I have to fix this!" she grasped, leaping out of bed. "I can't show up looking like a monster! What if they kick me out?" Sonata's mouth began to wobble as she imagined the scene: lots of Freshmen and older students laughing at her hair, while the principal silently and sternly pointed her out the door. She would be a disgrace to the school all because of her hair!
"I need to do something!" she yelled, picking up her iPhone and searching "Cute Hair styles" on Google.
"Here's something!" Sonata exclaimed, grabbing a hairbrush in her free hand. "'Step One: Brush your hair exactly four hundred and twenty two times!'
"One, two three..." Sonata chanted as she ran her brush down her hair. "...six, seven, eight, nine..."
While Sonata brushed, Mystery Mint, her younger sister, popped her head into the doorway.
"...twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six..." Mystery stood their for a while.
"What are you doing, Sonata?" she asked.
"...forty-eight, I'm, forty-nine, doing my, fifty, hair for, fifty-one, high school, fifty-two, fifty-three..." Sonata continued, never taking her eyes off the mirror.
"Well have fun!" Mystery replied. "I hope you get a great look ready for tomorrow!"
"...fifty-nine, thank, sixty, you," Sonata replied, "sixty-one, sixty-two..." Mystery left and shut the door behind her.
"...one hundred, one hundred one, one hundred two..."
"...one hundred thirty-five, one hundred thirty-six..."
"...one hundred seventy-four, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred seventy-six, one hundred-OUCH! -seventy-seven..."
"...two hundred one, two hundred two, two hundred three..."
"...two hundred twenty two, two hundred twenty three..."
...two hundred forty-six, I'm, two hundred forty-seven, hungry, two hundred forty-eight..."
"Sonata, Mom wants to know if you want waffles for breakfast," Mystery called.
"...two hundred seventy-nine, TOO BUSY!, two hundred eighty..."
~
"...four hundred twenty-two, finally!" Sonata released her grip on the brush and watched it clatter to the ground. "What's next?
"'Cut your hair to shoulder length and pin back with a hair clip?!" Sonata read aloud. "Uh, no!" Sonata scanned the other search results until she found a rather simple one.
"MYSTERY!" She yelled. Mystery came running down the hall as if a bear was chasing her.
"What is it, Sonata?" She asked. "Do you need my help?"
"Yeah," Sonata replied, pointing at her phone. "I need you to put my hair up in a bee hive!"
"Are you sure?" Mystery asked nervously. "I don't know much about hairstyling and I want to help but I'd hate to get it wrong!" Sonata waved a hand.
"If you mess up I can try anything style. Now, try that bee hive please!"
"I'll do my best," Mystery promised.
~
"Did I do alright?" Mystery asked anxiously, peering into the mirror. Sonata scrunched her face up as she looked at the lopsided hairdo Mystery had given her. Several strands of hair fell into Sonata's eyes. She blew them back up and managed to tuck several behind her ears.
"Uh, let me see how a braid looks," she suggested. "I don't think a bee hive suits me."
"Alright," Mystery agreed. She pulled the bee hive attempt apart. Sonata closed her eyes and felt Mystery separate her hair into three different sections. Then Sonata felt Mystery flip the sections over each other and back underneath, weaving her hair like a basket.
"Ouch!" Sonata cried when Mystery tugged too hard on a strand.
"Sorry!" Mystery squeaked.
"No problem," Sonata replied, forcing a smile, though the pull still stung.
"So, uh, who from your middle school is going to your high school?" Mystery asked as she worked.
"Lots of people!" Sonata replied, eager to talk. "Adagio and Aria, my friends, are gonna be there! I'm sure high school is going to be as great as it is on TV! We'll have slumber parties and karaoke and- I got off-topic, didn't I? Sorry, Mystery! Well, like I said, lots of people are coming! There's Tempo Twiz, you know her, right? And Octave, I think his younger sister's in your grade, you know. Do you know a girl named Octavia? I've met her once..." Sonata continued talking, getting off topic more than once.
"Sonata, I'm done," Mystery declared, interrupting a story. Sonata opened her eyes, and her mouth dropped open.
How is it possible to screw up a braid? She wondered. It was lumpy, off center, and strands of hair poked out at all angles.
"Is it alright?" Mystery asked, chewing on her lower lip. "I try to help, but I-" Sonata held up a hand to stop her.
"Today is a Hair Day!" Sonata declared. "We shall not rest until I have tried every wacky hairstyle that ever existed!"
~
"Aria would think I'm a copycat,' Sonata commented, tugging on her twin ponytails.
"How can you see?" Mystery remarked after flipping all of Sonata's hair onto her face.
"Too sophisticated," Sonata decided, eying the bun that had been created with some help by Mystery.
"Is this even allowed at your school?" Mystery wondered, examining her work. It was an attempt to recreate a lion's mane, but to know avail.
"Too classy."
"Too sci-fi."
"I look like a medieval princess!"
"Hobo much?"
"Great look- if you're going for a cowgirl theme."
"You know what?" Sonata asked after trying a spiky hairstyle. "I think I'll brush my hair and put it up into my usual ponytail."
"Fine by me," Mystery agreed. "Now, do you wanna go have dinner?"
Day Four in Tanzaniegha. I am suddenly wondering why everywhere I go is a horse pun. Anyway, today I am going to attempt to break the Fourth Wall! It's my first time! Later we'll rebuild it, of course! Sonata Dusk closed her journal and wiped her brow. It wasn't noon yet, but the heat was exhausting.
Here she was, on a trip to Tazaniegha she had won in a Battle of the Bands. Of course, she wasn't the only one who had won...
"Ready to work, Sonny?" Sonata's travel mate and new friend, Pinkie Pie, skipped back to their little camp with a bucket full of water.
"Ready!" Sonata replied. "Today we're going to break the Fourth Wall!"
"Ooh, I've done that lots of times!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly. "So, how are we gonna do it?" I "I think I'll use a jackhammer," Sonata decided, walking up to the Fourth Wall. Pinkie's expression was one of confusion.
"A jackhammer? You know you could just tip it over, right? That's what I do!" Sonata grinned and gently rested her hand on the Wall.
"But Pinkie, that takes all the fun out of it!" She replied. "We need to break this wall in a way nobody has ever done before!"
"You got that right, sister!" Pinkie agreed. "How about we sing so loudly we blow that wall right out of Tanzaneigha?!" Sonata held her hand up for a high five.
"You're speaking my language!" Sonata exclaimed. "I packed my microphone, did you?" Pinkie's smile faltered.
"Oh, let me check my backpack." Pinkie dashed off to the tent.
"Music isn't first priority for all of us," Sonata murmured under her breath. When Pinkie returned, she was smiling sheepishly.
"Do you have an extra mic?" She asked.
"You know," Sonata remarked, "I thought you'd be prepared for anything, Pinkie!"
"I usually am!" Pinkie replied. "But not right now."
"I guess we can share the microphone, then," Sonata told her. "I only brought one." She and Pinkie grabbed onto the microphone and stared at the Fourth Wall.
"Let's rock and roll!" Pinkie yelled. "And I know the perfect song." She giggled menacingly. Sonata caught on and put the music on her Phone. Pop music blared out to accompany the girls.
"Back door cracked we don't need a key..." Pinkie and Sonata began to sing the first verse of "Blow" by Kesha.
This song is entirely fitting, Sonata thought as she sang, because Pinkie said earlier we'd blow the wall straight out of Tanzaniegha!
When the girls reached the chorus, the literally screamed into the microphone.
"THIS PLACE ABOUT TO BLOW!!" They chorused. Sonata tightened her grip on the microphone as she and Pinkie continued to sing. The fourth wall began to quiver from the sound vibrations. Sonata grinned and sang louder.
Suddenly, the wall fell flat over.
"We did it!" Sonata yelled, running up to it.
"Yay!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "Where do we put it?" Sonata tugged on her ponytail as she thought.
"I've got it!" She snapped her fingers. "Let's put it next to the other walls!" She was referring to the other three walls of the little hut she and Pinkie had made last night.
"There's an idea!" Pinkie exclaimed. Sonata grinned.
"Get out of here with your awful music!" A passerby shouted at them.
Sonata, Aria, and Adagio sat outside one winter day.
"I'm bored," Sonata complained, snuggling inside her coat.
"Why are we out here, anyway?" Aria added. Adagio, who was meditating, opened one eye and peeked at them.
"I'm balancing myself so I can sing better tomorrow," she responded.
"I wanna write a story, not sit on a balance beam!" Sonata kicked the frozen grass with her foot.
"Why don't you go write a troll fic?" Adagio suggested. "If you publish it online, everyone will ha- love you!"
"That sounds awesome!" Sonata jumped up. "I'll be right back!" Sonata ran inside and grabbed her iPad.
"Once upon a time," she murmured as she wrote, "there was a little troll named Sonata Troll. She lived under a bridge with her friends Aria Troll and Adagio Troll. One day a pony came prancing along the bridge.
'Hello, pony!' Sonata Troll said. She jumped out and hugged the pony. But the pony was scared of trolls. It screamed in horror and ran away.
Sonata Troll began to cry. Aria Troll came up.
'You're the worst. You scared away our dinner!' She yelled. That made Sonata Troll cry harder. A goat came up and kicked Aria Troll off the cliff. Sonata Troll was glad the meanie was gone but Aria Troll had also been her best friend.
Adagio Troll came out.
"Look I know I'm not that nice to everyone else but I'm nice to you, so you have to stop crying. Then I'll get you a pony," Adagio Troll consoled Sonata Troll. Sonata Troll dried her tears and smiled.
'Thanks Adagio Troll!' She exclaimed. They went to the pony store and bought a pony. Sonata Troll named it Blazing Aria after Aria Troll who was kicked off the cliff.
The end!" Sonata pressed the save button and ran outside.
"Adagio! Aria! I wrote my troll fiction!" She exclaimed excitedly. Aria and Adagio exchanged glances. They crowded around the tablet, eager to read Sonata's story.
Silently, the two girls read their friend's short story. By the end, Aria was shaking silently. Adagio was crying, laughing at the beautifully written troll fic.
"How does she do it?" Adagio asked breathlessly, clutching her sides and tears running down her face. "She got it literally and figuratively!"
"I don't know!" Aria gasped, wiping her eyes.
"I'm so happy I made you guys laugh!" Sonata exclaimed, joining in the laughter. Soon the three girls were rolling around on the cold, hard ground, laughing as the first flakes of snow began to fall.
Sonata, Aria, and Adagio stood behind the curtain on the stage. This was it; they were going to get everything they'd ever need!
"This is it, girls," Adagio told them, fingering the pendant on her neck. "The moment we've been waiting for!"
"Din-" Sonata's question was halted by Aria putting a finger over her mouth.
"Don't even say it," she muttered. Sonata shrugged.
"Quiet!" Adagio hissed. Sonata meekly stood on the left side of her leader.
"Aaaaah," they sang as they walked out on stage. "Aaaaah aah!" Sonata waved her arms in the air as she sang the melody.
"Welcome to the shooooooow," Adagio sang as Sonata continued singing her backup vocals. "We're here to let you knooooooooow-" Sonata suddenly felt her striped shirt shift. It was barely covering her in the first place, but now panic was evident as it began to slip.
"Adagio!" Help me!" She whispered, clutching her shirt and desperately trying to hold it up. Adagio shot her a death glare, but did not stop singing. Sonata wouldn't, couldn't sing. Her shirt was about to fall off!
Sonata was mortified when a couple male students started chuckling. It was obvious that her shirt was falling off; she was standing on stage, not making a sound, and her hands were gripping her shirt like it was a lifeboat!
"I can't do this anymore!" Sonata wailed. Adagio and Aria abruptly stopped singing.
"Sonata," Adagio began in her warning tone, but Sonata paid no attention.
"I have to go fix this!" She screamed before running off the stage. All the boys in the audience started laughing. Adagio facepalmed.
