The club was literally still quaking with the cheers and chants of the audience when the three girls slipped backstage, their pony ears and elongated hair evaporating into the ether along the way. Rarity turned to the others and grinned.
“Well! That certainly went even better than I-!?”
She cut off as Sonata threw her arms around both her and Pinkie, folding them into quite possibly the tightest hug they had ever experienced. Considering that they had both been on the receiving end of hugs from Pinkie’s sister Maud in the past, that meant quite a bit.
“Thank you!” Sonata practically squealed, her face slick with happy tears. “Thank you both so much! I never knew; all this time and I never knew!”
“Sonata,” Rarity breathed in a hoarse whisper as her face took on a tinge of blue, “a little looser please, darling...”
“Oh! Sorry sorry!” she laughed as she released them and stepped back, her shining smile not faltering for an instant as she began hopping in place. “I’m just so excited! This is huge! I-I never even realized what it was supposed to be like!”
“What what was like?” Pinkie hopped right along with her, her own smile just as bright.
“Singing! That was soooo amazing! I’ve been doing it for soooo long, but this time it was soooo totally different! It was like… like a million-billion of the tastiest tacos in the world all at once! Warm and zesty and super-sweet and refreshing and crisp and… and… woosh!” She shivered in delight and jumped into the air, completing a full spin before she landed. “Is this what it feels like every time you guys sing?”
“Well, I don’t know that I would use that exact metaphor, but, yes,” Rarity nodded with a smile, “the sensation is quite invigorating.”
“I’d say it’s more like a fluffy, puffy, super-soft, mega-moist chocolate seven-layer sheet cake with vanilla and strawberry frosting and rainbow sprinkles!” Pinkie Pie drooled.
“Ooh, that sounds good too!” Sonata’s eyes widened. “Lemme see if I can make it feel like that!”
She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, but instead of a smooth sound like she had just produced on stage, her voice was once again scratchy and off-key. Rarity and Pinkie both fought the urge to cringe. Sonata scrunched up her face in dissatisfaction and tried again, with the same result.
“... Huh.”
“What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked with a frown.
“I’unno,” Sonata shrugged, “it was working a second ago.”
“Indeed; you sounded absolutely beautiful once… oh!” Rarity gasped. “Your voice improved once your magic came out!”
“You mean when I grew the ears and stuff?”
“Does that mean she can only sing when she’s in Super Sailor Pony Saiyan Rainbow Friendship Ranger Mode?” Pinkie pouted.
“For the last time, we are not calling it that,” Rarity held up a finger, “but yes, it certainly appears that way. We’ll have to ask Sunset, or perhaps Twilight about it later; I’m sure one of them will have some kind of theory.”
“So,” Sonata scrunched up her face once again, this time in confusion, “I can only sing well… when I’m singing?”
“Erm,” Rarity hesitated, “more or less?”
Sonata turned her gaze up and twisted her lips into a pensive frown. “... Ok, I can work with that.”
“There you girls are!”
The trio turned as Steven Magnet pushed through the curtains with a huge smile on his face. “You three were absolutely fabulous! Spectacular! Magnificent!” He gave them each a brief hug in turn as he spoke. “I’ve been running clubs for twenty years and I have never in my life seen a routine like that!”
“Yes, well,” Rarity blanched and gave him an awkward grin, “perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order.”
Steven shook his head. “Oh, honey, it can wait! You need to get back out there!”
Three sets of eyes blinked at him.
“We do?” the girls answered as one, only for Steven to huff and nod vigorously as he pulled the curtain open a tiny bit, unmuffling the sound of the raucous crowd.
“Of course you do! Are you hearing this? They’re going bonkers out there! If you don’t keep going they’re liable to start tearing the place up!”
Rarity gave him another Applejack-esque raised eyebrow, while Pinkie pursed her lips and Sonata merely crossed her arms. Steven put his hands up in defeat.
“Ok, I’m being just a scootch overdramatic, but you know what I mean!” He released the curtain and stepped forward cupping his hands together in a pleading gesture. “Please, girls, you could make this the single biggest night MacMaren’s has ever had!”
Rarity tilted her head. “Hmm… it’s Sonata’s decision,” she announced, turning to face the former Siren with a sly smile as Pinkie started grinning and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “What do you say, Sonata? Want to give it another go?”
Sonata bit her lip, glancing at the curtain briefly before looking back at Steven.
“You’re still gonna drive us to Ponyville so we can get tacos later, right?”
“Oh, honey,” Steven said with a deep, flourishing bow, “if you do this for me, I will buy you as many tacos as you can eat!”
“Ooh, you’re probably gonna regret that!” Pinkie stage-whispered.
Sonata expertly twirled the microphone in her hand and grinned the happiest, most confident smile she’d worn all evening.
“Then let’s rock this place!”
And rock it they did.
That night, MacMaren’s proved to be everything that Rarity had claimed it was and more. People flocked from across the city, summoned by text messages and Ponstagrams and MyStable posts from the audience as they spread the word about the amazing trio performing there. Iron Will and Bulk Biceps had their hands full with an ever-growing line reaching down the block, and Steven went through his entire list of backup waiters, waitresses, and two additional bartenders to deal with the crowd. It was indeed the single most profitable night the club had ever known.
On stage, a performance more than two thousand years overdue continued unabated. At times, Rarity and Pinkie Pie found themselves actually struggling to keep up with Sonata as she moved from one song to the next with hardly a breath in between. She took requests, she made up songs on the spot, and even managed to get Steven to join them on stage for a rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men’ that would be talked about for months. From pop to disco, punk rock to hip-hop (which Pinkie in particular enjoyed), from soulful ballads to a brass-band swing song that Sonata claimed she hadn’t sung since 1945, no genre of music was left untouched, and the crowd cheered for every second of it.
At the center of it all, Sonata shined like a star. The emotional high she was riding carried through from one song to the next and surged through the newly-formed bond of friendship with the others, keeping their magical ears and ponytails firmly in place. She drank in every instant, savouring sensations she had been missing out on her whole life as if she were attempting to make up for lost time. Pinkie and Rarity were more than happy to let her, even as the performance moved into its third straight hour.
Yet, there was one individual who was decidedly unhappy about the girls’ spectacular, moving, and most notably very loud show…
The walls of Cranky Doodle Donkey’s house thrummed with every overwhelming oonts of bass from the damn club across the street. He mashed the pillow down harder over his head and groaned before tossing it to the floor in frustration. Frowning as he looked around the room, the ever-present light of the street lamps outside made it possible for him to count exactly how many picture frames he was going to have to straighten in the morning.
It was all of them.
Cranky groaned again and clenched his fists. Next to him, his wife Matilda, ever the epitome of a heavy sleeper, squirmed a little as she rolled over on her other side.
“Jus’ tune it out like we talked about, Doodle,” she mumbled in a sleepy daze.
“It’s been going on like this for hours,” he groused. “Where does Steven get off raising that kind of racket in the middle of the night? He knows people are trying to sleep! I've talked to him about this!”
“Then you can talk to him again in the morning.”
“I suppose...” he admitted with a sigh. His eyes wandered back over the room, lazily taking in details in a vain attempt to bore himself to sleep, until they came to rest on the cordless phone on top of his dresser. “No; you know what? I've had enough!”
“Whaa?” Matilda raised her head slightly as Cranky threw back the covers, stepped over to the phone, picked it up and started dialing. “Oh, Doodle, not again; just come back to bed.”
Cranky didn’t answer. There was a short silence until someone on the other end picked up.
“Hello, Canterlot Police? Yes, I’d like to report a noise complaint...”
PINKIE KNOWS ANIMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/3567787/pinkie-pie-s-derp-face-o.gif
Join us Pinkie, for we have Naruto, Fairy Tail, Sailor Moon, DBZ, Date A Live, and many other animes.
Join us.
I love happy Sonata! She might have been a pure-evil mind controlling fish demon from horse land, but once she's been powered down, she's adorable! However, I'm afraid 'Detective' Armor might be back on their trail soon. And that's just party pooping.
I would've prefered that Sonata went into siren-mode when singing rather than pony-mode, for she is still a siren, she just didn't have a means of activating that power anymore, when her crystal broke, but now she does, through friendship and music, so I think it would make sense for her to go siren rather than pony.
But still, this story is awesome, and I always enjoy reading it!
So, Shining Armour's gonna waltz in and the crowd will think he's one of those strippers that dress like cops, right? Is there an official name for those? lame pun asside, is there?
5966610 Fish? They were dragons, weren't they??
Can you even report a night club for being a night club? It's kind of the point...
5966851
They're Hippocampus, the horse equivalent to a mermaid, essentially. I just call fish for simplicity.
5966888 Yeah, I don't think the police are going to come over. Not unless they knew someone on their 'hit' list was there. The only way that could possibly work if Sonata was seen, described, and Shining Armor went to look since she's been giving him hell all night.
Great story regardless.
5967068
Especially if Cranky's a known caller. If he does this sort of thing too often and whoever's being called on isn't doing all that wrong, then they're less likely to come out for a noise complaint.
Yay for Sonata!
...If there is ever an anime version of Equestria Girls, it needs to be called Super Sailor Pony Saiyan Rainbow Friendship Rangers
First thought when I saw the title
and this, the original :P
First off. Friendchiladas.
BEST TITLE EVAR!!!
Next. I was expecting Sonata to explode from all the positive energy. But still no tacos in sight.
It's getting really late. Soon there will be no place to get tacos unless they make them themselves.
5966503
This is like the first reference I've noticed xDD
maybe I'm too obsessed with anime.
oops.
5967420
YES
YES!!! XD!
I love it! I love it! I Love It! I LOVE IT!!!
AWESOME!!! Keep up the Awesome work!
Never pegged Cranky for a Nark.
I couldn't help but think of img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20150219041833/mlp/images/e/ee/Friendship_Games_School_Spirit_Lemon_Zest_doll_packaging.jpg and Sour Sweet when I read that
Can't wait for more!
5966503
I'm so happy people liked this line; I went through like twenty different versions of it before I settled on this one,
5966541
Shining has good 'Cop instincts'... actually, no, if his instincts were good they would've told him to stay as far away from Pinkie as possible,
5966653
That makes sense. I was actually hoping to emphasize that the magic Sonata is drawing on now isn't Siren magic by changing her transformation, but I guess in the end all I really did was leave off the wingalings anyway,
5966673
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/0c/05/d9/0c05d98e9253658325f27313a6ba4c25.jpg
5966695
There's plenty of random weird references that no one has called out yet, although I think i may be making some of them too obscure for their own good,
Feel free to dance anyway!
5967068 5967159 5969898
Did it come off that way? I was trying to show through Matilda's dialogue and reactions that it wasn't a typical thing for him to do... though now that I think about it... hehehe, you guys just gave me an even better idea,
5967420
For now, Mauroz has probably the closest thing we've got,
5967465
My personal favorite of the Brodyquest spinoffs (it's worth it; trust me, ):
5967580
If it gets late enough it becomes 'early' again,
5967704
Too obsessed = Not possible,
5969620
Thanks!
5970175
Well, not specifically... didn't your Mom/Dad/Cranky Aunt ever yell at you for jumping on your bed? It's just generally looked down on by parental figures.
5970207
Oh, we're gonna need a buttload of new character tags once that movie hits, aren't we?
5971148
MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-H-oh, sorry, couldn't resist the chance to let out an evil laugh,
Well, at least now we know why Sonata and Pinkie end up in jail!
5971356
Oh wow... Hilarious XD
5967068
Actually...Technically it's Pinkie he's on the hunt for. Sonata is probably guilty by association, but she hasn't actually done anything if I'm remembering. Pinkie, however, is probably pretty easy to identify
5971356
Yeah, I don't know what that means.
Why do I feel Shining will receive an... not an order, but one of those things (dunno the word) where cops are told over the radio that something is happening in an macmaren's, and that if there's an official nearby, he should go check it out. He doesn't go, because he's bussy trying to pick up Pinkie's trial.
Then Twilight calls him over the radio, and asks him if he could go check out macmaren's because he saw some pictures on the internet (the clients spreading the word about the girl's performance), she describes the girls, he recognizes Sonata or Pinkie, and he goes.
5973414
Sorry, that was supposed to be me giving you a cigar... there's a saying when someone answers a question or guesses something correctly: 'Give the man a cigar,' sort of as a prize for being right. Actually, I'm not sure if people still use that phrase nowadays,
5971356 Probably five or six, I believe! I wonder if HumanTwilight would need a tag, probably not.
5973745
I think I heard my grandpa say something like that once. So I guess people don't say that as often as they did.
An indignated Shining Armour to a costumer: "You think I'm a stripper?"
Another costumer: "Give that man a cigar!"
Got any ideas?
Ooh, Cranky is popping up. Any plans to incorporate some Heisenberg into his character?
5974277
DING DING DING!!! I was one step away from having Barney make a cameo,
Also:
5974717
... Unless you're talking Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I have no idea what you mean... actually, even then I'm not sure how I would make that would work,
5978593
You betcha!
5979062 Meaning will he share some quirks with Walter White aka Heisenberg from "Breaking Bad"? Fairly common headcanon in the fandom.
Also, yay for reference spotting!
5979196
Ah, never seen it; didn't really seem like my kinda show,
5979374
Sonata's face if she could see your computer:
derpicdn.net/img/2015/5/14/895831/thumb.png
5979445 Ah. M'kay, then.
5979062 yay!
6000424
Augh! That would've been a good one to throw in there; why didn't I think of that?
Just wait 'till you get to the part with the song!
6011575
I can tell; you liked to much you said it twice!
Thanks!
6020387
Welcome back!
I recommend not drinking anything during chapter 9. I've heard... stories,
6028815
You betcha!
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/oh-my-takei.gif
Fid you get that from a japenese manga?
Anyway really enjoying the story especially when Sonata gets ponified! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER
6029893
I did... with a smattering of Super Sentai (Power Rangers) thrown in,
6030431
Thanks! I'm glad people are liking this chapter; it felt like kind of a risk given the course of the story thus far. Now to get back into slaphappy mode,
Well, this has been an interesting ride to catch up on - and it's still not over. This is one of the most gloriously insane Taco runs in the history of Taco runs.
6037013
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6059632 I approve.
As promised, I have finally caught up! Geez, a month late... that's borderline inexcusable.
I'm glad you took time out during the past two chapters for some explicit (vice implied) Pinkie-Sonata friendship feels. Since Cranky's going to cause problems (and comedy), I'm happy to see that all's well for a short time - even if Sonata still hasn't gotten to eat Mexican food yet. I loved the 1945 big-band reference and the customized lyrics were certainly smile-inducing.
I admire the way you bring the characters to life through this story, and I'll admit I come back to it every time I have trouble assessing Sonata's state of mind in my own (overly verbose) writing! Thanks for a great pair of chapters in May!
That gif is the single greatest gif I have ever seen.
It's your own dang fault for not researching where you were moving in before doing it. If you didn't want to be woken up at night, you shouldn't have bought a place next to a night club.
This is amazing.
Compared to that, "pony up" sounds a lot better.