Time seemed to slow to a standstill for Sonata, as she slowly trudged through the snowstorm that roared fiercely around her, doing everything in her power to keep her body warm and her stuff in her pockets. She couldn’t see where she was going particularly well, but it ultimately didn’t matter much for her. After all, she had taken the path through Canterlot towards their home so many times that getting there by now came as naturally to her as breathing, even with her limited mobility. Within ten minutes, she found herself next to a sign reading BonDrop Avenue.
“G-good. I'm a-almost h-home...” She said to herself, before trudging down the street.
Home… she’d rarely stopped to think about it, but the concept of having a permanent home in one place that you go back to every day was still such a strange concept for her. She had never planned on needing any sort of physical home back when she and her sisters could sing: the only thing they had to do was sing a few notes, and suddenly everyone wanted them to stay the night. Up until the Battle of the Bands, their home was wherever the wind would take them. However, ever since then, they’d been forced to compromise, and stick with whatever the place they had right before the incident was.
After a bit of walking, Sonata stopped in front of the house they last had before the incident. The house was a wide, single story house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and many other miscellaneous objects all over the place. It was by no means extravagant, but it was functional and comfortable…
…Or at least it was at one point. As Sonata opened the door and stepped inside to escape the wind around her, she was only greeted by more icy cold air and the echoing sounds of the storm outside rumbling around in the house. There was no doubt about it in Sonata’s mind; the old place had fallen a long way down from its former glory. While Adagio had promised her that she had made sure that the place would be theirs for as long as they needed to stay there before she and Aria had left, what she hadn’t mentioned was that after she left, things like the heat, cooling, and water would soon leave with her. Sonata still didn’t understand that. The house was comfortable for the first month after they left, and then all of a sudden, as if by magic, showers and sinks stopped working, with lights, heating and cooling following soon after. As a result, being inside the house had rarely been a comfortable ordeal, as it always managed to find a way to make Summer days hotter and Winter days cooler then the outdoor temperatures that they were supposed to defend her from. The only consolation was that it still protected from wind and such, but it was a hollow price when compared to the fact that nothing she had taken for granted before worked any more, and for seemingly no reason that she could comprehend.
Still, it was only temporary, of course. Sonata knew things would get better soon enough. They’d be back soon, she just knew it.
Sonata slammed the door behind her, although thanks to the lack of heat, it did little to help her frigid body. She couldn’t even bring herself to take off her hoodie, and instead just silently removed the items in her pockets and put them on a side table before lying down on a couch, shivering all the while. As her body involuntarily shook like a wet dog, she looked up from the couch at the living room, and for the first time in a while, noticed how barren the place had become since the last time she looked at it. It wasn’t particularly surprising to her, as she knew that she had been selling most of the stuff in there to make ends meet, but it wasn’t something she ever stopped to think about until that moment, as there was always something else to distract her from it. Now that she was stuck inside hiding from a blizzard, she finally had time to notice that almost everything that was small enough to fit through a door frame had vanished. From TV’s to toys to books to appliances, almost everything that once filled the house was nowhere to be found. Sonata couldn’t help but think that without all the stuff filling the place, it just felt… wrong. It barely felt like a home at all really; nowadays, it was more like a barren wasteland with just enough in it to count as a shelter.
The following minutes crept by at a snail's pace. Sonata had nothing to say, and the only thing she felt like doing during the storm was to lie on the couch and attempt to endure the weather. However, despite her entire body shivering like crazy, it never seemed to do any good. It was as if the air itself were somehow injecting all of its iciness into her skin directly, and nothing she could do would change that. Still, what else could she do?
Sonata looked up towards the side table where she put all of her stuff, and carefully looked it over. She saw the 10 she had earned from the smokers, the locket from thirty years back, and…
“The matches…” she said aloud, her eyes widening slightly as she spoke. She lifted herself up as best as her shivering body would allow, and grabbed one pack of matches off of the table. She didn’t light one right away, instead opting to hold the box in her hand as she considered what she was about to do. Would it be okay to light some of her stock? Surely it wouldn’t be a problem to burn just a few, right? Just enough to get herself warmed up a bit, that’s all.
After a moment of staring, she nodded to herself, opened the box, and grabbed a match in her trembling fingertips. Yeah, it would be okay. After all, she couldn’t sell anything at all if she froze to death first. After a couple of attempts, she managed to strike the match on the side of the box just right, causing the match to suddenly ignite. The flame, although small and weak, immediately lit up the area around her as she felt the tiniest bits of warmth radiate from it.
For a moment after, Sonata did nothing but stare at the tiny flame, observing silently as it danced and bounced around on the edge of the match. Despite its small size relative to her, she couldn’t help but feel like everything was going to be okay as she looked into it. Maybe it was the color, maybe it was the shape, maybe it was the way it seemed to somehow insert warmth into a room without any to begin with, but something about the little spark of fire just filled her with overwhelming ease, as she began to feel the tension in her body slowly dissipate.
However, after a few minutes of staring deeper and deeper into the light from the match, she began to notice something odd about the flame. Strangely enough, despite how impossible it seemed, the little flame in front of her seemed to be slowly and steadily growing wider and wider. Within the course of a few seconds, it seemed to become wider than the match she had lit, and only kept on steadily continuing to grow from there until the only thing she could see around her was the bright orange flame danced and morphed all around her, clouding her vision with nothing but fire. Calming, beautiful, and radiant fire that somehow managed to make everything Sonata had worried about before seem like a long forgotten memory. The calming flames that filled her vision caused her entire body to slump over in relaxation, as she felt her mind completely clear of any worries she’d once had. It would’ve surely lulled Sonata to sleep, had she not then heard an all too familiar voice calling out to her...
“Hey Sonata? Is that you?”
Sonata suddenly snapped upwards and looked around her. Almost immediately, she noticed that the flames that had once enclouded her vision were slowly beginning to dissolve. Within the course of about twenty seconds, they had completely dissipated from her vision. To her surprise, however, the scenery around her was noticeably different. She could still recognize the surroundings as her house, but there were a few key differences. One, it seemed to be a nice spring day outside, as the sun radiated through the living room windows without so much as a hint of a snowflake. In addition to that, most of the stuff she had sold in the past had somehow found its way back into the house, turning the barren living room and kitchen area into a comfortable place once more. The lights were on, and she could hear the sound of water running behind her, proving without a doubt that everything was back to the way it was before Adagio and Aria had left. However, of all the differences, none made her more excited then what she saw in the kitchen. When she looked behind her, she saw an all too familiar face looking up at her from behind the kitchen counter. The face was purple with matching lavender eyes, was topped with purple and light green hair, put into pigtails with star shaped hair accessories, and was attached to a body wearing a light green ripped shirt over another long, white sleeveless shirt. Sonata gasped in shock, before jumping up off the couch and running towards her.
“Aria! You’re back!” Sonata exclaimed, before wrapping her arms around Aria in a big, massive hug, squeezing as tightly as she could. While Sonata would’ve preferred Adagio if she was given the choice, after spending such a long amount of time in isolation, she was ecstatic to see anyone she recognized. Sonata heard Aria let out a single chuckle.
“Heh. It’s nice to see you still haven’t learned a thing about personal space, Sonata.” Aria said back coyly. Sonata’s eyes shot open wide, as she realized that in her excitement, she’d forgotten that Aria hated being squeezed, and that it was one of the only things Sonata had ever done that resulted in Aria swinging a fist at her. Sonata quickly jumped away out of arm’s length.
“S-sorry about the squeezing, Aria. It’s just… I was just so excited to see you that I forgot how much you hated that.” She said sheepishly, looking towards the ground as she apologized. To her surprise, Aria began chuckling again.
“Eh, don’t worry about it, Sonata. To be honest with you… I kinda missed it.” Aria said with a smile. Sonata’s eyes shot up towards her sister, widening in shock. She never thought she’d hear the day that Aria missed a hug from her, and yet it was now suddenly happening right in front of her! Sonata could barely resist her urge to jump up and down in glee. Aria rolled her eyes and motioned Sonata towards her with her left finger.
“Go ahead, Sonata. It’s clear you want another hug, and I’m probably never gonna want another one of yours ever again, so let’s make sure this one counts.” Aria said, her arms opened invitingly. Sonata immediately took the hint, and wrapped her arms around Aria once more. Sonata soon felt Aria returning the favor, as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders. The duo stood there in silence for a moment, quietly enjoying each other’s company, before Sonata opened her mouth to speak.
“Aria?” she asked.
“Yes, Sonata?” Aria replied.
“If you’re back here… does that mean you found a way to fix everything?” Sonata asked inquisitively. Aria let out another chuckle.
“Well… I wouldn’t say we’ve quite found a way to ‘fix everything’ persay, but I can tell you that we are close. We are so close Sonata. I don’t want to big it up too much, but if Adagio’s predictions are correct, I think we might’ve found something even b…” Aria said, before her voice suddenly seemed to trail off.
Sonata tilted her head. Was it just her, or did Aria not finish her sentence?
“Could you repeat that, Aria? I didn’t quite hear that last bit.” Sonata asked.
“I said that I think we might’ve found something ev…” Aria said, before her voice once again started to trail off, even earlier than before. It was only at this point that Sonata began to notice something else that scared her. Despite having her arms wrapped tightly around Aria, it somehow felt like Aria’s body was slowly fading away. Aria was quickly becoming harder and harder to both see and feel, as the torso Sonata had been hugging for the last couple minutes suddenly seemed to disappear into thin air. However, as Sonata looked around, she quickly saw, to her horror, that it wasn’t just Aria’s body that seemed to be vanishing. Instead, it was as if the entire room around her was beginning to distort and shift in bizarre ways that Sonata couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around. It was as if everything was returning to the way it was before she lit the match. Items around her steadily morphed into the ground below, any light in the room seemed to steadily grow dimmer, the temperature felt like it was rapidly decreasing all around her and even the structure of the building around her was distorting in unfathomable ways. Sonata began to panic.
“W-wait, Aria, what’s going on? What’s happening to the room? Why is this happening?” She asked in panic, only to be answered not by any sort of human voice, but by the sound of howling winds from outside a pane, and nothing else. Once she heard that, Sonata figured it out; something was sending her back. In response, Sonata did the only thing she could think of: scream
“No, don’t do this to me! Please don’t! DON…”
Sonata gasped in shock, before looking around her. Sure enough, she was back in the dark, empty house in the snowstorm, and she was still shivering as fiercely as ever before. The only notable difference that Sonata noticed was that it was suddenly a lot harder to breathe then it was before. If she tried to inhale and exhale too quickly, it would only result in her not being able to breathe at all. Fortunately, after a bit of experimentation, she quickly found that if she just breathed really slowly and deeply, she could manage to get the air she needed in and out okay.
After getting her breathing stable, she looked at her hand, and saw that the match she had struck had since burned out, leaving her with nothing but the dark and the howling winds just outside. Sonata opened her fingers a little, allowing the match to fall onto the couch.
“W… w-what j-just h-h-appened?” Sonata asked out loud to herself as she tried to comprehend what she had just experienced. It couldn’t have been some sort of dream; it was all way too real for that. She knew that she had felt Aria just a moment ago, she had felt nothing but warmth, and she had felt like everything was back to normal, if only for a moment. How could all of that be true though? And why would it all distort so suddenly and inexplicably back to how it was now? It didn’t seem like it was remotely possible. After a moment, Sonata looked at her trembling left hand, and noticed that she was still holding the matchbox in it.
“W-wait… d-did th-they…?”
Instead of finishing her query, Sonata instead opened the matchbox again and pulled out a second match. The last thing she remembered before everything reverted to that world was striking a match. As far as Sonata was aware, there wasn’t anything in this world that had the magical capacity to create scenery so vivid. The only thing that she could think of capable of such a feat was Equestrian Magic. But if what she had just saw was Equestrian Magic at play… did that mean that Adagio and Aria were somehow communicating with her that way? Was this a sign from them somehow? It didn’t seem to make any sense to her, but then again, she also knew that both of them were a lot smarter than she was, and they likely knew all sorts of things about magic that she couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Who was to say that this couldn’t be a form of communication?
Sonata shook her head. No matter how hard she thought, she had no idea what was happening. However, she was confident that it wouldn’t hurt her to try and do it again. At the very least, doing so made her feel warm for a little while, and that couldn’t possibly be any worse than the never ending shuddering she was currently going through.
She took another match in her fingers, and although her shivering resulted in her missing the sweet spot on the matchbox a few more times than her first attempt, she eventually managed to strike it just right, igniting the 2nd match.
Once again, Sonata found herself staring deeply into the flame, as if she were being hypnotized by its presence, as she once again allowed all of the troubles that had ever built up in her mind to steadily disappear into nothingness, as the flame seemed to slowly and steadily grow and expand all around her, once again filling her vision with nothing but the most peaceful fire she had ever seen. Just as it had before, it almost certainly would’ve lulled Sonata to sleep, if she hadn’t have been interrupted by another familiar voice calling out to her.
“Hey Sonata!”
Sonata’s head shot up, revealing to her that she was no longer on the couch in the living room, but rather lying down on the bed in her room, the sun shining through her bedside window once more. In addition to that, everything within her room before the Battle of the Bands was back in its original spot. Posters of pop stars covered the walls, already worn clothing adorned the floor around her, and a large collection of about forty or so plushies and teddy bears were piled up in an enormous heap to the left of her. As Sonata looked around the now vibrant and messy room, she couldn’t help but smile warmly, as a strong feeling of nostalgia washed over her. She missed the days her room was like this. She was just about to flop back onto her bed, before being lulled back up by the mouth-watering smell of fresh ground beef and spicy chili powder.
“Sonata! Guess what I’ve got over for you!” yelled the same familiar voice from before. Sonata snapped out of her trance, and rushed out of her room into the hall, where both the voice and smell were coming from. Once she got to the kitchen, she was immediately greeted by another welcome sight: Adagio was standing in the kitchen this time, her bright orange hair seeming to shine in the sunlight, as she pulled a fresh batch of tacos out of the oven. Sonata would’ve been ecstatic to see either of these things alone, but to see them together like that was borderline heavenly for her.
“Adagio! You’re finally back! And you brought tacos too!! EEE!!!!” Sonata squealed, before nearly tackling Adagio to the ground in a tight embrace. Even though Adagio didn’t always seem to have the highest opinion of Sonata, it didn’t change the fact that Sonata simply adored her. Whether they had magic or not, there was no other individual that could make Sonata feel as safe and content as she did when she was with Adagio.
“Oh my god, Dagi, I missed you so, so much! I can’t believe you finally made it back!! I’m so happy right now!!!” Sonata said gleefully, with only the slightest of pauses between each word she spoke. She soon felt Adagio’s arms wrap around her, her warm hug making Sonata’s heart soar.
“Okay Sonata, calm down. How about we discuss this over those tacos, okay?” Adagio said back to her, with nary a hint of annoyance or displeasure in her voice. Sonata’s eyes opened up a bit wider as she jumped back from her sister. She had rarely heard Adagio sound so pleased around her before. Not that Sonata minded; anything that put Adagio in a good mood was usually good.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I’d love that!” Sonata exclaimed before grabbing the tray of tacos from the kitchen counter Adagio had set them on and putting them onto the table. Miraculously for a tray that had come from the oven, they didn’t burn her hands at all, and merely warmed them a bit.
Without wasting a second, Sonata rushed the tray onto the kitchen table, grabbing a taco immediately after setting it down. By the time she had sat down in her seat at the table, she had already devoured half of the taco. The warm meatiness of the beef meshed together perfectly with the crispness of the lettuce and bits of tomato in her mouth, and when topped with just enough of a spicy kick from the light topping of chili sauce, it created a taste that Sonata could only describe as magical. It may not have had quite the same impact as Equestrian Magic did, but it was still everything that Sonata could’ve asked for from this world’s nourishment. It had truly been far too long since she had last eaten something so perfect.
“Mmm, thish is shooo good, Daghi!” Sonata said as she stuffed the last bits of the first taco into her mouth. Adagio smiled confidently, as she pulled up a chair opposite to Sonata.
“Glad you like them, Sonata. But don’t talk with your mouth full, ok?” Adagio said, as she reached for a taco of her own. Sonata nodded twice, before quickly swallowing the taco she had in her mouth.
“Got it, Dagi!” Sonata said with a miniature salute, causing Adagio to crack a smile. Sonata took a big bite out of her second taco.
“So… how’s the magic going? Did you find a way to fix our gems?” Sonata asked after swallowing her second bite. Adagio chuckled to herself.
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that, Sonata. Those gems were the only easy way for us to store and harness our magical power, since you and I both know that these bodies on their own could never contain it. It’s not exactly something you can just glue back together and have it work again like new.” Adagio explained.
“Oh…” Sonata said dejectedly, her eyes shooting down towards the floor, “Does that mean that our magic is gone forever?” Adagio shook her head.
“Of course not. All it means is that Aria and I had to get a bit more creative.” Adagio paused for a moment to take another bite of her taco, before continuing, “You see, after we split up, Aria and I eventually discovered that we weren’t the only thing that Starswirl the Braindead has been sending here. Apparently, the old galoot loves nothing more than using this place as his own personal trash can. Any sort of magical threat or artifact that might not be stoppable by straightforward means gets sent here almost every time. And when you’re constantly throwing that much powerful magic into a magic free world...”
Before finishing her sentence, Adagio paused for a moment, put her taco down and stared right at Sonata, a sinister smile spreading across her face.
“Well, then it’s only a matter of time before it starts to have some unforeseen side effects.” She concluded.
Adagio’s grin was contagious, and it wasn’t long before Sonata felt a sinister smile of her own spreading across her face. While she wasn’t entirely sure what Adagio’s plan was yet, she had known her long enough to know that when Adagio smiled like that, it was because she was fully confident that everything was going according to plan. There were few things in the world that Sonata found more comforting than that. Adagio continued to speak.
“I can’t tell you everything quite yet, but I will say this; we’re close Sonata. We’re so close to something incredible, something that might be even more powerful than anything we’ve experienced. And once it’s ours… well, let’s just say that the three of us will never have to worry about anything ever again.” Adagio concluded.
Sonata’s could feel her smile nearly stretch from ear to ear. She had always known how clever Adagio was, but even by Adagio’s standards, this was incredible. No more worries ever again? It almost sounded too good to be true! And yet, Adagio was saying it, so obviously it had to be the truth.
“That’s amazing, Dagi! I knew you’d find a way through!” Sonata said, before taking another large bite out of her second taco. Adagio looked around the room, before looking back at Sonata.
“Thanks Sonata. But to be honest, that’s not what I’m most impressed by.”
Sonata’s eyes widened. There was more?
“What do you mean?” Sonata asked. To Sonata’s surprise, Adagio smiled warmly back at her, for the first time since they’d been banished from Equestria.
“What I mean is that I’m most impressed with you, Sonata.” Adagio said.
Sonata’s eyes shot open. She was so shocked by the admission that she forgot to grip the taco she was holding, causing it to fall back onto her plate.
“Wait, with me? Are you for realsies?” Sonata asked in shock. Adagio nodded once more.
“For realsies. The fact that you’ve managed to survive in a dump of a world like this one without magic and without our help for more than an hour is surprising, but to do it for nearly eight months is nothing short of amazing. You’re clearly a lot smarter and more resourceful then we gave you credit for, Sonata, and I couldn’t be prouder of you for that.” Adagio answered.
Sonata couldn’t bring herself to respond. She had always looked up to Adagio and the way she could come up with a plan even when she seemed cornered, but to hear Adagio praising her, and saying she was impressed by her? It didn’t seem like something that could be real, and yet, here it was. Sonata felt a couple tears begin to build up in her eyes. She turned her head to the side, hoping it would keep Adagio from noticing.
“Adagio… th-thank you… s-so much…” was all that Sonata could manage to say, as she tried her hardest to avoid crying tears of joy. Adagio let out a chuckle once more.
“You earned it Sonata. There’s just one more th…” Adagio began, before her voice suddenly seemed to go silent. After a few silent seconds of waiting for Adagio to finish her sentence, Sonata turned her head back towards her sister, only to be greeted by a sight she’d already experienced once before. Adagio seemed to be steadily vanishing, the room around her seemed to once again be bending and changing before her eyes in ways that didn’t seem physically possible, as the temperature of the air once again started dropping rapidly around her, returning back to how it was in the winter.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Sonata exclaimed, before quickly turning to where Adagio had been sitting just a moment ago.
"Adagio! Please, don’t do this to me again! Please don’t!” Sonata begged, only to be answered this time by the sound of her stomach fiercely growling, as if everything she had just eaten had simply vanished from it without a trace. It was only now that Sonata noticed something new this time, something that she hadn’t experienced the first time with Aria. Even though her mind was panicking just as much as it had the first time, if not more, her breathing didn’t seem to be getting any faster. If anything, it was doing the opposite, with Sonata having to struggle to get every individual breath out. Even talking seemed substantially more challenging.
“S... stop, p-please… s-s…” was all she could manage to say as she struggled for breath amongst the shifting world around her, her eyes closing to avoid watching it.
GRAGOWR!!
Sonata slowly reopened her eyes, awakened by the sudden roaring from her stomach. It was dark all around her, with the only light illuminating the room being a street light from outside the window to her left. Sonata tilted her head in bewilderment.
'Where... where am I?' she thought to herself, as she used the faint light from the street to faintly make out her surroundings. She quickly noticed that she was lying on a couch, with a bunch of miscellaneous junk on the table behind her head, and a burnt match lying on the floor next to the couch, but aside from that, the place seemed completely barren. For whatever reason, this place felt somewhat familiar to her, and yet she couldn’t quite put a finger on why. Perhaps she’d been here before? She wasn’t sure.
Sonata nearly gasped as she attempted to suck in air, as even the mere act of breathing had become a struggle. Her breathing was far slower than it had ever been before, as she nearly had to gasp everytime she wanted to breathe. Whatever this place was, it seemed to be causing her breathing problems. Still, she couldn’t deny that seeing her frosty breath in front of her was rather calming, if somewhat hard to understand. Even though she thought that she probably should’ve been cold, since her body was intensely shaking, she could see her breath in front of her, and she could see a soft snowfall happening outside when she tilted her head… her body didn’t feel even the tiniest little bit cold to her. If anything, it felt like her body was the warmest, most toasty thing in the room, which was making it increasingly hard for Sonata to keep her eyes open.
Just before she allowed her eyes to close, she happened to take a glance down at her right hand, and saw that she was holding a box of matches in it. For whatever reason, these seemed important to Sonata, as she spent a moment or two staring at the box. It was strange. Although her shudders had become violent enough that it caused the few matches remaining in it to go flying between the walls of the box, as if they were trying to break down the sides of the box they resided in, she still held on with a tight grip. Sonata had no idea why. All she knew for sure was that, every time she thought about that matchbox, her mind immediately flashed back to images of two thin, female individuals, one orange one and one purple one. For whatever reason, even though she struggled to remember these individuals’ names, thinking about these two somehow put her mind at ease, while simultaneously making her feel that there was something she needed to do involving them.
After a moment of staring at the box, Sonata tried to reach her right hand into the match box. She wasn’t even sure why she was doing it at this point; surely it would be much easier to just let herself sleep, now that she was starting to become so tired that even remembering something as simple and straightforward as who she was, where she was, or why she was there had become almost impossible, and yet there was still some primal instinct deep within her that was urging her to strike just one more match. Despite her best efforts, however, her shivering body seemed to have other plans, as her hands were shaking so hard that even the simple act of reaching into the box was nearly impossible, let alone grabbing any. Regardless, Sonata’s instincts refused to let her give up, and after nearly a minute of failed attempts, she finally managed to grab a match from the box. All that was left to do… was light it. She slowly moved her shaking hands closer to one another, eventually managed to get the head of the match touching the left end of the rough part of the box, and…
Thunk. Thunk.
Suddenly, without warning, Sonata felt both the match and the box fall out of her hands, onto the floor below. Somehow, she had lost her grip on both.
Without a second of hesitation, Sonata reached down off of the couch and attempted to pick them up again, only to discover that she was no longer able to move her fingers. Every attempt to make her fingers close around either the match or the box only resulted in her fingers staying almost completely still. It was as if the cold weather around her had somehow made her fingers so numb that she could no longer control them, no matter how often she grabbed for them. Sonata continue to grab the matches. She didn’t know why, but every instinct in her body was screaming for her to grab those matches, and yet no matter how hard she tried, her body refused to obey. It didn’t matter if it was possible or not; all she needed to do was to grab those matches! She had to! She…
“Sonata…”
Upon hearing the word, Sonata stopped attempting to move her hand. The word didn’t seem to have come from the world around her, but rather from… inside her mind? She wasn’t sure.
That wasn’t important to her, however. What was important was that there was something about that word that made her feel entirely calm and relaxed once more. She slowly lifted her hands away from the matchbox, before hearing a second word that seemed to come from the same place as the word before it had.
“Relax…” It seemed to say.
Sonata felt her eyes slowly begin to close. Even if she couldn’t explain it, something about listening to the words she was hearing… just felt right. She stopped attempting to move any of her muscles, and just allowed her body to do whatever it wished. As she felt her body slowly drift off, she noticed that even though her eyes were closed, her vision was slowly filling with the color orange. Not just one shade of it, but many different shades steadily encompassed her entire view, dancing and flickering around in her mind like the fire at the end of a matchstick. And just like the fire from the matchsticks she’d already lit had done, the sight of the beautiful bright colors all around her somehow made her feel like everything she’d ever worried about before was nothing more than long lost memories as she felt herself drift off…
“Sonata?”
Upon hearing her name, Sonata’s eyes shot open. At first glance, everything seemed the same as when she had drifted off, as the room was still dark and lacking in items, save for the few matches strewn around her, and there was still snow falling just outside of the window panes. Despite the similarities, however, Sonata knew that this place was different from the world she was familiar with. After all, if she were still in that world, her body would be shivering uncontrollably as she battled the cold inside her, all while she struggled to breathe normally. Instead, in this place, both her body and the outside air that surrounded her felt warm and cozy, without nary so much as a single shiver.
Sonata rolled over onto her stomach on the couch, and looked towards the area where the kitchen was located. It was only then that she immediately noticed the difference. It didn’t seem possible, but in the distance, far beyond where the back wall of the kitchen should’ve been located, there seemed to be several lights shining brightly in the surrounding darkness. It was difficult to tell from her location, but it seemed like the place where the kitchen would’ve normally ended had vanished, being replaced by what seemed to be a long tunnel of empty blackness with some sort of lights at the end.
“That’s new…” Sonata said quietly as she lifted herself up off of the couch. Although there was no real reason for her to investigate this sudden change to her house, it also seemed unlikely that there would be any sort of harm in her doing so. At the very least, she could figure out what exactly the light in the distance was.
After reaching the kitchen, she slowly reached her hand out to feel where the back wall normally stood. To her surprise, however, her hand continued to reach a little farther past where the wall normally was. She took a couple steps closer, until she had walked through where her wall stood, confirming that the entire back wall of the room and everything attached to it was no longer there. Sonata quickly turned to her sides to look at the kitchen’s side walls, at which point she noticed that although she could see that the walls still extended up to the point where the now missing rear of the kitchen was, they seemed to fade completely once they reached past the old wall, leaving nothing to see but the lights ahead in the darkness.
Sonata took one more look behind her, towards the house she was well familiar with. If she wanted to, she could turn tail and try to go back to sleep on the couch, and indeed, part of her couldn’t help but be a bit worried about continuing onwards into the inky black abyss, especially since she had yet to hear any sort of noise around her, save for the sound of her own voice. Despite her worries, however, she felt an extremely powerful urge within her to explore this new location, and find out what exactly the lights at the end of the tunnel were. Sonata took a deep breath, before taking her first step further into the dark unknown.
“Hello?” Sonata called out for the third time on her journey, only to once again be answered with silence from all around her. By this point, she had been walking for several minutes in the darkness, and had gotten so far into the tunnel that the only thing she could see when she looked back towards the living room where she had started her journey was a dull grey speck of light. On the other hand, the light at the end of the tunnel that she was moving towards was growing at an extremely slow rate. Even after several minutes of walking, the only thing she could see now that she couldn’t before was that the light appeared to be coming from several individual sources, all spread within a tight, cone like shape. Even though she could tell she was making progress, she couldn’t help but feel the emptiness of the tunnel really start to weigh down on her head. With each step she took, new questions popped up in her head; questions that she could not answer. Where was she? Why was she going to such lengths just to see some lights better? Would she encounter anyone on this journey, or was she just wasting her time? However, no matter how many questions entered her head, and how many times she thought of just turning back towards the place she was familiar with, something deep inside her continued to push her forward.
“Still…” Sonata said to herself after another minute of walking. By this point, she had started looking downwards towards her sneakers instead of up to the lights, if for no other reason than to give herself something new to look at as she walked, “This place is pretty dark. Maybe I should’ve brought some of the matches with me. That way I could at least see what exactly this place looks like. Maybe I can go back and…”
Sonata suddenly stopped talking, as she noticed that the tips of her shoes were being slightly illuminated by some orange light in the distance.
“...get some…” she slowly finished, before looking up to confirm what she saw. Sure enough, in the time she had spent looking away from the light, she had managed to get close enough to the lights to identify what it was. She saw what appeared to be a large pine tree that towered high above her. It’s branches were decorated from the top to the bottom with what appeared to be thousands of beautifully lit candles, which shone brightly without setting fire to the branches, as well as many gold and silver baubles that shone brightly in the candle’s light’s like jewels. For a moment, Sonata just said nothing, and stood in awe of the tree in front of her. She had heard of the concept of Christmas trees before, of course, but her sisters had never had one in the house before, due to their insistence that it would just be a waste of time to prepare something so temporary that wouldn’t even provide them with any sort of negative energy. Sonata had never been particularly bothered by that before, but now that she had gotten the opportunity to see one so up close and personally, she couldn’t help but feel just how much she had been missing before; it was a truly stunning sight.
“Wow… this is beautiful.” Sonata said out loud. To her surprise, a familiar, feminine voice answered from her left.
“Isn’t it though?” the voice asked. Sonata covered her mouth, in an attempt to hide her sudden gasp. Before she could respond however, another feminine voice, a bit lower than the first one, sounded off from the right.
“Yeah, I gotta admit; it’s certainly nice. Definitely something I’m glad I saw at least once.” The second voice responded. Sonata gasped and took a step backwards, clasping her hands together behind her back as she heard the sound of footsteps from both the left and the right coming towards her. She already knew who the voices belonged to, but she was still surprised to hear both of them at the same time regardless. Her surprise was only accentuated when, instead of them both stepping into her field of view in front of her, Sonata instead felt both of them wrapping one arm around her, as if they were initiating a group hug. For a moment, Sonata didn’t move, too shocked to respond. In all of her life, neither Adagio nor Aria had ever given a hug to anyone unless Sonata hugged them first (and even then it was rarely reciprocated), so to have them hug her first was an experience unlike anything Sonata had ever experienced before.
“Don’t worry, Sonata. We’re back.” Adagio said calmly. Sonata could only shake her head as she wrapped her arms around the two. Part of her couldn’t believe that this was real. It wasn’t something that Adagio or Aria would ever do. At this point in time, though, Sonata couldn’t care less whether or not it was real. Real or not, it was an incredibly pleasant experience, and after the past eight months, Sonata was willing to take everything she could.
After a couple moments of silence, the trio let go of one another and took a step back, allowing Sonata to finally see her older sister’s faces. She wasn’t sure whether it was just the lighting from the candles or what, but both of her sister’s faces almost seemed like they shined out bright and clear despite the darkness around them. For Sonata, there was almost nothing that looked more beautiful.
“Guys… I’m so happy that the three of us are together again…” Sonata said, trying not to choke up as she spoke. Aria chuckled.
“Heh. You always were the emotional one of the bunch.” Aria said with a small grin. Adagio turned her head towards Aria.
“There’s some benefit to a siren who understands emotions, Aria. It makes it far easier to know when to stop and let the lesser being’s anger spill out, after all.” Adagio said, before turning back to Sonata, “You know that, right?” Adagio asked. Sonata simply nodded, before looking up at the tree. It was still a mesmerizing sight for her. Both of her sisters turned to look back at it as well.
“Pretty nice, isn’t it Sonata?” Adagio asked, earning another nod from Sonata. Strangely enough, as Sonata stared at the tree, she felt a strange sense of unease emerge from within her. Despite the fact that this should’ve been an incredible moment for Sonata that she had never experienced before, something about this incident was giving her an odd feeling of déjà vu, as if she had experienced feelings very similar to the ones she was currently experiencing not too long ago. This made sense to Sonata; after all, she had seen both of her sisters before this point. And yet, when she thought back to those past moments, and how similar they felt to this one, she felt an increasing sense of unease build up within her. It was as if there was something that Sonata was forgetting about those previous moments, something which was somehow making her anxious about this moment, even though this should’ve been the happiest one yet. What was making her so uneasy? Sonata wasn’t sure, but she was determined to try to figure it out, as she thought as hard as she could about everything that had happened up to this point.
After a couple of moments of the trio staring at the tree in silence, Aria turned towards Sonata, and upon noticing her uneasy expression, spoke up.
“Hey Sonata?” Aria asked, causing Sonata to turn her head towards the lavender siren.
”You seem pretty distant right now…” Aria began, before pausing for a moment, as if she had just realized she said something odd, “…well, more distant than usual, I guess. Is something up?” Sonata didn’t answer at first, as she wasn’t particularly sure why herself. After a moment of silence, Adagio turned towards the two of them, and rolled her eyes.
“Let me take a wild guess, since it’s pretty clear that Sonata’s not sure herself. Might it have something to do with the fact that every time Sonata saw one of us, it always cut out just as she was starting to get used to the scene around her?” Adagio asked. Suddenly, Sonata’s eyes shot open. That’s right… now she remembered. Every other time she saw the others, they always seemed to disappear around the time Sonata had started to really enjoy the moment. And if that pattern held true this time…
Sonata began to feel tears build up in her eyes, as her breathing come out far quicker, as if she were beginning to hyperventilate. If they vanished again, then she would surely end up going back to starving and freezing all alone once more. Without any sort of other plan, Sonata dropped down to her knees and started begging her sisters.
“No… I don’t want you guys to disappear again! Please don’t leave me! I finally feel so perfectly okay when I’m with you guys! I can’t go back to the cold and hunger again! I can’t I can’t I can’t!!” Sonata said, speaking each word so quickly that there was barely even a pause in each previous word before the next word came out after it. After watching Sonata beg and sniffle for a couple moments, Adagio and Aria glanced at one another before nodding in unison, at which point Aria walked up to Sonata and smacked the youngest siren across the cheek, taking care not to hit her hard enough to hurt her too badly, but hard enough to get her attention, and sure enough, the slap stopped Sonata’s babbling in its tracks.
“A-aria? What was…” Sonata began, before Aria put a finger to her lips, silencing her. At that point, Aria put both of her hands on Sonata’s shoulders.
“Sonata, let me ask you a question” Aria began, with a mild amount of irritation in her voice, “The last two times you saw us, did you see us alone?”
Sonata tilted her head in confusion. Where was Aria going with this?
“Y-yeah, you were both alone.” Sonata replied, wiping her eyes as she spoke.
“And when you saw us, did we or did we not both mention that we were close to finding a breakthrough?” Aria asked. Sonata nodded once more.
“Y-you did say that. But what does…” Sonata began, before being quieted down by Aria’s finger over her mouth.
“So if we were alone, with the other nowhere to be found, then that must’ve meant that the other was probably still working out the kinks, correct?” Aria asked again.
“Um… I guess that makes sense.” Sonata replied. Aria lifted her hands from Sonata’s shoulders and put them on her hips.
“So, based on this train of logic, if both Adagio and I are here right now, that must mean there aren’t any more kinks, right? In other words…” Aria began slowly. Sonata only stared back at Aria in confusion. Sure, they were both here right now, but Sonata wasn’t sure why that made a difference. After several seconds without an answer from Sonata, Aria sighed to herself.
“Oh for the love of…” she muttered to herself, before being interrupted by Adagio.
“She’s saying that we’re ready for you to come with us, hence why we’re both here!” Adagio called out, causing Aria to nod in response.
“Ooooohhhh… I get it.” Sonata said calmly. She looked up at the tree for a second, before her eyes suddenly shot wide open as she realized what that meant.
“Wait… does that mean…?” Sonata began, only to be answered before she could finish by both of her sisters nodding in unison.
“That’s right. It means we’re ready to fulfill our promise.” Aria said, with a warm smile on her face. Sonata said nothing, and instead just sat there in awe. Adagio walked up to Sonata and kneeled down in front of her.
“Come with us, Sonata.” Adagio said, putting a hand on Sonata’s shoulder, “We’ve discovered something amazing, something even more incredible than Equestrian Magic. And there’s nothing we’d want more than for you to come experience it with us.”
Sonata began to feel her eyes tear up again, but this time instead of tears of anxiety, they were tears of joy. Aria walked up besides Adagio and kneeled down next to her.
“Yeah. As much as I’d rather not admit it, it wouldn’t be the same without you. And considering everything you must’ve been through while waiting, I think you’ve more than earned it.” Aria said, in the warmest voice Sonata had ever heard from her. Sonata felt a tear streak down her eye.
“A-adagio... A-aria… i-it was so hard living without you guys… I’d waited for so long to hear you guys say that…” she said, barely able to get out her words without choking up. Adagio nodded.
“I know, Sonata, and I’m sorry we took so long. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Come with us, and I promise you’ll never have to be cold, hungry or alone ever again. Doesn’t that sound nice?” Adagio said. Sonata sniffled.
“Thank you guys… there’s nothing I’d rather have more…” Sonata said, before wrapping her arms around the other sirens…
For the first time in months, Sonata’s lips spread out into the largest, most genuine smile she had ever smiled; one so large and so full that it seemed her face could only barely contain it, one so radiant that it almost seemed to light up the night all on its own.
It was the last thing that Sonata Dusk ever did.