“Alright, you two, start talking!” Rainbow Dash heatedly demanded of Adagio and Aria once the three of them, plus Sunset, were back in the living room of the apartment. “Who is that girl and why does she keep referring to Sonata as her mother?!”
It was clear to the two Dazzlings that Rainbow’s patience was wearing thin, though they couldn’t blame her for that. If either of them had a significant other and one day that significant other’s estranged daughter randomly showed up without any warning, they’d probably be desperate for answers as well.
“Just calm down, Rainbow.” Sunset gently said as she placed a supportive hand on her friend’s shoulder, trying to calm her down. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explain for all of this.”
“Oh, there’s an explanation alright.” Aria jocularly remarked as she took a seat on the couch and relaxingly leaned back. “Though I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘reasonable’ one.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?!” Rainbow acrimoniously inquired as she glared are Aria, her patience now wearing even thinner after hearing the Dazzling’s remark.
“Yes, Aria, what is that supposed to mean?” Adagio vexingly asked her sister.
Aria couldn’t help but roll her eyes in response to her sister’s question.
“Come on, Adagio, you can’t really still believe that what we did back then was by any means ‘reasonable’.” She confoundedly replied. “I mean, I know we were desperate and all, but it was insane.”
Adagio slowly approached Aria as she too began to glare at the girl, stopping only just a few inches away from her.
“Funny, I don’t remember you thinking it was so insane at the time.” She irksomely stated right in her sister’s face.
The two sisters just silently stared each other down for a few seconds until a loud slamming sound caught their attention.
“WILL YOU TWO PLEASE JUST EXPLAIN THINGS ALREADY?!” Rainbow Dash furiously hollered as the last of her patience wore out, her hands now placed squarely on the coffee table, which she probably slammed there.
Sensing that this wasn’t the time to argue about the past, Adagio quickly took a seat on the couch next to her sister as Aria sat up straight and prepared to speak.
“Okay, okay, we’ll explain everything.” The pig-tailed Dazzling anxiously said as she held her hands up in front of her.
Rainbow wasted no time taking a seat in a nearby chair with her arms folded and legs crossed as she impatiently awaited Aria and Adagio’s explanation, staring very intently at the two Dazzlings with a tempestuous glare. Sunset just remained standing where she was.
Lowering her hands and taking a deep breath to calm her anxiety before speaking, Aria prepared herself to tell what was sure to be a long, embarrassing, and uncomfortable story…for everyone.
“So you know how we used to feed off of energy?” She began by asking.
“Yeah.” Rainbow contemptuously replied.
“Well, a while ago there was a period of time where we weren’t getting enough of it.” Aria continued in a very mild manner. “And I’m not just talking about a small period of time either. For some reason our singing had started having less and less of an effect on people, and as a result we were getting less and less energy with each attempt to gain it. We didn’t know why this was happening, we only knew that we needed to do something about it before we starved.”
As Rainbow Dash listened attentively to Aria’s story, she couldn’t help but wonder what any of this had to do with Dolly.
“Eventually we got so desperate that we decided to explore…other possible means of extracting energy from people.” Aria continued, now sounding a tad contrite, as she looked down and off to the side with a compunctious expression.
“What do you mean by ‘other’ means?” Sunset asked.
Aria brought her head back to answer Sunset’s question, but before she could respond Adagio chimed in.
“We mean using methods other than singing.” The Dazzling leader clarified. “Back in Equestria, some sirens theorized that singing wasn’t the only way we could extract energy. However, since singing has always worked for us no ever bothered to try and prove it.”
Admittedly, Sunset found herself intrigued. Her desire to better understand magic, even siren magic, made her want to learn more about this theory.
“So what were some of these theorized ‘other’ methods of extracting energy?” She curiously inquired.
“There weren’t any.” Adagio flatly answered. “The theory was simply that singing wasn’t the only method, that’s why we had to explore what the alternatives might be.”
“I see.” Sunset interestedly replied. “Then what kinds of methods did you explore?”
“Ugh.” Aria painfully groaned as she brought a hand up to her face in a manner that suggested she was ashamed of something.
Sunset shot the now distraught Dazzling an inquisitive look as Rainbow Dash simply continued to stare at Aria and Adagio with her tempestuous glare.
“Oh don’t be so dramatic, Aria.” Adagio remarked as she rolled her eyes. “Nothing we tried was that bad.”
Just then, Aria quickly lowered her hand from her face and turned her attention towards Adagio, dawning an expression that seemed to be mixture of anger and bewilderment.
“Seriously, Adagio?!” She vehemently stated. “You think whoring ourselves out wasn’t ‘that bad’?!”
Both Sunset and Rainbow each gave visible expressions of shock after hearing Aria utter the word ‘whoring’.
“I’ll admit that the circumstances weren’t ideal, but at least we got some enjoyment out of it.” Adagio defensively retorted. “And like I said earlier, I don’t recall you having any objections at the time.”
“Yeah, because at the time I thought it might give us the energy we needed!” Aria fired back, now sounding defensive as well. “But since it didn’t I’m just ashamed that we did that! Hell, even if had worked I’d probably still feel ashamed!”
“Well I can’t help how you feel, Aria.” Adagio inimically stated. “If you have insecurities about what we did, that’s your problem, not mine.”
By this point, both Aria and Adagio looked as if they were about to elevate their sisterly argument from simple bickering to physical altercation. Picking up on this, Sunset snapped out of her shock just enough to speak up.
“Wait, wait, wait.” She frantically said. “You’re saying you three resorted to…to prostitution to try and extract energy from people?”
The two Dazzlings turned their attention to where Sunset was standing and, upon noticing how aghast both she and Rainbow Dash looked, quickly forgot about their argument. Aria once again brought a hand up to her face as an expression of shame crossed her face. Even Adagio dawned a small expression of shame, most likely due to Sunset’s use of the term ‘prostitution’.
“W-well I wouldn’t call it prostitution, exactly.” The poofy-haired Dazzling timidly remarked.
“Oh will you stop trying to sugarcoat it, Adagio?!” Aria snapped as she lowered her hand. “Prostitution is exactly what we did! We had sex with strangers in the hopes that we could drain their energy by doing so! But it failed miserably and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Sonata got pregnant!”
Even though she was already in a state of shock from hearing what the Dazzlings, in particular her girlfriend, had done, Rainbow Dash felt herself sink even deeper into her stunned state as she started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Y-y-you mean that…S-Sonata actually is…” She stammered, struggling to translate her thoughts into words.
“Yes, Rainbow!” Aria shouted as she turned her attention to her sister’s girlfriend, picking up on what the was trying to say. “Why do you think Dolly kept calling her ‘Mom’?”
In truth, the possibility of Sonata actually being Dolly’s mother never occurred to Rainbow Dash. This was for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that her girlfriend had never mentioned the fact that she had a daughter. Not…even…once.
“B-but how is that possible?” Sunset spoke up. “She looks almost the same age as Sonata.”
“That’s because Dolly’s half-siren.” Adagio clarified. “Like us, she looks younger than she actually is.”
As curious as Sunset now was about Dolly’s actual age she decided not to inquire about it, feeling that doing so would be rude. Instead, she turned her attention to Rainbow who had a vacant look in her eyes, like she wasn’t even mentally present anymore.
“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” She concernedly asked her friend, sensing her distress.
Frankly, Rainbow wasn’t okay. She was hurting inside, and not just in her mind, but in her soul as well. How could Sonata do this to her? How could the girl who’d said ‘I love you’ to her so many times keep the fact that she had a daughter a secret from her?
“Thank you for telling me that.” The rainbow-haired teen woundedly said to Aria and Adagio as she stood up and headed for the door, moving like she was the walking dead. “I’m going home now.”
“Rainbow, wait!” Sunset called out as she began to follow Rainbow towards the door.
Rainbow Dash didn’t respond at all to Sunset’s request. She simply opened the front door once she got there, walked outside, and shut the door behind her.
“Rainbow!” Sunset called out again, only louder this time, as she did likewise.
Aria and Adagio had simply sat quietly as Rainbow and Sunset left the apartment. Now that they were alone, however, Adagio turned towards her sister and prepared to speak.
“Wow, Rainbow Dash took that better than I imagined she would.” She casually commented. “I thought she was going to explode with fury when we told her the truth about Dolly.”
“I thought she was going to explode too.” Aria replied, a hint of worry in her voice. “Though I feel like she took it worse than I imagined.”
Dolly silently sat in the corner of Sonata’s room, trying to figure out what she was going to say to her mother once she regained consciousness. She had, of course, planned out everything she was going to say before she’d arrived at the apartment, but her mother fainting at the sight of her had…complicated things. Her plan had been to simply say her piece to her mother and leave before any drama ensued, but naturally drama had ensued before she could say anything beyond, ‘Hi, Mom’.”
“Ugh.” She frustratedly muttered under her breath as she leaned back and slumped into her chair.
What also weighed heavy on Dolly’s mind was why her mother had fainted in the first place. Of all the reactions she thought she’d have gotten from her mother, that one hadn’t even crossed her mind. In fact, she was almost certain that she was going to have the door slammed in her face as soon as her mother saw her. But fainting, what was up with that?
“Okay sure, I randomly showed up at her doorstep after how many years of not even speaking to her.” She thought aloud. “But people don’t faint because of stuff like that. Do they?”
As Dolly pondered whether or not her mother’s reaction had been, for lack of a better term, ‘normal’ given the situation, she heard some faint sounds coming from the bed.
“W-wha…?” Sonata drowsily uttered as she slowly came to and tried to sit up. “What…happened? Where…where am I?”
Almost instinctively, Dolly got up from her seat and rushed over to the side of the bed to help her mother.
“Easy, Mom, you’re in bed.” She gently said as helped Sonata sit up. “You lost consciousness for a while.”
“I…did?” Sonata hazily replied, not yet aware enough to realize that it was her daughter speaking to her, even though she’d just been addressed as ‘Mom’.
Sonata struggled to remember what had happened that’d caused her lose consciousness. She remembered talking with Rainbow Dash and Sunset in the kitchen before they all heard a crashing sound and went to see what it had been. She then remembered entering the living room and seeing her sisters standing by the open front door, prompting her to ask them if someone was there. After that, things got a little fuzzy.
“I…I remember someone at the door.” She said as she closed her eyes, hoping that doing so would help her see what was in her mind’s eye clearer. “It was…”
As much as Dolly wanted to simply tell her mother that it was her, she didn’t think that that was a very good idea. She figured it was best to let her remember things naturally, lest she faint again from shock. Of course, there was no guarantee that her mother wouldn’t faint from remembering naturally, but it was still the best option to her.
“It was…” Sonata reiterated as she tried to clear her mind of everything except who she’d seen at the door. “…Dolly!”
As soon as Sonata remembered, her eyes shot wide open as she turned her attention to her daughter.
“Hi again.” Dolly timidly said with a demure smile and a small wave, hoping that her mother would remain conscious this time.
Sonata did, in fact, remain conscious this time, but she still found herself in such a state of shock and bewilderment that she couldn’t speak. This wasn’t much of a concern for her though, because she didn’t even know what she’d say to her daughter if she could speak.
It’s her. She silently thought to herself as she stared at her daughter. It's really Dolly.
Sonata’s silence and stunned expression did little to ease Dolly’s worries about how her mother felt about her now. She’d expected some surprise, naturally, but she’d also expected something that would indicate whether or not she was still angry; a cold stare, a warm smile, anything that would give her a hint one way or the other. Alas, all she got was a very neutral stunned expression.
Feeling like she didn’t have any better options, Dolly decided to go back to her original plan of saying her piece and then leaving. She took a short, deep breath as she prepared to say what she’d come to say.
“Mom, I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.” She solemnly started to say. “And I know that the last time we were together we didn’t leave on good terms, but there are things I need to tell you, things I need to say to you, and I hope you’ll listen to me.”
Even though she wasn’t as stunned as she was a moment ago Sonata still found herself unable to speak, so she simply nodded her head in response.
“Thank you.” Dolly gratefully said, happy that her mother was willing to listen to her. “First of all, I need to tell you that Dad’s…gone. He’d been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years, and he lost that battle a few weeks ago. I know you two weren’t ever really close, but I figured you should know.”
Much to Sonata’s surprise, the news of Neighsay’s death hit her harder than she ever imagined it would’ve. Dolly wasn’t wrong when she’d said that the two of them hadn’t ever really been close, emotionally anyways, but she still felt bad that the father of her child was gone.
“I-I’m sorry.” She managed to meekly say.
Admittedly, Dolly had expected condolences from her mother regarding her father’s death. She looked at her with mild bafflement for a moment, but upon seeing the sincerely sympathetic look on her face she quickly dawned a small smile. She then reached out and lightly grabbed a hold of her mother’s hand, as a silent way of saying ‘Thank you’.
Sonata, in response, returned the small smile and readjusted her hand so that she could hold her daughter’s hand as she held her’s.
“The other thing is…well…is….” Dolly continued, now finding it difficult to say what she’d gone over in her head so many times. “I…I don’t quite know how to say this next part.”
Sensing Dolly’s distress, Sonata slightly tightened her hold on her daughter’s hand and placed her free hand the girl’s knee in a sign of support.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” She gently said. “Just take your time.”
Sweetie. It had been so long since Dolly had heard her mother call her that. She hadn’t missed being called that even once in all the years she spent without her mother, but for some reason hearing Sonata use that pet name for her filled her heart with warm glow. However, it didn’t make she was trying to say any easier.
Dolly quickly refocused her mental energy into formulating the words and sentences needed to say what she’d come her to say, and took a long, deep breath before continuing.
“Mom, for the longest time I…I’ve hated you.” She dolefully started to say as she looked away from her mother. “After you told me you wished you’d never had me and then pawned me off on Dad completely, I started hating you more than anything. Dad told me that I shouldn’t hate you, even after everything you'd said and done, but I didn’t listen to him. I never wanted to speak to or see you ever again. Hell, I never even wanted to think about you ever again.”
Sonata listened intently and sorrowfully to her daughter’s words as she removed her hand from the girl’s knee. Dolly’s words hurt her, more than she ever imagined words could hurt her, but she continued to listen to them because she had promised she would, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was break a promise to her child. Even if that meant she was about to cry.
“I felt that way for a long, long time, and thought I’d always feel that way.” Dolly continued, starting to sound a tad choked up, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “But then one day, not long before he got sick, Dad found something buried in one of the closets and brought it out to me.”
Dolly quickly scrolled through her phone until she found what she’d been looking for.
“This.” She simply said as she held her phone up to her mother.
Sonata looked at the image on the phone and gave an astonished expression as she recognized the plush toy in it instantly.
“Your baby sharkie!” She said in her astonished state as the memory of the day her daughter got her favorite toy came back to her.
“Come on, Mommy, hurry!” A young Dolly excitedly exclaimed as she ran towards the entrance to the Canterlot City Aquarium, pulling her mother behind her. “I want to see the sharkies!”
“Okay, okay, Dolly. Just slow down.” Sonata playfully replied as she was dragged, finding her daughter’s jubilant mood contagious. “The sharkies aren’t going anywhere.”
It was one of those rare days where Sonata and Dolly got to spend time together without Adagio or Aria around. Earlier in the day, Adagio had informed her and Aria that she might have found a new way for them to fully regain their magic and that she needed one of her them to help her look into it. Naturally since Dolly was with them for the weekend, she got to stay behind while Aria went off with Adagio.
These were the kinds of days with Dolly that Sonata found most tolerable, mostly because there was no Adagio around to dote over the little girl nor Aria to neglect her. Often times the mother and daughter would go out somewhere they wouldn’t normally be able to if Adagio or Aria were around, but today they were at the aquarium because Dolly wanted to see the sharks.
See, a few weekends ago the three Dazzlings had decided to watch the movie Jaws and, unbeknownst to any of them at the time, Dolly had snuck out of her room past her bedtime and secretly watched it as well. The little girl was instantly fascinated by the shark in the movie; it’s size, it’s power, it’s predatory nature, it was all enough to hyper-fixate her on the beasts. So now, there was nothing she wanted more than to see a shark in real life.
It took Dolly time and saying, ‘Will you take me to see the sharkies, Mommy?’ more times than she could count, but eventually her mother caved and said she’d take her to the aquarium one weekend. And that weekend was now.
“Over there, Mommy!” Dolly gleefully shouted as she pointed towards the part of the building that housed the sharks. “Hurry, hurry!”
“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying.” Sonata mirthfully replied.
As much as Sonata didn’t care for being dragged through the aquarium by her small child, she had to admit she wasn’t having a bad time so far. Maybe it was because the aquarium reminded her of her home back in Equestria, or maybe it was because her daughter was so happy. Whatever it was, she was just glad to be in a good mood today.
As both Sonata and Dolly entered to shark exhibit, they couldn’t help but gawk at how large the tank was. It was huge, massive even. One could only imagine how much water it took to fill, and how long to fill it.
“Sharkies!” Dolly yelled as she let go of her mother and rushed over to the tank.
“Dolly, wait!” Sonata called out as she ran after her daughter.
Dolly didn’t stop though, not until she got right up to the glass and placed her hands on it.
“Helloooo, sharkies?” She said as she scanned the insides of the tank. “Where are youuuu?”
“Don’t touch the glass, Dolly.” Sonata told her daughter as she pulled her away from the tank and pointed to the floor. “You need to stay behind this yellow line, okay?”
“Where are the sharkies, Mommy?” Dolly despondently asked her mother, still scanning the tank for any sharks.
Sonata also started scanning the tank for sharks but didn’t see any.
“I don’t know, honey.” She anxiously said, desperately trying to find a shark. “Maybe one will be by soon.”
Both Sonata and Dolly stood in the same spot for ten minutes and waited for a shark to swim by, but not a single one did.
“Mommy?” Dolly eventually spoke up, sounding defeated. “We can go now if you want.”
Sonata was surprised to hear her daughter say that she was okay with leaving. Dolly had had her heart set on seeing a real life shark so much that she couldn’t understand why she was giving up so easily. She crouched down to get at Dolly’s level and looked her straight in the eyes.
“It’s okay, Dolly.” She soothingly said to her little girl. “We can stay and wait a little longer.”
“No, let’s just go.” Dolly dejectedly replied with tears in the corners of her eyes. “The sharkies don’t want to meet me.”
“Oh sweetie, I’m sure that’s not it.” Sonata reassured her daughter as she wrapped her in loving hug, which Dolly returned.
As Sonata hugged Dolly, she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye…a shadow from within the tank. It was hard to make out because it was still far off, but she knew there was only one thing it could be.
“Dolly, look!” She said as she ceased hugging her little girl and quickly turned her around.
Just as Dolly was facing the tank again, a great white shark swam by in front of her, practically right up along the glass.
“WOOOOOOOOOW!!!” She joyously exclaimed with eyes as wide as saucers and a huge smile on her face as the large beast passed her by.
The look of sheer joy on her daughter’s face filled Sonata’s heart with a happiness she’d never felt before. As much as Dolly could be a handful at times, seeing her so happy like this made all the rough times worth it.
“Come back, sharkie!” Dolly shouted as she tried running after the shark. “I want to hug you!”
“Okay, you definitely can’t hug the sharkie, Dolly.” Sonata firmly said she grabbed ahold of her daughter so that she didn’t run off, a tad concerned that her little girl wanted to hug the shark.
“Augh.” Dolly grumpily stated as she watched the shark swim away.
As Sonata looked at her now pouting daughter, an idea suddenly came to her mind about how Dolly could hug a shark. She didn’t have the faintest clue where the idea had come from, but that hardly mattered. She was glad it’d come to her.
“Come on, Dolly.” She said as she stood up and took her daughter’s hand. “Follow me.”
Dolly didn’t say anything as she followed her mother throughout the aquarium, wondering where it was they were going. She looked at the various exhibits they passed until they eventually came to a gift shop, which they entered.
“I know I saw one on the way in.” Sonata said to herself as she looked around the shop. “Where was…ah-hah!”
With Dolly still in-tow, Sonata quickly made her way over to a table full of plush shark toys, swiftly grabbed one of the one off of it, and held it up before her daughter.
“I know it’s not a real sharkie, but maybe it’s close enough?” She half-stated, half-asked Dolly with a small smile.
“Aww, what a cute baby sharkie!” Dolly gleefully remarked as she took the plush shark from her mother and gave it a big hug.
Sonata didn’t even need to ask again if the plush shark was close enough, Dolly’s reaction had said it all.
“Alright, let’s go pay for it.” She said as she once again took her daughter’s hand and led her over to the checkout.
Once the plush shark was paid for, the mother and daughter stepped out of the gift shop and back into the aquarium, still holding hands.
“So is there anything else you want to see while we’re here?” Sonata asked Dolly, who was holding her new baby sharkie with her free arm.
“Uh-huh.” Dolly vigorously replied. “I want to see everything!”
“Everything it is then.” Sonata chortled as she started walking.
The two of them couldn’t have taken more than three steps before Sonata felt Dolly get right up against her.
“I love you, Mommy.” The little girl earnestly said.
“I love you too, sweetie.” She tenderly said back.
“When I looked at my baby sharkie for the first time in years, I started to remember that day we spent together at the aquarium.” Dolly emotionally told her mother as she put her phone away. “And not just that day, I started to remember all of the good days we spent together; the pool party with Dad, my birthday at that pizza place, everything. There were so many happy moments we shared that I’d forgotten about because of my anger, but as I remembered them I…I felt my anger towards you begin to lessen.”
At this point, Sonata was feeling about as emotional as Dolly was. She was barely keeping it together as she listened to her daughter open up to her.
“I…I don’t want to be angry at you anymore, Mom.” Dolly continued as she clasped her chest and tried to hold back tears. “I won’t lie, the things you said to me, they still hurt. Maybe…maybe they always will. But regardless, I’m tired of being so angry at you. You’re my mother, and…and I want you in my life again.”
By now, tears were running down Sonata’s cheeks like waterfalls, though she was too overcome with emotion to really notice. She just continued to sit in stunned silence as her daughter poured her heart out to her.
“I don’t know if you still think I’m the worst thing to ever happen to you or not, but just know that even if you do think that, I still love you.” Dolly concluded just before breaking down in tears.
No longer able to simply sit there is silence, Sonata quickly wrapped her daughter in a warm and loving hug.
“I n-never thought that, s-sweetheart.” She tearfully professed as she held her child tight. “I-I know I s-said that, b-but I never m-meant it.”
Sonata’s loving words reached Dolly’s heart like warm and pleasant breeze, blowing away all the anger and hatred she’d kept there for so long. She felt like breaking down in tears of joy and returning her mother’s hug, but she couldn’t. Because, as happy as those words had made her, they’d also confused her.
“T-then why did you s-say it?” She asked as she felt her emotional walls start to crumble.
“B-because I was s-so angry back then.” Sonata sorrowfully explained, not letting go of her daughter. “Not at y-you, but at s-so many other things and I…I unfairly ended up t-taking it all out on you.”
Dolly still didn’t fully understand mother’s words. What did she mean by, ‘so angry back then’? Aside from that fateful day where they’d had their fallout, Dolly didn’t ever remember her mother being angry. Unhappy or upset, a few times, sure, but not angry.
“I…I don’t understand.” She sedately confessed.
Realizing what she needed to do, Sonata broke her hug and took several deep breaths to better compose herself before speaking again.
“Since you opened up to me, it seems only fair that open up to you now.” She fervidly said to her daughter. “If you’re willing listen to your ol’ mom’s ramblings that is.”
“Of course I am, Mom.” Dolly ardently replied with a warm smile as she once again took her mother’s hand in a sign of support.
Happy that her daughter was willing to listen to her, Sonata briefly returned the smile before taking one final deep breath before saying what she needed to say.
“After me, Aunt Adagio, and Aunt Aria were banished here without our magic, I started feeling…angry. I was angry at the fact that we’d been banished, angry at Aunt Aria for being so difficult after the fact, angry at Aunt Adagio for being the one who’s plan got us banished, just…angry about the whole damn thing really.”
Dolly listened intently as her mother opened up to her.
“But the thing of it was, I never expressed that anger.” Sonata continued. “I was too afraid to let it out and risk losing my sisters, so I kept it all bottled up inside, thinking that it would just go away with time. But it didn’t go away. In fact, it slowly started to grow over the years, so slowly that I didn’t even notice. And soon enough, I started feeling angry all the time.”
As Dolly continued to listen, she couldn’t help but notice some similarities between how her mother had felt angry and how she’d felt angry. It was uncanny, but then again, she was her mother’s daughter.
“Even if I wasn’t always showing it on the outside, on the inside I was just…so angry.” Sonata somberly went on. “It just became normal for me, feeling that way all the time. It even got to the point where I couldn’t remember ever feeling any other way. I thought…I thought I’d always feel that way.”
Dolly could feel sympathetic tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. She’d had no idea her mother had ever felt that way, and for so long.
“But then…I had you.” Sonata said with a bit more joy in her voice as she squeezed her daughter’s hand. “And from the very first moment I held you and looked at you cute little face, I felt all that anger wash away in a flood of happiness and love. You instantly became the one shining light in my life, a light so bright that it lit up my whole world, and I never wanted to let you go.”
“M-mom.” Dolly uttered as she was moved to tears by her mother’s kind and loving words.
Sonata wished more an anything in that heartfelt moment that she could end the story there, but she couldn’t. There was still more to tell, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“But I was wrong, you see.” She went on, now in a very disheartened manner. “The anger didn’t wash away in a flood of happiness and love, the happiness and love just covered it up. Even though I didn’t feel it near as strongly as I had for all those years, it was still there, I just didn’t know it. And it continued to grow too, because despite all of the joy motherhood brought me, it brought its fair share of frustrations as well.”
Dolly couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt when she heard her mother mention the frustrations of motherhood. She knew she’d always been rather…quirky child and was sure that raising her had been a challenge at times. Of course, she had no reason to feel guilty, she’d just been a child after all, but she still felt it nonetheless.
“And then, when Aunt Adagio suggested that she should be the one raising you instead of me, all of that anger that’d built up inside me over the years came to a head, and I snapped. I snapped at my sisters and, worst of all, I snapped at my own daughter.” Sonata remorsefully said, her tears of joy now tears of sadness and regret. “I said such horrible and unforgivable things to you, Dolly, and then I discarded you like you were nothing, all because I’d let my anger get the better of me.”
It was at this point that Sonata had a full-on emotional breakdown. She started crying and wailing uncontrollably as she brought her hands up to her face in an attempt to hide her distressed appearance.
“S-Sweet Celestia, I’m s-such an awful m-mother.” She gloomily commented through her tears, though it was a tad muffled due to her hands over her face.
As if through some sort of psychic link, Dolly could feel the immense sadness her mother was feeling. It wasn’t that she was empathizing with her mother, no, it was different from that, deeper. She was feeling it, as if it were her own sadness. And that was how she knew her mother really did love her, and how she regretted more than anything what she’d done to her.
Not wasting another second, Dolly swiftly moved in and wrapped her mother in the biggest, warmest, and most loving hug she could.
“Y-you’re not an a-awful mother, Mommy!” She assured her mother, like she was a little girl again, as she too started crying uncontrollable. “Y-you just m-made a mistake i-is all. B-but it’s okay n-now, I-I’m here and w-we can be a f-family again.”
Sonata lowered her hands from her face and returned the hug as best she could, holding her daughter close as they both cried out there feelings. The emotional scene lasted for a good 20 minutes before both girls ran out of tears to cry and they each decided to break the hug.
“There’s something I need to show you.” Sonata told her daughter just before leaning over to the nearby nightstand and opening the top drawer.
Dolly leaned forward a bit to try and see what her mother was getting out of the nightstand, but didn’t get a good enough look before the drawer was closed again.
“Do you remember this?” Sonata inquired as she held a small, oval beaded gold locket in the palm of her hand up to her.
“You…you still have that?” She asked in disbelief, astonished that her mother still had the birthday present she’d given her just weeks before their falling out.
“Happy birthday, Mommy!” Dolly gleefully shouted as she present her mother with a small box wrapped in purple wrapping paper and a yellow ribbon.
“Aww, thank you, sweetie.” Sonata amiably replied as she took the present from her daughter. “Can I open it now?”
“Yeah! Open it, open it!” Dolly exclaimed as she jumped up and down with excitement, eager to see her mother’s reason to the present she’d gotten her.
Sonata quickly removed the ribbon and wrapping paper to discover a plain white box underneath. She opened the box and found a beautiful oval beaded gold locket inside of it, a touch of sunlight coming in from the window reflecting off of it.
“Oh my gosh, it’s so pretty!” She said as she stared at the piece of jewelry. “Thank you, Dolly!”
“It’s a locket.” Dolly said as she took it out of the box and opened it up. “See? You can put a picture inside of it.”
“I do see.” Sonata giggled in response. “And you know what? I think I’m going to put a picture of you inside of it, so that I’ll always remember who gave it to me.”
Dolly simply gave her mother a hug, which was immediately reciprocated, as she felt glad that her gift had been so well received.
“Much like your baby sharkie, I hadn’t seen this in years after our falling out.” Sonata solemnly stated. “And like you, once I saw it again I started to remember all of the good times we had together, and I didn’t want to be angry anymore either.”
Sonata opened the locket and showed the picture inside to her daughter.
“Oh, Mom.” Dolly happily remarked as she stared at the picture within the locket.
Just like she’d said she was going to do, Dolly’s mother had put a picture of her inside of it. In the picture, she was a little girl, smiling and holding her favorite baby sharkie. She didn’t remember exactly when the picture had been taken, but she did remember the happy feeling she’d had when it was. If she’d had any tears left to cry, she would’ve cried them happily.
“I’m so sorry, Dolly.” Sonata somberly said as she closed the locket back up. “Not just for what I said to you when you were little, but also for not coming to find you when I realized what a mistake I’d made. I just…I just didn’t know if I could handle your reaction to seeing me again if you were still mad at me. I’m such a coward.”
“Stop saying that stuff about yourself, Mom.” Dolly gently told her mother. “You’re not a coward, I had the same fear about coming here to see you. But every time that fear popped up, I just remembered how much I wanted my mother back and it gave me the courage I needed.”
Sonata couldn’t help but smile and give a small, happy chuckle in response.
“When did my little girl get so mature?” She gaily asked.
“I’ve always been mature, Mom.” Dolly replied, also gaily. “It’s just now I’m more mature than you.”
Dolly’s remark initially caught Sonata by surprise, but she quickly burst into laughter, happy to see that her daughter still had her razor-sharp wits. Soon enough, Dolly was laughing along with her.
Once the laughter died down, Dolly stood up and gave a little stretch.
“We should probably go outside and see Aunt Adagio and Aunt Aria.” She casually said to her mother. “We’ve been in here a long time, any longer and they may start thinking we’ve killed each other.”
“Good idea.” Sonata agreed as she too stood up. “Dashie and Sunset are probably worried as well.”
“Oh yeah.” Dolly said as she remembered the two other girls who were with her aunts earlier. “Hey, do you why that rainbow-haired girl called you her girlfriend?”
“Rainbow Dash?” Sonata stated as she moved towards the door. “Probably because I am her girlfriend, and she’s mine.”
Now Dolly was the one who felt like she was going to faint. When had her mother started liking girls? She opened her mouth to ask that very question, but decided that that was a topic for another time. Instead, she just followed her mother towards the door.
“They’ve been in there a while.” Adagio anxiously said to her sister as she paced through the kitchen. “Maybe we should check on them.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Aria agreed as she got up from her seat the kitchen table, feeling concerned about whether Sonata was awake yet or not.
The two Dazzlings exited the kitchen and started making their way towards Sonata’s room when, all of a sudden, they heard the sound of a door opening and saw Sonata step out into the hallway.
“Sonata!” They both exclaimed as they rushed over to their little sister.
“Hey gi…oof!” Sonata tried to say before being tackled into two unexpected hugs. “Um, okay. This is a little weird.”
“We were worried about you, you idiot.” Adagio semi-warmly remarked as she continued to hug her sister.
“What Adagio said.” Aria said in her usual tsundere manner as she broke her hug.
“Okay, I need to know everything that happened when I wasn’t around.” Dolly chimed in from the bedroom doorway.
“I promise I’ll tell you everything later, honey.” Sonata nonchalantly said her daughter.
The way Sonata addressed her daughter made Adagio break her hug and Aria dawn a wide-eyed expression.
“Um, what happened in there?” Aria curiously asked.
Both Sonata and Dolly looked at each other and giggled at Adagio and Aria’s reactions, which only confused Adagio and Aria even further.
“We…had a little talk.” Dolly genially replied.
“Yeah, we got a lot of things out in the open.” Sonata added. “And…we’re okay now.”
Aria silently gave a warm smile in response to hearing that Sonata and Dolly were on good terms gain. Adagio…well…Adagio had a less subtle response.
“Oh I’m so glad!” She exclaimed, with so much energy it was almost scary, as she embraced Sonata with one arm and Dolly with the other. “It going to be just like old times!”
“Well, not exactly, Aunt Adagio.” Dolly clarified. “Mom and I aren’t quite back to where we were in our relationship, but we will be in time.”
“That, and I’m going to be a better mother than I was back then too.” Sonata added.
“Of course, of course.” Adagio profusely said as she released her sister and niece.
Now free, Sonata started to scan the area around her.
“Hey, where are Dashie and Sunset?” She inquired, seeing neither of them in sight.
Upon hearing Sonata ask about Rainbow Dash and Sunset, Adagio and Aria shot each other a worrying look, both of them fearfully wondering what they were going to tell their sister.
“What’s wrong?” Sonata asked, now seeming worried herself.
Knowing that there was no way of avoiding the subject, Aria decided to speak up first.
“Rainbow Dash…left, Sonata.” She sedately said. “And Sunset went after her.”
L-left? Sonata silently, and despondently, asked herself.
“W-why did she leave?” She asked aloud.
“Because we told her about Dolly.” Adagio flatly said, trying not to sound emotional. “After you passed out she started asking questions about who Dolly was, and after we answered them she just…left.”
“And pretty upset too.” Aria meekly added.
Sonata could feel her heart start to sink into her chest. She knew that this was bad; really, really bad.
“No, no.” She frantically said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and headed for the living room. “No, no, no, no, no.”
Dolly tried to follow her mother, but Aria extended an arm out in front of her, silently telling her to give her mom some space right now.
Once in the living room, Sonata hastily opened her Contacts on her phone and pressed the icon of Rainbow Dash.
“Come on, pick up. Pick up.” She frenetically said to herself as she put her phone up to her ear and listened.
“Hello? Sonata?” Sunset Shimmer answered.
“Sunset?” Sonata confusingly said back, sounding slightly hysterical. “Sorry, I must have dialed you instead of Dashie by accident.”
“No, you didn’t.” Sunset calmly replied. “This is Rainbow Dash’s phone, she asked me to answer for her.”
“B-but why would she ask you to do that.” Sonata asked as she started breathing heavily.
“Just calm down, Sonata.” Sunset told her, clearly sensing her distress.
“Please put Dashie on, Sunset.” Sonata requested, practically pleaded. “I need to talk to her.”
There was a brief moment of silence, though for Sonata if felt like an eternity.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now, Sonata.” Sunset eventually answered. “Rainbow’s pretty upset about this whole ‘you have a daughter’ thing, and I think it’s best if you give her some space for a while.”
Sonata didn’t say anything in response. She couldn’t, her heart was beating so quickly in her chest that she thought she was going to have a heart attack.
“Hang on, Rainbow’s telling me to give her the phone.” Sunset said. “Just a second.”
A small spark of hope ignited with Sonata when she heard Sunset say that Rainbow wanted the phone. She was confident that if she could just explain things to her girlfriend that everything would be fine.
“Sonata?” Rainbow Dash’s voice said, with almost no emotion behind it.
“Dashie?” Sonata said back, trying to sound as composed as possible. “Dashie, just listen to me. I know I didn’t tell you about Dolly, but that’s because-"
“Don’t call me again.” Rainbow interrupted, her voice now cold as ice.
“W-what?” Sonata asked as she felt her heart start to break.
“I need some time alone to think about our relationship, so don’t call me again.” Rainbow explained. “And don't come by my house or up to me at school either. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk again.”
And with that, Rainbow Dash hung up the phone.
Feeling overcome with emotion, Sonata dropped her phone and fell to her knees with tears rolling down her cheeks. She just couldn’t believe it. On the same day she’d gotten her daughter back, she might have lost her girlfriend as well.