“Ah!” Sonata Dusk happily sighed as she stepped out of the shower, grabbing a nearby towel to dry herself off as she did so. “I needed that.”
Sonata wasn’t used to be up this early on Tuesdays because they weren’t normally her day to go to CHS, they were Aria’s, but this particular Tuesday was hers. See, Aria’s favorite emu, Glen, recently passed, and both her and Adagio agreed to give their sister some time off from motivational speaking to grieve. That, and the two of them were a bit worried about Aria’s current mental state after she claimed to have spoken with the anthropomorphic personification of Death about Glen.
In any case, today was Sonata’s day at school.
As the youngest Dazzling started drying herself off, she began to hear the faint sound of music coming from somewhere outside the bathroom. At first she paid it no mind as it wasn’t unusually for her sisters to turn on the radio and listen to music while they ate breakfast, but as the music went on she started to recognize the song that was being played, and it made her cringe.
“I-It can’t be.” She apprehensively said as she stopped drying off, trying to convince herself that she wasn’t hearing what she believed she was hearing.
Soon enough though, Sonata heard the sound of laughter as the music continued and it only confirmed her fears. It was that song, and there was no way it was coming through the radio. There was only one possible source where it could be coming from.
In a state of panic, Sonata dropped her towel and ran out into the hallway and towards the kitchen, where the music was coming from. When she got there, she saw Aria sitting at the table with her phone in her hand and Adagio standing next to her, the two of them laughing so hard they were crying.
“W-What’s so funny, girls?” She nervously asked her overly cheerful sisters, even though she was 99% sure she already knew the answer.
“We’re…we’re just watching…” Aria jovially began to reply before she looked up and saw her little sister standing stark naked just outside the kitchen, causing her to cease her laughter and turn away in embarrassment. “Oh for crying out loud, Sonata, put some cloths on, will ya!”
Sonata was fully aware of her nudity, but she was too filled with trepidation over what her sisters had been laughing at to really care about it.
“I-Is…” She started to say as she pointed to Aria’s phone, which was still playing the music. “Is that…”
“Oh, it most certainly is.” Adagio playfully but also somewhat wickedly chimed in, knowing full-well what Sonata was about to say. “Dolly came across it online and sent us the link. She said she thought we might get a kick out of this little blast-from-the-past.”
At this point, Adagio was barely holding back further laughter.
“And she was right.” She finished saying just before bursting into another laughing fit.
It was unclear to Sonata which fact-of-the-matter distressed her the most in that moment; that the most embarrassing moment of her life was online for all the world to see, that her sisters still found it so humorous after all these years, or that it had been her own daughter who’d brought it back from obscurity. Whichever it was, it mortified her tremendously.
“Give me that phone!” She frantically shouted as she bum-rushed Aria in an attempt to see the video playing for herself, causing her breasts to swing right in front her sister’s face.
“Fucking hell, Sonata!” Aria hollered as tried to hold her spastic sister at bay with her free arm and held her phone out of reach with the other.
Sonata paid little mind to Aria’s protests though as she desperately tried to get a hold of the phone, practically clamoring over her sister to get it now. The whole scene just made Adagio laugh even harder.
It wasn’t very long, however, before having Sonata’s melons in her face became too much for Aria.
“Alright, take it!” She caved as she forfeited her phone over to Sonata. “Just get your jugs out of my face already!”
Once she had the phone, Sonata did as requested and removed her nude-self from Aria’s immediate space, but she still remained too close for the pig-tailed Dazzling’s comfort. She just stood there, silent and dumbfounded, as she watched the video play out on the phone, wondering what cruel deity had allowed any copies of her ultimate embarrassment to survive, let alone be put online.
“I’ll give you this, Sonata.” Adagio said as she calmed down from her laughing fit. “Of the three of us you’re definitely are the most…flexible.”
Adagio’s comment fell on deaf ears, as Sonata was to entranced by the video to pay attention to anything else. It wasn’t until a few seconds later when it ended that she snapped back to the real world.
“Who uploaded this?” She timidly asked as she put Aria’s phone down on the table. “And how long has it been up?”
“The username of the uploader is Noobmaster69, so obviously we have no idea who that actually is.” Aria began to answer, still averting her gaze from Sonata’s naked body. “As for how long the video’s been up, looks like about two days.”
Sonata was actually relieved to hear that the video had only been up for two days. It meant that maybe there was still time to contact the uploader and see if they’d take it down before anyone else saw it. She knew it’d be a long shot, but she had to try before anyone at school came across it. Her sisters and her daughter seeing it was one thing, but if any of the students at CHS saw it she’d never live it down.
And then there was her girlfriend, Rainbow Dash. What would she think if she saw the video? The more Sonata thought about the video getting out, the more she started to worry, and she already worried enough to begin with.
“Okay, okay, this fine, everything is fine.” She frantically said as she began to pace back and forth across the kitchen floor, causing Aria to constantly turn her head to avoid staring at her naked sister. “I can fix this before anyone else see it.”
“Aw, you don’t want to share this with everyone at school?” Adagio playfully asked.
“NO!” Sonata shouted as she stopped pacing and got right up in Adagio’s face, now making her as uncomfortable as Aria had been the whole time. “Making that video is one of the biggest regrets of life. You have to promise me you won’t share it with anyone. PROMISE!”
“Okay, I promise.” Adagio hastily replied, hoping it would get her agitated sister to back off.
“ARIA!” Sonata then turned and got up in her other sister’s face.
“I promise, I promise!” Aria replied even hastier than Adagio had, so that Sonata would once again remove her hush puppies from her face.
Satisfied with her sisters’ promises, Sonata took a deep breath and silently walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway, heading towards her bedroom. Once she was gone, Aria and Adagio just looked at each for moment before Aria decided to speak up.
“You know, I don’t ever remember her having such a passionate hatred for that video right after she made it.” She candidly said.
“Well, it was the 80’s. That sort of stuff was normal back then.” Adagio just as candidly replied as she closed the gap between herself and Aria, leaning down to give her sister a good view of her cleavage once she was close enough. “Speaking of not remembering, I don’t ever remember you having a problem with having a pair of tatas in your face before.”
Aria’s eyes went wide as a noticeable blush crossed her face, causing her to look away from Adagio.
“Yeah, well, when those ‘tatas’ belong to my sister I have a problem with it.” She stated with no small amount of embarrassment.
Amused that her teasing had successfully embarrassed her sister, Adagio simply gave a small chuckle as she removed herself from Aria’s personal space. Just as she did, Sonata reemerged from the hallway, now fully clothed, and proceeded to head out the front door.
“I’m going to school now.” Was all the pony-tailed Dazzling said as she left.
Neither Adagio nor Aria said anything back to Sonata, as they were both too befuddled as to how she’d managed to get dressed so quickly.
With Sonata now out of the house, Aria picked up her phone and hit the replay button on the screen. As soon as the video started playing again, her and Adagio burst into laughing fits.
“Today’s going to be fine, no at school has seen the video.” Sonata franticly told herself, for about the 17th time, as she pulled into the CHS parking lot.
Needless to say, Sonata’s drive to school hadn’t been a very relaxing one. The whole trip she’d been filled with fear and anxiety over the possibility of someone outside of her family having seen her video.
“Today’s going to be fine, no at school has seen the video.” She reiterated as she pulled into a parking space and turned the car off.
Sonata didn’t get out of the car right away. Instead, she just sat in the driver’s seat and mentally steeled herself what the day ahead might be like for her.
“Today’s going to be fine.” She said to herself as she reached for the car door. “Today’s going to be fine.”
Once Sonata was out of the car, she tentatively started making her way towards the school. As she walked, she paid close attention to the various students walking around, trying to gauge whether or not any of them might have seen her video by the way they acted.
So far, nothing out of the ordinary.
“Hey, Sonata.” A voice suddenly said from behind her.
Sonata involuntarily tensed up and quickly turned around to see none other than Cherry Crash walking just a few feet behind her. Neither Cherry’s the look on her face nor her tone of voice seemed to suggest anything other than a friendly greeting, but Sonata couldn’t be 100% sure.
“Oh, hey Cherry.” She nervously replied, though trying to sound a normal as possible. “How’s it going?”
“Whoa, you okay, girl?” Cherry concernedly replied. “You seem a little…on edge.”
“Me, I’m not on edge.” Sonata replied, sounding completely on edge. “Why would I be on edge? I don’t have any reason to be on edge.”
Cherry didn’t say anything back right away. She just raised a single eyebrow and looked Sonata up and down, as if making sure she was okay.
“Uh-huh.” She eventually, and skeptically, said as she walked passed Sonata and continued heading towards the school, figuring it best to just leave the girl be. “Well, have a good one.”
“You too.” Sonata relied, awkwardly smiling and waving goodbye to Cherry as she did so.
As soon as Cherry was far enough away, Sonata ceased waving and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Phew, that was close.” She said to herself, happy that Cherry hadn’t brought up her video.
Sonata’s relief was short lived, however, because soon enough she heard the sound of laughter. She quickly turned towards the direction of the laughter to see two male students sharing a laugh as they walked up the pathway to the school. They didn’t appear to be laughing at her, but given how paranoid she was feeling right now it didn’t really matter.
Overcome with fear, Sonata sprinted up the pathway like a bolt of lightning and entered the school, stopping once she reached the middle of the foyer to catch her breath. She wasn’t used to running like that. In fact, the last time she had was when she and her sisters were booed off stage at the Battle of the Bands.
After taking a few deep breaths, Sonata noticed even more laughter within the school than outside it, this time coming from multiple directions. To her right, she saw a couple of female students giggling to each other. To her left, she saw a group of students laughing at something on a phone one of them was holding.
“Oh no.” She softly uttered, sounding very aghast.
There was no way for Sonata to know exactly what the group of students were watching on the phone, but she couldn’t help but assume the worst. Wasting no time, the Dazzling once again started to sprint, this time down the hallway towards her office. She knew that if Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna saw her doing so they’d be upset with her, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to her office and away from all the laughter.
At the speed she was running, it didn’t take Sonata very long to reach her office. Once there, she quickly reached for her key and placed it inside the lock. But when she went to turn the key, she found that the door was already unlocked.
Huh? She thought to herself, snapping out of her panicked state for a moment.
That is, until more sounds of laughter from further down the hall snapped her right back into her panicked state.
“Eep!” She squealed as she hastily opened the door and stepped inside, immediately closing it right behind her.
Much like in the foyer, Sonata took a few moments to catch her breath. As she leaned back against the door, she tried to think about what she was going to do if her worst fears had been realized and everyone at school had already seen her video. She was so fixated on this that she didn’t even notice someone else was in the room with her.
“Hi, Sonata.” A small voice meekly called out to her.
“Gah!” Sonata uttered as she ceased leaning on the door, having been startled by the small voice.
The Dazzling quickly looked around to find the source of the voice and eventually saw someone sitting rather despondently in the chair behind her desk.
“Apple Bloom?” She inquired, believing she recognized the someone to be Applejack’s younger sister.
“Sorry, Ah didn’t mean ta scare yah.” Apple Bloom apologized as she got up from her seat and made her way around the desk, heading in Sonata’s direction. “And sorry fer bein’ in yer office so early, Ah just…needed a place ta hide.”
Sonata felt confused as she watched the young girl walk approach her, for a number of reasons. Why did Apple Bloom seem so sad? Why was she hiding in her office? How did she get into her office? These questions and more popped into her head one right after the other. There were so many of them she didn’t even know which to ask first.
“Are you okay, Apple Bloom?” She gingerly asked, figuring that that was probably the most pressing concern at the moment.
Apple Bloom didn’t respond right away. She just silently continued walking towards Sonata until she was standing right in front of the girl. It was then that Sonata noticed just how sad Apple Bloom really was. Her face was all red and she had tear stains on her cheeks, most likely from crying. In fact, she looked like she wasn’t done crying yet.
“N-No.” She eventually said just before she threw herself around Sonata in a hug as fresh tears starting to flow down her face.
“Oh my.” Was all Sonata could initially say.
The hug had caught the Dazzling completely off-guard. Neither she nor Apple Bloom knew each other very well, and yet here Apple Bloom was with her arms wrapped around her and crying into her like the two of them had shared a strong bond for years.
“Um, there, there?” She said as she desperately tried to console the weeping girl by lightly patting her head.
The truth of the matter though was that Sonata didn’t really know what to do or say to console Apple Bloom. She’d never had someone emotionally breakdown in front of her like this before. Well, maybe Dolly once or twice, but Dolly was her daughter and Apple Bloom was practically a stranger. How was she supposed to console someone she barely knew?
Motivational speaker training didn’t prepare me for this. She anxiously thought to herself as the young farmgirl continued to cry into her. Wait, I never had any motivational speaker training. How did I get this job again?
Before her mind started to wander too far, Sonata brought her focus back to Apple Bloom. Not knowing what else to do, she ceased patting the Apple Bloom’s head and instead decided to simply let the girl cry out her feelings, wrapping her arms around her in turn as a sign of support.
The two girls stayed like this for about a minute before Apple Bloom pulled away from the hug and simply stood in front of Sonata.
“S-Sorry.” She timidly apologized. “Ah…Ah just…couldn’t help mahself fer a minute there.”
“Hey, it’s fine, there’s no need to be sorry.” Sonata gently assured her as she bent forward a bit to be at eye level with her. “Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”
Apple Bloom just nodded silently in response.
“Okay. Why don’t we go sit down first?” Sonata then suggested.
Again, Apple Bloom simply nodded in silence.
It was then that Sonata fastidiously reached out her hand. Much like when she’d returned Apple Bloom’s hug, she hoped that the gesture would help put the distressed girl a bit more at ease. There was a slight hesitation from Apple Bloom initially, but soon enough she did take her hand, and once she did the two of them headed over to her desk.
The walk from where she and Apple Bloom had been standing to her desk wasn’t a far by any measure, but it felt like a hundred miles to Sonata on account of how much she had on her mind at the moment. Her mind was still racing with thoughts of everyone at school laughing at her video from earlier, but now it was also racing with thoughts about how to help Apple Bloom. Needless to say, it all felt a tad overwhelming for her, but she knew that right now she needed to focus on Apple Bloom.
Once they reached the desk, Apple Bloom let go of Sonata’s hand and took a seat in front of the desk while Sonata took a seat behind it.
“Whenever you’re ready.” The Dazzling delicately said once she was fully seated.
It took Apple Bloom a few seconds to better compose herself before she was ready to speak. After a few deep breaths, she was began.
“I know yah weren’t here yesterday, but did Adagio tell yah about what happened in the cafeteria at lunch?” She started off.
“No, she didn’t.” Sonata replied, wondering not only what had happened but also if Adagio hadn’t said anything because she didn’t know about it or she did and just didn’t care enough to mention it.
“Then yer probably the only person in school right now who doesn’t know about it.” Apple Bloom glumly said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
“Know about what?” Sonata inquired as Apple Bloom scrolled through her phone.
A few more seconds of silence followed as Apple Bloom scrolled through her phone. Once she found what she was looking for, she held the phone out in front of Sonata.
“This.” She said.
Sonata took the phone from Apple Bloom and noticed that it was cued up to play a video. At first, Sonata feared that it might be her video, but logic and reason quickly dispelled that fear. No, this wasn’t her video, but she got the feeling that this was going to be something like her video though, only involving Apple Bloom.
Wasting no more time, Sonata pressed the play button on the screen and the video started. It began with a shot of Flash Sentry and his band in a corner of the cafeteria during lunchtime, looking like they were getting ready to play a song.
“You ready, man?” A voice on the video said, presumably the voice of the person holding the phone.
“Yeah, ready.” Flash answered.
“Okay.” The voice said. “On three; one…two…”
Just then, a crashing sound could be heard coming from somewhere else in the room.
“What was that?” The voice said as the camera started moving around.
When the camera stopped moving, it was pointed at Apple Bloom, who was lying on the ground with spaghetti in her hair, complete with meatballs. Additionally, sounds of laughter aimed at the girl could be heard coming from all directions.
“Whoa, check out the spaghetti girl!” A different voice said as Apple Bloom got up and ran out of the cafeteria in embarrassment, the camera following her as she did so.
Then the video stopped.
“Oh, that’s what happened.” Sonata dourly said as she put the phone down on her desk.
“Uh-huh.” Apple Bloom somberly uttered as she grabbed her phone and put it back into her pocket. “Ah slipped on some spilled juice and mah lunch ended up on mah head fer everyone ta see. And ta make things worse, someone caught part of it on video. Everyone’s been laughin’ about it since.”
It was then that Sonata started to understand all the laughter she’d heard around school earlier.
“So, all the students I saw laughing at their phones this morning, they were watching your, um…spaghetti video?” She asked aloud.
“Yeah, probably.” Apple Bloom replied.
Sonata couldn’t help but give a mental sigh of relief. She was happy that it wasn’t her video everyone had been watching, but at the same time she felt bad for Apple Bloom. The young girl was the laughingstock she feared she would be coming into school this morning, and she felt sympathetic towards her.
“Ah just don’t know what Ah’m gonna do.” Apple Bloom went on. “It would’ve been one thing if it’d happened and been done with, but with that video everyone can laugh at me forever.”
New tears started to form in the corners of Apple Bloom’s eyes.
“Ah’m never gonna be able to live this down.” She finished saying just before giving a small sniffle.
Just as the tears in Apple Bloom’s eyes started flowing, Sonata offered her a box of tissues that’d been on the far right side of her desk.
“Listen.” The Dazzling soothingly said as Apple Bloom took a couple of tissues. “I know it’s hard to believe right now, but you will be able to live this thing down.”
“How do yah know that?” Apple Bloom asked just before she blew her nose with one of the tissues.
“Experience.” Sonata clarified. “I’ve been where you are now, Apple Bloom, and if I can live down my really embarrassing moment, you can definitely live down yours.”
“Ah doubt yer embarrassing moment was as bad as mine though.” Apple Bloom sullenly countered.
In that moment, Sonata came to realize something; she was at a crossroads, one of her own making. She’d inadvertently revealed the existence of her video to Apple Bloom, if only vaguely, and now she had a choice to make. She could downplay the whole thing and pretend she’d never said anything about it, or she could show it to Apple Bloom and prove that what she’d said about being able to live down embarrassment was true.
The decision Sonata eventually came to wasn’t an easy one for her, but she knew what she had to do.
“Oh, my embarrassing moment was a lot worse than yours.” She said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “You wanna see it?”
Just then, Apple Bloom’s despondent expression changed into one of confused surprise.
“Uh, sure, Ah guess.” She answered, wondering why Sonata was willing to share her embarrassing moment with her.
“Okay.” Sonata said as she found the video Aria had had on her phone earlier. “But first, you have to promise not to say a word about this to anyone else. Deal?”
“Uh, deal?” Apple Bloom replied, half-saying, half-asking.
Satisfied with Apple Bloom’s response, Sonata handed her phone off to the girl.
After she took the phone, Apple Bloom looked up confusingly at Sonata one more time before she turned her attention back to the phone and hit the play button on the screen.
“Hi, I’m Sonata Dusk!” A Sonata on the screen said.
Almost immediately, Apple Bloom noticed some very distinct differences between the Sonata on the screen and the Sonata sitting a few feet away from her. The Sonata on the screen’s hair was more poufy, not unlike Adagio’s, but with more violent curls and she was wearing a bright lime green bodysuit with hot pink, legwarmers, wristbands, and a crop top sweatshirt.
“I hope you’re ready for a workout!” The Sonata on the screen continued.
And then, music started playing.
As soon as the music started playing, the Sonata on the screen began jazzercising. She was hopping and lopping across a dance floor to what had to have been some of the most 80’s sounding music Apple Bloom had ever heard. And she wasn’t half-assing it either, oh no, she was giving it her all, executing every move with such incredible energy and precision. Chasses, gyrations, arm pumps, leg lifts, she was doing them all, and more.
Apple Bloom’s mind wasn’t sure how to process what she was seeing. After all, jazzercising was a bit before her time so she’d never seen it before. She’d heard of it, of course, but this was her first time actually seeing it. The more she watched it though, the more she felt the urge to laugh.
“T-This ain’t so b-bad.” She told Sonata in an attempt to downplay humiliating nature of the video, trying desperately not to laugh. “Ah mean, m-maybe it’s a little embarrassing, b-but it’s not…it’s not…”
Apple Bloom couldn’t hold it back anymore.
“Bahahahaha!” She broke down laughing, not unlike Adagio and Aria had earlier.
Sonata just sank a bit into her chair as Apple Bloom laughed. She felt a tremendous amount of embarrassment, to be sure, but she also felt glad that Apple Bloom wasn’t sad anymore as well.
“Ah…Ah’m sorry!” Apple Bloom apologized through her laughter. “Ah’ve just…Ah’ve never anythin’ like this in mah life!"
“No, no, it’s fine.” Sonata assured her, though sounding a tad defeated. “It’s…fine.”
As much as Sonata wanted to take her phone back and stop the video, she allowed Apple Bloom to watch the whole thing. If her video helped distract the young girl from her woes, then it was worth the painful embarrassment she was currently feeling.
Soon enough, the video ended. However, Apple Bloom’s laughter didn’t quite end with it.
“O-Okay, you were right.” The farmgirl said as she handed the phone back to Sonata, trying to composure herself as she did so. “That…that was way more embarrassing than mah video.”
“Thanks.” Sonata dryly replied as she put her phone back into her pocket, unsure whether or not to be happy that she’d been right in that regard.
“Ah mean, mah video was just an accident.” Apple Bloom went on, sounding a little more composed now. “But yer video was made on purpose.”
“Eeyup, it sure was.” Sonata replied, sounding a smidge annoyed.
“Why did yah even make that thing in the first place?” Apple Bloom inquired.
Sonata gave a short, deep sigh before answering Apple Bloom’s question. She really didn’t want to reveal the origins of her workout video, but she figured since she was already in for a penny she might as well be in for a pound.
“Back then, my sisters and I still needed to feed off of energy to survive.” The Dazzling began to reluctantly explain. “We weren’t getting enough through singing for a while, so we had to come up with…alternative methods. The only problem was that we didn’t know any alternative methods that would work, if there even were any, so we brainstormed a bunch of ideas and tried some of them. And one of my ideas was ‘energy through exercise’.”
“Energy through exercise?” Apple Bloom interrupting asked.
“Yep, energy through exercise.” Sonata confirmed with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “My idea was that we could siphon the energy people exerted as they exercised, and since it was the 80’s and jazzercising was popular at the time that’s what I went with. I made that video as an audition tape to lead an aerobics class.”
“Did it work?” Apple Bloom curiously inquired.
“My idea or my video?” Sonata asked.
“Uh, both, Ah guess.” Apple Bloom clarified.
“No, on both accounts.” Sonata defeatedly answered. “I didn’t get to lead the aerobics class and we later found out we couldn’t siphon energy through exercise. So basically, I made a super embarrassing video for nothing.”
“Oh.” Apple Bloom quietly uttered, unable to think of anything else to say.
An uncomfortable silence then filled the room as Sonata just stared dolefully down at her desk and Apple Bloom looked off to the side to avoid staring at the distraught Dazzling.
“Look, just forget about all of that, Apple Bloom.” Sonata eventually said as she lifted her head up, realizing that she needed to get things back on track. “The point I’m trying to make with all of this is that embarrassing things happen, and yeah, they tend to linger in people’s minds for a while, but eventually they fade into obscurity. It’s going to take time, but eventually everyone is going to forget about your spaghetti video, just like everyone forgot about my workout video.”
“Ah…Ah guess that’s true.” Apple Bloom agreed, sounding a little less morose now.
Sonata was neglecting to mention that her workout video had recently returned from obscurity, but that was intentional. The Dazzling figured it best not to bring it up. Besides, just because her video had reemerged after fading into obscurity didn’t mean Apple Bloom’s would.
“You just have to be strong enough to not let it get to you until then.” Sonata genially went on. “And since you’re Applejack’s sister, I know you are.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t help but give a small smile after hearing Sonata’s kind remark. She looked up to big sister, so for Sonata to hold her in the same regard as Applejack gave her a warm and assuring feeling.
“Yer right!” She confidently declared as she stood up and clenched her fist in a determined manner. “I ain’t gonna let this dang video get the best of me!”
“That’s the spirit!” Sonata exclaimed as she too stood up, hoping that doing so would help keep Apple Bloom’s newfound positive energy up.
“Thanks, Sonata.” Apple Bloom gratefully said as she rushed around the desk and gave the Dazzling a hug. “Yer the best!”
In that moment, Sonata felt a warm glow in her heart. After having been called ‘the worst’ so many times in her life, it made her feel tremendously happy to have been called ‘the best’ for once.
“Don’t mention it.” She meekly said as she returned the hug, feeling like she might start crying tears of joy at any second.
The hug didn’t last long though, as soon the bell for first period rang.
“Uh-oh, Ah gotta go.” Apple Bloom frantically said as she let go of Sonata and ran towards the door. “Thanks again, Sonata! And Ah promise Ah won’t tell anyone about yer video!”
Sonata just silently waved goodbye to Apple Bloom as she left. Once she was gone, she plopped herself back into her seat a breathed a sigh of relief.
“Glad that ordeal’s over with.” She said to herself.
When lunchtime rolled around, Sonata went to the cafeteria as she usually did to have lunch with one or more of her friends. Today, she was having lunch with Maud Pie and her boyfriend, Mudbriar.
“I really need to find a new taco place.” The Dazzling begrudgingly commented as she looked down at her lunch.
“Why is that?” Maud asked in her usual stoic manner.
“Just looks at these, they’re terrible!” Sonata declared as she picked up a couple of tacos and held them out in front of her. “And this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten terrible tacos from El Vaquero either!”
“Technically, that isn’t a real taco.” Mudbriar chimed in.
As soon as Mudbriar said that, Sonata dropped the tacos in her hands and looked over at him with a deranged look in her eyes.
“What?” She asked with such fire and fury in her voice that it suggested she was going to go berserk.
Before Mudbriar could explain the difference between a street taco and an authentic, Mexican taco to Sonata, the sound of laughter drew the attention of the group over to a table located about halfway across the room.
“Hey, spaghetti girl, where’s your spaghetti?” Rover mockingly asked Apple Bloom as he, Spot, and Fido stood behind her while she ate her lunch.
“Yeah, where’s your spaghetti?” Spot just as mockingly reiterated.
Fido just chuckled.
“Don’t you three have anything better to do than pick on Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle, who was sitting to Apple Bloom’s right, sharply inquired.
“What she said.” Scootaloo, who was on Apple Bloom’s left, added as she stood up to face the three bullies. “Now why don’t you beat it before I beat you.”
“Scootaloo, it’s alright.” Apple Bloom gently told her friend as turned around, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.
All three bullies just laughed in response to Scootaloo’s threat.
“Alright, we’ll leave.” Rover derisively said just before he started to walk away. “See you later, spaghetti girl.”
“Yeah, see you later, spaghetti girl.” Spot said as he followed Rover.
Fido once again just chuckled as he followed Spot.
The whole scene made Sonata sick. Part of her wanted to intervene and stop it, but she knew better than to do so, as she knew how the high school social-ecological system worked. If she, a faculty member, had intervened, it would’ve stopped the incident at-hand, but it would’ve made Apple Bloom’s teasing worse in the long run, and that would be the last thing she wanted for her young friend.
As Sonata watched Apple Bloom go back to eating her lunch, she saw a pained expression on the girl’s face. It was clear that she was trying to not let the ‘spaghetti girl’ thing get the best of her, but the Dazzling could tell she was having a difficult time keeping her composure, even with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s support.
There has to be more I can do to help her. She thought to herself.
In an effort to focus her mind, Sonata closed her eyes and began to think harder than she’d ever thought before. She knew there was something more she could do for Apple Bloom, she just needed to find out what. It only took a few seconds of intense thought before she came up with something; a surefire thing she could do that would help Apple Bloom more than anything else, and she didn’t like it. Not one…little…bit.
“Oh phooey.” She dejectedly said aloud as she opened her eyes, accepting what she needed to do.
“What was that?” Maud asked.
“Oh, nothing.” Sonata merrily replied, promptly snapping out of her funk, as she stood up and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I just need to make a quick phone call. Excuse me.”
“Okay.” Maud said as her friend walked away.
Once Sonata was gone, Maud turned towards Mudbriar.
“When she comes back, don’t tell her whatever you were going to tell her about tacos.” She instructed her boyfriend.
“Very well.” Mudbriar replied.
It didn’t take Sonata long to find a quiet and isolated enough spot to make her phone call. After doing a few double-takes to make sure she was well and truly alone, she opened her contacts and made her call.
“Sonata?” Adagio’s voice came through the phone.
“Adagio, I need you to do me a favor.” She said.
The rest of the day was fairly quiet for Sonata, as no students had come to see her the whole afternoon. Despite how much she loved her job, she’d really been hoping not to see any more students after she’d made her call to Adagio at lunch. None had, but now it was the end of the day, and she was all but certain to see some as she left. Part of her contemplated just spending the night in her office, but she knew that wasn’t an option.
“No way around it.” She reluctantly told herself as she headed for the door. “Just gotta face the music.”
Once Sonata reached the door and grabbed the doorknob, she took a deep breath and prepared to cross the threshold into Hell.
Almost as soon as she entered the hallway, Sonata could hear the sounds of soft laughter directed at her. It wasn’t like earlier when she’d only thought all the laughter she was hearing was directed at her, this time there was no doubt about it.
“Hey, Jane Fonda!” A female voice called out to her as she finished locking up.
Sonata turned around to see a small group of female students staring and giggling at her. She didn’t know which among them had called out to her, but it didn’t really matter. All she did was put on a fake smile, give a little, friendly wave, and start making her way towards the foyer. As she passed through the hallway, practically every student she passed either looked at her funny, softly laughed at her, or both. In short, the fears she’d had at the beginning of the day had come to pass.
Just as Sonata reached the foyer though, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
“Sonata!” It said.
Sonata looked around saw Apple Bloom running towards her from the other end of the foyer.
“Apple Bloom?” She said just as the young girl reached her.
“Everyone’s talkin’ about yer video!” Apple Bloom alarmingly informed her. “But it’s not mah fault, Ah swear! Ah didn’t show it ta anyone!”
“I know you didn’t, Apple Bloom.” Sonata calmly told her. “Because I did.”
“What?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Well, technically Adagio was the one who started sharing it with everyone and encouraged them to do the same.” The Dazzling clarified. “But she only did that because I asked her to.”
“B-But why?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Yah said yerself that yer video was super embarrassing. Why on earth would yah put it out there like that fer everyone ta laugh at?”
Before Sonata answered, she bent forward a bit to be at eye level with apple Bloom.
“So that they’d stop laughing at you.” She agilely explained.
Apple Bloom had to take a step back because of how shocked she was from hearing Sonata’s explanation.
“W-What?” Was all she was able to say in her stunned state.
“I wasn’t lying when I said that embarrassing stuff eventually fades away into obscurity.” Sonata told her. “It’s just that that doesn’t usually happen until some other embarrassing thing comes along and replaces it.”
Tears started to form in the corners of Apple Bloom’s eyes as she started to understand what Sonata had done for her.
“I have no doubt that something would’ve come along to make everyone forget about your spaghetti video at some point.” Sonata continued. “I just figured I’d speed things along a bit.”
Unable to contain the growing emotions within her, Apple Bloom lunged forward and wrapped Sonata in a great, big hug.
“Y-Yah really are the b-best, Sonata!” She told the Dazzling through her tears.
Once again, being called ‘the best’ touched Sonata’s heart.
“Thanks, Apple Bloom.” She heartfully said back as she returned the hug. “You’re the best too.”
The hug was short lived, however, as soon Rover, Spot and Fido entered the foyer.
“Hey, dance girl, aren’t you going to dance for us?” Rover mockingly asked Sonata.
“Yeah, aren’t you going to dance for us?” Spot just as mockingly reiterated.
Fido just chuckled.
Realizing that the three bullies from earlier had returned, Sonata broke her hug with Apple Bloom and shot a piercing glare at the trio of troublemakers.
“First of all, you do know I’m a faculty member, right?” She pointedly asked them. “And second, you do know that asking me to dance for you can be construed as sexual harassment which would result in your expulsion, right?”
Without saying another word, Rover, Spot and Fido each made a hasty exit out the front doors.
“Wow, that was amazing!” Apple Bloom remarked, impressed by Sonata’s ability to get rid of those three dunderheads.
“Eh, it was nothing.” Sonata humbly replied.
Just then, a thought entered Apple Bloom’s mind.
“Um, Sonata.” She said.
“Hm?” The Dazzling uttered.
“Would yah…maybe like ta come over fer dinner tonight?” The young girl meekly asked. “Yah know, as a thank you fer everything today. Ah’m sure Granny wouldn’t mind.”
Admittedly, Sonata was caught a little off-guard by Apple Bloom’s offer. She wasn’t all that accustomed to receiving such high levels of kindness, and even though she had a doubt or two about accepting, she just couldn’t say no to her young friend.
“Sure, I’d love to join you for dinner.” She graciously accepted.
“Great!” Apple Bloom exclaimed just before grabbing Sonata’s hand. “Come on!”
“Whoa!” Sonata uttered as Apple Bloom started rushing towards the front door with her in-tow.
Even though she was currently being dragged around, Sonata couldn’t help but feel a small smile start to grow on her face.
Today wasn’t fine. She thought to herself. Today was better than fine.