//------------------------------//
// The Sunrise Sonata, Part 2 
// Story: The Evening Sonata 
// by Daniel-Gleebits 
//------------------------------//

The Sunrise Sonata Pt2


Sonata Dusk

The train left the station at 7:00am. The morning was crisp, cool, but bright and bearing a sky devoid of clouds. It promised a warm day, a sunny day, a day where people not so taken up with their little lives as to look up would likely smile and feel their hearts lift to see such a glorious morning.
The day seemed like an insult to her. It mocked her feelings and the situation of her sister. 





“We’ll be there in a few hours,” said a tender voice. Sonata dragged her eyes away from the landscape moving rapidly across the skyline, and fixed onto the girl sitting next to her. Her eyebrows were puckered into a slight frown, her bright blue eyes fixed on her own with affection. Or perhaps, that was just what Sonata saw there. “I’m sure everything will be alright.”
“Geez,” Rainbow said, across from them. “I’m still having trouble thinking about it.”
“Shouldn’t you be studying?” Sunset asked, eyeing her beadily. 
“I guess,” Rainbow said peevishly. “I’m just kinda... surprised, I guess,” she finished. She did look it. 
Sunset had told Rainbow the fine points of what had happened as they sat down, when Rainbow had finally asked why Sonata was coming too. Sonata was glad that Sunset didn’t go into any particularly fine points on the matter.
The details about Aria remained hazy to say the least. As far as Sonata knew, Adagio had been contacted by the hospital in Baltimore where Aria was being treated, and informed of what had happened in accordance with details on the police reports. She’d been found in the street just over a week ago bleeding and unconscious, apparently having been stabbed in the gut. Subsequently rushed to the hospital, she’d been in a coma until yesterday when the hospital management had successfully discovered Adagio’s place of residence in Applewood and contacted her.
This information had been passed to Sonata the previous evening by a clearly shocked Adagio over the phone. Sonata found that she had little memory of what had happened between the phone call and Sunset’s appearance.
“I didn’t think that I’d cry for her so much,” Sonata said, tonelessly. Sunset squeezed her hand.
“Oh come on, you guys are friends,” Rainbow said, waving an airy hand. “Of course you’re going to cry about it. You’d be the worst kind of scum if you didn’t,” she concluded. Sunset hissed something to her about being tactless.
“It’s okay,” Sonata said, still in her shell-shocked voice. “She’s right. S-She’s my sister. Whatever happened in the past between us, it hardly matters now.” She tried to give what she hoped was a cheerfully confident smile, but she wasn’t sure it came across that way. Sunset’s expression was just a little too understanding.





Sonata’s opinion of herself had improved under the ministrations of Sunset Shimmer and her new friends. She laughed out loud to herself when she thought of her and her sister’s attempts to conquer the world. They seemed like memories of another person, somehow unconnected to her and her current life. Pretentious, nonsense plans concocted by three silly girls whose opinion of themselves far exceeded their capabilities.
Sunset Shimmer had saved her, she was sure of it, saved her from committing the worst mistake that she could have made in her life: ending it. She sometimes dreamed, stretched out on her futon in the dark hours of the night, of herself on that roof. Nightmares of the fall, the broken body, the lonely grave that no one visited or thought about. How lonely she felt during those sleepless nights.
But these night time horrors never managed to pervade her daytime activities. She enjoyed her job, her hobbies, and her friends; and as their closeness to her grew ever stronger, her old quirky naiveté reasserted itself. She had people to love, and people to love her, and slowly but surely the scars healed over. 
But if this had been a journey of single steps taken towards happiness, the phone call yesterday had been a trap door leading back to step one. Thoughts of her sisters had long since stopped giving her that churning feeling in her stomach that reminded her of her dark memories, but the thought of Aria hurt or even dead had reawakened the fears she associated with that blackest period of her life. Self-doubt, tentativeness, and suspicion.
As the train drew her closer and closer to where she knew Aria to be, these fears closed in on her, dampening down her rekindled whimsical cheeriness, and bringing instead cold silences and concealed worry.





The train trundled across the vast fields of Philadelphia, the wide open tracts of farmland that served as the bread basket of the cities all around stretching seemingly endlessly. The train on its long, narrow tracks seemed like a single, out of place piece of city life stretching out like a giant clockwork artery, carrying life-giving blood from city to city. Again, Sonata was struck by the normality of the day, of the utter indifference the world had as a whole to her and her suffering. At least this time, she reflected with no little feeling of solace, she had friends to help her through it. 
The train pulled into a city much different from the one that she knew and had lived in for months now. The station was loaded with people walking this way and that, apparently unaware or unconcerned with the other people going about their own business. In several places Sonata saw beggars sitting against walls, cardboard signs with illegible scrawl pleading for food and money. Sonata felt her insides begin to tighten at the sight of them, but tried to push away the memories that they arose.
“So where’s the hospital?” Rainbow asked, trying not to get buffeted by passing pedestrians. 
“I think we should check over there,” Sunset said, pointing to a tall sign bearing a detailed city map. Ignoring a man in a fedora huffing and tutting at them from behind, they traced a line through the city’s streets to the general hospital where Aria was allegedly being treated.
“It’s not too far away,” Rainbow said, frowning. “But I don’t like the looks of these streets here,” she pointed at some of the route they’d chosen. “I think we should avoid those.”
“Agreed,” Sunset said. “I think we should stick to the main roads. Oh, and here’s the testing centre,” she pointed to a small square bearing a symbol of an open book.
“Sweet!” Rainbow enthused. “That’s only five streets over.”
They soon found, much less to Sonata’s surprise than their own, that Baltimore was a strangely organised city. Most roads were one-way roads, which meant that in order to get to one’s destination, one had to drive three quarters around a single road and double back in order to get on the road that you needed to be on. This presumably helped with the traffic congestion in some mysterious way, but Sonata could tell all of the people unfamiliar with the city by their taught and irritable expressions as they drove by. She had travelled a lot in those days when she and her sister’s magic was weak, trying to find something to do, somewhere to go. Trying to make a plan.
Even on the main roads beggars sat or walked the streets, asking for change or trying to explain their circumstances to passersby. Sonata didn’t need Rainbow’s warning to know not to talk back to them, but it still made her uncomfortable.
“When is your test time, Rainbow?” Sunset asked.
“Um... eleven o’clock it says here,” she said, pulling out her admissions ticket. 
“You should probably get over to the testing centre first then. It’s about ten now.”
Rainbow looked at both of them with concern. “You two sure? I could come visit with you for a few minutes first.” She was looking at Sonata more. Sonata tried to smile.
“No, it’s fine. Go do your test.”
With obvious reservations about leaving them, Rainbow marched off down the street, looking back once or twice through the crowd.
Sonata stood in front of the hospital, looking up at its tall and imposing girth. The building was modern, rounded, and a creamy colour with the words Baltimore General Hospital in large black letters over the entrance. It stood a little inland from the coast, the faint smell of salt and sea rolling over them with every gust of spring breeze. Something inside her was holding her back, stopping her take that step across the little road to the hospital doors. 
She felt a hand intertwine with her own, and she looked down.
“You ready?” Sunset asked, gently. A little numbly, Sonata nodded.





Sonata didn’t believe that she would have been able to go into the hospital if Sunset wasn’t with her. One hand clasped gently in the warm grip of the girl next to her, the other clutching her art folder to her side, they crossed the threshold of the hospital, and were immediately met by the smell of antiseptic soap and old people. A fresh wave of uncertainty rolled over her. No she thought. I’ve come this far. It’s Aria after all; I have to see her.
Taking a more decisive step forward, she led the way to the reception desk, where a family were standing. The mother, who was talking, had a child over her shoulder, who stared at Sonata as though with great interest. It stretched out pudgy little hands as though trying to grasp her face.
“Hi little guy,” Sonata smiled, letting the baby grasp her finger. The baby drooled questioningly at her, then let out a little baby cackle and shook her finger happily.
“Next,” said the man at the reception desk. The woman moved away, imperiously ushering her other children ahead. Sonata and Sunset stepped forward.
“How may I help you?” the man asked distractedly, scribbling something into a clip-file.
“We’re here to see Aria Blaze,” Sonata said, her heart tightening in her chest. The man glanced up, then pulled forward a small keyboard. Tapping on it for a second, he inhaled suddenly and muttered an audible “Oh,” as though he were looking at something painful.
“Is she alright?” Sonata asked, feeling cold.
“Third floor, ward twenty three,” he said, jabbing with a ballpoint pen in the direction of a floor guide. “ER recovery centre.”
Sonata’s heart twisted at the sound of ‘ER’. “Is she okay?” Sonata demanded, grasping hold of the desk. 
“I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you,” the receptionist said, reading his clip-file again and sounding quite disinterested. Sonata felt a lick of anger wash against her chest. She opened her mouth to say something, but Sunset forestalled her.
“Thanks,” she said, gently pushing Sonata ahead of her and moving away. “I know you’re worried Sonata—“ 
“He didn’t even care!” Sonata snapped. 
“I’m sure he just has a lot of work to do,” Sunset soothed, making motions for Sonata to lower her voice. “I think his job just desensitises him a little. They must have lots of patients here.”
“But he didn’t even know if she was okay,” Sonata said, angrily blinking back tears. 
“We’ll see in a minute, won’t we? After all, she’s in the recovery centre. That must mean she’s recovering, obviously.”
Sonata knew that Sunset was trying to be kind and uplifting, but it just wasn’t working. She just felt sick, images in her head of Aria lying comatose in a bed, connected to all sorts of machines and readouts. The journey up to the third floor didn’t help either. Signs either side of the lift doors spelt out an ominous message of antiseptic doom:

3rd Floor

Operating Rooms B - C
Decontamination Chamber
Intensive Care Unit
ER Recovery Wards

Operating rooms? Intensive Care? Decontamination? Horrible images sloshed around in her mind of Aria on an operating table, men and women in blue hospital attire holding up sharp implements over her immobile, fragile form. 
Sonata swallowed down her imaginary fears. They would do her no good. 
They stepped around a corner into mild human traffic, dodged out of the way of a bed being pushed speedily down a wide corridor, and finally found themselves in another corridor filled with sliding glass doors. 
“Nineteen... twenty one...” Sunset mumbled into the relative silence. They stopped in front of the window to ward twenty three, the blinds of which obscured the inside. Sunset looked at Sonata solicitously. “Are you okay? Do you need a minute?”
“No, I’m fine,” Sonata said briskly. She coughed once or twice, and then forced a smile. “I’m fine, really. Let’s go.” So saying, she knocked gently on the door herself.
In the silence the gentle taps were enough to sound through the corridor, but no answer came. Sonata peered around the side of the blinds, Sunset appearing above her to look in as well. The interior of the room was dark, the blinds covering the windows having been turned to block the light. Nonetheless they could still see a figure lying on the bed.
“On second thought,” Sonata said. “If she’s sleeping, maybe we shouldn’t—“
“Come on,” Sunset interrupted, taking hold of Sonata’s forearm as she tried to turn away. With her other hand she slid the door open. 





Aria did not stir at first when Sunset pulled Sonata firmly into the room. Sonata stood with her insides writhing and her brain seemingly trying to roll around in her skull. She pulled absently on her ponytail, unable to look away from the figure on the bed. 
After several moments of high quality dithering, Sunset tried to make the first move. Doing so made Sonata jump; her sketch pad tumbled from her hand and crashed to the floor, sounding a great deal louder than usual in the near total silence of the room. The figure in the bed stirred.
Sonata’s writhing insides disappeared, as though a hole had dropped them clean out of her, leaving her hollow. Aria sat up slowly in her bed, and rubbing her eyes, flipped the lights on. Sonata stared at her. 
Her face was sunken, almost emaciated with dark shadows under her eyes, and paler skin than Sonata ever remembered her having. Her hair, down out of its usual pigtails, was equally discoloured, as though somehow bleached of its former bright vitality. The arm and hand she raised to rub at her eyes with were thin, the skin covered in a patina of half-healed cuts and bruises.
She blinked at them blearily for a moment or two, and then seemed to find Sonata. Then she looked at Sunset.
“Huh,” she said, her voice groggy. “Thought it was worth waking up for a moment there.”
“Aria?” Sonata asked, cautiously. 
“Yeah?” Aria looked at her, as though expecting her to say more.
“Err... how are you?” 
Aria gave her a slightly annoyed look. “How do I look?” she asked, spreading her arms. She looked at Sunset again.
“What’re you doing here?”
“I’m here with Sonata,” Sunset said, frowning slightly with her arms folded. Aria gave a small chuckle.
“You friends now?” she asked. Sonata thought she heard a tone of derisive humour in the question, but she ignored it.
“We’re roommates,” she said, trying to inject a little of her usual cheeriness into her voice. Aria laughed a little harder at that, though it seemed to cost her. She bent forward suddenly and coughed a little.
“Can you pass me that?” Aria asked, pointing to a glass of water on the side table. Sonata hastily passed it to her. Sipping the water she looked between them “Roommates, huh?” she shook her head and grinned as though the idea was just too funny. “That’s just... just wow.”
Sonata frowned uncertainly, glancing sideways at Sunset Shimmer.
“We came to see how you are,” Sunset said. Sonata heard coldness in her voice that she didn’t quite understand. “Adagio called us from Applewood.”
Aria’s jaw tightened. “She’s doing well for herself,” she sneered. “What happened to you?” she asked Sonata suddenly. “Adagio dump you off with her before she went?” she jerked her head at Sunset.
Sonata couldn’t think of a reply to this. She felt a vaguely familiar fear creeping over her, inside her. She could only stare at Aria with her mouth slightly open. Sunset on the other hand was in complete control of herself. Face flushed with colour, she was glaring at Aria as though she wanted to slap her.
“So what happened to you, anyway?” she asked, her tone colder than ever. Aria’s look of unconcern cracked, and she directed a warning eye at Sunset Shimmer.
“Don’t see what that’s got to do with you,” she replied, her tone calm, but if anything even icier than Sunset’s.
“Adagio said that you’d been stabbed,” Sonata intoned, clutching at the subject like a drowning person at a flotation ring.
“Yeah,” Aria made a sharp sound of disgust between her teeth. “Three times,” she said, pushing her covers down and exposing a ring of bandages around her abdomen. “And the doctor’s say they broke my legs too.”
“You don’t remember your legs getting broken?” Sunset asked, dispassionately. 
“Your powers of recollection kinda dim a little when you’ve lost a few pints of blood,” Aria replied, scathingly. “So I guess the boss was too busy to come see me then, if she sent you two to come instead,” she went on, her voice positively drenched in sarcasm. “Prissy, know-it-all, good-for-nothing...“ she growled under her breath.
“She’s only been there for a few months,” Sonata said, feeling she should defend Adagio. “Applewood’s the other side of the country, so I don’t think she could make it with—“
“Yeah, I know where Applewood is, okay?” Aria snapped. Sonata shut her mouth.
“She’s just explaining why Adagio didn’t come,” Sunset snapped back, her arms unfolding. 
“Shut up,” Aria growled. “What kind of gall do you have, of all people in this miserable little world, to come here and see me like this?”
“To be frank, if I’d known how much of an ungrateful child you’d be, I wouldn’t have bothered. I only came here to support Sonata.” 
Aria’s lip curled into an unpleasant grimace. “You her nanny or something? Moron though she definitely is, I don’t think she needs you to hold her hand to buy a train ticket.”
Sonata felt utterly helpless at this point. At Aria calling Sonata a moron, Sunset’s eyes flashed with fiery rage. She took a step forward, raising her right hand, Sonata putting out her own hand to stop her, when the door behind her slid open again.
Through the door stepped a tall, wiry man in a long white coat, a wide smile plastered on his face, and a short sprig of curly hair on his head.
“Oh, what’s this?” he said cheerily. “I didn’t know you had visitors coming.” His smile remained, but Sonata could tell somehow that he wasn’t expecting them, and that for some reason their being there was a small problem. He held a tray of food in his hands.
“Oh sweet, lunch!” Aria said enthusiastically. The doctor moved passed the two girls and set the tray on a sliding table next to the bed, which Aria eagerly jumped on.
“Well your appetite’s a good sign,” the doctor smiled, giving off that typical doctor-ish optimism. “Very good; you’ll have your strength back in no time. So, are you two family?” he asked politely, turning to Sonata and Sunset.
“Sort of,” Sonata said, awkwardly. “I’m her sister. This is my roommate.”
“Oh good,” the doctor said. Pulling a folded piece of paper from his front pocket, he turned to Aria. “Now that you’re awake, we have a few things to run over, and I didn’t know if you wanted to...” he looked inquiringly between Aria and the other two, letting his sentence hang.
“Just say what you have to say, doc,” Aria said between frenzied mouthfuls. Sonata’s gaze lingered uncomfortably on Aria’s pale skin and slightly sunken cheeks, and she guessed that she hadn’t been eating well since she’d last seen her.
“Right-o then,” he said. “Well, we think that your stab wounds will make a full recovery with time. The stitches will dissolve after a while, so there’s no worry there, but that means they’re a bit fragile so, no strenuous exercise for a few weeks.” He cleared his throat. “Second thing; do you have any insurance or means of paying for your treatment?” 
“I’m homeless,” Aria said, baldly. The doctor’s eyes flicked to her and back.
“I see,” he said, his voice becoming rather less chipper than before. “Well, of course your life-threatening injuries have been attended to, so...” he paused, as though he had something unfortunate to communicate. Aria seemed to sense this, and narrowed her eyes.
“So what?” she asked. 
The doctor hesitated a moment or two more. Sonata felt her heart being squeezed in her chest as the ominous miasma of impending bad news filled the room. Even Sunset looked a little troubled by the suddenly dimming atmosphere.
“The issue,” the doctor continued. “The issue is that the law requires us to treat you in life-threatening situations,” he said uncomfortably. “We can’t very well let you die, heh heh. Unfortunately, without insurance or any known means of payment, the hospital isn’t required to offer you any further assistance.”
“Are you kicking me out?” Aria asked, her voice angry and trembling.
“No, no,” the doctor said quickly. “You’ll remain until we deem you sufficiently healed to leave. The only problem is, well...” he stepped to the end of her bed and pulled out three X-rays, and set them on a wall-placed light screen. Clearing his throat again he switched it on and indicated the first X-ray.
“As you can see,” he indicated the two main bones of the lower leg, which had clearly been severed in one or two places. “The basic procedure for repairing broken bones is of course to realign them and allow them to heal on their own. The problem however is, ah, here,” he moved his finger to the worst of the breaks. “This area I’m afraid has been damaged to a point where we don’t believe it will be able to heal naturally.”
“What does that mean?” Sonata demanded before Aria could speak, feeling cold inside. The doctor bit his lip.
“Under usual circumstances, a simple surgery would be performed to aid in the healing process and maintain the bone’s realignment, but as matters stand... allowing the bones to heal naturally would very likely cause an irregularity in the leg.”
“Like, I’ll have a limp or something?” Aria asked, her throat sounding very dry.
“At the least, yes,” the doctor confirmed. “The level of damage was so intense that there’s also a good chance the bone may become permanently brittle. You may never be able to walk on it again.”
Aria sat unmoving, apparently unable to speak. 
“Like, ever?” Sonata asked, terrified. The doctor looked quite uncomfortable. 
“I’m afraid so. It may be that without the surgery and accompanying rehabilitation, you will find it very difficult to walk. Perhaps, even impossible.”
After a few moments, he turned off the screen. Biting his lip, he asked if Aria had any questions. She didn’t answer him, but continued to stare into space.
“Can’t you give her the surgery?” Sonata asked. The doctor scratched his chin.
“The hospital won’t allow it if she can’t pay for it,” the doctor said, quietly, not meeting her eye. “The issue is not classified as a life-threatening condition.”
“But she won’t be able to walk!” Sonata cried. “You can’t do that to her!” she said grasping his sleeve. He tried to pull back.
“Miss, please let go of me,” he said firmly, trying to pry off her clutching hand.
“You can’t!” Sonata wailed. “It’s not fair!” 
“Sonata, stop!” Sunset took hold of her shoulders and tried to pull her away.
“No!”
“Please, miss, calm down.”
“Sonata...” Aria muttered.
Sonata looked around at her, freezing in mid pull. “A-Aria?”
“Could you...” she swallowed, and it looked difficult. “Could you please leave?” 
Sonata stared at her for a moment. The doctor managed to tug his sleeve from her slackened grip.
“But...” Sonata began, but found she couldn’t think of anything to say. 
Sighing a little, Sunset whispered in her ear “Come on, let’s go meet up with Rainbow, see if she’s finished with her test.”
“No!” Sonata cried. “We can’t leave her like this!” She turned to the doctor. “How much is the surgery?”
The doctor hesitated, his mouth open slightly. “Well,” he said, looking to the side, then scratching his chin again. “There’s a number of factors to be considered.”
“Please get out,” Aria said, a little louder than before.
“Sunset, we could get the money, couldn’t we?” Sonata asked desperately.
Sunset looked pale. “Well, I don’t—“
The situation in the room became somewhat frantic. The doctor was trying to outline the reasons why he couldn’t give a definite figure, whilst Sonata tried fiercely to get Sunset to agree to help. All conversation ended however as Aria erupted into fury.
“GET OUT!” she screamed, furious tears in her dark-rimmed eyes. “Get out or I’ll—“ her threat was cut off mid-shriek as Aria’s back seemed to seize up. Suddenly thrust forward by the force of the spasm, she vomited a great deal of blood over the side of her bed, a growing dark stain appearing rapidly on the bandages around her middle.
The doctor shunted Sonata and Sunset aside as he leapt towards the bed.
“I need help in here!” he shouted as the monitor next to Aria’s bed began to beep loudly.
“Aria!” Sonata howled, trying to leap forward as well, but as three or four nurses bolted into the room and surrounded the bed, Sunset grabbed her around the middle and held her back. “Aria! Aria!” Sonata wailed.
“Get them out!” the doctor ordered the fifth nurse, who shepherded them out and closed the blinds. Sonata threw herself at the door, ignoring Sunset’s attempts to hold her back.
“You can’t do anything now,” Sunset said, shakily.
Pressed against the glass, her breathing shallow and ragged, Sonata’s world seemed to spin. She remained like that for she didn’t know how long, listening to the discordant sounds from inside. The frantic beeping of the machines, the muffled voices of the doctor and nurses, the horrible gargling sounds of Aria choking on her own blood.
As all of this washed over her, thoughts of the conversation they’d just had, and all of her dredged up feelings festering since the previous night, an odd sense of coolness and sharpness overcame her mind. She suddenly felt an unaccountable need for some kind of action.
“No,” she whispered. “No. I’m going to do something about this.”
Sunset blinked, surprised. “Um... you have an idea?”
“No,” Sonata pushed herself off the door, trying to get the floor to stop warping beneath her feet. “No I don’t, but” she paused, looking at Sunset, who was giving her a look of some concern. “Rainbow,” she said, pointing at Sunset as though she’d just said something that might help.
“She’s probably in the testing centre still,” Sunset said, as though wondering why Sonata would bring that up.
“No, we need Rainbow,” Sonata breathed, an idea so huge, so overpowering, it seemed to press against the inside of her weary brain. “We need our friends. I know what to do. We need to...” she trailed off, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Then she turned, and ran up the corridor. Sunset jumped at the sudden movement and called after her. Picking up Sonata’s art folder from in front of the sliding door, she pelted off in pursuit.
“Sonata? Sonata, where are you going?”


- To be Continued