The Sunrise Sonata Pt4
Sonata Dusk
When Rainbow Dash expressed her opinion of how similar Sonata Dusk and Pinkie Pie really were, she had no lasting conception of how true this statement was. If Pinkie, Sonata, and Pinkie’s sister Maud were all sitting at a bar, a stranger might be forgiven for thinking that Sonata and Pinkie were the sisters, and Maud the hanger on.
Pinkie Pie’s birthday party was in full swing by the time Sonata and Rainbow got there, and whilst Rainbow Dash excused herself to make some quick phone calls, Sonata dived head first into the fun as Pinkie enthusiastically called her to join in. Sonata was happy for the moments she was allowed to make kids laugh with her ditzy one-liners, play the fall-puppet in Pinkie’s Punch and Judy Theatre, and out-eating Pinkie Pie when it came to the birthday cake.
“I’ve already had five cakes today!” Pinkie Pie called out defiantly, as Sonata proclaimed victory and the kids all around cheered like a conquering army.
“Losers weepers!” Sonata laughed.
“Two out of Three!” Pinkie announced, stamping one foot onto the table and leaning on it like an action movie hero. Sonata stood up too, her expression confident.
“Challenge accepted!” she declared, pointing a victorious finger at Pinkie.
They both turned to the counter, where Mr. and Mrs. Cake were looking pale, as though they knew what was coming.
“Bring on the cake!” both competitors cried, to an accompanying cheer from the crowd of children. Mr. And Mrs. Cake gulped, audibly.
By the time everyone else arrived at Sugarcube Corner, and the excitable children had been led away by tired parents, Sonata and Pinkie were both essentially too full to move, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake were looking wan. Sunset arrived last, Sonata noticed looking rather distracted, to find Rainbow Dash and Applejack laughing and poking at the two cake monsters whilst Rarity and Fluttershy sat back taking no notice.
“Hey Sunset,” Sonata wheezed, rubbing her stomach. “You look tired.”
“Huh?” Sunset said, sitting down. “Oh, um, yeah. It’s been kind of a long day, hasn’t it?”
Sonata nodded in agreement. “Want some chocolate cake?”
“Hey,” Pinkie burped. “That’s cheating. You have to eat it all yourself.”
“No, I’m good,” Sonata groaned. “You win.”
“Woo~” Pinkie breathed, raising trembling arms and slipping sideways onto the floor. “Still... cake... queen...”
“Unless you can’t keep it down,” Rainbow grinned, poking her distended stomach.
“Don’t tell her that!” Pinkie moaned, belching and looking distinctly green.
“Anyway,” Applejack said, pulling Rainbow upright to stop her making a mess out of Pinkie Pie. “So what’s going on? Rainbow said it was urgent we all talk.”
With a little help, Sonata eased herself up in her seat, and proceeded between gentle sips of water to explain what had happened to Aria, their trip there that day, and how things stood at present.
“Oh, the poor dear,” Fluttershy sniffed, dabbing at her cheeks with a napkin.
“What a dreadful position to be in,” Rarity said, shakily. “I can’t imagine not being able to walk again, and with no home to go to or friends to take care of her.”
“So I suppose we have a plan of some sort to help out, then?” Applejack asked, frowning seriously. Pinkie mumbled something in the affirmative from under the table, but no one heard what it was.
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow grinned. “Wait until you hear this.” She looked pointedly at Sonata.
Everyone looked around at her, Pinkie for good measure sliding beneath the table and easing herself with all the verve of a wounded snail to lean onto the bench. Sonata took a deep breath.
“My idea is...” she looked around at the faces of her friends, all eagerness and polite expectation. Not a single hint of doubt. “My idea is to hold a fundraising concert.” The entire group other than Rainbow and Sunset looked appropriately surprised. “On top of our apartment building.”
Several moments of silence went by, after which Rainbow broke the tension. “Awesome, huh?” she said with satisfaction, for all the world that it was her that suggested it.
“A concert?” Rarity asked, looking uncertain. “What do you mean, darling?”
“I mean, you guys play songs to a crowd of people who then give us money.”
“Yes,” Rarity said with a little laugh. “Yes, I got that part.”
“What else do you need to know?” Rainbow asked.
“Well fer one,” Applejack put in. “We’ll need a permit from the city for that. Not to mention from Sunset and Sonata’s landlord. That Filthy Rich ain’t exactly known for his generosity.”
“Doesn’t your family do business with him?” Rainbow asked.
“Exactly,” Applejack said, darkly. “We know how he is better than most. So what do we know about getting a permit at least?”
Sonata felt uncomfortable to be the centre of attention when she had no answer. She glanced at Sunset, who seemed to still be distracted by something.
“Sunset?” she said. “Are you okay?” Sunset looked up as though coming out of a reverie.
“What?”
“You were looking up that stuff, weren’t you?” Rainbow asked, leaning across the table. “About the permit and stuff.”
“Oh!” Sunset cleared her throat slightly. “Yeah. Erm, we can get one I should think. If I put in a request now it says we could do it in two weeks since we’d be operating on private property. We’d only need a permit to overcome the noise ordinance.”
“Well that’s that then,” Rainbow said. “And all of you guys are up for it, aren’t you?”
They all nodded and answered in the affirmative. Pinkie raised a hand slowly over the table top and gave a shaky thumbs-up.
“Then what’s left to sort out?” Rainbow asked, confidently.
“Money,” Applejack said, baldly. “We’ll need money to get equipment and stuff. Also Filthy Rich is gonna want payment to use his property.”
“You really don’t like him, do you?” Rarity observed.
“T’ain’t a matter of liking him,” Applejack said. “He’s a businessman, and a good one. That means he ain’t always entirely straight with you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Sunset said, confidently. “I’ll deal with Filthy.”
“He prefers Rich,” Applejack pointed out, her lip curling.
“I know he does,” Sunset smiled too. “But you’re right. The money for setting everything up is going to be the biggest problem. Vinyl might be able to help us out with some cheaper equipment to rent.”
Sonata didn’t like doing it, but she knew that Sunset was the best qualified person to deal with this sort of administrative thing. She wanted with all her heart to help her, but understood from long experience that intentions to help were all well and good, but that her inability to do so would more likely than not simply mean that she got in the way.
“Well, can’t we pool some resources?” Rarity asked. “Surely we all have something to put towards this?”
Everyone looked awkward. None of them really did. Applejack’s allowance was pitifully small. Rainbow Dash’s father managed her money, and Fluttershy donated the vast majority of hers to her animal centre. Pinkie Pie was a little less frugal than the rest of them, and so honestly couldn’t say she had a penny to put forward.
“Well, I’ll have a think about it,” Sunset said. She frowned thoughtfully for a few moments, and raised her eyebrows as though something were coming to her.
“You got somethin’, sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
“Maybe. I’ll get back to you on it. It might be worth following up on.”
“Okay,” Rainbow said, decisively. “So that aside for the moment, what about songs?”
“One moment, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity put in. “What about advertisement? It’s no good holding a concert if no one knows that we’re playing.”
“I have the advertising part covered,” Sonata said to general surprise.
“You do?” Rarity asked, her astonishment audible in her tone. “I mean, err... that’s good! What did you have in mind?” She giggled nervously.
“Well, I don’t know if it’ll work yet. I’ll need Pinkie’s help, and I need her to do me a huge favour. And if it works, I’ll need your help too, Rarity.”
“W... whatever you... need...” Pinkie writhed.
“Other than that, I can design posters.”
“And the distribution access comes with the permit, so we’re clear there.” Sunset added.
“Now can we discuss songs?” Rainbow asked, plaintively.
“What about costumes?” Rarity asked, enthusiastically. One or two people gave an audible groan, although one of them might just have been Pinkie repressing a burp. “What?” Rarity asked indignantly. “We can’t possibly wear the same ones as last time.”
“Why don’t y’all have a think about it and get back to us,” Applejack said in a tired voice. It seemed to be taking a great deal of her patience to maintain her cool.
“Songs?” Rainbow asked blithely, after a short pause of Rarity fuming and Applejack sighing.
“I have a few we could try,” Fluttershy put in tentatively. “I mean, if you want to, you understand.”
“Flutters and me will come up with something,” Rainbow Dash assured. “Well, that’s everything, right?” she smiled around at everyone, all of whom seemed to agree. “Right. Now did someone mention cake?”
“Hurph!” Pinkie gagged under the table.
Sonata arrived back home much later than Sunset did. Her roommate jumped right off her seat as the door to the apartment flew open and hit the wall, followed by a pink and blue boot.
“Right in here!” came Pinkie’s high-pitched squeals.
A veritable wall of neatly folded canvas pressed against the door frame. With a PFFFFT!, it squeezed through the doorway and roved across the ground towards her. Sonata appeared behind the floating pile, along with Pinkie Pie, and they beamed innocently at Sunset’s look of shock.
“Sonata. What is that?” she asked.
“That’s Pinkie’s sister,” she answered. A wall-shaking crash boomed through the room as the pile of canvas was dropped flatly onto the floor. A grey face with parmaviolet-coloured hair and Pinkie’s bright blue eyes slid sideways from behind the canvas, casting an aura of tense gloom upon the room.
“Thanks Maud!” Pinkie sang, evidently not troubled in the least. “You’re the best sister ever!”
“Thanks,” Maud said, monotonously. “See you later,” she added in the same dull tone, exiting the room.
“She’s so helpful,” Pinkie squeed.
“And freaky strong too,” Sonata added. “That canvas weighs a ton.”
“You should see her throw rocks,” Pinkie said, seriously. “I’ll be by later with the paint, okay?”
“Thanks Pinkie. You da best!”
“No, you da best!”
They launched their fists together in an epic bro-fist. Which missed by miles. Sunset tried to hold in a snort, but it shot out of her nose.
Once Pinkie had left, Sonata bounced onto the sofa, crossed her legs and smiled at Sunset.
“Where’d you put my sketchpad?” she asked.
“Here,” Sunset said quickly, handing it to her. Before Sonata could say a word she returned instantly to her laptop. Sonata frowned slightly as she thought she saw Sunset blushing, but shrugged it off as she opened her pad.
“I’ve got some designs to do,” she said cosily, edging up to Sunset and peering at her screen. “What you up to?”
“Trying to see if I can get my employers to fund us.”
“Your employers?” Sonata asked. Then she started. “Wait, you work?”
“Of course I work,” Sunset laughed. She looked at Sonata incredulously. “How do you think I pay my half of the rent?”
Sonata had to admit that she had a point there. “So, what do you do?”
“I’m the web master and accountant for The Flim Flam Brothers' Everything-Under-The-Sun Emporium.”
“Huh!?” Sonata exclaimed.
“Believe it or not, I am an adult by Equestrian terms. I was an accountant besides Princess Celestia’s student. The website making thing I learned at school and online.”
“Huh...” Sonata said again, though more subdued. “But you’re still a teenager here.”
“Yeee-ah,” Sunset said, slowly. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone this was my job,” she smiled knowingly.
“Wait a second,” Sonata said, holding up both hands. “You work for those two guys who own the pawn shop?”
“Well it’s not exactly a pawn shop. They’re not registered—“
“Those guys swindled me out of my favourite jacket!”
Sonata went on for a little while about “those two jerks!”, and Sunset let her do it whilst she tended to the paperwork for the scheme. Within an hour, Sonata had settled down, rifled out three or four poster designs, and had begun work on her master plan. The coup de grâce of this whole enterprise. She was so enamoured in her own little world that she didn’t notice the side glances Sunset kept giving her every few minutes.
“What do you think of these?” she asked finally, as Sunset surfed the news.
“I like this one,” Sunset said thoughtfully, after considering the four designs. It featured a vertical slope of their band, with Rainbow and Sunset at the front singing and playing, and Pinkie at the back on the drums, their other friends in between. The legend The Rainbooms was decked out over the top.
“Okay,” Sonata replied.
“Although I’d change the font of the writing to something that goes more with the clothing and background. Thinking on the clothing actually, you might want to check with Rarity and draw the clothes she makes us.”
Sonata scribbled some notes about Sunset’s advice on the back of the page and tucked them all away. She went to get up, but Sunset began to speak again.
“Hey, Sonata. Can I ask you something?”
“That kinda counted as asking me something,” Sonata grinned.
“Oh, I deserved that one, didn’t I?” Sunset smiled, looking less tense. “Well, I just wanted to ask, erm... do you have... anyone you like?”
“I like lots of people,” Sonata said, puzzled.
“No, I mean...” she paused and said something under her breath. Perhaps should have seen that coming. “I mean, someone you fancy. Someone, you know, you like-like.”
Sonata blinked. The term was not familiar to her, to be honest. “Do you mean, is there someone I’m in love with?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said, sheepishly.
“Lots of people used to love me,” Sonata said, a little sadly. “I made them do it, so I suppose it doesn’t really count. But I’ve never been in love with someone, I don’t think.”
“Oh,” Sunset said. Her eyes were fixed on her computer screen, but they didn’t move.
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason, really. I just wondered.”
Sonata raised an eyebrow. “What made you wonder?” When no answer came, she asked “Is there someone you like-like?”
Sunset didn’t answer immediately. She seemed to mull the question over seriously, opening her mouth with great deliberation. “I... don’t know.”
“You don’t know if there’s someone that you like?” Sonata asked. This made no sense to her. Surely you either liked someone or you didn’t. Right?
“Well, I’m not sure how they feel, so I’m not sure how I feel,” Sunset elaborated, dully. She sat back on the sofa and folded her arms, looking deep in thought. “How do you know if someone likes you?” she asked finally, looking at Sonata for the first time. Sonata looked into her eyes, and despite her naive disposition, she saw that the question was one that Sunset very much wanted answering. As though it were something monumentally important to her. As such, she gave it due consideration.
“You ask them,” she said finally. “I guess,” she added lamely.
Sunset’s eyes widened. She looked faintly taken aback. “Ask them?” she muttered in a wondering tone, as though the notion were something startlingly imaginative. Sonata watched her ponder this for a few moments, and then snickered.
“Shimmy, you so silly,” she bumped her shoulder into Sunset companionably. “Why are you getting so serious about this?”
Sunset’s thoughtful expression melted into a small smile. “You’re right,” she said, as though amused at her own foolishness. “Guess I’m just tired or something. All this red tape wears you out, you know?”
“How about I get us some coffee from the Zebrabucks down on 12th?” Sonata said, giving Sunset’s shoulder a rousing shake. “I can get one of those asiago pretzel things you like.”
Sunset’s face brightened. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She reached for her bag.
“Don’t worry, I got this one,” Sonata said firmly, standing up. “I owe you for everything. I know all this red tape stuff has to be hard, and you’re doing it because I asked you to.” She paused, feeling suddenly warm. “I at least owe you a coffee,” she concluded with a small and heartfelt smile.
Outside the apartment door, Sonata paused and looked back at the door, wondering. Her thoughts trailed after her as she made her way out of the complex and down the street to the coffee shop. Although she didn’t know it, both she and Sunset Shimmer were having the same internal reflection, and both having equally bad luck in coming to any sort of conclusion.
- To be Continued