Sonata rose to her feet and climbed up the dais where Symphonia was waiting for her. She was rather nervous as she climbed the stairs, with her legs mildly shaking with each and every step. However, she was still taking steps up towards the top of the dais, since Aria and Adagio had done the same with their trials. At the end of it all, she stopped shaking and regained her composure as Symphonia began explaining what Sonata's trial would be like.
"Miss Dusk. I have been doing some careful evaluation, and I have been noticing that while you are quite capable on the fields of both combat and singing, you are rather childish and taken quite quickly by distractions," Symphonia said, waving his hands to show Sonata a bunch of clips from both of her past lives. Mainly the parts where she was acting quite cocky and childish. "The most common form of distraction being what humans call a 'Taco'..."
"It's Taco Tuesday!" one of the images actually spoke, showing Sonata being rather distracted by the poster for Taco Tuesday at CHS.
"However, when not distracted, you are quite a capable Dazzling when it comes to both swordplay and music..." Symphonia then showed a bunch of projections showing just how good Sonata was in her life on Lyrica, and even when she'd been corrupted by Dark Magic fourteen years ago. Then, he waved his hand once more, removing the other projections and replacing them with one large one that showed a fork in a spacial world with mesmerizing lights and a bunch of Sonata's distractions. "This Rhythm Realm that you shall wander, will help you to alleviate you of distractions, allowing you to focus more on the task at hand. For if distractions take control of you, then you might as well give up before a fight even starts..."
"This Rhythm Realm is unlike that of the ones that Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze contended with. This time, there will be twenty riddles for you to overcome, Miss Dusk," he said, showing twenty different forks in a rather long and twisting road with nothing to hold onto and a bunch of incorrect roads which quickly showed fake roads leading to Song Seekers. "For each riddle you answer correctly, you shall be rewarded a Furen Fragment. However, get one question wrong, or get distracted by anything for long enough, and you will be completely surrounded by Song Seekers, which I do not need to remind you will make you fail the trial and have to start it all over again..."
"So, it's basically a quiz show?" Sonata asked, seeing the different forks in the road, each with correct paths and Song Seekers waiting for them.
"In a way, yes. But there shall be questions that no other life form on Equestria or Earth will have ever heard of before. They are riddles from Lyrica's deepest past, and ones that can only be answered by Lyrican Sirens with ease," Symphonia said, reminding Sonata of the difficulty of her trial. "If you do not remember what we taught you in your evaluation tests, then you might never be able to finish this Rhythm Realm, since you will have entirely different questions every time you choose to restart it..."
"Sonata Dusk. This Rhythm Realm is meant to test your processing power, as well as the ability to avoid distractions and temptations," Symphonia opened up the circular cover and brought the platform out of his dais one more time. "Everything you see might look, feel and smell real, but the Rhythm Realm shall serve as a constant reminder that you are undergoing a trial for a new Furen pendant."
"So basically, no tacos, no cute dogs, no nothing, Sonata! The Song Seekers are gonna be using your distractions to trick you and make you feel sad and powerless!" Adagio spoke to Sonata, since she worried whether or not she'd be able to understand what Symphonia was saying to her.
"Miss Dazzle speaks the truth, Sonata Dusk. To complete your trial, you must not let your childish distractions and favourite foods distract you. Hesitation and childishness will end a battle in the enemy's favour at a rather rapid pace," Symphonia allowed Sonata to walk onto the platform where she would jump off and enter the Rhythm Realm. "Now, Sonata Dusk, enter the Rhythm Realm and earn your new Furen pendant!"
Sonata complied with Symphonia's words and walked out to the platform. She took in a deep breath when she saw how high the jump was from her position, but then she saw the smiles of Adagio and Aria, and got a sense of confidence. She took in a deep breath and leapt into the Rhythm Realm, falling through the void of lights just like Adagio and Aria had done before.
When Sonata was subjected to the lights, she constantly had to use her hands as shades to avoid any optical concussions. The lights were pretty, but they came endlessly and were quite bright. Despite all of the blinding colours and flashing lights, Sonata could still plainly see that she was falling down the void towards her Rhythm Realm. Yet she didn't even scream during her fall, in fact, her screams were those of joy and merriment.
Finally, Sonata landed in the Rhythm Realm, where the first thing she took in were her surroundings. She was standing on top of what looked like a circular cobblestone platform with two roads ahead of her. Both roads had no discernible end, but both had an answer to a riddle projected over the beginning. The world around her was a spacial plane of existence with a number of constellations and beautiful colours adorning it.
"Welcome, Sonata Dusk, to Sonata's Sonnet. This is the Rhythm Realm that shall truly test your skills in concentration and logic," Symphonia appeared in front of Sonata as a spectral hologram, just like he'd done with the former Dazzlings. "A riddle will be posed at each fork in the road, it is up to you to answer these riddles correctly without distraction or hesitation."
"A correct answer will reward you with one of twenty Furen Fragments. An incorrect answer, or hesitating to answer with distractions luring you in every so often, will lead to you being surrounded by Song Seekers," he then vanished inside of Sonata's body, so that she could undergo her trial. "Your first riddle will appear momentarily..."
True to Symphonia's words, Sonata could see a rather unusual occurrence in the world around her. Stars shone light majestic lights, and only intensified in brightness to the point where Sonata had to shield her eyes from any optical pain.
However, when she lowered her hand to see the world once more, there was a spectral riddle projected in front of her with an answer above each of the paths.
The skies are coloured by day, but lose radiance at night. This thing is no Euphorian, but it will still give you delight...
Sonata looked at the riddle before taking a good look at the answers. She saw that "Greed" was above one of the paths, whereas "Lust" hung above the other.
"Well, the last time I found greed, it was either when we were corrupted with Dark Magic, or looking for a way out of Dystopia..." Sonata seemed rather serious as she took both answers into account. "And both times, I found greed to be good in the long run, but it had a bitter aftertaste afterwards..."
"So, with the process of Sonatelligence, I believe that Lust is the right answer, as Greed showed me no delights at all!" Sonata rushed across the path that read Lust.
She continued to walk down the path before she stopped at a spectral rip in the fabric of reality. It was wide enough for her to walk through, and was the only thing that could be found at the end of the road. She looked over into the distance and saw another spectral rip at the end of the "Greed" path. However, she then saw the rip vanish, revealing a Song Seeker who'd just vanished out of existence.
"Phew. Glad I didn't pick that one..." Sonata said as she stepped through the spectral rip and was once more consumed by light...
Sonata found herself in exactly the same place she'd found herself before, but the Rhythm Realm was more dark-green in colour, rather than the previous colours she'd seen before. However, both the platform and the two roads had cobblestone lining them, and it was still the same colour as before.
She then felt her pendant, and could clearly identify the feel of one of the twenty Furen Fragments secured in one of the holes. As soon as her finger touched the ruby fragment, she felt a certain warmth creep into her heart as she watched the next riddle materialize in front of her.
Hatred and Bliss, two sides of a mirror. But to the red-crystal Sirens, which energy is inferior?
Sonata then looked at the two paths and saw that one of them read "Deception" whilst the other read "Delight".
"Oh, that's easy..." Sonata said, instantly walking down the path that read Delight. She hummed a leisurely tune as she nonchalantly walked down the path before arriving at another spectral rip in the fabric of reality. Just for clarification, she looked over at the second rip over by the path that read Deception, seeing another Song Seeker fade away within seconds. "Knew it!"
Sonata was soon back where she was once again, but this time, the Rhythm Realm seemed more golden than before. The background was a radiant shade of gold, the cobblestone was gold, and even the riddle and answers now had golden arches instead of just being projections.
The Hurricane of Soundlessness, which Euphorian Deity is this?
Sonata's two options at this moment were either Silenzel or Hierarxe. She was about to take a step forward when the arches and the riddle were suddenly destroyed by a miniature meteor shower, leaving nothing more than a fork in the road.
The sudden change in the environment now had Sonata worried. If she couldn't remember the road that held the right answer, then she'd be walking directly into a Song Seeker ambush without even knowing it. She started panicking, her legs constantly running on the spot as she began to stress over which path was the right path.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! Which one was it?!" her anxiety was now starting to reveal Song Seekers in the distance. Their screeches made Sonata stress even further to the point where she let out a panicked scream.
"Alright then. Uhh..." Sonata looked at the two different paths, one of them leading her towards the next Furen Fragment, with the other leading her to instant failure and misery. "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo. I pick you, now let's go!" she ran down the path that once had Silenzel's name on the former arch.
She was hastily chased down that singular road by three Song Seekers, all of them screeching angrily and swinging their limbs at Sonata the closer they got to her. Sonata was about to scream as they lunged towards her, but she'd just ran through the rift once more, and found herself swallowed up by light once more.
"Damn. I should invest in getting some sunglasses in future..." Sonata said as her eyes readjusted to the light once more as she arrived in the next cross in the road. Now she was looking at a riddle and more answers that seemed to be made out of tacos.
"No! Not tacos! They're my favourites!" Sonata said in anguish, seeing that the tacos were just taunting her at this moment in time. The thought of stuffing the answers and question down her throat and letting the flavours envelop her feelings made her just remember what Symphonia had said before. "How did they know?!"
"No. No, I've gotta stay calm and collected..." she said, taking in some deep breaths as she did so to calm her nerves. "Dagi and Ari are counting on me to complete this trial, and I want to make sure that they're happy as well..."
She then focused her attention as to what the tacos were telling her. They seemed to spell out the next riddle in her list.
These foods are delicious, but you must not delay. The Song Seekers will soon be on their way. This riddle will have you foaming at the mouth, but what negativity shows that a trust has gone south?
Sonata then looked at the two answers. One was called "Betrayal" and the other one was "Bewilderment".
"Let's see here..." Sonata looked at each of the answers, her taco obsession making her drool in hunger the more she looked at each answer. "They both look right to me, and I bet they even taste right as well..."
"Miss Dusk. Remind yourself on what this Rhythm Realm is meant to test, then choose the one answer out of the two that you believe to be correct," Symphonia appeared, making Sonata stumble backwards and fall onto her butt in surprise. "And do it with haste, as the Song Seekers await your childish behaviour, since it makes a rather easy meal for them..."
"Oh! The Song Seekers!" Sonata remembered, then looked at each of the answers closer, with more determination starting to show as she resisted her temptations of eating the answers at all costs. "What negativity shows that a trust has gone south? That is..." she looked at each of the two answers and said, "Betrayal!" before she launched herself down it with the sudden appearance of her translucent wings.
She saw the Song Seekers arrive just as she vanished from the area once more. She would have taunted, but she remembered that that would have been one of her temptations, and would only lead the Song Seekers directly towards her.
The fifth Rhythm Realm area looked quite different from the last. It looked exactly like the corridors of the elementary school that Sonata went to alongside Aria and Adagio. The lockers were nostalgic, the lights were nostalgic, even the very floor that Sonata walked on seemed to bring back some memories.
However, she eventually found a junction with three different answers for the next riddle, which had all been written on what looked like school banners of some description.
Education is welcome sight, but these ponies caused quite a plight...
The three answers that Sonata saw were "Keepers of Friendship", "Spirits of Harmony" and "The Chosen Six". Sonata had never heard of those names before, and even if she did, she had completely forgotten about them completely.
"Let's see here... What did Forty and Orchy keep calling them..." Sonata put her hand to her mouth and drummed her fingers against her chin and cheek, as a sign that she was truly in deep thought.
However, before she could even think further, a school bell went off, and the whole area was flooded with elementary school boys and girls, all of them Sonata remembered quite well. She even saw Topaz and some of the Kids of Shadows walk right past and even through her, as if she didn't even exist.
Sonata eventually flew over all the children in the school just so she could get a good look at the riddle and answers once again. She could see that the banners were actually starting to fall off at that moment so she had to think fast.
"Well, I know that the Chosen Six is out of the question, since they don't even call themselves that. Well, that and Mum now makes them seven in a way..." Sonata ruled out the Chosen Six answer as it fell from its' position. "Keepers of Friendship? That kind of sounds right, but that might be what the Song Seekers WANT me to think..."
"Ah, screw it! Spirits of Harmony, you're my winning ace in the hole!" Sonata flew down the hallway that read Spirits of Harmony on the banner, with no other thoughts in her mind as she passed by so many familiar faces and their school lockers.
Eventually, Sonata found a door at the end of the hallway and opened it up with difficulty. She strained mightily as she forced the door open, and was greeted with a burst of light as it was opening up wider and wider. She wasn't even given the chance to fly through it as the light had taken her before she'd even stepped forward...