"Bye," Sonata whispered quietly to her sister, who was now tucking herself back in bed. She tried as hard as she could to sneak quietly away, but every step she took seemed to make an unbearably loud creak as she put her foot down. Persevering, she continued to make her escape without disturbing her.
“JUST GO ALREADY!” Adagio’s voice suddenly boomed behind her.
Jumping a bit, Sonata shot out of the room as fast as she could run, lest she incur the wrath of sleepy Adagio. She slammed the door shut behind her, and fell back against the wall of the hallway, her heart now racing. If any bit of her was still tired, it was clearly awake now, and for the better, she guessed. She needed to head out soon, and the more alert she was, the more prepared she was for the day. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Sonata pushed herself from the wall, and walked over to Aria’s room. She didn’t need to wake her, but she felt it necessary to see her before she left.
Opening the door quietly, as she had done for Adagio, Sonata pushed her head into the opening to peer inside the dark room. It was only lit by Aria’s computer, which was displaying a wallpaper slide show. Aria was presently reclining in her computer chair, arms folded behind her, and legs resting on her bed. Sonata wondered sometimes why she didn’t just get in bed, but it was her room, so she could do what she wanted.
She looked at her sister, who was quietly snoring, nowhere near as loud as she snored, and couldn’t help but smile. Aria looked so much better with her hair all down like that. Seeing her sleeping like nothing was wrong, it made Sonata feel content inside. Closing the door, she made her way out to the living room.
She already had three interviews since they began the hunt, and all of the people she met seemed like they really liked her, and wanted to hire her. When she did a little bit of practice for the job, however, she found that she just wasn’t any good at it, and it normally ended in disaster for the employer. No matter what it was, Sonata seemed to screw it up somehow: setting a computer on fire, or setting the cash register on fire, or the freezer...
But jobs were like that. You just needed to find the right job for you, something you’re a natural at.
At least, that’s what Pinkie said.
“Doh,” Sonata whispered, hitting herself on the head. She wasn’t supposed to talk to her, or apparently text her either, so she decided she should refrain from thinking about her as well, at least for now. She didn’t want to upset Adagio more than she already had.
Still, Sonata wondered why she didn’t try to reason with her sister about that. Just because she was talking to “That Girl” to kill a little bit of time, it didn’t make it a bad thing to do. Adagio normally knew what was best, and that’s why she listened to all of the rules, to the best of her ability, that she set. The “not-talking-to-any-of-those-girls-in-any-way-shape-or-form” rule, however, seemed like overkill. Adagio would probably come around eventually, so she just had to put up with it until then.
Until she figures everything out...
Her head perked up, pulling herself away from going down that road. She always caught herself trying to brood about things, but it wouldn’t help her with her job. Speaking of, Sonata had started walking to Sugar Cube Corner while lost in her mind, and she finally noticed it just down the street. She tilted her head in curiosity, but figured it was better not to remember a boring walk over, and giddily made her way to the front of the store.
She knocked politely on the glass, knowing they weren’t open yet, and stuck her hands in her sweatshirt pockets, rocking back and forth on her feet as she waited for the door to open. Sonata started to realize how cold it was outside, just as the double door opened, revealing a woman with pink hair and a light blue skin tone, similar to hers.
“Oh, hello deary!” she greeted warmly, holding the door wide. “You must be Sonata Dusk. Come in! Come in!” The woman waved in to the shop.
She gladly complied, wanting to be inside again. “So, uh, I’m here for the job!” Sonata exclaimed confidently, unsure of what she should be saying.
The baker just chuckled a bit. “Well, i would hope so. Otherwise, I might have mixed you up for the other Sonata.”
“Wait, there’s another Sonata?” she asked, surprised by that statement. She wasn’t sure if that was possible, for there to be another her. There couldn’t be, could there?
That made the woman laugh loud this time. “Oh, you’re such a delight!” She beckoned Sonata to follow her into the back. “I’m Mrs. Cake, but you can call me Cup Cake if you want. My husband, Carrot, is in the back already waiting for you.”
She felt touched. “You guys were waiting for me? Nobody ever waits for me.” She couldn’t help but let a smile make it’s way on her face.
They entered the kitchen, where an orange haired man was laying out a ton of cooking supplies; this was a bakery, after all. As they walked in, his attention turned to them, and he perked up a bit, smiling to Sonata. “Well, hey there,” he called out. “Glad you were able to show up on such short notice. Sorry about the early meeting, but it’s the only real time we can talk before business starts.”
Sonata just shrugged, starting to feel a bit nervous. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I get up early all the time anyway.” She didn’t really, unless she needed to, but she hoped it would make a better impression.
“Now I hear you’re a friend of Pinkie’s, is that right?” Mrs. Cake asked, walking over to her husband and hugging his arm gently.
“Friend? Uh, well, not really,” Sonata tried to explain. They weren’t friends, “That Girl" just suggested a couple of job ideas to her. “We’re more like, enemies.”
They both looked at each other in confusion, then back to her. “What do you mean, deary?”
“We had a big battle at the High School a while ago, and she and her friends beat us. So that kinda makes her my enemy instead of a friend.”
Mr. Cake nodded, seeming to understand. “Ah, the Band Battle the girls won. That’s more of a rival then, eh?”
Sonata paused for a moment, unsure what he meant. She hadn’t considered any of those girls rivals before. It was certainly a step above enemy.
Getting on with the pleasantries, the Cakes explained to Sonata what it was they needed of her. Apparently, baking cakes and stuff took a lot of hard work, so they needed to do it early in the morning to be ready for the whole day. They wanted her to assist them in the kitchen, passing ingredients, stirring bowls, that sort of thing. Just whatever they asked her to do, until she got the hang of it.
She found herself focusing hard at first, making sure not to make them wait any longer than a few seconds. The Cakes had trays of dough all across the counter, and Sonata needed to make sure to move them into the oven when they were ready. When she wasn’t doing that, they always seemed to be needing some ingredients that were placed on the opposite side of the room. Sonata wondered why they didn’t just work where the food items were, but it wasn’t her place to judge.
After running around for what seemed like forever, Mrs. Cake told her they were going to open the store for the day, and she wanted Sonata to start working on the dough and batter from now on. She showed her how to start, and told her Mr. Cake would help if she needed it.
Sonata took this moment to relax. She couldn’t remember the last time she worked so hard before, and it was so much fun. All of the other jobs would have made her sit around all day, but being a baker required a lot of moving around. That was way better than being bored. Besides, while she was cooking, she got free samples!
She quickly ran a finger down the apron they provided her to scoop off some chocolate dough, and placed her finger in her mouth to pluck the batter off. Having had her treat, she licked her lips and went back to mixing even more.
As her heart stopped racing, though, she found herself no longer distracted by orders and tasks. She began to slow down her pace, and Sonata’s mind trailed off to the place she always went whenever she wasn’t preoccupied: Thinking about her sisters, and how hard it must be on them. Thinking about herself, and how hard she was trying to not let them see her being anything but loopy, or happy. It was getting harder, with Aria’s thinning patience, and Adagio not as energetic as she used to be.
Aria used to banter with her a lot, always calling her “the worst” or some derogatory insult, but that was just her way. More often than not, though, she just seemed to get bored of arguing, and would just stop sometimes.
Adagio, being the leader that she was, always used to plan out their days. She would say “Alright, today we’re gonna terrorize this retirement home,” or “The plan is raiding that charity event later today.” But now, she just left her and Aria to their own plans, still ordering them about home chores, but that wasn’t the same.
She wished they could just go back to what they used to do. The old life they had before was way better than what they were doing to each other now. Both of her sisters were putting up their brave faces, not wanting to show them that they were hurt, but Sonata could tell. It was obvious to her, with both of them starting to act so hidden and reclusive. Sonata wanted to be open about her being upset, but knew that would just makes things worse, so she needed to act like she wasn't upset either. It was for them, more than for her.
Her thought process was broken momentarily by Mr. Cake calling out to her. “Sonata? Have you finished mixing that batch yet?”
Oh crap! She had managed to subconsciously mix up a couple of bowls of cookie dough, but her daydreaming slowed down her pace significantly. Her eyes darted around, looking for the last ingredient she needed to add. Glancing over a bottle of brown liquid, she hurriedly grabbed it, not wanting to get in more trouble for taking too long, and dumped the contents in the dough.
“No, not that!” Mr. Cake tried to call out, but it was too late.
As the bottle poured into the dough, it immediately began to foam up and over the edge of the bowl. The liquid carbonated as it expanded across the counter, and Sonata's scream raised with the foamy mass as it kept getting taller.
There were a series of shouts, screams, and pans falling about before Mrs. Cake could finally break away from her customer at front counter to see what in the blazes was going on back there. She entered to find her kitchen, clean and organized only half of an hour ago, now in complete disarray. She saw Sonata and her husband, both with eyes as wide as dinner plates, and seeming to be holding something in the sink.
Mrs. Cake panned around one more time to see the full devastation. There was the foamy brown mush that was covering her entire right side of the kitchen, spilling from the counters onto the floor. A few wet pans were either on the counter or the floor, looking to have been removed from the sink. There were two baking sheets, with finished treats on them, flipped upside down on the floor, their contents now scattered onto the ground near the oven. Her look shifted to irritation as she glared at the two across from her. “Sonata, please get to cleaning this mess,” she ordered. Sonata immediately complied, scrambling to find towels to absorb the big mess of bubbly water.
“And Carrot, dear,” she called next, in a polite tone that sounded opposite to her expression. “I need to speak with you.” Her husband cringed, then hung his head as he followed her outside of the kitchen.
She was then left by herself, left to clean up a giant mess that she created. This was a familiar setting for her by now: She started her job, then screwed it up, just like she always seemed to do anyways. This was her chance, to show Adagio and Aria that she was able to support herself on her own. She wanted to prove that, even though she wasn’t as smart, or as talented, or as good they were at anything, she could still do something to help.
Sonata felt herself choking as tears formed in her eyes. She kept cleaning, but couldn’t hold back her quiet sobs as she felt the weight of guilt and pity pile on top of her. The only thing she had a use for until now was perfecting the trio of Sirens, allowing them to be unstoppable. Other than that, there wasn’t much good she did for her sisters. Sonata wanted to change that, but the foaming cookie dough in the sink was just another example of what happened when she tried.
Getting the water off of the counter, she quickly found a mop and bucket to soak up the mess on the floor. She grabbed all of the pans, and dropped pastries, and sorted them out in the sink before leaning against the counter, having finished cleaning.
She gave a heavy sigh, knowing now that she just had to wait for the Cakes to come back and give her the same speech the other places gave her. “Well, we really like you, Sonata,” she said in a voice mimicking Mrs. Cake, “but we think that we want to go another direction.” Another direction, meaning they don’t want her. She held her arms close to her, angry and upset with the inevitable outcome.
The door swung open, and Sonata perked her head up to see Carrot and Cup Cake walking in, just finishing up a conversation. They looked in and stopped, eyes darting around the room. The two looked surprised, but by what, Sonata couldn’t tell.
“S-Sonata, dear?” Mrs. Cake started, “Did you really clean all this?”
She looked around, saw the clear counters, stacked dishes, and dry floor before answering. “Yeah,” Sonata croaked nervously, expecting a different reaction from them.
Carrot stepped forward, looking around intently. “Wow, that’s incredible! I would have been cleaning that mess up forever!”
Sonata couldn’t help but be confused. “Yeah, but I made the mess. You want to punish me, don’t you? You don’t want to hire me because I’m clumsy.”
Cup Cake smiled, looking a bit nervous. "Well, we had thought of doing so, but now it's like the mess never even happened."
She paused, looking around. “What do you mean?”
“Sonata,” Mr. Cake chuckled, “me and the Mrs. weren’t even talking for five minutes, and you had this place picked up as if it was brand new!” He seemed really excited. “You have no idea how much of a relief that is to me.”
Before she could figure out what they were saying, Mrs. Cake walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her recoil a bit. "Deary, we weren't aware you didn't know how to cook," she said, referring to her needing to be shown how to mix dough. "Pinkie Pie just told us you would be a perfect candidate for the job, and we assumed that you would be fine on your own."
Sonata shook her head slightly, not understanding. "But, I messed up! I can't help you two at all. I'm just going to keep screwing up if I stay here," she trailed off, hanging her head and tucking it close between her shoulders.
Mrs. Cake smiled sympathetically, rubbing the shoulder she still held. "Now now, what's done is done. But we still have a whole day ahead of us. We can't just send you off if we still need you."
Sonata finally met eyes with her, and they explained that they wanted her to try to make it through the day. Instead of cooking, they would have her take care of the kitchen cleanliness, as well as the tables in the dining room. Starting slowly, and eventually they would let her work in the kitchen again. Sonata nearly cried when she was told she could still work, giving the Cakes a giant hug. Glad to not be “let go,” she gladly accepted her new job responsibilities.
As the day carried on, she excitedly ran between dining room and kitchen, making sure all of her counters and tables were spotless, and bringing orders to the tables of customers that were eating in. Some customers that came by were surprised to see someone like a waitress in Sugar Cube Corner, and kept watching her in interest. The attention just made her want to work harder, not wanting to disappoint anyone.
It was around 4pm when Sonata was told she could go home. She took a moment to realize what that meant, forgetting that she was working at a job. Instead of taking off immediately though, she asked for permission to make something of her own, with supervision of course. She had never baked before, and Mrs. Cake led her through the steps, but let her do it herself. After a couple of awkward adjustments to make up for messing up the recipe, Sonata placed her creation in the over to let it cook.
When it was finished, Mrs. Cake took it out carefully, and gave it an odd look. The thing was very uneven, despite being made in a mold, and it wasn’t very big. Sonata didn’t seem to notice the flaws, though, being too proud of her first creation. She would be a master baker in no time.
Boxing it up, she made her way home quickly. Sonata always loved getting treats for the three of them to share, and this one was hand made! Her mood was leagues higher than it had been this morning, and she still had the entire rest of the night to keep it going. Skipping her way through town, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride in her work.
Reaching home just as the sky turned dark, Sonata let herself in, shouting her traditional “I’m home!” No one responded, but that was fine. They could have gone out, or maybe they were just hiding, but that made the surprise all the more surprising.
Her heart still racing from anticipation, she set the box on the center of the table, and sat down in a chair facing the door. She decided that she was going to wait until one of her sisters walked in, and show off her awesome bakery skills. Maybe they would compliment her, or something else equally good.
Time passed, a long time. She wasn't even sure how long it could have been, with the sky black, and the entire condo silent. After all of this time waiting, she began to feel sleepy. Sonata was running around all day, and had been up since early morning, but she kept telling herself she needed to stay up until they came home. After all, what was the point of making a surprise treat if she wasn’t awake to surprise them with treats?
She looked down at the sleeve of her sweatshirt, staring at her elbow. Sonata didn’t want to sleep yet, but that comfy spot in her elbow pit looked like the most comfortable thing in the room to put her heavy head on. After a long and powerful mental debate, her arm proved to have a much more compelling argument, convincing her to lean against it, and she passed out immediately.