//------------------------------// // A Rare Help // Story: You are the Music in Me // by Mallory S Nocturne //------------------------------// "So where are we going?" Asked Sonata as the two of us walked down the busy street, passing Sugarcube Corner. "Well, first we're going to a clothes store so we'll get you new clothes, next we'll head to the supermarket and buy us some ingredients for tacos..." I said when she spoke up. "Wait, did you just said tacos?!" She asked. "Yeah." I said when she began to ramble things about tacos and how she never had one before and etc. I just tuned out her voice as I went to my train of thoughts. Finally, the two of us were at Carousel Boutique, where the finest clothes were made by the expert hand of Rarity Belle, the store manager and a fellow student at CHS. "Well, we're here." I said to Sonata as she stopped rambling and looked at the building. "Where are we?" She asked. "We're at Carousel Boutique. 'Where everything is chic, unique and magnifique'." I said, quoting the store's catchphrase. "This is where we're going to get clothes for you." Sonata nodded and continued to look at the building. I opened the door, causing the bell just above it to ring, and we both entered the building. "Rarity? Are you here?" I asked as I looked at Sonata, whose jaw was hanging slightly, maybe because the dresses before us were all well-made. Sonata looked at me and I could see in her eyes that she wanted to look at some of the clothes. I just smiled and nodded, causing her to squeal in excitement. But it ended when Rarity entered the room. I then saw Sonata pulled down her hood and ran behind me. "Oh, hello Casper, what can I do for you?" Rarity asked. "I came here because she..." I stepped aside to point at Sonata."... Needs some new clothes. You see, she doesn't have any other clothes." "But of course, darling, I'll be more than happy to." Rarity said as she took out a tape measure. "I just need to take her measurements." She said as she looked at Sonata. "Darling, would you mind taking off your hood so I could take a better look at you?" Sonata flinched and hid her face behind my back as Rarity took a step forward. I looked at Sonata and saw her eyes filled with fear. I turned around and placed both my on her shoulders. "It's alright. Nothing bad's gonna happen to you." I said. Sonata looked like a bit of fear left her, but she was still scared. Then she slightly pushed me aside, and looked at the ground. Slowly, she took off her hood, and I heard Rarity gasp. I looked at Rarity and her face was had a mix emotion of fear, surprise and confusion. "What?" I asked. Suddenly, Rarity was now in front of Sonata, who was shaking. "What happened to you?" She asked Sonata, who jerked away and ran behind me. "You know her?" I asked. "Yes, but not in good terms." Rarity replied. "What happened to the poor dear." She asked. I then told her what happened last night. After I was done, she began to mumble something about sirens or something. "Well, then. Let's get her measurements." Rarity said as she looked at Sonata. "Come along now, Sonata, dearie." Said Rarity and Sonata carefully followed her behind a curtain. I think it took about half an hour or so just to get Sonata's measurements. Sonata skipped out with a giggle, while Rarity walked out, tired and her hair messed up. "Holy cow, what did Sonata do to her?" I thought as Sonata skipped towards me. "So how was it?" I asked. "It was fun. Rarity kept tickling me with a weird string, though." She said. I raised my eyebrow and looked at Rarity, who was breathing heavily. I walked towards her. "What the heck happened?" I asked. "I swear, Sonata is exactly like Pinkie Pie. She keeps moving, but I still managed to get her measurements." She said, holding up a piece of crumpled paper. She then fell to the floor, exhausted. Geez, Sonata really did a number on her. I proceeded to carry her to the couch and placed her there to rest for a bit. After leaving a note, I turned my attention to Sonata. "C'mon Sonata, We'll go to the grocery next." I said. She then lets out a joyful shout. You know, sometimes I wonder if she's a kid in a teenager's body, or she's really that immature. Ah well. We then went to Canterlot Supermarket and bought some groceries and proceeded to go home, both of us with a paper bag in our arms. Along the way, we passed by the café I loved so much when Sonata pulled my arm. "I forgot to get something from there." Sonata said. I sighed and took the bag from her and followed her to the alleyway where I first met her. Sonata and I stood before a large, yellow dumpster, fairly hard to miss in the alley. When she opened the dumpster, I gasped in surprise. Inside the dumpster was very clean, like it never had any forms of trash in it. It even looked like it was cleaned regularly. Anyway, enough about that. Sonata took a some clothes, a small pouch with what looked like shattered red glass in it and a small, folded piece of paper that was attached to it. She opened the paper and read what was inside of it. Then tears came to Sonata's face as she continued to read the letter. "Hey, what's the matter?" I asked. She said nothing, but she gave me the paper and hid her face between her knees. I began to read the paper silently. "Sonata, Assuming you can read this, Like we told you, it's OVER! Don't come looking for us. The magic we faced was gone, but it has to come somewhere in this world. And if there is, maybe there's a way back to Equestria home. But even then, all you'd ever do is follow us even to Tartarus and back. You're nothing more than a stupid, ignorant fool who can't even sing! So whatever you do, Don't follow us. And stay out of MY Equestria. You deserve to die alone in this pathetic human world as a human. You're the worst, Aria Blaze." I then looked at Sonata, who looked at the red shard on her hand with a longing gaze. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, and stuffed the shards back into the pouch again. I might ask her about it later, but it was already 1:45 P.M. and we still haven't had lunch yet. "C'mon Sonata, let's go home so you could wash up." I said. She didn't smile, but lets out a small "Mhmm." of agreement and she stood up, following me to my home. Back at my place, I brought her to the bathroom. It appeared that Sonata doesn't know how to use a shower, so I taught her how it works. She leaves me one of her outfits, which I placed immediately on a towel rack behind the door, and she gave me her old outfit. I was outside of course. I'm not a pervert. I then leave her be to clean up. As Sonata was busy, I head back to my room to get my dirty laundry. As I entered, I noticed that my bed covers were full of dirt, probably from Sonata's old clothes. I sighed and included them in my laundry. After placing all the laundry in my washing machine, I opened up my laptop and searched on for mental hospital breakouts in Canterlot, hoping that Sonata and her friends wasn't in the search. Thankfully, they weren't the only breakout it had been someone about a certain "Screw Loose". I don't care about that, I just cared about Sonata. I then decided to make lunch, as the menu is... Tacos. Quickly, I started making them and when I finished, I quickly opened the website of the local news for Canterlot. There was the usual, robberies, a new statue opening... And there was this. "Musical Showcase in Canterlot High turned to Battle of the Bands." I was immediately curious, since I wasn't there at that time due to studies, so I opened the link. At the beginning of the article was a picture of seven girls, including Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, the new nice girl in the school, Sunset Shimmer, and a purple-haired girl in outrageous outfits that made my inner girl scream one thing: "What the hell are these girls wearing? They must be burned immediately. The public must not see these abominations any longer." Yeah, I laughed at that myself. I began to read the article. There were even a few videos, but I didn't play them. Too boring. Below the first paragraph of the article was another picture, it was the "Dazzlings" or so they called themselves. From right to left was Aria Blaze, Adagio Dazzle and... No way... Sonata Dusk... I pulled the letter in my trousers and looked at the name below "Aria Blaze." This has got to be some sort of trick. Their eyes were glowing bright red and they were floating on the stage. I looked closer at the photo, but there were no signs of wires helping them do so. I looked at Sonata's picture again. I did not like the smile on her face. It was... Twisted and it seemed evil, not like the one she usually wears. I continued reading the article. The viewers talked mostly about the special effects they had. I then thought of something. Why would Sonata feel bad about the aftermath of the showcase? Did something happen that night that took something important to her? So many questions invaded my mind that I didn't notice Sonata come out of the room until she called me. "Hey, Cass?" She said. I immediately closed my laptop in reflex. She was standing below the staircase, wearing a dark violet red collar jacket, a light pink mini skirt with emphasizing stitching and high boots. Her friends were right though, it did attract too much attention. But I just thought it was cute. She then looked at the red shards on her hand "So, Sonata?" I asked as she looked up to me. "What happened to the musical showcase?" She then sat down on the first step of the stairs. "Oh yeah, that." She said, frowning a bit. "Did something happen there?" I asked. She said nothing as she bit her lower lip, as if she was thinking about something. She then decided to talk. "Well, Adagio told me that I shouldn't tell anyone about the Siren Gems and how they make us sing so ponies and people would do what we say..." "Wait, what are Siren Gems?" I asked. Sonata immediately stiffened and gave me a blank stare. "Um, never mind. Forget I said anything." She said. "Sorry, but I need to know." I said. Sonata looked at me more annoyed than upset. She walked over to me and sat beside me, hands on her lap. "Adagio said that we'd be adored. That we wouldn't need to worry about looking for places to cause trouble and feed." She looked down and continued. "I only wanted to have fun. I thought that they would stop hating me if we made it all the way." Tears then started to appear in Sonata's eyes. I didn't understand a lot of that as my brain processes everything that she said. I don't know about you, but to me, this looks like black magic that you don't want to deal with. But despite that, she seemed absolutely upset about this. "So you were only in this to please those girls?" I asked. She nodded silently. "And you can't sing because of that broken gem, right?" She nodded again. I stood up and looked at her. "I bet you could sing again, even without that old thing." I said. "*sniff* R-really?" She asked. "That is, if you'll let me help you." I said, holding my hand out to her. She smiled and took my hand and I helped her stand up. "OK, try singing something for me." I said. Sonata hesitates at first, but then made an attempt. At that time, I completely forgot about one thing: Her singing was very... Discorded, to say at least. I had to stop her short to spare my ears. But from what I heard, she could actually hold a pitch. "This is going to take some work." I said as I started to train Sonata.