“Okay,” Pinkie gasped out between greedy lungfuls of air, “I think--huff--we might’ve lost him.”
“I hope so,” Sonata responded, her own breathing coming in ragged pants. “‘Cause I don’t--hah--think I can run any more!” As she spoke she stumbled to a stop, jellied legs giving way as her rump found the pavement in an awkward and uncomfortable fashion. “I haven’t been so exhausted since that time me, Adagio, and Aria went to that Salem place and had to run away from the people that wanted to set us on fire.”
“Why’d they wanna do that?” Pinkie asked, bent forward with her hands braced on her knees as she likewise tried to catch her breath.
“‘Cause they thought we were mind-controlling ‘em.”
“Were you?”
Sonata smiled sheepishly. “Only a little bit…”
Pinkie grinned and let out a snorting, infectious giggle that Sonata couldn’t help but fall victim to herself. Their smiles turned giddy and broke into full-blown laughter, and before long Pinkie joined Sonata on the sidewalk as they both clutched their sides and tears of mirth squeezed from their eyes.
After who knows how long, the two were flat on their backs and once again gasping for breath.
“I guess--hehe--I guess I’ll never have to worry about stuff like that happening again now, huh?” Sonata said. Pinkie glanced over at her, taking note of how her fingers idly played with the thin black ribbon that encircled her neck. The Siren was still smiling but the way her eyes stared straight up into the night sky told a very different story.
“Hey, no moping allowed on a taco run!” Pinkie said as she bounced to her feet and offered her hand to Sonata. “That was your rule, right?”
Sonata took Pinkie’s hand and pulled herself up into a sitting position. “I guess so, but I could do with a little more ‘taco’ and a little less ‘run’,” she sighed.
“No problem!” Pinkie grinned, pulling out her phone. “There’s plenty of other tex-mex places in Canterlot; we just need to look up the closest one and before you know it we’ll be savoring that crunchy, cheesy, spicy… ooh!” Her eyes lit up. “There’s one just up the street, and it’s...”
“... way past closing time,” Pinkie frowned at the darkened entrance of Hot Tamale’s Mexican Bistro.
“For realzies?” Sonata shook her head. “Who closes at… what time is it?” Pinkie briefly held up her phone, and the Siren’s eyes widened a little. “Oh. Nevermind.”
“Most of these other places are probably done for the night, too. We might just be better off if we… aha!” Pinkie perked up and pointed at the tiny screen. “‘The Canterlot Diner; open all night’. That’s perfect! Diners always serve all kinds of food, and I’ll bet they’ll…”
“... be closed for renovations?!” She gaped up at the sign bolted across the diner’s glass doors, through which she and Sonata could easily make out the equipment, tools, and stacks of building materials that confirmed said sign’s message.
“That’s just not fair,” Sonata pouted, but Pinkie shook her head and put on a hard, determined scowl.
“We’re not done yet!” she declared and pulled out her phone, tapping furiously at the screen. “Here! Señor Sombrero’s Taco Shack!” She paused, looking up with a blank expression. “Huh... why didn’t we try there first?”
Sonata furrowed her brow. “Wait, isn’t that the place that…”
“... burned down last week in a grease fire.”
Indeed, before the two girls sat an empty, taped-off lot where Señor Sombrero’s once stood, as evidenced by a charred sign depicting a dark-skinned, mustachioed man wearing his namesake hat that lay haphazardly across a pile of blackened brick and charcoal ash.
Pinkie dropped to her knees, her mouth hanging open as Sonata gave the debris a concerned frown, their normally energetic demeanors lost amid the rubble.
“What… the… fudge.”
“Aria says that a lot,” Sonata murmured. “Only she doesn’t say ‘fudge’; she says-”
“No!” Pinkie shouted, leaping to her feet and startling Sonata. “No, we’re not giving up! I promised you tacos, and I’m gonna deliver!”
“But there aren’t any taco places that deliver, not even Taco Bell,” Sonata huffed as she sat down on a nearby bench and rested her chin in her hands. “Trust me; I’ve asked.”
Pinkie scrunched up her face in concentration for a moment before she quite literally exploded back into her usual, bouncy self, complete with a burst of confetti and a strange kazoo-like noise that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
“Taco Bell!” she exclaimed. “There’s another Taco Bell in Ponyville! That’s only like an hour’s drive from here!”
“Yay!” Sonata beamed as well, but her smile quickly evaporated. “But we don’t have a car.”
Pinkie grinned, putting her arm around Sonata’s shoulder and leading her off down the street.
“I know someone who do~oes,” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice, “and her place is only a couple blocks away!”
“She lives in a dress shop?”
“No, Silly-nata!” Pinkie smiled as she pushed a button next to a nondescript door immediately to one side of Carousel Boutique’s storefront windows, eliciting a faint buzz from somewhere above them. “She works in the dress shop; her apartment is on the second floor.”
“Hello?” A small speaker above the button Pinkie had pushed crackled to life as a red light blinked on. “Who may I ask is calling so dreadfully late?”
“Hi Rarity!”
“Pinkie Pie? Whatever are you doing here at this time of night; is everything all right, dear?”
“Abso-tute-a-lutaly!” Pinkie chirped. “Me and-” she glanced over at Sonata, “uh, a friend have a favor to ask. Can we come in?”
A brief pause followed, but the speaker crackled again. “All right, I’ll be down in a moment.” The red light winked out and Sonata tilted her head at Pinkie.
“Why didn’t you say I was here?”
“Well,” Pinkie grimaced and rubbed the back of her head. “So far my friends haven’t exactly been happy to see you. I figure I’d better explain everything first, so before Rarity comes down you hide off to one side so that-” she found herself interrupted as the door swung open, “... aw, fudgesicles; here we go again.”
Rarity, a length of measuring tape draped over her neck and with red-framed glasses perched on the tip of her delicate nose, blinked and offered a smile that was a mix between polite and concerned. “Hello Pinkie, what brings you… to…” She trailed off as her eyes fixed on Sonata and narrowed. The Siren blushed a little and bowed her head under the unscrupulous, scrutinizing gaze, her hands clasping behind her back reflexively.
“Rarity, I can explain,” Pinkie put her hands up defensively. “I know how this looks, but hear me out! Sonata isn’t-”
“Uwa-HA-HAAAA!!”
Rarity’s sudden, excited squeal startled them almost as much as the act of her grabbing Sonata by the arm, physically dragging her into the building and then up the stairs at a speed that could only be considered breakneck, leaving Pinkie standing alone on the sidewalk with naught but an open door and little idea of what had just transpired. She stood there in the warm night breeze for a moment longer, blinking.
“... Eh,” she finally shrugged, stepping through the door and pulling it closed behind her.
“Terribly sorry for being so abrupt with you before, dear. I’ve been ‘in the zone’ all evening, but I just couldn’t quite decide how to proceed with this new dress for Rainbow Dash without being able to see it on her.” Rarity said as she deftly folded over a seam at Sonata’s side. “Your skin isn’t quite the same shade of blue as hers but it’s very close, and you’re about her size as well, if a little shorter in the legs. Oh, thank you ever so much for agreeing to help; I honestly have no idea what I would have done had you not come when you did.”
“Eh-hehe,” Sonata chittered nervously and blew a strand of the seven-colored wig she was wearing out of her eyes; eyes that were unable to keep themselves from constantly flicking down to the pins that the fashionista was quickly and expertly sliding into the material mere fractions of a centimeter from her skin. She swallowed visibly. “No problem!”
“So whaddya say Rarity?” Pinkie said as she spun dizzily on a nearby stool. “Can we borrow your car?”
“Absolutely not.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened for an instant as she lost her balance, toppling off the stool. Her elbow struck the edge of a small table covered in discarded fabric remnants, dumping the entire pile on top of her as she hit the floor. Pink arms flailed for a moment before she resurfaced, a scrap of green silk draped over her head.
“Aw! Why not?”
Rarity tilted her head so she could look at Pinkie over the top of her glasses, her eyebrow reaching heights that would’ve made even Applejack proud.
“Oh,” Pinkie sheepishly regarded the mess she’d created. “Good point.”
Rarity shook her head and returned to her work. “Really, after everything you’ve told me that you two have been through tonight did you really expect me to help you get behind the wheel of another vehicle?”
“But then how are we gonna get to Ponyville?” Sonata asked.
“There,” Rarity narrowed her eyes, “that’s a bit better. What do you think?” She stepped back to admire her work as Sonata turned so she could see herself in one of the nearby mirrors.
She was draped in a nearly floor-length gown that began as a deep indigo where it wrapped over her right shoulder, leaving the opposite one bare, and transitioned fluidly from cool blue and green tones through intense yellow and orange before ending in a vibrant, striking red near her feet where it was trimmed with a soft white fabric that gave the impression of puffy clouds. The front was cut shorter than the back, showing off the metallic gold heeled sandals and accompanying straps that criss-crossed up Sonata’s calves to just below her knees.
Pinkie, finally free of the pile of fabric, dusted herself off and joined Rarity, her mouth falling open as she finally got a good look at the Siren. “Wow! Sonni, you look super-cute!”
“Really?” she blushed, turning this way and that to take in every angle.
“Hm,” Rarity mused, one hand on her hip while she tapped her cheek with the index finger of the other. “I’m still not quite sure I like the way it hangs in the back.” Sonata deflated visibly.
“Is my butt too big?” she frowned and ran a hand over her backside in an attempt to smooth the dress out. “I thought Aria was just kidding when she told me I should audition for that Lord Mixalot guy’s rap video.”
“Oh, no not at all, dear!” Rarity held up her hands defensively. “I just need to make a few more adjustments to make sure the dress is fitted properly, then no one will even noti- I mean, it will look splendid.” She hesitated. “Though I suppose this is about as far as I can go without having the actual Rainbow Dash here for a fitting. Ugh, convincing that girl to sit still for more than a few minutes is always dreadfully difficult… still, I suppose I’ll figure something out eventually.”
“Does that mean I can take off this itchy wig?” Sonata asked, pointedly scratching at the offending headpiece.
“Of course,” Rarity smiled. “Really, thank you so much for your help. I have to admit, I expected you to be a little more distressed over the... ‘events’ of this evening.”
Sonata shrugged. “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been chased by the cops or stuck in a big, smelly crowd. Actually it kind of reminds me of Woodstock.” She shuddered. “Ugh, that was the worst!”
Rarity gave her a wry grin and cleared her throat gently. “Actually, I was referring to the, um, Battle of the Bands.”
“... Oh!” Sonata nodded as the correct synapse finally fired somewhere in her head. “Yeah, that did kinda suck.”
“Well, in any event, I’m happy to see that you aren’t holding a grudge about it,” Rarity smiled as she lifted the wig from Sonata’s head. “Pinkie Pie seems more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you as a friend, so it would hardly be proper for me to do anything less.”
“Does that mean you changed your mind about the car?” Pinkie sidled up to the fashionista with a smile, receiving an eye-roll and a sigh in return as the fashionista carefully set the wig on the styrofoam head from which it had come and carried it to a shelf on the far side of the room.
“No, but I suppose I do owe the two of you something for your assistance, unintended as it was.”
“Ooh!” Sonata waved her arms excitedly. “If you have any tacos we’d take those!”
“I’m afraid I can’t be of any help to you there, but now that I think of it...” she trailed off before turning back to them with a cunning smile. “I may have just the solution for you.”
Pinkie and Sonata both perked up as Rarity opened one of her seemingly endless supply of closets and pulled out a large rack of colorful, trendy clothes.
“Get changed, girls,” she said with a delighted sparkle in her sapphire eyes. “We’re going clubbing!”