"A-Aria...is that...is that r-really you?" Sonata whispered, her voice barely audible. She dried her flowing tears with the back of her hand, her eyes never leaving the server in front of her.
Creme stared at Sonata, then to the person she called Aria. Was she a friend of Sonata's? Why did the mere sight of her cause Sonata to weep so much?
The server named Aria looked at the two people in front of her with a bored expression, still chewing on the piece of gum in her mouth. She stopped chewing, however, when she saw Sonata. Her facial features turned from that of boredom, to deep disgust and loathing.
"You." Aria hissed, glaring at Sonata with venom in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I-I...I..." Sonata stuttered, unable to form her sentence.
"I told you to never show your face to me ever again." Aria said, her voice cold. "Get out of my sight."
Sonata looked as if she was just stabbed in the heart. She bit her lower lip, trying to fight back the tears. But the action failed.
"I...I'm sorry. I'm so, s-so s-sorry." Sonata turned around and ran out the entrance with tears in her eyes, leaving Creme with a stunned looked on his face.
Creme turned to face Aria. He had no idea what had happened between the two of them, and he knew that going after Sonata was the first thing he should be doing right now. But there was something in his gut that was telling him that he needed to say something to the girl in front of him. He opened his mouth, ready to speak his mind, when---
"ARIA BLAZE!"
Creme's mouth shut itself back at the sudden voice that was yelling from behind him. A second later, the king of tacos passed by Creme. He was no longer wearing his crown, and his sceptre lay forgotten on the floor behind him. He approached the counter with rising fury.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" the king demanded, his voice trembling with anger. Several of the customers stopped eating and turned to stare at the sudden commotion that was slowly unfolding before their very eyes.
"I did nothing." Aria replied, her voice cool, and steady.
"A customer left with tears in her eyes!" the king yelled, showering the counter with spit. "We want our customers to leave with smiles, not tears!"
"Not my problem."
"Not---NOT YOUR PROBLEM?" the king took a deep breath. His eyes darted to Creme for a split second before returning to Aria. Whispers could be heard from the customers.
"I'll deal with you later." he said to Aria, his face red with anger. The king turned around and forced himself---with difficulty---to smile at Creme, who had remained silent during the whole time.
"I apologize for our horrible customer service, young sir." the king said as he glared back at Aria. "I'll make sure that the problem is dealt with." He placed his hand on Creme's shoulder. "Now...don't you have someone to chase after?"
Creme nodded. As he turned to leave, he took one last look at Aria. Somehow, he had a feeling that this was not the last time he'll be seeing her.
Just as Creme was about to set foot outside the Taco King, he heard someone calling out to him.
"Wait!"
Creme turned around just to see the king of tacos running up to him, bringing with him a yellow and green take-away bag. The king handed the bag over to Creme.
"It's dangerous to go alone. I've seen situations like this before. You'll need something to aid you in cheering the young lady up. Take this."
Creme accepted and opened the take-away bag---which had the shop's logo in front of it--- and found several similar-sized things wrapped in aluminium foil. It wasn't hard for Creme to guess the contents though.
"It's our best seller." The king said, grinning at Creme. "Guaranteed to bring a smile on anyone faces." the king spoke as if the taco was his beloved son. "Even those in tears." he added, winking at Creme.
"Thank you." Creme said, closing the bag. "I'm sure this will help."
"Now go!" the king boomed as he slapped Creme on the back. "There is a damsel that is waiting to be comforted."
"Twilight." said a fuzzy voice. It sounded far. Distant. Twilight mumbled to herself and covered her face with the pillow she was resting on. The pillow felt somewhat different to her. It felt foreign. Alien, in fact.
But Twilight didn't care. All she wanted now was peace and quiet. She was extremely tired, and wanted nothing more but to sleep for the rest of the day.
"Twilight."
There was that voice again. It no longer sounded fuzzy. It sounded familiar. VERY familiar.
Something poked Twilight on the belly. Softly. "Twilight, wake up."
"Mmm..." Twilight turned around, her eyes still shut. The poking continued, starting from her belly, and then slowly all over her body.
"Leavemealone..." Twilight mumbled faintly, lifting a foreleg and swiping lazily in the direction of whatever was poking her. Her hoof hit air, and softly landed back on the cloud bed she was sleeping on.
"All right, that does it." Twilight heard the voice say. She heard some hoofsteps moving around her, and suddenly she was shoved out from the comforts of the cloud bed, all the way down to the soft, fluffy floor beneath her.
The soft, but sudden fall to the ground woke Twilight with a start. She blinked several times, and rubbed her eyes, trying to bring her sight into focus. As her vision cleared, she was surprised to see that her home looked nothing like the library she lived in back in Ponyville. The room was completely white, and so, so incredibly fluffy.
For some unexplainable reason, Twilight was not feeling or showing the slightest signs of panic. Usually, when a pony (such as herself) wakes up and suddenly find themselves in a place that was unrecognisable, or different than the place that they are accustomed to, they will panic. Be scared. Be utterly confused.
Yet, Twilight was not feeling any of those. That must mean she does recognize the place. But she can't quite put her hoof on it.
"Wake up, egghead." Rainbow said from behind Twilight, making her jump.
"Spike?" Twilight asked stupidly, looking around her.
"No, you dummy. It's me, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow stepped out to stand in front of Twilight. She grinned at Twilight and playfully rubbed her mane with her hoof.
"Nice hair." Rainbow said, giggling.
Memories of last night began to flood Twilight's brain. The mirror. The new world. Creme. Twilight remembered where she was. She was currently at the house of the one and only, Rainbow Dash, all the way up in Cloudsdale. She came over last night to conduct a study on the sudden appearance of a mysterious creature. A human, to be exact.
"Helllloooo...Cloudsdale to Twilight Sparkle." Rainbow said, bringing her face close to Twilight's. "Are you there?"
Twilight gave her head a little shake. "Yes, I'm here, Rainbow." She looked at her rainbow-maned friend. "How long have I've been asleep?" she asked.
"Long enough." Rainbow replied, smiling.
Twilight stared out the window. The sun was shining brightly. It's rays filling the room with warmth and sunlight. She remembered going to sleep just as Rainbow was getting up. And, judging by the sun's height in the sky, the time was slowly approaching noon.
The horrendous growling that was coming from her stomach also told Twilight that she was hungry. Famished, as a matter of fact.
"Whoa, looks like someone needs their breakfast and lunch." Rainbow joked. "But that's gotta wait." Rainbow said as her expression became serious.
Twilight stared at her friend. Her ears at attention. "What happened?"
"We have a problem, Twilight." Rainbow said, pointing a hoof in the direction of her bathroom. "Something weird is going on with the mirror."
Where could she be?
Creme stopped to catch his breath. He had been running around, searching for Sonata. He had tried searching for her at the shopping mall, at the park, and even at the Holy Shrimp. But she was nowhere in sight. It was as if she has completely disappeared from the face of the earth.
It was a pointless search. Creme knew this all too well. He barely knows Sonata. How was he supposed to know where would Sonata be? He wasn't her best friend. He wasn't a close relative of hers. He was just an acquaintance. A colleague from work.
Creme cursed silently to himself, wishing that he had left sooner to catch up with her. It would take a huge amount of luck to be able to find her. He was new in town, while Sonata had already been here longer than him. Meaning, that she knew the town better than Creme did. She's probably hiding somewhere. Somewhere Creme wouldn't be able to find. Not by a long shot.
The tacos that was gifted to him was getting cold. But Sonata was far more important than cold tacos. Ord had agreed to help search for her. He even suggested a few locations for Creme to go search. But it was to no avail.
Sonata.
Creme turned around and jogged in the direction of his apartment. Maybe she went back home? It was the only place he haven't been to yet. It was worth a shot.
The questions that he had been asking himself ever since leaving the taco shop returned to bother him once again. Who was Aria? What sort of relationship Sonata had with her? Creme jogged a little faster, wanting to reach the apartment building sooner.
Was this related to the dark past Ord was telling him about? Was Aria, somehow, connected to all of this? Creme shook his head. Now isn't the time to be thinking about this questions. There was only one thing he needed to do right now. One thing he needed to focus on.
Creme ran up the stairs two steps at a time. If he was not mistaken, Sonata lived a floor above him. He could start from there. He pulled out his phone, and started searching for Ord's contact number. Maybe Ord knew what number her apartment was.
The sounds of someone crying caused Creme to come to a sudden halt. The source of the sobbing was coming from his floor.
Could it be?
Creme returned his phone to his pocket, and climbed up the stairs. He approached his floor, and turned around.
There, seated on the ground with her back against Creme's apartment door, was Sonata. She was hugging her knees, crying. The sound of her sobs filled the hallway.
Creme let out a sigh of relief. He slowly approached the crying girl, thinking hard on what he should say to comfort her. He wasn't the kind of guy who was good in comforting people. He found it difficult, and awkward, and sometimes annoying. All that he was able to do in situation like these was to offer a listening ear, and maybe a shoulder to cry on.
But words? That might be a little too advanced for him.
Sonata looked up as Creme got closer, her eyes red from all the crying.
"Cr-Creme." she said weakly, giving him a soft smile. But it was painfully obvious that the smile was forced.
Creme sat down beside her, his shoulder next to hers. They sat in silence, not a single word shared between the two of them. Only the occasional sniffling from Sonata broke the silence. Sonata wiped her tears away.
"Are you okay?" Creme asked, after a while. Of course she's not okay, you idiot.
"No." Sonata said softly, her voice a little hoarse.
Creme passed the take-away bag to Sonata.
"A gift from the taco king." he said, offering a smile.
Sonata opened the bag.
"It's their best seller." Sonata said, chuckling softly. "I've seen it on their ads before. You could tell by the way they wrapped this." She said as she pulled one out, and slowly began to unwrapped it.
Thank you, king of tacos. Creme thought to himself. He made a mental note to himself to go and properly thank the taco king later. He silently watched Sonata as she took a bite into the taco.
"Is it good?"
Sonata nodded, smiling. "It's delicious." She offered the taco to Creme. "Wanna try?"
Creme hesitated, but decided to take a bite at the taco. Sonata held on to the taco as Creme sunk his teeth into the half-eaten taco, pulling a chunk out with him as he withdrew.
The taco was delicious.
"Huh. I culd see why tis is heir best seller." Creme said, between each bite. He swallowed. "Very tasty."
"Mmmhmm." Sonata agreed, taking another bite.
Creme gazed softly at girl next to him. He wasn't sure if she was feeling any better right now. Or if she was okay at all. But he was afraid to ask. Sometimes, silence and ignorance is the best approach. Or so he thought.
"Creme..."
Sonata suddenly clung on to Creme, hugging him tightly around the middle, burying her face into Creme's chest. The almost finished taco was left on the ground, forgotten along with the take-away bag. But it was the tears that Creme noticed first.
Sonata cried once again. Her sobs louder this time, and full of pain and sadness. Creme was left stunned and shocked. What was he supposed to do?
"Creme..." Sonata said between sobs. "C-Creme..."
An uneasy feeling began to surround Creme. He was never good in times like these. He felt vulnerable, exposed. But at the same time, he knew that he needed to do something. He needed to take action. Something must be done. Anything.
"Creme...please..."
Creme looked down at Sonata as she looked up at him. Her tear-filled eyes was like miniature puddles of water. They stared deeply into each other's eyes, their gaze reflecting each other.
"Comfort me, Creme." Sonata whispered, her voice trembling.
Without a word, Creme hugged Sonata back. Giving as much comfort as he possibly could.
* * * * * *
After accompanying Sonata back to her room and saying goodbye, Creme gave Ord a call to inform him of the turn of events. Ord thanked Creme for his help, and was glad Creme was able to find her.
Creme stared at the forgotten take-away bag that was still on the ground in front of his door. He picked it up along with the unwrapped taco. He unlocked his door and entered his apartment, sighing as he shut the door behind him.
What a day.
He set the bag and taco down on the kitchen counter. Too lazy and too tired to do anything else, he sat down on his couch, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Hey."
The voice caught him by surprise. But it wasn't enough to take his eyes away from the ceiling.
"Rainbow Dash?" he asked.
"Yup." she answered. Her voice sounded strangely clearer. It even sounded closer.
"You sound...closer than usual." Creme wasn't lying. She did sounded closer. Almost as if...
Creme stood up and quickly stared in the direction of the mirror.
Standing before him, just in front of the mirror, was a cerulean-coloured pony with a rainbow-coloured mane. With wings too.