"Well, here we are."
Sonata stared in awe at Dusk's house. She had never lived in an actual house before; the sirens had always been able to use their hypnotic singing abilities to convince some poor hotel manager to let them stay for free, so while they never had a permanent home, they always had a comfortable place to stay. Now that she had lost her gem, however, Sonata was left without a means to gain a place to stay.
She briefly wondered if Adagio and Aria were going through the same problem.
"Hey Sonata, could you wait out here for a minute?" Dusk asked her.
"What?" asked Sonata, returning to the present. "Oh! Um, sure!"
Dusk smiled, then walked inside. As he closed the door behind him, Sonata couldn't help but worry.
Okay, Dusk is probably just going to talk to his parents about me or something, she thought. I mean, he isn't just going to leave me out here, is he? I mean, there's no reason for him to do so, unless...
A sudden thought occurred to her, one that chilled her to the bone.
Unless he knows about the Battle of The Bands!
Slowly, Sonata began to panic.
He's not just never going to let me go anywhere near him, he's gonna call the cops! And then they're going to keep me in one of those weird bases where they keep all the aliens in those movies for experimenting! or worse, they'll put me in a spaceship and send me off the planet! Or... what else did those websites say about the aliens? I don't remember, Adagio never let me read them!
Sonata groaned as she remembered the times she'd spent with her fellow sirens.
Well, maybe it won't be so bad. I mean, the only other option would be going back to Adagio and Aria, and there's no way they'd ever let me go back. And maybe they won't send me to one of those secret bases... maybe since I don't have any powers anymore, they'll just send me to prison.
I wonder if they have tacos in prison.
Sonata was broken out of her thoughts when the door was opened once more. To her surprise, however, there was a woman with white-and-purple-striped hair.
"Hello, are you Sonata?"
The former siren nodded uncertainly.
"Oh my, look at you," the woman said. "You poor thing, you're so thin! And when was the last time you had a bath?"
Sonata didn't answer.
"Well, no wonder Dusk was so worried about you! Here, why don't you come in?"
Before Sonata could say anything, the woman pulled her through the door and into the living room, leaving her right next to Dusk.
"Now, make yourself comfortable. And you can call me Twilight Velvet."
"Um, thank you, Miss Velvet," Sonata replied.
As Velvet made her way towards the kitchen, Sonata took a moment to take in her surroundings. There were a table set in the middle of the room, with a few random items on top. There was a television behind it, and a sofa in front of it, as well as two couches on either side.
"So, yeah. That's my mom," explained Dusk. "Sorry I took so long. She worries a lot about people, especially when they're in, well, your situation. I mean, she usually doesn't take in every homeless person, but, you know, you're a friend, so..."
"Oh," said Sonata. "So, she's okay with me being here?"
"Yeah, I think so," responded Dusk. "Of course, we still haven't asked my dad, and he might not be so happy about having you here."
Sonata shuddered.
"Hey, don't worry," Dusk told her reassuringly. "Mom will probably be able to convince him to let you stay! Honestly, the worst case scenario is that my sister is gonna tease us a whole lot or something."
Sonata frowned. Ever since the battle of the bands, she didn't like to think about her own sisters.
"Your sister... is she mean to you?"
"Well, not really," said Dusk. "She's just kind of a jerk sometimes. But she's really nice once you get to know her. She taught me how to fly a kite when I was a kid, and she always helped me with my homework. Also, she tells me to go out and make friends, which kind of annoys me, but I know she means well."
"Make friends," Sonata mused to herself. Everyone she'd met so far had emphasized the power of friendship. Heck, she and her sisters had gotten beaten with it. On the other hand, from what she had been able to figure out so far, Dusk seemed to find little importance in it. Indeed, she and Sunset appeared to be the first people he actually considered friends.
In the past, Sonata would not have cared one bit about it. Now, however, thinking about Dusk being alone made her feel sad. She didn't even understand why it was happening; she had been a siren her whole life, and she had never felt sorry for anyone or anypony. Indeed, during the Battle Of The Bands, she had been quite happy to follow Adagio, regardless of who got hurt during their efforts. And yet, ever since Adagio and Aria had ditched her, she had begun to feel regret, remorse, and empathy. It was so very strange.
"Sonata? Are you all right?"
The blue-haired girl shook herself and turned towards Dusk. He was looking at her with concern in his eyes.
"Oh," she said. "Sorry, just wondering to myself."
"Wondering about what?"
Before Sonata could answer, she heard a bark. Looking down, she saw a purple dog with green ears looking up at her.
"Oh my gosh!" she said, picking the dog up and hugging him. "You're so cute!"
"Um, yeah," said Dusk. "That's my dog. I call him Spike."
"Aww! Hey Spike! I'm Sonata! You're so cute and fluffy!"
Spike eyed the mysterious newcomer warily, unsure of whether she was trustworthy. Slowly, he began to growl at her.
"It's all right, Spike. She's perfectly friendly!" Dusk told his puppy.
"Yeah! I'm... really nice!" Sonata chipped in, beaming widely.
Spike stopped growling, but he kept staring at Sonata suspiciously. In response, she put him down and sighed.
"I guess he doesn't like me," she said sadly.
"Strange," said Dusk. "He usually likes people."
Sonata didn't say anything. Deep inside, however, she wondered if the little purple dog could sense the siren spirit that lay within.