//------------------------------// // Friendchiladas // Story: Taco Quest // by MrAskAPirate //------------------------------// The club was literally still quaking with the cheers and chants of the audience when the three girls slipped backstage, their pony ears and elongated hair evaporating into the ether along the way. Rarity turned to the others and grinned. “Well! That certainly went even better than I-!?” She cut off as Sonata threw her arms around both her and Pinkie, folding them into quite possibly the tightest hug they had ever experienced. Considering that they had both been on the receiving end of hugs from Pinkie’s sister Maud in the past, that meant quite a bit. “Thank you!” Sonata practically squealed, her face slick with happy tears. “Thank you both so much! I never knew; all this time and I never knew!” “Sonata,” Rarity breathed in a hoarse whisper as her face took on a tinge of blue, “a little looser please, darling...” “Oh! Sorry sorry!” she laughed as she released them and stepped back, her shining smile not faltering for an instant as she began hopping in place. “I’m just so excited! This is huge! I-I never even realized what it was supposed to be like!” “What what was like?” Pinkie hopped right along with her, her own smile just as bright. “Singing! That was soooo amazing! I’ve been doing it for soooo long, but this time it was soooo totally different! It was like… like a million-billion of the tastiest tacos in the world all at once! Warm and zesty and super-sweet and refreshing and crisp and… and… woosh!” She shivered in delight and jumped into the air, completing a full spin before she landed. “Is this what it feels like every time you guys sing?” “Well, I don’t know that I would use that exact metaphor, but, yes,” Rarity nodded with a smile, “the sensation is quite invigorating.” “I’d say it’s more like a fluffy, puffy, super-soft, mega-moist chocolate seven-layer sheet cake with vanilla and strawberry frosting and rainbow sprinkles!” Pinkie Pie drooled. “Ooh, that sounds good too!” Sonata’s eyes widened. “Lemme see if I can make it feel like that!” She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, but instead of a smooth sound like she had just produced on stage, her voice was once again scratchy and off-key. Rarity and Pinkie both fought the urge to cringe. Sonata scrunched up her face in dissatisfaction and tried again, with the same result. “... Huh.” “What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked with a frown. “I’unno,” Sonata shrugged, “it was working a second ago.” “Indeed; you sounded absolutely beautiful once… oh!” Rarity gasped. “Your voice improved once your magic came out!” “You mean when I grew the ears and stuff?” “Does that mean she can only sing when she’s in Super Sailor Pony Saiyan Rainbow Friendship Ranger Mode?” Pinkie pouted. “For the last time, we are not calling it that,” Rarity held up a finger, “but yes, it certainly appears that way. We’ll have to ask Sunset, or perhaps Twilight about it later; I’m sure one of them will have some kind of theory.” “So,” Sonata scrunched up her face once again, this time in confusion, “I can only sing well… when I’m singing?” “Erm,” Rarity hesitated, “more or less?” Sonata turned her gaze up and twisted her lips into a pensive frown. “... Ok, I can work with that.” “There you girls are!” The trio turned as Steven Magnet pushed through the curtains with a huge smile on his face. “You three were absolutely fabulous! Spectacular! Magnificent!” He gave them each a brief hug in turn as he spoke. “I’ve been running clubs for twenty years and I have never in my life seen a routine like that!” “Yes, well,” Rarity blanched and gave him an awkward grin, “perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order.” Steven shook his head. “Oh, honey, it can wait! You need to get back out there!” Three sets of eyes blinked at him. “We do?” the girls answered as one, only for Steven to huff and nod vigorously as he pulled the curtain open a tiny bit, unmuffling the sound of the raucous crowd. “Of course you do! Are you hearing this? They’re going bonkers out there! If you don’t keep going they’re liable to start tearing the place up!” Rarity gave him another Applejack-esque raised eyebrow, while Pinkie pursed her lips and Sonata merely crossed her arms. Steven put his hands up in defeat. “Ok, I’m being just a scootch overdramatic, but you know what I mean!” He released the curtain and stepped forward cupping his hands together in a pleading gesture. “Please, girls, you could make this the single biggest night MacMaren’s has ever had!” Rarity tilted her head. “Hmm… it’s Sonata’s decision,” she announced, turning to face the former Siren with a sly smile as Pinkie started grinning and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “What do you say, Sonata? Want to give it another go?” Sonata bit her lip, glancing at the curtain briefly before looking back at Steven. “You’re still gonna drive us to Ponyville so we can get tacos later, right?” “Oh, honey,” Steven said with a deep, flourishing bow, “if you do this for me, I will buy you as many tacos as you can eat!” “Ooh, you’re probably gonna regret that!” Pinkie stage-whispered. Sonata expertly twirled the microphone in her hand and grinned the happiest, most confident smile she’d worn all evening. “Then let’s rock this place!” And rock it they did. That night, MacMaren’s proved to be everything that Rarity had claimed it was and more. People flocked from across the city, summoned by text messages and Ponstagrams and MyStable posts from the audience as they spread the word about the amazing trio performing there. Iron Will and Bulk Biceps had their hands full with an ever-growing line reaching down the block, and Steven went through his entire list of backup waiters, waitresses, and two additional bartenders to deal with the crowd. It was indeed the single most profitable night the club had ever known. On stage, a performance more than two thousand years overdue continued unabated. At times, Rarity and Pinkie Pie found themselves actually struggling to keep up with Sonata as she moved from one song to the next with hardly a breath in between. She took requests, she made up songs on the spot, and even managed to get Steven to join them on stage for a rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men’ that would be talked about for months. From pop to disco, punk rock to hip-hop (which Pinkie in particular enjoyed), from soulful ballads to a brass-band swing song that Sonata claimed she hadn’t sung since 1945, no genre of music was left untouched, and the crowd cheered for every second of it. At the center of it all, Sonata shined like a star. The emotional high she was riding carried through from one song to the next and surged through the newly-formed bond of friendship with the others, keeping their magical ears and ponytails firmly in place. She drank in every instant, savouring sensations she had been missing out on her whole life as if she were attempting to make up for lost time. Pinkie and Rarity were more than happy to let her, even as the performance moved into its third straight hour. Yet, there was one individual who was decidedly unhappy about the girls’ spectacular, moving, and most notably very loud show… The walls of Cranky Doodle Donkey’s house thrummed with every overwhelming oonts of bass from the damn club across the street. He mashed the pillow down harder over his head and groaned before tossing it to the floor in frustration. Frowning as he looked around the room, the ever-present light of the street lamps outside made it possible for him to count exactly how many picture frames he was going to have to straighten in the morning. It was all of them. Cranky groaned again and clenched his fists. Next to him, his wife Matilda, ever the epitome of a heavy sleeper, squirmed a little as she rolled over on her other side. “Jus’ tune it out like we talked about, Doodle,” she mumbled in a sleepy daze. “It’s been going on like this for hours,” he groused. “Where does Steven get off raising that kind of racket in the middle of the night? He knows people are trying to sleep! I've talked to him about this!” “Then you can talk to him again in the morning.” “I suppose...” he admitted with a sigh. His eyes wandered back over the room, lazily taking in details in a vain attempt to bore himself to sleep, until they came to rest on the cordless phone on top of his dresser. “No; you know what? I've had enough!” “Whaa?” Matilda raised her head slightly as Cranky threw back the covers, stepped over to the phone, picked it up and started dialing. “Oh, Doodle, not again; just come back to bed.” Cranky didn’t answer. There was a short silence until someone on the other end picked up. “Hello, Canterlot Police? Yes, I’d like to report a noise complaint...”