Aria had taken a liking to Achilles, much to her surprise. Nearly a month after Adagio had brought him home, Aria was spending more time with Achilles than his “owner” did. Something about the affinity of a bulldog seemed to resonate with the angriest of the Sirens. They understood each other. Plus, Sonata adored him, so Aria naturally kept Achilles close.
Aria was finishing up a walk with her precious new beast, approaching their home. She opened the door and shooed Achilles off to the kitchen, where he had a bowl of dog food waiting for him. Aria herself flung off her jacket, kicked out of her shoes, and headed upstairs. She was tired, not to mention bored from watching the house and Achilles all day. For once, Aria was the only one who didn’t have something important to do; Adagio was currently at Sunset Shimmer’s house, getting her hair regrown via Princess Twilight’s potion (a process that the Princess projected could take "several lifetimes"), and Sonata was “scouting out the music scene”, which she predicted would take all day. Which is why Aria was confused to hear not one, but two voices coming from the other side of her bedroom door. Aria pressed her ear against the door, trying to catch every word that she could.
“I’m telling you, she’s not gonna go for it,” The first voice was obviously Sonata. “She’s not into that sort of thing.”
“Sure she is! She just doesn’t know it yet!” said the other voice, which Aria had a bit more difficulty placing. “Aria would love it if she just gave it a chance.”
“What?” whispered Aria to herself. This conversation was getting a little odd.
“Do you really think so?” asked Sonata.
"Totally," promised the other voice. "This kind of thing is really good for a relationship."
"I don't think she'll be comfortable with people watching us. She tries to hide it, but she's really shy."
"Come on! A little exhibition never hurt anybody!"
That was enough for Aria. Her face burning bright red, she kicked open her door and burst into the room. Sonata was sitting on her bed, back to the door, next to someone who could only be Pinkie Pots (though, Aria admitted, she might’ve gotten the name wrong). The two looked up and smiled at Aria, Sonata’s smile nervous and Pinkie’s bright and excited.
“What’s going on here?” asked Aria. Sonata looked to Pinkie, who looked back to her in wait.
“Well? She’s your girlfriend,” said Pinkie. “Go ahead. Ask her.”
“Yeah, Sony. Ask me,” said Aria, though not quite as happily as Pinkie did. Sonata breathed deeply, then turned to face Aria.
“Okay. Aria, I’ve known you for a very, really, super long time,” said Sonata. “And I’ve never asked you something like this before. Before you answer, just try to keep an open mind, okay? Pinkie Pie says it’s very good for a relationship, and that there’s no way we both won’t enjoy ourselves.”
“Ask the question, Sonata,” ordered Aria.
“Okay. Would you… I mean, like, hypothetically, if we were to… Ugh! I’m just gonna say it!” said Sonata, her tongue in a double-knot. “Do you… dance?”
The room went silent, each party in the conversation trying to figure out the other. Aria felt the blush on her face grow, embarrassed at her misunderstanding.
“You frickin perv,” Aria muttered under her breath. Out loud, she could only ask, “What?”
“Pinkie is planning a dance party, and she wants us to come,” explained Sonata. “And I told her that you didn’t really like to dance, especially if we weren’t trying to, you know… Feed.” Sonata shook her head, trying to disregard the sinking guilt in her gut. “But she said that you’d really like it if you just gave it a chance, and I said that you only really dance when you think nobody’s looking, and she said that I should ask you to come to this party, and I said-”
“I get the idea, Nata. What do you mean, ‘when I think nobody’s looking’?” asked Aria, raising an eyebrow.
“If you’re gonna go through the trouble of waiting til me and Dagi go to get groceries, you should really consider closing the blinds,” suggested Sonata. You could cook, and burn, an egg on Aria’s face after that comment.
“So? You wanna come?” asked Pinkie. “It’s gonna be fun! There’s gonna be snacks and drinks and games and boys, wait, that last one doesn’t really work for you, whoops! There’s gonna be snacks and games and boys, even though you aren’t interested in boys, there’s gonna be boys anyway, so why not come?!” Aria took a few moments to let her brain catch up after hearing the extremely fast string of speech.
“No. I’m not going to some stupid dance party,” said Aria. She ignored the whines that came from Sonata and Pinkie. “No! This isn’t like Rainbow’s Sweet Sixteen! You’re not gonna put on the puppy eyes and make me go. Uh-uh, not happening.”
“But, Ariiiiiiiii!” whined Sonata. “It’ll be so much fun!”
“Look, I’m not going to this dumb party. I’m just not,” said Aria, with an air of finality. “You can go, I don’t care. You can dance if you want to.”
“I’m sorry, Sonata, but we have to leave your friend behind,” said Pinkie suddenly, a devious gleam in her eyes. Sonata picked up on it instantly and grinned.
“What are you talking about?” asked Aria. “We’re more than friends, you know.”
“Is it cause she don’t dance?” asked Sonata.
“Yup. Your friend don’t dance,” said Pinkie shaking her head. “And if she don’t dance…”
“Well, she's no friend of mine,” said Sonata.
Aria realized what was going on just a second too late.
"Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun! Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun! Dun-dun-dun-dundundundundundun!"
“Oh my god, are you serious?” asked Aria. She turned out of the door, but Sonata and Pinkie followed behind her, reciting one of Pinkie’s all-time favorite songs. Aria groaned loudly, trying to escape their singing. She could not.
“For the love of god, the 80s are done!” snapped Aria. “It was an awful decade, anyway! New wave is dead!”
If Aria thought that would stop the incessant singing of The Safety Dance, she was sadly mistaken. If anything, this only seemed to intensify the impromptu performance. Aria ran throughout the house, stalked by her two assailants, one of which who had a tendency to vanish from behind Aria and appear suddenly right in her path. Eventually, Aria managed to juke and jive her way past both Sonata and Pinkie and slip into her room, locking the door behind her. She slid down the wall, banging her head softly against the door. Finally, she had escaped.
“S! A! F! E! T! Y! Saftey! Dance!”
“Where did you get a ghetto blaster?!” demanded Aria. “What is it going to take to get you to leave me alone?!”
As she filled her cup with soda, Aria decided that Sonata should’ve been the leader of the Dazzlings. Under her rule, her dastardly, maniacal, manipulative rule, there was no doubt in Aria’s mind that they would have emerged victorious. Because, apparently, all it took to defeat someone as strong-willed and powerful as Aria was a slice of the 80s.
The party itself wasn’t all that bad, though for about ten minutes, the DJ played a loop of the very song Aria had come to escape. She apologized profusely after the fact, explaining that someone had replaced all her music with The Safety Dance. After that debacle was cleared up, she resumed her usual dance party mix (which, she made it her business to remind people, was entirely her own creation, and that you could hear more by subscribing to her YouTube channel, SC-R4TCH That), and the party continued.
And, no matter how much she wanted to, Aria couldn’t say that the party was torturous, even if there were far more people than she would have liked. The music was good (though she felt she could do better if given the chance), the snacks were great, and, much to Aria’s surprise, there was alcohol. She always saw Pinkie as a goody-goody, not the type to swipe booze from her parents. Seeing as this was her fifth trip to the kitchen to fill her cup with vodka and diet Coke, Aria clearly was not complaining. But it wasn’t the booze, or the music, or the food that let Aria enjoy herself. No, that honor rested solely on the massive grin that was plastered on Sonata’s face for the duration. So, despite her minor annoyance at being bested by Men Without Hats, Aria decided to let her girlfriend have fun while she herself sat back and watched from the kitchen, growing more and more intoxicated with every passing minute.
“Hey, gorgeous,” said a voice, shocking Aria right in the middle of a sip. A fellow partygoer (and apparently, a master ninja) had snuck up to her left, a cup in his hand. His spiked, cobalt hair was a mess, and it took Aria a second longer to place the name.
“Uh… Brad, right?” said Aria, rolling her eyes. The guy was inching closer and closer, breaking through Aria’s bubble.
“It’s Flash. I remember you, though,” he said. “Crazy psycho Siren girl. Not the leader, not the moron. The tough one.”
“Yup. That’s me,” said Aria flatly. She was growing more and more irate, not helped by the heavy stench of alcohol on his breath. “And you’re the guy who lost in the semis, right?”
“Lost? Nah, babe. We threw the competition,” scoffed Flash. “Wasn’t worth the effort, ya know? We decided to let you guys have it.”
“Right. It had nothing to do with the fact that our music was literally hypnotic,” said Aria. Flash laughed slightly, but showed no signs of leaving.
“You’re cute. Just thought you should know that,” said Flash. “What’s someone as cool as you doing at a lame party like this?”
“I’m here with my girlfriend,” said Aria, hoping that Flash would catch the hint. He did not.
“That’s cool. Hey, you wanna get outta here?”
“You’re drunk,” noted Aria dryly.
“Come on, there’s a room upstairs that’s a little more quiet,” pressed Flash. Aria’s patience was running thin.
“Dude, did you miss the part where I said I had a girlfriend?” snarled Aria.
“Cool. Bring her, too,” said Flash confidently.
The proudest moment in Aria’s long, long life was the exact moment in between her deciding to punch Flash in the face and her consciously stopping herself. Aria just kept thinking about how disappointed Sonata would be if she got them kicked out of the party, or worse. She never knew she could be that level-headed, and she would use that moment as evidence that she had restraint for years to come.
“Look, Brad, I was trying to be nice,” said Aria. “I’m not anymore. Beat it, before I beat you.”
“Are you offering?” This time, it took more than Aria’s desire to keep Sonata happy to stop her fist from connecting with Flash’s jaw. This time, it was Sonata herself that restrained her, the smiling Siren dancing happily into the kitchen and throwing herself against Aria.
“Heyyy, babe!” said Sonata. “You havin fun?”
“Sony, how much have you had to drink?” asked Aria. Sonata looked upwards, thinking for a moment.
“Uh… I dunno… A lot, though,” admitted Sonata. “How’re we getting home?”
“You could ride with me,” offered Flash.
“Yeah, cause you’ve been a gentleman tonight,” scoffed Aria. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. When she tried to unlock it, the screen never lit. Aria let out a frustrated growl. A dead cell phone, she could handle. A drunk scumbag, she could handle. Both of them at the same time? She wasn’t so certain.
“Sonata, were you playing Trivia Crack on my phone again?” asked Aria. “You killed my battery! How’re we gonna call Dag?”
“My phone still has battery!” said Sonata. “I’ll call her!” She ran from Aria to near the front of the house, where it was slightly more quiet.
Sonata pulled out her phone, dialed Adagio’s number, and put the phone to her ear. It rang once, twice, three times, before Adagio picked up.
“What?” demanded Adagio sharply. On her end of the line, the sounds of slashing could be heard from the TV, followed by an utterance of “But a sporting hunt, it was!”. “Damnit! Twelve-thousand Blood Echoes down the drain…”
“Adagio? Are you awake?” asked Sonata dreamily.
“No, Sonata, I am not,” said Adagio snarkily. “I have finally mastered the delicate art of upholding a conversation, fighting Father Gascoigne, and sleeping, all at once.”
“Oh. Sorry. Call me when you wake up, kay?”
“Sonata, are you drunk? I bet you’re drunk,” said Adagio in exasperation. “And I suppose both you and Aria are too hammered to get home safely. Which means I, as the only responsible one, have to get up out of bed, get dressed, and pick you up. Where are you?”
“Someone’s house…” said Sonata drunkenly.
“That narrows it down to every house in town, thanks. Whose house?”
“Uh… Not our house…”
“Are you at Pinkie’s party?” asked Adagio. Talking to a drunk Sonata was like pulling teeth. “Look, I’m on my way. Give me twenty minutes. I have to go get my Blood Echoes.”
The line disconnected, and Sonata slid her phone in her pocket with a smile. With a drunken grin, she floated back into the kitchen. When she got there, and saw Flash’s hand slowly but surely running up Aria’s thigh, she realized two very distinct things, one of which being that Aria was showing an impressive amount of restraint.
The other was that Flash Sentry was a drunken douchebag.
“Hey, Brad!” said Sonata.
“Hm?” Flash turned for just a second, which was all Sonata needed to punch him in the nose with all the strength she could muster. Flash fell backwards and didn’t get up for a very long time after that. The look on Aria’s face was a three-way mix of confusion, admiration, and overwhelming pride.
“Sonata! You… You knocked him out!” said Aria in awe. “That’s supposed to be my thing!”
“Hey, you stole my gig, too,” said Sonata, shrugging her shoulder. “I’m supposed to be the damsel in distress.”
“Guess it works both ways,” smirked Aria. She brought Sonata into a hug. “We’re gonna get kicked out, aren’t we?”
Not only were they kicked out, but the cops soon came because of noise complaints. Those who were able filed out, leaving the police to deal with the vastly drunken majority. Pinkie had her parents called (she wasn’t heard from for a while), and the Siren couple (as well as Flash Sentry) were arrested. Adagio was less than ecstatic, but posted their bail anyway. The whole ride home was accompanied by grumblings about lost play hours. If Sonata was sober enough to understand, she didn’t show it. She mostly just smiled at the fact that she managed to impress Aria.
“Dude, that was a sweet punch,” said Aria.
“I learn from the best,” said Sonata.
“Do you two have any idea how much progress I could have made if-” Adagio’s tirade was interrupted when she realized that Aria and Sonata were not only ignoring her, but actively making out in the back seat. With a roll of her eyes, Adagio decided to let them have their fun.
“A thousand years in this world and I’ve managed to keep you out of jail,” said Adagio. “And you let your record break on account of some guy at a party?”
“He was a douchebag, though,” said Sonata when she had time for a breath.
Adagio couldn’t argue with that logic, and so she went the rest of the ride silent. Well, almost silent.
“Twelve. Thousand. Blood Echoes,” she grumbled.