//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Arrival, Attention, Argument, and Awesomeness // Story: A Harmonic Sonata // by keaton-furman-prower //------------------------------// “YES!” After the nine-thousand sixteenth time Sonata had asked, the carriage finally touched down in Ponyville. “Yay!” Spike groaned as he stepped out of the carriage. It had been a relatively short trip, but it had felt like it had lasted years. “Thanks guys,” Sonata told the guards as she stepped out. “You can go back home now!” The guards sighed out in relief. “Thank you, Sonata. We will inform the Princess.” As the guards flew off, Sonata and Spike took in their surroundings. It was a peaceful little village, full of happy ponies going out on their daily business. The houses were idyllic little brick buildings with thatched roofs, and there was a large hall in the middle of the town. In the distance, an orchard full of apple trees could be seen, as well as a large, dark forest. “Okay,” Spike said. “Let’s get through our preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration so you can meet some ponies, make some friends, and zap Hellfire Sun with the Elements!” “All right,” Sonata said, holding out a list of things she had to check. However, before she could check anything, she was interrupted by somepony shouting. “Hold it right there!” Sonata and Spike stopped in their tracks at the sound of the voice. As they turned, they saw a pink unicorn staring at them. She had short purple hair, with a single streak of light purple. She was wearing a long white cape, gold shoes on her hooves, and a golden earring on her left ear. Most peculiar, however, was the stick with the glowing green tip she was pointing at Sonata. “You’re a strange one,” she said. “Your magic signature doesn’t match a normal earth pony. And you don’t have party pony hair, so that can’t be it.” The pony lifted her cape slightly, revealing her cutie mark to be a trio of gems. She then placed her stick under it and pulled out a strange glowing mirror. As she pointed it at Sonata, she frowned. “Weird. I’ve never seen this kind of magic before. More analysis will be needed to figure this out.” The unicorn then left without saying a word, leaving Sonata and Spike dumbfounded. “Well… that happened,” said Spike. Sonata kept staring as the unicorn disappeared in the distance. She was unnerved by the way she had been staring at her, and by the instruments she had been pointing at her. It was almost as if- And then her tummy began to rumble. “Hey, Spike, when was the last time we ate?” Spike stared at her incredulously. “Just before we left Canterlot. You can’t seriously be hungry already!” Sonata ignored Spike and looked at her list. Immediately she smiled as her eyes fell upon one of the items. “Ooh! Catering! On to Sugarcube Corner!” She began to bounce away, causing Spike to smack his claw against his face. “Sonata, do you even know where you’re going?” “I’m going to check the food and make sure it’s good for eating!” “And you know where that is?” Sonata stopped, then blinked. She then looked at the list, trying to find some indication of where she was supposed to go. As she searched, Spike spotted something on the opposite side of the list. “Um, Sonata, why don’t you flip the list over?” Sonata blinked, and then turned the page over. To her surprise, she saw a number of drawings of buildings, as well as several labels for the roads and locations. “A map!” she said. “You’re a genius, Spike!” Spike rolled his eyes as Sonata walked off. Spike gasped in exhaustion as they finally reached Sugarcube Corner. “Whew!” said Sonata. “I had no idea it would be so hard to find!” “Maybe we would have found it faster if you hadn’t held the map upside down!” Spike yelled. Sonata chuckled nervously, and then looked towards the building. It was a rather atypical building that had been built to resemble a gingerbread house; the brown tiles on the roof resembled cookies, and the walls looked like they were made of cake. In addition, most of the edges were lined with a white paint that resembled icing. Just looking at it made Sonata’s mouth water. “Oh wow,” she said. “Spike, are you seeing this?” “Huh,” said Spike. “You’d think the ponies around here would have eaten it a long time ago.” He turned towards Sonata, only to find that she had vanished. Confused, he turned towards Sugarcube Corner and saw a telltale blue tail slipping inside. Oh boy. This is gonna be Taco Spell all over again, isn't it? Sighing, he quickly ran inside. As he entered, he saw that Sonata had frozen in place at the sight of the many delicious confections. “Hello, welcome to Sugarcube Corner. How may I help you?” Spike looked up at the counter, where a slim yellow stallion with a short orange mane was smiling at the two new customers. Unfortunately, Sonata didn’t seem to notice this, as she was busy staring at the various desserts as saliva dripped from her mouth. Rolling his eyes, the little dragon decided to take over for the moment. “Hello. We were sent here by Princess Luna to ensure that the catering is appropriate for the festivities.” “Official royal envoys?!” the pony said in shock. “Sugar Belle!” Immediately, a pink unicorn with a frizzy purple mane and a cupcake cutie mark ran up to the counter. “Hello, may I take your order?” This seemed to snap Sonata out of her trance. “Food! Quick! Lots of it!” While slightly surprised by Sonata’s outbreak, Sugar Belle did not lose her composure. “Of course! We have cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and pies. You should try the muffins. Everypony loves the muffins.” “Oh wow,” said Sonata. “I’ll have a bit of everything!” Yep, thought Spike. Just like Taco Spell. “Coming right up!” Sugar Belle said as she ran off to the kitchen. Less than a minute later, she returned with a plate full of muffins, cupcakes, pies, and cookies. Sonata quickly thanked her and began to eat everything in sight. “Wow! These muffins are amazing!” “I told you they were,” said Sugar. “They’re my specialty.” Sonata stopped for a moment. She was supposed to be making friends, and she knew that getting to know other ponies was an important part of friendship. And Sugar Belle seemed to be willing to talk to her. That was probably a good start. “Oh… really?” she asked. “So, what else do you do here?” “Well, I learn from Mr. Cake,” explained Sugar. “I’m his apprentice.” “Oh,” said Sonata. “I’m an apprentice too!” “And so am I!” To Sonata’s surprise, a pink earth pony popped up from behind the table, causing both her and Sugar to yelp. “Pinkie Pie! I’ve told you not to do that when there are new customers!” “Oh my gosh, a new customer!” Sonata suddenly felt her hoof being vigorously shaken. “I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?” Sonata stared at the new pony in mild shock. However, she quickly composed herself. “My name is Sonata Dusk.” “Hi Sonata! I hope you like the cupcakes! They’re the best thing in the whole wide world!” Spike felt a shiver crawl down his spine. “Nah,” said Sonata. “As far as I’m concerned, tacos are the best thing in the universe!” Pinkie gasped, and slowly narrowed her eyes. “No food is better than cupcakes.” “No,” said Sonata, her eyes narrowing as well. “Tacos are the best food.” Spike stepped backwards. I take it back. This is gonna be even worse than Taco Spell. “Girls?” said Sugar. “Can’t we all just agree to-” “NO!” Intimidated by the new turn of events, Sugar backed away from the table, bumping into Spike as she did so. “Um… this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?” she asked him. “Tacos are the best!” “No! Cupcakes!” “Well, you're wrong! Nothing is better than tacos!” “You fool! Tacos can't possibly compare to cupcakes!” Spike quickly glanced at the two angry mares. “Oh, you have no idea.” “I can’t believe some ponies can’t just admit that tacos are the greatest food of all!” Spike rolled his eyes. Having watched the two determined ponies scream at each other for the better part of an hour, he was eager to get to the next place. “Okay, let’s see. Next we have to find the weather manager, Night Glider.” “Did somepony say my name?” Sonata was broken out of her rant by the voice. However, as she looked around, she was unable to identify its source. “Boo!” She then jumped out in shock as a pony appeared right in front of her, causing her to fall into a nearby puddle. “Aww yeah! I gotcha good!” Sonata angrily pulled herself out of the puddle, taking a good look at her mysterious attacker. She was a dark blue pegasus with a slicked-back white mane, and her cutie mark seemed to be a crescent moon with two feathers surrounding it. “Wow! That was awesome!” Sonata glared at Spike who seemed to be admiring Night Glider. “I mean, first you were like Somepony said my name! And then Sonata was like Who’s there? And then you came out and went Boo! Then Sonata freaked out and fell over! It was amazing how you could sneak up on us like that!” “I know,” said Night Glider. “I’m pretty good at sneaking around. You’ll never know I’m coming until I get you! Not to mention I’m the fastest pony I know! All in all, I’m a perfect fit for the Shadowbolts!” “The Shadowbolts?” Sonata asked, raising an eyebrow. “The most talented and daring pegasi in the Equestrian Royal Guard?” “Yup!” said Night Glider. “I’m going to shock them with my sweet moves! They won’t be able to deny my awesomeness! And then I’ll become the most awesome pony ever!” Sonata rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. I mean, the sky isn’t supposed to have any clouds right now. And you’re a meanie who pushed me into a puddle. The Shadowbolts would never let in anypony as lazy or mean as that.” “Aw, don’t worry about that,” said Night Glider. “I’ll clear this sky in ten seconds, and then I’ll have you all cleaned up and dry in five more. All in all, I’ll have everything done in fifteen seconds flat.” Sonata smirked. “Oh really?” she asked. “Because I somehow doubt anypony can go that fast. Even the Shadowbolts would find that pretty hard.” Night Glider gave her a determined look. “You want fast?” she said. “I’ll show you fast. Three, two, one, now!” And with that, the dark pegasus shot off into the air, leaving a dark blue trail in her wake. She kicked the first could she found as hard as she could, then headed off for another one in the blink of an eye. She then repeated the process on another cloud, then another, and another. She flew so fast that some clouds seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. Just as she reached the last remaining cloud, she stopped kicking, and instead pushed the cloud over to Sonata. As soon as she was over the blue mare, she jumped onto the cloud, causing it to dissolve into water. The water then fell on top of Sonata, drenching her from head to toe. Finally, Night Glider spun around her, creating a miniature tornado that sucked out all the moisture. “Done! Firteen seconds flat!” “Actually,” said Spike, looking at his pocket watch, “That was closer to fourteen point six seconds!” “Ha!” said Night Glider. “See? I’m even faster than I claim!” However, as she turned to Sonata, her eyes widened. She then began to snicker, which ended in her falling over laughing. Curious, Spike took a look, and promptly fell over laughing as well. “What’s so funny?” Sonata asked in confusion. “Oh, you have to see this,” said Spike. He then pulled a mirror out of his bag to show her. Sonata gasped. Her mane had been thrown out of its usual ponytail and thrown in all directions. Some of it was pointing upwards, while some of it was curled up beyond recognition. Other parts of it were tangled up, and a few strands inexplicably seemed to have a bit of leftover cloud in them. Sonata took a moment to take all this in… and promptly burst into laughter. “Oh Spike! I look ridiculous!” “I know! It’s so crazy!” Sonata giggled for a moment, before finally calming down. As she did, she looked back up towards Night Glider. “You know, you're not so bad, Night Glider,” she said. “You’re cool too, Sonata. And please, call me Glides.” Sonata smiled. For a moment, she felt like she might finally be able to make friends in Ponyville. “Oh my gosh,” Glides said suddenly. “I have to go now! I promised my sister I’d take her out for cupcakes today!” Before anything else could be said, the athletic mare sped off. “Wait!” Sonata called out. however, she quickly realized that Glides would never hear her. “I gotta say, that Glides character is pretty cool,” said Spike. “I’ll bet she’ll be a Shadowbolt in no time!” Sonata said nothing. She merely looked at the floor dejectedly. I can’t believe it, she thought. That’s two potential friendships I messed up already.