//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Party Time!... sort of. // Story: A Harmonic Sonata // by keaton-furman-prower //------------------------------// Spike groaned. He had hit the floor face-first, and he was pretty sure he’d chipped a tooth. Wouldn’t be the first time, he thought ruefully to himself. He then turned to see the two mares entering the building. “You know, you could at least warn me before tossing me somewhere,” he said angrily. “I did warn you,” said Sonata. “I said ‘come on, Spike!’” “That implies you’re going to take me with you, not toss me.” “It sort of does,” Fluttershy said in agreement. “Well, I’m sorry for doing that,” said Sonata. “It’s just that it seemed to be quicker, and I really wanted to get to talk to somepony, and Fluttershy’s pretty much the only one around.” It was at this moment that the lights went on, revealing the interior of the library to be absolutely packed with ponies. “SURPRISE!!!” Spike, Sonata, and Fluttershy all jumped into each other in shock. As they took a moment to gather their bearings, they saw that the interior of the library was decorated with streamers, balloons, and even a disco ball. In addition, there were a few tables set up with cupcakes, candies, chips, and other assorted snacks, as well as a large bowl of punch. “Welcome to Ponyville!” said a pink unicorn. As Sonata lay eyes on her, she realized that it was the mare from Sugarcube Corner, Sugar Belle. “Umm… hi...” she said uncertainly. “What exactly is this for?” “Duh! It's for you, silly filly!” The other Sugarcube pony, Pinkie Pie, bounced up to Sonata. “I know you don't believe in the majesty of the cupcake, but you're still new here, so I have to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party! I mean, I love to throw parties, and you look like you need a party, so why not? Plus, since you're new here, you probably don't know that many ponies here, so maybe this will help you make friends!” As soon as she stopped talking, Pinkie gave Sonata her biggest grin, hoping that she would be happy about having a party thrown in her honor. The blue mare, on the other hoof, seemed too overwhelmed to answer. “Pinkie, I think you broke her,” said Sugar. “Aww, she'll snap out of it sooner or later. I gotta go make more punch, though, so keep an eye on her!” With that, the pink party pony bounced away, leaving Sugar to deal with Sonata. “Oh Pinkie,” she said with a small smile on her face. “Always so determined to make everypony smile.” She then turned to Sonata, who was still staring wordlessly at the sight of the party. “I'm sorry if this is all a bit overwhelming for you. I know that Pinkie does these crazy things, but she always means well. In fact, I was actually the one who thought of throwing parties like this to welcome newcomers to our town. I thought that they'd enjoy having the chance to introduce themselves to everypony and-” “Omigosh, it's party time!” Before anypony could say another word, Sonata had zipped to the tables, where she was busy eating as many treats as she could. “Oh wow, these cookies are delicious! Ooh, is that kettle corn? Ah, jelly beans!” Sugar watched in amazement as Sonata wolfed down a variety of sugary snacks. Spike walked up to her, followed closely by Fluttershy. “Yeah, that's Sonata. You never know what she's gonna do next.” “Oh my,” said Fluttershy, grimacing as Sonata ate. “I hope she doesn't get a tummy ache.” “Well, maybe she's like Pinkie,” said Sugar. “I mean, she eats like this every day and she's never had problems before.” As they discussed the matter amongst themselves, Sonata had encountered a slight problem. “Are you kidding me?! No tacos?! This is an outrage! No party should ever be without tacos! And besides, what's the point of having a hot sauce bottle if there aren't any tacos?!” She grabbed the bottle, glaring at it as if it were the sole cause of her current predicament. However, as quickly as her anger had come, it dissipated. “Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers!” She then grabbed a nearby cupcake and poured a generous amount of sauce onto it. Once this was done, she tossed it into the air and swallowed it in one gulp. “Eh, not tacos, but it'll do for now.” “Whoa! That was hardcore!” Sonata turned her head in the direction of the voice. To her surprise, she saw two of the ponies she'd met earlier: Night Glider and Tennis Match. “Hey Glides! Hey Tennis! What brings you here?” “We heard Pinkie was holding a welcome party,” explained Tennis. “We wanted to check it out, since Pinkie always throws the best parties. Although I gotta admit I wasn't expecting you to be the guest of honor!” “In hindsight, it probably should have been obvious,” said Glides. “I mean, it was a welcoming party, and you're the newest pony in town. Of course she was going to throw you a party sooner or later!” “And did you seriously just eat a cupcake covered in hot sauce?” Tennis asked in awe. “Do you have any idea how awesome that is?” “Eh, it was just a cupcake,” said Sonata. “You know what's really awesome? Tacos!” “Oh, yes. You should have seen her when she met Pinkie earlier today. They got into a crazy argument about whether or not tacos were better than cupcakes!” The three mares turned to see Sugar walking towards them, with Fluttershy and Spike in tow. “You're kidding!” Glides said in amazement. “Nopony ever argues with Pinkie Pie over cupcakes! Well, at least not without eventually giving up!” “Well, she's nuts!” said Sonata. “Cupcakes are great, but no food is better than tacos!” The other ponies exchanged glances with each other, wondering just what exactly was going through Sonata's mind. “Well, I guess tacos are... nice,” Fluttershy said finally. “They're certainly snack-worthy,” added Tennis. “I like tacos,” said Glides. “Back when I was younger, my brother and I would go out every Tuesday for tacos. Mostly just because they were cheaper on Tuesdays, but it was nice. We still do whenever we get the chance to meet up.” Sonata grinned as the ponies around her talked. While it had been difficult, it seemed that she'd finally found ponies who could potentially become her friends. Now all she needed was to get to know them a bit better, and she might just be able to use the element. Nothing could possibly ruin this- “Stop right there!” Sonata turned around at the sound of the voice. To her surprise, she saw the same purple unicorn who she'd met upon reaching Ponyville staring at her. What surprised Sonata the most, however, was the strange goggles she was wearing over her eyes; they had all sorts of devices attached to them, and the blue lenses were glowing with some form of magic. “Um, hello?” Sonata began uncertainly. “Aren't you that weird unicorn from before?” asked Spike. “You've met Amethyst Star?” Sugar Belle asked in surprise. “Wow, I hope she didn't get to her already,” muttered Glides. “She is so weird.” “Don't say that!” said Fluttershy. “Amethyst may be a bit strange, but that's no reason to-” “Stop fooling around, faker! I have you now!” For a moment, the entire library went silent. Even the music had stopped, interrupted by Pinkie's dragging of the needle across the current record. Everypony in the building was staring either at Amethyst, who was glaring at her target, or Sonata, whose eye was twitching at the angry unicorn's accusation. “Forget what I said,” Fluttershy whispered quickly. “ She is weird.” “Yeah, that's right,” said Amethyst. “I don't know if you've come to invade, infiltrate, or what, but I will not allow you to fulfill any of your nefarious plans! So you can consider this your first and only warning: leave now or you will-” Amethyst was then interrupted when Glides landed right in front of her. “Hey! Stop that! You're scaring her!” Glides then gestured towards Sonata, who was cowering under the table. Her eyes were open wide, and tears were gathering beneath them. Amethyst was surprised by her reaction, but quickly composed herself. “Well, there's always the possibility that she's just using her physical appearance to make us sympathize with her, just so she can-” “Oh, will you shut it already?!” Amethyst was taken by surprise when Spike leapt up to face her. “Will you stop getting into Sonata's face like that?! She's not evil! I've lived with her my whole life, and in all the time I've known her, she's never intentionally hurt anypony!” Spike paused to think about how much emphasis could be placed on the word “intentionally.” Before he could say anything else, however, several more ponies jumped in to defend Sonata. “What is wrong with you?!” yelled Sugar. "You think it's funny to walk in to a party and accuse somepony of being a monster?! Well it's not!" “Yeah!” said Tennis. “And besides, this is supposed to be Sonata's party! She's supposed to be enjoying it, not cowering under the table in terror!” “So stop ruining her fun and go away!” said Fluttershy. She then quickly added “I mean, if you don't mind.” Amethyst gritted her teeth as the four mares and one dragon glared at her. She then turned around and began to walk away. “Fine. I'll leave. Just don't come crying to me when she starts to take over the world!” As she walked out the door, the music resumed, and ponies began to party once again, although this time they were murmuring amongst themselves about Amethyst's strange outburst. Spike was particularly irritated by the recent turn of events. “Gee, what's her problem, anyway?” “Beats me,” said Sugar. “She's always going on about shadow organizations and alien races threatening our lives. Most of us don't listen anymore, 'cause she's loco in the coco.” She quickly turned to Tennis and said, “Don't tell your sister I said that.” “What she doesn't know won't hurt her.” “But yes," said Fluttershy. "She is quite strange.” “Totally,” said Glides. “Are you okay, Sonata?” Glides waited for a moment, only to be met with silence. Confused, she and the others looked under the table, only to find that nopony was there. “Where did she go?” asked Tennis. Eight hours later, Spike tapped the wood bedframe one more time. “Come on, Sonata. Amethyst Star’s been gone for hours!” “And how do you know she won’t be back?!” a voice yelled from beneath the bed. “She’s probably waiting for me just outside the library! Then, the moment I walk out, she’s gonna jump me and take me to her underground lab where she’ll do awful experiments on me!” Spike groaned as the other four mares entered the library. “Still not coming out?” asked Glides. “She thinks Amethyst is gonna drag her underground and do experiments on her,” said Spike. “Aw, that’s silly!” said Sugar. “Amethyst may be crazy, but she’s not a mad scientist!” “Actually, she sort of is,” said Tennis. “Either that or she has one working for her to produce all those crazy gizmos.” “But she’d never try to experiment on anypony!” said Fluttershy. “I mean… probably!” “Not helping!” Sonata said from under the bed. “Come on, Sonata!” said Spike. “You can’t hide under the bed forever! And besides, Luna told you that you have to make friends, otherwise Hel-” Before Spike could continue, Sonata had jumped out from beneath the bed and wrapped her forelegs around him, with one hoof particularly tight around his mouth. “You’re right, Spike! Princess Luna told me to make friends and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!” She then gave a quick smile to the four mares who had gathered in her room. They in turn stared at her for a moment, slightly confused. “So… Luna sent you here to make friends?” asked Tennis. “But why?” asked Glides. “Don’t you have any friends in Canterlot?” “Nah,” said Spike. “She’s afraid that everypony else will hate her when she-” “SPIKE!!!” “Oops,” Spike said as he grew red. “Wow,” said Sugar. “That’s so sad! I mean, I can’t imagine what it’s not like to not have any friends!” “Well,” said Fluttershy, “I used to be all alone when I was a filly at school. It was really sad. But then I met this really nice filly named Rainbow Dash, and she’s been my best friend ever since! I mean, I still have trouble talking to ponies sometimes, but having friends is never bad!” “Yeah!” said Glides. “And what makes you think that ponies would hate you anyway?” Sonata bit her lip. Even if the ponies around her seemed friendly enough, she was still hesitant to tell them about her true self. “Well, it’s sort of a long story,” she said. “And I don’t know if we have that much time for it.” “Aw, come on!” said Glides. “We’ve got plenty of time for a story!” “Except that the Summer Sun Celebration is about to start!” said Sugar. “We need to get going right now so we don’t miss anything!” “Eh, we can bear to miss a few minutes of that,” said Tennis. Everypony stared at her as if she’d just suggested that they go out and blow up a hospital. “What?” she asked. “I saw Luna raise the sun when I was in Manehattan a few years back.” “Yeah, but the rest of us might not have been so lucky!” Fluttershy protested. “Eh, it’s kind of overrated,” said Tennis. “What makes you think that this Summer Sun Celebration is gonna be any more exciting than that one?” It was at that moment, as if destiny had a sick sense of humor, that the night sky outside suddenly turned bright. But it wasn’t merely as bright as a summer day; it seemed far more radiant, and much harsher than usual. In addition, the cool air coming in from the window turned hot, as if it were not a window but the door to an oven that had been opened. Even though only Sonata and Spike knew exactly what was going on, everypony could tell that something was very wrong. “Oh my gosh, Tennis!” yelled Sugar. “You jinxed it!” “Hey, it’s not my fault the sun decided to go crazy today!” said Tennis. “Hey, Sonata, could you go ask the princess what’s going on?” “Oh no,” said Sonata. “Oh no no no no NO!” The blue mare galloped out of the room as fast as she could, followed closely by Spike. “Just one ‘no’ would have sufficed, you know!” Tennis Match yelled after her as the four mares ran out of the library, hot on Sonata’s tail.