Flashback. Kinda. Or like, memory.
"Bowl," ordered Pinkie.
"Bowl," confirmed Sonata, passing the baking equipment, just like the first time.
"Flour."
Sonata handed her what she asked for, her stomach spinning for more than the memory of what that first batch did to it. "Flour."
"Something sweet."
"Something sweet." She never quite found out what this 'something' was...
"A bit of salt."
"But just a pinch."
Pinkie giggled. "Yep!"
When they sat down while waiting for the cupcakes to bake, Sonata gave an apologetic smile. A real one this time. "Pinkie? There's something I've been wanting to tell you."
"That you were the one who ate most of the cupcakes the first time?" Pinkie snorted. "I know, I was there, silly!"
"N-no, actually, uh..." She gulped, no longer able to look Pinkie in the eye. "I k-kinda need to say 'sorry.' Y'see, when I first came to you, I wasn't actually thinking about making friends, or cupcakes, or MyStable profiles, I just wanted to-" A pink finger pressed her mouth shut. She dared look up to see Pinkie giving her a sympathetic smile.
"It's okay."
Sonata moved her head backward to escape the Pinknese Finger-Trap. "It is?"
"Well, kinda. It's like, lying to your friends when you're not even friends yet is bad, but I still had fun that day, other than when things got barfy, that wasn't fun at all, although I did like popping the cap off the medicine jar! Pop!" She giggle-snorted before going on. "Anyway, it wasn't okay, but right now, we really are friends, and you wouldn't think of doing anything bad to your friends, right?"
"Right!"
"Then it's okay!"
"Ri-..." Sonata scratched her head. "But, I still lied to you, to everybody."
Pinkie nodded, her smile no weaker. "And now you're saying 'sorry,' I'm saying 'I forgive you.' Simple."
"But-"
Pink Finger Word-Seal, Go! "No buts, I'm forgiving you whether you want me to or not!" Sonata couldn't argue, because Pink Finger Word-Seal was go. Genius! She sealed the sealing with words, of all things, giving Sonata a wink. "Because friends forgive each other, silly!"
Freed again from her silence, Sonata smiled gratefully. "You're a good friend."
"Heehee! That's why I had to forgive you!"
Not long after, the two enjoyed the fruits of their labor: Fruit-free cupcakes.
"So," Pinkie asked, "how are things going with you and Fluttershy?"
Sonata choked on her cupcake for a minute. "Wh-WHAT?!"
"Ooh, bad guess? Sorry, are you and Rarity a thing?"
Blue turned red. "DOUBLE WHAT!"
"Wrong again? Hm. You and Aria?"
Sonata was nearly glowing now. "NO!!"
"You and Applejack? I know I've seen you eyeballin' her fresh apples, if you know what I-"
"PINKIE!!"
Pinkie gasped, holding both hands to her cheeks. "It's me?! Aww, shucks, Nata!"
Sonata faceplanted on the kitchen counter.
---
Meanwhile, back at the Dazzlings' house, Aria once again found herself heading to Adagio's room. The door was rarely closed these days, but only because Adagio got the wrong idea when Aria had vaguely suggested that she didn't like seeing it closed all the time.
Sheesh, she thought with a tiny grin, she worries too much.
The door open, Aria easily popped her head in to see Adagio getting dressed in the poofy, purple outfit she'd worn the night they lost their gems. It felt like a weird choice, considering...
"Getting ready for your date?"
Adagio whirled around to face her. "IT IS NOT A-" she stopped, took a deep breath, and composed herself. "It is not a date. It is a casual meeting between f-friends."
"Uh-huh. You wear that to a casual meeting?"
Crossing her arms, Adagio hoped to hide the color in her face by turning away. "S-Sunset asked me to wear it." The trade-off was that Sunset would keep her bad-girl jacket on through the night. Good deal.
Snickering, Aria took a moment to look around the room, observing the little gifts, nick-nacks, and other little things that weren't there before they found themselves with new friends. "You planned this, didn't you?"
"Well, arrangements to meet are typically ironed out before their fruition."
"Not that," Aria said while giving Adagio an appraising look and holding her arms out to gesture to their surroundings, "this, everything since that big fight we had."
Cinching the belt to her outfit, Adagio rested a hand on her hip and looked back at Aria. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Sonata going to the Rainbooms, getting their trust, and then coming back to us with all their gooey friendship to spread and share, with her, the one we always get to do the innocent, smiley routine, doing all the heavy lifting." She crossed her arms. "I've been thinking about what you said to us during that little three-way shouting match, the exact words you used whenever you yelled at Sonata, saying stuff like "Why don't you do better?" and "I'm sure you'd make... oh, maybe a half-dozen friends at best!" or "Go on, find one person who likes you for more than your 'pretty little smile!'", all the stuff she actually went out and did."
Adagio shrugged, her face passive. "She's an impressionable little dolt, I suppose, but she's still our dolt. Your point?" Aria just stared at her, which drew a look of surprise. "What, you think I set her up to go talk to them?"
"You might've. Along with holing up in your room pretending to cry, or Hell, really forcing yourself to, because you knew I, that I'd-" Aria blushed, but she wasn't about to stop her tirade now. "-th-that I wouldn't just leave you like that, so that I wouldn't be at risk of going out, finding Sonata, and unwittingly ruining the rest of the plan."
Adagio gave her a flat stare before chuckling and shaking her head. "Aria, do you hear yourself? We've been working together for a long time, you know me. Think about it;" Her cheeks tinted pink, "would I really enact a plan that put me in the pathetic, humiliating position of blubbering like an infant for longer than maybe a minute? Let alone doing so for days because I thought it would keep you," she was making her sarcastic, faux-sweet face again, "who is obviously known for being oh-so sensitive to tears, house-bound while relying on Sonata Dusk to go out and pave the way for our recovery by going out and forming special bonds with not just people that hated us, but the very girls who destroyed our magic?"
Aria's eyes narrowed. "It worked, didn't it?"
Adagio blinked twice, then scoffed and walked out of the room. "You are so paranoid."
Watching her go, Aria found herself wearing a tiny smirk. You didn't say "no."