//------------------------------// // Chapter nine- The one where Sonata Dusk knows // Story: I stole your boyfriend, what are you gonna do about it? // by ultronquake //------------------------------// For a certainty Sonata Dusk was flustered. "What'ya mean I can't tell anyone Ari? You know I can't keep secrets!" "She does have a point Aria, shocking though that is. Have you ever known our little sister to be able to keep a secret? Ever?" Adagio asked the middle child. Aria had to admit, "No... but I had to tell someone." "I mean really, why would you trust her with any secrets? Did you forget the time she got us arrested for espionage?" "Hey! That wasn't my fault! They made my kiss of death look just like my regular lipstick, how was I supposed to know it was the wrong one?" "How am I supposed to rationalize that my sister was dumb enough to shoot herself in the head on accident?!" "Okay Ms. Smarty Pants, who was it who seduced the guards and got you out of prison?" "That was me doofus. I had to let those pervs feel me up and everything, then we had to go to the morgue and rescue you're still regenerating corpse." "Oh yeah, that was you wasn't it.... Sorry." She felt like an idiot, again. But that was hardly a new sensation, Ari and Dagi were always reminding her of every little mistake she'd made over the past millennia. "Well what does it even matter if it's a secret or not? It'll be public knowledge in a week anyway, right?" "Just cooperate with me, please?" If her plan was to go off without a hitch it would require zero interference from siblings, thankfully Sonata wasn't so obtuse that she wouldn't help. "Okay Ari, I'll do my best." A wash of calm came over Aria, and a wave of coming anxiety crashed down on Sonata. 'It's just one week girl, you can keep a secret for one week!' ***** Though Sonata had lived for over ten centuries, the week before Halloween at Canterlot high seemed like the longest of them all. Ten incidents where she nearly announced to everyone her secret. The saddest thing was it wasn't even to people trying to pry the truth out of her, it was to employees of the local Taco Gong just trying to eek by their meager existence. Somehow by some miraculous intervention the truth didn't escape, but it still took a toll. Trying so hard was leading to sleepless nights and nightmares of her siblings being disappointed in her, leaving her alone in the cold unforgiving world. Even her normal perky face had sunken in with a depressed pallor and Pinkie Pie couldn't ignore it. "Hey there Sonet, why ya lookin' so glum?" "Oh, hi Pinkie. My sisters were being jerks to me again, all cause I cant keep a stupid secret." "Aw, you poor thing. I'm no good at secrets either, my biggest fear is that someone is going to trust me with some really important secret. Like that your friend's brother and wife are having a baby but you cant tell that friend because they want it to be a surprise. Also because it's metaphysically impossible for you to have known that fact beforehandbecausetheyresideinanalternatedimensionthatyou've nevertraveledto." After her massive run on sentence Pinkie bit her lip and looked apprehensively around the room, as if she were seeing judging eyes that no one else could. "Yeah that's the worst isn't it? I cant tell anyone that my stupid sister is dating stupid... Well, I'm not really at liberty to say." "Oh My God! Adagio is going out with Sunset Shimmer!" Pinkie exclaimed. "What? No, at least I don't think so. Then again they do seem to take bathroom breaks at the same time allot." Sonata entertained the thought of the eldest and bacon hair doing naughty things together in an unsanitary stall but shook it off as nothing else than idle fantasy. Then again, idle fantasy was half of her life. "No it's not Dagi, it's Ari." "Oooh, Aria's got a boyfriend, or girlfriend, I'm not really biased. So come on Sonet, out with it, who's she going out with?" Pinkie was staring at her with those big blue expecting eyes, Sonata really didn't want to disappoint them. "Well... I suppose I could tell you, but only if you promise not to tell another soul." Sonata looked around to make sure to other prying ears were here to listen and double checked for Aria. "Well you know how Aria spends most of her time around Flash Sentry?" "Yeah." "And how she's been flirting with him at just about every opportunity for the past month." "Yeah." It was clear that one and one was not equaling two to poor Pinkie Pie. "And you remember how put out Flash was when Twilight didn't write him in her letter?" "Yeah." "And how you totally spaced out and are on auto-pilot." "Yeah." Sonata pinched her cheek snapping her out of the stupor. "Earth to Pinkie, my sister is dating Flash Sentry behind Twilight Sparkle's back. She's dumb enough to think tearing apart some puppy love high school romance that's spanned a total of three days will be enough to emotionally cripple our enemy. I'm half tempted to to sabotage it myself just because she's been a royal ass these past few days, but if I do then it'll be decades before she'll talk to me again." All the while Pinkie's black hole of a mouth was open slack jawed. It took a while for her to speak, though when she did it was piercing. "She's what?!? He's what?!? How could?! Why would?! Oh my god!" "I know right? Stupid as crap." "I have to tell Sunset Shimmer so she can write Twilight right now!" Her fingers were clacking away on the number pad on her cell phone, hastily typing out an exposing message at lighting speed. Sonata grabbed the phone and tossed it into the nearby fountain. "What the heck Pinkie?! I said you couldn't tell anyone." "I can't sit back and not tell my best friend that she's being cheated on!" "Oh yeah right, best friend. How long have you even known her huh? Let's count, one two three four, wow best friends at only four days." "Even if she wasn't my friend I'd still tell her, it would be wrong to hide it." "And it's not wrong to betray something told to you in confidence?" "Well... no. But I cant just not say anything, I'll explode!" "And now you know how I feel. Please Pinkie just help me keep it a secret for a week, after that it wont matter." "What happens in a week?" Sonata cringed, she'd almost revealed too much. "N-nothing, I just mean Twilight will be in town then, you can tell her in person. But in the meantime you can't tell anybody, not Sunset, not Rarity, not Maud, not even Boulder!" There was a radical shift in the hyperactive teen's disposition, from nervewracked to bouncy. "Whoa, I cant even tell a rock, this is serious. Okay dokey lokey then. 'Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.' "Nuh-uh, that won't cut it. Especially since you get off on shoving pastries into your eye sockets-" Sonata shuddered as she remembered the time she found Pinkie in the back room of the bakery she worked at, doing unspeakable things to a baked good effigy in the shape of a well endowed man. "-I need something serious. I need... If you tell anyone then I wont be you're friend anymore!" "Wha- But, you cant not be my friend! Everyone is my friend, Everyone!" "I mean it Pinkie, if you tell anyone then I'll never speak to you for forever and unlike you I know what forever feels like. It's cold and lonely and sad with nobody by your side. I don't want to live forever without you ... Please don't make me, you're like the only friend I've had in hundreds of years." "For realzies?" Pinkie asked copying Sonata's adored phrase. "Yeah, the last friend I had who was as fun as you- I had to leave him behind and I never saw him again, I don't want to do that with you Pinkie." Sonata took hold of her hand and held on tight, with her eyes she expressed a kind of love reserved only for people who understand each other on a deep level. "If it means that much to you then okay, I won't tell. I don't feel good about it though." "I don't think you're supposed too, but whatever. How about we design a 'You're boyfriend is cheating on you' consolation party for the princess. Maybe that'll help?" Though that whole week was hell, it was hell with a friend to lean on. Anytime either of them felt like crumbling and spilling the beans they had the other to confide in. Somehow they both made it to Halloween, to the moment of truth and the fruition of the plan.