Sonata couldn't believe it. The Rainbooms actually wanted her to perform with them in the Battle of the Bands. Practicing with them, sure... But, performing with them? She was beside herself.
Needless to say, she was now actively practicing with them every day, with just over three weeks until the competition. As an exhibition performance, they wouldn't be participating in the bracket, and would instead perform after the finals. That's what had shocked Sonata the most; they had all agreed to drop out of the competition so she could perform with them.
It was finally beginning to make sense to her. It wasn't about the competition, or about winning; it was about playing with each other and just having fun.
Sonata walked out of Sunset's apartment with a postcard in her hand, heading for the mailbox. As she made her way over, one of the city buses pulled up to the curb to let off select passengers, Sunset being one of them.
"Hey there. Headed to the school?" Sunset asked her, stepping off the bus and walking up to her friend.
"Yep, was gonna wait for the #4 right after sending this out." Sonata told her. Sunset looked at the postcard Sonata held.
"That's one of our invitations. You're... You're inviting..."
"My last try. If they don't show, they'll never hear from me again. I just had to try one more time. Maybe it took a few days for them to cool off."
Sunset admired the girl's tenacity.
"Like I said, Sonata, it's your decision to make."
"Will you go turn that thing off???" Adagio yelled as she opened a window and attempted to fan the smoke out of the kitchen with a towel as the smoke alarm screamed at them from the hallway ceiling. Coughing, Aria went and grabbed a chair from the dining room table, and took it to the hallway to stop the infernal beeping that came from the device in the celing. She gave the smoke alarm a hard twist, removed it from it's base in the ceiling, then pressed the button to stop the alarm. She set it on the floor when she hopped down from the chair, not confident the smoke would clear in time for the alarm's automatic reset.
They had just been trying to brown some meat for Celestia's sake. What was so hard about that? You just turned the stove on, set the meat in the pan, and put a lid on it. It should've taken around 15 minutes, but then smoke came billowing out of the pan not even 10 minutes later. How had Sonata done this? Perhaps they should've paid more attention when she was in the kitchen.
"Really? We can't even make some ground beef? You work in a diner for crying out loud, how can you not know how this is done???" Aria asked incredulously.
"I work in the front of a diner. By the time I see the food, it's already done!" Adagio yelled back.
"Ugh..." Aria replied, rolling her eyes and grabbing her keys, before heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Adagio demanded.
"Down to the store to get some TV dinners, neither of us can cook worth a damn, and we can't afford to keep eating out." Aria replied, grabbing her coat and heading out into the chilly evening. They hadn't heard from Sonata since Adagio had kicked her out two nights ago. Adagio hadn't even mentioned her either, but Aria had to admit to herself that her former roommate was on her mind. They picked on her, they rarely said anything nice to her, but only once she was gone did she realize how much she had contributed to the household. She longed for her hot home cooked meals that didn't cost more than $5 per serving.
Unfortunately, Adagio would never see reason. Whatever it is that Sonata had found with the Rainbooms, she knew the head siren would almost certainly have nothing to do with it.
She walked three blocks to a small corner convenience store, and got a sack of microwavable dinners. It wasn't glamorous, but it'd last until payday. She lucked the plastic sack home, and did a quick check of the mailbox before heading in to eat. She didn't know why she bothered, the only thing they ever got was junk mail and Adagio's monthly magazine subscription.
But here was something new... A postcard of sorts. She flipped it over and read:
You're invited to Canterlot High School's
Second Annual
BATTLE OF THE BANDSSATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH
1ST ROUND - 10:00 AM
SEMIFINALS - 3:00 PM
FINALS - 8:00 PMFree admission, refreshments available for purchase. All proceeds benefit CHS extracurricular programs.
"Well, who'd have thought that would happen?" Applejack wondered aloud, as Celestia and Luna announced Trixie and the Illusions as the winner of the Battle of the Bands.
"Well, it certainly can't have anything to do with the fact that they performed more than one song for the entire competition this time." Rainbow answered sarcastically, recalling that they had performed "Tricks Up My Sleeve" for all three brackets of last year's Battle of the Bands.
Sonata stood in the back of the group, having never felt this nervous before, not even when she first asked Sunset then the rest of the band for singing lessons. She had asked six of the student body for forgiveness. They had all managed to give it to her. But the moment she stepped out on that stage, she'd be asking hundreds.
Sunset turned to glance at her, and saw that her nerves were getting the best of her.
"Hey, don't worry. You're gonna do great." She encouraged, putting an arm around her.
"A year ago, I was up there forcing their affections with dark magic."
"And now, you're gonna show them what you can do with friendship magic. We'll be right up there with you. You'll do great, we all know it."
Sonata saw each member of the Rainbooms nod and smile at her. She was right. She wouldn't be up there alone.
"And now, performing a rather unexpected exhibition, Canterlot High School is proud to present, The Rainbooms!" Celestia announced, followed by applause. The six band members filed out on stage, while Sonata stayed just behind the curtain. This was part of the plan, as seeing a siren come out with them with no explanation might have complicated things.
Pinkie Pie sat down at the trap set, Fluttershy grabbed her tambourine, Rainbow Dash and Applejack tuned their respective lead and bass guitars, Rarity turned on her keytar, and Sunset stepped up to the microphone as the applause began to die down.
"Hello, CHS! We know that us not competing this year was a bit unexpected, and we'd like to congratulate Trixie and the Illusions on their victory tonight. Our exhibition performance tonight will probably be a bit unexpected to most of you, but we know you'll all love it. After all, we're about the magic of friendship here, and how anyone can seek it out. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce our guest vocalist tonight."
Sunset turned to Sonata, and ushered her forth while the rest of the Rainbooms began to applaud, the audience also doing so in response, as Sonata took a deep breath and stepped out on stage.
The applause from the audience decreased, not dying out completely, but Sonata could definitely make out the murmurs of uncertainty as she stepped out to the second microphone stand as Sunset strapped on her rhythm guitar.
Sonata's heart pounded against her chest, but all she had to do was glance over at Sunset, who gave her a smile. The former siren gave the crowd a meek smile, and she heard the tapping drumsticks as Pinkie began to count off for their first song.
"One, two, three, four!"