//------------------------------//
// 9 - Choices and Ultimatums 
// Story: A Clean Slate for a Former Siren 
// by AlchemicBlaze21 
//------------------------------//

As the morning light started seeping in through the window, Sonata began to stir. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she didn't waste any time getting ready. By that Wednesday morning, she had gotten into a good rhythm and was keeping up with Adagio and Aria. Unfortunately, that meant that she had to deal with how hell-bent the other two were on getting their hands on that journal.

As they walked to school, Adagio went over what she wanted from Sonata.

"We need that journal, now. You have had enough time to retrieve it, Sonata. And yet, you still come back empty handed every time."

"But Sunset hasn't brought it around, there's no way for me to get it."

"Adagio," Aria began, "just face it. Sonata can't do it. Or won't."

"Th-that's not true," Sonata responded nervously.

"That still remains to be seen," Adagio replied incredulously.

"I promise I'll get it. I just need a little more time."

Adagio didn't respond and just rolled her eyes.

Once they made it to school Sonata was able to have some breathing room away from them, and went to go check in with the front desk clerk before the day commenced.



Everything was going well that Wednesday morning. Dad dropped me off, and I eventually ran into Sonata when the first period began. We had managed to take care of most of the work for our morning classes and take it easy. Even the student body had started to accept that she was there and wasn't really doing anything dubious. Sure, there was maybe one or two side glances and some murmuring, but other than that they didn't pay her as much mind as before.

When lunch time came around, we sat with the girls and spent time talking with them. We talked about school work and other plans for the afternoon, which got me wondering what Sonata was going to do after school.

"So, did they already tell you where you are going to be helping out today?"

"Yeah," she said, "they have me signed up for litter pickup on the school grounds."

"Well, at least you don't have to make the trip to some place that's further off in town," I replied.

A couple of the girls agreed.

"Quite right," Rarity offered. "It doesn't make taking care of work any easier if you have to travel such long distances."

Rainbow snickered a bit while Applejack shook her head, amused at Rarity's statement.

"What's so funny?" she asked the both of them.

Rainbow had cleared her throat before she said, "Come on, Rarity. It's not like you have to run a marathon or anything to get to the boutique you work at."

Applejack then added, "She has a point, sugar cube. It is only four blocks away from here."

"Well, you try walking that far in high heels," Rarity huffed.

The rest of the group laughed a bit before Applejack said, "We're just teasing."

Even though things were starting to look up, Sonata looked a bit downcast.

"What's wrong?" I whispered to her.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it still feels like a pain to do some of this work."

"Hmm, maybe a bit. I can understand the feeling," I said thoughtfully. Suddenly I had an epiphany. "Hey, Sonata, I'll catch up with you at the library. I just need to check on something real fast."

"Oh, alright," she said. "I'll be on the second floor."

"Got it."

As I excused myself from the table and headed for the cafeteria entrance, I noticed Adagio looking over at our table. I paused for a couple of minutes by the door to see what it was that she was looking at. She was glancing mainly at Sonata and Sunset every now and then. It was almost like she was analyzing them. 

I don't get what's up with her, but it definitely seems kind of fishy, I thought.

I rushed over to the front desk and was fortunate to find someone still there.

Right away the clerk noticed me and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yes. Actually, I wanted to check if there was any way that I could participate in the clean up after school. It is on a volunteer basis, right?"

"Yes it is, but today we actually have that particular duty set out for the disciplinary program."

"Well, is there any way that you could allow me to join for today?"

"Sure. I just need you to sign a form before you can participate," she said as she slid a sheet with some info boxes and blank spaces towards me. I filled out what was needed and handed it back.

She looked it over and responded with, "Well, Mr. Slate, you're all set. The cleanup crew will be meeting at the back of the school. Please show up on time right after school."

"Yes ma'am, and thank you."

With only a few minutes left of lunch, I ran to a restroom and dialed up dad. On the third ring, he picked up.

"Hello, Slate. What's going on?"

"Uh, hi dad. I was just calling to let you know that one of my friends was asking if I could help with an after school activity. Is that alright with you?"

"Well, what is it? Something like a project?"

"Yes, a project. More than likely it's gonna take close to an hour or so."

"Fine. I'll be there to pick you up afterward."

"Alright, thanks, dad. See you later."

"Okay. Bye." And with that, he hung up. The bell rang shortly after that, and I navigated my way over to the library past the rest of the students for study hall. When I found Sonata, she was sitting at a table on the second floor near a window looking out onto the soccer field.

When I sat next to her, she asked me, "So, what did you go do?"

"I just needed to talk to a counselor about some paperwork."

"Oh, I hope it went well."

"Yeah, it wasn't any kind of problem. So, did anything happen after I left?"

"Hmm, not really. We just talked a bit."

"I see. Well, I know we were pretty close to finishing the work for our first couple of classes. Do you want to complete it now?"

"Alright. It shouldn't take too long, anyways."

She was right, since it only took us about twenty minutes to finish. With the homework assignments out of the way, we put away our belongings. All the while she began humming a light tune. Actually, I think it was a bit of a habit for her. After the first day that I met her, she would hum songs on occasion, but I couldn't place my finger on which they were. While the notes were all over the place, it still had an oddly soothing quality to it. I couldn't help but rest my head on my hand and watch as she kept up the performance for no one in particular.

Her humming came to a sudden halt when she noticed me watching. "Oh, um, sorry," she said as she began to blush. "I didn't mean to annoy you or anything."

"It didn't bother me. I enjoyed it."

"You did?"

"Mm-hmm. It makes me a little curious."

"About what?"

Before I answered, I stopped to try and piece together a thoughtful response. "Um, well, I know it's kind of a touchy subject for you. And I don't want to say anything that might upset you. But I wanted to know if I could hear your singing voice. I mean, you don't have to."

She was a little taken aback. I was already preparing to apologize until she spoke up. "I don't know if you'd actually like it. Maybe tomorrow I can show you after your class if you really want."

"Um, sure."

We spent some time talking about a few of our other classes before the bell ushered us out. 

I turned to her before we left and told her, "I'll meet you here in front of the library after school."

"Okay, see you then."

The last few classes went by smoothly. The work wasn't challenging at all and made getting everything finished in time pretty easy. Needless to say, nothing else came up, and I was able to get to the library with time to spare as I waited for Sonata.

While I waited there for her to arrive, Aria and Adagio came walking along. The looks on their faces were full of disdain for the rest of students there at the moment. As much as I found them to be unpleasant individuals, I decided to at least be courteous and greet them.

"Hello, how's it going?"

As per usual, Aria just blew me off. Oh well. Adagio, on the other hand, looked as if she had some kind of idea come to her. 

"Oh, Slate. How nice to see you," She said sweetly. "Things are going smoothly."

"Ah, that's good to hear," I offered with a smile.

She took a step forward and asked, "Could I bother you for a favor?"

"Go ahead."

"It's just that, for the past couple of weeks, Sonata has distanced herself from us, and I would at least like to know what she has been up to." 

"Well, she has been pretty busy with the community service work. I'm sure it's just that she has a lot on her mind at the moment."

For a brief second, Adagio looked unsatisfied with my answer, but quickly gave me a smile and replied with, "You're probably right." She then got uncomfortably close and placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "By the way, I really do appreciate that you have been helping my sister with everything that has happened."

I couldn't help taking a step back as I responded, "Um, thanks. I'm glad that I could help."

She stepped back and offered, "Anyways, I'm sure you're busy, so I will get out of your hair. Bye, Slate." With that, she headed into the library.

I have no idea what that was about, but for some reason I feel dirty all of a sudden, I thought.

Just then Sonata came along and greeted me, "Hi Slate."

"Hi, Sonata. Mind if I walk with you?"

"I don't mind. I'm headed to the back of the school, though."

"Well, let's go."

Once out back, we saw Pinkie Pie along with four other students and the head janitor, I think, standing in the middle of the soccer field.

"So, I guess I'll talk to you later," She said a bit disheartened.

"Actually, I'm helping with the pickup too."

"What?!" she whisper-screamed. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. I just volunteered."

"But why?"

"It felt kind of strange to me to not do anything when you're helping with these different things. Besides, I thought I could at least give it a try and spend time with you."

"Thank you, Slate."

We went up to the janitor, and he had us sign in before handing us some gloves and trash bags and announcing to the group, "Alright everyone. For the next forty-five minutes, you will be collecting any bit of trash that you see on the school grounds. No horsing around whatsoever." He then threw a stern glance over at the two younger boys who were shoving each other before continuing. "And feel free to partner up."

Immediately, those two boys took off. One of them said to the other, "I bet I can get more trash than you Snips." The janitor just shook his head.

A girl with short white hair scoffed at the boys who were currently off and about scavenging. "What pea brains." She then turned to us and growled, "What are you looking at?"

Sonata and I both responded with, "Nothing," and averted our gazes from her. She then headed in the opposite direction.
As we began searching for trash to collect, Sonata leaned in close and whispered to me, "I think Aria and that girl would get along pretty well."

"Heh, probably." I chuckled.

"You said it," Pinkie said appearing next to us seemingly out of nowhere. It gave us a bit of a jolt, but at this point I think we were getting used to it.

"Hey, Pinkie. Volunteering as well?" I asked.

"Not exactly. Gilda and I both got in trouble."

"Who's Gilda?" Sonata asked.

"She's the girl who walked off right now. We were working with sodium during chemistry when she bumped into me on ‘accident' and made me drop a huge piece into a sink. Mr. Discord rushed everyone out of the lab before there was this loud bang. They're probably going to need to repair that sink, but at least nobody got hurt. That's how I wound up here."

"Wow, she sounds like a real jerk," I said.

"YEAH, SHE REALLY IS!" Screamed a voice that nearly gave me a heart attack and caused Sonata to jump. When we looked back, there was a blonde muscle bound guy. "SORRY! MY NAMES BULK BICEPS!"

After trying to clear my ears, I said, "It's nice to meet you."

"Hello." Sonata offered, bracing herself for the response.

"Hey Biceps," Pinkie greeted. "What are you in for?"

"THE LAST PERIOD SUB SAID I WAS DISRUPTIVE WHEN I GAVE MY SPEECH! I DON'T GET IT!"

Sonata gave a sympathetic look and said, "Sorry about that. Pretty sure it was some kind of misunderstanding."

"THANKS! YOU'RE A LOT NICER THAN I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE!"

"Thank you?"

We continued to talk, well, most of us anyway, while working on the task at hand. Between the four of us, we wound up filling up one bag full of litter. Not that we weren't trying, just that there wasn't that much thrown around. I guess those eco kids were actually living up to their names and picking up around the school. Still, at least that stuff was going where it belonged. By the end of the pick-up, there were only one and a half bags. I think Gilda didn't actually contribute much if anything at all.

Anyways, the janitor had us sign out before we left. When we got to the front near the statue, Bulk Biceps bid us farewell. "SEE YOU GUYS AROUND!"

Pinkie Pie chimed in next. "Yeah, gotta get going too, Maud is probably waiting up for me. See you two tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Sonata replied.

"See ya. Take care." I added.

With Sonata and me being some of the few people that were still around by then, I asked her, "So were you going to wait for Adagio and Aria?"

"Hmm, let me see if they are even still around," she said pulling out her cell phone. After looking at a few messages, she said, "Augh. They already took off and are waiting for me to get back home."

"Well then, I'm sure dad could help you out right now. He should be here shortly."

We walked ourselves over to the school's pick-up zone to wait. When dad arrived and saw us, he rolled down a window and asked, "Does Sonata need a ride?"

"Yes, dad."

"I don't mean to be a hassle, but I'd really appreciate it, sir," Sonata added.

"It's not a problem at all. Go ahead and get in."

Once we got buckled in, the ride only took about fourteen or fifteen minutes before we got back to the apartments.

"Well, here we are."

"Thank you, Mr. Steel," Sonata offered as she got off the SUV and walked over to the door.

"You're welcome," he replied. I was about to get off as well, but dad stopped me to say, "Before you go, make sure to look after the apartment, Slate."

"Yes, dad."

"And please act responsibly while I'm out."

"I will."

"I mean it," he said seriously while blatantly glancing at Sonata and then back at me.

A little offended, I said, "You have that little faith in me?"

"I'm just making sure you understand." He then reached over and hugged me. "I'll see you in a few days."

"Okay, ahem, I'll see you then. Take care dad."

"You too," dad said as he let me out.

He took off, and I walked over to the apartment entrance where Sonata was waiting.

"Where's your dad going?" Sonata asked.

"To the airport. He got called on a business trip back to our old town."

"Oh, so then you two were saying goodbye."

"Yeah. Sorry about the holdup."

"It's okay. I thought it was cute."

I rubbed the back of my neck while trying to suppress the blush of embarrassment. 

"Well, maybe we should start heading up," I suggested. 

"Heh, alright."

We made the usual climb up to her floor where we said our goodbyes.

"Thanks for being there with me today," Sonata said. "I wasn't really expecting to get along with that other guy."

"See, this thing is actually working out for the better," I said. "It might take a little time, but I'm sure that it will be worth it."

"I know. I really want to see that happen." She said with a slight smile.

"It will." I gave her a hug, and she gave me a kiss. "Well, I don't want to hold you up, especially with how your sisters seem to get. So I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Sonata."

"Alright, see you tomorrow. Good night Slate."

She entered her apartment, and I went up to mine.



Sonata looked cautiously around the apartment. Aria was sitting in the living room watching TV when she entered. Without looking away from the screen, she uninterestedly said, "Well, you're back earlier than I was expecting. Let me guess, you got a ride with what's his face, right?"

Sonata carefully asked, "Is that a problem?"

"Not really. I just wouldn't get used to that if I were you. Unless of course you brought back that journal with you."

Sonata tensed up and began straining her mind for any possible response that she could give Aria.

Aria turned to give her a deprecating look. "Judging from that stupid look on your face, you still don't have it."

"It's not…" she began before being interrupted by Adagio who had just arrived.

"I hope you have something worthwhile to share with us, Sonata."

"Um," she fumbled around with her words for a bit. "I haven't been able to get the journal yet, Adagio. But you've got to believe me, it's not my fault. Sunset hasn't even brought it out once this entire time."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you've done everything that you possibly can to get her to show you that stupid book," Aria said.

"But if I bring it up over and over again, they might think something is up," Sonata replied in her defense. "And besides, Sunset said that she would show it to me."

"For your ‘friends' sake, she had better," Adagio threatened and then walked past Sonata.

At that moment, Sonata could have let her go without saying anything else, but morbid curiosity forced her to speak up once more. "Adagio, does it really have to be like this?"

Adagio stopped in her tracks and turned back to face her once more. "Excuse me? Did you seriously just ask that?" Adagio was starting to glare as she balled up her hands into fists. "What in this miserable little world would ever give you the idea that there would be any other option?"

"It's just that I think we could actually live normally and be happy. I mean, even though we did try to take control of the school, some of these people are willing to give us a chance to make it up and have a fresh start."

"Welp, she's gone native," Aria said wryly.

Adagio began laughing hysterically, so much so that she was practically doubling over. Then, just as suddenly as her fit of laughter started, it had stopped, and she stood only a couple of feet away from Sonata. Her face showed nothing but malice for her sister. "Get this through that empty skull of yours, I don't want to make friends with any of these pathetic humans. I want to pay them back for taking away my power, especially when I was so close to being unstoppable. And if you get in the way, I will make sure that you pay too. Got it?"

Sonata, afraid to break eye contact with Adagio, gave a quick and concise, "Got it."

"Good. And do make sure to get ahold of that journal tomorrow." Adagio said and promptly made her way to her room.

Aria just looked at Sonata from the couch shaking her head. "You are a total idiot," she said, flipping through the channels.

Sonata quickly got to her room where she actually began contemplating what she should be doing. I'm not sure that I can go along with Adagio's plan. But if I don't she won't hold back from hurting Slate. Maybe I can warn him and the Rainbooms. Will Slate be safe after that?Those thoughts kept on bouncing around in her mind the rest of the afternoon. By nine o'clock she slowly but surely fell asleep.

Thursday Morning

When Sonata woke up from her restless slumber, she couldn't shake all the thoughts that had been floating around since the night before. As she got ready for school, she could feel Adagio looming over her.

The trek over to school wasn't much better as Adagio and Aria kept on pressuring her to follow through with the plan. Sonata didn't try to talk her way out of it and just nodded silently. There was no reasoning with them, so she had no idea what to do. Anything that she could do to prevent the plan would probably get her and her sisters in deeper trouble, while going along with it would definitely cause her to lose everyone that she had begun to get close to.



When I got to school and found Sonata, she seemed distracted... more so than usual. I wasn't able to put my finger on it, it was almost like she was trying to solve an elaborate puzzle and needed every bit of her thoughts to do so. It was made even more apparent during the classes. She was practically daydreaming at this point. I'd try to help her refocus on the work, but she was just so absorbed in her thoughts. Needless to say, we wound up with a bit of a backlog of work. 

There wasn't really much that could be done at that point, and so we just made our way to the cafeteria to meet up with the others. Unfortunately, that didn't pull her out of her funk. She did say hello to the girls, but other than that she didn't actually engage them in any conversations.

Then she started to act a bit strange when Sunset started talking to her. 

"Hey, Sonata."

"Uh, yes?"

"I know that the past week back here at school was a bit rough, but I think that you're making some huge leaps in progress."

"I don't know, I haven't really done anything."

"Considering that it took me a few months and stopping you guys, uh, no offense…"

"None taken."

"…to get any of the other students to start trusting me, you've already managed to make a good impression on someone else."

"Do you mean Bulk Biceps?"

"Yeah, Pinkie told me about yesterday."

"Well, guess it could have been worse than it actually turned out."

"There you go, and things have been going much better I'm sure."

"I guess," Sonata said a bit unsure.

"Oh, I forgot. I know you had asked about Twilight. Sorry that it took a while, but I brought my jour-"

Just then Sonata shot up from the table and grabbed her backpack, "Uh, I'm sorry, I-I don't feel too good right now. I think my stomach is a bit messed up. Maybe I should go see the nurse."

"I'll take you over there then," I offered as I slid my chair out, but was stopped almost immediately by her.

"No, no. It's okay, I should be able to make it alright." She then quickly left the cafeteria. When I looked at everyone else at the table, they had the same puzzled look on their faces as I'm pretty sure I did.

A few seconds had passed before Rainbow Dash asked, "Anyone know what that was about?"

Applejack responded with, "Beats me. She hasn't been like that since last week."

"Slate, darling. Was anything the matter with Sonata?" Rarity asked me.

"Well, she was very distracted during the classes earlier. I suppose her being under the weather could explain her distraction."

"Maybe," Sunset agreed. "Still though, it seems a bit strange."

"True," I said. Just then, I thought I noticed a pair of purple pigtails heading out of the cafeteria. I looked around and saw Adagio sitting by herself, writing something down. What made me more suspicious was how frustrated Adagio seemed to be. At the moment, I couldn't really do anything so I decided to wait until study hall to go check on Sonata.



Sonata got to the nurse's office in no time. Thanks to her rising anxiety, along with her quick getaway on a full stomach, she effectively gave herself a stomach ache. At least she would be able to sell the act of an ill student pretty easily.

Once she opened the door, she saw a woman with pink hair and a name tag pinned to her red scrub top that read ‘Nurse Redheart’. At that moment Redheart saw Sonata and said, "Hello, is everything okay?"

"Um, sorry, but my stomach started hurting."

"Oh dear. Alright, go ahead and take a seat on the cot over here," she said while searching through a cabinet. She then walked over to Sonata and told her, "Hold this under your tongue," as she held out a thermometer for her to grab.

Sonata placed her bag at the foot of the cot and held the thermometer in place. After a minute or so the nurse checked it before replying with, "Hmm, well, it doesn't seem like you're running a fever. The most I can do in this case is let you rest here for a little while."

"Thank you, I will wait here then."

"Alright then. Lay down if you want, and I'll be right back." Nurse Redheart closed the door behind her as she left the office. Sonata laid down on her side and tried to think of any way to get out of her current situation. She then rolled to her other side and away from the door.

Several minutes passed, but she still had no luck in coming up with a plan. The door then creaked open, but she didn't pay it much mind and assumed it was just the nurse who had returned. Then she heard someone going through her backpack.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Sonata exclaimed as she sat up and turned to the foot of the cot. She then regretted doing that because it turned out that Aria was there.

"What? I can't check up on my poor sick sister," Aria said snidely. "You know, I had no idea that you wanted Slate offed so badly."

"No! You better not do anything to him." Sonata said.

"Well, that's entirely up to you. But seeing as you are trying to avoid those Rainblooms, things don't look too good for him."

"Look, I am trying to get that journal, but I really did start to feel sick," Sonata said hoping that Aria would buy it.

"Sure, right when bacon hair was so eager to show you something. It shouldn't surprise me, though, you have always held us back throughout the years."

Sonata was just about done with Aria’s put-downs and responded with, "It's never just been my fault. You always try to blame me when you try to take the lead from Adagio. That's why things fell apart."

Aria glared at Sonata. "Well, I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm going to enjoy every second while I destroy Slate." She then left the nurses office.

Right then and there Sonata knew that she had to come up with some way to stop that from happening. 

Nurse Redheart then came in carrying a box of new first aid supplies. After she had set it down, she walked over to check on Sonata. She looked her over and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Seems like everything is okay. I think you should be on your way before the next class starts then. If you do start to feel sick again, just come back to my office, and we'll see what we can do."

"Um, thank you," Sonata replied halfheartedly as she picked up her bag and headed out to the library. Halfway there the bell rang, and she had to wade through the crowd before reaching her destination.

When she met up with Slate, she still wasn't able to focus on anything that they usually did. After a while of unsuccessfully trying to work on a few of the assignments Slate began trying to figure out what was wrong. He asked Sonata if everything was alright, but she wouldn't give a straight answer. He could see that she was worried about something so he encouraged her to tell him.

Little did Slate know that she desperately wanted to tell him everything. But, she had no way of knowing how he'd react. Will he still feel the same way about me if he finds out about Adagio’s plan for power? He might think that I really am just a monster and that he was wrong. These thoughts kept on buzzing through her mind, his encouragement only causing her to think about it more. Needless to say, she didn't respond much, and continued on like that throughout the last half of the day.

Outside by the statue Slate met up with Sonata.

"Hey Sonata," Slate greeted.

"Hi, Slate," she replied, a bit distracted.

"So, what are your plans for today?"

"Well, I'm helping out at the soup kitchen again. Although, by myself this time."

"Alright, well just text me where you are at and I'll meet you there when you're done."

"Okay," she said. She was about to head off when Slate stopped her one last time.

"Um, wait."

"Yes?"

"Listen, before you go, I just want to say that whatever's bothering you, you can tell me. I'll try to help you as best as I can. If you want."

"Thank you, but it's nothing, really. I'll see you later."

"Okay, see you then. Bye."

She started making her way downtown and wound up reaching the soup kitchen a while later. She was greeted by Coco and proceeded to do as she was asked to help out, all the while not speaking much, and lost more often than not in thought. Once her hour was up, Coco dismissed her after signing her sheet.

Even though she had put so much energy into trying to think up some way she could get Adagio and Aria to drop the plan, Sonata always came back to blowing the cover on the whole scheme to the Rainbooms and Slate. The whole thing just wracked her with anxiety. She then remembered that she had promised to text Slate when she got out. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a cell phone, but stopped when she noticed something off about the device. It wasn't hers.



After our talk by the statue, I tried to convince myself that there wasn't anything to worry about, but it kept on nagging at the back of my mind. Even during karate I couldn't shake the feeling that something had to be wrong. In fact, I wasn't entirely invested in everything that was going on in that class. It must have been really obvious because Rainbow Dash came up to me afterward.

"Hey, Slate. I know that you could use work on your karate, but that was kind of ‘meh,' especially for you. What's up?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about Sonata."

"Good or bad?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That's just it. She was acting strange this entire day."

"Slate, I think you might be reading too much into it. She was sick after all."

I crossed my arms and answered begrudgingly, "Hmm. You could be right. But I'm still not convinced that's it."

"Sorry, but I don't know what to tell you," she said while looking at her phone and then to the windows. She then saw her dad waiting in the car. "I'll talk to you two tomorrow, I've got to get going right now. Hope she feels better."

"Yeah, okay. Later."

As I was changing out, I received a message from Sonata. I knew it would show up eventually, but I wasn't expecting to read what it said.

"slate, help. I ran into those guys again. I was able to lose them at Stagecoach Park by the outdoor stage, but they are nearby. Please hurry."

I quickly finished getting changed and ran outside hoping that Rainbow Dash was still around. Unfortunately, she was long gone. I typed the location into my phone and found that it was ways off. At that point I didn't have too many options, so I ran as fast as I could to the park. 

When I got there, twenty minutes had passed. It was a good thing that the stage was so distinct, otherwise I might have wasted a lot of time searching. I approached the stage cautiously, trying not to give away my position if they were anywhere nearby, but as far as I could tell no one was around.

I started to think that maybe they had moved on, so I went to check the backstage area. That's when I heard someone crying. I followed the sound to a door that read storage. It was hanging slightly open, and no light could be seen. It didn't sound like anyone else was in there other than who I thought could be Sonata, so I carefully pushed the door open. As I slid in the crying completely stopped.

I called out trying to figure out where Sonata was, "Sonata. Sonata, where are you?" but there was no response. I took a few steps towards the center of the room but couldn't see anything in the dark. Suddenly, the door slammed shut and left me in the pitch black. Then there was a sharp pain in the back of my head. I had no idea what was going on, and at the moment couldn't even begin to process everything that happened in that split second.

The last thing I remember was some girl chuckling to herself before I blacked out.



Throughout that Thursday, she had kept herself so busy with her thoughts that she hadn't bothered looking at her phone. And when she did it was for extremely brief seconds to check the time. She tried to remember anything that could have happened to her phone. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

The Nurse's office, she thought. She then took a closer look at the phone and realized that it was actually Aria's. She wasn't sure what it meant, but knew it couldn't be anything good. And then when she didn't think it could get any worse, the phone chimed with a new message.

Sonata quickly opened the message and saw that it was sent from her phone. What was written in it didn't ease her growing panic.

"Time's up Sonata. Meet us back at home. And don't make us wait."

Without a moment's hesitation, she was off and pushing herself to get to the apartments as quickly as she could. By the time she had reached the front entrance her legs were fatigued and her lungs were on fire. She then sprinted up to her apartment and let herself in. Adagio was waiting there on the living room couch.

"Ah, Sonata," Adagio said. "I hope you were able to get what we needed."

"No, I wasn't able to," Sonata replied nervously.

"Now that is truly a shame. And I thought our little conversation yesterday would have given you the proper motivation. Oh well, live and learn I guess."

Sonata wasn't quite expecting her to be so relaxed about the whole situation. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when Aria walked in behind her and said "There you are, I think we might've grabbed each other's phones by accident. Care to trade," she said mockingly as she dangled Sonata's phone in one hand while holding out the other open.

"That wasn't an accident," Sonata said accusingly as she handed back Aria’s phone and snatched hers back.

"Pssh, no need to be so serious. Oh, I also took a picture with it. You really should take a look."

Sonata opened up the phones gallery only to find a picture of Slate tied to a chair and out cold. "What did you do to him?!" she yelled as tears started to form.

"Relax, he's okay, for now," Aria said with a smirk.

Adagio walked up to Sonata and placed an arm over her shoulders. She looked at the screen and said "That is truly a sad sight, isn't it? But I did warn you. She then ripped the phone out of Sonata’s hands. 

“Hey, give that back!”

Adagio’s tone then turned more menacing when she responded. "Not a chance. And if you want to help him, you'll bring me that journal by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, you can kiss Slate goodbye."

"A-alright. Just promise you won't hurt him," Sonata begged.

"We'll see. If I were you, though, I would start planning on how you're going to take that journal from Sunset."

Sonata went to the kitchen and leaned over the sink as a few tears began to roll down her face. As she was racking her brain for an answer, she noticed that the phone was missing from the wall and the only thing there was the phone jack. Adagio, leaning against the kitchen door frame, mentioned in a toying manner, “I got rid of that, just in case you were thinking of calling anyone.”

Sonata walked past Adagio back into the living room and saw Aria sitting on a folding chair right in front of the door. Aria then called out to her. “Don’t even think of trying anything.”

Sonata went and locked herself in her room. She couldn't even begin to come up with a way to make things right. I let things get way out of control, she thought as she paced around. I’m trapped here now and I don't have any other choice. Even if I do try to tell them anything when I see them tomorrow, I have no idea how they will react. They might throw us out as soon as they find out about the plan, and leave me with no way of saving Slate. I have to steal Sunsets journal. With that thought in mind, she began brainstorming on how she was going to pull it off.