The Sunset Sonata, Pt5
I've decided to upload this because of the um... *ahem* concern some of my dear readers seemed to feel about the previous chapter. The thought of leaving them in the throws of agony over Sonata's fate over Christmas seemed a little unfair.
Consider this my Christmas gift from me to all of you. 
The Sunset Sonata: Pt 5
Sonata Dusk
The first thing that Sonata realised upon waking was that she ached all over. Why this should be she didn’t quite know, but her suspicions were aroused by the fact that she was lying on a paint flecked wooden floor. She stared at the floor for a little while, wondering why it was there.
“Oh,” she said for her own benefit. “Oh yeah.”
She pushed herself gingerly up from the floor, feeling every crack of bone and every tensing of her muscles and sinews. They complained volubly at being forced to move. At first she thought that this was what was giving her the horrible, gnawing feeling in her stomach, but she soon realised that this could not be so. The feeling that was eating away at her was an all too familiar feeling: one of unrecognised guilt.
She sat up properly, almost knocking her head on a box of her older works, and looked around. Everything looked different at this level. She thought back to what she could remember last, but quickly became confused. She couldn’t remember whether what she was thinking of had been when she was awake, or whether she had simply dreamt it. All of it was so absurd it could all have been a dream.
In actuality, none of it had been a dream. Whatever she had taken last night, she remembered with a stab of the unrecognised guilt straight to the chest, had given her the most vivid impressions of frankly odd things happening. As she stood up, she winced as the first rays of morning sun hit her face. Looking quickly away, she saw the consequences of her one night of total freedom, and felt her world collapse from beneath her.
Sunset Shimmer
Sunset had been delighted, albeit surprised to find that she had a visitor in the early morning.
“No morning jog today?” she asked.
Rainbow sat on the other end of the table, looking troubled. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell ya – we’re not supposed to talk about it because it’s secret and everything – but I’ve not been building my stamina up just for the Academy. It’s because I’m going to be in the air show over the art fair.”
Sunset whistled, impressed. “Seriously? That’s pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, it is.” Rainbow smiled a little, but then went back to looking troubled. “That’s not why I came here though.”
“Oh?” Sunset asked, a little surprised. “Then what’s up?”
Rainbow remained silent for a little while, mulling over the glass of water Sunset had given her. “Well...” she licked her lips and ran her hand through her rainbow hair. “It’s about Sonata. I’ve been trying to think whether I should tell you or not, and after thinking it over, I think I should. It was just that I thought I owed it to her to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“What are you talking about?” Sunset asked, frowning.
Rainbow sat for a long moment, simply staring at the wood grains of the table. She reminded Sunset a little of Sonata over the past few days, worrying over her work. Eventually Rainbow seemed to come to herself again. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a sort of braying sound came out at first.
“I met Sonata in the street the other day,” she said with painful slowness.
“O-kay,” Sunset said just as slowly. “And?”
Rainbow sighed as though impatient with her own hesitancy. “I found her with... with drugs.”
Sunset stared at Rainbow for a moment. Then she gave a confused little laugh. “I’m sorry?” she asked, smirking. “What?”
Rainbow reached into the pocket of her sport shorts and pulled out a folded leaflet, and passed it across the table. Sunset took it, and looked it over bemusedly. It was blue and gold, the recognisable colours of the Wonderbolts, and had below a bold title a little cartoon Wonderbolt striking a heroic posture. Sunset read the title.
DRUGS DON’T MAKE IT INTO THE WONDERBOLTS
Feeling distinctly unnerved now, Sunset flipped through the leaflet carefully, as though she were holding something dangerous. Each page had pictures next to a title, a short paragraph, and a short list of bullet points, usually accompanied by the little cartoon Wonderbolt to one side saying something semi-witty in a speech bubble.
“Flip to page six,” Rainbow said quietly.
Doing so, Sunset found a page with a picture of little white pills. The pills had a small ‘D’ followed by an almost illegible number, but otherwise looked for all the world like any old pills. The title next to the picture said Deprox. Sunset read the little paragraph beneath.
Originally an antidepressant created in the 1990’s, Deprox was pulled from shelves and outlawed because of its hallucinogenic qualities when taken by adolescents. Whilst practically harmless to adults, the burgeoning recreational usage amongst addicted teenagers led to strong public outcry when several deaths resulted from—
Sunset stopped reading there. She looked up at Rainbow, whose expression was downcast.
“You saw her with these?” Sunset asked in a slightly strangled voice. Rainbow nodded. A little before she had finished doing so, Sunset was on her feet. “Why didn’t you tell me!?” she cried. “Why didn’t you take them off her if you knew what they were?”
“I-I know it wasn’t cool of me,” Rainbow admitted, looking thoroughly abashed. “I just thought that Sonata would make the right choice... I mean it’s not like she’s taken them, has she?” Rainbow frowned a little here. “Hey, where is Sonata?”
Sunset’s mind was working a thousand miles an hour. It wasn’t unusual for Sonata to sleep up in her workroom. She’d done it before when she was working on a new project, and Sunset had learned to just let her be when in that state of distraction. When she had woken up that morning and not found Sonata next to her, she had thought nothing of it. But now... after last night, if she had something like that in her possession, troubled as she was...
Sunset ran for the kitchen door, startling Rainbow out of her chair.
“Hey!”
Sunset ignored her. She turned the corner to the staircase up to the attic by swinging on the wood panelling, and bolted up, followed at a run by Rainbow Dash. Sunset didn’t knock, but wrenched the door clumsily and threw it open, banging it off the wall. She stared around, her heart racing, and saw with a surge of relief Sonata sitting against a box, staring into space. Skidding to a halt she knelt down, Rainbow jogging over and hovering uneasily behind her.
“Sonata?” Sunset asked, shaking her shoulders. “Sonata, speak to me! What have you done?”
Sonata didn’t seem to register her for a moment or two. Her eyes were wide and staring, as though a meteor were slowly but surely coming to obliterate all she knew, and there was nothing she could do but meekly sit there and wait for the coming annihilation. She didn’t answer precisely, but raised her hand and pointed over Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset blinked and looked around.
“Oh man...” Rainbow gasped, following Sonata’s finger too. Sunset’s mouth fell open in horror.
The paintings on all of the erect easels had been, in some way or other, defaced. The foremost one, displaying the ugly man with the square head, had an overly bright red moustache and beard drawn ludicrously down the length of his ugly, sludge-coloured military uniform. The banners behind him were no longer dull and respectable looking, but bright and full of primary colours that really didn’t go together.
The cityscapes too had been similarly ‘added to’. One tall, glass building had been coloured over to resemble a giant decorative egg with mythical creatures rising out of it. Another had a line of buildings that had been redrawn to look as though they were the bars of a song being played on an electrical display, with erratic music notes blaring out over the city. If Sunset were honest with herself, they looked better, but she knew that they had effectively been ruined for the purpose they were needed for. They could not be shown at the fair by any stretch of the imagination.
“Forget them for now. What happened?” Sunset demanded, looking back at Sonata. “What did you do? Rainbow told me you have...” she trailed off as Sonata’s face grew pink.
“I do. I took one.”
Sunset just stared at her, uncomprehending. “Why?” she asked, wanting to cry. “Why would you... why wouldn’t you just talk to me?”
“I-I don’t know... I wanted to but, I just couldn’t...” Sonata’s lip trembled.
“You took one?” Rainbow asked suspiciously. “Where’s the other one?”
Sonata indicated her paint box, and Rainbow picked it up. Fishing around for a bit, she picked up the pill and showed it to Sunset. It was just like the one in the picture, with the little number sequence.
“You idiot!” Sunset snapped. Now that she was reasonably sure that Sonata was okay, she felt swaths of anger roll over her. “Why would you do something so stupid? Did you even know what they were? Where did you get them?”
“That’s what I asked,” Rainbow muttered.
“And you can shut up now!” Sunset barked, pointing an accusing finger at her. “If you’d told me about this earlier, this might not have happened.”
Rainbow had the grace to look ashamed of herself, sticking her thumbs in her pockets and reddening.
“I’m sorry,” Sonata sobbed. “I’m sorry. I just felt... s-so horrible. I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Sunset wanted to stay angry. She knew she was right to be angry, that she was entirely justified in feeling so at the foolishness of her friend and girlfriend. But it had been too long since Sunset could properly hold onto her anger, and she was a little out of the practise of it. As Sonata sat against her box, defeated and rubbing her eyes with her palm, and Rainbow stood behind her looking unusually small and dispirited, Sunset felt herself sigh impatiently, and offer her hand. Reluctantly, Sonata took it, and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
“We’re not done talking about this,” Sunset said, taking the pill from Rainbow. “But since you seem to be okay, the immediate problem is what to do about these.” She looked at the paintings. Even in their ruined state, the pictures themselves were good. They simply didn’t look serious anymore, as though Mr. Bean had gotten to them.
“What’s to be done?” Sonata asked croakily. “It’s over, I can’t—“
“Nope!” Sunset interrupted, taking her wrist. “Not now, you’ve moped around on the floor long enough. It’s time to do something.”
“Uh...” Rainbow uttered cautiously. “Do what, exactly?”
“Call our friends and have them meet at Sugarcube Corner,” Sunset ordered. “We need an idea.”
Sunset’s friends had come to a subconscious understanding about Sugarcube Corner. On regular days when they met there to simply eat, drink, and socialise, times were set up way in advance. An impromptu summons was, usually, a sign that there was bad news to come, and help required.
It was therefore with appropriate seriousness – other than from Pinkie Pie – that the seven friends gathered at their favourite table, and glanced curiously at each other. Sunset, Sonata, and Rainbow all had more furtive expressions than the rest of them. Sunset had agreed that telling their friends exactly what Sonata had done was not the best idea. There was nothing to be done about it now, and Sunset was worried that Sonata would start crying if she was outed for drug use in front of all of their friends like this. Instead, she focused on explaining what had happened to the paintings, attributing their defacement to Sonata experiencing a temporary nervous episode. Which was mostly true. Sonata squirmed a little in her seat at this, but otherwise kept stum. Rarity patted her hand.
“Expectations, dear,” she said consolingly. “I can entirely sympathise with you.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Applejack said, raising both hands. “You got stressed out, and doodled over your paintings?”
Sonata nodded meekly. Sunset wished she’d stop looking so overtly guilty, in case any of them suspected deeper information was being kept from them. Which it was.
“I kinda want to see Sonata loco in the coco,” Pinkie said, musingly, trying to make three straws balance on their ends. “Sounds like a good time.”
“Well the problem of course,” Sunset interjected before Pinkie could expound, “is that she now has none of her paintings to put in the exhibition.”
“None?” Applejack asked, sceptically.
“None of the ones Hoity wanted in there.”
Everyone went quiet at the sound of Sonata’s voice. Sunset couldn’t blame them. She sounded heartbroken.
“Come on all of you,” Rarity said, thumping the table. “There’s got to be something we can do. Can’t you re-paint them?”
“It was taking me forever to do them as it was,” Sonata sighed. “They’re just so dull.”
“Couldn’t you draw them in a more exciting way?” Fluttershy asked tentatively. “I mean, would that be okay? Is that an okay suggestion? If it’s not I’ll just be quiet.”
“It’s a good suggestion,” Sonata admitted. “But trust me. There was no way to make that guy looking interesting without making him funny. And funny apparently isn’t on the Capital’s fashion list.”
“The Capital has been a bit lax on proper culture recently,” Rarity mumbled.
“I like to make up stories about stuff when they bore me,” Pinkie Pie put in helpfully. “Like when I’m at school, and the class is boring, I pretend that I’m a spy trying not to be spotted so I can sneak the top secret information—“
“And cheat off my test paper,” Applejack sneered. “Yeah, ah noticed.”
Pinkie blushed and lowered herself in her seat, giving Applejack a winning smile.
“I’m not sure Sonata can pretend to be a spy whilst trying to paint something,” Sunset chuckled.
“Well, we’ve all tried giving advice on this,” Rainbow Dash chimed in. “Obviously nothing we said worked.”
“True. Given poor Sonata’s little breakdown,” Rarity added.
“She has had a lot on her mind,” Sunset muttered, blushing. She tried not to think of Fleur. It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps it hadn’t just been the paintings weighing on Sonata’s mind. She felt a pang of guilt at the thought that she, Sunset, might have had an unintentional hand in Sonata’s current unhappiness.
“Well, who else can we ask?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Who do we know?”
They all made thoughtful faces, all except for Fluttershy. “Um, I think I know someone who might be able to help,” she said. She looked around at them all. “But maybe we shouldn’t disturb her,” she continued, apparently having second thoughts.
“Who is it?” Sunset asked.
“Well, um...” she looked at Sonata. “Have you asked Aria?”
Sunset had been sitting with her head on her hand, feeling none too optimistic, but as Fluttershy said her name, Sunset wondered at why they hadn’t thought about it before.
“I really didn’t want to bother her,” Sonata said meekly.
“Wait a second,” Sunset whispered, almost speaking to herself. “Pinkie Pie. Maybe that idea isn’t such a bad one after all.”
Pinkie looked very pleased with herself. “See? Sunset agrees with me about hot sauce milkshakes,” she said smugly to Applejack.
“No, not that one,” Sunset interrupted as Applejack rolled her eyes. “The one about making a story.” She fell quiet for a moment or two as all of their friends watched her curiously. All of them knew that look of course. Sunset had an idea. “It might work,” she muttered to herself. “Sonata, do you still have time to paint the pictures?”
“I guess,” she said unenthusiastically. “If I could actually get into them, it wouldn’t be a prob—“
“Good,” Sunset said. “Call Aria and tell her we’re going to pay her a visit.”
“This sounds like the beginnings of inspiration. What’s your idea?” Rarity asked, interestedly.
“More importantly,” Applejack put in, “will it work?”
“I have no idea,” Sunset shrugged. “But it’s the only thing I can think of to do now.”
“Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them,” Pinkie announced impressively, standing up and putting a foot on the table. “Boldly they rode and well. Into the jaws of death.”
“Pinkie, what are you doing?” Rainbow asked.
“Reciting poetry,” Pinkie whispered, her voice still low and foreboding. “Duh.”
Rainbow seemed about to ask the obvious question: Why? But then seemed to think better of it.
The rehabilitation clinic and its associated buildings lay on one side of the city park, the opposite end to the school where a section of the greenery was reserved at certain times of the day for patients there to take exercise. People in wheel chairs doing seated aerobics to stave off atrophy, or some of the younger patients racing each other with crutches. One woman, who was Sunset’s favourite person to meet whenever they happened to visit Aria, was a veteran who had lost a leg to a road-side bombing. The woman was pleasant most of the time, but had a certain roughness about her, possibly from being in the army, and had a habit of bursting into sudden snappy rages when something annoyed her. In one memorable, never to be forgotten moment, she had taken off her own prosthetic and chucked it at another patient for littering.
Aria was seated at one of the park benches, scribbling in a colourful notepad. Colourful in a pink and black way. It had a few stickers of skulls with bows on their heads, silver stars, and a little Union Jack. As Sunset and Sonata made their way towards her along the pebbly path that ringed the green, she looked up, pleasantly surprised.
“Hey,” she said. “What’s up with you guys?” She stood up a little awkwardly, and limped forward into a hug that Sonata gave her.
“Nothing too major,” Sunset said casually in that way people do even when horrible things are in fact occurring. “You’re looking good without the crutches.”
“I’ll be walking properly in no time,” Aria said, putting one hand on her hip and using the other to give an airy gesture. It had to be said that she’d regained a lot of her former swagger fairly easily, even with the obvious limp. Her hair was back in its twin tails, and her half-mocking smile more often ornamented her face than not. It was refreshing to Sunset at least to see some good being done in the world.
“Either of you want to race to the fountain?” Aria jerked a thumb at a water fountain.
Sunset looked blank for a second or two, but then decided to turn the conversation towards their reason for visiting. “Actually, we’re here to ask you a favour.”
Aria looked surprised again, but also attentive. “What do you need?” she asked, looking between them both. “What’s up with you, Sonata?”
Sonata coloured up and suddenly developed a few nervous ticks. Sunset interceded before Aria could start asking why Sonata was now sucking the end of her ponytail.
“She needs to paint a few things but she can’t get into the swing of it,” Sunset said quickly. “I thought maybe you could help.”
“You want me to help her paint?” Aria asked, frowning.
“No, no,” Sunset sighed. She’d seen that coming too late. “No, I want you to help her paint quickly. I want you to give her some inspiration.”
“She hasn’t told me her idea yet either,” Sonata commented, shrugging at Aria.
“So, what is it you think I can do?” Aria asked curiously.
“Right.” Sunset gestured to the bench. “Mind if we sit down for this?’
They all sat, Aria looking relieved but trying to hide it by sitting back with ostentatious relaxation. She spread her arms along its back and raised her eyebrows as a sign that she was listening. “Go on then.”
“What I think you could do,” Sunset began, “is to make a story about the paintings.”
There was a short pause.
“I hope there’s more to your idea than that,” Aria said, evidently not following.
“Make a story about the paintings?” Sonata asked, scratching her cheek. “You told me the history of some of those things I had to paint, and it didn’t help.”
“No indeed,” Sunset said, glaring at Sonata with heavy-lidded eyes. She was still kind of peeved that Sonata had not found the history she had looked up interesting as she did. “But it’s sort of the same thing. I want Aria to write something that’ll make the paintings seem exciting. I want her to inspire you to paint. If she can make a decent story about the things you have to paint, you can simply paint scenes from her story that you actually want to paint.”
Aria and Sonata looked at each other in a considering sort of way.
“I guess that might work,” Sonata said slowly. “Can you make exciting stories?”
Her tone had been innocently inquiring, but Aria bristled. “Yes!” she snapped. “Can you make exciting stories?” she mimicked, folding her arms defensively.
“So you’ll do it?” Sunset asked, feeling she already knew the answer.
“Oh I’ll write you a story,” she assured, in the tones of a New York mobster assuring the man in cement shoes about how peacefully he was about to be sleeping. “What’s it got to be about?”
“Oh my god, are you serious?”
Aria stared in revulsion at her computer screen. Technically speaking it wasn’t her computer, but the one that was in her room. A clean, white room with sparse furnishings, but clean and orderly. Aria had added her own touch of anarchy and individuality to it by tacking up posters on the walls, and apparently spray-canning a stencil logo of some band onto the door. Either the staff were really lenient about that sort of thing, or else they hadn’t yet noticed it.
“Yeah...” Sonata said, weakly. “That’s what I have to paint.”
All three of them stared at the Wikipedia entry. The man had seemed dull in Sonata’s colour painting, but in the old black-and-white photo shown on his wiki entry, the man looked simply too boring to be allowed. Even Sunset, who enjoyed reading about the man’s back story, felt that the guy wouldn’t be permitted into most night clubs with those shoes. Aria read a little of his biography, looking more and more ill as she went.
“Oh my god...” she said again. “Where are my pain meds? I think I’m getting a headache.”
“Can you do it?” Sunset asked tentatively.
Aria flopped back in her chair and blew out her cheeks. “I think so. But I gotta say Sonata, that guy who suggested this just has the worst ideas.”
“You have no idea,” Sonata mumbled so that neither of them would hear her.
“How long do you think it’ll take to make a story about him? Could you roll all of the paintings into a single story?”
“I think so,” Aria said thoughtfully. “Could do an alternate history, or perhaps something to do with time travel so he’s in the cities you need to draw. Have to be careful with time travel stories though. They leave a lot of loose ends and it’s difficult not to write in plot holes.”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be perfect,” Sunset put in, foreseeing a possible perfectionism problem here. “It just has to be enough to get Sonata’s creative juices flowing.”
Aria nodded, and then a thought seemed to strike her. “Speaking of juices flowing, how’re you two doing?”
Sunset coughed and spluttered as she accidentally inhaled some of her own saliva. Sonata coloured up and pulled Aria’s hair. “Why would you say something like that?” Sonata whined.
“Because it’s so easy,” Aria snickered as her head was pulled to one side. “Anyway, get back to me tomorrow I think. I got some research to do. Unless you guys want to play the Galaga game in the rec-room?”
It was some hours before Sunset and Sonata returned home. Sunset said nothing as Sonata eagerly accepted Aria’s challenge to the recreation room’s impressive collection of 80’s arcade games, and only stepped in after Sonata became so frustrated at her losing streak that she seemed about to challenge Aria to Dance Dance Revolution. She thought Sonata needed a little fun to shake off her mood of that morning, and indeed it was with a renewed spring in her step that they returned home and ordered Chinese.
“You know, it’s not like they’re even that bad,” Sunset commented with a mouth full of noodles, squinting at the defaced paintings. “I mean, no they can’t be used, but it’s not like they’re badly done.”
“No,” Sonata conceded.
“They just look kind of funny.”
“Can we stop talking about this?”
“If you like.”
Sonata waited a moment, looking at Sunset out of the corner of her eye as they watched the sun descend over the western horizon. “I’m sorry I took that pill,” she said quietly. “I really am.”
Sunset waited for an explanation or some kind of excuse to follow, but Sonata offered none. If Sunset were honest with herself, she had remained angry with her for the entire day, but her irritation with her stupidity, and her hurt over how Sonata had not felt able to confide in her had been slowly chipped away as the day wore on. Sunset remembered how it was to hold a grudge, however vaguely, and to remember the smallest of sleights for long periods. She supposed it was her regard for Sonata, her love for the girl sitting next to her, that stood in the way of her indignation from taking root and festering. Sunset was glad of it in the main. She didn’t want to be mad at Sonata, and bore the loss of her rage with philosophy.
She put her arm and Sonata’s shoulder. “I was just worried about you,” she exhaled. “When Rainbow told me what you had, I thought of... well,” she stopped. She had thought back to that time, so long ago now, on the roof of their apartment. She wondered if that dark image would ever fade from her memory, if the thought of what might have happened that day would ever leave her.
“Do I have to sleep on the couch tonight?”
Sunset looked down at Sonata, bemused. Sonata was trying to be cute. Sunset thought, as she had before, that if Sonata had still been evil, she and her friends might actually be in real danger.
“Are you kidding?” Sunset asked sternly. “After what you did today I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’ll sleep with me and I’ll keep my eye on you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sonata said with false sorrow.
Both girls gave each other furtive grins, and then both laughed. Once the fit had left them, they gazed at each other for a bit in that sappy, typical way lovers do.
“We’re terrible,” Sunset sighed.
“The worst,” Sonata agreed, pressing her lips to Sunset’s.
Sonata must have been more tired that Sunset imagined. As Sunset shut the curtains on the vanished light of day, she looked down at Sonata’s already sleeping form in their bed. It struck her, as she saw Sonata’s thin, frail body lying there, how much it would hurt for her to leave, or be taken in some way. In this susceptible state of mind, she walked over to the drawers next to the bed, and opened the top one. Next to her magical journal and a small pack of tissues, was a small, zip-lock plastic bag with a single, white pill in it. She picked it up and took a look in the dim light of the lamp.
Sunset could build no sense of loathing or revulsion for it. It was a pill, small, white, and originally created to help people. And make money. Like all tools, it could be misused. The thing that garnered the anger that refused to attach itself to Sonata, had latched eagerly to something else.
If I ever find who gave her this, she thought. She left the internal threat hanging. Clichéd though the thought was, Sunset meant every syllable, and the implied doom they signified. She and Sonata had been made to feel pain that day, and as lucky as they were that one foolish little action had had so small a lasting effect, the thought of what might have been lingered in Sunset’s mind.
She got into bed, and huddled up next to Sonata. Whether Sonata was asleep or not it was hard to tell without her snoring, but whether awake or asleep, she turned over on her side, and took hold of Sunset’s middle. Feeling a contentment she was glad she could still feel, Sunset leaned her face down into Sonata’s sweet-smelling hair and held her close, grateful for her presence.
- To be Continued
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*sigh*
just dodged a bullet there. it would be really funny if Fancy Pants saw the paintings and actually liked them.
edit: oh, and a merry christmas to you too! thanks for this present!
I appreciate the present
Thank yoo!
Thank you for giving us the new chapter!
I hope Sonata can get her creative juices flowing with Aria help. If Sunset finds out it was Hoity Toity who gave Sonata the pill...then he's screwed.
Hoity's gonna have a bad time.
YES, I hate that guy.
Thanks for clearing this up, Dan! I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I'm glad all has turned out for the best now. Just waiting for Sonata to confide in Sunset as to who gave her the pills do we can see the Canterlot High Five, Sunset and the rest of the Sirens potentially beat the snot outta Hoity Toity lol
metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/article-1353163906711-1613ae8c000005dc-397549_466x310.jpg
"Hmm...needs more pink."
Thank you for this, the ending is appreciated, so I dont have to spend my Christmas with such a cliffhanger as the last chapter... goodness me.
That dialogue. You're making it so easy for me
Why doesn't she just do what real artists do? Smoke some weed.
There ya go, my christmas present. Thank you so much.
Welp, seems like pretty soon Sunset's gonna kill Hoity, well, if I don't get to him first
LOLZ!
You'd better watch out Hoity!
You made up a drug?
Must be an English slang word.
Gray uniform? Wait a minute, are you having Sonata paint General Robert E. Lee?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Robert_Edward_Lee.jpg/220px-Robert_Edward_Lee.jpg
"around"
Thank you for the Christmas gift!
5420003
Vi needs a Santa hat.
5420622
Me no know how 2 edit photos.
Does their world even know war? Hmm but since they know drugs I suppose its possible. Though I do wonder what the Civil War was about.
5420633
I am cleaning earlier this evening, but I was hoping to get to Vi later. Don't worry, I already have the original art. Might have to make a couple different versions. Hard to look badass in a Santa hat.
I assumed the Equestria Girls universe was similar to ours, just everyone had weird names and strange colors.
5420688
Nopony likes to bring up war anyway.
Perhaps something to be left best as a mystery?
5420696
Unless you are Teddy Roosevelt.
Heeey, thanks very much for this chapter! Was worried about the consequences of Sonata doing what she did, but that worry was thankfully quelled. Still anxious and uneasy about the whole problem of Fleur wanting Sunset, though
Merry Christmas
5420706
Do I look/sound/seem like Teddy Roosevelt to you...?
5420735
One never knows, and since Dream Keepers has a bit of strife in it, I felt it was a good idea to keep an open mind. Really don't trust those springer rifles though.
Dat juices line
Seeing this made me very happy, especially given the way Sunset reacted. She's come a long way.
If you're talking about this: britishempire.co.uk/images4/unionflag1606.jpg then it's "Union Flag", not "Union Jack". Trust me, I'm British.
5420979
Maybe they're talking about one of these guys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack_%28comics%29
Also, Wikipedia claims "The claim that the term "Union Jack" properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013", but it's Wikipedia, so who knows how accurate that is.
5420979 Yyyeah, I'm British too. To me it's a Union flag too, but the term "Union Jack" is more commonly known throughout the world. I thought people would understand what it was better if I referred to it as such.
5420622 Yes, I made up a drug
No it's not Robert E. Lee. The man in the painting is made up too, but I had Giuseppe Garibaldi in mind when I described him
I think it must be. To keep stum means to stay quiet.
5420265 I should never wish to annoy you of all people, C2
5419924 Oh damn, I totally should have done that
5421215
If that was truly your wish, a certain purple tag wouldn't be on this story.
You're the worst.
Merry Christmas, ya jerk.
5421229 Well I can't let you have it all your own way, now can I?
Merry Christmas to you too. Ya judgmental git
5421234
Oh, sure you can!
Well, that's just rude!
And a Happy New Year, I guess.
5421242 Hey, you called me a jerk. Drink some bubbly Everything will feel better
5421253
Of course I did. You're the one writing a shipfic.
I doubt it
5421260 Ah ah, romance if you please.
5421263 Yes, but it would be your idea. Taking other people's ideas for my own just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
5421271
Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that
If you hand out drugs to Sunset's girlfriend, then you're gonna have a very bad time.
Happy Hanucka, or howevr you spell it.
5421604 Am I still a jerk?
I now wish to see Sunset tear Hoity limb from limb! It would be a glorious spectacle!
Id love to see Sunset kick hoitys ass!!
I think Sonata should be given the freedom to paint whatever she wants. Clearly, following duo templates aren't working well for her.
In this warmth this cold darkness,
rest blissfully with love about in every direction;
into another dream remain.
Let no despair grasp you
and retain the light of day.
With this,
seek only those nearest you.
Awaiting further releases.
5421609
I think that's how Canadians spell "Hanukkah".
5421653 Eh. Not really. Just a tad bit jerk-ish. Nothing major.
Thank you, friend Daniel! This made my Christmas good! I can only imagine what the pictures must have looked like. Keep up the good work!
MERRY CHRISTMAS YA LAZY BUMS
DAME MÁS CAPITULOS DE TU PINCHE HISTORIA!!!
PERRO MADRE!!!
Waiting after the holidays to post this chapter after the cliffhanger of the previous chapter would have been too mean. Thank you!
A good Christmas gift. I hope that you had a good one
I'm glad that you wrote Sunset not being too harsh on Sonata. With her anger burst at her girlfriend and friend was enough
Now, to make a line to punch Hoity's face!
5424406 oh... I see you added a *not canon* at the end of it now (or was it there all the time?). Good... otherwise good job on the story :)
I waited until after Christmas to read this. I'm glad Sonata got caught and they're taking action to keep her from repeating her mistake. Also, Aria continues to be a delightful bitch with a very refreshing pride in her hobby. I love it.
Good stuff. Keep it up.
Good on you.
I literally laughed so hard I snorted like Pinkie Pie.
You rock so hard that my face has began to liquefy a little bit. Rock on!
5425343 No seas grosero con el autor, viejo. Tambien merece descansar
5430378 EL DESCANSO ES PARA LOS DEBILES DE CARACTER
na, no es cierto. Ya lo voy a dejar en paz
Adieu