The Morning Sonata Pt1
Come on kids, come have some fun!
If you don’t just kick my bum!
Sunset Shimmer covered her mouth to hide her snort of laughter.
This rather uncouth rhyme came from a speaker wedged into the mouth of a large horse costume depicting a white stallion with a long blonde mane, wearing a blue bow tie and a jauntily perched crown. This costume bobbed back and forth as the incongruously thin legs holding it up, blue legs with bright blue boots, danced energetically beneath it.
One child going passed Prince Blueblood’s Playhouse took the rhyme to heart.
“Flower Spark!” the mother chided. “I’m so sorry!” she called to the person in the costume. The arms of the costume waved vaguely.
“It’s alright, madam,” called a muffled voice from within.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when you said that you got a job at the playhouse,” Sunset grinned, standing behind the figure. “But I can honestly say that it wasn’t this.”
The horse pulled its own head off with a grunt, revealing a smaller, female head beneath. This head grinned, shaking back its ponytail of blue and purple hair.
“Hey Sunset. It’s great isn’t it?”
“Getting kicked by children all day?”
“No. Although that is kind of fun too,” she said vaguely. “They’re good kids really. Most of them.” Sunset said that she was sure of it. “Well it was the best job I could get on such short notice anyway, since the landlord found out I was mooching your couch.”
“I’m pretty sure he can smell it when he’s losing money,” Sunset nodded.
“Thanks for letting me-“
“Will you stop thanking me for that? Please? You’ve said it a hundred times.” Sunset gave Sonata a wry look. Sonata blushed.
“Whoa!” Sonata cried out as she toppled forward. Sunset leapt back but not fast enough. Owing to the breadth of the costume, it knocked her down and pinned her to the floor. Fortunately the costume was soft as opposed to solid, and so Sonata’s wobbling on top of her like a capsized turtle was relatively painless.
“Light Print!” said a furious voice above, drowning out the hysterical giggling of yet another child. “Say you’re sorry right now! I’m so sorry about that,” the mother said, helping Sonata up.
“It’s alright,” Sonata beamed. "It’s part of the job.” She turned and held out her hand to Sunset Shimmer as the parent and child left. “Are you okay?” she asked, earnestly. Sunset waved the concern off good-naturedly, although she imagined the fall must have affected her more profoundly than she thought. She had an unaccountable warmth in her face that she put down to blunt-force trauma.
Sunset had never been to the Playhouse before, having been too old when she arrived from Equestria, and so consented to the tour whilst Sonata was on break. Mercifully taking the suit off for a bit, Sonata bought Sunset a blue raspberry slushie and showed her around.
“Here’s the adult area. It’s where the adults go,” she added.
“Yeah, I guessed-“
“Here’s the food court. They make slushies.”
“I know,” Sunset said, trying not to smile.
“And tacos,” Sonata said, reminiscently. Sunset coughed to cover her snickering as Sonata’s face seemed to illuminate at the thought of tacos. “Anyway,” she said, coming abruptly back to Earth. “And finally, this is the play area.”
She gestured, like a Ringmaster showing their star act, to an enormous three-dimensional maze of pipes, cushions, climbing walls, toys, trampolines, and ball pits. Even as a fully grown Equestrian, Sunset had to be somewhat awed by the complexity and size. As she watched, several kids came whizzing out of a tunnel and landed with loud shouts of laughter into a ball pit.
“You never went on one of these?” Sonata asked, leaning on a cushioned red wall.
“No,” Sunset said with a small smile. “Too old when I got here.”
“So was I,” Sonata replied, shrugging. “Didn’t stop me. It’s fun.”
“Did the other two go on with you?” Sunset asked, trying to imagine the three Dazzlings having fun in one of these blindingly colourful funhouses. Sonata’s expression darkened a little.
“Nah,” she said, in a brave attempt at her previous cheerfulness. “They thought it was for kids too.” She laughed, but it sounded a little forced to Sunset, who was feeling uncomfortable about her blunder. She knew that Sonata’s mood changed whenever she mentioned Aria or Adagio. “It was probably for the best, you know?” Sonata went on. “Knowing Aria, she’d probably have been pushing kids into the pit or scaring them away from her favourite rides.”
Luckily for Sunset Shimmer, who could find nothing to say in reply to any of this, a distraction appeared in the shape of Pinkie Pie. Both Sunset and Sonata perked up their ears as they heard the distinctive laughter of Pinkie echoing all around them, before she zoomed suddenly out of a tube and into the ball pit.
“Pinkie!?” Sunset gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“You know that ride is only for people this high, right?” Sonata pointed out, missing the point as always. Sunset resisted the urge to make a joke about Pinkie being high. It was a bit overused by now.
Pinkie rose eerily from the ball pit as though she were standing on a rising floor with a powerful motor, holding two kids in her arms. “Duh! I’m watching Pound and Pumpkin of course!”
“Who?” Sunset asked. Pinkie thrust the children at her.
“Mr. and Mrs. Cakes kiddies of course!” Pinkie squeed. “Say hi you two!”
“Hi ya!” burbled the first child, a boy with tufted brown hair.
“Hair!” squealed the girl, and grabbed a fistful of Sonata’s ponytail.
“Oh! Heyooouch!” she howled as Pumpkin started to pull.
“No! Bad Pumpkin! Bad Pumpkin!” Pinkie admonished, trying to pull her back. Sonata grabbed the wall to stop herself toppling over as she hooted and yelped with each fresh yank. Sunset meanwhile tried to help, but was effectively sabotaged as Pound leapt out of Pinkie’s arms and onto Sunset’s back.
“Hey! What the-?” Sunset blurted as Pound grabbed onto her head, covering her eyes. “Pinkie! Get this kid off me!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Pinkie yelled. “That’s kinda why I brought them here. I thought they could burn off some steam!”
“I don’t think – yeowch! – kids run on steam, do they?” Sonata asked in between gasps of pain.
“No, I think they run on candy,” Pinkie said, thoughtfully, trying to undo Pumpkin’s fingers.
Before Sunset could articulate another plea for Pinkie to remove Pound Cake from her shoulders, she bumped into something solid and immovable. Bouncing back, Sunset suddenly found her vision returned as Pound was pulled off her shoulders by Maud.
“Oh,” Sunset said in surprise. “Hey Maud. Sorry for bumping into you.”
“It’s no problem,” Maud droned monotonously. “Come Pinkie Pie, we need to go.” So saying, she pried Pumpkin from Sonata’s hair, holding both kids in her arms. Pinkie leapt out of the ball pit and stood to attention.
“Yes ma’am!” she barked with a crisp salute. Maud made no response.
“It was nice bumping into you,” she said to Sunset without a hint of humour in her voice. She turned to leave, Pinkie hopping along on her heels.
“Yeah, nice to see you again too,” Sunset called after her, wondering whether Maud was joking. Somehow the idea was a little frightening.
“Who was that?” Sonata asked, straightening her ponytail.
“Pinkie’s sister, Maud,” Sunset replied, dusting off her jacket. Sonata raised an eyebrow.
“Wow,” she said flatly. “Like, for realz?”
“For realz,” Sunset nodded solemnly. “I know, I don’t get it either.”
“She’s not, like, adopted or something?” Sonata asked as Sunset unlocked the door to their apartment.
“I don’t think so,” Sunset frowned, letting Sonata walk ahead of her with the groceries. “Actually Applejack told me that Pinkie’s family is more like Maud.”
“Well, is Pinkie adopted then?” Sunset shrugged.
“Can you put the TV on please?” Sunset asked as she rolled up her sleeves. “I’m pretty sure there’s a Harry Trotter marathon on today.”
“Sweet!” Sonata squealed, leaping over the back of the sofa and seizing the remote. “What’s for dinner by the way?”
“Burritos,” Sunset replied, mixing spices into the frying pan. “Chicken burritos.”
“Life can get no better,” Sonata sighed, slouching in her seat.
“Well I’d hate to disturb your relaxation,” Sunset said fondly. “But would you mind making the guacamole?”
“Hey,” Sonata said, “Do you think I could be a baby sitter?”
Sunset decided to dodge that particular bullet as effectively as she could. “Did you know that Mr. and Mrs. Cake had kids? I didn’t know.”
“Oh yeah,” Sonata said cheerfully. “I saw them at the mall a few times when I lived on the streets. This one time, Pumpkin gave me a cookie.”
As usual, Sunset felt a pang at the thought of Sonata on the street. “Oh. That was nice of her.”
“Yeah,” Sonata said, oblivious of Sunset’s discomfort as she mashed the avocadoes. “Had some drool on it, but I just gave those bits to the pigeons.” She made cooing sounds like a pigeon, imitating birds pecking up crumbs with her hand. Sunset felt fondness leaking through her like someone had poured warm water into her blood.
“You know Applejack invited us over for band practise tomorrow. Do you think you’ve figured out something you’d like to play?”
“Well my voice still sucks majorly,” Sonata sighed. “But check this out!” She grabbed a pair of spoons from the draw and began a complicated series of rhythmic taps across her arm that sounded suspiciously like the Power Pony theme song. “The spoons!”
Sunset fought hard to keep a straight face. “I think Fluttershy has the percussion bit down,” she said kindly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Sonata smiled faintly, returning to mixing the guacamole. “Maybe I don’t need to be in the band, there’s already six of you guys. I can do something else, like... um...” she stared into space for a moment, her finger tracing her lower lip in a thoughtful way.
“Sonata,” Sunset said gently. “That’s paprika.”
Sonata looked down at the jar she’d about to use to sprinkle the mashed avocadoes with. “Oh,” she grinned. “My bad.”
As they both sat watching The Order of the Pegasus, Sonata finished her burritos first and picked up a book from the coffee table. Sunset paid it no attention at first until she started hearing scribbling noises coming from beside her. Glancing sideways, she found that Sonata had her sock-clad feet up on the couch, and scribbling in the book balanced on her knees.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Hm?” Sonata looked up. “Oh this? I drew some Harry Trotter stuff.” She leaned the book sideways so that Sunset could see. Sunset’s eyebrows shot up. Taking the book she flipped through a few pages.
“Sonata, why didn’t you tell me you could draw?”
“Huh,” Sonata frowned, as though seriously considering the question.
“These are amazing,” Sunset laughed as she found a sketch of Pinkie Pie leaping into what looked like a hill-sized mound of whipped cream. “When did Pinkie do that?”
“She didn’t, Silly Shimmy,” Sonata snorted. “It’s just something I could totally see her doing.” Somehow Sunset thought that Sonata didn’t know how right she was.
“So you drew this from your imagination?”
“Yeah,” Sonata stared at Sunset. Sunset stared back, at a loss for what to say. “So... can I have it back?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. Here.”
“Thanks! I so ship Draco and Harry,” she giggled.
The following day saw a period of tension when everyone except Pinkie Pie showed up for that morning’s band practise. Rainbow Dash was all for starting without her, but Fluttershy and Applejack were both uneasy about the idea.
“It would be rude,” Fluttershy said breathily, turning her tambourine round and round in her hands.
“And besides,” Applejack added. “How do ya expect us to play with no drums?”
Rainbow seemed ready to concede the point there, until the happy notion occurred to her that Sonata could play them instead.
“Are you talking to me?” Sonata asked, looking behind her.
“Not too many other Sonata’s around her,” Rainbow huffed impatiently.
“But I don’t play drums.”
“Well, could you give it a try?” Rainbow asked, rolling her eyes.
“Give it a try, dear,” Rarity said more kindly.
“Nobody will judge you,” Fluttershy tried to be reassuring, but she rather spoiled it by adding, “but it’ll still be kind of scary.”
With such encouragement as this, it was no surprise to Sunset that Sonata approached the drum set as though walking to the gallows.
“She doesn’t have to play if she doesn’t want to,” she said as non-antagonistically as she could. Nonetheless her grip on her guitar tightened slightly.
“Of course she doesn’t, darling,” Rarity agreed, airily. “But she can try if she likes.” She looked pleasantly expectant at Sonata, who’d seated herself at the drums and picked up the sticks, but now looked utterly lost.
“You just hit the drums with ‘em,” Rainbow said, evidently trying not to laugh. “Ready?”
Sonata gave Sunset a last pleading look, but just as Rainbow sounded off for them to begin, they were saved, once again, by the impromptu arrival of Pinkie Pie.
“Land sakes!” Applejack cried.
“Hey guys!” Pinkie bellowed from outside. “I’ve got something to tell you!”
The entire band set down their instruments hastily, Sonata wiping a little perspiration from her forehead, and raced outside. Squinting through the rough winds that sent leaves swirling everywhere, the group looked all around, all except for Applejack, who was looking up.
“Did you hear-?” Rarity began to ask, but then gasped as Pinkie’s distorted voice shimmered through the howling wind.
“Look out below!” they all leapt for cover as Pinkie’s blue-booted feet came to rest where they’d all been standing. Like a green beret she bent at the knees, undid the constraints around her chest, did a forward roll for the sake of momentum, and stopped with one knee on the ground, looking around as though expecting enemy forces to swoop down on her at any moment. As she only saw her friends, she straightened up and beamed at them.
“Err...” Rainbow said, raising a finger and pointing to the large sheet of canvas blowing away in the wind. “Was that important?”
“Nah, one time use only,” Pinkie assured them. Her friends all looked at each other, utterly bemused. “They’re easy to make. But that’s not important!” she squealed, appearing next to Sonata and picking her up in a crushing hug. “I’ve got something to tell yo-o-o-u!!”
“Does it possibly involve corrective bone surgery?” Sunset grimaced as Sonata turned purple.
“Fun though that sounds, nope!” Pinkie giggled, putting Sonata down. Sunset caught her as she stumbled dizzily. “Guess what it is?”
“That you’re sorry for being late?” Rainbow asked, glaring dourly. Pinkie’s grin burst.
“Don’t listen to her,” Applejack said, giving Rainbow a warning look. “What’s up, Pinkie?”
“Guess who I met in Whitetail yesterday?” she looked around eagerly. “Go on, guess! Oh come on!” she waved her hands excitedly.
“You went to Whitetail?” Applejack wondered aloud.
“Sure did!” Pinkie nodded. “Maud needed some material to make Boulder a new coat, and I needed more parachute materials.”
Recovering first and ignoring the very tempting question of why Maud’s pet rock needed a coat, Sunset asked who Pinkie had met.
“Guess!” Pinkie repeated.
“Um... one of the Apples?” Rarity put out. “I think you told me you have relatives out there, Applejack.”
“Well sure, Whitetail’s just a mile away from the city limits.”
“Nope!” Pinkie chirped, bouncing around.
“A cute furry animal?” Fluttershy whispered, hopefully.
“Nope!”
“One of the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“That would have been awesome, but no,” Pinkie admitted, swinging off of Rainbow’s shoulders.
“Well, can ya give us a hint?” Applejack asked, one eyebrow raised. Pinkie was happy to oblige. Skipping over to Sonata, she raised a dramatic finger, and levelled it at her nose.
“It’s someone she knows,” she said in a sing-song voice, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“One of the other Dazzlings?” Sunset asked, interested.
“Bingo!” Pinkie shouted, shoving a lollipop in Sunset’s mouth. “Prize goes to Sunset Shimmer! Second prize goes to the one who guesses it was the one with the poofy orange hair.”
“Adagio!?” Sonata blurted.
“Second prize!” Pinkie cried gleefully, picking Sonata back up. “Another hug!”
- To be Continued
I can't resist:
You work fast.
Great chapter by the way, this keeps getting better and better.
5239407 Oh, you just won the internet 2.0. That was just too awesome.
5239429 It helps when I have an idea of what I'm doing. I work pretty fast with a goal in mind.
I am so looking forward to continuing this story... At first, I wasn't sure but, I started it this morning and I love it! >w<
5239463 It makes me happy to know people enjoy this story. It lessens the guilt I feel at feasting upon your feelz.
I didn't need sleep anyways. (stayed up all night for no reason... again.) This story is way too cute. Stahp.
I hope this continues for a really long time though. It would be nice to see a long form story about the after effects of Rainbow Rocks. Also, do keep in mind you can still use Twilight cause mirror opens whenever now and the book is probably going to need to be explained to Sonata someday. OF COURSE neither of those things need to be used at all if you as the author do not want to use them. It is your story after all. I am just along for the ride.
You forgot the opening quotation mark.
*and
I was also not aware that Mr. Cake became a female
*hi
*and
*non
Lots of typos this chapter. If I had to guess, you felt a bit pressured by the story's success and felt rushed to get the next chapter out. If so, I wouldn't do that. I'm pretty sure most of us readers would be much happier to wait an extra day or two if it meant a more polished finished product.
That said, this continuation was pretty solid. The pacing felt a bit more rushed than the first two chapters, but it was still mostly solid. Looking forward to more.
5239620 I suppose I did skip a bit on the proof-reading this time around.
5239533 I appreciate the reminder of that
The story will be at least six chapters long. Not sure if it'll continue beyond that yet. It all depends if I get some inspiration about how to continue.
Not sure if this is a mistake or not, but the third chapter is called "Part 1".
5239772 It's not a mistake, but thank you for taking the time to point it out
5239654 I would like it if you would make a long story out of it, if you don´t feel like writing more, stop it for a while, but i would prefer it if you don´t put an end to the story.
I think this could be a very nice story, please try more jokes with Sonata if they are in private or something like that.
Well whatever you are planning, i try to make a few suggestions maybe if i know something, i mean how you could continue.
I want to read how they start to love each other and if they are together, then i would like to read a bit more about their life together. Sadly most of the stuff stops the moment they confess their love to each other.
I really like that and at least now i am sure that i would like a sequel if you don´t want to make this story that long.
Somehow i like everyone of the dazzlings, but i prefer Sonata. I just wait and see what you maybe are planning to do with Adagio.
5239839 I'll consider leaving it an open story, but I at least want to get the story that's in my head down. What happens after that, maybe I'll write a sequel int he same continuity, or come up with something entirely new. I don't know what the future might hold
I am curious who the landlord is, someone who can smell losing money. Filthy Rich perhaps?
5239929 that sounds alright.
5239956 I actually didn't have an identity for the landlord, but that actually awesomely fits!
Wait a minute. Hold on.
When did this get a [Romance] tag? And I'm not sure why there's an [Alternate Universe] tag, either.
5240085 Uh... what Romance tag?
Alternate Universe because I thought that it deviated from the established EG universe. Do you have other thoughts? I'm always happy to hear them.
5240104
How so? Rainbow Rocks happened. This takes place after. As far as I'm aware, nothing has been set in stone on what happened after, so unless the events of Rainbow Rocks itself are drastically altered, I don't see any reason for an [Alternate Universe] tag.
Questions that have arisen so far:
Does Sunset have a job? How is she paying for food and an apartment? Even if she had one, unless she's 18, they wouldn't be allowed to pay her full time if this world is anything like the real human world. Did she bring bits from Equestria with her? Gold coins could explain living expenses.
If Sunset was already an adult when she came left Equestria as is according to the comics and common sense in general, and the mirror made both hers and Twilight's human bodies the same age, or something, isn't Sunset older than all of her friends? Like, if the mirror made Twilight sixteen when she first came through and the human Mane6 are all sixteen as well, then shouldn't the mirror have made Sunset sixteen when she used the mirror three years prior and now have a ninteen years old body? Same with Sonata, she's apparently thousands of years old, right? Her human body doesn't age? Is there some sort of time-dilation going on? Were the Sirens sent from Equestria a thousand years ago but ended up a few years before Rainbow Rocks?
Are the Power Ponies in the human world? I know a comic is seen in the movie with a humanized Mane-iac on the cover, but I can't recall if the title was on that comic. Seems weird to call a story about humans Power Ponies, but there were the BeetleBorgs.
5240111 Hmm, fair point
5240113 There's really only one question there that I can answer, as it pertains to my story specifically.
Yes, Sunset Shimmer does have a job. If it came up in the story I was going to say that she worked a job online from home as Flim and Flam's webmaster, and simply, err, embellished a few details about herself in order to make it legitimate. She gets direct deposits.
In the main however I decided not to tangle too much with the issue of ages and time, since the movies seem to let it slide so much. I mean, like you pointed out, the Sirens were banished during the time of Equestria's founding, which was at least over a thousand years ago. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna don't seem to be immortal, yet their Equestrian counterparts have lived for centuries. Sunset Shimmer was Celestia's student before Twilight was, and Twilight didn't know who she was, so either Sunset Shimmer went through the portal when she was a filly, before Twilight's acceptance, or she was an adult at the time when Twilight was a filly, and is thus much older than Twilight and her friends.
The whole thing was on rocky foundations to start with, so I patched up pieces where I thought it necessary to my story and left the rest alone.
5240111
One can argue that because Equestria Girls is an alternate universe in the show itself, the tag would be applicable. Of course, the fact everyone does that makes it really annoying to find any "what if Sunset Shimmer didn't leave Equestria?" stories because searching for stories with her character tag and Alternate Universe just pop up a zillion Equestria Girls stories... but that's a different matter.
Though even if there isn't a romance TAG... why is this in the shipping group? Did someone just randomly add the story to it? I don't really see any shipping so far, so I'm confused as to why it's been added there if there's not actual shipping in it. Is it going to come later? Personally, I think that would be to the detriment of the story... never liked it when characters get romantically paired up when there's no need for it.
5240229
My man speaks the truth.
5240229 See, this is one particular reason I wanted to stress the distinction between the first two chapters and the rest of the coming ones. The romance tag, since people seem so very interested, is in reference to the later chapters. I believed introducing romance too early would be far too unbelievable and rushed a storyline for the setup of the Evening Sonata. I've never been fond of love-at-first-sight stories.
All I can do is complete the story and see what people think.
The story has already been thought out though. I came up with it knowing that not everyone will approve of it, and whilst I appreciate and consider criticism, the general direction of the story will not deviate because of it.
I don't deserve to write if I'm not open to criticism, but neither am I a worthy author if I don't write what I want to write. I write it for my own benefit after all as much as for my readers.
I thank everyone giving their opinions on the story, appreciative or dissenting. I'm only too happy to make corrections and take advice when given, but I am the writer, and the course of the story is ultimately my decision.
5240236
Well, now there is a romance tag, though. Did that just get added? I know it wasn't there before.
Very cute. I just watched Rainbow Rocks yesterday so I'm still high on the Sirens (Sonata in particular) so this story is just perfect.
I hope Adagio turns out ok, though I'm not as worried about her as I am Aria... Anyway, you've got yourself another favorite. Great work.
5240329
That's what I was talking about! It wasn't there when I first saw this story, and now it's here. I don't know why, but it's there.
5240398 Thanks, I'm glad that you enjoyed the story so far
5240409 Such cliffhanger! Can't wait for the next one!
You mean Mr.?
Other than that, good chapter! Can't wait for the next one.
Adagio? Looking forward to seeing what she's been up to! If she has been up to anything, anyway.
Leave it to Pinkie to put the answer in the statement
Ooh, this story is good, and I don't even mind spoilers, seriously.
-A person who haven't seen any EQG and still hvve half of last season to watch.
5240890 She is a bit clueless in that regard
5240798 Yeah, Mr.
Thanks for that
5240897 Mwuhuahaha!! Yes! More feelz! Delicious!
5241044 You haven't seen Twilight's Kingdom yet?
Adagio? Shit just got real. Or not. It would if it would've been Aria.
Gah! I am loving this story. It's so sad- well. Kinda. It was sad. Things seem to be turning around for Sonata, which is fine. It can't just be 24/7 angst.
Of course now Adiago is coming into the picture apparently. This aught to be interesting.
5241528 As much as I'd love a world of none stop angst, it makes for a rather monotonous story. Sadness only has power when contrasted with happiness.
So glad to see this continuing!
5241533 You SICK SICK creature! Making ME wait for another chapter! I will have nothing to do but read countless stories that won't be as good as this one! You are one big fat meanie!
5241961 ... Dear Vesta, you're right. I'm... I'm a horrible human being...
5241881 I'm glad that you're... glad XD
Okay, between this and seeing all four teaser shorts (the ones that are actual movie scenes), I defo needs to see Rainbow Rocks! (Curse my being stuck in Australia!)
5242027 Oh I certainly endorse the Rainbow Rocks movie. I have it to thank for this inspiration, and for Sonata and Sunset. Sunset Shimmer has to be my favourite pony at the moment, and it's thanks to this movie in the main. It's so sympathetic to her.
5241051 You're welcome!
Oh hells yeah. Adagio!
Another great chapter from my favorite author!! keep up the great work!!!