Sonata's Lament
Sonata had never felt so miserable in her whole life. After a couple of hours of crying alone in the auditorium, she dragged herself back home after the janitor kicked her out of school. Her sisters weren’t around waiting for her for dinner but Sonata wasn’t in the mood to eat anyway and go straight to bed. The next day wasn’t any better for her. Her sisters were only around briefly, giving Sonata their cold shoulders and angry glares before they left for school. Sonata remained in her spot on the table, staring at her untouched cereal, which were soggy at this point.
Normally, Sonata would be rushing out the door to keep up with her sisters, but she didn’t want to deal with spending ten minutes of painful silence from her sisters. Even if she decided to keep up and dealing with her sisters’ silence, Sonata would end up suffering some more from the torments and jeers from other students from the stunt she pulled. And worse of all, her friends will give her disapproving glares or not speak to her, all because she betrayed their trust for her own selfish goals. The thought of that hurt her further, so she silently decided to not to go to school today… or possibly forever.
She sighed dejectedly as she slowly got up from her chair, leaving her untouched cereal behind and headed to her bedroom to change. After she put on her usual outfit, Sonata left her apartment and walked down the streets of Canterlot. Sonata likes to take walks sometimes to help her think. Since she has nowhere to go and no one to talk to at the moment, she hopes that her walk will help her think about her situation.
After an hour of walking, Sonata ended up in the city area of Canterlot. Despite all of that, Sonata was still in her somber mood. Even the smell of tacos from the nearby food stand wasn’t enough to bring herself out of her funk. In fact, she wasn’t even in the mood to have tacos for once since that’s how she’s in this situation in the first place. It would be quite some time before she ever has an appetite for them again.
Sonata let out a long sigh. No matter how far she walked, her thoughts were still lingered to two things: the fact that she’s a loser for not able to read and the angry and disappointed faces of her friends after she lied to them.
“Um… hey Missy?”
Sonata stopped walking and looked around for the source of the voice.
“Down here Missy!”
Sonata looked down and spotted a young girl, holding her UPad. She had yellow skin, purple eyes and purple hair with a short ponytail on her left side. She was wearing a white shirt with floral pattern on it with a light green jacket over it, maroon pants and pink shoes.
Sonata blinked. “Oh. Are you talking to me little one?”
The little girl titled her head. “Well… who else am I talking to?”
“…good point,” Sonata conceded. “What do you need?”
The little girl held her UPad to Sonata with the screen facing towards Sonata. “I couldn’t understand the directions on my map app. Can you read them for me?”
Sonata had an uneasy look on her face. “Uh…alright. Let’s see here...”
Sonata took the girl’s UPad and looked all over the digital map. Clearly, the map leads to somewhere and the map included written directions to get there, but she couldn’t make out any words or layout of the map itself. She grimaced at herself for being so useless to help the poor girl out due to her illiteracy. She also realized that if she haven’t given up and try to cheat her way to get tacos, she could’ve easily help out.
With a mournful sigh, Sonata handed the UPad back to the girl without looking at her in the eyes.
“I… I can’t! I can’t help you! I’m sorry!”
As Sonata abruptly walked away, the young girl cried out to her, drawing the onlookers attention in the process.
“You can’t? What do you mean ‘you can’t?’ Why won’t you help me? Can’t you read Missy? Can’t you read?”
Sonata kept on walking.
During the first period in one of CHS classrooms, each student was required to call out when their teachers mentioned their names as a daily morning routine of who was in the classroom/school today. Those who did not respond will officially be marked as absent. Cranky Doodle was marking off on his clipboard while announcing each of the names with his dull voice.
“Lyra Heartstrings?”
“Here!”
“Sweetie Drops?”
“Here!”
“Bulk Biceps?”
“YEAH!”
“Sonata Dusk?”
No response.
“Sonata?” Cranky called out again, looking up from his clipboard and surveyed the classroom.
He only spotted an empty desk where Sonata was supposed to be sitting. Cranky hummed at the sight before he shrugged and went back to his clipboard.
“Looks like she’s absent today,” he mumbled nonchalantly.
As Cranky Doodle continued his routine, Sunset Shimmer, who was sitting next to Sonata’s Desk, turned towards it with a worried frown. While she was still mad at Sonata for lying to her, she couldn’t help but to feel guilty for being way too harsh on Sonata. She felt that she and her friends might have chased her away without giving her time to speak. She tried texting Sonata earlier, but she received no response from Sonata. Desperately, Sunset made sure that Cranky Doodle back was towards her before she secretly sent both Adagio and Aria her text. Sunset hoped that any of Sonata sisters knew that Sonata was okay, if not…
…then she will have to gather up her friends to help her find Sonata after School.
It was early evening at the deep section of Canterlot City. Sonata was still walking down on the sidewalk in her glooming mood. She had lost track of how long she was walking, but she really doesn’t care, as long as the incident from yesterday and all the actions she did continued to haunt her. Even if she wanted to check the time, she realized that she left her phone behind back at her apartment. But since her friends and her sisters are still mad at her and not talking to her right now, she felt that this was probably for the best.
As she was walking past the newsstands, she spotted many people were standing around, reading newspapers, magazines and their phones. The sight of other people reading was a huge slap in her face. She wanted to get away from the problem, not to be reminded of the problem. She then quickly picked up the place, while trying to ignore the people who were reading.
However, when she rounded around the corner, she spotted many build boards and ads on the buildings, flashing words right in her face. While each ad had a simple message for selling their products or promote something, but to Sonata, she might as well be seeing scribbly lines. She couldn’t even read the street signs that were place on every corner of the street. If it weren’t the fact that she walked in this area before and was familiar with the area, she would’ve been lost.
Sonata let out a loud sigh. This won’t do for her at all. She needed to go somewhere where there is no words popping up in her face on every block. Thinking of one destination in mind, Sonata decided to head over there as fast as possible.
Canterlot City Park was always a lively place, especially at nighttime. There was usually a lot of people in the park during the day, but now there was only few people at this time. Despite that, Sonata noticed that the people in the park, much to her dismay, were also reading. Some people read their phones as they were walking or reading their phones, newspapers and novels while they were sitting on their own park benches. Sonata was convinced that someone from above her was punishing her for her actions.
Sonata sighed sadly as she sulked on one of the park’s benches with lamp post over her that she was sitting for hours. She hoped that just sitting in a quiet place like the park would help her relax and get away from it all for the time being. Instead, she felt more depressed than ever as many voices from various people played back in her mind like it was an endless record player.
“I actually thought that my method worked and was helping you… and you were lying to me this whole time!”
“You were just doing this for the tacos, weren’t you!”
“It’s bad enough that you lied, but cheating? That’s just shameful!”
“Yeah! That’s lame even for you Sonata!”
“Sonata… how could you!?”
“I can’t believe I was putting together a “Congratulations on Winning the Bet and Learn How to Read” party, only to find out that my best friend is a cheater!”
“I hope you’re proud of yourself Sonata! Do you even care about our feelings at all?”
“Especially that you used me and Aria to do your bidding? Even I don’t do that!”
“Sonata… you really are the worse!”
“Enjoy your new title of being the stupidest person in school loser!”
“Can’t you read Missy? Can’t you read? Read… read... read… read… read.”
Sonata shed out a tear. She couldn’t blame her friends or held against her tormentor words because she knew that they were right. In fact, she felt downright disgusted with herself for taking advantage of her friends and sisters trust. And all for what? To win some stupid bet against Trixie just to rub it in her face and to get free tacos? She originally wanted her friend’s help so they can help teach her to read. But because of her desire to win the bet, not wanting to disappoint her friends, and her greed for tacos got the best of her; she had lost her original motivation along the way.
She thought back to all the times she tried to assist others, only to make a mistake when she came across something that she was require to read. Suppose if her friends and her sisters wanted anything to do with her again, what if they do something fun that requires a lot of reading and then get left out? And what if they need her help for something really important, including saving the world that require reading but she was unable to do it? Her thoughts then went back to the poor little girl again, the same young girl that Sonata turned away from despite her pleas to help her read the map. Sonata still felt guilty about that. What if another lost kid walk up to her and ask for directions on the map too, only she is unable to help.
It was right then and there that Sonata didn’t want to be useless and feel sorry for herself anymore and it was time for her to make the change. Of course, she needed some help, but she knew that it wouldn’t be so easy. She may be a screw up and she messed up big time, but if she’s ever going to learn to read much more seriously this time, then she going to have to fix her mess first, by getting her friends and her sisters trust back.
With a determined look, Sonata got up from her bench and made her way over to her destination. She can only hope that she is willing to hear her out and give her another chance.
The gang was hanging around in Sunset’s apartment with worried frowns except for Aria who only had a look of indifference. Hours ago, Sunset fears were confirmed when both Adagio and Aria responded that they haven’t seen Sonata at school and hen later confirmed that Sonata wasn’t at home and couldn’t get ahold of her. Sunset then tried calling Sonata multiple times, but she only Sonata’s voicemail each and every time. Fearing for the worse, Sunset gathered up all of her friends including Adagio and Aria after school and then they had a search party (after spending the first five minutes explaining to Pinkie Pie that it wasn’t a literal party). After hours of searching, they all returned to Sunset’s apartment and they all reported that they couldn’t find their missing friend.
“So none of you guys have seen Sonata?” Sunset asked with a worried tone.
Applejack sadly shook her head. “I’m afraid we don’t Sugarcube. None of us have seen her since… yesterday.”
There was painful silence from within the room as they all remembered that it was revealed that Sonata has been cheating and how they reacted towards her afterwards. While their anger was justified at the time, but after looking back, they all couldn’t help but feel guilty for shunting Sonata away like that and gave her the cold shoulder. Sunset herself felt horrible for letting her anger get the best of her again and just let Sonata suffer after the way Trixie exposed Sonata. If anything happened to Sonata, she couldn’t forgive herself.
Seeing her girlfriend in so much distressed, Twilight softly placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry Sunset, we’ll find her. We were probably looking in the wrong area.”
“But what other places could there be?” Sunset asked. “We looked everywhere, especially every single Mexican restaurants and food stands we could think of! For all we know, she may not be in town anymore!”
“Do you girls think… something happened to her?” Fluttershy spoke up in her frighten tone.
No one spoke up, afraid of answering Fluttershy’s question. After a long pause, Applejack decided to take the wheel.
“Okay, let’s all try to think this calmly in order to find our friend.” She then turned to Adagio. “When was the last time you and your sisters saw Sonata?”
“The last we seen her was this morning, just sitting on the table staring at her cereal with her mopey frown,” Adagio responded.
“That sounds like Sonata was very upset from yesterday,” said Twilight. “Did any of you girls talked to her?”
Before Adagio answered, Aria scoffed with an angry expression. “Why should we care? That cheater practically used us for her own benefit!”
“Like your one to talk!” Rainbow exclaimed accusingly. “You two practically helped her cheat! Didn’t you helped her because of some stupid video game?”
Aria growled venomously and slammed her fist on the table, nearly startled everyone. “Hey, back off Rainbow Freak! Yes, we’ve helped her for our own selfish way, but that idiot never mentioned to us that she’s going to take all the credit! She’s lucky that she’s related to us!”
“That still doesn’t excuse that you’re are just as bad you hypocrite!” Rainbow snapped.
“I’m a hypocrite!?” Aria screamed. “Then why did you left her behind Ms. Loyalty?”
“Then why did you leave her behind Ms. Worse-Sister-in-the-Universe!” Rainbow shot back.
“Why you—”
Aria made her way over to Rainbow to give Rainbow her ‘a piece of mind’, only to be blocked by Rarity.
“STOP STOP BOTH OF YOU!” Rarity shouted before shooting both Aria and Rainbow her disapproving glare. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves! This is certainly not the time to put the blame on anyone! Right now, Sonata is missing and we don’t know where she is! For all we know, Sonata could be all alone out there!”
Aria grunted in frustration while Rainbow Dash looked down in shame.
Pinkie, with her hair all flat and straight, let out her sad whimper. “Poor Nata. I should’ve have left her behind! Even if she cheated, I shouldn’t have made her cry like that.”
“We were just as upset and angry at her as you are Sugarcube,” Applejack spoke up. “What Sonata did was wrong, but she’s still our friend. This won’t be enough to stop us bein’ friends with her.”
“I bet that’s what Trixie was counting on!” Rainbow spat as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.
“We’ll deal with her later Rainbow,” said Sunset before letting out her somber sigh. “I just want to make sure that she is okay and then talk to her about it… if we can find her.”
Before anyone respond to Sunset, they suddenly heard a doorbell from Sunset’s front door. With her one eyebrow raised, Adagio turned to Sunset.
“Are you expecting any more visitors Miss Shimmer?” Adagio asked.
Sunset look at Adagio quizzingly. “Uh…no. I wonder who could that be.”
Sunset made her way over to her front door and opened it, then let out her surprised gasp.
“Sonata!”
Sonata looked back at Sunset with a nervous gulp before she slightly looked away and held her left arm.
“Um… hey Sunset…I—”
Sonata didn’t get a chance to speak as Sunset pulled her inside and wrapped her into a tight hug much to Sonata’s shock. Sonata was surprised further when she noticed her friends were there too and they rush over and wrapped her into a group hug. Even Adagio came over to try to hug Sonata despite everyone else taking her spot. The only one who didn’t join in was Aria, who just looked away with a scoff. But if one would notice, they could see her lips were barely trembling with emotion. Sonata wasn’t sure what was going on or why the girls made a one-eighty after they were furious with her the other day, but she didn’t care. She happily hugged Sunset and the others back, savoring the warmth and happiness for the first time since yesterday.
After a few long minutes, Sunset pulled back and gave Sonata her demanding look with her wet eyes.
“Don’t you ever scare us like that!” Sunset exclaimed. “Where were you?”
Sonata stared back in shock. “Y…you guys aren’t mad at me anymore? Don’t you guys hate me?”
Sunset was taken back by Sonata’s question. “Hate you? Of course we don’t hate you! Granted, we’re still kinda mad and… very disappointed in your actions, but that won’t make us hate you.”
Everyone but Aria nodded in agreement with smiles on their faces.
Sonata smiled in happiness, glad that her friends are still with her despite her horrible deeds. However, her smile melted away when she remembered her reason of seeing Sunset. She wasn’t expecting to see all her friends in one place and she knew she was about to open up a whole can of worms, but if she is ever going to move herself forward then she might as well get it over with.
With a sigh, Sonata stepped away from Sunset and the others and then she addressed everyone in the most calming, yet very clear tone.
“I want to read.”
The girls blinked from Sonata’s statement.
“What?” Sunset uttered, not sure if she and the others heard her right.
“I want… to read,” Sonata repeated slowly.
Silence was met from the group. They all turned and looked at each other with mixtures between unsure and skeptical expressions; in Aria’s case, she had a deep scowl on her face. While they were willing to help Sonata out once before to solve her illiterate problem, but after what happened yesterday, they were having doubts. Finally, it was Sunset who spoke up for the group.
“No disrespect Sonata, but the last time you said that… you didn’t mean it.”
“That was then, this is now,” Sonata responded.
Sunset sighed. “Sonata… I…I don’t know abou—”
“Listen,” Sonata spoke softly. “I know what I did… was terrible… and wrong. I shouldn’t have lied and abused all of your trust like that. Yes… I did it for the tacos, but… I also didn’t want to disappoint you guys; especially you Sunset that I had a hard time with the worksheets after you all put so much faith onto me. Even if you guys will never forgive me… I wanted to say that I’m sorry for deceiving you all.”
Sonata then turned away from the group and walked over to Sunset’s window and let out a somber sigh.
“I know I have a lot to make up for to earn all of your trust back… but I still wanted to try again. Not for Bixie’s stupid bet, not for the School, not even for tacos. Just… for me.” Sonata then turned to face her friends again. “If I can read, I can pass the pepper during our get together dinners without making any pathetic excuses.”
Sonata turned to Pinkie. “I wanted to read so I can help Pinkie read the recipes from the baking books.”
Pinkie smiled at Sonata’s words as her hair went back to her usual poofy state.
Sonata turned to Applejack. “I wanted to read so I can help Applejack adding soil on her farm without taking the fertilizer by mistake.”
Applejack’s skeptic frown melted away from Sonata’s dedication.
Sonata turned to Twilight. “I wanted to read so I can help Twilight with her science experiment without blowing anything up.”
Twilight formed a small smile both out of Sonata wanting to fix things and out of amusement from the memory.
Sonata turned to Rarity. “I wanted to read so I can help make a dress properly with Rarity.”
Rarity’s eyes soften at Sonata’s willingness to fix her mistake.
Sonata turned to Fluttershy. “I wanted to read so I can help Fluttershy feed all of her animals with the correct type of food.”
Fluttershy nearly shed a tear from Sonata’s thoughtfulness.
Sonata turned to Rainbow. “I wanted to read so I can help Rainbow Dash to put the sport stuff to their right displays.”
Rainbow’s tough demeanor dimmed when Sonata was willing to make things right.
Sonata turned to Sunset. “I wanted to read so I can sign my name on a birthday card for Sunset to pass along.”
Sunset felt her heart out for Sonata for wanting to go so far to make up to her.
Sonata turned to her sisters. “I wanted to read so that my sisters will actually be proud of me for once instead of being their disappointment.”
Adagio eyes widen in surprise before frowned in guilt for not always giving Sonata their affection. Even Aria, despite not showing her emotions, felt guilty for always giving Sonata a hard time.
Sonata then looked down. “And I wanted to read… so I can actually help someone, including reading some map so I can help the lost little girl find her way home.”
Sonata then went down on her knees and looked up to Sunset in her begging pose.
“Please girls… please Sunset… help me,” Sonata pleaded emotionally. “Help me learn to read again… and I promise that I won’t let you all down again.”
After Sonata’s heartfelt words, everyone moved into a huddle to silently discuss about Sonata. Sonata, who was still on the ground, felt agonizing as she waited for their final judgment and hoping that they agree to help her again. Even if they refuse to help her, then Sonata wouldn’t blame them.
After what it felt like forever, they broke out of their huddle and Sunset walked up to Sonata with an expressionless look. Sonata inwardly gulped, as her heart were beating rapidly like a drum with anticipation. When Sunset reached Sonata, she didn’t say anything for a moment longer before she finally spoke up.
“You’re right Sonata. What you did… was awful. And you hurt us a lot.”
Sonata looked down in guilt and in sadness, believing that they were not going to help her after all and was probably going to tell her to get loss.
“…but.”
Sonata’s ears perked up and looked back up at Sunset with hope.
“I understand what it’s like to not want to let anyone down.” Sunset let out her small smile. “On behalf of everyone here… we forgive you… and we’ll give you another chance.”
Everyone else (including Aria) all smiled and nodded in union, some even stuck out their thumbs at her with reassurance that all is forgiven.
Sonata barely burst into tears as let out her huge smile. “Oh Sunset… girls! Thank you so mu—”
Her words were cut short when Sunset held her hand up with a stern expression and then raised her three fingers.
“Under three conditions!”
Sonata realized that despite that they have forgiven her, she still got a long way to go to make up to her friends. Still, it was a start.
Sonata nodded. “Oh… okay, what are your conditions?”
Sunset put down her two fingers except for her pointer finger as she listed her conditions.
“One: while you continue to use my worksheets, we will try to find another method that will help you learn to read.”
Sunset then raised her second finger.
“Two: I’ll see if I can lend you the easier versions of my worksheets, but you have to do it yourself! And if you’re struggling, we’ll go over it together the next time we’ll meet up.”
Sunset then raised her third finger.
“And three: if you had any trouble or couldn’t answer the question, don’t lie to me or to any of us! Be honest! Don’t be afraid of disappointing me if you messed up or not understanding the question. We will do our best to help you. Remember, you are not doing this for us, you are doing this for yourself!”
Sunset put down all three of her fingers and crossed her arms. “Do you understand?”
Sonata nodded without any hesitation. “I understand.”
Sunset still had a stern expression before breaking out into a grin. “Good.”
Sunset reached down her hand to Sonata and then pulled Sonata back up after Sonata grabbed her hand. Sunset then gave Sonata her warm expression.
“Now let’s get started!”
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If the Dazzlings are actually surprised that Sonata can't read, I'm going to be very confused. I mean the three of them obviously aren't blind to Sonata's stupidity.
8815619
They weren't surprised that Sonata can't read, they already knew that. What really surprised them was one of the reasons Sonata wanted to read so badly was because she wanted them to be proud of her for something she can accomplish for once instead of constant failings and screwups. They realized that their approval means so much to her since they rarely said anything positive to her, hence their guilt.
thank you for such a great chapter!its great to see sonata working things out and deciding whats best for her.well done!
I love to see Sonata pass, and win the bet, but turns down the offer to pay for the tacos. She simply says. "I didn't do this for the tacos or to rub in you're face. I did this for me....Also I don't want to be like you."
That last part can see her drop her mike and walk off. As it the truth.
I'd love an alternate ending where she wins the bet too, but she wouldn't have learned her lesson. It would just create more reinforcement for Sonata to cheat in the future at the expense of friendship and family. I think you have a better way planned for Sonata to get her just deserts from Trixie. I'm awaiting future updates.
This story is so good! It feels like I was watching a move!
You're gonna have to face your fear at some point Sonata.
Nope.
up the pace,*
with a lamp post*
then she's going to have*
Hours ago, Sunset's fears*
and then later confirmed*
you're just as bad*
I shouldn't have left her behind!*
Adagio's eyes*