Next Movement
I start the playback, ears peeled for all the subtle harmonies and other fine points of the instrumental track.
Sure, it’s usually “eyes peeled,” but the visualizer can only tell me so much. Besides, my voice might be wrecked, but my hearing still has the kind of perfect pitch that’s literally made humans weep.
An off note—fine in its own right, but out of place in the composition—makes me pause the playback to correct it, and only then do I register someone trying to beat my door down.
I double-check the sticky notes along the edges of my monitors. No, rent isn’t due, I’m not expecting a grocery delivery or face-to-face meeting with any of my commissioners today. I could have forgotten to write this down, but I’ve gotten a lot better at managing my system with practice. Still, the familiar chill goes down my spine as I think of someone thinking me of as flighty.
Unreliable.
The dumb one.
I’m halfway to the door by the time I even realize I've gotten up.
“Damn it, Sonata, did you forget how doorknobs work again?”
And just like that, all sense of urgency vanishes. I didn’t need any reminders for this one. I knew this day would come from the moment the bitch turned her back on me.
I’m calm as I open the door. I’m calm as I stare into those magenta eyes I used to idolize. I’m calm because I’ve never really stopped thinking about this moment, and I wore out all the fear and anger and sorrow months ago, like the fuzz off a stuffed animal.
“No,” I say to Adagio, “I just had something more important to do.”
She’s surprised. For the briefest moment, uncertainty flickers across her face before she’s back to pretending she doesn’t know the meaning of the word. “Well, drop it. I’ve reached a very promising understanding with Sunset Shimmer. We can go back to Equestria. As ponies, yes, but it’s better than anything this world has to offer.”
Then she walks off. She doesn’t even ask me to follow, doesn’t even command it, certainly doesn't apologize. She just assumes.
And I take a step after her before catching myself and turning back. I do leave the door to my apartment open, and keep my headphones on only one ear.
It takes a few minutes before I hear her boots stomping back down the hallway. “Sonata! Was I not clear?”
“You were.” I don’t even look away from the computer, though I do save the current project and stop trying to do any meaningful work. It’s spiteful, but it’s no less than she deserves. “You’re going back to Equestria. I guess Aria will too. Good for her.”
“I…" I'm not sure if she let her uncertainty slip again or if faking politeness literally just occurred to her. "When I said ‘we,’ I obviously meant all three of us." Well, so much for the last one. "Come on. It’s time to abandon this piece of garbage and go back home.”
I glance back at her. “I am home, Adagio.”
“You can’t be serious.” After a few moments of silence, she walks inside, looks around, and says, “You can not be serious. This? You call this a home? Three rooms no bigger than our trailer?”
“Three rooms I earned. Three rooms I pay rent for." I narrow my eyes. "Three rooms I never actually invited you into.”
“Oh, please. You can barely order fast food on your own. I don’t know what kind of idiot you seduced into putting you up, but you can drop them. I found a way to get us back some magic." She clenches a fist, smiling up at nothing. In her mind, she's already won. Never mind what the rest of the world might think. "From there, it’s a short step to reclaiming immortality.”
It's a pleasure to interrupt her little fantasy. “And you never bothered to check if I had something else to do.”
She stomps over and spins my chair so I’m facing her. Oh, she’s mad now. Sticking her face in mine until those eyes threaten to swallow me up. “Something else to do?”
I stare back. Part of me wants to crumble out of habit. The rest remembers why I can't anymore. "I had to find something to do after you abandoned me."
"In my defense, you were dead weight at the time." It's honestly amazing how she can just say that without any hint of shame or self-consciousness. Or, I now realize, self-awareness. "But please, do let me know what's more important that reclaiming the power that is rightfully yours." Never mind that I wouldn't be the one using it.
I tilt my head towards the monitor. “I paid attention when Aria showed me how to use audio software. I’ve got quite a following on Audionimbus these days.”
Adagio looks at it, raises an eyebrow, and shakes her head. “Sonata. Sweetie. I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re mortal now. You’re going to die in a few decades. Not because of anything you’ll do, just because some key part of your body will wear out and leave the rest of you in the lurch." And, saying every word very slowly, she concludes, "I’m trying to fix that.”
“I know I am." I stand up straight. I've been slumped over practically my whole time here. I actually have to look down a few inches to meet Adagio eye to eye. "And if I have to pick between living forever while listening to you and a few dozen years of freedom, I know which one I want.”
Her eyes go wide. She takes a step back. She never saw this coming. “You... You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I do.”
“You’re literally choosing death over putting up with me.”
“Yeah," I say deadpan. "Think about that.”
She snarls and starts trying to circle me. I follow suit. We're pacing a circle into the rug as she tries to think of something to use against me. “Aria—”
“Aria treats prisons like hotels where you check in by punching the receptionist." Last I checked, that was what had happened to her after Adagio had cut us loose. "She’s as sick of this world as you are. I’ve actually found a place for myself without the two of you telling me I’m an idiot five times a day.”
Adagio's next step is a stomp. “Because you are. Because without me—”
“I’ve taken care of myself." It took help, patience, heartbreak... but a few months without that orange pouf in my life did wonders. "Go back to Equestria. Try your dumb plan. Get smacked down by another group of heroes. Just as long as you do it without me.”
She comes to a halt as it hits her. “You’re serious.”
“As red tide." I stop once she's between me and the door. "Now piss off.”
“This is your last chance, Sonata." Like I said, no self-awareness. "If I walk out that door, you’re never seeing me again. You’ll never see Equestria again.”
I shrug. “I know how to contact Sunset Shimmer. Three of her friends are supporting me on Benefacteor.”
I’ll be savoring Adagio’s look as she lost her last bargaining chip for a long time. “B-but…”
“Go on. Go. Walk out the door." I start stomping forward myself, driving her to the doorway. "You say you’ll never see me again? Great! You’re not welcome in my home! If this place weren’t rent-controlled, I’d change addresses just so you couldn’t bother me again!”
She looks frustrated, disgusted... but there's something under the surface. “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your short, sad life.”
“Did you forget how leaving works? Piss! Off!”
And, for the briefest moment, she actually looks afraid. Adagio. Afraid of me.
She struts out, nose in the air, pretending it didn’t happen. But we both know, and we’ll both remember.
I shut the door and lock it thoroughly. Let her run back to Equestria, or ruin her manicure scratching at my door like a desperate cat. That part of my life is over.
It's over.
It's actually, well and truly over.
As I settle back into my chair, I tilt my head back and take a deep breath. I feel… amazing, actually. I never imagined how I’d handle this fight. I knew it would come, but never how it would go. And now, it’s such a weight off my shoulders that I feel like I’m floating.
The headphones slide back on, and I reopen the project I’d been working on before I was interrupted. The annoying little pitch error is gone, and the whole piece flows in beautiful harmony.
Perfect.
Prompt 9: Based on a song / Write from the villain’s perspective.
The original plan was Aria, but after listening to the song again, I realized Sonata works much better as one who rises from depending on someone who never truly loved or respected her to independent strength.
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Ahh! So good! Wooo! Sonata becoming independent and free to be her own person instead of just one part of a trio!
Very good. But I think you left in a line that wasn't supposed to be there right at the start?
If Adagio had ever tried to talk to herself, one of them would have murdered the other within seconds for basically the same reason.
Oh, this is wonderful. I can feel Sonata's catharsis at the end.
Epic song, epic chapter
Good for you, Sonata! 
Way to finally break off an abusive relationship, Sonata!
Go Sonata, she’s definitely got her head on straight. She’s the sort character you could have a whole movie about
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Heh. Thanks, everyone. I'm not sure if this is my best chapter so far or if I'm riding a wave of sympathy for Taco Waifu. Still, glad you all enjoyed it.
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Thanks. That would have been awkward if it had lingered for any longer.
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Sometimes the legend rule is paradoxical mana resonance or an existential crisis. Sometimes it's two egos in a world that isn't big enough for both of them.
*claps*. Good on you, girl. The first step is always the hardest and telling someone poisonous to get out of your life is always a hard first step.
The video link is busted, but based on some of the stuff that was said, I assume it was "I Will Survive"?
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Correct. Darn link rot.
Being immortal would cause one to be extremely immature. After all, if you can't die or suffer long-term and can outlive anybody who opposes you, why ever grow?
Between the airhead, the grouch and the entitled one, it makes sense that the airheaded Sonata would be the first to mature. Even she realises that she won't last long if she doesn't learn to survive.