Chapter 1 Shot
The stars twinkle in the night sky, shining down on the streets of Canterlot. Every now and then, you see the headlights of a lone car speeding down the highway. All was peaceful and beautiful…outside.
It’s a shame you are kept inside, standing behind the register, hoping something will break the ever-present boredom. Staring out at the beautiful night was really the only thing that makes the time seem to move at all.
“Hey, you holding down the counter?” an unwelcome voice calls out to you. Groaning internally, you turn toward your manager Food Chain (Though everyone called her Chainy) standing next to you holding a broom.
“You know the counter can probably hold itself up.” She say’s giving you a smug grin. You continue to stare at her, not exactly understanding her point, or what she’s saying.
“It’s...It’s a jo-...just go clean your lobby!” She yells, tossing the broom at you. Though you try to catch it, it tumbles clumsily out of your hands and falls to the ground, clanging noisily. You bend over with an exasperated sigh and grab the tattered broom off the floor.
“I hate my job…” you mumble to yourself. You hadn’t even really wanted to go to work anyway. You’d rather just be home, playing video games, talking with your friends, at least getting your homework done. But your parents had insisted that you had to get a job. For your mother it was so you could get “actual experience” in working and being part of a work force. For your dad, however: “The most important thing you will learn working in fast food, is that you never want to work in fast food.” (Needless to say, you had grown a new-found respect for your father’s wisdom). For you, the only real reason was money. Your mother had stated that she would stop paying your campus lodging rent as “motivation” to finding a new job.
So, here you were, stuffed into an uncomfortable uniform and ball cap (with a ponytail for your only-kinda-long-hair, because good God if someone saw that you had girl hair) forced to clean up the mess left by slobbish, lazy customers of a specific chain of taco fast food restaurants (whose name I’m not allowed to legally mention, since I signed a contract when I worked there for four months that states I’m not allowed to make negative comments about it while on social internet pages). It didn’t help that you’re employer was infamous for having uneducated and, ahem, "baked" employees, meaning people stereotyped you daily. Fun times.
“HEY! PAY ATTENTION! WE GOT A FRONT!” Chainy hollers back toward you.
“My apologies, I was under the impression I was supposed to clean the lobby,” you murmur angrily. Biting your lip, you pick up the broom and dustpan with one hand as you push the EMPLOYEES ONLY door open with the other, leaning the tools against the wall, you turn your body so you're standing behind the register.
“Sorry about that.” You say, a “happy” grin plastered across your face, your eyes still closed.
“I-it’s fine,” a feminine voice responds. You open your eyes to see a girl, only a year or so younger than you, standing in front of the counter. Her two-toned, blue hair is kept in a long ponytail, the tips of her sneakers just barely poke out from under her jeans, and you can see a leather choker around her powder blue neck, with a gold bit in the center gleaming behind the folds of her maroon hoodie.
She would actually be kind of cute, if it weren’t for the fact that she was crying. Her cheeks are lined with tracks of tears, and you can see her mascara starting to run.
“Oh my! Are you alright Miss?” You ask worriedly.
“Y-yes...well, no. I…I-it’s not important.” She shakes her head dismally. “Can I just get three soft tacos.”
“Sure.” You smile, punching her order into the computer screen. “Will that be for here or to go?” You ask, the words becoming robotic and second-nature.
“For here.”
“And Can I get a name for the order, please?”
“S-sonata. Sonata Dusk.”
“Pretty name,” you comment.
“Hey!” Chainy calls from the assembly line. “You can flirt with the customers while you’re on break! Just take her order!” Instantly, your brow furrows and you can feel your teeth start to grind against each other.
“Thank you” Sonata mouths, giving you a wan smile.
“No problem,” You return her smile. “that’ll be $4.47.”
“Oh, um…” Sonata’s gaze suddenly drops to the floor as she shuffles her feet awkwardly. “You see, I… I only have three dollars. I…I don’t suppose there would be any way-”
“Sorry,” you interrupt, already knowing her question, “Even If I wanted to, my manager would never let it slip by.”
“I…Alright,” she sighs dejectedly, “I suppose I’ll only have two then…”
You’d never seen a customer so depressed just from a lack of a taco. But as you take a second look at her, you notice her hands are clamped tight around her stomach. You also notice the skin on her fingers is hanging just a tad bit too much, and, though she had concealed it till now, you hear her quietly groaning.
“M-miss…” You start hesitantly, “It might not be my business, but...when was the last time you ate?”
Sonata doesn’t respond, instead just letting her eyes drop yet again to her shuffling feet.
“Miss, have you eaten at all today?”
Still not vocalizing, she does no more than shake her head.
“Yesterday?”
She shakes her head again.
“All week?” You’re nearly pleading at this point, hoping that she may respond yes.
Sadly, you’re met with another headshake. You wanted to help this starving girl, but...how? Your gaze drifts along the counter, hoping that some form of miracle will show itself.
Thankfully, one does, the donation box. The plastic, hexagonal tower has a long metal rod through the center. The length of which is covered with plastic step-like wings, the bottom layer of which has the words “winner” embossed on it’s surface.
Finally, you have a solution. As you walk over to the small box, you take a small silver coin out of your left pocket, giving it a quick flick into the air for flourish.
“What are you-” You place a finger to your lips, shushing Sonata before she alerts the other workers. Giving her a quick wink, you drop the coin down through the tiny slot in the top.
Taking hold of the handle on top of the metal rod, you expertly twist it back and forth, dropping the coin from one of the plastic wings to the next. You give it one last gentle flick, and the coin lands squarely on the bottom shelf.
Smiling to yourself, you turn back toward the assembly line.
“Hey, guys!” you call back excitedly, “We got a winner up front, add an extra taco to that order!” You hear one of the food-stuffers give a “sure thing”, but it’s muffled by all the noise that comes from the line, you were amazed the customers never heard it.
Turning back to the counter you see Sonata looking at you, her wide eyed amazement turning to humble gratitude in an instant.
“Y-you, you didn’t have to do that, you know,” Sonata stated.
“Think nothing of it,” you reply, dismissing her humility with a wave of your hand “I’m just helping you get your whole order.”
“Order for Sonata!” Chainy calls, bringing the three tacos on a plastic tray up to the counter. Sonata takes the tray with a quick “thank you” and then walks to the dining room.
It is silent for only about five seconds until:
“So, you holding down the counter?”
You walk out into the cold night air and gaze upward at the beautiful stars twinkling overhead. A small breeze gently blows across your face and ruffles your uniform a bit. Your break had finally arrived, thank god.
You made sure to order a rather large amount of food (thank you employee discount) considering the near angry growling in your stomach. Sitting down on the edge of the sidewalk , you open the large plastic bag and prepare to dig in…
That is, of course, until you see a small blue figure out of the corner of your eye. You turn your head to see Sonata, the girl from earlier, huddled against the wall of the restaurant. You can see her shaking and moving slightly.
Sighing to yourself, you stand back up, grabbing your bag of food, and walk slowly over to where she is sitting. As you approach, you begin to make out the sound of her mournful sobs.
“ Miss, are you alright?” you ask.
She lifts her head up to look at you with glassy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.
“Go away,” She mutters, her voice lacking any energy, “I want to be alone…”
“It’s alright, miss. I just want to help.”
“Well, what can you do, huh?” she cries bitterly, her face turning into a nasty scowl, though the tears in her eyes betray her true feelings. “I’m starving, I’m homeless, and I’ve lost the closest thing I’ve ever had to friends! What on earth could you possibly do?”
You extend the bag of food toward her.
“Help out with as much as I can,” you answer calmly.
Sonatas expression softens, if only a little. “Isn’t that supposed to be yours?”
“You said yourself you were starving, and something tells me thats not the hyperbole most teenagers use. Now, eat. You could use it more than me anyway.”
“No, you’ve already helped out enough.” She says, turning her head away from you.
You sit down next to her and place a hand on her shoulder. As she slowly turns back to look at you, you give her pleading look with as much sincerity as you can muster.
“Please, Sonata, for me?”
Caving in to your gaze, she reluctantly takes the bag, before hungrily digging in to receive the strong-smelling meal. As she eats her food, with the careful and measured bites that only one used to starvation could have, you try to find a way to form the question you had been trying to ask since you first noticed it:
“So…you don’t have to answer, and I would totally understand why, but, if you don’t mind me asking…why is a girl like you living on the streets?”
Sonata sighs before pausing to swallow.
“That is a long story,” she says at length, “but, to put it into words that can be understood, a group of kids at my school took away the only means me and my friends had of feeding ourselves.”
“Whoa! That sounds a bit severe, can’t you have them expelled or something?”
“No.” Sonata shakes her head. “We can’t…”
“Why not?”
“...because they were the good guys.”
Your eyes widen in shock, “What!?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story and it would probably just confuse you...at least, it confuses me. But, after that, my friends, or whatever they were, both left, and now none of us will talk to each other, I wanted to go with Aria or Adagio, but neither of them would let me, so now I...I…” She crumbles back into heart-breaking sobs.
“There, there. It’s alright.” You say pulling her into a tight embrace, stroking her back as one would a child. Your cheeks warming up from such close contact.
“I didn’t want to be a bad guy,” she says, still crying, “But they were the only ones I knew, the only ones I could turn to. Now, even they're gone, and no one would want to be friends with a monster like me.”
“Hey, hey. That’s not true. If you’d like…” you pull back a bit from the hug as a grin stretches across your face “I could be your friend…”
“Really?” She says, momentary excitement shooting across her magenta eyes before she falls back down to earth, “But...but what if it happens again, I don’t want you to think I’m mean just cause of what I am.”
“Sonata, I may not know what you mean, but it’s clear to me that whatever it is you’re talking about is in the past, and isn’t who you are now. But I won’t just leave you, no matter how mean you used to be.” You smile.
“For realzies?” she asks, her face brightening as she conjures a brief chuckle from you.
“Yeah… For realzies.”
“Promise?” She asks, now fully resembling a child.
“Promise.” You nod.
Before you can even respond, Sonata quickly throws her arms around you in a hug so tight and fierce, that you’re knocked to the ground from it.
“OH, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!”
You blush a bit from the embrace, but you simply let her drown you in her hugs and “thank you”s. When she pulls her head back up, the two of you finally notice the position you’re in. Sonata is laying on top of you, in your arms, while your faces are mere inches away from each other. The two of you scramble away from each other as you both turn bright red. The two of you stand there for a moment, facing each other or, rather, awkwardly looking at your feet, occasionally mumbling to yourself.
And, then, in this moment, while the two of you blush, standing under the beautiful night sky, something begins to happen. A wave of some feeling (is it happiness? Confidence? You’re not quite sure) sweeps over you. And, your body taking over your motions, you begin to move in closer to Sonata. As you walk up, she places a hand on your shoulder as she stares into you with those pretty magenta eyes. You can feel the cool touch of her beautiful blue skin. You brush her silky blue hair aside with one finger. You begin to lean in, and then-
BANG!!
You jolt backwards at the sudden noise of the front door of the restaurant being forcefully flung open. You don’t even need to turn your head, you don’t need to hear the voice .You know exactly who and what is coming.
“Kid, what the hell do you think you’re doin’!?” you hear the voice of the expected interloper boom forth, “It’s nearly three minutes before your break ends, and you’re still not up there working!! I hope you don’t expect to leave on time today, or get any overtime for it either! Are you even listening to me!?”
Rage quickly boils inside you. You want nothing more than to turn to Chainy and let her have it! Bite her head off and let her know every single stupid moment of abuse and pain that she put you through, every single stupid complaint she had given you! You were about to explode!
But you don’t.
Instead, you carefully remove the black ball cap from your head, pull the small band of elastic out of your hair to shake it loose, and quickly remove the uniform shirt they forced you to wear, revealing the simple t-shirt you wore underneath. You hand all of these items directly to a dumbfounded Chainy, and begin to walk toward home.
As the light from the restaurant grows dimmer in the distance. A single thought runs through your head:
Good riddance.
The walk home isn’t too far, since you had been relatively lazy in finding a job, and made sure it was within walking distance. The fact that you were consumed in your thoughts, however, made it feel like a journey.
You thought about if your actions were the best. Should you have been nicer and put up with Chainy until your shift was over and resigned the next day? or should you have let her have it? You don’t know. Because these are only the little thoughts in your head, and are dwarfed to the point of insignificance by the one other thought in your mind:
Sonata...
Will you ever see her again? What does she think of you after you just left? Could you help her with her problem? And, most importantly, were you just about to…?
Your thoughts are interrupted by a faint noise. You can faintly hear something wrong with your footsteps, something like an off-beat echo. You stop to look around, and hear a faint rustling from somewhere nearby, but see no one. The first couple times, you had decided to ignore it, but it progressively got more and more suspicious.
By the time you reached your house, you decided it had been long enough, you turn away from your front door to look behind you. You are met with the sound of rustling grass.
“Alright that’s about enough, go on and show yourself,” You command facing out toward nowhere in particular, as if you're challenging the world. To your surprise, out from behind the large oak tree, walks a timid-looking blue-skinned girl, with her gaze kept to her feet.
“Sonata…?” You ask, bewildered.
“I-I’m so sorry,” She says, looking up at you with pleading eyes, “Please don’t be mad, I didn’t mean to stalk you or anything, I just wanted to say, I mean…” She carries in into incoherent mumbling as her cheeks are tinged pink with embarrassment.
You walk toward her and place a hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop, and her posture to go stiff as a board.
“It’s okay, Sonata. I’m not mad at you. I understand.”
Her blush grows a bit darker as she looks back down at her feet.
“That was…um…that was really brave. What you did back there.” She stammers quietly.
“What?” You furrow your brow in confusion. “But I hardly did anything, I just left ‘cause I didn’t like it there.”
“But that’s the point,” She counters, “You had the control to not just scream at her, but still the determination to not just let her continue being mean to you. You were really brave.” She ends her brief speech with a deep embrace that causes your cheeks to turn a bit red.
But what happens next is truly wonderful. You are uncertain how to describe it. Soft. Warm. Pleasant. Exciting. So many feelings at once rush through your body, all at once rushing through you from the epicenter on your cheek. It takes your brain a long second to slowly piece together what’s happening.
Sonata is giving you a kiss. When she pulls back and finishes, you can see her cheeks burning fully red. She still smiles wide, despite her flushed state.
The wave of feeling you had at the restaurant comes rushing back. Slowly, you lean in toward Sonata, but this time, there’s nothing to stop you from finally meeting your lips with hers in a long and passionate kiss, which Sonata happily returns. When the two of you finally break apart, you both take a moment to regain your breath.
You take Sonata’s hand in yours, and lead her into your house. As you reach the back of the house, you enter a room with two small tables in one corner, a small lamp in another, and a large bed against one wall. You walk with Sonata to the bed, which you both crawl onto. Sonata lies down on top of you so your faces are mere inches away, and kisses you again.
As the kiss progresses in passion, you feel something else. Sonata’s tongue is prodding against your mouth, asking for entrance, you're happy to oblige as you let her in. The two of you don’t fight. Rather, your tongues begin to dance with each other intimately.
You eventually break apart, this time almost panting. A silver strand of saliva bridges the gap between you. Through it all, Sonata wears her large, childish grin. And as you lie there in each other’s arms, your day’s troubles and her life’s troubles all melt away, and the two of you are content to lie there in each other’s arms, until you slowly drift off into sleep.