> Freezer Burned > by sonicfan05 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was Friday evening at the home of the Apple family on Sweet Apple Acers and it was close to dinnertime. One of the Apple resident, Applejack, was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner while humming Apples to the Core. Normally, Granny Smith was the one who prepared the meals, but today, Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom went out for the evening so that Applejack can cook tonight’s dish for her guests she invited earlier. Her guests in particular are her five best friends, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer. Her other guest who came along with the Rainbooms is Flash Sentry. Flash is a popular guy from school, a member from his own band and he is also their friend. The last two guests who showed up for dinner is the two Dazzlings, Adagio and Aria. It was a few weeks ago when the Dazzlings almost took over Canterlot High School with their singing voices, only to be stopped by the Rainbooms. After their powers were stripped away, the Dazzlings fled from the school and hid themselves in an abandoned factory. The three sirens were originally planned to skip town, but due to Sonata’s sloppiness, they were soon discovered and they lost all hope of escaping. To their surprise, instead of being sent to jail, Principle Celestia had them do community service around the school as punishment from the Battle of the Bands fiasco. All under Vice Principle Luna’s supervision. During their punishment, Sonata quickly made friends with Pinkie and Sunset after she apologized for what she and her sisters had done and wanted to change her ways. Pinkie who holds no grudge against Sonata was more than happy to become her new friend. Sunset was hesitant at first but after she reminded herself that she was once in the same position as Sonata, she decided to give her a chance. The rest of the Rainbooms were doubtful and uncertain with Sonata, but as the weeks goes by, they slowly opened up to her as part of the group. It was Applejack’s idea that they should invite Sonata over to dinner with them at her place so they can properly welcome Sonata as their new friend with no hard feelings. Sonata was more than happy to accept their invite. When Sonata asked them if her two sisters, Adagio and Aria come over to dinner too, some of the Rainbooms felt really uncomfortable with the idea of inviting them over. Sonata assured them that they wouldn’t do anything bad and she thought it would be good for them to come out of their shells. Sonata also pointed out that if her sisters were given the chance to be friends with the Rainbooms, they could change their ways like herself. After some discussions within their group, the Rainbooms reluctantly agreed with Sonata’s request. A half hour ago, Adagio and Aria showed up at Applejack’s home for dinner without Sonata. The two sirens were not pleased to be here as much as every member of the Rainbooms (except for Pinkie) and Flash Sentry, which bring us to where we are now. Two different groups were staring at each other awkwardly in the dinning room, without saying a single word. After what it felt like they were sitting for hours, it was Fluttershy who finally breaks the ice. “So um…what was it like being a siren…if you don’t mind telling us that is…” asked Fluttershy with some hesitation. Aria’s eyes narrowed at the shy girl. “There was nothing to say. We were born, we had magical hypnotic singing voices that causes disharmony with other ponies, we almost conquer Equestria, got ourselves exiled here, tried to conquer your world, we lost our powers (no thanks to you) and now we were forced to live as humans for the rest of our lives…end of story. Why don’t you ask us how we feel after you took away our magic while you’re at it!” Fluttershy squeaked in freight and slid down the table to hide herself except for her top half of her head with her fearful eyes showing. Rainbow Dash slammed her table and glared directly at Aria. “Hey! There’s no reason to act that way to Fluttershy like that! Heck, no one said you have to come here!” Adagio scoffed. “Believe me, we would both rather be turned to stone by that bearded wizard from our world than to have dinner with any of you! We were only here because Sonata begged us to come over for dinner tonight to…start over with you guys.” Pinkie beamed. “Awww, you two came over to make Sonata happy, didn’t you?” “No, we came over just to make Sonata stop begging us! You have no idea how annoying she was when she begged non-stop for almost three hours!” said Aria with so much disdain in her voice. Rainbow Dash blocked her left hand over mouth and leaned towards Sunset to her right. “I’m not sure if I should laugh or feel bad for them for having to deal with Sonata’s begging,” Rainbow whispered. “I’ve heard that you Rainbow freak!” Aria shouted. “You wanna fight?!” Rainbow challenged as she stood up never taking her eyes off of Aria. “Bring it!” Aria spat as she also stood up from her seat. Before either of the two girls landed a single punch, Sunset quickly interfered. “Hey, hey, hey, hey! Knock it off you two! Look, you guys don’t have to be friends right away or talk to each other tonight but could any of you girls at least try to tolerate with each other for the time being?” “Sunset’s right darling,” said Rarity. “While I, for one, still not completely comfortable with the idea of socializing with our former enemies who almost took over our school with their magic… no offense Sunset.” “None taken,” Sunset replied. “But,” Rarity continued. “If they’re really sincere about making amends to us then we should at least give them a chance.” “But why do they have to be here on our get together?” Rainbow argued with her eyes not leaving Aria’s. “I’m still not forgiving them for almost breaking us apart and nearly creamed us at the Battle of the Bands!” “You gave Sonata a chance and forgave her,” Rarity pointed out. “Sonata’s different!” Rainbow countered. “Sure, she’s with them, but at least she felt remorseful for what she had done! Plus, she’s completely harmless… unlike these two!” “We’re right here you know!” Aria snapped. “Please Dashie,” Fluttershy pleaded. “Just try to get along with them. Please? This is very important to Sonata.” Rainbow Dash kept glaring at Aria with a look of mistrust in her eyes. After she glanced her one eye at Fluttershy’s pleading face, Rainbow huffed and sat back down to her seat. “Aright, fine! I’ll try to…tolerate with them, but that doesn’t mean I trust them! If they ever try to pull a fast one on us, then I won’t hesitate to take them down!” “Gee, thanks for the comfort,” Aria said sarcastically as she sat back down to her own seat. “Speaking of Sonata, where is she? Wasn’t she with you girls?” Sunset asked Adagio in hopes to ease the tension. Adagio rolled her eyes. “She had to stay after school for her weekly detention. She’ll be here a little late.” Sunset raised her eyebrow. “What did she do that caused her to stay in detention… besides the whole Battle of the Bands fiasco?” Adagio shrugged. “Apparently, she and some other girl caused a food fight at the cafeteria a few weeks ago." Rainbow Dash turned to Adagio with a shock look on her face. “Wait, that was her who caused that food fight?” Pinkie snapped her fingers. “Oh yeah! I was there when that happened!” Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie. “You were? Tell me! How did that happen?” “I would tell you this funny story, but we’ll let our readers check it out on their spare time!” Pinkie said with so much enthusiasm in her voice. Everyone stared blankly at the super hyper party girl for her usual randomness. Aria blinked. “What the heck was she…” “Don’t ask. It’s better that you don’t question it,” said Sunset. After a minute of awkward silence, Flash cleared his throat. “Um…I just want to thank you girls again for inviting me over for dinner. I didn’t think you guys want to talk to me again after the way I treated you girls a few weeks ago.” Rarity smiled warmly at Flash. “You’re very welcome Flash and don’t feel so harsh on yourself. You weren’t yourself when the Sirens used their dark magic to hypnotize you to turn against us during the battle of the bands…no offense girls.” “None taken,” both sirens chorused. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Plus, you’ve spent weeks of helping out my…er I mean, our band to make up for it. So you already earned our forgiveness in my book!” “And…you’ve also been treating Twilight right and made her happy whenever she comes to visits us,” Fluttershy said kindly. “So we invited you over as our way to say thanks for helping us and being a good friend. As they say, the more the merrier~!” Pinkie chirped. “All and all, you’re a great guy Flash. So we’re more than happy that you joined us,” said Sunset with a smile. Flash smiled. “Thank you so much girls, that really means a lot to me.” Their moment was interrupted by a loud groan from Aria. “Oh gag!” Rainbow Dash glared at Aria. “What’s your problem?” Aria narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash. “Well since you girls forgave Brad for his deeds…” “It’s Flash,” Flash pointed out. “What about us?" Aria asked bitterly, ignoring Flash’s annoyed look. "Are we good in your book?” Rainbow Dash was silent for a minute, still glaring at Aria. Finally, she replied. “I can’t speak for everyone here, but I can only forgive others if they are truly sorry for what they have done and take their responsibilities for their actions. And it’s also going to take some time in order for anyone to earn my trust.” Aria narrowed her eyes further. “You didn’t answer my question.” “I just did,” Rainbow Dash responded coolly. Both Rainbow Dash and Aria kept glaring daggers at each other. The tension within the dinning room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Adagio turned to Fluttershy. “Is your country farmer friend done cooking our dinner yet?” Fluttershy was caught off guard by Adagio’s sudden question. “Oh…um…I’m sure Applejack is almost done cooking. Right Rarity?” “Oh absolutely darling!” said Rarity, silently thanked Adagio for changing the topic. “When Applejack finishes her preparations with our meal, you’re in for a real treat!” Rainbow’s anger instantly disappeared when she heard that Applejack’s meal is almost ready. “Oh boy, I can’t wait to try out Applejack’s cooking!” Rainbow Dash said with glee, licking her lips with anticipation. “Me too!” said Flash. “I haven’t had a home cooked meal since my mother left for Polka School.” Rainbow stopped licking her lips and turned to Flash with a perplexed look. “Polka School?” Before Flash could answer, Applejack came out of through the kitchen door while carrying a steaming hot try of her fully cooked meal with her oven mitt covered hands. “Here it is y’all!” Applejack announced. “Our Apple family’s special, Apple Casserole! I hope everyone’s hungry!” Everyone cheered that their dinner had finally arrived, except for the two sirens, who did not care about the meal and Rainbow Dash who was still staring at Flash strangely from his odd statement earlier. “Polka School?” Rainbow Dash asked again. Suddenly, Pinkie felt her ear flop, then her eyes fluttered and finally her knee twitched. She gasped. “Applejack, watch out for-” Sonata barged into the dinning room through the kitchen door and accidentally knocked Applejack over, dropping the casserole onto the dinning room floor in the process. The dinner was now ruined, much to everyone’s dismay. “…never mind.” Pinkie mumbled. “HEY EVERYBODY!” Sonata announced cheerfully, oblivious to what she did to the casserole. “I hope I’m right on time for dinner!” “Sonata! You just ruined dinner!” Sunset groaned. Sonata looked at Sunset quizzically. “Huh? How did I ruin dinner?” Aria angrily grabbed Sonata by her shirt, pulled her towards the floor and pointed at the ruined casserole. Sonata blinked. “…..oh.” Sonata looked up and noticed the annoyed and angry looks from her friends as she realized that she’s the one who unknowingly ruined their long waited dinner. “..…oops.” Sonata muttered. Adagio face palmed. Rainbow Dash groaned as she slammed her face onto the dinning table. “I knew I should’ve taken some samples from the kitchen!” “I had and it tasted great!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Without moving her head, Rainbow Dash shifted her eyes at Pinkie and glared at her. Pinkie blinked at Rainbow’s glare. “What?” “Um…maybe we should all go out for dinner?” Fluttershy suggested. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and was about to get up from their seats. “No wait!” Sonata called out. “No need for that, I can fix it!” Before anyone stopped her, Sonata grabbed fistfuls of casserole and placed them back on the tray including dirty stuff that was on the floor. She than picked up the tray and placed it on the table and began to arrange the sloppy casserole with her bare hands until she puts on the finishing touches on the casserole. Despite her efforts, the casserole looked worse than it was before. It looked like someone had already eaten the whole thing and then puked it back up in a huge pile. “There! So…how does it look?” Sonata asked. Applejack was now miserable and horrified after seeing her casserole fixed by Sonata. Everyone else (except for Pinkie) turned their heads away from it as they tried not to throw up from the sight of it. Pinkie studied the casserole carefully while stroking her chin. “Not a bad attempt to fix the casserole. It’s not edible anymore at this point, but the craftsmanship looks pretty good and artsy depending on what angle you look from.” Pinkie smiled and stuck out her thumb. “I’ll give it three stars!” Sunset groaned as she tried not to look at Sonata’s craftsmanship. “…..sooooo, where do you guys want to go to eat?” > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra’s Taco Ranch was a recent new Mexican restaurant at Canterlot City. It opened about a week ago to the public and it quickly became a popular place to eat and to hangout, especially to the students from Canterlot High. It may not be as popular as Sugercube Corner Café, but the Taco Ranch was always full of customers that can keep their business going. The Rainbooms, Flash Sentry and the Dazzlings were currently waiting for their waitress on their table. Rainbow Dash, Aria and Adagio were waiting impatiently for their waitress, while everyone else was enjoying the music that was playing by the music performers on stage. Applejack and Sunset was nodding and tapping the table with every beat, Fluttershy and Rarity was clapping along, and Flash was snapping his fingers. Pinkie and Sonata was on stage, dancing right next to the performers. The performers didn’t mind having the two girls up on stage with them. They were actually really happy that the girls and the entire crowd were enjoying their music and having a great time. After the song was over, Pinkie and Sonata thanked the performers for letting them dance on stage and returned to their seats with huge smiles on their faces. Most of the Rainbooms and Flash shook their heads with amusement at Pinkie and Sonata’s antics. “I gotta say Sonata, you picked out a very good place!” Flash said, complimenting Sonata. “Mexican food is awesome!” Rainbow who still couldn’t comprehend what Flash said earlier at Applejack’s, turned towards him with a frown. “Seriously, polka school?” “I agree with you Flashy!” Pinkie interrupted in her cheery voice. “I love Mexican food! Especially the taste of the meaty, cheesy, spicy, hot goodness on a cushy tortilla! A perfect substitute dinner since Applejack’s casserole was ruined!” Sonata winced at Pinkie’s words. She was the reason why they were here in the first place. Sonata turned to Applejack with a guilt look on her face. “I am so sorry I ruined your dinner guys. I’m especially sorry that I ruined your hard work Applejack. I hope you forgive me.” Applejack smiled softly at Sonata. “Aw don’t feel bad surgercube, as I told you earlier, I forgave ya! It was just an accident. It’s my own fault for standing near the door where I easily get knocked down.” “You would never get knocked down if that idiot had simply go through the front door like a normal person so we don’t have to go to this crummy place!” Aria huffed. Everyone, except for Adagio, glared at Aria while Sonata looked down in shame. “What? Just saying,” said Aria with a shrug. Sunset Shimmer cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Well I’m fine with this restaurant, as long as they include vegetarian meals.” Fluttershy nodded. “Um… me too… and I really like their music they’re playing here.” “While it’s not my usual place to dine, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt a lady to give it a chance,” said Rarity, while eying the interior around the restaurant. “Aw yeah! It may not be as good as Applejack’s cooking, but I do enjoy a good Mexican meal!” said Rainbow Dash with a fist pump. Applejack smirked at Rainbow. “No argue with that partner!” Rainbow’s smile faltered as she looked around the restaurant and then checked her phone for time. “Where is our waitress?” Rainbow complained. “She supposed to take our orders fifteen minutes ago!” Sunset furrowed her brow in thought. “Now that you mentioned it Rainbow, it is odd that waitress isn’t here-” Sunset was suddenly interrupted by a feminine, yet very familiar voice. “Welcome to Sombra’s Taco Ranch, how may The Great and Powerful Tri- oh… it’ you guys.” The gang turned towards the voice and was shocked to see that the waitress they been waiting for was none other than Trixie Lulamoon. The last time they seen her outside of school was when Trixie tried to sneak away from the stage after the Battle of the Bands… only to fall over the wall in the process. A week later, they heard that Vice Principle Luna sent Trixie to detection for five weeks due to that incident from the school cafeteria along with Sonata. Seeing Trixie in a waitress outfit with a sombrero on her head was an unusual site for them. “Trixie!?!” Rainbow exclaimed with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?” “Trixie works here!” Trixie huffed. “Trixie thought this uniform I’m wearing was obvious enough for you!” Rainbow Dash glared daggers at Trixie, while Applejack held Rainbow’s shoulder to calm her down. Adagio gave Trixie her devious smirk. “So the Great and Powerful Trixie, who claimed to be the greatest magician of our generation is now working in a restaurant as a waitress. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!” Aria covered her mouth to keep herself from snickering, but failed. Trixie was grinding her teeth in anger. “S-shut up! Just what are you losers doing here?” “We’re here to eat! We thought it’s obvious enough for you!” Rainbow mocked. “Rainbow!” Applejack scolded. “What Dashie means is, we are having dinner here because we were originally going to eat at Applejack’s to have her homemade casserole, which was very delicious by the way, as a celebration for Sonata and I guess the rest of the Dazzlings too as our new friends, but Sonata accidently knocked the casserole over as she came in through the back door and ruined the food. Sonata felt really, really bad about it and suggested we all come here to celebrate and eat here instead!” said Pinkie with a gasp. Everyone was stunned at Pinkie’s quick explanation, not sure how she managed to keep talking all in one breath. After what seemed like an eternity, Trixie spoke. “Um… Trixie… sees…” Trixie turned to Sonata and shot her a glare. “As for YOU, Trixie still remembered what you did to Trixie at the school’s cafeteria! It was no thanks to you that Trixie got six weeks in detention for something that Trixie did not do! I will make you regret for messing with the Great and Powerful, Trixie!” Most of the gang on the table rolled their eyes at Trixie’s attitude and lack of finding fault for herself of why she was in trouble in the first place. Sonata, on the other hand, titled her head in confusion. “Who’s Trixie?” Sonata asked. “I’m Trixie!” “I’m Sonata!” “I’m aware!” “You said you are Trixie!” Trixie’s left eye twitched repeatedly. “Are you mocking Trixie?” Trixie growled. Sonata shook her head. “I’m not mocking anybody! I just don’t remember I ever met you.” Trixie’s stared at Sonata with a look of disbelief. “Seriously!?” Trixie screeched. “We met during the Battle of the Bands! We met at the line from the cafeteria a few weeks ago! We both sat in detection at different sides of the room everyday! How did you not remember me at all!?” “For realizes?” asked Sonata. Sonata tried to recall if she ever spoke with Trixie before. When she came up with nothing, she shrugged. “I guess I was too busy drawing little taco people all over my desk to noticed you.” Trixie’s left eye twitched more rapidly as her face turned red in anger. “You have to excuse her,” Adagio said flatly. “She’s an idiot.” Sunset cleared her throat before Trixie had the chance to think about straggling Sonata. “Listen Trixie, I don’t know what had happened between the two of you and I know you don’t like us, but we are not here to start anything. We just wanted to order our food and have our dinner without incident.” Trixie glared at Sunset for a moment before she scoffed at her. “Forget it! Trixie will not serve to the cheating Raindorks, a she-demon, the trio of has-been sirens and that Brad guy!” “It’s Flash!” Flash Sentry cried. “Trixie doesn’t care!” Trixie said coolly, ignoring the glares from Flash and the rest of the girls. “Anyway, all of you get out of this restaurant at once!” Rainbow slammed her hands hard on the table. “No way! You can’t kick us out! That’s not fair!” Trixie smirked. “You forget that Trixie works here Rainbow Dash! I can kick anyone out who doesn’t fit to be in this restau-” “TRIXIE LULAMOON!” The whole restaurant was suddenly quiet and the room temperature went down for about a thousand degrees colder when they all heard a loud angry man’s voice. Trixie’s turned towards the source of the noise with wide eyes and began to shake in fear. A man with angry red eyes and long black hair in a red business suit stomped over to a trembling Trixie. Everyone at the restaurant who saw him was shaking in fear, including the Rainbooms, Flash and the Dazzlings. Poor Fluttershy was hiding under the table to avoid that man’s fury. They all assumed that he is Trixie’s boss and she was about to face his wrath. They almost feel sorry for her. …almost. Trixie gulped. “M-M-M-Mr. Sombra, sir! What is-“ “ARE YOU INSULTING AND CHASING OUR CUSTOMERS AWAY AGAIN!?!” Mr. Sombra boomed. Trixie’s legs were shaking at this point. “Sir, Trixie has a good reason this time! These guests are-“ “I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY DO OUTSIDE OF OUR BUSNESS!” Mr. Sombra bellowed. “THEY ARE HERE TO EAT OUR FOOD AND PAY WITH THEIR MONEY! IF YOU CHASE AWAY OUR CUSTOMERS AND INSULT THEM, NOT ONLY WE’LL GET BAD REPUTATION, BUT WE WOULD ALSO LOSE THEIR MONEY!” Trixie’s heart was pounding hard as Mr. Sombra was dangerously getting closer to her. “T-T-T-Trixie knows sir, but-“ “I WARNED YOU FOUR TIMES TODAY MISS LULAMOON!” he screamed. “JUST FOR THAT, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!” Mr. Sombra turned towards the gang and to everyone’s surprise; all of his anger that was on his face was replaced by his gentle and polite smile. “I’m terribly sorry for the way my idiotic waitress treated you tonight.” He said sheepishly. “I hope you won’t let her behavior ruined our image. We swear we care about your services as well as your presence to give our meals a chance.” The girls weren’t sure what to make of this. One minute, he looked like he was ready to tear everyone’s throats out and the next he was as gentle as a lamb. They felt like they were watching a live action performance of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only much more scarier. “Uh… that’s quite all right…Mr. Sombra.” Rairty said with a trembling voice. “Please, call me Sombra miss!” said Sombra with a bow. “Anyway, as a token to our apologies, you may order whatever meal you want for free!” Trixie and everyone at the table gasped. “REALLY!?” Rainbow shouted with a huge smile on her face. “We’re getting a meal for free!?" Sombra chuckled. “Oh yes miss. Everything we have here tonight will be free of charge, including our most expensive specials!” “Are…are you sure?” Fluttershy asked meekly, still partly hiding from under the table. “We don’t want to impose…” “Oh I insist!” said Sombra. “Don’t you fret none, everything you order will be deduced from Miss Lunamoon’s weekly paycheck.” “WHAT!” Trixie shouted angrily, completely forgotten about the fear of her boss. “You can’t be serious!” Sombra turned towards Trixie and then narrowed his eyes. “Oh I’m serious, Lulamoon! Sometimes the only way for anyone to learn is by going through their wallets.” “THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! Trixie screamed. “YOU CAN’T TAKE AWAY TRIXIE’S HARD EARNED CASH AND GIVE IT AWAY TO THESE… LOSERS!” Trixie pointed at her rivals to emphasis her point. “Would you rather if I give you the pink slip?” said Sombra coldly. Trixie turned her head away from Sombra with a grunt, unable to say anything. “I thought so.” Sombra snarled. Sombra turned towards the gang with his warmth expression again. “Now don’t be shy ladies, just order whatever you want! If you need anything or if my waitress gives you a hard time again, please let me know.” The teens on the table nodded. “We will. Thank you kindly Sombra,” said Applejack with a tip of her hat. “Anytime!” Sombra said with a bow. “Have the rest of the good evening!” As Sombra turned to leave, he leaned towards Trixie’s ear. “Screw up again and you’re done…permanently!” Trixie gulped in fear. Sombra walked away, disappearing into a dark hallway. A moment later, everyone in the restaurant started talking and the music began to play again, as if that whole event never happened. After everyone sighed with relief, Rainbow leaned back against her chair with her cocky smile. “Well you heard your boss, start serving us some free food miss high and mighty!” “Easy there Rainbow!” said Applejack. “Trixie is technically paying for our meals!” “Still free for us!” Rainbow said casually. “It’s not everyday we get this offer so we might as well take advantage of it. Besides, it’s payback for trapping us underneath the stage before the finals of the Battle of the Bands!” Aria nodded. “For once, I agree with the rainbow-freak, except getting trapped under the stage. We technically influenced her to do it.” Rainbow rolled her eyes with a huff. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. And don’t call me rainbow-freak!” “Well?” Trixie seethed impatiently. “Are any of you going to order or not?” For the next couple of minutes, everyone placed their own orders. Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentery ordered Mexican burgers, topped with guacamole with a side of french fries and a soda. Applejack ordered Chimichurri stake with fresh herb chimi verde sauce and a soda. Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy ordered Caesar Salads with no chicken and ice teas. Adagio ordered Cheese Quesadillas and a glass of water while Aria ordered Chicken Enchiladas and a lemon-lime soda. Both Rarity and Pinkie Pie ordered Chicken Fajitas (with hot sauce for Pinkie) with a glass of water. Finally, it was Sonata’s turn. Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “And what do you want to order?” Sonata scratched her chin in deep thought. “Uh… let me think…” Aria gritted her teeth in frustration. “Sonata, we’ve been sitting in this restaurant for more than twenty minutes and you decided to think about what you want to eat now?!” Sonata frowned at Aria with her arms crossed. “Hey, it’s hard to decide! Cut me some slack!” “Don’t worry about it darling,” said Rarity, reassuring to Sonata. “Just take your time.” Sonata nodded happily and resumed her deep thought about what she wanted to order. 15 Minutes Later... Aria, Adagio, Rainbow and Trixie were getting impatient with Sonata while the rest of the teens looked tired and hungry. Just as Aria was about to tell Sonata to hurry up, Sonata leaped off of her chair and pointed her finger upward. “I’ve decided!” Sonata announced! “FINALLY!” Trixie cried, glad that her waiting was over. “Now what do you want?” Sonata sat back down to her seat. “I’ll have tacos!” Sonata said happily. The two other sirens slapped their foreheads and groaned loudly. “Should’ve known,” Adagio muttered. Trixie sighed heavily. “Fine, do you want beef, chicken or veggie?” Sonata blinked. “Uhhhhhh…..” Everyone at the table groaned loudly, while Trixie banged her head on her notepad repeatedly. “OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!” Aria screamed. “JUST GET HER ONE OF EVERYTHING!” Trixie stared at Aria in shock as if she had grown two heads. “Are you crazy!? All three different batches of tacos cost too much for Trixie!” “WELL TOO BAD!” Aria shouted. “IT’S FREE FOR US AND THAT’S WHAT SHE WANTS! NOW GO GET IT!” Trixie gave Aria her glare. “Fine, One of each batches of tacos coming up!” said Trixie while grinding her teeth. “Oh, and a drink please!” Sonata said cheerfully. Trixie turned and glared at Sonata. “What kind of drink?” “I’ll have Sombra’s Super-Ultra-Extra-Large-Barrel-Size-Apple-Cider Drink please!” Sonata answered, oblivious to Trixie’s shock. “Are you trying to make Trixie suffer!?!” Trixie screeched. “Whoa there Sonata!” Applejack said hastily. “As much as I love apple cider as much as the next gal, but are ya sure you’re going to drink all dat cider? The menu said here that the Super-Ultra-Whatever-It-Was contains about one hundred and twenty-eight ounces!” Sonata blinked. “So?” “That’s nearly two gallons!” Applejack cried. Sonata shrugged. “Eh, I don’t see what the big deal is.” Before Applejack could argue, Adagio interrupted her. “Oh just let her get that drink! Her stomach is like a black hole! Nothing fills that airhead up!” Applejack frowned. “You want her to have a stomachache?” “Would you rather hear her whining for not getting her drink?” Adagio countered. Applejack opened her mouth to make a comeback, only to realize that she couldn’t think of anything to say to counter that argument. “Touché,” Applejack muttered. “No way Trixie is serving you that drink!” Trixie snapped. “It’s the most expensive drink on the menu! I rather eat a pinecone!” “How about we go to your manager’s office and have a talk with him!” Rainbow smirked. “…Trixie will get you that drink!” Trixie turned and stomped away from the table to get their drinks. Rainbow Dash snickered at Trixie’s expense while Applejack gave Rainbow her look. “You’re really enjoying this aren’t ya?” Applejack asked in her deadpanned voice. “You bet!” Rainbow chuckled. “Like I said, payback!” Applejack rolled her eyes and was about to comment, until they heard someone called out to them. “Well hello there everyone!” Everyone turned to the source of the voice and spotted two older women who run Canterlot High! “Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna!” Sunset said, surprised to see the human counterpart of her former mentor. “What are you two doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?” “Oh well… my sister and I decided to go out to eat for a change instead at home. I was in a mood for Mexican food so we wanted to try this new place out.” Principal Celestia answered with some hesitation. “That’s not what you said earlier.” Vice Principal Luna said dryly. Sunset raised her eyebrow. “Um, what does she-” “SO, what brings you kids here?” Celestia asked quickly. “We decided to eat out too!” Rarity replied. “We were originally going to eat Applejack’s meal that she prepared for us… but that didn’t work out.” Everyone at the table nodded while Sonata looked down at the table in shame. “I see,” said Principal Celestia. “Well, I hoped you kids enjoy yourself tonight. I heard that the food here tasted really good!” Rainbow smiled. “Oh we’re already looking forward to it!” Vice Principal Luna turned towards Sonata and cleared her throat. “Sonata, I was going to tell you this on Monday, but since you’re here, I might as well tell you now.” Everyone gave Vice Principal Luna their full attention, waiting to hear what she had to say. Vice Principal Luna sighed. “Despite what happened at the cafeteria a few weeks ago, you’ve been on best behavior and helped out around the school. Therefore… I decided to end your weekly detention a week early.” Everyone gasped in shock. Vice Principal Luna was usually very strict with the rules in school, including having the students stay in detention for a full period of time. To hear that their Vice Principal decided to end Sonata’s time in detention a week early was a real surprise. “For realizes?” Sonata cried out in joy and her eyes danced with glee. She leaped from her chair and hugged the startled Vice Principal. “Thank you so SO much Vice Principal Luna! I promise I won’t cause another food fight with someone else ever again… even though it was both fun AND delicious!” After Vice Principal Luna got over her small shock from the hug, she gently separated from Sonata with the look of irritation. “I’m only allowing this ONE time, so don’t expect any more treatments from me. Just… stay out of trouble and don’t make me regret this.” Vice Principal Luna turned and walked away from group to the other side of the restaurant. Sonata frowned and looked down at the floor, sighed dejectedly. “Even when I tried to make up for what I did, she still hates me… just like everyone else,” she said sadly. Principal Celestia softly placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “She didn’t hate you Sonata,” she said in her motherly voice. “She was having a long stressful week and probably starving from lack of food. She will come around, you’ll see.” “She’s right Sonata,” said Sunset. “It was hard for me too when I decided to redeem myself with everyone at school. Some of them are not easily forgivable than others, but they will, once they see just how much you’ve changed. You just need to give Vice Principal Luna some time and she’ll warm up to you.” Everyone except for Adagio and Aria nodded at Sunset with a smile, approving her speech. Sonata sat back down to her seat and gave Sunset her appreciative smile. “Well said, Miss Shimmer,” said Principal Celestia. “Anyway, I’ll leave you kids to yourselves now. Enjoy your weekends!” Everyone but the two sirens waved goodbye at their Principal as she walked away while deep in thought. “Hmmm… I wonder if this place serves cake as dessert?” Once the principle was out of their sight, Sonata was suddenly hugged by Pinkie. “YAY! You’re not in detection anymore Sonata!” Pinkie cheered. “Now we got more reasons to celebrate tonight!” “So Sonata’s out a week early, whoop-a-dee-freakin’-doo!” Aria scoffed. “I doubt this will make any difference. She’ll probably end up back in detection within a day tops!” Everyone glared at Aria except for Adagio while Sonata frowned. “Hey, cut her some slack!" Rainbow shouted. "You don’t even know for sure if she is going back to detection!” “What? I’m only speaking the truth.” Aria snapped. Before Rainbow began to argue, Sunset cleared her throat and gave them her stern look. “Girls, we just ordered our food.” Sunset said calmly but with force. “I want both of you to try to make it through dinner without starting a fight, okay? Aria, I don’t know Sonata as long as you do, but don’t ever put her down in front of us again! Rainbow, keep your temper in check! The last thing we need is to get thrown out!” Rainbow and Aria gave each other the stink eyes, but they did not say a word. There was an awkward silence throughout the table until Flash decided to speak up. “…soooo where’s our drinks? Trixie should brought them over by now…” Before any of the girls responded, they heard someone huffing and puffing towards them. They turned just in time to see Trixie approaching to their table while carrying a huge glass mug filled with apple cider, which was almost bigger than Trixie’s head. Trixie kept walking towards their table with sweat pouring down from the sides of her face. Once she reached her destination, she slammed the huge glass of cider in front of Sonata. “Huff… puff… Here’s your… special… drink,” said Trixie, nearly out of breath. Sonata’s eyes lit up and clapped with joy. “Oh boy, apple cider!” Sonata easily lifted the huge glass up (much to Trixie’s shock) and brought it to her lips, chugging down the sweat taste of apple cider. While everyone was stunned by Sonata’s fast drinking, Sunset spoke up. “Uh Sonata… maybe you should drink it slowly so you won’t get a stomac-” Sunset never had the chance to finish her sentence when Sonata suddenly slammed her now empty glass on the table and let out a huge burp. “Done!” said Sonata with her huge satisfied smile. Everyone was taken back by how quickly Sonata finished her drink, despite the huge amount. “What! Already!? But that’s not possible!” Sunset cried out in shock. Sure, she seen Pinkie Pie drank apple cider at a record speed before… and never questioned it, but she never seen someone else drank just as fast or even faster than Pinkie. It was truly mind-boggling! “Well, it looks like I got myself a completion!” Pinkie said with a huge smile. “Trixie, I would like to change my drink order the same as Sonata’s please!” Trixie groaned in despair. Rainbow whispered into Applejack’s ear. “Are you sure those two aren’t lost sisters?” Applejack rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s question. “Told you it wasn’t a big deal!” Sonata boasted. “I used to lived in the water you know. No way those two-gallons of apple cider is gonna-” Sonata suddenly stopped speaking when she felt a very uncomfortable pressure from her bladder. Sonata crossed her legs to ease the pain. “Uh-oh… I think now my bladder is full of apple cider!” Sonata quickly turned to Trixie. “Um… where’s the bathroom in this place?” Sonata asked Trixie in her pleading tone. Trixie sighed heavily and pointed towards the other side of the restaurant. “The bathroom is just down the hall,” Trixie answered in her flat tone. “Just follow the arrow.” “Thank you!” Sonata cried. Sonata immediately leaped out of her chair and she quickly ran towards the hallway as fast as her legs can carry her. “Gottagogottagogottagogottagogottagogottago…” Once Sonata disappeared down the hall, Applejack turned towards Adagio with her one eyebrow raised. “Nothing fills her up, huh?” Two tall slim men with red and white streaks of hair were carrying a huge box full of food on each side down the hallway. “Remind me again my dear brother, why are we working in this crappy restaurant?” said one of the men with a red brushy mustache on his face. “I already told you Flam,” the other responded without a mustache. “We need to make some more money before we start going back on our feet with our new business just to make even more money! You just got to be more patient!” “Well at this rate, I don’t think I have any more patience left! Especially in this dump!” Flam scoffed, as he struggled with his side of the box he was carrying. As the two brothers were ready to make a turn to the next hallway, they failed to notice a blue teenaged girl running towards them. “Gottagogottagogottagogottagogottagogotta-OOOFFF!” Sonata crashed into the Flim Flam Brothers, which caused them to drop their cargo to the ground and bumped onto the sign on the wall. The arrow was knocked off from the sign and landed onto the floor. Both Sonata and the brothers were on the floor in a daze; tiny pony versions of themselves were spinning around their visions. Once their heads were cleared, the brothers turned towards their fallen cargo, frowning at the site of a half-opened create with spilled frozen food on the floor. The brothers then turned towards Sonata with irritated glares. Sonata smiled at them sheepishly. “Heh heh… sorry about that.” Her eyes then landed on the half open create. “Um… you dropped your box.” “You don’t say,” Flam said flatly, rolling his eyes. As the two brothers were picking up the spilled food and put them back in the box, Sonata stared at them in deep thought. These guys looked familiar. After watching the brothers in less than a minute, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Oh hey, I recognized you two! Weren’t you the two con artists who once owned a pawn shop at Canterlot Town and then suddenly lost your business in less than a week?” The two brothers stopped cleaning up the mess and gave Sonata their annoyed glares when they heard her said, con artists. “For your information… little girl,” Flim hissed. “We would still be in business if not for some country hick girl who accused us for taking her bass-” “Which we bought fair and square-” Flam added. “Then lost credibility to our customers-” Flim jumped in. “And caused us to go bankrupt!” Flam shouted, slamming his fist on their crate in frustration. “And we are certainly not con artists!” Flim sneered. “We would prefer ourselves as…promoters!” said Flam with his head held high. Sonata blinked and then titled her head with a confused look. “Isn’t that the same thing?” Flim was about to open his mouth to make a rebuttal but Flam interrupted him. “Forget about her Flim, we still have a job to do! The last thing we want to happen to us is getting fired from this job!” Flim eyes widened with realization. “Ah yes, you’re right Flam! Let’s go!” As the brothers finished cleaning up and resealing their box, Sonata quickly stood up from the floor. “Hey um… can either one of you please tell me where the bathroom is?” As the brothers lifted the box off from the ground, Flim gave Sonata his icy glare. “You have eyes,” Flim said coldly. “I suggest you follow the arrow! Come my brother!” The Flim Flam Brothers walked away while carrying their box and disappeared down the hallway. Sonata frowned at their retreating figures. Well that’s rude! She turned towards the sign as Flim suggested, only to see that the sign was bare except for the bold word Bathroom on it. Now where’s the arrow? I don’t see the arrow. Sonata looked around the hallway until she spotted the arrow on the floor, underneath the sign. Ah ha, there it is! Sonata picked up the sign and turned towards the sign again. She was about to place the arrow back on the sign, until she realized that she doesn’t know which direction the arrow was facing, which leads to the bathroom. Sonata was deep in thought. Hmmm, there are only two hallways and one of them leads to the bathroom. Okay, all I need to do is to approach this in the most logical manor possible… …and I know just how to do it! Sonata smiled and then she covered her eyes with her left hand. Then she used her right hand and pointed back and forth to two different directions of the hallway in order. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a dragon by the toe. If he hollers, let him go… my mother told me to pick the very best one and you are I… T… IT… FOR REAL-SIES!” Sonata uncovered her eyes to see that she was pointing towards the left hallway. “AH-HA!” Sonata exclaimed with a smile. “That’s where I need to go! Aria said to me that I don’t have logic. Well, joke’s on her!” Sonata placed the arrow back on the board and have it pointed towards the left hallway and then she hurried down the hall to get to her destination. Sonata arrived in front of the metal door at the end of the hallway. She opened the door and stepped inside, letting it slammed shut behind her. As Sonata looked around the room, she noticed that this bathroom looked very… different. The colors on the walls are grey and made of metal, including the floor and ceiling. There were plies of boxes almost on each side of the room, except for that one wall which was occupied by a metal cart and various frozen meats, hanging from the ceiling. There were also multiple fans, overhead lights, even icicles, which are hanging almost everywhere around the room. “…Huh, this is a strange looking bathroom!” Sonata wondered out loud. “How come I don’t see any soap dispensers?” Before she could look further, she began to shake from the cold air within the room. “Brrrrr… it’s freezing in here!” Sonata exclaimed while hugging herself to stay warm. “Did someone turned up the AC too high?” Sonata frowned. “This bathroom stinks… and I don’t mean the smelly kind of stink! I’m gonna give this Bixie girl a piece of my mind!” Sonata turned around and ran towards the metal door. She turned the long, thin door handle to open, but the handle was stuck in place. With a grunt, she used both of her hands and pulled the handle with a little more force, but it still wouldn’t budge. Desperate, she placed her leg on the wall next to the door and then pulled the handle with all of her strength… …until the handle popped out of the door, causing her to fell and landed on her butt. Ignoring the pain from her bottom, she shifted her eyes back and forth between the broken handle, which was now in her hands and the door with no handle. After her brain finally registered all of this, Sonata’s eyes widen. “…uh oh.” > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After twenty minutes of waiting, Trixie finally arrived with trays of food on both of her hands, while bearing a sour look on her face. “All right, here’s your stinkin’ meals!” Trixie snapped. “Aw yeah! It’s about time!” Rainbow Dash cheered as Trixie placed each of their meals in front of them. “Yes, let’s dig in yall!” Applejack said, while she tied her napkin around her neck in front of her shirt. Just as Trixie placed the last meal in front of Fluttershy, Flash spoke up. “Um Trixie, I asked with guacamole on my burger.” Trixie turned to Flash with an irritated look. “Well, you can’t have everything you want eh Brad?” “Trixie, just put some guacamole on his burger or else we’re having another chat with Mr. Sombra!” Rainbow warned with a frown. “And for the last time, my name is Flash, not Brad!” Flash retorted. Trixie glared at Flash for a moment then she huffed. “Fine! I’ll add some guac on your burger… Brad!” Trixie snatched the burger from Flash, turned and stomped away from the group, ignoring Flash’s furious look. Flash threw his arms up with a frustrated grunt. “Why does everybody call me Brad? I don’t get it!” he shouted angrily. Pinkie patted his back with her sympathetic smile. “I think people called you that because you weren’t well liked by the fans.” Flash turned towards Pinkie with a bewildered look on his face. “What? But I got plenty fans liked me for being the leader of my band!” Pinkie shook her head with a giggle. “Oh no, I mean the fans of this show silly!” Flash gave Pinkie an odd look. “Show? What show?” Before Pinkie could answer, Fluttershy interrupted. “Um… where’s Sonata? She didn’t come back from the bathroom yet.” “Oh she’s probably still in there playing with the soap dispensers. She likes those!” said Adagio, rolling her eyes. “Ooooh~ I like to play the soap dispensers too!” Pinkie chirped. Everyone gave Pinkie their strange looks. Pinkie blinked at their reactions. “What? They’re fun!” “Hey here’s an idea!” said Aria with an evil smirk. “How about we ask for our meals to go… and leave her here!” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Aria. “How is Sonata related to you again?” “Fluttershy’s right darlings,” said Rarity, quickly changing the subject. “Our dear Sonata had been gone for some time. Perhaps we should go and check up on her?” Everyone was silent, quietly debating who should go and find Sonata. Finally, Sunset stood up from her seat. “I’ll go check up on her, I need to use the bathroom anyway.” Rarity nodded gracefully at Sunset. “Thank you Sunset, but please hurry back with Sonata.” Sunset nodded before she turned a walked off toward the hallway at the other side of the restaurant. Sunset kept on walking until she approached the two different hallways with the direction to the bathroom sign on the wall. She stopped and glanced at the sign for a moment and then she turned and walked down towards the left hallway. “Oh Sunset, I love you more than the lovely sunsets I see from across the ocean! I’ll even walk through the hot coals of Tartarus for you!” said Sonata while holding a long frozen tuna fish on her left hand. Sonata than held up another frozen tuna fish on her right hand and started to speak in Sunset’s voice. “Oh Sonata, I love you too! Kiss me Sonata!” Sonata than squished the two fish together while making loud kissing sounds. As Sonata continued to play with them, she didn’t notice the door opened behind her. Sunset stepped into the room and stopped when she saw Sonata’s unusual display, while letting the freezer door slammed shut behind her. “S-Sonata? What are you doing?” Sunset asked uncertainly. Sonata stopped what she was doing and looked up to Sunset in panic. Sonata then tried to hide the two fish behind her back. “Oh I’m… uh… making two tuna fish making out with each other, what does it look like I’m doing?” Sonata replied with a blush on her cheeks. Not sure what to make of Sonata’s strange behavior, Sunset decided to ignore it for the time being. “No… I mean why are you in here?” she clarified. Sonata sighed in relief, glad that her secret wasn’t discovered. “Oh, I was waiting for someone to come in here so I can leave.” Sonata looked around the room with a frown. “This has to be the worse bathroom ever! This place doesn’t even have soap dispensers!” Sunset cocked an eyebrow. She couldn’t believe that her friend didn’t realize that she’s obviously in the wrong room. Sunset shook her head with a sigh. “Sonata… this isn’t the bathroom, this is the freezer! It’s where they store their food to keep them fresh.” “For realizes?” Sonata asked. Sonata than wore a thoughtful expression on her face. “Well that explains why it’s so cold in here!” Sunset sighed and turned towards the door. “Look, I don’t think we’re supposed to be here, so lets just head back to our table and-” Her words died in her throat when she noticed something is wrong with the door, or rather, something was not on the door. The door handle was nowhere to be seen. Sunset slowly turned towards Sonata. “Um… Sonata, where’s the door handle?” Sunset asked nervously. With some hesitation, Sonata took out the door handle from her skirt and handed it over to Sunset. “Um… I have it right here but… I kinda… sorta… broke it.” Sunset took the handle and stared at it for a moment before her eyes widened in horror. She quickly turned and started banging on the freezer door with her two fists. “HELP!” Sunset screamed. “WE’RE TRAPPED! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HEELLLLPP!” Sonata quickly walked up to Sunset and shook her by Sunset’s shoulders. “Sunset calm down!” Sonata cried. “You’re going to knock the door down if you keep that up!” Sunset stopped pounding on the door and shoots Sonata her bewildered look. She was going to tell her that was the idea but thought against it. Sunset paced across the other side of the room. “This cannot be happening!” Sunset cried, beginning to feel a mental breakdown. “We’re trapped in the freezer!” Sunset stopped pacing and turned to Sonata with her look of confusion. “But I don’t understand, the sign on the hallway says this is where the bathroom is!” Sonata thought for a moment, concentrating on Sunset’s words. Suddenly her eyes widen with realization. “Wait a minute,” Sonata exclaimed while slamming the two tuna fish down on the cart. Sonata walked up to Sunset. “I think I know just what happened! I was running down the hallway and bumped into these two guys who called themselves Flibbity Flabbity Brothers or something. Then we crashed into a wall where the sign is and knocked the arrow off. I must of put the arrow back on facing the wrong direction.” Sonata grinned and snapped her fingers. “It was the Flibbity Flabbity Brothers fault!” Sonata cried triumphantly as if she solved the mystery. Sunset gave Sonata her flat look. “Sonata… I doubt this is the brothers fault. From what you’ve told me, you’re the one who put the arrow back on the wrong way so… it was technically your fault.” Sonata frowned. “Hey don’t blame me! My Eenie Meenie Miney logic didn’t work that time.” Sunset was flabbergasted. “You mean that’s your method of picking the hallway!?” Sunset cried in disbelief. “Why not just go down one hallway and see if it’s the right one before putting the arrow back on?” Sonata blinked once, then twice. “Huh… why didn’t I think of that?” Sunset groaned as she rested her face on one of her hands. “Alright, no big deal. We’ll just call our friends with our cell phones so they can—” “I’ve already tried,” said Sonata. “I didn’t get any signals on my phone for some reason.” Sunset’s eyes widened in shock. She quickly took out her cell phone from her jacket pocket and looked at the small screen. To her dismay, she noticed the signal icon with a slash over it, telling her that there is no signal at all. Exactly what Sonata had said! “Darn it!” Sunset cried. “Our phone signals are jammed because of all the metal in this freezer!” The cold was starting to get to Sunset, so she hugged herself to try to keep herself warm. Sonata frowned, worried for her friend. “What are we going to do Sunny?” Sunset paused for a while, not sure how to answer to her friend. Finally she replied, “I guess we have no choice but to wait until one of the girls comes in and get us out. They’ll notice that we’ve been gone for so long, so it’s only a matter of —” Suddenly, they both heard the freezer door open. They turned to see a foul looking Trixie stomping into the room. “Stupid chiefs for making Trixie get some more guacamole for Brad! If Trixie ever finds another job…” Seeing Trixie, Sunset cried, “Wait don’t close the—” SLAM “…door,” Sunset finished with a groan. Trixie was surprised to see the two girls who she despised so much are in the freezer. She shook off her shock and glared daggers at them. “What are you two losers doing in the freezer?” “We thought it was the bathroom because my friend here messed up the sign from the hallway.” Sunset explained calmly. “Oh really?” Trixie stated while eyeing Sunset skeptically. “Well Trixie demands both of you to leave immediately or Trixie will kick you and your loser friends out, with or without my boss interference! Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “Well sorry to disappoint you Trixie, but we can’t leave because my friend also broke the handle from the freezer door. We’re stuck in here.” “WHAT!” Trixie screeched. “Y-you’re bluffing!” Sunset pointed to the door behind her. “Check for yourself.” Trixie quickly turned to the door to check it herself. Sure enough, the door handle was missing. Trixie panicked. “OH NO NO NO!” Trixie started banging on the door with her fists. “HELP! TRIXIE’S TRAPPED! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HEELLLLPP!” Sonata rushed up to Trixie to pry her off the door. “Trixie calm down! You’re gonna break the door down if you keep that up!” “THAT’S WHAT TRIXIE WAS TRYING TO DO!” Trixie screamed, slapping Sonata’s hand away. Sonata whimpered both in pain and fear. “Trixie, calm down!” Sunset exclaimed. Trixie stopped banging on the door but gave Sunset her enraged glare. “Calm down? CALM DOWN?! I had a really bad day today! I got another week’s detention for being tarty by Vice Principle Luna, then I failed my exam, lost my lunch, my cape got torn, yelled at by my boss, gave you your orders which is coming out of MY paycheck and now I’m trapped in the freezer… and you expect me to CALM DOWN!” Silence filled the freezer room until Sonata spoke up. “Well… I didn’t expect you to speak without referring yourself in third person for once Bixie.” “IT’S TRIXIE!” Trixie calmed down somewhat after her outburst and sighed heavily. “Can this day get any worse?” Trixie mumbled. As if the world was mocking her, the door suddenly opened and a certain energetic pink girl with poofy magenta hair popped in. “Heeeeeey guys! What’s everybody doing? Are you guys having a bathroom party without me? Cause that would’ve been a real crime without me there!” As pinkie skipped inside the freezer, Sunset shouted, “Pinkie! Don’t close the—” SLAM “…door,” Sunset groaned again. Trixie groaned while laying her head on one of her hands. “Trixie had to ask that!” “What brings you here Pinkie?” Sunset asked while hugging herself again for warmth. “Well, you guys were gone for a while and my Pinkie sense tells me there is something doozy going on, which doesn’t happen often. And I need to use the bathroom too! So I decided to go and find you guys and the bathroom at the same time! It’s two cupcakes in one bite!” said Pinkie in a fast paste with a smile. Sunset blinked. “I… see.” Pinkie frowned and looked around the room with her judgmental eyes. “I don’t know about you, but this is the strangest bathroom I’ve ever seen!” “I KNOW, RIGHT?” Sonata cried. “This bathroom doesn’t even have soap dispensers!” Pinkie’s eye’s widened. “WHAT!? No soap dispensers!? Why wouldn’t they include the soap dispensers? That should be a—” “OH FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST! WE’RE IN A FREEZER, NOT A BATHROOM!” Trixie bellowed. Pinkie turned to Trixie with her confused expression. “Freezer?” “Listen Pinkie, to make this long story short, the signs were switched accidently, leading us to the wrong room and we’re all trapped in here until someone comes by to get us.” Sunset explained. Pinkie eye’s lit up and smiled. “Oh, is that all? Well, why didn’t you just say so! In that case, we’ll throw We’re All Trapped in a Freezer and We’ll Have Fun Until We Get Rescued party! Doesn’t that sound… cool?” As Pinkie giggled at her own pun joke, Trixie glared daggers at her. “Okay one: don’t make another pun like that again! And two: no, we are not going to throw a party in the freezer!” After hearing Trixie’s remark, Pinkie stopped gigging and pouted at her. “Party pooper!” Suddenly, the door opened again. The one who walked in this time was a turquoise girl with mint-green and white hair. Trixie cried out, “Don’t close the—” SLAM “…door.” While everyone but Pinkie groaned, the newcomer glanced around the room in confusion. “…this isn’t the bathroom,” she said uneasily. “Hiya Lyra!” Pinkie chirped as she was waving at her. “Ponyfeathers! If we don’t get out of here soon, we’re gonna freeze to death!” said Sunset urgently. Sonata whipped her head at Sunset. “Wait, freeze to death?” Sonata exclaimed. Trixie turned to Sonata while baring her angry expression. “Yes. That’s what usually happens when you’re trapped inside a freezer!” For the first time since she was first trapped in the freezer, Sonata started panicking. “NO! I don’t wanna freeze to death!” Sonata went down to her knees, hugged Trixie’s legs and began to cry. Trixie groaned angrily. What did Trixie ever do to deserve this? > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back at the main restaurant area, the place was beginning to calm down a bit, as some of the tables used by other customers were empty. Only a small number of waiters and waitresses were busy with their jobs while some others disappeared for some reason. At this point, the musical performers decided to take a break as they left the stage and headed to the restrooms. The girls were already halfway done with their meals while poor Flash was still waiting for his burger. As Rainbow was wolfing down her fries with ketchup on her chin (much to Rarity’s disgust), she glanced at her empty cup and frowned. “UGH, where is Trixie? I want my drink refill!” Rainbow complained. “Yea and she still didn’t bring my burger with guacamole yet!” Flash added with a frown. “And where did our idiot ran off to?” Aria huffed. “Sonata?” Fluttershy asked timidly. “No Snails, of course I’m referring to Sonata!” Aria snapped. “EEP!” Fluttershy shrank back from Aria in fear. Rainbow gave Aria her warning glare. “Come to think of it, Sunset and Pinkie Pie hadn’t come back yet either,” said Applejack as she rubbed her chin in thought. “Goodness! I hope they’re all right! Their food is getting cold!” Rarity exclaimed. Rainbow Dash grunt impatiently as she stood up from her seat. “They’re taking too long, I’ll go and check up on them! I bet I can find them in ten seconds flat!” “Doubt it.” Aria mumbled. “What’d ya say?” Rainbow challenged, narrowing her eyes. Adagio spoke up before Aria had the chance to respond. “What she means is, we’ll find them faster if we come along, right Aria?” Adagio gave Aria the side glare, telling her to not to argue and their decision was final. Defeated, Aria angrily mumbled to herself. Rarity smiled, “I think that’s a splendid idea! Bring them along with you Rainbow!” Rainbow Dash wanted to argue that she would rather go alone, but the look she received from Rarity basically told her that there are no room for arguments. “Fine!” Rainbow sighed in defeat. With that, the two sirens stood up from their chairs and the three girls walked off towards the hallway, leading to the bathrooms. “Didn’t you hear us yelling, hold the door?” Trixie scolded. The blonde girl with yellow crossed eyes looked down sadly. “I’m sorry. I thought you said, close the door. I just don’t know what went wrong…” Trixie rolled her eyes in annoyance. It’s been fifteen minutes since Lyra trapped in the freezer with them and they’ve been shivering since with no way out. Trixie was starting to think that no one was coming, until they were found by a few of her co-workers including the musical performers a minute ago. Trixie thanked Faust that her nightmare was over… …until her new ditzy yellow eyed co-worker closed the door behind her. Trixie was convinced that Faust hates her and was probably laughing at her misery. Trixie looked down and scowled at the blue siren, who was still hugging her legs. “Let go of Trixie this instant or Trixie is going to have to break your arms off!” With a yelp, Sonata quickly let go of Trixie and stood up with her palms opened at Trixie for defense. “I’m sorry! It’s just that, I’m so cold and you felt so warm to hold on to.” “Well you go get yourself warm elsewhere!” Trixie scowled. Sonata took a few cautious step backwards. From the other side of the Freezer, Sunset observed around the room at the new arrivals while shivering. She saw Lyra sitting on one of the frozen cardboard box next to the door sobbing, while muttering, “We’re all gonna die” over and over. On the left corner of the room, a bunch of waiters and waitresses, standing and hugging themselves to keep themselves warm. Some argued with each other to pin the blame, while others moped around in despair. In the middle of the room were mostly the customers of the restaurant. Most of customers who are trapped in here were students from her school. The ones that stood out to Sunset the most were the two teens in the middle of the group. One was a nerdy teen with glasses and an atom emblem on his left chest of his shirt. He was wrapping his gizmo with his jacket to try desperately to keep it warm instead of himself. The other was an eco teen with long green locks and grey beanie. He was on the floor meditating to try to block out the cold despite that he was shivering. The musical performers were sitting on the right corner of the room. In contrast to their singing-cheery attitudes from before, they all looked so miserable and cold. Sunset was beginning feel numb all over her body from the cold. She tried so desperately to keep herself warm by hugging herself tighter, standing close to Pinkie, even zipped up her leather jacket. But no matter what she did, she would feel colder than she was before. Geeze, this is colder then all the years of winters in this world combined, Sunset thought. If only we knew who is coming in advance like how Pinkie sensed Sonata earlier so we can- Suddenly, something clicked in her mind and Sunset’s eyes narrowed. Heeeeyyy wait a minute! Sunset faced Pinkie with her suspicious look. “P-p-pinkie, how c-c-come your pinkie s-s-sense isn’t picking up s-s-someone opening d-d-doors like last t-t-time?” Sunset asked, shivering. Pinkie turned to Sunset while she was shaking from the freezer’s chilling air. “My b-b-body is too n-n-numb from this c-c-cold! I can’t use my p-p-pinkie s-s-sense in this c-c-condition.” Sunset drooped. Huh. Never thought I say this, especially coming from Pinkie Pie, but that actually makes sense for once! So much for finding out who’s coming at the door ahead of time. “We’ll never gonna get out of here!” Lyra sobbed loudly from the corner of the room. “Hang on everybody, I have an idea!” Sonata announced. Everyone, even Lyra stopped what they’re doing and looked at Sonata expectedly. Sonata turned and walked until she was on the other side of the room, away from the door. Then she turned and ran towards the door, intending to break through it. Unfortunately for Sonata, she crashed into the door and then fell backward onto the cold floor. “Ooooowwwww…..” Sonata moaned in pain. Everyone was stupefied from what they just saw. No one said a word until Trixie spoke up. “That’s it? Run and crash yourself into the door was your plan? Seriously?” Sonata slowly stood back up and wiped the dust off of her skirt. “Okay, maybe that plan didn’t work out as I thought it would. Perhaps if I try it again…” Sonata walked to the back of the room a bit further this time and then she turned and ran towards the door… and then crashed and fell backward to the floor again. “Oooowwwww….. nope.” “Sonata, you’re doing this all wrong silly!” said Pinkie with concern. Pinkie took Sonata’s hand and helped her back up. “Here’s what you should do…” Pinkie leaned over and whispered her plan into Sonata’s ear. Sonata nodded and hummed “Uh huh,” at every word Pinkie said to her. Once Pinkie was done whispering, Sonata wore a face of determination. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot!” Sonata turned and walked to the back of the room again until she was very close to the wall. She turned and ran towards the door… only to crash right into it and then she fell backward to the floor… again. Trixie facepalmed. “If it didn’t work the first two times… WHY DID YOU THINK IT’LL WORK THE THIRD TIME?!” Sonata slowly stood back up while deep in thought. “Hmmm. Bixie’s right… unless…” Sonata was about to walk off towards the back of the room again but Sunset pulled her back. “Sonata stop! That’s enough!” Sunset cried out. Sonata turned to Sunset with a frown. “But it was going to be different this-” Sonata was cut off when they heard the freezer door opened and revealed to be Rainbow and the other two Dazzlings. “See, what did I tell ya! Ten seconds flat!” Rainbow gloated. “That felt more like fifteen to me…” Aria said with distain. As Rainbow, Adagio and Aria entered the room, Sunset cried out, “Wait, don’t close the—” SLAM “…door.” Everyone but the three new arrivals moaned. “Hey, what’s going on in here?” Adagio asked in confusion. “We’re trapped in the freezer and we’re ALL gonna die!” Lyra sobbed while she buried her face into her hands. Rainbow, Adagio and Aria eyes widened in shock. “WHAT? FREEZER!?” Rainbow exclaimed. “I thought this was the bathroom!” “That’s because someone knocked the arrow off the sign from the hallway and then puts it back on the wrong way!” Sunset replied bitterly while giving Sonata her side glare who was too oblivious to notice. “Oh gee… I wonder who that could’ve been?” Aria asked sarcastically. “Oh it was me!” Sonata cheered with her hand raised. Both Aria and Adagio rolled their eyes. “Then I accidently broke the handle off the door, so we’re stuck in here!” said Sonata cheerfully with a smile. Sonata draped her arm around one of the musical performers and swayed her other arm back and forth. “Now who wants to sing? Bamba bamba~ bamba bamba~” Trixie had reached her boiling point. She screamed and ran towards Sonata, ready to strangle her. Sunset, Pinkie, Rainbow, Adagio and Aria held Trixie back from harming Sonata. Sonata yelped in fright and then she quickly jumped into one of the boxes to shelter herself from Trixie’s wrath. Everyone else watched the scene in front of them, both cautiously and amusedly. While they were struggling with Trixie, the freezer door opened again. “Tia, do we really have to find him.” “Yes Lulu, we really must find him. I may be nervous about this, but I really want to see him for myself to see if he…” Rainbow finally noticed them and shouted, “Don’t close the—” SLAM “…door.” Everyone but the two new arrivals moaned again. “Kids? What’s going on? Why are we in a freezer instead of the bathroom?” Vice Principal Luna demanded. Sonata slowly popped out of the box and then waved at them with her sheepish smile. “Oh… never mind," Luna deadpanned. > Chapter 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Half of the restaurant was empty at this point with less customers and staff. Usually, that was when the restaurant was close to closing time, but this place still has more than two hours before closing time. Something was fishy going on in this restaurant, but despite that fact, it was none of the girls concern for a moment. It’s been a half hour since Rainbow and the two sirens left their table to go find the other girls and they still haven’t returned yet. They all sat in silence with their worry expressions except for Flash. Finally, Applejack spoke up. “Okay, somethin’s up! First Sonata disappeared, then Sunset, then Trixie, then Pinkie Pie and now Rainbow Dash, Adagio and Aria! Just where the hay are they?” “Oh my, I’m really getting worried for them!” said Fluttershy nervously. “You don’t think something bad happened to them do you?” Rarity frowned. “If you asked me that an hour ago, I would say they’ll be fine, but now… I’m very concerned about their whereabouts as well.” “Not to mention, I still didn’t get my guacamole yet!” Flash complained with a huff. Flash then noticed the icy glares he was receiving from the three girls, which made him gulp. “Oh… and I’m worried about the girls too… their safety is more important then my stomach... yeah,” Flash said awkwardly. Applejack gave Flash her hard look before she stood up from her seat. “Well, ah go find them. Even if somethin’ did happened, I can handle it!” “Alright, but please be careful darling,” said Rarity. Applejack smiled reassuringly at them and then walked off towards the hallway. “Are you sure there isn’t another way out of this freezer?” asked the raven-haired girl with pink dress and bowtie. Sunset sighed for like a hundred times. “No Octavia, there isn’t another way out. So we have no choice but to wait until someone opens that door from the other side.” “Blast! I knew we should’ve eat somewhere else!” Octavia groaned. Octavia turned to her DJ friend with spiky blue hair and purple shades. “Why didn’t you stop me Vinyl?” Octavia scolded. Her mute friend just shrugged with an amused smirk. Within a half hour, more and more people trapped in the freezer with them, including just now, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. One of the newcomers was the chiefs, aka the Flim Flam brothers. They were not amused when they found out who was the cause of this mess, especially when Sonata claimed that it was all their fault. They were already planning to find ways to escape from the freezer. So far, no dice. The next new arrivals are the two young couple. One was a strong young man with short orange hair and freckles on his face. He was wearing a white tee with red jacket over it and blue jeans. He is Big Mac, Applejack’s older brother. The other was a light pink woman with long magenta hair. She wore a brown top with white long sleeves and a long green skirt with flowers on them. She is Miss Cheerilee, Canterlot High school’s librarian. The two of them decided to eat at Sombra’s Taco Ranch for their date… only to cut their date short after they got themselves trapped in the freezer. Big Mac remained calm throughout the ordeal while poor Miss Cheerilee was shivering from the cold, despite that she was wearing Big Mac’s jacket that he offered to her earlier and the hug to keep her warm. Another newly trapped arrivals were five younger kids from Canterlot High. The two kids were standing far away from the three other children as possible. One was an angry looking pink girl with white hair and a tiara on her head. The other was a grey girl with white hair and light green glasses. They hugged each other to try to keep themselves warm. The other three kids were more familiar. They are well known trios who would go around the school to unintentionally caused trouble when looking for talents. They formed their own club as, The Crusaders. The only members of the club are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They are younger sisters to each member of the Rainbooms (except for Scootaloo, she had a surrogate sister). Right now, they were shivering from the cold air within the freezer and they each hugged themselves for warmth. “A-a-ah knew we s-s-should’ve go to M-M-McDonny’s for d-d-dinner but NO, you g-g-guys preferred to have d-d-dinner at a M-M-Mexican restaurant!” Apple Bloom stated complained while shivering. “How d-d-do we s-s-supposed to k-k-know that we’ll get t-t-trapped in a f-f-freezer Apple Bloom?” Scottaloo argued while her teeth clattered. “Hey! M-m-maybe our s-s-special talent is to g-g-get ourselves f-f-frozen s-s-solid!” said a very cold Sweetie Belle. “T-t-that’s not f-f-funny S-S-Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Apple Bloom frowned. “A-a-ah agree! How c-c-can we s-s-show off our t-t-talents afterwards if we f-f-freeze ourselves to d-d-death?” Sweetie Belle huffed. “Geeze, t-t-tough c-c-crowd.” The pink girl with a tiara, who overheard their conversation, shook her head with a scowl. “Id-Id-Idiots!” she mumbled. Her glasses wearing companion nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Vice Principal Luna was busy berating Sonata. “I let you off the hook over an hour ago and you already caused trouble again?” “Hey come on Vice Principal Luna!” Sonata protested. “It’s not fair that you blame me when something happens before you know the full story!” Vice Principal Luna cocked her eyebrow with an unamused expression. “…okay it was me,” said Sonata, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. “But I didn’t mean to get us all trapped in here, honest!” Principal Celestia walked right up to her sister. “She’s right sister, it was just a mistake. Besides, we won’t be here long.” Vice Principal Luna gave her sister a flat look. “That’s what you said earlier before the Crusaders arrived, then the server, then the two customers, then the server again, then the chefs—” “Okay I get it Luna!” Principal Celestia huffed. “I don’t know when we’ll be out, but you got to be more patient.” “Just one problem Principal Celestia,” said Rainbow. “How long are we going to keep waiting to be rescued before we freeze to death?” “Maybe if you stop complaining then someone will find us faster!” Aria jeered. “No one’s asking you Aria!” Rainbow snapped. “Rainbow, Aria, please stop fighting!” Sunset cried as she stepped in between them. “We won’t accomplish anything if we keep on-” Suddenly they heard the door open. There stood Applejack with a mixture of shock and confusion on her face. “Girls? Apple Bloom? Big Mac? Everybody? What the hay is goin’ on round here?” As Applejack stepped into the room, Aria cried, “Don’t close the—” SLAM “…door.” Everyone but Applejack groaned loudly. Applejack looked back over her shoulder at the freezer door, raising an eyebrow as she noticed the missing handle on the door. She turned her head back towards the crowd, specifically at Big Mac with her deadpan expression. “Let me guess… we’re all trapped in here aren’t we?” asked Applejack. “Eeyup,” Big Mac answered simply. “Sign knocked over?” “Eeyup.” “Arrow puts back on the wrong way?” “Eeyup.” “This ain’t the bathroom?” “Nope.” “This is the freezer?” “Eeyup.” “Dat handle on the door broke?” “Eeyup.” “Dat was Sonata?” “Eeyup.” “Including the sign?” “Eeyup.” “And now y’all been waiting for someone to come in to let everyone out, only y’all kept letting them close the door every time a new person showed up and now we’re waiting for someone else to come in to save us before we might end up freeze to death?” “…Eeyup,” Big Mac answered while looking at the floor in shame. Applejack sighed heavily while she pinched her nose. “Well that explains a lot.” Pinkie leaned over to Sunset and Sonata with her hand over her mouth and whispered, “Remind me not to play twenty questions with Applejack.” Sonata nodded vigorously while Sunset just stared at Pinkie with her confused look. Applejack noticed the two familiar looking chiefs at the back of the room and her eyes narrowed. “Hey! What are you two doing here?” Applejack demanded. The two brothers stood calmly. “Well, just so it happens-” Flim trialed off. “WE work here!” Flam finished. Applejack stared at them with her skeptic expression. “To scam some more I bet!” “We didn’t scam you!” Film replied loudly. “We bought you bass fair and square!” Flam added just as loudly. “Which wasn’t supposed to be on sale!” Applejack exclaimed with a frown. “You won’t give it back to me until I work for you two longer than we agreed on!” “We lost our jobs and credibility thanks to you!” Flim yelled. “Well, you two deserved it for selling items that don’t belong to you!” Applejack shouted. Sonata walked up to Applejack with her curious expression. “Hey, you three know each other?” Sonata asked. “…you could say that.” Applejack replied as she glared at the brothers. Sonata tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “OH, you must be that country hick girl they were talking about!” Applejack turned towards Sonata with her shocked expression as well as Big Mac and Apple Bloom. “They called me WAT!?” Applejack screeched. Applejack and two of her siblings turned and gave the brothers their murderous glares. “W-what? N-no we didn’t!” claimed Flam as he was sweating and shaking in fear. “Y-yeah, she must have heard us wrong.” Flam insisted, who was also sweating and shaking from the sight of the Apple family’s wrath. Sonata gave the brothers words some thought before shaking her head. “Nah, I’m pretty sure that’s what they said along the lines of that it was Applejack’s fault for ruining them.” Applejack was about to march over to the cowering brothers a piece of her mind but she was held back by Sunset. “Hold on Applejack, as much as I wanted to punch these con artists myself—” “WE’RE NOT CON ARTISTS!” Both brothers shouted from the background. Sunset continued, ignoring them. “But we should focus on getting out of here, that’s most important!” “Sunset is right,” said Principal Celestia. “Like I said, we should wait for a while until someone else comes in and—” The door suddenly burst open, revealing an angry looking Sombra. “Where is my staff!? They better not be slacking off or—” Applejack shouted, “Don’t close the—” SLAM “…door.” The whole room groaned yet again. Sombra was flabbergasted at the amount of people in the room. “What is the meaning of this?” Sombra demanded. “Why are my staff and customers in the freezer? Someone better explain this to me right now or—” “Sombra?” Sombra stopped talking when he heard this very familiar voice. He turned to the source and his eyes widen when he spotted someone he hadn’t seen in a long time. “…Celestia,” Sombra crocked softly. “…is that you?” Principal Celestia walked up to Sombra until she was about a foot away from him. “Hello Sombra, long time no see!” “Oh my sweet Celestia,” he breathed. “You are still as lovely and beautiful as I remembered.” Principal Celestia blushed, but her face remain professional. “I’m flattered! You are looking good yourself! I never imaged you be wearing a suit.” Sombra nodded. “Yes, I know I’m the least likely person to be a businessman. Especially when I acted… you know… years ago.” “How are you doing with yourself? You… served your time?” Principal Celestia asked gently. “Yeah… I was out a couple years early for good behavior, but even when I look back at my actions, I wasn’t very proud of it… especially that I driven you away.” Sombra sighed sadly. “That’s all in the past Sombra,” said Principal Celestia. “You felt remorseful and you are trying to make up for your actions, that is something to be proud of.” “Yeah… but my most regret… was to hurt you for my selfish desires.” said Sombra as he looked down in shame. Principal Celestia walked closer to Sombra until she was inches away from his face. “And I’ve told you from our last visit, I forgave you.” Principal Celestia placed her hand on Sombra’s shoulder. “Now you must forgive yourself.” Sombra stared deeply at her eyes while his own was getting misty. “I don’t deserved such a kind, wonderful and beautiful woman as you… Celestia.” They kept staring at each other’s eyes until Sunset cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but do you two know each other?” Sunset asked. Before either of the two responded, Luna answered for them with a sigh. “Yes Sunset, Sombra and my sister… were once a couple.” “WHAT!” they all screamed in shock. “Hold on a second!” Pinkie exclaimed. She took out a glass of water from… somewhere… and chugged down the water, only to do a huge spit take and then had a shocking expression afterwards. “It’s true. Sombra and I used to date when we we’re students of Canterlot High.” Principal Celestia sighed. “What do you mean, used to?" Sunset asked, after she recovered from her shock. “Well… let’s just say, I’ve made some… decisions that I thought was right, but I hurt everyone in the process… even Celestia.” Sombra answered awkwardly. “Wow, Trixie didn’t know you actually had a romantic life back then,” Trixie stated. Sombra turned and scowled at Trixie. “That’s because it’s none of your business!” Trixie recoiled in fear. Realizing that he nearly shown his anger side in front of Celestia, he turned back to her and cleared his throat in an awkward manner. “A-Anyway, I had no right of asking you this, but um… may we… um… go out to lunch sometime… just to catch up? If you’re busy or… not interested then I under—” “Well I don’t know Sombra,” Celestia trailed off loudly. She was then in her thinking pose. “While I am busy next week…” Sombra slumped in sadness and disappointment. Celestia smirked. “But I am available next Thursday at noon. Does that sound good?” Sombra’s face brightened. “Oh, yes! Next Thursday sounds perfect!” Celestia smiled sweetly. “Good, then it’s a date!” The two of them stared deeply at each other’s eyes again in their soft expressions. Both Rainbow and Aria gagged, while Luna groaned loudly. “ARGH! This is more torture than slowly freeze to death!” Aria grimaced. “For once, I agree with you!” Rainbow moaned. Vice Principal Luna sighed heavily. “Is there any booze in this freezer?” The three teens sat silently, waiting for Applejack and the other girls to return to their table. They lost track of how long they’ve been waiting, but it felt like forever since Applejack disappeared. Both the girls were highly concerned while Flash Sentry looked like he was ready to sleep. “Boy do I feel tired,” Flash stated with a yawn. He took out his cell phone to check the time. “Oh no wonder, it’s eight o’clock! I’m usually in bed by now!” Fluttershy turned to Rarity. “Rarity, I’m very worried for our friends now. Will you please come with me to the bathroom so we can check up on them… if you don’t mind that is.” Rarity smiled gently. “Of course I’ll come with you Fluttershy, they’ve been gone for a long time. Plus, I had to powder my nose anyway.” Both the girls stood up from their seats. “Please excuse us Flash,” said Rarity. Flash nodded while the girls headed off towards the hallway. “Oh I hope everyone is okay,” Fluttershy said with a worried frown. Rarity waved her hand reassuringly. “Oh don’t you fret darling, I’m sure they’ll be fine by the time we found them. What could go wrong?" > Chapter 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “This is ridiculous!” Rarity screeched while shivering from the cold. “I can’t believe that none of you weren’t able to stop that door from slamming behind at least one of these people!” “Gee… ya think?” Rainbow asked sarcastically. Rarity raised her arm over her head, posing dramatically. “Of all the worse things that could happen, this is The. WORSE. POSSIBLE. THING!” Rarity sobbed loudly while Rainbow rolled her eyes from Rarity’s over-the-top drama. Poor Fluttershy was shaking badly from the cold as she was hugged by Pinkie. “I-I-I knew I s-s-should’ve b-b-brought my s-s-sweater!” “Don’t you worry Fluttershy,” Pinkie reassured, hugging Fluttershy with comfort. “Your Auntie Pinkie Pie will take good care of you!” Despite her shivering, Fluttershy gave Pinkie her annoyed look. “I’m a year older than you!” “Gurlz!” Sonata cried desperately from the corner of the room. They all turned towards her and noticed her tongue was stuck on a random frozen meat that was hanging from the ceiling. “Ah can’th poll ma toung! Helf! Um stuck!” Adagio sighed heavily as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sonata! I thought I told you not to lick any of the frozen meats!” Sonata gave Adagio her puppy eye look. “Ah no, butz ah cath helf et!” With an annoyed grunt, Aria walked up to Sonata and roughly yanked her off from the frozen meat. Sonata yelped in pain as she rubbed her tongue to ease her pain. “So, what did you learned?” Aria asked expectedly. “Um… only lick the meat that is not frozen?” Sonata answered with hesitation. Aria face palmed. “Sonata… you’re the worse!” Sonata’s face brightened up. “Speaking of meat, I am pretty hungry!” Sonata turned and walked up towards Trixie. “Hey Bixie, where is my foo—ooooooh!” Upon seeing Trixie’s enraged look, Sonata quickly turned and hid behind Aria. The whole room was now in chaos as everyone was speaking loudly over each other in panic. Wanting to keep the room under control, Sunset decided to try to calm everyone down. She walked up to the freezer’s door until she stood next to it. She then turned towards the crowd. “Hey, everyone! Listen! Calm down!” Sunset shouted as loud as she can. Unfortunately no one heard Sunset’s loud pleas. Noticing this, Pinkie stood next to Sunset and then she placed her two fingers into her mouth and let out a loud sharp whistle. The crowd immediately stopped chatting from the loud noise and turned towards the source. Sunset gave Pinkie her grateful smile. “Thanks Pinkie!” “You’re welcome~!” Pinkie sang with a smile. Satisfied that she got the whole crowd’s attention, Sunset cleared her throat. “Listen everybody; if we want to get out of here, we got to stay focus on the door! Somebody is going to come in here sooner or later, right?” Everyone nodded. “Okay so here’s the plan, I’ll just stand next to the door and keep an eye on it! That way, whoever comes in, I will make sure that this person won’t close the—” As Sunset go over her plan to the crowd, she failed to notice the freezer door was opened by a blue and rose haired teenage girl in a white dress with yellow and blue bow around her waist. Everyone tried to call out to Sunset desperately about the newcomer behind her. By the time Sunset realize this, she heard a very loud— SLAM! Sunset slowly turned and both her and the teenage girl blinked at each other awkwardly. She then slowly turned back towards the crowd. … door,” Sunset finished lamely. The teenage girl, known as Bon Bon, looked around the room warily. “Um… is this the bathroom?” “… yes,” Sunset lied lamely, not meeting her gaze. Feeling embarrassed, Sunset walked to the other side of the freezer, wanting to hide herself from the crowd. “I have to go to the bathroom!” Sonata whined loudly. “WE ALL DO!” The whole crowd screamed. “Everybody calm down!” Principal Celestia urged gently. “We should all conserve our physical and mental energy instead of letting our frustrations get the best of us!” “But I’m too cold to conserve my energy!” Sweetie Belle complained. “We’re all are Sweetie!” said Rarity as she was hugging her sister to keep her warm. Following Rarity’s example, Applejack also hugged Apple Bloom. Even Rainbow Dash gives away her blue jacket and half hugged Scootaloo to protect her from the cold. “That’s right, we’re all cold and we’re all gonna freeze to death!” Lyra sobbed loudly, while her best friend Bon Bon patted Lyra’s back to comfort her. “Get ahold of yourself Lyra!” Rainbow cried. She glanced around the room before she let out a loud huff. “Man… there has to be a way to warm up this room!” “Hey I know!” Sonata cried suddenly. Sonata went into one of the food crates (much to the Flim Flam Brother’s protests) and took out two red jalapeños. “Maybe if I rub these two red jalapeños together, I can make a fire!” Everyone in the room stared at Sonata, feeling stupefied after hearing her idea. Pinkie walked up to Sonata. “That will never work Nata!” Everyone nodded in agreement… until Pinkie said, “We have to use a tortilla as a dry surface for the two jalapeños and then you rub them together silly!” Sonata slapped herself on the side of her head. “Oh of course! How silly of me! Thanks Pinkie!” Everyone in the room face palmed and groaned loudly. “Hey, here’s an idea,” Aria said loudly. “Lets try something that actually works!” No one said anything until Sombra cleared his throat. “If I could make a suggestion, we can use the temperature control that was hidden somewhere in this room.” “There’s a temperature control in this room this whole time?!” Rainbow exclaimed in shock. “Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” Sombra simply shrugged. “I was too busy staring at Celestia’s beautiful eyes for so long, I forgot all about it.” Principal Celestia blushed from Sombra’s words while Rainbow Dash frowned at him. “Do you know exactly where dat switch is Mr. Sombra?” asked Applejack. Sombra scoffed. “How should I know? I’m the manager of this place, not an architect!” “We know where it is!” Flim called out. “Yeah, we think it is somewhere over there!” said Flam as he was pointing at the piles of boxes next to Sonata. Following Flam’s pointed finger, Sonata shoved a few boxes out of her way, until she saw a red circular dial with little numbers around the dial. “There’s a big red circle knob thing! Is this it?” “Yes that’s it!” Flim exclaimed with a smile. “Now let one of us take care of that!” “Oh that won’t be necessary!” Sonata insisted. “I can do this myself! I’ll just keep turning this thing on high!” Despite everyone’s protests, Sonata turned the red dial furiously. She kept turning the dial until she overturned the dial too much to the point that it snapped off from the control box. With a broken dial in her hand, Sonata turned towards the dumbfound crowd with a pained expression. “…oops!” Throughout his life, Flash Sentry never felt so bored, tired and hungry at the same time. Ever since Rarity and Flutershy left their table to go find their friends, he’s been sitting at his table for twenty minutes, waiting for them to return. He already ate some of Rainbow’s cold fries a while ago because he could not wait for his guacamole burger any longer. He knew Rainbow would be angry at him for taking her fries, but he didn’t care at this point because he was starving. Just as he was about to take a bite out of Rainbow’s eighth fry, he stopped. He felt something was off about this restaurant. It wasn’t just the disappearance of the girls or his missing guac burger, it’s the fact that this whole restaurant was so… …quiet. His eyes roamed around the room. He noticed there’s not a single soul in this restaurant. No customers. No waiters or waitresses. No music performers. No manager. No one! Just… himself. Flash scratched his head in confusion. “Huh, where is everybody?” Thanks to the temperature control, the room was not freezing cold anymore. However, due to Sonata’s hastiness, she turned up the temperature higher than intended and the knob was broken as a result. The whole room was now as hot as a blazing day at the desert. So hot, all of the icicles that were hanging on the ceiling were melted into puddles within five minutes. Everyone felt weak and sweating from all the heat. Even removing their jackets like Sunset and Rainbow Dash didn’t help much. Some of them were lying on the ground while others remain standing like motionless zombies. Aria, who was lying on her back, raised her head slightly and glared accusingly at Sonata. “On behalf of everyone trapped in here, I want to thank you Sonata for breaking the temperature control!” “Trixie was glad that this room is not freezing cold anymore,” Trixie said weakly, with sweat pouring from her forehead. “However, this room is now a hundred and twenty degrees hotter!” “I think I’m burning up!” Lyra moaned loudly, leaning on her best friend Bon Bon. Bon Bon was busy fanning herself to try to cool down. Rarity was sitting down on the floor next to Sunset, fanning herself. Suddenly, she stopped when her nose sniffed something foul. “Urg, what’s that horrible smell?” Sunset sniffed around the room until her head turned towards the source and then she gagged. “The smell is coming from all the meats in here.” Everyone turned their heads at Sunset’s direction. Sure enough, that foul smell was indeed coming from the meats. Everyone moaned and gagged from the strong rotten smell of the meats. “You ruined all of our food!” Sombra cried out in rage at Sonata. “Do you have any idea how much we spent on all of this? Do you have any idea how much effort we make our food fresh? And how hard we put everything together by scratch everyday for our hungry customers like you?” Sonata was in deep thought until Sombra’s voiced snapped her out of it. “Hmm? Oh I’m sorry! I was thinking about how cool it would be if there are raining tacos in this world. You were saying?” Sombra glared at her, not saying a word. Suddenly, they heard the freezer door opened again. Another teenage girl with raspberry pink hair and palm skin walked in with a glass full of that appeared to be berry punch. Before the teen lets the door shut, Sonata quickly ran up and held the door open. “I got the door!” Sonata cried out triumphantly. Everyone cheered for Sonata’s success. As they were all about exit for freedom, Sonata ran out of the room and slammed the door on them, disappearing on the other side. There were loud outcries within the freezer as everyone was trying to comprehend of Sonata’s actions. “HEY! Why did she close the door on us?” “Did she just left us here?” “I KNEW IT! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Sunset sighed loudly. “Pinkie…” Pinkie saluted. “On it!” Pinkie placed her two fingers in her month again a let out another loud sharp whistle. Everyone ceased their shouts and turned towards Sunset and Pinkie. Sunset smiled at Pinkie in gratitude. “Thanks again Pinkie!” Pinkie smiled. “Anytime~!” Sunset cleared her throat and turned towards the crowd. “Listen everyone, I don’t know why Sonata leave us behind like that, but I’m sure she will be back to get us out soon! Now everyone breathe.” They all did their breathing exercise as Sunset instructed, calming them down instantly. Suddenly, the freezer door opened again, revealing to be Sonata. They all cheered at the sight of her. Sonata cheered as well, doing the victory dance in the process. However, she didn’t paid attention to the door as it was slowly closing behind her. Before anyone could warn Sonata, the door slammed shut. Everyone groaned loudly in frustration. Sunset slowly turned back towards the crowd and pointed at Sonata behind her. “See?” Sunset stated awkwardly. “I’m back everybody!” Sonata announced with a huge grin. “Whew, I had to use the bathroom really bad but I felt better now. Good thing I was out for a short period of time!” Sonata’s grin vanished when she noticed everyone in the room was giving her their angry and frustrated glares. “…What?” Trixie slowly walked up to Sonata until her face was uncomfortably close to Sonata’s. “Let me get this straight,” she scowled. “You were just outside… free from this cursed room… and then you came back in here… shut the door behind you… AND LOCKING US ALL IN!?” “Um… maybe?” Sonata answered uneasily. Bon Bon stood up, pointing accusingly at Sonata. “She’s the reason why we’re all trapped in here in the first place!” “It’s also her fault that this room is so hot in here!” Vice Principal Luna shouted. “And ruining our food!” Flim and Flam spat in union, giving Sonata their hateful glares. “I knew she was still trouble!” Octavia exclaimed angrily. “She was also the one who ate my muffin while I was on break!” the blonde girl with crossed eyes cried. Trixie gave her employer her odd look. “Um… no she didn’t… that was you. You ate your muffin during your break earlier.” The crossed eye girl blinked. “Oh… nevermind.” Sonata was suddenly pulled down by the shirt and met with the eyes of an angry tiara-wearing girl. “I hate you!” she seethed before roughly letting go of Sonata. “I… hate her too!” Lyra sobbed with contempt. Sonata was about to apologize to Lyra, but then she stepped back in fear when everyone was walking up to her with their murderous looks. Sunset stood in front of the crowd to block them from Sonata. “Everyone stop!” Everyone stopped in their tracks, but their facial expressions remained unchanged. “Look, this isn’t all Sonata’s fault!” The crowd still wore their angry expressions, clearly not believing Sunset. “Okay… it is her fault, but she didn’t mean to ruin your night! It wasn’t her intention to have you all trapped in this freezer tonight!” “Yea, at least not on purpose!” Aria added. “That idiot caused mishaps like this all the time!” “Not helping!” Sunset scolded Aria through her clenched teeth. “Trixie thinks we all heard enough of this, let’s get her!” Trixie cried. As the angry crowd was trying to get to Sonata (much to Sunset’s pleas), Principal Celestia step in front of them. “All right, that’s enough! What’s wrong with you people? You should all be ashamed of yourselves! This may not be my school, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let my students hurt another just because she made a few mistakes! As for those who aren’t my students, you should know better than to harm a teenage girl! Besides, hurting her won’t solve anything in our situation. So as long as I’m here, I will protect her!” While the entire crowd looked down in shame, Sonata hugged Principal Celestia, much to the principle’s surprise. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Principal Celestia! I don’t care what everyone said about you being a troll to everyone because you are awesome! Now I feel pretty bad about stealing your slice of cake from your office earlier.” Principal Celestia smiled warmly at her Sonata for the praises she gave her. But then her mind clicked from what Sonata’s had said, causing her to frown deeply. “Wait… that was you who took my cake?” Principle Celestia asked coldly, narrowing her eyes. Sonata shifted her eyes back and forth nervously. “Um… no?” “… GET HER!” Principal Celestia roared. The angry mob tried to rush in on Sonata to attack her, but Sonata dodged them all as she tried to head to the back of the room to get away from them. Unfortunately, she couldn’t go any further because she was now against the wall. She turned back and saw the entire crowd slowly advancing her, glaring, jeering and cracking their fists as they were getting closer to her. Helplessly, Sonata kneeled down and covered her head, waiting for the enviable. Even Principal Celestia hates me! Sonata wailed in thought, tears leaking from her closed eyes. This isn’t fair! I know I was bad before and I made mistakes, but why can’t they all just give me a chance! Maybe I deserved to be punished. Maybe I deserved… “STOP!” After that powerful command, Sonata heard nothing but silence. Not sure what happened, she slowly opened her eyes. Despite her blurry vision from her tears, she recognized a flaming red and yellow haired girl, standing in front of her protectively. “If any of you punks are going after Sonata, you’re going to have to go through me first!” “Sunset?” Sonata whispered in shock. Another figure with rainbowed hair walked up and stand next to Sunset. “Yeah you big jerks! Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!” “Rainbow Dash?” One by one, each new blurred figures came right up and stood in front of Sonata in a form of a shield. “That’s right! Not while Ah'm around!” “Applejack?” “Yeah you big meanies! You all better stay away from my friend!” “Pinkie?” “You all leave Sonata alone!... Um… if that’s alright.” “Fluttershy?” “Fighting’s not really my thing. I’m more into fashion. BUT I’LL RIP YOU ALL TO PIECES IF YOU TOUCH ONE HAIR ON HER HEAD!” “R-Rarity?” “You mess with one of the sirens, you mess with ALL of us!” “Yeah! None of you freaks have the right to punish her!” “Adagio and Aria!?” Rainbow Dash turned towards Aria with her eyes widened in shock. Wow! Aria really does care about Sonata… “Only I’m allowed to punish that idiot for her mistakes!” Aria growled. …nevermind. Rainbow thought flatly. Trixie scoffed. “So all of you girls are going to defend that girl who caused this whole mess?” Sunset nodded with determination. “Yes! She may be a handful, but she’s our friend and we’re all in this together!” The Rainbooms and the two Dazzlings nodded in agreement. Trixie smirked. “Fine! Then you’re all going down together! GET THEM!” The angry mob was advancing towards them as the gang prepared themselves for the fight of their lives. All of the sudden, everyone heard the freezer door opened again. They all turned just in time to see… “FLASH!” Sunset exclaimed in both surprised and relief. While holding the door open, Flash quickly surveyed around the room with his eyes and then put on his goofy grin. “Oh, so this is where everybody is!” “THE DOOR!” The whole crowd quickly rushed out through an opened door to their freedom… …while trampling over poor Flash in the process. The girls sighed in relief; glad that they avoided the fight while Sonata silently prayed to thank Faust for being spared from her demise. During the chaos, Aria quickly went to the door so she can keep it open. After everyone left the freezer room, only the Rainbooms, the Dazzlings and Flash Sentry (who was now on the floor, barely conscious) remained in the room. Aria turned towards Sonata as she held the door. “Well… before I forget, thanks for the memorable evening SONATA!” Before Sonata could speak, Sunset spoke for Sonata’s defense. “Hey, at least we’re finally out!” “And we got ourselves free food!~” Pinkie added with a grin. Aria turned away with a grunt, refused to admit that they were right. The girls turned towards the sound of a painful moan, just in time to see Flash standing back up from the ground. There were footprints all over his body, including his face. His hair was all messed up and his clothes were worn and torn. Flash felt dizzy and lightheaded as his body swayed back and forth, ready to collapse at any moment. “Flash, are you okay?” Sunset asked with concern. “Listen girls,” Flash spoke weakly, despite the pain he felt all over his body. “I just want to thank you all again… for inviting me to dinner.” “Um… you’re welcome?” Sunset replied unsurely. “Now… will someone please… take me to the hospital?” Flash slurred. He rolled his eyes, fell face first to the ground and lost consciousness. The girls cried out in alarm after Flash collapsed to the ground. Everyone including the Dazzlings ran up to Flash’s unconsciousness body to see if he was okay. Unfortunately, Aria had completely forgotten about keeping the door open and as a result, the door slammed shut behind them. In panic, after hearing the door slam, they all ran up to the door and started banging on the door, desperately crying out for help. > Epilogue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The paramedics loaded the stretcher with Flash Sentry into their van, who was groaning the whole way. They shut the van doors behind them before their vehicle start to drive away from the parking lot of Sombra’s Taco Ranch. The girls waved at the van, wishing Flash to get well soon until the ambulance was out of their sight. Adagio sighed heavily. “Well that was… an interesting night. We came here to eat, only to get trapped in the freezer for several hours and nearly had a brawl with an angry mob.” “Hey, at least we didn’t get frozen and got out of the freezer in one piece,” Pinkie pointed out with a huge grin on her face. Aria scoffed. “Yeah, except we got trapped again, wait another fifteen minutes before someone let us out and we're pretty much banned for coming back to that place... not that I care!” “Well it's a good thing Trixie came back and let us out… even though she came back just to get her cell phone,” said Rarity. “Yeah…” Sunset said absentmindedly. “Um… is something wrong Sunset?” Fluttershy asked Sunset with concern. “Nothing’s wrong Fluttershy,” Sunset reassured while scratching her chin in thought. “It’s just that… I had this feeling that we may have forgotten something…” “HELP! SOMEBODY OPEN THIS DOOR!?!” Trixie screamed as she was pounding on the door within the freezer like there’s no tomorrow. “LET TRIXIE OUT! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS RAINBOOMS! I SWARE IT! YOU’LL PAY YOU BUNCH OF UNGRATEFUL BI—” “Nah, It was probably nothing,” Rainbow Dash said casually, waving off Sunset’s concern. “Maybe you forgot to ask the staff if they could pack up our food.” Applejack shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, our food probably wasn’t fresh anymore and already gone stale… considering how long we were in dat freezer.” Pinkie drooped. “Aww... I knew I should’ve taken our food and their microwave when I had the chance!” As much as everyone was confused about why would Pinkie want to take the restaurants’ microwave if they can just use their own, they all decided not to question it because Pinkie was just being… Pinkie. Sunset turned her head and noticed Sonata with her sad expression, standing alone away from the group. She hasn’t said a word since they’ve been freed from the freezer (the first time). Sunset approached to Sonata and placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder, getting her attention. “You okay Sonata?” asked Sunset with concern. She knew it was a stupid question but she thought she should ask anyway. Sonata sighed sadly. “No Sunset, I’m not okay. I screwed up badly tonight. First I ruined dinner at Applejack’s, then I messed up the sign at the hallway, then I broke the door handle, causing everyone and myself trapped in the freezer, then I broke the temperature control and made the room too hot, then I was let out of the freezer only to used the real bathroom and return to the freezer, completely forgotten about the others due to my excitement, Flash was sent to the hospital and now I ruined our dinner… again!” Sonata lowered her head, trembling. “What’s worse is that half of the people in the freezer are from our school. Most of them still didn’t accept me despite my efforts to make amends. Now they hate me even more after tonight!" Tears were pouring out of her eyes. “Aria was right, I am nothing but a screw-up! I don’t deserve to have friends!” Sunset heart was nearly broken at the sight of her weeping friend. She wrapped her arms around Sonata into a hug, causing Sonata to stop crying. “Don’t say that Sonata,” Sunset said softly. “So you messed up tonight, but so what? Just because you have one bad night and everyone’s mad at you now, that doesn’t mean everyone will hate you forever.” “Sunset’s right darling,” said Rarity, apparently listened in on their conversation along with the rest of the girls. “While this night could have gotten better, but it’s not bad enough for us to stop being your friend.” “Darn tootin’,” Applejack agreed. “Like ah said earlier, it’s only an accident and ah forgave you. I’m also not mad about what happened at da restaurant either. We’re on your side no matter what, even if the restaurant blows up… uh metaphorically of course.” “You’re also a dear friend to us Sonata,” Fluttershy said kindly. “You’re very funny, nice…” “AND fun to hang out with!” Pinkie finished with a smile. “If these aren’t the good reasons to hang out with you, then I don’t know what it is! Those meanies who didn’t give you a chance, really don’t know what their missing out!” “And if they had a problem with it, then they have to deal with us!” Rainbow proclaimed as she smashed her fist against the palm of her left hand. “They will have to think twice before they decided to mess with you!” Sunset smiled at her friends in appreciation before facing Sonata. “You see? We don’t think you’re a screw-up and despite what you said, you do deserved to have friends.” Sonata was speechless for a moment, not believing what she was hearing. Finally she whispered, “Why?” “Because we’re you’re friends Sonata!” Sunset said simply with her warm smile. “Getting trapped in the freezer for several hours due to your mistake isn’t going to change that.” The rest of the Rainbooms nodded in agreement. Sonata still felt some doubt, despite the reassurance from Sunset and her friends. “But…” Adagio walked up to Sonata. “Listen Sonata, we were together since day one and there’s never a dull moment with you. While you are clumsy and a lot for us to handle…” Adagio then smiled softly at Sonata, petting her head. “But after all the years we went through, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Sonata smiled at Adagio who gladly returned. Everyone turned towards Aria expectedly. Noticing this, Aria huffed with irritation. “Listen Sonata, from what I known you, you’re an airhead and you always screw everything up to make our lives hard!” Sonata bowed her head in sadness while everyone, including Adagio, glared angrily at Aria. Aria sighed softly. “But… with the exception of tonight, you’ve gotten… better.” Everyone blinked in surprised by Aria’s sudden behavior, but Aria ignored them. “Look…I’m sorry for giving you a hard time, both tonight and for several weeks. I’m still… angry that my powers are gone and I took my anger out on you and the Rainbooms. But the truth is… I’m really angry at—” “Princess Celestia?” Pinkie guessed. “No.” Aria said bluntly, feeling annoyed for the interruption. “Princess Twilight?” “It’s none of the princesses!” “The president of the United States?” “What? NO!” “OR maybe you’re mad at—” “I’M MAD AT MYSELF, OKAY!?” Everyone was shocked from Aria’s outburst. Realizing she let her anger get the best of her, she calmed herself. She faced Sonata with a look of regret. “I know that’s no excuse, but the truth is… I’m envy you for taking this so well… and managed to make friends easily than any of us, despite everyone at school gave you nothing but crap from our past deeds. Still, you put on a smile everyday and faced your challenges head on. You are stronger than any of us Sonata, and you are very lucky to have friends who cared about you. Let them continue to guide you that we failed to do, and don’t take anyone’s crap about you don’t deserve to have any friends or being a screw-up… including me.” Everyone’s jaws dropped from hearing Aria’s speech while Sonata stared awely at Aria, touched by her words. “Aria…” Sonata breathed softly. Before anyone can blink, Sonata leaped onto Aria and gave her a big hug. “Thank you… Aria.” After her surprise wore off, Aria patted Sonata’s back awkwardly with her soft smile. “Yeah yeah, don’t get too used to it.” Pinkie hovered over Aria with her sly smile, “Soooo… does that means you and ‘Dagio are officially friends with us now?” Aria rolled her eyes but still smiled. “Yes Pinkie, we’re friends now.” Adagio nodded, answering her question to Pinkie as well. Everyone smiled at that. Pinkie smiled widely. “Yippee! Then lets have a group hug!” Pinkie opened her arms wide, waiting for Aria to join in. Aria gave Pinkie her deadpanned look. “… don’t push it!” “There you girls are!” Someone called out to them. They all turned just in time to see Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna approaching them. “How’s Flash?” Principal Celestia asked with concern in her voice. “He had a bit of a headache and got a few bruises but other than that, he’ll be fine after a few days in bed with medication.” Sunset answered. Principal Celestia sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear.” Everyone was silent and staring at each other awkwardly until Applejack breaks the silence. “Pardon me for asking Principal Celestia, but was Flash’s injury was the only reason why ya’ll here?” Principal Celestia's face suddenly changed to a look of guilt. “Well actually… we’re actually here to see Sonata.” Principal Celestia turned towards Sonata, who backed away from her in fear. Principal Celestia sighed sadly. “Sonata…I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I shouldn’t have lost my temper and turned against you with the crowd in anger. I had a very stressful day and I never had the chance to eat. Hearing that you stole my cake that I was saving for the occasion had set me off in a worse way.” “Yeah… when it comes to cake, she can be more frightening than Sombra’s sudden mood swings.” Vice Principal Luna commented. Principal Celestia ignored her sister’s remark. “Anyway… even though we’re outside of our school, I shouldn't have acted that way. Can you forgive me?” Sonata stared at her Principle for a moment, not sure about the apology. After studying the Principle’s remorseful and sincere look on her face, Sonata smiled. “It’s okay Principal Celestia. A stolen slice of cake can affect the best of us.” Principal Celestia beamed happily. “Thank you Sonata.” Principal Celestia turned to her sister and nudged her with her elbow. “Luna… do you have something to say?” Vice Principal Luna sighed before facing Sonata. “Sonata, I too apologize for giving you a hard time and joined the mob as well. I assumed the worse from you before you have your second chance.” Vice Principal Luna then raised her hand towards Sonata in her handshake mode. “How about starting right now we can… start over?” she offered. Sonata squealed loudly and then gives Vice Principle Luna her bear hug, nearly crushing her to death. “Of course we can start over! Thank you Vice Principal Luna!” Sonata then realized what she had done and she immediately lets go of Vice Principal Luna, stepping away in hopes to not make her angry again. Vice Principal Luna chuckled. “It’s alright young one, I’ll allowed this just this once.” With a happy smile, Sonata hugged Vice Principal Luna again which she returned. Everyone smiled at the touching scene until Principal Celestia cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Well, now that’s settled, we’ll just head home and have our dinner there. You girls are okay from here?” Sunset nodded. “Yes, we’ll be just fine from here on out Principal Celestia.” “Excellent, then I’ll see you girls on Monday.” Principal Celestia replied. After waving their goodbyes, the two women turned and walked away down the parking lot, until they were out of sight. “Um, what are we going to do for dinner now… if you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy asked meekly. Sonata gave Fluttershy her toothy smile. “I know just the place—” “NO MEXICAN FOOD!” Everyone but Pinkie shouted. Sonata pouted. “Aww… why not?” “We feel that we had enough adventure for one day at the Mexican restaurant," Sunset replied. “We’ll just head back to mah place and order us a pizza,” Applejack added. “Besides darling… all of the main restaurants are probably closed at this time anyway,” said Rarity. “But… I never had a chance to have my tacos!~” Sonata whined childishly. “Pinkie patted Sonata on the back with a look of sympathy. “Aww, I’m super-duper sorry that you never eaten your tacos Sonata.” Suddenly, Pinkie let out a loud gasp and her face brighten up. “I got an idea!” The girls tensed up after hearing Pinkie’s loud announcement. “Uh oh, ah don’t like the sound of this,” Applejack muttered nervously. “Me neither,” Rainbow agreed with a groan. Pinkie continued. “I know a place we can have someone to make us a pizza and tacos at the same time!” Everyone groaned at Pinkie’s random idea while Sonata eyes sparkled with hope. “Really?!” Sonata asked eagerly. “Can that be possible!?” Pinkie nodded rapidly while baring her huge smile. “Totally!” Pinkie faced her friends and than gave them her serious look. “Alright, listen up girls! In order for this to work, I need you all to gather some expired coupons, some pizza and taco ingredients and a trombone and meet me and Sonata at the Pizza Barn!” Pinkie smiled again and grabbed Sonata’s wrist. “C’mon Sonata! Let’s go make us some Taco-Pizzas!” “Yippee-skippy!” Sonata cheered, as she and Pinkie skipped down the street away from their dumfounded friends. Rainbow snapped out of her funk and called out to her retreating friend. “Pinkie, what’s the point on gathering the coupons if they are expired? And why are we going to a place with the ingredients if we can just make those Pizza-Taco things ourselves? Or better yet, why not just order the freakin food? AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO USE A TROMBONE FOR!? PINKIE!” The girls groaned loudly when none of these two energetic girls responded to Rainbow. Aria slapped her forehead in annoyance. “Aww, here it goes!”