"Mind Your Own Business, Taco Lady."
It had been weeks since they'd had their magic gemstones broken, and it sucked. Adagio broke down and cried for the first week nonstop, though Aria didn’t do anything different. Sonata tried to console Adagio, but it was hard, and for that week, she felt like a mother to a child that she had to spoil so she would stop crying.
The week after, Adagio finally came around, but since they had lost their magic, she lost all of her motivation to do anything. She basically became a couch potato, watching shows on cable all day. Sonata was glad Adagio had moved on, but it was annoying that she never really did anything other than watch T.V.
The Dazzlings stayed in an apartment. Back then when they’d had magic, they could pay their rent easily. Adagio had had a solid job singing at a local bar (some of the fights there were actually her fault), but if all else failed, they could simply make others do what they wanted; magical voices do have their perks. Sonata didn’t have a job, since Adagio took care of them, and Aria just didn’t care, so she just shut herself in her room.
As of present, Adagio had been forced to quit her job and was penniless, and Sonata was working at a taco fast food chain. Aria was still shutting herself in her room, but sometimes she would come out to eat. Occasionally, she would even go out of the apartment, and whenever she came home, she would have food for all of them, along with some things she had bought for herself.
Basically, Aria took over the breadwinner role.
That didn’t actually bother Sonata, but what did bother her was that she didn’t know what Aria did for a living. Aria never liked talking about herself, so the other two never bothered her. After all, she just locked herself up in her room while Sonata worked minimum wage. Adagio never bothered to find out; all she cared about was her T.V. shows. As she said, “As long as she pays for everything, I could care less.” Oh, how the mighty had fallen.
Sonata usually was the joker in their group, the klutz, but recently, she’d become the worrywart. She was worried about Adagio’s lifestyle, and was even more worried about Aria. Is she getting money legally? What if she’s a drug dealer? Or worse? I keep reading about teenagers getting into drugs from the magazines, so it must be true!
There were times she asked Aria about her job, but Aria would often dismiss the conversation.
Who cares? I can pay for everything now, so just do what you want.
Sonata wasn’t sure how to take that. Aria was being nice by providing for them, but at the same time, she didn’t seem to want them to know how, which led to Sonata’s doubts.
But not today; today, Sonata would uncover Aria’s secret. She would know what it was Aria was doing in her room all day long.
Aria was about to go out again to buy something. “Gonna grab some grub. See you later.”
Adagio turned from her spot on the couch. “Get me Cheetos and some Dr. Pepper.”
“Fine. What do you want, Sonata?”
“I don’t need anything!”
“Suit yourself.”
Aria left the apartment, and Adagio remained in her usual spot on the couch, slouching like a slob. Sonata had the urge to make her do something else, but she knew she would fail. She was never really good at ordering Adagio around. In fact, it was Adagio who did the ordering. Sonata missed the old days already.
As Aria left the apartment, Sonata checked on Adagio. She was still on the couch, watching her show—a cartoon this time. Sonata loved cartoons, but she had more pressing matters to attend to.
She had to break into Aria’s room.
Sonata made sure she didn’t make a sound as she tiptoed to Aria’s door. The door had a sign saying, ‘Authorized Personnel Only,’ which looked like an actual sign from a store. There were also other little things that decorated the door, like little stickers of skulls and symbols she didn’t understand.
Checking to see if Aria had left her door open, Sonata turned the handle, but to no avail. Locked as usual. Now what?
Sonata noticed a potted plant beside the door. She knew it was silly and common to leave keys in obvious places, but she didn’t have a choice; she knelt down and looked around the plant. To her surprise, she found a single key.
Wow, I can’t believe that worked!
She immediately inserted the key, which fit perfectly, into the door lock. When she turned it and heard a clicking sound, she quickly entered the room and closed the door behind her.
Aria’s room was surprisingly tidy. Sonata had always thought Aria’s room would be messy and cluttered, but it was more organized than her own room.
What was more surprising was the stuff around Aria's room. Posters were something she expected, but figurines and what seemed to be toys were things she never thought Aria would be interested in. Tiny replicas of armored people, medieval and futuristic, were displayed in rows upon a full shelf. Guns, which Sonata hoped were replicas, were hung on the wall. There was even a full-sized Stormtrooper displayed in one corner. There was also a bookshelf filled with what seemed to be DVDs and Blu-rays. Or video games?
How did Aria buy all of this?
Then Sonata noticed a computer table on the far end of the room, topped with three monitors showing a screensaver of a star with a bar behind it—Aria’s favorite logo. Sonata had a symbol of her own that she felt rather attached to—a quarter note above a heart—as did Adagio, but she didn’t really know why.
She pulled out the somewhat large and clunky computer chair and sat on it. It was then that she realized all designs of computer chairs were inferior to the one she was sitting on. It was so comfortable she didn’t want to get up.
She shook her head. Concentrate, Sonata!
Sonata pulled herself up to the desk and placed her hands on the keyboard. She pressed a key and the computer brought up the password screen. Sonata couldn’t help but frown, and placed her head down on the desk. She was so close to finding what she wanted, only to be stopped by the power of password locks.
She spent half an hour inputting guesses, one after another. Sonata wasn’t sure what she should base her guesses on, so she tried looking at the posters and figurines that had names and used them as passwords. Of course, none of them worked.
Sonata felt like banging her head on the keyboard and pressing enter, but she decided not to; it wasn’t her computer, after all. Also, the stuff in Aria’s room looked really expensive—better not break anything.
She stood up and looked at Aria’s wall of weaponry. Replicas of fictional arms were hung: some as old as a medieval era, some as new as a laser gun. Sonata took a futuristic sword handle off the wall, and realized it was a toy lightsaber. She swung the handle and a red plastic retractable blade beam emerged. It made her giggle; the ‘blade’ was a bit shorter than what she had expected.
Bringing herself back to reality, Sonata looked around the room once again. How is Aria buying all this stuff? The thought made her even more worried.
Sonata retracted the blade and placed it back on the wall. She started to feel that her cause was lost. Sitting down on Aria’s bed, Sonata noticed something on the door. A calendar was hanging on it, and it had some writings on a few dates.
Sonata immediately stood up and approached the calendar. The words 'stream' and 'review' were written in on multiple dates.What ‘stream’ meant, Sonata didn’t know, but ‘review’ confused her. The three of them had stopped going to Canterlot High School since their defeat; there was no reason for any of them to review anything. Heck, Sonata was pretty sure Aria wasn’t the type to review or study either way. So… what did these words mean? They were probably something for her job. She decided to look at what was written for the current date. She eyed the square, and found the word ‘buy’ written in.
I guess she wasn’t lying about going out to buy something, but what is it she’s buying? Drugs? Guns? Illegal aliens?! Okay, no, you can’t buy people… or can you? Sonata shoved away the thoughts and squeezed her temples. She couldn’t know unless she saw for herself.
Then an idea popped into Sonata’s head.
She looked at the calendar again, this time for a future date where Aria had plans. To her surprise, it was tomorrow. What was written here was different; it only said ‘Big Day’. What was this big day? A sticky note was also at the bottom of the date, where an address Sonata had never heard of before was written.
Sonata didn’t know many places around the city, but this one was surely wasn’t near their apartment. So where was it? Sonata’s thoughts of Aria being an illegal drug dealer became stronger.
There was a loud slam from the apartment’s front door; Aria was home. In a panic, Sonata took a picture of the address and left the room quickly. She made sure she had locked the door, then placed the key back in the potted plant, which she realized was plastic, even though it held real dirt.
Sonata scrambled to look like she had just left her own room as Aria approached her door.
“Hey, Aria!” Sonata said in her usual, upbeat voice.
She then noticed Aria’s hands carrying large, unlabelled plastic bags.
“What?” Aria looked and sounded annoyed.
‘What’cha got there?’
“Stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Video games,” Aria replied flatly as she laid down the bags. She took out a key from her pocket and opened her door.
“Can I come in?” Sonata asked, even though she knew she would be rejected. If she says no, then she definitely has something to—
“As long as you ask,” Aria said as she entered her room.
“Oh.” Sonata followed her inside.
“So is there something you need, or you just want to bother me?” Aria placed her bags on her bed and started opening them.
“Oh, nothing, it’s just that… you never really invited me in here.”
“I never did?” Aria wondered as she pulled out a box of… something. “I thought I always did.”
Sonata turned her focus to the box. It was a Star Wars figure, though the contents weren’t shown from the outside. Oh, the Millennium Falcon. “Star Wars again?”
“What do you mean ‘again’?”
“Well… you have loads of the stuff! That and those!” Sonata pointed at the Stormtrooper statue, then at Aria’s weapon wall.
“This one’s different. Besides, what do you know about Star Wars?” Aria asked.
“A lot.”
“I bet you think Jar Jar wasn’t that annoying.”
“But he wasn’t.”
“What!?”
“And without him, they couldn’t win the war, duh.”
“OUT!”
Before Sonata even realized it, she was out of Aria’s room with the door slamming shut with the force of a sledgehammer, which made her flinch.
Sonata still had to figure out the address. She could’ve used the internet, but her phone’s WiFi thingy seemed to have broken; it just wouldn’t connect to any signal. She had thought about asking Aria to add mobile data to her phone, but she didn’t want to make the bill bigger than it already was.
When Sonata walked into the living room, she found Adagio missing from her usual spot on the couch, which made Sonata curious as to her whereabouts. It didn’t matter, though; what mattered was what Aria was doing for a living, and the address was the key to the answer.
Adagio appeared from the kitchen, holding a tub of ice cream and a spoon in her mouth. Sonata looked at the tub, then up at Adagio, and raised her eyebrows.
“What?” Adagio muffled through the spoon.
“Nothing,” Sonata said casually. “Say, do you have internet on your phone?”
“Here.” Adagio handed over her phone, which was covered in an orange phone protector. “I don’t really use it anymore.”
“Thanks!”
Adagio went back to her couch, eating her frozen treat. Sonata sat next to her, unlocking the phone’s screen.
The wallpaper was a picture of the three of them. In the picture, Sonata had a wide grin, Adagio just gave a smirk that Sonata always recognized, and Aria just smiled a bit.
Sonata remembered this; she had grabbed Adagio’s phone while she was taking a selfie, then proceeded to take a group picture instead. The image made her smile a bit. It was back when they were about to go to Canterlot High School. Adagio was in such a good mood, and while Aria looked bored, she was happy about actually doing something with magic on a big scale for once. Sonata just went along with the ride. Seeing that the two were happy, she took Adagio’s phone.
“Hey!” Adagio had angrily snarled.
“First pic before high school domination!” Sonata had exclaimed. “This will be a great memory!”
“Well, I guess it won’t hurt to have a ‘before and after’ photo for that.” Adagio had giggled as she positioned herself. “Aria, don’t be a killjoy—come here.”
Aria was just staring at a store’s displays. “What?”
“Come here.”
“Whatever.” Aria moved close to Sonata. “We’re taking selfies now?”
“Smile for camera! Say, DAZZLINGS!” Sonata had said, then tapped the screen for the camera’s shutter.
It felt like that was only an hour ago, yet the photo was clearly taken on a different day. In the photo, they still had their magic gems, each shining brightly around their necks; Sonata then realized why Adagio never used her phone anymore. She looked at the Dazzlings’ once proud leader, now reduced to eating ice cream, watching a Disney film Sonata had never seen before.
It was tempting to watch with Adagio, but Sonata decided to set aside the sad thoughts and cartoons for later and swiped at the phone, looking for the browser. There wasn’t much on Adagio’s phone, so she found the app she needed easily. After opening it, she typed the address in the search bar and tapped the ‘enter’ button. To her surprise, the internet was even faster than before, when Adagio was paying the bills. The results showed Sonata the address’s location, which surprised her even more. The address was two hours away from their apartment!
What!? Sonata couldn’t think of any reason why Aria was going so far for something. Maybe she wanted to buy something not available in the stores nearby? Drugs, probably… No! Sonata shook her head, almost too violently.
“You’ll snap your head if you keep at it,” Adagio flatly commented.
Sonata couldn’t help but feel even more worried. Not only because she couldn’t go to the specified address due to lack of transportation, but also because she couldn’t stop Aria from going. After all, Aria never listened to her. There has to be a way, she thought. There has to be way that I can see this for myself, then I can stop worrying about Aria once and for all. She can’t be doing anything illegal, right?
Sonata spent the whole night before Aria’s ‘Big Day’ thinking of ideas on how to get there. Could I get a cab? No, I don’t have any money on me right now. I could ask Aria flat out if I can come… no, that definitely won’t work. I could steal a car… Then again, I can’t drive for beans— that’d only make the situation worse. Besides, I don’t even know how to steal one, and all my magic is gone anyway… Eventually, she fell asleep, and woke up to find that Aria had already left.
This plan is a fail. It was the only thought that rang through her head as she sat down on the steps in front of the Canterlot High School. She always came here to think. For some reason, being at the school made her think, and not in the way she expected. Of course, she only did so when there were no classes; the students still hated her for almost enslaving the entire school. She buried her face on her hands.
Then she heard the faint sound of music; Electronic music boomed weakly in the air. Sonata raised her head and saw a white person with blue hair wearing a set of headphones and a pair of shades. The girl moved to the beat of the music as she made awkward steps.
Isn’t she the DJ who had a transformer car? Sonata had an idea. Before the girl was about to leave her sight, Sonata chased after her and stopped in front of her. “Hi!”
The girl didn’t speak, but gave a wave back.
Great, she doesn’t hate me! “Umm, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor? See, I need to get somewhere, but I don’t have any money, but I can absolutely pay you later after I get my paycheck. You have a ride, right? I know I’m asking you for too much, but I really need to get to this place, and my friend’s life is at stake here. I’ll do anything, so could you please take me to this place?”
The girl just took the paper Sonata showed her and read it. It made the girl smile and nod.
“For realsies?! Oh my goodness, thank you thank you thank you!!!” Sonata gave the girl a tight hug.
The girl pushed her away, catching her breath afterward.
“Oh, sorry! A bit too much. I’m Sonata!” Sonata offered her hand, awaiting a handshake.
The girl didn’t say anything, but instead walked towards the school parking lot. Pulling her keys out from her skirt, she unlocked the car.
Sonata didn’t remember much about this car from the finals of the Battle of The Bands. The white top coat was accompanied by blue side skirts, and musical notes ran across its side. Some cyan stripes complemented the color scheme of the car on the front of the hood, which was decorated with a figure of a pony wearing the same shades as the DJ girl. It reminded Sonata about the ponies back in Equestria. Does she have a pony equivalent back there?
The car was a two-seater convertible, so the DJ girl just jumped into the driver’s seat and took off her headphones. How the car hadn’t been stolen yet was another mystery Sonata would have to put aside— Aria’s was her first priority. Sonata opened the door and sat on the seat. Comfy. “Um, can we swing by my apartment? I kinda forgot something.”
The DJ nodded and started the car.
After a few turns and directions, the car pulled over in front of Sonata’s apartment.
“I’m just gonna get something. And someone, too. Be right back!”
The DJ just nodded and gave Sonata a thumbs up. As Sonata left, the DJ started playing dubstep music.
Sonata slammed the apartment door open, which made Adagio scream and turn around on the couch.
“Sonata, what the hay!? You’ll break the door and my ears!”
“Adagio, no time to explain! Get dressed!”
“Huh?”
“Just do it! Aria’s in danger!”
Adagio stood up from the couch. “What happened? Is she alright?”
“I’ll explain on the way! Hurry!”
“So, Aria might not be in danger, and you made me panic over speculations on what she does for a living?”
Adagio sat in between Sonata and the DJ. The car didn’t have any gear stick—it was a prototype where the shifts were in the steering wheel—so Adagio didn’t have to be bothered by anything between her legs. Not that it mattered to Sonata.
“Uh… maybe?”
Sonata avoided Adagio’s eyes, which were probably launching daggers—nay, swords—at her. The DJ didn’t seem to mind Adagio tagging along.
The air blew strongly as the car zipped down the highway, something Sonata had never seen before. Adagio remained irritated, as she was missing her show. Meanwhile, Sonata was just amazed that humans actually spent time creating roads, and just roads. It made her wonder why they would do that without putting stores beside them.
“You know, I’m pretty worried, too.”
Sonata turned her head in surprise.
“For real— Really?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, she’s paying for cable, internet, electricity, food, and our rent. That comes with a big price tag,” Adagio said as she stared at the endless road in front of them. “Not to mention, she keeps buying toys for herself.”
Now that Adagio had said it, Sonata became even more worried about Aria.
“When we lost our magic, I became so depressed and sad. I thought eventually we’d lose our apartment, then probably everything else. I guess I just brushed off my worries about Aria and just stopped caring.” Adagio still stared at the oncoming long road, though her eyes were getting noticeably teary. “If she’s doing something wrong, then it’s my fault. I’m supposed to be the eldest among us. The leader whom you guys look up to, but instead, I just… I just did nothing.”
As the wind blew against Sonata’s hair, she could only look at Adagio’s face, and she recognized the emotion it displayed: regret. After a few seconds, Sonata placed her hand on Adagio’s shoulder.
“What matters is that you care right now. No, you never stopped caring. You just took a break.” Sonata gave her a weak smile.
Adagio sniffled, then looked at Sonata and gave her a smile back. “Who knew you could say something so profound?”
“Hey, I’m not just all about tacos and cartoons, you know… What does ‘profound’ mean?”
Adagio just laughed, leaving Sonata confused.
“Come on! I really don’t know that word!”
Almost two hours had passed, and the trip was mostly uneventful. They made multiple stops at gas stations, and they had lunch at a 7-11. The DJ girl was so silent that Sonata almost forgot that she was driving them to their destination. Even though Sonata and Adagio mostly ignored her, the DJ bought them all lunch— a couple of footlong sandwiches. It was only then that they learned her name: Vinyl Scratch. They saw her ID fall out of her pocket as she was paying at the register; why she had brought her school ID, Sonata didn’t know, but seeing that the girl never really talked, she just ignored it.
Full and satisfied, they drove along the road until they reached the city. The city had massive buildings that could be seen from afar. Sonata started pointing at the buildings and compared which ones looked funny or stupid. Adagio played along, though she wasn’t really into it; she just decided to give Sonata her moment, even if it was silly. She was just glad they were done looking at roads and billboards.
It took another twenty minutes before they reached their final destination, which turned out to be a large building shaped like a gigantic popcorn bucket.
“The Manehatten Convention Center?” Adagio said, reading aloud the name emblazoned on the main entrance of the bucket. “What is this place?”
The car slowed down as they approached the parking lot around the building. From there, Sonata and Adagio started seeing people dressed up like it was Halloween. Some were spooky, but some looked awesome. People were dressed as monsters, armored characters, and others just dressed oddly. Sonata liked the fact that there were a lot of people dressing up, but Adagio didn’t appreciate it; she just thought they all looked weird.
Vinyl parked her car surprisingly close to the entrance. Sonata found it odd, seeing the amount of people at the place. When they got out of the car, Sonata noticed that the parking spot they had taken was reserved, as marked by a sign.
“Uh, Vinyl? Are you sure we can take this spot?”
Vinyl gave her a thumbs up and started walking toward the entrance. Sonata looked at Adagio, who just shrugged her shoulders. They followed Vinyl, not knowing what else to do.
A massive line wrapped around the entrance, almost reaching the road to the city. Varieties of dressed-up people waited under the excruciatingly hot afternoon sunlight.
“Don’t tell me we have to wait way back in the line!” Adagio whined.
The DJ didn’t respond, but kept walking towards the entrance. As she did so, people started cheering for her. Sonata wasn’t sure how to take that.
“Is this like, sarcastic booing?” Sonata asked Adagio loudly, trying to make herself heard over the noise of the people in line.
“What!?”
When Vinyl, Sonata, and Adagio reached the entrance, a large and scary guard eyed them. Sonata thought of backing out, but Vinyl took our her ID and showed it to the guard.
“Hey, DJ Pon3! Welcome back to the con!”
Vinyl just nodded with a smile, then pointed to Sonata and Adagio.
“You brought some friends? Best not tell anybody I let the other two in, alright?”
Vinyl nodded again. The guard opened the small metal gate and Vinyl went in, Sonata and Adagio following behind her.
Inside the center, Sonata couldn’t help but say ‘wow’ loudly at the sight; more people dressed up, tables set up as shops side by side, and photobooths with themes she’d never heard of were all over the place. Vinyl seemingly had disappeared from Sonata’s sight.
“We’re never gonna find Aria in this place,” Adagio said, sounding disappointed.
“Adagio, we should look around then!”
“You just want to see more of this place, don’t you?”
“’Maybe?” Sonata twiddled with her thumbs.
For a while, Adagio glared at her for choosing to have fun instead of looking for Aria. “Fine.”
“For realsies?!”
“We don’t know where Aria is, so we might as well have fun while we search.”
“Yes! Come on!” Sonata pulled Adagio’s hand.
“Wait, you don’t have to pull—”
They spent about thirty minutes taking selfies with cosplayers, a term Sonata had learned from one of them. They were surprisingly nice, and even gave Sonata directions to different parts of the convention. The two also started looking around shops, and Adagio almost squealed in delight when she saw her favorite shows’ merchandise all around her, but her delight quickly faded when she realized she didn’t have enough money to even buy a keychain. Seeing this, Sonata bought her a TARDIS hat and immediately placed it on Adagio’s head.
“It suits you!” Sonata commented.
Adagio took it off and saw the familiar blue box in the form of a hat. Her smile at that moment was the widest Sonata had ever seen. Adagio put the hat back on, and when she noticed her giant grin, she reduced it to a smaller smirk. “It’s a little nerdy, but I like it.”
Sonata ended up buying so many plushies and toys that she had to buy a bag to carry them all.
“Hey, Sonata. What’s a ‘panel’?” Adagio pointed to the entrance of another hall that read ManeCon Panel.
“Let’s go see!” Sonata pulled Adagio’s hand once again.
They broke through crowds without stopping and entered the hall. There was a stage set up with tables and microphones. Before the stage sat rows and rows of chairs, filled with people waiting for something to happen.
“What are they all waiting for?”
A person wearing a large ID laced around his neck climbed up onto the stage, holding a microphone. “Thank you all for your patience. I know you guys have been waiting for this, and we’re sorry for the delay. We had some equipment problems, and we just got them fixed. We really appreciate those of you who actually waited for the thirty minutes or so it took to get everything taken care of, so without further ado, our first guest is the Trailblazer herself, miss Aria Blaze!”
Before Sonata and Adagio could even react, the crowd roared with glee and excitement. Sonata’s mind raced. Why are they so excited? What the hay does Aria do?
Aria appeared on stage, walking towards a seat at a table with her name labeled and waved at the crowd, smiling through it all, then she sat down in her designated chair.
“What’s up, people?” she asked in her usual voice, which earned another shout from the crowd.
“Our second guest…”
Sonata zoned out on the rest of the guests, focusing only on Aria. Sonata couldn’t believe her eyes. Is Aria some sort of celebrity? But she lost her powers, too! She couldn’t have sung her way there! How did she do it? Is she an actress? A movie star? A model?! Nah, Aria wouldn’t do that, she hates all those things.
There were a total of four guests at the table. The announcer guided people from the audience to line up at the side of the hall, and the line was pretty long. He approached the first person in line— a little kid who wore a silly looking cap with a propeller on the top.
“Our first question from the audience! What’s your name, kid?”
“It’s Button Mash,” the kid replied.
“Alright, Button! Who do you want to ask a question to?”
“To Trailblazer!”
“Alright kid, shoot,” Aria said into the microphone before her on the table.
“First of all, I’m a really huge fan of your videos. Your reviews are simply the best!”
“Aw, thanks kid. Being brutally honest about video games does have its perks.”
The audience laughed a bit at her joke, which went over Sonata and Adagio’s heads.
“Are you really not gonna do song covers anymore? I saw your video, but I just really want to hear it from you.”
The question made Aria’s smile fade.
“Really sorry, kid. I just can’t do covers anymore. As I said in my video, I really can’t sing anymore, and I can’t disclose the reasons why. It’s too private to tell. I know some of you subscribed to my channel for my video game and anime song covers, and I’ll totally understand if you unsubscribe. Again, I’m really sorry.”
Sonata felt sad for Aria. She actually used her voice and shared it instead of using its magical powers. Sonata looked at Adagio, and saw in her face the same sentiments she did.
“Next person!” Aria said into her mic.
“Hi Trailblazer! I’m Twinkleshine. Big fan.” The next person in line—a white skinned girl with curly pink hair—wore a shirt showing the symbol Aria liked.
“Oh, don’t worry; I can tell,” Aria joked, and the audience let out a little laugh.
“Um, my question is, why haven’t you reviewed the new Star Wars game? It’s been out for a while now, and I’m really curious what you think of it.”
“Oh, that game.” Aria rolled her eyes; as she did, some members of the audience giggled. “I’m sure some of you know, I can’t finish my review since the game always crashes on me. Made a sucky livestream. I wanted to play on PC, and look what happened. I’m pretty sure the game is great, but I guess I’ll have to pick up the console version, should I ever finish that review.”
The questions went on and on, passing from Aria to the other guests. Sonata was entertained most of the time, though she would miss some of the jokes the audience and the guests on stage shared. Sonata looked at Adagio and saw her smiling. It made her feel good to see her smile so genuinely again.
“Next one is?”
“My name’s Thunderlane. I have a question for Aria, but I guess it’s not really a question.” A guy with dark gray skin and light cyan-ish gray hair with lighter streaks stood at the mic.
“Oh?” Aria’s eyebrow rose.
“My little brother is a really huge fan of your channel, and he really loves your stuff. He’s supposed to be here with me today, but he’s at the hospital right now.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be with your brother then?”
“That’s what I said to him! But he insisted I come and give you this.” He turned to the moderator. “Um, can I hand it her?” After a few nods from the staff, Thunderlane approached the stage and gave Aria a medium-sized photo frame.
“Oh my goodness.” Aria showed the audience the photo she held; it was a detailed artwork of her, showing her trademark smirk. The audience gave a round of applause for the artwork, which Sonata really liked, too. It was too good not to be framed; sketched with charcoal, it was shaded with the finest detail, from the light of her face to the shadows that emerged from it.
“This is just too much, even for me. Why is your brother at the hospital?” Aria asked, looking very concerned.
“Just a little accident at school. He’s doing fine now— just needs to recover.” And with that, the audience gave another applause.
Why do people like doing that so much? Sonata thought to herself.
“You know what? Let’s do something for this little guy. What’s his name?”
“It’s Rumble.”
“Okay guys, listen up! Rumble is in the hospital and he missed the con today because of that. In exchange for this wonderful gift, I want to give him something he’ll definitely love.”
Aria then stood up and called Thunderlane to come up onto the stage. The staff assisted him, and he reached Aria’s place at her table.
“Here’s what we’re gonna do; I’m gonna do a selfie video on Thunderlane’s phone, and when I point the camera at you with me, I want you to say ‘Get Well Rumble’, alright?”
Aria borrowed Thunderlane’s phone and started recording a video of herself.
“Hi there, Rumble. Your wonderful brother here brought me your gift, and,” Aria took up the frame and showed it to the camera, “it just looks amazing. Oh, and we have a message for you.”
Aria then pointed the phone’s camera at the audience. In unison, they all said:
“Get well, Rumble!”
Sonata joined in on the chant, but she wasn’t sure if Adagio did so, too; it was too loud to tell.
“Also, Rumble, thank you for being my fan. Stay awesome.” And with that, Aria stopped the recording. The audience cheered for Thunderlane. Aria gave him a hug, and he left the stage.
“Alright, I know I said I don’t do hugs, but he deserves that. It kinda reminds me of my own family. Well, we’re not really family, more like roommates, but I guess they’re the closest.” Aria paused for a bit. “We had a little money problem back then, and I was really panicking about how to fix that. You guys supporting what I do as a hobby, and now a full-time job— it’s just unbelievable. Now I can support them because of you guys. Thank you everyone for that.”
Of course, the audience cheered for Aria, who wiped her eyes before her tears fell, and put on her big smile.
“Oh no! We’ve only got time left for one more question, so raise your hand fast, and your question will be answered!” the announcer shouted.
Sonata immediately shot her hand up as he said the last word of his sentence, and everyone saw it. The announcer approached her.
“Ah, yes, young lady, what’s your name?” he asked, before handing her the microphone.
“Sonata Dusk.”
Aria’s face went from bright and sunny to blank.
“Aria, I may not be your biggest fan, or even your best buddy at times. Heck, you probably think I'm being kinda stupid right now.” Sonata started walking towards the stage. She felt her voice shake, but she cleared her throat and continued. “But here, I realized you’re probably the best person I’ll ever know in my entire life. I didn’t know how much you really cared, but seeing you here, making people happy, makes me really proud to be called your sister.” Sonata’s tears fell after that, almost uncontrollably, and she stopped in front of the stage.
“Aria!” Adagio took the microphone, which surprised both Sonata and Aria. “I know I may not have treated you well, but I want you to know I care, too. In fact, we all do. I’m proud to call you my sister.”
Aria’s tears fell and she desperately tried to hide it. “Guys, what are you doing? You’re making me look bad…” Aria climbed off the table, jumped down from the stage, and approached to the two of them.
Aria jumped at them and gave them a hug. “Thank you.”
Sonata returned the hug. “Thank you too, Aria.”
Adagio hugged the other two tighter. “I’m so sorry girls, for everything. I love you two.”
“This is pretty sappy, you know?” Aria laughed as she cried.
“You started it,” Adagio said, doing the same thing as Aria.
As the audience cheered louder than before, Sonata just laughed, her eyes wet with tears of happiness. She had never felt so happy before. She hugged them tighter and enjoyed the bliss of having two sisters. Perhaps we’ll never open up like this again, she thought. But despite that, she knew they had a better future ahead of them, and it would start with this moment. From that moment on, everything would be better, because now they had become closer than ever before.
After all, they were family.