> The Friend She Needs
>  by Leviathan Jaeger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Friend like me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata plopped down on the couch, resting her head in her hands. She glanced out the window across the room and watched the snow slowly fall to the ground. She gave a heavy sigh as she thought back on the past few weeks.

Ever since the Battle of the Bands, the Dazzlings stopped acting the same. Adagio confined herself to her room for the majority of the days, Aria mostly just played videogames and watched...questionable things on her phone, and Sonata slowly lost the joy in her soul. After they ran off the stage and made their long journey home, Adagio needed something to vent her anger out on, and that something became Sonata. Every time the little blue siren opened her mouth to say something, Adagio made her regret it, and while Aria wasn't as anger prone as their leader, she still never helped in these scenarios. Day after day of constant verbal abuse made Sonata go from the ditzy happy siren of the group to the quiet submissive siren of the group. 

Sonata took one last look out the window and decided that going out and enjoying the snow would be better than staying in the house. She got up and walked to her room, passing Aria in the hallway. Normally Sonata would shoot her a cute smile, or at least a wave, but now she just walked on past her, with her head pointed to the ground. Once inside her room, she put on her warmest pants and soft, fuzzy shirt. She placed on her boots and grabbed her favorite blue winter coat, complete with it's on little fuzzy hat. With her whole outfit on, she looked into the mirror and formed a small smile. She remembered the day she bought the outfit, and it still was one of her favorite shopping trips. Adagio rushed around with her in the clothing store, showing her different outfits, saying how cute or attractive they would look on her. After about a hour of trying on several stuff, Adagio decided on the outfit she was currently wearing. After it was all paid for, Sonata rushed over to show Aria, and in the process, accidently dropped the little fuzzy hat. Before Sonata could pick it up, Aria reached down and grabbed it, and placed it on her head. With a warm smile and a hand on her shoulder, Aria told her she looked adorable, which Sonata happily smiled back to.

Sonata brought herself back to the present and looked into the mirror. She missed those days, she missed those girls, her true sisters. With one final sigh, she moved from the mirror and out of her room. She walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, which was where Adagio was brewing some coffee. Sonata stood at the entrance of the kitchen, watching her leader fix her drink.

"I'm going to go for a walk," Sonata stated, no amount of excitement in her voice.

Adagio placed her drink down and looked over her shoulder, then back to her drink. "Whatever Sonata, take your time coming back."

Sonata let out a small sigh and walked away, passing Aria in the living room.

"Sonata," Aria spoke, making Sonata look back at her. "Be careful."

Sonata nodded her head and walked to the door. She slowly opened it and walked outside, the cold evening breeze chilling her face. She shut the door behind herself and walked towards the sidewalk, taking one last look back at the house as she moved forward. Once on the sidewalk, she made her way down the street. As she walked, she looked over several of the houses. Most were dimly lit through one window, while others were dark or very lit up on the inside. As Sonata passed one house, she could hear the family through the window. She slowed her walk to listen to them, hearing them joyfully sit around together. As she listened to them, she put a hand to her chest as it made her think back on the times she and her sisters would sit around and chat. But for Sonata, those days were gone, since neither of her sisters even cared to join or help her with anything. She continued down the sidewalk, feeling the evening breeze blow past her. The further she walked, the more the neighborhood started looking unfamiliar. Sonata knew she should probably turn back at this point and head home, but she kept going. 

"It's not like I'm missed anyway," Sonata spoke quietly to herself. She could feel some tears welling up in her eyes as she continued. "Not like they care about me anymore, all they care about is themselves and trying to get their stupid magic back."

She eventually came upon a bench, and decided to give herself a rest before continuing. As she sat down, she looked across the road and noticed three people standing by the stop sign. She watched as they smiled at each and presumably joked around, since they were laughing. Sonata could hear them talk about how much they liked being around each other, and once they walked away, Sonata broke down in tears, looking down at the ground as tears rolled down her face. She didn't care if anyone heard her, since she thought nobody would stop to see what's wrong anyway.

Sunset made her way down the street, walking quickly through the wind. She decided to take a different route home than usual from the library, and now she was starting to regret it, since it was taking longer than she wanted. As she approached one of her turning points, she noticed someone sitting on the bench up ahead. As she moved closer, she recognized the blue ponytail of the girl sitting on the bench. There was no mistaking who the person was.

"Sonata Dusk?" Sunset asked herself quietly. "Why is she out here in the cold?"  As she moved closer, she heard something unexpected. "Is...Is she crying?" Sunset asked herself again. Sure enough, as she moved closer, she definitely saw that she was crying. 

Sonata could hear someone approaching, and decided to peer over to see who it was. Her heart stopped beating for a second when she recognized the dress of Sunset Shimmer. She looked back towards the ground and hoped that she would ignore her.

Sunset cleared her throat silently before speaking out. "Sonata, is that you?"

Sonata turned her head, but not enough for Sunset to actually see her face. "What do you want?"

"Are you alright? I thought I heard crying," Sunset replied.

"*sniff*Why would you care, no one else does," Sonata retorted.

"What about your sisters?"

"They don't care about me anymore, why do you think I'm alone."

Sunset looked up from her and looked around, and noticed that she was in fact alone. Sunset knew the Dazzlings were always together, whether it was in this world or back in Equestria. To see one of them all alone and crying meant something was wrong, very wrong. 

'She doesn't want see me right now, especially like this,' Sonata though in her head. As she thought that, she moved up from her seat and turned to walk away.

"Sonata wait!" Sunset quickly spoke as she moved towards her. Sunset saw this as a opportunity to help out one of the sirens, and at least try to put the past behind them and befriend them, and she was not about to have this opportunity slip by. When Sonata stopped walking, Sunset stood behind her. "Look, I know our past isn't great, and that you have plenty of reasons to hate me, but I want to try and set that aside, and look towards the future, together as friends, not enemies."

Sonata couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wiped some tears from her face as she turned around. "You...you really mean it?"

Sunset looked at her, and noticed that she looked like a lonely kitten abandoned in the streets. With a comforting smile, she responded, "Yes, I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

Sonata jerked forward and pulled her into a tight hug, surprising Sunset at the quick and sudden movement. "Thank you, thank you so much!" she said, as a new set of tears moved from her eyes, this time though it was joy that motivated them.

Sunset moved her own arms around her and smiled. "Your welcome Sonata." The two stood there and hugged each other for several minutes, before Sonata pulled away, embarrassed out how long she made it go. A large gust of wind blew past both of them, making them both shiver, despite the winter clothing. "Wanna come back to my place, it's better than out here on the bench."

Sonata wiped some more of the tears from her face before responding, "That sounds wonderful." Her usual cute smile had returned to her face after so long, as she joined Sunset on her walk home. The first part of the walk was mostly silence, until Sunset decided to break it.

"If you don't mind me asking, why was you crying back there?"

Sonata looked away as they walked, looking towards the lake they were passing by. "I felt like no one cared about me anymore, that no one wanted me around. Ever since I could remember, my sisters would always wanted me around. We were inseparable, both here and in Equestria, but now, Adagio acts like she hates me, and I don't know why. Ever since we lost our magic, she's been nothing but mean towards me. Aria hasn't been as bad, but she doesn't care about anything anymore. I feel like I've lost my family, my sisters."

Sunset knew what it felt like to be alone, to have no one. She put a arm around Sonata and pulled her close, trying to comfort her. Sonata smiled up to her and rested her head on her shoulder, before moving it just before it got weird. As she moved her head, she noticed the books Sunset was caring. 

"Watcha reading?" she inquired.

Sunset moved her arm from around her and moved her books to in front or her. "I decided to get back into reading, so I rented several adventure books, some mysteries, and a romance."

"Sounds likes fun. I've never been a big reader, not my kind of thing," Sonata responded.

"What do you like to do as hobbies?" Sunset curiously asked.

"Oh I like cooking, baking, videogames, swimming, especially swimming, and singing...well, attempting to sing," she said, joking at the end.

Sunset giggled at the end, but then felt a surge of guilt hit her. "How is life without your...magic?"

"It's...different. I actually don't miss it," Sonata replied.

Sunset looked over at her confused. "You don't?"

Sonata shook her head. "Sure having the feeling of powerful magic flow through you was awesome, but all it did was make us horrible people, despite the fact we're actually sirens."

"Well...glad to see your not bitter about losing it."

"Yeah, I'm not, can't say the same for the other two," Sonata said, her demeanor shifting back to being depressed at the mention of her siblings.

Sunset noticed this and thought of something to talk about, but thankfully she didn't have to think long since they were approaching her house. "We're here."

Sonata looked up at the house and stared in awe at it. Not only was it big, but it was the most awesome house she had ever seen. She kept looking up at it while Sunset unlocked the door. Once the door was opened, Sunset gestured for her new friend to walk inside. Sonata was still in awe as she looked around inside. The furniture looked brand new, the walls were a rich shade of red, and the kitchen looked amazing. 

"This...this is incredible," Sonata finally commented.

Sunset giggled at her and motioned for her to follow her. "It is something, isn't it. Took some bits from Equestria to get it, but was worth it. You hungry?" she asked, standing next to the fridge.

"Just a little," Sonata replied, before her stomach growled loudly. "Maybe more than a little..."

Sunset giggled again at Sonata's sheepish grin. She pulled out some quick to make macaroni, sticking it in the microwave. Once it was finished, she poured it into two bowls, and handed one to her guest. Sonata happily excepted the food, thanking her before diving in. As they sat and ate, Sunset kept looking over at her guest, noticing that her mood was definitely getting better. It made Sunset happy to know that she was helping out a fellow Equestrian, despite the fact she wasn't a pony. After they were finished eating, Sunset decided to show Sonata her room. The two walked upstairs and into the solo bedroom. Sonata was once again amazed at how nice the room was. 

"This is awesome. How come you only have one bedroom, seems like a house like this would have like, three?"

"It's just how it was made. Never bothered me since I live alone," Sunset replied. She walked over and noticed the time on her alarm clock. "It's getting pretty late...wanna bunk her for tonight?"

"What?" Sonata asked, very puzzled.

"Well, it's pretty late now, and it sounded like your sisters don't care if your out, so you can stay here if you like?"

Sonata stood there, before bringing her hands up in excitement. "For realzies?"

There was the Sonata Dusk Sunset knew, which made her laugh. "Yes, for realzies."

Sonata ran up and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, cause I really don't want to go home just yet."

"Your welcome Sonata," Sunset replied as Sonata released her from the hug.

Sonata leaped over and jumped onto Sunset's soft bed. "This is going to be so much fun! We can stay up late, swapping funny stories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles!"

Sunset joined her on the bed and laughed. "Yes, yes we can. But first, you need some pajamas."

While Sunset left to go get her some clothes, Sonata laid back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. She finally had a friend, and no amount of sadness from earlier could keep her from smiling and cheering in her head. Life was finally going her way.