The Last of the Dark Ponies

by Askre

Chapter 11. Don’t worry, I’ll be civil.

Chapter 11

It was a rather awkward atmosphere in the train as it continued onwards towards the Crystal Empire. Barbell sat at one end, staring out the window with one hoof under her cheek and a heavy frown on her face. The pegasi sisters sat in the other, Foxy also staring out the window while Dew Doe looked deep in thought.

Around the middle sat Starlight and Maud, the unicorn occasionally glanced between the two ends of the coach with a concerned expression. She had to admit this wasn’t the ideal rescue team to go after King Sombra, but right now she couldn’t be choosy. Her main concern was the obvious tension between Barbell and the sisters.

“So, uh what were you doing in Canterlot?” Starlight finally turned her attention to Maud. She was still wondering how to handle these three ponies, but figured she should at least talk with her friend first now that they had some small amount of spare time.

“I was looking for some rock polish for Boulder,” the earth pony responded and from her chest pocket pulled out her pet rock. “Rarity recommended a shop - said she always ordered gem polish from there.”

“Well, Rarity knows her shops,” Starlight said and sighed as she remembered that the fashionista was right now trapped in a cursed castle. Maud inclined her head in a slight nod.

“Don’t worry, Maud. We’ll stop Sombra and help Pinkie and the rest,” the unicorn then added. “Guess I can say I have the experience now.”

“I know,” Maud said, then she pulled out of another pocket a glass bottle and a rag. She wet the rag with the contents of the bottle and started rubbing it on Boulder.

Starlight watched her for a little while before glancing towards Barbell who still hadn’t changed her position. The unicorn turned her head to the back of the coach where the pegasi were.

Well I guess I can’t hold it off any longer. If we are going to do this, we need to work as a team, she thought and dropped down from her seat and walked over to where Barbell sat.

“Hi,” she addressed the opal earth mare. Barbell only shifted her eyes a little to glance at her.

“I’m sorry you missed the party,” Starlight climbed onto the seat opposite her. The unicorn cleared her throat as she realized that had probably not been the best choice of words. “I mean, I’m sorry about everything that happened. We had security measures. What we didn’t know was that Sombra was prepared for them.

“So, you’re Barricade’s marefriend? I did manage to talk with him a little. He seemed nice.” Starlight arched her brow when Barbell snorted and then looked at her with an amused smirk.

“You sure you were talking with Barricade then?” Barbell asked, eyeing the unicorn like she was sizing the mare up.

“Well, I was just trying to be polite. I don’t think we were expecting you. He didn’t say you were coming,” Starlight said, recalling that the party was supposed to be small, much to Pinkie’s dismay.

“I wasn’t initially coming. I had to run the gym since Barricade was in Ponyville,” Barbell explained and shrugged. She glanced towards the back of the train where the pegasi were. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about Barricade going there, alone with Cara, meeting all these ponies he’s been a jerk to in the past.” Barbell snorted and looked out the window again for a moment before turning back to Starlight. She looked rather solemn now.

“Barricade isn’t well right now - sure, he puts on a front. He’s always been a stubborn idiot like that, but I’m the one that wakes up every time he has these nightmares, watches him in the living room, staring blankly into the distance like he’s being haunted by some dark memories. Those ponies don’t care about that,” Barbell nodded sharply towards the pegasi. “Doubt anypony cares.”

“So, Goldie and Thunder Cloud, who also work in the gym, told me to take a hike, they would take care of the gym. Told me to go to Ponyville and be there with him like I should have done in the first place,” she resumed starting out the window.

Starlight frowned as she considered what Barbell had just told her. She had herself noticed that Barricade seemed rather alone at the party, isolated even. Then the pony recalled her talk with him, how he called the party by an alternate title. How he had felt he'd been invited to see if he was serious about changing his ways.

“Barbell, we are going to get him out of there, I promise. This is not the first time I’ve done something like this and I do not intend it to be the last,” the unicorn said and smiled reassuringly. Then she became a little more serious. “But we in here, we are all on the same team in this. We need all to work together. I’ve already had a small taste of what King Sombra is capable of and let me tell you, right now I rather be going face-to-face against Queen Chrysalis again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be civil,” Barbell assured her without looking at the unicorn.

Starlight regarded the earth pony unsure, but figured this was the best she could do at the moment. Barbell didn’t seem too receptive right now for a talk. She dropped down from the seat and started towards the other end, but saw that Dew Doe was already approaching her.

“Hey, we need to talk,” the blue pegasus said and smiled a little.

“Oh, I was coming over to do exactly that,” Starlight said. When Dew Doe smiled uneasily, she couldn’t help but raise one brow.

“Ah, I mean in private.” Dew glanced back at where her sister still sat staring out the window.

“Well, I guess we can do that. Let’s go to an empty car then,” Starlight said and started walking back the way she came with the pegasus following. They were soon in another train car and got seated in front of each other.

“Okay first things first, you probably noticed how Foxy and Barbell reacted towards one another,” Dew Doe started grinning nervously.

“Well it was not hard to guess they aren’t friends,” Starlight said somewhat sarcastically, then hoofed her face. “Sorry, that slipped out.”

“No, no, you’re not wrong there,” the pegasus quickly assured her. “You see, Foxy is jealous.”

“What?” Starlight blinked, not quite expecting to hear that. Dew Doe sighed deeply as she eyed skywards, wondering how to put this in words.

“Foxy… she’s had rotten luck with stallions. The majority of those who dated her were just using her to get to me, thinking I would apparently be swept off my hooves or would even contemplate cheating on my own sister,” she began explaining. “Barricade, as much of a jerk as he is, he’s the only stallion who dated Foxy just to be with Foxy. He never made fun of her, he never used her, he actually genuinely wanted to be with her and deep down, Foxy still cares a little bit about Barricade. There is still this one spot in her heart that feels for him. She will never admit it, but it’s there, very hidden and buried.”

Dew Doe shook her head and started to fiddle a bit with the feathers on one of her wings. “The problem was that back then, he was just so possessive and jealous, and a rotten coltfriend in other ways.

“We don’t really know Barbell that much. We just know that she and Barricade were old friends and at some point the two of them hooked up. I don’t know the story behind that, but anyway, it’s clear that Barbell loves and cares about Barricade and Barricade loves and cares about her. Barbell, from what I’ve heard, has been a great mother to Cara, whose desperately needed a mother figure since her own mother dumped her at an orphanage when she was just an infant. Foxy is seeing in Barbell what she could have had with Barricade and it drives her nuts,” the pegasus finished, grinning nervously when Starlight proceeded to hoof her face again.

“And I just put those two in the same team together… swell,” Starlight groaned as she dragged her hoof across her face in frustration.

“You didn’t know and Barbell has every right to help as she can, just as much as we do,” Dew reassured her. “But I figured it was important you were aware of this, seeing that you’re the team leader and all.”

“I do appreciate it,” Starlight nodded. It certainly explained Foxy’s behavior at the station. Barbell was resentful because she thought the others just didn’t care.

“By the way, I should warn you about my friend Maud.” Starlight realized they might not be prepared for how Maud talked and responded to things. Dew Doe tilted her head.

“What about her?” the pegasi asked curiously.

“Well, she might come off as a bit ‘off’ to you,” Starlight felt rather bad talking about her friend like that, but she also figured she needed to prepare the others for the fact that Maud might come off as strange to them.

“You mean she has difficulties expressing emotions like other ponies and may have quirks that might come as obsessive to them?” Dew asked and was now smiling knowingly at Starlight who was blinking in surprise.

“Have you forgotten what my job is? In most cases, I would need to evaluate a pony myself, but I was watching her at the station and already a few alarm bells were ringing in my head, but your, ah ‘warning’, has confirmed it. And don’t worry, Foxy and I won’t treat her any differently than any other pony. We’ve helped ponies like her before.” The pegasus chuckled at the stunned expression on the unicorn.

“Are you sure you haven’t psychoanalyzed Sombra just by watching him?” Starlight couldn’t help but ask. Both mares burst into laughter. “Sorry, I mean, I have to admit being a little protective of Maud. We just kind of clicked and I’ve seen how other ponies treat her and I thought if I warned you, you would at least be prepared.”

“No, no, you don’t have to explain, I’ve seen it before. Sweet Celestia, I could tell you stories about parents who have asked if there are cures for their foals who have similar behavior patterns,” Dew shuddered at the thought. Starlight cringed when hearing that.

“Well, that settles that then. How about we return to the others,” the unicorn suggested. Dew Doe nodded and the two mares returned to the previous train car.

Barbell and Foxy were still in their seats, staring at the passing scenery through the window. Maud was still polishing Boulder as Starlight and Dew approached her seat.

“Mind if I join you two? I was actually going to move over here when you went over to talk with Barbell,” Dew asked, glancing at her sister for a moment.

“I don’t mind. Do you Maud?” Starlight asked as she returned to her seat.

“No,” Maud responded without looking up from her work. With permission granted, Starlight scooted over so Dew could sit next to her.

“Hi, I’m Dew Doe. The other pegasus is my sister, Foxy Stripes,” Dew introduced herself to the earth pony.

“I’m Maud,” Maud responded without stopping her work.

“Nice to meet you. I’m sorry if my sister and I made the wrong impression at the train station. Are you and Barbell friends?” the pegasus wondered.

“No,” the other pony simply stated.

Despite Dew’s assurance, Starlight couldn’t help worrying how the pegasus would react. To her and those who knew Maud, this was quite normal. Other ponies would often be expecting something more to be said, perhaps elaboration on why the two ponies were together at the station.

Much to the unicorn’s relief, Dew simply nodded and was still smiling. Then the pegasus looked at Starlight, focusing most of her attention on the bandage wrapped around her head.

“How are you holding up? Any headache?” she asked.

“I’m going to have to get used to this nurse mode,” Starlight chuckled, patting her bandage gingerly for a moment. Dew giggled at the response. “It’s actually not so bad right now. Probably because I’m not fleeing for my life from a crystal curse, or flying.”

“Cadance did provide me with some medicine at the castle, so just let me know if you think you need it,” Dew told her. Starlight blinked for a moment as she took this information in.

“You really like helping ponies,” the unicorn said and now first glanced at Dew’s cutie mark - a red heart with two golden thunderbolts shooting out of it.

“I do,” Dew Doe grinned innocently. “Can’t really help it. I couldn’t even make up my mind how I wanted to help them, I started with nursing and then tried counselling and in the end I wound up in social work, right now helping out at the parole office in Fillydelphia.”

“Excuse me.” Dew and Starlight looked over when they were addressed. Maud only momentarily glanced up before resuming her work. Barbell had moved herself to the seat behind them and was looking at the ponies from there.

“I’m bored out of my mind. What’s the plan here exactly?” the opal earth pony asked, staring skeptically at Starlight Glimmer.

“Right, of course. Well, first we’re going to the Crystal Empire. It’s the furthest north the train goes. Then we need to get a map of the northern areas from Shining Armor, Cadance’s husband. Then we are going to Yakyakistan to follow up on the only real lead we have on where King Sombra is,” Starlight explained to Barbell.

“I have another question.” Barbell raised her hoof, acting almost as if she was in class at school.

“Uh, ask away,” the unicorn was wondering if the mare was acting like this because, as she had said, was bored.

“Who’s King Sombra?” Barbell asked, causing Dew Doe to blink in surprise.

“Wait, you don’t know who King Sombra is?” the pegasus sounded astonished. Barbell looked at her unimpressed.

“No. should I?” the earth pony wondered.

“King Sombra, the pony who wrecked the birthday party in Ponyville? Abducted Private, Barricade and their family...the one we are going after?” Dew Doe wasn’t sure what to think.

“Yes, yes, I got that. He’s the guy who took Barricade. But why? Who is he? And why did he abduct Barricade and the rest?” Barbell sighed in frustration.

“King Sombra is the pony who possessed Private in the Crystal Empire. Surely you knew that Barricade went to the Crystal Empire when that happened. Sombra abducted him during that event as well… wait…” Dew Doe stopped. “You didn’t know what happened back then?”

“No. Barricade always refused to talk about what happened there, always just clammed up shut. He still has nightmares about it, keeps zoning out. Why, do you care?” the earth pony snorted, then arched her brow when Dew Doe started going pale.

“Uh, Dew Doe?” Starlight looked worriedly at the pegasus. She had previously been worried that the discussion was getting heated, but now Dew had fallen silent as if something had struck her.

“The day before he came to the girl’s summer play, he had a huge meltdown, screaming how he had been made helpless, couldn’t help his brother and…” Barbell fell silent when Dew Doe suddenly took to the air and rushed out of the coach and over to the next train car, looking like she was in panic.

Foxy, who had been watching the exchange from her seat, frowned before rising and followed her sister.

“What’s with her?” Barbell looked at Starlight, confused.

---

Foxy found her sister curled up in a corner in the furthest car of the train. The blue pegasus wasn’t crying, but she was clearly upset, having her front legs and wings wrapped around herself, her ears bent so low they nearly disappeared into her lush, candy cane striped mane.

“Alright, asking if you are okay would be ridiculous,” Foxy stated and sat down next to her. “So what’s up?”

“Oh nothing, just realized I had a pony right in front of me who was practically screaming for help and I didn’t help him. In fact, I tried my hardest to ignore him.” Dew slowly turned her head towards the maroon pony, eyes twitching and her whole body shuddering. “I ignored somepony who desperately needed help.”

“Ooooh boy.” Foxy glanced up for a moment. She knew her sister well. This was a case of Dew having an, ‘I didn’t help a pony’ panic attack. She was known for this reaction amongst those that knew her well. She put a leg around the smaller mare. “Tell me. I didn’t hear all the discussion over there.”

“Barbell didn’t know anything about the possession incident. Barricade hadn’t told her. She said he’d been having nightmares, zoning out. He’d had a meltdown before the day he suddenly appeared and apologized to the girls, to you and Derpy, to his brother… he hasn’t been getting help… Foxy, he wasn’t being a stupid idiot when he charged Sombra at the castle. That rage… I should have seen it… it was post traumatic stress disorder. He was in panic, his mind just wanted the cause of his panic gone and his brain just went with the simplest solution - try to attack it, hope it would drive it away,” Dew Doe started to ramble, she untangled her legs from herself and covered her face with her front hooves.

Foxy blinked, then gasped and used her free leg to grab her own mouth. As she thought back to the party and the later attack, the mare started to cringe as more things she had herself noticed started to come together.

“I was going to say that in our defense, Barricade has been a jerk to us for so long that we could be forgiven for being suspicious of his turnaround and keeping a respectable distance from him, but for some reason, that’s just making me feel worse,” she said and sighed.

“I mean, he came to the party. That alone was a huge sign. Coal was getting letters from him almost weekly and she was actually excited to get them. Private has gone to visit him. Private hardly ever travels unless it’s job-related or to visit his parents. He added his brother to those rare, once-in-a-blue-moon travels.” Foxy groaned and now fully hugged her sister with both legs. “Now I’m feeling rotten.”

“You want to know something worse?” Dew whispered and hugged her sister back.

“No, but tell me anyway,” the maroon pegasus grunted.

“A few weeks ago, Private told me he was worried about Barricade… I didn’t really listen,” the blue one’s voice was barely audible. Foxy held back a groan when hearing that.

“Hey, is everything alright?” the voice of Starlight Glimmer broke in. The unicorn had just arrived after having been looking for them and saw the two pegasi sisters huddled together, clinging to one another.

“Behold, two certified therapists who utterly ignored a pony in desperate need of therapy,” Foxy raised one leg high in the air and grinned rather unconvincingly.

Dew untangled herself from her sister and took a moment to calm herself down. Then she raised her head to see where Starlight was watching both of them with a concerned frown. The pegasus tried to smile, but it was very weak and nervous.

“Sorry to fly off like that… as I told you, I like helping ponies and realizing I had been ignoring somepony that really did need help…” Dew Doe dropped her head to stare at the ground. “I panicked. All our focus went to Private and the ordeal he went through from the possession. We didn’t even consider how the whole thing affected his brother, who was there too.”

“Well, I did notice Barricade seemed rather isolated during the party. He called it the, ‘let’s see if Barricade is real about changing his ways’ party. He also said he was on probation,” Starlight mentioned, then winced when seeing the horrified expressions come over the mare’s faces. “Sorry… I’m not making you feel any better, am I?”

“No, no,” Dew shook her head and seemed to regain some composure. “We needed to hear that. We allowed our bias against Barricade to cloud or judgement. We didn’t give him a fair chance.”

“Usually we would say we had given him plenty of chances in the past, but back then even Private was suspicious. Now he wasn’t - that alone should have at least given us pause to reconsider our stance,” Foxy grunted and rose up to stand. “Seriously, we are not in our A-game right now.”

“Well to be fair, this hasn’t exactly been the relaxing day we’d initially planned,” Dew Doe pointed out.

“So are you two feeling better?” Starlight wondered, quite willing to give the sisters more alone time if they needed it. The train wouldn’t be in the Crystal Empire for several more hours.

“Are we feeling better?” Foxy looked at Dew.

“Probably not, but it’s no use moping. What done is done. We’ll do damage control when we get everpony away from that smoky creep,” Dew Doe grunted, then she noticed that Starlight was staring at them a little confused. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t want to sound rude, but you two seemed to bounce back really quickly,” the unicorn pointed out. “Just moments ago you looked like you were about ready to crawl under a rock and refuse to come out.”

“It’s her fault,” Dew stated and pointed Foxy, who faked a shocked gasp.

“Whaaat? Moi?” the maroon pony, acted as if she was aghast at the accusation. Then she dropped pretense and grinned wide and showed her flank. Three small suns adorned it. “She’s not wrong, I bounce back quickly and infect her and try to infect those around me. I drive those gloomy clouds away and let the sun shine in.”

“You may have noticed that even if she was feeling just as bad as me, she kept speaking in a rather non-serious manner,” the blue pegasus mock glared at her sister. “It’s sometimes almost impossible to have good funk with her around.”

“Hey, everypony knows, I’m the funky sister,” Foxy sat down so she could cross her legs, closing her eyes and turning her head upwards.

Dew eyed Starlight, who was by now trying to contain her giggles. The blue pegasus had a ‘this is what I live with’ expression.

“To be fair, I’m just naturally silly. The suns appeared when I realized I could use it to help those who needed a little sunshine in their lives,” Foxy confessed and returned her attention to the unicorn.

“That actually reminds me a little of Pinkie Pie,” Starlight noted with a smile.

“That’s what she said,” Foxy grinned, then put on a dead serious expression, though it was easy to see that she wasn’t being that serious. “She then gave me an ‘Assistant spreader of laughter through Equestria’ certificate.”

“Fillydelphia chapter,” she then added after a moment.

“That sounds like Pinkie alright. Well, if you two are feeling better, want to come back?” Starlight smiled and nodded her head towards the exit of the train car.

“We’ll be there in a moment. I want to talk with Foxy a little bit more first,” Dew Doe told her. The unicorn nodded and left the pegasi sisters be for now. When Starlight was gone, Dew looked at Foxy.

“So how are you really holding up?” she asked.

“The hopeful mental picture of Coal driving King Sombra crazy by singing the song that never ends is what’s keeping me going right now,” the maroon pony sighed a little. “You?”

“I’ll just keep busy making sure Starlight doesn’t overdo it, what with having that bump on her head and all,” Dew answered and started to fiddle with parts of her mane.

“That bad huh?” Foxy smiled knowingly.

“I’m this close to contacting you-know-who,” the blue pegasus hissed and then quickly eyed around as if she worried someone was listening.

“I know what you mean, but you remember what he said. He can’t get involved in things like this,” her sister groaned.

“He told us that one day we would face a serious threat he couldn’t help us with. It just clicked after the attack why he didn’t come to the party. This was it, this was the threat, probably also why he wasn’t involved when Private was possessed,” Dew Doe shook her head in dismay. Foxy just nodded in agreement.

The pegasi sisters fell silent and for a moment just sat there, staring forward as the contemplated today’s events. Then they looked at each other, smiled solemnly, then headed back to the car Starlight and the others were in.

End chapter 11

Author's Note:

You-Know-Who appears in the second epilogue of the Time Keeper of Ponyville and does have a small cameo in Possession.