A small chat

by Grft

"How are you?"

When somepony shows themselves to be bad, it is enough for many to simply categorise them as evil and move on. But not for Pipp. Pipp doesn't believe in evil. So when Sprout was locked up following his assault, it wasn't long before Pipp found herself sitting just a meter away from the demon, cold steel being the only separator. Sprout looked up through the rusty metal bars and stared at his visitor. His fur was matted, his expression bleak and his eyes were bloodshot, staring daggers right through Pipp's equally determined glare. Pipp blinked, and her eyes softened.

"How am I?" Sprout had a hint of surprise in his voice. Pipp and Sprout were sat facing each other on the cold stone floor of the sheriffs office. It was dark, the lights were switched off. Most of the lighting was coming from the tiny barred window in the corner of the otherwise desolate cell. "On the inside, dread, guilt, sadness. It's all my fault. Outside, everypony hates me. They think I should be locked up, and they'd be right. I vitalised their fear into hate. I am unforgivable." Sprout stole a glance towards the small window. "Even the sun wants to avoid me."

"Why?" Perhaps that was a foolish question. After all, everypony else was satisfied with how Sprouts actions had been treated.

"Growing up, everyone believed it. The lie about pegasi and unicorns. But while everyone else learned to live with it, I couldn't. Mum's goal was to equip ponies with tools they could use to defend themselves, but I never thought that was right. After all, why should earth ponies have to defend themselves against unicorns and pegasi?" Sprout paused for a moment. "Perhaps I was just jealous of the fact that everypony else was moving on. Hitch to become the the beloved sheriff of Maretime Bay and Sunny to carry her fathers torch forward. I guess I always wanted to somepony like that. Somepony ponies cared about" Sprout looked up inquisitively. "Can you understand how I feel?" Pipp wasn't amused.

"I think I might." Sprout's calm demeanor turned.

"How absurd! Nopony could understand how I feel! Least of all a pretty pegasus princess!" Sprout took a tired breath. "Sorry, I shouldn't yell."

"Can I tell you a story?"

"Sure, I guess"

"I wasn't always popular. Before I became famous for my music, I was no more than a curse upon my mother and the the royal family." Sprout cocked his head.

"Oh?"

"The primary reason my mother chose to get pregnant was so she would have an successor to her throne." Pipp ran a hoof over the smooth floor. "I'm a Fraternal twin, not a crown princess. I wasn't wanted. My very existence was a mistake." Sprout chuckled.

"That makes two of us."

"Nobody said so of course, but it was obvious what they were all thinking. My sister was, on the other hoof, perfect. She was smart, engaged and even had proper wings." Pipp gazed at the steel bars with a serious expression. "I've faced death before. I was afraid back then. Now I can kill myself any time I want."

"So why didn't you?" Pipp's serious expression melted into a smile.

"Music! I used to spend so much time in the castle's music room when I was young. Tapping a piano or strumming a guitar made me feel at ease. I can play just about any instrument in there now. At night I'd stay up late and write cringe lyrics. Nowadays they call me the Pony of Pop."

"But that's all they see you as?"

"Pretty much. But that's ok. I have friends now. And I'm not a curse to them. But what about you? You used to be the deputy sheriff here."

"But only because Hitch gave me the job."

"That must have made you popular. Like Hitch?"

"Not at all. Hitch always handled the big cases. You know, the ones that get all the love and admiration." Pipp smiled sweetly.

"That's funny. I crossed an old mare on the way here struggling to get her cat out of a tree. Said you always used to help since Hitch is usually to busy to do anything about a small case like that." Sprout perked up a bit.

"But-"

"Sunny told me that even after you two fell out, you wouldn't hesitate to physically defend her."

"Well-" Anypony would have done that right? He grew to resent Sunny, but seeing her get hurt over her words just felt, wrong? Pipp didn't stop.

"A stallion I met at Sunny's stand also said it was a shame how things turned out because you used to care a lot about stuff that Hitch didn't consider a "priority"." Sprout was silent. Pipp's voice became soft. "Sprout, you were always appreciated and loved as deputy."

"Then I guess it's true what they say: you don't know what you have until you lose it."

"Do you wish you could go back?"

"Even if I did they'd never accept me."

"And what if they did?" Pipp's swift rebuttal caught Sprout of guard.

"I..." Sprout was lost in thought.

"You miss it, don't you?"

"Now that I think about it, ponies did rely on me. Hitch was always so busy with the more serious cases, ponies appreciated that I would listen to their problems no matter what. Maby that's why I feel so low right now. Helping the little pony made me happy." Sprout's voice saddened. "I really was somepony after all. Not that that does much good for me now."

"Ya know, I could talk Hitch into lightening your sentence..."

"R-really? You'd do that for me?" Pipp grinned.

"Of course! Ponies trusted you. I think they can do so again."

"That would mean a lot to me."

"Then it's settled." As Pipp got up to leave, Sprout called out to her.

"Thank you."

Pipp looked back with a bright smile, and for the first time in a while, Sprout smiled too.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why aren't there any genre tags?

[SparklingTwilight]

This piece addresses an important issue about finding a positive purpose to pursue in life and it also attempts to redeem Sprout both prospectively and retrospectively. It is short, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Thank you for submitting!

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A suggestion. Move the parts bolded below into the subsequent paragraphs since their speakers are NOT speaking the lines preceding them.
There are other instances, but if you choose to make the below changes then I am sure you can catch the others.

"Can you understand how I feel?" Pipp wasn't amused.

"I think I might." Sprout's calm demeanor turned.

"How absurd! Nopony could understand how I feel! Least of all a pretty pegasus princess!" Sprout took a tired breath. "Sorry, I shouldn't yell."
...
"I wasn't always popular. Before I became famous for my music, I was no more than a curse upon my mother and the the royal family." Sprout cocked his head.
...
"So why didn't you?" Pipp's serious expression melted into a smile.

Also:

air

heir

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If you choose to add genre tags, slice of life and drama may be good bets. You can add them by editing the landing page for your story.

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Welcome to the site!

[Yoshifan30]

Not bad for your first story and I kind of like how you met pipp actually care and not only that thinking that people can still change even sprouts and again I'm a sucker for a Redemption stories anyway nice story keep up the good work

[Reviewfilly]

A few pieces of advice and some thoughts:

It would probably help your prose if you separated your text into more paragraphs. For instance:

it wasn't long before Pipp found herself sitting just a meter away from the demon, cold steel being the only separator. Sprout looked up through the rusty metal bars and stared at his visitor.

I would put a newline after the first sentence's end. It allows the reader a moment to internalize what and who is in the room, before they move on with the text.

Pipp's equally determined glare. Pipp blinked, and her eyes softened.

I'm not really sure what this is trying to convey. Pipp already went there with the assumption that Sprout isn't really bad, so why does she glare at him in the first place? I think it would feel much more natural if Pipp's stare started out soft and then hardened when Sprout doesn't even try to humor her.

On the inside, dread, guilt, sadness. It's all my fault. Outside, everypony hates me. They think I should be locked up, and they'd be right. I vitalised their fear into hate.

I get what you're going for, but Sprout in the previous sentence is talking about his feelings. Others hating him isn't part of that. The sentence about him being locked up also reads weird. The ponies have no reason to think he "should be locked up," since he already is. Finally "vitalised" while technically correct sounds really out place here and not a word I could imagine the character say. Perhaps "fanned" could be used as an alternative?

I understand why Pipp is asking "Why?" however, due to Sprout's last sentence being about the sun, this can feel out of place.

Sprout's monologue about not understanding why ponies should defend themselves is where the story breaks down a little for me. If he truly didn't believe in his mother's words, then why did he rally the ponies into an army. If anything he would have tried to calm them down himself, now that he was in charge. This part, without further elaboration, makes very little sense.

Now I can kill myself any time I want.

This part comes right out of left field. I assume this implies that she tried to commit suicide, but the way you have written it is both very sudden and unnatural. Saying she can kill herself any time she wants sort of implies that she's still living for nothing. Even thought just a sentence later she says that she both has music and friends to live for.

Finally, your story is chock full of typos and other such mistakes. No one can blame an author if one or two slips by, but seeing words like "maby," "fractal twins," "an hair," etc. becomes grating fairly quickly. I suggest if you have trouble finding these issues (no shame in that), enter a proofreading group.

[Jay Watson]

This was a neat interlude between Pipp and Sprout; I like the fact he got busted and is in jail. Do a quick rewrite and fix a few of those tiny errors and it'll be perfect. Great job.