//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Research and Social Development // Story: The Second Exile // by cunning_linguist //------------------------------// Fluttershy went back to her cottage as suggested. Though she considered Riven a beloved patient of hers like any other, she also knew that she was in good hooves and that her other woodland friends had been neglected for the better part of the day. Her suspicions were confirmed when she dodged a head of lettuce lobbed by a particularly cranky bunny. “Oh Angel, I’m so sorry! I’ll make you a nice big dinner to make up for your missed lunch.” Angel briefly pondered the benefits of her bribe but decided instead to load another vegetable into his make-shift catapult and continue the barrage. Rainbow Dash, despite not having caught a single nap all day, was far too energetic to simply wind down. She almost wished she had volunteered to take the first shift, because though she had no facts about their newest Ponyville arrival, Rainbow knew hardcore when she saw it. That girl had stories that she was desperate to hear. She decided on laying down for just long enough to ensure that she wouldn’t nod off later, and would replace Twilight when she awoke. The moon was full and brilliant tonight, and both mares acknowledged its beauty before laying their heads down, one eager to sleep off the stress brought on by the day’s events, and the other to pass the time. Fluttershy’s dreams were always colorful, warm, and relaxing. The day before she vividly recalled a much-needed vacation to Colto San Lucas where modestly dressed pool boys served her nonalcoholic beverages and rubbed her belly… in a totally platonic manner, of course. Tonight her dreams were of herself and her friends, Riven included. They socialized, ate delicious confections baked by Pinkie Pie, and engaged in idle gossip. In her dreams, Fluttershy was typically far more outgoing than in real life. Rainbow Dash’s dreams, on the other hand, were always of the same thing: The Wonderbolts. She was the captain, the star of the show, and spent her days performing for millions of cheering fans. Occasionally she would dream about the time after her life’s aspiration was realized; she was older but still awesome, and had married a strapping stallion. She told her children stories of her exploits — much to their delight — and never had to do the laundry or cook dinner. Something was different tonight, however. Fluttershy’s friends began to exclude her from the conversation. She thought little of it at first and tried to worm her way back into the group, but they would always be just out of hoof’s reach. She could hear them gossiping about her, giggling and making fun of her insecurities. Being the outgoing subconscious mare that she was, she grew frustrated and demanded to know why they were acting so cruel. She wished she had let them continue to talk behind her back. “What’s the matter, ‘Shy? Scared we don’t like you anymore?” Rainbow said, her chromatic mane duller and flatter than usual. “She oughta be,” said Applejack, who had also lost much of her luster. “I’ve honestly had it up’ta here with her. Girl’s almost twenty-five years old, for Pete’s sake. Still scared of the motherbuckin’ dark.” “Ugh, finally,” Twilight droned, the deformities present in the others were beginning to exemplify in her. “Ever since I’ve moved to Ponyville, she’s done nothing but weigh us down and make a foal of herself. Let her run back home and be with the animals that love her so much. Oh, wait! Even Angel pushes you around!” “Sounds good to me,” exclaimed a barely-recognizable Rarity. “Just leave, you insufferable git! LEAVE!” “LEAVE!” “LEAVE!” Fluttershy gasped and sat up, cold sweat chilling her coat and tears streaming from her eyes. She’d never had a dream like that before; she would have sworn it was real if she wasn’t now looking out across her dimly lit bedroom, courtesy of a nearby nightlight. She exhaled and looked at her alarm clock, which read: “Twelve o’clock,” she said with a voice even quieter than usual. Had it just been a normal nightmare, Fluttershy would have been able to write it off as nothing and return to sleep, even if it wouldn’t have been as restful as she was accustomed too. Instead, she sat awake all night, remembering the last thing she heard in her dream. A voice. A voice she didn’t recognize but one that made her whimper whenever she thought back to it. It was cold, malicious, and hateful. It’s every hissing word violated and polluted her very soul. “All alone…” Rainbow experienced something similar. In her dreams she was flying alongside her heroes. Clad in her blue Wonderbolts uniform and wearing their reflective goggles, she was on top of the world. To her left was Spitfire — the captain and in her opinion, the only mare she’d ever switch teams for. With her was Silver Lining and Wind Dancer. On Rainbow’s left was Soarin’, Highfalutin’, and Airborne. They performed a routine that would have made any other pegasus vomit and plummet to their doom, but the Wonderbolts did it with laughable ease. All except for Rainbow Dash, of course. She was new and went into this show not knowing the material. When the others rolled in perfect formation, she dipped a few feet lower, screwing up the entire routine. When they banked right and up, she rose too sharply and to the left, nearly colliding with Spitfire. “HEY!” Spitfire roared over the wind. “You idiot! Didn’t you rehearse this?!” Rainbow could only stutter and sheepishly look away as her idol chewed her out. Suddenly the crowd was gone as well, and they were back on the ground. Rainbow was in the center of seven other ponies verbally decimating her. “IDIOT!” “LOSER!” “FAILURE!” “I knew we shouldn’t have accepted her!” “We won’t make that mistake again! She’s out! Fired! And worse than that, banned from every future show!” Rainbow was quaking, crying hysterically and covering her head with her hooves. Nothing she did, however, could drown out the voices of her heroes and former colleagues vocalizing her worst fears. … Wait, seven? Rainbow Dash peeked out from between her forelock and laid eyes on what could only be described as a thing. It had the shape of a pony but besides a pair of white glowing eyes, it had no discernable features. The mutable shadow stepped forward, its mere movements causing the Wonderbolts to evaporate like mist. It leaned over her shivering form and began to laugh, a sound that chilled her to the bone and made her shriek like a filly. That only intensified when the creature ejected a horrific weapon from its forehoof and stabbed her through the spine. All pretense of sanity left Rainbow Dash then. She felt the pain, the helplessness, and the fear. If this was a dream she could not wake from it, until the nightmarish beast lifted her impaled carcass up to its face and mocked her with words that no amount of counseling would ever permit her to forget. “SUFFER ETERNALLY!” Whereas Fluttershy awoke merely afraid and shivering, Rainbow awoke with a blood-curdling scream that shook the walls of her cloud home and strained her throat so severely she coughed up a fluid that validated the description. She scrambled out from between her lighter-than-air comforter and dashed to the bathroom, throwing up what little she had in her stomach. Unable to make it to the toilet in time, she dirtied her sink instead, which gave her reason to look up into the medicine cabinet’s mirror afterward. What Rainbow saw she didn’t recognize. Her cyan coat was pale and sickly, her mane was flat and its many colors were fading, and her eyes were bloodshot. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop running her hoof over the spot on her chest where she felt the blade pierce. “Oh Celestia…” she shuttered and wept. “Race?” “Human.” “Place of origin?” “Noxus, in the continent of Valoran.” Twilight was dictating and checking off a list of pertinent facts at the same time. She had purposely skipped the first question because she wasn’t trying to be rude. However, curiosity won out over discourteousness. “Full name?” “Riven.” “… And… you don’t have a surname?” “Do you?” The exile asked, trying to not sound snippy but fearing her condition left her patience at a premium. “Well, no. My full given name is Twilight Sparkle. You’re… just ‘Riven’?” “… I have a surname.” “Wonderful! Can you tell me what it is?” Riven looked momentarily thoughtful then grinned and shrugged. “No.” Twilight sighed and wrote in the margins: “will inquire later” “Occupation?” “I’m a conscripted fighter for the League of Legends.” Realizing that the explanation could require a bit of elaboration, she settled on an abridged version. “It’s a group that uses spectator sports to settle disputes between other nations.” “Oh, well that doesn’t sound nearly as bad as ‘fighter’ lead me to believe.” “Well, I do fight. Fighting is the sport.” Twilight paused and looked up at Riven from behind the top of her list. “You… hurt ponies… for entertainment?” “People, and yes… but in addition to settling disputes,” Riven engrained, trying not to sound like a bloodthirsty brute from a culture of savages. Too bad even she didn’t believe that. She sighed then, realizing that the abridged version would not due this justice. “Look, where I come from, the world is in bad shape. We’ve had many wars, each left it worse than the last. Eventually it got to the point where another war would have destroyed Runeterra — that’s the name of the planet.” Twilight was listening intently, and even retrieved a new piece of parchment so she wouldn’t sully her list with this riveting tale. “So the League of Legends was founded. A group of powerful magic-users—” “Ooh, ooh! Tell me about them!” “...The summoners?” “If that’s what they’re called, yes!” “Well… they’re usually older men and women who have studied the art of conjuration magic their entire lives. I’m told that if you’re not very skilled at it, summoning a person — a pony — can be incredibly dangerous.” Twilight’s parchment levitated up to hide her beet-red cheeks. “And because of that skill, they created a place called the Institute of War where those who fight can live and act in neutral territory. Because of the threat war posed, every city, state, and nation agreed that this was the best course of action.” “Wow. That’s… sad.” Twilight’s ears drooped to emphasize her emotion. “There is no other option?” “I don’t know,” Riven admitted. “I’m just a fighter. I leave the thinking to my betters.” Twilight smiled and set the parchment down, then leaned forward and nuzzled Riven’s shoulder. “I think you’re smarter than you give yourself credit, Riven.” The very notion of her lot in life had instilled a deep-seeded dislike of physical contact in Riven. She’d never been close to anyone but her family and they were no longer relevant, and she had never trusted a person enough to become intimate with them. It didn’t take her long to realize that these ponies were very tactile; they kissed, hugged, cuddled, and caressed without the slightest idea that it could be seen as uncomfortable or misconstrued as sexual. Riven had stopped shying away from them now, finding it not only futile but difficult given her multitude of injuries. Still, it couldn’t hurt to set some ground rules. “Twilight, do you… do this…” she gestured with her eyes at Twilight’s nuzzle, “with everyone?” Twilight looked momentarily confused, then glanced back at Riven’s shoulder and nodded. “Um… well, yes. Some more than others, I suppose. Unicorns like myself have over eleven-thousand nerve endings in our bodies, a third of which are clustered in our horns. Earth ponies have less, but pegusi have even more, mostly in their wings! Fascinating, right?” “Very. Still, you’re very… affectionate.” “Well you’re my friend. Aren’t you affectionate with your friends?” Riven was beginning to see how this argument could twist itself into a circle so she decided to drop that topic specifically. “Fine, but what about nudity?” “What about it?” “Do ponies never… cover up?” Twilight smirked. “We have fur coats and tails. What more do we need?” “Well humans have neither,” she said, growing frustrated. “I wasn’t just wearing clothes because it was cold. I was wearing them because I don’t want everything hanging out.” “Oh, that reminds me!” Twilight levitated her parchment over and readied her quill. “May I examine your reproductive organs?” “NO YOU MAY NOT!” “Aw, but why?” A rapid-fire series of knocks interrupted their conversation before it resulted in fisticuffs, not that Riven would have been much of a challenge in her current state. Before either could invite the guest in, Pinkie Pie bucked it practically off the hinges and began to swarm Riven like a wasp. Both Shining Armor and Noteworthy were on the other side, knowing full well Pinkie wasn’t any sort of threat but fearful of how Riven might react. “HIHIHIHIMYNAMEISPINKIEPIEITSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGOODTOOMEETYOU!” Riven’s short, spiky hair flopped back into place once the gust ceased and she nodded once, her eyes wide and worrisome. “Nice to meet you too?” “Yay!” Pinkie reached behind her and produced from essentially no where a tray of cupcakes, fresh out of the oven. “Want a cupcake? OF COURSE YOU DO! Pssh, duh! What kind of a question is that?” Pinkie happily smacked herself on the head and held out one of the delicious treats for Riven, who merely looked at Twilight like the building had caught fire. “Um, Pinkie, her hands are pretty badly hurt.” “Oh! I’m sorry!” Pinkie looked legitimately distraught that she had reminded Riven of a potentially sore subject, so she instead held the cupcake closer, expecting the woman to eat it right out of hoof. “Uh, thank you but I’m not really hun—” “EAT THE FREAKIN’ CUPCAKE!” Riven immediately took a bite, feeling more vulnerable now than she had at any other point in her life. Still, it was a very good pastry and though she hadn’t been lying about not being hungry, she wasn’t about to let it go to waste. Pinkie, of course, was more than happy to stand there for as long as it took. When Riven was finished, Pinkie plopped down on Twilight’s previously occupied cushion and looked at her purple friend with excitement radiating in her eyes. “… Pinkie? What are you doing?” “Taking over for you! I called next shift!” “We didn’t have established shifts, Pinkie. Besides, I think Rainbow wanted it next.” “Well Dashie isn’t here, I am, and if she snoozes, she loses!” “I’m not tired,” the unicorn grumbled, her irritation evident. “Yes you are,” Shining Armor’s voice called from the hallway. “SHUT UP BIG BRO!” “It’s fine, Twilight.” Riven was speaking now, trying to lick a dollop of icing from her upper lip. “Go get some rest. I’ll be ready for more questions in the morning.” With an audible sigh, Twilight nodded and began to pack up her belongings. “All right, but I don’t want to hear any excuses like ‘well now I’m tired’ or some such nonsense.” Riven chuckled, wincing with every breath. “I promise I’ll still be in horrific pain when I see you next.” “I-I-I didn’t mean it like that!” “I know. That was sarcasm.” Pinkie giggled. “Spike’s right! You’re awful with sarcasm!” After a few goodbyes to both the occupants of Riven’s room, a polite hug from Noteworthy, and the sort of hug that only siblings could share, Twilight left the hospital’s darkened corridors to the able hooves of her friends and family. Before she was actually out of earshot, however, she heard a deck of cards shuffle and invitations extending to the two guards. They accepted and Pinkie, Riven, Shining Armor, and Noteworthy engaged in a friendly game of five-card stud.