Sonata sat bolt upright as someone pounded on the door.
For a moment, she didn’t know where she was or what was going on, staring ahead blankly as the knocking continued. For a brief moment she wondered if it was Aria or Adagio telling her that she’d overslept again, but the thought didn’t seem right somehow, as though she was forgetting something important. Like, really important. Yawning, she got to her feet…only to go tumbling forward with a yelp, landing awkwardly on all fours. Oh yeah. I don’t have feet anymore, she realized with an embarrassed giggle, glancing down at her hooves. Whoopsie.
The sudden tumble was enough to jog her memory. She’d gone to the train station so that she could work on a song about everything Lex had done up until now. That way, all the camp ponies would know what a great guy he was, and she’d have done her job as a spokespony! Just the thought of it – of all those eyes watching her sing, of Lex’s surprise when he got back and everyone cheered for him, and of how proud he’d be of her for doing such a great job – had been enough to make her prance in excitement before she’d gotten down to work.
Of course, actually coming up with lyrics and a tune had been kinda tough. The melody was easy enough – all she had to do was think of how she wanted her audience to feel, and imagine something that felt right – but the words had to actually tell a story, rather than saying whatever seemed appropriate, and it turned out that was harder to do. There weren’t a lot of things that rhymed with “gigantic astral pony” or “huge squid monster.” Plus, they’d had a whole bunch of adventures! Like, forget one song; there was an entire album’s worth of stuff that they’d done!
It hadn’t helped that she’d started to get super tired partway through. Staying up all night to make sure Aria didn’t try anything sneaky with Lex had totes tuckered her out, and after a little while she’d been yawning more than humming. She’d finally decided to lay down on one of the interior benches and take a quick nap, telling herself that she’d just rest for a little bit and then get right back to it. And now…
Now someone was knocking on the door again.
“Gimme a sec!” she called as she climbed down from the bench, groaning as she stretched her sore muscles. Maybe Lex can invent a spell that summons a hotel or something. A nice one, with a big fluffy bed and wall-to-wall carpeting. Maybe a bubble bath. If it was a really big one, he could even have everyone in camp check in until help arrived! The thought made her grin as she trotted to the door and fumbled with the keys, pleased with herself. She’d totes have to remember to tell him about her idea later. She was still smiling as she unlocked the door and opened it. “What’s u-”
“Finally!” Cozy’s voice was somewhere between frantic and outraged, and she didn’t wait for an answer as she pushed past Sonata, taking a half-dozen steps into the train station before whirling and glaring at the other mare. “Do you know what happened?!
“Huh?” Sonata blinked, her smile falling away in favor of a confused look.
“Cloudbank and Drafty,” answered Aisle, still standing outside the door. Unlike Cozy, his face was unreadable. “And the three other ponies that left with them.”
“Huh?” answered Sonata blankly, not sure what they were talking about. “You mean C. Shells and Sandbar and whatshisname, Turnip?”
“Turbo,” corrected Aisle.
“Right, that’s what I said.”
“Stop with the fooling around!” Cozy stomped a hoof, agitated. “Did Lex tell you what happened?!”
Sonata’s brow furrowed. “Lex went into Vanhoover to go get them a little while ago. He took Aria with him.” She rolled her eyes at that last part, unable to resist signaling what she thought of that particular decision on his part.
But the only reaction that Aisle and Cozy had was to glance at each other, a look of mutual comprehension passing between them. For some reason, the sight made Sonata nervous. Her feeling was validated a moment later as Aisle spoke up. “Sonata…Lex and Aria came back a little while ago. Alone.”
Sonata’s eyes widened. “For realsies? Why didn’t he come get me? I did a totes awesome job keeping this place running, and I wanted to…wait…” She put a hoof to her mouth, the gears in her head slowly turning. “What do you mean ‘alone’?” That didn’t sound right.
Cozy stomped her hoof again, but this time her posture was clearly more distressed than angry. “Cloudbank and the others didn’t come back with him. They haven’t come back at all.” She looked like she was going to say more, but suddenly stopped, shaking her head and looking away.
Aisle, still wearing a blank expression, spoke up. “There’s a rumor going around…”
A terrible feeling crept over Sonata then. She wanted to wave a hoof and say that this place had been crawling with rumors, mostly about Lex, ever since they’d gotten there. But the way these two were acting now was enough to stop her from dismissing whatever it was they’d heard. Instead, she asked the obvious question. “What rumor?”
Neither pony answered for a moment, and she canted her head back and forth as she looked between them, her bad feeling blossoming into full-blown worry. “You guys, seriously, what rumor?”
“That they’re dead,” answered Aisle woodenly. “Cloudbank and Drafty, and the other three. They’re all dead.”
Sonata’s eyebrows went up to her hairline, and for a moment she just looked at him in shock. When Aisle’s only response was to look back at her helplessly, Sonata turned her head to look at Cozy, silently asking if that was the case. But the crystal mare’s eyes were glued to the floor, refusing to look up as she bit her lip. It was only after several long seconds went by that Sonata managed to react, giving a snort as she went with her earlier instinct and waved a hoof as though to bat Aisle’s words away. “No way. Nuh-uh. I was totes there when they left, and there’s, like, no way a bunch of ghouls could have punched their tickets.”
“Then why aren’t they here?” Cozy’s voice was heated, but there was too much pain in it for it to sound hostile. “Why did Lex come back, and they didn’t?”
“I don’t-, look, let’s just go ask him!” There was a sinking feeling in Sonata’s stomach, not liking where this was going. Those five ponies hadn’t been bad people; quite the opposite. Sure, she hadn’t liked the way that Drafty had been so obviously crushing on Lex, and Turbo had been part of Garden Gate’s gang, but they were all ponies that she’d gotten to know since she’d arrived here. The idea that they had left and that was it, that they were gone and never coming back was, like, totes ridiculous. Important people don’t just wander off and die like that. They get a bunch of flashbacks first, and then a big dramatic death scene complete with a teary, heartfelt goodbye. That’s how it’s supposed to work. “If Lex is back, then we can just go and talk to him right now.” A lightbulb went off over her head, then. “Come to think of it, how come you guys didn’t just go talk to Lex about this already?”
“He left.” Aisle rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. As much as he wanted to know what had happened to his friends, he wasn’t exactly eager to confront Lex again. Not after how unpleasant their last meeting had been. He suspected that a lot of the camp ponies felt similarly, since news about what Lex had done to Spit Polish, and Garden Gate, had by now thoroughly made the rounds.
“You, like, just said he was back!”
“He was, for a little while.” Cozy’s voice had lost its edge, and all of a sudden she sagged in place, as though all of her energy had fled her. “The ponies here saw him wandering around, like he was looking for someone, and then he and somepony else left the camp together.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right? I mean, if he went back to Vanhoover, then-”
“They weren’t going back to Vanhoover.” Aisle nudged past Sonata as he spoke, going over to Cozy and turning to stand alongside her, letting her lean against him. Closing her eyes, she nuzzled him gently, and Sonata blinked at the gesture, knowing what it meant. Heedless, Aisle kept speaking. “The two of them were seen heading east, toward the mountains.”
Sonata gave him an uncomprehending look, closing the door automatically. “Why would Lex go away from Vanhoover, and with some-, no, you know what?” She shook her head then. Normally some gossip was a bit of harmless fun, but this had now gotten officially out of hand. Hoof. Whatever. “This is just another crazy rumor. If Cloudbank and the others had been killed, Lex would have been heartbroken, and as soon as he got back he’d have found me and-”
“He doesn’t love you, Sonata.”
The air seemed to freeze at Cozy’s words, and Sonata turned to stare at the crystal mare, stunned. “Excuse me?!”
Cozy let out a sigh, still leaning against Aisle as she looked Sonata right in the eye. “I know that you’re in love with him, but I haven’t seen anything, not once, that says that he feels the same way about you. Whenever he talks to you he’s always cold and awful, and there’s no indication that seeing you or hearing you or being around you makes him happy.”
Sonata snorted, feeling her hackles rise. “Look, I get that you’re worried about your friends, but-”
“Please, just listen to me. I’m a priestess of Lashtada, the goddess of love, and I’m telling you, Lex is just using you. I don’t know if it’s for your magic or your body or what, but he’s not somepony who deserves your affection.”
Sonata just stared at Cozy, her features tightening as a sudden surge of anger went through her. This was just like what had happened with Fireflower! Except, like, a million times more mean! Who did this meddling little mare think she was?! “I, like, totes don’t know where you get off lecturing me about love, since you went and found a new snuggle-daddy after your husband bought the farm.” Both of them went rigid at that, and Sonata knew she’d hit a nerve. But that was fine; years of being teased by her sisters had taught her that you won these kinds of fights by going after those. Giving her mane a flippant toss, Sonata gave Cozy a condescending smirk. “Are you gonna trade up again now that Lex cursed him? Or are you hoping that Lashtada will help you out this time, since she didn’t when Pillow died?”
Cozy’s eyes widened, recoiling in shock, but she didn’t have a chance to reply as Aisle suddenly stepped in front of her, glaring at the other mare in anger. “You’re way out of line, Sonata!” he snapped. “Cozy is only trying to help! You don’t need to-”
“Oh put a sock in it, Mr. Flopsy,” snorted Sonata. “People who throw glass stones shouldn’t live in houses.”
She was going to add another biting remark, but didn’t have a chance before the train station door suddenly opened. Glancing over, Sonata almost did a double-take as she saw who was there. Lex! Smirking, she started to say something…but the words died between her brain and her lips as she saw who was next to him: Nosey.
By itself, that wasn’t a big deal. If anything, seeing them together should have been a good sign, after how insensitive Lex had been yesterday morning. It would mean that they’d patched things up somehow, which to Sonata would have been a dream come true. The last thing she wanted was for there to be bad feelings between her boyfriend and her bestie. But looking at them now, Sonata realized that there was one thing she wanted even less between them, and that was for them to be getting along too well.
But with their sides pressed against each other now, that was exactly how they looked.