“So, um…the trains will probably start running again pretty soon.”
“…”
“I mean, I don’t know that for sure or anything. It just seems like that’s something that L-, that would get taken care of right away, now that there aren’t any more monsters to deal with, you know?”
“…”
“I’m just saying, in another day or two, we’ll be on our way back to the Crystal Empire.” Aisle forced himself to smile, not letting himself be deterred by Cozy’s unresponsiveness. “We’ll be sitting in nice, padded chairs as the attendant asks us if we want to use the dining car. The scenery will fly by while we get further and further away from here. And in just a few days, you’ll be home.”
That seemed to do the trick, as the ghost of a smile appeared on Cozy’s face. “Home,” she murmured, looking at the ground. Emboldened, Aisle put a foreleg around her, and was rewarded as she closed her eyes and leaned against him. The sensation sent a shudder of relief through the cursed stallion, though he tried to suppress it as much as he could, not wanting to do anything that had even the slightest chance of upsetting Cozy even more. The last few hours had not been kind to her. Mostly because Sonata had not been kind to her when they’d bumped into each other a little while ago.
It had been dawn by the time they’d made it back to the camp. Despite the urgency of the situation – Cozy having been convinced that the attack magic they’d overheard Sonata use was because Lex was attacking her – exhaustion, hunger, and the difficulty of pulling the shoddy sled that held Pillowcase’s body had reduced their speed to a crawl. By the time they’d gotten to within a stone’s throw of the frayed tents and shoddy lean-tos at the outermost edge of the place, they’d barely been able to stay upright as they stumbled forward.
That had been when Sonata, apparently heading out in the company of a few other ponies, had found them. The reunion had not been a pleasant one. Although Cozy had expressed relief that Sonata was alright, the moment she’d mentioned that she’d thought that Lex had attacked her had been all it had taken to set the former Siren off. Sonata had unleashed a barrage of verbal abuse that made her rant at the train station the previous evening, when Cozy had insisted that Lex didn’t love her, seem tame by comparison. No punches had been pulled: Sonata had viciously gone after Cozy’s courage (“you ran away just before things got bad; no wonder your husband was the one who went out looking for medicine while you stayed behind”), her virtue (“we should’ve had you wag your tail at the ghouls, since it worked so well on Aisle”), her faith (“do you think the reason Lashtickles keeps hanging you out to dry is because she’s, like, a big old weakling, or because she just doesn’t care?”), and anything else she could think of. She had concluded her tirade by reiterating that she and Lex were deeply in love (“he told me again last night that he totes can’t be happy if I’m not with him. And then we made out!”) before telling Cozy exactly where she could shove her opinions and trotting off, quite obviously pleased with herself.
Cozy, for her part, hadn’t uttered a word after Sonata began going after her. Aisle had tried to stick up for her, but Sonata had refused to let him get a word in edgewise, holding forth with a level of fervor that Aisle, in his current state, simply couldn’t begin to match. When Sonata had finally moved on, having taken her pound of flesh, he had been left feeling utterly demoralized, and he could only imagine that Cozy was feeling ten times worse. He’d guided her to an empty tent – little more than a filthy blanket strung up on two sticks that had been shoved into the ground – and settled her down there, placing Pillow’s body just outside. Since then, he’d been trying to make her feel better, with little to show for it until now.
“When we get there, we’ll go before Princess Cadance,” he continued. “She’ll bring Pillowcase back to life, and lift that curse on me, and then the three of us will all start building a new life together.” He gave her a slight nuzzle then, and smiled when she returned the gesture. “It’ll be a little awkward at first, but we’ll figure it out. I’ll get a job at a grocery store up there, and you and Pillow will go back to selling beds and cushions, and everything that’s happened here will be just a bad memory that can’t hurt us anymore.” As the words left his mouth, he was surprised by the sudden surge of longing he felt for the scene he was describing. Vanhoover had been his home for his entire life, but now…now he just wanted to find some peace of mind again, and he couldn’t imagine doing that here. Not after everything that had happened.
Even if the city was safe now, Aisle doubted he’d ever be able to truly feel comfortable here again. He’d managed to piece together, from Sonata’s diatribe, what had actually happened here last night. As insane as it was to think that Lex and a few other ponies had been able to defeat thousands of ghouls all on their own, Aisle couldn’t bring himself to disbelieve it. He’d seen bits and pieces of what Lex was capable of in the time that he’d known him, and the idea of him fighting an army of the undead and winning wasn’t unimaginable. But at the same time, that didn’t erase the memories of how things had been before Lex had arrived, or the friends that were no longer here. After so many nights of staying awake, hyper-alert for the slightest sound of a monster in the shadows, of huddling close with friends who hadn’t survived the ordeal, Aisle honestly couldn’t see himself living here without wondering if there was another ghoul lurking somewhere, waiting to lunge out of the darkness.
Vanhoover, the city where he’d grown up, wasn’t a place where he felt at home anymore.
The realization was heartbreaking, enough so that he could feel his eyes growing moist, but he blinked them away, staring straight ahead. He’d lost a lot, but it wasn’t like he’d lost everything. “We have a future together,” he said, needing to hear it out loud. “We have a future, and we’ll be happy together in our new home. So that’s why…” He paused as an idea came to him. It was completely insane, and probably inappropriate, but he rushed forward with it before he could lose his nerve. “So that’s why, even if it makes things more complicated later, I want to ask: Cozy, will you marry me?”
He looked down as he asked-, no, proposed to her, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest. She’d leaned her head against his chest, and he couldn’t see her expression from his angle, not able to judge her reaction. Several seconds went by where she didn’t move or say anything, and he wondered if maybe she’d fallen asleep. “…Cozy?”
“Yes.”
Now it was Aisle's turn to pause for a long moment. “…did you say yes because I said your name just now, or did you mean-”
Cozy looked up at him then, and even before she spoke again her smile told him everything he needed to know. “Yes, I’ll marry you, you silly stallion.”
She leaned up and kissed him then, and he closed his eyes as he stopped thinking about everything that wasn’t her. When their lips finally parted, he found that he was smiling too. More than that, he suddenly found himself feeling a little playful. “You realize, if Pr-, when Princess Cadance brings Pillow back, you’re going to have two husbands.”
Cozy’s cheeks darkened at that, but her smile widened, and she glanced down at the holy symbol around her neck. Lifting it with her hoof, she contemplated it for a few moments before replying. “Lashtada’s okay with that,” she murmured demurely. “And…I think I am too.”
“That’s it there, see?”
“Oh yeah! Awesome work, DJ!”
Disc Jockey grinned awkwardly at Sonata’s praising him for finding the nearest farm, not able to bring himself to say that he hated that abbreviation; it only fed into people misunderstanding what his special talent was. But for a lady like her, it’s fine. It wasn’t just that she was the most beautiful mare he’d ever laid eyes on, but also because she was one of the heroes that had saved them all. Not sweating the small stuff while he helped her out was the very least he could do.
After the battle last night, he hadn’t been able to sleep. He’d seen the entire thing, from start to finish, and it had been incredible enough that he’d known there was no way he’d be able to settle down before morning. That was why he’d been awake when Sonata had come around right when the sun was rising, looking for some ponies to help her out with getting food. Disc Jockey had jumped at the chance to help pay back Vanhoover’s heroes, as had several other ponies, and now here they were. I just wish my mom had seen it that way, he sighed to himself as they approached the farmhouse. Honestly, this isn’t anything like what happened with those other ponies that went back into Vanhoover. He’d been here before, after all…even if it had been under different circumstances, as evidenced by the sack full of bits on his back. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Huh?” blinked Sonata. “Whaddaya mean? The plan is we go and buy food.”
“Well…yeah, but these guys aren’t exactly going to throw the doors open and welcome us in,” answered Disc Jockey awkwardly. “I mean, you know…not after before…”
“Aw, don’t worry about that,” answered Sonata breezily, her voice filled with nothing but confidence…though it would have been more reassuring if her eyes hadn’t been glued to a nearby butterfly as she spoke, giggling as she watched it land on a nearby flower. “I’ve totes got that covered. I’m, like, brilliant, you know.”
“Well, yeah, but-”
“Like, last night after all the fighting was done, Lex had just gone to sleep, right? And Aria was all like ‘I’m totes gonna cuddle up with your boyfriend ‘cause I’m his bodyguard and all.’ And I’m just like ‘nuh-uh! Your fat behind can’t even fit in our tent!’ But she was all ‘I can if I curl up around him reeeally tight, but there won’t be any room left for you.’ And I’m totes about to tell her no way when Nosey comes up to us, and she’s still all freaked out from what happened with Xi-, er…because she had a bad dream, I mean. She had, like, a super bad dream before. So she says ‘hey, can I sleep in your tent with you guys?’ And I’m like ‘sure thing, bestie!’ And then I look at Aria, and I’m all ‘two against one, so ha!’ And so she was the one who had to sleep outside! And best of all, when I left this morning, Nosey was still there to make sure she can kiss-block Aria! So double ha! I mean, yeah, Nosey might be a little clingy herself right now, but that’s just because she’s all shaken like bacon, and once she’s back to normal she’ll knock it off.”
She nodded firmly at that, before glancing over at Disc Jockey. “See? Totes brilliant stuff.”
“Uh…” Disc Jockey blinked, completely lost for words. “Yeah…” He glanced around for help, but everypony else seemed to be just as lost as he was. “Er…so, what do we do about the farm ponies here if they don’t want to sell us anything?”
“Oh, what, that?" She waved a hoof, unconcerned. "Don’t worry. They will.”
“But what if they don’t?”
“I’m a Siren,” grinned Sonata. “I’ll change their minds.”