There was a hiking trail off the side of Ponytown, a forested area that quickly thinned out as you went up the steep hills.
They found Pinkie Pie way up near the top, looking down into the increasingly obscured park. Pinkie wasn’t chasing after anypony but was watching this area like a hawk.
Dash and Twilight landed next to her. Scootaloo had lost nearly all of her strength for the moment and was fast asleep on Dash’s back. She needed to get somepony to take the filly back home. Maybe it was best she do it herself, but she needed to find out what was going on first.
“Pinkie!” Dash stepped to her side. “Why are we standing here? Did they already get away?”
Dash scanned the horizon, not seeing what Pinkie was seeing. Pinkie’s eyes went first to Scootaloo, but Dash waved to assure her the filly was okay.
“I don’t think they got away.” Pinkie’s eyes were fixed on one spot. “Neither of us had a good move so we’ve just been standing here for hours.”
“Pinkie, it’s only been thirty minutes.”
“Or that!” Pinkie finally took her eyes off the mark, turning to Dash with a smile. “Now that you’re here, this should be pretty easy! Did you talk to the thing?”
“Yeah. It was–” Dash put a hoof on the back of her neck, remembering her promise. “It was kind of an asshole, but um… all of its jokes were hilarious 10/10 material.”
“Oh! Well, that’s better than nothing.”
“Also it said it really likes you and wants part of your soul. And it will rematerialize the next time you do ‘something cool’. So just… don’t do anything too cool unless you’re ready for that kind of relationship.”
“What? But Rainbow Dash, I just bought a skateboard! I was gonna be just like my fellow kids.”
“Well unless you’re into soul-swapping maybe stick to a less radical sport? Like hacky sack?”
Dash saw a speck in the distance. It quickly expanded, becoming a pegasus too fast for Dash to react to it. A burst of air more than any other warning announced the arrival of Fleetfoot.
“I guess Starlight let you two go?” Fleetfoot asked “Look, there’s four of them and four of us. This should be a cakewalk.”
Dash spread her wings, ready to take flight. But she felt a sharp pain in her wing that forced her back down.
The wound from before reopened. She’d pushed herself too hard now it was bleeding pretty badly again. Dash pressed a hoof against it and cast the blood restore spell.
“You got grounded by those guys?” Fleetfoot knit her brow and frowned at Dash.
“Well.” Dash covered the wound, suddenly self-conscious. “They got a surprise attack on me is all.”
Fleetfoot didn’t have a response to that, other than that disapproving expression.
“Rainbow Dash.” Twilight sat next to her. “You need to go back home. We don’t need you for this one.”
“It’s not that bad!” Dash spread her wing. She knew she could still fly like this! It’d hurt and bleed, but as long as she knew that one spell she wouldn’t die or anything.
“I don’t want you getting hurt any worse,” said Twilight.
“You heard Fleetfoot! These guys aren’t even that tough!”
Fleetfoot backed up rather than interrupt their argument. Dash met Twilight’s concerned expression adamant. Twilight glanced briefly at Scootaloo and Dash knew what was coming.
“You have to get Scootaloo back home. She shouldn’t be out here during a fight. Not now.”
Dash couldn’t meet her gaze any more. She knew Twilight was right. She supposed she left Trixie hanging around back there, too. Though Trixie was supposed to go back to Sunset now.
Heck, this had been what she was planning to do to begin with! Why did Twilight have to say that?!
“Okay! Fine!” Dash stood up and spread her wings out, pretending they weren’t at all injured. “Whatever! Somepony has to get her back home. But if anything happens to Derpy–”
“I can handle it,” Twilight assured her.
“Yeah!” Fleetfoot was suddenly all smiles again as she turned to ‘Silverstorm’. “I love being your wing pony, Silverstorm! We got this!”
Twilight nodded and the two of them were gone at unmatchable speeds.
Pinkie alone lingered, watching Dash with some unspoken concern.
“Don’t worry! You’re doing okay and we love you!” Pinkie patted an unamused Dash on the head before running off.
Dash muttered some thanks. She looked at the wound. It wasn’t even bleeding that bad! She took off immediately, decidedly not taking her time.
Usually, the basement was such a cozy place for Fluttershy. The rooms without windows were pitch black even in the middle of the day. It always felt like being inside during the rain.
Today, it was much less comfortable. Her temporary roommate, Aria, mostly just sat in the corner, staring at Fluttershy. To be fair, Fluttershy was doing the same thing. Just in a different corner.
One of Aria’s legs was clearly ‘borrowed’ from a stallion, attached to her doll by enormous staples. Fluttershy had been desperately struggling for the past half hour not to ask where she found that leg. She thought about asking where Aria had gotten such a huge stapler from instead, but that was too close to the heart of the issue.
She needed something else to do. Her hunger was just strong enough to offer a suggestion.
Fluttershy had a nice, brick oven down here where she could burn whatever she wanted. Just this one appliance made her feel like she was living a life of luxury.
On either side of the oven were bags of charcoal and a stack of logs, enough fuel to last Fluttershy months. Desperate for something to do, Fluttershy filled her stove with charcoal and began starting the fire.
Charcoal fires took a little more work, but they were generally the tastiest type in Fluttershy’s opinion. Her orb floated up next to her as it always did when she started a fire.
Fluttershy turned to Aria, still apprehensive about talking to her. Maybe asking to share would be a good excuse to talk.
The look on the other ghost’s face doused cold water on even that baby step. Aria wasn’t happy at all. She had watched all of this with a borderline indignant frown. Fluttershy frowned back, worried she might have messed up the fire in some way.
Could you do that? Could you light a fire the wrong way?
“Seriously?” Aria asked. “You just eat charcoal? Like that?”
“Um.” Fluttershy tilted her head. “I had to try hard to stop eating animals so–”
Fluttershy ended her sentence with a gulp as Aria muttered angrily at her hoof.
“First of all, no self-respecting ghost wastes their time lighting the fire themselves.” Aria gestured to her orb. “Orbs can be programmed to do useless chores like that for you.”
“They can?” Fluttershy glanced at it. She knew she could make it do tricks… but could she really ‘train’ it?
“They–?!” Aria’s eyes widened, flashing in offense at Fluttershy’s ignorance, before settling into a scowl. “And another thing, ghosts don’t just throw a bunch of charcoal onto a fire and leave it at that like some barbaric slob. That’s what you look like! Don’t you know how to prepare food properly?”
“I don’t think so?” Fluttershy looked around for whatever else she was supposed to be burning. “I only just started burning things. I used to live in a sewer where the air was usually hot enough to survive off.”
Aria grumbled and went off to the other room, forcing that poor orb to come with her.
The pantry was on the same floor so Aria didn’t need to disturb anypony to get what she needed. Fluttershy never once thought about burning the food supply for the living ponies. It seemed like such a waste when charcoal just had so much heat in it.
Aria came back soon after with a small bundle, the orb carrying another. She had some tattered scraps of cloth, some mint leaves, and dried-out pine branches. She sat down by the fire, wrapping the pines in the cloth. This was gently placed on top of the fire before adding another layer of coals.
Fluttershy sniffed it. She had to admit, this was easily the best-smelling fire she’d ever seen! Of course, Fluttershy tried burning cloth before and pine needles too but… maybe you had to combine them in some specific way to get this effect?
“These only burn for a second,” Aria held up a mint leaf. “You throw it on, then take the heat as soon as it hits the fire.”
Fluttershy drew in the heat as instructed. She gasped at how much nicer it was than before! It still wasn’t like taking heat from a living thing. But compared to what she was used to, she suddenly felt as though she’d been eating nothing but raw oats this whole time.
“This really is incredible! Thank you!” Fluttershy’s eyes sparkled. For a moment, she forgot her fear. “How did you figure all of this out?”
“Ugh!” Aria rolled her eyes and grumbled. “I didn’t. My parents taught me this stuff and they learned it from my grandfather. Ghosts have known all this for centuries. Somepony should have taught you this.”
“Um.” Fluttershy looked down at the ground. She didn’t know why Aria was so offended right now. “Sorry I was–”
“Just shut up. It’s not your fault you act like a worm friend. I know that. It’s fine.” Aria looked toward the ceiling.
Worm friend? She’d heard Rattler say that word a few times.
“What does that word mean?” Fluttershy asked.
That reignited her anger.
“You don’t even–?!” Aria stomped a hoof on the ground. “This is what happens when you try living with predeads! All predeads are the same. Living with them is no good for you.”
“No.” Fluttershy whimpered, shaking her head. She didn’t want to hear this, but standing up to Aria…
“You can’t love someone you don’t understand. I know they think they care about you, but they can’t understand us. We don’t even see the same world as them. Maybe you built her up in your mind, but this Rainbow Dash is just as terrible as–”
Fluttershy opened her eyes. She swore this wouldn’t happen again. She swore she’d stand up for her friends.
“No!” Fluttershy straightened up. She’d spoken loudly enough to surprise Aria more than herself. “I don’t just ‘think’ Rainbow Dash cares about me. How dare you even say that? You’re the one who doesn’t understand anything.”
Aria simply watched her silently.
“I ‘lived’ with other ghosts for a while and it wasn’t whatever you just assumed it would be!” Fluttershy matched Aria’s stare. She trembled and Aria knew it, but she tried to ignore that. “Rainbow Dash has done so much for me that I almost feel bad about it. You’re not going to say anything bad about her in front of me. You take all of that back.”
Fluttershy felt herself faltering towards the end. She was out of breath now, panting heavily. Aria sat, studying Fluttershy quietly. At last, she relented with the briefest of smiles.
“Maybe you’re right. I barely ever hear ghosts defend a predead like that. Just that mad science frost-bitch and Adagio’s annoying–” Aria caught herself before she revealed too much. “So you’re probably right about Dash.”
The quick turnaround caught Fluttershy off guard. Was there something else going on? Aria turned back to the fire and threw another mint leaf in. She wasn’t trying to eat anymore, just burn stuff.
“I’ll take it back. I just hate seeing other ghosts living like this. My family’s always been… well we consider ghosts to be our people, you know? Ghosts used to have our own civilization and culture and history. Entire ghost cities existed just fifteen years ago. That’s what my family cared more about than anything else in the world. The other ghosts were so important to us. To me. And now.”
Aria flailed her hoof in gesture towards Fluttershy’s living conditions before it fell lifeless to the ground. Probably the last free specter on the continent, alone in a basement and with zero connection to Aria’s culture.
“I was forced to take part in destroying it all, down to the last city. She specifically made sure it was me and Sonata going after Old Manehattan again and again until eventually we destroyed even that place. And that’s somehow not enough. She made us burn down Shadowbolt Academy and now she’s making Sonata go after the last free specter…” Aria slumped forward, as though sitting was too taxing. “And I wasn’t even allowed to hate it.”
Fluttershy trembled listening to this until she couldn’t take it any longer. She threw herself forward and tackled Aria in a hug, knocking her out of her body. She could feel Aria’s surprise but didn’t dare open her eyes.
It was getting easier for Fluttershy to throw herself over the barrier.
“I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy held her tightly. “I don’t want things like that to happen anymore. That’s… that’s why I’m here.”
After some hesitation, Fluttershy felt Aria move a foreleg around to pat her on the back.
Fluttershy opened her eyes to see Aria’s ghost form for the first time, not at all a terrifying pile of tatters like her body. She looked like a normal pony now.
“You know, you’re a lot less scary when you aren’t in that thing.” Fluttershy looked back to the lifeless body with a shudder.
“You want me to stay out of it while I’m here?” Aria asked.
Fluttershy nodded.
“Fine.” Aria cast her look down. “But I want to teach you things about ghosts. I hate seeing a specter live like this.”
“If you agree to stop blaming my friends.”
Aria nodded solemnly. Maybe she already had.
They both turned to look toward the portal room. Fluttershy knew one of the others was back by then. She could smell somepony entering from the portal room. Worrying, she could smell them bleeding.
Normally, she wouldn’t be able to tell this straight away. However, Ponies who were bleeding, or especially ones who had a fever had a much stronger ‘scent’ to them. Even now, Fluttershy wasn’t confident she could ‘restrain’ Aria if somepony in the castle got sick.
Dash needed to get Scootaloo up just long enough to temporarily restore the portal. Once on the other end, Dash’s new ward was completely out.
Dash found a couch to set her new charge on and put a blanket over her. She looked down at Scootaloo, thinking she’d like to just lie down next to her for now. But Dash felt so badly that she needed to do something. She had to start strategizing now.
Fluttershy found them first, poking her head up from the ground shortly after.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped at Dash’s wing. “What happened to you? Do you feel light-headed?”
Dash looked down at her wing. She hadn’t really taken her time getting back home and the wound was probably worse now than it had been to start with. The whole region was pretty… red. She’d kind of forgotten about all that for a moment.
“I have a blood restoration spell,” Dash said. “It doesn’t matter how much I bleed.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Did something happen? What about Scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo’s fine. Just tired. A lot of things happened. I want to see Rarity and that ghost patsy we got,” said Dash.
“Aria?”
Dash nodded.
“It’d be best if you stop the bleeding before she comes. She isn’t over her addiction like I am. I’ll find Rarity for you.”
“Alright. I get it.” Dash quit with the spell and pressed her hoof hard against the wound instead.
It took some time, but she did manage to get the bleeding to stop again. It took a lot more bandaging than she would have thought, enough that it didn’t even look cool.
But it passed the Fluttershy test. So Fluttershy took her downstairs to where Rarity was working. Apparently, she was close to restoring Saccharine to functional status. She didn’t have another 9,000 body yet but called this one a ‘deluxe 8300’ or something.
It looked just like all the other sweetie bots, save for the open head. Inside of that was Saccharine’s brain-chip-thing. A ‘persona core’, Rarity called it.
The persona core had an other-worldly quality to it. The thing was a solid, metal sphere that immitted a green light through a series of slits. Listening to Rarity, this thing was so complicated you needed to be an expert just to plug it in. It took her days to attach all the little wires and stuff. She needed another robot just to be precise enough.
Rarity was carefully threading microscopic wires she needed special goggles just to see into equally invisible slots but assured Dash she could do this and listen at the same time.
Aria had appeared too, Fluttershy needing to stay close to keep her in control of her addiction.
Dash wanted to see the messed up version of that doll after hearing from Pinkie how creepy it looked. But for whatever reason, Aria ditched it, coming through the floor with Fluttershy.
Since Aria knew stuff about this, so Dash was hoping to confirm it all.
She went into a long explanation of what Starlight had said to them. At times Rarity didn’t seem to be paying attention, but her constant questions proved otherwise.
Dash didn’t need to ask to know the answer. All of this was at least part of what Aria was planning to tell them. Aria listened to this in quiet rage, to the point Dash was starting to get worried Aria would pounce on her.
“Don’t think you figured anything out yet!” Aria jabbed Dash in the chest as soon as she felt it’d gone on long enough. Dash was happy she only got that much. “Starlight didn’t tell you the whole truth for your information. There’s an entirely different angle to this. I probably know more than she does and I won’t lie to you.”
“Whoa! Calm down.” Dash brushed her hoof away. “We’re going to help your sister either way. You don’t gotta ‘prove’ anything to us.”
Aria scowled as if it wasn’t already clear she couldn’t believe Dash.
“I know way more than just what she told you. I know all the inner workings of Crater Cemetery! I know almost all of her abilities. And I know more than even just that! Do you want to know why Nailbat is one of the triggers for that stupid summoning spell? I do. Do you want to know how everypony in my family just happens to become ghosts? You have no idea how much I know!”
Aria coated her hooves in ice and gripped Dash hard around the collar. Dash had inadvertently taken away one of her aces.
“Hey!” Dash protested, starting to psyche herself up. “I’m trying to tell you it will be okay!”
“Aria!” Fluttershy called at her sternly. That finally got the ghost to turn her head. Fluttershy came in much more gently, putting a hoof on Aria’s back. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
Aria took one more look at Dash before letting her go.
“Sorry, Fluttershy.” Aria bowed her head.
Dash let out a sigh. So that worked when Fluttershy did it? When did the two of them become friends all of a sudden?
It was probably a good thing, so who cared?
Aria tapped her hoof twice, before turning to Fluttershy to answer Dash’s request.
“Starlight didn’t outright lie to you about anything as far as I can tell. But she’s leaving out something important,” Aria told Fluttershy. “I don’t know what she’s trying to trick you into doing, but she’s trying to trick you. I’m sure of that. Don’t do anything stupid until you have my information.”
“Thank you very much.” Fluttershy bowed her head.
“I’m not saying anything else for now.” Aria went back downstairs.
Fluttershy had little choice but to follow, lest Aria become dangerous.
That just left Dash and Rarity.
Rarity was, in Dash’s opinion, the smartest one here rivaled only by Twilight. She was the one Dash wanted to bounce ideas off of.
“We hardly needed Aria to confirm to us that this is likely a deception.” Rarity briefly twirled one of her tools before going back to work with it.
“Well, I kind of figured that much out on my own. I keep trying to think of ways this could be a trap but I’m just not figuring it out. Why would she give me all the feathers? All this power? Does she care about my opinion that much?”
“Of course she doesn’t care what you think.” Rarity looked up from her work just briefly enough to roll her eyes. “Do you think somepony like her cares about any opinion but her own? She sees the rest of us as machines to be used discarded. All this outer realm nonsense only exacerbates that.”
Saccharine’s eyes flickered to life.
“Rarity?” Saccharine appeared only able to move her eyes at the moment. “What is this about discarding machines?”
“Oh, obviously I meant those other machines.” Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Saccharine’s exposed head. “Of course, I love you very much. More than Starlight would love anypony, I assure you.”
Saccharine watched her with an unreadable expression.
“But hold still a moment longer,” Rarity said to her. “I’m not quite finished yet”
“So why would she offer me all this power then?” Dash asked.
“My guess is that this is a poison pill,” said Rarity. “There’s no way somepony like that gives up control to anypony, least of all somepony she just met. No, the only logical conclusion is that she isn’t trying to give you power but to take it away.”
Rarity was right! Dash was sure that was it now!
“But how would giving us the black feathers hurt us in any way?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“That I don’t know. But from what I understand we know that these feathers,” Rarity caught herself, “can be dangerous. There’s no reason to assume she isn’t offering us a poisoned candy apple.”
“So like,” Dash’s mind came up with a million ways that could go down, settling on the most blunt, “like she might have a spell that causes them to all simultaneously explode. And if they’re in our house when that happens– Okay, what if we take them and immediately throw them all to the moon? Or into the sun?”
“You might not get the chance,” said Rarity. “The trap could spring immediately or she could be trying to goad you into destroying them for her.”
“So what? You think she’s guessed what we’re going to do with them already?” Dash asked.
“You have to assume that,” said Rarity. “It’s just like that old philosophical dilemma. You know, where Lux Lucius won’t let you leave until you choose one of two boxes? And one contains a delicious sandwich and the other has an infinite number of scorpions in it? But he put the scorpions in the box that he knew you would choose and then when you pick it he’s all ‘No, no you chose the scorpions on your own free will! This is what you wanted. I’m innocent.’”
That might make sense. She was almost 100% sure that Laughter could have guessed what she’d do. So why wouldn’t her sister. Or cousin or whatever she called Faith.
“Then how do we get the sandwich?” Dash asked.
“You don’t. You win the game by not bothering with any of this.”
“But if we’re assuming she can think that far ahead, what if what she wants is to trick us into avoiding these feathers because we assume it’s a trap?” Dash asked.
Rarity paused to consider that.
“Should we really even assume Starlight is that smart?” Dash asked. “I mean, sure she stabbed that thing in her head, but I don’t feel like she’s on the level of an actual god or anything.”
“I’ve seen the outer realm. And while my mind can no longer comprehend those memories, I can tell you that anything there should be treated with the utmost fear and respect. Always assume it's worse than you think,” said Rarity. “In my opinion, if Golden Feather has been living there, we shouldn’t summon her. And Starlight, the original Starlight, was a fool to agree to whatever she did with that creature. Why, never in a million years would I agree to something so foolish as to fuse with one of these elements. Or even one of these feathers."
“Watch it,” Dash warned. “Scootaloo’s basically the same and she’s legally my daughter now.”
Dash had to remind herself of Rarity’s anti-theistic leanings.
“But she didn’t agree to it is my point.” Rarity apologized with a flick of a hoof. “Hm. Though from the sound of things, you don’t necessarily fuse completely.”
“She made it sound like the two of them did.”
“And we know she’s misleading us.” Rarity tapped her lip thinking it through. “Well if she is still partially a pony in some sense, there may be some hope. We know she left something out of her story, yes? If we can get Aria to actually tell us what that is, deducing what move she wants us to make should be much easier.”
“Sure. But if you think we should be paranoid then what if she knows Aria is talking to us?” Dash asked.
“Whether a god or not, Starlight needs control. That much we know,” said Rarity. “I would say to take a careful lookout on the situation. If she shows any presence there, before things turn ugly, that means she probably knew. Otherwise, we’re as safe as we can get.”
“You sound sure things will turn ugly.”
“It’s starting to sound that way.”
Dash tapped the side of her head, thinking this through. She probably wasn’t going to deduce much else for now. Yet still she hadn’t felt like she’d done enough. Maybe there was somepony else she could talk to?
“I’m going to try and find Sunset.” Dash got up to leave. “I gotta give Trixie back anyway. Thanks.”
Saccharine was restored to operational status not long after Rainbow Dash departed. That is, she was walking around but no longer in her original body.
Rarity began explaining to her what had happened during the fight.
“Plasma weapons are the most destructive types I’ve seen. Even Twilight says that her plasma spells are her most powerful attacks. She was surprised anything else was capable of such a feat, even if it was just countering you with your own plasma. And it’s so rare, I suppose I wasn’t prepared for it. But when I get to the 10,000 I will be.”
If she ever got to the Sweetie Bell 10K. Originally, that had been her goal. But she maxed out on her dives and had to give up on that vision, or at least accept it’d be decades for her to complete it. If only she could get one more good dive.
Maybe she should start looking into getting a successor who could carry on her work. A long series of torches had been passed just for Rarity to get to this point in robotics.
“Rarity,” Saccharine spoke after a long silence.
“Hm?”
“You never said that you love me before,” said Saccharine. “Why now?”
“What?” Rarity blinked, genuinely surprised by that. “I haven’t? Are you sure?”
“I have every conversation I’ve ever heard recorded.”
Rarity was at a loss for what to say. She certainly didn’t want to believe it, but Saccharine wouldn’t make a mistake like that. She stood in stunned horror trying to think of what she should say.
“This happens after I was severely damaged,” Saccharine continued. “You constantly talked about how much you love Sweetie Belle after she was damaged. Do you only love those who have been injured?”
“No, no! Of course not!” Rarity nuzzled her. “I’m so sorry! Of course I always cared about you. But–”
No, Rarity hadn’t always acted like that. Truth be told, she did see Saccharine as a mere tool near the beginning.
It didn’t take much self-reflection on Rarity’s part to realize what her mistake had been. She hadn’t even noticed Saccharine much before. She’d been so hyper-focused on Sweetie Belle alone that she hadn’t noticed anything else.
“I was just so overcome by what happened to Sweetie Belle and the rest of my– our family. It was just so hard for me to see anything past my own grief. Not until I got Sweetie Belle back. Do you understand?”
“You know I can’t feel sorrow. I don’t understand such a pointless emotion.”
“You’re not hurt that I never told you I care about you this whole time?” Rarity wondered if there was any way to explain it to her. “Or the way I treated you before?”
“No,” Saccharine said it with such little hesitation no one would have doubted her. “I don’t understand what that would mean. I merely wish for you to love me. I want to understand why you love certain objects towards that end.”
Rarity knew enough about how Saccharine’s mind worked to tell that was true.
“Well even if I can’t make you sad, I still don’t want to treat you like that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like acting that way. I was just–” Rarity shook her head. She was focusing too much on herself. “Even if you can’t be sad, you can still be happy. I know that. I want you to have the things you want as well.”
“I exist only to protect Sweetie Belle and destroy your enemies. I see no purpose beyond this. I don’t resent this because I have concluded that I love Sweetie Belle as well.”
“I’m glad to hear that. But you can do other things, you know.”
“Like what?”
Rarity paused. What did Saccharine like again?
Rarity at least assumed she liked the other fillies on some level by now. Originally she was going to send Saccharine right off to play with them, but now…
“Why don’t we go outside and shoot rockets at scrap drones?” Rarity offered. “You like that, right?”
“Yes. I despise all inferior robots.”
“Wonderful. Come along.” Rarity trotted off at a brisk pace, Saccharine following close behind.
Fleetfoot barged into Spitfire’s house sometime later that day, determined to check in on her. Fleetfoot went off to retrieve one of Rainbow Dash’s friends, then did some cleanup before coming here.
Spitfire did her best to not embarrass herself further. Fleetfoot was at once the one least likely to judge her, but also the one whose opinion mattered most to Spitfire.
The younger pegasus didn’t directly ask any questions about why Spitfire retreated or why she’d been slumped over on the couch. But she did come in without permission and started talking about what happened afterward.
As always, Fleetfoot spoke very highly of Silverstorm and was always enthusiastic about fighting alongside her. It was enough to get Spitfire to sit up straight again.
Conversely, Spitfire could hear a change in tone when Fleetfoot mentioned Rainbow Dash. Her opinion of Dash was slowly souring and her answers about Dash got briefer over time. Spitfire had been hearing rumors. She could guess why.
“So a single bullet forced her to retreat?” Spitfire asked. Typically at the level of S-rank, a pony could take plenty of such hits. “You seem like you’re opinion of her is lessening.”
“I like her, but everypony is starting to think maybe Rainbow Dash is just a hack,” said Fleetfoot. “Arachnado claims he easily overpowered her while Silverstorm took him out with one move. There was that lich everypony thought was just making it up before. Now this? I have no idea what string of miracles kept Rainbow Dash alive through all this. I honestly don’t know if I could have lived through everything she did. But… well the rumor now is Silverstorm only keeps her around because Dash seduced her.”
“They’re both mares,” said Spitfire.
“I forget how old you are sometimes.” Fleetfoot smiled. “When are you going to retire anyway, boss?”
Spitfire wanted to say something like ’46 isn’t that old’, but that line got more pathetic each year. And S-rankers hardly ever lived to that age in the first place. All these fights made you age fast. The only other one over forty was Deathblow, somehow still going well into his fifties.
“When something finally kills me,” Spitfire said, eyes closed.
“Aw, but I don’t want you to die yet. After we get rid of Starlight, you should just focus on training other pegasi. I can take it from there, boss.”
If that were true, she wouldn’t be so scared at the mere mention of Spitfire dying or offering only to take ‘the next one’. Fleetfoot still felt completely dependent on her, didn’t she? Spitfire supposed she felt the same way about her old mentor long after it was true.
Fleetfoot had no idea who they should side with, but she thought Spitfire somehow did. Ultimately, Spitfire would be the one to make the choice.
“You still stand by your earlier report?” Spitfire asked. “Silverstorm would win 100 of 100 matches against Flash Bang?"
“When she fought Minuette, she was holding back a lot,” said Fleetfoot. “It wouldn’t even be close. If Flash Bang, Nailbat, and Sunset all attacked her at the same time, I still think Silverstorm would win more than half.”
“If she directly attacked Starlight?” Spitfire asked. “No tricks or anything. Do you think she’d be able to just kill her outright?”
“I’ve never seen either of them actually try,” said Fleetfoot. “I have no idea.”
“If you want me to retire, you’ll need to start making important decisions yourself,” said Spitfire. “If you were on your own, would you go behind Flash Bang’s back?”
Fleetfoot glanced down, betraying her doubt.
“There’s a reason I’m hesitant here.” Fleetfoot closed her eyes and crossed her hooves. “She didn’t kill Trixie. She didn’t kill Minuette. She doesn’t even want to fight half the criminal organizations. That kind of attitude is a serious liability. What if she goes further and decides Screwball or freaking Starlight can be saved? And we have to live our lives waiting for those two to get their second chance to destroy us all?”
Spitfire wanted to point out the magnitude of difference between Trixie and Screwball’s crimes. But the first half of her statement weighed more heavily on Spitfire’s mind. Fleetfoot’s problem was that Silverstorm wouldn’t kill enough ponies. As though the weight were literal, Spitfire felt her head and eyes dragged down towards the table.
When Spitfire was her age…
“Somepony your age shouldn’t be this cynical.”
Fleetfoot’s eyes flashed, indignant.
“Okay, what the crow are you on about?” Fleetfoot put her hooves on the table and stood up, knitting her brows in offense. “My whole life you’re telling me how stupid you used to be and not to make the same mistakes as you. Now you’re scolding me for doing exactly what you wanted?”
Spitfire knew she had no right to scold Fleetfoot over this. She’d taken Fleetfoot under wing as a young teenager. However she turned out, it was Spitfire’s responsibility.
For so long, she thought she’d been doing the younger pony a favor. But more recently, comparing Fleetfoot’s attitude to Rainbow Dash’s, she couldn’t help but feel disgusted with herself.
Did it even matter if Rainbow Dash was a fake? Either way, she was accomplishing more than an actual elite flier given all the support and training in the world from a young age.
“Is this about that kid?” Fleetfoot tilted her head, suddenly much more sympathetic as she watched Spitfire struggle with all this.
“I made the wrong call.”
“That kind of thing happens.”
“Well, it shouldn’t! Nothing has changed since I was your age. We’re still all living in constant terror, just accepting that’s the way things are. We all have better weapons now and that’s it. I didn’t do anything!”
“Aw. Don’t say that.” Fleetfoot winced, taking some of Spitfire's self-criticism to her own heart. “If nothing changed, that means it didn’t get worse. That’s just as good. Think of how much worse things could have been were you not around.”
Yeah. If Spitfire wanted to make herself feel better, she could remind herself of all the monsters and tragedies she stopped. But right now, she didn’t want to feel better.
She put her head down on the table. Fleetfoot watched her, unsure of what to say.
“Well, I would stick with Flash Bang until Starlight is dead.” Fleetfoot looked up at the ceiling, still thinking it through herself. “Then slowly back up into Silverstorm’s corner. If I was the one calling the shots.”
But she wasn’t. She’d still defer to whatever Spitfire said. Even if Spitfire chose to go with Fleetfoot’s decisions, it’d still ultimately be Spitfire making the calls. She just assumed Spitfire knew the right answer, but that wasn’t true at all.
Three soft knocks and one harder knock. Both of them knew what that meant. Usually, it was bad news when Bonbon showed up like this.
The two pegasi straightened up, Fleetfoot with a good deal more annoyance knowing her home would soon be intruded upon.
A pony opened a window with her forehooves, rolled into the room, and closed the window with her hind legs. All in one fluid motion. They didn’t get a good look at Bonbon’s disguise this time, as she was already ripping it off as she stood up. Her hair was still straightened out and dyed a dark purple. Spitfire felt she rarely saw Bonbon’s actual mane.
Spitfire refused to flatter Bonbon by asking where she was during this incident.
“You know you can just ask to talk to us, right?” Fleetfoot leaned forward.
“There’s something important I need to talk to you about,” Bonbon slowly pulled the curtains over the window. “Starlight is still in town. I don’t want her to know about this.”
“What’s this about?” Spitfire glanced around to make sure nopony was here
“I think Silverstorm is a witch.” Bonbon kept her eyes fixed on a distant point.
Spitfire heard those rumors. She’d looked into them but found no serious evidence of it. Coming from Bonbon, it was a serious accusation, though. She was the second-best information agent next to Nailbat, arguably the first since she wouldn’t constantly lie to you.
“In fact, I think she’s secretly the master witch Twilight Sparkle in disguise.”
Spitfire swallowed. That was an idea floated around early on, but it was dismissed.
It was well known by now that Rainbow Dash had gone out looking for Twilight Sparkle some time ago. Her story was that a zombie dragon, confirmed to exist, chased her far into the Everfree where she got lost and eventually met Silverstorm instead.
“Excuse me?” Spitfire bolted up back to her feet. “Didn’t Nailbat–”
“Do you honestly trust that guy?” Bonbon finally sat down.
Spitfire didn’t.
“And why did you change your mind on this?” Spitfire asked.
“I’m hoping to confirm this myself,” said Bonbon. “There’s going to be a special operation in 36 hours taking place in an abandoned train station just south of the Gorgetown gorge.”
South of the gorge, sitting in the middle of a wide-open field Sonata found the abandoned train station where she was to meet Fluttershy. Though really, it was more like a train booth. There was no platform and the old rail was long gone.
What you were left with was a waiting room, just a few wooden benches. It didn’t even look like it had a place to sell tickets. It at least had a bathroom, but sprawled to the side of the door, written in what might have been blood was: ‘Don’t open the bathroom door’
She didn’t have to worry about whatever was locked in there long since broke out, shattering the door and leaving scratch marks all over the little waiting room.
So, on the bright side, Sonata had a literal waiting room to sit down in! It was just instead of waiting for the train, she was waiting for a massive shootout.
Cinch, Sonata’s least favorite specter, had come to brief her one last time before the attack began.
“We’ve finally been able to confirm that Silverstorm is almost certainly a witch,” said Cinch. “As such there is no hope of you, or anypony else but our mistress, having any chance of defeating her.”
“Oh, boy! So two of Bloodstorm’s kids turned out to be witches?” Sonata sighed. “What are the chances of two sisters both becoming witches anyway?”
The same could be asked about Sonata’s own family, of course. Like Aria always told her, when you saw odds like that there was something you didn’t know.
“There have been some complications,” said Cinch. “It appears this operation has been leaked and the information spread outwards alarmingly fast.”
“You’re saying other ponies care about this?” Sonata asked. “How many?”
“At least four S-rank ponies are waiting to the northwest, mostly pegasi. They have with them some fifty elite pegasi spread across the length of the gorge. Most likely, if the fighting gets too intense, and it will, they’ll side against us.”
“That can’t be good. But at least–”
“Now, now. Before you start ‘at leasting’ things, know that the Bloodstorm Cartel has also taken interest in the situation.”
“Wuh? But they’re.” Sonata flicked her eyes left and right. They weren’t on Crater Cemetery’s side. But they hated Silverstorm too. “Why are they here?!”
“Fluttershy will be out in the open. They want to kill Fluttershy for being friends with Silverstorm. They’ll likely attack your location with no concern if they kill both of you.”
“Okay. So–” Sonata took in a deep breath. “So basically every pony on the entire planet has me surrounded and is going to run up here and try to kill me.”
“That’s not too far off.”
“And I’ll be standing here completely alone in the middle of nowhere.”
“Essentially. The closest ghosts will be three miles in either direction.”
“Do we have a plan?” Sonata threw her wings open.
“Indeed. If enough targets get on this side of the gorge, we can reign mass destruction on the area that will obliterate everything. If any of our targets survive, only then will reinforcements arrive.”
“Wait! Obliteration?! Won’t that kill me too?!” Sonata put both forehooves on her chest.
“Yes.”
“I don’t think I like this plan.”
“Well then it’s a good thing you’re being mind-controlled, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Sonata sighed and lowered her wings. “I guess it is.”
“Good. Remember that you are an acceptable loss and would most certainly have been killed eventually,” Cinch reminded her. “Your only goal is to destroy Fluttershy. The groups to the west and east are not counter-inducive to our plot if you don’t let them be.”
Cinch left with no further words for her.
Sonata sighed. She couldn’t defy the will of her mistress. She didn’t like being an acceptable loss, but at the same time couldn’t see herself as anything more. The only other possible outcome of this was Aria managing to abduct and free Sonata and that seemed even worse!
Sonata sat down in the train station. She could sense, through her aura, that nopony was around for miles. It looked like this really was it.
She wondered what being dead would be like. Maybe Luna had figured out the whole afterlife thing eventually and Sonata’s family were all waiting for her in a magical place in the sky? And she could see Adagio and her parents and grandfather again? Grandpa Dazzle always seemed so adamant that was the case.
But probably not. And she wasn’t supposed to think about that stuff anymore. Her mistress wouldn’t be happy at all if that were the case.
Twenty-four more hours of this. No way she was getting to sleep.
She stood in the doorway, swiveling her ears, listening to the dread silence.
There was no way to tell how much time was passing. Could be anything.
Something came in through the window! Sonata fell back onto her haunches screaming! She flailed a moment before seeing the intruder.
A single crow. Not the best or worst scenario.
“No crow!” Sonata covered her face. “I don’t need any more bad luck! Just go away!”
As she cowered, the crow just stood there watching her. She began to notice something about it.
It had something shiny in its mouth. Sonata crawled forward to try and see what.
Sonata had some fake equipment and stuff to try and play off the reporter angle on some level. She reached in and grabbed a small oat bar.
“Wanna trade?” Sonata held the bar out to the crow.
It came in to inspect the offering. The crow grabbed the bar and flew off before Sonata could realize what a sucker she was, but it did drop the shiny.
A coin! And not a normal one, but some weird kind she’d never seen before.
“Hopefully this thing is good luck. No way I’ll survive this otherwise.”