//------------------------------// // 14. Penance // Story: Radiance // by flamevulture17 //------------------------------// [Penance] Stanley couldn't believe how nearly all his personal indignities had been cut free by a talking pegasus in less than ten minutes. Although she was supposed to only exist in fairytale and mythology, she showed her true colors by forcing out her untold story that not even her friends were aware of. He could tell it took quite the effort to submit to genuine sentiment, so it was only fair to return the favor. The amount of information he gave about his own life was enough to lift his heart out of the dark where it could relish with the warmth of a friend. The fact that it had been locked away for so long was what drove him to go against his better judgment since leaving his home behind. He was growing fond of calling her a friend in his mind several times over, but never out loud. He needed to know if she held true to her trust with more than petty words. Her actions would give him the insight he needs to place his life in her hands—or hooves in this case. She already proved herself loyal by saving him from serious injury. The fact the she was even there at all to fly after him had gone way over their heads. If Lucas hadn't sent her to talk to him, he would have plummeted to his death. Go figure. Even the limits he set for himself were as weak as that portion of the cliff that nearly killed him. It was the first time he ever told anyone about his father—and to a flying pony no less. There wasn't a clear reason as to why Rainbow Dash revealed that personal part of herself, but it got him thinking. Even Lucas knew very little of the full story. It was now up to him to fulfill his duty. To trade disdain for humility and to curtail his irrational antics by promoting his humanity from a moral standpoint. Stanley and Lucas finally arrived at the dirt road that led to the front porch of the fishing station. The building was just as old and dull as ever. That would never change. However, what is on the outside doesn't accurately represent what is on the inside. As cliché as that sounds, it just so happens to apply to Stanley and Rainbow Dash at that particular moment. The two men sluggishly walked up to the edge of the porch and stopped to rest on the wooden steps. Rainbow quietly sat down with them. All three of them waited a few seconds for the strong breeze to settle before they would enter the building. It also gave Lucas and Stanley the time to think things through before repairing the damage done to their boss, Kate. “Are you still gonna show her the boat?” asked Stanley. Lucas breathed in. “Nah. I'll think just tell her. If she doesn't believe me, then we'll have no other option but to show her, even if we have to drag her out here to see it. I'm just wondering what her reaction will be like.” “You are gonna tell her everything, right? Like, where it is? The time of the crash? Who's fault it was? Maybe even a damage report?” “We have to. She told me to keep a captain's log for each day assessing the performance of her aging boat. One for official purposes and one for personal use.” Lucas removed his backpack and took out a small journal. “This is my personal copy. I haven't missed a day in six years, but ever since the crash, I haven't written anything yet. The moment the whole cabin shook, I thought that was the end if it.” He stared at the journal for a moment. “You know what, this stupid thing was a waste of time anyways.” Lucas craned his arm back and chucked the notebook as far as he could. He watched hundreds of hours of work disappear somewhere in the grass, narrowly missing the white fence. He smiled. A feeling immense weight came tumbling down all around him. It was quite the relief. Possibly the best decision he's made all day. “Good riddance,” he uttered. “I hope Kate goes easy on us. If she does happen to fire you, it's not the end of the world.” Stanley then spit on the ground in front of him, hardly noticing a blob of red muck stuck to his saliva. “You'll survive, because you know what, if you don't work for Kate anymore, neither will I.” Lucas looked at his cousin in mild shock. He shook his head and huffed. “No don't do that. You need this job more than I do.” “The way I see it, I could care less about this job if it means you have to let some stupid disease control your life. I know you don't have anywhere else to go, and I'm sure as hell not gonna let you go through it alone.” “You have a disease?” said Rainbow Dash, snapping her head in their direction, obviously overhearing their conversation. She was ready to back away until Lucas replied to reassure her. “Don't worry about it. It's not contagious,” he said. “...or so I'm told.” He gave a sly look. He then leaned into Stanley's ear. “Sometimes you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut.” “Oops.” Rainbow wasn't too fond of diseases, pathogens, disorders, or sickness in general. Although she never got any closer than a few meters from the older human since meeting him, she now had a good reason to keep her distance, even when she didn't to ask what kind of disease he actually carried or how devastating its effects really were on the host. At this point, it was already too late to do anything about it, so she didn't want to know. Ponies probably don't get the same diseases as humans anyway. Perhaps it was best if she kept her paranoia to herself. “I think we've been out here long enough, don't you?” Lucas spoke up after a brief silence and rose to his feet. He put his backpack on and helped Stanley up. Sitting down gave him the rest he needed to walk on his own. He used the wooden railings and Lucas' hand for support. Stanley wobbled in place, readjusting his footing for greater balance. His center of gravity was off from his injured left leg. “Can you walk now?” Lucas asked. “I can manage,” he replied. “You ready to face Kate again?” “Bring it on.” The both of them sucked in as much of the soothing, outdoor air to prepare for their next move. Slowly walking along the porch, they quickly ran through several scenarios on how the situation would play out. Most were automatically negative, but some weren't so bad. If only there was a perfect way to deliver the message diligently and fearlessly, and with as much confidence as humanly possible, then MAYBE their chances of keeping their jobs was in their favor. However, neither one of them was capable suppressing their anxiety after what happened the last time they were here. “No pressure, right?” Stanley laughed nervously. “Let's just get this over with. I'm tired of waiting.” Even though Lucas' voice sounded confident, his body still tried to resist what his brain was telling him. As they stepped inside the station, a strong wave of heat hit them in the face. They had almost forgotten how warm it was indoors compared to the chilly winds beyond the thick walls. They were so absorbed by the coastal climate that the temperature difference nearly stole all the air from their lumgs. They tiptoed their way to the lounge door like ninjas on a secret mission, making as little noise as possible. Lucas placed an ear against the door. Oddly enough, no voices could be heard from within the room. Upon pushing the door open and entering the lounge, they found that it was empty. Stanley set his backpack at the foot of the door while Lucas left his on. They spread out throughout the room while Rainbow stood by the doorway as a quiet observer. “Where did they go?” “Don't ask me.” Stanley pointed at Rainbow Dash. “She's the one who saw them last.” “They were in here when I left.” She grinned slightly. “I did sorta sneak away without them noticing.” The men fell silent as they stared at the pegasus. “What?” she defended with a shrug. Her nervous look resembled that of fake guilt. “I was bored. Twilight was reading and your friend was teaching Cadence how to walk. That's all I know.” Thankfully, the men accepted the answer by looking at each other and shrugging as well. The group remained still, looking around for any clues as to where they might have run off to. They took advantage of the silence to also listen for any sounds other than their own for the same reason. They were in luck when very faint, muffled voices seeped through the cracks in the walls that originated from another part of the building. When all three of them were aware that it was voices they heard and not figments of their imaginations, each converged at the hallway door and quietly slipped out of the lounge, following the noises that accompanied the voices. They were led down the narrow corridor which led to the kitchen. The carpet below their feet was not nearly enough to absorb the amount of strain that squeaked from the floorboards under their collective weight. As they approached the kitchen door, all noises stopped, including their own. The standoff of silence only lasted a couple seconds when the door burst open to reveal the pink alicorn ready to defend herself at the drop of a dime. Her stance forced each of them back up. Even with the dim lighting, that long horn of hers was aimed directly at their heads. It was even glowing slightly from the tip. “Whoa whoa, e-easy.” Lucas put his hands up to surrender. The pony let loose and sighed. “Don't sneak up on us like that,” she calmly scolded. Lucas noticed the change in her tone that went against everything he expected to hear from her. “You guys are just in time for lunch.” With that, she casually returned to where she came from. Stanley and Lucas looked at each other with raised eyebrows. If their expressions didn't accurately frame their confusion, their reluctance follow gave the impression that they were slow to process Kate's actions with ease. Rainbow shook her head and chuckled to herself. She walked pass the two men—who remained frozen in place—and followed after the alicorn. When they were alone, Lucas pinned his back to the wall and took a deep breath. “How do you wanna do this?” he whispered. “Maybe we should start a conversation first. You know, play it slow I guess.” “But we've already waited long enough. She needs to know now before she—“ “A few minutes longer won't kill you, dude. Chill out. We'll both need to contribute. I got your back.” He paused when Lucas remained motionless. “So how do you wanna do this?” “You asked me that already.” “I did?” “Yeah.” “Oh, I didn't even notice.” Lucas blushed slightly from his moderate embarrassment. His forgetfulness was just one of many side effects of his current anxiety. He puffed out a gust of hot air from his mouth and turned around to face his companion, his voice shaking. “I don't know if I can face her now after walking out on her.” “You can do this.” Stanley sighed and wrapped an arm around his cousin's shoulder. “Tell you what, I can go in first if you want.” The older man perked his head up and nodded. “Yeah yeah, good idea.” Lucas stepped aside to let his cousin take the lead, gently shoving him in front. Stanley brushed off his sleeves and stuck out his chest. Wasting no more time confined in the hallway and hidden behind the barrier of wood and contempt, he opened the door and walked in as composed and collected as possible. Time to man up. As he entered the kitchen, it was as they had left it, with some exceptions. Their breakfast was still sitting on the table, but that wasn't the first thing he noticed. The rich, delectable smell of salmon sizzling on a frying pan on the stove top hit him like a slap in the face. Of all the generic seafood produced by an independent fishing business on the coast of New Zealand, it had to be salmon. Stanley couldn't complain. He liked salmon. All three ponies and Kate were present. Twilight Sparkle was sitting on the far end of the table, eating a plate of salad. She immediately stopped to look at him. Same thing with Kate—or Cadence rather—who was previously fiddling with a few eating utensils with her hands with an empty plate in front of her. Kate, on the other hand, stood in the most spacious spot in the entire kitchen on all four hooves, staring at him silently. All her adornments were off, including slippers and crown. They were piled together in the middle of the dining table. Rainbow Dash was busy pacing around the room with her nose in the air, trying to find where the heavenly smell was coming from. A few seconds later, the door behind Stanley finally opened. Lucas slowly, very slowly, poked his head through, his body followed suit moments later. When his eyes met those of the pink princess, he froze. Those lavender eyes seemed to spell trouble the instant her emotionless expression transformed into a frown. “Whatcha cookin'?” said Stanley. “Smells good.” “Salmon,” answered Kate, not taking her eyes off Lucas. “Nice. Is it ready?” “Not quite.” “Alright.” He looked at the kitchen table. “Is it cool if we sit here?” Stanley held out a hand and gesturing at a chair across from Cadence. “Be my guest,” Cadence sang. “No, you're our guest.” He pulled out the old wooden chair and sat down. “In fact, you're more than a guest, you're a friend. We're at your disposal. If you need help with anything, don't be afraid to ask. We have now decided to do our part and help figure out how to fix this so you can go home.” Stanley raised a hand at his cousin to wave him over. Reluctantly, Lucas obeyed and stepped to the corner of the table between Stanley and Twilight. He pulled up another chair from the side of the room and rigidly plopped down, removing his heavy backpack and setting it by his feet. He stared down at his hands when he noticed the purple unicorn hadn't continued eating, the silence eating him instead. “Hello there,” she delicately cooed with a warm smile. “Hi,” he muttered without looking at her. “So did you guys talk about while we were gone?” Stanley curiously asked. “Not much,” Kate responded. She surprised him and Lucas when a spatula levitated from the counter and flipped the salmon over on its own. The neon blue glow dissipated as it gently floated back onto the counter. Kate seemed unfazed by what happened. Unbeknownst to him, she had been using her new found ability of unicorn magic to perform all the handy tasks just as she would if she had hands. The both of them looked at Twilight who was smirking at them. “I taught her a thing or two about magic,” she chirped. “Levitation spells are relatively easy.” “We've been waiting for you to come back so we can talk,” Kate added. “I hope you're hungry.” Stanley put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. He glanced at the half-eaten bagel and oatmeal sitting at the edge of the table. He remembered back to why his breakfast was still sitting there in the first place. “Well, you did scream your head off and interrupt our breakfast. I guess we forgot to finish our food.” He reached over to slide over the plate towards him. He grabbed the bagel and took a bite. After taking a moment to chew and savor the flavor, he started nodding. “Still good. So what do you want to talk about?” Kate took the liberty of relieving the shivers around her body by shaking like a dog soaked in water. Her mane flowed from side to side as she stopped moving. She then cleared her throat. “I wanted to apologize.” She looked at Lucas' modest figure slumped next to Stanley. “I am deeply sorry for hurting you. I didn't know that could ever happen and Cadence's slip of the tongue was unexpected. It's all my fault. If I had been a little more careful, you wouldn't be so frustrated with me right now. This all happened so fast, I'm having trouble keeping up with it all.” “No,” Lucas murmured, holding up a palm. “I'm the one who should be sorry. If you knew what I told Stanley, you'd know that I lost my sense of ground, but I know now I can't run from this. So I think it's fair to say that we were just being complete jerks to you for a while now. We already agreed that helping you should be our highest priority.” Kate cocked her head in confusion. “What did you guys say to each other out there? I've never seem you two like this before. It's like you both changed into completely different people.” “We did,” Stanley confirmed. “Let's just say we are not mad at you anymore. We don't care how we got into this mess or why this happened the way it did. We want is to help fix it. That's the way I— we see it,” he glanced at the blue pegasus standing next to her. “We're all having a bad day. Might as well make the best of it.” Twilight noticed the human's subtle eye contact with Rainbow Dash. She wanted to say something then and there, but restrained herself from rudely interrupting. “How did you manage to come up with that?” Kate joked. One more glance at Rainbow reassured him of the gratification of his previous conversations. The pony winked in return. “Let's just say we settled our differences without a single punch thrown. It's all in the words.” “That fast, huh?” Kate was slow to accept that cheeky answer, but arguing would only defeat the purpose of trying to make things better. “Alright then.” She looked back at the stove. “Looks like lunch is ready.” “I still don't know how you human's eat fish,” Cadence finally said after keeping silent for the past several minutes. Although she was lacking in knowledge about human anatomy and their omnivorous nature, she new her part a “Ponies are not designed to digest such meats in large quantities without getting a wicked stomach ache. The salt content is close to that of several bottles of cider. Only pegasi are able to eat fish since they require more energy fly.” “Well now that you're in my body, you can eat all the fish you want.” Kate lifted the black metal pan off the stove and levitated it over the the table. Channeling more raw magic into her horn by concentrating onto two objects, she used the spatula to cut the oily salmon into several pieces and slid one onto Cadence's plate. “My metabolism is very durable. Besides, fish is delicious.” “Are you gonna have any?” Stanley questioned. “She just said that her body can't digest fish. I can survive without it for now. I'm gonna have some salad.” While Kate prepared some more plates using her magic, Rainbow took the time for seat herself on a chair between Cadence and Twilight. She was licking her lips in preparation for the salmon that she desperately wanted to taste. Her friends watched Kate hover more ceramic plates on the table with a chunk of salmon of everyone but herself and Twilight. Kate even took the liberty to add a fork and knife with each serving except for Rainbow. “I always wanted to do that,” she said shortly after the last plate was set before Rainbow Dash, relieving herself of having to focus that much magic at once. The blue pegasus sniffed the salmon first to see if it was fresh. After briefly licking the skin, her appetite shot through the roof and she dug in. Cadence was trying to teach herself how to use the fork that she played with earlier and Twilight went back to eating her salad. Lucas didn't even look at his food. “Magic looks like fun,” said Stanley, the corners of his mouth twitching in between bites. His beliefs on the existence of magic continued to rage on in his head. “Of course it is,” Twilight almost blurt out. “The power to manipulate objects through magic is a useful tool and its what gives unicorns an advantage in skill when working with delicate objects that require precise movements.” She ignored the glare Rainbow shot at her. “An alicorn like Cadence is naturally able to generate larger amounts of magic with less effort than a regular unicorn like myself. That is why my mentor, Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna, are able the control the sun and moon respectively. They can access the mana-space quite efficiently and can channel vast quantities of magical energy at will that would normally take a hundred unicorns to achieve.” Lucas slumped in his chair a little more and rubbed his forehead upon hearing the unicorn's statement on magic. He had articulated the night before on how he felt about telekinesis and magic being exploited—even though he knew very little on the subject, but to have Twilight explain it in greater depth served as a grueling reminder. “Let's not talk about that, okay,” he insisted. “I've had enough lectures for today.” Twilight looked at him, trying her hardest not to take offense. “Is something bothering you, Lucas,” Kate asked with a hint to annoyance in her voice. He was not making to easy for her to be stuck inside a pony's body and having to steal her gift of unicorn magic. “You look like you have something to say.” The man turned to Stanley, whom was busy distracting himself with the wonderful crisp taste of tender fish meat. “I thought we came here to tell her about... you know,” he said in low voice. “I know, but this stuff is good,” the navigator replied between chews. “You should try it. Another few more minutes won't hurt.” Lucas sighed. His younger cousin started to sound like he cared little for their original mission of confession and more invested in gobbling up every last piece of his fish. He decided to go ahead and eat his own slice of salmon. When he took his first bite, he realized why Stanley was literally smearing his face into his plate. It was amazing! Pure bliss with each bite of the salty meat. As he fell under the spell of good food, he hadn't even noticed the satisfied smile Kate was giving him from across the table. Kate watched her 30-year-old captain lose himself to her brilliant cooking. She still had it in her, even as a pink pony princess. This was the perfect way to repay him for what she did to him. He deserved that much. She just needed to know why he's been acting differently since returning. He was no longer angry or contempt, but afraid. “So,” she began, directing her voice at both her employees. “Is there anything I need to know that you're not telling me?” There was a brief period of silence and the occasional squishing sound of chewing. Stanley and Lucas exchanged looks when they finished eating their fish. After nodding at each other, Stanley finally looked at her. “Kate?” He paused. “Do you even remember what we were doing yesterday?” “Out fishing, why?” “Well... then what?” “What do you mean?” She nervously stroked her mane with a hoof. “What was the LAST thing you remember before waking up like that?” She relayed the same hoof to her chin. “Hm... you guys were arguing on the boat, I told you keep it down, I went back to sleep on my bunk...” A few seconds went by before she continued. “That's it. And then this happened. How did this happen anyway? At first, I thought this was a prank. When did we dock last night? I couldn't have slept that deeply for you guys to drag me all the way to the station.” “Um... we didn't dock.” Stanley scratched his neck uneasily. “There where did you leave the ship? It doesn't have lifeboats.” “We didn't leave it anywhere.” Lucas answered this time. He was a bit more calm that he was before eating her beautifully prepared meal. “Where is it then?” Kate was growing more impatient with each question. As each of them stared at the other, Rainbow Dash decided to speed things up. She was close to gouging out her eyes from the suspense. Her method of delivery would be more indirect and teasingly. She'd hate to ruin her recently acquired trust, but what was trust without courage? “Is it the one sitting on the beach?” she said. Stanley face palmed. If human pupils could shrink the way a pony's does, Lucas eyes would be as small as ants. After giving Rainbow a sharp glare, they looked back at the pink alicorn. Kate seemed unfazed, starting directly at the blue pegasus, but upon closer inspection, her face was flushed of any positive emotion. Even the color of her pink coat was drained of its usual vibrancy that seemed to liven up her surroundings everywhere she went. “Kate?” Lucas sat up and leaned forward. “Please, you have to understand, it was an accident.” She rotated her head ever so slight to look at him and Stanley, but remained silent. “We were going to tell you when you woke up,” he went on. “But I wasn't expecting you to wake up as...” he gestured at her, trailing off. Everyone at the table needn't him to finish, knowing exactly what he meant. Kate blinked. “Is it... intact?” she asked flatly, implying that she was indeed upset. “Yeah, it's fine,” Stanley replied. “The boat suffered minor scratches... and maybe some engine failure.” He said that last part in a low whisper before quickly inhaling. “But other than that, everything is good condition.” Lucas was expecting an angry outburst or some form of rage-induced explosion of noise disguised as furious shouts from Kate. After all the times it has happened before, no one could blame him for assuming. However, his assumptions were now out of date. Kate looked down at the table and blinked rapidly. The small twitches on the corner of her mouth was the only indication that her emotions were in conflict inside her. The entire room went quiet. Cadence was darting her head at each of her companions and the human across the table. Twilight did the same. “I'm sorry, but what is going on?” Twilight said. Cadence was wondering the same thing. This ambiguous conversation bouncing back and forth still left her scratching her head. She saw Stanley slither his hands through his messy hair as if considering answering the unicorn or just that his head was itchy. The fact was the former, but Rainbow beat him too it. “I believe their friend just found out her boat is grounded on shore not too far from here.” Kate looked up. “How did it happen?” she woefully asked. “The storm.” Even with that simple answer, it was unsatisfactory to her standards. She wanted more of an explanation. “But we were miles out at sea, how can we blow in that fast?” She stared at her chief navigator, who was fidgeting with his fingers and his fork. “Surely you were keeping track of our location.” “Don't blame him,” The captain defended. “It's my fault. I wasn't driving the boat like I was supposed to.” “No,” Stanley croaked without looking rising his head. “It's both our faults.” Lucas frowned. He leaned closer to his cousin. “What are you doing?” he whispered. “I won't let you take the fall for this.” “We fall together, remember?” Lucas was reluctant to come to terms with Stanley. They both knew Kate was not blind to recognize mistakes, and this was one mistake with both their names on it. With a smile, they both stood up. “We can take you to your boat, assess the situation, and maybe repair the damages ourselves. Then we can figure out what to do from there. Before you ask, I did not call the coast guard.” “Yeah, I'm with Lucas on this one.” He cracked a cheeky grin, backing up the suggestion one hundred percent. “Wait,” Kate bellowed before they moved an inch. A familiar expression was painted on her face. It was sadness. “What happened to me when we came ashore?” Stanley hesitated, but quickly shook off the shivers that spawned from his memory. “You hit your head and fell unconscious. I carried you over here.” He deliberately left out the part of Lucas' sole abandonment of the ship out of his lack of care at the time. He also neglected to mention his own meltdown against Lucas, shredding most of his inhibition and causing him to lose his nerve on more than one occasion. “How did you guys meet these... ponies? And how is it that I switched bodies with one of them?” Although her three 'guests' could hear every word they were saying, they were more invested in listening to see how this plays out. Cadence was not offended one bit. She was rather interested in the same question. “Um, we can save that story for later.” Stanley coughed to change subjects. “Why don't we show you your boat so you know we aren't screwing with you.” “No that's alright, I believe you.” She pushed herself away from the table. She then starting pacing around the room flawlessly. The men exchanged confused looks. They surmised that something was affecting Kate's usual emotions and psychological traits that were the foundation of personality. If they were to take a wild guess, it probably had something to do with inheriting instincts, memories, and intuition floating around the brain of a divine—and undeniably powerful—pony princess from another world. It's like her negative feeling were trumped by something more mighty, something more valuable that defined the original pony's characteristics. It was by now that Kate needed some time to think. Lucas sat back down. He opened his backpack and took out his old laptop computer and placed it on the table. Waiting for it to boot up, he tapped his cousin on the shoulder. “Let me see your camera?” Stanley scanned the counter for where he left his digital camera. Resting next to the fridge, he grabbed it and handed it to Lucas. As the man removed the SD card from the hidden chamber, Twilight was watching with widen eyes like she was witnessing the most amazing observation of another culture from two feet away. Lucas transferred the memory card into the its proper slot built into the body of the computer. Shortly after logging in, he used precise finger movements across the touchpad to open the file aptly named 'removable disk (E:)'. Within the folder, only one file was recorded onto the drive. A two minute video clip. If either Lucas or Stanley were paying any attention to the lavender unicorn sitting right next to them, they would recognize that face almost instantly. Although, when one sees Twilight reduced to a drooling statue slapped with a hypnotized stare, it usually meant one of two things.