//------------------------------// // 12: What Darkness Lies In Ponies' Hearts // Story: Seeing Sanguine // by Winged Cat //------------------------------// The trio said goodbye to Zecora in far higher spirits than they had greeted her in. Subconsciously, mutually, they headed in the exact opposite direction from the manticore, which placed them close enough to the path out of the forest that Applejack and Fluttershy adjusted course to follow it without realizing. Sanguine had gotten turned around and would have been lost without her companions, but she noticed them following a definite path. "So, where are we off to next?" Applejack, so far as she knew, was still just wandering. "Ah dunno. Fluttershy?" "Umm." Fluttershy's head drooped. "I'm...not really in the mood to keep exploring. I guess my idea was kind of crazy, huh?" "A little," Applejack and Sanguine echoed. Fluttershy winced. "Sorry." "Aww, it's okay, sugar." Applejack patted her. "Some good came outta it." Fluttershy sighed. "I guess." Sanguine nodded. "Yeah! I'm a bit pumped to see if I really can see into ponies' hearts. I never really paid attention, the few times I was out of my room." Applejack had long since developed a flag for impending danger, well practiced from her little sister's antics with the Cutie Mark Crusaders: a club consisting of said sister and her two friends, mainly, infamous for attempting all manner of dangerous and/or poorly-thought-through schemes to get their cutie marks. That flag raised now, recognizing a similar pattern in Sanguine's words and tone. "Y'think Celestia knew about this?" "Well...thinking back, she did only send me to Manehattan after she found me staring in its direction. And I felt hungry..." Sanguine blanched. Applejack was quite okay with cutting off that line of conversation. "Oh yeah, she figured it out. Ah once heard she can figure th' endin' to mystery novels jus' bah readin' the first page, but that's probably an exaggeration." "Actually it's not. At the end of my stealth training I snuck up on her in the library, and I saw her doing exactly that. When I asked, she said she was familiar with the author's works, and he'd fallen into a pattern that put enough clues on the first page if you knew what to look for. Just that one author, though." Sanguine blushed. "Then she chided me for giving myself away." "How far away do you need to be to sense?" Fluttershy took note of exiting the forest this time. She glanced at her cottage - it was not a shambles, and it was after noon, so Spike must have fed her charges. She steered the trio away, lest Angel see them and get upset that she was away for the day when she could stop by and say hello but then she might not get the courage to go out again and "Yer frettin', sugar." Applejack's reminder broke her out of her reverie. Sanguine looked at the two and smirked. From what she had seen of Fluttershy so far, she could readily believe the not-so-brave one did that enough that Applejack had learned the tells. "I don't know. Until an hour ago I didn't know I could do this." "Welp, only one way t' find out." Applejack lead them over the bridge leading toward town. "I guess." Sanguine looked ahead. "How close should I try?" "Let's get over near town hall. There's a big, wide openin' there," Applejack explained. "Ya dunno if ya can sense more'n that there is bad intent about, right? It might help ya if ya can see who ya sense, jus' in case there's any flavor to it - somethin' that'll let you tell a bully from a thief, say." Sanguine nodded, then took the opportunity to look around. So far, she had only really gone into town with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and for different reasons she was in no mood to take in the sights on either leg of the journey. Ponyville was certainly a colorful place, with sights and sounds and a rhythm all its own. Most of the buildings differed only in the color and pattern of their support beams; Sanguine dismissed her earlier concern over all the buildings being shops: open-air markets with stalls and carts - and deployable coverings for when it rained, currently stowed for summer - seemed to be the preferred method of commerce. Putting the main library in a tree was certainly unique; idly, she wondered what the town would do hundreds of years later when the tree was dying. But that was a problem for the future, for now, she had to "STOP!" Applejack gave Sanguine a worried look as she pressed a leg across the red chest. "Ya were spacin' out there mighty hard. Are ya okay?" "Oh! S-sorry," Sanguine apologized. "I guess I just got a little carried away." Applejack continued to examine her. "Yer not sensin' now, right?" Sanguine shook her head. "Not paying much attention to it. Is this where you wanted me to try?" Applejack looked around briefly, noting that they were now in the main plaza surrounding town hall, before her eyes returned to Sanguine. "As good a place as any. Do it." Sanguine nodded and closed her eyes, sinking into her mind. The first pulse came from above: a fast-moving blip, then two, three, four minor echoes in the blip's wake. Moments later, faint curses came to her ears from the direction of those curses. Probably some fast-moving pegasus, full of herself, and the pegasi she annoyed with her passage. Looking more groundward, she noticed a perfectly pegasus-shaped void right next to her. Cracking one eye, she saw the void corresponded to Fluttershy. Slowly she walked around the pegasus sitting next to her: sure enough, from all angles it was as if the ground and open air had an ambient level and Fluttershy was less than that. Then the rest of the town pinged. It was only later that she would figure out that she had been looking extremely close to notice Fluttershy's void, which amplified the slight wisp of moral imperfection most ponies carried in their hearts. At the time, bad intent seemed scattered everywhere and there was scant goodness to be found and the merest mote of selfishness seemed to flare into diabolical intent and the entire town seemed plagued with malice and hostility and hatred and an overwhelming flood of "STOP!" Applejack forcibly peeled open Sanguine's eyes, unsurprised to see the pupils shrunk to tiny dots. "Sanguine! Sanguine! Snap outta it!" Sanguine's eyes looked left, looked right, looked up, then she bolted. "GET BACK HERE!" Applejack gave chase, soon followed by Fluttershy. They did not slow down until they heard the low, almost subsonic growl. Rounding a corner, they saw Sanguine, hunched low on all fours with wings spread, giving an animalistic glare at a pair of familiar cream-yellow unicorns, just a shade brighter than Fluttershy, in matching dapper outfits and hauling a wagon. "Uh-oh. Umm. Flim an' Flam?" Applejack greeted. "Yes indeed, with goods to amaze!" "If we could get to the market." The obviously-related stallions seemed perplexed by the growling pegasus in front of them, but had enough sense not to approach or attempt to go around. "Jus' turn aroun', nice an' easy, an' get outta here," Applejack advised. They frowned at Applejack in unison. "How rude! I know we've had our differences," "but this time what we have to offer is the real deal." Sanguine growled a bit louder. Applejack slowly and gently walked forward as quietly as she could, and whispered, "Get. Out. Of. Here. Now. Ah ain't talkin' about whatever yer passin' off, ah'm talkin' about defusin' a situation." "Well I never!" "And we never will! Hmph, judged guilty before we had a chance to-" Sanguine's growl suddenly rose in intensity, her tail swishing. Her rear rose, her entire form coiling up to pounce- Fluttershy stepped in front of her. Sanguine froze. Fluttershy smiled, keeping confident eye contact with Sanguine. "There, there, you wouldn't harm me." Sanguine leaned to her left; Fluttershy leaned right to be in Sanguine's way. Sanguine leaned to the right, getting the same reaction. "Gentleponies," Fluttershy advised as sweetly as if discussing a rainbow's beauty, not breaking eye contact with Sanguine for a second despite addressing the two behind her. "You have until she gets past me. I suggest running. Umm, in this case it really will be for your lives. Sorry." The brothers blinked. "Well. What do you say we come back to Ponyville another time?" "I think that is an excellent idea, brother mine! Let us be off!" They walked around the wagon to turn it around, then galloped away as fast as their hooves would take them. Sanguine stretched her wings up, getting ready for a wing-assisted pounce over Fluttershy's head at her targets, when suddenly they would not move and her legs gave out from under her. She had just enough time to look back at her flank and see Applejack tying her up - where did the earth pony keep that much rope? - before her muzzle was tied from both sides too, pulling her head forward. "That was too close." Fluttershy resumed eye contact the moment Sanguine was looking forward again. "Um, Sanguine, can you hear me?" Sanguine's growl faded, but she struggled against the ropes. "Too close is right." Applejack examined her handiwork as if the lives of two unicorns she was not particularly keen on but, she felt, did not deserve an abrupt end depended on it. "Back to your place until she snaps out of it?" Fluttershy maintained eye contact with Sanguine as if the well-being of her friend depended on making sure Sanguine did not thrash too violently. "That would probably be for the best." Applejack thought for a moment. "Haulin' her through town's gonna be a problem if she struggles. Wait here, ah'm gonna go see if Twilight's free to help."