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// 124 - Intervention 
// Story: A Dangerous Sparkle 
// by David Silver 
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Rainbow threw her head in indication of Lex, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Applejack raised a brow, "Intervention?"

Rainbow bobbed her head, "I mean, the guy wants to be alone, whatever, but he doesn't have the right to string along a mare in the process. Even I could see how hard Sonata's trying."

Applejack nodded, "Don't know what she sees in him, but she deserves a chance." She pushed to her hooves and trotted over towards Lex, Rainbow hovering just beside. "Hey, got a moment?"

Lex looked up, surprised by the unexpected attention. His eyes darted over the pair suspiciously before he hesitantly replied, "I suppose I do. What do you want?"

Rainbow approached suddenly, getting past Applejack, "Where do you get off treating Sonata like that? Can't you see she likes you for some reason?"

Applejack put a hoof on Rainbow's back, "Easy there girl, but she's right. You're hurting her feelings avoiding her like this. If ya don't like her, just say so."

Lex blinked, his features showing his puzzlement quite clearly, "What are you babbling about? I'm avoiding her because I want to preserve her current disposition towards me."

He turned Applejack's words over in his mind for a moment, "You're suggesting that a lack of direct interaction will change her attitude towards me. That doesn't make sense. With no new input, shouldn't her current regard for me remain in its current default? What's the impetus that's causing her to change her mind?"

Rainbow looked perplexed at the words being used, but Applejack was ready to reply, "Be that as it may, she's trying really hard to be nice to you. She wants ta be your friend, and friends don't avoid friends." She sat down on her haunches, "Ahm saying this for both of your sakes, but if you want to be her friend, ya best off letting her approach you, and if ya don't, just say so."

Rainbow bobbed her head, "She's going to be super ticked, wandering back and forth with that food and drink, looking for you back there." She crossed her arms, "That's not how a gentlecolt treats a mare."

"Why?!" Lex roared, his frustration suddenly boiling over, "Why does it work like that?! What makes you so sure that you're right and I'm wrong?! You throw around these rules like they're the most obvious things in the world - 'friends don't avoid friends,' 'if you want to be friends then let her approach you,' 'that's not how a gentlecolt treats a mare' - but none of you can ever explain what data or principles or guidelines you've used to formulate them in the first place! It's all just intuited!"

He was yelling now, drawing looks from the other passengers in the car, but he didn't seem to notice as he climbed to his hooves, "Well it's not intuitive! It's not obvious! I don't understand the rules that you so blithely throw at me and I'm sick of being blamed for that! I know that she likes me! I like her too, and I want to nurture that and I'm trying the best that I know how! But it always goes wrong and everypony always blames me without ever telling me why!"

Lex cut himself off, breathing heavily as he lowered his gaze, fighting to rein in his emotions. It was always like this, always the same. No matter how hard he tried or what techniques he applied, it always ended up this way...with other ponies talking down to him about how he was wrong, how he wasn't wanted. About how he was a failure.

Raising his gaze back to the stunned pair, Lex's hardened his features into a mask of hurt and spite, but despite it his eyes shimmered. "Well I will not be blamed. Not by you, not by Sonata, not by anypony!" Without waiting for a response, he turned and hurried away, wanting desperately to be alone.

Applejack circled around swiftly, "Woah nelly, nopony's blaming you just yet. If you wanted some help, ya just had to ask. Yer just as bad as Twilight in some ways," she said with a good-humored exasperation. "Serious question, do you like her or not?"

Rainbow was less understanding, rolling her eyes, "Sonata's not exactly a complicated pony. She likes you, she wants to hang around you. When you let her, she's happy, and when you ditch her, she gets sad." She flew up beside Applejack, throwing a leg over her withers, "Like me and AJ, but with less kissing involved. I'd be bummed if she started avoiding me."

"That's not good enough!" hissed Lex. After releasing that much bile, it could not be so easily contained again. "If I don't know why she likes me, then I can't make sure not to change whatever factors led her to that conclusion! Otherwise it's just a matter of time until I do something to screw it up!"

Lex could feel himself starting to panic. He was too exposed here. This was becoming too raw, too emotionally-charged to deal with. He had to get away, get someplace alone where he could calm down. In desperation, he chanted a spell, visualizing the glimpse of the baggage car he'd glanced at when he'd boarded the train. He wouldn't be able to regain the use of this spell for some time, but at the moment that didn't matter. He had to get out of there. A fraction of an instant later, a momentary portal swallowed him up, leaving the pegasus and earth pony staring at where Lex had been an instant before.

Applejack and Rainbow peered at the now empty spot. Rainbow snorted, "Ten bits says he messes it up."

Applejack shook her head, "Nothing doing. Ahm going to go talk ta Sonata. That boy's clueless, but he sounds sincere."

They separated there, with Applejack trotting towards the back of the train to find Sonata. She wasn't hard to locate, seated on a bed and looking mopey. Applejack strode up to her with a cautious smile, "Hey there."

Sonata looked up at Applejack, cracking a brief smile and a twitch of her tail, "Hey AJ... Am I ugly?"

Applejack blinked in surprise, "Uh, no, Not that ah figure. Ah meant to talk to ya about that." She hopped up beside Sonata and settled down, "Ya know that boy's a mite bit clueless when it comes to mares, right?"

Sonata tilted her head, "Huh? I'm the one saying things that makes him angry all the time. This is totally the worst."

Applejack shook her head, "He's not angry. He's like a little colt that pulls the mane of a filly he likes to show he likes her, even when it really annoys her."

Sonata raised a brow with confusion, "He isn't pulling my hair." She flushed, "Did he want to?"

Applejack snorted as she shook her head, "No No! Ah mean... Ah think he likes you back, but he doesn't know why you like him. He's plum terrified he'll do something wrong and you'll hate him."

Sonata threw up her forehooves, "Me too!"

Applejack gave a gentle smile, "Ah figured. So, next time ah see him, what should ah tell him?"

Sonata tilted her head, "I want to see him?"

Applejack shook her head again, "Nuh uh. Why do you like him?"

Sonata frowned with thought, "He's smart, and he can take charge. I don't like when he yells at me, but he's kind of cool otherwise. More being cool and smart, less yelling."

Applejack nodded, "Good. Ah'll tell him that if ah see him.  Give him some space for now. He's not angry at ya or nuthin'."

"He isn't?" asked Sonata hopefully.

Applejack pointed at Sonata's still warm food, "Gonna eat that?"

They ended up sharing the two meals, and Sonata looked far better for the visit.





Twilight sat in front of Spike, reciting a letter that he faithfully scribbled out.



Dear Princess Celestia,
We have rescued several ponies, and some non-ponies, from slavery. Like Sombra, these 'gem gnolls' had no reservations about forcing other sentients into servitude. During the effort, we were forced to kill several of their number, and I feel bad about that. Most fights in Equestria end up with unconscious outlaws, not dead ones. How can they learn lessons if they are dead? It is far beyond our means to consider trying to bring them back, which makes me feel worse. On what level do I deserve a second life, possibly a third if we count my ascension, where they get one, that I took away?
Of the recovered slaves, two are of a people entirely destroyed. Their culture and way of life were ground to dust in the wheels of slavery. Both were born into it, and one is the daughter of the other. They're adorably short ponies, but they're also tragic. The younger is rebounding faster, seeming eager to see what the world at large holds for her, while the older is desperate to find new work, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of her daughter. It is not a direct compensation, but I will not feel good until we at least see these two to a secure and happy place. It's the least I can do, considering.

Confused, but Resolved,
Princess Twilight Sparkle



Spike rolled up the letter and sent it on its way in a puff of smoke. "Does it really have you torn up that bad?"

Twilight gave a soft nod, and Spike moved in to hug her. She smiled, returning the embrace with Spike. "You give better hugs now that you're bigger."

Spike snorted at that, "You did the right thing, I think. We'll make sure Blue and Yellow are treated right. Where are they anyway?"

Twilight wobbled a hoof, "Soft saw a chance to chat with them with Lex not hovering over them."





Soft was playing a game with Blue. It was a simple card game, but it amused the little filly greatly.

"Go graze!" announced Blue with a grin.

Soft tsked and reached for another card, "You catch on fast."

Yellow sitting nearby, nodded softly, "She is a bright girl. She'll make her mother so very proud." She looked relaxed, with her eyes casually on the game, watching the two play with a passive interest.

Blue looked over her cards, "Do you have... Two of Sun?"

Soft surrendered the card as Blue giggled, placing the match down between them.

"Thanks for playing with me," said Blue as she smiled up at Soft, tail swaying eagerly, "They didn't let us play games in the mines at all." She glanced off, then back, "We had to be sneaky."

Soft raised a brow as she continued the game, "How did you do that?"

Blue tapped her chin, "We had ways. Sometimes we would bet what metal we'd find next, or who'd find it."

Soft tilted her head, "Bet? What'd you have to bet with?"

Blue shrugged her shoulders, "Rations mostly..."

Yellow sighed gently, "That girl cost me plenty of rations."

Soft looked surprised, "You bet your mother's rations?!"

Blue blinked, "No! Never!"

Yellow smiled gently, "When she would curl beside me, her little belly rumbling, what could I do? I would not let her go hungry."