//------------------------------//
// 48 - Dark Promises 
// Story: The Apple Falls Far from the Tree 
// by David Silver 
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"Now see here! Ah can't be signing no deals with boogey ponies, that's how ya get into trouble." Applejack took a few steps away from The Night Mare, glaring at her suspiciously.

The goddess gave a faint twist of a smile, her mien patient and cool. "You are right to be suspicious. I make lofty claims of salvation, but are they true? Tell me this, whether intentional or by mistake, our worlds draw closer together. If not you, then who else will I find to carry my power? Will the next pony be as honorable as you? Will you trust this strange pony, or perhaps something else entirely, to wield my might without causing harm to you and yours?"

Applejack tensed and grit her teeth a moment. "If ya could just grab anypony, ya wouldn't be talkin' ta me, right?"

The Night Mare leveled a hoof at Applejack. "I believe in destiny. How can one not, when its hoof prints are all over creation? We did not meet by idle chance. Accept this gift, and your sister will never need know fear again." She paused, raising a hoof to her chin. "I am being rude, perhaps. A gift, yes, that would be fitting. What do you desire?"

Applejack glanced around at the multitude of stars, pondering her chances of escape, but she saw none, and the idea of some stranger having this god's power did feel awful dangerous. She was strong, and good. She could keep it under control and used responsibly... "What kinda gift are we talkin'? Ya ain't gonna try bribing me with a mountain of bits are ya?"

She snorted loudly and approached Applejack. "I would be disappointed if you asked for that. I spoke truthfully. You wish to protect those who depend on you, those too frail to defend themselves. What would you have?" She brought down a hoof and when it came back up, a long blade came with it. "Perhaps a weapon worthy of my champion? It will never harm an ally, no matter how frenzied the battle becomes, instead seeking the hearts of those who mean you ill. No..." She stomped the weapon back into its non-space and drew out another, though this one was also a tool.

"Behold, the scythe. A wonderful tool, to dispose of weeds, harvest crops, or cut down those who would dare wrong you. Surely this would be more fitting a farmer such as yourself, but do not be deceived. It is as mighty as the blade you just saw." She leaned forward. "I can still see doubt in your eyes, but know this. The scythe is my favored weapon, divine in my order, and who comes before me but a humble farmer with a fighting spirit. Destiny! If you take this power, I know it will be used well."

Applejack came forward at last, eyeing the scythe. It was a handsome-looking tool, and she couldn't bear the idea of somepony else having this. She imagined an actual villain with the promised power, using it to do great harm to all ponykind. "What's ta stop ya from giving it ta somepony else even if ah do take it?"

She held a hoof over her chest. "Besides my word? There are rules. You are already caught between here and there, subject to me, but I may not simply intrude on your world. If I draw additional followers, it will be by your magnificent example. Your noble use of this gift will inspire others. On the other hand..."

Applejack was momentarily confused. The Night Mare didn't look like she had hands.

"If you allow some other to be the first, they may create a much darker example to follow. One bad deed will beget another."

Applejack cringed and grabbed the handle of the scythe in her mouth before swinging it onto her back securely.

"You will not regret this decision." The Night Mare waved at Applejack, and she was sent on her way.





The Crusaders had appeared in the middle of the apple orchard, with Sunflower and Willow popping in only moments later. Scootaloo was giggling uncontrollably from her perch in a tree.

Apple Bloom tilted her head back to look at the pegasus. "What's so darn funny?"

Scootaloo spread her wings wide. "We're still Everglow ponies! Which means..." She threw herself off the branch, and flew in a wide circle around the group, cheering as she went.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head down at herself. "I'm not sure this is a good thing."

Sunflower was lost. "You all look the same to me?"

Willow clucked her tongue. "I feel it will become much more obvious when we see other ponies of this world. Where are we?"

Apple Bloom pointed at herself. "Yer in mah family's orchard. Welcome ta Sweet Apple Acres!"

Lex appeared a moment later, quickly regaining his bearings as he took in his surroundings. "Where are the others?" He knew asking the question was useless, since there was no way that the others would know, but he had to ask anyway. He didn't care much about Applejack, but he had been the one that had summoned The Night Mare, which meant that if the goddess had done something to the orange mare, it was on him. 

Far worse, however, was that he didn't see Sonata anywhere...

"Right here!" Sonata wriggled from up in the tree where she had been caught. "A little help please?" Gravity decided then was a good time, and she slipped off the branch, coming down with a thump. She got back to her hooves, mildly sore but intact.

Scootaloo landed among her friends. "Where's Applejack?"

Apple Bloom scowled and shook a hoof. "Ya give back mah sister!"

As if responding to her demand, Applejack appeared with a scythe strapped to her back. She looked around with confusion, but that faded when she was tackled by Apple Bloom. The two went down with the laughter of siblings reunited.

Lex let out a breath as the last of their group appeared. Everypony had made it back, which meant that the next priority was clear. "Are you alright?" Lex's voice was soft as he approached Sonata. 

Sonata gave Lex a shy smile. "I'm alright... are you still angry? I'm, like, sorry I said that."

Willow approached Applejack. "Now that my foolishness has carried me here, I'm afraid I must rely on pony generosity. I get the impression that things work differently around here. I'll need a helping... hoof for Sunflower and I to get our paws under us."

Applejack was about to reply when the sound of thundering hooves reached them. She looked up to see Big Mac charging her. Willow had the good sense to move out of the way, and the siblings crashed together. Big Mac didn't say anything, but his bear hug spoke volumes.

"I'm not angry." Lex barely noticed the commotion. "I..." His voice trailed off as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say, before realizing that he had no idea. That was enough to undercut his resolve, and all of a sudden he didn't want to do this, at least not right now.

Turning his attention to Willow, Lex withdrew a few small gemstones from one of his bags, holding them out to her. "Here. I said I would look out for your welfare if you came to Equestria, and I meant it." It was the last of his funds, but he didn't care. "This should be more than enough to put you and your son up in a hotel for the time being. By the time it runs out I'll have started my administration, and it will be able to help you become self-sufficient." He left out the part about how exactly he planned on instituting his rule, but that didn't matter...glancing back at Sonata, Lex knew that this time, failure was not an option.

Applejack parted from the hug, then gestured at Willow. "Say hello ta Willow, and that's Sunflower, Sonata, and the unicorn there's Lex."

Sonata moved forward at Lex, unwilling to accept a delay it seems. She reached for him with her hooves, trying to direct his face towards her. "I want you to try something new."

Willow accepted the gems, pocketing them away. "I appreciate it, but from the way Applejack and her kin reacted, this world is very different from Everglow. I imagine I'll need more of the friendly help than the monetary, to fit in around here." She looked around, not seeing Kalik at all. "Damn god sent her home. I'll summon her later."

Sunflower smiled at the Crusaders. "So we're neighbors now, right?"

Scootaloo bobbed her head. "Sure are! I can't wait to introduce you in school."

Sunflower blinked. "You have a school?"

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "Of course we do. You didn't?"

Sunflower shook his head. "Not for a long time, and that was a tutor, not a school. Is it fun?"

Apple Bloom bumped into Sunflower lightly. "We'll all be there, how bad can it be?"

Lex's discomfort was becoming increasingly obvious, and while he didn't object to Sonata turning him to look at her, he tried to cut her off. "We should discuss whatever it is later. For right now I need to make plans on how to deal with Celestia."

Sonata nodded. "That's what I'm getting at. Listen to me, please." She sat on her haunches. "You have great ideas, but you make them sound yucky, and that's not going to work." She raised a hoof to her chest. "From now on, you tell me, and then I will be your spokespony. If you can't make me understand it, you're already doomed, because ponies won't understand, and then they won't like it, and you want them to like it, Lex. They should love your ideas." She leaned in a bit. "Like I love you."

There were a hundred reasons why her idea was a bad one, from her misinterpreting his words to the danger she'd be in if she was beside him when he faced Celestia again. He was already opening his mouth to tell her that when she spoke those last four words, and suddenly he couldn't collect his thoughts. It was one thing to hear her murmur her assent to Willow, or even say it to Kara...but having her say it to him directly, looking him in the eye as she did, was enough to completely rock him back on his hooves.

For a moment, he just gaped, visibly stunned. A few moments later, he collected his wits, and became acutely aware that all eyes were on them. "...come with me." He canted his head to the side, indicating that she should follow him, before turning and setting off without another word. He didn't have a particular direction in mind, just someplace where they could have some semblance of privacy. That and the short walk gave him a moment to try and put his thoughts in order.

After a few minutes, he stopped, letting out a breath that was only slightly shaky as he turned to face her. "Did you mean that? Everything you just said...everything you said before...did you mean all of it?"

She tilted her head at him lightly. "I don't use the big L word unless I mean it, Lex. I want us to work, but that means we have to be working together, not... how we've been doing it." She shuffled her hooves despite her brave words. "Do you think we can do that? Can you... I don't know... have me as a partner?" She lifted a hoof towards him. "A 'mutually beneficial merger of talents', as I think you'd say, but I'd prefer to just call it going steady."

While Sonata and Lex wandered off and away, Big Mac nodded at Willow and the smaller Sunflower. "Yup."

Applejack smiled. "That means he likes ya."

Willow chuckled softly. "A man of few words? Nothing wrong with that. I'm afraid neither of us are very suited to farm life. That's not all there is here, I hope?"

"Well shoot no." Applejack turned and pointed, though the trees were in the way. "Town of Ponyville's just that way. I'll show you around while I say hi to mah friends. They must be worried something awful."

Apple Bloom pointed at Applejack's still open saddlebag. "Did ya drop something, sis?"

Applejack nuzzled the flap up and peeked inside. "Tarnation! She took mah book and never gave it back." She stomped a hoof. "That reminds me though, gotta return Twilight's book pronto."

Despite the soft words Sonata was uttering, Lex could feel himself becoming more and more tense. He knew that there was no imminent danger, that there wasn't any threat around them that he could detect, but for some reason he was reacting as if there was. It was enough to completely ruin his attempts to collect himself, and the words came tumbling out of his mouth without any preparation.

"I think what you said before is not only wrong, but stupid."

Lex had never been able to judge anypony's reactions by their facial expressions, but as Sonata's eyes widened it occurred to him that she had likely misinterpreted what he meant. Realizing that he was about to permanently ruin things with the one pony that actually mattered to him, Lex abandoned any pretense of a plan, letting the words come tumbling out of his mouth in a panic.

"I meant back in the caves! When you asked if I'd ever 'zap' you if you did something wrong!" He didn't know why, but he was suddenly overcome with the desire to explain why he'd reacted the way he did then. "I was angry because I couldn't believe you thought I'd ever do that to you."

He stepped toward her, and now it was his turn to gather her face in his hooves. "Do you think there's anything you could do that would ever make me hurt you? That would make me not want to protect you? Because there isn't. You're the last pony I would ever let anything happen to."

Setting his hooves back on the ground, he kept going. "What you said to Kara before, about how I only smiled when I was talking about my ideas? You were wrong there, too. I talk about the future I want for Equestria because it gives my life meaning, but the thought of doing that brings me satisfaction, not joy."

He swallowed, but forced himself to continue, looking her right in the eyes. "You do that. The reason I smile when I talk about that is because I'm talking about it to you."

Sonata smiled, a slow brightening of her features as she leaned in and threw away all abandon by going for a kiss, only to pull up short. "Wait, you could hear me talking to her? I thought we were totally alone!" She turned red swiftly. "Oh my gosh, I must have sounded like a total dork..." But Lex wasn't making fun of her or taunting her. Maybe? She started to lean in again, pushing aside her worry.

Lex's shadow was whispering loudly in his mind. It told him how this would never work, that he'd eventually push her away, or grow tired of her, or that she'd leave him. It hissed myriad different reasons why this was a bad idea, and all of them were plausible and cogent, being his own fears manifested back at him.

He ignored all of it as he leaned in and pressed his lips to Sonata's.

The kiss went on forever, or at least it seemed that way to Lex, as his awareness of everything else besides Sonata - his very special somepony, he realized dimly - was completely gone. Eventually, he felt her pull away, and slowly opened his eyes, not having realized that he'd closed them.

"I love you too." It took a moment for him to register that the words had come from him, and he started, a hoof coming up to his mouth in surprise.