In the two hours since the attack on Tall Tale’s central plaza, the space had filled up with ponies in anticipation of the mayor’s speech.
Sonata idly wondered if that was odd, that everypony would come back so quickly after something so frightening had happened there. Notwithstanding having been banished so long ago, she hadn’t been in Equestria long enough to know if it was because the ponies here really were just that optimistic, or if they were simply desperate to hear what the mayor’s plan was. That was the purpose of this speech, after all; the announcement had been made in advance that the mayor would address the city with a “comprehensive plan to deal with the current crisis.” Judging from the nervous looks that she saw the ponies in the crowd giving each other, she suspected that a desire for security had motivated the townsponies to be here more than any sense of hopefulness.
Beside her, Fireflower looked nervous as well, but Sonata knew that it was for different reasons entirely. If the mayor was announcing that they’d hunt down and attack the creatures that had been terrorizing them, then the odds of him losing even more of his family would skyrocket. For his sake, she truly hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Surely the mayor would want to find a peaceful resolution?
But Sonata had to admit that she wasn’t at all sure of that.
Lex would know, she thought to herself. He’d have figured out exactly what they’re gonna do, and why, and what we should do about it. He’s really good at that. The thought of her boyfriend made her heart ache, and not just because she wasn’t sure if she could even call him her boyfriend anymore.
She still felt terrible that she’d left Lex the way she did. Yes, what he’d done had been awful, but demanding that he apologize for it had been exactly the wrong thing to do. That was so clear to her now that Sonata couldn’t believe she’d done that in the first place. She’d lived with him for weeks back on Everglow, and during that time they had argued a lot about his insistence on going to war with the alicorn princesses. During that time he’d never once agreed with her about negotiating instead of fighting, until they’d gotten back to Equestria, at which point he had done exactly that.
That had been when Sonata had realized that Lex was so incredibly stubborn that he’d reflexively resist if you tried to push him, even if he agreed with what you were pushing him towards. It didn’t matter whether the topic was his high-minded theories or what to eat for breakfast; if you tried to make him concede something, he’d refuse to do so as a matter of course, and the more he was pushed the more firmly he’d dig his hooves in.
His attack on Fireflower had been so unexpected and so frightening that it had caused her to lose sight of that. Lex had tried to explain, as well as he was able, that he’d made a mistake – that he’d thought she was in danger and was acting to protect her – but she hadn’t wanted to listen. Instead, she’d told him that he had to admit that he’d been wrong in order to make things right.
The result had been that they’d split up.
It would have been easy to say that it was all his fault, that he should have just stopped being so inflexible in the face of something that serious. But Sonata knew that wasn’t fair. That stubbornness was one of the things that she loved most about him. When he was being all take-charge and can-do about something, firmly taking control of a situation and flexing his authority, then he absolutely took her breath away. Wanting him to abandon that when she didn’t like it wasn’t realistic.
Kara had been the one to help her realize that, and in the privacy of her thoughts Sonata silently thanked the goddess again, alongside a fervent wish that it wasn’t too late to fix things. That was why she had come to listen to the mayor’s address. If she was right then Lex should be here somewhere. Seeking out the local authority to tell them how they were screwing things up was always one of his first actions.
Standing up on her hind legs, Sonata tried to peer over the heads of the crowd. The town square was rapidly filling up, and it was becoming harder to see through the mass of ponies. Surely Lex had to… “There!”
Fireflower jumped at Sonata’s unexpected exclamation. “Huh? What’s going on?”
“I think I saw Lex!” exclaimed Sonata, the excitement in her voice plainly audible. “I caught a glimpse of a red horn!”
“O-oh. That’s great,” smiled Fireflower wanly.
Not noticing her friend’s lack of enthusiasm, Sonata grabbed him by the hoof and started dragging him through the crowd towards where she’d spotted the tell-tale horn. Ignoring the yelps and grunts as she pushed past pony after pony, she felt her heart soar as the red horn came into view again. Nudging aside a yellow earth pony, she stopped as the horn’s owner came into view.
It wasn’t Lex. It was just some unicorn with a red coat.
Sensing the eyes on him, the unknown unicorn turned to look at Sonata curiously.
“Er…sorry, I thought you were someone else.” Sonata somehow managed to smile politely, a feat that took considerable effort given the incredible sense of disappointment welling up in her. Behind her, Fireflower bit his lip, wishing for Sonata’s sake that she’d found who she was looking for, even as he was glad for his own sake that she hadn’t.
“C’mon,” he tugged her towards the edge of the crowd. “It’ll be easier to look around if we’re not in the thick of things.” Sonata nodded, trying to buck herself up. The two had just gotten to the outer edge of the crowd when a voice rang out from the makeshift stage in front of the central fountain, causing both of them to stop and turn to face it.
“Everypony, thank you for coming. Before anything else, I just want to commend all of you for your courage in showing up here today. Just a few hours ago, this plaza was the center for yet another horrible attack on our citizens. But now, seeing all of you here fills my heart with hope for the future. So long as we have brave ponies like you living among us, I know that we can all find a way to continue to live together in friendship and harmony.”
Sonata stood up on her hind legs, again trying to peer over the crowd, which had broken into applause. She wobbled for a moment before she felt somepony steady her, and glanced down to see Fireflower bracing her, earning a quick smile from her in reward before she returned her gaze to the stage.
The pony speaking was a pegasus mare, apparently middle-aged, with a brown coat and red mane and tail. Sonata was too far away to make out her cutie mark, but given her grey business jacket and how two tough-looking earth pony stallions were flanking her, it was pretty easy to guess that this was the mayor.
“In the wake of these unprovoked attacks on our city,” continued the mayor, “I’ve spoken to individuals who have a deep and abiding love for Tall Tale and its ponies, and who are very worried about what these troublesome times mean for us. We’ve discussed many different options for how to proceed in the face of this threat, and we’ve come up with a plan to protect everypony.” Spontaneous cheering broke out at that, and the mayor smiled before motioning for the assembled crowd to quiet down.
Sonata, however, did not cheer. Instead, she stared intently at the mayor. Something wasn’t right… “We have to get closer,” she told Fireflower softly. He sent her a questioning look, but nodded in acknowledgment, sticking close to her as she once again began to push her way through the throng of ponies.
The mayor continued speaking. “Before I go into further details, I want to stress that this plan was designed with one goal, above any others: to make sure that everypony stays safe. That is not just my first priority, it is my only priority. Everything about this is designed to keep you all as far from harm as possible.” The crowd was completely silent, sensing that they were about to be told what was going to happen next.
“Therefore, until this crisis has been resolved, we will evacuate Tall Tale.”
The enthusiasm the assembled ponies had displayed before was nowhere to be found in their reaction to the mayor’s statement. Instead, everyone began to talk at once, with disbelief clearly being the dominant reaction. “Please, everypony, settle down,” called the mayor. It took two more tries before she was able to restore order and continue.
“I know that this decision will come as a shock to many, if not most, of you all. But I firmly believe that this is in the best interests of all of us. If I can’t guarantee your safety here, then the only course of action is to have everypony go somewhere that can, at least until we put an end to this problem. To that end-”
“But the train hasn’t come in! Where will we go?!” yelled a voice from the crowd, causing many to yell in agreement.
“Please listen!” implored the mayor. “It’s true that we can’t take the train out of the city. We’ve received reports that the tracks have suffered some damage, but our plan doesn’t require the use of the train. Likewise, we can’t go north to Vanhoover either.”
Sonata, who by now had reached the foot of the stage, perked her ears up at that. “Even if we could have everypony safely cross the marshlands between here and there, Vanhoover’s situation is too unstable,” the mayor explained, making a placating gesture to indicate that she wasn’t finished. “But there’s another way.”
She paused for breath, and this time no interruptions came. “A dear friend of mine has arranged for us to head south to Las Pegasus. Starting tomorrow morning, we will have groups of ponies go to the dockyards, where a ship will arrive to ferry you south. We will continue to have groups of ponies make this trip there until the entire city has been successfully evacuated, at which point we will focus all of our efforts on containing and eliminating the threat to our city. Once this has been done, we will immediately begin shipping everypony back.”
Voices picked up again, demanding to know how long that would take and who would be evacuated when. “Everypony, calm down! My office has already worked out a schedule for who will be going and when. We’ve printed instructions and have asked the local newspapers to run a special edition containing them. Everything you need to know will be in this paper, which will have copies distributed throughout the city by five o’clock tonight. I promise you, this will answer all of your questions.”
The crowed started to shift, many ponies starting to leave, and the mayor rushed to finish her speech. “I know that this is hard, but I also know that if we keep calm and work together, we will all get through this as a community. I promise you, we will overcome this challenge, and we will all come back home.”
Knowing that they’d just heard the end of her remarks, the assembled ponies quickly began to break up. The square thinned out quickly as ponies raced to find their friends and share the news or simply go home and start packing. The mayor also exited, her bodyguards muscling aside anyone that got in her way.
In a few minutes, the plaza was near-deserted, just as it had been a few hours ago in the wake of the spider attack. To Fireflower, there was an irony in that, though he’d have been hard-pressed to figure out exactly what it was. “This seems kind of overkill, doesn’t it?” He asked Sonata, looking around in mild disbelief. “I mean, we’re talking about less than six of us, and they’re going to just up and quit the entire city?”
No answer came, and he turned to look at his silent companion. “Sonata?”
She still didn’t answer, and Fireflower could see that she was deep in thought, her brow furrowed as she stared at the empty stage where the mayor had been. He waited for her to snap out of it, but after several moments it didn’t appear that she was inclined to do so. Walking over to her, he put a hoof on her shoulder, shaking her lightly. “Hey, Sonata, what’s wrong?”
She blinked, just now realizing that he’d been talking. “Huh? Oh, sorry about that. I, like, totes spaced out for a sec there.”
“I noticed,” he deadpanned. “What’s going on? You seemed like you were thinking really hard about something.”
She nodded. “I was. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“That’s what I was saying,” concurred Fireflower. “It doesn’t seem right that they’d leave an entire city over this.”
“Yeah, but that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh. Well then, what did you mean?”
“It’s the mayor,” explained Sonata, looking back at the empty stage. “I thought I recognized it before, and I’m sure of it now.”
Turning her head, she locked eyes with Fireflower. Her voice was completely confident when she next spoke.
“She’s been enchanted.”