Chapter 5: Why do We Fall?
-o~Back to the falling foal~o-
“AAAAAAAHHH!”
Within mere moments of Button being pushed over the castle’s edge, several things followed in rapid succession.
He quickly shot past the trio of fillies who had already deployed their parachutes, his propeller beanie lagging a bit behind. The three Cutie Mark Crusaders likely having figuring out what Button now realized, that even at the height of building the size of Twilight’s castle, the ground starts coming at you hard and fast. Sweetie Belle’s horn burned with an emerald glow, a glow that was soon haphazardly appearing on Button’s body as his descent slowed slightly. Sonata suddenly shot past the parachutes, her wings beating fast at the air as she rocketed downwards. The ensuing pressure knocked one of the parachutes into another which quickly tangled up with the third. The three fillies suddenly found themselves wrapped up in close proximity to each other and began falling downwards instead of floating. Scootaloo’s wings started beating at hummingbird speed in a desperate attempt to slow her friends and herself down.
Just as Button was about to smash into the grassy soil, Sonata, little more than a light-blue blur at this point, grabbed him and tried to angel both him and herself away from the ground. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders also rushed towards the large, solid surface, Apple Bloom shifted herself in the tangled mess to hit the ground legs first before her friends would impact.
Despite Sonata’s efforts, she and Button still touched the earth first, clipping it as Sonata attempted to angle up. She and Button suddenly began rolling and bouncing along the ground away from the castle. Apple Bloom hit the ground next, gritting her teeth as the force of the impact and weight of her friends suddenly compressed her at both ends before all three fillies collapsed into a heap of legs, strings, and parachutes that covered the mass. Sonata and Button slowly lost rolling momentum until both were laying in their own heap just a little further out from the castle as the parachute pile.
All of this had happened in a matter of seconds.
For a moment, everything was silent, something that occurred rather rarely when Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were involved, however a green blast of magic that erupted from the pile of parachutes quickly put an end to the quiet.
“BUTTON!” Sweetie Belle cried in a panic as her head shot out of the smoldering hole she had just created. Scanning her surroundings, she quickly picked out Sonata's and Button's limp bodies lying on the ground some distance off and dashed off as fast as her small white legs would carry her.
Scootaloo peeked out her head and let out a cough as she flapped her wings rapidly to blow away the small black wafts of smoke from the singed parachutes and ropes. “We're fine,” she said in a dry tone towards the direction of the long gone Sweetie Belle. “Thanks for asking!”
A long pained moan sounded out from nearby.
Scootaloo looked down as her unamused expression was quickly flooded by an expression of deep concern. “Apple Bloom?! Are you alright?!”
“Ah… Ah think so…” Apple Bloom said weakly. “Nothin's broken at least… just… everything hurts…”
Scootaloo nodded. “Right, situation normal, all bucked up…”
“BUTTON!” Sweetie Belle's terrified, high-pitched scream cut into the air like a razor blade.
Some of the color seemed to drain from Scootaloo's orange face. “That was… that was a terrified scream of relief, I'm sure…”
“BUTTON!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she nudged the battered and unresponsive colt. “Wake up! WAKE UP!”
A groggy moan escaped from the lips of Sonata as she woozily rose to her hooves. Her head dizzily lolled from side to side as she spoke, “Welp… any landing you can walk away from…” Sonata took one step forward and collapsed back to the ground.
“YOU!” Sweetie Belle said in a rage-filled voice as she dashed in front of Sonata in an instant. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” she demanded as water began to seep from her eyes and her horn started to glow a brilliantly dangerous shade of emerald fire.
Sonata swallowed as her lilac eyes crossed and focused on the practically flaming horn in front of her. She quickly rose back to her hooves and leaned her head back from the fiery horn as much as she could. Sonata looked past Sweetie Belle to see Button lying on the ground. “I… I…” Her eyelids dropped as her eyes began to fill with tears. “But I didn't mean to…”
“ARE YOU INSANE?!”
“… Uh… probab—“
“BECAUSE OF YOU, BUTTON IS…” Sweetie Belle's eyes opened wide as her ears flopped down around her head. “… He's…” Her eyes were suddenly flooded with tears as her lips began to quiver. “…he's-sob-de-dea—”
“Swe…Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle was by Button's side almost instantaneously. “BUTTON! YOU'RE ALIVE!” she cried, her horn growing dim as joyously as she began nuzzling the young colt. Button's eyes slowly opened as he remained motionless on the ground.
Sonata trotted behind Sweetie Belle. “Did you… did you even check for a pulse?”
Sweetie Belle shot a glare at Sonata, her horn practically flaring back up in an instant. “'Check for a pulse?!'” she asked through gritted teeth.
Sonata shot a worried glance at the horn as she tilted her head in the direction away from it and nodded. “Yeah! You just put your hand up to someone's neck, and feel for—” Sonata put a forehoof up to her own neck, her eyes went wide. “Oh… Oh no… I don't feel anything! I MIGHT BE DEAD!”
Sweetie Belle closed her eyes hard. “Don't tempt me…” she growled out.
“Whoops!” Sonata said cheerfully as she examined her own hoof. “Right! Hooves! Silly me.”
Sweetie Belle clamped down on her teeth hard as her horn began to flare up further and hum with dangerous energy.
“Shouldn't we go over there?” Apple Bloom asked.
Scootaloo shook her head. “Do you want to be anywhere near Sweetie Belle if she fires off her frickin' death ray?!”
“No,” Apple Bloom replied immediately. “No I do not.”
From the ground, Button began to stir, letting out a groggy moan as his back legs twitched slightly.
“Button!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Are you okay?! Did you hit your head?! Are you suffering from irreversible brain trauma and now you're just like Sonata?! Please don't say you're suffering from irreversible brain trauma and now you're just like Sonata!”
Sonata dropped her eyelids slightly. “Wow! Rude! I'm standing right here!”
“Oh, I know,” Sweetie Belle replied simply.
“I… I think I'm okay,” Button said. “I just…” Button patted his messy mane with his left forehoof. “I'm just missing my hat.”
“Don't worry!” Sweetie Belle said. “We'll start looking for it immediately!”
As if sensing it was needed, the hat drifted gently downward and landed squarely on Sonata's head.
Sonata recoiled slightly and glanced upwards with a fearful expression. “Please tell me a hat landed on my head and not some sort of horrible brain slug that feeds on intelligence.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure something like that would starve to death pretty quickly.”
Sonata frowned at Sweetie Belle. “Yeah… well… well… You’re like… like a marshmallow with pretty hair!”
Sweetie Belle paused for a moment and smiled slightly. “You think my mane is pretty? I-No! Wait! I’M STILL PRETTY PEEVED WITH YOU!”
Button glanced up from his spot on the ground. “Er… That's my hat, Sonata.”
Sonata once again fearfully glanced up as if she were attempting to see what was on her head, but afraid to touch it. “And you're sure your hat is not also a brain slug?”
“Pre-pretty sure?” Button replied.
Sonata let out a sigh of relief, took Button's hat off with a forehoof then placed it askew on top of the young colt’s head. “Right, here you go!”
“Thanks,” Button said weakly as Sweetie Belle frowned and adjusted Button's hat so it was on top of his head properly.
Sonata put her forehoof in front of her and just stared at it with wide eyes for a while.
“Uh… Something wrong?” Button asked.
Sonata smiled at Button cheerfully. “I am not sure how I just did that!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo trotted up to the group. “Yo!” Scootaloo shouted as they approached. “Everypony okay over here?”
“I'm fine!” Sonata said in a bubbly voice. “Thanks for asking! How are you doing today?”
Apple Bloom gave Sonata a perplexed look as she and Scootaloo came up alongside her. “We just crashed after jumping off Twilight's castle.”
Sonata nodded. “Yep, a lot of that going around!”
Sweetie Belle sighed and shook her head. “I think everypony is okay…” She looked down at Button in concern. “Er… Do you need help getting up?”
Button winced as he moved his limbs. “Ow… Yes. Most definitely yes.”
“Oh! I can help!” Sonata said ever cheerfully.
Sweetie Belle turned to growl at Sonata in the same way a dog would to keep another away from its bone.
“Or not!” Sonata said as she cast a nervous glance in Sweetie Belle's direction.
Sweetie Belle lowered her head, allowing Button to loop his left foreleg over it. Slowly, she got Button back onto his hooves.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo let out a gasp as the couple stood up.
Sweetie Belle and Button put on slightly panicked expressions.
“What is it?!” Button cried.
“Is he bleeding?!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“Is something broken?!” Button asked.
“Does he have cancer?!” Sonata interjected.
The group collectively turned to stare at Sonata for a second, then turned back towards Button.
“So when you say, 'broken'… ” Apple Bloom said.
Sweetie Belle and Button winced.
“Look er…” Scootaloo gave Button a half smile. “This is soooooooooooooooooo not a big deal!”
Button frowned. “Scootaloo, you dragged out that 'so' a little too long for me to believe that.”
“Ooooooooooooh, did Iiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee?” Scootaloo said with a nervous, coy smile.
Still smiling, Sonata spoke up. “Oh, your shoulder is clearly dislocated,” she informed in a cheery tone.
Apple Bloom rose a forehoof to hear hed. “So much for breaking it to him gently…”
“WHAT?!” Sweetie Belle and Button cried. They both looked down, finally taking notice that Button's right foreleg was dangling limply out of its shoulder socket.
Within mere moments of Button and Sweetie Belle making this discovery, several things followed in rapid succession.
Sweetie Belle's horn began to glow a bright green once more. Tears began to spring to Button's eyes as he looked down, fright and sadness decorating his expression. Seeing Sweetie Belle's horn light up, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged glances and began to inch away from Sonata. The horn went from glowing with green energy to burning with emerald fire. Button's lips began to quiver as sobs started to escape from him, “Hhhhehhh… Hhhheehhhh… Whouhaaaa…” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom elected to take a few large steps away from Sonata as Sweetie Belle set her emerald eyes and blazing emerald horn to disintegrate. Button's volume started going up from a sad whimper to a full on wail. “… Whouhaaa… WHOUHAAAA—”
“NO!” Sonata said sternly as she stepped in front of Button.
For a moment no one said or did anything except stare at Sonata in surprise at this latest development. Even Button had gone silent as he locked amber eyes with lilac ones and bit his lower lip. Suddenly Sweetie Belle's eyes narrowed further as the green blaze on top of her head flared up dangerously, adding with it a 'hum' of impending doom. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom took several large steps away from Sonata and circled around so they were besides Sweetie Belle and out of the danger.
Despite the very deadly situation Sonata seemed to have found herself in, she continued to lower her head so she was staring at Button at his level and giving him a warm if slightly stern look. “You can't cry,” Sonata said softly.
Scootaloo gave Sonata a blank stare. “I think you'll find that he can and quite well.”
Apple Bloom shot Scootaloo a glare.
“What?!” Scootaloo protested. “He's good at it! I know it, you know it, I'm pretty sure even Button himself knows it.”
Sweetie Belle's eyes suddenly widened as the dangerous humming from her horn raised a fever pitch.
Button swallowed. “… I… I can't cry?”
Sonata shook her head and smiled with the same warmth has had started the conversation with. “The world is full of things that are going to hurt you.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shifted nervously as Scootaloo raised a forehoof to her mouth and coughed. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as her horn began to quiet down and the blaze on top of her head subsided into a flickering flame.
“But you can't just let the world win like that! It’s always doing things that’ll hurt you or make you sad. It wants you to cry! But when things like this happen, if you can be a big boy and just walk away from it, then you can show that you're better than the world! That you can beat it!”
Button paused thoughtfully for a moment. “So like… life is a game and I'm playing against the world?”
Sonata nodded and gave Button a wide, toothy smile. She placed a forehoof under Button’s chin. “Exactly! I know it hurts, but I want you to be strong for your big sister!”
Scootaloo crossed her eyes and looked up into her eyelids. “But that's been a thing for like… less than a day…”
Apple Bloom turned and raised a forehoof to her lips. “Shhhhh…!”
“What?!” Scootaloo protested. “I'm just sayin'!”
Sonata continued, “Show me that you can win against the world! Come on, Button! Don't let the world beat you!”
Button bit at his lower lip again, nodded, and smiled. “Okay, big sis. I won't!”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stared at Sonata with awestruck expressions.
“What just… what just happened?” Scootaloo asked.
Sonata giggled. “My little brother just beat the world at its own game, is what!”
Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes, the glow of her horn still burning silently atop her head. “Okay, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that you push—”
“I fell,” Button said calmly.
Sweetie Belle glanced at the colt who still had his foreleg draped around her. “I know you fell, but she…”
“No, I mean I fell on my own,” Button said.
The glow from Sweetie Belle's horn began to fade further. “You… you fell… on your own….” Sweetie Belle replied.
Button nodded. “Yep!”
“Off the castle… the castle you specifically decided not to jump off …”
Button nodded his head up and down. “I must have tripped. You know I do that a lot.”
“… Tripped…” Sweetie Belle thought about this for a moment. “Well… I mean… I guess you do do that a lot… but… but….”
Button smiled. “But it's okay! You and Sonata saved me!” He said as he lightly nuzzled Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle looked at Button then looked at Sonata. Despite Sonata's previous calm expression, she now looked at Sweetie Belle with a pleading expression that begged out 'Please don't blast me with your magic hurty beam!'
Sweetie Belle sighed and shook her head, looking up at the castle as her horn returned to its normal white, non-glowing self. “Twilight really should put up some guard rails or somethi-ooff!”
Sonata was suddenly next to Button, smiling as she wrapped her a foreleg around him and Sweetie Belle as she grasped them both in a tight, side hug.
Button let out a squeak of pain as Sweetie Belle turned to shot Sonata a quick death glare.
“Whoops! Sorry!” Sonata said as she let go.
“It's okay…” Button half-whispered, half-squeaked out through a clenched smile.
Sonata took another look at Button’s leg that dangled limply from his socket. “I know you probably want to stay and play with your friends more, but— ”
“No, I'm good…” Button said softly as he took a few deep breaths.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom chimed in. “Ah think we can call it day.”
Scootaloo chimed in. “I don't even want to hang out with me at this point!”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned towards Scootaloo, their eyebrows raised.
“What?” Scootaloo said. “We're all walking disasters! I think I've just come to terms with this.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle let out sad sighs, “Yeeeaaaah…” they said in unison in similar tones of admittance.
Sonata smiled. “I think I should take my little brother home.”
Sweetie Belle frowned. “Huh? I mean… I can help!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cringed.
“Maybe the three of us should go back to the clubhouse!” Apple Bloom said hastily.
Scootaloo nodded. “We can go over our list of ways to get our cutie marks we want to re-explore… or just… burn it! You know… before somepony gets permanently injured or dead…”
Sweetie Belle thought about this for a moment. “You know… that's a pretty good idea.”
Apple Bloom trotted in front of the group and smiled at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, we're done with gettin' our marks in things that involve heights, yay?”
The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders smiled and nodded, replying with, “Cutie Mark Crusaders, we're done with gettin' our marks in things that involve heights, yay.”
“Okay!” Sonata said cheerfully. She lowered her head and placed it under Button's stomach. Raising her head, Button slid onto her back with a startled yelp and a slight “Ow.”
Sweetie Belle puffed out her lip into a pout. “Are you sure I shouldn't go back with you?”
Scootaloo trotted up next to Sweetie Belle and patted her on the back. “Burning our Cutie Mark attempt list and symbolically putting that all behind uuuuuus~!” she sang out in an inviting tone.
Apple Bloom smiled a little too widely at Sweetie Belle and nodded her head repeatedly at Scootaloo.
“I'll be fine, Sweetie Belle!” Button said cheerfully as he laid draped over Sonata's back. “You should have fun with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.”
“Well, alright…” Sweetie Belle said in a slightly sad tone.
Button motioned for Sweetie Belle to come closer to him.
Sweetie Belle took a few steps closer as Button suddenly wrapped his still working foreleg around her neck and pulled her face alongside his. He kissed her on the cheek 'causing her to blush slightly.
Sonata giggled as she craned her neck to look behind her. “D'aaaawwww…”
“Bleh!” Scootaloo cried. “Seriously! Again?!”
Apple Bloom just smiled and rolled her eyes.
Button practically buried his muzzle in Sweetie Belle's ear. “Thank you…” he whispered.
Sweetie Belle pulled back with a beaming smile on her face. “You're welcome,” she said as she leaned forward and placed her lips against Button’s.
“Double, d'awwwwww!” Sonata said.
“Seriously!” Scootaloo continued. “Right in front of the children!”
Apple Bloom just averted her gaze. “Come on girls, let’s get to the clubhouse!”
“Alright, see you later!” Sonata said cheerfully as she turned.
“Bye Sweetie Belle!” Button said with a wave.
Sweetie Belle smiled and returned the wave. “Bye-bye, Button! See you tomorrow!”
“Bye Scootaloo! Bye Apple Bloom!”
“Later, dude!” Scootaloo said with a nod.
“See ya later, Button!” Apple Bloom said as she returned the wave.
Sonata began to bound lightly away, her passenger letting out soft “Ow”s with every skip.
“Well… she was… nice,” Scootaloo said as she and the other girls began trotting away. “Weird and definitely needs a few more ponies inside that well-lit house of hers between her ears, but nice.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, it's too bad we'll never see her again.”
“What?!” Sweetie Belle said as she turned to her friend. “What makes you say that?”
Scootaloo gave Sweetie Belle a serious look. “Because when she gets back to Button's home and Button's mom sees what happened to him, she's going to kill that girl.”
Apple Bloom nodded her head in agreement.
Sweetie Belle's eyes shot open in amazement. “So that's why you suggested we go back to the club house and burn our list!”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Plus I do sorta feel like burning things and am kinda sick of us almost dying.”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “It would be nice to do more things where we or the ponies we care about weren't getting hurt all the time.”
Apple Bloom cringed. “Yeah, that was close… Ah mean… even if it was because Button is clumsy.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Oh, Sonata pushed him.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's eyes widened.
“What?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “But Button said he tripped!”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “He did say that, but even Button's not clumsy enough to trip off the edge of a castle! He was covering for Sonata because he didn't want me to hurt her.”
“Huh…” Apple Bloom replied. “So you decided to pretend you didn't figure that out?”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “Sorta. He knows that I know.”
Scootaloo crossed her eyes slightly. “Okay, but do you know that he knows that you know?”
“… Uh… obviously,” Sweetie Belle said. “Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.”
“Right, right…” Scootaloo replied. “But does he know that you know that he knows that you—”
“Scoots,” Apple Bloom interrupted. “Ah think we get it.”
“Okay, well…” Scootaloo put on a thoughtful expression then turned towards Sweetie Belle. “Then why did you let her go without blasting her?”
“Well… Button didn't want me to hurt her…” Sweetie Belle's cheeks turned slightly pink as she smiled to herself. “He's such a sweetie… And I think he's right…”
“Right?” Apple Bloom asked. “Whatcha mean?”
“I don't think Sonata meant to hurt Button… Though, I’m not sure exactly how she could accidently push Button off the castle thinking he’d be okay…”
“Maybe she forgot he wasn’t wearing a parachute,” Apple Bloom suggested.
Scootaloo’s forehead tightened “Yeah, or she forgot earth ponies don’t fly!”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went silent for a moment as a slight feeling of dread washed over them.
Sweetie Belle shook her head as if to clear it. “Anyways, I can relate to accidently hurting Button a bit. And I mean, she also got him to stop crying.”
Apple Bloom interjected. “Well sure, but you can do that too.”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yeah but not just by talking to him and I’m not sure I could have ‘hugged’ him back to normal long enough to stop crying with his leg like that!”
“That was rather impressive that she somehow convinced Button to stop crying,” Scootaloo said. She shook her head. “Sad that she won't be around to share more sisterly wisdom like that.”
Sweetie Belle sighed and turned to watch the now quite distant Sonata happily skip while Button bounced uncomfortably on her back. “Yeah, it really will.”
Down where Sweetie Belle was looking, Sonata continued to happily bounce along. Her hooves now made a satisfying ‘clip-clop’ as she walked on a cobblestone path and talked to the passenger on her back. “You know what always makes me feel better when one of my limbs has been popped out of my sockets?”
Button simply replied with the constant stream of soft “Ow”s with every skip Sonata took.
“Ice cream!” Sonata exclaimed. “Ice cream helps all situations! You know… unless you’re freezing to death in an arctic waste… Not super useful there…”
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Will Ice Cream fix my leg? Ow. Ow. Ow.”
“Hehe! No, silly Button! The Ice cream is to distract you for when Aria grabs your leg and snaps it back into place…! But I shouldn’t have told you that!”
“Ow. Ow. Why? Ow. Ow. Does it hurt? Ow.”
“Ohmygosh, it hurts like you wouldn’t believe!” Sonata answered chipperly. “Again! I really need to probably start thinking about what I say before I answer you!”
“Ow. Ow. That's okay, big sis! Ow. I think I’m going-Ow-to go for the high score against life. Ow.”
“Oh, nice!” Sonata said. “Maybe you can beat my score! It’s a really good one though!”
“Ow. Ow. How long? Ow.”
Sonata put on a thoughtful expression for a moment. “I ‘onno! How long did the Mongolian Empire last?”
“Ow. Ow. Is that-Ow-from a video game?”
Sonata smiled widely. “It was kind of a game!”
“Ow. How’d you play?”
“Oh! Well see, you’d have a spear, a sword, and a bunch of bows and arrows! The trick was to put the pointy ends into the people who were also trying to put pointy things into you! Also, sometimes we’d use our own people who had died of the bubonic plague as ammunition.” Sonata smiled wistfully. “That day was almost as fun as the day I found out how to make cookie dough.”
“Ow. What’s a ‘bubonic’? Ow.”
Sonata paused as she and Button approached their home. “Gee, I sure have a have a lot to tell you! That’s okay though! I’m sure you and I will have lots of time together and lots of—”
The front door suddenly shot open as Love Tap rushed forward looking behind her into the house as she bolted out the door. “Okay, so if they’re not back, they must be still—”
“— fun?”
Love Tap slammed her front hooves down and skidded to a halt, narrowly barreling into Sonata and Button.
“Hi, new mommy!” Sonata greeted cheerfully.
“Hi, mom!” Button greeted in an equally cheerful tone.
“OHTHANKYOUMERCIFULCELESTIA!” Love Tap exclaimed. She turned back into the house where Aria and Chip were peering out the door. “It’s okay! They’re back!”
Sonata giggled. “We sure are! And we’ve had quite the day!”
“Uh-huh!” Button said. “I dislocated my shoulder!”
“Hehe! You sure did, Button!” Sonata replied happily. “You sure did!”
“WHAT?!” Love Tap cried as she tilted her head and glanced past Sonata. Button’s right foreleg still dangled limply from its socket.
Aira cringed as she walked outside. “Oh man, you pushed the family button! Ya shouldn’t have did that!”
Sonata gulped as Love Tap stared at her with merciless steel blue eyes. “Well.. hehe..” She said nervously. “I mean… there certainly was pushing and Button was involved.”
Love Tap let out a rage-filled growl as she fixed Sonata with a predatory stare.
“Ghah! Stupid mouth!” Sonata exclaimed.