• Published 29th Dec 2014
  • 9,520 Views, 3,428 Comments

A Dangerous Sparkle - David Silver



Twilight Sparkle botches a spell and ends up in a whole new realm of danger and adventure, where the land is ruled by a much more pragmatic pony empire, ruled by a very mortal queen. A Ponyfinder crossover.

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123 - Returning Home

The train was comfortable and the ride smooth. Once it was made known that they were on the ill-fated crashed train, their tickets were upgraded without fee to include meals and drinks, something that Rainbow and Applejack were busy taking advantage of, though under much more cheerful conditions than the last time.

Spike and Soft were seated close together, watching the world go sailing past and holding hands with a quiet contentment.

Twilight was seated with the two small ponies, Blue and Yellow, trying to explain life outside of a mine. "See how it's very bright outside?"

Yellow looked out the window, then nodded at Twilight, "They must use a very big torch."

Twilight nodded hesitantly, "Well, yes, the biggest torch there is. It's called the Sun, and it's been there since before there were any ponies to enjoy it. You couldn't see it because all the rocks were over your head."

Blue clopped her little hooves excitedly before she rushed up to a window and craned her neck around to have a look around. She squeaked and fell off the plush couch, "Found it!"

Twilight gave a patient smile, "You shouldn't look directly at the sun. It's brighter than any other torch, and you can get hurt. Up here, when the sun is above, it is 'Day', and when it goes down, it is 'Night'. Most ponies sleep at night, since it's harder to see anyway."

Yellow shook her head, "How did you find time to learn all of this? Your owners must be very lenient."

Twilight blinked, "Nopony owns me, or you."

Yellow tilted her head, "If no one owns anyone else up here, how do you get things done?"

Blue ambled back over and curled up beside Yellow, looking pleased.

Twilight nodded her head, "Instead of whips and curses, if any pony wants another pony to do something, they offer fair compensation." She pulled out a few coins with her magic. "Usually with coins like these. A pony can then, after earning these coins, use them to buy food or furniture, or even toys," She looked at Yellow as she said the last, and Yellow perked up predictably, though Blue also had a reaction.

Yellow shook her head with clear doubt, "How do I earn them? I don't want Blue to be hungry. I can mine really good."

Twilight gave a reassuring smile, "You're doing fine. What you will do, later, is find a job. You work for somepony, possibly yourself, doing what you're good at. You could mine even, but you should only do that if you actually enjoy it."

Yellow nodded quickly, "I'm very good at it. I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't mining."

Blue chimed in, "She's the best!"

Across the car, Lex settled down across from Sonata. From what little he could hear, Twilight was doing an adequate job helping the short-legged ponies adjust to their new lives, so there was no need for him to intervene. Instead, he turned his attention back to the sea pony seated opposite him, who was currently directing a smile his way. "What?" he prompted.

Sonata shook her head, "Just looking forward to having some fun. Do you want to go out to eat, or watch a show, maybe both?" A faint pause, "Why did you ask Twilight out too? I mean, I guess we're not a 'thing' officially, but it's kind of weird to do two girls so close together." She tilted her head a little, "You're so odd, but that's OK." She smiled at Lex, her expression returning to general warmth.

Lex blinked, utterly buried under the sudden outpouring of questions and information. He had barely started trying to sort through them when her last statement completely threw him for a loop.

The entire purpose of this exercise was to figure out the value systems of other ponies, so that he could then present his arguments about why he knew what was best for them - at least on a macro level - in a manner that they'd accept. From what little he'd previously determined, that seemed to largely be dependent on what they thought of him personally, something that he found maddening for how illogical it was. The virtue of an idea had nothing to do with its genesis, after all.

That he seemed to repel the other ponies around him didn't help. Hence the current line of research; to try and figure out the algorithm for making others like him. Except that with Sonata, he already seemed to have succeeded. Which, if he was interpreting her statements correctly, meant...that she...

"Sonata," he spoke up after regarding her quietly for several moments, "do you..." he paused, unable to make the words 'like me?' come out. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, he quickly changed the question mid-way through "want something to eat?" He stood up, a little too quickly. "I'm going to go get some food, so I thought that it would be prudent to ask...since otherwise you'd have to make the trip needlessly, so I'm...just asking..." he trailed off lamely.

Sonata bobbed her head, "Yes, like, duh, that's why I'm looking forward to our date." She rose to her hooves, "We can go together." She leaned forward suddenly, aiming to steal a kiss shamelessly from the awkward stallion's cheek, "Relax. I don't bite unless you ask really nice."

Across the way, Soft whispered to Spike, "Don't look, but they're going off together I think. That's so sweet. Maybe a girlfriend will mellow him out a bit and he'll stop being a super jerk."

Spike raised a brow, barely restraining his eyes from wandering, "Why do you figure Sonata's into him? He's not really... her type?"

Soft shrugged softly, "Maybe she's eager to prove her worth to someone 'serious', like her former sisters?"

Spike blinked, "That makes an almost eerie amount of sense. Where'd you learn that from?"

Contrary to Sonata's telling him to relax, Lex suddenly found himself completely uncertain how to act around her. If he was right and she did regard him warmly - and that ki-...gesture seemed to indicate that she did, then he had absolutely no idea what he'd done to make her feel that way.

Desperately, he tried to take that line of thought and extend it to a logical conclusion. It was established that Sonata liked him. It was unconfirmed what set of variables had led her to that disposition. Ergo...almost anything could be a factor that, if altered, could subsequently change her disposition. As such, the prudent course of action to take was to minimize as many of those factors as possible; and since prior research indicated that direct interaction was the single largest, and least-understood, variable...

Then the proper course of action was to avoid her as much as possible, at least prior to the controlled circumstances of their date.

Having settled on what to do, Lex suddenly came to a complete halt halfway down the car. "Can you excuse me for a moment? I have to-, I forgot to do...something." Without waiting for an answer, he turned and almost ran in the other direction.

Sonata extended a hoof to the empty air, then frowned a little. She sat back down on her haunches with a little huff, wondering if she'd said something stupid again.

In the dining car, Applejack was demolishing a plate of hashed potatoes and apple fritters. Across from her, Rainbow was enjoying some sprouts. They both had a half-filled mug of amber drink in front of them. "Ya did real good, partner," said Applejack, "Ah thought mah goose was cooked, literal like."

Rainbow waved a hoof, "What are friends for? You shoulda seen his face when I came down on him." She slapped the table with a hoof, "Bam! No fancy magic was saving him from my hooves of fury. The big guy was a lot tougher, but Sonata did her creepy mind magic and he froze up. I almost felt bad pummeling him into the dirt."

Applejack shrugged, "Don't. Diamond Dogs, Gem Gnolls, not much different s'far as ah can see. They're both royal pains, and anyone that thinks owning another pony's an alright thing tah do deserves what they get."

Rainbow nodded in idle agreement, taking a soft drink from her mug, "So how's magic working out for you? Is it half as egghead as it looks?"

Applejack rose both her brows, "If Egghead was an actual thing, then yes, this stuff's buried in it. Ahm getting the hang of it though. It's not easy, or simple. At least Twilight's a patient teacher."

"Patient?!" exclaimed Rainbow, "You should have seen the drills she had me doing that one time I asked her for study help."

Appejack raised a hoof, "Now now, sugarcube. Don't forget she figured out how to teach you in the end. She really takes a shine to sharing knowledge, and she's a good friend."

Rainbow smirked, "A good egghead." Applejack frowned at her and Rainbow made a placating gesture, "I'm kidding. She's a good friend. I still don't need any fancy magic though. I'm too awesome as it is."

Applejack raised her mug and held it towards Dash, "To staying awesome."

"I'll drink to that!" replied Dash before their mugs were brought together and tinked. They drained them to the bottom before continuing their meal.

Sonata entered the dining car, alone. She moved up to the bar and looked to the dwarf standing behind it, "Like, hi there. Can I get two lunches?"

The dwarf shrugged, "Depends what you want. Here's the menu." He slid the parchment towards her.

Sonata accepted the menu, looking it over a moment before she spotted AJ and RD, "Hey girls! What do you think Lex likes to eat?"

Rainbow shrugged softly, "He didn't strike me as a picky eater."

Applejack joined the motion, "Don't have a clue, sugarcube. Pick something safe."

Safe... "I'll take two orders of grilled hay patties, like, with a side of sprouts and two glasses of iced tea in a carrying case. I'm bringing it back to a friend," ordered Sonata with a hopeful smile.

The dwarf seemed to have little care for Sonata's feelings at the moment, just nodding, "Right on it." Sonata was pleased when he pulled out a light saddlebag like device to put the food on. After what felt like forever, the food was complete, and Sonata moved back towards their car, hoping Lex would be happy to have the food brought to him.

A few minutes later, Lex entered the car from the opposite end, looking around warily before he moved to the bar. Sitting apart from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he sighed as he flagged down the server. "Just get me whatever's cheapest," he muttered. Avoiding Sonata between now and their date was going to be tricky...

AJ noticed Lex settling and tilted her head with some confusion, "Hey, Lex, d'ya know Sonata was jus' here getting some vittles for ya? She went that way." Applejack pointed towards the back of the train.

"I'm aware, that's why I'm here," he nodded. A thought occurred to him then, and he added, "If you see her again, don't inform her of my location."

Applejack and Rainbow shared a perplexed look.

Author's Note:

Blue and Yellow learn of the sun, while Lex struggles with basic pony feelings.

Meanwhile, the typos learn nothing but spite.

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