130 - Beam Us Up
When next the sun rose over Viljatown, Soft Mane and Spike met a middle-aged green pony at the train station. Grass Patch was happy to see Soft and gave her a fierce hug before they all headed through the city. Soft rested a hand on her mother's withers, scratching through the fur idly as they went.
Spike, however, had questions, "Are you sure? I mean, it's a whole other world."
Grass snorted softly, "That will have my daughter. Your friend, Twilight Sparkle, she's royalty, is she not? If she can get me a little farm to tend, I don't care too much what world it is. Besides, how bad is it? Does it rain blood?"
Spike made a face, "Ew, nothing like that. Uh..." He seemed to be in consideration for a moment, "I guess, uh, compared to here... It's..."
Soft interrupted with, "More ponies, less humans, more princesses, no queens, less every day monsters, more puns in their names. It's a nice place. Peaceful."
Grass nodded at Soft, "I don't hear anything that'll be that hard to adjust to. Don't worry about me too much, I don't take up that much space."
Spike held up his claws, "You're not 'taking up space'. You're practically my, uh, mom-in-law? I want you to be happy."
Grass shoved her head under Soft Mane, lifting up and depositing the satyr on Grass' back. Soft looked surprised a moment, but soon had a better stance for the low-ride, squeezing her mother lightly with furry legs. "Like old times," said Soft.
Grass perked an ear towards Spike, "You're sweet, but I'll be fine, honest. Give me a month, tops, and I'll have the land beaten into shape and we can talk about it like it was years ago."
Twilight led Applejack and Rainbow Dash through the city, "This may be your last time to officially join the party, as it were."
Applejack raised a brow, "Ah thought we were already, what with all the fighting n' all."
Twilight shook her head, "Nothing doing. Nopony is officially part of the Returners until they face Fast Shadow, and she just came into town last night. She's agreed to a training session, so you're both in for a treat."
Rainbow flew in close, "Just how tough is this Fast Shadow anyway?"
Twilight rose a brow, "Remember how Spike was the one least harmed during the fighting?"
Dash bobbed her head, "Sure, yeah?"
Twilight thrust a hoof upwards, "She can take him down without breaking a sweat, but has the skill to make sure nopony comes out of it with anything more broken than their egos."
Rainbow snorted, "We can handle her! There's only one of her."
Twilight retorted, "And there will only be one of you. One-on-One. What, are you scared now, Rainbow?"
Rainbow clopped her hooves together, "I am not scared! Let me at 'em!"
They soon arrived at the courtyard to find Fast Shadow going through stretches in the morning sun. She cast her glance over Twilight with a smile, then looked over her friends with a calculating gaze. "Are these the new recruits?"
Twilight pointed, "They are! This is Applejack, and she's Rainbow Dash. I've been teaching Applejack the art of the magi. Rainbow prefers hooficuffs and speed."
Fast advanced on the two and began poking them with a hoof, "Good tone, sloppy stance." She eyed Rainbow critically, "You're a floating target. It's like you're just begging to be knocked from the sky."
Rainbow huffed angrily, "Hey! I can fight plenty good. My lightning hooves can't be denied."
Fast lashed out a hoof, catching around Rainbow's fore leg and pulling abruptly, dragging her to the ground where Fast quickly put the hoof at Rainbow's neck, "Flying is not the ultimate protection. Unless you mean to use a reach weapon, you have to be close enough for your enemies to strike back, and a reach weapon just means they can use a reach weapon to return fire. Never assume you are beyond the weapons of your foes."
Rainbow scrambled back upright as soon as Fast took the hoof away. She snorted and moved to stand beside Applejack.
Fast gave a nod to both, "Alright, let's go through the basics. Everything I say is for your benefit. You have to defend yourself to win. A dead warrior is a useless one, and the way you two are carrying yourself implies that was never drilled in."
Applejack was invited forward, and they began to clash with only their hooves. AJ scored a dizzying double-kick, driving Fast back a step. "Very nice. You have good power in those legs, mare. Maybe I should treat you seriously." She stepped away and came back with a few new bangles around her legs, "Let us resume."
Applejack found that, whatever those bangles were, Fast became much harder to land a telling blow on. Even when she scored what felt like a good blow, it impacted on toughened flesh unless she hit dead on. "That's no fair! Y'all are using magic."
Fast suddenly swept Applejack to the ground, her hooves knocked out from under her, "Your enemies may use magic. There's no rule stopping them. Are you saying you're nothing but a school-filly and I should take it easy on you? I can already tell you're stronger than that."
Applejack was quickly back on her hooves and frowned with determination. The training continued, with both gaining some new bruises for their trouble. About an hour later, Fast held up a hoof for pause. "Your enemies will not always come in close enough for a brawl." She stepped off to the side and soon had her lance slotted properly at her side, "Do you know how to fight against an actual weapon?"
Rainbow whispered to Twilight, "Hey, I thought she was gonna be a pegasus."
Twilight shook her head, "She doesn't need wings to fight, or magic, if you discount the things she wears."
Rainbow rolled her eyes, "About that, where do I get some of that?"
Twilight flashed a smile, "I know how to make most of that."
Rainbow put her hooves on Twilight's shoulders, "Why are you holding out!?"
Twilight gently pushed Rainbow back, "It takes time, and money. Maybe I can make some things when we're back in Equestria."
Applejack was doing her best against the lance, but found its bite to be significantly rougher than Fast's relatively mild hooves. She quickly learned to press in close, trying to deny Fast easy use of it. "Good," said Fast as Applejack pushed the attack, "Long weapons need space, your hooves don't." She suddenly shoved Applejack back, then poked her in the chest, "But never assume you're out of reach. Take a break, you've done well."
Rainbow stepped forward to get her turn, and tried to put her speed to immediate use, lashing out with quick slaps of the hooves. She saw Fast still wore her lance and darted in, landing a solid blow to the side of the lance, knocking it free of its harness. "Ha, not so tough now, are ya?"
Fast reared up, a glint of metal all that Dash saw before pain exploded from her left foreleg. Fast withdrew her spiked horseshoe. "Never assume," she reminded, "Continue."
Rainbow growled in frustration, "That's the second time somepony's pulled that on me!"
Fast raised a brow, "You should have learned after the first. Adapt to the situation." She popped free the other spike and bounced on her hind legs "You can never be certain how many weapons an enemy may have."
Applejack settled beside Twilight with a sigh, "Yer friend's really good at this."
Twilight nodded softly, "I wanted to cry for a week after she was done with me."
AJ raised a brow, "You went in there with her?"
Twilight sagged, "She insisted... Anyway, you did well."
Applejack smiled a little, "Ah had a good teacher."
Twilight flushed a little, "Oh stop! I taught you magic, not how to fight."
Applejack nodded, "And ah didn't forget that. Ya did good by me, Twi." She looked to Rainbow and Fast duking it out, "Ah almost am sorry we gotta go so soon. That Fast Shadow knows her stuff."
Later, Spike and Twilight were together at the inn. Twilight was dictating a letter for him.
Dear Princess Celestia,
We've gathered everypony together that is coming. Soft Mane's mother has decided to join us. She's a farming earth pony and very sweet. I'm sure she'll do well in Equestria. We're all in the same room, ready to go. Are you coming to get us, or have you learned some other method of transport?
Looking Forward to Being Home,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Spike sent the letter on its way in a flash of light.
Lex opened his mouth, pausing for a moment before closing it, then closing his eyes with a sigh before opening them again. "Sonata... you can't go back to Equestria with us."
Twilight raised a brow, "Aren't you technically still under arrest here?"
Sonata frowned, "The Queen offered banishment as an option, so let's just say I'm taking that choice now. Don't be mean, Twilight, Lex."
Spike huffed, "Well I guess as long as you don't go back to your old ways?"
Applejack raised a brow, "What were the 'old ways'?"
Sonata turned half-away, "Old. I'd rather not talk about them, like, ever. I'm better now. I even have better friends!"
Lex, however, refused to let the matter drop. "That's insufficient. You can't simply change your sentence by your own whim. At the very least, you need to petition for a different sentence, and have it be accepted by a judicial authority here. If you simply vanish without any sort of notification, you'll be a fugitive from Iliana's justice." He then added, after a moment's thought, "further, banishment is usually permanent in nature. If you take that option, you'll never be welcome to return to Everglow again."
Though he would have preferred to let it go, preferred that Sonata come with them - with him - back to Equestria, that simply wasn't an option. Lex's moral framework allowed for a huge variety of factors to be taken into account when determining the proper course of action, but once that course had been decided upon, it was absolute.
"I have to recommend that you stay here and finish your sentence."
Sonata gave a low growl of clear frustration before she stomped for the door, "Fine! I'll go talk to those turnip heads." She slammed the door shut behind herself and her angry stomps quickly receded away.
Spike frowned a little, "That was harsh."
There was little time to debate the fact, as a horseshoe shaped mirror sprouted from the ground.
Twilight blinked at it, "A mirror portal?"
Rainbow looked it over, flying in a tight circle, "Just like the one in the Crystal Empire. Looks like our ride home!" Without waiting for confirmation, she flew through and vanished.
Applejack nudged Twilight forward, "We're on the way."
Twilight glanced to the door, then trotted through the mirror. Soft rested one hand in one of Spike's claw, and the other on her mother, and soon they were through.
Applejack looked to Lex, "Ready to go?"
Lex gave one last look where Sonata had disappeared to, and for an instant regret flickered across his face before it hardened into his usual look of resolve. "Yes. I'm ready," he didn't wait for a reply before he strode through the portal.
Applejack passed through last, and the portal soon vanished, leaving an empty inn room.
About an hour later, Sonata shoved into the room, wielding a paper in her mouth. She let the paper go when she saw the room was empty, and sagged to her belly. Her pardon would do her little good. She had nowhere to go, not even a job anymore. She couldn't think of anything more to do than to lay on her side and let the tears fall.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,092 users online
1,794,299 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Can we please just kill Lex? he's so fucking annoying! and such a jerk! i don't care what his reasons are, i want him gone!
5805915
He's like an autistic paladin with megalomania.
Poor Sonata. All alone with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I don't know what I'd do in her place.
5805953 That's Asperger's for you. The second Lex locked-in to that decision there was no going back.
5805973
I know! She stormed out and everyone just... left. There's not even an easy way to contact her.
I guess Twilight wins the dubious prize of Lex's affections by default?
That, is one of the nastiest ways Ive ever seen to write a character out.
Oh, Sonata...
Well, they have codified Spike's message breath into a spell. It may be tricky to find someone to cast it, but the option theoretically exists.
Also, Lex really needs to decide how much he wants to respect authority. It feels a bit odd for someone planning a coup, especially after he condemned this government as incomplete and incompetent. Well, I suppose he doesn't have time to adjust this nation to his standards.
As for everyone else, that gate—or gate, as the case may be—may have some interesting effects on physiology. Mirror portals seem to.
And here's to the initiation ritual. Fast Shadow is an awesome pony.
Two probable typos:
Unless it's very early in the morning, that should be capitalized.
More stylistic than anything. The "it" here is vague, since the paper was mentioned twice since the last mention of the room.
5806166 Fixed!
I would've thought that they'd have waited on Sonata at least.
5806174 There was no indication that Sonata was going to come back. She was told that she had to complete her sentence (which had months left), and she said she'd go talk to the authorities, presumably about doing just that. That she was able to get a pardon, and so quickly, was completely out of the blue.
FUGGIN CRAP!!!!!!!
They're all going to come back and Sonata is going to be working at the inn.
Just so she can slap them all upside they're big stupid heads.
Wow, that's a pretty harsh thing to do there. Gonna be a real test to see if Sonata doesn't give into despair and fall back into her 'old ways' if she thinks they left her behind intentionally.
That Lex guy needs to be slapped all the way to the fucking moon and back!
That was just horrible. Wow Lex way to mess up a potential friendship/love interest. There is no way she would forgive him so easily after that. That is going bite them in the ass later. Nice to see Fast Shadow again. I wonder how Rarity, Fluttershy, and Long Road are doing? Hopefully Twlight and Rarity make up. Anyways, homeward bound we go!
rested
at 'em
If Rainbow was surprised by Fast's race, she should have mentioned it when they met, rather than after an hour of training.
hind legs. "You
After they had just established that Sonata was going to go ask permission to go with them, wouldn't they have waited to see the result? Lex may be a cad, but Twi and Soft at least are usually more sensitive than that. There may have been a timer on the portal, but if Celestia can make it any time she pleases, they could have just asked her to make another. I doesn't seem to me that they could have got to this point without at least discussing it with all concerned parties.
It was good to see Fast Shadow again, even if it was a brief visit. I'll take what I can get.
5807189 Typos thrown onto the griddle. As noted earlier, there was little reason to expect her to just be let off her sentence, rather than serving the rest of it.
5806238
5807206
Be that as it may, it was out-of-character for them to cut and run with the issue still unresolved. Since there is also a non-zero chance that she brainwashed someone in the legal department (although it wouldn't have taken as long then) what they should have done is:
Send a letter to Celestia saying, "hang on a sec, legal issues, brb."
Escort Sonata to the governmental offices.
Wait to see if she gets permission
If yes, bring her back to Equestria.
If no, say goodbye properly.
As written, it looks like all of them were just waiting for an opportunity to escape her when she wasn't looking. Lex is cold, Rainbow, Spike and possibly Applejack are oblivious, but I'm sure Soft and Twilight would care about Sonata enough to wait an hour.
5807206 If she needs to be left behind for story reasons, you could change it so she doesn't make it clear that she's going to talk to them. Instead, she could just storm off and say nothing. That way, it would look like she had merely quit the party and they would have no reason to wait for her. (Or Lex could do some sort of brainwashing on them to make them leave)
No, just chocolate milk. I hope that's not a deal-breaker. If you really miss the blood rain you could ask Discord about it.
Yeah, this development bothers me too.
It's just sort of unnecessarily callous of them all to leave without a single one of them suggesting that they wait to find out if she can come with.
I can understand one or two of them not thinking of the possibility, but given that all of them were in the same room witnessing the exchange, it's just... strange for none of them to consider it and speak out.
I mean... damn. I'd expect there to be a "Wait, what happened with Sonata?" moment on the other side of the portal, but if there isn't, then it'd probably be better for Sonata to just move on 'cause those ain't no friends of hers.
5807238 The problem is that the issue seemed like it was resolved. There was no real reason to expect that Sonata was going to be able to get her sentence waived, so when she left the room to go talk to the authorities, it was natural to assume that she was leaving the group to finish her months of service, albeit in a huff.
5809719 With Sonata's skills, the natural assumption would be that she would get permission, regardless of whether or not she was entitled to it. It's unlike Twilight to leave on those terms, she would have at least tried to talk to her about it.
5810250
I'm wondering if she used her skills or if they let her go for saving those slaves: it would seem to me that going into hazardous situations is above and beyond the sentence Illiana gave her - "public servants" generally don't fight crime (politicians claim to be public servants; you don't see them raiding drug cartels). I would have to go back through the trial to be sure, though.
Also like 5806166 said, they have Spike's Sending spell, so she could theoretically send a message. The only question is if she knows that option is there.
Sonata
really how can se be left behind Equestria is Sonata's true home..
Harts Fire
The fuck is this? You just gutted ever ones personality.
y'all are
6816796 Fixed!
6816827 the first one would be correct but you could change using to usin
Poor Sonata. That really wasn't fair to her that they left without even waiting for a response to her queries for pardon/sentence change. Why the sudden exit like that? They knew she was going to check, so why not wait for the response?
11455039
She got a whole followup story, have no fear.