A Visit to the Train Station
Return to Equestria: The Rise of Roam
Sonata Dusk
Sonata recalled that at some point in her life, someone somewhere had said that going to bed with worries would make one wake up three times worse, and with a headache to boot.
When she awoke to a blinding beam of sun rays filtering between the curtains, she wasn’t lucid enough to tell whether her worry had increased, but the headache made itself forcibly known to her. Wincing as her brain seemed to slide against a spike in her skull, she stood up and nearly collided with the bedside table. And then she realised what was wrong; the feeling was back. The feeling of something that seemed as though it should be just on the edge of her vision; like something surrounding her that shouldn’t be there. She sighed audibly, giving her head a small shake.
“Knock it off,” she groaned. Splashing water on her face in the bathroom sink, she looked at herself in the mirror. Subtle hints of lacking sleep jumped out at her; the darkness around the eyes, the slightly glazed look, the paleness. But most of all, the expression; it spoke nothing but weariness and despair, even though Sonata wasn’t actually feeling any despair that she was aware of. Surely that wasn’t normal.
“Wait...” she muttered, feeling an ominous movement deep inside of her. She waited for the onslaught of panic, the melancholy display of guilt-laden sorrow, the fearsome sounds of soul-shattering ululations as she collapsed into a misery as yet unknown to pony-kind.
Then her stomach rumbled. “Oh, it’s just hunger,” she concluded, breathing a sigh of relief.
It did no good to let her concerns show at any rate; it wasn’t like they could do anything about them until they got to Princesses Luna and Twilight at Last Light. So for the sake of her companions, and especially Sunset, she covered up her misgivings with the usual morning petulance.
“Food,” she groaned, nudging Sunset’s flank like a half-dead traveller three days into the desert. “Breakfast... need sustenance...”
“Then go downstairs,” Sunset grumbled, taking in a sharp breath as she stretched. “They’ll make you some at the bar.”
“Carry me?” Sonata pleaded.
Sunset made the effort to open a single, slightly gummy eye, and glared blearily at Sonata. With all the implied dalliance of a teenage girl trying to catch the eye of a twenty-two year old with a bright red maserati, and hair so sleek she could have slipped on it, Sonata willed Sunset to get out of bed. However, long exposure to this tactic had since made Sunset virtually immune to it; she yawned widely and closed the eye again.
“Carry me, and maybe we’ll discuss something.”
“I was joking!” Sunset grunted as Sonata skipped by Script and Loyal Stride’s door, and clip-clopped cheerfully down the stairs.
“Come on, it’s time to get up anyway.”
“How can you be so well rested?” Sunset groaned irritably. “I’ve been exhausted since getting here.”
“Maybe it has something to do with my optimism and sunny personality,” Sonata suggested, carrying Sunset into the bar. Only a few other ponies were there, seated at tables. Two or three beefy-looking work ponies looking at newspapers, or otherwise yawning over their breakfasts, and a youngish mare who, thanks to her business-like apparel and dedication to the papers in front of her, looked like she could be either eighteen, or thirty.
“You’re up nice and early,” the innkeeper said, setting down a clean glass. “Breakfast?”
“What time is it?” Sunset inquired in a muffled voice from Sonata’s back.
“7:30,” the innkeeper said cheerfully. “Toast and haybrowns are ready if you—“
“Going back to bed,” Sunset grumped, sliding off Sonata’s back.
“Oh, come on,” Sonata pleaded. “Just have breakfast. You can go back to bed after that.”
Sunset sighed a heartfelt sigh. “Fine,” she said tersely, although she half-smiled at the same time. “You’re lucky that you have a pretty face. Hit me, bartender.”
Even in her determined-to-be-happy mood, Sonata was not unequal to enjoying the breakfast they were given. As seems to be the general rule when holidaying in the countryside, the breakfast they received seemed to be of the usual items one might expect in a breakfast, but somehow something of the locality managed to impress itself on the texture and flavour of the food. Sonata munched her toast with a sense that the butter might be churned within the last day or so, and Sunset seemed to be enjoying her hay-sh browns just a little too much.
“Sorry,” she said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “It’s just... it’s been so long, you know?”
“I get it,” Sonata said, smiling. “I just wish I had a video camera.”
“Yeah, well,” Sunset muttered, giving Sonata a wry look. “At least there’s no youtube in Equestria.”
“A shame isn’t it,” Sonata said with a roguish grin.
“A shame my fat, yellow—“ Sunset continued to grumble inaudibly over the remains of her daisy pancakes.
“So, what’re we doing today?” Sonata asked, looking around the bar. “You know, since we’re in a part of Equestria that hasn’t been blown up or has cloud-bases trying to set us on fire, I kind of want to see how things are. It seems really different from a thousand years ago.”
“You remember what Equestria was like?” Sunset asked, looking up.
“Not entirely,” Sonata admitted. “I have a kind of... impression, I guess. The buildings look a lot nicer, and everyone wears less clothing.” She shrugged. “We weren’t in Equestria for very long though. We barely got here before Starswirl the Beer Head—“
“Bearded,” Sunset corrected.
Sonata blinked. “Are you sure?” She raised her eyebrows as Sunset nodded. “Huh. That’s boring. Well anyway...”
Sunset remained silent whilst Sonata rambled complacently on about what few things she remembered from Equestria as she had lived it, but when Sonata came to the end of her descriptions, Sunset looked down at her plate.
“I was thinking actually,” she said quietly. “Since we got that message yesterday... maybe we shouldn’t go out today.”
Sonata felt her shoulders slump a little. “Huh?” she asked, wondering if she’d misheard.
“Well, you know,” Sunset said even quieter than before. “I mean, we’re surrounded by changelings. I know Script’s been here plenty of times and not had any trouble, but that note—“
“So what are we supposed to do?” Sonata demanded.
“Sonata, keep your voice down!” Sunset hissed, glancing left and right.
Sonata bit back the sudden anger, honestly slightly embarrassed by the outburst. She had to be cheerful, keep her doubts out of the way for the time being; Sunset surely had enough of her own. It wasn’t fair to inflict hers on Sunset as well. Sunset did so much for her, and Sonata thought with a heavy heart how she herself didn’t give much back.
At least, that’s how Sonata felt. Sunset was always helping her with whatever problems she had, and Sonata noticed that few and far between were the problems that Sunset had that Sonata had helped to solve.
“Well... don’t we... need stuff?” Sonata asked, settling back in her chair.
“I think Script does.”
“Don’t you need anything?”
Sunset considered this. “Need? No, I don’t think so. Although, I should like to get some information on the train if I can. I don’t think it’d be a good idea to use the trains if we are indeed being watched, but if Equestria is divided, I’d like to know just how divided if the trains are still operating.”
“We could go and look at that together,” Sonata said instantly. “How dangerous could visiting a train station be?”
“Absolutely not,” said a voice from behind her. Marching up to their table, Script glared at them like an angry librarian. “If I didn’t already know that one of you was stupid, I would question your intelligences.”
“It’s a wonder you don’t have any friends,” Sunset said icily, not looking at him. “With that sparkling personality.”
“Few people grasp the complexity that is me,” Script replied aloofly, giving the edge of his toga a casual flick. “Anyway, you’re not going to any train stations. Well, you aren’t at any rate,” he said cocking in eyebrow at Sonata. “You can do as you please, I suppose,” he added as an afterthought to Sunset.
“How gracious of you.”
“Why does she get to go?” Sonata asked indignantly.
“Because if she gets into trouble, there’s no chance of her turning into a giant sea monster and destroying the town.” He paused and gave Sunset a narrow look. “Unless you’re not telling me something.”
“Don’t worry,” Sunset said to Sonata more warmly. “I’ll be there and back in no time. I only have a few questions. And since we’ll have nothing else today and a room to ourselves...” She left the sentence hanging, but gave Sonata a significant look and a small smile. Sonata tried to hold in a nervous giggle whilst her face burned.
“Well that’s wonderful,” Script said blithely, evidently paying no attention. “I’ll be out trying – again – “ He glared around at some of the bar patrons, “to get some supplies. Supplies that it’s frankly embarrassing that nopony has in stock in the entire town!”
“Sir,” said the bar-owner quietly as many in the room turned around to frown at Script. “Might I ask you to keep your voice down?”
Script ignored him. “Major Personality upstairs will keep you company whilst we’re out,” he remarked to Sonata. “If you’re bored, you could try getting him to smile. Jokes won’t work, so try reading him a book.”
“What kind of book?” Sonata asked.
Sunset snorted as Script did a double take. “Try a military drill manual,” Script said, grinning a wide, gritty grin, the humour of which didn’t reach his cold green eyes.
“Got it,” Sonata said cheerfully. “Have a nice time out.”
“Give you a nice time out...” Script muttered darkly, trotting hurriedly towards the door, much to the relief of the innkeeper.
“Might you have a word with yer stallion, there,” he said in a slightly harassed voice. “I don’t want to be tellin’ a fella how to act, but—“
“Sir, if I could put him on a leash, I’d do so happily,” Sunset said with a sigh. “I am sorry for his being an enormously fat-headed jerk though.”
“Aye,” the owner said wistfully. “Suppose that’s the best I can hope for.”
“I promise I won’t be long,” Sunset said for the third or fourth time.
“Sunset, just go already,” Sonata laughed, giving her a playful shove. “Are you sure it’s okay that I read your journal? I mean, it’s not mine.”
“They’re our friends, not mine,” Sunset replied. “It might be that they didn’t write anything at all.”
“Okay, I know that’s not going to be true,” Sonata said firmly. “Pinkie Pie at least will have written an entry, like, every five minutes since we left.”
She watched with a little smirk as Sunset’s face underwent the painful looking alteration from its good-natured smile to its look of faint horror.
“Oh,” she said, swallowing. “You’re probably right. In that case, you definitely should read it. And mark the page where everyone else got a chance to write something.” Sonata giggled a little as Sunset leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. “See you in a bit.”
Strictly speaking, Sonata didn’t need to watch Sunset out of sight; Sunset herself had not looked back, but Sonata found herself engrossed in watching Sunset vanish into the light bustle of the eternally twilit streets. That was, until she sensed what was happening in her surroundings. Looking around, she rather suspected that most, if not everypony around her, had been perfectly still, but had started to move again as she turned to look at them.
Finding this to be sufficiently creepy to make her want to retreat into solitude for the time being, Sonata backed into the inn, too focused on the passing faces and moving figures to notice anypony watching her in return.
Her company was just as Script had predicted. Taking his self-imposed role of protector thoroughly to heart, Loyal Stride insisted on remaining in the room with her, standing by the door like an unusually well-detailed statue. After a few minutes of him staring at her, Sonata had had enough.
“I have woman things to do,” she said.
Loyal Stride frowned ever so slightly. “Woman things?” he asked.
“Mare things,” Sonata corrected. “You know,” she went on in a lower voice through her teeth. “Mare-specific things.”
Loyal Stride’s lips thinned and he suddenly seemed to need to blink a great deal more often. Mumbling something about giving her a few moments of privacy, he turned and opened the door.
“I’ll be just outside,” he assured her.
Sonata let out a discreet sigh of relief. “Glad that trick works with ponies too,” she muttered.
Rifling through Sunset’s bag, she was tempted to have a look at the books that Loyal Stride had confiscated from Script before moving to the journal. Indeed, she removed them and glanced at the covers, but upon reading the titles found her interest instantly wane.
A Comprehensive History of the Crystal Empire by Granite Tome
The Magic of Friendship: A List Keeper’s Guide by Princess Twilight Sparkle
Myths of the East by Far Fetched
Dark Magic: The Deeper Mysteries by Obsidian Shine, Royal Thaumaturgical Researcher
Magicke oft the Krystalle Author Unknown. Reprinted 872 Celestial
She ran a hoof over Twilight’s book, hesitating. The cover was charmingly colourful, taking the form of Twilight’s cutie mark surrounded by beams of purple light, but the book was just simply enormous, and the contents were just so minute and pedantic. Even the contents page was crammed small to accommodate the seven-hundred and something chapters.
“Hasn’t she ever heard of volumes?” Sonata asked no one in particular. Recognising this as a slightly clever comment, she smiled to herself for a moment as she felt the congratulatory spurt of endorphins buoy her spirits temporarily. At first, she thought that it was this that had caused the ominous tingle raising the hairs on her spine and ears. She suddenly noticed by the dimming of light on the pages that the room had darkened. Turning abruptly around, she found herself staring directly into a set of enormous blue eyes.
For a moment or two, her shock shot through her system like a power surge, knocking all of her senses temporarily out of whack. It didn’t last long however, and before the changeling had time to sit down and open its mouth, Sonata’s lungs leapt belatedly into action.
The changeling made no attempt to stop her scream, but merely sat with its eyes slightly narrowed as though in a high wind. When Sonata spun around to flee to the door, it leapt into action and blocked her way.
“Loyal Stride!” Sonata cried. Rather to her surprise and dismay, nothing happened. Having confidently expected the door to explode in a shower of splinters and bent metal, or at least to fly open dramatically, she had to admit that its remaining perfectly still and undamaged was a little disheartening.
“Wait, just hear me out,” the changeling said hastily, trying to get into Sonata’s line of vision.
“Get away from me!” Sonata yelped as the changeling put out a hoof towards her. “Don’t touch me! Loyal Stride!”
“He can’t hear you!” the changeling snapped, scowling suddenly. “Over-Queen’s left flank, you are obnoxiously loud!”
Sonata spluttered. “E-Excuse me!?”
“Just shut up for a second. I’m the one who sent you that note.”
“Note?” Sonata said, momentarily befuddled. “You mean the one the innkeeper gave us?”
“Yes!” the changeling growled impatiently. “Now stop talking and let me speak. There’s not much time before the one outside walks in.”
“Why hasn’t he already?” Sonata asked, peering at the door and wondering if she couldn’t dodge around the changeling to reach it.
“I’ve coated the room in silencing magic,” the changeling explained briefly, which Sonata supposed accounted for the darkening of the room. Now that she looked around more carefully, she did notice a faint, sickly greenish tinge to the room that hadn’t been there before.
“So are you watching us?” Sonata inquired warily.
“No,” replied the changeling. “Well... actually, yes, but that’s beside the point. The point is that others are watching you. The Over-Queen wishes you to know that—“
“Others? Who?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” the changeling snarled. “Could you just be quiet for a second? Please?”
They stared at each other for a moment or two.
“What’s your name?” Sonata asked.
The changeling gave its head a little shake. “What? It doesn’t matter, just listen.”
“Oh come on, you have to have a name.”
“Do you want me to tell you how you’re in danger, or not?” the changeling barked, actually stomping its hoof in frustration. It glared at her with blazing blue eyes for a moment, her looking innocently back. It sighed heavily. “Just... just listen, okay? Two minutes, that’s all I need. You can be quiet for two minutes, can’t you?”
“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Sonata mumbled thoughtfully.
“Good, then listen up. The Over-Queen wishes me to tell you two things. First is that there’s a power unknown to her moving in Equestria. Whoever or whatever it is, it seems to want to destabilise the balance between Equestria and Roam.”
“You don’t know who it is?” Sonata asked. “Sorry, sorry, go on,” she squeaked as the changeling gave her the evil eye.
“No, we don’t. But the hive has spread far across the Nightlands, and we see much. Most of the major events having taken place in the past few days all centre on you.”
Sonata said nothing to this, but she thought that she knew what the changeling meant. The Roamans blowing stuff up everywhere they went. A giant sea-serpent appearing and seeming to eat several ponies. Changelings chasing—“
“Hey!” Sonata exclaimed automatically. “Changelings chased us!” she said, backing up fast.
“Yes, yes,” the changeling said, cutting across her. “Until the Friendship Princess identified your descriptions, we were under the impression that you were Roaman spies. And... and also,” the changeling said more quietly. Sonata felt a slight writhing feeling start through her limbs, like worms underneath her skin, as something changed in the way the changeling was looking at her. “Your love for the yellow one,” it said, a distinct purr to its voice. “You must understand, since the plague, there’s been something wrong with Equestria, something even the Over-Queen does not understand. But your love for each other, it...”
The changeling didn’t seem able to put into words what it wanted to say, but it really didn’t need to. The slow movement of its slick, pink tongue over the grey-black lips told Sonata more than she wanted to know. She gulped and tried not to make eye-contact.
“’Kay,” she said, clearing her throat.
“W-Well,” the changeling said, apparently noticing Sonata’s discomfort. “What I mean to say is, most of the hive is simply living amongst the Nightland populace under the auspices of the Over-Queen. They will be semi-aware of who you are, but they will sense your love like moths to a flame. Some might even try to approach you. Maybe, even attack you.”
Sonata pursed her lips and hunched her shoulders. “Well, thanks for the warning,” she managed to say, massaging her throat a little. “Um, didn’t you say there was another thing the Over-whoever wanted to tell us?”
“It’s a rumour more than anything,” the changeling said slowly, as though weighing its words. “The Over-Queen is aware of your... situation.” Its eyes flickered down to the pendant around Sonata’s neck. “She believes that she knows a potential way to be rid of it.”
Sonata’s spirits bounced back so quickly that she got mental whiplash. The changeling actually took a frightened step backwards, presumably at the look on her face.
“What is it!?” she asked, taking hold of the changeling’s shoulders. “Tell me! Tell me-Tell me!”
The changeling hissed and swiped at her a few times in a warning manner as Sonata pulled back quickly, giving her toothiest apology-smile. Narrow-eyed, the changeling composed itself a little.
“Like I said, it’s just a rumour. But it’s said that the Sun-Princess knows a definitive way to break curses.”
Sonata’s shoulders slumped like sacks of heavy flour. “Oh,” she said, her gaze sagging to the floor.
“And what’s more, said princess is thought to be currently on her way to the Badlands.”
Sonata took a second to puzzle this. “So... wait, how is she going there? Don’t the Roamans have—“ she stopped herself. “Oh... But, why are the Roamans bringing her there?”
“The Over-Queen does not know the reason,” the changeling said solemnly. “But based on some unsettling movements we’ve seen along the border, the Over-Queen believes that the Roamans are preparing for invasion.”
“What!?” Sonata squeaked. “Why? What’s Equestria done to them?”
“That’s not how the Roamans really think,” the changeling said, darkly. “Whatever the reason, we have definite cause to think that a massive invasion force is on its way to the Badlands. And the Sun-Princess is rumoured to be amongst them.”
Sonata pondered this hard. It was... it was just so beyond her. Invasions, princesses, and politics; she dearly wished that she was back at her house with Sunset, painting. Or watching TV.
Oh Steven Universe, she thought wistfully. How I miss your carefree disregard for the complexities of life. Something she’d heard Sunset say once.
“If you need proof of this,” the changeling said, reaching to the dark-blue carapace on its back beneath its wings, “then take a look at this.” It produced a rolled up scroll, sealed with a purple string and a blob of wax. The wax seal was broken. It handed the scroll to Sonata, and then moved over to the window, gazing covertly down into the street.
“What is it?” Sonata asked, unfurling it on the floor. Rather as with Script’s books, her interest immediately waned when she saw the tight-packed, official-looking rectangle of meticulous handwriting positioned dead-centre of the scroll.
“It’s an official correspondence between the occupying legion’s military leadership and the homeland. It’s a good thing too; their science division uses radio transmission, but the army is mired in tradition.”
“Yeah,” Sonata thought aloud. “Script said something like that. So this proves that they’re bringing Princess Celestia back to Equestria?”
“To the Badlands,” the changeling corrected her. “It does detail Princess Celestia being brought to the Badlands, yes. I don’t know if the Roamans you’re travelling with will entirely agree.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“No time,” the changeling said, glancing out of the window again.”Your friend is coming back. Remember what I said; be careful how you move. My brethren may not be too keen on you leaving.”
With that, the changeling waved its horn. The dimness in the room receded, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. A brilliant shaft of late-morning sunlight blinded Sonata for a moment, and by the time her eyes adjusted, the changeling was gone. A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in!” Sonata called. “Loyal Stride, I’ve got to tell you,” she went on quickly before the latter had even gotten through the door.
“I’d rather not be given the details,” he said hastily, raising a hoof and looking squeamish. “No offense, but where I’m from, mares don’t typically discuss their feminine issues with other ponies.“
“Not that!” Sonata interrupted irritably.
“Now, now, children,” Script said lazily, trotting into the room. “No fighting now.”
“Script!” Sonata chirped excitedly. “Good, you’re here too.”
“You’re glad that I’m here?” Script asked, his eyebrows shooting up into his maneline. “Did you get into my medicine stash, or something?”
“What? No, I don’t even—Just listen!”
Once Sonata had finished explaining what had happened, she waited for the two of them to exclaim and relate their shock to her, possibly with a lot of shouting and, in Script’s case, a great deal of sarcasm. The only thing she got wrong was to whom that sarcasm was directed.
“And where were you when all of this was going on?” Script demanded of Loyal Stride.
The white stallion’s face reddened and his chest expanded. “She said that she needed to tend... um, see to her... uh—“
“Feminine problems,” Sonata whispered helpfully.
“Wait, you fell for that?” Script interrupted, raising a hoof. “Just... just, ugh! The two of you. I can’t even...” He turned around and took what Sonata took to be a deep, calming breath. Sonata and Loyal Stride both glanced at each other whilst Script breathed slowly for a few moments. Eventually, Script turned around again, with perhaps the least honest grin plastered upon anyone’s face that Sonata had ever seen. Ever. In her very lengthy, unnaturally prolonged life.
“Okay,” he said, with a false humour to match the forced smile, “I’m going to ask something, and depending upon the answer, I’m going to either calm down, or explode. Literally explode. Magically. It’ll be fan-fyaying-tastic, I tell you now.”
Sonata gulped, and edged closer to Loyal Stride for protection.
Script exhaled deeply, and directed his eyes towards the ceiling, still smiling his creepy, unnatural smile. “When the changeling appeared, why didn’t you simply escape through the door?”
“Well she... um, it? It was blocking it, see?” Sonata answered, trying not to look terrified. She tried to smile, but for somepony well versed in the art of smiling, it was a poor job at best.
“I see,” he said, nodding perhaps a little more vigorously than could be considered normal. “And so of course you fought your way by?”
“Err...” Sonata began. “Well, no, see at that point it started trying to tell me about—“
“Or used your nigh-unstoppable siren powers to overpower them?” Script asked, his voice distinctly higher than usual. “Perhaps tried to hypnotise them? Hit them with a concussive sound blast? Turn into a giant bleedin’ snake monster and crush it like the bug it was?”
Sonata shrank down, cowering beneath his rising volume. “I, um... no, no I didn’t...”
Script paused, and then still grinning widely, gave a small snort. Which was followed by a small series of snorts. And then, his eyes shining, he put a hoof to his mouth and turned away, as though trying to hold in laughter.
“Loyal Stride, I’m scared,” Sonata whispered to him.
“Script, be serious for a moment.”
“What part of this isn’t serious?!” Script cackled. “I’m one hundred and twenty percent serious! Changelings being irresistibly attracted to, and specifically targeting you!” He pointed a dire hoof in Sonata’s direction, still chuckling madly. “Without her, you won’t want to leave, and she won’t leave, Strider won’t leave either, and will keep my books. Hahaha!” He laughed, a high, mirthless laugh.
“Will you act your age for once!” Loyal Stride snapped impatiently. “We have a serious problem here, and we need to consider what to do.”
Script stared at him, the cold laughter not quite disappeared from his face. He gave a single, coughing-like laugh, and then in a disconcerting return to almost his usual tone, he looked around the room, as though inviting an invisible crowd to laugh with him at how ridiculous Loyal Stride was being.
“You still don’t see the problem, do you?” he said, snickering. “You don’t see the hilarity of the situation.” He gestured around the room. “Who isn’t here?”
Sonata’s blood turned to ice.
“See without her, Sonata will never leave. Without Sonata, Strider will never leave. Which means my books stay here. Which means I stay here. Which means we don’t get anywhere.” Script rattled off. “What’s not hilarious about that? Ah, no, I don’t think so,” he said, stepping in front of the door. “Like we need you vanishing as well.”
“Either come with me or get out of the way!” Sonata snapped, trying to shove him aside. His resistance was feeble, being the stringy stallion that he was, but the iron hoof that wrapped itself around the base of her neck was immovable.
“You don’t even know where to go,” Loyal Stride warned.
“Quite,” Script agreed, picking himself up off the floor. “I don’t remember being able to see the red string of fate in the repertoire of siren powers.”
“I’m not staying here doing nothing whilst you two go out and search!” Sonata barked.
“Certainly not!” Script scoffed as though the idea was ludicrous. “We’re not searching at all.”
“What!?” Sonata erupted, almost exploding out of Loyal Stride’s grip.
“Searching would take far too long, and with eyes on us all of the time, it might be impossible to find her on our own. So instead—“
“Oh,” Loyal Stride said quickly. “Now, is that really necessary?”
“I know, I know,” Script said hastily, impatiently waving away Loyal Stride’s objection. “I don’t think it’ll take too long. The mere threat of torture should suffice.”
“Threat?” Sonata asked, a trickle of unease chilling her panicked insides. “Torture? What are you talking about? What are you going to do?”
Since Sonata had met him, she had dearly wanted to understand, and perhaps even like Parchment Script. Maybe even be friends with him. She was convinced that he was the sort of pony whose somewhat eccentric personality marred the honest, pleasant individual that dwelt beneath the veneer of impatience and sarcasm. And she contrived to think that way still. The problem was that... well, he didn’t half make it hard to see the good in him sometimes.
“Err... sirs. Madam,” the innkeeper said cautiously as he dangled from the ceiling. “I know there was no particular fine print in the registry, but I might just say that I consider this a breach of customer-provider relations.”
“I think that’s up to interpretation, personally,” Script commented, walking around the dangling figure.
Sonata bit her lip, feeling hot and cold all over, quite unable to look at the innkeeper.
“Now,” Script said thoughtfully. “Strider, your shield if you please.”
“Don’t call me that,” Loyal Stride said automatically. From his neatly stacked pile of armour on a dresser, he hauled up his large, rectangular shield. Tarnished red, it nevertheless gleamed as though recently polished, dulling the many patinas marring its surface. Sonata watched on tenterhooks as Loyal Stride raised himself on his back legs, and fitted the shield by a strap to his left foreleg. Then with an awkward, lurching gait, he hobbled forward towards the upside-down innkeeper.
“Just a tap should do it,” Script said, tapping his hooves together like a Saturday-morning villain steepling his fingers.
Ignoring Script, Loyal Stride stopped in front of his target, and with the usual look of casual impassiveness on his face, raised his shield in front of him. The innkeeper took a hasty breath and closed his eyes tightly. Sonata opened her mouth to cry out a protestation, suddenly awake to what Loyal Stride was going to do.
Tink!
Loyal Stride bumped the shield lightly against the innkeeper’s chest. With a brilliant flash of virulent green light, the innkeeper’s stout little form vanished, replaced by a wasted, black figure with bright blue eyes, gauzy wings, and a small, sharp horn.
The innkeeper opened one eye, obviously surprised by the overt lack of painful bludgeoning. He took a second to look around, and then looked up – or down? – at himself.
“Ooh-er!” he gasped, and threw up his forelegs to cover himself, as though he’d been caught with his trousers down. “Err... so you figured it out, huh?”
“We knew all along,” Script said swiftly. “We’re not stupid.”
“Oh,” the innkeeper replied, sounding a little miffed. “Anti-magic aura on the shield. Might I ask as to why I’m dangling from the ceiling?”
“Our fourth has gone missing. We reckon that some of your lot has her.”
“Ah,” the innkeeper said, knowingly. “Well, t’int much of a surprise. We still get a bad rep amongst you pony sorts.”
“So she’s just disappeared all on her own?” Script asked, his casual tone delicately inflected to imply disbelief.
“I wouldn’t know what you or her, nor anypony else be doin’ with their time, lad,” the innkeeper saidsuccinctly.
Sonata found it a little disconcerting to hear the innkeeper’s voice still coming out of the changeling’s mouth. It somehow didn’t seem to match him.
“How did you do that?” she asked Loyal Stride.
Loyal Stride set the shield back down with the rest of his armour. “The shield’s enchanted to disrupt magic,” he said simply. “Deflect magical missiles, disable barriers, undo disguises; that sort of thing.”
“Hey!” Script hissed. “You guys can chip in any time here.”
“Huh?” Sonata replied, bemused.
“Be intimidating!” Script whispered, standing between her and the innkeeper. “We need to scare the information out of him; that won’t work if you’re just sitting here looking gormless.”
Sonata’s mouth twisted a little. “Not sure I do scary,” she mumbled into her hoof.
“Do I have to chuck you in a lake or something?” Script huffed. “Look, we’re not going to find Ms. Mellow-Yellow unless we get this one to tell us where she is.”
Sonata frowned. “Maybe, but—“
“So you have to get mad. Scary. We have to scare him.”
“But I don’t know how,” she said earnestly.
“Whilst it is true that you have a face that couldn’t intimidate a twitchy rabbit with PTSD,” Script admitted, “I’m afraid we have no other choice.”
Sonata bit her lip. After a moment or two of considering, she took a deep breath, and tried to arrange her features into a look of ominous significance. “How’s this?”
Script’s face scrunched, as though he wasn’t sure of what he was seeing. “Could you make it less...” he tapped invisible words in the air. “Constipation-y?”
Sonata scowled. “I don’t know how to look scary!” she snapped. When Script merely stared thoughtfully at her, she became uneasy. She thought she knew what he was thinking. “I’m not using my powers,” she warned. “It’s not a good idea.”
“That’s not what I had in mind,” Script said slowly. “I think that you merely need to be put in the right frame of mind. Anypony can be scary when they’re in the right mood.”
“How do we do that?”
Apparently for an answer, Script nodded for some reason, and then shuffled forward a little so as to be closer to her. “Who knows what they’re doing to her right now,” Script whispered blithely, as though continuing a conversation that they’d been having. “I think the love extraction process is usually painless.”
“Huh?” Sonata asked, confused.
“You probably remember better, Loyal Stride,” Script said, waving a hoof vaguely at the hulking white stallion. “There was that case when changelings kidnapped that filly in Altinum, remember? What did they do to her again?” Loyal Stride made no sign that he intended to say anything, but Script went on anyway as though the thought had just come to him. “Oh yes, that was it; they ripped out her heart.”
“Her heart!?” Sonata squeaked. “W-Why did they—“
“Tore it right out of her chest, poor thing,” Script sighed wistfully. “Ribs pulled apart, blood everywhere. The look on her innocent little face when they found her.” He gave his head a sanctimonious little shake, his face a picture of contrived melancholy. “Why, I do hope that Sunset doesn’t encounter a similar fate. That would be just awful, and so painful for close to her. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Sonata felt herself going cold. Clueless though she generally was, she’d cottoned on to what Script was doing, but that didn’t mean that the imagery wasn’t vivid. Sonata felt a pulse of sickness surge through her as her mind ground through the enacting the images described by Script in her head, only with Sunset as the medium. Artificial though it was, Sonata felt a pale shadow of cold dread wash over her, steeling her nerves. Little though she wanted to do it, she knew that she couldn’t live with herself if something happened to Sunset. She wouldn’t be able to go on without her.
There was a full six seconds where nopony moved, and nopony seemed to breathe. Then Sonata tensed her muscles, and bowled Script aside with a cry. In two lunging steps she was upon the changeling still dangling from the ceiling, but before she’d quite reached him, two strong hooves clamped hard upon her shoulders.
“Whoa, now, whoa!” Script called jovially over Sonata’s incoherent shouting as Loyal Stride held her back. “Well, that escalated quickly.” He gave her a covert wink before fixing his eyes on the changeling, who seemed to be trying to hoist himself higher towards the ceiling, his wide blue eyes fixed in shock on Sonata. “It’s not wise to keep lovers apart. If you’d be so kind to point us in her general direction we can let this whole unfortunate ordeal fall behind us.”
“I-I don’t know where she is,” the innkeeper started to say, but Script cut him off with a small, faintly amused chuckle.
“I doubt that my colleague here can keep back this wounded lover for too long,” he said smoothly, sitting back and looking idly out of the window. “Passions are difficult to control. So let’s just drop the pretence and tell us where she is.”
“I was against the idea!” the innkeeper said desperately, struggling against his bonds more fervently as Sonata gave him the best evil-eye she could muster. “Honestly, I told ‘em it wasn’t a right thing to do! If the Queen ever—“ he stopped abruptly.
“Queen?” Loyal Stride demanded, suddenly breaking into speech and scowling. “What queen? The last Equestrian changeling queen was executed decades ago.”
“Now, now, I’m not supposed to talk about that,” the innkeeper said in one breath, clearing his throat.
“You really want to displease him?” Script asked with mock squeamishness. “He is the only thing stopping that one—” he nodded to Sonata, “—from pulling your wings off like the bug that you are.”
“I don’t know where she is!” the innkeeper shouted. “I was against the whole thing! I told ‘em it was foolishness! That’s all there is to it! I swear!”
“Mmm...” Script hummed. “I don’t know. Seems to me that you’d at least have some idea where—“
“Err, are her eyes meant to be doing that?” the innkeeper asked suddenly.
“What?” Script said brusquely. He followed the innkeeper’s line of vision, and paused. “Oh...” he muttered. “Oh dear. I was kidding about the story! Nopony really got their heart ripped out!”
Sonata wasn't listening, but gazed all around her, her heart churning with the washing waves of conflicting emotions. Unease and eagerness, fear and joy, a desire to run and a sudden, unaccountable hunger. The glittering green energy all around her smelled as it had done back then, relating to her the varied tastes of negative feelings washing over on its rolling tides. She drew a deep breath, and drank in raw power.
- To be Continued
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
903 users online
1,295,400 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.®
Script just played with fire, I'm so wanting to find out how bad it burns him.
6523161 Oh believe me, sooner or later, it will burn him. And he will be pissed about it.
Oh. Shit. Sonata's berserkergang button has been pushed... Shit's about to go down! ... Also... Well done Script. You're an absolute foal if you think you can "control" a mare's mind, especially if said mare is in love and you use her special some pony against her, and she has a "Hulk Mode". XD
Let the bodies hit the floor, Daniel, let the bodies hit the Goddamned floor! : D
Nice update! I'm really curious to see the state of the cursed ponies though. I read that... err... zombie fic you wrote a while ago that you de-canonized, which I have to admit I was relieved to hear happened, but that has only increased my anticipation to find out what exactly happened to everypony.
Sonata is going berserk!
All seriousness doe, Steven Universe is legit. Favorite episode Rose's Scabbard. Big time fan.
Welcome back! And with references to TFS and Steven Universe to boot! :D
6524643 The motel episode was my favourite episode until the recent Peridot episodes started. I'm really enjoying them.
6523280 Ahh, you want to know about the Nightlanders. What exactly happened to them will be revealed as the story progresses. It's kinda central to the story.
6523218 Don't jump the gun on the inevitable slaughter
It'll be terrible when it eventually happens.
I do hope that something bad doesn't happen to Sunset and Sonata... I don't really care about Script and Stride, but whatever you do, do not kill off mah waifu's, Keepo
6529649 Oh, now I have to kill them both. So sad, I had this whole storyline planed out, and now I have to just kill them both.
6529883 Lol, Daniel, you troll. Kappa
6543385 Depleted uranium shells struck earth at the intended target. The planet has been engulfed in nuclear fission with the amount of burn laid down here, good sir. There's a history here, of course
6545214 Shhhh!
Good use of that poster though. Haven't seen it in a while.
Stuff's about to go down between this other Changeling Queen and Celestia returning to Equestria.
I wonder. Is 60 years enough to brainwash the Princess of the Sun into thinking Roam is great and everything rah rah rah?
"Maserati" should be capitalized since it is a proper noun and a company.
Sunset, no. Your ass is perfectly fine. I am sure Sonata would agree. And Fluer.
Space here.
I don't think these are one word.
I think there is a word or two missing here.
I still don't have an idea how strong the princesses are. In my head, Celestia would see an invading army, chuckle a little, then turn them all into slag with a beam of heat from the sun.
Waking up and immediately being a petulant/adorable butt - I know it well. “Carry me, and maybe we’ll discuss something.” I think I could die happy >_< and she does it. just kill me now
they did write a bunch didn't they? I knew it
Script's definitely growing on me, I never disliked him or anything but he's just been gaining a subtle depth at every turn
I hadn't thought much about pony-form sexy times, but it's a fun notion! teehee, do they still find kissing strange?
mare things indeed... aww man I laughed really hard. ooh a book by Twi!
... I have to agree with Sonata's disappointment with the lack door splintering, as I expected the same.
omg... I
I JUST NEED YOU TO LOVE ME
am sorry I dallied so much before catching upwas reading some TES for funsies and was reminded that Princess Celestia cancelled her trip to Roam to see Sunset Shimmer! is... is this relevant to the occurrence in this timeline?and the amnesia around Aria/Sonata's old talents? you just... you amaze me with your planning-ahead skills
I... felt like a Hoity Toity, sycophantically throwing myself into your stories
over and over againnow I'm kind of glad I waited, cliffhangers kill me and I need to know what happened