150 - First Responders
“Scrubby is keeping everypony from going inside the train station,” warned Cloudbank. “But there’s already a crowd gathering there, and he’s just one pony.”
Lex didn’t answer, continuing to gallop towards the building in question, and for a moment Cloudbank wondered if he’d heard her. His only reaction to the bomb she’d dropped less than a sixty seconds prior had been to grab Severance and ask where Block Party’s body was. When she’d told him that it was still in the train station, he’d immediately rushed out, leaving Sonata and Cloudbank to try to catch up with him.
For Cloudbank that was easily done, thanks to her wings, but Sonata was struggling to match their pace, still drowsily trying to process what was happening. Scrubby had been the pony that Lex had assigned to stand guard at the station last night, so how could he be okay if Block Party was dead? “Hang on a sec,” she panted. “What exactly happened to Bl-”
“I don’t know!” snapped Cloudbank, her tension causing the words to come out more harshly than she’d intended. She shot Sonata an apologetic look a second later, starting from the beginning. “I woke up early to work on my remarks. I’d gone for a walk around this place to try and get some ideas when I heard a commotion near the station. When I got closer, I saw that it was Nosey-”
“Wait, Nosey’s there?” Sonata’s eyes widened in amazement. “She really does have a nose for news!”
“I’m trying to tell you, she was the cause of the commotion,” replied Cloudbank grimly. “She was in front of the entrance to the station, sobbing and wailing that Block Party was dead, over and over. Scrubby was trying to comfort her, but she seemed hysterical. The way she was carrying on, half the camp must have heard her. When I realized what she was saying I came to get you two.”
Sonata’s jaw dropped at that, having a hard time picturing what Cloudbank was describing. Nosey was a consummate reporter through and through, to say nothing of having been there when they’d faced down all of those aquatic monsters. For her to go to pieces like that…had she caught a glimpse of what had happened to Block Party? If so, it must have been something truly horrific. The thought sent a shudder down her spine, and she shot Lex a worried look. He didn’t notice, however, his eyes locked onto the train station. It was just coming into view now, its shape only dimly visible in the pre-dawn light. Rising up behind it, the mountains were backlit by the lightening sky, and the long shadows they cast kept the place in darkness, as though stubbornly refusing to surrender the building and its contents to the light.
Grimacing at the sight, Sonata nevertheless made herself hurry up, knowing that her best friend needed her.
The station had several dozen ponies surrounding it by the time they made their way there, and more were already wandering over. Most were surrounding the front door, but they could see several pegasi clustered around the upper windows, peering within. A chorus of voices hung over the assembled ponies as everyone tried to figure out what was going on. In front of the doors, Scrubby was saying something, speaking around the ring of keys in his mouth as he held out a hoof, apparently indicating that everypony should stay back.
Reaching the edge of the crowd, Lex eyed the mass of ponies between him and his destination disapprovingly. Just pushing through them would be slow and difficult, he knew. So should he change into a shadow and simply go through them, or raise a row of black crystals to make them-
“Hey.” Sonata placed a hoof on his side as she caught up to him. “I’ve got this.” She gave an inward sigh of relief as he nodded, knowing that if she hadn’t been there he would have done something that, while it totes would have been effective, would probably have freaked everybody out. After what had happened with Garden Gate, she wasn’t about to let him make that mistake again. Honestly, it’s like he still doesn’t get the whole spokespony thing, she thought with a brief roll of her eyes.
Backing up a little, she gave her mane a toss before clearing her throat. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and held it for just a moment. This won’t take a full-on song, she decided. All she needed to do was make everypony quiet down and pay attention so that Lex could get to work, rather than something more complicated like helping everyone fight the way she had during the battle against those sea monsters. So that meant she could get away with giving them just a taste of what she could do.
“HaaAAAaaa…HAAaaa…”
It was the same melody she’d done with Adagio and Aria a thousand times or more. A simple, sensual bit of wordless vocalizing, repeated over and over, that had never failed to make everyone who heard it – whether it was a diner full of blissfully ignorant patrons or a lunchroom full of students – do what they wanted. And what Sonata wanted right now was for everyone to stop what they were doing and look at her. Slowly swaying to match the rhythm, she couldn’t help but smile slightly at the thought of being the center of attention. She continued on like that for a minute or two, keeping her ears perked as she did. When she couldn’t hear anything except for her own voice, she finally let her melody trail off into silence.
Opening her eyes, she had to bite back a squeal of excitement as she saw exactly what she’d expected: everyone had stopped what they were doing, staring at her instead. Every face had an expression that was somewhere between wonder and rapture, as though they hadn’t known that anything could sound so beautiful. A quick glance upward showed that even Cloudbank, who knew what she could do, was captivated.
It was enough that, although she was still worried about Nosey, Sonata couldn’t repress a grin as she looked back at Lex. “See? Told you I could handle it.”
“My way would have been faster,” he snorted, causing Sonata to pout at the lack of appreciation. She knew that she couldn't hold it against him, since they were kind of in the middle of a crisis and all, but it was still a bit of a letdown.
She was searching for the proper snarky comment to make when she saw him look back at the crowd and open his mouth. Realizing what was about to happen, she hurriedly tried to cut him off. “Everyb-, everypony, stand aside!” she yelled.
Lex shot her an annoyed glare, but she gave him a firm look in response. “Spokespony,” she intoned quietly, causing him to roll his eyes at her now, turning away with a huff. Satisfied, she looked back at the crowd. “Everypony, stand aside!” she repeated. “Lex Legis is here to figure out what’s going on, so we’re going to need you to make way!” Scattered murmurs broke out from the crowd, but they slowly parted, opening up a path between them and where Scrubby was sitting in front of the doors. Lex immediately moved forward, Sonata following after him, with Cloudbank belatedly landing and moving alongside her.
It took only a moment for them to reach the doors, and Scrubby didn’t try to hide his relief as they approached him. “Thank Celestia you’re here! I don’t-”
“Where’s Nosey?” interrupted Lex. Part of him wanted to chastise the earth stallion for invoking Celestia’s name when she very clearly didn’t deserve any sort of thanks, but he knew that now wasn’t the time.
Slightly chagrinned, Scrubby pointed a hoof at the doors. “She said she was going to be sick and ran back inside. She looked really rattled.”
“She went back in there?” asked Sonata, her voice incredulous. “With the body?” But the only response Scrubby gave her was a helpless shrug, shaking his head.
Giving the crowd a sidelong glance, Lex gestured at Scrubby. “Open the doors. You can tell us what you know inside.” Scrubby looked like he wanted to protest, but Lex had already turned towards Cloudbank. “You stay here and keep things under control.”
“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” she asked, frowning. She had a few spells that could be used if one or two ponies got rowdy, but there wasn’t much she could do if the entire crowd started to get out of hoof.
“Severance.” In response to its name being called, the scythe leapt off of Lex’s back, floating towards Cloudbank.
Horrified, she retreated from the living weapon. “Get that thing away from me!” she hissed. “I don’t want anything to do with it!” Just the sight of Severance was enough to make her remember what she’d done to Drafty, the memory bringing up a horrible mixture of guilt and shame.
“I don’t care,” responded Lex flatly. “I need you to make sure nopony tries to go inside. Use Severance if you have to.” His eyes moved towards the weapon then, touching a hoof to it. “And in the event that she does need your power, I expect you not to hurt anyone.” He paused long enough to hear its reply, then removed his hoof with a nod, apparently satisfied.
But Cloudbank wasn’t finished. “If you just need to keep everypony out of there, that thing can do it by itself. I have to, um…” She paused, trying to find an excuse not to be there, and suddenly inspiration struck. “I have to go work on that sermon!”
Lex had already turned towards where Scrubby was fitting the keys into the lock, trying them one by one, but glanced back at her then. “You haven’t finished that yet?”
Cloudbank grit her teeth. “I told you I was working on it this morning when all of this happened!” she snapped, her voice defensive. “Maybe if you’d told me about this ahead of time instead of dropping it on me last night, I’d have made more progress!”
Lex narrowed his eyes at that, but before he could say anything a voice rose from the crowd. “Wait!”
Stumbling out from the press of ponies was a rather beat-up looking unicorn stallion. His cutie mark was a quartet of shining boots, which stood out brightly against his yellow coat and orange mane and tail. The same could also be said for his black eye and the bruises that were dotting his chest, legs, and flank. Heedless of his injuries, he made his way forward, turning his one good eye from Lex to Cloudbank and back again. “Is it true? About the commander?”
Sonata was the one who stepped forward. “Listen, I know how you feel. My best friend is in there too, but-”
“Is it true?!” he asked again, voice rising in anxiety.
Lex frowned, stepping forward until he was between Sonata and this newcomer. “If you mean Block Party, then I’m about to investigate the situation. Until I’m finished, you-”
“I want to see him!” interrupted the unicorn.
“Out of the question,” snapped Lex immediately.
“You don’t understand! I’m Spit Polish, I was his second-in-command, and-”
“Were you here last night?” demanded Lex.
“No, but-”
“Then stay here and be quiet. I’ll send for you if I need you.” With that, he turned back towards the station, just as Scrubby finally found the right key, opening the doors with a triumphant grin.
“Wait!” yelled Spit Polish, trying to surge forward, only to stop immediately as Severance floated in front of him. “He’s not really dead, right?” When he didn’t get an answer, he slumped in place. “He can’t be dead…”
Lex didn’t answer as he strode into the train station, Sonata and Scrubby following him, before the doors closed with a heavy thud.
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So Block Party isnt dead until confirmed as it was trhe media screaming up a storm by possibly being easily manipulated by a mental controller?
Block wants to seperate Lex from most everyone else to apply his own abilities without letting the others see?
8468759 Mmmaybe.
I'm now leaning towards a Shadow Demon, or some other possessing creature.
Decided Block Party is useless so killed the host, possessed Nosy and is now planning to go for Lex.
Nosey bawling her eyes out over a dead body feels a little uncharacteristic of her given what she's faced so far. Granted, she never encountered a ghoul before so the sight of a dead pony might have been too much for her too handle. Still, a part of me expects a trap of some sort though given your record of upending our preconceptions...
Nice callback to the movie, I really liked the cafeteria scene and while Lex's method would have been faster, Sonata's was far more effective given that no one is objecting or challenging them...well, except Spit Polish. I feel like he's going to force his way into the train station and cause a scene, sentient scythe or otherwise. At least he left Cloudbank to act as a buffer.
8468936 Also no comment. As much as I love receiving comments and communicating with the people who post here, there are some things that I have to hold back.
8468973 Sonata also noted that it seemed unusual for Nosey to break down in the face of something like that, but that's what Cloudbank said...if Cloudbank is telling the truth. If that's really Cloudbank at all. Or maybe she's on the up-and-up, and Nosey's unusual retreat back into the station is what's more worrisome. And nopony seems to have properly taken Scrubby into account either.
Already, the fear and suspicion have begun!
Putting that aside, I'm glad you liked my shout-out to Rainbow Rocks!
I was nervous about trying to create a textual representation of that particular bit of wordless vocalizing that the Sirens do at the beginning of the film and then again as the opening for the "Battle (of the Bands)" song, so I made sure to throw in references to those scenes in order to make the association more obvious. I suspect that without them, the reference would have been too oblique to get.
Well, I got to it.
What is going on here? From what I can determine, Lex's head rushed out to see Block Party's body. I think severed heads are typically a problem.
anypony.
Well, that's that. Now what?
8473429
I was wondering what happened to you.
*Groan* Given the degree to which I rewrote the first half of the chapter, I supposed I should be grateful that this is the only typo that slipped through.
Actually, no. While the ponies don't use "-body" pronouns (e.g. everybody, anybody, etc.), they do use ones that end in "-one." So "someone" or "everyone" are legitimate to use. (And indeed, have been used for a while in this fic.)
To be revealed next chapter...though it might just lead to more questions!
8474085
I saw that it updated, and knew that I wanted to read it. And thought I did. I only realized I didn't when I checked my tracking.