383 - Departure Unto Darkness
“Hey there! How’s everypony doing?”
Celestia came to an immediate halt at the familiar voice, and only the cadre of doctors surrounding her kept her from falling over. The mattress that she was carrying Luna on wobbled dangerously as well, her telekinetic aura flickering as she almost forgot to concentrate on it. Several of the medical ponies rushed to steady airborne bedding, but in the time it took them to raise their hooves toward it Celestia had already recovered, giving the pony across from her a neutral look. “Sonata.”
It was a simple statement of acknowledgment, delivered in a guarded tone that constituted the bare minimum of what could be considered polite, but Sonata didn’t seem to be at all bothered by it. “That’s me!” she called, her expression carefree as she waltzed toward them. “I heard you two were up and about, so I wanted-”
“STEP BACK!” snarled the guard at the head of their group, flaring his wings in a threatening gesture. Nor was he the only one, as the other armored stallions had all become tense, preparing to launch themselves at her. “DO IT! DO IT RIGHT NOW!”
Sonata stopped moving, but didn’t back away, scoffing as she gave the guards an indignant look. “Um, wow, rude much?” she snorted. “I just wanted to talk, geez.”
“YOU-”
“Enough!” ordered Celestia sharply. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luna twitch at the sound of her voice. Fortunately she didn’t wake up; between how exhausted she’d been and the painkillers the doctors had given her, she likely wouldn’t, but the last thing Celestia wanted was to disturb her sister.
The guards quite clearly knew that, since they all winced, the tension leaving their bodies as they glanced back at her fretfully. “But, Your Highness,” protested the lead guard, now sounding more like a wounded puppy than a vengeful warrior, “this mare has magic in her voice! Even listening to her speak could give her a chance to cast a spell on you!”
“Um, hello?” called Sonata sarcastically. “Siren here, remember? I use my magic when I sing, not just talk. Duh.” She shot Celestia a commiserating smile then, as though the two of them were sharing a laugh at how dumb the Royal Guard ponies were.
But Celestia didn’t return the expression, keeping her eyes on her guards. “I’m grateful for your diligence, but right now I need you all to stand down.” Although she kept her expression steady, Celestia couldn’t help but internally sigh in relief when the stallions gave a collective nod. Although the guards were clearly crestfallen at the rebuke, that was the least of her concerns at the moment.
Sonata had advanced just far enough forward that she was right at the top of the stairs, putting herself directly in front of where they were trying to go. While Celestia hoped that was just a coincidence – she’d spent quite a bit of time talking to the ponified Siren last night, and Sonata hadn’t given her the impression of someone who was, to put it mildly, well-versed in the art of subtlety – she couldn’t afford to give the mare in front of her the benefit of the doubt. If Lex sent her here to finish what he started, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop her and protect Luna at the same time. Hoping that she was wrong, Celestia forced herself to remain calm. “You said that you wanted to talk,” she began, still keeping her voice neutral. “What about?”
“Oh yeah!” exclaimed Sonata, eyes widening as though she’d forgotten that she’d said that. “So River says that Aria is here somewhere, but this place is, like, totes huge! Have you seen her anywhere?”
Celestia blinked once, nonplussed by the question. Of all the things that she’d expected Sonata to say to her, that had been nowhere near the top of the list. “I’m sorry,” she replied slowly. “I haven’t seen her.”
“Aww, for realsies?” groaned Sonata, hanging her head. “Great, just great. The one time she totes makes herself scarce is the one time I’ve gotta find her.” Heaving a sigh, she turned her attention back to Celestia and Luna, managing to regain her smile. “Anyway, I’m, like, super glad you guys are up and about already, but FYI, you probably want to wait a little while before you go apologize to Lex. He’s resting right now, and it’s usually better to let him cool off before-”
“Apologize?” echoed Celestia, incredulous. “You think that we should apologize to him?”
Sonata blinked, tilting her head. “Well, yeah. I mean, he probably won’t give your sister her wings back or anything, but it’s worth a try. He totes forgave River when she asked him to. And what happened was kind of your fault, anyway.”
Celestia couldn’t believe what she was hearing, the casual statement knocking her façade of calm out from under her. “Our fault?! You think this is our fault?!” She knew Sonata had to be doing this on purpose – she wasn’t so simpleminded that she didn’t understand provocation – but Celestia found herself unable to let that statement go. Not when she was still roiling with guilt over how she’d been intent on giving Lex a chance despite having been given a vision of his perfidy. Not when Luna had been sobbing against her chest just a few minutes ago. “Lex gave me his word that he intended to meet with us in peace! But when we approached him, he murdered Silhouette in cold blood, brutalized my sister and me, and then cursed Luna!” She could see that the guards were cowering now, giving her fearful looks at the sight of her rising anger, but she didn’t care, unable to contain herself in the face of such coldhearted prodding. “And you think that’s all our fault?!”
But unlike the guards, Sonata didn’t look intimidated in the slightest, instead wearing a vaguely annoyed expression. “Um, yeah,” she snorted. “I mean, first of all, can we stop pretending that Silhouette was such a great guy? Boo-hoo, so he got killed. I know that you and Lex and everypony are, like, totes broken up about it, but come on! He was a world-class jerk who tried to screw up Lex’s ritual to make Aria into a pony! If it hadn’t been for those kids stopping him, Lex and Aria might have both died! So yeah, as far as I’m concerned he totes got what he deserved.” She paused to stick her tongue out at Celestia before continuing. “And besides, Lex wasn’t even the one who bumped him off anyway. He told me how Severance did that all on its own.”
“Lex,” seethed Celestia, “isn’t trustworthy!” Despite knowing how bad of an idea it was, and just how much it went against her values, Celestia found herself seriously considering attacking Sonata right then. If she started talking about Luna the way she’d just talked about Silhouette, then she-
“Whoa! Hold up!” blurted Sonata, her eyes suddenly wide. “Say that again!”
Celestia barely blinked at the sudden change in Sonata’s attitude, her anger too great. “Lex isn’t trustworthy!”
Sonata’s response was just to gape at her, her jaw hanging open as she fell into a sitting position, her bottom hitting the floor with an audible thump as her back legs gave out. “Oh geez,” she murmured, running a hoof through her hair, her gaze turning vacant. “Oh wow. Okay, this is…” Dazed, she put her hoof to her mouth, staring into space for several seconds. Finally she seemed to collect herself, giving Celestia a look of mild disbelief as she stood back up. “I gotta go find Aria,” she muttered, before turning around and galloping back the way she’d come from.
Celestia very nearly tried to grab her with her telekinesis, not wanting to let her get away with all of those horrible things she’d said. Only the fact that she needed, in her weakened state, to exert all of her concentration to keep Luna aloft prevented her from making the attempt. Even then, all she could do was stare down the hallway where Sonata had disappeared, rigid with anger. Seconds passed in silence before one of the guards coughed quietly. “Your Highness…?” he called timidly.
It was a thousand years’ worth of practice that allowed Celestia to swallow her anger, pushing it down to where she could manage it with her usual poise. “Let’s be on our way,” she murmured at last. The command brought a sigh of relief from the ponies around her, and they started forward again, heading for the staircase.
Celestia couldn’t relax as they made their way down the stairs and through the mansion, waiting for Sonata or somepony else to show up and waylay them again. But to her great relief the only ponies that they ran into were a few of River’s servants, who were more than happy to stay out of their way as they passed. In a matter of minutes they were outside the mansion, where the remaining members of the Royal Guard were finishing preparing the chariots.
Setting Luna’s mattress down, Celestia gingerly walked over to their transportation home, allowing the doctors to perform one last check on her sister, confirming her condition again before they helped the guards lift her up, still wrapped in her blanket. A moment later Luna’s sleeping form was huddled against Celestia in the back of their chariot, who wrapped her wings around her sister protectively. Just a little bit longer and we’ll be home, Luna. Once we are, I promise you, things will start to get better.
Around her, the guards were piling into the remaining chariots. The pegasus guards that weren’t hitched to the front of them were given preferential treatment, with several of the unicorn and earth pony guards squeezing along the sides in order to give their winged fellows room to stretch out and make themselves comfortable. Celestia knew it was because those same pegasi would need to switch out with their colleagues in mid-flight later on, since pulling fully-loaded chariots all the way from Vanhoover to Tall Tale with no rest breaks would have been too much otherwise. The only chariot where that wasn’t the case was where several guards were holding the tightly-wrapped bundle that was Silhouette’s body.
She was still looking at that, bitterly recalling what Sonata had said, when the pegasus guard hitched to her chariot spoke up. “Princess Celestia, we’re ready to depart at your command.”
Celestia almost nodded, then caught herself at the last moment. If Lex had sent Sonata there to pick a fight, then he might very well have some other treachery prepared as a backup in case she failed. After what he’d done, Celestia wouldn’t put it past him to try and shoot them out of the air with more of his evil magic. In that case…
“One moment,” announced Celestia, before looking upward. The sun was still hanging high in the sky where she’d left it after waking up. It was still mid-afternoon, too soon for it to need more than a minor adjustment, but Celestia still held her breath as her magic took hold of the glowing orb.
And then lowered it below the horizon.
Several cries of alarm rang out from the ponies around her, but Celestia ignored them as she turned to look eastward. It was with a pang of regret that she used her horn again, reaching out to take hold of where Luna had left the moon when she’d lowered it this morning, raising it up to its zenith. Only a few years ago, Luna had resumed this particular job, and Celestia had been overjoyed to return it to her. Now she was forced to take up this duty again, since without being an alicorn there was no way Luna would be able to do so. This will hurt her deeply when she wakes up and realizes that, if she hasn’t already, Celestia knew. It was yet another way that what Lex Legis had done to her was unforgivably cruel.
But at least this will prevent him from easily targeting us as we leave. And hopefully he hadn’t expected it, which would give them the window they needed to leave without being attacked. “Now,” she called, “to Tall Tale!” To their credit the guards managed to put aside their confusion and take off, running forward and flapping their wings, pulling the chariots into the air behind them as they began to gain altitude.
Despite herself, Celestia couldn’t help but look down as they made their way south, still nervous that Lex would try something. The sudden nightfall had left the camp without any fires to mark their position, but the moon and stars provided enough light to make out the vague shape of the train station, which the guards had previously told her was where Lex had elected to stay after the battle. If he was anywhere, it would be there, and Celestia scanned the area nervously…only for her heart to leap into her throat an instant later.
Down below, she could see a pair of green-and-purple eyes looking back up at her.
Celestia tightened her wings around Luna as she waited for the attack that would knock them out of the sky. But as the chariots sped forward, nothing happened. No hateful chanting reached her ears. No spire of black crystal shot upward to strike them. Nothing happened except the sight of Lex’s eyes grew smaller and smaller as they receded into the distance.
Then they were gone, as the Royal Guard carried them out of Vanhoover and into the night.
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That is scary, and very foreboding.
So Sonata now knows what Aria did, or at least knows Aria did something. Maybe that can start paving the path to reconciliation?
9775761
Indeed. Both Celestia and Lex know that, while the alicorns might be leaving, things are far from over.
Hope springs eternal. But the possibility of her completely losing it all over Aria now that she knows that she contributed to how badly things went remains a real possibility as well.
Well, at least we know Aria's magic still has a hold on Celestia but since she left before it could be removed...this leads to the cold war you wrote in Lex's Bio doesn't it? I mean, Cadence or Twilight could dispel it but since they don't know about it and have no reason to look her over yet...
Hmm, wonder how Tall Tale will handle the news of their hero being declared villains by the princesses. Or will the royal party simply depart as soon as they arrive?
Also, since Sonata most likely realized the effects of Aria's magic, not surprising given well...
I wonder how Lex will feel when Sonata inevitably spills the beans about the part Aria played or will he feel angry at himself for his actions making Aria enchant Celestia in the first place.
if it was me i would have turned Celestia in too a mud pony colt but i have a vary strong dislike for the fat witch.
How long before Celestia accepts the truth that a true deity has intrests in her realm and its due to that deity that the attack occurs, even though LEx was trying his best to prevent it?
Celestia also declaring Lex and Vanhoover ponysona non grata is going to make Las Pegasus credit a lot harder to get.
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I'm confused, how does she know? Is there some kind of tip off or did I miss a line somewhere?
9776571
Sonata is a Siren. Sirens can tell if someone is under something from a Siren. I imagine it's subtle things. Slight glow, the way it's said, the force with which that phrase is repeated...
9776760
In D+D anyone can tell if someone's under mental compulsion if they make a sense motive check (I think it's sense motive).
9775828
Ahem. Insofar as Sonata trying to remove the spell Aria used on Celestia, well, remember that we've seen Sonata in this situation before (way back in Chapter 23 - Uncivil Service):
So there's not much she can do, which makes it a little more understandable why she ran off to go look for Aria. But now that the princesses have left Vanhoover, will it make a difference anyway?
The latter seems likely, since Celestia wants to get Luna to Cadance as quickly as possible.
Oh, I suspect that Lex will have more than enough anger to go around.
9776132 Celestia got off lightly compared to what happened to Luna. But given how guilty she feels about that, maybe that's the worst thing that Lex could have done to her.
9776443 Well, at this point Celestia doesn't seem inclined to believe Lex about what happened with Severance. But even if she had all of the relevant facts and believed them, there would remain a large ideological gulf between her and Lex anyway.
But at this point, there's something of a race on. If River can get the ball rolling in Las Pegasus before word spreads about what happened between Lex and the Royal Sisters, she might be able to pull off a miracle.
9776571
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9777504 Sonata can recognize an enchantment with notable acumen, the result of her not only having a lot of practice where that's concerned over her thousand-plus years of life, but also because she's outgoing enough to be able to spot the signs when they occur. As noted in Chapter 21 - Moving Ahead to Retreat:
This gets expounded on more in Chapter 24 - Talking Shop:
In game terms, terrycloth has the right of it. A Sense Motive check (DC 25) will reveal that someone's under an enchantment. That's extremely high for most ordinary ponies (to the point of being unachievable for many of them), but Sonata's a cut above. Her Sense Motive bonus is +10 normally, but for the purpose of detecting enchantments it's +18, letting her easily figure out that someone's under magical influence if she just takes 10 on the check.
9777994
Well that would explain why I forgot about it.
That was only *checks notes* 350ish chapters ago?!
Wow.
9778278 A bit of a reach back, I'll admit, but you have to admire how the early parts of the story are still relevant!
9777976
So does this mean that Sonata's presence might have actually made a difference? Then again claiming that Celestia has been enchanted by siren magic doesn't make it credible after what Severance did...or after what Lex declared with so much hatred...my head hurts now.
9779646 It's impossible to say now, but if Sonata had been there when the fight had broken out, she almost certainly would have spotted the enchantment on Celestia as soon as she (Celestia) said that Lex wasn't trustworthy. At that point, presuming that she (Sonata) told Lex what she knew, he could have tried to dispel the enchantment on Celestia. Presuming that he succeeded, Celestia might have broken off the fighting, and maybe reined in Luna as well, though Severance would still have been an issue. But that's all presumptive, and there's no way to know for sure.
Either way, it's a moot point. Sonata was off in Vanhoover, getting it on with Nosey. Something which wouldn't have happened if Lex had been better able to broach the subject of how to deal with the romantic tension between himself and the girls (though if he'd handled that better, Aria wouldn't have used her magic on Celestia in the first place). So really, this is more of him having made things harder for himself, and by extension everypony else who's come into contact with him.
On the one hand, I really do feel very sorry for Celestia and Luna.
On the other hand, Sonata/Aria drama is like highly-refined sugar to me. OH BOY!
9780358
Celestia wasn't wrong when she noted how this was likely the worst day of her life (and, no doubt, Luna's too).
Well, you might have to wait for another chapter or two for that.