388 - Repairing Relationships
“No way,” scoffed Sonata as she and Aria walked back toward the train station. “The songs should totes start with me and Lex going to Tall Tale, since that’s where our adventure began.”
“That’s just the prologue,” snorted Aria. “Things don’t really get interesting until I enter the picture, so if you want to make a bunch of songs about everything that’s happened we should start there.”
“Sure,” snickered Sonata. “We can totes do one about that fight where Lex was kicking you and your fish friends up and down the block, and then I came in to finish the job.”
“Really?” sneered Aria. “Because I remember you losing that fight until lover boy came to your rescue.”
“As if!” This time Sonata’s response came with a full-blown laugh, but it was a genuinely happy laugh, rather than the mocking one she usually used when fighting with Aria.
In fact, this didn’t feel like fighting at all, something Sonata couldn’t help but feel giddy about. And although she knew her sister would never admit it, she could tell that Aria felt the same way too; not only was her characteristic frown completely absent, but even the smirk that she was wearing instead lacked its usual cruel edge. It had been like this the entire way back, with their banter somehow not turning into their usual sniping at each other, and Sonata couldn’t help but revel in it. The only times she could remember feeling like this were when she and Lex were sharing an intimate moment, or when she and Nosey were out having fun. The very idea that she could feel like this with Aria, of all people, was mind-boggling. It was like…like…
Like we’re really sisters, she realized with a start.
“What’re you grinning about?” came Aria’s voice, and Sonata couldn’t help but smile wider at how her sister sounded bemused rather than irritated.
“I’m just, like, super happy right now,” she replied, giving Aria a knowing look. “Aren’t you?”
Aria rolled her eyes, but her lopsided smile stayed in place. “I guess it’s nice being able to style my hair again,” she admitted, one hoof going back to brush the scrunchies pulling her mane into pigtails.
“Oh come on!” giggled Sonata. “You know that’s not what I meant!” Despite herself, she gave her mane a toss, making her ponytail (though it was still totes funny to call it that!) shake back and forth.
After she and Aria had finished making up, they’d eventually managed to meet back up with those kids and that one maid who was taking care of them, Feather Duster. While Sonata had been listening to the kids tell her that Celestia and Luna had indeed left – apparently Feathercap and Fiddlesticks had been able to see them take off from outside their window – and that they’d messed around with the sky when they’d taken off for some reason, Aria had asked that maid for some scrunchies for their hair. Fortunately, Feather Duster had known where the clothes were, and had rounded them up with no real trouble. Aria had been quite pleased to have her usual pigtails back, and Sonata had been happy to have a ponytail (still funny!) again, since she hadn’t been able to pull her hair back since Lex had lost that magic tablecloth-hole thingy she’d been using while fighting Xiriel, though Sonata still wasn’t sure how that had happened, despite Lex’s explanation.
It’s like everything’s finally turning around, Sonata decided as they climbed onto the platform and headed for the station door. Sure, things had gone badly with Celestia and Luna, but that was their fault anyway. And according to Lex, Severance had gone totally bonkers there at the end. But now that they’d all been sent packing, things were going great! Although she knew the camp ponies were still a little upset about Lex fighting the princesses, Sonata was sure they’d come around. After all, those kids thought that Lex was a totes rock star! As they’d left River’s mansion, Sonata had barely been able to stop those foals from going with them to see him, knowing that Lex still needed to rest. In the end, she’d needed to promise them that she’d talk to him about bringing their animals back, the kids only then allowing themselves to be ushered back into the mansion by Feather Duster, giving Sonata and Aria some alone time as they’d headed back.
Time enough to prove that Kara was right after all, Sonata thought warmly as she reached for the doorknob. I guess I owe her super big apology. At the time, she’d thought that sharing Lex with other girls was the worst thing in the world. Worser than worst. But while she still wasn’t completely happy with the idea of him having tender moments with someone else, she was starting to realize there was more to it than that. If it meant that she and Aria could really be sisters, and if it meant that she could have a deeper relationship with Nosey, then maybe…maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal after all. Besides, what she’d told the camp ponies was correct; Lex really did need all the love he could get. And that whole “stand still and try not to moan while I feel you up” thing he did with all of us was super sexy, she admitted silently.
Yeah, she definitely owed Kara an apology.
“Hey Aria?” Sonata paused as she opened the door to the station, looking back at her sister. “What kind of pie best says ‘you were right about letting my boyfriend do it with other girls after all-’ OOF!”
Her question was cut off abruptly as she suddenly went down in a tangle of limbs, somepony from inside the station having come galloping out and colliding with her. “Ow…” groaned Sonata. “How come this keeps happening?” First Feather Duster and now… Opening one eye to see who had run into her, Sonata frowned at the mass of blonde curls in front of her face. “Nosey? What’s going on?”
“Nothing!” whimpered Nosey, her ears folded back as she disentangled herself from Sonata. “I mean, I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Standing up, she reached up to adjust her glasses, only to realize a moment later that they were no longer on her muzzle. “My glasses,” she croaked, looking around. “Do you see them anywhere?”
“Yeah,” snorted Aria, stepping forward and reaching a hoof out. “On your head.” A single flick was all it took to knock Nosey’s glasses back down onto her face from where the collision had pushed them up onto her forehead.
“Oh.” Flushing at the obvious answer, Nosey nevertheless managed to give Aria a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
But neither mare looked reassured. “Is everything okay?” Sonata didn’t try to hide the concern in her voice, looking between her best friend and the open doorway that she’d come barreling out of. “Did something happen with Lex?”
“Of course something happened with Lex,” answered Aria with a frown. “Just look at her. Watery eyes, downturned ears, running out of there at full tilt.” Huffing, she clenched her jaw. “What did he do this time? Did he threaten to take away your voice too?”
“I…” For a second Nosey looked ready to protest, then she sighed, looking at the ground. “No…”
“Then what happened?” Unlike Aria’s indignant expression, Sonata was completely perplexed. “I thought you two were getting all hot ‘n’ heavy.”
“We were,” admitted Nosey, her voice miserable. Slowly, she sat down, glancing back at the open doorway. “I mean, nothing much happened at first. I was really tired so I was napping for a little while, and Lex was studying one of those gemstones of his. And then I woke up and we…talked.”
Aria raised a brow, somehow making the gesture seem suggestive without losing her baleful expression. “Just talked?”
“He…” Nosey shifted in place, biting her lip for a moment before continuing. “He started saying how bad he felt about what I went through. You know…with Xiriel.”
“Aww,” cooed Sonata. “That’s sweet!”
But Aria was far less impressed. “Oh please. I bet he’d say that to anyone who got hurt on his watch.”
“That’s what I thought too at first,” admitted Nosey. “And I was, you know…kind of disappointed…” She said that last part with a worried look at Sonata, and it was only when the other mare gave no indication of anger that she kept going. “So I got up to leave, but Lex wouldn’t let me go…”
She couldn’t go further. Embarrassment, guilt, and joy all warred for primacy on her face, causing her to turn an even brighter red as she studied the ground. Sonata opened her mouth to urge her to go on, but to her surprise Aria beat her to the punch. “What happened then?”
Also looking slightly surprised at who was egging her on, Nosey recovered quickly. “And then…he remembered what Xiriel told him, about how I had feelings for him, and he…” She hid her face in her hooves, her next words coming out in a squeal. “He said he had them for me too!”
Sonata was surprised at how easy it was for her to smile at that, lunging forward to hug Nosey. “That’s great!” Stepping back, her smile dimmed a moment later. “So if things went so well, why’re you out here?”
The question caused Nosey to visibly deflate, lowering her hooves. “I don’t know! After…after he said that, he kissed me…” She smiled again, but this time it was clearly melancholy. “It was great, or at least I thought it was, but I guess he didn’t think so, because he…” She stumbled then, swallowing before she continued. “He got this awful look on his face, like something terrible had just happened, and he started whispering ‘no no no,’ and then he just…started ignoring me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Aria looked like she wasn’t sure whether to be confused or ticked off. “He kissed you and then acted like it was horrible for him?”
“But that’s, like, crazy!” protested Sonata. “You’re a great kisser!”
Nosey bit her lip at that, her eyes widening as she looked around nervously. “Sonata…”
“What? You are!” In the face of how joyous she still felt over how well everything was going, Sonata couldn’t remember why she’d felt so uncertain about what she’d done with Nosey earlier that morning. “The way you did that thing with your tongue, I totes never would have believed it was your first time! And that was just-, what?” Blinking at the look Aria was giving her, Sonata glanced back and forth between her and Nosey for several seconds. “What’d I say?”
“Hmm, I was wondering why you’d changed your mind about sharing Lex with the rest of us so suddenly,” grinned Aria, before turning and giving Nosey a look that set her to squirming. “So you’ve been stepping out with blondie here on the side, huh?”
“No! That was-, we just-, I mean…it was just once…” stammered Nosey, her voice growing smaller with each word.
“Then I guess I shouldn’t be too jealous,” purred Aria as she started to circle Nosey, grinning like a shark that smelled blood in the water.
“J-j-jealous?” squeaked Nosey as Aria moved behind her.
“Mm-hmm,” murmured Aria, before leaning in and whispering. “Next time, invite me to the party.”
The last word was accompanied by her hoof coming down sharply on Nosey’s backside, making the mare give a yelp as she leaped into the air. “S-Sonata!” she shrieked, stumbling away from Aria. “Say something!”
But Sonata’s response was simply to tilt her head, a puzzled look on her face. “Why?”
Aria snickered, but her expression calmed a moment later. “But right now, I think we need to teach our boyfriend a lesson.”
Sonata’s quizzical look instantly became one of wariness. “What does that mean?”
“What do you think?” smirked Aria. “You saw what he did to me this morning, he’s just done the same thing to blondie now, and you told me that he was horrible to you before.”
“The important part of that story was that he said he was sorry,” countered Sonata.
“You don't get it. You said that he could barely move after fighting those princesses, right?” When Nosey and Sonata both nodded, Aria chuckled darkly. “Then I say we go make him say he’s sorry right now.”
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” muttered Nosey. “No one can make Lex do something he doesn’t want to do.”
Aria shrugged, looking completely unperturbed. “Maybe.” She gave the other two a leer, before turning and heading inside. “But I bet we can have a lot of fun trying.”
Eyes widening, Sonata and Nosey looked at the doorway into the station, then at each other, and finally back at the entrance again.
Slowly, both mares – one nervous, the other curious – crept forward into the building, shutting the door behind them.
Stats
Page generated in 0.073 seconds
Total duration
754 users online
844,634 hits today, 2,814,898 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.®
This does not bode well for Lex's mental wellbeing nor his guilty conscience.
On the bright side, Lex's new girlfriends seem to be getting along quite well now even if it's seemingly collaborating to punishing Lex. Though it's more like Aria wanting some little payback with Sonata tagging along and Nosey trying to do some potential damage control.
Enjoy being part of a large family. People have opinions about your actions and you will hear about them.
Oh dear. Lex is having to deal with a trio of Keepers now?
Theyre going to be able to take continous shifts.
lots of ground work in this chapter to make the next several chapters really good.
9800914 You have to appreciate the irony of it all. Things are finally working out between Lex and the girls, and yet he's been put into a position where it looks like he's going to have to wreck everything if he wants to make his dreams of conquest come true. Funny how he's managed to ruin things for himself, isn't it?
That's particularly true in light of the girls finally coming to what honestly seems like a place of mutual respect, and maybe even understanding. Sonata's willing to share Lex now, Nosey seems to be coming to terms with her feelings and desires, and Aria has calmed down from her perpetual bitchiness. Everything's going great insofar as their very unorthodox relationship goes.
Which, I suppose, is what makes it a worthy sacrifice.
9800916 That's for sure, though in Lex's case it's pretty clearly a good thing, since he needs their help to make his dream a reality. But only if he can stay together with the girls, which might be hard considering the Night Mare's ultimatum.
9801218 A trio seems to be the very minimum that he needs, all things considered. But someone I don't see them waiting patiently to take turns.
9801277 Thanks, I certainly hope they will be!
Maybe Lex dont have to "Sacrifice" Nosey in the way he thinks... maybe its enough to convert her into a servant/worshipper to the night mare?
Cause if the night mare truely wants a pony sacrifice... then THAT is something that goes directly against Lexs code.
In which case... perhaps a better alternative would be for HIM to convert to another god/goddes.
9801526 Abandoning the worship of a deity for another deity is something that's not so easy to do when the gods in question are real, interventionist deities. I'm reminded of the rules for doing so in AD&D 1E and 2E (albeit among clerics and other divine spellcasters only, but technically Lex is that, even if only a little), where doing so required you to perform a (major) quest on behalf of the new deity to convince them that you were sincere in your wish to convert. And even then, you could only switch deities once; after that, you would basically be smote for being so whimsical about something as serious as faith.
But as for what Lex is willing to do, and what the Night Mare is willing to accept, that remains to be seen...
9801683
In theory... Lex could argue that he was never truly a "believer" of the night mare, Since he never gave her his cutie mark.
Their arrangement were more of a... divine business agreement that didn't work out for either.
9801752 There's no mistaking that Lex is very far from what anyone could consider "devout," but the Night Mare knew that when let him forge a pact with her. Moreover, as a goddess who puts self-reliance and personal ability at the forefront of her divine portfolio, it's a little awkward for her to censure him for being too independent (though as previous chapters have made clear, she can still come down very harshly on what she perceives as disloyalty, such as him not seeming to honor their agreement).
The issue with Lex's cutie mark changing (I think that's what you mean by "giving her his cutie mark") isn't a standard aspect of a pony entering divine service. It happened for Soft Mane when she became an oracle of Lashtada because that was basically Lashtada reaching down and altering her destiny for her. It was a lot more one-sided than how most divine spellcasters enter a deity's service, and even among oracles I'd suspect it was unusual.
So clueless. So adorable.
9807932 That about sums Sonata up.