122. The Town, Part 4
Radish cleaned out and inspected his saddlebags. He and Starlight were now in the town’s storehouse, preparing for their journey to the Phase Two Site. Starlight pulled a rolled map from a shelf and spread it across a table.
“So, the site is around this region,” she said, pointing to a large area on the map north of Artin.
“You don’t have its exact location?”
“Of course I do- up here,” she said, tapping her head. “I prefer to keep the exact location my own little secret. There are things at the site that are very fragile, very valuable… and very powerful.”
“And, what, you don’t trust your fellow villagers with those things?”
Starlight snorted. “That’s rich, coming from a guy who was literally sent here by the government to spy on me.”
“They thought something had happened to Storm Cell.”
She smiled and put a hoof on Radish’s shoulder. “Ah, but something did happen to Storm Cell, didn’t it? He found happiness. And soon you’ll know that same happiness too, Radish Root.”
Radish looked back at his cutie mark, which was now further back on his body and askew. “Happiness. Seems like such an abstract concept. Will I even know it when I feel it?”
“Oh, don’t go all philosophical on me. Happiness is real, and it’s within your reach. Trust me.”
Radish looked at the map. He drew his hoof along the route from Artin to the indicated area. He frowned. “Uh…”
“What?” Starlight asked.
“This Phase Two site of yours- it’s past this forest?” he said, pointing to an expansive green swath on the map.
“Yeah. Why?”
“That’s bugbear habitat. We’ll have to skirt around the entire forest, which could take a long time.”
“Nah, I’ll teleport us from one side to the other. We’ll skip the whole thing.”
“You can teleport that great of a distance with a passenger?”
“It’s difficult, but it’s the only sensible way to do it.”
“That’s some remarkable ability, Starlight.”
“There’s nothing remarkable about it. Every unicorn could do the same if their cutie marks didn’t trick them into living small lives. Think about it: a filly gets a cupcake cutie mark, and from then on she never bothers learning any spells that aren’t about baking! Once the world is free of cutie marks, all unicorns will be able to practice any magic they can think of! And I think pegasi and earth ponies will go through similar awakenings.”
“Hmm. Maybe I could have earth pony skills as good as Nightmare Moon’s.”
“Huh?”
There was a knock at the door. A white earth stallion, smiling widely, stuck his head into the room.
“Starlight? We’ve got newcomers! We spotted them coming down the ridge!”
“Ah, wonderful,” said Starlight. “More new friends to share our way of life. This town is starting to become quite the buzzing metropolis.”
“Can we welcome them with the song?” the stallion asked excitedly.
Starlight grit her teeth, then smiled through them. “Of course. Who doesn’t love that song? Just take it from the fourth stanza this time, okay? And wait for me to start.”
“Okay!”
The stallion trotted away merrily. Starlight grimaced at the floor. “Ugh. You finish packing. I’ve got to see to this.”
“Enjoy the singalong.”
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Root.”
She left. Radish continued to check over his supplies. After a few minutes, the sound of the townsponies singing filled the air outside. He rolled his eyes, walked over to the open window, and shut it.
Celestia drifted into consciousness. Her head was pounding. She tasted blood in her mouth. She cracked open her eyes to find herself in a bed inside a small, bare, lilac-colored room. Luna was at her bedside, and so was the palace’s chief physician.
“What… what happened?” she asked.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” said Luna. “Your guards found you unconscious on your bedroom floor.”
“I remember. I was struck by an invisible attack- some kind of very powerful long-range magic. It cut right through all the protective spells I usually keep on myself and on the castle.”
“Do you have any idea who or what could be responsible?” the doctor asked.
Celestia rubbed her head. “It was a flavor of magic that I’ve never tasted. It was unlike that produced by a unicorn, potion, ritual, changeling, centaur, chaos spirit, wild monster, or extrasensory outsider. Something completely unfamiliar.”
“That is troubling,” said Luna.
Celestia looked around. The room they were in didn’t look like one from her tower or from the medical wing. “Where are we?”
“We brought you inside the Elements of Harmony Vault in Canterlot Tower to shield you from further attacks,” the doctor said. “This is the most magically-isolated place we could think of.”
“Aside from the human world, of course,” noted Luna. “But this was closer.”
“Good call. This is already complicated enough without involving other universes,” Celestia said. She sighed. “I suppose this is the type of problem that I originally freed Discord to handle. He should be able to trace the source of this magical attack back to its perpetrator.”
Luna scowled. “I already asked our dear friend Discord. He merely shrugged and said- and I quote- ‘Oh, she probably just has a bad case of gas’. Then he vanished, laughing at his own joke.”
“Classy as always.” Celestia sat up and pulled off her blanket.
“Princess? What are you doing?” asked the doctor.
“I’m not going to hide out inside this room. I’m going to hunt down the responsible party, and I’ll start by questioning every last villain in Tartarus.”
“Ah, I have a much better idea, sister,” Luna said.
“What?”
Luna lit up her horn. Celestia instantly fell back into the bed, asleep. Luna pulled the covers back over her.
“Get some rest.”
Radish finished packing his and Starlight’s saddlebags. He rewarded himself with a granola bar from the town’s supply. Starlight re-entered the storehouse, looking contemplative.
“Hey, Radish?”
“Yes?”
“Those newcomers? They’re un… special cases. They’ve got such serious cutie mark issues, I’m going to have to give them a lot of close, careful attention.”
“More serious cutie mark issues than mine?”
“It’s not a competition, Radish. Everypony handles pain in their own way. Bottom line is, I can’t leave town just yet.”
“I see. Well, I’m done here. We can leave whenever you're ready. But maybe I can help you with these ponies?”
“Radish, how would you have liked it if a bunch of strangers barged in on your experience in the pool?”
“Uh… I wouldn’t have.”
“Exactly. Healing from cutie trauma is personal and private.” She smiled and walked up to Radish. “But you don’t have to wait around here. Why not take this opportunity to see more of The Great Grey Area? You could explore the cave system, visit Storm Cell at his camp, or even check out the griffon lands to the east.”
“Cave system?”
“Yeah, there’s a huge network of them near town,” Starlight said, pointing to the map. “None of us have explored it yet.”
“Then, how do you know there aren't dangerous creatures living in them?”
She put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… come to think of it, I have heard some strange sounds coming from the caves. Sort of a flappy growly noise.”
“Could be cave gaunts. I need to check it out.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s a guard’s duty to keep ponies safe.”
She put her hoof on her chest. “Aww, that’s so sweet. Thank you, major!”
“Good luck with your new friends.”
Radish took the map, hefted his saddlebags onto his back, and left out the door, heading for the mountains. Starlight watched him leave from the window. She shrugged to herself.
“Oh well. With a princess on my side, I hardly need Radish Root anymore.”
Starlight Glimmer fled panicking down a long dark cave tunnel, crying for Radish Root’s help.
“Radish!? RADISH!?”
She saw him come into view at a junction of intersecting tunnels. He was inspecting scratches on the cave walls.
“Oh, hi Starlight. Good news. There’s no cave gaunts in here. Just bears.”
She rushed up to him and threw her forehooves around him. “Oh, Radish! Thank goodness you’re here!”
“What’s wrong?”
She looked trembling into his eyes. “Those newcomers? They didn’t want my help at all! They were raiders! Vandals! Thugs!”
“What?”
“They destroyed the Staff of Sameness! Smashed the Cutie Vault! It’s gone, Radish! Everything we’ve built is gone!”
She sobbed into his chest. He held her tight and patted her.
“Why would they do that?”
“They’re just another example of how indoctrination by the cutie mark status quo corrupts ponies’ minds, even making them violently defend the very system that victimizes them.”
“Is anyone hurt? Are you?”
“No… but the dream is dead. Artin is over. Everypony is retreating back to their miserable cutie-marked lives.”
“I’ll report this.”
“To who? This is No Creature’s Land, remember? There’s no law, no authority here.”
“Right. I’m sorry. I should have been there.”
She sniffled and shook her head. “No, I’m glad you weren't. If you tried to fight them, they would have killed you.”
“Guards are supposed to risk death to protect civilians.”
She leaned her chin on his shoulder. “I appreciate that. But now we just need to get out of here. Let’s go to the Phase Two site.”
“You still want to go there?”
“I made a promise to you, didn’t I? There’s still a way to remove cutie marks there. If you see me there safely, I’ll relieve you of yours.”
“Then what will you do?”
She stood up straight, lifting her chin. “I’ll begin again. Build back better than before. And I’ll heal this sick world, Radish, even if it doesn’t deserve my help.”
“You’re a better pony than I, Starlight Glimmer. If some raiders destroyed all my hopes and dreams, I’d be wanting revenge.”
Starlight smiled.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- MrPip42 · 58k words · 590 10 · 6.1k views
- RunicTreetops · 26k words · 635 81 · 5.3k views
- RunicTreetops · 31k words · 664 23 · 5.3k views
- Netap · 183k words · 1,051 56 · 13k views
- Online account · 90k words · 430 19 · 4.5k views
- Hiver · 49k words · 479 9 · 2.2k views
- ImNew2023 · 112k words · 476 41 · 8.4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.044 seconds
Total duration
1,051 users online
2,156,197 hits today, 1,872,792 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.®
why do i feel everything is going to get messy. Harmony has to know what is going on and since celestia is asleep its likely she is about to get clued in to just how connected she is to radish. Something i do wonder if what will happen after radish has his mark off. would it not come back to him if free due to him being diffrent from other ponies? will removing it mentaly effect celestia? Can cutiemarks be alterd or destroyed if removing them is possible?
Manipulation at its finest 👌
Yeah, a bad case of gaslighting herself.
"Oh I don't have any feelings for Raddish Root"
"No Raddish, I don't like you at all! Leave me alone!"
"Oh why am I lonely?"
This Glimmer sure is a piece of work, isn't she ?
I'm not gonna bother reading the last chapter to check if Starlight cast a mind control spell on Root so I'm just gonna assume that's the case. Unless this is a stupid gambit he's making, in which case it's stupid.
Hmmm. High level gas lighting. I can't say nice. See you next chapter
He's always been a bit of a hyper-competent gary stu, but I actually kind of hope he's not fooled and just playing along.
I see a lot of comments along the lines of 'Radish is being clearly fooled' and while that's definitely correct, keep in mind that Radish is the equivalent of a police officer, a good one. He has no evidence to mentally cast suspicion on this mare, and more so, has plenty of reason to believe otherwise. When an entire town, and someone you know personally point at a person and go: "Yeah, she's great" and she herself wins you over, it makes for a pretty compelling argument.
That being said, this was a setup chapter. We don't know Radish's thoughts, and he could very well be suspicious; the directed comment at the end shows that he's thinking about it at the very least. Even more, why risk the chance to get rid of his cutie mark even if this is a villain?
Oh the places this could go.
Also! More world building! :D
11877714
A spell is unlikely but that whole digging into his past thing might have swayed him by digging into stuff he has depressed. Also starlight has done only a few things that could make him suspicious of her and those things can be explained with some deduction on his part based on his experience. The unmarking where his past was digged into could explain why he is less suspicious of starlight isolating him and others when they go to the cave. Starlight being so powerful and able to take marks is weird but not out of possiblity for what he has experienced so far.
I don't blame radish for listening to her as he might have with her an answer to his pain since he was small. He has suppressed so much that his mark has caused that even if he was suspicious it's understandable he would go ahead anyway.
I do hope radish looses his mark for a bit as it likely might help him and us understand some stuff. Is his love for celestia his or his mark talking. How much of his skill is only to help him get close to celestia? Could radish get a new mark?
I'm exited to find how this goes
Raddish is being fooled because he isn't being lied to.
Oh, she is ommitting the truth. And leaving out a desire for vengeance. But she isn't telling him anything that isn't true from her perspective. Starlight really does see Cutiemarks as a stain on the world, and really does see Raddish as a classic example of someone who's life has been ruined by it. Which it is.
That makes her duplicity difficult to discern.
What are the chances starlight actually manages to get radishes cutie marks off?
I'm curious to find out what happens next
11877937
Lies of Omission are still lies.
What do you think she is planning for Radish!!!
11877948
They are still deceit, yes, but a lie? A lie is a falsehood, an incorrect statement that is not couched in reality.
Can a lie detector detect a lie of omission? Can a Zone of Truth spell? Can a magic ward that prevents dishonesty? Can a Fey who speaks only the truth?
If a lie of ommission was simply a lie, we wouldn't call it a lie of ommission. Just a lie. They are classic example of how you dont need to lie to deceive someone. Which is what Starlight is doing here. She manipulates, she deceives, but she does so with the truth. A much more frightening talent. Because lies can be detected.
My point however, is that Root isn't being foolish or stupid in believing Starlight. Her lies of ommission are inherently more difficult to detect, by virtue of the fact that there is no lie to pick up on, no logic to break apart, no facts to compare, no tell to be identified.
A lie can be sniffed out.
A lie of ommission, you often have no reason to be suspicious of; because they frequently aren't even untrue. Just absent.
Looks like things will get really rough again before they get better
One of the shortcomings of fanfiction, in that it assumes the reader already has knowledge of whatever event it’s referencing off-screen, and only delving into strong variations to it. It does make for a bit of a shorter chapter this time, I’d say.
11878274
A whole lot of people despise basically identical recaps bloating the word count in AUs. I'm certainly one of them.
11880359
I agree that it does add unnecessary bloat, and I do understand why they don’t just repeat what the reader likely already knows, but I don’t like the smash cuts like that in stories. It wouldn’t work anywhere else other than fanfiction.
Wake up, babe, the other shoe just dropped!