Rag Doll

by No one is home

lAdyBuG, ChApTeR 13: Sunrise

“Last Stop,” The monster of a pale grey earth pony operating the train leans out the door to shout at me as if I didn’t know I’m the only real soul on this train. I hate that I know I’m still dreaming. I hate that I know that doesn’t make it any less real. “You done seen every stop. Maybe you’ll find where you're going this time. If not, can you just wait to a while to take the train back? Maybe wait a week this time. A month? Can you go a full year without getting back on my train?”

“Uncle?” OC’s shuffling plush hooves are an accusation. “Where are we?”

“Close your eyes girl. You weren’t meant to see this.” The train door opens all by itself just like it should. Beyond that door was a bright sunny day.

It’s barely even a face. It’s a nest of worms on fire in a clear blue sky. It’s leer is a hive instinct that tugs on my head fluff at some primal level. The thing just scuttles what it calls a face into an obscene leering sneer. “Come outside and play. It's a frightfully bright and sunny day.”

I hear her scream. Dammit I very specifically told her to close her eyes. “Dammit girl! I promised your mom I wasn’t going to show you this!”

C:\ Really? Did you not take the hint the last time? This will have consequences.

“Uncle? Where are you?” the foal-sized plush lady bug scuttled in a panicked circle in the void as the universe of words scrolled around her. “I- I’m scared.”

R:\ It’s okay, OC. I’m right here.

“Where are we?” It’s the most natural and innocent of questions.

C:\ I’m sorry. You were not supposed to see this. I promise you are not in trouble.

“Un-uncle… what was that face in the sky? Is this still your dream?” Her voice is a heartbreaking screech of nails on a chalkboard. She is afraid, and she wants me to tell her it’s going to be okay. But I can’t tell a lie that big.

-=-=-=-=-

I used to be a happy little ladybug who just wanted to see the sun. Then one day my brothers found a doll that could make that wish come true. But the surface, and the ponies were really big and scary. And the sky is all open and weird, like the biggest hole, but up. And just now I finally saw the sun, and he smiled at me, and then everything was made of words and I can’t unsee that. I’m crying like a little grub, and I hate that.

R:\ Everything is exactly as bad as you think it is, and it is perfectly okay to cry about it. We’re safe enough for now. We’re in the meta-space of the Texts. We can’t stay here long, but I’ve got leeway where we land when we get bounced.

“U-uncle… what are all those words?” I had 20 years to prepare Gloomy for this, but there’s no help for it. I knew what was coming. And now, she’s already seen it. Then she asks a hard question. “This isn’t a dream, is it? We were in a meeting, then you went to sleep and started snoring mid rant. And now we’re here. Wherever ‘here’ even is. What happened to the nice ponies from the Smile Remnant? They were all right there…”

R:\ They are trained pony agents, I sure… something happened. Just try to ignore all the background scrolling and focus on me. We have to transfer to a… more substantive reality.

Like all copied souls, I was programmed. I have free will… to a point, but what happened to those ponies doesn’t matter. The only pony that matters is the pony that rightly carries me. Of course I love her. I never had a choice, but that doesn’t make it any less the most real thing in my world. Gloomy walked into my world with eyes wide open and the best of intentions. Magic and monsters, for most of her life were just the stories I told her so she would be ready when they came back.

The Ladybug wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready. But the sun was rising on us all the same.

-=-=-=-=-

“Did you really think you could just escape our little arrangement?” Onyx only had mortal eyes, and the drawing of the smiling sun crawled across the wall. Its smile was a weapon that it wielded against the Anypony. “I find a certain doll for you, you open a world of littles ponies who just love to think the best of everything for me. I upheld my end. You had what you wanted in your hooves. I made that path for you.”

The beat rang across Maretime Bay as Onyx tapped her beat with her hooves and unslung her (probably cursed) saxophone. “Nope. You can just put all of that on the Nope Train to Nopeville. Cause that’s where that's going.”

“A unicorn? That is so adorable. Honestly… Dee… Is this the best you have?” The voice carried across the fluttering of a an inspirational poster that was always hanging on the wall of the hotel room.

The beat became reality. The beat of hooves and the melody of brass became it’s own world, made of a different kind of words. Alien words that didn’t represent ideas, but pure sound. The rising sun understood the language, “Get away from her, you bitch!”

Author's Note:

Girl be bringin the beat *and* the brass. Gloomy Onyx has spooky swingin' jazz powers in all show canon, and if she is your G5 waifu, then I respect your good taste.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Thems Fightin Words, in one of the greatest beatem ups in human movie history. Which means it has Power.

How about a nice game of Chess?

Bishop to Hatch Controls.