“I think you should go to Las Pegasus.”
Sonata could only stare at Nosey, her eyes wide at the unexpected advice. “For realsies?!” She had spent the last ten minutes telling her best friend how awful Lex was, going on at length about their latest fight, before finally culminating in a plea for advice. But hearing Nosey actually agree with Lex hadn’t been what she’d expected. “But…but if I go away now, Lex will-”
“-come to appreciate you more,” cut in Nosey. She nibbled on the last of her hay fries as she spoke, giving Sonata a matter-of-fact look. “Listen, I know you’re worried about what will happen to him if you leave, but right now he’s not letting you help him anyway. He’s not taking your advice, not letting you soften his words, and telling you to your face that he can replace you with your sister. If he’s showing you that much disrespect, then drastic measures need to be taken.”
Sonata flinched at the harsh assessment. “But me leaving won’t make things any better,” she protested.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” replied Nosey, pushing her glasses up her muzzle with one hoof. “I know how this sounds, but if you leave now and things here start to fall apart, then Lex will realize just how much he needs you.”
“I don’t know…” Sonata folded her ears back, not liking what Nosey was suggesting. Is this because she’s mad at Lex over what happened before?
“Trust me,” smiled Nosey. “This is an opportunity, and not just for your professional lives. It will improve your love lives as well.”
“Wait, it will?” Sonata perked up at that, interested despite herself.
Nosey nodded, her face showing absolute confidence. “I’m sure of it. Right now you two are fighting all the time, but if you spend some time apart then just imagine how happy he’ll be to see you once you get back.”
Sonata opened her mouth, then slowly closed it again, thinking. “I guess that’s true…”
“You see? A little time apart is all you need.” Nosey balanced her last hay fry on her hoof before tossing it into the air, leaning back and catching it in her mouth easily.
Starting to come around to her friend’s way of thinking, Sonata couldn’t help but propose one final alternative. “I’m still not sure. Maybe I could just go back into Vanhoover with Cloudbank? That way I’d be gone for a little while, but not, like, for a big huge trip or-, ohmygosh, are you okay?!” Leaping to her hooves as she saw that Nosey had started to choke, Sonata whacked her on the back, repeating the motion a second time, and then a third before the blonde mare coughed up a half-chewed hay fry.
“Wha-,” croaked Nosey, her eyes watering. “What did you say?”
Sonata blinked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “I said ‘ohmygosh, are you okay?!’ Why?” She rubbing Nosey’s back soothingly as she spoke, trying to help her get her breath back.
“No,” coughed the other mare. “Before that. Cloudbank is doing what?”
“Oh. Lex is sending her on some sorta mission into Vanhoover. Something about her and a bunch of other ponies going back into the city to pull a bank heist for, um…” She trailed off, trying to remember what Lex had said. She’d been pretty upset at the time, and Lex had been talking about a bunch of plans, so a lot of the details had slipped by her. “I think he said something about food.” She frowned then. “Huh. I wonder where he’s going to buy stuff from, now that I think about it. It’s not like there’s a store here in camp or anything.” Despite that being self-evidently the case, she couldn’t help but glance around to make absolutely sure that was true.
Doing so caused her to miss the dark look that crossed Nosey’s face at that moment, however, and by the time she shrugged and glanced back at the other mare it was replaced with a more benign expression. “Did he say when they were doing this?” asked Nosey, her voice light.
Smiling now that her friend had recovered from her brief choking fit – and doubly glad that they weren’t talking about her going to Las Pegasus – Sonata shrugged. “Dunno. He made it sound like it was going to happen right away though, so probably really soon.” She paused then as an idea occurred to her. “Hang on,” she said slowly, then circled around so that she was looking her in the eye. “Nosey…?”
Blinking, the other mare looked back at her uncertainly. “Yes?”
“Are you…”
Nosey’s body tensed imperceptibly.
“…thinking about going with them?” Sonata furrowed her brow at the thought, missing the subtle signs as her friend relaxed at the question. “Because you really shouldn’t,” she continued obliviously. “I know that you did, like, a totes great job fighting when we were all hooves on deck before,” she paused then, wondering if she’d made a funny or not. We all had our hooves on that deck during the fight! Haha! That’s funny! Well, except a pier isn’t a deck, but it sort of is! Deciding that it was a great joke, she filed that one away for later. “Um, anyway. You did a great job before, but I don’t think that you should go back out there now. I mean, you’ve already been through a lot this morning, and this might be really dangerous, and-”
“Sonata,” interrupted Nosey.
“Hm?”
“I’m not planning on going with them.”
“Oh.” Sonata let out a relieved sigh at that, wiping a hoof across her brow. “Whew. I was totes worried I was gonna have to talk you out of it.”
“I could tell,” remarked Nosey dryly as she stood up. “But I do think I’m going to go ask around about this mission of Cloudbank’s. I’m sure it will make for a great story later.”
Sonata stood up as well. “Awesome.” And hopefully we won’t talk about me leaving anymore. Despite the fact that Nosey had made a bunch of points that sounded good, Sonata was still very uncomfortable with the idea of leaving Lex alone for so long. He definitely needed an attitude adjustment, but the last time she’d left him after they’d had a fight had almost destroyed their relationship. That’s not gonna happen this time. “I’ll go too. I wanna talk to Cloudbank about maybe joining u-”
“Excuse me,” interjected a female voice, causing both mares to turn and look at the newcomer, and earth mare in a lab coat whose mane was composed of alternating stripes of different shades of green. “Miss Dusk? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Sonata couldn’t but look confused at that, recognizing the mare she’d enchanted. “You have? Why?” After Aisle had convinced her to use her magic on one of the doctors, she’d persuaded him not to hang around, since the less he was involved the better. It had taken some prompting on her part, but Aisle had finally agreed, wandering away to let her do what she needed to. This particular pony had been the first doctor she’d come across, and she’d sung a quick charm spell on her before anypony could notice. After that, it had just been a matter of “asking” her to do a little “favor,” that involved telling Lex a little white lie.
Even under the influence of her charm spell, however, managing to talk the green-haired mare into doing that had been totes difficult. The impression Lex had made when he’d cursed Garden Gate was strong enough that the mare had been extremely reluctant to lie to him about anything, and since Sonata’s charm spell only made the target regard her as a close friend rather than their absolute lord and master, they could still say no to something if they felt strongly enough about it…which this pony absolutely did. It had taken almost full five minutes of heavy cajoling before she’d managed to talk her into it, and even then Sonata had needed to promise that she’d confess her part in things if something went wrong and Lex found out. The whole thing had been enough to make her feel guilty, but by that point she had already committed to her course of action, seeing the nervous doctor off with a pained smile. But that should have been the end of it. I didn’t tell her to come back and find me after she was done.
The doctor opened her mouth to reply, but at the last moment Sonata remembered that she wasn’t alone. Leaping forward suddenly, she clamped a hoof over the lab-coated pony’s mouth, turning to give Nosey a nervous smile. “Oh, you know what? I just remembered that I, um…asked for a checkup before!” I can’t get Nosey involved in this, she thought, trying not to sweat. Not after everything that happened this morning with Lex. “You go ahead and totes do whatever you were going to do.”
Nosey raised an eyebrow, letting that convey her obvious skepticism. “Uh-huh…”
“Hehe…” Sonata could feel her anxiety starting to mount, ignoring the muffled protests coming from the doctor. Please oh please oh please let her buy this!
Nosey let out a sigh. “Sonata, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
Sonata’s insincere expression didn’t change. “I know, but really, this totes isn’t anything suspicious.” She was having to struggle to keep her hoof over the doctor’s mouth now, the green-haired mare trying to free herself with increasing desperation. “You go get that story about Cloudbank. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Nosey looked like she was going to protest for a moment, but then seemed to change her mind, shrugging. “Alright. I’ll talk to you later,” she said, giving a casual wave as she turned and walked away.
Sonata kept smiling after her until Nosey got far enough away to make eavesdropping impossible, only then releasing her hold on the doctor. “Whew! That was super close! Now-, whoa! What happened to you?!” yelped Sonata as the doctor slumped to the ground, insensate.
Several minutes, a harsh scolding, and multiple apologies later, the two of them finally got down to business. “Lex wanted to see me? Did he say why?”
The doctor shook her head, nervousness written all over her features. “No, he just said he wanted to see you right away, but he seemed angry. Do you think he knows that I lied to him?”
Sonata snorted, shaking her head. “No way.” I hope. “How could he possibly know that?” Unless he used some sort of magic thingy, or already asked someone else, or did super-smart detective trick and figured it out. “You have nothing to worry about.” Me, on the other hoof…
The doctor seemed only partially mollified. “So, what should I do…?”
“Just go back to work,” replied Sonata, trying to sound more relaxed than she actually felt. “You did me the favor, and you delivered his message, so now you’re, like, totes done with all of the coat and dagger stuff.”
“I…okay.” The other mare let out a resigned sigh, turning to go, but looked over at Sonata before she did. “You remember your promise, right? If he somehow finds out…”
“Then I’ll totes admit that I put you up to it,” nodded Sonata. Way more than you know, she added in her mind. Fortunately, that seemed to be enough to satisfy the doctor, and she trotted off.
For her part, Sonata simply sighed, wondering what she should do now. It’s not like I need to run just because Mister Big Shot is calling me, she told herself, but the thought lacked conviction. If she didn’t go see what it was that Lex wanted, he’d probably do something dumb like come looking for her instead, and in his condition that would only make things worse. Besides, maybe it’s something completely different. Maybe he realized how awful he’s been and wants to make it up to me. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that, however, remembering that the doctor had said that Lex was angry when he’d asked for her. I guess as long as I’m dreaming I might as well wish for the two of us to sing a nice love song together too.
Slowly, she trudged towards the outpatient tent where Lex was recovering. Her pace was slow and meandering, and she frequently stopped to chat with anypony who happened to cross her path, but all too soon she found herself standing in front of the thin flap that separated her from her irritable boyfriend. Here goes nothing, she sighed. “Lex? It’s me.” Silence greeted her, and she wondered if that was a good or a bad thing, before deciding not to bother with it. “I’m coming in,” she called before stepping inside.
Instantly, she saw why he hadn’t spoken to her: he was asleep, his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling softly. “Unbelievable,” she murmured. “You call me here and then take a nap? Honestly.” But her voice was relieved rather than indignant.
For a long moment she watched him, remembering how he’d once told her that he had nightmares every night. It hadn’t been that long ago that he’d confessed that to her, but it felt like a million years now. I wonder if he’s having a bad dream right now? She knew she should have wished one on him after how he’d been acting, but for some reason the thought of him not sleeping peacefully made her sad. Moving carefully so as not to disturb him, she knelt down and lightly kissed his cheek, saying the same thing she did back then. “Sweet dreams, Lex.”
She turned around and left a moment later, never realizing that someone had been listening.