Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.
“GET LOST!”
The scream pierced the night, waking Aria, Cozy, and Aisle immediately. The two ponies sprang to their hooves before they’d fully woken, the lessons they’d learned from Vanhoover’s fall immediately kicking in. “What’s happening?!” yelled Aisle, his voice one of controlled panic. “Where did that come from?!”
“It was…I think it was from the camp,” muttered Cozy, turning her eyes back toward the distant lights that marked where they were trying to get away from. She frowned as she peered at them, trying to see what could have caused somepony to yell so loud, but they were too far away to make out anything with any certainty… “I think I see movement, but-”
“That was Sonata’s voice,” interrupted Aria, and the frown in her whisper was audible.
Aisle glanced at her. Although his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, and the curtain of stars overhead provided some dim illumination, he could only barely make her out despite being only a few feet away from her. “Do you think she’s somewhere nearby?” he asked, keeping his voice low in case Lex’s girlfriend was closing in on them, knowing that if she was then Lex himself wouldn’t be far behind. “Is she looking for us?”
“If she was looking for us I don’t think she’d be screaming ‘get lost’ like that,” replied Cozy, though she also kept her voice low just in case.
“Even so, I think we sh-”
“Both of you, shut up!” snapped Aria, keeping her eyes trained on the distant lights from the camp.
Neither pony argued with her, holding still and listening for any follow-up sounds. After several seconds, Cozy let out a slow breath as her heart rate started to return to normal. “Okay, whatever that was I don’t think it’s going to happen again.”
The words had barely left her mouth when Sonata’s voice rang out again, this time in a wordless shout, the sound quite clearly emanating from the distant camp. “She sounds angry,” muttered Aisle. “Did she sound angry to you guys?”
“Yes,” murmured Cozy, hoping the darkness hid the small smile on her face. “She sounds like she’s fighting with someone.” She didn’t bother to say who, knowing that if Sonata was so upset that she was yelling that loudly, then it could only be with one pony. Lashtada willing, she’s finally realized that Lex doesn’t truly love her, she prayed silently, a sense of hope rushing through her as she reached up to touch her holy symbol. Maybe I got through to her, there at the end.
“She is fighting with someone…” Unlike the crystal mare, Aria had a very different take on what her sister’s yelling meant. She knew that in order for Sonata’s voice to cross such a long distance so clearly, it had to be magically enhanced to a significant degree. By itself that wouldn’t have meant anything to Aria, but she’d seen Sonata use a spell to increase the power of her voice in just such a manner a few days ago, when the little ditz had actually managed to punch Monitor’s ticket. But if that was the case, then she was almost certainly in another dangerous battle right now.
Which means I got out of there just in time, Aria decided. The last thing she wanted was to be dragged into another life-or-death fight. Between the sahuagin and then Sonata’s stick-in-the-mud boyfriend, she’d had enough of those. Besides, this was what that little ingrate deserved. All that time on Earth we spent having to put up with your idiocy, and when we got to that Everglow place you ran out on us at the first sign of things getting tough. Let’s see how YOU like it, she thought bitterly.
“I think we should get moving.” Aisle’s voice cut into her thoughts, and for a split-second Aria was grateful for the distraction. “We’re not totally sure what’s happening, so we should change locations just to be extra safe, don’t you think?”
“I agree.” Cozy felt her way over to where Pillow’s body was, grunting as she took the rope in her mouth. “If there is something going on, we don’t want to get caught up in it.”
“Whatever,” snorted Aria. For some reason the idea of ditching Sonata the way that little imbecile had done to her and Adagio wasn’t as gratifying as she’d expected, and that was upsetting her. “Let’s find a farm someplace, get some food, and hurry up and get my voice fixed.”
She could only just make out her traveling companions in the gloom, but that was enough to let her see Cozy starting to drag her husband’s body along, Aisle moving alongside her supportively. Aria rolled her eyes at the sight, before moving to pull herself forward as well, already feeling her tail starting to ache as it rubbed against the coarse and uneven ground. The familiar pain made her grit her teeth, her mood turning even fouler. I hope whatever she’s fighting rips her throat out without killing her, she thought darkly. I hope she can’t talk or sing or do anything except whisper, and that I can meet her again after Princess Whatshername fixes me up so I can rub it in her f-
“SCRAM!”
Sonata’s third scream brought the entire group to a halt, looking backward again. “Wow, something’s really got her cheesed off,” murmured Aisle uncomfortably.
“Yeah, well, whatever it is must be tough if she’s using that much attack magic on it,” snorted Aria. “All the more reason to get out of here as fast as we can.”
“Hang on, attack magic?” Cozy took a step toward Aria, peering at the Siren as best she could in the lightlessness. “Isn’t she just yelling really loud?”
“What are you, some kind of an idiot?” scoffed Aria. “She’s using magic to turn her voice into a weapon. How else did you think it would sound so loud from so far away?”
“I thought she just had really good lungs,” mumbled Aisle.
“Wait…so you’re saying she’s in trouble?” Cozy’s voice was suddenly wracked with uncertainty, a wave of guilt sweeping over her. What if finding out that Lex never cared about her made Sonata attack him? The thought was chilling; Lex had never attacked another pony that Cozy had seen…except for when he was attacked first, like with that Spit Polish guy. In that case, Lex hadn’t hesitated to cut loose, practically torturing the offending stallion in front of everyone. That meant that if Sonata had, in a fit of heartbreak, attacked Lex, then he wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate…and Cozy had little doubt who would win a fight between those two. He’s going to make her suffer, and it’ll be because of me! she realized, her heart giving a lurch as she fully comprehended just how badly she’d erred. Lashtada forgive me, this is my fault!
Cozy took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but it was no good. She knew that she was making assumptions, knew that she didn’t have all the facts, but this was still the most likely scenario. There simply wasn’t anyone else in camp that could drive Sonata to use three attack spells like that, and with how Cozy had made her case about Lex’s cold heart just a few hours ago, what other explanation was there? Which meant that there was an extremely high chance that Sonata was in trouble, because of her! “We have to go back!”
“Wait, we do?” croaked Aisle, flattening his ears at Cozy’s proclamation.
“We are not going back!” snarled Aria. “We’re going to the Crystal Kingdom or whatever it’s called and fixing my voice!”
“What are-, she’s your sister and she needs help!” Cozy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Don’t you care?!”
Aria blew up then, lashing out with a hoof and only barely missing striking Cozy’s head. “Why should I?! Why should I?! She doesn’t care about me! She doesn’t care about how hard I had to struggle to survive when I was with the sahuagin! She doesn’t care about how I can’t sing or dance or do anything except whisper like this and drag myself everywhere all the time! She doesn’t care that all of this happened to me because she abandoned us in the first place! So why should I care about her?!”
For a long moment, neither pony replied to her outburst. Finally, Cozy went back to where Pillowcase’s body was, picking up the rope again. “If that’s how you really feel, then maybe it’s better if you don’t see Princess Cadance after all,” she said quietly before beginning to turn around, headed back towards the camp.
It took a second for Aria to properly process what Cozy had just told her, but when she did Aria’s jaw dropped, her blood turning to ice water in her veins. My voice…! She grit her teeth so hard then that they almost cracked, starting to breathe heavier. The thought that she had just lost her chance to regain her voice was more than she could bear, and Aria found herself calling an attack spell to mind as she looked at the dark shape that was Cozy.
She didn’t have a chance as another shape moved in front of her, dimly recognizing it as being Aisle. “Listen,” he gulped, quite clearly trying to marshal what little courage he possessed. “We talked to Sonata before, back when we were all hiding in that warehouse, and she told us about how she left you guys…” He faltered then, but managed to rally a second later. “What she did, the way she just up and walked away from you, it was thoughtless, and selfish, and hurtful. But she wasn’t trying to be cruel. She just wanted to stop being picked on all the time.”
“Don’t you dare say that she’s the victim here,” snarled Aria. “Don’t you dare!”
“I’m not,” Aisle assured her. “I’m just saying…” He sighed then, putting a hoof to his head for a moment before trying again. “She’s your sister, Aria. She’s your sister and she’s in trouble. Do you really want to do the same thing to her that she did to you, knowing how much it hurts?”
“It’s because it hurts that I want to do that to her!” She would have screamed if she could, slamming a hoof on the ground in impotent rage. “I want her to know how awful it feels! It's what she deserves!” She turned toward Cozy then, her whispers almost choked on her rage. "I'm the one who needs your help! Me! Not her! Me!" Cozy didn't answer, and neither did Aisle except to shake his head – giving her what might have been a pitying look – before turning and walking away from her, headed toward Cozy's side. The sight just made Aria's rage flare even higher. How dare you?! How dare you do this to me?! I'm better than her AND I'LL PROVE IT!
She was almost too angry to cast a spell, but somehow she found it within herself to gesture and chant, spitting out the words to another flight spell and rising up into the air before casting a second spell, this one designed to increase her speed. With that done, she flew toward the camp with all possible haste, not bothering to give a backward glance at the pair of ponies she'd left behind. Seething, she readied an attack spell for when she arrived, intent on barbecuing whoever or whatever Sonata was fighting. I'll show them! I'LL SHOW THEM! They want to act like she's so great?! Well, if I go back there and save her now, then they'll HAVE to admit that I'm more deserving than she is! I'll rub their noses in it and make them apologize and then they'll HAVE to help me get my voice back! Or so help me I'LL KILL THEM BOTH!
Intent on proving her superiority, Aria sped toward the camp, determined to save her sister out of spite.
Aisle, Cozy, and Aria detect signs of trouble at the camp and turn around!
This explains Aria's dramatic rescue in the previous chapter, but will she be able to make good on her attempt to save her sister?
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Diplomacy check worked...sort of. While Cozy's self righteousness and ignorance still irks me, she's not wrong in Aria not meeting Cadence since the princess would be appalled by Aria's willingness to abandon her sister just as Cozy is. At least she and Aisle indirectly convinced Aria to go help even if it's for the wrong reasons.
While it would have been prudent to bring Cozy and Aisle with her but given how emotional she was, that's to be expected. Plus, that would have left Pillow's body behind though I doubt the pair will be able to make it back to camp in time. Still, with Cozy's seemingly imminent return, I'm worried about the resurrection gem in Lex's possession though I doubt Lex would ever divulge something like that in the midst of individuals that had lost loved ones.
Of course, Lex, once again, has more immediate concerns to deal with but at least with Aria, he'll have another fighter to hold back the horde.
I am half-disappointed that Aria didn't strike Cozy dead right here. Honestly, all her rants about Lex manipulating people and she goes and pulls that bit of ill thought blackmail? She better hope her mouthing off doesn't end up alienating Aisle, since he now seems to be the only thing keeping her alive at this point.
Speech 100
well... more like 90...
75... last offer!
8990250
Well, to Aria, Cozy is essentially her only way to meet Cadence, the only other individual aside from Lex, who could possibly restore her voice so even if Aria wanted to hurt Cozy, she'd hold herself back. Though picking apart her moral highground through arguments/debates is open though given Aria's brief breakdown here, that might not be as viable anymore.
some one needs to hand Aria a huge crowbar so she mite be able to pull her head out of her own plot hole.
Sonata uses Supervoice, its Super Effective?
Aria puts some pawns on the barby. Hmm, seafood grilling.
8990032 This chapter was, to my mind, very much in the spirit of this story. I say that because the contrast between what Aria does (i.e. going to help her sister) and why she's doing it (i.e. purely for spite) is similar to my original conception of Lex's character (i.e. having good ideas and horrible people skills). Given how the show has repeatedly stressed personal intentions as being paramount (which is why a show of contrition is typically enough for an offender to avoid any sort of retributive punishment, regardless of the scope of the offense), this helps to highlight just how different Lex, Aria, and other characters are in terms of how they're approaching the world, since they'd never be so quick to forgive.
Of course, as you noted this seems to have sidelined Cozy and Aisle, but given the sheer scope of what's happening at the camp right now, you have to wonder if that's for the best. Neither of those two are powerful fighters, and so stumbling into an army of ghouls would surely have caused them to be targeted, which would have been a death sentence considering just how badly taxed Lex and co. are with defending themselves at the moment. There'll probably be some issues down the line if Cozy finds out that Lex has magic enough to bring one pony back to life, but at the moment (as you said) surviving the ghoul horde comes first.
8990250 To be fair, Cozy wasn't manipulating Aria here; her attempt to convince Aria to go with them to the Crystal Empire in the first place was more manipulative than this, and even then she was being honest, to the point of that she didn't know if Princess Cadance could restore her voice. Likewise, she didn't blackmail Aria into going back in this chapter; she simply took it for granted that Aria would want to go back to help her sister, was appalled when that wasn't the case, and told her honestly that Princess Cadance wouldn't want to help someone so cold to their own family. That wasn't Cozy attempting to change Aria's behavior via threatening to withdraw her offer to help; it was her telling it like it is.
In that regard, Cozy touched a nerve with regard to how Aria feels about her sister. Namely, that although Aria's buried her pain about what happened, she's still traumatized by what she went through with losing her voice and having to live among the sahuagin. More than that, she feels completely betrayed by the fact that Sonata abandoned her, which was the cause of what she went through. Despite the fact that the Sirens didn't seem to like each other very much, the three of them were still together for over a thousand years, and even in Rainbow Rocks we saw them always pull together in the face of opposition, (almost) never letting their squabbling be seen by anyone else, let alone affecting their ability to work as a team. So when Sonata went against that, and Aria's life subsequently fell apart, I'm of the opinion that she's deeply hurt, and simply can't express it except by being extra nasty to Sonata or, as we saw here, being provoked into saying how she really feels.
Killing Cozy wouldn't have changed anything; Aria has enough wisdom to know that would have just been killing the messenger, and wouldn't change the message.
8990287 I have to wonder if there's a reference here I'm not getting?
8990455 Aria is damaged by what she went through. Despite how much they fought, the three Siren sisters were always together...and then Sonata left them, and Aria had her voice - one of her defining features - cut out of her. Having to living in a brutal society where she was regarded as one of the lowest members didn't help either. So while she's not wearing them as openly as Nosey, she has emotional scars of her own. This chapter was a glimpse of them.
8990496 You can't use sonic thrust, then shout, then sonic thrust again and not have them draw attention.
8991615
Skyrim.
8991618
vary true but family is always family.
I feel like it's only 80% spite, and the remaining 20% is genuine concern.
8995496 I totally agree with your logic on starvation damage. I also think it's actually pretty easy to catch ghoul fever, since you have to make a save for it every time a ghoul attacks you.
The thing is, once you get say a thousand ghouls in the city, it's hard to imagine most civilians escaping the ghouls instead of being immediately killed by them. For a pony to die of ghoul fever, they have to not only be damaged by a ghoul, they have to do so while also escaping the ghoul with their life. The ghouls we've seen so far seem like they would just immediately murder and eat every living thing they come across.
So Examplehoof saved against the paralysis but made the save against the disease. What stopped the ghoul who bit him from immediately chasing him down and biting him again, probably dropping him below 0 on the second attack? I could see it working only if Examplehoof was part of a larger group that ran into a single ghoul, and the ghoul was eating his friends as he ran. That can work a few times, but most of the time every member of the party will be chased down and eaten by an enemy that doesn't tire.
I think if you had a city of 30,000 and 1,000 of them were ghouls, with no significant military law enforcement working to exterminate the ghouls, those ghouls would inadvertently turn maybe another thousand or so who were fast and lucky near the beginning, but other than the smart ponies who immediately fled to the countryside, within a few days or so these ghouls (who we've seen from the bank can be canny and break into buildings) would probably have murdered the other 28,000. Once the ghouls control the streets, they will pretty much wander around attacking and hunting down anything they see, in between breaking into buildings trying to find ponies.
Honestly the zombie outbreak model has the exact same problem, a disease that encourages its infected to dismember the next carrier of the infection is hugely problematic. It's why most modern zombie movies seem to start with some sort of initial wave of food poisoning that makes most of the population zombie to start with. Otherwise 90% of the zombies would be missing all of their limbs (eaten by previous zombies while they were human and being turned).
8995619 Strictly speaking, the problem of "how would most victims of a ghoul bite escape in order to live long enough to die from the disease?" isn't really that big of an issue. Being CR 1 creatures, ghouls are tougher than your average level 1 NPC, but only by a little bit. They have darkvision, and their Acrobatics and Climb bonuses are probably slightly better than most people's, but insofar as sensory- and movement-based abilities, that's pretty much all they have. Presuming a bite victim makes their save against paralysis - which is the ghouls' big offensive power - then there isn't that much to stop a bystander from fleeing with everything they've got. At that point, it's a chase, where the ghoul only has a slight edge thanks to its skill bonuses.
After that, it's essentially an ongoing game of hide-and-seek between the ghouls and the ponies, where everyone in Vanhoover is participating. It's not like things will be a footrace (hoofrace?) against the ghouls. Rather, the living ponies will be trying to escape rather than outdistance the monster(s) chasing them. They'll essentially hole up in a place and try to avoid being noticed, which is an action whose success is (broadly speaking) inversely proportional to how many ponies are around, since larger groups are harder to hide as a rule. So the ghouls will experience diminishing returns as prey runs out and/or gets better at hiding. The survivors also have a slight advantage in that I played up the ghouls disliking sunlight (even if it doesn't hurt them); so if they stumbled onto some ghouls during the day and ran outside, the ghouls initially wouldn't be inclined to follow them, since at that point their hunger wasn't catastrophic. It's one thing to be hungry, and another to be so hungry that you jump into a lake in the middle of the winter to retrieve a sandwich that you just dropped, after all.
Of course, a lot of ponies will still be eaten alive this way, but these are the guidelines that allow for so many ghouls to be created.
Ah Aria, knowing just how to spite your sister.
9220958 This is one of those "doing the right thing for the wrong reasons" bits that I enjoy having happen in this story, since I'm of the opinion that what you do is less important than why you do it.