1)...Made it home again
The young man had annoyance etched into every line of his face as he struggled to keep his tone just civil enough to avoid being fired. The fingers holding his phone to his ear causing to the poor machine to creak painfully beneath his white-knuckled grip, while his furious march down the busy sidewalk steadily picked up speed match his mounting anger. The woman on the other end of the call was just starting to get into the meat of her lecture, not letting the annoyed man get a word in edgewise when the sharp call of a horn followed by screeching tires cut her short. Head snapping around, the man only had time to whisper two words to himself in a shocked tone.
“Truck-sama?”
~Soft~
Soft Spoken yawned, arching her back and stretching in that pleasant way that reminded others of a cat. For that single moment, as her joints popped in the most delightful ways, she was content. Then thunder boomed overhead, and the downpour outside her tent became too difficult to ignore. This would be her morning, she thought to herself. The storm outside fowling her good mood. Grumbling to no one, in particular, she pulled herself from the warm tent and set about breaking down her campsite from the night. Even going to far as to remove whatever traces she could that anyone had ever been there to begin with. An unnecessary step? Probably, but it paid to stay in practice.
The whole process took Soft near around four minutes, magic being fantastic for doing small tedious tasks and profanity being fantastic for rain in general, but even still Soft was well and truly soaked by the time she finished. In the pitter patter of rain falling through the forest canopy the unicorn mare can almost hear Ealdwine laughing at her. The old griffon had been her mentor in all things survival related and had taken every available opportunity to point and laugh at her mistakes. There had been a lot of laughter…
Right now though Soft could do with a bit of laughter from her old acquaintance. She had been alone this whole return trip, and though she would never admit it openly, the mare was more than a little lonely. Hefting her saddlebags and pulling her cloak a little tighter around herself, Soft set off into the underbrush.
‘Always move with purpose, hatchling,’ Ealdwine would have said had he been here. He would have given that same purr of a chuckle he always did, the one that rumbled up from his throat but never quite bubbles up into a full laugh. Then he would have stalked away silent as a ghost, leaving Soft to fumble after him on unwieldy hooves. And it had been fumbling in those days. Back before she even truly knew how to walk, before she was a master of her own body.
It irked Soft to admit it, even to herself, but the old raptor had been a fantastic instructor. A slave driver and a perfectionist to be sure. Still, no one could deny the lith grace of the old griffon clan head. Ealdwine was a product of the old traditions, and it showed. Soft had eventually convinced him to tutor her, but he demanded nothing short of perfection from his student. Considering the old ghost could walk across a field of dry leaves with nary more than a rustle to mark his passing, perfection was a lot to ask.
Soft never quite managed ‘perfection’, but she had improved over the years she spent with the griffons. The mare could at the very least walk without shaming her teacher.
“Move with purpose,” she muttered to herself, the forest around her growing no louder for mares passing. Each hoof placed with deliberate care as to not leave anything disturbed for her having been there.
‘A predator always moves with purpose.”
The darkness is fast approaching by the time Soft’s made it within sight of a tiny farmhouse sitting in a rock covered field. It’s had, much as she expected, been an unpleasant day. The storm hadn’t cleared up untell mid-afternoon, and it left the maroon unicorn slogging through the mud for most of the day. Tonight at least, she would be sleeping under a roof. The thought urged the tired mare to quicken her pace. Eager at the thought of a dry bed and maybe even a hot meal.
A single grey earth pony waited for Soft at the gate surrounding the farmhouse. Seated upon a small bolder the grey mare looked for all the world as if she couldn't possibly care less about her evening visitor. The sight split Softs face into a wide smile.
“I take it you got my letters then,” Soft called out as she approached the apathetic looking mare. A nod was all she got in response before the grey mare turned back towards the farm. If the seemingly icy reception did anything to dampen the unicorns mood though, she didn’t show it. Chuckling at the predictable response, Soft fell into step alongside he stoic companion. “I missed you.”
Glancing across at the maroon unicorn from the corner of her eye, Maud Pie simply raised a single eyebrow and waited. The two made it halfway across the field before the grey mare said, in a low voice just above a whisper, “I missed you too, Soft.”
Those few words were all it took to have Soft Spoken beaming at her friend with a smile as bright as any her pink little sister could muster. Rolling her eyes Maud led the two up to the old farmhouse. Her hoof steps sure on the rocky, uneven ground.
“I brought you something,” the unicorn said as the two approached the house. Its lights were still on, and the poneys inside would likely be setting the dinner table about now. The grey mare glanced at the front door for a time, then decided to settle herself down upon the front step instead. Taking a seat beside her, Soft slowly levitated a small box wrapped in brown paper out of the inner pocket of one of her saddlebags. Pausing dramatically for a moment, before passing the box over to her friend.
“The clan mother said,” clearing her throat, Soft did her best deep and imposing voice. Which as it turned out was not all that deep or imposing. “‘This holds no small value little one. Chose its recipient wisely.’ or something like that. Honestly, to me, it’s just shiny, but if anypony could actually appreciate it, it would be you.”
Maud, for her part, gave a questioning look at the mention of ‘clan mother’ but said nothing. Giving only the faintest twitch at the corner of her mouth at Soft’s small voice attempting a dramatic retelling.
Tearing off the paper revealed a wooden box, perhaps a hoofs length square. The box was simple and unadorned in design, but it had clearly been lovingly polished to a bright shine. “A box. Yey,” Maud deadpanned. Her voice, utterly devoid of emotion or inflection.
“Open it you dork.” Soft replied, rolling her eyes. “And ponies say you don’t have a sense of humor.”
With the hint of a smirk, the grey mare flipped the box lid open, only for her breath to catch in her throat. For a long moment she could only stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. There, nestled on a velvet cushion, was what looked for all the world like an emerald flame frozen in time.
~Maud~
“Petrified dragon fire,” Maud finally breathed out, after she remembered to start doing that whole breathing thing again in the first place. Her voice was hardly a whisper and she couldn’t quite manage to drag her eyes away from the remarkable gem.
“How did you manage this?” She finally asked. Eventually pulling her gaze up to find her friends with a truly massive effort of will. Maud couldn’t even begin to imagine what the crimson mare would have had to do to convince a dragon to part with such a precious stone. Her textbooks on rare and magical gems had said that petrified dragon fire could only be made by the oldest of dragons, and was never sold. It was only ever made to be given as a gift to other dragons.
“That, my dear friend, is quite the tail,” the unicorn said, grinning in that crooked way she did whenever she had a particularly good story to tell. “But first, why don’t we go inside and I’ll tell you everything over dinner? I haven’t seen the girls in nearly two years, and a family dinner sounds nice right about now.”
Maud thought it did, indeed, sound nice. Soft had such an insatiable wanderlust, after all, but the mare always came home eventually. She was like a cat in that way. Home huh, Maud mused to herself as she followed her friend inside. I wonder when exactly did I start thinking of the farm as Softs home too?
“Soft Spoken!” came her mothers threatening yell from the kitchen, “You had better not be tracking mud into this house again!” Laughing, the unicorn bolted for the bathroom, and Maud couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle at the mare. Things always did have a way of getting more exciting whenever Soft came home. Not that she was complaining.
~Soft~
Three days later the two mares were sprawled out on the front step again, a game of checkers resting between the two. Maud was playing the rubies and had been on an absolutely brutal five-game winning streak. Soft had been systematically taken apart every game so far, but somehow this was worse. This sixth game had seemed to drag on, which at first the unicorn thought was because she had been somehow improving. Now though, she’s started to suspect her friend simply didn’t want to set the board back up as often, so was dragging out her win to prolong the suffering.
“You do know it’s your turn, right Soft?” Maud taunted, which dragged a low growl out of the maroon unicorn, this only served to make her opponent laugh. Soft, who had been staring at this board for the better part of five minutes now, searching desperately to find a way to get her last remaining king out of the death trap she’d stumbled into, was the farthest thing from intimidating.
“Shut up I’m trying to think here,” Soft finally grumbled. This earned her a quiet snort from her quiet friend, which she sent back a baleful glare in return. This, however, only seemed to amuse the grey mare all the more.
Just as the unicorn had decided on a plan, lifting a single onyx piece slowly off the board. The light went out. Not a candle or a simple light spell. No, the noon-day sun itself seemed to have gone dark. Looking up, the two mares stared in confusion at the sudden eclipse.
“Maud.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t the Summer Sun Celebration set to start, like, now?”
“I believe so,” Maud replied, eyes still glued on the darkened sky.
The Summer Sun Celebration was a not so subtle threat their demi-goddess of the sun liked to stage every year. It was only one of the many reasons Soft avoided her like the plague whenever she’d found herself in the castle as a filly. In her younger years, Soft had thought it was simply a display of power, stopping the sun over Canterlot Castle for a full twenty-four hours. Over her years of traveling, however, it became clear that the celebration was far less for the citizens of Equestria, and far more for any and all of her neighbors. If something interrupting the celebration dedicated entirely to Celestia herself. It was probably best avoided.
“You see, it’s this, this bullshit right here,” Soft complained loudly. Her magic was now a frenzy of activity, grabbing and collection everything she owned, which was admittedly not all that much. Throwing her cloak on, Soft quickly followed it with her saddlebags and an apple from the kitchen for the road. “This is why I don’t stay in this gods-forsaken country longer than I have to. Crap like this only ever happens here.”
“Where are you going?” Maud asked, with a confused frown. She clearly hadn't been expecting such an intense reaction from her old friend. Soft only ever god truly crass when she was either worried or sulking, and she hadn’t seemed to be sulking.
Pausing in her fiddling with the strap saddlebags straps, Soft looked over at Maud as if she had just asked the most obvious question in the world. “I’m going to check on Pinkie,” she said firmly “Where else would I be going? You know how she can get when weird things start happening.” Both mares frowned at that. Maud’s youngest sister wasn’t the most stable individual at the best of times. She could get more than a little concerning when things stopped going according to her plans, as admittedly stranges as they often were.
“Thank you Soft,” Maud whispered. Her breath coming a little easier just knowing the unicorn would be looking in on her little sister.
“You're the only friend I’ve got silly filly, it’s the least I can do.” Grinning at the grey mare with more confidence than she felt, Soft Spoken gathered the last of her things in a flurry of magic. Giving herself one last once over before she set off towards Ponyville at a brisk jog.
Once upon a time, a run from the Pies rock farm all the way up to Ponyville would have seemed a daunting task to the unicorn. Ever since her two-year stint in the zebra grasslands, however, a day-long trip at a light galop was practically a luxury. Soon enough the unicorn found a pace she won't have too much trouble holding for the better part of a day, and turned her full attention to the uneven road before her.
Well, in her professional opinion ‘road’ was too strong a word for what she was currently on. More of a trail if anything, one which would soon narrow to hardly more than a game path once she entered the Ghastly Gorge proper. With a thought, the mare braided her long mane and tail into something resembling manageable before casting a quick spell to keep them from snagging or tangling. It was one of the more applicable pieces of magic she’d picked up over the years, and mixed with a minor repelling charm Soft hardly ever had to worry about her mane or tail.
Truth be told Soft was not looking forward to navigating something as treacherous as the Gorge, in the dark, at speed. Unfortunately for her, it was the quickest way from the farm to Ponyville, so she didn’t have much choice in the matter if she wanted to have any hope of getting to town before Pinkie had a total meltdown.
Carefully the unicorn pressed on, keeping her eyes peeled for any loose rocks or unstable ground which would gladly give the little unicorn an express ticket to the bottom of the Gorge. More than once Soft would have to take a slight detour around particularly treacherous areas of the path. Times like this she couldn’t help but wish she was one of those powerhouse unicorns who could just throw high-level spells around like candy. As she was, most high-level spells like teleport would leave her weezing for breath within a handful of casts.
At last, after hours of running, she crested the final ridge to Ponyville. Hurrying through the fields that surround the town and into the too quiet streets of Ponyville proper, she couldn’t shake the nervous feeling in her gut. Soft wasn’t ashamed to admit the stillness of the place unnerves her and left the hairs on her neck standing on end. As she made her way towards the town square, the worry at the edges of her mind began to slowly shift towards paranoia. This wasn’t right, none of this was right.
Located at Ponyvilles center, the square was where most shops were set up, including Sugar Cuber Corner. Just as she reached the square, a massive rainbow explosion radiated out from the Everfree Forest. Cutting the tension like a knife as it went.
“Pinkie Pie,” Soft groaned to herself, slumping with relief. Knowing the only pony fool enough to throw a party in the middle of Equestria's most dangerous forest would be a certain pink filly. “I swear if that mare had something to do with this eclipse ill-” she never got to finish her sentence, as the sun chose that moment to peak out from behind the low hanging moon. Moments latter followed by a blinding light, and the tell-tale crack of a teleport spell landing in the town square.
Soft Spoken could only stare in a mixture of fascination and dawning horror as, without warning, Pinkie whipped the previous ghost town into a full-blown party in under a minute. Unlike most ponies in Equestria, Pinkie Pie’s special talent is often times, truly spectacular to watch in action. Pinkie did things with parties that were nothing short of genious. The problem, in Softs opinion, was somewhere in the poor girls’ mind. Soft was not a doctor in this life, or the last, so far be it from her to slap the energetic pony with a label and a sickness. But she honestly hoped someone figured how really help the filly, having seen her at her lowest it could get downright heartbreaking.
Today was not that day, however. Today Pinkie was in her element and it was a delight to watch. Recalling the sad little filly she’d met that first day she’d wandered into the Pie family farm, Soft couldn’t help but grin at how far the girl had come.
Unfortunately for Soft, she wasn’t going to be able to fully enjoy watching her best friends little sister fully work her signature brand of magic. Not when there were now one, but two demi-goddesses standing in the center of the square, eyeing the whole situation with amusement. The larger of the two was clearly Celestia, regent of the sun. She unnerved Soft for one very simple reason. She was too perfect. No one was that nice and it bothered the explorer to no end that she couldn’t make heads or tails of the so-called ‘princess’.
The smaller of the two bothered Soft for an entirely different reason. Some of the elder dragons she’d met had lived through The Fall of Luna, the ‘night princess’. If even half the stories they told about her were half true, then the greatest spymaster to have ever lived seemed to have just returned to Equestria.
Just as she was planning to slip away and come back again when those two have left, Pinkie starts twitching sporadically. Knowing it was far and away easier (and safer) to just accept her fate, Soft made her way through the throngs of partying ponies. She walked right up to the pink mare, as if she hadn’t been planning her escape just moments before, and poked her lightly in her ribs.
“Pinkamina Dian Pie,” Soft said sternly once she was sure she has the mares full attention. “Please tell me you were not playing with liquid rainbows and explosives in the Everfree Forest… again.” The older unicorn stood a good half a head shorter than the party mare but more than made up for it through sheer force of presence. Or would have if she wasn’t currently getting the life hugged out of her by an overly enthusiastic ball of sunshine some bored god had stuffed into a ponies skin.
“Softy!” Pinkie cried. A look of pure joy lighting up her face even as the force of her flying hug sent both her and the older mare to the ground.
In the back of her mind, Soft could feel her special talent, it always became more active around others, but it got extremely excited around Pinkie. With a thought, Soft forced it back into its little corner where it belonged, she would have none of its brand of trouble today if she could help it.
“It’s been, like, forever since you were last here. Well maybe not forever forever, because that would mean time isn’t working again and this one singular moment is stretching on, like, forever, which would be super weird right? Like how clocks always seem to run slower when you’re looking at them, especially when cupcakes are in the oven…”
There was, Soft mused, a very specific set of skills one learned after spending extended periods of time around Pinkie Pie. The first being how to escape a Pinkie hug. The casual observer would mistake this for a normal hug, and they would die a slow and torturous death for that mistake. No, a Pinkie hug was a different beast entirely, and the methods to escape them were arcane and enigmatic. Delicate maneuvers involving cupcakes, if available, jellybeans, if not, and confetti if all else fails. Although only the bravest and most stalwart of souls dare to try it with confetti.
The second, and arguably more important skill, is how to get any information at all out of Pinkies seemingly incoherent ramblings. If one listened carefully and knew what to look for, they would inevitably find that the pink mare often tells rather informative stories. The mare is very observant, Soft had known that from the first day they’d met. It had, however, taken her years to master the subtle art of understanding Pinkie Pie, or at least most of what comes out of her mouth. What goes on in her brain remains an utter mystery and not one Soft often liked to dwell on. There are, after all, sayings about the void and looking too deeply into it.
“...and that's how we saved princess Luna from being a grumpy pants and turned her back into a superdy duper nice pony, and I mean really, of course, she was always a super nice ponies but now she gets to be extra mega nice, like chocolate cake with ice cream and sprinkles and fudge!”
By the time Pinkie finished her story Soft has managed to subtly guide the little ball of energy to the public library in hopes of a bit of privacy. Judging by the story however, the maroon unicorn wasn’t at all surprised to see Pinkies five friends made their way to the tree as well. Their adventure together seemed to have made them fast friends. And though they rolled their eyes at times, or corrected little details where Pinkie had exaggerated a bit too much, for the most part, they stayed quiet and let the mare tell her tail.
All things considered, the unicorn wasn’t all too sure what to make of Pinkies story. It was fantastical, dangerous, and in some places downright silly. She still couldn’t believe Twilight Sparkle, the magical prodigy who studied under Celestia, had put her head down and charged a nightmare. The sheer stupidity of such an act left Soft more than a little sure that it must have been one of Pinkies exaggerations. At least she hoped it was.
“I’m proud of you Pinkie,” Soft finally said, tussling the younger mares mane with a hoof and favoring her with an affectionate smile. “I wish you would be more careful though. Even if you did go with your friends, the Everfree Forest can be a dangerous place.”
“Speaking of friends, darling.” came a posh, cultured voice from the couch. “Are you going to introduce us to your mysterious friend here?” If she didn’t know better, Soft would have attributed the mares accent to uptown Canterlot. Having grown up in the city, however, Soft did, in fact, know better. As to why the alabaster unicorn felt the need to fake a Canterlot accent, Soft couldn’t guess. But out of respect for one of Pinkies friends, she refrained from pointing it out.
A number of the other mares around the room nod their agreement as well. Of which only Twilight Sparkle stood out as recognizable to Soft. And even then only in passing. Finally, a genuinely regal voice from the doorway called into the room, “I to would very much like to hear this.”
Soft could feel the fur on the back of her neck stand on end at the realization that not only was the princesses' standing right behind her, but they were also blocking the only exit out of the room.
Resisting the urge to groan and put her head in her hooves, the mare instead straightens. Lifting the deep hood from her head, and with a brush of magic, freed her cream-colored mane which spilled out across the library's floor.
“My name is Soft Spoken,” she said, dipping into a calculated bow. One just low enough to show respect but not deference. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance princesses.”
Luna merely raised an eyebrow at the bowing mare. Celestia, on the other hand, showed a spark of recognition at the mares name. “Soft Spoken,” she wondered aloud, “might you be the daughter of Out Spoken and Crystle Shine?” The look in her eyes said she already knew the answer and was simply waiting to see if Soft would confirm it.
“And if I am?” The unicorn asked, tone still polite but notably less friendly than it was a moment ago.
“To hear your father tell it, you have quite the talent in making friends,” Celestia pressed smiling warmly at the mare in front of her. Luna stayed quiet, watching with interest as the maroon unicorn grew ever more guarded by the second. “You even managed to catch the eye of our nephew if I am not mistaken.”
“Oh oh! Pick me! Pick meeeeeee!” Pinkie cried. For hoof waving in the air as if this were some kind of classroom. Before Soft could get a word in, Celestia nodded at the pink mare and she was off.
“Well, Softy is super duper good at making friends, like she always knows just what to say to make sure everypony, and I mean Everypony feels special! Even really old extra double mega grumpy ponies who don’t even like chocolate cake! Who doesn't like chocolate cake? Weeeeel, even those ponies like Softy because she is the nicest, warmest, softest pony in the whole wide world!”
It all happened so fast that all the maroon unicorn could do is facehoof and groan.
“Well,” Princess Celestia finally said, “That was quite the recommendation.”
“Acquaintances.” Soft managed to struggle out in a desperate attempt at damage control. “I have, in the past, been known to make an acquaintance or two. Nothing more.”
“Would you humor an old mare for a time miss Soft Spoken? I have a request to make of you.” Celestia’s smile was still motherly, but edging closer and closer to victorious by the second.
The unicorn could only give a small nod in response. Not trusting her lips while her mind is screaming a constant stream of ever more creative expletives.
“Would you be so kind as to stay in town for a while and share your insight with my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle?”
Well, fuck.
Author's Note
Yes, I know there are probably spelling and/or grammar mistakes.
No, I don't really care. and no im not going to fix them.
If that bothers you, well thats a shame.
Regardless, thanks for taking a little time out of your day to read the ramblings of a madman. Go and make yourself a batch of cookies, you deserve it.
- <3sy
