The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 61: Reveals

***Monday, Day 64***
**Noonish**
*Octavia/Fiddlesticks*

The still-yellow mare lay on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. She definitely doesn’t feel tired. Not even close. She is still focused on trying to get her feelings sorted out.

Eventually, she sighs, shaking her head and getting up. “...I suppose I should get some tea. Might help calm the nerves.”

A series of knocks on the door interrupts her newest quest before she can even begin.

Ever cautious, she pulls out a cello bow, sneaking quietly towards the door. As soon as she is close enough, she hides behind the door and slowly opens it. She waits for whoever it is to step through so she can figure out whether they are a threat.

Blue walks through the door, wearing his gauntlets and the usual wing attachments. He looks around curiously, not seeing anypony. “Rhino? You home? I wanted to ask if you could look at my gear, I think there might be a small problem.”

The mare presses the mythril reinforced bow to his neck, grabbing him from behind. “Friend or foe?” She flinches slightly, realizing her natural Russian accent bled into her voice.

The pegasus freezes but still answers. “Friend, what about you?”

She stays silent for a moment before pulling away, laying her weapon across her back. “I’m a friend of-” She stops to clear her throat, going back to her posh speaking style. “Of Rhino’s.” She steps around, seeing his face and instantly recognizing him. “Oh, I remember you. You’re the one who put that cloud over our table yesterday.”

Blue looks at her curiously, not recognizing her new color scheme. “Hmm, I don’t remember seeing you with him...”

She glances down at herself. “Oh, right, I was a different color at the time.” She shrugs slightly. “Suffice to say I wear a suit Pinkie made me while performing in Canterlot. When you saw me before, I was gray with dark hair.”

“Ah~.” He nods in understanding before laughing to himself. “I suppose some mares meaning it more than others when they say they need to ‘put their face on.’”

She stares at him for a second in silence before smacking him upside the head. “I won’t let Vinyl make bad jokes in my presence, and neither shall you!” She huffs, heading into the kitchen to finally get started on that tea.

Blue rubs the back of his head ruefully. “Ow.” He follows the mare but stops before entering the kitchen. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where Rhino is would you?” A large puff of air comes off the underside of one of his forehooves, causing him to flap his wings to maintain his balance. “I think I broke something on this.”

She places a teabag into a cup of hot water, glancing over at him. “He should be at his workplace. He took Berry Pinch with him, and I have to wonder if they’re able to handle her.” She picks up the string in her teeth and begins to dip the bag repeatedly in the cup, trying to get as much flavor out of it as possible. “You’ll check on them, I take it? Or is your armor something that can wait?” She sips at her tea, sighing softly as the warmth of it filled her.

He flaps his wings experimentally as a glow flows along the conduits leading down to the gauntlets. “Well, it doesn’t seem too bad yet, I guess I can-”

*Click*

“-that didn’t sound good.” The entire setup goes instantly dark as the suit shuts down. This also leaves Blue with his wings locked upwards due to the now immobile wing clamps. “And now it’s a problem.”

“It definitely seems that way.” She walks around him, holding her cup with one hoof. “Well, I don’t know if you can move your legs or not, but I’m not going to attempt to carry you.” She shakes her head. “Unless you want me to do that, of course. Otherwise, you’ll just be here until Rhino returns.”

He tests his legs. “No, I can walk just fine, I just can’t fly now.” The pegasus looks back towards his wings while trying to wiggle out of the setup. “Doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get out of this though. That and walking around town like this will get more than a few awkward glances.” He sits down heavily and sighs. “Well, buck. What now?”

Octavia thinks for a moment. “...you know, Vi gave me something that might actually help with this situation.” She walks into the living room and searches through her saddlebag. “Ah, here we are.” She stands up, holding what appears to be a silver sphere.

Blue jumps at the chance to get out of the suit. “Sweet! What do I do?”

“Just hold still.” She places it on the spot between his wings and taps it, nodding to herself. “There we go.”

He tries to move his wings but fails. “Umm, I don’t think it-” he turns back to looks at his wings only to be greeted by empty space, “-what the hay?!”

“It’s an invisibility device. It’ll hide your wings for about two hours.” She shrugs, smirking a bit. “If I’d attached it to your chest, everything from your neck down might as well be thin air.” She moves towards the door, looking over her shoulder at him. “You’ll lead the way, right? I haven’t the slightest clue where Rhino works.”

“Right... I think I should be able to find it... never actually walked there before.” He strides to the door confidently anyway. “Still, it can’t be too hard.”

She nods, pulling the door open and quickly finishing her tea. “After you, then, whoever you are.”

“Oh, right, I’m Blue Breeze.” He tries to walk through the door only to hit his now invisible wings on the door frame and hiss in pain. He talks through gritted teeth, “Who are you then?”

“For now, call me Fiddlesticks.” She frowns down at her yellow forelegs. “That’s the name I go by in this state.” She notices his pain, rolling her eyes. “Hold on a second.” She stands up in front of him on two legs, using her forehooves to find his wings and push them up to avoid the sides of the door. “There, try walking forward now.”

The two awkwardly work their way out the door, Fiddlesticks walking backwards bipedally while staring Blue right in the face. As they clear the threshold they both visibly relax.

This makes it all the easier for an unfortunately placed rock to throw off the mare’s footing and sending both of them to the ground.

She lands flat on her back, feeling the air rush out of her lungs and closing her eyes instinctively from the impact. She groans, shaking her head and slowly opening her eyes.

To meet a set of crimson ones attached to a blue face. Blue simply stares at her but doesn’t make an attempt to move. “Umm, hi?”

She stares at him, her face expressionless. “Please get off me. If you don’t, I’ll be forced to resort to violence.”

He instantly springs off her and clears his throat while looking away. “Right, we should get going.”

She stands up, brushing dust off her coat. “We should. Now, would you kindly lead the way?”

***Rhino***

After explaining the basics of the situation to Fluttershy and Manila, things go relatively well during the shift at the clinic. We even manage to have a nice lunch including Pinchy sipping milk from a glass bottle through a straw, which had both mares cooing. Eventually though, our time was up so Fluttershy and I, along with my two passengers, waved goodbye to Manila and Mane, who had arrived for her shift.

I look back at Pinchy as we exit the doors. “So, where to first?”

“Maybe we can head to a music store, or an instrument shop?” The filly stares off into the distance, apparently lost in thought. “Vinyl seems to always break sensei’s cello, and she’d definitely appreciate a record of classical music...”

I frown slightly as I think. “I don’t think I actually know any music shops in town...”

Fluttershy speaks up from my side, “Actually, Lyra runs a small store like that near Bon Bon’s candy store.”

I smile brightly at her, “Well then, shall we?”

She giggles sweetly and simply wraps her tail around mine as we walk.

I feel the tensing of legs around my torso, the filly behind me whining so softly I almost didn’t register the sound. Having Fluttershy as a marefriend though, tends to attune one to soft sounds.

As we continue on our way I call back to my pink passenger, “Something wrong, Pinchy?”

“It’s nothing.” She smiles brightly at me before turning her attention off to the side, appearing to get lost in her thoughts once again. “I am curious about why I was thought to be your daughter earlier...” She glances at Fluttershy, tilting her head a bit.

I think for a moment before I answer. “Well, obvious reasons you aren’t my biological daughter aside... You are a unicorn and you have shown impressive capability with a spell I am known for, something usually kept within families, as well as having your own way with magic. You and I get along extraordinarily well and seem to treat each other with that sort of familial fondness. We can both chug down as much milk as ponies can stand to give us, which I know is genetic in my family. All of that along with the fact that you seem to be attached to me wherever I go, so it doesn’t seem like that far-fetched of an idea to me.”

“Oh.” She thinks for a bit, putting a hoof to her chin. “Those are good reasons. To be fair, though, I’m actually adept at most magic. Even Vinyl’s illusion spell.” Her horn lights up and a copy of herself appears in front of them.

It grins widely, opening its mouth to speak. “See?” With that, it fades away just as fast as it appeared.

I stay silent for a moment at the display of magic, one part of my mind wary at the thought of a filly with so much power. “Impressive... but I do hope you know to be responsible with all that skill.”

She looks at me for a moment, silent. “Well, I mostly use them when practicing my jutsus.” The way she said that, it sounded like we should know what she meant.

Fluttershy asks the question on both our minds. “Jutsus?” The unfamiliar word seemingly tripping on her tongue.

“Ohh, right, you probably don’t have manga here.” She leaps off my back, landing in front of us. “They’re essentially techniques for protecting one’s ninja way. At least, that’s how I like to think of them.”

My marefriend looks thoughtful at the answer, the word ‘protecting’ likely echoing memories of our conversation two weeks ago at my newest spell. “I-I see...”

I however, am not as sure on what she means. “What do you mean ‘protecting your way’?”

She thinks for a bit. “Well, my ninja way is to make sure my friends and family are safe.” She shrugs, moving on in her explanation. “Anyways, there are three types of jutsu - taijutsu, which is essentially hoof-to-hoof fighting, ninjutsu, which would be spells that you use to attack or defend, and genjutsu, which is used to distract one’s attacker.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I’m not that good with taijutsu, so I focus on - oh, is that the place?” She points at a nearby building.

Fluttershy nods, seeming grateful at the change of conversation from fighting to music stores. “Oh, yes, that’s it.”

We enter the store accompanied by the classic bell ringing when the door jingles it. A voice calls out from the back of the store, “Be right with you!”

I look around at the instruments lining the walls and the racks of records as I remark to the filly, “Anything catch your eye?”

She jumps off me and glances at each of the records, propping herself up into a two-legged stance to better reach the racks. “I can’t decide between this one...” She points at what appears to be a live recording of the Canterlot Orchestra. “...this one...” She moves her hoof towards a collection of jazz tunes. “...or that up there.” With that, she indicates the cello high above her head.

I muse as I look at her choices. “Music is said to be one of the purest forms of expression. However, an instrument is a way to create limitless music. I would suggest the cello, every time she picks it up she would remember that you gave it to her, thus any music she uses it for will be another gift from you.” I look back from the cello to see Fluttershy, Pinchy, and the mint green shop owner staring at me. “What?”

My marefriend gazes at me, “Rhino... that was beautiful...”

I blush at the sudden attention and scuff my hoof against the ground, “Just giving my thoughts.”

“It’s a great idea!” The happy little filly rushes over and hugs me, nuzzling my cheek. “I’ll get it right away. One moment!” She rushes over to the shop owner, smiling brightly at her. “Could I get that cello, please?”

The unicorn mare nods at the cute filly. “Sure thing.” She walks over to the instrument and starts levitating it down from its pegs. “Did you want this engraved or anything?”

She nods, a solemn look on her face. “Can it say ‘To Sensei, from Berry Pinch’?”

Lyra nods as she sets the cello of the counter and brings out some tools. “Do you know which side your friend plays on?”

She tilts her head, looking up at a ceiling as she thought. “She’s right-hooved, so I think she plays with it on her left side.”

After a few minutes the engraving is done in neat cursive script on the top left section of the instrument. To quote the shop keeper ‘So that it is always in the corner of her eye when she plays.’

“That’s great!” She beams, but then a thought occurs. “...um, one sec.” She rushes over to me, smiling sheepishly. “...could you possibly pay for it? I don’t have my money on me...I promise I’ll pay you back when we get back to the house, though!”

I rustle her mane playfully as I chuckle. “Don’t worry about paying me back, I got this.” I go over to the minty mare and get payment settled before she puts the cello in its case and levitates it over to me with a smile.

I set the instrument on my back and thank Lyra as we exit, her calling out as we leave, “I hope your daughter’s friend likes her present! Don’t forget to tell ponies where you got it from!”

It strikes me how somepony mistook Pinchy as my daughter again. I can easily see why they would think it this time, considering our group was a stallion, mare, and filly all walking around together.

Pinchy giggles, gently tugging on Fluttershy’s foreleg. “Come on, mom, let’s go get this gift to sensei!”

Fluttershy smiles softly as she nods at the filly, just as i feel the fourth member of the group move around on my head as he comments. “Just one big happy family huh?”

I only chuckle in response.

***Fiddlesticks***

The yellow earth pony walks behind the suited pegasus, frowning deeply. “You’re not very good at navigating on the ground, are you? I swear, we’ve just passed the town hall for what seems to be the fifth time.”

The blue pegasus continues on. “I can find it! I’m just not used to so many obstacles.”

“You keep telling yourself th-” She stops in her tracks, staring at a spot in front of them.

Across the street are Rhino, Fluttershy, and Berry Pinch all walking and laughing together. She recognizes the case on his back as a cello case. None of the three notice the two ponies observing them as the filly starts laughing and hopping around the couple in excitement.

Fiddlesticks glares at the scene, her body trembling in anger. “...now, now you’ve gone too far...” She pulls out her cello bow, approaching the group, her eyes fixed on the stallion who apparently stole her pupil from her.

***Hydro and Vinyl***

The engineer finishes his basic explanation of the large construct and looks proudly at it while he waits for the DJ’s reaction.

The machine in question is a little over the height of four ponies, the length of the same number, and the width of the same number if they stood side-by-side. Its overall appearance is that of a centaur, with the head and upper chest replaced by a piloting seat with controls for its movements. The entire construction has a sort of dull metallic plating on it, while replacement and alternate parts for all four of its legs and its two arms can be seen on the walls of the room. All in all, it is almost like a mech that somepony designed for utility instead of combat.

She stares blankly at it for a few moments, tilting her head slightly as she regards the feat of engineering in front of her. “...it’s cool. Definitely would help with carrying heavy objects a pony couldn’t on their own.”

Hydro nods happily. “Yep, that was one thing i had in mind for it.” He points to the various arms on the walls. “I also have parts so it can dig, break rocks, funnel dirt over its back, all kinds of things.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was a way to create a fighting mech without others detecting it.” She shrugs, shaking her head. “I’m probably overthinking it, though.” She pokes at one of the legs of the machine, curious. “What’s it made of? What powers it?”

He pats the mech fondly, “Mostly it’s aluminum with steel reinforcements at the stress points, as well as the little bit of titanium I could manage to find. The power source is actually something I got Rhino’s help with, though he doesn’t know it. I asked him to make me a spell which splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. I then got him to copy the spell onto a Ditto Diamond, which replicates the spell continuously in a small area around itself. Using a source of water housed within the mech, I can funnel water in the core, the gem, and using the resulting gases to move the mech as well as funnel the oxygen into the cockpit if I ever get around to making this thing waterproof. The hydrogen is used to power a combustion engine for the more complicated parts.”

She nods a bit. “That seems like it’d be a problem if there was a leak in the gem section. Isn’t hydrogen dangerously combustible?”

“Yeah.” He replies casually. “But it’s better than coal.”

“I can see that. Hydrogen’s environmentally safe.” She thinks for a bit, smirking slightly. “Besides, coal just burns me up with how hard it is to find. It’s why I use magic crystals.”

Hydro sighs, “Oh great, another pun pony.”

“Sorry, I like to think of myself as a fairly punny pony.” She pauses, thinking about that last sentence. “...yeah, I think I’ll stop now.”

“Thank you.”

“Anyways, yeah, I’ll show you my favorite weapon after seeing this.” She continues to tap the metallic leg of the mech. “Just showing you my sword doesn’t seem like a fair exchange of ideas and innovations.”

He shrugs, “Whatever you want, I’m just happy to finally show somepony what I’ve been working on for months.”

“I’d feel the same way.” She giggles, walking over and bumping shoulders playfully. “We have quite a lot in common, eh?”

The earth pony smiles. “Yeah,” he lightly bumps her back, “you’re not so bad after all.”

She holds a hoof to her chest, mouth agape. “...ow. That actually hurt, dude.”

He rolls his eyes, “Yeah, because obviously you’re so delicate. So what’s this other invention of yours?”

She grins, pushing her shades back up her nose. “I call it the V-Rifle. It’ll have to wait until later, though, as E currently has it.”

***Enigma***

The two pegasi had questioned three different ponies so far, though none had anything useful to say, all of them were cleared of involvement. The two are now heading back to the pony who originally gave Atom the job to deliver a progress report and see if they can get any more information.

A large yellow pegasus stallion with yellow and white mane and tail walks up to the two as they land and addresses Atom. “Any luck so far?”

The black stallion shakes his head solemnly, “Sorry Glare, nothing so far. We’ll keep trying though. We came back to ask if there was anything you could tell us that might help.”

Glare looks at him quizzically, “What kind of stuff do you need to know?”

Atom presses, “Anything really, who was near the record’s location, anyone who was acting strangely, things like that.”

The golden stallion shrugs. “Well, it is a show so everypony is on edge, but that’s normal. Hmm, I know the tour guide was out of it this morning when she was here, but I know she didn’t do it.”

“Are you sure?” Enigma spoke up, curious. “No one else was around?”

“Not unless you count the fillies she was leading around.”

Atom ears twitch, “Could they have taken it?”

Glare frowns, “I don’t see why they would. It’s a record, you can hear the same song at the concert, there’s no point in taking it.”

“I don’t know.” The feminine stallion tilts his head, thinking a bit. “Still, it’s a lead we haven’t followed, yet.”

Atom nods as he makes a few notes in his pad. “He’s right, who were these fillies?”

The yellow stallion thinks a moment, “If I remember right... it was a yellow earth pony with red mane, a white unicorn with pink and purple mane, and an orange pegasus with magenta mane.”

The black pegasus’ eyes widen. “The Crusaders...” He smiles, “Don’t worry Glare, I know where to find those particular fillies. Tell Vinyl we’ll have her record back before her show starts.” He starts heading towards an open spot to take off from.

Enigma sits in the same spot, staring off blankly. “...I suppose that the Vinyl here would be missing her vinyl record...” He looks around and quickly realizes that the other stallion was about to leave without him. Panicking, he rushes after him, trying to make up for lost time.

The two pegasi take flight and before long as passing over fields of apple trees. As they approach one particular piece of the land, they could both hear music bumping and getting louder by the second. They land outside the famed CMC clubhouse, where it is obvious the music is coming from.

Atom remarks wryly to his burgundy partner, “Guess we found the record.”

“Yep.” He pulls out a pair of earplugs, holding them out to the darker pony. “Want ‘em?”

The investigator nods. “Thanks.” He puts them in his ears as Enigma does the same with another pair.

“Well, let’s go in, then.” Enigma steps forward, moving up the ramp.

The two open the door to find all three fillies dancing their little hearts out to a gramophone pumping more bass than one would think possible. As the sun shines through the now open door, the fillies notice their company and quickly shut off the music and greet the two adults.

Apple Bloom speaks for the three. “Er, Howdy Mr. Atom! Can we help ya with somethin’?”

Atom nods as he takes out the earplugs. “Yes, you can tell me where you three found that record.”

The earth filly forces a smile, “We uh-”

Scootaloo interrupts, “-we found it!”

“Found it?” Enigma has pulled one earplug out, looking at the orange filly skeptically. “Care to elaborate?”

Sweetie Belle speaks up now. “We found it on the ground.”

Atom sighs, “Girls, did you take that record while you were on the tour of a stage earlier today?”

Apple Bloom is shaking by now. “Ah...uh... we... uh...”

Scootaloo buts in again. “No!”

“That seems like an offensive response.” The burgundy pegasus sits down. “Even disregarding the fact that AB over there is shaking, your response alone tells me that you’re lying.” He looks to Atom, frowning slightly. “It’s not like they’re gonna be in a huge amount of trouble or anything if they did take it, right?”

The other stallion shakes his head. “If they did happen to take it, and they also happened to give it back, I would see no reason anypony would have to hear about this.” He looks at the trio expectantly.

The three look at each other before huddling together facing away from the two adults. A few moments of frantic whispering later and they turn around to look at the two again.

Sweetie Belle looks at them intently. “Nopony has to know?”

Enigma smiles kindly, nodding a bit. “Nopony has to know.”

Apple Bloom nods as Scootaloo grabs the record with her mouth and sets it in front of him.

The unicorn filly looks down as Atom take the record with a wing. “We didn’t mean to keep it forever you know... We were on the tour and saw the record sitting on the ground where everypony kept almost stepping on it. When we picked it up and saw that it was a new song, we got excited and wanted to listen to it right away. But then, we saw Mr. Atom talking to that yellow pony about it and we didn’t want to get in trouble. So we came back here until we could think of what to do.”

The three say simultaneously, “We’re sorry.”

“You’re forgiven.” He sighs, turning towards his temporary partner. “I say this case is solved, wouldn’t you?”

Atom nods as a loud gasp comes from the three fillies who are staring at Enigma’s flank.

Apple Bloom shouts out as she points, “You don’t have yer cutie mark!”

He stares back at them, his ears flattening a bit. “...oh, not again...”

Comments

[Misplaced Modifier]

Fiddletavia is about to make a huge mistake.

-Mis

[Bread Shot]

732927Why all the dark color schemes with your ponys!?
734453images5.fanpop.com/image/polls/1063000/1063803_1340988031517_full.png
%Pr

[Rhino]

2610300 What do you mean? Volt's sea-green. Blue isn't dark, just a normal deep blue.

[darkironpony]

Octavia going pop a cap in Rhino. I APPROVE!

[Atomic Vortex]

Oh boy. This situation with Fiddlesticks, I don't see turning out too well.
And as soon as I read "fillies" I was thinking - "Lemme guess...the Crusaders?"

[Bread Shot]

2610394 Just saying most of the colors look dark and moody just sayin supah sayin.Pr

[Rhino]

2610919 Noted.

[Bread Shot]

2610926 DOUBLE NOTED!!Pr