I'm exhausted, and yet I'm not. A full night of jamming away inside the Royal Castle ballroom hasn't produced much, but at least I feel the juices flowing in my mind. With enough of a current, I just might be able to sail a new symphony down these waters.
I'm so distracted with... being distracted, that I scarcely notice the hoofsteps of several ponies until they're clopping across the ballroom floor. I look up from where I'm packing up my records and turntable.
"...that's precisely why I think we should have whoopie cushions at the Gala!" Pinkie Pie insists, pouting. "Every time a patron sits down, they'll hear the raspberry noise and they'll be forced back to their hooves! Don't you get it?! It'll be crowd control!"
"Can't we just... I dunno..." Applejack shrugs. "Ask the ponies nicely to stand around and mingle and not hog the seats?"
"I like my whoopie cushion idea!" Pinkie grins wide, followed by Fluttershy and Rarity. "Come onnnnn! It'll be festive! Heehee!"
Fluttershy flaps her wings just long enough to raise a hoof. "Uhm... I-I vote for doing the nice things."
"Seems like yer bein' outmatched, Pinkie," Applejack says with a grin.
"Oh yeah?" Pinkie bounces ahead, nose tilted up. "We'll just see what final vote gets cast at the big meeting! Harumph!" She blinks. "Heehee! I like the sound of that! HARUMPH! What pony can possibly say that and still be mad?! Harumph! Harumph! Harrrrrrrumph!"
I wave casually.
Applejack only now sees me. "Oh, hey there, Miss Scratch!" She tips her hat. "Fancy meetin' you here so early."
"Were you really practicing music in the ballroom overnight?" Fluttershy asks.
I nod, throwing my turntable over my shoulder and balancing it on my flank.
"Whew! Talk about dedication!" Applejack smiles. "Whelp... another day... another Friendship Gala planning meeting! See ya at the rehearsals, sugarcube!"
I follow loosely behind, watching as Fluttershy drifts into the hallway after Applejack. "Do... do you think that Twilight's gonna be showing up for this meeting?"
"I dunno, Fluttershy. Reckon she's mighty stressed about this whole Friendship Gala thang. No doubt she's busy making a gazillion notecards to help her review the notes we took from last time."
"What if... what if there's something else?" Fluttershy gulps. "And our best friend isn't feeling very well."
"Awww shoot, Fluttershy. I wouldn't be too worried! After all, if somethin' was botherin' Twilight, I'm certain she'd tell us."
"Yes. I suppose that's true—"
All of the sudden, the crystalline double doors to the hallway close in front of me with a solid thud.
I jolt to a stop, blinking.
After adjusting my shades, I notice that a fine white aura of energy has encased the doorframe. It fades—just as an elegant unicorn stops aiming her horn.
"We need to talk," Rarity says, her voice like fine sand—coarse and unmelodic. She twirls around, her diamond-eyes slicing the room. Slicing me. "Right now, before things crumble any further."
I blink, frozen in place. I'm overcome with sudden, frigid uncertainty. It crawls through my muscles with each cold step Rarity takes torwards me, glaring.
"You know, she cried all night and into the next morning, my little sister." Her eyes narrow like dagger tips. "My beloved Sweetie Belle—who, admittedly, I feel like strangling at times. And yet... I always forgive her, because her antics—albeit annoying—are still tolerable. Because I know that she is a child. We were all... once children, Miss Scratch. Although..." She comes to a stop, nostrils flaring. "...some of us have more trouble than others in adjusting to the demands of time."
I bite my lip.
"Miss Scratch, I don't know you, and you don't know me. We are mild... lukewarm accomplices at best. And yet—as an artist and a purveyor of creative perfection—I can detect the torment of an inspired soul from miles away. Granted, I just don't have the good sense to prophesy the texture of such anguish... including when it's most toxic."
She paces around me, her voice forming icicles in my ears.
"But something is gnawing at you. I can tell. There are times when that something has gnawed at me. Why... just a few weeks ago, I had something of an existential career crisis when I first opened the Canterlot Boutique, only to see my delicate profession mutate into an abominably mundane industry. The whole experience carried with it shades of an ordeal I went through over a year ago, when Twilight Sparkle first graced me with her presence. I was tasked with designing the Gala gowns for each of my friends—when the best laid plans inexplicably went sour. I was so incredibly vexxed and frustrated with myself that I wept unendingly to the point that I considered moving away from Ponyville altogether."
She scuffles to a stop with a frown that could melt mountains.
"But never in all of my melodramatic episodes did I ever... ever take my frustrations out on a poor, innocent child... least of all a foal as endearing and naive as Sweetie Belle."
I swallow a lump down my throat. In utter futility, I attempt charading something with my hooves—
"You threw a record at her?!" Rarity snarls. "You resorted to violence as an answer to her precociousness?"
My brow furrows. I shake my head vehemently.
"Even if you had no intention to harm her, Miss Scratch, do you honestly not have it within yourself to hold back such a brazen temper? What you had was an opportunity to calmly correct the mistakes those foals had made, and instead you turned into... into..." Her voice hisses. "I don't even know what to make out of Sweetie Belle's description! Truthfully, a child is prone to exagerration, but her and her two friends detail the same horrid account..."
With a magenta exhale, I slump over, facehoofing.
All is silent for a while.
"You are a trusted... gifted... honored minstrel to Her Royal Majesty, Miss Scratch." Rarity takes a deep breath. "And it is because of my close friendship with Twilight and the others that I shan't do anything to affect that. Nevertheless... I want to make one thing perfectly clear." She leans in to me. "You are to never... ever... be in the company of my little sister ever again. If I even hear that you're so much as writing to Sweetie Belle, I shall inform the Princess of this incident and it will be up to her and her impartial judgment to decide what to do with such blatant disharmony in her own castle. Do you understand me?"
Very limply, I nod. It's not really a matter of understanding.
"I'm sorry that she overstepped her bounds when your roommate gave her access to your apartment. But for Celestia's sake, Miss Scratch..." Rarity's jaw drops. "A modicum of sanity goes a long way! Surely, as an adult, you can grasp this."
I'm frowing at this point. So I answer with a lethargic sigh.
"Well, for your sake, I hope you do. Before somepony close to you suffers the bitter end of your frustrations." She opens the doors and shuffles off, tail swishing. "And on a loosely related note, I have a dress for Octavia to try on for the Friendship Gala. You can tell her that. However... if you plan to accompany her to the Boutique, I would greatly desire to be forwarned... so that I can properly relocate my sibling."
Creeaak.
Thud!
And just like that...
The deep waters of my mind are stagnant again.
...And there it is.
ouch
I'm sorry, how is being forced never to speak to that brat again a punishment?FINALLY, someone is direct!
Did she faint at the end?
So, Rarity is legion?
Also, I don't know if this was intentional, but when Pinkie's going all harrumph, the spacing goes utterly crazy.
And of course Rarity takes advantage of the fact Vinyl can't speak so she can lay into her without Vinyl being able to defend or explain herself. And she wants to act like she's the mature one? If she were being mature she'd have asked Vinyl her version of events, ESPECIALLY since she went out of her way to state her sister exaggerates things.
Congratulations Rarity, you abused a mute to feel better about the situation instead of acting like a civilized and mature adult. You could have made your displeasure known and then asked her how things actually went down. I mean it's not like she could have died to save the life of your sister or anything oh wait, she did! It'd make no sense to endanger said little sister's life after nearly losing her own in protecting it!
6619559 I would like to respectfully point out that human beings, on whom ponies are closely modeled, are very rarely rational thinkers when it comes to slights against our loved ones. Pretty much every point you've made still stands, of course, but I feel the intrinsic irrationality of emotional beings is worth mentioning.
Rarity, dear, while that was somewhat deserved... you need to learn when to shut your yap.
On one hand, Aurora Dimmet raises a good point (or multiple good points). Rarity should have gotten Vinyl's side of the story before she took such dramatically final measures. On the other, none of this would have happened if Vinyl didn't lose all semblance of reason or perspective whenever her past dares to whisper in her ear.
What we have here is a failure to communicate, both in the case of the Rarity and in the prior case of Sweetie Belle when the incident in question went down. Unless they all have a pow-wow and sort this nonsense out, it doesn't look like there'll be any further collaborations with Sweetie.
Also, I wonder what Octavia's thoughts on this will be.
This was a delightful chapter full of love!
I'm glad Vinyl's anger and actions were addressed and I loved how this scene transpired. Rarity's rebuke and demands for vinyl to stay away are completely justified.
I can see where both Vinyl and Rarity are coming from. We've seen how much of a deal Cyan Sings is to Vinyl and if you look at how unconsciously callous the CMC,- especially Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,- were in that chapter to Vinyl about it, it's understandable how thoroughly outraged she was. Equally, it's quite understandable how Rarity would want to protect her only sister from a thoroughly unprovoked attack,- to our knowledge Rarity has no idea about Cyan Sings or otherwise, and I doubt Sweetie Belle would have given her an accurate picture of the matter.
However, if I have to pin this whole mess on any party, I would have to blame the CMC. Now I will admit up front that I have a low tolerance of them in general: they cause a lot of havoc but never ever seem to improve or learn therefrom, merely blundering on from dangerous stunt to dangerous stunt with nary a thought to what harm may come,- to themselves or to others. Now I understand this is how children of their age are, but I rather think that that still doesn't excuse their actions in this incident.
The incident as it boils down in my head follows thus: Vinyl is away from home. The CMC had been invited into her home,- I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it's not just Sweetie Belle that was supposed to be there, otherwise that would be terribly rude in itself, bringing uninvited guests and assuming that it'd be all right without consulting the hostess. They must have gone through Vinyl's things to find the record, and put it on without asking their hostess, again assuming that whatever they do will be perfectly all right and have no consequences.
The whole thing illustrates of a lack of common courtesy, and at its core represents a severe breach of trust and privacy. One should not go through people's things without asking, and a guest should always respect the sanctity of their hostess' abode. Yes, they are children and children are inquisitive,- but a breach of trust is still a breach of trust, and trust once lost cannot be so easily regained, regardless of how many apologies or tears slung Vinyl's way.
I would love to see Rarity's reaction if the shoe was on the other foot,- that is to say if some highly undesirable article of her past had been laid bare in such a manner,- and while Vinyl's reaction was, I will admit, far in excess of how she should have behaved, I still think the CMC deserve most, if not all, of the blame for the current situation. I must say, if I were Vinyl, I'd certainly welcome not having Sweetie Belle in my home henceforth,- I wouldn't be able to trust her enough to let her in.
6619577
just because that's how we are does not make it right, acceptable, or grant freedom from criticism when we act that way.
Believe me, I understand better than most what it's like to lose control, especially when a loved one has been wronged. I'm nothing if not a poster child for rage issues and enacting ultraviolence - Rarity showed a restraint I may not be chemically capable of exhibiting. I just feel like if you're going to be the one doing the unreasonable yelling, you shouldn't act as though you're the mature one - just doesn't feel honest.
6619616
I completely agree, but I would like to point out that Vinyl seems to be suffering from PTSD on the issue of her past identity. Which isn't a problem that you can talk out and be over... or ever be over. Even medication just keeps it at bay. This comes from living in a house with a handful of veterans most of my life. Still, be that as it may, she's going to have to -explain- that that is the case for anyone to understand, I feel.
This chapter really hit me hard. I even started to tear up a little bit.
Rarity just KNOWS that baby Vinyl is mute.. she doesn't know about Cyan Sings and I bet 50 bits on it, that Sweetie Belle exaggerated, made it look absolutely horrible and didn't tell her a damn thing about Cyan.
Vinyl just has a lot of stuff built up on her, and Rarity doesn't know a damn thing. I don't know who to be mad at, to be honest.
This chapter eats me up... but I cannot wait until the next one. Wondering what Octavia will do or say, IF Vinyl lets her in on it. Hope she doesn't let it drive her mad and I hope she doesn't end up not going to the gala.
6619700 wow, why is there all this hate towards your comment. Here, have a like dude.
6619827
I'm inclined to agree. As amusing as the CMC are, they are all little cunts the lot of them. I mean even in today's day and age, that sort of thing isn't acceptable by anyone, you don't just casually walk into someone's house when they're not home and amuse yourself by rummaging through private possessions. That's only something you'd get away with for super super close family at best.
Nope, ungrateful whelps are to blame, and self-centric Rarity doesn't get that she's partly to blame for not teaching her sister some god damn manners.
6619828 I agree with you on the point of Rarity being a little immature in that she doesn't give Vinyl a chance to really explain things from her end, but there's something in your argument that I feel is a little bit off the mark:
See, I don't believe she's taking advantage of Vinyl's inability to speak, but more like she's laying into her in spite of that fact. I could easily see her doing the exact same thing if Vinyl could speak, chewing her out without giving her a chance to truly explain why she reacted that way.
Other than that, yeah, I'm gonna say Rarity is being a little hypocritical, but in her defense, Vinyl wasn't exactly a paragon of patience and restraint either.
It's all moot though, what's done is done, and the best we can hope for is a peaceful resolution. Possibly Vinyl takes the time to explain things to Rarity, Rarity takes time to listen, ok's a visit with Sweetie so Vinyl can apologize for going off the handle and then explain to Sweetie that she has issues with her past that she doesn't want to talk about?
Wait, this is a Skirts fic. Damn. This is probably gonna get padded out for ten more chapters, isn't it?
You didn't even give her a chance to explain Rarity D: jeebus. >:| I'm disappointed in you gurly, very disappointed.
I can understand where you're coming from and all that, but come on, at least hear Vinyl out ;n;
Other than that, nice chapter well done Skirts.
Having been in a position similar to Vinyl's in this chapter before, I can say that it f#####g sucks (Excuse my profanity). If Vinyl can't find the strength to face her past, no matter how bad it is, it WILL consume her; she will eventually unintentionally hurt and drive away those closest to her, right when she needs them the most. As for Rarity's reaction, she needs to get off of her high horse (pun intended) and grow up. And on the CMC, they simply didn't know any better.
I think people are being overly harsh on Vinyl's reaction last chapter, as well. She never intended to hurt Sweetie Belle. She succeeded in what she had attempted to do: Scare them out so that they'd leave immediately rather than hang around trying to talk it out or apologize or mess it up worse. Let's not forget they were causing her psychological pain that transforms into physical pain for her.
The CMC not knowing this is one thing, it can be argued that from an in-world perspective Vinyl was in the wrong, which I will agree with. From the kids' point of view, this seems over the top. But we know better, so I don't understand why there's all this 'Vinyl deserves it' and 'Vinyl was wrong' 'Vinyl did bad'. If annoying people came into your house unasked-for and were rooting around in your private stuff in some manner which was causing you actual pain, would you stop and calmly explain to them why they need to get out - especially considering it's the CMC and they'd sit around another good thirty minutes trying to ask questions - or start yelling at them to leave?
Yelling at people to leave your property for any reason is never considered 'wrong' in our society. You are perfectly within your rights, and no one can say squat about that. But Vinyl -can't- yell. What she can do is vigorously gesture for said unwanted persons to leave, which was not getting the point across apparently - and barring that, she can chuck things at the wall to get them moseying out under their own power with all available speed. I imagine using her magic to push them out would ACTUALLY be seen as a problem, and in her emotional-mental state of pain and hurtful memories and emotional anguish and anger at her privacy's violation, doing so might have had unwanted results.
If you think about it, given the situation as we saw it to be, Vinyl did the best thing she could have had at the time, with all factors as they were. Can we really condemn her so harshly, those of you who are doing so? We know that from the other characters' perspective it seemed bad, but we also know from our perspective that with everything as it was, there was no better way for that situation to play out.
I foresaw a long time back on this story that Vinyl is on a strongly self-destructive path right now. The only question is whether she can get off that path before she loses everything worth having.
Rarity was right about the pain and rage in Vinyl. The question that Vinyl really needs to answer is this: How long will it be until Octavia says something untoward and triggers her to violence? She desperately needs to confront her pain and learnt to deal with it before she destroys everything that she still values in her life.
Good job, Vinyl. Really. Now you'll have to make do without her... or explain exactly what happened in the past to Rarity. Even if it's not justifiable.
I get that Rarity is angry and protective, but Vinyl isn't at fault here and Rarity is overly harsh.
She didn't consciously decide to react as she did. Sure, the CMC couldn't have known how she'd react (Sweetie Belle didn't even seem to be aware that Vinyl can't sing anymore, which is weird considering they all know first hand she can't talk), but neither could Vinyl have foreseen they'd trigger her disorder and warned them about it.
The right response would be finding out what happened and getting Vinyl and Belle to talk about it, not going all Liam Neeson.
Edit: Also, there is the slight matter of how Sweetie Belle came to be working with Vinyl in the first place. Namely, Vinyl literally put herself in the hospital saving her life. She's owed a chance to explain herself.
6619828
I certainly don't begrudge Vinyl for having some psychological issues. I just see her locked in a self-destructive cycle and shutting almost everyone else out. She can't expect to keep going down this path without driving more and more ponies away. You're right that she's gonna have to open up and actually communicate (as much as she can).
Regarding your later comment, I have to say I disagree. While it's understandable to be upset with someone looking through your things, it's important to remember that they are kids. Kids who had a key, who meant no harm, and had no way of knowing how painful the record was for Vinyl. Maybe that doesn't make what they did alright, but for Vinyl to lash out at them like that, to break things, to frighten them and leave them in tears and potentially leave them with emotional scars of their own, was a huge overreaction. Frankly, as the adult, the onus is on her to handle the situation in a sensible and mature way. If the record causes her pain, emotionally or physically, then okay. But she sure as hell had a responsibility to sit the kids down and communicate that to them, or at least communicate it with Rarity (as Sweetie's relative), because I guarantee they wouldn't do it again. Instead, Vinyl acted like a child herself, and potentially ruined two friendships. And, while I agree that Rarity should've gotten Vinyl's side of the story, I don't blame her for her overall reaction.
So let me see if I got the chain of events right
-Sweetie Belle rummages through VS' private posesions
-Finds a very private thing
-VS finds out and tells her to go away
-SB doesn't go away
-VS gets mad and throws private thing against a wall
-SB gets buttmad and goes away crying because [¿?]
-Apparently this is VS fault now and she abused (????) SB or something, even when she is the one who goes into seizures if she hears her own voice
Yup. Totally. VS is the bad guy in this.
6621750 Sweetie Bellevue is a child and Vinyl is an adult. Sweetie messed up but is, again a child. Neither were exactly right, and it was Sweetie that began everything, but Vinyl has a responsibility as an adult to be more mature and reasonable when dealing with kids.
6620350 The disorder Vinyl has told nobody about and the disorder nobody could have known about. She's choosing to keep it to herself, no one is forcing her. So the consequences of being triggered are on her shoulders.
And from Rarity's POV, a seemingly level headed, if not slightly eccentric, adult individual lashed out angrily at her sister for making a mistake. Her reaction wasn't too far off from what I'd do in the same situation and it were my brother.
Sometimes a crisis is needed to get someone to seriously face their own problems. Rarity knows at a gut level that there is something Vinyl is refusing to deal with, which she validly points out. Tough as the message is, she is doing Vinyl a favour in coming down hard. Rarity didn't have to explain why she is forbidding Vinyl from her sister's presence. This isn't abuse, this is Rarity trying to help a pony that she has every right to cut out of her life. This is tough love born of tough generosity. This is brilliant characterization of Rarity!
as fun as it is reading this i annoyed at it not being as detailed as i like
3-4 chapters ago oh she shattered the record
this chapter oh it hit sweetiebell >.>
Wow, seems like Rarity is WAY over-reacting here considering both what actually happened in Vinyl's room and the fact that Vinyl literally SAVED SWEETIE'S LIFE!
6623819 it said it hit the wall in the chapter, and sweetie belle wasn't bleeding afterwards, it may have whiffed past though