“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”
-Mark Twain
Vinyl’s eyes fluttered open as early morning sunlight spilled through the open curtains. The unicorn brought a hoof up to block the offending light, but found that it was not enough. All she wanted in this world was a few more minutes of sleep for today, she just wanted to feel rested.
“Scratch.” That was too much to ask, apparently. “C’mon, wake up. I made breakfast for us, and I would like you to partake.” Vinyl groaned and kicked her covers off violently. The sleepy mare sat up and levitated her favorite brush from her nightstand and got to work getting her mane even remotely in order.
“Fine. Whatever, I’m getting up.” Vinyl made sure that Twinkle was out of her sight before finally standing up. “I swear, I haven’t slept for more than eight hours since he’s been here.” Sleep was supposed to be like ten or more hours, anything less was sub-par and unreasonable.
“You can sleep when you’re dead, Scratch!” Sweet Celestia, was he listening all of the time? Peace was never around in this house as long as Twinkle was here…not that Vinyl minded. It was good to have him as company.
“Keep it up and I’ll keel over before I’m thirty!” Vinyl opened her window and stuck her head out, a super-chilled wind blowing through her mane. “Holy…it’s already freezing.” Vinyl slammed the window shut and pulled her favorite hoodie from where she had thrown it the other day.
“Aww, you mean it?” Vinyl rolled her eyes at the stallion’s sweet sarcasm. “Because that would be the best.” It did elicit a little laugh from her though, the banter was welcome and much needed.
“Y’know what, Twinkle?” Vinyl asked as she walked out of her room. “Just for that, I’m staying alive forever.” Shining laughed at that remark. “I’m being serious, I’ll go straight to Celestia and ask for Princesshood right now.” Vinyl trotted over to Shining, who was over a pot on the stove. “What’re you making, Dummy?”
“Oatmeal. Put some milk and cream in it, some brown sugar.” He reached over to a bag and pulled out a couple of different kinds of fruit. “Even got some of the good stuff to mix in.” Vinyl trotted over and rooted through the bag, looking for what she wanted.
“No pineapple?” She asked disappointingly. She looked among the other pickings and decided on a juicy looking pear. “That’s a damn shame.” She preferred pineapple, both on her pizza and as her fruit of choice.
“Don’t tell me you eat that on stuff? It’s good in like a fruit salad or something, but I wouldn’t put it on anything.” Shining turned off the burner and removed the pot. “I read in a book that if you didn’t have stomach acid, pineapple would digest you before you could digest it. Seriously, it’s really acidic.”
“Thank whoever for stomach acid, then.” Vinyl got a knife from one of the drawers and cut a piece of the pear off. “You ever wonder why so many of our disagreements are about food?” It had been something that she had noticed the other day but never really dwelled on. Hell, on the way back to Canterlot on the train they had argued about the best way to eat an egg.
“It’s common ground.” Shining shrugged as he drudged the oatmeal into bowls for them both. “Everypony eats, so everypony has an opinion on food. When everypony has an opinion, they want to express and defend them.” Shining shrugged as he got a knife and an apple and began cutting slices into his oatmeal. “Plus, as long as we’re arguing about dumb stuff we won't argue about anything else.” Vinyl had to give him that one, it worked to some extent.
“Alright.” Vinyl cut a few pieces of the pear into her breakfast and took up residence on her couch. “So what’s your favorite food, Twinkle?” The stallion cocked his eyebrow as he sat next to her. “What? I just wanna know a bit more about you. You just said it’s good common ground, so help me out here.”
“Anything with Rainbow Sauce on it.” Twinkle admitted with a shrug. “I like my food spicy, so as long as it fits it’s good with me.” Vinyl wouldn’t have pegged Twinkle to be a spice junky, but Rainbow Sauce was the hard stuff. She liked a little hot sauce on her eggs every now and then, but she would never touch anything close to that caliber.
“How in the hell do you have a tongue still? Are you sure it hasn’t burned off yet?” Vinyl commented as she happily ate her bowl of fruit topped slop. “Like, I’ve tried that stuff once and it damn near scorched my tongue off.”
“My mom’s youngest sister is a bit of a foodie. When I was little she would watch me and got me started young on the spicy stuff.” Shining finished his bowl, yes he practically inhaled the thing, and got up. “I was being nice by not spicing up anything I cooked around here. Truth be told, Scratch. That casserole thing you made last night would’ve been a million times better with something hot in it.”
“Tell you what, Twinkle.” Vinyl got up and ate the rest of her food as she walked. “You get me a jar of the stuff and we’ll try it out together. Maybe after all of this is over, you can wean me onto it.” Vinyl liked that thought, of a life after this stuff. A life where Twinkle wasn’t her guard, but her friend. Somepony she could count on, not because he was ordered to be there, but because he genuinely wanted to be. That was something to look forward to.
“Deal.” Twinkle said as he tossed his bowl in the sink and filled it with water. “Tell you what, Scratch, I can’t wait to get my own place and finally have a whole house to myself.” He looked around for a second, Vinyl could tell he was admiring the apartment. “Put aside how you got it, and this is pretty ideal.”
“Yeah, without the dead parents this place is sweet,” Vinyl cracked. “Why don’t you have your own place, Twinkle? You’re older than me, I figured you would be out of your parents’ house by now.” Vinyl couldn’t hear him sigh, but she saw it in his shoulders.
“I got out of guard training late, it took me longer to graduate than it should’ve.” Vinyl was going to ask, but before she did Shining was already explaining. “On my final exam the first time around, we were doing the obstacle course during the physical portion and…I fell from the top of a wall, my back leg got caught in a rope as I fell and it snapped like a twig in two places.” Shining stamped his back right leg, against the tile, allowing Vinyl to catch a glimpse of a very slight hitch in the motion near the joints. “It took it a year and a half to heal, and another year for me to get walking and back in shape. Then I had to go through the whole guard training again from the beginning.” Shining was still busy focusing on the bowl he had put in there and washing it vigorously. “I’m still in my first two years of being a guard, so yeah, I’m still a rookie and make a rookie’s salary.”
“That really sucks, Twinkle.” Vinyl nodded as she put her bowl in the sink. “But thanks for sharing, really. It must’ve been hard, but at least you’re here now. You got your dream job even after that, and that’s pretty cool.” Vinyl looked back at his leg. “Does it…does it still hurt or anything?”
“If I let it sit for too long, sometimes. Also when the weather gets really bad quickly, I get near immobile.” Vinyl felt bad for him on some level. She could almost see the dreamer that had once been in there and was now beaten down by life. She knew that feeling pretty well in her life. “I get by, though. I work through it.”
“Good.” Vinyl turned off the water and decided to change the subject from his trauma to hers. “So what’s the plan for today, Twinkle? Have you decided how we’re going to emotionally traumatize me today?”
“Well first I was thinking about putting you in a sack with a bunch of angry cats and throwing you over the waterfall.” Vinyl laughed at Twinkle’s joke. “But I’m in a good mood today, so I figured instead we would just start with Uncle B and work from there. We’ll go to the shop and I’ll have you talk to him about your choices and then…well I guess you two just talk it out.” Yeah, because that wasn’t going to end terribly. It would end in a shouting match, and she was sure that Shining knew that.
Well, whatever the day held it was going to be interesting. Everypony could count on that fact.
----
Cadance trotted through the halls of the castle, right to where she knew Tia was waiting. It was the dining room, exactly where she always was at this time of day. She was either waiting for food, eating food, or talking to her advisors after waiting for food this early in the morning.
Luckily for Cadance, it appeared that Celestia was currently in the first phase of the morning so she had time. The doors closed behind Cadance and she was left in the room with just herself and the monarch of the sun. They needed to discuss the future of Equestria together, as co-rulers.
“Good morning, Cadance!” Celestia beamed jovially. “Have you come to enjoy breakfast with me? You know how much I love a little company with my meals.” Cadance nodded and approached the seat next to her adopted aunt.
“Aunt Tia, I think we need to talk about Galea and what she said.” Celestia cocked her head to the side in confusion. “About the diarchy, about me taking more responsibility and dissolving the House of Nobles.” Cadance had some more things on her mind, but those would come later, after business talk.
“Oh, that?” Celestia waved her hoof at the idea. “I’ve already been talking with some of my advisors and the nobles that weren’t taken away, and we’re looking into the situation. Restructuring everything is going to take some time, so for now we will let everything play out as it may.” Cadance felt frustrated with this part of Celestia, this ‘let it happen’ attitude that she displayed in these times.
“But...this deals with us.” Cadance took the seat and sighed. “I get the whole ‘don’t mess with what works’ thing, Tia. I just...I think this time we need to look at this more seriously. They are trying to change the way things are run on a big scale, and…and I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” She looked up at Celestia, searching for some ounce of depth in those magenta eyes. “Really, Tia, I’m just scared that I’ll make the wrong decision and something really bad will happen.”
“Do you remember what I told you the other day?” Celestia asked, leaning in close to niece. “We all make mistakes, that’s how we learn. You and I, we have a long time to do both. If you make a mistake, or if I do, we’ll be there for each other.” Celestia took a deep breath, but did not sigh. “This is an important change, and one we must take in stride. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that we have to let the ponies choose how to rule and we must help them.” Cadance knew this approach, the let it happen but guide them, but she didn’t like it. Cadance needed order. She needed to be in control, not just go with the flow.
“I just...I don’t want to end up like Luna.” That was Cadance’s biggest worry, the weight of the responsibility. “I don’t think I’m ready to rule like you have, I don’t have it in me. What if the stress gets to me and I snap?”
“You won’t.” Celestia put a hoof on Cadance’s own. “Just like all of my little ponies, I have faith in you. All of the faith in the world.” Cadance saw the smile cross her mentor’s face, it was small but meaningful.
“How can we let them do this, though? The House of Nobles worked and it worked well.” Cadance was bound and determined to make Celestia see this her way. “You used to tell me how you used to run things. How you decided everything, even if the ponies didn’t like it. Shouldn’t we do that now? Shouldn’t we stop this if it isn’t the best course of action?”
“I’ve changed over the years, Cadance.” Celestia’s true age did not show often, but now it was coming in full force. There was a certain amount of tiredness that came with age, and Celestia was showing an extreme amount of tiredness. More than imaginable. “At first, I tried to run things by myself and without Luna. I tried to make things go the way I thought they should, but that only brought the cruelty out, that’s what I never told you. There was no compromise because they gave all of the power to me and me alone. I got things done, the way I wanted and as soon as I wanted it.” Celestia put her hooves on the table and tapped them idly. “They all called me a tyrant and called for my power to be stripped and for me to step down. Luckily for myself, I’m still the only pony alive who can raise and lower the sun and moon. It was the one chip I had to play, so I played it.” Celestia nodded and kept her eyes on the far end of the table. “Then I played every chip I got when I could, I kept gaining power.”
“Why?” Cadance asked. “Why keep gaining power if all it did was get you in trouble?” Cadance kind of figured it was like fire. Touch it once, get burned and never touch it again. “Why do you want that kind of power back?”
“Because we all want power on some level.” A very worrying smile crossed the monarch’s face. “Some of us just want more power than we know what to do with, just so we can have it. Some want it just in case, some want others to have it because they know most ponies can’t be trusted with it.” Celestia looked over to Cadance. “I wanted it because it was all I knew. Since I was little, I was gifted with power. Incontrovertible, true, inescapable power. Since I was a teenager, that was all I had known. So I craved that normality that I knew. Now, I see a way for things to get closer to the normal I know. I could go back to the compromise of power, I could go back to ruling with somepony else.” Cadance could feel the loneliness in that statement, the longing for true companionship. “I just want somepony else who understands difficult decisions.”
Cadance understood that. She had been looking to Celestia for the inspiration for her difficult decisions as of late. The question of the day as of late has been: what would Celestia do? And it was a hard question to answer, Cadance knew that now.
“I’m just afraid I’ll mess it up.” Cadance bit her lip. “I don’t want to make the wrong decision and ruin something I had no business ruining.” This was partly about running the country alongside Celestia, and partly about her plan with Vinyl and Shining. It was the subtext that she was more worried about here.
“Well that’s why we’re supposed to have each other, like I said.” Celestia scooted a bit closer to Cadance. “We have to lean on each other and ask for advice. We have to trust in each other with the hard things.” Celestia put a hoof on Cadance’s shoulder. “What are you the most worried about?” Well, now was the best time to go about this.
“I…” She should not expect judgement from Celestia, but the hesitation was still there. “...I heard some news from Galea that Vinyl might not pass her rehab and that would cost Shining his job.” Cadance twiddled her hooves nervously. “I know I shouldn’t worry about him anymore, but I just can’t let it go. I have a chance to help him without him knowing, but I don’t know if I should.” It was a lot more morally complicated than that, but she had settled with the more ethically compromising parts of the plan. It was rather whether she should or not at this point.
“I think if you can do a good thing, then you should. We can do a lot with our positions, a lot of things that can have some adverse effects on ponies.” Celestia was speaking from experience, and Cadance knew she had better listen and listen close. “So, if you can even do one thing that you know is truly good and can help somepony, then I think you should. Because it is going to be one of the last truly good things you will be able to do for a long time. Everything else is going to hurt somepony along the way, and hard decisions will just keep coming.”
“It’s…not that simple.” Cadance did not feel good that she had to explain the next part. It was going to be a lot more difficult. “In order to help him, I have to change Vinyl’s mind. I know she won’t do it willingly, so I’m going to have to use my magic on her.” Cadance put her head in her hooves. “That’s the whole reason I got into this mess, messing with ponies’ heads without them knowing it. I don’t want to ruin their lives or mine again.”
“Do you think it’s the right thing to do?” That was a very complicated question to ask, especially now.
“I…I don’t know. I just know that if I do nothing, bad things will happen to a pony I care about.” Cadance once more sighed and let her head hit the table with a thud. “I-if stopping that is a good thing, then yeah.” Cadance looked towards Celestia and saw that she was resting her chin on the table.
“Stopping somepony you love from self-destructing is a good thing.” Celestia commented. “Trust me, if you get the chance to stop somepony you love from hurting themselves, you should take the chance. Even if you don’t know if the means are just, you must focus on the ends. If you do nothing and let it play out, then you risk losing something close to you. At the end of the day, it’s ultimately your choice. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure that you can live with yourself after you decide it.”
“I just need to make sure I cover my tracks about it this time.” There was still a nagging in her heart, but she knew it was necessary. It needed to be done, it had to be. “Would you mind looking over my spell as well? I need to make sure it’s as strong as I can make it.”
----
Vinyl stood resolute outside of her Uncle’s shop. Truly she did not want to go in there, not now, not ever if it was to talk about Glory. It was going to be hell, and Vinyl wanted no part of it. But here she was, waiting for the courage to go in.
“You ready, Scratch?” The pressure of the heavy hoof on her back helped her calm down a little. “I promise, everything is going to be fine. Just tell him how you feel and try to keep him and yourself calm. Just do your best, alright? I’ll be out here the whole time and if I hear shouting then I’ll come in and help sort it out.”
“Alright,” Vinyl said after a deep breath. “Okay, yeah.” She was going to do this, she was going to go in there and stand strong against Uncle B no matter what. She could stand up to his yelling and anger, and berating as long as she remembered what she was here for. She was here to solidify her future into something she could live in, something worthwhile.
She shuffled down the stairs and opened the door. The small bell that hung above the door chimed, alerting anypony in the shop to her presence. Everything was the same as it always was, and that would never change. That’s exactly what this place represented, eternal sameness. An inability or unwillingness to change and let go. Everything from the posters on the wall, to the carpet and wallpaper were still the same as they had been for over a decade.
“Whaddya want?” The voice came first, then the visage of the portly mustachioed stallion came soon after. “Oh, Scratchy. I know yer late, but don’t worry about it. The whole big guard thing took a long time, I get it. Yerself and Twinkle had to go down there for some reason or another.” Uncle B turned his back. “Just watch the front for me, will ya?”
“Wait!” Vinyl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I need to talk to you, Uncle B. It’s…it’s important.” She saw the stallion sigh before slowly turning around. This was not going to be fun for either of them.
“How come every time ya come through that door, I always gotta worry about this happenin’?” He raised his eyebrows. “Do ya have a stunnin’ revelation on my doorstep every time ya come here, or do ya just come here every time ya have one?”
“The second one.” Vinyl answered, much to Uncle B’s chagrin. “I just...this one is really important. Glory, Twinkle and I went to Ponyville to see Lily…and something happened.” Vinyl was not proud to be talking about any of this.
“Whaddya do this time?” Uncle B said with another sigh. Vinyl was going to respond, but her uncle cut her off. “Is this gonna make me yell? ‘Cause I’m gettin’ the feelin’ that this is gonna make me yell.” Vinyl nodded. “Alright, then. We’re goin’ back to my office. Then ya can tell me how ya messed up.”
This was starting off fantastically for Vinyl, wasn’t it? All it needed now was for Uncle B to break her down by yelling at her for forty-five minutes while she cried and yelled back. Actually, that might be in the cards no matter what she did.
Dutifully, Vinyl followed her Uncle into his office. The usual acrid stench of cigars was no longer omnipresent, instead the stale air just hung in the office. It was unreal and unnatural, but it was good to know that he was trying to get and stay healthy.
“Sit. Talk.” Uncle B sat into his chair. The old thing creaked as the rotund pony leaned back in it. Vinyl took her seat across from him, waiting nervously to build up her courage to start. Maybe if she started with the good news she could transition into the bad with less incident.
“Lily is doing well. Her adoptive family is really nice. Cedar, her dad, is a bit of a hardass but you can tell he really loves her like she’s one of his own. She has two sisters named Rose and Daisy, they’re energetic and amazing and they all love her so much.” Vinyl remembered all of the smiles the fillies shared, and it brought a little warmth to her heart. “She’s amazing, Uncle B.”
“I’m glad.” Uncle B nodded. “I’m glad she has a family, and sisters to look after her. I was worried she wouldn’t have anypony to look after her.” Uncle B picked up a lighter from his desk and began flipping the top idly. “We all need a sibling or two to help us along through our lives, ya know that now. At least, I hoped ya learned that damn lesson.” It was like he was psychic or something and knew just how to tear her down before she could even give him the sledgehammer.
“It didn’t end well.” The lighter clattered to the table and Uncle B spun around. “I…the more I thought about everything, the more I saw of Lily and how beautiful and happy she was…” Vinyl closed her eyes. “…the more I hated Sky. She had let something so good slip through her hooves, something so pure and beautiful.” Vinyl leaned in and tapped the desk. “Do you know what she said to me on the train to Ponyville? She blamed it all on me! She said she wouldn’t have done it if I had been there for her!” Vinyl laughed bitterly. “It’s not like I wasted months of my life on waiting on her like her own personal servant!”
“That’s what you’re supposed to do!” Uncle B stood up from his chair, allowing it to slam into the all behind him. “She’s family! Yer supposed to give every little thing ya got to family! That’s what family does, ya moron! So don’t call it wastin’ yer time!”
“You don’t get it, alright! She blames me for her giving up Lily! Sh-she is out there blaming me for breaking up our family.” Vinyl stood up as well, her temper flaring. “She…every time I look at her, every time I even think about her, that’s all I can think about!” Vinyl paced back in forth in space that she could, which led to her basically spinning in small circles. “I couldn’t do it anymore! I can’t do it anymore! All she ever does is remind me of everything I’ve lost, all the opportunities and ponies I’ve ever lost!” Vinyl shook her head. “Not anymore, Uncle B, not anymore! I’m leaving her behind.” She felt the tears build up and start to fall but she wouldn’t stop them. “A-and don’t try to stop me, alright? I’m trying to make a better life, I’m trying to move on from everything bad and she’s item number one.” Vinyl was in full-on breakdown mode now, there was no stopping the tears.
“Ya gotta try, Scratchy.” Uncle B’s voice was less angry now, but he was still pleading with her. “I promised yer parents, I said to ‘em ‘I’ll keep ‘em safe. I’ll keep ‘em together.’ That’s all I got left of ‘em, just the word I gave.” The stallion rested his hooves on the desk. “Ya can’t take that away from me.”
“I can either be happy, or I can have Sky in my life.” Vinyl laid it out bare, that was her ultimatum. Hopefully Uncle B would see it her way.
“Why can’t ya have it both ways?” Uncle B trotted around the desk and stood nose to nose with Vinyl. “Be happy, forgive Sky and be sisters again. Trust me, I know forgiveness is hard sometimes, but that’s why it’s worth it.” Vinyl knew the extent of forgiveness that he had gone through, and she didn’t care. The situations were different. “Ya gotta try, please. For me.”
“You’re acting like I never tried!” Vinyl took a step back and leaned against the wall. “I tried to give her every inch I could, but every time she just threw it back into my face! All I saw from her was blind joy, no recognition for what she’d done. All I saw was taking…” Vinyl knew that Sky had said ‘sorry’, but there had been no real empathy in the words. It had all been a measure for saving face in front of Lily. If Sky was really sorry, she wouldn’t try to blame others for the stuff she had done.
“You know what?” Uncle B stood back and threw up a hoof. “Fine, whatever. You’re a grown mare, and you’re young. You can make all the damn mistakes you want, ‘cause eventually you’ll come back around.” All the stallion would do is shake his head. “I’m through pushin’ ya outta the way of trains, Scratchy. Feel free to let this one hit ya, maybe the pain will actually teach ya a fuckin’ lesson for once.”
“Uncle B…” This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. He was supposed to see things her way and be on her side. “…c’mon.”
“No.” He sat back down and turned around in his chair. “Get outta my store, just-just get out. I can’t deal with ya right now.”
Vinyl wasn’t sure if she could chalk this one up to a win or not. It sure felt like a loss.
----
Intrepid was having one of his good days. His mind was clear, his guilt was gone, and his body was strong. It was going to be another day in The Gauntlet, and another step closer to him being ready to go out on his own once again.
Echo had told him he had to go out with a group, but he had been resolute in his position. There was nothing that the little bat pony could say to deter him. A group was regulation, but he wasn’t exactly going out on a regulation patrol. A few days ago, he had been approached by a member of DEqI, and that had made his path clear.
He had been charged with the very special task of going to the border of Equestria and the Griffon Empire and monitoring an ongoing problem there. Then, once he had reported thoroughly, he was to go to the city of Peregrine and keep tabs on things. It wasn’t ideal, but it would take him out of Canterlot and put his future into his own hooves. Better than putting his life in the hooves of other ponies, other ponies that did not value him or think about his feelings.
Plus, it didn’t help that they didn’t give him a lot of wiggle room to refuse them. It was either that, or take a desk job here at Headquarters and rot in Canterlot for the rest of his days. Usually, he would have a say in the matter but because of his disability he had to get authorization from the Guard, who had transferred his request to DEqI and they had presented their ultimatum.
Needless to say, his desire to get out of this city was greater than his need to not be a spy for the government. Plus, it wasn’t like he hadn’t ever done a little reconnaissance for Equestrian Intelligence agencies before. Only Celestia knew if his skills from the Casaflanca era were still useful, or if he had slowed down with age.
“A cripple pony in a Griffon city isn’t suspicious, really.” He had done his research on the city and culture. Bums and outcasts always found their way up north, where all the refuse of the world wound up. Peregrine was no different, so he would fit in well.
Intrepid finally got out of his bed and strapped on his leg. It was going to be a day where the metal appendage came in handy. Between the rock climbing and use of a makeshift tool, it was going to need some much needed maintenance by the end of the day. There was a unicorn in the dorms that had a knack for repair magic, so that was something good.
“Intrepid!” Three slow knocks at the door came. If he didn’t know Echo’s voice so well, he would know it was her by the knocks. “It’s time to get up, it’s almost nine-thirty! The recruits want you in the gauntlet so they can go!” Intrepid sighed and stretched his good wing.
“Yeah, I’ll be right out.” A shower would come later, well after his session. A shower would do no good if he was just going to ruin all of the work a shower would do. Oh well, personal hygiene wasn’t paramount in the Gauntlet.
Intrepid looked back at his stump wing. They were still working on fixing that at the moment. A few false wings had come and gone, none of them could hold up to the strenuous job he had in store for them. One day they would get it right.
“Alright, Echo-” Intrepid opened the door from his small quarters to the sprawling corridors beyond. “-let’s get going, I want to get at least two runs in by the end of the day.” The bat pony smiled at him as they came face to face. “I want to be timed today, I think I’m ready to beat some records.”
“I’m sure you are, Intrepid.” That was not a good tone, that was the tone of an incoming problem. “But first, you have a visitor.” Intrepid sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s why I had to coax you out, if I had told you they were here for you would’ve never come out.” Intrepid leveled a glare at the Thestral. “I may be blind, but I can still feel that. Stop it and go meet your guests.”
“Who are they?” It was either a government stooge or a pony he wanted nothing to do with.
“Shining Armor and Vinyl Scratch.” Oh good, it was both of the things he wanted nothing to do with rolled into one package. Hopefully the former would just send the latter in to do his dirty work. He could at least talk to Vinyl Scratch without getting angry.
“Oh boy, is it my birthday?” Intrepid lowered his head and marched on towards the rotunda. If he was going to get this done, it was going to be quick and painless. The less time he spent in the company of fools and foolers the better.
He opened the doors to the rotunda and found the female white unicorn without her male counterpart. He lucked out a little, at least. But he wondered what the mare could want with him alone? Maybe another date? That wouldn’t feel too good to turn her down, but it would be something he had to do.
“Hey Vinyl.” Intrepid trotted forward, his metal limb clacking against the marble. “Short time, no see. What brings you all the way to my neck of the woods?” He was going to try and keep it cordial the best he could.
“Hey Intrepid.” The mare waved and gave a nervous smile. “I just came here because…because I think we need to talk.” They weren’t even dating and it still wasn’t a good sign. He really didn’t want to go through with any of this anymore.
“Talk about what?” He could think of a million different things they could talk about, but only one thing they needed to talk about. This was going to be about Cadance, and it wasn’t going to be fun or pleasant.
“Just…us.” Okay, that was going to be a lot more complicated. There had never really been a ‘them’. It had all been a fever dream of some sort brought on by magic and the petty vengeance of a poor Princess. There was never a ‘them’.
“Vinyl, there wasn’t an ‘us’.” He started out pretty blunt, but it was going to get real hurtful. “It was a fabrication, a lie, a…a ruse. We were tricked and manipulated to fit someone else’s goals, that’s not a relationship, it’s a fucking chess game.” Intrepid shook his head.
“Alright, going straight for the jugular. I can admire that, I guess.” Intrepid didn’t know Vinyl all that well, but he could tell she was really reigning something in. A temper, maybe. “But...are you sure there was nothing ever between us? Not even the first night at the orchestra?”
“How can I be sure?” Intrepid asked, leaning in. “How can I be sure anything I ever felt when I was around you or Cadance was real? Because, I thought I knew my own feelings, but apparently I didn’t.” It was all a blur, a whirlwind filled with strong emotions and confusion. Every time he had been around VInyl had been a moment filled with a strange clarity he couldn’t really explain. Was it love or magic? He didn’t know, he couldn’t tell, and that confusion was holding him back.
“I know Cadance fucked up, Intrepid.” That was an understatement if he had ever heard one. “I know that we left with a lot of hurt feelings, but I just want you to look deep down to figure out if any of them were ever real.” He sighed deeply. He had spent more than a couple of restless nights trying to figure that out himself. “The music lover from the orchestra, was he real or just something Cadance made?”
“That was real…” He at least knew that much. There was no way he was different from the stallion that night at the concert hall. “My father used to take me when I was little, always wanted to be a musician.” He shook his head and turned away. “It doesn’t matter, we can never really know what was real. Even a little doubt makes the whole thing questionable.”
“I just...I want to know if there was any way we could’ve ever been anything without Cadance’s involvement.” That was a heavy question, and one he didn’t even know if he could answer. Could they have been?
“It doesn’t matter.” Intrepid settled on that answer. “I’m going to be gone soon anyways, so it doesn’t matter. You just need to focus on you and I’ll focus on me from now on.” It was for the best, really. Even if he stayed, it wasn’t going to be good for either of them.
“Gone? You’re…you’re leaving?” Vinyl stepped closer to him and reached a hoof out. “Just because of Cadance? That’s no reason to leave Canterlot.” Great, he was going to have to explain it to her now.
“I’m going back out there, into the world.” He would try to sugarcoat it, Vinyl was still young and deserved a little dollop of hope in her life. “I’m tired of standing still, and Cadance made me realize that. She made me realize that the more you stay where you are, the more normal things become. She did those things because she thought they were normal, because she’s never been anywhere else in the world and learned a different set of values. All she knows is what those corrupt bastards up top taught her.” Okay, sugarcoating didn’t really work. His old cynicism was boiling up to the top again.
“So you think going out into the world is the right choice? Just leaving?”
“I personally think staying in one place for too long is a dangerous thing. Everypony needs to be a stranger sometimes, because there’s nothing wrong with being a little strange.” He was used to exotic locales and cultures he barely understood. It made him feel right, it kept ‘normal’ at a leg’s length. It kept attachments from forming.
“Well...I hope you find whatever you’re looking for out there.” Vinyl turned around and then stopped, turning back with a half smile on her face. “Even if there wasn’t anything ever between us, if it was all just magic and nonsense, I still want you to know that I liked the stallion I met. I know the stallion I met was still you deep down.”
“Thanks.” At this point, even the little moments of connection between them seemed important. They seemed valuable and something he so desperately needed. It had helped in some respect, it had finally helped him realize that he didn’t belong here.
It made him realize that this city was a poison that took any shred of decency you had and turned it against you. Even the purest of ponies, the Princesses themselves, were not immune to its corrupted lure. It got to everypony and made them accept the unacceptable, agree to the unagreeable, and give in to the immoral.
If Vinyl didn’t leave, she was going to fall into the same trap. That’s why Intrepid was leaving, to save whatever goodness remained in his heart.