Octavia Philharmonica:
“Who will give me fifty-five?” the auctioneer suddenly sped to a vocal range that Octavia couldn’t keep up with.
“So this is how it is now.” She told herself. “This is how it is, Octavia. Being sold like a watermelon. With a smaller watermelon inside the first.”
She closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. “I miss you, Vinyl.” She couldn’t forget the screams of her lover when the guard brought a heavy hoof on her horn.
“SOLD!” the auctioneer yelled, snapping Octavia out of her mournful sorrow.
“Next up, a lovely grey Dirt Pony. Her talent may be music, but there may be somepony out there that can use her for something else.”
She looked up, seeing two Pegasi coming up to her. She bent her head low, allowing a single tear to fall to the ground.
One Pegasus hit her with a piece of plastic. “MOVE!” She wanted to kick him, but that would mean more lashes. She obeyed, trotting up to the stand.
“Now, we’ll start the bidding at one twenty-five!” He pointed to her, “One hundred and twenty-five bits for the lovely musical pony!”
“Two hundred bits!” somepony roared, “And if anyone tries to outbid me, feel my wrath!”
The auctioneer looked at the source of the voice, “Two hundred? I think if you want her for that, you may go a bit higher!” he chuckled.
“Seven thousand bits then!” The pony ran up, tossing a bag of bits on the podium. “Seven thousand up front! Come on!”
Octavia kept her head down. She had been sold just like that? The stallion who purchased her gave her a hard shove. “Move! Come on, we haven’t got all day!”
Octavia allowed herself to be shepherded into a carriage. When the door closed and the cart started moving did she allow herself to cry out loud.
Celestia damn the stallion that try to smack some sense into her. She’d accept it with dignity.
What she didn’t expect though, was what she got.
“Shh… It’s okay, Octavia. You’re safe now.” She felt a hoof embrace her. She looked up, right into the eyes of… wait, that can be…
“Ro- Rolando Staccato?” Her soon-to-be father-in-law?
“I couldn’t let anypony get to you.” He said, “Thank Luna that I found you right off.”
“What were you doing at an auction?” she asked, “I didn’t expect you to be one of those who--”
“No.” Rolando cut her off, “I have been against slavery even before Vincenza was born. Even before I could talk, really. No, the reason I was in an auction was to see if I could find you.”
She looked at the caring look of her mentor’s face, “Thank you, father.”
Rolando smiled, “I just want to make sure my daughter-in-law is alright.”
The two rode in silence, until;
“Wait, did you say ‘thank Luna’?”
Rolando scoffed, “Can’t really thank Celestia, when she’s the one that got us into this mess, now can we? I wouldn’t be surprised if Celestia was overthrown and Luna took her responsibilities.”
Octavia looked out the window, “I just wish we could help everypony else.”
Rolando nodded, “Yeah, me too. I’m wondering if Luna and Celestia switched somehow. Did you see the look on Luna’s face when Celestia told us that creed?”
Octavia nodded, remembering the purple Alicorn glaring at her sister when she said those words, decreeing Earth Ponies as garbage. “She looked ready to send Celestia to the Moon.”
The carriage stopped at an exquisite manor, almost as big as the city of Appleloosa.
“Come on, we’d better find a way to protect you.” Rolando opened the door, allowing Octavia to jump down.
The two trotted flank-to-flank up the marble walkway to the Oak doors. The door swung open as another Unicorn threw them open.
“Master Rolando. Ah, and Lady Octavia. Glad to see your well in these, ah, trying times.”
“Hello Sebastian.” Octavia accepted the Butler’s hug.
“Sebastian, get Mariana.” Rolando nudged Octavia inside, slamming the doors behind him.
Octavia felt a sudden pain between her legs, as if someone shoved a knife in her… well... she “You alright Octavia?” Rolando had turned at her grunt of pain, seeing her doubled over.
“It just felt like someone stabbed me with a knife.” She said. The pain had passed, but still hung nonetheless.
“How far are you along?” Rolando placed a hoof on her forehead.
She had to think a moment, “About eight months?”
Rolando nodded, “Yeah, you’re probably getting contractions. The baby does that in the final stages.”
“Octavia?” Rolando turned around, seeing his own wife coming down the stairwell, Sebastian close behind, “How nice of you to join us.”
Rolando sighed, “Mariana, I lied to you. I didn’t tell you everything that Celestia laid out.”
Mariana looked at him, cocking her head, “Oh? You covered a lot of things…”
“Yes, but not the Earth Pony Slavery. ‘Purity First’ as Celestia calls it.”
Mariana looked simply appalled at the fact, “Slavery?”
Octavia nodded, “I’m surprised they didn’t get Vinyl.” She still heard the scream of pain that Vinyl emitted.
“But, Vincenza’s a Unicorn.” Rolando’s turn to cock his head, “Why would they go after her?”
“In the skirmish to protect me, Vincenza’s horn was shattered by a guard.”
The three Unicorns backed up a step as if her words were a white-hot fire, Mariana going as far as to faint.
Rolando caught his wife as she fell, “Vincenza’s horn? You sure?”
Octavia closed her eyes, “Yes. She tried to break the magic encasing me from the protective hooves of those against it. Another guard knocked her down and stepped on her horn.”
Rolando, though a white Unicorn, somehow managed to go even paler.
Mariana’s eye fluttered open, “She’s severed?”
(Everypony who knows a Unicorn that once their horn is broken, they’re classified an Earth Pony, because of their inability to encase magic, titled “severing”)
Octavia nodded, feeling a tear roll down her check, when she spoke, her voice cracked, “There was nothing anypony could do. I mean, Skorpeon was trying to do some damage to their attempts.”
Rolando looked at Octavia, “Who?”
Under any other circumstance, Octavia would have giggled over her mistake. These times were not any other circumstance however. “Skorpeon RyDer. He’s a friend of Twilight Sparkle and the residents of Ponyville. He came here about two years ago, and hasn’t left.”
Rolando nodded, “If he’s trying to ‘do some damage in their attempts’, as you put it, then maybe he and I should get together.”
Octavia nodded, “He and I performed side-by-side a few times, but we’ve never actually had a genuine conversation. So I wouldn’t be able to get you on a first name basis.”
Mariana shuddered. Her horn glowed a light purple, and her eyes clouded over
“Mariana?” Octavia and Rolando asked in unison.
Rolando shook her a bit, “Mariana, are you okay?”
Mariana shook herself, “That was weird.” She said, “Vincenza was just talking to--”
She resumed her position. Rolando, getting a bit nervous, slid under Mariana and scooped her onto the couch.
It lasted a bit longer, but when she shook her head again, she looked right at Octavia.
“Vincenza was telling be that she was okay, and I should expect Skorpeon to contact me. Then he started telling me about what he did. It’s the only way he could contact me and get out location.”
Rolando’s eyes widened, “Is Skorpeon mad?” he looked at Octavia.
She shook her head, “He won’t tell us exactly what happened, but in the forest in Ponyville, something happened to him. I don’t think he’s a hundred percent good, but nothing points to him being evil either.”
There was a flash of light as two Unicorn appeared in the room, one was a violent violet with dark purple mane, the other pale white with electric blue hair.
Octavia threw herself to the white one, “Vinyl!” She started crying into her lover’s shoulder, “Vinyl.”
“Hang on, Philharmonica.” Octavia pulled away. Vinyl had a high-pitched Scottish accent. Not a deep gravelly foreign one. “It’s Skorpeon. I can’t go around as myself at the moment. Sorry for tricking you. Vinyl would draw less attention that Skorpony at the moment too…”
She drew away, blushing heavily. “Sorry. I though--”
“It’s okay. I assume you are Mariana and Romando?”
“Rolando.” She corrected, “And yes, we are the Staccato Family.”
Vinyl trotted to Mariana, handing her a small bag, “If it is okay, we’re going to use your house as a shelter for anypony else we can help.”
Rolando nodded, “Send them along. We’ll help.”
The violet Unicorn trotted to Octavia, “If you need anything, just call. We’ll be here in a flash.”
Vinyl pointed a hoof to Twilight, “She’ll be a flash. I’ll be more of a displacement of air.”
The two Unicorns stood flank-to-flank, “Later, Tuba.” Vinyl snickered before the two Unicorns vanished in a white flash.
“Tisk. Well.” Sebastian said, “He’s quite, ah, charming.”
Octavia giggled, “And he’s not usually like it.”
Mariana closed the bag, “Shall we do dinner? I don’t think they fed you two well in the last two weeks?”
Octavia nodded, leading the way into the kitchen for her first real food since the Equinox.
NOTE: Rolando, Sebastian and Mariana are charachters in Lithe Kamitatsy's Two's a company, Three's a crowd. I'm not taking his work, just merely referencing one of the best Fan Fiction's I've read this side of the dimension.