By the princesses, Octavia hated just sitting and waiting. What more could she really do, though? She had the one and only Twilight Sparkle trying to help her, and even had some of the royal guard themselves around her house. What could one mare, one inexperienced, and a bit foalish, mare do?
So she spent time working, preparing, practicing her craft. Thankfully, it wouldn’t take long for her patience to be rewarded. Around two weeks passed before her normal, daily routine was interrupted. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, Octavia spent most of her time alone and cooped up in her house. Which meant that getting visitors changed things.
A knock sounded through her house, followed by a chime of her doorbell going off. Octavia raised herself from her position on the chaise, letting her book fall to the cushion and lay there. The mare pulled herself off the couch, none too swift on her hooves. “Coming!” she called, stepping out into the hallway that led to her foyer.
The door opened with a touch, and none other than Twilight Sparkle waited for her on the other side. Octavia felt a smile break out on her face, the boredom suddenly far, far from her mind. “Oh! Your highness!” she said, soft surprise coloring her voice. She bowed, ducking her head low enough to nearly touch the ground. A small, pink blush stained her gray fur.
A tinge of magic surrounded her chin, pushing it upwards and bringing her eyes back on level with the surprisingly short alicorn’s. “Good afternoon, Octavia. May I come in?”
As if Octavia would dare to say no. “Of course,” she answered, gesturing for Twilight to follow her. Her family’s estate did have a room specifically for entertaining royalty, strangely enough. Perhaps it was simply because they were well known enough and spent enough time with the government, but as far as Octavia knew, this would be the first time it saw use in her lifetime. The room stayed clean thanks to her maids, a small parlor with a nice sitting area and a tea seat that saw very little use.
“Would you like anything to drink, your highness?” Octavia asked, going as far as to pull a chair out for the princess and everything.
As Twilight took her seat, the alicorn shook her head. “Not this time, but thank you. Please, take a seat, I’ve got word.”
Oh. That made sense. Without a word, Octavia took her seat, sweeping her tail out from underneath her. The way that Twilight acted made it seem like things would go well, but maybe she just always acted like that? “Please tell me it’s good news,” Octavia’s words came out desperate as could be, the fear gripping her. “Please, Twilight. Did you find her?”
A smile, an honest to Celestia smile. “Yes. We found her.” But then it disappeared just as fast as it came. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to recover her yet. But we know where she is. She’s being held at one of the mafia’s fronts, a place near the harbor where the airships take off.” Every word that came from Twilight’s muzzle was both a blessing and a curse at once. They’d found her love, they had found her, but she still felt so far away. Bittersweet feelings clawed at Octavia’s mind, an odd broken smile on her face and a couple of tears in her eyes.
“Why haven’t you rescued her yet?” she asked. She didn’t understand it. “Couldn’t you have taken the royal guard and just went in? You’re an alicorn, aren’t you? Just call Celestia! Get somepony!” The mixture of panic and frustration had caused her to erupt. “You’re a princess! If you know where she is, just walk in there and take her! I don’t understa-”
Octavia suddenly found herself silenced by magic clamping her muzzle shut. “Octavia.” Strained words, with a worried expression. “Please, understand something. These ponies cannot be reasoned with. They don’t respect mine or Celestia’s rule, and some of them are very dangerous. They have archmages within their ranks, high ranking politicians, ponies who can fight and have money to throw around. It’s not something that we can just fix, it’s a systematic issue that Celestia has been trying to root out for literally centuries.”
It did put something in perspective. If Celestia couldn’t deal with them, then could Octavia really blame Twilight? Her face fell, the anger and frustration leaving her like a gust of wind. She looked down, staring at her lap, despairing tears running down her face. “So what can we do?” she asked. That was an easier question, wasn’t it? “What can I do?”
Twilight’s smile came back. “I was hoping that you would ask that. Now, this plan puts you in harm's way, and it’s entirely up to you whether you want to go with it or not. In simple terms, you would enter the front as an undercover agent for the Royal Guard. When there, you’re going to ask for certain illegal substances. This will, at the least, give us the ability to get a search warrant for the place. Now, things might become violent after that, but the guard will only come in once you’re out and safe. It shouldn’t be very dangerous for you to just ask around, but in the worst case, we’re going to give you a panic button as well. One push and you’ll have all the help you can possibly ask for.”
Octavia sucked in a deep breath. Dangerous, but not too dangerous. Her eyes hardened, the steel in them solidifying into shape. “I will do anything for Vinyl,” she swore, the fire smoldering in her eyes. She would fight if she had to, bring them all down… despite having no training whatsoever to speak of. “It doesn’t matter. You tell me what to do, when to do it, I’ll do it. As long as it helps get her back. If you need me, I’ll fight too. I don’t care.” She felt the fire in her eyes grow all the stronger, her soul burning with the passion. She even grit her teeth, though the mare didn’t realize it at all.
Twilight held up a hoof, trying to stop her, the princess suddenly looking rather alarmed. “Please, Octavia, nothing of that sort is going to be necessary, honest! We have this under control, your role is already defined and we can do this without you getting hurt,” Twilight protested, stressing that last bit particularly hard. “I understand that you want to do what you can to help her, but the best you can do is make sure you come home safe, okay?”
Part of Octavia understood that. If she went and got captured instead, or it turned into a hostage situation, or - Celestia forbid - she was killed in the crossfire, what would the point of this have been? Vinyl may come home, but Octavia wouldn’t be there to greet her. The storm still rolled through her, even as her mind twisted and fought with the feelings. She didn’t want to be sidelined, but it was probably for the best. A long sigh escaped her and she finally nodded.
“Okay. When did you plan on doing this, your Highness?” Octavia asked, doing her best to press her normal mask right back on. So many feelings fought against it, but Octavia had grown used to that over years and years of hiding them away. She settled back into the couch and got herself comfortable as she could be considering the circumstances. “And is there anything I need to bring or do?”
A shake from the alicorn’s head answered her first. “No, we’ll give you everything you need the day of. It’ll just be some money and a normal, unassuming outfit. This isn’t anything too complicated, all we need is probable cause to go in and you’re going to give us that. We’ve got a really good team for this, okay?” Now it seemed like Twilight tried to fix Octavia’s feelings. Hooves came across the table to grasp one of Octavia’s within their hold. “Just breathe and be ready. You have a few days, it’ll happen later this week. My brother’s leading the team himself and I’m the backup in case they need some extra hornpower,” she explained, the thing atop her head glimmering a lilac at her words.
Octavia swallowed hard and gave something of a numb nod. Later this week. Crack team. What could go wrong? They’d get Vinyl back, they’d take her home, and then Octavia could have her happily ever after. “Okay,” she finally spoke, giving another nod of her head. “I trust you.” Who could beat a princess in a fight? Well, Discord. Oh, Chrysalis apparently. And Tirek. But none of those things would be here for this, and Discord was good now, Octavia tried to reason internally. Something caught on the edge of Octavia’s vision, something she almost missed. It was a shadow in Twilight’s face, a shadow of a doubt, perhaps.
“Is there something you aren’t telling me?” Octavia asked, a bit of coldness creeping into her voice while she brought back her hoof. “Your Highness, I trust you, I really do, but I feel like you aren’t telling me something.” It was just the way that Twilight looked at her, like she was dodging Octavia’s eyes, like she was trying to avoid… something. What was it?
Twilight shuffled awkwardly, her wings even fluffing behind her. “There have been some… troubling reports. Vinyl’s parents want her to rejoin the party, and it hasn’t been really pleasant for her.” Octavia’s heart skipped a beat, her gaze hardening all the more. Inside, her resolve tightened - there was no way she’d let them hurt her love. “Some say she’s been dosed with a drug. Others, uh, say that she’s been hurt. Please understand that we don’t know any of this for certain. What we do know for certain is that she’s alive.” Twilight swallowed, wings fluffing back behind her again.
A deep breath went through the alicorn before she spoke. “She tried to kill herself, Octavia. That’s when things got really bad. That’s something every report is agreeing with. She gave it a try, she failed, and now they aren’t even letting her out of their sight. So we’ve accelerated the timetable a little bit, we need to get in there and soon for her safety. I didn’t want you to know because I knew it would stress you out and push you, and frankly Octavia, this is something you really need to leave to the professionals, okay? I know, I know this is a lot, I know this isn’t what you wanna hear. Just wait a little longer and she’ll be safe, happy and home.”
Octavia’s heart throbbed, and she felt sick. The earth pony nearly threw up right then and there, shock and terror both intermingling in her mind. She could see it in her mind’s eye, she could see Vinyl looking as scared, as gaunt as the day that they met. She could remember it like it was yesterday, and now, her Vinyl, her love went through worse. And Octavia had made this happen. She should have just left well enough alone.
Tears had already started to leak from her cheeks as another emotion bit her as well - betrayal. Why hadn’t Twilight told her earlier? She could handle this. She could be rational. “I think you need to leave. I need some time on my own,” she managed to get out. There was nothing proper about it, no deference, just raw, unfiltered words.
Twilight looked to say something else, she had even opened her muzzle but Octavia wouldn’t let her. Later on, she’d be horribly embarrassed, horrifically shamed, but in the heat of the moment? She let it out. “Go!” she barked, voice echoing through the room enough to shake the tea glasses.
Without a word, Twilight’s horn flashed and the princess disappeared.