//------------------------------// // Chapter 37: Not Alone // Story: Electro Swing // by Rego //------------------------------// “Ready to start recording?” Vinyl asked as she ran one last diagnostic check of the crystal’s containment shield. “Yep!” Fleur buzzed enthusiastically over the audio lab’s intercom. “Go ahead and wow ‘em!” Vinyl rolled her eyes. Research logs weren’t exactly known to be showstoppers. Still, she couldn’t shake the excitement of putting her academic hat on for the first time in a while. Between her archiving work and the Showcases preparation, she’d mostly put her own studies on the backburner. Her lab time had been dedicated to helping Professor Arepeggio’s Imperial crystal studies or her sister’s vocal research. When she approached her own work, it was only in short bursts, and usually resulted in another shattered gemstone. It felt good to finally be experimenting in earnest again. On top of that, she’d actually stumbled across something worth making an entry. She cleared her throat as she approached her workspace. “Cacophony research log number seventy-eight: I’ve sanded down a topaz into a small, 20 carat spheroid and inscribed a Cacophony rune which now contains a low-quality violin imprint,” Vinyl reported as she observed her carefully shaped gemstone contained within its protective shielding. “Theory: Cacophony’s claim is that sound and magic are intrinsically linked. Therefore, it stands to reason that while magic is not sound itself, his spellwork relies on principles of sound waves for resonance. “To reduce noise during channeling, perhaps the shape of the medium, the topaz in this instance, is less important than its size for storage. If the magic channeled along its surface is pulsed like a pressure wave, it might bring further stability to the spellform when trying to extract inscribed enchantments. It took…” Vinyl trailed as she tried to recall the time she’d spent polishing. “It took way too long to sand it down to an evenly distributed surface and another two hours of careful attunement, but I can say now we’ve connected to something inside the crystal!” A small smile crossed her face at that last line. She hadn’t successfully registered an instrument stored on a crystal in months. So far, they weren’t breaking new ground, she had a good feeling about this one. Vinyl opened her mouth to continue her entry, but then the intercom buzzed to life. “Correction: You found it,” Fleur added from the recording room. “I just kinda watched you polish a topaz for most of the morning and then got us sandwiches while you were trying to get it all working.” Vinyl sighed. “You still helped, Fleur.” “I’ll agree to a credit as the ‘Assistant Cheerleader’ and ‘Principal Caterer’ at this point.” “Fine, whatever. Just let me finish!” Fleur nodded and motioned for the researching DJ to continue. A few months ago, such an interruption would’ve restarted the entire entry, but after listening to the Summers-Suede collection, Vinyl had developed a deeper appreciation for the smaller moments. Even if it was superfluous information, those were her favorite parts of archiving. If somepony down the line ever listened to these logs, she wanted them to feel the happiness she did around her sister too. “I’ll be attempting to perform the standard C-major scale using a cacophony crystal and recording the sound I am able to produce starting from Middle C. I’ve prepared a second synthesizer currently channeling the same violin stored in a standard storage crystal as a control.” She took a deep breath and held her hoof above the key in question. “Striking Middle C in three, two, one…” A single, sustained note from a violin resounded throughout the school’s audio lab as Vinyl pressed down. She looked over her instruments, implements, and the crystal itself in disbelief. “You’ve got a note, Vy!” Fleur shouted over the intercom. “I do…” A thrill of excitement rushed through her spine. “I do!” The cacophony crystal was holding fast as it maintained the note. The tone sounded slightly off, but Vinyl was elated to finally pull anything from a stored instrument and not having the crystal destabilize immediately. She reached over to the other keyboard and hit the same note, listening carefully to the tuning. The crystal produced a stable, sharp sound, but not a large enough jump to quite hit the half-step up to D-flat. “Do you hear that?” Vinyl asked. “Sounds out of tune to me,” Fleur reported back. “Mark it down as C-quarter sharp.” “What the hay is a quarter sharp?” “It’s on the twenty-four tone scale. Saddle Arabia has additional sharps and flats that fall between half steps like F-natural and F-sharp. You don’t run into it here in Equestria very much.” Fleur snickered. “So what you’re saying is that it is out of tune, but in a good way.” “Just staying optimistic.” “Oh? How unlike you, sis. Something good happen recently?” “Gotta keep morale up when working with Cacophony runes, remember?” Vinyl deflected. She was very glad her back was turned to Fleur as her mind wandered to her time spent with Fancy over the past few days. “Just trying to take a more positive note from you, Fleur.” “Aww! But I only have twelve,” Fleur complained cheekily. “Just write C-quarter sharp, please. Next will be a full step to D.” Vinyl released the note on the keyboard and waited for the violin to quiet down. Checking the sustaining pedal on the synthesizer, it didn’t appear to be broken. The note was simply holding out by itself. Looking towards the crystal itself, it trembled with the pulses of magic running across its surface as it trailed off in a long legato. While a worrying sign, it wasn’t a reason to stop the test. Moving to the next key, she pressed the D down and held it. Like C before, it sounded decidedly off. She struck the other keyboard, trying to match the pitch. Moving the half step down to D-flat, it nearly matched. Vinyl hummed to herself. “Mark it as C-sharp. Next will be a full step to E.” “Why not try to see what happens with D-flat?” “We’re just testing the natural notes of the C-major scale test,” Vinyl reminded her sister while looking over her shoulder. “I know, but come on, sis. We could go into an eighth step and hear a note that’s never been heard before!” “It’s just going to sound like an accidental if I play it.” “I thought it was an out-of-tune accident in the first place until you pulled out the Arabian notes from nowhere.” Vinyl rolled her eyes and turned back to her work. “I’m going to move on to E now, Fleur.” Getting a confirmation scoff from her sister, Vinyl stuck the E key. The note rang out as a struggling D-flat, or rather a strained C-sharp. For whatever reason, the furthest it could stretch was a half step above C. She quickly released the note, almost hearing the struggling string despite there being no physical instrument within the crystal. “That sounded really bad,” Fleur said warily. “How’s the topaz doing?” “Lattice work is still being read fine from the synthesizer. The crystal still looks intact from here,” Vinyl assured herself as she stole a quick glance at the quivering crystal. “Somehow,” she added beneath her breath. “I imprinted the violin’s range, right? Not just C?” “As far as I know, yeah. But again, this is your rodeo, Vy.” “Then why can I only seem to pull C out?” Vinyl released the keys, trying to make sense of what was happening. “Moving down to D-flat.” “Alright, now that’s what I’m talking about! Let’s hear something really awful!” Vinyl rolled her eyes and tried D-flat out. The note rang crystal clear, but decidedly not D-flat. She clicked middle C down on the keyboard next to her, matching the note. “C-natural?” Vinyl released both notes. “That’s disappointing.” Fleur sighed with mock disappointment. “I don’t know much about pianos, but it sounds to me like the keys are inverted.” “Not quite. If that was the case, middle C should’ve sounded flat, not sharp. Trying middle C again.” As Vinyl pressed the key down, the crystal began to shake as violently as the note itself. It warbled all over the place in an uneven vibrato while never leaving the note’s range. She released the key, only for the note to keep growing louder and louder. She quickly cut the power from the synthesizer, attempting to sever the mana flow connection. After taking a deep and calming breath, she approached the containment field to inspect for physical damage to the cacophony crystal. Not wanting to risk hurting herself, she grabbed the blast-shielded jewelers' loupe to check the damage. Lowering the metal mask over her face and muzzle, she leaned in and began her search. The magic swirling within it from the rune rattled the surface, making it look like violent seawater with waves swelling and crashing into each other. Vinyl groaned in defeat. “It’s flow fracturing.” “Ooo! Can I break it this time?” “No. I want to try one more thing before we lose it. Hopefully it’s still stable enough.” “Fine, but I’m still coming in to watch the fireworks.” With that, Fleur took her headphones off and quickly galloped into the studio as Vinyl moved her hoof over the power button to restart the synthesizer and shot a look at Fleur. Her sister nodded and slapped on the other blast shield to watch their latest sacrifice to Vinyl’s research. They both put earplugs in as well to shield themselves from a potential ear-shattering ending to the experiment. Flicking the power back on, Vinyl could hear the high-pitched ringing from the crystal’s unstable reverberations in her ears. Not even bothering to announce her intentions, she quickly pressed down Middle C, hearing the unstable strings strain as they played a warbly note somewhere near her target. She then added E and G in an attempt to strike the C-major chord. Instead of latching onto different sounds, the note twisted out of control, blending and screaming into an ear-piercing cavalcade of shrieking chalkboard sounds until the crystal exploded into dust. Fleur whooped in delight, removing the mask and approaching the pulverized crystalline powder. “I’ve missed working on your stuff. It’s always so fun!” “Glad you’re enjoying it at least. Meanwhile, it took me hours of searching for a violin in a sea of chaos just to play four notes,” Vinyl complained as she joined Fleur’s side. “Not even four different notes, just four terrible versions of the same one.” “Aww. Cheer up, big sis. We’re trying positive notes, remember?” “That was before it exploded again, just like the last time.” “Any clue what went wrong this time?” “Same thing as always: channeling instability resulting in a random cascade failure. This time, the flavor was Flow Fracturing, the prettiest form of failure!” Vinyl reported with bubbly sarcasm before her forced glee flatlined into frustration. Fleur smiled softly and leaned over to Vinyl, pulling her into a side hug. “But you were able to play it this time. You’ve never gotten that far, right?” Vinyl sighed and leaned into the contact. She felt Fleur squeeze ever-so-slightly. “Barely an improvement, but yeah, I guess. But who knows if the rest of the violin was even still in there or if I just scraped it off whatever was left of it inside.” Fleur nuzzled the top of Vinyl’s head as the DJ sighed in somber contentment. It was warm and supportive. She remembered liking those things a long time ago and she was slowly relearning how nice it could be. There was a lingering sense of safety and belonging, unlike before. “I must congratulate you, Miss Scratch. It appears you have stumbled across yet another pitch that can overload my sound wards,” Professor Arpeggio said as he entered the room. Vinyl broke away from the sisterly embrace to give her full attention to their teacher. “Sorry about the noise, Professor. Again.” “No apologies necessary. Luckily we still have the foam boards and insulation.” Arpeggio’s horn began glowing as he scanned the walls. A sigil took shape as he checked the spell’s formulation, the professor laughed to himself. “Oh, this is even better! The wards are active and the spellwork is completely intact. That means you managed to pierce through them as if they weren’t there. I shouldn’t be so surprised. Cacophony is nothing if not predictably unpredictable.” Vinyl sucked in a shuddering breath as her supports disintegrated. She’d made more than just another exploding crystal. Cacophony magic was always a double-edged blade of potential creation and destruction, with an emphasis on destruction. She was sick of finding, or perhaps rediscovering, ways to weaponize the old battlemage’s magic. At first, the mayhem Cacophony’s principles caused was entertaining in its own right, but now she was getting tired of the constant chaos her field of study brought. It’d just take another upset noble raising a fuss about her noise-making to reignite the media firestorm against her. Fleur leaned towards her fuming sister. “You okay, Vy?” Vinyl reared back and sent her stool flying with an infuriated buck before yelling in frustration. Before it could smack against the wall, Fleur caught the projectile chair with her magic and set it down. “Taking that as a ‘no.’” “Why won’t things just work without catastrophe? I’m trying so hard!” “It’s okay, Miss Scratch,” Arpeggio assured the bitter mare. “It’s just the nature of the beast you’re pitted against. You’re trying to make sense out of nonsense. The only character we’ve ever witnessed doing so successfully is that sealed draconequus.” “Great, so I’m on the same wavelength as the Harbinger of Catastrophe,” Vinyl grumbled. “That’s not what I said, and you know that.” “Does it even matter? That’s what everypony thinks I am! Some kind of chaosbringer bent on destruction!” “It’s fine, Miss Scratch. This is the School for Gifted Unicorns. Noisy and destructive magical nonsense happens every day within these walls. You’re just a single rung in the long chain of ponies breaking down the barriers of magic.” Vinyl took a calming breath. “It’s just so aggravating! The closer I get to something workable, the worse the failures become. It’s like nothing ever works like I want it to, and I’m just making more and more noise. I just want to make music!” “And such is the nature of all research,” Arpeggio assured calmly. “There are so many hypotheses to test before finding one that is close enough to the truth to be reliable.” “I thought I was close this time, but all it did was blow up in my face. Again. All I’m doing is making a bunch of explosive noises in new and creative ways!” Arpeggio approached the containment field and lifted the sparkling dust in his magic. “Well, you’ve been going through a rough patch both in here and out there. Nopony is going to hold that against you.” “We’ll see if the committee members factor ‘life struggles’ into their assessments.” Fleur’s ears perked up. “Oh right, that’s coming up again, isn’t it?” Vinyl sighed. “Yeah. It’s always Performer Showcases and then the research report presentation or whatever you want to call publicly validating my financial aid’s existence.” “Well, good news this year is you’re only defending your research to the ESPA for money.” “Yeah. Now instead of fighting for grant money, I’m begging them to let me study here. The best part is that I haven’t made any meaningful progress since I’ve been slacking.” “Cut that out, Vinyl! Remember, the Screech was my fault no matter what anypony says. Besides, It’s the Summers-Suede Endowment. You’re doing innovative research while archiving the collection. It’s pretty much a formality at this point since it’s Fancy’s money anyway.” Vinyl knew that. It was clear as day to her. If she lost the endowment, Fancy could easily pick up the tab for her. Just like Athena, Fancy had the power to change Vinyl’s entire world effortlessly. That didn’t mean she wanted him to though. She’d fought so hard just to stay in the game, but Fancy could simply buy the entire board without a second thought. Despite her budding feelings for Fancy Pants, there was a small and petty part of Vinyl that still resented him for it. “Doesn’t that kind of cheapen it though?” Vinyl muttered. Fleur blinked in confusion. “What?” “Like, why are you even trying, Fleur? It’s not like you have to.” “Uh, yeah I do? It’s not like anypony else is researching magical pitch shifting like I am. Just like you with the Cacophony runes. Right, Professor?” Arpeggio nodded firmly. “You are correct. As far as I know, you two are currently the only ones looking into Cacophony’s work at all. It’s why I wanted you two to study under me in the first place. He is a rather overlooked figure in magical research, considering the chaotic nature of his theories.” Vinyl shrank back and sighed. “Right. Sorry.” “Oh, no you don’t,” Fleur fired back quickly, pulling Vinyl’s attention squarely to her. “What about guaranteed money is making you feel cheap?” “I-I didn’t say that.” “Nuh-uh,” Fleur admonished as she shook her head. “Fancy won’t cut you off from the endowment and you said that ‘cheapens it.’ That’s Vinyl for ‘I’m uncomfortable about something.’” “Just forget it, Fleur. It’s not important,” Vinyl assured as she looked away from the mare. “Hey, hey. None of that now,” Fleur countered softly, but firmly. “If that was true, you wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. What’s bothering you?” “It’s nothing.” “You promised not to keep things bottled up if it was painful. I’ll drop it right now if you can look me in the eyes and tell me that it’s nothing.” Taking a deep breath, Vinyl turned her head up to Fleur, expecting her glare, only to see her sister’s tender concern. All of her fortitude melted away as she slumped her shoulders. “I don’t know if it is.” “Well, let’s try to figure it out.” Fleur looked at the clock, seeing it was around eleven. “Wanna put lunch in the fridge and go for pizza?” “N-no. I’m good here. I don’t want to go outside.” The mere notion of going anywhere lingered in Vinyl’s head like a creeping fungus. She had no clue why she didn’t want to go outside, but she knew she didn’t want to. Fleur nodded as she laid a hoof on Vinyl’s back. “Okay, let’s take a break. That sound good?” “I guess.” Vinyl watched Arpeggio and Fleur exchange glances in silence. “I’ll clean this up. I could stand to be away from my desk for a bit anyway.” “Thanks, professor,” Fleur said as she led Vinyl out the door. “You’re the best!” As they entered the lab’s control room, an oppressive gloom slowly beared down on Vinyl. Fleur sat her on one of the lounging couches and said something before heading to the coffee maker they used for hot water. Vinyl saw Fleur mouth the word “okay” and she nodded. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t hear her beyond a deafening static buzzing in her ears. A lingering melancholy grasping at her body with tendrils of tar wrapping around her. She was no closer to breaking through the Cacophony conundrum. She was still where she was before, which was to be expected. It was just another failure to add to the never-ending list of failures. It shouldn’t bother her so much. Yet, it felt so— How very disappointing. Another mess of yours for me to clean up. Oh, right. That was the word. Vinyl had mercifully forgotten about her mom until recently, or at least she hadn’t thought about her. All she had to do was ignore it. The memories would pass on their own eventually. She just needed to grin and bear her for a bit to get the beratement out of her system. No! Please! Don’t think about her! Her imaginary filly self cried as she ran over to the couch from the corner of her eye. Unfortunately for them, telling somepony not to think about something generally had the opposite effect. Oh-hoh? Feisty now, are we? You’ve become such a rebellious little foal. She heard her mother call from a distance, her proud sneer echoing through her mind. I don’t want to! Please! the filly begged. “Sorry. It doesn’t work like that,” Vinyl muttered to herself in defeat. But we don’t have to. Fancy said we didn’t have to listen to her anymore… They heard their mother tut in disapproval as her voice grew louder and clearer. Just look at the damage you’ve done to yourself. Your lovely mane is so short and disheveled. And where did you even find these tacky sunglasses? Your father? What an utter disaster. Come on, do something! The filly cantered nervously in place looking around for something, anything to stop the intrusive thoughts. Uhh… Fleur! Yeah, get Fleur! She’s right over there! If it wasn’t now, it’d just be later. The memories of her mother would always be back no matter how much time passed. It’d be best to let it just run its course— Fleur! Help me! Fleur! FLEUR! the defenseless filly screamed as she collapsed into a sobbing wreck, terrified of the encroaching darkness. Vinyl heaved a heavy sigh. She remembered when she did that before. It was best to grow numb to it than cry about it. Honestly. What am I going to do with you? You’re always trying my patience— Vinyl’s drag down memory lane was interrupted by her vision being filled by the shaking of a paper cup and the rattle of a mixing stick. “One chocolate-ish mocha-sorta-kinda latte,” Fleur said softly as she sat the tall drink on the coffee table. “Thanks.” Vinyl propped herself up to take a sip of her drink without spilling it everywhere. “You don’t look so hot.” “How’d you figure that out?” Vinyl mumbled bitterly. “Telepathy, obviously,” Fleur joked with a small, caring smile. Vinyl scoffed as she laid her head back down. “Right. So, what am I thinking?” She asked as she looked to Fleur’s left to see her little self clinging desperately to the larger mare’s side. “Nothing good, I can tell you that, but it’s okay. You also know your little sister’s right here for you,” Fleur assured as she reached her hoof out towards Vinyl. “Just talk to me, Vy.” Vinyl shuffled her hooves, reaching out with one hoof while pulling in her other legs as she hugged herself. It was okay. She could extend a hoof out to take the hoof-up from her sister. “What do you want me to say?” “That today was a big success. That you were able to channel the violin without breaking the crystal immediately. That you’re amazing.” Fleur smiled warmly as the filly nodded, but kept her face pressed into the larger mare’s side. “It actually played notes instead of exploding the moment you struck a key. That’s something!” “But is it okay if I keep failing all the time?” “Succeeding, sis. You succeeded, okay?” Fleur leaned in close, filling Vinyl’s vision with her perfect fur and pink, lustrous eyes. “Nopony in the world could do what you did today.” “Probably because it’s so stupid. I just keep making noise in interesting ways. Messing up like always,” Vinyl spat. What? The filly stopped shaking and slowly let go of Fleur. What are you doing? “That’s fine by me. We make the best messy noises. SchlurrVivyl is the best when it comes to cacophonous messes.” “I’m still so far from any goals I have,” Vinyl said as she closed her eyes. “If I can’t make it on my own, what good am I to anypony?” Stop it! Why are you talking like mom? “You don’t have to,” Fleur assured her sister. “What I’ve learned from watching you is that doing things all alone can get pretty lonely.” “I’m not self-sufficient; completely at the mercy of others. I just want to be able to do what I want without relying on somepony else to get me there.” Vinyl opened her eyes and glared, despite the filly desperately trying to stop her accusatory posturing. “Don’t you want to be able to stand by yourself without anypony holding you up?” “Of course not. Why would I?” Vinyl stopped and stared, dumbfounded by Fleur’s confident admission. That made absolutely no sense. Fleur was the most free-spirited mare she knew. Vinyl slowly pulled herself up and searched for a lie in her sisters’ eyes. “You don’t mean that. You can’t mean that!” Would you cut it out and listen to her? “Don’t you want to be able to pull yourself forward by your bridle?” Vinyl shouted, despite the cliché’s absurd hypocrisy. Fleur doesn’t deserve this! You don’t even believe what you’re saying! Stop throwing mom’s stupid words at her! “What good are you to anypony if you’re so useless that you can’t live on your own?” Silence fell upon the two sisters, with only Vinyl’s heavy breathing filling the air. Vinyl knew she was lashing out. She knew it was unfair to throw all of these questions that constantly ran in the back of her mind at Fleur. “Vinyl, please. I want you to listen to me, and listen carefully. I get that you want to be good on your own, but what you’re trying to do, this weird, misguided virtue of suffering through self-sufficiency of whatever…” Fleur trailed off as she reached down again for Vinyl’s hoof. She pulled it to her chest, pressing it against her heart and held on tightly as she burned with resolute fire in her eyes. “I don’t know where you got this utter nonsense from, but what you’re describing? It’s not independence, it’s total isolation.” Vinyl’s heart clenched. “N-no. That’s not right. I just don’t want to owe anypony. I couldn’t—” “Couldn’t take hoof-outs, right?” Fleur interrupted as her mouth drew into a thin, leery frown. “Even when you were on the brink of collapse? When you had and still have plenty of ponies that care so much about you? What else do you call that?” Hiding, the filly answered honestly. Vinyl’s eyes sank as the filly laid against her heart, causing it to throb from her contact. Because nopony can betray you if you don’t trust them. But she wasn’t like that anymore. Vinyl Scratch wasn’t like that anymore. You’re not supposed to be like that anymore, but we still hear mom. Vinyl tried to steady her breathing. She just kept having to tell herself: they’re dead. Her mom was dead. Her dad was dead… … To us. They’d been dead for years… … To us. She didn’t owe them anything. She didn’t need to play by those rules anymore. So why do you keep trying? “Sis?” Fleur lifted Vinyl’s head up by the chin as she leaned in closer to Vinyl. “You still with me?” No. “Yeah. Sorry. What were you saying?” “I asked you a question, but I think that was a good enough answer for me.” Fleur gently smiled and kissed Vinyl on the forehead. “You’re right in a way, you know. I do want my schooling to end up with voice acting in my own one-mare shows and stories, but I can’t do it alone. I need help to pay tuition. I’d be lost most of the time without Professor Arpeggio to guide my research. For peat’s sake, I don’t even know if I’d even be here without you! So what’s wrong with depending on others?” “Nothing, I guess. It just feels wrong.” Fleur scoffed as she pulled Vinyl into a deep hug. “Whoever taught you that crap needs a solid buck to the face.” With renewed strength, Vinyl wrapped her forelegs around her sister and returned in kind, a smile splitting her face as she couldn’t hear her mother anymore. There was just the sound of Fleur’s steady breathing as she held her close. Relief washed over Vinyl as she rested in the caring embrace. “Oh-ho ho! Since when did you become so affectionate, Vy?” Practicing for Fancy Pants? the filly asked knowingly as she watched from Fleur’s back. Vinyl swatted away the errant thoughts from the peanut gallery and simply savored her sister’s warmth. “I’ve been trying some new things lately,” she said as she nuzzled Fleur’s neck. Fleur giggled. “I like it!” She pushed away from Vinyl and kissed her forehead again. “I’ll always be here for you no matter what. What else are sisters for?” Vinyl smiled nervously. “I’m still trying to figure that one out. And a whole bunch of other things.” “That’s because you always overthink the simple stuff,” Fleur dismissed. “All I know is that I’ve got the best sister in the whole wide world!” She punctuated the point by diving into a vice grip of a hug and grunting from the extra effort she was putting into squeezing Vinyl. “And I know I can always depend on you to help me where it counts.” “Pushing… it…” Vinyl choked out a laugh from her sister’s bone-crushing earth pony strength. She tapped Fleur’s foreleg, causing the other mare to release her. “Sorry.” Fleur tittered nervously as she adjusted her hair. “You can’t pull nuzzles out of nowhere.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” “You know what? We should have a sleepover at my place!” Fleur suggested as she clopped her hooves together excitedly. Vinyl laughed. “I think we’re a little too old to call staying the night at your place a sleepover.” “It’s the spirit of the thing, Vy! We can do our hooves and manes and stay up way too late swapping stories while eating pizza!” “We could just do all of those things normally. Heck, I stay out late pretty much every other night at Cantrips.” “C’mon, sis. I’ll even beg Maman to let you come over to make it authentic! Plus, you could use a break from being stuck at that stupid mansion all the time.” And there was the rub. “Fleur…” “What? You need to get out more. We haven’t even set sail on the Friend Ship for like two weeks. I miss spending time together with my sister.” “What about Fancy Pants?” “Pantsy?” Fleur snorted derisively as she looked away, “He’s already got enough ponies to juggle. I don’t think he has any room for real friends.” The relief she felt slowly evaporated as a sharp pang of guilt stabbed her in the back. Ever since Vinyl had told her sister about Fancy’s temporary return to diplomacy, she’d been avoiding Fancy Pants and the estate entirely. It’d only gotten worse after Vinyl had mentioned he wanted her to perform as DJ Pon-3. Now Fleur was actively trying to pull her away to keep her safe, but despite her fears, Vinyl still wanted to play. “It’s not a party, sis. It’s an international event. Fancy is doing what he can to help out with the treaty with the Crystal Empire.” “I don’t care. I told you before, I’m done with all of those stupid high society circle jerks,” Fleur growled and crossed her forelegs while turning her head away. “Sure. He’s doing it for the good of Equestria. I get it. What I don’t get is why you have to help him! I say you stay with me until this whole stupid summit blows over.” “But then what?” Vinyl asked. “Fancy Pants is the Kingmaker. There’s always going to be something else. Do I just run and hide every time he hosts an event?” “Why not? Just get the archiving done and get out of there. You can stay with Maman and me at Pâte de Lune. We’re your family.” “But he’s your family, too.” “I know that!” Fleur spat viscerally before reeling in her temper. “I know.” “Please, Fleur. You said you wanted both of us. That you couldn’t choose. I don’t want you to choose between us.” “Well then he needs to stop doing dumb things that make me hate him first!” Fleur slammed her hooves in anger, accidentally bumping the coffee table and knocking over Vinyl’s latte. She gasped as it spilled across the table. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” Vinyl assured. Fleur sighed in frustration as she levitated a stack of napkins to wipe up the rest of the drink Vinyl missed. “Sorry. Here I’m supposed to be cheering you up and I’m making it all about me. I’ll make you another one.” Vinyl did her best to whip up the spilled drink in a whirlwind of magic, swirling it back into the cup. She grabbed the cup with her hoof and kicked it back. “Still tastes fine to me.” Fleur offered a small smile in appreciation as she went to work cleaning up the mess on the table. The fleeting happiness was wiped away as she focused on the mess. Vinyl kept quiet as the streaks became smaller and smaller, each pass of the napkins picking up trace amounts of coffee. Once it was mostly gone, Fleur trudged over to the trash and flopped the damp wad of paper inside. Then, she just stood still, staring into the bin. “I don’t know what to do, sis. What’s right? I want to be there for you, but I’m really scared. If they start attacking you like last time, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll probably just end up causing more problems for everypony like last time because I just get so mad—” Fleur coughed to interrupt her growing tirade. She took a calming breath as she clenched her eyes closed. “Please, don’t do it. I can’t watch you get hurt again, Vy. I just can’t!” “But Fancy said he needed me.” “He can buy any help he needs. It doesn’t have to be you. You shouldn’t have to face a bunch of ponies who hate you for no good reason.” Fleur trotted to Vinyl and put a supportive hoof on her shoulder. “Something else stupid will come along eventually to eat their attention. Please, let’s lay low and let them forget all about you.” Vinyl blinked. “Forget me?” Right. That was the original plan. Vinyl was supposed to hide at the estate while the Screech drifted out of everypony’s memory. Even if it took a while, Fancy was going to keep her employed with the archiving job. There was no reason for her to risk anything. It’d take her years to go through the working lives of his parents, and Fancy had said he was fine with her working at her own pace, no matter what said pace was. At first, she’d delved into it as her duty to uphold in good faith trying to find a mysterious pony’s name. However, that pursuit had been put to the side having been engrossed by the life of Sauna Summers. She pulled a lot of hours with it just to hear her talk. She was like a friend she never met and a model of a good pony pulled into a world of corrupting riches. And that world had ended up being how she was remembered. Her life had been recounted in a lackluster, hearsay account of accolades that told nopony about who the queen of disco really was. Summers was so much more than anypony knew anymore, and Vinyl couldn’t stand it. “Screw that!” Vinyl roared as she stood up from the couch. “I don’t want to be forgotten!” Fleur backed away. “What?” “Fancy said that I was worth it, that I was brilliant!” “Pantsy really said that?” “Y-yeah!” Vinyl cleared her throat, trying to still her beating heart’s influence. “And I want to believe that too. I shouldn’t have to hide from them and let their fake story define who I am. I’m DJ Pon-3, the most popular performer on the Drive!” It felt good to say. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so proud to be herself. Her pulse was beating to the music she felt inside. Her inner filly was doing her best to dance to the beat while cheering for an encore. “But I know that I can’t do it alone anymore,” Vinyl admitted as she caught her ego. “That didn’t work at all last time, so I could really use my sister and…” C’mon! the filly urged as she bounced up and down. You can do it! You’re Vinyl Scratch! “... and Maman’s help,” Vinyl finished confidently. A beaming smile immediately split Fleur’s face as she tackled Vinyl with a hug, nearly knocking them both over into the coffee table. “Then you shall have it!” Fleur said as Lady Faire. “We are, how you say, a most formidable family!” Family. Vinyl was starting to really enjoy the word as it slowly took on a new meaning in her mind. It was supportive, caring, and most important of all, warm. She held onto her sister like a life preserver, keeping her head above the freezing static that threatened to drag her back down into the depths. If she had ponies like Fleur and Éclair—her family—then she was going to have a hard time sinking below the surface. Even if she still wasn’t quite used to depending on others, it was leagues better than the oppressive loneliness of being a self-made mare. If that was the cost of doing business, then she never wanted to be alone again.