Vinyl shut the door to her ‘apartment’ behind her, heaving a heavy sigh. Her neighbor had been trying really hard lately to figure out something, anything about her past, and it was really starting to get on her nerves. She removed her sunglasses, and the enchantments effects wore of in a matter of seconds, revealing a pair of white feathered wings. The lighter blue sections of her mane and tail turned into their normal alternating pink and light green colors. Her Cutie-mark changed back to its normal form as well: a smaller version of her mother’s signature sun shaped cutie-mark appearing behind her pair of eighth notes. The Sunglasses weren’t her only method of maintaining the illusion, nor was it the best method, but it was the easiest. She glanced around her ‘apartment’. It was one of the biggest rooms in canterlot castle, although she never had to walk through the palace to get to it. She was paying the landlord of a building in the lower section of canterlot to rent a room, and had set up a portal between the front door there and the door to one of her spare closets. Very few ponies outside of the castle staff and the nobility knew her true identity, and almost none of them knew about her alternate one.
Her horn lit up with Violate magic, as she telekinetically pushed the button to turn the CD player on the other side of the room on. The soothing sound of rain began to play, as the pony let the stress of her double life be washed away by relaxation. Most ponies thought that when she got home, she blared the same type of loud music she played for a ‘living’ (as if she actually needed the money) at maximum volume, but why in Equestria would she want to listen to the same music she’d just spent hours on end playing when she got home? She loved the music she played, but not any more than she loved any other type of music. The only music she considered her to be her favorite was considered by all others to not be a type of music at all: Rain. Rain was nature’s music, and it was the most beautiful sound in Equestria. The relaxing sound, combined with her tiredness, quickly put her on the verge of falling asleep…
…And then there was a knock at the door.
Vinyl quickly turned the CD player off, before heading over towards her bed. “Who is it?”
“It’s me. Can I come in?”
“Yeah.” Vinyl said as she flopped down on the mattress. The door opened, and Princess Celestia walked in, a look of concern her face.
“How are you feeling?”
“Dead tired, and more than a little lonely, but that’s to be expected after a night of being Vinyl Scratch…”
Celestia walked over and sat down next to her on the bed, nuzzling the tired pony affectionately. “I’m sorry to hear that, sweetie.”
“Does life always suck this bad?”
“It gets easier, the older you get. It helps to have somepony to talk to; I like talking to your aunt Luna, your cousins, and occasionally to my protégé, Twilight.” the alicorn mother informed her daughter.
“Yeah, but unlike you I don’t have a protégé, and I can’t risk making friends again.” the child complained to her parent. “Just like how I can’t do any real flying anymore. All those private lessons from the wonderbolts wasted, because some jerk couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”
They sat in silence for a time, remembering the event’s that had ended the existence of her previous alias. Finally Celestia spoke up. “I think…it’s about time you tried again…”
‘Vinyl’ looked at the bringer of the day and blinked. “What?”
“When I was you’re age, I was lucky to have a sister and to have made six great friends who didn’t care about my titles and power. I don’t think I would have ever made it through that phase of my life without them.”
“But what if-?”
“A wise pony once said ‘Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time.’ I’m certain you can make some real friends if you try again, and use a little more caution in choosing them.”
Vinyl looked nervous, as she thought it over in her head. Making friends would risk exposing her to the public, which would cause trouble, but she really didn’t want to keep being so lonely all the time, and the only way she could be around anypony without intimidating them with her social status was if she went as ‘Vinyl’.
“I…I don’t know. I’m not exactly the most sociable pony around; how would I even go about making a friend in the first place?”
Celestia smiled at her daughter. “Don’t worry my little one…I have an idea.”
*
“Twilight! Twilight get up! You’ve got a letter from the Princess, and it looks really important!”
Twilight sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She glanced at her alarm clock, which proudly told her it was six in the morning, exactly. She’d only been asleep for two hours.
“It better be Spike…I was having a really nice dream…”
She got to her hooves and managed to make her way down to where Spike was preparing breakfast. Normally when she stayed up till four, Spike would make breakfast and manage the library by himself until around noon. The Lavender unicorn spotted the open scroll on the table and picked it up with her magic, reading over the contents of the letter quietly. When she was done she put it down on the table again.
“Spike, I’m going to be taking a quick trip to canterlot. It should take most of the day so you’ll need to watch the library by yourself until closing time. If any of the girls ask, tell them I’m getting new books for the library.”
“Speaking of which, you’ve been putting off getting some new books for the musical history section lately. You might want to actually think about getting some new books while you’re in canterlot.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I probably won’t have time.”
*
The sun streamed through the glass doors to the balcony. Princess Celestia sat quietly, watching her daughter get some much needed sleep. She had done everything she could to make the life of her child easier. She’d managed to keep her away from the political games of the nobility, and by keeping her existence a secret from the public populace, she’d also managed to avoid having her get dragged into most of the stressful duties of being a princess. She’d allowed her daughter to create alternate identities so she wouldn’t feel completely isolated from the world outside the palace. After her first identity had nearly ruined everything, the young alicorn had become afraid off the thought of having the truth exposed to the world, and as a result the identity known as “Vinyl Scratch” had a tendency to keep to herself and generally avoid social interaction. It was sad, really; the aliases were supposed to be helping her be less lonely, but instead were causing her to feel more secluded than ever.
A quiet knock on the door stirred Celestia from her thoughts. Silently she got to her hooves and went over, opening the door carefully, so as to not make too much noise. Luna was on the other side.
“Your faithful student is here to see you. Also, I hope you’re planning on taking over the royal court soon, because I can’t stay up all day to do it for you. I have a night to run, and several events I must be well rested for.” The younger princess whispered to her elder, so as to not disturb the sleeping pony in the room.
“I’ll be down as soon as I’m finished with Twilight. Could you please have a guard send her up on your way back to the throne room?” Luna nodded, and Celestia thanked her greatly as she shut the door again. She turned back to look at her daughter and walked over to the bed. Gently, she shook her daughter into waking up.
“Wake up dear; Twilight will be here soon.”
“Huh? Twilight? I’ve got to go back to work already?” The younger alicorn mumbled in confusion.
“No, I meant Twilight Sparkle…you remember her don’t you?”
“Oh. Yeah, sure I remember Twilight; she only lived at the palace for most of my life.” The Princess’ daughter muttered, before getting out of her bed and shuffling her way over to the bathroom. “Are you sure this will work? I mean, the entire plan depends on her not treating me like royalty, and you know-” she paused so she could yawn before continuing “-what she always says: there’s nothing casual about a visit from royalty.” Celestia heard the sink turn on, and the sound of teeth being brushed.
“She only says that when she’s nervous about my visits. She was quite relaxed the last time Luna went to visit, and she’s been getting a lot better about being casual around me too.”
Her daughter rinsed and spit, clearing her mouth of toothpaste. The sink turned off. “Maybe, but it’s been forever since she’s been around me…er…it’s been forever since she was around me and knew it was me, I mean.” She used her magic to begin brushing her mane. “Besides, I’m your daughter. What if she panics and thinks you banish her to the wherever for making one wrong move around me?”
“I’m certain Twilight knows better than that. She started a riot in ponyville and I didn’t banish her for that. Three little fillies let loose the spirit of chaos and disharmony, and I let that slide too. Both Mayor Mare and I let Spike’s rampage of greed go unpunished, and I gave a full pardon to a traveling show mare who almost got the town destroyed by an Ursa Minor in exchange for a public apology and nothing more. Yes, I think it’s safe to say Twilight knows I’m not that strict when it comes to accidents and mishaps, no matter what or who is involved.”
The child of the sun princess walked out of the bathroom, no longer suffering from a case of bed-mane. “I hope your right; I’m not sure I can think up another identity to-” she was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Your Majesty, Twilight Sparkle is here to see you.” The voice of a royal guard said from behind the door.
“Send her in.”
The doors opened and Twilight entered the room immediately going over to her mentor, and hugging her. “Princess Celestia, it’s so good to see you again.”
“And it is good to see you again as well, my faithful student.” Celestia said as she returned the hug. When the short embrace ended, Twilights attention was directed to the other alicorn in the room, who appeared to be nervous.
“Twilight, you remember my daughter, Princess Calliope, don’t you?”
The studious unicorn nodded, walking over to her. “It’s been a while since we last saw each other. How have you been?” she asked with a friendly smile.
“Lonely, tired, and stressed out…but that’s why you’re here.”
“Um…it is?” Twilight asked, unsure of what she had to do with her mentor’s daughter being stressed out.
“Yes. You see, my daughter has been trying to maintain a social life outside of the palace by using a false identity. Unfortunately, after some rather unfortunate events occurred with the first one, she’s been afraid to try and make friends again out of fear that they’ll discover her secret.”
“So you asked me here to try and teach her how to make friends?”
“Yes and we were also hoping I could stay with you for a while.”
“Stay with me…as in live at my house?” there was a hint of panic in Twilight’s voice. The daughter of Princess Celestia, controller of the sun and ruler of Equestria, was asking if she could stay at her house.
“We figured it’d be best if I learned in an environment that was a little friendlier than canterlot, and since you’re going to be teaching me anyways…”
“The decision is entirely up to you though, Twilight. You don’t have to if you don’t want to…”