***Monday, Day 64***
**Afternoon**
*Enigma*
The burgundy pegasus slowly backs away from the fillies, rather nervous. Atom, meanwhile, simply looks on in amusement.
He turns to the black stallion, frowning deeply, before turning back to the excitable young ponies.
Apple Bloom acts as speaker again. “Wow, Ah’ve never seen somepony as old as you without a cutie mark.” She cringes as she realizes some of the implications of what she said. “Sorry, Ah don’t mean to make ya feel bad, we’re just surprised!”
Scootaloo continues, “Yeah, we keep saying we’re tired of waiting for our cutie marks, but you must have been waiting forever!”
Sweetie Belle has a more tactful approach. “Do you know why you don’t have a cutie mark?”
He blinks at this, putting a hoof to his chin. “...I guess...it’s mostly because I haven’t been actively trying to find my special talent...not to mention that I can’t think of anything that makes me unique...being so old without a cutie mark aside, of course.” He chuckles softly, trying to let them know that last part was a joke.
The three look at each other and nod before turning back to the pegasus. “Well, ya know, if ya want, ya could join the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Ya said that ya haven’t been looking, but we look all the time! Maybe we could help ya!”
Scootaloo nods. “Yeah, with an adult with us, I bet we could do all sorts of new things!”
Enigma sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Knew it.” He looks at them, sheepishly smiling. “See, the thing is, I’m only going to be here for a little while. If anything, I can only be a temporary member. You understand, right?”
The three whine, “Aw~”
The yellow filly tries to stay positive. “Well, at least we know we aren’t the only ones without cutie marks. Ah’m not saying we aren’t gonna stop tryin’ to find ours, but you seem to be doing alright without yers. Thanks ma’am! Yer nice!”
He sits quietly for a moment, his eye twitching slightly. “...pardon me.” He stands up and walks outside, heading over to a tree in view of a nearby window. He then proceeds to slam his head against the trunk of the plant, gritting his teeth as if he was holding onto a rope for dear life. His strikes cause apples to rain down around him.
Sweetie Belle tilts her head to one side. “Did we say something wrong?”
Atom simply laughs. “It’s alright, but just so you know: that was a stallion. Well, I should get this record back to its owner. See you later girls!” He walks outside to where Enigma is hitting his head against the tree. “You ready to go or do you want a few more hits in?”
“One more.” He rears his head back once more and slams it harder than any other time, causing the leaves to fall. “...oops.” He glances around and rushes off, blushing brightly. “Let’s go now!”
The two soon return to the client and present him happily with the missing record. Glare doesn’t ask any questions, and instead immediately takes it to the DJ who comes out to thank them personally.
The purple shades wearing mare trots out next to Glare and waves as she approaches the two stallions. “Hey Atom! Heard you and your friend there were the ones that found my record.”
Atom shrugs, “Just doing a favor for an old friend.” He and Glare nod at each other.
Vinyl continues unabated, “Still I feel you two deserve a little bit of a reward for helping me and my lug here out.” She briefly nuzzles the yellow stallion before resuming. “So how about this? Me and Glare decided that when I do my show tomorrow, all you guys have to do is find him and he’ll let you guys and some friends have the backstage experience?”
Enigma nods, smiling shakily. “That sounds nice, Vi.” He blinks and facehoofs, realizing what he just said. “I mean Vinyl. Sorry.”
She looks at him curiously, “Vi huh? Nah, I’m not feeling it, Vinyl works.” She turns around to start heading back to her room. “See you guys at the show tomorrow!”
As Glare follows her, Atom looks at the burgundy pegasus. “Something wrong?”
He looks back, sheepishly smiling. “...I guess Rhino hasn’t told you everything about me and my friends?”
Atom lowers his shades, “I didn’t even know you knew Rhino...”
A voice echoes from across the field. “Hey, E!”
The two pegasi turn to see Hydro and a familiar shade wearing DJ. Atom’s shades slowly slide further down his nose as the two approach and he stares with wide eyes.
The white mare nuzzles the burgundy pegasus’s cheek, smiling softly.
He quirked an eyebrow at her, smirking playfully. “What do you want, Vi?”
“Two things.” She glances at his saddlebags. “One, I’d like my V-Rifle to show it off to Pump, here, and two...” She pulls him close by the back of his head, eagerly pressing her lips against his. “...I missed you. If you tell anypony I said that, though, you’ll get a Seichusen Godanzuki. Got it?” He nods, unconsciously tucking his tail protectively between his legs. She grins, pushing her shades up her nose. “Good.”
Atom moves next to the red earth pony as the couple speak. He leans towards Hydro as he mutters, “What exactly is going on here? I know for a fact that Vinyl is dating Glare and just walked backstage, yet here you walk up with another one that is dating this guy!”
Hydro chuckles as he pats Atom on the back. “Just roll with it for now, it takes a while to explain so me and Rhino can explain it to all of you guys when we meet up for guy’s night on Wednesday.”
The black pegasus groans as he looks back at the couple. “Roll with it... right...”
***Rhino***
My ears flick as I hear rapidly pounding hooves approach myself and the others. I look up to see a quickly moving and very angry Fiddlesticks headed towards me. I quickly set the cello case to one side and flick my head so Specter flies off towards Fluttershy as I raise my hooves placatingly at the approaching mare.
“Woah, what’s wrong?!”
“You bucking lied to me! You really are trying to steal my pupil!” She is still running, and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
My eyes widen as I envelop her in my magic and levitate her off the ground. “What? I thought we talked about this!”
“Don’t you try to deny it! You actually have the gall to even have the same instrument as me just so you can edge me out of the picture!” She struggles, glaring angrily at me. “Why can’t you just butt out of our relationship, cyka? You know her silly crush won’t last!”
I strengthen my hold on her so she won’t escape as I look at her curiously. “What crush?”
Meanwhile, Fluttershy is holding Pinchy protectively, looking warily at the bow wielding mare.
The filly is trembling, shaking her head, tears forming in her eyes. “...sensei, no...please, don’t do it...”
“You know perfectly well what crush!” She points the bow accusingly at me, mere inches from my nose. “Why else do you think she spends so much time with you? Wants to be with you more than she wants to be with me?! That’s the only explanation I can come up with for this farce of a relationship!”
I look around at the number of ponies starting to stare at the situation and note the almost crying filly. I look toward the angry mare seriously, “Can we please not do this here? No matter what you think, this is still a private matter right? We can address any concerns you have at home, but only if you calm down.”
She glares at me for a few moments before she just seems to deflate, her legs hanging limply. “...what’s the point. She’s happy with you...I guess I’ll have to accept that I’m just not acceptable as a tutor for her anymore, much less a friend...”
The mare I hold now seems almost broken. I float the cello case over to her and crack it open enough so she can see the inscription on its surface. “Do you truly believe that?”
The only word I can use to describe her is stunned. She glances from the inscription, to me and then to Pinchy, tears in her eyes. “...is...is this for me?”
The filly smiles, walking up to her and gently placing a hoof on one of Fiddlesticks’ dangling hooves. “...happy birthday, sensei...”
I smile at the scene as I let the mare down. “Now, why don’t we all head to the house where we can talk this all out, alright?”
All of us including Blue, who had arrived shortly after I set Fiddlesticks down, made our way silently back to the house. Each of us alone with our thoughts. When we arrive, the house is empty. We all find a seat and wait expectantly for the talks to come.
I let the silence sit for about five minutes before I float the cello case in front of Fiddlesticks and pop it open. I look to the filly in the room. “Since it seems we are getting things out in the open, why don’t you start Pinchy? Why did you get this for her?”
She squirms slightly looking up at her tutor. “...sensei...”
Fiddlesticks holds up a hoof, smiling softly. “Please, Berry, call me Octavia or Fiddlesticks. I’d like to think we’re closer than just a student and teacher.”
Pinchy shakily nods, standing up and walking over to the older mare. “...Octavia...I wanted to apologize...”
The blue-maned mare tilts her head in confusion. “What do you have to apologize about? I was the one overreacting.”
The filly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry I helped out Rhino during your bout. It wasn’t fair. And I’m sorry I haven’t been spending much time with you recently, as well.” She looks to her hooves, sniffing softly. “...I was just so afraid I’d disappointed you...”
“Why would you ever disappoint me?” Fiddlesticks smiles calmly, gently stroking Pinchy’s mane. “You’re an intelligent filly and an excellent student. I’m proud of you.” She leans down and whispers into her student’s ear. I couldn’t catch what she said, but it makes Pinchy’s cheeks almost seem to glow.
After that, the sophisticated mare turns to me, smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry about my outburst. I guess a second day without sleep got to me.”
I smile at her. “Don’t worry about it,” I tilt my head in Fluttershy’s direction, “this one knows I’m not in my right mind if I don’t get enough sleep either. Though, I guess mine is more silly than angry, but to each their own.”
“It’s not so much angry as extremely paranoid.” She watches as Pinchy climbs up onto the couch with her. “Oh, and as for that ‘crush’, I admit I was just talking out my flank. Berry is actually not romantically attached to anypony. I doubt she even knows what a crush is. Do y-” She cuts herself off, seeing the filly asleep on the couch next to her. “I guess it can wait.”
I chuckle as I levitate a blanket out of the closet and over the filly. “I told you, the couch works.” My expression turns thoughtful as I look at the filly.
Cause quite some stirs don’t you? I wonder what you actually do think of me...
The feeling of Fluttershy leaning up against my side interrupts my thoughts as I turn to Blue and notice something important missing. “Blue, where are your wings?”
He nods towards the earth pony mare. “She turned them invisible with some silver ball so we could walk around and look for you to see if you can undo the gauntlet suit. I think it sort of locked up on me.”
I look to Fiddlesticks, “Can you make them reappear so I can work on him?”
“Sure.” She walks over and grabs the metal sphere off his back, causing Blue’s wings to fade into existence.
I walk over to my friend and open up the central part of the suit of his chest. “Ah, here’s the problem, you overloaded the first converter crystal and the system shut down to avoid dangerous feedback. Easily fixed.” I Blink up to my room and rustle around in my gem box a moment before Blinking back down with a hoof-sized sapphire. “All I have to do is use a slightly larger gem with the same formula so you have a larger capacity.” A little magic inscribing and a few clicks later, and I close the chest piece as the suit starts to glow dully. “There we go, all set.”
Blue’s wings snap down as he sighs in relief. “So much better. Hey, you aren’t mad about me breaking the suit right?”
I wave off his concerns, “Nah, we told you this was a prototype, made to be adjusted as we learned of slight flaws and parts that need to be tweaked. This is just part of the process.”
“Cool.” He stands up. “Well, after a while of having those stuck in place, I really need to stretch, talk to you guys later!” He waves as he exits and promptly flies off.
I look back to Fiddlesticks as Fluttershy whispers that she needs to head back to her animals and that she is glad nopony was hurt. The pegasus pecks me on the cheek before she too flies off. I remark to the remaining mare “So, now that most of this is out in the open... what do you want to do about this one?” I gesture to the sleeping pile of cute on the couch.
“I think you’ll know what to do.” She walks into the kitchen to, what I can only assume, get some more tea, leaving me with Pinchy.
I look up at Specter for advice as he simply points towards the stairs.
I nod in understanding as I wrap Pinchy in her blanket and bring her up to my room where I set her lightly on the bed. With her comfortable, I turn to leave her to her sleep.
The evening proceeds smoothly from there. Hydro, Vinyl, and Enigma all arrive home after a short time and inform us that we are invited to be backstage guests tomorrow. Everyone seems to agree that it would be a good way to wind down the trip. Soon, the house smells of grilled vegetables and I head up to see if Pinchy is still sleeping.
I get to my door and crack it open as I speak quietly, “Pinchy, are you awake?”
Suddenly my vision is filled with pink. “Boo!”
I reflexively grab the pink in my vision as I step back and behold the filly in my grasp. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”
“Yep!” She giggles, hugging me softly. “Where are we going, Rhino?”
I hug her back as I answer, my voice level, “Wherever you want, but first I want to know if you would be willing to answer a question of mine.”
“Sure!” She smiles brightly, tilting her head. “What’s your question?”
Luna forgive me, for what I am about to say could easily take away that smile.
I look her in the eyes and do my best not to flinch. “In regards to the accusations Octavia made earlier, I have to ask: What am I to you?”
She stares at me, a confused look on her face. “What do you mean? You’re my idol!” Her smile returns, and she gently puts one of her forehooves on mine. “I thought you knew that!”
I nod and smile back at her as I continue. “I do know that, is there anything else?”
Her smile falls, confusion and worry dominating her expression. “...do...do I really have to answer that?”
I could practically feel her heart drop. “If it causes you to worry that much, then yes, please answer me so I can help.”
She looks away, fidgeting slightly. “...r-remember when I called Fluttershy ‘mom’?”
I nod. “Yes, she and I thought it was cute.”
“...well...that’s not far from how I feel about her...” She faces me, sheepishly smiling. “I kinda think of you as my dad...an awesome pony for me to look up to...which would make her my mom...you know?”
The full weight of what she is admitting to me makes me sit down and lean against the wall as I try to absorb it. A thousand thoughts run through my head as I try to figure out how to respond to this new information.
It seems both my thoughts last night and those of the ponies around town were more accurate than they thought. Me? Her dad? I... don’t know how to respond to this. On one hoof, I actually like the idea, I’m more fond of her than I’ve been of any other filly, and I’m not really... against the idea. I have always liked the idea of being a parent On the other hoof, she isn’t from here... she probably has actual parents back in her Ponyville. If not them, she has Octavia right? It wouldn’t be in her best interest to let her live this out would it? I... don’t know... I don’t want to crush her heart... *Sigh* I need to talk with somepony... Octavia most likely. I suppose I opened the proverbial box, now to live with it... Well, for now at least-
“...Rhino?”
Her little voice knocks me out of my torrential thoughts as I focus back on her face, awaiting a response. I try to voice that response carefully. “Pinchy...I want you to know, that I am both honored, and happy, that you think of me like that. I’m sure if she got to know you, Fluttershy would think so too.” I hesitate, but continue regardless. “I also want you to know... if I have ever thought of a filly as a daughter, it is you. So, thank you.” I find myself almost in tears by the time I get through that statement.
She doesn’t respond - not verbally, at least. She leaps forward and wraps her forelegs around my neck. I can feel a wetness near where her face is. “...you have no idea how happy I am to hear that, Rhino...”
I simply hug her back as my own eyes shimmer. After a moment I find my voice again, “What do you say we hang out here a few more minutes before going down and getting something to eat, huh?”
“I’d like that, Dad.” She snuggles close to my chest, a small smile on her face in spite of the dark trails on her cheeks.
I simply smile at her even wider as my thoughts echo.
It seems we still have much to talk about Octavia... and it will not be easy for either of us...