I have the urge to quickly gloss over yesterday’s events and instead focus on the meeting with my parents, partly because today’s events were substantially more notable and partly because Vinyl is trying to get me to write less due to my recent diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, but there were still some important incidents that happened yesterday such as my getting released from the psychiatric ward, and of course, the train ride to Manehattan. The day started with me playing my cello for an hour and enjoying my breakfast while waiting for the doctor to visit.
Outside of my room, ponies went about their days, spoke with each other, and very occasionally yelled at each other over trivialities as nurses went about checking on their patients and giving them their morning medications. I was almost tempted to get out of my room and socialize but decided against it as I saw no value in interacting with other mentally ill ponies. Certainly it would be better if they kept us all separate so our various madnesses didn’t play off each other in new and exciting ways.
Eventually, my music and musings were interrupted by Doctor Blot as he came to check up on me, “Good morning Octavia, how are you doing today?”
“Besides being confined to a mental ward, I am lovely,” I said as I carefully moved to put my cello back in its case.
“Well,” he said, chuckling, “That shouldn’t be a problem much longer, I just have a few questions for you before you go. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I said, smiling.
Unfortunately it turned out that when he said he had a few questions for me, he actually meant that he had prepared the most exhausting and inane battery of questions that Equestria had ever seen. Had I ever thought of harming myself? No, I usually just think of harming ponies that annoy me. Had I ever acted on my impulses to harm another pony? Yes, if Discord counts as a pony. Really? Yes. Do you think there is a conspiracy against you? And so on and so on. I have decided to omit a vast majority of the questionnaire as I found it tedious to listen to and have no doubt that writing it down in its entirety would be even more tedious. The sample I provided should give any reader, presumably Vinyl, the gist of the experience while saving me at least an hour of writing time.
As we reached the end of the interrogation, Vinyl knocked on the door before walking in. “Hey doc, how’s it going.”
“We are fine,” he said, turning to face my marefriend, “Just wrapping up the outprocessing process. I only have one question left and it is directed towards you Miss Scratch.”
“Sure, doc, shoot,” she said as she sat next to me.
“Well, during my time with Miss Melody, she alluded to several incidents where she interacted with Discord and expressed the belief that he was plotting against her. Have you dealt with these delusions before?”
“Oh no,” Vinyl said, before hastily adding, “They aren’t delusions. I totally saw her try to take on Discord during Nightmare Night. Like, she has an actual feud with the god of chaos and entropy, how crazy is that?”
He made a quick note in his files before turning back to Vinyl. “Can you substantiate these claims in some way? You will forgive me if I am somewhat incredulous.”
“Well, you could always just write a letter to Princess Luna, I mean, she was there for the whole ordeal.”
“Of course,” he said, mumbling something under his breath, “ Now, did you read the papers I gave you regarding your responsibilities towards Miss Octavia once I release her into your custody.”
She nodded, “I will keep her in sight at all times, or failing that, I will make sure I can hear her. I will also make sure she takes her pills when she needs to.”
“And if she has a relapse you will take her to the nearest psychiatric hospital, correct?”
“Yeah, I mean, I brought her here the first time, didn’t I?”
“Alright,” he said, pulling a paper out of his files, “Then just sign here and Miss Melody will be released into your custody.”
Vinyl wrapped her magic around the pen he provided and quickly signed the sheet. “Alright, so she can go now?”
He nodded.
“Cool, come on Musicbutt.”
I groaned as I got to my hooves, “I thought you were done with that terrible nickname.”
“Nah,” she said as she wrapped my belongings up in her telekinetic field. “Just thought I would give you a little break. Didn’t want to drive you crazy with it,” she laughed, “Besides, you saw me sign the doctor’s paper. I technically own you now, so I can call you whatever I want, therefore Musicbutt is your new name.”
I briefly considered staying in the hospital, before deciding that Vinyl at her most insufferable was still far more tolerable than spending another day in the hospital. Besides, after the last two nights, I found myself looking forward to an evening spent with my marefri
After leaving the hospital, we headed towards the train situation and Vinyl assured me that Lyra and Bon Bon would meet us there with the rest of our stuff. For my part, I was just happy to be outside in the fresh air and feel the weight of my cello on my back. “So, are you looking forward to going to Manehattan?” Vinyl asked.
“Not particularly,” I said as we drew closer to the train station, “The city is full of poseurs with notions of grandeur who believe that by virtue of wealth they are superior to everypony else.”
“Really?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, “Sounds like you should love it.”
It was my turn to scoff, “While I do believe in the virtues of sophistication and refinement, I don’t believe that they naturally come with wealth. Take Rarity for instance, she presumably has no outstanding lineage to speak of, and if she came into a great fortune, I believe she would give it away in a matter of days, but in my experience, she always handles herself with decorum, grace, and poise. That is what I admire, wealth is completely irrelevant.”
“Huh,” Vinyl said, nodding, “Guess that kind of makes sense. Is that why you left in the first place?”
I nodded, “That and the fact that my parents had exiled me from our home. I suppose the latter might have played a larger role than the former.”
“Oh, right,” she said, hastily looking at her feet as her cheeks took on a reddish tinge. “I… sorry, I guess I sort of forgot for a second. Are you sure you are okay with seeing them tomorrow? I mean, if you don’t want to we can totally do the tourist thing with Lyra and Bon Bon.”
I shook my head, “As much as I would love to play tour guide, I think it is time I tried to patch things up with my parents,” I shrugged, “Besides, if things go poorly then there will be plenty of time for us to see the sights.”
“Alright,” she said as we walked up to the station platform, “Just remember that whatever you decide to do, I will be right there next to you. Because I care… and also it was one of the conditions of your release from the psych ward, but mostly because I care.”
“Thank you,” I said before quickly kissing her cheek, “And thank you for both getting me to the mental hospital and getting me out of it.”
“It’s what I do,” she said, smiling, “Besides, you risked your life to help me, I figure I can at least try to keep you sort of sane.”
I was about to say something else when I saw Lyra and Bon-Bon standing at the other end of the platform, with Lyra waving at us excitedly AND jumping up and down. No, I don’t know how she managed to do that and I would prefer not to think on it. That way, madness lies.
“Hey,” Vinyl said, approaching the two, “Didn’t think you would be packed so soon, I figured we would be waiting here for at least half an hour before you all got here.”
Bon-Bon shrugged, “Not really, I didn’t feel like going to the Anthro-con closing ceremonies today and Lyra couldn’t, so we just thought we would head to the train station early and wait for you to get there.”
“Besides,” Lyra said, “I am looking forward to reading and translating the inscription I copied at Anthro-Con, I have my Human to Equestrian translations all packed and I am ready to do some studying.”
I decided not to comment. At this point, it’s just getting repetitive, and any moderately intelligent reader could infer what I was thinking. After a few more minutes of small talk, the train pulled up to the station and we all boarded for Manehattan. A few minutes later, a jolt ran through the locomotive as we slowly started moving towards our destination and my inevitable meeting with my parents. With that one jolt, I suddenly felt as if my heart were pressed in a vice and I had lost all ability to breathe. Based on the way Vinyl wrapped her hooves around me and brought my head to her chest, my distress was written plainly on my face.
Normally, I would have protested against such public displays of tenderness, but given the fact that I currently felt as if I was about to be consumed by a great abyss and Vinyl’s reassurance was the only thing keeping me somewhat collected, I decided not to. Besides, Lyra and Bon-Bon are close enough friends that the display wouldn’t be that disturbing. Right? Maybe not, I will have to ask them about it on our cruise tomorrow. But then, if they do find it objectionable, how can I sensitively bring up the subject? Stop it. This will be fine, don’t make yourself crazy worrying about nothing.
Thankfully, Vinyl’s non-verbal reassurances managed to calm me somewhat, and after I had regained my composure, the four of us spent the rest of the train ride talking about the generalities of life, which I feel no desire to transcribe now. However, what struck me as interesting was the great effort we made to avoid mentioning Nightmare Night, Anthro-Con (For Lyra’s sake, although the mare was so engrossed in her note taking I doubt she would have cared), and my most recent stint in the hospital, bringing my grand total of hospitalizations in the last month up to four.
As the sun sank lower into the sky, the train pulled into Manehattan’s Grand Central Station, and the four of us gathered our things and disembarked. The rush of emotions I experienced when I stepped hoof on my native soil, were… well, I am tempted to say they were indescribable, but that would be cheating. If one were to boil down emotional states into their purest forms, then taking two parts elation, one part dread, and one part sheer soul-crushing terror and mixing them would make for the most accurate descriptor I could think of. Thankfully, I managed to avoid having another one of my episodes by focusing on preparing my friends on what they could expect in Manehattan.
“Now girls,” I said at the station while struggling to properly strap on my cello case, “Please keep in mind that Manehattan is in no way similar to Ponyville.” For instance, I thought, the ponies here actually have a degree of sophistication and proper breeding. Not as much as Canterlot, but still more than Ponyville. “Ponies here aren’t friendly, they don’t care about you, and if you get in their way, they will run you over in a heartbeat.”
“Here, you look like you are having trouble with that,” a passing unicorn stallion said, adjusting my case with his magic, “I would hate to have some guests of our fine city get the wrong impression.”
“I… uhmm… thank you,” I stammered as my friends worked to suppress their laughter.
“Yeah Tavi, these ponies definitely seem like they would run me over in a heartbeat. Gotta watch out for ponies in the big scary city,” Vinyl said.
The stallion just laughed, “No, your friend would have been right a few months ago. Ponies here WERE pretty selfish, but then for some reason, a few ponies started being generous and helping others out, and the effect snowballed pretty quickly. Now most of us try to help those in need when we can, and quite frankly, I think the change is just great.”
“Well, thank you for the exposition,” I said as Vinyl tossed him a few bits for his trouble. “Now then, I think we should be heading to our hotel rooms, we both have a lot planned for tomorrow and it is important to be well rested.”
“Uhmm, Tavi,” Vinyl said as Lyra and Bon-Bon whispered amongst themselves. “It’s still daylight out, shouldn’t we have dinner first or something?”
I looked up and noticed that, yes, the sun was still in the sky. “Hmm, so it is. Well, I know the loveliest little bistro down on third street, shall we?”
“Sure,” the three said in unison as they followed me off into the metropolis in search of a bistro.
It was closed. In it’s place was a restaurant with a picture of a smiling griffon and the word “Culinaire’s” printed on the sign.
“Ooh,” Bon-Bon said, “I always wanted to eat at a Culinaire’s.”
“Don’t bother,” I said, “The food is substandard and overpriced, and the place only stays in business by marketing itself as a Manehattan institution to gullible tourists. No offense.”
The three of them grumbled, but I was not to be deterred, we were going to eat at an actual Manehattan institution and not some chintzy tourist trap. In fact, I had just the place in mind.
It had been replaced by a Culinaire’s too. Celestia bucking dammit. “Come on Tavi, the place can’t be that bad, I mean, if it could replace the Palamino, it is probably pretty good, right?” Vinyl said, trying to calm me.
The very idea that the Palamino’s delectable tofu steaks had been replaced by… whatever it is the Culinaire served made me want to cry. “No, I will not at eat a Culinaire’s even if it is the last restaurant in Equestria. I’d rather eat at Fat Mike’s Pizzeria than a Culinaire’s. At least his pizzas are an actual Manehattan institution, now come on.
My friends groaned, “But we’ve been carrying our luggage around for hours and it’s dark out, can we please just eat here,” Bon-Bon said.
“Listen,” I said, “Fat Mike’s is just a block away, let’s eat there and if for some reason it closed, we will eat at whatever restaurant took it’s place, okay?” The other three nodded and I smiled to myself. There was absolutely no chance that it too had been replaced by a Culinaire’s.”
Fat Mike’s Pizzeria wasn’t replaced by a Culinaire’s, it was replaced by a Benny’s, also known as the worst diner in Equestria. The dinner the four of us had at that Celestia forsaken place was possible the most depressing meal I had ever had. Partly because their “food” can best be described as a gross facsimile of modern cuisine, with even their “best” items tasting sad, wrong, and empty, and partly because nopony wanted to eat there. Any good mood the four of us had had completely dissolved after our first few bites of food, and the meal passed with the four of us struggling to stomach our meals. Except for Vinyl, she apparently loved her cheese fries, while my food just tasted like cold grease.
After the meal, we carried our luggage towards the hotel in silence until I could stand it no longer, “Listen, Bon-Bon, I’m sorry I didn’t let you eat at Culinaire’s, I just wanted to show my friends a side of Manehattan tourists don’t normally see. Unfortunately, it seems the city has changed more than I realized in the past decade.”
“It’s fine,” she said after a moment’s pause, “Yes, I wanted to eat at Culinaire’s, and I don’t think anypony liked their meal at Benny’s-”
“I did,” Vinyl interjected cheerily.
“I don’t think anypony with a palette more sophisticated than a foal’s liked their meal at Benny’s,” Bon-Bon corrected.
“Hey,” Vinyl said, trying to think up a retort before I kissed the spot on her neck that I found was particularly effective at interrupting her train of thought and relaxing her.
“Vinyl, I love you, but your taste in food is absolutely abysmal. When I moved in there wasn’t a single food product that wasn’t prepackaged and ready for immediate consumption, and do I need to go over the hay frites incident again?”
“Alright,” she said, “But I mean, the food at Benny’s wasn’t that bad was it?”
“It was,” the three of us said in unison. Vinyl shot Lyra a look of utter betrayal.
Lyra, for her part, shrugged it off, “Sorry Vinyl, I live with a confectioner who loves to cook, which means I get to eat a lot of awesome food. After a few years of that you kind of start to differentiate between good food and bad.”
Bon-Bon smiled at Lyra’s praise before trying to get the conversation back on track, “Anyways, since we can all agree that Benny’s is terrible and Vinyl couldn’t differentiate between a good meal and bad meal to save her life, I wasn’t upset that you wanted to show us one of your favorite Manehattan restaurants, I was upset that you kept us out until ten at night looking for some place to eat,” she said as we walked into the hotel lobby, “Now then, if you don’t mind, I would like to get some sleep tonight, so I will see you all later.”
The four of us quickly checked into our hotel rooms, and went our separate ways, with Vinyl and I heading into our suite, organizing the room properly (Well, I organized, she just dropped most of our luggage on the floor the second we stepped inside), and heading to bed to… converse for a time before going to sleep.
Now that yesterday has been dealt with, I can move on to talking about today’s far more eventful activities. The day began with another one of my screaming sessions after an atrocious nightmare while Vinyl dutifully prepared my morning pills. I am pleased to say that in less than half an hour, I was back to feeling like my regular self and going about my morning routine.
“You ready for today?” Vinyl asked as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped her forelegs around my barrel. For a brief moment, the idea of her walking out of the shower naked struck me as scandalous until I remembered that we were naked all the time. The pony mind is a strange and confusing thing especially when it comes to issues of modesty.
I nodded after a few seconds of deliberation, “As I will ever be, I suppose. I have to do it some time or another, and I might as well get it out of the way now.”
“You don’t have to,” she said after kissing my neck, “We could stay in here all day and…” For modesty’s sake, I will leave the rest of her suggestion to the imaginations of some theoretical future reader.
“As lovely as that sounds, I would like to remind you that we will be on Equestria’s largest dirigible for an entire week starting tomorrow,” I wiggled my way out of her grasp and kissed her, “There will be time for all of that later, and that way I won’t be distracted by possible future dealings with my parents.”
“Alright,” she said as she toweled herself off, “Just remember I will be right beside you the whole time. I mean, I would have to be crazy to miss the chance to see where the great Octavia grew up.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Keep in mind it’s not that notable.”
Two hours later, we were outside my familial estate and Vinyl’s jaw was lodged firmly on the sidewalk. “So, just to get this straight,” she said, “Your ideas of not that notable is a freaking mansion.”
“It’s not a mansion, Vinyl, it’s a turn-of-the-century brick manor. And like I said, it’s not that impressive.”
“Tavi, that thing could fit our entire neighborhood in it comfortably. You… why didn’t you tell me you were filthy rich?”
“Because I’m not,” I said, opening the gate, “My parents are rather wealthy, but if you will recall, they haven’t supported me in quite some time. I am still a struggling musician who can barely afford a decent apartment in Canterlot.”
“So by decent, you mean some multi-story mansion with an indoor pool and gym, right?”
I sighed as I knocked on the door to the house, “No Vinyl, I mean an apartment with both a living room and a bedroom. I know, the decadence I had grown accustomed to before moving to Ponyville is simply staggering.”
Before Vinyl could respond, the door swung open and a grey face, lined with age stared back at me. His blue eyes and white hair were instantly recognizable, and soon enough my forehooves had wrapped around him in a friendly embrace. “Woodhoof, I didn’t expect to see you on this trip, how are you?” Truthfully, I had assumed he had died years ago and my parents had neglected to invite me to his funeral.
“As well as can be expected Mistress Octavia, please come in, your parents are out on business right now so I do hope you don’t mind a wait.”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow as we walked inside. “Mistress?”
“She is the young unmarried heir to the Noble Gentry family, what other title would you suggest Miss…”
“Scratch,” I said, trying to take control of the situation. “Vinyl, this is the family butler Woodhoof, he was also pretty much the only friend I had during my foalhood. Woodhoof, this is Vinyl Scratch, she is my…” I trailed off as the words momentarily caught in my throat, “Marefriend.”
“Then well met, Miss Scratch, it’s nice to see the young mistress has found someone whose company she enjoys after the bad hoof her parents dealt her. I must say I was particularly livid after they kicked you out,” he said as we reached the sitting room.
“I know Woodhoof, I wish I had been given the chance to say a proper farewell and… wait, aren’t you at least a bit surprised about me having a marefriend?”
He just laughed, “Mistress Octavia, we played with dolls together, and if I recall correctly, there were plenty of romances amongst your various stuffed animals and nary a single stallion to be found. I am no great student of equine nature, but to me the notion that you might prefer mares to stallions seemed rather obvious after that.”
Next to me, Vinyl snickered and for a brief moment I felt the overwhelming urge to jam my elbow into her rib cage. “Then did you tell my parents or…”
Woodhoof shook his head, “On this topic and so many others that relate to you, your parents are completely in the dark. I didn’t think it my place to tell them and they never seemed that interested in the particulars of your life.”
“Hey, speaking of that, where are Musi- Tavi’s parents?” Vinyl asked, somehow managing to refrain from calling me Musicbutt. Small miracles, I suppose.
“Lady Estate is out shopping, and Mister Profit is dealing with the latest calamity to befall Capitail Records.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“It would seem that in the past several days, Apple Records has declared all out war on your father’s company and even managed to sign away their number one band, the Beat-tails. Today they announced that their first song under the new label would be titled ‘Record Profit’s Record Greed.’ Your father is very much unamused.”
“I see,” I said, recalling the recent visit the Apples had paid me. Apparently, when they disown somepony, they don’t take half-measures.
“Yes, your mother should be back any moment now, and I would expect your father to return for lunch around noon. Until then, please make yourself at home. I’m afraid I must finish cleaning the kitchen and see to preparing your father’s lunch. He get’s rather cross with me when his eggs are prepared improperly.” With that, he tottered out of the room in the general direction of the kitchen.
“Whoa,” Vinyl said after he exited the room, “You didn’t tell me you had an awesome butler, can we take him with us, dude would be like… the best roommate ever.”
“First of all, I don’t have a butler, my parents do. Second of all, taking him with us would almost certainly exacerbate the situation with my parents that I came here to resolve. Third, we don’t have space for him. And finally, even if you could convince him to share a room with our sentient mold monster, we still can’t afford to pay him on our salaries, and yes Vinyl, we would have to pay him.”
The argument continued for a few more minutes until the door to the sitting room opened and a charcoal grey mare walked in. “Woodhoof, could you please be a dear and fetch my bags? I left them in the foye-” She stopped and turned to regard me for the first time in a decade. “Oh, Octavia, you didn’t inform us that you would be visiting. Rather improper to just drop in unannounced.”
She cast a glance at Vinyl, “And you brought company. Again, without informing me. If I wasn’t feeling so generous, I would usher you out of the house until you could be bothered to make proper arrangements.”
I smiled at her, “It’s good to see you too mother.”
“I’ve actually been wanting to talk to you the past few days, so I suppose your unexpected visit is as fortuitous as it is rude. I heard that you were recently appointed to form an orchestra for Princess Luna herself. Since you’ve achieved a certain level of respectability, I think it’s time we consider bringing you back into the Gentry family.”
“Huh, that’s…” I paused trying to think of something to say, “Unexpected.”
My mother emitted a series of harsh mechanical barks that I suppose under favorable circumstances could be considered a laugh, “Octavia darling, you simply have the most fanciful notions. Did you think we would be upset to see that our daughter was appointed head of Princess Luna’s orchestra? No, you exceeded our wildest dreams, and we are very proud of you.”
“Uhmm… okay,” Vinyl said, finally entering into the conversation and earning the attention of my mother’s withering glare, “So then… why did you kick her out?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t know assistant’s were allowed to contribute to this conversation. Octavia darling, you really should manage your helpers better. What are people going to think when a mouthy mare who has so clearly dyed her mane represents you?”
I pursed my lips and practiced the calming breaths they taught me at the insane asylum. Things would be bad if I exploded now. “Actually mother, Vinyl is my marefriend, not my assistant.”
My mother clicked her tongue a few times, processing the latest revelation. “I suppose we can work with this, yes artists are rather infamous for their peculiarities, and while I don’t approve of such foalish actions, I suppose I can make an exception considering your recent successes.”
“Gee, it’s great to know Octavia has parents as supportive as you, now why the hay did you kick her out when she was ten?”
Mother sniffed at the air indignantly. “First of all, we exiled her from the house when she was twelve, and second of all, we spent three years turning a blind eye to the fact that she spent three years living with her grandmother Philharmonica. Mother was always far too soft to do the proper thing.”
“Yeah, damn her basic equine decency. How dare she interfere with whatever your crazy masterplan was.”
“Exactly,” Mother said, not picking up on the sarcasm dripping from Vinyl’s lips, “Even though we explained our plan in excruciating detail regarding Octavia’s proper development, she refused to follow suit. Still, things worked out so I suppose we can’t be too mad.”
“Care to explain the master plan to me? Ya know fill me in, make sure I don’t mess it up” Vinyl said, apparently deciding to play along with my mother for reasons that I could only guess it.
She sighed, “I suppose Octavia is old enough to hear just why we kicked her out and perhaps appreciate the beauty of our plan.”
“I am all ears,” I said, finally re-entering the conversation. Maybe they did have a reasonable explanation for their actions and they were endeavoring to help me all along, I thought like an utter idiot.
“Well you see, when it became clear that our darling daughter had her heart set on becoming a musician as opposed to choosing one of the more reasonable careers we had set out for her, we decided that it was absolutely vital for her to become a respectable musician as opposed to some wandering street corner minstrel or worse yet, a DJ, so it was decided that we would withhold the one thing a young filly desires more than anything else.”
“And that is?” I asked, still hoping that the terrible feeling developing in my stomach was unfounded.
Mother laughed, “Why our love and approval of course. While kicking you out did pain us, we had decided that it had the most optimal outcomes. The first was that, in your quest to earn the approval you so desperately craved, you would channel your energies into becoming a proper respectable musician as opposed to some glorified vagrant. The second was that you would pursue whatever wild passions struck your fancy without bringing shame and embarrassment upon your family.” As she said that, she shot an accusing glance at Vinyl, “We are very glad that you chose the first option, the thought of losing our daughter forever was almost too much to bear.”
“Didn’t stop you from kicking her out and disowning her though,” Vinyl said, her eyes narrowed and her continence struggling to conceal her rage. For my part, I was reanalyzing every decision I had ever made and seeing how many of them were shaded by the desire to prove to my parents that I could be both proper and a musician. The answer was far too many.
“Well of course,” Mother said, managing a smile that was completely devoid of mirth, happiness, or any other form of joy. “Haven’t you ever had to do something unpleasant for the greater good? Crush a pony’s hopes and dreams so that they might better themselves.” She laughed again and a shiver ran down my spine.
“What am I saying, of course you haven’t. Just look at you, mane dyed, posture abyssmal, my daughter is dating an idle pleasure seeker, a pony doing whatever she thinks feels good at the time, whatever brings her the most happiness, regardless of the consequences. You’ve decided to forsake the life of propriety to instead focus on satiating your own id. Not surprising of course, most ponies forsake that path to instead focus on ‘living their dreams,’” there was more harsh laughter after that, “And that’s what I want to make happen today. I want to help you fulfill your dreams., and to that end I am prepared to offer you, let’s say, forty million bits. The only condition is that I want you to stop publicly seeing my daughter.”
Vinyl opened her mouth to say something, but Mother ignored her, “Now please note I am not asking you to stop seeing my daughter all together, and if you two wish to carry on an illicit affair, that is your business, but it is important that she marries somepony of the proper social class and gender,” she unsmiled again, “And please don’t think I dislike you, but our daughter following the proper path in life is very important to both me and her father, and we only want what is best for her. I assure you, after some time to thinks things through, she will be just fine with our little arrangement and you will be substantially wealthier.”
“I… you mean… I…” I stammered ineffectively trying to think of something to say, Vinyl seemed just as shocked as I was and was struggling to think of something. Mother was unperturbed.
“You see dear, the poor girl has always been rather weak, she needs some proper motivation and guidance, without us she probably would have dyed her hair, started playing in some unsavory club, and taken up a ridiculous stage name.”
Something in her sentence brought me back to my senses, and I laughed. It wasn’t a laugh shared between friends and it certainly wasn’t my mother’s twisted mockery of laughter. Instead, it was the laugh of a mare at her wits end, the laugh of a conqueror seeing her enemies break upon her army. “I’m weak? I’m weak. That has to be the most ill-informed thing I have ever heard. You see darling mother, I’ve died. Multiple times. In the past month. Now yes, there is still some lingering trauma from me using the line that separates the living and dead as my own personal jump rope, but I’m here and remarkably well collected.”
For the first time since our conversation started, my mother’s cruel unsmile vanished and a look of uncertainty entered into her eyes. I was positively giddy. “Now, I came here today to try and reconcile with you all, and maybe find some tiny speck of good in you, some justification for your atrocious action. Instead, you confess to a plan that most serial villains would find excessively evil and then concocted some elaborate scenario in your heads where you were actually justified for disowning a filly for the crime of wanting to follow her dreams. Then, you try to bribe my marefriend to break up with me while I was still in the room with you, and again insisted that what you were doing was for your warped twisted version of ‘the greater good.’ Well guess what, despite all your absolutely insane machinations, I survived and even managed to thrive on my own four hooves, so now that I actually managed to make something of myself, you swoop in and try to take credit for all of MY victories.”
My lips pulled back in something that was half-snarl and half-smile. “We’re done, mother. You see, the last few weeks in Ponyville have taught me what a family is supposed to do, and if you want a reference, it is basically the exact opposite of what you have done. So here is what is going to happen, I am going to leave, you aren’t going to stop me, I will be dying my hair a lovely shade of pink just to spite you, and if you ever wish to contact me again, you will send a letter addressed to Miss Scratch.” I turned towards the door, “Let’s go Vinyl. Maybe we can meet up with Lyra and Bon-Bon later. Oh, and if you even consider taking my parent’s bribe money, we are done, even if you are just trying to swindle them out of it. I want nothing to do with either them or their money.”
“Yeah, no, totally… That’s uhm… Totally get that,” she said as she got up to follow after me.
I turned back to face my mother, unable to resist one last barb. “Oh, and Mother, if you are wondering just why Apple Records decided to declare war on Father’s company, it’s because of me. Apparently our family is distantly related to the Apple family, and once they heard of your… let’s call it, unique parenting style, they decided to disown you and do everything in their power to cut you down to size. If you had been at all pleasant today, I probably would have asked them to let you be. Instead, I think I will relate this story to them and see if they are willing to take any more drastic measures.”
Before I could finish my rant, Mother had vaulted from the room, presumably heading off to inform Father of recent developments. “Do you think I was too harsh on them?” I asked as we headed towards the exit and my anger dissolved into doubt over just how much of my identity I owed to my parents.. “She deserved it, certainly, but I still feel my outburst was rather rude.”
Vinyl laughed, “Are you kidding me? That was freaking awesome, I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony deal out such a verbal evisceration in… ever. Also, seeing you get all badass was kind of a turn on. I am a sucker for a strong-willed mare.”
“You know, if you want, we can find an unoccupied room and spite my parents one last time,” I said, deciding that I had no desire to listen to what propriety dictated at this time. A very large part of me was tempted to have a somewhat delayed rebellious phase. Not to the point of leaving the orchestra and becoming a street musician, but I think I would look quite fetching with a stripe of my mane and tail dyed a lovely shade of pink. Truly, I am a rebel the likes of which Equestria has never seen before.
“Yeah,” Vinyl said, “That sounds great if you’re saying what I think you’re saying.”
I nodded, but before we could diverge from the path, the door to the first floor library opened and Woodhoof came to block our path. “I’m sorry for intruding Mistress Octavia, but I couldn’t help but overhear your discussion with your mother.”
“It’s quite alright, Woodhoof,” I said, “I did raise my voice a bit towards the end. Will you be able to deal with my parents when they return?”
“Actually, that is what I wanted to speak with you about. You see, I am sworn to serve your family and have decided that serving your parents would be disruptive to the success and continuation of the family, so I was hoping that you, as the only other living member of the Estate family would be amenable to my working for you.”
“Well,” I said, struggling to process this recent revelation, “As honored as I would be to have you live with me, our housing isn’t anywhere near as spacious as what you are accustomed to, and we couldn’t pay you that much either.”
He laughed at that, “Mistress Octavia, your parents have been paying me next to nothing ever since they came into possession of the manor. The only reason I am able to make ends meet is because I also have very few expenses. Thankfully, your grandmother paid me substantially more and I’ve managed to save up quite the little nest egg for myself. It’s only eight million bits, but that should be enough to augment any potential downgrades in pay I might experience working for you.”
“That… Yeah, that should probably be fine,” I said, “That’s… If you’re sure, I would love to have you living with us, but there is one caveat I forgot to mention, you would be sharing a room with a sentient mold monster.”
“I… I see,” he said, “Have you tried exterminating it?”
I nodded, “It just makes it stronger, besides that, Moldy kind of grows on you after a while. In a good way though, I didn’t mean to imply it will gradually consume you.”
Woodhoof scratched his head, thinking of some proper response, “Well, that does put a damper on things, but it would still be preferable to continuing to serve your parents knowing just how insane they are.”
“If you’re sure then just let me write the address down for you and feel free to head over to Ponyville whenever you wish, Vinyl and I still have another week of vacation left, and I don’t think the Valiant has any rooms still available.”
“Very good Mistress, just tell me the address and I shall write it down at the first available opportunity,” he said, “I fear your parents shall return soon and I don’t think it would be wise for you to be here when that happens.”
I gave him my Ponyville address, said a proper farewell, and a few minutes later Vinyl and I were on our way back to the hotel. “Did I mention that that was totally awesome?” Vinyl asked, “I mean first of all, you totally gave your mom the verbal smackdown she so definitely deserved, and then we got ourselves the most adorable butler ever. He’s just so cool and chill.”
Despite my best efforts, I found myself smiling at Vinyl’s enthusiasm. I wrapped my forehooves around her neck and drew her close to me. My lips pressed against hers, and I lost myself to the sensation of being with my marefriend. Perhaps other ponies were staring at us, but for the few moments we were wrapped in the other’s embrace, I found myself unable to care.
“That was… are you okay? I mean, I am all for spur-of-the-moment make-out sessions, but I didn’t think you were big on making out in public. Or any public displays of affection, actually.” Vinyl said after our prolonged kiss had ended.
“I am fine,” I said as we resumed the walk back to the hotel, “I just… I’m trying to be a touch more impulsive. After Mother revealed the extent of her machinations, I am trying to break out of my shell a touch. Maybe I like being prim and proper all the time, but I think it would be for the best if I spent some time figuring out what I want as opposed to just following the path they set out for me.”
She nodded and kissed my neck, “That sounds good, and I totally support that, but don’t feel like you need to change too much. Although… were you serious about dying your mane? Cause you would be just… drop-dead sexy with a pink skunk stripe dyed into your mane.”
“Skunk stripe?” I asked, unfamiliar with the term.
“Yeah, you know that thing Twilight has in her mane and tail? It’s that.”
I nodded, “I will consider it.” I said as we drew close to the hotel, “Now I don’t know about you, but I would love to spend some time in our room writing and practicing the cello.”
“Is that supposed to be code for scandalous adult fun?” She asked, her eyes lighting up.
“No, it’s code for writing and practicing my cello.”
Vinyl groaned audibly, but didn’t offer any additional protest, “Fine, but I can’t be held responsible if I get bored and try to seduce you.”
“Fair enough,” I said as we walked into the elevator, “Just make sure I have at least a couple of hours to write my journal entry for tonight, I want to get everything caught up before our cruise tomorrow.”
She rolled her eyes, “Really, that is what you are concerned about? I thought-”
I cut her off. “Vinyl if I get caught up on my writing today then I won’t have to worry about writing anything for the first few days of the cruise, meaning we can spend more time together.’
“Alright, alright,” she said, “But Tuesday we are spending the entire day in our room, okay?”
“Are you sure? It feels odd for us to go on vacation and then spend the entire day in our room. Unless you are talking about…” I paused as I figured out just what she was getting at and smiled, “I suppose I can live with that compromise.”
A large part of the day passed with me practicing the cello while Vinyl occasionally tried to distract me through various acts of affection. For the most part, I succeeded in ignoring her, although I had a few rather enjoyable lapses in willpower, before the song that had been stuck in my head several days previously returned to me.
“Vinyl,” I asked, lifting my head up from the bed we were sharing, “Do you recognize any song that goes like this?” I hummed a few bars from it, hoping that her massive musical catalog would come in handy.
She furrowed her brow in thought and shook her head, “Sorry Tavi, don’t recognize it, and there aren’t many songs I don’t recognize (I shuttered at the double negative), it sounds nice though, maybe you should try writing it down and seeing if the orchestra will play it. Might just be your opus.”
“I doubt it,” I said, shaking my head, “I tried for years but I was never able to compose a single original line. Still, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything if I wrote it down.”
“Who knows,” she said after kissing her favorite spot on the back of my neck (She says she especially enjoys it as it is usually covered by my collar), “Maybe being in Ponyville and not spending all your time in your room playing the cello got your latent creative juices pumping. Maybe you’re gonna be the next Mocart.”
“Not likely,” I said, laughing and shaking my head, “By the time he was my age he had already written several symphonies and operas, while I’ve only started learning the value of friendship and romance in the past month. Which, if you’re wondering, is definitely preferable to playing my cello all day.”
“Glad to hear it, now go on and get writing, I want to see the five pages of sheet music by the time we leave tomorrow, and I guess you should do your journal entry as well, but I want you to go easy on it today, the doctor said you have that weird carpal tunnel disease that pretty much makes all of your favorite things bad for you.”
I groaned, “And please don’t remind me of that, if I have to go without playing the cello or writing in my journal, I think I will lose my mind… well, lose more of it at least,” I said as I moved towards the desk. From there, the rest of the evening passed with me writing and Vinyl flipping through one of the cheap romance novels she apparently stole from the Baltimare Public Library. Hopefully, Twilight will help me return them before we are hit with a fine that is too debilitating. Of course, she might take offense to me wasting her royal time over such a trivial matter, but I truly doubt that as she lives in a library and has been rather approachable during my few dealings with her. It will certainly be better than earning the ire of some secret society of librarians which, with my luck, is actually a thing that exists and not just some fanciful notion on my part.. Hooray.
That should do it for tonight. Tomorrow we head out on the Valiant for our tour of Equestria by way of rigid airship. After the past few weeks, I feel like I’ve earned this vacation, and can’t wait to be able to literally look down on everypony in Equestria.