"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
-Kurt Vonnegut
Vinyl hit the ground with a thud. It was a split second decision to exploit the failsafe in the binding spell which allowed him to send a surge of magical energy through the bind connection and incapacitate the pony on the other end if it was ever needed.
It had been needed.
Glory was laying on the ground, holding her jaw where Vinyl clocked her. Shining could see where the hoof hit and it was already turning a dark purple and starting to swell. This was not going to look good on him.
“Are you okay?” He knelt beside the fallen pegasus and rested a hoof on her back.
“I’m fine…” Glory looked up to Shining Armor, a far away look in her eyes. “It just hurt…” Shining was sure it hurt more than just physically. It seemed, to him at least, the Glory was the only one trying in her and Vinyl’s strained relationship. If this didn’t serve as the final nail in the coffin, he didn’t know what would.
“I shouldn’t have let her do that, I’m so sorry…” Shining couldn’t help but feel mostly responsible for the incident. It was him wanting to get into Vinyl’s head that caused all of this. Plus, it was an enticing tale to listen to, he didn’t really want it to end anyways. “Is there anything I can do? Get you an icepack? Take you to a hospital…?” This was his fault and he was going to make sure he tried his best to fix it.
“No, I’ll be fine.” Glory’s voice had lost the pleasant edge that it normally weilded like a sword to cut through the gloom, now it was distant and broken. “Just make sure she’s alright, please?” Shining was flummoxed. Vinyl had been nothing but distant and hateful since they entered the house, and Glory still wanted to make sure she was alright. This pegasus was truly a saint.
“How can you be worried about her? She just hit you, Glory...you have to be angry at her, at least a little bit.” The guard helped Glory to her hooves, and made sure he was looking her in the eyes. “That was not okay for her to do, and you know it.” He was practically pleading with her, his voice and the look in his eyes attested to that.
“She’s the only family I have left, Shining. Imagine if Twily was the only family you had left...could you ever be mad at her?” She was right, of course. Shining could never be mad at his little sister, no matter how hard he tried. He could get irritated by her from time to time, but he could never be truly angry with her.
“Yeah, you’re right…” He turned and lifted the unconcious Vinyl Scratch onto his back. “Well thank you for the information, Glory. I appreciate it.” Shining was still trying to figure this out; Vinyl obviously did not like him, but in order to properly do well by her they needed to see eye to eye on something. Without some sort of link to soften her up or understand her, it was going to make this a lot more difficult.
“Take care of her, please…” That was all Shining needed to hear. This was his cause now, and he was going to see it through.
----
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was quite a happy pony at the moment. Tonight was the night that both herself and her boyfriend, Shining Armor, were going to take the time out of their busy schedules to have a date.
Right now she was waiting at the doorstep of Shining’s family home for him to answer. It wasn’t often that he was this tardy with answering the door, but the Princess supposed that he might’ve still been getting ready for the night.
The door opened and instead of her handsome stallion standing in the doorway, it was his little sister. Not that she wasn’t happy to see her favorite filly, it was just that she should be studying.
“Cadence!” Twilight wrapped herself around one of Cadence’s forelegs. “What are you doing here? Mom and Dad said I could take care of myself until they get home tonight.” Cadence noticed a book titled ‘Magic Mechanics: A beginners guide’ sitting on the floor beside Twilight. So she was studying…
“Well Shiny and I were supposed to go on a date tonight. Is he still upstairs getting ready?” Cadence leaned forward and craned her neck to the side to see if she could hear anything coming from upstairs.
“Oh...right.” The filly finally relinquished her grip. “He already went out with another mare earlier tonight...he brought her here…” Twilight was obviously straining to remember all of the details. That most likely means she was nose deep in a book when he was here.
“Another mare? Twilight are you sure you’re remembering that correctly?” Cadence was struggling to maintain her calm. She was positive that Shining would never cheat on her, but then again she was positive that Twilight would never lie.
“Well…” Little hooves shuffled sheepishly against the carpet. “I was trying to study for Princess Celestia’s test on Friday, so maybe I missed something.” Twilight rarely admitted she was flat-out wrong, just that she might be partially mistaken about a few things. “But I know he was definitely with a mare...he said something about bind or bond or something…”
Cadence’s mind was racing; Another mare, something about binding or bond, and forgetting their date. Her imediate thought was nothing decent nor good. She only hoped it was wrong.
“Do you have any idea where he went with this other mare, Twily?” Cadence needed to know desperately what was going on. She hoped Twilight could provide her with even a minute amount of information would do.
“No...I’m sorry Cadence.” Disappointment swept across the little scholar’s face. “If I knew I would tell you…”
“I know you would, Twily. Don’t worry yourself too much, alright?” She tussled her little Ladybug’s mane. “Just go back to studying, alright? I know you’ll ace that test.” Her own smile was reflected back with great intensity by Twilight.
With one last hug to serve as a parting farewell, Twilight went back inside of the house. Cadence was ready to figure out what was going on with her boyfriend.
----
Shining nudged open the door to Vinyl’s apartment. The mare was still out cold on his back. Usually a stallion carrying an unconcious mare trough the city on his back would earn him a few glances, but his guard armor made sure no questions were asked.
He put Vinyl on her couch, the same spot where she was laying earlier, and let out a sigh. Today was a rollercoaster that he was not prepared for in the slightest. He woke up early, did his normal duties, then it all went downhill. First after lunch he was told he was on bind duty, then the whole thing with Glory happened...he wondered what else today had in store for him.
“Celestia, what am I supposed to do with you, Vinyl?” Initially he’d felt a large amount of contempt towards the unicorn now in his care, how could he not? He had been put on the Vinyl patrol route more than a few times, and that ensured that he had been bitten, tossed down a street, and had alchohol thrown in his face by the mare.
After talking with Glory, he realized something though. Vinyl was not all that bad of a pony. Sure she had a distate for authority, and a penchant for anger but at heart she was a good pony and a good friend. Maybe if he could get her to express that more openly, he could convince her to control herself a little more thoroughly. That would require Glory’s help most likely, and that would be hard for Vinyl to accept.
Unbuckling his armor, he let it fall to the floor with a solid thunk. It felt good to shed his armor at the end of a long day. It was almost like switching from Work Shining to Home Shining. But he was always at work until he deemed Vinyl fit to return to life without an escort, and that was going to be a bit.
He sat down in the chair across from the couch, his seat from earlier. It felt nice to finally rest. Slowly but surely, his eyelids found their way together and he slipped into the void known as sleep.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Shining bolted awake in an instant. He looked around the apartment urgently. How long had he been asleep? The only clue was that the moon was out and the stars were shining brightly outside of the window. So it was nighttime, who would be knocking at Vinyl’s door now?
He stood up slowly, his knees cracked and popped as he did so. He hated sleeping in chairs so much, but sometimes it was a necessity.
Vinyl was still out on the couch, he made sure of that. He wasn’t quite ready to have a confrontation with the mare quite yet. His task at the moment was to see who was at the front door and what in Celestia’s name they wanted this late at night.
He opened the door and nearly passed out. On the other side of the threshold stood the one and only Princess Cadence, his girlfriend. His heart stopped when it all started to click; they were supposed to have a date tonight! He totally forgot!
This was going to be bad.
“Shining Armor!” He flinched and clenched his eyes shut. “Why didn’t you tell me you were on bind duty? You know I would love to help!” Wait..what? He was confused to the maximum degree.
“You’re not mad that I forgot our date…?” He cracked an eye open slightly, only to see a beaming smile upon his love’s face.
“Mad? How could I be mad? You’re helping out somepony in need, I should’ve guessed that when Twilight told me you were out with some female.” Twily wasn’t listening to him, he realized this now. She was quite good at convincing him of things… “But you’re just a big hero, aren’t you?” Cadence rested her cheek against his. “You know that’s why I fell for you, right? Always being the best guy around.” The light kiss that followed the statement brought a deep blush to Shining’s face. How she did this to him every time was a mystery.
“I-well...uh…” He was stammering, still. Two years of dating and he was still acting like a teenager in love. Cadence just had that effect on him, and it was so wonderful. “It’s just been a busy day, y’know. I’m sorry, dear…”
“You know it’s perfectly fine, Shiny. I just wish you had some time to tell me before our date was supposed to start.” He truly did feel bad about forgetting, but at this point there was nothing he could do about that other than profusely apologize.
“I’ll make it up to you, Cadence. I promise.” He gave her a reassuring kiss and a loving smile. He didn’t want to do anything to bad in case Vinyl woke up. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed or anything, it’s just he didn’t like being overly affectionate around other ponies.
“I didn’t get much out of Knock Out regarding who you were bound to, so care to tell me about her?” Shining motioned for his love to sit down. This was going to take awhile.
----
One recap later…
Cadence was giddy with excitement. Sure Vinyl was a bit of a miscreant, and the story with Skyward Glory was a little sad, but it was the other part that excited her. The DJ had been caught last night on a date, and Cadence was ready to help play matchmaker to get the pony right on track.
Cadence had a bit of a penchant for love, well it was actually an insane mastery of love but that was just semantics. Her mind was already racing on who she could hook this pony up with, and how.
“You know what would help her on the straight and narrow, Shiny? If she was in love.” She could tell that her wonderful boyfriend could see the wheels in her head turning.
“But Cadence, I don’t think she would appreciate us-well you meddling with her love life.” Shining had a point, but Cadence could one up that: she had an idea.
“But what if she doesn’t know we’re meddling?” Cadence let a devious grin slide across her face. “Well if we have a date, she would have to come along, Right?” He nodded. “So I get a friend for her and we have a double date. Then I work my magic and she’s too in love to cause any trouble!”
The Princess of Love was not one to scheme, but she was also open to trying new things. Shining was a military man at heart; in the academy he had studied historical battles, analyzed strategies, and learned all there is to know on the greatest generals, so Cadence wanted to keep up. She wanted to prove that she was capable of devising and tactitioning and what-not so maybe her and Shining could become a bit closer as partners.
“I guess it could work.” Shining was still obviously unsure of the plan, but he needed to learn to have a little faith. This would work, she could feel it!
A strained groan came from the mare on the couch, and her hooves went to her head. That was Cadence’s cue to make like a banana and split. She couldn’t rightfully let Vinyl see her talking with Shining in her own home, why she might think that they were up to something! With one last kiss, she fired up her horn and blinked out of existence.
----
Vinyl’s head was pounding. Not in the good ‘I drank too much and partied too hard’ way either. More in the ‘I got knocked out by a trained member of Celestia’s personal guard’ way, not a fun way either. She had experience.
“I really hate you, Twinkle…” She was only assuming that the guard was in the room with her since she hadn’t opened her eyes yet. But in her mind, it was a safe bet seeing as how she couldn’t get very far away from him without being pulled magically to his side.
“No you don’t, Scratch” The haughty voice came back, pounding through her head like a runaway locomotive. “And don’t you try to get mad at me either, you know I only knocked you out because you hit her. That was unacceptable.” Vinyl scoffed. She felt like she was being admonished by a school teacher.
“Felt good, though…” She admitted. “But my head is freaking klling me. What did you do to me, Twinkle?” Vinyl wanted to steer the conversation far away from Sky, it would just make her mad.
“Our little bond has a failsafe in case I think you’re getting too dangerous. It allows me to send a surge of magical energy through the connection, down your horn, and directly into that thick skull of yours. Knocks you right out, no side effects.” Dear sweet Celestia, he sounded like he was reading out of a text book.
“Except for this splitting headache…”
“I prefer to think of that as a lesson, Scratch. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to learn it again, so how about we keep the punching down to a minimum?” Well unlike most lessons, this one was quite capable at getting through her thick skull with no issues.
“Aye aye, Cap’n.” She gave a half-hearted salute vaguely in the directiong of Twinkle’s voice. After a moment of silence, she decided to carry the conversation. “Gonna guess we’re back home? This sure feels like my couch…”
“Why not just open your eyes, lazy?”
“Because I know these types of headaches, they don’t like for me to see things.” The sound was no better, but it was better than the dead silence and the mental image of Twinkle just sitting there staring at her.
“It’s the middle of the night, Scratch. Just open your eyes. You need to go to your room, anyways. I’m tired and this couch is mine until I leave.” Vinyl could only groan. She didn’t want to go to bed! That required moving, and that would hurt.
“Tell you what, go to my room and grab the glasses off of my dresser and you can annex my couch.” Vinyl didn’t like the thought of the sovereign nation of Her Couch becoming an Equestrian Military outpost, but she wouldn’t cede the territory without something in return.
“Fine.” She heard the stallion stand and walk past her. “Lazy…”
“Shut up and get my glasses!” Vinyl shouted back, then immediately regretted that decision. Yelling plus migraine equals not a very good idea. “Idiot…” She added on in a mumble. She didn’t quite know if she was talking to herself or Shining on that one, though.
Within a few seconds Shining was back and he placed the glasses onto her face. Vinyl opened her eyes, greeted to a world behind familiar rose-tinted glasses. They were originally a joke gift from her dad, they were packaged with an old record with a song called ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ and the note with them had read; ‘For my little Vinyl, who sees the world through rose colored glasses.’
“See, that room in there is what I expected the rest of your house to look like; covered in speakers and grunge. I’m truly surprised that techno tidal wave hasn’t spilled over yet.” Ah yes, her stuff was all contained in her room and her room alone. Every deck, every record, and every bottle/can of booze she had been too lazy to throw out was in her room. After seeing the rest of the house, she guessed it would throw anypony off.
“Hallowed ground in there, Twinkle. Remember to leave a sacrement next time, alright? Would hate to upset the man upstairs.” She rolled off of the couch and onto her hooves with practised ease. She had to admit, this little back and forth she had going with Twinkle wasn’t all that bad. He was actually clever sometimes.
“Who? The god of the punks? I thought you held that title.” See? That set her up for so many things, and that was perfect. Any other guard would’ve shut her down faster than a health inspector in a brothel kitchen.
She had to admit, Twinkle was a good stallion. Handsome, loyal to his job, classy…then she decided on something. She didn’t know if Shining Armor would take the bait or not, but it was worth a shot. It could salvage this whole situation if she could get the proverbial ball rolling.
“Nah, just a spreader of the good word.” She gave the guard a smirk before she headed to her room, she even added a little extra swing to her hips as she walked. She wanted to give Twinkle a good show and good thoughts, maybe he would open up a bit if he saw something he liked.
Hell, who knew. This could lead to something fun for the both of them.