"I wouldn't say I've changed my mind. I changed some of my natural habits, some of my natural character."
-Kurt Masur
Shining Armor awoke the next morning around seven-thirty, that was some severe oversleeping on his part. Usually he was awake with the sun every morning so he could get his day started right.
It was currently around ten o’clock and he had already accomplished most of his morning activities. He went for his run around the city, he showered then polished his armor, and now he was cooking eggs! Scrambled eggs of course, easily the best kind.
Cooking wasn’t exactly a hobby of his, but it was something he knew how to do and even enjoyed. It was nice to just concentrate on making edible perfection, and it was a good excercise for following directions.
Despite all of these tasks with which he busied himself, his mind was still drawn to a peculiar moment from last night. When Vinyl was walking to her room, he couldn’t help but notice that her hips were swaying a little more than normal. He hoped that was either because A: The knock-out spell was messing with her motor skills, or B: She was messing with him. Now while his more...base male instincts did not wholly object to the act, his moral center was outraged!
Shining Armor was in a committed relationship and not one little thing could change that. Hopefully it was either A or B, but if an option C were to arise and it meant she was doing it on purpose and with a certain intent...well..he would have to lock that down quick.
Lucky for him though, they were going to drop by the castle later to speak with Princess Celestia. While they were there, he figured they could drop by and see Cadence and that would squash anything Vinyl was thinking.
Speaking of the troublemaker, breakfast was ready and he needed to wake her up. He didn’t know what kind of sleeper she was, be it heavy or light, but he did know that no matter which it was it would certainly be an adventure to find out.
So, with a wry smile upon his face, he went to Vinyl’s door and knocked.
Nothing.
He opened the door slowly at first. It was pitch black in there still, meaning that she had blackout curtains on the windows. No surprise there, she seemed like the type of pony who would do that. The darkness gracefully parted to the light spilling in from the main room and right onto the face of the still-sleeping mare.
Vinyl tossed in her sleep and puled the blankets over her head, but she still did not wake up. This was going to need a more tactile approach if it was going to work.
Quietly, he crept up to the edge of Vinyl’s bed. How would he do it, though? To wake up a pony who, without a sliver of a doubt, spent most of her time with music being blared at its highest possible decibel would be quite difficult. He could yell, it was simple and he had plenty of drill instructors in training do it to him, so he knew how to emulate it. He could just shake her.That might work.
A devious smile flashed across his face. He knew just what to do now.
He crept back out of the room slowly, he needed some distance for this. It wasn’t going to be very professional, but if wanted Vinyl to open up to him a bit more he was going to have be a little less professional than normal.
When he was sure he had obtained sufficient distance from his target, he planted his hooves firmly on the ground and prepared for launch. This was such a bad idea and he knew it, but sometimes bad ideas were worth it in the end.
The rookie guard pushed off with his powerful back legs and immediately set into a gallop. As he passed the threshold of Vinyl’s room, he lept into the air and aimed just to the right of the sleeping unicorn. The bed was certainly big enough to accomodate the both of them, his only hope was that it was solid enough to not launch Vinyl into the air too high.
He was wrong.
As he hit the bed, his charge was thrown into the air by the sudden shift of weight on the mattress. She woke up as soon as she was lifted into the air, and as she reached the apex of her flight she started screaming.
Vinyl hit the bed with a dull thump, her eyes wide and nerves obviously frayed. Shining would have made a witty statement, but he was currently too busy laughing his flank off on the other side of the bed. Who could blame him, though? It was the first bit of fun he actually had at this job in a long while.
“Shining!” Her furious scream made Shining laugh even more. This was just golden all around. A hoof struck his shoulder with all of the force it could muster this early in the morning, which didn’t hurt but it made Shining laugh even more. “What the buck, man?!”
“I-I’m sorry…” He managed to force out between guffaws. “I was just coming to wake you up for breakfast, and-and it was just too irresistible.” The mare next to him grumbled something angrily and rolled out of the bed. He followed her lead and exited to the main room.
“Please tell me you at least made coffee…” It was weird to think of Vinyl’s look at the moment as being ‘disheveled’, but her usual look had an air of practiced apathy to it. Right now she just looked, aptly enough, like she just rolled out of bed.
“Uhh...no? I didn’t realize I was supposed to.” Coffee wasn’t a thing Shining Armor ever needed. He was a morning pony, much to most others’ chagrin. A nice glass of orange juice was how he started his day.
“Useless…” He heard the similarly colored pony mutter as she levitated a coffee maker from one of the cabinets and all of the things she needed for it. Shining could’ve sworn her eyes were still shut as she made her beverage.
“I made some scrambled eggs for breakfast when you’re ready to eat.” Vinyl mumbled, he guessed it was in the affirmative, and went back to waiting on her coffee to brew. Shining in the meantime, helped himself to the food he made.
Vinyl reminded him a lot of Twily, he decided. They were both obviously against the entire concept of mornings, they both hid their actually personable nature, and despite what they might say, they both begrudingly liked him. Sure right now they may say they hate him, or at least have a slight disdain for him, but he knew they would admit to liking him later.
He was already halfway through his plate of eggs when Vinyl joined him. First she sat her plate down, then her mug of coffee, and finally a bottle of ketchup.
“Ketchup…?”
“It’s for my eggs, duh.” Shining stuck his tongue out and made a fake gagging noise. “Oh stuff it, Twinkle. It’s how my dad ate his scrambled eggs…” Speaking of dads, he noticed her mug had a heavily faded ‘#1 Dad’ painted on it.
“To each their own.” He shrugged as Vinyl squirted the ketchup onto her eggs and stirred it all up to make an orange-ish mess.
They ate most of their meal in silence, not surprisingly. Shining had already made Vinyl mad, and he figured he would wait for her to talk to him. At least then he would know she was fully awake. Sadly, breakfast and coffee did not wake her up fully it seemed. She put her plate and mug in the sink, put the ketchup back into the fridge and then headed off to the bathroom.
Shining hadn’t actually had the chance to take a proper look at Vinyl’s apartment. Sure he had been in here a few times now, and even had a chance to snoop a few times now. Right now seemed like the most opportune moment to try to gaze into her personal life.
There were a lot of things that obviously used to belong to her parents here; wedding pictures, faded and worn books on painting and architecture, old family portraits, and two rings laid neatly intertwined on the mantle.
To him, it seemed like Vinyl had an issue with letting go.
----
Later that day…
Today was decidedly not a good day for Vinyl. First she was woken up way too early by Shining, then when she got out of the shower she caught him messing with her parents’ wedding rings, and now they were heading to the castle for some reason.
While Shining was proving himself to be a slight annoyance before she was awake, she had to admit that once she was awake he was actually funny and endearing for a change. His method of waking her up had revealed he was mischevious and even clever.
It was definitely helping her idea of trying to get along with him in a more physical way.
Right now they were on the Royal Guard’s campus area, where guards who didn’t live in Canterlot stayed during their service. The buildings were made in the same style as the castle, and guards traveled back in forth from the dorms, to the barracks, to whatever their assignments might be.
“So why are we going to the castle again?” Vinyl had never really been to the castle before. She had lived in Canterlot her whole life, so unlike the tourists the Castle was nothing new to her. It was background noise in the symphony of the city at the most.
“We have to meet with Princess Celestia to discuss my initial thoughts about your case and come up with a reformation plan.” Once again, Shining rattled it off as if he was reading straight out of a book. “It’s been a long time since Princess Celestia has had to do this, so she’s taking the case personally.” Great, Royalty was her parole officer.
“And what’s your plan, Twinkle? I know you have one.” All of this snooping into her life and reopening old wounds couldn’t have been for nothing. He had to have come up with something by now.
“We’ll discuss it with the Princess…” The way he trailed off did not bode well for the subject. It left Vinyl with the sinking feeling that it was going to make her very angry with him. “Just...let me do the talking, alright? I have a little pull with the Princess, maybe we can reach a much easier conclusion we all like.” A little pull? What did that mean?
“What do you mean ‘a little pull’, Twinkle? You got some dirt on Her Majesty?” His brow furrowed. “Oh, she’s an alcoholic isn’t she? I always knew it, that many years with that much power has to push you to drinking.” She could see her words pushing Twinkle. He wanted to say something, maybe just a little more and he would spill the beans. “No? Let me guess...you’re banging her right?”
“What?” The iron was hot, and she was ready to strike. “Are you dense, Scratch?”
“No, no.” She started out. “I get it, strapping young stud like you makes her feel young again, right? Hey, I don’t judge. Older ponies are my thing too.” A wry smile crept across her face at the sight of the blustering guard next to her. “Plus, Princess Celestia? Total fox.” Now his face looked more like a tomato than a pony, and it was hilarious.
“No, I-”
“What’s the matter, Shining? Vinyl giving you a bit of trouble?” Just as Shining was about to retaliate, this pony decided to butt in. Vinyl recognized him; white coat like ever other guard, shorn golden mane, and eyes as green as a field in spring. It was Parry, the only guard that Vinyl could say she truly, from the bottom of her heart, hated. “She’s all talk, you just gotta let it slide.”
Parry and Vinyl had a bit of a...history. He had arrested her more times than she could count, probably held the record for it. From what she could tell, he also got some sort of sick kick from it judging from the amount of times he copped a feel during arrests.
Now you see, the problem with claiming a guard groped you is that you probably won’t be believed. This went about triple for Vinyl considering how many times she had accused multiple guards of unnecessary roughness, but he was the only one she ever told the truth about.
“Just being a bit of a nuisance, Parry.” The friendly tone that her chaperone took with her most hated pony was frustrating. Sure he didn’t look like a scumbag, he looked like a harmless goof, even his crooked smile attested to that but he was scum. He even seemed to give off a dirtbag vibe that made Vinyl shiver. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Ah, well you never know.” The pegasus guard hovered around the two of them. “I know Vinyl pretty well, and I know she can be a lot to handle on your own.” As he glided around the two of them, Vinyl felt his tail caress her flank and it made the fur on her back stand on end. “If you ever need a few extra hooves to take care of her, don’t be afraid to give me a shout, okay buddy?”
“You got it, Parry.” Shining took an opening in Parry’s flight path to step around his comrade. “Are we still on for poker on Wednesday? I don’t know if bringing Vinyl along is okay with you or not.” Vinyl hoped deep down that Parry would decline.
“Ah, bring her along, buddy!” A cold sense of dread washed over her: going to Parry’s house? That was a personal nightmare “The more the merrier! Plus, it’ll be a houseful of Royal Guards, what harm could she possibly do?” it wasn’t the harm that she could do that Vinyl was worried about...
“Alright then, I’ll be there!” With a wave, Parry flew off to do Celestia knows what. Hopefully take a nice long acid bath.
Vinyl wanted to turn to Shining and tell him that she didn’t want to go, to tell him why she didn’t like Parry, and to express a little fear. She couldn’t, though. Why would Shining Armor ever believe her? To him it would look like an excuse for them to not hang out with his friends. At this point, she could do nothing but go along with it.
“Oh, I see. Nothing clever or snarky to say to Parry? I must be special.” Oh, she decided long ago that Twinkle was special. Special in the fact that he was one of the few guards that wasn’t complete and utter trash. “Well let’s get on with this, then.”
They crossed the campus without any other obstructions, other than a few guards she had caused bodily harm in the past glaring at her. She had heard of a back entrance into the castle before from her less-than-reputable friends, but they had said it was secret and not constantly guarded. They were wrong.
They always said that the best place to hide something was in plain sight, and they were correct. The side entrance looked like a some sort of off-site kitchen, with two smokestacks constantly spewing acrid clouds into the air.
They entered the building after Shining Armor went ahead and talked in a very low voice so she couldn’t hear him. They were let in after an additional ocular patdown, and she finally got to see the inside of the secret entrance.
The inside had guards in full elite Royal Guard attire, spears and swords drawn. Wherever this lead in the castle, it was extremely high security. Other than the guards, it looked like some sort of old meeting room, with moons and stars carved into the black marble ceiling above and a mahogany conference table bolted into the middle of the floor. Two massive fireplaces one either side of the room gave an explanation for the smokestacks, but all of this raised more questions.
What was this room? Why was it now used as some sort of checkpoint instead of the meeting room it was intended to be? Moreover, why was it so close to the guard’s campus?
“Scratch, whatever you’re going to say, don’t.” She shot a look Shining’s way. “I saw the look on your face, and I can safely say that any questions will not be answered or addressed.” Vinyl didn’t take Shining for the cryptic type, but even she knew that everypony had secrets to keep.
The door they went through on the other side of the room led to a mirror version of the security checkpoint. The room was made of the purest, whitest marble ever seen. The table in this room was a beautiful polished oak, with the sigil of the sun in the middle of it...and sitting at the head of the table was Princess Celestia herself.
Shining Armor gave the Princess a crisp salute and took a seat on one side of the table. Vinyl took the opposite route and gave the monarch a simple head nod. It was unceremonious, but the slight nod that Celestia gave back made it worth it. With a smile on her face, Vinyl took a seat beside Shining.
“Hello you two. How are you enjoying each other’s company so far?” Vinyl couldn’t help but hear the slightly joyful tone in the Princess’ usually monotone voice. It made Vinyl think that perhaps Celestia was a bit of a mischief-maker deep down.
“We’re doing very well, thank you Princess.” Shining was way too cordial for Vinyl’s taste. Princess Celestia had earned a lot of the DJ’s respect, and she was going to make sure that the monarch knew that.
“Gotta say it’s been better than expected, Celestia. You sure know how to pick ‘em, Princess.” A slight wink was thrown the alicorn’s way almost as if to say ‘you did pick a looker.’ and the slightly crooked smile she shot back said ‘message recieved.’
“Well I’m glad you both seem to be in good spirits.” There was a slight pause. “Now, it’s been a while since I’ve had to do this so bear with me.” Another pause, this one seemed to be more contemplative than pregnant. “What are your initial thoughts, Shining Armor?” Even Vinyl could tell that was a loaded question.
“She has trust issues.” Not a second hesitation from Twinkle, that kinda hurt. “I think that’s one of the roots of this problem; she has such a hard time putting her faith in others and it has really hindered her ability to make any connections.” Shining was speaking very professionally, his voice keeping a consistently calm tone. “Not once did she mention any friends, nor was there any evidence that she had any close friends come over.”
He hit the nail right on the head...it was true; she didn’t really have any close friends anymore. Sure, she went to clubs every so often and she met ponies she liked...but friends? She couldn’t really say she called anypony a friend anymore.
“Do you have any ideas on how to help her move past these issues?” It seemed more like an interrogation than a meeting to Vinyl, even down to the Princess’ now icy calm demeanor.
“Her childhood friend, Skyward Glory, seems to be a major point of contention. It seems a few years back their friendship was broken because Glory gave her foal up, and Vinyl found issue with that.” Vinyl furrowed her brow at the guard. One day in her life and he thought he knew everything? Nu-uh.
“Damn right I found issue with it, Twinkle.” Even though she was turned to face Shining, she could see the Princess raise an eyebrow curiously. “No decent pony just leaves a defenseless foal on a doorstep!”
“I think-” He was ignoring her! Just flat-out ignoring her! “-that if we were to find the foal now and maybe have them all reconnect that it could help Vinyl forgive Glory and give her the support she needs to change.”
“I agree Shining Armor.” What?! Vinyl was flabbergasted. How would they even find Glory’s foal after all of these years? What if she hadn’t made it? What if she didn’t want to know her mother? “Write a report with all of the information you know about the foal and I’ll see if any of our census records can help you find her.” There was another pregnant pause. “I think that this is going to work.”
Who was the Princess trying to convince?
----
Later On…
“Where are we headed now, Twinkle?” Vinyl thought their business at the castle was limited to Princess Celestia, but she was wrong it seemed. “We catching lunch here or something?” She always wondered what castle cuisine tasted like.
Now all joking aside, she was mad with Shining Armor. Without consulting her, he had decided that it was a good idea to go looking for somepony that she dreaded to find. Sure, he had told her that she would like not his plan, but Vinyl never expected this.
“I have somepony I need to talk to before we go.” Probably another one his guard friends, she decided. Hopefully nopony she knew.
“Shining!” The feminine voice came from one of the doorways. A pink blur shot out of said doorway and practically tackled the stallion in front of her. What Vinyl saw next shocked her.
“You’re banging her niece!” It all clicked now! He had pull with Celestia because he was potential family. “Holy crap, you’re banging a Princess!” Then it really clicked. Shining Armor was dating royalty!
“Shut it, Scratch!” Shining was beet red, at least letting Vinyl know that she was doing a good job. After a glare shot her way, he returned the embrace of the alicorn and they shared a tender kiss.
Well there went that plan. Vinyl was many things, but homewrecker was not one of them. She would never break up a relationship just because she felt like it would benefit her, and knowing what Princess Cadence’s specialty was Vinyl doubted she could even break this relationship up.
“How are you today, Shiny?” There was something about her words. They weren’t just genuine, they were filled with absolutely true love. It was one thing to understand love, it was something else to be able to hear it in a voice.
“I’m fine, dear.” One last kiss and the two separated. “By the way, this is Vinyl Scratch. I’m on bind duty with her and we just had our planning meeting with Princess Celestia.” There was something going on here, Vinyl could feel it. She knew mischievous when she saw it.
“Oh? How did that go? It’s been awhile since Aunt Tia had to do one of those.” Well...maybe Vinyl was just imagining it. Cadence’s words seemed too genuine to be up to something. “I hope she wasn’t too hard on you, Vinyl.”
“Hmm?” Vinyl had been caught up in trying to decide if these two were up to something or not. “The Princess? Nah, she’s cool with me.” There was absolutely no reason for Cadence to know anything about her predicament, so she wasn’t going to tell the pink Princess.
“Well that’s good.” Back to Shining Armor she looked. “So I’m going to guess that this is about our date tomorrow night? Didn’t want to have somepony else tag along?” Well when she put it like that, it made Vinyl think of herself as a stray dog.
“I didn’t want to put a damper on the night, I know how much you want to go see the Canterlot Philharmonic-” Hold on, Vinyl had to interrupt now.
“The Canterlot Philharmonic? As in the Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia?” Yeah, she knew the full name, that’s how much she loved that Orchestra. Sadly she had never been able to see them in concert. “I’ve always wanted to go to one of their concerts!” She was allowing herself to fangirl at the fact that her personal guard was going to go.
“...Well now we have to take her, Shining.” Vinyl allowed herself to bounce up and down at the declaration. “If I know one thing about bind duty, it’s that the ponies who are bound with a guard need a little cheering up.”
“Cadance, are you sure about this?” Vinyl wanted to stuff something in Twinkle’s mouth. It was times like these that he needed to really shut up and let her win.
“I can get another ticket, dear. It’s nothing to worry about.” Vinyl rushed to the Princess and hugged her tightly. It wasn’t everyday that you had a personal wish fulfilled by a Princess, and Vinyl was not going to let this good deed go without a hug.
This was going be the best third wheel experience ever!