//------------------------------//
// Act IV - Ch. 35 Of Griffons and Mares 
// Story: Justice Itself 
// by Autocharth 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 35 Of Griffons and Mares


***


Octavia woke to a world that seemed to be shouting at her. She blinked weakly, slowly focusing on the hazy blur of white and blue that was moving and making her head hurt. 

‘Ah. It must be Vinyl then.’

The noise muted, and then came back, much quieter. Other noises that Octavia imagined must be voices joined Vinyl’s, and as the seconds passed and her vision became clearer, so too did the voices.

“-she’s still in a very delicate state. We believe as the the imbalance of internal energies subsides-” went a no-nonsense voice, calm and factual, before Vinyl interrupted.

“‘You believe’? Which means what? I thought you guys are supposed to be super smart about this sort of thing! You said she’d be fine!” Absently, Octavia wondered why Vinyl sounded so worked up, Vinyl didn’t get angry or upset often. 

The calm voice sighed. “Miss Scratch, please, we’ve told you; the only other cases so far have been a pair of fillies. This is all very unconfirmed, and only Twilight Sparkle is researching this.”

Silence followed for a few seconds. Octavia was worried that she had gone deaf. Or maybe she was unconscious. That would be just her luck, after….after…

‘After...the concert? After…’ She flailed for answers, a groan slipping from her lips. The silence around her took on an aspect of breath drawn in. When, Octavia mused weakly, had she given silence properties? Silence was simply silence. In this case, it was silence that ended when something big and warm and soft landed on her.

“Octavia! You’re awake! Ha! I told you, she’s too-”

“Ugh!” Octavia pressed her hooves to her head, shutting her eyes. “Please, Vinyl, too loud,” she whimpered.

Vinyl loosened her grip, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, ‘Tavi. How’re you feeling? You alright? Too cold? Too warm? Am I too close?” She leaned back in, staring intently at her friend, worry in her eyes.

Cracking open eye lid, Octavia fixed the unicorn with a glare. “Yes,” she hissed. “Off!”

Leaning back, Vinyl rubbed the back of her neck. She shrugged. “Heh, sorry, just kind of...I’m glad you’re awake…”

A pale green hoof appeared in Octavia’s field of vision, parting the pair with a gentle flick. Vinyl whined, jerking her head back and finally getting off Octavia. She glared at the green pony and her fancy labcoat.

“Excuse me, Miss Octavia, we need to make sure you’re alright. Something very unusual happened to you, and we would rather not take any risks.” Without bothering to introduce herself, the lab coated mare’s horn ignited. Her aura swept over Octavia, pulsing softly in time with her heart. “Your vital signs appear normal for the most part. We need to check your-”

“Check nothing!” Vinyl sandwiched herself between the two. “You’ve been poking and prodding her all day! Give her some breathing space!”

The doctor leveled an icy stare on Vinyl, not backing down in the slightest. “We still have tests we need to conduct on both of you. Your own condition is-”

Vinyl cut off the other mare, apparently not content to allow any statement to go unchallenged or uninterrupted. “I’m fine! ‘Tavi is fine too! Look, she’s awake, what could be wrong with her? Now how about giving us a chance to talk, and explain what’s going on?”

Curious as she was now that Vinyl had brought the issue up, Octavia was distracted from finding out more by the clear weariness and aggravation in her friend’s voice. She forced herself to sit up, and gave the strange doctor a shaky smile.

“I would appreciate it. Please, we can discuss your...tests, later. Please,” Octavia repeated, pleading. She stared into the doctor’s eyes, and was relieved to see the mare give in.

“Very well,” the doctor conceded with a sigh. She retreated from the room, and sealed the door behind her.

“What have I told you, Vinyl? Saying please works much better than- urk!” Octavia found herself cut off, thanks in large part to the white hooves wrapped around her, but thanks mostly to the weight suddenly atop her.

Vinyl squeezed, hard enough that an undignified squeak forced from Octavia as the earth pony weakly resisted. The DJ wore a grin of naked delight and relief when she released her friend, beaming down at her. For once, the unicorn was without her distinctive headgear.

“I was super worried about you!”

“Yes, I noticed,” Octavia wheezed. She rubbed her ribs as she sat up, groaning. “I feel I must point out, however, that breaking my ribs won’t exactly help.”

Her grin turning sheepish, Vinyl nodded. This time she just laid her hoof on Octavia’s shoulder. “Seriously though, when I woke up and they told me you hadn’t, well, I was kinda...you know, I was worried. Like, real worried.”

Octavia reminded her, “I believe your words were ‘super worried’.” She gave Vinyl a small smile, flinching as she stretched. .”What happened? I can remember...we had a fight, and you didn’t come back, then I...I think I went to the orchestra and…”

Leaning closer to support Octavia as she swayed, Octavia’s hoof pressed to her head, Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, I might have gotten a bit...possessed by an ancient evil from the dawn of Equestria and turned into a big ole’ bat monster. Just a bit.”

Lifting her head, Octavia stared at Vinyl with a wide eyed look of disbelief. Vinyl let out a nervous chuckle.

“Hard to believe, right?” The DJ shrugged helplessly.

“No.” It shocked Octavia as much as Vinyl to hear herself say that. She stared blankly at the featureless walls that surrounded her. “No, it’s not. Which is strange. Because it should be.”

“Ooookay….I’d say its weird, but come on, I turned into a monster that roared wubs around. That’s way weirder!” proclaimed Vinyl.

Octavia shot her small glare. “This isn’t a competition. I- wait, you, roared...o-oh..”

Vinyl grabbed her, holding the musician up as she swayed, eyelids fluttering. Octavia’s skull throbbed, and each brought a rush of images and sounds. The sight of a bizarre bat-like creature, it’s mouth open, invisible waves of energy destroying chairs and blasting ponies over as it hunted a familiar pink pony through the audience. The orchestra, the ponies she played with, moving like puppets as they played to the will of another.

She whimpered. She knew who had forced them to play. It came back to her very much like a punch to the gut. Octavia certainly felt like vomiting.

“Oh...Celestia, w-what did I do?” Tears began to leak down her cheeks, the mare shuddering. “I..I..”

“You,” answered Vinyl, pulling Octavia close again. “Weren’t responsible for what happened.”

Octavia buried her face into Vinyl’s shoulder, shuddering with undignified sobs. It was so easy to break down; she had hurt one of the things she loved most in the world, after all. Another was the only thing that kept her even slightly together, hooves around her.

Rubbing Octavia’s back, Vinyl did her best to apply her own advice. ‘You won’t be any help for ‘Tavi if you’re blaming yourself as well, doofus,’ Vinyl reminded herself

“You know how I know you’re not responsible?” she went on. The unicorn gave Octavia a squeeze. “Three princesses, count it ‘Tavi, three told me it wasn’t. So, you know, I think they’ve got you outvoted there. They all said it was totally not your fault.”

The sobbing subsided slowly, the raw emotion running dry quickly as Octavia stayed cradled in her close friend’s hold. “R-really?” she asked. The small, teary voice made Vinyl flinch; she found it so unusual. She nodded, giving Octavia the most confident grin she could.

“Of course! I mean, Princess Celestia even told me it was amazing how you did the whole ‘purge the evil’ thing!” Vinyl showed off her distinctive lack of bat. “See? I’m totally not an evil bat monster now, thanks to you!”

“And Pinkie,” Octavia said, the words slipping out before she even gave it a thought. She paused, blinking back tears. “Pinkie. It was...her. She’s the one who made me look, and see, and...and V-Vinyl, I’m...I don’t even know, but that mare, I need to thank her, I just…”

“Tavi.” Vinyl cut off the rambling with a nuzzle. “I get it. I wanna thank her too. Maybe she’s even in the building. I don’t really know, I think I might have busted her ears or something.”

Returning the nuzzle, Octavia wiped her eyes dry. The memories of the thing inside her, the music that had risen up to dominate her every thought, haunted her with their freshness. Her ears perked up, twitching, and she soon followed, glancing this way and that. Vinyl leaned back, raising an eyebrow.

“...Tavi? Something wrong?” she asked gently.

“The music. I can’t...no, I can.” Octavia shuddered. “The music that filled me, and consumed my every thought. It’s just a murmur now. I can even just stop listening to it, and it goes. Like...like it’s not even there.”

“Wow, ‘Tavi, you have such a way with words,” teased Vinyl. Wearing a smile, she nuzzled Octavia again. “That’s awesome to hear, maybe-”

Wherever she wanted to take the conversation, the door bursting open was a rather hefty distraction. A light blue blur of a pony shot into the room, hitting the other side of the bed with a rattle. Octavia yelped, the twitchy mare unbalancing and taking Vinyl with her. They hit the floor in a two-pony pile. Squirming out from the DJ, Octavia grumbled wordlessly.

“Isn’t this meant to be a hospital?” she groaned, pulling herself up with a hoof on the bed. “I hope it is.”

Vinyl rubbed her horn, wincing where she’d banged it on the way down. “Well, hey, at least I can get this looked at. Uh, what the hay was that?”

Octavia shrugged. The momentary silence as they peered at the other side of the bed was filled with quiet mumbling. The pair exchanged confused looks. Vinyl gestured silently to her side, then at Octavia’s, and they parted to look around from each side.

A mare sat low to the ground, pressing against the side of the bed. She trembled, mumbling, shaking as her babble ran on.

“-n-n-night’s not coming, can’t come, day-day, please don’t tell the night I’m here, don’t be mad, please let her go,” she whimpered. Her powder-blue mane looked as ragged as the rest of her, bouncing as her head darted from one direction to the other.

“...yo?” Vinyl offered. She wished for her trademark glasses; it was way easier to look nonchalant when nopony could see her eyes “You okay there?”

The frazzled mare froze, eyes darting at Vinyl. She let out a strangled whimper, and began to pushed herself back, away from Vinyl. One side against the bed, she simply ended up bumping into Vinyl.

“N-no, it’s touched you! Darker than dark and treacherous and cruel and cold and please don’t tell it I’m here, she’s not here, d-don’t hurt me,” the mare begged. Before Octavia could stop her, she found the stranger’s hooves on her, holding her tight.

“Excuse me, Miss, please,” began Octavia.

The mare didn’t give her a chance. “Please make it go away, make the light stronger and make the night stop, make it leave her alone, she’s sorry and afraid and your music made it stop.”

The two sane mares froze, unable to conceal their surprise. Octavia looked to Vinyl for help as she tried to ease herself out of the fearfully tight grip.

“How...how did you know about that?” demanded Octavia, finally just yanking one hoof out.

“She heard, and it was lovely, and she could think on her own, she could be herself and everything fit together again because the night was over but now it’s back please please please.” The mare didn’t let go. If anything she became more desperate when Octavia fought. The glow of Vinyl’s magic made her shriek and fight harder, trying to keep Octavia close.

“Hey, no, stop that!” Her horn lit, Vinyl scrunched her muzzle with effort. Her skull throbbed, but she continued to disregard the doctor’s orders she had been issued.

The door opened again, a curious nurse peeking in. She called out in alarm, disappearing for a moment before coming fully into the room.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. She stepped closer, between Vinyl and Octavia, making soothing, wordless noises for a moment. “Shhh, Trixie, sweetie, come on now, let the nice mare go.”

Trixie whined and sobbed, but between the nurse’s gentle yet insistent hooves and Vinyl’s magic, they managed to part her from Octavia. A gasp escaped Octavia, peering down at the strange pony. Through that white mane, she saw it for just a moment. A cracked horn, a blackened tip, jutted out.

“There we go, it’s okay now,” the nurse cooed. She patted Trixie’s back reassuringly, nuzzling her like a lost foal. “Everything’s fine now. It’s morning. Morning, remember? Sun? Day?”

Shaky nods answered her. Trixie looked back at Octavia, whining. “T-Trixie needs to...Trixie should...w-warn...no, bad Trixie, stupid, she’s stupid and stupid and weak and please let me sleep…”

The nurse nodded, wearing a calm, motherly smile. “Why don’t we go back to your room? You can have a nap there, and I’ll turn on your safety light. Would you like that?”

She glanced up at Octavia and Vinyl, mouthing an apology. Octavia gave an understanding nod, and Vinyl shrugged as if to say ‘no harm done’. Herding her charge out, the nurse was replaced by another who approached them with an apologetic expression.

“I really am very sorry. The poor thing was the rather unfortunate victim to some dark magic, and she doesn’t really know what’s going on. She got away from her nurse.” Sighing, the nurse shook her head.

“Trixie...hey, wasn’t she that one pony...uh, magic? A magician? I think I heard the others talking about her back in Ponyville. Huh, thought she was meant to be, you know, a bi--” Vinyl stop talking instantly, letting Octavia’s automatic reprimand for swearing ring out for a moment before grinning.

“Vinyl! Watch...oh, stop it. Ugh, this is just….what was she going on about? Is she afraid of the dark?” Octavia asked. She just rolled her eyes at Vinyl.

The nurse nodded. “Very much so. She needs her light left on, or she refuses to sleep. It’s such a shame, poor thing; she wasn’t nearly this bad when she came to us, but in the last month, she’s just…” Again, she sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t share all of this so freely. I am very sorry you had to encounter her in such a state. Thank you for understanding.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just go take care of her.” Vinyl waited for the nurse to leave before letting out a sigh. “Wow, heavy! Wonder what happened to her? There was this whole thing with a giant bear, and according to Lyra she was all ‘I can beat that bear’, but it turned out-”

Octavia held up a hoof, rubbing her eyes with the other. “Please, Vinyl, not now. I need to rest. I need to think. Everything has happened so fast, and I just...I can’t deal with it. Not right now.”

Nodding, Vinyl reached over to hug her. She rather liked hugging Octavia, the grey mare’s coat soft and well-cared for was warm and reassuring. 

“Sure thing. I’m in the room next door. If you need me, just scream.” Her face cracked into a dirty grin. “Or you can come over and I’ll make you scr-”

Octavia let out a sigh of mock-disgust, a tentative smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Get out, you filthy mare,” she ordered, shaking her head. “Go, go.”

With a satisfied giggle, Vinyl all but strutted out of the room, taking her satisfaction at making Octavia smile with her. The moment she was in the hall, and the door closed behind her, Vinyl’s expression dropped. She groaned, slumping against the wall, and rubbed her horn.

“Ow,” was all she could say. She didn’t wait there too long, forcing herself to get to her room before a nurse saw. ‘I don’t need more bucking meds.’

A sharp ‘ahem’ caught Vinyl as she pushed open her door. The mare froze, wincing. She looked back, expecting a frowning nurse ready to unleash a hell of a lecture at her. She blinked, staring at the empty hall.

“Huh?”

Frowning, Vinyl stepped into her room. She froze again, staring at the pink pony juggling various small items on her bed. Pinkie Pie beamed at her.

“Gotcha!” She giggled loudly, then made a sharp, familiar ‘ahem’, and giggling again.

Blessedly, Pinkie’s antics just eased her headache. Vinyl laughed quietly as she let the door shut behind her and approached. The party pony eased to the side, tail flicking to the side to clear that spot for Vinyl, who pulled herself up.

“Pinkie, hey. I’d say its a surprise to see you, but you’re always a surprise.” Stretching, Vinyl groaned. “Thanks for coming.”

“Hi!” Pinkie’s voice was loud, louder than she needed.

“Pinkie, turn the volume down…” Vinyl trailed off, finally noticing the bandages around Pinkie’s ears.

“I can’t hear you!” replied Pinkie. “My ears got all hurty and now everything’s hard to hear! Can you speak up? Oh, oh, I know! Let’s bang our heads together like the Princess’s mind voice spell!”

Vinyl’s headache came back in full force, the unicorn using her magic to stop Pinkie before the party pony could ram her forehead into Vinyl’s horn.

“Whoa! Stop! Pinkie! I can’t do that!” Perhaps surprisingly, Vinyl didn’t enjoy raising her voice. She had mechanical assistance for that when she needed it.

Pinkie pulled back, somehow still juggling everything. She pouted, and scratched one of her ears. “Awwww.” Only when Pinkie put her hoof back down did Vinyl realise she had done so with one of the hooves she had been standing on.

“Are...are you okay?” Vinyl bit her lip, guilt giving her a straight stab in the gut. She knew exactly what had happened.

“Yep! Maybe! Probably! I think I can handle this many! Do you have any balls? I could do those too!” The circle of juggled objects began to go faster and faster.

Vinyl shook her head. “No, Pinkie, your ears! Are you going to be alright?” ‘Gah, I hope we don’t wake Octavia.’

There was the tiniest moment of hesitation before Pinkie answered. “Yeah! I’ll be fine! The doctors are positive I might possibly maybe could get my full hearing back! At some point!”

“...might?” Vinyl raised her voice, repeating herself. “What do you mean, ‘might’?”

Flapping a hoof at her with obviously forced casualness, Pinkie gave Vinyl a slightly less well-faked cheerful smile. “Well, duh! I probably will, don’t worry! I’m not gonna need a hearing horn! I think!”

“I...I’m sorry…” The unicorn hung her head, staring at the floor. ‘Come on, I told ‘Tavi not to blame herself, I can do the same.’ No advice was so hard to take as your own, unfortunately.

“What?!” Pinkie half-shouted.

Vinyl looked up. “I’m! Sorry!” 

Pink forelegs wrapped her in a hug. “Don’t be.” Pinkie’s voice came out quieter. “It wasn’t you, I know that.”

“Geeze, all these hugs, hope the press don’t catch me,” joked Vinyl, her voice faltering. “Still, sorry. I-” She stopped. A grim sense of wrongness overtook her. Pinkie was hugging her, but she had been keeping a whole host of things in circulation with those hooves moments ago. “Wait, how’re you-”

“Huh?! Wha?!” Pinkie let go, pulling back. She was juggling, as though she had never stopped.

Vinyl stared. Her mind struggled to answer this. All her mind’s eye saw was ‘Error! Error! Abort!’ until at last she slumped, giving up.

“I’m still sorry!” she repeated. “I guess you were here? I asked if I could see you! Thanks for coming!”

“How could I not? The first thing you did after waking was ask to see me!” The grin Pinkie wore threatened to spit her head in half.

Vinyl shook her head. “Second thing,” she corrected. A faint warmth spread to her cheeks. “First thing was ‘Tavi.”

Giggling, Pinkie began to return her makeshift juggling array to their rightful places. “Of course! I’m sooooo glad you’re both okay! When Octavia did her thing and made you stop being evil, and you were both so tuckered out, the Princesses said you’d be alright, but I was still really worried!”

Unprepared for yet another hug, Vinyl was helpless to keep Pinkie’s hooves off her. She didn’t exactly fight it too hard anyway. If anything could be said about Pinkie, it was that she was free with her affection, and her hugs really did just act like direct injections of happiness.

“Not that you were evil!” Pinkie recanted quickly. “Not you! I bet it was that nasty Scorpan! The Princess said he was up to nastiness in Ponyville last night as well, but Dashie and her turtle saved the day! By growing really big!”

“I...okay?” Brow furrowed, Vinyl had to squirm to get clear enough from the hug to look when she heard the door open. She eyed the stallion looking in, getting a vague sense of familiarity. “Hey, dude, this is a private room.”

 He raised an eyebrow at her, and Pinkie. It made Vinyl hyper-aware of the hug, and her cheeks burst into flame. The earth pony still hadn’t noticed the intruder.

“I apologise, miss. I was simply looking for Pinkie Pie. She’s meant to be waiting for the doctor to check on her ears.” His deep voice descended into a stern, scolding tone Pinkie was entirely too deaf to notice. He sighed, taking a step in before thinking better of it. “Excuse me. May I come in, Miss Scratch?”

“Sure, come on in- wait, how’d you know my name?” she asked. Vinyl had to lift her head, since Pinkie seemed to be rather getting into the hug, and had moved onto snuggling against the unicorn.

He coughed. “Well, I could make some mysterious allusion, but I’m entirely too tired. I was there last night, caught within the angelic music, and saw you after you were freed from the darkness. And it has your name right there.”

She looked where he pointed, at the the end of her bed, where the little board and sheet with information on it hung. She didn’t even know what it was for or called. It was only a source of embarrassment right now.

“Oh...I totally knew that!” Vinyl began to push Pinkie back. “Pinkie! Pinkie! A friend of your is here!”

Pinkie finally released her, one bandaged ear flicking about as she looked. “Oh! Pally! Uh....hi?”

“Pinkie,” he said, voice rising. “Pinkie, you have an appointment. The doctor wants to check your ears, to see if they’ve changed since last night.”

Her lower lip trembled. “But...but I don’t wanna! What if it’s worse and it turns out I’m never gonna hear better and nopony will wanna come to my parties because they’ll be all ‘this isn’t fun because Pinkie can’t hear it when we ask to play games and-’”

Paladin’s expression softened as he approached the bed. “I know, Pinkie, but avoiding the issue won’t change matters. I promise, Fluttershy and I will be there for you.”

Vinyl snickered to herself, wondering if he knew how much he sounded like he was Pinkie’s dad. He sounded just like when her own dad had told her that he and her mother would keep her safe from the big bad doctor.

“I dunno…” Pinkie mumbled. She didn’t look at Vinyl, eyes fixed on the floor.

The unicorn nudged her with an elbow. “Pinkie, go on! You’ll be fine! I bet the doc’ll tell ya you’ll be hearing perfectly in no time.”

Paladin shot her a grateful look, before using his ultimate technique. “I’ll get you some candy!” he intoned, deep voice penetrating the haze over Pinkie’s hearing.

The party mare’s ears perked up. “Really?” She bounced off the bed. “What sort?”

“Whichever you want.” He held back a grimace, imagining the horrors that awaited them with a sugar-infused Pinkie in his near future. “The doctor is waiting.”

“Okie-dokie! Bye bye, Vinyl!” Sweeping the unicorn into a short hug, Pinkie bounced off the bed. Paladin pushed the door open for her, giving Vinyl a minor nod.

“Recover well.” Turning to follow Pinkie, Paladin paused and looked back. “The sins of the darkness are not yours, Miss Scratch. Do not let them stain you as though they were.”

She stared after him, her eyes boring into the wood as it clicked shut behind him. Vinyl’s brow furrowed, and for a moment the temptation to go after him rose. Closing her eyes, she sighed and contented herself with having a nap.

‘I’ll deal with weird advice-giving pegasi later. Bed time, then ‘Tavi time, then...’

She snored, a quiet, deceptively delicate sound for a mare dedicated to pounding, roaring music.


***


Paladin wondered idly if this was what being a parent felt like.

“-and then some salted caramel with those yummy nummiable ball bearings, so I can pretend to be a gruff metal eating magic pony with a heart of gold eating steel to power my love-power, and some sprinkles on top-”

If so, he didn’t like it.

“-don’t have that, we can go to the store on the other side of Canterlot which has alllllllll the best cookies! After that, I wanna go to the ice cream place for the rainbow ice cream. Rainbow coloured that is, not rainbow flavoured! Who would like spicy ice cream...actually…”

At all.

Fluttershy leaned past Paladin, coughing delicately. “Pinkie Pie?”

“That would be super delicious, I know some ponies who would love spicy rainbow icecream. Not Rainbow Dash, which is odd, because you’d have thought she’d love rainbow stuff-”

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy flinched at the sound of her own raised voice. She smiled, Paladin’s hoof coming to rest on her shoulder reassuringly, and tried to find the happy medium between ‘shy and unobtrusively quiet’ and ‘shouting loud enough for the near-deaf to hear’.

Mid-ramble, Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “Yeah-huh?”

“I think the waiting room is meant to be a quiet time place,” suggested Fluttershy.”Could you please turn it down just a little? A-and slow it down?”

Covering her mouth with both forehooves, Pinkie nodded, head bouncing urgently. She ran a hoof along her lips, sealing an invisible zip. The gestures that followed were both mind-boggling and deeply offensive to the conservative and old as she removed the imaginary zipper that was her mouth, figuratively speaking, and metaphorically placed it behind a variety of imaginary defences and locks. Given they were imaginary, they meant little, but the zipper was also imaginary, so overall it rather came out even.

Paladin stared at her for only a few seconds. It was getting easier to just shrug off Pinkie’s uniqueness with time, he found. The big pegasus looked over the waiting room, lips pulled back into a grimace at the childish surroundings.

“Why,” he asked Fluttershy. “Are we here?”

She looked at him, blinking her wide in confusion. “Because Pinkie needs her friends?”

That elicited a snort from him. “I know that. I mean, why here? This particular place? It seems a tad...infantile. Are there not baby doctors or some such here?”

Pinkie hummed, bobbing her head from side to side, giggling to herself as she admired the colours splashed across the walls and ceiling.

“The paediatricians,” Fluttershy corrected him. She rubbed her neck self-consciously. “I, um, I suggested to the doctor Pinkie might be more comfortable here. You know, more than the usual, all white, very clean clinical room.”

He nodded after a moment of consideration. “Good idea-” His voice rose. “Pinkie, put that down.”

She slowly lowered the particularly lollipop like toy she had found on the floor. Paladin continued to give her a stern, disapproving stare until she released the toy.

“Sit and wait, we won’t be waiting for long,” he assured her.

“But I’m bor- oopsie!” Pinkie covered her mouth. 

“Just a little bit longer.” Paladin closed his eyes, letting out a groan. “Fluttershy, why did we agree to come to Canterlot with her again?”

She smiled, her cheeks warming as she pressed against his side. “Because she’s our friend,” Fluttershy murmured. “And...and it was going to be r-romantic…”

“Until interference from the cursed powers below.” Paladin sighed. He stretched a wing around her, heat rising to his face. “Next time, I swear, we won’t be interrupted. No angelic infestations, no demonic corruption. Just the two of us. I promise.”

“I...I would like that…”

They nuzzled, a small, quick gesture before they separated, flushs of embarrassment hidden under Paladin’s coat and showing through Fluttershy’s. They shared their moment until a pony, decked out precisely as you would expect of a doctor, appeared.

“Miss Pie?” he inquired.

They rose, nudging Pinkie to regain her attention. A moment later saw the three of them in a room to match the decor they had endured outside, which seemed to entertain Pinkie to no ends.

“Miss Fluttershy,” the doctor nodded to her. “I assume the two of you are sitting in, with Pinkie Pie’s permission, as concerned friends?”

“Oh, yes, we couldn’t leave her alone right now, not when...w-well, if the news is bad…” Fluttershy trailed off, ears dropping and expression falling.

The doctor smiled reassuringly. “Now, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. Miss Pie! If you would please, I need to check your ears!” He went on, voice raised.

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie dropped onto her rear before him.

His magic began to unwinded the bandages around one ear, slowly and carefully. Pinkie let out a soft sigh as her hearing came back, if only slightly, with the removal of the muffling wraps. She closed her eyes as the doctor set about inspecting her, shivering when his magic ran across both ears, the sensation of a warm breeze that gently flowed into each.

“Hmm….I see.” With a small frown, he furrowed his brow and focused his magic. The doctor’s jaw ached as he held back comments and remarks, the trickle of arcanely garnered information slowly feeding back to him. “Fascinating…”

Fluttershy and Paladin exchanged worried looks, neither finding ‘fascinating’ a particularly encouraging diagnosis. Pinkie began to whistle cheerfully.

“Well!” The doctor’s magic finally began to fade after nearly twenty minutes of worrisome working and tests. He wiped his brow before shoving the handkerchief into a pocket, his expression giving no hints. “I think I have enough information for an initial diagnosis. I can withhold it for now, do a little more testing, or...”

Pinkie’s whistling faded away, her teeth worrying at her lip until Fluttershy extended a wing across her shoulders. Paladin placed his hoof the other side, his expression serene when she glanced back.

“Tell me now,” Pinkie decided, nodding with unusual seriousness. Her mane flounced, the curls and puff bouncing with less energy than usual. “I...I wanna know.”

“Alright. I can say safely that Princess Luna has clearly brushed up on modern medical magic; her healing is to thank for the fact you can hear at all. Alicorn-magic is said to be just generally more effective than unicorn-magic, and you can hardly ask for a more skillful caster than one of the Princesses. It was quite fortunate, and the healing supports this common view point. Really, I think it must have been quite the lucky break for-” the doctor trailed off, catching the dark glint in Paladin’s eyes. The somber pegasus didn’t shift his expression, but his eyes suggested a certain amount of brevity would go a long way.”Err, right, yes...Miss Pie! Your hearing will, in fact, continue to recover. However, some permanent damage has been done.”

Pinkie blinked. She didn’t react to Fluttershy’s soft, worried gasp in her ear or the sharp intake of breath from Paladin. She just stared. Her mouth opened for a moment. It shut, wordless. She blinked again.

“Oh.”

The doctor looked down sympathetically, drawing out a pad. “Now, I can keep the spells healing your ears going, but you’ll need to see your local specialist, every day, for at least a week. You won’t need raised voices in a day or two, but I expect you’ll suffer from a certain level of tinnitus, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you find your voice sounds different to you.”

She took the slip of paper he offered. The murmured reassurances of her friends fell on deaf ears. Pinkie nearly giggled at the thought.

‘Now I really have deaf ears.’ The voice of her thoughts swam in the murky depths that swamped her. She wondered, idly, if that voice would stay the same. Would the voice she thought in be the same as it had always been?

“Weird…”

Pinkie giggled again. She wished she could hear it. At some point, they had left the doctor’s office behind. She had barely noticed. The party pony giggle-snorted, barely noticing the doors of her room closing.

“I wondered if I’ll still be able to sing?”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Fluttershy was quick to tell her. She bit her lip, withdrawing behind the pink curtain of her mane the moment she stop speaking. Her voice went quiet again, too quiet to hear.

‘I hope I’ll still be able to hear her. Oh no, what if I can’t?’ Something tickled Pinkie’s cheek. ‘What if Fluttershy stops speaking to me because she has to raise her voice and she hates doing that and she’ll hate me and I’ll be the worstest friend ever-’

Pinkie’s breath caught. Sudden warmth bubbled up from within, yet it’s source was from another. Her parties flashed before her eyes. She saw herself, dancing and singing, bouncing across lively rooms. Love, caring, optimism, they welled up. A yellow hoof brushed across her cheek. More warmth flowed from her cheek, highlighting in Pinkie’s mind for a moment where Fluttershy had touched, the stream of positive emotions from the pegasus swelling. She blinked again, feeling the wetness there.

“We’ll be here, Pinkie.” Fluttershy drew her in close. “Your hearing will come back, just fine.”

Another wing wrapped both of them, a great white blanket that swamped the pair. “We will be here,” repeated Paladin. His tone brooked no disagreement. The look in his eyes left no room for debate. “Regardless of what the future holds, my friend, we will be here. Always.”

There wasn’t much left for Pinkie to do. She sagged, her weight cradled between the pegasi, and let Fluttershy wipe the last of the tears from her cheeks. The warmth from them matched the warmth within, and she snuggled into it. Her eyes closed, and she missed Paladin’s last mask of stoicism melt away. 

Fluttershy shared a small, private smile with him. They nuzzled, needing no words as they sat there, their friend surrounded by so much more than just their physical presence. Fluttershy let the barriers between them fall, a gentle flow of emotion spreading between the three.


***


Rude awakenings were nothing new to Rainbow Dash. She administered them fairly often herself. 

That didn’t exactly make it any less annoying.

“Arrrrrrrrrrrgh,” she groaned, clutching her forehead. Dash’s eyes snapped open. “My head!”

She threw herself to the side, only to find her intentions to writhe in response to her pounding headache thwarted. The pegasus let out a confused whine as she rocked back, her sheets falling away as she kicked and squirmed.

“Rainbow Dash! Calm down!” came Twilight’s voice, raised past the point of calmness. “Please, just- ow!”

Pulling her hoof back from the brief contact it made with Twilight’s face, Rainbow Dash glanced down, her flailing flattering at the sight of the odd material over her barrel. “Wha….”

Her gaze traveled down, and she finally saw why she couldn’t feel the mattress under her. Rainbow Dash knew exactly what it felt like to run into a brick wall. The sensation of last night nudging it’s way into her forebrain was much the same, if slightly less physically traumatising.

“Twilight!” Dash wailed, rocking back and forth. “I’m stuck in a shell!”

One hoof pressed against her nose, Twilight shot her a flat look. A tissue dabbed at the trail of blood leaking from one nostril.

“Really. You don’t say.”

“I do! Look!” Rainbow rocked in distress. “Help me!” 

Twilight just watched her. She took one step closer, and her nose throbbed. She stopped.

“Twilight!”

“Oh, alright, hold on.” With a sigh, Twilight placed her hooves on the edge of Rainbow Dash’s shell. She pushed, not quite as slowly as she could, and rotated the shelled pegasus ninety degrees.

“Er, Twi’-”

“If I flipped you over-” began Twilight.

“Don’t call it that!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “If I ‘helped’ you like that, I would have rolled you off the bed. Of course, I don’t think you would get hurt. The shell seems to protect all of you, not just the areas it physically covers-”

Loud, fake snores interrupted her. Rainbow Dash lay there, her face contorted into exaggerated snoring. Twilight twitched. She moved her hoof, and pushed down sharply. The snores cut off, Rainbow Dash yelping in surprise as she was tipped over onto her belly.

“There you go.” Twilight stepped back. Her neutral expression trembled, but she kept the amusement confined to her eyes. “All better.”

Rainbow Dash glared at her. “Okay, now help me down.This thing is too awkward, I feel like I can barely move, and I have things to do!”

“Err…”

Dash waited as Twilight circled the bed. The unicorn frowned thoughtfully, running a hoof along the bed as she eyed her trapped friend.

“Well? Come on, I need to see Gilda! How is she? Is Tank alright?” Firing off question after question, Rainbow Dash strained to push herself closer to Twilight without falling off. She heard the bed creak as her weight shifted on it. “Uh oh.”

“Blast!” Glaring up at the ceiling, Doctor Sure Hoof scowled over the sound of the buzzer. He shook a hoof at the ceiling furiously, cursing whoever was playing around up there. “Can’t I play one game of Operation on my break? Just one?!”

As the doctor raged, Rainbow Dash glared. Twilight looked down at her, trying not to look amused. She was failing. 

“Need a hoof?” she asked.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Just get me out of this thing! Why the heck am I still in it?” She flailed, groaning as her wings tried to stretch and found no space to expand. “I mean, come on! I look stupid!”

Wincing, Twilight helped her friend back onto her hooves again. “Well...the thing is...I can’t. Get you out, I mean.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated? Twilight, I just woke up from having my pet turn into a giant and literally stomp - stomp! - the evil out of my old best friend who I thought I was never going to see again!” Dash’s nostrils flared, eyes narrowing and mouth curved into a scowl. “Don’t talk to me about complicated! I’m stuck in a magical turtle shell!”

“Torto- ow, okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Twilight covered her head, warding off the pillow in Dash’s hoof. She pressed a hoof against her mouth, doing her best not to laugh. It was a losing battle, but she won out in the end. Twilight was nothing if not considerate to her friend’s pride.

Dropping her weapon, Rainbow Dash groaned, sitting down. She ran a hoof along her chest, staring down at the odd tortoise-ish skin that held the shell tight. “My head hurts. I’m in a shell. A friend I should have helped got turned into a monster. I’m in a shell. My pet turned into a giant. I’m in a shell. Fix it. Please.”

Twilight edged over, placing a hoof over her friend’s shoulders. She didn’t speak for a moment, looking around awkwardly for a moment. Her eyes ran across the shell once more; it wasn’t the first time, since the night before. She had even sketched it, just in case it faded, and found her gaze following the thick plates’ edges.

“Twilight?” The worried, impatient tone brought Twilight’s attention back to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight sighed, and said, “Rainbow Dash, I can’t remove it. I’ve tried! It dispels any magic that comes into contact with it, so I can’t just pull you out. I can’t even teleport you out. I think there’s a little point that might open it, but it’s impossible to get at.”

Her explanation was greeted with a blank stare. Twilight’s ears laid back, eyeing Dash like she might go off, figuratively and possibly literally. ‘Note to self; double check that Pinkie hasn’t made any more explosive cupcakes recently.’

The explosion came. It shook Rainbow Dash. It filled the room suddenly and continued for a few more seconds.

“T-Twilight….” Dash giggled hysterically. “Twilight! I-it just sounded like...hnn…” She drew in a sharp breath. “It sounded like...like you said I’m stuck in this thing!”

“Ehehehe…” Twilight chuckled along nervously. She took note of the door out of the corner of her eye, and how long it would take to get there. “Um...I did…”

Twilight yelped, finding a hoof suddenly returning her half-embrace. Her head was pressed against Dash, who tightened her grip.

“And it was a joke! You were joking! Because...because I’m Rainbow Dash. I’m awesome. I have a griffon and a tortoise to check on, and I don’t want to look like it’ll take me half an hour to get across the room!” Rainbow Dash pulled Twilight’s head up, staring her in the eye. Twilight stared back, wondering at the manic gleam she saw. “So, you were joking….right?!”

She gulped. “...no?”

Dash’s expression didn’t change. “...pardon?”

“No. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, I really am. I wasn’t joking. I promise, I’ll get you out as soon as I can, but it’s going to take time.” Twilight teleported out of Rainbow’s hold, and had her hooves around the pegasus a moment later. “That shell is as secure as Applejack’s armour, maybe more so, but it just won’t release you.”

“I....I…” Rainbow Dash just seemed to fall flat there. Her brain failed to process the news. “I c-can’t...get out?”

The tremble that overcame her and the stutter to her voice came out without the laughter. There was no strained hysteria this time. Rainbow Dash’s wings pushed against their nebulous restraints, muscles aching. They beat the inside of the shell in time with her pounding heartbeat.

“Rainbow Dash?” ventured Twilight. She cocked her head to the side, eyeing her with concern. “Are you alright?”

“I..I need to see Gilda. Or Tank. Somepony else. I-I can’t think about this right now. No, I can’t. No thinking. Just….just no.” Rainbow stood, failing to react to Twilight’s hooves dropping away or the way Twilight was looking at her. “Where are they? I don’t care who. Gilda? Is she alright?”

Each step took far longer than it should, at least to her. Rainbow Dash paused at the door, waiting impatiently for Twilight. She pushed the door open the moment Twilight drew even with her, waiting expectantly.

“Just down the hall.” Pointing, Twilight couldn’t help but flinch at the empty look on Dash’s face. ‘I thought she was over her fear of confined spaces! Did she displace it to general confinement somehow? I didn’t think she would react like this!’ “Pinkie is coming back, later.”

“Huh?”

Twilight gave her a tight smile as she repeated herself; “Pinkie. She’s coming back from Canterlot with Paladin and Fluttershy, and Princess Celestia. I got a letter back from her. Pinkie thwarted an attack there, at the same time as the attack here last night.”

“Huh.”

The lack of reaction was...not what Twilight had been expecting. She kept pace with her friend, trying not to stare at the steady, unhurried pace. They weren’t going slowly, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t….well, Rainbow wasn’t dashing.

“Gilda is just in there. I’ve been checking in on her, and so have the others. It was Applejack’s-” Twilight’s words fell on deaf ears. Rainbow Dash just pushed her way in, each cumbersome step carrying her in without pause or falter. “Wait, Rainbow Dash, she’s a bit...”

Gilda was certainly a bit...damaged. She lay upon a bed, eyes shut and curled up with thick bandages on her wrists. There were no casts, but gauze wrapped her chest, a wing and along her legs. It rather amazed Rainbow Dash, seeing her without a full body cast from the crushing weight that had pounded her into the dirt. Yet, despite the lack of sounds, a pall hung over the room.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack leapt from her spot next to the bed. “There ya are! How ya feelin’?”

“What’s wrong with Gilda?” demanded the pegasus. She stared right past her. “She looks like somepony went for her with a knife!”

Applejack raised a hoof, patiently gesturing for calmness. “Ah know, sugarcube. She was like this ‘bout five minutes after we got her here. Docs say some sorta magic thin’, but she’s gonna be fine. Just needs rest.”

Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash managed to get to Gilda’s side before responding. “She’s fine? What...what’re you doing here?”

With a soft chuckle, Applejack sat next to her and patted her hoof. “Y’all want to give her another chance, right? Well, Ah reckoned if ya did, ya would’ve wanted somepony to keep an eye on her, an’ after what happened to her, Ah thought she deserved it. After what it’s done to Mac an’ Spike…”

An odd warmth filled Rainbow Dash. She let out a groan of relief, slumping. “Oh...yeah, I totally do. She was my friend, and this whole thing is pretty bad, and...and, gah, I’m not mushy, but, y’know...thanks. For this.”

Applejack hugged her gently, nuzzling her friend. “‘s all good, sugarcube. That’s what friends are for, right? Ah wouldn’t wanna put Discord through what Gilda, Mac an’ Spike suffered. Ah figure, even after what happened the first time she came to town, she deserved some lookin’ after,”

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash nodded gratefully, returning the nuzzle. “She does. Especially since…”

“Since?” asked Twilight, coming up on her other side. “What’s wrong?”

Rainbow stared guiltily at the slumbering griffon, ignoring her own aches and pains. Next to Gilda’s, she was sure they weren’t all that impressive. “I don’t know how, or why, but with Spike and Mac, it felt kind of personal, right? Like Scorpan used them because it would hurt you guys.”

“Personal connections do seem to be something of a theme, though I think Spike was more because of Rarity than me, at least that time.” Twilight’s eyes widened, gasping as she connected the dots. “Oh! I see! So Gilda was possessed because she used to be your friend!”

Applejack shot Twilight a harsh look over Dash’s head. It took a few moments for Twilight to remember tact. She mouthed an apology at Applejack, who just nodded down at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus didn’t notice. She just nodded glumly.

“Maybe if she hadn’t stormed off, and if I hadn’t let her, this wouldn’t have happened. This my fa-” An orange hoof abruptly cut Rainbow off.

“No,” announced Applejack. She glared right into her friend’s eyes. “No. We ain’t doin’ this. The only one responsible, the only one at fault, is that monster out there. He did this. Not you. Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash played no part in this, ya hear? If ya say anythin’ of the sort, Ah’ll take ya over my knee like Granny used to threaten!”

For a mare who portrayed herself as an eagle in the sky, the look Rainbow Dash gave Applejack was rather owlish. She blinked a few times, processing that.

“Geeze, guys,” croaked a harsh, weary voice. “Just shut up and kiss already...”

Six eyes snapped back to the bed, and its occupant. Gilda eyed them, squinting. She raised a claw shakily.

“H-hey, Dash...this is a hospital, right?” A pained, forced chuckle fell from Gilda’s beak. It was less ‘half-hearted’ and more ‘a thimbleful of heart’, rounding up. “I-I really hope it is.”

“Gilda!” Rainbow Dash began to say something, but she found no sounds emerging. The words she wanted to say wouldn’t come, because she didn’t know what to say. “I…”

Gilda adjusted her wings, drawing in a sharp breath at a twinge that shot through the aching limb. “You look like a dweeb...what’s with the shell?”

Rainbow Dash laughed. She couldn’t help it. “You’re lying in bed, covered in bandages, and you want to know about me?” she asked, nearly choking on giggles.

“You’re the one in a shell,” retorted the griffon. She winced, clutching one claw over her side. “So, uh…”

Neither noticed Applejack gesture at Twilight, or the pair retreat from the room.

“...” Gilda fixed her eyes on the sheets. She watched Dash at the edge of her vision. The time to say something had come. She was out of that nightmare now. The vague, painful memories plagued her in her sleep, and even now she found herself trembling at the thought.

‘I’m a griffon! A hunter! I can’t remember it, so it’s fine! It’s fine, stop thinking about it, it’s alright, I’m fine!’

Her claws tightened, and the sharp points tore through the sheets clenched within. She jumped in surprise, followed by a squawk of pain. Her beaten muscles screamed in protest. With the pain an image rose up in her mind. She saw it before her, and she cried out.

“Does it hurt? Are you ready, now? Is the pain worth it?” whispered the memory, the dark shape booming as it lorded above her. “Give in. Surrender. Let the pain stop.”

“Gilda? What’s wrong? Nurse! Somepony!” The familiar voice broke the hold the memory held. It shook her out of the waking nightmare, a safety line that brought the real world thundering back to her attention. The hospital room spun as she lay there, curled up, until something all the colours of the rainbow appeared.

Gilda grasped the voice, fixing her attention on it. ‘Dash...Dash...I’m...’

The colours vanished, replaced by a nurse who was up to...something. Gilda couldn’t help. Her thrashing left the nurse struggling to keep the griffon from all but throwing herself off her bed.

“I’m sorry,” Gilda croaked, shuddering and shaking. She reached past the nurse. “I-I’m sorry, I d-don’t want to be…”

“Miss Dash, please.” Another nurse appeared, urging the shelled pegasus out. “We’re going to have to sedate her before she reopens her wounds. You can talk later.”

“But...wait…” Rainbow Dash whined, trying to get past. The door shut despite her efforts, and she pawed at it. She ignored the stares she got, and the dull burn of her aches, simply sitting before the door and waiting.


***


“Ready to go?”

Octavia nodded, though it lacked her usual certainty and confidence. She stood at Vinyl’s side, a tad closer than she needed to be, and her eyes reflected her concern. The unicorn gave her a familiar grin, leading her down the hall of the hospital. Just behind and to the side, a royal guard kept pace, his expression blank and emotionless.

“To the train station!” Vinyl declared. She grinned sheepishly when a nurse leveled a reprimanding look at her for shouting. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Should we really be going so soon?” worried Octavia. Only Vinyl’s pushing kept her walking, the gray mare hesitating as they approached the exit. “It hasn’t been a day yet! Shouldn’t the doctors be doing, I don’t know, tests?”

Vinyl cocked an eyebrow. “What, you want them poking and prodding you?”

“Well, if they think it would help! I got…” Octavia glanced around before she leaned in, voice lowered. “Possessed! That’s fairly major, and I think more than a nap is called for!” 

“I got possessed too,” pointed out the DJ. She didn’t lower her voice at all, and gave a slightly alarmed looking mare a wide, slightly sinister grin until they passed her. 

Octavia sighed. “Don’t do that, Vinyl, it’s rude.”

“The docs said Twilight Sparkle is the only one who knows anything more about this, so going to her is the best we can do. Just relax! This is straight from the Princesses! Nopony knows weird magical stuff like them. They are weird magical stuff!” Vinyl grinned at the scolding scowl sent her way.

“Do not call the Princesses ‘weird magical stuff’,” hissed Octavia, cheeks red with the embarrassment Vinyl should have been feeling, but so clearly wasn’t. She flashed the guard an apologetic smile. “Please don’t listen to her. Despite being released, Vinyl probably needs a straightjacket.”

“Oooh, kinky~”

“Filled with ice water,” she added with a frosty glare.

The guard’s mouth twitched for a moment, but he resolutely kept from smiling at the banter between the two. He just kept an eye - and ear - on the pair as they left the hospital, clambering into a carriage that carried them quickly to the train station. There was a strain barely hidden between his charges, but he listened carefully to them. Who ever might have doubted a degree in psychology would be useful as a royal guard was clearly a fool.

Octavia hesitated upon arrival. She stopped before stepping out, and ignored Vinyl’s impatient poke.

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be out here? In public?” she asked, looking back to the guard. Vinyl groaned, rolling her eyes, and the guard gave the same tight-lipped smile as before.

“The Princesses are certain, Ma’am. You will be fine. Two of the Elements of Harmony will be on the train as well,” he reminded them.

Again Octavia nodded, but she found her attention drawn to the mare next to her. “Vinyl, what’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing, nothin’ at all,” lied Vinyl, shrugging with forced nonchalance and a false grin. ‘We’re just going on a train with an Element of Harmony whose hearing I’ve damaged, probably for life. What could go wrong?’

The suspicious stare Octavia was giving her told the unicorn that this was one lie she wasn’t getting away with. Fortune saved Vinyl from answering the unasked question in that stare immediately, fortune in the form of a ball bouncing past. They watched it for a moment, confused.

“I got it!” A pink blur followed the sudden shout, zeroing in on the ball and bouncing a few times before coming to a stop. “VInyl! Octavia! There you are!”

Pinkie beamed, dancing about in front of them, ball bouncing from her hooves to the floor and back again as she dribbling the ball excitedly.Neither knew quite what to say for a few vital seconds. The ball flew between them, striking a wall and bouncing towards yet another pony.

The pair of mares spun in time to see the ball be caught by the abnormally large wing of Pinkie’s somber friend. He just raised an eyebrow at Pinkie, idly passing the ball from wing to wing without looking back.

“Pinkie,” his deep voice rumbled, loud and authoritative. “What did Fluttershy say about playing with the ball indoors?”

Pinkie scratched her unbandaged ear, cocking her head to the side. “...do…”

His eyebrow remained raised.

“...n’t?” Pinkie added.

Vinyl put a hoof over her mouth, holding in her snickering. “Wow. I didn’t know you had parents in town, Pinkie.”

“Huh?” Pinkie squinted for a moment.

“Oh…” With a rare look of sheepishness, Vinyl began to repeat herself, loudly.

Pinkie burst into giggles. “Oh! Just playing with you! I can hear a bit better now. I mean, it’s still kinda hard. I mean, it sounded like you were whispering, but I still heard you kinda, so it’s fine! It’s all fine! ...how are you?”

“Better? Uh, Pinkie, are you sure-” started Vinyl, a guilty look in her eyes.

“Are you returning to Ponyville now, Miss Pie?” Octavia cut in, voice raised cautiously. She subtly nudged Vinyl, shutting her up.

“Yep! We’re all going back home!” Pinkie’s cheer came out less forced. “And you get to come with us! That’s great! And you’re walking and fine and not full of magic, which is great as well!”

Octavia resisted the urge to cover her ears, grimacing at the near-shouting. “Yes, well, I’m sorry about what happened. I sent you those tickets to reach out, and look at how things happened. I just wanted to apologise.”

“Apologise? What for?” Pinkie’s mouth screwed up in a confused pout. “I don’t get it!”

“If I hadn’t asked you to come, none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t…” Octavia couldn’t say it, just glancing towards Pinkie’s ears guiltily before flicking away.

“I wouldn’t be here, I’d be at home hearing all about how bad stuff happened in Cantelot. I’d be all sad, and maybe lots of little fillies and colts would be even sadder because their mummies and daddies didn’t come home from the orchestra.” Rubbing her ear, Pinkie grinned at Octavia before she pulled the other earth pony close. “If you hadn’t sent me that ticket, who knows what would have happened?”

Taken completely off-guard, Octavia gaped at Pinkie for a few shocked seconds. “But...but you might not have hurt your...your ears.”

Vinyl found herself pulled in on Pinkie’s other side. She gave Octavia a slightly confused grin as Pinkie ploughed verbally through everything Octavia had said.

“And Vinyl might still be all possessed and evil and a big bat monster! Maybe you wouldn’t even be here, would ya?” Holding the two, Pinkie all but jammed their faces together. Her voice’s shifted subtly as she spoke, a hint of her Angelic Voice slipping out.  “Look at each other! Hearing a little ring and maybe sounding kinda weird to myself, I don’t mind! Look at each other and think how horrible it would be if you two weren’t around anymore. Think about what your lives would be like without the other! Without your bestest best friend who shares your home and who you even spent time on holiday with! What it would be like all alone without them! Loooooooook!”

“Mmph!”

“Mmm~”

“Uh, P-Pinkie, I think they’re looking.” Fluttershy hesitated, hoof raised but unsure what to do. Her cheeks went red as she stared. “A-and m-maybe a bit more…”

Pinkie gave her a blank look. “What’s that?” She squeezed the two heads again, not hearing the sounds it got out of them.

“Mrrg!”

“Mhmm!”

The guard raised a brow, unsure if he should interrupt what was possibly assault of some kind. He checked with a glance at Paladin. “Sir? Should I do something?”

Paladin’s blank expression had been replaced with concern and confusion since Pinkie’s slight rant, his eyes fixed on Pinkie, but at the guard’s address they vanished for a moment, surprise overwriting it. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you are the senior officer present?” the confused guard ventured. He hid his uncertainty, and wondered if this was some kind of test.

“Pinkie, p-please, uh, you’re making them….” Fluttershy’s attempt to raise her voice failed, the pressure of being in public too much for her. “...k-kiss…”

Pinkie leaned forward, eyes narrow and hooves unhaltingly holding Vinyl and Octavia face to face. “Whaaaa? Speak up!”

Paladin sighed. “I’ll get back to you in a moment,” he informed the guard. “Pinkie Pie, they’re starting to run out of air. Let go.”

She slipped out from between them, releasing the musicians with a pout. “Aww, alright. Hey, look, they’re still going! That must be fun, no wonder you two keep trying to do it.”

Fluttershy squeaked. Her face vanished behind first her mane, then her wings, as she covered herself. An aura of embarrassment hung above the quivering yellow pegasus. Between the feelings Octavia and Vinyl Scratch were giving off, and her own, she didn’t know where to put herself. It was all so public! She became even less visible when Paladin draped a reassuring wing of his own over her and gave Pinkie a look of long-suffering.

“That’s their business, and our business is ours,” he told her, coughing awkwardly. Keeping his wing over Fluttershy, Paladin wasted no time turning his attention the guard once more. “You, guard, you said I was the senior officer? I’ve only been knighted.”

The guard did his best not to stare at the kissing mares. His attempt to explain was preempted by the thunder of hooves. He threw a salute, standing at attention just in time for a dozen more guards to arrive on the platform, led by a familiar stallion.

“Sir Paladin, Miss Fluttershy.” Shining Armour strode onto the platform, his armour gleaming in the sunlight. He gave them both quicks smiles before his professional mask came back into place. He swung to the other two. “Miss Pie, and….uh….”

He trailed off, staring with a faint air of confusion at Vinyl and Octavia. This was not, it was fair to say, what he had expected. Words escaped the Captain of the Royal Guard. He tore his gaze away, discarding the possibilities his brain handed him. Nothing really seemed to fit the oddness.

“Ooookay…” Shaking his head, Shining Armour returned to the three ponies paying him the slightest bit of attention. “I hope you’re all doing well. I’m sorry for not being able to help last night. Princess Luna’s orders.”

Fluttershy peeked out. Her expanded empathic sense caught the flash of resentment from Shining Armour, and the guilt that followed. She forced her senses back in, her own guilt flaring up for her unwitting intrusion of his privacy. Paladin wordlessly squeezed her with his wing.

“Princess Luna wanted to do this herself, but she and Cadance are keeping Celestia company.” There was no trace of emphasis, no secretive wink or little nudge. Only the look in Shining Armour’s eyes made it clear what he meant, and how reluctant he was to discuss Princess Celestia’s state in the limited public of his own guardsponies. “These ponies, and I, will be accompanying you to Ponyville. When I leave, they’ll remain there. The situation has frankly gotten out of hoof, and we need to be sure when the next attack occurs, you won’t be on your own.”

Pinkie just stared at him blankly. With a sigh, Paladin repeated everything Shining Armour had said, only louder.

“Oh!” She turned a wide, somewhat worrying grin on the guards.”Wow! I’m gonna get to throw so many welcome to Ponyville parties!”

“Pinkie Pie, they’re going to be there-”

“Louder, captain. Pinkie’s hearing isn’t quite healed yet,” Paladin interrupted.

Shining nodded, raising his voice without missing a beat. “Be there to guard you, not to have fun-” He found himself interrupted again, this time with much less reason.

Pinkie’s gasp of shock and just a touch of horror was loud, so loud it carried through the nearly-emptied train platforms. She brandished a hoof in Shining Armour’s face. The stallion jerked back, taken by surprise.

“Shining Armour, how could you?! What if Twilight heard you say such a thing?” Pinkie accused.

“I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t c-”

“What if your wife heard you?!” she continued.

His brow furrowed. “Pinkie, I don’t think-”

“You’re right you don’t think, Captain Grump! Not have fun, in Ponyville? Nopony goes without fun in Ponyville, or my name isn’t Pinkiesauros Pie!” declared Pinkamina Diane Pie.

“Uh…” He didn’t have to look to know at least some of his underlings were repressing smirks of amusement. He could hear one lose control enough to snicker. Critical Hit clearly needed to be reminded who was in charge here. “Your name isn’t-”

“They will have fun, Mister Captain No-Fun Armour! Almost as much as these two!” Pinkie swept a hoof over Vinyl and Octavia. “More fun than they can stand!”

A train whistle blew, the shrill cry easily enough to pierce even the haze over Pinkie’s hearing and make her wince. Her intense expression faded instantly, reaching up to rub her ears.

“Oh goody, I think that’s us! Let’s go! Oooh, ooh, do I get guards too? Which ones?” Her accusing tone gone, Pinkie was bounced along, dragging the kissing mares along in her wake towards the train.

Paladin and Fluttershy became mobile, and both gave Shining Armour sympathetic looks as they passed the befuddled unicorn. Paladin shared a shrug with him, unable to give Shining the answers or clarity he desired over what just happened.

“Yes,” Shining Armour finally answered, gesturing curtly to his subordinates. He looked back, catching the eye of one. “I think Critical Hit will be your guard, Pinkie Pie. I’m sure he can keep up with you.”

“Yay!”


***


A blue hoof pushed her talons open, resting on the palm of Gilda’s claw. The griffon slowly roused from her drugged slumber, groaning loudly. Her claw closed around the hoof, trembling from the effort to stay firm..

“Gilda? G, you awake?” she asked. Her tone was soft, gentle, for the griffon she had once called her friend.

“Dash?” came the feeble reply. Gilda forced her heavy eyes open, peering at Rainbow Dash. “Issat you?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, it’s me. How’re you holding up? You’ve been out a while again.”

A groaned answered her. “How do you think?”

Despite the situation, Rainbow Dash grinned. “Same old Gilda. Hey, uh, need me to get you anything? A nurse? Painkillers?”

“N-nah, I’m good. Argh, no, that’s a lie.” Gilda eyed her old friend wearily, and a tad warily. “S-such a lie. I ain’t good at all.”

Alarm flared in Rainbow’s eyes at the confession. Gilda did not admit to lies. If she lied, she went the whole way stubbornly refusing to admit it. Her wings to twitch, but the shell contained them, instead serving her a wave of irrational fear. It was fear Rainbow Dash forced herself to ignore, and keep her attention fixed on Gilda.

“I suck.” Gilda slurred her words, clacking her beak a few times. “So much. I-I suck, Dash. Shit, shit, I’ve missed you so bucking much and I finally see you again, and the first thing I do is attack you!”

“Attack me?” Dash’s eyes widened, and she began to shake her head in denial. “That wasn’t you. There’s this evil monkey thing called Scorpan going around, he did the same to Applejack’s brother, and Spike. That wasn’t you at all!”

Gilda shook her head, slowly and woozily. “I coulda done something. I should have. I keep screwing up! I screwed up our friendship, I screwed up with the first friend I’ve made since you, I just can’t do anything right!”

“You didn’t screw up! Okay, you did, but so what? I’ve screwed up with my friends all the time.” Rainbow Dash wanted to wrap a wing around Gilda. She wanted to do something to show her that everything would be fine. Unfortunately, her wings were out of action, and emotions were not her thing. She simply squeezed Gilda’s claw, and tried to work out what to say. “Friends get over it though. I got over it, and you should too. I want to be friends again.”

The griffon shied away when Rainbow Dash tried to look her in the eye. Gilda ran her free claw through her head feathers, unable to turn back, unable to bring herself to take any of the sentiment from the pegasus.

“So do I,” she admitted. “But I don’t deserve it. I should just be alone again. It was fine when I was alone. I was safe. I was alone, but I wasn’t hurting, or attacking anyone.”

Rainbow blinked, magenta eyes intense. “Alone? You didn’t go home?”

“I...I’ve been on my own, since then, a-and look what happened? Shit, I’m so messed up and I got turned into a monster I don’t want to be alone!” Sobs wracked the griffon. “F-fuck, I’m crying! I’m not supposed to cry! I’m, argh, I just…”

She held Rainbow Dash like a lifeline. Dash barely noticed the pressure on her hoof, too stunned by how Gilda was acting. She put her other hoof on the back of Gilda’s claw.

“Gilda...whoa. Okay, uh, I’m here? There there?” ‘Where the hay is Fluttershy when you need her?!’ Rainbow Dash tried to think about what to do. First; this required proper emotional comforting. Second; it was Gilda! Gilda had never accepted so much as a pat on the shoulder. How exactly was she meant to comfort the aggressive griffon when she wasn’t acting like Gilda?

“Well, you shouldn’t be! I suck! I’m a horrible friend and you should just...just leave me alone! I’ll probably turn into a monster or do something horrible or...or something!” Despite her words, Gilda didn’t let go or push Rainbow Dash away. “I don’t deserve to be your friend again, I’ll just...I’ll just betray you again.”

There was, Rainbow Dash was certain, something she could do to help. There had to be. Something to prove to Gilda that whatever she thought, Rainbow Dash wanted to be her friend again. Dash looked up, ear twitching. A little orange face quickly withdrew, trying to close the door.

“Wait! Hey, Scootaloo, get in here!” The idea that sprang to Dash’s mind made her grin. She urged Scootaloo in with a wave of her hoof when the filly hesitated. “Gilda, hey, G, stop crying. I want you to meet somepony. You don’t want her first impression of you to be crying like a dweeb, do you?”

The filly trotted in, her expression nervous. “R-Rainbow Dash? I didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t worry, squirt, just come in!” Rainbow interrupted. She patted the edge of the bed, ignoring the look Gilda was giving her. She just smiled, not at all caring for Gilda’s embarrassment. “Say hi to Gilda.”

“Hi!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed, and she got onto the edge of the bed in time to see Gilda wiping her cheeks. “Uh, are you okay?”

Even at her lowest, Gilda’s pride kicked in. She glared at Rainbow Dash before switching to Scootaloo. “Yeah, I’m fine. Who’re you?”

“This is Scootaloo! She, uh…” Dash trailed off.

“You chased me and Tank!” Scootaloo said brightly.

Gilda looked away again, and pulled her claw back to her lap. “Oh, uh, right. Sorry.” The word ‘sorry’ was hard to say, and stuck in Gilda’s beak.

“It’s fine! We got away. Did you really go to flight camp with Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo leaned in real close, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Gilda leaned away, her guilt giving way to confusion. She glanced at Rainbow Dash, who failed to supply any sort of explanation. ‘Is this punishment? Is she getting back at me?’’ “That’s me. What-”

A gasp of awe cut her off.

“Wow!” The filly was even closer now, practically standing on Gilda’s chest. “That must have been so awesome! Being at camp with the Rainbow Dash! I bet you got to see her learning how to do all sorts of amazing tricks!”

Looking from the Scootaloo to the Rainbow Dash, Gilda tried to resist it. She tried, thinking of the past months and months of loneliness, to restrain herself. She really did, but even tormented by possession, desperate to have her best friend back, there were some things Gilda just couldn’t change about herself.

“If you call watching her crash every time she tried to land a ‘trick’, yeah, I did.” Gilda’s claw snapped over her beak an instant too late. Her eyes widened and she turned to Rainbow, an excuse already on its way out.

“No way! Rainbow Dash, you didn’t crash, did you?” protested Scootaloo, looking up at her shelled idol. “I bet you didn’t!”

Rainbow Dash grinned and ruffled Scootaloo’s mane. “All the time! Gilda was always around to pull me out too. Want to hear some more stories?”

Scootaloo squealed in abject excitement. “Would I?!”

Brow furrowed, Gilda asked, “...would you?”

Jaw opening wide, Rainbow Dash faked a terrible yawn. In all their time as friends, Gilda had never seen Rainbow Dash yawn like that. It would have been enough to cause any nearby actors to burst into tears. A faker yawn had never been yawned.

“I’d love to, squirt, but I’m kinda tired.” As Scootaloo’s expression fell, Rainbow Dash made a little ‘ah!’ of sudden and entirely unexpected inspiration. “I know! Gilda can tell you! I bet she’s got just as many stories about me as I do.”

Gilda stared, not quite sure how to process what was going on. One minute had been an emotional rollercoaster as months of dark thoughts and darker feelings about herself had been poured out, and now there was a pony filly treating Rainbow Dash like some kind of rock star. A pony filly that had now turned to gaze at Gilda as though she was a griffon shaped gateway to paradise.

“Er...I’m not really sure…” she began, only to find herself assaulted by an adorably pleading pout. Also hooves. Little hooves that pressed down on her chest because that filly and her adorably pleading pout were way too close.

“Please please please! I wanna hear about it so bad! What was Rainbow Dash like? Did everypony realise how awesome she was right away, or did it take a couple days? Oh, duh, dumb question, of course they knew straight off! How could anypony not?”

Gilda was torn, unable to decide between panicking at being left with a delicate little pony she could so easily hurt, annoyance at those little hooves and the invasion of privacy, or simple shock that Rainbow Dash trusted her enough with her weird little fanfilly. She went for a mix of all three, with annoyance pulling out ahead when she looked to Rainbow Dash just in time to see the door shut. Betrayal was too strong a word for what Gilda felt at that moment.

Idly, as Scootaloo stood on her chest waiting expectantly and eagerly, Gilda wondered if the door had been locked, and if this was some kind of cruel and unusual punishment.

Rainbow Dash trotted down the hall, a smug smirk on her face. ‘Rainbow Dash, one. Gilda being depressed and stupid, zero.’ It was only natural, after all, Rainbow Dash was number one.

She kept thinking that right up until a mailbag socked her in the face. The prismatic pegasus went down with an undignified yelp, her only warning a loud ‘catch’ being shouted at her a few seconds after she hit the ground.

“Catch!...wait, oh no, I’m meant to say that first!” Grey hooves pulled Rainbow Dash up. “I’m so sorry! No wonder Dinkums never wants to play catch anymore, I keep forgetting!”

“D-Derpy…” groaned Rainbow Dash, one hoof pressed to the side of her skull. She waited for her brain to stop rattling around before speaking again.

“Oh! And I’m also not supposed to play catch with mailbags anymore. Please don’t tell anypony!” Derpy begged. She let go of her unfortunate victim, and was probably looking at her, though it was understandably hard to tell.

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof. “Okay, first, who would I tell? You do pretty much all the mail in Ponyville. Second; why did you throw it at me in the first place?!”

Rubbing her hooves shyly, the grey pegasus gave Rainbow an apologetic smile. “I thought you’d like it, since you do all sportsy stuff. And I have a letter! It’s not for you, though. It’s for Fluttershy, but she’s not here, and I since I took over the last mailpony’s route...” Derpy leaned forward as though imparting some great secret.”Her bunny keeps giving me scary looks.”

The urge to roll her eyes was deep, vast and powerful within Rainbow Dash. “That’s pretty much Angel Bunny all over. What, you want me to give it to her? She’ll be back later today, but I can if you want. Not like I’m going anywhere fast.”

Derpy looked confused, but in all fairness this wasn’t unusual. “But...I thought going fast was what you did. It’s in your name. Colourful fastness is your whole thing.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “The shell, Derpy. This stupid thing nopony knows how to get off is slowing me down.”

“Wow, somepony gave you a shell! Was it a magic snail?” asked Derpy, trotting around her with a fascinated gleam in her eyes.

“...a snail? What, no, it was, you know, my tortoise, Tank. When he grew huge last night?” Rainbow Dash waited for a reaction, or some sort of sudden understanding. She was disappointed when none came forth, not least because she was pretty sure a giant tortoise was rather notable.

“Sounds fun! If you want it off, why not just ask him?” Without waiting for an answer, Derpy dived into her mailbag. She came up with a letter, shoved right at Dash. “Can you give this to Fluttershy? I’m kinda behind on my route.”

“Shure,” answered Rainbow Dash, teeth clenching on the letter. She squinted, trying to read the sender. “I’un Will? Wha’ th’ h’ll?”

Derpy was already gone, ploughing through anypony unfortunate enough to be in the general direction she was heading, by the time Rainbow Dash started to go cross-eyed. Shaking the feeling away, the ground bound daredevil continued on her way looking for Twilight. She was going to get to the bottom of this shell, and she was going to do it no-

“Why not just ask him?”

Rainbow Dash stopped, hoof pausing inches from the ground. Derpy’s words played back through her head, like a record on constant repeat. It was a pretty silly idea, and weird without Fluttershy around to translate…

‘Tank growing and getting magic angel powers is pretty weird too,’ she admitted. Rainbow’s jaw tensed, indecision warring over her face. ‘Can’t hurt. I suppose.’

Resolving to make sure to do it when nopony was around, Rainbow Dash got moving again. Her shell’s weight felt like it was growing with each step, but she dismissed the notion, and focused on finding Twilight, and finding her pet. Rainbow Dash would fly again, of that there was no question.

She paused, spotting a little purple and green shape waddling down the hall. A grin on her face, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof.

“‘Ey! Spike! ‘Ait up!”


***


Vinyl Scratch and Octavia sat opposite each other. Their eyes were locked. Their faces matched, in colour and in expression. Neither moved. Neither spoke. Red cheeks were shared, and so too, unwittingly, were their thoughts identical. In general, those thoughts went along one or two lines;

‘Oh bucking Celestia, what have I done?’

‘Why won’t she say anything?!’

Paladin glanced down the train, skimming the ranks of guards between them, before turning to look at his companions, a question on his mind. Moments later, it was on his lips too.

“Is this normal?”

Shining Armour could only offer a shrug. “I may be married to the Princess of Love, but there’s only so much I can pick up. Finding two recently possessed mares making out on the train platform hasn’t come up.”

“Um...I don’t think it’s...’normal’, but they felt very...happy...’ Fluttershy wanted to hide her face again. She kept her head up only thanks to Paladin’s presence, and because she didn’t want Pinkie to try making them ‘look and think’ as well.

...not in public, at any rate.

“They felt rappy?” Pinkie squealed in delight. “That’s great! I learn so much from rapping! Do you think they know how to rap the table of elements?”

“Happy, Pinkie,” clarified Paladin, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “They felt happy.” He peered at her. The sharp sense of worry struck Fluttershy, but he said nothing. Whatever he was worried about, he wasn’t talking. He just watched Pinkie carefully.

She crossed her forelegs, pouting. “Awww. Well, now I feel like rapping! Who wants to hear about the history of Equestrian agricultural development after the Unification, in rap?” Pinkie beamed at the guards and ponies around her. “Great! Here we go!”

Shining Armour tried to look as professional and calm as he could, but frankly, he found himself realising Twilight really hadn’t exaggerated in her letters. The train carriage started to feel rather like a cage as Pinkie began to fill it with very odd rap.

Vinyl’s ear twitched. “Is…” she began slowly. “Is Pinkie rapping?”

Octavia turned her head, but her eyes didn’t actually break from Vinyl’s. “Yes. About...agriculture?”

Confusion replaced uncertainty in their stares. The first thing either had said was about Pinkie rapping, after nearly an hour just staring at each other awkwardly, trying to work out what to say. A snicker escaped Vinyl, and it drew a giggle from Octavia. They laughed, the shared oddity of their situation breaking the ice neither could overcome their nerves on their own to break alone.

After who knows how many minutes, with Pinkie’s continued rapping a backdrop, their laughed faded. Vinyl relaxed, and smiled at the sight of Octavia doing the same. The embarrassment wasn’t gone, far from it, but they were no longer paralysed by indecision and awkwardness.

Octavia cleared her throat. “So, about that, uh, w-what we did back there-”

“The kissing?” asked Vinyl, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Cheeks red, the earth pony mare nodded. “Y-yes, t-that. Uh, now, having done….’that’-”

“Kissing, you mean? Making out on the ground?” A cheeky grin spread Vinyl’s mouth wide.

“Vinyl….” Octavia glared. “I’m trying to be serious, and deal with this maturely.”

“And avoiding saying ‘kissing’ is mature?” Vinyl pointed out. She shrugged. “Okay, how about this; did you like it?”

“W-what sort of question is that?!” squeaked Octavia, her cheeks going red. She refused to look away, though she desperately wanted to.

Vinyl smirked. “I’ll take that as a yes. I mean, I’m pretty good, if I do say so myself. Which I do. I’m good. You weren’t too bad yourself, for a beginner.”

“Vinyl, you’re just- wait.” Octavia scowled. “For a beginner? Are you just assuming that I have no experience with such things?”

Kicking back, the DJ shrugged. “Come on, don’t be like that. It’s not your fault. I said you were good.”

Octavia reached over and smacked Vinyl’s back legs off the couch, forcing her to sit rather than lounge. “I will have you know,” she growled, eyes burning. “I am not some inexperienced filly! I could very well have kissed plenty of ponies before you!”

“I believe you.” It was remarkable, how Vinyl said one thing with a look of complete earnestness and her voice warm, and meant exactly the opposite. Using a properly sarcastic tone would simply have been far too easy. “Totally.”

“Oh no, you are not doing that to me! You enjoyed it just as much as I did!”

“And I said you were good...for a beginner,” Vinyl conceded with a grin that fell roughly somewhere between ‘shit-eating’ and ‘diabolical’. 

Octavia opened her mouth, a fiery retort already on her lips before a sudden realisation snapped her jaw shut. She sat there for a few seconds, a look of intense concentration on her face. It lasted long enough for Vinyl’s nonchalant mask to crack and bring her to look over in concern.

“...that was rather subtle, given your usual standards.” Octavia’s stare bored into Vinyl. “I almost got distracted from what we did by arguing about it. Remarkable.”

Vinyl laughed nervously. “Heh, whatcha mean? Weren’t you about to shout something at me?”

With deliberate slowness, Octavia reached up and began to smooth her mane. She hadn’t noticed the disarray it had fallen into now. The obvious worry on Vinyl’s face gave her a moment’s pause.

“I don’t think right now is the best time to try working out all...this…” Octavia gestured vaguely, her hoof taking in the guards and Pinkie. She gulped, suddenly nervous. “Perhaps, when this is all over, we can take the time to sort this out.”

Her own nerves made their presence known, a tremble sent through her that stilled only when a new warmth pressed against her side. Vinyl slid into place next to her, her contact just shy of being intimate.

“Just let me know, ‘Tavi.” Vinyl smiled. “Maybe while we’re in Ponyville, I can really do what I said I’d do in the library-”

Octavia bopped Vinyl on the nose, but she couldn’t help herself. She laughed, and after a moment, Vinyl joined in.

Fluttershy tried not to look like she was watching the pair, either physically or on a far more subtle level. She had to restrain herself from reaching out. The touch of such positive emotions made her shiver, and it was impossible to completely block them out.

It was not enough, however, to block out her sense of Paladin’s worry. He had been watching Pinkie since she had inadvertently forced two mares to make out, and their bond left no way for him to hide his anxiety.

He looked down, reminding Fluttershy their bond wasn’t exactly a one way link. Paladin shook his head minutely, not ready to explain yet, before returning his attention to the rapping earth pony.

The delicate frown on Fluttershy’s face disappeared, a yelp escaping her as she found a green, firey cloud forming in front of her. She tried to back away into the air automatically, leaving Paladin to catch the letter that formed before them.

“Spike sent you a letter?! Is it a care package? A friendship care package, for friends who aren’t nearby? I’m good at making those! What’s in it?” Pinkie asked eagerly, her rap abruptly canceled. 

Paladin ignored her, dropping the letter before Fluttershy. Conscious of the eyes on her, Fluttershy slowly peeled it open. Her hope that the slow method would scare Pinkie back into doing something more interesting turned out to be in vain, her pink friend staring intently at her. Fortunately, the letter itself turned out to be a relief to this visual pressure. She raised it up like a shield, trying to read through it despite the shake of nerves.

“Oh my!” Her nerves dissolved, a smile appearing on her face. “It’s from Iron Will!”

That certainly got Paladin’s attention. “The minotaur?” He winced slightly, remembering his overreaction all too clearly. Hardly the best first impression.

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. I wonder how he’s doing…”


***


Iron Will huffed as he slammed a post into the ground. Sweat matted the minotaur’s fur, but he stepped back for a moment to admire the ongoing work. He adjusted his tie, folded his arms across his chest and beamed with pride. There was nothing like preparing his own stage for his show, though it was only practical. His goats had certain blind spots, and stage construction was one of them.

Now he thought of it, Iron Will glanced around the clearing. His brow furrowed at what he saw. More particularly, it was what he didn’t see that gave him pause.

“...guys?” he called, turning. “Hey, where is everyone? If you’re all off eating laundry again, I am not bailing you out! I don’t even know how you managed to eat those flight suits, but after the time that orange mare blew up at me, we are not dealing with this again!”

He snorted, and was reaching for another post when the mass of shadows and claws slammed into him.


***


“Does he say in the letter?” asked Pinkie, leaning over. “Oooh, is he coming back to Ponyville? I was a bit too crying the first time to throw him a party, but it was so rude of me not to throw him a welcome party!”

Fluttershy began to read on, her eyes brightening. “He’s about to start touring his new seminars. Oh, he’s thanking me for my help toning it down. Assertion without aggression.”


***


Bellowing, Iron Will’s fist crashed against the creature. His hand plunged into the shadows that swathed it and struck. Its claws released him, and the minotaur promptly repurposed the stage support post into a club to beat his enemy over the head.

Wood splintered. He held up half the post he still had, staring at the ragged, broken end, then back at the weird monkey-bat-thing now a few metres away. It drew back to its feet, its claw closing on the portion of the post it had ripped off.

Never one to waste what he had, Iron Will displayed his unique problem solving skills. The half-post he had wasn’t just a stage support post or merely a club. It was also a very workable throwing weapon, as Scorpan found when it came hurtling towards him, following by a bellowing, raging minotaur.


***


“I think it will work really well for him. I know he seems big and aggressive, but Iron Will is a sweetheart when you get to know him.” Her gaze dropped further down the letter. “He’s starting near Ponyville, in the next town down the line towards Manehatten. He says they found the perfect place to do the first seminar, and he’ll be working on getting it up himself.”


***


The half-built stage gave way, collapsing as another of its supports was ripped out and smashed against Scorpan’s snout. What should have been an easy fight was taking far, far too long. It would have been easy too, if his hands weren’t alight with agony brought on by angelic burns that scarred his arms from elbows to talon-tips.

“You mess with the bull, you get the horns!” Iron Will roared, not particularly creatively, it must be said. He charged, horn points gleaming.

Scorpan slammed his back into the last standing bit of the stage, a tall wall of wood. His form collapsed into insubstantial shadows a moment before Iron Will hit, and the minotaur went head first into, through and past the wall.


***


“It sounds fascinating. Do you two keep in contact much?” For some reason, Paladin was feeling...jealous? He blanched at the realisation, and tried to school himself to neutrality. He was not going to be irrationally jealous. He was better than that.

“Oh, a little bit, but I think the main thing was...oh, oh my!” Fluttershy found it at the bottom of the letter, a few slips of paper. “He’s inviting me to come and see his first show.”

“Oooh, I bet that’ll be fun!” Pinkie cheered.


***


Scorpan reformed atop Iron Will, grasping one horn, and began to rain hammer-like blows of his fisted claw onto the minotaur’s head. He avoided Iron Will’s grasping hands with aggravating nimbleness, and just keptstriking until even the formidable defensive nature of a minotaur’s skull wasn’t enough. He went down, going limp beneath his attacker.

“You had best be worth it,” Scorpan hissed to the unconscious motivational speaker, panting with the exertion of the fight. He took a few minutes to compose himself, hiding the wounds from his foolish attempt to take the angelic essence. His gaze lingered on the shattered stage for a moment before he gathered his power for a simple report of success to his master.

The order he got back confused Scorpan, and in his injured state this did little to put him in a better mood. With barely a night to recover, he was forced to activity again. What would Tirek, Lord of Betrayal, need with ink, paper and an envelope anyway?


***