“Um…yeah! Sure, we’d love to have you guys, and I’m sure that Tavi would love to see you as well, honestly the whole family will…Of course it’s not! It never is, you know that…What time? Okay, either Night or I will be there…Yeah, can’t wait to see you as well! Bye!” Velvet plopped down in the chair next to the phone stand. “I am so fucked.”
Celestia laughed. “Goddamn drama queen, I swear.”
“Tia? Go fuck yourself sideways, okay?”
The principal laughed. “That’s what I have a boyfriend for.”
Luna almost dropped her beer. “Tia, I swear to God, you’re a cunt for not telling me that you got that far.”
“Lulu, unlike you, I don’t like to advertise my relationships.” Looking at them both, she said, “Look, Sable and I are taking it one day at a time, and honestly, this got to where it is faster than I expected. Maybe I’m a prude or old fashioned—”
“Oh, I’m a cute and drunk college girl, won’t someone come fuck me?” Velvet said in a sing-song voice.
Celestia facepalmed. “You’re never going let me live that down, are you?”
“I wouldn’t be your best friend if I did,” Velvet commented, taking a swig of her wine cooler.
“Whatever. So who was that on the phone?”
“Night’s parents. We knew that sooner or later, they were going to want to meet Sunset. And honestly? When they didn’t come down after Sunny’s birthday, I breathed a sigh of relief. But Tavi’s birthday’s tomorrow; and they’ll be in, and….” She covered her face with her hand, not quite a facepalm, but rather the result of a deeply-ingrained desire to hide. “I wonder if I can move to Mozambique?”
“Come on, Vel, this is your in-laws you’re talking about. How problematic can it be?” Luna asked.
“Well, you’ve met my parents, right? Night’s are…unique. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that….” Velvet seemed as though she was actually struggling for a definition, which the other two women knew wasn’t normal for their friend. Finally, Velvet finished with, “Well, I love my husband, but Night can be a bit of an oddball at times. And I can guarantee, he gets that from his parents. Night definitely takes after his father Nachtlicht.”
“Nachtlicht?” Luna asked.
“Yeah. Apparently his family moved from West Germany when Nacht was three, but he’s lived here all his life – doesn’t change the fact that he has that very German attitude he got from his parents. Calliope, on the other hand? Let’s just say that’s a couple I never would have expected to get together.”
“Are we going to be laughing our asses off?” Celestia asked with a gleeful, impish smirk.
“Tia, may I remind you that if infinite other realities exist, somewhere you dated and fell in love with Night and these are your in-laws?” Velvet countered. To her surprise, Celestia winced at the thought.
Luna, who knew her sister had a very bad epiphany – after all, if Sunset came from another reality, there were likely parallel human ones, too – asked, “So what does Calliope do?”
“She’s a musician – it’s where my brother-in-law got his influence from. Sorta.”
“How bad are we talking?” Luna asked.
By a small miracle, at that moment, a mournful tone wafted in from the office. “Odd, I didn’t know she was here,” Velvet mused.
“Your niece?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, Tavi lives with us now, not that it’s anything unusual. Though I don’t know why she’d be here right now.” Velvet got off the chair. “I’ll be right back.”
Velvet opened the door to the office, seeing Octavia, playing her contrabass. She looked agitated, and was playing something sorrowful with verve, the tears openly falling down her cheeks. As the door opened, she stopped and looked at Velvet. “Oh, Aunt Velvet – I didn’t know you were home.”
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Without waiting for an answer, Velvet went over and hugged her niece, who practically crawled into her embrace.
“It’s just…it’s just the music,” Octavia replied, unable to look at her aunt.
“Tavi, I used to change your diapers when you were a kid, you know. I know you as well as your parents, and I know you’re hurting. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Sorry, I’m feeling lonely right now. Twily and Sunny headed out today for something and took off without me, and all my friends are unavailable. Plus, I’m having to deal with my parents leaving and….” She finally looked up at her aunt, a fragile look on her face. “Sorry, Aunt Velvet. I…you don’t have to worry about me, really.”
Did she actually forget her own birthday? Velvet wondered, but then realized that it could just as easily be typical teenage melodrama; she wasn’t so old that she couldn’t remember her own misadventures growing up with the two ladies currently still sitting in the living room.
“And you couldn’t be more wrong about that,” Velvet said, kissing the girl on the forehead. “If you need me, I’m always here. And I know how it feels to be alone, okay? I wasn’t much older than you when I had to go off to college by myself. At the time, I didn’t expect that my best friend was going to be there, and it was probably the loneliest day that I’d ever spent. So I know kinda how it feels. As for your parents leaving, well, nobody expected that. But you’re a wonderful young woman, Tavi, and I know without a doubt that you’ll move beyond this.”
“Sometimes I don’t feel like I can. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in a dark, bottomless well, and something inside is eating me and I can’t explain it and don’t really know who to turn to.”
“You have us. You’ll always have us, no matter what. We’re family and you know what your uncle says.”
“Yeah, that I do: ‘family always sticks together even when they desperately want to throttle one another,’” she said, a grin finally breaking onto her face. “You know, that makes no sense.”
“Your uncle’s known for his brain, not his wit.” At that, the younger woman started laughing finally, then went back to embracing her aunt.
At that moment, Celestia took the time to peek her head in, saw Velvet comforting her niece, then mouthed a silent We’re getting going; looks like she needs you more than us. Velvet nodded and said nothing else, knowing that she’d talk to her friend later anyway. Celestia then departed, telling her sister, “We should get going; besides, looks like Vel’s taking care of one of her kids.”
“Octavia, right?” Luna asked as they headed towards the door. “She seems like a handful, if you ask me.”
Walking over to Luna’s car, Celestia asked, “Why do you say that? I’ve talked to her before and she seems like a level-headed young woman – far more stable than some of our students, especially given her circumstances.”
“No, it’s not that,” Luna explained. “Sunset…Sunset’s acting out we know was a cry for help, and we really didn’t pay too much attention to it, because she knew how to push our buttons. Not sure how she did, but she likely figured it out pretty quickly. But there seems to be something…emotionally manipulative about that girl, something deliberate.”
“Why would you say that? I don’t think Octavia is—”
Luna sighed. “Sis, take it from someone who tried to manipulate the hell out of you and Vel when we were kids: I know what I’m talking about. All you have to do is look at Twilight: for as long as we’ve known her, she’s been much behind the emotional and social curves.”
“I’m not sure I parse that: last time I talked to her, she seemed to be well in tune with everything and carried a conversation very well. She was certainly more mature than some of the others at that party.”
“You can thank Sunset’s influence for that. Think about it: compare Twilight how she was around this time last year, and how she is now. There’s been a huge change, and I think Sunset’s to credit for that.” As Luna got into the driver’s seat, she added, “Mind, I’m not accusing Octavia of anything malicious or anything.”
“It sounds like you are.”
“Because you don’t see the things I do. Look at it this way: do you remember when I spent all that time around Vel after you broke my arm and pretty much monopolized her time? I did that not because I wanted to get you for anything, or because I wanted to turn her against you. I did it because I was lonely and I felt that you two had no more time for me. I was being emotionally manipulative for no other reason than that, and thankfully it was Armonia that noticed, or else we probably would have come to blows again.” cuing the ignition, Luna finished it up with, “I think with Sunset in the picture, Octavia doesn’t know what to do – she’s been the focal point in most of Twilight’s life, from what Vel’s said. And coming from experience…that’s a very bad place to be when you’re a teenager.”
“And this is why I don’t want to have kids,” Celestia groaned as the pair drove away. “Taking care of a bunch of them at school is more than enough for me, truth be told.”
“What, no Mommy Tia?” Luna teased.
“Hey, at least my boyfriend is housebroken – yours usually sleeps in a drunk stumble somewhere or on some corner of your bed. Oh and the next time I come over and you two didn’t put clothing on because you overslept? I’m taking pictures and posting on Facebook.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“LinkedIn, then?”
“You’re pushing it.”
“Remember: I have accounts on all the social media sites so I can keep tabs on our students.”
Luna tried not to facepalm as she reached the stop sign. “I really should make you walk home.”
It was well past midnight when both Sunset and Twilight came in through the door. “I hope Rainbow doesn’t forget,” Twilight said.
“Of course Rainbow’s going to forget,” Sunset chuckled. “That’s why I asked Rarity to take care of things, instead.”
“You think of everything, don’t you, sis?”
Sunset smiled. “I try, Twily, I try.”
To their surprise, Velvet was still up. “You two are home late.”
“Sorry, Mom – we kinda got tied up at Rarity’s place wrapping up everything and making sure it’s all ready to go tomorrow,” Sunset told her. “I mean, we couldn’t exactly have her around while getting presents for her birthday party, you know.”
“Yes, but you should be more considerate of her feelings, girls: she’s been in a funk all day because she thought you guys abandoned her,” Velvet explained.
“Uh, that’s usually my modus operandi, Mom,” Twilight piped up, the half-smirk smile on her face. Velvet noted that it was the virtual twin of that on her older daughter’s.
Twily really has changed a lot due to Sunny, and vice versa, Velvet mused. They are very much two sides of a coin.
“Yes, but you know the difficult time that she’s going through right now. Her parents had to leave early, she really hasn’t decorated the room that we built for her – not that any of you seem to exclusively use your rooms, mind – and when she sees the cars that your aunt and uncle left behind, well, that’s a daily reminder as well.” Twilight and Sunset seemed to deflate a little, and Velvet said, “I know your hearts were in the right place, girls, especially given tomorrow, but…just keep her in mind, okay?”
“Mom, Twily and I wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t,” Sunset said in a slightly defensive tone.
“I know, Sunny. It’s just…well, it’s one of those things you’ll get when you’re older. Now go get some sleep; you two have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.” Both girls kissed her on the cheek and went upstairs to their rooms; Velvet, satisfied that she’d done well, turned off the lights downstairs and in turn went to bed as well.
She had just started to drift off as she realized she’d forgotten something.
Sunset opened her eyes…to find a pair of strangers looking at her. The pair was an old man and woman, both with freakishly huge grins on their face. The man had a worn, weathered face, slicked back hair of blue, green and gray; the woman had long hair of indigo and yellow, tied back in a simple pony tail.
Seeing as how both were staring straight at Sunset, and with Twilight still asleep, she did the only natural thing she could: she spun in bed as fast as she could, then lashed out with a spinning kick, the attack very much hampered by the bedsheets. At the same time she tried to scream for help while shielding her sister.
The man managed to rear back in time, the smile still on his face. “She’s feisty. I like that!”
The woman grinned back. “Well, you married me, you know.”
Footsteps rushed down the door and the first one to poke his head in was Spike. Rolling his eyes, he said, “I’m so glad that you don’t do that to me anymore.”
A second later, Night was behind the stranger. Seeing what happened, he groaned. “I asked you not to screw with the kids!”
The older man looked back at the younger. “It’s a family tradition,” he defended.
“Yes, because being inches away from the strike zone of a seventeen-year-old girl practicing martial arts is the safest thing to do,” Night retorted.
At this time, Twilight, bluntly awoken by Sunset’s shout, flinched, then looked at her sister’s cautious eyes, then at the commotion in the room. And then finally, she sighed. “I thought you two had stopped that by now.”
The old woman pointed to the man. “You know him,” she said simply.
“You’re just as bad!”
As Sunset started to calm down, she looked at Twilight. “Someone want to tell me why there are old freaks in my bedroom?”
“Yeah,” Twilight said awkwardly. “They’re our grandparents.”
Minutes later, everyone was treated to the strange instance of Twilight Velvet, doubled over and howling with laugher, trying to grip the glass of water that Spike had so helpfully brought to her. “Oh, okay, that’s the best laugh I’ve had in months,” she said, finally catching her breath. “I really cannot believe that you keep doing that, Nacht!”
“I love my grandchildren,” he said in an offended tone.
“My parents love them too…but they don’t just barge into their rooms! What if the girls had been changing or something?”
“Eh, I’ve changed their diapers – well, not hers,” he commented, pointing at Sunset. “Besides, I’m pretty sure I know what’s under the hood.”
Night’s mother looked at him and as if it was a universal apology, said, “It’s your father.”
Velvet laughed. “You’re no better, Calliope.”
Sitting on the couch, Sunset tried to be on her best behavior as she whispered to Spike, “I’m still lost. Clue me in, please?”
“Grandpa does this to everyone in the family sooner or later,” Spike replied off-handedly. “He thinks that something we loved as kids is clearly going to last throughout a lifetime.”
“No kidding,” Twilight grunted, her arms crossed and clearly not happy about the “wake-the-fuck-up-o’clock” event.
“Anyway,” Night said, cutting through the argument in progress, “Sunset, these are your grandparents, Nachtlicht and Calliope.”
Sunset caught that right away. “Nachtlicht? German?”
Nacht grinned. “Never been there; my parents moved here well before I was born, but they gave their three kids German names, go figure. Anyway, I’m an astronomer by trade, currently working for the LBT facility in Arizona.”
As for his wife, she got up, then walked over to Sunset and pulled her up, a smile on the elderly woman’s face. “Look at you, you’re absolutely beautiful. I’m your grandmother, Calliope. I used to work in a circus…but I settled for the quiet life after I met this old coot,” she said with a laugh. “Still can play the organ and piano better than anyone else.”
Sunset felt distinctly uncomfortable. She’d had months to settle into her family as well as be exposed to her aunt and uncle, Octavia’s parents. But this sudden instance of being thrown into the proverbial pool was just a little disconcerting, even for someone with Sunset’s experience at dealing with the weird. However, with her…grandmother? …looking her over like a piece of meat, she didn’t know what to do.
Spike however, took her hand and said, “Hey, Sunny, need a favor, okay?”
Velvet said, “Spike, not now, okay?”
“Mom, Sunset said she’d do it earlier, and I didn’t get a chance to ask her until now! Please?”
“Mom, it’s okay. I’ll be right back, won’t be an issue,” Sunset said. With that, the teen followed her younger brother upstairs towards her room.
A thought, meanwhile, came over Twilight’s face. “Mom, where’s Tavi?”
“Oh, your friend Rarity took her out for breakfast, I suspect so that the rest of your friends can help decorate the place for the party.”
“Party?” Nacht asked. “You’re throwing a party for my granddaughter and you didn’t solicit my opinion, Velvet?”
“Nacht, we’re talking teenagers here.”
“Nonsense! Parties are timeless! Especially if they involve friends of young Twilight here, who has been a social recluse all her life!” Nacht put his arm around her with pride, boasting, “Why I wouldn’t be surprised if both of your friends show up and help us cut a rug with panache!”
Twilight tried not to facepalm.
“Okay, Spike,” Sunset asked, “what’s so important that you need help right now?”
Spike grinned. “Actually, you needed the help,” he said. “I know Grandma and Grandpa can be a little bit…uh….”
“Intense?”
“Yeah, that – anyway, I figured you needed a way out and since nobody minds me much, hey, I got you out of there, right?”
A huge grin creeped over Sunset as she hugged Spike, mussing with his green hair as she cheered, “Spike, I could just kiss you right now.”
“No thanks – I’m going to get more than enough of that,” he demurred. “But get me this week’s comic books and we’re even, okay?”
“Yeah, you got it.”
“Octavia, dear, I want to you to be absolutely honest with me,” Rarity said archly, “because I’ve been watching you over the past few weeks, and…well, frankly, I have some concerns.”
“Concerns?” Octavia asked. “Like what?”
“Do you really want me to voice them?” she asked, and after a second’s worth of hesitation, the other teen nodded. “Well, then. If you ask me: I think you’re jealous of Sunset because…well, forgive me for saying this, but I can’t help wondering if you’re in love with Twilight.”
Octavia blinked. Twice. Three times. And then snarled, “Rarity, you’re my friend, so I’m just going to ask you to get your Goddamn head out of whatever romance and/or porn novel you’ve been reading as of late. You do know what RSI is, right?”
“Yes, I read up on it before deciding to have this conversation with you,” the fashionista admitted. “And I felt it was necessary to ask. You may be offended, and if so, I apologize, but I am your friend, Octavia, dear.”
Octavia sat there for the longest time and said, “I…I don’t know. There should be no possible way: for one, I’m not a lesbian.”
“Perhaps it’s cliché, but Bon-Bon once told me that there’s a person out there that’s just perfect for you and until you meet that person, you cannot be absolutely sure of how you stand. You see, Lyra was very sure that she was lesbian when they started their relationship, but until she made that jump, Bon-Bon had been convinced that only men held any interest for her.”
“Well, there’s the other thing: she’s my cousin – even if I was in love with her, it’s incest. No thanks.”
“Octavia, you cannot help how you feel,” Rarity told her. “And I never suggested you take any such action. I just want to help you work through whatever issues you have.”
“Yes, but you’re suggesting that I go boink the closest thing I have to a little sister. How would you like it if I said you should go scissor Sweetie Belle?” Rarity winced at that, and Octavia thought she might have pushed things a little bit too far. “Look, I’m feeling a little conflicted about Sunny, not Twily, okay?” Rarity was about to open her mouth, but Octavia said, “And don’t you dare suggest I want to fuck Sunny, okay? Sometimes it’s barely all I can do to stand being around her.”
“Actually, I wasn’t about to suggest that,” Rarity countered. “But what I was suggesting is that you feel as though Sunset is taking away the one you love most in the world? Even if you never make that step, even if you don’t acknowledge it, maybe that is how you feel. You have been – to use a turn of phrase – Twilight’s, ahem, ‘mate’ for all this time: you’ve been her only real friend and her older sister figure. And now Sunset has come along, older than both of you, Twilight looks up to her, and there are more of us now to prevent your monopolization of Twilight.”
“So you’re saying that all I feel is that you should all go away so I can have Twilight heart and soul? That’s crazy, Rares.”
Rarity held her coffee cup to her lips. “The heart wants what it wants, darling, whether it gets it or not,” she said simply.
“That’s another thing: what if I am in love with Twilight as you say? How do I face her, if that attraction is growing?”
Rarity reached out with her other hand and gave Octavia’s a comforting squeeze. “If that is true – and only you can decide that, Octavia, you can at least comfort yourself in knowing that Twilight does love you, more than one cousin loves another. She looks at you and sees a sister, not a mere cousin. And for an only child like you? That should be absolutely vital.”
Octavia nodded. “It is, Rares. It is.”
“Well, Ah’ll say, Ah never thought that yer grandpa was gonna be like this!” Applejack looked at Sunset and Twilight with a huge grin.
“Someone kill me now, please,” Sunset moaned while Twilight merely looked at her sister with horrified sympathy.
With a practiced ease of someone that shouldn’t have been even as remotely spry as he was, Nacht moved from one end of the other in the main room, throwing up giddy bunting that looked more akin to a grand ball than a simple party.
“Ugh, can’t someone get him to stop?” Rainbow asked. “This is going to totally harsh the party!”
“Oh, I dunno,” Pinkie said with a grin. “I kinda like it! Besides, you can never harsh a party!”
“Shut up, Pinks.”
Then there was a knock at the door. Spike opened it to reveal Adagio, Aria and Sonata, all three bearing gifts. “Okay, where should we p—” Adagio began, but never finished, as a second later, the three of them were enveloped in a huge, breath-escaping hug.
“Oh, these three are sooooo darling!” Calliope cooed as she looked at the triplets, then back to Night. “Son, why didn’t you and your wife have triplets?”
“Mom, you do know that in general, multiple births aren’t that common, right?”
“Son, don’t argue with your mother.” She then turned her attention on the younger, smaller girls. “Oh, you three are so adorable! Velvet, maybe you should adopt these three, too!”
“You know, that is a thought,” Velvet mused while her husband glared at her. “Just kidding, dear,” she finally said.
“Uh, Grandma?” Twilight said, finally coming to her friends’ rescue. “I’m sure they’d like some time to breathe.”
“Oh, right – sorry.” Calliope let go of the three girls. Adagio felt as though she needed to be wary, Aria decided to move over to Twilight and Sunset for safety; meanwhile, Sonata, the most emotional of their trio, merely smiled, though people who knew her well enough could see the concern in her eyes.
“Uh, Pinkie? Soni? Would you two be willing to help me in the kitchen?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sure thing Flutters!” Sonata shouted in an over-exaggerated manner. Without even waiting for a response from Pinkie, she grabbed the bubbly teen’s hand and rushed off for the safety of the kitchen, Pinkie practically dragged along in Sonata’s wake.
Meanwhile, Aria took this time to speak up from her sanctuary: “Girls, your grandmother scares me.”
Sunset sighed in sympathy. “This is turning out to be a common refrain.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Grandma and Grandpa can be a little…intense.”
“Intense nothing,” Adagio said as she moved over to her friends. “I’ve met intense people. Your grandmother’s insa…what the hell?” The curly-haired girl’s words trailed off as she saw Nacht effortlessly bounce from ladder to ladder, with his son practically shouting at him.
“This is probably the part where I explain that Grandpa was in the Army briefly in Vietnam,” Twilight said, feeling very embarrassed as her grandfather then took the time to start regaling the folks with the story of “how I was ambushed by the Cong back in Da Nang”.
“And so there I was, with a dozen gooks or so ready to ambush my unit….”
“Dad, you were never in the field! And for Christ’s sake, we have four Asian girls here!”
“Fluttershy’s quarter-Japanese, and the triplets are Chinese.”
“Oh, okay. Didn’t want to insult your friends. Remember, girls: slants and nips are good, but Charlie don't surf. ”
“That is not the point!”
“Girls, we’re seriously sorry,” Sunset said, wanting to apologize to Aria and Adagio, while Twilight ran off to make sure that Fluttershy and Sonata didn’t hear it and if they did, to make amends.
Adagio put up a hand. “Don’t worry about it, Sunny, seriously. He’s from a different time and all that, and I get that. We heard that more than once on base from people from that era. They don’t mean anything by it; that’s just how they were back then. I mean it: we’re okay.”
Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. If these are my grandparents, I seriously hope that my other grandparents aren’t as bad.
At that point, Shining and Cadance arrived from their respective workplaces and the mess started all over again.
“Happy Birthday, Tavi!” the crowd sang out.
“Thanks, guys.” Octavia blushed, after having spent her day with Rarity only to find that it had been a ruse so they could plan a surprise party. She’d also talked things over with her friend and was pretty sure that she wasn’t in mad lesbocest love with her cousin and sister-figure, nor did she hate Sunset. Things just didn’t work like that.
“Happy birthday,” Sunset said, hugging her tightly.
“Thanks for sharing it with me, Sunny,” Octavia said, holding her close. No, she loved Sunset. She didn’t hate her. She most certainly didn’t want to hurt her, stick her head in the garbage disposal and a whole host of things that were going through the back of her mind.
“Hey, we’re family, right?”
—No, you’re an interloper intruder thief! You should be eviscerated, slaughtered, flayed—
“Always,” Octavia said through clenched teeth.
“Something wrong?” Sunset asked, a brief look of worry flitting across her face.
“Just…Grandma and Grandpa,” she said, which was partially the truth.
“Oh, and now it’s my turn,” Nacht said as he brought out a book. Behind him, Calliope’s face nearly split into a wide, loving grin.
“A book!” Octavia cooed, smiling despite the fact that in all the years, her grandparents had never gotten it right, always giving her the books and Twilight always the music-related items. They generally traded whenever applicable, and if it was Octavia’s guess, based on the metronome Twilight had received this year, it would be another year where they’d do so again.
As she unwrapped the book, she said, “Aw, Grandpa, you…shouldn’t have!”
“I knew you’d appreciate it,” he said warmly.
“No, I mean it – you shouldn’t have.” The tone in her voice was clear mortification, and everyone in the room looked at her oddly before realizing that maybe she received something that wasn’t going to be the best gift for public display.
“Sweetie, go ahead and show everyone what you got,” Calliope said, gesturing for her to lift up the book.
With the look of those sentenced to be executed, Octavia lifted the book for all to see, hoping that nobody in particular would give her grief for this…and knowing without a doubt that they would.
Night sighed. “Dad, really?”
“I thought she could use it. She’s a growing young lady, you know.”
“Yes, Nacht,” Velvet chimed in, “but that? She already knows about that!”
The response from Calliope said it all: “Oh, my.”
Octavia continued to hold the book in her hands, entitled What to Expect When the Time Comes: a Complete Guide to Women’s Menstruation, looking at her grandparents with an awkward smile, trying not to cry from the complete humiliation she felt.
Cadance, sensing the girl’s growing trauma, moved in to save the day. “Tell you what, Tavi,” she said with a grin, “there’s a ten-year-old girl who lives down the hall from us. I’ll pass this to her dad, since he’s a single parent, and it’ll go to a good cause, okay?”
Unable to say anything, Octavia merely nodded.
The room fell into a very awkward silence as nobody knew what to do next. The only thing that could be done next was by Fluttershy, who hugged her distraught friend. Immediately nine other girls joined in and embraced the crying Octavia, though her heart knew that the tears were changing from sorrow to joy. These were her friends and family. People she knew and loved.
“Octavia,” Calliope started.
“No, it’s okay,” Octavia said as the other girls let her go. “Things have changed since you were my age, I know, Grandma. And I would never think you did this out of spite. It’s just that you and Grandpa march to the beat of your own drums, and I know that. The clashes come when the songs are different, is all.”
Calliope embraced her. “How did I get such as wise grandchild?”
“It’s in the blood,” Nacht said with pride. “And speaking of which, did I—”
“You probably don’t want to finish that sentence,” Sunset advised.
“You sure you’re feeling better now?” Night asked Octavia as the two talked, hours after everyone had left and Nacht and Calliope went to their hotel.
The raven-haired teen nodded. “I’m fine, Uncle Night, really. I was more mortified than anything else.”
“I know. My brothers and I had to deal with it, too,” he reminded her. “Probably got it worse because they’re our parents.” He then got up and kissed her on the forehead. “You’d better go get some sleep: your grandparents are taking you, Twily and Sunny out tomorrow to spend the day with you three. Plus, they want to get you an actual gift.”
“I know, and that’s not really necessary. But spending time with them?” she said, a thoughtful look coming onto her face, “That should be worth it.”
“That’s my girl,” he told her. “Now I gotta get back to that monograph they want me to peer review. You have a good night, Tavi.”
“Don’t stay up too late. G’night.” Octavia walked up to the room where she pretty much shared with Sunset and Twilight. Both were already asleep, and Sunset was turned on her side, dozing away. But Twilight looked like a sleeping beauty, her lips moving gently with her breath.
Am I in love with you, Twily? You’re the closest thing I have to a sister; I can’t imagine you as a lover. And yet….
Not sure of what she was doing, Octavia bent down, her lips moving towards Twilight’s and—
“Sorry to call you out here, Shining,” Sandalwood said. The two were at the Sundial Bridge in the middle of town, with a bevy of police cruisers around them.
“Yeah, because I love being dragged out of bed at two in the morning with my fiancée wondering where the hell I’m running off to,” he wearily smiled.
“I got something that’ll warm ya right up,” she said with a grin as she passed him a cup. “Oh, and I’ve got coffee, too. C’mon, senior officer’s waiting for us.”
They walked all the way out to the center of the bridge, when the senior officer looked up. “Hey, Armor, when’d you join the Feebs?”
“Only on extended loan, Stick,” Shining explained. Nightstick had been a fellow cadet at the academy, and though he was stationed at the central precinct, the two still kept in touch from time to time. “So, what we got?”
“Guy who owned that warehouse downtown decided to off himself and his wife on the bridge – straight murder-suicide. A couple that thought it’d be kinda kinky to have sex on the bridge under the stars found them. Needless to say, it ruined the mood.”
“Okay, it’s an acey-deucey,” Shining commented, the natural slang of the Canterlot Police Department sliding right in. “Obviously you didn’t bother the local Federales just for shits and giggles.”
“Course not – think I’d turn a tag over if we couldn’t do it ourselves?” Nightstick replied. “But then again, how many people do you know that have access to one of these little beauties?” the officer asked, handing Shining a clear bag with a gun in it.
“That’s a Stechkin APS,” Sandalwood commented, looking over Shining’s shoulder. “Russian machine pistol. You can’t fire it without a stock; too unstable otherwise.”
“Also hella illegal to have here in California, not to say the US in general,” Shining agreed. “Not to mention that for murder-suicides, it usually happens at the home and with whatever’s available at hand, not this….”
“Theatricality?” Sandalwood suggested.
“Yeah, that.” Shining looked at Nightstick. “Okay, Stick, what else did you find?”
“Smart man,” Nightstick nodded. “We also found that APS wasn’t fired at all. And if you look at the bodies? They were done in by 9mm – and that APS is a 7.62 model. These two were murdered, cleanly and professionally.”
Shining and Sandalwood looked at the gun, then to the two bodies covered with a tarp, then back to one another.
“The SIRENs,” they agreed in grim unison just as another officer ran up to them.
“Hey, we found a couple more bodies,” the new arrival told all present, “and it’s not pretty.”
With a start, Octavia woke up. Everything was cold and wet and—
I’m outside? she gasped. A second later, she looked down and…. I’m naked? Wondering what the hell was going on, she looked around and what she found suddenly made her queasy: there was dirt and blood – where the blood came from, she didn’t know – smeared all over her body. Lying on the ground was one of Velvet’s prized Miyabi kitchen knives; she’d seen them on Amazon for close to $300. And underneath the knife was the slashed and sliced remains of Sunset’s favorite t-shirt; a light blue number with a stylized sun on it that she said was a replacement for one she had back at the warehouse.
What happened? Octavia wondered, fear gripping her. Am I going mad like Twily was? Is the Vibe doing something to me, too?
No, it’s not, the voice in the back of her head said. It’s you. And you welcome it.
Octavia felt a drop of something splash her on the back of her head. She turned around to see another one of the kitchen knives embedded in the tree directly behind her. And impaled on that knife was—
Octavia threw everything into the garbage. Sneaking into the house, she put the knives in the dishwasher, then rushed upstairs and into the shower, where she blasted the hot water for all it was worth.
Finally, after letting the warm rain of the showerhead hit her, did she finally allow herself to cry hysterically and vomit.
“And so you’ve done well,” Divine said, tracing a line down Piano’s unclothed bosom as he held a glass of wine; the two gazed out the window at Mount Shasta, with the city of Canterlot just to the southwest of them. “The accommodations are more than adequate for the moment, you’ve dealt with both our now-sadly deceased ally and his assassins, and you even managed to find a drinkable California wine. I am suitably impressed, my dear.”
“Am I?” Piano asked.
“Hrm?”
“Your dear,” Piano said, ditching her negligee and leaning in close to him. “I would be more, my lord. I would be your everything.”
He bent down and kissed her. “Of course you would, and for that, I could not be more pleased. In fact,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her to the sofa, “I have something for you.”
“You do?” Piano said, blushing, though inwardly she was cheering. She would finally earn her space as a princess and as his bride.
“There is…a tradition,” he told her as he sat her down on the cushions, “that my family follows: an old Bonaparte legacy. First, the finest diamonds for the finest bride to be.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a priceless necklace of diamonds, to which he placed around her breathless neck. “The second,” he told her, “you have already fulfilled: promising your heart and soul to me.”
“Which I would always do, my love,” she sighed. She had him as her love now; and soon she would be Princess Piano and someday, Empress Piano.
“And lastly,” he said, pouring a drink from an unmarked brown bottle, “it is tradition for the bride-to-be to consume a drink of the family’s finest brandy. I’ve no idea why, but my mother did it, as did my grandmother, and so forth and so on.” He handed it to her, saying, “And with this, we will seal the deal.” At that moment, his cellphone went off and he looked at it. “Excuse me, my dear. The lawyer is here with some paperwork to sign, but when I get back?” He kissed her on the forehead. “I would very much like to make love to my fiancée.”
“I would love that too,” she sighed. He smiled and walked towards the door, as she brought the flagon to her lips.
She took a drink. It tasted weird at first, with a bunch of flavors she couldn’t describe; she hadn’t had brandy before, so she could hardly claim any familiarity with the drink. But eventually, she downed it all, and sighed, the liquid leaving a warm feeling in her body, and the need for more. She poured herself another drink, then another, and then after a few minutes drank directly from the bottle.
At this point, she stood up, giddy and slightly drunk. She felt a warmth in her nether regions and she knew that soon Divine would come to take care of that need. She could practically feel him now, every bit of h—
The warmth suddenly turned into a burning sensation, and then into an inferno within her. She started to roast and before she could take a single step more, she collapsed to the ground, vomiting up unnaturally-colored bile. She could feel liquid leaking from every pore of her body and as she looked at the polished marble floor, she was horrified to see blood seeping from her mouth, nose, ears, eyes.
She arced back as if slugged in the back, and an unearthly scream came from Piano Bliss, one of unnatural pain.
Two darts lashed out and hit her straight in the chest. A split-second later, the wires connected to the darts electrified, the energy racing down the taser wires to jolt Piano and bring her to blissful unconsciousness as she pitched forward.
From her hiding spot, Cantata Blast dropped the taser gun and walked forward, bending over to check Piano’s pulse. It was increasing speed, well beyond that of normal human tolerances.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Divine said as he walked back into the room. “By the time her transformation is done, she won’t read as a baseline human anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
“I told you that I would share everything with you, Cantata. She will be the first of your new army – the first of an inhuman, unstoppable army. But for now, we need to get her to a suitable room so that she will be able to…evolve…in peace. I must admit, the grimoire of my father of fathers doesn’t specify if it’s a gentle change or not.” He snapped his fingers and two handymen immediately appeared. He gave them quick orders and with a bow, they picked up the convulsing young woman and carried her off.
“What now?” Cantata asked.
He smiled. “What I told Piano: I intend to make love to my fiancée.”
“And if she’s not willing?” Cantata asked.
Divine pouted, but said, “Then she’s not willing. I need an equal, not someone suborned.”
Cantata responded by removing her shirt. “That’s all the answer I need. Now make me your woman – and let’s rule together.”