Chapter 7
"Meeting Octavia's Parents"
Early the next morning, Twilight took the first train to Canterlot with Rarity accompanying her. She was determined to make Octavia's parents see that Octavia was happy with her new style of performance and with Octavia's recital less than a few days away, there was no better time than now to talk to them.
"They need to see sense," said Twilight to Rarity. "You and I both want Octavia to be comfortable, don't you agree?"
"Of course," replied Rarity. "Given the fact that she can do those dance moves of yours, I suppose-."
Just then, a knock was heard on the window of their stateroom and the two unicorns looked up to see a group of ponies standing right outside with strange smiles on their faces.
"Look!" one pony cried, pointing to Twilight. "It's the pony from the paper, the one with the dance moves!"
The loud banging continued until the stern voice of the conductor came up and shooed off the crowd because they were disturbing the peace of the train.
"Sorry about that, ladies," said the conductor. "They won't bother you anymore. Do you have your tickets?"
Rarity and Twilight passed their tickets to the conductor and he punched them before moving on to the next set of ticketed passengers. Twilight took in an enormous sigh upon being cleared of the mob that surrounded her and Rarity.
"You must have made yourself popular because of those dances," remarked Rarity. "But it was your birthday after all. You have given yourself every reason to have fun, Twilight.
"I know, I know," said Twilight, hastily. "It's just that I wasn't expecting to be treated like a celebrity. All I did was do some dance moves and nothing more. We were just partying 'Ponyville style,' in Rainbow Dash's words."
"Well, let's just focus on helping your idol and her family situation," sighed Rarity as the train neared Canterlot.
Once they had arrived, Twilight and Rarity were directed by several ponies towards the home of Octavia's parents. The house was located in an upscale section of Canterlot and was surrounded by a gray wall with high sharp fencing. Seeing this made Rarity uncomfortable, as it reminded her of Celestia and Luna's old castle where they faced off against Nightmare Moon.
"On second thought," whimpered Rarity, trying to get away. "Let's go back to Ponyville."
"We can't turn back now," replied Twilight, scowling while pulling Rarity forward with her magic. "Come on."
Walking up to the door, Twilight knocked and at that moment, a gray stallion wearing a tuxedo came forward and looked down at the two unicorns.
"May I help you?" he asked in a stuffy voice. "The parents of Octavia Melody are in the process of having company at the present time. So, if you would be so kind-."
Just then, a voice familiar to Twilight rang out and at that moment, a gray unicorn with a purple mane and tail trotted over and grabbed Twilight, hugging her tightly while pulling her through the front door.
"Twilight, my little girl," cried the unicorn, who was revealed to be Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet. "We weren't expecting you to come back and visit."
"Mom, you're embarrassing me," groaned Twilight, as Rarity came through the doorway. "Put me down!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight," said Twilight Velvet, putting her daughter down. "It's just we haven't seen you in a while and-."
Twilight Velvet suddenly stopped midsentence when she saw Rarity. This gave a glimmer of hope for Twilight Velvet, as this was a sign that her daughter was making friends.
"Have you made some new friends, Twilight?" asked Twilight Velvet, walking over to Rarity. "I'm Twilight Velvet, Twilight Sparkle's mom. You must be Rarity, I suppose? Twilight's told me so much about your love of fashion."
"I suppose you must have heard of me, Mrs. Sparkle," chuckled Rarity. "Twilight's told me so much about you, too."
The two mares shared a chuckle as they walked into a large living room surrounded by autographed pictures of some of Equestria's most talented musicians and composers. As they walked in, a dark blue unicorn stallion got up and cantered over to Twilight, picking her up tightly in his front arms.
"Hi dad," laughed Twilight. "It's good to see you again."
"Indeed," he said, putting her down. "After all these months, you've come back for a visit, haven't you?"
"Well, yes," said Twilight, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "Rarity, this is my dad, Night Light."
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Sparkle," said Rarity.
So, the ponies took their seats on the couch as the residents of the house drank tea while Twilight and Rarity looked over at the residents, who could only give sentimental glares at them.
"We've read all about you in the paper, Twilight," said Night Light. "Octavia's parents and we are very impressed at your display that you created at the Canterlot Garden Party."
Both Twilight and Rarity were stunned by this, thinking that Octavia's parents would be appalled that the pony who created such dance moves would even set foot in a home of this luxury.
"Indeed," chuckled a gray mare in a Trottingham accent who was Octavia's mother. "Sometimes, it gets boring here in Canterlot when nothing exciting happens. If only our daughter could see that."
"Yes," added a gray stallion in a Trottingham accent who was Octavia's father. "We may be the elite of Equestria, but our lives can be boring at times."
"Um, excuse me," said Twilight. "I don't know if you are saying that because I danced silly, right?"
Twilight's parents both took sips of their tea and chuckled at their daughter's remark. In their minds, they both knew that Twilight had done something in their eyes that she had never done before.
"Think of it this way, Twilight," said Night Light. "Your mother and I had wanted to see you away from all those books you engulfed yourself into throughout your foalhood. Seeing you act like this was a sign that you are growing up in a social young mare."
"What your father is trying to say, Twilight," said Octavia's father. "Is that you are an inspiration to us all. We've tried to convince our daughter to be herself, but she would not listen."
"Not listen?" remarked Rarity, taking a sip of her tea. "She's been working very hard for her upcoming recital in a few days. She claims that you will be embarrassed if you see her perform in an uncouth manner."
This caused the entire room to fall silent. Both of Octavia's parents looked at each other with worried glances, before turning back to Rarity and Twilight.
"We would never consider ourselves embarrassed," remarked Octavia's mother, rising to her feet. "Our daughter is free to do whatever she wants. Although I will admit, that she chose her music over friendship and I think she hides her feelings in her music."
Shocked at what they had heard, both Twilight and Rarity left the mansion that afternoon with the thought that Octavia was not acting out because of nerves, but of trying to hide from friendship in her music.
"Hides her feelings in her music?" said Rarity, as she and Twilight rode back to Ponyville. "What exactly do they mean by that?"
"I don't know," sighed Twilight. "But I think that Octavia is doing what I almost did before I became Princess Celestia's student. We've got to prove to her that her parents are not like what she claims them out to be."
"How do you propose we do that?" asked Rarity. "Let her parents visit her new home that she shares with a pony that wears headphones 99.9% of the time?"
Twilight couldn't answer that question right away, but instead had the idea of bringing her parents to visit Octavia and Vinyl Scratch in Ponyville. It was going to be an interesting reunion and a tense one on Octavia's side at best, but it was something that needed to be done.