After Cecily had finished giving me a private concert – an event I can still barely believe occurred – we spoke for many hours on the topic of music. We had our moments of heated debate, where I confess I became quite agitated, and worried that my opinions might end our scarcely-begun friendship. We had many more moments where we took solace in finding a kindred spirit. So wrapped up were we our discourse that neither of us noticed time's passage until a knock came at the door. Iqqel let herself in, glancing at both of us, and then smiled.
"My apologies for the interruption. Miss Melody, your train will be leaving in less than an hour; your companion was worried about you. Should I book another trip for you, and make arrangements for you to stay the evening?"
I started at the revelation that so much time had passed. There were so many questions I had yet to ask! I quickly mulled over Iqqel's offer, but I shook my head.
"I'm afraid not. I told the conservatory I would be back with the results of my investigation later today, so they will be waiting on me, and I'd scarcely like to leave Vinyl waiting..."
Iqqel nodded with a smile, and bowed out of the room. When I looked back to Cecily, I could see she looked faintly downcast. It wouldn't do to leave my new friend in such a state, and I took the opportunity to ask something which had been on my mind, given a few odd things she had said.
"Cecily, have you ever been to a musical concert in Equestria?"
"I can't say I've had the pleasure. Back when music was an active pursuit of mine, I was too young to be allowed out of the hive."
That answered a few more questions I'd been meaning to ask. I'd picked up enough about changeling culture to know that this meant she had been an adolescent when she was composing; she must have been quite a prodigy, to produce the music that she did at that age!
"Well... I'd like to invite you to the conservatory in two weeks' time. We'll be having our annual Murals & Melodies event; three hours of music each day. I'd like you to hear how much ponies appreciate your music firsthoof."
I had tactfully left out the visual-arts part of the event.
"I would... definitely like that. Thank you, Octavia."
Her gentle smile told me volumes more than her voice had. It's still hard to believe that Changeling Queen can smile so sincerely.
"My pleasure. Before I go, there was something I'd been meaning to ask..."
Cecily took on a mischievous grin, which was a bit more in-line with what I would have expected before meeting her.
"I'm surprised you went this long without asking. You're wondering about my eyes?"
"Wha—no, no! I was going to ask how you learned musical theory!"
Of course, I had been wondering about her eyes, but I had just spent several hours trying very hard not to ask about that.
"Oh, is that all? Well, if you must know, an old friend of mine, Piro-Ammon, was an infiltrator. When I was a nymph, he used to regale us with stories of his escapades in Equestria; daring escapes, close-calls, intrigue, heroism, those sorts of things."
While the thought of a changeling infiltrator unnerved me, hearing it from her angle brought to mind heart-warming images of foals around a campfire. She pressed on, her voice taking on a nostalgic, peaceful timbre.
"Half of it must have been exaggerated, of course – and the other half made-up! He was a silly one, but... even at that age, I could tell it bothered him, being split between two places like that. He would often speak of the beauty of Equestrian music, when he wasn't spinning tales... so I asked him to show me. He brought back textbooks, instruments, and even an enchanted music-stand, which would grade the accuracy of a performance to the sheet music on it."
"So you're saying that you just... trained yourself, using all of that?"
"Yes. I know that's a bit strange, since in Equestria there are schools, but it was my only available course."
She shrugged helplessly, and smiled meekly. It would have come as more of a shock to me, but I'd come to suspect something of this nature during our talks; there had been odd gaps in her knowledge, or times when she used her own vocabulary to describe well-known concepts. She had been embarrassed by such things, and had conducted herself with a humility that surprised me; even now, she seemed worried what I would think of her! I laughed without meaning to, raising a confused expression from her. I suppressed my giggles a bit, and tried to reassure her.
"I'm sorry, I just imagined the looks on my teachers' faces! To think, one of the biggest names in modern composition had never stepped inside a conservatory in her life – it would drive them mad!"
We shared a good laugh at that. In a way, I felt awkward; I had stopped thinking of her position in modern music as we had continued our discussions, and referencing it again was strange to me. She was no longer a name in a textbook to me, or even the composer of so many brilliant pieces; to me, she had become a friend. The rest of it – her title, her species, her work – all seemed like footnotes, now. As our laughter petered out, and we relaxed, I decided to follow up on what she'd said before.
"Since you brought it up... I have been wondering what happened to you. You weren't blind... before, right?"
It seemed in poor taste to bring up the Canterlot invasion, at this point. Despite the good mood, her grin faltered a bit at my question.
"Yes, this is a recent development. I..."
She faltered, and hesitated. I decided not to pressure her, and we sat in silence for a long time. She simply laid on her couch, forelegs folded under her, and stared at the floor for a time, pondering. Finally, she raised her head back to me – and her eyes again seemed to be aimed right at me, though not quite focused – and she continued.
"It's a long story. I think the easiest way to put it is that the hive has been trapped in a vicious cycle for a very long time. Hatred was passed down from one queen to the next. Breaking a cycle like that often carries a heavy price... and the truth is, I lost my eyes a long time ago – I just didn't realize that until recently."
Her cryptic answer left me uncertain where to push for more answers. I didn't want to pry, as I could tell that this was uncomfortable for her, but I could hardly make heads or tails of what she had said.
"You mean to say that... your mother blinded you? As a nymph?"
Cecily nodded, frowning.
"As her mother did her, and so on. My eyes only continued to function so long as I absorbed the love of my subjects; just as changelings feed on others, the queen fed on her subjects, unwittingly. My subjects could not feed each other with their love, because it was all... taken. By me."
I recoiled in horror. Even as it answered many questions, the entire scenario seemed altogether too ghastly to consider. Cecily must have picked up on my response, as she just nodded sadly and cast her head down. I gingerly leaned forward to speak further.
"So you mean to say that... all of the love of the hive went to you? To give you sight?"
"Not just for that. It empowered me... and the excess went into the hive itself. It formed a unique crystal that we call luminite - it's responsible for much of our hive's technology."
She shook her head, her expression one of disgust. I would probably have shared the sentiment, were I not overwhelmed with pity. When she spoke further, her voice was flat and cold.
"All of that's over, now. No one's ever taking advantage of my subjects like that again."
Instead of being intimidated, I found myself grinning, of all things. Hardly fitting, I know, but hear me out; after speaking with her for so long, one fact about Cecily had deeply impressed itself upon me: she was utterly determined in pursuing her goals, whatever they were. Seeing that same force of personality applied to her role as queen just gave me a greater sense of how her mind tied together. This wasn't a mare of many roles; instead, she was a mare of determination, who had walked down many paths.
Still, something had been bothering me about her explanation. In fact, it had been bothering me since we had first met.
"There's something I'm still unclear on. Though you're blind, you... seem to be able to, er, 'aim' your eyes at me? Even when I walk?"
I cringed at how poorly I'd phrased that, and how embarrassing the whole thing was. Cecily just paused, and then smacked herself in the forehead.
"Right. I should have mentioned; because my eyes were powered by the energy of love, they still react to it. I can't see my environment, or most people, but I can see love itself, of different types. For instance, I see that you're in love with the companion you came here with."
You can probably infer how I reacted. Her matter-of-fact tone hardly made the statement easier to take. Naturally, I reacted in proper ladylike fashion, with such rejoinders as 'What?!', and 'That's not—!', 'We're just—!', all accompanied with a wildly flailing of my forehooves. The entire display – or, I suppose, just the auditory component – seemed to take Cecily off-guard, but she quickly recovered, a blush forming on her face. She waved a hoof at me, and cut off my latest protest.
"Octavia, please! I didn't realize that it was, err... like that. It wasn't my intent to embarrass you."
I buried my face under my forehooves, as I was fairly confident that even a blind pony could see my blush at that point. After a few moments, I remembered my train, and stood up to leave, desperately hoping I could contain my embarrassment before I ran across Vinyl. I moved to the door, and started to blurt out a hasty farewell.
"It was fantastic meeting you, and Ilookforwardtoseeingyouagainsoonbut—"
"Hmm."
Cecily was tapping her chin with her hoof. I knew then that I should make my escape, but she knew how to be just coy enough to keep me curious. She looked over at me, and that mischievous grin returned, more malevolent than ever.
"You know, Octavia, you should really say something to her."
"Mmph!"
I stomped one of my forehooves lightly and gave her my best glare, more playfully than anything. Though she couldn't see it, she chuckled anyway, and then looked back and dropped a bombshell on me.
"After all. It's mutual."
I'm afraid I made a few unladylike noises reminiscent of being strangled as I processed that.