It was a quiet afternoon in Ponyville.
Octavia was comfortable in a cozy little room off the side of their cottage kitchen with walls of glass where the sun could come through. Octavia called it the cottage's solarium. But her roommate-with-benefits, Vinyl Scratch, called it “that little room with walls of glass where the sun comes through.” But Octavia didn't sigh or roll her eyes at the half-recalled memory of the differences between Vinyl and herself. Octavia was too busy enjoying her quiet afternoon.
She sipped at her tea and turned to the next page of the latest issue of the New Manehattanite. She chuckled sensibly at one of their famous single-panel cartoons and snuggled more deeply into the thick cushions of the solarium's lounger.
Then she stopped and perked her ears up, listening. Silence. She listened more closely. She was utterly motionless for nearly half a moment. But there was nothing to be heard. Alone. All quiet. All peaceful. Vinyl was out and wouldn't be back for hours.
Octavia relaxed completely. Little muscles all over her body, usually bunched up in various kinds of tension, released. Stress flowed out of her and she loosened her little pink bow tie. So rare are genuinely quiet moments like these, one must enjoy them when one is able, thought Octavia.
She sipped at her blueberry tea again. Yes, everything was perfect. She looked down at her tea. Well, nearly perfect.
Octavia had intended to indulge this afternoon in a rather common drink, some sweet blueberry tea- extra-sweet- but they had been out of her imported Griffish honey. She'd had to take it without. But sweet blueberry tea without the heavy spoonful of honey stirred in just wasn't the same.
Octavia nodded to herself. That's what was missing in this afternoon. Something sweet. That was what she craved. She put her magazine on her lap as she ran through a mental inventory of the house. Any bits of candy upstairs? No. In the key bowl by the door? No. Downstairs, in the living room? No. The kitchen? Anything sweet there?
Well... there was the pudding.
Octavia considered. There was nothing else sweet in the house. Just the pudding. But not just any pudding, the last vanilla pudding in the package. The last of her roommate's precious snack. Vinyl Scratch loved her vanilla pudding, though Octavia couldn't imagine why when chocolate was so far superior. Yes, Vinyl loved her pudding, and if Octavia were to eat the last of that pudding, Vinyl would surely be peeved.
But perhaps Vinyl was not keeping track of the house's pudding? If Octavia ate it and hid the remains, perhaps Vinyl might assume she herself had eaten it and would not feel bad. But even if Vinyl did realize it was Octavia who had taken and eaten it, didn't Vinyl deserve it? After all the various hardship Vinyl and her ridiculous antics had caused? Octavia licked her lips. Perhaps revenge would be sweet.
She half got up from the lounger before she thought twice. No, how could she do this? To her beloved Vinyl? The mare to whom Octavia owed so much, the one who had taken her out of her stuffy old life and taught her to laugh and not care quite so much about things. But was this one of those instances? Was Octavia caring too much about a decision to eat pudding or to not?
What would Vinyl do? A mental image of Vinyl appeared and the Vinyl vigorously shook her head. Naw, filly! Not in this case! This is vanilla pudding we're talkin' about after all here! Pudding's serious business!
Octavia shook her head and dispelled the image. Alright, Vinyl wouldn't want her to eat the pudding. Fine.
Yet Octavia's gaze strayed to the refrigerator which held the pudding. She narrowed her eyes and hardened her heart. Despite how it might make Vinyl feel, Octavia wanted the pudding. Perhaps it would hurt Vinyl's feelings a little bit if Octavia were to eat the last pudding. Perhaps it would be the wrong thing to do. But it was just pudding, after all. It might be the wrong thing to do, but it was only a little bit wrong. Eating Vinyl's last pudding... what's the worst that could happen?
Octavia carefully folded the magazine she had been reading and laid it on the lounger. She finished off the last of her (non-extra-sweet) blueberry tea. She left the solarium and went into the kitchen. She placed her tea cup on the kitchen counter, next to unwashed dishes and other bowls Vinyl had left out for Octavia to clean up. One of the counter's chairs was out of place. She carefully slid it back into position and made it even with the others. Then she crossed to the refrigerator.
Octavia opened the door and looked inside. Alone on one of the shelves was a vanilla pudding cup, the last in a set of plastic rings designed to hold six. She reached for it.
All at once, there was a tremendous clap like thunder inside the kitchen which sent every mug, dish, and bowl in the place rattling and a blinding flash like lightning seared Octavia's eyes. She screamed and fell to the floor, struck nearly senseless.
Strange sounds filled her ears. It almost sounded like ponies shouting and fighting and magical laser blasts and explosions! Then there was a crashing thump of a set of hooves hitting the floor. With a whoosh, the strange sounds of ponies and fighting disappeared.
Octavia struggled to her hooves and rubbed at her eyes.
Vinyl Scratch was standing in the kitchen, and she was wearing a black military vest, a set of purple-lensed night-vision goggles pushed up on her forehead, and had what looked like a fake scar over her right eye. Her mane was filthy and smelled like smoke.
Vinyl leapt forward, a hoof outstretched, and cried out, “Octavia! No! Stop! Don't eat the pudding!”
“Stop what,” snapped Octavia. “I didn't do anything yet!” She growled. “Did you just set off a firework inside the house?! Were you waiting, watching me?”
Vinyl, in the military vest, stepped forward and gave Octavia an urgent look. “Thank Celestia the spell worked but, Octavia, it's very important that you listen to what I have to say!”
Octavia looked Vinyl up and down. “Why are you dressed in that ridiculous costume?”
“Octavia, please! Listen! You might not believe me, but you've got to! Please, sit down.”
She frowned. “No! I won't.”
“Alright, don't sit down! But listen anyway. What I am about to tell you is of enamant importance.”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Do you mean 'eminent?'”
Vinyl waved it away. “Yes, that's what I said. But never mind that! Octavia, listen closely: I am a time-traveler!
Octavia gave her a look. “Really.”
“Yes! I've come from a dark, apocalyptic future in order to give you, and only you, a warning!”
Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Alright, what is it?”
Vinyl lunged forward and grabbed Octavia by the shoulders. “Don't eat the last pudding cup.”
“...What?”
“Seriously, Octy! Don't eat the last pudding cup! I mean that, it's literally the last pudding cup! When Nightmare Moon takes control of Canterlot in a few hours and imprisons Princess Celestia in the moon, the first thing she does is shut down all pudding production!”
Octavia slapped Vinyl's hooves away. “That doesn't make sense for several reasons. First of all-”
“It makes perfect sense! How else will you bring a nation to its knees and break the will of its ponies? Pudding! Without pudding, how can a pony even call themselves a pony? We'd be nothing more than brute beasts!” Vinyl carefully opened the refrigerator and retrieved the last pudding cup. She held it aloft in reverence.
Octavia threw up her hooves “Vinyl, this is completely unnecessary! I apologize. Alright? I won't eat your last pudding cup. You don't have to put on a ridiculous costume and big act.”
“You think it's an act? This is no game! This is pudding we're talking about! Pudding is serious business!”
“Vinyl, your lies aren't even realistic. Nightmare Moon has already been-”
Vinyl raised a hoof. “Shh!” She cocked her head, listened, and then gasped. “My time-traveler-sense is tingling! Octavia, get down!”
Vinyl gave Octavia a sharp shove and Octavia went down onto the floor with an undignified squawk.
There was a clap of thunder and a brilliant flash of light and the kitchen was filled with the cries of jungle animals, the noise of fighting ponies, and the swish of thrown spears and flying arrows.
There was a shout and a the thumping sound of a body hitting the floor and a crashing noise. The sounds of battle disappeared with a whoosh and Octavia sat up, rubbing her eyes.
Vinyl was laying on the kitchen floor and had fallen into the chairs at the kitchen table, knocking them over in all direction. Vinyl struggled to her hooves and Octavia's brows went up.
Vinyl was daubed in a combination of mud and green paint and was wearing a set of large jungle leaves tied around her body with vines. Her mane was filthy and she had a scar over her left eye. She looked about wildly as if she were unsure of where she was. Then she saw Octavia and heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia! The spell worked!"
Octavia rolled her eyes. "Vinyl, if you think-"
But Vinyl rushed over and embraced her, slopping mud all over her. Octavia tried to struggle out of Vinyl's grasp but she was too strong and Octavia gave up.
"I missed you so much, Octavia," whispered Vinyl.
"From five seconds ago?" whispered back Octavia.
Vinyl released Octavia and wiped away tears. "Octavia. I've got something very important to-" She saw the pudding cup, which had fallen to the floor. Vinyl dove for it like it was a dropped foal and scooped it up and cradled it to her chest. "...Pudding!" She was nearly weeping.
Octavia put a hoof to her forehead.
Vinyl stood up, pudding held close to her heart. "Octavia." Vinyl's voice was heavy. "I've got something to tell you and it's very important that you listen to what I have to say."
"Vinyl, this isn't funny. First one costume then a second one-"
Vinyl held out a forestalling hoof. "I understand this may be difficult to believe but you've got to listen. Would you like to sit down?"
Octavia fumed. "No! No, I wouldn't!"
Vinyl shrugged. "Alright, don't sit down. But listen anyway. What I'm about to tell you is of enamant-"
"Eminent!" Octavia ground her teeth.
"Right, that's what I said. But anyway... I am a time-traveler!”
"You. Don't. Say."
"Yes! I come from a dark, apocalyptic future to give you, and only you, a warning!"
"Do not tell me it is about pudding."
"Of course it's about pudding! It's all about pudding!" Vinyl held aloft the pudding cup. "This is the last pudding cup. Literally! When Queen Chrysalis stages her coup of Canterlot during Cadance's wedding a few hours from now, the first thing her changeling hordes do is shut down all pudding production!"
Octavia just stared at her.
"Don't believe me? Think about it! How else will you bring a nation to its knees and break the will of its ponies?"
"Pudding?"
Vinyl nodded vigorously. "Pudding! Without pudding, how can a pony even call themselves a pony? We'd be nothing more than brute beasts!"
Octavia closed her eyes, held her breath, and counted to ten. Then she breathed out all her stress and opened her eyes. Vinyl was still standing in their kitchen, tracking mud everywhere, dressed in a ridiculous leaf-suit.
"Vinyl, I'm very sorry I was about to eat your treat. I truly am. Will it make you feel better if I promise to be sure to keep extra pudding in the house from now on? Every time I'm at market-"
Vinyl stamped her hoof. "Octavia, you just don't get it! This is no game! This is pudding we're talking about! Pudding is serious business!"
Octavia's calm rolled out like a tide and her anger appeared like a tsunami. "Vincenza Scratch, if you think-"
Vinyl's ears perked up and she gasped. "My time-traveler-sense is tingling! Octavia, get down!"
Octavia took a half-step back, "Vinyl, don't you dareaaargh!" Vinyl gave her a sharp shove and Octavia fell to the floor.
There was a flash of light and the sounds of powered exoskeletons whirring and clanking and the sound of hoof-to-hoof combat. For a moment, Octavia could have sworn she heard Princess Celestia's voice shouting "Equestria victrix!" Then there was a thump and a heavy clatter. There was a whoosh and the sounds of battle disappeared.
Octavia groaned. She struggled to her hooves. Vinyl was laying against the kitchen counter, twitching. Octavia approached.
Vinyl was wearing futuristic robot-armor. She had a shiny metal helmet on with a red LED display which kept scanning back and forth. Octavia couldn't imagine what its purpose could be but it looked kind of silly.
Vinyl groaned piteously. She pulled off her helmet and opened her eyes. Octavia gave a start and took a step back. Vinyl was wearing what appeared to be designer contacts which glowed red, almost as though her eyes had been replaced with cybernetic implants! When she blinked, it was like the taillights of the carriage in front of you hitting its brakes at night.
"Thank Celestia! The spell worked!" Vinyl's voice sounded a little bit metallic and she grabbed Octavia in an embrace. Octavia's eyes bugged out slightly: Vinyl was squeezing her with everything she had! It was almost like her arms were made of steel!
"Urghack!" replied Octavia.
Vinyl released her and Octavia was able to breathe again.
"It's so good to see you, Octavia!"
Octavia rubbed her slightly-crushed windpipe. "Vinyl, this is getting absurd. And why does your voice sound like you are constantly talking through auto-tune?"
Vinyl shook her head sadly. Her blue mane swayed as if they were fine metal filaments and not individual organic hairs. "I'm afraid it's far worse than merely absurd. And it would take too long to explain." She looked at Octavia. "I have something to tell you and it's very important that you listen to what I have to say."
Octavia screamed and mashed her hooves against the side of her head. "Not this again!"
"Octavia, please! Listen! You might not believe me but you've got to! Would you like to s-"
"I will not sit down!"
"Alright, don't sit down. But listen anyway, what I'm about to tell you is-"
"Eminent! The word is eminent!"
Vinyl raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely, then she shrugged.
“UPDATING VOCABULARY LIBRARY, PLEASE WAIT. UPDATE COMPLETE. HAVE A NICE DAY."
Octavia's eyes grew as big as dinner plates and she looked around the room. "W-where did that voice come from? Your mouth didn't move!"
Vinyl shook her head. "That's not important! What is important is that I am a time-traveler!"
Octavia slumped to the floor and covered her face with her hooves. "Goddess, I hate time travel."
"Yes, I've come from a dark, apocalyptic future in order to give you, and only you, a warning."
Octavia said nothing.
Vinyl sighed. "Pudding."
Octavia winced from the sound of the word like it was the lash of a whip.
Vinyl looked around the kitchen, blinking her glowing eyes. "Where is it? Where is the last pudding cup?" She glanced at Octavia. "I mean it, it is literally the last pudding cup! We've got to find it before it's too late! In a few hours, Flim and Flam are going to activate the sentient nanites they've been injecting into Equestria's water supply! In the earliest moments of the bloody war between pony and machine, the first thing the robots do is shut down all pudding production!"
Octavia uncovered her face and her eyes were wide with madness. "I... I think you're right! You've been right the whole time! It does make perfect sense! I mean, how else will you bring a nation to its knees! Without pudding, how can a pony even call themselves a pony! We'd be nothing but brute-"
"No, actually it's because the United Pudding Corp's factory is located over EQURAD, the Equestrian Aethereal Defense Command bunker. When the machines breach its magical perimeter, they take control of all of Equestria's arcane defenses and-"
“Destroy the factory?”
“Oh no, they just shut it down temporarily. We start it up again later.”
Octavia looked up in confusion. "So... why do you want the last pudding cup?"
Vinyl licked her lips. "Because it's sooo goood!" She started drooling. It smelled suspiciously like the inside of a brand-new electronic device. Then she snapped to. "But don't get me wrong! It's no game! Pudding is-
"-serious business, yes, I get it!" Octavia climbed to her feet and threw up her hooves in frustrtion. She looked at Vinyl, then around the kitchen, expectantly.
The glowing-eyed Vinyl looked at her. "What is it?"
Octavia turned in a circle, looking all around. "I don't know. This is the moment when something is supposed to-"
"Die, robot!" Vinyl Scratch, wearing a military vest and a scar over her right eye, exploded out of the pantry, wielding a heavy metal can in each hoof. She leapt into the air and brought down both cans hard onto the glowing-eyed Vinyl's head. There was a crash and a voluminous splash of red liquid in every direction.
Octavia clapped her hooves to her cheeks. "Oh my goddess! You exploded her head!!"
The glowing-eyed Vinyl tottered then slumped to the floor. Her eyes went dark with a low bwoooo sound.
Vinyl in the military vest was breathing hard. Then she dropped the crumpled cans onto the ground and turned her back on her fallen opponent. She crossed to Octavia, took her in a tender embrace, and gently smoothed her long, dark hair. "Shhh, shh. It's alright now, baby. The bad robots are all dead."
Octavia pointed and screamed, "behind you!"
Vinyl in the military vest whirled. The glowing-eyed Vinyl was standing right behind her! Vinyl in the vest shrieked and cowered.
Glowing-eyed Vinyl looked down. "Actually, I'm a cyborg. Robots are different from cyborgs."
Military vest Vinyl peeked up between her hooves. "And... cyborgs are the... good ones?"
Glowing-eyed, cybernetic Vinyl nodded and reached out a hoof. "As long as we are 51% or more original ponyflesh. Any less than that and we get... unreliable."
Military vest Vinyl got to her hooves with cybernetic Vinyl's help then leaned back slightly. "And what's your percentage?"
Cybernetic Vinyl replied, "oh, I'm a solid 53%."
Military vest Vinyl sighed heavily. "Well, that's a relief!"
Cybernetic Vinyl leaned around military vest Vinyl and looked at Octavia. One of cybernetic Vinyl's glowing eyes clicked off, then on again, as if in a wink. Octavia shivered.
Military vest Vinyl looked down at the kitchen floor. “So this isn't blood?"
"My sensors indicate it is tomato soup."
"Your sensors..." Military vest Vinyl's eyes got wide. "You're, like, half metal-"
“Definitely about or less than half metal, yes!"
"-so does that mean you got some subs up in that chassis?!"
Cybernetic Vinyl grinned. "You know it, filly!" Small panels appeared and slid into hidden recesses all across her cybernetic body. Round, black speaker heads appeared all over and began to throb. "Powering up the bass cannons! In five, four, three-"
"Die, changeling!" A Vinyl, dressed in leaves and vines and daubed in paint and mud dropped from her position on the ceiling, where she had been clinging, gecko-like, and took a swing at military vest Vinyl.
"Whoa! I'm not a changeling! I'm just a time-traveler!" She ducked and dodged as leaf-suit Vinyl executed some Capoeira-like dance-fighting moves. Her wild swings smashed dirty plates and open bowls of flour that were sitting on the kitchen table which flew into the air. Military vest Vinyl charged at leaf-outfit Vinyl, each with hoof raised to strike.
Then the entire house was rocked with a single, tremendous WUB as cybernetic Vinyl's omni-directional bass cannons went off. The titanic sound waves were actually visible as they vibrated the flour particles hanging in the air as the waves exploded in a hemispherical shell of sonic energy. Military vest Vinyl and leaf-suit Vinyl were thrown from their hooves, flying in opposite directions.
Every window in the house shattered at once and the plaster ceiling cracked and chunks of drywall fell onto the floor.
All three of the Vinyls slumped to the ground and gave a moan as if they had each experienced a rather intense moment of enjoyment from that single, epic wub. They sighed in contentment.
Then a pile of drywall exploded upwards and Octavia appeared, covered in mud, tomato soup, smashed drywall dust, and flour powder. Her apoplectic lavender eyes were luminescent with fury.
“No! No! No! This is getting stupid! Idiots! Idiots! Goddess, don't you get it? Alright, fine, you're all time-travelers from various dark, apocalyptic futures and you've come to save this one. But you!" Octavia pointed a hoof at each one of them in turn. "You, collectively, are this timeline's dark, apocalyptic future! Don't you see? Three Vinyl Scratchs are enough to end the world!!"
The front door slammed. "Tavi! I'm home!" Vinyl Scratch Prime walked into the kitchen, levitating a plastic bag in front of her. "I went to the store on the way home and I bought some vanilla pudding because I know we only have one cup left and..."
She stopped dead and lowered her sunglasses, looking over them at the filthy, destroyed mud, soup, drywall, and flour-covered wreckage of the kitchen. Part of the ceiling picked that moment to crack and fall to the floor. The entire house shifted on its foundations and groaned ominously. There was a hiss and pop from the kitchen sink and a random nut flew off and a thin jet of water began to spray in a puddle on the floor.
Octavia clapped both forehooves to her face. "...The kitchen sink, too?"
Military vest Vinyl, leaf-suit Vinyl, and cybernetic Vinyl all stepped forward towards Vinyl Scratch Prime and said, as one, "you brought pudding?!"
Vinyl Scratch Prime grinned and held up the bag. "Yeah, dudes! You want some?"
"Hay yeah, filly!" They tore into the bag and each pulled out a delicious vanilla pudding cup. They began eating noisily.
Octavia slumped to the floor, still covering her face. "Four... there are four of them..." She began rocking back and forth.
Then the sound of the four eating stopped. There was the sound of four pudding cups being set down. Then four sets of gentle hooves touched Octavia's rocking form.
"Hey, baby..."
"Sorry about the mess."
"I didn't mean to ruin the house... our house... your... the house."
"We'll totally clean it up! Super-swear!"
Military vest Vinyl sat up and raised a hoof. "I have an idea! We could go back in time to stop ourselves from-"
"No!!" screamed all four others.
She shrunk back. “Fine, OK. Wow.”
Octavia whimpered. Four sets of hooves gently stroked her hair.
After a moment, Octavia spoke. Her voice was soft. “Vinyl...s. I somehow feel that all of this is my fault.”
“No way! It's Nightmare Moon's fault,” said military vest Vinyl.
“No, it's Queen Chrysalis' fault,” said leaf-suit Vinyl.
“No, it's Flim and Flam's fault,” said cybernetic Vinyl.
“I'm listening,” said Vinyl Scratch Prime.
“I... I have a confession to make. I tried to eat the last pudding cup! I tried to eat it, even though I knew you wanted it and eating it would do nothing but upset you and give me only a moment of pleasure.”
Vinyl Scratch Prime was quiet for a moment. “Are you saying you think all of this,” she waved a hoof at the ruined house, “is some cosmic punishment for eating my pudding cup? Wait! Not even eating it, for intending to eat it?”
“...Yes.”
Vinyl blew out a breath and took off her glasses. “Octy. You really got to learn to stop worrying about the little stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, pudding is-”
“Serious business!” cried the other three Vinyls.
“-actually, I was going to say tasty and delicious but not really that important.”
The other three Vinyls looked at each other in shock.
Vinyl Scratch Prime gently lifted Octavia's chin. Octavia looked up at Vinyl with watery eyes.
“Tavi, what's really important is that you knew how I felt about the pudding and that you cared about me.”
Octavia sniffled.
“And sure, maybe you were a little selfish but, darn it, Tavi, I still love you anyway!” Vinyl grabbed up Octavia in a hug and held her tight.
“Awww!” said all the other Vinyls.
Vinyl and Octavia held each other in a warm embrace for a while.
“I kinda want to get in on that,” whispered leaf-suit Vinyl to military vest Vinyl.
“I know what you mean,” she whispered back.
“My calculations indicate there is a 62% chance that doing so would downgrade the current emotional climate to 'awkward.””
“You're saying it would make it weird.”
“Affirmative.”
Vinyl Scratch Prime raised her head. “Guys, we're right here. We can hear you.”
Military vest Vinyl sat up. “Screw it, I'm getting' in on this Tavi action!” She threw herself into the group hug.
Soon they were all in on it, in one big ring of warmth around Octavia. “Th-thank you, all,” she whispered.
They were silent for a long, heartfelt moment.
Cybernetic Vinyl whispered into the ponypile: “I am programmed in multiple techniques. A broad variety of pleasuring: thousands of permutations. More than two dozen of which involve five participants, four acting in concert to service the fifth. ...Just, you know, putting it out there."
Silence. Nopony spoke. Military vest Vinyl whispered, “I don't think there's a bedroom anymore.”
Leaf-suit Vinyl spoke, “yeah, that's a problem.”
Vinyl Scratch Prime said, “guys, hotel?”
“Sounds good.”
“Definitely.”
“Affirmative!”
Octavia wiggled free of their collective grasp. “Wait, don't I get a say in this?”
Vinyl Scratch Prime spread her hooves helplessly. “Two dozen techniques, Octy.”
“More than two dozen,” interjected cybernetic Vinyl.
“Yeah, more than two dozen. Are you actually going to say no to that?”
Octavia put a hoof to her chin, considering. Then her nose wrinkled. She sniffed. “Do... you smell something?”
“Like...?”
Cybernetic Vinyl's eyes flashed like a strobe. “I detect a gas leak! Evacuate! E-vac-u-ate!”
All five of them scrambled to their hooves and piled out of the door. They galloped across the yard and into the green field across the road. They turned back and looked at the house.
Vinyl Scratch Prime gazed at it. “Hmm, I thought we were in trouble for a second there.”
“Affirmative, I calculate we were in significant danger. But now we are at a same distance.”
Military vest Vinyl shrugged, turned away, and said, “well, at least that's over.”
The house exploded in a gigantic orange and yellow fireball, throwing flaming debris across the landscape and sending up a thick column of black smoke.
“Awesome!” cried out Vinyls leaf-suit, cybernetic, and Prime.
Military vest Vinyl whipped around. “Wha- oh, damn it, I missed an sweet explosion, didn't I?
“Totally, dude! Sorry.”
Octavia fell to her knees. “My... home! Destroyed!” She clapped her hooves over her face.
Vinyl Scratch Prime comforted her.
“Aw, all of your stuff was in there,” bemoaned leaf-suit Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch Prime glared at her and military vest Vinyl smacked her in the back of the head. “Ow!”
Octavia moaned. “What am I going to do now?” Tears fell from her eyes.
Cybernetic Vinyl raised a hoof. “I believe I have a solution.”
Octavia gave her a forlorn look with big, wet puppy-dog eyes.
Cybernetic Vinyl turned and a hatch opened up in her side. A gemstone glowed within. “Before I left, I sto- uh, excuse me, I must have a system error. What I mean is I was given a divine seed from the Tree of Harmony.”
“A crystal seed? Like the one the new princess had that grew her a castle?”
“Affirmative.”
Octavia wiped her eyes. “A divine seed? So it's literally a-”
Cybernetic Vinyl clicked one of her glowing machine eyes off and then on.
Vinyl Scratch Prime levitated out the glowing crystal seed and flung it into the wreckage of their old home. There was a rumble from below and a glassy crystal chamber in a lavender lattice erupted out of the earth, followed by a wide body of columns in two tones of blue and more lavender. The crystal tower grew and grew before it came to a halt with a screech.
Vinyl Scratch Prime pointed at the top of the tower. “Hey, Octy! Look! The entire top floor is a room with walls of glass where the sun comes through.”
Cybernetic Vinyl squinted and said, “I calculate the tower is two hoofswidths taller than Twilight's crystal castle.”
Leaf-suit Vinyl winced. “Wow, I sure hope the princess doesn't mind.”
Military vest Vinyl put a hoof to her chin. “I wonder what the taxes are like on this thing. Is the property even zoned for a tower?” The others glared at her.
Vinyl Scratch Prime stepped forward and spread her hooves. “I dub it The Fortress of Wubitude!” She turned and reached down to Octavia. "Unless you have a better idea for a name?”
Octavia allowed herself to be helped to her hooves. “Yes, I might have a better idea.”
Cybernetic Vinyl stuck her head in between the two of them. “I have an even better idea. More than two dozen of them, in fact.”
Vinyl Scratch Prime lead Octavia by the hoof towards their tower-castle. “I feel like I should be carrying you over the threshold or something.”
Octavia blushed. “...You could do that.” She sighed. “Vinyl Scratch, sometimes I don't know if meeting you was the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.”
Vinyl scooped Octavia up in her magic and floated her close for a kiss.
Octavia giggled. “Definitely best.”
The two of them approached the tower. Great doors swung open and the two of them stepped inside. The doors swung closed.
“Hey, what about us?!”
The doors cracked open and Octavia stuck her nose out. “Two dozen, you say?”
“More than two dozen!”
“...Alright, you all can come inside.” She withdrew.
“Woo!” shouted military vest Vinyl as she ran inside
“Alright!” cried leaf-suit Vinyl as she followed.
Cybernetic Vinyl extruded a speaker which began to play a bass line. Bow chicka wow wow...
The three of them entered. Octavia stuck her head out, looked around, then closed the heavy crystal door behind her.