//------------------------------// // Family Ties // Story: A Scratch On Shining Armor // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// “I'll never stop dreaming that one day we can be a real family, together, all of us laughing and talking, loving and understanding, not looking at the past but only to the future.” - LaToya Jackson         Vinyl stood by her Royal Guard chaperone as Princess Cadance was escorted away by a detachment of guards. Shortly after the trio had left the house to go to Vinyl’s uncle’s store Cadance had been told she was needed in the Palace to deal with Knock Out’s accident. So once again, it was just Vinyl and Twinkle on their own. “Why is she needed? Isn’t this more Princess Celestia’s stuff to deal with?” Truth be told, Vinyl didn’t even think Cadance had any royal duties. The alicorn just seemed to be a figurehead for the common ponies. “Well Scratch, if you start walking to your Uncle’s shop I’ll enlighten you on the inner workings of the Canterlot government.” Oh boy, Vinyl couldn’t wait for that. It might keep his mind off of any questions he was going to ask her Uncle. So she started walking a familiar path towards the record shop. “You see, Princess Celestia holds court every day and is too busy dealing with various issues around Equestria to do everything around the castle.So it’s the job of the...uh…’lower’ Princess..” Vinyl smirked as she heard the twinge of guilt in Twinkle’s voice over calling his marefriend ‘lower’. “As the not-the-main Princess, Cadance has to preside over the House of Nobles and regulate their sessions and count votes. Right now I’m guessing they’re calling an emergency session to vote on an interim Captain until Knock Out either gets better or….” “So what you’re saying is she has the privilege of dealing with a bunch of stuck up elites in a hot stuffy room?  Lucky her.” Vinyl had only encountered any nobles in passing, and them calling her some very big rude words. “It’s an important job, Scratch. Somepony has to do it.” Vinyl glanced back and saw Twinkle give a little wave to a group of mares who passed him, making the mares talk quietly amongst themselves while giving waves and smiles back. “Kind of like this job.” “What? Being a guard or blowing kisses to the local flavor?” That brought a red tinge to Twinkle’s face. Oh how Vinyl loved giving him a hard time, it almost made up for all of the stuff he pulled in the past week. “I’m just doing my duty, keeping the ponies of Canterlot content.” She could feel the smugness radiating off of the stallion. It didn’t make her as mad as it should, instead it made her feel a bit more respect towards Twinkle. It was like he was showing a bit more of his equinity in public. “Whatever you say, loverboy.” Vinyl took a final left and stood in front of a flight of stairs that went down to a door just below street level. A faded sign sat crooked above the doorway. The once vibrant red lettering read ‘LP’s Records’. The sign gave Vinyl’s heart a slight ache, and allowed a sad smile to slip its way across her face.She had spent a lot of her foalhood after school in this shop, listening to new bands. Her father and uncle would bicker about something meaningless. The small building radiated memories. The unicorn let loose a sigh as she descended the set of steps and gently opened the door. Immediately the acrid smell of cigar smoke hit her face. She could’ve sworn her uncle had quit smoking years ago. Other than the horrid smell, everything remained the same. Displays of records, old and new, were aligned neatly in rows throughout the shop. Vinyl wanted to run to the new release rack and check out all of the latest albums, but she held back that urge for now. “Uncle B, you here?” She called out to the seemingly dead shop. There was a rustling of papers and the creak of an old chair as a short chubby stallion plodded into the room. He was exactly as Vinyl remembered, balding, short, and surly looking. His once white coat had been tinged yellow from decades of smoking in small rooms. A thinning blue mane topped his head and thick eyebrows topped angry eyes. “Oh look who finally decided to visit.” The stallion started off, his voice thick with malice. “Ya never write, ya never visit, and now the first time I see ya in months and yer bein escorted by a guard. Some hello ya got for me, Scratchy.” Surly was the right way to describe her Uncle B. He was old, grumpy, and had something to say about everything. “You wanna give me time to explain or are you just going to start yelling at me?” Vinyl advanced on her uncle. “I didn’t have to visit you know?” “Glory already filled me in on your current situation, Scratchy.” Vinyl felt her anger rising from her chest to her face. How could Glory go around telling ponies Vinyl’s business? That wasn’t her place. “Hey, quit gettin’ mad. I asked her how ya were doing. It’s the only way I can get any information on how yer doin.” “You could come and see me, maybe? Vinyl fired back. “Why? So I can get the door shut in my face? Nah, I ain’t doin that.” Vinyl could only grumble in response to that. She had indeed done that to him previously. Multiple times. “Now what’s you little escort’s name? Shine somethin’. Shine Spark?” The shorter stallion walked towards the Royal Guard, examining him.  “Or was it Twinkle? I forget.” Vinyl saw Shining roll his eyes ever so slightly at that. “Shining Armor, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr….?” Shining held out a hoof, which Uncle B took and shook vigorously. “Bargain. Hard Bargain. But you can call me B, or just Bargain. Trust me, things get awkward when another stallion calls you Hard.” Even Twinkle couldn’t hold back a laugh at that, albeit he immediately tried to cover it up by coughing for the sake of professionalism. “Nice ta meet ya, Shinin’. I hope Scratchy ain’t giving you more than you can handle.” “Nothing I can’t take care of, Bargain.” The self-righteous smile and posture correction that came whenever Twinkle said something really sort of irked her. “But I would like to speak to you in private, if you don’t mind. I have a few questions I need to ask.” Well that didn’t spell anything good for Vinyl, but she pretty much saw that one coming when she revealed she had an Uncle. “Yeah, sure. We can talk back in my office if Scratchy don’t mind watchin the store while we talk.” Both of the stallions turned to her expectantly. “Yeah, I’ll keep myself busy out here. You two go gossip about me.” Vinyl trotted up to one of the racks with new albums to see if there was anything new to occupy her time while she waited. ----         Shining followed the portly stallion behind the counter and down a dimly lit hallway into an office crammed with a large wooden desk. Bargain sat behind the desk and Shining took a seat opposite him.         Shining’s eyes drifted around the room, taking in all of the photographs on the wall. They were mainly of the same two foals growing up over several pictures, two colts. Along with a few of Vinyl and Glory. There was one that was bigger than the rest, though. It was a picture of Bargain and LP both standing at the counter out front. Shining could barely make out the plaque beneath it that said ‘Grand Opening’.         “Sorry about the clutter. Not many ponies come back here anymore.” Bargain took a cigar out of a drawer and put it in his mouth. “You mind if I light up?”         “Please, do as you want. It’s your shop.” As soon as Shining answered, the older unicorn lifted a lighter with his magic and sparked it to life. The flame touched the tip of the cigar, which started to smoke as a few puffs coaxed it to catch.         “So how long ya been hangin’ around Scratchy?” Bargain was kind enough to blow his smoke away from Shining’s face in between words.         “I think today makes a week, actually.” Shining mentally tallied up the days and events in his head and decided that was right. “Yeah, one week.” He reaffirmed.         “She drivin’ ya crazy yet?” The words were accompanied by a slight shift in demeanor. The elder stallion seemed to droop a little in his chair, and an intense look of sadness crept into his magenta eyes.         “Nothing I can’t handle, sir.” Shining replied.         “Quit feedin me the manual, kid. I’ve been around long enough to know when I’m bein’ told what I wanna hear.” The stallion leaned forward. “So tell me the truth. She drivin’ ya crazy yet?” Bargain took the cigar out of his mouth and tapped the excess ash into the tray on the desk.         “Well…” Shining sighed. He had wanted to keep his professionalism during this talk. He wanted to be civil and discuss plans on how to better Vinyl’s life. But it looked like he was going to be forced into speaking his mind. “A little. Every time I try to help it seems like a part of her hardens or closes. Every new door I open also builds a new wall, you know? First with Glory, then with Intrepid, and then with her parents the other day. I just don’t see anything working.”         “She’s got one thick skull, bub.” Bargain commented, nodding his head a little in affirmation. “But ya can’t let up, y’know? Ya gotta keep her on the tips of her hooves. That was my mistake...I gave her space.”         That didn’t make any sense to Shining. He always thought space is what a grieving pony needed. You needed to give them time to cope with the tragedy on their own terms. You couldn’t force them into anything, it was rude and insensitive.         “After her parents passed, what happened exactly?” Shining shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable. “I know what happened to her and Glory, but what about you? What happened between you two?”         “Jeez, kid…” Bargain took another drag of his cigar. “Ya go straight for the jugular, huh? No beatin’ around the bush with you.” The stallion leaned back in his chair, which creaked loudly in response. “After LP and Whammy passed, well I was left with Glory and Scratchy. I was their Godfather, and Scratchy was still a minor. Glory went off and disappeared for a few months, breakin’ my heart more than those two already had. Scratchy, though...she didn’t hold up too well. Didn’t talk much for a while.”         Shining let a small smirk slip through. He immediately regretted the act, but it seemed Bargain didn’t mind.         “Nice thought, right? Nowadays tha only thing comin outta her mouth is sarcasm.” Bargain chuckled and stroked his chin with his hoof. “Either that or a string of curse words of course.” Both stallions shared a chuckle at the thought. “Anywho, where was I? Right, she went into a bit of seclusion. I had to make her eat her meals and everythin’. Basically had to force her to even survive. Can’t blame her though, after they died I wasn’t fairin’ any better, but I had to be there for Scratchy…”         Shining was a pony who could appreciate commitment to family. To him it seemed like Vinyl was surrounded by ponies who wanted to help her, who wanted to be strong for her. She just didn’t want it, though. Vinyl didn’t want anypony else’s strength, she wanted to persist through her own.         “Next time she did talk was when she stumbled in tha house hammered outta her mind. It was her first time drinkin’ too, ya could tell.” Bargain rubbed one of his eyes with his hoof. “We got in a bit of an altercation and she decked me pretty good, I pinned her to the ground until she stopped squirmin. She just started cryin’....” A far off look came to Bargain’s eye, like he was focused on some far off event. “Screamin’ about how ‘it wasn’t fair’ and how she ‘just wanted to go back and fix it.’ Celestia, she was so beat up, y’know? About everything.Pretty quick after that she became real cold and distant with me, talkin’ with me but not really sayin’ nothin’.”         “So what you’re saying is she turned into Vinyl?” Shining wasn’t trying to make a joke and he sincerely hoped it didn’t come across as one. He was making an observation based on his time with the mare.         “She’s a good kid, alright? One of the brightest fillies ya ever did see, at least when she was little.” Again, the cigar was made shorter as the ash was deposited into the tray. “That’s still down there somewhere. The filly who played guitar with her mom and helped me and Lp in the shop, that’s still in there.” Shining hoped that Bargain wasn’t trying to be convincing, because the stallion was not doing a good job.         “Then help me find that.” Shining put his own confidence forward. “I was given this assignment and at first, I hated it. I didn’t want to help her. But after what I saw the other night...well, I believe we can help her. I saw a pony who was so full of regrets and sorrow, a pony who was so broken by tragedy that she didn’t want to fight for her own life. That’s not something anypony deserves.” Shining put his hoof on the desk. “Together. Me, you, and Glory can help Vinyl get her life back. But we do need to do it together.”         The other stallion nodded, a look of renewed determination in his eyes. ----         Vinyl was still busy sorting through records. So far she had found two new records to listen to; Entrap the Pachyderm and Anxiety! At the Rave both released new albums, seemingly when she wasn’t paying attention, and she needed to listen to them.         Other than that, nothing of consequence or interest had transpired while she was on her own. She had mainly been sifting through records and a few boxes behind the counter. The boxes, well she needed to ask Uncle B about that.         “Scratchy.” Speak of the devil and he shall appear, thought Vinyl. “We need ta talk to ya.” Well this didn’t spell anything good for her. It never did when Twinkle talked to her relatives.         “Fire away, I’m all ears.” She turned towards her uncle and the guard. Her uncle had a cigar firmly in his lips, and Twinkle. Well he was Twinkle and she was convinced nothing ever changed with him.         “Yer workin tomorrow. Nine AM sharp. If ya don’t show up on time, yer not gettin’ paid anymore.” Vinyl felt her eyes widen in disbelief and her jaw drop in shock. It wasn’t like Uncle B to be so...blunt towards her. Usually he was sarcastic, but lovable. “Yer buddy here isn’t gonna make sure ya show up either, that’s up to you, missy.”         “What did he tell you?” Vinyl jabbed a hoof at Shining Armor. “Did he tell you I did something wrong?” Vinyl couldn’t believe the change in attitude that Uncle B had went through. This had to be Twinkle’s fault.         “I already know yer in trouble, Scrathy. Else ya wouldn’t have a guard escortin’ ya around.” The older stallion took the now spent cigar from his mouth and put it out in a nearby ashtray. “The most he did was convince me ta actually help ya, and that means some tough love, Scratchy. So nine sharp, got it?”         Before Vinyl could fire off a snarky witticism or rude remark, she was interrupted by the bell over the door ringing. Everypony turned to look at the guest, only to see a royal guard, seemingly out of breath rush through the door.         “Shining Armor!” The guard said between heavy breaths. That metal armor was probably not very conducive to a lot of physical activity, she concluded.         “Yes, what is it?” Twinkle strode over to the guard. “Did something happen with Captain Knock Out?” Right, Vinyl had forgotten about that whole thing. If he died would that interrupt any of the guards’ duties?         “No.” The other guard panted out. “The interim Captain, she wants to speak with you. She says it’s urgent.” Interim Captain? Cadance had left to go deal with that like an hour and a half ago, Vinyl didn’t believe the Nobles had already decided on one.         “Who is the interim Captain?” Twinkle queried.         “Galea, Shining Armor. It’s Assistant Captain Galea. She’s taken over for now, and she really needs to talk to you.” Twinkle looked back at Vinyl, for reassurance or just because he could Vinyl didn’t know. “I was told to tell you to leave your charge and not bring her.” Well that complicated things a bit.         “Very well. Thank you very much, guardspony. I’ll get going right away.” He turned to Vinyl and fired up his horn, the pink glow illuminating the small shop. “Vinyl I’m leaving you here for now.” His stare turned into a stone cold glare. “If you’re not here when I get back we’re going to have a problem, got it?” All Vinyl could do was nod, and then Twinkle was gone. ----         Shining trotted briskly through the halls of the castle. He couldn’t run in here without fear of getting disciplined, but he needed to hurry. Whatever Galea wanted, it couldn’t be good. He and that pony never got along, and he feared they never would. So either she wanted to punish him for simply not being liked by her, or there was some genuinely pressing matter.         It took him a few anxiety riddled minutes of trotting through the castle, but he eventually made it to the Captain’s office. Already the name on the door had already been changed to read ‘Interim Captain Galea’. Shining Armor did not like how quickly this mare worked. It made him feel very uneasy.         The stallion knocked on the door, a pit forming in his stomach.         “Come in, Guard Armor.” The cold, calculating voice came from the other side of the door. Shining steeled himself and opened the door. As he came face to face with the mare, he struck a crisp salute.         “Interim Captain Galea.” He addressed her formally, his voice like a rock. It betrayed his true feelings, but for the first time in a long time, that was a good thing.         “At ease, Armor.” Shining dropped the salute, but stayed standing tall and proud. “I suppose you are wondering why you are here.” Shining was going to say something, but he was too busy studying the mare. It was still Galea, the same baby blue mare with stunningly cold gray eyes. Except now she was in her dress Blacks, and her beige mane was in a bun atop her head.         “I-” He started to say.         “The simple answer is you’re being reassigned.” Shining felt his stomach fall. He wanted to be incredulous, but he simply couldn’t at the moment. Not around Galea. “We feel as though the rehabilitation program is such a rare occurrence that it doesn’t deserve Royal Guard oversight. So this evening you are to report to the Main Gate and stay guard until dawn. Tonight and every night until reassigned, are we clear?”         Shining Armor didn’t know if he could fight this. He was going to lose all of this progress with Vinyl. He was going to be just another pony who abandoned her. It took him a minute to pinpoint the exact feeling, but he found it eventually. It was a sense of caring for the unicorn.         He cared for Vinyl Scratch.