“When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”
― George R.R. Martin
“What are we doing here, Twinkle?” Vinyl just wanted to be home right now.After a day of work, she hated going out and doing things. She just liked to relax, even if her current job wasn’t stressful.
Top it off with the fact they were walking through the Royal Guard campus on castle grounds, and it made for a very anxious time. Every time they came here it only ended poorly for Vinyl, be it running into Parry or having a meeting with Celestia. She hoped this time would be different.
“Okay, I need you to just hear me out.” Shining started, inspiring zero confidence. “Last time I sprung a visit on a family member on you, it ended with you punching Glory.”
“Not my best moment…” Vinyl admitted through slightly clenched teeth.
“I don’t want something like that to happen again, so we’re going to work on getting rid of some of that built up anger. You seem to have a habit of letting it fester, you know.” Vinyl knew that, yeah. She was the one who let it build up, she always thought that the anger and right amount of hate could fuel one’s passion. It could force somepony to do something by lighting a fire in their belly that even they couldn’t put out. It was a motivator.
“Alright. So what’s the rub?” VInyl wasn’t going to tell Twinkle about her philosophy. Celestia knows what that might stir up. For now she was going to go with whatever Twinkle had planned and hope for the best. After all, she trusted him.
“Well,” They approached a door, one that Twinkle pushed opened with his magic. Beyond was a room built entirely out of solid concrete. Vinyl could see scorch marks on the walls and floor, and deep scores along portions of the dull gray edifices. If she had to guess, it almost looked like a dungeon. Not a particularly nice one, either. “I figured we might try my way of catharsis.”
“What, beating up a concrete box?” Vinyl stepped in, apprehensively following the guard. She looked around as she walked, spotting a side room directly beside the door from whence they came. Inside the room she saw weapons of steel and wood lining the walls on racks. ALl of a sudden, a deep pit formed in her stomach. Vinyl wasn’t one for armed violence. She always figured if she couldn’t deal with a problem with her hooves, then the situation wasn’t for her.
“Beating up something, yeah.” Shining turned around, a beaming smile on his face. “Today you’re going to be beating up me!” The enthusiasm in Twinkle’s voice was a little too genuine for Vinyl’s taste. It was like he was going to enjoy it. Was that so bad? Vinyl did have a little thing for masochists…
“So what, you just expect me to bludgeon you with a cudgel until I feel better? I appreciate the thought, but I would hate to ruin such a pretty face.” Vinyl made sure to inject just the right amount of sarcasm into her words so Twinkle wouldn’t take them too seriously, just slightly serious was good enough.
“Don’t worry, we’ll both be wearing armor so we won’t get hurt. It’s all perfectly safe, and nopony’s pretty face is going to get ruined. Not even yours, Scratch.” Vinyl was caught off-guard by the statement, as it almost sounded like flirting on Twinkle’s part. Maybe Vinyl was just projecting, though. There had been at least a hint of sarcasm in there, maybe more.
“Fine. Let’s suit up, then.” Vinyl was going to go along with this for now until she found something objectionable...well, until she got tired of it at least.
----
Thirty minutes! That’s how long it had taken to get them both suited up in their plain silver armor, both of which were battle scarred to a worrying degree. Vinyl had always seen Twinkle put on his own armor in a flash, so this elongated process was a bit of a grueling ordeal.
“This armor is a bit different than standard guard armor. This is full plate, covers almost everything, and is enchanted with a kinetic dampening spell to take most blows.” Vinyl was going to ask what Twinkle meant by ‘most blows’ but decided that she really did not want to know. It would only make her nervous. “Only thing not covered is your stomach and rears of your legs...mainly because if an enemy can hit you there, you’re already doing it wrong.”
“That’s comforting.” Vinyl muttered as she finished tying back her mane in a ponytail, something Shining had insisted so it would be easier to manage in a helmet. Even the stallion himself had his mane held back, not that she could see it anymore. Twinkle had put on his helmet as soon as Vinyl started giving him hell about his ponytail.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow and build from there.” Vinyl could practically hear the warm smile from underneath his helmet. It didn’t infuriate her like it would’ve at one point, in fact is was rather calming.
“Right…” Vinyl said with a heavy breath as she donned her own helm. The first thing she noticed was her own warm breath being splashed back into her face even despite the little vents in front of her mouth. It was uncomfortable and stifling. Not to mention that her vision was extremely limited through the two little eyeholes.
“Take this.” Twinkle held a sword out in his magic, one that Vinyl took in her own hesitantly. She brought it close and studied the steel. It was dull and chipped in places, maybe not good for cutting or real fighting, but for practice it was perfect. “Now hit me.”
“What?” Vinyl shook her head and looked at the armored Twinkle.
“You heard me, hit me.” Shining took his own sword and tapped it against his breastplate. “Take a swing, Scratch.”
Vinyl sucked in a breath and raised the sword above her head. Her heart was pounding with nerves and her knees felt weak. Holding what was considered a deadly weapon and swinging it at somepony she considered a friend was a very different and unwelcome experience. It made a lump rise in her throat, one that she just couldn’t swallow no matter how hard she tried.
“I-I can’t…” Vinyl lowered the sword and her head along with it. “It just doesn’t feel right!” She felt bad for not swinging, ironically. She knew that Shining expected her to do it, but she just couldn’t swing at him.
“It’s alright, I get it-” Oh thank Celestia. He was just as understanding as always. “-you’re a coward.” Wait, what? “I thought maybe you would have the stones to actually try something new and have a little fun, but I guess not.”
Vinyl’s quick temper took hold faster than she would like to admit, and in a fit of blind rage, she raised the sword and swung it at the stallion. Nopony called her a coward! She would show him just how much of a coward she wasn’t!
Her first swing was deflected easily by Shining’s own sword. She raised the sword again and brought it down, only for it to be caught by the flat of Twinkle’s blade and pushed aside. She decided this time to go with a jab instead of a swing, which was again deflected easily by Twinkle. As she was recovering, Shining lashed out and hit Vinyl’s helmet with the flat of his blade.
The hit rattled Vinyl, sending her stumbling backwards. The ringing in her ears was slight, surely not as bad as it would have been without the kinetic dampener spell. She put a metal-coated hoof to her head to try and help the staggering pain.
“What the hell, Twinkle? That really hurt!” Vinyl glared at the guard through the holes in her helmet. Twinkle lowered his guard and stepped towards her, holding out a hoof in a helping gesture. In a split-second, Vinyl lashed out with her sword and hit Twinkle across the face like he had done to her. “Ha! You fell for it! Oh my Celestia, I can’t believe you fell for it!” She heard Twinkle let out a little chuckle, surprisingly. Vinyl assumed that he was going to be furious for the cheap shot.
“Got a feel for it now?” Shining twirled the sword in his magical grip and cracked his neck. Vinyl nodded and tried to mimic Shining’s twirl, albeit clumsily. “Good, now let’s get down to business.”
----
Cadance looked down the contrasting hallway she stood in. The white marble walls seemed to stretch for miles above the pitch black floor. It made her feel so small and...almost helpless. Like a little filly below an endless starless night sky.
“Hello?” Cadance looked down the hall towards the voice. At the very end of the corridor she saw a muted gray bat pony trotting towards her, both of it’s wings were outstretched and delicately touching whatever surface they came across.
“Oh, hello. I’m sorry to intrude, but I’m actually looking for somepony.” Cadance smiled her best royal smile and trotted towards the bat pony. It wasn’t often she interacted with the nocturnal denizens of Canterlot, so this was going to be a treat.
“I’m afraid most of our staff and students are attending a….ceremony today so it’s just me here today.” As the batpony got closer, Cadance made out something very interesting about her visage. Her eyes were a glossy gray color and each step was calculated and careful. This batpony was blind. “I can direct you to one of them if you really need them, though.”
“Well…” Cadance wasn’t sure how to broach the subject at hoof, seeing as how it might not even be applicable to the situation. “...I’m looking for Intrepid. I’m afraid I don’t even know if he’s here, I’m just hoping he is.” The hesitation and stature change on behalf of the batpony did not bode well for Cadance. She knew how to read ponies, and this particular one was getting very defensive before even speaking.
“You’re Princess Cadance, aren’t you?” That question was a lot more hostile than Cadance anticipated. It occurred to the Princess that if Intrepid was here, or had been here at some point within the last twenty-four hours he would’ve told somepony about what happened. Now it seemed Cadance was face-to-face with the pony he told.
“Yes, I am.” Cadance responded with a level, and very publically acceptable tone. “Is something the matter?” Better to feign ignorance than admit to her wrongdoing. Hopefully her gambit would pay off and she wouldn’t be dragged into a verbal confrontation with this batpony.
“No…” The batpony seemed to bite back some choice words instead of letting them slip. “You’ll have to forgive me, I can’t exactly see who I’m talking to. I almost didn’t recognize your voice.” Cadance was trained to spot lies, it was something she had learned alongside Celestia for matters of foreign diplomacy. Being able to call a bluff was something you needed to be able to do during tense moments. So now Echo was feigning her own ignorance, but was it to hide information she knew or to mask feelings?
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize.” Cadance strode towards the batpony. “But would you mind pointing me towards Intrepid?” No matter what emotions raged through the batpony, Cadance knew that nopony would ever say no to a Princess. For most, it simply wasn’t in their blood. Cadance hoped that Echo was no different. “I have something very important to discuss with him.”
“He’s in the The Gauntlet.” The batpony said, her voice low. Cadance nodded, momentarily forgetting that the pony she was conversing with was blind. But quite frankly, she needed to speak to Intrepid before doing anything else. Including apologizing to Echo.
Now Cadance had been in the HMEF Headquarters before. Both she and Celestia were invited every year to watch the graduation ceremony, and even sometimes the final tests. So it went without saying that Cadance knew where The Gauntlet was.
The Gauntlet itself was a triumph of architecture and planning. Striding past Echo and into the chamber that held it reminded her why. It was a cylindrical shaft that ran from the very top of the building, all the way into the caves deep beneath Canterlot. Each layer of the massive chute featured different terrain, a different challenge for trainees to take on in their quest to become explorers.
Cadance studied The Gauntlet, looking for the pegasus she needed to converse with. She spotted him at the third layer from the top, just at the beginning of the long and arduous challenge really. The Princess spread her wings and flew up to the layer and studied the stallion.
The slate gray pony was currently hanging from a sheer cliff face that took up all thirty vertical feet that the layer had to offer. He had his one metal hoof wedged in a crack in the rocks, and his others were trying to find purchase where there was none. To Cadance it was obvious that this was quite grueling for Intrepid, either because the stallion was not in the best shape physically or because a cliff face brought up memories that he’d rather not stir up.
So why was he doing all of this? Why was Intrepid subjecting himself to such torture? Well that didn’t matter, she had to apologize and regain his trust. Making sure everything was alright between them was more important than The Gauntlet at the moment, and Intrepid needed to know it.
“Intrepid!” Cadance shouted as she knocked on the glass that encompassed the entirety of the shaft. “I need to talk to you!” She wasn’t sure how thick this glass was, or even what sort of enchantments it had cast upon it, but she hoped he could hear her.
Turns out, he could. The stallion diverted his attention from the face of the cliff and instead to the location where Cadance was standing. That’s all it took to lose the tenuous grasp he had though. In a split second, his faux hoof came loose from the crack he had lodged it in and he started to fall.
Whether or not the chamber was enchanted was answered in a second when instead of plummeting about twenty-five feet to a very gruesome demise, Intrepid was caught in a magical field and slowly lowered to the very bottom of the layer, where a solitary door awaited him. The pegasus, now with a scowl plastered across his face, opened the door and looked up at the Princess.
“What do you want?” Intrepid growled out from behind clenched teeth. Unlike Echo, this hostility came as no surprise to Cadance. She was expecting Intrepid to be upset, but she just had to explain herself and he would calm down. Hopefully he would also see things her way and try to fix things with Vinyl to boot, but that was for later.
“I wanted to apologize, Intrepid.” Cadance lowered her head, but kept her voice strong. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I-I never meant to hurt you and Vinyl, I never meant for you to-” A metal hoof was thrust into her line of sight, she looked up to see a very angry Intrepid glowering at her. This was the most emotion she had seen the stallion express since she had known him, so maybe the whole situation wasn’t as busted as she thought. If anger could thrust him to come back here, maybe it could motivate to do more?
“-To what, find out what you were doing? I’m sure you didn’t, Princess.” Intrepid started to pace slowly, never taking his eyes off of the alicorn. “And-and intent doesn’t matter! I don’t care how much good you meant by it, it was wrong of you to manipulate us like that!” Cadance sincerely hoped she could get Intrepid to see it her way, she just had to relay the same information that Celestia had told her.
“It’s my duty as Princess of Love to bring love to every pony who needs it, Intrepid.” She was not going to stoop to yelling at him, she would deliver a calm dialogue just as she was taught. “I thought you and Vinyl needed my help more than anything, I didn’t think it would ever lead to something like this. I’m truly sorry.”
“You’re sorry you got caught.” The jab really hurt Cadance, and she didn’t know why. She was genuinely sorry for hurting both Intrepid’s and Vinyl’s feelings in the depths of her soul, so why was this jab so hurtful? “That’s what I’m hearing right now. Not ‘I’m sorry I manipulated you’, but ‘I’m sorry I did my job.’ That’s not okay Cadance! I don’t care what your special talent is, you don’t do that to ponies!”
“It’s not like it was mind control or anything, Intrepid. I was just giving you and Vinyl a little...nudge.” Was that the right word? Nudge? It was more of a hefty push, but nudge made it sound far less severe.
“‘It’s not as bad as it could’ve been’ is not a good response!” Intrepid roared back. “How would you feel if someone was using love magic on Shining Armor, huh? How would you feel if he did something because of it and you found out and the pony who did it just responded with ‘well it’s not like I killed him or anything!’”
“Leave Shining out of this, Intrepid.” Cadance put a stern tone behind the words. Shiny was not going to come into the equation, this was between Intrepid, Vinyl and herself.
“Fine, but I still don’t forgive you. Not in the slightest.” There was a pause. “I don’t think I ever can.” The stallion turned his back on the alicorn and studied The Gauntlet. It was minutes before he spoke again, now calmed down a bit. “You made me realize something, Cadance.”
“That you’re capable of doing more than sitting around your house all day? That you can be around ponies and live again?” Cadance had been pushing for that since day one, so maybe an on-the-nose statement might coax out that particular concession. Even if he never forgave her, but instead learned to live again...well maybe that would leave Cadance with a net gain with the whole situation.
“No.” Intrepid stated flatly. “That I’m not meant to be here. I’m not meant to be in Equestria.” The stallion turned back to face Cadance, looking much different than before. His age was showing now; his slumped posture, the bags beneath his eyes, and one wing hanging forlornly at his side, they all made him look so old and tired. “All Canterlot is, it’s just lies and ponies telling you it will all be alright. It’s just so much facade and layers of false hope.” He turned and pointed at the layers of different biomes, of all the challenges a future explorer might face. “That doesn’t lie, it never has. Out there, anything you do, anything you learn can’t be called into question because nature never lies. The terrain isn’t capable of deception, and the skies won’t tell you that it wasn’t you fault. Out there...well out there if you screw up, it’s on you. There’s nopony else to blame, no misunderstandings, and no ponies trying to hurt you. If you get hurt, that’s on you and nopony else. After everything that happened, I forgot that. I forgot that it wasn’t all my fault, I forgot that there wasn’t a single thing I could’ve done alone to prevent whatever happened. Maybe my team could’ve prevented it together, but we didn’t. That’s on us.”
Cadance wasn’t sure what this had to do with anything, it just seemed like a tangent that Intrepid needed to get off of his chest. Maybe now he would be more receptive to her words now that he had gotten that off of his chest.
“I-” She started, but was cut off by Intrepid.
“I think that’s something you could learn, Cadance.” Well that was a little insulting. Cadance had the best schooling and tutors that money could buy once she ascended. She had learned from Princess Celestia herself and did not consider herself a dumb pony. “It’s not my fault that I don’t forgive you. It’s not my fault that I don’t see it your way, that I’m not cooperative anymore. It’s yours. You didn’t think it through. You did something stupid, and now you’re paying for it.”
“Intrepid!” Calling a Princess stupid was not something that was generally allowed. It was a direct insult to the crown. But, luckily for Intrepid, Cadance would let this slide as he was pretty emotionally unstable right now. “I was just trying to help you! You know I never meant to hurt you, I was just...I wanted to make sure you were happy.” Why couldn’t this stubborn stallion just agree with her and see it her way? It wasn’t that hard, Shining did it all of the time.
“I told you, I don’t care about what you meant. It’s what you did. Now leave me alone.” Without another word, the stallion climbed a nearby ladder and went back into The Gauntlet. This left Cadance rather flabbergasted on the ground below. Why hadn’t he forgiven her? She had explained herself and apologized, forgiveness was supposed to come next.
Now her only hope was for Shining and Vinyl to be a bit more level headed and forgive her. They would be more receptive of that, right?
---
“You’re a piece of garbage, you know that Twinkle?” Vinyl threw off the last of her battered armor and shot a look at her guard. “That was a cheap shot, and you know it.” The pearlescent mare rubbed a few sore spots that had popped up due to their sparring session. The biggest one being a goose-egg on her forehead next to her horn. She had taken the hit from the pommel of Twinkle’s sword in the midst of a very heated engagement.
“I warned you about using magic, didn’t I?” Twinkle looked far better than Vinyl did at the moment. Well, minus the new black eye. That had been a very big mistake. “I told you, ‘no using magic as a weapon’ and you didn’t listen.” They both rolled their eyes at the other.
Their words were not filled with malice however, they were just exchanging quips now. Any anger they had towards one another had been dealt with out on the training room floor, now they were perfectly content to just exchange jabs.
“Well I couldn’t let you win that time, could I?” Vinyl was now putting her armor back on the stand where they had gotten it from in the first place. She was keeping her eyes on Twinkle, trying to mimic what he was doing with his armor. All these straps and buckles were kinda confusing to somepony not familiar with them.
“Well you could’ve, just like the other dozen times.” The stallion finished putting his armor away and trotted over towards Vinyl’s, fixing whatever mistakes she had made while fitting the armor to the stand.
“I didn’t want you to feel like you were unstoppable. Celestia knows what will happen if you think you’re untouchable.” She shot a sly smirk at the guard, who shot back by sticking his tongue out at her like a foal would a schoolyard bully. “Oh that’s mature, Twinkle. Real mature.”
There was silence until they finished storing the armor and the weapons. Vinyl had to admit that all of this had really been cathartic. Celestia knows how many times she had wanted to beat the living snot out of Twinkle, and the opportunity to do so had not been wasted. Plus, it also let her take out additional frustrations on a willing target, like Cadance being a liar or the whole Intrepid thing being a sham. It felt really good to work those out.
“So what do you want to do now? Go home and rest or go get something to eat?” Go out? Well that was a new proposition. Vinyl could’ve sworn the last thing Twinkle would want to do right now was go to some restaurant looking like this.
“Well considering we both look like we went ten rounds with a Minotaur, I think home sounds a lot better. Plus, I think I could use some ice on this lump. Same with your eye, dude. That thing looks like it hurts.” The guard put a hoof to his bruised eye, which he quickly retracted out of pain. With a nod in agreement, they both gathered their things and headed out of the training building.
The walk home was quite different from normal. The stares from all of the townsponies made sure of that. Normally Vinyl and Twinkle were largely ignored by the populace, only getting nasty looks by those who thought themselves above guards and commoners. Now they were getting constant curious and distasteful looks. TO be fair, it probably looked like they both had been in a fierce altercation and she was being escorted to prison or something. Half right was still technically right Vinyl supposed.
The walk was silent, though. It wasn’t because they were mad at one another, or even because they didn’t have anything to say. They could always find something to talk, and most likely bicker, about. Vinyl just felt like she didn’t have to talk to Twinkle in order to justify her existence around him, she didn’t feel like the silences were awkward anymore. They were just comfortable now.
When they opened the door to the apartment, Vinyl unceremoniously flopped onto her couch and let out a sigh. Her overly tired muscles were glad to finally be afforded a rest, as was her now pounding head. After a minute or two of laying on her sofa, a little plastic bag full of ice was placed on her head. She looked up to see Twinkle holding an identical one up to his eyes with his magic.
“How are you feeling?” The stallion questioned as he sat at the very end of the sofa, moving her hooves just enough so he could sit comfortably.
“I’ve had worse.” Vinyl responded with a shrug. “Like this one time I got claw marks all down my back from-” Vinyl stopped herself, remembering just where that story went. It wasn’t exactly one she had meant to start sharing and she did not want to finish. “-from something...that is...personal.” She managed to wind the sentence down easily. Twinkle didn’t say anything, just responded with a shrug of his own. “How about you, are you?”
“I’ve had black eyes before.” The guard said nonchalantly. “Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting you to give me one. Really, I’m impressed.” Vinyl couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride from the guard’s words. It wasn’t every day a guard praised her on beating them up.
“So what’s for dinner?” Vinyl didn’t want to hang on the day’s events for too long. They had both already said they were fine, and that was all she needed to know. Now there were more important things to worry about, like food and what it was going to be.
“I’m sorta feeling spaghetti tonight.” Twinkle nudged Vinyl with a hoof. “How’s that sound?”
“Sure. I think I got some pasta here, not sure about any sauce.” Vinyl didn’t really keep her kitchen stocked, save for booze and coffee that was. Every item of foodstuff was a ‘buy it as you go’ purchase. It was a bad habit she had developed that she really needed to get rid of.
“What, like sauce in a can?” Twinkle gave her an odd look. “We couldn’t do that anyways, it wouldn’t be right. It’s made from scratch or it’s no good, my Grandma taught me that.” Well Vinyl wasn’t much for cooking from scratch, so if they did anything it would be on his shoulder entirely. Pancakes were the extent of her cooking knowledge, and she would like to keep it that way.
“Well I know I don’t have any tomatoes or whatever around here, so we’re kinda S.O.L on that front.” Vinyl moved her hooves, making sure they rested comfortably on Twinkle’s side. “Unless you wanna go down to the market and get stuff, we’ll have to think of something else.”
“I’m really feeling spaghetti now.” Twinkle said, his stomach growling in agreement. “Guess I’m going to the market, then.” The stallion said with a sigh. Vinyl wasn’t sure if he was sighing because his stomach was set on the dish, or the fact that he had to go out again. “Need me to get anything for you while I’m out?”
“Wine.” Vinyl said without hesitation. “Red, not white. It pairs better with spaghetti.” The stallion sitting at the other end of the couch cocked an eyebrow. “What? You don’t think I know my alcohol?”
“Alright.” Twinkle conceded, obviously not wanting to go down that particular rabbit hole. “Anything else?”
“Nope.” Vinyl replied confidently. The stallion put his makeshift ice pack down and stood up, stretching his legs before fully moving again. “Have fun!” She called out as the guard gathered a pouch of bits and headed out the door.
Now that she was alone, Vinyl could truly reflect on her thoughts. Just yesterday, after the mess that was the both of them waking up together, Twinkle had been really distant and rather cold. Today had changed that, though. He was acting with renewed vigor and optimism, like he had been told something or decided on a course of action. She supposed it had something to do with his talk with Uncle B, as that was seemingly the tipping point.
Either way, she liked this Shining more than she liked the mopey one who was still upset about Cadance. He probably still was upset about the Princess, but he wasn’t letting it show anymore, not like he had that night they got wasted.
“Maybe I should talk to him about that.” Vinyl said to no one in particular. Usually she wouldn’t be the pony to offer a kind ear and a shoulder to lean on, but for Twinkle she could make an exception. Especially since they were going to be meeting Lily all because of him. “Yeah...probably should.” She admitted to herself. Maybe she wouldn’t do it tonight, because food was priority right now, but definitely later.
After a few minutes of trying to figure out just how to approach the subject, she was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock at the door. Vinyl briefly wondered who it could be, but she settled on the fact that it was probably Twinkle having forgot something here. Had he locked the door, though? She didn’t think so.
Curiously, she got up and opened the door. She had expected, and even prepared, for Shining to be there embarrassed that he forgot something vital. Instead, she was face-to-face with the very mare she had been thinking about minutes before.
“Hi Vinyl, can I come in?” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza questioned, a radiant smile across her face.
“Nope.” Vinyl responded curtly as she shut and locked the door on the Princess.
----
Shining trotted back up the stairs towards Vinyl’s apartment, a brown paper bag in magical tow. It was filled to the brim with vegetables and seasoning, most of which he had just assumed that Vinyl did not have. Of course, he also had a bottle of red wine buried at the very bottom. Briefly he had entertained the thought of not getting the wine and talking to Vinyl about her problem with alcohol, but he didn’t want to do that tonight. Food was his priority at the moment, not work.
The stallion made his way to the landing that lead him to Vinyl’s apartment, only to find that he could not make himself move. The sight of the pony standing in front of Vinyl’s door made Shining’s breath catch in his throat.
“Cadance?” He managed to finally mumble out. Apparently that was just loud enough, because the alicorn turned in his direction. Shining could’ve sworn his heart stopped in that moment, and he even wished it had. Death would be easier than what was coming next.
“Shiny! Thank Celestia, you’re here.” Cadance rushed over to him and embraced him tightly in a hug, a gesture he wasn’t sure how exactly to feel about. “I’ve been standing out here for fifteen minutes trying to get Vinyl to let me in. Can you please talk to her?”
“Okay…” Shining finally said, still trying to find the right words. “Why…?” It was the question that dominated his entire mind. Why was she here? Why now? Why did she want in Vinyl’s apartment?
“I wanted to apologize, to both of you.” He had expected an apology, hell he had been waiting for one, but he was hoping he would have a little more time to prepare. He was hoping that it would be on his terms, or at the least on Vinyl’s terms.
“I-uh let me talk to her, alright? Just give me a few minutes.” That was the best he could do. Shining just couldn’t tell Cadance to go away and come back some other day, she was no errant storm cloud. He could convince Vinyl to hear Cadance out, or at least try to.
“Okay. Take your time.” Cadance said, exuding understanding. It made Shining all too uneasy.
Shining figured that if Cadance wasn’t already inside, it meant that the door was locked. So he fetched the duplicate key he had made the other day while Vinyl was at work out of his armor and unlocked the door. Inside he found Vinyl on the couch, exactly where he had left her.
“Hey Twinkle.” The mare said, waving a hoof at him. Shining shut the door behind him and placed the goods he bought on the kitchen counter. “You get everything?”
“Don’t do this to me, Scratch.” Shining sighed. He was really hoping for Scratch to be furious when he entered, this overtly calm Vinyl only raised his blood pressure more. It meant she was letting this simmer and build. “You know what I’m gonna say.”
“Nope. She can’t come in. Nu-uh.” Vinyl responded, a little edge to her voice.
“Vinyl just let her talk, for like five minutes. I’m not going to ask you to forgive her, I’m not even going to ask you to consider it because I know that’s a lost cause. Just hear her out, alright?” Shining was hoping that if he spoke like her friend instead of her annoyed bodyguard she would respond a little better than normal.
“It’s just going to piss me off, you know that right?” That was not even up for debate, of course he knew Vinyl was going to get mad. That was like asking if the sun was going to rise tomorrow, it was going to happen and you had to deal with it.
“Yeah, I know. You can get mad at her all you want, I just want you to let her speak first.” Shining trotted over to the couch and sat beside his charge. “I just-” He placed a hoof on Vinyl’s leg that was beside him. “I know you don’t care what she has to say, but I do. Can you hear her out for me?”
“Fine.” Vinyl sighed loudly. “But she can’t sit down, she has to stand.” Shining was going to raise another objection, but he could at least let Scratch have this one thing. “Go get her, I guess.” It was clear that VInyl wasn’t happy with the situation, but she would never be. Not even Shining was happy with it, he was just hoping for a nice calm evening away from drama.
“And ponies in hell want ice water…” Shining said as quietly as possible as he got up and went to the door. He opened the door to find Cadance waiting patiently outside. Deep down he hoped that the Princess had not heard any of that conversation, as that would make the whole situation a bit more awkward. “Come on in, Cadance.”
Shining made his way back to the center of the living room and took a seat in the recliner that was opposite the couch. Vinyl was still splayed across the couch, leaving Cadance with exactly zero open seats to occupy. Shining had fulfilled his side of the bargain, now Vinyl had to hold up her end.
“Start talking.” Vinyl stated flatly and without any discernible emotions. Cadance looked towards Shining, who just nodded his own encouragement.
“I-I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.” Cadance started out, her head dropping to study her own hooves. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I never meant to hurt either of you, I swear. I-I just wanted the best for both of you.”
“Cadance.” Shining started out, knowing well enough that it was better for him to speak than Vinyl. “I don’t doubt that you meant well, but there’s just certain things that…”How could he put this gently? “Messing with our emotions like this, it just wasn’t fair to us. We deserved a heads up, heck if you would’ve just asked about using your magic on Vinyl none of this would’ve happened.” He got a look from Vinyl, almost asking if he would’ve let Cadance go through with it. “Because I would have told you no and shut it down before it even started.” Shining tacked on.
“Plus the whole ‘jealousy’ thing kinda proves you didn’t have my best interests at heart when you were doing all of this.” Surprisingly, Vinyl didn’t sound like she was insulting or even venomous. She was stating facts. Oh boy, did that not make Shining any more comfortable.
“I-I never said I was jealous!” Cadance fired back. “You said I was jealous and wouldn’t let me explain myself!” The Princess rebuked the unicorn rather harshly. “That’s the whole reason I’m here today, so I can explain exactly why I did it!”
“Cool! I don’t care why you did it! That’s not the problem, Cadance. The problem is that you did it in the first place!” Now Vinyl was fired up, perfect. Shining highly doubted he could stop her without incapacitating her with the failsafe...which he didn’t have because the tether was not up.
“Vinyl’s right.” Now Shining knew he was going to regret that in the long run, but for now he could stop Vinyl from talking and hopefully from getting progressively angrier. “It doesn’t matter why you did it, but that you did it regardless.” He paused and thought of his next sentence carefully. “If you can apologize without excuses, then at least I can forgive you.”
“I-” There was a turmoil burning brightly within the Princess, Shining could tell. She was trying to find the right words to just apologize, but she was also dead set on explaining herself. Then again that’s what any sane pony would do, right? They would seek forgiveness for what they’ve done and acceptance for the reasons behind their actions. Cadance was a Princess, though. She had to be held to a higher standard than normal ponies. “I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you, Cadance.” That actually felt good to say. It felt right to vacate all of the doubt of what he would do by actually just doing it. “I forgive you, but I can’t ever forget what you’ve done.” That caught the Princess off-guard, she now was staring at Shining with wide eyes. “I just-I can’t act like none of it ever happened, that’s impossible. You hurt me, and you hurt my friend...that’s not something I can just let go in a few days. You broke my trust, you broke a lot of what I stand for and I can’t let that slide.”
“W-we can still be together, right?” The question he was dreading. The question he wrestled with so hard it drove him to get wasted. Could they? Could he just go back to the status-quo while hanging onto this feeling of broken trust?
“No…” The stallion said with a heavy sigh. “I’m not saying we’ll never be together again, but I don’t think I can do it just yet.” Shining stopped while he gathered his thoughts. He slowly stood up and trotted over to the Princess, who was now sitting on her haunches with tears in her eyes. “When we were younger I thought you were the most beautiful mare in the entire world, Cadance.” He took her hooves in his for one last time. “I thought you were the most perfect being in all of creation. I forgot that nopony’s perfect, though. Everypony makes mistakes, even you...I don’t think I ever came to terms with that. I never thought you would be capable of using your magic like you did, I thought you were above that.” Shining raised one of the alicorn’s adorned hooves and gave it a small kiss. “I’m sorry I was wrong…”
“Shining…” Cadance was barely holding back the sobs now. “Shiny, please don’t do this.”
“I didn’t do anything, you did.” Saying that hurt him more than he could’ve ever imagined. Now he wanted to cry, he wanted to break down and ask for Cadance’s forgiveness. He couldn’t, though. He couldn’t deal with the hurt that it would cause not just himself, but Vinyl. He can’t say all of those things and then just go back, that’s not how any of this worked. “Vinyl? Got anything to add?” He wanted Vinyl to speak swiftly so this could be over, he didn’t really care at what intensity she spoke just that she did.
“I-umm…” For the first time since he had met her, it almost sounded like Vinyl was speechless. “Y-yeah, I think I can forgive you. I just-uh…” Shining turned back to see Vinyl staring at him, her eyes not betraying her obvious confusion. “What he said…” The unicorn finally decided on. It wasn’t elegant, but he supposed it got the point across.
“I-is this it..?” Cadance managed to say, her voice trembling.
“I think it is.” Shining responded.
“Are you sure we can’t-we can’t talk about this?”
“I’m sorry, Cadance.”
“Shining…”
“Cadance, please. Please don’t make this any harder.”
Shining relinquished Cadance’s hoof and gave her a small, albeit sad, smile. He helped the Princess to her hooves and gently guided her to the door.
“I love you, Shiny…”
“I love you too, Cadance.”
The pink alicorn leaned in and gave Shining a light peck on the cheek, one that the stallion returned.
Nothing was left to say.
Nothing was left to do.
Cadance walked away, down the hall and out of the building.
It was over.
----
Vinyl was speechless. Not near speechless, but completely and utterly speechless. It was like seeing a trainwreck, you just couldn’t tear your eyes away from it. It was a beautiful display of tragedy in the making, the end of a story that stretched back years. The colt and the filly next door, the dork and the popular mare, the Princess and her knight in shining armor. It had ended right in front of her eyes.
Could she blame Twinkle? Of course not. Was she shocked? Again, yes. Vinyl had never really thought that Twinkle had the stones to do something like that, not that quickly or efficiently. He had minced no words, nor had he been exceedingly gentle about it. He had just told Cadance the hard truth.
“Right. Time for dinner!” She was snapped out of her stunned silence by Twinkle. He had a smile on his face somehow. How in the world was he just powering through that? It wasn’t natural or right.
“Are you okay?” Vinyl finally managed to get out. “Like, seriously, I need to know if you’re okay because what just happened was so heavy I don’t think I’m okay.” Slowly she was snapping back to her usual self, but it was going to take a minute.
“No, not really.” Twinkle answered, his voice never faltering from a more positive tone. “I just know that it’s over now and we shouldn’t dwell on it too much.”
Vinyl stood up and trotted over to her friend. He was getting all of the vegetables out of the bag and lining them up on the counter. Without a single word she wrapped her hooves around the stallion and gave him the best hug she could.
Vinyl felt a pair of strong hooves wrap around her and return the embrace. She looked up and saw Twinkle looking down on her, smiling with tears in the corners of his eyes. That only caused Vinyl to hug tighter. Twinkle didn’t deserve this heartbreak. If there was one pony who just didn’t deserve it, Twinkle would be that one.
“Thanks, Vinyl.” The stallion said quietly. “I really needed this…”
“I know you did, you big galoot.” The pair relinquished the embrace and looked at the various ingredients before them. “Now let’s eat, huh? I’m starving.”