Understandings and the Missing Thereof
Vinyl Scratch tugged at Lyra’s tail in vain as the lyrist trudged her way onto the stage. They stood off to the side, awaiting the moment when the quartet would finish their piece. Vinyl stuck her nose under Lyra’s chin and glared fiery daggers of venom. “I swear, if you say somethin’ hurtful—”
“Relax, Deej.” Lyra raised a hoof and pushed the DJ out of her personal space. “I just wanna talk with her.”
“Oh, yeah! You’re just great at talkin’ to ponies!” Vinyl sat and crossed her forelegs. “I reserve the right to thunderbolt your butt if you get outta line.”
Lyra rolled her eyes. She listened intently to the final few bars of her song and stomped politely once they were finished.
The gray-coated cellist raised her head in surprise. Her jaw dropped once she got sight of Lyra Heartstrings. She trotted over, her mouth moving noiselessly as she neared. Lyra and Vinyl blinked in unison as the cellist stood dumbfounded, hemming and hawing as she tottered in place.
Lyra smiled out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes darting quickly between the cellist and Vinyl. “Um, hey.”
“I l-love your work, Miss He-Heartstrings!” the cellist said at last. “I c-cannot tell you what an honor it is to b-be able to play it for you! In your actual p-presence!”
Vinyl looked over the top of her sunglasses, her eyebrows gaining a hint of altitude.
Lyra grinned and nudged the DJ in the ribs. “Well, well, well!”
The cellist started in place and stuck her hoof out. “O-Octavia, at your service.”
Lyra accepted the hoofbump with a nod. “Charmed.”
Octavia’s head jolted back. “Oh, oh my! This would be the night I d-decided to play on a different octave. I hope you don’t mind, it was for a sp-special re-request.”
“Nah, sounded great.” Lyra waved a hoof and ignored the purple color Vinyl’s face was turning. “It kinda put your own mark on it. Your own special style.”
Vinyl tugged on Lyra’s ear with her magic and pulled it close. “Then what in the hay was your little argument about!?” she hissed.
Lyra jerked her horn in the direction of the dance floor. “Check out Redheart.”
Now that the dance was over, Redheart and Blueblood could be seen making way for the punch bowl. One of Vinyl’s eyes shrunk down while the other bugged out. “How come you never leave me alone with cute guys?”
“Like I could keep you away.” Lyra turned back to Octavia and did a double take at something behind her. “Uh, Octavia, you’ve got a draconequus on your cello…”
“Again!?” Octavia spun, catching sight of the offending chaos spirit. “Do excuse me.”
Discord waved Octavia’s bow like a conductor’s baton, directing an invisible choir to sing off-key show tunes. The stomp of her hooves signified her approach. He looked down with as friendly a smile as he was able to conjure up. “Buon giorno!”
“No.” Her face was blank as she stared up at him.
He blinked asynchronously. “But—”
“Not even once.”
His eyes morphed into something almost like puppy dog eyes, except for the sickly, yellow hue. “Just a little Maws music…”
“Not even just.” She stretched out her foreleg. “Give me my instrument.”
“I could do a stirring rendition of the Bunny Hill theme!” Discord indicated the cello as his snaggletooth nodded encouragingly.
“Dude,” Vinyl said as she walked up, “give it up.”
Discord frowned at the white and green alicorns. “Oh, more princesses to boss me around. Isn’t this just the overripe cherry on top of my poopcream sundae of a day?”
“You’re darned right I’m gonna boss you around.” Lyra favored him with a smug grin. “Now give the girl her strings, or-or I’m g-gonna—” She shivered from head to tail and drew her wings tight against her body. “Uh, gonna—”
Discord’s fuzzy eyebrow shot up. “Something wrong, Princess?”
“G-geeze.” Lyra looked at Vinyl and Octavia in turn. “Is it cold in here, or is it just me?”
Vinyl shrugged. “I got nothin’. Feels fine.”
Octavia looked up at Discord with a furrowed brow.
He shook his head. “Don’t look at me, I’ve been a good boy tonight. Forcibly reeling in the chaos, you might say.”
Lyra’s teeth chattered. “I-I’m serious, you guys. It just got, like, twenty-percent—”
“Don’t go there,” Vinyl said.
“Sh-shut up.” Lyra’s eyes darted around the hall, never stopping in one spot for more than an instant. Her heart pounded in her chest. “I think I n-need to—need to go.” She sprinted off stage and out the doors, restraining herself to only bowling over one noblepony on the way.
Vinyl pushed her sunglasses up her snout and placed a hoof on Octavia’s shoulder. “I’ll go make sure she’s alright. You got this?”
The cellist shot Discord a look. “If certain people stop being such—”
“Point taken,” Discord groaned. He hovered away on mismatched wings. “I wash my hands of this whole thing.”
Vinyl’s smile drooped slightly at the corners. “Uh, knock ’em dead.” She unfurled her wings and looked over her shoulder. “Or, y’know, just mostly dead.”
She took off, leaving an uncertain Octavia to prepare for the next dance.
***
Twilight and Rarity bowed to each other as the final strings of the song wafted through the air. The alicorn princess allowed Flash Sentry to take her hoof and lead her off of the dance floor. “Thanks for running interference, Flash.”
“I am never dancing with another stallion again,” he said. “Ever.”
“Aw, you’re just mad that you didn’t get to lead.” Twilight appeared to be examining various areas of the ceiling, judging by the way her head pivoted around. “Where in the heck is he?”
“Are you alright, Twilight?” Flash sat beside her as she took a seat on the sidelines. “You’ve been sorta nervous all night.”
“I’m not nervous.” She resisted the urge to chew on the end of her mane. “I just have something to do. Something that I’m gonna do.”
“Can you at least give me a warning so that I can get to the minimum safe distance?”
She swatted his shoulder. Her eyes widened as they lay their sight upon a dour draconequus. “Hay, Discord! Hay, come on over!”
Flash started in place. “Discord!?”
A flash of light, sparkles, and stars burst out of the air surrounding Flash. The smoke cleared, revealing the curling body of the Lord of Chaos, wrapped around Flash Sentry’s head like a turban. “You rang, oh most noble and gracious of alicorns?”
“Get it off me!” Flash yelped in the manliest voice he could articulate. It still came off as slightly high-pitched. He shook his head and dislodged the draconequus with great haste. “I mean, you know, shoo.”
“Nice to see you again, as well.” Discord swirled himself upright and smiled in Twilight Sparkle’s face. “Are we ready to begin?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be, I think.” Twilight stood, stretched, and walked towards the buffet table.
Flash Sentry followed her, a small frown on his face. “You’re collaborating with Discord now? What for?”
“In the interest of fairness.” She plastered a smile onto her face as she came up to Blueblood and Redheart. “Hay, can I speak with you for a second?”
Blueblood’s back visibly straightened. “Certainly. What about?”
Twilight tilted her head. “You don’t much care for the thought of going to Tartarus, do you?”
Blueblood snorted. “I think we’ve broached this subject bef—”
“Well, I think I can fix it,” Twilight interrupted. She looked at the hovering Discord and tilted her chin up. “Well, maybe we can fix it.”
A small crowd of ponies gathered around, including Shining Armor, Cadence, Dark Shadow Lightning, and Rarity. Twilight raised her hooves and addressed them. “Folks, this going-away party is now officially a celebration!”
Discord wiggled his eyebrows at Blueblood. “I’m absolutely tickled that we’re actually going to get the chance to be best buddies.”
Blueblood’s felt a shiver run down his spine. He shared a disbelieving gaze with Redheart. “Fix it? Fix what, exactly?”
Redheart took a step forward, her eyes widening. “You mean you’ve figured out how to—”
“I’m not sure how Blueblood’s family oath can apply to him, or really hold any water when scrutinized with a legal tome in hoof.” Twilight shrugged as her horn shone with light. “But even the strongest oath is still just a magic spell. An enchantment.”
“Twilight…” Blueblood raised a hoof. “Twilight, wait. There’s something—”
“So I figured,” Twilight continued unabated, “there’s this special counter-spell scientists use to hold back any out of control castings.” She placed a hoof against Blueblood’s chest, eliciting a strong blush from his cheeks. “Make a failsafe spell strong enough, and even the most powerful family oath could be made null and void.”
Redheart took immediate notice of the blush and pushed Twilight’s hoof off of Blueblood’s chest. “So you’re saying that you’re just gonna erase Blueblood’s oath? Just like that?”
Blueblood bit his lip. “Twilight, this isn’t going—”
“Discord and I will,” Twilight replied. Sparks sprung from her horn to mingle with shimmering motes of chaotic dust. “All I need to do is cast a normal failsafe spell, and then Discord can amplify it to phenomenal portions unreachable by even the strongest alicorns. It’s a bit like shining a light through a magnifying glass, really. He will warp and concentrate the magic flowing out of me to let it hit you with a greater intensity, while also adding his own special—”
“You’re geeking out again, Princess,” Discord said.
Twilight shook her head. “Whatever.”
Shining took a half-step towards his sister. “Twilie, are you sure this is safe?”
“Uh…” Twilight looked out over the assembled ponies, her hoof tapping rapidly. “You guys might wanna take a couple steps back, just in case.”
Redheart narrowed her eyes. “‘Just in case’ what?”
“Well, it is a spell designed to shut down magical activity.” Twilight looked cross-eyed at her horn. “I dunno what kind of range we’re gonna get out of this thing.”
“Twilight, wait.” Flash Sentry stood between her and Blueblood. He looked into her eyes, holding her gaze steady. “Think about this. Just think about it for a second.”
Blueblood raised a hoof. “Actually, if I could say—”
“Are you really going to do this in the middle of a party?” Flash asked. “With all these ponies around?”
“This is the last chance I’m gonna get to do this,” Twilight said, trying to move Flash aside with a hoof. “He’s leaving tomorrow and I’ve wasted enough time already.”
Flash took her hoof in his own. “Twilight, this is silly. And dangerous. Somepony could get hurt.”
“Then use your magical Royal Guard powers to get them to leave.” Twilight snatched her hoof away from him. “I’m gonna save Blueblood.”
Blueblood lowered his head. “Twilight, please—”
“Twilight”—Cadence held out a hoof—“don’t you think you’re taking this a little far?”
“Everypony, shut up and listen to me!” Twilight stomped a hoof. “This is drastic. This is dangerous. This is a little crazy. But you know what?” She shoved her snout in Flash Sentry’s face. “It’s worth it! My friend is being carted away against his will by something he has no control over! I’ll probably never see him again, and his life is gonna suck! So I found a way to potentially save him and—surprise, surprise—I’m gonna use it!”
She jumped up and held herself aloft on glowing, lavender wings. “Taking it too far? Maybe! Maybe I’m being stupid! But you know what? I’d do the same thing for any of you!”
Discord wiped away a tear. It hit the ground with a slap, and then staggered to its feet to listen to the rest of the speech.
Twilight faltered in the air for a moment. “So, if any of you don’t want to get caught in the crossfire, the door is right over there!”
“Stop it!”
The room fell silent as Blueblood stepped forward, his chest heaving. “Stop. Twilight, this isn’t going to work.”
Twilight lowered herself to the ground in front of a bemused Discord. “It won’t work? How can you say that? We haven’t even—”
“It won’t work, Twilight,” Blueblood said, “because I haven’t taken the oath, yet!”
***
Lyra stumbled on an errant rock and fell forward into the grass. A high hedge separated her from view of the party hall, and from anypony who might come looking for her. She could hear Vinyl Scratch calling out her name in a voice somewhere between irritation and concern.
Lyra curled up beside the hedge, shivering violently. It wasn’t from the cold, she decided, but because she knew they were watching her. Images flashed through her mind from her dreams, her nightmares. A thousand—no—hundred thousand Lyra Heartstrings stared at her accusingly.
Not exact copies of Lyra, though. They were unicorns, not alicorns. There was something different in their eyes, too; they were flat, pale, and lifeless. Almost Lyras. Fake Lyras. Disguised Lyras.
Lyra covered her head with her wings. Changelings. They were all changelings, and they wanted revenge. Revenge on her.
“Murderer…”
“I-I didn’t mean to k-kill her,” Lyra whispered into her feathers. “Sh-she was hurting other ponies—”
“Murderer…”
“Sh-she was gonna throw Blueblood over the waterfall!” Lyra hissed, tears squeezing through her eyes. “It was an accident!”
“Murderer…”
“I-I’m s-so sorry…” Lyra gasped. She buried herself as far into the hedge as she dared, her fur catching on the spiky leaves. Her breath came in spurts, and she couldn’t bring herself to exhale.
“Oh, I know, precious.”
Lyra’s head shot out of the hedge, her golden eyes wide. Before her floated a face, iridescent as well as transparent. It was white, with bottomless pits for eyes and a mouth. Strange wavy lines rolled across its intangible surface. Its lips moved, but did not meet, as it spoke. “It’s not difficult to see that you are sore afraid.”
Lyra gritted her teeth and ran a hoof across her nose. “No kidding, dipstick!? Wh-what in the heck are you?”
“A friend,” it replied. “My darling, I know exactly what you’re going through. Exactly. It’s such a shame your friends could never understand.”
Lyra’s feathers twitched violently as the images streamed into her head with full force. The face spoke again, “But I’m here to help you. I can make all of the fear go away. Just. Like. That.”
Lyra shook her head, and the images blurred. “Wh-what’s the catch?”
The face tilted to the side. “Why would there be a catch?”
“B-because you’re some sort of weird mask genie, or something.” Lyra peeked over her wings. “There’s always a catch.”
“I’m your friend, Lyra.” As the mask spoke, the changeling Lyras snapped into focus. “I can make all your nightmares fade.”
“Wh-what do I have to do?” Lyra whimpered.
“All you have to do is let me in.” The mask floated closer, and Lyra felt something like breath coming out of it. “Give me your permission to help.”
Lyra froze, her eyes wide and her mouth trembling. The changelings seemed to close in on her mind, blocking out all other thoughts. It was all she could do to mouth a single “Okay.”
Everything went black.
***
Twilight was the first to snap out of her stupor. She stomped towards Blueblood. “You what!?”
“I haven’t taken the oath.” He stood tall, his nose in the air. “Your failsafe won’t work, because there’s no spell to remove.”
She paused mid-step. “You lied to me!”
“I did not!” He frowned and his eyebrows tilted downward. “No, my going to Tartarus is not necessarily a matter of fulfilling a magic oath, but an oath of honor. I am a prince because of my great-grandfather’s time in that awful prison, and I shall pay Equestria back in full.”
“That’s stupid!” Twilight raised an accusing hoof. “You’ve got a life. You’ve got friends. You can’t just give that up so that—!”
“What do you suggest I do!?” Blueblood shouted, a bit louder than he intended. “Somepony must be the warden of Tartarus, Twilight! Who would you have take my place!?”
He spun her around and pointed at the orange pegasus behind her. “Perhaps your perfect beau, Flash Sentry!?” He jabbed his horn at the crowd. “Maybe your awe-inspiring brother? Pray tell, your beloved Spike? I’m sure he could handle himself!”
Nopony, not Flash, not Discord, not Redheart, said anything as Blueblood waved his hooves around. “I’m going to Tartarus because I wouldn’t wish this fate upon anypony! It has to be me, it can’t be anypony but me! It’s my family’s spell that holds it all together, Twilight! Mine!”
He paced before her, his face red. “I’m giving up everything because of a stupid promise my grandfather made so many years ago.” He turned to Twilight Sparkle with a snort of steam. “You come here telling me you have a solution? I’m telling you there can’t be a solution!”
He walked away from her at a brisk pace. He didn’t look to the left or the right as he headed for the exit. He didn’t slow for the sound of hooves trailing behind him. He didn’t stop for the gentle touch of a hoof on his wing, or Redheart’s quiet mumbling of his name.
So he left the nurse standing alone.
Twilight stared. As if by their own volition, her legs started moving her toward where the prince had exited. Flash Sentry interposed himself between her and the retreating stallion. “Twilight, let him go.”
She dodged around him, a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. Flash moved and halted her progress again. “Twilight, stop.”
She pushed him to the side, but he rounded her and planted himself right in her path. “Twilight, just let him do this.”
Flash placed his hooves on her shoulders and brought his forehead to hers. “He needs to do his duty.”
Twilight’s teeth ground together. She pushed his legs up from her shoulders and shoved him away. “Don’t you touch me!”
She looked into the crowd, and at particular ponies within it. “Cadence, Shining, we need to help him!”
Shining Armor shrugged as his head shook. Princess Mi Amore de Cadenza shuffled her hooves. “I don’t know how,” she said.
Twilight searched from face to face, her eyes pleading. “We can’t just give up…”
Flash placed a hoof on her back in an attempt to rub it comfortingly. “He’ll be fine. He knows wh—”
“I said don’t touch me!” She flapped a wing at Flash. It impacted a bit harder than she had anticipated, due to her unfamiliarity with her own earth pony strength. The orange royal guard flew back through the air and landed upon the buffet table, which broke in half with a snap. Food, plates, and punch tumbled to meet the hapless stallion, covering him from head to hoof.
Twilight brought a hoof to her mouth. She spun and ran in the opposite direction, tears pouring from her eyes and her horn glowing all the while. She vanished with a flash of amethyst light, a trail of sparkles the only evidence that she had been there.
The ponies in the crowd looked at each other, shrugging and mumbling. Discord removed his talon from its place around his chin and spoke up. “I may not be an expert on friendship, but shouldn’t one or two of Twilight’s very close friends go after her to make sure she’s alright?”
Rarity took in a gulp of air and trotted forwards. “I… I think I should best be on my way, should she still be on the castle grounds.”
Dark Shadow Lightning followed close behind. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, no, dear”—Rarity raised a hoof—“it must be her close friends.” She looked over her shoulder, into the crowd. “Spike, won’t you come along?”
Spike ran up as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. He hopped on Rarity’s back and hugged her neck. “D-do you think Twilight’s alright?”
“We’ll stop by the kitchens to pick up Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said. “I have the feeling we’re going to need all the happiness we can get for this one.”
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Very nice.
One thing though, Twilight's reaction to Flash Sentry was a tad overdone.
As a soldier, he would see thing in terms of 'duty' and 'honour', as being his significant other, I'm fairly certain she would have certainly known his viewpoint. Especially since her brother is a career soldier himself.
Otherwise, an excellent chapter.
Twilight's angry, Blueblood's angry and Lyra just got Nightmared. Well, at least things can't possibly get any worse.
3845460
Hmm, yes. And to add to that, she's been seen to care a great deal about duty to both her princess, and her princessly duties (three cheers and a shout for redundancies). I kind of have something that I'd like to do with Twilight here, something that's been brewing behind the scenes a little bit. It's not in the least bit obvious, and even with a little examination might not be strictly in character. But there's reasons.
I guess you could say that I know I did something wrong, and I'm hoping I did it for the right reasons. Time will tell if I can pull it off, I suppose. Thank you very much for voicing your criticism.
Thank you! This is one i've been both looking forward to and dreading. Kinda nervous-cited.
3845524
Tsk. Show a little faith in me!
“It’s not difficult to see that you are sore afraid.”
might want to reporase that part.
It was also interesting, I should add, seeing all the continuity nods over the last two chapters.
One's duty is, of course, of great importance, not just from an ideal point of view, but from a practical one as well. If a future deal needs to be struck along similar lines, then those future others will benefit from the oaths being honored in the present. It is the quintessential good of the group being given precedence. Admittedly, this is also a purely cultural value that is stressed more in some circles than others.
Which brings things to Twilight here. I don't think she over-reacted, especially as a notion of someone choosing to sacrifice themselves would very much run counter to her own ideals. Hers is the mentality of a "problem solver," and a sub-optimal resolution to a dilemma is unacceptable. This is probably something she wouldn't share, even knowing her military brother and Sentry. The fact that no-one else seems to be supporting her could easily be enough to make her accidentally lash out like she did.
We also got to touch a little more on the love quadrangle, though unlike most mixups in fiction, only a select few knew there is a conflict at all here (Spike, Lyra), and even then only half of it. Actually, I sort of expected Twilight would cast her spell anyway and cause a premature Tartarus gate to snatch them up. One does not simply brute force one's way out of a Faustian Deal, after all!
3871926
I'm not too sure. I've looked it over and the only issue I see would be my use of "sore afraid," which is actually a (slightly archaic) phrase. Did I miss something incredibly obvious? Again?
Cap'n, you have challenged me to attempt a response that is just as thought out and insightful as yours. I don't know if I can pull that off.
I agree with what you say about duty and how important it is. Reliability and all that. I think Blueblood does, too, even though he's not at all happy about it. It's a big theme throughout this story that I hope to be able to explore satisfactorily.
I'm happy to see that you feel that way about Twilight. I'll admit that that was what I was hoping to pull off, but I was unsure how to word it when not in the context of the story. There is a little character--I don't know if you'd call it progression--fiddling going on, a little push towards a change, but I like to think that even season four Twilight would have issues with this Tartarus stuff and what it results in. Especially when the very person she's trying to save says she's wasting her time.
Turns out ponies like to keep private things closer to the chest when I'm writing them. Spike's insightful, though, and Lyra's sorta nosy.
The first draft actually had a scene like that, though there were no Tartarus wormholes. There were dozens of ways this scene could have gone down, but the characters pretty much insisted on this one.
That won't stop them from trying.
Haha, Lyra is so schemey.
Sorry, Flash, but there is probably no safe distance for this particular something.
So, lasers? Like I said, no safe distance.
*record screech*
Oh hell, Nightmare Lyra. The, er, harp music will last forever?
Well, crap, that could have gone better.
Again, only in MLP does this ever make sense.
Oh dear...
Also, that was quite the drama bomb.