New Things
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
-Walt Disney
Waking up was a very gradual process for Vinyl, and today was no different. Her mind first drifted back to the waking world, trying to adjust to the morning light attempting to get through her closed eyes. She took a deep breath and attempted to stretch out, but found her hooves were pinned to her sides.
That’s when her sleep-addled mind finally decoded an odd feeling that she had been ignoring. There was a very warm solid object behind her. At first she dismissed it as some random one-nighter she had picked up, but then she remembered the only place she had been last night was at work then home.
“Oh no…” The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Vinyl opened her eyes and rolled over to look at the pony behind her. It was Twinkle, who was sleeping with a smile on his face. This was not good, not good at all. She had already said last week she wasn’t going to do this! She wasn’t a homewrecker!
But she wasn’t going to wreck a home, not anymore. Twinkle had told her last night that there was no more home to wreck. So...was it a bad thing? Vinyl didn’t know, yet. First she had to figure out if they had actually done anything lascivious last night.
Judging by the rather...lengthy pressure on her stomach, she decided that she would still be feeling it if they had. Plus a cursory glance revealed no mess. No stray bodily fluids or sweat soaked sheets, so no problem right? Right.
Well okay, one problem. How was she supposed to get Twinkle to stop spooning her long enough to get up? First she tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but that only made the stallion pull her closer to his chest. Vinyl didn’t mind cuddlers, but she did not appreciate aggressive cuddlers.
On the other hoof, was this such a bad thing? He was warm and soft. Vinyl closed her eyes and let her head rest on his chest. Beneath the wall of muscles, she could hear the rhythmic beating of his heart. It was nice and soothing, like a song she hadn’t heard in a long time.
So, Vinyl decided that staying here for a bit longer wouldn’t be a terrible thing. Her alarm hadn’t gone off in her room yet, so that meant she hadn’t overslept. What was the harm in staying in bed with Twinkle just a bit longer? None, as far as she could see. So she obliged his cuddling and let herself stay close to the warm body next to her.
Vinyl didn’t know how much time passed before she felt the first movements from Twinkle, but the sun had already moved a bit further into the sky. He shifted in his sleep first, a groan accompanying his movements. Vinyl was trying to get out of Shining’s gasp, but as he moved she was caught in his hooves. The stallion rolled onto his back, pulling Vinyl onto his stomach.
“Morning…” Twinkle said quietly into her ear. Vinyl supposed he didn’t know who he was talking to, as his eyes were still firmly closed. So this was going to be fun.
“Morning, Twinkle,” Vinyl said with a sly grin across her face. Shining’s cobalt eyes shot open and looked at Vinyl with shock for a solid ten seconds. “Sleep well?” The stallion did not reply, he just kept trying to work his mouth. “I know I did.” Vinyl was not helping. She was going to pile this on as much as she could. It was priceless.
“I-I-I…umm…” Words finally came out of Shining’s mouth. “Oh no…” Vinyl saw the gears in his head turning and the blush creeping up his face. “We...we didn’t…?”
“Nah. You’re safe, Twinkle.” Vinyl was finally allowed to move, so she rolled off of the stallion and laid next to him. “No baby mama for you, I’m afraid.” A deep, relieved sigh came from Shining. “Aww, don’t sound so disappointed.”
“I just…” Shining’s hooves went to his temples and he rubbed them in circular motions. “That would be very bad.” Deep down, that hurt Vinyl a little. Bad? She’d never heard that one before. “Ugh, my head…sweet Celestia.”
“Got a hangover, Twinkle?” Vinyl’s head was hurting a little too, but long nights around really loud music and strong drinks had steeled her nerves. She would bounce back with a cup of coffee and a few pills. Hopefully Twinkle was just as resilient.
“Shut up, Scratch.” Shining rolled over and got out of bed. Vinyl wasn’t going to budge, though. Not until her alarm went off. She saw Twinkle’s horn light up, but couldn’t see if he was lifting anything with his magic. He closed his eyes for a second and then stuck out his tongue, nearly gagging on something. “Hangover spell…” he clarified. “Purges all of that stuff from your system.”
“Neat trick, Twinkle. Know one to get our memories back from last night?” Vinyl remembered bits and pieces after a certain point. She never remembered going to bed with the guard, but she remembered what he had told her. That was the important part. She remembered everything about Cadance.
“No.” Shining frowned, as if he was disappointed in himself for not knowing one. “You need the hangover spell, Scratch?” She just shook her head, she would deal with hers the classic way. “Suit yourself.” Shining shrugged and took off towards the door.
“Hey Shining…” It just slipped out. She couldn’t stop herself from talking at the moment. It felt like she needed to get this out. The guard stopped and looked at her, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Can we talk about this?” She motioned to the bed. “I mean, it’s not every day I wake up next to a guard.” Humor, she hoped, would diffuse the situation a little bit.
“No.” That was all he said before he went out of the room. Vinyl sighed and let her head hit the pillows. Why in the hell was this bothering her so much? She’d had one-night stands before, and none of them had particularly bothered her when they left in the morning. But this wasn’t a one-night stand, she had to remind herself. This was just her sleeping casually with a friend. No sex. Just being close. So why was it bothering her?!
Giving up on the conundrum, she sighed again and put her hooves on her head. She would figure out all of that nonsense later. For now she needed to focus on what was important: which she didn’t even know what it was. Was it improving her relationship with Uncle B? Trying to forgive Glory? Getting a better job? What was it?
Vinyl grumbled some choice curse words and got out of bed. She would just go on with her day like always, with a sharp wit and unstoppable energy. She wasn’t going to let what happened last night or yesterday affect that.
She went into her own room and stopped the alarm before it had a chance to ring, and then went out into the main room. She put on a fresh pot of coffee and got out a few pills to relieve her headache. Shining, she figured out, was taking a shower. She had put her ear against the door to see if she could hear something, but she only heard faint mumblings from the guard. Nothing discernible or worthy of note.
Once the coffee was done brewing, she added a generous amount of sugar and cream to the mix and used the concoction to down her pills. It would take them a while to kick in, but it would be worth it in the end. When that was done, she sat on the couch and waited for Twinkle to come out of the shower.
“I really needed that.” Shining sighed as he exited the bathroom, a towel around his waist. He headed straight for the coffee pot and poured himself a mug. Vinyl never let her eyes off of the stallion as he took the towel off from around his hindquarters and threw it on the back of the couch.
“So…” Vinyl didn’t know what she was saying, but she felt as though something needed to be said. “Uh...good morning. I guess.” Hopefully they could dance around any awkward subject without pissing each other off. Hopefully.
“Good morning.” Shining looked dead ahead, sipping his coffee nonchalantly.
This was bothering Vinyl to an unhealthy degree. By all means it shouldn’t be, but it was and she couldn’t figure out why. Last night was, if anything, a mistake that they both had made. A mistake that lead to nothing major, so why was it bothering them both? If she could just get into Twinkle’s head for just a minute to figure it out.
----
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” That was the summation of every single thought racing through Shining’s head at the moment. He had to completely shut down in order to process everything that had been presented to him. It might not be fair to Vinyl to be presented with the ‘tough guard’ persona, but he really needed to think about what happened.
He had woken up with Vinyl Scratch, like in the same bed. He had been cuddling her all night! He had committed one doozy of a rules violation, and it was really freaking him out! The last thing he needed was for Galea to find out about this and take him off of the case permanently.
Then there was the whole thing of Vinyl being really nice to hold, that he didn’t even want to think about at the moment. Or the whole thing about how he felt really guilty about cheating on Cadance, even though he had declared a break yesterday. It was all a lot to process, and he was not used to dealing with stuff like this!
“Twinkle? You in there?” He was snapped out of his blind panic by Vinyl, who was waving a hoof in his face. He shook his head and looked at her questioningly. “I’m gonna head to work now, alright? Tag along if you want.”
He gave it a thought. Going to work with Vinyl could lead to some awkward moments. He would much rather stay at home and try to think things through. The problem being he wasn’t the type to be able to think clearly about his own problems. He could help others, but he was utterly and uniquely useless when it came to his own problems.
Then it hit him. Uncle B could help. The older stallion seemed to be world-wise, and he seemed like one of those ponies that could give advice. It was also better than going to his own parents for advice. They would most likely admonish him for breaking up with Cadance and try to get him to reconcile. No, he needed an unbiased third party and Uncle B would be exactly that.
“Wait up, I’ll come.” Shining downed the rest of his coffee in one go and put the mug on the table. As he followed the mare out of the apartment, he used his magic to get his armor and put it on. He really needed to appear professional today in case any more of Galea’s nonsense was thrown his way. He couldn’t let anything slip.
The walk to the record store was abnormally quiet and uneventful. No quips or witty jabs were traded, no playful teasing, and no discussing of future plans. It was odd and Shining didn’t like it, but he still felt like talking would lead him into a verbal trap that he could not get out of. For now it would be for the best to distance himself as much as possible.
Once they entered the store, Vinyl found her way behind the counter and Shining walked past her. He let her know of his intentions to speak to Uncle B, and Vinyl simply nodded her head. Making his way back to the office, Shining found that the office was in a different state than yesterday. All of the loose papers were now gone, the various newspapers were disposed of, and the pictures that once hung crooked upon the walls were now dusted and straightened.
“Good morning,” Shining started out. He thought that seemed innocuous enough.
“Mornin’,” the older stallion said as he put down this morning’s newspaper. “Need somethin’?”
“Well…” Shining rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof and closed the door behind him with his magic. “You’ve...uhh...been around for a while, right?” Uncle B cocked one bushy eyebrow at Shining. “Because I could really use some advice right now.”
“Sit down, kid.” Uncle B pulled a seat out for Shining with his magic, which Shining graciously took. “I ain’t one to give out advice, but seein’ as how yer helpin’ Scratchy I can give ya a pass.” Uncle B grabbed a cigar and put it into his mouth without lighting it, he simply kept it in the corner of his mouth. “Whaddya need?”
“I-uh…” Shining was trying to figure out how to put this. The situation was rather complex, so he felt boiling it down was the best option. “I had some problems with my marefriend yesterday, and I don’t really know what to do.” He looked to Uncle B, only to see an attentive gaze. That urged him forward. “She-well she lied to me, and she has been lying to me for a long time. It, well it really upset me and I may have broken up with her. I just-I don’t know if I did the right thing.”
“Alright.” Uncle B took the cigar out of his mouth and put it on the desk. “Let me tell ya right now I divorced my wife roundabouts six years ago, so I ain’t the best stallion to be talkin’ to about mares. That bein’ said, I want ya to know yer an idiot.”
“What?”
“Yer an idiot. Ya acted without thinkin’ none, capiche? Don’t tell me ya didn’t, I know ya did. I saw it in yer eyes.” Shining opened his mouth, but then shut it again. He was going to let Uncle B talk. “We all like ta act out when we’re hurt. Trust me, there’s a livin’ breathin’ example standin’ out there at the counter. Now I ain’t gonna disparage Scratchy none, but ya gotta learn from others’ mistakes. That out there is what happens when ya stick to yer guns without thinkin’ first. It leaves ya stuck on a hill with no safe way down, and that makes ya never wanna back down.” Uncle B wedged the cigar back in his mouth. “Now, I want ya ta know ya did the right thing, askin’ fer advice. I’m proud of ya.”
Shining smiled, and a little flare of pride lit up in his chest. He was proud that he hadn’t let his emotions completely overwhelm him. It meant that he still had a little bit of situational awareness left, and that he at least knew he overreacted.
“I also want ya to know that mares are just as dumb as any stallion ya ever met. They do just as much stupid stuff based off of emotion as us, Twinkle.” Shining flinched a little at the nickname. He would’ve rather kept that as Vinyl’s name for him and nopony else’s. “Trust me, my ex went and spent her little heart out on jewelry and everything else imaginable because she wanted ta hurt me without thinkin’ about the kids. That’s the fault right there, we don’t think about nopony else other than the pony that hurt us. Ya gotta think this through real hard.” A hoof reached over the desk and poked Shining in the chest. “This is a lesson, not just for yaself, but fer Scratchy too. If yer supposed to be helpin’ her, ya can’t just go off and be irrational like her. Ya gotta show her the light. Be a role model.”
That hit Shining where it hurt. Vinyl hadn’t seen how he reacted when Cadance told him everything, but she had seen the nasty drunk aftermath. She had seen how badly it had torn him apart, and she had seen what he had done. It wasn’t going to help either of them if Vinyl just felt vindicated because he had acted the way she would’ve. He needed to be the bigger pony and rise above Vinyl.
“Thanks Uncle B, I appreciate it.” Shining was trying to set out a course in his mind. Exactly what he was going to do to make this right again. He first needed to talk to Cadance while Vinyl was there. That would not be a fun meeting, not at all. Vinyl would want to lash out at the Princess, but he couldn’t let her.
“No problem, kid.” Uncle B looked towards a box of matches that sat on the other side of the desk. “I’m gonna do my part, too. I ain’t gonna be smokin’ no more. Gotta put up a united front, right?” Shining gave Uncle B one of his winning smiles.
“Right.” Shining was glad he wasn’t the only one trying now. He actually had somepony else to stand with him, and it felt rather refreshing. “So, want to hear something else that happened yesterday?” Uncle B cocked his head to the side.
“Nothin’ stupid, I hope,” the older unicorn retorted.
“I sent a letter out to Ponyville, where Glory’s foal is living.” Uncle B’s eyes widened. “I asked her guardian if it would be okay if we visited and met with the foal.” Shining smiled and tapped his breastplate. “Sent it out by Royal Guard Express mail. So it should’ve gotten there last night, and the response should arrive later today. If he says yes, then we’re going to grab Glory tomorrow and go down there.”
“Yer actually gonna meet her?” Uncle B sat back in his seat and looked to the ceiling. “Sunuva-I still can’t believe ya actually found her. Glory told me her name...uh…” Uncle B hit the desk a few times. “Lily, right?” Shining nodded. “If ya do getta meet her, ya gotta get me a picture, alright? I mean it.” Uncle B rotated in his chair and pointed to a blank space on his portrait wall. “It’s gonna go right there.”
“Don’t worry, Uncle B. I gotcha.”
----
Vinyl was tempted to go eavesdrop on her Uncle and Twinkle, she really was. If she was caught though, that might just send her into worse waters with Twinkle. That was the last thing she needed at the moment.
So Vinyl decided she needed to get her mind off of Twinkle for a minute, and instead thought about Intrepid. That brought about even more negative thoughts for her, more hurt. Had she ever even liked Intrepid? She could’ve sworn there had been a spark, but now it was all muddled behind magic and impure intentions. That brought up the question of whether or not Vinyl was ever going to try and reconcile things with Intrepid.
It would mean she would have to find out where he lived first, and that she would have to get Twinkle to shove off for awhile. Both of those things would be more plausible if Cadance were around, but that ship had sailed, hadn’t it? She would have to convince the guard to leave her side of his own volition. An impossible task if there ever was one.
The sound of the bell above the door ringing caused Vinyl to look up. Immediately she wished that she had kept her head down, or better yet that the bell didn’t ring. Or even better yet, that she hadn’t come into work today. Walking towards her was the one pony she never wanted to see, especially not today. It was Parry.
He sauntered towards her, his green eyes fixated on her. That infuriating cocky grin was on his face, the one that made her want to punch his teeth out. The stallion took a hoof and ran it through his shorn golden mane.
“Vinyl! Fancy seeing you.” Parry leaned on the counter. “Come here often?” The wink that he threw her way did nothing to improve Vinyl’s mood.
“I work here,” she uttered through clenched teeth. Vinyl was honestly trying not to blow her top at the moment. She knew that it would do nothing for her situation if she were to verbally or physically attack a guard, even if it was Parry. “What do you want, Parry?” Better to get this over with sooner than later, she decided.
“Well-” An idle wing went into the saddlebag that was situated over his armor. “-I have a letter for Shining Armor. His eyes only, well and Cadance’s too apparently. You know those two, they share everything.” Vinyl was sure the eye roll and annoyed look was supposed to earn him some positive points, but she wasn’t having it. “So you know where he is?”
“Twinkle!” Vinyl shouted towards the back, not letting her eyes off of Parry. She was not going to let the pegasus out of her sight, not for anything. “A delivery boy is here for you!” Vinyl gave Parry a spiteful look with the words. He simply grinned back.
“A delivery boy, huh? Well I suppose I have a package that I could give.” Parry reached out to poke Vinyl, but she smacked his hoof away. For now she would just ignore him. Hopefully the rather forward behavior would cease once Twinkle was out here.
“Parry!” Shining said once he saw the other guard. “They have you on delivery duty today? Who’d you make mad, now?” Shining took place next to Vinyl, giving a friendly smile to the pearl pegasus across the counter.
“Turns out Interim Captain Galea does not like being complimented on her physique, if you catch my drift.” Parry put the letter on the counter. “Gonna warn you, Cadance intercepted this before I left.” Vinyl saw the smile on Shining’s face fade for maybe a split-second, but he recovered.
“Thanks, Parry. I appreciate it.” Shining took the letter and put it in one of the openings in his armor.
“Also!” The pegasus reached into his saddlebags again and pulled a few pieces of cake shrouded in cling wrap out. “You missed the poker game last night, and the missus figured you’d still like some of the cake she made.”
“You’re married?” Vinyl couldn’t help it, the words just sorta came out. She was just in such stark disbelief. Who in their right mind would marry Parry?
“Three years in a few months, yep!” Parry’s chest puffed out with pride, but his face kept the mischievous smirk. “What’s the matter, Vinyl, sad to find out I’m taken? It’s alright, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”
Vinyl was now beyond pissed. Three years? He had been arresting her for two and a half years now. That meant that everything he ever did had been while he was married. Why did Vinyl care? She didn’t know, she had no stock in that relationship. But it did nonetheless.
“Yeah, sorry about that Parry. We were a bit caught up with something last night.” Shining rubbed his neck, taking the two pieces of cake in his magic. “But next week, right?” Parry nodded. “I’ll be there, I promise.”
“Sweet.” Parry looked around, then turned back to Shining. “You hear the rumors around the castle?” Both Shining and Vinyl looked at each other and then shook their heads. An equal amount of dread filled both of their stomachs. “Well, turns out one of the Princesses came into the castle crying last night. Some ponies are saying that Celestia ordered a lot of ice cream.” parry leaned in close. “Between you, me, and Vinyl, I think another one of Celestia’s lovers passed away last night.”
“What?” Vinyl would ask the question. It was an absurd rumor, and she wasn’t sure exactly what implications that would have.
“You didn’t hear it from me, though.” Parry gave Shining a little salute and Vinyl a wink, then turned tail and started to leave. “Stay beautiful, you two.” He said as he went out of the door and into the city beyond.
“He’s not a bad pony, y’know.” Twinkle’s statement punctuated a disgusted shiver that Vinyl gave at Parry’s words. She looked at her companion with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Scratch. I saw the way you acted around him the last time we talked to him, so I looked into your records. He’s arrested you over a dozen times, and you’ve filed misconduct complaints on him for about half of those. I just want you to know that he’s a good guard, he’s just…” Shining obviously couldn’t find the words, so Vinyl decided she would provide them.
“Gropey?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.” Twinkle shrugged. “You’re not the only one who’s filed reports, and trust me, they haven’t gone unnoticed. Why do you think he holds the record for your arrests? ‘The Vinyl’ is a punishment.” Vinyl turned to Twinkle, her eyebrows knit together in barely held anger.
“A punishment? What kind of punishment is putting him somewhere he can just keep on doing that?!” Vinyl understood that the guards were a very hardcore ‘boy’s club’, but this was ridiculous. Where was the real punishment?
“Look, it’s either that or let him loose on the streets. I’m not going to argue with you on this, alright? I know it’ll just make both of us mad. I’m hoping that Galea will be a bit harsher than Knock Out was.” Vinyl was glad she wasn’t the only one who was seemingly upset with the situation. As long as she could trust Twinkle to be a little on her side, then it wouldn’t be so bad.
That’s when it hit her. Trust. That was it. That was the reason that last night was sticking with her so much, why she couldn’t just shrug it off like she usually would. She trusted Twinkle. Time after time he had proven that he just wanted the best for her, even if that meant he would need to give something up. Him getting mad at Cadance for what she pulled, taking her to the concert even though it was supposed to be a date for him and Cadance, even taking all the time to go through her life. It was all to help her, and she trusted him for all of it.
“You should read this, Scratch.” Twinkle nudged her, pulling Vinyl from her revelation. She saw the letter that Parry had delivered hovering in front of her. Without more prompting, she read it.
Dear Shining Armor,
Thank you for having the courtesy to send a letter and not just show up on my doorstep like I suspect others might. I appreciate that you take this matter seriously and are trying to right the wrongs of the past.
That being said, I’ve thought about this a lot myself. I’ve spent countless nights lying awake wondering what I would do if this situation ever came up, and I’m afraid I’m still torn. Against my better judgement, I’m going to bite the proverbial bullet and take you up on your offer.
Lilly deserves to know her family, her biological family, and I suppose doing it sooner is better than later. Whenever you decide to bring the mother and aunt is alright with me, I will be awaiting your arrival. Please do not make me regret this.
With Regards,
Cedar Mulch
Vinyl looked to Shining to confirm what she had just read, to make sure she had interpreted it right. The guard gave her a big smile and rested a proud hoof on her back.
“We get to go see your niece.”
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7275305
I can never for the life of me understand where people keep getting that particular idea from. She never actually does anything, not even off-screen a tzousand years ago, that would even be remotely impressive enough to justify arriving at the conclusion that she must have secret horse nukes stashed up her ass or something.
Saying "I want a break" then immediately sleeping with someone else pretty much is cheating, if you ever expected to unbreak the relationship, even if you didn't expect to be run into someone else's arms later that day.
And... I'd agree and disagree with Uncle B about how Shining handled it. While he can't wallow in misery forever, wallowing to begin with isn't so bad. And there is a time and place to draw a line in the sand, and a time not to.
Is now the time to draw the line for Shining re Cadance? Probably not.
7275324
Well, 'sleeping'. I would personally argue that cuddling with someone isn't the same thing as boning them.
7275318
I agree with you, nothing suggests Celestia has to be able to overpower Chrysalis, but I think the idea is "She moves the sun with her telekenesis/powers the sun/is the sun! This means she's way more powerful than Chrysalis is."
But... it's magic. There are many ways to describe the way she moves the sun. I always saw it as having the ability to press a button to activate a bit of magical cosmic machinery. It's not easy to reach that button, for sure, but it's hardly applying the amount of power to move the sun yourself.
7275339
Oh. No he was... well it was still cheating, but it could have been much worse than making out then sharing a bed.
But the specific logic of "asking for a break" doesn't alleviate it. Maybe if your partner said "now we're on a break" then you decided to embrace it early, but that's still pretty borderline.
7275343
bad drunk decisions. At least he regrets it.
7275340
I'm told the official explanation from one of those comics is that alicorn magic just somehow happens to be ridiculously more efficient than unicorns at powering that particular spell, but since it works only on that one, it's a whole lot less impressive than it could have been.
7275305 Part of it is Celestia's been relying on an armed force for centuries instead of personally fighting every battle (which is the intelligent and responsible thing), and before Chrysalis how many beings would be insane enough to threaten the one being who can still move the sun (as far as most creatures know)? Celestia is the equivalent of the automatic doomsday device the USSR had in Dr. Strangelove. It doesn't matter how much more powerful you are, if you take out Celestia you have doomed the planet.
7275318 THANK YOU! I bought into the "secret solar flare Celestia can never actually use" argument for a while. You know what definitively killed it for me? It wasn't the S5 finale, where we see Celestia always loses without Twilight to back her up, it was the S6 opener. Celestia flies miles up in the sky, and she's trying to disperse a huge mass of freezing clouds. You know what would have been fantastically useful and could have been deployed with zero threat of collateral damage to anyone? A solar flare above the Crystal Empire, which could have cooked all those clouds without harming anyone on the ground. Instead we got basic laser beams. At this point I realized what you see with Celestia is what you get.
7275343 I think you nailed it, Celestia has the right special talent, and as an alicorn she's immune to the draining effect moving the sun or moon has on ordinary unicorns, so she can move it, it's really like pressing a button.
7275743
That is one hell of a happy accident!
My BF is german and his family says Prost when drinking, so I just threw it in there.
Took a chance on this fic when it appeared in the suggestion box today, and I'm very glad I read it. Nice to read a fic that has good comedy alongside some heavy realism, especially when it comes to Cadence and Shining. Life isn't perfect, neither is love and you've captured that nicely.
Welcome to the exclusive list of fics I eagerly await new chapters of. Have 5 Baron Points. +)
7275343
I'm of the opinion Cadence effectively ended their relationship by revealing she used magic to mess with Shining's feelings towards her. In my estimation, its a complete violation of trust, unforgivable, and even criminal. Heck, I want her arrested and tried for the magical equivalent of date-rape. It makes their entire relationship invalid, as it wasn't based on Shining Armor's free will.
YAY~! New chapter!
I need to start making more time to read during better hours...
UPDATE:
WELL! I see he returns. And those implications, wowza. Well those could be anything though. Poor wife.
The start of the story was all sorts of cute.
Dat cliffhanger. Dang it. Here's to next chapter.
Yea, definitely back on the track that I was hoping for. It won't be easy sailing to fix things, but life frequently isn't.
Nice to see Perry brought back in, I was wondering if he had been dropped since he and the poker night never came back up.
7276726 Except that's not really an accurate way of describing what happened.
It wasn't the entire relationship, it was just during a couple fights, and it was just bringing the previously existing love in the relationship back to the forefront. Nothing has stated that she actually created feelings in Shining that didn't already exist.
Sure, Cadance screwed up badly, but as described in the story she did not create the relationship out of nothing, she was just ending a few fights on account of really not liking fighting.
7277283
That's what she admitted to doing to Shining Armor. Regarding Vinyl and Intrepid, she said:
If that isn't "creating feelings that didn't actually exist," I don't know what is.
Regardless, she has an obvious track record of using magic to interfere with the emotions of other ponies, including her own significant other. She may not have manufactured Shining's feelings, but she did manipulate them to serve her own ends. Whether done with magic or old fashioned emotional manipulation, its pretty despicable.
Standing in Shining's horseshoes, he now knows several facts about Cadence. She has the ability to manipulate existing feelings and to create artificial affection between ponies. She has, in fact, done both of these things. She has done so without regard to the free will or consent of the parties involved. She obviously knows that these actions are wrong, evidenced by her hesitation when confronted about it, and did it anyway.
It would be understandably quite difficult to trust her again after this. Even if she didn't outright force Shining to love her, he will forever know that she could and has done so to others. That's a pretty treacherous foundation to build a relationship on.
7278259
This is the discussion I like seeing.
Knowing that there are two pretty distinct points of view on this lets me know I wrote it right.
7278360
You got me to push for a VinylxShining pairing, which I sure didn't expect at the beginning of this story. Great job on getting me engrossed in the romantic misadventures of this crew.
7278638
I wasn't expecting it either. Heck, the original plan was going to be Vinyl and Shining being long lost siblings not a potential pairing.
7278259
For Vinyl and Intrepid, sure, she absolutely did do that to them. And yeah, knowing that she has done that does invoke some pretty serious trust issues. But Vinyl and Intrepid's fake (so far) relationship is not Shining and Cadance's real relationship, and what has happened in one is not necessarily what happened in the other.
From an inside the story perspective, I could see Shining wondering about how much free will he has been allowed. But speaking outside of the story, it is still true that she has not done that to Shining, unless we're just not going to believe either what she admitted on the street to them or to Celestia the next chapter. Her story has been consistent once she admitted what was going on, so it's a question of either believing her or not. I believe her.
7279319
I agree that, from the perspective of the reader, I think Cadence is being truthful and that her intentions were good. I just also think that, from the perspective of the characters and their knowledge, Shining Armor would be entirely justified to put an end to his and Cadence's relationship.
7281318
I've been thinking of how to deal with that. i have a few ideas. I'll toss 'em around with my editor at some point and see what sticks.
Good stuff. I like the way you did the uncle B talk. When such advice starts with "you're an idiot" I expected a lame, tropey writer rant. However it ended up being pretty decent, carefully written insightful advice. Fics like this makes it worthwhile to come to this site.
7275340
7275478
According to the Journal of the Two Sisters, which was confirmed cannon by the staff, It takes six unicorns to raise and lower the sun/moon, however the power it takes is such that after a few times of doing it, the unicorns involved lose their magic forever. Starswirl was the only one strong enough to do it more than a few days but even he had to rely on others giving up their magic to keep himself going. Eventually, every adult unicorn in ancient Equestria had lost their magic and there was fear that the sun and moon would never rise again. Starswirl taught Celestia and Luna the spell with the reasoning that their alicorn bodies could regenerate the magic faster than it was spent meaning they could perform the task without issue. Of course they managed to pull it off and even earned their cutie marks in the process.
So Shining and Vinyl can trust each other, but not Cadance? Now I want to see those two adopt Lilly and form a family, somehow. Also, poor Mrs. Parry!
7284100 Yup. As I understand it, any alicorn can raise the sun without having their magic drained (though not every alicorn can do it in their own). Celestia and Luna's special talents mean not only can they do it on their own, they actually draw magic from the sun/moon when raising them. The sisters used this extra magic to rejuvenate the drained unicorns. It's also my theory that this extra magic is what makes them immortal, but that last point is just fan speculation.
7284308
You're assuming Lily's adopted father would allow that.
7284437 Vinyl could challenge him to a rock-off for his daughter.
Ooooooooo... I like how this chapter started out, nice and warm fuzzy feelings that make me approve~
I DO HOPE... I do hope... this evolves...
Glorious chappie, now to see lil' Lily :D
The quotes you put in every chapter are a nice touch.
Wow, first chapter ever read where there wasn't implied drunken sleeping around. Really refreshing.