Family
“Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you.”
-Walter Winchell
Celestia sat on the cushion from her personal apartment. She wanted to be as comfortable as possible while doing this little radio interview, and her reading cushion was the most comfortable piece of furniture in her quarters beside her bed. As much as she would love to do an interview from her bed, the Princess thought that might come off as a bit too decadent. For now she would settle with the cushion.
“Princess Celestia, Air Waves has arrived,” one of the guards standing just outside of the recording studio announced. Celestia knew she didn’t need to tell the guard to let the radio pony in, everypony around the castle knew Celestia was short on patience today so some of the trivial formalities were being overlooked.
The door opened and a light blue pegasus with a curled two-tone blue and white mane walked in. She did not look nervous, or even hesitant about coming into the room. Instead, her golden eyes were filled with determination and pride in her coming conquest. Celestia appreciated that amount of confidence, but if it went too far she would not hesitate to quell it. The Princess was still in control here.
“Your Majesty.” Air Waves gave a short bow then took her seat across from the monarch. “It’s an honor to be here, thank you for inviting me to do this.” While the tone was polite and respectful, the pegasus’ movements were almost mechanical in nature. Without prompting or thought, she flipped switches and turned knobs to her liking, putting a single headphone to her ear to listen to the sound coming from it. This was a professional, something Celestia was more than happy to have here. “My sound guy is already in the booth getting ready, he’ll signal us when he’s ready to go.”
“Of course.” Celestia smiled as she lifted her pair of custom headphones, specially designed for her larger alicorn head, and slipped them on. She had no use for them usually, so they were stiff and uncomfortable. It was temporary, that’s what she had to remind herself. “Thank you for coming in on such short notice. What I need to discuss is important, and I wanted a pony who knows about our government and obviously cares about the goings on in the palace.” Celestia ignored the fact that she could hear herself through the headphones, it was distracting to hear such an unfiltered version of her voice, but she wasn’t going to let such a little thing catch her off guard.
“So you heard that interview with Captain Galea?” Celestia nodded, which caused Air Waves’ face to go red. Quickly, the radio host regained her composure and spoke. “May I speak freely, Princess?”
“Of course, Air Waves,” Celestia responded earnestly. “I want you to speak as you would in your own studio. I want you to treat me as you would any guest.” Celestia thought on those words for a moment. “Well, perhaps not as harshly as Galea.” That elicited a short laugh from the pegasus.
“Galea is kind of a bitch.” That wasn’t a word that Celestia heard very often, but it felt good for somepony to say it. “To me at least. I mean, I get that you have to be at least some level of hardened to be the Captain of the Royal Guard, but I’ve heard interviews with Captain Knock Out and he was always cordial.”
“Galea is a different breed of captain that I haven’t seen in some time. If I am to be truthful, and off the record of course, I think she can truly be a benefit to the guard. I believe she can bring order to the division in most need of it.” Celestia truly did believe that, it’s the reason she let Galea go ahead with all of her firings. Knock Out, while being a good captain, was soft in his older age. He let things slide too easily and it made the guard sloppy and undisciplined. Galea was the counterweight that could change that, the only problem being that she was too ambitious. “The rest we will get to in the interview.”
“Right.” Air Waves fiddled with a slider in front of her and looked at a piece of paper that predated her entrance into the room. “Okay, so I’m going to open the show and immediately I’m going to let you speak and then we can move to the interview?”
“Yes. I feel the citizens would like to know why I’m doing this before we proceed to questions.” Celestia received a nod in response as the mare opposite skimmed over the notes left for her.
“Princess Celestia, Air Waves, we can start transmitting whenever you’re ready.” The voice, male, came over the headphones. Celestia assumed this was Air Waves’ sound guy on the other side of the tinted glass. The host looked to Celestia, who simply nodded.
“Start it up,” Air Waves said into the microphone.
“We’re transmitting on all channels.” A soft beeping sound came through the headphones, one Celestia knew was much louder coming through the radios. “Intro incoming.”
“Citizens of Canterlot and Equestria-” The pre-recorded voice, feminine and calming, washed across the nation. “-we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you an emergency message from Princess Celestia.”
“You’re live, Air.” The sound guy said through the headphones.
“Good evening, Equestria. My name is Air Waves and I’m here with the harbinger of the sun, sole monarch of Equestria, and mother to all: Princess Celestia.” Some of those titles, specifically the mother one, were from times long gone when Celestia was looked upon differently. They didn’t embarrass her, they tried to drag her mind back to different places and times.
“Hello, my little ponies.” Celestia spoke warmly. “I apologize for pulling you away from your favorite shows, but I fear I have some dire news. As of right now, the palace in Canterlot is in a state of emergency due to the government’s inability to function properly at this time. Myself, Princess Cadance, Captain Galea, and scores of others are here attempting to solve the problem efficiently and properly. It is not an easy process, nor is it one that anypony should relish in, but it must be done if we are to continue to function.” Celestia stopped herself from taking a deep breath directly into the microphone. She wanted to sigh, but she knew that was frowned upon around such delicate audio equipment. “Right now we are attempting to reorganize the government so that it can return to working order. Now, I’m sure you all have many questions, and that’s why Ms. Air Waves is here to ask those questions.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” Air Waves looked down at her paper and skimmed it quickly. “We know this was spurred by the charges of corruption against a supermajority of the nobles, do we know what is to become of them yet, or is that still up in the air?”
“The nobility that were charged will stand trial for their crimes, and if they are found guilty they will serve the appropriate sentences.” Celestia always relished in saying that. It wasn’t that long ago, from her point of view, that crimes were punished without fair trial. So saying such a thing, instilling such trust in the systems in place, gave her a sense of satisfaction. “As of right now, they are under house arrest in the lower apartments here in the palace and are awaiting trial. Articles laid down by Princess Platinum state that if the head of any noble family is found guilty of a crime, then the whole family will be stripped of their status. This will not change, and it is why we are reevaluating our government. If most or all of them are guilty, the house of nobles will no longer be a viable governing body.” Celestia wasn’t completely adept in the art of technical speak when it came to government, but she was more than skilled enough to talk about it with the common ponies.
“What are your current ideas for a new governing body, Princess? Anything standing out at the moment?” It was nice that Air Waves was sticking to the script she was given, Celestia feared that the bold pegasus might try to go off and expose something she shouldn’t.
“We’re currently looking to the Seaponies for inspiration. Equestria isn’t as small as it was one-hundred years ago, we have ponies from one end of the continent to the other and some even across the seas. The interests of all of Equestria cannot be represented by the few elite in Canterlot anymore, they no longer make up the largest or most influential group in Equestria. Instead, we’re looking into a more representative system where each city or perhaps province sends delegates to Canterlot to represent their interests. By the looks of it, it would be quite fair and give more power to the citizens, the real ponies and not just the elites.” Celestia was still very fond of the idea, and right now Cadance and Velvet were ironing out the gritty details with the remaining nobles.
“Very interesting, is there anything else you would like to divulge to the ponies?” Air Waves placed the paper down on the desk and looked straight into Celestia’s eyes. “I know we will hear more in depth discussion later, so is there anything simpler you would like to discuss?” Celestia had not thought of an answer to this question. She had seen it written down, but hadn’t thought of it all that much.
“Well, I want the ponies of Equestria to know that I will always be there for them. That I will always be here in Equestria looking out for them and doing what is right because of them and for them. Most importantly, I want everypony to know that this period may be scary or even uncertain, but I want them to take solace in that very fact. It shows that not even the ponies up here are perfect, that things are always subject to change and everything can always get better. Situations can always improve, it just takes the initiative of one pony to set things in motion.” Celestia realized the reasons that had caused all of these things to happen were selfish. Celestia did not feel guilty, though. Not even for a second. It was her duty to make the citizenry feel good about things, to even tell them little lies. She could only hope everypony believed every word she spoke.
----
“If Princess Celestia was a real pony, I would ask her out in a millisecond.” Vinyl switched off the radio as the broadcast came to an end. It had been an interesting listen, but she had been more focused on the alicorn’s tone and demeanor. It was so damn attractive for some reason!
“She is a real pony,” Twily responded as she scribbled notes on parchment, several books sprawled out in front of her on the coffee table. Even though the filly didn’t look at Vinyl, there was still an air of defensiveness around the retort.
“You know what I mean,” Vinyl said from her spot on the couch. “If she was like, more approachable. If she wasn’t a Princess.” Vinyl was like most other ponies, in that she viewed Princess Celestia as something more than equine. From birth, it’s instilled that the Princess is something more. It’s beaten into heads that Celestia is so ethereal and graceful that she is untouchable, unrelatable. Though, if there was one pony Vinyl would listen to otherwise it would be Twilight Sparkle. The little pony was most likely the only living authority on Princess Celestia.
“I don’t think it’s her fault.” Twilight put her quill down and looked at the parchment in front of her. “I think everypony just doesn’t give her a chance to be normal. Ponies give Cadance a chance and look, she went to school and everything and had friends.” Vinyl cringed at the mention of the younger alicorn. It was still a little bit of a sore subject to bring up, specifically because Twinkle wasn’t here to mitigate anything. The stallion was currently out getting groceries, so Vinyl was all too happy to skirt around the issue of Cadance.
“You think she needs a friend?” That was an interesting thought, a friend for a princess. Vinyl had assumed that Celestia had everything she could ever want, including friends. “I mean, how would you even start to make friends with her? It’s not like you can just waltz into the palace and demand a hangout session with her.” What a novel thought, that.
“Sure you can,” Twily responded as she used her magic to pull several sheets of parchment from her bag. Vinyl cocked her head, interested to hear what the filly meant. “Palace code says anypony can request a private audience with Princess Celestia. It’s up to her if it goes through, though.” Twilight puzzled over her papers until she put them in a certain order. “I think nopony does it because they’re afraid that Celestia will tell them no.” Hmm, Vinyl might have to give this a shot after all of this was said in done. It might be interesting to try and get to know Celestia a little, peek beyond the veil and get to see something new. That wasn’t to be thought about now, instead she was more interested in Twily’s new homework.
“What’cha workin’ on, Squirt?” Vinyl got up from the couch and sat beside the smaller unicorn. “It’s not like super complicated magic or anything is it?” Vinyl tilted her head and got a better look at the new papers, it was a set of very detailed instructions pertaining to the lesson. Vinyl wasn’t going to read all of it, she just assumed that Twily would give a reasonable explanation.
“It’s a magic exercise. Princess Celestia wants me to practice my enchanting skills on mundane objects.” So yeah, complicated magic it was. This was all foreign to Vinyl, she would help if she could but she doubted that Twily needed any help.
“What are you going to enchant? Like a quill or something?” Vinyl wasn’t sure if there were rules to what you could and couldn’t use magic on. She was about ninety percent sure that enchanting other living things was a no-go, but that was about it.
“No, it needs to be something unique.” The filly stood up and trotted around the apartment, her eyes tracking over every surface. It was clear that the little student was looking for something to impress her teacher, not that Vinyl knew what she was expecting to find. All of the cool stuff was locked up in Vinyl’s room, not that she would let the filly enchant the stuff even if the little prodigy asked nicely. “What about these?”
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Vinyl got up and raced to intercept Twilight as she lifted up the pair of rose-colored sunglasses that the DJ held dear. “Maybe not those, huh?” Vinyl picked up the fashion accessory in her magic and placed them on her head. “My dad gave those to me, so I would like it if nothing happened to them.”
“I won’t break them!” Twily shot back, stamping her hoof on the hardwood floor. “If anything, I’ll make them better.” Vinyl cocked an eyebrow at the statement. There wasn’t a lot of ways to make sunglasses ‘better’. “You make music, right?” The filly trotted back to her book and flipped through it until she found the particular page she was looking for.
“What do you want to do to them?” Vinyl was apprehensive about the whole situation. On one hoof, she didn’t want anything to happen to the last gift from her father, but on the other hoof advanced magic was really cool and she was kinda curious about what the filly could do. “Because if it’s like breaking them and reassembling them or something, I really can’t let you do it.”
“I’m not going to tell you unless you let me do it,” Twily demanded like the filly she was. If Vinyl was more strong-willed, it would’ve been a very hard no. But, all things considered, she was curious and she did trust the little unicorn enough. Vinyl hesitantly took the glasses from her head and gently placed them on the table in front of the young pony. “Thank you!” chirped the filly happily as she lit her horn and picked up the glasses.
“Just...be careful.” Vinyl was still worried, but for some reason she just couldn’t bring herself to say no to the curiosity that lingered in her head. Her wanting her glasses to be safe was overruled by her need to see what would be done to them.
Purple magic flew from Twily’s horn and traced lines across the table. First the energy made a circle and then etched arcane runes around the edges. Vinyl watched on in wonder as smaller circles made their appearance within the larger one and just inside the runes. It was then that all of the parts started rotating within each other, each circle or symbol dancing fluidly as Twily manipulated them.
Soon the circles rose from the surface of the table and became spheres, each spheroid within the greater structure spent time with the pair of glasses, the runes that were floating inside melding with the accessory. As Vinyl studied the runes and symbols, she realized that some of them were very similar looking to musical notation. That brought up more questions, but Vinyl would ask later. For now, she was mesmerized by the spectacle taking place in front of her.
It didn’t last long, though. Within thirty seconds of the spheres forming they dissipated and deposited the pair of sunglasses onto the table. Vinyl approached cautiously, noting that the color of the lenses had changed from a subtle rose to a darker purple. She held back a sigh, a little disappointed that they were going to be a few shades darker now. The old color went with her eyes better.
“Try them on,” Twilight instructed, taking deep breaths and wiping beads of sweat from her brow. “Tell me if they work.” Vinyl eagerly picked up the glasses and put them on, the world becoming coated with purple as she did so. “What do you think?”
As the little filly spoke colors flashed to life in front of Vinyl’s eyes. A subtle shade of blue pulsed with every syllable that Twily spoke, making Vinyl’s eyes go wide. Every little sound she heard, from the distant chatter of ponies on the street to the gentle hum of her fridge, produced little splashes of color all across her vision. The words though, the closest sounds were the most vibrant and prominent.
“This is so cool!” Vinyl exclaimed, her own voice making energetic flashes of yellow to appear. “What is this? Like some sort of audio visualizer?” She watched the colors intently, trying to decipher if they had any meaning or if they were chosen at random.
“It’s a charm that reproduces the effects of synesthesia.” Vinyl, tearing herself away from the light show in her eyes, turned to Twilight and cocked her head. “It’s a condition that sometimes allows ponies to hear colors. It’s a bit different though, emotions make the wavelengths different colors instead of being seemingly random.” Well that explained the rather cold blue that Twilight produced, she was being a bit clinical about all of this. “I figured that it might help with you with your music if you could see what kind of feelings it gave out.” There, just a little, a spark of soft pink amongst the blue. Perhaps a bit of embarrassment or even genuine kindness.
“Well thanks, Squirt!” Vinyl trotted over to the filly and mussed up her mane with a hoof. “Tell you what, next time I see Celestia I’ll show her these and say tell her to give you an ‘A’, because this is pretty cool.” Twilight gave a little smile and nodded, then sat back at the table. Vinyl saw the filly pull a textbook from her bag with some sort of math on it, so Vinyl immediately recoiled. “I’ll…I’ll let you get to that. Pretty sure I failed every math class I ever took, so I couldn’t help you even if you needed it.”
----
Shining arrived outside of Vinyl’s apartment and fished the keys out of the saddlebags that he had to borrow for Vinyl. Technically he was still on the clock, but he wasn’t really feeling the armor tonight. He wanted things to feel normal for Twilight while she was over, not like he was working. So that meant going without the handy storage functions that went with the armor and going with something more civilian to carry his bits and keys.
He unlocked the door and threw it open, fully expecting some scene of Vinyl and Twily at odds over something. Maybe even in the middle of a confrontation considering Vinyl’s current impulsiveness. Instead, it was the very serene scene of Twilight sitting at the coffee table working on some of her homework, and Vinyl lounging on the couch with a book in her magical grasp.
“I’m home,” Shining called to the two with a smile across his face. He actually liked the domestic feelings he got from all of this. Going out to the market to get things for dinner, coming back to a mare and a filly. Even if it was just Vinyl and Twily, something about the setup felt right. “Hope you two had a good time without me.”
Shining trotted over to the kitchen and began unloading things from the saddlebags. Some tomatoes, seasonings, a few loaves of bread, and a few different types of cheeses. He had decided to do something that was a bit of a staple in his diet when he was little: grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup. It would be a little more time consuming, but it would be worth it.
“Hey Shiny, looked what happened when you were out.” The very words chilled Shining’s blood as he turned around. Coming from Twily after having been left alone with Vinyl wasn’t a good sign. The worst case scenario, which immediately was at the forefront of his mind, was a lot of makeup all over his little sister’s face or some sort of makeshift tattoo. Instead, it was something much more horrifying.
“Why are your eyes red?!” Shining took his little sister’s face in his front hooves and examined her eyes. It was just the irises, but that made it even more confusing. What if a spell backfired or Vinyl had done something? How was he supposed to explain that to his mother, or even Celestia? “What happened?”
“Chillax, Twinkle.” Vinyl got up from her spot and trotted over to the siblings, suppressing laughs as she did so. “They’re my contacts I wear when I go out to clubs.” Shining opened his mouth, ready to protest several things, when he was cut off by the mare. “They’re sterilized and everything, I keep them in solution when I’m not using them. I thought it would be cool if she tried ‘em out, turns out they really go with her coat.” Vinyl herself looked different for some reason, it was probably the sunglasses. They weren’t the ones she usually wore, these were a lot darker than those.
“What did you get for dinner?” Twily trotted past Shining and stood on her hind legs to see on top of the counter. “Tomato soup and grilled cheese? Did you get the right kind of cheese?” Shining rolled his eyes at Twilight’s pickiness, she was always so particular about her food.
“Colby and monterey, yeah.” Shining used his magic to gently dissuade Twily away from the counter. “Go back and do your homework, I’ll start this stuff up and call you when it’s ready.” Twily thankfully nodded and went back to her spot in the middle of the living room, leaving Shining and Vinyl alone together. “How are you doing, Scratch?” He was hoping that Vinyl was doing okay and not acting too out of character.
“Me? I’m fine.” Vinyl cocked her head and rested a hoof gently against his barrel. “How are you? After the whole-” Vinyl looked in the direction of Twily. “-y’know what.” Well, at least she had the common sense to not mention Cadance directly. That helped a lot more than she knew.
“I’m good. It was just a bit of a spat. Things are still a little raw, and both of us weren’t ready for that talk yet.” Shining was lying through his teeth, but it would have to do for now. He couldn’t really tell Vinyl why it had really devolved into him yelling, not yet. “It was bad judgement on my part.” Shining focused on sorting all of his ingredients in the order he would need them. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I just want to spend the night with you and Twily, just relax while we can.” That was the cold hard truth. He just wanted some time to wind down and just not think about troubles or problems.
“Alright, yeah.” Vinyl pulled away, her voice a bit more emotionally dim than previous. “I’m just going to finish the book I was reading. Call me if you need any help or anything.” Shining couldn’t help but feel he had said something wrong, or perhaps Vinyl had caught him lying. The past few times they had cooked the other had always just hung around to converse. There wasn’t usually such a gulf between them.
“It won’t take long,” Shining promised as Vinyl trotted away, taking off her glasses and stashing them on top of her head. Shining turned back to his work and began preparations for the meal.
He quickly slipped into a well practiced routine as he made the soup. His mind drifted to other matters , letting his body to carry on the work on its own. Vinyl was a bit of an enigma, now more than ever. Every single shift in mood was not something he could easily predict now, nor could he rely on her giving the appropriate response to certain situations where most ponies’ self-restraint would kick in.
The most he could do was just try to restrain her the best he could in not so overt ways. The absolute least he could do was keep her out of dangerous situations where the charm placed upon her would be the most obvious. That wasn’t really an option, as she was going to have to face Glory at some point within the next decade.
The only other thing he could do was tell Celestia. He couldn’t tell Captain Galea, as it would just prove he was so irresponsible as to leave Vinyl alone with somepony he knew used mind-altering spells. At least with Celestia he might be able to get some sort of fix for it.
“Hey Shiny?” Shining snapped out of his thoughts, unsure about just how much time had passed. Everything was already in the pot and boiling, so his thoughts must have occupied more time than he thought. Now Twily was standing by his side and gently nudging him with a hoof.
“What’s up, Twily? Need some help on your homework?” Shining was more than happy to take his mind off of Vinyl. Some math was a welcome distraction. Instead, the little unicorn shook her head.
“What’s wrong with Vinyl?” Shining sighed immediately at the question. It was loaded and dangerous. “There’s a lot of magic coming off of her, and I don’t think she cast it herself.” He wanted to hit himself in the head. That’s how he had found out about the spell, so of course Twily would’ve been able to sense the excess magic as well. “Did you cast a spell on her?”
“What? Me? No, no.” Shining kept his voice low as not to disturb Vinyl or draw attention to the conversation. “It’s a...it’s a long story, alright?” He really didn’t want to get into this with Twilight, he didn’t want to expose Cadance for being a bad pony to Twilight. Not yet. “I’ll...I’ll tell you about it after Vinyl goes to sleep.”
“Do you promise?” Shining hated those three words. It was a binding commitment that he knew Twily would not let him forget or break. He bit his lip and tried to find some way to get out of it, but knowing everything Twily would do to badger him about it, possibly even talking to Vinyl directly, he caved.
“Yeah, I promise.” Shining relented with a sigh. “Now go finish up your homework, dinner’s almost ready.” Now Shining had to think of some lie to tell Twilight, or how to tell her the truth. Both weren’t easy, and both could lead to just more and more problems. What in the hell was he supposed to do with all of these situations? How was he supposed to juggle all of these threads and keep all these balls straight in the air?
After a few minutes of worrying himself even more and grilling the sandwiches, he carried a tray full of bowls and plates over to the coffee table and laid it down. He parsed out the bowls and plates to both of the females and one for himself. He sat near Twily and started to stir his bowl of soup to cool it down a little.
“No drinks?” Vinyl asked, cocking her head to the side. Shining rolled his eyes and got up. “No, don’t worry. I got it.” She got up instead and walked over to the kitchen. “Some wine sound good, Twinkle? I think I have an extra bottle around here somewhere.”
“Sure.” Shining looked at his meal and studied it, conversations with his parents crossing his mind a few times over. “Wine and grilled cheese, the best of both worlds.” Usually he would’ve been scolded for ‘mixing classes of food’, but he wasn’t exactly under his parents’ hooves anymore. He could do something a bit ridiculous.
“I think I’ll just take a glass of water,” Twily called out to Vinyl as she dipped a half of her grilled cheese into the soup.
“Are you sure?” Vinyl asked sarcastically. “I think you would be a pretty fun drunk.” Shining and Twily’s eyes met and they rolled them in sync with one another. That was the kind of sarcastic quip they were used to over dinner. Made it feel a little more like home.
“Thank you,” The siblings said as Vinyl came back and put drinks in front of them. Shining looked at his elongated glass and the deep red liquid within and gave a sip. It tasted nice and bold, would probably clash with the grilled cheese a bit, but oh well.
“Did I ever tell you about the time I broke into the old amusement park on the west side?” Vinyl asked as she took a bite of her freshly drenched sandwich. Shining thought about the question, trying to recall any possible stories like that, but ultimately shook his head. “Oh man, it’s a good one.” The mare put down her sandwich and clapped her hooves together. “So you remember Oaky’s, right? That old park that shut down like fifteen years ago.” Vinyl turned to Twily. “You wouldn’t, but you’ve probably seen what’s left on the outskirts of the city.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Shining thought back to the one time he went. It was surprisingly awful. “They shut it down because some kid died on one of the rides, right?” Thinking back, it was probably a good idea he only went once.
“Something like that. Doesn’t matter.” Vinyl waved her hoof as she took a minute to chow down some more of her food. “I had this friend in highschool, well, ‘friend’ is a strong word. Mutual acquaintance, really. The guy got me beat up twice, lead to one concussion and about one suspension. His name was Saxo, and he wasn’t exactly the smartest or nicest guy.” Vinyl chuckled at some line of thought she didn’t say aloud and went on with her story. “Right, so the guy comes to my house in the middle of the night with two of my other friends and tells me we’re going to break into Oaky’s to hunt for the ghost of the foal who died.”
“You know ghosts don’t exist, right?” Twilight chimed in, her gaze critical. Vinyl simply waved the filly’s criticism away and went on with her story.
“Duh, it was just some excuse to go out and do something stupid and dangerous. You don’t just get up and say ‘we’re going to go out and do something that will either get us in trouble or hurt us.’ You have to rationalize it with something, for us it was a ghost story. So anyway, we go in and my buddy Torch cuts through the fence and gets us in. We’re in there just wandering and trying to psyche each other out with some bullshit stories when we hear it, a wail of some kind. We get spooked, y’know? We’re there for ghosts and here comes some kind of ghostly cry. After we grow a collective pair, we went and found out what it was.” Vinyl once again took a food break. “Turns out it was a griffon. A bolt of lightning had struck the guy like two days ago and he had just been laying in one of the abandoned stalls waiting for somepony to come by. The dude’s wing was all blackened and bent in all the wrong ways. We go closer to help him and the dude lashes out at Torch and cuts him right across the face. Turns out the griffon was some kind of escaped convict from the Empire and flew all the way down to Equestria before he was stopped by a storm.”
“What happened?” Shining leaned in. He was curious, as Equestria didn’t really have much policy on escaped prisoners. Last he heard, they mainly fell under the Princesses’ jurisdiction and were usually rehabilitated like any other Equestrian was.
“Guards came and carted him away.” Vinyl shrugged. “Never really followed up.” Shining decided he would have to look into that case, he was curious now. “Torch still has the scars I think. I haven’t talked to him in like five years.” That was it? Shining felt like he was left wanting.
“What was the point of that?” Twily asked, finishing off her sandwich and focusing on the soup. “There wasn’t exactly a moral or any underlying theme.” Vinyl looked at the filly with a deadpan gaze.
“Not every story needs to have some sort of point or moral, Squirt. Some stories can just be told for the sake of being told, y’know?” Vinyl took a large chunk out of her sandwich. “Gotta quit thinking of everything so meticulously and just enjoy a thing or two.” Shining saw Twily look down at her soup with a concentrated gaze, then just shake her head.
The rest of the meal was enjoyed in relative silence. A few small and meaningless conversations were had here and there, but nothing of substance or note. The three unicorns simply sat and ate their meal. It was nice, simple, almost familial.
It felt right.
----
Cadance would be the first to tell you that spending a lot of time in the same room as your ex-coltfriend’s mother was awkward. It was even more awkward when you weren’t sure of how much she knew about the situation. Did Velvet know they were broken up? If so, did she know the reason?
With Galea, Celestia, and most of the other members out for a food break, it left only Twilight Velvet and herself alone in the library. If there was ever a time to talk about things, it would be now. But first, Cadance had to probe the depths of the mare’s knowledge.
“How’s Twilight doing, Velvet?” Cadance asked, looking up from the contracts and books scattered across the long table they were sat at. “I haven’t had much time to keep up with her during all of this madness. You know if I had the time I would foalsit her in a minute.” Cadance added her best smile to the sentiment, not a disingenuous one either. Cadance would love to spend a little quality time with Twilight, she was such a bright and wonderfull filly.
“It’s fine, Candance.” Velvet said, putting down the quill she was using and lifting the purple-rimmed glasses from her eyes. “You saw that my mother is staying with us now, so she can watch Twilight if we’re busy.” Velvet paused for a minute. “Tonight is the exception, as I’m not exactly okay with her coming all the way up to the palace and then going back. I sent Twilight off with Shining and Vinyl for the night, it was a last minute thing but I’m sure it will work out.”
Alarm bells went off throughout Cadance’s head. Shining had picked up on what she did to Vinyl because he could sense the excess magic on her, and he could do that because he was a powerful unicorn. Twilight was a lot stronger than him and possessed none of the tact, so a lot of things could go wrong in one night. This presented a clear and present danger to Cadance’s plans.
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll have fun there. Vinyl is a wonderful pony, no doubt she’ll be able to bring out Twilight’s lighter side.” Cadance kept her poise, her mind juggling just one more problem. She could easily find a way out of this, find out a way to keep Twilight’s mouth shut and keep Vinyl from figuring this out. It would just take some split-second decisions.
“I’m hoping,” Velvet said with a sigh. “I’ve met Vinyl Scratch on a few occasions and I must say, she is something else. She reminds me a bit of Night Light, you know, with her wits and sense of humor.” Velvet looked to the ceiling of the library wistfully, a small smile crossing her lips. “I think that’s good for ponies like Twilight and Shining, they need somepony like Vinyl to really make them happy.”
That hurt, Cadance wouldn’t lie. It felt like a dig at her impact on Shining’s life, that she never really made him happy. She felt like she had left a positive impact on Shining and Twilight’s lives for the most part. She had helped Twilight socialize a bit more, she had convinced Shining to go for guard training after his accident. If anything, she had been more of a driving force than anypony else in the siblings’ lives.
“It’s too bad she’s a bit of a troublemaker.” Cadance fired back, keeping the venom from her words. “That kind of influence can’t be good for them. Especially Twilight, she’s so young and impressionable. I would hate for Vinyl to say something or put an idea in her head.” Cadance swore she saw Velvet’s eye twitch ever so slightly.
“Well you know, there’s a lot of different kinds of bad influences. Being a sarcastic troublemaker might be better than being somepony with no morals or ethics who performs magic on others without their consent.” There it was, the older mare just laid all of her cards out on the table. She knew, Shining probably told her. Go figure, he was always a momma’s colt.
“How much do you know, Velvet?” Cadance said with a sigh. She needed to know exactly how much Shining had told her. Maybe she could talk around the subject or even convince Velvet that she didn’t understand the situation.
“Everything.” Velvet said with a definitive glare.
“Even about Vinyl?” Cadance asked, closing her eyes. She was spent here, she was dead to rights. Shining wouldn’t confront Celestia about this stuff, but Velvet? That was another, more volatile matter.
“What did you do to Vinyl?” The librarian fired back, making her way around the table and advancing on the alicorn. Cadance clenched her teeth, disappointed in her stupid blunder. She had walked right into it with no subtlety.
“You know what, that’s none of your business.” Cadance straightened her posture, rising to her full height. She even spread her wings for good measure. This princess was not going to be patronized by her ex-coltfriend’s mother. Not now.
“What are you doing Cadance?” Vevlet, her eyes narrowed, did not carry any venom in her voice. Instead it was motherly concern. “What are you trying to accomplish with all of this manipulation and magic? I’m being serious, I want you to ask yourself what you’re doing.”
“I’m…” Cadance’s stance faltered, her shoulders and wings drooping. She was trying to make everything right again, she was trying to make everything okay. Tears welled up in the alicorn’s eyes as the stress and anger from the past week started boiling to the top. What else was she supposed to be doing? Letting it all play out and leaving her alone and bitter just like Celestia? Acting too late and letting the ponies she love slip away and hate her just like Celestia? No! Cadance was going to avoid that! She was going to make this all right and she was going to do it tonight. “I’m not letting you stop me, Velvet. I’m trying to get things back to normal.”
“I’m going to speak to Celestia about this.” Velvet threatened. “I’m going to tell her what you’ve done and that I don’t want you around Twilight anymore.” In an instant, the elder mare’s gaze went from furious to blank.
Cadance had to act! She didn’t want to lose Twilight because of all of this! She couldn’t! She had just cast a suggestion charm over Velvet, something to buy her enough time to think of a solution. She had to throw Velvet off and get her out of the picture for just a bit, just enough to go to Vinyl’s and make sure Twilight stayed in the dark. She had to make Shining forgive her and tell Velvet it was all a big misunderstanding.
“Go lie down, Velvet. I think you’re getting a little tired.” Cadance lit her horn to implant the suggestion. “Go get some sleep, alright?” Just one more spell and this whole mess would be sorted out, just one more.
Shining would be the final nail, all she had to do was convince him that everything could go back to normal.
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Cadence....Why you so stupid? It's this kinda use of magic that got you into this trouble in the first place.
Jesus Christ Cadance! She is gonna be in deep shit when Clestia finds out. What she did the first time was unethical, but I could see why Celestia let her off with it, but what she's now done to Vinyl and Velvet is straight up mind control!
What's worse is she is on that slippery slope of justification that leaves her thinking she can get away with everything and that she isn't in the wrong. With all the government issues going on, this is really going to be bad
Cadence.....
You are a fool! What was this supposed to accomplish? It has yet to work in the past, why would it work now? You are literally going the extra mile for no reason, on a quest no one gave you, for a reward you already had.
Gaaah! It's a testament to your writing that I want to grab Cadence out of the story and give her a solid smack across the face so much while still loving the story so much.
Every time I think Cadance has hit rock bottom, she just keeps digging the hole deeper.
No wonder Lesson Zero happened if this was one of Twilight's role models.
Wow, someone needs to take that shovel away from Cadance because she just keeps digging her hole deeper
Also, wow. Cadence really is losing herself to her desires isn't she? Can't wait for the next chapter!
Son of a bitch... Cadance, you're a fucking fool, and everything I see you do makes me sick to my stomach! You've dug yourself so far down into this hole of yours that I can't even see your bright outline anymore!
Good lord....
Nice job
Cadance, LET GO OF THAT DAMN IDIOT BALL YOU STUPID BITCH
Twilight Velvet is the mother of two of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. I want to believe someone like her was smart enough to take precautions before confronting a mind bending , unstable alicorn.
Is that, like, a dig at yourself?
7993824
Not really. I would say this story has a few morals or lessons that aren't really subtle. This is more of just a general philosophy.
7993922 I was asking as sometimes, some authors will make a self-aware remark in their story.
Also, great that you're starting to come back. Only like, what, 5 more chapters of this story left to go?
You know, normally I think "haha it's naive but sorta nice" when it comes to Celestia and everyone being intimidated to be friends with her and somebody saying "I should be friends with her!" But I think, in this case, it's actually the a very understandable fear, because of the things they don't know about Celestia. Maybe it would be healthy for Celestia to relate to a younger pony who becomes "real" to her.
Or maybe she'll just see the person as a toy their whole life, and it will reinforce that Celestia is a being above the normal ponies.
I can't say which is true. She certainly isn't changing that much due to Twilight's influence, but Twilight is still yet young.
Also, Christ, Cadance. Doubling down in all the wrong ways.
7993629
Honestly, I really hope you're right and that Velvet did have precautions, but it's possible that there aren't any known precautions to this sort of ability.
7993938
You
canmust shot first. Here, Han Solo shows how it´s done.katelynnpamplin.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/hanshotfirst.gif
It´s funny remembering back when Captain Galea declared only alicorns were fit to rule because mortal ponies were falible
. If anything, the whole fic proves all alicorns are mental, and the last guys who should ever get close to any position of authority.
Can dance, eh? sounds like a hobo name to me.
Tracking the disaster that leaves me wondering if Cadance and Shining Armor can ever get back together again...
So this is what, the third time Cadence?
You know, my Cadance and your Cadance are quite the study in contrasts. Namely, my Cadance is doing right everything that your Cadance is doing wrong, for the exact same reason: they're following Celestia's advice.
In your story, Celestia essentially told Cadance that mind control on normal ponies is totally ok, because she's a Princess and she knows better. She didn't word it like that, but that was the message behind it. Even after Celestia later backpedaled and told Cadance that maybe her advice wasn't correct, Cadance is still following it, manipulating the mortals, "For their own good.'' Every time she tries, however, she just makes everything worse because that worldview isn't accurate in the slightest. That's why her story can't have a happy ending, not without turning the entire novel into a tragedy for everyone else.
My Celestia took the opposite stance, and told Cadance that what she did was wrong and that she needed to make amends and come clean immediately before it turned into a massive scandal. Now my Cadance is doing just that, and is on the road to salvaging her relationships despite the fact that her initial mistake (accidental mind/physical rape) was far more severe. Fixing small mistakes before they turn into big ones is one of the most common ways to act less stupid, and really highlights exactly why your Cadance is failing so badly.
In short, reading your story makes me see my own in a new light, and that makes me happy. I can't wait to watch Cadance crash and burn.
Cadance, please don't do this! Your actions will only cause heartbreak.
7993629
....that's....actually a very good point.
Why DIDN"T she take precautions if she knew Cadance had done all the mind altering stuff.....
7995493
Remember when Shining talked to his mom about Cadance when he was going to get Glory from the train station?
He told her that Cadance made him feel vulnerable. That even if he had known what she was doing, he couldn't stop it because of how much stronger an alicorn is even compared to him.
You think his mom is as powerful as him?
7995511
Hmm. A good point.
I could see her at least getting an enchanted amulet or SOMETHING. Even if it was able to be over-written; the simple thought of foresight.
So the question till next chapter, did she go through with it, or will she have to self control to stop.
Sounds like Celestia is laying the groundwork for the Grand Equestria Pony Summit, although they're more of an advisory board to the Princesses than an actual governing body.
Teenage Cadance is excessively teenage.
I believe the technical term for what Cadence is experiencing is an "inescapable vortex of failure."
Alright, Sal, load up the popcorn, and get us a cinema's worth of drinkables. It's gonna be one heck of a party.
The highway to Tarturus is paved with good intentions Cadance dear.
T
either just "should relish"
or "should take relish in"
Hear that nose? That's the sound of Galea having the last laugh (well, not really, she doesn't strike me as the type to laugh, not even in an 'evil satisfaction' sort of way) as even an alicorn shows herself to be quite fallible to things like mind magic.