The Adventures of Derpy, Lyra, and Octavia

by IsabellaAmoreSirenix

Coming Together! Let's Save Derpy Hooves!

The Moon Festival. For the politicians in Canterlot, it marked the anniversary of the day that Princess Luna officially rejoined her sister to complete the diarchy of Equestria. For the tourists from Prance or Zebrica, it was a holiday to commemorate the official start of winter. But for the average Equestrian, the day was simply a chance to celebrate a princess whom they loved.

Octavia sighed as she looked up at the sun, low on the horizon. “I don’t regret what I said,” she told Vinyl. “It had to come out. Sure, I’ll admit that there were nice times with them, but overall, the hyperactivity of those two mares was just too much to handle.”

“If that’s the case,” Vinyl replied, “then why has it been the only thing you’ve been talking about all afternoon?”

Octavia peered into the cup of cocoa in her hooves. Because this hot chocolate is the one I gave Derpy when she had a cold. Because that dog barking in the distance is the Germane Shepherd that Derpy and I spent all day trying to find. Because that filly’s moon lantern is covered in sparkles that Derpy would love. Because all the noise and bustling and annoyance, Derpy wouldn’t see any of it. She’d be so excited.

Octavia started blinking furiously as the world blurred. She’s sitting here, Octavia thought. She’s right here. She bought one of those crystal sugar sticks they were selling back there. She’s swinging her legs under the bench. She’s look up at the sun and smiling and chattering on about how pretty the festival looks with the children’s lanterns strung around the garden. She’s happy.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a white hoof obscured Octavia’s vision. “Hello?” asked Vinyl, waving her hoof back and forth in front of the musician’s face. “Equestria to Octavia, Equestria to Octavia, do you read me?”

“Huh?”

Vinyl’s forehead crinkled in worry. “You zoned out for a bit. I was talking to you about finding a new dorm room for the month. My friend Sea Swirl, her roommate works a night job; if you timed it right, you could sleep there until they work out the rooms. Sea Swirl’s a nice girl, really down to earth—“

“I am a bad pony?” It burst out of Octavia’s mouth like blood from a re-opened wound.

“What the hell makes you say that?” Vinyl asked. “I didn’t know it was a crime to take advantage of an unused bed.”

“No, not that,” Octavia said. “Just… Am I weak or self-centered, not being able to handle two weeks of insanity?”

Vinyl shifted to face her. Placing both hooves neatly in her lap, she asked, “Well, what do you think?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Vinyl,” Octavia moaned, kicking her empty Styrofoam cup into the nearest trash can. “They weren’t arsonists or anarchists or anti-Harmonists or terrorists or any other kinds of –ists. They didn’t want to blow up the school or overthrow Princess Celestia and Luna or destroy the Tree of Harmony or spit on a Moosart concerto. They weren’t bad ponies. Just two mares who got under my skin and made me uncomfortable. Was that so horrible that we had to split up like we did?”

“You know,” said Vinyl with a smile, “the Octavia I talked to at the start of this month wouldn’t have cared about any of that stuff. I’d say you’re not as bad as you think.”

“But I still stormed out,” Octavia said. “I left everything in pieces.”

“What, are you saying you want to go back after all?”

“No!” Octavia shouted. “Maybe I could stay with Derpy if I taught her not to take my money, but Lyra is way too crazy to handle! I can’t go back to that kind of insanity. I just…” She rested her chin in her hooves and closed her eyes. “The head banging on the piano is gone. Now, there’s nothing but silence. And… I just don’t know how to fill it.”

---

"Celly! Pst! Celly, over here!"

With a roll of her eyes, Princess Celestia wove her way gracefully through the crowd of ponies to stop right under the bright neon sign that had suddenly appeared. "Yes, Discord?" she asked.

"Oh come now, Sunbutt darling," said Discord, twirling a lock of her mane in his talons, "I've just had the most wonderful revelation, and of course, I wanted to share it with a good friend such as yourself."

"Obviously," the princess said, narrowing her eyes. "What is it?"

"Chaos," he said, relishing the word. "It's so strong, you could taste it. Turns out that one of your little ponies is feeling discordant, Celestia. Isn't it wonderful?"

"What do you intend to do, Discord, and when will you read an Equestrian law book instead of coming to me?"

"Ooh, testy, aren't we?" Discord said gleefully. "I'm reformed, don't you remember, dear? I'm not going to do anything bad, per se, but curiosity is a power force in this world..."

"Does it involve explosives?" Celestia asked.

"Nope!"

"Is it entirely legal?"

"Well, the term 'legal' is a tricky one..."

Celestia sighed and turned away. "Go ahead, Discord."

---

“I’m supposed to know everything about ponies,” Lyra told Bon Bon. “That’s why writers observe ponies, of course, to know just how they would act in a story. But this! I don’t know how to handle it, I just don’t.”

“I never took a social sciences class, you know,” Bon Bon said, “so if you’re asking me to give you a deep psycho-analysis, you might want to look elsewhere.”

“But that’s just it, I can’t! Bon Bon, you’re pretty much the only sane thing holding me together. Without you, I’d be wandering around this whole festival and thinking about Derpy. I remember so much, so freaking much! Walking through her, I keep on remembering the first time I took her to this garden, and how we ran singing through the trees like we were five years old. It’s been happening all day, everywhere I go, and I don’t know how to get rid of it. I feel like I’m trapped in one of those stupid, cliché romance novels like The Trip of Our Hooves.” Lyra kicked a loose pebble as she walked past it. “Great, just great! And now I remember how I criticized Octavia for liking that book! This is madness, the essence of madness! Quick, where’s a quill?”

“Again, not a psychology major,” Bon Bon said as she watched her friend rummage through her saddlebags, “but I think what you’re feeling is more commonly referred to as a guilty conscience.”

Lyra slumped against a tree trunk. "What do you mean, 'guilty conscience'?" she asked. "What do I have to feel guilty about?"

"Well," Bon Bon started, sitting next to her friend, "this mare Octavia, she thinks you're strange, right?"

"Yeah," Lyra said.

"She thought so from the very beginning?"

"Uh-huh."

"And so what did you do?"

"I kept being myself, of course!" Lyra exclaimed. "I'm my own person; I don't feel the need to change who I am just so ponies will like me."

"But you don't need to keep putting ponies off, either," Bon Bon countered.

When Lyra stayed quiet, she continued. "I know you, Lyra. For as much as you like 'unravelling the behavior of ponies,' you like being a little of a mystery. You jump into every single battle without any warning, you march to the beat of your own drum, but you don't turn around to see if your army can catch up."

Lyra gasped, placing a hoof to her chest. "The cliche phrases!" she cried. "You wound me!"

Bon Bon smiled and shook her head. "You know what Octavia would think of that? She'd think you were even weirder than you already are. And that's my point. You can't treat ponies the same way you treat me. Some ponies need you to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to follow you into the forest."

"Okay, now you're just doing it on purpose."

Bon Bon threw back her head and laughed. "Only because I can."

Lyra sighed, and she stared into the shining face of the moon. "Answer me honestly, Bon Bon," she requested. "Am I a bad pony?"

"Why, not at all," Bon Bon said, then paused. "Well, not most of the time, anyway."

---

"Out of the way, out of the way!" Discord called, pushing his way through the crowds. "Important chaos business at work!"

The draconequus waved a strange contraption, a sonic screwdriver with a pulsing blue light that seemed to function as a kind of metal-detector. "The signal's fluctuating," he said to himself, "but I'm getting closer! Finally, a bit of fun tonight!"

---

"You're just mopey and grumpy and super-possessive of your instruments!" Vinyl said. "You're not a bad pony!"

"Thank you so much for that," Octavia grumbled. "I still have no idea what to do, though."

"Oh, I think you do; you just don't want to say it." Vinyl gave her a pointed look.

Sigh. "I'm going to have to apologize, aren't I?"

"You're damn right you are! Isn't it exciting?"

---

"I don't think I'll be able to go back to that dorm room, though," Lyra said. "Not after what happened this morning."

"Maybe not," Bon Bon said, "but no matter what you decide to do, you need to at least get some closure."

"You're making it sound like I just had a breakup or something."

Bon Bon smirked. "Didn't you?"

---

"Ooh, what could it be?" Discord wondered as he swung from a vine of sand. "A broken heart, a political divide, an anti-friendship canon, a fight over the last slice of apple pie...!"

---

"There's nothing wrong with being a downer sometimes," Vinyl said. "Heck, a lot of times it's good for keeping your head on straight. But if you're going to be that kind of pony, you should consider how it affects the ponies around you."

"Wow," said Octavia, impressed, "when did you become such a philosopher?"

"'Tis the beauty of a young night and aged alcohol," Vinyl answered sagely.

"Alcohol!" Octavia exclaimed. "Berry Punch's party! How could I have forgotten?"

"Hey, relax," Vinyl said, "you have plenty more chances to get wasted tonight."

"No, I don't mean that! I mean that Derpy's probably there! I have to go, right now!" I... I have to make things right.

---

"Bye, Bon Bon!" Lyra called over her shoulder before taking off galloping. Don't worry, okay, kid? she thought. You have a friend coming to help.

---

Gleefully, Discord broke through the final hedge bush, only to come face-to-face with a lonely tree and an empty bench.

"Darn," Discord grumbled. "No chaos after all. Just a bunch of sappy Harmony."

Author's Note:

An impromptu three-parter!

Also, I made 30,000 words!
...
Let's go for the fifty.

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

Next up on the rotation: "Lyra and Octavia Meet Derpy Hooves' Abandonment Issues."

[ConningOfficer]

"Oh come now, Sunbutt darling," said Discord, twirling a lock of her mane in his talons, "I've just had the most wonderful revelation, and of course, I wanted to share it with a good friend such as yourself."

Hurray! My favorite finger-snapping instrument of villainous comic relief comes on stage!

I'm so glad that they are making the right choice, and the party... I'm sure it's going to be.... (wait for it)... a real barn burner!!!