Broken Family, Healed Family

by Amos Anon

Interlude 1: Ixisten in Ponyville

“Okay. That should be... Finished.” Ixisten stepped back from his most recent project, and wiped sweat from his eyes. He placed his hoof on the keyboard of the piano, and played two keys a full octave apart, checking to see if they were in tune with each other. He nodded his head in satisfaction, then continued to check every key on the piano to make sure every one was in tune with the other. It took a good ten minutes, making minor adjustments as he went, and once he’d finished, he breathed a sigh of relief. Tuning a piano was extremely difficult, and took up hours of time; especially if it had to be done by ear. Contrary to popular belief, most pianos have multiple strings per note, which compounds the issue of tuning. Rather than having just one string per note to tune, there were usually two or three per note. Unfortunately, most of the nobles he’d had to tune pianos for hadn’t had theirs tuned in quite some time, so it often took longer than he’d like to get their instruments up to snuff. It was a shame, too, since most of the pianos in the nobles’ homes were beautifully made pieces. In a perfect environment, between isolating each string, tuning each string of each note, and then tuning each note to the rest of the piano should take about four to five hours, but for Ixisten, It usually took much longer than that.

Of course, magic would help with that, but Twilight’s magic lessons hadn’t really done him all that much good. He could still barely lift a pencil off the ground, much to his embarrassment. It didn’t matter all that much to him, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealosy at seeing Vivid moving objects around like it was nothing. Twilight said it was something about her being younger and being able to learn quicker than an adult, but Ixisten couldn’t help but doubt her word; Maelstrom seemed to be picking up the magic lessons without difficulty, and even he could lift a broom.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. Even though it wasn’t really what he’d wanted to do for the rest of his life, tuning pianos was a lucrative business in Equestria, and he’d met some interesting people... Ponies. Whatever. Heck, he’d even tuned a piano for Prince Blueblood, who had turned out to be less of a jerk than he’d anticipated. From what Motodrop had told him, you’d think that the stallion would have been a total prat, but he’d treated Ixisten alright. Well, he’d been a bit demanding and a bit snooty, but Ixisten had put up with much worse than that before.

“Is it finished?” Ixisten nodded and stretched, his spine cracking and popping in multiple places. “Fantastic!” The mare- a local from Ponyville- sat down at the piano bench and played a simple tune on the upright piano’s keyboard. The sounds reverbrated through the small house, and Ixisten allowed a small smile to form on his muzzle. “It sounds great! I haven’t head this piano sound this good in... well, years!” The mare jumped up, and glomped Ixisten, who just stood there with a blank expression. “Thank you so much!”

That was another thing about Equestria that took some getting used to. The openness and general cheerfulness from everyone... everypony? Whatever. People on Earth didn’t just openly hug someone they didn’t know. Well, at least not in Canada. But ponies? It was like they couldn’t help themselves. Glomping had become a rather frequent event after every tuning, and Ixisten had learned to just take it at face value, and chalked it up to simple expressions of gratitude. Of course, he wasn’t about to complain if a pretty mare...

Nope. Not gonna go there. After all, he and Octavia were... well, he didn’t really know what they were, but whatever they were, he wanted to keep it that way. For now.

The mare pulled out of her hug, and ran into the kitchen to fetch her bag of bits. As he waited, Ixisten sat down at the piano, and played ‘To Zanarkand’.

“Wow. I’ve never heard that one before.” The mare had reentered the living room, a smile on her face and a bag of bits suspended in her magic.

She’s a unicorn. Huh, I didn’t even notice. “It’s a song from a different country. It’s kind of my go-to song for when I just want to play something.”

“Well, I’d love to learn it sometime.” The mare pulled out the required coins, and held them out in her magic for Ixisten to take, only to blink in confusion as he reached out with his hoof and manually placed them in his money bag. “... um... well anyway, it was nice to meet you, Mr. Ixisten. Thank you again for the piano tuning.”

Ixisten nodded, and tossed the bag of bits, along with his tuning tools into his saddlebags, which he pulled over his back, cinching it tight into place.

“Thank you for your business. If you ever need tuning again, you know how to find me.”

The mare smiled, and opened the door for him. “I’ll be sure to do that. See you later!”

With that, the door closed, leaving Ixisten standing in one of the side streets of Ponyville.

Well that was a bit abrupt. He shrugged, and glanced at the sky, taking note of the position of the sun. Looks like I finished that one a little sooner than I thought I would. Seeing as he had some time before he had to go to the market to pick up some food for dinner, Ixisten decided to go and see what Octavia was up to. He grinned as he trotted along the streets of Ponyville, making his way over to the shared abode of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch.

Much to his confusion, Ixisten had found out on his first visit to Octavia’s place that the two inhabitants were sisters. How they managed to look and act completely different and yet manage to be siblings made him question his knowledge of genetics. Of course, this was a cartoon world with magic and ponies and... stuff, so maybe genetics worked differently here. I mean, you’d never see anyone on Earth being born with electric blue hair naturally. Also, Vinyl spoke in an english accent. Made sense given her relation to Octavia, but Motodrop’s mind had been nearly blown when Ixisten had told him that for the first time. Apparently Vinyl Scratch never spoke in the MLP cartoon. Not once.

Hmmhmm. That was a fun conversation.

Octavia’s house came into view, and Ixisten had to pause for a minute to take in the split theme of the house. It was utterly ridiculous. One half had been decorated in blue and white, and the other in brown and yellow earthy tones. He’d asked Octavia about it one time, and apparently the two sisters couldn’t agree on a colour scheme, so they’d decided to split it right down the center. Even after having seen it a number of times, Ixisten still couldn’t get over how silly the place looked. If it was really that difficult to come to an agreement, then why didn’t they just get a bigger house? Or maybe buy separate homes? It’s not like either one of them were wanting for bits.

Women... I mean mares. Whatever. Ixisten knocked on the door to the house, and waited. He heard dubstep sounds coming from the other side, so at least Vinyl was home. Probably couldn’t hear him knock. Well, I might as well peek my head in. That was another thing about Ponyville; no one ever locked their doors. It was strange considering how easy it would be for a thief to just waltze in to any place and steal whatever they wanted, but it seemed the inhabitants didn’t really care.

Ixisten pushed the door open, and took a step into the building. He caught Vinyl’s eye (or at least he thought he did, considering she always wears those goggles of hers), and waved. The DJ smiled from behind her MIDI keyboard, and waved him in. He stepped into the room, and looked around.

“Octavia’s not here?”

The DJ shook her head.

“Do you know when she’ll be home?”

Vinyl nodded.

“... um. Mind telling me?”

The DJ looked up from her rig, and smiled evilly. She deliberately pushed up a slider, making the noise in the room increase. Ixisten sighed.

Whatever. I’ll go wait outside. He pushed open the door, only to be met face to face with the very mare he was looking for. Octavia stood at the door, her hoof outstretched, ready to open the door.
A comedic look of surprise and confusion crossed her face before being replaced with recognition. The two blushed as Vinyl barked out a laugh, her music having been turned down again.

“Oh. Ixisten... Hi.” A look of annoyance crossed Octavia’s face. “Hold on a minute.” She then pushed her way past Ixisten into the room, and slammed the door behind her. The muffled sound of an argument filtered its way through the heavily painted slab of wood, and Ixisten gingerly stepped away from the house, somewhat nervous as the shouts turned into crashes, and then a few thuds.

The door to the house opened, revealing Octavia in a perfect state of affairs, not a single hair out of place in her mane.

“Um... Is everything alri-”

“Everything is fine. I was just giving a lesson to my dear sister in the proper etiquette of how to treat a visitor.”

“Uh, is she going to be okay?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, I heard some crashes...” The door swung open, revealing the interior of the house. Everything looked to be in perfect condition. Vinyl even waved to him. What...

“Don’t think too hard about it, dear.”

This is a world filled with magical ponies. This is a world filled with magical ponies... Ixisten chanted the internal mantra to himself as the grey mare outfitted with a bowtie gestured for him to follow.

“Let’s find someplace without Vinyl to converse. I love my sister, but she can be a bit...”

“Wub wub?”

“Precisely.”

Ixisten frowned. “Hey, Octavia, does Vinyl not like me?”

Octavia blinked. “Why do you ask that?”

“She just seems... I don’t know.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Trust me, She doesn’t hate you or anything. She just likes to mess with you. She’s like that every time I make a male friend.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Wait, that’s it? You’re not upset or anything?”

“Meh, not really.”

“Wow. You don’t let anything get to you, do you?”

Ixisten shrugged. “I deal with it on a daily basis. Nobles can be a little...”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me.” Octavia laughed. “I have to play for the Grand Galloping Gala every year. That is one stuffy party.”

Ixisten smiled. “Moto told me about it.”

“Oh, has Motodrop attended?”

“Nope. This is from when we were on Earth. Apparently a few episodes were dedicated to events that happened at the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“You know, you speak of your brother quite often.”

Ixisten smirked. “We have a bit of a weird relationship. When we were kids we used to fight all the time... actually it was more like I would do or say something that would make him angry, and he would retaliate violently. Did I ever tell you about the time he broke a dishes brush over my head?”

Octavia stopped, and turned to stare at Ixisten, her mouth agape. “He did WHAT?”

Ixisten laughed. “Yeah, we didn’t exactly get along... but for some reason we always chose to play with each other anyways. You’d think that after a while we’d just play separately, but nope.”

Octavia placed a hoof over her eyes. “You don’t even want to know what Vinyl used to do to me. It sucks having a unicorn for a sister.”

Ixisten looked up at his own horn. Or at least, he tried to, succeeding in only managing to cross his eyes in the process, which Octavia giggled at.

Ixisten stared at her, mesmerized by her laugh. She turned, and the two stared into each other’s eyes for a moment.

“Hey, Ixisten?”

“Yeah?”

“...What are we?”

Ixisten closed his eyes, breaking the spell that had fallen on them. “Octavia, I...”

“We’ve been friends for a number of months now, and it’s clear that we are happy in each other’s presence. Can we not give it a try?”

“Octavia. I... I’m still a human.”

“No you’re not. You’re a pony. You used to be a human.”

“But I’m still a human in here.” Ixisten pointed to his head. “If we decided to do anything, it wouldn’t feel...”

Octavia raised a hoof. “Fine. I get it. You’re not interested in me that way.”

“No! It’s not that! I’m just not... ready.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “Will you ever be ready?”

Ixisten scratched the back of his neck in exasperation. Why do you have to be like this Octavia?

“Look, darling, why don’t we just try one date? Please.” Octavia looked deeply into Ixisten’s eyes, her magenta orbs quivering slightly.

Darn puppy eyes. “Alright. One date.”

“YES!!!”

Author's Note:

A little fluffy slice of life from the perspective of Ixisten. You know how awkward it is writing romance about my brother? Shivers. But, I’m going to be throwing these little Interlude chapters in between every now and then to show where the rest of my family is at in their new lives.

On another note... Yes, I know it’s been over a month since my last update. Yes, I know this chapter is a little shorter than what I’ve been writing, but ever since I started my new job, I’ve been focused on getting into my new routine, and am now just starting to settle in, which means I’m doing more writing again. So you can expect to see more chapters more often now that I’m back in the game and have found a little inspiration. It may take me a few chapters to get back into the groove of things, so if my writing seems a little off, you’ll have to forgive me. I’m a little out of practice.

Another thing. If you're somewhat confused at where this story takes place in the MLP timeline, the events at the beginning of this story start just after the end of season 7. For the sake of this story, I'm pretending that Season 8 and the MLP movie don't exist, which is why I have the "alternate universe" tag on this story.

Anyways, My name is Motodrop, and romance is uniquely difficult to write.