A Velvet-lined Case

by biasedeyes

Heartstrings

Octavia woke up, head throbbing. Eyes still closed, she tried to recall the previous evening. Where had she gone? For whisky? No... it had been wine. With somepony. Another mare, possessing a grey coat and refinement almost comparable to her own. Velvet.... Something. Velvet... Twinkle? That didn't seem quite right, but she'd suffered enough thought. The mare would remain Velvet Twinkle for the moment. She slowly opened her eyes to a thankfully dark and silent room... which still wasn't her own. Octavia groaned. She must have been so drunk she agreed to stay at Twinkle's place. It looked like a hotel room. Twinkle had said... something about travelling a lot, loyalty bonuses and the like. Her mind still foggy she slowly got out of bed, ignoring the soft breathing of the other mare still in the bed. She moved lethargically to the door to the bathroom, willed her body through the doorway, and clumsily grabbed the empty glass. She turned on the bathroom faucet with a bit of trouble, it appeared to have been designed with primarily unicorns in mind. After a few moments of running water she brought the glass to her lips, careful to not spill it down her front despite her hangover. After allowing the water to absorb into her parched mouth she dumped the rest out in the sink and turned the faucet off. Deciding it might help she closed the door, locked it, and stepped into the shower. She turned the water onto an appropriately scalding temperature and simply stood there, absorbing the mild burn on her skin and the water dripping down her coat. She eventually reached for the soap as well as back into the prior day.

Well, at least the wine last night was good. It had to be right? Even if I don't remember it well. I could never have drank so much had it been poor. And Twinkle, she was nice. And... powerful? That's right, she knew Celestia's student. I couldn't have turned down another glass from her. What if she had taken offense? I would hate to see her hurt, because she's so close to the princesses. Oh, and the event I met her at last night. That went rather well didn't it? Frederic played well, for most of the night at least. And I played as well as ever. And my cello... her mind ignited on that word cello... cello... oh BUCK!

Any remaining fogginess was banished from Octavia's consciousness as she slammed her hoof down on the handle to turn the water off, simultaneously fumbling the shower curtain out of the way. Nearly tripping out of the shower she struggled with the doorknob before remembering she had locked it. Wet hooves working furiously she managed to undo the unicorned lock and threw the door open. She stepped into the main room of the studio, soaking the carpet. There, standing mid-yawn, her hoof almost covering her open mouth, stood the mare who had brought her here. Her light grey coat was pearlescent in the half-light. No... this wasn't Velvet Twinkle, it was...

"TWINKLE VELVET!" Octavia yelled, pointing at the mare across from her.

"Twinkle? Oh, no dear. It's Twilight. Er, Twilight Velvet." Octavia filed this information away for later, but pressed forward. This was no time for minor quibbles. She closed the the distance, pressing a hoof into each shoulder of the mare in front of her, the better to impress to her the gravity of the situation. "Where is my cello? Is it here? I didn't notice it. Did we leave it at the bar, I don't remember. I was so drunk and pleased at having... such good wine. No wait, did I even bring it to the bar? Did I even bring it... to the refreshment table? No, no I left it under the table, with the guards, you said it'd be safe, well, now it's safe, way too safe, security at the castle is tight and there's no way I'll be able to get it back and I have the orchestra tomorrow, and I need to practice, and there's no way I'll get it back in time and..."

"Octavia?" Twilight Velvet was looking up at her, her eyes wide, but this frankly wasn't the time for petty pulchritudinous appeals.

"I'll have to show up tomorrow emptyhooved, and beg them to give me a loaner. A loaner. Can you imagine me playing an instrument some other pony has already played?!"

"Octavia?" Twilight repeated, looking put out. Octavia realized that she'd been pushing the other mare, rocking her back on her hooves, but what was more important, her instrument or this mare's balance?

"A string will break mid solo because no one can possibly play one of those damned things with with grace, and I'll be left unable to play a quarter of my notes, and..."

"Octavia!" Twilight said forcefully, pressing forward and grabbing Octavia's hoof. "It's fine. We'll just go get it."

"Just... go... get it?" Octavia parroted. "Just go right past castle security and... get it?"

"Yes. We'll just go get it. It's really no problem. The guards know me. I visit the castle all the time and have nothing else to do today. I can help you past the guards, though really you could probably get them to let you through in any case."

Octavia's mind raced as she made sense of the new reality she found herself in, where castle guards were not the end-all-be-all. "Oh Goddess you're a life saver! Thank you so much. Let's go straight away." Octavia couldn't help but smile at her companion.

Twilight Velvet cleared her throat, blushing a bit. "Um, don't you want to dry off a bit first, dear?"
It was only then that Octavia realized that her wet fur was dripping over the carpet, and thoroughly matted besides. It wasn't exactly... modest. She felt a prickle on her own cheeks before wheeling around and reentering the bathroom to towel off.

---

"Well now," the guard said while puffing out his chest to an almost comic proportion, and embellishing his speech with a guttural roll. He was talking down to Twilight, tilting his head down and regarding her out of the corner of his eye.
"You know we can't allow just anyone inside. A mare can't just waltz up to the castle and claim to be up to Princesses' security standards!"

Octavia would have been more irritated if it hadn't been clear from his smile and easy manner that the guard was, in some respect, merely joking with them. As it was, she took only a moment to be aghast at his irresponsibility before clearing her throat and speaking up. "Well, they hired me to play last night, didn't they?"

The colt paused for a moment, still standing in his rather absurd stance, before bringing his hoof to his chin in thought. "I uh, I guess you got me there Miss..."

"Philharmonica."

"Well, Miss Philharmonica, I'll be glad to let the two of you in. I'd check with the Ballroom staff as they have probably found your cello and took it in back for safekeeping and security reasons. They should be able to find it for ya'."

Twilight Velvet beamed at him. "Thank you so much Steadfast."

"Not a problem miss! Any time!" he replied while opening the gate for them.

"Enjoy your shift!"

"You too! Uh, I mean..." but the mares had already disappeared through the gate.

---

They made their way to the Grand Hall where they'd met last night, and Twilight Velvet quickly flagged down a unicorn mare who clearly worked in the area. An exchange of pleasantries later the mare, one Tidy Tuck, went off to bring out Octavia's cello from where it had been provisionally placed. Octavia would normally have declined to let anypony else carry her cello, but she was feeling out of place, and didn't want to offend anyone Twilight was familiar with besides.

"Do you know everypony in the castle by name?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Well, not everypony. The castle is quite large and they regularly hire new servants so..."

"But if they aren't newer then you know them?" Octavia clarified.

"Well, when you put it that way..." the mist-grey mare's face grew slightly pink in embarrassment, although Octavia's astonishment precluded her taking too much notice. How could any non-royal possibly hope to be such a welcome visitor at the castle, no less know the name of almost every pony inside? Octavia was well-mannered enough to keep her mouth from going agape, but it was a conscious struggle. After a few moments of awkward silence Tidy returned with a cello case in telekinetic tow.

Octavia squeaked in excitement, rushing forward to pull her cello from Tidy's grip and lowering it and herself to the ground, ignoring the other mares' surprise. She knew her behavior was unbecoming, but she didn't much care. She quickly flipped open the latches and slowly raised the lid, to make sure nothing was amiss. She hovered her head over her cello to inspect it. The f-holes were in fine shape and the bridge looked perfectly intact, the bow unmolested. She sniffed, and smelled the familar dry, dusty and woody scent.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Octavia murmured, as much to Celestia herself as to Tidy. The cello was exactly as she had left it, undamaged by foreign hooves. After a gratuitous tuning and rosining, and a minute or so of aimless playing, Octavia managed to repack the case and return to her polite, aloof self. They thanked Tidy for all her help and left the hall.

---

Their walk back was a tad slower, Octavia now burdened by her cello case, having politely refused Twilight's offer to carry it. Walking past an enormous open door she stopped entirely at a glimpse of the hallway inside. Colors danced across the floor as the morning light illuminated the massive stained glass windows in the spacious hallway, easily taller than most Canterlot buildings. Twilight Velvet giggled at Octavia’s amazement then trotted through into the hall. Octavia followed her trepidatiously.

"Are we allowed in here?" she whispered, "This looks a bit more...” Octavia paused for a moment in order to find the right word "...sacrosanct than other parts of the castle."

Velvet responded unconcernedly "The door’s open. Why wouldn’t we be allowed in?" The slate-grey musician paused to assure herself that was logical enough before moving forward from the entrance to bask in the dappled colors. While the ceiling was no higher than in some other rooms of the castle there was far more reason to look up here. The stained glass windows stretched from floor to ceiling, so one had to skirt the far edge of the hall and crane her neck to fully appreciate their beauty.

Velvet walked to the center of the room, looking up at the window in the middle of the right-hoof wall. Octavia followed, staying a little behind her to better appreciate the scene. It appeared to contain the princesses, one a cool spot of shade despite the sun illuminating her, and the other seeming to increase the intensity of the morning light. Their horns flashed as they defeated the monster that was depicted between them. The creature they were vanquishing appeared to be an amalgamation of no less than a dozen creatures. Octavia decided that, were it not so artfully made, and without the sun streaming reassuringly through, it might have been quite disturbing. As though sensing Octavia’s thoughts, the older mare spoke up.

"This is the window that depicts the Princesses defeating Discord over a thousand years ago. These are the last panes made by the Crystal Artisans before their disappearance with their empire after King Sombra's takeover. Discord is said to be a force of nature, much like the Windigos. His force of nature is chaos, and the world was said to be so terrible during his reign that ponies simply trying to exist in the world were driven mad by its incoherency. However, by wielding the Elements of Harmony Celestia and Luna managed to defeat him and turn him into stone."

"To stone? Why not defeat him entirely?" Octavia asked, failing to keep a bemused tone out of her voice.

Twilight glanced at her. "I doubt a force of nature can be destroyed so easily. If I were to guess, stone is solid and unchangeable enough to be antithetical to his nature. In any case, he’s on display in the Canterlot gardens now." she said with a smile. Octavia nodded, then shivered slightly at the thought of such a statue sitting just outside.

She turned back to study the window some more, but her focus was ruined at the thought that Equestria had even had such an unsettling history, much less that this legacy was still on display in the sculpture garden. Besides, Twilight Velvet seemed distracted, glancing left toward the windows further down the hall. Octavia took this to mean that the most exciting windows were that way, but that she was too polite to interrupt Octavia's contemplation. She stood and walked in that direction, Twilight following a few paces behind. A surprising number of the windows seemed to depict the terrors of Equestria's past. An ice monster, a shadow monster, Discord again. Octavia skirted these, breaking into a canter, hoping for at least a few on tamer subjects. She saw one of Celestia, but that was across the hall, so it wasn't illuminated as strikingly. Octavia had all but given up hope that she'd be able to get any value from looking at these windows besides saving some face with Twilight Velvet when she came to the window at the end of the hall.

At first glance, there was no villain in this pane. Luna dominated the top of the window, her expression stern to the point of emotionless. An enormous purple web entangled her, twisting menacingly around her form. Octavia shivered, but looked down below at the six ponies who stood zapping her with beams, their coats lit colorfully by the morning sun. One looked very similar to the mare a few paces behind her, though her coat was a vibrant purple, rather than the grey Octavia was partial to. Even her cutiemark was similar.

"That's, that's..." she glanced at the Twilight behind her.

"Yes." said the less-famous mare, giving a slow nod. "That's my daughter, Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh." replied Octavia. "Then this..." she glanced at all the ponies willing to take on the Mare of the Night. "How did she get so many ponies to help her?"

"Funnily enough..." said Twilight Velvet, in a voice which caused Octavia to look over at her again, "she was always a very private pony in Canterlot. Extremely studious." she turned to Octavia and gave a weak grin before looking back to the window. "She met all of those mares in one day, believe it or not. Really makes you believe in 'fate', I guess."

"This window depicts her and her new friends defeating Nightmare Moon." She gazed fixedly toward the window in question, eyes gleaming. She seemed oblivious that Octavia was no longer looking on the window and was instead focused exclusively on her. "Twilight guided herself and her friends to discover the Elements of Harmony, lost for tens of thousands of moons, and used them to defeat the ancient curse on Celestia's sister, Luna." She sniffed, then looked down. "You know, these stars on my flank aren't just for show. When she was a little filly, Twilight and I used to stargaze together. I still wonder whether that's why she took the Mare-In-The-Moon so seriously."

Octavia couldn't help but reach a hoof out to the hunched form of the other mare. As she gently touched her shoulder, she felt Velvet's body shiver and rock with suppressed sobs. This was quite alarming.

"Hey. Hey! What's wrong? Everything is fine, right? Your daughter... she... she saved the world. Nightmare Moon was defeated. Everypony is safe."

There were a few more sobs from the floor before Twilight Velvet choked up a response. "Yes, everypony. Everypony except my daughter, the 'Saviour of Equestria', who's in danger of being called up whenever another monster comes..." she glanced down the hall, windows of past battles underscoring her point.

"Well... those were all defeated. The ice monsters..." Octavia tried.

"Windigos" Twilight Velvet supplied.

"...Windi-gos, Discord, the shadow thing..."

"Sombra"

"Sombra... they're all either defeated or sitting in the garden now, I sincerely doubt they'll be troubling anypony again."

Twilight Velvet was silent for a moment, still hunched over and rocking.

"Besides, it's not as if there's no good side, right? She's famous, and you benefit from everypony-" Octavia was interrupted again as Velvet began to cry once more.

"That’s just it. My daughter wields an element of harmony. My daughter saved the world. My daughter is the personal protégé of the ruler of the world, with all the prestige and danger that entails. And I’m just… nothing." she said through tears.

Octavia felt awkward but fuzzily remembered some of the conversation last night. About Twilight Velvet and her family trying to adjust to Twilight Sparkle suddenly saving the world with her friends, and the way that had turned their world upside down.

"Twilight…"

"Twilight is my daughter!" the savior’s mother snapped with a sob, being a tad harsher than she intended. Biting her lip she crossed her hooves in agitation, then continued. "I’m happy that my daughter did was she did and is who she is. Truly. But, I just…" She sniffled "I just feel so useless now. Like I don’t know who I am. And no matter how well I do something my daughter will always be how ponies remember me. I’m always just 'Twilight Sparkle’s mom'. And… And…" At that moment her ability to speak was overtaken by her emotions, leaving her only able to cry.

Octavia instinctively reached out with her other hoof and hugged her, allowing her to sob into her shoulder. Unsure exactly how to proceed, given she’d never really had another mare cry on her shoulder before, she simply reached a hoof up and calmly stoked Velvet’s white and purple mane. Octavia held her there for a minute while the grey unicorn let out the emotion she’d been bottling up.

A royal guard stallion appeared at the door they had come through, no doubt to investigate the sounds that were undoubtedly audible in the adjoining hall. However, upon seeing the crying mare he stopped in the door way, looking to Octavia. Giving her best "It’s fine, but please give us a moment" smile Octavia hoped he would wait outside. Celestia seemed to smile upon them as he simply hoofed a cello case inside the door and popped his head back out.

As the stream of tears thinned, Octavia gave the other mare a gentle pat and slowly separated from the extended embrace, looking into Velvet’s eyes to make sure she was alright.

"I’m…" Velvet began before sniffling for a moment and then continuing. "I’m sorry about that, I…"

"You don’t have anything to be sorry for," Octavia soothed, "but one thing. You’re a wonderful, brilliant mare, and you shouldn’t speak ill of yourself any more. Now, I know I haven’t known you for that long, but you’re certainly amazing, and your own mare besides." Velvet smiled in response, but said nothing. "So what if your daughter is 'Savior of Equestria,'" Octavia said in a jesting manner, "with two princesses in charge I doubt she’ll be called out on it, and you’re a very impressive pony all on your own." Velvet laughed slightly and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

"You really think so?" she asked, her voice betraying both her continued uncertainty in herself, and a desire to believe her companion.

"Filly, I’m pretty sure you know more about Canterlonian and Equestrian history than the princesses themselves." Velvet laughed again. This time a much deeper, mirthful laugh. "And don’t even get me started on wine. Both your knowledge, and your propensity to consume it." Octavia teased, punctuating the last words of the sentence with a playful jab. "Now, how about we head out of-"

The accomplished musician froze mid-sentence as Twilight Velvet planted a soft kiss on her cheek before stepping back. Shocked, Octavia looked over to see the other mare studying where her tears had stained the pristine marble floor.

"Thank you." Velvet said in barely a whisper. "For everything in the past day. You’ve been very kind to me, and I really appreciate it."

"You’re… very welcome." Octavia said, once again lost as to how to respond. Attempting to recover from the somewhat uncomfortable, but not entirely unwelcome, interaction she cleared her throat and attempted to pick up where they had left off. "Now, how about we head out of here. If you’d like I can tell you about one of my recent and more, shall we say, eventful performances?"

"Oh I’d love to hear!" Velvet responded, now fully recovered from earlier. As Octavia picked up her cello and began reminiscing about some of her past performances. On their way out of the hall she made sure to pause so that she could mouth a very gracious "thank you" to the guard pony before continuing the story.

---

Having walked well past the edge of the castle grounds and quite a few blocks into the surrounding city Octavia concluded the story, saying "And that’s how Frederic ended up having to replace a piano string mid concert with some of his own tail hairs!" Twilight Velvet laughed raucously in response.

"I'm so glad I met you. Things are fall less dull now that I can blow off some steam with somepony else," Twilight Velvet said having gotten her mirth mostly under control. "Unfortunately this is where we part ways for the time being, as I need to go back to the hotel and pack up a few things before checkout, and I've already walked a few too many blocks. Ah, not that I mind!" she quickly added seeing the concerned look on Octavia's face, "but I don't want to cut it too close."

Velvet stepped forward and gave Octavia a brief peck on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow at the opera, right?"

"Ah, yes. Yes that's correct." Octavia said, putting up a smile. "You'll be with the princess then, though, won't you?"

"Well yes, but it shouldn't be an issue. From what I understand the main point is to make her feel more at home right? So introducing her to more ponies should help with that?" something in her tone indicated that it wasn't exactly a rhetorical question, but Octavia kept herself from raising an eyebrow. Her stomach had fallen through her barrel ever since Twilight Velvet had kissed her again. This casual goodbye kiss indicated that the other mare was simply willing to kiss her acquaintances freely, which startled her. Looking at said mare, it appeared that she was still waiting for Octavia to respond.

"Yes, that's a good thought. Well, I shan't keep you any longer. I hope the rest of the day treats you well."

"You too!" And with that, the two parted ways. As Octavia walked back to her apartment she still couldn't help but feel rather down, although she couldn't quite put a hoof on why. As she entered and sat down her case inside she recalled the recent events from the past day or so. She had met a nice mare, had a few, probably free, drinks with her, and her cello was now as safe as ever. She flipped up the latches and opened the lid just to double-check. Yes, there it was, nestled into the velvet, just like she'd left it. So why did she feel so lousy? Chalking it up to nerves about tomorrow, she lifted it out, pressed the bow against the strings, and began to practice. Despite not being able to detect any shortfall in her meter or technique, she wasn't completely satisfied with anything she played for the rest of the day.