Octavia awoke to the sound of knocks at the door. She mumbled something incomprehensible and began to stir and, through sheer will, managed to lift herself off the bed and onto the ground. She stood still for a moment, almost falling asleep on her hooves, but the knocking shot through her mind again and she stumbled her way toward the noise. She was barely managing movement at this point and her hooves were a single misstep away from catching on the ground and making her tumble head over hooves.
As she made her way to the incessant dull noise, she passed through the kitchen, finding Vinyl smiling to herself as she continued to 'read' the magazine in front of her, though it was clear the DJ was just too lazy to get up and answer the door. Octavia paused for a moment, letting the DJ levitate a coffee cup to the cellist lips. She drank a mouthful and closed her eyes. With a deep swallow, she opened her eyes fully and gave the mare a light peck on the cheek before she finished the rest of the trip to the door. Vinyl grinned and set the coffee cup across the table, then took a drink from a separate one sitting nearer to her.
Octavia paused at the door and made sure she looked presentable before opening it. A curious feeling stirred within her when she saw the stallion looking back at her from beyond the entrance. He turned his head to face her more fully and Octavia spotted a small filly draped over his back. After a second, she recognized the filly as the one from the orphanage with whom Hendrick had been talking: Moon Light, if she remembered correctly. Afterwards, she looked to Hendrick for an explanation.
“Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had a bed for this little one? Just until she wakes up. I found her sleeping in an alley; I think she must have gotten lost.” His face was immovable, a perfect look of apathy frozen upon it.
In response, the earth pony smiled warmly and stepped to the side. “Come on in. You can set her down in the guest room.” Hendrick nodded to her and entered. As he passed, the faint smell of old newspaper filled the air, which confirmed the story to the cellist. She followed after him, watching as he and Vinyl shared a greeting, then the DJ stood from her chair at the table and lead the stallion toward the guest room.
After the filly had been put on the bed to rest, the adults returned to the kitchen. A third chair was brought to the table and Hendrick rested himself upon it, thanking his hostesses as he did so. Vinyl retrieved a third cup of coffee with her magic and Octavia passed a plate of cookies toward him, which he respectfully declined. Octavia moved the plate back to the center of the table and took a cookie for herself, placing it on a napkin next to her coffee.
“Quite the breakfast,” Hendrick said with a smile.
“You have Vinyl to thank for that,” Octavia said, glancing towards the blind DJ out of the corner of her eye. “She’s been infecting my diet with sweets ever since I met her. I like to think I’ve done the same to her music, though.”
Vinyl grinned in return, but didn’t say anything. Hendrick took a slow drink of coffee and relaxed, leaning against the chair and gazing up towards the ceiling. A slow sigh passed between his lips and he closed his eyes, enjoying the moment while it lasted.
“I miss the days when words were light,” he said idly. “They’ve been so heavy, recently.”
“I don’t mean to pry, Hendrick,” Octavia said, “but if you want to, you can talk to us about it.”
“Yea.” Vinyl punched him in the shoulder. “We’re always here for ya, you crazy lug, no matter how many flaming buildings you run into.” A half-hearted smile crossed the stallions face, but quickly disappeared, carried away on another sigh.
“I suppose it would be nice to talk about it, if you two are sure you don’t mind listening to my blatherings.” The mares nodded and Hendrick let his neck go loose, causing his head to look backwards behind the chair he sat on. “All right then, I guess it’s really just me being stupid.” He sat up immediately, and straightened his back. “I scared Moon Light, really badly. I didn’t mean to, but I think she’s afraid of me now.” A squeak hit the air and Hendrick looked to its source, the nearby hallway. He was about to stand up and go investigate when Octavia grabbed his front hoof.
“Don’t worry about it; that hallway has always been really noisy.” Hendrick nodded and let his body settle back into the chair, though his eyes continued to look in the direction of the hallway every now and then.
.
Moon Light could hear her heart beating in her ears and it was a wonder Hendrick didn’t pick up on it. Her mind raced through her memories in its desperate search for something tangible to calm her.
She had woken up as soon as Hendrick hefted her onto his back, but had been too scared to tell him at the time, so she played along. After he had put her on the bed, she had waited until they left, then went after them.
I didn’t even know these ponies! Moon Light cursed herself silently. This wasn’t calming! The voice of Hendrick intruded upon her panic and brought a welcome, if unexpected, calmness to her.
“I just wish I could make it up to her.” Oddly, her heart quieted to its normal volume and she focused on her sense of hearing, making sure she could hear him correctly. “No doubt I can’t just apologize to her, that’s hollow enough on its own, but I wouldn’t be half surprised if that’s what her father told her every morning after he beat her.”
The memories of exactly that came to Moon Light’s mind, but she didn’t flinch. They seemed far away for some reason. She wasn’t hurt. Instead, she focused more intently on what was being said in the room just behind her.
“I don’t mean to suppose anything, but she’s up for adoption, correct?” Silence filled the air as Hendrick answered the question with a nod of his head. “Then perhaps you could adopt her? No doubt that would bring a smile to her face?” Octavia hid her excitement for the idea well, her tone remaining even as she spoke and hiding a small smile as she drank her coffee.
On the other side of the wall, Moon Light’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected that proposition. She wasn’t sure why, but the idea seemed extremely appealing to her.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” he stated almost immediately. A chill filled the air and Moon Light shivered as she felt her hope drain from her. “I simply don’t have a home that would suit a child, and she deserves much better than I can give her.” Vinyl and Octavia were silent as the stallion took a deep drink of his coffee. “However...” He let the word hang in the air, looking from one mare to the other. “You two seem to be in a good position financially; perhaps you could adopt her?” Overcome with anticipation for what was to come next, Moon Light dared a glance around the corner.
“I—” Octavia cut herself off and took a moment to compose her words. “I suppose we could, but I think she would be much better in your company, don’t you?”
“After the stupid act I pulled yesterday? I highly doubt it,” Hendrick replied, his expression not changing. “She deserves more than the emotions of a broken stallion. She deserves two very caring ponies, like you and Vinyl.”
“All right then,” Vinyl said before Octavia could get another word in. “Me and ‘Tavi have been thinking about adopting, anyway. This is just the push we needed, isn’t that right, ‘Tavi?” The cellist shook herself from a reverie and nodded to the unicorn. “So it’s decided, then. We’ll adopt Moon Light. She’ll be spinning records and playing the cello before the month’s out,” Vinyl concluded with a smile.
“Thank you,” Hendrick replied softly. Then, he stood from his chair and finished the rest of the coffee. “Thank you for the coffee as well, but if you’ll excuse me, I really need to get going.”
“No problem; see you later,” Vinyl responded with a grin. With the conversation done, Moon Light quickly made her way back to the guest room. She had a lot to think about.
Celestia was pacing across the street from the house when Hendrick stepped out the door, her steps worried and her mind elsewhere as she trotted back and forth. When Hendrick spotted her, a look of confusion crossed his face, then he closed the door behind him and made his way towards her.
“We need to talk elsewhere. Do you have time to spare?” she asked as soon as he was within speaking distance.
His eyes flicked away from the princess for a moment to check the time, then he nodded to her. She curtly nodded in return, then cast a teleportation spell. The two of them were both dragged through space before they ended up at the castle in a secluded room.
Celestia remained looking regal, despite the disorienting experience, while Hendrick did not. He was laying on the ground, his eyes clenched shut. His face had taken on a tinge of green and he looked extremely nauseous. As she was unable to think of a spell to help him off the top of her head, she patiently waited until Hendrick didn’t look nearly as close to vomiting.
“I need you to stop seeing my sister,” Celestia said as Hendrick picked himself up off the ground.
Hendrick eyed her up for a few moments before making a move to speak, but a wave of nausea interrupted him and he was forced to close his mouth for a moment with a hoof to his lips. After a few short coughs, he turned to face Celestia again. “I’m going to assume you aren’t going to tell me why?” he asked blandly. Celestia nodded. Not missing a beat, Hendrick continued on. “And what does Luna think of this idea?”
“I haven’t asked her opinion on it.” She could sense the conversation was changing toward whatever the stallion was curious about, a trick that Hendrick seemed to perform whenever he spoke.
“Well then, I don’t see how talking to me is going to stop the situation. If Luna asks for my presence, am I to decline? And when she comes to see me, what then?”
Celestia sighed in response. After several minutes of thought, she spoke up again. “It seems I didn’t act soon enough. I didn’t anticipate the two of you to be so close, already. Only today did I hear from an eyewitness that you kissed her. I acted as soon as I could, but it appears I’m too late.” The white alicorn began to walk back and forth in the empty room. “I’d ask how it escalated so quickly, but that’s irrelevant right now.”
Hendrick kept a mask of absolute calm on his face. “May I ask what you are worried about?” Celestia stopped and glanced to the odd stallion. She seemed to be sizing him up with her eyes. Then, she approached him.
“Luna’s last relationship didn’t end well,” she said. “And it ended with... complications. She was damaged, emotionally, and I don’t think she’ll ever recover." A sadness bled through the words, the kind of sadness that only truth can hold. "I had hoped to keep her from loving another, to prevent it from ever occurring again, but it appears she’s grown attached to you. Something I did not expect to happen.”
“Ah, I see. May I ask why you decided to share that with me?” Hendrick asked. “Don’t mistake me; I understand you wish me to know precisely what I’m getting into, but you could have said that in so many other ways. And it’s not like I would be able to force an answer from you.”
“I told you because you’ve proven you’re quite adept at keeping secrets. I ask that this be added to your list of things you will not discuss. I do not want you to talk about this to Front Page or anyone else, am I clear?” Celestia asked with a threatening tone.
“As crystal.” From the princess’s view, a fire began to grow in Hendrick’s eye, but when she blinked, it was gone. His expression, however, had changed to one of pain and hopelessness. A memory had obviously changed his demeanor, but Celestia opted not to press on the subject. There was a pause, then Hendrick continued. “I assume you won’t be telling me more on this subject.”
“I am unable to.” Celestia eyed the gem in her necklace for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the stallion.
She eyed him for a moment longer; it was an impossibly long moment. Her eyes met Hendrick’s. Pathways to the soul, they had been called. Despite herself, a soft smile crossed her face. She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she decided to close the conversation.
“Thank you for understanding, Hendrick.” The words were filled with an indescribable mix of joy and sorrow. “I doubted you would be able to sympathize with my sister’s plight, but that look in your eye right now says I was wrong.”
“It’s a pleasure to serve, Your Highness,” he responded solemnly. Her head bobbed in response and she cast a quick spell, sending Hendrick back to the street outside Vinyl and Octavia’s house. Celestia, on the other hand, teleported to her throne room.
For the first time, Celestia thought she saw what had enraptured her sister about Hendrick. And she found herself dwelling on the enigma that he was. He was solitary, but sympathetic. Secretive, but open. She pondered briefly on what could cause that change in someone, but decided against pursuing it. She didn’t have the time, but more importantly, she was scared to find out where that line of questioning led.
Loved the new chapter, but I am a bit curious as to Celestia's line of thinking. No good is going to come of her shielding Luna from her friends, that goes completely against the whole concept of "Friendship is Magic!"
1947905
The issue was it was becoming more then a friendship.
Celestia dun goof'd
1947931
sure, if you say so.
Wow Celestia....
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/476/625/c32.gif
Commence read.
He at least found a home for Moon Light.
1947959
Well now I just feel like I portrayed the wrong idea. What exactly did Celestia do wrong? She's trying to protect her sister!
1948005
I understand that, but I feel like Luna could handle it.
pc486.net/ponies/wp-content/thumbs/thumb_sad_luna_by_flutterwonder-d4twk2w.png
And now we know why Luna has some issues, because Celestia refuses to let her grow out of the "safety" of her emotional cage.
1948093 Another reason why Luna is best princess and Celestia is not...
1948005 That's not the proper way... It will end up hurting Luna even more...
1948121
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/23637716.jpg
I'm with Avatar of Shadow. Locking Luna in a metaphorical box to prevent her from being hurt by a relationship is only going to do horrible things to Luna, and it very much risks Celestia's relationship with her as well. Such a drastic reaction strikes me as out of character for her. I can see her becoming heavily involved in policing Hendrick to make sure he doesn't hurt Luna, but outright denying all relationships without any concrete proof...?
Nice chapter, with the possibility of Moonlight being adopted by Octavia and Vinyl sounds like the child could have a bright future yet. Anyhow, I'm surprised of the readers having a negative perspective view of Celestia trying to help shield her sister Luna, afterall, this previous relationship that Luna had could had caused her to become the very being that made her so damaged and distant. In addition, for being a immortal that is, Luna would be dealing with these emotional conflicts for thousands of years to come (for whats the fun of immortality without drawbacks right?). While true in normal circumstances, all it takes is a special someone to help recover but with Luna being seamlessly ageless and Hendrick being an alien with the situation, it would be hard and possibly unattainable in the stallion's lifetime.
Sure, friendship and love prevails, but Hendrick would think otherwise... especially in the world he hails from proves otherwise (if not prove to have serious complications for the individuals that is involved).
Anyhow, great chapters man; congratulations as well for making it to the feature page. Keep up the good work
Best regards
1948168 This guy everyone, this guy gets it.
1948160 1948179 1948168
Isn't this way of thinking exactly why Nightmare Moon happened?
She felt unappreciated and isolated from her subjects and it
didn't sound like Celestia did much to help her then...
IMHO a good big sister would be overprotective but
would also understand her younger sibling and
find a way that would benefit both beliefs.
Besides, after so much pain Luna NEEDS affection,
to fill in the huge gap left after all the hurt she's been through...
EDIT: Same with Hendrick.
I understand that Celestia would be overly cautious, and would probably have some sort of knee-jerk reaction to this. But I also think that she's not going to help Luna recover by locking her away, and that she's smart enough to know this. Like I said - I would expect her to meddle heavily, and keep an almost constant tab on Hendrick, but outright denial seems extremely harsh for her.
1948221
Or so legend claims that she became Nightmare Moon because of lack of affection...But what if it were to be deeper then mere affection of the public? While the outcome of history replaying the situation (again if it was the cause of lack of affection from the public) is merely rectified with her Night Court having proper attention from her subjects, due to the efforts of Hendrick. One can't help but wonder of what truly sparked the event of Luna's decent to madness as we, the viewers, have yet to see the true details of what happened at such the fateful event.
What if during Luna's banishment, that Celestia is forever reminded the complications of their position's of being ageless (with thanks to Luna's actions) due the fact that if one were to invest the time and love to one subject, they were wither and die within a fraction of the immortal lifespan. It would seem that Celestia would gained wisdom from Luna's actions with it when it was to be the case when she herself had once did for a subject and then realized (at the last minute most likely) the sheer complications that it brings. Now with Luna returning to her side once more, it would seem that Celestia wishes to watch over her sister is well justified, especially if failing to do so will cause Luna more harm as well as their subjects.
Even with much pain that Luna has suffered, the only possible way to have hopes of her recovery is to have the proper and reasonable amount of affection and attention in a prolong sense of time (which ones again her subjects seeking her audience in the Night Court has proven a great start), not give her a hastily and deepening relationship that might have caused her to be in such the situation in the first place.
Thank of it this way as a good analogy, think of the sisters as human with their regular life span of hundred years, and have the subjects they watch over have common life span of ants, living up to 3 days then die away. But imagine that in their world every second that passes them, the new day starts and the sisters passage of time goes by so slow like how we have on a bad morning at work, and interact with their subjects one every second that measures to a day in their world. imagine the sheer complication of having a companion with such a short lifespan that, as a human, would have seemed to have forgotten such a fact. In addition, imagine that when they have suffered such a drastic even where, measured in human lifespan, it would be years but in a world where every passing second is a day, it be converted to thousand of years (if not seamlessly eternal). While it may not be the best example, but its good enough to show the complications that Luna have with her dilemma and her emotions which would seemed long and eventually past away in good time as a immortal, and why (in the eyes of the subject with lifespan) it would be very long for her to recover.
Don't see this in the situation of mortals, but as immortals where they can live indefinite, and not to say as well as how passage of time goes differently in the minds of beings like Luna and Celestia. For where is the fun of immortality where, like how hours can pass by like minutes in our minds at work, the same can be applied when years would pass by like minutes in the mind of The Royal Sisters...
I understand what you're trying to go for, but it just doesn't sit well with me. Locking Luna away, metaphorically speaking, doesn't seem like a good solution. She might be trying to do what she sees as best for Luna, but it's made somewhat more uncomfortable by her not even discussing this decision with Luna. She just decided it herself. What happens if (when?) Luna finds out? That her sister intervened to keep her separate from somepony she had feelings for, and did it behind her back? That not only did she "know better" and felt correct in meddling with her life, but she didn't even trust Luna enough to discuss it with her. I would think that if Luna found out, she'd likely be devastated, and maybe even worse. It was the perceived lack of importance, slights, and jealousy of her sister that was Luna's downfall before, and this seems to hit all of that pretty hard. Even if Celestia was right about what such a relationship would do, I don't see it ending well...
Though I dunno. I have a hard time picturing Celestia as seeing love as a bad thing and trying to prevent it. Steer it, maybe, but I just don't see her preventing it.
1948392
tl;dr
Now Go To Sleep
Teleportation obviously made the poor guy seriously nauseous, so why did she send him away via teleportation without a second thought on its effect on him or his consent on being teleported?
The reason I ask this is because after seeing how serious the nausea was after the first time, and considering the small interval of time between the two bouts of teleportation, I can't help but feel sorry for him when Vinyl and Octavia come out to investigate the sounds of somepony violently ejecting the contents of their stomach right outside of the couple's house.
1948392 No.
Read your note this morning before I went somewhere, only to return to an update. What kind of sorcery is this?
The Octy/Vinyl adoption bit seemed rather rabid to me. Almost like it was done without much thought (the "sure we'll adopt her" bit I mean) and with something as heavy as adoption... well it's not something to do suddenly or rashly. And while it was mentioned that Octy and Vinyl had been been thinking about it, the way it was said made it feel like something that they had on their radar but not something that they'd sat down and spent a good long think on.
Also... Celestia? Why are you so silly and foolish sometimes?
I can understand trying to/wanting to protect her sister. However shielding Luna away from the world won't work. It NEVER works. Not only that but it's very likely to cause Luna to resent her sister for trying to cut her off from one of her only friends. And seeing as how Luna is a princess and an alicorn good luck enforcing that ruling. Even if Hendrick tried to respect Celestia's wishes at 1st I think Luna could get to him in the end. I feel like Celesita's reaction is rather foolish. While I would expect a knee-jerk reaction after learning that her sis has been sharing her lips with Hendrick trying to cut off all ties between the two of them seems a bit over reactionary, foolish, harsh, and like she's trying to lock her sister away from the world... which personally isn't exactly how I'd picture her.
I guess I just see Celestia more as a the Chessmaster so doing something that major that's more of an emotional reaction and whatnot... just doesn't fit the image I've got of her I guess.
People are saying a lot of bad stuff about this. I don't know why. This is a brilliant portrayal of Celestia's imperfections. This is totally in character for her. She wants everybody to be as happy as possible, but sometimes she doesn't realize that she is just hurting the situation.
This an amazing story, and you have captured all of the characters to their fullest extent.
1948690
Honestly? Comedic effect. Poorly executed, I'll give you that.
*Sigh* Just like everything else in the chapter.
I give you Celestia, the cockblocker!! It is her sacred duty to make sure her sister will never get some!!
1949083
It's funny kinda, but in the "Oh wow, that sucks for him" sort of way.
I can see Moon Light running out of the house all worried just to find Hendrick giving the side walk a new coat of paint.
I can't take the suspense!
1949929
I would hope not, what would I do without it?
Badum tss
The way Celestia reacted makes it sound like the whole NMM thing happened because of her last relationship, yet going behind Luna's back is only going to make her angry when she finds out - which could easily spark another incident.
Oh and Moonlight gets handed away to strangers.
I guess this is the chapter of bad decisions with good intentions ^^
1948860
wouldn't say it's perfectly In-Character for her, simply since it's too direct an action. And the whole impatience thing feels a little bit off, but I suppose that could be explained away with the situation being just that grave.
1948788
locked away you say? Crackpot theory: There never was a NMM, the last relationship ended badly because Celestia got between them and banished Luna to the moon - only there did she then go insane and take on the NMM appearance. ^^
Celestia, you're going to fall into the overprotective relative trap, and it's not going to do Luna any good. I'd have thought that after being banished to the moon after wreaking so much havoc in the past would have been much, much worse, but what do I know? (/sarcasm)
Seriously, Luna's not as fragile as Celestia's making her out to be, and it's time she learned that, as well as learning to let go. Luna's her sister, not a pet, and she'll rightly resent that.
I'm sure some ponies have wondered if Luna might revert into the Nightmare again; what Celestia's doing might do just that, and oh, the IRONY.
1948566
Pfft, it was 2:30PM when I made this response, not too sure how its a big deal. Anyhow, you would be alright with reading the length of this chapter, but not with length of my previous comment? What selective reading nonsense!
1948721
'No' what preciously, If you don't mind me asking?
1953830 Sorry, long walls of text are my weak point. I keep losing track of what to reply to :/
1948566
Don't steal my line, bitch
1953830
GO. TO. SLEEP.
MOAR! Good writing.
Banish Celestia to the sun for 1000 years and she'd still be too dense, and irresponsibly stuck up to get ideas. Solitude, downers, Twilight trilogy...you name it.
1000 is good too.
2785221 1150 is better :3
3050471
not as good as 1166
I've been enjoying the story so far (I especially liked how you didn't use the cliché Death character and even pointed out how nonsensical that would be), but I didn't really care much about this chapter. It's still written well, but a lot of things happened which kind of annoyed me. First was the adoption thing. This seemed to come out of nowhere, and felt incredibly rushed (why did they agree so quickly? Not only that, but why doesn't he just consider getting a home now that he has a job?). Second was Celestia. Others mentioned it, but I still want to bring up that it felt incredibly OOC for her to act that way. Not only that, but the over-protective older sister act seemed so contrived and out of place that I actually thought she was lying about that being the real reason for having him stay away, and I was surprised when after finishing the chapter and reading the comments it seems that really was the actual reason she had. I thought she was only doing it because of the way Twilight described how he looked a few chapters earlier.
I'll keep on reading, but I seriously hope I won't be seeing more OOC Celestia in the future (at least, not at this level).
2785221>>3050471>>3080492
9000+ is even better.
DARN THE MYSTERY BEHIND HENDRICK!
I just shotgunned 14 out of 17 chapters trying to get answers but they keep dancing out of reach!!
I only meant to only read 1...
trollestia
Up till now It didn't indicate that, but since you basically confirmed it, I gotta say, Vinyl x Octavia is one of the stupidest ships this fandom came with.
It probably went like this:
- We need more lesbians!
- Vinyl and Octavia are both musicians! They have to be in relationship!
- But they live in different cities. They didn't even appear on screen at the same time!
- Doesn't matter! Lesbians!
3655064
Cockblockestia
4430622 Welcome to the internet buddy, need a brochure? See I think you're missing the point. There is nothing in there that says it can't happen so why are you so irritated about it? Seems like you're getting angry about something that's no big deal. Exactly why does this ship bother you so much? Hmm? Is it because their lesbians or you've got some sort of head canon with one of them and it doesn't for? Maybe in your universe their dating your OC or something. These are assumptions, but I can only make such from irrational anger.
3333548 You and me both, now i am debating whether i should save the rest (and the sequel) for tomorrow or finish it off tonight..............dis is hard