Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
The walk back to Octavia's Canterlot apartment wasn't that long, and the two chatted amicably along the way until they arrived. Once they'd gone in, Octavia disappeared into the other room to put her cello away, while Vinyl amused herself by looking at the pictures on the walls. One pony, she saw, was a kind of yellowish mare with a blue mane, wearing a green top, orange bandana and white hat, and playing a fiddle.
"This must be the one you were talking about earlier," she mused as Octavia came back into the room.
Octavia's eyes drifted to the picture, and she nodded. "My cousin, Fiddly Twang," she said. "Though she generally prefers to go by Fiddlesticks. Our mothers were sisters, but her father's cousins live in Ponyville, and that is where she spends most of her own time. I also have my own space in her home there, for such times when I feel the need to get away from the big city."
"Cool." Vinyl nodded. "Great sense in fashion." she teased with the other mare looking amused.
"Yes, she does have that," she said. "And it's quite comfortable, I must say."
Vinyl slowly turned to look at her, and Octavia gave her a sly look. "Fiddlesticks and I have actually dressed up as one another in the past," she said. "Her outfits look rather well on me, when I've also used the right dyes so that my coat and mane match her own."
Vinyl smiled. "Sounds like fun," she said. "Though I couldn't really pull it off. My coat and mane are really unique and any dyes tend not to stick too well. Plus, my eye colour is also pretty rare to boot."
"Oh?" Octavia tilted her head. "May I see them?"
Vinyl shrugged. "Why not." Lifting her shades, she revealed her face underneath, and Octavia nodded slowly.
"That is a lovely shade," she said. "A rather vivid reddish pink. Moderate cerise, is it not?"
"Yeah, that's the shade exactly," Vinyl said. "You've got a good eye - not many would get that."
Octavia smiled. "I am a mare of many talents," she said. "My family always encouraged me in the arts of all kinds from a young age. And while my Cutie Mark may have led me down a more musical path in life, I still have an appreciation for the visual arts as well."
"Makes sense to me," Vinyl said. "I kind of picture the music in my head when I'm performing, imagine what it'd look like on a canvas."
Octavia's eye lit up. "You do that too?" she asked. "Have you ever attempted to turn it into a physical example?"
"Nah, I'm nowhere near that good with paints and such," Vinyl said. "You?"
"Well, sometimes," Octavia said. "What other methods do you use?"
The two chatted more as Octavia directed Vinyl into the kitchen, where they continued their talk as Octavia prepared dinner. When she'd finished, they settled in the dining room to continue their chat as they ate.
Finally, it was late and Vinyl, much as she hated to say it, admitted it was time for her to leave for the night.
Octavia nodded understandingly. "I know just what you mean," she said.
The two headed for the door, and Vinyl smiled. "It's been great," she said. "But there's just one more thing I was wondering about."
"Oh?" Octavia regarded her.
"Yeah. Where'd you get that cute little bow tie of yours?" Vinyl asked.
Octavia chuckled. "I received it as a present from my aunt soon after I received my Cutie Mark," she said. "She said it would be just perfect for such performances as I tend to put on."
Vinyl smiled. "It suits you."
"Speaking of fashion," Octavia said. "I like your scarf."
Vinyl's hoof flew to it. "Er, yeah," she said. "Not just a fashion choice there."
Octavia frowned. "Is there something the matter?" she asked.
Vinyl hesitated, then figured she might as well tell the truth, or close to it. "Got some operation scars back there," she said. "From when I was real young. The scarf's so I can keep 'em covered up most of the time."
"Oh." Octavia deflated a bit, looking concerned. "Was it a painful one, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Painful?"
"The injury, or whatever it was, that necessitated an operation on a pony so young?"
Vinyl shook her head. "Birth defect," she said. "Not painful, just... obnoxious to have to deal with."
"What was it, if you don't mind me being incredibly personal, or is it a sensitive issue?" the earth pony asked with tremendous care and concern in her eyes.
"Eh..." Vinyl waved a hoof, hesitant to give the full story just yet, tied to her origins as it was. "Kind of hard to explain right now. I'll tell you when I've figured out how."
Octavia nodded. "All right. I can wait until later," she then blinked and looked at Vinyl. "There will be later; right?" Before Vinyl could even think to respond, the mare chuckled. "How silly, even if you do need to leave shortly, we can meet again either here, Ponyville or your home. I'd love to meet your family Vinyl."
Vinyl smiled. "I think LP and my folks would love to meet you too," she said. "Long Play's my big brother, by the way, and he does the same general style of music as I do." She glanced at the clock. "In fact, one of his friends is in town keeping an eye on me for him, and I need to go so we can meet back up."
Octavia nodded understandingly. "Vinyl, darling, it has been a wonderful experience getting to know you," she said. "See you again soon?"
"You know it, Octy," Vinyl said with a smile.
Octavia looked amused at the nickname. "Until then, Vinyl."
When Vinyl had made it a ways down the street, she looked back to see Octavia still waving and smiled, wishing she could go back and stay longer.
Vinyl swayed as she walked back to the game shop, replaying the music that Octavia had made in her head. She was annoyed that she didn't have her PCA with her so she could have stored the music within her voice box and replayed it later, but hopefully she could convince Director Luna to teleport her back down in the future so she could do so later on.
By the stars, she really wanted to tell Octavia the truth and get the go ahead to show the mare her place in the Republic, share everything with her and maybe move i-
"By the moon, I think I'm in love," Vinyl said to herself in surprise before she looked around her. Thankfully no one was really paying attention to her and heard what she said. Shaking her head with a blush on her face, she continued onto the shop where she saw Shining was talking to Love Hearts, with her friend having a big dopey grin on his face.
"Bye Hearts," Shining said, waving to the mare with the mare smiling and waving back, walking away with a skip in her step.
"Enjoy yourself?" Vinyl asked as she walked up to him.
"You could say that," Shining replied, still looking happy. Then his expression turned more serious. "You?"
"A mare never kisses and tells," she joked before she tilted her head down slightly. "How about we find a hotel so we can properly talk, Shiny?"
Shining Armor nodded, and the two set out.
"So a good date today?" Vinyl asked as Shining led them to a relatively cheap-looking hotel, with Shining doling out the bits to pay for their room. They had made small talk as they had walked, with Shining looking around that made Vinyl pretty sure he was sweeping the area for any possible threats.
"It wasn't just a date," Shining said a bit huffily as they walked into their room. "But yes, we did have a good time and her friends were able to tell me where I could get some good miniatures later on, among other stuff."
"Like what," Vinyl asked as she closed the door behind them, with Shining slapping down several barriers around them.
"Well, Love Hearts wasn't really who she said she was," Shining blushed, before he turned serious again. "It turns out Equestria's gotten another alicorn since Director Luna left for the moon."
Vinyl stared at him. "Are you bucking serious. A thousand years, and they just replaced her‽"
"No no, it's not like that," Shining shook his head. "Cady is, or was, a pegasus that achieved alicornhood on her own, with her own duties, and Princess Celestia adopted her into the royal family. And she's very eager to meet Luna and get to know her."
"Okay," Vinyl said, processing what her friend just said before her eyes lit up mischievous glee. "Cady? Are we being really familiar here or is somepony shooting for the brass ring?"
Shining groaned, which told Vinyl enough. "You're sweet on her!" she said gleefully.
"Yes, and not because she's an alicorn," Shining said with a sigh. "She's really kind, and friendly, and fun... she's a great person."
"Well that's great, if anypony could land a princess, it'd be you," Vinyl teased him with Shining giving her a snort.
"And how about you, did you meet anypony?" he asked.
"Met a fellow musician," Vinyl said quickly, though hopefully not too quickly. "She's awesome."
"Just awesome?" Shining asked, raising an eyebrow at her, telling her she had been too quick to answer.
"Let me put it this way," Vinyl said. "There's classical music, and then there's classical music, and Octy's got the second kind in her soul. Plus, she understands and appreciates my kind of stylings instead of just dismissing it like most of the snootier folks would."
Shining Armor chuckled. "Sounds like we both met somepony good today," he said. "And speaking of that, I was able to get a closer look at some of the operations of Equestria and some of their problematic groups."
Vinyl frowned. "Yeah, I heard some of that," she said. "Most of the ponies I heard talking about it just didn't care about us, but there were some who were being jerks about some of the other folks down here and just using the whole moon/night thing as an excuse."
"Well, I would put that under the fact it wouldn't be socially acceptable to act that way in the capital, but from some of the reports and information I was able to see, there is some elements of hostility like that from the Night of Departure," Shining said. "But Cady and her operatives are not only working to stop them but help ponies in more remote areas to change their mindsets so there won't be any more ponies that buy into these avengers' propaganda."
Vinyl's eyes widened. "Really? No wonder you liked her... and good on her, for doing all that," she said.
"Yeah," Shining said nodding his head.
"So... did you get to meet... the other princess?" Vinyl asked.
Shining Armor shook his head. "Cadance said she was going to be busy with a lot of stuff today, and besides, given how she'd found out where I was from, she didn't want her aunt to find out about me just yet," he said.
"She found out‽" Vinyl repeated. "How? Director Luna is going to kill you."
"No, I don't think so," Shining said. "Cadance is rather firmly on her side when it comes to protecting our people from the bigots." He ducked his head. "As for how... I may have let slip some phrasing that led her to figure it out."
Vinyl was still looking at him as he continued. "I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character, and Cadance - she was too. She was surprised when she figured it out, and I could tell that if I'd tried to backtrack or lie to her, it would have just made her suspicious. But by being honest and showing what kind of pony I really was, she trusted me enough in return to show me what she and her group were up to. My honesty, being myself, has in all likelihood earned us a very powerful ally."
"And if she'd turned on you?" Vinyl asked.
"I can teleport, and we have emergency plans in case of something going wrong," Shining Armor said in a very stiff and formal tone that made Vinyl remember he was the Deputy Director of Security and not just some goofball. "Director Luna spoke to Onyx and I privately before, and we drafted our plans in case things did go wrong."
"That's good to know," Vinyl said, looking at her partner. "So, what do we do now?"
"We get some sleep, and go back to work in the morning," Shining said. "Cadance and I are meeting up again later, but I'll have a few hours to continue scoping things out beforehand. And you should probably do the same."
"Aye-aye, boss," Vinyl said with a salute.
Shining chuckled. "No need to be quite that formal, Vinyl. But seriously, rest up. We have another long day ahead."
Vinyl threw him one last grin, then climbed into one of the beds, setting her shades on the table next to it. Within minute, she was sound asleep.
Celestia was busy at her desk when she heard a pony knock on her door. Lifting her head up, she tried to anticipate who it was before she welcomed them in, and was surprised to see it was Blueblood actually trying to be subtle for once.
"Blueblood, to what do I owe this visit?" she asked as he closed the door behind him.
"Concern, Auntie" he said bluntly as he walked up to her desk. "While I was attending to matters here today, I saw Cadance with this stallion, and-"
"Blueblood, your cousin is a mare of incredible power, talent and resources," she cut him off, annoyed that he would waste her time with gossip. She had already went back to her paperwork, determined to finish them off so she could have an early night off. "If she wishes to spend her time with a pony, then I would not deny her that right."
"Please, if it were a normal pony, I would not have bothered you about this but something bothered me about him," Blueblood said. "His accent was something I never heard of before and how close he got to her was also somewhat alarming. I tried to have some ponies follow him and his companion to get some information, but this Shining Armor has managed to produce a very high level silencing spell. I implore you to allow me to investigate-"
Celestia's pen skidded across the paper, ruining it completely as she froze.
Shining Armor.
"Princess, is everything ok-"
"Leave now. Take no actions against him or his companion, Blueblood. Am I understood?" She narrowed her eyes at him, putting as much steel in her voice as she could without resorting to the Royal Canterlot voice.
Blueblood's eyes widened, and then he nodded, clearly taken aback by her sudden change of nature. Still, he kept quiet and backed out of the room without saying another word, leaving Celestia a moment to collect herself before she walked over to a special room, containing a magical mirror that had a matching mate on the moon.
She wasn't sure which Power had left it here or how they got past her guards and her personal protection spells but whatever the case was, it was a way for her and Luna to talk and see each other despite the distance.
Though Luna never actually used it properly.
"Luna," she said into the mirror, waiting for the signs for her sister to show she was there and she wasn't talking to a mirror. Her reflection soon vanished, with the blank, silver face of the mirror staring back at her. "We need to talk, face to face. Now."
Just like all the other times she tried to speak some sense into her sister, Luna had refused to activate the spells to show her face or even respond, showing how childish she was still being.
"You have her," Celestia said, pacing the room with her eyes narrowed and her coat ruffled, making Celestia glad she hadn't activated her side of the mirror either. Luna would undoubtedly enjoy seeing her a mess and she wouldn't give her sister that satisfaction. "You need to put your pride and ego aside, and bring her down to Equestria. We have only a year or so before Discord will escape and countless other possible dangers will emerge and we need the Elements of Harmony."
Still no reply, and Celestia wasn't surprised. Her sister was stubborn beyond belief and she wasn't sure what it would take to get Luna to see reason. Hopefully it would not be Discord attacking her followers; that would be countless lives in danger and for all Luna's faults, Celestia knew her sister wasn't that prideful and arrogant.
She sighed, shaking her head. "I suppose I will be seeing you tomorrow night," she said. "After all, it will have been a thousand years then. Just in time for the stars to aid in your return."
Suddenly, Celestia's ear flicked; she could have sworn she heard a snort of derision from the mirror. She gave it another hard look, wondering what game her sister was planning at before shaking her head.
"Until then, Luna."
With that, she deactivated the spell on the mirror, stalked out of the room and went to her own chambers, doing her best to prepare for what was coming tomorrow.
Luna stared at the mirror before shaking her head. She loved her sister, that went without saying but she had seen that her sister had not grown or changed at all, still expecting her to jump when Celestia called, ordering her around like she was still a lesser. That shot at the end, of comparing her to her other selves, had unfortunately managed to get to her. She had taken the steps to avoid becoming Nightmare Moon; talking to the Lord of Nightmares had headed off some issues as well as finding her ponies to center herself. She was not some lost mare without her facilities. She did not need the stars to aid her return; she was still herself.
Her ear flicked; she was unsure how Celestia had discovered who was on her moon but she had some ideas on how. Perhaps sending Shining was a mistake but she could not change the past.
"High Director?" a pony knocked at her door, making Luna lift her head from her musings. "Are you ready for your last review on your preparations for tomorrow night?"
Luna flashed a wicked grin at the mare. She had taken her into her confidence and explained what she wanted to do for her sister's precious ceremony, and the mare had leaped at it with gusto, though with some secrecy as she knew that several other Directors would have talked her out of it, or at least urged her not to do this for the reasons she'd presented to the unicorn.
"Yes I am, Sassy Saddles," she cackled with glee. "Tomorrow will be a night for all to remember."
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Oh boy. Luna's gonna scare everyone isn't' she?
luna is pog
Oh? Other selves? I think I smell some alternate universe / timeline shenanigans... I'm excited to see how this all pans out!
Heh, why does the phrase 'famous last words' come to mind at the end here? Oh man, it seems that BOTH sisters are being unduly childish. But, knowing how siblings can be, I ain't surprised.
Although, I do have to wonder how or if Celestia knows anything about Shining Armor. Why would she just forbid Blueblood like that? Granted, considering just how conniving THIS Blueblood is, I wouldn't put it past him to blatantly disregard her warning in some fashion. Like maybe somehow engineer a confrontation with Shining. But that also raises the question of just why he'd be interested in Shining Armor to begin with. Is he just interested in him because he's keeping tabs on Cadence in order to marginalize her effectiveness against him and his ponies? The fact that Shining's an unknown would've been secondary, if so.
Man, the buildup to the SSC is just KILLING me here!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!!
Yeah you are
So you've had an X number of years to try and talk things out but neither of you managed to but their pride aside long enough to start an actually conversation about what happened
Though I wonder who it was that left it there, and if they are annoyed at the two of them for actually talking to each other?
Well, looks like we really will have to rely on the students to be the sensible ones, cause the teachers clearly aren't going to
10795487
His story is part of a multiverse that is titled The Powers That Be and many, if not all, Celestia’s and Luna’s are aware of other worlds and has either looked into them and their timelines or has even been in contact with other versions of themselves.
In this case you might have noticed that Celestia knew who Shining Armor was, and more importantly, who his sister was.
This is because in most worlds Shining Armor is the older brother of Twilight Sparkle who, more often then not, is the Bearer of the Element of Magic, and someone who saves Equestria on a multitude of occasions.
There is more to it in this multiverse but I would recommend reading some of the other stories in the The Powers That Be multiverse written by Evilhumor and the others, or by reading a recent blog post on the group page that gives a brief background on the history of this multiverse.
Again, another excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. VERY much enjoyed Vinyl and Octavia bonding like that (as well as Vinyl feeling bad that she can't be more honest with Octavia yet) as well as Shining and Vinyl's recaps of how the night went (especially Vinyl's reactions to not just "Love Heart's" true identity, but also the fact that she already knows about where Shining comes from [and, yeah, Shining made some excellent points about the honesty]). Definitely liked Celestia laying down the law on Blueblood (not that it's likely to stop Blueblood), but I have to agree that the balance between the two siblings acknowledging that they both miss and need each other and both being too stubborn to talk out their issues is a rather difficult one to maintain. REALLY hoping Twi and Sunset will be able to maintain cooler heads here.
Quite certainly looking forward to more of this.
I hope you dont just go copying a thousand year change in this story.
Why can't people just accept that Nightmare Moon IS Luna and not some dumb parasite
10869165
It's an alternate universe. Things are going to be different from canon.
Also, having another entity be responsible for what happened to Luna was part of what Lauren Faust originally had planned during the time she was in charge of the series. So anyone who's using that plot in their fics is just taking her plan and running with it.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.