Paths Less Travelled

by Botched Lobotomy

Chapter 1

The end.

I’ll start from there. Two mares, too old, and one of them is crying. Bright tears burning. That’s you. And me, I have a smile on my face. I think that’s burning, too. I’m not sure what to make of it. First night, I thought, well, weird dream, but alright. Unconscious triggers, whatnot. Celestia only knows what it all means. I tried to put it out of mind, but it just kept on creeping back. Second, third; one straight week, and then another. Same dreaming, every night. Me and you and the crying of it all. Yeah.

You probably won’t ever see this. Probably, you have guards or secretaries or such that go through all your mail. You probably get tons of it. I’m writing this mostly for me. Cause I’ve tried sleeping pills and magic spells and whatdyacallit, tantric meditation, and not a one of them’s done any good. I’ve tried forgetting. So what the hell. Maybe sending all these thoughts away will help, even if you never read them. And if you do:

1. Any suggestions?

2. What’s going on?

3. Can you stay out of my head?

Love,

Vinyl Scratch.

A pretty mare, a pale cream coat and electric blue bright mane. Her eyes are red and fierce and nervous, trying not to show it. It’s okay, you want to say, want to reach out with a hoof, adjust her mane, tell her there’s nothing here she should be concerned about. You don’t much like telling lies, though, not when it counts, and right now Vinyl’s eyes are telling you she thinks it counts a lot. So instead you ask her if she’s really ready, she hesitates, she gives a nod, and you take a breath. Oh, you’re nervous, too. How strange. It’s okay, you’ve done this a hundred times before. Yeah! Go Cadance! Summon the image that always keeps you going, when you’re getting butterflies: white unicorn, blue mane. A dashing, handsome smile full of love and trust and adoration. That little quirk his mouth does, like he’s just about to laugh. Streaks of silver in his mane now, crows’ feet at his eyes: ageing gracefully. Smiling silver fox. You close your eyes, and let his smile fill you, reach into every corner of your body warm and tingling, spiralling towards your horn...

You touch your horn to Vinyl’s, and the whole world goes flash! white.

---

Cutie marks come easy, mostly. Everypony knows them. Yours is simple as it is effective: crystal heart, with fluted golden decorations. It may have taken time for you to figure out its meaning, but now it fits you—well, fits you like a cutie mark. But fate, the tricksy mare, has other paths set also—most everypony has a destiny, has skills, has friends, has lovers, but! because sometimes the roads to each are tangled and confused, the universe sent you alicorns to guide them. You’ve known your job since even before you got your horn—you’ve always been a matchmaker, and that’s where your cutie mark called you to help. Nudging here and there, encouraging, persuading—the magic helps, of course!—but never changing, no, only...allowing understanding, letting ponies see more clearly why they’re perfect for each other. Clearing brambles from the path! Like a foal whose cutie mark they’re having trouble working out.

Everypony has somecreature they’re meant to spend their days with. This Vinyl Scratch must have one, too—it’s simply up to you to work it out, and set fate back on course.

Everypony deserves to spend their days in love with the companions that are fated them.

Celestia & Luna.

Sweetie, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom.

Yourself & Shining Armour.

You believe this utterly, completely, and with every fibre of your being. It’s a shock to realise you might have got it wrong.

Comments

[Bicyclette]

You probably won’t ever see this. Probably, you have guards or secretaries or such that go through all your mail. You probably get tons of it. I’m writing this mostly for me. Cause I’ve tried sleeping pills and magic spells and whatdyacallit, tantric meditation, and not a one of them’s done any good. I’ve tried forgetting. So what the hell. Maybe sending all these thoughts away will help, even if you never read them. And if you do:

love Vinyl Scratch's voice here; already very invested in the premise. to dream of the Princess of Love like this, and to be driven to send a letter to her about this impossible dream. standing at the membrane between this life and another possible one. augh, i should save these comments for later

Summon the image that always keeps you going, when you’re getting butterflies: white unicorn, blue mane. A dashing, handsome smile full of love and trust and adoration.

love this little bit of foreshadowing in how this description also applies perfectly to Vinyl. of course Cadance here doesn't notice what the reader does as she goes into describing Shining Armor more explicitly

You touch your horn to Vinyl’s, and the whole world goes flash! white.

the "flash!" really works so well with such a textured paragraph

Nudging here and there, encouraging, persuading—the magic helps, of course!—but never changing, no, only...allowing understanding, letting ponies see more clearly why they’re perfect for each other. Clearing brambles from the path! Like a foal whose cutie mark they’re having trouble working out.

ah, the confidence here! the self-assurance that Cadance has that she knows what she is doing and that what she is doing is good tastes different knowing where she is by the end of the story

You believe this utterly, completely, and with every fibre of your being. It’s a shock to realise you might have got it wrong.

i, too, have ships like this. good amount of overlap here, too! Princess Cadance has good taste