12. Pink and Red
"The Elements of Harmony?"
"The Elements of Harmony."
Vinyl waited for Octavia to elaborate, but instead Octavia remained silent, sitting quietly at her desk and sketching in her pad. An awkward silence filled the air for a few moments before Vinyl spoke up again.
"As in, those Elements of Harmony?"
"Are there others?" Octavia calmly replied. "I said that my targets are the Elements of Harmony."
"Well it's that word 'target' that's throwing me here," Vinyl said, sitting down next to Octavia. "I mean, I get you're upset at them. Not only that, but I think you have every right to be upset by what they've inadvertently done to you..."
"Hardly inadvertent," Octavia interjected. "They didn't just 'accidentally' ruin the Gala. They didn't 'accidentally' stumble into the Garden Party. Princess Celestia invited them to those events. They made the decision to attend them.”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Well, you know what I mean. The point is, I just don't think they went into those shows to ruin them on purpose."
"Neither do I," Octavia said, putting her sketch pad down. "But the fact remains that they did ruin them. Far worse, however, is that they never apologized for their actions. In fact, they seemed to outright celebrate what they did at the Gala and no doubt they felt pretty proud of what they did at the Garden Party."
She stood up and trotted over to her closet as Vinyl looked over her paper. It was covered with sketches from corner to corner, many of them looking like the Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony. Each one had something modified about them, from something as simple as being crossed out in red pen to more elaborate modifications: one of them appeared to be three popped balloons, another was three apple cores laying on top of one another.
"Woah, these are pretty detailed," Vinyl muttered. "Hey, are you even going to be able to draw some of these with spraypaint?"
"Probably not," Octavia said as she pulled out a large bag from her closet. She returned to the desk and emptied its contents, revealing a wide variety of painting supplies; not only was there spray paint, but also full cans of paint accompanied by brushes and a multitude of smaller cans of carrying colors. "That's why I bought these."
"Ooooh." Vinyl looked over all the supplies as Octavia took her sketch pad and resumed drawing in it. "Looks like Flanksy is branching out! That's a relief."
Octavia nodded and drew, only for her hoof to slow down and her gaze to meet her friend’s. "A relief? What do you mean?"
Vinyl's gaze shifted about nervously before she sat down on the bed. "Well, it's hard to explain... Look, it's like this: after how angry you got at them for what they did at the Garden Party, I've been a little concerned you were just going to start attacking them, ya know?"
"No, I know what is important," Octavia replied, picking her sketch pad back up. As she talked, her grip on the sides of the pad tightened. "This is still about art, this is still about expression, and most importantly, this is still about changing Canterlot. The only thing that has changed is my focus. I want to show ponies that the Elements of Harmony aren't as perfect as so many believe them to be. That they can be intrusive, annoying, disruptive, and downright disrespectful; that for all the good they have done for Equestria as a whole, they know nothing of the lives of the ponies around them; that they are just as ignorant as Princess Celestia!"
Octavia took a deep breath and put the pad down, focusing instead on loading up her duffel bag with the paint supplies. She was putting her face mask and bandana on top of the supplies when Vinyl spoke up.
"Like I said, I know how upset you are. Just, well, keep your temper, you know? Don't go all out against them."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for everything you've said, they're still the Elements of Harmony. They've done a lot of good for Equestria. They saved Princess Luna; they stopped Discord. I think a lot of ponies respect and admire them."
"That is the point of all of this!" Octavia snapped back. "Just because they have done good does not preclude them from wrongdoing. They are utterly ignorant of the damage they have caused, while other ponies seem to unquestionably forgive them of any and all wrongdoing. Flanksy has a chance to show Canterlot, to show Equestria, that despite all they have done, the Elements of Harmony are not perfect. Not to mention that quite frankly, harmony itself isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"Woah woah woah," Vinyl interjected. "You want to run that last part by me again? What does this have to do with the concept of harmony?"
Octavia whirled around so quickly that Vinyl flinched. A fire was burning in Octavia's eyes, her face almost shaking as she held the bag of her supplies up.
"Because according to harmony, this is wrong!" she shouted. She took a long breath and held it for a second, then let it out as she calmed herself down and set the bag on the ground. "I understand that what I do is against the norm, I’d say, but the Elements of Harmony think it's something that should be erased. It's as low as Nightmare Moon or Discord in their eyes. Well, if that's what they think, I will be more than happy to show them that art is not wrong.”
She zipped up her bag and stuffed it into a garbage bag as Vinyl looked around awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"Is something bothering you, Vinyl?"
"Well..." she began, then shook her head. "Nah, it's nothing. I think you got this."
Octavia looked up from the bag. "Wait, you're clamming up? That's new; usually you're the one telling me to be open."
"It's really nothing," Vinyl replied. "Just... don't get angry. Like I said, at the end of the day, they're still ponies. If you want to make art, that's awesome. Promise me you won't let this turn into personal attack."
There was a pause, broken by Octavia sighing and looking down at the bag. She opened her mouth to respond, but her eye caught something else: her cello in the other room. Even from the distance she was at, she could still see a few scratches on the side. With a snort she tied the bag up and threw it over her shoulder.
"I don't want to turn this into a personal attack," she said as she pulled the front door open. “But Vinyl, I’m not the one who originally made this personal.”
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Octavia ground her teeth together as she sat on the cobblestone pathway and flipped through her sketchpad. Just looking at the designs she had drawn was bringing her back to both the night of the Gala and the Garden Party. Her hooves crumpled the edges of the paper as she finally settled on a page, then unzipped her bag and pulled out a small roll of tape. She affixed the picture to the wall separating the Castle Garden from the surrounding area, stepped back, and took a long breath. The ponies who had gathered around Flanksy shifted their gaze between her and the picture she had taped up as she rummaged through her bag, tossing a few cans up next to the wall and pulling out a small paint brush and can of pink paint. She dunked the brush into the paint and began to paint on the wall.
Only a few seconds into painting the first butterfly did Octavia's tight, tense grip on the paint brush loosen up and her determined strokes to become calm. She held the brush on the wall for a few seconds and she let out a long, contented sigh before returning to the art. With each stroke, the anger that had been rushing through her head for the past day diminished. Her focus slowly shifted; she had wanted to just throw the Cutie Mark up on the wall as quickly as possible before drawing over it, but now she was taking her time, switching between colors and drawing each of the six Cutie Marks as accurately as possible.
She finally stepped back and admired her work for a minute; each of the Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony were drawn in a straight line, each mark almost the size of a full pony. With a smirk on her face, she pulled out a red can and popped it open, then drew a large red X over each of the butterflies in the first Cutie Mark.
She could hear gasps and murmuring from behind her as she did it, and she couldn't help but chuckle; over time, she had come to love hearing that reaction from the ponies who served as her impromptu audience. She finished with the three red X's on the butterflies, then stepped back again to look at the rest of the marks.
Maybe Vinyl was right, she thought to herself as she returned to her bag. This doesn't need to be an attack, I just needed to let off some steam. I can just get this off of my chest and move on from the Elements.
She dug her hoof deeper into her bag and pulled out a blue can, then looked over at the three apples drawn next to the butterflies.
"You should try purple! It looks soooo much better on apples than blue!"
Octavia nodded, tossing the can back into the bag. She searched her bag for a can of purple, when she paused in confusion. She raised her head up, then glanced behind her.
A pink pony stood extremely close to the wall, her nose almost touching the paint that Octavia had just sprayed. She had a huge grin on her face and was giggling as she looked at each of the Cutie Marks, her giggle turning into a laugh when she got to her own Cutie Mark. As she stared at her, Octavia's mind raced; she thought back to the night of the Gala, when she had leapt up on stage and grabbed at her cello, sending herself crashing to the ground and scratching up the instrument in the process. She thought back to the Garden Party, where the pony had shot a cannon full of confetti at everypony there.
She was one of the Elements of Harmony, and she had been the one most directly responsible for ruining those nights.
Octavia's teeth ground again as the pony bounced up and down, excitedly looking at the last Cutie Mark before she glanced over at Octavia. With one big jump, the pony landed right in front of her.
"Hi!" she suddenly chirped. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Did you make all these? They're cool! Can you do a picture of a cake next? Oooh no, do a picture of a cake eating another cake! That'd be hilarious!"
Pinkie was talking so quickly that Octavia could barely even make out what she was saying. She stared at the pink ball of energy as it leapt between drawings, bouncing up and down on the tips of her hooves and rambling about whatever seemingly came to her mind. For as angry as Octavia had been, now she was just confused. She glanced around and noticed the ponies who had gathered looked just as perplexed as she was. She looked back towards the wall, finding that Pinkie was right in her face again.
"You're dressed all cool!" she said, quickly running circles around Octavia and staring at her attire. "You're like a ninja. But you're also a painter! Are you a paint ninja? Or are you a ninja painter? If you want to be a ninja painter you should probably work at night!"
Octavia just blinked, unable to think of anything to do to respond to the hyperactive pony. She instead awkwardly trotted backwards and reached for her bag for a new can to move on to, all the while keeping an eye on Pinkie.
Does she even realize what I’m doing here? she thought to herself as she turned back to her bag to select a color. She really has no idea. She's just out here to ruin another day.
After finally picking out a red can, Octavia turned back to the wall, only to nearly drop the can in shock, Pinkie was several feet away from where she had put up the Cutie Marks, but now she somehow had her own set of painting supplies and was busy scrawling a picture of a cupcake on the wall. Octavia's face trembled in anger and her hooves overrode her mind as she trotted straight over to the pony, spinning her around and pointing a hoof angrily at the wall.
Pinkie just grinned. "I wanna be an artist too! Then we can be paint buddies! Go draw a picture of a cupcake while I work on this!"
Octavia's eyes twitched as Pinkie obliviously went back to her own painting. Her jaw was hurting from how hard her teeth were clenched, and she was starting to see red around the corners of her eyes. She stormed back over to the Cutie Marks she had drawn and reached back for her bag, but her hoof was trembling so hard that she couldn't get a grip on the can. She glared over at Pinkie, who was now excitedly leaping into the air and writing her name as high on the wall as she could, then back at her bag. For a moment, her hoof tightened around a red can of paint as she glared back at Pinkie, but a voice sounded off in the back of her mind.
Promise me you won't turn this into a personal attack.
Her grip on the paint can loosened and she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Vinyl was definitely right, she thought to herself. I need to keep this about art. I'll just let her wear herself out.
She quickly gathered her supplies back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Pinkie Pie looked over just as Octavia was starting to trot away.
"Awwwww, are you leaving?" Pinkie said as she had moved on to painting her own face on the wall. "The art party was just getting started!"
Ignoring the cries of the pony, Octavia trotted off and into a nearby alley. When she was out of sight of the crowd, she removed her mask and stuffed it into her bag, then sat against the wall and sighed.
"I'll just find somewhere else to do this little project," she mumbled to herself.
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An hour or so had passed, during which Octavia had wandered aimlessly around Canterlot, killing time and looking around for another spot to paint. Eventually she made her way back to where she had been working earlier, to find that Pinkie Pie had continued to paint on the wall while she was gone; although the Cutie Marks she had drawn were still there, the wall surrounding them was adorned with crude pictures of ponies, other Cutie Marks, baked goods, and other seemingly random concepts. Octavia just shook her head in disbelief as she stared at the wall.
I'll just paint the other end of the wall, Octavia thought as she made her way into the alley and picked up her stashed supplies. She's had her fun.
Octavia carefully made her way through the back alleys of Canterlot, being sure not to be seen by anypony. She made it to the other end of the Canterlot Garden and quickly slipped her disguise on. She tossed the garbage bag aside and dragged the duffel bag out of the alley, then headed straight for the wall. Immediately, ponies took notice of her and surrounded her as she sat down and flipped through her sketch pad again. This time, she found a page that only had drawings of one pony's Cutie Mark: the pony who had interrupted her earlier.
No attacks, she thought to herself with a smirk, but she certainly helped me decide which pony to focus on first.
She pulled her bag right up to the wall, then set the pad down on the ground next to it. She looked over the wall for a few seconds with a smile, then turned to her bag and unzipped it. After picking out the first color she turned back to the wall, and found herself face-to-face with a pony hanging upside down.
"HI!" Pinkie yelled.
The shock was so great that Octavia stumbled back and fell over her bag. She scrambled back to her hooves to get a better look at what had happened: Pinkie Pie had hooked her back legs around the top of the wall and was wobbling back and forth with a huge grin, staring at Octavia.
"Hi again!" she said, flipping down to the ground and landing on her hooves. "I'm glad you're back! We should totally do this side of the wall now. That way it'll look cool!"
Octavia just stared in shock as Pinkie turned around and whipped out her own art supplies once again from seemingly thin air, then began painting on the wall again. Octavia pressed her tongue into her cheek.
Where did she… how did she even know… she thought, before shaking her head. No, I'm not going to let her scare me away this time. I have a plan, I'm going to stick to it.
She picked up her supplies and trotted over to the right side of the wall. With a flick of her wrist she started to spray the first blue balloon on the wall. Although she was happy that she was painting, her nerves were still on edge as she noticed Pinkie Pie slowly creeping over towards her. She stared at Pinkie as the pink pony drew a long pink line on the wall, giggling all the way as she did, but when Octavia looked back at her own art, she realized that she had become so distracted that she had drawn a long line going out of the balloon shape.
In frustration, Octavia marched over to the right and restarted her work on the balloons. She had finally gotten the first two balloons done the way she wanted, then went back to her bag and grabbed a yellow can. She turned around to work on the third balloon, but her view was blocked by Pinkie Pie, who was also painting. Octavia rushed up to her to find that Pinkie was drawing the third balloon herself.
Her eye twitching, Octavia grabbed Pinkie and spun her around, again pointing at the wall.
"Oh, sorry!" Pinkie chirped. "I saw you hadn't drawn that balloon yet. That one is my favorite! I thought I would help out so you could get it juuuuust right!"
Still grinning, Pinkie turned back and continued to draw. Octavia was completely dumbfounded; she was having trouble even comprehending the actions of the pony. She sat ramrod-stiff as Pinkie finished the balloon, then leapt to the right and started drawing more balloons of every color. As she continued to cover the wall with balloons, Octavia's eye twitched again and she pushed herself up onto her hooves and stormed forward.
She is not going to ruin this for me! she thought, approaching Pinkie. Not this time!
Octavia was reaching out to get Pinkie's attention when she suddenly spun around and grinned.
"Hey, by the way, why are you wearing that stuff on your face anyway?" she asked. "I get that you're a ninja, but shouldn't ninjas have swords and stuff and not paint? Besides, how are you ever going to do your self-portrait if you're wearing a mask?"
Again, Octavia found herself at a loss. She had no idea what Pinkie was talking about, but instinctively inched back as Pinkie approached. Pinkie got right in her face and smiled even brighter.
"You should take that off. I wanna see your face!"
With that, Pinkie abruptly reached out and grabbed a hold of Octavia's face mask. Out of pure instinct, Octavia shoved Pinkie off and leapt back.
"Let go of me!!"
The assembled crowd of ponies gasped as Octavia trembled, before her eyes widened and what had just happened sank in: she had never spoken in the presence of ponies while under the Flanksy disguise, much less screamed like that. She glanced around at the shocked expressions of the ponies surrounding her, then heard a giggle come from behind her.
"You're silly! Ninjas aren't supposed to yell like that!"
In a panic, Octavia threw all her supplies into her bag and zipped it up, then quickly turned around and galloped through the crowd, her head down as she ran down the streets, then dove into the nearest alley. She glanced back to make sure nopony had followed her, then tore her mask and bandana off, tossing them into the bag. She quickly stashed the bag inside a garbage bag and hurled it behind a dumpster, then collapsed against the wall. She didn't move for several minutes, only staring straight into the air and taking shallow breaths.
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"She is driving me crazy!"
Octavia hurled her bag into the corner of the room while Vinyl sat on the couch and fidgeted. Octavia paced back and forth practically in a frenzy.
"First she invaded the Gala and damaged my cello. Then she invaded the Garden Party and outright told me that she didn't need my music. Now, she's coming in and trying to ruin my art!"
"I don't think she's doing it on purpose, Tavi," Vinyl said. "You don't really think she's targeting you, do you?"
"No, but the fact that she's not targeting anypony makes it all the worse!" Octavia snapped back. "If she had some sort of agenda, I would understand it. But instead, she is just completely oblivious to what she does to the lives of all the ponies around her. She's ignorant! She's the most ignorant of all of the Elements of Harmony. She's as ignorant as Celestia was! It boggles my mind that a pony like that could ever be honored for anything, much less as one of the ponies who saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord when she is so worthless!" Octavia sat down on the couch, digging her hooves together as she grumbled. Vinyl glanced at her, then quietly spoke up.
"You don't have to call her worthless. It sounds like she’s not being malicious, she just thought what you were doing was cool. She just wanted to join in on the act."
"The act?" Octavia nearly shouted, then held up the bandana that she was still holding on to. "This is far more than an act. This is something that means so much to me and she just barged in, painted her own work, then…" she fell quiet as her anger momentarily subsided, then she laid her head back on the couch. "She grabbed at my mask, and I panicked. I shouted. I don't think anypony recognized my voice like that, but still…"
Vinyl was unsure of how to respond, so she just let Octavia breathe for a few moments while she gathered her own thoughts. "You just need to not let yourself get so on edge about her. Just let her do her own thing, you do yours, try to interact as little as possible."
"Believe me, I want that," Octavia said, rolling her head to one side. "But she seems to want to have everything to do with me. I'm trying to keep my cool, but every single time I lay my eyes on that worthless excuse for a savior—"
"Wait!" Vinyl suddenly interjected. "Now come on, you don't have to keep calling her worthless! Look, she's only here for another two days, then she'll be out of your hair. Just put up with her until then."
"I suppose there's nothing else I can do," Octavia muttered. "Maybe I can just hold off on painting again for a few days, so…"
Octavia trailed off as Vinyl's words echoed in her head. She sat up and looked over at her friend.
"Vinyl? How do you know that she's only here for another two days?"
Vinyl scratched the back of her head nervously. She hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before sighing. "Look, I didn't want to mention this, but I guess there's no way around it. Pinkie Pie is kinda an old friend of mine..."
"She what?!" Octavia leapt to her hooves, her eyes wide as saucers, as she stared at her friend. "You know her, and you never bothered to tell me!?"
"I didn't think it was important!" Vinyl said, holding a hoof out. "Why should it matter that I know her? I've known Pinkie for years, she's kinda big on the party scene. She hires me all the time to work big parties down in Ponyville; I've gotten to know her."
"Well answer me this: what the hay is wrong with her?" Octavia said, beginning to pace back and forth again.
"Nothing! There's nothing wrong with her, it's just… well, Pinkie sorta lives in Pinkie-World. It's hard to explain. She isn't mean, she's definitely not ignorant, she just kinda does her own thing. She's kinda out there and weird, and she does a lot of things that I'm not sure how she does them, but she wasn't trying to hurt you on purpose. She's just a little different than other ponies."
"A little different?" Octavia replied. "A little different? I've never seen a pony act like that! She has no sense of personal space, no sense of common decency in the slightest, and not a single sense of the world around her. She's ignorant, she's annoying, she's a poor excuse for a savior of Equestria, she—"
"Hey!" Vinyl shouted, standing up. "Would you mind not calling my friend names? I don't care how angry you are, nopony should be talked about like that!"
Octavia stopped her ranting, again sitting down on the couch. A tense silence filled the room as Octavia and Vinyl averted their gaze from each other for a minute or so before Octavia finally spoke up again. "I know she is your friend. I know that now, that is. Obviously I don't want to hurt her or attack her, that's out of the question. But she has been tormenting me for quite a while now, whether she is aware of it or not. I had a plan today to begin my art regarding the Elements of Harmony and she interrupted it twice. I'm not about to let her deter me from it."
Vinyl nodded. "See, that's the spirit! Yeah, I know from experience that Pinkie can get on some ponies nerves. But you can't let it get to you. Just focus on your art, don't focus on her."
"Tomorrow, I'm going to go out and complete the art that I wanted to," Octavia said as she looked across the room to her duffel bag sitting in the corner. "It's going to happen no matter what Pinkie does. No matter how much she tries to interrupt, I am going to complete this art. It is important to me."
"That's cool, but…" Vinyl began to say, pausing to gather her thoughts. "Like I said, don't let it get out of control. Even if you're annoyed with her, just keep doing your thing, try to pay her no mind."
Octavia didn't say anything. Instead, her mind wandered back to earlier in the day.
Are you a paint ninja? Or are you a ninja painter?
We should totally do this side of the wall now.
You should take that off. I wanna see your face!
"I'll try, Vinyl," she said quietly.
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When the streets of Canterlot were at their busiest the next day, Octavia emerged from the alley and headed straight through the walking ponies towards the wall. She scanned left and right through the crowds, but didn't see a single wisp of pink mane anywhere. She walked up to the wall and tossed her supplies against it, then pulled out the single piece of paper from her sketchpad she had stashed in her coat pocket. She had planned on tackling the Elements of Harmony all in one grand piece of art, but after her first attempts had been thwarted by a certain pony, Octavia decided to change up strategy and focus on a single subject.
She flipped her duffel bag over and dumped out its contents; only a few cans of spray paint, and one large full paint can and accompanying brush. There was no need to over-complicate this one; she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She glanced around at the ponies surrounding her, then picked up the blue can and began to paint the first large balloon on the wall.
For a few minutes, everything was quiet. the assembled ponies watched, while Octavia just focused on the first balloon. She didn't want to rush anything: it had to be perfect. She finally got it just the way she wanted it, then turned around to grab one of the smaller cans to finish the tail. As she grabbed it, she noticed something in the crowd: a patch of neon-blue mane sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of well-groomed hair.
Behind the mask, a smile formed on Octavia's face. It wasn't often that Vinyl had come out to watch her paint, but just her presence was always enough to not only calm Octavia, but motivate her. There was just something soothing about having her closest friend in the crowd that made her feel all the better, and all the more motivated to make her art as perfect as possible.
With a flick of the wrist she tossed the can up into the air and caught it with her free hoof, spun around, and was assaulted by pink.
"Hi again!!" Pinkie yelled, causing Octavia to fumble with the paint can and drop it with a clatter to the ground. "Are you painting again? I bet you are, I can tell because of the paint! Here, I'll cover that end of the wall and you cover this one!"
Pinkie excitedly grabbed the can that had hit the ground and started to rush off, but Octavia's instincts suddenly took over and she thrust a hoof out in front of her, quickly causing Pinkie to come to a screeching halt and stare at her. Their eyes were locked for a few seconds before Octavia pointed her hoof determinedly at a spot a few feet away. Pinkie glanced over at the spot, then back at Octavia, then slowly trotted over and plopped down on the spot. She sat quietly as Octavia nodded, then turned back to the wall. She quickly drew the tail on the first balloon, then moved on to the second one. Things were quiet for a minute as she drew the outline, then began to fill it in.
"You know what would be great!?" Pinkie suddenly shrieked, causing Octavia's hoof to jut to the right and go outside the second balloon. "Putting big smiley faces on the balloons! You should do that!"
Octavia glared at Pinkie again, who just responded with a big smile, then turned back and continued to draw. Slowly, her teeth began to clench more and more as Pinkie continued to rattle off whatever insane observations crossed her mind. She shot Pinkie another icy glare, but this one Pinkie didn't even notice as she was now bouncing up and down in place.
"Gosh, I don't get why some ponies say watching paint dry is boring," she said as she bounced excitedly towards Octavia. "When it's in fun shapes, it can be exciting!"
Octavia held out her hoof again and Pinkie froze in mid air, then slowly lowered down to the ground, but still with the smile. "Lemme help lemme help lemme help! We're painting friends! I can..."
Pinkie Pie continued rambling, but now Octavia wasn't paying attention. Instead, something that Pinkie had said was bouncing around her mind.
Friend? she thought, her face trembling. After everything she's done, she thinks I'm her friend?!
Octavia shook the anger out of her mind and turned back, quickly spraying the third balloon on the wall. She could practically feel the ground vibrating with each of Pinkie's bounces as the excited pony leapt around her. She did her best to ignore the constant noise and finished with the third and final balloon. She glanced back again and found that Pinkie was just staring at the wall, one eyebrow raised. Octavia rolled her eyes as she grabbed for the large can of red paint.
I cannot believe that pony thinks I would ever be her friend, she thought as she struggled to pry the top off the can. She finally managed to get the top removed, took the nearby paintbrush in her hoof, then glanced back at the wall.
For a moment, time froze as she stared at the wall. Pinkie Pie was standing in front of it, one of the discarded spray paint cans in her hoof. But what had caught Octavia's eye was what was behind her; Pinkie had drawn a big smiling face on the first balloon. She had painted over Octavia's art.
"See?" Pinkie chirped as Octavia's whole body began to tremble. "It totally looks better with a smiley face! I'll finish up the other two, then we can maybe do Applejack's Cutie Mark! Then we can do yours! I know all my friend’s Cutie Marks, but I haven't seen yours yet!!"
Octavia just stared at Pinkie as she turned back to the wall and started to paint over the next balloon. Her body shook, her eyesight blurred, the world around her went quiet.
In one motion she tossed the lid aside, picked up the open can of red paint, and hurled its contents onto Pinkie Pie.
A shocked gasp rose from the assembled ponies as Pinkie stood still, her body and mane now dripping with red paint. She turned to look at Octavia, who tossed the empty can to the side and stormed over. Pinkie wiped the paint from her eyes and found that Flanksy was now standing directly in front of her. She snatched the can of spray paint out of Pinkie's hoof, then just continued to glare at her. Pinkie whimpered as she took a few steps back, her hooves slipping on the paint that had covered her body and the ground below her. Octavia turned to the wall, where the balloons she had drawn were now splattered with paint, and wrote large black letters over the mess.
"I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND"
Octavia turned back to the paint-drenched pony next to her. Pinkie stared at the words on the wall, quiet for the first time in a while. Her bottom lip quivered as the words sunk in, then she looked over at Octavia.
"Y-you're not a painter!" Pinkie said, her voice trembling. "You're just a big m-m-meanie!"
Just as tears started to stream down her face and mix with the paint that had been thrown on her, Pinkie turned around and ran off, leaving a trail of red behind her. Octavia just stared after her until Pinkie was out of view, then looked to her left. The assembled ponies all had shocked expressions on their faces and were muttering to each other, but what Octavia noticed was Vinyl's expression: she was just staring quietly at Octavia, lost in thought. Octavia turned back to the wall and signed "F" at the bottom right of the mess that the wall had become, then calmly put her supplies away and walked off through the crowd.
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Octavia stared intently at the sketchpad in front of her as she scribbled notes on it. Next to the list she was creating were more pictures of the remaining Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony. She calmly hummed to herself as she drew, when the front door swung open and Vinyl Scratch trotted in. She slammed the door behind her and turned straight to Octavia.
"So I just spent the last half hour talking to a close friend and trying to get her to stop crying!" she shouted. "What the hay was that, Octavia?!"
"Deserved," she snapped back.
"Deserved? Deserved?!" Vinyl responded. "Nopony deserves that! I don't care who they are, you can't—"
"That's just it!" Octavia shouted, shoving her sketchpad aside and standing up. "You don't care who they are, but everypony else does! That pony was rushing around, bothering me and everypony else, but not a single pony lifted a hoof or even so much as spoke up. Why are the Elements of Harmony above the law? Above common decency? It is pathetic!"
"No, what's pathetic is attacking another pony like that!" Vinyl shouted right back. "I don't care how you try to justify it, what you did was awful! You can't just treat another pony like that, just because you have a grudge against them."
"And I suppose it's fine for her to spray over my art?" Octavia said. "Or jump around and talk everypony's ear off? Or just plain be a nuisance that everypony is afraid to deal with? As Flanksy, I actually have the ability to do something about her."
"But nothing has to be done about her, especially not something like that! You ruined her day, you ruined her visit to Canterlot, you made her feel hated!"
"Then she knows how it feels now. I'm sorry that she is your friend, but she deserved it. In fact, they all do," Octavia calmly replied. She slowly stood up and trotted past Vinyl and pulled the front door open.
"Where are you going now?" Vinyl said, her voice ice cold.
"I'm off to do something I should have done much sooner than this," Octavia said. "Buy a ticket to Ponyville."
----------
That night, a lone guard trotted through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Each of his hoofsteps, no matter how light, sent an echo through the elegantly designed hallway. A brief high-pitched noise caused him to jerk his head up to the ceiling, where several night guards hung upside down, watching his every move. Their unwavering gaze momentarily unnerved the guard, but he steeled himself and continued. He finally reached the doors he was looking for and apprehensively knocked.
"Come in."
He slowly pushed the door open and walked through. Inside the door was a beautifully decorated study, with books lining the walls and a small reading area punctuated by a lit fireplace. The only occupant of the room was a lone pony sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, a book hovering in front of him. He sipped a cup of tea as the guard approached.
"Prince Blueblood, I have some news for you."
"Make it quick."
"Well, sir, I was out on patrol earlier today. While I was, I ran into... well, I saw Flanksy."
Blueblood lowered the book and sighed. "I thought I made my position very clear after that farce of a town hall meeting: I want nothing to do with Flanksy until I say so."
"But—"
"I lost that round," Blueblood interrupted. "Celestia may have said that I can continue to monitor the situation, but I know what that really means: do nothing. Immediately trying to fight back would be pointless; not a single pony was willing to stand up and defend me at the town hall, so clearly I do not have the public support against Flanksy that I wanted. I want a few more days to mull things over and decide on my next plan of attack before I resume my issue with Flanksy. Now please, I'm trying to get some reading done."
"But sir..."
This time, Blueblood interrupted by slamming the book down on the edge of the chair. "Did you hear me? Until I specifically say so, until something happens that I can actually do something about, Flanksy is a non-issue for me. So unless she's done something that actually falls within my authority, I suggest you leave at once!"
Blueblood picked up his book again. He read a few sentences, then glanced up. The guard stood his ground, pawing at the floor awkwardly.
"What part of 'leave at once' didn’t you understand?"
Blueblood stared at the guard. When the guard still didn't leave, He slowly lowered his book and the guard cleared his throat.
"I feel the need to inform you of an incident that happened earlier today..."
--------------
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It's interesting how the author can portray both sides of the argument using Octavia and Vinyl. Kudos.
THAT WAS TOTALY EPIC
Octavia does have a point when it comes to the consequences the Mane 6 face (which is none)... guess Equestria follows "The ends justifies the means"
Well... I am happy to see an update and the story is continuing. I am sorry to see that Octavia has come to this point. I just have to wonder and worry what she is going to do in Ponyville.
Good work and keep it up. Thank you for updating.
Yeaaah...I suspected this would happen. I saw the darkness rising within Octavia and was worried this would happen.
I don't care what gilded words Octavia uses to justify her actions. She's way out of line, and now I'm starting to wonder when she's going to lose Vinyl. Honestly, the way Octavia has been going in a single downward spiral I can see that happening in a chapter or two. It's gotten to the point where Vinyl's no longer on her side. Also, Octavia has become that very thing which she hated, only she's worse because she means to hurt ponies, she wants them to feel hated.
And by having Blueblood come back into this situation it'll only case Octavia to see it as a "Him vs Me" instead of her actually looking at what she's doing and asking herself, "have I crossed a line?" At least that's what I see happening. I look forward to seeing what happens next. Though I am hoping Vinyl slaps some sense into Octavia.
As much as I love Pinkie Pie... shedeservedit!
(Please don't kill me)
Very nice. You do a wonderful Season 2 Sociopathic!Pinkie. Really rooting for Octavia here. Keep up the fantastic writing!
And so it comes down to this.
Flansky is coming to Ponyville to face confrontation with the ponies of her personal grudge. Though I have a feeling that this time any 'art' she makes will only end up hurting herself in the long run just as it will hurt others in the short. Heck, she already seems to have lost the support of her best friend but right now does not seem to care at all, only that her petty grudge be satiated.
I love octavia, really I do but this time I fear she will go too far, heck she already went to far in making pinkie pie cry.
Then there is the issue with Blueblood, now that he has an angle to attack Flanksy with, I can only speculate as to the steps he will take to inact his own revenge against her.
At the rate this is going you have to start wondering who the real monster here is.
3258827 Did she? Did Pinkie Pie really deserve to be attacked? Sure she was annoying, to Octavia, but does that warrant getting attacked?
3258826
You have to see this from Octavia's side... like, she tried to be happy with playing her cello at events... but then she is given the boot and nearly every event she plays is ruined by the Mane 6... when she finds a way to express herself, it's seen as wrong... when she is given a chance to shine again, she is given again the boot and said she is not needed... isn't that hypocrisy there? Like I know making a pony cry is not okay (Pinkie too) but seriously... running about causing a mess and not cleaning up or apologizing for it is just as bad
On the one hand, Pinkie was really, really asking for it.
On the other, Octavia has pretty effectively lost herself in her hatred at this point. "No personal attacks" my ass, I don't think she'll rest until she's torn everypony down along with her. It's only a matter of time before this catches up with her. She claims to be making Canterlot beautiful, and early on maybe she was, she was making ponies ask the right questions. But now all her work represents is her own ugliness and misery. She's out of control.
Oh my heavens I have been waiting forever for this *fanboy squee*
GO FLASKY!!! This chapter was perfect, it never felt forced, and Pinkie Pie felt IC the entire time you wrote about her. The conflicts are building...I honestly want this to end with the Elements humiliated and some secret organization using Flasky as a figurehead for anarchy...Buuuut, since that probably won't happen, I'll settle for having at least one Element humiliated!
THIS, there is just so much truth about this, even in canon! I love your portrayal of everyone...especially Octavia...
so in conclusion I dare say this is my favorite story on Fimfiction and I wait patently for the next update!
I have a feeling that this self-imposed muteness is making Octavia act much more drastically than she needs to...
That doesn't mean I'm on Pinkie's 'side', though! She is also taking things much too far. Covering up Octavia's art like that is, in essence, shouting over her. And talking without listening is a big problem that Pinkie has had throughout the seasons. She needed to calm down and listen to Cranky to befriend him, and her antics (like taking his toupee... Octavia's mask anyone?) only pushed him farther away. Perhaps we'll see Cranky's episode (season 2: ep 18) woven into this story as a major plot point? where Pinkie takes a new approach to befriending our gray menace?
Edited to sound better. (50 min later)
3258764 I agree. Both arguments are valid. Yes, Octavia is going over the line by attacking Pinkie, but the EoH do seem to get Carte Blanche to do what they want without consequences. While nobody has been physically hurt, Pinkie especially seems to not understand how her actions can be inconsiderate and inappropriate.
Definitely one of my favorite works. I look forward to updates for this more than any of the other works I'm following.
Gotta say...this felt really off to me. Vinyl seems to not only holding the idiot ball but trying to merge it into her skull. She gets that Pinkie Pie is different but then simply ignores 'Tavia? It just really put a bad taste in my mouth that Vinyl would suddenly ditch 'Tavia. It made her feel shallow and like her friendship was somehow weaker or false. She theoretically sees Pinkie aggressively harassing 'Tavia and still does nothing? And I get bystander syndrome but this still felt too far.
I love how people are down-voting the comments that say she deserved it.
In all honesty, she did. Pinkie is a socially oblivious pony who believes that everything she does is good as long as in the end the pony is smiling. Here, she overstepped the acceptable boundaries for her actions by willfully muting Octavia's opinion, despite being so inept as to not know what she was doing. Being oblivious does not excuse punishment for actions.
3258919>>3258922>>3258949
Agreed
3258922
You bring up an excellent point... one that will, in fact, be addressed next chapter
Pinkie deserved it i like it in any story where someone puts her in her place
Well here's the thing..this whole mess is not as cut and dry as it seems because like it or not Octavia was the unintended target of some accidental bullying. I am not saying she is handling it the best way, but she does have some legitimate cause for the anger she is feeling. I know Pinkie just wanted to have fun and make a new friend, but she went about it in the worst way possible. I am not saying she deserved the attack, but considering the situation it was bound to happen. I mean think about it...the best way for Octavia to get her anger out and to relieve her stress is to paint, but now here comes Pinkie - one of the main causes of her stress - preventing her from getting her anger out in a healthy way which leaves the only other way her anger could get out...in an unhealthy way.
if anything I am disappointed in Vinyl because she was in the crowd and did nothing to stop the incident from occurring. She knew Octavia was not able to handle Pinkie, and she knew that unless distracted Pinkie was not going to stop upsetting Octavia. Instead of trying to diffuse the situation Vinyl decided to watch what amounted to a lit match bounce around a powder keg then get upset when said powder keg finally explodes.
All in all unless everyone sits down to talk about things like they should have after the first incident at the Gala I foresee a lot of emotional pain in everypony's future...
i must say that, and this is not a complaint, pinkie seemed abit OOC in my eyes. it fit the needs of the narrative well so i'm not complaining but the real pinkie would know when she isn't making ponies happy and stop or change directions. good chapter ether way!
Is Pinkie that stupid? Does she seriously think it's okay to mess with someone else's property/stuff just because you personally think it would look better? And without even asking? If she is really such an airhead about common decency, she does seriously deserve it. Downvote if you want, you know it's true.
Is either side right here, no, not entirely. Octavia has been slighted, hurt, and her talent, her focus, stripped from her by proxy. Is it right, no, but because no one sought amendment. No one cared, no one tried, and because of that, a lady's dream was turned to ash and cinder.
Inaction is just as wrong as choosing to ignore it, for both are choices, and neither one is less an evil.
There's just one thing I don't get... HOW is anyone supposed to talk their problems out if the 'victim' cannot comprehend actually talking to her problems head on? It's completely unreasonable, it seems to me she always bottled up her frustrations and now she is taking it on anybody she can justify. Why, this story should be called Exit Through Lack of Communication!
I LOVE IT!
I will admit, M6 shoulda apologized in that paper article. But, nobody was physically or even, really, mentally hurt honestly.
3259047 I uh, think getting assaulted with a tin paint can and rejected was a bit much.
3259099 Well obviously previous actions and words weren't working, so she had to do something that would. It's real easy to suggest better ways to approach a situation from the outside, instead of when you're right there with your emotions being needled like Tavi's.
When Octavia sprayed Pinkie, I couldn't help but imagine Pinkie smiling and after that start a painting fight or something... But Octavia is just going down and down every chapter. Surely, Pinkie deserved that, but Octavia is going a little to much. First the "Harmony is worthless" thing, and now attacking an Element. It's just wrong. Yeah, they kind of don't get punished by nothing they do, but violence is not how you should treat any being.
What I like the most in this story is the use of art as both a form of criticism and aesthetic. While Octavia is using her art to present her arguments against the structure of society and the "special" ponies in Equestria, she was also making the world a beautiful place. Well... She started to lost the latter in the hatred towards the Elements. Her story is starting to look a little like that ones about an artist, who is really good and then start going crazy. Well, if she keeps using her art only for "attacking" the elements, maybe some will see in her art what she is trying to pass to society, or maybe they will all think that she is doing something completely wrong and her kind of art will be banned... Everypony seeing her art as wrong is possible the easiest, because like in our real world, most people don't understand art and I think ponies wouldn't be so much different.
In short. The Elements deserve this kind of treatment at least by someone, Octavia is losing some of hers most beautiful ideals, and is possibly going downhill..
3259138 Wait a second... did Pinkie get HIT with the can or just the paint?
3259150 Just the paint. Well, I wouldn't say JUST the paint, as what Tavi did was a bit extreme I agree, but the victim blaming is a bit ridiculous when Pinkie is being such a complete dunderhead.
I got a bad feeling that the whole Mane 6 is gonna catch Tavi in the act at some point. It probably won't get violent (well, Rainbow Dash might get a teensy bit violent), but there's gonna be some serious words-having, from both sides.
3259159 I dunno... I guess I'm still a bit sore about the "harmony is worthless" thing. But I concede, maybe she did deserve it, it just ticks me off when people expect others to understand without telling them... either way good day sir.
Nope. This wont go well at all.
3259201
Mostly hypocrisy
Really, there is something in Octavia's favor here. The good ponies of Canterlot witnessed Flanksy attempting to paint, and extreme though she can sometimes be, I suspect they actually enjoy it. If you happen to be in the area when Flanksy starts to paint, it's kind of like performance art.
Then Pinkie Pie comes up and starts painting with her, and over her, without asking permission. They saw Flanksy, through her body language, becoming increasingly frustrated, and Pinkie Pie not only not commenting on that, but proceeding to immediately Pollyanna her way through the situation, and behaving as if absolutely nothing was wrong. Then, Flanksy finally snaps, throws paint on her, and tells her in no uncertain terms that they are not friends. Then they see Pinkie Pie start to cry because things are suddenly too real for her. There are bound to be some in the crowd who understand that Flanksy just could not put up with her anymore. Especially if any of them had seen their earlier interaction, which technically ended with Pinkie Pie assaulting Flanksy (reaching for her mask in that way without permission does meet the legal requirements to construe assault).
I won't say that Pinkie deserved what happened to her, but I will say this:
Hmm...
Octavia's already grey, so I wonder how they'd know if Discord actually did do something to her...
But that's beside the point.
My prediction:
Octavia's gonna go to Ponyville and completely graffiti the place up with personal slander against the EoH. Twilight and the gang obviously aren't going to react positively to that, so there's going to be a big confrontation scene between them and Flanksy, and then after all that, Tavi's going to go home and find Vinyl ticked the heck off. There'll be a period of time in which Octavia will feel like everypony's against her, but then she'll realize that she was letting her petty emotions get the best of her and that she'd been turning a coping mechanism into a form of bullying. Then she'll try and redeem Flanksy in the eyes of Equestria, but Blueblood, I'm sure, won't have any of that. So Tavi gets the boot from everyone and eventually just goes back to playing the cello as Octavia until Vinyl finds her, they make up, and things are back to some semblance of normalcy.
And now we get to see Octavia's slow decent into madness.
It was nice to see her finally lose her cool and take her aggression out on somepony. Everypony should know that you never mess with another pony's artwork, you just don't do that unless given permission by the artist.
3259353
And again... the mane 6 don't have to apologize for past actions...
I'm having a hard time with this story now. As mentioned before, Pinkie is OOC. Octavia has an axe to grind, and has stopped making art. And Vinyl, as Pinkie's friend and Octavia's roommate, would have stopped Pinkie from drawing over Tavi's work, even by just shouting from the crowd. I don't see the connections or the conclusion. Getting irritated with meaningless aggravations just to push the plot.
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say Pinkie deserved that. Downvote my comment if you want, but that's just my personal opinion.
Eh, Pinkie had it coming. I mean, that mare simply ignores others and does what she wants. While the rest of the mane 6 might have pissed Tavi off inadvertently, she went out of her way to annoy Flanksy off, simply ignoring the evidence that she wasn't wanted or welcome. I mean, it's pretty invasive to paint over anyone else's work, and even worse ignore their personal space just because you think it's 'fun'. I feel for Pinkie, but Tavi is right.
Anyway, what will always amaze me is how this story has fifteen times the dislikes it should and one eighth the likes it deserves.
3259382
Even Rarity would go ballistic on Pinkie
3259397 Pinkie OOC? Don't be too hasty. You have to remember that this is pre-Cranky-Doodle-Donkey. Pinkie Pie back then was very much overbearing and the never-let-the-other-pony-get-a-word-in-edgewise type. I think that she was perfectly IC here, and I can't fault Octavia for blowing up on her because of it.
And I think that Vinyl was probably conflicted on which one of her friends to support, or perhaps on when to reveal to Octavia that she knew Pinkie (letting Octavia know that she knew Pinkie while Octavia was Flanksy might have had bad repercussions). The author said that he'd discuss that in the next chapter, though, so I'm waiting until then to call her OOC.
3258856 Not sure where you live mate, but where I come from (the mean streets of Canada eh?) someone following you around, not leaving you alone, and destroying your hard work is defiantly worth a good slap.
Wow!! That was an incredibly interesting turn of events! Finally this story drops the dualism (though not fully). I'm really hoping you eventually get into moral ambiguity territory! So much room for confused morals so diligently avoided, it has gotten me frustrated sometimes. But my hopes are up!
Also, Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony, yet I really like what you showed about her here… though bear in mind, calling her different, while definitely accurate, bears much deeper meaning than a mere euphemism.
The mistake being made here is that ignoring Pinkie wasn't the right answer in the first place. It's Octavia's responsibility to clearly communicate her objections. But in her normal persona she's too repressed to be able to do that, and has turned to Flanksy as an outlet. But as Flanksy her attempts at communication are too abstract.
And this is why I should read all the comments before posting, others have already made my point, and said all I thought too. Oh well, thumbs up for them!
Falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater.
Just a reminder, Octavia. Free speech and artistic freedom have their limits, and I get the feeling you're about to learn just what those limits are. Assaulting someone because they are annoying you is not only a sign you're being a complete bitch, it's also illegal. But Pinkie was defacing her art! Actually, it's graffiti on the side of a building. Pinkie has just as much of a "right" to paint over her art as she has to paint it. Free speech isn't a one way street.
Be careful on your trek down the slippery slope. Once you start messing with the Elements directly, you start messing with the Princesses (and I get the feeling Luna's gonna be much less understanding than Celestia), the Royal Guard (guess who's their Captain?), even Fancypants. Direct actions against the Elements will have direct consequences.