> The Reign of Princess Dinky the Cute
>  by Rodinga
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Coronation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I still remember that day.

It was the day Celestia’s benevolent autocracy became an enthralling dictatorship. When the population gave up its freedom with an all day celebration and bowed down to their new overlord. It was the day my music died. When cuteness was weaponized and our new princess started her quest for world domination.

It should have been a special day for me. My quartet was auditioning for the right to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala for the second year in a row. We’d practiced, performed, polished, and bribed Vinyl so she wouldn’t audition. Nopony else there was ready for this, and anypony who might have challenged us hadn’t even signed up, fearing a repeat of last year’s disaster. It was in the bag.

“Are you nervous, Octavia?” Brass asked as she sidled up to me, already wearing her sousaphone horn.

“Hardly,” I replied. “This isn’t something we haven’t done a hundred times before.”

Brass smiled. “You’re hugging your cello.”

I looked down the body of the instrument in my forelegs. “I don’t see what you mean. Sure, I don’t want to drop it and it helps me stand. That’s merely being supportive, not comforting.”

Brass’s head took on a more understanding tilt and her smile grew. “It may also be the way you’re rocking back and forth in one and a half time.”

Any attempt at defending my dignity was denied when the doors opened and a guard stepped out, calling for us. The guard led us in and announced us to the throne room where Princess Celestia waited amongst a small audience. We were the last group, but despite what must have been a lengthy afternoon listening to auditions, the princess looked as regal as ever. If she was indeed tired, she didn’t let it show from behind her impassive smile.

The rest of the audience included members of the committee in charge of organizing the gala, and my chief patron, Twilight Velvet, with her family.

My quartet and I took our places on the small stage in front of the audience and bowed toward them. The princess inclined her head in return and said, “Whenever you are ready.”

“As you wish, Princess,” I said with another bow. “This piece was specially selected for your enjoyment.”

The princess smiled, “I look forward to it.”

Frederick on the piano started the tune, and the rest of us followed him; Brass on her sousaphone, Parish with his harp, and myself on cello. A few moments after the lead in, the princess’s smile grew when she recognised The Pony Pokey.

The audience was momentarily divided, the committee itself and Prince Blueblood were initially shocked, then angry, but that very quickly turned into praise when they noticed that Princess Celestia’s head was bobbing along with the rhythm. Twilight Velvet had assured us that the princess would love this, though I had been nervous about the reaction that the committee and by extension members of the Canterlot Elite might have. Thankfully, they knew which way the wind blew.

The irresistible music soon had us starting to dance along as we played. The audience and the guards were starting to nod along as well. This was the moment every performer lived for, an audience enjoying itself and the reflection of that warm glow back at the performer. 

I was basking in the feeling as the current verse reached its climax, when the audience normally spin around. Then, in a moment of weakness, I spun myself around my cello mid-tune, throwing a leg out to ‘shake it all about’.

That was when disaster struck.

As I swung around my back hoof hit something and my balance, precarious at the best of times, collapsed beneath me. I stumbled before falling over and tumbling off the stage, my cello leaving a discordant note in the air as it hit the ground.

The audience stood in shock, crying out at the disruption. The first out of her seat was Velvet’s daughter, Twilight Sparkle, who ran in my direction. But instead of stopping to help me, she went up onto the stage instead. Reaching around to stand back up, I hissed as I felt a large bruise already forming on my back.

Once I’d rolled back onto my hooves, I looked up to find Miss Sparkle by my cello. A purple field formed around my instrument and lifted it into the air, revealing a small unicorn filly. The filly groaned and reached up to rub her horn, and squeaked, “Owwie.”

Miss Sparkle dropped my cello back onto the stage with another rough crashing note. “Dinky, did you hurt your horn? Oh, Derpy will never trust me with you again after this!” She took the filly up with her magic and carried her back over to the rest of the audience.

My bandmates chattered among themselves. “I hope that little filly is alright”, Parish said.

 “She’s just so adorable, and how cute was she when she hugged me?” Brass asked aloud.

Nopony paid me any attention as I retrieved my cello. The successive falls had scratched the finish, but thankfully nothing seemed to have cracked.

Over in the audience, the unicorn presented the filly to the princess asking, “Princess Celestia, I think Dinky hurt herself. Is there anything you can do?”

The princess laughed airily. “Don’t be so worried, Twilight, I’m sure little Dinky is fine.” The Princess lent down to talk to the filly. “Are you okay, little one?”

Dinky sniffed. “Normally mommy kisses my owies better.” Tears started to well up in her eyes. “But mummy isn’t here…”

“Don’t worry,” the princess replied kindly, “I can kiss it better for you.” The princess leaned forward and kissed the little filly’s horn. For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw the horn spark.

I looked between my bandmates. “Did anypony else see that?” Nopony answered.

The little filly reached around the princess’s neck and hugged her. “Thank you, it’s all better now.”

Everypony in the room except me went, “Daww.” Somehow I didn’t find the filly that’d tripped me up to be overly cute.

“Is there anything else you’d like, little one?” the princess asked.

“Umm,” Dinky put a hoof to her mouth. “I always wanted to fly like mummy. Since you’re tha princess, could you gimme wings?” The princess opened a mouth to protest but was caught in a show of puppy dog eyes from Dinky. “Pweeze?”

The princess stood up. “Twilight, get the Elements.”



 
After that, my quartet was politely dismissed and we were told we would hear back from the committee once a decision had been made. None of us really had hope we’d be selected after that fiasco.

Drifting off home, I spent the rest of my day in the comfort of my music. While practice does make perfect, it doesn’t guarantee something, as demonstrated by our audition. One must also enjoy what they do, otherwise nopony else will enjoy it either. Since I’d dedicated a lot of my time to my cello recently, I took the chance play on my piano instead. As day turned to night I retired to bed with some light music from my record player.

The following morning I woke to a commotion outside, clueless to whatever it might mean, I simply went about my morning routine. Things didn’t become clear until I opened my newspaper.

“Coronation Today!” it read. “Today marks a new change to Equestria’s royal family as the Elements of Harmony crown a new princess. Making her royal introduction in a parade today, our new princess is looking forward to greeting her people and contributing to the greater harmony.”

The second article continued the tone of the first. “Prince Endorses Coronation,” it was titled. Reading further in, “This morning Prince Blueblood greeted the news of the new addition to Equestria’s royal family saying, ‘I, for one, welcome our adorable new princess and I’d like to remind her that as an experienced member of upper society, I can be helpful in rallying other members of the elite to her cause.’ The prince concluded his statement saying that, ‘Today is a proud day to be an Equestrian.’”

Though the news was a surprise, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Princess Celestia had been teaching a protégé for the last decade, though rumours about said student had rarely entered the news media until she defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord with the Elements of Harmony.

After preparing myself for the day, I made my way down to join the crowd gathered on the street for the coronation parade. Everypony was rather excited, confetti was ready and waiting to go, and several ponies had signs out.

It wasn’t long till I heard the sound of cheering. It came down the street toward us like a wave as the parade came closer. Some ponies started the cheer preemptively, but the rest followed as the carriage carrying the new princess turned the corner down our street.

The moment finally got to me and I started cheering as well. Confetti was shot up into the air with streamers and as the royal float approached the cheering got louder. Then I managed to get a good view of the pony in the throne, it wasn’t Twilight Sparkle like I’d assumed, but the little filly that’d tripped me up yesterday, Dinky.

While I was shocked, everypony else had a different reaction. A simultaneous head tilt with accompanying “Aww”.  Looking further down the road I saw this reaction propagating in a wave as the new princess passed. The crowd started saying things like: ‘She’s so cute’; ‘Look at her little wings’; ‘The way she’s waving, I wanna hug her!’; ‘Do you think she likes candy? I’m going to send her some candy’; ‘I love her!’; ‘Anything you want princess, I’ll do it. Anything.’

As Princess Dinky finally passed my section of the crowd, the offers of everypony’s firstborns turned into a silent gaze. Dinky herself waved to everypony as she passed, with a huge – admittedly adorable – grin on her face.

The silence held as the parade went further down the street. Standing next to me was a neighbour I remembered from a few apartments down the hallway from me. I tapped her on the shoulder and asked, “Are you alright?”

She sighed and said, “I’m better than alright, I just saw her royal majesty, Princess Dinky!” A dopey grin twisted her face. “My life is complete.”

I blinked. “She’s just a filly.”

“Wrong,” somepony else from the crowd said in a daze. “Dinky is love.”

Then another added, “Dinky is life.”

“Okaaay.” Looking around everypony was still wearing dopy grins. It’s hard to explain, but now I was seriously starting to get worried. I started walking backwards slowly out of the crowd and back into my apartment building. Once I was out of sight I ran back up the stairs to my apartment.

Slamming the door behind me, I slid down to the ground trying to figure out what was happening. Was everypony going insane? Was I going insane? By anypony’s standards Dinky was a cute little filly, but to hypnotize an entire city?

This was all on the express train to Tall Tale Asylum. I needed to find somepony to talk to about all this, somepony who could tell me I wasn’t going crazy.

But the entire city was out there, everypony. Who could have missed it? Somepony would have to have slept through… it… all… A brainwave stuck me. Who do I know who’d have slept through Discord’s return if it had been in the morning?

I grabbed the emergency keyset from my kitchen drawer, and left my apartment. If I was going to have any hope at all, I had to get to her before she was exposed.



 
My destination lay in one of Canterlot’s better neighbourhoods. Apartment prices here were higher, but also came with better local amenities. Food here wasn’t cheap filling, or the miniature servings of exotic ingredients some places served, but was good and came in equally good servings. The neighbourhood also bordered the downtown area where much of Canterlot’s nightlife was.

So it was perfect for Vinyl Scratch.

The ponies around here had already been exposed to our new princess; they walked around with dopey grins and a slightly vacant look in their eyes.

Coming to the right building, I climbed up the stairs to a floor about halfway up to an apartment deliberately selected because its windows faced the mountain. I knocked on the door, but there wasn’t an answer.

I took out the emergency key Vinyl had left me once as insurance, and by way of a permanent invitation to come say hello. Thankfully, the only use I’d gotten out of the key so far was when Vinyl had sent me a letter from Manehatten asking for a few records from her collection to be sent over via express post.

Opening the door I stepped into her apartment’s living area. Breaking with expectations, Vinyl’s living area is clean, if a little dusty. Despite appearances, this isn’t because Vinyl keeps her living room clean, but rather because she never lived in it so she wouldn’t have to clean it. A position I once told her was, ‘practically the Zen of slobbiness.’

Peeking into the bedroom, I saw a mound of blue hair on a pillow. I sighed in relief, she’s still here. It was good to find some things hadn’t changed. Considering that waking her up would probably end with me getting a hoof to the face, I thought it best to wait. In the meantime I would go make sure a pot of coffee was ready; with what I had to say, she was going to need it.

Leaving her door open a bit so the smell of coffee might rouse Vinyl, I went across the hallway and into her small kitchen. Setting the coffee pot to boil, I sat down at her kitchen table to read from a magazine Vinyl had left open. Titled Spinners, it listed the latest in record players and associated equipment. Some of the terminology was beyond my grasp, but there was a wonderful article on reproducing the sound of a full orchestra on budget hardware. It was wonderfully relaxing.

After a while, Vinyl finally stumbled out of her bedroom, into the kitchen and made straight for the fridge. She opened the door and downed half a bottle of vile looking green liquid before putting the rest back. Next she went over to the sink and splashed water on her face, and followed that up by flipping on the still hot coffee pot. I just kept sipping my own cup of coffee.

While the pot re-boiled, Vinyl stood watching. After what must have seemed an eon for her, the pot pinged and she filled a cup. She didn’t bother with milk and turned toward the table where I sat.

Vinyl stood bleary-eyed looking at me. I waved and said, “Good afternoon, Vinyl.”

Vinyl opened her mouth to say something, paused to lick her lips, and then said, “How did ya get in here, Tavi?”

I slid my key ring across the table. “You gave this to me for emergencies, remember?”

Vinyl’s eyes wandered for a moment. “I think I do.”

“Good, because this might be an emergency,” I said.

Vinyl sat down with her coffee. “What is it?”

I sipped from my cup again and put it down. “What do you think about Dinky?”

“Dinky. What, something small or something? You’re not making sense.”

I sighed as a metaphorical weight fell from my back. “Thank Celestia, they haven’t gotten you yet.”

“Who got what, Tavi?” I carefully filled Vinyl in on what was happening, taking breaks so Vinyl could refill her coffee cup. “That’s completely bogus.”

“I’m still not sure I believe it myself,” I replied.

Vinyl kneaded her forehead. “So you’re not all dopey, is that because of some first impression thing?”

I shrugged. “Perhaps, I keep thinking about her as the filly that tripped me.”

“Right,” Vinyl said just before standing up. “Let’s go see if I’m immune.”

“Wait!” I stood up as well. “You can’t, what if you’re not?”

Vinyl shrugged and said, “Can’t stay here forever.”

“But…”

“But what? You’re immune ‘cause you think Twinky’s a little monster, you told me that, so now I think that too.” She clapped. “Boom, I’m immune.”

I slumped down against the table. “Alright then, if you think you’ll be protected.”

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl said as she lit her horn. Her sunglasses flew out of her bedroom and landed on her face. She grinned. “They’re polarized.”



 
It’s rather difficult to get lost in Canterlot, because no matter where you are the palace is always in sight. As long as you know where home is relative to the palace, you can find your way there eventually. By the same token, all roads in Canterlot lead to the palace.

Everything seemed normal enough until Vinyl and I reached the palace gates. A line of ponies had formed, and everypony in it seemed to be waiting patiently without complaint.

“Must be good,” Vinyl said as we walked along the line. The ponies had coiled around a statue in the courtyard and continued into the palace itself. Many were content to simply gaze at the statue.

When I realized what the statue was, I couldn’t help but stare as well. “Celestia’s mane… Vinyl, look at that statue.”

“Whoa.” It wasn’t even a complete statue. From where we were we could see that it was a rendition of Dinky, but it was still being carved as we watched. A pair of masons were shaping the statue with chisels. One worked above on his wings, while the other used his horn from below. Dinky was smiling, wings unevenly placed, and she hugged an unshaped stone object in her hooves. Vinyl lifted her sunglasses up to look at it properly. “It’s like looking at a baby seal dance.”

“Are you alright, Vinyl?” I asked with worry. If she gave in to worshipping this statue I’d be alone.

“Yeah,” Vinyl said as she put her sunglasses back on properly. “Thinking ‘bout it, this is creepy.”

“Hopefully that makes you immune,” I said with relief. “So, now what do we do?”

“Might as well go see the princess,” Vinyl said with a shrug. “If you’re in Los Pegasus, you gotta try a casino before ya go.”

I gave Vinyl a derisive look. “Just one of many reasons I have not gone there.”

“Come on,” Vinyl said as she put her head to my flank and started pushing me. “Let’s go.”

I resisted. “Vinyl, how would we go in? There’s a line.”

The pushing stopped and Vinyl looked up. “Ah.” The grand doors that lead to the throne room had a line of ponies going through it and guards that would probably have a dim view of anypony trying to cut ahead. “Dunno, is there a backdoor maybe?”

Thinking seriously about it, I said, “We could cut through the gardens and go in by the castle’s ballroom.”

“Great,” Vinyl said as she looked at the line before muttering, “Because I’m not waiting six hours to see this filly.”

The royal gardens are Canterlot’s premier picnic spot. Amongst the hedge maze, open fields, flower beds, and statues, you can find well placed water fountains and bins. Their placement presumably some game that the gardeners, or even Celestia, may have played over the centuries to make the gardens as accommodating as possible.

Still, there are persistent rumours about the gardens. The statues placed around are very lifelike; more than once have stories gone around suggesting that rather than actually being carved, the statues are actually petrified criminals serving out their sentence to society as decoration. Recent history didn’t help to quell those rumours.

Walking through the gardens was a pleasant experience, despite the situation we were in. A few passing birds circled us with a short chirruping welcome before flying on. “That was delightful,” I remarked to Vinyl as we continued walking.

“Yeah, cute,” Vinyl said flatly. Obviously birds weren't considered cool enough for DJ-Pon3.

“Don’t be so stiff,” I chided. “You don’t have to keep your image up all the time.” I smirked. “I remember you wishing you were a bird once. So you could fly around like a pegasus.” Vinyl cringed, and I added more smirk. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell all the cool ponies.”

Vinyl glared at me through her glasses. “You tell anypony ‘bout that and I’ll tell all the snobs about the real you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Pray tell, Vinyl, what could you possibly tell them that they’ll actually believe?”

“That you practice that eyebrow thing in the mirror for one.” Vinyl’s face twisted into a grin when she saw me flinch. Then she put on an upper class accent, “Oh, I must look dignified. This is the look that tells the world, ‘Were you just trying to impress me, darling? You haven’t.’”

My eyes narrowed. “You do that, Vinyl, and I’ll wrap you up and mail you to the frozen north.”

Vinyl just giggled as we turned around another hedge corner, but her giggles stopped abruptly when she saw what we’d found. “Wow…”

On a stone pedestal sat Discord. The draconequus still awkwardly petrified with a look on his face that mixed panic and horror. The plaque on the pedestal engraved with the story of his escape and recapture. A sign in the dirt of a surrounding garden warned ponies not to touch or damage the statue.

“Think it’s the real thing?” Vinyl asked.

I considered the monster. “Looks like him, though I’d have thought the princess would have been keeping it in a dungeon somewhere,” I finished bitterly.

“You got a beef with him, Tavi?” Vinyl asked, with rare concern in her voice.

“He trapped me and the rest of my quartet in a room and removed all forms of sound.” I scowled at the statue. “Then he forgot about us. Waiting for somepony to let us out was the longest wait I’ve ever had to endure”

“He’s not dangerous anymore,” Vinyl said as she walked over to the statue. “He looks completely stupid like this.” Vinyl reached up to tap the draconequus’s tail. “He’s a stalagmite, see?” Vinyl smirked back at me as she tapped the statue. Her smirk suddenly died in an instant as Vinyl screeched in shock, bolting back from the statue and toward me.

“Vinyl!”

She slid to a halt beside me. “He whispered in my ears. He’s still alive.”

“Discord?” I asked, and Vinyl nodded back. I watched the statue, it didn’t crack, nor did it move, but now it felt like it was mocking us. I advanced slowly toward it.

“Tavi, whatcha doing?” Vinyl asked.

“Just checking, something,” I replied. Standing in front of the statue, I took a moment to breathe before reaching up to touch the statue.

“—Hahahaha, oh that never gets old.” Somehow it sounded like it was coming from inside my head. “That’s twelve for this week. That gardener’s sign is practically an invitation.”

“Don’t think he’s going to escape,” I reassured Vinyl.

“Oh, now it’s the other one,” it moaned. “Pardon me if I don’t bend over backward for you, I’m feeling a bit stiff.” It continued with a grumble. “Though not really a surprise considering how I’ve been sleeping for the last few months.”

“Tavi, let’s just get out of here.”

“Oh yes, do leave, and good luck with Princess Jinky.”

I scowled up at the statue. “What do you know about the new princess?”

It groaned. “I’m not some gossip stone here to give you answers.”

“Tavi, you really trying to get help from that thing?” Vinyl asked. “That’s gotta be illegal or something.”

I looked back over my shoulder. “If it can tell us what’s happening, maybe we can fix it.”

Vinyl walked over. “You can’t trust it.”

“It has a name, and a male pronoun.” I glared back up at it.

“What’s it saying?” Vinyl asked. Then without waiting for an answer, Vinyl stuck a hoof up to the statue as well.

“Nothing.”

“You know her name,” I accused. “So you have to know something.”

“What I know or don’t know doesn’t matter, I’m stone, and I will still be stone when your new princess grows up and stops being cute.”

“So,” Vinyl added, “You know how she’s doing it then?”

“Now the idiot thinks she’s being smart, oh joy.”

“Smarter than you pal,” Vinyl returned. “I can still move.”

The statue was silent for a moment, but in a way it felt like it was glaring at somepony. “Fine, want to prove yourself? If your horn you wish to toot, find something that is cute. Everything now tall, was once small, while completing your task will require nostalgia of the past.” I heard a yawn pass over me. “If you want more than that, find a zebra.”

I let my hoof fall to the ground. “I think we’re finished, Vinyl.”

“Yeah, I was getting bored anyway.” Vinyl stepped back from the pedestal. “Let’s go.”

Walking out of the small section of the garden I felt a ruffle move through my coat as hair fell back against my skin. Perhaps we take Discord’s imprisonment for granted if a mere shadow of his presence can still affect ponies.

“So, ‘find what is cute’. Think he means Twinky?”

I snapped out of a thought. “Huh?”

Vinyl looked over her glasses at me. “You know. That hint?”

“Perhaps,” I mused. “Though he said the solution was from the past, and something tall that used to be small. Assuming of course he wasn’t just making that all up.”

A few more turns brought us round to the ballroom's garden, neither the garden nor the room itself were prepared for guests. The tables inside had dust covers over them, but the statue that had been ruined during the last Grand Galloping Gala had been replaced. We went in through the door, out another, and down the grand staircase. From here all hallways led to the throne room.

The palace is a very open and airy structure. Large windows let natural light flood through, and somehow a continuous gentle breeze of fresh air passes through each hallway. Rather an achievement when you notice that none of the windows are actually open.

The secondary hallway walls also feature examples of art from the Royal Collection. Many of which are regularly rotated so that every piece of the expansive collection gets its share of time in the light, or shelter from it.

Through one of these secondary hallways, we entered the throne room. There at the start of a line of ponies that lead out the door, and out of the palace, was the throne. Princess Celestia was lying in front of it on a cushion with Dinky. You’d almost have thought Dinky was Celestia’s foal the way they were cuddled up with one another.

A guard crept up behind us and I nearly jumped out of my coat when he spoke, “Ladies, if you wish to speak to Her Adorableness, then you must join the queue and await your turn.”

I turned and smiled, hoping to cover up my shock. “We just want to watch.” The guard didn’t say anything and so after a moment I added, “We really like how adorable she looks.”

The guard nodded and said, “As you wish. Adore Dinky.”

“Uh... Adore Dinky,” I echoed as he left.

Vinyl looked at me and whispered, “Adore Dinky?”

I shrugged and whispered back, “I don’t know.” We moved closer to the throne, Dinky and Celestia were hearing from a petitioning unicorn mare and a pegasus filly.

“…If it would please your majesties,” the unicorn mare before the throne bowed. “My daughter’s concerns about flight camp are probably just caused by homesickness.” The mare’s protest sounded half-hearted.

The filly by the mother’s side leant against her saying, “But mommy, the beds are really cold and the food tastes like grass. Do I really have to go again?”

“Yes dear, every little pony with wings has to go so they can learn to fly.”

The mare’s words caused a squeak from the throne. Dinky looked at her own new set of wings before asking, “Don’t they have muffins at flight camp?” The little pegasus filly shook her head. Dinky looked over her shoulder at Princess Celestia. “They don’t?” Dinky’s eyes watered.

Celestia shook her head. “No, little one, they don’t.”

“Can you make flight camp better before I have to go?” She tilted her head slightly and added, “Pweeze?”

An attending assistant held up a sheet. “There was a study done a decade ago in bringing both Cloudsdale and Los Pegasus flight camps to a higher standard at the cost of eight point four mill—”

Dinky seized on the opportunity. “So you can?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do it!”

Celestia nodded regally. “The Treasury will find the money. My favourite niece deserves the best for her flying lessons.”

“Yay!” Dinky said before reaching up to hug Celestia around the neck. “Thanks, Auntie Celestia.”

The little filly in front of the throne squeaked as she jumped for joy – with little wing flaps. “Flight camp’s gonna get better.” The she gasped. “And the princess is gonna be my classmate!”

“Yeah!” Dinky echoed as she leapt off the throne. “And it’s gonna be great!” Dinky held her hooves out and the little pegasus filly leapt forward to hug Dinky. “But first I’m gonna hug everypony in Equestria.” Then Dinky moved to hug the filly’s mother.

Everypony in the room went, “Aww.”

Vinyl went, “Ugh, yuck,” followed by sticking her tongue out. A golden glow surrounded it. Vinyl yelped and hurried to keep up as her tongue was pulled toward the throne. I ran to keep up, and saw the Royal Canterlot Glare that Vinyl got from Princess Celestia as she was pulled before the throne. The rumours about the palace statue garden crossed my mind again.

Just before Vinyl’s doom, there was a gasp from the throne’s other occupant. “DJ-Pon3!” Dinky flew over and hugged Vinyl. Celestia’s glare disappeared. Dinky looked up from Vinyl’s chest. “You’re almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash, and me and Sparky think your music is amazing.”

“Thnks,” Vinyl said with her injured tongue.

I stood by Vinyl. “Um,” I felt a little uneasy as Dinky looked up at me. “Vinyl loves hearing that ponies like her music.”  My eyes flicked to Vinyl. “Don’t you, Vinyl?”

Vinyl nodded and went, “Mhmph.”

“It’s why she’s always performing,” I added. “Speaking of which, she should be preparing for tonight. If your majesties wouldn’t mind, we should get going.”

Before we could try making our escape Dinky stopped us. “DJ-Pon3, you’re playing tonight?” Vinyl nodded. “Can I come?”

“I donbt thik yod be awwowed in,” Vinyl tried to say.

“Um,” Dinky said as she looked over at me. “What did she say?”

I shot another look at Vinyl. “I think she means that the place she’s performing at tonight wouldn’t let a young lady your age in.”

“Aww,” Dinky groaned before perking up with an idea. Looking over her shoulder she called, “Aunty Celestia, can Vinyl perform here at the palace instead?”

The princess brought a hoof to her chin. “We’re scheduled to leave tonight to start our tour of Equestria.” Celestia smiled. “But that can wait until after the concert.” The littlest princess looked up at Vinyl and gave her a ‘pretty please’ smile. Vinyl’s head turned toward me, and I nodded slightly. Then Vinyl nodded back with an affirmative sound.

“Yay!” Dinky jumped up to hug both me and Vinyl at the same time, forcing our heads together with her grip. I can’t say either of us was happy with the situation.
> Chapter 2: Looking Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This has gotta be a dream.”

I looked up from Vinyl’s record collection. “Does your tongue still feel numb, Vinyl?”

“Yeah, but look at all this gear.” Vinyl swept a foreleg around to help take in all the sound equipment filling the palace ballroom. “There’s gotta be a dozen pre-amps just to get the turntable signals to all the main amps, and then there’s all the speakers. I mean, buck, the guards must have raided half the nightclubs in Canterlot to get all this.”

“It does seem a bit extreme,” I said mildly.

“Tavi,” Vinyl said flatly. “I got enough soundpower here to shake the place off the side of the mountain, or cause avalanches across the Crystal Mountains.”

“That’s not going to do you much good unless you play what Dinky wants,” I said realistically as I flipped through Vinyl’s extensive record collection for the fifth time. “You don’t have most of her requests here.”

“I don’t?!” Vinyl sounded outraged. “I’ve got the best music ever made.” She stormed over and snatched Dinky’s list of requests off the table. “I… what…” Vinyl lifted her glasses up and her eyes flicked back and forth down the list. “She can’t be serious.”

“What, Vinyl?”

“This is all pop music,” Vinyl said with disgust. “Like Sapphire Shores and the horse apples that they market toward kids. There’s not a shred of artistic cred here.” She let the list drop to the table. “I can’t play that stuff, it’ll ruin my groove.”

“I don’t think you have much choice,” I admitted. “Celestia will just drag you back to the stage by your tongue if you try to bolt.”

Vinyl winced and shut her mouth. “What gives with that anyway?”  Vinyl asked, while keeping her tongue firmly within her mouth.

I sighed. “I have no idea. It’s like Dinky’s got some kind of spell over her.”

“How?” Vinyl held a hoof out. “She’s the princess, shouldn’t she be invincible or something?”

“Maybe she let her guard down?” I offered. “She’s probably the only pony who could stop all this, but it has her already.”

Vinyl sat down. “We are so hosed.”

I laid myself down on my back and looked up at the ceiling. “So it would seem.”

“We could let Discord out,” Vinyl mused. “I’d almost prefer that to playing Sellout Shores’ music.”

I opened my mouth to disagree but found I was almost in favour of such an extreme measure myself. “Well… I’m not sure we could do that, but he did give us a hint.”

Vinyl snorted and said, “Yeah, something cute, tall, and old. Doesn’t help, the princess is totally on their side.”

“Yeah,” I echoed as my eyes wandered around the ceiling. I’d never noticed during the Gala, but the ceiling of the ballroom was covered in a painted fresco. It was very traditional, probably painted with pegasus feathers by hovering pegasus artists centuries ago. It was a very worldly image, sort of representative of Equestria as a whole.

On the western side of the hall you could see the sun shining down on the unicorn settlement of Tall Tale, and the earth pony towns of Vanhoover and Trottingham among others. Following the fresco east you could see Cloudsdale and then Canterlot in the centre where day became dusk. Further onward night fell, casting a shadow near where Hollow Shades should be and on the east coast sat the lights of Manehatten. Over the eastern sea was the moon, its surface still painted with an eerie image of the Mare in the Moon.

I cursed myself for not having remembered sooner.

“Vinyl,” I said as I flipped forward to sit up. “Equestria has more than one princess.”

“Yeah, I know, I’ve met Dinky. Good thing I’m immune to her thing too.”

“Not her,” I said.

“Whatcha talkin bout?”

“Princess Luna,” I almost shouted.

Vinyl blinked, or I think she did, and finally said, “Oh, her.” She laughed awkwardly. “I forgot her. Celestia’s always been the only real princess who’s done anything.”

I stood up. “I’m going to go find her, if anypony can fix this, it’s her.”

“Great, I’ll come too,” Vinyl said as she got up as well.

“No, Vinyl, you should stay.”

“What?”

“You’ve got to do this performance,” I said as I pointed out all the equipment. “You’re going to have enough trouble getting set even without trying to make good music out of Dinky’s song requests.”

Vinyl tensed. “You can’t make good music out of something that isn’t music.”

My mouth twitched. “Then your usual stuff can’t be considered good music then.”

“Hey!”

“My point is that you have work to do,” I said. “Call me sentimental, but I’d hate for something bad to happen to you. Who else would I tease?”

Vinyl sighed. “Okay then, I’ll save my flank. Just don’t lose yours. I won’t be there to save ya if something happens.”

We hugged. “I’ll see you later Vinyl, good luck.”

“Luck’s got nothin to do with it.”

“Clearly.”

“Just do what I’d do,” Vinyl encouraged, patting me in the back.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as we split. “I’ll see if I can find some sunglasses while I’m gone.”

Vinyl took her glasses off and spun them around. “You know you love em’.”

“I’ll be back soon,” and with that said, I left.

I walked toward the throne room at first, looking for signs or anything similar that might help guide me. Eventually I asked a guard for directions to Princess Luna’s chambers. The guard was happy to help as soon as I mentioned that I was on an errand for Princess Dinky. Invoking the filly’s name seemed to be a sure fire way to get help from anypony under her spell.

The guard’s directions lead me up a ramp running up around the outside of one of the castle’s towers. After the first ten stories I started to wish for a set of wings. Living at the top of a tower was reasonable for somepony like the princess who simply used her wings, but I did not envy her servants.

Once I reached the top of the tower, I knocked on the dark wooden door. It was carved with the image of a crescent moon on a field of shadows. When nopony answered I knocked a few more times.

Without any response, I gathered my courage and tried the door handle. The door opened at my touch and glided open effortlessly despite being made out of what must have been a heavy solid wood.

The room inside was almost pitch black, the only light inside was cast by the open door and faint outlines from where the windows had been blacked out. I thought I could see a shape on the bed and gingerly approached it. Rather than waking royalty, I decided to see if she was asleep first and then I’d wait for her to wake herself up.

Standing over the bed, I reached down to check the shape when the light disappeared. The door had slammed shut, leaving me in total darkness.

Then a gust of wind hit my face, followed by something more substantial. I was pushed away from the bed, and as I cried out my legs were knocked out from beneath me. I fell to the floor as something grabbed at my legs, I scrambled to try and get away but something grabbed hold, held me still, and wrapped something around my legs.

I was thrown onto my back and something pressed down on my chest. Then a light came on. I winced in the bright change, and as my vision returned I was greeted by the sight of yellow slit eyes right up against my face.

I screamed. You would too.

The face pulled back, with its ears flattened and it spread its bat like wings. “Who are you to dare enter these quarters.” Its voice was deep and gravelly. “Are you a thief or an assassin seeking to catch my princess abed?”

“I-I just wanted to speak with the p-princess,” I stammered.

“Then why didst thou not announce yourself!” The pressure on my chest increased.

“I didn’t want to wake the princess up,” I said a little louder. Thinking quickly I tried a trick that had worked before. “Uh, and Princess Dinky sent me here, so you should let me go.”

“Dinky has no hold on me,” it replied. “I am sworn to mine own princess and Equestria, not some upstart.”

“Dinky doesn’t have anything on me either,” I said quickly. “I just want Princess Luna’s help so things will go back to normal.”

“Prove it.” The pressure on my chest remained.

“Princess Dinky is a child being spoiled because she’s cute. She’s got bad taste in music, she wants to hug everything whether or not it wants to be hugged, and she ruined my audition yesterday.”

The pressure on my chest was removed. The bat thing grunted. “Nopony under the filly’s influence could say that. That much is true at least, and you seek my princess’s help?”

I nodded emphatically and said, “Yes.”

“Hmph, you seem honest.” The bat reached down and pulled away the bindings around my legs. I rolled away and stood back up. The bat appeared in front of me and held up a hoof. “Sergeant Grill, Night Guard.”

I met the hoof awkwardly. “Octavia Melody. Uh. Musician.”

Grill nodded. “Princess Luna is currently sequestered within the archives. I will escort you down to see her.”

“Uh, thank you.”

Grill led the way over to the door and pulled it open. Light flooded in and Grill grunted in pain before tapping something on his helmet. Standing on the edge of the ramp Grill turned to face me and I saw that his eyes that had been yellow slitted, had now become a normal brown.

He pointed down to an isolated building in the palace grounds. “That’s the archive down there, to save time I can fly you down there if you wish.”

I hadn’t been looking forward to walking down the tower ramp, so I said, “If that’s no trouble.”

“As you wish, madam,” I nodded. “You may want to brace yourself.” The guard spread his bat-like wings and took off, wheeling around behind me before dropping down to pick me up with his legs. A moment later I felt the uncomfortable situation of hanging in the air. Then without warning we were away from the tower and high over the palace.

I felt like a lead weight had landed in my stomach. Suddenly I was very aware that the ground was a long way away, and nothing was between me and the earth that supported me since I was a foal. Then it got worse as the lead weight in my stomach went into freefall as Grill started to dive down toward the archive building.

I might have screamed, again.

Just as the ground looked as though we were about to hit it, the weight in my stomach landed again with a vengeance. I felt like I’d been stretched taller as we came to a sudden stop before a soft touch down. As soon as the hold around my barrel was released I threw myself down on the ground, just happy to be in touch again.

While I was distracted, Grill greeted another member of the Night Guard, which had taken a position by the archive door. The other guard commented, “You probably should have been a little gentler on her, Sarge. I don’t think she’s flown before.”

“But now she knows what it’s really like, Corporal,” Grill replied. “Miss Melody, you may go inside when ready. We shall wait out here to see that you are undisturbed.”

“Thank you,” I said as I shakily stood up again. If today’s excitement continued like this I might find myself a nervous wreck come morning. Being ambushed and carried around had certainly been far from my mind when I got out of bed.

The guards assumed ramrod straight poses as I opened the door and closed it behind me. Before me stood an open gate to a library that surrounded a giant hourglass. I quietly crept inside to look around; the princess was in here somewhere.

I didn’t actually notice her on my first pass, Luna sat on a cushion in a shadow and her eyes were quickly crossing the scroll in her magical hold. As I started down the aisle toward her, Luna scowled and used her magic to wrap her scroll up again. “Fie, another dead end,” She growled and threw the scroll back onto a shelf. “Tis been a millennia, yet still the archives know less on this subject than an incompetent hedge mage.”

“Excuse me, Princess Luna?” I asked.

The princess rounded on me, “What is it?!” I flinched under her glare. Then Luna softened as she caught herself. “Pardon our lapse. We—I, have been frustrated of late.” The princess nodded slightly. “Pray tell, why you have sought me out?”

“Princess Luna,” I said with a curtsy. “I was looking for your help to find a solution to the problem with Princess Dinky.”

A broad smile crossed the princess’s face. “Seems we have common cause, and I have not been idle. I have spent this day searching every scrap of knowledge in the archives for a solution to whatever is responsible for this disruption.” Her smile turned to a frown. “I had hoped by sequestering myself here that I might avoid my sister’s fate and find a solution to our quarry. However, detail is light and I have little to narrow my search by.” Luna looked up at the shelves with a scowl. “Worse still is that by preventing research into coercive magics, we have left ourselves open to their use on the assumption that ultimately either Celestia or myself could fix it. Hubris it seems still affects us.”

Looking back at me, Luna asked, “Mayhap you could help narrow our field of search.” The princess used her magic to conjure a cushion and placed it beside her, asking, “Tell me what you have seen.”

I explained most of what I knew so far, including the process I suspected made Vinyl and I immune to Dinky’s charm. Luna listened intently, only occasionally asking for details or clarification, and kept her thoughts to herself until I finished.

Luna used a wing to scratch around her chest. “So pre-exposure to Dinky or an explanation on how she works is sufficient to confer immunity.” An encouraging smile crossed her face. “So I would have this immunity as well, ‘tis good news. Better still, thy story would suggest the effect is glamour based and so breaking the hold would grant immunity to the afflicted.”

“Can you break that hold?” I asked as I sat up on my cushion.

“Twould be difficult,” Luna admitted. “But I must attend to another priority. Doubtless a tour of Equestria is planned, if so then Dinky would expose everypony to her siren song.”

A memory scratched at the back of her mind. “Celestia said this morning that they planned to leave tonight—”

“Damnation!”

“—But they’re being delayed so Dinky can watch my friend Vinyl perform tonight instead.”

A hard look crossed Luna’s face. “Then we have little time. We must spread the immunity as widely as possible.” Luna stood and shouted in ear-splitting volume, “CORPORAL, ATTEND AT ONCE!”

The pair of Night Guards flew in, slid to a halting bow in front of Luna and simultaneously asked, “Your command, Princess?”

I blinked a couple of times. “Wow.”

“Sergeant, Corporal,” Luna greeted. “I have information that must be disseminated to as many ponies, in Equestria and beyond, as possible, tonight.” The princess summoned official looking parchment, and a quill with ink, and then began writing. After a few moments dominated by the sound of furious cursive, Luna signed the document.

“Fly to Manehatten as fast as possible, discard your armour if you must.” Luna held the signed document up for them to see. “This missive grants the pair of you authorization to commandeer the presses and staff of the Manehatten Times. You are directed to have them print a front page story to the specifications within, and then have it distributed to everypony they can reach. And I mean everypony. If they wish to discuss payment, assure them it will be met by the Royal Treasury’s carte blanche.” Luna presented the document to Sargent Grill. “Take this up to my quarters and emboss my royal seal to it.” Luna gave them a nod and they turned to leave.

“One final thing,” Luna called and the pair stopped. “You two must ensure this is done, do so by any means.”

Grill nodded solemnly and intoned, “As you wish, Princess Luna.”

“By any means?” I asked once the pair had left.

Luna stared off in the direction the guards had left. “They have a mandate, and they must achieve it no matter the cost or what they have to do, necessary or not.” She looked down at the ground. “The consequences will be mine to deal with.” She shook her head. “Worry not, tis done, and I have faith that my Guard will ensure the safety of the rest of Equestria. We must face the task of freeing those already under Dinky’s spell.”

“Do you have a counterspell?” I asked.

“I suspect not,” Luna replied with regret. She lay herself down on her cushion again. “We need to find out how this affected Celestia, after that Dinky’s glamour can be explained by her alicorn status.”

“I think I can answer that as well,” I said. “Princess Celestia was acting maternal to cheer Dinky up. So when Dinky said her horn hurt, the princess offered to kiss it better. When they met, Dinky’s horn sparked.”

Luna sighed. “So Celestia let her guard down and got hit by the uncontrolled, instinctual magic of a filly. Without structure to pull apart, there’s no counter for it after the fact.”

“There’s one more thing I should mention,” I said sheepishly. “But I don’t think you’re going to like this.”

Luna regarded me warily. “Pray tell.”

“Vinyl and I spoke to Discord,” I said nervously. Consorting with the incarnation of disharmony and chaos was unlikely to go down well with the princesses. “Vinyl touched his statue on a dare, and after some goading he gave us the hint that brought me to you.”

“You did no wrong,” Luna reassured me. “We know of Discord’s activities and suspect he regained his awareness during the final days of his first imprisonment.” Luna reclined over on her cushion. “Strangely enough, this time the Elements didn’t remove his capacity to talk to ponies that willingly touch his statue. We suspect the Elements of Harmony didn’t intend to imprison the draconequus for long, though for what reason I have little clue.”

I nodded. “He said this to us, ‘If your horn you wish to toot, find something that is cute. Everything now tall, was once small, while completing your task will require nostalgia of the past.’ We assumed it meant you because you’re tall and of the past. Do you have any idea what it might mean?”

“Hmm.” The princess scratched her chest with a wing again as she thought. “Discord enjoys riddles, especially if they mislead or have double meanings. They always possess the truth, even if only from his own twisted point of view. A game must have a prize.”

“So we need something cute?” I asked.

“I think so,” Luna agreed. “And nostalgic…” Luna sat in thought for a few minutes. I didn’t disturb her. Eventually Luna announced, “I think I understand.  Dinky’s power lies in her cute innocence, we merely have to present something cuter to Celestia.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Where do we find it?”

“Celestia’s memories,” Luna replied cryptically. “We shall trigger it.” She summoned her quill and paper again. “Tis an old memory, especially for her, but this shall bring it to the fore again.” With her quill Luna drew several lines and then added notes in slightly archaic musical notation.

Reading the notes I gave it a try, “Re… fa… do… te-do, re… fa… do…”

Luna nodded approvingly. “A musician I see. ‘Tis old music and such music speaks to the soul.” She finished the sheet and passed it to me. “You said before that your friend is performing for Dinky?” I nodded. “If Celestia is there, play this to her and I shall take care of the rest.”

“Thank you, Princess,” I held the music sheet like a priceless artefact. To a musician like me, it might as well have been.

Luna nodded regally toward me. “I look forward to hearing you play it. ‘Tis been a long time and I have heard it in naught but my memory since.”

“I look forward to it as well.” I stood and curtsied again. “I beg my leave, your highness.”

Luna returned it from her cushion. “Granted, go with good fortune.”

I calmly walked around the corner and closed the archive door behind me. Then as soon as nopony was looking I bolted toward the ball room. I had so much to tell Vinyl, and so little time to practice this song in.
> Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You okay, Tavi?”

“Hmm?” I looked up from my cello. “I’m fine, just—”a yawn cut me off.

Vinyl got up from where she’d been working underneath her turntables. “You haven’t stopped playing that tune since you picked your cello up.”

“Practice makes perfect, and this needs to be perfect,” I declared. “The fate of Equestria depends on this song.”

“It was perfect ages ago,” Vinyl reasoned. “Take a break and get some coffee or something, or that song is gonna lull you to sleep on stage.”

I put my bow down. “I think you’re right this time, Vinyl”

“Yeah I am,” she replied.

“How are your preparations going?” I asked.

“Kinda alright,” Vinyl admitted. “All this gear is top notch stuff, but that means it’s real sensitive. I’ve been too busy making sure it sounds good instead of really taking it for a spin.”

“Will it be ready?’ I asked. To demonstrate, Vinyl took one of the turntable arms and ran it across the grain on a record. My ears clamped against my skull as the strangled-cat like noise rumbled through the few dozen speakers spread throughout the room. Vinyl grinned and I muttered, “I get your point.”

“I’ll be mixin’ on the fly,” Vinyl said with a shrug. “But that’s when I do my best stuff.”

I put my cello down against the wall. Then while stretching I said, “I’ll go down to the kitchens and find something caffeinated.”

“No need, filly.” Vinyl stopped me with a raised hoof. “I got this.” She turned over toward the door and called, “Hey, guards!”

The ballroom door opened and a guard stepped through. “What do you need,” the guard asked.

Vinyl pointed at me. “Tavi here is helping me with this performance for Princess Dinky, and she could really use some coffee so she can make Dinky happy.”

The guard opened his wings and said, “At once.” Then he shot off.

I looked over at Vinyl with an eyebrow raised. “Vinyl, how long have you been abusing their condition?”

“All day,” Vinyl replied as she tweaked the rotation speed of her turntable set. “I got lunch earlier. The food here is amazing, the chef has gotta make the best damn pasta I’ve ever had.”

I sighed. There was no telling how ponies would react after all this was said and done, especially if they resented this sort of thing. “How long till the doors open?” I asked.

“Bout a quarter hour,” Vinyl said. “The guards say we’re looking at least a hundred heads plus princesses, that’s as many as they’ll let in. There’ll be another hundred in hearing distance outside too.”

“Is that a lot for you?” I asked.

“Sorta,” Vinyl said. “It depends on the place, this ballroom’s kinda small compared to some places, but we’ll be at capacity here.”

“Right,” I said. I supposed this sort of performance was a far cry from the exclusive parties and seated concert halls I normally performed in. “So what’s the schedule once the party starts?”

“I’ll run for half an hour before you take the stand. Dinky’s still a little filly,” Vinyl said with a shrug, “so she’ll get tired fast, and when she goes, Celestia will as well.”

“I’ll be ready,” I promised.

The ballroom door opened again and the guard flew in with a coffee cup held in a non-spill carry sling held in his mouth. He handed in front of me and presented it with a flourish. “Your coffee, miss. Fresh ground from the kitchens.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said before taking the cup.

The guard bowed and intoned, “Adore Dinky.”

“Adore Dinky,” I echoed, with less enthusiasm. The guard took off and flew back out the door. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that,” I said to Vinyl.

“It’s totally outta wack,” Vinyl agreed. She picked out a record with her magic and put it on the turntable. “One more test.” Vinyl dropped the needle on the outer rim. Through the speakers I heard it rumble along until it found its groove, then the sound of Sapphire Shores’ latest single, Equestria Girls started booming through the ballroom.

My ears surrendered and clamped down. “For the love of Luna, Vinyl, shut that off.”

A welcome screech silenced the terrible tune. “That settles that,” Vinyl said off hoof. “Not even this sound system can make that song sound good.”

“Please tell me that wasn’t requested.”

“Hate to say it,” Vinyl said as she leant on her tables. “But that was at the top of her list.”

“Earth give me strength…” I said under my breath.

Vinyl came out from behind her tables and over to me. “Tavi, I feel your pain, and you’ve been working hard on your song,” she said as she picked up my cello. “There’s a staff waiting room that the catering ponies use through that door over there.” Vinyl pointed at it with my cello. “Rest your hooves for a bit and come on out when it’s time.”

I spent only a moment considering it. “Thank you, Vinyl. Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own?”

Vinyl grinned at me. “Filly, this is what I was born for.”

I shook my head with a smile. “Alright, Vinyl, I’ll see you in a bit.” Taking my cello from Vinyl’s hold I followed her direction through a semi-concealed door and into the servant’s rest stop.

The room was primarily a staging area for the wait staff during events like the Grand Galloping Gala. A counter with a small glazier’s worth of glass behind it waited for when it would be used to provide the waiters with drinks to distribute. Across on the other side of the room were cushioned sofas for the waiters to wait on.

Taking a seat, I brought my cello around in front of me for some last minute practice. I played through the song Luna had entrusted to me, I’d memorized the notes well enough that I didn’t need the sheet anymore. It was a nice way to relax after such a long day.

After a play through I was satisfied with my performance and laid down across the sofa. I hadn’t realised till now how much running around I’d done today across Canterlot, through the palace, up a tower, and that brief experience with flight. One can get carried away sometimes.

Suddenly I heard my name called out. The performance! I stood up and lifted up my cello as I ran toward the door. I stood just at the door hurriedly checking my bow tie, straightened my mane, shook out my wings, and stepped outside.

The light blinded me, and my ears winced under the sound of thunderous applause. The entire room shook as hundreds of hooves hit the ground. As the light faded I heard Vinyl’s amplified voice call out, “All hail, Princess Octavia.”

“What?” I found myself standing in the middle of the throne room. Looking behind me I didn’t see the door, but the royal throne itself. More surprising was the set of wings on my back, and when I looked up I could see an elegant grey horn on my forehead.

Looking forward again the crowd of hundreds of ponies gathered bowed as one and simultaneously declared, “All hail Princess Octavia.”

Then my shadow moved to cover the floor in front of me and rose up. At first it was a reflection of me, and then its form changed. Colour flooded through it until Princess Luna stood before me. Luna reached up to touch my shoulder and said, “Octavia, it is time.”

“What?”

“Tavi it’s time!” Suddenly it wasn’t Luna in front of me, but Vinyl’s purple sunglasses. “You need to get on stage now!”

“I’m going,” I said weakly as I rolled off the sofa. I quickly checked my back and forehead and found no mysterious extras. I reached up to my neck to find my bow tie and discovered it was missing. Now that I thought about it, I never remembered putting it on. I was horrified that I’d been running around the palace without one of my most distinguishing accessories.

“Tavi, you’re on,” Vinyl said as she tapped me on the shoulder. My cello was already floating in Vinyl’s magic. “I’ve left a premix playing, but it won’t last forever. We gotta get you on stage.”

Vinyl hurried me out into the ballroom. Music still played, it was a mixture of songs with a steady beat in the background. In the centre of the room was Dinky, dancing in the way all children do. Her movements untrained by experience as she threw her hooves around in whatever fashion occurred to her.

While Dinky’s dancing could be described as cute at her age, for an adult pony it’s quite embarrassing. Naturally everypony in the room was mirroring every move Dinky made, the synchronized movement was rather disturbing, but then so was the fact that no one seemed to object to the style. Such dancing could lock a pony in the Canterlot Elite’s bad graces for weeks.

There was a shove from behind me. “Come on, Tavi.” At Vinyl’s insistence I let her help me up to the stage. My mind felt like it was still foggy from my nap.

Once we reached the stage, Vinyl took me behind the turntables and gave me a bottle saying, “Drink it.”

Looking at the bottle I asked, “What’s in it?”

“Water.”

“What more than that?”

“Probably minerals,” Vinyl said flatly. “Just drink it, Tavi. It’ll help you wake up.”

I did as I was told, drinking the whole bottle and taking a deep relieving breath when I finished. It did help, I suddenly felt more awake. Vinyl pressed my cello into my hooves, gave me my bow, and swung a boom microphone over to capture my music.

“Vinyl, I’m ready,” I said.

“Good, by the way.” Vinyl held up a blank record in front of me. “I’m so recording this.”

I considered the virgin vinyl. “A lot of ponies might want copies after this.”

“Oh, yeah,” Vinyl agreed with a nod. “How often do we record history like this?” She put it down on one of her turntables and set a needle to carve a new recording.

Steadying myself, I waited for the right moment. On the tables in front of Vinyl only one record was still playing, and as I watched the needle reached the centre of the record, slipped out of its groove lifted up and reset itself to the starting position.

Silence stopped all movement in the room. Vinyl brought a microphone up to her mouth and spoke, “Hey, everypony, we’ve got a very special request for our gracious hosts, Princess Celestia and Princess Dinky. This song is just for you.”

Vinyl lifted some sheet music from under the table along with a keyboard. I recognized the sheet as the one Luna had given me. Vinyl lifted her glasses up and winked at me. On the table the needle over the blank record dropped, and its gemstone head started carving a new track.

Vinyl started playing a simple background melody. Following it by memory, I started on cue. My bow travelled back and forth playing the simple melody that I’d practiced nearly a hundred times today. Vinyl’s keyboard complemented my music perfectly; it wasn’t loud or obnoxious and gave me something to follow. Vinyl has always been good at bringing things together to make something better.

Looking out into the audience I saw Dinky moving slowly from side to side following the tune, everypony else in the audience copied her, except one pony. Princess Celestia stood rooted to spot as she watched us. The princess didn’t move, nor did she blink.

The song soon came to an end. Vinyl and I stood, and bowed. There was a polite applause from the audience. In the middle of the audience I saw Dinky yawn, and shake her head. She went over to Celestia and tapped her on the leg. Celestia didn’t respond for a moment, only coming to when Dinky was more insistent. Something between them was said, and then Celestia lifted Dinky onto her back and the pair of princesses left.

With Dinky gone, all energy seemed to leave the crowd, and they quietly began to disperse out the doors. Within a minute or so we were left alone in the ballroom.

“Do you think it worked?” I asked Vinyl.

“Something happened,” Vinyl said with a shrug. “The princesses went home.”

“Well, Luna said she’d be able to manage things from here.”

Vinyl lifted the formerly blank record up from the turn table and looked at the track. “Looks like a good scratch, wanna hear it?”

“Give it a spin, Vinyl,” I agreed, and the pair of us listened to the old song we’d brought back to life.





We retired back to my apartment for dinner. It wasn’t anything truly impressive, a few simple bowls of fruit and oats followed by ice cream. After everything, we hardly had the energy to do more. Some ponies might be able to go on adventures all the time, but it wasn’t something for me.

Vinyl borrowed some blankets and slept on my couch, while I went to my own bed. To help me get to sleep, I often play gentle music on a small record player I have near my bed. Tonight I put the fresh record we’d made on the table and lowered the needle into place.

Before long I drifted off into the dream world.

I found myself in an empty plane of grass, featureless but for the grass shifting in a breeze I couldn’t feel. Searching around, I heard hoof steps from behind me. Turning around I saw the ethereal form of Princess Luna phase into existence.

I bowed, “Princess Luna.”

“Well met, Octavia Melody.” Luna inclined her head in return. “Your performance this eve was exceptional.”

“Thank you, your highness.” I looked around. “If I may ask, where are we?”

“The dreamscape,” Luna replied solemnly. “Tis made of the worlds that we dream of as we rest. This is simply a neutral plane, and in itself is a mystery I have no answer to, but from here I can take thee to dreams of other ponies abed.”

“We can travel between dreams?” I asked.

“In a fashion,” Luna replied. “A dream is maintained by the pony who dreams it, and they can easily cast us out if they object to an external presence.”

A thought occurred. “Then we could visit Vinyl’s dreams? She’s just in the next room.”

“In but a trice,” Luna said with a smile. The princess’s horn glowed and I was plunged into water. The water was warm, and bubbles pushed me toward the surface. I swam up, breaking back into air with a flick of my head to keep my sopping wet mane out of my face. Breathing in fresh air, I noticed that I didn’t feel any need for it. Presumably this dream didn’t feature drowning.

Looking around, I found that I’d just surfaced in a hot tub. It was shallow, and yet somehow deep at the same time. A white hoof reached around my shoulder and I was pulled into contact with Vinyl. She was completely wet as well, her blue mane still in its normal style despite also being as soaked as mine was.

“Done with Swirly I see, well more for me,” Vinyl said as smug smile crossed her face.

“Interesting dream you’re having, Vinyl,” I said awkwardly. “It’s not weird at all.”

“This isn’t a dream,” Vinyl said. “If it were a dream you wouldn’t feel this…” My eyes widened as I felt Vinyl’s hoof make its way down my back. I spun out of Vinyl’s reach to the other side of the hot tub.

“I have no— What has gotten into you, Vinyl?” I asked, reeling from what I was seeing. Vinyl didn’t answer, and before I could press her for an explanation a light purple pegasus surfaced in front of Vinyl. The pair held each other as they relaxed against the edge of the tub.

Vinyl tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t drag, Tavi, you were having just as much fun with Swirly.”

I blinked. “Who’s Swirly?”

The cosmic forces ruling Vinyl’s dream decided it was a good time to explain that. Something rose out of the water beside me: it had fins, scales, and the head of a pony. It leant over to my ear and whispered, “Shoo be do.”

Against another tub wall Princess Luna sat laughing. I pushed the thing back off me and yelled, “Get me out of here.” The dream faded away instantly and we found ourselves in the grassy field again.

Luna was still laughing. “Oh what mirth, tis been a while since I saw such a thing.”

I spun around as I checked myself – I was dry again. Snapping around to look at Luna, I said, “What was all that? And why was there a seapony there?!”

“’Twas a mermare,” Luna explained. “Seaponies don’t have scales.”

“Why was Vinyl dreaming about that?” I pointed in her metaphorical direction. “We’ve been friends for years, is that what she truly thinks of me?”

Luna held up a hoof. “Peace, Octavia. ‘Twas merely a dream, a passing fantasy forgotten before it can be remembered.”

“Does it mean that…?” I left the rest unsaid.

“Most likely not, you were not the only participant and so ‘twas not focused on you, but Vinyl’s enjoyment.” Luna’s wings flapped dismissively. “You likely made an impression on Vinyl Scratch today, and so her subconscious added you to her dream. On another night it would have been somepony else, don’t presume to know somepony from a merest glimpse at their thoughts.”

“Then it meant nothing.” I sighed with relief. “That’s good to know.” A rather troubling thought crossed my mind and I looked up at the princess warily. “Do you visit ponies in dreams like that often?”

Luna stood taller and lifted her head further up to look down on me. “No I do not,” she replied firmly. “Rarely do I visit somepony who isn’t calling out for assistance. Perhaps I should not have so boldly allowed you to visit your friend, particularly with a more pressing matter at hoof.”

“Why did you bring me here then?” I asked.

“I wish your assistance in rescuing my sister,” Luna said solemnly. “I stand over her now, in truth. She sleeps in the chair where hence she told bedtime stories to Dinky. To break the filly’s hold on her, we must give Celestia something else to dote on. I would ask you to play the song one more time.”

“Well, Vinyl did record our performance—” I was suddenly surprised by my record player appearing in mid-air before me with our recorded performance already set upon it.

Luna smiled. “Twould seem that you have the song stuck in your head.” Luna lit her horn. “Tis your mind’s construct, you must bring it.” I closed my record player’s lid and ducked underneath it to carry it on my back where it balanced effortlessly.

The scenery changed again to something reminiscent of the Royal Palace. However the paintings were thick on the walls and the hallway was lit – strangely well – with moonlight shining through the grand windows.

“This is our sister’s dream,” Luna explained. “Her only dream most nights.” Luna walked over to one of the paintings crowding the walls. It pictured a class of graduating students from Celestia’s own school, and the sign in front of them was dated fifty years ago.

“As ponies age their dreams look more to the past,” Luna said as she tenderly dusted the picture’s frame. “For somepony as old as my sister, the dreams become monuments and museums.”

“Then where’s the princess?” I asked as I searched.

“Down there, toward the present.” Luna pointed to the better lit part of the hall.

Turning to look, I quickly saw the aurora of Princess Celestia’s mane. Then I gasped when I realized where she was, she sat in front of a giant golden statue of Dinky.

Luna spoke with scorn as I looked at the statue. “Even with this dream pressed for space to hold everything, that filly still commands the greatest share of attention.”

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Play the song from your memory.” Nodding, I reached up to the turntable on my back and pulled the needle down. The song played through the player’s small horn, but sounded almost as loud as it had been in the ballroom.

Celestia’s ears pricked up. She turned to look down the hallway toward us and stood. Then, with a steady gentle gait, she started walking, eyes closed, ears twitching as the music played. When she reached us, I could hear her humming the tune, and a moment later she walked right past us.

Luna leant down and whispered, “Let us follow.”

With the record still playing on my back, we followed Princess Celestia as she took a literal walk down memory lane. Our gait remained steady. Celestia didn’t pause, but often looked at exhibits as we passed while she followed her ears. Though the song played from me, Celestia seemed to be following it back deeper and deeper into the past.

Occasionally, I picked out depictions of history I’d learned during my schooling and of other events I’d learned of since. Occasionally we passed statues of ponies that had been important to Celestia in successive periods.

Celestia’s gaze lingered a little longer than average on an ebony statue of an armour clad pegasus I didn’t recognise. Luna snorted as we passed, but didn’t volunteer any information on the subject.

What did stymie Celestia was an event that seemed to be scarred into her memory. An entire section of the hall was dedicated to successive pictures on a single subject. They started with an image of the mare in the moon, then many more of a dark alicorn.

I felt a splash of water against one of my legs. When I looked over my shoulder to investigate, I found Luna had turned away from me. Following images of a climactic battle, the images eventually led to one of Princess Luna with anger written on her face. The real Luna beside me kept her head turned away from that image.

After another moment’s introspection, Celestia started moving again. Past images of a city made of crystal, and a statue of Discord locked in a dance. Several images followed of the chaotic tyrant, and one of a crystallized tree.

Beyond those, the light in the museum dimmed and the pictures became sparser. The events here from an age barely remembered even by the Princess herself. Finally we arrived at a door. Celestia reached up and opened it, walking through the crack and disappearing inside. I nipped forward went through before it could close.

The music stopped, and I found myself in what looked like an old cottage. The walls were made of rough stone and mud supported by timber that led up to a thatched roof. The room had two beds that were little more than sacks of straw with woollen blankets.

Then somepony walked past me, a pink maned filly on the cusp of her teenage years. I noticed the ivory coloured wings first, and then when I saw her horn my jaw dropped. It was Celestia. The young alicorn pushed a tree stump over to one of the beds and sat on it. Under the blanket in a mess of sky-blue mane rested Luna, herself just a few years younger than her sister.

“Hey, sis,” Luna murmured.

“Can’t sleep?” Celestia asked. Luna chewed on her lip, which looked rather cute. “Scared?” Luna nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll always be here for you.”

“Always forever?” Luna squeaked.

“Always and forever,” Celestia said as she pulled Luna into a hug. I brought a hoof to my mouth as I watched.

“Sis,” Luna spoke up. “Can you sing my lullaby?”

“Of course, little one,” Celestia said, and she started to hum. The sound bounced around my mind and I recognized it as the same song I’d played for her. After a minute or so, Luna fell asleep against Celestia’s chest and the older sister smiled before whispering, “Good night.” She laid Luna back against the bed and reached down give her a kiss on the horn.

Then Luna’s eyes opened and looked toward me. A smile on her face, Luna winked at me before feigning sleep again. Suddenly the entire dream shook and Celestia reached up to touch her shoulder, just before everything fell apart.



 
I woke with a start. I was back in my bed, much as I was when I first pulled up the covers. My record player was just as I left it as well. Massaging my forehead I did my best to think about the dreams I’d experienced. Something, presumably Princess Luna, had woken Celestia up and booted me from the dream.

There was a cry and thump from outside my bedroom door. Concerned, I got out of bed to check it out and went into my living room. Vinyl was lying on the floor in front of the couch she was supposed to be sleeping on, and she was very much awake.

“Something wrong, Vinyl?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Vinyl replied quickly.

I crossed my hooves. “Bad dream?”

“Freaking nightmare,” Vinyl said as she picked herself up. “I started out on a boat having tons of fun and stuff, and then suddenly these seaponies appear.”

“Seaponies?” I asked.

“Yeah, fins, fish tail, scales—”

“Mermare,” I corrected.

“What?” Vinyl asked blearily.

“They were mermares,” I repeated. “Seaponies don’t have scales, but mermares do.”

Vinyl rubbed at her face. “How do you know something like that?”

“Heard it somewhere,” I said with a shrug. I wasn’t going to talk to her about our shared dream. “You were saying?”

Vinyl continued, “Yeah well these mermares surrounded the boat and started singing this siren song to get us out into the water.”

“Were they singing ‘shoo be do’?”

Vinyl shook her head with a laugh. “Nah, worse. It was the Pony Pokey.”
> Epilogue : Boons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following morning saw the delivery of a special free edition of the Manehatten Times to my front door. Titled: ‘Don’t Be a Spoiler’, it offered advice when it came to dealing with the new princess and advised readers not to give her everything she wanted. The second page held a guest article by somepony named Iron Will titled, ‘No Means No: Standing Up for Yourself’.

Both Vinyl and I were curious about what was happening back at the palace, so once we’d both had breakfast we set off.

A few street cleaning carts were making their way up and down Canterlot’s streets, gathering up confetti from yesterday’s coronation. Other ponies were pulling banners down, and Canterlot was quickly returning to normality.

In the palace courtyard, the statue of Dinky was being loaded onto a heavy cart for removal. It’d probably end up somewhere near Discord in the gardens. We followed the main hallways of the palace, leading to the throne room. The doors opened as we approached and a grey coated pegasus left the throne room with Princess Dinky on her back. Dinky was waving back at her ‘aunty’ standing on the other side of the door.

Once Dinky had gone, Princess Celestia looked toward us. “Ms Scratch, Ms Melody, please come in.”

“So,” Vinyl ventured. “You’re okay now, right?”

“Indeed,” the princess said as she led up toward one of the side doors of the throne room. “Once I ‘snapped out of it’, I returned to normal with little adversity.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “What about Dinky, isn’t she still dangerous?”

Celestia nodded. “She is young and still has much to learn until she’ll be able to control herself. So until she does, I’m sending her back to Ponyville with some forewarning. My own student will see to her magical education and I’m confident her mother will have no trouble finding a flight instructor for her.” Celestia smiled. “When she’s ready, I’ll have a role for her. Perhaps as a diplomat, I’m rather curious to see how the griffons would react to her asking them to be nice to each other for a change.”

The princess opened a side door into an antechamber. It was an enclosed room, the door thick and the windows double glazed. This was the sort of secret back room that important deals were done in and secrets exchanged. When the doors shut, the sounds of the palace and birdsong outside dwindled to silence. The room was sound proof, and the windows likely enchanted for privacy too.

Luna sat in a dark coloured recliner probably tailored to her. The table in front of her held a coffee cup and a tea set. She held up a hoof. “Octavia, and Vinyl too, ‘tis good to see the both of you. Come sit.”

I followed Celestia and took the guest sofa across from where Celestia sat on her own recliner beside Luna’s. Vinyl hesitated. “Sorry, Princess Luna,” Vinyl said with a bob of her head. “But I’m not sure if we’ve met…”

Luna smiled from where she lay. “We haven’t, but we have heard of you. No pony who enjoys the night so much should escape our notice.”

“Luna,” Celestia said quietly, “You’re slipping.”

Luna glowered at her sister. “One does not break lifetimes of habit quickly, Celestia.” A smile crept back onto her face. “Admit though, that you do enjoy hearing us speak thusly.”

“We do,” Celestia smiled at Luna before turning her attention to Vinyl. “Vinyl, please sit. You don’t need to be formal with us here.” Celestia nodded toward the other side of my seat.

“Vinyl,” I said. “You’re being more formal than I am. Ponies would be shocked.” Pushed into action, Vinyl jumped over the arm of the seat and lounged across her side of the sofa. I was forced to move over so Vinyl had room to rest her head against the back of the seat, rather than my arm.

Vinyl took a biscuit from the plate by the teapot, bit a chunk out of it and said, “What up?”

I elbowed her in the side. “Now you’re just overcompensating,” I said under my breath.

Celestia and Luna laughed lightly. For a moment I was struck when I saw that Celestia was sitting formally and that Luna was somewhat less so as she drank from her coffee cup. It was a bit of a parallel.

Celestia was the first to speak. “We’d like to take this chance to personally thank the pair of you for what you did yesterday. You both went above and beyond the demands expected of you, doing us and Equestria a great service.”

“So,” Luna said sat herself up. “Custom dictates we reward you with something fitting: land, titles, boons...”

“As a starting point,” Celestia mused. “Octavia, perhaps your quartet would like to be selected to perform at the Gala?”

I sat up a little straighter. “Thank you, Princess but—”

“Sister,” Luna interrupted. “Tis hardly a boon at all, you said yourself that they’d already earned it. Better they receive titles and land. I recall that the scenery in the northeast is quite stunning.”

Celestia frowned. “Luna, I’m afraid all of that land has long since been bought or parcelled out.”

I tried to speak, “While that would be—”

“Position then,” Luna said, “Something chiefly ceremonial like a Timekeeper, or indeed, a Mistress of Ceremonies.”

“An MCship?!” Vinyl rolled forward and put her hooves on the table. “I’ll take it!”

Celestia looked toward me. “What sort of reward do you think is appropriate, Octavia?”

I thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t want to think I’d gotten a position I didn’t deserve, the Gala performance should go to the most talented.”

Celestia nodded slowly toward me. “Well said, my little pony.” I suddenly got the feeling I’d just passed a test. “Indeed, you had earned it, Luna was correct in saying it isn’t much of a reward to give you something you already earned.”

“I think that would be enough,” I said. “More would probably seem too much.”

“I did discuss something with Luna last night.” Celestia turned around and lit her horn, bringing up a document folder from behind her seat and placed it on the table. “You have proven yourself capable and trustworthy, so perhaps this may be in your interests. I need somepony to act as an ambassador for Equestria on a trip. Not too stressful, indeed the sparse itinerary and culture appreciation portions almost make it a holiday.”

I blinked a couple of times, and my jaw loosened. I was being offered an all expense paid trip. “That sounds wonderful.”

Luna grinned at me. “We thought so too.”

“Tavi,” Vinyl leant back and whispered in my ear, “Totally jealous.”

“Of course Vinyl can go too,” Luna added casually.

“Buck yeah!” Vinyl yelled out, and I elbowed her again to silence further crowing.

“Princesses, we’d love to accept,” I said formally. “Where would we be going to?”

Princess Luna leaned forward and brought her hooves together. “Under the Sparkling Sea. To where you’ll meet the mermares and seaponies.”

“No!” Vinyl and I cried together.