Prologue: Magical pegasus? ......HUH?!
Octavia sat at the cafe table sipping at her tea while her lifelong friend Vinyl Scratch grinned at her through her magenta shades. Octavia knew something was up because Vinyl only grinned like that when something “awesome” or “epic” happened, or while she's DJ-ing at her club or an event. Sighing, she set her tea down and looked up at Vinyl.
“What was it this time?” She asked.
“Huh? Whaddaya mean, Tavi?”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “You only grin like that when you're DJ-ing or when something happened. So, what was it this time?”
Some of the snow colored mare's smile dropped as she raised an eyebrow in return. “Am I really that predictable?” She asked.
Octavia nodded as a small smile crept up on her lips. Vinyl shrugged as her grin came back in full force as she rembered the events from the night before. “So, there I was, right? Up on the podium, doin' my thang, when this yellow mare came into the club. Normally I don't pay too much attention to the ponies in my club, that's what bouncers are for, right? Well, get a load of this. She was using magic, Tavi!”
Octavia raised her eyebrow again. “And what, pray tell, is so great about that?”
Vinyl's smile dropped as she looked into her friend's eyes. “Tavi, I just said a pegasus was doing magic.”
Octavia giggled before taking another sip of her tea. “Hehe*snort* hahaha! Pegasi can't do magic Vinyl. Well, besides flying and playing with weather anyways,” She set her tea back down and shrugged. “I thought I told you no more salt before shows?”
Vinyl frowned. “I've been clean for over a month now Tavi. I know what I saw, and it was that yellow pegasus doing magic. She was levitating her drink in front of her as if she was a unicorn, but she had wings. No horn. I used some of my magic to check her out, and something about her just wasn't natural. Anyways, that's not even the best part! Check this out!” Lighting up her horn, she tossed this morning's newspaper over to Octavia, who caught it before it smacked her in the face.
After giving her friend a skeptical glance, Octavia glanced down at the front page and felt the blood drain from her face as she saw the damage done to Vinyl's club. Shattered windows, an entire wall knocked over, and the ceiling seemed to have exploded outward. The strangest bit though had to be the massive tree, it's branches and foliage poking and pushing through every hole in the building. Looking back up at Vinyl with wide eyes, she whispered “What the buck happened here?!”
Vinyl smirked. “Believe me now? That pegasus did something, I don't know what, but it fed off my beats. She was waling around the club, and at my last drop of the night, she yelled something and slammed her hooves on the ground and... well, THIS happened,” she said while pointing at the picture.
“What did the pegasus look like again Vinyl? I'd like to stay away from her if I ever see her.” asked Octavia.
Vinyl rubber her chin as she thought. “Well, she had a yellow coat with a long pink mane, and she was too far away to see her eyes and cutie mark. She had a very shy look to her though.”
As Octavia thought more about her friend's description, an image of a pony she met while on vacation was brought to mind. They had stayed in contact through letters for a while, but as they both began to make their lives, the letters came to a halt. What was her name again.....? Come on, Octavia, think! Oh, wasn't it... Darn, lost it. Why is Vinyl so excited about this? She could have died! And she said this pony seemed shy... Wait! Was it... Fluttershy?
Rubbing her temple, Octavia slid her chair back and stood up. “I'm sorry Vinyl, but I think there's a letter I need to write to an old friend of mine.”
“Uhmm.... Okay? I'll just uh... Go check out my place. Pretty sure the insurance will cover it though, it should fall under “natural causes.” Hehe see what I did there? It's a tree! Natural cau... You know what? I'm just gonna go.” After seeing her friends unamused look, she grinned her not-so-normal grin and ran off.
Octavia just shook her head with a small smile as she began her walk back to her home to begin her letter.
3 days later
Oooowwwwww, my head! What did I- Oh yeah, the experiment. Oh Celestia, this hurts! I'll have to see Zecora about this, she might have a potion or something that'll help with the pain. I certainly hope so anyways. You see, Zecora is in our little cult, has been since she moved here from Zebrica. She's our best- well to be honest, she's our only Alchemist. If there's an ailment out there, she knows a cure, or how to find one.
If you're wondering who I am, my name is Fluttershy. I grew up in Cloudsdale until one day I fell from the city to be saved by Mother Nature herself. That was the day I got my cutie mark. I guess realizing that nature is more kind than ponies will have that kind of an impact on you. After hiding and living with the animals in the White-tail Woods for about a month or two, I stumbled upon a cave where 3 ponies lived. One pegasus mare, one unicorn stallion and one earth pony stallion.
According to them (at least, at the time), they got run out of the town they lived in because nopony liked them. Having been through something similar in Cloudsdale, I sympathized with their plight. I later came to learn that they were ritualists, using rituals to accomplish their goals instead of normal magic. Since I had come to trust them, I let them teach me some of their magic. I was thrilled when they performed a ritual on me that gave me the ability to use magic as a regular unicorn would, especially since having that kind of magic would amplify whatever rituals I'm doing.
I'd say it was about 3 years after I fell from the clouds that I first entered Ponyville. I decided that instead of seeming like an unnatural, spiteful and crazy pony, I would just pretend to be shy, as I once was when I lived in the clouds, and hide my magical abilities. There was one mare in particular that I had kept in contact after I build my home near the Everfree Forest and White-tail Woods. Her name was Octavia, and she was so sweet, caring and very beautiful. As her life became more complex as she rose through the fame of being First Chair Cellist in the Harmonix Orchestra, we slowly stopped mailing each other letters.
So imagine my surprise when I look in my mailbox on my way to see Zecora, and see a letter from Octavia in there mixed in with the regular junk mail and bills. I felt a small blush creep up on my face as I remembered some of our more steamy conversations. After shaking my head to clear those kinda of thoughts, I opened the envelope. Enclosed was a train ticket for tomorrow afternoon and a note that simply said:
“We need to talk.”
