"Stormbreaker" - Thunderlane
The growing fire popped and crackled happily in the fireplace. The only non-wooden piece of the library, the brick hearth built into one wall was deep and small to minimise the chance of any books coming to harm in its flames. Nevertheless it still projected a strong wedge of reddish glow into the darkness, and its heat easily pushed back the chill night air. The temperature did not much bother the charcoal-grey pegasus stallion lying before it, rubbing a towel through his mane, but the fire was very good at helping to get rid of the water saturating what felt like his whole body.
Thunderlane settled down into the well-worn cushion beneath him, closing his eyes as his forehooves pulled the towel forward onto his face. His unusual fan-like mane popped out from under the towel as if freshly styled, white and ice blue stripes sticking straight up between his ears and down his neck. Finally feeling a little more like a pony and less like a used sponge, he simply dropped his forelegs out in front of him and let out a satisfied little breath. He was content resting his eyes beneath the towel for the moment.
Twilight Sparkle emerged from the kitchen, two steaming mugs held aloft in her magical grip, and took in the sight of the prone, sodden pegasus in front of her with a quiet giggle. It was only barely audible over the sound of the rain thundering on the windows and walls, but still elicited a confused grunt from beneath the towel.
"I think I'm starting to see why Rainbow Dash thinks it's hilarious when I get soaked," Twilight said, grinning. Then her muzzle wrinkled in confusion as she eyed the stallion's hair. "What on Equestria do you put in your mane? It's as drenched as the rest of you, but it looks like there isn't even a hair out of place!" The purple alicorn moved forward into the firelight, plopping herself down on another cushion in front of the fire. One of the mugs drifted over to land in front of her guest as she took a quick sip from the other. "Not meaning to pry, but I think Rarity would kill me if I didn't at least ask how you pulled that one off."
The towel was pulled down a little, uncovering a yellow eye. "Lightning," came the muffled response from the pegasus' towel-covered mouth. The piece of cloth was pulled the rest of the way free as Thunderlane spied the mug on the floor. "Oh, awesome, thanks Princess," he said, wrapping his hooves around the mug and pulling it closer.
"Please, just... call me Twilight," Twilight replied nervously, her violet eyes shifting down briefly. She still wasn't used to that title. Maybe she never would be, it always seemed so strange when ponies said it to her. It wasn't like when anypony was speaking to Celestia or Luna, or even Cadance. It sounded... 'unfriendly' was probably too strong a word. Distant, maybe?
Thunderlane glanced across from his mug, then gave the best attempt he could at a shrug from a prone position. "Okay. Thanks Twilight."
Then part of Twilight's brain ran his answer to the question she'd asked by the rest of her a few more times. "Wait a second, lightning?" Twilight turned her head to look at the stallion, brow furrowed. "That... doesn't make any sense."
She knew that pegasi had some innate ability to manipulate electricity, but using it for mane styling? Twilight couldn't imagine how that would even work, let alone how you'd end up with anything besides a ball of static-charged fluff on your head. Her studies at CSGU had mostly revolved around unicorn magic, and she hadn't really known any pegasi until she came to Ponyville either. Except Cadance, but she didn't count.
Then after another moment, Twilight realised that she actually knew next to nothing about Thunderlane as a pony, never mind how he got his blue-striped white mane to stick up in a fan the way it did.
Well, she thought, I got to know Applejack and Rarity a lot better on a night not too different from this one. After a little more consideration, she added, Hopefully this one will end with less tree in my bedroom.
Thunderlane rubbed a dark grey hoof against the back of his neck, grinning awkwardly. "Heh, yeah, it's um... well it's a long story. It's sort of a bonus extra from my special talent," the stallion offered. Both ponies almost reflexively glanced back between them at their cutie marks. Twilight's fuchsia starburst almost blended into her purple coat in the firelight, with only the outlining smaller white stars standing out. Thunderlane's coat, however, was tinged almost black by the light. His white cloud and bright yellow lightning bolt mark was clearly visible.
"You know," Twilight said, ears lowering a little in embarrassment, "I've just realised that I don't really know anything about you, Thunderlane. We've lived in the same town for a pretty long time now, and you work for Rainbow, but I don't think I've ever actually stopped to talk to you. What with the whole Princess of Friendship thing I should probably make an effort to change that." She nodded towards the dark, rain-slicked window. "We might be here for a while, so if you don't mind telling the story... I think I'd like to hear it."
Thunderlane pulled his head back a little, and his ears briefly pinned back against his skull. "I, uh..." he began, haltingly.
Twilight's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable at all-"
The grey stallion closed his eyes briefly, then interrupted "No, it's not anything like that." He huffed out a short laugh before continuing. "I've kinda known I'd end up doing this with you for a while, so I've thought about what it's going to involve. Once we get going we're probably gonna be up all night."
After a moment of silently contemplating the strange look Twilight was giving him, Thunderlane jerked upright and flushed crimson. "Oh, wow, that sounds so wrong when I- hold on." He settled back down onto the cushion, hooves over his eyes, and let out an exasperated sigh before starting over. "I knew I'd end up in a proper conversation with you eventually, and you'd end up asking about my mane or just go straight on to my cutie mark or what I do on the weather team," he said, shuffling his hooves back beneath himself. "I saw what you and Pinkie Pie got up to when you tried figuring out how she works, and you'll probably end up just as, well, that about some of the stuff I do. Which means this is going to turn into my life story rather than just a couple of minutes about my cutie mark."
Twilight still had one eyebrow raised questioningly. "Ooookay."
Thunderlane turned his head forward, looking into the fire. "I guess it kinda starts with my name," he began. "Thunderlane." One eye flickered from the fire, to Twilight, and back again. "Sounds like a great name for a weatherpony, right?"
The question was obviously rhetorical, but the slightly mocking way he asked it suggested to Twilight that things weren't quite that simple.
"Both my parents were in the weather business in Cloudsdale," Thunderlane went on, "and I guess that was a hope they held for my future. A steady, respectable job that 'contributes positively towards the harmony of our society' and all that. As a foal, I shared that dream. I would grow up and do my part, joining a long line of family members who had spent their working lives pushing clouds, making Equestria a better place to live.
"My Mom, Silver Lining, was a Cloud Founder on the Cloudsdale weather team. I get most of my colours from her, but I'm swapped the other way round - white on grey instead of grey on white. Mom's a practical pony; if there was a problem, she jumped in and started to fix it. No procrastination or dithering over what might go wrong, but not a whole lot of planning either. I used to beg ponyback rides off her and then demand she 'do weather', which got us into trouble with Dad a few times. Not that he could ever stay mad at us for more than a couple of seconds."
The stallion's small smile broadened a little as he reminisced. His childhood hadn't been perfect, but his parents had always been there.
"This one time Mom smuggled a spare bit of rainbow home and put it up on my wall. She watched while I poked and prodded it, and then after a few minutes left me alone with it. Probably intentionally in hindsight, she did make it suspiciously clear that I wasn't supposed to try and eat it. Of course, I ate some as soon as she was out of the room," Thunderlane grinned. "Everypony does it at some point, so I guess this was my Mom's way of doing something a bit special for me and getting it out of my system at the same time."
Twilight frowned. "Isn't that a little, you know, dangerous?"
"Not really," the pegasus replied, shaking his head slowly. "Some ponies' reactions to the different colours can be a bit weird but it's never anything dangerous."
"Pinkie Pie changed colours several times and spat fire when she tried it," Twilight said. "Doesn't sound like the kind of thing-"
"Wait, hold up," Thunderlane interrupted eagerly, suddenly full of energy. "Pinkie spits fire? I have got to see that some time. Which colour makes her do it?"
"I'm... not sure. She sort of stuck her tongue in a pool in the Cloudsdale weather factory."
The grey weatherpony just avoided choking on his drink, then started to laugh. "She did what? No wonder she had a strong reaction, she probably got all seven at once. And the stuff in the factory isn't exactly weak either. Now I really need to get her to try some again." He paused briefly. "Actually, now that I think about it that's kind of odd. All of the parties she's thrown, especially for Dash, and... huh. Maybe she really didn't enjoy that sample from the factory."
"I don't think she did, no," Twilight said matter-of-factly. "She ran off afterwards, and when she finally came back she described the experience as 'not fun'. For Pinkie that's about as bad as something gets. What's that got to do with her parties though?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It explains why she's never got ponies doing Sonic Rainbooms, even on Dash's birthday," Thunderlane replied.
"I think I'm missing a piece of information here," Twilight said, confusion evident on her face.
"What, you don't know? Oh, right. I guess you probably haven't been to many Cloudsdale parties." Thunderlane gave a short tilt of his head, indicating Twilight's wings. "Sorry, the wings are kinda throwing me off here. Not that that's a bad thing," he added hurriedly, "I mean, you just..." Thunderlane covered his head with his hooves again before blurting out an exasperated enquiry. "How do I say you didn't grow up as a pegasus without implying you're not a real pegasus or that there's something wrong with you? And without looking like I'm hitting on you or making this even more hugely awkward?"
"Uh... I, um, think you just did. Mostly," Twilight said hesitantly, giving the pegasus an odd look. "You sort of messed up the 'not making this hugely awkward' part, though. Let's just forget that part and you can go back to explaining what exactly you meant by a Sonic Rainboom in that context."
Sitting back up slowly, Thunderlane let out a short sigh. "Sorry. I'm not good at, you know, brain-to-mouth stuff. Anyway, even before Rainbow proved the whole thing wasn't actually an old mare's tale, the Sonic Rainboom was still legendary. There's a party game named for it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's gotten more popular than ever since Rainbow aced that BYF competition with a real one."
"So I guess it involves rainbows?" Twilight prompted.
"Yeah, but not the industrial strength stuff from the factory. And not all mixed together either. You all get seven shots of diluted rainbow - the stuff they ship out to the weather teams - one of each colour. Then everypony starts drinking, in order through the colours. You build a little pyramid with the first six glasses as you finish them, then put the violet one upside-down on your muzzle. First one to do that and yell 'boom' wins. It's usually pretty fun, different ponies have some awesome reactions to the different colours. Pinkie would probably love it, actually."
"Well you could try talking to her about it," Twilight hedged, "but I can tell you now she'll be pretty hard to budge on the subject of things she's judged 'not fun' happening at her parties."
"I could try showing her I guess. Which actually kinda gets back to where I was in the story, when I gulped down the rainbow Mom left in my room. That's when I found out I have a pretty strong reaction to indigo. It makes me burp up a cloud of a sort of rainbow-mist-stuff. Well, it does if I only have a bit of it - that first time I had all seven at once, and it gave me pretty nasty stomach cramps. I kinda-sorta projectile vomited rainbow all over the hall halfway to the bathroom. We tried to clean it up, but apparently whatever came back out of me after that wasn't quite normal rainbow any more. The stuff just soaked right into the clouds and wouldn't come out. Eventually Mom had to break the bits of wall and floor off and take them in to the rainbow plant for disposal. Dad pitched a fit when he came home and found pieces of the hallway missing, and we were both in the bird house for a while."
"If it makes you throw up everywhere, how in the hay is that a party game?" Twilight protested.
"It's only rainbow that comes out, it's not like properly being sick. And one shot just makes be burp out a little cloud of rainbow, I only heave a load of it if I drink a bunch of all seven at once. Besides, you should see some of the things that happen to other ponies. It's a blast." Thunderlane glanced up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Literally if 'Drops is there. She really doesn't react well to orange."
Based on her expression, this information did little to reassure Twilight. "It sounds worse than it is," Thunderlane finished, grinning sheepishly. After a moment he mumbled "And green is tasty."
The two ponies lay in the warm firelight for a little while, before Twilight's curiosity got the better of her.
"So, you were saying about your parents?"
Thunderlane started in surprise as she spoke. "Oh, right. Sorry. Where was I... Dad, I guess. Cold Front - my Dad - has a desk job in the weather factory. He's all ice blue, three different shades. Snowflake cutie mark. That's where I got these from," he said, prodding one of the thin streaks in his mane with a hoof. Twilight watched with interest as the whole thing moved almost like a solid block at his touch, tilting slightly to the side before straightening again.
"You know how that story goes; the shut-in stallion meets the hardworking weathermare, she sweeps him off his hooves and builds him a cloud house, then marriage, foals... Don't think they counted on Rumble and me being so much of a hoofful, but what parents do? Mom always brought out the best in him, even if she and I together drove him to distraction more times than either of us could count.
"I think Dad wanted his little colt to get a nice safe desk job like designing snowflakes or something, but as a foal I was always more interested in what Mom did out in the sky. I wanted to be out there, putting hoof to cloud, not sat behind a desk while the mares had all the fun. Mom had to spend quite a few afternoons repairing or remodelling bits of the house when I decided I was going to do 'weather work' and moulded a shelf into a raincloud or bucked a hole in the wall. I even made part of a giant-size BattleClouds set out of the living room floor once, which got me cooped up in my room for a week. Not so much for the sculpting part, more for the way I made huge holes in the floor when I still couldn't fly properly. At the time I thought that was the only thing in my way, that once I could fly I'd get everything I'd dreamed of. Although I guess it turned out okay in the end. Was almost right, in a way." The stallion's voice tailed off for a moment, heavy with nostalgia and a little sadness.
"But those were a foal's dreams, and they didn't last," Thunderlane continued. "By the time I got into school, I hated my name. It was a constant reminder, a cruel joke. It followed me wherever I went, always needling me that I was something less than everypony else. That I'd been set up to fail, right from the start."
There was a brief silence while the grey pegasus collected himself. Twilight wanted to push him to continue, but held herself back. This obviously wasn't his favourite part of his life.
"The doctor figured it out pretty quick in the preschool health check. It was my first day on the ground, which probably explains why it took me a while to start liking it down here now that I think about it. All the shared tests went fine, but a little after we moved onto the pegasus-specific ones even I could tell something wasn't going right. I remember I was pretty proud of the 0.8 I'd gotten on the wingpower machine. I made a little cloud with a bottle of water the doctor evaporated, all the usual stuff. Then we got to the lightning generator. I didn't know what was wrong at the time, of course, but both my Mom and the doctor started acting weird. I spent a long time following a bunch of increasingly repetitive instructions, waving a hoof or wingtip near the big ball on top of the generator alongside little blocks of material the doctor pulled out of a box. It kept shocking me, and my mane and coat were sticking out all over the place by the time the doctor turned the machine off. He asked me if he could take a look at me with his magic, and then I had to hold still for what felt like forever while he did whatever it is unicorn doctors do when they're doing a deep medical scan. After that, he took Mom outside for a little while, leaving me playing with the piece of cloud I made. When they came back in I thought Mom looked... worn out. Looking back on it now, it's obvious she'd been crying. I asked her if she needed a nap," Thunderlane said with a humourless chuckle.
"She just gathered me up and held me, while the doctor slowly shattered my dreams. He explained as much as a foal would understand about the way pegasus magic is meant to act around electricity - and that rather than pushing away electricity as it should, my magic was attracting it. He explained how I'd have to be careful around storms and other electrical sources the rest of my life. Then, I asked what was probably the last question anypony in the room wanted to answer.
'I can still be a weatherpony like Mom and Dad, right?'
"They told me I couldn't. I cried. I still don't know how my mother managed to hold it together. I don't think I could have. Her little colt staring up at her, asking, pleading for her to change something that she couldn't, to make everything all right. I was still too young to understand that my Mom wasn't all-powerful, but... she wouldn't lie to me." Thunderlane sniffed, blinked quickly several times, and quickly pushed onward. "Mom took me home, and broke the news to Dad. They spent the rest of the day trying to convince me that my life wasn't over, and that they weren't going to hate me for not being able to do what they did. Dad postponed any real discussion of what we'd do about everything until morning. I fell asleep curled up against him, wishing as hard as I could that I would wake up the next day and everything would be normal again."
Twilight sat in the silence that followed, unsure how to respond. Tentatively she said "Well, you ended up on the Ponyville weather team, so... I guess you figured something out? I think I remember reading something about treatments for magical maladies like that a few years ago..."
The pegasus grunted. "Sort of, yeah. Not treatment, though. My parents didn't tell me why until later - according to the doctor there didn't seem to be anything wrong with me that they could try and fix. I'm not exactly a magic expert, so I've never really understood this part." Thunderlane began gesturing awkwardly with his hooves as he tried to explain. "They told me it was like a musical chord - normally when there's something wrong there's a discordant note, or something missing, but for me it was just a different chord. Nothing out of place or not in tune with the rest, just not... normal." Thunderlane gave up his wild gesticulating and sighed in frustration. "This isn't helping is it."
"I know I'm not wearing my big crown thingy right now, but you do realise who you're talking to, right?" Twilight commented, amused. "I think I get it. Or, at least, I understand the principle of what they were trying to tell you. I'd probably have to take a look myself to get a real grip on it."
Thunderlane grinned briefly, embarrassed. "Oh, right. Magic. Sorta your thing." The pegasus rubbed his hooves together for a moment. "Do you want to, you know, examine me or whatever? I guess it's a bit different now I've got my cutie mark and all, but the doctors I've seen since all seemed to think it was pretty interesting, so..."
Twilight paused. Did she want to perform a complex medical surveying spell on the spur of the moment with no practice or preparation, and then use it to unravel the deepest magical secrets of a pony who had already admitted he was a genuine scientific curiosity?
Do bears poop behind Fluttershy's house? Of course she did. Bits of her brain were yelling at the rest to hurry up and get him into the magical analyser in the basement already. There were all kinds of sciency things-
Twilight smacked herself mentally. "Sciency things"? Did I seriously just think that? Get a hold of yourself. The alicorn took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then pushed it out. Okay, getting a little over-enthusiastic here. I can do this. Curious and encouraging, not desperate.
"If you don't mind I'd like to take a look, yes," she said, concentrating extremely hard on stopping her ear twitching in excitement, "But it can wait." Twilight clambered to her hooves, the now-empty mugs lifting into the air as she rose. "I'm going to go grab my notebook though if you don't mind - if I'm going to look into this then I might as well start taking notes now. Fancy another drink while I'm up?"
"Yes please. And yeah, I don't mind," Thunderlane said to Twilight's retreating back as she headed for the kitchen.
Feeling a little restless cooped up inside, and still a little damp, Thunderlane stood and began to wander around the library. He couldn't properly shake himself off or flap his wings without getting water all over the books around the room, and there wasn't going to be enough time to properly take care of his wings before Twilight got back, so he settled for holding them spread wide as he walked.
Outside of the thick wedge of light coming from the deep hearth, much of the room was in shadow. The only other light came from a candle on the well-worn reading table, illuminating a small stack of books and some scattered notes. Presumably Twilight had been working on something when he arrived - part of the reason he had decided to knock on the door in the first place had been the faint light shining through the window, telling him that somepony inside was still awake. Lacking any other obvious targets, Thunderlane moved over for a closer look.
As it turned out, getting closer didn't make the notes any more intelligible. There were a lot of diagrams accompanied by small clumps of apparently random letters. Thunderlane decided it was probably some sort of shorthand, but he couldn't rule out a foreign language. Hay, it might even be mathematics, he thought, I'm pretty sure you move on to letters after you get done with numbers.
As he began to turn away from the small reading table, Thunderlane just managed to check himself before inadvertently sweeping his damp, outstretched wing across the pages. A brief flash of embarrassment and nervous relief washed over him as he tried again, taking a couple of careful steps backwards before turning this time. Princess Twilight definitely wouldn't appreciate having all her notes on whatever-it-was ruined.
Then the charcoal pegasus almost moulted on the spot when something on the edge of the light, up near the ceiling, moved. Thunderlane stumbled backward, hind legs tangling together, and sat down hard on the floor. His throat clenched tight in fear as he hyperventilated, trying to draw a proper breath.
The dark shape shifted again. Two eyes slowly rotated into view, glittering yellow in the candlelight, and it let out a confused-sounding "Hoo?"
Thunderlane's breath left him in a rush as he sagged in relief, wings dropping wetly to the floor. "Oh, it's just an owl." After a few more calming breaths, another thought occurred to him. "Why is there an owl in the library?"
"Owloysius lives here. He helps out when Spike is asleep." Twilight supplied from the kitchen doorway, causing Thunderlane to flinch in surprise once more before he realised he's spoken the words out loud. Oh. Did the in-my-head-out-loud thing again.
Thunderlane looked over his shoulder at Twilight for a moment, then glanced between her and the owl before cautiously addressing the animal. "Umm... hi?"
"Hoo."
"Don't talk much, do you?"
"Hoo." The owl somehow managed to heap more condescending sarcasm into that simple sound than most ponies could fit in a sentence.
"Okay then. You, um, keep doing... whatever it is you do. I'm gonna go over here now."
The shadows shifted again as the owl's large reflective eyes rotated back out of view. Thunderlane gave a brief involuntary shudder. That head spinning thing is creepy. Turning back towards Twilight, he queried "So are you going to write my life story or something?"
"Would you like me to?" the alicorn asked. "I was just going to take notes on your magical abilities, but there's always room to expand the project scope in the early stages."
A loud bang interrupted Thunderlane's reply as one of the library's front windows was slammed open. A soaking wet, powder-blue pegasus followed a straight path from the window to the library floor, ending up on her belly with all four legs splayed out awkwardly. Her mane and tail were almost garishly coloured, each split into wide strips of the colours of the rainbow. A black scorch mark stood out amongst the bright bands at the tip of the pony's tail, a faint wisp of smoke still rising from it. The bedraggled pegasus looked up through the multi-coloured stripes of her rain-slicked mane, spotting Twilight.
"Oh, good, you're awake," Rainbow Dash began, scrambling upright. Her hooves slipped a little in the slowly expanding puddle created by her dripping coat, which Twilight was going to considerable mental effort to ignore. It was going to leave a horrible stain in the wood if she didn't clean it up quickly.
"Hello Rainbow Dash!" Twilight replied, voice dripping with insincere sweetness. "Nice of you to drop by, I haven't spoken to you in a while. I'm not sure if I've told you several dozen times before or not, but the library has a perfectly usable door right over there," Twilight said, thrusting a hoof towards the object in question.
Rainbow Dash either chose to ignore the sarcasm or simply didn't notice it. "Twi, I don't have time for doors right now." She paused, raising a hoof to her muzzle thoughtfully. "Or ever, really. Anyway, that's not important, we've got a weather emergency. Thunderlane's disappeared and there's another front coming out of the Everfree. Can you find him with a spell or something? Preferably before somepony's house eats a lightning bolt and, like, sets on fire and stuff."
It seemed to Twilight that, for once, Rainbow Dash actually did have a reason for bursting in through her window unannounced. "No need, I already know where he is," she replied, pointing past Rainbow's shoulder. "He's been here for the last half hour or so."
"WHAT?!"
Rainbow Dash span around, magenta eyes narrowing as she spotted the nervously grinning - and suspiciously dry - stallion. Thunderlane sat back on his haunches, rubbing one foreleg against the other as he tried to suppress a half-hearted chuckle.
"Oh, you are in so much freaking trouble mister," Rainbow ground out through a clenched jaw.
"But I-"
"Every pony I can spare," Rainbow Dash cut in loudly, overwhelming Thunderlane's protest, "is searching the entire town for you while the rest try to hold the storm off without getting themselves killed, and I find you lazing about in the library?" Dash flicked her tail out to one side, displaying the still-smoking scorch mark marring the tip of her multicoloured hair. "Look at that! I'm lucky the whole thing isn't on fire, and if I wasn't so awesome that bolt would have fried me. Get your sorry flank back outside before somepony gets hurt!"
Thunderlane threw a salute and barked out a rapid-fire "Y-yes ma'am, sorry ma'am, won't happen again ma'am!" before turning and bolting towards the window.
"Wow," Twilight said, eyeing Rainbow Dash, "you've got him well-trained."
Rainbow Dash's eyes tracked Thunderlane as he leap back out into the storm. "Nah," she said absently, "Meteors did that." She turned back to Twilight, expression softening. "I know I do a little drill instructor thing sometimes, but I run a weather team, not a Guard squad. You know I don't ride my girls that hard, Twi. Thunderlane's lazy when he thinks he can get away with it, but he's also been trained by the best. Wouldn't do that to anypony else on the team, but he's sorta been conditioned to expect it. Plus I know the guy. He knows I'm just motivating him, not trying to make him feel bad."
The polychromatic pegasus let out an exhausted breath and sagged a little. "Sorry about letting the rain into the library, I know it's not great for the books and stuff," she said, briefly taking to the air herself to push the window closed. "It was kind of an emergency though."
"I think I gathered that, yeah," Twilight replied. "Do you need some help? I could have a look through some of the thaumometeorology books, there has to be something in one of them that can help."
Rainbow wrinkled her muzzle in disdain at the mention of unicorn weather manipulation magic. "No offence Twi, but I think we've got it covered. Besides, it wouldn't do anything to a wild storm anyway. Unicorn magic doesn't work on them at all; even pegasi have trouble messing about with wild weather. Hence the tail." She added, waving the scorched appendage again.
"So it's a wild storm?"
"Yeah, which is why it's completely unscheduled and we're busting our flanks trying to stop it wrecking the town."
"And there's lightning," Twilight continued slowly, in a tone generally reserved for addressing the terminally slow.
"Yes," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes, "it's like I didn't just finish telling you that."
"But you sent Thunderlane out there to deal with it," Twilight said anxiously. "He just told me about his condition, he's going to get hurt!"
"Huh?" Rainbow pulled her head back a little in confusion. "He'll be fine. This stuff is his job, why do you think I was so mad at him for disappearing on us after we broke the first front up? If he'd hung around to help with the clouds like he was supposed to, we wouldn't have had to turn the town upside down to find his stupid grey butt when the second one showed up."
"But he attracts lightning and he's flying into a wild lightning storm!" Twilight protested.
"Yeah," Rainbow said, mirroring Twilight's earlier explaining-the-obvious tone, "and he's also completely shockproof. Even works on wild bolts. That part is kinda important for a Stormbreaker."
Twilight deflated. "Oh. He, uh, didn't get to that part."
"Are you, like, studying him or something?" Rainbow asked, her head cocked to one side as she eyed Twilight curiously.
Twilight's gaze drifted off a little as she thought about her reply. "Maybe. I'd like to. He's certainly very... interesting."
Rainbow reared up, supported by her wings, and held her forehooves out in front of her. "Whoa girl, okay, don't need to hear-"
"Nonono, not like that." Twilight interrupted, flushing with embarrassment. "I just want to get him into the basement and-"
Rainbow stuck her hooves over her ears and took off, flying for the door. "NOPE. CAN'T HEAR YOU. NOT LISTENING. OR THINKING ABOUT WHAT MIGHT BE IN YOUR BASEMENT." The pegasus grabbed the handle in her mouth and pulled the door open, all while hovering with her hooves still over her ears. The resurgent storm almost drowned out Rainbow Dash's shouted goodbye as she disappeared into the dark and rain.
Twilight let out an exasperated groan and covered her face with a hoof briefly, then hurried to close the door before any more windblown rain and soggy leaves got inside the library. The door was set a little back into the trunk of the tree, keeping the worst of the elements out, but this was no summer rain shower. Glancing outside as she put a hoof on the back of the door, Twilight paused to marvel at the scene on the horizon. Regularly scheduled thunderstorms were one thing, but this was a whole other bale of hay. There was something both terrifying and dangerously seductive about wild storms. The wind threw her mane back behind her neck, and a fine mist of wind-driven water started to soak her coat as she watched.
Through the dark and rain it was difficult to make out much detail, but the huge grey clouds roiling in the sky on the edge of the forest were clearly visible over the roofs of the intervening houses. A few lights were still showing through window shutters, or faintly glowing through closed curtains, as ponies huddled in the warmth of their homes. Every so often a pegasus would become visible as they flew low over a rooftop, but most of the time they were lost against the deep grey wall in the sky.
Twilight flinched, half-closing her eyes against the light as a stroke of lightning briefly lit the night. Sharp, deep black shadows leapt into existence for a moment as the rooftops were bathed in bright white light. The airborne forms of the weather team were momentarily clearly visible, a photograph-like snapshot of backlit silhouettes against the flash in the sky. A fraction of a second later a ripping blast of thunder broke the air, loud enough to make Twilight flinch back further behind the door and cover her ears. Quickly recovering herself, she moved to close the door.
Another flash, hot on the heels of the first, drew Twilight's gaze back to the scene outside as she nosed the door shut. Her ears fell flat as she hunched her shoulders in anticipation of the thunder, but she barely registered the noise this time. She was too busy staring frozen at a spot in the sky, now lost in the dark between lightning flashes, where she had clearly seen the bolt arcing down to end at a winged figure in the air.
Anxiety took root in Twilight's chest. Hearing it from Rainbow was one thing, but actually seeing it happen was another. Thunderlane taking a wild lightning strike in mid-air. Twilight had to believe it was him, and not anypony else on the weather team - because anypony who wasn't lightning-proof would be dead. Even then, if they were somehow wrong about him being immune to harm from it... She might have just watched somepony die.
It's his job, he does it all the time, Twilight told herself, It must be safe, or he wouldn't do it. I'm just not used to seeing it, that's all. She still couldn't quite push away the mental image of a pegasus plunging towards the ground, scorched and trailing ruined feathers. The phantom pony kept changing colours in her head, cycling through all of the pegasi in town.
Just as thoughts of going out to try and help started to form in Twilight's mind, the sky flashed for a third time. Again, an airborne figure was clearly visible at the root of the bolt, shoving their forehooves against part of the cloud bank. This time, however, the darkness did not steal away Twilight's vision entirely - the distant figure had begun to glow faintly, highlighting the clouds around them with a dim yellow light and making them easy to spot amongst the dark, shifting cloudscape. Twilight was momentarily frustrated that she wasn't close enough to see anything in detail, until she remembered there were several telescopes upstairs that she could be using. The young alicorn slammed the door shut against the wind as the sound of thunder washed across the library again, and bolted for the stairs. There were observations to be recorded, and she was already missing valuable data points.
Twilight burst through the doors onto her observation balcony, quill and parchment roll flying after her encased in a purple aura. She used some very un-princess-like language when the sheeting rain immediately ruined the writing materials, before throwing them back inside in annoyance. Concentrating briefly, she pulled together one of her brother's shield spells and threw up a small bubble around the balcony. It would tint everything a bit pink, and the water running over it would distort the image, but at least it would be dry.
Twilight glanced around at the bubble, and was briefly glad that Shining Armor wasn't actually here. She was fairly sure her BBBFF would kill her if he saw the arcane butchery she'd inflicted on his signature spell in her haste. The waterproof cover over one of the smaller telescopes jumped up, enclosed in a purple glow, and followed a grumbling Twilight back inside as she went to replace her note-taking materials.
There was just so much to do. Background reading, research, observations, and of course she'd need a lot of interview time with Thunderlane before this was over. Maybe a book would be a better idea than a research paper. It seemed a little clinical and weird to try and get to know a pony and then produce a piece of academic literature as a result.
After a few moments of frantic scrambling for something to write on, Twilight decided that what she really needed to do was calm down and organise herself a bit. Coming to a halt, she closed her eyes and drew in a breath as she pulled a forehoof towards her chest. Pushing the hoof slowly straight out in front of her, she released the breath while counting to ten in her head. After repeating the exercise a few times, she made a quick mental list - in the process realising that she'd even managed to forget ink in her initial rush to the balcony.
After grabbing an ink bottle and replacement quill from her writing desk downstairs, Twilight fetched a fresh lab book from her bedroom to record her observations properly. She carried the gathered objects out to the now slightly drier balcony and flipped the book open as she pulled the telescope over. She smiled briefly at the inside of the front cover, which bore the crest of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Twilight still ordered the books regularly to keep her supply stocked up, having grown attached to the small green volumes in her youth. Beneath the school crest each lab book bore a randomly selected quote from a graduate or staff member, and this one seemed wonderfully appropriate. It read:
'The only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.'
Twilight put her eye to the telescope to watch somepony screw around, and started to write things down.
*22/09/2609: Initial observations of subject Thunderlane...*
"Unchained Melody" - Octavia Melody
Three firm, evenly metered knocks broke through the quiet of the library's interior, bringing a sudden injection of energy to the hazy warmth of a late summer's afternoon. All of the building's small windows hung open in a mostly successful effort to dispel the heat, and the quiet murmur of an active town could just be heard over the swishing of breeze-driven branches.
Twilight's hoof slipped out from beneath her dozing head, dropping her face-first into the book she had been reading with a weighty smack. Rebounding from the table with panicked haste, her still sleep-addled gaze darted about in search of a clock.
Oh no, I only meant to sit down for five minutes! I can't believe I dozed off! Twilight's eyes widened as she finally managed to direct them towards the clock on the wall, and then the door. Stupid warm summer afternoons!
Twilight quickly clambered upright, trying to will some feeling back into her legs as she scooped up the table's contents with her magic. Deciding that this absolutely qualified as an organisational emergency, she rapidly stacked the books in simple alphabetical order and teleported the pile into her bedroom. It wasn't an ideal solution, but she'd have to deal with it later.
Trying to brush the thought of the barely-organised books cluttering up her room out of her mind, Twilight made her way to the front door. She was already almost certain of who would be standing on the other side, and it wasn't exactly polite to invite ponies over and then leave them waiting around outside. As Twilight reached the doorway, a hushed conversation drifting in through the open window beside the door put paid to her doubts as to her visitors' identity.
"For Celestia's sake, Vinyl, you could at least try to look like you didn't just roll out of bed fifteen minutes ago." Even when she whispered, it was hard to mistake Ocatavia for anypony else in Ponyville. Her precise, clipped Bittish accent was, if not quite foreign, then at least very distinctive.
"C'mo"- Vinyl Scratch's half-hearted protest collapsed under the weight of what sounded like a truly jaw-popping yawn -"C'mon 'Tavi, 's way too early for this." Unlike her companion, Vinyl was making little effort to keep her voice down.
"It's four in the afternoon, Vinyl," came the unamused reply. "Now stand up straight."
Pushing down an amused grin along with the nascent butterflies in her belly, Twilight reached for the door. She was going to be needing the support of Ponyville's resident musical marvels to start filling out the billing for the Helping Hooves concert, and giggling at their bickering wouldn't be the best first impression.
On the other side of the door, the thoughts of one Octavia Melody were running along quite similar lines. Her coal-black mane was combed fastidiously into an elegant sweep down her grey-furred neck, which was adorned with a thin white collar and pink bow tie that had become something of a trademark of hers over the years. It was positively torturous to tie the blasted thing by hoof, but she was nothing if not committed to her public. They expected that little pink bow in the same way they did the bow with which she played her instrument, and in a strange way each was just as important to her performance. Of course the tie wasn't of practical use, but it was still important somehow. She didn't really feel like herself without it.
Normally Vinyl's antics would be amusing, and both of them knew Octavia's complaints about her partner's behaviour were born more of affectionate habit than genuine irritation by this point. However, she was about to officially present herself to royalty - and if a long career manoeuvring through the intricacies of courtly politics had taught her anything, it was that first impressions were absolutely vital.
Although most ponies of any real class wouldn't put too much stock in them, of course. There are hidden depths to every pony if you look hard enough, she thought, a critical eye sweeping over the frankly horrifying case of two-tone electric blue bed-mane stood next to her. She couldn't quite suppress a small smile at Vinyl's appearance despite her best efforts. The trademark purple shades did much to hide her tired eyes, but Octavia had long since discovered they contributed even more to hiding the mare behind the manic stage persona the world knew as DJ PON-3. Although, I must admit, for some ponies one needs to look a little harder than others...
Nevertheless, Octavia was well aware that some ponies in the circles of power were shallow enough to judge on a first impression, which meant making a good one was important. Not that she was implying Princess Twilight was in that camp before actually meeting her of course, that would be rather richly ironic in its hypocrisy. Making the effort also showed an appropriate amount of respect towards those you met, demonstrate that you were willing to go to some effort to work with them. Octavia could certainly do that in the context of a charity concert, regardless of the nature of the organiser's motivations. Charity events arranged by even the most self-aggrandising nobles would at least give something back to the community, even if they were only held for the sake of appearances.
The experience is altogether more pleasant when the intent to give is genuine, of course, but we must work with the tools we're given, Octavia mused. She was rather firmly of the opinion that those who had power thrust upon them were significantly more trustworthy than those who were born to it, and Twilight Sparkle was by all accounts an upstanding and diligent citizen before her elevation. There is, of course, always the odd case where newfound power goes to somepony's head - and Princess Twilight has also had a few... oh, how does one put this... 'incidents' with her already prodigious magical talents since arriving in Ponyville.
Octavia's focus was redirected away from her own thoughts as the door to the library opened. Lowering herself into an oft-practised formal bow, Octavia had to suppress an exasperated groan as beside her Vinyl greeted royalty with a slightly sleepy wave.
"Princess Twilight, thank you for inviting us to speak with you," Octavia said, fighting valiantly to keep an undertone of annoyance out of her voice. "We are honoured that you decided to consult with us regarding the upcoming Helping Hooves event."
"'Sup?" Vinyl supplied from beside her.
Octavia's left eye, still fixed on the ground in font of her along with its opposite number, gave a violent twitch. That's it, a disturbingly cheery internal voice declared, I'm going to kill her.
Somehow oblivious to her partner's mental threats of equicide, Vinyl capped off her greeting by letting loose another muzzle-cracking yawn. The angry little voice in Octavia's head started screaming.
I will stuff you inside your infernal noisemaking machine and "wub" you to death with my own hooves!
Risking an upward glance, Octavia realised to her relief that the Princess didn't appear to have been offended by Vinyl's appalling lack of manners. If anything, she actually looks... rather confused. Maybe even nervous. Then it occured to Octavia how the rather abrupt contrast between their two greetings might strike somepony on the receiving end. And now she doesn't know how to act, fabulous. Thank you, Vinyl. That does at least put some doubts to rest I suppose, anypony with an ego regarding their station would have instantly taken offence at that behaviour...
"Um, that's... thank you?" Twilight responded uncertainly, glancing between the two ponies in front of her before choosing to focus on Octavia. "For coming, I mean. I've never organised a concert like this before, and I like to make sure I've done my research before I start trying to schedule something," she said, the beginnings of a genuine smile touching her muzzle.
Although she hadn't formally been asked to do so, Octavia decided - for the sake of shortening what was becoming an interminably awkward moment - that that comment counted as a formal acknowledgement, and rose to stand before the Princess. "We'll gladly do anything we can to help, your Highness," she replied. "We're always willing to chip in for a good cause."
"Hay yeah," Vinyl added emphatically, "if my ponies need me, I'm there."
And now she's barging into the conversation before being acknowledged. Through a clenched jaw, Octavia growled, "Vinyl..."
Before Octavia could get any further, however, Twilight intervened. "Actually, I prefer, um... I'd rather things were a little more informal," she said. "I'm still a little new to this whole princess thing. I'm really just a pony looking for some expert advice, and, well..." the tentative smile on Twilight's face turned hopeful, "I'd rather be asking a couple of friends for help than giving orders to subjects."
And just like that you jump several levels up the respect ladder, Octavia thought, pushing away the lingering doubts she had been pessimistically holding on to. "I believe I could give that a try, Princess," she replied with a small smile of her own.
Octavia's smile only faltered a little when Vinyl bumped her shoulder and said, "See? Told you she was cool. Anypony with dance moves like hers has got to be pretty awesome." Twilight immediately flushed red, and began nervously trying to pour scorn on her dancing abilities before Vinyl interrupted. "No, come on. It doesn't matter how good or bad you think it was. You were out there, in the middle of the floor, just... in the music. Doing your thing. Doesn't matter what you or anypony else thinks, there was a whole lot of heart in that. Anypony tells you there's something wrong with that, they're just jealous they can't be that honest about who they are," Vinyl said passionately. "I wish I was half that brave."
"But you both get up in front of hundreds, thousands of ponies and perform right in the spotlight all the time," Twilight protested, "I just made a fool of myself at Shiny's wedding."
And while DJ PON-3 has certainly been the centre of public attention, Octavia thought to herself, a little sadly, Vinyl's telling the truth in a way. Her fans would be more than a little surprised if they met the pony hiding behind those glasses. She really is wonderful, even if she doesn't see it.
"Anywho, if we're done pandering to 'Tavi's hoity-toity sensibilities," Vinyl went on, ignoring the glare she was now receiving from the mare in question, "seeing as how you want to be less formal... Hi," she said, offering a white-furred hoof, "Vinyl Scratch, pleased to meet you."
Twilight's hopeful smile grew into something genuinely happy as she returned the gesture, shaking hooves. "Twilight Sparkle," she said, before offering the same hoof to Octavia. "Just Twilight Sparkle."
"Well in that case, 'Just' Twilight Sparkle, I'm 'Just' Octavia," the grey mare offered with a half-smile as she shook, earning an eye-roll from Vinyl mostly hidden behind her shades.
"Great!" Twilight said happily, before starting as she remembered something. "Oh, come on in, sorry! No sense standing around on the doorstep, even if it is a lovely day." Twilight retreated back into the library, holding the door open with her magic as she trotted towards her recently-cleared table.
"She, uh, doesn't know, does she?" Vinyl whispered as the pair entered, a knowing and amused light dancing in her eyes.
"If not she's an extremely talented actress. She's a smart pony, she'll figure it out," Octavia replied quietly, "You know I feel the same way about it that she obviously does, anyway. I'm just me."
She anticipated the reproachful look in Vinyl's eyes before it even surfaced, but it still made her feel that strange combination of wonderful and nervous and guilty all at once. Vinyl would never say it in public, and very rarely out loud even in private, but Octavia felt the protest that she wasn't 'just' anything in that look as clearly as if Vinyl had screamed it in her ear.
"You know I didn't mean it like that," Octavia added softly. Vinyl bumped a shoulder against hers, a friendly nudge concealing the briefest of nuzzles as their heads moved together.
Twilight, meanwhile, was feeling rather pleased with herself. Despite some initial weirdness, everything seemed to be going according to plan.
Well, apart from the dozing off thing. That wasn't in the plan. Although to be honest I think it probably worked out better than the time I'd allocated for nervously rearranging things and tidying up places I already cleaned just yesterday.
After a brief pause to fix everypony a drink, Twilight sat herself down at the table opposite her two guests. "Sorry about the limited choice of drinks," she said bashfully. "Spike has banned me from attempting anything involving boiling liquids or fire in the kitchen, and I don't exactly make a habit of stocking the town library with alcohol."
Vinyl dismissed Twilight's concern with a wave. "Heh, it's waaay too early to start drinking anyhow. Hey, speaking of, where is the little guy?" she asked, before draining half of the orange juice in front of her in a single long pull. Vinyl either didn't notice, or chose to ignore, the disapproving look that earned from Octavia. Based on the number of those looks she had earned in the last few minutes, Twilight assumed she must have built up some sort of immunity to them.
"He's out gem hunting with Rarity again," Twilight replied. "The heat doesn't bother him, so he usually lends a claw when the weather turns warmer. She's probably looking to pick up some materials for the concert, actually."
"Oh, is she going to be lending a hoof with the proceedings?" Octavia asked.
Twilight nodded. "Yes, all of the girls already offered to help out. Rarity and Fluttershy are managing the stage decorations, and costume for anypony that needs a hoof on that front; Pinkie and Applejack are going to be representing Sugarcube Corner and Sweet Apple Acres, providing the food, and Rainbow... well, she doesn't really have a job at the moment. Not on the night anyway - she's making sure the weather is sorted out in advance, but during the event itself she's mostly just there if anypony needs an extra set of hooves."
"Sounds like you've got a bunch of stuff taken care of already!" Vinyl said.
"Well, yes, except for the most important part," Twilight said, "it's not going to be much of a concert if we don't have any music, after all. That's where I was hoping you two could help out. None of us really have much of a talent for music, or putting on a musical event of this sort of scale. To be honest, we're not really sure where to start when it comes to approaching ponies about this sort of thing." After a moment, she added, "Except for Pinkie, but she only has one way of approaching anypony about anything. Not that I don't appreciate her trying, of course, but I don't think she's going to get much of a response to the invitations she sent out."
"She can be a little... overwhelming," Octavia commented, before clearing her throat gently. "The best approach for more mainstream artists would probably be to speak to producers and management rather than the musicians themselves these days," she explained. "There are still a few independents around, but most ponies have somepony else to take care of that sort of thing for them now. I can get you the details of some of the larger organisations in that vein, and of course I'm familiar with quite a few conductors of various orchestras and smaller classical groups."
"And if you wanna try something that actually has a beat to it," Vinyl cut in, dusting a hoof against her chest idly, "I can take care of that. Oh, and I know some ponies too. Not that you're really gonna need anypony else, but y'know. Choice, if you want it."
Just as Twilight was mentally relating Vinyl Scratch to Rainbow Dash, Vinyl caught sight of the flat expression and raised eyebrow Octavia was aiming her way and started abruptly in her seat. "Okay, okay," she said quickly, hooves raised placatingly towards her partner, "I'm just messing around. Geeze." Turning back to Twilight, she said, "I can totally put you in touch with some ponies who'd be interested. Plus me of course, and don't even think about trying to pay me for it."
Relief, and a little gratitude, drowned the nerves still lurking around Twilight's belly. "I was going to ask about that a little later, but you'd be willing to perform as well as helping me out today?" she asked. "It would be a big help to get some names on the billing early, then we can start putting up posters and selling tickets. Once we get the ball rolling, we can put some of the money from the initial sales aside to pay the performers as well. I know it's a charity event, but, well, we can't just ask everypony to work for free."
Octavia and Vinyl shared a brief smile, before Vinyl hopped up out of her seat. "Heh, and this is the part where I run for the hills. 'Tavi can take care of all that stuff for ya," she said, patting the dark-furred cellist on one shoulder as the passed. "I've got a gig tonight I need to get ready for. I'll send a few letters, put the word out." Before Twilight thought to say anything, Vinyl had already reached the door - where she paused to call "Just give me a shout when it's showtime, and I'll come blow the roof off for ya!" back over her shoulder, before disappearing out into the summer sun.
"She's, um... certainly an unusual pony," Twilight said, still staring at the door.
"Personally I'd have gone with egotistical, rude and thoroughly aggravating," Octavia said, obviously unimpressed. Twilight turned back to the pony still seated across the table from her, eyes widening in surprise.
"Please don't misunderstand me Princess," Octavia clarified, "I do care for Vinyl a great deal. It's her... other persona I can't stand." Seeing the questions already forming behind Twilight's eyes, Octavia realised that she was going to have to risk a few more answers to dampen the mare's thirst for understanding.
"Princess," she began, before checking herself and looking the young alicorn directly in the eyes. Vinyl would probably have a panic attack if she found out, but if anyone could find a lonely pony a friend...
"Twilight. As... as a friend, I must confess that I had hoped to have a few moments alone to broach this subject with you," she said carefully, "but we should probably wait until after we have finished discussing the concert. I know it's hardly polite to be making demands on an offer of friendship that is a matter of minutes old, but..." Octavia hesitated, then forced herself to finish what she had started. "I do love Vinyl, but I'm worried about her." She let out a short, humourless chuckle. "I suppose you might say she's in need of a 'helping hoof' herself."
Twilight reached a hoof across the table to touch Octavia's own, halting their nervous shuffling. Octavia was obviously motivated by a genuine concern for her partner's welfare, and she was equally obviously embarrassed to bring it up. "Whatever's wrong, I'll do the best I can to help," Twilight said, trying to pack the sympathy and compassion she felt into her tone. "I meant what I said about wanting to be your friend, and that's what friends do."
Octavia's downturned eyes rose to meet hers, and the hope and gratitude Twilight saw in them was almost painful.
There's something else there too. Not quite fear... guilt? Shame?
Before Twilight could think on it further, Octavia sucked in a short breath and straightened up in her chair. She closed her eyes briefly before releasing the breath, seeming to push something back beneath the surface as her eyes opened again.
"My apologies, Princess," she said, voice approaching its normal confident strength once more, "you invited me here to help you, and here I am making demands of your time. We still have work to do."
"If you're sure," Twilight said.
"Yes, yes," Octavia replied, "I'm fine. In any case, I'll feel more comfortable accepting aid after I've done the job I came here to do, rather than before."
Twilight grinned. "Even though you don't need to 'earn' my help, we can stick to the plan if it makes things easier for you. I can definitely understand that. I've got one condition, though," she added lightly. "You start calling me Twilight. I'm not anypony special, I'm your friend."
"And I suppose I can understand that, Twilight," Octavia replied, a glimmer of humour returning to her eyes.
A brief burst of confusion flickered across Twilight's mind before being dismissed. What does she mean by- never mind.
"Now, back to the concert?" Octavia said, waiting for a nod of acknowledgement form Twilight before continuing. "I'm actually something of an old hoof when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been involved in organising charity events like this for years, so I know a trick or two."
"Really?" Twilight said, mood brightening. "That's great!"
"Your idea to get a sort of rolling fund pool going with early ticket sales is a good one," Octavia said, "although most ponies would like to give freely of their time, it's obviously not something they can always afford to do, so some small contribution towards their expenses is a big help in securing more performers. In fact I've seen it used successfully in a number of events I've attended as an audience member - but I'm afraid it's not going to work here."
Twilight's ears fell back. "Oh," she said, obviously disappointed and slightly embarrassed. "Umm... if you don't mind, could I ask why not? I don't like making mistakes, so if I can understand what I did wrong-"
Octavia pressed on, apparently unconcerned. "There's nothing wrong with the approach, but I have a small condition I impose on charitable events in which I take part directly. Call it a... personal affectation," she said, rolling a hoof in the air over the table. Twilight cocked her head to one side curiously.
"Everypony, on and off the stage, gets paid as they normally would for an event of this scale - unless they specifically decline, of course, in which case their fee should be added to the sum raised. All the money generated goes to the cause," Octavia said with a smile, "and I'm paying for everything."
"Oh, okay," Twilight replied automatically, before she processed what had actually been said. "Wait what?!" she exclaimed, "What are, how-" Clamping her mouth shut for a moment, she stared with honest surprise at the mare across the table from her. Once she had sorted out the link between her mouth and brain, she asked, "How can you afford that?"
"Ha. You really do mean it about the whole trust and friendship thing, don't you?" Octavia said happily, genuinely amused. "The first thing you do is ask how I can do it. You don't immediately assume I'm lying, or somehow mistaken. More importantly, you really didn't know, which means you've been genuinely friendly this whole time."
"Didn't know what?" Twilight asked, grabbing on to the last thing that was said in an effort to force some sense into her thoughts.
To her frustration, Octavia answered her question with another. "I suppose there's a copy of Berk's Peerage in here somewhere," she said, glancing pointedly at the bookshelves around them, "and given your reputation for study and recent elevation I presume you've read it. Does the name "Philharmonica" ring any bells?"
"Well, yes, of course, you could hardly miss that," Twilight said, information absorbed from the book jumping back into her brain. "Prince Blueblood's elder sister. If she hadn't been born an earth pony, she would have been heir to the-" Twilight's voice began to falter as her mind raced on ahead to the description and cutie mark depicted on the book's pages, "-to the Platinum crown, and... and princess of, of Unicornia. Oh my goodness," she finished weakly.
How in the hay did I miss that?! Twilight berated herself internally. Forget hiding in plain sight, that's ridiculous! She lives in a tiny little house down the road from Sugarcube Corner and, and... Suddenly Twilight began to see some familiarity in the other mare's situation.
...and just tries to live an ordinary life.
"I'm not anypony special," Octavia said quietly, "I'm your friend."
The words echoed out of Twilight's memory in her own voice, and she suddenly couldn't help but find the whole situation funny. A half-stifled nervous giggle became a chuckle, and as soon as Twilight began to laugh Octavia lost her own battle for self-control. Soon both mares were giggling merrily.
"I suppose turnabout is fair play, 'just' Octavia," Twilight said between breaths as she tried to control herself.
"When you-" Octavia forced out before dissolving into laughter again, "you, your face!"
Twilight managed to get herself fully under control, a contented expression settling onto her face. "So you just... live in a little house in Ponyville with your marefriend and play the cello?" she said. "This might sound a little silly, but knowing that's possible just makes me feel a bit better about the world, you know?"
"Well it certainly makes me feel pretty good," Octavia replied, still chuckling to herself. "I never was much of a one for all the pomp and circumstance. This town might be small, but there are a lot of honest and hardworking ponies here that really do their best to make life a little brighter for everypony else. I was serious about the money, by the way," she said, one hoof absently fussing at her tie, "I've never really had much use for it, so I try to use it to help out where I can. If you have an outline of what time slots you're trying to fill for the concert, and some idea of a theme, then we could go through that now and see what we can come up with. Vinyl and I can get to work on filling the gaps later."
"Oh, yes, of course," Twilight said, horn aglow as a large paper roll floated across to the table from a nearby shelf. Scanning back and forth across the lengthy chart as it unrolled, Twilight's eyes located the time slot for the first performance. Pointing it out with a hoof, she began, "We - that is, the girls and I - wanted to set a bit of time aside for the Ponyville Elementary students at the start, then a few local performers before we move on to..."
***
"All right, I believe that's most of it sorted out," Octavia declared with some relief. "I'll have to get in touch with some of those ponies to make sure they're available to fill the last few slots, and I suspect Vinyl will need to do the same. There shouldn't be any trouble, even if some of them can't make it we both know plenty more ponies that would be suited and willing to attend."
In contrast to Octavia, Twilight seemed as perky as ever after what had been almost an hour of laborious scheduling. "Great!" she said as she putting the finishing touches on an entry, tongue peeking out of one corner of her mouth as the quill danced across the page. "It's not really fully organised until everything is set, but it's nice to have a solid foundation to work on." She glanced up at the now significantly lower sun through a nearby window, eyebrows lifting a little in faint surprise. "Oh. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess." Her eyes settled back on Octavia, expression a little sheepish. "Sorry if that was boring. I know this sort of thing isn't everypony's idea of a good time."
"Not at all, that was quite an... intense experience," Octavia replied, impressed. "It was hardly what I'd do given a choice, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. I think I understand how you get so much studying done now. You really do throw yourself into things, don't you?"
Twilight paused a moment, expression introspective. "I suppose I do," she said, a small smile returning to her muzzle. "I just like to do things properly the first time. Minimises the amount of time wasted on do-overs." With a pleased murmur, Twilight rolled the now mostly-filled event plan back up. Lifting the parchment roll in her magic, she walked over to its rightful place on the shelves and slid it in amongst its fellows.
"So," Twilight said, turning back towards the table, "we're all done with that for now. If you still want to talk about whatever it was that was bothering you..." Twilight prompted, trying to look supportive as she reclaimed her seat.
"I don't want to take up too much of your time," Octavia hedged, glancing out of the window at the slowly descending sun.
Oh no, you're not allowed to lose your nerve now, Twilight thought. This was obviously really important.
"Don't worry about that," she said, "even if solving friendship problems wasn't my job - which it is - it sounded like something was really bothering you. I'd like to help."
"If you're sure?" Octavia asked. Twilight nodded, and Octavia visibly calmed herself before continuing. She spoke slowly, as if she needed a run-up to force the whole thing out. "It's about Vinyl. She-"
Octavia froze as her eyes locked on something behind Twilight's shoulder. Twilight turned her head to see Pinkie Pie looking in through one of the library's windows, the usually carefree mare's expression deadly serious. Pinkie stared in at Octavia while slowly shaking her head, then silently mouthed the word 'forever' and slid out of view.
"Oh, I think I recognise this part," Twilight said, turning back to Octavia. "She'll keep doing that," she continued, tilting her head to indicate the pink pony outside, "and popping up in increasingly improbable places too."
Trying to ignore the hard stare being directed at her from outside the window, Octavia replied, "I know. She does have a point though, I should probably be a little less blunt about this than I was planning. I would very much like to just tell you, but Vinyl would probably never forgive me if she found out." She huffed out a short breath. "This may sound like a strange request, but... do you think you could be her friend?"
Twilight's brow furrowed. "You're asking me to make friends with Vinyl?" she asked. "I don't get it. I mean, I know the three of us only really just met properly, but I did already say that I would like to do that. You don't need to ask."
Octavia shifted restlessly. "No, you... how do I put this?" She paused, obviously considering her words. "You just met DJ PON-3. I'd like you to try to be friends with Vinyl."
"I don't think I'm understanding this at all," Twilight replied.
"I'm sorry," Octavia said, "but Pinkie Pie is right. I can't explain any more than that without betraying her trust. I need to talk to Vinyl and see if I can convince her to go through with it. Even if I can, it's probably going to be a lengthy and difficult process, but if I can get her to open up..." A faint mix of compassion and conviction crept into Octavia's voice as she met Twilight's eyes across the table. "She only has one friend. And as much as I might want to be able to help solve all her problems, I think she might be better off talking to somepony besides me once in a while."
Twilight joined a few dots in her head. "If she's okay with it, then I think I'd like to meet her. The first thing I really learned about friendship was that you need it, whether you think you do or not. The first step out of yourself is the hardest, and sometimes you do need somepony else to give you a shove," she said, thinking back to her first day in Ponyville. "Or, you know, forcibly relocate you to a podunk town in the middle of nowhere so a bunch of crazy ponies can throw you a party for no reason. Still, can't argue with results!"
"I believe you did manage to save the world in there somewhere. At least once."
"Well, I don't-" Twilight began awkwardly.
"You're getting thanked for that whether you like it or not, Twilight."
"I didn't exactly go out looking to do that," Twilight grumbled. "What am I supposed to do, just sit there and let the world end?"
"Egads, I hope not," Octavia replied in mock fear, "that's where I keep all my stuff."
A high-pitched indignant "Hey!" drew both mare's attention back to the window, where Pinkie Pie had decided to reappear.
"References like that are my job, missy!" Pinkie declared, pointing an accusatory hoof at Octavia. "I don't play the cello, you don't steal my stuff, capisce?"
Octavia looked at Twilight, confusion plain on her face.
"Just go with it," Twilight advised, "it's easier that way."
Octavia turned back to Pinkie Pie, nervously rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "I'm... sorry?" she said, uncertainly.
"Aww, 's no big deal," Pinkie acknowledged airily, folding her forelegs on the windowsill and leaning in. "They probably didn't get it anyway. Oh, and I got dibs on meeting Vinyl once Twilight's done. I've been holding this one in for years," she said emphatically, rolling onto her back - still draped over the windowsill - to thrust her hooves into the air. Her upside-down pleading gaze locked onto Octavia. "The suspense is killing me."
Knowing she would probably regret it, but unable to stop herself, Twilight asked, "Holding what in?"
"Her welcome party of course," Pinkie said, flipping herself right-side-up again. She slid back outside then propped her head up on one foreleg, elbow resting on the window ledge.
"Didn't you do that already?" Twilight said, confused. "I mean, she's been living in Ponyville for years now, and you throw a party for everypony pretty much the day they get here."
"Uh-huh," Pinkie nodded, "I sure do. I did one for DJ PON-3 a couple years after I moved here, and she's my number one go-to gal when I need a DJ. I've been waiting for Vinyl to arrive ever since. Can't throw a party for a pony I haven't even met, that would just be silly. Come on, say yes and hurry it up already. I want to meet her too. I bet she's super nice."
"Wait a second, what are you even doing here Pinkie?" Twilight said, "Aren't you meant to be working right now?"
"Oh I am working. I just put a batch of-"
Pinkie Pie's voice cut off as her tail let out a loud ringing sound and began vibrating. With a panicked squeal Pinkie lashed her tail, and a small oven timer flew in through the window, narrowly missing Twilight's head. The device landed on the table between Twilight and Octavia, and began merrily buzzing and ringing its way slowly across the surface.
"Oh shoot, that's me! Gotta go!" Pinkie cried, before zooming off down the street screaming, "Twilight, catch the timer for me!"
Twilight and Octavia stared at each other silently for a long moment, the small plastic timer still ringing and vibrating its way around the table between them. Then Twilight slapped a hoof down on the timer, shutting it off.
"So, I, um... I think we were having a conversation at some point there, maybe?" she said.
"Yes, I rather lost my train of thought as well," Octavia said.
"Pinkie doesn't so much derail a conversation as she does blow up the tracks, set fire to the station, and turn the engine into a coconut," Twilight said with a suppressed laugh. "I guess I should let you get going."
"Yes, I need to make sure I make it to Vinyl's performance this evening," Octavia said, rising from her seat. "I can make a start on some of those acts in the meantime, get some letters in the post. Always pays to give our beloved postal service an extra day's start."
"And if you do decide to go ahead with that other thing - or even if you don't," Twilight replied as the pair crossed to the door, "drop by anytime. Either of you."
Octavia paused beyond the door, and turned back with a smile.
"I think I might just take you up on that, Twilight."
