Exit Through Canterlot

Chapters

1. Spark
2. The Prince's Pride
3. To Be Real
4. Untouchable
5. Runway Star
6. Cat and Mouse
7. The Finishing Touch
8. Beautiful (Part 1)
9. Beautiful (Part 2)
10. Exit Through Chaos
11. Worthless
12. Pink and Red
13. Long Overdue
14. Dashed
15. Nadir
16. The Talk
17. It Ends...
18. ...On My Terms
19. Spark Redux
EPILOGUE: Three Months Later

1. Spark

EXIT THROUGH CANTERLOT

by TheBrianJ

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"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Octavia sighed, standing back as Vinyl Scratch angrily stepped forward and got into the face of the unicorn in front of her. The stallion merely looked over his glasses at her as the mare next to him turned her nose up.

"It means precisely what I said, young lady. Wearing sunglasses indoors is a poor enough choice in and of itself, but with those frames and garish colors? Just awful."

"They're not sunglasses, they're shades! Big difference!"

Octavia fidgeted as the argument escalated, causing some of the ponies in the café to stare at the unfolding situation. A confrontation like this was the last thing she wanted, but it was hard to stop Vinyl when she got into a tizzy about something.

The mare standing next to the stallion shook her head. "No, those are just are just cheap, chintzy accessories that look awful on anypony. It's oh-so-disappointing to see a pony who appears to know nothing about how to fit in here in Canterlot."

"How to fit in in Canterlot?" Vinyl yelled. "I'll have you know I've been living here for years! Not that it's been easy with stuck-up snobs like you!"

A chill shot through Octavia's jaw as she saw the faces of Jet Set and Upper Crust redden, glaring at Vinyl. She merely sighed as she scooted even further from the confrontation. But her shuffling was cut off momentarily by an angry yell from Upper Crust.

"’Stuck-up snob?’ How rude! You take that back right now young lady," Upper Crust demanded.

"No way, I'm not taking back anything that's true! You two are total snobs! Right, Tavi?"

Octavia's hoof froze just inches away from the door. A few beads of sweat formed on her head. With a sigh, she reluctantly turned around. Three pairs of eyes were fixed on her: Upper Crust and Jet Set had donned wide, expectant looks, while Vinyl was leaning in and waggling her brow. Octavia sighed again and stepped forward.

"Vinyl, I am not quite sure what you want me to say here," Octavia said as elegantly as possible, trying not to drag herself into the situation.

Vinyl stomped a hoof into the ground and gestured towards the two ponies. "Tavi, you heard what they said. Can’t you back me up on this one? Tell 'em they're both being stuck-up by insulting the shades."

"Back you up? Vinyl, I would prefer if we just left. I really do not want to cause a scene."

"But Tavi—"

As Octava moved back towards the door, Vinyl was interrupted by a chortling laugh from Jet Set. "Goodness, you think a pony like that is going to defend you? Talk about the blind supporting the blind."

Vinyl whipped her head back around in anger. "The hay does that mean?"

"I find it laughable that you would go to a pony wearing a bow tie like that for fashion defense."

Upper Crust snickered. "Oh, quite. And that mane! Goodness, I hope whoever styled your hair was refunded her tuition from beauty school!"

Vinyl gasped, and looked at Octavia. “Tavi, are you gonna take that? Just let them insult you right to your face?”

Octavia turned to look at Upper Crust, her teeth grinding slightly. Upper Crust and Jet Set were staring at her, self-assured smirks on their faces, and Vinyl glanced towards Octavia expectantly. As she stared at the two ponies and their insults, Octavia felt a spark dancing lightly about in the back of her mind. Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, extinguishing it before anything could happen. Instead, she merely put on the best smile she could, and moved back towards the door.

"We should just leave, Vinyl."

Vinyl's jaw dropped as Octavia trotted out of the cafe, leaving Upper Crust and Jet Set chortling amongst themselves. Vinyl shot them a dirty look before flipping her sunglasses back down onto her eyes and following Octavia into the streets of Canterlot. She trotted up alongside Octavia, glaring quizzically at her as she walked until finally getting fed up with the silence.

"Tavi—"

Octavia interrupted her almost immediately. "Vinyl, I really do not wish to hear it."

Vinyl went quiet, and the two friends continued their walk through Canterlot. Octavia tried to focus on something else, but the insults from Upper Crust and Jet Set were stuck in her head. She had gotten so used to the elite of Canterlot turning their nose up at anything they deemed below them that she had just learned to be numb to it.

Trying to get her mind off of it, Octavia started to look around, and the first thing that she saw was a group of ponies crowded around the window of a fashion boutique, all fawning as a pony arranged a fancy dress on a mannequin in the front window. Beside them, a group of fillies had just finished laying out a blanket on the ground, covered with a small selection of flowers in plastic pots.

As one of them set up a sign stating "Flowers For Sale," another with a cream-colored coat picked up a carnation in a pot, happily trotted over to the gathering and then tugged at the dress of one of the ponies in the back. The mare glanced down at the filly as she held the flower up with a smile on her face, only for the mare to roll her eyes and sigh, swiveling back towards the window. Undeterred, the filly reached up and tugged on the dress again, but this time the mare swung her back leg and pushed the filly to the ground, causing her to lose her grip on the flower pot and spilling dirt everywhere.

The other fillies quickly ran over to help their friend, bringing her back to her hooves and cleaning up the mess while the rest of the ponies utterly ignored them. Octavia's eyes narrowed. She started to step forward, but stopped herself and shook her head, forcing the thought away and continuing her dignified trot. She glanced to the right to see that Vinyl was eyeing her knowingly, so she quickly averted her own gaze and walked undeterred.

Once they got back to their apartment and entered, the first thing that Octavia did was remove her bow tie. She stared at it in her hoof for a few seconds, thinking back to what Jet Set and Upper Crust had said, when her thoughts were cut off by Vinyl.

"I can tell you're upset, y’know."

Octavia rolled her eyes. “I am not. They were just voicing their opinions, no need to get upset at that."

"You're just saying that because you don't like getting worked up. It's okay, Tavi. You can get angry, nopony is going to judge you. You don't have to pretend that everything’s perfect. You can express yourself."

"I express myself just fine enough, thank you," Octavia quickly retorted, walking off. With a gasp, Vinyl suddenly jumped out at her, grabbing Octavia by the tail.

"Hey, careful where you're walking! My poster is drying."

Octavia stopped before she could take another step and looked down. A number of painting supplies—cans of paint, glitter, spray paint, and brushes—were scattered around the kitchen floor, surrounding a large poster. Random shapes and lines covered the canvas, clumps of glitter spread over every inch and with "DJ PON-3" drawn in giant blue letters in the center. She stared at the poster and Vinyl trotted up next to her, a huge smile on her face.

"Threw that together earlier today for the show I'm having next week,” Vinyl said. “Think it looks pretty cool myself. I like how it turned out, what do you think?"

"I think I know why the apartment smells now."

Vinyl’s eyes narrowed a touch and she sighed. "Come on, be honest. What do you think of it?"

Octavia looked back down at the poster. She bit her lip, awkwardly searching for the right words before turning away.

"It's fine."

"...Fine?"

"Yes. Fine."

Octavia started to walk back to her room, but an exasperated sigh from Vinyl stopped her. "Tavi, you're doing it again."

Octavia lowered her head. "Doing what?"

"Clamming up! If you don't like the poster, just tell me. You don't have to pretend it's okay. Express yourself, Tavi."

"What is your obsession with me expressing myself today? I'm not clamming up, I just think the poster is truly fine. Just because I do not have an enthusiastic opinion on it doesn't mean I am not expressing myself. And for the record, the same goes for those ponies earlier."

As Octavia trotted into the den, Vinyl's eyes followed her before a sly smile curled across her face. She began to put some scattered magazines away, Vinyl sauntered over to the couch and plopped down with a smile. "Well alright," she said nonchalantly, picking up a magazine and flipping through it. "I had no idea you were so okay with the snobs in Canterlot."

A faint spark flickered in the back of her head. Octavia tried to pay no mind to it, turning away. "I know what you are trying to do and I am going to ignore you."

Vinyl’s mischievous grin only grew. "Why, I’m not trying to do anything. I mean, those two were so rude, but if you were okay with them then I guess you're okay with all the other jerks around here. Like, say, those ponies who were all crowding around that boutique."

The spark continued to dance about as Octavia busied herself cleaning up. "Vinyl, I swear…"

Still smiling, Vinyl leaned back. "Ah well, guess I was wrong about you. I guess you must’ve been okay with that jerk who kicked that little filly over. I guess you're just like them."

At those words, the spark shot off. Octavia whipped around and glared at Vinyl without even thinking about the words that started pouring from her mouth. "Don't you dare compare me to the stuck up, highbrow jerks around here!" she seethed through clenched teeth. "I may have an air of elegance, but most of the ponies here in Canterlot wouldn't know the first thing about kindness, respect, and common decency!"

Octavia paced back and forth, unable to stop herself from ranting. "There are so many ponies who absolutely refuse to acknowledge things around them that aren't expensive or endorsed by some full-of-themselves fashion designer. Worst of all, so much of Canterlot is completely ignorant to the beauty of the world around them. The flowers that those poor fillies were selling were far, far more wonderful than anything some stuffy-headed fashionista could ever come up with. To think that that mare would ignore something so precious, much less treat that poor filly the way she did. It makes me sick that there could exist such an insufferable, disgusting, flank-headed—"

Octavia slammed her mouth shut as a sudden wave of self-awareness crashed into her, and her face quickly turned bright red as she awkwardly shifted her gaze around the apartment. Vinyl was blown away, a huge smile on her face. And as soon as Octavia saw it, she took several deep breaths, closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

"I… I do apologize for that, it was quite unbefitting of me."

Vinyl's face fell. "What? No, no, don't clam up again. That was awesome! Talk more about that beauty stuff, you were totally on to something there!" She stood up and walked towards the front door, picking up the mail. "You should be more open like that, Tavi. It's interesting, and I never hear stuff like that outta you."

"That’s absurd," Octavia quickly retorted, shaking her head. "It's not interesting. It was embarrassing, and I apologize for speaking like that. It was just momentary frustration, that's all. Please do not hold what I was saying against me. Speaking ill of other ponies like that is shameful, and simply not indicative of the kind of pony that I aspire…"

Octavia's hasty explanation was cut off when she looked over at her friend. The unicorn was holding a letter in her hoof, staring at it with widening eyes.

"Erm, Vinyl, aren’t you listening?"

"There's a letter here for you," Vinyl said, ignoring the question.

"A letter?” Octavia bemused, taking a step forward. “It's probably from my parents asking when I can come down and visit them in Whinnyapolis. It has been a rather long time since I—"

"Tavi, this has the Royal Seal on it."

Octavia almost tripped, quickly becoming short of breath. She nervously walked over to Vinyl’s side, taking the letter from her and staring at it. Most of the envelope was unremarkable—just a standard envelope with a small stamp in the corner addressed to her—but on the back, the letter was sealed shut with the Equestrian Royal Seal. Octavia stared at the two imprinted alicorns orbiting the sun and moon in shock, and neither she nor Vinyl said anything for a moment, both too stunned at the symbol to speak. Then at last, Octavia broke the silence, her lips slightly quivering.

"B-but that means this has to be from the castle! What could they possibly want with me? Why in Equestria would they want to get in contact with me?"

Vinyl finally had enough, leaning forward to poke Octavia in the side with her horn. "Open it! Open it!"

Her hooves shaking slightly, Octavia carefully peeled back the seal and opened the letter. She stared at the hoof-written note, inscribed on a lengthy piece of parchment that had been carefully folded into the envelope.

"'Dear Miss Octavia,'" she read out loud. "'We are currently one month away from this year's Grand Galloping Gala. As you should be well aware, this is going to be one of the largest Grand Galloping Galas of our generation, which will include the first proper public appearance in Canterlot of Princess Luna since her release from the stigma that was Nightmare Moon. I had recently attended a recital at the Anvil Rust Theatre, and although I was there to observe Harpo Nadermane's stunning performance, I instead was far more drawn to your cello playing. Although you didn't have the prestige, name recognition, or experience that the majority of other performers there had had, I found myself quite impressed with your mastery of the craft at such a young age. Therefore, I would like to extend you a cordial invitation to..."

Octavia's eyes widened, her hooves trembling slightly. She slowly backed up and sat down on the couch, staring at the letter in shock, as Vinyl followed, sitting down next to her. After a few moments, Octavia resumed her reading, her voice stuttering.

"'...to perform at this year's Grand Galloping Gala, as p-part of a four-piece ensemble in the castle ballroom. I would love to bring your youth and t-talent to the Gala, as I believe it would truly be a v-valuable addition to the atmosphere of the night. Please respond post-haste, as practice would begin within the next several days. Sincerely, Sir Allegro Sonata, musical chamberlain to Princess Celestia.'"

Vinyl's eyes widened as Octavia looked over the entire letter again. After a few moments, Octavia finally spoke again, her voice faint and cracking. "Vinyl… performing in the b-ballroom at the Grand Galloping Gala is one of the h-highest honors that a musician can receive. Most performers w-work their whole lives before they are invited to even perform at the Gala, let alone on the stage of the b-ballroom," she said, her lip beginning to shake. "As a little filly, I would dream about merely attending the Gala, much less performing, a-and in the highest stage there, the ballroom no less… "

Octavia lowered the paper, now staring straight ahead. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths as the realization of what she had been offered hit her. After a few moments, she stood up and sped off towards her room.

"I-I have so much I have to prepare for! I need to make sure that my cello is properly tuned before practice begins, I have to find out if there's a dress code for performers, I have to study up on what music style they—" Octavia interrupted herself before turning around and rushing back to the main room. "I have to contact Sir Sonata first! It would be quite rude to leave him waiting. I-I should probably inform my parents too, I'm sure that they would like to—” Again Octavia interrupted herself, going back towards her room instead. "N-no, no, I need to find out as m-much information as I can f-first! I have to—"

Before she could continue her frantic musings, Vinyl latched onto her shoulders with both hooves. Octavia, trembling and hyperventilating, stared at Vinyl’s warm smile.

"Stop,” she calmly told Octavia. “Deep breaths, Tavi. Breathe."

Octavia closed her eyes and obliged, slowly inhaling. Her shivers subsided, and Vinyl patted her on the shoulder.

"I know you're probably freaking out in your head right now, but just live in the moment for a minute or two. Take it all in, Tavi. You don't have to flip like this."

After a few more breaths, Octavia got herself to stop shaking. When she opened her eyes, Vinyl saw a shimmer in them that she had never seen in Octavia before. A speechless smile appeared on her face, and when Octavia spoke, her voice cracked as she tried to hold back tears of joy.

"V-Vinyl… I…. I'm going to be performing at the Grand Galloping Gala!"

Octavia's smile was so wide that Vinyl couldn't help but smile as well, and patted her again on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Tavi. I'm proud of you. You're gonna have the best night ever."

"The best night ever?" Octavia replied, the smile on her face growing even larger. "That doesn't even begin to describe it! I've been dreaming of this moment my entire life, but I never thought it would actually happen! Never once did I believe that I would perform on the grandest stage at the grandest event of them all! It's going to be more than my best night ever, Vinyl…"

Octavia took one more deep breath in, closing her eyes and savoring the moment.

"It is going to be the greatest, most important night of my life!"

"Come on, everypony! You wanted a party? Now let's parrrrrrtayyy!"

"Okay, all you high-class ponies. Here's a highfalutin apple cake for yer hoity-toity taste buds."

"In fact, the only thing royal about you is that you are a royal pain!"

"This is my chance! Yes—Whoaaaa!"

"You're… going to love me!"

When Octavia left the apartment early on the morning of the Gala, Vinyl couldn't help but smile. The look on Octavia's face was priceless. She had a shine in her eyes akin to that of little fillies on their way to the amusement park, and her smile was wider than she had ever seen from her. Octavia had been so excited over the past few weeks that she had even offered to get Vinyl a ticket to the Gala, but Vinyl had politely turned it down, saying that formal parties like that were simply not her thing. Instead, Vinyl curled up on the couch in the apartment, put on some Magneightic Fields, and read her favorite Hay Bradbury book.

A monotonous skipping noise coming from the record player indicated the end of the album, so Vinyl put the book down and trotted over to her massive record collection. As she flipped through the records, she heard the sound of the front door of the apartment opening, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the outline of Octavia walking through the door.

"Welcome back, Tavi!" Vinyl happily chirped, still browsing her record collection. "Wow, you're home way earlier than I thought. I kinda figured the Gala was an all-night thing. Guess formal shindigs like that usually have a reasonable end time, huh?" She finally selected a record, then turned around, smiling. "So how did it go? How was the greatest nigh—"

Vinyl's question went unfinished, trailing off upon seeing her best friend. Octavia's mane was a frazzled mess, her coat matted and disheveled, and her bow tie hung loosely around her neck. A long scratch ran the length of her right foreleg, not deep enough to draw blood but still easily noticeable by anypony. As she dropped her cello case to the floor, Vinyl saw that it was also in bad shape, being dented along the side with flecks of frosting and traces of feathers and animal fur caught in its latches. Her face, most noticeably to Vinyl, was empty and distant: not showing a single shred of emotion, and especially not the happiness that Vinyl had seen earlier in the day.

Vinyl gasped, stepping forward and nearly dropping the record she was holding. "Octavia! Oh my gosh, are you alright? What happened?"

Vinyl cautiously approached, and before she even knew what was happening, Octavia burst into tears and leapt forward, wrapping her forehooves around her friend. Vinyl stood in shock, unsure of how to react as Octavia sobbed uncontrollably, shivering like a foal and spilling her distress into her friend’s comforting shoulder. Vinyl stood by and tried her best to console her, fearing the worst with Octavia unable to speak for minutes on end, choking on air with uneven breaths.

When the tears finally slowed down, Vinyl gently led Octavia over to the couch and sat her down before rushing off to the kitchen and returning with a glass of water. Octavia grasped it with both hooves and took light sips, though she was still shaking so hard that hardly any water made it into her mouth. As Octavia shook, Vinyl couldn't wait any longer.

"Sweet Celestia, Tavi! What happened at the Gala?!"

Octavia rocked back and forth slightly, sipping the water again before she finally spoke.

"…It was r-ruined."

"What?"

"The b-ballroom of the castle. The Gala. The m-most important night of my life. It w-was all ruined." Octavia drew a long, stuttered breath and stared at the floor. "There was a g-group of p-ponies who… invaded. It started w-with one of them rushing onto the stage, grabbing us, t-telling us to play songs. We hoped that she would be escorted from the area, b-but then more showed up." Octavia took another shaky drink of water, fighting back more tears. “All of Tartarus broke loose. Ponies were throwing cake, there w-were wild screams, the whole ballroom was n-nearly destroyed! Columns were collapsing, wild animals b-burst through the doors, it was a d-disaster!"

Octavia sipped the water one last time before putting the cup down. All emotion gradually drained from her face, leaving her staring emptily down at the floor below.

"T-they closed the ballroom,” Octavia said, slowly blinking several times. “They told us that our services would no longer be required for the evening."

Crestfallen, Vinyl reached out and rubbed a hoof softly against her back. "Geez, Tavi... I'm so sorry to hear that. I know that tonight was going to be big for you. But you still got to perform at the Gala, right?"

Octavia looked up at her with solemn eyes and a deep frown, then slowly turned back down to stare at the floor.

Vinyl shuddered. "Geez, Tavi. I really don't know what to say that could help. But I've been kicked out of shows before countless times, and let me tell you it gets better. Just ignore those stupid, stuck-ponies and you'll do fine, alright? There'll be plenty of other shows—"

Instead of responding, Octavia scooted away from Vinyl and curled up on the other end of the couch. Vinyl desperately racked her brain to think of anything that could possibly make her friend feel any better. She looked around the room, her eyes eventually falling on the cello case sitting near the door. A thought popped into her head, and she excitedly jumped to her hooves.

"Hey, I’ve got an idea!"

Vinyl smiled and trotted over to the cello case. "Grab your cello. We're gonna go out to the streets of Canterlot and you're gonna play there! I bet there are a ton of ponies who didn't get invited to the Gala and who are out enjoying the night. Think about how cool it would be if they ran into a musician from the Gala itself performing a free concert. You'll get to finish up all the stuff you were gonna play there and you'll get an audience. Think about how awesome it'll be!"

Vinyl tried to keep her smile up as Octavia looked up with sad, empty eyes. She looked down at her cello case for a moment, and then stood up. Vinyl's smile grew a bit as Octavia walked towards her, but her enthusiasm faltered completely as Octavia turned and walked to her room. Vinyl took a step forward, following her.

"Come on, Tavi,” Vinyl pleaded. “Grab your cello, and let's get out there and entertain the ponies who didn't go to the Gala!"

Octavia's stride didn't waver as she walked towards her room. When she finally spoke, her voice was empty and distant, just barely above a whisper.

"I don't feel like playing right now, Vinyl."

Vinyl froze in her tracks. She opened her mouth to say something, but found no words able to make it out. Octavia slowly closed the door to her room behind her, leaving Vinyl standing in disbelief in the den. She continued staring at the door before turning her head to look over at the cello case, laying battered and forgotten next to the door.

"B-but... but you always…"

The next day, Vinyl barely heard from Octavia, only hearing her shuffle about her room every once in a while. She had seen Octavia upset before, and part of her hoped that with some time to wallow, Octavia would start to feel better.

However, what was far more disconcerting to her was Octavia’s cello case that lay forgotten near the front door.

They both had known each other for practically their whole lives, since they were in kindergarten, and even attended the same university. In all of that time, Vinyl had never known Octavia to go more than a day without playing, or at the very least practicing, her cello. Her music was more than just her special talent and her passion, it was her lifeblood. The idea that she would leave her cello laying around without so much as even glancing at it was almost terrifying to Vinyl.

Come the following day, the pattern continued: Octavia barely left her room and still didn't say anything. As the afternoon wore on, Vinyl grew more and more concerned until night came and she couldn't take it any more. Finally mustering the courage, she gently knocked on the door to Octavia's room.

"Hey, Tavi?"

There was no response, other than quiet shuffling from behind the door. Vinyl sighed, then slowly turned around and began to walk away, but stopped when she heard the door creak open behind her. She spun around, finding Octavia standing in the doorway. To her surprise, Octavia looked extremely composed, almost as if nothing had happened. She calmly walked past Vinyl to the den. Vinyl closely followed her and sat down next to her on the couch.

"How are you feeling?” Vinyl cautiously asked.

Octavia took a long breath. "I want to apologize for how melancholic I have been the past few days. I am sure it has put an unnecessary strain on you."

Vinyl shook her head. "Strain? I haven’t been strained, don't worry about me. I want to know how you are feeling."

"Better. I realize now how unnecessary it has been for me to get so upset over a thing like the Gala."

Vinyl blinked, staring at her. "Wait, what?"

Octavia let out a distant, forced chuckle, looking towards the window of the apartment. "I mean, it was just a performance. Getting upset over it makes no sense. Those ponies were just having a little fun, putting my silly little desires above all of theirs was just—"

"Stop."

Vinyl's sudden, commanding voice made Octavia close her mouth. Vinyl shook her head, stunned.

"You're defending them? Are you kidding me? Dammit, you're doing it again!" Octavia didn't move, but Vinyl reached out and turned her to look straight into her eyes. "You're clamming up; you're holding back your thoughts! Why are you so afraid to speak your mind?"

Octavia's gaze shifted away. "I-I'm not... I just..."

Vinyl shook her head, her voice raising. "Octavia, listen to me. You can't do this to yourself! I absolutely refuse to believe that you're okay with what happened. Aren't you upset? It's like you said, it was the most important night of your life, and it was ruined! It's gone forever! Are you really just okay with that?"

Vinyl glared at Octavia, who slowly turned and looked straight ahead. She patiently waited for Octavia to say something, then saw Octavia shiver, her lip quivering.

"Oh geez, oh geez!” Vinyl gasped. “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you…"

She trailed off as Octavia turned away. Vinyl reached over and rested her hoof on Octavia's shoulder, sighing. "Look, I'm sorry I did that. Like I said, you can't do this to yourself. It's unhealthy. Heck, it's downright dangerous. You don't have to be upset with yourself, it's okay to be angry with what happened. Nopony is going to judge you." Vinyl sighed, patting Octavia on the back for a final time. "Listen, I have to go out for a bit, but I won't be too long. I just want to make sure you really are feeling better. That's what's important."

Octavia turned back to Vinyl, forcing herself to smile. "Vinyl, regardless of whether you think I'm holding anything in, I want to assure you that I am beginning to feel better."

"You wanna come with me? It might be good to get out of the apartment, get your mind on something else."

"Thank you, but what I believe I need right now is a proper meal and a good night's rest."

Vinyl nodded and stood up, turning to leave the apartment. As she did, she looked back to see Octavia sighing, then walking over to her cello case, brushing off some dust before picking the container up. Vinyl let out a relieved sigh and smiled, then finally turned and left the apartment.

Octavia carried her cello case into her room and opened it, staring at the few scratches and dings on the instrument for several moments. As the memories of the Gala came to the forefront of her mind, she closed the case again, and wandered off to the kitchen, trying to take her mind off what had happened. She pulled a box of pasta out of the pantry and started to turn towards the stove, but as she did her eyes caught something else: a copy of the Canterlot Times. There was a large color photograph on the front page, and after scanning it momentarily, she froze. As her jaw dropped slightly, she put down the pasta and walked over to the newspaper. Taking it in a slightly trembling hoof, she raised it up and stared at the image at the top of the main article.

There on the front page were the ponies who had ruined the most important night of her life. The five of them were all posing together for the camera and were joined by two other ponies. It took Octavia a few seconds to recognize one of them: Twilight Sparkle, the prodigy of Princess Celestia and one of the most well-known magic users in all of Equestria. The final figure, standing behind the six ponies, was far easier to recognize: Princess Celestia herself. As Octavia stared at the page, a realization hit her that sent a chill down her spine: all had smiles on their faces.

Walking away from the kitchen and sitting down at the couch, Octavia read the article.

Chaos at the Gala!

This year’s Grand Galloping Gala had promised to be one of the most memorable ever, and what a promise that was. While not necessarily going as expected, the day’s events will be remembered for years to come.

The Ballroom of Canterlot Castle had to be shut down mid-evening after a group of ponies from the small rural town of Ponyville brought their own method of “partying” to the Gala. However, these were not just typical party crashers, rather they had been invited to the event by Princess Celestia herself. These six ponies are the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, wielders of the legendary magic that vanquished the evil Nightmare Moon upon her return to Equestria, and freed our Princess Luna from her scourge. The group—

Octavia lowered the newspaper. Her hooves were trembling as she stared down at the words on the page, and she muttered to herself.

"Th-they were invited by Princess Celestia herself? She allowed them to attend the Gala?"

She quickly brought the newspaper back up and continued to read through the article. She had expected a report about how the offenders were arrested, punished, at the very least scolded! But instead, it talked about the fun that they had had at the Gala. Each pony was interviewed about their so-called 'Best Night Ever,’ happily talking about how silly they had gotten and the fun they all ended up having. Octavia's hooves shook harder and harder as she read about the worst night of her life, as if it was some sort of lighthearted joke to the ponies who had caused it. Finally, she got to a part of the article that interviewed Princess Celestia herself. She took a deep breath, hoping that Celestia would speak of the ponies in the way that they deserved.

When asked to comment on the event, Princess Celestia had an especially positive outlook on the night’s outcome. “I for one found it to be one of the most enjoyable, exciting Galas the Castle has had the pleasure of hosting,” she commented. “Yes, I did invite the Bearers, and they certainly got a tad more rambunctious than I had anticipated, but it was all in good fun, I assure you. Although things may have gotten too chaoticat times, it makes me very happy to say that thankfully, nopony was hurt. In the end—”

Octavia couldn't read any more, it had become physically impossible for her to even do so. Her hooves were trembling so hard that the words on the page were violently quaking, and her vision had blurred. She desperately tried to calm herself down, but those words started playing over and over in her head, and all she could do was quietly sputter them.

"…Nopony was h-hurt?!"

Her breathing became erratic and labored as she abandoned all attempts to forget about the Gala. In a fit of anger she threw the newspaper across the room, sending papers scattering all over the den. She jumped onto her hind legs trying to calm herself down, but found it impossible; the room was spinning, her heart was racing, and it was becoming difficult for her to draw a breath. Thinking that what she needed was fresh air, she made her way to the front door of the apartment and opened it up. Immediately hit by a cold blast of air from the chilled Canterlot night, she grabbed the nearest piece of clothing she could reach—one of Vinyl's old, ratty coats—threw it over herself, and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door on the way out.

Octavia stumbled through the streets of Canterlot, desperately trying to calm herself down, but found that no matter what she tried the world continued to spin. She couldn't focus on anything or anypony around her; she was too confused, too angry. Her hooves trembled with every awkward step, turning through the streets of Canterlot without knowing or caring where she ended up.

She had finally begun to calm down a bit when she looked up and took stock of where she was: one of the many plazas lines with storefronts in Canterlot. As she scanned the area , she froze again as she saw what stood in the very center of the pathway: a statue of Princess Celestia, rearing back on her hind hooves and smiling down at her and all else who would pass by.

Her body still shaking, Octavia slowly approached the statue until she stood in front of the base, only inches from it, and stared up at the image of Celestia. She remained still for a minute as she gaze at the carving of the ruler of all Equestria.

"Why?" she asked it.

Octavia leaned forward, lightly pounding her hoof into the base.

"Why!? You were the one who helped ruin my best night ever?"

She pounded her hoof into the statue's base a few more times, each empty hit gaining force. She stared up at the effigy again before turning her head away and staring forward at nothing in particular. Words began flowing out of her, and Octavia was helpless to stop them.

"'Nopony was hurt?’ 'Nopony was hurt?'The greatest moment of my career, the greatest moment of my life, taken away from me by those damned hooligans, and you think 'nopony was hurt?’ I was hurt! I thought you were the kind and benevolent ruler of Equestria, a pony who cared for all of her subjects, and you think that nopony was hurt? How could you say something like that? How could you be so, so…"

Octavia trailed off. Her hoof came to a rest on the statue as the energy drained from her body, and her head dropped, hanging limply.

"So ignorant…"

Her body completely gave out, and she fell into the statue and clung to its base. She let the rest of her weight sprawl on the ground as she stared into space. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. She wanted to yell, but her voice had given up on her. As she lay, the sullen mare didn't know how much time passed. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours for all she knew. She didn’t feel angry, and she didn’t feel depressed; she felt hollow and confused.

Finally gaining the wherewithal to move again, Octavia collected herself, brushing dirt off of her coat, and spared one final glance at the statue of Celestia. Closing her eyes and sighing, she turned away and started to make the walk back to her apartment. After only a few steps, she was stopped when a frigid chill of air blew from the west. Shivering, she thrust her right hoof into the pocket of the coat to keep warm, but immediately pulled it out again when it hit an object in the pocket that she hadn't noticed. Grabbing at her foreleg in pain, she frustratedly reached into the pocket and pulled the object out. It only took a second for her to identify it: it was one of the cans of spray paint that Vinyl had been using to paint her poster. Sighing, Octavia returned the can to the coat pocket...

When in the back of her mind, she felt the spark flicker.

She tried to ignore it, but with how blurry the world was and how empty she was still feeling, the spark was all she could focus on. She stood completely still for several moments, before slowly turning her head back, staring at the statue of Celestia. She gazed at how pristine, how flawless it was, for several moments. Without even thinking about it, she felt her hoof reaching into her pocket again, and as a single insidious thought crept through her mind, she muttered under her breath.

"I wonder how she would like it if something so precious to her was ruined…"

Octavia shook her head, shaming herself for having such a thought. She started to turn, but the spark was becoming more profound, and she froze in place. Without even thinking about it, she found herself walking back towards the statue, until she was only a foot away. She could somehow still see the effigy perfectly, though her mind was still hazy, and she slowly paced around it, never taking her eyes off of Celestia. She finally stopped right in front of it and stared up into its face. She remained still for a few moments, then removed the can from her pocket once more, and lifted it up until it was level with the right leg of the statue.

The spark flickered incessantly, and her vision blurred. Her hooves trembled harder than ever. Hyperventilation overtook her, rattling the can in her hoof uncontrollably, and she quickly closed her eyes. She inhaled a deep, deliberate breath, gradually letting it out while talking to herself.

"Stop this immediately. This is wrong. You are better than this, Octavia. Petty revenge is never the answer. You are above doing something so foolish."

With her chest rising and falling heavily, Octavia let her hoof drop down again, trying to calm herself before she did something she would regret. After almost a full minute, she took one last breath, confident that she had stopped herself from doing something she would regret. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the face of Celestia.

She could swear that the statue’s eyes were staring directly at her. As her own gaze met the statue, she could hear the ruler of all of Equestria in her mind, laughing, almost taunting her.

"Nopony was hurt! Nopony was hurt! Nopony was hurt!"

She began to shake again, her eyes narrowed, she ground her teeth together…

In the back of her mind, the spark ignited.

Octavia felt her breathing return to normal, as her vision returned and the shaking stopped. Suddenly, all the anger, the emptiness, the anxiety that had clouded her mind, all evaporated. She felt calm, calmer than she had ever been in her life. She felt a sort of peaceful euphoria that was vaguely familiar, as if she had experienced it before, but she couldn't place where. But then, in the spur of the moment, she didn't care about where. Now, there were only two things left in the world: her, and the statue of Celestia in front of her.

Without another thought, she raised her hoof once more and pressed down on the nozzle of the can.

"Tavi, you up yet?"

Octavia's eyes slowly fluttered open, but she was in no mood to get out of bed yet. She buried her head into the pillow, hoping that Vinyl would get the hint. After a pause, she suddenly felt the sharp point of Vinyl's horn jab into her back hoof.

"Hey, Tavi, wake up."

She pulled the covers over her head, but it only resulted in Vinyl jabbing her repeatedly with her horn.

"Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi."

Octavia curled into a ball under the covers and jammed the pillow over the top of her head. She heard the merciful sound of hoofsteps leaving the room, and she breathed a sigh of relief before relaxing down into the pillow. She was just starting to drift off to sleep again when thunderous bass beats suddenly blasted out of the living room. The feeling of the entire apartment vibrating caused Octavia to panic. She fumbled out of bed, only for her hooves to get tangled in the covers, and crashed straight onto the ground face-first.

"Uuurrrrrrgh," she moaned, rubbing her chin.

The music stopped and Vinyl poked her head back into the room, smiling.

"Oh hey, you're up!"

Vinyl dragged the still-woozy Octavia out of the mess of sheets, and then started pulling her to the door. Octavia barely managed to stumble to her feet as she was pulled further and further away from her bed.

"Vinyl, what are you—"

"I know you're probably still feeling crummy, but I'm thinking now that the only way to cure it is with a little fun. So come on, get up!" Vinyl urged her, still pulling her to the front door of their apartment. "Something crazy happened. We gotta go check it out!"

"Something? Vinyl, please, just let me—"

"Nope!" Vinyl yelled, pulling Octavia up and shoving her towards the door of the apartment. Realizing that there was no way she was going to win this argument, Octavia slowly trotted out the door, still half-asleep. She was immediately shoved again by Vinyl, who trotted much quicker, forcing Octavia to keep up with her.

Groggily, Octavia shook her head. "You're certainly taking a more hooves-on approach today.”

Vinyl happily nodded. "Yup! I was doing some thinking when I got home last night and found you passed out on your bed, and I realized that the only way you're gonna start feeling better is to start living again. So no more hunkering down in the apartment and wallowing. I know how depressed you are, but now it's time to start feeling better!”

As Vinyl followed a deliberate path through the streets of Canterlot, Octavia finally grew curious. "Vinyl, where on earth are we going?"

"This morning, the mailmare told me that something weird happened downtown last night. She didn't say exactly what, she just said that something went down with that new statue of Celestia near Clopperstone Road."

As soon as she heard the word "statue," Octavia's eyes shot open and the events of the previous night came rushing back to her. She quickly ran a few steps ahead of Vinyl, turning to talk to her.

"Vinyl, erm, I don't think this is something we need to see. I'm sure it was just a pony who had a few too many ciders and fell asleep in the streets or something. I'm going to go back to the apartment," she said, trying to leave, but Vinyl reached out and grabbed her, shaking her head.

"Hey! I said no more wallowing. You'll be back there soon enough, I want to check this out."

Vinyl continued trotting with Octavia next to her, sweating. "Calm down, I'm sure everything is alright,” Octavia thought to herself. “I'm sure that the Canterlot street crew has already cleaned things up by now, hardly any ponies probably took notice. That mailmare is ditzy enough as it is, she probably saw it hours ago and only now—"

Vinyl and Octavia rounded the corner, and both came to a stop. Vinyl's eyes widened in surprise while Octavia's entire body went numb. A massive crowd of ponies, at least a hundred, were surrounding a central point. A few royal guards were standing around at the front of the group just in case. In the center of the mass of ponies was the statue of Celestia.

The statue had been erected weeks ago, amid much fanfare. Only the elitist of Caterlot's elite had been invited to its unveiling, which had been punctuated by a long speech from Prince Blueblood. The statue itself was the work of one of the finest sculptors in all of Canterlot, Marble Chisel, who had spent months on the project. It was elegant, perhaps even flawless. For all intents and purposes, it was the perfect statue.

And now, it was green.

-------------

Exit Through Canterlot

End of Chapter 1: Spark

Special Thanks: Props, Raz, Ponky, Worsty, Skirts, and Warden

2. The Prince's Pride

Every fiber of Octavia's being was screaming at her to leave. She wanted to turn and run as fast as she could, away from the crowd, the statue, and Canterlot. But as she stared at the statue, her legs refused to listen to the panicked orders of her brain. When Vinyl had shaken her awake, the events of the previous night were nothing but a blurry haze. She had assumed—or rather hoped—that it was simply a nightmare brought on by the tormenting stress of the Gala.

But now, what she had done was staring her right in the face. The statue was colored green from the tip of Celestia’s regal crown to the base of her hooves. Not just any green, but an ostentatiously vulgar green. That wasn't the only change that had been made, and it certainly wasn't what the gathered ponies were muttering about.

Both of Celestia's eyes had been completely blackened in by something other than spray paint, and the word “ignorance” was written in angry black letters where the royal Cutie Mark once shone.

Octavia could do nothing but stand completely frozen, blinking. She hoped that maybe when she opened her eyes everything would be back to normal, but each time she did the statue remained firmly in place, refusing to disappear. She stared until Vinyl's voice surprised her so much she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Woooaaaahh," Vinyl remarked, her eyes wide. She began to step forward when Octavia limply reached out to her.

"Vinyl, I really don't want to—"

"What, are you kidding? I gotta find out what happened!" Vinyl interrupted, quickly galloping ahead. Shivering, Octavia followed until they reached the back of the assembled ponies. Vinyl tried to find an opening to weave through the crowd, but nopony would budge. Frustrated, she jumped up and down for a better view of the statue as Octavia stood next to her, convinced that at any moment the royal guards were going to swoop down and arrest her. As she tried to keep herself hidden behind her friend as best as possible, Vinyl ran up to one of the guards standing at the back of the crowd.

"'Scuse me?" she said, but the guard didn't notice her.

"Hello? Mister Guard!"

Again, there was no reaction. Vinyl sighed and blew a stray strand of hair back into place, then leaned forward, putting her mouth right next to the ear of the guard.

"Hey, yo!"

The sudden shout startled the guard. Shaking out the ringing in his ears, he turned to glare at Vinyl, who just blinked and stared at him. "What, not a Trott Hall fan? Oh, never mind. Can you tell me what happened here?"

The guard sighed, turning back to the crowd of ponies. "There's really nothing to report that you can't see yourself. Overnight, somepony came to the statue of Her Majesty, and decided to do, well, that," he said, nodding at the statue. "Obviously they have a grudge against the princess."

"So, who did it?"

Octavia winced and held her breath, bracing herself for the inevitable. The guard just shook his head. "We have no idea. Nopony was around to see it, and we didn't get any reports of any other suspicious activity in the area. To be honest, unless the perpetrator comes forward, I doubt we're going to find out who did this."

Shuddering, Octavia let out a silent sigh of relief. Vinyl turned and began to force her way through the crowd, urging Octavia to follow behind her, and she managed to shove her way near the front of the group. She looked at the statue, pacing around it as Octavia reached the front as well, finally getting a close-up view of her vandalism, waves of shame washing over her.

“Wh-what could have possibly compelled me...” Octavia muttered quietly to herself her eyes scanned the statue. She wracked her brain to come up with some kind of explanation, some possible justification for what she had done, but instead, something else came to the forefront of her mind: euphoria. Happiness. The almost perverse sense of satisfaction she remembered as she spray painted the statue.

Octavia suddenly realized that a smile had curled across her face. She shook her head to get rid of it, but her thoughts were interrupted instead by a shout from the back of the crowd. Though the voice came from far away, it was still loud enough to pierce the eardrums of everypony who had gathered.

"No, no, no!!"

As the crowd suddenly separated and turned, a large white unicorn stepped forward, flanked on either side by four royal guards. Octavia shuddered slightly upon seeing him and Vinyl grumbled under her breath, "Oh great. His Royal Pompousness.”

Prince Blueblood walked up to the statue, his jaw hanging limply as he stared in shock. He fell back on his haunches in front of the statue, shaking his head in disbelief. One of the guards cautiously walked up to him.

"Prince Blueblood, I can assure you that this appears to be an isolated incident: there have been no threats made on Celestia or the royal family, nor any indication that an attack is imminent. There is absolutely no reason to be afraid, danger is—"

"Danger?!" Blueblood interrupted. "Who cares about danger? This is far, far worse than somepony trying to attack Celestia. This is a slap in the face of all royalty everywhere, myself included! I do not like being embarrassed, Slade."

"My name is Slate, sir."

"Not now, Slain! Do I look like I care about your name? I am far too busy being distressed!"

With Blueblood now drawing everypony's attention with his ranting, Octavia approached her friend. "Vinyl, I think we should leave."

Vinyl gave her a curious look. "But things are just getting interesting! Why are you so—"

She was interrupted when Blueblood leapt to his hooves and spun around, his brow furrowed as he glared at the entire gathered crowd.

"Who is responsible? Which one of you did this? I demand to know right now!"

Blueblood paced through the crowd and yelled at everypony gathered, and Octavia shrunk back, trying to hide herself in the crowd. Vinyl paid her no attention, a goofy grin spread across her face from watching Blueblood freak out and scream at anypony too unfortunate to be within hoof’s reach. Octavia shivered as Blueblood drew near to her, but he stopped and walked back to the guards and addressed them.

"I want you to sweep this crowd and not rest until you arrest the culprit and throw them in jail!” he bellowed.

The guards all looked at each other awkwardly for a second before one of them spoke up. "Um, Prince Blueblood, there are no laws against this sort of thing in Canterlot, and we can't just arrest them all. Not to mention we have no idea who did this, nor will we likely ever find out."

Blueblood shook his head. "Then I will take to the streets and find the disgusting scourge myself!"

Upon hearing those harsh words, Octavia felt her teeth grind together. Without thinking, her eyes narrowed and she stood up, glaring at Blueblood. She took a step forward, but stopped herself.

“What are you doing, Octavia?” she tried to ask herself, but her body ignored her and resumed walking forward as Blueblood continued to yell at nopony in particular.

"I will find them and I will throw them in jail! No, I'll throw them in the castle dungeon! No!" he yelled, his eyes widening in anger. "I'll have them executed! I will look them in the eyes and say 'Hello! My name is Prince Blueblood. You insulted royalty, prepare to die!' What they did to this statue is disgusting, it's horrific, it's—"

"I actually find it rather interesting."

Octavia stopped and turned her head, trying to look over the crowd of ponies to see where the voice had come from. Blueblood did the same, whipping his head back and forth over the crowd.

"Who said that? Who dares to speak over me?"

The crowd parted and a number of ponies gasped as two figures stepped forward. In the front was a stallion with a perfectly kempt blue mane, carefully wiping a monocle on the front of his suit. Next to him was a unicorn, smiling happily as she nuzzled her husband while still looking up at the statue.

Blueblood sighed. "Why am I not surprised to see you here, Fancy Pants?"

Fancy Pants just blinked, looking over at Fleur de Lis with a befuddled expression. "Erm, my house is only a block away, Blueblood."

"Never mind that. What do you mean by finding this 'interesting?’” Blueblood questioned. “Are you saying you agree with it? That you find your Princess, my beloved aunt and the immortal ruler of all Equestria, to be ignorant?! I will have you court-martialed for treason against Canterlot!"

"First of all, isn't she your great great great aunt, thrice removed?" Fancy Pants calmly replied, drawing a chuckle from Fleur. "And secondly, haven't you ever heard of freedom of expression, Blueblood? Clearly, somepony has an issue with Celestia, and has taken a more proactive approach to letting the world know. And I appreciate that sort of expression. You can't tell me that you feel absolutely nothing by looking at this.”

The gathered ponies exchanged glances, a few of them nodding in agreement while others just shook their heads. Blueblood was completely flabbergasted and marched right up to Fancy Pants. "I certainly do feel something: anger!” Blueblood screeched. “This is the worst possible thing that could ever happen in Canterlot, Fancy! Not that you would care.”

Fancy Pants tilted his head, and Fleur stepped forward, her normally content expression now scrunched in distaste. “And just what are you implying about my husband, Mister Blueblood?”

“That’s Prince Blueblood to you, you prissy diva. And I’m implying that Fancy Pants does not, nor has he ever, given a damn about Canterlot!"

Fleur stepped back in shock and Fancy Pants sighed in frustration. “Must you always make discussions so personal, Blueblood? This has nothing to do with Fleur or myself, this is merely about art.”

“This is not ‘art,’ this is a direct attack on the royal family! I refuse to believe that this cheap, disgusting, backwards, flanksy ‘art’ has a place in Canterlot!"

As Blueblood continued to huff and puff, Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow, glancing between the prince and his own wife. He and Fleur stared at each other for a few moments before the both of them started to snicker.

Blueblood leaned forward even more, almost tipping over. "And just what is so funny?"

Fancy finally stopped snickering enough to turn back to Blueblood. "Sir, without sounding cocky, I like to think of myself as a well-educated and well-spoken pony, and I can assure you that 'flanksy' is not, in fact, a word. I'm curious, how exactly did you mean it?"

Blueblood's face turned red as a number of ponies in the area started to laugh and whisper to each other, Vinyl included.

"Flanksy?"

"I've never heard that word before."

"That's the silliest word I've ever heard."

Blueblood's face reddened even deeper as he stammered, "Well, you know, flanksy! As in, l-low class, poor taste? Er, I mean…"

As ponies continued to laugh, Blueblood shot his head around before letting out an angry grunt and stomping his fore-hooves into the ground, turning and storming off in a huff with his entourage of guards following close behind.

With ponies still snickering and Fancy and Fleur now examining the statue closely, apprehension again crept back into Octavia's mind. She tapped her friend’s withers and said, "Vinyl, we really should just leave now."

Still chuckling a bit, Vinyl nodded. "Hah, yeah, I don't think things are gonna get any better than that. Let's go."

“Man, you just don’t see stuff like that in Canterlot,” Vinyl commented, gazing around at the buildings on the walk home. “Heck, you barely see stuff like that anywhere! I’ve heard of similar things in Manehattan, but at best it was a big smiley face some bored artist did, and usually got cleaned up quickly. But this is just pure vandalism! And with a statue of Princess Celestia no less? Totally nutso.”

“Mm-hm...” Octavia hummed. She could only assume that Vinyl wanted her to agree with whatever she had said, because was too far gone to have comprehended anything. Every muscle in her body was focused instead on containing a rapidly building anxiety attack.

“And it was green! The whole thing was green, like Celestia is some kind of ogre or troll! Never seen anything like that before.”

“Yeah...” Octavia replied, cringing at the word ‘troll.’

Vinyl continued to talk, her words going straight through Octavia's head without her comprehending them. Part of her wanted to tell Vinyl to stop talking, but she knew that bringing up the subject in any way, shape, or form would undoubtedly lead Vinyl to realizing who had done it. Instead she bit her lip and averted her gaze as far as she could from Vinyl the entire walk back to the apartment. Vinyl opened the door and stepped inside with Octavia following behind, still shaking as she sat down on the couch and tried to not pay attention.

"Writing 'ignorance' on her flank, like that's her special talent? That's some heavy, heavy stuff. I can't even begin to think what would cause something like that," Vinyl said, following up with a giggle. "Maybe it was Luna! It's been a few months since she returned, but I bet she's still a little sore about that whole 'trapped in the moon' thing. Ooooh, or maybe it was somepony who couldn't afford to go to the Gala! She totally wants Celestia to lower ticket prices!”

Octavia kept her head turned away slightly, taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. Her anxiety started to go away and she turned back, but immediately froze. Vinyl had begun to clean up the apartment, and she had just picked up the jacket that Octavia had dropped on the floor the night before. She held her breath, her eyes locked on the pocket of the coat as Vinyl walked towards the closet.

"Gotta admit though, it was hilarious seeing Blueblood embarrassed like that,” Vinyl said, walking towards the closet. “I really wish that would happen more often."

Octavia stared intently as Vinyl reached up to hang the coat up and the can of spray paint came tumbling out of the pocket of the coat, noisily clattering on the ground. She was unable to take her eyes off of it as Vinyl hung the coat up, then reached down and picked the can up. Octavia's teeth chattered as Vinyl started to put it away, but then Vinyl paused, shaking the can a few times and frowning.

"Aw man, almost empty? I thought it was still full, I was gonna use it today," Vinyl said, turning towards Octavia. "I'm gonna be the opening act at the Everfree Frolic next weekend, I thought it'd be funny to run with the theme. Wear an outfit made out of leaves, paint my whole turntable green..."

As the word “green” left her mouth, Vinyl slowly trailed off, staring at the spray paint can in her hoof for a few moments. Octavia trembled as Vinyl slowly looked up at her. Octavia glanced away slightly, sweat beading down her face. Vinyl slowly put the can down, trotting back over to the coat and rummaged through the pockets. After a second or two she paused, and pulled a black lump out, balancing it on the end of her hoof and carefully examining it. It was a large piece of charcoal.

Vinyl examined the charcoal, and then turned her head to look down at the can of spray paint again. She slowly looked over at her friend on the couch. Octavia's face was red and pouring with sweat, her hooves trembling. Vinyl stared at her for a few more moments before her magenta eyes widened.

"No. Bucking. Way." Vinyl stepped forward when Octavia didn't respond. "Okay, I'm sure there's a perfectly rational and logical explanation for this. An explanation that won't completely and totally blow my mind forever. However, I just gotta get the insane theory out of the way first, so I'm gonna ask you this directly: did you paint the statue?”

Octavia remained silent, so Vinyl leaned right in front of her face. "Tavi, answer me. Was it you?!"

Octavia spun around so she was facing completely away from her. "I don't want to talk about it,” she muttered.

Vinyl's breath escaped her and her jaw nearly hit the floor. She slowly sat down next to Octavia, gazing straight ahead just trying to comprehend what she had heard. "Oh my dear Celestia, it was you. You did that. You spray painted the statue green. Y-you called Princess Celestia ignorant." Vinyl shook her head. "What am I supposed to say to that, Tavi? I mean, something like that is just…"

Octavia sighed. "I know. Last night was the lowest point of my life. I read an interview with Princess Celestia, and she claimed that nopony was hurt at the Gala. Certainly she meant physically, or just made a mistake, but… I-I let my emotions get the best of me and I... I did that. I cannot wrap my head around what compelled me to do such a thing, but all I know for sure is that what I did was wrong. Purely, simply, wrong. It was disgusting, it was shameful, it was—"

"Amazing!!"

Octavia stopped, her jaw half-open in the middle of her sentence. Vinyl quickly grabbed her by the head, making their wide eyes connect, Octavia dumbstruck and Vinyl with a smile so wide it was threatening to split her face in half.

"Tavi! This is, like, the coolest thing ever! I don't even have words for this, it's so awesome! This is it! This is exactly what I've been talking about!"

"What?"

"Expressing yourself! This is you expressing yourself!"

Octavia’s face fell. "You cannot possibly be serious."

Vinyl enthusiastically nodded, wrapping Octavia into an uncomfortable hug. "I knew you had it in you, Tavi! I kinda always figured you'd bludgeon some jerk pianist with your cello or something like that, but never anything this cool!"

"B-but...” Octavia managed to stammer. “Vinyl, I called Princess Celestia ignorant! I ruined her statue, and there was absolutely no reason for it!"

"No reason for it? Hey, I read that article too, and if you ask me it looks like somepony was hurt! I'd say that's a pretty good reason. You shouldn't be ashamed of something like that, you should be proud! Did you see how all those ponies were gathered? Did you hear how they were talking? Nopony's ever done anything like this in Canterlot before!”

"That’s because it’s disgraceful!" Octavia snapped back, standing up and turning away, gazing out the window. "You are my closest friend, and I know you want me to feel better, but I also know that you are just saying that. You do not have to do this, I know that what I did was wrong, and—"

Vinyl interrupted by placing a hoof over her mouth, silencing her. "Tavi, look at me," she calmly said. Vinyl’s eyes had narrowed, staring into Octavia’s eyes with a determined grin. "I swear to you I'm not just saying this. If I thought what you did was stupid, believe me, I'd tell you. Octavia, I’m not ashamed of you. Heck, I'm proud of you for showing your emotions like this."

Octavia couldn't think of anything to say. She had wanted to put everything out of her mind and move on, and yet here was her closest friend in the world, telling her about how cool it was. Vinyl finally let go of Octavia, backing up a few steps.

"So, what are you gonna do next? Are you going to hit another statue of Celestia? There are a ton of them in the market district, I bet—"

Octavia gasped. "What? ‘Next?’ Vinyl, what I did was wrong, and I can assure you that I am never, ever going to do something like that again! It was an isolated moment of weakness, not some sort of rebellion! Do you really expect me to do something like that again? What possible reason could I have to?"

“I bet it felt awesome to let go of that anger. Come on, you can’t tell me it didn’t feel great!”

Almost nostalgically, Vinyl’s words brought back the euphoria of the previous night’s events. For a few seconds, she felt herself enveloped in the peace that had come with the act. Octavia shook her head as shame flooded her memory, driving the peace out of her mind.

"Vinyl, it doesn't matter how it felt,” Octavia said, closing her eyes. “All that matters is that what I did goes against everything moral. I let my emotions get the best of me, something that I assure you I will never let happen again."

"But—"

"I can see no reason why I would do something so shameful a second time, and I would very much appreciate it if you didn't bring the subject up again."

"But Taviiiiiiiii—"

"No ‘buts,’ Vinyl. It was wrong, and that is all I wish to discuss on the matter."

Before Vinyl could respond, Octavia turned and trotted to her room. After a few moments, the slightly off-key sounds of Beethoofen's Lunar Sonata drifted from her cello. It had been several days since Vinyl heard Octavia play. She had eagerly been looking forward to hearing it again, as she knew it would be a sign that Octavia was truly feeling better. But now that she was hearing it, all Vinyl could think about was the statue.

Octavia finished the Lunar Sonata, immediately switching over to a more upbeat song to calm her frazzled nerves. She stared emptily ahead, lazily drawing the bow across the strings as her mind drifted away from the song. After a few moments, her focus was so far gone that she accidentally jabbed herself in the chest with the bow, jolting her back to reality and thrusting the bow across the strings in a panic.

With a shake of her head, she resumed her playing. She stared straight ahead, but her mind continued to wander as the tempo of the song gradually sped up. Her gaze faltered around the room for a few minutes, until she looked down and realized she was playing at double speed. She pulled the bow away and took a long breath, then gently returned to the song.

“Stupid statue,” she mumbled to herself as her eyes turned and focused instead on the window. As she gazed out at the streets of Canterlot, a smile slowly crossed her face. “Did look good in green, though...” Octavia shook her head, scowling as she attempted to focus on the song once more.

The next morning, Octavia woke up with a headache. She groggily trotted over to her cello and plucked at the strings a few times, but the sound that resonated from it did nothing to help her confused mood. She slowly left her room, and almost immediately Vinyl looked up from across the hall, putting on an awkwardly forced smile."Good morning, Tavi. How you feeling?"

"Fine," Octavia said with a passing glance.

Vinyl gave her a concerned look. "How fine? Fine fine, or just fine?"

Octavia tilted her head to one side. "What? I'm fine."

"Can you, like, quantify the amount of fine? On a scale of one to ten, how fine are you feeling?"

"Vinyl, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking—"

She stopped herself, seeing what was sitting on the couch beside her friend: the day's copy of the Canterlot Times. She slowly stepped forward, taking the newspaper in her hooves and staring at the headline.

Vinyl sighed in defeat. "I was hoping I could get you to feel really, really good before you saw that..."

Octavia sat down next to her, eyes locked on the newspaper. Nearly the entire front page was taken up by a picture of a smug-looking Prince Blueblood. Above that, the remainder of the page was lost to the article’s headline. Her hooves trembled as she scanned those six words over and over again, before finally reading them aloud, her voice cracking.

"'An Open Letter To A Terrorist?!’"

Vinyl shook her head. "Prince Dipstick practically commandeered the newspaper. Listen, maybe you shouldn't read that right now. I don't think—"

Octavia wasn't listening, her eyes locked on the headline. The word "terrorist" throbbed in her eyesight, and she ground her teeth in anger. Finally tearing herself away from the headline, she ripped open the paper and feverishly scanned the article.

Yesterday was one of the darkest days in Canterlot history. It was a day that will be forever be remembered as when the entire city mourned.

It was a day when I, Prince Blueblood, was directly attacked by an unknown terrorist.

For those of you who are unaware, the statue of Princess Celestia at Clopperstone Road was assaulted overnight. It was painted the most garish color of green, blinded, and had the word "ignorance" written across the flank. This was nothing less than a direct assault on the royal family, which means it was a direct attack on yours truly.

Oh woe is me! I have done nothing to deserve such embarrassment, such a disgusting personal attack. I am royalty, I deserve nothing but the finest treatment and the utmost respect of all my subjects in Canterlot, in all Equestria! The mere knowledge that there could be a pony in our fine city who hates me so much that they would do something like this to this statue is, without a doubt, the most unsettling thing to happen in Canterlot in years.

The pony who did this, the one who dared to attack me, is nothing less than the lowest scum of Equestria. They are the kind of pony who likely lives on the streets in the back alleys, completely ignorant and blind to the riches and success of the ponies around them, and only thinks about themselves. They are nothing but an abomination, an atrocity, a loathsome, nonplussed, pitiable, wretched, woebegone peasant who has worsted the city of Canterlot, and disgraced the name of the royal family. Whoever you are, you have made me gross in your ways, and I will never forgive you. The fact that you have not stepped forward is proof enough of how worthless of a pony you are. The royal guards have informed me that there is nothing they can do, because there is technically no "law" against what happened. Well I say that that is ridiculous, and I will personally find you and deface you myself for your crimes.

On a related subject, yesterday while observing the hate crime in person, I referred to the statue using a number of different words, one of which was the word "flanksy." Several ponies, lead by one Mr. Fancy Pants, proceeded to dare insult me for using that word, which he claimed did not exist. I want everypony in Canterlot to know that my words are not to be insulted or taken light of; as royalty, my words deserve to be cherished and treasured, as if each one was a newborn foal. But because several ponies chose instead to insult me, then I will withhold my words from them. I hereby declare that I never wish to hear the word "flanksy" in my presence again. You will forget about the word, as if it never existed. I understand that many of you wish to adapt my words into their everyday life, but because several ponies had to mock me, all will be punished.

Octavia seethed as she sped through the article, which was just full of more self-congratulatory comments and continued insults at her work. Her tightening hooves crumpled the corners of the newspaper, and Vinyl reached out to try to calm her down.

"Tavi… I know how upset you are, but don't let that snob get to you. You know how much of a jerk he is: he hates anypony who doesn't worship him. You're not disgusting, you're not a peasant, and you're definitely not a terrorist."

Octavia glared daggers at the image of Blueblood on the front page, feeling a lump forming in her throat. Before she knew it, it escaped her lips.

"That bastard..." she hissed.

Vinyl stared, not expecting to ever hear that word come from Octavia. "Huh?"

"That pig-headed, full-of-himself, bigoted bastard…"

Vinyl blinked a few times, then shook her head and quickly shifted strategies. "Y-yeah! Can you believe that jerk?"

Octavia stood up, pacing back and forth. "He thinks I'm a terrorist? That I'm disgusting? That pony represents everything wrong with Canterlot! He parades around, using some aloof connection to Celestia to tell everypony around him how much better he is. And worst of all, the ponies here worship him anyway! He says that silly 'flanksy' word should be treasured and remembered by all ponies, and then turns around and demands that ponies forget it because he embarrassed himself? And he calls me disgusting?"

Sensing an opportunity, Vinyl stood up and followed her around, casually leaning in. "Gee, you're totally right Tavi. I can't believe him. Boy, it would be nice if somepony would show him a thing or two."

"Dear Celestia, I would like nothing more than to do so myself," Octavia spat. Her skin was crawling, and in a sudden realization of what she was saying, she fell back on her haunches and threw her hooves over her mouth. “No. Oh, no, not again."

"Aw, come on, I know for a fact that you're upset at him. Don't clam up again! Why not give him a taste of—"

"Dammit I said no, Vinyl!”

The sudden outburst from Octavia stopped Vinyl immediately. Octavia's face turned red and her mouth hung open as she stared at Vinyl, then turned and rushed back into her room, still clutching the newspaper in one hoof and awkwardly slamming the door behind her.

As the day wore on, Octavia barely let go of her cello. Her face retaining a shade of frustrated red from her outburst, she jumped from song to song, each one growing more erratic than the last, until she was furiously driving the bow across the strings, the sound of the song garbled into a mess. She finally laid the bow down and sat down on her bed, staring at her cello as angry thoughts swirled through her head.

“Why isn’t this working...” she mumbled to herself, staring at the cello. She lay her head down on her pillow and stared into space, overcome with confusion and anger and not knowing how to deal with any of it.

She rolled over and tried to clear her mind, but instead she found herself staring across the room at the smiling mug of Prince Blueblood. With a grunt of frustration, she rolled out of bed and wandered over to the desk. She read the article again, glaring over the words as she read Blueblood call her every possible name he could likely find in the thesaurus.

“Stupid, rude, pretentious...” she grumbled under her breath, feeling herself getting riled up again. Before she knew it, she grabbed a pen from her desk and began to frustratedly scribble on Blueblood's face. Finally feeling her anger start to subside, Octavia had found the outlet she had been looking for. After a few minutes, she sat back and snickered to herself at her own work, looking the ruined picture up and down. Her gaze couldn't leave her drawing, and her mind was stuck on the feeling from the night before, when she realized that there was simply no way around what she had to do next.

She had to know.

Taking the paper with her, she left her room and walked to the den, where Vinyl was sitting. Vinyl looked up and saw her, her face crestfallen.

"Hey, Tavi, listen. About earlier today, I'm sorry for pushing you like that. I'm sure the last thing you need is me bugging you about what happened. If you want me to shut up about the whole spray paint thing, I'll do it. I don't want to—"

She stopped herself, realizing the completely conflicted expression on Octavia’s face. Octavia blushed slightly as she struggled to find the right words, then awkwardly thrust the newspaper into her friend. Vinyl took it and immediately started laughing as she looked at it. She glanced up at Octavia, then went quiet as she looked away.

"Vinyl, could you, erm…" Octavia began, stumbling over her words. "Look, you are far better at art projects than I am. Could you possibly make a stencil out of this?"

Vinyl’s eyes lit up. "Really?!"

"Please do not get excited, Vinyl. This means nothing, I assure you. I just…" Octavia sighed, then looked back at Vinyl. "I just need to check something."

In the middle of the night, Octavia tugged the coat around her body tighter and walked through the chilled, empty streets of Canterlot. Octavia's teeth were chattering from more than just the cool night air. Nerves had set her whole body twitching as she took slow steps, then paused to glance back in the direction of her comforting home. “Why am I doing this?” she quietly wondered as she resumed her quest, carefully scanning the alleys and streets around her.

She came to a plaza near the center of Canterlot and snooped around for several minutes before settling on a small, almost entirely hidden alleyway. Walking as far in as she could, she glanced back and forth before turning to the wall in front of her. She pulled out the stencil that Vinyl had made for her, unfolding it and pressing it against the wall. Carefully balancing herself, she reached into her other pocket and ever so gently pulled out a full can of black spray paint.

Without putting another thought into it, she began to spray the stencil. She felt a smile creeping across her face as she embraced the moment, happily moving the can back and forth across the paper. When she had finished, she pulled the stencil away and stepped back, gazing at what remained.

The smile on her face only grew as she stared at the end product of her work. Out of sheer curiosity, she reached out and wiped a corner of it, then stared at the wet paint dripping off the edge of her hoof. The smile grew as she wiped the paint off on her jacket, then gave the picture one last glance, satisfied with her test.

Octavia placed the stencil and can back in the pocket of her coat and left the alley. She slowly gazed out on the completely empty plaza. She had visited it numerous times before, yet tonight it felt different. She surveyed all the buildings and couldn't help but take notice of the numerous blank walls in the area.

Suddenly to her, they all looked quite bland.

"No, no, no,” she told herself. “You were just here to test something, nothing more. You don't need…"

Her thoughts trailed off the more she stared at the empty, blank, open walls, and felt herself reaching back into her pocket to pull out the stencil and can again. She glanced over them for a few moments before feeling the euphoria envelop her again, and a mischievous grin crept across her face as she turned and trotted in the other direction, her eyes now focused on the white wall of a local hardware store.

Early the next day, Prince Blueblood went for his morning stroll. Wearing his finest cloak and surrounded by his personal security force, he trotted along his path through downtown Canterlot. Finally reaching his first stop—the local BuckStars Café—he entered, and was immediately aware that every eye in the building was on him, but not in the usual way. He glanced back and forth at the ponies in the café, who all seemed to be holding back smirks and giggles as they stared at him approaching the counter.

Mocha Roast immediately stood up straight, averting her eyes from Blueblood as she bit her lip, smiling. "Oh, h-hello Prince Blueblood. What can I get for you?"

Blueblood continued to glance around the café at the smiling ponies, distracted. "Erm, just the usual. Half-caf skim latte with a shot of vanilla, but not too much vanilla, and exactly one small ice cube so it's not too hot."

"Snnrrrrk, coming right up!"

As she prepared the drink, Blueblood continued to look around the café, baffled by why everypony seemed to be giggling. Reaching over and grabbing his drink when it was ready, he was about to leave, but instead turned his attention to two younger ponies in the corner of the café, who were openly laughing.

"And just what is so funny, you two?" Blueblood demanded, storming over to them. One of them just turned away, while the other desperately tried to contain his giggles.

"Oh, nothing, nothing! I guess we're just feeling a bit… flanksy today."

The two ponies looked at each other and continued laughing as Blueblood's face went red and he stomped a hoof into the ground. "I made it very clear that I never want to hear that word again! I want you all to forget it! I absolutely refuse to be made the butt of jokes for a single word that I said! I want you to put that word out of your minds forever, do you understand me?!"

The two colts just kept on laughing, now joined by several other ponies in the café. Grunting in anger, Blueblood stormed out of the building and walked towards the plaza, taking a sip of his drink before freezing in his tracks, dropping the cup to the ground with a loud clatter as his eyes widened.

On every single wall as far as he could see, there were black pictures of him. Numerous ponies were examining them, then looking over at him and giggling. Panicking, Blueblood ran up to the first one he could find to try to pull it off the wall, only to quickly discover that it was painted on. The group scattered, and Blueblood's face trembled as he looked over the image. It was the same picture that he had put in the Canterlot times, but it had been heavily modified: his eyes were comically crossed, he had a forked tongue and horns on the side of his head like some sort of ogre, and his nose had been bent and crooked, turning his beautiful face into some kind of mockery.

In an attempt to preserve dignity, Blueblood lunged at the embarrassing painting and covered it with his back. He turned around and realized his attempt was for naught, as all around the plaza he could see copies of the picture with ponies standing around them laughing.

Blueblood shot his guards an angry look. “Don’t just stand there, you idiots!” he screamed. “Do something! Arrest ponies, cover the walls, tear them all down if you have to! I want this fixed and I want it fixed now!”

The guards just stared at Blueblood, then began to laugh as well. Blueblood’s eyes grew even wider and he pounded his forehooves into the street over and over. “Don’t you dare laugh at me, I am your prince! What could possibly be so funny that you would laugh at me?!”

One of the guards slowly raised a shaking hoof. Blueblood blinked and turned around, his eyes widening even further. Stumbling backwards and falling back on his haunches, he looked around and realized, with horror, that the same mark was next to every single picture of his face. It was a cartoonish word balloon, and inside each balloon was a single word that he realized was going to haunt him for a long, long time.

"Flanksy."

-------------

Exit Through Canterlot

End of Chapter 2: The Prince's Pride

Special Thanks: Propsy, Razy, Ponky, Worsty, Skirtsy, and Wardeny

3. To Be Real

Vinyl bit her lip, breathing quickly and looking around the room. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to find a way to hold herself together, realizing that she was probably fighting a losing battle. In a last-ditch effort she clamped her hoof down on her mouth, choking back a lump that was forming in her throat, but even that wasn't enough. She finally understood that there was nothing she could do to stop it, and gave up entirely.

She burst out laughing, collapsing onto the ground in a fit of giggles. Octavia wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as her friend. Her face was bright red as she stared wide-eyed at the newspaper clutched in her hooves.

"This is not funny, Vinyl!" she yelled, crumpling the edges of the paper.

"Ahahaha! What are you talking about? This is hysterical!"

Trembling, Octavia glared at her. "Oh, really?" she asked, flipping the paper around. "You really think this is hysterical?"

The front page of the newspaper featured a massive picture of Octavia's hoofwork: Prince Blueblood's distorted face took up a good portion of the page, with a column featuring panicked quotes from Blueblood himself, along with numerous other ponies who had seen her work. Octavia held the newspaper out and pointed at the massive three-word headline that ran along the entire top of the page: "'Flanksy' Strikes Again."

Vinyl only had to see the headline for a split second before the laughter returned harder than ever. She fell back, clutching her sides. Octavia huffed, taking the newspaper and pacing back and forth, reading aloud.

“‘Neighbury Court of the uptown district was vandalized yesterday in what appears to be an attack on Prince Blueblood, with numerous cartoonish pictures of the Prince dotting the premises. While no direct evidence can link this incident to a similar one earlier this week, two events in such a short span implies a single culprit. Based on the name painted along with the pictures, it would appear that the work is done by a pony referring to themselves as “Flanksy,” a nonsense word created and then outlawed by Prince Blueblood. It is currently unknown if this “Flanksy” has a personal grudge against the royal family, but with only two incidents having occurred, everything is up for speculation.’” Octavia stopped reading and looked back at Vinyl, who was now laughing so hard that tears rolled down her cheeks.

"T-that’s what they’re calling you?!" Vinyl spat out between fits of laughter. "They're calling you 'Flanksy!' That is the stupidest name I've ever heard! Dear Celestia, this is awesome."

"It is not ‘awesome,’ Vinyl!" Octavia shouted, slamming the newspaper down on the table. "It was supposed to be making fun of Blueblood for demanding that ponies forget about that stupid word. It’s not some kind of signature!"

"Well it’s too late for that! That name's gonna stick."

Octavia sat down on the couch, burying her head in her hooves. "I cannot believe I did that. This whole thing was a mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake, it was awesome! It was even more awesome than what you did to the statue!"

Octavia sighed. "I know you are trying to make me feel better, but it's just not going to work. What good could possibly have come out of what I did?"

Vinyl picked up the newspaper and sat next to her friend, clearing her throat before picking up where Octavia had left off. “‘Sensing that the local community is not showing ‘proper civility,’ Prince Blueblood has decided to take a vacation in the wake of recent events. ‘Such a traumatic experience has been emotionally draining on our Prince. He will need several days rest in Mareami to recover from such an ordeal,’ said P.R. Gallop, Blueblood’s publicist, in a press conference held shortly after the discovery of the pictures.’”

Vinyl gave a dumb smile. Octavia rolled her eyes and muttered, “So what?”

"You got rid of Blueblood for a few days! If we’re super lucky, he might even be less of a jerk when he gets back from wherever he is. Do you know how awesome that is? Canterlot is Blueblood-free for a while! I bet half of the city would want to shake your hoof for that alone."

Octavia reached over and took the paper from her, re-reading the same section. With the image of a Blueblood-free Canterlot in her head, Octavia chuckled to herself, but quickly hid the smile, turning away and putting the newspaper down.

"It’s not important,” she said. “All that matters is that last night was a test. Now I just want to put spray paint out of my mind forever."

"Whaaaaat?” Vinyl gasped. “You can't just forget it, you're on a roll here! Look at what you've done in only two days: you’re on the front page for the second time, and now all of Canterlot is talking. You can't just stop now!"

"Yes, I can. This is not me, Vinyl. It was merely an experiment. It was just a way to get everything out of my system so that I can move on with my life."

Octavia trotted towards her room, only for Vinyl to jump in front of her and shout, "Move on with your life? I’m telling you, you shouldn't be ashamed of this. You're doing something that nopony has ever seen before!"

"Nopony has ever thrown a banana at Princess Celestia either, but that doesn't mean it's right," Octavia said, lightly brushing past Vinyl. "I want to be done with this."

"Done with this? You gotta be kidding me! I mean, how many ponies out there can say they did something that changed Canterlot?"

For a few brief moments, time froze for Octavia. She stared at nothing in particular as Vinyl's words rang in her head. Her gaze wandered over to the side of the room where the coat hung next to the front door. A can of spray paint stuck out of the pocket of the coat, emptied of its contents by her own hoof. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to put a full sentence together in her head. Finally tearing her sight away, she forced herself to look back at Vinyl, but was only able to sputter out a few words.

"I changed... Canterlot?"

Vinyl nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You got rid of Blueblood for a while, but way more importantly you got everypony talking. When's the last time you saw ponies in Canterlot all laughing like that? You single-hoofedly made Canterlot a little more colorful! Isn't that something to be proud of?"

Octavia didn't move, but her eyes wandered back to the coat and can. She remembered rushing from wall to wall and painting on anything she could find. After a pause, she let out a reluctant sigh and shook her head. "It is simply not worth it. I never want to do this again, Vinyl. Now if you will excuse me, I'd like to return to playing to my cello."

"Oh come on! When's the last time your cello playing actually changed anything?"

Octavia spun around sharply, glaring daggers at Vinyl.

Vinyl scratched the back of her neck. "Wow, that sounded way less rude in my head. Look, I didn't mean—"

She didn't get a chance to finish as Octavia shoved by her in a huff, throwing the coat over herself and marching out of the apartment.

Octavia didn't have a destination in mind, nor did she plan on finding one. She wandered aimlessly through Canterlot, her mind yet again descending into a swirling mess as she went from street to street. Vinyl's words about her cello rang through her head repeatedly, and Octavia's pace became quicker and more erratic as she muttered under her breath. Finally forcing herself to stop, she leaned against a wall, staring into the sky and sighing.

"She didn't mean it," she said to herself. "Vinyl's mouth always acts long before her brain does. No need to hold it against..." Her words trailed off as she spotted a street sign out of the corner of her eye: Neighburry Court. Her breathing quickened and she felt her heart nervously pound as she turned around, only to find herself face-to-face with the distorted picture of Prince Blueblood. Her pounding heart returned to normal as she looked it over, and she couldn't help but chuckle at her own work. Taking a long breath, she turned back around and saw all the ponies who had gathered in the area to admire the many pictures of Blueblood. They were the usual mix of Canterlot ponies—tailored suits, styled mane cuts, noses turned up ever so slightly—but something else was standing out about them: they were smiling.

Normally, smiles on the faces of Canterlotians were accompanied by an asterisk, as they usually were the result of a pony putting down another or celebrating the release of some new fashion line. But there was something different about the smiles today: they looked genuine. Ponies were chuckling and discussing the pictures, genuinely enjoying them. Octavia hadn't seen anything like it in Canterlot before, and as she stared at them, more of Vinyl’s words crept into her head: "How many ponies out there can say they did something that changed Canterlot?"

Octavia shook her head lightly, trotting out of Neighburry Court. After a few steps she froze, seeing the statue of Princess Celestia off in the distance. Even from afar, Octavia marveled at at the craftsmanship that had gone into the project.

However, what was a bit more notable to her was the fact that it was still green.

Trying her best not to break into a gallop, Octavia cautiously approached the statue. Not only was it still green, but nothing had been changed: "ignorance” was still written on its flank, and both eyes remained black. Without the massive crowd that had been there days before, Octavia took time to slowly circle the statue. A smile crept back onto her face as she reached out and touched a green leg, then looked up at the face of the ruler of all Equestria.

"You really do look better in green," she muttered. As she drew her hoof away slowly, a sudden yell from the other side of the statue caused her to jerk her hoof away.

"Just what am I supposed to do about this?”

Taking a few steps back, Octavia carefully peered around the side of the statue. Standing on the other side were two unicorns. One was just a few steps away from the statue, her eyes narrowed in worry as she held a notebook in her hoof. The other, taller mare was dressed in a tight white jumpsuit with trim made out of pink gems, a perfectly styled white mane, and a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose. She paced back and forth, her face contorting in anger as she ranted.

"Why in Equestria's name hasn't this debauchery been cleaned up yet?” the taller mare yelled. “My show to debut my new winter fashions is tomorrow, and this is the absolute last thing I need! Take a note, Amethyst. The next time I have a show, it will be indoors, in a controlled environment.”

The other unicorn, a smaller pony with a light magenta coat, quickly scrawled something on the notepad, then looked back up. "But Chic, don't you think—"

"How many times must I tell you?" the taller pony snapped. "When you are interning for me, you are to refer to me as ‘Miss Trend.’"

Chic paced away, ogling the statue as Amethyst mumbled, "I don't ask you to call me Miss Star…"

Chic continued to circle the statue without looking where she was going and stumbled into Octavia.

"Sorry…" Octavia stammered, only to be met with a death glare from Chic Trend.

"Watch where you're walking! I am trying to resolve a crisis here," Chic hissed, reaching out and shoving Octavia completely out of the way and into the statue before continuing on. Scoffing, Octavia carefully followed her as Chic approached her assistant again. "Take a note, Amethyst. From now on, if I am in the midst of a crisis, I want you to walk in front of me and alert ponies not to get in my way."

Rolling her eyes, Amethyst scribbled something on the notepad as Chic continued to speak. "I have been planning this reveal for months, Amethyst. I even worked with Miss Chisel so I could have the reveal right in front of this statue, and now this," she yelled, gesturing at the statue in dismay. "What are ponies going to think if I'm debuting my new line of cloaks in front of this monstrosity? In fact, why would ponies even show up in front of this garish thing? Ugh, I wish I could throttle the neck of the pony who did this…"

Octavia exhaled in frustration, looking back and forth between the statue and Chic Trend. As she turned to leave, the voice of Trend's assistant rang out.

"I dunno, I think it's kinda cool," Amethyst chirped, looking up at the statue with a tilt to her head.

Octavia came to a halt, her ears perking straight up in the air. She backed up, crouching behind the statue and peeking around the corner. Chic Trend's jaw was nearly on the ground as Amethyst smiled.

"I mean, like Fancy Pants said,” Amethyst continued, “it's different. It's interesting. Plus, Miss Trend, you've seen how many ponies have stopped by to look at it. I bet there could actually be a great turnout! You can call it 'Controversial Fashion' or something like that." Amethyst looked up at Chic, whose brow was furrowed in frustration. She gave a nervous chuckle. "Erm, that’s just my opinion anyway."

There was a long pause as Chic eyed Amethyst, but eventually she turned back to the statue. "Take a note, Amethyst," she said. The intern smiled and held the notepad out in front of herself as Chic continued. "I want you to stop having opinions around me. They are invariably awful." As Amethyst sighed and scrawled something on the notebook, Chic turned away. "I'm going to take a power trot, Amethyst; I'll be back in three minutes. When I get back, I'll have some ideas for how to salvage this," she said. With one final glare at the statue, she turned around and stormed off in a huff.

Amethyst folded the notebook into her saddle bag and scuffed at the ground. Octavia remained hidden beneath the base of the statue, her eyes following Chic as she disappeared into the distance. Her teeth were grinding, but for the first time in days, she didn't feel the urge to calm herself down.

"Monstrosity? Debauchery?" she grunted, looking up and down the statue again before turning over to the assistant, who was also muttering. Octavia approached her. "Don't pay any attention to her. She's too short-sighted to see anything but fashion."

Much to Octavia's surprise, Amethyst responded with a smile. "Oh, I know! I'm just working for her to get some experience in the industry; I don't actually listen to anything she says," she said, then nodded at Octavia. "Oooh, love your coat!"

Amethyst turned back to the statue. Octavia blinked at her for a few seconds, then turned back, glancing at her own coat. “Wait, when did I...?” she said under her breath, tugging at the sleeves.

"I think the statue is pretty cool,” said Amethyst. “I'm not the only one. Buncha ponies have been talking about it. Even when Celestia stopped by, they kept talking."

Chills shot across Octavia's face, and before she could stop herself, she spoke. "Celestia saw it? What did she say?" she asked, holding her breath.

"Eh, not much. Just something about how she doesn't expect to be able to please everypony all the time."

Octavia exhaled in relief. She looked over the statue for a few moments before pausing as a thought crept to the front of her mind. "Wait, is that it? She didn't want to know what she could have done wrong?"

Amethyst shrugged. "Guess not. She only stopped by for a bit, but she did talk with Fancy Pants for a minute. Did you know he's been, like, really vocal about keeping the statue the way it is?"

Octavia stared at Amethyst, her jaw hanging in shock. "He has?"

"Oh yeah, any time somepony comes by and tries to clean it up, he usually isn't far behind to stop them. I know I’ve said this a lot, but I think it’s really cool; you don't see stuff like this in Canterlot. Usually it's just boring paintings or stuffy music, but this is so… so…" she stared at the statue, scrunching her face to find the right word, and after a few moments, her eyes sparkled.

"So real, y’know?"

Amethyst may have said more, or she may have not. Octavia couldn't hear anything regardless: her mind was spinning. Her eyes clung to the statue, and like days before, the world melted away, leaving just her and it alone. Even the piercing voice of Chic Trend wasn't enough to tear her away from that blissful state of mind.

"Take a note, Amethyst,” the fashionista said as she returned. “When we get back to my studio, I want you to sew together a new rug design I thought up. Perhaps I can salvage this yet. Come along, Amethyst."

With a roll of her eyes, Amethyst trotted after Chic Trend, leaving Octavia dumbstruck and alone with the statue.

As the world slowly came back into focus, she shook her head, muttering quietly under her breath. "You are a musician, Octavia. This is not worth it. This is not worth it. This… is..."

Her words gently disappeared into the air as her eyes wandered up and down the statue. Slowly turning around, Octavia began her walk back home. As she trotted, her head never moved a degree in one direction or another, hazily staring straight ahead as she mumbled a single word:

"Real…"

Octavia nudged open the door to the apartment and stepped inside, letting the coat drop to the floor. Vinyl looked up from the couch, turning her head away guiltily, but Octavia ignored her. She trotted straight to her room and picked up her cello’s bow. Drawing it against the strings, she stared blankly out her bedroom window. After she had run through a few songs, Vinyl pushed the door open and leaned against it.

"About earlier today,” Vinyl said, pausing to paw at the ground. “I'm really, really sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it, it came out totally—"

"It's alright," Octavia said, still staring ahead. "I know you didn't mean it."

Vinyl cocked her head. "So you're not mad at me or anything?"

"I just told you that I'm not."

"Then what's got you so upset?

Octavia didn’t look at her friend. "Nothing. I’m fine."

"No, there's something pulling at your tail. I can tell by your music."

"Not to be rude, Vinyl, but I would hardly call you an expert on classical music."

"True, but I know enough to hear when somepony has been playing the same note for three minutes straight."

Octavia turned and locked eyes with Vinyl, and she stopped playing, filling the room with an awkward silence. It was broken when she hung her head and let out a laden sigh, laying the bow down on the ground and leaning the cello against the wall.

"I don't understand it," she said, walking past Vinyl into the den. "What I did went against everything I believe in. Why can't I stop thinking about it, Vinyl? Why did I go back and do it again? And why did I—" She paused, then shook her head and sat down on the couch. "Why am I so satisfiedwith what I did?"

Vinyl chuckled and sat down next to her. "You're satisfied because you finally got a chance to let out some steam in a really cool way! Stop saying it goes against whatever you believe in, because what you’re doing is totally worth more than that. Not just to you, but to all of Canterlot! I will admit, I didn't expect you to go all out with that Blueblood thing.”

"It was just supposed to be an experiment! I only went out to see if I could recreate the feeling I got when I first painted the statue. But when I did, I suddenly couldn't help myself. I had to chase the feeling more, and I just went around to any wall I could find, and—"

"Feeling?” Vinyl interrupted. “Wait, what kind of feeling?"

"It’s… nothing," Octavia quickly stammered, looking away.

"Oh no, no, no, no," Vinyl said, reaching out and turning her back around. "There is no way I'm going to let that one slide. What feeling, Tavi?"

Octavia let out another long sigh before turning her head away again. "Vinyl, the night that I first read that article about the Gala, I was distraught; I don't think I had ever been so angry in my life. But the moment I found that can in my pocket, when I first pressed down the nozzle, something happened to me. It just felt… right. I felt at peace for the first time in a long time, Vinyl. Then I just wanted to capture that feeling again, so I tried making that Blueblood picture in an alley. But it was this exhilaration that I had never felt before, not even when I was on stage at the Gala. I couldn't stop myself, and before I knew it, I was spraying it on every wall in sight. I just…"

When Octavia turned back to Vinyl, the words disappeared from her throat. Vinyl's eyes were as wide as saucers, her mouth agape. Octavia felt the color drain from her face as Vinyl leaned closer to her.

"Tavi, that's… wow," Vinyl muttered. "Just wow. I mean, this is way more than just expressing yourself. You must've had a serious revelation, huh?"

Octavia looked away, taking a second to think. "I… I don't know, Vinyl. So much has happened so quickly, I just can't figure anything out right now. It's too much for me to handle."

Silence overtook the room again as Octavia took long, labored breaths. Vinyl stared at her before standing up and walking off to Octavia's room. After a few moments of rustling, Vinyl came back out carrying a newspaper under her foreleg.

"I want you to do something for me,” Vinyl quietly said. “This is important."

Vinyl sat back down next to her friend and unfolded the paper, setting it down on the coffee table. The headline read "Statue of Celestia Defaced," and a large picture of the green statue took up half the front page.

"I don't want you to think,” Vinyl said. “I don't want you to clam up, I don't want you to get all awkward. Just say the first thing that comes to your mind when I ask you: why did you enjoy doing this?”

Octavia pushed the newspaper away, shaking her head. "I don't get why—"

"Because I think you know why you did it,” Vinyl interrupted, “but you keep overthinking everything and denying yourself. So I want you to not think, just answer: why?"

Octavia stared down at the newspaper. "Vinyl, I… I don't know. It was the lowest point of my life, and—"

Vinyl again interrupted. "No, Tavi. I said don't think, just answer. Why did you like it?"

"I can't explain it," Octavia sputtered out, her teeth grinding together the more she stared at the picture, realizing she was reaching her limit. "I can't…"

"Dammit, Tavi, stop thinking and just answer! Why did you enjoy—"

"Because it was real!"

Vinyl immediately went quiet as Octavia rocked back and forth, breathing heavily. She closed her mouth, but Vinyl reached over and pushed her shoulder.

"Don't stop, Tavi. Just keep talking, say whatever is on your mind."

"It was real. It was enticing. It was more real than anything I've ever done in my life," Octavia said, her eyes glimmering with an intensity that caught Vinyl by surprise. "I love music, Vinyl, I love it more than anything in the world. But music is something fleeting. When you stop listening, it can become lost to the mind. As wonderful as it is, you can only reach so far with music."

Octavia stood up and paced around the room, her voice raising in inflection with every word. "But this... this is real. This is tangible: I can see it, I can reach out and touch it. It's a feeling I've never gotten before with music, because music simply can't create that sort of feeling. When I went out to test if I could recreate the feeling, it was a bigger thrill than any symphony I have ever performed in! And to not only be able to grasp that feeling, but to bring joy to ponies in the way a musician can’t? To be able to rub it in the face of the elite in this city who deserve to be embarrassed? It's a feeling that music just can't…"

Her pacing stopped as she glanced across the hallway and into her bedroom where her cello leaned against the wall. The glint in her eye disappeared as she stood unmoving for several seconds, before slowly stepping backwards on trembling hooves. Vinyl stood up as Octavia collapsed back on the couch. With quivering eyelids, Octavia stared at the cello from afar before surrendering her pained gaze to the seat cushion.

"Dear Celestia, what is wrong with me…?"

Vinyl slowly sat back down and reached out, patting Octavia on her back several times. Octavia looked up at her, and was met with a smile.

"Nothing's wrong, Octavia,” Vinyl quietly said. “It's an epiphany."

"W-what?"

"You're realizing that you want more. I think you're not satisfied with the way things are in Canterlot," she said, scooting closer to Octavia and pulling her back up to a sitting position. “You shouldn't be asking what's wrong with yourself, Tavi. You should be asking what's wrong with Canterlot, and how you can change it."

"But how could I say such awful things about music…"

One of Vinyl's eyebrows raised. "I didn't hear you say anything awful about music. You know what I heard? A pony who loves music, and who knows how wonderful it is, but who is ready to reach the ponies of Canterlot in an entirely new way. A pony who wants to compose a whole new kind of symphony."

Vinyl backed up a bit, straightening out her body. "Listen to me, Octavia. This is your choice. It's always going to be your choice. But I want you to realize one thing: you are on the cusp of something amazing, something that Canterlot has never seen before. This is something that can change the most important city in Equestria. I'm not trying to freak you out here, but look at the impact you've created just by letting off some steam. Imagine what you could do if you really put your mind to it."

In an effort to calm herself, Octavia closed her eyes and leaned against the couch. Sensing her friend’s nervousness, Vinyl went quiet, giving Octavia some time to collect herself. Octavia took one last deep breath and opened her eyes, and Vinyl spotted a glint in them the likes of which she hadn’t seen from Octavia before: one not of anger, but of purpose.

"Vinyl," she began, her voice low and quiet. "Do you really believe I can change Canterlot?"

"I believe you already have changed Canterlot. Now it's just a matter of how much change you want. You said you felt real? How would you like all of Canterlot to share that feeling with you?"

Octavia pondered the question for a few moments. She finally stood up and picked up the coat she had grown attached to over the past several days, carefully draping it over herself as she opened the front door of the apartment.

Vinyl stood up as well. "Tavi, where are you—"

"I'll be back soon," she replied, stepping out the front door. "I have to do a little thinking."

The relative hustle and bustle of Canterlot never seemed to affect the plaza in the center of Clopperstone Road; despite the presence of several of Canterlot's more prominent shops, the area was never overcrowded. The past week had briefly turned the street into an epicenter of activity, with ponies coming to see the defaced statue, but things had started to calm down, and Clopperstone reverted back to the quiet corner of Canterlot it had always been.

As the sun dipped behind the rooftops, the plaza became even more mute, with ponies either returning to their homes or heading off to places where the Canterlot night life was more exciting. But as the area cleared out, a single pony was left. She sat in front of the green statue of Celestia, her body as still as the object of her attention.

Octavia had completely lost track of the world around her. Her eyes remained locked on the statue as she unscrambled the cacophony of thoughts that had been running through her head for the past several days.

"Goodness, I hope whoever styled your hair was refunded her tuition from beauty school!"

Octavia finally tore her eyes away from the statue and looked to the right, finding herself facing a large sign draped over a shop front. Bedazzled with gems, the sign was advertising that the next day would be the debut of a new fashion line by Chic Trend. The sign, partially covering a patch of rose bushes in front of the store, proclaimed the line to be "the greatest thing to hit Canterlot in ages!" Octavia stared at it, her eyes tracking back and forth across the sign.

"I want you to stop having opinions around me. They are invariably awful."

Turning away, her eyes wandered until she noticed a plaque embedded in the grass in front of the statue. It was a dedication for the statue, with Princess Celestia's signature engraved at the bottom. Below the plaque was a second, smaller one that appeared to have been hastily dug into the ground, and her eyes narrowed as she noted the signature of Prince Blueblood scrawled on it.

"I deserve nothing but the finest treatment and the utmost respect of all my subjects in Canterlot, in all Equestria!

Octavia looked up at the statue, taking it in. She looked at the garish color that had gotten so many ponies talking over the past several days.

"How many ponies out there can say they did something that changed Canterlot?"

She stared at the blackened orbs that had replaced Celestia's eyes.

"Look at the impact you've created just by letting off some steam. Imagine what you could do if you really put your mind to it."

She looked down at the word "ignorance," standing out in jagged black on the green flank of the statue.

"This is so real, y’know?"

Octavia closed her eyes and took in a long breath of the crisp Canterlot air. As she did, the anxiety, the self-doubt, the panic that she had been feeling for days over what she had done surrounded her. For a few moments, she shivered at the thought of everything that had happened: the Gala, Celestia's statue, Blueblood, Chic Trend, and all the anger, anxiety, and fear that had come with them…

And in that moment, she let it all go.

She slowly stood up and turned around, trekking back towards her home. After a few steps, she came to a halt and turned her head, sparing Celestia's statue one final glance.

"A part of me wants to thank you for being the catalyst for all of this," she muttered, before turning her head and walking away. "But quite frankly, another part of me thinks you don’t deserve to be thanked."

As soon as Octavia opened the door to the apartment, she was grabbed and dragged in by Vinyl, who eagerly sat her down on the couch. "Welcome back! So what’d ya think about? Tell me!"

Octavia remained calm and collected. She took a few breaths, not making eye contact. "Vinyl… I am a musician, and I always will be one. Playing the cello will always be the most important thing in my life, and music will always come first for me."

Vinyl sighed, sitting down next to her. "I understand, Tavi. I kinda dumped a whole lot of stuff on you earlier, it was an awful lot to—"

"I am a musician, Vinyl," Octavia said, finally turning and looking directly into Vinyl's eyes. "But I can't change Canterlot with music."

Vinyl choked on her own words, her eyes widening as if that was the last thing she had expected to hear. "Wait, really?!"

"I wish I could deny this, but I don't think I want to. A part of me still believes that what I have done in the past few days is wrong, but frankly I don't care. You said that I've already changed Canterlot. Well, I want to go further. I don't want to stop. Canterlot has no shortage of snobbish, backward ponies who need to understand there’s more to life, and I can't simply ignore this opportunity to do it. I can’t ignore an opportunity to...” Octavia trailed off and took a determined breath, savoring the words. “To be real.”

Vinyl couldn't contain her grin and reached forward, hugging Octavia. "Tavi, this is gonna sound totally sappy, but you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say this stuff. I'll help you out with this in any way I can."

"Actually, about that… You wouldn't happen to have any spray paint left, would you?"

No sooner had the question left her mouth than Vinyl jumped to her hooves and galloped off to her room. After only a few seconds she happily trotted back out with a bag in her mouth bulging with numerous cans of spray paint. She dropped the bag down on the table, sending cans clattering everywhere, as Octavia leaned forward, examining the variety.

"Goodness, I had no idea you had such a stockpile of these."

"Nah, I bought all of this earlier today."

It took a few moments for Octavia to put two and two together, and she turned to Vinyl, sighing. "You are impossible sometimes."

"What can I say?" Vinyl said, blushing. "I got kinda excited about this, so I went a little overboard, just in case you decided to go down this route. Besides, now you can get started right away, right 'Flanksy?'"

Octavia gave her a look. "Please don't call me that."

"Sorry, Tavi, but you better get used to it. I just got a feeling that name is going to stick. It’s kinda catchy," Vinyl responded, then settled down on the couch and excitedly leaned in. "So, what are you gonna do next?"

Octavia reached down and picked up a can of black paint. She lightly bounced it in her right hoof several times before slowly smiling.

"Tell me, Vinyl, have you ever heard of Chic Trend?"

----------

Exit Through Canterlot

End of Chapter 3: To Be Real

Special Thanks: Sin Worsta, CM Ponk, The Raz, Prop Heyman, WarDean Ambrose, and Skirtonio Cesaro

4. Untouchable

Martingale Terrace was one of the more active areas in the Canterlot market district. With sidewalk clothes sales and booths selling all kinds of organic, expensive fruits and vegetables, it was always a cornerstone of activity in the already busy area of the capital city. Today was no exception: upper class ponies rushed about, utterly ignoring each other, lost in their own little worlds, browsing the lines of elegant clothes and gourmet food. Within the crowd, one mare trotted with purpose, carefully looking back and forth at the ponies to make sure she wasn't drawing attention to herself. She eventually came to a halt when she saw what she was looking for, causing a distracted pony behind her to bump into her.

"Watch where you're walking!" the stallion grumbled at her, then shoved around her and continued on his path.

Octavia sighed, then backed up out of the way as the stallion shoved around her. She stared after him, shaking her head, then turned her attention back to where it was previously: a long poster hanging on a wall. Still left over from the weeks preceding the Gala, it proudly advertised that this year's Grand Galloping Gala would be "the grandest of all time," and promised to be "a night of glory, a night of elegance, a night to remember!" The banner was lined with sparkling gems and streamers, but the largest feature on it was the picture in the center: a smiling Princess Celestia, one hoof proudly raised in the air, displaying the grand front door of Canterlot Castle.

Octavia's eyes narrowed as she stared into Celestia's gaze. "Grandest of all time..." she grumbled to herself, then looked behind her, scanning the area until she found a small alley, completely ignored by the ponies in the market. As she shifted her gaze from side to side to make sure nopony was paying attention to her, Octavia casually backed away from the crowds, then slipped into the alley and trotted to its farthest end, out of sight of the fast-moving ponies in the market district.

Sitting back against the wall, Octavia dropped the bag she had been carrying in front of her. As she pulled the bag open and stared inside, she pulled one hoof away. She slowly looked back at the open end of the alley, suddenly very aware of the number of ponies that were at the market that day.

"All these ponies… Am I really about to...?" she muttered to herself, her gaze switching rapidly between each pony that walked by the alley entrance. After a few moments, her eyes wandered behind them to the poster. It only took a few seconds for her to shake the apprehension out of her head, and she allowed a smile to curl across her face.

"Yes. Yes I am."

Sliding back to the bag, she pulled out the coat and put it on. She dug through the bag a bit more, pushing cans to the side until she came to the very bottom of the bag. The smile only grew as she carefully reached down and pulled out the things that Vinyl had given her earlier in the day: her disguise.

Upon waking up hours earlier, Octavia had gone straight to her desk and brainstormed ideas for Chic Trend's big winter fashion reveal that night. Pulling out a large sketchpad she borrowed from Vinyl, she wracked her brain to think of ideas for what to create.

Hours passed. As she stared at the large sheet of paper in front of her adorned with an awkward drawing of a donkey wearing a jumpsuit, something just didn’t sit right in her mind. She looked the paper over, then crumpled it up and dropped in the trash can next to her desk, now overflowing with previously rejected ideas. She pulled out a fresh piece and set it down in front of her, staring blankly at it for several moments. Her concentration was interrupted when her door suddenly burst open.

"Alright, Tavi, time to wake up!" Vinyl yelled, turning to Octavia's bed. "It's nearly ten! Why the hay are you still slee—" Vinyl slammed her mouth shut as she stared at the empty bed, then looked over at Octavia, who had one eyebrow raised. Vinyl shook her head. "Wait, how long have you been up?"

"Several hours."

"Whoa, you haven't made a peep! What have you been doing all this time?"

Octavia stared back at the blank sheet of paper in front of her. "I've been trying to create templates for Chic Trend's show tonight."

"Ooooh, awesome! So, whatcha got going for it?"

After an awkward pause, Octavia nodded at the floor. Vinyl followed the gesture, and saw the countless crumpled pieces of paper overflowing the garbage can.

"Oof."

With a sigh, Octavia looked back at the blank paper. "I've been thinking all morning, but every time I get an idea, I start questioning myself and suddenly the idea looks awful. Nothing looks right to me when I'm sitting here, Vinyl. I don't know what I want to say, I just..."

Octavia trailed off as she looked over at one of the many cans of spray paint that sat on the corner of her desk. Blinking a few times, she turned back to the sketch pad, and shook her head.

"I'm overthinking this, aren't I?"

Vinyl gave her a sideways glance. "No no, not at all! It's fine, you're—"

"I appreciate the kindness," Octavia interrupted, "but I would much prefer honesty."

"'Kay. You're overthinking this so hard I can practically hear your brain," Vinyl said, sitting down on Octavia's bed. "Listen, I know this is something you want to pursue, but if you keep overthinking things you're just going to stop yourself. Remember yesterday when you said you wanted to be 'real?' Well, tell me one time when thinking about something made it immediately happen.” She paused, then her eyes tilted upwards, staring at the horn on her head. “Okay, maybe not the best example, but you know what I mean.”

Octavia reached back and took the can of paint in her hoof, looking it over for a few moments. Vinyl saw her eyes shimmer for a second, and Octavia stood up, gathering a few of the cans on her desk. "You're right. I'm not going to get anything done by sitting here thinking about it."

Vinyl cocked her head to the side as Octavia grabbed a bag from her closet and put the cans inside. "Wait," Vinyl said quizzically. "I thought you weren't going to head to that fashion show until tonight when it's in full swing."

"I'm not," Octavia began, taking the coat out of her closet. "But that doesn't mean it's the only thing in Canterlot I have a problem with. For example," she mused, "there is that banner for the Grand Galloping Gala that's still up."

"The one in the market district?" Vinyl asked, smiling. "Ooooh, awesome. That place is always super busy, too. I bet a ton of ponies are gonna see it!"

Octavia paused, staring straight ahead for a few moments, then looked over at her cello. She sighed, quietly saying to herself, "I suppose there's no way around it.” She turned back to her friend. "Vinyl, about that... I could use your advice."

"Lay it on me."

"As much as this is something I want to do, as much as I am going to pursue this, my cello and my music are still the most important things in my life."

Vinyl nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that."

Octavia bit her lip awkwardly. "Well, I don't think that a lot of the concert halls in Canterlot would want to book a performer who is also going out and vandalizing walls."

Rubbing her chin, Vinyl nodded again. "Yeah, no two ways about it: that's gonna be a problem."

"So, do you think it might be best if I... hide my face?" Octavia looked back at her coat, tugging at one sleeve of it. "This coat hides my body and Cutie Mark well enough, and I can tie my mane and tail back, but I'd really feel more comfortable if I can keep my face hidden. Canterlot is big enough that I doubt anypony would recognize me, so I'd be able to keep my musical career intact. Does that sound silly to you, do you think it's—"

Octavia was cut off when she looked back up, and found herself face to face with Vinyl. Vinyl's eyes had stars in them, and her jaw was shaking as if she was using every muscle in her body just to speak.

"You... you want a secret identity."

"I suppose you could call it that."

Vinyl's hoof reached out and grabbed Octavia awkwardly by the shoulder. "Tavi. You have absolutely no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."

Before Octavia could even react, Vinyl jumped and took off into her own room. Octavia was about to follow her when a sudden crashing from the room made her jump. She eventually followed and peeked her head around the corner into Vinyl's room, which was suddenly a mess. Vinyl was digging through her closet, throwing random articles of clothing behind her and occasionally pausing for a split-second to examine something.

Octavia slowly entered the room. "Vinyl, I just need something to cover my face. Perhaps a scarf, or—"

"Booooooooring!" Vinyl yelled, momentarily poking her head out of the closet. "Tavi, this spray paint deal that you are doing is entirely your thing. Yeah, I gave you some advice, but remember that you decided to do this, and it's awesome. You should be really, really proud." She turned back and dug into the closet again. "But when it comes to appearance? When it comes to looking cool? That's my department. Sorry, Tavi, but I'm taking command here."

Vinyl stood up, holding a hoodie in one hoof and an eyepatch in the other, glancing between them for a few seconds before shaking her head. She tossed them aside and dove back into the closet. Octavia carefully stepped over the miscellaneous clothes that lined the floor, and poked her head over Vinyl's into the closet.

"It’s, erm, nice to see you so enthusiastic about this, but I really would prefer something simple..."

Vinyl poked her head back up, nodding. "Minimalist. Got it!"

Octavia sat down on the bed and shifted about as Vinyl spent another minute digging through her closet, occasionally pausing to scrutinize some piece of clothing before tossing it away. Just when she started to get antsy, Octavia jumped when Vinyl let out a loud "A-Ha!" and threw two items at Octavia.

"Try these!" Vinyl happily chimed. "That's a fleece face mask I wore for last year's Vanhoofer Sparkle Party, and I got that bandana when I was the headliner for the Pasturgis Motorcycle Derby. Try em' on!"

Octavia pushed her tongue into the side of her cheek as she stared at the accessories. Vinyl smiled and leaned in closer, waggling her eyebrows as Octavia slowly put the face mask on. She took the bandana in her hooves and carefully wrapped it around her forehead, watching as Vinyl's eyes widened and her smile grew even more. After sitting still for a few moments, Octavia stood up and walked over to the mirror hanging on Vinyl's wall. With the mask and bandana on, only her eyes were visible on her face. She turned to the side to get a good look at her whole body, looking over the face mask and coat, and couldn't help but admire the outfit, smiling behind the mask.

"Hmmm…" she pleasantly hummed, turning the other way. In the reflection in the mirror, Vinyl’s smiling face slowly shifted into one of more bemused confusion.

"Wait… You actually like that look? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it, but I was totally expecting you to say no."

Octavia untied the bandana and took the mask off, walking back towards her room. "It's… It will do just fine, Vinyl." She re-entered her room, placing the items into the bag containing the spray paint. Octavia pulled out a brush and began to un-style the end of her tail as Vinyl followed her into the room, cocking her head to one side.

"Whoa, are you going out right now? As in, right now right now?"

"I don't see why not," Octavia said, stuffing the coat onto the top of the bag.

Octavia slung the bag over her shoulder, and started to march away. She got to the front door and raised a hoof to open it, but halfway to grasping it, she froze. As Vinyl walked up to her, she saw her friend's hoof trembling, slowly moving away from the doorknob. Vinyl patted Octavia on the back, smiling.

"Lemme give you a bit of advice here. Sometimes, it's way, way more rewarding to stop thinking and just do," Vinyl said. "More specifically, this is totally one of those times."

Octavia looked over at Vinyl, and her apprehensive expression turned into a sly smile. She nodded her head and reached out, finally opening up the front door and stepping outside.

Sitting back against the alley wall, Octavia put the face mask on over her muzzle. She carefully tied her hair back into a tight ponytail, then picked up the bandana from the bag. As she slipped it over the top of her head, she caught a glance of herself in a dirty pane of glass leaning against the other side of the alley. Pausing, she stared at herself, taking in her outfit: with the mask, bandana, and coat covering her, Octavia could barely even recognize herself.

She wasn't one to dress up very often for performances; the Gala had been by far the biggest stage of her performing career, and even for that she merely wore her favorite bow tie. She had never understood the obsession with clothing that so many ponies in Canterlot pursued. Vinyl had always been a little more direct with her criticisms, stating that fancy clothing was "the height of phoniness."

To a degree, Octavia had agreed with her, although she had never seen the idea of phoniness with clothing. But as she turned to the side to continue to look over her disguise, a smile had once again found its way onto her face. She had never seen anypony dressed like this anywhere in Equestria, let alone a high-class city like Canterlot. Yet there was something about it that she found appealing. It was different; it was real; it was unique; and although she could hardly call herself an expert on the subject, there was something about it that just felt... cool.

After zipping the bag up again, Octavia slung it over her back and turned around towards the entrance of the alley, where busy ponies continued to pass by. She took a few steps forward, and for a split second she froze, her hoof trembling in the air. Her mind raced for a few moments before she reached into the bag and wrapped it around a can, immediately clearing her mind and forcing the trembles to stop. With a quick crack of her neck and a confident breath, Octavia continued her path, stepping out of the alley.

Out of the corner of her eye, she was vaguely aware of the eyes that were immediately on her. But her focus was planted firmly on the banner across the way, and she walked through crowd of ponies and up to it. She spent several seconds looking back and forth over the banner, then dropped the bag down next to her with a clattering thud.

"I suppose there's no need to wait any longer," she mumbled to herself, then crouched down and rummaged through the bag.

She shoved a few of the cans aside before her eyes twinkled and she pulled out a full can of green paint. Shaking it thoroughly, Octavia could barely contain her smile as she heard the rattling coming from within, then turned back to the banner. As she looked it over, the rest of the world seemed to disappear in the back of her mind. With slight nod of her head, she popped the cap off and aimed it at Celestia's image, pressing down on the nozzle.

As green paint began to cover Celestia's body, she let out a euphoric sigh; it just felt right. Her worries completely melted away, replaced by complete focus on her art. She calmly moved the can around the banner, covering Celestia's entire body with green until the Princess was almost completely unrecognizable. Just looking at the image made Octavia laugh, and she took a step back, just admiring it for a few moments.

"Still needs more," she said under her breath, then turned and crouched down next to the bag, again looking through it. She found a can of red paint and pulled it out, but as she did she caught something out of the corner of her eye, and nearly dropped the can as she jumped back a bit in surprise.

A massive crowd of ponies had gathered in a semi-circle around her, all staring in surprise. Much of the activity in the market had seemingly ceased, instead replaced by focus entirely on her. A number of ponies were murmuring to each other, but many were just standing still, watching her every move. Octavia felt herself shivering, which was only exacerbated when the crowd parted, and two Royal Guards stepped forward, aiming their narrowed eyes at her. She stood straight up, trying her best to hide the nervous shaking of her hooves as the guards looked at the banner, then back at her.

"I assume you are the pony who defaced the statue of Princess Celestia, and painted the pictures of Blueblood?" the first guard pressed. Octavia slowly nodded her head.

The other guard stepped forward. "You go by the name Flanksy, correct?"

Several of the assembled ponies chuckled as Octavia's eyes narrowed upon hearing the name. She grunted in frustration, then nodded her head again. The guards nodded back, and there was a long silence. Octavia shifted uncomfortably on her hooves as the guards glared back and forth between her and the banner. Finally, one of the guard's determined glares softened, and he leaned in towards the other one.

"Erm... What do we do now, Seraphim?"

Seraphim blinked, then turned to the other guard. "What do you mean?"

"Well, no laws are being broken here. Same with the statue and the Blueblood pictures. I don't believe it's within our jurisdiction to do anything to her..."

"No, Chambers! She’s also insulting Her Majesty Celestia!"

As the guards went back and forth, Octavia struggled to maintain her upright posture. She could feel herself sweating, and she hadn't been able to take her eyes off the guards. Once she finally tore her gaze away and turned it back to the world around her, she realized that she had involuntarily taken several steps back, standing in a slightly crouched position in front of the poster, almost as if she was protecting it.

"But it’s not like she’s physically hurting anypony," Chambers persisted. "We can't really do anything to her either way..."

"Maybe not to her specifically, but there has to be something we can do about this."

The more that they talked, the more Octavia could feel her forehooves pressing into the ground. She looked around at the assembled crowd of ponies, and although they were split in their reactions, the only faces she could focus on were the ones who's eyes were narrowed and who were muttering to each other in frustration. Octavia's mind went back to the first discovery of the statue of Celestia, when Blueblood had gone on a rant about it. Octavia hadn't wanted to expose herself then, but with her identity covered up now, she was feeling completely different. Even with seemingly hundreds of eyes on her, she felt strong. Confident. Almost invincible.

She huffed in frustration as she stared at the two guards, still talking amongst each other. Finally, the older guard shook his head.

"Well," Seraphim began, "at the very least, we can take the banner down."

Chambers nodded as Octavia's eyes widened in shock. The two guards turned back and began to step towards the poster...

Without even thinking about it, Octavia leapt in front of them.

As if her body wasn't listening to the cries of her brain, Octavia leaned forward, staring down the two guards. Seraphim and Chambers stopped in their tracks, both surprised at the sudden resistance. In the back of her mind, Octavia was panicking, desperately trying to convince herself to step aside. But in the forefront of her mind, a single sentence formed, far louder than anything else.

I'm not going to let them destroy my art.

As more murmuring broke out in the crowd, Seraphim took a step to the side. Octavia followed him and planted her hooves in the ground, glaring at him as he paused again. She straightened her body out and stared back and forth at Seraphim and Chambers, then shook her head very slowly. The two guards took a step back as the crowd went quiet, and for a few moments, a tense silence filled the market atmosphere. Finally, Chambers sighed and tapped Seraphim's shoulder, and the guards faced away from Octavia, quietly talking.

Octavia took a long breath, looking back at the banner. She smiled at the green figure that had replaced Celestia, but the smile disappeared the more she thought about the very idea of it being taken down. Her memories shot back to the Gala, when in the middle of Beethooven's Fifth, the ballroom had descended into chaos. When she could do nothing but hide behind the stage as stampeding animals, crashing statues, and screaming ponies had silenced her music. When Allegro Sonata had approached her and explained that the musical requirements were filled up for the rest of the Gala, so she could put her cello away. As the image disappeared, words swirled through her head.

My music was silenced at the Gala, but I'm not going to let that happen here.

After another deep breath, she turned back to the guards, who had ended their discussion and were again looking over the banner. Seraphim shook his head, then turned to Octavia. "You're not going to back down without a fight, are you, Miss Flanksy?"

Octavia ignored her desire to scream about being called that name, instead just slowly nodding her head. The guards looked at each other for a few seconds, then Seraphim turned back to her. "Look, just... just don't cause a riot or anything."

Seraphim turned and walked away, leaving the other guard. Chambers turned to her and nodded at her, but she could detect a slight hint of a smile on his previously stoic face. As Chambers followed him, all eyes in the crowd returned to Octavia, whose gaze followed the two guards until they were well out of sight. A part of her wanted to pause, to savor the feeling that was rushing through her body. But once she turned back to the banner, she threw it out of her mind, instead stretching her neck out and walking back to her bag, grabbing a small can of red paint.

The euphoria enveloped her again as she paced back and forth in front of it and thinking before raising up her left hoof and spraying it red. She reached up and scratched her hoof across the banner, drawing large red teeth and horns on the green image of Celestia, which drew a few more gasps from the crowd. One pony had enough.

"You can't do that to Celestia!" he yelled. "She's our Princess: you can't just treat her like that!"

Octavia spun around, shooting the pony an angry glare. He glared right back, but then a third voice came from the other side of the crowd.

"So what? It's her opinion, like Fancy Pants said!"

As the two ponies walked up to each other and argued, Octavia just rolled her eyes and turned back. She started to put away the spray paint cans, but stopped when she looked back at the banner, this time looking over the phrase proudly displayed in massive letters along the bottom of it.

"Hmmph," she grunted, pulling the red can out again and spraying over the three key words in the sentence. She tossed the can into the bag, then pulled out a black one. After a glance back at the crowd, she started to rewrite the sentence. With each word she wrote, the ponies in the crowd gasped louder and talked, some of them even yelling. Octavia could barely hear them though, as she was so focused on her work that the rest of the world was a blur. When she finally finished and backed up, she laughed to herself again, reading the sentence that was making so many ponies behind her downright horrified.

"A night of ignorance, a night of entitlement, a night of superficiality."

Octavia turned around to leave, but paused as she felt prying eyes on her. Turning back to look at the banner, she rolled her tongue between her teeth a bit, thinking that there was something missing. Something that would tell everypony who saw it exactly who was responsible: something that would tell them that it was hers.

She reached down into her bag and pulled out a black can of paint. “I suppose there’s no way to get out of that name,” she quietly mused to herself as she raised her hoof to the corner of the banner, then sprayed a large ‘F.’She took a few steps back and stared at the signature, and all she could do was smile; as much as she disliked the name, there was something about seeing the letter affixed to the banner that was wonderful to her. She had never been able to attach her name to any songs before, but this was different.

This was hers.

Octavia slipped the can back into her bag and pushed through the crowd, who had all walked around her to examine the banner more closely. She had gotten to the back of the crowd when she came to a halt and looked over her shoulder to survey the scene. The market was still busy, but now much of the activity was centered around the banner. The two ponies who had started arguing were now calmly discussing something in front of the crowd, but she couldn't quite make out their exact words. At that moment, however, she really didn't care what they were saying. She knew that some ponies were angry, and some ponies were happy.

But all that mattered to her was that everypony was talking.

After a few minutes of walking, Octavia made sure she was out of sight before slipping into another alley and taking off her outfit. Just as she put them in the bag, time seemed to freeze for a moment as her eyes met the mask and bandana sitting on top of the coat. She leaned her head back against the alley wall, sliding down slightly as she sighed contentedly.

"I just did that," she quietly said, staring up at the sky and smiling. "And they didn’t touch me."

Octavia closed up her bag and exited the other side of the alley. Just as she was walking away, a mare rushed past her and up to two others.

"Stunning Style! Red Dress! Come on, we have to get to Martingale Terrace!"

One of the ponies cocked her head to the side. "Peccavi, calm yourself. We're discussing my latest case right now. Can’t it wait a few minutes?"

"No, it can't! Flanksy just showed up in the market and went after the Gala banner!"

The third pony gasped. "She did?! Where, where?"

"Here, follow me!"

The three mares took off towards Martingale Terrace, Octavia staring after them. Part of her wanted to follow them, to see their reaction to her work. She’d stand far away on the sidelines of action and just observe their reactions. But she shook the thought out of her head and calmly turned around, trotting away with a smile on her face. She couldn't bother to wait around; she had preparations to do.

After all, Chic Trend's show was only a few hours away.

Exit Through Canterlot

End of Chapter 4: Untouchable

Special Thanks: Worstshel Layton, Luke Razton, Granny Wardenton, and Don Propslo

5. Runway Star

The usually calm Neighburry Court had been transformed over the course of the day, and when the sun fell it once again became an epicenter of activity. A massive projection backdrop stood at the back of a long white runway which was lined with tables and chairs. Stylish white curtains had been draped over every storefront, and one couldn't walk five feet without seeing a sign proudly promoting Chic Trend's new winter lineup, featuring the most well-known model in all of Canterlot: Fleur de Lis. Ponies filtered into the area, dressed in their finest clothes and making small talk as waiters served hors d'oeuvres.

As she stood to one side and watched more ponies arriving, Octavia mulled over just how used to the sight she had become while living in Canterlot. It seemed to her like every other week, some area of Canterlot was taken over by a fashion designer displaying another round of stylish fabric. Previously, the only way Octavia could tolerate being at a fashion show was if she had her cello in hoof, playing as part of an ensemble somepony hired for the event. During those times, she wouldn't even pay attention to the show around her, instead becoming lost in her music. It was the first time she could remember having the chance to really pay attention to a fashion show. Exactly as she expected, all the ponies there seemed lost in their own little high-class worlds, their noses turned up as they sipped champagne and waited for the show to begin.

Octavia started to back up into the nearest alley, but she stopped as she surveyed the scene. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something seemed slightly amiss to her. She looked around at the scenery trying to place what was off—the elegant white drapes, the colorful display at the end of the runway, the streamers hanging from the edges of the buildings—but she just couldn't find exactly what she was looking for. Shrugging it off, Octavia backed up into the alley, and dropped the garbage bag she was carrying. She took a black duffel bag and disguise out of it and tossed the plastic bag away, then slipped on her mask and bandana before she threw the coat over herself. After she had put her disguise on, she unzipped the bag and looked over the multitude of cans and colors inside. Taking note of everything, she let out a sigh and muttered quietly to herself, her voice muffled by the face mask.

"Now what…"

She hated to admit it to herself, but there was no hiding it any more: she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do. There had been plans in her head for the banner, for Blueblood, and even the spur-of-the-moment vandalism of the statue of Celestia had a modicum of planning in the back of her head. But try as she might all day, she kept coming up blank for Chic Trend's show. Every idea that had crossed her mind she had second-guessed and thrown away. When she had gone to spray the Gala poster, she had hoped that inspiration would strike her, but no such luck had come.

"Maybe I shouldn’t think and just do, like Vinyl keeps saying…" Octavia mumbled, zipping up the bag and slinging it back over her shoulder. She walked along the alley wall and carefully peered around the corner. Many of the ponies were just arriving, mingling, and others were rushing around, making last minute preparations. When Octavia noticed a large group arriving, she turned around and ducked back into the alley to avoid being seen. She sat still, her gaze shifting between her duffel bag and the ground. She looked back over her shoulder, focusing on the white drapes hanging everywhere.

"Maybe I could... no, that'd take too long," she said in a hushed tone, her eyes now wandering to one pony who was walking towards a table, clad in an elaborate tan and red dress covered in flowers. "I suppose the dresses themselves are out of the question."

She again scanned the area, this time noting a large white wall several blocks away. “The wall of the flower shop is huge, but I want everypony to see what I'm doing," she mused quietly, sorting through the ideas that were still swirling through her mind. She looked over her shoulder at the flower shop in the distance. It was an absolutely ideal target: a blank canvas just begging to be filled. But doing so right now would put her far away from the actual show.

"Should I really be concerning myself with how visible my work is? What's important is I'm doing it for me," she said, then shook her head. "No, this entire thing is about being noticed. There'd be no point to coming to this show, then going all the way over to that wall..."

Octavia paused, looking back down at the duffel bag. She shook her head. "Vinyl's right; I'm overthinking this far too much. I need to stop considering, and just do whatever comes to mind,” she said with a sigh. “I just hope that something actually does come to mind."

Octavia nodded to herself, turned around... and found herself face-to-face with Chic Trend's personal assistant.

Not fifteen minutes earlier, Amethyst Star stood in front of the green statue of Princess Celestia. With ponies hurriedly setting up the show around her, there was noise and commotion from every direction, but it seemed so distant to her now. Her eyes were shimmering like a young foal on Hearth's Warming Eve as she stared at the word "ignorance" on Celestia's flank, and she tilted her head in curious disbelief. She was suddenly thrown out of her own thoughts when something large and soft landed on top of her, covering up her entire body and head.

"Amethyst!" Chic Trend yelled. "This is no time for daydreaming. The show is going to begin soon, and everything needs to be flawless. Now cover up that atrocious statue!"

Amethyst pulled the large, colorful blanket off of her body and looked back at her boss, who was already rushing behind the projection curtain. Rolling her eyes, her horn glowed and the blanket floated up into the air, above the statue. It hovered for several seconds before Amethyst finally let out a long sigh.

"Sorry about this," she said quietly, dropping the blanket and covering up the statue. Frowning, Amethyst turned and slowly trotted off, looking around at the runway setup that was nearing completion. She only focused on one aspect of the show for a few seconds before turning to something else, but the feeling that she had gotten from the statue was long gone. Looking to occupy her mind, she walked up to a group of ponies who were standing off to one side, and put on her brightest smile.

"Can I get you anything? Some champagne, maybe?" Amethyst asked. Three of the ponies momentarily glared at her, then went back to their conversation, completely ignoring her. Amethyst bit her lip in frustration, but the fourth pony, a blue-maned stallion, acknowledged her.

"No thank you, Miss," he said with a warm smile and a nod. Amethyst sheepishly returned the smile, backing up as the stallion returned to his friends, who all seemed rather annoyed. Despite the brief encounter, her smile lasted the entire way as she walked back towards the stage. She carefully stepped over the un-erected projection screen and looked towards a large group of clothes racks, seeing Chic Trend carefully attaching shining gems onto the sleeves of a stylish jumpsuit on a mannequin. Amethyst watched her work for a few moments, then averted her gaze for a second.

The smile on Amethyst’s face faltered, and she awkwardly trotted up to her boss. She stood still for a full minute, waiting for Chic Trend to notice her, but the fashionista was too absorbed in her work to pay any attention. Amethyst cleared her throat, to no avail, then gave up and said, "Miss Trend? Do you have a minute?"

Chic momentarily looked down at her, then went right back to the dress. "Make it quick, Amethyst."

Amethyst sighed, looking down at the ground. "I just wanted to thank you for the job. It's been really rewarding."

There was a pause before Chic turned to Amethyst, her head tilted to one side. "Is there a reason you're speaking in the past tense?"

Amethyst looked back up at Chic Trend, completely caught off guard by the question. "Miss Trend, today is my last day. You said the position only lasted for six months, remember? After tonight, I'm not interning for you any more. I reminded you last week!"

Chic blinked a few times, then turned back to the jumpsuit. "Amethyst, you can hardly expect me to remember a trifling little detail like that. But if tonight is your last night, then goodbye."

She continued to work on the outfit as Amethyst scuffed at the ground. "You're one of the most prolific fashion designers in all of Canterlot. I know we haven't seen eye to eye on everything, but working with you has helped me see that I want to pursue more creative works in my life. So thank you Miss Trend. It's been an honor to work with you."

"Yes, I'm sure it has," Chic muttered, reaching to the side and grabbing another ruby.

Amethyst could do nothing but gawk, slack-jawed. She waited, hoping that something more would be said, but after half a minute it became clear to her that she wasn't going to be looking down at her any time soon. With a sigh, Amethyst hung her head, muttered a thank-you, then turned around and started to walk back towards the runway. When she looked up to decide where to go next, her eyes settled on the large colorful blanket off in the distance that she had placed over the statue. While it covered most of it, a single green hoof poked out of the the edge of the blanket. Amethyst focused on the hoof for a few moments, and her head came back up, her eyes narrowing. With a quick jerk of her body, she swung around to face her former boss.

"Miss Trend, did you even hear a thing I said?"

Chic Trend froze, her eyes going wide as saucers. She slowly turned to look at Amethyst, who had walked right back up to her.

"I beg your pardon, Amethyst Star? Do not speak to me like that; I am your superior!"

"Considering today is my last day, I don't think that applies. Miss Trend, I've been working for you for six months, and you don't have anything to say? After everything I just said to you, all you can do is keep working on that dress? Have I really been that unimportant to you?"

Blinking a few times, Chic lowered the ruby down onto the table next to the jumpsuit, snorting in frustration, then she turned back to Amethyst. "Since we're being so honest here… Amethyst, you have been helpful to me. But it's not exactly the kind of ‘helpful’ that really stands out, you know?"

Amethyst was completely lost for words. She stared at Chic in shock, unable to form a complete sentence, instead just sputtering out, "W-what?"

"I mean, I’ve been asking you to do things like get coffee, take notes, and make simple stitches. While you have certainly done those things, they could have been done by anypony. Or, for that matter, a well-trained cockatrice. You're a nice pony, Amethyst, and I'm sure one day far in the future, you'll be able to break into the fashion industry. But you hardly stood out as an assistant," Chic calmly explained, looking back at the jumpsuit. "Let's put it this way… You shimmered a little bit, I suppose, but I was looking for a sparkler. I’m sure you understand."

Chic went right back to the jumpsuit, humming to herself. Amethyst felt as if an iron ball had just embedded itself in her stomach and her throat was burning. Dejected, she slowly turned around and walked away, her empty hoof steps reflecting how she was feeling. She started to look back to Chic Trend, but a pony pulled up the projection drape, blocking her view backstage. She stood there, staring blankly at the silhouettes behind it when a model trotted up to her.

"Have you seen Miss Trend anywhere?" she asked.

Amethyst looked up at her not recognizing the model, then just motioned her head towards the curtain and turned away. With a scoff, the pony walked off behind the curtain. Almost immediately, Amethyst heard Chic Trend nearly squeal, gushing over the model and showering her with attention.

Her throat twisted into a knot and tightened, and an uncomfortable warmth was building behind her eyes as she stared at the projection drape and heard everything Chic was saying to the model. Amethyst looked away, only to spy a group of well-dressed ponies all staring at her, clearly noting her upset state. With eye rolls and scoffs, they went back to their conversation, leaving Amethyst feeling like she was completely alone. Her throat continued to burn as she walked as far as she could from the runway, leaning back against the wall of a building.

"Are these really the ponies I have to deal with if I go into fashion design?" Amethyst muttered to herself, biting her lip in quiet desperation. "J-just unappreciative jerks? I-Is this what I even want to—"

She went quiet as her ears perked up, hearing a quiet voice coming from nearby. Looking around, Amethyst walked over to a small alleyway to her right, the voice becoming clearer as she neared.

"—top considering, and just do whatever comes to mind," said a pony. Amethyst slowly peeked around the corner and saw a single pony standing in the alley. All she could tell from the distance was that the pony was wearing a long black coat, and was just slinging a duffel bag over her back. "I just hope that something actually does come to mind," the pony continued to mutter. Amethyst's curiosity got the better of her and she approached.

At that moment, the pony quickly spun around, and Amethyst Star found herself face-to-face with Flanksy.

Octavia and Amethyst Star stared at each other, each too stunned to speak. Octavia recognized the pony immediately, but with her disguise on, she had no idea if Amethyst recognized her. She couldn't think of anything to say, nor did she want to say anything, so the tense silence continued until Amethyst broke it.

"You're Flanksy, aren't you?" she asked after some hesitation. Octavia slowly nodded her head, putting her duffel bag down on the ground. Amethyst looked over her shoulder, back at the runway, where more and more ponies were starting to gather. "You're going to go after Miss Trend's show, aren't you," She asked, and again Octavia nodded.

Amethyst sighed, turning back to the masked mare in front of her. "I mean, I suppose there's nothing I can do to stop you. But..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "If you don't mind me asking, what was your plan?"

Octavia paused. She didn't want to talk, still nervous that Amethyst would recognize her voice from the previous day. Instead, she slowly raised a hoof and pointed in the distance. Amethyst followed her hoof towards the wall of the flower shop.

"Huh. Cool," Amethyst said quietly, turning back to Octavia. "I bet if you go over there, a bunch of ponies are gonna break away from the show to watch you."

The sentence petered out into an awkward silence, as Amethyst scuffed at the ground. Octavia didn't know what to do, so she waited for Amethyst to start speaking again. When the moment didn't come, she slowly pulled the duffel bag back up and stepped around Amethyst. She had only made it a few steps when Amethyst panicked, closing her eyes tight.

"Ithinkwhatyou'redoingisamazing!!" she sputtered.

Octavia came to a halt upon hearing the rapid-fire words. She turned around to look at Amethyst, putting the bag down again as Amethyst opened one eye and looked back at her.

Amethyst sighed. "I'm sure you're not doing this for accolades, but I've never seen anything like this before," Amethyst continued, looking out at the show. "I've always wanted to do something creative with my life, and I guess I sorta settled into fashion because that's what Canterlot is all about, ya know? But the stuff you've done is totally new. Just those three pieces are so different, so fresh, so... so real! It's way more interesting than anything I've ever seen made out of cloth." Amethyst paused, then blushed a bit and dipped her head. "Sorry if I'm acting all weird, but I didn't think I would get a chance to meet you pony-to-pony. So, uh, yeah. This stuff you're doing is awesome, and I can't wait to see what you do next."

Octavia was unsure of how to respond. She had been complimented for her music plenty of times in the past, but never once at a level like this. Completely lost as to what she could possibly say or do, Octavia instead just nodded appreciatively, looked out of the alley. Almost everypony was standing around the runway by now, and a voice was announcing that the show would begin in about ten minutes. Octavia looked out towards the wall in the distance, when Amethyst spoke again.

"By the way, I'm really, really sorry that I had to cover up the statue,” Amethyst quietly said.

Octavia froze. It felt like somepony had just jabbed a knife straight into her heart and given it a twist. Wide-eyed, she looked back at the runway, and it finally clicked for her exactly what had felt off about the scene: the colorful blanket. It wasn't just a display; it had been draped over the still-green statue of Celestia.

Her work had been censored.

Without even realizing it, Octavia began to quiver. She turned around, and Amethyst instinctively took a step backwards, stunned at the sudden anger radiating off of her. Octavia struggled to keep quiet, then took a step forward and thrust hoof back to point to the statue. Amethyst stepped further back, holding her hoof out.

"I-I'm so sorry! Miss Trend kept going on and on about how it was 'disgusting' and 'fake,' and she absolutely demanded I do it! It was my last day, and I was trying to do everything for her so she'd write me a recommendation!" she quickly said, before her face fell and she looked down at the ground. "Not that it mattered anyway…"

Octavia turned back to the runway, unable to take her eyes of the colorful tapestry that covered the statue. Her legs were buckling and her teeth were clenched behind her face mask. She instinctively reached down and unzipped her bag, wrapping her hoof around the first can of paint she felt. The wall of the flower shop was completely put out of her mind, and she scanned the area, looking for a wall closer to the runway, where everypony—especially Chic Trend—would be able to see it. Amethyst watched as her head shot back and forth, and she ended up looking at the scene as well. Her eyes fell on the large projection backdrop of the runway, and she stared at it for a few moments in silence.

"Um..." she quietly stammered. Octavia looked back at Amethyst, who was glancing around nervously, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"So, uh, do you wanna know a secret? Not many ponies outside of the fashion industry know this..." Amethyst said quietly, her nervous expression being betrayed by her inability to hide a slight smirk. "All those drapes, the projection screen, and other stuff? Miss Trend doesn't own them. They're technically property of the city; she just borrows them. That means that they're under the same rights as the buildings or, say…" Amethyst paused, and the smirk on her face grew a little, "that statue."

Octavia stared at her, then turned back and looked at the projection backdrop. What was once just a white silk screen now seemed so very tantalizing to Octavia, practically beckoning for her. Gazing out over the ponies all sitting and waiting for the show to begin, all she could see was their over-elaborate, fancy clothing, and in the back of her mind, the inspiration she had been looking for finally struck. She dropped down and reached into her duffel bag, pulling out a single can of black paint and jamming it in her pocket. After zipping the bag back up and tossing it further into the alley, she turned to Amethyst and nodded.

Amethyst couldn't see all of her face, but she just had a feeling that Flanksy was smiling. "Anyway, I should probably get going. I'm guessing you don't really want anypony to be watching you right now, plus Miss Trend wants me to read the introduction to the show," Amethyst said. "Good luck, and thanks again." She started to trot off, but halfway out of the alley, she paused and looked back for a moment.

"By the way, I love your coat!"

With a smile and a wave, Amethyst turned and walked back towards the runway. Octavia stood still; that last sentence had sounded familiar to her, and the lingering question remained as to whether Amethyst actually recognized her behind the mask. But the second she looked back at the projection screen, the question dissolved from her head and she reached into her pocket, wrapping her hoof around the can of paint.

As the lights dimmed, Octavia ran along the wall, making sure she kept out of sight of the assembled ponies—not that they were paying attention to anything but the runway. She carefully snuck back until she could see behind the projection curtain, just in time to see Chic Trend ushering a group of models away from the screen and towards a curtained-off area on the side.

"In a few minutes the projector is going to turn on; I need all of you out of here!" she quietly hissed, just barely loud enough for Octavia to hear. "I'm not about to let this show be ruined by shadow puppets."

After she shooed all the ponies out of the area, Amethyst Star walked to the front of the runway to polite applause, a single spotlight lighting her and keeping the entire rest of the area in pitch black. A small stack of notecards floated next to her, and she awkwardly cleared her throat before reading from them.

"'Once in a century, a pony comes along willing to challenge the very paradigm of fashion itself. A pony who is able to steer the direction of convention into a new state of stylish transcendence. A pony who—'" Amethyst paused, flipping through the cards. "Yeesh, how many pages of this did she write..." she muttered, before surreptitiously flipping a few cards over and continuing. "'Chic Trend has dared to redefine the very idea of winter fashion with this line. By actively embracing the frigidness of winter rather than trying to fight it, Chic Trend has...'"

As Amethyst continued the long-winded introduction, Octavia snuck behind the projection screen. She stared up at the darkened screen, and with a wry smile, reached into her pocket and pulled out the can of spray paint. As she grabbed a small stool and put it in front of the screen, her heart started pounding and her breathing quickened. But unlike the anxiety she had felt the first night, her mind was perfectly calm and collected. With a smile, she stretched her hoof out and shook the can of spray paint.

"Now, let's see if I can remember how to write backwards..."

"'—Harkening back to the story of Hearth's Warming Eve, and how the ponies left behind survived the cold transition period with only the clothes on their backs.'" Amethyst had finally reached the last card Chic Trend had given her, and was fighting every urge in her body to not throw it down and storm off, but she maintained her best posture and continued. "Fillies and gentlecolts, it is my privilege and distinct honor to present to you the hottest fashionista in all of Canterlot: Miss Chic Trend.'"

The crowd erupted into applause as Chic Trend strutted out, her head held high. Amethyst walked by her and smiled, but she was utterly ignored as Trend passed her and posed in the center of the runway spotlight.

Chic loudly cleared her throat. "Icicles hanging off a frozen balcony. Trees, barren of their fruit and leaves. The frigid chill of a winter's blizzard. Typically, these images of winter make one want to bundle up beneath blankets and coats, but I have seen beyond the temperature to the potential. Tonight, I am proud to introduce to you my new line of dresses and outfits designed specifically for the pony who wants to look their best even on the coldest day of the year. I give to you my new line, SSZ: Style Sub-Zero."

With more applause, Chic walked to the side of the stage as several models walked out. Each one was outfitted with a different style dress, most of which featured patterns of snowflakes, ice, and other cold imagery. When five of them had lined up on the top of the runway, the lights all turned blue, and the projection screen lit up.

Chic watched from the side as the first pony strutted down the runway. She gazed out over the crowd, but raised an eyebrow when she noticed that many of the ponies didn't seem to be paying attention to the dresses. Some of them were mumbling to each other, others looked positively mortified, but most of them were pointing up at the projection screen. Confused, she took a few steps forward and turned to look at the screen, and a chill shot through her body the second she saw it.

The screen was showing a backdrop that she had set up of a snow-covered forest, snowflakes slowly floating down from the top and the trees gently swaying in the wind. But along the top half of the screen, three words had been painted on in black, jagged letters.

"FASHION IS FAKE"

Chic stood completely still, eyes wide in shock at the words as the fifth pony began her walk down the runway, the other four now awkwardly shifting their gaze between each other and the backdrop. She finally tore her terrified gaze away from the backdrop, over to the side of the stage, where two ponies were standing: Amethyst Star, who was staring at the letters with almost childlike wonder, and Fleur de Lis, who had her hoof over her mouth.

"Fleur!" Chic whispered just barely loud enough to be heard over the music, rushing over to her star model. As she got close, she came to a halt as she stared at Fleur; she didn't have her hoof over her mouth in shock or embarrassment, but rather to stifle her giggling. "Fleur, I am so sorry for this. I have no idea what could have possibly happened here..."

Fleur made a motion to the corner of the screen. Chic followed Fleur's gesture, and was met with a large "F" painted in the corner. "Seems to me like Flanksy took it upon herself to make a statement tonight as well," Fleur said with a smile. A sudden swell in the music made Fleur stretch her neck out. "That's my cue, is it not?"

Upon hearing the name, Chic's face began to shake with rage. "That disgusting, vile... Fleur, let me turn the projector off, please don't—"

"Oh, don't worry Chic," Fleur calmly said, stepping forward. "It's rather harmless in the end. The show must go on, after all."

Before Chic could stop her, Fleur stepped onto the front of the main stage. Instantly, all eyes were on her as she turned around, looking up at the words painted on the screen. With a slight shrug and a smirk, she did a quick twirl, billowing the blue dress she wore out in all directions and flipping her hair back behind her head. Cameras started to flash as she confidently strutted down the runway, pausing to show off the dress and smile, looking back occasionally at the words on the screen.

Chic Trend was pacing back and forth, seething. "This cannot be happening. This cannot possibly be happening. I have been planning this for months, and some stuck-up wannabe artist decides to ruin it. If that Flanksy were here I swear I would tie one of these dresses around her neck and—" Chic stopped when she saw Amethyst now staring out into the audience, a smile on her face. "Just what are you so happy about, Amethyst?!" Chic said, getting right in the face of her assistant. With her smile only growing, Amethyst pointed forward, and Chic looked out into the crowd, her face falling even further once she saw what Amethyst was pointing to.

The rug that had been the center point of the end of the runway was now several yards away, laying bundled up against a wall. Now, the garish green statue of Celestia that Chic had wanted gone was displayed in all its glory for all to see. Chic slammed her mouth shut, her teeth pushing into each other hard enough to concern even the most competent dentist.

"Take a note, Amethyst," she seethed. "I want you to turn off the projector, cover the statue back up, and—"

"Sorry, Miss Trend," Amethyst chirped. "I, uh, don't work for you any more. Today was my last day, remember?"

Chic turned to look at Amethyst, stunned, as if she was hearing the information for the first time. "What?!"

Amethyst smiled and looked up at her former boss. "I just want to thank you for the experience in the industry for the past six months. I'll be honest, I dunno if I wanna keep pursuing fashion. But thanks for the experience! Good luck with the rest of the show tonight; seems like the crowd is into it."

With an innocent nod, Amethyst turned and happily trotted off. Chic stared after her, her jaw hanging open, then slowly turned back to the runway. Fleur de Lis was just leaving the runway as the next group of models walked from the back. The crowd applauded them, but their focus remained on the words scrawled against the backdrop.

"You did what?"

Vinyl Scratch had a grin on her face so wide it was threatening to split her head in half. She excitedly leaned forward in front of Octavia, who was playing a calming tune on her cello, her face relaxed in a content smile.

"Exactly how I described it, Vinyl."

"That's awesome! Boy, you're really embracing this, aren't you?"

Octavia blushed slightly. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"This is seriously, seriously cool, Tavi," Vinyl said, looking over at the disguise that hung in Octavia's closet. "So, did you get that feeling again? That peaceful one you were talking about?"

The music paused as Octavia looked over at her coat hanging up. "Actually, it was more than that, Vinyl. My heart was pounding, and yet I felt completely calm. It was like a…" Octavia stopped playing for a moment, thinking back to when she was first painting the words on the screen. "An adrenaline rush. To do something like this in front of such a crowd, on such a stage? I want to chase that feeling, Vinyl." She resumed playing, gazing almost longingly at the can of paint on sitting on her desk. "I'm thankful that that pony told me about the projection screen being owned by the city. That way, I could—"

"Wait, what pony?" Vinyl asked, her head tilted to one side. "You didn't mention anything about another pony."

"Oh, Chic Trend's personal assistant confronted me after I had put on my attire," Octavia replied. "She didn't exactly seem to be the biggest fan of Chic, though. She was the one who told me about the curtains. She also was quite complimentary to me, too. Apparently she thinks what I've been doing is amazing, and has stood out to her far more than anything fashion ever did."

Vinyl's smile somehow grew, and she leaned in close to Octavia. "Ooooooh... Looks like somepony's got a fangirl!"

"Hardly, she's just a fan."

Vinyl laughed, jumping back and forth on her hooves. "Flanksy has a faaaangirl, Flanksy has a faaaangirl!"

"Keep it up, and I'll start referring to your music as 'wubs.'"

Vinyl chuckled and stopped bouncing. "Fine, let’s call it a truce. But still, Tavi, I hope you're really proud of that. There's somepony out there who has clearly been positively affected by your work. It sounds like she sees you as an inspiration!"

Octavia looked out the window, smiling a bit. "No, no. She's just an enthusiastic fan, that's all. I would scarcely believe that she's been inspired by anything I've done."

The door to a darkened apartment swung open, and Amethyst Star trotted inside carrying a large bag in her mouth. She set the bag down and her horn glowed, shooting out a beam of magic at two lanterns in the corner of her room. With the lanterns lit, the apartment was illuminated just enough to stave off complete darkness; many of the walls were covered in sketches of unique and colorful outfits, and several mannequins sporting half-finished dresses took up one corner of the room. A light-grey cat poked its head out from behind a couch, then walked up and did a figure-eight around the pony's front legs. Amethyst responded by crouching down and scratching behind the cat's ear.

"Hello, Phi," she said, smiling. "Sorry I'm late, I had to make a stop on the way home."

The cat wandered back to the couch and curled up on a pillow as Amethyst walked to the mannequins at the side of the room. She carefully pushed them aside, searching behind for something, then coming out of the area with a frown.

"Hmmmm, I could have sworn I still had it..." she mumbled, walking over to her closet and digging through it. "Ha! Found you!" she finally shouted, and her horn glowed once again. She trotted out of the closet with a smile, a large easel floating behind her. The easel unfolded and dropped down in front of a chair next to a doorway to a small balcony, and Amethyst sat down, blowing dust off of it.

"Gonna be up late tonight, Phi," Amethyst said as the bag floated up into the air, over towards her. "I kinda want to try something new, creatively speaking—not fashion related. I got hit with a strong dose of inspiration today, and I might end up getting rid of some of these dresses, so you won’t have as much string to play with. Sorry.”

The cat only responded by lazily pawing at the air, then resting her head back down on the pillow. Amethyst reached down into the bag and pulled out a white canvas, propping it up on the easel. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the canvas for a minute in silence, then closed her eyes. The first image that popped into her mind was one that she's pretty sure she's the only pony who saw: Flanksy tearing the blanket off of Celestia's statue. From her perspective, the garish green of the statue instead made Amethyst focus behind it, on the starry night sky of Canterlot. The contrast between that and the statue is what stood out to her; she had never seen such a dramatic disparity before, and the image had been stuck in her mind since she first saw it.

Opening her eyes again, Amethyst reached into the bag and pulled out a small can of dark blue paint along with a thin paint brush. She pried the can open and placed it on a nearby shelf, then looked out the window to the balcony, out at the clear Canterlot night sky. After a few moments, she dunked the brush into the can of paint, removing it and staring at it. It was nothing she hadn't seen before—she had done painting back in kindergarten and early schooling, but it looked completely new and wondrous to her tonight.

Slowly, she put the brush on the canvas. As she watched a few small droplets of blue splash off the sides of the brush and dot the canvas, she just stared at it with shimmering eyes. She couldn't explain it—she couldn't even find the right word for it—but staring at the dot, Amethyst felt something wash over her. It was a sense of belonging, of attachment; it was almost epiphanic.

With a smile on her face, Amethyst drew the first stroke against the canvas, leaving a path of navy blue that almost seemed to sparkle even in the darkened apartment.

End of Chapter 5: Runway Star

Special Thanks: Xenia OnaProps, Worsty Galore, Plenty O'Raz, Mary WardeNight

6. Cat and Mouse

Octavia dropped her duffel bag down on the ground, a multitude of cans clattering about within, and she stared up at the pristine white wall in front of her. She had contemplated spraying this very same wall during Chic Trend's show a few days ago, before Chic’s personal assistant had given her some valuable information. But in the days following, the wall remained a tantalizing tease to her. She hadn't intended to do anything, yet she couldn't stop thinking about—and Vinyl hadn't been very subtle in reminding her—how exhilarating it had been to simply go out and start painting.

She opened up her bag and grabbed the first can she could get her hoof around. Out of the corner of her eye, Octavia could see a bit of a crowd gathering behind her; she had come to expect that and paid them no mind. Instead, she just popped the top off of the can and began to spray. With no pattern in mind, she lost herself in her work as her hoof wandered back and forth along the wall.

After a few minutes passed, she took a few steps back to admire her work, and she smiled at the purple swirls that snaked around the wall. "Pretty," Octavia said to herself, then tossed the can into the duffel bag and dug through it for a new color. “Though not even close to complete."

She wrapped her hoof around a can of yellow paint and raised her head, but paused to look out at the crowd that had congregated around her. She had expected to see the reaction she had gotten previously: a mix of some shocked ponies and some who found her work interesting. But this time she was surprised to see the majority of ponies giving looks of curiosity. None of them seemed too off-put or offended by what she was doing, more just intrigued and waiting to see what she would do next. A bemused smile crossed Octavia's face as she looked at them, then she froze momentarily when she saw a pony in the far back of the crowd with a neon blue mane, a massive pair of purple sunglasses, and one of the widest smiles she had ever seen.

It was the first time that Vinyl had actually come out to watch her at work, and Octavia stared at her for a few moments. She thought back to the brief conversation they had had earlier in the day, just before she left the apartment. Specifically, one thing that Vinyl had said at the end of their talk.

"I’m telling you: the kind of adrenaline rush you got at that fashion show didn't just come from what you were doing. It came from why you were doing it."

Octavia's grip on the yellow can tightened and she nodded. The crowd didn't seem to notice, but in the back, Vinyl responded with a nod herself. Octavia turned back around and pressed down on the nozzle, making a long yellow swirl along the bottom of the wall. The minutes ticked by as she continued spraying, the world around her melting away as she became completely immersed in the colorful tapestry she was creating.

An hour later, the series of swirls and patterns covered the wall from side to side, as high as her hooves could reach. Octavia took a long, content breath, looking at her work; she couldn't remember the last time she had felt the level of satisfaction she was feeling at that moment. She tossed the can back into her bag and started to zip it up when she paused and looked back over the wall one last time.

"Hmmmm... Something’s missing..."

She opened the bag up again and pulled out a black can. She shook it and raised it up to the corner of the mural, when a voice from behind interrupted her.

"Well, well, well,” the voice mocked. “We finally meet face-to-face, Miss Flanksy."

Octavia froze. She closed her eyes, shaking her head and muttering under her breath, "Please, no. Not him. Anypony but him..."

Octavia lowered the can and turned around. When she opened her eyes, the sight before her immediately ruined her mood. Flanked on either side by his guards, Prince Blueblood stood, his head held high as he stared down at her with a cocksure smirk on his face. Far behind him, Vinyl's hoof was pressed into her face and her eyes were wide as Blueblood examined the wall, then looked back at Octavia.

"From what I can gather, while I have been in Mareami, you have been quite active," Blueblood said, stretching his neck out. "A Gala poster, Chic Trend's show, and now this..." He shook his head, turning to the side and taking a few steps away. "I was under the impression you were merely some angsty teenager looking to blow off some steam. But it appears that this is not the case." Blueblood whipped around and glared at Octavia. "You aren't going to be stopping this any time soon, are you?"

The frustration that Octavia had been feeling gave way to annoyance. Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. Blueblood looked back up at the multicolor mural on the wall.

"I didn't appreciate those horrific, unflattering pictures of myself that you had strewn all about Canterlot. I am quite used to ponies not liking me," Blueblood continued. He eventually looked away from the wall and back down to Octavia, his eyes narrowing further as he leaned directly into her face. "But,” he growled, “what I am not used to is a pony blatantly disrespecting Canterlot this way."

An intense silence filled the air as Blueblood and Octavia stared at each other, both their brows furrowed in anger. Neither one said anything—Octavia not willing to budge an inch no matter how close Blueblood leaned into her. The crowd began to murmur, and in the far back, Vinyl stared in awe at the confrontation taking place.

Finally, Blueblood stepped back. "No matter what ponies think of me or my attitude, I have always acted in the best interest of Canterlot. I want you to keep that in mind, Flanksy," he said, turning away.

With a nod of his head, Blueblood walked back through the crowd, his guards right behind him. Only when he was out of sight did Octavia realize just how hard her teeth were clenched. She closed her eyes and took a long breath to calm herself down, then looked back at the mural behind her. With frustration still radiating off of her, she grasped the black can in her hoof once again and shook it violently, then popped the top off and sprayed three words on top of her mural: "THIS IS REAL" Finishing by punctuating the corner of the mural with a large black "F," Octavia jammed the black can back into her bag and stormed off.

"I despise that stallion. I really, really do."

Octavia was grumbling to herself as she and Vinyl walked through Canterlot back towards their apartment. Vinyl was floating a large shopping bag between them, overflowing with cloth and accessories—and Octavia's Flanksy gear hidden at the bottom. Octavia glanced backward, as if expecting Blueblood to be there again, but all that was there were the streets of Canterlot, with a few ponies heading in the other direction, no doubt having heard that Flanksy had tagged another wall. She turned back towards the road, continuing to speak.

"I cannot believe he would say those things. 'Acting in the best interest of Canterlot?' That's his rationale? This is just anger over being embarrassed, nothing more!"

"Yeah, that's typical Prince Dipstick for you," Vinyl said with a roll of her eyes. "Should have expected this, though. Blueblood wasn't about to just let something like that go, even after his vacation."

"It doesn't matter how expected it was, Vinyl,” Octavia said. “He is so damned full of himself, yet acts as if what he's doing has some greater goal? He really is the most shameful pony in all of Canterlot."

The two continued walking, Octavia not speaking but clearly still frustrated over the whole incident. Vinyl remained quiet, trying to put her hoof on a thought that seemed just out of reach. When they finally returned to the apartment, Octavia immediately grabbed a sketch pad and sat down on the couch.

Vinyl sat next to her, staying quiet for a few more moments before speaking. "Was it just me, or did Blueblood seem, well, different?"

Octavia blinked, looking up from the sketch pad. "What do you mean?"

"I can't exactly put my hoof on it. He just looked more, I dunno, determined? He was still a total jerk, but usually he’s just a jerk for no reason. But this time he actually seemed to have something on his mind, like an actual cause for once."

Octavia leaned back on the couch, staring at the sketch pad and contemplating the statement. She thought back to just half an hour ago, when she and Blueblood had literally been nose-to-nose, attempting to stare down the other. Blueblood had been the one to break away from the face-off first, but he had gotten the last word in, and now that Octavia thought about it, it really did stand out.

"No matter what ponies think of me or my attitude, I am going to be acting in the best interest of Canterlot."

The sentence bounced around in Octavia's head. Something was definitely different about it, but it wasn't what he had said—it was just standard Blueblood hubris—it was the way he had said it. The more Octavia thought about it, the more she realized that he had said the sentence without his usual swagger or arrogance. Instead, it had actually felt sincere, something that was quite a rarity from Blueblood.

"I suppose you’re right. He certainly did seem more determined than usual…" Octavia mulled, staring out the window. "But it hardly matters; Blueblood is still Blueblood. I don't plan on changing anything I'm going to do just because he's more sincere about being a jerk."

Vinyl tilted her head as Octavia went back to the sketch pad. "Changing anything?" she said, and then smiled. "Oooooh... Do you think Blueblood is gonna try and do something about it?"

Octavia could only respond with a laugh. "Vinyl, I have lived in Canterlot my whole life, and have become familiar with how Blueblood ‘works,’ if you can even call it that. Blueblood has always spoken very big, but he has rarely ever acted on his words. I know exactly how this is going to play out: as soon as he is confronted again, he will give the same speech that he did today. He will go on and on about wanting to ‘defend Canterlot,’ pretending that is his justification for acting like a complete jerk. Then, when the cards are down and ponies are watching him, he'll have some dramatic line about not wanting to get his hooves dirty and he'll walk off, his head held high. That's it: he won't actually lift a hoof to do anything."

She turned back to her sketch pad, and Vinyl sat down next to her. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I can't remember the last time Blueblood actually did anything in Canterlot. He mostly just walks around looking down on everypony around him."

"Precisely! He's only ever concerned with himself," Octavia said. Her hoof came to a halt over the sketch pad, and she smiled. "Well, if he's so in love with his own visage, let's see how he'll like what I do to it tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Prince Blueblood's royal guards stood outside the door to his bedroom, waiting stoically for the prince to wake up. They had gotten used to the prince being a pony of strict habit, and were patiently waiting the final half-hour before the prince would emerge from the room to go on his morning stroll through Canterlot. The sound of the door unlocking early startled all four of the guards, and Blueblood opened it, his head held high as he stepped out.

"Good morning, gentlecolts. Come inside. We have to talk."

Blueblood stepped back into the room, leaving the guards to glance in confusion at each other before following the order. They stood on one side of a table as Blueblood walked around it, sipping from a cup of coffee floating in front of him.

"I don't believe it is too much of a stretch to assume that Flanksy will be active today in some way. I'd also say it's very likely that I am her target, given my return to Canterlot. Wouldn’t you all agree?"

The guards nodded in agreement. Blueblood stood up and went over to the window, glancing out at the cityscape before him. He took another long sip of the coffee before the mug floated behind him and hovered a few inches above the table, his eyes never leaving the window. "I'm quite used to being disrespected and insulted, gentlecolts. I have a thick coat and I can take it better than any pony in Canterlot. I can tolerate being the butt of jokes quite often..."

Blueblood quieted himself, shaking his head. He whirled around to stare at the guards, fury in his eyes, and the coffee cup slammed down on the table, causing even the stoic guards to jump in surprise.

"But what I cannot tolerate,” he bellowed, “is what this miserable excuse for an artist is doing to Canterlot! As far as I am concerned, Flanksy's acts are as much of an attack on this city as any invasion that Canterlot has fought off in the past. I am not going to stand by and let this happen!"

Blueblood snorted in anger, then sat down behind the table. The guards again looked at each other before one of them stepped forward.

"Well, sir, what would you like us to do?" the guard asked.

"I want you to patrol Canterlot today; be on the lookout for Flanksy. If she does appear, she will likely be surrounded by a significant crowd, so investigate any groups of ponies. If you do find Flanksy, I want you to alert me immediately. If she is going to make a statement, I will be making a statement right back at her."

The first guard spoke while the three guards in back nodded their heads. "Yes, sir! I presume that if you're busy at the spa or the market, we should interrupt, or—"

Blueblood silenced the guard with a shake of his head. "I already cancelled my schedule for the day. In fact, I will be out patrolling Canterlot as well. If you find her, send me a signal."

They looked amongst themselves with shocked eyes, each with the same thing on their mind but unsure of how to articulate it. Finally, one guard broke the silence.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Blueblood sipped his coffee, nodding. "Go ahead, Ambrose."

"At the risk of sounding rude... are you feeling alright?"

With a raise of one eyebrow, Blueblood set the coffee down. "What kind of question is that?"

"Well, I haven't seen you acting this dedicated in quite some time. I can't remember the last time you asked us to do anything of this nature, much less participated in a patrol yourself. It just seems strange to me is all. Did something happen in Mareami?"

Blueblood set the coffee down, staring straight ahead before standing up and beckoning the guards over to the window. They joined him, staring out at Canterlot.

"Not a single thing happened in Mareami. It was, without a doubt, the most uneventful vacation I've ever had in my life. That is precisely why I am acting like this."

"I don't follow, sir."

Blueblood sighed. "I didn't expect you to. You don't need to worry yourself about why. All you need to know is that right now I have a goal, and I am going to be pursuing it. Do any of you know what that feels like? Can any of you comprehend the kind of rush you get when you have such a clear objective? Do any of you know what it's like to..."

The prince's diatribe decayed to silence as he looked out the window. He let out an angry sigh, then turned back towards the guards. His head was tilted down, his eyes narrowed, and his mouth curled into a half-frown.

"...to be driven?"

The guards stared at Blueblood in awe. Blueblood trotted past them, towards the door.

"Now then, patrol will begin in fifteen minutes. But before that, I want you all to come with me. There is something we need to prepare beforehand, for when we run into Miss Flanksy."

The sound of ponies murmuring had become commonplace to Octavia whenever she was in disguise. After just a few public appearances, she noticed that ponies seemed more and more interested in her and her work. Even as she trotted down the street, she could hear ponies whispering to each other behind her as she wandered Canterlot. When she had gone out in disguise previously, her face mask had hidden an excited smile on her face. After the confrontation she had had with Prince Blueblood the day before, however, the smile was absent from her face, replaced with a purposeful frown.

When she eventually found a large empty wall, Octavia stood in front of it, just staring and contemplating as ponies gathered behind her. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping, smiling as she taped it to the wall for reference. A few of the ponies looking over her shoulder gasped at seeing the picture of Prince Blueblood, but Octavia just smiled, grasping the first can of paint she got her hoof on.

"So, you don't like being embarrassed?" she quietly murmured to herself, looking at the clipping. "Then I doubt you'll like this."

With her eyes shifting back and forth between the wall and the picture, Octavia got to work painting a simulacra of Blueblood's face as large as she could reach. As the details of his face became more and more pronounced, Octavia's frustration melted away, and her frown was replaced with a smile. She was impressed with her own work as she compared her painting to the photograph of Blueblood, a bit amazed that she had been able to create his likeness so well. She thought that if she had merely been there to create a picture of Blueblood, she would have been extremely proud already. With a chuckle, she tossed the black can back and rummaged through her bag.

She had just taken out a red can when she looked up and noticed a royal guard in the distance. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before the guard turned and trotted out of sight. Octavia just shrugged, turned back to her art, and started spraying it with red. A few minutes went by as Octavia added to what she had drawn with horns and glowing red eyes. She had just reached into her bag to retrieve a green can when she saw a hoof come to a stop next to her.

"Hello again, Flanksy."

Octavia paused, gritting her teeth as she recognized the voice. She slowly turned her head up to look at Prince Blueblood as he stared down at her. He turned up to the wall, a cocky smile on his face.

"I figured you'd do something like this,” he said. “You don't strike me as the kind of pony who would ignore a confrontation like we had."

With a sneer now hidden behind her mask, Octavia stood up and glared back at him. The anger he showed yesterday was gone, instead replaced with an unwavering smirk.

He took a step back and waved. "Oh please, by all means, continue! You have a statement to make with your 'art,' don't you, Flanksy? I'm not about to intrude on that. Continue! You can't just leave a crowd waiting! "

Blueblood took a few more steps back and joined the crowd, patiently watching to see what she would do next. Her glare stayed on him for a few more moments before she cautiously turned back to the wall and resumed painting. Every few seconds she would glance back at Blueblood, who was standing still in front of the crowd, staring at her, but occasionally looking behind himself, as if waiting for something. Although she tried to return her attention to her artwork, the presence of Blueblood rattled her focus.

Minutes ticked by as the picture became more and more elaborate. Any time Octavia looked back with a cautious glance, Blueblood's smug face would drive her further into frustration. She just kept painting, and soon enough the drawing of Blueblood's face was nigh-on unrecognizable underneath all the additions she had drawn on, to the point where it didn't resemble a pony so much as it did some kind of horrible demon set loose from Tartarus.

Octavia looked back at the crowd. The reactions she was getting were pretty mixed–half the ponies were in some state of disbelief while half were smiling and chuckling. It was Prince Blueblood's face that stood out to Octavia, however: his pompous grin had finally been broken, now twisted into an expression of absolute repulsion. His reaction alone was enough to make Octavia smile. She went back to her bag, looking for a can of black paint. Before she could get her hoof around it a voice pierced the air again.

"Ah, perfect timing!" Prince Blueblood yelled, stepping to the side. "I was wondering where you all were."

A loud shuffling of hooves made Octavia loosen her grip on the can and she turned to look at the commotion. The crowd had separated and four royal guards pushed through them, carrying a long trough across their backs. They dropped the trough and Blueblood walked up next to it, a smile slowly returning to his face and with a nod his guards went their separate ways. Octavia, frozen by curiosity, simply stared as Blueblood cracked his neck,and his horn glowed a bright gold. Like a slithering serpent, water floated up from the trough and coiled itself into a large ball. Blueblood turned towards the wall, then crouched down, aiming his horn at the large picture.

The realization of what was about to happen hit Octavia like a runaway train. Before she could move, a pulse of light shot out of Blueblood's horn, and the floating ball of water launched forward, slamming into the wall and splashing water everywhere.

Octavia ducked down out of instinct as she was hit with a few splashes. As she opened her eyes, she was almost terrified to look up at the wall. Part of her brain assured her that everything was fine, but as she looked over at Blueblood, she saw an extremely satisfied smile on his face, momentarily numbing her senses. Slowly, she turned back to look at the wall, now soaked with water. The still-wet paint ran together into a brown and red blob, which slid down the wall and stained the ground below it. Octavia stared, a feeling of helplessness the likes of which she hadn't felt since the Gala washing over her.

It was gone. Her work was gone.

She fell onto her back haunches, unable to tear her eyes away from the ugly mess that had been her art only moments ago. Behind her, Blueblood huffed in satisfaction.

"I am acting in the best interest of Canterlot,” he loudly proclaimed. “A large, unflattering picture of myself is hardly going to help Canterlot in any way. Some ponies told me that there is no law against painting on walls. That is true, but there is also no law against washing said walls clean of the filth painted on them.” He turned his attention back to Octavia. “If you plan on insulting me with your so-called ‘art’ again, I will be more than happy to repeat the process. Am I making myself clear?" he said, finishing with a chortling snort.

Octavia barely heard him; her ears were ringing, her face was burning hot, and her hooves were trembling. The only thing she was able to grasp was the cruel snort at the end of his speech; it pierced through her confusion, and she saw red. Her head whipped around to face the prince, and she saw his expression suddenly turn from smug to worried. Without thinking, she advanced on him, hunched down in anger.

Blueblood waved his hoof forward, shaking his head. "Stay back, you!" he shouted. "If you get any closer, I will not hesitate to have you arrested! I have that authority, you know!"

His words did nothing to deter her. Although she knew that there was nothing she could do, she didn't care. She stepped forward until she was nose-to-nose with him, just like the day before. This time, however, Blueblood was absolutely terrified. He glanced back and forth at the crowd, who were all staring at the confrontation in awe, while the royal guards were all looking in uncertainty, waiting for his command. He looked back into the angry eyes of Flanksy and let out a long sigh, realizing that his bluff had been called. He stepped backward and turned away.

"No, I'm not going to arrest you," he said, trying to keep his tone as regal and authoritative as possible. "Quite frankly, it wouldn't accomplish anything. I just wanted you to know that whatever you create, I have the power to remove. Any insult that you throw at me, I will not hesitate to destroy. I refuse to allow you to make a fool out of me. Just remember that, Flanksy... remember that I will be watching."

Vinyl Scratch stood next to the couch, pressing her lips together to keep her mouth shut as best as she could. She stared across the room, half fascinated and half scared, watching as Octavia back and forth, her eyes burning with rage.

"That bastard! That stuck-up, full-of-himself, ignorant rat bastard!!" Octavia tore her coat off and hurled it into the closet where it landed on top of her duffel bag. "He is nothing less than the absolute lowest rung of civilization! He has the nerve to claim he acts in Canterlot's best interest, then destroys my art simply because he found it insulting? He is the most disgusting pony in Canterlot… no, in Equestria! One day that miserable stallion is going to get everything that he has coming, and then some!”

She stopped talking and slowed her pacing down a bit. Vinyl took a deep breath and put on her best smile. "Feeling better?"

Octavia slumped onto the couch. "A little. I still hate that pony."

"I don't blame you, Tavi. Sounds like what he did was totally awful. You have every right to hate him, and every right to vent about it," Vinyl said, and then down next to Octavia, looking around. "I'm glad our walls are thick…"

"I just hate it!” Octavia yelled. “I hate that he walks around as if he is the most important pony in all of Equestria. I hate that stupid, smug grin on his face. I hate how he looks down on every pony he comes in contact with. Whether or not he actually believes he is protecting Canterlot, the point is what he did was horrible!" Octavia sat back, staring upwards. After a few seconds her angry eyes softened and her head slumped downwards. As her lip began to quiver, Vinyl scooted forward and patted her on the back.

"It’s alright, Tavi. I know you’re frustrated.”

"Vinyl… I've never had my work destroyed like that. Chic Trend covered my art for her show. The Gala was simply ignorance. But this? Blueblood purposefully destroyed what I created. It… it hurts, Vinyl. It hurts."

"I can imagine," Vinyl responded. "But don't let it discourage you. Don't just let him win, don't stop–"

"Stop?" Octavia interrupted. "I'm not stopping. I refuse to let that prince win. Things are not over between he and I; I can assure you of that. I am going to continue my art, and if he decides that he wants to step in again…" Octavia went quiet and shook her head. "Well, we'll answer that when we come to it, I suppose."

"Glad to hear it," Vinyl responded. Octavia looked over at her supplies barely sticking out of the closet, and thought back to her face-to-face confrontation with Blueblood not a half hour earlier. She sighed in frustration.

"I won't forgive him for what he did," she quietly said. "Blueblood can hide it all he wants, but I know he doesn't care about Canterlot. He just wants to protect his own smug face."

Prince Blueblood stood before the massive doors in front of him, towering almost to the ceiling. No matter how many times he had entered the room, the doors always intimidated him. His hoof had hovered in front of them for almost a minute before he closed his eyes and finally knocked.

"Come in," a voice rang from inside.

With bated breath, Blueblood opened the door and stepped into the massive castle lounge. He had been here countless times, but the sheer grandeur of it always left him slightly awestruck. The walls were lined with hundreds of books, with more piled on small tables in the far side of the room which were surrounded by couches and elegant, stylish chairs. The entire far wall was one giant window, with a small door leading to a balcony overlooking all of Canterlot. After taking a few seconds to marvel at the room, Blueblood looked across the way and saw Princess Celestia sitting in one of the chairs. A scroll was floating in front of her, and she was carefully writing on it with a long orange quill. Blueblood stepped forward and Celestia momentarily looked up from her scroll, a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Blueblood," she said, nodding. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, auntie, I wanted to speak with you about a most urgent matter," Blueblood responded, stepping a few feet away from Celestia. She looked back to the scroll, signing her name at the bottom.

"I can only assume this has to do with Flanksy?"

Blueblood sighed, nodding his head. "I presume you're already familiar with the situation."

"Blueblood, when somepony out there calls you ignorant, you do tend to monitor the situation," Celestia said. "Not to mention I've heard of your recent exploits from the guards. Now then, what did you want to ask about?"

"I wanted to know what authority I have over her."

Celestia blinked, tilting her head. "Roughly the same amount of authority that, as a prince, you have over any other Canterlot citizen."

"What?!" Blueblood's eyes widened, and he stepped closer to his aunt. "That's it? Even after all she has done?"

"'All she has done?' Blueblood, I understand that you aren't a fan of what she has been doing, but there is such a thing as freedom of expression here in Canterlot and I'm not about to overturn those rights."

"But auntie, there is freedom of expression, and then there are outright attacks!" Blueblood said, his voice raising. "Are you telling me that you really have no problem with being called ignorant?"

There was a long pause. Celestia slowly put the scroll down, then stood up and walked to the window. Blueblood walked next to her and he followed her eyesight down towards Canterlot. In the distance, he could see the statue of Celestia, easily identifiable by its green color which stood out amongst the surrounding area. Celestia sighed.

"Blueblood, do you not think I find it upsetting that somepony in Canterlot finds me ‘ignorant?’ There is somepony out there who abhors me, who sees me not as a ruler but as an oppressor. A pony so passionate about their hatred that they not only stand up to authority, but transcend mere vandalism in a way I have never seen in all my years of rule. I assure you, Blueblood, I am not 'okay' with this." Celestia paused. "But that said, this pony is a citizen of Canterlot nonetheless; she has a right to the freedom of speech and expression. I will not impede that right simply because somepony holds a grudge against me."

"This isn't about you, auntie," Blueblood interrupted. Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think that making this all about yourself is rather selfish, Blu—"

"It is not about me either, it's about Canterlot!"

Celestia went quiet, looking at Blueblood in surprise at the outburst. Blueblood shook his head in anger. "FIanksy doesn't hate you, nor does she hate me: it is the city itself that she despises, and I cannot accept that. I understand that I am not the most likable pony in Equestria; I understand the rights of every citizen. What I do not understand is the blatant disrespect and hate Flanksy feels that taints the very image of Canterlot!"

Blueblood looked out the window, surveying the city as his eyes narrowed into a determined gaze, and he spoke again. "I've spent my whole life living in Canterlot. I was born here; I went to school here; I became a prince here… Canterlot is my life. I love this city more than anything in Equestria." He paused, taking in the sight of the royal city. "My vacation in Mareami was miserable, auntie. It was miserable because all I could think about was getting back to Canterlot, the city that I truly love. To see a pony treating this city with such blatant disrespect? I won't stand for it."

Blueblood shook his head. "Do you believe for one minute that she actually cares about Canterlot? That she's actually thought about your feelings, or my feelings? Or better yet, how about the feelings of Chic Trend, whose show she decided to invade? What about Marble Chisel, who had the most important statue she had ever carved ruined for the sake of making some sort of statement? Flanksy is not thinking about feelings. Flanksy just hates Canterlot, and I am not going to stand for it one moment longer!" He turned to Celestia, speaking quietly. "When was the last time I came to you for help, auntie? When was the last time you saw me care so deeply about or be so committed to something? I am not here to ask you if I can do something about this. I am here to tell you I will be doing something about this, and to ask how far I can go."

Celestia was silent, staring at Blueblood. She slowly looked back out at Canterlot, staying quiet while she contemplated what he had said. Finally, she spoke.

"Obviously, physicality is out of the question. You may not make an arrest unless an official royal order is issued by me. I would tell you to act in a way that doesn't endanger anypony in Canterlot, but I believe you already have that in mind. As far as her art goes, I would prefer that you not make judgement on taking any of her art down without public opinion. There are many ponies out there who are enjoying her work, after all.”

Blueblood suppressed the urge to grit his teeth and nodded. "I understand."

"In addition,” Celestia continued, “You will respect her right to privacy. Simply put, I do not want you to try to reveal her true identity. Anything else, however, I leave to your discretion.”

Blueblood bowed his head deeply. "Thank you, Celestia."

With that, Blueblood turned and trotted out the door, his head held high and a confident smile on his face. Celestia resumed her position at the table and picked up another scroll. A quill hovered next to her and she signed her name, but her eyes wandered over to the window again. She gazed out over Canterlot, the quill and scroll slowly lowering back down to the table as she stood up to get a better view. She looked over the majestic cityscape, but she kept falling back on one image: her green statue in the far distance. She closed her eyes and exhaled a defeated sigh, her head lowering a bit as she turned away.

"What could I possibly have done…?"

End of Chapter 6: Cat and Mouse

Special Thanks: Razlynn, Propl, Worsty G, and Wardenstar

7. The Finishing Touch

Vinyl Scratch slammed her hoof down onto her already damaged alarm clock, silencing the incessant ringing. She sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes as she rolled out of bed and stretched her legs out. Before she could do anything else, she heard some commotion coming from the living room. She slowly nudged her bedroom door open and glanced around, before seeing Octavia with her head in the hall closet and rummaging through the variety of coats there.

"You're up earlier than usual," Vinyl muttered, walking past her and into the kitchen.

"I'm in a good mood today, so I thought I'd get an early start," Octavia chimed, pulling out an elegant white coat and trying it on.

"Glad to hear it! You've been kinda bummed out the past few days, ever since that Blueblood thing."

"Trust me, Vinyl, there is no way I am going to be bummed out today," Octavia said.

Vinyl waited for Octavia to elaborate, but she continued to look through the closet, taking out a fancy scarf and trying it on. "Uh… you gonna go into more detail about that? What's going on today?"

"You haven't heard? Photo Finish is having a press conference today. It starts in an hour or so."

Vinyl's ears perked up into the air. She immediately looked over at the bag of spray paint cans that was sitting in the corner of the closet. Her grin grew as she turned and rushed back into her room, combing her hair.

"I'm coming with!” Vinyl said excitedly, reaching for her sunglasses. “Oh, this is going to be so awesome. So I just gotta ask, what are you planning to do?"

Octavia looked back towards Vinyl's room, one eyebrow raised. "I was planning on standing in the crowd and watching what she has to say."

There was a long pause as Vinyl poked her head around the door, smiling. She waited for more, but Octavia had gone back to the closet, trying on a second scarf. The smile on Vinyl's face turned to a confused frown as she stepped out of her bedroom. "Wait, that's it? I was kinda expecting, ya know, that Flanksy would be making an appearance."

Octavia turned back to Vinyl, wrapping the scarf around her neck. "Vinyl, there are ponies in Canterlot who I dislike, but Photo Finish is not one of them. There's just something about her that sets her apart from all the other ponies in her position. Yes, she is a little eccentric—"

"A little?" Vinyl interrupted. "She literally has ponies carry her around on a platform!"

"Okay, very eccentric. But she has an appreciation for artistry that most ponies in Canterlot lack! She isn't just obsessed with looking good, she actively looks to bring out the beauty in the world around her. That's something I respect! Not to mention she is the most dedicated patron of the arts I have ever met. Do you have any idea how many bits she donated to the Canterlot Museum of Modern Art last year?" Her speech was interrupted when she noticed Vinyl chuckling, and she blushed slightly. "The point is, despite her eccentricities, I respect Photo Finish. I don't think it would be right to embarrass her the way I have other ponies."

"Gosh, Tavi," Vinyl said with a taunting smirk. "I had no idea you were such a squealing fangirl of hers!"

Octavia's blush deepened. "A little, I suppose. The point is, I just want to go to the conference and find out what this big announcement is. All she's said about it is that it will be some form of new project."

"Awesome, let's go find out!" Vinyl said, opening the front door. "But what if she's, like, working with Chic Trend or Hoity Toity, or one of those other fashion jerks?"

There was silence as Octavia thought about it. She responded with a smirk, throwing the scarf around her neck.

"Well, I suppose I’ll just figure that out if it comes to that, won’t I?”

A small stage was set up against the outside wall of Photo Finish's studio, the aptly namedFinish Line. A crowd had already assembled, with the front row consisting entirely of reporters, each one waiting patiently for the big announcement as Octavia and Vinyl arrived. Vinyl stopped at the back of the crowd, but Octavia carefully shimmied her way through the ponies to get as close to the stage as she could. Chuckling, Vinyl joined her, and they waited for the show to begin.

"I honestly had no idea you were such a fan of Photo Finish," Vinyl observed, looking over the stage.

"Any pony who appreciates art the way she does deserves to be respected and admired," Octavia responded. "I had the pleasure of conversing with her a year ago at a performance. She has such a passion for music, paintings, photography... I guess I've never been too open about it, but I am rather fond of what she does."

No sooner had she finished talking than a pony in a styled cloak walked out on stage to set up a microphone. An anticipatory hush fell over the crowd as she cleared her throat.

"Fillies and gentlecolts… Photo Finish,” she said.

The silence gave way to applause as two ponies walked out with a platform on their backs, Photo Finish standing triumphantly on top of it. She leapt from the platform onto the stage, triggering an explosion of pyrotechnics on either side that drew even louder cheers from the assembled ponies. Photo Finish gazed into the distance for a few seconds before she held a hoof up, almost immediately quieting the crowd. She stood in front of the microphone, the tension building as the crowd remained silent, hanging on her. She stared off into the distance for almost a full minute before beginning.

"Three hundred years ago, a group of unicorns discovered ze vay to channel magic out of their horns and into simple systems. This paved ze vay for ze advancement of machinery in Equestria, and vas directly responsible for ze creation of large scale transportation systems. Since then, this period of advancement has come to be known as ze Magi-Technological Revolution."

The ponies in the crowd exchanged looks as Photo Finish again went quiet, staring off into the distance. Octavia and Vinyl glanced at each other, a look of confusion mirrored on both of their faces.

"One thousand years ago, ze princess of ze night vas banished to ze moon,” Photo Finish continued, immediately drawing the crowd’s attention back. “Ze ensuing years saw Princess Celestia rise to full power over all of Equestria. Many ponies did not know how she would handle complete rule, but she ushered in an era of peace and prosperity that has lasted to this day. Scholars now refer to those first few years as ze Celestial Revolution."

She again fell silent, this time met with more murmurs from the crowd. Photo Finish stomped her hoof on the stage, immediately quieting them again.

"Canterlot is no stranger to revolutions, and there is one happening right now. A different kind of revolution. This revolution is not about technology or rule, but instead about challenging ze very notion of art itself. It is a revolution that I, Photo Finish, vish to be a part of." There was a pause for dramatic effect as she looked through the crowd. "And at ze fulcrum of this revolution is ze rogue artist known as Flanksy."

No sooner had she said the name than reporters at the front of the crowd erupted into questions. Vinyl looked to her side and saw Octavia taking slow, deep breaths, her eyes glancing around nervously. Photo Finish raised a hoof and most of the reporters quieted down, but one of them stepped forward.

"Miss Finish, are you saying that you have partnered with Flanksy?" he asked. All the reporters whipped out their notepads and waited in eager anticipation, but Photo Finish shook her head.

"No, I have not. But I shall. I must! My next project is not a ‘what,’ but a ‘who.’ Flanksy is my next project! I have worked in Canterlot my whole life, but never before have I seen such raw, unadulterated art. Such passion, such drive, such... such controversy! I must find out more; I must represent her! Ze next time that she goes out, I shall be there," Photo Finish said, her voice rising in excitement. "Ze vay that I have turned ponies into stars, I vish to do ze same with Flanksy! Mark my words: she vill work with me. That is all I have to say. Press conference over. I go!"

Without another word, Photo Finish abruptly leapt off the stage and back onto her platform. Reporters mobbed around her and yelled questions, but she ignored them as she was carried back into her studio. The reporters eventually scattered, and the crowd went their separate ways. When the crowd had mostly cleared out, Vinyl looked over at her best friend. Octavia had managed to keep her composure during the short press conference, but now beads of sweat were dribbling down her face. She turned and briskly trotted off, Vinyl right behind her.

Barely a second had passed once Vinyl closed the door to the apartment before she excitedly spoke up, making Octavia jump in surprise. "Holy crap, Tavi! She's a huge fan of yours, too! How awesome is that?"

"I… I don't even know what to say!" Octavia fell back on the couch, her eyes sparkling. She looked over at her Flanksy supplies sticking out of the open closet of the main room. "Photo Finish has changed the lives of so many ponies, and now she really wants to help me? She wants to make me her next project? That's the kind of thing that any creative pony dreams of! She's helped photograph and promote so many stars! Fleur de Lis, Sapphire Shores…"

Vinyl nodded in excitement. "Yeah, and remember a few months ago? She even managed to turn one of the Elements of Harmony into a huge fashion star!"

Vinyl opened her mouth to continue, but froze when she saw Octavia's face. Something about it had darkened, the excited spark that had been there since the press conference replaced with an angry scowl. Before Vinyl could say anything, Octavia shook her head and the scowl disappeared.

"You alright?" Vinyl cautiously asked.

"I'm fine. I... I would just prefer if you didn't talk about those ponies," Octavia muttered. "It doesn't matter who else she helped. The point is that she wants to help me."

Vinyl resisted the urge to push Octavia on the matter, smiling instead. "Yeah, you're right. Well, you have a fan in a high place. I bet it feels good!”

"A fan in a high place? This is so much more than that!" Octavia jumped back to her hooves and trotted to her room and emerged with her sketch pad. "I have to start planning right away if I want to impress Photo Finish!"

“Planning? Can’t you just keep doing what you’ve been doing?” Vinyl asked.

“Nonsense!” Octavia quickly retorted. “I have to do something specifically to thrill Photo Finish! I can’t just attack some other pony again, I need to create something extravagant!”

Vinyl shrugged. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it!” She got up and trotted off, looking back at Octavia once before heading to her room.

Octavia furrowed her brow. "Hmmmm. I wonder what kind of art would impress Photo Finish the most," she said to herself as she drew a few patterns on the pad. She finished her first sketch and held the pad out in front of her in silence. She waited for a few seconds, then squinted and held the paper close to her face.

"Hrm... no."

She slowly put the sketch pad down and drew on it again, this time creating an even more intricate, exorbitant design. The minutes ticked by and she finished the second drawing, again holding it in front of herself to take a look. This time as she stared at it, the ticking of the clock across the room rang deafeningly in her ears.

"Huh. Why..." she muttered quietly, staring at the paper with a concerned expression on her face. She quickly shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the confusion that was suddenly plaguing it. "No no, there's no time to think about that. I have to think bigger, I have to paint something to impress Photo Finish!"

Octavia curled up on the corner of the couch and resumed her sketching, again trying to make it even grander than the previous.

Vinyl stuck her head back out around the corner. "You okay, Tavi? You're, erm, talking to yourself."

Octavia momentarily looked up from her pad. "Oh, it's nothing. I’m just... thinking out loud, I guess." She looked back down at the sketch pad and drew again. After a few moments she looked up again to see Vinyl still staring at her. "Something else, Vinyl?"

"Well, it's just that you..." Vinyl trailed off, then sighed and smiled. "Nah, it's nothing," she said, walking away. Vinyl was so happy that Octavia had such a big fan that she didn't want to say or do anything that would bring her down.

She didn't have the heart to tell Octavia that for the first time since everything began, she didn't have a smile on her face while drawing.

"No, no! I vant ambition, not aspiration! Ambition!"

Photo Finish stared out from behind the camera at the pony who stood on the stage in front of her, a black dress with jagged white trim draped over her. The model glanced around awkwardly, then repositioned her right hoof slightly to the right of where it was previously and leaned forward a few inches.

"Yes, perfect!" Photo Finish said with a smile, returning to the camera. "These pictures will be ideal! I assure you, Fuchsia Vein, when Hoity Toity sees these shots, he vill have no choice but to sign you to model his latest line!"

"Thank you, Miss Finish," the pony replied, blushing and turning her head away. "I can't tell you how—"

"Please, be quiet! These shots take absolute concentration!"

Fuchsia Vein went back to her pose, and Photo Finish circled the platform, looking for the perfect angle. She had just lined her camera up when the door to the studio opened. A pony had barely taken a step in when Photo Finish spoke up.

"This had better be important!” Photo Finish said, staring at the stallion. “I am in ze midst of a shoot!"

"I-it is, Miss Finish," the stallion said. "I thought you should know that Flanksy has been painting a large picture on a wall on Mane Street for the past forty-five minutes."

"What?!" Photo Finish yelled. She slammed her hoof on her camera, sending it folding up into a small case. With a flick of her hoof she launched the case into the air, where the stallion leapt forward and caught it. "We must go to her right now! This is my best chance!" Photo Finish ran around the studio, grabbing a number of small cameras and throwing them into a canvas bag.

Fuchsia Vein stepped down from the platform. "Miss Finish, does that mean that you can't continue the photo shoot?"

"I am afraid so. This is an urgent matter I must attend to! Come back in a few hours, ve shall finish then."

As Photo Finish closed up her canvas bag, Fuchsia scuffed her hoof into the ground. "Um... I'm completely busy the rest of the day. Hoity wanted the pictures by tomorrow. But th-that's alright, I suppose I can take the pictures myself, or get a friend to..."

Photo Finish turned to look at Fuchsia Vein for a moment, then shook her head. "Nonsense! Come back at midnight tonight, I vill finish ze photos then."

Fuchsia's face lit up in surprise. "R-really? You'd be willing to do that?!"

"Of course. It is art that is important to you, is it not? I am more than villing to help if I am doing so in ze name of art! But for now, photo shoot over. I go!"

Fuchsia's smile grew, and Photo Finish trotted out of the studio, the stallion right behind her. As they exited, the stallion spoke up.

"Miss Finish, I'm curious... Do you really think that you can sign Flanksy? She seems like a very private pony."

"I don't know, but I must try. I must!" Photo Finish quickly responded. She looked back at her studio, then out towards Canterlot. "There is an artistic renaissance coming. I can feel it in ze air in this city. It is something that I vish to be a part of. So I must try. If I can partner with Flanksy, it will be ze crowning achievement of my career!"

"And if she says no?"

Photo Finish turned her head. "I will decide that when I come to it. For now, I must meet with her face-to-face."

With a flick of her hoof, Octavia put a finishing curl on the bottom corner of the massive, colorful letter "A" on the wall in front of her. She stepped backwards and looked at the "FLA" already drawn on the wall in alternating colors, then dug through her bag for a new one. As she glanced at the crowd staring at her, then back at the letters on the wall, she let out a long sigh, and shook her head.

"Why am I not…" was all she could mumble to herself, not even wanting to finish the sentence. She numbly pulled a can out of the bag and stared at the label for a few seconds, then turned back to the wall and began to spray an "N." The first attempted vertical line wavered back and forth as she sprayed, and Octavia found herself unable to connect herself to her art the way she normally did; every hoof step, every whisper, every single noise that came from behind her seemed to echo deafeningly in her head.

"It is beautiful!"

Octavia's ears perked up as she recognized the voice. Her heart skipped a beat as she turned around to find Photo Finish standing in awe, her jaw hanging open as she stared at the wall. Photo Finish stepped forward, choosing to stand next to Octavia and gaze at the half-finished work.

"To see your art up close and personal like this... such a statement! Ze colors, ze message, it is everything that I could have imagined! It is wunderbar!"

Behind her mask, Octavia had a huge smile on her face as Photo Finish gushed over her work, then leapt behind the camera. Octavia turned back to the wall and continued drawing the next letter as she saw the repeated flashes of the camera illuminate the wall briefly. Her heart was pounding as the sounds of the camera shutter got quicker and quicker behind her, and her spraying became more haphazard, the "N" becoming jagged and abstract.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Photo Finish yelled, moving her camera to take more pictures. "This is new, this is fresh, this is vat Canterlot needs! This is art! This is precisely why I must represent you, Flanksy!” She stepped up to the wall and wrapped her front leg around Octavia's shoulders. She spun her around, holding her other hoof into the air, pointing into the distance. “Together, we shall change all of Canterlot! Together, art shall reign supreme!”

A nervous yet excited lump had formed deep in Octavia’s throat as she struggled to contain her enthusiasm, visibly shaking. With a nod, Photo Finish went back to her camera and Octavia turned to the wall again, putting the finishing touches on the letter “N."

"This is art unlike anything anypony has ever seen in Canterlot," Photo Finish continued, leaping to the side and taking more pictures. "Such a rebellious disregard for decency, all for the sake of rebellion! Such fire!”

Octavia's hoof stalled, her pressure on the nozzle of the can letting up. For a few seconds all she could do was stare at the half-finished name on the wall. She blinked a few times as the world went quiet around her as a single sentence played in her head.

Rebellion... for the sake of rebellion?

She shook her head and mumbled to herself, "No, no. What I'm doing... This is changing Canterlot. There’s more to this than just rebellion, there—"

"Can I have a word with you, Miss Finish?" a voice rang out from behind, silencing Octavia's thoughts. Her hoof instinctively tightened around the can and she sighed in frustration. Slowly she turned around and was met with the sight of Photo Finish still taking pictures, with Prince Blueblood next to her.

"Miss Finish, I am not going to be pleased if you are really looking to sign this scourge on as some sort of 'project,'" Blueblood sneered.

"Why not?" Photo Finish responded, not even looking away from the camera. "I do not believe for a second that you know ze first thing about art." Blueblood snorted in anger, but Photo Finish continued. "Just because you don't like Flanksy doesn't mean that everypony dislikes her. As I am sure you are well aware, she has already developed quite ze following. Why wouldn't I want to represent her?"

"Because what she does is disgusting!" Blueblood quickly retorted. He glared over with a sneer at Octavia, who responded by glaring right back. Blueblood snorted, then returned his attention to Photo Finish. "Did you not just admit that it's rebellion for the sake of rebellion?"

"Yes, I did. Zat is precisely what is so alluring! It is controversial, but it is art!”

Blueblood cracked his neck back and forth. “No, no it is not. It is vandalism! How could you possibly consider this art? Art should be beneficial, yes? Then what is the benefit here to Canterlot?”

The crowd returned its attention to Photo Finish, curious as to how she would respond. She rubbed her chin as she examined the art on the wall. “Well... look at it! It is fresh and new, unseen in Canterlot before. It is unique, it opens your eyes and provokes the uncertain thoughts that art should create!” Prince Blueblood rolled his eyes, and Photo Finish dismissed him with a wave of her hoof. “You wouldn't understand. It is hard to explain, but what Flanksy is doing is more of an artistic statement than anything I have ever seen before!”

Blueblood pursed his lips, “An artistic statement, eh?” He looked over at Octavia, who was digging through her duffel bag. “So in your world, an ‘artistic statement’ involves punishing innocent ponies like myself and Chic Trend?”

Photo Finish scoffed. "Innocent? Firstly, Blueblood, as long as there is authority in ze world, there will be those who disagree with it. I wouldn't consider what she did to the statue of Celestia to be ‘hurling insults,’ more frustrated expression. Second, I have worked with Chic Trend in the past, and I could hardly call her ‘innocent.’ As far as you go... your attitude overrides your innocence."

The assembled ponies chuckled and Octavia smiled behind her mask. She returned her attention to the wall, reaching up to begin writing a massive "K." Behind her, Prince Blueblood glared at her work, then brought his attention to Photo Finish, a smug smile on his face.

"You know what? Let's assume you're right. Let's assume that Celestia did something to upset Flanksy, that Chic Trend deserved to have her show ruined, and that my ‘attitude’ earned me unflattering portrayals around Canterlot. Let's assume all of that. Then tell me, Miss Finish: what exactly did the owner of a toy store do to deserve an attack, and how is Flanksy painting her name on the wall a proper 'punishment?'"

Photo Finish stopped taking pictures and responded to Blueblood, but Octavia didn't hear a word; in fact, she didn't hear anything. Everything was quiet. For the first time since she had arrived, she looked over the wall she was painting on, a wall she had picked arbitrarilly. Now that she took the time to look it over, she realized it was a building housing several shops, the most prominent of which was a toy store. A window off to the side displayed a small wooden marionette and a large hoof-crafted sled, and a sign hanging above it read "Graham's Toy Shop."

Octavia's hoof wavered, then slowly dropped. She stood numbly still, looking at the half-finished tag of her pseudonym that now covered the wall. Behind her, she could only just hear the intensifying argument going on between Photo Finish and Prince Blueblood. Even as they grew louder, Octavia couldn’t make out what they were saying, nor did she care anymore. Only three words were playing through her head.

This isn't right.

She let out a long sigh, then dropped the can in her hoof down into her bag. She lightly slung the bag over her shoulder and turned from the wall, walking past the still arguing Photo Finish and Prince Blueblood. When they noticed her their bickering stopped and Prince Blueblood grinned triumphantly.

"Hrmph. Good riddance," he muttered, then turned back to Photo Finish. “Now then. Miss Finish, if you continue to pursu–”

He didn’t get a chance to finish as Photo Finish pushed past him, stepping towards Octavia. "Flanksy!" Octavia momentarily turned around to look at Photo Finish. "I vant to make you a star! I vant to help you make Canterlot beautiful! Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock sharp, I vant you to be at my studio. There, we shall begin making da magickswith your art!"

Octavia responded with a soft nod, her heart and mind anywhere but on Photo Finish now. She turned away and continued her walk, the sound of Photo Finish's camera clicking again barely registering with her.

A crisp air blew across Canterlot and Octavia responded by tying the scarf tighter around her neck. Without her Flanksy disguise, the cold was sending shivers through her body. She hadn’t taken the time to get proper attire when she stopped at home, only dropping her gear off and leaving again. A part of her wished she had, but another part was too focused elsewhere to really care.

What is wrong with me? she thought to herself, her head drooping. How could I have just done that to some pony's toy shop? Was I really that focused on Photo Finish that I lost sight of why I'm doing this in the first place?

Octavia sat down on a bench and stared emptily down the street. A lump had formed deep in the pit of her stomach, a knot that absolutely refused to go away no matter what she thought about. She looked around Canterlot, and in the far distance she could still see a few ponies who were looking at the wall she had painted earlier, with a half-finished pseudonym written on it. She could only sigh, then lay her head back on the edge of the bench.

"I want to change Canterlot," she mumbled to herself, "but not like that…"

For minutes, Octavia remained motionless on the bench, just staring at the sky. Her brain was full of a thousand thoughts, none of them adding up to a clear answer at first. Every once in a while she would glance over at where her tag was: not be filled with the pride or adrenaline that her earlier work had brought her; only shame.

"There has to be a balance," Octavia said to herself. "I just need to focus again. I need to figure out what I want…"

Octavia got up to leave, but paused as she stared at the gates in front of her, where "Canterlot Park" was written out in large metallic letters. She could hear Photo Finish's voice in her head, something she had said just as Octavia was leaving the scene.

"I vant to help you make Canterlot beautiful!"

"Beautiful," Octavia repeated, stepping forward to get a better look at the park. She had been in it a few times before, but admittedly she had never really taken the time to admire the landscape. The park stretched out in all directions, full of green hills with gently swaying grass and cobblestone paths leading around. Although the trees had no leaves on them now, their jagged branches reached out in all directions, only adding to the marvelous autumn landscape. Yet all she could focus on was how empty it looked. There were only a few ponies in the entire park, and even they seemed to merely be using it as a shortcut across Canterlot.

"Making Canterlot beautiful," she said, a smile appearing on her face for the first time in hours. "Maybe Photo Finish was right. Perhaps with her direction, I can achieve more." She paused, her head drooping again. "Clearly, without direction, I end up…"

She stopped talking as she noticed something to her right at the end of the block. A unicorn sat against the wall, a small canvas and a paintbrush hovering in front of her. The pony seemed utterly content to be working on her latest project, a smile on her face as she washed off her brush and dipped it into another can. Octavia approached, noticing a small, hoof-scrawled sign sitting next to her that read, in pink letters, "Art By Amethyst." As Octavia approached from the side, she glanced at the new painting Amethyst was working on: an image of the front of Canterlot Park drawn with graceful strokes, but with a jagged red mass towering to the top of the canvas.

Octavia smiled at it, then looked up at the artist. Amethyst Star finally tore her own gaze away from the painting she was working on and looked over at Octavia. For a brief moment, Octavia swore she saw Amethyst's eyes widen, but the unicorn's face quickly turned to a smile.

"Oh, hi!" she said with an excited tinge to her voice.

"Oh, hello. I'm just looking at your art, it's really quite interesting," Octavia replied.

Amethyst chuckled. "Thanks! If you see one you like, you can keep it.”

Octavia cocked her head. "Really? For free?"

"Oh, I'm giving all my art away for free. I don't really need the money," Amethyst said, turning back to her painting and switching colors. "I just wanna do what Flanksy is doing, ya know? Just make art and let ponies enjoy it."

Octavia bit her lip and scuffed a hoof into the ground. "Well, there are some ponies out there who don't like what she's doing…"

"Yeah, but that's not really what art is about, I don't think," Amethyst said, looking back up at Octavia with a smile. "I'm thinking that art is more about creating. Sure, there are gonna be detractors, but at the end of the day, it’s just pretty. That’s what art is about, isn’t it? Being pretty? Flanksy seems to understand that! Sure, there will always be ponies out there who don't like it, but the good of the art outweighs the bad."

Amethyst returned to her art, humming as she drew a long black stroke down the red center of the painting. Octavia cocked her head to the side, then looked over at two of the other completed works: a picture of Canterlot Gardens with the sun blackened out, and a full cityscape, with the top of each building redrawn in a new, bright color. A third stood out to Octavia and she picked it up to examine it. It was a picture of the setup for Chic Trend's show, painted dull and lifeless. In the center of it, however, was a massive display of colorful flowers, standing out as the only color in the painting.

"Well, I’m not sure if this will mean much,” Octavia said, “but I certainly find your art both beautiful and inspiring."

Amethyst glanced up at Octavia, her eyes shimmering. "Wow… thanks. That really means a lot, coming fr—" Amethyst cut herself off, glancing around before continuing. "I-It really means a lot."

With a nod, Octavia trotted off, leaving Amethyst to continue painting. As she passed by the entrance to Canterlot Park, she looked through the gates. There was now only one pony in the park, passing by the bubbling fountain with nary a glance at it. Octavia's eyes narrowed and she turned and trotted off with purpose.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Vinyl said, stifling a yawn.

"Yes," Octavia responded, zipping up her duffel bag.

"Alright, but why so early? It's barely seven."

"Well, Photo Finish wanted me there at eight. It'll be important to be there early."

Vinyl lazily nodded her head. "So you're sure about this? Like, sure sure?"

With a sigh, Octavia turned to her friend. "Absolutely sure. The offer that Photo Finish gave me? I just can't not respond to something like that. This isn't something I can think about doing, this is something I absolutely have to do."

"Well… why?"

Octavia smiled. "I have my reasons. I'll tell you when I get back."

Vinyl nodded again. "Well, alright. Better get going if you wanna be there in time. Good luck!”

With her head held up in determination, Octavia pulled her bag around her shoulder and opened the front door of the apartment.

Photo Finish stared intently at the clock, watching it slowly tick away. The two ponies on either side of her exchanged glances before one of them spoke up.

"Miss Finish, I think we should go out there and—"

"No!" Photo Finish snapped, not taking her eyes off the time. "I said eight o'clock, and it vill not be a second sooner! Have patience. At eight, we vill meet Flanksy outside."

The two ponies rolled their eyes. "Miss Finish," one of them began, "what if she doesn’t show? What if she's not interested?"

"I vill come to that answer when, and only when, that happens." She looked back up at the clock, as the second hand finally clicked perfectly vertical. "It is time. Let us go meet her!"

With a burst of energy, Photo Finish jumped forward, flinging the doors of her studio open with a smile on her face. The smile almost instantly disappeared, however, and she looked around the street. The two assistants joined her, seeing that there was no sign of Flanksy anywhere.

"Um, she's not here, Miss Finish," one of them said.

Photo Finish shook her head. "No, no, let us wait," she quickly said, looking around. "Perhaps she is merely running late, or—" She stopped talking when she had turned back to her studio, staring up in shock. The two assistants slowly turned around and looked back at the studio as well, both gasping.

A large sheet was hanging from the roof of the studio, held in place at the top and covering nearly half the building. The sheet only had a few patches of white remaining, as almost the entire thing had been covered by paint. The conglomeration of color started in the center of the sheet and swirled outward in all directions, turning the sheet into a technicolor tapestry full of interlocking patterns and grand luminous spectrums. The entire edge of the sheet was painted with bursts of light and abstract shapes, all drawing attention to both themselves and the colors around them. Across the entire length of the sheet large black letters were written, large enough to be seen even at a distance:

"I AM NOT A PROJECT"

Photo Finish stared at the sheet, her eyes falling down on the "F" painted in the corner over a red and yellow sun. One of the assistants glanced at the other, then sighed and trotted forward, nervously patting her on the back. When she lowered her head, the assistant awkwardly cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, Miss Finish. I know that signing Flanksy was really important to you…" the assistant said. Photo Finish didn't respond, so the assistant turned and nodded at the other. "We'll take the sheet down immediately."

"No!!”

The assistant jumped back in surprise as Photo Finish suddenly looked back up at the sheet.

"Do not touch it! Leave it be, and get me my camera. I must capture ze very essence of rebellion right now, while the inspiration is still fresh!"

One of the assistants quickly ran for the door to the studio and the other looked up at the mural. "But—" was all he got out before Photo Finish interrupted him.

"You asked me what I would do if she said no. Vell, I was prepared for this possibility," Photo Finish said quietly. "Flanksy is unlike any artist, any model, any pony I have ever known. She is like a delicate flower, growing up through ze crack of a bustling sidewalk. This whole time, I knew that ze chances of her working with me were slim, but I had to try. I had to! I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least make an attempt to work with her."

The other assistant returned with a case. Photo Finish took it from him, slammed it on the side and watched as it unfolded into her camera. She carefully set it up, pointing it at the mural. For a few seconds there was silence as she gazed at it, then a smile grew across her face.

"If I cannot be a part of ze artistic renaissance that Canterlot is going through, then I will at least be honored to vitness it firsthand."

Octavia had barely taken two steps into the apartment before Vinyl was right in her face.

"Well? Well?!"

Octavia set her bag down. "Well what?"

"Tell me tell me tell me! Why was this something you had to do?"

The question was met with a chuckle.. "Goodness, Vinyl, have you just been waiting for me to get back to ask me that?"

"Heck yes! You just turned down Photo Finish! I mean, you did, right? You told me you were gonna,” Vinyl said. When Octavia nodded, Vinyl continued. “After everything you said about respecting and admiring her, you said no! I have to know why!"

Octavia didn’t respond yet, instead walking to her room where she picked up a bow and drew it across the strings of her cello. “I respect Photo Finish, yes. However, I believe that I can accomplish my new goal far better if I continue my work alone. I simply did not want to jeopardize my message by suddenly signing on to one of the biggest fashion names in Canterlot."

"New goal?"

Octavia nodded. "There was something that Photo Finish said to me yesterday. At the time, I was rather, well, distracted. But now that I’ve had time to think about it, I realize that she is right about something. So far, all I have done is struck back at ponies. Princess Celestia, Prince Blueblood, Chic Trend—all deservedly so, mind you. However, it is time for me to think far bigger than just one pony. The thing that Photo Finish said I now realize was more than just her interpretation of what I was doing… It was what I should be doing now. It is the direction I now need to take the next step."

"Well, what did she say?"

Octavia stopped playing, setting the bow down. She stepped over to her desk, where cans of spray paint were lined up in a neat row. She picked one up in her hoof and stared at it for a few seconds, before a determined smile curled across her face.

"She said that I was making Canterlot more beautiful. That is exactly what I intend to do now."

----------

End of Chapter 7: The Finishing Touch

Special Thanks: Haruko Razuhara, Worsta Nandaba, Propimi Samejima, Wardenti

8. Beautiful (Part 1)

The sun had long since settled behind the Equestrian horizon. The only areas of Canterlot that were well-lit were the parts of Canterlot with thriving night life, leaving the quieter areas shrouded in darkness. Though the moon shone down on the park, its illumination could only go so far. As a result, the park itself almost seemed like a dark void, a massive black hole in the center of Canterlot. Then again, nopony who passed by the area had any interest in the park itself. More importantly, not a single pony looked across the street from the park to one of the alleyways, where a pony had been sitting for almost an hour.

Octavia sat in silence; the only thing she could hear was her own breath muffled behind her mask and the rare hoofsteps of a pony passing by on their way somewhere else. Her heart was pounding, her face was sweating despite the cold air, but behind her mask she had a smile on her face. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness and she looked through the metal fence across the street into the park. She gazed at all the trees barren of leaves, the fountain covered in dirt, the bushes along the cobblestone paths that had fallen into disrepair. She glanced down at the bulging duffel bag sitting next to her.

"Alright, no need to wait any longer," she told herself, picking the bag up and exiting the alley. She instinctively checked the area, almost expecting a crowd, but there was nary a pony in sight as she trotted across the street and up to the closed gates. Taking the strap of the bag in her hoof, Octavia drew a deep breath, then swung her hoof up as hard as she could, launching the bag into the air. For a precarious second it teetered on the edge of the fence before falling into the park, landing with a crash on the grass.

With another long breath, Octavia reached up and wrapped her hoof around a metal pattern in the fence. She had just started to pull herself upwards when she glanced to the left at the gate. With her head cocked to the side, she let go of the fence and trotted to the gate, pushing on one side. The gate slowly swung open and into the park. She sighed, trotting through the gate.

"They don't even lock it at night? Goodness," she muttered, walking over to her bag. She slung it back over her shoulder and turned around, surveying the landscape. The first thing that caught her attention was the fountain in the center of the park. The smile on her face grew, and she reached into her bag and pulled out a can. She took a quick glance at it, noting the color on the label, then tossed it up and down in her hoof as she approached the fountain.

"Canterlot Park!?!"

Octavia nodded. "Canterlot Park."

Vinyl struggled to find the right way to continue the conversation. She was stunned by the information, but even more so by how calm Octavia was, elegantly playing the Lunar Sonata on her cello.

"But... Tavi, that's a major landmark! That's more than a statue of Celestia or some wall; Canterlot Park has been around for centuries!"

"I'm well aware," Octavia said with a smile. "That's exactly why it's so perfect."

"Perfect? This is kinda a huge jump," Vinyl replied. "Why are you making such a big step forward?"

The music slowly stopped. Octavia laid her bow down, then walked over to the window. She stared out at Canterlot Park in the far distance.

"Because I want to remind ponies how beautiful Canterlot is."

Octavia took a step back from the fountain to admire her work. She hadn't put so much effort into one of her art projects before, and as she paced around the fountain she realized just what a difference it made. The fountain, formerly a dull stone grey, was now almost completely purple, with blue jagged waves drawn along the side. The very top of the fountain was a spiral of every color she had in her bag, and each spout was painted a sparkling gold, leaving the top of the fountain shimmering in the moonlight. With her eyes closed, she took a long breath of the cold night air, exhaling it with a smile on her face.

"It's perfect," she said. "Absolutely perfect." She dropped an empty can of paint into a nearby trash can, then opened up her duffel bag. She dug through it, counting the number of cans inside. "I suppose I didn't need to bring my full supply..."

Octavia zipped the duffel bag up and pulled the strap over her body, then turned towards the gate. She had only taken a few steps when the clanking of the cans in her bag stopped her. She glanced back at the bag, bulging from every side with still full cans. Her tongue pressed into her cheek as she thought, then looked up at her surroundings again. The painted fountain stood out to her in the darkness, but now she noticed all the small trees that dotted the landscape. They were all barren of their leaves, only displaying brown, jagged branches that jutted out in all directions.

They all seemed dull, boring; crying out for something.

"No," she said, turning around and walking to the closest tree. "I can't just stop here. There has to be more."

Octavia dropped her bag down in front of a tree, unzipped it and grabbed the first can she could wrap her hoof around. Without hesitation, she reached up and began to spray the twisted branches. As the brown and dark green of the branches was quickly replaced with pink, Octavia's whole body relaxed. The world around her melted away, and all that was left was the tree in front of her, the pink now almost shimmering in the night.

With a content sigh, Octavia finished the top half of the tree. She tossed the half-empty can into her bag and searched for a new color. Suddenly, her ears perked as she heard the sound of hoofsteps, snapping her out of the trance she was in. She shot her head up and looked around, but in the darkness, she couldn't see any pony in the park. Squinting, for a split-second she thought she saw a figure outside the gates, but the figure was gone quickly.

Octavia shook her head. "Probably just a late night jogger," she muttered. When she turned back to the tree, her body relaxed again, and she began to spray the trunk.

"Wait, remind them?" Vinyl asked.

"Yes."

"That... I think you lost me."

Octavia sighed. "Vinyl, Canterlot Park is beautiful. In fact, Canterlot itself is beautiful. But nopony pays any attention anymore: they're wrapped up in fashion, in money, in their own worlds. Tell me, Vinyl, when was the last time you actually went to the park?"

Vinyl rubbed the back of her head. "Ah geez, I'm... yeah, I'm not even sure. I usually just walk by it."

"That's what most ponies do. I certainly can't remember the last time that I went there," Octavia continued. "That's wrong, Vinyl. The park is so beautiful, far too beautiful to be ignored. So that is what I want to do. I want to remind ponies that Canterlot is beautiful."

She opened up a drawer of her desk and pulled a few cans of paint out, shaking them to check how full they were. "I've gone after individual ponies, but I need to domore. I want to change all of Canterlot, and if I want that to happen, I need to think bigger. Much bigger."

Prince Blueblood yawned and glanced over at the grandfather clock that stood across the study from him. He rubbed his eye with one hoof, then closed the book in front of him. With another loud yawn he stood up and stretched his body out, walking up to the fireplace and levitating a brass poker next to him. He began to separate the logs in the fire when the door to the room opened, and a royal guard stepped through.

"Prince Blueblood—" he began, but was almost immediately interrupted.

"Make it quick, Damien," Blueblood said. "I was about to retire for the evening."

"It's important, sir. I was on patrol and I noticed something in Canterlot Park."

Blueblood rolled his eyes, continuing to poke at the fireplace. "I don't think we need to concern ourselves with a lone pony walking through the park at night, or some downtrodden derelict looking for a place to sleep."

"Sir, it was Flanksy."

At the mention of the name, Blueblood's head turned up. He took a second to compose himself, then finally turned around to look the guard in the eyes. "What was she doing?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"She had a large duffel bag. I couldn't see very well, but I believe she's already painted the fountain. As I was leaving, she was beginning to spray the trees in the park."

Prince Blueblood's face was already shaking. He took his bathrobe off and tossed it to the side. "Who else is on duty right now that is available?"

"Flash and Ridley, sir."

"I want you to get them and meet me at the front door in ten minutes," Blueblood said, pushing past the guard. The guard nodded and left the room behind him, starting to walk in the other direction before Blueblood spoke up again. "Damien?"

The guard turned around. "Yes, sir?"

"Bring a trough."

A loose dollop of orange paint dropped off a low-hanging branch, dotting the corner of Octavia's ear. She didn't care; she was staring straight up at the tree before her with a smile on her face a mile wide. Her gaze lowered and she looked around the park. Feeling like a filly in a candy store, she whirled around, just taking in the world around her.

It had been a long night, but her eyes were now so adjusted to the dark that she could clearly see the fruits of her labor: every tree as far as the eye could see was two different colors. As she took in all the multicolored forest around her, Octavia's heart pounded in excitement. She struggled to keep herself composed, but it was becoming harder and harder.

"This... this is perfect," she quietly said, almost as if she couldn't even believe what she had just done. "This is bigger than anything I've ever done in my life..."

She turned to her left, and looked at the fountain. For a few seconds she just stared at it, with all the colored trees around it. The emotion became too overwhelming for her to contain, and she leaned her head back.

"This is beautiful!"

Octavia clamped her hoof over her mouth in embarrassment as her voice echoed throughout the park. Her face turned a bright red as she chuckled, lowering her head again to silently admire her own work. She zipped up her bag and pulled it up over her shoulder, then began her walk out of the park.

It only took a few steps for her pace to slow to a crawl. All she could do was look around, amazed at her own work. The euphoria had completely engulfed her, and every time she looked at a different tree, she was met with pure happiness and satisfaction. A part of her didn't even want to leave the park, to just stay there all night. But she kept moving towards the exit, albeit slowly, spurred on by a single thought in the back of her mind.

"Just think how wonderful this will look in the daylight."

She reluctantly exited the park, taking one look back at the park and sighing contently. She turned around, but something else caught her eye: across the street, next to a dumpster sticking out of an alley, was a large white sheet. With a curious smirk she trotted to it and looked it over; besides being old and torn around the edges, it seemed perfectly fine to her. She unfolded it and pondered for a minute, then looked back at the park.

"Why not..."

She reached back into her bag, rummaging through until she came across a can that was still mostly full. With a quick shake of the can, she began to spray.

"I'm just surprised, Tavi," Vinyl said, sitting down on Octavia's bed. "I mean, when you started all of this, you were talking about wanting to embarrass the ponies who deserved it. This seems like a big shift for you."

Octavia set the can of paint down and stared up at the ceiling, thinking. "Let me ask you something, and please do not take offense to it," she said.

"Shoot."

"Why do you live in Canterlot?"

Vinyl cocked her head to the side, caught off guard by the question. "Erm... I have friends here?"

"Besides friends who you met here, I mean. The musicculture in Canterlot is centered on orchestras and symphonies, much less on dance parties and loud beats. More than half your performances take place in some other city, yet you live here, in the most elegant city in all of Equestria. I know there has to be something beyond friendship."

There was a long pause as Vinyl and Octavia stared at each other. Vinyl turned to the window, silently gazing out of it at Canterlot. Seconds ticked by before shefinally spoke.

"Well... I guess it's because at the end of the day, Canterlot is kinda an awesome city. Yeah, I have my problems with it, and with some of the ponies who live here, but this city is just so friggin' cool sometimes. There's so much to do, there's so much to see, there's always something going on... Sure, the classical music scene isn't really my thing, and there are some real jerks out there, but in the end, the good really does outweigh the bad."

Vinyl nodded her head to beckon Octavia over. Octavia joined her next to the window, and Vinyl pointed outside.

"Plus, can you think of any other cities with a view like this?" Vinyl said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Octavia replied. She looked out over Canterlot for a few moments before returning to her desk. "I want to change Canterlot. No, I already have changed Canterlot, but now I want to change it even more. I actually think that Photo Finish was wrong."

"Really?" Vinyl asked incredulously. "You think she was wrong about something?"

"Well, sort of. She said that she wanted to help me make Canterlot beautiful. But Canterlot already is beautiful. What I need to do is remind the ponies who have forgotten." Octavia took a green can in her hoof, looking it over with a faraway gaze in her eyes. Her head turned to look over at the other side of the room, and Vinyl followed her gaze to the cello leaning against the wall.

Octavia sighed, closing her eyes. Her hoof tightened around the can of spray paint, and she smiled.

"I need tonight to be more than just vandalism, more than just expressing myself… I need tonight to be a defining moment."

"I suppose I'm not going to get out of climbing this…"

Octavia stared up at the gates in front of her. In her right hoof she clutched the white sheet that she had been writing on for the past several minutes. With a sigh, she reached up and wrapped her hoof around one of the circles that made up the fence's pattern. She lifted herself up, carefully stepping on the other patterns in the fence, until she had reached the top. She pressed her body as close to it as she could to balance herself. With both of her forehooves clutching the corner of the sheet, she pressed it down on the sharpened top of the fence. Something eventually gave and the fence pierced the sheet, giving Octavia a chance to rest her hooves for a minute and let the sheet just hang. She finally grasped the top again with one hoof and the other reaching down to grab the sheet. She carefully shimmied her way across the top of the fence until she was far enough along for the sheet to be taught.

Octavia brought the corner up and pushed it down onto the sharp point. When it didn't pierce, she repositioned herself and grabbed both ends of the corner, pressing down harder on it.

"Flanksy!"

The sudden shout from behind her startled Octavia, forcing her hooves down and finally cutting through the sheet. She momentarily lost her balance and fell backwards, but managed to reach out and wrap her hoof around the top of the fence to stop herself. She exhaled a long sigh, then looked back. Her eyes immediately narrowed as she saw Prince Blueblood staring up at her. She quickly pulled her coat down to make sure her cutie mark was covered as Blueblood stepped forward.

"I am demanding that you come down here right now!" he growled. "Canterlot Park is public property!"

Octavia glared down at Blueblood. Why on earth should I listen to him? she thought, then hoisted herself up to sit on the edge of the fence, using her free hoof to hold on for stability. Adrenaline surged through her body as she balanced on the edge, and she couldn't help but smile as she saw Blueblood stomp his hoof into the ground.

"Dammit, you will listen to me! I am the prince of Canterlot, and I—"

Blueblood stopped as he turned towards the sheet hanging up. His brow furrowed as he stepped back to better read the words on it.

"THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL. LET ME SHOW YOU."

His face now shaking with rage, Blueblood stared through the gates to Canterlot Park, then shook his head.

"You cannot possibly believe..." he muttered, then glared back up at Octavia, who was absolutely beaming behind her mask. "You honestly believe you are helping Canterlot in some way? That this disgusting 'art' is somehow a positive boon to this city?! If so, you are far more delusional than I thought!"

Octavia just rolled her eyes, struggling to maintain a chuckle as she watched Blueblood pace back and forth in frustration, muttering to himself. After what Blueblood had done to her art the week previous, Octavia couldn't resist the opportunity to taunt him. She playfully kicked her hind legs back and forth in front of her as Blueblood's face turned a bright red, trembling even harder. Before she could continue, the sound of synchronized hoofsteps came from the distance. Blueblood smiled. Three guards approached, carrying something on their backs. As they got close, Octavia's body went numb as she realized what it was: a trough full of water.

Blueblood chuckled. "I said it before, Flanksy: anything you create, I have the power to destroy."

Out of instinct, Octavia leapt down from the fence, landing on all four hooves and dashing in front of the gate of the park. Blueblood followed her, his horn beginning to glow as Octavia crouched down in front of the fence, her front legs tense.

"Get out of the way," Blueblood said. When Octavia didn't move, he leaned right into her face. "This is an order from your Prince... Move. Right. Now!"

Octavia shook her head in defiance and Blueblood's face turned an angry red. The golden glow on his horn intensified, and the entire trough lifted into the air and landed next to him. The water began to tremble, and a burst of adrenaline shot through Octavia's body. Without thinking about it, she jumped at the trough, but was bounced away by a golden force field that had formed around it.

She landed on her back a few feet away, and Blueblood laughed. Octavia stood up, but in the back of her mind, a realization had formed: there was nothing she could do to physically stop Blueblood. However, the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins overrode any thoughts she was having, and she once again jumped in front of the gate.

Prince Blueblood stared at her. "You're not just going to step aside, are you..."

Octavia shook her head again. Blueblood sighed, then stared past her into the park. He looked over all of the trees in the park, then at the fountain in the far distance—in the dark, he could barely make out the blue and purple pattern on it. Calming himself down, he looked to his right, at the trough of water sitting next to him. He closed his eyes and sighed, then turned to Octavia.

"You know what?"

He opened his eyes halfway, before he swung his leg back. His hoof connected with the trough which immediately tipped over, spilling its contents all over the cobblestone street. Octavia and the guards looked on in stunned silence as Blueblood turned back to Octavia.

"Leave. Just get out of here. You've already done enough damage to Canterlot. Get out of my sight."

Octavia couldn't take her eyes off of Blueblood. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, and she realized just the opportunity she had been given. She cautiously trotted over to her bag and slung it over her shoulder, still staring at the prince. She walked backwards, their eyes locked, before she finally turned and trotted off into the night. As she walked, she looked to her right, through the fence and into the park. A smile returned to her face.

"Beautiful..." she said quietly, before turning away and leaving through an alley.

Prince Blueblood watched until she was well out of sight, then walked to the gate of the park. He pulled it open, frowning at it as one of the guards stepped forward.

"I must admit that I'm surprised, sir. I figured you would have done something—" He was interrupted by a laugh from Prince Blueblood.

"What makes you think I'm not going to do something?" he said. "I'm merely taking a look at the bigger picture. I might just be able to stop Flanksy dead in her tracks right now." Blueblood slammed the gate shut, then turned and motioned for the guards to follow him. "We have a little work to do tonight, gentlecolts."

"You know, Tavi, if you keep smiling like that your head is gonna split in half."

Octavia and Vinyl trotted through Canterlot in the early morning hours the next day. Octavia couldn't help but smile; not only was the satisfaction of what she had done the night before still running through her mind, but now she was going to see it up close in the light.

"I can't help it," she replied. "I just can't wait to see how the park looks in the daylight. I can only imagine that ponies are already there."

Vinyl chuckled. "Yeah, and as soon as they see you, they'll be asking 'boy, that one pony sure seems excited about all of this!'"

Octavia blushed as they turned the corner. "I'll try to contain myself as best I can. It will be difficult, though..."

Octavia trailed off as they approached the park. She stared at the scene in front of her: ponies were all crowded around the sign that she had hung up, talking to each other. Vinyl's eyes widened.

"Whoa, awesome. Look how many ponies are here!"

"...Something's wrong," Octavia muttered.

Vinyl looked over at her, confused. "Huh? What do you mean, something's not right? Looks fine to me. When's the last time you saw the park this busy? Everypony is talking, everypony is—"

"They're just at the gates," Octavia said, her pace quickening. "Why aren't they in the park itself?"

"Maybe it's not open yet?" Vinyl responded, but Octavia shook her head.

"Last night at midnight it was open. They never lock the gates."

They reached the back of the crowd, and Octavia carefully worked her way through them to the front. Vinyl joined her, getting to the front to find Octavia staring up in shock at the gates. A massive chain had been wrapped around them, with a padlock securing them shut. A sign had also been hung on the gates themselves, with "NO ADMITTANCE" displayed in large block letters. A guard stoically stood in front of the gate, monitoring the ponies who were in the area. Octavia didn't say anything, so Vinyl stepped around her and in front of the guard.

"Yo, mister guard. What's going on here, why is the park closed?"

The guard momentarily glared down at her. "First off, my name is Ridley. As you can probably see through the gates, the park was the target of an attack by Flanksy last night."

Octavia ground her teeth together at the word "attack." Vinyl glanced past the guard into the park, looking at the multicolored trees.

"For an attack, it seems pretty harmless to me," Vinyl said nonchalantly.

The guard shook his head. "Prince Blueblood wasn't interested in hearing public opinion on this just yet. He ordered the park closed until such time as he can reach a decision."

"Whaaaat?" Vinyl replied. "Why on earth would he close the park? What decision?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to go into any more detail at this time."

Vinyl rolled her eyes, then carefully pushed her way back through the crowd. After a minute, Octavia emerged as well, and the two walked out of earshot of the ponies who were still gathered. They started their walk back when Octavia spoke up.

“Hmmmmm...”

Vinyl turned to Octavia. "What’s wrong?"

“Something about this seems off. Last night, he just kicked the trough over and let me leave. Now, he’s closing the park? The guard can’t give any detail ‘at this time?’”

Vinyl shrugged. “Just sounds like a lot of posturing to me.”

“No...” Octavia said, her voice lowering. “There has to be something more to his actions here, there just has to be. What if he’s planning something big, what if—”

"You're over-thinking this," Vinyl interrupted. "You know how Prince Blueblood is: he's all neigh, no buck. As soon as somepony calls him out on this, he'll relent."

Vinyl kept trotting, but paused when she realized Octavia had stopped. She looked back at her friend, whose concerned face caught her off guard.

"I've seen firsthand that when he is passionate about something, he is willing to act on it," she replied. "This is the first time I've ever seen Blueblood be so dedicated. He is planning something, I just know it..."

Octavia went quiet, lowering her head. Vinyl patted her on the shoulder.

"Listen, Tavi. I know you're worried. I know that him cleaning up your work really hurt you. But that was just a show of force. When it comes down to it, I don't think he has the guts to actually try to change anything."

There was an awkward silence. Octavia stepped forward, shaking her head.

"I... I don't want this to end," she quietly said. "The park is one of the most important things I've done in... in my life. He can't just erase this. Not before ponies have had a chance to see it in full."

Her head lowered again, but this time Vinyl pulled her back up. "Don't worry. I know how important this is to you, but I still don't think you have to be nervous about this. Blueblood is just trying to make a big show of his authority. In a day or two, the park is gonna be unlocked, and then everypony is gonna see how awesome the it looks up close."

Vinyl smiled again. Octavia met her eyesight and mustered a half-smile.

"I hope you're right, Vinyl. I really do."

The next day, Vinyl trotted happily out of the music shop, a small stack of records hovering behind her. She paused in the middle of the street, excitedly floating them in front of her and looking through the new purchases. Octavia was busy all day—she had been asked to perform in a small orchestra at a music festival outside of the city—so Vinyl had been in the mood to just spend a day exploring Canterlot.

"Hmmm, I haven't been to Paddock Place Market in a while," she said, dropping the records into a bag. "I could probably kill a few hours there."

She took a step forward, but immediately bumped head-first into a pony she hadn't noticed. She fell back, gasping and managing to catch her records in a burst of magic before they hit the ground.

"Oh geez, sorry about that," she said. She looked over at the pony she had run into, realizing that it was a royal guard.

"Not a problem," he replied.

He started to walk away, but Vinyl looked at his face, then rolled up to her feet and trotted alongside him.

"Hey, you're that pony from yesterday, the one who was guarding the park. Ridley, right?" she asked.

"That's correct. Is there something else I can help you with?"

Vinyl noticed a few large pieces of paper rolled beneath the guard's wing. "What's on the paper?"

"You'll see in a minute."

"Oooh, semi-top secret? Exciting!" Vinyl smiled, but the guard remained as stoic as ever, trotting with purpose towards Canterlot Park. Vinyl frowned, then followed him. "Hey, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"What do you think of the whole Flanksy thing? I mean, you were guarding the park pretty well..."

"I take my orders from Prince Blueblood. It doesn't matter what my opinion is on the matter. Blueblood asked me to guard the park; therefore, I guarded the park."

"That doesn't answer my question," Vinyl taunted. "Come on, forget about Blueblood for a minute. What do you think of everything?"

The guard shook his head. "It isn't my place to talk about that."

"What, you afraid that a little expression will get you fired? Be an individual!"

The guard stopped, near the gate of the park. He sighed, then turned around to face off with Vinyl.

"I find it deplorable. To defy Prince Blueblood is one thing, but the way she has treated Her Majesty Princess Celestia is absolutely unforgivable." The guard pointed out at the park. "The fact that she can do this, and think it's somehow making Canterlot more beautiful, as if she is some sort of savior for Canterlot? It's wrong."

The guard took a deep breath to calm down. After a few moments, he continued. "I understand that a lot of ponies like what she does. But there are just as many ponies who hate it. Which is why I am so thankful that Prince Blueblood is going to be doing something about all of this."

With a huff, the guard turned around and unfurled one of the posters. He flew up to the top of the fence and hung it on the gate, then nodded in satisfaction and took off into the sky. Vinyl stared after him in surprise, then looked over at the poster.

A chill shot through her body, and she nearly dropped the records she was still floating next to her. "Oh, no..." she muttered quietly, then looked around. Ponies were just starting to gather around the poster, so she carefully backed up through the crowd, then turned and trotted off. "What time does Tavi get home again..."

TOWN HALL MEETING CALLED

SATURDAY, 8:00 PM

This Saturday, His Excellency Sir Bluebood, Prince of Canterlot, has called a town meeting for any citizens of Canterlot, to be held in the Castle Auditorium, at 8:00 PM.

Prince Blueblood will host the event, which will also be attended by Her Majesty Princess Celestia, Ruler of all Equestria.

Any and all citizens are urged to attend this open forum and give their own opinions on the subject. At the end of the night, a decision will be reached by Princess Celestia herself.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT FLANKSY?

End of Chapter 8: Beautiful (Part 1)

Special Thanks:PhilProps J. Fry, Turanga Worstla, Doctor John Razberg, and Warden "Warding" Rodriguez

9. Beautiful (Part 2)

Vinyl looked up at the grand clock on top of Canterlot Town Hall, which put the time at half-past-eight. She bit her lip and looked over at Octavia, who was taking slow and deliberate steps towards the doors to the hall.

"Why exactly did you want to show up late to this?" Vinyl asked. "I figured you would have wanted to be here from the start.”

"I didn't see a reason to show up early," Octavia calmly replied.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. "What? Tavi, this whole thing is about you. Well your 'other' personality."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "It's hardly a case of schizophrenia."

"Alright, your 'extracurricular activities?'"

"I'm not in school anymore, you know."

Vinyl sighed. "Alrighty then, what about—"

"Vinyl! Please, can you just be quiet for a minute?!" she snapped. Almost immediately, Octavia's face fell. She turned away and lowered her head to the ground. "I..."

She continued stumbling over her words until Vinyl walked over and patted her on the back. "It's alright. I know you're nervous."

"I can't help it," Octavia mumbled. "I know nopony knows who Flanksy really is, but I still feel like I’m in the spotlight anyway. I don't like it, Vinyl. I'm worried."

"You really don't have to be," Vinyl said. "I hope this doesn't sound mean, but you're kinda facing major criticism for the first time. It's always nerve-racking. I mean, I was kinda a wreck the first time The Canterlot Stranger reviewed a set of mine. The whole day before, I was pacing back and forth, and—"

"It's not that I'm worried about," Octavia said." It's... something else; there's a lot of uncertainty about tonight that is making me nervous."

Vinyl chuckled. "I'm assuming that's why you brought that?" she said motioning at a shopping bag in Octavia's hoof.

Octavia smiled, then trotted over to a small alley behind city hall. She carefully hid the bag behind a dumpster. "Yes. Just in case there's a break in the proceedings, this might be a good way to alleviate some anxiety, not to mention the chance to embarrass Blueblood again. He may not have done anything to my art in the park, but the mere act of locking the gates is a slap in my face."

She turned and walked past Vinyl, towards the Castle Auditorium, with Vinyl trotting alongside her. As they got close, Vinyl kept waking, but paused when she realized she was now alone. She looked behind her to find Octavia's pace had slowed and a few beads of sweat were sliding down her face. Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then caught up with Vinyl as they reached the large doors to the Castle Auditorium. A few ponies were loitering around the entrance, chatting, and there was a general din coming from inside the room.

"I suppose there's no sense in putting this off any longer…" Octavia muttered.

Vinyl stepped up next to Octavia, smiling. "Just take a deep breath and don't worry about it."

"You're right," Octavia said, pulling the door open. "This is just a public forum, no need to—"

"—and she is a disgusting blemish on the face of Canterlot!" a voice boomed from inside. They both looked in to find an absolutely packed auditorium, with ponies not only taking up all the seats but lining the aisles on the side of the auditorium, all talking. At the front of the auditorium were two figures. One was Prince Blueblood, who was angrily standing in front of a podium, glaring back and forth at the crowd as if he were a dictator drumming up support. Behind him was a long table where Princess Celestia was sitting, staring at Blueblood with a perplexed look on her face. Octavia and Vinyl glanced at each other and stood at the back as Blueblood continued his rant.

"Canterlot is a beautiful city. The fact that Flanksy believes that she is somehow making this city more beautiful only shows that she is either arrogant or delusional. Clearly, it is time that something is done about her—permanently!" As he finished his sentence, noise rose up from the crowd. Many were cheering and many were booing, but from the look on Blueblood's face, he wasn't happy with the ratio. He snorted. "The last thing that this city needs is some psychotic artist ruining every wall in sight!"

As he continued ranting, Vinyl leaned over. "Geez, he's all worked up tonight. Didn't know he cared so much about the park."

"He can't."

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Octavia shook her head. "He can't care this much about the park. If he did, he would have cleaned it up by now."

Blueblood finally banged a large glowing gavel on the podium, silencing the crowd. Before he could continue, a pony rose from her seat and approached the microphone set up in the middle of the room. Octavia leaned forward to get a good look at her. "Huh. Her again…"

"Who is that?" Vinyl asked.

"I've seen her a few times. She's a huge fan of Flanksy. She actually started painting because of me."

Amethyst Star glanced around the room, momentarily pausing when she saw Octavia in the back. "Blueblood,"

"That's Prince Blueblood to you," Blueblood snorted back.

"Oh, sorry. Prince Blueblood, I'm just wondering, are you going to be cleaning up the park? Cause I kinda like the way it looks with all the colors on the trees, and the cool fountain." Many of the ponies in the auditorium nodded and murmured, but Blueblood just rolled his eyes.

"The park? Who cares about the park! This is about far more than that. But yes: with what I am proposing, the park will be completely restored—as will everything else that Flanksy has defiled!"

The crowd talked amongst themselves for a few moments before Amethyst talked again. "Um… what do you mean?"

"I mean that this is about more than the park. Why on earth would I call a meeting about some patch of green? This is about Flanksy herself… Namely, it’s about ending this right now before it gets any worse!"

Again, the crowd chittered amongst themselves. As they did, Octavia subconsciously backed up until she was pressed against the far wall. She glanced around nervously for a few seconds, then looked back at Blueblood. There was a spark in his eyes as he glared back and forth, then turned his head back to look at Princess Celestia.

"That is precisely why I called this meeting," Blueblood said. “Aunt Celestia, I am hereby asking for the authority to arrest Flanksy immediately. With your permission, I can not only eradicate the disgusting art around the city, but I can take the perpetrator and have her thrown in the castle dungeon, or exiled from Canterlot! "

Octavia began to hyperventilate. As soon as she saw a pony look her way, she bit her lip and tried to keep herself composed. On the stage, Princess Celestia beckoned Blueblood over. He reluctantly abandoned his place at the podium to talk to her.

"Blueblood," she said quietly. "Are you really resorting to public intimidation tactics?"

"Precisely," Blueblood said, unable to contain his smirk. "Once Flanksy hears about this, she'll have no choice but to surrender herself! That will take care of this problem once and for all."

"But like this? With threats of exile and imprisonment? Blueblood, this has the potential to set a precedent. Ponies could become terrified of royal guards, or of the royal family itself!"

Blueblood scoffed. "Well you know what they say about omelets, auntie," he said, then turned back to the main microphone. The murmurs from the crowd had grown into a much louder chatter, and Blueblood raised a hoof to quiet them. At the microphone, Amethyst Star cleared her throat.

"Um, but Mr. Blueblood, I think a lot of ponies like the park the way it is now! We want to see it up close, not just through the gate!" To Octavia's surprise, the crowd responded mostly positively. Blueblood just shook his head.

"The park is irrelevant!" Blueblood waved a hoof dismissively. "This meeting is not about the park, this meeting is about Flanksy. There are so many ponies whose lives she has effected negatively. Graham, would you come up to the microphone?"

A few ponies turned their heads to an old pony sitting near the back of the room wearing a blue hat with a red feather in it. Realizing that all eyes were on him, he stood up and slowly hobbled up to the microphone as Amethyst retook her seat. Vinyl glanced over at Octavia, and saw that her face had gone white.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I… I never cleaned up the wall of the toy shop," Octavia whispered, shaking her head. "I just left it up there."

Vinyl pursed her lips, trying to find the right words. "Uh… yeah, but I mean…" She couldn't figure out what to say next, so she just went quiet as the old pony stepped to the microphone.

"Yes, Blueblood?" the pony asked with a crackling, yet dignified, voice.

"Graham, the wall of your toy shop was absolutely desecrated by Flanksy. Not only that, but it wasn't in the name of 'art' or 'rebellion,' but merely a way for her to display her name; a truly disgusting show of arrogance! Now wouldn't you prefer it if that had never happened?"

Graham scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I suppose. I'm not a big fan of what she did, and I'm surprised she never cleaned it up, given that she only half finished it. She just sorta abandoned the wall."

Blueblood nodded knowingly as the crowd mumbled. He motioned for Graham to sit down, then pointed at another pony. "If you would?"

At the very front of the room, a pony stood up. She was wearing an elegant grey dress, and a pair of glasses perched on the edge of her muzzle, and she carefully pushed her way through the crowd towards the microphone.

"Who is that?" Vinyl whispered.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," Octavia replied. "I've never seen her before in my life."

The pony finally worked her way up to the microphone and brushed a greying hair out of her eyes. "Blueblood, is this really why you called me here? To use me as some sort of example?"

"Heavens no, Miss Chisel!" Blueblood insisted. "I feel your input is very important tonight."

"Chisel…" Octavia mumbled. She rolled the name back and forth in her head for a moment before her eyes widened. "Marble Chisel!"

"That name sounds familiar," Vinyl whispered.

"She's a sculptor! She's done a lot of work around Canterlot, like—" She went quiet for a few moments, then spoke in an even more hushed tone. "Like the statue of Celestia…"

"Miss Chisel," Blueblood continued, "I am curious: how did it feel to have something you had worked so hard at destroyed? You must have put years into working on that statue!"

"It was a few weeks, Blueblood," Chisel replied.

"The point remains the same: Flanksy ravaged your sculpture nonetheless. Not to mention the fact that not only has nopony cleaned it up, but some ponies have actively wanted to keep it the way it is! Doesn't that make you angry?"

Marble Chisel sighed. "Well, I guess if you put it that way, it would make any artist angry. But wouldn’t destroying her art just do—"

“See!?” Blueblood yelled, interrupting her. “All Flanksy has done is ruin everything she has touched! Look at the lives who Flanksy's so-called 'art' has destroyed. She is not an artist, she is a plague on the very face of Canterlot! She..."

While Blueblood continued his angry rant, Octavia pressed herself back against the wall, hoping beyond hope that she could somehow blend in like a chameleon. Though the crowd was paying attention to Blueblood, she still felt as though all eyes were on her. Her legs shook uncontrollably with anxiety and her head lowered close to the ground as Blueblood finally came to the end of his speech.

"—which is why it's time this ends. Flanksy has turned Canterlot into her own personal playground. No, 'playground' is far too nice a word. She has turned Canterlot into her own personal barnyard! If I had the authority to arrest her, then we could be rid of her once and for all! Canterlot can go back to being the flawless city it once was. Everything she did can be undone, and—"

"No!!"

Octavia's eyes widened. She looked up and over at Vinyl, but realized that Vinyl was just as surprised as she was. She turned to the front of the room, to where a third pony had gotten up to the microphone, and Octavia recognized her immediately. Amethyst Star shook her head in surprising anger, nearly yelling into the microphone.

"You can't just say that! Flanksy has done so much good for Canterlot!"

Blueblood laughed. "Good? What good, pray tell, has she done?"

"Blueblood, Celestia," Amethyst began, her voice quieting down. "I've lived in Canterlot my whole life. I've been trying to find something to do here, something creative, but it wasn’t until Flanksy showed up that I started painting. Painting has become so important to me, and I've been able to make other ponies happy with the art I've made. So at the very least, can't you say that Flanksy has made my life better?"

"I'd barely consider changing a single pony's life for the better a massive achievement," Blueblood said. A surprised gasp rose from the crowd, which quickly turned into angry muttering. Blueblood began to sweat as he looked back at Celestia, who was glaring at him. He immediately turned back and waved his hoof. "W-wait, I certainly didn't mean it like that! Obviously your life is important, but in the grand scheme of things, I think that a single pony—"

"Well it's not just me!" Amethyst interrupted. "I think a lot of ponies are liking what she's done. Not only that, but even the stuff you pointed out has positives. Graham, there had to be some good to come from Flanksy spraying your wall!"

Graham stood up and rubbed his chin. For a few moments the smile returned to Blueblood's face, but Graham held his hoof up in the air and walked back to the microphone. "Well, suppose that I've had a lot more customers since she did it. Guess that all the ponies wanting to see it lead to them discovering the shop."

"See?" Amethyst said, then turning around. "Miss Chisel. With all due respect, I want to ask you something important. What do you think of what Flanksy did to the statue, as an artist? I know you are one of Canterlot's most well known artists, so look past how it affected you directly and tell me what it meant to you as an artist!"

Marble Chisel stood still for a few moments. She looked up at Blueblood, who responded with a head shake, then back around at the crowd before she stepped forward to the microphone. She remained silent for a bit longer before she closed her eyes, sighed, and smiled.

"I've never seen an artist in Canterlot make such a strong statement. To be quite honest, I don't think I've seen any artist do it. While I may not like what she did to the statue, I cannot help but admire a pony willing to be so controversial."

"Excuse me?!" Blueblood yelled. "You admire her? After everything she did? I refuse to believe that. Flanksy has done awful things to Canterlot, awful things that nopony could possibly enjoy! I'm merely trying to protect the ponies in Canterlot from this rubbish."

"And what about the park?" Amethyst yelled back at him. "Every single pony in Canterlot has only been able to see what she did through the gaps in the fence. Why is it that you get to decide what we see? Shouldn't you let ponies make the decision for themselves if they like the art or not? It’s public property, so it should be up to the public to decide what is done! You're not 'protecting' anypony, you're just blocking us based on your own opinion!"

Octavia's head raised up. Amethyst was taking deep breaths to try to calm herself down, while the assembled ponies looked around at each other. A tense silence filled the air as Octavia waited for Blueblood to respond, but before he did, other voices began to raise up from the crowd.

"Hey, yeah!"

"I wanna see the park!"

"Why does Blueblood get to decide everything?!"

"Yeah, impeach Blueblood!" Vinyl yelled with a smirk. Even through her anxiety, Octavia couldn't help but chuckle. Her eyes gradually widened as more and more ponies started yelling. Blueblood frustratedly banged the gavel into the podium, sweating as the crowd finally calmed down. Before he could say anything, Princess Celestia smiled and spoke first.

"Blueblood, it would seem that just as many ponies are interested in keeping Flanksy's art up," she said. "You haven't given me a real argument for why I should let you remove it all, much less arrest her in the first place. Now, unless you can—"

"She called you ignorant!" Blueblood suddenly yelled. Celestia closed her mouth, staring at Blueblood as he breathed angrily through his nose, then continued. "Celestia, regardless of what ponies think, one fact remains: she directly insulted you. When she called you ignorant, she didn't just insult the most important pony in all of Equestra, she lashed out at Equestria itself. The fact that this has gone unchecked for this long is a travesty. Now I will ask you directly: do you want Flanksy to be stopped now, when she is making your image ugly, or would you prefer it be later? Would you really want to wait until she has begun setting monuments on fire and and trying to lead some sort of rebellion?!"

Princess Celestia didn't speak. She closed her eyes as if lost in deep thought, leading to a hush through the entire room. After what felt like an eternity to Octavia, Celestia sighed.

"I suppose I cannot rule out that possibility, can I?" The crowd murmured as Octavia began to sweat again. Princess Celestia stood up at the front of the room. "I think I have heard all I need to hear, but I need to do a bit of thinking first. I'm going to call for a recess to this meeting so I can come to a decision."

With that, Celestia stood up and walked off the stage. Blueblood turned around, not even bothering to hide his smirk. "You heard her, this meeting has been called into intermission!" he authoritatively yelled, slamming his gavel down on the podium in triumph. The crowd in the auditorium quickly dissipated, all wrapped up in their own conversations about what had happened.

Vinyl and Octavia quietly broke away from the mass of ponies that had settled outside. Octavia's face was blank, and Vinyl finally decided to speak up.

"How are you feeling, Tavi?"

Octavia let out a long sigh. "I'm not sure. I don't know what's going to happen. A lot of ponies stood up for me, but… well, Blueblood seemed to be very passionate. Not to mention that Celestia at least seemed curious about that last thing he said."

"Oh come on!" Vinyl responded. "I don't think you're about to start setting stuff on fire! He was just saying that to intimidate everyone!"

"Yes, and it may have worked," Octavia said. "Nopony knows what Flanksy is going to do next. For all everypony knows, Flanksy is going to do those things Blueblood says, and Celestia will try to prevent it…"

Realizing that Octavia's knees were shaking, Vinyl looked around, trying to find something to take her mind off the situation. She looked off in the distance and saw the very top of city hall, then smiled and tapped Octavia on the shoulder.

"You know, if you're anxious…"

Octavia looked up. She saw the knowing smile on Vinyl's face, and smiled herself. "That is true. I wonder how long this recess is going to last. It might give me time to run a quick 'errand'"

Vinyl laughed. "Totally! You gotta stick it to Blueblood again. Or, ya know, if you go down, you go down fighting!"

"Y-yes," Octavia said. "I guess that is definitely a possibility. So I'll—"

"Um, hi," a voice came from behind. Octavia and Vinyl turned around, to find Amethyst Star pawing at the cobblestone ground awkwardly.

"Oh, hello again," Octavia said. Amethyst looked around nervously before finally replying.

"Can we, uh, talk in private?"

"Hey, I'm Tavi's closest friend. If you have something to say to her, you can say it to me too," Vinyl said.

"No, it's like super important and private."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I quite follow," Octavia said. Amethyst sighed, and took another look around, making sure no other ponies were in the area. Finally, she leaned forward and spoke quietly.

"I just need to say… look, I know who you are."

A chill shot through Octavia’s body.. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts, then spoke. "Oh… if that is what you want to talk about, you can talk in front of Vinyl. She knows too."

Vinyl's eyes widened. "Wait, you know? Have you told—"

Amethyst immediately shook her head. "No, I promise I haven't told anypony! I'd never do that!

Octavia nodded. "I had an inkling that you knew, I'll admit. The way you've acted around me, it just felt like you were hiding something."

Amethyst blushed. "Yeah, it's been kinda hard not to freak out around you."

"Wait wait wait!" Vinyl said. "How the heck do you know?!"

"I'm curious about that myself," Octavia added.

"Remember when we ran into each other when Miss—well, Chic Trend was ranting near the statue? I remember that you had this coat I really liked, so it stuck in my mind. The next night at the show, I ran into Flanksy, and she was wearing the same coat. Considering how rude she was to you…" Amethyst smiled. "Well, for me at least, it was easy to put two and two together."

Octavia sighed. "I should have figured as much. That was the only time I’ve worn that coat on its own. I’m glad nopony else saw me...”

"But anyway, I kinda need to tell you something right now. I've been wanting to say it for a while, but it seems like now is the best time to do it, so…"

Amethyst trailed off, gathering herself. Octavia and Vinyl nervously glanced at each other as Amethyst took a long breath with her eyes closed, then looked directly at Octavia.

"I need to say thank you," she said, smiling. "I've been trying to do stuff creatively my whole life. Nothing ever really worked out for me, but I think it's because I was trying so hard to be liked, and to become well known with my stuff. Then I saw what you were doing, and it, well, really inspired me. I've just been painting to be happy, to just challenge myself, and… well, I'm just really, really happy. I think what you're doing is amazing, it's totally unlike anything I've ever seen before, and you're just such an inspiration to me. So just, thank you. Thank you so much."

Octavia stood completely still, her eyes wide as she just stared at Amethyst. "I-I, um, appreciate that."

Amethyst blushed again. "Sorry for getting so sappy, but since I'm not sure if Celestia is going to stop things now, I figure now is the time to tell you." She looked around; then smiled. "I'm, uh, gonna get going. Just thought you should know all that. Thanks!"

Amethyst turned and walked off, rejoining the crowd outside the auditorium. Octavia and Vinyl Scratch just watched her go, both silent for a while.

"Whoa," Vinyl finally said, breaking the silence and grinning. "She's more than just some fangirl; you totally inspired her. That's pretty cool. No, that's pretty amazing! No matter what happens tonight, I bet that totally makes you feel great!" She waited, but there was no response. "Tavi?" she asked, turning to her friend.

Tears were cascading down Octavia's face, and her entire body was shivering almost uncontrollably. Vinyl gasped, but before she said anything, Octavia suddenly turned around and ran off, her head bowed down as she galloped away crying. Vinyl chased after her, but by the time that she had turned the corner, Octavia had disappeared.

As the minutes ticked by, Vinyl frantically ran from street to street. With every turn she made, she hoped that she would find Octavia, but no matter where she checked she couldn't find her friend. Her anxious pants became louder and louder as she ran through Canterlot. After a half hour of failure, she came to a halt in the center of a road.

"Okay, calm down," she said to herself. "You can find her. You have to find her. Where on earth could she have…" her thoughts quieted as she looked up at the building a block away: city hall. She blinked a few times, then shook her head. "I should have checked here first," she snapped to herself, running towards the familiar alley. When she got close she slowed down, then peeked her head around the corner.

Octavia sat up against the wall, holding her bag of supplies. She looked up at Vinyl with a tear-stained face, then just sniffled and turned away, closing her eyes as she clutched the bag tighter to her chest. Vinyl approached her and sat down, and Octavia immediately rested her head on her shoulder. Vinyl patted her on the back.

"It's alright, Tavi. I know you're anxious," Vinyl said, "but listen, I don't think Prince Blueblood is going to be able to arrest you. Celestia seems like she wants to be lenient. So even if they get rid of all your art, you should be fine."

"I don't care," Octavia muttered.

"Huh?"

"I don't care about any of that. I don't care about being arrested, I don't care about being 'fine,' I don't care about Celestia being lenient."

She rocked back and forth as Vinyl patted her again. More tears welled up in her eyes as she pulled the bag even tighter.

"I d-don't want everything I've worked for to be ruined again."

Vinyl stared down at her. It took a few moments for her to process what Octavia had said, and then sighed. "The Gala…"

"Was the w-worst night of my life. Since then, so much has happened, Vinyl. I'm doing something that is bringing me so much happiness, is bringing happiness to other ponies, is inspiring some ponies… and tonight, it c-could all end. I'm s-scared. I don't have any control over w-what's going to happen. I don't want to lose everything again, not now when I'm j-just figuring out what I want to do with it. I don't want it all to end."

She buried her head into the top of the bag, sniffling. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up, where Vinyl greeted her with a reassuring smile.

"Octavia, if anything, you're more in control now than you've ever been in your life." She repositioned herself so she was right next to Octavia, and turned her head. They looked out the alley, into the expanse of Canterlot. "You said it yourself: look how happy you are; look how much you've influenced and inspired the ponies in Canterlot. You're not powerless here; you are the reason all of this is happening."

Octavia wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Do you really think so?"

"Heck yeah!"

"B-but what if Celestia decides to erase everything? What if she gives Blueblood the authority to arrest me?"

Vinyl didn't have an answer. She and Octavia stared at each other for a few moments before Octavia looked down at the bag clutched to her chest. She slowly unzipped it and rummaged around until she pulled out a can of black paint. For a minute, she didn't speak, she just stared at the can. Finally she shook her head and closed her eyes for a minute. When she opened them again, Vinyl couldn't help but smile: the spark was back.

"I haven’t worried about authority since the moment I started this. Why should I start now?"

Vinyl laughed. "There we go, that's the spirit!"

Octavia smiled back and reached into the bag again, but the sound of a ringing bell in the distance stopped her. She and Vinyl both looked in the direction of the bell towards the auditorium.

"Sounds like Celestia's reached a decision," Vinyl said. She looked back at Octavia, then down at the bag in her hooves. "Are you gonna try sticking it one more time to Blueblood?"

Octavia shook her head. "I have to be there, Vinyl. I need to know. I don't care about the authority, but…" She trailed off, shivering a bit. "If everything is about to change, I need to know."

Octavia and Vinyl carefully worked their way back into the auditorium just as all the ponies had settled. They stood at the back of the room as Prince Blueblood again stood behind the podium at the front, a self-sure smile on his face. Octavia glared at him until Princess Celestia walked out onto the stage. Blueblood's smile only grew as he moved out of the way and graciously offered her the podium.

"I have reached a decision regarding the Flanksy situation. The fact is that there are ponies who greatly dislike what she is doing. They claim that she is dirtying Canterlot, ruining it with her unique brand of 'art,' and that it is going to lead to some form of moral downward spiral."

Blueblood's smile grew even wider as he smarmed at the crowd and Octavia gulped down a lump in her throat. Princess Celestia raised a hoof to silence the conversations of the crowd, then did something that caught Octavia off guard: she smiled.

"However, it is also clear that there are many ponies who enjoy it. Ponies have drawn inspiration from it, found her messages fascinating, and want to see what she does next. I understand that some are wary about what she could start doing, but I believe that her intentions, while certainly not innocent, are not malicious either. Therefore, I have made the decision to not authorize her arrest."

Octavia barely had time to breath a sigh of relief when she realized that the reaction from the ponies assembled was more positive than she expected. The smile had been wiped off of Prince Blueblood's face, and he stared wide-eyed back at Celestia.

"Excuse me?!" he practically screamed. "After everything she's done to me, and to you?"

"Blueblood, this comes down to a simple majority. More ponies enjoy her work than not, not to mention even the ponies you called up had positives to say about her. Therefore, I'm going to let her continue. That being said, I will authorize you to continue to watch her. You may let me know of any changes in her attitude or approach, but again, public opinion will have the final say in this, not you."

"B-but, but," Blueblood stammered, causing a few of the ponies in the crowd to laugh. "What about the park?"

"Regarding that, I feel you were premature in your closing of it. As I said before, I would prefer public opinion dictate what is done. Since you haven't let ponies experience what Flanksy did to the park, I'm going to ask that you unlock it for everyone."

This time, Blueblood's voice was loud enough to pierce glass. "What?!" he shrieked, causing many of the ponies in attendance to jerk back in shock. "But but but but—"

"Blueblood, for now my decision is final. I want you to reopen the park. I believe we have covered everything we need to, so I'm going to go ahead and dismiss this meeting. Thank you all very much for coming."

As ponies again separated and headed out of the exit, Princess Celestia left the stage, with a pleading Blueblood right behind her. Octavia and Vinyl left the auditorium and broke away from the crowd, heading in the direction of city hall. Once they were well out of earshot of the ponies and near to the alley, Vinyl spoke up.

"Alright! Score one victory for Flanksy, zero for Blueblood!" Vinyl excitedly said, practically bounding back and forth on her hooves as she walked. "Seems like Celestia didn't fall for all that crap Blueblood was spewing, huh?

"Mmm," Octavia hummed as she turned into the alley.

"You can just keep doing what you're doing! No need to change anything, and best of all, nothing you've done is getting taken down! Everypony gets to keep—"

Vinyl didn't have a chance to finish as Octavia suddenly turned around and wrapped her in a hug. Vinyl blinked a few times, unsure of how to react, until she heard Octavia's breathing; it was deep and stuttering, not of anxiety but of relief.

"It's not being undone" Octavia quietly said, pulling her friend even tighter. "It's not being undone."

"No, it's not," Vinyl said. "This ain't the Gala. Your work isn't being erased. How does it feel?"

Through the her stuttered breaths, Octavia somehow managed to laugh. "It feels good. No… it feels wonderful."

The next afternoon, after stalling for as long as he could, Prince Blueblood begrudgingly unlocked the gates to Canterlot Park. Ponies gradually filtered in, admiring the painted trees, while many others went to the fountain to see the pink and blue swirls that had been drawn on, and every pony who entered from the north gate took notice of the sign that Flanksy had hung.

As the hours went by, more and more ponies found themselves drawn to the park due to how busy it was becoming and all the press that it had gotten the day before. By the time the sun had begun to set, the park had become an epicenter of activity, with more ponies visiting and enjoying it than had been seen in years.

Soon, one special guest arrived: Princess Celestia herself. She slowly trotted through the park, smiling at her bowing subjects and looking over all the trees. As she came to the fountain, she stopped to look it over for a bit. She trotted around it, only to spot Prince Blueblood standing still, a scowl plastered on his face, a few feet from the fountain. She trotted over to him.

"I'm surprised at you, Blueblood."

Blueblood turned. "I beg your pardon, auntie?"

"With how much you love Canterlot, I would think you would be at least a little happy," she replied.

With a snort, Blueblood turned away. "Happy? What possible reason could I have for being happy?"

Celestia held her hoof out, motioning him to look at the rest of the park. "You've always talked about wanting to act in the best interest of Canterlot. Well look at all these ponies. Look how they're enjoying the park, how happy they are. Certainly this is exactly what you want."

"Hardly!" Blueblood sneered. "The ends do not justify the means. This is filth; artificial beauty that does not help Canterlot in any way, shape, or form. Just because ponies are momentarily happy does not mean that Canterlot is a better place."

Celestia trotted down a path, nodding at Blueblood to follow her. They passed by groups of ponies looking around the park, and Celestia just sighed. "If that's what you believe, I'm not going to convince you otherwise."

"This isn't over," Blueblood said. "This is not over between Flanksy and myself. I'm not going to give up just because she won this round. She's going to use this as an excuse to do more and more. I just know it. I despise what she does, Celestia, and nothing will change that."

With an angry huff, Blueblood stormed off in the other direction. Celestia just shook her head, then turned to her right and looked down. Paintings were scattered around the grass, with a sign sitting in front of them reading "Art By Amethyst - Free!" A pony sat behind them, her face buried in a canvas as she painted on it. Celestia's horn glowed and she picked one of the paintings up, smiling.

"This is quite pretty. May I hold onto it?"

"Of course!" Amethyst chirped from behind her latest painting. "They're all free, I just wanna share them. Go ahead and take one!"

Amethyst lowered the canvas to say something else to her guest, but she froze and her eyes widened as she found herself staring at the ruler of all Equestria.

"I, um, I, uh, I-I-I..." Amethyst stuttered. Celestia just smiled at her as she floated the painting behind her.

"Thank you very much," Celestia said, turning and continuing down her path. Amethyst stared after the princess with her jaw hanging open, until she finally was able to tear her gaze away. Celestia's presence had drawn a few other ponies to the area, and they were all looking over her art, commenting on it. Amethyst leaned her head back against a tree, looking over at the multicolored fountain.

"Next time I see you, I think I owe you another thanks," she quietly said, turning back to the ponies who were now picking up her art.

At the other side of the park, two best friends sat and just watched. They had been there ever since it had opened, but few words had been spoken.

"Man, this is so cool," Vinyl said. She waited, but there was no response, so she turned to look at her friend. Octavia wasn't paying attention, just silently looking over the park. The setting sun reflected a sparkle in her wide eyes, making Vinyl smile. She almost didn't want to say anything, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Hey, Tavi?"

Octavia blinked and turned her head only slightly in Vinyl's direction, but with most of her attention still on the park. "Yes?"

"A bit for your thoughts."

Octavia took a long breath, turning her head to gaze over the scene. "I don't have the words, Vinyl. I doubt I'll ever have the words."

She went quiet again, and the two of them looked out over the park in silence. After another minute, Vinyl couldn't contain the question anymore.

"How does it feel, Tavi?" she quietly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at all of this," Vinyl said, gesturing with her hoof at the park. "This is all on you. Everything you set out to accomplish with this, you got! What's it like knowing that all of these ponies are happy, and enjoying the park, because of you?"

Vinyl paused, trying to find the right words. She smiled.

"What's it like knowing that you're changing Canterlot?"

Octavia slowly looked over at Vinyl, then back at the park. For a bit, she said nothing, just contemplating.

"It… It's like no feeling I've ever had before in my life. It's the kind of fulfillment that nothing has been able to bring me, not even music. I don't want it to end, Vinyl. I never want it to end."

Vinyl chuckled. "Who said it had to end? Tavi, I hope you realize just how awesome all of this is. I've never in my life seen a pony do stuff like this. You're like a revolutionary! You're totally breaking new ground!"

"Mmm," Octavia quietly hummed.

"No no, it's even more than that!" Vinyl continued, getting louder. "It's like Photo Finish said: this is a renaissance, and you're entirely the reason for it! I mean it's cooler than anything I've ever seen in Canterlot, and I've seen—"

"Vinyl?" Octavia quietly interrupted. She turned to face Vinyl, a warm and content smile on her face and a shimmer in her eyes. "I know how supportive you have been through so much of this, and how excited you are. But, perhaps, would it be alright if for a few minutes, we didn't talk?"

Vinyl stared at her, then looked out over the park. She smiled too. "Heh. Sure thing, Tavi."

The sun had almost completely set, but enough of it peeked over the horizon to leave the park illuminated in orange and yellow. The activity didn't seem to be slowing down, as some ponies set up blankets on the grass to prepare to enjoy the soon-to-be star-filled sky and others continued to admire the trees and fountain. No more words were said between Octavia and Vinyl Scratch.

They just sat, enjoying the beauty.

End of Chapter 9: Beautiful (Part 2)

Special Thanks: Wardenardo, Razatello, Propselangelo, and Worstael

10. Exit Through Chaos

The world around Octavia blurred, leaving only her and the sketch pad. She took a deep breath and stared at the unfinished drawing in front of her, swirls of color and shapes with seemingly no connection. She slowly ran her hoof along the drawing, almost expecting it to come alive under her touch and tell her what should be added. The rhythmic tapping of the pencil on the edge of the sketch pad momentarily brought her out of the trance-like state she was in, and she laid back on the couch, just staring at the picture in front of her. She pressed her tongue into her cheek as everything came back into focus around her again, then flipped the pad open and began to look through it.

Page after page had been filled with sketches and she reflected on how different her sketches were now. The early drawings were simplistic and blocky, drawn in black and white with repeating patterns. But as time had gone on, the designs became more and more grandiose, covering each page corner to corner with abstract drawings and incorporating more and more color. She flipped to one of her more recent sketches, something completely different than the others: a detailed sketch of a wooden wagon. She had wanted to try something more realistic and her mind had gone back to the toy shop.

For a few seconds Octavia just stared at it, until she felt the spark shoot off in the back of her head, and the world blurred again. She smiled and excitedly flipped back to the sketch she was working on, reaching down and switching to a brown pencil and resuming her drawing, happily humming all the way.

As she did, Vinyl Scratch trotted out of her room and into the kitchen. A few seconds later she poked her head around the corner into the living room, staring bemusedly at Octavia.

"Hey, Tavi?

Octavia looked up at her friend. “Yes?”

"It's been a week. You know you have to stop smiling at some point, right?"

Octavia chuckled and returned to her drawing. "I don't see why."

"I'm pretty sure that excessive smiling can cause gum disease.”

"I can't help it, Vinyl. Ever since that town hall meeting, everything just feels happier." Octavia let out a dreamy sigh, gazing out the window as Vinyl trotted over next to her and sat down on the couch. "I don't think I can ever describe how I felt when I was on that hill, looking at the park. I certainly don't think that I'll ever be able to capture that feeling again, but if I can even feel half of it, I'll be satisfied."

"I'm guessing that's why Flanksy has been out every day this week?"

Octavia blushed. "Exactly," she said, going back to her drawing.

Vinyl waited a few moments, but Octavia just kept drawing, and her curiosity got the better of her. She pushed her head up over Octavia's shoulder to get a closer look at the drawing. The outer edges of the page were lined with spirals, but her eye was drawn instead to the center of it, where the abstractness seemed to end. Instead, the drawings became more realistic and recognizable objects, and as Vinyl stared at them, she saw a pattern emerge: a sled, a few small wooden dolls, a pinwheel, and others.

"Are those toys?" Vinyl asked, pushing her head even closer to the page.

Octavia pulled the pad to the side so she could see what she was doing. "Yes, they are."

"Huh, that's different," Vinyl responded, again getting closer. "You gonna turn that into a mural?"

"That's the plan," Octavia said, switching colors and beginning to color in one of the dolls. "It's a bit different than what I've done before, but that's for good reason. Do you remember Graham?"

"Graham?" Vinyl muttered. She rubbed her chin, then held her hoof in the air. "Oh yeah! He's that old pony who owns the toy store! Always wears that blue hat with the red feather in it, and…" She momentarily trailed off, her hoof lowering as the smile disappeared from her face. "Oh…"

Octavia responded with a nod. "Exactly. The fact that I've left my name half-scrawled on the wall of his toy shop for this long is unforgivable. It is time that I do something about it."

"Cool beans," Vinyl said. "But, uh, what if he doesn't want a new mural? I thought he mentioned that he just wanted his wall cleaned up."

"I thought about that, so I'm going to ask him."

Vinyl's eyes widened enough to tip the sunglasses perched on her horn to one side. "Wait, what? You're gonna tell him who you are?!"

"Oh no no no," Octavia replied. "I'll be in disguise. I think I'll just hand him a note or something like that to see what he wants. If he wants the wall merely painted over, that's fine. But if he'd be okay with a more colorful mural, I certainly have the ideas."

Vinyl cocked her head to one side as Octavia returned to her sketch. "Huh. I'm not gonna lie, that's certainly different for Flanksy."

Octavia opened her mouth but was interrupted by the obnoxious shaking of a spray paint can. She waited for it to end before speaking. "It's a one-time event. It's not as controversial as the other things I've done, but it's something I have to do. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly when I was painting my name there. So it only seems appropriate that I let him—" Again, the rattling of the can interrupted Octavia. She sighed, looking up from the pad. "Vinyl, could you stop shaking that can please?"

Vinyl blinked. "What? I thought that was you, I thought you had a can in your other hoof."

They stared at each other for a few seconds before the rattling returned. They both looked over to the side, where a single can of green paint was sitting on the table, shaking violently on its own. Octavia put the pad down and took a step towards it just as it fell off the table.

"Um, Do spray paint cans normally do that?" Vinyl asked.

"Of course not," Octavia responded, prodding the shaking can. "Perhaps a bug got caught in it, or maybe there's too much pressure inside?"

Octavia picked the shaking can up and tapped the bottom a few times, with no result. She looked over at Vinyl, who responded with a shrug, then grabbed a piece of cardboard from the nearby closet. She held her hooves out as far as she could, the cardboard in one hoof and the shaking can in the other, and very cautiously pressed down on the nozzle.

The can stopped shaking as a green bubble formed at the front, gradually growing larger and larger until it snapped free of the bottle and landed on the floor. Octavia glanced back at Vinyl again, then stumbled in surprise as the bubble began to rumble. It writhed about on the floor before suddenly flattening and rolling itself into a long thin shape. Octavia leaned closer to one end of it as it finally stopped moving, then abruptly raised one end and began to hiss.

"Snake? Snaaaaaaake!" Octavia yelped, stumbling back and falling over the edge of the couch. The snake slithered around the room and Vinyl leapt up onto the coffee table in equal shock. Octavia scrambled behind the couch and peeked her head over the top as Vinyl grabbed a book off the table and threw it at the serpent. The snake slithered its way over to the front door and Vinyl jumped next to it and flung the door open, kicking at the snake.

"Shoo! Shoo! Get outta here!" Vinyl yelled as the snake got partially out the door and she followed it to knock it all the way out.

"Is it gone?" Octavia asked, to no response. "What just happened?! How did that just happen?! H-how does a snake get into a can of… no! It wasn't even inside the can! It was formed from w-what was inside it! What the hay—"

"Tavi..."

She waited for a response, but Vinyl said nothing. Octavia looked up at her friend to ask again, but her mouth didn't even get a chance to open when she saw Vinyl standing in the doorway, completely frozen in place. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and her lip appeared to be quivering slightly. Octavia slowly approached her friend and as soon as she joined her, her own eyes widened as well.

The sky, normally blue, was now rapidly changing colors until it settled on a bright pink. Clouds which had previously hung in the sky were now zipping back and forth, dropping what appeared to be lemons. But most telling was the fact that within seconds, panic had descended into the streets. Ponies were running every which way, screaming as the world around them shifted and warped.

"Wh-what... what's happening?" Octavia muttered. But before Vinyl could answer, the front porch on which they stood rumbled violently, sending Octavia pitching into the rail and struggling to keep herself upright as Vinyl stumbled back. Octavia and Vinyl leapt off the porch as their building suddenly rose into the sky, flipping upside-down and hovering in mid-air.

"Sweet Celestia!" Vinyl yelled. "What the hay is going on here?!"

No sooner had Vinyl finished her question than the shrill sound of a siren pierced the air. The ponies in the street paused briefly stare into the sky, but just as quickly panic set back in and there was a stampede in one direction.

"Is that the warning siren?" Vinyl shouted. "We gotta get to shelter!"

With a quick nod of her head, Octavia galloped along with the crowd, Vinyl right behind her. As they ran, the world around them continued to change. A street sign suddenly melted next to Vinyl, causing her to leap to the side as the puddle turned into fizzy soda; cobblestones under Octavia's feet randomly changed color at a rapid pace, until she stepped on one that sunk into the ground, suddenly shooting half-inflated balloons into the sky; in the distance, the clock tower's hands began to spin rapidly until the face of the clock broke off and spun off over the horizon.

"Did some spell go wrong? Is Canterlot being attacked?" Vinyl yelled, turning a corner and running down an alley.

"I have no idea, but I don’t know if we have time to think about it right now!" Octavia responded. As they exited the alley they turned right, but both stopped at the scene playing out in front of them.

Fancy Pants was backing up slowly, concern on his face. In front of him, his wife Fleur De Lis slowly approached, a trash can floating next to her Something about her was different though—her normally pink mane was now a dull, lifeless grey, and her ordinarily content face was now twisted into an angry scowl.

"F-Fleur, darling, I don't know what you want! Don't you recognize me?" Fancy asked, pressing his back into the wall. "I love you!"

"I know exactly who you are!" Fleur yelled. "Love? Don't be ridiculous! I want to know where you're hiding all your riches!"

"B-but I don't hide anything! You know that!" Fancy said, then gasped as the trash can was flung towards his face. He just barely dodged the can, then sprinted away. Fleur picked the can up again and gave chase, screaming about valuables as they disappeared into the distance while the sound of maniacal laughter cut through the air.

Octavia blinked. "What's happening to Canterlot?" she muttered. She felt a tap on her shoulder but barely paid any attention. "Why would Fleur act like that?"

"Tavi..." Vinyl said, again tapping on Octavia's shoulder. The sound of laughter grew louder, but Octavia was too stunned to react.

"Nothing makes sense," she said in shock. "None of this—" She was interrupted when Vinyl grabbed her head and turned her around by force. Octavia's gaze slowly shifted upwards as she stared at the figure standing before her.

A massive draconequus stood behind them, howling with laughter and clutching his serpentine body. He snapped a paw to produce a tissue and wiped his eyes, then crumpled it up and tossed it behind him, which then exploded and sent chairs flying in all directions.

"Dear me, I forgot how funny it is to see ponies acting like jerks!" he said, finally composing himself. "With all the bleating you do about friendship and love, it's so refreshing to see one just acting evil!"

"Who are you?" Vinyl asked.

The creature's eyes narrowed. "You cannot possibly be serious. You don't know who I am? How many draconequui do you know of? Let alone ones that can turn milk into bowling trophies?"

With another snap of his hand, a gallon of milk appeared in front of Vinyl and Octavia. It quickly shaped itself into a large statue of a pony holding a bowling ball, then exploded splashing them with milk. Vinyl shook her hair out and Octavia stared at the creature, too afraid to even react. Suddenly, something clicked in the back of her mind, and she gulped down her fear.

"D... Discord..." she muttered. A sudden fanfare sounded and Discord threw his hands up, sending confetti scattering.

"Yes! Ponies still remember their ancient history! Let's show her what she's won!" he yelled, and he reached down towards Octavia. Just before he touched her his paw stopped, hovering over her head. "Nah," he said, then suddenly shifted his arm and bopped Vinyl on her head.

For a moment, Vinyl's eyes flashed green. Her neon-blue mane melted away, leaving her black and white. She glanced back and forth before her eyes drooped.

"Vinyl!" Octavia yelled "Are you alright?"

Vinyl grunted. "Leave me alone," she muttered. Octavia gasped upon hearing her lifeless voice as Vinyl leaned up against the wall, sliding down and staring into space.

"What? Vinyl, are you—"

"I said leave me alone!" Vinyl snapped, folding her forehooves. "What gives you the idea that I even wanna talk to you?"

Octavia's jaw dropped and she turned back around. Discord was lazily laying on a cloud hammock held up on either side by two grey pegasi, their wings fanning him. "What did you do to her?!"

"I did what I do best," Discord said, sipping an empty glass that appeared to fill up with a brown liquid as he was drinking from it. "Call it what you like—Discording, Discordification, Discordificalololology—I personally just prefer the term ‘brainwash’ myself. Did you know that ponies used to call me Mr. Brainwash?"

Discord kept sipping the drink, pointing his free hand in every direction and sending bolts of randomness shooting through Canterlot. In a panic, Octavia grabbed Vinyl by the hoof.

"Come on, we have to get to shelter!" she whispered. Vinyl just curled her body away and laid her head down on the ground.

"What's the point?" Vinyl muttered, closing her eyes. "He's just gonna win anyway. I'm gonna lay here for a while."

Octavia huffed in frustration, then bit down on Vinyl's tail and began to drag her. In protest, Vinyl splayed her hooves out lazily and shut her eyes even tighter, then dug her hooves into the ground to slow down progress.

"Come on!" Octavia said through clenched teeth. "I don't care how you're feeling, we have to get—"

She stopped talking when she bumped into something behind her. She turned around and found herself staring at a large wooden sign with Discord's face on it. Discord—without his face—stood casually behind the sign, pointing down at it.

"Just where do you think you're going?" the face on the sign said. "I only just returned to Canterlot; you can't treat an honored guest like that!" The sign suddenly splintered apart and the face re-attached itself to Discord's head. "Besides, there are a number of ponies who I've wanted to speak with now that I'm back. You two are near the top of the list!" He paused, then rubbed his beard. "Ok, not the top. More like the middle. But you're on the list!"

"Leave us alone!" Octavia shouted. "What in Equestria could you want with Vinyl and I?"

Discord stared at her, then started laughing again. "Wait, wait. Why would I care about a neon-maned wub machine like her?" He snapped his fingers, and a large cage dropped over Vinyl, separating her from Octavia. Before she could react, Discord reached down and grabbed her by the nape of the neck. She twisted to try to escape as he brought her up, and went face-to-face with the struggling pony.

"When I say 'you two' I am referring to you and Flanksy, sunshine."

Octavia stopped struggling and stared into Discord's eyes. "What? But..."

Discord chuckled. "Oh come now. I'm the God of Chaos, emphasis on that first word. Just because I'm encased in stone doesn't mean I'm ignorant." He laughed again. "After all, I'm not Celestia, now am I?"

She felt her throat close momentarily and her pupils shrunk. Discord patted her on the head and set her down.

"Oh, there's no reason to be nervous. I'm not going to brainwash you or anything. That would be quite counter-chaotic. In fact, I want to thank you!"

Octavia didn't know how to react, other than her jaw dropping. "Thank me? F-for what?" she said, instinctively backing up a step.

"Why, for doing things in the name of chaos! While I've been busy the past thousand years, it was so refreshing to see somepony carrying on my work!"

Octavia gasped. "What? I haven't been doing anything of the sort!"

Discord's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Octavia by the hoof. He suddenly took off into the sky, jerking Octavia long behind him. He came to a sudden stop high above the city.

"Oh no no no," Discord said, lazily leaning back and letting Octavia dangle below him. "You've been doing normal, sensible things like painting trees orange and drawing cartoon faces of royalty!" He pulled Octavia up and set her on his serpent-like chest. "You have single-hoofedly created more chaos in Canterlot than anything in the last thousand years! Well, until now, that is. Now that I’m back, I can bring my much better ‘art’ of chaos!" He threw his other hand into the air, sending fish flopping down everywhere in the city.

He floated back down and landed on the roof of a building, dropping Octavia down next to him. She shook her head to try to regain her composure, then looked out at Canterlot. The streets were completely bare while ponies either took shelter or cowered in their homes. In the distance, however, she saw a number of floating trees; each one painted a different color. With a deep breath, she turned back to Discord.

"Oh cripes... I'm about to be lectured, aren't I?” he muttered, his eyes rolling so far back that the pupils swiveled completely out of view.

"What I have done is different," Octavia replied, standing her ground. "What I do is not for the sake of chaos. You make ponies miserable, but I show them the beauty of the world. I don't want to ruin ponies lives, I want to enrich them!"

Discord's pupils swiveled back, now with the words "HA" written across them.

"HA!" he yelled. "Go ahead, keep telling yourself that. At the end of the day, you and I have more similarities than you care to admit."

"We do not!" Octavia yelled right back. "Don't compare us! I may have painted some walls and trees, but you just cause chaos on a terrifying scale! What you do is wrong, and—"

Octavia didn't get a chance to finish as Discord grabbed her underneath her chin and glared at her. She started to hyperventilate as he leaned in, going nose-to-nose with her.

"You really are quite bold to be talking to a deity," Discord snarled. "You can say whatever you want. No matter what the scale, you are still causing chaos."

Octavia gulped. "I-I..."

A smile curled across Discord's face. "Oh, but don't get me wrong; I’d much prefer things like riots and property damage, but even a little bit of chaos is great!”

Again Discord grabbed her by the nape of her neck and leapt off the building, landing on the ground with a loud thud. He glanced around for a few seconds before driving his hand through a nearby window, turning it into white chocolate which splintered in every direction. He rummaged around inside for a few seconds before pulling out a trembling green unicorn.

He looked directly into her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Lyra..."

No sooner had she responded than Discord dropped Octavia to the ground and flicked the unicorn on the forehead, instantly dulling her color from green to grey. With a huge smile, he turned back to Octavia. "See? I just brainwashed Lyra, and I don't even know her! It's chaotic, and It's fun!" He turned back to the unicorn."Go do the opposite of whatever it is you do normally, harpo," he said, tossing her back inside.

"I'm not hurting other ponies like you are. I don't want to hurt ponies!"

"Oh, but I think you do," Discord jeered. "Why, as far as I can tell, this all started with you wanting to hurt Princess Celestia. Good work on that, by the way. Calling Celestia ignorant and ruining her statue? Even I wouldn't stoop that low! Okay I totally would, but I haven't."

"T-that, that..." Octavia stuttered.

"And what about the Elements of Harmony?" Discord continued. "They ruined the most important night of your life and they don't care! They have no idea that they took your hopes and dreams in their hooves, and crushed them. Don't tell me you've just forgotten!" He snapped his fingers and a scroll floated down in front of Octavia, unfolding to reveal a picture of the six Elements of Harmony, all happily posing for the shot. She stared at it as Discord snapped his fingers one more time and the picture changed: the ponies were still standing there, but now beneath their hooves were the shattered remains of a cello.

The corners of the scroll crumbled in Octavia's now trembling hooves. The chaotic world around her evaporated, and she returned to the night of the Gala. For the first time in a while, the images of the six ponies who had ruined it swirled in her head. She finally looked back up at a smirking Discord, then shook the images out of her mind and tossed the paper aside.

"It doesn't matter what I think of them. I'm doing this for other reasons, and not for the sake of fun!" She looked back at Discord, who was now laying against the wall, playing with a ball-and-paddle that appeared to be made of feathers. "I want to change Canterlot!"

Discord stopped and looked over at Octavia. With a poof the toy turned into a microphone and he loudly cleared his throat.

"If I could be serious for a minute," he said into the microphone and then tossed it into the air, where it exploded into a storm cloud that rained maple leaves as it raced away. "I know you want to change Canterlot, but you are going about it all wrong."

"All wro—" was all Octavia got out before a cloud of smoke erupted around her. When it cleared, she was laying on a long couch with Discord sitting next to her in an elegant chair, a pair of googly-eye glasses perched on his nose and a notepad in hand.

"See, you want to change Canterlot, but all you’ve done is put up your art. It's the equivalent of politely tapping a pony on the shoulder and asking if they’d maybe consider changing." Discord paused, then shook his head. "Mental note: the Element of Kindness might resist brainwashing. Anyway, the point is that if you just ask ponies to change, you might get a little something-something out of them, but eventually they'll change back. They always change back."

"That's not true," Octavia replied, folding her hooves on her stomach. "Look at how Canterlot has reacted. Look how Prince Blueblood has been embarrassed. I've created change in Canterlot that—” she stopped herself, looking down at the couch she was on and the notes Discord was taking. She shook her head and rolled off the couch, instead stepping towards Discord. “I’ve created change in Canterlot that will last, and I have done it with art!”

Discord sighed. "I can tell I'm not getting through to you just yet. But that's fine. You'll learn eventually. Now I'm sorry, but I'm afraid our lovely little discussion is going to have to end. I have a handful of flies to deal with,” he said, punctuating it by holding up a now six-fingered paw. “But while I'm gone, I want you to remember something. Listen very carefully to what I'm telling you."

Octavia gulped as Discord leaned in even closer. His eyes narrowed and when he spoke his voice was cold.

"Nothing changes unless you make it change. Just asking ponies to change won't change anything." His frown shifted into a creepy grin. "Believe me, merely asking ponies to accept chaos doesn't work. Why do you think I do things like this?" he asked, pointing his free hand back and shooting a white beam into the wall behind them, which melted down into chocolate. "Just keep that in mind."

He finally relented on his grasp on Octavia, and she fell to the ground, curling up against the wall. He cleaned off his hand, then smiled. "Now then if you will excuse me, I must be off. Let me leave you with a little parting gift!" he said, then pointed towards Octavia's head. She curled up even tighter, shivering, but Discord's paw stopped. "No," he muttered, pulling away. “Just remember what I said. Here, you can even have your friend back."

With that, Discord snapped his fingers and was instantly covered in a puff of pink smoke. Octavia shielded her eyes, opening them after a few seconds to find Vinyl Scratch in his place, still grey and curled up in a ball.

"Vinyl…"

"Shut up!" Vinyl yelled at her, staring emptily at the pink sky. "I don't care about whatever you were gonna say. The entire city is screwed anyway, so why bother even talking?"

Octavia looked off into the distance, where several guards were standing around the door to a shelter, ushering ponies in. She turned back around.

"Come on, we're getting to safety."

"Don't wanna," Vinyl mumbled.

"I'm sorry about this, but you aren't going to have a say in this matter," Octavia said, clamping her teeth down on her friend's tail and dragging the lifeless Vinyl towards the shelter.

Octavia sat against the far wall of the shelter, her back legs curled up into her chest. It was the only place she could feel remotely comfortable since the shelter was so jam-packed with ponies that finding a place to sit or stand had grown increasingly difficult. Numerous guards stood around to keep everypony calm, as many of the ponies in the shelter were colorless and reckless from encounters with Discord. Hours and hours had passed by, but the only window in the shelter continued to indicate a bright pink sky. Although a guard had arrived to inform ponies that Discord had left the city hours ago, Canterlot remained a hotbed of chaos and nopony was brave enough to venture outside.

She reached out and grabbed a small bottle of water, sipping it before standing up. Vinyl Scratch remained curled up on the ground, lazily chipping away at the wall with a scrap of metal she had found.

"Do you want some water?" she asked, holding the bottle out. Vinyl swatted it away and looked at up at Octavia with ashen face and dark circles under her lifeless eyes.

"What part of 'leave me alone' are you just not getting?" she hissed, then turned back to the wall.

"Vinyl, you have to snap out of it!" Octavia said. Vinyl just laid her head back on the ground. Octavia shook her, but Vinyl raised a back hoof and kicked Octavia away. Octavia stared at her monochrome friend, and felt a lump forming in her throat. "Y-you have to! I don't know what Discord did to you—I don't know what he did to everypony—but you have to snap out of it! Y-you…"

She trailed off and sniffled as she fell against the wall, her head dropping into her hooves. Her breaths were labored as she closed her eyes just wanting everything to go back to normal. But when she thought she was beginning to drift off to sleep, a sentence rang through her head.

Nothing changes unless you make it change.

Octavia snapped back awake, shaking her head to chase Discord's words away. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep again.

"Don't worry," a voice came from in front of her. "Canterlot will be back to normal soon."

"How do you know?" was all Octavia could respond with. "After everything that's happened so quickly…"

"Canterlot will persevere, as it always has. No matter what happens to this city, it will always return to its glory as the greatest city in Equestria."

Octavia sighed, finally beginning to look up. "But how can—" she immediately stopped when she saw who she was talking to.

Prince Blueblood stood in front of her, looking her right in the eyes. Despite the chaotic situation, he seemed as prim and proper as ever, his hair styled and his cummerbund not even showing the slightest hint of a wrinkle. The only thing that was different about him was his face. It was the only time Octavia had seen him genuinely smiling.

"Canterlot has endured far worse. We will be fine," he said. "Whether aunt Celestia and Luna intervene, or even the ponies of this city do, Discord will be stopped. I have lived in Canterlot for far too long to expect anything less than the city returning to normal after this."

Octavia gulped down a lump that had formed in her throat upon realizing she was only feet away from her biggest rival in Canterlot. "Do you really think so?"

Blueblood nodded. "I know so."

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?"

Blueblood turned to look out the far window. The pink sky suddenly turned dark as the moon shot into the air. He gazed over all the ponies that had packed the shelter, then turned back to Octavia.

"Because it is my duty," he said. "It is always the duty of a prince to look out for what is best for his kingdom. Even I know I can't confront Discord or change Canterlot back myself, so in a situation such as this, I must focus on protecting the citizens. At least until..." Blueblood trailed off, looking like he just bit his tongue. Octavia could've sworn she saw the spark of a fire ignite in his eyes but it quickly died when he spat out the rest of the thought. Under his breath he grumbled, "The Elements of Harmony can stop Discord. After that the city will be back to normal, and we can focus on what is important again.

With a nod, Blueblood turned to the side. Octavia started to close her eyes, but a thought shot through her mind again: this was the only opportunity she would ever have to talk to Blueblood. Mustering all her energy and courage, she called out behind him.

"Important like Flanksy?"

Blueblood stopped in his tracks. He spun around and now there was no hiding the fire burning in his eyes.

"Yes, like that scourge. Once Discord is defeated, I can focus on ridding Canterlot of her once and for all."

Octavia cocked her head to one side. "But I thought that after the meeting last week—"

"What, that farce?" Blueblood asked. "Where not a single pony came to my defense? Where suddenly the ponies who disliked Flanksy were too afraid to speak their minds in public? I'm proud enough to admit that I took the wrong approach in that sense. It's a single loss in a greater battle." He put his hoof down and held his head up high as if posing for a dramatic painting. "Don't you worry. I am not going to let Flanksy ruin this city any more than she already has. She is nothing less than the worst scourge in Canterlot, and I will personally see to it that she is brought to justice. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to attend to other ponies."

As soon as Blueblood turned back around, Octavia's eyes narrowed and she gritted her teeth. She wanted to scream at Blueblood, but she knew that now wasn't the time. Blueblood had only taken a step away when he paused and whirled his head around, and Octavia shifted her expression to a smile as quickly as she could.

"I'm sorry," Blueblood began, "but I just have to ask: have we met before?"

Octavia's smile wavered for a moment as Blueblood approached her. "Um, I don't think so…" she muttered.

"No, I swear you look familiar to me," Blueblood said, getting uncomfortably close to her face and squinting. "I swear we've met at some point. It's on the tip of my tongue…"

Octavia felt herself start to sweat. She frantically glanced around the room for something to focus on before a thought popped into her head.

"The Gala?"

Blueblood tilted his head to one side and took a step back. "Yes, that's it. You were one of the performers on stage! I thought you looked familiar. I suppose I forgot your face because that night was…" He trailed off, looking away. For a moment, Octavia thought she saw another spark in his eye, but he shook his head briefly. "That night was complicated."

"Yes, it certainly was," Octavia muttered.

Blueblood looked back at her. "Wait. Why—"

Before he had a chance to continue, the entire room shook as the sound of an explosion pierced the air. Ponies screamed and ducked their heads down instinctively as Octavia curled up against the wall and Blueblood dove for cover next to her. The window at the top of the shelter glowed as a wave of blinding energy shot through the room, enveloping everything inside. For a few moments, everything was white.

Octavia finally opened her eyes once the shaking of the room had stopped. Nothing seemed to have changed as she glanced through the room. "W-what was that? What did Discord do this time?" she said to herself as she shakily got to her hooves.

She started stepping towards the window to try to get a better vision of the outside, but stopped when she came across two ponies separated from the crowd: Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis. They were locked in a tight embrace, tears running down both their cheeks and to Octavia's surprise, the grey that had plagued Fleur was gone. Her mane and tail now shone a pristine pink, the way they were before Discord arrived.

"Wait…" Octavia said out loud, her eyes widening. "If Fleur is back to normal, does that mean—"

"TAVIIIIIIIII!!"

She had only started to turn around when she was tackled to the floor. She rolled onto her back to find herself staring into Vinyl Scratch’s excited eyes. Vinyl’s mane was as vibrant as ever and she jumped up and down, her words blending together into a slurry that Octavia could barely make out.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" she fired off. "I'm so so so so sorry I was being such a jerk; I couldn't help it! In the back of my head I was all like 'stop being such a downer' but I couldn't actually do anything about it! But I'm back and I'm feeling great and everything is awesome again and please please please don't hate me for telling you to shut up or…" Vinyl finally trailed off, staring down at Octavia. She blushed, then carefully stepped off and helped her friend to her hooves. "Er, sorry about that. That was probably a bit awkward for you."

Octavia responded by reaching forward and wrapping Vinyl into a hug. "It's nice to have you back, Vinyl."

"Heh, thanks," Vinyl quietly replied. "It's good to be back."

They remained embraced until a loud noise came from the other side of the room. A Royal Guard had flung the door to the shelter open, standing breathlessly in the light. Once Octavia's eyes had readjusted, she gasped upon seeing what was outside the window: blue sky.

"Canterlot is back!" the guard yelled. "Everything is back to normal!"

There was a loud commotion as ponies stampeded to the door and out into the open. As if a switch had been pulled somewhere, all of Canterlot had returned to the state it was before Discord had arrived, almost as if he had never been there in the first place.

"Is it over?" Vinyl said. "Is it really over?"

"My subjects!"

The crowd of ponies looked up to see Princess Celestia herself flying overhead. She landed on a building in front of them, a professional smile on her face.

"My loyal subjects, the Elements of Harmony have prevailed. Discord has been defeated, and Equestria is once again safe!"

A massive cheer rose up from the crowd as Celestia took off again to continue spreading the word. Vinyl and Octavia hugged again as the crowd dispersed to celebrate Octavia glanced to the side to see Blueblood, who almost seemed to be holding back tears as he looked around at the returned city before he held his head high, surrounded by guards.

"We gotta go celebrate!” Vinyl yelled, rushing off. Octavia quickly caught up with her, slowing Vinyl down. “Hey, lemme ask you something. What did Discord say to you? I sorta remember him grabbing you and rushing off. What was he talking about?"

Octavia laughed. "It doesn't matter. He said an awful lot of things, but they're the kind of things that one shouldn't take to heart. He was merely trying to cause trouble and I'm not about to pay him any mind. All that matters is that he's gone and Canterlot is back to normal."

"Yeah!"

As they returned to the apartment, the streets had filled with celebrating ponies. Vinyl rushed into the apartment to grab her shades while Octavia stood on the front porch, turning around and just admiring the scene. It was as if an impromptu parade had started, with ponies cheering, singing, some were even dancing out of pure joy. For a few moments, she was brought back to the week before, when she had sat on the hill at the edge of the park, just watching ponies enjoying life. It was a rare sight in Canterlot; one that amazed her even now.

“Tavi?”

Octavia jumped a bit and turned around to find Vinyl standing next to her, her shades now perched on her face. "Oh, you startled me," Octavia said, chuckling. "I was just admiring the scene."

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing, ain't it?" Vinyl replied, trotting down the steps. "Then again, everypony’s got reason to celebrate."

The two continued back through the streets of Canterlot, which were increasingly full of celebrating ponies, all happy that the city had been restored. Vinyl and Octavia didn't talk much, just looking around at the celebration.

"It really is amazing, Vinyl," Octavia mused as they turned the corner onto Sunflower Boulevard. "Although I suppose defeating a wrathful god really is cause for it all.”

"You suppose?" Vinyl replied with a laugh. "That was Discord! He ruled Equestria way in the past, and he almost did it again now! Of course ponies have a reason to celebrate, the Elements of Harmony came through and saved the day! They…"

Vinyl walked on, caught up in her monologue, not realizing that Octavia had stopped behind her. Octavia's gaze had frozen, staring at what was next to her. It was Graham's Toy Shop, as neat and tidy as it ever was, with Graham himself happily chatting with some fillies inside and handing out small pinwheels. That wasn't what caught Octavia's eye, however.

The wall was grey.

Octavia's hooves trembled as she stared at the wall. Her eyes kept scanning back and forth, as if hoping that suddenly her work would appear again, but the wall remained dull and lifeless.

"No… Wh-what happened…"

She took a few steps back, then glanced up at the nearest cross street before galloping through the crowd. She weaved in between celebrating ponies, her breath quickening as she she raced past street after street before coming upon Clopperstone Road. She turned the corner and immediately was met with the sight of Prince Blueblood, walking in her direction with a smile on his face.

"It's a great day, gentlecolts!" he yelled in victory to his guards. "Two birds with a single stone! Discord's defeat returned Canterlot not just to the way it was before, but the way it always should be! Why, I should go thank Discord for this, wherever he is!"

"But sir," one of the guards interjected, "what if she just comes back and—"

"Let's not talk about the future just yet, Ambrose," Blueblood said, waving his hoof. "What matters is that right now, I am back in control. Whatever Flanksy may do next, I'll be on top of it. Now then, let's go celebrate!"

Blueblood walked around Octavia and off into the distance as she stood on shaking hooves and looked down the street. It only took her a few seconds to spot Princess Celestia's statue in the distance; standing upright and noble, not a speck of green anywhere in sight. Octavia's lip quivered as she tried to remain composed. She leaned against the wall, staring at where the statue stood.

"W-why would Discord… Why would he…" she muttered, before her eyes shot open and her breath momentarily disappeared from her throat.

"The park!"

She turned around and raced through the crowd, towards the park. She felt as though she was being choked by an invisible force, her breaths labored and shallow. She dodged between celebrating ponies, finally making it to the gates of the park.

"It has to be the same," she said to herself as she scaled the hill, her head looking down and eyes nearly shut. "Discord wouldn't have changed it back. It's fine, everything is fine."

She got to the top of the hill, her entire body quaking. Her breathing quickened again as she shut her eyes, quietly saying, "please…" under her breath. She got to the top of the hill and squeezed her eyes even tighter, almost afraid to open them. Taking one long breath, she forced her eyes open and looked up at the park. There were very few ponies actually in the park itself, most of them crowding the streets. The park was quiet, almost frozen in time amid the partying going on around it. But all that Octavia saw were the trees and the fountain.

Brown and grey. Colorless. As if nothing had ever happened to them. Everything was gone.

Octavia's legs finally gave out and she fell back into a sitting position, just staring straight ahead. As the sounds of celebration and the visions of the world blurred around her, she felt empty. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. She wanted to yell, but she had no voice. As she sat there, she could have sworn she heard the faint sound of laughter in the distance, and a single thought crossed her mind.

Nothing changes unless you make it change.

She finally stood up in an empty haze, almost stumbling down the hill and back into the crowd. As she turned the corner, a voice rang out.

"There you are, Tavi!" Vinyl Scratch pushed her way through the crowd up to her friend. "Got lost in the crowd, huh? Come on, let's go get some food!"

Octavia didn't break her stride, her head hanging as she walked straight by her friend.

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"What? Well we gotta do something! Look around you, Canterlot is back to normal!"

Vinyl smiled, waiting for a reply. Instead, Octavia glanced up for a split second before sighing and walking away, oblivious to the celebration around her.

"Yeah," she quietly muttered. "Normal…"

End of Chapter 10: Exit Through Chaos

Special Thanks: Razarl, Wardonne, Worstna, andThe Propny Squad

11. Worthless

"Miss? Miss!"

Octavia snapped out of the momentary haze she was in and looked up at the pony on the other side of the stall. He held out a bag that was bulging with vegetables.

"Oh, sorry," Octavia muttered, taking the bag. "Thank you."

She sighed, then gazed back at where she had been looking previously: the toy shop across from the market. Graham was in the window playing with a marionette, with several fillies crowding around him fascinated by the puppet. She stepped away from the booth and towards the shop, when the seller spoke up.

"You do know you have to pay for those, right?"

"So sorry!" Octavia said with a shake of her head, then turned around and reached into her saddle bag. "My mind is… elsewhere today."

"Judging by where you're looking, I'm guessing the toy shop?"

Octavia paused, glancing back across the way. Graham was smiling and playing with the children, now showing off a small jack-in-the-box. They all leaned in as he slowly wound the crank on the side until a clown-faced doll popped out, causing all the kids to jump back and laugh.

She sighed. "Well, yes. Something about it has been bothering me."

"Really? What about it?"

Octavia opened her mouth, but thought better of her response and stayed quiet. She glanced back at the grey wall where her art had been only days ago, but was now as dull and lifeless as ever. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, then turned back to the vendor.

"I… it's nothing," she said instead, quickly tossing bits onto the table and awkwardly trotting away. She momentarily glanced back to see the vendor, but he had just gone on to his next customer as if she hadn’t even been there. With a sigh, she trotted away from the market without a destination in mind.

It had only been a few days since Discord had been defeated and Canterlot life had quickly returned to normal. Any pony who had just arrived would never have guessed that only days ago, buildings were hovering upside down while sheep flew by on hang gliders made of syrup. But thanks to the Elements of Harmony, that was all undone. Canterlot was now chaos-free, back to the way it had always been.

But with the chaos had gone Flanksy’s art.

What felt like a permanent pit had formed in Octavia’s stomach the second she had first noticed the absence of her work days ago. No matter what she had done, the emptiness had remained. She hadn't even gotten the motivation to go out and paint anything.

She shifted the weight of her saddle bag as she turned a corner, but the pit in her stomach deepened as she recognized the familiar buildings of the street. She walked straight forward, trying not to glance to her left where all that separated her from Canterlot Park was a metal fence. Unable to keep her pace going, she stole a glance to the right, half-expecting that the color she had brought to it would be back. It only took one glimpse of the brown and grey of the park before she turned away, feeling the pit deepen further.

Trying to distract herself from the park, she scanned the area to find something else to look at, then stopped as she saw a familiar pony. She trotted over to the pony who was sitting against the wall, painting on a canvas. Amethyst Star looked over at the park every few seconds for a frame of reference before going back to her art as ponies slowed down near her to admire the finished paintings she had laid out in front of her. Octavia walked up next to her, looking over her latest painting. Amethyst glanced up at her and for a moment, there was a sparkle in her eyes.

"Hi," Amethyst meekly said, hiding her excitement.

"Hello," Octavia replied just as gently.

There was an awkward pause between them for a few seconds before Amethyst looked back at the park. She sighed, then looked back to her art. "It's… just not as interesting without the color, is it?"

Octavia felt her spirits soar for a fraction of a second. She glanced around to make sure no other ponies were close, then turned back to Amethyst. "Have other ponies been saying things? Do they all miss it?"

She waited in excited anticipation, but Amethyst just let out a nervous sigh and looked away. "N… not really. One or two ponies mentioned it, but other than that, I think ponies have just been happy to see Canterlot back to normal, ya know?"

Just hearing the word ‘normal’ sent Octavia's mood crashing right back down. "Y-yes, I see," she muttered.

Amethyst's eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, they're just so relieved that—"

"No, you're right. They're happy that things are back to normal," Octavia muttered, turning and walking back towards the market. Amethyst reached out to continue, but a pony stepped in front of her, inquiring about the art scattered around. By the time Amethyst looked back, her inspiration had disappeared into the crowd.

Octavia worked her way through the ponies in the market, her eyes locked firmly on the ground in front of her. The world rushed past her in a numbing blur as she finally wandered out of the market, over to where a pony was just exiting a music shop.

"There you are, Tavi," Vinyl said, smiling. "Got everything?" Octavia gave a small nod, and Vinyl cocked her head to one side, but shrugged it off and walked with her friend. "By the way, I'm gonna be working on a remix later tonight, my room might be a little noisy. Hope that's alright."

"Sure," Octavia mumbled, glancing back at the market. In the far distance she saw a grey wall that seemed to go on forever in her mind.

"Oh, and tomorrow, I'm probably gonna be up early. I'm checking out a venue I'm playing next week; I wanna see what the best layout is."

Octavia just nodded again. Vinyl glanced over at her, her tongue in her cheek, waiting for more of a response from Octavia.

"Erm… and then I thought I would push a cupcake up my nose."

"M-hmm," Octavia responded. Vinyl sighed and stopped in her tracks, which finally did catch her friend’s attention. She looked over and Vinyl turned and trotted into a nearby alley. Confused, Octavia entered the alley behind her, following Vinyl all the way to the back and well out of the way of any other ponies.

"Vinyl," Octavia said, "What are you doing back here?" Vinyl didn't respond and Octavia approached. Vinyl finally turned around, staring directly into her friend's eyes.

"Tavi, what's wrong?"

Octavia instinctively closed her mouth. "Wrong? Nothing, I'm—"

"Fine? No, you're not," Vinyl said. "Come on, I can tell something is bothering you. You've been off ever since Discord was here. I haven't seen you like this since, well, since the Gala! I know something is eating at you, just tell me!"

An awkward silence filled the air as the friends stared at each other. Octavia glanced away for a moment down the alley at the ponies walking past, finally sighing and looking down at the ground.

"It really is that obvious, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Now come on, tell me what's wrong."

Octavia glanced away again. "I… would rather not discuss it."

"No! I'm not going to let you clam up like you used to. What's wrong, Tavi?" Octavia turned away completely, only for Vinyl to respond by stepping in even closer. "Come on! I'm your best friend, you can tell—"

"Everything I've done is gone!"

Octavia's shout caused Vinyl to step back in surprise. Octavia looked out at the other end of the alley that suddenly seemed miles away. She turned back to her friend and leaned up against the wall to support herself.

"I think it was a side effect of what the Elements of Harmony did, because Discord said he liked my art. Whatever caused it, what matters is that all my art was wiped away. Celestia's statue, the sheet in front of Photo Finish's studio, the—" Octavia stopped, biting her lip. The pit in her stomach deepened just a bit more, and she swallowed back the lump in her throat before continuing. "The park. Everything is gone. It's like Flanksy never existed."

She let out a massive breath, staring down at the ground. Vinyl was silent as she processed what Octavia had told her, then slowly trotted over. Octavia looked up at Vinyl, who reached and gently patted Octavia on the back.

"Geez, Tavi. No wonder you've been so upset. I can't believe I didn't even notice—"

"Nopony noticed," Octavia muttered. "Nopony in the city. I thought I had really made an impact on Canterlot, I thought I had actually changed things, I thought I had reached so many ponie, but I guess not. All that happiness was short lived. Now it's gone. The art, the happiness, the changed ponies, all of it gone."

Vinyl didn't have a response this time, only continuing to pat Octavia on the back to try to comfort her. For a minute neither talked as Octavia just took deep breaths to calm herself down and Vinyl patted her on the back.

"Listen," Vinyl quietly began, "It was nothing against you. Nopony just ‘forgot’ about you, it's just that, well, Equestria was just saved from being taken over. That sorta took priority."

Octavia sighed. "I know, I know. Perhaps it's selfish for me to be so upset about this, but it still hurts, Vinyl. It still hurts."

"I'm sure it does," Vinyl replied. "I don't blame you for being upset. I mean, it was out of your control. At least it wasn't Blueblood, you know? It was just the Elements of Harmony restoring order…"

Vinyl trailed off after she realized what she had said. Octavia's gaze shot up from the ground and to her friend, a spark suddenly burning in her eyes.

"Restoring order?" Octavia seethed. "Order? The Elements of Harmony consider what I've done to be chaos? What I have done isn't some sort of anomaly against peace. Am I considered chaotic? Is what I do simply wrong and has to be cleaned? Is that what the damn elements think!?" Octavia breathed heavily through her nose before she finally looked up at Vinyl, who was staring in absolute shock at her. She closed her eyes and took a long breath, the spark slowly extinguishing itself and she turned back to the ground. "I… am I just chaos? Am I doing something wrong?"

"You can't talk like that," Vinyl said, patting her friend. "You can't blame the Elements, you can't talk about yourself like that… it's just something that happened. Like I said, it was out of your control."

"I know, I know," Octavia said, shifting the weight on her saddle bag. "But it still happened. And it's still weighed too heavily on my mind to figure out what to do next. There has been an awful lot to think about, and I suppose I've let it get to me more than I should have."

"No, I wouldn't say that. I don't blame you for being so upset. You sholuda told me before, though! That way I could’ve helped!"

"Yes, I probably should have," Octavia muttered. "Talking about it has cheered me up a bit…"

"I don't mean that," Vinyl said, draping her foreleg around Octavia's shoulder and smiling. "I mean planning out how Flanksy is gonna burst back onto the scene with the most awesome thing she's done yet! Come on, let's go strategize."

Even with her mood, Octavia couldn't help but chuckle as she and Vinyl trotted out of the alley and back towards their apartment. They had just passed a quiet intersection when Octavia noticed the street sign on the corner. The pit in her stomach returned as she gazed at the statue of Celestia in the far distance, grey and lifeless to her. Ponies were walking by it without so much as a glance toward it.

Nothing changes unless you make it change.

She shook her head to chase the thought away and averted her gaze, when a voice rang out from behind.

"Octavia?"

Both Octavia and Vinyl turned around to find a stallion trotting up to them. He wore an impeccably styled suit and his mane had been carefully combed to one side, and a pair of spectacles was perched on the very edge of his snout. Octavia's eyes widened upon seeing him, and she closed the gap with him.

"Why, Sir Sonata! So nice to see you again," she said, shaking the stallion's extended hoof. "What brings you out to the area?"

"Oh, just going for a walk," the stallion replied. "I've been dealing with a bit of a crisis the past day, so I just had to get a bit of quiet time."

Vinyl trotted up next to them, and Octavia smiled at her. "Vinyl, this is Sir Allegro Sonata. He's the musical chamberlain to the royal family, the pony who contacted me to work the Gala."

Vinyl smiled and held her hoof out. "Nice to meetcha."

Allegro returned the hoof shake, but tilted his head to one side as he stared at her. "You look familiar… Oh! You're DJ Pon-3, aren't you?"

That elicited a surprised chuckle from Vinyl. "Hah, I didn't think that a pony who works for the Princess would know much about my style of music."

"Nonsense! I try to keep abreast of all the music in Canterlot, no matter what."

"Sir Sonata," Octavia interjected, "you mentioned some kind of crisis?"

Allegro's face immediately fell. "Ah, yes. The Canterlot Garden Party is in a few days, but I was just informed that one of the musicians has come down with a terrible case of hay fever. She's going to be out of commission for several days and won’t be able to make the event, meaning that—" he abruptly stopped as his eyes widened. Before she knew what was happening, Octavia found herself face-to-face with Allegro, whose hooves were resting on her shoulders. "By Celestia, this meeting was meant to be! Octavia, you could fill in for her!"

Octavia blinked. "O-on such short notice? I am flattered for the invite to the Garden Party, but with only a few days to prepare—"

"Don't be ridiculous," Allegro responded. "The songs to be played are well known from the Pre-Classical Era, the kind I'm sure you are familiar with. Octavia, please. I need your assistance for this. It's one of the biggest events of the year!"

Octavia glanced back at Vinyl, then into the now desperate eyes of Allegro. She sighed, then put on a reassuring smile.

"Sir Sonata, I'd be honored to participate."

Allegro leapt back. "Wonderful! I shall go inform the other musicians immediately. Practice is in Canterlot Garden first thing tomorrow morning. I shall see you there!" he yelled, turning around and trotting off in a hurry. Octavia turned back to Vinyl, whose face was curled in confusion and her head tilted to one side. Octavia let out a content sigh and trotted on the path to the apartment, Vinyl right behind her.

When they finally arrived home, it only took a split second after Octavia closed the door for Vinyl to speak up.

"You know, I'm surprised," she said.

"At what?"

"You agreeing to work that show. I dunno, I kinda thought you were focusing on the art for now."

Octavia wandered into her room and gently plucked the strings of her cello. She ran a hoof along the top rim, drawing it back to see a very small layer of dust on the edge of her hoof.

"I think I've gotten too wrapped up in the whole Flanksy persona. I need to have a night where I don't have to think about it."

"Wait," Vinyl said. "I thought you wanted to keep painting!"

"I do, I do," Octavia replied with a smile. "But I've been putting so much thought into it the past few days that it's made me miserable. Of course I want to continue it, but maybe just a few days away from it all will help. A chance to clear my head and focus on something not as, well, not as controversial as I've been doing. I just hope I haven't gotten any rust…"

She took the bow in her hoof and close her eyes as she drew it against the cello. The opening chords of Beethooven Symphony 9 wafted through the room, and Vinyl chuckled.

"You? Rusty? Come on."

"Yes, this is exactly what I need right now," Octavia mused over the music. "Some time to not think about spray paint and controversy, even if it's just for a few days. Just a few days where I can put spray paint out of my mind." She momentarily opened one eye and looked over at her desk, where a can of spray paint was tipped over on one side. She chuckled to herself. "Well, maybe not completely out of mind…"

Octavia took in a deep breath of the cool Canterlot night as she finished the final chord of Frederic Horseshoepin's Exordium In A Minor. The completion of the song was met with only mild applause from the few ponies at the Canterlot Garden Party who were near the stage, but that was expected from a calmer, more elegant event such as this. She and the other three performers gave a slight bow, and Octavia turned to the violin player next to her.

"What next?"

She mused over the question for a moment. "How about Lunarmuzik?"

Octavia nodded, and ran the bow along the strings with the opening notes. The rest of the ensemble joined in, and a few of the ponies in attendance nodded in appreciation of the song before returning to the quiet activities of the Garden Party.

The music rang through Octavia's head and she closed her eyes, just letting the music flow out of her cello. The past few days had been relatively calm for her as she had gone back to practicing her cello and not focusing on anything Flanksy-related. Everything that had happened because of Discord had been weighing on her since he left, but after only a day of putting it out of her mind, she had felt as though the weight had been lifted. Instead, she had had the chance to just focus on her true love of music and clear her head.

By the time the evening of the Canterlot Garden Party had rolled around, however, her mind had been filled with something else: inspiration. The question of how to motivate herself to go out and paint had been completely eradicated and now all she could think about was going out and expressing herself again. She had put off going out so she could focus on the Garden Party, but the thoughts and ideas had swirled through her mind faster and faster, until soon she couldn't take it. Instead of going out, she used the breaks she had from practicing to draw in her sketchbook, filling up page after page after page with mural ideas.

Though she was as focused on her music as she always was as she played Lunarmuzik, her mind wandered to the next day, when she would put on the Flanksy attire for the first time since Discord's reign of chaos. In her mind, it had become an event as big as the Garden Party itself. As she opened her eyes and looked around at the gathered ponies, she took a long breath and focused back on her music.

No, I should focus on tonight she thought to herself. smiling as her eyes shut again. Tonight is about music. Tonight—

"I'm here!"

The general quiet conversations of the party were momentarily interrupted by a shrill yell. Octavia opened one eye out of morbid curiosity to see who had arrived and suddenly made herself the center of attention. It took a few moments, but as soon as she saw the source of the introduction, her eyes widened.

Standing in an elegant dress and matching hat was one of the Elements of Harmony. One of the ponies who had ruined the most important nights of her life.

The sound of an off-chord to the song snapped Octavia back to reality, moreso when she realized it was her who had gone off-key. She quickly adjusted her bow so she was back into the song, then turned to glare at the pony who had arrived. Several other ponies had surrounded her and made pleasant conversation before she trotted off towards the hors d'oeuvres table. Octavia's sight followed her like a hawk for a minute, but the pony seemed to blend in with the rest of the upper-class, not drawing any more attention to herself. Octavia's nerves settled as she finished the song, then turned to the violinist next to her.

"That's one of the Elements of Harmony, is it not?" she asked. "How does a pony like that get invited to events like this?"

"Well, the rest of the Elements are in the ballroom," the violinist replied, taking a sip of water. "I think it is one of their birthdays, so Celestia let them use the ballroom."

Octavia stared at her. "Wait, she did? I thought the ballroom was only used for the biggest events."

The violinist shrugged. "I guess she made an exception?"

The violinist nodded at the other ponies and began the next song, but Octavia stood in shock for a bit. Her eyes wandered back to the pony in the dress, who glanced around before rushing back through a door to the ballroom. She ground her teeth together before lifting her bow up and joining the rest of the ensemble in the song.

First letting them into the Gala and letting them get away with ruining it, then letting them rent out the ballroom? Goodness, what preferential treatment? Octavia thought to herself. After a moment, a sly smile curled across her face. Maybe another statue of Celestia could use some 'freshening up…'

As the night went on, Octavia felt her nerves dancing dangerously near the edge as she kept an eye on the pony. Every once in awhile she would disappear, but then reappear minutes later acting as if nothing had changed. It was strange behavior, but the longer the night went on, the more Octavia felt herself calming down. The pony clearly wasn't there to ruin anything, she was enjoying the event just like every other pony.

The few concerns that had entered Octavia's head melted away and she was absorbed into the night. Although her mind continued to wander to what she would do in the coming days, she still remained grounded in the enchantment of the evening. She went into the next song, sighing contently and letting the music envelop her. For a few moments she felt the same way she did when she had a can of paint in her hoof: a sense of peaceful euphoria as the only thing that mattered to her was the music.

"Okay guys! Let's show Canterlot how to really party!"

Octavia's hoof drove itself against the strings of her cello as the shrill, high-pitched voice pierced the air. She grimaced as she got back on key, then raised her sight to find the source of the new interruption. It only took her a second to see that another group of ponies had arrived; her blood ran cold.

The rest of the Elements of Harmony were running a conga line, straight through the middle of the party as ponies stared at them in embarrassed horror.

Octavia's jaw hung open. "No…"

The rest of the ensemble had stopped playing as well and watched in shock as the ponies ran roughshod through the party before breaking off in different directions. One of them grabbed a croquet mallet and hurled it across the garden, nearly taking the heads off of several ponies before it slammed into a marble column. Another one paraded some kind of canon to any pony she could catch up with, covering them in glitter and sparkles.

"No!"

Octavia glanced to the right and saw Princess Celestia's protege, Twilight Sparkle. She was in a plain dress, and had rushed into the center of the garden where she was doing something that only vaguely resembled dancing. The ponies around her backed up awkwardly, while her friends approached laughing and joined her in the dance. The ponies at the party looked at each other in stunned silence as the Elements of Harmony continued to wreak havoc on the event.

"This is not happening," Octavia muttered through clenched teeth. "This is not happening!"

Octavia couldn't move her body, she was so stunned. All she could do was watch, her hooves trembling and her teeth grinding into each other, as the Elements of Harmony ruined the night. Finally Fancy Pants approached them and struck up a conversation. For a few moments, the atmosphere finally calmed down as they talked, and the violinist leaned over towards Octavia.

"What's happening, can you tell?" she said.

Octavia didn't have a response. She barely even heard the question. Her face trembled as time seemed to slow and she waited for some sort of action. She waited for the ponies to throw the Elements of Harmony out; she waited for the only sensible one to apologize profusely; she waited for Princess Celestia herself to show up and apologize profusely for her student and her friends. She wanted things to work out, to go back to the way they were just minutes ago when she was enjoying herself.

She waited and waited, but none of those happened.

Instead, Fancy Pants said something and the assembled ponies nodded in agreement. Smiles broke out. Ponies seemed to be accepting of the Elements of Harmony. Just as quickly as the moment had quieted down, the party atmosphere returned, suddenly more lively than it was previously.

"They can't be," Octavia mumbled to herself, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. "They can't be."

As she stared, a pink pony bounced up to the stage carrying a small turntable on her back.

"Hey music-y ponies!" she chirped, dropping the turntable down and pulling a speaker out of seemingly nowhere and attaching them. "We're gonna combine Twilight's birthday party and the Canterlot Garden Party into one mega Twilight Canterlot Sparkle Garden Birthday Party Party Party! I got the music covered, you ponies should come join us!"

She dropped the needle on the turntable and the speakers began blaring loud dance music. The violinist glanced over at Octavia, then shrugged and hopped off the stage, trotting towards the party.

The other two ponies on stage may have joined her. They may not have. Octavia didn't notice them. She didn't notice anything. Everything in the world was just a blur: a red, trembling blur. She was frozen in place for what felt like an eternity. Slowly, images came into focus, but not the entire scene; instead, only a few ponies stood out to her among the haze.

The Elements of Harmony.

As feeling returned to her body and her vision came back, Octavia slowly went behind the stage to where her case was stashed. She put the cello inside and locked up the case, slinging the strap around her back and turning to leave. As she was leaving, she heard hoof steps coming up behind her.

"Hey!" a voice said. "You don't have to leave, you should join us!"

"Not interested," Octavia said quietly. She sped up her trot, but the hoof steps behind her sped up as well.

"Oh come on, you're more than welcome to join!" the voice insisted. "We got the music covered, you don't have to worry about playing the cello, you can just enjoy—"

Something in the back of Octavia's head snapped, and she whipped around to be face-to-face with the pony. It was one of the pegasus Elements, with a blue coat and a vibrant multicolor mane. Her smile disappeared as soon she saw the angry scowl on Octavia's face.

"I. Said. No," she seethed, leaning right in to the face of the pony.

For a few seconds there was a tense silence as they stared at each other. The blue pegasus finally rolled her eyes.

"Fine, whatever," she said, turning around and trotting back towards the party, muttering "Snob…" under her breath.

Octavia's face trembled even harder when she heard the last comment. She took a step forward to follow the pony, but stopped herself as she looked over the crowd. She shook her head slowly, then turned and walked through the green archway entrance to Canterlot Gardens.

The sound of the front door violently swinging open caused Vinyl to nearly tumble off the couch. She looked up to find Octavia storming in, leaning her cello against the wall and walking straight to her room.

"Uh, Tavi?" Vinyl said, to no response. After a second, Octavia came back out of her room with one of her sketch books under her limb. She sat down on the couch next to Vinyl and opened the pad so quickly that the corner of the cover tore off the binding a bit. She flipped through the pages as Vinyl leaned in. "Tavi? I-is everything okay? What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Octavia snapped back. "The Elements of Harmony decided they were due for an encore."

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. "What do you—" she started, then went quiet. She looked down at the torn edge of the cover, then over at the scowl on Octavia's face as she turned the page. "Wait… no way. Did they—"

"They did. The evening was going along fine, until the Elements of Harmony arrived. They had been put in the ballroom by Celestia and they decided to try combining the two parties. They even brought their own music! As has become standard with them, they ruined my night."

Vinyl sighed. "Geez, I don't even know what to say. After what happened at the Gala, I can't even imagine how down you must be."

Octavia flipped another page. "Down? I assure you, I'm not feeling down."

"You're not?"

"No," Octavia calmly replied, flipping another page. "'Down' isn't the word for it. More… annoyed."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I mean, twice? That's—"

"Deplorable," Octavia interrupted. She began to flip quicker and quicker through the book as her other hoof's grip tightened on the pad. "Awful. Unforgivable. The Elements of Harmony seem to have quite the free ride in Canterlot, with Celestia seemingly allowing them to do whatever in Tartarus they want. No, I'm not down about this. What I am is frustrated. Angry. The Gala was supposed to be the greatest night of my life; they ruined it, and Celestia did nothing. Tonight was supposed to be a night where I could clear my mind and simply enjoy my music, and they ruined that too. And I bet you anything that Celestia won't do anything about that, either! They'll just get a free pass while Celestia does nothing!"

Her frustration finally boiled over and Octavia punctuated the last word by hurling the book across the room. It slammed into the far wall, sending a few of the loose papers scattering around the den and she took deep, frustrated breaths as Vinyl stared at her in shock, having never seen her friend like that before. Octavia stood up and stormed off to her room, and for a few moments all Vinyl heard was the rustling of bags and the occasional clink of a can.

Octavia came back out of her room dragging a garbage bag behind her filled with her usual supplies. She headed straight for the door as Vinyl bit her lip.

"Erm, Tavi," she began, searching for the right words. "Are you sure you wanna go out right now?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Octavia quickly responded, reaching for the door.

"I mean, you seem pretty angry. Don't you want to calm down a bit, think of a plan first before Flanksy shows up again?"

Octavia held her hoof on the door knob. She looked back at the bag slung over her shoulder, then over at Vinyl. She let go of the door and took a few steps towards her friend.

"Tonight, what I needed was a calm evening. What I needed more than anything was a night where I could enjoy myself through music." She paused, and her visage darkened as she looked away for a moment. "The Elements of Harmony took that away from me. Again." She held the bag up next to her, and Vinyl glanced at it. "If the Elements wouldn't let me have that, then I am going to have this, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it."

With that, she flung the door open and stormed out, slamming it behind her as Vinyl stood in stunned silence.

Octavia cracked her neck and stepped out of the alley, her breathing muffled by the mask she hadn't worn since the night at the park. With her duffel bag dragging behind her, she trotted through the darkening streets of Canterlot, looking for a wall she could work on. The night was still young and ponies were out and about, with many of them now keeping an eye on Flanksy as she went from street to street. Octavia paid them no mind, her thoughts too focused on relieving her anger to even notice there were other ponies around. She finally came to a large wall separating two districts of the city. She threw her bag down and rummaged through it for a color, only then finally noticing the many ponies who had been following her.

Ordinarily this would have given her a sense of excitement. She had always enjoyed playing her music for crowds, but with spray painting, things were completely different. At first, she had wanted to work under the cover of night, so nopony would see her. But as time had gone on, she had come to enjoy having an audience to witness her art. Doing something so controversial was one thing, but doing it in front of other ponies, being able to see and hear their reactions to what she was doing was what drove her on. It gave her the motivation to push further, to create more, to truly express herself as much as she could.

Tonight, however, she could care less about other ponies around her. She was still seeing red from the Garden Party and just needed to let out the anger that had been building for hours. She finally just pulled a can at random out of the bag, popped the cap off, and started spraying. As soon as the wall got a purple streak on it, Octavia took a long breath and finally felt the anger start to subside a bit. She had no plan and no idea of what she wanted to draw, but she didn't want one; she just let the muse move her hoof whichever way it decided to move it. When she got bored of purple she tossed it back into the bag, picked out another random color, and kept spraying. Slowly, the mural in front of her began to take form and unintentional patterns emerged and she pushed forward, switching colors again.

She allowed herself to smile for the first time that night as she rummaged through her bag for another color. The ponies who had become her audience again caught her eye as she pulled out a can of green paint. The reaction from them, as she had come to expect, was mixed: some ponies seemed to be enjoying what she was doing, others had looks of annoyance and downright revulsion. However, that wasn't what caught Octavia's eye. Instead, in the distance behind them she saw Canterlot Castle, and with it, the green archway leading to the garden.

Her teeth pressed together as she turned back to the wall. She popped the top off the can and pressed down on the nozzle, but no paint came out. She shook the can a few times and pressed again, but the nozzle bent awkwardly to the side with no paint. She started fumbling with the can trying to get it to work, her frustration building again.

"Stupid can," she muttered quietly to herself, trying to pry it open to no avail. Her teeth ground together tighter as she hit the can against the wall a few times. In the back of her head a voice was telling her to switch to a new can, just move on, but for some reason she couldn't get go of the can. She continued to pound on it, getting more and more angry as she did. "Stupid broken can. Come on, just let me have this. I certainly couldn't have a calming moment earlier. Because that damned Celestia wouldn't let me. Because those damned ponies decided to invite yet again. Because of those damned Elements of Harmony!"

Something in the back of Octavia's mind snapped and without a thought, she turned and whipped the broken can away in anger. It shot through the air before slamming against the edge of the wall, cracking the can open and sending a splash of red paint on the corner.

Octavia took quick, shallow breaths as she stared at the paint slowly running down the wall. She glanced to the side to see the crowd of ponies who had gathered, who now all were stunned at the sudden turn of events. Octavia narrowed her eyes as she stared at them, but slowly another image came into view, one she hadn't noticed before. Almost in a trance, she walked towards it, the ponies in the crowd separating to let her through. She reached the object of her attention: one of the many statues of Princess Celestia that were scattered throughout Canterlot. However, there was something different about this one: yellow tape had surrounded it, blocking it off from any ponies getting close.

She circled the statue, unaware of what to make of the tape around it. As she got to the final side, Octavia saw a laminated message hanging on the tape. She picked it up in her hoof and scanned it quickly. It was a notice saying that the area had been roped off as a new statue was going to be added: a smaller one to pay tribute to the six ponies who had "Freed Princess Luna from the scourge of Nightmare Moon," and "Saved all of Canterlot from the chaotic reign of Discord."

Octavia stared at the words "six ponies" on the sheet. She glanced up at the arch in the distance that acted as the beginning of the entrance to Canterlot Gardens, where the Elements of Harmony had hijacked the Garden Party to celebrate their own way. Her gaze remained locked on the gate for a minute before she looked back down to the paper announcing they were to be honored.

A spark ignited.

She shoved the paper away and stormed back through the crowd to the wall, where she plunged her hoof into the bag and grabbed a black can. She tore the top off and tossed it aside and reached as high as she could, bracing her other hoof on the wall to get extra height. With that, she began to write. As the words appeared on the wall, the anger finally melted away completely. The euphoria she got returned and a smile appeared on her face as she finished it. She tossed the can back into the duffel bag and turned around to see her audience. This time, it was a reaction she wasn't used to seeing: complete and total shock. Not a single pony was smiling or frowning, they were all more just stunned at what had been written.

And it felt great.

Octavia signed an F in the corner of the mural, dropped her can in the bag, and slung it over her shoulder. She pushed her way through the crowd as the ponies stared at the mural and the words that had been written. After passing the statue of Celestia, Octavia turned back and glanced at the note celebrating the Elements of Harmony. She read it over one last time and looked around: not a single pony besides her was even near the statue. She then looked up at her own work, where all the ponies had gathered. She couldn't help but smile as she turned and walked off into the night, leaving the ponies to read the three words that had emblazoned the wall.

"HARMONY IS WORTHLESS"

End of Chapter 11: Worthless

Special Thanks: Mister SProps, Raz-Luc Picard, Captain Pilaiker, and Worst T. Kirk

12. Pink and Red

"The Elements of Harmony?"

"The Elements of Harmony."

Vinyl waited for Octavia to elaborate, but instead Octavia remained silent, sitting quietly at her desk and sketching in her pad. An awkward silence filled the air for a few moments before Vinyl spoke up again.

"As in, those Elements of Harmony?"

"Are there others?" Octavia calmly replied. "I said that my targets are the Elements of Harmony."

"Well it's that word 'target' that's throwing me here," Vinyl said, sitting down next to Octavia. "I mean, I get you're upset at them. Not only that, but I think you have every right to be upset by what they've inadvertently done to you..."

"Hardly inadvertent," Octavia interjected. "They didn't just 'accidentally' ruin the Gala. They didn't 'accidentally' stumble into the Garden Party. Princess Celestia invited them to those events. They made the decision to attend them.”

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Well, you know what I mean. The point is, I just don't think they went into those shows to ruin them on purpose."

"Neither do I," Octavia said, putting her sketch pad down. "But the fact remains that they did ruin them. Far worse, however, is that they never apologized for their actions. In fact, they seemed to outright celebrate what they did at the Gala and no doubt they felt pretty proud of what they did at the Garden Party."

She stood up and trotted over to her closet as Vinyl looked over her paper. It was covered with sketches from corner to corner, many of them looking like the Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony. Each one had something modified about them, from something as simple as being crossed out in red pen to more elaborate modifications: one of them appeared to be three popped balloons, another was three apple cores laying on top of one another.

"Woah, these are pretty detailed," Vinyl muttered. "Hey, are you even going to be able to draw some of these with spraypaint?"

"Probably not," Octavia said as she pulled out a large bag from her closet. She returned to the desk and emptied its contents, revealing a wide variety of painting supplies; not only was there spray paint, but also full cans of paint accompanied by brushes and a multitude of smaller cans of carrying colors. "That's why I bought these."

"Ooooh." Vinyl looked over all the supplies as Octavia took her sketch pad and resumed drawing in it. "Looks like Flanksy is branching out! That's a relief."

Octavia nodded and drew, only for her hoof to slow down and her gaze to meet her friend’s. "A relief? What do you mean?"

Vinyl's gaze shifted about nervously before she sat down on the bed. "Well, it's hard to explain... Look, it's like this: after how angry you got at them for what they did at the Garden Party, I've been a little concerned you were just going to start attacking them, ya know?"

"No, I know what is important," Octavia replied, picking her sketch pad back up. As she talked, her grip on the sides of the pad tightened. "This is still about art, this is still about expression, and most importantly, this is still about changing Canterlot. The only thing that has changed is my focus. I want to show ponies that the Elements of Harmony aren't as perfect as so many believe them to be. That they can be intrusive, annoying, disruptive, and downright disrespectful; that for all the good they have done for Equestria as a whole, they know nothing of the lives of the ponies around them; that they are just as ignorant as Princess Celestia!"

Octavia took a deep breath and put the pad down, focusing instead on loading up her duffel bag with the paint supplies. She was putting her face mask and bandana on top of the supplies when Vinyl spoke up.

"Like I said, I know how upset you are. Just, well, keep your temper, you know? Don't go all out against them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for everything you've said, they're still the Elements of Harmony. They've done a lot of good for Equestria. They saved Princess Luna; they stopped Discord. I think a lot of ponies respect and admire them."

"That is the point of all of this!" Octavia snapped back. "Just because they have done good does not preclude them from wrongdoing. They are utterly ignorant of the damage they have caused, while other ponies seem to unquestionably forgive them of any and all wrongdoing. Flanksy has a chance to show Canterlot, to show Equestria, that despite all they have done, the Elements of Harmony are not perfect. Not to mention that quite frankly, harmony itself isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Woah woah woah," Vinyl interjected. "You want to run that last part by me again? What does this have to do with the concept of harmony?"

Octavia whirled around so quickly that Vinyl flinched. A fire was burning in Octavia's eyes, her face almost shaking as she held the bag of her supplies up.

"Because according to harmony, this is wrong!" she shouted. She took a long breath and held it for a second, then let it out as she calmed herself down and set the bag on the ground. "I understand that what I do is against the norm, I’d say, but the Elements of Harmony think it's something that should be erased. It's as low as Nightmare Moon or Discord in their eyes. Well, if that's what they think, I will be more than happy to show them that art is not wrong.”

She zipped up her bag and stuffed it into a garbage bag as Vinyl looked around awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"Is something bothering you, Vinyl?"

"Well..." she began, then shook her head. "Nah, it's nothing. I think you got this."

Octavia looked up from the bag. "Wait, you're clamming up? That's new; usually you're the one telling me to be open."

"It's really nothing," Vinyl replied. "Just... don't get angry. Like I said, at the end of the day, they're still ponies. If you want to make art, that's awesome. Promise me you won't let this turn into personal attack."

There was a pause, broken by Octavia sighing and looking down at the bag. She opened her mouth to respond, but her eye caught something else: her cello in the other room. Even from the distance she was at, she could still see a few scratches on the side. With a snort she tied the bag up and threw it over her shoulder.

"I don't want to turn this into a personal attack," she said as she pulled the front door open. “But Vinyl, I’m not the one who originally made this personal.”

Octavia ground her teeth together as she sat on the cobblestone pathway and flipped through her sketchpad. Just looking at the designs she had drawn was bringing her back to both the night of the Gala and the Garden Party. Her hooves crumpled the edges of the paper as she finally settled on a page, then unzipped her bag and pulled out a small roll of tape. She affixed the picture to the wall separating the Castle Garden from the surrounding area, stepped back, and took a long breath. The ponies who had gathered around Flanksy shifted their gaze between her and the picture she had taped up as she rummaged through her bag, tossing a few cans up next to the wall and pulling out a small paint brush and can of pink paint. She dunked the brush into the paint and began to paint on the wall.

Only a few seconds into painting the first butterfly did Octavia's tight, tense grip on the paint brush loosen up and her determined strokes to become calm. She held the brush on the wall for a few seconds and she let out a long, contented sigh before returning to the art. With each stroke, the anger that had been rushing through her head for the past day diminished. Her focus slowly shifted; she had wanted to just throw the Cutie Mark up on the wall as quickly as possible before drawing over it, but now she was taking her time, switching between colors and drawing each of the six Cutie Marks as accurately as possible.

She finally stepped back and admired her work for a minute; each of the Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony were drawn in a straight line, each mark almost the size of a full pony. With a smirk on her face, she pulled out a red can and popped it open, then drew a large red X over each of the butterflies in the first Cutie Mark.

She could hear gasps and murmuring from behind her as she did it, and she couldn't help but chuckle; over time, she had come to love hearing that reaction from the ponies who served as her impromptu audience. She finished with the three red X's on the butterflies, then stepped back again to look at the rest of the marks.

Maybe Vinyl was right, she thought to herself as she returned to her bag. This doesn't need to be an attack, I just needed to let off some steam. I can just get this off of my chest and move on from the Elements.

She dug her hoof deeper into her bag and pulled out a blue can, then looked over at the three apples drawn next to the butterflies.

"You should try purple! It looks soooo much better on apples than blue!"

Octavia nodded, tossing the can back into the bag. She searched her bag for a can of purple, when she paused in confusion. She raised her head up, then glanced behind her.

A pink pony stood extremely close to the wall, her nose almost touching the paint that Octavia had just sprayed. She had a huge grin on her face and was giggling as she looked at each of the Cutie Marks, her giggle turning into a laugh when she got to her own Cutie Mark. As she stared at her, Octavia's mind raced; she thought back to the night of the Gala, when she had leapt up on stage and grabbed at her cello, sending herself crashing to the ground and scratching up the instrument in the process. She thought back to the Garden Party, where the pony had shot a cannon full of confetti at everypony there.

She was one of the Elements of Harmony, and she had been the one most directly responsible for ruining those nights.

Octavia's teeth ground again as the pony bounced up and down, excitedly looking at the last Cutie Mark before she glanced over at Octavia. With one big jump, the pony landed right in front of her.

"Hi!" she suddenly chirped. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Did you make all these? They're cool! Can you do a picture of a cake next? Oooh no, do a picture of a cake eating another cake! That'd be hilarious!"

Pinkie was talking so quickly that Octavia could barely even make out what she was saying. She stared at the pink ball of energy as it leapt between drawings, bouncing up and down on the tips of her hooves and rambling about whatever seemingly came to her mind. For as angry as Octavia had been, now she was just confused. She glanced around and noticed the ponies who had gathered looked just as perplexed as she was. She looked back towards the wall, finding that Pinkie was right in her face again.

"You're dressed all cool!" she said, quickly running circles around Octavia and staring at her attire. "You're like a ninja. But you're also a painter! Are you a paint ninja? Or are you a ninja painter? If you want to be a ninja painter you should probably work at night!"

Octavia just blinked, unable to think of anything to do to respond to the hyperactive pony. She instead awkwardly trotted backwards and reached for her bag for a new can to move on to, all the while keeping an eye on Pinkie.

Does she even realize what I’m doing here? she thought to herself as she turned back to her bag to select a color. She really has no idea. She's just out here to ruin another day.

After finally picking out a red can, Octavia turned back to the wall, only to nearly drop the can in shock, Pinkie was several feet away from where she had put up the Cutie Marks, but now she somehow had her own set of painting supplies and was busy scrawling a picture of a cupcake on the wall. Octavia's face trembled in anger and her hooves overrode her mind as she trotted straight over to the pony, spinning her around and pointing a hoof angrily at the wall.

Pinkie just grinned. "I wanna be an artist too! Then we can be paint buddies! Go draw a picture of a cupcake while I work on this!"

Octavia's eyes twitched as Pinkie obliviously went back to her own painting. Her jaw was hurting from how hard her teeth were clenched, and she was starting to see red around the corners of her eyes. She stormed back over to the Cutie Marks she had drawn and reached back for her bag, but her hoof was trembling so hard that she couldn't get a grip on the can. She glared over at Pinkie, who was now excitedly leaping into the air and writing her name as high on the wall as she could, then back at her bag. For a moment, her hoof tightened around a red can of paint as she glared back at Pinkie, but a voice sounded off in the back of her mind.

Promise me you won't turn this into a personal attack.

Her grip on the paint can loosened and she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Vinyl was definitely right, she thought to herself. I need to keep this about art. I'll just let her wear herself out.

She quickly gathered her supplies back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Pinkie Pie looked over just as Octavia was starting to trot away.

"Awwwww, are you leaving?" Pinkie said as she had moved on to painting her own face on the wall. "The art party was just getting started!"

Ignoring the cries of the pony, Octavia trotted off and into a nearby alley. When she was out of sight of the crowd, she removed her mask and stuffed it into her bag, then sat against the wall and sighed.

"I'll just find somewhere else to do this little project," she mumbled to herself.

An hour or so had passed, during which Octavia had wandered aimlessly around Canterlot, killing time and looking around for another spot to paint. Eventually she made her way back to where she had been working earlier, to find that Pinkie Pie had continued to paint on the wall while she was gone; although the Cutie Marks she had drawn were still there, the wall surrounding them was adorned with crude pictures of ponies, other Cutie Marks, baked goods, and other seemingly random concepts. Octavia just shook her head in disbelief as she stared at the wall.

I'll just paint the other end of the wall, Octavia thought as she made her way into the alley and picked up her stashed supplies. She's had her fun.

Octavia carefully made her way through the back alleys of Canterlot, being sure not to be seen by anypony. She made it to the other end of the Canterlot Garden and quickly slipped her disguise on. She tossed the garbage bag aside and dragged the duffel bag out of the alley, then headed straight for the wall. Immediately, ponies took notice of her and surrounded her as she sat down and flipped through her sketch pad again. This time, she found a page that only had drawings of one pony's Cutie Mark: the pony who had interrupted her earlier.

No attacks, she thought to herself with a smirk, but she certainly helped me decide which pony to focus on first.

She pulled her bag right up to the wall, then set the pad down on the ground next to it. She looked over the wall for a few seconds with a smile, then turned to her bag and unzipped it. After picking out the first color she turned back to the wall, and found herself face-to-face with a pony hanging upside down.

"HI!" Pinkie yelled.

The shock was so great that Octavia stumbled back and fell over her bag. She scrambled back to her hooves to get a better look at what had happened: Pinkie Pie had hooked her back legs around the top of the wall and was wobbling back and forth with a huge grin, staring at Octavia.

"Hi again!" she said, flipping down to the ground and landing on her hooves. "I'm glad you're back! We should totally do this side of the wall now. That way it'll look cool!"

Octavia just stared in shock as Pinkie turned around and whipped out her own art supplies once again from seemingly thin air, then began painting on the wall again. Octavia pressed her tongue into her cheek.

Where did she… how did she even know… she thought, before shaking her head. No, I'm not going to let her scare me away this time. I have a plan, I'm going to stick to it.

She picked up her supplies and trotted over to the right side of the wall. With a flick of her wrist she started to spray the first blue balloon on the wall. Although she was happy that she was painting, her nerves were still on edge as she noticed Pinkie Pie slowly creeping over towards her. She stared at Pinkie as the pink pony drew a long pink line on the wall, giggling all the way as she did, but when Octavia looked back at her own art, she realized that she had become so distracted that she had drawn a long line going out of the balloon shape.

In frustration, Octavia marched over to the right and restarted her work on the balloons. She had finally gotten the first two balloons done the way she wanted, then went back to her bag and grabbed a yellow can. She turned around to work on the third balloon, but her view was blocked by Pinkie Pie, who was also painting. Octavia rushed up to her to find that Pinkie was drawing the third balloon herself.

Her eye twitching, Octavia grabbed Pinkie and spun her around, again pointing at the wall.

"Oh, sorry!" Pinkie chirped. "I saw you hadn't drawn that balloon yet. That one is my favorite! I thought I would help out so you could get it juuuuust right!"

Still grinning, Pinkie turned back and continued to draw. Octavia was completely dumbfounded; she was having trouble even comprehending the actions of the pony. She sat ramrod-stiff as Pinkie finished the balloon, then leapt to the right and started drawing more balloons of every color. As she continued to cover the wall with balloons, Octavia's eye twitched again and she pushed herself up onto her hooves and stormed forward.

She is not going to ruin this for me! she thought, approaching Pinkie. Not this time!

Octavia was reaching out to get Pinkie's attention when she suddenly spun around and grinned.

"Hey, by the way, why are you wearing that stuff on your face anyway?" she asked. "I get that you're a ninja, but shouldn't ninjas have swords and stuff and not paint? Besides, how are you ever going to do your self-portrait if you're wearing a mask?"

Again, Octavia found herself at a loss. She had no idea what Pinkie was talking about, but instinctively inched back as Pinkie approached. Pinkie got right in her face and smiled even brighter.

"You should take that off. I wanna see your face!"

With that, Pinkie abruptly reached out and grabbed a hold of Octavia's face mask. Out of pure instinct, Octavia shoved Pinkie off and leapt back.

"Let go of me!!"

The assembled crowd of ponies gasped as Octavia trembled, before her eyes widened and what had just happened sank in: she had never spoken in the presence of ponies while under the Flanksy disguise, much less screamed like that. She glanced around at the shocked expressions of the ponies surrounding her, then heard a giggle come from behind her.

"You're silly! Ninjas aren't supposed to yell like that!"

In a panic, Octavia threw all her supplies into her bag and zipped it up, then quickly turned around and galloped through the crowd, her head down as she ran down the streets, then dove into the nearest alley. She glanced back to make sure nopony had followed her, then tore her mask and bandana off, tossing them into the bag. She quickly stashed the bag inside a garbage bag and hurled it behind a dumpster, then collapsed against the wall. She didn't move for several minutes, only staring straight into the air and taking shallow breaths.

"She is driving me crazy!"

Octavia hurled her bag into the corner of the room while Vinyl sat on the couch and fidgeted. Octavia paced back and forth practically in a frenzy.

"First she invaded the Gala and damaged my cello. Then she invaded the Garden Party and outright told me that she didn't need my music. Now, she's coming in and trying to ruin my art!"

"I don't think she's doing it on purpose, Tavi," Vinyl said. "You don't really think she's targeting you, do you?"

"No, but the fact that she's not targeting anypony makes it all the worse!" Octavia snapped back. "If she had some sort of agenda, I would understand it. But instead, she is just completely oblivious to what she does to the lives of all the ponies around her. She's ignorant! She's the most ignorant of all of the Elements of Harmony. She's as ignorant as Celestia was! It boggles my mind that a pony like that could ever be honored for anything, much less as one of the ponies who saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord when she is so worthless!" Octavia sat down on the couch, digging her hooves together as she grumbled. Vinyl glanced at her, then quietly spoke up.

"You don't have to call her worthless. It sounds like she’s not being malicious, she just thought what you were doing was cool. She just wanted to join in on the act."

"The act?" Octavia nearly shouted, then held up the bandana that she was still holding on to. "This is far more than an act. This is something that means so much to me and she just barged in, painted her own work, then…" she fell quiet as her anger momentarily subsided, then she laid her head back on the couch. "She grabbed at my mask, and I panicked. I shouted. I don't think anypony recognized my voice like that, but still…"

Vinyl was unsure of how to respond, so she just let Octavia breathe for a few moments while she gathered her own thoughts. "You just need to not let yourself get so on edge about her. Just let her do her own thing, you do yours, try to interact as little as possible."

"Believe me, I want that," Octavia said, rolling her head to one side. "But she seems to want to have everything to do with me. I'm trying to keep my cool, but every single time I lay my eyes on that worthless excuse for a savior—"

"Wait!" Vinyl suddenly interjected. "Now come on, you don't have to keep calling her worthless! Look, she's only here for another two days, then she'll be out of your hair. Just put up with her until then."

"I suppose there's nothing else I can do," Octavia muttered. "Maybe I can just hold off on painting again for a few days, so…"

Octavia trailed off as Vinyl's words echoed in her head. She sat up and looked over at her friend.

"Vinyl? How do you know that she's only here for another two days?"

Vinyl scratched the back of her head nervously. She hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before sighing. "Look, I didn't want to mention this, but I guess there's no way around it. Pinkie Pie is kinda an old friend of mine..."

"She what?!" Octavia leapt to her hooves, her eyes wide as saucers, as she stared at her friend. "You know her, and you never bothered to tell me!?"

"I didn't think it was important!" Vinyl said, holding a hoof out. "Why should it matter that I know her? I've known Pinkie for years, she's kinda big on the party scene. She hires me all the time to work big parties down in Ponyville; I've gotten to know her."

"Well answer me this: what the hay is wrong with her?" Octavia said, beginning to pace back and forth again.

"Nothing! There's nothing wrong with her, it's just… well, Pinkie sorta lives in Pinkie-World. It's hard to explain. She isn't mean, she's definitely not ignorant, she just kinda does her own thing. She's kinda out there and weird, and she does a lot of things that I'm not sure how she does them, but she wasn't trying to hurt you on purpose. She's just a little different than other ponies."

"A little different?" Octavia replied. "A little different? I've never seen a pony act like that! She has no sense of personal space, no sense of common decency in the slightest, and not a single sense of the world around her. She's ignorant, she's annoying, she's a poor excuse for a savior of Equestria, she—"

"Hey!" Vinyl shouted, standing up. "Would you mind not calling my friend names? I don't care how angry you are, nopony should be talked about like that!"

Octavia stopped her ranting, again sitting down on the couch. A tense silence filled the room as Octavia and Vinyl averted their gaze from each other for a minute or so before Octavia finally spoke up again. "I know she is your friend. I know that now, that is. Obviously I don't want to hurt her or attack her, that's out of the question. But she has been tormenting me for quite a while now, whether she is aware of it or not. I had a plan today to begin my art regarding the Elements of Harmony and she interrupted it twice. I'm not about to let her deter me from it."

Vinyl nodded. "See, that's the spirit! Yeah, I know from experience that Pinkie can get on some ponies nerves. But you can't let it get to you. Just focus on your art, don't focus on her."

"Tomorrow, I'm going to go out and complete the art that I wanted to," Octavia said as she looked across the room to her duffel bag sitting in the corner. "It's going to happen no matter what Pinkie does. No matter how much she tries to interrupt, I am going to complete this art. It is important to me."

"That's cool, but…" Vinyl began to say, pausing to gather her thoughts. "Like I said, don't let it get out of control. Even if you're annoyed with her, just keep doing your thing, try to pay her no mind."

Octavia didn't say anything. Instead, her mind wandered back to earlier in the day.

Are you a paint ninja? Or are you a ninja painter?

We should totally do this side of the wall now.

You should take that off. I wanna see your face!

"I'll try, Vinyl," she said quietly.

When the streets of Canterlot were at their busiest the next day, Octavia emerged from the alley and headed straight through the walking ponies towards the wall. She scanned left and right through the crowds, but didn't see a single wisp of pink mane anywhere. She walked up to the wall and tossed her supplies against it, then pulled out the single piece of paper from her sketchpad she had stashed in her coat pocket. She had planned on tackling the Elements of Harmony all in one grand piece of art, but after her first attempts had been thwarted by a certain pony, Octavia decided to change up strategy and focus on a single subject.

She flipped her duffel bag over and dumped out its contents; only a few cans of spray paint, and one large full paint can and accompanying brush. There was no need to over-complicate this one; she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She glanced around at the ponies surrounding her, then picked up the blue can and began to paint the first large balloon on the wall.

For a few minutes, everything was quiet. the assembled ponies watched, while Octavia just focused on the first balloon. She didn't want to rush anything: it had to be perfect. She finally got it just the way she wanted it, then turned around to grab one of the smaller cans to finish the tail. As she grabbed it, she noticed something in the crowd: a patch of neon-blue mane sticking out like a sore thumb in the sea of well-groomed hair.

Behind the mask, a smile formed on Octavia's face. It wasn't often that Vinyl had come out to watch her paint, but just her presence was always enough to not only calm Octavia, but motivate her. There was just something soothing about having her closest friend in the crowd that made her feel all the better, and all the more motivated to make her art as perfect as possible.

With a flick of the wrist she tossed the can up into the air and caught it with her free hoof, spun around, and was assaulted by pink.

"Hi again!!" Pinkie yelled, causing Octavia to fumble with the paint can and drop it with a clatter to the ground. "Are you painting again? I bet you are, I can tell because of the paint! Here, I'll cover that end of the wall and you cover this one!"

Pinkie excitedly grabbed the can that had hit the ground and started to rush off, but Octavia's instincts suddenly took over and she thrust a hoof out in front of her, quickly causing Pinkie to come to a screeching halt and stare at her. Their eyes were locked for a few seconds before Octavia pointed her hoof determinedly at a spot a few feet away. Pinkie glanced over at the spot, then back at Octavia, then slowly trotted over and plopped down on the spot. She sat quietly as Octavia nodded, then turned back to the wall. She quickly drew the tail on the first balloon, then moved on to the second one. Things were quiet for a minute as she drew the outline, then began to fill it in.

"You know what would be great!?" Pinkie suddenly shrieked, causing Octavia's hoof to jut to the right and go outside the second balloon. "Putting big smiley faces on the balloons! You should do that!"

Octavia glared at Pinkie again, who just responded with a big smile, then turned back and continued to draw. Slowly, her teeth began to clench more and more as Pinkie continued to rattle off whatever insane observations crossed her mind. She shot Pinkie another icy glare, but this one Pinkie didn't even notice as she was now bouncing up and down in place.

"Gosh, I don't get why some ponies say watching paint dry is boring," she said as she bounced excitedly towards Octavia. "When it's in fun shapes, it can be exciting!"

Octavia held out her hoof again and Pinkie froze in mid air, then slowly lowered down to the ground, but still with the smile. "Lemme help lemme help lemme help! We're painting friends! I can..."

Pinkie Pie continued rambling, but now Octavia wasn't paying attention. Instead, something that Pinkie had said was bouncing around her mind.

Friend? she thought, her face trembling. After everything she's done, she thinks I'm her friend?!

Octavia shook the anger out of her mind and turned back, quickly spraying the third balloon on the wall. She could practically feel the ground vibrating with each of Pinkie's bounces as the excited pony leapt around her. She did her best to ignore the constant noise and finished with the third and final balloon. She glanced back again and found that Pinkie was just staring at the wall, one eyebrow raised. Octavia rolled her eyes as she grabbed for the large can of red paint.

I cannot believe that pony thinks I would ever be her friend, she thought as she struggled to pry the top off the can. She finally managed to get the top removed, took the nearby paintbrush in her hoof, then glanced back at the wall.

For a moment, time froze as she stared at the wall. Pinkie Pie was standing in front of it, one of the discarded spray paint cans in her hoof. But what had caught Octavia's eye was what was behind her; Pinkie had drawn a big smiling face on the first balloon. She had painted over Octavia's art.

"See?" Pinkie chirped as Octavia's whole body began to tremble. "It totally looks better with a smiley face! I'll finish up the other two, then we can maybe do Applejack's Cutie Mark! Then we can do yours! I know all my friend’s Cutie Marks, but I haven't seen yours yet!!"

Octavia just stared at Pinkie as she turned back to the wall and started to paint over the next balloon. Her body shook, her eyesight blurred, the world around her went quiet.

In one motion she tossed the lid aside, picked up the open can of red paint, and hurled its contents onto Pinkie Pie.

A shocked gasp rose from the assembled ponies as Pinkie stood still, her body and mane now dripping with red paint. She turned to look at Octavia, who tossed the empty can to the side and stormed over. Pinkie wiped the paint from her eyes and found that Flanksy was now standing directly in front of her. She snatched the can of spray paint out of Pinkie's hoof, then just continued to glare at her. Pinkie whimpered as she took a few steps back, her hooves slipping on the paint that had covered her body and the ground below her. Octavia turned to the wall, where the balloons she had drawn were now splattered with paint, and wrote large black letters over the mess.

"I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND"

Octavia turned back to the paint-drenched pony next to her. Pinkie stared at the words on the wall, quiet for the first time in a while. Her bottom lip quivered as the words sunk in, then she looked over at Octavia.

"Y-you're not a painter!" Pinkie said, her voice trembling. "You're just a big m-m-meanie!"

Just as tears started to stream down her face and mix with the paint that had been thrown on her, Pinkie turned around and ran off, leaving a trail of red behind her. Octavia just stared after her until Pinkie was out of view, then looked to her left. The assembled ponies all had shocked expressions on their faces and were muttering to each other, but what Octavia noticed was Vinyl's expression: she was just staring quietly at Octavia, lost in thought. Octavia turned back to the wall and signed "F" at the bottom right of the mess that the wall had become, then calmly put her supplies away and walked off through the crowd.

Octavia stared intently at the sketchpad in front of her as she scribbled notes on it. Next to the list she was creating were more pictures of the remaining Cutie Marks of the Elements of Harmony. She calmly hummed to herself as she drew, when the front door swung open and Vinyl Scratch trotted in. She slammed the door behind her and turned straight to Octavia.

"So I just spent the last half hour talking to a close friend and trying to get her to stop crying!" she shouted. "What the hay was that, Octavia?!"

"Deserved," she snapped back.

"Deserved? Deserved?!" Vinyl responded. "Nopony deserves that! I don't care who they are, you can't—"

"That's just it!" Octavia shouted, shoving her sketchpad aside and standing up. "You don't care who they are, but everypony else does! That pony was rushing around, bothering me and everypony else, but not a single pony lifted a hoof or even so much as spoke up. Why are the Elements of Harmony above the law? Above common decency? It is pathetic!"

"No, what's pathetic is attacking another pony like that!" Vinyl shouted right back. "I don't care how you try to justify it, what you did was awful! You can't just treat another pony like that, just because you have a grudge against them."

"And I suppose it's fine for her to spray over my art?" Octavia said. "Or jump around and talk everypony's ear off? Or just plain be a nuisance that everypony is afraid to deal with? As Flanksy, I actually have the ability to do something about her."

"But nothing has to be done about her, especially not something like that! You ruined her day, you ruined her visit to Canterlot, you made her feel hated!"

"Then she knows how it feels now. I'm sorry that she is your friend, but she deserved it. In fact, they all do," Octavia calmly replied. She slowly stood up and trotted past Vinyl and pulled the front door open.

"Where are you going now?" Vinyl said, her voice ice cold.

"I'm off to do something I should have done much sooner than this," Octavia said. "Buy a ticket to Ponyville."

That night, a lone guard trotted through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Each of his hoofsteps, no matter how light, sent an echo through the elegantly designed hallway. A brief high-pitched noise caused him to jerk his head up to the ceiling, where several night guards hung upside down, watching his every move. Their unwavering gaze momentarily unnerved the guard, but he steeled himself and continued. He finally reached the doors he was looking for and apprehensively knocked.

"Come in."

He slowly pushed the door open and walked through. Inside the door was a beautifully decorated study, with books lining the walls and a small reading area punctuated by a lit fireplace. The only occupant of the room was a lone pony sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, a book hovering in front of him. He sipped a cup of tea as the guard approached.

"Prince Blueblood, I have some news for you."

"Make it quick."

"Well, sir, I was out on patrol earlier today. While I was, I ran into... well, I saw Flanksy."

Blueblood lowered the book and sighed. "I thought I made my position very clear after that farce of a town hall meeting: I want nothing to do with Flanksy until I say so."

"But—"

"I lost that round," Blueblood interrupted. "Celestia may have said that I can continue to monitor the situation, but I know what that really means: do nothing. Immediately trying to fight back would be pointless; not a single pony was willing to stand up and defend me at the town hall, so clearly I do not have the public support against Flanksy that I wanted. I want a few more days to mull things over and decide on my next plan of attack before I resume my issue with Flanksy. Now please, I'm trying to get some reading done."

"But sir..."

This time, Blueblood interrupted by slamming the book down on the edge of the chair. "Did you hear me? Until I specifically say so, until something happens that I can actually do something about, Flanksy is a non-issue for me. So unless she's done something that actually falls within my authority, I suggest you leave at once!"

Blueblood picked up his book again. He read a few sentences, then glanced up. The guard stood his ground, pawing at the floor awkwardly.

"What part of 'leave at once' didn’t you understand?"

Blueblood stared at the guard. When the guard still didn't leave, He slowly lowered his book and the guard cleared his throat.

"I feel the need to inform you of an incident that happened earlier today..."

End of Chapter 12: Pink and Red
Special Thanks: Sqworstle, Wardasaur, and Razmander

13. Long Overdue

"Everypony get your tickets ready, we will be arriving in Ponyville in ten minutes."

Octavia glanced out the window. She had never been to Ponyville before, but if the outskirts were any indication there wasn't much to the town; there was nothing but green hills and valleys as far as the eye could see. She had often read about Ponyville in the news, given that the Elements of Harmony lived there, but she had never actually been to the town until now. Octavia had long assumed it would be at least moderately-sized, but as the rooftops came into view, she was surprised by just how small the town was. As far as she could tell, it was made up almost entirely of two-level cottages and small shops, a far cry from the extravagance of Canterlot.

She shifted in her seat and looked down past her hooves to where her suitcase stuck out. She was only going to be in Ponyville overnight, so she had packed only what she needed: a plethora of spray paint cans and her disguise. She surreptitiously nudged the suitcase a bit further under her seat and sat back. She looked back up at the town and the first thing that caught her eye was what hung in the distance: a huge building made of clouds floating in the sky.

"That must be her house," Octavia muttered to herself. "There's no chance I can reach that one..."

She reached into the pocket on the side of her suitcase and pulled out a small piece of paper. Scrawled on it were very basic details of the houses of the Elements of Harmony. Finding info on the rest of the Elements of Harmony had been as easy as it had been frustrating; all she had to do was read articles about them in archived newspapers at the Canterlot Library. Seeing the abundance of articles on them—mostly after the return of Princess Luna and the events of the Gala—had only exacerbated Octavia's frustration, but she got the information she needed and moved on. She wasn't planning on being in Ponyville for long: just long enough to locate and "touch up" the houses of her targets.

"Is this your first time visiting Ponyville?"

Octavia looked up and across the aisle to find a stallion looking over at her. He was tall and lanky with sunken, tired eyes, but he still wore a smile despite his clear exhaustion.

"Yes, it is,” she answered with a brief nod.

"It's a great town," the stallion said as he gazed out the window and yawned. "My wife and I live here."

"Oh?"

"Yes, our whole lives," he said. For a moment there was an excited sparkle in his eyes as he looked at the town in the far distance. "I don't expect we'll be moving any time soon. Especially with the twins due any week now."

"Oh, well congratulations!" Octavia replied with a smile. The stallion blushed a bit.

"Thank you. It's a bit nerve-wracking, but that's what I love about Ponyville. Everypony has just been so supportive of us, I'm sure things will go just fine. So, how about you? What brings you down to Ponyville?"

Octavia glanced down at her hooves and scooted her suitcase a little further under her seat. She returned her sight to the window, trying to hide the slight scowl on her face.

"I'm just taking care of some long-overdue business."

"Are you going to be in town long?"

Octavia shook her head. "No, only for a day or so. The business shouldn't take that long."

"That's a shame, Ponyville really is a nice town to spend time in," the stallion said. "We're actually going to be having a little celebration tomorrow afternoon! Once the Elements of Harmony get back from Canterlot tomorrow morning..."

Octavia found herself tuning out the stallion; the last thing she wanted to hear was another pony discussing how amazing the Elements of Harmony were. Instead she focused on the town slowly growing in her field of vision and made mental notes about the locations of buildings. She scanned what she could of the town until she found the canopy of a large oak tree.

That must be Golden Oaks Library, she thought to herself as she glanced back down at the paper in her hoof. It's right in the center of town… there's no way I'm going to be able to do this without other ponies seeing. Ah well, that's not exactly new to me.

"...so you should come to the celebration!" The stallion finally finished what he was saying and Octavia responded with a half smile.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it. Again, my business is going to be taken care of pretty quickly."

"If you have the time, you are more than welcome to attend," the stallion finished, giving a happy tip of his cap to punctuate it. "The option is always open."

There was a ringing in Octavia's ears as the ticket taker walked by and held out his hoof. She pulled her ticket out and handed it over, all the while the sentence bouncing around her head.

The option is always open...

Octavia sat in her room, calmly putting supplies away into her suitcase. She paused to flip through hersketchbookbefore she selected a few more colors to pack. The door to her room slowly inched open before Vinyl stepped inside. Octavia looked up at her for only asecond before continuing to pack. Silence filled the room for what felt like an eternity to Vinyl.

"Octavia, can I just level with you?" Vinyl finally said.

"Go ahead."

"Look I..." Vinyl started, then stepped forward and sat down on the bed next to her. "You're my best friend. We've known each other our whole lives. So I'm just going to say this straight: I don't like what you're doing here."

Octavia stared at Vinyl for a few seconds, then turned back to her luggage. "I understand that, but I'm not going to change my mind."

"I know how angry you are, but since when do two wrongs make a right?" Vinyl responded. "Yes, they ruined your night, but is that any reason to attack them?"

"This is Flanksy's first time outside of Canterlot," Octavia said as she folded her jacket up on top of the paint cans. "I'm going to Ponyville to make a point, not to ‘attack' them."

"Well, what about Pinkie Pie!?"

Octavia didn't answer. There was a long silence as she just stared at the cans of paint in her suitcase, then finally shook her head.

"I stand by the fact that she deserved it."

"Why?" Vinyl asked "No, better question: how? Just cause she was being a nuisance doesn't give you—"

"We have been over this," Octavia calmly replied. "She was being far more than a nuisance. She was ruining everything she touched, as she tends to do. I gave her the comeuppance that she deserved."

"First of all, calling what you did 'comeuppance' is wrong," Vinyl said. "And secondly, did you even stop to consider the consequences?"

"What consequences?"

"How about the fact that, I don't know, you threw paint on her!" Vinyl suddenly yelled. "That stuff can be dangerous! What if some had gotten in her eyes, Octavia? Did you ever think about that?!"

There was a pause. Octavia stared at the can of paint in her hoof, thinking about the sight from just the day before:Pinkie Pie standing in front of her, her entire body dripping with red paint. For just a moment, Octavia saw the sadness in Pinkie's eyes, the look of almost pure anguish as she stared back. Octavia opened her mouth to say something, but the image in her mind shifted. Now, it was Pinkie standing in front of the wall, painting over her own art.

"She was in Canterlot; there are plenty of doctors and ponies around,” Octavia calmly said. “She was going to be fine."

"That’s your excuse?" Vinyl said. "That's pathetic, Octavia! You're trying to justify hurting her like that, but there's no way you can justify what you did to her! Dammit, stop being so stubborn and admit that maybe, just maybe, you were in the wrong here!"

"I was not," Octavia replied as she zipped up her bag. "After everything they did, I'm not in the wrong."

"Agh!" Vinyl grunted, standing up and pacing. "You should hear yourself!"

"I do!" Octavia yelled, standing up and trotting next to Vinyl. "You said it yourself just before the Gala: I should be more expressive. Well, that's exactly what this is—"

"There is a difference between expressing yourself and just being a jerk!" Vinyl interrupted. Octavia just stepped forward.

"I am expressing the fact that the Elements of Harmony are worthless, pathetic, and deserve to finally be held accountable for what they did at the Gala, for what they did at the Canterlot Garden Party, and for the fact that they get away with whatever they want!"

"I know!" Vinyl shouted right back. "I get it! They ruined the Gala and they ruined the Garden Party! It was awesome how you channeled all of that into the whole Flanksy thing, but geez, don't you think maybe it's time to just…"

Vinyl very suddenly trailed off. Octavia stepped right in front of her and stared her down.

"Time to just what?" Octavia said.

"Nevermind," Vinyl muttered as she turned around. "I don't want to argue with you right now, especially if you're not going to listen to a damn thing I'm gonna say."

Vinyl trotted out of the room in a huff. Octavia glared after her, then sat back down on her bed. She picked the can of paint up in her hoof and quietly looked it over for a momentbefore slowly packing it away in her bag on top of her coat.

----------

Octavia sat in the only private area she could find: an embankment of trees just on the edge of town. She had snuck into the trees just as the sun was starting to set, waiting for Ponyville to be shrouded in darkness so she could get to work. As a lone pony trotted the streets and lit the few street lamps scattered about town, Octavia unzipped her duffel bag and put her Flanksy attire on. Once the pony was out of sight, Octavia slung the bag over her shoulder and trotted towards town.

Although she was there with a purpose, a nagging curiosity had been hanging in the back of Octavia's mind. Up until now, she had done all of her art in Canterlot, one of the highest-class and busiest cities in all of Equestria. But Ponyville was clearly a different, much smaller and quieter town. For as focused as she was on the Elements of Harmony, a part of her was curious as to what the reaction would be like in a different city, one that wasn't as busy as Canterlot.

She made her way behind a building and did one final check of her bag to make sure everything was there. She took in a deep breath of the cold air and looked up in the distance—amidst the starry sky, she could see the outline of Canterlot on the mountainside. With one last breath, she turned the corner and stepped out into the streets of Ponyville. Other than the gentle flickering of the lanterns, the town was completely still. Only a few of the houses still had lights on, and there was nary a pony in sight. She slowly trotted through the street, half-expecting to turn the corner to find all the ponies gathered at some sort of celebration, but instead she found each street just as quiet and empty as the last.

"Does Ponyville just shut down after a certain time?" Octavia muttered to herself as she looked around for any sign of life, finding none. "I guess it doesn't matter."

She shook the unease out of her mind and looked around at the buildings for a minute before she finally found the one she was looking for: a large building modeled after a carousel, adorned with tactful curtains on every side. Her eyes narrowed as she trotted to the building and unzipped her bag, using what little light there was to find a black can of paint. She quickly tossed the bag aside, popped the lid off of the can, and began to spray.

Octavia just stared forward as she painted. She was used to losing herself in her art, to the world around her disappearing while she worked. But as she switched over colors, the only thing going through her head was anger. She momentarily paused writing and looked back into the window in front of her. Inside the boutique she saw beautiful clothes set up on mannequins and designs lining the walls.

"I would have expected nothing less from a fashion designer,” she said as she continued to write on the building. Minutes ticked by as she tried not to pay attention to the inside of the house, instead just focusing on her work. Every few minutes she would glance around, half expecting to suddenly see a crowd around her, but the streets remained as silent as when she had first stepped onto them.

She finally finished writing and dropped the can back into the bag. She paused and instead took a few steps back to admire her work. Painted in massive black letters across the front of the building was a single sentence.

“Ugly on the outside. Uglier on the inside.”

She smirked to herself, then trotted back to her bag. She was about to zip it up when she glanced up again through the window into the boutique.

There was just enough light from the street for Octavia to make out the room she was looking into. It was an absolute disaster, with clothes strewn about on the floor and papers depicting unfinished designs covering every surface. But what drew Octavia's attention more was the far wall, the only wall that wasn't covered in designs. Instead, it had several pictures perfectly positioned along the wall, and the top two caught Octavia's eye. First was a picture of Rarity, Fancy Pants, and Fleur-De-Lis at the Canterlot Garden Party, mingling and having a good time. The other picture was her in a small shop, wearing a tattered dress with a messy mane. But it was her company that Octavia noted.

She was with the rest of the Elements of Harmony, all smiling and laughing. And behind them was Princess Celestia, laughing as well.

She… she wants to remember the Gala, Octavia thought to herself as her hoof tightened around the can. She still thinks it was a nice time. None of them feel the least bit remorseful!

Octavia's face trembled as she stared at the ponies on the wall, all of them enjoying themselves. But her anger grew the more she looked at the the face of Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria, who seemed to be having the time of her life.

"They get nothing but support from her," Octavia said to herself. "They get nothing but support from every pony around them. Support that they do not deserve!"

She tore the can back out of her bag, turned away, and slammed the back of it into the window pane, shattering it in an instant.

"Look, I get it," Vinyl said, resting her head back against the wall with her hooves behind her head. "I get why she's so angry at the Elements of Harmony. But I'm not cool with her going down to Ponyville to embarrass them, and especially not when it involves hurting another pony! Pinkie is my friend!"

"I can see why that'd upset you."

"It's just so damn frustrating!" Vinyl continued. "I mean I thought she figured out exactly what she wanted to do with the whole Flanksy thing. What she did with the park was seriously the most amazing thing I've ever seen in Canterlot. I'm worried she's forgetting about that awesome art and making this about attacks. No, I'm not even worried about it because it's already happened!"

"Maybe it was just a slip-up? She let her anger get the better of her."

"That's exactly what concerns me. I've known Octavia my whole life and she's always sorta held in her feelings when she's angry. She's been able to channel them lately, but now I don't know if she knows when she’s going too far, when to stop. On one hoof I could just tell her that and risk her being pretty upset at me, but on the other hoof I could not tell her, and risk her ruining everything she's done!" Vinyl sighed. "I mean, what would you do?"

"Um, I really don't know her all that well."

"Yeah, but you were all inspired by her, right?"

Amethyst Star finally looked up from the canvas she had been balancing on her lap. "Yes, but I barely know her personally. I don't think I'd be the best to ask about the situation."

Vinyl went quiet as a pony trotted over and picked up one of Amethyst's paintings. The pony examined it for a few seconds before glancing at the "Art By Amethyst - Free!" sign, then nodding at Amethyst before slipping the painting into her saddle bag. Amethyst blushed as the pony walked away.

"You don't know her, but you're doing all this art because of her!" Vinyl said once the pony was out of earshot. "You can't just have no opinion on it!"

Amethyst looked away for a moment at Canterlot Park in the distance. She gazed through the fence at the leafless trees, then sighed. "I guess I'd really prefer if she just created art,” she responded. “I think her stuff is really pretty, that's all that matters to me. I'm not a big fan of the violence or anger, I just want her to paint stuff, ya know?"

"See? I knew it!" Vinyl triumphantly responded. "She's totally losing herself here. She's so angry at the Elements of Harmony that it's getting in the way of what she was doing. Not to mention what she did to Pinkie! Do you have any idea what it's like to see a friend get mistreated like that?"

"Um, but..."

Vinyl glanced over at Amethyst. She had put the painting down and was lightly twirling the paint brush between her hooves, gathering her thoughts.

"I mean, you keep saying that Pinkie is your friend, but Octavia is your friend too," she finally said. "Couldn't you have stepped in to stop Pinkie? Maybe that's why Octavia got so angry, that you were just there but didn’t do anything?"

Vinyl stared at Amethyst for a few seconds as she shifted nervously in place. Finally, Vinyl laid her head back on the wall and looked up into the sky.

"I can't."

Amethyst cocked her head. "What? You could have—"

"I don't mean I physically couldn't do anything. As soon as Pinkie started painting the first time I was ready to step in, but I just… I don't know, something came over me," Vinyl said, pausing to think. "I just looked at Octavia and suddenly I couldn't bring myself to do anything. It's like, I thought she was going to far, but I didn’t think I could actually do anything about it.”

There was another pause as Vinyl looked around to make sure no ponies were in sight. The streets of Canterlot were empty, so she let out a long sigh and turned back to Amethyst. "I've known Octavia since we were little fillies. She's my best friend. But she's never really been very expressive. She's always been really quiet, never spoken her mind, always been all prim and proper. Then, the Gala happened. And I know it was horrible for her, I know how awful it was, I would never wish that on anypony. But…"

Amethyst waited, then leaned in. "But?"

Vinyl looked down at the ground. "But at the same time, what came from it was so amazing. I had never seen Octavia so dedicated, so expressive, so determined in her life. Not only that, but she was doing it in a way that caught me totally off guard. Heck, it caught all of Canterlot off guard! It was so amazing and so dang inspirational. Heck, you're proof of that!"

Amethyst blushed. "Yes, I guess I am…"

"No guessing, you totally are. What she did to the statue, to the park, all that was some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen in my life. But then…” Vinyl laid her head back on the wall and waved a hoof at the park. “This whole thing happened. Somehow, the Elements of Harmony getting rid of Discord erased her art. Then they showed up at the Garden Party and ruined that. And now, Octavia's all out for revenge. I know it's wrong, I know she shouldn't be doing it, I know she should go back to just creating art, but I can't bring myself to tell her that. It's like every time I want to, I suddenly think about her going back to clamming up all the time, not speaking her mind…” She paused and hung her head. “I don't want that."

Amethyst looked over at the paintings scattered in front of her. She then looked at the one that was only half-finished, a picture of Canterlot Park with all the trees drawn in different colors. She glanced over at her paint supplies and sighed. "Yeah, I wouldn't want that either."

"It's just so hard for Octavia to get past the whole Elements of Harmony thing," Vinyl continued. "I know she's upset, but she's letting her anger get the better of her. I've never seen her get so angry at other ponies in my whole life. Heck, I've never seen her get that angry at anything, period. I'm… I'm worried she doesn't know when it's time to back off, let it go, and move on. But I have no idea how to tell her that. She's my best friend in the world. I'm closer to her than I am any other pony in all of Equestria. I want to tell her to stop, but I don't want to lose her as a friend, no matter how she's acting, no matter what's happening…"

Vinyl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly opened them again, looking out at the empty, darkened park in front of them.

"How am I supposed to tell her that it's time to just let it go?"

Octavia trotted down the path away from Sweet Apple Acres, taking one last glance at the barn she had just left. She let out a satisfied snort, then turned back and continued down the path, reaching the edge of Ponyville and looking around.

"Only one place left," she said to herself, scanning the rooftops of Ponyville before finally finding the library. Having long since realized that the streets were empty this late at night, Octavia calmly made her way through town without making an effort to hide herself and walked straight up to the side of the library. She paced around the building before walking up to the window closest to the ground and glancing in. The room was lit by a single lantern, and much like the houses of the other ponies, she could see several pictures adorning the walls, all of them of the pony posing with her friends. But for as many pictures as there were of the rest of the Elements, there were just as many pictures of the unicorn with another pony: Princess Celestia herself.

"Figures," Octavia mumbled. "She is Celestia's protégé…"

Octavia placed her hooves on the window and pulled it open as far as she could. She popped the top off of a can of red paint and reached in, but found that she could only reach a table directly beneath the window and the edge of a bookcase. She pushed her hoof as far into the room as she could and began to spray anyway, covering the table with the red paint. As she was, she looked up at the pictures on the wall again and noticed the same picture of the Elements of Harmony after the Gala, posing with Princess Celestia. Hanging above that picture was a much larger picture of the unicorn as a filly, sitting on the back of Princess Celestia.

Octavia stopped spraying and slowly pulled her hoof out of the window, just staring at the pictures across the room. Then she grabbed her bag. "To heck with it," she muttered, then pulled the window open fully and climbed through. She vaulted over the still-dripping table and picked up the first can of paint she got her hoof on, then began to spray jagged lines on the multitude of books and bookshelves. Every few seconds, she glanced back up at the pictures on the wall, each time her grip tightening on the can.

"I cannot believe they still celebrate that," she said to herself, her tone becoming more irate. "They really have no idea what they did. They have no idea that they have been ruining the lives of the ponies around them. And Celestia still celebrates them? She just stands there, smiling and letting them do whatever they want. Why do they get such a free ride, while I've had to fight back against them at every turn just to do what I love? Why do they deserve any of this?"

Something in the back of her mind clicked and she spun around, immediately covering the picture of Celestia with red paint. In her anger she continued to spray over every single picture she saw, until she finally got to the one of all the Elements of Harmony.

"Why does everyone love you?" she said even louder as she pulled the picture off the wall. "Why am I the only pony to see how horrible, how worthless you all are?!" She turned around and hurled the picture across the room. It slammed into the edge of the paint-covered bookshelf, shattering the glass and falling onto the ground with a bang.

Octavia stood in the middle of the room, her whole body trembling as she took long breaths in and out. She thought back to the night of the Gala, and the image of the ponies standing and practically celebrating with Princess Celestia. She thought back to the Garden Party, where the ponies invaded and made everything about themselves yet again. She slowly looked around the room, at the paint covering the walls and the shattered glass in the corner, along with the now-torn picture.

All she could do was smile at the scene.

"Hello?"

A nervous pulse shot through Octavia's body as she heard a voice come from upstairs. She glanced up and could see a small figure moving around.

"Who's that?" the young voice said. "Is that you, Twi? What was that crash?"

Octavia grabbed her bag from off the ground and hurled it out the window, then followed it and climbed out of the room. She ducked her head beneath the window, staring up as she saw a light flickering from inside.

"I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow, wha—" the voice suddenly cut itself off and gasped. "Oh geez, what happened?! Owlowiscious, was this you?!"

Octavia carefully crept away, leaving the sound of the panicking voice inside the library. Once she was far enough away from the building she took off right back to the forest where she had first changed and hid behind the trees. She jammed her clothes into the bag and stashed it in the nearest bush, then calmly trotted back out of the forest towards the bed and breakfast she was staying the night at. She spared one final look towards the library, where she could just make out a figure frantically running around the room.. She smiled.

"Serves you all right."

"I apologize for calling you all in so late, gentlecolts, but this is a pressing matter."

Several royal guards stood at attention as Prince Blueblood paced in front of them. One of them stifled a yawn and Blueblood glared at him for a moment before continuing.

"It was brought to my attention that two days ago, there was an incident involving Flanksy in downtown Canterlot. However, this was not like the previous incidents, where all she did was bring her own style of ugliness to our wonderful city. No, this was something else. This was something different: a direct assault on a fellow pony. Do you all understand what that means?"

The guards looked at each other, unsure of how to respond. Blueblood just smirked and stood confidently in front of them.

"It means that as of right now, Flanksy is under my jurisdiction. What was previously about 'art' has crossed the line. There is no longer a grey area, like at that pathetic city hall meeting where nopony was willing to support me. No, what she has done now is clearly wrong, which is why I have called you all here."

Blueblood paused to gaze out the window at the night sky of Canterlot. He took in the sight of the lit-up city, then turned back to the guards.

"I want you all to watch Flanksy very carefully, because I guarantee you she will cross that line again,” he said, leaning closer to them. “And the second she does, I want you to be on her. I want you to grab her and bring her in. I want you to arrest her. You have my full authorization."

The guards all nodded.

"Good. Also, I want you to find the pony who she attacked, bring her to me as well. I'd love to have a talk with her; I bet she would love to speak out against her assailant…” Blueblood smirked. “Perhaps if I showed Canterlot just what Flanksy was capable of, I could get more ponies on my side."

"Yes, sir," said one of the guards. "I will head down to Ponyville tomorrow."

Blueblood stared at the guard. "Ponyville? Wait, the pony was from Ponyville? Who was it?"

"Her name is Pinkie Pie," the guard replied. "She's one of the Elements of Harmony."

There was a long silence as Blueblood blinked a few times, then looked back out over the city. "One of the Elements of Harmony got paint thrown on them…" he muttered to himself, before a very sly smirk appeared on his face. He eventually turned back to the guards, returning to his stoic expression.

"You know, in that case, disregard getting her."

The guard tilted his head to one side. "Sir?"

"She's probably busy,” Blueblood replied with a shake of his head. “We don't want to bother her."

Blueblood nodded his head and turned around, walking out of the room and leaving the guards.

"Not that I'd want to have anything to do with those ponies anyway…"

Octavia sat calmly at a table in the bakery and sipped a cup of tea. Every few moments she would look over at the counter, where three ponies were standing. Two of them were older ponies, one of whom Octavia had shared her train ride with, while the third one was one Octavia was more familiar with. Pinkie Pie paced back and forth at a rapid rate, constantly looking up at the clock.

"Pinkie, dearie, you have to calm down. They'll be here," Mrs. Cake said.

"But they said they were just going to check on their houses and come back!" Pinkie whined. "After what Cheerilee told us when we got back this morning, it sounds like something really really bad happened last night! What if the badness was still there? They should be here by now!"

"Just be patient, Pinkie."

“And by the way, just what was this?” Mr. Cake said, reaching behind the counter and placing something down on it: a single can of red paint with two balloons tied to it. “Was this a gift or maybe some kind of delivery? I don’t remember ordering any paint. Why would somepony leave a can of paint at our front door?”

Pinkie stared at the can of paint, then shuddered. She awkwardly turned away. “I… don’t want to talk about it.”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake glanced at each other in confusion as Pinkie continued to pace.

Octavia took another sip of her tea, trying to hide the smile on her face. Then there was a jingle at the front door and Twilight Sparkle trotted in. Pinkie leapt clear over the counter and landed directly in front of her friend.

"Well well well well well what happened what's your place like how is everypony else are you hurt was the library hurt were the books hurt?" she blurted out. Twilight took a deep breath and Pinkie went quiet, then she went to go sit down at the nearest table, her head in her hooves.

"The library is a disaster," she mumbled. "Half the bookshelves are going to take a lot of work to clean up, the books themselves might have to be replaced, and all of my pictures were destroyed." She shook her head. "The one of us at the Gala… that was irreplaceable. And now—"

She didn't finish as the door to Sugarcube Corner swung open and Rarity staggered in. Pinkie leapt towards her.

"How about your place?!"

Rarity only stared at Pinkie for a second, then turned away dramatically and held her hoof to her head.

"Annihilated!" she moaned, drawing another smirk from Octavia. "Every dress around that shattered window—months worth of work—all completely destroyed! Those dresses, my windows, painted over! But far, far worse was what was written! They called me… they called me…”

Rarity slowly swooned backwards across the two chairs next to Twilight. She stared blankly at the ceiling for several seconds before continuing.

“Ugly,” she whispered, barely audible. “They called me ugly.”

“Ohhhh, Rarity, you know that’s not true!” Twilight said as she patted her friend on the head. “I don’t know who did this, but whoever it is is an awful pony!”

Pinkie's ears fell. "Maybe it was the same meanie who threw paint on me in Canterlot…"

Octavia held the cup up to her mouth to make sure the ponies couldn't see the smile plastered on her face. She had seen the Elements of Harmony plenty of times, but this was the first time she had seen them in a more vulnerable state, as the victims instead of the oppressors. She wanted to revel in the moment, but she knew she had to keep a low profile until she got back to Canterlot. Instead, she just calmly drank her tea and watched the scene unfold.

"Maybe it was Flanksy?"

Octavia's ears perked momentarily as she heard the name said by Twilight. Both Pinkie and Rarity looked over at her.

"Flanksy? What on earth is a flanksy?" Rarity asked.

"Not a what, a who,” Twilight replied. “Princess Celestia told me about her. She's an artist in Canterlot. Well, not an artist… more of a vandal. She spray paints walls and buildings all over Canterlot. She painted a statue of Celestia green, she completely changed the color of Canterlot Park, but it's seemed like she was more angry at Princess Celestia."

"Why does she hate the Princess?" Rarity asked. "No, a far better question is, why does she hate us?"

Twilight shook her head. "I asked Princess Celestia that the first time she wrote me about Flanksy, but she had no idea either. It just started one day out of nowhere, suddenly this pony was going around spraying anti-royalty messages on walls against her, then against Prince Blueblood."

Rarity smiled. "Perhaps I can take a little solace in knowing that pompous prince got at least a little of what was coming to him…"

Octavia chuckled, quickly covering it up with a cough.

"After that, she sorta stopped going after royalty,” Twilight continued. “Instead, she was just painting these really colorful murals around Canterlot. Then she went after Canterlot Park, she sprayed all the trees and the fountain…"

"But that doesn't explain why she did this!" Rarity interjected. "Why does she hate us? What could we have possibly done to her?"

"I don't know!" Twilight replied. "I can't think of anything!"

They really have no idea, Octavia thought to herself. No idea whatsoever. They really are as ignorant as I thought.

She took another sip of tea as the front door of the bakery swung open and a grey pegasus trotted through, her head hanging low as she walked up to the three Elements.

“Derpy?” Twilight said. “What’s wrong?”

Derpy shook her head. "I, um, just came from Fluttershy’s house.”

Twilight leapt to her hooves. “Oh no, Fluttershy! How is she, what happened?”

Derpy pawed at the ground a few times. “There were these big red letters drawn on her house. They covered almost the entire roof with the same word, over and over.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie all nervously glanced at each other before Twilight took a step forward. “W… what did it say? What word was it?”

There was a long pause. Octavia closed her eyes, just savoring the silence in the room before Derpy finally spoke up.

“‘Freak.’”

The three ponies in front of her all gasped. Pinkie stepped in front of Twilight.

“How is she? How is Fluttershy?!”

“She's completely distraught over it,” Derpy said. “She’s locked herself in her room and has been crying since she got there. Applejack is taking a break from cleaning up the paint on the barn to try to console her, but I don't think it's working very well."

Rarity laid her head down on the table. "Poor Fluttershy… Somepony out there really hates us."

"I wish Rainbow Dash were here," Twilight said. "She'd be able to cheer up Fluttershy. When she gets back from Cloudsdale tomorrow, maybe she can console her. Come on, let's go over to her cottage, we should at least try to make her feel better…”

The three ponies slowly stood up and shuffled out of the bakery. Octavia slowly leaned back in her chair, just smirking to herself as she watched them walk into the distance. Serves them right, she thought to herself, then looked up behind the counter.

The stallion who she had been on the train with was looking at her, one of his eyebrows raised as if he was putting something together in his head. He and Octavia locked eyes for a few seconds before Octavia reached into her saddle bag, dropped a few bits on the table, then took her leave of the bakery.

The front door swung open and Vinyl stormed through, clutching the day’s newspaper under hoof. She went straight to Octavia's room and shoved the door open. Inside, Octavia was in the midst of playing her cello, and the sudden intrusion of Vinyl caused her to draw the bow noisily across the strings.

"Vinyl!" she shouted. "What are you—" she didn't finish as Vinyl threw the newspaper down on the bed, then just locked eyes with her friend. Octavia slowly reached over and took the paper, reading the headline: "Elements of Harmony's Homes Attacked."

Octavia blinked. "What about it?"

"What about it?!" Vinyl yelled. "You were talking about going down to Ponyville to do some more of your art. Yeah, 'art' my eye. You broke into their damn houses! What the hay is wrong with you!?"

"Nothing is wrong with me!" Octavia shouted. "You should be asking what is wrong with them! What's wrong with every pony who interacts with them! They deserved that, and—"

"Stop saying that! Every time this happens, you use the 'deserved' word! Nopony deserves that! I don't care what they did to you, ever hear of two wrongs don't make a right?"

"You don't care what they did to me? You don't care that they were directly the cause of the worst night of my life? Vinyl, the Gala—"

"I know!" Vinyl yelled, turning away. "I get it! The Gala sucked! So did the Garden Party! For Celestia's sake, I've heard it! But the Gala was months ago, Octavia! Do you really want to hold on to that grudge for the rest of your life? Maybe it's time to just…"

Again, Vinyl trailed off. Octavia stepped forward.

"Just what? You said the same thing to me before I left for Ponyville. Are you ever going to finish that at any point?"

Vinyl slowly looked away. There was a long silence hanging in the room as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"No, I'm not," she finally said, her voice far quieter than it had been just moments before. "Octavia, I don't want to fight any more. I don't want this to keep going, where every time you do something we end up screaming at each other. That's the last thing I want. I just want this to be over. This whole war against the Elements of Harmony, this whole thing where you're replacing your art—some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen—with personal attacks… Please, please, just tell me you're done with this. Just tell me Flanksy is going to go back to changing Canterlot."

Octavia sat down on the bed, looking back at the newspaper. She read through it quickly, everything she had done—the details of the attacks on each of the houses— and she sighed. She opened her mouth to reply to Vinyl, but paused as her attention fell on a paragraph near the end of the article.

"This has put a damper on the planned event in Canterlot to officially commemorate the statue celebrating the Elements of Harmony's victory over Discord several weeks ago. The event will still take place as planned, but it appears that the Elements of Harmony will not be an attendance.

Octavia's grip on the edge of the paper tightened. She shook her head.

"It's not over. Not quite yet."

End of Chapter 13: Long Overdue
Special Thanks: Razygarde, Delphprops, Wardinja, and Worstnaught

14. Dashed

Vinyl just stared at Octavia. Her ears rang with what Octavia had just said, but she was hoping that she had somehow misheard. She took a step forward, her head bowed down and turned to one side as if trying to shake the thought out of her head.

“What do you mean ‘not quite yet?’” she said.

“I mean exactly that,” Octavia said as she pushed the newspaper towards Vinyl and pointed her hoof at the paragraph in question. Vinyl snatched up the paper and read through the article again before she finally got to what Octavia had been pointing at. It took her a few seconds to put two and two together, and she looked back up at Octavia.

“No,” Vinyl finally muttered. “No no no. Octavia, you’re not.”

“I am,” Octavia said as she pulled out her sketch pad. “After everything they’ve done, they still get a plaque and a celebration. Ponies still don’t understand that their actions have consequences. This will be my chance to spell it out for them once and for all.”

Vinyl sat down on the bed and read through the article again. She finally put it to the side.

“Octavia… don’t do this.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Vinyl said louder. “Don’t do this. What more do you need to do? What more do you have to prove? You attacked Pinkie Pie, then you broke into their houses and wrecked them. Why do you need to do anything else? You’ve proven your point: you hate the Elements of Harmony!”

Octavia thrust her sketch pad downwards and whipped her head to to stare at Vinyl.

“Excuse me?” she practically shouted. “My point? The point of all of this is not just proving that I don’t like them!”

Vinyl turned away. “Sure could have fooled me.”

Octavia’s face trembled and she turned back to her sketch pad. “This is about showing that the Elements of Harmony are not the perfect, innocent ponies that they are made out to be by so much of Equestria, and especially by Princess Celestia herself! For once, a pony is actually out there and exposing them for the entitled, worshiped fakes that they are. Ponies have been told about their exploits, about how they are such wonderful and flawless creatures. But I am living proof that they are not flawless, that they are not perfect, that they can be just as short-sighted as any other pony. Even moreso because they have a sense of entitlement and the full support of Princess Celestia, who allows them to do whatever they want to do! Don’t you think that they are hardly the innocent ponies most make them out to be?”

"I'm not about to say they're innocent," Vinyl said, "but don't you think that something like 'defeating Discord' is worthy of being celebrated? It's a big deal for everypony, can't you—"

"Well the Gala was a big deal for me!" Octavia shouted. "The Garden Party was a big deal for me! If they're completely fine with ruining my celebrations, I am more than willing to ruin theirs."

"So this is just about an eye for an eye now? You're completely abandoning all pretense of creativity? You know, there are ponies out there who loved Flanksy not because she was rebelling, but because of what she created! What happened to all of that?"

"It's not my focus right now," Octavia replied. "My focus right now is the Elements. My focus right now is ruining that event."

With that, Octavia stood up, put her sketch pad away and grabbed her bag out of her closet. She left the room, with Vinyl glaring after her.

"Where are you going?" Vinyl asked.

"The dedication isn't for another two days," Octavia said. “But if you think I'm just going to wait until then to do something—”

“You just went to Ponyville to break into their damn houses, now you’re planning on doing something to their big dedication of the new statue and plaque. Isn’t that enough?” Vinyl leapt up to her hooves and followed Octavia. “Why do you have to do more?”

“Because after everything they did to me, did to other ponies, they deserve this.”

“You’ve used that word so much lately,” Vinyl remarked. “But come on! Does anypony deserve to have this much done to them?” When Octavia didn’t respond, Vinyl ran up right next to her. “Don’t ignore me, I don't think this conversation is over yet, Octavia! You can't just leave!"

"Why not?” Octavia muttered. “Every time you bring this up with me, we just go in circles."

"That's because you're not listening!" Vinyl yelled, trying to get Octavia's attention as she opened the front door. "You're just still angry and letting your anger get to you. Would you just listen to me for a minute? You need to cut this crap out and get back to real art!"

Octavia paused and looked back at Vinyl. There was a long silence before she just turned back on Vinyl and left, closing the door behind her. Vinyl let out a long sigh, staring at the closed door before finally turning and walking over to her record collection. She shoved the records back and forth until she picked one out. She practically slammed the record down on her player and picked up the needle, but paused and looked back at the door. She half-expected—hoped—that Octavia would suddenly be back, but when she once again confirmed that she was alone in the apartment, she let out a long sigh and let the needle drop to the side of the record. Instead she slowly trotted over to the couch and laid down, staring in silence at the ceiling.

Preparations were underway for the official dedication of the new statue for the Elements of Harmony. It had already been unveiled, but a large red ribbon hung around it, to be officially cut during the ceremony. A small stage had been set up behind it where speeches would be made, while decorations were just beginning to be set up on either side of the street.

At the moment, however, all eyes were on Flanksy.

Octavia finished drawing the final red X over the gray butterflies she had drawn, then stepped back for a moment to admire her work. The wall was adorned with the six cutie marks of the Elements of Harmony, each drawn with blacks, whites, and grays, and large red X’s had been drawn over each of them. She dropped the can of paint back into her bag and was about to zip it up, when the corner of her eye caught the statue that sat only a few feet away, along with the large sign promoting the celebration. At the very bottom of the sign was a sentence, one that stood out to Octavia more than anything: “Come to the unveiling and celebrate harmony!” Octavia’s sight turned upward towards the statue of the six Elements of Harmony, all frozen in a happy pose without a care in the world.

“Harmony…” she muttered in frustration, then whirled back around and pulled another can out of her bag. “They really think those ponies represent harmony?” She turned back to the wall and began to write in large letters next to her work, drawing surprised murmurs from the crowd behind her.

“I DON’T ACCEPT THEIR HARMONY.”

With a satisfied smirk she shoved the can of paint back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, then trotted away to leave the remaining ponies to look over her work. She slipped into a side alley, working her way through the back streets of Canterlot before she was sure that nopony could see her, before she sat down behind a dumpster and removed her outfit. She slowly dropped it on top of the paint, then just looked straight ahead, breathing quietly. Minute after minute ticked by as her gaze shifted down at the cans of paint and her disguise in her bag, mentally going over what would happen the next day in her head.

“Only one more day until that dedication,” she said to herself. “One more day until I can finally go after that statue, in front of all the ponies there to celebrate those pathetic excuses for harmony.”

She had just begun to finally zip up her bag when the sounds of a commotion coming from afar distracted her. She instinctively jammed her duffel bag behind the dumpster next to her, then made her way back through the alleys until the noise grew louder. It sounded like numerous ponies arguing, but one of the voices stood out, a shrill yell whose shouts rang out through the streets. Octavia slowly peeked her head out around the corner to see that where she had just been, where the celebration was to commence, ponies were now all gathered in a circle, with some sort of loud argument occurring in the center. Octavia walked towards the group, where she began to hear the voices a lot clearer, one of them far angrier than the others.

"Where is she?!" the voice yelled.

"Please, calm down," a more authoritative voice said.

"After this?" the voice screamed back. "After what she did, and you guys want me to calm down?

Octavia slowly worked her way over to the commotion and carefully pushed through the crowd until she could see what was happening. Several Royal Guards were on alert as one pony stood in the very center, yelling at them and glaring around frantically. A single flash of her multicolor mane was all it took for Octavia to recognize Rainbow Dash, one of the Elements of Harmony and arguably the most well-known pegasus in all of Equestria.

She choked back the angry lump in her throat as she watched Rainbow Dash pace back and forth in anger, then take off a few feet over the guards and look at the crowd.

"Miss Dash, please! There is no need to cause a scene," one of the guards said, flying up next to her. "Flanksy has been creating this art in Canterlot for months now, and—“

"I'm not talking about Canterlot; I'm talking about Ponyville!" Rainbow yelled as she flew right up to the guard, pressing her nose into his. "She attacked our houses, she made my friends miserable... she made Fluttershy cry! Do you really think I'm just going to let that happen?!"

“Miss Dash, there is no concrete proof that it was her who—“

"Oh don't give me that!" Rainbow interjected. "Nopony saw her, but we know for a fact that it was her! Now tell me where she is!"

The guard shook his head. "She hides her identity, we don't know who she is."

"Well then find out!" Rainbow pushed past the guard and looked over the paint on the wall. She tilted her head to one side, then pressed her hoof against the wall and pulled it back, examining the wet paint on her hoof.

"Wait, this is still wet?" she asked. "How recently did she paint this?"

"Um, she was only here about ten or fifteen minutes ago," a pony in the crowd said. Rainbow stared down at them in shock.

"Why the hay didn't anypony tell me that?!" she yelled. She flew down and grabbed a discarded piece of cloth from the ground and began to wipe the paint as much as she could, flying back and forth across the wall as she smeared all the paint, trying to clean it off.

"How can you guys just not care about this?" Rainbow said as she flew past "You guys are like the Canterlot police! Shouldn't you be out searching for her or something? Or, like, cleaning this up?”

"While in Canterlot, she technically has not broken any laws," a guard said. "Plus, Prince Blueblood wants us to—“

"Blueblood is in charge?" Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "Geez, no wonder nothing’s being done.” She turned back to the wall and continued to wipe it as much as she could, only succeeding in turning it into a red and grey mess.

Octavia watched as the art she had just put up got more and more unrecognizable. It took every fiber of her being to maintain her composure, to not march forward and yank Rainbow Dash straight out of the air. With every swipe that Rainbow made across the paint, Octavia’s back hooves dug into the ground below her. Without her disguise, without the paint in her hoof, without her face covered, she felt completely helpless. Finally, a guard flew up next to Rainbow Dash, stopping her.

"Miss Dash, please! This isn’t helping anything,” he said, only for the paint-smeared cloth to land on his nose.

"I don't know who or where this Flanksy is, but since you guys aren't going to do anything about this, I am!" Rainbow said. "I'm not leaving Canterlot until I find her. I'm not going to let her get away with what she did to my friends. And if any of you ponies see her around, you tell her that Rainbow Dash is looking for her!"

With that, Rainbow Dash turned around and took off in a flash, flying off above the rooftops and scanning the city. The guards flew up after her and the assembled crowd slowly began to go back about their day. As the crowd dispersed, Octavia stared up at the wall. The cutie marks, the red X's, the sentence next to it; all of it had been smeared together by Rainbow Dash into a slurry of reddish-grey. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from yelling, then slowly turned and trotted away as calmly as possible towards the nearest alley. She quietly trotted through the back streets of the city until she had finally made her way back to where her disguise and paint had been stored.

Octavia sat down next to the dumpster and pulled the bag out from behind it. She silently stared down at her paint-flecked coat and the half-empty red can of paint that sat on top of it.

After a few seconds, she spun to one side and drove her hoof angrily into the dumpster next to her with enough force to put a dent in it. Her hoof throbbed in pain, but she paid no attention to it.

"That miserable excuse for a pony!" she said, driving her hoof into the dumpster over and over. "That ignorant moron! If she's going to do that..."

She jammed her duffel back into the garbage bag and exited through a different alleyway, heading straight back towards her home. Once again her every nerve was focused on maintaining her composure in public, but her angry steps and tense muscles were betraying her attempts. She momentarily paused and leaned up against a wall to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Stupid, pathetic..." she whispered to herself, hoping to let out enough anger to make it home without snapping. She suddenly felt a light tap on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her fur, turning quickly to find herself face to face with a purple unicorn.

"Oh. You," Octavia muttered through deep breaths.

"Hi," Amethyst Star meekly said. "Sorry if I startled you. I was over at the statue and I saw what Rainbow Dash did and, well, I've been sorta following you. Are you okay?"

Octavia glanced around, then nodded her head to the side to beckon Amethyst to follow her. They trotted back into another alley, Amethyst glancing behind her nervously the further they got in. Once they were well out of sight, Octavia grabbed the bag she had been carrying and hurled it in anger at the wall, startling Amethyst.

“I cannot believe her!” she said. “I cannot believe them! All they have done, time after time, is make my life miserable! Their entire existence is to create ‘harmony,’ but they have ruined my harmony time after time after time. And now that cocky pegasus comes to Canterlot and is looking for me?! After everything that’s happened, she should be apologizing, not attacking me!”

Octavia breathed through her clenched teeth, then glared to her right. Amethyst Star had taken a step back and was staring at her in stunned silence. She finally spoke, her voice quiet and quivering.

“Um… But after what you did in Ponyville, I’m not surprised that she’s angry,” she quietly said. “I mean, you broke into their houses, right? Of course she’s upset.”

“I don’t care if she’s upset! After what she’s done, she deserves it!” Octavia said.

“I…” Amethyst mumbled. “I don’t agree.”

Octavia just stared at her. “What? After everything you’ve said about me, after everything you’ve said about my art influencing you, you’re on their side?”

“It’s not like that,” Amethyst replied as she traced a hoof around one of the cobblestones in the ground. “It’s just that, well, I like art. I like how pretty it is, I like the stuff that you’ve been saying with it. But, I dunno… I prefer it when it’s just art. I don’t like all the conflict. I kinda wish you would go back to just painting.”

Amethyst looked back up at Octavia, who was just quietly looking at her. She looked to the right, away from Amethyst, just taking in what her biggest fan had said.

“I understand that what I did in Ponyville escalated things,” she finally said. “Maybe even went too far. But you know what? I don’t care. After everything they’ve done to me, after the free rides and preferential treatment that Celestia has given them, they’ve brought this on themselves.”

“But it’s not art anymore,” Amethyst said. “It’s just—”

Amethyst didn’t finish as Octavia picked her bag up and walked past her.

“This is still art. It is art in the name of a cause that I believe in,” she said. “I believe that the Elements of Harmony deserve all of this. I believe that what I am doing is still right. And if you disagree… well, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Octavia calmly walked forward and exited the alley. She trotted out of sight, leaving Amethyst alone in the alley.

Amethyst stood quietly, just looking out at where Octavia had left. “B-but…”

Octavia packed a few more cans into her bag, then laid her jacket, bandana, and face mask on top of them. She looked out her window at the slowly setting sun, then over at her clock; only one hour to go before the dedication of the statue began.

She looked to the left where her cello sat in the corner; all she could see of it were the scratches along the side from the Gala. Her eyes narrowed and she shoved another can down into the bag, then grabbed her sketch pad. She sat back on the bed and flipped through the pages, looking at the myriad of drawings she had created. As she looked through it, there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said stoically. The door opened up and Vinyl stepped through. Octavia momentarily glanced up at her. "I haven't seen you since yesterday morning."

"I’ve been out," Vinyl replied. "I just want to talk right now. No angry fighting, no yelling, just a talk."

"That's fine, but I'm leaving soon."

Vinyl trotted over next to her. "That's what I want to talk about," she said. "I really, really, really want you to reconsider doing this."

"I know you do. You've made that very clear. But I'm still going to do it."

Vinyl bit her lip, then shook her head. "Look, Octavia. I'm just going to say this to you straight up. I don't want to hide anything, I don't want to hold back anything, I'm just going to tell you exactly what I think. You've never been this angry at anything in your life, at least not that I've seen. Your anger is understandable, but this much? There has to be a point where you just let yourself calm down, not keep escalating.”

"As soon as they stop escalating, I will too," Octavia said as she flipped to another page.

Again, Vinyl bit her lip to keep herself from getting worked up. She took a long breath. "I don't think they're the ones ramping this up. I mean, the Garden Party was just a mistake, I don't think they meant to hurt you or anyone. But then you attacked Pinkie, then went down to Ponyville. Not to mention that every day for the past few days you’ve gone out and done something. If anything, you’re in the wrong, not them!"

Octavia pushed her sketch pad down and looked over at her friend. "I am not in the wrong, Vinyl! After everything they have done to me, nothing I could do would put me on the wrong side against them."

"That's just it!" Vinyl yelled, then paused to calm herself down "That's just it. You say it's you against them... that's a bad mindset to be in. Don't you remember the park? That was the coolest thing you've ever done. Don't you remember how happy you were, just sitting there and watching how happy everypony was? You have to go back to that! You're letting your anger get in the way of your message."

"My message is that the Elements of Harmony are worthless," Octavia snapped back. "And the best way to explain that message is to show everypony how worthless they are."

"Why?" Vinyl pressed her hoof into the bed. "Why does it have to be about hurting other ponies? Is it necessary at all? Just go back to what you were doing before!"

"This is about proving a point. Especially after what that pegasus did earlier."

Vinyl looked down at the ground. "I heard about that... from what I can gather, Rainbow Dash has always had a bit of a short temper. I don't know, I think she was just being protective of her friends.

"I don't care how protective of them she was being!" Octavia again snapped at Vinyl, causing her eyes to narrow. "They don't have to be protected, nor should they be. And if she's going to go after my art and erase it like that, I will gladly confront her about it."

"Confront her? You don't need to fight her! Can't you just ignore that and—”

"Shut up, Vinyl!" Octavia yelled. "Don't tell me to just ignore something like that!"

Vinyl stared at Octavia. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"

Octavia zipped up her bag, nodding. Vinyl looked away for a second, closing her eyes. She took in a deep breath, then leapt to her hooves.

"You wanna act like that?" she snorted, looking Octavia right in the eyes. "You want to fight? Fine, let's fight! What you are doing is crazy! You’ve totally lost it and are doing more damage to yourself than the Elements ever did! Don't justify this crap as if they are some group of horrible villains. The worst thing they have done is not realizing what they've done!"

Octavia leapt up as well and got in Vinyl's face. "The worst thing they have done is spread their form of 'harmony' without bothering to check the consequences! That is where I come in, I am showing ponies those consequences!"

"How, by attacking ponies, breaking their windows, and now accepting a call out like you're some sort of fighter?" Vinyl yelled. "This is ridiculous! This is insane! You're not a victim here, Octavia!"

"Not a victim?! Ever since the Gala—“

"The Gala, the Gala, the Gala!" Vinyl said, turning away. "Dear Celestia, let it go!!"

There was a long silence. Vinyl slowly inhaled and exhaled through her nose, trying to compose herself. Octavia took a step forward and tilted her head to one side.

"What did you just say?"

"I... I said let it go," Vinyl finally replied. "I know you don't want to hear that, but you have to. Remember when I got passed up for the main act at Burning Mare? I was angry for some time, but I had to move on. You have to too, Octavia. You're gonna completely lose it. Please, just forget about it. I don't want you to be so angry, I don't want you to get in trouble, and I want my best friend back. Please, Octavia. You don’t have to do any of this. You have a choice here. You can let things go, you can move on, Flanksy can go back to being the coolest artist in Canterlot. Just… just move on. I’m begging you.”

Once again, silence filled the room. Octavia and Vinyl’s gazes remained locked on each other. Vinyl slowly reached up and rested her hoof on Octavia’s shoulder, but Octavia stepped to the side.

“Let it go? Let it go?” she yelled.

“Octavia, please…”

“No!” Octavia interrupted. “You really expect me to just let this go? They ruined the the most important night of my life, and you expect me to just let it go? They came back and did it again! Two of them have outright gone out of their way to destroy my art, and I’m just supposed to let it go?! Vinyl, I thought you were the one supporting me, the one who pushed me to express myself!”

“There is a difference between expressing yourself and letting anger control your whole life!”

“No, Vinyl! I’m not just going to let it go! And I am shocked that I appear to have lost my greatest supporter. I’m sorry that you’re not on my side anymore, Vinyl, but if that’s how it’s going to be, then so be it!”

Octavia shoved past Vinyl and flung open her bedroom door. She stormed towards the front door, dragging the garbage bag behind her, as Vinyl rushed after her.

“Octavia, you—“

“You don’t support me anymore, Vinyl,” Octavia seethed. “My best friend, a pony who I thought would always be there to back me up. But if you’re not going to, then I’m leaving.”

She pulled the front door open as Vinyl reached out towards her. “Come on—“ was all she got out before Octavia spun round. Her face was trembling and there was a fire burning in her gaze.

“Enough!” she yelled. “I’ve made my decision, and clearly you have made yours! I don’t want to hear another word out of you. I cannot believe you, Vinyl! After all of this, to be so against me, to claim I should just forget about the worst night of my life, to think I should just let the ponies who did it get away with it… if you really think all of that, then you can just… just… rot in hell!”

Octavia turned around and left, slamming the door behind her with such force that it shook the apartment. Vinyl just stood completely still, not a single muscle in her body so much as twitching, simply staring quietly at the closed door.

"... and so, it is with great honor that we officially dedicate this statue to the ponies who saved Canterlot, and all of Equestria, from the wrath of chaos that Discord wrought."

To the sound of applause from the crowd, the emcee the front of the stage levitated up a large pair of scissors and cut the ribbon that had been wrapped around the statue. The small band to the side began to play as the festivities officially began, with ponies admiring the statue and talking amongst themselves. Although the decorations were extravagant, the mood of the event was far more laid back than the usual events in Canterlot, as ponies came and went as they pleased and made pleasant conversation with one another.

Octavia didn’t pay attention, or even so much as notice, any of them.

The second she put her disguise on, she left the alley; there was no hesitation, no pause to even think. She just walked straight ahead with a purpose. As she got closer, ponies noticed her and began to murmur, but Octavia shoved past them and headed towards the center of the celebration. Very quickly the ponies gathered turned to look at her as she pushed her way forward until she reached the statue. She threw her bag down next to it and unzipped it, pulled out a red can of paint and immediately began to spray. All of her plans, all of the designs in her head were now a jumbled mess. She didn’t care about a message and she didn’t care about some kind of beautiful pattern. The only thing she was concerned with now was making the statue as ugly as the ponies it represented.

They deserve this, she thought to herself as she pressed down even harder on the nozzle. Everything I’ve done, they’ve deserved. I don’t care what they say.

More and more ponies were talking, their voices ringing in Octavia’s ears for the first time that she could remember. She tried to ignore them as she tossed the can of red paint to the side and grabbed whatever can she got her hoof on first. She had just started to reach up when a hoof grabbed her shoulder.

“You!!”

Octavia was spun around and she found herself nose-to-nose with Rainbow Dash. She was almost pressing her own face into Octavia’s, her teeth bared and her body hunched over as if she was ready for a fight.

“So you’re Flanksy!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her voice loud enough to quiet all the ponies around them. “What is wrong with you!? Just who the hay do you think you are?”

Octavia just stared into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Neither pony budged an inch, before the emcee who had cut the ribbon earlier slowly approached.

“Miss Dash, she’s a painter,” the pony quietly said as she reached out to try to separate the two to no avail. “She’s responsible for several murals around Canterlot, along with—”

“Yeah?” Rainbow replied without looking away from Flanksy. “Well she’s also responsible for breaking into the houses of my closest friends and wrecking the places, not to mention throwing paint on Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow finally looked around at all the ponies staring at the confrontation, then back to the paint-covered statue. “Why the hay are all you ponies just standing around and letting her do this? What is wrong with all of you?!”

“Well, a lot of ponies do like her work,” the emcee said. She tried to calmly move Rainbow Dash, but the pegasus waved her off.

“You what?!” Rainbow looked back at Flanksy. Despite the mask, she could swear that Flanksy was smiling. She pressed her forehead into hers, causing Flanksy to press right back. “How could any pony actually like her?”

“I think it’s because some ponies in Canterlot just like her art,” the pony said.

“You like her art?” Rainbow Dash suddenly leapt up and grabbed one of the banners hanging above. She swooped back down and hovered over the statue, rubbing it with the banner to clean off the paint. “I’m not going to let her insult my friends like this anymore!”

Octavia watched in shock as Rainbow quickly flew in circles around the statue, wiping the paint she had sprayed on only moments before. Her whole body trembled as Rainbow landed back down in front of her, then held up the banner.

“You think this is art? I wasn’t aware that insulting other ponies was considered the same is painting a picture of a mountain range!”

The emcee stepped forward. “Well, she’s also painted many other things. As I said, she’s made many colorful murals that she seems quite proud of—“

“Is that all you care about? Color?!” Rainbow Dash finally turned around and held up her own tail in front of the emcee’s face. “Here! Here’s some color! I’m proud of it, but I showed it to you without hurting other ponies! Does that make me an artist?”

Rainbow Dash let go of her tail and continued yelling at the emcee. Octavia looked back at the statue, with the few colors she had sprayed on it now all jumbled together into a smear. Her body was shaking as she looked back at Rainbow Dash, still arguing with the emcee. The words blurred together as Octavia stared at her, then at her multicolored tail that swung back and forth. Octavia turned back to the statue, this time noticing something that sat against the statue’s base: the pair of scissors that the emcee had used to cut the ribbon. Octavia’s eyes narrowed and she hurled the can of paint in her hoof behind her, then reached down and grabbed the pair of scissors.

If she’s going to destroy something I’m so proud of…

Before anypony could react, she cut half of Rainbow Dash’s tail off.

A massive gasp rose through the crowd as Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. She slowly turned her head back to look at her now short tail, then her sight lowered to the other half of her tail, now lying limply on the ground as wisps of it were lost to the wind. Her jaw dropped slightly as she slowly looked up at Flanksy, who calmly put the scissors back down on the ground. Octavia just stood with a smile hidden behind her mask, while Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground and closed her eyes. For a few moments, everything was silent; everypony was too stunned and too afraid to say anything.

Without warning, Rainbow Dash pounced.

Octavia barely had time to comprehend what was happening before Rainbow Dash slammed into her and forced her back into a wall. She momentarily opened her eyes in time to see Rainbow Dash's hoof swinging forward. A burst of pain shot through Octavia's body as Rainbow Dash's hoof slammed into her chest, driving the wind out of her. Before she could move, Rainbow swung again, this time landing a glancing blow to Octavia’s cheek. Octavia's mind suddenly went into autopilot and she leapt forward, tackling Rainbow Dash as they spilled off the wall and to the ground amidst the sea of shocked ponies. Rainbow Dash reared her hoof up again for another strike but Octavia shoved her away, only for Rainbow Dash to jump right back on her.

They rolled to the side as Octavia finally shoved Rainbow Dash off, then leapt back to her hooves. Before Rainbow could move forward, several royal guards rushed up and grabbed her.

"Miss Dash, calm down!" one of them shouted.

"Let me go!" she screamed, writhing back and forth to try to escape the clutches of the guards. "She deserves it! She cut off my damn tail! She hurt my friends!!"

Absolute pandemonium broke out. Ponies were shouting and trying to get a better view of the incident, the guards were rushing in, and many of the ponies who were presiding over the plaque reveal were now cowering. Amidst all the confusion, Octavia woozily shoved her way through the crowd, breaking into a gallop as soon as she had gotten free. Her vision was blurred, her ears were ringing, and her chest throbbed with pain as she nearly tripped over her own hooves, losing her balance. As she stumbled back to her hooves, a thought raced through her mind.

My bag!

Octavia spared a quick look back at the statue. Rainbow Dash was still struggling with the royal guards, but she could see her bag still sitting next to the statue in the midst of all the chaos. For a split second she slowed down to retrieve it, but when more guards rushed into the scene to try to calm the situation down, she shook her head and turned away.

“Not now,” she said, sending another pain through her chest. “I can’t go back now.”

"Where did Flanksy go?" she heard one of guards yell far behind her, sending a burst of adrenaline through her body as she lowered her head and galloped faster. As soon as she saw an alley she turned into it and ran at full speed. With one last burst of strength she galloped all the way to the back, then ducked behind the corner.

She fell back against the wall and clutched her chest in pain. She slumped down to the ground and rested her head on the wall, closed her eyes, and waited for the world to come back. As the ringing in her ears finally subsided she could faintly hear the commotion of the event and she smirked slightly, but grimaced again as her chest throbbed from the punch. She opened her eyes again to see that her vision was slowly returning to her, then tilted her head to the other side. She suddenly saw that there was another pony standing next to her, and she leapt to her hooves in surprise. After a few seconds, she realized who the pony was.

“Oh, you again,” she said to Amethyst as she leaned back against the wall, her voice slightly muffled by the face mask. “I wasn’t aware you were at the event. Did you see all of that? That is what this is all about. Showing that the Elements of Harmony are not perfect. They don’t deserve the love they get and they certainly don’t deserve a statue like that.” Octavia paused as there was another shooting pain in her chest, then smiled. “But what they do deserve is what I did to that pegasus. She wants to destroy the color I put up? I’m more than happy to destroy her color.” Octavia waited, but there was no response from Amethyst. “Are you even list—“ was all she got out as she turned back to look her in the eyes, but stopped when she saw her.

Amethyst’s body was trembling. Her bottom lip was quivering, and tears were welling up in her eyes. Octavia gasped, then took a step forward, only for Amethyst to back off.

“H-how could you do that to her?” she said through choked breaths. “W-why?”

“She deser—”

“I thought y-you were better than Miss Trend,” Amethyst interrupted. “At least she never attacked other ponies. I c-cant believe I ever looked up to you!” Amethyst turned and ran out of the alley, still sobbing.

"Wait!" Octavia yelled, taking off after Amethyst out of pure instinct. She exited the alley and looked around, quickly locating Amethyst as she ran away, and began to follow her.

"There she is!"

Octavia barely had time to look behind her when two sets of hooves grabbed her from either side. She was quickly forced down to the ground, where she remained motionless in shock. Out of the corner of her eye she could make out the golden horseshoes of royal guards. In a panic she began to twist back and forth, but their grip on her forelegs tightened. She looked forward as a pair of hooves stepped in front of her, then followed the legs up to the cold face of Prince Blueblood.

"Flanksy," he said loud enough for everypony in earshot to hear. "For vandalism of property owned by Canterlot, defiance of authority, attacks carried out on other ponies within city limits, and causing a public disturbance, I am placing you under arrest by authority of the crowned prince of Canterlot. Follow me, gentlecolts. Ridley, go grab her bag.”

Blueblood turned away and the guards yanked Octavia up to her hooves, then rose into the air a few feet and followed closely behind Blueblood. Ponies were staring in shock as Octavia writhed around, her back hooves no longer touching the ground.

"Let me go! You can’t do this to me!" she shouted.

Blueblood smirked. "Wow, the oh-so-mysterious Flanksy speaks up. I can do this, and in fact I am doing it. I have put up with you for long enough."

"I didn't do anything wrong, you can't arrest me!"

"Hah!" Blueblood chortled. "Didn't do anything wrong? You have caused more damage to Canterlot than any pony I've seen before. Don't try to play all rebellious and innocent. You know damn well what you've done wrong.”

“She—“

“Be quiet!” Blueblood yelled. “From what the guards told me, she just cleaned the filth that you sprayed on that statue. So you responded by cutting her tail off! Sounds like you were the one who escalated it.” Blueblood turned to one side and muttered under his breath, “Not that I don’t appreciate that…”

"I've done good for Canterlot!" Octavia yelled, desperately rocking back and forth to no avail. "I've made Canterlot—“

She was interrupted when Blueblood spun around. His brow was furrowed and there was an angry fire blazing in his eyes. He stormed forward and got mere inches away from Octavia's masked face.

“Beautiful?! Don't. You. Dare!" he seethed at her. "Don't you dare use that word. Beautiful?! You think you were making Canterlot beautiful? Don't give me that crap. The only point I will ever concede to you is the fact that some ponies in Canterlot did enjoy some of your work. But this? Cutting the tails off of ponies, throwing paint on them, breaking into houses? Tell me, how does that make Canterlot more beautiful!?”

Blueblood stared directly into Octavia’s eyes, waiting for a response. Octavia opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a vision flashed through her mind. She was back at the park, the night that it had re-opened and ponies had admired all the work she had done in it. She saw the happy faces of ponies, the way the light reflected off the water of the blue and purple fountain, the endless stretch of leafless trees, each with a different color. As the scene played out, she heard two voices: one was of her best friend, and one was hers.

“What's it like knowing that you're changing Canterlot?"

As she came back, Octavia found herself staring into the eyes of Prince Blueblood.

“I-I… I…” she stammered.

Blueblood scoffed. “That’s what I thought. You have nothing. Now keep your mouth shut.”

Blueblood nodded at the two guards, who lifted Octavia back up by her front hooves and flew behind Blueblood as he trotted forward. Octavia stared straight ahead, her mind racing but her body slowly going numb. She glanced back and forth at the guards holding her, then forward at Blueblood.

“I… I just wanted to make Canterlot more beautiful…” she said quietly.

“I said keep your damn mouth shut!!” Blueblood yelled, not bothering to look back at her.

Octavia said nothing. Her body shivered in the hooves of the guards and her back legs hung limply down as her mind and body gave up the last of their feeling, leaving her cold and hollow as the image of Canterlot Castle slowly grew before her.

End of Chapter 14: Dashed

Special Thanks: Cain VelasquRaz, Chris Worstman, Wardeny Pettis, and Georges St. Propserre

15. Nadir

Prince Blueblood and two royal guards walked to the castle and out of sight, leaving the rest of the guards to deal with the chaotic scene behind them. At the center of the commotion, several guards were wrestling with Rainbow Dash. She continued to yell and make attempts to get away, but they forced her down to the ground.

“I’m calm, I’m calm!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the guards finally let her up. She looked down at the few whips of hair that were still on the ground, then back at what remained of her tail behind her. “My tail…”

“Miss Dash, we have just apprehended Flanksy. She is being brought to Canterlot Castle right now,” said one of the guards.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Glad to hear it. I’m outta here.” She flapped her wings, but one of the guards reached out and grabbed her before she could do anything. As she was pulled back to the ground, she turned to the guard who grabbed her. “What’s your deal?”

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with me, Miss Dash.”

"Excuse me?" Rainbow said. "I came to Canterlot to find the pony who hurt my friends. I found her and gave her what she deserved. So now I'm going to leave!"

She tried to take off again, but this time one of the guards grabbed her by her hoof and yanked her down to the ground.

“We have to go to the officer’s quarters to report to the captain of the guard. It’s standard procedure after any incident involving an arrest. You’re a witness and took part in the conflict, there is much to discuss.”

"What? But—!” she yelled. For a split second she was about to take off, but when the guards pressed down on her shoulders she relaxed and looked at the guards surrounding her. The stern looks of each of the guards made her involuntarily fold in her wings, and they lead her down the street.

As she was lead away, one of the guards broke off from the group and walked back to the statue. He looked around for a few seconds before coming across Flanksy's duffel bag. He hauled it up onto his shoulder and began to trot back to the Castle. As he turned a corner, a pony caught his eye; she was curled up against the wall, her back legs tucked into her chest. She seemed to have tears in her eyes, so the guard quickly walked over to her.

“Is everything alright?”

Amethyst quickly wiped her eyes and looked away from the guard. “I-I’m okay.”

The guard just looked at her for a few seconds, then stepped closer and patted her on the back. “I know it was quite shocking, but don’t worry; it’s all over. Now that Flanksy has been apprehended, the celebration is going continue as normal. You can go enjoy the festivities.” The guard smiled, then turned away to return to the castle.

"W-what's going to happen to Flanksy?" Amethyst said through her sniffles.

"Well," the guard said, pausing to think over his answer, "given that Prince Blueblood is taking her straight to the castle, it appears that this is being treated as a royal issue. So I would presume that whatever happens to Flanksy will be decided by Princess Celestia herself. Now if you'll excuse me..."

The guard turned away and resumed his trek towards the castle. Amethyst Star stared after him, then looked the other direction where ponies were just starting to recover from the incident and enjoy themselves. Amethyst choked back another sob and just rested her head to the side against the wall as she stared into the sky.

Although things had finally settled down at the dedication, there was a sense of unease hanging over everypony, with what happened at the statue dominating every conversation. Just as the band had started to play again, a pony with a camera around his neck broke away from the dedication and trotted down the street. He briefly glanced at the pocket watch hanging from his saddle bag, wincing when he saw the time.

"Oooh, she's not going to like me showing up early..." he muttered to himself as he walked through the streets towards his destination. His pace slowed as he approached the building, until he finally stopped in front of The Finishing Touch. He took a deep breath and opened the door slowly, immediately spotting the single desk on the far side of the room. A single light from the desk was the only illumination in the studio, revealing the figure of Photo Finish standing at the desk, intently looking at various fashion spreads that were strewn about. She momentarily glanced back at him as he approached.

"I thought you vere going to be at ze dedication all night, Snap Shutter,” she said quickly before she turned back to the photos. "I need complete concentration to decide how my next spread vill look."

"Miss Finish, I thought I should let you know that Flanksy showed up at the dedication."

Photo Finish jerked her head up and spun around, then quickly rushed over to get right in the face of her photographer.

"Vhat?" she said. "Vhat happened? Vhat did she do?! Tell me everything!"

Snap Shutter instinctively looked to the side a bit as Photo Finish got right in front of him. "She arrived and immediately began spray painting the statue, but before she could finish she was confronted by one of the Elements themselves. There was a pretty intense confrontation that ended with Flanksy cut Rainbow Dash’s tail off. Rainbow attacked Flanksy after that, and the guards quickly stepped in. Next thing I knew, they had apprehended Flanksy and were bringing her towards the castle. I think she got arrested.”

He waited, but when there was no response, he looked up at his employer. Photo Finish was a difficult pony to read—she tended to be overly enthusiastic about almost everything she did and her oversized glasses tended to hide a lot of her face—but even the photographer could tell that there was something wrong.

"Oh. I see," she said as her ears drooped. "Thank you."

She turned away and trotted slowly back towards her desk where she began to go through the photos again. Snap Shutter watched her walk and slouching posture—something he had never expected to see her do—then followed her.

"Is everything alright, Miss Finish?"

Photo Finish momentarily ignored him and rustled the photos around the desk. She spread them back and forth before her head fell again and she just stared straight down at the table.

“I vanted to support Flanksy through everything she vas doing,” she said. "Such passion, such statements, such... such rebellion! It vas unlike anything I had ever seen in Canterlot. I vanted nothing more than to sit back and observe vhatever she did next..."

She shuffled the pictures on her desk around again, then her head fell further.

"But like this? Throwing paint on other ponies, breaking into houses, and now assaulting another pony and getting arrested? It is not even rebellion anymore…”

Snap Shutter stepped up next to Photo Finish. He put on his best smile, hoping to cheer his boss up. “Well, she was still painting when she was there. Her art—”

He was interrupted when Photo Finish turned around quickly and shook her head. “Zat is not art! Zat is just anger, and I refuse to have anything to do with a pony who operates solely based on anger! I refuse to—” Photo Finish stopped talking as she saw Snap Shutter cower back. She took a deep breath, then just shook her head. “It hurts me to see art die like this, but there is nothing I can do about it. What is done, is done. It’s over.”

Photo Finish turned back to her desk and resumed looking through the photos. Snap Shutter waited for her to say anything else, but when she didn’t, he turned to leave.

“Please throw out the sheet on the wall on your way out.”

Snap Shutter looked over to the right. Hanging on the wall was a large sheet that had been painted in every color of the rainbow in grand patterns. The middle of the sheet had “I AM NOT A PROJECT” written in large black letters, while the corner was adorned with a large “F.” He blinked at it a few times, then looked back to Photo Finish.

“But I thought—”

“I vant nothing more to do with Flanksy if she is going to pursue this path. Throw it avay!” she yelled without turning around. Snap Shutter quickly ran over and tore the sheet down, bundled it up into a ball, and left the room in short order. Photo Finish continued to look through the pictures on the table, spreading them around more erratically before she slammed her hoof down on the table in anger. There was silence in the room for a while before she sighed as she took her glasses off and dropped them on the table, then rubbed her eyes as she looked back at the empty wall.

—————

Rainbow Dash sat awkwardly in a chair as she glanced over at the window on the far side of the room. She knew that if she took off now she could be out the window in a split second and be back on her way to Ponyville. There was no way any of the other ponies in the room could stop her; she was the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria. It’d just be a matter of getting the angle right when she leapt into the air and she would be home free. But every time she considered leaving, she noted all the guards in the room. Running would only make things worse.

Instead, she just stared out the window and wondered if she had made the right decision. It had been hard for her to leave when her friends, especially Fluttershy, were in such a depressed state, but as soon as she had even a shred of information on where the culprit was, she knew she had to act. She had refused to sit idly by knowing that somepony out there had made all of her friends miserable.

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the guards stepped in front of her. “Rainbow Dash, come with me,” he said. “The captain would like to speak with you.”

Rainbow jumped to her hooves and followed the guard through a tall archway. He pushed a door open to a room decorated with shields and spears and nodded for Dash to step through, then closed it behind her. She looked at the only other pony in the room; a white unicorn with a blue mane who sat behind a strong mahogany desk.

"Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash," the pony said. "I'm the captain of the guard, Shining Armor."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Dash replied as she sat down in the chair across from him.

“This shouldn't take very long. I just need your side of the story for the report. Now tell me exactly what transpired between you and Flanksy."

"It should be obvious what happened: she attacked me!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I was just in Canterlot and I saw her, and before I knew what was happening, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut my tail off!"

Shining Armor just blinked a few times, then flipped open a notepad and wrote a few things in it. "So, when you attacked her..."

"It was in self-defense," Rainbow Dash replied.

There was a long silence as Shining Armor jotted a few more notes down. "Well in that case, this whole thing seems pretty open-and-shut, doesn't it? She attacked you, there's nothing else to say about it."

For a moment, Rainbow Dash shifted her eyes about nervously. "Uh, y-yeah! Nothing else to say about it."

She tried to smile, but there was something about Shining Armor's face that was making her uncomfortable. One of his eyebrows was raised as he put the pad of paper down, then took in a deep sigh.

"Alright then, you're free to go."

The adrenaline that had been surging through Rainbow Dash's body for the past hour was finally starting to wear off. She had been reliving the moment of punching Flanksy over and over in her head, proud of what she had done to the pony who had hurt her friends. But now she was looking into the eyes of the captain of the guard, and the pride was gone; instead, shame and disgust were beginning to overtake her.

"I... what's going to happen to Flanksy?" she asked, fiddling with her hooves.

Shining Armor paused, then looked down at his note pad. "It's a bit too early to say, but based on the fact that she has been brought to the castle, I can only assume Celestia is going to be dealing with the matter privately. But as far as punishment goes... based on your testimony, this was a completely unprovoked attack. That obviously doesn't look good, because cases like that almost always end up with jail time."

The word 'jail' sent a chill through Rainbow Dash's face. "W-wait, jail time?"

He nodded his head. "Oh yes. A year or so at least, maybe more depending on what Celestia says. After all, this is the pony who has called Celestia ignorant and insulted royalty several times. I doubt Celestia is going to like hearing that she assaulted one of the Elements of Harmony completely unprovoked. With all of that, it's certainly not looking good for Flanksy... after all, Canterlot does tend to look down on violent ponies."

For a few seconds, Rainbow Dash sat in silence. Her thoughts began to swirl and she realized that she had never been inside a prison before. But she didn’t need to, because she knew enough about them: Held in a cell, told exactly what you couldn’t and couldn’t do… but most importantly, absolutely no freedom. It was the worst place she could possibly imagine a pony ever being.

Rainbow Dash's entire face was numb as she stumbled over her words. "I-I mean, I know she did some awful stuff, b-but I wouldn’t go that far!"

There was another pause, after which Shining Armor looked Rainbow Dash directly in the eyes. Although he had remained professional the entire conversation, now there was something else there; he was deadly serious, as if he was telling Rainbow Dash the most important thing she would ever hear.

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to listen to me," he said. "The fact is, there is a great difference in punishment between being attacked with and without provocation. The situation that I give to Celestia could radically change what punishment is handed down. So I need you to tell me every single fact about what happened, do you understand me?"

Silence filled the room as Rainbow Dash's thoughts swirled together. Sweat was now pouring down her face as she shifted nervously about before she looked back at the captain of the guard, his gaze unwavering. She closed her eyes and took in a long deep breath, taking several seconds to let it out before speaking again.

"Alright... look. I came to Canterlot because I wanted payback," she quietly said. "After what she did to Pinkie Pie, after what she did to our houses, I just... I didn't care about anything else, I just wanted to get her." As she talked, Rainbow felt the corners of her eyes becoming moist, a feeling she hadn't experienced in years as far as she could remember. "I was in Canterlot to find her. I wanted her to pay for what she did to my friends. When I saw her at that statue of us, painting over it, I... I saw red. I was in her face screaming, I was erasing her art, and that's when she cut off my tail..."

There was a long pause as the memory of her confrontation flew back through her mind. Once again she saw herself punching Flanksy in the gut, she remembered the pain that shot through her whole leg, and more importantly, the knowledge that the pain Flanksy was going through was probably far worse.

At the time, that knowledge had made her happy. Now, just realizing she had thought that was making her absolutely sick.

"What she did was wrong. What she did to my friends was wrong. B-but I don't want a pony's life to be ruined because of what I did. So yeah... I did provoke her.

She gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat while talking and wiped her eyes one last time while Shining Armor wrote in his notepad. He finally put the pencil down.

"I want to thank you, first and foremost, for all the information. I think I have a clear picture of the story here, so I'll be able to report everything to Princess Celestia. I obviously can't predict what is to happen, but the knowledge that this was not a one-sided attack will certainly weigh heavily on Celestia's decision. As far as you go... I understand you were angry, I understand that you wanted to stick up for your friends, but when you come to Canterlot specifically looking for a fight, you're in the wrong too. You may not be as much as fault for the incident, but you certainly played a part. And while you say that you were sticking up for your friends, do you really think any of them would approve of you attacking another pony to stick up for them?"

Rainbow Dash slowly shook her head. Shining Armor thought for a moment before continuing.

"I'm going to ask that you not return to Canterlot for a few weeks, at least. I understand your actions, but you have to also understand that that kind of violent act, no matter if it was provoked or not, will have ponies feeling very uncomfortable around you. While I’m sure that you won’t act that way again, I don’t think I could convince everypony else, so it’s just best if you don’t return for several weeks, just until the situation has calmed down. That's all I have to say, the guards will escort you to the train station."

Rainbow Dash got up and walked towards the door, most of the energy gone from her body. She wrapped her hoof around the door handle when she took one last look around the room, noting all the pictures that were hanging around the office. One of them caught her eye; it looked to be a grand ceremony as all the guards stood by saluting, while the captain was placing medals around the necks of Soarin, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts.

“Hey, uh,” she said, not even looking back at the captain, “I don’t suppose there’s a way you can, like, cover this up, is there? I’m supposed to be attending the Wonderbolts’ academy in a week or two. They have ties to Canterlot, so I bet they’d want to wait until the story blows over too… which means I’d have to wait until the next open enrollment in six months.”

The captain shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rainbow, but there’s nothing I can do there. It’s difficult to keep a story quiet if it happened in the middle of an important ceremony like that.”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, didn’t think so,” she said as she pushed the door open.

She had only gotten a few steps out of the room when an image returned to her. She remembered the sight of Flanksy in front of her, pressed up into the wall. For a split second she saw Flanksy’s eyes, but that image faded into a new one; the feeling of driving her hoof as hard as she could into Flanksy’s chest.

She knew that Flanksy deserved it. She knew that after everything she had done, she absolutely deserved it. But it was the first time Rainbow Dash had ever done something like that to another pony, and now the image of it was making her sick to her stomach.

She forgot about the Wonderbolts, about leaving Canterlot, about everything else; the punch was playing over and over in her mind as she was led out of the office.

“I…” she mumbled, uncharacteristically quiet. “I was just trying to protect my friends…”

The door to the apartment suddenly flung open and Amethyst Star stumbled through. She shot beams of light to the two lanterns to quickly light the room up as Phi, her cat, looked up from her position curled up on a pillow. Amethyst sat down next to her and just stared straight ahead as Phi tried to cuddle her foreleg.

“Hey, Phi,” she said, her voice shaky and distant. “Flanksy attacked another pony, then she got arrested. I… I think the guards may have followed me when I chased her. That’s probably how they found her…” She sniffled as Phi jumped off the couch and wandered away. Amethyst’s sight followed her as Phi sat down and licked her paw in the corner of the room. Behind her sat numerous items—dresses, jewelry made from hoof-crafted gemstones, fabric weaved into intricate patterns—all half-finished. She sighed.

"Flanksy turned out to be a jerk, Chic Trend turned out to be a jerk... maybe if you do something creative, you just become a jerk. I don't want that..." she said quietly before she shook her head. She glanced toward the side of the room where several of her paintings were sitting. For a few moments she remembered all the art that Flanksy had created around the city, but those images quickly went away, replaced with the still-vivid memory of Flanksy slicing Rainbow Dash's tail off, and the ensuing fight.

She quickly tried to focus on something else, but she was unable to stop tears from forming in her eyes again. Her body gave out and she fell to the side on the couch, burying her head into the pillow as she bawled. Phi ran over and leapt up next to her, where Amethyst quickly pulled her into a hug with one hoof as she continued sobbing.

Minutes ticked by and though her tears finally dried up, Amethyst didn’t move. She just gazed at the blank wall opposite her, gently stroking Phi’s fur until the cat finally fell asleep. Amethyst sat up and let her rest on the pillow, then shuffled up to her hooves and looked quietly around the room. She glanced back, where her canvas had been set up. She slowly trotted over to it and stared at the white canvas and the paint next to it. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed both sides of the canvas and picked it up, about to throw it in anger into the corner of the room, but she stopped halfway through the motions and glanced back at the cans of paint next to the window. She looked beyond them, to the sight of Canterlot: there was nary a cloud in the sky, the stars were all twinkling, and the moon was so bright that she could see all the way past Canterlot to the mountains in the far distance.

She very slowly set the blank canvas back down on her easel, then sat down behind it and picked up one of the brushes. Despite the emptiness inside her, it felt mechanical, almost routine; as if she was so used to it by now that it was just second nature. She slowly dipped the brush into the navy blue can of paint, then looked ahead for a few seconds before pressing brush to canvas.

Through the emptiness, through the tears, she still smiled.

The loud music playing from the stereo system was starting to take its toll on the other residents of the apartment building. They were used to the music occasionally seeping through the walls, but for the past several minutes the beats were so loud that all the adjacent apartments were practically shaking.

Sole Seascape slammed his book down and looked to the side where one of the paintings was about to vibrate itself off the wall and to the floor.

"I've had enough of this," he grumbled to himself as he pulled the front door open and trotted one apartment over. He could hear the music far louder as he pressed his ear against the door, then knocked on it a few times. When there was no response, he pounded on it as hard as he could.

"Miss Scratch!" he yelled. "Would you turn that music down!"

Finally the music abruptly stopped. Seascape was about to leave when he heard the door unlocking and his neighbor opened the door. Vinyl's eyes were sunken and her face almost completely lifeless, a far cry from what he was used to seeing.

"It is nine o'clock at night, could you please keep the music down?" he said.

"Sure, whatever. Sorry," she muttered, then began to close the door again.

"Is everything alright?" Seascape said.

Vinyl momentarily held the door partway open. "Yeah, everything's peachy," she quickly said. "I'll keep the music off."

"You can keep it low, just please don't have it be so—“

"Okay! Not loud. Gotcha," Vinyl said as she closed the door.

She stared through the peephole at Seascape, who had one eyebrow raised before turning and walking back to his own apartment. She turned back and trotted slowly to the record player, then reached up to put the music back on, but stopped as she looked around. Next to her were several shelves lined with her extensive music collection, and her attention was drawn to the bottom shelf where numerous classical records sat; Octavia's contributions to the collection. Vinyl's hoof remained hovering over the record player as she stared at the shelf.

"You can just rot in hell!"

Vinyl's hoof curled up and she angrily drove it into the albums, sending them off the shelf and scattering across the floor. She stepped around them and shuffled back over to the couch, where she plopped down in complete silence. She stared up at the ceiling, restlessly picking at the fur on her chest as she began to mumble to herself.

“I can’t believe her,” she said. “Tell me to rot in hell? Well if she doesn’t want to be friends anymore, fine. She can do whatever the hell she wants; attack ponies, go after royalty, throw rocks at Princess Celestia, call my friends worthless… It’s not my damn problem anymore.”

She glanced to the side at the records strewn about the room, then beyond them to the hallway. From her position on the couch she could see into Octavia’s room, where her cello sat up against the wall. A lump formed in Vinyl’s throat, which she quickly swallowed down and scoffed instead.

“She has to come back at some point,” she muttered to herself as she rolled over and buried her face in the couch. “She can’t just leave all her stupid junk crap here, she has to come back for it at some point. When she does, I’ll give her a piece of my mind. She wants to lose a friend? Well I’m not going away without getting in what I have to say first…”

Celestia’s solitary reign over Equestria had ushered in an era of peace across all the land. As a result, the dungeons that had previously been used to house enemies to Equestria in the basement of Canterlot Castle had eventually fallen into disrepair due to a complete lack of use. With time, they had been done away with completely, most of them transformed into storage rooms for various seasonal necessities of the castle or bedrooms for ponies in need in case of disaster.

It was in one of these rooms that Octavia sat quietly, staring at the ground.

A small window near the ceiling was Octavia’s only gateway to the outside; given that the sun was now shining in the sky, she figured she had been there for almost twelve hours, but that was all she could be sure about. Guards had stood watch over the room the entire time, only one of them bringing in a cup of water and a small sandwich for her hours earlier. Other than that, there had been nothing; none of the guards had said a word to her.

Not that she would have been willing to speak anyway. When Prince Blueblood had thrown her into the room and slammed the door shut, the only thing she had thought of was the image that had come to her when she was first being dragged away: the park. She had held onto that image as long as she could; each tree, each color, each smiling pony’s face. But eventually, the exhaustion caught up with her and she fell asleep, and by the time she woke up, the images were gone. She had tried to concentrate, but it was as if somepony had torn them out of her mind completely.

She tugged at the sleeve of her coat, pulling it tighter around herself. There had been no reason, no motivation, to take her Flanksy disguise off. It was the reason she was in there; why deny it anymore? She glanced back up at the window again to see the sun, but all it did was make her feel colder. She closed her eyes instead and tried to bring herself back to the park. For a moment, she was able to see the color again. Just as she began to relax even a little bit, a voice cut through.

“Cutting the tails off of ponies, throwing paint on them, breaking into houses? Tell me, how does that make Canterlot more beautiful!?”

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the image of the park vanished, leaving Octavia alone once again. Her lip quivered as she laid her head back on the cold stone wall behind her and closed her eyes. There was nothing more she wanted to think about, nothing more she even wanted to do. She just waited.

“…so as you can see, I had no choice but to act last night," said Prince Blueblood, his head bowed slightly. "With two confirmed assaults on other ponies here in Canterlot, I felt that I had to do something. I didn't want to run the risk of this being Flanksy's last appearance. If she suddenly decided to disappear, she would have gotten away with everything. Instead, I..."

"Blueblood.”

Blueblood looked up at the pony he was talking to; Princess Celestia, who stood across the room from him, gazing out the large window that made up the far wall.

“Stop defending yourself.”

“Aunt Celestia!” Blueblood said. “I am going to defend myself because I believe that I made the right call! Flanksy has—”

“No no, Blueblood, you don’t understand,” Celestia interrupted. “You don’t have to defend yourself. With an assault like this, you were right in bringing her in.”

Blueblood smiled. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Auntie."

Celestia nodded. “Now, Shining Armor brought me a report last night of the incident. Although Flanksy did start the physicality, it sounds like Rainbow Dash was provoking her, and had in fact come to Canterlot for specifically that purpose.”

“Celestia,” Blueblood said, “regardless of the purpose, I say that what happened happened. Regardless of if Rainbow Dash wanted to start something, the point is that Flanksy was the one who first initiated contact! I hardly think that it matters who provoked who.”

Celestia didn’t say anything. Instead, she just sat down at the table next to her and looked over the notes that Shining Armor had given her. “Where is Flanksy now?”

"She has been held downstairs since the incident last night. I have my guards watching her. Last I checked, though, she had not said or done anything, or even removed her attire. What would you like me to do with her?"

There was a long silence as Celestia looked back out the window. She finally closed her eyes.

"Bring her here. I would like to speak with her in person."

End of Chapter 15: Nadir

Special Thanks: Razio, Propsigi, Worshi, and Wardoad

Author's Note

For those of you wondering, this is a RE-PUBLISH of Chapter 15. The original chapter 15 had some major mistakes in it (That are detailed in the linked blog post) and so I removed it to make the changes.

http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/274892/the-reason-why-etc-chapter-15-has-been-deleted-important-please-read

16. The Talk

Prince Blueblood marched through the doors to the basement, where he was greeted by his guards.

“Any news?” he asked.

One guard shook his head. “She’s just been sitting quietly this whole time. Hasn’t said a word.”

Blueblood nodded as he looked through the window built into the door. Flanksy momentarily looked up and saw him, and for a few seconds they locked eyes before she slowly looked back at the ground again.

Blueblood scoffed, then turned to the guards. “You are dismissed. I will handle Flanksy myself.”

The guards left in short order, and Blueblood opened the door to the storage room. Octavia looked up at him as he approached, not even bothering to stand up. Blueblood glared down at her, unable to hide the smile on his face.

“You have no idea how good this feels,” he finally said. “Ever since that farce of a public forum, I have been waiting. I knew that rebellious scum like you always go too far, always get too desperate to make a statement, and that eventually you’d do something that not even my forgiving aunt could let slip.” Blueblood stepped even closer as Octavia cowered back a bit. “I should thank you, actually. I haven’t had to make a royal arrest like that my whole life. They’re really quite rare: the captain of the guard is usually quite expedient in upholding the law. You were able to enliven my day a little bit. Now come with me.”

Octavia slowly began to stand up, but Blueblood grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her up the rest of the way. He had only taken a few steps when he paused in the doorway. He slowly turned back around and locked eyes with Octavia again, then stepped forward until they were nose to nose. There was an awkward silence as Octavia’s heart pounded and Blueblood’s eyes scanned up and down before he snorted.

“Take your mask off.”

Octavia blinked and instinctively stepped back. Blueblood closed the gap.

“I have had to look at that disguise for months now, and I am absolutely fed up with it. Take it off right now. I want to see the face of the pony who has made my life so miserable.”

Octavia shook her head. Blueblood’s face quivered in anger as he stepped even closer, pushing Octavia back up against the wall.

“This is non-negotiable. Take your damn mask off!”

Before Octavia could respond, Prince Blueblood’s horn glowed and she felt her bandana being pulled up. She desperately grabbed for it with her hooves, but the telekinesis was too strong and the bandana flew into the air. Octavia fell to the ground and looked at the bandana hovering above her, then felt her face mask being pulled. This time she didn’t bother to fight it, instead she just pulled with it and removed the mask herself. Both pieces floated over to Blueblood, who had a satisfied smile on his face until he looked back down at her. He frowned as he cocked his head to one side.

“Do I…” he began as he scrunched his face. Octavia shivered as Blueblood walked to the side and looked at her, then narrowed his eyes and nodded towards her hip. Octavia’s body shook even harder as she slowly took off her coat and handed it to Blueblood, who snatched it away with an angry hoof as soon as he saw her cutie mark.

“You!” he yelled, causing Octavia to cower back. “You were one of the ponies who performed in the ballroom at the Grand Galloping Gala! And…” he trailed off, then his eyes narrowed further. “I remember you. We talked in the shelter when Discord invaded.” There was a pause. Blueblood’s eyes widened and he stormed forward, getting directly in front of Octavia. “You had the audacity to even ask me about Flanksy!” He grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her forward, nearly dragging her out the door.

Once they had gotten into the grand hallways, Blueblood just walked silently, Octavia right behind him. Octavia didn’t have the energy to say anything, while Blueblood marched forward, making sure she was always in his sight. At one point Octavia looked up to her right at Blueblood, but a single cold glare from the Prince was enough for her to quickly look away. They continued through the castle in silence, the only interaction coming from the few ponies they passed by.

"Let me ask you something," Blueblood said.

Octavia didn’t respond, instead just slowly looking up at the Prince.

"I didn't learn all the specific details on your little excursion to Ponyville," he said, "so let me ask: what did you write on Rarity's house?" Octavia stared at him blankly before he let out a grunt and leaned in. "Rarity. Fashion designer. White unicorn. What did you write on her house?"

Octavia turned back down to the ground. For as distant and hazy as the park had been, she could remember every inch, every detail, of what she had done in Ponyville. It caused the pit in her stomach to deepen as she thought back to Rarity’s house.

“‘Ugly on the outside. Uglier on the inside,’” she muttered.

For a moment there was silence, before the last sound Octavia expected emanated through the room: a chuckle from Prince Blueblood. He quickly tried to cover it up with a cough, but Octavia was sure of what she heard.

"Oh," Blueblood said, putting his hoof in front of his mouth to hide a smirk. "That's interesting."

As Blueblood walked ahead, Octavia could still see the smile on his face. It angered her to see Prince Blueblood happy about something she had done, but the anger gave way to shame as she thought about Ponyville. Her head fell again and she didn't say anything to respond to Blueblood, instead just walking behind him.

After walking through what seemed like an endless array of hallways, they finally came across a set of grand doors that reached almost to the high ceiling of the castle. Blueblood spared one last angry glance down at Octavia before he reached up and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice chimed from inside

The voice was pleasant and dignified, yet hearing it sent the pit that had formed in Octavia's stomach plummeting even further. Prince Blueblood slowly pushed the door open and held it for Octavia, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

The inside of the room was unlike anything Octavia had ever seen before. The far side of the room was one gigantic window that overlooked all of Canterlot, and the other walls were decorated with beautiful paintings and cases full of books and what looked like ancient artifacts. She only got to look around for a second before she saw the only pony there and her body went numb. Princess Celestia sat on one side of a small table, flipping through an assortment of tea bags in a small box, with two tea cups and a kettle sitting in front of her.

Blueblood took Octavia by the shoulder and lead her forward until they were only a few feet away from the princess. Octavia didn't have the energy to even look up.

"Princess Celestia," Blueblood said, his voice ringing with self-importance, "while her normal disguise and supplies are downstairs, I can confirm that this is Flanksy."

Celestia nodded. "Thank you, Blueblood. If you don't mind, I would like to speak to her in private. You can wait outside, I will call you in when I am done."

Blueblood opened his mouth to protest, but a single glance from Celestia caused him to shut it just as quickly. He nodded and slowly backed off, leaving the room quietly and closing the large door behind him. Octavia looked back and stared at the door, realizing that the only thing that had been between herself and Celestia was now gone.

“Come sit,” Celestia said.

Her legs trembled as Octavia stepped up to the table and sat down across from Celestia. The princess didn’t say anything; instead, she just continued to shuffle through the box she was levitating in front of her. The tense silence gave Octavia the chance to look around the room, but she found herself fixated on the massive window to her right. She gazed out over the grand view of the morning in Canterlot, surprised at just how clearly she could see everything no matter how far away it was. As she looked over everything, one grey figure in the distance caught her attention: a large object sitting right in the middle of an open area between streets. It only took Octavia a few seconds to realize that it was the statue of Celestia in the middle of Clopperstone Road.

She could see it from here, Octavia thought to herself. The whole time, she could always see it…

"Tea?"

Despite how pleasant and calm it was, Celestia's voice caused Octavia to jump a little. She turned back to the princess to find the box of tea now floating in front of her.

"Would you like some tea?" Celestia asked again. "I always find it's easier to talk when you have something soothing in front of you. Do you have a preference?"

Octavia blinked a few times, then looked over at the box floating in front of her. There was something about the assortment of tea that felt almost familiar to her; it was the only thing in the room that didn't remind her of just where she was. She took a deep breath and for the first time in almost a day, her nerves quieted down just a little bit.

"E-Earl Neigh," she quietly said.

Princess Celestia smiled as she floated the box of tea back over to herself. “That’s a good choice. Earl Neigh is one of my personal favorites.” Her horn glowed brighter as the water in the pot quickly came to a boil. She lowered the two tea bags into the two cups in front of her, then poured the water over them. “Now before we continue, I do want to make sure that Blueblood didn’t make a mistake, so I’ll just ask you directly: you are Flanksy, correct?”

For as quiet and apprehensive as Octavia had been ever since entering the room, the question stirred something inside her. Without hesitation, she nodded her head.

“Good,” Celestia said. “I didn’t want there to be any confusion.” Her horn glowed once again and a small box opened across the room, two ice cubes floating up and over to the two cups. She dropped the cube into the cup, then pushed it across the table.

Octavia quickly grasped the cup with both hooves and raised it to her mouth, waiting a few seconds before taking a sip. The ice cube had only done a little and the tea was still quite hot, but bearable. She closed her eyes, savoring the taste of the tea for a moment and letting it attempt to calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes she looked across the table, to find that Princess Celestia had not touched her tea yet. She was looking right back at Octavia, rubbing her chin as if something was on the tip of her tongue.

“Octavia,” Celestia suddenly said.

Octavia almost choked on the tea, sputtering for a second before lowering the cup as calmly as possible. She stared at the Princess in shock as Celestia just nodded.

“You were part of the ballroom ensemble at the Grand Galloping Gala. I thought you looked familiar. You are Octavia, correct?”

After a short pause, Octavia slowly nodded her head. She took another long sip of tea, and this time Celestia responded with a sip of her own.

“I thought so,” Celestia said before she set her cup down. “Now then… let’s talk.”

Octavia felt herself beginning to sweat again as her throat started to close. She knew there was no stalling, no time, nothing left between her and Princess Celestia. Her eyes turned straight down to the table, just bracing herself for what was to come. She closed her eyes tight, trying to get back to the image of the park that had been her only salvation while being held.

“There’s a lot I could ask you, but really, I want to begin with something that has bothered me from the very beginning,” Celestia said. She gathered her thoughts for a second, then finally continued. “Why was it that I was your first target?”

There was silence. Octavia’s eyes opened.

“W…what?”

“The first thing you ever did in Canterlot was paint that statue of me green. You even called me ignorant,” Celestia said, looking out at Canterlot through the window to her left. “All this time, there has been no indication of what I did to wrong you; I certainly can’t think of anything. So what prompted all of this?”

Octavia raised her head up and looked forward. She just stared at Princess Celestia in shock, her ears ringing with the same sentence over and over: “I certainly can’t think of anything.” For a few seconds, the anxiety that had filled her head and body the whole day disappeared. A spark began to lightly dance about in the back of her mind.

“You never figured it out?” Octavia mumbled. “You never realized what you did wrong…”

Celestia tilted her head to one side. “Pardon?”

Octavia lifted the tea cup to her mouth and took another sip to prevent what was going to come out of her mouth next. She took in a deep breath to calm herself down, then slowly set the cup of tea back on the table. For a second she looked out the window as well, then finally turned back to Celestia.

“Do you remember what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala?” she quietly said.

“Many things happened at the Gala,” Celestia replied. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific.“

“I’m referring to what happened in the ballroom,” Octavia responded. “The Elements of Harmony ruining the Gala.”

Princess Celestia just blinked a few times. “I mean, I certainly think they got quite rambunctious, but I would hardly say that they ruined it.”

“I would!” Octavia quickly said, then paused to gather herself. “The Gala was the most important night of my life, and they came in and crashed it. But it wasn’t just that they ruined it… it was that you thought it was okay. In fact, you were the one who invited them in the first place!” Octavia stared at Celestia for a moment, the words caught in her throat. She glanced out over Canterlot for a few seconds, the sight of the city calming her down a bit, before she turned back to Celestia and continued. “It was the worst night of my life, and in the end, you were responsible.”

Celestia just looked at Octavia, lost in thought for a few seconds. "Well... I can absolutely assure you that I meant no harm. I just invited them because I wanted to liven the party a bit."

“Liven…” Octavia muttered to herself before her eyes widened. “Wait, did you want them to do that to the Gala?”

Celestia sighed and took one more sip of tea, then lowered the cup down. "I thought that they would bring a little levity to the Gala this year. They are quite different than the usual ponies who attend the Gala, so I believed their own attitudes would help to counteract some of the more formal aspects of the Gala."

Octavia didn't say anything; the last thing she wanted to do was explode at Princess Celestia. She went to drink more of her tea, but her lips met an empty cup. The backs of her teeth were starting to hurt, and she shook her head quickly as if to chase her anger away. She glanced out the window again, and her eyes fell upon the grey statue of Celestia in the distance.

"I thought that they would bring a little levity to the Gala."

“I would hardly say they ruined it.”

"I never meant to hurt anypony."

"It really did look better green," Octavia quietly muttered to herself.

“What?”

Octavia looked back at Celestia. "Regardless of whether or not you meant to do it, it happened. It happened, you thought that nopony was hurt, and I was angry. Something just came over me, and I did… well, you know what I did.”

Celestia looked out at the statue in the distance, and there was a long silence between the two. Her body was beginning to get weary from the toll of the last day, but she didn’t want to show it. Half of her brain wanted her to stay quiet, take her punishment, and move on with her life; after all, she was sitting across from the Princess of all Equestria who held her future in her hooves. After everything that had happened, everything Octavia had done, perhaps it was best to remain quiet.

But another part of her was angry. Angry that Princess Celestia still hadn’t known what she had done wrong, that Octavia had to be the one to explain it to her. Angry that despite everything, Celestia seemed reluctant to admit fault. Angry that she might be about to lose everything that was important to her; Celestia was still trying to defend herself and her own actions. She was trying her hardest to maintain her composure… to not snap at Celestia, but the more she had said, the harder it had become.

"So, that's what all of this has been about," Celestia finally said, quietly breaking the silence. "Revenge?"

Revenge... The word sounded so dirty to Octavia, but there was no other word she could think of to explain what she had done to the statue. She opened her mouth to agree, but an image flashed in her mind before she could say anything: the park. It had been a half-day since she could clearly picture the park, but now it was back in her mind, clear as ever.

“No,” she said.

Celestia raised one eyebrow. “No? Then what?“

“I will admit, it began that way,” Octavia said. “Against you, against Prince Blueblood, against the Gala… I suppose I’ve been frustrated with the way Canterlot works for a while. I just wanted to blow off steam at first, but then…”

The exhaustion finally caught up with Octavia. Her head began to ache, butterflies were flapping about her stomach, and tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. Yet through all of that, through the exhaustion and the pain and the sudden feeling of isolation, she smiled.

“It became so much more than that,” she said through stifled breaths. “I’ve been performing music my whole life, but the feeling that I get from painting is unlike anything I have ever done. I know some ponies thought it was wrong, I know that Blueblood hated me, but I don’t care. I was doing something I was truly happy with; I was inspiring ponies; I was changing Canterlot. I know I have done a lot, but I will say this: I am proud of every piece of art that I created as Flanksy.”

Celestia just sat quietly as Octavia wiped her eyes clear. She took a deep breath to compose herself again and found herself staring at the table again.

“Octavia?”

She finally looked up and saw something she hadn’t been expecting: Princess Celestia smiling.

“There is nothing I like more than hearing that one of my subjects is doing something that brings her happiness. But more importantly, I agree with some of the things you said… It was quite inspiring to see a pony make such statements in Canterlot. It really was unlike anything I have seen in this city before. Not only that, but I found some of your work quite pretty, and in the case of the park, extremely beautiful.”

Octavia smiled and looked out the window. Although she couldn’t see the park, she could envision exactly where it was and for a few seconds she could practically see how it was: the blue fountain, the colors of the trees blending with the setting sun, the happy smiles of the ponies there…

“But,” Princess Celestia continued, snapping Octavia out of the trance, “you and I both know that art isn’t the reason we are sitting here talking right now.”

Octavia slowly turned away from the window and looked at Celestia. The smile was gone, replaced with a completely serious expression as Celestia stared directly into her eyes.

"This isn't about the art, this is about what you did to the six ponies. The Elements of Harmony."

Octavia nodded. "I understand."

"Painting art is one thing, but throwing paint on ponies, cutting tails off, and breaking into houses are another matter entirely," Celestia said. “What I don’t understand is why you went after them again. The Gala had long since passed, and as you said, you had seemed to find happiness in your art.”

"I had," Octavia replied, "but then the Elements decided to invade again. You are aware of what happened at the Garden Party?"

Celestia lightly nodded. "They joined the party, but from what I heard ponies quickly warmed up to them."

"I don't care if ponies warmed up to them. They made the night about themselves," Octavia quickly said back. "Again. After that happened, something in me just snapped. I couldn't stand to look at them or think about them, and when one of them—the pink one—tried to paint over my art, I couldn't take it anymore."

"Being angry at another pony is one thing," Celestia said, "but breaking into their homes? Slicing off Rainbow Dash's tail?"

Octavia felt nauseous just hearing those words. She looked away.

"I'm..." she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she gulped down the lump that was forming in her throat. "I'm not proud of what I did to them. I was not thinking clearly..."

"Well, that is why we’re here," Celestia said. "The fact is, after all that has happened, given how I seemed to be the primary subject of your anger, I wanted to handle this privately. I understand your frustration, and it truly seems that you are remorseful for what you did to them.” Celestia slowly shook her head. “But in a situation like this, remorse is not enough. You understand, I hope."

Octavia said nothing. She just nodded.

"Twilight Sparkle is in the process of finding out how much it will cost to replace the books you painted over, as well as the windows of both her library and Carousel Boutique. Naturally, you will be expected to pay for those. Since Allegro Sonata has not sent out the paychecks for the Garden Party yet, I will ask him to withhold yours; that will go towards the cost."

Octavia nodded.

"Now... I believe that jail time should be reserved for ponies who truly deserve it, and in this case, I am willing to let you avoid it, but you will have to work community service for the next six months. I'll talk to the captain of the guard and he will arrange a schedule.”

Again, Octavia just nodded.

"And while I do appreciate your musical talent, the fact is that I don't exactly feel comfortable inviting you to perform, at least not until the community service is over. I'm going to ask Allegro Sonata to look elsewhere for performers."

Octavia shivered, as this was a consequence she hadn’t even thought of. As soon as she was seen working community service, no self-respecting theater would bring her in for a performance, not until the service was over. She was about to be locked out of what she loved doing for several months… but deep down, she knew that she deserved it.

"I... I understand," she quietly said.

Celestia took a small sip of tea. "Good. Along with an apology, I believe those should do for punishment."

Octavia blinked, then looked up. "An… apology?"

"Of course," Celestia said. "I expect a full apology to the six ponies for everything you have done to them. Given how much distress you’ve caused, it's the right thing to do."

Octavia turned her head, but didn't look out the window, or at anything in particular; she just stared into space. The word "apology" stuck in her head as she stared, until the world seemed to melt away around her. A thousand images flashed through her head: the Gala, the Garden Party, Canterlot Park, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, breaking the windows of Carousel Boutique and ruining the dresses, smashing the picture of the Elements of Harmony celebrating the Gala...

The nausea began to dissipate and her head cleared. She looked back at Princess Celestia.

"No."

There was an awkward silence, broken after Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow.

Octavia didn't break her gaze. "I said no," she said, her voice confident.

"Octavia, you cannot just say ‘no’ to discipline," Celestia said. "This isn't exactly something you can—”

"I am not talking about the punishment," Octavia said, interrupting Celestia. "I will do my community service. I will pay the fines and repay for the damage that I did. I will even accept losing performing music—the most important thing in my life—for several months. But what I will not do is apologize for what I did, and I will especially not apologize to those ponies."

"I find that to be distressing," Celestia remarked. "After everything you did to them, you aren’t going to apologize?"

"I know that what I did to them was wrong. But I'm not going to apologize. After everything they did to me, I don't think they deserve one."

"That is a rather selfish way to look at it, don’t you think?" Celestia replied.

"Maybe, but it's what I believe."

“Perhaps. But there are other ponies to think about, too. Ponies besides them,” Celestia said. “After all they have done, public opinion of them is quite high. I understand your hesitance, but how will it look if you don’t give such important ponies some form of apology?”

"I don't care how important they are!" Octavia snapped back, loud enough to even surprise her. "In fact, I think that they especially don't deserve an apology because of who they are! They have been given nothing but love and attention from so much of Equestria, why can't there be one pony out there who doesn't like them?!"

“Because of everything they have done for Equestria,” Celestia responded. “They have saved us from danger countless times, they saved my sister from corruption… I believe they have done wonderful things for Equestria.”

“They haven’t made it wonderful for me!” Octavia yelled. “All anypony does is shower them in love and let them do whatever they want to without consequence!”

“They are given love because they proudly represent the very idea of harmony.”

"Well I don't want their damn harmony!”

Neither pony said anything; they just stared at each other in complete silence. Octavia knew that there was nothing she could do to calm down, but then, she didn’t want to calm down. She began to pace back and forth at one end of the table, ever being watched by Celestia. She could feel her eyes burning again, but she didn’t care.

"Their 'harmony' ruined the most important night of my life, a night that was the affirmation of everything that I have worked for. Their 'harmony' interrupted the Garden Party, a night I needed to reaffirm my love of music. Their 'harmony', when it saved Canterlot from Discord, also erased every piece of art I had put up. That tells me that their idea of harmony says that what I was doing was chaos that doesn't deserve to exist. What possible reason could I have for wanting anything to do with those ponies, let alone the harmony that they supposedly represent!?"

Octavia looked up at Celestia, but the Princess didn’t say anything.

"I know it is a strong word, one that not a lot of ponies enjoy using... but I hate them," Octavia continued. "I hate who they are and I hate what they represent. It's not just that they have done so much to affect me, it's that they have done so while remaining completely ignorant of how they affected my life, as if they think everything they've done has been fun. Well it hasn't! So no, I won't apologize. I know what I did was wrong, but it was a wrong that I think needed to be done to show them that their harmony isn't perfect. That their harmony is something that some ponies don't want!"

Tears were now flowing freely from Octavia's eyes, her voice was going hoarse, and her throat was burning. She didn't care. She didn't break eye contact with Princess Celestia, who sat quietly on the other side of the table, listening.

"I don't want their harmony," Octavia said. "I don't need their harmony. Because..."

For a moment, the words lingered in Octavia's head. She finally broke her sight from Celestia to turn once again out the window overlooking Canterlot. There was complete silence as her sight went from building to building. She walked up in front of the window, just looking at the buildings. She turned her head back towards Princess Celestia, managing a smile.

"I don't need their harmony because I found my own."

She turned to look back out the window. Octavia could hear the sound of Princess Celestia standing up, but she didn't pay it any mind. When she spoke again, she wasn't addressing Celestia; she was just speaking to the air.

"I know that some of what I have done is wrong," she said. "And while I am not proud of what I did to them, I don't want to apologize, because though they were wrong, they stemmed from something that has brought me more happiness than anything I have done in my life."

The sound of hoofsteps behind her told Octavia that Princess Celestia was now standing right next to her. She didn't bother to look up at her.

"So, I'll accept my punishment," she continued. "I'll work community service, I'll pay for the damage, I'll even accept losing music, something so important to me, for however long I have to. But I won't apologize. I do regret what I did to them... but I do not regret why I did any of it.”

The buildings that Octavia had been looking at seemed different to her; each one was now a grand blank canvas, crying out for something new. She admired each one, wanting nothing more than to be down on the streets, a can of paint in hoof.

"I don't exactly agree with your decision," Princess Celestia quietly said. "But I suppose I can respect it. You and I both know that if I forced you to apologize, it would be meaningless.”

Celestia turned and walked back to the table, and this time Octavia followed her. They sat again on opposite sides of the table in silence for a few seconds.

“However,” Celestia finally said, “while I understand that you do not like them, I believe there is goodness in all ponies. And I truly believe that the Elements of Harmony are good ponies. Perhaps it is just that the times you have met them have been under bad circumstances. So I'm going to have your first few sessions of community service take place down in Ponyville."

"What?"

"As I said, your only interaction with them has been in less-than-ideal circumstances. I think if you had a chance to meet them in a neutral environment..." Celestia paused, then smiled. "Well, we'll see what happens, I suppose. If you won't apologize, the least you can do is try to get to know them a bit better."

Octavia didn't say anything at first. She wanted nothing more to do with the Elements of Harmony. The last thing she wanted to do was help them... but she knew there was no way to get out of this. She had already said no to Princess Celestia once; there was no way it would happen again.

"I understand," Octavia replied.

"I'm glad we are in agreement."

Princess Celestia paused; there was something on the tip of her tongue that didn't seem to want to come out. Octavia sat, trying to hide her own surprise; she didn't expect Princess Celestia to be searching for words like this. Finally, Celestia let out a sigh.

"I know this question is going to sound surprising coming from me, especially after everything I said, but... do you plan on continuing?”

“I-I… what?"

“I believe that some of what you have done was quite good,” Celestia said. “I will admit, despite everything, I have never seen anything quite like what you did to Canterlot Park. But after all of this, I need to know if you plan on continuing.”

Octavia opened her mouth but quickly closed it again, then thought back to what had happened less than a day before. The idea of cutting off another pony’s tail, assaulting them like that, was a depth that she never wanted to sink to again. But she thought about the buildings outside; the blank canvases.

“As far as the Elements of Harmony are concerned,” she began. “I think I have gotten it out of my system.”

She tried to hide it, but Octavia could have sworn that Celestia had a slight knowing smirk on her face before nodding. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Neither pony said anything, but it didn’t feel to Octavia like an uncomfortable silence. Her body was relaxed for the first time in almost a day. She knew that she was being punished, yet none of it felt wrong to her. Celestia calmly took one more sip of her tea, finishing the cup and placing it down on the table.

“Well, I suppose that’s it,” she said. “That’s all I wanted to discuss with you. I’m glad we could do it in a private setting like this. I will be letting the captain of the guard know of your punishment, and he will send you a letter detailing when you will be beginning your community service in the next day or so.” Celestia stood up and walked halfway around the table, stopping to look down at Octavia. “It really has been quite informative speaking with you.” Celestia said, and she held her hoof out.

Octavia stared at the extended hoof. She remembered once previously when she had been that close to one of Princess Celestia's hooves, back when she had stood in front of the statue. She glanced back out the window in the direction of the statue. When she had stood in front of it, it was as though Celestia was taunting her over what had happened at the Gala. Octavia had felt lower than she ever had in her life, Celestia's eyes almost mocking her. It was where everything had began.

Now, she stared into Celestia’s eyes once again. This time, something was different; there was a sincerity to them. With a slight smile, Octavia reached out and shook the hoof of Princess Celestia.

“Yes, this has been quite the illuminating talk,” Octavia replied.

Celestia walked to the door to the large room, Octavia following close behind her. She opened the door, revealing that Prince Blueblood was still standing on the other side. He immediately gave Octavia an ice-cold stare that sent a chill down her spine, then looked up at his aunt.

“Blueblood, if you’ll come in, I’ll go over what was discussed. Octavia, please wait outside.”

—————

Octavia sat quietly outside the grand doors, lost in thought. The only other pony in sight was a single guard who stood stoically and watched her.

In the minutes that she had been waiting, Octavia was surprised by how alert she was; running on only a few hours of sleep, she figured that she would be at least a little more tired than she actually was. She chalked it up to the fact that the conversation with Princess Celestia had sent a few bursts of adrenaline through her body, and they hadn't quite worn off yet.

She knew how much trouble she was in, and she knew that she was being punished for it. There wasn't a lot to look forward to, and she knew that she deserved what had been handed down to her...

Yet she smiled. For some reason, everything that had happened just felt right to her. She was as calm as she had been in a long time; ever since the park, as far as she could recall. It was a feeling of peaceful euphoria that she hadn’t expected to ever feel again, especially not after everything that had happened.

"Is everything alright?"

Octavia looked over at the guard, who was staring at her with a quizzical look on his face.

“Yes,” she said quietly as she smiled. “Everything is fine.”

“Alright,” the guard said. He started to turn around, but stopped himself halfway. “Pardon me if this is intrusive at all, but Prince Blueblood did inform me of who you are...”

“Oh,” Octavia replied. “I suppose that was inevitable…”

“I don’t think he has informed anypony else, though,” the guard continued. “I assure you, I won’t tell anypony.”

“Well thank you, I—“

Her response was interrupted when the the massive doors opened and Prince Bluleblood trotted back out. He glanced down at Octavia with a sneer, then nodded his head to one side, beckoning her to follow. She did, and the two of them walked in complete silence. They eventually came to a smaller door and Blueblood just gave Octavia a glare, then stepped inside. Octavia waited for just a few moments before Blueblood came right back out, this time carrying Octavia’s black duffel bag. Blueblood dragged it behind him down the hallway until they had reached a door back to the streets of Canterlot.

Octavia was about to reach out for the door, but paused. She looked back at Blueblood, then down at her bag of supplies.

"Um, I—”

"Shut up," Blueblood snapped back immediately, causing Octavia to cower to the side. "Don't say anything. Celestia had her talk with you, now it's my turn."

Blueblood turned and stepped forward, dragging the duffel bag behind him. Octavia stepped back, pressing up against the wall as Blueblood walked forward, hatred burning in his eyes.

"If it were up to me, I would throw you in jail and keep you there. You wouldn't be walking out of this castle, you'd be dragged out by guards." He snorted. "My aunt is too lenient; she always looks to the good side of ponies. She believes that there is good in the hearts of all ponies, that even the ones who do horrible things can be redeemed." He leaned in even closer, getting right in Octavia's face. "I do not share this sentiment."

"But—“

"I said shut up!" Blueblood yelled, drawing the attention of a few ponies in the area. He looked around at them, then back at Octavia, this time speaking in a lower tone. "I cannot overrule Princess Celestia's decision. However, what I can do is add my own caveat to it."

There was a pause and as his face scrunched in anger, Octavia could tell that Blueblood was taking great satisfaction in what he was saying. He reached back and pulled up the duffel bag, holding it out slightly to Octavia's side. She glanced at it for a second, then back at Blueblood.

"That caveat is that this is over," he seethed. "I'm finishing this right here, right now. I'm done. This”—he said as he held the bag up a little higher—“is now mine. I'm taking that pathetic little disguise of yours. The moment that you leave this castle, I will be gathering several guards and we are going to go and remove every last trace of the disgusting display you call 'art' from Canterlot. As far as I am concerned, as of right now, Flanksy is dead."

The last three words sent a numbness through Octavia's body. She reached out limply for the bag, almost out of pure instinct, but Blueblood just pulled the strap up around his shoulder and shook his head.

"And if I ever see anything like this again... if I see some modified disguise, if I see you out there putting some new 'art' on the walls of my city, if I even so much as see you glance at a can of paint..."

He trailed off. Octavia waited with bated breath. Blueblood looked at the bag over his shoulder, then over at the hallway they had just walked down, towards where Celestia had been. He slowly turned back to Octavia.

"I can't throw you in jail. But I can end your career," Blueblood said, his mouth curling into a smile. "Celestia didn’t mention anything about your identity, so I’m taking control of that aspect. I’m not going to reveal to anypony who you are… yet. But if Flanksy shows up again in Canterlot? I doubt that any self-respecting theater in this city would ever be willing to book a pony who seems to have a deep-seated hatred for the way Canterlot works. I can personally assure you that you will never perform on a stage in this grand city again. And if you move away to work elsewhere?" His smile grew. "Well, then you'd be out of Canterlot, which is a victory for me anyway. Do you understand?"

Octavia stared in stunned silence at Blueblood. There were a million things that she wanted to say to him, but she realized that she was in absolutely no position to say any of them. She just thought about what it would mean to lose her music on top of everything else that she had lost... The risk was too great, and she realized that there was nothing she could do.

Blueblood had her cornered. He had won.

"Y-yes, I do," she quietly said, her head dropping down.

Blueblood scoffed. "Don't pretend like you're sad," he muttered. "You know damn well that this could have been worse. If it were up to me, I would have let you rot in jail."

Blueblood continued talking, but Octavia didn't hear any of it. The last three words that he said were ringing in her ears. They seemed familiar to her, but for a few seconds she couldn't place where. Then suddenly another voice went through her mind: her own.

"You can just rot in hell!"

Octavia's breath left her body. The talk with Celestia, Flanksy, spray paint, her cello, everything in her mind vanished in an instant, replaced with a single thought: Vinyl Scratch. She looked up at Blueblood, who stopped talking.

“What?” he seethed.

“I-I have to go.”

Blueblood glared at her. For a moment they just stared at each other, until he snorted. “Fine. I’ve said my piece. Now get out of my sight.”

He had barely finished the sentence before Octavia took off, running out the nearest door and into the streets of Canterlot, galloping as fast as she could. Blueblood shook his head, then turned to the nearest guard.

“Flash, I want you to get Ambrose and Damien and meet me back here in twenty minutes. Bring cleaning supplies; we have important work to do.”

—————

The skipping noise of the record player was finally getting on Vinyl’s nerves. The album had finished minutes ago, but she hadn’t had the motivation to get off the couch, instead she chose to stare at the ceiling in silence. Eventually, she rolled off of the couch and walked over to the player, and moved the needle off of the record. She turned to the shelf and started to flip through her collection, trying not to pay attention to the scattered records on the floor next to her.

She had just settled on a new record when she heard the door open and close behind her. She glanced behind her just enough to know who it was.

“So, you’re finally back?” Vinyl muttered. She waited for a response, but all she heard was deep breaths. She turned toward Octavia to find that her hair was a mess and she was panting, sweat pouring down her face. As soon as she was looking at her friend, Octavia’s mouth closed and she just stared quietly.

“What, you don’t have anything to say?” Vinyl said. “That’s shocking. You know what? I’m glad you’re back, because I have something to say to you. I cannot believe that you—hey!”

She was interrupted when Octavia leapt forward and wrapped her hooves around her. Vinyl tried to pull away, but Octavia just held her tighter. Vinyl opened her mouth to say something, but paused and closed it again when she felt something: the gentle shivers of Octavia’s body. Vinyl stopped moving and just stared quietly forward as Octavia held her, the only sound in the room coming from a few muffled breaths from Octavia.

Octavia finally let go of Vinyl and stepped back, and the two ponies stood in silence. Octavia couldn’t take it and she looked to the side, unable to meet her friend’s gaze.

“I… I don’t want to talk about art,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want to talk about music, about Flanksy, about anything I’ve done. Right now, I don’t care about any of that. The only thing that I need to talk to you about is you, and wh—“

Octavia’s lip began to quiver, unable to even finish the sentence. She choked back a lump in her throat, then finally looked back up to look her friend directly in the eyes.

“I-I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry for e-everything. For what I s-said to you, for how I acted, for t-treating you like d-dirt. You are my best friend, you have always been there for me, you supported me through everything… and I t-threw it in your face. Y-you didn’t d-deserve that.”

Vinyl didn’t reply; she just quietly contemplated. Octavia reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I’ll… I’ll understand if you don’t forgive me,” she continued. “I’ll understand if you want me to leave, if you never want to see me again. I’ll understand if you…” she trailed off, the words caught in her throat. “I’ll understand if you hate me. I know, I deserve it. I j-just need you to know how sorry I am for what I said.”

Octavia stopped talking. Vinyl was still seemingly deep in thought. Vinyl finally looked away.

“This whole thing got way too out of control for me,” Vinyl said. “It stopped being about art… It was about anger. That ain’t cool with me, never has been. And I sure as heck didn’t like what you said to me. You made me feel like what I said didn’t matter, like anything I’ve done didn’t matter.”

She looked back up.

“You know what? I’m just gonna say it… I hate Flanksy. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her for what she said, and I sure don’t want to ever see her again.”

Octavia went numb. She closed her eyes and nodded, unable to even say anything. She had only begun to turn around when she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

When she opened her eyes, she was looking straight at Vinyl Scratch. And Vinyl was smiling.

“But you? Hate you, Octavia? You’re my best friend in all of Equestria. No matter what happens, I could never hate you, ya know?”

Octavia could feel tears forming in her eyes again. She immediately leapt forward and wrapped her hooves around Vinyl again in a hug, but this time, it was returned. The two friends remained embraced, the only noise coming from Octavia’s sniffles as she tried to hold in her tears. Finally, Vinyl broke the silence.

“Welcome back, Tavi,” she said. “I missed you.”

—————

End of Chapter 16: The Talk

Special Thanks: Propscho The Dolphin, Raztorman, Wardic The Hedgehog, and Worster Hiryu

17. It Ends...

"Geez," Vinyl said. "Community service, and you're not gonna be able to perform for a few months? That sucks."

"'Sucks' is certainly one way of putting it," Octavia replied. She took a sip of her water, then laid her head back on the couch. "All I can be thankful for is that I'm avoiding jail time."

Vinyl sat down and patted her friend on the shoulder. Octavia glanced over at her and smiled; being able to talk to her best friend was the first bit of normalcy she had felt in a long time.

"At the same time," Octavia continued, "I know that... well, I deserve this punishment."

After a silence, Vinyl sighed. "Can I be honest?"

"You usually are."

"Yeah... I don't wanna be rude here, Tavi, but you kinda do," Vinyl said. "I mean, I get what they did to you. I get that you were upset about it, but attacking them? Nopony was going to support you on that one."

Vinyl braced herself, but after a pause, all she heard was a chuckle from her friend.

"That certainly is honest," Octavia said.

"So, you're not angry?" Vinyl said with a hopeful smile.

"No, I'm not," she said. "I don't want to be anymore."

Vinyl sighed and laid her head back on the couch. She reached over and patted her friend on the shoulder. "It's nice to have you back, Tavi."

Octavia responded with a smile of her own. "Thanks."

"So, when do you go down to Ponyville?"

Octavia shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I can only assume I'll be headed down there in a few days. I'm not even sure what I'll be doing down there, but I have a feeling it will involve... well, them."

Vinyl saw Octavia's face darken for a moment before she shook it off. There was a pause, and Vinyl laid a hoof on Octavia's back. When Octavia looked over, Vinyl had an apprehensive look on her face.

"Tavi, I want to be friends again."

"What?" Octavia replied. "Of course! I want to be too, Vinyl."

"Yeah..." Vinyl mumbled, biting her lip. "So, that said... I'm gonna say something right now and I don't think you're gonna like it. I just don't want to fight or argue about it..."

“I don’t want to fight or argue either, so just say it.”

"It's just... Why don't you want to apologize to them?"

Octavia looked away. Vinyl was right: it was the absolute last thing she wanted to hear. She was about to respond immediately, but thought back to earlier in the day when Celestia had asked her to apologize, and she had responded by outright snapping at the most powerful pony in all the land. She instead paused and gathered her thoughts for a few moments.

"It just doesn't feel right," Octavia said. "After everything they did, everything they did to me, it just doesn't feel right apologize to them when I never got an apology of my own."

"I know that, but..." Vinyl replied, pausing to look directly at Octavia. "But think about what you did to them, Tavi. I know you're upset, but you attacked them. I'm glad you're feeling better, but that's not the kind of thing you can just move on from as if nothing happened."

"I... I just want to be done with them," Octavia said quietly. "I don't want their harmony; I created my own. I want to move on."

"You can be. You can be done with them. But answer me honestly: disregarding who they are and what they did, do you really think 'wanting to move on' is an excuse to not apologize to them?"

There was no response at first. Octavia just looked out the window, lost in thought.

"I suppose that's why I'm going to Ponyville," she finally said. "Princess Celestia hopes that I'll change my mind."

There was a long silence; neither pony really had anything to say. Vinyl glanced around for something to bring up to stop the awkwardness, and her eyes fell on a single can of paint that was sticking out of the closet.

"So, what happens now?"

Octavia looked up at Vinyl. "In regards to?"

"Well, your art."

"My art? There's nothing to say about it," Octavia replied. "It's over."

"It's over?"

Octavia nodded. "I told you what Blueblood said: he's removing all my art as we speak. He has my disguise, he has most of my spray paint, and if I ever do anything in Canterlot again, he's going to reveal who I am to everypony. I can't run the risk of him ruining my musical career permanently. It's over."

"Oh..."

Vinyl looked down at the table in front of them. She shuffled her hooves awkwardly against the floor as Octavia glanced over at her.

"I thought you'd be a bit happier to hear that," Octavia said. "I know it's not exactly under the best circumstances, but after everything I've done, you seemed pretty clear that you wanted Flanksy to be gone."

"No, it's not that. I do want all that bad stuff to end, but..." She shuffled her hooves again, then sighed. "It's just that, is that really how you want it to end?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was some awful stuff that you did," Vinyl said, causing Octavia to look away momentarily. "But you know what, Tavi? There was a lot of pretty awesome stuff you did, too. You inspired ponies, you created some of the most unique art this city has ever seen… You changed Canterlot!”

“I also cut ponies’ tails off and broke into their houses.”

“You wanna put that behind you, don’t you?” Vinyl said. “You’re getting your punishment for that, but did Celestia say anything about not wanting you to continue?”

Octavia thought back to the conversation she had had with Princess Celestia. She had never given the princess a straight answer as to whether she was going to continue, just mentioning that she had ‘gotten it out of her system.’ But when she had said that, she was absolutely sure that she had seen a smile on Celestia’s face.

“Well…”

“As far as I am concerned, as of right now, Flanksy is dead.”

“I can end your career.”

Octavia shivered. “It doesn’t matter what Celestia said There’s not going to be any more painting; if I do it, Blueblood will ruin my career. He laid down the law.”

Octavia stood up and walked towards her room. Vinyl jumped to her hooves and followed her.

“That’s not law, that’s blackmail!” Vinyl said. “Are you going to just let—“

Octavia spun around, and Vinyl stopped as soon as she was looking into the face of her closest friend.

“Vinyl, I want this to be over,” Octavia said quietly. “I want to forget Flanksy, I want to forget paint, I want to forget any of it ever happened. And I want to move on with my life.”

After a short pause, Vinyl nodded her head. “Alright. I can respect that. Sorry if I was pushing you, I just want you to be happy after all of this. I don’t want you to give up on everything just because that jerk is blackmailing you. It has to be your decision, on your terms.”

Octavia looked straight into Vinyl’s eyes for a few seconds, then looked slightly behind her. She saw the can of paint sticking out of the corner of the closet. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and looked at Vinyl.

“I… this is my decision.”

—————

“We have arrived in Ponyville. If this is your stop, please exit through the nearest door.”

Octavia glanced out the train window. She tried not to think about her mindset the last time she had been there as she looked over the small town. She exited the train and stood at the station as it pulled away, then reached into her saddle bag and pulled out the directions that the guard in Canterlot had given her. She wandered through the streets looking at the addresses before she came to a stop, seeing the building in front of her. She stared at the library and tried not to let her anger show to the ponies who were walking around her.

“Of course…” she growled under her breath as she stepped to the front door and slowly raised a hoof. It hovered for a few seconds as she took one more look around, then knocked.

“Coming!” a voice called from inside. The door opened up and Twilight Sparkle stood inside with a big smile on her face. “You must be Octavia, right? Come on in.”

Octavia slowly took a few steps in as Twilight trotted away to a shelf near the wall. “I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why I’m stopping here first. And how do you know my name?”

“Princess Celestia sent me a letter yesterday about you,” Twilight chirped, quickly reaching to the side and pulling out a clipboard. “She also sent me some instructions. I'm just supposed to make sure you check in when you arrive and when you leave Ponyville, and let you know what you’ll be doing. We don’t exactly have royal guards down here.” Octavia nodded as Twilight scribbled things down on the clipboard. She thrust it over to Octavia, along with a quill. "Just sign at the bottom.”

Octavia took the quill in her hoof and began to sign, then looked up. Twilight was staring at her with a big smile on her face.

"Isn't this kind of thing sort of exciting?" Twilight chirped. "All the paperwork, so much legality, you really get a sense of how things work in Equestria!"

Twilight continued to talk as Octavia's hoof tightened around the quill. She kept her lips closed tight so Twilight wouldn't see her gritted teeth as she finished signing her name on the sheet.

"Oh..." Twilight said. "Um, sorry about that."

Octavia's clenched jaw loosened and she glanced upwards. Twilight's smile had disappeared and she was looking to her left, blushing a bit in shame.

"I'm sure this isn't exactly thrilling for you," Twilight meekly said, "I really didn't mean it like that..."

Octavia blinked a few times, then slowly looked back down at the paper.

"It's alright," Octavia muttered as she handed the paper back to Twilight. Twilight flipped through a few more papers as Octavia looked around the room; much of the damage that she had done a few days ago only had temporary fixes, with paint barely cleaned off and damaged books were piled in the corner, with some cleaning supplies scattered about. The one thing that seemed to have been fixed completely was the shattered picture: it now hung from the wall in another frame, one that was much nicer. Octavia stared at the ponies in the picture—each with torn dresses, messed up manes, all looking worse for wear—but each of them with a smile.

"Okay, looks like I have everything in order."

Twilight's voice snapped Octavia back to reality and she looked over at her, who was smiling again.

"For today, I think I'd like you to work here at the library," she said. "The other day there was an, erm, let's call it an 'incident.' As you can see, I haven't really gotten around to doing much cleaning up yet. I think starting there would be a good beginning. Can you start by cleaning the paint off those bookcases on the other side of the room?

Octavia shook off the chill that went through her face, then nodded. She started towards the cases, but paused and looked behind her, back at the picture.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said, "Did Princess Celestia tell you what I did to warrant community service?"

"No," Twilight replied. "I don't really think it'd be my place to ask about it anyway."

Octavia nodded and walked up to the bookcase, where cleaning supplies were scattered around. She sat down and opened up the jug of cleaner, took a rag in her hoof, and covered the rag in the cleaner. The smell overtook her for a second and she looked away, but while she did she looked over at the other pony in the room.

Twilight Sparkle was standing at a desk, looking through a book. She had just come to the last page and happily closed it, then floated it over and pulled another book from the shelf. Octavia could see the streaks of paint on the book as Twilight set it down in front of her, then noticed the paint covering it as well. With a sad sigh, Twilight floated the book over to the large pile of similarly paint-streaked books in the corner, then picked out another book from the shelf.

Octavia quietly watched for a few seconds, turned back to the bookcase, and began to rub the paint off.

—————

The apartment door opened and Octavia trotted through. She dropped her saddle bag next to the door as Vinyl poked her head in from the kitchen.

"Hey, welcome back," she said. "How was Ponyville?"

"Exactly what I expected," Octavia said. "I had to clean off paint from inside the library. I assume I'll be doing things similar to that until my time there is done."

Octavia sat down on the couch and looked quietly out the window. Vinyl trotted out of the kitchen and sat down next to her.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to go down there for long, right?” Vinyl said. “Just a couple weeks? It’ll be over before you know it.”

“And then I get to keep doing it in Canterlot for a while…”

“Okay, it’s not like it’s going to be great for a while,” Vinyl said, trying to steer the conversation back positively, “but you’ll get through it. Just keep your chin up.”

“It’s not that, Vinyl. I’m fine, I know I can get through it, it’s just…” She glanced around the room, then looked right at Vinyl. “I know things will get better. I just want some time to relax right now, I guess I'm still trying to process all of this."

"That's fine," Vinyl replied. "If you wanna talk about it, just let me know."

Octavia nodded as she stood up and walked into her room and slowly closed the door behind her. She trotted over to her cello and ran her hoof across the strings, then stood behind it and picked up the bow. She took in a deep breath and began to play the first song that came to mind. Music filled the room and for a few minutes as she ran through the song. She stared blankly ahead as she played; hollow notes and empty chords ringing in her ears.

The bow slowly came to a halt on the strings mid-way through the song. Octavia lowered the bow down and gazed at her desk across the room; notebooks were still scattered about, each with drawings, speckled with paint.

She laid her bow down on the floor and trotted to the desk. She put her hoof on one of the notebooks and moved to open it.

“I can personally assure you that you will never perform on a stage in this grand city again.”

Her hoof froze, her sight still on the notebook. With a long sigh, she looked back blankly towards the cello. She finally turned and simply laid down on her bed, quietly gazing at the ceiling.

—————

With one last push, Octavia drove the scraper against the side of the barn and removed the last of the black paint that had covered it. She took a step back and wiped sweat from her forehead, then looked over the barn; there were some areas where the original red color had been scraped off along with the black, but for the most part, it was now free of what she had painted the week before.

Octavia screwed the cap back on the cleaner and started to gather up supplies when she was startled by a voice from behind her.

"Lookin' good, lookin' real good."

Octavia turned around to find Applejack walking up, admiring the barn. She tipped her hat up as she looked over the structure.

"Nice to see the barn back to its former glory," she said. Her eyes wandered up to a plank hanging precariously off the edge of the roof. "Well, back to it's former state, anyway."

As Applejack inspected the barn a bit more, Octavia went back to packing up the cleaning supplies. Applejack tapped her hoof a few times on one of the areas where red paint had been stripped off.

"Shoot, some'a the original striped off too..." she muttered. "Then again, you'll be down here in Ponyville a couple more times, right? Maybe you could slap a new coat of paint on it."

With her head turned away, Octavia gritted her teeth in frustration. She zipped up the bag of supplies when Applejack cleared her throat.

"So listen," she said. "I just wanna thank ya for your help in cleaning up the barn."

Octavia looked up and over at Applejack. She had a sincere smile on her face as she stepped forward.

"I mean, I know you aren't exactly doin' this voluntarily," Applejack said, "but I still appreciate the help. We really haven't gotten a chance to clean up the paint around our places, but with you startin' your service down here... well, it's a one of those 'two birds' situations, I reckon. So I know it ain't the best situation for you, but I figure that with the work you've put in down here so far, you at least deserve a thank you."

There was a short silence between the two ponies as Applejack continued to smile. Octavia looked over at the barn, then back to Applejack.

"I appreciate that," she said. "Although I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised nopony had cleaned it up yet."

"I don't think any of us were really in the right state a' mind," Applejack said, rubbing the back of her hat. "We tried to clean it up immediately, but some of the stuff that pony had written... well, it had all of us down. Not to mention, it was more important to be with our friends first, given how they were takin' it."

"How they were... taking it?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah, Rarity and Fluttershy," Applejack said as she glanced towards the rest of the town. "Rarity's never exactly taken criticism well, so when somepony outright calls her ugly and ruins her dresses, it got her awful down. And Fluttershy... shoot, I ain't never seen her that sad in my life. Stayed in her room all day, and even when we got her to leave she was miserable. Heck, took a while just to start improvin' her mood, and..." Applejack looked back towards Octavia, then shook her head. "Shoot, you don't need to hear any of this. Sorry for ramblin' on like that."

"It's fine," Octavia quickly replied as she now looked towards the town as well. She picked up the bag of cleaning supplies and slung it over her shoulder when another voice called out.

"Hey AJ!"

The voice caused Octavia to freeze in her tracks. She glanced backwards to see Rainbow Dash flying in and landing next to Applejack. Dash was wearing what looked like a hoof-made outfit, a multicolored hoodie with holes cut out for her wings. What stood out about it was the design… it seemed to be custom-made, designed in such a way as to cover up Rainbow Dash’s tail fully.

"Hey RD," Applejack said. "So, any word yet?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said as she shuffled her hooves. "Just got the letter. The Wonderbolts understand the situation, but they want to play it safe. I'm not gonna be in the training camp, but they've already submitted my application for the next camp in six months."

"Aw, shoot," Applejack replied. "Sorry ta hear that."

"It's alright. They said that I'm practically a lock for the camp anyway, this is just something they're doing to prevent bad press. I'll wait it out." She looked up at the barn. "Hey, you cleaned it up? I thought we were gonna do that next weekend."

"I got some help," Applejack said as she gestured towards Octavia. "Octavia over here cleaned it up."

Rainbow Dash looked up and her and Octavia locked eyes. Octavia tried to stay calm and collected, but her mind went back to when she had watched Rainbow Dash ruin the art she had put up, then to the brawl they had had amidst a crowd of ponies. She instinctively rubbed her chest where Rainbow Dash had driven her hoof into her as her eyes narrowed a bit. Rainbow's eyes did as well.

"So, you just showed up to clean off paint?" Rainbow said.

Octavia shook her head slightly. "No, it's... well, it's community service."

"You don't say..." Rainbow mumbled. "Hey AJ, can I talk to you?"

"Ain't that what we're doin' now?"

"In private. Away from her."

Applejack cocked her head to one side in confusion, but before she could say anything Rainbow grabbed her by the shoulder and practically dragged her around the corner of the barn. Octavia could hear them talking but was barely able to make out what was being said, except for Applejack saying "seems like a nice pony," and Rainbow Dash responding with "I don't care." Not wanting to be around when the conversation ended, she turned and walked away towards the library.

—————

A clap of thunder overhead made Octavia quickly duck under an awning as the scheduled Canterlot rain storm began. She took a quick look at the street corner she was on.

"Great," she muttered. "Still ten blocks to go."

She continued walking, darting beneath canopies and awnings to avoid as much rain as she could. She eventually turned a corner and came to a slow stop when she saw the pony in front of her.

A few awnings away, Amethyst Star was rushing to get her paintings and paint supplies out of the rain. She reached out and grabbed the last painting, then began wiping the rain off of it. As she set her paintings against the wall and sat down, Octavia apprehensively walked up to her.

"Hello," she said.

Amethyst looked up, and her eyes went wide for a split second when she saw who was standing over her.

"Hi," Amethyst meekly said.

"Do you mind if I sit?"

"Go ahead."

Octavia sat down next to Amethyst Star and the two sat in silence for a minute, watching the rain. Amethyst reached over and placed a half-finished painting in front of her, then popped open a small can of paint and resumed working on it.

"You're still painting?"

Amethyst nodded. "I think I gave it up for all of thirty minutes. I really enjoy it, I can't just give it up."

“I see.”

There was silence again as Octavia looked back at the rain, trying to think of the right thing to say. She looked out at the rain, then opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you," Amethyst Star said first.

Octavia turned in surprise. "What?"

"When I said I couldn't believe that I was ever inspired by you," Amethyst continued. "I don't like what you did then, but everything you did before that is still really important to me. I shouldn't have told you that, I—“

“Stop. I’m glad you told me that.”

Amethyst stopped talking and looked over at Octavia, whose head was now resting against the wall as she watched the rain.

“I was focused far too much on the wrong aspect of why I was creating art,” Octavia continued. “I’m glad I had you and Vinyl to try to talk a little sense into me… I just should have listened to you a bit earlier. You have no reason to apologize. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for the way I treated you.”

She looked over at Amethyst; the pink unicorn was staring back at her with a relieved smile on he race. Octavia smiled back, then looked down at the painting that Amethyst had been working on.

“I’m happy that you’re continuing your art,” Octavia said. “I’m glad somepony will be able to.”

The smile fell from Amethyst’s face. “What do you mean?”

“I’m done,” Octavia said. “Unfortunately, Prince Blueblood has put an end to what I was doing. If I create any more art in Canterlot, he’ll reveal who I am to everypony, and my musical career could very well be over. I’m not willing to take that risk.”

Amethyst blinked, then looked down at her own painting. “Oh,” she said. “That’s… I’m sorry to hear that.”

“But like I said, I’m glad that you’re going to continue your art,” Octavia said

“It’s not the same.”

Octavia sighed. “I know.”

After a long period of silence, Octavia stood up. She shifted her saddle bag on her back and nodded at Amethyst, then carefully stepped around her and trotted away under the awnings.

“I knew who you were,” Amethyst suddenly said.

Octavia stopped and looked back. Amethyst Star was standing up, staring straight at Octavia, with a smile on her face.

“I knew who you were from the first time I saw you,” Amethyst said. “I had seen you before around Canterlot, I even saw you at the Anvil Rust Theater months ago. That didn’t stop me from seeing how amazing what you did was, and it didn’t make me think any less of you. Do you really think that other ponies in Canterlot are going to react differently? I’m not the only pony who you reached, you know.”

“But Prince Blueblood—“

“To heck with him!” Amethyst suddenly yelled. “That guy is a jerk. I don’t want him to be the reason that the pony who inspired me stopped!”

Surprised at the outburst from Amethyst, Octavia’s thought process stopped completely. Amethyst took a few deep breaths, then stepped forward.

“Please. Your art has been so important to me, I don’t want it to go away,” Amethyst said, sniffling.

Octavia quietly looked into Amethyst Star’s eyes, only listening to the rain hit the awning above. As she looked out to the right, it finally hit her where they were; the entrance to Canterlot Park was only a few feet away. She looked out over the trees in the park, then back at Amethyst.

“I doubt that any self-respecting theater in this city would ever be willing to book a pony who seems to have a deep-seated hatred for the way Canterlot works.”

Octavia turned to the side.

“I don’t want it to go away either,” she muttered. “But I don’t think I have a choice anymore.”

Not willing to look Amethyst in the face anymore, Octavia turned and walked away. Amethyst stood unmoving, watching until Octavia was out of sight. She sat down again and stared in silence at the painting in front of her, picking up one of her brushes. For a moment she just looked at the brown paint dripping off of it, then swirled it around in the cup of water next to her until it was clean. She popped open a can of orange paint, dipped the brush in, and began to repaint the trees on her painting.

—————

The apartment door opened and Octavia trotted through. She dropped her saddle bag next to the door as Vinyl looked up from the couch.

"Hey."

"Hello," Octavia said as she walked towards her room.

"Tavi?"

Octavia looked back to see Vinyl had gotten up and was standing behind her.

"You've been down to Ponyville like five times in the past two weeks. Don't you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Octavia said. "I go down there, do my service, then come back."

"Yeah, and then you usually head straight to your room. Come on, I want to know what's going on down there."

"Well I don't feel the need to talk about it," Octavia replied as she turned away.

"Tavi..."

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Octavia said. Vinyl went quiet and Octavia went to her room, closing the door behind her.

She walked over to her desk and sat down, looking over the multitude of notebooks. She smiled as she flipped through one of them, looking at the numerous sketches; murals and drawings yet to be completed, ideas begging to be created.

Her sight turned to her left, towards her closet. She could see several cans of paint stored away, unopened. She stood up and walked towards them, but out of the corner of her eye she saw her cello. She came to a halt in the middle of the room, looking back and forth between her cello and the paint. Her head fell as she turned away from both and crawled into bed.

Octavia curled up under the covers. She hoped, once again, that a good night’s sleep would solve everything. She hoped that once she had repaid everything and had done her service, she could focus on her music again. She hoped that she could put spray paint out of her mind for the rest of her life. She hoped she would never have to think about the statue of Celestia, the murals, or the park ever again. She hoped that Flanksy would be gone from her mind for good.

She hoped that the pillow would be enough to muffle her sobs from Vinyl.

—————

Octavia left her room and trotted into the kitchen. As she looked through the bowl of fruit for a quick breakfast, Vinyl walked up next to her.

“Good morning.”

“Morning,” Octavia replied back.

“Are you going down to Ponyville today?”

“My train leaves in a half-hour.”

She took an orange from the bowl and turned back to her room.

“I heard you crying last night.”

Octavia stopped in her tracks. She bit her lip as Vinyl walked up next to her. She began to walk towards her room but Vinyl put her hoof on her shoulder.

“Octavia, you can’t just shut down again! All you’ve been doing is going to Ponyville, coming back, and going to your room without talking about it! I’m not going to let you do that to yourself anymore, now tell me what’s going on!!”

She slowly put the orange down and walked to the living room, with Vinyl right behind her. She sat down on the couch, then held her head in her hooves.

“This is wrong,” she said. “All of this feels wrong. I had just figured things out, gotten the slap down to earth that I needed… and then it’s all taken away from me. If I had been told I can’t do it anymore because of what I did, I might be okay with that… but it’s not. Blueblood did this just so he could claim victory. Now I have nothing. I know that I deserve to be punished for what I did, but after that… I have nothing, Vinyl.”

Vinyl sat down next to her. Octavia sniffled as she looked up at her best friend. “Octavia, can I just ask you something?”

Octavia nodded.

“What do you want to do?”

Octavia looked blankly ahead for a few seconds before answering. “Do you remember when we sat in the park?” she said. “Just watching ponies enjoying it? I want to go back to that. I want to go back to creating harmony. No more anger, no more attacking ponies, I don’t even want the art to be about any ponies.”

The smile that had formed on Octavia’s face was enough to get Vinyl to smile as well.

“You can go back to that, you know,” Vinyl said. “You caught yourself before you went too far; it ain’t too late to go back.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Octavia said. “I don’t want to fall back into the trap I did before.”

“Well don’t! You don’t have to get angry again.”

“That’s just it.” Octavia sighed and stood up, staring out the window. “I’ve been down in Ponyville, cleaning up all the paint that I put up. And every single time I see them, I feel the same anger I’ve always felt with them. The way they’re still living these idyllic lives, not understanding why a pony would hate them, not understanding what they did…” She slowly turned around and looked Vinyl in the eyes. “I… I’m justified in not apologizing to them, right? Tell me I’m justified.”

“You’re justified for not apologizing to them,” Vinyl said flatly.

“You don’t sound very convincing.”

“You’re the one who asked me to say that,” Vinyl replied. “Look, Tavi, I’m not gonna demand that you apologize. But I am gonna say this: if you’re gonna keep being angry at them. If that’s gonna keep being a factor Then yeah, you should stop doing art. But you know what? If you can find a way to put that past you. You said you want to create your own harmony? You still can.”

Octavia smiled at Vinyl. She looked over into her room, seeing the cello sitting against the wall. The smile slowly dropped from her face.

"What about what Blueblood said? If I paint in Canterlot again, he will reveal who I am to everypony."

Vinyl didn't say anything; she slowly turned her head to look over at the cello in Octavia's room for a few seconds.

"I..." she said quietly, "I don't really have an answer for that. I know how important your music is to you."

Octavia nodded. "Exactly. I don't think I'm in a position to take that risk."

A heavy silence hung in the room as Octavia and Vinyl stared at the cello in the other room. After what felt like an eternity, Octavia stood up.

"I think I'd better head out," she said. "I don't want to miss my train."

"How much longer are you going down to Ponyville?"

"I'm almost done cleaning up the things I did," Octavia said. "I would assume once that is done I will be continuing my service here in Canterlot, so I won't be going to Ponyville anymore."

She picked up her saddle bag and draped it over her back as Vinyl patted her on the shoulder, then smiled.

"Hey... when you get back from Ponyville tonight, let's go hang out downtown. Just try to get your mind off of everything."

Octavia smiled back. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah! We'll go grab some dinner, see if there are any concerts, check out the park..."

Octavia turned away. It only took Vinyl a few seconds to realize what she had said and she gasped.

"Oh geez, oh geez," Vinyl said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up. I'm sure it's the last thing—"

"It's okay," Octavia said, her voice empty as she opened the front door. She walked through and slowly closed it behind her, then looked out into the distance in the direction of Canterlot Park.

"It's not like there's anything out of the ordinary there anymore..."

—————

"This room looks great!" Twilight said as she looked around the main room of Golden Oaks library. "I'm so glad all that paint is finally gone."

Octavia nodded, then looked around the room; the paint from all the bookcases had been completely cleaned off and any damage to them fixed, the pictures all had new frames, the walls had fresh coats of paint, it was as if nothing had ever happened to the room. The only difference Octavia could see was that the bookcases seemed a bit more empty than previously. Twilight noticed too as she ran a hoof along an empty shelf.

"Doesn't look the same without full shelves," Twilight said, "but I think I'm getting the books replaced soon."

Octavia looked away, hoping Twilight wouldn't see her annoyance. She knew that whenever the books would be replaced, the bill would be going straight to her.

Twilight glanced up at the clock. "Perfect timing, too, they should be coming by. Thanks again for all your help over the last few weeks. I know it wasn't your choice, but I still appreciate it. I’m not sure if the Princess is going to have you come down to Ponyville for more of your service, but if not, thank you for all the help."

Octavia nodded and trotted to the front door. As soon as she opened it, she was met with the blare of a celebratory horn as confetti flying into the room. She barely had time to move to one side as a pink blur rushed by her and began hurling party decorations around the room.

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelled. "The room was just cleaned up!"

As Pinkie kept putting decorations up, the rest of the Elements of Harmony trotted in, marveling at how nice the library looked. Octavia looked away, trying to hide the grimace on her face. When she momentarily looked up, she saw that while five of the ponies were making pleasant conversation and setting up for a party, one of them was not; Rainbow Dash was staring right back at her.

"What is she doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She just helped finish re-painting the bookcases," Twilight said. "In fact, she's been the one doing most of the paint cleanup for all of us."

"Yeah, because it's court-ordered," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

"Rainbow!" Rarity said sternly. "No need to be rude to our guest."

Rainbow shuffled one hoof against the ground, then turned away. Octavia glared after her, then turned to leave the room.

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "You fixed the picture!"

Octavia looked behind her to see all six ponies quickly gathering around the framed photograph taken after the Grand Galloping Gala. She felt her hooves tighten against the ground as Twilight Sparkle looked up at the painting.

"Of course. It was the first thing I fixed," Twilight said as she turned to her friends with a warm, almost nostalgic smile on her face. "It was our best night ever! I don't ever want to forget that night."

The ponies all smiled as they looked up at the picture, but one pony in the room was not smiling. Octavia's face was trembling as she stared at the six ponies across the room.

"’Best night ever...’" she growled under her breath. "’Don't ever want to forget that night…’"

She turned around and stormed out of the library, leaving the friends to their party. Octavia glanced back and forth through Ponyville, the world spinning around her. She took a moment to regain her bearings, then looked up at the houses in the area. Trying to remember where she had seen it, Octavia trotted around town for a minute, scanning the buildings until she finally stopped in front of one. A hoof-made wooden sign hung above the front door, with a picture of a paint brush on it. Octavia pushed the door open and entered.

The pony behind the counter poked her head up and smiled. "Well hey there, welcome to The Paint Smear! Anything you're looking for in particular?"

Octavia looked right in the eyes of the pony.

"Do you sell spray paint?"

—————

Octavia stood on a hill on the edge of Ponyville. She looked back and forth over the town, trying to find a suitable target.

"There has to be something big enough," she seethed as she scanned the town. All of the buildings she could see were either shops being worked in or homes belonging to other ponies. She let out an angry sigh and squinted, unable to find a building that was to her liking. She slowly looked away from the town to gather herself, when she saw something off to her right. It was set into the hills in such a way that no pony in Ponyville could see it from the actual town; Octavia certainly hadn't. With a smile, she picked the plastic bag next to her up and trotted until she found herself standing right to the side of the structure.

While Ponyville may have been a quiet town, one wouldn't know if it by looking at the Ponyville Dam. One of the most well-made systems in the area, the dam may have seen better days, but it was still an impressive structure to anypony who saw it. It was large, a single grey color throughout, and had a small ledge allowing ponies to walk in front of it.

It was perfect.

Octavia walked along the ledge, running a hoof along the wall. She dropped the bag next to her and opened it up, pulling out the various colors of spray paint and laying them next to her. She turned to look back at Ponyville, but it was completely obscured from her by the hill.

"Best night of their lives?" she growled, then took a black can of paint in her hoof. She raised it up and held it directly in front of her.

Her hoof froze in the air. Part of her brain was screaming to press down on the nozzle and give the Elements of Harmony what they deserved, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. As her hoof began to shake, she suddenly felt extremely aware of the world around her, as if the eyes of everypony in Equestria were staring at her. No matter how much her brain was screaming at her to press down on the nozzle, her hoof refused to listen. Slowly, a single thought formed in her head, in front of the anger and frustration.

This isn't harmony.

Her hoof gradually lowered and the can of paint clattered down next to her. She turned around and slumped down, her back hooves dangling off the edge of the platform. She stared down at the black can of paint next to her and shook her head.

"No more attacking," she muttered. "It's never been right."

She looked over at the bag of cans and sighed, then looked up. Ponyville was still completely obscured by the hill, but above the top of the hill she could see something else; Canterlot.

She hadn't even noticed that Canterlot was visible from Ponyville while she had been doing her service. She was used to seeing Canterlot from within the city: tall, imposing buildings stretching into the sky and ponies with their noses turned up as they gazed at overpriced clothes. But from where she was sitting, Canterlot felt completely different; a grand city stretching up to the heavens, the colors of the rooftops contrasting with the mountain and clouds behind it.

A city that needed to realize how beautiful it was.

Ever so slowly, Octavia began to smile. Her body quickly surging with new energy, she threw the black can back into the bag and looked behind her, back at Ponyville Dam. For a few seconds she just looked over the lifeless grey of the dam, then looked back down at the bag of unused paint cans sitting next to her. The smile on her face grew.

Octavia dug through the bag until she found the can at the very bottom; a bright purple. She took it in her hoof and popped the top off, then turned to the wall.

Slowly, the world seemed to disappear around her, leaving just her and the wall. A sense of euphoria enveloped her; a feeling that she hadn't felt since the night she had painted the trees in the park. She stood still for a few moments, just soaking in the feeling as she stared at the blank wall.

With a smile on her face, she raised her hoof once more and pressed down on the nozzle of the can.

—————

Octavia trotted through Ponyville, a content smile on her face. She glanced back in the direction of the dam; it was completely obscured from Ponyville by a large hill, and it seemed that no pony had seen her painting the dam. She glanced up into the sky to see a few pegasi flying about; no doubt one of them would see the dam before too long.

She turned back and trotted towards the train station, but came to a halt when she realized something was missing: her saddle bag. She glanced around to see if she had dropped it, but stopped as it occurred to her where it was.

"The library," she muttered as she turned towards Golden Oaks Library and walked up to the front door. From inside, she could hear voices and the faint sound of music. Her hoof hovered over the handle for a few seconds before she let out a long breath and entered.

The Elements of Harmony were all still there, enjoying each other's company. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity were engaged in a conversation, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were giggling at Pinkie Pie, who was carefully balancing a cupcake on her snout. As Octavia entered the room, Twilight's ears perked up.

"Oh, there you are!" she said as she reached under the table and pulled out Octavia's saddle bag. "This is yours, right?"

"Yes!" Octavia said as she quickly walked forward and took it. "I was hoping it was here."

"I saw it by the front door," Twilight said. "I had no idea where you went, I figured you'd come back for it."

"Thanks," Octavia said, then turned to leave. She was just about at the front door again when she looked out the window. In the distance she could see a grey Pegasus hovering near the top of the hill, her head cocked to one side. After looking back at the town, she slowly flew down to the other side of the hill and out of sight.

Octavia kept staring out the window, then looked behind her. The six ponies were back to talking to each other, enjoying the company of one another. She looked past them to the picture hanging on the wall; the six of them, all battered and dirty from the Gala, but still smiling. Octavia looked back out the window, just in time to see the grey pegasus flying back over the hill and headed towards the closest pony she could find, excitedly yelling something to her.

Octavia raised her head up, then turned back.

“Excuse me,” she said. The six ponies all looked up at her.

“Yes?” Twilight said.

“I would like to talk to you about something.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Oh? I thought I had checked out all your paperwork for today.”

“It’s not about that. In fact, it pertains to all of you.”

The ponies grew quiet and waited. Octavia took one last glance out the window; she could see a few more ponies now walking in the direction of the hill. The remaining apprehension disappeared, and Octavia took a deep breath.

"I'm just going to say this, and I’m sure it will come as a shock, but… I don't like you."

The six ponies across from her didn't have a response at first. None of the were expecting to hear something like that.

"I beg your pardon?" Twilight Sparkle finally replied.

"I don't like you,” Octavia repeated. “Any of you. You are supposedly important ponies who represent the ideals of Harmony, but I don't like you. To be frank, I doubt I will ever view you in a positive light. I realize that it’s not what you want to hear, nor is it the nicest thing you have ever heard, but I have to say it, and I have to say it to your faces. But that said, there’s something far more important I have to say to you all.”

The six ponies across from her stared in shock, unable to even figure out what Octavia was saying. Octavia closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts. When she opened them again, she saw all six ponies in front of her, unsure of how to act. She stepped forward, causing Rainbow Dash to lean down a bit in anticipation. She stopped right in front of the six ponies and took in one last, long breath.

"I'm sorry," Octavia said.

The six ponies in front of her all glanced at each other in confusion.

"I may not like you, but you didn't deserve what I did to you. Nopony deserves that. What I did, I did without a clear head, and is the worst thing I have ever done in my life. So while I'm sure it means little, I am sorry."

The assembled ponies continued to look at each other, not sure how to react. Twilight Sparkle was the first one to speak up.

“What are you apologizing for? What did you do to us?"

Octavia didn't hesitate; there wasn't an ounce of apprehension in her. Instead, she held looked Twilight directly in the eye, confident in what she was going to say.

"I spray-painted your houses. In a few cases, I even broke in."

Her short response was met with gasps and she watched as each of the ponies' expressions changed quickly. Twilight and Rarity were both shocked, while the formerly-chipper Pinkie Pie's ears fell as she nervously glanced around. Fluttershy, after a few seconds of silence, slunk back and cowered, almost hiding behind Pinkie Pie. Applejack had turned her head down to the point where her hat was covering most of her face, but Octavia could still see the angry grimace on her mouth.

Rainbow Dash was not as restrained as her friends; with her face contorted in anger, she stepped forward, getting right in front of Octavia.

"I knew it!" she shouted. "I knew you seemed familiar! You're Flanksy, the one who cut off my tail!"

Octavia nodded. "Yes. And I'm sure it goes without saying, but I am sorry for that as well. I know this is of no consolation to you, but I consider that moment the low point of my life."

Rainbow snorted in anger and took a step back, trying to keep herself calm. As the other ponies struggled to find words, Twilight Sparkle was the first one to speak up.

"Why?" she quietly said. "Why did you do all of that? What did we ever do to you?"

"You ruined the greatest night of my life. You didn't do it specifically to hurt me, but you did it anyways." She pointed to the back of the room, and the ponies all turned their heads to look at the picture from the Gala. “The Gala became the worst night of my life, and yet not only did you not realize what you did to other ponies… you outright celebrated it.”

For a few seconds, the six others in the room looked at the picture themselves in silence. The first one to turn around was Applejack, who stared directly into Octavia’s eyes.

“So what, you just expectin’ us to forgive you for that?” she said, her voice quickly raising. “Yeah, we ain’t perfect. But that gives you an excuse to break into our homes? Make our lives miserable? Shame us in front of the whole town? You want us to say that everything is okay?”

“No,” Octavia said. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, nor should you. I didn’t tell you all of this to be forgiven.”

From outside, Octavia could hear more ponies talking and moving about. She looked out the window to see ponies walking past the library and in the direction of Ponyville Dam. She smiled softly, then looked back to the Elements of Harmony.

“I told you this because I’m ready to move on,” she said. “I want to move back to what brought me my own harmony; art. No more attacking, no more hate, no more using you as an excuse. I just needed you all to know that I’m sorry, that I’m on a better path again.”

As the voices from outside grew, the Elements finally took notice of them. Just as Twilight stepped forward, the door swung open and a small filly with a bow in her hair stuck her head into the room.

“Hey Applejack!” the pony said. “In fact, all of ya! Ya’ll gotta come see this! Somethin’ happened to Ponyville Dam!”

She was quickly joined by two other fillies who ran off in the direction. All six ponies looked at Octavia.

“W-what did you do this time?!” Rarity yelled.

Octavia just smiled. “I did what brings me harmony. I tried to make ponies realize how beautiful the world around them is.”

There was another long silence as the ponies exchanged worried glances. Finally, Octavia picked up her saddle bag.

“I guess that’s all I wanted to say to you,” she said. “I’m going back to Canterlot, I’m not sure if my community service will be bringing me back to Ponyville, so in case we never meet again, I am sorry again.”

She turned around and trotted out of the library. Almost immediately, she heard the thundering of hooves as the ponies rushed past her and off in the direction of the dam. She watched them gallop off into the distance, then turned towards the train station.

“Hey,” a voice came from behind.

She turned around to find Rainbow Dash standing next to her. She still looked angry, but she was pushing her hoof into the ground as she struggled to find the right words.

“I don’t like you either. That stuff you did to me, to my friends, that’s awful. I dunno if I can ever forgive you for that.” She looked up so she and Octavia were face-to-face. “But… I’m sorry for punching you. That was pretty lame of me, no matter what happened.”

Octavia smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

An awkward silence hung between them before Rainbow Dash took off into the air and flew towards Ponyville Dam. Octavia watched her go, then straightened her saddle bag and turned. She walked off towards the train station, her body straight, her gaze determined, her hoof steps light; the posture of a pony with a weight lifted from her shoulders.

Rainbow Dash caught up with her friends quickly just as they got halfway up the hill. “What do you think she did?”

“I’m scared to find out,” Twilight said. “Given what she did last time, who knows what—?“

As the six ponies got to the top, they all came to a halt at the sight before them: the bottom half of the dam was completely painted over in a grand mural. Colors swirled together and stretched from end to end, interlocking patterns and streaks covering up the grey, cracked bottom of the dam. There were no recognizable shapes, patterns, or anything that would give an indication of what it was: it was just color. Ponies were quickly gathering around it, amazed at the mural that had been put up, talking amongst themselves and admiring the art. Slowly, the six ponies walked down the hill and joined the rest. None of them said anything, they just looked at the mural on the wall, then around at the many ponies who had gathered.

Ever so slowly, a smile appeared on Rainbow Dash’s face.

—————

The front door of the apartment swung open and Octavia quickly walked through. As the door swung shut, the slam caused Vinyl to nearly fall off the couch.

“Whoah, welcome back. You’re way late, did you catch a different train?” Vinyl said as she scrambled up to her hooves, only for Octavia to walk right by and straight to her room. “Uh, Tavi? Did you still want to go out?”

Vinyl waited for a response, but all that happened was Octavia marched out of her room, her sketchpad in one hoof. She sat down on the couch and flipped open the pages, taking a quill in her hoof.

“Is everything okay?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m not going out tonight,” Octavia said.

Vinyl’s ears fell. “Come on, Tavi. You can’t just stay cooped up—“

“It’s not that,” Octavia said. “I have work to do.”

“Huh?”

Octavia looked up, directly into her friend’s eyes. “Vinyl, I can’t just move on. I can’t just forget about paint and go back to music, because art is a part of my life now. A part that I’m not just willing to give up because Prince Blueblood threatens me. He said that if I paint again in Canterlot, he’ll ruin my musical career?” She looked back down at her pad. “Well if I lose the thing that has brought me harmony, then what’s the point of doing anything else? I’m not going to let him win, Vinyl. I’m going to take my harmony back.”

Vinyl looked directly into the determined, fiery eyes of Octavia. It only took a second for her to start smiling.

“Heck yeah,” Vinyl said. “Sounds awesome to me. So, what are you gonna do?”

Octavia looked down at the sketch pad. “Well, I had one idea, but I’m going to need some help.”

“I’m with you all the way,” Vinyl replied, but Octavia shook her head. “Huh? No?”

“I appreciate the offer, Vinyl, but in this case, the help I need is going to have to be a bit… bigger.”

—————

End of Chapter 17: It Ends…

Special Thanks: Razyu, Propsen, Worst-Li, and M.Warden

Author's Note

Just FYI, this is NOT the final chapter of ETC. Leaving this note up because the title of the chapter may be a bit misleading...

18. ...On My Terms

"...So I agree that this community garden will be a wonderful benefit to Canterlot. Seaddle has already seen great success with their gardens.”

The ponies gathered around the table nodded in agreement as one of them rolled up the plans in front of him. "With an endorsement like that, I believe we can streamline the process and get the garden started within the week."

"Excellent, please keep me updated on the progress."

"Of course, Princess."

Princess Celestia smiled and nodded as the ponies left the room, leaving only her and a bespectacled pony next to her. He pulled out a piece of parchment and adjusted his glasses.

"This is wonderful, Princess," he said. "You are three minutes and sixteen seconds ahead of schedule, and we're only at lunch!"

"That's because I have my expert planner with me, of course," she said. "Now then, Kibitz, what is next on the schedule?"

Kibitz looked at the scroll as the two trotted out of the room. "Oh, you have a disagreement to be settled, but one that was asked to be done privately."

"That's fine," she said. "What is the issue?"

"It's a musician by the name of Octavia," he said. "She says there is an issue with her pay from the Canterlot Garden Party."

Celestia stopped in her tracks for a second. Kibitz looked back at her.

"Is everything alright, Princess?"

The princess smiled. "Yes, everything's fine. I guess I should have expected her to stop by."

They reached a room to the side of the grand throne room and Kibitz held the door open for the Princess. Inside the waiting room sat Octavia, who immediately looked up at the princess.

"Nice to see you again, Octavia," Celestia said. "Kibitz, if you wouldn't mind, this is a private matter."

"For a pay dispute? I would think I could assist in hammering out any issues that—" Kibitz began to say, before a brief stern look from Celestia stopped his thought process, and he blushed a bit. "Erm... perhaps I could go get some more parchment."

Celestia smiled and nodded as Kibitz left the room, leaving Celestia and Octavia alone. As soon as he was gone, Celestia turned to Octavia.

"This has nothing to do with pay, does it?" she said with a sly smile.

Octavia responded with a smile of her own. "No, it doesn't. My apologies for lying, but I doubt I would have been able to meet with you if I had told your assistant the truth..."

With a nod, Celestia walked forward and exited the other side of the room, Octavia following closely. They trotted in silence for a minute, past numerous guards and ponies who were touring the castle, until they found themselves alone in a long hallway. Octavia recognized it; it was the path that Blueblood had taken her on as they had approached Celestia's quarters.

"I know that you wanted to talk to me," Celestia began, "but I actually had something I wanted to discuss with you, too."

Octavia looked up at Celestia in surprise. "You do?"

"Yes," Celestia said. "This morning, I got a letter from my protégé, Twilight Sparkle."

“Oh,” Octavia said as she glanced away. “W-what did she say?”

“I’d prefer not to talk about much of it, since—“ Celestia stopped herself, then just smiled. "Well, I suppose it's not important now. What is important is something she said near the end of the letter."

Octavia looked up at Celestia, who looked back down at her with a reassuring smile on her face.

"She said that the pony who spray painted their houses apologized," Celestia continued, "and that while the pony did say she doesn't like them, the apology itself was sincere. I am very happy to hear that that happened."

Octavia nodded. "I had a bit of an epiphany on my last day in Ponyville. I may not like what they did, but they deserved the apology."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Celestia said. "And after thinking about it since our last talk, I realized that you deserve one too."

Octavia looked up at the Princess; Celestia was looking down at her with a sincere smile on her face.

“I will admit that what happened at the Gala was wrong. I wanted to enliven the Gala and make the Elements of Harmony feel welcome, but the fact that it came at the cost of other ponies’ happiness is inexcusable. It was wrong of me to assume that nopony was hurt, and I’m sure there are other ponies who were hurt as much as you were. So while I don’t know if this will mean much to you at this point, I am sorry for what I did.”

There was a long silence in the room. Octavia wasn’t sure what to say to Princess Celestia; instead, she just contemplated. When she had finally gathered her thoughts enough, she sighed.

“If you had said that from the very beginning,” Octavia said, “if you had never believed nopony was hurt, then none of this would ever have happened.”

“I know,” Celestia said. “We could have avoided a lot of unpleasantness.”

“You don’t understand. I never would have wanted this to not happen.”

Celestia looked back down at Octavia; now, Octavia had a wistful smile on her face.

"I wouldn't want to undo anything that's happened," she said. “I'm not proud of some of the things I've done, but there is so much more that I am proud of, more proud of than almost anything else I've done in my life. I wouldn't want any of it undone."

Celestia looked into Octavia's eyes for a few seconds, then smiled. "I'm happy to hear that. Now then, I must apologize for getting off topic, you came to see me about something?"

"Yes," Octavia replied. "I've made my decision."

"Regarding?"

"The fact that I'm not ready to end everything."

For a second, Octavia could see a smile forming on Celestia's face. The princess nodded.

“From what I hear, you showed just that down in Ponyville yesterday. Is that what this meeting is about? Informing me of that?"

Octavia shook her head. "Not exactly. Unfortunately, there is a bit of an obstacle standing in my way. So I was wondering..."

She trailed off and looked up at Celestia, then smiled.

"I was wondering if you could do me a bit of a favor."

—————

"You sure you want to do this?" Vinyl asked.

"Absolutely," Octavia quickly replied.

The two ponies looked over the structure before them: a large brick building that stood out from the more modern buildings around it. A hoof-crafted sign reading "The Canterlot Times" hung beneath open windows, from which the sounds of talking ponies and relentless typing could be heard. Vinyl glanced over at Octavia again.

"I mean, this is big. Like, really big," she said. "If you do this, you can't exactly go back."

"I'm well aware," Octavia said. "But I've made my decision, and I'm going forward with it."

There was a pause.

"Hey, do you think they'll say 'stop the presses?' I bet they do! This is the kind of story that—" Vinyl said, then stopped when Octavia shot her a quick glare. "Sorry..."

"It's alright," Octavia said. She took a step forward, but Vinyl laid a hoof on her shoulder.

"I support you in this, of course," Vinyl said, "but... what if you're wrong? What if Canterlot doesn't accept this? What if they aren't as forgiving as you expect?"

"I know that's a possibility," Octavia replied, "but if that is what happens, then so be it. If they are not forgiving... well, I'll figure out what comes next when I get there, I suppose. But this isn't just about their reaction.”

She turned and looked directly at Vinyl.

"If it ends, it ends on my terms," she said. "If it has to end, I refuse to let it be at the hooves of a pony like Prince Blueblood."

Vinyl nodded and smiled. "Alright. I'll be out here if you need anything."

Octavia nodded, took a deep breath, and trotted into the building. After a brief chat with the receptionist who pointed her in the right direction, she walked down a long hallway, ponies rushing past her carrying stacks of paper or engaged in conversation. She finally came to a large door marked with the name she was looking for, and reached up for it. Her hoof momentarily hovered over the door, but with another deep breath, she pushed it open and trotted inside.

A pony behind a desk looked up from the paper he was reading over. "Hey there, how can I help you?"

"Hello," Octavia calmly replied. "I had something that I wanted published in tomorrow's newspaper?"

"Ooooh, I think you might be a bit late," the pony said. "We're just about to begin printing, but we can probably get it in the next day’s. Also, I ain't the pony you want to talk to. I'm just an editor. Classifieds is a few doors down."

"No, I wanted to speak directly to an editor." Octavia reached into her saddle bag and carefully pulled out a few sheets of paper. "I have a bit of a big story... Not to sound presumptuous, but unless there's a far bigger story, I was hoping it would appear elsewhere in the paper."

"Define 'elsewhere.'"

Octavia smirked a bit. "Front page?"

The editor blinked, then put the paper he was holding down. "Now listen. I understand you may be enthusiastic about whatever you want to talk about, but unless what you got in there is something that every pony in Canterlot wants to read, I doubt—"

"It is," Octavia said as she pushed the papers in front of the editor.

The editor rolled his eyes, then began to read the papers. After a few seconds, his eyes widened and he looked up at Octavia, then back down at the paper. He scanned the rest of the papers excitedly, but the excitement waned suddenly as he looked back up at Octavia.

"Listen," he said, "you are, like, the sixth pony to claim this."

"I am?"

"Yeah. A few ponies have come in claiming the exact same thing. Looking to make the news, become famous. In fact, we've gotten ponies making all sorts of claims over the years. I'm sorry, but I can't accept this the way it is. For all I know, you're doing the same."

He started to push the papers back across the table, but Octavia held a hoof out.

"What if I have proof?" she asked as she reached into her saddle bag again.

"What, a friend who can vouch for you? That didn't work for two of the others. You're gonna have to do a bit better than that."

He was just about to go back to his reading when Octavia dropped something else on the desk. He looked over the object, then immediately reached over and grabbed it. He held the rolled-up scroll in both hooves, then turned it to the side to stare in shock at the Royal Seal that held the scroll in place. He glanced up at Octavia, who responded with a smile.

"Would a signed affidavit from Princess Celestia do for proof?” she said.

The editor carefully removed the seal and unfurled the scroll. He scanned it, then looked down at the glimmering signature in the bottom corner. As his eyes widened, another pony walked into the room and took a book of a shelf to the right of the door.

"Banner?" the editor said.

The pony looked up. "Yes?"

"Can you go tell them to wait on beginning to print tomorrow's paper?" the editor said, looking up at Octavia. "I... I think we have a big story here here."

—————

Two guards stood stoically in front of the door to Prince Blueblood's private chambers. It was a routine they had come to know well; Blueblood took his breakfast and tea on his own so he could read the paper in peace.

What was different this morning was the loud pounding that suddenly came from within the room.

The guards immediately turned and flung the door open, rushing in. "Blueblood, sir!" one of them yelled. "Is everything alright?"

Blueblood sat, his face red with rage as he gripped a copy of the Canterlot Times in one hoof, his other hoof pressing into the mahogany breakfast table he sat behind.

"That miserable little..." he mumbled to himself as his eyes scanned the front page at a furious pace.

"Prince, what's wrong?"

Slowly, Blueblood looked up at the two guards. The fire in his eyes extinguished as he set the newspaper down and took a deep breath.

"I should have expected she'd do something like this," he grumbled as he threw the newspaper down on the table.

The guard glanced over at the paper: on the front page was a picture of a pony. She was wearing a simple bow tie and had her mane elegantly brushed back. What stood out more was the text that appeared in large letters next to the picture: "Flanksy."

"Is that..." the guard began.

Blueblood nodded.

"Wow," the guard said. "She actually revealed herself? Well, I guess after her arrest and talk with Celestia, that makes sense. I suppose she's retiring then."

The guard looked over at Blueblood, who was staring a hole through him. He slammed a hoof down on one part of the article, and the guard read it carefully.

"Oh, I see," he said quietly, hoping not to rile up Blueblood any further. It was unsuccessful as the prince stood up, shoving the table away and glaring out the window. The guard carefully trotted up behind him. "Sir, what do you plan on doing now?"

There was no response at first; Blueblood quietly observed Canterlot through the window. The two guards glanced at each other nervously, each not willing to be the one to say anything first. Finally, Prince Blueblood spoke up.

"I'm going for a walk."

"Y-yes sir," the guard replied. He started to step forward when Blueblood shot him a deathly glare.

"Alone," he seethed.

Blueblood turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him hard enough to shake the walls and floor of his chamber.

—————

Twilight Sparkle sighed and crumpled the parchment up. With a flick of her magic she threw it to the side, where Spike dove to catch it in an almost-overflowing trash can. He quickly tore off a new section of scroll and handed it to Twilight, who dipped her quill in ink.

“So… take 22?” Spike asked.

“It may take a while, Spike, but I am going to get this letter precisely right,” Twilight said. “Now, tell me how this sounds: Dear Octavia…”

Spike waited, but Twilight didn’t continue. After a few seconds, her head rested down on the table.

“Nothin’?” Spike asked.

“What in Equestria am I supposed to say?” Twilight asked. “Think about everything she did to us! She painted our houses, she broke in… but she seemed apologetic. She did some awful things to all of us, but then she painted that incredible mural on the dam! I have no idea what I’m supposed to say to this pony! Do I condemn her for what she did to us? Do I forgive her? I don’t even know what to think of her as a pony!”

Twilight stood up from the desk and flopped down on her bed in frustration. Spike walked across the room and sat down on the bed next to her. “Well, do you have to say something to her?”

“Celestia said it might be helpful to write her a letter,” Twilight said into her pillow. “I don’t know, she left before any of us got a chance to talk to her. We have plenty to say to her, but I’m just not sure what.”

Spike was about to reply when he momentarily held his stomach, then let out a breath of green fire. Twilight glanced back.

“A letter from Celestia?” she asked as she reached down and picked up the paper that lay on the floor. “Wait; this is a copy of today’s Canterlot Times. Why would she send me this?”

Twilight unfolded the newspaper, immediately seeing the headline accompanied by a picture. Next to the picture was a small piece of parchment, on which a long note was written in a hoofwriting that Twilight recognized immediately.

“‘My dearest student,’” Twilight read, “‘I thought you should see this.’”

Spike poked his head over Twilight’s shoulder. “Hey, that’s the pony, isn’t it?”

Twilight nodded, then trotted back over to her desk. She stared quietly at the picture of the pony on the front page, then began to read the article.

—————

Amethyst Star dipped her brush into the can of red paint. As she pulled the brush out, she couldn’t help but admire the specks of paint dribbling off the end of it; it was one of the simple pleasures she had come to enjoy from painting. She pressed the brush into the half-finished painting to create a long red streak across the sky, then looked back up across the street as the sun slowly rose up behind the skyline.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from her side, “but some of your paintings are in front of ze door to my studio.”

Amethyst looked to the side to see how far apart she had set her paintings. “Oh shoot, I’m sorry!” she said as she gathered up the paintings. “I just set up here to watch the sunrise, didn’t even notice the door.”

“It is alright,” the pony said as she stepped up to the door. She had only just inserted the key into the lock when she glanced back at Amethyst, this time noticing the newspaper sitting next to her. As soon as she saw the headline, she stopped trying to unlock the door and picked it up.

“Flanksy…”

“Yup,” Amethyst said with a smile. “That’s her.”

Photo Finish quickly scanned the article for a minute as Amethyst continued painting. As she got to the end of the article, she too began to smile.

“Vonderful,” she said quietly. “Simply vonderful.”

“What’s vonderful?” Amethyst asked, then shook her head and blushed. “I mean, wonderful?”

“This,” Photo Finish replied as she held the article out. “The fact zat true art will win out. Zat one of ze greatest artists Canterlot has ever seen hasn’t gone away.”

Amethyst nodded. “I’m glad to see her back, too. After what she said to me, I thought she was done.”

“Vhat she said to you?”

“Oh, uh, nothing. Anyway, if you’d like, I can move my stuff to across the street, get it out of the way of your studio, Miss Finish.” Amethyst said as she started to gather her paintings again. “I didn’t even realize what building this was, I can only assume there will be ponies coming in and out all day.”

“Yes, I have quite the busy schedule today.”

Amethyst nodded and stacked her paintings up. She was reaching for the last one when Photo Finish held her own hoof out.

“No,” she said. “Stay.”

“What?”

Amethyst looked up at Photo Finish. The sun was now high enough over the buildings that it was glaring off of Photo Finish’s reflective sunglasses; Amethyst had to avert her eyes a bit. Photo Finish responded by taking her sunglasses off and looking directly into Amethyst’s eyes, smiling as she spoke.

“Please, stay. You can set up right here, to ze side of ze entrance,” Photo Finish said. “Vith any luck, the ponies coming in and out vill see it.”

Photo Finish put her glasses back on and gave a last nod to Amethyst, then unlocked the door to her studio and trotted in. Amethyst sat quietly for a moment before the smile returned to her face, and she quickly spread her paintings out again. As she turned her attention back to the painting she had been working on, she reached over and took the paint brush in her hoof, then glanced at the newspaper to her side. She looked at the picture of Octavia on the front of the paper.

“Thanks,” she said quietly as she pulled the brush in and drew another long stroke across the Canterlot morning sky.

—————

To whom it may concern in Canterlot,

My name is Octavia Melody. By trade, I am a musician who specializes in the cello. There is a chance you have heard of me before. I have played at some of the more prestigious venues and events in Canterlot, including the Grand Galloping Gala and the Canterlot Garden Party. I am honored to have accomplished so much in my young career here in the Canterlot.

However, the chances are far greater that you are familiar with my other activity; for the past several months, I have been spray-painting walls and monuments in Canterlot under the pseudonym of "Flanksy."

I figure that I should explain why I adopted this persona in the first place. I don’t want to go into details, so I will keep it straight forward; it began simply as an outlet. After a particular incident I was angry; angry at one pony in particular. Given what my first piece of art in Canterlot was, it should go without saying who this pony was. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. There was no premeditation, no plan, no thoughts of even continuing. I was angry and I needed an outlet; spray painting the statue of Celestia was it. That was supposed to be it.

But things changed. It became far more than I intended. Painting walls was a rush for me the likes of which I had never felt before. Through painting—be it colorful murals of something a bit more controversial—I felt a sense of attachment, a sense of euphoria. I found my harmony.

I understand that I am a bit of a polarizing figure in this city. There are those who enjoy my work and what I have done, and there are those who think I sully the image of Canterlot. I have come to accept that, in doing what I do, I will never be universally accepted. I've made my peace with that. But that is not why I have decided to pen this article, to reveal to Canterlot who I am.

I am doing this because of what happened the last time Flanksy was seen in Canterlot. What I did before Flanksy seemingly disappeared.

What I did then was not art, it was not a statement, it was not changing Canterlot. What I did was hateful and selfish, and is something I look back on with disgust. I am ashamed of what I did to the Elements of Harmony. I am being punished for those actions, punishment that I absolutely deserve. To attack ponies, to break into their homes, I am not proud of that.

But I am proud of everything else I have done.

I painted trees and the fountain in Canterlot Park. I declared fashion "fake" in front of a crowd assembled specifically to watch a fashion show. I painted a statue of Princess Celestia and outright called her ignorant

I’m proud of what I did there. I'm proud that I did something new, something Canterlot has never seen before. I'm proud that—negatively or positively—I had everypony talking. I'm proud that I have inspired ponies to create their own art. I am proud that I found something that brought me a sense of harmony with Canterlot that I have never felt before, not even though music.

And it is because of that pride that I have come to a decision: I have absolutely no intention of stopping.

I'm not about to give up what has brought me so much happiness—and brought other ponies happiness as well. When I decide to end my art, I will end it on my terms. I will not be bullied into ending something that means so much to me.

A certain pony told me that as far as he was concerned, Flanksy was dead. In a way, I suppose he's right. After what I did to the Elements of Harmony, after the way I acted, I'm not sure I want Flanksy to return either. He wants Flanksy gone? Flanksy will be gone.

But that doesn't mean I am gone.

I want to continue what I was doing: creating art that has never been seen in this city. Getting ponies talking. Following my harmony. Making Canterlot more beautiful.

I'm sure some of you don't like that I will be continuing my art, but as I said, I've come to understand that in what I do. And perhaps it sounds selfish of me to say this, but I'm not doing this for the ponies who hate what I’ve done. I’m not concerning myself with those who find me immoral or wrong, or those who wish to see my art eradicated.

I’m doing it for those of you who look forward to what I create. I’m doing it for the ponies who spent time in Canterlot Park for the time it was a sea of color. I’m doing it for the ponies who were inspired by me to create art of their own.

But most importantly, I’m doing it for me. I’m doing it because it’s what I want to do. I’m doing it because I don’t want to give up what has done so much for me. I’m doing it because I’ve atoned for my sins, and want to go back to making Canterlot beautiful.

I’m doing this because it’s my harmony.

Sincerely,
Octavia Melody
Formerly known as “Flanksy”

—————

Vinyl laid on the couch reading yesterday’s newspaper. She had read it over and over again—at this point, she almost had it memorized—but she couldn’t help reading it one more time, a huge smile plastered on her face. As she read through it, the gentle notes of Setrotskan’s Prèlude wafted from across the apartment. Vinyl folded the newspaper up and trotted to Octavia’s room, where she found her roommate playing the cello.

“How ya feelin’?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia let out a long sigh. “Free.”

Vinyl smiled. “Awesome.”

For a bit, neither pony talked as Octavia continued playing. Vinyl rubbed her hoof into the ground, then looked back at the newspaper she had left on the table in the living room.

“Hey, I don’t want to make you feel bad or anything, but you haven’t been out of the house since yesterday morning.”

“Well, I haven’t had—“

Octavia stopped herself as she looked directly at Vinyl. The music slowly came to a stop and she laid her bow down, then sighed.

“I suppose I’m still nervous about everything,” she said.

“I don’t blame you,” Vinyl said. “I mean, there’s still a lot up in the air about this whole thing. But…”

“I know,” Octavia said. “I can’t stay cooped up forever. I’m going to have to face Canterlot at some point if I’m going to continue.”

“Exactly. I’m glad you understand that.”

Octavia looked over to her closet. Her Flanksy attire was no longer there, but there were a few cans of paint scattered along the ground. She looked them over, then stood up.

“Then I suppose there’s no time like the present.”

She began to walk through the apartment towards the front door as Vinyl jumped up.

“Whoah, really?” she asked. “It’s the middle of the day, there are gonna be a ton of ponies out. If you’re really nervous you could probably wait a little bit for things to calm down outside, maybe go out to dinner or something.”

Octavia reached the door and turned around to once again look directly at Vinyl. There was a determination burning in her eyes, one that Vinyl had not seen in Octavia in quite some time; she had last seen it when Octavia had told her that she wanted to change Canterlot, all those months ago just after the media had dubbed her “Flanksy.”

“Like I said in my letter, I am going to continue,” Octavia said, her voice full of confidence. “If I’m going to continue, I need to know what reaction I will be getting from Canterlot. You’re right, Vinyl; I am nervous about this, but I’m going to have to face it at some point. I’m through waiting, I’m through being on the defensive in this whole situation. I took action with that letter, and I’m going to continue that action right now. Right now, this isn’t about painting. This is about simply seeing how Canterlot is going to react to seeing me.”

Vinyl nodded. “I understand. Want me to come with you?”

“I have a feeling a lot of ponies are going to have a lot of questions to start off,” Octavia said. “Maybe it would be best if you stayed here.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Vinyl smiled and patted Octavia on the shoulder. “Lemme know how everything goes.”

Octavia nodded and turned to the door. She laid her hoof on the doorknob and momentarily felt a paralyzing chill shoot through her body; the last remnant of the anxiety in the back of her mind. Her hoof’s grip tightened around the doorknob.

Without another thought, she opened the door and stepped out into Canterlot.

—————

End of Chapter 18: …On My Terms

Special Thanks: Propsev, Razam Rose, Wo Dallas, and AdWarden Neville

19. Spark Redux

Octavia had no destination in mind—there were no errands she had to run, nothing to do downtown, no practical reason to even leave the apartment that day. She just wanted to walk. Minutes passed as Octavia wandered from street to street, only seeing a scant few ponies around, but even then they seemed too busy in their own world to acknowledge her. It was almost disappointing; she had wanted to see the reaction that she would get from the ponies of Canterlot.

Eventually she came to a crossroads near downtown and paused. Even here, not as many ponies were out and about as she expected, and she was almost tempted to just turn around and go home, but she stopped as she took stock of where she was. Off in the distance, she could make out an opening in the streets and a single grey statue standing tall in the center. Octavia slowly trotted down the street, the statue ever growing in her view, until it was right in front of her.

She sat down on the street and quietly looked over the statue. Apart from a few little scratches here and there, it was just as flawless as it was when it had first been revealed months ago. Octavia had never taken the time to really examine it, but it struck her now just how detailed it was: every feather had been meticulously carved, the crown looked regal despite its grey color, and the tail was sculpted in such a way that still created a sense of movement. It really was a magnificent statue.

“It’s not the same when it isn’t green, is it?” a voice said.

Octavia snapped out of her trance and looked around. Standing next to her was a pony with an elegantly coiffed blue mane and a styled suit, who was also looking over the statue.

“No, it isn’t,” Octavia replied. “But it’s quite nice this way, too.”

“I read the column you penned in the Canterlot Times,” Fancy Pants said as. “It was quite illuminating, I must say.”

“Thank you.”

“For whatever it is worth,” Fancy Pants continued, “I really did enjoy the majority of your artwork. I never would have expected that it started on a whim, however. I guess I just assumed this was something some artist had been planning for some time.”

Octavia shook her head. “No… just a bit of stress relief. At first, anyway.” She looked over at Fancy Pants to find that he was now looking directly at her.

“I can only hope that this isn’t the end of what you’ve been doing,” he said, his voice quiet, but sincere. “I think much of what you have done has been astounding; it is precisely the kind of art that Canterlot needs more of, and I hope to see more of it.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Octavia replied, “and my hope is that I get to continue as well. However, it’s still a bit up in the air, depending on… well, depending on how Canterlot reacts, I suppose.”

“Understandable,” Fancy Pants said. “I for one certainly hope that the reaction is a positive one.”

With a confident smile, Fancy Pants turned and trotted off down the path that Octavia had entered through. She watched as he shrunk into the distance, then looked back at the statue. For a minute she sat quietly and looked it over, then pushed herself up to her hooves.

“No more stalling,” she muttered to herself as she trotted around the statue. “I know one place where there are sure to be ponies out right now.”

—————

The Canterlot Outdoor Market, as always, was a bustling and thriving section of the city. Ponies were walking every which way to various booths and blankets where others were selling everything from fresh vegetables to artwork. Since many ponies were also out to grab food for lunch during mid-day break, the market was as busy as it would ever get during the day.

Octavia stood right at the outskirts of the market, hesitant.

When she had left the apartment, she had been so full of confidence, ready to face Canterlot for the first time. But actually being there—actually seeing all the ponies right in front of her—was giving her doubts.

After what I did, they might not forgive me, she thought to herself. No, I’ve atonedand am trying to do the right thing again. But is that going to be enough? What if—

Her thoughts came to a grinding halt when she looked to her right and realized that a pony sitting behind a small table of radishes was staring directly at her. For a few moments their eyes were locked until the pony leaned over to the pony next to him and whispered something. The other pony looked over at Octavia, and the two continued mumbling to each other, neither one taking their eyes off of her. A frantic cry in the back of Octavia’s mind was telling her to just turn around and go home; the confidence she thought she had was quickly dissipating and she could feel her knees starting to tremble. But she swallowed her fright and took her first tentative steps forward.

As she strode further into the market, Octavia could feel more and more eyes on her. She kept her head up as she walked, trying her best to simply walk forward, but she couldn’t help but glance around her and see the number of ponies who were now noticing her and talking to each other. She tried to read their expressions without drawing attention to herself, but instead decided to just continue walking forward. After a few more steps a small crafts booth across the way caught her eye and she stopped.

The only items at the booth for sale were small and elegant, each one with its own unique contours and shapes. At the back of the booth a single pony sat, working on a much larger piece of marble on a table: she was carefully carving one part of it to resemble a pony’s tail. Octavia trotted up to the counter and cleared her throat.

“E-excuse me, Miss Chisel?”

Marble Chisel looked up from her sculpture. For a few seconds she looked at Octavia, before a slight smile crossed her face and she stood up.

“Hello… Octavia, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you face-to-face,” Marble continued. “I must say, finding out the most controversial artist in Canterlot is also a musician was not exactly what I was expecting. I figured you were a lesser-known artist looking to make a name for yourself. Anyways, did you want to discuss something?”

“I wanted to thank you for standing up for me at the town hall meeting,” Octavia said. “Having you say those things about my art, even after what I did to your statue… it really did mean a lot to me, and I think hearing the pony who made that statue support Flanksy really did a lot for Flanksy.”

Marble nodded. “When I said that I had never seen an artistic statement like yours, I meant every word of it. Even I will admit that being willing to express such a controversial opinion, and do it in such a public way, is something I could never do myself.”

“I really do appreciate that.” Octavia smiled at Marble, but her smile faltered as Marble looked directly into her eyes.

“I meant every word of it,” Marble said again, “but I hope you realize I also meant it when I said I wasn’t a fan of what you did to my statue.” Octavia glanced down at the ground as Marble continued. “I appreciated your message, but having it come at the expense of my own art was something I wasn’t fond of. And while I can’t speak for her, I can only assume that Chic Trend thought the same thing.”

Octavia slowly nodded her head. “I hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to do as Flanksy yet. I’m sorry that it came at the expense of your own art.”

There was a long pause as neither pony said anything; Octavia awkwardly scuffed her hooves against the ground as Marble gathered her own thoughts. Octavia wasn’t sure what else to say and considered closing out the conversation and leaving, but Marble spoke up again.

“I certainly hope that for whatever you do next, you don’t do it at the expense of another artist.”

Octavia looked up. “What I do next?”

Marble looked back at her. “Well, yes. Something more like the murals you created on walls. I was expecting a return to those.”

“Even after everything I did?” Octavia asked.

Marble nodded. “Unless I read the letter wrong, you seem remorseful for what you did. Ponies deserve second chances, especially ones who have done so much for the art scene in Canterlot. I hope other ponies feel the same way, really.”

Another pony trotted up next to them and began to look over one of the small sculptures that was being sold; Marble momentarily turned her attention to them. She handed a few bits over to Marble, who began to wrap the statue in bubble wrap. As she did, the pony looked over at Octavia.

“Oh, hello,” she said with a smile. “Interesting article you had in the paper.” She turned back as Marble handed the statue to her, and with a nod she trotted off. Octavia watched her leave, then looked back at Marble, who was putting the bits away in a small box. Marble looked up at her.

“Is everything alright?” Marble said.

Octavia nodded. “Just… thank you. It really means a lot to hear you say that you want me to continue. To be honest, I hadn’t quite decided if I was going to yet.”

Marble smiled back at her. “Canterlot could always use more art. I wouldn’t want Flanksy to go away... if anything, I’m more curious than ever to see what’s going to come next.”

“Well as far as ‘Flanksy’ goes, I’m done with that,” Octavia replied. “The costume, that is. If…” she trailed off and looked back at the market. Ponies were still going about their day, but now she noticed something else beyond the market, on the nearest wall. Although the buildings around it were bright and colorful, this building was dull and grey. Its plainness stood out like a sore hoof. She looked back at Marble and smiled slyly. “When I return to art, I’m going to do it as me. No more disguises.”

Marble chuckled. “Bit of a shame, I liked the mysterious look.”

Before Octavia could reply, she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

“Excuse me, miss.”

Octavia turned around to find herself looking into the eyes of a royal guard. The guard glanced around, then leaned in closer.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave the market.”

Octavia’s eyes widened and she looked back at Marble, who seemed just as surprised. Octavia took a deep breath and looked directly into the guard’s eyes.

“You can’t tell me to leave when I’m doing nothing wrong,” she said. “I am already paying for my crimes, that does not mean I have to remain—“

“No no,” the guard said. “I’m not telling you as a guard, I’m asking you, pony-to-pony, to leave. I really don’t want there to be a scene.”

“I am not causing a scene!” Octavia hissed under her breath.

The guard shook his head. “I’m not referring to you.”

“What?” Octavia said. “Then who?”

The guard looked around again nervously. “Well, Prince Blueblood is at the market right now. He has not been in a good mood since your piece ran in the Canterlot Times. I personally think he realizes that there’s nothing else he can do, and actually seeing you here… I don’t think it’s what he wants right now.”

Octavia shook her head. “I do appreciate your concern, but I’m not about to act any different just because he’s here. Besides, he said he wanted Flanksy dead, right? Well, as far as both he and I are concerned, Flanksy is dead.

The guard didn’t say anything for a second, then nodded. “Alright. Thank you anyways.”

The guard turned and walked back into the crowd, leaving Octavia alone. She looked over at Marble Chisel, who just shrugged as another pony walked up to her and pointed at one of the pieces she was selling. Octavia gave her one last nod, then turned and walked back through the market. She only took a few steps before she looked across the street again at the large grey building. Even with all the ponies around and the general din of the market, everything else seemed to fade as she looked past the booths to the blank wall.

Almost immediately, she could feel a spark dancing lightly about in the back of her mind. A smile curled across her face as she started walking back the way she came through the market. As she was nearing the end of the booths, she noticed a few ponies gathered around one spot on a far wall. In between them was a familiar pony, smiling as she chatted with one of them, her magic holding a paint brush next to her. Octavia turned and began to walk towards the group.

“YOU!”

Octavia stopped dead in her tracks as the voice pierced the air of the market, causing a hush to fall over the area. She slowly turned around to find herself looking at Prince Blueblood. There was fury burning in his eyes as he stormed straight through the crowd and put himself right in Octavia’s face, their noses practically touching. Octavia instinctively backed up to get away from him but Blueblood followed her, his face shaking in rage. Almost immediately Octavia could see ponies stopping what they were doing and watching in shock.

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing here?!” he practically screamed. “You have a lot of nerve to show your face in Canterlot again!”

Octavia took a deep breath and looked Blueblood directly in the eyes. “I am just wandering around downtown,” she said calmly. “I’m doing nothing wrong.”

“You being in Canterlot is wrong!” Blueblood yelled right back. “You think that little stunt you pulled in the newspaper is going to change anything? You’re still a criminal!”

“And I am paying for my crimes,” Octavia said. “But that does not mean that I have to remain in my home during it. Do you just expect me to shelter myself away?”

“Who said anything about your home? If I had my way, you’d never be allowed in Canterlot again!!”

Blueblood continued to advance on Octavia as she tried to remain calm. A massive crowd of ponies had formed around them and she did not want to sink to Bluebloods level in public. Instead, she turned around and began to walk away, hoping to just get away from the situation.

“You cannot just walk away from me! I am the prince of Canterlot!” he screamed after her. “And you’re nothing! You’re just some pathetic excuse of an artist and a pathetic excuse of a pony!!”

Octavia stopped dead in her tracks as the words rang in her head. Her hooves shook as she turned around and stared daggers into Blueblood’s face. As she stepped forward, a single thought went through her mind.

To heck with it… there’s already a scene.

“You will not talk to me like that!” she screamed. “I don’t care how angry you are, how big of a temper tantrum you throw, how big of a scene you try to make in public… the only thing that you could do against me, I took away. And I am not going to stand here and allow you to call me pathetic!”

“That’s bold talk coming from a pony who so openly insulted others,” Blueblood said.

Octavia took a deep breath and stepped forward. She and Blueblood were now nose-to-nose once again, neither one willing to flinch.

“That may be true,” Octavia said, “but I had the common decency to understand my mistakes and apologize for them. But knowing everything I do about you, you’ll never apologize for anything you’ve done.”

“That letter was not you ‘understanding your mistakes!’” Blueblood said. “That was you trying to cover for yourself so you can go back to what you love to do and ruin Canterlot.”

The word “ruining” set something off in the back of Octavia’s mind as she looked at the crowd. Ponies were gathered in a circular crowd around the two of them in silence, watching. Standing right at the front of the group was Amethyst Star, her eyes wide as saucers as she watched the scene unfold. Octavia turned back to Prince Blueblood, her face no longer shaking.

“There are ponies who do not like what I have done,” she quietly said. “There are ponies who have been inspired by what I did. I have done things that I will cherish for the rest of my life, and I have done things that I truly regret. But I can assure you of one thing: I have never tried to ruin Canterlot. Even with the… the horrible things I did to other ponies, it was never my intention to do harm to Canterlot. So do not tell me that I enjoy ruining Canterlot, because if you truly believe that, you’re more delusional than I thought.”

Blueblood, for once, had no response: he just stood quietly. Octavia turned away for a second, then began to pace in front of him.

“You were right for knocking sense into me when I had lost sight of why I love this,” she continued, “but to then hang a threat over my head, to try to take everything away from me just based on your own hatred for what I do? You’re not mad now because I’m going to continue. The only reason you’re mad is because you know that your attempt to blackmail me into stopping failed.”

Many of the ponies gathered muttered to each other as Blueblood began to sweat. He looked around awkwardly, then cleared his throat.

“I d-did that because I was acting—“

“Don’t!” Octavia yelled. “You know what? Ever since I began all this, you and I have gone back and forth endlessly. I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to deal with you anymore, Blueblood. Let me make this very clear to you.”

She once again got directly in the face of Prince Blueblood. He briefly averted his eyes, but Octavia waited a few moments until he was looking directly at her again.

“I’ve made my mistakes, I’m atoning for my sins, and I have sight of what I should have been doing all along. But you? You are just as stubborn and rude as the first time you and I ever had issues. I am done with you. I’m done trying to fight you, I’m done trying to prove you wrong. I said it in the letter, and I’ll say it to your face: Flanksy is gone. You can give yourself a little pat on the back, because she’s never returning. But my art is going to continue. I am going to continue to create, because it’s my harmony. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

With one final nod to Blueblood, Octavia turned and walked away, the crowd dispersing around her as she left. Blueblood was left alone in the middle of the ponies, looking around awkwardly at the ponies who were now slowly turning their attention to him. He stuttered a few times to find something to say before he turned and quietly walked the other direction, his royal guards following behind him.

As Octavia reached the edge of the market, she let out a long sigh. She momentarily glanced over her left shoulder to see that a few ponies were still watching her, but many had gone back to what they were doing, talking quietly to each other. Beyond them she could just barely make out the black wall on the far side of the market.

“Hey,” a voice came from her right. Octavia turned to find Amethyst Star standing next to her.

“Oh, hello.”

“Did you mean what you said back there?” Amethyst asked with a hopeful smile. “Are you definitely going back to your art?”

Octavia nodded. “Absolutely. I’m not sure how soon I’ll return to it, but I—“

She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence before Amethyst grabbed her around the neck in a hug.

“T-thank you,” Amethyst said. “Thank you so much.”

As Amethyst broke the hug, Octavia smiled. “To be honest, no matter what my decision was, I’m quite looking forward to seeing more of your art.”

Amethyst Star’s eyes sparkled like a filly’s on Hearth’s Warming Eve. “You are?”

“Absolutely,” Octavia said, before gesturing behind Amethyst. “And by the looks of it, I’m not the only one.”

Amethyst looked back to where Octavia was pointing to see that numerous ponies were now standing near where she had been selling her art. Many of them were watching her and Octavia talk, but some were looking through the paintings she had created and commenting to each other. Amethyst looked back to Octavia, who just nodded at her, then turned and walked off. Amethyst stared after her for a few seconds, unable to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes, before quickly wiping them away and galloping back towards her paintings.

—————

Octavia stared at the papers spread around the table in front of her; the various designs drawn on them completely distinct in their coloring, pattern, and style. She picked up a few of them and compared their designs, then sighed and put them down before picking up a few more.

Vinyl poked her her head out from the kitchen. “Anything yet?”

Octavia shook her head, but smiled. “No, but that’s just fine. I don’t want to rush this, Vinyl. When I return to art, I’m going to do it when it feels right.”

Vinyl nodded. “Makes sense.” Octavia went back to her sketch pad and began to draw something again as Vinyl sat down next to her. She picked up one of the sketches herself. “Man,” Vinyl said. “When you get back into this, you are going to be busy. I don’t think Canterlot is going to have any blank walls left.”

“I don’t want to cover every inch of Canterlot,” Octavia said with a chuckle. “I’m not even thinking that far ahead. I just want to think about what the first step will be, that’s all. It’s just a matter of how—” She didn’t finish as there was a knock at the front door.

“I got it,” Vinyl said as she jumped up to her hooves. Octavia returned to her sketch pad, taking a colored pencil in her hoof and filling in one of the corners. After a few seconds she heard the door open, then another pause.

“Hey, uh, Tavi?” Vinyl called. “Um… it’s for you.”

Octavia put the pad down and walked to the front door. As she arrived, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Vinyl was standing at the door, a mixture of confusion and concern on her face. And outside the door stood Princess Celestia’s protégé: Twilight Sparkle. For a moment, a thick, awkward silence hung in the air, until Twilight finally broke it.

"Good, I have the right apartment," Twilight said. "Can I come in?"

Octavia blinked. "Sure," she said.

Twilight trotted into the apartment. She stood awkwardly until Octavia gestured towards the couch. As they sat down, Vinyl Scratch coughed.

"Uh, I think I hear my room calling. I'll leave you two alone," she mumbled before hurriedly walking away. There was a long silence in the room as Octavia and Twilight Sparkle glanced around for a bit, both nervous to be the first to speak.

"You came all the way to Canterlot to talk to me?” Octavia asked.

“I saw your open letter in the Canterlot Times a few days ago,” Twilight replied. “I was originally going to write you, but after talking it over with my friends, I figured talking to you directly would be better.”

“How did you even find my address?”

Twilight blushed a bit. “I still had your papers from your community service work in Ponyville. A lot of your information was on there, including your address.”

“I see,” Octavia said. Twilight looked down at the table covered in sketches and Octavia followed her gaze as Twilight’s eyes fell on the sketch pad and colored pencils that Octavia had been working with.

“So the reason I’m here,” Twilight finally said, “is because of what you said to us when you left Ponyville. You kinda said a lot to us, but we didn’t get the chance to say anything in return.”

“Yes,” Octavia quietly replied. “I really just wanted to get my piece in.”

“Well now it’s time for our piece. We’ve done some talking, and we have something to say to you too.”

Octavia nodded. She looked over at the table and scanned all the drawings that she had made, eventually looking at the same one Twilight had been looking at: the half-colored mural in her sketchbook. She didn’t look Twilight in the eyes, she just waited for her to continue.

“We’re sorry, too.”

Octavia looked up at Twilight, to find that the Element of Harmony had an apprehensive smile on her face. “Y-you are?”

“I mean, we’re not about to forgive you just like that for what you did to us. Not yet, anyway,” Twilight continued. “But at the same time… we understand what we did wrong, too. And we think that since you apologized to us, you deserve an apology, too. So, we’re sorry.”

Octavia looked into the sincere eyes of Twilight. “I-I,” she stuttered, then paused again as she broke her gaze and looked down at the sketch pad. She ran her hoof along the drawing, then finally looked back up at Twilight, smiling.

“I… Hearing that means a lot to me,” Octavia said.

“But there’s something else I wanted to say,” Twilight said. “I know that you said you didn’t like us. And while I guess I can understand why… we don’t want you to feel like we are ignorant of our mistakes.

“You came all the way to Canterlot to tell me this? Even after everything I did to you?”

“Like I said, we’re not ready to forgive you,” Twilight continued. “But we don’t want there to be any negativity between us. That’s what made everything from this situation get so horrible. So that’s the other reason I’m here… I’m hoping we can bury the hatchet.”

Silence once again filled the room as Octavia struggled to find the right words. She eventually sighed. “I just want to move on from everything, but it’s going to take time,” Octavia said.

She looked back over at Twilight and found herself staring at an extended hoof. It was accompanied by a smile by the unicorn.

“Well, maybe this could be a start?” Twilight said.

Octavia looked back down at the extended hoof. A smile appeared on her face as she slowly reached out and returned the hoofshake.

“Yes,” she said. “This is a wonderful start.”

The two ponies held the hoofshake for a bit in silence, but the awkwardness that had plagued the room was gone; Octavia could feel herself breathing easier, and there was a sense of slight relief on Twilight’s face. Finally they broke the grasp, and Twilight stood up from the couch.

“That’s all I had to say. I’m meeting Princess Celestia for lunch; I’m sure she’ll be interested in hearing about this.” Twilight said.

“I’m sure she will, too.” Octavia led Twilight to the front door and held it open for her, but as Twilight stepped through, she glanced back.

“By the way,” Twilight said, “Ponyville really liked your mural.”

Octavia blinked a few times, unsure of what to say. “They did?”

Twilight nodded. “Quite a lot, actually. We think it’s a nice addition to the town. So, thank you for that. We plan on keeping it up for a while.”

With one last smile, Twilight trotted away. Octavia stood in silence in the doorway and watched as Twilight disappeared down the street. From behind, Octavia could hear the door to Vinyl’s room opening, and the sound of hoofsteps.

“She’s gone?” Vinyl asked. “So, what did she want?”

Octavia continued to look off down the street, where Twilight was no longer visible. She slowly closed the door and returned to the couch.

“The same thing that I wanted,” Octavia said, picking up her sketch pad and looking out the window with a smile on her face. “Closure.”

—————

Octavia lay wide awake in bed. The moon had long since ascended into the sky, yet she wasn’t tired in the least. She couldn’t place exactly why she wasn’t tired, but in the back of her mind, she knew that she wasn’t getting to sleep any time soon. She rolled over and looked at the clock on the wall: 2:19 AM. She sighed and rolled over again, burying her face in the pillow in one last attempt to force herself to sleep, but after a few minutes of silence she sighed and rolled out of bed, giving up entirely.

She carefully opened the door to her bedroom and trotted into the main room of the apartment. She could hear Vinyl’s snoring through the door to her room, so she carefully snuck past it and into the living room. Still scattered around the table were the drawings she had been working on all day, with her sketch pad sitting in the middle of it all. She turned on the lamp in the corner and sat down on the couch, picking the sketch pad up in her lap and looking over the picture.

It had taken the rest of the day, but she had finally gotten the drawing just how she wanted it, swirls of color and patterns within patterns filling the entire page. As she admired it, a thought crossed her mind: the grey building at the Canterlot Outdoor Market, its lifelessness standing out in the rest of the market.

“By the way, Ponyville really liked your mural.”

It suddenly occurred to Octavia just why she couldn’t sleep.

She took the sketch pad under her forehoof and grabbed a paper bag from the kitchen, then returned to her room and opened the closet. Inside was still a large stockpile of unused spray paint cans, and she grabbed as many of them as she could fit in the bag. She carefully slid the sketch pad into the bag and returned to the main room, carefully and silently opening and closing the front door before she took off into the night.

—————

The Canterlot Outdoor Market was a completely different place in the dead of night. Apart from the lanterns lighting the area, the entire market was still. The many booths that ponies used to sell their goods were barren, and would be for several more hours until ponies would file in early to claim the best booths. Octavia had never seen the market like this before; the stillness was all at once eerie, yet calming. She walked calmly down the center of the path, glancing around at the darkened surroundings until she got to her destination, where the large grey building stood to the side.

She worked her way between the booths until she stood directly in front of the building. She pulled the sketch pad out of the bag and set it up against the wall, then poured all of the paint cans out on the ground. They scattered all in front of the wall and she took the first one she could get her hoof on, then popped the lid off and stood in front of the wall.

A feeling of euphoria rushed through Octavia as she held the can up to the wall. She closed her eyes and let the feeling completely envelop her. It was a feeling that she was familiar with; it was what she had used to fuel her projects over the past several months, a feeling that she wanted to get back to any time she went out under the mask. But unlike any time before, she didn’t just want to use it to help her paint. She wanted the feeling to stay with her for as long as possible.

She pressed down on the nozzle of the can and drew the first long purple streak across the wall. The paint seemed to sparkle in the night and Octavia stepped back and admired it, no matter how simple it was. She didn’t want to just put the mural up tonight; she wanted to take her time with it. She glanced back down at her sketch pad and looked over the drawing that she had thought she had gotten down perfectly only a few minutes before. She looked back and forth between the single streak on the wall and the drawing before she reached out and took the pad in her hoof, then dropped it back into the bag.

“I don’t need this.” She smiled as she turned back to the wall and extended the purple line.

Minute after minute ticked by as Octavia kept spraying the wall. Soon, an hour had passed and the basic outline of her mural was starting to form. Ordinarily she would have gotten much further than this, but time wasn’t something she was concerning herself with. The night was still; there were no ponies about watching her. She was just there to paint.

She reached down for a new color when a voice startled her.

“Excuse me.”

Octavia turned around to find a night guard standing behind her. His bright yellow eyes briefly turned up to look over the wall, then back down to Octavia.

“I’m going to have to report this.”

Octavia shook her head. “I’m not doing anything wrong,” she said quietly.

“I understand that,” the guard replied, “but this isn’t an official Canterlot matter.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s in regards to Prince Blueblood,” the guard replied. “He specifically asked us to alert him the next time we saw Flanksy—that is, saw you—painting anywhere in the city.”

Octavia shook her head and turned back to the wall. “There’s nothing more he can do to me.”

“I think he knows that,” the guard said. “But he was insistent.”

“If that’s what he asked of you, there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Thank you for informing me.”

The guard nodded, then unfurled his black wings and took off towards Canterlot castle. Octavia looked back as he disappeared into the night, then took a can in her hoof once again and popped the top off.

—————

Octavia squinted at the town hall clock in the far distance. There was barely any light, and she could only make out that it was some time past 4 AM. She wasn’t too concerned with the time itself, though. She tried to make out the rough shape of the top of the clock, then smiled as she grasped the can in her hoof tighter and looked at the wall in front of her. The mural was coming together, but now came the details, and she carefully examined what she had just sprayed; she wanted to make sure that it looked on the wall exactly how it looked in her head.

“What is wrong with you?” came a voice from behind.

Octavia closed her eyes; she knew it was coming. That voice would pierce her ears once again. She resumed painting.

“Nothing,” she said. “I feel like I”m doing the right thing in Canterlot for the first time in a while, actually.”

“You’re not.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of your opinion. You made it especially clear at the market a few days ago.”

A hoof pressed down on her shoulder and spun Octavia around. Prince Blueblood stared down at her, his hoof pressing down on her shoulder. It was the first time Octavia had ever seen Blueblood not wearing any sort of fancy suit or anything elegant. The fury that she had seen days ago was still there, but behind it she could see a defeat in his expression, the last remnants of a pony who had fought and lost.

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Blueblood asked.

“To you?” Octavia replied as she gestured to the mural behind her. “This has nothing to do with you. This is about me. This is about Canterlot.”

Blueblood didn’t say anything as Octavia turned back to the wall and returned to spraying. There was no noise but the sound of the paint shooting out of the can, until Blueblood began to pace back and forth behind her.

“Look, I get it, It seems Canterlot wants you to stay for now,” he said, pausing to sigh in frustration. “Celestia knows I don’t understand it, but if that’s how it’s going to be, fine. But something like this? A giant stain of an art piece in the center of one of the busiest areas of the city?”

When she heard the word “stain,” Octavia spun around .“Do not refer to my art like that. Do you know why I’m doing this? I’m doing this because I want to make Canterlot more beautiful.”

“With this filth?!” Blueblood shouted.

Octavia pointed at the mural. “Have you even looked at it?!”

Blueblood stared at her, then looked up at the mural. Much of it was similar to other murals she had done—great swirls of color stretching from end to end, interlocking with patterns that created a virtual tapestry of color—but Blueblood noticed something else about it. He looked at several larger shape that had been painted on top of the rest of the mural: spire-like shapes reaching as high as a pony could reach. A blue waterfall-esque cascade that spilled into blue waves on the right of the building. The middle of the drawing had a small building drawn with a clock tower extending halfway up.

Blueblood blinked. “Canterlot?” Octavia nodded, and Blueblood looked down at her. “Do you expect me to have some sort of grand reversal of opinion, simply because you’re drawing Canterlot?”

“I guess that would be too much to ask of you,” Octavia muttered

“I don’t care what you’re drawing,” Blueblood quickly snapped at her, “The mere fact that you’re putting it up is what the problem is here!”

“It’s only a problem for you!” Octavia yelled. “I know that there are ponies who dislike what I do. Hate it. But you are the only pony who has gone out of his way to try to end what I do. Other ponies, they have learned to live with me. Even a pony like Chic Trend moved on after what I did, and in hindsight, she would have every reason to despise me. But all you have done is hate! All you have done is campaign against me, try to stop me, try to convince other ponies that I am wrong and you are right. You’ve been wanting to rally all of Canterlot against me; well it’s not going to happen! I am here to stay, and there is nothing you can do about it!”

Octavia paused, then looked over at the wall. The mural that she had put the last several hours into and knew she would be putting in several more. As she looked over the tops of the buildings she had drawn, she felt her eyes get misty, and she smiled as she looked back at Blueblood.

“I admitted my mistakes, and am paying for them; I still have community service to finish, but more importantly, my musical career is likely on hold for quite a while,” she said as she wiped her eyes. “But I’m happy. I am really, truly happy with where I am. And I’m happy with this,” she said, pointing once again to the mural. “You love Canterlot so much? Then at least acknowledge that one of its residents is happier than she’s ever been in her life. And more importantly, understand that my motivations for things like this are not—that is, no longer—fueled by some desire to rebel against royalty or spread hatred. I just want to make this city more beautiful.”

There was silence again as Blueblood looked back at the mural. It felt as though an eternity passed before Blueblood eventually sighed, then looked back at Octavia.

“I don’t like you,” he said.

“Likewise.”

“I’ve never liked you, and I will never like what you do. Nothing you ever do will change that.”

Blueblood paused, as if fighting with a niggling thought in the back of his mind. Finally, he spoke again.

“But as you said, it appears that Canterlot has spoken. If it hadn’t, there would have been far more of an outcry after your article. And if you say your intentions are pure…” Blueblood trailed off, again fighting with his own thoughts. “...I suppose that I can believe you.”

Octavia smiled, but a curt look from Blueblood stopped the smile immediately. He stepped forward and stood over her.

“But understand something else,” he said. “There is a line that you overstepped long ago. You may be on the right side of it now, but I will always have my eye on you. The very moment that you step over that line again, I will be there. You may think that Canterlot is willing to forgive you, but I promise that if you ever descend into what Flanksy became again, they will not be nearly as forgiving. I still firmly believe you should be thanking your lucky stars for the punishment you got off with… if you ever step over that line again, I can personally promise you that you will not get off as lightly.”

Octavia slowly nodded her head. “I can understand that. I think we can live in agreement there.”

Blueblood nodded back; for a few seconds the only sound came from the quiet chirping of crickets. Blueblood looked at the mural one final time, then sighed.

“But as far as this goes…” he said as he gestured with his hoof towards the wall, “… you can continue.”

With one final nod, Prince Blueblood turned around and trotted away. As he disappeared into the darkness, Octavia watched silently after him, half-expecting to see him come back and continue the argument. As the seconds ticked by, though, she heard no more hoofsteps, nothing; she realized that Blueblood had really, truly left.

She couldn’t help but smile as she turned back to the wall, and took the paint can back in her hoof, then aimed it carefully at the clock tower she had been painting.

—————

“Oh, good morning, Indigo. Lovely kuzdus you have there.”

Indigo looked over at the pony who had suddenly joined her on their walk to the market. “Mornin’ Heirloom. Thank you kindly, I’ve been growin’ these for a while now, and this is as big as they’ll ever get. Whatcha selling today?”

“Not a whole lot, just some carrots and celery today. Next week I’m hoping to have some of my prize potatoes ready for market. You should see the size of them, they’re some of the biggest I’ve ever grown.”

“Well shoot, that’s great. Can’t wait to see ‘em!”

The ponies continued their pleasantries as they turned the corner to the market. The sun had only just come up and ponies were usually beginning to converge on the market, but as they walked into the market itself, all of the booths remained empty. They glanced around in confusion.

“Uh, where is everypony?

As they looked around, a lone figure trotted forward from the distance. She was carrying a bag in one hoof that was overflowing with cans, and had a content smile on her face. She strode up to the two ponies, and nodded.

“Good morning,” Octavia said as she trotted around them and exited the market. The two ponies both turned their heads to follow her, then went back to each other.

“Hey, wasn’t that…” Heirloom said, before she noticed a slight commotion coming from further in the market. “You don’t think…?”

With a quick nod, the two ponies took off further down the street. That had only galloped for a block or so before they saw a growing group of ponies standing near a building in the middle of the market. As they reached the group, both their eyes widened.

“Golly…”

The wall of the building in the middle of the market, usually grey, was now a spectrum of color. From side to side, a sprawling mural had been created; the bottom was made up of blue and green waves and the top was a combination of blue and purple, with images of the sun and moon drawn in on either side. Drawn on top of everything were images of Canterlot itself; multicolor spires stretching high into the “sky,” a great waterfall spilling not only to the bottom of the mural, but onto the cobblestone in front of the mural as well. Even Canterlot Town Hall was drawn in great colorful strokes, with the clock tower at the top shining golden rays in all directions.

As more and more ponies gathered to admire the massive mural, something else stood out. Along the cobblestone in front of the mural were two sentences written in golden letters. The ponies carefully stepped back to avoid getting any more paint on their hooves, and looked from afar at what had been written.

“THIS IS MY HARMONY. I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.”

—————

Octavia carefully closed the door to the apartment behind her. She could still hear Vinyl’s snores through the door so she tiptoed back to her room and shut the door behind her, then set her bag of empty cans in the closet. She reached in and pulled out her sketch pad, then tossed it onto her desk.

As rays of sun were finally high enough over the buildings to make it into her room, Octavia leaned back against the wall. She let the rays hit her body for a minute; it was nice to warm up after being in the chill Canterlot night for so long. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking at corner of her room where her cello sat. She trotted over to it, then ran a hoof along the strings. A dulcet but toneless noise came from it, causing her to smile; any sort of noise from her cello was enough to make her happy. As she picked up her bow, a feeling of euphoria flowed through her. It was one she had always felt whenever she played on her cello. She briefly considered drawing it against the strings, but stopped when she thought about Vinyl, still sound asleep in her room. For a few seconds she wondered if she could play something soft, but as she pondered, her eyes fell on the sketch pad on her desk.

She blinked a few times, then slowly put the bow down and trotted to the desk, picked up the pad, and sat down on her desk. She opened it up and began to flip through the pages full of hundreds of drawings. She had only used a hoofful of them over the past several months. All of them were crying out to be used now.

The feeling of euphoria got stronger.

She reached out to her desk and took a pencil, then smiled as she found a half-finished sketch buried in one of the later pages of the book. She began to fill it in, drawing long extravagant strokes on the page. She glanced up at her cello one last time. She loved music. Music was one of the most important things in her life.

But for once, for the first time in her life, music could wait. Music would have to wait.

Because in the back of her mind, sparks were igniting.

----------

End of Chapter 19: Spark Redux

EPILOGUE: Three Months Later

To much applause, Allegro Sonata trotted onto the stage and cleared his throat.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, as we come to the end of this year’s Canterlot Variety Concert, I thought it only fitting that our final act be one of Canterlot’s lesser known musical acts. She is a name that some of you may be familiar with, and I felt that the ideal way to cap off the night was to give her an opportunity on a big stage the likes of which she has never had before. I am proud and honored to present to you all one of the great unsung musicians in Canterlot, miss Lyra Heartstrings.”

The room was filled with applause as a green unicorn in an elegant black dress trotted on stage. She bowed her head to the crowd, then sat in front of a large lyre. She drew her hooves across the strings and began to play the opening chords of Hoofdel’s Harp Concerto.

As she played, a pony in the far back of the concert hall quietly worked her way to the exit. Just before she got to the door, one of the ushers looked over at her.

“Hey, I know you,” he said. “You’re DJ Pon-3, aren’t you?”

Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. Listen, sorry to do this, but I’m in the middle of something right now.”

“Oh, of course,” he said as he opened the door. “I’m surprised to see you here, actually… I wouldn’t think you would be at a show where everypony plays classical music.”

“Yeah, normally I wouldn’t be anywhere near here. But I got a little project.”

“What kind of project are you doing?”

Vinyl smiled. “Oh, it ain’t my project.”

The door pony scratched his head as Vinyl walked out into the Canterlot night. She got halfway across the street, then concentrated as her horn lit up. On a rooftop across from the Anvil Rust Theater, a pony stuck her head out over the edge.

“That’s the signal, isn’t it?” Amethyst Star asked

Octavia looked over the edge at Vinyl, then waved. “Yes, it is. That means the event should be ending in a few minutes, we should get ready.”

The two ponies trotted over to a large folded up sheet and lifted it up, then carried it to the edge of the building. As Amethyst carefully taped one edge down, Octavia looked over at her.

“I do want to thank you for your help in this,” she said. “This didn’t seem like the kind of thing only Vinyl and myself could have done.”

Amethyst blushed. “No problem. Glad to help out any time.”

As Octavia finished taping her side down, she and Amethyst sat and watched the building across the street, waiting for ponies to emerge. Octavia looked at Amethyst to find the unicorn was awkwardly looking away, biting her lip.

“Is everything alright?”

Amethyst jumped a bit. “Oh, yeah, everything’s fine, it’s just… uh…” Amethyst hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before finally looking back at Octavia. “It’s just that I have a little mini-gallery showing coming up next weekend.”

Octavia smiled. “You do?”

“It’s not a huge deal,” Amethyst said. “A bunch of artists in Canterlot are renting out a building for a gallery showing, and they asked me to participate. It’s my first gallery like that, and I’m kinda hoping… well, I was hoping you could show up.”

Octavia enthusiastically nodded. “Of course I will.”

Amethyst looked up, wide-eyed. “R-really?”

“Absolutely,” Octavia said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After everything that’s happened, it’s the very least I can do.”

Amethyst couldn’t contain her grin, and the two ponies again watched the theater carefully. Once the Canterlot Variety Concert came to a close, the legions of ponies made their way out of the theater. They were all laughing, enjoying each other’s company, and discussing the show they had just seen. Behind them, surrounded by royal guards, was Princess Celestia herself; she always made it a point to attend the Variety Concert every year.

As ponies filled the streets, Octavia looked over at Amethyst.

“I think now would be best.”

Amethyst nodded, and the two ponies picked up the ends of the sheet and threw it over the edge of the building.

Down below, the ponies looked up as the sheet unfurled, draping the large, colorful mural down on the building across from the theater. Colorful paintings of different musical instruments adorned the entire sheet, drawn in every color of the rainbow. The spaces in between the instruments had been filled in with gold and yellow, making the instruments stand out all the more. The words “Canterlot Variety Performance” were written in large letters near the bottom, with the very bottom right corner of the sheet featuring a small “O” painted in black.

The ponies on the street all looked up in shock, which quickly turned into them talking. Princess Celestia held a hoof up to her mouth to stifle a giggle and looked around at the smiling ponies around her, then tapped her hooves on the ground. Other ponies soon followed suit, and soon most of the ponies who were looking were applauding the massive mural.

Once the applause died down, Octavia and Amethyst made their way down and out of the building. As they entered the crowd, Princess Celestia quickly approached Octavia.

“I had a feeling you might do something like this,” Celestia said with a smile. “A wonderful contribution. I’m just surprised you waited until after the show was over to put it up.”

Octavia smiled back at the princess. “I didn’t want my work to take away from what they were doing. Although to be fair, I assumed more ponies would be on the street once the show ended, and—”

Octavia stopped as she heard a commotion coming from deeper within the crowd. She carefully worked her way forward until she found the source: a pink pony with loud purple hair was ranting in the middle of the crowd as ponies awkwardly exchanged glances.

“Really?! Flanksy is still around?” she screamed. “This is disgusting! Art belongs in galleries, ‘kay? I thought Canterlot was better than this, that’s why I visited!”

Octavia calmly tapped the pony on the shoulder. She turned around, and her eyes narrowed.

“You!” she yelled. “You’re Flanksy, aren’t you?”

Octavia shook her head. “I don’t really go by that name anymore.”

“You know what I mean!” the pony said. “I came to Canterlot to find inspiration for my new line, ‘kay? What I didn’t come for is something like that!”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Octavia said. “How would a mural celebrating the Canterlot Variety Concert hinder your inspiration in any way?”

“Because I know Flanksy!” the pony snapped back. “Flanksy ruined my friend Chic Trend’s show all those months ago, and now you’re trying to ruin the concert!”

Octavia shook her head. “I’m going to have to disagree with that. These were two very different scenes, I hardly—“

“Can it,” the pony said. “I didn’t come to Canterlot to be talked down to by some hooligan, ‘kay?” The pony reached over and tapped another pony on the shoulder, then began to stroll away. “Come on, let’s go.”

The other pony, a cream-colored mare with striped blue hair, didn’t move. She was staring up at the mural with a look of almost childlike wonder. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked over all the instruments, and the corners of her mouth curled up into a smile. She turned to Octavia and opened her mouth, but before she said anything, the pink pony returned and clamped a hoof down on her shoulder hard enough to send a jolt through her whole body.

“Come on, Coco!” she screamed. “I’m not paying you to gawk at crap, we’re leaving now!!”

The pony left again, and Coco took one last look at Octavia. Her smile had disappeared, but Octavia could see the sparkle still dancing in her eyes. Octavia smiled back at her and gave a small nod, which only made the sparkle grow before Coco finally turned around and hurried to catch up with her boss.

Octavia turned and rejoined the rest of the crowd. Several ponies came up to her to talk, while many of them continued to admire the mural.

“Dang. You’re popular, Tavi,” Vinyl Scratch said as she trotted up behind her friend.

Octavia blushed. “Perhaps a bit. I just wanted to contribute is all.”

“Oh don’t be modest, this is awesome,” Vinyl replied as she patted Octavia on the back. “This was totally awesome and you know it.”

“Excuse me, Miss Octavia?”

Octavia and Vinyl looked over as a pony with a styled mane and a pair of spectacles perched on the edge of his snout.

“Oh, hello Sir Sonata,” Octavia said. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how much community service do you have left?”

Octavia looked down at the ground. “Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next month, then I’m done.”

Sonata nodded. “That should work out just fine, then. I had a bit of a proposition for you. In a month and a half I’m hosting a small event at Canterlot Castle. Nothing too formal, I’m just giving some of Canterlot’s musicians a chance to perform in a more informal environment. If you’re not too busy, perhaps you’d like to perform.”

“Really?” Octavia asked. “That would be my first real performance since my arrest…”

“Well I assume you’ve still been keeping up with your cello.”

“Are you kiddin’?” Vinyl said as she suddenly interjected herself into the conversation. “She still plays like every day!”

Octavia blushed. “That is true.”

“Well, if you’d like to, the spot will be open for you.”

Octavia looked over at Vinyl, who responded with an enthusiastic nod. She was about to reply to Sir Sonata, but when she turned back, something else caught her eye: Amethyst Star was standing at the other side of the crowd, where several ponies were crowded around and talking to her. Octavia watched as Amethyst’s face lit up as she talked with each of them, then smiled before turning back to Allegro Sonata.

“I appreciate the offer,” she said, “but I can’t give you a definitive answer just yet. I’ll have to think about it.”

Sonata nodded. “Of course, of course. Just send me a letter when you decide.”

Sonata and Octavia shook hooves and Sonata walked away to join the rest of the crowd. Octavia turned and walked through the crowd, with Vinyl Scratch quickly catching up with her.

“Hey, what’s the deal?” Vinyl said as she nudged Octavia.

“What do you mean?”

“That was your chance to get back into the music world!” Vinyl said. “I woulda figured you’d be ready to jump at that!”

Octavia stopped walking, and Vinyl stopped next to her. Octavia sighed.

“Vinyl… I once said, I once truly believed, that music was the most important thing in my life. And in many ways, that is true. But…” she momentarily trailed off before gathering her thoughts. “But I don’t want to jump back into music simply because the door is open again,” she said. “I don’t want to do anything ‘just because.’ I’m happy where I am right now, Vinyl. That’s what’s most important to me. Should I decide I am ready to get back into music? Then I will most assuredly be contacting Sir Sonata. But I don’t want to make any steps without thinking first. And most importantly, I don’t want to jump back into music yet if it’s going to take away from my happiness. I don’t want to make any jumps just yet. I don’t have to. Because…”

Once again, she looked back. The last ponies were filing out of the Anvil Rust Theater and as they saw the mural, Octavia could see their eyes light up. She just admired the scene for a few seconds before sighing.

When she turned back to Vinyl, the corners of Octavia’s eyes glistened.”

“I’ve found my harmony.”

—————

The End

Eternal gratitude for everything they have done for me:

PropMaster, RazgrizS57, TheWorstWriter, and WardenPony

Author's Note

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY FOUR AMAZING EDITORS/FRIENDS:

Propmaster: You were the very first person to know what “Project ETC” was, and helped formulate a few ideas along the way. Your comments when it came to the story of Exit Through Canterlot helped shape the story into what it became. I’m extremely appreciative that I had someone like you to bounce ideas off of as the story went on.

RazgrizS57: I have always been impressed with your attention to detail when it came to any editing you did. Whether it was systemic edits, me overusing words/elements of a story, or story elements that didn’t make sense, you always had the ability to catch them no matter where in the story they were. Without you, ETC would not look anything like it does now… it would probably be riddled with errors.

WardenPony: You have always been a machine when it came to editing chapters of ETC. You would pinpoint everything from misused syntax to things that just outright were not working for you, story-wise. Your comments and suggested edits have not only helped with the story, but taught me a hell of a lot about writing—something I am eternally grateful for.

TheWorstWriter: I always took to heart any story edits that you suggested, as you tended to point out things that I never even considered in ETC. I have a feeling that without your suggestions, ETC would have a lot of awkward phrasing and plot holes that I would never have noticed myself. I hope you can make it up to Seattle again soon, you and I have unfinished Marvel vs Capcom 2 business.

Others: There are so many other people who helped with the story… Short Skirts and Explosions, Capn’ Chyrssalid, Vimbert, Ponky, Pilate… If there is anybody I forgot, I sincerely apologize, but know that I wouldn’t have been able to finish this story without all of you.