Vinyl woke up the next morning, and nothing was any clearer to her, least of all the dangerous question of, “What next?”
A million questions paraded around her mind about Discord, and not all of them were good. Number one was all the rumors that it was a violent terrorist organization intent on world domination, or machine supremacy, or whatever. The ponies and androids she’d met so far were nice enough people, so she wasn’t the most concerned...yet.
At the very least, a lot of the rumors did seem immediately false. The Behemoth had not shown any of the violent urges they were reported to—except, maybe Limestone, of whom Vinyl wouldn’t put it past to kill somepony because they were kinda annoying. Rainbow Dash did not seem like a human-murdering tornado of rage and psychotic instincts. At least, she hadn’t. The most she’d seemed was annoyed.
Though, she got the distinct impression that Octavia and Rainbow Dash didn’t get along.
Vinyl stepped outside her room, keeping Applejack’s warning in mind. Luckily, less than ten feet away, there was a balcony, and she stepped out onto it, leaning against it. She had a light, techno music playing—not out loud, so no one else might be disturbed. She decided to brush aside her doubts about Discord for the moment—what was she planning on doing, anyway? Stopping them herself? She couldn’t take Octavia in a fight—hell, she doubted she could take Fluttershy. And even if she did, then what? She doubted this was their only base. Discord had been around for twenty years.
She moved on to her next subject. Unfortunately, despite the myriad benefits removing the violence inhibitor had, she didn’t have an on-demand access to the internet anymore. So she’d have to improvise.
Vinyl focused, scanning along her ‘thaumic circuits’ and the matching ‘regulator’. She had no idea what any of it was for, and her machinery had never had a user’s manual. Or, it did, but it had been meant for Fancy. She’d read it out of curiosity, but found it quite boring.
With a burst of will, the ‘thaumic’ equipment activated, and she heard a familiar, twinkling sound. She reached up, touching the horn that, up until then, she’d assumed was purely decorational.
It was warm, and, she was certain, glowing. But now, what to do? Just...let it out?
Doing so proved to be an immensely bad idea. A burst of blue lightning shot into the sky with an earsplitting crack that had her audio receivers whining and a brief error message. She quickly shut off the thaumic-whatsits, and the twinkling subsided after a second.
Vinyl was very glad she hadn’t done that indoors.
A light chuckling came from behind her. “You might want to wait for someone to teach you. Unicorn magic is a lot harder to control than pegasus or Earth pony magic.”
Vinyl turned, seeing an unfamiliar mare in a black, hooded coat. Her mane and brow were hidden under the coat, her arms folded across her chest, and a set of large, feathered wings tucked in close to her back. But what Vinyl noticed immediately was that the wings were lined with metal, and she had another prosthetic just under her right eye. Her eyes were ever-so-slightly reflective, showcasing the glass paneling for an eye augment. Her hooves were bare, leaving clear sight that one of them was metal—at least, the hoof itself was, as her jeans covered everything above her fetlocks.
“Uh, sorry,” Vinyl apologized. “I’m not sure how to do anything with magic, really.”
“Was that your first spell?” the mare asked, cocking her head sideways.
“First ever,” Vinyl said. “If it counts.”
“No, it counts,” she answered. “Magic releasal. A lot of ponies can do something like that, but normally without much efficiency. That lightning bolt would be fine in combat, but it lacked finesse. It very well might just miss, or worse, hit an ally.”
“Well, I’m not sure I want to see any combat,” Vinyl said, turning back to the sky, leaning her elbows on the railing.
The pegasus joined her, mimicking her pose. Each hoofstep alternated between the light clink of a horseshoe, and the heavy thud of the prosthetic. “Not sure you’re cut out for fighting?”
“Well, I think I handled myself well back at the Flight of Fancy,” Vinyl said. “Especially for my first fight, with the inhibitor-thingie.”
“So I heard,” came the reply. “You saved Octavia’s life twice.”
“I...guess I did,” Vinyl said. “Ugh, dammit. Now what if she goes and dies while I’m not there?”
“There’s been plenty of times when you weren’t there,” the mare answered. “Look at it this way—we’re fighting at Discord so you can have the right to choose. No one’s going to force you to fight, or hold it against you if you don’t. Fluttershy doesn’t fight, either, and neither do the Pie Sisters.”
“Really? I’m pretty sure they could kick flank.”
“Well, yes, but that’s besides the point,” the mare chuckled. “Even if you want to help—which, again, is your choice—there’s other things to do. What do you want to try? Fighting, medical...” She shrugged. “Supplies need to be stocked, too.”
“I dunno,” Vinyl said. “I don’t think a group of freedom fighter’s have much use for a musician. Just look at Octavia! She had to learn to shoot, and swing a punch, and she saved my life with her techno-know-how.”
“That was one of her first combat scenarios, so we’re clear,” the pegasus said, giving her wings a ruffle. “She’s seen fights before, but that’s not her specialty. We have her mostly going for techie stuff that she’s learning from Fluttershy, and occasionally talking to ponies.”
“Huh. I could do that. Go with her, and just...chat people up. I’ve been told I’m good at talking to people.”
“It would be true, from what I’ve seen.” She gave a grin.
“Heh, thanks. I’m Vinyl, by the way.”
“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.”
Vinyl paused, then turned off her music as she stared at the other. “Wait...that sounds familiar. It’s on the tip of my tongue.”
“Hm, that might be hard to access, considering you don’t have a tongue,” Sunset answered with a chuckle. “But I don’t blame you for not recognizing the name. I left the public scene many years ago.”
“What was your job? Maybe that’ll kickstart my memory.”
“Vinyl?” Octavia’s voice called out.
“Polo!” Vinyl shouted back.
Octavia stepped onto the balcony, her goggles around her neck, jacket nowhere to be seen. “What was that explosion just--” She stopped, staring at Sunset.
Sunset turned around, back and elbows resting on the balcony as she regarded Octavia with a lazy expression. “No one mentioned you were short,” she said casually.
Octavia whipped out her gun, training it on Sunset. “Who are y-you?” She cut off, stammering, as her gun simply disappeared in a burst of green sparkles, reappearing in front of Sunset, surrounded by a green glow.
“This is a good gun,” Sunset intoned. “A Drake...19, if I’m not mistaken. Gemstone rounds?” The cartridge popped out on its own, and she took time examining it. Her eyes flickered with surprise. “Emeralds. Diamonds and crystal pack more punching power, and there’s always fun to be had with fire rubies and and thunder sapphires, but emeralds are a respectable choice. Cheaper, too.”
Vinyl reached over, tugging her jacket hood off. A cascade of lightly glowing, rippling, red-and-yellow hair fell over her back, and, sitting on her forehead, was a long unicorn horn, enveloped in a light, green glow. A horn extended almost three inches by another prosthetic.
“Oh, shit, now I remember where I heard that name,” Vinyl cursed, backing away.
Sunset Shimmer, former Princess of Inquisition. She’d disappeared shortly before Discord first appeared.
Many assumed she’d been assassinated.
“Relax, new blood,” Sunset chuckled, reloading the bullets into the gun. She tossed it back to Octavia, who wasted no time pointing it back at Sunset. “I’m with Discord.”
“SUNSET!”
A shadow passed over the balcony, as Rainbow Dash flew into the sky with a light roaring of her wing engines. “I heard the explosion, took me a minute to find a window, though. What happened? Where are the attackers?”
“Chillax, new-blood here was experimenting with her magic,” Sunset said without looking.
“Oh. Really? YOU did that?” Rainbow’s wings extended to full length—almost enough to rival the alicorn’s—and she said, “AWESOME! Imagine taking one of those to your face!”
“Um—”
“Rainbow,” Octavia growled, interrupting Vinyl, “she claims to be with us. Is this true?”
“Oh, shoot, you haven’t met the boss.” Rainbow paused. “Uh, I mean, DON'T SHOOT! Wait, Sunset, what are you doing out here?”
“I wanted a look at the new girl,” Sunset said.
Rainbow hovered a moment, before emitting a groaning noise. “Sunset,” she began.
“Oh, don’t you start, I made the decision to hide, I can unmake it,” Sunset snapped, folding her arms and turning even further away from Rainbow.
“Look, I trust Octavia enough at this point, alright? But—Vinyl literally got here yesterday! Even if she wouldn’t deliberately spill the beans, I don’t know if she can keep her trap shut!” She paused. “No offense meant, V.”
“Believe me, none taken,” Vinyl said. “I hardly trust you guys, either.”
“See? Trust is important. It’s important that someone stretch out a hand of trust first!” Sunset smiled.
“Sunset,” Rainbow said, glaring at her. The Wonderbolt landed on the balcony with a heavy thud, pulling her wings in close to make room. “You said that things get near impossible for us if Canterlot finds out who you are. We need the element of surprise, you said.”
“Things are changing,” Sunset muttered. “This new Alicorn...my replacement...” She spat the word with vehemence and a glare.”...Is actually getting shit done. Sneaking around, asking questions. We’ve never had to worry about Spitfire and her Wonderbolts, y’know? We could dodge those easy enough. But the Inquisitors are different. Midnight Sparkle is different.” Her eyes narrowed. “The Dazzles are having difficulties with her, too, you know. They’re having to cut off their connections and deals twice as fast so they don’t get caught. We need a change of plans.”
“And why is this the change we need?”
Sunset hesitated. “Because I was bored as hell, alright? I told you—I wanted to see the newbie.”
“We don’t even know if she wants to join us or just cheer us from the sidelines,” Rainbow griped. “Stop calling her ‘newbie’.”
Sunset looked into Vinyl’s visor, meeting the android’s ‘gaze’, if that was the right word. Sunset smiled. “Sure,” she said, though whatever she meant by that, Vinyl had no idea. “Anyway, Vinyl, I could teach you a thing or two about your magic, if you have the time.”
“Um—sure! That would be awesome!” Vinyl tried to catch up with the sudden topic change, but Rainbow didn’t seem to want to let her.
“She’ll catch up to you in a minute,” the Wonderbolt said, stepping over to the DJ. “I have something I want to talk about real quick.”
Sunset sighed. “Must you?”
Rainbow didn’t answer, so Sunset just clomped past her and Octavia, metal hoof thudding repeatedly and cloak billowing behind her.
Octavia, for her part, holstered her gun, and then followed Sunset. She closed the doors behind her.
“So, uh, what did you wanna talk about?” Vinyl asked.
Rainbow folded her arms over her chest—tucked away like that, it was hard to tell that her right arm was a minigun. “Let me just say this, really,” she said. “You have a right to choose, Vinyl. That’s what we’re fighting for at Discord. You wanna choose to help us fight? Okay, cool. You don’t wanna? Had enough action for your life? That’s cool, too. You have the right to choose your side. Just know that if you go and tell the Inquisitors about Sunset, I will consider that picking a side.” She stepped loser, leaning down so that her eyepiece was on level with Vinyl’s. “I think you’re a good pony, and I hate being wrong. Please don’t prove me so.”
“Okay,” Vinyl squeaked, leaning as far away from Rainbow Dash as she could.
Rainbow clapped a hand on her shoulder, then pulled her in for a light hug. “Thanks,” she said, in a cheery tone as if she hadn’t just been issuing a death threat with perfect seriousness. “Glad to hear it, V.” She took to the sky with a roar of engines, wings outstretched, then flew off into the woods.
Vinyl stared after her for a long moment.
“She likes being the heroic protector,” Sunset said, leaning against the suddenly open doorframe. “Don’t worry about it. It would take a colossal amount of stupidity and psychopathy on your part to make her actually do anything. So cheer up!” Sunset flashed a grin.
“Does she give everypony who comes through here death threats?” Vinyl asked.
“Yes,” Octavia growled.
“She’s still mad about it,” Sunset said. “Come on! I wanna show you what I know.” She turned, striding off.
“She wasn’t too rough, was she?” Octavia asked.
“Actually, I think it was perfectly fair,” Vinyl said. “And it doesn’t hurt that she’s so frikkin’ awesome!”
Octavia blinked. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope! That was awesome! Everything from the timing to the tone...ten out of ten death threat. Makes me fully aware that she could and would kill me with little to no conscious effort,while at the same time not making me afraid she’ll fly off her handle and kill me at any random time!” Vinyl clapped her hands together.
“You can’t be serious,” Octavia whispered.
“Yeah, she’s terrifying,” Vinyl admitted, shoulders slumping. “But you could have at least let me pretend.”
Octavia shook her head. “You’re impossible.”
Fleur de Lis reached for her cup.
It was such a simple motion that she had done repeatedly before. But before, she hadn't perceived time thirty-percent slower.
Her hand moved at a snail's pace across the table. Her eyes flicked to the rest of the room, taking in the sights.
Different ponies mingled around the ballroom. A few danced on the floor, but it was another subdued Canterlot gala with little in the way of actual entertainment. She saw Upper Crust talking to Moneybags, the latter of whom was listening in rapt attention. She saw Princess Spitfire, standing at military attention and looking like she was obligated to appear at the gala. Besides her was one of the Inquisitors...Lyra Heartstrings, if she remembered? Lyra was using her own reflex chip to tap one hoof in tune with the music. Though, as Fleur stared at her, she seemed to be one beat ahead.
Fleur looked back to her cup. Her hand had still not reached it.
She moved her hand faster, trying to force it to pick up the cup at a reasonable speed. Her hand sped up, but slammed into the cup too fast. She grabbed at it, but her mind was sped up, not her fingers. She watched as the cup slipped from her grasp, her fingers too slow to do what her mind was telling them.
But the cup hovered in the air, before floating up and being set on the table, and the wine returning to the cup.
Fleur looked up as her new friend approached the table. "Careful," Mi Amore Cadenza said. "It could stain somepony's dress." She smiled.
Cadenza had a body shaped very much like an hourglass, and seemed to love it. She wore a pink dress, from the waist down, but from the waist up it devolved into stylistic wraps, twined around her throat, just below her armpits, diagonally across each breast, and then wrapped just below, and down and around her sides to join with the skirt of the outfit. The skirt itself was slit down one side, and Fleur could see the cloth wrapping all the way down her leg, which was mechanical below the knee.
Cadenza didn't have as many cybernetics as the other Alicorns, but she did have a reflex chip still. Just above her beautiful, beautiful eyes that never seemed to blink.
Cadenza sat down, leaning to one side, tail wrapping her leg just below her Cutie Mark. Her own glass of line floated along, positioned just to the side of her face. "Something troubles you?"
"Just...some stress, is all," Fleur said casually. Then, on a whim, she said, "I'm still acclimating, after all."
She watched Cadenza carefully for any sign of surprise, or Tartarus, even sympathy.
"Oh, is that all?" Cadenza said. "It can take quite some time for some ponies." Her wine cup swished around, and she cocked her head to stare at it. "It's nothing out of the ordinary, dear de Lis."
"So ponies tell me," Fleur said, holding up her glass to her face. "But I'm beginning to regret it, actually. I can read faster now, and modelling is easier. I can move exactly as much as I want to, for the most perfect of poses. But...it can be frustrating that everything else is slower, too. I wish it came with an off switch."
"Mm, there's an idea," Cadenza said. "I wonder if the Princess of Research has thought of that already. I'll present it to her, but...I don't think I'd personally use it."
"Why not?" Fleur asked. "It seems to me that there are plenty of things that don't need to be slowed down."
Cadenza swished her cup around, then leaned forward, across the table, face close to Fleur's. "Because, my dear," she said slowly, "I have been here for all these years. If I blink too many times, all of my friends turn to dust in front of me. So I have learned to savor each second for as long as possible." She took Fleur's hand, clasping it in her own. Then, with an impish grin, she leaned even closer, whispering, "Plus, it can make a married life a bit more fun."
Fleur blushed, hiding her laugh from other nobles with her other hand. "Princess!" she said. "That was not proper."
Cadenza laughed, returning to her lounging position across her seats. "Well, my dear, it's part of diplomacy. It's all about who will appreciate a bit of...improper humor." She grinned, looking across the room. Fleur followed her gaze, to where Shining Armor stood.
"Of course, if things are too slow," Cadenza said, "you can always use hydraulic muscles. They can be built to be invisible to the common pony, so it won't affect your career."
"I'm...I'll wait til I finish acclimating," Fleur said softly. "That would be wise, I feel."
"Mm. Well, I hope I helped you some--at least, more than just saving a glass of wine," Cadenza said, sipping her own. Then, she fluidly rose, with a posture of a thousand year's practice. She began to walk away, but Fleur called out to her.
"Princess...is it possible...to remove the reflex chip?"
Cadenza paused, then looked back without emotion. "You won't have much luck with that," she said.
She walked off without another word, leaving Fleur to cry softly to herself.