Knock knock knock

That was the first thing Octavia Melody heard when she woke up. After pressing her pillow against her ears, she yawned, muttered to herself and got out of bed, wondering who in Equestria that could possibly be.

Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch lived in a literal divided household. Split exactly down the middle, Octavia spent most of her time on the side of the house which, when viewed from the outside, was the left side. She had remodeled it to a tan color with mahogany furnishings and had music stands, boxes of classical music music books, several spare violins here and there, spare bows for the string instruments, polish for her instruments, her signature cello in a corner of the room, and a closet full of identical bow ties and collars.

Conversely, Vinyl Scratch had decided to redecorate her side to a style reminiscent of a nightclub. Painted a dark shade of blue, she had put in boxes of vintage old records, a few posters of her favorite bands, stage lights, a few cans of spray paint, and quite a bit of music mixing machines. She had installed subwoofers and disk players and turntables, the ground was littered with empty soda cans and dirty clothes, and the whole thing was very cluttered and close together.

The rules inside the house were very clear: stepping into the other side meant you were almost essentially in enemy territory. They didn't actually hate each other, but it was expected that once you were in the other pony's side of the house, they were now under the other pony's trust to not break or disrupt anything on the opposite side they were visiting. Respect was expected of the other's styles and tastes.

Octavia tiredly moved across her side of house over to the half-blue, half tan door. She unlocked the sliding latch and opened the door, blinking slowly. And then she gasped and stumbled backwards, her previous state of fatigue gone.

It was the pony that had saved their lives on Thursday. His appearance was unchanged from when they had last saw him, with the lone exception of a small wrapped present on his back. His bright red eyes focused on her, standing out from his black bodysuit covered with weapons. The faint rising dawn behind him only accentuated his shiny, shiny red irises.

After a moment he said, "Does Vinyl Scratch live here?" His voice was rich and deep, but for some reason his mouth, all but hidden inside his suit, did not move.

Octavia, her mouth dry all of a sudden, didn't answer immediately. Wasn't he unable to talk before? How was he doing it now?

"Ma'am?" came the weapon-loaded silhouette, jolting her. "Does Vinyl Scratch live here?" His voice sounded a tad more impatient than the last time.

Octavia found the voice to say, "Um, yes. She's here. She's my roommate here, after all."

"Send for her," he almost commanded.

More than a little confused, Octavia moved back into the house and crossed into unfamiliar territory by stepping over the invisible dividing line. As she put her hoof down she felt an old sock on the ground, crusty and cold at the bottom. She sighed and managed to weave her way over to Vinyl's bedroom.

Her bedroom was as similarly decorated as the living room. It was clunky and had miscellaneous objects all over the ground. Spare records littered the desks, and her signature pair of earphones was plugged into another speaker next to her bed, which rose up and down slightly and slowly as she slumbered. Once she got next to her bed Octavia gently shook her. "Vinyl. Vinyl, come on. Wake up. Somepony wants to see you."

"Tavi..." groaned the unicorn. She rolled over and blinked, giving Octavia a glimpse of her dark red eyes. Her face was scrunched. "Can it wait? It's like, nine in the morning, and I'm trying to sleep, you know?"

"It's six, actually," Octavia corrected. She saw Vinyl wince and roll back over. "But it's a special visitor..."

"I don't want to see anyone," she moaned. "Or, like, I don't want anyone to see me..." She sounded uncomfortably morose. She was still recovering from the trauma left by Hunter a few days before. Her crumpled glasses rested on her nightstand as a wrenching reminder of the experience. Since then, she hadn't left the house, out of both fear other ponies would see her without them on and her usual introvert tendencies.

"He's got red eyes..." Octavia prompted eagerly.

Vinyl suddenly sat up in her bed, abd she looked a lot less tired than before. "Is...is it him? The dude that saved our butts on Thursday?"

Octavia nodded with a smile on her face.

Vinyl threw the covers off and ran out of her room to the front door, still slightly agape. She poked her head around the door frame and saw, indeed, the strange black-suited warrior there. There was something on his back. His powerful bright red eyes were still as intense as ever, but they softened upon Vinyl's appearance. She said excitedly, "It's you-I-I mean, uh, hey, dude. What's up?" She was suddenly a lot more aware of her disheveled bed-head and the messy blue side of the house, and repositioned herself so he wouldn't be able to see inside.

"Hello there, Vinyl Scratch," he said in a calm, powerful voice that showed a hint of interest.

Vinyl was confused. Wasn't he unable to talk? He had shown it to Derpy that his mouth was always empty, didn't he? "Hey, um, didn't you not, like, have a voice before? Are you really, like, talking to me right now? Or is this, like, um, ventriloquism?"

"Thought manifestation spell," he said briefly. "I got it because I wanted to speak to you, miss Scratch. You wanted to know about me, I'm assuming?"

Vinyl blinked, both because the sun was in her tired eyes and because she wanted to know why he wanted to come here so early.

A flap of wings behind him drew her attention and she craned her head. A very familiar mailmare was dropping letters in her mailbox. Upon her seeing the super soldier, the mailmare's mouth dropped, and the letters she was carrying in her mouth drifted to the ground.

Derpy followed Vinyl's example by blinking as she tried to remember where she had seen him before. Then the gears clicked inside of her head and she grinned openly. "It's you!" she cried, and she ran right at him at full gallop and slammed into him in a tight hug as he was turning around. Her mouth was stretched into an open smile and her eyes were closed.

The super soldier rubbed the back of Derpy's head awkwardly as they hugged for over fifteen seconds straight. It felt like a lot longer for Freedom Fighter, though. And he couldn't feel Derpy under his suit. He nevertheless continued to warmly hug her.

Derpy pulled away. "Oh, it's great meeting you here, mister! I'm just delivering the mail before anyone else wakes up!"

"Oh, it's good to see you too," Freedom Fighter said to her, unsure of what to call her. "Miss hooves?"

"Derpy," she said firmly. "My name is Derpy. All my friends call me that."

"Friend?" he asked in surprise. He had made another friend that quickly in the town?

"Yep! You're my friend now, mister! You helped me. You, um, made me feel like I was worthy to be saved! Like I mattered..." She looked at the ground, an alarming look of sudden sadness in her mismatched eyes. It seemed to Freedom Fighter that she was still a little more forcefully impacted by Hunter the griffon than he had thought. Was it probably the insults about herself? That she was worthless and ambition-less? That was probably it. And she was probably so sensitive, and the insult was so harsh. How? How could those words have made such a lovable mare like her so damaged, so broken, so scarred? How was it that it was only words that made it so other ponies developed harsh and awful feelings about themselves? How could it provide a trigger point that made them sad all over again just by mentioning it?

But Derpy was still talking, so he silenced the thoughts he was choosing not to voice aloud. "You...you stood up for be when nopony else could. When that...that...that stupid, mean, awful griffon said those things about my eyes!" Her mouth began to quiver. "I-I mean, it w-wasn't the first t-time they've said I was loopy, or-or crazy because of them. I'm used to it by now." She looked back up, and there were unshed tears in the corners of her eyes. "I just--I can't help it! I was just born with them! I can't do anything about them! Aren't there other ponies like me? That can't do a thing about what they were born with? Everypony thinks I'm just a klutz, and that I can't do anything right! All because of my eyes!" She started to bawl into Freedom Fighter's shoulder as the feelings just erupted in her raw, damaged emotions.

Freedom Fighter knew exactly what to do. He had been in similar situations before. Some days his depressed and over-provoked feelings had erupted inside of himself to the point where he was almost on the verge of attacking anyone and anything in his line of sight, and then starting on himself. But Noble Blade--and to a lesser extent, Firestorm--had helped him feel a lot better about himself when that happened.

But something nagged at him. What room did he have to make others feel better when he felt just as bad? The best way to help others is to first help yourself, right? So why should he go and give off the illusion that he was better off than she was in terms of feeling depressed?

Nevertheless, he put a hoof under Derpy's chin as she sobbed. "Derpy," he said. "Derpy, look up. Look at me."

She did, though it was harder for her than it would have been for others because her eyes kept going in random directions and her vision was blurry from her tears.

"All right, listen," Freedom Fighter said. "Listen to me and trust me. Can you trust me? Can you trust that the words I'm about to say are true and real?"

Derpy nodded, rubbing her face.

"You. Are. Special," he said to her slowly. They were familiar words, words that had been spoken to him before by Noble Blade and Firestorm when he was in the deepest pits of despair on the fringes of Equestria's borders in the depths of hunger and in the most painful of injuries and the most hopeless of circumstances. He just decided to switch around some of the words while talking to Derpy. "You. Are. Loved. I've seen you all the time, and there isn't a time I don't see you smile to others and make their day better by just being around them. You have that effect on others. You...you give what you have so willingly. Just seeing others accept your gifts of muffins makes you so happy and so...joyous. There is absolutely nopony else like you, and there is nopony else I'd rather you be."

"Even with my eyes?" Derpy asked.

"Especially with your eyes," Freedom Fighter said. He put his arms on her shoulders, being careful to not harm her. "Your eyes...are special."

"Th-they are?" she asked in confusion. "They're just...not normal. That's what they are."

"No," he said firmly. "That's what others tell you. But if you can listen to them, you can also listen to me, and I'm telling you right now...that I love them." He said it like he meant it. "You just stand that much more out from the others because of them. You look...you look cute because of them." He was lucky he could blush under the bodysuit.

"I...I do?" she asked in shock.

Freedom Fighter was the one that initiated the hug this time, drawing her into a tight embrace. "Your eyes are beautiful, Derpy. You are beautiful, no matter what anyone else says. You matter. Please, always believe that you matter to somepony else." He was going off of quoted advice given to him now. "Because you matter to me, Derpy. I don't know you all that well, but that doesn't mean you don't matter to me. Don't tell yourself that you don't matter to me. You are no outcast to the others. And you will never be an outcast so long as somepony loves you for who you are, Derpy." He spoke from the depths of his heart, from his own personal experience.

He felt Derpy crying again because of the rapid falls on his chest, but he could tell that they were tears of happiness now. He took his time, patiently waiting and rubbing the back of her head. He was vaguely aware of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody behind him, watching him cheer up the pegasus.

After a few minutes of fierce embracing, they both drew apart. Derpy had a reddened face, but was looking overjoyed at his random act of kindness. "Thanks, mister...um..."

He laughed. "I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet," he apologized. He glanced back at the two musical partners and stepped to the side so he could talk to all of them. "My name is Freedom Fighter," he said, loud enough for all of them to hear him.

Derpy pondered this for a moment. Then she widened her eyes. "Wait a minute? You can talk now?" She had just remembered that he didn't have a tongue.

"I have a temporary spell on me. It allows the thoughts I want to be read aloud be read aloud," he explained.

"You look really scary," Derpy said out of nowhere.

Freedom Fighter blinked. He looked confused by the sudden change. "Yeah..." he conceded to her.

"Can I see what you look like underneath that suit? It can't hurt, can it?"

Freedom Fighter's eyes dilated in fear and he stumbled backwards all of a sudden. Then he straightened his pose and his eyes grew as hard as flint. "No, Derpy. No. No. Please, no. Don't ask me that, Derpy."

"Why not?" she asked innocently.

"I...I can't tell you that. But I just want to say that I want to keep my body private to anyone else. I don't need themselves to think badly of me. I don't want to show you it, and you won't ever see it. Ever."

Derpy's eyes fell. "Oh. Oh, I, uh...I understand." She looked at her mail satchel. "Look, I, um...I've got a lot of work to do. It was nice talking with you. And...thank you for the compliments about my eyes. See you, Freedom Fighter..."

And she took to the skies and within a minute disappeared from view.

Freedom Fighter turned back to the two musical partners in the doorway. "Miss Melody. May I have some time alone with miss Scratch?"

"C'mon, dude. Just call me Vinyl," the white unicorn said, trying and failing to look anywhere but at his marvelous red irises. Octavia turned and headed back into the house, but once inside she then came to her window on her side of the divided household to peek outside.

"So, Vinyl," he was saying sensitively. "Are you recovering well from those griffons?"

"Well, yeah..." she lied, scratching the back of her bushy blue mane. Parts of her body were still sore from the griffon talons, and there was also, of course, the glasses. Lying on a dresser in the corner of her room now, they were twisted, warped, and cracked. It had hurt Vinyl to put them away and not wear them, but they were useless now. There wasn't much point in keeping them out.

"Don't lie to me," he said abruptly. "I can see there's still pain in your eyes. Longing. Those small scratches on you all over yourself. They're still there. So..." He slid forward the wrapped present he had. It had fallen off his back when he had hugged Derpy, but the present wasn't damaged. "I wanted to try and make it better."

Vinyl took the box in her magic, unsure of his intent.

"Please, unwrap it," he encouraged. "Don't let me discourage you."

Vinyl slowly took the ribbon off the box and opened the lid.

From the window, Octavia gasped. And so did Vinyl.

It was a new pair of shades. The borders of the round glasses were a thick black, and the lens itself was bright pink like what she had before, but it also came with a pair of green lenses that could be exchanged for the pink ones, as well as a normal pair of black lenses to form normal sunglasses. Vinyl held it in her trembling hoof, unsure of what to say about the miraculous present.

"I noticed you looked sad about your other glasses," Freedom Fighter said sympathetically. "So I tried to get a pair yesterday. It took me a while to try to find a pair like yours, but yours was so unique it took me until super late last night to find a pair like yours. And now it's yours. From me to you. As a way to give something back to you."

Vinyl tried them on over her noticeably wet eyes. The world went pink, like her previous glasses, but these...seemed to fit better. She couldn't really explain it in words, but it simply felt right to have them. Like she was meant to have these ones instead. The other glasses were great, but they were a little loose around the bridge of the nose and the lenses were a little too big. This one fit on her face perfectly without adjustment.

"Do...you...like them?" he nervously asked, after she hadn't said anything for a while.

"...I love them," she breathed solemnly. She pressed them onto her face, afraid he'd catch her crying. "I'll treasure them."

Taken aback, Freedom Fighter asked, "Why? Do you like the color? Do they fit well?"

"Well, I like those, but I actually like them because...because they were a gift, dude. A gift from you." Freedom Fighter scratched his neck awkwardly and swished his tail, heated up under his suit by her words.

After a while passed without either of them saying anything, Freedom Fighter cleared his throat in his mind, preferring not to irritate his damaged throat instead. "Well, I, uh...I have to go. I have to go and help out a friend at the orchard. Then we have to all go to a boutique to prepare for the Gala."

Vinyl pricked her ears up and took her glasses off in surprise. "You're going to the Gala?"

"Have to go," he clarified. "I work as a guard normally. Instant invite for life."

Vinyl pondered this. Normally she didn't like the strutty, full-of-yourself, high-class parties, and pitied those that had to go. Every Gala, Vinyl would bid Octavia Melody a grave goodbye for her when she got on the train. And when she would get back, alive but exhausted by the antics that had begun at the Gala ever since Twilight and her friends first went to the Gala, Vinyl would lean her head back in pretend shock and embrace her like a family embracing a wounded soldier who had just gotten back from the battlefield.

But now, knowing that Freedom Fighter would be going, she suddenly wanted to go and be there as well.

"Well, um...thank you so much, dude! I love this. They're awesome. But I, uh, I've got...other things I gotta...so, uh...yeah."

And she grinned uncomfortably, sidestepped back into the house, and slammed the door.

Utterly confused by now, Freedom Fighter stayed there for a second or two, then shrugged and trotted away towards Sweet Apple Acres to help out another friend for the day.

"Does this mean you're getting' it on with two mares now?"

Freedom Fighter pricked up his ears and halted, pretty sure he had heard somepony say something about himself.

"It's just me. We can speak out loud now, remember?"

"Oh." He drooped his ears and shifted his eyes to the side. "It's you."

"Who's it gonna be now?" the voice sang. "You're at least on good terms with Vinyl. Twilight, ehh...well, you can talk with Twilight without having her flinch."

"Look, maybe I don't really...need a girlfriend right now," he admitted to himself as he trotted along the path.

"I thought you'd never say it to yourself."

"I'm saying it to you. That's enough for me."

"If you formed a relationship like that, you'd not be a good coltfriend. You're moody. You're shifty. You're kinda violent. You aren't good at loving other ponies. And nopony really wants to put up with that forever. Just...have the relationships be platonic for now. Besides, girls want a hero. You're no hero, you're an assassin. Plus..." The other voice faltered.

"Plus what?"

"Plus, what the Noxxa found out about you and your relationships and decided to try to kill them as well as Firestorm and Noble? And they'd start with the ones you love the most. So let's just be buddies with them for now. Let's make none of the girls more precious than the others. You've already seen what it's done to Rarity and Twilight with Noble going after Flutters. That'd ruin their relationships."

"Pardon me, young colt, but who are you talking to?" came a shriveled, quivering voice. Freedom Fighter almost reached for a knife before realizing it was an old lady on a park bench on the road knitting. "Is there some pony I can't see there?" She squinted at the space in front of him.

Freedom Fighter gave an inward smirk. "What should we tell her?" he thought aloud.

"Let's give her a fright."

"How do I do that? I'm normal, right? I'm normal...right?" he said, ignoring the looks the old pony was giving him.

"Ohohoho no you're not," he sang slowly, darkly. "You're not normal. I'm the one making you abnormal."

"Mister?" the white-maned pony asked, shivering as she leaned away from him. "You aren't...possessed by any chance, are you?"

"Possessed?" Freedom Fighter laughed. "Oh, no, lady. I'm not possessed."

"Yes you are."

"I'M POSSESSED! YAY!"

The lady shrieked, leaping an astonishing distance in the air for somepony her age, and sprinted down the street yelling "DEMON! DEMOOOON!"

Freedom Fighter watched her go and disappear down the street for just a minute, trying not to laugh and damage his vocal chords any more than they already were. Then he shook his head. "On second thought I probably shouldn't have done that."

"What if she hurts herself? Or what if the town chases out the demon with pitchforks and shovels?"

"Blame that on the other guy."

"YOU MEAN ME?! WOO HOO!"

"Okay, look, get out of my head right now or else I'm going to knock myself out and I'm not going to remember having you in here. You're around only for when I try to feel like Pinkie Pie. Don't overstep your bounds."

And the voice fell silent.

"Count yourself lucky the teenager didn't come along."

"What- everrrrr, multiple voices are like, so yesterday."

"OH COME ON!"

"Oooooooh!" Octavia squealed, catching Vinyl in a bear hug once she was back inside the house. "He gave you glasses like I did! This is amazing for you!" She let herself go. "I mean, I gave you glasses before, but this is even better! It's from a new friend!"

"Yeah..." Vinyl said absently, staring at the glasses with a full heart of thankfulness. There was something important she had to do now. "Heya, 'Tavi?" she said, using Octavia's nickname.

"Yes?" she responded.

Vinyl Scratch put on her new precious glasses and the world went pink for her. "I was, um, wondering...you have an empty plus one ticket to the Gala, right?"

"Yes," Octavia said again, then she tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"