Octavia woke with a groan. The morning sun had risen enough to cast its light across the apartment floor and shine on the groggy mare. She rolled over and hit the door she had camped out against a few hours prior. Grumbling, she stretched and stood, gathering her bearings as her foggy mind began reminding her she needed to be busy.
Squinting at the clock, a sense of urgency eked its way into her body. She had been asleep for almost five hours! Vinyl was in her flat, alone. The last time Octavia had seen her was when she had rousted the ponies from the DJ’s apartment, over a day ago.
Gathering her saddlebags, she dumped her sword and few other important essentials inside before slinging it over her back. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but extra gauze and a rope were never bad items to bring in her line of work. Grabbing an apple from the kitchen, she hurried out the door.
Just a quick check on Vinyl, then she was going straight for the guild hall. She was pretty sure Spardis didn’t suspect she knew, but if she was right, he was trying to kill her. As it was, Octavia was pretty sure she had surprise on her side. But, before she acted, she needed proof.
Her suspicions weren’t enough, it would look bad for her if she ran in and stabbed Spardis then found out he only hated her a little bit. It could still be some random pony somewhere, who only looked like Spardis, that wanted her guts on his wall.
Disposing of her apple core in a trash bin outside Vinyl’s apartment building, she hurried inside and up the stairs. Careful not to make a sound, she made her way along the hall until she reached the DJ’s home. She tested the door, it was locked.
Trying not to feel relieved just yet, Octavia knocked on the door. She waited, but there was no response. She knocked again. It wasn’t until she was pounding on the door and considering bucking it down when a shout permeated from the other side.
“What. The. Buck?!” the DJ exclaimed, ripping the door open.
Vinyl stared accusingly at Octavia’s raised hoof. “This had better be good!” she groused. Her eyes were red and her mane was mussed as if she had been sleeping.
“Of course!” Octavia replied automatically. “Everything’s good, I mean.”
Vinyl narrowed her eyes at Octavia who smiled nervously. “Bye,” she said suddenly, turning to leave.
“Oh no you don’t!” The unicorn reached out and grabbed Octavia with a hoof.
She instinctively pulled back, grabbing Vinyl’s hoof and beginning to twist before she stopped suddenly. There was a moment of silence, then Octavia let go. “I-I really should be going,” she forced out.
“No,” Vinyl stated, frowning as she jerked back her hoof. “No, you woke me up for something, let’s hear it.”
“I... just wanted to say hello, is all.” She tried to grin again, but faltered under Vinyl’s intense stare. “Look, I’m busy and have things to do. Maybe next time.”
“What things?” the unicorn inquired, narrowing her eyes.
“Uh... shopping.”
Vinyl eventually responded through her glare, “Fine, but we’ve got business that needs taken care of. So you need to be back here when you’re done.”
“Business?” Octavia asked, dumbly.
“Yes, you goose!” Vinyl exclaimed. She reached back inside her apartment and yanked out a small stack of papers. “You said you’d play some music! Well I got a little contract thingy here from my agent. It basically says you’ll get paid for your work and that nopony gets to cheat anypony. You know, that yickity yuck fine print stuff.” The unicorn paused, glancing at the papers before muttering, “Jeez, look at all this, it’s like she gets off on writing all...”
“T-that’s nice, Vinyl.” Octavia interjected. “Maybe... Maybe after I’m done we can sit down and look it over.”
Vinyl looked back at the nervous mare. “Look, if you’re getting cold hooves, we don—”
“No no, it’s not that,” Octavia interrupted again. “It’s just... Look, we’ll talk later, alright? Don’t do anything, crazy.”
Octavia spun promptly and marched towards the stairs, leaving a frowning unicorn staring after her. She blew out a sigh of relief as soon as she was out of eyeshot. That unicorn made for some of the most uncomfortable and frustrating conversations. Octavia couldn’t understand why she was so tongue tied around the mare.
Taking a deep breath, Octavia brought herself back to reality. “Okay, gotta be focused for this.” There was no way she was walking into the guild hall without being ready for anything.
It took her a moment, but slowly her frustrations and the white unicorn faded into the back of her mind, content to wait until later for further analysis. Stepping out of the apartment building, Octavia galloped down the streets of Canterlot. She knew something was up, but not knowing what it was made her nervous about leaving Vinyl alone. The sooner she got back, the better.
In a short time, Octavia arrived at the unsuspecting office building. She slowed and took a moment to catch her breath and cool down. While Canterlot was up on the side of a mountain, the summer heat wasn’t completely abated. It didn’t help that the altitude still wasn’t something she was entirely accustomed to.
Once she was breathing normally, Octavia opened the door and marched inside, making a beeline for the hidden stairwell. She rattled her saddlebags, feeling the comfortable shake of her sword inside. If anything was going to happen, she would be ready for it.
Octavia wasn’t sure what to do as she stepped into the lounge. She needed to do some digging on Spardis, but going about that quietly wasn’t something she was sure she could get away with. She had been told the stallion knew about pretty much everything that happened in the guild hall, and she wasn’t sure if Spardis finding out was worth the risk or not.
Continuing her march deeper, Octavia eventually found her way to the library. There hadn’t been anypony in the mess hall or the dormitories, as usual. It seemed odd to her, because back at the castle there were always ponies eating or sleeping, the schedules of everypony being staggered so that there weren’t masses of ponies all trying to do the same thing.
But here, everypony was always either fighting, or studying. Mostly fighting though, running through drills with more fervor than a starving pony to a banquet. It was as if the repetition was somehow going to transcend them into alicorns. Yet, despite how absurd the idea was, it seemed to fit.
As soon as she stepped onto the library floor, the few ponies scattered, quickly finding themselves an excuse to be hidden away in the bookshelves. Octavia approached the small help desk, manned by a stallion who suddenly seemed he was trying become invisible, despite his earth pony origins.
Octavia tapped the desk. “Excuse me?”
The stallion fumbled for a moment before focusing on her with an intense stare. “Shouldn’t you be in the training hall, or out doing things?”
“Whatever things you may be referring to have lead me in here,” Octavia responded pointedly. She leaned over the desk before continuing, “So, let’s get down to it. I want to— No, wait.” Octavia paused and pulled back with a frown. She then pointed accusingly at the stallion. “First, I want to know what everypony’s problem is. Why does it seem like everypony in this miserable hole is avoiding me? I’m pretty sure if anypony has the plague, it would be you, what with all your wasting away in the dark.”
“Uh, well,” The stallion glanced away from Octavia. “Maybe if you... uh... Showered more often, then maybe pon— Erk!”
Octavia grabbed the stallion and pulled in forward, smacking his face onto the desk. “Listen you spineless freak! You’ve got about two seconds to give me a satisfactory answer before I find out how dirty I can get!” Octavia jerked the stallion again. “And when I say I find out, that’s because you’re going to be the test material!”
“Hey, buck you lady!” The stallion forced out around the counter.
Quickly deciding it would be too difficult to pull the stallion across the table, Octavia shoved the stallion back into his chair and sent him careening into the wall with a crash. As she leapt over the table, she noted a couple of heads poking out from further back in the library, but they didn’t make any other moves.
The stallion quickly tried to intercept the mare with a hoof, but Octavia batted it aside and punched the vulnerable stallion in the gut. He tried to twist away and kick her, but she deflected the blow once again and responded with a kick of her own. The stallion crumpled, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.
Grabbing the pony, Octavia heaved and lifted him upright and shoved him against the wall. If it had been anything other than an earth pony, she might have been able to lift him off his hooves. But, earth ponies were heavy, and the time spent in the practice room had kept this one fit. As it was, she hoped she was being intimidating enough.
“Alright buddy, let’s try this again,” she growled. “I seriously doubt I smell anywhere near as bad as you or anyone else here. This whole place reeks but you’ve all spent too much time in it to even realize! So, I’ll ask again, what’s the big deal with avoiding me, huh?”
“Okay, okay! I’ll talk!” the stallion wheezed. “All I know is, Spardis doesn’t like you. Not that he likes any of the rest of us, but you really seem to grate on him. If Spardis doesn’t like a pony, it’s better for the rest of us to just stay out of the way until the pony... disappears.”
“What do you know about any of the operations he runs here in the city?”
“I don’t know!” the stallion gasped. “There’s hardly anything that goes on here in the capital. I don’t think anypony has been out for the past year or so. From what I hear the guild has this place locked down pretty tight.”
Octavia gave an annoyed grunt. A small movement in the corner of her eye made her turn. One of the ponies, a pegasus mare, was sneaking past the desk for the door. As soon as she noticed Octavia staring, she bolted.
Dropping the still wheezing stallion, Octavia moved deeper into the library. It took a few minutes of playing cat and mouse, but she finally caught a couple others. They didn’t put up as much struggle as the stallion at the desk, but when questioned their answers were no better.
After letting the last one go, Octavia looked around. The library was deserted. Feeling her frustration rise, she decided it was time to go. Yes, it seemed like Spardis was a royal ass, but none of the ponies hinted at him doing anything more sinister than beating a few ponies to a pulp in the ring.
That thought sent a searing brand through her already tumultuous emotions. Sure, she’d had her fair share bruises and humiliation growing up in En Reach, but even the worst moments had been instructional. When Spardis had forced her into an unfair fight while he watched, it had been the most debasing thing she had ever endured. There had been no point of the exercise except for him to gloat for something he’d done nothing to achieve.
Contemplating these thoughts and trying to quell her seething temper, Octavia began the trek back up to the sunlit world. As she levelled out in the lounge area and moved towards the hidden staircase to the offices, she spotted the stallion himself. Spardis was standing down the hallway to his office, conversing with the blue pegasus who had skittered out of the library.
When he saw Octavia, he frowned deeply. The large stallion took a step forward, pushing the pegasus aside. Despite her anger, Octavia did not stop and quickened her pace to the exit. She would deal with his shady operations and bullying at a later date. For now, it was time to return to her charge.
The sudden reminder that Vinyl was waiting jolted her into a canter. Until she could figure out who was responsible for the continued attacks on the mare, Octavia was not inclined to spend any more time away from her than necessary. If this hadn’t been such an important mission in her career, she might have asked for additional help in watching over the DJ.
She was clearly having her multitasking and priorities tested. Octavia wasn’t about to cave to the pressure. A little discomfort now was much better than another six years, or longer, back at the castle.
Octavia knocked on the now rather familiar door of Vinyl Scratch. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling the few bags of groceries she’d picked up as an excuse. She hadn’t known half the names of all the exotic fruits and vegetables in the marketplace. It had been a struggle just to find a few carrots or a potato, things she knew the name of.
The door opened, revealing the white unicorn in all her... Unkempt glory. Octavia frowned. “Don’t you ever comb your mane?”
“Mane?” Vinyl grinned. “What’s that?” Her eyes darted to the sacks slung across Octavia’s back. “Oh, you weren’t kidding. Well good, I was getting a mite peckish!”
The gray mare said nothing as the vegetables were magicked off her back and carried deeper into the apartment. The unicorn was still chatting away as she left the door open and Octavia standing outside. With a bemused frown, she stepped inside, closing and locking the door behind her.
As she stepped into the kitchen the unicorn already had the bags emptied. “Carrots, potatoes and celery?” Vinyl asked incredulously. “Were you raised on a farm or something? Yuk!”
“Well, when you don’t know—” Octavia stopped and started over. “I like simple foods, alright?”
“Whatever.” The unicorn waved a dismissive hoof. “Help me peel these so we can put them in a pot or something. Then we can go play for a bit.”
Octavia sighed, but accepted a kitchen knife from the unicorn and sat down next to the bag of potatoes. “Why are we peeling these?”
“Because skins are gross?” Vinyl quipped. “Oh wait, don’t tell me you’re one of those health nuts.”
“What?”
“I’ll have you know I have a very diverse diet,” Vinyl continued, ignoring Octavia’s confusion. “I also eat nuts, not ones like you of course, but the hard and small kind.” The unicorn snorted at her joke, staring at Octavia with a smirk on her face.
Octavia stared back, blinked, then pulled a potato towards herself and began peeling it.
“Oh come on!” Vinyl exclaimed. “You could at least tell me that was the worst pun you’ve ever heard! You’re such a brick wall!”
Octavia grunted, but continued peeling. It was proving to be an interesting task. She had never done this before, but it was rather straightforward. The oblong vegetable cupped nicely into one hoof, while she carefully maneuvered the knife in her other. The unicorn continued to stare, and she continued to ignore.
Eventually, Vinyl spoke again. “You’re really good at that.”
Octavia froze, suddenly realizing she had no idea if peeling vegetables was supposed to be hard or not. It seemed so, the unicorn was surprised, if only slightly.
“I saw one of those fancy cooks do some pretty fancy stuff once, are you sure you didn’t lead a double life and have amnesia or something?” Vinyl questioned. “Because you seem to have a really odd skillset.”
Unsure of what to say, and wishing she had simply gone home, Octavia resumed peeling.
“Because, you know,” Vinyl continued, “it would explain how you don’t know what half the things in the market are, yet still have a very upper class career, but live in an apartment next to yours truly. Sort of.
“Or maybe you’re just some sort of alien who’s integrating themselves patchwork like into our society!” Vinyl paused, but received no reaction. “Or you just lived on a rock farm and you really are a brick wall, disguised as a pony.”
“Celestia, Vinyl! Give it a rest will you?”
“The wall speaks!” the unicorn exclaimed. “Everypony bow down and listen to the words of wisdom it imparts only once every millenia!”
“Scratch,” Octavia growled.
The DJ snorted. “Fine fine, I give. You win. You seriously need to relax though, girl.”
“I am relaxed.”
“Uh huh.”
The next few minutes passed in silence, but the unicorn continued to bounce around the kitchen as she sliced, gathered and seasoned the vegetables. Once they were all in the pot and on her stove, she beckoned Octavia down the hallway to her small studio.
Vinyl stepped over to her equipment arrayed at one end and began shuffling through a stack of papers. “Okay, so I’ve got a few ideas for what we can start with. Go grab a few of the stringed instruments, a violin or something.” She continued shuffling. “I had a— Ahah!”
The mare ripped out a reef of papers and brandished them. “Here we are!” she crowed. “Notes and... Well, notes!” Vinyl separated out a few pages and hoofed them to Octavia. “Word notes for me, music notes for you.”
Octavia took the music sheets and looked them over. They didn’t look hard at all, most of them were just small snippets and various chords. She looked at Vinyl. “I don’t get it, these aren’t a song. What am I doing?”
“You’re uh... Here.” Vinyl glanced around the cluttered room. Finding a spot she deemed suitable, she began clearing out a space for Octavia to set up. Using her magic, she maneuvered a chair and hooked up a microphone.
“Alright, you just play those lines right next to the mic. You can practice as many times as you want to get it right, just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll start recording.”
“But, this is just random gibberish.”
“Don’t worry about it, auntie Vinyl speaks gibberish.”
Octavia sighed. “Alright, fine.”
Placing the music sheets on a stand the unicorn had thoughtfully provided, Octavia selected herself a few different instruments. As she fiddled with the tuning and sounded off a few chords, the world began to fall away. It had been a while since she’d picked up her own piece, but it felt right to be playing again.
She started with one of Vinyl’s violins, taking the notes slow and playing them with deliberation. Octavia didn’t know how long she plunked around, but when she finally turned to tell the unicorn she was ready the unicorn had turned away and was lost in her own world. She was singing.
Octavia stared. Vinyl had a pair of headphones on and had her own sheet in front of her. She wasn’t singing loudly, although Octavia was still surprised she hadn’t noticed sooner. What really surprised her, though, was that the unicorn’s normally rough tone was carrying a tune in a surprisingly smooth alto.
After a few minutes, Vinyl looked over and saw Octavia watching her. She ripped the headphones off hastily. “You ready?”
Octavia nodded.
“Right then,” Vinyl said, excitedly running her hooves over a few dials on her mixing board. “Just nod once when you’re ready to begin playing. As soon as you remove your bow, I’ll stop the recording. All you need to do is give me about five seconds and I’ll be ready again.” The unicorn turned to Octavia. “Ready when you are.”
Taking a breath and preparing herself, Octavia nodded once and began playing. The minutes turned into hours as she went through piece after piece and instrument after instrument. It was the first time her music was serving a purpose outside her own entertainment. She’d heard about music being a profession in the outside world, but back at the castle it meant nothing. Yet now, here she was, making music.
It wasn’t as grand or thrilling as she had thought, but she trusted that Vinyl knew what she was doing. Octavia glanced at the unicorn a few times, she was always bouncing or smiling to whatever was being played. This may not be the stage, like she had seen some musicians be, but it was still music and she was getting to play.
After a while, Vinyl expressed her satisfaction at what they had. To finalize the song she would use her equipment. Octavia tried to ask for a completion date, but Vinyl waved her away. She didn’t know how long it would take, saying that you couldn’t rush perfection. But she did offer the rest of the room and instruments to Octavia, which was enough for her.
Octavia pulled up a double bass very similar to her own and began to play. There wasn’t much else for her to do, but she didn’t mind. It beat watching Vinyl’s apartment through her own window with nothing to do.
Eventually Vinyl looked up at the clock and took off her headphones. “Well, it’s getting late, I need to be at the club in an hour.”
Setting down the bass with an internal sigh of regret, Octavia asked, “How is the song coming along?”
Vinyl grinned. “You know, it’s possible to get pretty much every sound under the sun loaded into this machine, but there’s just something about recording pieces on your own. The music just clicks.”
“So...”
“It’s gonna be amazing, Tavi. I think I can have it done by tomorrow, you should be at the club and we’ll display our awesomeness to the world.”
Octavia grimaced at the nickname. “I’m sure it will, Vinyl. I think I’ll go now, thank you for letting me play. It’s been too long.”
“Don’t you do this as a job?”
“I... Well, I don’t get to play much,” Octavia stammered.
Vinyl grimaced, but let it drop. They walked out of the building together. The unicorn turned and headed deeper into the city. “See you around!”
Octavia waved, waiting for the unicorn to get out of sight. With a sigh, she began plodding after the unicorn. Guard duty wasn’t turning out to be very fun, she was beginning to think that this wasn’t a test anymore. She hadn’t noticed there being any surveillance of her activities since the first week, before she had been injured.
She was writing reports and turning them in. That was what operators did since they didn’t need anypony watching to see how they were doing. Did this mean she had been unceremoniously raised to full member of the order? Or was she being punished? Maybe they saw her injury as a failure.
Whatever the case, befriending the unicorn, but also trying to keep up a false identity, was starting to become a trial. The unicorn seemed rather oblivious, but it was only a matter of time before she said something that really caught Octavia off guard.
Sighing, Octavia picked up her pace. It was bad form to not be watching her charge while on the job. Until she could come up with a plan to truly determine Spardis’ innocence, she wasn’t going to let Vinyl get into trouble.
She would spend the next day or two with Vinyl and plan. The unicorn had tried to play it cool, but Octavia could tell the mare was practically vibrating about the song she was making. It seemed clear that Vinyl wanted Octavia around for when she would publish it, or whatever. She just hoped that it would be good.
While Octavia had grown up being told such frivolous activities were a waste of her time and talent, she couldn’t help but wonder how well the her music would be received. Even now, as calm and focused as she was on tailing Vinyl, she couldn’t help but feel nervous about how good her and Vinyl’s music would be.
Only time would tell. Octavia could barely wait.