//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: It's Complicated // Story: A World I Wasn't Meant For // by Abstract Spectrum //------------------------------// "Dammit Tavi, your emotional outburst caused a freakin' scene." Vinyl groaned to herself, tracing Octavia's hoofsteps back towards home. Ponies on the street stared her down as she ran viciously through the neighborhood, but Vinyl paid no attention to the bystanders nor their gasps and whispers as she began run faster back home. By this time she'd already lost track of Octavia, but she'd assume she'd gone back to their house. Vinyl was in no rush, so eventually she slowed down to a walk. When Vinyl returned home, Octavia was nowhere to be found. However, when Vinyl walked upstairs, she noticed their shared bedroom's door was closed. *knock knock* "Octavia? Octavia, sweetie, come out!" Vinyl said, trying to be gentle with her voice. She heard no response through the door. "Tavi, are you in there? Say something, please!" The white mare said again. Still no response. Vinyl thought to herself for a moment. Perhaps she'd best try the knob, first. Not expecting it to open, Vinyl fell through the door, her grip on the knob yanking her into falling on her back. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head, then turned around to search their bedroom. She checked the closet, the bathroom, under the bed, under the covers, above the fan, below the dresser, in a decorative vase, and in a small jar. Still no sign of Octavia. "Where could she be?" Vinyl pondered quietly. Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a harmonic string instrument that she could just barley hear coming from the basement. Vinyl stepped down from their bedroom and back into the living room. She perked her ears up to track the sound's location. Vinyl proceeded to follow the gentle sound to the basement where she'd suspected it was coming from. Vinyl slowly opened the basement door and peeked an eye through. She only saw Octavia sitting in a corner facing towards the wall, playing a slow song on a small violin. Vinyl stepped through the door completely and trotted slowly up to Octavia, who still didn't notice her presence in the room. That is, until she touched her shoulder. Octavia stopped playing, but didn't look up or open her eyes. She didn't move at all. Vinyl said nothing, however she began to notice the tears dripping from her grey marefriend's eyes. Octavia sniffled, and whimpered as she slowly set her violin and bow by her sides. Vinyl sat down next to Octavia, and kissed her lightly on the cheek. The sad grey mare flicked away a few tears and sniffled again, while Vinyl only wrapped her arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. Vinyl's heart began to race as she knew this was a tender moment. For a few seconds, there was silence. Nothing but a few sniffs and small whines from Octavia until she decided to rest her head on Vinyl's chest. "I... I just want to be good... I don't... I don't want to be left behind... I like my music..." Octavia whimpered through her quivering lips. "I like your music too, Tavi. I may be a hardcore dubstep mare, but that doesn't mean I don't like to calm it down every once in a while." Vinyl said lightly, still rubbing Octavia's shoulder. "R-really?" The grey mare quivered again. "Really." Vinyl agreed. "T-thank you... Vinyl." "It's okay, Tavi." Vinyl said, kissing Octavia lightly on the forehead. "Now c'mon, it's getting late, we should go to bed." The white mare suggested. "Oh... o-okay." Octavia sniffed. Vinyl helped her grey marefriend off the floor and directed her upstairs from the basement, as she would follow. Vinyl looked at Octavia's violin and bow on the ground from the stairs, thinking back to what'd just happened as she focused on the tear drops near them. Vinyl only glanced back one more time as she closed the basement door behind herself. Octavia was the first to climb into bed when Vinyl got upstairs to their bedroom. Vinyl usually dive-bombed into the bed next to her, but she knew this was not the night for that. Vinyl took her signature purple sunglasses off her forehead and placed them by the clock. Climbing into bed and turning off the light, Vinyl then turned to Octavia, and brought her in to snuggle. Octavia was still lightly crying, but the warmth and care from her white marefriend brought her tears to a dry state. ZZZZZZ.... Vinyl's eyes shot open. Sitting up, she looked at the clock. In it's bright red numbers it read 1:30AM. She felt around lightly next to her. Octavia was gone. However the spot where she'd laid was still warm, so it was not long ago that Octavia had gotten up. Vinyl panicked, and slowly but surely got out of bed. Standing up too fast, Vinyl swerved and bumped into the dresser next to their bed, making a deep thump noise through the wall. Vinyl cringed, and froze for a second to listen close to the silence of the night for any sudden sounds. After a few seconds, Vinyl gave herself the O-K and trotted lightly towards the door of her and Octavia's bedroom. The door creaked as the white mare lightly pushed it open to poke her head through and get a glimpse down the hallway. She saw nothing, and therefore walked down the hallway and poked her head down stairs, trying to make herself hidden. She saw Octavia playing her violin again, quietly as to not wake Vinyl. Vinyl peered over Octavia's shoulder from the stairs, and saw the sheet music she was attempting. Constantly, her hoof slipping, playing the wrong notes, not being able to keep up with the music. Vinyl saw her hoof clench the neck of the violin, as Octavia began to attempt the music on the sheet once more, but much more viciously this time. From what Vinyl could see in the dim light of the night, it looked as if Octavia was trying to play a fast-paced country hoe-down song. You know, because of all the stomping and playing incredibly fast. Only problem was, was that Octavia was not playing a fiddle. A note Octavia messed up made her cringe, as she clenched her hoof again. She squeezed the bow in her hoof, managing to snap it in half, as well as throwing the violin down at the hard kitchen floor. Vinyl gasped, and ran back to bed when she saw Octavia beginning to stomp back upstairs to bed. Vinyl jumped into bed as quickly as possible, and pretended to be asleep as Octavia stomped in. She quickly climbed into bed, burying her face in the pillow and letting out a few whines. Her sad sound effects made Vinyl's heart cringe, but she left Octavia to her busy feelings and tried to go back to sleep. Vinyl thought hard to herself about whether or not she should talk to Octavia again tomorrow. But then she'll know she was spying on her that night. Will she be mad? Or is the fact that she's trying to help her... good for her? Thinking about it made Vinyl tired, so she decided to put it off and think about it later. She had to, because the (what was now becoming annoyingly sad) noises that Octavia made with her face shoved into her pillow almost made Vinyl start whimpering her own gasping cries. Eventually, Octavia stopped, so Vinyl knew she'd gone back to sleep. Octavia shivered, so Vinyl returned her to the position she'd been in her arms before she got up, to make sure the mare she held so dear to her heart had... "Sweet dreams, Tavi." Vinyl whispered into her marefriend's ear. "It's gonna be okay, I promise." She whispered again, adjusting their snuggle and eventually dozing back off to sleep.