Chapter 14
“I said, maybe we should move away from Canterlot,” Octavia repeated hesitantly. “You know, since we can only afford another month’s rent here and neither one of us can really find employment,” she continued, eyeing Vinyl’s expression carefully as it segued from disbelief to . . . bitterness?
“Oh, so you want both of us to just give up on our dreams? Huzzah, that’ll solve everything,” Vinyl deadpanned.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Octavia retorted.
“It sure sounded like it,” Vinyl said.
“How, pray tell, is that what I said?” Octavia asked.
“Well, your dream is to be a famous and sought-after cellist and mine is to be a successful nightclub owner. Since I can’t imagine you’ve got it in mind to move to another city where the rent is just as high, you must be talking about moving out in the country somewhere. Where neither of those dreams is gonna happen. So yeah, you’re giving up,” Vinyl explained.
“Vinyl, I am not giving up but we have to face the facts; after we paid off on your loans and lease for the club we didn’t have much insurance money left and now it’s almost gone. Neither of us is working and we’re nearly out of options. The money we have left will go a lot farther somewhere more . . . rural.”
Vinyl snorted, unimpressed. “Somewhere more boring, you mean. No clubs, no nightlife, nothing for somepony like me to do. No thanks. I’d rather be homeless and poor in the city.”
“At least think about it,” Octavia implored. “Please?”
“I already thought about it. And the answer is ‘no’.”
“Well then, let’s hear your idea since mine is so obviously flawed,” Octavia spat, struggling to contain her rising temper.
“I dunno,” Vinyl admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “But there’s gotta be a better plan than moving to the middle of nowhere.”
“Like what?” Octavia demanded. “Don’t you understand that we’re running out of options? What else could we possibly do, Vinyl? What brilliant scheme have you concocted to save us?”
“Hey, I’ve been trying to get a job, in case you didn’t notice. And I had the idea with the contest too,” Vinyl defended.
“Oh yes, both of those have worked out so well, haven’t they?” Octavia laughed mirthlessly.
“You’re hardly one to talk! You’ve had, like, three paying jobs in the last couple months,” Vinyl huffed.
“Then I’m three times more useful than you!” Octavia yelled. Instantly her hoof flew to her mouth as if the gesture might recall her words.
Oh Celestia, tell me I didn’t just say that. Not after yesterday.
Vinyl’s eyes narrowed dangerously, her mouth stretched into a thin line as she rose from the table and silently stalked from the room. Octavia watched wordlessly, amethyst eyes glinting with unspoken regret as Vinyl’s words from yesterday repeated in her memory: “I’m nothing but a pony-shaped pile of uselessness.”
Octavia flinched as Vinyl slammed the door to her seldom-used spare bedroom.
Octavia lay on her living room couch, for once sprawled across its entire length in her partner’s absence. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable being able to stretch out as she had hoped. She flipped through a glossy magazine advertising apartments and houses for rent in a number of smaller towns well outside Canterlot. The prices were universally lower; the amount of money they had saved could keep them in lodging for another year in any of these places.
But is that all I care about, or is Vinyl right? Have I given up?
. . .
I’m just so tired of being overlooked, of being ignored, of being punished for something that isn’t even my fault. I don’t know if I can keep doing this. But . . . but does that mean I’m right to expect Vinyl to give up too?
Looking down the hallway, she could see Vinyl’s door, still firmly shut. She rose gingerly to her hooves, knocking the magazine to fall to the floor to join several more like it. A few quick steps brought her to the offending door. She drew a deep breath before raising her hoof to knock against the wood. “Vinyl,” she called out. “I know you’re mad about what I said. I don’t blame you; that was a cruel and unforgivable thing to say. I know that saying I’m sorry doesn’t really cut it, but I really am sorry.” She stood and listened for several long seconds. When she heard no reply she lightly tried to turn the door handle. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. She sighed, before hanging her head and heading back to the couch.
Behind her locked door, Vinyl rolled over onto her back to stare sightlessly at the ceiling from behind tinted lenses. Her telekinetic aura enveloped a state-of-the-art music player, turning up the already-deafening volume being produced from the headphones that rested over her ears. She closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to lose herself in the music, to let the pounding bass and synthetic melody drown out her own pained heartbeat.
No such luck; she could still hear Octavia’s acerbic words, their remembered echoes striking against her with the force of a lash. Like some demented masochist she reveled in it, calling them to mind again and again, reliving in her mind every word and surge of emotion; the surprise, then bitterness, turning into shock and blistering anger. She remembered standing and leaving Octavia without another word before she opened her mouth and said something she’d regret. The insults she wanted desperately to hurl had died stillborn on her tongue; the only things she could say about Octavia in her anger amounted to petty vulgarities, and she deserved better than that kind of abuse. At least her words had the force of truth behind them rather than sheer spite.
Vinyl ran her hoof quickly under her eyes. They came away moist. She sighed and turned up her music again.
Octavia lay alone on her bed, its emptiness of anypony but herself an unaccustomed burden. She wrapped herself in her blanket and comforter against the chill of the winter night but still was uncomfortably cold without the soft and familiar warmth of a certain special somepony to revel in as she drifted off to sleep. The shadows cast by the moon seemed somehow more encroaching and the silence more stifling without the small island of radiant white beside her gently filling the space with the sound of her own breathing.
She tossed herself onto her side for what seemed the hundredth time, putting her back to the empty side of the bed and trying not to focus on the fact that the only breath she could hear was her own. Behind closed eyelids she found no rest or reprieve from her own mind.
Why can’t she just understand that I’m right? We have to move somewhere else if we want to still have a home.
. . .
Maybe if I hadn’t yelled at her like a stupid foal, she would have been more open to listening.
. . .
But she was so aggravating, refusing to even consider my suggestion and accusing me of wanting both of us to give up on our dreams.
. . .
And that gives me the right to rub salt in her wounds? Poor Vinyl, she was sobbing into my shoulder just yesterday because she felt useless and then I went and threw it back in her face like some insensitive lout. Oh Celestia, I’m such a terrible pony. How could I do that to her?
She covered her face in both hooves, stifling her groan.
Early morning sunlight filtered through the kitchen windows, illuminating a still-sleepy Octavia as she sipped at a freshly brewed cup of coffee, grimacing at its bitter taste.
Ugh, how does Vinyl drink this stuff? There’s not enough sugar in all Equestria to make this even remotely appetizing.
She continued drinking, though, valuing its magical ability to chase sleep from her mind more than the sanctity of her palate. She set the cup down, heedless of the brown ring inevitably left on the wooden surface of the table still cluttered with the remnants of her breakfast. She eyed the empty seat across from her uncomfortably.
Come on, Vinyl. At least come to breakfast. You can’t starve yourself.
She tapped her hoof irritably against the table, scowling in thought. Finally she stood and walked, once again, to the doorway of Vinyl’s room. She grasped hold of the door knob, intending to rattle it in its frame to accentuate her point as she called out, “Vinyl, open the door! I want to talk—” The door opened. “—to you?” she finished uncertainly. She stepped through into the room. Vinyl herself sat on her own bed, wrapped in her blanket like a shawl. She looked up in surprise as Octavia entered. “I thought I locked that again,” she said.
“Vinyl, please, I’m so sorry I said that. I didn’t mean any of it,” Octavia babbled out, seizing her chance. “I know you’re upset but please at least come eat. I don’t want you to be hungry too.”
Vinyl just stared at her, expression blank before lowering her head so that her mane fell down and obscured her face as she intently studied her mattress.
Octavia carefully crossed the room, climbing up on the bed and seating herself across from Vinyl. Heart pounding, she reached out to lay a hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder. When it wasn’t brushed away, she worked up the courage to scoot closer so that she sat directly beside the white unicorn. “Vinyl, I—“ Octavia began.
“You were right,” Vinyl interrupted, raising her gaze to meet Octavia’s.
“Wh–what?” the grey cellist cleverly replied.
“You were right about moving,” Vinyl admitted. “I hate it and I don’t wanna leave or live out in the middle of nowhere, but what else are we gonna do?”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it but I was still completely in the wrong to say that I was more useful than you. Can you forgive me?”
Vinyl looked at her for a long and searching moment before answering, “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I was acting like a little foal who won’t even listen to anything she doesn’t wanna hear. I knew it would make you mad and I did it anyway, so I can’t really blame you for getting mad.”
Octavia shook her head in denial. “That’s hardly an excuse. I’m the one to blame here.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Treble Clef. I say we both contributed to that argument and we both regret it, so let’s just let it go.”
“So, you accept my apology?” Octavia asked tremulously.
“Yeah, I accept it. And I’m sorry I started it by being stupid.”
Octavia leaned forward quickly and seized Vinyl in a crushing embrace. After a startled beat, the she returned the gesture.
“Let’s never do this again, alright?” Octavia asked without releasing Vinyl in the least.
“Sounds good to me,” Vinyl replied. “Now let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
Nodding her head in agreement, Octavia stepped off the bed and made her way back to her abandoned meal, Vinyl following close behind. The grey mare watched without a word as Vinyl slopped a serving of oatmeal into her bowl. She grimaced as she bit into it. “Ugh, this is like the 300th day in a row we’ve had oatmeal for breakfast. Isn’t there anything else?”
“For the 296th time in a row, no. That’s all we have. We’re so desperately low on money that we can’t afford anything but the cheapest and most generic food. Like oatmeal.”
“Not even any poptarts?” Vinyl asked pleadingly.
“I swear to Celestia, you and those stupid poptarts . . .” Octavia muttered. “No, not even poptarts,” she answered at more audible volume. “We have oatmeal, milk, some canned soup, a loaf of bread and a bundle of carrots. That’s it.”
“Let me have a few of those carrots,” Vinyl said, perking up.
Quirking an eye quizzically, Octavia got up to rummage in the refrigerator. “Here they . . . oh my.” She emerged from behind the door, a bag of unidentifiable plant life clasped gingerly in front of her as she carried it over to be dropped into the garbage. “On second thought, forget about the carrots,” she explained as she returned to her seat. Vinyl sighed and began to eat her oatmeal.
Octavia finished her cup of coffee as she waited on Vinyl, though the goal now was to get the smell of questionable carrots out of her throat rather than rousing herself.
“So, on the subject of us moving somewhere, did you have any ideas in particular?” Vinyl asked as she wiped her mouth clean of the remnants of her breakfast.
“As a matter of fact, I did. Fancy a visit to Ponyville?”
“So where exactly is Ponytown again?” Vinyl asked as she watched the scenery outside their train car fly past.
“It’s Ponyville, not Ponytown. And it’s just southwest of Canterlot, only a few hours by train. It’s practically a suburb,” Octavia answered. Taking in the rolling hills and pristine grassland that stretched as far as she could see, Vinyl pantomimed gagging on her own hoof. “I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Octavia reassured her companion.
“We’ll see,” Vinyl gloomily answered before going back to staring out the window. The hypnotic passing of scenery and the rhythmic thumping of the wheels as they followed the tracks soon lulled the contemptuous mare to sleep, her light snoring a source of intense personal amusement to Octavia as she too focused her attention on the view as Canterlot steadily receded into the distance.
Eventually the train rounded its final bend and Ponyville began to loom in the distance. Octavia pressed her face against the window, eager for her first glimpse of their destination. Soon enough the train was lurching to a stop and the conductor was striding up the aisle, announcing their stop. Vinyl roused with a snort and blinked sleep out of her eyes. “We there yet?” she asked around a yawn.
“Yes, we’re here. Let’s get going, shall we?” Octavia replied as she eased her way into the narrow aisle between rows of seats.
Both mares blinked in the sudden glare of the sunlight as they emerged from the train and onto the platform. As their eyes adjusted they took in their first impression of the small hamlet; thatched roofs, dirt roads between the buildings, grass and trees as far as the eye could see. A few larger structures rose above their smaller cousins, one of them apparently an ornate carousel, another a pink confectionary monstrosity that would surely give a dietician nightmares. But the majority of the buildings were much smaller affairs, a modest two stories at most and uniformly wooden and dull with the exception of a few splotches of colored trim. “It’s very scenic,“ Octavia ventured.
“It’s freaking lame,” Vinyl replied flatly. An oblique glance from Octavia shamed her into flattening her ears and looking down at the ground.
“At least give it a chance. We’ve only been here for a few minutes.”
“You’re right, Tavi. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover and all that,” Vinyl agreed.
“That’s the spirit! Now let’s just walk around and see what the place is like.”
The two mares walked off casually, choosing a street at random and making their way slowly around Ponyville as they took in what the town had to offer. Occasionally Octavia pointed out a restaurant that looked inviting, or an interesting store, or a unique landmark. Vinyl merely followed along, taking everything in wordlessly, although even she did manage to be interested in the town’s library, apparently hollowed out of a still-living tree.
Ponyville wasn’t large. A few hours passed and they had crossed every square inch of ground, leaving them at loose ends until their return trip in another few hours. In the interest of killing time and fighting off hunger, they decided to splurge on a modest lunch of tulip sandwiches and hay fries at a small, inexpensive looking café they had passed earlier. “So what do you think?” Octavia asked after swallowing her last mouthful of sandwich.
“It’s . . . nice,” Vinyl answered. “But I seriously don’t think I could live here.”
“What? Why?” Octavia demanded.
“I mean that there’s nothing here for me. At all. Look around; there’s no nightclubs, no party scene, no music stores, no anything. I don’t even think they have electricity, for Celestia’s sake!”
“Vinyl, that’s not—“
“I mean, you could probably get some money to play your cello around here, even if you can’t have the kind of career you used to in Canterlot. But I guarantee nopony here cares for my music. So what would be the point of me coming here?” Vinyl asked.
“The point would be that you have a home with me instead of ending up on the streets of Canterlot because we can’t afford the apartment there!” Octavia replied heatedly.
“I’d rather stay in Canterlot! At least there’s a chance ponies would support my music there!”
“I wouldn’t! I’m so sick of that city; all I want to do is be somewhere else!” Octavia hissed back.
“What about your career, your music? Don’t you wanna go back to being a famous cello player?” Vinyl asked incredulously. “Are you really willing to throw that all away?”
“Yes,” Octavia answered simply. “I’m tired of it all. I don’t even care anymore.”
“You . . . you,” Vinyl stammered. “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you would just stop trying.”
“I’m sorry Vinyl, but I’m done with it. I’m done with Canterlot; I’m done with being a professional musician, with being ignored and hated for no reason. It hurts too much and I’m done with all of it,” Octavia continued weakly.
“I’m sorry too, Tavi. I'm not giving up on my goals. Not even for you.”
“Vinyl, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if you really wanna move here, you’re leaving me behind in Canterlot,” Vinyl explained. Octavia could only stare, horrified and heart-stricken. Vinyl stared back, fighting to maintain a stoic face. “Your choice.”
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Huzzah! I, and this story, live!
Waaah! Why you do this! D:
Good chapter, but... depressing!
About bucking time. What happened, dragon ate your parchment.
Vinyl, for the love of Celestia,
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSRGnxiIVuFWE7Mde_SKOLtVx3ME3sdD-zogPT-Mbur_Q5Urp1q
ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE STORY TOO!
1345519 but alas, Tavi and Vinyl's relationship does not!
Very good, my friend. Normally I'm not a fan of the whole 'chose me or the other' gambit, but it felt organic here. Very well done, sir. Have a moustache
Clearly Vinyl hasn't met Rainbow and Pinkie yet.
SO MUCH DRAMA
1345613
Somepony needs to hold the idiot ball today.
1345602
More like college ate my life.
There better be another update soon... Or so help me, Celestia, I'm gonna freak!
Also, this is awesome, keep it up.
I do hope they end up staying in Ponyville, if only for the interactions they could possibly have with the Mane Six.
Vinyl Scratch meet Pinkie Pie
Huzzah, she has found a job.
Keep this up, I can't wait to see what happy looks like!
And then surprise pinkie pie.
WHERE THE HAY IS PINKIE WHEN YOU NEED HER!... seriously, wehere is she, because by now she would had recived the two of them and prepared a welcome party
1345668
College?
Horsefeathers, wait till you have to work. Then for a while life WILL eat you.
Trust me on this, I've got the scars on my flanks to prove it. (and no, no pics)
I. Hate. That. Ultimatum.
I don't put up with it in my relationships. My wife can attest to that.
That is one of my ultimate, secret litmus tests.
Ask, and I will not answer - you will have lost me.
Huzzah indeed.
Vinyl you are such a mule. what about Octavias happieness? Do it for her, afterall she is doing this for you.
Noticed one gramatical mistake
You shouldn’t join a book by its cover and all that. (Judge)
1345756
Hey, I work too. But my work schedule is easy. It's classes that eat my free time.
1345760
Agreed, if someplace or something can be held in comparison to your relationship, it is not a good relationship, or at least not a great one.
Vinyl just needs the the party pony pinkie then she will want to stay in ponyville with octy
pinkie u better save the day on this one
1345779
Ya, I hear that. School started about a month ago for me and ,poof!, went all the time in the time in the world.
"Um Vinyl I think you mean't 'judge' not 'join'."cdn.broni.es/images/emotes/mlp-osad.png
and now I'm going to go hang myself with my bootlaces, because that was sad and depressing. Good, yes, but indefinably sad and depressing.
And she's about to go and BAM. Turns out there is a nightclub.
vinyl needs to mare up and
derp.co.uk/2bd6e
1345668
Note... that is not exactly the best way to write a story...
In fact, you can make drama without a character looking like an idiot. It takes skill, but it is a good idea.
1346277
Let's just say that instead of being outright stupid, I wrote Vinyl to be obstinate and stubborn about what is, ultimately, a pretty radical lifestyle change. Especially given that it's something of a sudden topic being brought up and they've had one major fight over this very topic already. I reckon it isn't really accurate to say she's holding the idiot ball. It's more like she's automatically resisting large and sudden change, which I think is a pretty understandable response. Plus she's saying things she may not necessarily mean right in the heat of the moment.
O.o
PINKIE! WE NEED YOU STAT!!!
whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat
you'd better lighten the mood by introducing pinkie soon, considering she was actually the one that ruined Tavi's career
Oooooooo... Vinyl why?
1346411
Right. My point was actually on the phrase "idiot ball". It doesn't mean what you used it to mean.
1346428
I realized that shortly after I wrote it
.
Thus, I was carrying the idiot ball for a time when I used the term improperly and began this little conversation
1346466
I think Big Mac is right.
This chapter is somehow sad
, and I like it 
.
Really Vinyl? That's a little extreme isn't it? Also I thought ponyville had electricity.
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw50_1300065528066.jpg
1346619
I don't think cannon Equestria has any electricity. I distinctly remember Twilight working by candlelight in 'Owl's Well That Ends Well.'
My story's Canterlot has it since it's a large metropolitan area, but Ponyville is too rural and out of the way. Just like how major cities in real life had electricity first, long before it spilled out into everywhere.
Wait didn't Vinyl play in Ponyville during Rarity's fashion show? So wouldn't she know where it is and what it's like?
now it is time for pinkie pie to throw a party vinyl actually liking it and octy well she had a bad experience with the mare in pink already sooo yea
1346709
Hmm, I'm not sure. I mean in "Suited for Success" there were spotlights at the fashion show. And Vinyl did the music for that in the episode. And the Cakes have electricity in Sugarcube Corner. Don't really matter to me, I was just wonderin'.
1346720
1346091 XD where did you find that i nearly fell of my stool laughing so hard
Oh man this is crazy
i can't wait for the next one 
1346767 Sorry didn't mean to make you look bad
one of the tags is not tragedy, so ill guess everything is going to be alright. cause if they were to break up. that would be the worst possible thing to happen! extremely tragic with all the
drama ever!
1346417
She also apparently hired Vinyl for the wedding reception. (Or perhaps she just stored Vinyls all over Equestria in case of DJ emergency!) I'd put bits on Pinkie hiring Vinyl for Rarity's fashion show, too (Vinyl's style doesn't seem like something Rarity would get on her own).
Not sure at what point in the storyline this is supposed to take place, though.
I had to make a choice like what Vinyl is making Octavia make and to this day I wonder what would have happened if I chose differently, but at the same time, I look back and see what I gave up and I know I made the right choice. Hopefully it goes better for these two...
Celestia's mane and Luna's wings... where the hell is pinkie pie when we need her!? she better not be out of town or something! Quick pinkie sense, make with that Doozy and get there and fix things!
seriously though, great chapter and can't wait for the next one...
This chapter? I like it. ANOTHER!
1346709
Course in "Read it and Weep", Rainbow is seen clicking the button to an electric light... not to mention all that science equipment Twi uses and the hospital stuff.
...btw, right as i was gonna go to sleep this updates... now the feels begin.... WHY MUST THEY DO THIS TO THE ONE THEY LOVE??! Ok, feels over.
And then Pinkie comes and throws the drama out the window.
Seriously, that's a fairly harsh choice there. And all I can do is wait and see.