Two Notes Alike

by Doom_Pie

Chapter Three: Coming to Terms

Octavia had just finished adjusting her purple bowtie and tuning her cello when a lovely voice floated up the stairwell and into her room: “Octavia, dear, are you about ready to go?”
Smiling widely, she called back down, “Yes, mother, I do believe I am.” This was it. She was going to audition for the Grand Galloping Gala.
She knew in her heart that she wouldn’t have gotten to where she was today without the loving support of her family. Every time she had an audition, they would accompany her, despite the fact that she had to arrive sometimes hours before the actual audition took place. The same was the case for rehearsals and performances. They were always there to support her, and she truly didn’t know what she’d do without them.
The young mare made her way downstairs, cello in tow, and gave a bright smile to her family. She saw her father, who always made sure his mane was combed back for a performance, and her mother, who had just gotten done preparing her make-up and donned a beautiful hat. Viviola, however, was nowhere to be seen.
“Octavia, dear,” her mother cooed, “before we leave, there’s a present for you in the other room. Just something we threw together to show how much we c-care about you.”
Octavia frowned at that last stutter. That wasn’t something her mother ever did. Something was wrong, something had to be.
She forced the thought out of her mind. Tonight was going to be perfect.
Slowly, she made her way into the other room. There was one table, bare save the overturned card laying on top of it. The rest of the room was bare, as if any other decoration or piece of furniture might distract from the table sitting in the middle of the room.
With trepidation, the mare approached the table. Almost fearfully, she flipped the card so it was facing up.
On it was one word: ABANDONMENT.
As her eyes moved over the word, registering its meaning, the world became darker. It was as if someone had taken the color, the life, out everything. Panicking, Octavia ran back to the room where her parents were – only to find them gone, replaced by Viviola, laying on the floor and staring up at her.
“They’re gone now.” That was all she had said, before a large rumble shook Octavia off her hooves.

Octavia awoke with a start, her whole body having jerked in reaction to the feeling of falling. As her mind stabilized and she got her bearings – she had to remember where she was and why she heard snoring coming from the other room – the dream poured itself back into her conscious memory.
Abandonment. That one word flew around in her head like an angry bee. Abandonment. That’s certainly what she had felt in the dream – but why? What purpose did that serve?
She decided that she wasn’t going to figure anything out with only – she checked the clock on her wall – five and a half hours of interrupted sleep.
With a heavy sigh, she turned over, and tried not to think about it as she slowly fell back into a dreamless sleep.

---

“Morning, sis,” Viviola said cheerfully when she saw that her sister was finally stumbling out of her room. At seeing her condition – her disheveled mane, her bleary eyes that reflected worry – Viviola added on, “Rough night?”

“Yes,” sighed Octavia, sitting across from where her sister was shoveling down cold cereal, “you could say that, definitely.”

“Bad dream?”

The question, though innocuous enough in nature, gave Octavia a start. Did she know? Could she? How?
Her logical thought processes kicked in to control her emotional ones. You’re being paranoid. Ponies have bad dreams all the time. She’s making conversation.
“Yes, but it’s nothing to fret over. I still managed to get some sleep in there. How about you?”

Viviola gave a light shrug and got up to pour herself another bowl, as she had amazingly finished what she had when Octavia walked in. “Can’t complain. Though, to be completely honest, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to sleeping on a couch. Sometimes I wake up and my back cracks in ways I never could imagine.”

Her sister’s words fell on deaf ears. Octavia was deep in thought about what she had seen the night before. She couldn’t sort this out herself. She needed some help from somepony. And even in the dream, the only pony who seemed to have a handle on the situation was Viviola.
“Vivi… do you think that, when I left, I… abandoned you? Abandoned the family?”

Viviola stopped mid-pour, somewhat shocked at the sudden and surprising question. She slowly placed the cereal box upright, and turned to face her sister.
“Abandoned… is a strong word, sis. It’s not to be used lightly. I don’t think what you did could be called ‘abandonment,’ per se…” Viviola trailed off.

“Okay, thank you,” said Octavia, staring at the table in front of her, as if she could find some sort of closure to her problem written on it.

Viviola knew that, though she had apparently ended the conversation, her sister wasn’t satisfied.
“Why do you ask?”

This elicited a very weak shrug from Octavia. Viviola wasn’t going to leave it at that. “Does this have something to do with your dream last night?”

Octavia’s heart jumped. She didn’t think she wanted to talk about it… but if that was the case, then why did she ask Viviola what she did?
With a sigh, Octavia made a decision. She needed another perspective on the matter. After Viviola sat down at the table, Octavia told her every detail of the dream that had so well burned itself into her memory. The smiles. The stutter. The card. Abandonment.

After a long pause, no doubt for processing everything, Viviola spoke. She looked at her sister with pity and concern and asked her quietly, “Octavia, answer me as honestly as you possibly can. Do you feel guilty about leaving us so suddenly like that?”

And suddenly, it started to come together for her. What the dream meant, how it was triggered by their conversation the night before. Speaking to her sister about her relationship with their mother rekindled those feelings of guilt she had felt when she left in the first place, and her subconscious was finally forcing it onto her.

Realization filled her eyes and her mind as she started to understand the connection. She had experienced, last night in her dream, all of the discomfort and grief she imagined her parents and sister had felt when she had left, hitting her in one fell swoop. At least, that’s what she thought it meant. What else could it mean?

Another long pause. Viviola knew her sister was trying to work everything out in her head, so she waited patiently. But slowly, Octavia looked back into her sister’s eyes, with something that seemed to be equally joy and dread, making Viviola a bit uneasy. “I’m sorry if I said something that-”

“No, no,” said Octavia. “You’re right. That must be it. Guilt. I still must feel guilty… about leaving you.”

“Clearly,” said Viviola, glad that she could help her sister make progress, “you have some things to work out. Maybe you even need to make amends with our mother.”

The very idea of interacting with their mother made Octavia shudder involuntarily. But she saw no better options to resolving her guilt. Their mother was the only pony Octavia made sure never to speak to.

“And,” continued Viviola, “you’ll have the perfect opportunity to tonight.”

“Tonight?” asked Octavia blankly. “What’s-” She stopped herself, the obvious answer hitting her like a ton of bricks.
“Tonight is Nightmare Night, isn’t it?”

“…you’d forgotten?” Viviola let out a small laugh. “I suppose you were a bit pre-occupied this morning. I can’t say I’m offended. Yes, Nightmare Night is tonight. I even have a costume in mind for the show.”

Octavia couldn’t honestly say that she was unhappy with the change in conversation. “A costume? You have to wear a costume, too?” There was a hint of condescension in her voice.

Viviola crossed her forelegs defensively. “Yes. We all do. Tradition, remember?”

“Right,” said Octavia apologetically. “So, what is your costume?”

A wide smile appeared on Viviola’s face. “Well, I’ll tell you. Remember when we were young fillies, and I told you that you were a naturally scary pony?”

Octavia still didn’t get it. “Yes, I do. It was an odd insult, to be sure, but we were young. What has that to do with this?”

“Do you remember what I told you after that?”

“Not particularly.”

“I told you that I’d go so far as to dress up as a scarecrow version of you to freak ponies out.”

For the second time that morning – an eventful morning it had been – realization and understanding dawned on the mare. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did. Got your cutie mark and everything.”

Octavia’s jaw dropped. “You– I– I don’t believe you! You’re going to dress up as me? For Nightmare Night? With my cutie mark?”

“And your mane style. Don’t forget that.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, sis. I would have thought if there would be anypony who would be happy that somepony wants to dress up as them, it would be you."

“Did you at least change something? You won’t look exactly like me, right?”

“No, of course not. The colors are different. The coat is the same color as mine and the mane is like yours but a different color as well.”

Octavia just shook her head and impatiently held her hoof against it. “Well, at least nopony will think you’re actually me.”

Viviola started to laugh, which made Octavia chuckle as well.

“So,” Viviola said, taking on a more grave facial expression. “How about it? Are you going to talk to Mom tonight?”

Octavia knew she had to, but a part of her told her to wait. Wait for what? That must have been her rational side again. “I don’t know, Vivi. It’s not going to be easy. We actually haven’t spoken in… how long has it been? Four years, five? How would I start that conversation?”

“‘Oh hey, Mom, what’s up? So remember when I left abruptly? Yeah, good times, haha.’ Like that maybe?”

“I don’t think you’re taking this as seriously as you should.”

“I’m sorry. I guess it’s just… I don’t know, weird. You two not talking is normal now. But now all of a sudden you’re feeling guilty about it. It’s just hard to understand is all.”

Octavia realized she hadn’t mentioned what she believed was the cause of her dream. “You mean, you have no idea what could have inspired these feelings in me? Some recent event that may have brought back those memories?”

Viviola pondered. Then it hit her. “Oh, my – I’m so sorry, sister! I didn’t mean to cause this by asking you that, I-”

“It’s okay,” Octavia interrupted. “Really. It’s not your fault. And, all in all, it’s a good thing that we finally may start talking again, right?”

“I suppose.” Viviola didn’t know if the question was rhetorical or not but she felt that it would be better to be on the safe side. “Just don’t let your preconceived notions about what kind of a pony she is cloud your perception of reality, okay?”

An oddly verbose bit of advice from her sister. “Okay. Thank you for your advice.”

“You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have important orchestra pony things for which I need to prepare.”

“Please, don’t let me stop you from perfecting your imitation of me.”

To that, Viviola simply gave a smirk, and left.

Octavia welcomed that time alone she had ahead of her. She had to think of how she would approach this delicate matter – what she would say to the pony she hadn’t spoken to in years.

Comments

[Doom_Pie]

One chapter per week? LOVE IT.
But seriously, normally when I’m working on a project I go a bit faster than this. I blame the holidays.
Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the fact that there is some actual story element now. A goal for the main character to reach. I suppose I’m making it more about Octavia than Viviola now, too, but I’ll make sure the latter still plays a role.
With that said, any and all comments are appreciated. You know what happens to a member of the Pie family when they feel abandoned.

[Mystic]

Ooh nice chapter! I like the direction the story is taking. Some tension has been laid out and a I spy a journey to reach a conclusion! I like!

Keep up the great work, I look forward to the next instalment!

[Doom_Pie]

81335
Hey, thanks! I wasn't quite sure how the direction in which I pushed the story would be taken by the readers, but I'm glad to see at least somepony likes it
Glad you like it, and hopefully the next installment won't be too far in the future from now!

[Anonymous XXX]

lol i like it :D

[Doom_Pie]

82712 I get the feeling sometimes that you only comment to use the Mustache Spike emote
But thanks! I'm glad

[Anonymous XXX]

83812 you are almost exactly correct. its just nice to have emoticons that can express my feelings better than standard :)'s and :('s. but i do comment to tell people how awesome their stories are, as well.

[Gem of Memory]

83812
Why don't you update the story anymore?