The morning began a normal one. Alarm clocks rang shrilly, showers sprayed water over the backs of drowsy ponies, and toothbrushes scrubbed away. The wake-up schedule of a certain grey earth pony and a white unicorn were nearly exactly the same as well. But this morning, Octavia Meloy and Vinyl Scratch had preparations for a special day to add to the usual. Octavia and Vinyl were holding a pre-Hearth Warming's Eve concert at Pontville's most coveted concert hall; The Sliver Stable. But this was not an ordinary assembly of party ponies jamming to the heart-pounding wubs of Vinyl's making, nor a selection of the stuffiest music critics nodding to the rhythm of Octavia's cello. This concert was a rarity, something crafted out of nights huddled over turntables and instruments. This concert was to be a mixture of the two. And it was for that reason Vinyl's phone rang at four in the morning.
RING. RING. RING.
"Ughhh...," moaned Vinyl. She rolled out of bed and schlepped her way over to the phone in her living room.
"Yo, Octi! Way too early, dude," she said into the phone, fighting to keep a slur out of her voice.
"Well, you seem awake enough at four in the morning usually, so I figured a call at this time wouldn't be too bad," replied Octavia, smoothly and with the wide-awake tones of someone hyped-up on coffee.
"Dude, that's when I'm, like, up all night."
"Weren't you?" said Octavia, who apparently knew she was asking for trouble.
"Shut up, Tav. You knew I was practicing until I fell asleep at one. Whadda you want?"
"For you to get over here at this instant. We have some last-minute practicing to do."
Vinyl muttered a cry of something between an agreement and exasperation. She slammed the phone into the holder and rubbed her eyes with a hoof.
"Why did I agree to this...," she muttered, and walked into the kitchen to make coffee. Just then, the phone rang again.
"Octavia, I will kill you."
"What? Vinyl, it's me. Meteor Shower? Your publicist?" said the voice at the other end of the line.
"Oh. Hi, Meteor. What's up?" greeted Vinyl, pouring coffee onto her hoof. She shouted obscenities silently until the pain passed.
"Vinyl, you're not going to believe it. You know Photo Finish? I just got an email from her publicist saying she wants YOU to perform at her fashion show! Tonight!" exclaimed Meteor Shower. Vinyl did not ask why she or Photo Finish's publicist was awake at four a.m., or elaborate on why she was.
"Uh...what time?"
"From six to nine. I can hardly believe it!" It sounded like Meteor was jumping up and down.
"But...Meteor...that's when Octi and I have our concert." The jumping stopped.
"Oh, that's just a little thing, just a few hundred people. But Photo Finish wants you to play for thousands! And it's at The Braided Bridle!" Vinyl gasped. The Braided Bridle...that was Canterlot's most coveted concert hall. Neither her or Octavia had ever played there.
"Could...Octi play too?"
"Uh..." Clacks of a computer's keys were heard at the other end. "No, it's the debut of her newest models...yah know...the First Pony in Space show...? She thinks Octavia Melody's music might be a bit of a buzzkill. Vin, you can't turn this down! If you do...I don't even know what Photo Finish will do to your reputation!"
"Gimme a minute, 'kay?" She hung up and immediately called Octavia. As the phone rang, she had a sudden revelation. Octavia didn't have to know, did she? She could just...not show up. Octi had the recordings of her music. All Octi had to do was get another famed party pony to play the recording. She was about to hang up, but Octavia picked up the phone first.
"Yes, Vinyl?"
"Oh...uh...never mind! Wrong number."
"Who else would you be calling at four in the morn-"
"Meteor Shower...don't ask. Bye!" She hurriedly hung up before Tav could ask more questions. She called Meteor back.
"Meteor...I'll do it. On one condition though...Photo gets another party pony to fill in after seven." That was the hour the concert started...if she teleported, she might be able to get there only a few minutes late.
More computer keys clacked. "Yeah, sure! Rolling Stone says that he'll be able to get Solid Beats- that pegasus with the mohawk always hanging around your concerts- for then! See you, Vinyl!" She hung up.
Vinyl pinched the bridge of her nose. She hoped Tavi wouldn't be too mad.
At five forty-five, Vinyl Scratch and her high-tech turntable warmed up backstage at the First Pony in Space fashion show. Earth ponies in all sorts of clothes scurried giddily around her, pegasi flew left and right above her head, and a few unicorns were charming jewelry onto themselves and other ponies. Vinyl pounded out a few beats into her headphones mindlessly, barely noticing a thing. Her mind was preoccupied with Octavia. What would she be thinking now? Tavi usually got to her performance an hour before the beginning, just to incessantly make double, triple, and quadruple checks until guests arrived. Would Octi be worried? Vinyl brushed the thought off. Her entire career depended on this moment. She churned out more beats, wubbing through her thoughts and letting herself slip into a sub-consciousness. Suddenly, the lights flashed on and off. A call to the seats. Vinyl tugged out her headphones and fastened a microphone headset to her ear. “Miss Scratch, on in 10, 9, 8, 7…,” muttered a voice into Vinyl’s headset. A pair of brawny assistant ponies with nearly identical cutie marks- one a pony lifting weights, the other a pony lifting dumbbells – began pushing her and her turntable to the front of the stage. It seemed that the model ponies would walk around her turntable. “3, 2, 1…and we’re on. Good luck, Miss Scratch.” The two assistant ponies grinned at her, then ran off into the wings as the curtains opened. Vinyl inhaled sharply. Wow. There were a lot of ponies out there. “Yo, Canterlot!” Vinyl begun, shouting out to the huge crowd. They responded with a deafening roar. “Who’s ready to be the…. First! Pony! In! Space!” she yelled into her microphone. Every word was accentuated with a burst of screams. Vinyl began a deep, throbbing beat as she nodded her head to the music. Models strutted around her in perfect synchronicity to her beats. She added in a creaking beat, which the models responded to by weaving their heads back and forth. Wow, Vinyl thought, this is the best show I’ve ever hosted. A voice, barely audible above her music, whispered into her headset.
"Drop the bass in 3, 2, 1..." Vinyl smiled. This was the best night of her life.
/)*(\
"Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my," muttered Octavia under her breath. "Whatever am I to do! Ten minutes to curtain and no Vinyl!" She ran to her publicist and life-long friend, Thundercloud.
"Oh, Thunder, where is Vinyl! She should have been here an hour ago!" Thundercloud, a gray pony with an electric blue mane, stretched his hooves above his head . "She'll be here," he said, pawing a hoof menacingly.
/)*(\
Vinyl wubbed out beat after beat to the cheering crowd. A deafening roar of a rocket came on of no accord, apparently the signal to move to intermission. A tiny voice in her headset confirmed it. Vinyl walked backstage and spotted Solid Beats, the pony taking over the turntables. They bumped hooves as they went their separate ways, Vinyl to get water, and Beats to warm up. As she made her way to the water cooler, she spotted a familiar face.
"Nightengale? Is that you?" she gasped to a tall mare with a purple mane and a navy blue coat.
"Vinyl!" The two mares hoofbumped.
"Yo, whatcha doin here?" Vinyl said to Nightengale.
"Dude, I'm moving up the social ladder! I, like, designed half of these costumes.And after this, I'm doing a design for Hoity Toity! Can you believe it?"
"Me too, man! Well, not the same thing, but I'm lined up for a bunch of high profile stuff after this." That was technically true.
"Wanna get a drink?" said Nightengale.
"Dude, awesome!" To her defense, Vinyl hesitated a tiny bit, before waving off thoughts of Octavia, figuring one drink couldn't hurt.
/)*(\
An hour later, Vinyl was inebriated and making out with Rolling Stone, having totally forgotten about Octavia. The music was pounding, the drinks were free, and she was in Canterlot. There really was no better way to explain it.Vinyl was over the moon with happiness. That is, until the hall doors slammed open.
"VINYL SCRATCH!" rang a voice so high and so loud that everyone paused to look, including Solid Beats, his turntable making static.Octavia and Thundercloud stormed in to the hall. The masses of ponies cleared a path for her to the corner of the room, where Vinyl sat at the bar. Once making eye contact with Octavia, her eyes widened, and she made a run for it, but she was too far under the influence to teleport. Thundercloud picked up Vinyl by the scruff of her neck and tossed her kicking and scratching form into the train with Octavia.
"Uhhh...hey?" said Vinyl sheepishly.
"I can't believe you."
"Octiii, I missed, like, one show. Cut me a litttttttle bit of slack," slurred Vinyl, who was fighting to stay awake.
Octavia snapped. "Nevermore! Nevermore shall we talk!"
"But...Octi...I'm sorry."
"Get out! I never want to see you again!"
Thundercloud opened a door and shoved Vinyl out of the train. Vinyl sighed. Life was a confusing thing.
It took Vinyl only two tries to swing herself back up into the next train. The train she had chosen was filled with food and other goods being brought to Ponyville. She nestled herself in between a sack of carrots and a crate of potatoes and fell into a restless sleep.
/)*(\
The sharp trill of a train bell brought Vinyl from the hollows of dreamland and into the cold, dark, real world. She saw Ponyville approaching and prepared to leap off the train. She inhaled...and jumped off on the exhale. Galloping a few steps to regain her balance, she began a slow walk back to her studio apartment. Her mind, still recovering from the strong alcohol, began slipping in and out of the twilight zone.
I'm such an idiot.
Buck me.
Rolling Stone's hot.
Wait, what?
Tavi's gonna kill me.
Meteor Shower's gonna kill me.
Photo Finish is gonna kill me.
I'm gonna kill Nightengale.
Why did I ever agree to these stupid shows?
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Hearth Warming's Eve was only a day away, and she had to prepare some tracks for her first album recording- Meteor Shower had talked her into it. Frustrated, she slammed open the door to her apartment building. The night concierge, a young guy named Broken Strings leapt up in surprise as she stormed through the tiny lobby and up the stairs.
Finally alone, she made to run to her turntable, but tripped over something on the way there. Cursing, she made to throw the offending object out the window, but paused. It was the necklace Octavia had bought Vinyl for an early Hearth Warming's present, still in its box. Seeing it made her simultaneously want to throw the object out the window even harder and sink to the ground in tears. Her rage won out, and she threw the object out the window as hard as she could. She then curled up in a ball on her bed and sobbed, her sunglasses stained with tear streaks.
Five seconds later, a pink-maned yellow pegasus was hit firmly on the head with a box.
"Owwww...," muttered Fluttershy. She rubbed her head with one foreleg and hovered in midair as she used the other to retrieve the projectile. It appeared to be a small, velvet covered box. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she popped open the lid. Out fell a thin piece of paper and a necklace-she had opened the box upside down. She let her wings come to a halt and dropped to the ground to inspect the necklace. It was beautiful, made from a simple cloth string and a stone pendant in the shape of a music note. Replacing the necklace in the box, she picked up the note. In swirling hoofwriting, it read;
My dearest Vinyl,
I cannot express my thanks for the friendship you have given me over the past few years. You have shown nothing but loyalty, kindness, and honesty to me over the course of our relationship, and I know you will continue to. I know I can always rely on you to be there for me, no matter what the case. No words exist for the level of love you have shown me, Vinyl. You are my everything.
Love,
Octavia.
Fluttershy let out a 'awww' before she realized that she had to return this to Octavia Melody RIGHT AWAY before she got worried. She yelped and attempted to fly like Rainbow did, but only succeeded with a speed a little slower than her walking. Sighing, she touched down and ran at a gallop to the arts side of Ponyville, where she figured the cellist lived. Upon reaching the street, which was still crawling with ponies, even at night, she scanned the faces of the river of artists flowing by her, trying to see someone who might know Octavia. A mare with a pen and ink cutie mark...no...a stallion with a guitar cutie mark...no...a filly toting an easel...no, no, no, no! Fluttershy collapsed to the ground in dismay. She was about to resort to knocking on doors when a mare with a vividly orange coat passed by talking to a stallion with a drumset for a cutie mark.
"-yeah, can you believe it? One of my clients played for Photo Finish's shows! At the Braided Bridle! And-" here she paused, having said the previous in one breath. "Now Vinyl's playing at the Silver Stable with Octavia Melody! The famous cellist herself!" Fluttershy jumped to her feet as if she had stuck a fork in the toaster.
"Uh...Miss! Miss! Could you wait up for a second, please?" she said, galloping to catch up. The mare stopped and turned.
"See you later, Drumstick," she said to the stallion, who slipped into an apartment. "What's up, kiddddddd-" She trailed off upon seeing Fluttershy's cutie mark. "Celestia! You're Kindness! Awesome!" she gasped. She sounded to Fluttershy like a distant relative of Rainbow Dash.
"Uhmmm....d-d-do you know where I c-c-c-could find O-O-Octavia?" Fluttershy stuttered out. The orange mare scrunched her eyebrows together in the exact way Rainbow Dash did.
"Hmmm...Go this way-" she pointed along a side street "-turn that way-" she jabbed her hoof right "and it's the first building. Townhouse 5," Fluttershy thanked her profusely and then sped away to a modern-looking segment of townhouses. One...two...three...four...eep! Five! She ran to the door and then tentatively knocked. A harried looking grey mare opened the door. She had to sweep her matted dark grey mane off her face before Fluttershy could confirm who she was.
"How can I-" she yawned- "help you?"
"Uhm...Uhmm...," Fluttershy had spent so much time obsessing about getting to Octavia that she forgot to think about what she would say when she got there.
"I-I-I have something of yours. I-I-I think?" She pulled the box out of her saddlebags. It took Octavia a few seconds to realize what it was. Once the full realization hit her, she turned red.
"I," she swallowed a scream, "am going to kill Vinyl Scratch."
Octavia crumpled the paper in her hoofs as spots blotted her view of the tiny yellow pegasus before her.
"Um...Miss M-M-Melody? Are you a-a-alright?" said aforementioned pegasus.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'll be fine." The statement was slightly dulled by the fact that she was snorting clouds of steam into the cold air and pawing viciously at the ground.
"Do you w-want to talk about it?" The question surprised Octavia, because, after all, she did want to talk to someone, and the Element of Kindness (who she had now identified the mare as) was supposed to be- well, kind.
"Actually, would you mind listening to a silly mare's worries for a few minutes?" she said to Fluttershy. Fluttershy nodded and slipped inside Octavia's townhouse. Octavia let a smile hint at her lips for the first time since Vinyl's disappearance. Closing the door against the chill winter air, she offered Fluttershy a seat on the sofa, where they both sat.
"So w-w-what is it?" Octavia made to say something in a normal, quiet fashion but the words came tumbling out faster than she could stop them.
"Well, Vinyl Scratch and I were supposed to have a concert together tonight, and after we were going to go to dinner for Hearth Warming's Eve and it was supposed to be perfect and happy but then Vinyl did another show in C-C-Canterlot and got d-d-drunk and f-f-forgot about me and I-I-I," She stopped. It was too much for her. Hiding her face in her hooves, she wept.
"Miss Melody? Octavia?" Octavia felt Fluttershy lightly push her hooves away. "It's going to be alright. Vinyl just let her party personality get out of control. It was no one's fault. You didn't do anything," Fluttershy said. She had completely stopped stuttering. It was this tiny fact that brought Octavia back to reality. She sighed and pushed her mane out of her face.
"You're right. I can't put the hoof of blame on anyone. It was an accident. I- I need to talk to her." She sprang off the sofa- or tried to.
"No!" Fluttershy squealed, slamming her hoof across her. "I won't let you leave for a heart-to-heart chat looking like this!" Internally, Octavia giggled. The timid mare had a fiery personality- who'd have thunk?
Fluttershy pushed Octavia to her bathroom (how she knew where it was will remain forever unknown) and began dabbing at her reddened eyes with a wet washcloth. She pulled a brush through her long gray mane and straightened Octavia's bowtie.
"I've always wondered," said Fluttershy curiously, "why the bowtie?"
Octavia giggled, outwardly this time. Ponies asked this all the time.
"Well, they are simplistic and professional. They lend an air of authority and beauty at the same time. Bowties are cool." Fluttershy smiled and spun her around to look in the mirror.
"Rarity could've done better, but you look wonderful. Now c'mon!" Octavia let herself be pulled out the door and into a waiting cab. Fluttershy waved goodbye and disappeared into the mass of shifting ponies walking the streets.
"Where to, ma'am?" said the driver, a gruff stallion with a blond mane and an orange coat.
"Number fourteen, Cliffdale Road," she replied. Vinyl has always preferred to live outside of the more metropolitan area of Ponyville, enjoying an apartment further outside of the hustle and bustle of downtown Ponyville.
"Yes, ma'am." The driver pulled away from the main street and began to drive down an alleyway, which Octavia knew from experience was the fastest way to Vinyl's apartment. Taxi drivers in this section of Ponyville were always looking for the fastest ways to finish a job, so they could take more clients. Everyone in the arts sector was up and running at all hours, so this was a better strategy for making more money. Octavia was rehearsing what she would say to Vinyl when suddenly-
BANG!
A shot rang out, shattering the glass in the windshield as the driver made to enter the next alleyway. The stallion whinnied in dismay and stopped the car. Octavia saw him pull a gun from below his seat. This must happen often, for him to carry a gun thought Octavia, terrified though she was.
"I don't want to hurt anyone; just put down the guns and we can all leave," said the driver. Octavia poked her head around the seat to see what was happening. The driver was holding a gun against at least four other ponies, all with guns of their own.
"Hmm. Not in the best position, eh? You're a wee bit outnumbered," laughed an Irish pony with a target cutie mark, hefting a gun.
"Neither are you, seeing as I have telephoned the police," replied the driver. Octavia knew that he had had no time to do anything of the sort. The other ponies seemed to realize this, as they all laughed.
"Got anypony wid' you?" said a stallion with a strong Manehatten accent, gesturing to the cab. Octavia ducked her head back behind the seat. The pony seemed to be the ringleader of them all. He wore dark sunglasses tucked under a shock of raven's feather black mane. The crook didn't even have to pull a gun- he seemed to positively radiate danger. Nopony in their right minds would mess with him.
"Nopony. Just movin' to pick up somepony in the outer sectors." Octavia felt a rush of gratitude for the driver.
"Oh really?" sniggered the Manehatten pony. Octavia heard a few ponies begin to approach the car, their hooves clacking against the cobblestones loudly. "'Cause I saw somepony sittin' in the back when youse was drivin' up."
Octavia was absolutely horrorstruck.
/)*(\
At this time, Vinyl Scratch was pacing her apartment. Back, forth, back, forth. Her thoughts raged up a stormy sea, taking her from Octi to the brink of emotional meltdown, to her wrongdoings, and back again. Should she go and find her? Shouldn't she? Vinyl sighed and teleported (one of the few non music-related spells she had been able to master) to an alleyway nearby Octavia's house before she could change her mind. She had tried teleporting into the middle of the street directly outside Octi's door once, and had crushed more than a few ponies. She wasn't going to let that happen again.
She walked slowly, though purposefully, not letting herself think too much, should she reconsider. Such was her preoccupation of not thinking that she was too lost in her not-thoughts to realize what was happening in the alleyway ahead of her. Until, that is, someone fired a shot.
