//------------------------------// // Recess // Story: Little Musicians // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// The school bell rang, prompting the students to flood outside and cheer loudly as they charged towards the playground. Little boys and girls of all shapes, sizes, and colours stampeded out onto the grassy fields and made their way towards the climbing frames, see-saws, slides, and other playground equipment with their arms flailing around above their heads. Octavia and Vinyl were the last ones out and trailed behind the rest of the pupils. Vinyl had a giddy smile on her face, but Octavia kept calm and clutched her cello case tightly against her chest, so as not to shake it around too much and potentially damage it. Both of them were almost immediately taken by the bright colours and beguiling shapes. "Man, I've missed this place!" Vinyl exclaimed as she took in a big sniff of air and looked around the playground. "So, what should we do first, Tavi? Wanna go on the slides? Climb for a bit? Maybe you'd like a go on those teeter-totters over there. Whatever you're game for, I am too!" "Vinyl, thank you for the offer, but right now, I'd just like to get a bit of cello practice in, if that's alright with you." Octavia held up the cello case and coddled it gently, rubbing the leather with her fingers. "Aw, c'mon, Tav's." Vinyl gave Octavia a few pats on the back and slung her arm around her shoulders. "Recess is all about playing and having fun—not sticking your head into your studies." "Vinyl, I don't think you seem to get the point of practice." Octavia pulled Vinyl's arm off of her upper body and walked away towards a nearby bench. "Now, look. I'm not going to spend the whole of recess playing on my cello, but I would at least like to make sure that I don't fall behind or forget anything mother taught me." "A'ight. Suit yourself, I guess." Vinyl shrugged and went off to play with the other children. As Octavia went over towards a quieter area of the playground, she sat down, crossed her knees, and laid her cello case down by her side. Clicking the latches open, She opened the top of the case and pulled out her cello and the bow to play it with. The wooden frame glistened in the sunlight as she adjusted the strings and made them tighter. Once she was suitable with how she had tuned her instrument, she propped it against herself and pointed it upwards as she retrieved some folded up sheet music from within the case. Octavia propped her head back against the wall and used four small rocks to hold down the sheet music so that it wouldn't get blown away while she played. She took in some air through her nostrils and exhaled through her mouth as she held her bow firmly in her hand and pressed her cello by herself. She began to glide the bow against the strings and play the song as instructed. Some notes were longer than others, while other segments of the song asked that she play a number of different notes in a short span of time. Determined not to miss a beat, she continued with the song and played the cello accordingly, making long and short notes as dictated on the paper. The music that she played not only coiled around her ears but began to slightly spread out towards the edge of the playground. Despite the low pitch of the cello, the song still had a calming and soothing tone to it, like a song that she would've heard her mother play to put her to bed when she had been through a long day. Every octave, clef, and beamed note flowed smoothly with every movement that Octavia made and not one part of it seemed out of place. When she came to the final piece of the song, she began to play the notes shorter and shorter, eventually holding the last notes for as long as she could so as to give a peaceful climax to the song. After she finished, she stood up and bowed before picking her sheet music up from the ground and putting it into the case before slipping the cello back in as well. "That was a really beautiful song." When Octavia stood back up and held her case up, she was met by a girl wearing a pink dress and sneakers. She had a light-blue top with yellow frills around the arm holes and had a tender smile as she gave a small round of applause. She was holding a soft teddy bear in her right hand with black buttons for eyes, while bracelets could be seen on both of her arms. Her hair was pink and her skin was cream-coloured. "Thank you," said Octavia. "I learned how to play it with the help of my mother's teachings." "She must've been a really good mom then." The girl gave Octavia an innocent smile and fluttered her eyelids. "My name is Sweet Heart. It's nice to meet you." She held her arm out, gesturing a handshake. "My name is Octavia Melody." She said, shaking Sweet Heart's hand slowly. "Nice to meet you too. It's good to know that there's someone who appreciates music just as much as I do." "Me and Teddy love music." Sweet Heart nodded and brought the bear to her hip. "Whether we're playing it or making it, we just really, really like it. Even when it's being played like that." She looked around to see if anyone else was looking, then took a few steps forward and leaned into Octavia's ear. She whispered, "Hey, um... do you wanna play with me?" "Play with you?" Octavia blinked a few times while standing completely still. "What are you talking about?" "Well, it is recess after all, and kids our age usually play like this outside." Sweet Heart smiled as she showed Octavia the kids on the apparatus, all laughing and talking to each other. "And while I do like your music, I think you should learn to play a little bit more. Have some fun." "Fun?" Octavia tilted her head and scratched at her chin as she watched the children playing and running around. "Running around and acting like Vinyl Scratch is fun for them?" "You know Vinyl?" Sweet Heart's eyes lit up. "She's amazing! I've never seen so much energy in a kid before. She's so much fun to play with at recess!" "Yes... I happen to know Vinyl." Octavia began to sweat at her forehead as she pondered whether or not she should continue on how she and Vinyl were step-sisters. "She's... a rather interesting girl." "Well, what are we waiting for! Let's go and play with her!" Sweet Heart took Octavia's hand and began to run towards the rest of the pupils in the playground. "H-hey! Wait!" Was all that Octavia could say before she was yanked from her position and dragged off in Sweet Heart's grip. After a quick jog across the grass and cobbled ground, both Sweet Heart and Octavia arrived at a climbing frame with different levels, a secret grotto, and another slide poking out of the top level. All of the pillars holding it up were painted blue, with steel bolts wired into green frames underneath to keep it from collapsing on itself. "Vinyl! Vinyl! Vinyl!" Sweet Heart ran up to Vinyl, waving her teddy bear around in her left hand. "Sweet! What is it?" Vinyl jumped down from the frame and landed by Sweet and Octavia. She looked at the both of them and cracked a small smile. "Oh, hey, Octy! Did you finish practising?" "Yes. I suppose." Octavia cast a small glare at Sweet Heart as she brushed her hands down her legs. "Well, it's good to have you here, Tavs. Let me show you around." Vinyl held Octavia's hand and walked her into the climbing frame. "Just come up these stairs and you'll see the whole playground. Seriously, you get a great view from up here." "A view? What kind of view do you mean?" Octavia followed after Vinyl, ducking underneath the ceilings of the climbing frame as she ascended the spiral. "Oh, you're gonna love it." Vinyl gave Octavia a smile and patted her on the chest as she burst out into the light again. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody climbed out onto the top of the climbing frame and walked on the roof towards a wall. Following them closely were Sweet Heart and a couple of boys. To them, the whole space around them was one open balcony with both stairs and a slide leading back down to the ground. "There it is." Vinyl walked over towards the small wall and put her arm on the edge as she looked off the edge towards the building. "Doesn't it look great, Octavia?" "Hmm..." Octavia gave herself some time to admire the scenery. Despite the fact that it was just their school and some of the students beneath them, it was as if she was looking at a piece of art with how both the nearby buildings and sky complimented what she was seeing. "I suppose that it does have some class." "Class? I just think that it looks good." Vinyl turned towards Octavia and rubbed up to her. "Y'know, it's recess. You should know how to act more like a kid, not like your mom." "But how, Vinyl?" Octavia turned towards Vinyl and threw her arms out. "I don't know how to act like a kid. All my young life, I was taught how to talk, act, and be a lot like my mother. Granted, I started at the age of five, but I'm still not like you or these other kids. I don't really know how you and your friends seem to act, so I just spend my time practising my cello." She showed the case off to Vinyl and the other kids. "Well, Octavia, if you don't know how to act like a kid, I suppose that we could teach you how to be one." Sweet Heart tapped on Octavia's back and watched her turn her body to face her. "First, being a kid shouldn't be about learning how to play the cello at recess." She heard a few giggles emanate from the other kids around her. "Second of all, just go with what you're doing." "Go with what I'm doing?" Octavia tilted her head. "I'm afraid I don't follow." "Tavi, let me show you what Sweet means." Vinyl walked Octavia towards the slide at the end of the frame. "The slide. This is probably the funnest thing on the playground. If this doesn't teach ya something, then I dunno what will." "It looks a bit... odd." Octavia examined the curvy slide that curled around the base of the structure and ended at a grassy patch. "How do you have fun with these things?" "Like... this!" Vinyl pushed Octavia down the slide, hearing her scream loudly as she careened down it. "Woo-hoo! Comin' down!" Vinyl jumped in after her and slid on her back, lifting her arms back as she shot down the tube. After a brief trip down the slide, Vinyl popped out of the other end, seeing Octavia hanging over the edge. Because of the velocity that Vinyl had picked up, she ended up slamming into Octavia and knocking her onto the ground before they both rolled around for a few moments before coming to a stop with grass all over themselves. "Woo! What a rush!" Vinyl raised her hands as she jumped back onto her feet and pulled Octavia up. "Don't you think, Octy? Was that a fun ride or what?" "Ride? You risked breaking my cello!" Octavia opened her case and examined her cello, looking to see if the trip had damaged it. After a brief examination, she could see that the instrument had sustained no damage and was still in pristine condition. "Phew. You're lucky that cello cases are built to withstand tumbles like that. Next time you want to push me down something, let me know beforehand, alright?" "Yeah, but let's get real for a moment, Tavs. You liked it, didn't you?" Vinyl closed up the case and handed it back to Octavia. "I mean, potential damage aside, it at least woke you up and blew the cobwebs away, right?" "Well..." Octavia watched as Sweet Heart and the two other boys popped out of the slide's exit, along with a few other pupils that she hadn't seen climb up. "I did give me quite an adrenaline rush. Not sure whether I'd consider it fun given how you pushed me down it, though." Vinyl groaned and slapped her forehead. "See, Tavi, you're just a bit too tight. When you're a kid at recess, you just laugh these things off and continue playing, not just talking about how your things were nearly broken. Everyone else does it." She pointed around and showed how everyone else was wrapped up in their playtime and games with big smiles plastered onto their faces. "Now c'mon. Let's try something else." "Something el—" "Tag! You're it!" Vinyl slapped Octavia on the chest and started to run off. "C'mon, Octavia, you know this game. We played it all the time back at dad's house!" "A game of Tag? Now that, I can't refuse." Octavia gave a small grin of her own as she tightened her hands into fists and chased after Vinyl as fast as she could, shaking her case back and forth as she chased after her. "Get back here, you little scamp!" "Yeah! That's more like it! Lose yourself in the game, Tavi!" Vinyl smiled as she ran ahead and saw as Octavia closed the distance on her. "Catch me if you can!" "Oh, I plan to." Octavia smirked as she gathered speed and pursued Vinyl throughout the playground. As Octavia and Vinyl exchanged the role of "It" between each other with each touch, they soon found themselves both laughing and giggling just like the rest of their peers. Slowly but surely, everything around them seemed meaningless as they let themselves get engrossed deeper and deeper into their game. After a while, Vinyl began tapping more and more kids, roping them into the game as well. Sweet Heart was the first one that she tapped, then a few other girls with varying hairstyles and clothing choices, and even some of the boys that were littered around the playground. For both her and Octavia, their game of tag grew over time until almost all of the playground was in on it, playing with them and all of the others as they all frolicked and ran through the morning sun, trying to avoid the role of "It," or shift it on to someone else. Octavia was about to tap Vinyl again one last time, but as soon as she landed the blow and said, "Tag! You're it, Vinyl!" The school bell rang out, attracting the attention of all of the students. "Aww, dang it!" Vinyl swung her arm in front of her as she and the other students began to walk back inside the building. "Well, looks like you win, Tavi. This time at least." As she climbed up the small flight of stairs back into the building, she looked at Octavia and gave her a small grin as she bumped her arm against her friend's shoulder. "So, how was that? Fun, wasn't it?" "Oh, Vinyl. You know how you and I love a good game of Tag now and again to wake us up." Octavia's smile still lingered as she strode past the corridors and lockers that covered the walls. "If this is what those kids call fun, then I actually quite like it." "Yeah, it's great! And it's not just Tag that gets these kids so happy and playful at recess." Vinyl walked with a spring in her step as she approached her locker and began to open it. "There's Hide-and-Seek, Red Light Green Light, using the slides, all kinds of things get us like this." "It must be great for them all then." Octavia opened up her locker and slipped her cello case into it and opened her backpack. She fished out a notebook and her pencil case before closing the locker up again. "Y'know, I have to thank you again, Vinyl. That was the most fun I think I've ever had in, well... ever." "No problem, Tavs." Vinyl closed her locker up, holding her own notebook and pencil case in her hands. "I'd do anything for you if it meant that I'd get to see you happy like that again." "No really, Vinyl. Thank you so much." Octavia walked over to Vinyl and gave her a big hug, patting her on the back as she rested her head on Vinyl's shoulders. "Thank you for showing me that Tag's not just a game that we can play at home. Thank you for teaching me how to act like the rest of the kids here at Ponyville Elementary. And most of all, thank you for being such a good friend to me—even after mother and father's divorce." "You're welcome, Octavia." Vinyl hugged Octavia straight back, rubbing her friend's back as she closed her eyes and felt her warm embrace pushing against her body. After a while, they broke out of the hug and smiled at each other. "Now, let's get to class, shall we? Don't wanna be late." And without another word, both Octavia and Vinyl walked through the corridors holding their hands and smiling as they passed door after door on their way towards the class they were designated. After a long game of Tag with each other, they both needed to calm down and do something else to pass the time. And they both knew that a long lesson in class would be just the thing to do it.