“Um Tavi, maybe you should watch it on the cider,” a white mare with an electric blue mane cautioned.
“Maybe you should stick to your own drink!” A grey Earth Pony spat back. She then took another chug of her drink. Normally, she’d stay at home and practice on the cello, but right now she felt like being at the bar and obliterating everything else except for her and drinks. “Besides, I’ve seen you drink way more than this, Vinyl!”
“Yes, but drinking is practically part of my job. I’ve got tricks to dealing with a lot of cider. You, on the other hoof, have had three drinks and you’re already plastered.”
Octavia slumped onto the bar table. Her eyes dully looked at the clear glass mug next to her. Her hoof went around the rim of the mug in circles. “What’s it matter? It’s over anyway.”
Vinyl got up from her seat and wrapped her hoof over Octavia’s shoulders. “Hey-hey, it’s not that bad.”
Octavia smacked her friend’s hoof away. “Yes it is!” She darted out of the bar. Some ponies took notice; others just kept dancing and drinking. Drunken fights were nothing new to a bar.
Vinyl stared off at where her friend had gone. “Darn it Octavia!” She then gave chase.
~~~
Octavia had never liked her manager’s sunglasses. They were too big, at least Vinyl’s just covered her eyes, and they didn’t extend and make her face look distorted. The sunglasses gave her manager somewhat of a bug appearance. After the incident with the Royal Wedding, Octavia liked the sunglasses even less.
“Octavia, great job at the concert hall last night,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you,” Octavia politely replied. She’d enjoyed the concert as well. She’d played, there’d been applause, and everypony seemed happy.
Her manager reclined back in his seat and flexed his hooves back and forth, as if he was pointing at his own head and the Octavia’s. That was never a good sign. “Anyway, concerts are good, but we need demand outside Canterlot.”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “I don’t quite follow.”
“Look, concerts and symphonies are fine, but the ponies that go there aren’t getting any younger. We’ve tapped out the Canterlot crowd. Now we need to get some of the youth in on the action.” His horn lit up and a ghastly latex jumpsuit flew over to them. “Okay, so this is step one, we give you a new image. Make you sleek and hip.” He gave Octavia a lookdown. “I mean, we’ll also need to work on your hair and your face, but we’ll manage. Oh, and new music, definitely new music.”
Octavia dropped the false smile she carried whenever she met her manager. “This is crazy. Ponies enjoy my shows, and how I look is fine.” She jabbed a hoof at the outfit that was still floating. “That is not something a pony would ever wear while performing a concerto, an aria, or any other decent piece of music.”
Her manager’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. “I’d have thought you’d be a little more understanding, especially since you share an apartment with Pon-3.”
“Don’t bring Vinyl into this.”
“Oh, I’m bringing her into this. She’s what I want out of you. I was actually hoping to get you two to work together, provided her manager was willing to cooperate.”
Octavia slammed a hoof on the ground. “Never! While I respect Vinyl’s work, she’s the complete opposite of me in terms of music. I won’t have you jeopardize our friendship just to make me into something I’m not!”
Her manager then did something she’d never seen him do. He took of his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. “Octavia, you gotta understand. This classical music shtick is a slow job. You have to work with so many middle-ponies to get a gig. You know how hard it was to get your first big performance off the ground? I do.” He moved his hooves away from his face and looked at Octavia with his deep purple eyes. They were somehow worse then the sunglasses. “We need to get you a new angle. You don’t like what I proposed? Okay, you've got a week to work things out.”
“What do you mean I’ve got a week?”
Her manager leaned across the table and glared at her. “What you think it means.”
~~~
Octavia kept running. She ran past the castle, past the city, past the railway station. It’s not fair! Ponies liked my music, right? I had fans. So what’s gone wrong? She was now on the grassy path that led down the mountain Canterlot rested on. The grass was a bit wilder than it was in the city. The path had seen less ponies ever since the railway had been perfected. Octavia stopped running and walked at a steady pace down the path. She didn't care where it ended. Her eyes weren’t even on the path; they were looking up at the night sky.
Just playing the cello is all I’ve known. It’s not meant for anything but classical music. She recalled the one time she’d tried to play a more modern tune at the request of a pink pony at the Grand Galloping Gala. That night had been a disaster. She’d tried something new and all that came of it was a wrecked celebration and winding up flat on her flank.
She stopped trotting and looked up at the night sky. “What am I gonna do?” The sound a crickets responded. “Somepony. Anypony! Give me a sign!”
Suddenly, a star twinkled in the sky. “Huh?” Octavia watched as the star moved and got closer. “What the…” As the “star” moved closer, it became clear it wasn’t a star at all, but rather a bubble of some sort. Octavia gave herself a light slap in the face to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The bubble was still there. Octavia could now see it kind of looked like a giant paw. “And now I’ve had a mental breakdown. Great, I’ll probably end up like Starry Night, biting off my own ear.” Octavia then looked up at the presumed hallucination again. It was still getting bigger. “Okay, brain, don’t know what the point is but… that’s headed right here. Oh crap!”
Octavia broke into a gallop as the bubble careened into where she’d just been. Octavia jumped and took cover behind a nearby rock. There was an earsplitting boom. For a second, Octavia worried that the blast would collapse the path and send her tumbling into the chasm below. But after the boom, there was only silence. Octavia slowly lifted her head above the rock and looked at where the bubble had hit.
There was now a paw shaped crater in the rock where the bubble had hit. It was a perfect outline, no cracks at all. It was like the bubble had simply pushed down the rock. Octavia then noticed the figure in the middle of the impact. She could only see its back, but could make out it was in a suit of some kind that looked rather tattered and that it had a large black poofy mane.
Octavia quickly rushed over to the figure. She nudged it to check on it. Its coat rattled and a skeletal leg clacked onto the ground.
Octavai screamed and jumped back. Her skin crawled taking in the skeleton's decayed form. After some breathes though, she calmed down and she looked back at the skeleton.
“I don’t get it.” She looked into the skeleton’s empty eye sockets. “What’s it mean? I ask for a sign and it makes me even more confused.”
She looked over its suit. It looked like something somepony in Canterlot would wear if it weren’t in shambles. Then Octavia noticed something: there was something on its hip. Curious, she moved back the end of the suit and saw something that made her heart stop. Etched into the skeleton’s hip was a stringed instrument and a bow.
“N-no.” Octavia felt sick. This was a sign. A sign of things to come! I-I’ll end up just like this poor pony. I… I… Something brushed against one of Octavia’s legs. She slowly looked down and saw a white hoof bone touching her own her. Cold sweat dipped down her face. Her eyes, now tiny pinpricks, slowly traced their way back to the skeleton’s face.
It's hollow sockets stared straight up at her.
“May I see your panties?” It asked.
Octavia screamed and then fell to the ground unconscious.
~~~
It was the typical wakeup Octavia expected after the night she had. Something that should have been a minute sound awoke her and brought on the migraine.
“Ugh, darn cider,” Octavia moaned as she shifted out of bed.
Every movement she made sent another wave of pain to her head. It was all she could do to not collapse on the way to the door. As she neared the door, the smell of something cooking filled her nose. Octavia managed a smile. Vinyl’s probably cooking up her hangover omelet. Celestia bless that mare. Octavia then lost her smile. I’ll have to move out once they fire me. I won’t be able to keep up my half of the rent.
Octavia took a deep breath. I should probably apologize for last night. Octavia brought a hoof to her head as she remembered the night’s events. She’d yelled at Vinyl and run out of the bar and then all Tartarus had broken loose. I must have been either really drunk or maybe somepony slipped some moon rocks in my drink. Octavia shuddered. Vinyl had way too many stories of watching perfectly normal ponies go absolutely nuts when they took that stuff.
Octavia opened the door and trotted down stairs. Great, add rehab to my list of troubles. Octavia took another deep breath, it helped fight back the worst of the headache. It clearly must have been moon rocks: the bubble, the skeleton, it talking. Well, that’s another issue. Now I just need to take care of this headache and apologize. Octavia turned the corner into the kitchen.
“Vinyl, I said some harsh things last night and I just want to say…”
The skeleton was sitting at the table, sipping on some coffee.
“Kyyyaaaahhhh!” Octavia stuck herself against the wall and started hyperventilating.
Vinyl was over by the stove, frying up the omelet. She stopped cooking for a second to give Octavia a smile. “Oh, morning, Tavi. Take a seat. Breakfast will be ready in a second.”
Octavia began to sweat as she looked back and forth between her roommate and the skeleton at the table. “Vinyl! Not now! You need to get me to a doctor, a psychologist, and a darn good magician right now!”
“Why?” Vinyl asked. “You’ve just got a hangover. Nothing my omelet and a bunch of water can’t fix.”
“I’m referring to the apparition that’s haunting me and currently sitting at our table!” Octavia jabbed a hoof at the skeleton. “I need help, Vinyl!”
“Don’t worry Tavi,” Vinyl replied. “Aside from the whole skeleton gag, he’s perfectly normal.” Vinyl rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Still not quite sure how he eats though.”
At first, Octavia gaped in shock, then she scowled, her face contorted, and finally she just smiled gently. You know what? This is a good thing. I was gonna get fired anyway, now they can just say I had a mental breakdown. The manager will like that, me going crazy will probably boost record sales. Octavia kept smiling and pulled up a chair to the table. “Okay Vinyl, I’m gonna talk to the imaginary talking skeleton and indulge my loss of sanity.”
Octavia cackled like a madmare.
“Okay, I just need a few more minutes.” Vinyl turned back to the stove and flipped the the omelet.
Octavia looked across the table at the skeleton. It looked back at her. “Hi, crazy hallucination. How are you?”
“May I see your panties?” It asked.
Oh yeah, insane. Sense? What’s that? Octavia frowned a little. Wait. What if I’m trying to communicate something to Vinyl? “Panties” might mean “help” in my head. Okay, going to untangle this mess at least. “Um… what exactly are panties?”
The skeleton became silent and unmoving.
“Uh… hello?”
Silence.
“Um, are you dead again?”
More silence. Octavia was about to get up and poke it, when blood suddenly came out of its nose.
“Ahhhh!” Octavia fell off her chair and scrambled away from the table. She rushed over and grabbed Vinyl for support. “Vinyl! Vinyl! Its face is bleeding! You have to get a help now! I can’t take much more of this!”
“Whoa whoa!” Vinyl put her hooves on Octavia while also keeping an eye on the omelet. “Careful, I don’t want to burn breakfast.” She looked over at the skeleton, which was using some napkins to clean up the blood. “Yeah, he did that to me too when I answered the question. Kinda freaky.”
“Kinda? Vinyl, the dead are eating at our table! Why in the name of Celestia did you bring it back!?” What am I saying?! It’s a hallucination… oh Luna, I’m probably already in a padded cell somewhere! “
Vinyl shrugged. “I felt bad for him. He didn’t really want to talk about it, but I think he lost his pals.” Vinyl frowned a little. “Maybe you can figure out what’s eating him.”
“I am not talking to it anymore! In case you don’t recall, I tried that and it started bleeding everywhere!”
“I expected a bit more decorum from you, Tavi.” Vinyl jokingly levitated a spatula over and tapped Octavia on the head. “Now be nice and introduce yourself. He was worried about you.”
Octavia steeled her resolve and went back over to the table. She kept her eyes glued on the wood, afraid something pop out of the skeleton’s skull and scare her to death. “H-hello.”
“Are you alright now Miss?” It asked.
“I’m n-not the one bleeding everywhere.” Go away, evil spirit! Please go away!
“Yes, sorry about that. I’m not used to such… customs.” Octavia got the horrible feeling that it was bleeding again.
“W-well, I still want to thank you for h-helping me last night, I think.”
“It is no problem at all miss. May I ask your name?”
“O-Octavia.” What sort of evil abomination says “miss”?
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Octavia. I’m Brook. Sorry if I frightened you last night. Yo ho ho!”
Okay, maybe he’s not the bad. He seems polite. Octavia looked up just to see Brook finish laughing. His jaw looked like it was about to fall off. For an absolute terror maybe. Octavia shivered.
“Is something wrong?”
“Y-you’re a skeleton.”
“I suppose I am… then again you’re a talking horse. It’s a strange world.” Brook took another sip of his drink.
Before Octavia could say anything more, a plate with a large omelet was dropped in front of her. Vinyl also floated a plate over to Brook and her own seat. “Alright, eat up. I know only one of us has a hangover, but I still cook a mean breakfast.” Vinyl and Brook then tore into their meals while Octavia slowly ate her own eggs.
“Ms. Scratch, these eggs are quite good,” Brook said with a mouthful of food. He let out a large belch.
“No problem Brook.” Vinyl then let out an unladylike belch of her own.
Octavia stared at the display. Some of her hair went crooked. “Vinyl? Did that chaotic monster from a few months ago escape again?”
“Not to my knowledge.” Vinyl stuffed more eggs into her mouth. “Why?”
“You’re taking the undead eating breakfast with us too casually.” Octavia slumped. “And I’m having a harder and harder time believing this is just my own delusion.”
Vinyl shrugged. “Eh, I’ve seen a lot of weird things in my job. At least Brook here isn’t trying to slam his face into my records to get the green fairy.”
Octavia opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. She thought for a second about what Vinyl said and then decided she’d never comprehend it. Understanding the current situation was more important. “You don’t question why a skeleton is talking and eating food?” Octavia noticed that Brook’s plate was halfway gone now. She also noticed that despite drinking coffee, there were no stains on the floor or its suit.
Vinyl eyed Brook. “Well I have been a little curious.”
“Oh yes, that.” Brook stopped eating and looked at the two mares. “I died.”
“No,” Octavia sarcastically replied. “Next you’ll tell us you used to have flesh.”
“I did have that too. You’re very perceptive.” Octavia didn’t like the way Brook always seemed to be smiling.
“So you died, but how’d you come back to life?” Vinyl asked. “Again, seen some crazy stuff, but not a whole lot of necromancy.”
“You see, I ate a very peculiar fruit,” Brook explained. “I died, but I didn’t move on. Unfortunately, when I found my body, it was just a skeleton!”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “You ate a fruit that revived you?”
“Yes, I also can’t swim.”
“That makes everything much more clear,” Octavia said with a smile. “Vinyl, can I talk to you for a second?” She got up and went around the corner. Vinyl followed. As soon as they were out of Brook’s sight, Octavia pinned Vinyl to the wall. “I want him out!”
“Why? He’s fun.”
“Vinyl, he’s clearly a sign for me of things to come. Why else would he have an instrument cutie mark?” Octavia was sweating profusely and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. “He’s clearly a monster sent from who knows where t-” Vinyl’s hoof lodged itself in Octavia’s mouth.
Vinyl gave Octavia a piercing glare. “That ‘monster’ saved your life. I caught up to you two right when you passed out. He kept you from falling off the mountainside.” Vinyl smiled and reverted to her usual cheery self. “Besides, if he has a talent in music, you now have something to talk about.” Vinyl trotted back into the kitchen. Octavia begrudgingly followed.
“Is everything alright?” Brook asked as Vinyl and Octavia crawled back into their seats.
“Great actually,” Vinyl replied. “Tavi said you had a musical cutie mark and was curious how you got it.”
“What’s a cutie mark?” Brook asked.
Vinyl tilted her head a little. “Being dead mess with your head a bit?” Vinyl pointed a hoof at the musical note on her flank. “This thing. Everypony has one.”
Brook shifted his suit back to look at the instrument inscribed on his bones. “Oh, I was wondering about that. I always wanted a tattoo, but I don’t have skin anymore. Yo ho ho!”
Octavia flinched a little. “C-could you watch it on the laughter a little?”
Vinyl inspected the Brook’s cutie mark. “Anyway, how’d ya get it? Concert? First time playing? Pulling a really sweet gig?”
Brook gave her a blank stare… which wasn’t saying much given that skeletons usually only did that anyway. “I don’t quite follow.”
Vinyl scratched her chin. “Hmm, note to self, death and revival messes with memory.” She looked back at Brook. “You know, how’d you realize music was your special talent?”
“Oh, so that’s what this thing means. Well, to answer your question, I’ve always had a talent for music,” Brook replied.
“Could you possibly show us?” Vinyl asked. “We’re both musicians too, so we’d love to hear some of your music. Right, Tavi?” Vinyl gave Octavia a stern glance.
“Um, y-yes, let’s hear something,” Octavia nervously said.
“Do you by chance have a violin?” Brook asked. He was looking directly at Ocatvia.
“I-I have a cello.”
“May I borrow it?”
“Y-yes! I-I’ll get it right now!” Octavia bolted out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. Any time away from Brook was a relief to her. She took deep breaths as she leaned against her door. Why in Equestria did I say it could have my cello?! Oh, it’s gonna curse it!. Octavia put her hoof on the door, but didn’t push it open. Maybe… maybe if I let it just play it’ll calm it’s soul and it can move on! She dashed into her room and carefully placed it on her back. Y-yes, aren’t ghosts good is some stories? I let it have a final song and it goes away. She trotted back into the kitchen.“O-okay M-mr. Skeleton, l-lets see what you’ve got.” She hoofed the cello over to him. He gave her that blank stare again. “What?”
“How do you hold it?” he asked.
“Um, like this?” Octavia assumed her playing position and played a few notes. “But now I’m curious about hearing what you play.” It might have been a good player in life at least.
Brook slowly reached forward and got a loose grip on both the cello and its bow. “Hmm, this is new for me, but I’ll do my best. Sorry if it’s a bit rough.”
“No problem,” said Vinyl. “Most skeletons have trouble just walking around.” She chuckled at her own joke.
“Very well.” Brook then began to play. Even on the cello, the song was fun and festive. “Yohohoho, yohohoho, yohohoho, yohohoho, yohohohooo. Going to deliver Binks’ sake…
~~~
Both Octavia’s and Vinyl’s mouths were practically touching the floor at the end of the song. Octavia had never heard anything like it. It was nothing like the classical music she played. It was fun and lighthearted and made her feel quite happy by the end of it. With a final “Yohohoho”, Brook concluded the song and did a little bow. “You two look like you have both seen a ghost… guess I’m close enough. Yo ho ho!”
“That was awesome!” Vinyl draped her hoof over Brook’s shoulders. “You’ve got some real skills there. What’d you think Tavi?”
It took Octavia a second to register she’d been asked a question. “That was… beautiful. I never thought a cello… my cello could produce something like that.” She bowed her head, partially in shame, partially in honor, to Brook. “I’m sorry if I was a little unwelcoming earlier Mr. Brook, but you now have my deepest respect as a fellow musician.”
“Thank you Ms. Octavia.” He rested the cello against the table and placed the bow on top of it. “There is but one favor I would like to ask of you now.”
“W-what?” Octavia nervously asked. Oh, please don’t say my soul! This was going well.
“There is a place I must go back to. Ms. Vinyl didn’t know of it though. By any chance, do you know the where the Shabondy Archipelago is?”
Huh? Octavia looked at Vinyl, who shrugged to show she didn’t know either. She brought her attention back to Brook. “Um, is that what the afterlife is called?”
“No,” he replied. “It is very important that I get back there though.” His head drooped. To Octavia, it looked like Brook was frowning. “I will have to ask someone else.” He turned to the door. “Thank you for you hospitality.” He started to walk away.
“Wait.” Surprisingly, it wasn’t Vinyl that had said anything. Octavia trotted a little closer to Brook. “I… I know we couldn’t help. But… you don’t have a place to stay and we could help you find this place.”
“You would really do that?” Brook asked.
“Yes. But there’s more. I… I also want to know how you play like that!” Octavia turned her head away from Brook. How could I have said that? Why am I asking the dead for help?
“Okay,” Brook nonchalantly replied.
“W-what?” Octavia stared at him with eyes that were filled with confusion.
“I will help you in exchange for you helping me.” Brook trotted closer to Octavia now. Octavia hadn’t noticed it before, but Brook must have been quite the stocky stallion when he was alive. His head was a good half a foot over Octavia’s own. He loomed down on her. “But if you don’t find the Archipelago, I’ll be sure to haunt you!”
Octavia’s eyes rolled over. She unceremoniously crashed to the ground.
“Oh dear.” Brook looked over the unconscious mare. “I should have said the ‘kidding’ part sooner.”
“Don’t sweat it Brook.” Vinyl lifted Octavia up with her magic. She also drooped a hoof over Brook’s shoulders. “Octavia’s always been a little too high strung. Guess it comes with playing the cello.” Vinyl let out a little snicker. “Haven’t seen her do that since last year’s Nightmare Night Party. My neck still hurts from that.” The DJ cricked her neck back and forth. She then looked down on her friend and covered her in a soft blue aura. “She just needs a little rest. Until then, make yourself at home.” Vinyl trotted up the stairs with Octavia floating in front of her. “I’ll be right back.”
Brook stood alone in the kitchen. “This is a most peculiar day.” A ship with a lion’s head on it flashed before Brook’s eyes. “But I must get back to the archipelago! Forty degrees!” Brook flamed his head against the wall at the acute angle, but then slid to the ground. “I promise Luffy, I’ll make it back.”