Light Tire wasn’t eager to attend this meeting. He had been informed that the Canterlot Police department had been asking for him this morning, concerning some “potential witnesses of an accident”. Weird. He hadn’t noticed any accident near the school, or anything out of the ordinary for that matter. But it was better that way: he would just come at the rendez-vous point, say hello to the cop, tell her or him that he didn’t see or hear anything, and it would be over. Easy.
He got in the limo and started the engine. The best part about this job, apart from the high pay, was that he could use the car for his personal business during the week. That was worth driving this whining rich brat every now and then. At least her father wasn’t that fucking gloomy all the time.
He had seen this blue-haired girl before, smoking with her friend… boy or girl, he didn’t really know. Future artists who thought they could rule the world. Bullshit, just future losers he’d have to pay the welfare for. He couldn’t care less about the friends her boss’s daughter, but he knew that Mr. Melody wouldn’t appreciate, and that he could get some gratitude out of this whole affair. Too bad for the girl, but money buys friends anyway, and probably better ones.
He drove for fifteen minutes before arriving to the agreed location: the Sugarcube Corner, a small café just near the school. At least it was easy to get to. It was a strange choice of place for a police questioning, but he guessed that since he wasn’t a suspect or anything, it would not be very formal. Also that way, he could get a coffee.
What a pain. He had better things to do than answering some useless questions from a suspicious cop. The maid who took the call told him it was a woman’s voice. Maybe at least he could invite her to have a drink afterwards.
Nevermind. It was a man. He didn’t look like a cop at all, but he was the only client in the café, and his badge was lying on the table. Very young, maybe twenty-three, black leather jacket and jeans. Maybe an intern. Did the CPD even have internships?
He sat in front of the young man, who smiled at him and passed a hand through his red hair.
“Hello sir, I’m inspector Volume Bass. How are you today?”
}--oO0Oo--{
Vinyl looked through the café’s window, and smiled at the sight of her brother talking to Octavia’s driver like it was nothing. Lyra’s idea may’ve been crazy, but this brought in a whole new level to the illegal stuff she had done over the years.
“Hey, Volume shouldn’t have a fake badge to start with. But it’s pretty handy when it comes to getting easy access to concerts or abandoned building to hang out.”
She looked at Lyra, who was apparently trying her best not to burst into laughter. Things were going surprisingly well.
“Dude!” the mint-haired girl smiled “Good thing Tavi’s not here! She would’ve freaked out!”
True. After the events of the morning classes, Octavia had asked Vinyl and Lyra for some alone time to “think about all of this”. Vinyl didn’t like the idea of leaving her friend alone during lunch break, but it had allowed them to set their plan into motion as soon as the bell rang.
They had thought about disguising Lyra, but the idea was scratched after two seconds, it would’ve never worked. Then came the possibility of asking Volume Bass. He had spent the entire morning in the bed, so there had been no disponibility problem. And he had brought his fake badge, because reasons.
“You never know I guess. But it’s super sweet of him! Now, phase two!”
“Phase two? We’re such nerds.”
“Okay, it’s your turn!” Lyra continued “Are you ready?”
“I guess so.” responded a panicked Bon-Bon, adjusting her apron, obviously unsure about her life choices. “Are you sure this is legal?”
“Of course it is not! It’s not a question of doing things legally, it’s doing the right things! C’mon girl, it’s for Octavia!”
“You’re right. She doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her.”
Vinyl observed the interior of the café through the window. No other clients, and the barmaid was inside the kitchen. It was time. She waved her fingers in Bon-Bon’s direction. The pianist immediately got up, took a deep breath, and walked inside quietly.
Vinyl and Lyra watched their friend as she walked towards the only occupied table. She was certainly uneasy about the situation, but her eyes had a true determination, like nothing the two girls had ever seen before.
“She’s sooo cool!” Lyra smiled, admiring her friend’s courage. She was the only one the driver hadn’t seen with Octavia, so it kinda had to be her, but after being told about the cellist’s situation, she had taken the decision herself.
Once Bon-Bon arrived in front of Volume Bass, she gave the biggest smile she could offer, and asked for what the two man wanted to drink. The driver, clearly annoyed by this interruption, quickly asked for a coffee, not noticing the cleaning towel Bon-Bon had placed over his car keys. Once she finished taking note of the orders, she grabbed the towel, with the small pieces of metal still folded inside.
She then put the stolen item, along with the piece of cloth, in the apron’s pocket, and went to the bar to meet Vinyl, who had just bought a fresh coffee, careful not to be seen by the driver. The DJ handed the drink to her friend, who then brought it to the table.
“Don’t worry about the drink.” said Volume Bass, smirking at the man in front of him “I’m buying.”
}--oO0Oo--{
“This was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done…” Bon-Bon said, collapsing on the pavement under the weight of her emotions.
“You rocked, girl!” Lyra laughed “He didn’t see a thing! We’re kinda lucky though, the barmaid didn’t notice you when she was serving Vinyl… But hey! Now we can continue! Bon-Bon, you were awesome!”
There it was, the craziest part of any plan Vinyl had ever thought about. This was such a bad idea, she didn’t even know what planted it in her brain.
“Be careful, both of you!” Bon-Bon warned.
“Right, let’s be careful. It’s not like we have a real cop to cover for us.”
Vinyl and Lyra got up, turned right to the nearby street, and looked at the parked limo.
“You sure you wanna do this, girl?”
Yes, she was sure. This guy deserved it. Vengeance was sweet, and sometimes, honestly, it could be fun. She opened the doors, and used her free hand to sign Lyra.
“Fuck no, I’m not scared! This guy wants to ruin Octavia’s life, so there’s nothing to regret!”
“That’s the spirit.”
Okay, now the serious business. She sat in the driver’s seat, with Lyra taking place next to her. She had never driven a car like this one before, but it shouldn’t be that complicated. Using the stolen key, she turned the engine on. They could’ve hijacked the car, but it was not the point of their plan.
They got out of the parking spot, and drove backwards to exit the street by the other side. No need for the driver to see them steal his car. Once they arrived in the next avenue, they drove during five good minutes, before arriving at the Canterlot scrapyard.
“Oh yeah, this is such a bad idea, but such a great bad idea.”
Vinyl couldn’t help but feel excited about this. They had just stolen a limo, and things weren’t going to get any better in the next few minutes, but it had a rebellious charm to it, and it felt great.
Lyra got out of the car, and looked Vinyl in the eyes, hers being filled with a mix of excitement and concern.
“You’re sure about this, right?”
Vinyl didn’t even sign at her friend. Instead, she leaned towards her and kissed her gently on the lips. Then she got back on the wheel, her magenta eyes filled with confidence.
“Ok then, you won.”
Lyra shut the door, and ran to the entrance of the scrapyard. The street was completely empty. She waved at Vinyl to get her attention, and lifted her thumb up to signal the place was secured.
“Ok dude, you got this, you got this.”
She turned the radio on, selected her favorite dubstep program, took a big breath, crushed the accelerator pedal, and smashed the car into a pile of rusty steel beams.
}--oO0Oo--{
“Dude! Are you okay?!”
Vinyl opened her eyes slowly, massaging her temples as her friend tried to open the driver’s door. She was alright, but the airbag had knocked her unconscious for a few seconds.
“This fucking thing doesn’t want to open!”
The DJ took a look at the front of the car, or what was left of it: the steel beams had smashed through the hood, destroyed the bumper, and exploded the windshield in the impact.
The left side of the car was also noticeably damaged, explaining why Lyra couldn’t get the door to open.
Vinyl calmed her friend down with a sign of the hand, and crawled over the shift lever to reach the passenger seat, and opened the door on the other side of the vehicle.
Immediately after she got out, Lyra fell into her arms, hugging her tightly. Vinyl returned the squeeze, feeling her friend trembling in her arms. She looked into the lyrist’s golden eyes, and gently kissed her on the forehead. They stayed in this position for a few seconds, holding each other’s hands tight.
Lyra finally broke the silence with an embarrassed laugh:
“This was such a bad idea! I almost shat my pants seeing you crashing into these! But on the other hand, it was so fucking awesome! You were like an action movie star! Call Jason Stablham and you’ll get a role in his next movie for sure!”
Vinyl smiled at her friend’s amusement, and looked at what was once an expensive black limo: she didn’t know if deliberately crashing a car could be called “a job well done”, but they had achieved their goal for sure. This car wasn’t going to be driven again for a long time.
“Don’t you kinda feel bad, though?”
“Fuck no. Both the guy who owns the car and the one who drove it were assholes.”
The only thing she regretted was that Octavia would have to go to school by bus more often, but it was certainly better than driving with a man who had no respect for her or her friends whatsoever.
“...”
“Yeah, me neither. By the way, I took the liberty of filming your little stunt with my phone. Just to show Bon-Bon.”
“...!!”
“Now, don’t worry, I’ll delete it immediately after! After uploading it on my PC…”
“For fuck sake Lyra… Okay, now let’s get the hell outta here before somebody sees us…”
Vinyl grabbed her friend’s wrist, and the two girls ran out of the scrapyard, one of them laughing while the other one was realizing that they had ten minutes to get back to CHS by foot.
}--oO0Oo--{
“Okay, now please sign here to confirm your deposition. Riiiight here…. Thanks!”
Light Tire was not in a good mood. This interview had taken way more time than it should have, with this obviously newbie cop asking some completely idiotic and useless questions. Who cared what his Zodiac sign was?!
Inspector Volume Bass rose a hand to get the waitress’s attention, grabbed a few coins from his pocket and payed for the drinks.
“Thank you for the coffee.” the driver grumbled. At least he got something out of this. But he wasn’t sure if it was worth it.
As expected, he did not help the police department in any way concerning the “accident” that took place near the mall. Big surprise. He watched as the young policeman got up, waved at him to say goodbye, and got out of the café.
Immediately after that, the inspector rushed back in the café, holding a small car key:
“I’m sorry, I must’ve grabbed your keys believing that they were mine! My mistake!”
The driver sighed, but smiled at the young man, taking his keys back and saluting the cop as the latter was exiting the building once again.
He took a few moments of relaxing loneliness to finish his second coffee, got up and left, ignoring the goodbye from the owner.
Finally over. He could get back to the manor, drop the car there, and enjoy the lunch the old Dana had prepared for the staff members.
He turned left to the next street, searched for his key in his pocket, pressed the small button, but didn’t hear the beeping noise of an opened car. He looked back up, at his parking spot, only to realize that the black limo had disappeared.
“God…” he said out loud, contemplating the empty spot.
“I am so fired.”