//------------------------------// // Chapter Three - The Eyes of Brightest Rubies // Story: Leap of Faith: Octavia Vs. Rave // by Wolokai //------------------------------// Octavia sighed and trotted down the street that held this...bar or whatever, still trying to convince herself that it was a good idea to go. "Oh...the way that inn-keeper talked about this place...it really unnerved me." she muttered to herself, frowning as the sun started to slip behind the trees, Luna's moon rising up from the horizon and bringing a soft glow to the sky. She looked to her left, seeing the large sign above the shop that read "Bon-Bon's Coffee And Sweets Emporium!" Looking across the street, she gasped, her eyes widening. Standing at the top of the staircase the inn-keeper mentioned was the BIGGEST stallion she had EVER laid eyes on! Massive muscles, a brown cut mane, and a pissed-off expression on his face, this rust colored pony didn't look one you wanted to buck with. A black beanie rested on the top of his head, along with a black sort of body coat that read 'SECURITY' on the side and hid a portion of his cutie mark, which to Octavia looked like a green lump of some kind. His green eyes flicked over towards her, making Octavia freeze before a moment before he looked away. She gulped, looking over to his left and spotting the large line of ponies that was beginning to form. She grimaced at the sight of all the ponies in line, seeing them covered with black leather, spike boots, insane-styled manes with spikes and grotesque curls. They all had what looked like to be forty pounds of make-up on and had at least two to three piercings each. Octavia gulped and took a step back, muttering rapidly to herself "Oh gracious look at these...hooligans! What am I doing here?! Maybe I should just go back to the inn..." She was just about to turn around when she heard a voice shout out behind her "WELL HOWDY!" Octavia screamed and jumped at least ten feet into the air, landing and sticking her front two hooves up in the air as if she was being arrested. "What in tarnation? Easy now, ah ain't gonna hurt ya or nothin'!" Octavia turned her head to see who it was that scared her and gave her a quick look up and down. She was a bright orange earth-pony, a mare, with a cowboy-looking hat on her head and a cutie-mark of three apples. Her straw-colored mane bounced as she trotted up to Octavia and held a hoof up, smiling and shouting "Sorry bout' that! Name's Applejack, how ya'll doing ta-night?" Octavia gently lowered her hooves, turning and weakly shaking the country-mare's hoof, muttering "Just...fine I guess..." Applejack smiled and tipped her hat backwards, peering over towards the line and asking "You uh...you goin' to Vinyl's?" Octavia looked over towards the staircase and the rust-colored bouncer and frowned, muttering "I'm...not too sure, it doesn't really seem like my kind of establishment..." Applejack gave Octavia a quick look up and down just like she did to her and nodded a little "Ah, you must be one o' them froo froo richy rich ponies ain't ya?" Octavia frowned and turned back to Applejack, looking offended. Applejack caught this and smiled, waving a hoof about and saying "Now don't go uh takin' offense now miss, ah don't think there's anythin' wrong with havin' a bit of weight in the pouch if ya know what ah mean! Well trust me when ah say that this place has some o' the best cider in all of Ponyville! It's where ah got me the two bottles ah had on the mountain." Octavia nodded a little as she talked, taking another glance back at the stairs and then back at Applejack, a questioning tone escaping her lips "Um...so what brings you out here anyway? Were you going to this bar?" Applejack smiled and shook her head "Nah, actually waitin' on Rainbow, she went in ta go get us a couple bottles o' cider. That bouncer pony there? He's mah brother, Big Macintosh. He let Rainbow in right quick and SHOULD be out here soon...sometimes ah don't know with her..." She sighed, Octavia's eyes widening as she heard the name Rainbow. She pointed a hoof at Applejack and gasped "Wait, you're the Applejack?! The one who was caught on the mountain in the Everfree Forest with the Junior-Flyers Competition Champion Rainbow Dash?" Applejack blushed a little, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof and mumbling with a small smile "Eeyup...that was me..." Octavia smiled warmly and said "Oh darling that was such a romantic story! I read all about it in the Hoofington Herald. You two are still together aren't you?" Applejack blushed a deeper shade of red and gave a sigh of relief as she spotted a Rainbow maned Pegasus trot up the stairs and onto the street towards them. She shouted WAY louder then she needed be "Hey AJ! I scored the bottles! Oh man we're going to have a blast to- hey, who's this?" Rainbow Dash asked, trotting up to Applejack and giving her a soft kiss on her cheek. Applejack blushed as Octavia smiled, the apple-mare holding up a hoof and saying quietly "This here's um...erm...well I didn't get her name but she's on her way to Vinyl's." Rainbow Dash looked over and smiled, giving her a tiny salute and shouting "HI! My names Rainbow Dash!!!! Sorry if I'm yelling but the bass in that place is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! What's your name!!!?" Octavia blinked a little and said "Um...I'm Octavia Sharpe..." Rainbow Dash blinked and shouted "WHAT?!" "My name's Octavia..." "WHAT NOW!?" "OCTAVIA!!!! MY, NAME, IS, OCTAVIA!!!" "OLAVIA!? THAT'S KIND OF A FUNNY NA-" "NO!!! OCTAVIA, OCTAVIA , OCT,TAV,IA!!!!" "OCTAVIA!? THAT'S AN EVEN FUNNIER NAME!!!" Applejack was practically in tears from laughing so hard at the two of them shouting at one another. She shook her head and spoke loudly in Rainbow's ear "Come on silly, let's leave this one alone so she can go enjoy her night!" She turned to Octavia who looked flustered and red-faced and chuckled a little "Sorry about that...Rainbow's a one of a kind pony..." Octavia sighed and shook her head, muttering "That's quite alright...I suppose I'll see you all around then?" Applejack nodded and gave a friendly wave, shouting as they turned to leave "Shore thing! Night Octavia!" Octavia waved, sighing and turning back towards the club. "Well..." she muttered, taking her first steps towards the place and feeling a cold wave of fear wash over her "Might as well give it a try..." She trotted up towards the pony Applejack had named 'Big Macintosh' and gulped. He stood still as a statue, his eyes the only thing moving as they slowly moved to look down at her. When he spoke, his voice made Octavia shiver a little out of fright. It was very deep and carried a 'Mess with me and I'll break your face' kind of tone with it "Can ah help you miss?" Octavia nodded slowly, her eyes wide and filled to fright as she squeaked "I...I'm here to get into the bar?" Big Macintosh narrowed his eyes and pointed a hoof towards the line. Octavia cleared her throat and started to shake a little, hoping she wasn't making him mad. "Um..." she squeaked "The inn-keeper at the Midnight-Mare Inn wanted me to tell yo-" "Whisper it ma'am, it's a VIP password." He leaned his giant head down to her level, Octavia whispering with a slight shake in her voice "U..um...'Scratch me V..Vinyl...I'm ready to Party..." Big Macintosh nodded and took a single step to his right, allowing her entry. Octavia smiled a little and shakily made her way past him, stuttering "Um..t..thank you..." Big Macintosh sighed, regaining his tough stature and staring straight ahead with his narrowed, angry eyes "Eeyup." Octavia headed down the stairs, which descended towards a heavy-iron door with a red light hanging above it. As she trotted down, a soft melody of piano music wafted upwards towards her, making her smile. "Well...perhaps this place will be to my liking after....all." She suddenly frowned as she finished her sentence, the piano being replaced by a heavy thudding sound and something that sounded...electric. It was weird, foreign to Octavia, and that made her very uncomfortable as she put her hooves up on the door, listening to a small portion of the song that played through the door. The sounds of thudding and the electric mess nearly blew Octavia backwards as the sound intensified by at least four hundred! She had to shield her eyes as lights flashed rapidly inside, changing colors and moving about in erratic patterns. She slowly made her way inside as a deep, electronic voice rang out from above "She's living in the past so you won't last without the proper care! With a royal farewell and an animate spell you won't have long to pre-pa-a-a-are!" All around the deep thuds of the bass were making Octavia's head hurt, her eyes squinting through the smoke that wafted through the air as she tried to make her way over towards the bar on the far left side of the establishment. All around her, ponies dressed in the same dress as the line outside were dancing about wildly, throwing glow sticks around and screaming along to the lyrics of the song. She blushed as she passed two mares lavishly kissing, licking each other's lips and going at it like rabbits. She felt her hoof step on something soft and when she looked down she squeaked with fright. A colt was on the ground, trying to sluggishly crawl through the crowd, his plastic cup stuck on his horn and his mane wet with his drink. Octavia grimaced as she quickly pushed her way through the crowd and found an empty stool by the bar. Heaving herself up onto it, she waved over the barkeep, who in Octavia's eyes was a pretty sexy stallion, with a tall muscular build and beautiful blue eyes. The stallion smiled as he walked over, cleaning a glass in mid-air with magic and said "Well hi there! Haven't seen you around before!!! What's your name!?" He shouted over the music, making Octavia shout back "Octavia!!! Is it always this loud in here!?" The stallion laughed and shook his head, levitating the glass back to its place on the shelf and levitating another one over to her. "You newbies are so fun!!! Loud in here?! It ain't loud ENOUGH baby!!! What'll ya have!? First Drink's on the house for new-comers!" Octavia though about it for a moment, trying to think past the massive headache she was getting from the thudding of the base and shouting "COLT-7 please! 3 cubes and a lemon!!!" The stallion's eyes twinkled as he shouted "Coming right up! You actually made it just in time newbie!!" Octavia blinked in confusion and shouted back "WHY!?" The stallion slid over her freshly poured drink and pointed towards the stage "Because it's the end of the first hour! At that time the default tracks stop playing and SHE arrives!" Just as Octavia was about to ask what he meant, the music stopped abruptly and was replaced by a loud electronic throbbing. She didn't know why...but everypony seemed to get even more excited at this song, the stage lighting up with dazzling lights Octavia blinked as the song suddenly dipped into a melodic tune, looking up towards the speakers as lyrics were sung out "Vinyl Scratch knows how to get the feeling alright We are going to dance and party tonight Tonight is the night that we're gonna lose it So spin that record Vinyl Scratch, and never stop the music!" Octavia jumped a little as a much louder voice shouted through the speakers, the ponies all screaming at a dazzling white mare who walked out on stage, a set of purple shades over her eyes and large headphones covering her ears. She had a beamed eighth-note for a cutie mark and an atrocious looking shade of light and dark blue color mixed into her wild mane. Her horn sparkled with blue magic, Octavia listening to her wild screaming "WELCOME TO MY CAGE CORAL EVERYPONY!? YOU READY TO PARTY HARD!?" The screams of all the pony's on the dance floor made the white mare smile, standing up on her hind legs and throwing one of her front hooves up into the air, screaming "THEN LET'S GET BUMPING!" Octavia stared towards the white mare, the large screen behind her flashing the words "DJ-PON3" over and over again. The mare smiled as she magicked two records up into the air, catching them on her hooves and spinning them rapidly, bringing cheers out from the crowd and loud sounds of clapping. She flipped the records onto her turntable and shook her head violently up and down to the beat of the music. Octavia in a way was mesmerized by the way the mare was losing herself to her own music. She suddenly yelped however as a pair of pink hooves grabbed her from the crowd and a voice shouted out "WHEE!!! LET'S GO!!!" She was dragged into the crowd as she spun around, a pink mare with a curly mane and a pink glow-stick in her mouth rushing up to her and dancing wildly, shouting "HIYA! HOW YOU DOING WHAT YOU DOING WHY YOU DOING IT!?" Octavia took a step back and stuttered "I...um...what!?" The pink mare stopped for a moment, laughing as she held up a hoof "Oh, silly me, you must not speak PARTAY! I'm Pinkie Pie! What brings a silly-willy-fancy-filly down into the dark-dark-party-park!?" Octavia frowned as her eyes flicked over towards DJ-PON3, her words a bit forced "Just...trying to deal with the...noise...that this ruffian insists on blasting through her poor speakers..." At this Pinkie Pie simply laughed, picking the beat back up and starting to dance "Oh don't be a spoiled-sport! Scratchie's an AWESOME DJ! WOOOHOOOO!!!!" Octavia looked over towards the white mare and muttered to herself "Scratchie?" It was strange...as if the way Octavia asked and called out that name had got the attention of the DJ. DJ-PON3 snapped her head over, staring directly at Octavia through the crowd and smiling from above. Octavia's eyes widened and she gulped, growing a bit uncomfortable by the way the DJ was smiling at her. For a moment, all the noise around Octavia seemed to be muffled, her breath catching as the DJ lifted a hoof up to her face and tilted her glasses down, eyes the color of rubies penetrating Octavia's. Octavia felt like she being mesmerized, her eyes softening a little as DJ-PON3 glared at her with a mischievous smile, licking hers lips teasingly and flipping her glasses back up. It was only after her glasses went back up that Octavia could feel her legs start to move, her hoof tapping to the beat of the music. "SO, wanna dance?!" Pinkie Pie screamed, grabbing Octavia and forcing her up on her rear hooves. Octavia stuttered, her mind going a mile a minute as she screamed "Wait! I don't know how to da- OH SWEET CELESTIA!" It was at this point that she was VERY gracious that the rest of her ensemble wasn't here to see this kind of dancing. She reminded herself to take a six hour shower if she ever made it out of here alive.