//------------------------------// // The Meeting // Story: Playing the Part // by 0_0 //------------------------------// Vinyl and Octavia: Lover’s Quarrel or Trouble Brewing? Bad news, lovers of Octascratch! An unnamed source from Wave Records tells us that there may be trouble brewing for one of Canterlot’s hottest new couples. Now, dear readers, you know as much as I do that I love the sounds of wedding bells in the air when it comes to celebrity couples. But sources say that there may be trouble brewing, as the couple got into a huge fight over musical tastes outside of the office of a one Mr. Sound Wave, all of which was overheard by an anonymous source sitting nearby. The question is, will the couple grow stronger or break apart because of their differences? Now, I’ve seen my fair share of relationships over the years here at the Flabby Gums Column. But I also know when it’s time to call in some professional help. Luckily, we have just that! Our on-staff love analyst did some number crunching, studied the ins and outs of this rumor, and is proud to announce his findings here in this very column! Thank you, Flabby. Hello, Dr. Love here, on-site love scientist writing to you from the love bunker. Now, I would like you to first consider the humble apple. All apples are red, juicy, and delicious. Now, all good relationships are much like this apple, and we can examine whether the relationship between Vinyl Scratch and Octavia is a good one by comparing them to this apple. The red represents the passion of the relationship, because red is a very passionate color. You can tell that there is much red in this relationship, because otherwise they would not be upset at each other about such trivial things. There is red in all good relationships, and you can tell by this argument that there is red. Next, you must consider the juiciness of the apple. In this case, the juiciness represents the juiciness of the gossip. Obviously, this relationship is very juicy indeed, otherwise we would not be talking about it in a gossip column! All good relationships and apples must be juicy, therefore their relationship has another similarity to the apple. And finally, a good relationship and apple must be delicious. I very much enjoy apples because they are delicious. Likewise, I very much enjoy seeing the relationship between Vinyl Scratch and Octavia flourish, therefore you could say that it is in fact delicious. A delicious apple is very enjoyable to eat, and a delicious relationship is enjoyable to watch. Since this relationship is also delicious, it is red, juicy, and delicious, much like an apple. Therefore, because their relationship is like an apple, this is clearly just a simple lover’s quarrel, and is simply a stepping stone in their relationship that they must overcome. Thank you, Dr. Love! We all appreciate your dedication and hard work, especially so soon after your surgery! That fall really did a number on you, and we’re all hoping you make a full recovery! Well, this is certainly a relief for those of us here watching this couple. It seems that this is just a bump in the road of their relationship. Good thing too, we were starting to get worried about you two! We here at the Flabby Gums Column look forward to seeing this couple grow closer in the months to come. Signing off, xoxo, Flabby Gums. Tomorrow: Do noted lyre player Lyra Heartstrings and noted other pony Bonbon have a secret foal? The sound of her blaring alarm clock slowly rose Vinyl from what had previously been a sound slumber. She groaned as she glared daggers at the bringer of irritation. Some days she just wanted to put a hoof straight through that stupid thing and be rid of it. Today, for example. But no, she had a concert today, chimed the logical part of her brain. And after that, a meet and greet with her fans. She had to get up or she wouldn’t be prepared for it. “Shut up, logic brain, shut up,” she thought. She tried to glare daggers at that too, but the best she could do was an eye roll. Her hand hovered above the snooze button. “Suck it, logic brain,” she thought as she slowly brought a hoof down, briefly glancing at the time. 6:15. “Wait.” … “Crap,” she thought, gritting her teeth slightly. “I hate it when logic brain is right.” She groggily began pulling the sheets off of herself, leaving the warm comfort of her bed reluctantly. She yawned, grabbing her goggles and putting them in her bag as she brushed her teeth. She blinked rapidly, trying to focus her eyes enough to walk outside. Eventually they cooperated enough that she could groggily walk over to the door. She swung the door open, rubbing the crud out of her eyes as she yawned again. She barely had time to react as she just barely avoided running into the small filly in front of her. To be fair, the filly didn’t seem to care at all, beaming with joy despite almost being trampled. “Omigosh, Vinyl Scratch! It’s really you!!!” cried the filly, squeeing with delight. Vinyl instantly relaxed and let out a small chuckle. “Yup, that’s me. So, what can I do for ya, kid?” The filly was silent, prancing with joy before finally figuring out what to say. “I just want you to know that I love everything about you and you’re so amazing that I couldn’t wait until later so I found out where your house is I hope that’s not too weird but I’ve never seen you without your goggles and now this is officially the best day ever and I can’t believe I’m meeting you in person and I can’t breathe I’m so excited and I think I’m passing out-” she said without stopping to take a breath. This did indeed cause her to pass out momentarily, but luckily she was quickly caught by a bemused Vinyl. After waiting a few moments to let the filly catch her breath, Vinyl finally asked, “Hey, can you keep a secret?” Her response was vigorous nodding strong enough to make Vinyl worried that she would pass out again. “Okay, I’ll be right back. But you have to promise to keep this a secret, okay?” After being met with more violent nodding, Vinyl disappeared back into her apartment. After a few minutes (during which the filly never, ever stopped grinning even a little bit) she reemerged with a record in an unassuming black case. “This is the rough draft of my album that’s coming out next week. The record label doesn’t like me giving out anything before the official release, but hey, they’re not here now, are they? Oh, and obviously I’m gonna sign it to you. What’s your name?” She didn’t think it was possible, but somehow the filly seemed even more excited now. She had broken into a new, previously theoretical range of excitement that scientists had calculated should be physically impossible. She opened her mouth a few times, but the resulting sound was above the frequency that ponies could hear. Finally, she managed to squeak out: “Spring Step. It’s Spring Step!” Vinyl raised an eyebrow and smiled a bit more. “Spring Step, huh? I got your letter a few days ago.” Her smile faltered a bit as she remembered the ending of that letter. She quickly corrected herself and her smile returned in full. Spring Step was now breathing so fast Vinyl was worried she might pass out again. It was clear she was trying to form words, but none of them were coming out of her mouth. “Um, are you gonna be okay?” asked Vinyl tentatively. “I can go get a paper bag or something, you seem… Y’know…” “Vinyl… Scratch….” wheezed Spring, “remembered… me from… my letter?” “Heh, an awesome letter from an awesome fan like you? Of course I’d remember.” And down she went. Spring Step was down for the count. Vinyl checked for a pulse before levitating her back onto her hooves, upon which she promptly fell down again. Oh well. Can’t blame a mare for trying. “Hey kid, you gonna be okay? I can’t have fillies passed out on my doorstep. It’s bad enough when they’re adults.” Actually, worse, thought Vinyl. “Yeahhhh,” sighed Spring Step. She seemed to be calming down a bit now. “Good,” thought Vinyl. “I didn’t wanna be late to my concert because I had to take care of a catatonic filly.” “You think you can stand up now?” asked Vinyl after waiting a few moments. “Mhm,” was the only reply. “All right, good. Up you go then,” she said, pulling Spring onto her hooves. As she did so, Spring wrapped her arms around her, turning the motion into a hug. “You’re the best, Vinyl Scratch! I’m going to write a letter to you every single day from now on! Um, if you’d like that?” Vinyl smiled, returning the hug. “I’d love it.” The filly began jumping up and down, making it very hard to maintain said hug. Eventually she released Vinyl from her embrace and Vinyl did the same. “Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta go tell all my friends about how I’m pen pals with THE Vinyl Scratch! This is the best day of my life, I love you, Vinyl!” The filly dashed off, leaving a trail of feathers in her wake. Vinyl chuckled. “Wait for it…” A few moments later, the filly walked back sheepishly. “Um, I forgot my record. Could I, um…” “Here you go, kid,” said Vinyl, smirking as she handed the black case to her. “Thank you so much bye again you’re the best I love you!” And just like that, she was gone again. “There it is,” thought Vinyl. After her concert, Vinyl was feeling pretty good. She got to meet with fans, show off her music, and get paid for all of it. What more could a mare want? However, the whole time her meeting with Octavia had stayed in the back of her mind. It did nothing to throw off her groove, obviously. Nothing could throw off the party groove of the one and only Vinyl Scratch. But she still couldn’t stop thinking about it. Now, on the cab ride to the address Octavia had given her, that meeting was at the forefront of her mind. She giggled to herself at the way Octavia had talked about checking for bugs. What was this, a bad spy novel? Then again, Vinyl had never really paid much attention to the paparazzi. She’d always enjoyed the spotlight, as well as the free publicity it gave her. At their worst, they were a minor annoyance. Now though… Now she had a real secret to hide. Well, apart from, you know. The big one. But she had always kept that one very well hidden (at least until Sound Wave came along), and she had no reason to suspect that anypony else knew about it. She sighed and took off her goggles, staring out the window as the streets rolled by. Normally she didn’t wear them around town, but she hadn’t wanted anypony to see how nervous she was as she left for Octavia’s. Still though, nopony else knew about her meeting with Octavia, right? Sound Wave knew they were meeting up, but he didn’t know any of the details. They hadn’t talked about a date, a time, or a place around him. She was pretty sure Octavia was just being paranoid. Sure, of course the paparazzi were going to show up and bug her “date” at the Tasty Treat. That had been a huge publicised event between a pair of famous celebrities. The press would have a field day with that. But this? She had barely even talked about this with Octavia. Surely there was no way anypony knew about it. Right? “Too late now,” she thought as the cab came to a stop in front of a large, ritzy high rise building. “This sure looks like the right place.” “Here we are, Ms. Scratch,” said the driver, confirming her suspicions. “Thanks. Here, keep the change,” replied Vinyl, absentmindedly tossing him a hooffull of bits and putting her goggles back on as she got out of the cab. She made her way up to the front doors of the building, rechecking the room number she had been given as she did so. As she pulled open the glass door, the receptionist at the front desk smiled at her. “Vinyl Scratch, what a pleasure! I take it you’re here to see your filly friend on floor 18?” she said, winking. “Er, yeah, that’s right. Room 1819b?” “Mhm, once you get out of the elevator just take the first left and follow the signs.” The receptionist grinned from ear to ear. “Go on now, don’t keep her waiting.” Vinyl nervously smiled back as she made her way to the elevators. Did the receptionist know about their secret meeting? Ugh, no, of course not. She just thought she was catching some tail tonight. Vinyl faked a smile, then grimaced as she turned around. As the elevator started ascending, the same song that had been playing at Wave Records started drifting through the speakers. That same. Stupid. Song. Seriously, would it kill the ponies that picked these playlists to play some more modern stuff? Even some of Vinyl’s own music. I mean, she had some chill songs. It could work. Of course, ponies like Octavia were probably the ones that decided what music to play. Canterlot snobs deciding what everypony else should listen to, too afraid to look out of fashion to try something new. Her thoughts were cut short as the elevator arrived at her destination. She made her way to the room (first left, follow the signs for rooms 1801-1820) and knocked on the unassuming door. When there was no answer, she double checked the address. “This is the right place,” she thought, considering knocking again. “There’s no way she forgot about our meeting, is there?” She decided to knock again. As she did, she heard a muffled voice from behind the door. “Yes, yes, I’m coming. Just have some patience.” As Octavia opened the door, the first thing Vinyl noticed was that she was missing her signature bow tie. She looked weirdly naked without it. The second thing she noticed was Octavia frantically pressing a hoof over her mouth. “Oh Vinyl, I’m so glad you could come,” she said in what was probably supposed to be a seductive tone. “Our time apart has been agony, come and hold me in your sweet embrace.” Vinyl cocked her head in confusion and raised an eyebrow. Octavia simply held out a hoof with a small, electronic device in it. “Oh. Crap,” she thought, her eyes widening. “She really wasn’t being paranoid.” “But first, my sweet Vinyl, let me show you my beautiful view of the city,” continued Octavia, leading her inside to the window at the far end of the room. “Ah, let me get some fresh air for our night of romance.” She opened the window, then dropped the device onto the streets below. A nearby pigeon took an interest in it, hopping over to eat it. Octavia closed the window and turned around, smirking. “What was that about me being paranoid?” “Okay, okay, fair enough,” replied Vinyl, throwing her hooves up. “Why did you keep that thing until I arrived though? You could’ve just thrown it away when you found it.” “Two reasons,” said Octavia, leading Vinyl to her living room, “The first reason is that I was keeping up appearances. If our friend Mr. Wave thinks we’re just getting into our roles, he won’t bother asking us about it further.” “Pretty good thinking. What’s the second reason?” Octavia turned her head and grinned. “The second reason is that I wanted to rub it in your dumb, naïve face.” Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. You were right. I already said fair enough, are you happy now?” “Very,” said Octavia, primly turning back around. “Take a seat.” As Vinyl sat down, she glanced around. The whole room looked very clean. As in, impossibly clean. Did Octavia even live here? “Do you even live here?” she asked. Octavia gave her a strange look before answering. “I assume you are referring to the state of my living space and not asking if I gave you a fake address to meet at.” In a well-practiced tone, she continued, “I take pride in keeping my living space as presentable as possible at all times. After all, cleanliness is a virtue, and I want my guests to feel as comfortable as possible.” Vinyl rolled her eyes at the haughty tone. “Uh huh. Speaking of comfort, you got anything to drink around here?” Octavia bristled slightly. “Well, I have water, milk, and soda. Are you interested in any of those? I have tea as well, though I doubt you’d be interested in that.” Vinyl snickered. “No, I mean alcohol. You got any booze around here, or are you really that uptight?” “W-well, I do keep a bit of cider stocked in the minibar for when guests come over. Would you like some of that?” “Yeah, yeah, that sounds good,” said Vinyl, waving a hoof. Octavia left to the kitchen, then came back with a six pack of cider bottles. “Here, take whatever you like. It’s not like I go through them,” she said, sitting back down. She grabbed a bottle herself. “I may as well take one out of politeness.” Vinyl opened both of their bottles with her magic and they each took a sip. Daintily placing her bottle onto the coffee table, Octavia began. “Look, Vinyl, here’s the thing. I don’t trust you to keep any secrets.” Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” “Look, it’s nothing personal,” replied Octavia, primly taking another sip from her bottle. “It’s just that you and I have a very different amount of experience with this sort of thing. Avoiding the public eye, as it were. You have much more experience with staying in the spotlight than out of it.” Vinyl had to admit that she had a point. She seemed much more experienced with this sort of thing. If it wasn’t for Octavia, Sound Wave would’ve been able to hear their entire conversation through that bug. Octavia seemed to know her way around this more than she did. “So, why are you talking about this with me in the first place? If I’m so bad at keeping secrets, then wouldn’t telling me your plan ruin everything?” “Simple. Because I know you also have a huge investment in stopping Sound Wave. We are, after all, both in this mess together, and I know stopping him will be much easier if I have somepony helping me.” She took a bigger sip of her drink this time, and Vinyl followed her. “Besides, while I don’t trust you to keep things hidden from prying eyes now, I can teach you how to be, how did you put it? Paranoid much?” “Er, right,” coughed Vinyl. Octavia took another drink. “So, is this gonna be, like, sneaking around 101? You’re gonna give me lessons or something?” “Of a sort, although if I taught in a class format I doubt you’d understand much of it.” Vinyl scowled. “No, I’m going to show you what I’ve learned over the years I’ve spent dealing with the press. Dealing with them in ways other than showboating, that is.” She took a drink before continuing. “Now, the first rule you must always keep in mind is that when speaking to other ponies (other than myself, of course), you must always live your story. And to live your story, you must be clear on what that story is. If we want our friend Mr. Wave to stay off our backs, that story will be that we are, in fact, a ‘loving couple.’” The sarcasm on her last two words was thick enough to cut with a knife. She took another drink, as if to wash the words out of her mouth. “If we can fool him, we can fool anypony. And if we have him fooled, nopony will suspect when we enact our plan against him. So unless I give you the all clear, you don’t give anything away to anypony.” Octavia finished her drink and placed it to the side, grabbing another bottle from the container. She opened it with a bottle opener that was sitting on the counter in the kitchen. “Strange that she would have that out already,” thought Vinyl, before brushing the thought aside. There were more important things to think about. “So… I have to lie to all my fans?” asked Vinyl nervously. She thought back to Spring Step, her new pen pal, who had been so excited to see her together with Octavia. She couldn’t lie to a little filly like that day after day. Then again, what choice did she have? She couldn’t break that filly’s heart either by telling her that she and Octavia weren’t really in love. And how many other fans out there thought the same thing? How many hearts would she be breaking if she announced to the world that she had never really been in love with Octavia? She couldn’t do that. Not to her fans. Then again, this was a discussion she had already had over and over again with herself. Every time she had come to the same conclusion, but never wanted to accept it. Every time she had decided that she had to keep pretending, that she just couldn’t bring herself to break the hearts of her fans who looked up to her. But at the same time, she kept going over that conversation with herself again and again, trying to find another way to make everypony happy. But she never did find one. “You’re right,” she reluctantly admitted. “I… I guess have to.” Octavia took another drink. “Good. It seems you learn quickly. I’m glad I don’t have to explain to you again why I’m always right.” Vinyl rolled her eyes. “And so humble, too. Do go on, o great sensai.” Octavia took another swig and glared at Vinyl. “The next thing you need to learn is that you need to reign in that stupid attitude of yours. That thing you pulled back at Wave Records? That sort of thing can’t happen. That’s the sort of thing that will end up in the press. Trust me, they will find out.” “Ugh, you sound like The Big Idiot himself. Trying to reign in my ‘attitude’? Really? It’s who I am, you can’t change that.” “Oh dear, and you were doing so well,” mocked Octavia, taking another swig from her bottle. “That’s the whole point, you idiot. You’re pretending to be somepony else. This is the whole reason why I didn’t trust you to do this in the first place.” She finished her bottle of cider and angrily grabbed another one. “You think you’re good enough to fool the public? Start acting like it. Stop acting like the things you say won’t have consequences, because they will.” She leaned in closer to Vinyl, anger etched onto her face as her nostrils flared. “If I am going to tell you anything about my plan, I have to know that you won’t blurt it out to somepony with connections to prove some silly point. I need to know that everything won’t be derailed by one of your petty ego trips! I need to know that you can manage to pull your head out of your flank long enough to make it through the day without giving away everything! If you can’t do that, then trust me, I will have no qualms about throwing you under the bus and making sure whatever Sound Wave blackmailed you with shows up in every newspaper from here to Ponyville! Am. I. Clear?!” Vinyl reeled back in shock as if she’d just been hit by a truck. This was a side of Octavia she had not expected. She slowly released the armrests she hadn’t realized she was tightly grabbing and sat back in her chair normally. “Y-yes, c-clear,” she squeaked out. “Good,” Octavia replied in a sickeningly sweet voice. She slowly sat back down and took a long sip from her drink, never breaking eye contact with Vinyl. “Now, if Mr. Wave asks whether you’re enjoying your new life with me, what will you say?” Vinyl gulped. “I… I’ll say that it’s, um, everything I imagined?” “Wrong!” yelled Octavia, slamming her cider onto the table. “You’ll say it’s growing on you, because you and I both know that what you imagined was us breaking up! Nopony but an idiot would believe that you suddenly decided to like me out of nowhere! Now, what will you say?” “It… It’s growing on me?” “That’s right, you will,” said Octavia in a tone like she was talking to a foal. “And if a fan comes up to you and tells you they love seeing us together, what will you say?” Vinyl froze, thinking back to Spring Step’s letter again. The way she seemed so happy to see her with Octavia, and the way it would’ve broken that filly’s heart to tell her the truth. “I’ll say you’re the mare of my dreams,” she replied. Octavia paused. She could tell Vinyl had thought about this response already. “Has… Has that already happened to you? Have they already asked?” Vinyl nodded. “I couldn’t break that filly’s heart.” Octavia slowly sat back down in her seat. “Oh,” was all she said. She chugged the last of her drink and grabbed another bottle. There was a profound silence as neither of them said a word. The only sound between them was the hiss of Octavia opening another bottle of cider. She took a sip, then there was a soft thud as she set the bottle back on the table. Both of them stared at the table, avoiding eye contact with each other. Eventually, Octavia broke the silence. “You… Really do care about them. Don’t you?” Vinyl simply nodded. “And, you wouldn’t do anything to make them unhappy?” Vinyl nodded again. “Then… Just know that if we get into another shouting match. Or even if you get into another shouting match with anypony about this. If you do anything that might suggest we’re not the perfect happy couple that the press wants to see, there’s a good chance somepony will find out. And if they do, they won’t be quiet about it.” Vinyl nodded once again. Slowly, she took off her goggles. “Look, Octavia. I… I wish we could be a perfect couple. It would make everypony so, so happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. But now, I feel like I’ve been backed into a corner. For the first time in what seems like forever, I’m having to pick between my happiness and the happiness of my fans.” She sighed. “How do you do it? How do you manage to live a lie like you do? How did you get so good at it?” Octavia shrugged. “I grew up in a world where reputation was everything, and it’s a very different type of reputation than you have to uphold.” She grabbed her bottle of cider, seemingly studying it. “When you keep ponies from seeing your personal life, it just makes them even more interested. I just play my part and keep them guessing. Ponies are much more interested in a mysterious persona.” She took another swig from her drink. “Of course, it’s easier to hide your personal life when you don’t really have one.” “You didn’t answer my question,” replied Vinyl, finishing her drink. Octavia sighed. “I had to. I had to get good at it, or I wouldn’t have gotten where I am. Canterlot nobility expects you to act one way, and one way only, and if you don’t get in line, you don’t have a job.” Octavia grabbed her bottle and started chugging the rest of her cider. Vinyl grabbed the last bottle of cider just as Octavia finished hers. Octavia reached for another bottle of cider, only to find that there were none left. “Ugh,” she groaned, getting up to grab more cider. Vinyl’s eyes widened as she came back from the kitchen with a full case of cider. She cracked open another bottle and glanced back at Vinyl. “Remember what I said earlier about not telling stuff to the press? Yeah, this is the sort of thing I was talking about.” “So… Does this mean you trust me?” asked Vinyl tentatively. “Yeah, sure,” replied Octavia, taking a deep swig from her bottle. “You seemed to be on board with this thing from the beginning anyway. Plus you could use the practice with keeping secrets.” She held up her bottle again, staring at it, lost in thought. “I wanted to ask you,” she said, still staring at her bottle, “did you have a plan of your own when you came here?” “Well… Sort of,” replied Vinyl hesitantly. “I had an idea of where to go next. Some… Friends to consult.” Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Go on,” she said, taking another sip of her cider. “Well, I’ve got some favors with some, er, questionable people. They owe me, and they know way more about pretending to be somepony else than me. Probably you as well.” “What kind of… ‘questionable people’ are you referring to?” asked Octavia. “The Changeling Mob,” replied Vinyl. She now had Octavia’s full attention. “And… How exactly did you acquire these ‘favors’?” asked Octavia, a dozen horrifying scenarios running through her head. Was Vinyl involved in a pony trafficking ring? Was she ripping pony’s souls out of their bodies? Was Vinyl herself a changeling here to eat her?? “I got them in to see some of my shows. It turns out that some of them are fans of my stuff, and they wanted to see me performing live but were afraid they’d get found out. Of course, the first time they only told me they were changelings afterwards, but… They’re actually not all that bad. Mostly they just seemed, well, desperate. Most of them just want to live a normal life.” “They’re actually pretty cool,” she added. Octavia seemed to mull this over in her head. She sipped her cider and sat down to think some more. Finally, she shrugged. “Well, that’s better than my plan.” “What was your plan?” “I didn’t have one.”