//------------------------------// // No Bucking Way! // Story: According to Plan! // by The Buck It Bros //------------------------------// We expect you home as soon as possible and no later than Hearts and Hooves day. - Mother and Father Octavia had finished reading the letter that just arrived from her parents for the third time. The grey mare threw the letter onto the table with a frustrated groan. She didn’t like this one bit. Octavia had thought that she would be free from things like this after moving out of their house. She began to pace back and forth by the table that held the letter, shaking her head and making angry glances at it with each pass. “No bucking way. No Bucking Way! I will not go along with this!” Octavia shouted to herself getting louder as she became increasingly angry at what her parents were trying to do. Octavia continued this pattern for what seemed like an hour when she was stopped by the sound of the front door opening. A white mare with an electric blue mane walked in with her trademark purple shades. Her head was bobbing up and down in rhythm to a song playing through her headphones. The bass was thumping loud enough to be heard from across the room. Octavia’s onyx mane was a disheveled mess at this point, however the sight of her roommate brought a smile to the young mare. “Vinyl! Oh thank Celestia you are home, I need somepony to vent to.” She said to the DJ who heard nothing over the sound of her music. Once the song ended Vinyl’s horn glowed a light blue color which stopped the music player and floated her headphones to a nearby table. Vinyl used that same magic to raise her purple shades from her face to rest on top of her horn. A pair of red eyes now stared at what seemed to be a stressed out and angry roommate. "OK, if this is about the dishwasher I can explain." Said Vinyl waiting to hear yet another one of Octavia's rants. However, when no reply came out of the mare’s mouth, Vinyl knew that something was off. “Hey Octy, is everything okay? It looks like somepony hit you with a train?” Vinyl asked with a bit of concern in her voice. For as long as the DJ known her, she had only seen Octavia look like this two other times. The first being the night that Octavia’s parents stopped by unexpectedly and did nothing but complain about the living arrangements and how Vinyl was a bad influence. The other was when she accidently broke the strings on Octavia’s bow an hour before a concert. The comment earned a growl unlike a noise you would normally hear from the calm and refined mare. She pointed a hoof to the letter that was thrown onto the table and then looked back at the DJ. “Well Vinyl, I'll have you know that I have just received a most horrible letter from my parents. You will not believe what they did this time.” Octavia said resuming her frustrated pacing. “That bad, huh? What could your parents have possibly done to get you this worked up?” Vinyl asked walking over to the table. She sits down, pulled the letter closer with her hoof and began reading. Dearest Octavia, We are pleased to inform you that your parents have chosen a better path for you. With our great wisdom, we have guided you to become the successful mare you are today, and know that you are once again in need our guidance. Ever since you moved out to that country town Ponyville, that is no doubt filled with ruffians, we have been concerned about you Octavia. You haven’t sent word to us since our last visit, so we assume that you have not found any pony worthy of your refined grace and class that we have educated you with. For that we are proud of you for not staining our good family name by consorting with those country bumpkins. As you are surely aware you are getting up there in years and are not a young filly anymore. That is why your father and I have arranged for you to be wed before you get too old and start to wither. We have found the perfect stallion to suit you and expect you to meet him on Hearts and Hooves day for a romantic candle lit dinner. This is not a request Octavia. The wedding is already being arranged for both our families and will have them here to attend the ceremony a week after your rendezvous. We expect you home as soon as possible and no later than Hearts and Hooves day. - Mother and Father The DJ read over the letter several times just like Octavia had done. She looked at the Cellist with a questioning look as if she was missing something important. “Wait a second, they arranged for you to be married, to a Stallion? They do know that you are into mares right Octy?” Vinyl asked setting the letter back on the table. “Well that's the thing Vinyl, I told them that I was attracted to mares the day I left Canterlot.” she said scratching her mane with her hoof, which only made it messier. “Do you know what they said? Oh dear it’s just a phase like you wanting to move out of Canterlot. You belong here with your own kind of ponies." Mimicked Octavia, acting posh while doing so. "A PHASE!? Can you believe that Vinyl!” She yelled stomping her hooves on the floor with anger. She glanced back to the wide-eyed DJ and began recomposing herself, only to start pacing again. “Oh? Really?” Vinyl asked raising a hoof to her chin thinking about the situation. “Have you ever brought a mare home with you as proof that you are not into stallions?” She asked thinking that would be a great solution to Octavia’s problem. “Oh yes Vinyl, why didn’t I think of that?” She snapped at her sarcastically and facehoofed. Octavia dropped the hoof to the floor making a loud thump and she resumed her pacing. "Wait, you did that already? When?" Asked the DJ trying to recall past events to no avail. The Cellist glared at Vinyl sending a chill down the DJ's mane. “I did just that when I returned home from my last family reunion. You remember my last fillyfriend and how she broke up with me after I took her to meet my parents?” Octavia asked through gritted teeth. “Ah, now I remember. Wait, back up, I thought you said that she couldn’t handle the pressure of meeting your parents?” Vinyl asked putting her memory into question. Octavia sighed before commenting "That's what I told you so that you wouldn't run when my parents decided to invite themselves to our place." Just remembering the first time that she met Octavia’s parents caused another shiver to run down her electric blue mane. Octavia introduced them to Vinyl their first Hearths Warming together as roommates. They wanted to make sure that Octavia was living up to their standards which after more and more disapproving comments began to put the room on ice. The cold vibes they were putting off were almost like the Wendigoes came to Ponyville and decided to stay in their house. All they did was complain about the living conditions and about Vinyl. They called her a bad influence on Octavia and other belittling terms that were better left forgotten. It was a horrible first meeting, but Vinyl somehow managed to survive. "Which reminds me, How did you manage to put up with my parents with losing your cool?" Asked Octavia snapping Vinyl back to the present. She smiled at Octavia and pointed a hoof to her ears "Wireless ear buds, I got tired of listening to them complaining at me, so I turned on my music. I figured they weren't looking for a response, so I didn't have to worry." Vinyl winked at Octavia hopping to lighten the mood, which worked for a bit. A small chuckle came out of the cellist before reality sweep back on top of her causing her to sigh and sit next to vinyl. “Look, the point is that even with the kissing, cuddling and catching us in bed together they just laughed it off and said it was still a phase. That I was just playing a prank on them. That was why we broke up, because she believed them.” Octavia said putting her head down on the table. It killed Vinyl to see her best friend this depressed and angry, she wanted to do something to cheer her up...but what? She thought for a while about the best way to make her friend feel better, to forget the letter and the arranged marriage. "A hug would be too small and wouldn't change the current state of mind Octavia was in. A kiss maybe... No, while nice to think about this isn't the time or place for that. How about cuddling her... no no no Vinyl, it's still not the right time and place for that either." The DJ looked back at Octavia who was still sulking in frustration when something hit her. "That's It!" shouted Vinyl startling the gray mare sitting next to her. Vinyl had just thought of the best solution to this problem. It was time to throw caution to the wind and to drink enough liquor that both herself and Octavia would have a hangover that would last for a full day at the least. “Don't worry Octy, your best friend Vinyl will make you forget all about that letter.” She said with a smiled. The DJ stood up and trotted over to the phone and called some friends. Lyra picked up the phone after a few rings. “Hello, this is Lyra and Bon Bon’s residence, Lyra speaking.” She answered the phone sounding like she was bored out of her mind. While Vinyl could hear it clearly, Octavia heard nothing but the banging of her head on the wall and her steadily loader thoughts that caused her face to turn redder by the minute. The gray mare had resumed mumbling to herself since Vinyl said Don't worry Octy, a quote which only leads to more trouble when spoken from the mouth of a certain DJ. She would mutter things like I wasn't worried until now and this is the last thing I need after that awful letter from my parents. Vinyl just rolled her eyes seeing the Cellist once again pacing back and forth angrier than before. “Lyra drop whatever you are doing and grab Bon Bon. We are having a girl’s night out. I can explain more when we are at the bar. We will meet you at that new bar near Sugar Cube Corners. You know the one, The Golden Horseshoe.” Said Vinyl. Before Lyra could reply she hung up the phone and put it back on the receiver. Turning to the still red faced and muttering Octavia Vinyl sighed as her horn light up a light blue color again. Using magic, she got a glass of water from the kitchen and splashed Octavia in the face with it. Octavia was shocked at this action and just stood there looking at Vinyl, her face and a portion of her mane were now soaked. She was at a loss for words for a minute before her face turned from shocked to a mix of distain and calm. The redness in her face was gone but she still wore the scowl that was now directed at the pony before her that dared to throw water in her face. “What was that for Vinyl?” She asked with one of those this had better be good expressions on her face. Vinyl smiled. “Nothing really Octy. I was just trying to put out the fire. It worked.” She said with a goofy yet cocky smile. She put a hoof over the soaked mare and continued “Octy, I am going to take you out tonight. We will get so drunk that you'll forget all about that stupid letter, the arranged marriage and who knows, maybe we can even make a plan that will get you out of this mess.” She said, slowly levitating a towel to Octavia. “Dry off first. We're meeting Lyra and Bon Bon at The Golden Horseshoe. Refusal is not an option.” She said standing tall as if she won some argument that wasn’t happening. Octavia grumbled about having Vinyl demanding her to go out she didn’t want to go out feeling like she did. She rubbed the towel over her mane and face slowly. “I don’t know Vinyl every time we go out to a bar things get out of hoof.” “Oh, come on Octy. When have I ever steered you wrong. Name one time.” Vinyl protested with confidence. Octavia pulled the towel away from her face revealing that the front of her mane was now dry but even messier than before...she would need to brush it before going out with Vinyl. “Oh, I can name more than one account of that Vinyl. You steer me wrong every occasion that we go out. Would you like me to list them in alphabetical order or in the order of how much trouble you have gotten us in?” She asked with a playful hmm at the end of the question. While the water may have snapped her back to her normal self, the DJ knew that the letter and arranged marriage still plagued the back of her mind. “That's beside the point Octy. The point is, is that we always had fun, like we will tonight. Just you, me, Lyra and Bon Bon. Together we will be able to come up with some plan and have fun. Two stones one bird.” Vinyl said happy to see Octavia acting like herself again. The white mare smiled foalishly as she watched Octavia walk towards the bathroom. “Fine you win Vinyl. I don’t know why I always let you talk me into these things.” Octavia said with a sigh as she disappeared into the bathroom and started to fix her mane. The brush pulling at tingled strands of her mane causing her to slightly groan as she pulled them free. “Don’t worry Octy. I will make sure that we come up with something." Octavia groaned once again after hearing the words Don't worry Octy. Vinyl passed it off as her finding another knot in her mane and continued "There is no bucking way that I’d let you get married to anypony you don’t want to.” Vinyl called out loud as Octavia was fixing her mane. “After all you should be my wife.” Vinyl whispered to herself as she was still too scared to tell Octavia how she really felt about her. Vinyl was in love with Octavia and had been for a few years now, but that was the problem. She was her best friend and if she didn’t feel the same way it could ruin that friendship forever. That worry that the DJ was feeling was quickly hidden as the sounds of hooves on the hard wood floor grew closer. Octavia was back to looking like her perfect self again, a new pink bow tie on that wasn’t soaked and her saddle bag resting on her flank. She smiled softly at Vinyl and walked to the door with a motion for Vinyl to follow. Once outside their house Octavia dug through her saddle bag moving her bits pouch and grabbing her keys. She pulled it out with her teeth locking the door behind them and put the keys back into her saddle bag. The pouch of bits she had placed in there with the intent to spend as much of it at The Golden Horseshoe as she could. The night was young and that only meant that there was a lot of time for her and the girls to drink and plan to stop her parent’s plan. The last thing that was going through the two mares’ minds as they left their home was the name that Bon Bon and Lyra would come up with for their plan. A plan that would always be remembered as Operation ColtBlocker.