Knock
Rosin was more than capable of keeping up as I tore through Canterlot to the park, deftly avoiding puddles and other ponies. The creak of swings could be heard from a half-block away and led us to the wood chip and concrete block of the playground. Rosin headed straight for Mother’s favorite bench, muzzle already buried in a book.
I rounded the castle and came into view of the swings. “Hey, Tavi!” Vinyl shouted, making me grin. “Over here!”
“My name is Octavia,” I replied, heading over. Vinyl wasn’t swinging very high, but I could see the same spin of her previous misadventure.
“That’s what you always say! Where have you been, I haven't seen you in ages.” Vinyl slowed until the swing creak was nearly gone.
“It’s been raining, and it was only a few days,” I replied. I clambered up into the next swing over and shot Vinyl a suspicious glance. “You aren’t going to fall off again, are you?”
“I didn’t fall, I jumped. And it’s fun to play in the rain. I was here.”
I glanced at Vinyl’s coat, still damp in some places. With a shrug, I kicked off the ground, slowly working myself up into the air. Vinyl sped up as well, the squeak of our swings almost matching. Almost. “Mother wouldn’t let me come.”
Vinyl hummed and fell silent. The quiet was unsettling, I’d never seen VInyl not talking, or laughing. “So, your mother let you come in the rain?”
She turned me and grinned, but not as wide. “She didn’t really know about it.”
I gasped. “Vinyl, how? Why would you do that? Aren’t you afraid of getting in trouble?”
She snorted. “Nah. My, uh, my mom is really cool about stuff like that, y’know? She kinda lets me do whatever.”
My mouth fell open as I stared at Vinyl in shock. My mother isn’t as harsh as some, from what I’ve heard from other foals, but to enjoy complete freedom...
“Hey, Tavi, you there?” Vinyl’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. “Who did you come with today? That doesn’t look like your mom.”
“Hmm?” I followed the white pointing hoof towards the bench. Seeing my gaze, Rosin waved, just like Mother. “Oh, no, that’s my Aunt Rosin. Mother had errands to do today,”
We swung for a short time chatting before Vinyl’s eyes lit up, mischievous.
“Hey, Tavi,” she swung closer to me, whispering as best she could above the noise. “Wanna jump?”
“No!” I shouted, loud enough that Rosin cocked her head across the playground. She started to stand, so I smiled at her. “No,” I repeated, softer. “That isn’t safe.”
“Who cares?” Vinyl was picking up speed now, shimmying her rump closer to the edge of the swing. “Just land on your hooves. Or, if you miss, roll instead.”
Without any more warning she let go of the swing, flying through the air for a brief moment. Unlike the other day, she tucked and rolled, popping back up to her hooves. Shaking the wood chips out of her mane, she looked back at me expectantly.
“Vinyl, I don’t know if I can do this...”
“What?” She held a hoof to her ear. “I can’t hear you. Jump off so you’re a little closer.”
I took a deep breath and tried my best to copy what I just saw. My rump barely on the swing’s edge, I slipped my forehooves away from the chains and pushed. I twisted awkwardly through the air before landing and sliding across the ground, a tangle of hair and limbs. I lifted my head, almost level with where Vinyl landed.
“Real graceful, kiddo,” Rosin called from her bench. A pause, “you okay?”
I waved a hoof in her general direction. Next to me, VInyl sounded like she was about to die laughing. Or pee.
“That was great,” she wheezed. “Are you sure you aren’t part pegasus, Tavi?”
“My name is Octavia,” I said to the wood around my muzzle. Looking up, I added, “and no, I am not part pegasus.
“That was fun though,” I finished, almost in a whisper.
Vinyl laughed and her horn flared briefly, no more than a sparkle. Several wood chips pulled free of my coat in a faint white glow. “I knew you’d like it. Stick with me, Tavi, and we’ll have you swinging upside down from the monkey bars in no time!”
“I hope not.”
Vinyl helped me up and we went back to the swings. I was in no hurry to continue jumping but, at her insistence, I did several more times. By the last, I couldn’t keep the small grin off my face as I flew through the air. It was gone by the time Vinyl landed next to me, but it was there.
She popped up, large grin plastered on her face. “That one was awesome! Come on, let’s go do it again, and this time add some spin!”
I was about to say no when hoofsteps drew both of our attention to Rosin picking her way across the playground. “Hey kiddo,” she said as she drew closer. “Mels is back, so I’m going to go get my violin and head home. I’ll see you later, okay?”
She leaned in for a hug, which I gave happily. Pulling back, she pretended to brush wood chips off herself. “Catch ya later.” Turning, she walked from the playground
Vinyl glanced up and the sun and winced. “Yeah, I might need to head back too. Need to grab some food. Think you’ll be here for awhile?”
I looked up too. Judging by the sun, it was sometime in the early afternoon, maybe around one or two. Mother probably wouldn't let me stay for more than an hour or two. I told Vinyl so.
She flashed me one of her half-grins. “Okay, cool. I’ll go grab some grub and be back soon. See ya, Tavi!”
Vinyl walked off and I return to the swings, replying with, “my name is Octavia!”
I spend the next two hours swinging, slowly falling lower and lower. I watched Mother get progressively more restless, a good sign we would leave soon. With a sigh, I hopped off my swing and went over to her, tail drooping.
“What’s wrong, Octavia?” Mother asked as I approached. I never asked to go home early. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, I’m just ready to go.”
Mother said nothing else, just stood and started heading towards home. I followed close behind. I could tell Mother wanted to ask about VInyl, she had probably seen everything.
When we reached the house, both of us made a beeline for the kitchen. I sat quietly with her in the dining room. Mother was talking about her errands, and about Father’s new show. It sounded really cool and I loved all of his orchestral performances. The show was set to open in a month; Father wouldn’t be home much for around a week before and the three months the performance was scheduled for.
My thoughts turned to Vinyl and our music from the bridge earlier. A picture of her in a dress next to me in a big fancy concert hall flashed through my mind. Would she like it? Did she even like music like that?
“Octavia, did you hear me?” I looked up at Mother’s voice. She looked at me expectantly.
“Huh?”
Mother smiled. “Our trip to grandma’s. We’re going to have to wait until the end of the summer. Your father is having a hard time getting a vacation from his own orchestra.”
“Okay.” I looked back to my food, barely able to keep from sighing as a crack of thunder echoed through the house. There seemed to be a lot of rain involved in my summer vacation so far. More rain meant more days not at the park, which meant it would be longer before I could yell at Vinyl for not coming back.
I sighed again. It wasn’t fair to be mad at Vinyl, her mother probably wouldn’t let her come back. We were having fun, right? Why would she decide to not come back herself?
Mother finished her food and excused herself from the table. She asked if I was done as well, waiting for my answer before taking my plate. I slowly made my way from the room and up the stairs.
A thunderclap masked the closing of my door, and another of me sitting on my window bench. The sky darkened quickly as the rain fell harder, Within minutes, the mid afternoon sun was gone, leaving the street lights to provide what light they could. I clicked on the small lamp over my seat and pulled a book from the side table. Bookmark aside, book open, eyes straight out the window. My eyes wandered across the room for what felt like hours. They skipped across the page, then over to the window and the circles of light shining through the rain, then back across the book again to my cello with Father’s music book sitting on top.
My hoof throbbed just looking at my cello. Mother said it wouldn’t hurt as much after a while, but I’d been playing for almost a year now. No other earth pony in my class played an instrument like mine, but they still all played better.
With a twist, the book fell off my lap. I looked at it for a moment, but it seemed like a lot of wasted effort to actually pick it up. A lot of the ponies in my class loved summer. They liked the freedom and lack of responsibility. I didn’t as much.
The front door opened and shut, letting in the voices of Father and at least two other ponies. The rain must have driven his business meeting inside. I could picture Mother fussing about Father’s study making sure that the already clean room was spotless and then rushing around the kitchen to prepare snacks, always the perfect hostess.
If the ponies with Father were orchestra members or friends, they’d probably stay in the study until dinner. If they were business ponies or anything similar, as soon as Mother was done in the kitchen...
Somepony knocked on my door, right on schedule. The window seat creaked as I stood up to shuffle towards the door. Step five in Father’s plan to get ponies with money to agree with what he needed: roll out the cute daughter. Mother smiled at me from the other side of my now-open door.
“Mind if I come in?”
This was not step six. Mother walked past me and took a seat on my bed. She grabbed the door with her magic and gently shut it. “They’re getting a little rowdy. I thought we could have some peace and quiet.”
I retook my seat by the window, book long forgotten. “They? I thought Father had all the help he needed for his new piece.”
“He does,” she replied. “They’re old friends from your father’s days at Canterlot University. I could smell the apple whisky and cigars from the kitchen.”
Father had a bad obsession with Zebrican cigars. He rarely smoked them, but every once in awhile, when he was in the company of friends, he... indulged.
“They stink,” I giggled. “Is that who he was talking to all day?”
“No. He was in a meeting about the concert hall, something about scheduling conflicts or somesuch.” Mother waved a hoof dismissively. She’d never really been one for the finer details of music. That’s why she had an agent, as she told me: Father.
“So, who is your new friend?” she asked, pulling my attention from the window.
“Oh, her name is Vinyl Scratch. She...” I cast out my thoughts, trying to think of something else to say. Then it hit me: I didn’t know too much about her. She likes music, of some description. She had to live close, at least close enough to walk to the park since she’d left in a hurry earlier. Her parents didn’t seem too strict, but she’d only mentioned them once.
Mother nodded expectantly. At my look, she waggled a hoof at me. “She....?”
I didn’t know and I was about to tell Mother as much when a firm knock at the front door stopped me. Mother and I both got to our hooves at the same time as the soft murmur downstairs stopped. The three of us converged downstairs, the door to Father’s study still open behind us. Father opened the door just as one of the ponies outside moved to knock again.
Stood out in the rain were two Royal Guards, armor and mane slicked with the rain. Somepony was behind them - I could just barely make out a shock of blue hair - but they were too short to be seen over the guards.
Father took one step forwards and dipped his head. “Evening, officers. Something I can help you with?”
The guard on the left bowed his head in kind. “And a good evening to you too, Legatus, Miss Melody. I hate to bother you, but there’s been a slight... issue.”
Mother and Father exchanged a look.
“Do you know this filly?” the guard on the right asked, stepping aside. Standing between them was a little unicorn filly, coat washed back to white in the rain, underneath a soaked blue mane.
“Heya, Tavi,” Vinyl said with an embarrassed grin. “How’s it goin’?”