//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Changes // by Fresh Blood //------------------------------// (I should really stop over promising things...) “Well... aren’t you going to invite me in?” Beauty asked, dressed as impeccably as ever in her bow tie and carefully groomed mane. The two mares had been stood in the doorway in silence, one with a pleasant smile, the other with a blank, mouth half open stare. Octavia’s brain furiously ticked away inside her skull, desperately trying to restart itself from its addled state and articulate a response. “Huh?” was all it managed to come up with. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, dear,” Beauty replied, her smile turning into more of a smirk as she stepped forwards to let herself in, easily brushing the cellist to one side as she passed. “One would think you lost your manners as well as your inhibitions last night.” “Excuse me?” Octavia finally spoke after her stalled brain finally managed to get going again. She closed the door behind Beauty Brass and wheeled around to catch her snooping up and down the hallway. She remembered the night before, seeing her and Symphony at the music lounge, and she began to put two and two together for the reason why her friend had decided to call on her today of all days. “Just what is it you are trying to imply?” “I’m not implying anything,” she replied, making it obvious that she wasn’t intending on stopping her investigations. “All I meant was that I saw you out last night, and judging by your unkempt appearance you enjoyed yourself. That’s just not like you at all, Octavia, is it?” The grin on Beauty’s face did not go unnoticed as the blue mare grew bored of the hallway and tried to enter the living room. “Well yes, I just thought I might like a drink is all,” the cellist quickly spoke up, trotting ahead to force her way in front of Beauty Brass and between the door. Her ears flicked, conscious of the sound of the running water still creeping in from beyond the closed door. “Ah, now I see why you’re acting so strange,” Beauty smiled, her own ears flicking, “I interrupted your shower. Please, no need to wait on me; we’ve been friends for years. I know where your teapot is, go, I’ll have a nice hot cup waiting for you when you get out and we can have a catch up.” And with that, Beauty Brass continued to smile in silence, waiting for Octavia to let her in. “Oh... um... alright, tea, yes... well, come in?” Octavia eventually spoke up when the silence had drawn on to make it uncomfortable, thoroughly confused. She opened the door and led Beauty inside, the shower now sounding louder. Her guest continued to look around the apartment, no attempt being made at subtlety which only confused Octavia further, and worried her at the same time. “I think I’ll sit down for a moment before making the tea,” Beauty then said, making her way towards the sofa and taking a seat. She briefly inspected a pair of sunglasses that had been left on the couch, much to Octavia’s dismay; she hadn’t even realised Vinyl had been missing them. “Hmm, I don’t think these are your style, dear, but each to their own, I suppose. Now, off you go, I’ll just rest my hooves.” “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly do that,” Octavia quickly replied, desperately trying to think of a way to get rid of her friend. She didn’t know why she was so concerned, the fact Vinyl had stayed the night didn’t necessarily imply anything had happened. But she knew what Beauty was like, and even if it was obvious that the cellist had only offered her spare room to a friend, the tuba player would still call her out on it just for fun. “Why don’t we go out for a little dinner?” Octavia offered, her ears flicking once more as the sound of the water hitting the tub was repeatedly interrupted by Vinyl getting in its way. “I’ll just freshen up and meet you there; maybe we could go to Alejandro’s down the street?” “Nonsense, Octavia, I’ve been quite looking forwards to having tea with you,” Beauty dismissed, still with that same smile on her face that was starting to come across as rather creepy to Octavia. “B-but we could perhaps meet up with some others from our ensemble,” the pressured mare tried once more, glancing uneasily at the bathroom door. “We could make an afternoon of it.” “Well alright,” Beauty finally relented, making Octavia sigh with relief. “But I can’t leave you to walk there all by yourself,” she then continued, causing Octavia to catch her breath once more. “I’ll wait for you and escort you there. Now chop, chop, we don’t have all day, it’s already the afternoon and... oh for Celestia’s sake, I can’t keep this up. Who is she?” “W-what? Who?” Octavia replied, pupils the size of pinpricks as she stepped back from the now advancing Beauty Brass but stumbled and landed in a sitting position on her rump. “The mare in your shower, the one you were out with last night and made that awful ruckus in the lounge.” Beauty explained, making herself clear. She then smirked. “I thought it very... liberal of you to be out on a date with a mare; I never knew you had it in you. You’ve always been so traditional.” “I was not on a date!” She hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but the accusation was exactly what she had feared Beauty would make. She clasped a hoof to her mouth and looked towards the bathroom, but the water was still running and there was no indication that Vinyl had heard her. “Really?” The teasing tone of Beauty’s voice drew back Octavia’s attention and she looked at the mare who now wore a broad smirk and a raised eye brow. “From my perspective it doesn’t look that good for you, dear. Normally you’re up bright and early by now, washed, dressed and ready for the world. But from the look... and smell of you, it seems like you only just got out of bed within the past hour or two, and it’s almost one in the afternoon. I bet you two were so warm and cosy in bed with one another that you just lost track of time, hmm?” “Stop it this instant,” Octavia rebutted, a scarlet blush on her face as she looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. “We went out after the convention, she convinced me to go dancing with her and I offered her a place to stay for the night long in advance of that. She also had a separate bed,” she then pointed out, motioning towards the spare bedroom with its door still open, the unmade bed seen within acting as evidence. “We’re just friends.” Beauty Brass eyed the spare bedroom, as if contemplating on the situation. “Well... we both know how you are with your bedroom, even I haven’t seen the inside of it in the past several years and I’m your best friend... maybe you took her to the spare room to have your way with her where you wouldn’t be embarrassed...” “No!” Octavia then shouted, slowly growing more irritated by the second. She felt as if her head would explode if any more blood rushed to it. “You alright out there, Octy?” Vinyl’s voice then called, freezing the two mares where they stood, though Beauty Brass was sporting a huge grin. “‘Octy?’ she whispered, suppressing a snicker. “Oh, hush, you,” Octavia hissed back before answering Vinyl. “Er... yes, everything’s fine, Vinyl, I just...” she paused, thinking of an excuse, and then sighed when she knew there were only a few things Vinyl might believe. “I found a... spot... on the carpet... it’ll stain.” There was a moment’s pause, the tick of the clock on the wall the only sound before Vinyl answered. “Ok, Octy. Well, I’ll be done in a few minutes, just hafta dry up, can I use your hair dryer? ’K, thanks!” And without waiting for a reply the sound of said hairdryer replaced the running water. “So, she’s called Vinyl, huh?” the blue mare asked, taking up residence on the couch once more. “She didn’t look like she’d be your type by the looks of her last night; electric blue hair, a pair of sunglasses at night? What are you, rebelling against your parents or something?” Octavia refused to dignify the question with a response, instead taking a seat on an armchair facing the bathroom door. “You’re not going to leave, are you?” “Nope, and I get the feeling you’re not going to keep biting, are you?” “Nope.” “Well then, I guess I’ll have to be serious for a while,” Beauty relented, the look of glee in her eyes dampening slightly. “So you really aren’t seeing somepony?” “I don’t know why you jumped to that conclusion in the first place.” “Well after the convention you said you’d stay behind for a while, which we all thought was strange. Frederick and Harpo said you were just being you so I ignored it. But then Symphony and I saw you last night and I guess we just put two and two together. Secret liaisons behind your friends’ backs are how all the romances start in the novels I read. Add that to the fact you’ve not bothered to even contemplate dating anypony since school and the fact that every stallion I’ve tried to introduce you to you’ve shunned, I just figured you were... of a different persuasion, as it were.” “I am not a fillyfooler.” Octavia quickly stated with an impassive look on her face. “You say that as if it were the worst thing in the world.” “No I don’t, I’m just saying that I’m not interested in mares.” “How do you know?” The question caught Octavia off guard, she had never been asked so blatantly before. “I don’t think I understand the question,” she answered, staring at the perfectly straight face Beauty had adopted. “I mean, how do you know you’re not interested in mares if you’ve never given thought to it,” the blue mare elaborated. “Come on, ‘Octy’, you never do anything new or interesting. I know you, I went to school with you, grew up with you, I love you like a sister. But for the past few years you’ve been living the same day over and over. You’ve never tried to date a stallion, let alone a mare, and you’re oblivious to any flirting that gets sent your way. How do you know that you don’t like mares if you’ve never done anything to confirm otherwise?” The question hung in the air. Neither mare spoke, one awaiting some form of a response, the other stunned into a contemplative silence. The cellist had always tried to tell herself what she wanted, and she did admit to herself that what she wanted was to conform to typically traditional values. Any deviation from that path normally didn’t appeal to her that much, so she often dismissed many notions and ideas. Being attracted to mares was one such notion. Before she could voice her opinion, however, there was a click from the bathroom and both mares turned to see Vinyl step out from the door. Despite seeming much cleaner than when she went in, she didn’t look very different from how Octavia had grown to expect. She was dry, however, drier than the last time Octavia saw her after a wash. Her mane was still its typically unmanaged self, though having it blown dry rather than towel dried had done it wonders to make it look smooth, silky, and oh so much more inviting, or so Octavia couldn’t help thinking. After a moment of Octavia staring absently in Vinyl’s direction, and with no introduction on the horizon, Beauty Brass took it upon herself to speak. “I’m afraid you must think it rather rude of me, barging in today whilst Octavia’s maintaining company.” She smiled warmly at Vinyl, who scratched the back of her head with a hoof as she studied Beauty’s features. “I was simply informing Octavia of our schedule for the next week, I’m part of her ensemble, you see, and a member of the Orchestra,” she continued, hoping that Octavia would step in and take the reins. “Oh, I know you,” Vinyl finally spoke, a grin breaking out on her face which made Beauty Brass feel uneasy. “You were at the bar last night, the fancy one with all that classical music. Yeah, Octy said she knew you, stopped me from-” “Ah, yes!” the cellist suddenly blurted out, quickly interrupting Vinyl and startling Beauty Brass. “Vinyl, this is Beauty Brass, one of my closest friends and, as you already know, a work colleague. Beauty, this is Vinyl Scratch, my newest friend,” she said, emphasising the word ‘friend’ in a way that only the blue mare would pick up on. “We met at the convention; she’s really quite the character.” “Well it’s a pleasure to make her acquaintance,” Beauty recovered, giving a sideways glance towards the grey mare with a knowing smile and then looking back at Vinyl. “Any friend of Octavia is a friend of mine. But I suppose I best leave you two in peace, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” “Nah, that’s ok,” the DJ said as she looked towards the clock, cutting Octavia off before she could answer. “I think I need to leave now anyway, Opal will kill me if I’m late and she’ll already be upset with me after skipping out on the after party after my gig at the hotel.” “Oh, really?” Octavia looked at the clock dejectedly, ignoring the smug look that Beauty was giving her. “Well I suppose it can’t be helped, I’ll see you out.” “Again, it was really nice to meet you, Vinyl,” Beauty piped up, drawing Vinyl’s attention as the two made their way towards the hallway. “Perhaps Octavia could bring you along to one of our practice sessions, I’m sure her other friends would love to meet you too.” It took every ounce of social etiquette for the blue mare not to burst into laughter at the frantic flailing of hooves and shakes of her head from Octavia behind Vinyl’s back. “Hey, that’s a good idea, Octy,” Vinyl exclaimed, her horn lighting up to pluck her glasses from the seat beside Beauty and place them upon her head. “That’s exactly what Opal wanted me to do in the first place. Who better to learn about classical music than you, right?” “Oh I’m sure we could arrange something,” she replied with a hesitant smile, shooting daggers at Beauty with her eyes when Vinyl wasn’t looking. Once out in the hallway she remembered to close the door, much to Beauty’s chagrin and walked with Vinyl to the front door. “Well I’ve definitely had more fun these past few days than I can remember.” “Yeah, it’s been great,” Vinyl added, ignoring the front door for a moment to look around the small desk table that was positioned near by it. “Say, you got a pad and a pen somewhere near here?” “In the top shelf of the desk, why?” “So I can give you my contact details and we can keep in touch, I so wanna do this again, you’re fun,” the DJ explained, her horn lighting up as she began scribbling on the pad. “Me? Fun? I think you may have me confused with somepony else,” Octavia deflected with a half hearted chuckle, trying to fight off the deep blush that once again seemed to be persistent in its appearance the past hour or two. “Nope, no confusion, you’re awesome,” the unicorn laughed, doing very little to ease the unnoticed blush. “This is my address in Ponyville, any post you send there will get forwarded to Lyra and Bon-Bon’s house if I’m not there. I’ve also wrote their address too so you can keep in touch with them as well. Unfortunately I’m not easy to get a hold of when I’m on the road, but I’ll send you a letter if I’m in a place for long enough for you to send one back. Might even be able to make arrangements for you to visit a show if there’s enough time.” “I’d like that... I think... providing it’s not too much, still haven’t gotten used to ‘your world’ yet,” the cellist smiled, watching as Vinyl pinned the addresses on a board against the wall, each one having different initials written on them to tell one from the other. “Don’t worry; I’ll look after you every time you step inside. At least until I’ve turned you into a true raver, then we can really party. And thanks for letting me stay, next time you need a place to stay in Ponyville I’ll always be free to return the favour.” And with that Vinyl approached Octavia before the earth pony could react, pulling her into a hug. Octavia knew full well that it was simply a farewell hug, much like the ones she received from Lyra and Bon-Bon before they departed. But with Vinyl wrapping her hoofs around her neck and pulling her body to hers she found herself wishing she could do more with it. She refrained from hugging back too tightly and revelling in the warm hair of her coat, or burying her nose in the DJ’s mane, or lingering a little too long when Vinyl finally pulled away so that their muzzles could touch. “Well I should go, see you around, Octy,” Vinyl finally said, making her way to the door and with a flicker of her horn, opening it. Octavia watched as she left, following her to stand at the door way. She remained there as Vinyl waited for the elevator, trying to prolong the goodbye for as long as possible. When the chime of the elevator doors sounded and Vinyl stepped inside out of view, Octavia suddenly felt pangs of regret, urging her to call out. “Vinyl?” The DJ popped her head back into the hallway almost immediately, a raised eyebrow appearing over her glasses. “Good bye,” was all the cellist said, giving a wave of her hoof. The DJ gave her a wide grin, teeth flashing and waved back in return before once again disappearing, the doors closing and allowing the elevator to descend. “You cannot tell me you’re not absolutely smitten, don’t even try.” The voice caught Octavia by surprise, snapping her out of her pensive thoughts and she wheeled around to see Beauty standing behind her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Octavia dismissed, closing the front door and turning her nose up. “Don’t give me that, you’d have killed to have her stay the rest of the day and you know it. I saw how disappointed you looked when she said she had to go, and what was that when she left? Calling her back so you can say one last good bye? It’s got smitten written all over it.” “I don’t think that means anything, she’s just a friend.” “I’m just a friend but you never say goodbye to me that way. Stop being stubborn and just admit that you like her, that you’re curious, even just a little. I don’t know why you’re so high strung over it.” Octavia ignored her for a moment, nose still upturned. She glanced down with her eyes at the stupidly grinning face of the blue mare, and after a moment the barest of smiles appeared on Octavia’s face. “Ok, maybe just a little...” “Aha! I knew it! Our little Octavia’s head over hoofs in love!” “I never said that!” Octavia shouted, scowling at Beauty Brass though she couldn’t stop herself from turning it into a smile. “Oh, you’re impossible, do you know that?” “I do, and I also know that you’re coming with me to Alejandro’s right this second, Symphony is waiting down stairs and she’ll be getting pretty impatient by now. We want all the dirt on what happened last night, no detail missed out.” “You brought Symphony? What do you mean waiting? Did you plan this?” Octavia questioned, an exasperated look upon her face. “Wait, I can’t go now, I need to shower, wash my mane, put on my tie! It’s the afternoon and I’m not even ready yet, what in Equestria have I been doing?!” With that the cellist rushed back into the living room, leaving a grinning Beauty Brass by herself. “I guess she’s back to normal when she’s alone,” she chuckled before shouting into the apartment. “I suppose I’ll go get Symphony then, no sense keeping her downstairs if you’re going to take forever combing that mess you call a mane!” -- “Do you have any idea how much of a publicity nightmare you caused me?” Opal Jubilee asked as she picked at the salad in front of her, her attention divided between it, Vinyl and the notepad she was furiously scribbling in. “A boring one?” Vinyl answered, head resting on a hoof, and looking bored out of her mind. She noticed that Opal was wearing her boring brown suit today, and she picked at her own boring salad with as much enthusiasm as she would have for watching paint dry. Sufficed to say, she was bored. “Skipping out on your own after party does not sit well with other ponies, Vinyl.” Opal continued, ignoring her response. “I had to tell the journalists waiting to interview you that you weren’t feeling well and had to retire for the evening, but of course the celebrities you were meant to mingle with can’t be expected to keep their mouths shut.” “Well technically I did ‘retire for the evening’,” Scratch smiled, dropping her fork out of her grip when she had had enough of her salad; she wasn’t even allowed any dressing on it. “Be that as it may you really shouldn’t have done it; I’ve had to arrange a follow up interview before we leave today on the train to Los Pegasus to make up for it, though we’ve probably missed the deadlines to be featured in ‘Mare’s Weekly’s coverage of the Convention.” “Doesn’t matter, that interview I did with Octy before the gig was for ‘Mare’s Weekly’, I’ll be in the magazine.” She looked at her salad once more, not really feeling hungry after breakfast with Octavia but only wanting to eat out of boredom. “Could I not have just a little vinaigrette on this?” “No, you’ve already put on a few pounds since I let you eat whatever you want at the Convention. I’ve had your expense bill, next time I’m arranging your meals. There’s a gym at the hotel in Los Pegasus too, you can start the new fitness regime I have set out for you.” Vinyl grumbled at that, she didn’t feel like she’d put on weight, but she admitted she had gotten a little carried away with the sweets. “Whatever.” “And how are things going with Octavia? I hope you didn’t make a fool out of yourself, I’m hoping to arrange a few talks with her Orchestra’s management to see about collaborations. An inside mare would be a big help with that.” “I don’t want to use her,” Vinyl quickly made herself clear, earning a look from Opal before she was again distracted by her note book. “Use is such an ugly term, Vinyl, I prefer ‘collaborate’.” “I like her, she’s a friend. She isn’t a stepping stone for you to move me up the success ladder.” “I know that, Vinyl,” the older mare smiled, though it always did very little to ease the DJ’s worries. “You can still be friends, it’s good for publicity. I just want to make sure you don’t screw it up. When did you last see her?” Vinyl was silent for a moment, wondering whether or not she should tell the truth. Throwing caution to the wind, she decided that there was no real harm in it. “This morning, at her place. I just came from there actually.” Opal let out a sigh, momentarily dropping her notepad on the table. “Vinyl, please don’t tell me you slept with her.” “What? No!” Scratch quickly answered, shaking her head along with her hooves. “I just stayed the night is all. We went out for drinks and I didn’t have a place to stay so she offered me her spare room. I don’t even think she’s into mares anyway, she made it seem that way at least.” “Good,” Opal finally said after a moment’s silence. She picked up her notebook again and made a few more scribbles before placing it down once more, returning to her salad with the intent on finishing it. “The last thing we need is another scandal in the press.”