//------------------------------// // Octavia, Chapter 10: Plots and Plotters // Story: Never Miss A Beat // by TaleweaverTheUnicorn //------------------------------// Octavia padded quietly out of the bedroom. Morning sunlight was beginning to peek in through the windows. Evidently she had slept through dinner and the night as well. She felt very drained, as if she had cried out all that made her Octavia, and only the body remained. Cadence had once said it was like vomiting for the soul, and Octavia supposed that was accurate, though she wasn’t sure how much soul remained. Cadence herself was seated on the couch, fast asleep. Even in unconsciousness, her hooves were primly folded, and her face was immaculate, not a single smudge on her makeup. The sight made Octavia’s heart quicken for just a moment, before succumbing back to emptiness. That was a dead end. As dead an end as her pursuits of Vinyl. She tiphoofed across the room to where her deck stood, still glowing softly. Her hoof hovered over the “delete” button. If she was a good pony, she would press it. Clean this whole affair from her mind and. . . get back to life. Whatever life had been before Vinyl had careened through it, throwing aside gray curtains to allow brilliant white and blue light to shine within. Octavia could scarcely remember what it had been like. Her hoof trembled. She set it back on the floor. No. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. One way or another, she would get no peace until this was completed. Cadance’s words were true. This was as much for her as for Vinyl. Closure, as miserable and final as it was, was all she could hope for now. She pulled a blanket softly over Cadance, slipped her headphones over her ears, and began to play. Much like her tears, the music began to flow. Perhaps she had been unable to write an ending before because she didn’t know how it ended. Now that she did, it was simple. Almost too much so. She closed her eyes as tapped keys and marked notes, her vision too blurred by tears to see in any case. Measure after measure emerged from her sorrow, like clouds from a pegasus factory, casting gloom and rain over her soul. Hopefully to wash these feelings away, in the end.  What she hadn’t understood before was that this, this misery and desperation, this was the ending. Somber. Quiet. No great final swell of conflict or redemption. The last drop had been the last movement, their fight. All the rest of the song would be a slow withering of something beautiful. The instruments, classical and electronic, finally together, but playing different songs. They diverged further and further, until Vinyl’s faded completely, leaving only Octavia’s, playing a mournful love softly, and quietly, until it, too, vanished into silence. Octavia sat. Her stomach rumbled. The sun was completely gone behind the buildings, only reflections of the sunlight remained. She’d been at it all day, evidently. She glanced around. Cadence, bless her heart, had stayed all this time. As if sensing Octavia’s gaze, she caught it as soon as it landed upon her, sharing a soft smile. Octavia could not return it, so she nodded, instead. Cadence seemed to accept that, and returned her attention to a stack of scrolls in front of her, though not without rolling a cart of still steaming food towards Octavia. A mix of savory and sweet scents hit her nostrils, and her stomach rumbled again.  Octavia pulled the headset off. It was a lush spread. A large plate of elegantly prepared pasta, and a large tray of cookies and pastries. A bottle of wine and a smaller bottle of vodka, potato this time, sat alongside in buckets of ice. There was even a little carafe of chocolate milk. She glanced again at Cadence, who smiled without looking up. “Everything you could need to fix a broken heart. Comfort food. Sweets. Liquor.” She chuckled. “At least, everything I would want. I hope it is to your liking. I consulted with Rarity and Parish on what you would like. . . they came by earlier but did not wish to disturb you while you were working.” “You even got the proper potato mash. I owe you both a great thanks.” Octavia chuckled. Her voice was hoarse, first from sobs, and second from disuse. She pulled the stopper with ehr teeth, and took a sip. Ice cold, crystal clear, and strong as anything. Marvelous. She dug in immediately, tossing a generous measure of liquor into the milk, and swirling it roughly about. With that settled, she dug into the pasta with gusto. Her mother had always told her to feed a broken heart, and she wasn’t about to stop now. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Octavia raised an eyebrow at Cadance, who shook her head. Octavia made her way over, unlatching it and swinging it open. Vinyl stood before her.  Octavia immediately recoiled, a thousand emotions flooding through her. Vinyl merely chuckled, and stepped back. “Sorry, sheesh, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Her voice had an odd, almost dreamy quality to it. Had she always sounded that airy, that carefree? “Err, not to drop in all of a sudden, but Mal here really wanted to meet you, and wouldn’t let it rest after she heard we’d had a falling out. . .”  A small crystal pony waved shyly from around the doorframe. Vinyl smiled at her as she took a place at her side. Octavia’s already shattered heart was ground to a slightly finer powder. She was pretty. Petite. Shy. Definitely Vinyl’s type. From the looks in their eyes, they’d found that out already.  “W-we don’t have to stay long. I just wanted to make sure you two made up!” Mal said, in a trembling voice. Octavia was thankfully too shellshocked to roll her eyes. “You’re clearly very important to Vinyl, so. . . I thought it would make you both happy.” “She’s not wrong, er. . .” Vinyl rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Octavia realized with yet another shock that Vinyl’s glasses were nowhere to be seen. Her eyes were fully on display, slightly glassy though they might look. It looked like she'd just woken up, despite the late hour. “I do miss you, Octy. I’d like to be friends again.” “F-Friends, right.” Octavia was not sure if she wanted that. Or, more accurately, was not sure if that is what she needed right this moment. But could she turn Vinyl down, either? “Certainly.” “Oh, thank Ce- Err, thank goodness.” Vinyl sighed with relief, flashing a smile at her, then at her companion. “I was being a bit of a stubborn mule myself, so. . . Sorry about that.” “Not at all. Th-the fault was all mine.” Octavia looked down at her hooves, praying to anyone who was listening to let that be the end of it. She was too emotionally exhausted to cry any more, but this was still unpleasant. “ . . . Sorry, but can I use your restroom right quick?” Mal asked, rather suddenly. “I have a bit of a. . . erm, makeup emergency.” “Y-yes?” Octavia started. The pony smiled at her as she rather aggressively shouldered past her. “Thank you so much. Vinyl, why don’t you wait here for a minute?” Mal glanced at her, and Vinyl, inexplicably, took up a position quite obediently in the hallway, staring straight ahead like a royal guard. “Mind showing me, Octavia?” “Um.” Octavia nodded numbly, and led the pony through the suite to the bathroom. She could feel the collateral damage from Vinyl’s eyes, but for once, it wasn’t Octavia’s flank they were watching. She fought back a deep frown. “I wasn’t lying when I said Vinyl speaks of you very often.” Mal said, once they arrived. Her voice was still quiet, but no longer held the notes of shyness. With a careful hoof, she ran matching glittering lipstick over her muzzle. “It’s rather endearing.” “Thank you?” Octavia blinked. She found her eyes tracing the hoof, her heartbeat quickening. What on earth was with this pony? “Ordinarily, I don’t mind sharing. Goodness knows Vinyl is not my only partner.” Mal turned to Octavia. Her eyes flickered, as if for a moment they were made of greenish smoke. “Unfortunately, this is business, not pleasure, and so I cannot tolerate any competition. Thankfully, you’ve mostly destroyed your own reputation already, so all we need is a little nudge. . .” “What do you-” Octavia filled her lungs to speak, or scream, or something. What exactly she was going to do, she was not sure. Regardless, she never got the chance. The malfeasant filly before her removed a compact full of familiar green goop, dumped it over her own head, and screamed first. In an instant, Vinyl and Cadence were at Octavia’s side. Cadance gasped, and Vinyl rushed to Mal’s side.  “N-no, I did not-” Octavia spluttered, her voice dying as Vinyl shot her a look of pure loathing. She felt her heart seize, slowing, nearly stopping all at once. Cadance seized Octavia in a gentle magical grip, as though she was dangerous. “I-I don’t understand!” Mal sobbed into Vinyl’s shoulder. “What is wrong with you, Octavia?” Vinyl snapped, ushering her fiance out of the room. “Let that teach me to give second chances, I guess. Goodbye forever, for real this time.” A door slammed, leaving Octavia alone with Cadance, who slowly rotated her so they were face to face. “. . . I’m very disappointed in you, Octavia.” Cadence said. Her voice was resonant, the voice of a proper Princess, one Octavia had seldom heard. “How did you let yourself go this way? If nothing else, Octavia Melody is disciplined. She doesn’t attack fillies! Especially not citizens of my empire!” “I did not! I swear!” Octavia babbled. “She- That is, she did it- I did nothing!” “What did she do? Besides having come here, quite bravely and kindly, to attempt to fix a wrong she saw?” Cadence set Octavia down, and turned tail. “Enough. I will go check on her. You remain here. If I find you have escaped, I will be very cross.” “Cada-” Octavia cut off at a glare, freezing in place. She pressed on, desperately. “Princess, please, you have to believe me! I did not do this! I would not do this!” “I wouldn’t think so, Octavia.” Cadances fury broke, just for a moment. She lingered in the doorway. Sadness filled the gap. “But you have clearly let paranoia and jealousy change you. I thought of you as a friend, but I feel I barely know you anymore.” “You know me.” Octavia begged. Cadance merely shook her head, and departed.