//------------------------------// // Schism // Story: Filling the Gap // by Ponysopher //------------------------------// It was very late in the day. The sun was just finishing its circuit in the west, and Octavia had been walking for a long time in a forest. At one point during her travel, she tried to remember why she was there, where she had gone, and where she was going, but for some reason, no answer came to mind. All she really knew was that for some reason, she wanted to walk the way she was going. As she ventured down the long dirt pathway that stretched onward for as far as she could see, she tried to discern where she was. Her best guess was that she was somewhere in the forest in Fillydelphia around the safe house, but that seemed unlikely, for she had the idea that she had been walking far too long to not see an end to the wood by now. Yet there was an even bigger difference in this one. She remembered that the shrubbery and trees in that forest had been very densely packed. The same was true for the Everfree, which would have been overgrown, unnavigable, and teeming with wildlife of all kinds. Nor was this Whitetail Wood, which would have been a tad more welcoming. Instead of the choked Everfree or the lively Whitetail, these woods were lined with scores of long dead trees, and little to no shrubbery. In fact, this forest resembled neither of the two. It bore a more resemblance to an old wood she knew back in Germaney, which was called the “Black Forest.” The sun was already starting to set and take its light from the world, and the cloudy sky did not make seeing the path in front of her any easier. The little light left showed the leaves crunching under her were not colorful by any means. They were all the same shade of brown, which seemed to be growing increasingly darker as time drew on. Nonetheless she was thankful for them, for she was walking slowly, and noticed whenever she paused, the forest was too silent. Reason told her that there had to be life somewhere, but if there was, she didn’t hear or see it. There was not even a bird chirping in the distance. Except for the sound of dead leaves being trampled, there was utter silence. The sun set, and the world gave way to night, being shrouded in near-total darkness. It was then that Octavia made two distinct recognitions. First, though the air had been breezeless and stagnant throughout her walk, it was still very chilly, making her wish she had a scarf, or at least a saddle. Second, though the sparse foliage gave her a very good view above the tree line, it was too cloudy for the moon to shine. So, she could no longer see her hooves in front of her. Yet the only choice was to continue, walking straight down the assumedly straight path, and hope that nothing came in her way. The sound of her hooves against the dirt and only the periodic leaf were the only indicator that she hadn’t strayed from the path. As the night grew on, the pony began to become a tad nervous. Wherever she was going, it was taking too long, and if this journey dragged on for too long, she might become too tired to reach her destination. Though this thought itself, along with the seemingly uncaused desire to keep going, spurred her on. She just wished that there was some way that she could tell how much time had elapsed. As if to reward her perseverance, the moon finally peaked out of the clouds and shined a little silvery-blue light on her path, and she could tell by its high position that it was about three in the morning. The silence had grown even louder with the now very conspicuous absence of leaves to punctuate it. However, finally, it some point, Octavia heard a sound. At first, it was isolated and subtle. It occurred in the distance and then immediately ceased, but she had heard it. It was in front of her, so she trotted forwards to see if she could find its source. To her slight satisfaction, the sound came once more, but this time a bit louder and for a bit longer. It was strange, because it was certainly not foreign. She felt as though she had heard it many times before. Still, though, she could not put her hoof on what it was. It was distinct, but also indistinct. For a few moments, the silence albeit her steps lingered on, so she stopped, trying to filter her sensitive ears for even the slightest disturbance. Then once more the sound came, this time sustained for three seconds. She discerned this time that it was not one continuous whole, but was composed of a series of sounds. Again, she moved closer, and heard it at a lower volume this time, but remaining continuously now. Slowly but surely, the sound became louder and clearer until its identity was just on the tip of her tongue. It was so familiar and she knew she should have known what it was, but something was blocking it. Then a thought came to mind, and she realized that the sound was not all that was familiar. She had the gut feeling that she had been in this forest, and for some reason, also this exact situation before. And then the sound became clear. It was music, though by no means the sort of music that she enjoyed. It was dissonant and the rhythm was jerky- altogether unpleasant. She quickened her speed to a canter as the clarity of her déjà vu became even clearer. With her speed came also her breath, which was out of step with the rhythm of the music. Anticipating what was about to befall her, she was now rushing down the path at full speed. The music had now become as audible as thunder and as constant as the flow of a river. The forest and the horrible music were in place. Now all that was missing was… Oh Celestia! Before she knew it, the sound of heavy hoofsteps was gaining on her. She began to pant heavily, and push harder against the ground. Her heart was now pounding in her ears, but it was almost totally eclipsed by the volume of the frightening music, which had become almost deafening. Despite all her efforts though, the sound of her pursuers was growing louder. Along with their proximity came a chill that should have not been present with all her exertion. The air around her, though already freezing, grew colder and colder. She breathed it in and it filled her in an icy embrace. It felt like she was running slower now and her pursuers only faster. Panicking now, she gained a second wind and shot onwards with a burst of speed she was sure she did not have. Yet at this moment, the hoofsteps behind her reached their maximum volume, and for a split second there was a silence. Then she was suddenly knocked forward off her hooves onto the ground and skidded for a moment along the dirt road, producing a sharp and long cry both out of shock and pain. She struggled to get up again, but the heavy creature that had tackled her was weighing her down. Its body was colder than ice and its freezing chill numbed her legs, so she was rendered helpless. She turned her head and saw that she was caught in a magical aura, paralyzing her in addition to making her suffer with the biting cold. Before she had a chance to do anything, the weight on top of her lifted off, and she was suddenly being dragged along forward. She tried to use her hooves as anchors, but they would not obey her. She even thrust her head against the ground, but it did no good and only scratched her face, from the forceful pull. Looking to see what was on top of her, she saw a pair of glowing red, bestial eyes in her peripheral vision, which caused her to panic more and hyperventilate. Looking forward she saw what appeared to be an end to the road, where she could see no more. She knew at once that there was an abyss beyond it. So, once more she screamed over the music, and cried for help. When none came, she looked around frantically. On her left, there was a patch of bright moonlight illuminating a clearing in the woods. And standing in the center was none other than herself, playing the cello that was producing the infernal music in her ears. Seizing the desperate chance for her salvation, she screamed, “Octavia, help me, please!” several times as loud as she could. But for all the pain in her throat now, the Octavia did not stop what she was doing. Thinking for some reason that she had remained unheard, she screamed at the top of her aching lungs, “You can save me! Help me now!” But there was no response or answer, and she neared the edge of the road. One final time, she screamed out of pure terror. But then she heard a voice that was as cold and icy as the air in her lungs and the body of the creature speaking. Wofür du schreist? It said with an upper inflection. Du hast gegraben dein eigen gruft. She heard these words and reached the edge of the chasm. She awoke, flinging herself upright with a squeal. She looked around, finding herself in a bed in a dim room. For a few seconds, she panicked trying to figure out where she was. The she remembered that she had gone to that safe house in Fillydelphia and slept there. The earth pony fell back onto her pillow in relief and sighed. The sheets covering her bed were drenched in her sweat and her heart was now doing its best to slow down from its racing speed. Not caring about either of those inconveniences for the moment, she took a moment to take control of her breathing. Turning her head to the side, she saw that it was twilight. The sun’s first rays were just starting to peak over the horizon. The sky was overcast, and dreary. She spent a few moments staring at it, and trying to put the dream she had just endured out of her head. Not too much later, there was a knock at the door, causing her to flinch. Octavia found her voice after a second and answered, “Who is it?” A small, feminine voice answered, “It’s a servant from Mr. Midnight. Are you alright, Ms. Octavia?” She let out a breath that she realized she had held in and replied, “Yes, sorry if I disturbed anyone. I just had a little nightmare.” “I’m sorry to hear that, Miss. May I come in?” Being partially grateful to have a little bit of company, she said, “Yes.” and the door opened. The light from the hall made her squint, but she was still able to see a bright pink unicorn with a blue mane dressed in a slightly risqué maid’s uniform. The mare took a few steps into the room and said softly, “I know that it’s early, but Mr. Midnight asked me to tell you that he’d like to see you as soon as you woke up.” Octavia stepped out of bed. “That’s all right. As you can see, I probably won’t be getting much more sleep anyway.” “Are you sure?” The unicorn asked. “Yes, I am sure.” she answered. It was true that she was tired, but the last thing that she wanted to do was go back to sleep now. Getting started with the day would hopefully take her mind off what she did not want to think about. The servant stepped outside. Turning on a light, Octavia used a brush she found on a dresser in the room to straighten out her bed hair. Then she stepped into the bathroom on her left and found new implements to brush her teeth, which she used conservatively. Then after taking a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she was relatively presentable, she opened the door to her room and found the pink pony waiting outside. The unicorn said to her, “Mr. Midnight is downstairs getting ready for the day. Will you please follow me?” She led her down the decorated hallway and down a flight of stairs. After passing taking several turns on the winding first floor, they stopped at what appeared to be a dead end. In front of them was just a white wall with a large portrait of a unicorn wearing very fine clothing. When Octavia was about to ask, the servant touched the portrait with her horn, It swung off the wall as if it were on hinges to reveal a metal door with a retinal scanner and a number pad. Immediately, Octavia now knew where they were going. She also knew that she did not want to see what she was likely about to see. As long as she remained ignorant of Midnight’s criminal acts, she would not have to worry about incriminating him, but now she was about to be exposed to just that. She said to the pink pony, “Uh, Miss…” she began, not knowing how to address her. The servant looked to her, and realized the reason for her initial hesitation. “Oh, you may call me Love Struck.” The black-maned pony continued. “Love Struck, did Midnight tell you anything at all about his promise regarding my involvement with his...” She paused once more, and found the right word. “…activities?” “Actually, yes,” she replied. “He said that you would be a bit reluctant to go downstairs. He also said not to worry. You will not see anything you would regret seeing, and that he will keep his promise.” “But can’t he just come up here?” “I apologize, Miss, but he is a little busier than he would like at the moment. He does not want to bring you into the lower floors, but he wants to see you personally at the same time.” Having heard this, Octavia decided to simply trust the pink pony and follow her downstairs. She could turn back at any time if she needed. The unicorn then placed her eye near the scanner and after a second, a screen above it displayed a green check mark. Then she entered five digits with the number pad, and a second check mark was displayed followed by the door sliding open to the right. She smiled at Octavia and stepped through the threshold, motioning for her to follow. The door closed behind them, and they followed down three flights of stairs. There were two steel large double-doors at the bottom guarded by two muscular pegasi with black coats, dressed in crimson armor and toting spears. The servant addressed the one on the left in a pleasant tone. “Good morning, Sunshine. Are you doing well today?” The black pegasus smiled and addressed her with as pleasant as a tone, but with a rough voice. “I’m doing good, Love Struck. Are you two heading inside?” “Yes, Midnight wanted to see Ms. Octavia.” “All right then.” Sunshine lifted his right forehoof and spoke into a radio attached to the color of his protruding tunic. “Tekhna, this is Sunshine. Open the doors to the main entrance.” He and the other pegasus stepped forward, and a few seconds later, there was the sound of metallic clicking followed by metal sliding against metal. Then the large doors opened up to a hallway leading to three elevators. The unicorn once more beckoned for Octavia. When they reached the elevators, the doors closed. While they were waiting for the lift, Love Struck said to the earth pony, “You haven’t been in the lower floors yet, have you, Miss?” Octavia answered in the negative, and she responded with, “The safe house has ten floors below ground. We are on the first floor, but the armory, where we are going, is just below.” The elevator arrived and they got on. After heading down one floor, they stepped out. Once more, they went down a hallway. This one was quite wide and had chest-high slabs of concrete every here and there. Then they entered into a big room that was lined in black marble. Its walls filled with all types of gear that Octavia could only be sure were for offensive purposes. There were suits of armor made of steel like the royal army wore as well as the much lighter kind that she was seeing a lot of recently. There were also conic devices that looked like they slipped over unicorn horns. Many stallions and mares were there, all dressed or dressing in combat gear. Some were sharpening spears at grinding stones. Each was either sporting some kind of odd accessory on their horns or fitting on some of the different kinds of shoes. In every direction, there was a door which led to some special room. As they walked in, several of the ponies greeted Love Struck, and a few said “hello” to the earth pony following her. The pink pony greeted each of them and led her follower into a room on the left which bore a sign that read “Midnight.” The inside was spacious enough to be a small subsection of the armory, but cozy enough to let Octavia know that this was a personal area. There were three walls full of body armor and weapons like she had seen outside. In the center there was a wooden bench, on which was none other than the dark blue stallion himself fitting on a set of shoes. “Ah, Octavia,” he said. “Lovely to see you up early.” “It’s good to see you, Midnight, but why here, if I might ask?” The blue unicorn smirked. “Well, as you can see I’m not exactly at leisure at the moment. In just a few, a team and I are going to begin an operation.” Octavia blinked and sighed. “I thought you said you weren’t going to involve me in your personal business.” “Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not doing anything wrong, we just can’t let this go public.” He gestured for her to move closer, and when she did, leaning in, in a low voice he said, “We just got word from a scout on something big, and I’m not convinced myself, but…” He paused for a short moment. “We may have found the tomb of Filius Primus Celestiae.” Octavia gasped quite audibly. “You mean the—” “That’s right.” he said grinning mischievously. “The legend himself, Celestia’s first and the greatest musician of all time.” Suddenly, the hint of nervousness that Octavia had melted away in an inferno of passion inside her. “Really?” she said the loudest she could under her breath. “How did you find it?” He chuckled. “I thought you might be the one to appreciate this. We’ve got nothing solid, but that makes it even better. About a week ago, one of ours got a hold of some royal records for a classified purpose, but while he was glossing over, he discovered a record that hinted at the location. Supposedly it’s somewhere in the Everfree Forest. We’ve got no clue what we’ll find, but who knows? If it does happen to be there, we could even find his lost magnum opus... Luna Bound.” The earth pony, despite maintaining her composed nature, was now inwardly ecstatic. “So you mean, you could even find—” “Yes,” he whispered. “The long sought-after ‘Aria of Celestia’ itself.” She was now nearly speechless, “But that would be… how could that…” Then suddenly, she said skeptically, “Wait, why would you have an interest in that? Surely, you don’t have an interest in music. What would you do if you found it? You probably couldn’t even pay enough to have its ancient meter deciphered.” He laughed. “Just think about it. If I get ahold of Luna Bound and the grand wonders inside, think how much money the family will be swimming in. I’ll sell it to a private billionaire in Canterlot at an auction we arrange, and he’ll take care of that. In the meantime, Machiavelli will give me so much in return, I’ll have to retire early.” He let Octavia ponder the significance of the possibility for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, that’s part of the reason that I called you down here.” He raised one of the conic devices that she saw on the walls and slipped it over his horn. He then held it in place with both his hooves and thrust his horn with a swift motion. It made a clicking or possibly a grinding sound as he did so. “As you can see, I’m about to head out pretty quickly, so here.” He levitated an unsealed letter over to her, which Love Struck kindly took on her behalf. “That’s a letter for both you and Vinyl. Read it when she wakes up. Until then, just do yourself and me a favor and don’t go outside the house. It’s going to rain a lot today, so not that you’ll exactly want to, but keep in mind that you’re not too safe outside the walls. Also,” he said rising, “Try to keep Vinyl out of trouble. If she can go just three days without having to run a circuit through a bloody city, that’ll be a blessing from Luna.” She gave a laugh half out of worry and half out of pity, but as he began to walk towards the door, she suddenly remembered. “Wait, I meant to ask, did you bring back my cello.” The black-maned unicorn winced like he had been struck. He turned slowly, looked her in the eye and said. “Octavia, I have my boys on the job now, but sadly we’ve run into a bit of resistance.” Her eyes went wide. “You mean you lost it?” Seeing her about to panic, he said quickly, “All right, just calm down. I didn’t say that. We know where it is and we’re going to get it, just give us some time.” She almost screamed. “Where is it?” He averted his gaze. “It’s nowhere were it’ll be damaged, trust me.” “Where?!” her voice cracking. He reaffixed his eyes and stared. “Listen to me. You have got to trust me. I will get it back, but for now, McCullen has it.” To Midnight’s relief, the earth pony did not overreact. She calmly looked down and said, “I see.” There was a silence and an uneasy pause, which ended when Octavia, started shaking. “Octavia—” Midnight began. A broken, but soft cry cut him off. Still with her head bowed, she said, “Midnight, please don’t let anything happen to that cello.” She sniffed. “It’s very, very important to me.” Despite her obvious embarrassment, the blue pony lifted the chin of the gray one. Unsurprisingly, a few tears had streaked across her face. “I know; I can see that. Look I haven’t let anything of Vinyl’s get taken for good, and I’ll do the same for you. Just be patient and find something to distract yourself.” The earth pony nodded and he trotted out. Those in the armory, having finished gearing up themselves, followed him. Octavia though, stayed behind for a moment and did her best to console herself. At her request, Love Struck had led her to a reading room. In front of her, there was a window, which let in the sunlight shaded by the darkening clouds. She lay on a sofa, reading a book taken from a bookcase on her right, assuming the task was the best way to divert herself. Though familiar with the old language and its old dialect, the challenge of translation did not allow her to think of much else. In this twelfth year, following the defeat of the most dreaded dark princess at the hooves of the mighty sun, Filius Primus Celestiae completed his maximum opus, which graced the world in its awesome latria for two and forty years until the completion of his life, when the record of his work laid with him in his burial place which shall never be revealed to mortals. The wonders of its beauty shall only be alluded to in the lesser works of ponies and the magnificence of its sound only to be kept in the hearts of this generation, no more. Alas, for none were able to mimic even a shadow of its glory. As the rain poured down and gave her some peace, she did her very best to guard her heart from the realization that she just heard, but inwardly she knew that she could not hold it in forever. ♫ ♫ ♫ When Vinyl finally awoke, it still appeared dark. She considered just trying to fall back asleep until she looked outside and saw it was cloudy and drizzling. She pushed herself and rose after a moment. After glimpsing herself in the mirror, she strode to the door and opened it. Outside there was a sky blue unicorn with a pink mane in a skimpy maid’s uniform. “Good morning, Miss Vinyl.” the servant said. “Oh hey,” she answered. “What’s up?” “I was instructed to inform you that Miss Octavia would be waiting for you when you wake up.” “Okay, thanks, can you take me to her?” “Of course, Miss Vinyl.” When Vinyl opened the door to the reading room, she was greeted at first by a brief streak of sunlight piercing through a patch of unblocked sky and then by her friend, who looked up from her book. “Good afternoon, Vinyl. I suppose you slept well.” “Afternoon?” The white unicorn asked. “What time is it?” “It is nearing one now.” “Heh, yeah, I guess I did.” As the two exchanged pleasantries, the blue pony entered and placed a letter in the table. “Excuse me. Love Struck told me that you two would want to read this.” Octavia answered. “Oh right, thank you, I had forgotten about Midnight’s letter.” Vinyl looked over at it. “Letter? Is there something that he couldn’t just tell us?” “Well, let’s see.” the earth pony replied. “Could you please unroll it?” Vinyl did so, and the two peered at its contents. Octavia and Vinyl, I hope that as you read this, you both are getting settled in. I assigned both Love Struck and Crush to attend to you, respectfully like I addressed this letter. If you need anything, just ask them and I’m sure they will likely be able to get it. (Also, don’t let Crush’s name fool you, Vinyl; she is sweet). If Octavia has not yet told you, Vinyl, I had to leave the safe house as fast as I could to take care of a business matter for Lucian. Don’t worry; if I am successful, I’ll be back in a week. If not, you will know. I should also point out that the house of Domina Trixie, the Medici clan, are probably in this too. I thought I’d just let you know that we found out how McCullen’s getting his funds. But more importantly, I need to tell you about the plan. First of all, let me tell you that I’m starting to love this job. The Machiavelli clan has so many paid ponies doing so many jobs, I may as well be a king. Anyway, I delegated the task of making a plan for your situation to some ex-military consultants, and they have come up with what I think is the best strategy. Octavia, they finally got in contact with your manager (From what I hear, the guy is a downright —pardon the language— asshole by the way. I don’t know how in the name of Luna you put up with him) and they came up with some excuse for why you can’t be there for everything. We are also compensating him for the events you miss, so you don’t have to worry about work for a while. He also confirmed that your contract is still solid. However, we all know there is one event that you just can’t miss. That is the Grand Galloping Gala, which is in three months. Unfortunately, we can’t just let you run around as long as McCullen is at large. Personally, I would like to keep you both inside for a good year or at least until he calms down and goes to collect some other overdue debt; but it looks like that just won’t happen. So, I need you both to bear with me for a little while and keep yourselves in the safe house at least until the week before the Gala. After then, we can go from there. As for the rest of the plan, just make sure you are both ready for some crazy stuff by then. Of course, even with a psychopath and his army of well-paid, well-trained agents on your tails outdoors and practically a city of the finest pleasures indoors, I guess it might still be hard. So, my only remaining solution is to bribe you. If you’ll speak to Crush, I believe she has something for you both, though probably more to Vinyl’s liking. -Midnight The two looked back at the blue unicorn, who had not yet left. “Crush?” Vinyl asked. “Yes, Miss Vinyl?” answered the blue unicorn. “This letter says you have something for me, or us.” The unicorn’s horn lit up and a white box levitated rom behind her. “Yes, Midnight gave this to me and said that you would enjoy them.” Vinyl took hold of the box with her own magic and brought it to herself. Then she opened the box and peered inside. To Octavia’s surprise, the blue-maned pony’s eyes lit up she let out a “Squee!” “What’s inside Viny—” “Germane chocolates!” the excited mare said, turning to her friend before she could answer. Without any further delay, Vinyl started to take the contents of the box (indeed there were many fancy chocolates from Germaney) and feast upon them. She popped two into her mouth and chewed ever so slowly and deliberately, savoring the taste of what to her must have been the food of the gods. In the midst of her sudden-found ecstasy, she knew that Midnight had found her weakness and was probably laughing now that he could exercise control over her, but she could not have cared less. While Vinyl was almost drifting into heaven, Octavia eyed the box intently. Between bites, the white unicorn recognized her friend’s look as that of desire. In response, she flopped onto the sofa and placed the box into the middle. Against all the selfishness that had welled up in her, she asked, “Do you want some? The note said this is for us, not just me.” Octavia, did a bad job of appearing to hesitate and debate the thought, before soon replying, “Well maybe just one.” taking a seat on the opposite side of the sofa and diving into the box’s delights, much to the approval of her friend. Seeing this, Crush excused herself and stepped outside, leaving the two mares to enjoy the immense pleasure. Biting into another piece filled with caramel, Octavia smiled with closed eyes. “Oh, these are so expensive, but so delicious.” Vinyl barely had the awareness to agree, but mustered a “mhmm,” amidst the joy of a specific goodie whose taste combined an assortment of indiscernible flavors. A moment later, she picked out one favored like mint and sniffed it. The aroma must have been a smell, whose sweetness the alicorns themselves must have travelled for miles to experience. Laying her head back, she bit into it and ran her tongue across the filling. “Luna, I always love the taste of these.” This went on for the better part of ten minutes, each mare chewing as slow as possible, treasuring the taste of the savory delectables until finally the two pried themselves away from the box, deciding to save some for later (and hopefully maintain their figures). Nonetheless, the box was still a third full, having been packed. Now having recomposed themselves from their mutually out of character episode, a thought came to Octavia’s head. “Vinyl,” she said with an upward inflection. “May I ask you a question?” With her head still leaned back, she answered. “You just did, but go ahead.” “Not that I’m making any judgments on you, but you don’t seem like the type to be commonly exposed to something this costly, and you gave a different impression there. Are you accustomed to the taste of Germane chocolate?” “Yep. I’d hike across Equestria for the stuff.” “How did you become acquainted with it?” There was a pause, bur then she answered, “When I still lived with my parents, my dad was an overbearing control freak. This may be a surprise, but when I was a filly, I didn’t want to do everything his way.” Octavia nearly snorted. “So he tried everything to try to get me to do what he wanted. This one day though, we were in Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration, and admittedly I was acting like a foal. So he finally got the idea to try to bribe me (like Midnight’s doing now) and he said, ‘If you’ll be good, I’ll buy you some fancy chocolates.’ At first I didn’t think that was a good deal, but the he talked me into it. So I was a good filly through the entire day. "Then he bought me some. I tasted it and couldn’t get enough of it. When we got back home, I begged him for more, but you know that you can’t get any of that stuff in suburban Equestria. But my dad found out that I wanted the stuff bad enough that he imported it to a sweet store in town from Stalliongrad, and used it for the same reason for a few years. But after a while, I got fed up with him using as leverage against me; not to mention I was practically addicted to it. So I tried to find a way to make some extra money and buy some more chocolates. It took me a while, but it turned out that I was a natural at making music. I made some money off of that and it was all right.” “Oh” Octavia was surprised to hear. “Are you a musician?” “I’m a DJ now, mostly, but when I get some extra time I play around with some tunes.” “Really? Have you written anything notable?” “You play the cello, so probably nothing that you know about, but I’m actually a little known on the streets.” She shifted so that she was sitting, facing the gray mare. “But how about you? I bet you get to enjoy these sweets a lot?” She gave a small giggle. “Well, actually no. I don’t really have too much money to throw to those sorts of things. I may be able to play at the Grand Galloping Gala, but otherwise I don’t get too much attention in Equestria myself. Actually, I became acquainted with the taste about two years ago when a noblepony actually took a liking to me. Apparently, he thought I was very pretty despite being a commoner. When I wasn’t working he took me out to extravagant events, and he always gave me little gifts. One of those gifts was a box of very good chocolates.” Vinyl then asked, “So what happened to him?” Octavia didn’t stop smiling but looked down. “Well, it turned out that he didn’t exactly have a wholesome character, and regrettably I could not see him anymore. He didn’t want me for me.” “Oh, I get it.” the white mare said. “Yeah, most of those nobles are full of it.” “But while my intimate experience with stallions was not so great, what about you? Did you ever have a lover?” “I don’t really want to talk about that kind of thing.” “Oh, come on,” Octavia pressed. “You can tell me.” Out of nowhere, there was a sudden degree of hostility in the white mare’s voice. “I said I don’t want to talk about that.” It wasn’t angry or mean, but there was a clear indication that she needed to drop the topic. There was a very uneasy moment of silence that followed. Eventually, the black-maned mare tried to reinvigorate the conversation. “Didn’t you say you know the princess? That makes you think you might have had to deal with the nobles at least at one point. Who do you go about that?” Vinyl snorted. “Since I was a filly I’ve stayed away from them, and we’re all happy because of it. All of the nobles are just snobs who can’t stop talking about how great they are. I wish that the crown would just put them in their place, or even in prison. There’s not a single one of them that should even leave the upper levels of Canterlot.” Octavia seemed to think this was a tad harsh. “Well, certainly a few of them can be a bit haughty at times, but I don’t think that all of them can be that bad.” “No,” Vinyl said, with that firmness reappearing in her voice. “They’re all rotten to the core.” “Well, wouldn’t you like to see a day when you didn’t have to worry about money? I know I would.” “You could try if you want to, but that day’ll never come for me.” Vinyl looked away. The sky was darkening once more and rain was now coming down again. “I just thought that if we didn’t have to worry about money, then we could be free.” Vinyl looked back. “What makes you say that?” The cellist paused. “I don’t know.” She said with a sigh. “Just recently I’ve been realizing that my life seems a little confined. For years now, I’ve been working as a musician. When I went to study it when I was young, I thought that learning it would make me happy no matter what happened. But I haven’t had the chance to play much of anything that sounds good to me for those I play for. The ponies here just don’t seem to have good taste, so I have to play whatever my manager tells me to, and it just gives me this uncomfortable feeling.” “If your job is the problem why don’t you just get another one?” “The market for Romantic musicians isn’t what it used to be. If I quit now, I just couldn’t find a job anywhere else, and I’d have to go live with my parents until I could find another way to support myself.” Vinyl paused. “Well, if you really think your job is bringing you down, I don’t see how that’s a problem.” “It’s that my parents would be so disappointed if I just quit now.” The unicorn’s tone became slightly annoyed. “So, I’m still not getting it. Why do you care about that?” “About disappointing my parents?” “Yeah. Why do you even care what they think?” “Well, because they care about me, and want me to do my best.” She laughed. “Hah, that’s hilarious. You’re a lucky mare. My parents don’t give a donkey’s flank about me.” The earth pony gasped. “That can’t be true. Your parents must love you.” “Nope. They probably couldn’t care less if I live or die. I say the say to them.” “Vinyl!” she said, in shock. “What a horrible thing to say. You should respect your parents.” The unicorn raised her voice unexpectedly. That had struck a nerve. “Respect them? Why? I’m out of their house now, and they sure as Luna’s moon don’t respect me.” “But didn’t they bring you up? Didn’t they feed you and give you a place to stay?” Vinyl’s was now clearly very angry, and only made more so, but Octavia’s surprised expression. “So what, do you think I owe them something?” “It think you owe them for your life.” Jumping off the sofa, she suddenly yelled, “My Life?! You think I owe them for my life? I’m going to tell you, by the stars, I owe them a load of money, but I’ll jump off the top of this building before I say I owe them my life. You can go on thinking that way, that you have to keep doing whatever your parents want, and making your life a living Tartaros, but I sure as Luna am going to do whatever I want with mine. And if my dad doesn’t like that, he can bring his sorry flank up here and we’ll deal with that his way. Until then, damn my parents, and damn this world they brought me into.” With that, she screamed and stomped towards the door. Despite Octavia’s plea to wait, she thrust it open and stormed out of the room and far away from the surprised and now very upset mare.