//------------------------------// // Octavia and All Her Friends // Story: Vinyl and Octavia: Roommates Are Magic // by Jam Rocker //------------------------------// The next morning, I woke up happily on Vinyl's soft bed, hugging one of her gigantic pillows. For me, it was one of those mornings where you never wanted to get out of bed. Why start the day? Why can't I just close my eyes and sleep through the whole morning, not caring about any responsibilities, or how my hair looked, or how I was sharing an apartment with my best friend in which I hope can be more than a best friend and whom I think is totally attractive... Why can't the world be more like that? And then it hit me... Vinyl doesn't have any gigantic pillows. I opened my eyes slowly to see my face cuddled up to white fur. After a night of slight twisting and turning I found that Vinyl and I ended up sleeping cuddled together, with our legs entwined, and my face pressed up to her chest as she hugged me. Doctor, help! I'm so red, I think I became a big tomato! Actually, from the quite relaxing feeling of the bed, and the warmness that came from Vinyl, I had a wonderful sleep! And waking up to realize that I was cuddling with her didn't make me that embarrassed... Just excited, as all. I brought my head back to the pillow, and from the movements I made, Vinyl slowly squinted her eyes too, the redness of them leaking through. I yawned. "Good morning, beautiful." Heh... Wait. What did I just say? She yawned too, looking barely awake. "Good morning... Sexy." Wait wait wait... What did she just say!? "Uh... What?" "Sexy?" She murmured, looking as if she was going back to sleep. "Okay, never mind that..." I closed my eyes, hoping I could go back to sleep on this wonderful and lazy Monday... Monday... Oh dang it. I turned around tiredly and checked the time on Vinyl's small alarm clock. 9:36 I sat quickly, startling Vinyl. "Oh buck, practice starts in twenty minutes!" As much as I loved spending time with Vinyl by sleeping with her (just sleep, you dirty little ducks), I had a job to do. We still have bills to pay for the apartment! Our fridge is almost empty! I took a quick shower, combed my hair, and got my cello packed in its case and on my back to bring to the studio. "Vinyl, I gotta go to work now, lock the door." I said, taking a quick peak into the room before I left. Vinyl looked so cute when sleeping! With her shades off and her hair messier than usual and such... Those type of moments made me feel like I knew the real her. Not just DJ PON-3. I knew Vinyl Scratch, the coolest pony in Equestria. (Don't get that mixed up with fastest flier in Equestria, Vinyl warned me that it's that element bearer, Rainbow Dash.) Looking back at the bed, my heart skipped a beat at thinking that I slept and cuddled with Vinyl... I mean... I slept with Vinyl. On her bed! And I cuddled with her! I watched her as she squirmed around under her sheets. "No..." She murmured, still looking like she was sleeping. She extended her hooves out. "Come back to bed..." I blushed, and my heart skipped a beat again. She wanted me to come back to bed with her! I wished every night could've been like last night... But I know for a fact that Vinyl isn't going to be scared every night. And what am I going to say? Am I just going to tell her that I want to sleep with her again? How weird would that be! Unless I make a move, last night was probably going to be the last... And I'm pretty sure I'm too nervous to make any moves, and too stupid in this whole love thing to make any moves that wouldn't be awkward. Wait... Did I just say love? Now I'm getting way over my head... "Uh... Sorry Vinyl, but I have to go to work... But if I didn't have work, I would've loved to sleep with- I mean not that I'm... Or... M-maybe tonight we could sleep together again... Wait! Not that I'm saying that, but not saying that I didn't enjoy but... Oh..." I facehoofed. I made things so much weirder. "... Bye Vinyl." I watched as she smiled happily with her eyes closed, like she was content with my reply. As for me, I felt two times dumber with what I just said. For now, I left that in the back of my mind. I had work to get to. Some may think that carrying a big cello on your back will trotting four blocks would be tiring, but after carrying a cello for so long, I barely notice the weight. I busted through the main brown doors to where the empty concert hall was. "Sorry I'm late you guys," I said, finally putting my cello down. My three other coworkers stared at me for a second, then went straight to greeting. "MORNING OCTAVIA," Beauty Brass said, getting her sousaphone ready to play. She had been deaf at her right ear since she was a little filly... Sometimes we have to remind her about her voice levels. "Good morning, Miss Octavia." Harpo muttered with a smile. He was the blueish stallion that played the harp... He never said too much words. I think Beauty Brass took it away from him for her to use. "Octavia! You made it! We thought you got sick or something," Frederic said, stepping away from his piano to greet me. Frederic Horseshoepin was the brown-coated piano player, and was the leader of the quartet. He's the one that always gets us performing at wonderful places, and always making sure that we're playing at our best. He's the one that even got us our gig at the Grand Galloping Gala! Even though Pinkie Pie ruined most of it... Oh, Octavia, I didn't ruin your performance! I just made it a little more interesting, as all! Anyways, I shouldn't be interrupting this story... I'll see you by the end of this chapter! Byeee~~~! ...What was that? Uh, anyways... "No, I just accidentally slept in, as all." I said, putting my cello down. "Greetings, everypony. Sorry I'm late." "Oh, twenty minutes of missing practice won't hurt us too much. We already know all the songs! But try not to do it again, okay Octavia?" Frederic said, getting back to his black classical piano. "Oh, of course! I promise you that this is the first and last time of me being late." Beauty Brass finally got the sousaphone around herself. "Speaking about your lateness, what got you to sleep in? If you don't mind me asking... I mean, for three years..." She looked up to ceiling as if she was thinking. "YEAH! You've never been late!" Harpo leaned to Beauty Brass and whispered, "You're voice, Beauty Brass." "Oops, sorry." She squeed. Maybe us ponies are all chew toys in another dimension. "Oh, I just had quite a night with Vinyl... Scratch..." I had just noticed by the time the words left my mouth that what I said could make a whole lot of ponies assume what I could've been doing with Vinyl. I blushed as the three musicians stared at me confusedly. "Oh, it's not what you think! It's just that we watched a scary movie yesterday, and she kept me up all night because she was scared, and y-y-yeah!" The whole group stared at me for a couple more seconds, then broke into laughter. Frederic wiped a tear out of his eye. "It's okay Octavia. I mean, we know you like Vinyl and mares and all, but we know you wouldn't take it too far at such a short time." "Yes, thank you Frederic... WAIT! H-how'd you know!?" If I wasn't blushing enough, I must have looked like a giant cherry. "YES!" Frederic and Harpo screamed (or Frederic screamed and Harpo just mouthed the word), jumping in the air and high-hoofing each other. "Awe dang it!" Beauty Brass said, burying her head in her hooves. "WAIT! Did you ever have sex with Vinyl?" Everypony went silent for my reply, completely serious with her question. Were they seriously wondering about this!? "Buh-shwa- No! I didn't have sex with Vinyl!" That just caused Beauty Brass to hit the floor even harder and Frederic and Harpo to cheer even louder. "Okay, Beauty Brass. Ten bits each for me and Harpo here." He left out his brown hoof, and Beauty Brass sadly took out two small bags to put onto it. "Wha... Wha!? SOMEPONY EXPLAIN! I'm so confused!!!" I mustered out. Frederic laughed again and finally explained all that was happening. "Oh, Octavia, we knew since three months ago that you started liking Vinyl. And since we heard that you were getting an apartment with her, we decided to take up some friendly bets." Frederic turned around and tossed the small bag of bits to Harpo. "We all definitively agreed that you were probably a fillyfooler, and even if you didn't know it, you liked this Vinyl Scratch character. But Beauty Brass said that we wouldn't be able to get you to admit it until one week after you settle into your apartment. Harpo and I believed that we'd get you to say it before that week. That was five bits each for Harpo and I. She also believed that even though you wouldn't tell us that you liked Vinyl yet, you already slept with her. Another five bits for Harpo and I!" I managed to find some words to say. "Eh... But... How... How'd you guys know!?" "Octavia, almost every day of practice or before a performance, you always talk about her! It's Vinyl this, Vinyl that, Vinyl accidentally broke this, I need to get home so I can Vinyl that." The whole group chuckled lightly. "It's quite cute, actually." "Oh..." I facehoofed, not sure how to reply. "You guys didn't tell anypony right!? Honestly, I'm not sure how to tell Vinyl... I'm not sure how to do anything in this whole situation..." "Awwwwwww," they said in unison. "Oh, Octavia, just be yourself. That's all it would take. I only met Vinyl a couple times, but I'm quite sure she might like you. You were all she talked about." "Meh..." I still couldn't believe they knew all about this and made bets out of it. "Well," Frederic walked back to his piano. "We have one more hour, and then we have two meetings to perform at." The rest of the quartet muttered their last replies and went to their instruments. I sighed. Was it that noticeable that I liked Vinyl? I thought about all the things I had been saying and doing the last couple months, all the way to when I found out they knew by the bets. And then I thought about their bets... ...Their bets. "Ew! Beauty Brass! You'd think I'd rut Vinyl even before I'd have the sense to tell you guys that I even like her!?" Beauty Brass blushed and then looked to the floor. "I'm a really bad better." By the time we finished practice and the two small performances, it had already been six in the evening, and Celestia's sun had already started to sink back down. Everypony in the quartet had packed their instruments into their cases and had begun to leave the concert room in which we practiced. "Ahh," Frederic said, stretching his neck. "Good performances everypony. We are getting really spot-on with our pieces." Beauty Brass nodded. "True. We did really good!" I nodded along with her. "Yeah, maybe you can book us into performing for the Grand Galloping Gala again! We surely are prepared for it." Harpo nodded... Yeah. He just nodded. "Not going to lie to you guys, I am trying. Princess Celestia may let us play again since last time kind of ruined it for us. And that Gala is just two months away! So if she does, we need to be prepared." "True, true..." I looked down the grey sidewalks and saw four attractive, model-worthy mares walking down the street, all looking as if they were searching for something. The first pink mare kept looking around until she looked at the four of us. "There he is!" They all ran up to Harpo and crowded around him. "Oh, Harpo, we thought we'd never find you!" The first one said. "We're here to pick you up from your job." The second one said seductively. The last two just giggled and snuggled around him. "Bye, friends." Harpo whispered towards us as him and his marefriends started to walk away. We just waved back, completely stunned at the sight we just saw. "Wha... How did he... THAT PIMP." Beauty Brass said, still confused from what she just saw. I just stood next to her with my mouth completely open. Frederic seemed to be doing the same until he spoke up. "How did he... WHAT? How did he get all those mares?!... Uh... Bye you guys! See you tomorrow!" He ran off towards Harpo's direction. "Harpo, wait! Let me have a mare!" We heard him scream as he galloped away. Beauty Brass just shook her head and sighed. "Well, I guess it's just the two of us. I'm pretty sure your apartment is at the same direction as mine, so would you like to walk with me?" "I'd love to," I said with a smile. If none of you know, Beauty Brass, Harpo, Frederic, and I were never just quartet acquaintances. We had started off as college friends in the same music class, and we thought that making a quartet would be fun to do. After performing at a few school performances and some wonderful comments from the audiences, we decided to take it a little farther, and pursue it as a real career. So, after getting our musical degrees, we rented out some times at a concert hall to practice at, made some advertisements, and performed at all the places that we could, as long as we got paid. I'll admit, there had been some times where performances had gone sour, or money went short (that was one of the reasons why I moved in with Vinyl), but we persevered through it. Now we're known as one of the best quartets you can call for a performance! We even performed at the Gala! I'll also admit that these ponies were not only the ponies I worked with. They are my genuine friends! And by genuine, I meant only friends who actually knew me... But genuine! If you think that sounds sad, I have lots of friends now!... Okay, fine, I still don't have that much friends. But I have Vinyl! Beauty Brass and I walked three blocks until we got to an exceedingly empty street, with only a couple small apartment buildings put together. "Wow," Beauty said, looking around. "This place is like a lost island. There is almost nothing down this street part!" "Yeah, I know." I sighed. "I think that's why Vinyl liked it. If she has parties here, there won't be that much neighbors to complain." We laughed together. "Well, my apartment is two more blocks away, and my coltfriend is waiting up for me. Be nice to Vinyl, okay? She's a keeper." She winked at me as she started to walk away. "Uh... Okay. Bye Beauty Brass!" "BYE!" I waved back, then started to walk up the apartment stairs. I got the keys from my cello pocket, and unlocked the door. As I opened the door and walked in, I saw a conscious Vinyl Scratch sitting in the kitchen, but she was talking with another pony. They stopped their talking and looked back at me. "Hiya Octy! I told you that you'd see me by the end of the chapter!" "P-Pinkie Pie!?"