"... and that was the beginning of our friendship," Octavia finished the story. She quickly rested a glass down on the table beside the couch she and Vinyl were sharing. Their living room hosted the two on the couch and three fillies all doing their best to look as bored and sleepy as possible on three chairs.
A small orange filly with a purple mane said frustratedly, shifting herself on her seat on the left ,"I asked how you both got your cutie marks..."
"Oh, you were serious about that? Isn't it already obvious enough?" Vinyl Scratch asked the filly. “I mean, we’re musicians. How else would we get our cutie marks?”
Another small filly with a fluffy purple and pink mane looked at Scootaloo from her center seat, ”Yeah, Scoots, isn’t it already obvious enough?”
Scootaloo looked back at Sweetie Belle. “Well maybe if somepony hadn’t made me the one to ask about their cutie marks!”
“Ah’m pretty sure you’re the one who came up with this plan, Scootaloo,” said a third filly from her seat on the right. This one was yellow, had a reddish mane, and had a pink bow on top of her head.
Scootaloo glared at the filly in reply and quickly responded, “Well, at least somepony comes up with ideas to get our cutie marks, Applebloom!” This comment elicited a sharp gasp from Applebloom.
“Are ya lookin’ to tussle, Scoot? ‘Cause ah’m feelin’ like yer callin’ me dumb!” This caused all three fillies to jump at each other in unison and start brawling. This quickly became a cloud of dust on the floor as they fought it out, yelling at each other in a cacophony of sounds and voices.
Octavia frowned and looked at Vinyl, who shrugged back and continued to watch the three fillies. Slowly, she got off the couch and went into the kitchen before returning to her seat with a bag of popcorn. Vinyl offered some to Octavia, who shook her head politely. They both looked back at the brawl occurring on their living room floor, until Octavia cleared her throat loudly and addressed the group. “Excuse me Cutie Mark Crusaders, but would you mind-” She quickly ducked a stray bottle that was thrown from the fray as it smashed against the wall beside her head. Frowning even deeper, she turned to Vinyl and asked, “Would you mind?”
Vinyl responded by quickly shoveling a hooffull of popcorn in her mouth and chewed quickly before swallowing. She then yelled “Hey little fillies! I got some popcorn here! You gotta stop if you want some!” Octavia facehoofed at the attempt.
Vinyl flashed a bit of anger on her face before trying again. “Hey Scootaloo, wanna be my apprentice or something?” The three fillies continued to brawl, starting to knock over the chairs and shouting things about, “paragliding, stripping, and the uselessness of Sweetie Belle,” to which Sweetie Belle screamed and threw an elbow into Applebloom’s eye.
The two mares looked at each other before Vinyl visibly brightened with an idea. Hopping onto the couch, she quickly whispered into Octavia’s ear. Upon hearing the idea, Octavia quickly shook her head and crossed her forehooves, looking away.
Vinyl began to plead with Octavia, putting forward her hooves in a pleading gesture, to which Octavia quickly shook her head at. Vinyl then intensified her pleading, even lying on Octavia’s lap and shaking Octavia’s head. Dizzy, Octavia pulled away from the white pony’s grip and proceeded to push her onto the floor. Recovering quickly, Vinyl put her muzzle on Octavia’s lap and started pouting.
Just then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders smashed into the chairs and a coffee table with loud crashes. The two mares looked at each other after watching the ensuing scene unfold. Octavia facehoofed again and slowly nodded her head reluctantly. Vinyl raised her head with a huge grin, nodding vigorously in response. Octavia gestured with her hoof to the other room, to which Vinyl galloped quickly into. The sound of rustling was quickly heard from the other room as Octavia looked into a nearby nightstand, fishing around in the drawer.
When the sounds in the other room stopped, another sound began. This was the sound of something big scraping on the ground, getting closer and closer. Octavia hurriedly found two small earplugs and put them in her ears quickly, right as a giant subwoofer slid halfway through the door before stopping. There was a brief silence before Octavia dashed over to a nearby doorway and clung to it.
A song began to play in the room Vinyl was in, the bass being obviously louder for the ponies in the other room. After some time, Vinyl spoke. “Wait for it...” she said. “Waaait for iiit!” All of a sudden, a gigantic blast of bass came flying out of the subwoofer and straight into the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ faces. They got sent from the floor and crashing through a window. Octavia was barely able to hold on to the doorway, gripping for dear life as her hooves were lifted from the floor. Vinyl quickly pressed a button and turned off the large subwoofer, sending Octavia to the floor with a heavy thud.
Octavia sat up, taking out her earplugs before starting to fix her slightly frazzled mane and readjusting her bowtie quickly. “Well, that was at least sufferable this time through. When you are done putting away that monstrosity, will you please fix the window? I would rather them not try to attempt at reentry.”
“Broken window? What?” Vinyl walked through the door after putting the subwoofer back. She caught sight of the shattered remains of the window. “Ooooooooohhh... Well there’s also these gigantic scratch marks on the ground here; I have no idea where they came from... ” Vinyl looked at Octavia, who was beginning to look angry. “And why do I have to fix everything? Why don’t you?” Octavia began to get red with anger. Vinyl took this as her cue to book it out the door. “You’ll never catch me alive!”
Octavia cursed the day she decided to share a house with the DJ mare. She jumped up and proceeded to chase after Vinyl, shouting as she did so. “You better get back here or I’m throwing your repulsive music in the oven!” She saw that Vinyl was taking the long road into Ponyville Square, so Octavia went down a different street, determined to cut her off.
Galloping as fast as she could, Octavia jumped over a small greyish blue colt and narrowly avoided the gangly orange colt next to him. She thought about apologizing, but knew that any delay might cost her her prey. How uncouth and unsophisticated I must look, she lamented. However, she knew it was a necessary evil.
Upon reaching the corner before the fountain at Town Center, Octavia slid to a stop and looked around. She had a feeling that Vinyl was here as she noted a small amount of chaos in the square. Several ponies were reorganizing their market stalls, and some were grumbling about a certain “blue-maned pony.”
Casting a gaze about the area, Octavia tried to figure out where the white mare was, but couldn’t see where she might’ve gone. She hadn’t gone past the fountain since no pony over there was upset. Looking to the sides of the fountain there were no doorways that were entered or anypony upset. She looked around behind her and couldn’t see any conspicuous ponies or possible hiding places.
Defeated, Octavia slowly approached the fountain and looked at the cascading water. She sat on the edge of the fountain and dipped her forehoof in, swirling around slowly. How could I let the scoundrel get the best of me? When she gets back to the house.... Octavia fumed, about to leave. Suddenly, she felt something hard in the fountain. Curious, she turned and looked to see a small piece of bamboo sticking out of the water.
What she realized was attached to it gave her grim satisfaction, seeing a white mare breathing out of the bamboo. However, as soon as she was about to pull Vinyl out of the water, Vinyl’s forehooves shot out and grabbed Octavia. With a quick squeak and a large splash, Octavia was pulled into the water.
As Octavia quickly sat up from the water, drenched, Vinyl tried to make a quick getaway. Unfortunately, Octavia was not going to lose her chance this time. Seething, Octavia quickly grabbed Vinyl by the waist and yanked her back. As Vinyl was pulled back, Octavia used this time to put Vinyl in a headlock, and began to furiously administer noogies.
“Stop! You’re killing me!” Vinyl screamed. She looked over at the ponies who were walking past the fountain. “Hey! Somepony help me from this mad mare!” None of the passersby even glanced towards the pony crying for help. “I hope you all enjoy my death being on your consciences!”
Octavia began to speak in a fed up tone. “How dare you drag me into this disgusting fountain after running away from your mess. You are about this-”
“Umm, Vinyl, Octavia, what are you two doing?” The two mares froze and looked towards the source of this voice which was a bewildered purple unicorn with a pink streak in her mane.
Octavia slowly released her grip and both of them stared blankly at the mare, slowly turning red in embarrassment. Clearing her throat, Octavia smiled nervously before replying. “Oh, well good afternoon, Twilight. I was just, mrmmm-,” she quickly looked at Vinyl before looking back to Twilight, “-Saving Vinyl Scratch. She was drowning. Right, Vinyl?”
Vinyl was rubbing her head from the vigorous noogie. Looking at Octavia with confusion, she started to reply, “If by ‘save’ you meant ‘brutally murder,’ then you’re corre-” Octavia cut her off quickly with an elbow jab to the ribs which made Vinyl yelp and jump a little. Octavia gave a wider smile to Twilight, who stood there just as confused.
“Okay... Well, I was just wondering if you two would be willing to do me a big favor.”
“Does this favor happen to include becoming spies and performing high-end espionage?” Vinyl stared at Twilight questioningly.
Twilight looked back at Vinyl Scratch with a very confused look on her face. “...No...”
“I’m out!” Vinyl started to jump out of the fountain, but Octavia quickly grabbed Vinyl and pulled her back in, keeping her there. She glared at her friend before turning to Twilight.
“We would be delighted to help out a friend. However, what is this favor?”
“Excellent! Just what I was hoping for. Anyways, due to a freak Cutie Mark Crusader Unicyclists accident, my assistant Spike is unable to keep up with the chores at the library. I was hoping you two could do it for today, since he should be well enough tomorrow to resume his duties. What do you say, girls?” Twilight looked at the two excitedly.
Vinyl breathed in, about to decline the favor, but Octavia looked at her with narrowed eyes. Vinyl Scratch sighed and gave in. “I will accept, but only after you answer two little questions: First, what’s in it for us?” Octavia glared at her counterpart, but realized there was no harm in asking, so she kept quiet.
“Well, how about a dozen of Pinkie’s Finest, and a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres Cider?”
“You had me at ‘a dozen!’ I’m in!”
“And your second question?”
“Oh yeah; will we be susceptible to freak accidents like the one Spike was injured in? Because I swear that seems like some kind of a requirement for working at the library.”
Twilight’s face dropped and she started to be nervous. “What? Pssh, no; no accidents in the library. What would give you that idea? You will be perfectly fine.” She was now the one smiling in an eery fashion, giving Octavia second thoughts.
Vinyl stared Twilight in the eyes for a few seconds before smiling widely and saying “Sounds good to me! Let’s go, Octavia!”
Octavia started to hesitate, but Vinyl quickly grabbed her by the hoof and started to energetically pull her towards Twilight’s house.
“--- And finally this shelf goes in alphanumeric genre order. Easy! Any questions?”
The two mares were so bored listening to the instructions, but now with a string of complicated tasks, they were both standing there in the library, dumbfounded. Octavia was the first to recover. She closed her mouth, and cleared her throat before replying. “So, I understand completely, but if Vinyl were to forget, is there anywhere where all the instructions are written out?”
“I will not forget, Octavia!” Vinyl Scratch was offended by Octavia’s assumption that she would forget, even though she already had.
Octavia glared daggers at her companion before whispering to Twilight, “Just in case.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I have them all right here!” She used her magic to bring over a scroll. Unrolling it, the scroll quickly unwound and released what could only be described as the longest scroll in history.
Vinyl definitely did not want to read that whole scroll; she would only be halfway through it when Twilight got back. Vinyl just then realized that she had no idea where Twilight was even going. “Hey, what are you even doing?” she asked.
Twilight was already gone.
“What the- When did she leave? She was standing right there just a second ago, and then...” Vinyl looked down at the scroll. “How long was I looking at that scroll for!?”
Vinyl looked around the room and noticed that Octavia was gone as well. She blanched and dropped the scroll, kicking it away as she proceeded to go find Octavia. Vinyl climbed up the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom, calling for Octavia.
“Octavia, where are you? This isn’t funny; this is actually a really creepy library!” Vinyl heard a low rumbling noise. “Who’s there!?” Vinyl called out. The sound happened again. “I swear to Celestia, I will attack you! Show yourself!”
Octavia peered around the door, immediately regretting the decision as Vinyl shot a bolt of blue magic at the wall next to her. “Celestia’s mane, Vinyl! What do you think you are doing, shooting at a mare like that? What were you even yelling about?”
Vinyl put a hoof to her mouth to shush Octavia. She then pointed her other hoof towards the basket at the other end of the room. “There are some weird noises coming from that basket over there.” Octavia carefully entered the room while Vinyl slowly walked over to the basket and looked at the mess of blankets inside of it. “What are you?...” She whispered, raising a forehoof to touch the bundle.
The blankets suddenly started thrashing about wildly, causing Vinyl to jump back and Octavia to scream and throw a nearby book at the mass. Upon a heavy impact, the bundled mass grunted loudly and slouched, unmoving. Octavia slowly approached, stopping where Vinyl was staring wide-eyed at the basket. Octavia whispered to her friend, “D-do you think I killed it?” Vinyl shrugged and crept over to the basket, quickly giving a light tap to the basket. The blankets didn’t move, so Vinyl decided to tap them. Heavily.
The blankets still didn’t move. Vinyl turned her head to look at Octavia. “You killed it! You murderer! We’ve got to hide the body!” She began to pull the blankets off of whatever was underneath them, and Spike’s unmoving face was revealed. “Oh, hey, it’s just Spike; he’ll be fine.” She covered Spike with the blankets again.
Octavia looked at the mare, stunned. “I- He- You- don’t you want to know if he’s alive?”
“Are you kidding? Didn’t you read Twilight’s scroll?” Vinyl asked Octavia. “It specifically stated that ‘Spike may appear dead, but you shouldn’t worry because he’s just a deep sleeper.’ ”
Octavia glared back at Vinyl, ”Of course I didn’t read the scroll; you were too busy trying to read the first line. But do you really think Twilight wrote that with the idea that we would throw a book at him?”
“Come on, Octavia; Twilight thinks of everything.”
Octavia was now uncertain, looking worriedly at the basket. “So, should we just leave him there? I mean, he is not going to get very far."
“Get very far? What’s he doing, running a marathon?” Vinyl paused for a moment, getting what seemed to be the best idea she ever had in awhile. “Stay here.” She immediately bolted from the room, leaving a confused Octavia to stare at the unmoving Spike. Not too long after that, Vinyl came back levitating a marker with her magic and grinning wickedly.
Octavia looked at her first in confusion, but then realized Vinyl’s evil plan. She started shaking her head, “Vinyl, don’t you dare think of drawing on Spike’s face. Not only is he injured, he is also unconscious. Because of us. Don’t you think that would be a little cruel?”
“Hey! He was sleeping to begin with, therefore he was already unconscious.” Vinyl looked at Octavia. “You can’t prove otherwise!”
If Vinyl Scratch is busy with Spike, I will be able to clean without her constantly bothering me, she thought. She then shrugged and turned away from Vinyl, who was now reaching Spike’s basket. “Well, whatever you do, I didn’t see anything. I will be organizing the books if you need me after your...” she paused, “foalish behavior is over.” Octavia walked out from the room and descended the staircase to start the mundane task before her.
Vinyl reached Spike’s basket, and stifled a snicker as she quickly opened the blankets to reveal a huddled Spike. Before she was able to begin her artwork on Spike’s face, Spike turned over and stared Vinyl in the eyes with a large grin on his face. “I’ve been awake this whole time...”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Vinyl dropped the marker and quickly galloped out of the room. “‘Tavi! I don’t mean to frighten you, but there’s a zombie up here!”
Octavia had just finished organizing a small pile of books when she heard a loud scream. Turning, she saw Vinyl bolting down the stairs at her. When Vinyl reached Octavia, she jumped up and was caught by Octavia.
“As a matter of fact, I did say- wait a minute... Did you just say zoinks? And my name’s not Shirley...” Random laughter was quietly heard by both mares.
Octavia looked at Vinyl, terrified. She then dropped the white mare and ran into the kitchen to hide. “AHHH, random disembodied laughter!!!!”
“This place is definitely haunted by some crafty spirits.” Vinyl looked at the stairs. “See! The ghosts stole the banister from the stairs! Somepony could fall and hurt themselves!” Vinyl then turned her attention to nothing in particular. “Is that what you want, ghosts!? Pain?!?!”
Octavia called from the kitchen, “are the ghosts and zombie gone, yet?” Vinyl was busy climbing back up the stairs to confront the zombie and decided not to answer Octavia. It was zombie killing time.
Octavia built up enough courage to climb out from under the kitchen table and peeked around the corner. Upon seeing Vinyl returning to Twilight’s room, Octavia went to the foot of the stairs and called up, “Vinyl Scratch, you better not have been joking around about the zombie and the ghosts, or I will resume your noogies in the town fountain!”
Vinyl turned around and began walking back down the stairs. “Do I look like I’m kidding about this-” She then promptly fell off of the stairs. “Aaah! The ghosts have gotten me! They knew! THEY KNEW!!!”
As Vinyl landed face down on the floor spread-eagled, Octavia facehoofed and walked over to Vinyl. “You tripped on your own hoof as you were coming back down” Octavia reached Vinyl’s still body and prodded her with a hoof. “ Are you alive, Vinyl? I’d rather not explain two dead bodies and uncompleted chores to Twilight.”
Vinyl rolled over and looked at Octavia. “Because one dead body is much easier to explain,” she responded sarcastically, which received a glare from the grey mare. “Octavia, I don’t think that we should go battle the zombie.”
“Fine, Vinyl Scratch. What do you propose we do in order to stop the zombie while we get the chores done?”
“Don’t worry, Octavia; I have an idea...” Vinyl said, to which Octavia just shook her head in resignation.
As Twilight approached her house, she felt the ground beneath her rumbling more and more. What is going on? she thought. Once the library was in view, she saw that there were colorful flashing lights coming from the lower story windows. What the!? she began to gallop towards her house. Once she got to the door, she opened it up and was immediately assaulted by a heavy electronic song that pushed her back with loud volume. When she was adjusted to the loud music, she walked in and saw a two-mare dance party. Vinyl was sporting a lampshade that Twilight didn’t recognize, while Octavia was wearing a tie around her head.
Upon seeing Twilight, Octavia froze and stared, mid headbang. Vinyl Scratch proceeded to dance wildly until Octavia unceremoniously punched her in the foreleg. Stopping, Vinyl rubbed her injured leg and lifted the lampshade from her head. “Why are you constantly injuring me, Octavia!? One of these days you’re gonna-” Vinyl saw Twilight standing at the door.
Vinyl quickly used her magic to turn off the music and the lights. The regular lights instantly returned and the house was plunged in eerie silence. Giving Twilight an embarrassed smile while removing the tie from her head, Octavia quickly cleared her throat, “H-hello Twilight. We were just waiting until you got back so we could show you our handiwork. How was your time away?”
Twilight recovered from her initial surprise and looked at the interior of her house. “Well, you didn’t destroy anything, and it seems your partying didn’t hurt anypony.” Twilight stopped to scrutinize several shelves before continuing, which caused the two mares to start feeling a little nervous. “Impressive! You even did some labeling and cataloging. Good work, girls!” Twilight turned back to the Vinyl and Octavia, who both visibly relaxed and exhaled.
Twilight then used her magic to bring the mares’ payment of cupcakes and cider from the kitchen, setting it neatly in front of the two mares. “Thank you two so much for helping me out. If you ever need anything, I’d be more than happy to lend a helping hoof!”
The three mares exchanged gratitude and goodbyes as the two musical ponies started to head out. Vinyl was shaking with excitement at the prospect of a cider, cake, and music party at their house that she had just devised. She was so excited that she started to dash out of the house, until she realized she hadn't removed the lampshade on her head. As soon as she realized this, she ran right into the doorway, slowly sliding down to lie motionless on the floor.
Octavia facehoofed while Twilight ran over to Vinyl’s side, shaking her furiously. “Vinyl! Vinyl, are you alright?” Twilight looked at Octavia with shocked eyes as Octavia was looking obviously careless about the situation. “Why aren’t you worried about her, she could be very injured!”
The grey mare looked at the two mares and shrugged slowly before replying, “This isn’t the first time that she’s done this, nor the first injury she’s had today.” Hefting the cupcakes and cider into a saddlebag on her back, Octavia trotted over to the prone figure and started dragging her away. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. But in the meantime, mind giving me a small bit of help?”
Twilight returned to her house, sighing with relief as she could finally rest. That Vinyl Scratch isn’t the lightest mare, Twilight thought jokingly. Jokes aside, Twilight decided it was time for rest and proceeded up the staircase slowly.
Upon reaching her room’s doorway, she noticed that her door looked different. Really different, in fact. Usually, her door was simple and was only made up of the wood to make it. However, her door had somehow managed to get five new boards nailed onto it and the doorway. Not only that, the new boards were hastily painted the same color as her door. Finally, a small yellow sticky note adorned the center board. On it was blue scribble that read, Zombie inside. Enter at your own risk!
Twilight looked at the note strangely and decided to see this “zombie” for herself. Using her magic to rip off the boards, she opened the door and looked inside. On top of the bed, there was a small crouched figure, which was obscured in the darkness. Twilight lit up the room and looked worriedly at what she assumed was Spike. “S-Spike, is that you?”
The figure didn’t move for a little while which caused Twilight to proceed into the room a little more. Suddenly, the figure turned his head around with a jolt, which startled the mare. Spike looked at her with wild eyes, revealing a mouthful of feathers, and a ripped pillow in his claws. Twilight, taking a step back from the graphic sight, said, “Spike, what’s wrong with you?”
Spike stared at her before answering, “Hours, Twi’. It’s been hours. I must... FEED.”
Spike proceeded to eat the rest of the pillow and comforter much to the horror of Twilight, who started to scream in mourning of her precious bedspread and pillows. Although Ponyville heard a terrible scream break the peaceful night, none could comprehend the terror that Twilight had to observe as Spike devoured most of her furniture in an effort to satisfy his hunger.
After thanking Twilight for helping her drag the unconscious white mare to their house, Octavia slowly opened the door to their house and turned on the lights before dragging Vinyl into the house and closing the door. Sighing contently at finally being home, Octavia slowly slid the saddlebags off her back and proceeded to head to the couch to relax. Suddenly, she stopped at the doorway and looked at the broken window. She had completely forgotten about the window, and gave it a glare before turning around to Vinyl who was just now waking up. “Now that we are back home, I expect you to clean up your mess by fixing the window.”
Vinyl stared at the broken window, then at Octavia. She then made a break for the door and ran outside into the moonlit Ponyville. “You’ll never catch me alive!”
Octavia went to the door and watched the white mare dash into the darkness and sighed with resignation. However, as she started to get some boards and nails to cover the window, she smiled wickedly to herself. Unbeknownst to Vinyl, that marker prank had given Octavia some good ideas for revenge as she was dragging her home earlier....