//------------------------------//
// Chapter Thirteen 
// Story: Love and Music 
// by slade8283 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Thirteen


Octavia sat on the edge of her seat as she watched the newest episode of Doctor Whooves, something she had been looking forward to for weeks. The Doctor was facing his great challenge yet: a strange form of statues called the Weeping Pegasi that would only move when somepony wasn't looking at them.

The Doctor leaned in closer to a statue. The tension was so thick that Octavia could cut it with a knife. The candle immediately behind The Doctor began to flicker. He scrambled for his sonic screwdriver, and dove towards the candle just as it went out.


*KNOCK*KNOCK*KNOCK*


Octavia let out a loud shriek and nearly jumped straight out of her coat at the sound of the knocking. It was strange for anypony to come to her apartment at night, let alone a night when Doctor Whooves was on: everypony knew how much she loved the show. 

Muting the TV, Octavia rose from her spot on the coach and began to move towards the door. Her experience with Sapphire Shores still burned deep in her mind as she slowly crept towards the door. Even though Octavia learned a lot from her conversation with Sapphire, the talk had left her emotionally torn for weeks afterwards.

When Octavia reached the door, she looked through the peep-hole in the door. The stallion on the other side bore no resemblance to anypony Octavia had ever seen before. The unicorn appeared to be very important, carrying a briefcase and tapping his hoof impatiently, as if there was someplace he had to be very soon.

Well there's no way this can be worse than Sapphire, Octavia thought as she leaned forward to open the door. "Hello, sir I-"

"Are you Octavia?" He interrupted.

The mare was taken aback by his question. Nopony had ever come to her door asking who she was. "Um...yes. Yes I am."

"Oh, thank Celestia," the stallion replied as he pushed past Octavia. He threw his briefcase on the couch and turned to face her. "You're the third cellist I've visited today, and frankly I was tired of knocking on random ponies doors."

Octavia stood with her mouth agape as the stallion made himself at home. She had never had anypony burst into her apartment and start acting as if they lived there. She walked over to the stallion, who was still standing just a few feet from the couch. "Umm..."

The stallion took a long look around Octavia's apartment. "Lovely place you've got here. I can almost feel the music in this room." He turned and faced Octavia, who still stood with a look of shock on her face. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Where are my manners? My name is Arpeggio, I'm Vinyl's producer."

"Oh," Octavia replied shortly. She wasn't exactly sure what to think, it wasn't everyday that a famous music producer came knocking at a commonpony's door. Then again, she thought, I haven't exactly had the most normal life since Vinyl showed up. "How can I help you, Arpeggio?"

"Well firstly I'd like to apologize for dropping in unannounced like this." Using his magic, Arpeggio retrieved his briefcase from the couch and began going through the papers inside. "I don't like popping in on ponies like this. Anyway, the reason I came here was for Vinyl's well being. You're familiar with the Hoofies right?"

"Yeah, they're only the biggest music awards in all of Equestria. I watch them every year."

"Just like most ponies," Arpeggio replied. "I'm sure you know that Vinyl is up for five awards this year as well. Now, I know that the list of musicians performing at the awards this year hasn't been released yet, but I'm going to give you an insider secret: Vinyl is performing."

"That's not really surprising," Octavia said, "considering she's up for a record number of Hoofies, and she's the biggest act in Equestria." Octavia shook her head. "I'm sorry Arpeggio, but I still don't know where I fit in here."

Arpeggio let out a large grin at her comment. "Oh, Octavia, you fit in perfectly here. Let me tell you about my plan..."