//------------------------------// // A night on the town // Story: Highschool // by vinylcloud //------------------------------// Octavia came to the realm of the conscious to find a seemingly insane unicorn shaking her. She did the first thing that came to mind she screamed, it was louder than anything Octavia thought her self capable of making. It seemed to surprise the unicorn mare as well who had finally stopped shaking her. Taking advantage of the unicorns surprise Octavia quickly shoved her away and made a break for it. She only made it a few feet away before the world around her collapsed sending her falling to the cold hard pavement. Octavia remained conscious this time but she had wished she hadn't pain was evident in her head particularly on the left side of her head which she assumed was what hit the pavement before and knocked her out. Octavia looked up to see the unicorn mare quickly approaching. "Don't get any closer." Octavia said slowly rising to her feet the unicorn mare just kept walking like she hadn't said anything. Octavia had gotten to her feet and extended her forearm to try and stop the other pony from getting any closer this caused her to lose her balance and begin to fall. She closed her eyes not wanting to watch herself hit the ground. She waited a few seconds only to find she hadn't hit the ground but she was somehow floating in mid air. She opened her eyes to see that very same white unicorn she was trying to push away holding her up. "You ok that was a nasty fall you just took." She said slowly setting Octavia back onto all fours. "I'm fine." Octavia said leaning into the side of the unicorn mare who looked back still wearing a concerned expression. "I said I'm fine." The unicorn mare looked confused for a second then yanked two white earbuds out of her ears. "Sorry forgot to take these out what were you saying." "I said that I'm fine thank you for helping me though." She said taking her weight off of the unicorn mare but quickly losing her balance. "Woah, hey take it easy maybe you should just sit down for a while." The unicorn mare said catching Octavia and slowly helping her sit on her haunches. "No no no no, if I don't get home before my parents notice I'm gone I'll be grounded for years," she groaned. "Well if you go home now your parents are probably going to wonder how their daughter got a concussion from sleeping." Vinyl said turning to find a grey earth pony glaring at her. "I'm sorry I don't think I asked your opinion on the matter." "Woah there, no need to be snappy. Just trying to help." Octavia felt a little bit of guilt for lashing out at this pony, she had only been trying to help. "Sorry, its just that if my parents find out I was out this late they would lock me in my room for months." "That strict huh, you really got it bad. Speaking of out on the streets what are you doing out here so late anyways you don't really strike me as the type of pony who would be out on the streets late at night." "T-that's none of your business miss, ummm." Octavia stuttered. "The names Vinyl." "Miss Vinyl, and i would like it if you wouldn't ask." "Cut out all the Miss crap its just Vinyl." She said a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Sorry force of habit." Octavia grinned sheepishly. "No biggy." Vinyl said shrugging her shoulders. After a few seconds that seemed to stretch on forever of awkward silence, neither pony knowing exactly what to say Octavia spoke up. "Well I really need to be getting back home," Octavia said slowly rising to her hooves."I'll have to be going now thanks for all your help mi-um, Vinyl," she said walking away a bit more wobbly then she had hoped. A hoof was gently placed on her shoulder and she turned to see two pools of magenta giving her a concerned look. "You should probably sit back down, you don't want to fall again." Octavia let out a loud groan. "Ugh but I have to get home." The throbbing pain in her head had only gotten worse and now was bringing her close to tears. Octavia just wanted to get home she had no time to be sitting around. "Alright give me a second I'm going to use a spell to see if there's any serious problems," Vinyl said her horn beginning to glow a slight red. "Is this going to hurt?" Octavia asked. "No, you should only feel a slight tingle then it will all be over." She said her horn starting to get brighter and brighter. The next thing Octavia knew there was a glow of crimson encasing her and she was lifted off the ground. Octavia felt vinyls magic wash over her it felt like what she imagined electricity hopping through her fur would feel like. The glow on vinyls horn started to fade as Octavia was gently set back down on the ground. "You want the good or bad news first?" Vinyl said a look of worry on her face. "The good please." Octavia said glumly. "You have a concussion." "And that's suppose to be good news?" Octavia said worry present in her voice. "Nope I decided to give you the bad news first." A devilish grin making its way onto her face. "Then whats the good news?" "I can get rid of it but there's a catch." "And what's the catch?" "The stuff I6 need to treat it is back at my house." "Alright how far is it?" "Its about a 20 or so minute walk" "Then we better get started." Octavia said rising to her hooves only to find they were very unsteady. She felt her legs begin to buckle under her and she began to fall back towards the concrete. She braced herself for what was surely to come next when two white forehooves grabbed her and set her back down gently in a sitting position. "Jeeze quit trying to walk around. Here one sec I think I know a spell that should help you walk and take away some of the pain," Vinyl said her horn glowing a brighter and deeper red then before. "Alright close your eyes this one's going to feel a little bit different." Octavia closed her eyes and felt a sudden jolt of pain more intense then her headache shoot through her head and in the same second it was gone taking with it most of the pain from the headache. "Alright you can open your eyes now," Vinyl huffed clearly out of breath. Octavia opened her eyes to see Vinyl panting looking very tiered. "Alright try walking now, it should be a lot easier." Octavia started to slowly lift herself off the ground more cautious this time then before. Only to find that she could easily walk and stand also the pain in her head had subsided and all that remained was a dull ache. "Wow thanks you must be a pretty good doctor," she said jumping up and down testing her balance. "Huh, doctor?" Vinyl said looking very confused. "Yeah you're a doctor right?" "Nope what gave you the idea?" "Well you know all of these medical spells and know whats wrong with me and have equipment to help fix my concussion so i just figured." "Ahh I see what you mean, but no I'm not a doctor. My moms a nurse and i picked up a few things over the years." She said tapping a hoof over her cutie mark, "My dreams actually to become a great musical artist." Vinyl said as Octavia finally saw the two eighth notes on her flank signifying her special talent as something to do with music. "Wow what a coincidence I also want to be a great musician as you can see." Octavia said pointing a hoof at the pink treble clef on her flank. "What instruments do you play?" Vinyl sighed, "I play the violin among other things. What about you?" "I play the cello." Octavia said an idea striking her,"You know we should get together and play a duet some time." Vinyl laughed. "Whats so funny?" "Well I mean you just met me out on the streets late at night and five minutes after screaming into my ear you ask me to play a duet with you its just a little unreal is all." Vinyl said Octavia's cheeks turning a slight shade of pink "I suppose it is," Octavia said as a brief wave of nausea and pain swept over her. "We should probably get moving before this spell wears off." "Alright follow me my house is this way." Vinyl said starting to trot down one of the streets when she suddenly paused, "I don't think I ever caught what your name is." "Oh where are my manners, my names Octavia." "Alright Octavia lets get moving before that spell wears off." They walked through the streets in complete silence. Stopping a few times when the spell started to falter and Octavia lost her balance. They both continued walking one leading the other following all the while slowly traveling closer and closer to the crime heart of the city and Vinyls home. As time passed and they got closer to Vinyls house Octavia noticed that somewhere along the way the buildings had started to become more worn down and unfamiliar to her she couldn't help but notice that the buildings kept becoming more and more suspicious the further they walked. "Vinyl are you quite sure that this is the right way this is not exactly the best part of town to be in this late at night." Vinyl couldn't help but laugh. "I fail to see any humor in that Vinyl" "I'm sorry but, its just that this is probably the first time you've ever been to this part of town and its funny to see how you noble ponies react when your so far away from home." She said teasingly "I fail to see whats so humorous about my reaction and how did you know that I was part of a noble family."Vinyl pointed at her neck or to be more precise the object that was tightened around it. "Normal ponies don't usually wear bow ties and the way you style your tail and mane is a total give away." Vinyl said matter of factly. Grimacing from another wave of pain and nausea Octavia gripped her head and leaned on a nearby building."Vinyl how close are we to your house I don't think the spell is going to last much longer." "Its just around the corner come on we're almost there." Vinyl said putting Octavia's other hoof around her neck and leading her towards the end of the street. "Alright its these apartments." She said pulling her keys out of her mane and into the door swinging it wide with her telekinesis. "You keep your keys in your mane?" Octavia said as she entered the small three bedroom apartment. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the floor random items littered the room covering most of the floor. All of her senses seemed to be assaulted at once her nose and eyes watered from the acrid smell of alcohol that seemed to emanate from every surface in the room. Her hooves scraped up against the crusty remains of what once must have been nice shag carpet. Her ears were assaulted by some loud throbbing noise coming from one of the bedrooms down the apartment's only hallway. "Yeah, where else am I suppose to put them. I can't exactly just carry them around with telekinesis all the time and I can't really think of any more desirable places I would want to put them." She said jokingly. "Nevermind that, Vinyl is this really where you live?" "Yep home sweet home, What? doesn't suit your tastes." She teased. "No not exactly and I can tell you right now that smell isn't going to be doing my headache or nausea any favors it smells like a bunch of frat boys came here and had a party then afterwards they all took turns puking on the carpet." "Yeah well you wont have to stay here long." She said clearly hurt by this last comment. "Go take a seat on the couch. I'll go get the head gear and I'll be right out." Octavia felt a pang of guilt maybe she had been a little bit to harsh. This was, after all where Vinyl lived and she had taken all of two steps in and immediately insulted it. Octavia took her hoof off Vinyls shoulder and slowly started to wobble towards the couch hesitating a few steps away "Don't worry the couch wont bite you," Vinyl said walking down the only hallway in the house and opening a door at the end of the hallway. "I'll be out in a second make yourself comfortable." Octavia waited patiently she had decided not to sit on the couch and instead stand but as her eyes adjusted more to the dim light in the apartment she began to notice it was even messier then when she first thought. There were empty bottles of various different liquors strewn across the floor along with Chinese takeout boxes and many empty pizza boxes. "Alright found it," Vinyl said as she entered the room catching Octavia looking around at the mess she called home. "Paradise ain't it." She said sarcastically. This got a laugh out of the grey earth pony. "Look Vinyl I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I just didn't expect your house to smell this much of alcohol. It was impolite and no way for a guest to act especially when your doing me a favor." "Eh don't sweat it I frankly cant stand the smell either I gave up on trying to clean up around here ages ago. I was more ticked off about the mess then I was at you insulting my house." Octavia's attention drifted away from Vinyls words and to the helmet she was holding in her hands. It was a white and had wires and light bulbs sticking out from the top of it in various colors shapes and sizes. "Umm Vinyl what is that." "Oh this," she said regarding the object in her telekinetic grip. "Its whats going to get rid of that nasty concussion of yours. Now close your eyes and keep them shut this is going to feel really weird." She said strapping the helmet to Octavia's head. "V-Vinyl have you done this before." She said nervousness building inside her as Vinyl began to charge her horn which began to glow a luminescent red. "Nope." "But you know what your doing right." Octavia said fear now evident in her voice "Basically." "What do you mean basically!" Octavia said her breaths growing short and ragged. "Calm down worse case scenario your brain gets scrambled, like an egg," Vinyl said her horn growing brighter and brighter. "WHAT!! I changed my mind I think I'll go home now." "Too late." Vinyl said her horn shooting off a red beam of light triggering the helmet to light up and whir like crazy. A flash of light blinded Octavia and she felt herself suspended in mid air for a brief second before coming to her senses. When she did she saw Vinyl rolling on the floor in laughter. "ARE YOU INSANE, YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!" Octavia yelled taking off the helmet and throwing it at Vinyl who promptly caught it in her telekinesis. "Y-y-you should have seen the look on your face i-i-it was priceless," She said between fits of laughter. "How can you be laughing about this you might have killed me!" Octavia screamed practically bursting with anger. "Calm down, don't worry you were never in any trouble at all," Vinyl said trying hard to stifle her laughter. "What do you mean you said it could have scrambled my brain." Octavia said resentment still present in her voice. "Well duh I was lying." She said flatly. "So let me get this straight, you lied to me about being in a life threatening situation just so you could see my reaction, because you think that its funny." Octavia said vehemently. "Well when you put it that way it sounds really bad. But look on the bright side you can walk and stand without falling over anymore." Vinyl said pointing her hoof towards Octavia. Octavia hadn't noticed it but after she had thrown the helmet at Vinyl she had taken a few steps towards her and was now practically standing over her looking very menacing. "Thank you for that but I should probably be getting home now." Octavia said making a mad dash for the door not really wanting to spend anymore time with this sadistic unicorn. Right as she grabbed onto the door handle Vinyl spoke up. "Hold on, you're going back out there alone?" Vinyl said looking towards Octavia with that same look of worry as before "Yes that's the plan," Octavia said shifting awkwardly between her hooves. "So you're saying your going to walk home through a shady neighborhood that you're unfamiliar with in the middle of night alone." Vinyl said bringing a hoof to her face and shaking her head. "Well when you put it that way." Octavia said ears flattening against her head. "Do you want me to tag along?" Vinyl asked. Octavia wasn't sure if she did, sure this mare knew the streets but Octavia could probably find a way to a part of the city she was familiar with. But then again this neighborhood wasn't really the safest and she could really use someone who knew the streets well. If she went out there alone she might get lost or kidnapped or... worse. That settled it for Octavia. "If I'm being honest not really but it doesn't look like I have much of a choice" Octavia said. "That's the spirit," she said in her usual jovial tone. "Hey if it makes a difference I won't scare or tease you anymore, It wasn't very nice," Vinyl said in a much more serious tone. "No it wasn't, but i'll forgive you after all you did sort of save my ass tonight." Octavia smirked a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. "Alright we can leave just one second let me grab something." Vinyl said Her voice regaining some of the joy from earlier. Vinyl opened a door down the hallway with her telekinesis slowly lifting something out of what Octavia presumed was her room. Octavia saw a single item float out which she recognized as sunglasses with horrendously tacky purple lenses in them Which came to rest on the bridge of Vinyls nose. "Ok I'm all ready to go." "Your wearing sunglasses... In the middle of the night." Octavia said "Yeah, and?" "You, are one strange pony Vinyl." Octavia remarked "You're saying that like i didn't already know." Vinyl joked "Alright lets get going." Octavia said opening the door and walking out on to the sidewalk and starting to walk down the street "Hey wait up remember you have no clue where we are." Vinyl said to which Octavia's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Oh yeah, so which way do we go." Octavia said as Vinyl facehoofed. "I don't know that depends where you live." Vinyl dully stated slowly dragging her hoof off her face and setting it back on the ground. Octavia's face grew a darker shade of red. "Oh right I live on 88 Moonlight drive." Octavia said attempting to hide her blush. "Alright that's about 5 miles from here so its going to be a long walk." "Ok which way are we going?" "That way," Vinyl indicated by pointing a forehoof in a general direction down the street. "Just follow me and we'll be to your house in no time." She said as she began to walk down the street. A few minutes passed in silence in that time Octavia had constantly noticed her unicorn companions eyes being torn away from the ground only to get caught in the night sky's embrace. "You know its a shame that we wont be having too many more nights like this." Octavia said snapping her companions gaze away from the stars and bringing it back to the earth. "What do you mean?" Vinyl asked. "There probably wont be too many more clear warm nights considering summers almost over." "Yeah, its a shame these nights are always the best for stargazing. And plus with school starting up again I wont be able to be out at night." Vinyl said wistfully. "Oh your also in school what grade." "Oh I'll be a junior when we go back this year." "Me too, what schoo-" Octavia attempted to say only to be cut off mid sentence by Vinyl. "Hold on a second Octavia we have to take go down this street up here and its probably better that we stay quiet." Vinyl said. "Why?" "This part of the neighborhood isn't the safest but its also the fastest way to get to your house and if we try to get around it it would take us about an hour longer. And while we're walking through there their are some ponies that we might want to avoid." Octavia looked down the street nothing different was readily apparent just the same broken down buildings and graffiti on the walls she had become accustomed to. "It doesn't look that much different." Octavia stated. "Looks can be deceiving Ok so just keep quiet and we'll be through here real quick," Vinyl said as she started walking down the side street. They walked silently through the streets taking twist and turns where Vinyl directed all the while Octavia noticing the condition of the buildings around them slowly degrading becoming more and more desolate and ominous. As Octavia and Vinyl strode deeper into the heart of Canterlot's crime district they noticed something that was a little out of place. They could feel it in their hooves long before they could see what was causing it. Something was causing the ground to shake under them it wasn't an earthquake it was too soft for that it was steady and had a rhythm to it. Octavia knew that she had felt it somewhere before but she couldn't quite put her hoof on where or what it was. She noticed that her counterpart had started moving her head in time with the vibrations she couldn't really blame her the rhythm was infectious. As they rounded another corner Octavia set her eyes on a house with flashing lights streaming out the windows and at the same point identified this house as the source of the vibrations in her hooves. Then it hit her she immediately remembered where she had felt this before. It had been almost two years ago at a party she had been invited to, well she hadn't really been invited she had been dragged along by her sister. She remembered that she had been standing relatively close to the speakers while they were playing a classical song but it had suddenly changed into what Octavia could classify as little more than random noises and an overwhelming amount of bass that seemed to shake her to the bone. "You would think people would be more considerate about the amount of noise they make this late." Octavia said fighting to be heard over the blaring noise coming from the house. "Octavia quiet remember." Vinyl said in a hushed tone "Woops sorry." Octavia said much quieter this time. They walked up the street towards the house quickening their pace as they neared the windows of the house where they could easily be seen from inside. The repeated throbbing sensation the bass gave Octavia was slowly bringing back her headache from earlier and she would be happy when they were completely out of earshot of the house. They were almost past the house when seemingly out of nowhere Vinyl grabbed Octavia and yanked her into a dark alleyway. She was about to open her mouth to protest when she saw Vinyl raise a forehoof to her lips and shush her. She then pointed her forehoof towards the entrance of the house where Octavia saw one rather bulky looking black earth pony pushing a scrawny turquoise pegasus out the front door of the house. "I told you man to stop hitting on my girlfriend or I was gonna throw you out." The earth pony said annoyance clear in his voice "And I told you she was the one who came onto me." He said slurring his words as he spoke. "I highly doubt that man now get out of here." He said throwing the pegasus to the ground. "Oh your going to pay for that." The pegasus mumbled getting to his hooves and throwing a punch at the earth pony as he easily deflected it and grabbed the pegasus's forearm. "That's it I'm sick of your shit first you hit on my girlfriend and now you try to pick a fight with me." The earth pony said raising his other forearm to the pegasus's arm still in his hooves and began to push it against the joint. Octavia looked on horrified as the pegasai's forearm was practically snapped in half. The peagasus let out a shrill cry that couldn't sound anymore painful. "Y-y-you just broke my arm h-h-how am I going to get around you asshole." The pegasus said visibly trembling. "I see two perfectly good wings and I suggest that you start flapping them before I decide to break something else." The earth pony said still staring the peagasus down who was stunned in either pain or pure terror. "Well, get to flapping!!!" the earth pony yelled snapping the pegasus out of his stupor who began flapping his wings in a panicked frenzy trying to get away from his tormentor as fast as he could. The earth pony calmly walked back to the house looking hardly fazed like what had just happened was an everyday occurrence. Octavia and Vinyl just stood there too shocked to even move. After a few minutes had passed Vinyl spoke up "We should probably get moving." she gulped. "Yeah lets do that." Octavia said clearly shaken by what had just happened. "You might want to stay a little bit longer, that is if you want to get out of here unharmed." Octavia and Vinyl jumped out of their skins. They both slowly turned around to see a dark green unicorn stallion standing a mere 3 feet away from them levitating a rather sharp looking knife menacingly at the two. "Now both of you are going to hand over all your money and do exactly as I say and neither of you will get hurt. Got it?" Octavia's mind shut down, all of this was just too much for her brain to process. First she fell and got knocked out only to get saved by a sadistic unicorn. Then she witnessed a pegasus get his arm snapped in half. And now some mysterious stallion was pointing a knife towards her. All of this happening in one night purely by chance she felt all thought leave her mind she couldn't do anything she was helpless. "Now both of you give me all the money you have." He said a wicked smile piercing the darkness of the alleyway to reveal two sets of gleaming white pearls in his evil smile "I don't have any money on me." Vinyl said her glasses hiding the fear in her eyes that was clearly evident in her voice. "Alright then you," the mysterious stallion said pointing the knife towards Octavia, "Give me all the money you have." Octavia's mind went blank she couldn't think of anything to say. She couldn't even remember if she had brought any money with her or not. Her brain simply wasn't working as she stared blankly at the stallion. "Hey whats wrong with you I said hand your money over," he said while taking a few steps towards Octavia. She just stared back blankly. "Hey whats wrong with you I told you to hand it over." He said angrily levitating the knife closer to Octavia's neck "She doesn't have any money on her either." Vinyl stated. "Is that so." The mysterious stranger said narrowing his eyes at Vinyl. "Then I'll have to think of something else you two can give me." He said His eyes gaining a cold glint of something far more insidious then just robbing the two mares. "Both of you turn around." Somehow this message got through to Octavia and she turned around seeing nothing but empty road in front of her. She felt a slight tugging at the base of her tail along with a lingering feeling of electricity lifting it up and she could hear the stallion starting to laugh maniacally behind her. "I think I'll start with the white one its always more fun when they can actually scream." He said walking closer and closer to Vinyl, knife still levitating somewhere between Octavia and Vinyl. He lowered his face down Staring at Vinyls most precious place when Vinyls leg suddenly flexed and like lightning she bucked the stallion square in the jaw. Octavia heard the knife clatter to the ground and the stallion stagger backwards into the alley. She saw Vinyl start to run but found that she couldn't make her hooves do the same. Vinyl paused mid run. "Octavia what are you doing, run!" "You little bitch your going to pay for that." She heard the stallion mumble from somewhere behind her. Vinyl grabbed one of her hooves and Octavia found herself being practically dragged out of the alleyway. She urged her hooves to run found that her hooves were not complying. "Octavia you have to run I can't carry you all the way to your house!" Vinyl practically shouted. This snapped Octavia's mind awake and she found her hooves finally cooperating again. She began to run as fast as she could away from that alleyway. Not daring to look back she ran, she ran faster than she ever had before only one thought present in her mind. Get home. The entire world shifted into a blur as Octavia's hooves connected with the concrete at such a rapid pace that her white counterpart was having trouble keeping pace. Finally Octavia started to recognize where she was, regaining a bit of her composure she slowed down and finally came to a complete stop. A very exhausted white unicorn slowly walked up next to her. "Hey, I've been shouting at you that we lost him for at least half a mile what the fuck," Vinyl said in between gasps for air. "Huh, what." Octavia said clearly still dazed. "What are you deaf. I said that I've been trying to get you to slow down for at least half a mile." Vinyl said leaning up against a near by building to try and catch her breath. "Oh sorry I just started to run and everything else is sort of a blur," Octavia said still maintaining a far off look in her eye's. "Hello, earth to Octavia," Vinyl said waving a forehoof in front of Octavia's face which snapped her attention back to Vinyl. "Jeeze whats wrong with you first you freeze up back there with that mugger now you're just staring off into space; and how are you not tiered after we ran all that way. We must have run at least two miles." Octavia just shrugged "Whatever, lets get going." Vinyl said now breathing normally again. They walked on in complete silence Octavia now knew her way back to her house but let Vinyl lead the way anyways. She felt a lot safer having Vinyl around after that encounter with the mugger and a little bit guilty for not really wanting her to come in the first place. If Vinyl hadn't been there I could have been raped or worse. Octavia was glad that Vinyl had come along with her otherwise things could have been a lot worse than they were. "Hey Vinyl." Octavia said Stopping the two of them under a street sign and a street light "Yeah." "Thanks for all of this it was really nice of you." "Eh don't sweat it I'm sure you would've done the same for somepony in need." Octavia bit her tongue the truth was she wasn't sure if she would have helped some random pony as much as Vinyl had helped her. Would she go through all the effort to help some random pony she didn't even know? Would she do so much as to take them into her own home and help them when she could just keep walking, would she? "Hey I think this is your street." Vinyl said. This pulled Octavia out of her haze of thoughts she looked up towards the sign on the corner of the street, Sure enough there it was Moonlight drive. "Alright my house should be right up here." Octavia said starting to trot up the familiar street only to notice that her counterpart was still standing on the corner of the street. "Aren't you coming." She called back to the white unicorn, Vinyl shook her head indicating she wasn't. "No reason to you know where you are now." She said "Oh I guess your right." Octavia said stepping a few feet towards Vinyl. "Listen Vinyl I cant thank you enough for all you've done for me tonight, you really are amazing." She said now standing merely a foot away. "I told you before Its no trouble." Vinyl said not really sure why Octavia had come so close. ` "I know, But there's something I want to give you before you leave." Octavia said extending her forelegs then wrapping them around Vinyls neck she felt Vinyls body go rigid."Thank you." She whispered and then turned around quickly trotting off down the street. Leaving Vinyl still standing on the corner stunned, her face a bright shade of red. Octavia trotted up quietly to her house being careful not to make any noise. She silently opened up the front door. She creeped inside and slowly shut the door behind her letting out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. She turned around ready to go to her room and get a few hours of sleep before the sun rose. A new respect for the unicorn she had just met and would probably never see again in tow with her. She started to walk down the hallway towards her room when a voice interrupted her. "Well you're home late." Octavia froze, she had been caught, she was about to be grounded for the rest of her life. She managed to turn her head to the side to see a shadowy figure in the doorway. "You're so busted." The shadowy figure said stepping from the doorway into the light of the hallway revealing a white coat, a light pink mane and tail both long and flowing and a scale full of notes adorning her flank telling Octavia this wasn't one of her parents but instead her sister. "Oh Melody I thought you were mom or dad." She said letting out a relived sigh. "Where have you been all night Octy?" She said in a questioning tone. "Ugh, Melody do you have to call me that, you know how I hate that nickname." "I don't have to call you that just like I don't have to tell mom and dad that you were out this late." She said putting extra emphasis on the word have. "Alright melody what do you want?" She groaned. "Hmmm you can start by telling me where you were and what you were doing." Seeing no other way out then telling melody what had happened that night Octavia sighed, "Its a long story." "I have time." The pink haired mare said gesturing towards her bedroom. Octavia solemnly walked into her sisters bedroom seeing the walls painted the exact same shade of pink as her sisters tail and mane. "Alright where do I start." Vinyl stood there stunned Octavia had done what a mugger had failed to do she had left her unprepared and defenseless. Something as simple as a hug had done this to her but to Vinyl it was something more than that. It was a sign that somepony cared, something Vinyl had rarely seen the past couple of years. Vinyl felt the blood rise to her face as Octavia wrapped her forehooves around her neck. She stood as still as she could not daring to move and then the grey mare whispered something into her ears "Thank you." Vinyl watched still stunned as Octavia turned around and ran off down the street she hoped that Octavia hadn't noticed her blush. Vinyl stood there not sure what had just happened she shouldn't have been so dazed after that, and yet somehow she was still standing there frozen; hooves glued to the concrete refusing to move. Thank you The words still echoed around in her head. Vinyl had just met this pony, yet she felt somehow compelled to help her. She thought back to when Octavia was about to leave her apartment she didn't have to help her she could have just let her walk out the door and fend for herself in fact that would have been a lot easier than helping her out Vinyl had even put herself at risk to help a mare that minutes before had insulted her home and herself. There was just something different about this pony, different from all the jerks and assholes and snooty nobles which in the past two years had become part of her daily life. Vinyl could tell from the point when she saw Her lying on the pavement that she was different. different from the scum who would normally be roaming the streets that late at night. Truth be told when Vinyl had looked closer she thought she saw something much worse than being a street urchin she thought that she might have been one of 'them' and yet she was still different from those noble ponies that had come to ridicule her. Somehow Octavia had landed somewhere in the middle between a stuck up high class pony and a lowly street urchin. Don't get her wrong she was still a noble and was still inexperienced in the real world but she seemed to lack the self important attitude many of them tend to develop. It was strange to Vinyl meeting somepony who wasn't a total deadbeat or someone who wasn't out to harass or torment her. It seemed like in the past two years those were the only type of ponies left to Vinyl but somehow on a random summers night Vinyl had found an exception to that. Someone who wasn't a complete deadbeat but someone who wasn't entirely rude. And for a few short hours Vinyl actually got to be herself around somepony else, even if it had only been a few short hours it felt amazing to her having a friend if only for a few hours. Vinyl shook herself out of her daze she hadn't realized it but she had been lost in thought on that same corner for who knows how long it could have been hours or maybe it was only a few minutes. she turned the corner and started walking, thoughts preoccupied with a strange grey and black earth pony.