//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: From Scratch // by Kaldanor //------------------------------// Octavia’s jaw cracked in the middle of a huge yawn as she attempted to sit up on the luxurious mattress. She felt a momentary pang of guilt for allowing Vinyl to talk her into sleeping in the comfortable bed again. It would certainly be difficult to return to sleeping on her own, lumpy, miserable excuse for a mattress once this whole mess with Vinyl was cleared up. A sigh escaped her lips as she frowned and attempted to focus on more important things, like the splitting headache that shot stabbing pain through her eyes every time she tried to open them against the morning sun. Closing her eyes didn’t seem to help reduce the pain much; instead, it only turned into a dull throbbing across her temples. She raised a hoof and rubbed her eyes as she struggled to sit up against a strange resistance. She yawned wide again and fought against the headache to open her eyes so that she could identify what was weighing her down. When she finally managed to keep her eyes open long enough for the blurriness to fade away, they fell upon Vinyl being utterly adorable. Vinyl’s forehooves were wrapped around Octavia’s chest and her white face was buried in the fur just below Octavia’s forelegs. When Octavia attempted to shift away towards the side of the bed with a frown, it resulted in the immediate tightening of Vinyl’s grasp. “V-Vinyl… What are you doing?” Octavia asked in a forced voice, taking quite a bit of effort to not grind her teeth as she tried to pry herself free of the white hooves. “Five more minutes…” Vinyl quietly mumbled in response before nuzzling her face deeper into the gray chest. “Vinyl, I r-really do need you to let me go…” Octavia stammered as she quickly glanced around the room with a few panicked breaths. She instinctively scanned for an escape route and found that the open doorway to the hallway was the only thing within sight. She drew in a deep breath and then let out a long exhale before continuing in an insistent whisper. “I-I need to use the washroom, Vinyl…” “You’ll come back?” Vinyl whispered while still clutching Octavia. “I promise,” Octavia gave in with an exasperated sigh. “Now, will you please let me go?” Vinyl responded by clutching even tighter for the briefest of moments, the very hints of a blush showing on her white face when Octavia had to deliberately extricate her legs from the unicorn’s before even attempting to slide away. Vinyl finally let go with a childish pout spreading across her face and then curled up into a ball in the warm spot vacated by the earth pony. It took all of Octavia’s might not to grumble under her breath as she stomped out of the bedroom. When Octavia finally made her way back into the bedroom, she found Vinyl lying across the bed, staring at the doorway. Vinyl perked up noticeably upon her reappearance and shifted over to the side to make room as Octavia shuffled over. Octavia didn’t even bother with pretending not to know what Vinyl wanted, but that didn’t mean she had to play along either. Octavia used a hoof to gently push Vinyl away when the unicorn immediately tried to nuzzle back up against her side as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Vinyl, what the hell is going on?” Octavia asked as she lightly rubbed her forehead in an attempt to massage the pain away while she avoided looking out the window into the sunlight. “Huh? What do you mean?” Vinyl responded in a curious tone while her face contorted into a slight frown as she was continually kept away by Octavia’s hoof. “Last night you teased me mercilessly over an unintended hug in my sleep… Now you are, well, doing that…” she stated as Vinyl kept trying to sidle closer and Octavia had to nudge her away again. Vinyl’s silence said a lot to Octavia while the two of them continued to stare at each other from opposite ends of the bed, and Octavia’s face eventually fell into a disappointed frown. Vinyl apparently seemed to be aware of how utterly adorable she was capable of making herself appear. She proceeded to give Octavia the slightest of pouts while she raised her eyebrows and attempted to accentuate her pleading expression by allowing her lower lip to tremble slightly. “Vinyl, trying to act cute so that you can attempt to cuddle your way out of having to go to the guards isn’t going to work…” “Can’t blame a mare for trying, can you?” Vinyl asked with a slight grin. “Yes, I can, Scratch! We’ve been through this already. I don’t want to push the issue this much, but you’re making me. I can’t just let you ignore this and hope it goes away. When you take the physical comfort that I have been offering to a hurt and utterly broken mare and then try to use it to worm your way out of responsibility, yes, I can and will get upset with you. That’s called being manipulative, Scratch,” Octavia snapped as her frown deepened. Vinyl sighed and tucked her head in against her chest as she curled up into an even tighter ball beside Octavia. “You’re right… I just don’t want to go.” “I picked up on that, Vinyl,” Octavia teased with a slight grin and then reached out with a hoof to try and get the unicorn to uncurl herself. “Come on, get your lazy butt out of bed. It’ll help you feel better.” Vinyl tried to shuffle closer to Octavia but was met with a hoof to the forehead and yet another nudge back to her side of the bed. “Five more minutes?” she asked foalishly. “Fine,” Octavia agreed with a dramatic sigh before she shoved herself off the bed and started to walk away. “I’ll be in the kitchen. If you’re not out in ten minutes, then I’m dragging you out of bed myself.” “You. Awake. Now,” Octavia commanded as she stomped into the bedroom, completely ignoring the quiet protests from Vinyl. She walked around the bed and tugged at the unicorn, shaking off Vinyl’s sleepy attempts to pull her into a hug. “No more wriggling out of it, no more excuses, no more delays. We are going now, Scratch,” Octavia asserted with a mighty tug that made Vinyl tumble onto the floor next to her with an indignant yelp. “Hey, not so rough, Octypus,” Vinyl complained as she rubbed at her side. “Could you please not call me that?” Octavia pleaded as she rubbed her face once again in a futile attempt to ease the resurfacing pain. “S-sorry, Tavi…” Vinyl mumbled in a quiet, dejected tone. “No, I’m sorry… I don’t mean to snap at you so much, but you understand why we need to do this, right?” Octavia asked in a much softer tone. “Yes…” came the quiet, almost whispered response. “Great, now get your behind into that bathroom and do whatever it is you do to make your mane so purposefully messy!” Octavia commanded as she helped Vinyl onto her hooves and marched her down the hallway. “Mess-” Vinyl started to question but was cut off by the bathroom door slamming shut between them. “Chop, chop!” Octavia yelled through the closed door and then leaned against the wall so that she could rub her forehead with a hoof. She shut her eyes tight and tried to grit her teeth through the throbbing headache. “You are enjoying ordering me around far too much, Tavi,” came a muffled complaint from inside the bathroom. “Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, will you?” Octavia answered with a bit more annoyance than she intended. “Are you okay, Tavi?” Vinyl asked several moments later in a concerned voice that made it clear that the unicorn had snuck out of the bathroom and had been watching her for at least a few seconds. Octavia jumped slightly and lowered her hoof while trying to hide the pained look that had been plastered across her face. “Yeah, fine. Come on, if you’re ready, then let’s go,” Octavia responded quickly and then turned around to leave. She hadn’t made it more than a few steps when she felt a tug on her tail and then Vinyl’s worried face suddenly appeared in front of her after a flurry of hooves. “Seriously, Octavia, you’ve been doing that since last night. Are you sure that you’re okay?” Vinyl asked as she raised a hoof to gently press it against Octavia’s face, only to frown when Octavia winced and stepped backwards at the light touch. “Not important, we need to get this business taken care of with the guards firs-” Octavia hurriedly started to explain while she turned her face away from Vinyl. “Shut up, Octavia,” Vinyl commanded firmly, closed the gap between them, and then lifted Octavia’s chin back towards her with a hoof. “Let me see your eye,” she asserted as she stared intently at the right side of Octavia’s face. “Wha-” “Your eye is looking pretty bad. We’re not leaving until you put some ice on your face to help the swelling, and if you keep having those headaches, I’m dragging your butt over to a doctor,” Vinyl continued, completely ignoring the beginnings of another protest from Octavia. “Come on, I’ll get you an ice pack,” Vinyl stated and then started walking towards the kitchen without any hesitation. “I’ll be fine, really. I’m more concerne-” Octavia froze at the stare she received when Vinyl turned around in the doorway to the kitchen. Octavia had gotten used to the red coloration of Vinyl’s eyes, but the way that they gleamed dangerously when strong emotions passed over the unicorn’s face still caught her by surprise. The furrowed eyebrows also added the perfect effect to the expression, and the whole thing caused Octavia to respond with a simple nod before murmuring a quiet, “Okay…” “Good,” was all that Vinyl said as she started rooting around in her freezer. After some choice swears, and a few intermittent apologies for making Octavia have to dodge a couple frozen projectiles, Vinyl pulled a dark blue bag out of the back of the freezer and passed it over to the other mare. The sheer cold of it nearly caused Octavia to drop it straight onto the floor, but she only just managed to snap her head forward and catch it in her mouth as it was slipping from her hoof. She repositioned it in her hoof while trying to ignore the quiet chuckling at her antics from Vinyl. Octavia winced as she placed it against the right side of her face, nearly dropping it again from the shocking cold. “Sorry,” Vinyl giggled and let a faint smile spread across her face. She turned towards the sink, pulled a drawer open, took back the ice pack, wrapped it in a dish towel, and then hoofed it back with her magic. “That should help.” “Thanks,” Octavia mumbled as she stared at the carefully wrapped ice pack and then started to chuckle. “I didn’t expect you to be the type for flower-patterned towels, though,” Octavia ventured with a smile as she pressed it back against her face and held it there with her right forehoof. “What? Are you saying that I’m not allowed to like flowers since I’m the bigshot DJ?” Vinyl asked with a hurt expression. Octavia merely responded with a dubious grin that turned into a giggle when Vinyl’s façade broke down, and they both quickly started to laugh. “Nah, they were a gift from my mom before she- Not important!” Vinyl exclaimed with a strangely chipper smile and a clatter of hooves as she quickly put the dishes from last night over to where she could take care of them later. “Vinyl…” Octavia ventured quietly. “Not important!” Vinyl insisted in a sing-song voice and then started to walk towards the front door. “You think you can walk and hold that at the same time? We can go slowly.” “S-sure,” Octavia replied with a raised eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. Octavia’s gaze followed Vinyl’s movements around the apartment. After a moment she started to open her mouth, but closed it again with a shake of her head before changing tactics. “I take it you are ready to go then, Vinyl?” Octavia asked in a careful tone. “Yep!” Vinyl responded with an overly-cheerful smile as she held the door open for Octavia. Octavia carefully walked past Vinyl with a concerned expression on her face. She took careful steps so that she wouldn’t upset her balance as she shifted her weight in order to walk on three hooves. Vinyl made a point of completely ignoring the silent questions being directed at her and, instead, shut the door before leading the way to the elevator. After a silent ride down the elevator, Vinyl finally spoke up after turning to face the receptionist. “Hey, we’re going to be gone for a while today. Tell Oliver he can have the day off when he comes in and don’t let anyone else inside, okay?” “You know, I could just hold that ice pack for you,” Vinyl offered as she started to grasp it in her magic. “I am doing fine, Vinyl,” Octavia asserted with a shake of her head as she slowly made her way down the street, passing by Vinyl. She tried to ignore how Vinyl immediately trotted around to her right side in a concerned manner. Every time she took an awkward step and started to feel her balance shift, Vinyl froze next to her and made as if she was getting ready to catch her. “I appreciate your concern, but I am quite alright. I haven’t had the need to walk on three hooves in quite a while, but I assure you that I can make it at this slow pace without pitching over sideways,” Octavia snapped as she kept trudging forward. Vinyl’s silence failed to fill Octavia with a case of the warm tinglies as they continued onwards, but at least she had picked up her pace so that Octavia no longer felt as if she was some invalid, old pony. Thankfully, the walk wasn’t overly long, and they soon found themselves drawing within sight of the guard station. Vinyl, however, seemed to be losing speed, her gaze becoming steadily focused on their destination as the building drew nearer. Sitting on the street corner about two blocks away, the square guard station seemed out of place amongst the other finely constructed buildings around it. The white marble façade bore the crest of the Royal Guard, but none of the fine architecture of the palace was visible in the simple, utilitarian building. Something about the way that it sat less than half the height of the surrounding structures and the lack of fancy trimmings, besides a few small gold highlights on the doors, made it seem intimidating, even to Octavia. “You can do this, Vinyl…” Octavia assured as the two of them came to a stop about half a block away from the entrance. She shifted over and glanced at the unicorn who nodded in response before taking a deep breath and continuing onwards. Vinyl stepped up to the doorway and grasped the golden bar running vertically along the frosted glass door with a trembling hoof and then pulled it open. She took another long breath and stood aside with a gesture of the head for Octavia to go in first. Octavia wasn’t entirely certain what to expect on the inside of a guard station, but a glaring guardpony standing at attention just inside the doorway wasn’t quite what she had been envisioning. Her eyes swept the room, taking in the posters filled with random bits of safety information, the scattered chairs and occasional couch along the edges of the room, and the small desk with a rather plain, blue earth pony sitting behind it, looking bored as he read a magazine. Octavia’s face fell as she saw Canterlot Enquirer emblazoned across the top of the publication that was blocking the stallion’s face. Her eyes immediately checked to see if it was that issue in particular, but thankfully it didn’t appear to be any of the outright horrible ones. She let out an audible gulp as even Vinyl stopped to give her a questioning glance at her sudden lack of forward momentum. “I’m fine. I just wasn’t prepared for him to be reading that thing,” Octavia mumbled to Vinyl as she resumed moving forward. Octavia arched an eyebrow when Vinyl beat her to clearing her throat loudly to catch the attention of the stallion, causing him to nearly drop the magazine with stammered apologies. He quickly shuffled it under a stack of papers and visibly relaxed once he got a clearer look at who was standing in front of him. “Sorry for the wait, what’s the purpose of your visit?” he asked after a quiet sigh. “We need to file a report,” Octavia answered firmly as she shifted the ice pack on her face and turned to see how Vinyl was faring. “Assault?” he ventured after a glance at the ice pack and then started to rifle through the folders in one of the desk drawers. “Yes,” Octavia responded as she shuffled over and leaned against Vinyl for a second to break her out of her mile-long stare directed at one of the posters about self-defense behind the desk. “Domestic?” the stallion questioned as he pulled out an entirely different folder and started to look through the pages. “No,” Octavia answered curtly. “Alright, one moment, let me see if there’s a guard available who can talk to you two. Take a seat. If there isn’t, then they’ll send somepony out when they can,” he stated in a dry tone and trotted off through a doorway in the back of the room guarded by another pony. “Th-that could have been worse…” Vinyl ventured with a nervous little laugh as she automatically headed to one of the couches and sank into it with a heavy sigh, letting her eyes gaze blankly at the wall. “Yes, I suppose,” Octavia agreed as she sat down on the other end of the couch and took to shuffling through the stack of magazines on the table in front of them. She made it about halfway through the stack before she saw the first one with her name in one of the article titles at the bottom of the cover. A quiet growl escaped her lips as she removed the offending publication and shoved it to the bottom of the stack. She blindly reached for the magazine at the top and pulled it open to distract herself, setting the ice pack on the table so that she could hold the magazine open. “Hoofball’s Digest?” Vinyl questioned with a smirk but shifted back to the other side of the couch after the glare she received in response to the question. “Right, better than the Enquirer, I suppose,” Vinyl ventured but quickly turned her gaze over to reading one of the posters about administering basic first aid when Octavia leaned forward to grasp the ice pack and then threatened to throw it at her. “M-miss Octavia?” the receptionist called out in an uncertain tone. It took all of Octavia’s will to keep her face from twitching violently at the tentative way that her name was called out. Instead, she slowly raised her eyes and saw the receptionist walk back behind the desk as a white unicorn in golden armor strode into the room. “I’m Regal Armor. If you’ll come with me back to my desk, we can get a report started for you two ladies,” the guard explained. “You two are here together, right?” “Yes,” Octavia replied as she got to her hooves and dropped the ice pack on top of Vinyl’s head before slowly making her way towards the doorway. She struggled to keep a straight face and to ignore the way that the receptionist was completely failing to hide his curious gaze as it followed her retreating form. The guard led them down a sparsely decorated hallway before turning into a room packed with desks in varying states of disarray. The guard took two folding chairs from a stack near the entrance and set them up in front of one of the desks before taking a seat and getting out a quill and ink. “Now, first of all, when did the assault occur?” he asked with his glance firmly locked on Octavia. “Actually, we’re here to report an attempted assault on her,” Octavia asserted as Vinyl made a foalish face at her and thrust the ice pack in her direction. She let out a quiet sigh and wiped her face with a hoof before returning the ice pack to her eye. “And it wasn’t as much of an assault as… attempted rape,” Octavia mumbled through her gritted teeth and then reached over to Vinyl to run her other hoof across the unicorn’s side. “Okay then, is the injury to your face related?” the guard asked as he quickly started to scratch away at the form with the quill grasped in his magic. “Same question as before: when did the assault occur?” “Yesterday afternoon, and yes, he punched me across the face, and when I came to, he was…” Octavia rubbed her forehead with her other hoof and grimaced at the pain before continuing, “attempting to assault her.” “Wait, wait, when you ‘came to?’ Did you lose consciousness?” the guard asked as he immediately redirected his attention to Octavia. “Yes I did, but we’re here to-” “No, that can wait. Have you seen a doctor yet?” he insisted before he levitated a second quill up to Octavia’s face and started to move it back and forth in front of her eyes. When she shook her head, he frowned and gave her a stern look. “Focus your eyes on the quill.” After a few more movements, he put the quill down, pulled out a flashlight from one of his drawers, and then shined it directly into Octavia’s eyes. When she winced at the bright light and quickly turned away, he clucked his tongue and then returned the flashlight to the drawer before shifting the report off to the side of his desk. “Okay, you’re coming with me,” he ordered as he stood up, took the ice pack from her, and then put it on the corner of his desk. After walking around the desk, he offered her a steadying hoof and started to march her off. “What about Vinyl? We’re here to-“ “Not as important as your health. Come on, we have a doctor on staff and she’s going to take a look at you. If you have a serious head injury, what do you think is more important? Making sure you get the proper treatment or some paperwork that we can always do later? Your name was Vinyl?” he questioned with a glance over towards the silent unicorn. “You can come with or wait here, but if you wait, I’ll need you to sit with a guard by the entrance.” Vinyl immediately jumped out of her chair and stood on the other side of Octavia, drawing up so close to her side that the guard had to guide Octavia a step over before she was able to continue forward. “Alright then, you can talk, right? We’re going to need to hear from you before we’re done. I know it’s not going to be easy, but we can’t actually file anything if she speaks for you the entire time,” the guard ventured in a kind tone and then chuckled when he only got a nod in response. “Good enough for now.” “Hey, listen,” Regal Armor said under his breath as he motioned for both of them to stop outside the doorway to the doctor’s office. “I know this isn’t easy, but does the doctor need to take a look at Vinyl while we’re here too? Did he…?” “No,” Octavia stated firmly and took a deep breath before she composed herself. “We were able to stop things before they got that far.” Regal Armor nodded grimly in response and then pulled the door open with his magic as he motioned for the two of them to go ahead of him. “Hey Windy, got someone for you to look at,” he called out as he made his way behind them into the large examination room. The room was mostly what was to be expected, except with quite a lot of extra space for a mint-green unicorn to be seated at a desk in front of a couple filing cabinets. “Head injury. Bring her back to my desk once you get her sorted out, alright Windy?” “Sit,” the doctor commanded as she got up from behind her desk and pointed imperiously at the exam table with her hoof. “You can take a seat over there,” she directed in a more friendly tone towards Vinyl while she pointed out a plush recliner near the doorway. Octavia climbed up onto the table and resisted the urge to rub her forehead as she looked around the oddly decorated room. Cartoon depictions of various fish adorned the wallpaper, and a flowery border ran along the walls just below the ceiling. “Yes, I know,” the doctor said with a quiet sigh as she pulled some instruments out of one of the drawers. “The wallpaper was apparently on the cheap, and we were apparently on a budget when they redecorated my office. That’ll teach me to complain about the drab atmosphere, won’t it? I assume somepony had finished building some pediatric offices somewhere and had leftovers. My name is Second Wind, by the way. Now, when did the injury occur?” the doctor asked as she raised a penlight to Octavia’s face and shined it directly into her eyes, one at a time. “Yesterday afternoon,” Octavia responded as she struggled to keep her eyes open against the bright onslaught. “Follow the light. Did you ice it at all?” Second Wind asked as she examined the bruised and swollen area with her hoof. “On the way over. I was a bit preoccupied with other things,” Octavia replied with a wince and a sharp intake of breath at the stabbing pain caused by the doctor’s prodding. “Any headaches? Feelings of pressure, confusion, nausea, dizziness, blurry vision, or loss of consciousness?” “I lost consciousness right after he punched me, and I’ve had a steady headache since,” Octavia replied. She ventured a glance over towards Vinyl but quickly snapped her attention back to the doctor when she was greeted with a gloating smile that made Vinyl’s message clear without needing any words. “Has the headache worsened at all?” “No.” “Anything else? Ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light, balance problems?” “Sensitivity to light, I guess…” Octavia said as she remembered her reactions to the morning sun and the various lights that had been shined in her eyes. “Well, you might have a concussion. I will need to run some additional tests to see if we have to send you over to Canterlot General or not. I’m going to test your memory, strength, balance, reflexes and coordination,” Second Wind rattled off as she put away the instruments and started to fish around the drawers for even more. “You should be alright to go home, Miss Octavia. You’re lucky, it appears to be a minor concussion, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to take care of yourself. Take it easy, don’t do anything strenuous for several days and try to avoid smacking your head for a few weeks,” Second Wind finally stated as she put the last of the instruments off to the side while she finished filling out a long sheet of paper. “If she develops any additional symptoms or shows signs of confusion, then you need to take her to the hospital immediately, okay?” she asked Vinyl as she handed the sheet of paper to Octavia. “Give them that if it comes up. Now let’s take you back to Reg.” “Your mare here has a concussion, Reg, but she should be fine to go home as long as she has someone to look after her,” Second Wind stated as she deposited the two of them back in front of the guard’s desk. “Alright, thanks Windy,” Regal Armor replied with a grin at the slight glare that the nickname elicited from the doctor. “Okay, well, we’re on to the fun stuff now. I need both of your full names, current addresses, contact information and any information you have on the assailant,” he rattled off as he picked up his quill and went back to filling out the paperwork. “You want your ice pack back, by the way?” “Yes please,” Octavia answered and gladly put it back to her face while it was still somewhat cold to help numb the throbbing pain. “Okay, I’m going to need a statement from you as well, Vinyl,” He stated tentatively once he finally finished recording the basic information that the two of them had rattled off for him. “Take a minute to gather yourself; I know it won’t be easy. I’m going to see if we have a file on this Sharp Note character. Do either of you two have records on file? You wouldn’t have had to commit any crimes, just having come to us to report something in the past would mean you would. It will be easier if we grab those now.” “Y-yes, I do…” Vinyl quietly replied after a pointed glance from Octavia. “Alright, I’ll be back in a minute. Take your time.” “Well… Your file isn’t going to do you any favors, Miss Scratch,” Regal Armor said with a frown as he sat down and plonked two folders onto the desk in front of him. “Are you ready to give a statement now?” “As ready as I’m going to get,” Vinyl admitted just loud enough for Octavia to pick up on it. “Vinyl…” Octavia started to say in a soothing tone but was interrupted by a firm shake of the unicorn’s head. “It’s fine,” Vinyl said in a louder voice. “We were walking back to my studio after visiting… a friend in the hospital. When we got inside, Sharp Note was waiting for me and seemed rather surprised that Octavia was with me. We had a short disagreement about how he thinks that I owe him more bits, and then when Octavia stepped forward to tell him to buzz off, he punched her out and took me by surprise.” Vinyl took a deep breath and shook a little bit before she focused her eyes on the desk in front of the guard and continued. “He tried to wrestle me to the floor and force me into position so that he could… do that. I was trying to kick him off but he was keeping himself to the side so that I couldn’t quite angle my kicks right. The good news is that he was apparently so preoccupied with trying to wrestle me that he didn’t notice Octavia come to her senses. She snuck up on him, kicked him off me, and then screamed at him until he ran off,” Vinyl finished and then huddled forward as if she was trying to curl up into a ball right there on the folding chair. “So he just randomly came to your workplace to demand money?” Regal Armor questioned with a raised eyebrow, and his quill paused halfway through writing on the paper in front of him. “N-no, he’s been coming by every few weeks for several months now, demanding that I didn’t pay him enough when he worked for me. We’ve been getting into arguments that often devolve into shouting fits, but he would always storm off without doing anything more than saying something ominious,” Vinyl answered as she leaned sideways against Octavia and kept refusing to meet Regal’s eyes with her own. “I heard him say that she was going to ‘pay him his due, one way or another’ multiple times: once before the incident, and then again right before he punched me,” Octavia supplied as she ran a hoof down Vinyl’s back. “Is there anyone who can corroborate this?” Regal Armor questioned but kept his focus on the paper he was writing on, scratching the quill furiously across the surface with his magic. “M-my assistant heard almost all of the arguments, and I suppose my receptionist probably saw him stomping in and out of the building angrily,” Vinyl offered quietly. “So what exactly happened after you kicked him, Octavia?” “I yelled at him to get out of my sight,” Octavia growled under her breath before she could catch herself. “Exactly how hard did you kick him, Octavia?” “Well, I kicked him off of Vinyl, and he hit the wall,” Octavia hesitated for a moment before adding as an afterthought, “from across the room. There’s a large dent in the drywall, and he might have made two holes in it from the impact, as well. There were a couple of flecks of blood along the base of the wall, but I didn’t get to see if he was seriously injured or not. He was limping quite noticeably when he ran away like a scared puppy after I yelled at him, at least,” Octavia recited slowly as she ran through the details in her head. Regal armor let out a low whistle and raised an eyebrow at Octavia as he momentarily ceased his writing again. “Was that strictly necessary?” “I ceased his actions. I may have been able to try a less forceful method, but that would have risked being unsuccessful. So, I took actions that guaranteed he would cease his vile activities. I may have also been slightly upset,” Octavia admitted in a neutral voice while she kept her face impassive. Vinyl let out a quiet giggle at the phrasing and allowed herself to uncurl slightly from her hunched posture, her whole body shaking from the laughs for several seconds until she managed to get herself under control. “Okay, I was pissed right the hell off. Better? So that’s why I screamed at him to get out of my sight. If I was going to do anything ‘unnecessary,’ then I could have easily kicked him several more times while he was down.” “I’ll be honest with you two,” Regal Armor said with a sigh after putting the quill down onto his desk and leaned forward. “Normally this case would be very bad for you two. Your record isn’t doing you any favors in regards to situations like this, Vinyl. Then we have the fact that all of the ponies who can corroborate your story work directly under you. The only reason that I’m actually believing you right now is because of how bad this Sharp Note’s record is,” Regal Armor said seriously while he tapped the top folder of the two with his hoof for emphasis. “So, are yo-“ Octavia began to question, but Regal raised a hoof to stop her. “Given how bad his record is and his history of threatening former employers, I’m going to recommend that we bring him in. He has several orders of protection filed against him, as well as some minor assault cases. So, all of this seems to agree with your side of the story, but I’m going to assign a guard to you two until we can find him,” Regal Armor told them and then once again raised his hoof to stop any interruptions. “Let me be perfectly clear: this is not purely for your benefit. Given the nature of your sources, we need to make sure that you cannot influence them if we cannot contact them immediately. So, the guard will be there not only to protect you in case he decides to go after you again, but also to keep an eye on you. If I find out that any of what you have told me is falsified or that you have already attempted to influence what your employees will tell us, then things will end badly for both of you. Do I make myself clear?” Vinyl straightened up next to Octavia for the first time in quite a while and then opened her mouth while her eyebrows started to furrow. She stammered quietly a few times but seemed unable to form anything coherent. Vinyl started to shake silently next to Octavia as she closed her eyes tight, the hints of tears forming at the edges of her eyes, and tensed up her entire body. “Thank you,” Octavia said in a firm voice that silenced Vinyl’s building emotions. “Thank you for listening to us and at least giving us a chance, despite how it must seem at first glance.” “I’d be a pretty awful guard if I didn’t even hear you out, wouldn’t I?” Regal Armor asked with a chuckle at his own comment, seemingly unaware of how it completely deflated Vinyl’s tense posture. “Either way, I’m going to see who we can get assigned to watch over you two. If you come with me, I’ll show you back to the waiting room and then bring someone out.” “I- What? Did that just happen?” Vinyl questioned with a mile long stare directed towards the doorway that Regal Armor had retreated through after he deposited them back on the couch. “Yes it did, and I suppose it’s my turn to say I told you so,” Octavia responded with a smirk. “I saw that look you were giving me in the doctor’s office.” “Yeah, but h-he didn’t even really question me at all. He didn’t yell or get upset, he just listened even though he knew what happened before… I thought he was going to lay into me!” Vinyl nearly yelled with panic leaking from her voice as the beginnings of tears shimmered in her eyes. “And then he didn’t…” Vinyl seemed to take a few minutes to stop staring at the doorway in disbelief before she wiped her eyes with a hoof and turned back to Octavia. “Are you really complaining?” Octavia asked with a quirk of her eyebrow before she dropped the lukewarm ice pack on top of Vinyl’s head. “Here, you can have this back. Thanks again.” “Not really. I guess we just have to hope the guards that he has follow us around aren’t big brutes,” Vinyl mumbled under her breath, not making a return comment as she idly removed the ice pack from her head with a hoof and smoothed out her mane. “Given how nice he’s been so far? I don’t think you need to worry about that bit too much. Are you ready to admit that maybe not all guards are horrible examples of ponies and that some of them might actually try their best at their jobs?” Octavia asked in the leading tone that normally only belonged to teachers and mothers disciplining a child. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Vinyl answered with a quiet chuckle. “I’m glad you can still joke around, Vinyl,” Octavia replied with a genuine smile spreading across her face, but she was prevented from adding anything further by the reappearance of Regal Armor coming through the doorway with a white pegasus mare who lacked the usual armor, walking by his side. “Hey you two, this is Aegis. Aegis, this is Vinyl and Octavia. I’ve filled her in on everything she needs to know. She’s going to be sticking with you two until we can get this whole situation sorted out. Any questions?” Regal Armor asked. “I’ll take the awkward silence as a ‘No, Regal Armor, thank you very much.’ So I’ll just say: don’t worry about it, and make sure that you don’t disappoint me.” “Shall we get going?” Aegis asked in a tentative tone as she flicked her eyes between the two mares staring at her. “What? Is my mane messed up?” Aegis insisted as she reached up with a hoof to try and flatten out the long blue hair and then nervously peeked back towards her tail. She turned in place to get a better look at it, giving the two of them a brief glance at the round shield emblazoned on her flank. “What’s with the shocked looks?” she finally questioned with a confused glance. “S-sorry, I suppose we were just surprised,” Octavia began and then sharply nudged Vinyl’s side with a hoof. “I always figured that the guard armor had some kind of spell to make you all look alike…” “Oh, is that all?” Aegis asked with a loud giggle. “Yeah, it does, but a few of us actually look like this, you know? So are we good to go now? I assume you don’t want to hang out in the lobby all day long. Besides, our captain would probably get rather upset.” Octavia responded by glancing over towards Vinyl and giving her another sharp nudge in the side. “Oh! Y-yeah, sure…” Vinyl replied suddenly and shifted the ice pack back into the grip of her magic as she got up and started to walk out of the lobby with a bit of a glassy look. “Vinyl? Are you sure that you are alright?” Octavia asked as she trotted to catch up with the unicorn outside of the building. “F-fine,” Vinyl mumbled in reply as she kept trudging forward. “So, where do you two live?” Aegis questioned slowly from behind them with an awkward smile on her face. “Well, she lives in the same building as where her recording label is housed. I live in an apartment,” Octavia hesitated for a moment before clarifying, “a ways away.” “What, you two don’t live together?” Aegis asked earnestly. Octavia stopped suddenly on the sidewalk and started to round on the pegasus before she took a deep breath and tried to force herself to calm down. She focused on trying not to get upset as she remembered what the doctor had told her. “W-why does everyone think that we are a couple?” she questioned with an air of irritation as she stomped off down the sidewalk and tried to ignore the quiet giggling from Vinyl. “What, really?” Aegis questioned with her left eyebrow raised in disbelief. “I mean, from what they told me, you were being really protective of her the entire time, and you even kicked a stallion through a wall for trying to hurt her.” “Would you stop laughing, Vinyl?” Octavia snapped as she picked up her pace, leaving the other two behind for a moment. “Come on, Tavi, you have to admit that it’s kinda funny. First Resonance and then the guards?” Vinyl prompted before resuming her giggle fit. “Wait a minute,” Aegis interrupted as she took to the air and dropped down in front of the two of them. “If you two aren’t together and you’re not shacking up together, is your place big enough to fit the three of us for a while?” “Should be…” Vinyl replied after stopping in place to think about it for a moment. “The three of us?” Octavia asked as she stopped and shot the guard a dubious look while trying her hardest not to snap at the phrase ‘shacking up.’ “Yeah, I’m supposed to guard both of you, remember? It’s not like you can both go off your separate ways to your different apartments, right?” Octavia blinked several times as she tried to process the information to no avail. “N-no, that won’t work. Can’t you just guard Vinyl for a while?” she asked with a desperate tinge in her voice. “You can’t be serious,” Aegis deadpanned and waited for a long moment for some sort of contradiction. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” Aegis sighed heavily and shifted back and forth on her hooves for a moment while her wings flapped a few times. “Okay, look at it this way: I’m here to protect you and to make sure you can’t mess with any possible witnesses, right?” Aegis waited for some form of acknowledgement, but continued when she was met with blank stares. “Ignoring the second bit for now, let’s consider the first problem. Who is this Sharp Note character more likely to go after? The executive unicorn who used to be his boss and who he got into several arguments with, or the earth pony that came out of nowhere and not only foiled his twisted little plan, but also severely injured his pride, as well as probably his body, in the process? If I was to guard just one of you from him it would be you, Octavia,” she finished while giving Octavia a serious look. “Wait, so you’re telling me that you have to watch Vinyl so that she can’t mess with any of the witnesses, but you’re also watching me in case he tries something stupid? And since the guards apparently assumed that we’re in a relationship, they didn’t think that it was a problem? So, that’s why we have one pony assigned to both of us?” Octavia recited slowly and clearly as she struggled to keep everything straight. “Pretty much, yeah.” “Can we go back and get another guard?” Octavia pleaded with a glance over her shoulder. “Probably not gonna happen, but you can try if you really want, I guess. Reg is a nice guy, but our Captain is pretty no-nonsense, if you catch my drift. He’d probably just say, ‘You two ladies are friends, right? I don’t see what the problem is,’ and send you off on your way,” Aegis intoned with a serious look as she stood up straight and stiffened her entire posture after making a point of snapping her wings tight to her side. “What is the problem? It shouldn’t take that long,” she questioned as she relaxed her stance. “Yeah, Tavi, what’s wrong with ‘shacking up’ with me for a few days?” Vinyl asked with a devious grin that seemed to be the only thing preventing the unicorn from bursting into another fit of the giggles. “Don’t get me wrong, Vinyl is my friend…” Octavia managed to say with only a minimal hesitation on the word this time. “It’s just, we tend to have a habit of pushing all of each other’s buttons to try and tease, and to annoy the other. Like Vinyl’s habit of laughing her ass off whenever somepony thinks we’re in a relationship, for example…” “Cuz it’s hilarious,” Vinyl said through a snigger and then jumped behind Aegis, letting just the top of her head peek out from behind the pegasus as she let out a loud fit of giggles at the glare she received. “That’s fine enough as it is,” Octavia continued with a quiet huff. “Her teasing, as strange as it is, is how she shows that she cares, but I’m supposed to take it easy for a few days and not get overly upset. Now you’re telling me that I can’t even have my time away from her to cool down every day?” “You two do act a lot like an old married couple. Especially when you describe it like that…” Aegis admitted with a slight smirk. She jumped back and stood next to Vinyl in response to the outraged expression that flashed across Octavia’s face. “And now you two are getting along perfectly, brilliant,” Octavia mumbled to herself. “Deep breaths… Take it easy for a few days, the doctor said,” Octavia intoned carefully as she tried to calm herself down before glancing back at the two giggling ponies. The two of them had taken to clutching at each other playfully with mutual expressions of overplayed fear on their faces. When the two of them stood next to each other, their similarly colored manes and bright white coats made them look like they could easily be sisters. Octavia’s eyes widened for a moment, and she couldn’t stop a shiver that ran all the way down her spine, spurred by the idea of having to deal with two Vinyls without any respite. Octavia sighed heavily and started walking back towards Vinyl’s apartment with her head hanging slightly. “I’m doomed...”