Colgate Takes Acid - Part 1
A symphony of sounds echoed throughout Octavia's room as her bow glided along the strings with the simplest of ease. Each note precise, every signature perfectly timed. Her head hung low causing her hair that was once a neatly formed bow to fall before her eyes, slightly covering up the mares face. Her eyes had closed shut to further her concentration on the music at hoof.
With one final curl of her bow, Octavia began he descent of the minor pentatonic scale that she had been playing in until she finally ended on the dominant G note. Octavia let the note sustain itself for a while, slowly allowing the remaining sound to escape her cello until silence befell the room.
For a few seconds the only sound in the quaint room was her heavy breathing, slowly becoming quieter as she regained her breath. With a worn creek from her wooden chair, displaying its age, Octavia stood up and made her way over to the cellos case that laid upon her bed. With each hoofstep Octavia took, a slight knock on the wooden floor could be heard, breaking the rooms silence.
Giving off an accomplished sigh before wiping the sweat from her brow, Octavia slowly slid her cello along the edge of her bed until it was fully on top. With a few quick flicks of her hoof, the cases locks flew open with a loud snap. Pulling the top of the black, hard-shelled case off, Octavia picked up her cello and delicately placed it within its confines for a much needed rest.
Just as quickly as she had opened it, the cellist had closed the case up once more. Moving up along the side of her bed, she gently placed the cellos bow on her nightstand that stood along side of the mattress. Sitting down on the edge of the bed first, Octavia allowed her body to fall on to the cushioned furniture, creating a low and deep thud.
Facing upwards, Octavia placed one of her hooves at her guts level whilst the other one remained be side, lightly tapping on the bed to a beat with in the grey mares mind.
"That should just about do it." She thought aloud to herself. "With all those pieces memorized, I should have no problem making first chair this year for the Grand Galloping Gala Symphony." With a quick puff of air, Octavia blew a few strands of hair out of her face.
A long drawn out yawn escaped the mares mouth, quickly to be followed by an extensive stretch of her forelegs behind her head. With the yawn subsided, Octavia let a small smile play across her lips.
Rolling to her side, she reached out to her nightstand and put a hoof on the alarm clock that was set on the nightstand. Turning the clock to face her, Octavia could see what time it was. The time that the clock shown was one well past what Octavia had initially planned for the evening.
With another yawn rapidly approaching, Octavia rolled back onto her back and lifted the covers onto her. Reaching back over to the nightstand, she clicked her lamps switch, turning her once well lit room into one of pitch black darkness. With some rustling, Octavia lowered herself further within the covers, obtaining a comfortable position to which she could fall asleep in.
As she settled in her position, she let out a relaxed sigh and closed her weary eyes to the world, letting her thoughts go and her mind to be set a drift as she fell into dreamland.
Minutes flew by as Octavia could feel her body become more relaxed and less connected to the world around her. With one final sigh, her breathing turned to snores. She had fallen into a slumber only moments before a loud obnoxious noise broke her blissful state. Jumping up out of the covers and out of bed, Octavia let out a yelp of a scream. Landing face first against the hard wooden floor below, she let out another cry as the pain from her impact began to set in. Rubbing her snout Octavia reached her free hoof up and clicked the lamp on her nightstand back on.
With a loud audible groan of mixed slurs and swears, Octavia raised herself back up onto her hind hooves. Leaning on the nightstand a bit, Octavia opened its small drawer and saw the source of the obnoxious noise that had startled Octavia half to death. It was her phone, and the noise was her marefriend, Vinyl's, ringtone.
"Oh what the hell could she want at this time of night?" She questioned, still in a half dazed state.
After much inner debate, Octavia reluctantly decided to answer the call rather than to ignore it and go back to sleep.
"Ughh, hello?" Octavia said with a groan as the pain from her tumble still remained.
"Tavi? Oh thank you thank you thank you! We got a major problem here." Vinyl said in a strained, desperate voice.
"Wh-What? What's going on?"
"Uhh, well... You see, Colgate is kind of - No! Give that guy his wig back Colgate! It is not changeling in disguise! No, no no no no! Put down the torch! Where the hell did you get a torch?!" Vinyl's voice became faint as she could be heard yelling at Colgate in the background. Octavia's mouth hung agape as she heard the noise of shattering plates and yelling ponies on the other line. "-Colgate is kind of loosing her mind right now." Vinyl said as she continued her conversation with Octavia.
"What the hell is going on over there?!" Octavia said in a frazzled voice.
"It's kind of hard to explain over the phone - Colgate wait! He's not after your lucky charms! - Just get over here please Tavi, I need your help." Vinyl pleaded to her marefriend.
"What? No, tell me what's going on over there. Is Colgate alright?!" Octavia becoming more concerned as she continued to hear various noises and shouting in the background.
"What? No, I mean yes. I mean, she's fine. Look just get over to the Apple Bobber club down on Sugar Cube corner, I really, really need your help."
With that, Vinyl hung up her phone leaving Octavia standing there. Her eyes were beaded and her mind was blank, trying to comprehend what just happened.
Finally after a few moments had passed, Octavia was able to snap herself out of her dumbfounded state.Hanging up her side of the line, Octavia threw her phone back into the drawer of her nightstand, slamming the drawer in the process. Bouncing up off of the bed and onto her hooves, Octavia ran out of her room, quickly grabbing her house keys before exiting her house, heading in the direction of the club.
~~~~
With multiple beads of sweat rolling down the sides of her face, Octavia slowed her sprint to a light canter as the site of the club grew closer. Her breathing had become heavy and strained from the unexpected exercise.
The name 'Apple Bobber' hung on top of a large brick building, all in crimson red neon. Huge and bright search lights were scattered at both ends of the structure, attracting the attention of any onlooker that may happen to pass by. The entrance had a red velvet carpet draped down the five stairs one would have to walk up in order to enter the club adding a bit of class to it.
Along side the stairs stood three bouncers, one on either side and one in the middle, holding a clipboard with various pieces of paper. The middle bouncer controlled the flow of ponies entering the club, every so often turning some down for 'not being on the list'.
Leading away from the door was a line of dozens of ponies, confined to the restraints of a purple security rope. Each one of them had an eager expression on their face as they mingled among themselves. Nopony could wait to get in and party hard.
Looking at the huge line, Octavia gulped down hard. There was no way she was going to be getting in anytime soon, or at all. She knew that her name wouldn't be on the approved list. Giving a slight huff, and quick run through her hair with her hoof, Octavia walked up to one of the bouncers.
"Ahem, excuse me sir." Octavia said in a rather timid voice. Her only response was a quick glare from the bouncer. " Umm yes, well. I was wondering if you'd be as so kind as to let me in. You see my maref-" Octavia's request was instantly cut off by a onslaught of jeering at her from the ponies inline.
"You gotta wait inline like everypony else." The bouncer finally said in a low booming voice. His eyes gazing down at the clipboard. Waving his hoof to the next ponies inline. "Name?"
"Sunset Shimmer, and Trixie." The flame haired pony responded, first pointing to herself, then to her friend beside her.
Skimming through a few pages, the stallion finally lifted a pen that hung on necklace, scratching something off on the sheet. "Alright, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie, got you two right here. Go on in." Turning around he unshackled the security rope behind him allowing the two mares access.
As the two walked in, a huge bass boom escaped through the doors of the club. The quick glimpse into the club revealed hundreds of ponies dancing to the music. The entire club shined with strobe lights going off in all different directions, each stream of light flickering on and off in a eye searing rhythm. Octavia tried to her best to see around the large stallion and mares, hopefully catching a glimpse of her marefriend and friend inside; To no avail. Once the doors closed behind them, the muffled bass thumps continued.
Re-shackling the rope, the bouncer turned around to see Octavia still standing there. Giving her another quick glare he repeated himself, "Get to the back of the line miss. I can't let you cut in front of everypony else."
Taking another gulp, and with a shuffle of her hooves, Octavia continued. "Right, and normally I would follow the rules, truly I would. But you see I got a called from my marefriend saying that she needed my help, I really just want to find her real quick that's all."
"Rules are rules ma'am. Back of the line." The bouncers response earned applaud and cheers from the ponies inline.
Octavia's brow furrowed with annoyance at the stubborn stallion. Her expression quickly changed from her frustrated look to a sly, devious one as a light smile graced her lips. "Alright then Mr - " Octavia rolled her hoof at the bouncer as she asked for his name.
"Strongmane." He responded, expression unchanged.
"Right, well Mr. Strongmane. Right now my friend Colgate is in there with my marefriend Vinyl, your clubs weekly entertainer. Now with that being said I'll be more than happy and willing to go to the back of the line, but know this-" Octavia leaned in towards the stallion, practically brushing her chest with his. "When I get into this establishment - and I will get in - I will seek out my marefriend and convince her to no longer play at your club thanks to you, meaning your club looses its prime slice of bread and butter."
"Yeah, so?" Strongmane responded un-phased from Octavia's threat. Taken back a bit, Octavia scoffed slightly before she backed off and gave another furrow of her brow.
"So, in addition to convincing Vinyl, I will also discuss your actions to the owner of the club, meaning he will know exactly who caused him to loose a massive chunk of the clubs profits this month." Octavia resumed her position against the stallions chest, this time however she leaned over into his ear. "So if I were you, I'd let me in. This way no one has to loose their job."
The gears in the brutes head must have finally begun to turn as he realized what Octavia was hinting at. He was now fully aware that this mare now held his job in her hooves. Slouching a bit, he backed away from Octavia as he turned around to unshackle the the security rope.
"Welcome to the Apple Bobber Miss." Strongmane said in a defeated tone.
"Thank you sir." Octavia held her head up high as she thanked the stallion. Her face completely engulfed with a look of pure satisfaction and victory.
Her head snapped back down as she felt something against her chest, stopping her from moving forward. Strongmane had put his hoof out in front of Octavia. Lowering his head down to her level, he began to whisper to her.
"If I so much as hear any trouble coming from you or your friends within the club, I'll be the one to personally kick you out."
"Very well." Octavia stated. "Now if you'd please be so kind as to remove your hoof from my path, I'm kind of in a hurry here." She had become rather short with the stallion. Obliging, Strongmane lowered his hoof and retained his upright position as the head bouncer.
As Octavia walked up the red carpeted stairs, another round of jeers could be heard coming from the 'peanut gallery' inline. Octavia gave a quick glance back over to the distraught ponies, smiling a bit in amusement at their ill manners. She never understood the appeal of these kinds of places, nor the great desire to enter one.
She pushed one of the twin doors open with her right foreleg and entered the club. Instantly three of the five senses Octavia possessed were attacked. The strobe lights with their constant barrage burned her retina's to a crisp. The repetitive dropping of the musics bass echoed throughout Octavia's ear canals. Even being a cello player - a more or less bass instrument - had not prepared her for this evenings 'music'.
As she walked away from the entrance of the club and towards the dance floor where hundreds still danced to the music, her third sense was attacked. Taking an inhale she could smell something in the air, a smell that she had smelt a couple of times before when Berry would come over to visit Vinyl, and another time when she had been taken on a date to a Hoofie Brothers concert.
She held her hoof up to her muzzle, trying to cover her nostrils to prevent any more of the smell for invade nose.
Looking around through the crowd of dancers that had now engulfed her, Octavia could see no sign of either Colgate or Vinyl.
Continuing to look around for them, Octavia began to get shoved to and fro as clumsy ponies knocked into her, muttering under their breath as if she was at fault for them stepping on her hooves. Eventually the constant shoving first led her to the middle of the dance floor, until it moved her to the opposite end of the club of where she had entered, finally popping her out and propelling her into a bar stool.
Stumbling a bit to get to her hooves, Octavia let a few coughs escape her as air began to penetrate her lungs again. The mare gave off a wobbly shake as she tried to straighten her foreleg as she continued to light herself up.
"Not used to this kind of crowd are you hun?" A loud voice could be heard emanating from behind the wooden wall that was the bar. The voice, barely able to be heard of the consistent thumps of the relentless music.
Looking up, Octavia could see a cyan haired mare with a yellow coat to boot. "No, I uhh don't usually attend these kind of social events." She give a slight smile to the mare.
"Social event? You mean a rave?" The mare - who Octavia assumed was the establishments bartender - questioned.
"Right a rave..." The grey mare turned her head around, looking at the blood chilling sight of the dance floor. She definitely didn't want to reenter the labyrinth.
"Names Raindrops." She introduced herself as she spat into a glass she was currently polishing off with a old tattered rag. "What's your poison tonight?"
Turning her head back over to Raindrops, she gave a quick glance at the fully stocked bar behind the new friendly face. "Oh, I'm not looking to 'party' tonight." Octavia quoted herself with her hooves to add emphasis on the word 'party'. "I'm really just in here for a minute to find my friends. I got a call from one of them for me to get down here as soon as possible, it sounded like things were going awry, so I rushed down here; And now I can't find them."
"Well-" Raindrops put her elbow on the bar, leaning towards Octavia. "Maybe I can help ya. Working here every night has its advantages, I can spot somepony in just a few seconds, even if they're in the sea of ponies behind ya." Confidence evident within her voice.
Octavia gave a quick glance back over at the dance floor, then one back over at Raindrops. Taking a seat on the stool, Octavia turned herself around and leaned onto the bar with her elbows. "Well, they both have blue hair. One has two shades of blue, one light and one dark, while my other friend has white and a blue mane."
"Is that one of them over there?" Raindrops asked as she pointed back in a general direction into the crowd.
Twisting herself back around, Octavia began to duck and weave her head around trying to catch the glimpse of the mare or mares Raindrop was pointing at. "Nooo, I don't think that's one of them."
"Hmm, well is there anything more you can give me?" Raindrops asked as she scratched the bottom of her chin.
"Well, Vinyl performs here every wee-"
"You know Vinyl!?" The bartenders expression turned from one of deep in thought to one of pure excitement.
"Yeah?"
"Oh my Luna I love her! God, whenever she plays here the club becomes an entirely new place." The mares gaze lifted itself from Octavia to the roof of the club, obviously reminiscing of times Vinyl had played here.
Waving a hoof in front of Raindrops face, Octavia got her attention back. "So have you seen her?"
"Hmm? Ah right! Yeah I've seen her."
"Really?!" Octavia jumped up out of her seat and slammed both of her hooves onto the bar. "Where is she? Was Colgate with her?"
"Col-who?"
"Colgate... The other mare I was talking about just now. You know, dark blue coat, white and blue mane." Octavia brushed her hoof on her coat before tugging on her bangs some, displaying the sections of the mare she was describing.
"That was your friend?!" Raindrops nearly dropped the glass she had returned to polishing.
"Yeah...? Is that a bad thing?"
"Well kind of yeah. That mare caused a hell of a scene here tonight." She regained her grip on the glass as she continued on.
"Oh no..." Octavia rubbed her hooves against her temples as she groaned loudly. "What happened?" Octavia deadpanned, letting her hooves flop onto the bar top.
"Uh jeez, where to begin?" She asked herself rhetorically as she set the glass down, picking up another in its place. She gave off a slight chuckle and head shake before continuing. "Well lets see, first she started swiping everyone's glow sticks, saying that she needed them so save the 'force'."
"The force?"
"Yeah I know, it was the damnedest things." She gave a heartier chuckle this time. "She even had a different way of talking when she said it too. How'd it go again? I think it was like 'Surrender the sabers you will, save the force.. I must'."
"What?" Octavia squinted her eyes some as she tried to comprehend what Raindrops had just said.
"I know right?" The yellow mare let her head go a little limp. " And then there was the plates..."
"Plates?"
"Yeah, somehow - don't ask me how - she got a hold of a whole stack of plates from the kitchen in the back. Then somehow - again don't ask me how - got up on stage - on one of the nights performers speakers - and started throwing them at everypony in sight while chanting 'Dropping plates'. Hay if I know what that means, but she did it." Octavia gave another groan in response. "And that's when she got the torch-"
Octavia held a hoof up to Raindrops, her head hung low in shame, disappointment, all tied off with a nice hint of rage at Vinyl. "Please, just stop. I don't need to hear about the torch or the lucky charms..."
"The lucky charms?" Raindrops reflected on the nights evens before her eyes went wide and she broke out in a smile. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that one. Man I have never seen a stallion bend that way."
"Wha- I don't wanna know... Just please, please please please tell me, where are they now?" Octavia clapped her hooves together as she pleaded to her.
"Heh, well... She's kind of on lock down right now."
"Lock down?"
"Yeah. It's obvious she was tripping out, pretty badly at that. Normally we would bounce her out, but she's slippery, and I do mean 'slippery'. Eventually she wound up heading into the bathroom, Vinyl right behind her. We - the bouncers - closed off the restroom and called the police. They'll be here shortly to help us escort her out."
Worry and adrenaline shot through Octavia as she heard the news of the police. "Where is the bathroom!?" Octavia demanded of her new ally.
Raising a hoof from the glass, Raindrops pointed to her left. Octavia followed Raindrops hoof with her gaze, leading her to a little alleyway in the club where the restrooms were tucked away. Turning her head back over to Raindrop, Octavia tapped on the bar a few times before running off in a hurry.
"Thanks, I owe you big time!"
"No problem."
Octavia ran down along side of the bar as to avoid the dance floor as she made her way down to the restrooms. Once in the alleyway, she could see a couple of bouncers standing guard in front of the little mares room.
Octavia slowed her pacing as she approached the two guards, both of them giving her a harsh glare. She bit her time as she thought about how to approach them. She figured out a quick plan as she came face to face with the bouncers.
"Excuse me sirs. I'm just going in to use the little filly's room." Octavia said with a shy, almost timid voice as she batted her eyelashes at the guards, hoping to gain easy access.
"Sorry Ma'am. Restrooms closed until further notice."
"Oh?" Octavia asked innocently. "Why is that?"
"There's a troublesome mare in there. We got her locked in until some of Ponyvilles finest arrive." The guard replied.
"Oh really? Did the mare have a dark blue coat?"
"Yeah?"
"White and blue mane?"
"Yeah...?"
"And an hour glass for a cutie mark?"
The guard now turned to his partner. "Yeah....?"
"Oh..." Octavia replied in a uncertain voice. "And your certain you have her in there?"
"Of course we do." The bouncer said reassuringly.
"Then how is she out there?"
"She's what?!"
"Yeah, she's up on stage putting on one heck of a show."
Both bouncers took a quick glance at one another. Both their eyes had become beaded as worry spread across their face. Looking back at Octavia then once again at each other, they gave a slight nod.
"How the hell did she get out again?!" One of the guards stated as the two ran away from the door to check out Octavia's claim.
Octavia allowed a quick moment of smugness display itself on her face before it turned back into worry and fright as she turned to face the now un-secure door. Taking a deep breath, Octavia closed her eyes as as she pushed the restrooms door wide open. When she opened her eyes back up, the sight she saw left her speechless.
Vinyl was laying on top of Colgate, struggling to keep the blue mare still as she laid sprawled out across the floor.. Vinyl had heard the creak of the doors hinges and lifted her head up to see the new pony who had just entered. The flustered, frustrated look on Vinyls face turned to pure joy as she laid eyes on the awestruck mare that stood in the door way.
A few moments passed, neither Vinyl or Octavia moved or made a sound. Colgate on the other hand was as giddy as a school filly, wiping her hooves across the side of Vinyl's face, her tongue slightly hanging out of the side of her mouth.
The tapping of Colgate's hooves across Vinyl finally gained her attention long enough for her to look down at the blue mare, finally realizing the awkward position she was in. Looking back to her marefriend, then back to Colgate, and back to Octavia once more.
Pushing herself off and stumbling to her haunches, Vinyl started waving her hooves at Octavia.
"No no no no no no. This isn't what it looks like!" Vinyl stammered trying to defend herself.
"Explanations, now!" Octavia stomped her hoof on the floor.
"Ooooh, busteeeedddd." Colgate chimed in on the two's awkward moment.