//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: Mountain Vacation // by Spirit 0f Chaos //------------------------------// Octavia leapt forward, leaving the roiling magma column that sprang up just shy of her tail. Clutching the strap of her dangling saddle bag in her teeth, she jumped from stone slab to stone slab, narrowly missing more bursts of magma, primitive darts, and falling chunks of rock as she made her way to the exit. She heard a hiss and looked to see the beginning of a massive pillar of red hot lava churning between her and the portal to sunlight. She just smirked and settled her hat over her still-meticulously groomed mane. Taking one last death-defying leap, she cleared the explosion with inches to spare, enough to feel the heat on her back as she escaped the depths of the earth. She swung out and landed magnificently on all four hooves before a yellow pegasus with a grayscale mane whose eyes were swimming with tears. “You did it Octavia!” She cried out and ran towards her hero. “You retrieved the legendary golden cello!” Octavia dropped her saddlebag to have a stunningly crafted cello about a foot high tumble out. “Oh it was nothing, Daring. Another day, another dungeon.” She recited the catchphrase with a winning smile, mane and tail flowing slightly in the wind. “Oh Octavia! You are such a hero!” Daring Do’s eyes fluttered flirtatiously as she smiled. “Is there any way I can repay you?” Octavia returned the smile and moved forward slowly. She closed her eyes as she got closer to her reward, just a few more inches and… “HEY OCTAVIA!” “AHH!” Octavia flinched as she awoke. Her head swiveled from side to side, seeing only the interior of the train and Vinyl across from her, hiding a smile. She sighed and dropped her head, making a reminder in her head to not read Daring Do before sleeping. She shuddered slightly- her barn door didn’t even swing that way. “Jeez Octy, I wondered why you could sleep for so long with the dishwasher running. You’re impossible to wake up.” Vinyl was still fighting to hide a grin, and Octavia had a sinking feeling she knew why. “We’re almost at our stop.” Octavia nodded in acknowledgement, unable to speak for the moment. She turned away from Vinyl and pretended to collect her things, but she could feel her face burning as hot as the magma she had dreamt of. She swore she could here suppressed laughs behind her, but she refused to turn around. Finally the train came to a halt, mildly jolting its passengers. The pair filed out with the rest of the ponies, moving towards where they could collect their luggage. Passing by the luggage car, Vinyl levitated their bags out of the crowd, negating the need to fight their way in and out. Pausing for another moment to have their tickets checked, they moved out to the open country of the Macintosh Hills. Both mares took a moment to breathe the special air only found on mountains; they turned their eyes to the always-red leaved trees that gave the hills their name. After the moment of immersion, Vinyl hailed down one of the wagons nearby, which promptly stopped and waited for them. She loaded their luggage onto the coach before hopping on beside Octavia and telling the driver their destination. As the cart started to move, Vinyl looked over slyly at her friend. “So who’s the lucky stallion Tavi?” Octavia closed her eyes and felt her face begin to warm again. She groaned and rested her face in her hooves amid Vinyl’s snickers. “Vinyl…” “Aw c’mon Octy, you can tell me? Is it that musician we saw passing through last week? He must have really made an impression on you!” Octavia ground her teeth in frustration. “Vinyl, don’t for one second think I have forgotten about your encounter with Neon.” This time it was Vinyl’s turn to turn red. Her jaw dropped as she struggled to stutter out an answer. “H-hey, that’s not fair! You know that cider was spiked, I wasn’t acting like myself!” “Yes Vinyl, I am aware, but I also remember who the one to spike it was.” She gave her beet-red friend a pointed look. “And for the record, you were acting perfectly like yourself. Just a bit less…” she smiled slightly. “Inhibited.” The driver glanced back briefly to see the two mares staring each other down, one smiling cheekily and the other with a smoldering gaze. He looked forward once more and shook his head. Mares. The pair spent the rest of the trip in silence, which wasn’t very long. When the stallion pulled up and announced they had arrived, both mares got out and began to unload their bags. Vinyl paid the driver and thanked him before he left. Octavia and Vinyl entered the house and looked around. It was a nice place, just as Vinyl had promised- they currently stood in a large main room which consisted of a kitchen, dining room, and den. The den, which was on the far side of the room, had several chairs and couches that all surrounded a small table, with a fireplace in the corner. Beyond that were several large windows which revealed a porch wrapping around the building. They walked out onto the porch and saw a breathtaking view of the Macintosh Hills, a flaming red expanse complimented by the far off Mild West. Wordlessly they both walked back inside the house to check out the remainder. They found to the left of the main room was a door which branched off into two individual bedrooms and a rather small bathroom. Finally, a staircase near the den led downwards to another living area, complemented with its own set of chairs, couches, and tables. After looking around this basement area, the pair walked back up to the main floor and took places at the chairs near the fireplace. Vinyl took off her glasses and Octavia took off her tie, both sighing with relief at the feeling of being on vacation. They both looked at each other for a moment, and then began to smile. Pretty soon they were chuckling, which evolved into full-fledged laughing. Fueled by each other their mirth grew uncontrollable until they were leaning over their chairs and holding their sides. At last once the noise began to die down and they wiped away the tears brought on by their merriment, they went out to begin packing away their bags. “Hey Octy, did you pack any food?” Vinyl called from her arbitrarily picked bedroom. “I think I forgot it!” “Yes Vinyl, I took care of that.” Octavia smiled to herself as she finished stowing her belongings away. “Enough for a few days, but we may have to make a trip to a market at some point.” “No worries then, I think I saw a place on the way up. Thanks for that!” Vinyl yelled amidst a crash from her room. Octavia flinched at the sound before running in to see the unicorn lying on the ground surrounded by her bags. “What were you doing?” Octavia asked, stunned. She began to push some of the bags off her friend. “I… Uh….” Vinyl seemed a bit dazed from the fall. Shoving aside the last suitcase, Octavia grabbed her friend’s shoulders and shook her a little- which probably wasn’t the best idea. Vinyl’s eyes focused and she pointed a hoof straight up past Octavia’s shoulder. The grey mare followed the line indicated by the hoof to see a spider the size of a dinner plate (at least it seemed to her) on the ceiling above them. “AHHHHHHH!!” Octavia screamed at a high enough octave to make the windows visually shiver. She dropped Vinyl and ran out of the room still screaming until it the sound was abruptly cut off by the sound of a door shutting. Vinyl got up, massaging her head slightly. She rummaged in her bags for a second before producing a red ball about an inch and a half in diameter. Turning her gaze upwards she threw the ball gently at the spider, hitting it right on target. The bug fell limply at her hind hooves. Smirking, she picked up the rubber spider and tossed it in the air before catching. Laughing quietly to herself, she stowed the prank item in her bags and got up to check on Octy. After several knocks yielded no response, Vinyl opened the door and looked around for her friend. She stepped in softly and searched the room more thoroughly. Finally, as she was looking in the closet, she heard a noise behind her. She turned and saw the tip of a black tail poking out from under the bed; Vinyl grinned and walked over quietly. Leaning over, she lifted the bed skirt to reveal Octavia under the bed, eyes wide and ears folded, looking much like a cat. Vinyl couldn’t suppress a snicker as she cajoled Tavi out from her hiding spot. “Jeez Octy, I knew you didn’t like spiders, but I forgot you hated them that much!” Octavia still looked on edge but she tried to muster up some dignity nonetheless. She failed. “Did you see that thing Vinyl? It was enormous!” A shiver went down her spine remembering it. “Is it still in there?” “Nah, it’s gone. I think you scared it off.” Vinyl laughed, heedless of her friend’s death stare. She grabbed Octavia’s hoof and tugged gently. “C’mon I’ll show you.” Octavia jerked away quickly. “N-no vinyl, I’ll take your word for it.” Ignoring the unicorn’s laughter she turned back to the bed, straightening the sheets which had been upset by her retreat. How could Vinyl not be terrified of that… thing? Her friend seemed to be immune to such fears, as evidenced by many, many instances during their friendship. To date, she didn’t know if Vinyl had any fears compared to hers, as long as they didn’t count Vinyl’s early case of stage fright at her very first public performance. Incidentally, this was the event which started their friendship. Once the bed was re-made, Octavia turned back to face Vinyl. Suddenly, something did come to mind- not a fear exactly, but definitely something to wipe that smirk off Vinyl’s face. Octavia grinned and edged closer to her friend. “You know Vinyl, I’m not the only one who squeals at times.” Vinyl’s smile did indeed drop off her face at her friend’s sudden change of behavior. “Wh-what are you talking about Octy?” She tried to smile again, but the nervousness was evident. “You’re not going to bring Neon back into this are you? I thought we were past that.” “Mmmm, no, that’s not what I was talking about.” She continued to creep closer to her friend. Briefly she dropped the act. “And I did not need that image in my head.” Vinyl lowered her guard for a moment and opened her mouth to respond, and Octavia had her opening. She leapt forward and jabbed a hoof into Vinyl’s side. Whatever Vinyl was going to say was lost in her yelp as she jumped back and tried to run out of the room. Octavia followed her, laughing with glee. She had learned how ticklish Vinyl was about a year after her stage fright was cured during a party she didn’t really want to attend, and ever since Octavia had saved the knowledge for times like this. “C’mon Octavia this isn’t fair!” Vinyl cut into the main room, using her magic to catch a lamp that had been jostled. Octavia didn’t listen as she continued to chase Vinyl around the room, dodging pillows and cushions thrown magically at her. Eventually she cornered the unicorn in the basement, hooves raised menacingly. Vinyl pressed back against the wall and raised her own hooves in defense, eyes darting as she searched for something to levitate as ammunition. Octavia dove forward, seeing her distraction. They both yelled and fell to the ground, rolling and flailing. Finally, as they broke apart and rose from the floor, manes and tails mussed beyond recognition, they each raised a hoof to signal surrender. Coughing and still laughing, they walked back up to the main floor together as the sun began to descend below the horizon, marking the end of their first day on vacation.