//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Stages // by Bunnybooze79 //------------------------------// Octavia spent the rest of the morning in silence. She didn’t want to wake Vinyl up to confront her and she wasn’t really sure how best to go about it either. So she let her sleep and used the time to tidy up a bit. Otherwise the morning was uneventful. Her doorbell rang as her delivery for the groceries she had ordered finally arrived. Octavia paid the delivery stallion and unpacked the box he had brought her in the kitchen. The thought came up that the noise might have woken up Vinyl, so she decided to check on her guest. Indeed the unicorn was awake and once again was trying to get out of bed. “What are you doing? I told you that you need to rest and stay in bed.” Octavia trotted up to the bed with a frown on her face. “Bathroom…” Vinyl’s reply had a tone of urgency to it. “Oh….uh…here, let me help you.” Octavia wrapped one of Vinyl’s forelegs around her neck. With ease she helped the unicorn out of bed and waited until Vinyl gave her the signal to start moving. Side by side they moved out of the room and made their way to the bathroom. Octavia was more or less just dragging the weak mare along at this point, but neither of them said anything. The bathroom was still a mess from the events before. A large pile of towels lined her bathtub, and small pieces of wood and metal from the lock littered the white tiles. Octavia carefully set her charge down against the bathtub and trotted out the room. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.” She informed and pulled the door closed behind her. While waiting for Vinyl to finish her need, she began compiling a list of things she needed to do. Food, housecleaning, locksmith. That was the order she would work with. Vinyl finished up her business in the bathroom and moments later stumbled out the door. Octavia gave her a chastising look. “I said I was right outside.” Together they shuffled back to Vinyl’s room. Octavia lifted the mare easily back into bed and covered her up. Vinyl remained silent out of embarrassment of needing so much help. The cellist hovered around, unsure how to bring up what she had learned about Vinyl’s housing situation. “Are you hungry?” she asked instead. The unicorn just nodded in response. With something to do now, Octavia trotted into the kitchen and thought about what she could quickly whip up. She remembered the lasagna in the refrigerator. A couple of minutes later the food had been heated up in the oven and she trotted back to Vinyl with a small tray on her back. The prospect of food gave the unicorn a boost in energy and she ravenously devoured it without Octavia’s assistance. Seeing how fast the portion had vanished, Octavia fetched her own portion and set it down in front of Vinyl. That one vanished at a slightly slower rate. “Thanks.” Vinyl gave the earthpony a grateful smile. “You’re welcome.” Octavia beamed at her patient and cleared away the plates. She returned a few moments later with a wide selection of juice boxes in all kinds of flavors. Vinyl greedily drank the first one and felt the effects of warm food and tasty drink lulling her back to sleep. Octavia sighed as Vinyl drifted back into sleep. She trotted out of the room and made way to the bathroom. Maybe she would have an idea on how to address the subject at hoof while doing some cleaning and clearing up. ____________________________________________________________________ The housework was finished soon. In part due to the fact that Octavia cut plenty of corners as usual. Housework had never been her strong point. She cleaned up anything dirty, but things like dusting areas she didn’t even see were ignored. Unknown to her she had the most extensive collection of dust bunnies in all of Canterlot lurking under her couch. Octavia rummaged through a few cupboards in hopes to find something she was looking for. They had to be around here somewhere, of that she was sure. Aha! Hidden under a few tablecloths she found a few empty picture frames. Carefully she took them out of their hiding place and brought them over to the coffee table. Thanks to the well chosen place they had been in, they were in pristine condition and would not need to be cleaned. Octavia spent her afternoon filling the picture frames with Vinyl’s pictures. A few pictures were left over and she didn’t have any more frames to put them in. At a later time she could always buy some new ones, but for now it would do. She smiled at the filly Vinyl once more and felt a desire to eat some cotton candy. It had been ages since she had eaten that. Somehow there never was any time left to do those things anymore. Octavia shrugged the thoughts away and carefully piled the frames on to her back. With cautious steps she walked to the guest room and peeked inside. Vinyl was still fast asleep. Silently she set up the frames on the bedside table. Maybe it gave Vinyl some comfort to see them, at the very least it would give Octavia an opening to address her concerns. She bit her bottom lip at the task that would be looming on the horizon very soon. Octavia wasn’t too sure she was going to do the right thing, but sometimes one had to take the risk of the unknown. That’s what her father had often told her. Stealthily she tip-hoofed out of the room and waited for Vinyl to wake up again. __________________________________________________________________ Octavia scrunched up her nose while trying to decipher the mouth-written words scribbled in her cookbook. It was dark outside again and with nothing else to do she had decided to start dinner preparations. Right now she wished her mother’s writing wasn’t so….unique. The unmistakable sound of a juice box emptying via a straw reached her ears. It seemed that Vinyl was awake again. She gave up her attempts at making heads or tails out of the hieroglyphs in front of her and trotted back to the guest room. Vinyl’s room, she corrected herself. If things went as she hoped at least. She took a deep breath before entering the room proper. Vinyl seemed at bit more lively than before. A good meal and sleep had done wonders. Octavia flipped on the light switch and smiled at her guest. “How are you feeling?” she asked and stood in front of the bed. “Better, but thirsty.” Vinyl yawned for a moment and turned to the bedside table to grab another juice box. She froze as she saw the pictures standing there. “How did you get those?” her question was no more than a whisper. “I went by your place. The manager had kept them stored away.” Octavia spoke softly and watched the other mare’s reaction. Vinyl slid further under the cover and pulled it up to her head. Her expression was difficult to read, because of the sunglasses she had kept on. Octavia got the feeling that Vinyl was mortified and dreading the fact that she had been found out. “Why didn’t you tell anypony about what happened to you?” the cellist asked after it was obvious that Vinyl would not share any information without being prompted. “I..don’t…” Vinyl stammered her answer, but fell silent after only two words. “Surely your friends and family would have helped you out if you had just told them.” Octavia remained rooted on her spot as to not seem intimidating. “Don’t have any.” Was Vinyl’s reply after a long moment of silence. Octavia let out a small sigh. She had her suspicions and Vinyl had just confirmed them. It would no doubt be a touchy subject and Octavia did not want to press on it. She would have to tread lightly as to not drive her patient away. “Listen, my place is big enough for two. I would gladly share it with you for as long as needed.” Octavia didn’t want to tip-hoof around her plan and voiced it in a soft tone. “Why would you do that?” Vinyl’s question was laced with uncertainty. She very carefully turned her head a tiny bit and eyed the door, weighing her chances of making it out. Octavia noticed the movement, but remained where she was. “Because I cannot let somepony who has fallen on hard times risk their life in the streets. I can’t let that happen to somepony I know.” Octavia forced herself to remain calm. Sudden movements or raised voices might have caused Vinyl to try and run away. Worse things would happen if she tried to use magic to get away. “But you don’t know me.” Vinyl turned her head back a bit to face Octavia. “You are right, I don’t know you.” Octavia conceded and shrugged. “But I don’t think you are a bad pony. Just that bad times have befallen you. Please stay here, even if it is just during winter.” “You’re going to force me?” Her answer had a fearful undertone. “No, I cannot force you.” Octavia saw her relax ever so slightly. “But at the same time I cannot let you go out there during this season. The alternative isn’t something I would favor.” “Alternative?” “The alternative being that I involve the hospital.” Octavia had thought about possibilities what to do with her guest. All of them had left a bitter taste in her mouth. “If I get you transferred to the hospital, they will start to ask questions. They would charge you a large amount of money and seeing that you are in no position to pay….” Octavia left the sentence hang in the air for a moment, before elaborating further. “They might force you to leave the city. Possibly even throw you in prison for being a vagrant.” “The Princess would do that?” Vinyl asked doubtfully. “The Princess? No. The politicians in charge of the city? Yes.” Not everything was perfect in the city of Canterlot. In a place where appearances mattered most the ponies in charge would in some cases go to extreme lengths to preserve the city’s perfect image. “I couldn’t live with myself without knowing what has become of you. Please, Vinyl. Please…” Octavia gave the unicorn a pleading look. Vinyl thought about her options. It didn’t take very long, as she simply did not have any. She pulled herself up a bit and finally nodded. “I’ll stay during the winter.” Octavia let out the breath she had been holding and visibly slumped down a bit. She gave Vinyl a tired smile and was relieved that her offer had been accepted. “I am glad that’s over and done with.” Octavia straightened herself up again took a deep breath. “I’ll bet you are hungry. Let me make us something to eat.” “Thanks.” Vinyl watched Octavia trot out of the room and leave her alone with her thoughts. Perhaps Octavia really did only have her best interests at heart. Perhaps the grey mare was just a kind soul extending a hoof in help. Vinyl was unsure about it all, but for the moment she would have a roof over her head and food to eat. Once back on her hooves she could think about it more and see if there was a way to repay Octavia for her kindness. Vinyl turned her head to look at the pictures on the bedside table. Memories of times passed. Happy memories captured to be remembered. Soon the memories turned away from happy times to more painful times. Vinyl buried herself in the sheets and turned away from the pictures. Bringing back those memories would not help right now and she much rather just lay there not thinking at all. _____________________________________________________________________ The next few days went by in similar fashion. Octavia would help Vinyl when needed and supplied her with food and drink. Figuring that Vinyl might be bored when not asleep, she also brought her stacks of magazines to read. They were of the musical variety, with the latest news about up and coming new stars and articles about established musicians. Vinyl had mixed feelings about the magazines. She had hoped by this point to be featured in them herself, something that had most certainly not happened. She also found it strange that Octavia wasn’t mentioned in anything she read. Surely an earthpony prodigy would be worth at least a small mention? Perhaps Octavia had not given her the issues with her inside. Both mares did not speak very much with each other. Octavia would ask how Vinyl was feeling and then inform her about the weather or if she needed to go someplace and would leave Vinyl alone for a moment. Vinyl guessed that she was off to practice in an orchestra or, when her darker thoughts reared their head, that she was off with her high and mighty Canterlot friends to possibly brag about how charitable she was for taking in a homeless mare. Vinyl angrily swatted those thoughts away. The cellist had never given her a reason to think that way and she felt bad for just assuming something without any reason. Sooner or later they would have to talk to each other about the questions that were burning in their minds. Neither knew each other very well and it would soon become very uncomfortable if they didn’t try to talk to each other. ____________________________________________________________________ It was still dark outside when Vinyl woke up that day. A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table showed that it was nearly seven in the morning. She had taken the last of the medicine last night and was feeling a lot better than she had the days before. The steady supply of food no doubt also had its share in the matter. Her bones popped as she stretched each limb. Sleep wasn’t on her mind anymore as she felt the twinge of hunger nip her stomach. Since she felt a lot better, she decided to venture to the kitchen by herself. Octavia was most likely still sleeping and while being waited on constantly by the mare was nice, it left Vinyl feeling guilty. Surely the mare had better things to do than nurse her all the time. Carefully testing her strength she slid out of bed and stood up. She grinned as her strength was indeed back and could support her weight. Very silently Vinyl shuffled out of her room and peeked inside Octavia’s. The gray mare was curled up into ball half hidden under her covers and snoring softly. Vinyl grinned at the sound, she hadn’t thought her to be the snoring type. The thick carpet muffled her steps as she made her way to the kitchen. Carefully closing the door without a sound, she then flicked on the light and took in her surroundings. She noticed that the pile of dishes in the sink had been cleared away. The only item left was the casserole dish that Octavia had used yesterday. Otherwise it was neat and clean. A lone cookbook was propped open on the counter. Vinyl gave it quick look inside and scrunched up her face at the scribbles inside. If that was Octavia’s writing then she possibly had the worst writing Vinyl had ever seen. She shook her head and snooped around the kitchen hoping for something edible to appear. One of the cupboards revealed a vast amount of noodles and pasta sauce ready to be cooked. It was a safe guess to bet that Octavia’s favorite dish was noodles. Vinyl corrected her guess after finding more and more supplies heavily favoring the istallian cuisine. She flipped through the cookbook again just to confirm her guess. Nearly every recipe was something istallian. Lasagna, noodles and even a recipe for pizza was contained in the book, identifiable only thanks to drawn pictures. Vinyl wasn’t in the mood for something of that variety this early in the morning. So she decided to make some pancakes instead. If there was one thing Vinyl loved as much as her music, it had to be cooking. It might have surprised many that she was actually rather adept at cooking. It wasn’t even that different to the way she made music. Take a few ingredients, mix and match them together and add a few spices to fine tune them until something tasty was the result. Like her music, the results varied wildly sometimes. Vinyl’s range of cooking was between delicious and inedible. Today she wasn’t feeling like experimenting with cooking, so pancakes were the best bet. Just for added flavor she decided to mix a few bananas into the batter. She was just about to grab the first eggs with her magic, as she remembered the warning about using it for some time. Luckily the entire kitchen and all utensils were catered towards earthponies, so she didn’t have to rely on her magic at all. ___________________________________________________________________ Vinyl had finished half a dozen pancakes when the door opened and a very sleepy looking Octavia appeared. “Vinyl? What are you doing?” she yawned widely and rubbed her eyes with a hoof. “Pancakes!” Vinyl said and turned to the new arrival. Then she burst out laughing. “What?” Octavia asked groggily. “Nice mane style.” Vinyl was no stranger to the phenomenon known as bedhair. Her mane was naturally wild and untamable so it wasn’t really that noticeable. Seeing the mess of a mane sticking out at all angles on top of the refined and noble Octavia was a sight she had not thought she would see. It gave her a wild look and suited her rather well. “It always gets like this.” Octavia ran a hoof through her mane, but didn’t manage to tame in one bit. “You seem to be rather chipper this morning.” It was true, Vinyl was feeling good. Very good in fact and had not felt this way in a long time. Perhaps it was the mundane everyday task of just making pancakes that raised her spirits so high. Doing something normal for once and not having to worry about warmth, food or bits. “I feel great.” Vinyl flipped the pancake in the pan over. “Care for something to eat?” “Gladly, but I don’t think we have any syrup.” “You won’t need any. These are banana pancakes, they’re sweet enough.” “Banana pancakes?” Octavia eyed the pancake Vinyl put down in front of her. Tentatively she took a small bite out of the rather thick pancake. Her face lit up with joy as the taste unfolded in her mouth. “These are delicious!” Vinyl finished frying the pancake in the pan and slid it onto the stack of already finished pancakes on the table. She sat down opposite Octavia at the small table and watched the cellist gleefully eating her newfound treat. Octavia licked her lips and pulled another pancake on her plate. “Where did you learn to make these?” she asked between mouthfuls. “I always liked to cook. Even thought I would end up with a cooking related cutie mark. Then I found music and that became my true talent.” Vinyl ate another piece of her food and chuckled at the speed with which the other mare devoured her pancake. “I studied the culinary arts in university and learned a lot there. I can make one really awesome vegetable curry.” Vinyl finished off her first pancake, while Octavia was already halfway down her third. “I’d love to try that some day.” Octavia wasn’t a pony to turn down new and tasty food. Her own cooking revolved around the istallian cuisine as Vinyl had guessed. The results were mixed at best and nothing to really write home about. “Well, I could make it this evening if you want me to. We just have to buy a few ingredients.” Vinyl went through the list in her mind of the things they would need. “It will have to wait. The shops aren’t open today.” Octavia said and slid a fourth pancake on her plate. “What? Why? Is it because of the snow?” Vinyl looked out the window at the snow covered rooftops. “No….it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Octavia replied and took a big bite out of the pancake. It took a lot of willpower to not stuff the entire thing at once in her mouth. “Oh….huh…” Vinyl had lost track of the days in the last few weeks. Then she remembered something that Octavia had told her. “Hey, don’t you have that pageant thing to go to tonight?” Octavia’s ears folded down and she stopped her attack on Vinyl’s cooking. “No, I didn’t get the part.” She said quietly and seemed a bit sad. “What? That’s insane! Why didn’t you get it?” Vinyl was truly shocked that they had turned Octavia down. “I honestly don’t know.” Octavia’s answer was drenched with frustration. She felt it build up inside her. Up until today she had been too preoccupied with Vinyl to give it much thought. She fought the frustration down with another bite of the delicious food and let the emotion out with a sigh. “Best not to dwell on that right now. Especially not on Hearth’s Warming Eve.” The mares sat in silence for a moment, just concentrating of eating and enjoying the taste. It dawned on Vinyl that maybe Octavia would have other plans for the evening. “I am feeling a lot better. So if you want to have the place for some guests or something to do with friends or family, I can go out somewhere else for a while.” “No, no. You are staying here where it’s warm.” Octavia gave Vinyl a look that meant there would be no discussion about it. “Besides I wouldn’t have anypony come visit me anyways.” “That’s….” Vinyl didn’t want to make the grey mare feel bad with the questions now suddenly burning in her mind. She had expected Octavia to have a typical Canterlot social life. High end parties, meaningless banter about the weather and looking pretty. Octavia caught the unspoken question or at least one of them. “It’s not like I don’t have any friends. I have a few….well one.” Octavia prodded her plate with a hoof. Vinyl decided to press on a bit more, Octavia had after all opened the door on the subject a bit and she decided to learn a bit more about her. “A special friend?” “Oh yes, she is a special one.” Octavia smiled at some memory that Vinyl wasn’t privy to. Wait…she? Vinyl was now very interested in some of the backstory behind this “special” mare. “Why doesn’t she come over?” Vinyl asked and decided to have just one last pancake. “She doesn’t live here anymore. She moved to Manehatten a few years ago. We write letters every once in a while to keep in touch.” “Where did you meet her?” Vinyl had so many thoughts running through her mind and was drawing some very interesting conclusions of her own. “In university. You know that program where senior years take new students under their wing?” Octavia eyed the last pancake on the plate and gave in to temptation. Vinyl indeed knew about the program, she herself had been part of it. It was a very interesting time to say the least. The whirlwind of manic energy that had taken her under her wing had come in the form of a pink earthpony, who coincidentally also was studying Culinary Arts. “Well, she took me under her wing so to speak and helped me get through the first few months. She was in her last stretch there and graduated a year later.” Octavia suddenly seemed sad. “Something happened and she was more or less forced to move away.” “What was it?” Vinyl watched Octavia squirm about a bit. She seemed uncomfortable to speak about it, which in turn only made it more interesting for Vinyl. “I’d rather not say. I don’t like to talk about ponies behind their backs.” “Yeah, I understand.” Vinyl had to drop the topic. She didn’t want to ruin the mood that had so far been fun. “What about your parents?” Vinyl hoped the change of subject would not be a negative one. Seeing that Octavia’s smile came back, it was obviously not the case. “They had their twenty-fifth anniversary shortly after I graduated. As a special treat they decided to go one a world tour, to visit exotic and strange places.” “And they aren’t back yet?” Vinyl had never felt the need to visit other locations or countries. She had also miserably failed geography in school and had no idea just how big the world actually was. “The tour will take a year.” Octavia explained and Vinyl nearly choked on her pancake. “A year? Are they doing it by hoof?” “They spend about a week in each location and major town. So that’s only fifty-two locations, which in the whole isn’t all that much.” Octavia ate the last of her pancake. She had questions of her own, but didn’t want to pressure Vinyl in telling her anything. Perhaps by shedding some light on her own past, the unicorn might indulge her with information of her own. “So what do you do on Hearth’s Warming Eve all by yourself?” Vinyl asked with her appetite now sated for the moment. “Watch a couple of movies I guess.” An idea came into her mind. “You haven’t seen all of the place yet, have you? Would you like a tour?” “Sure. Lead the way.” __________________________________________________________________ Vinyl followed the earthpony into the living room and headed towards the door to the left of the projector screen. The room beyond was a dining room. The dominating piece of furniture was the large round table in the middle. It looked expensive and had a style that didn’t fit the rest of what Vinyl had seen thus far. It was pretty much something Vinyl would have expected the rest of the furniture to be like when she first came here. Old, maybe antique with ornate carvings on the legs and really, really expensive. A thin layer of dust on the wooden surface told Vinyl that this room was rarely ever used. Which made sense for a single pony who didn’t have many guests. What made Vinyl gasp was the view from the large window that encompassed an entire wall from side to side and floor to ceiling. She had never been this high up in Canterlot before and the building she was in loomed over the buildings all around. The sight of the snow covered city slowly waking up was beautiful and peaceful. Vinyl briefly wondered how the view would be from one of the towers in the castle. Did the Princess ever just take the time to look at her city? If not then that was something she was missing out on. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Octavia giggled as Vinyl stared out the window with her jaw hanging open. “You should see it at night.” Vinyl followed Octavia out of the dining room, silently vowing to return later that night to see the sight as the cellist had suggested. They went into the door to the screen’s right next. Where the room before had dust covering every surface, this room was spotless. Vinyl’s jaw had dropped at the view out the window, here in this room it nearly would have hit the floor if it were possible. It was the music room. Every single available space had some kind of musical instrument standing or hanging on the walls. Vinyl saw a saxophone, two trombones, even a tuba hanging on the wall. A semicircle of bongo drums in various sizes stood on one side of the room. Expensive looking violins, flutes, oboes, tambourines and much more than she could take in at once. Every single instrument was void of any blemishes let alone dust. Vinyl felt as if she had just walked in on the display room of some high class musical instrument shop. “Y…you play all of these?” Vinyl didn’t dare step any closer to the instruments out of fear she might accidentally knock them over. “No, I just play the cello.” Octavia giggled at the mare beside her and pointed a hoof towards the mentioned instrument leaning against the wall just beside the door. “These are part of my father’s collection.” “Part of?” Vinyl adjusted the wealth of the cellist upwards some more on her scale. “This was my parent’s fist home in Canterlot.” Octavia explained and nodded towards the living room. “When I started my studies they moved out into a house a few blocks away and left me this place. The majority of my father’s collection is there, he just hasn’t had the time to move these over yet.” Vinyl felt small in this room of priceless instruments. The casual nature of how Octavia had explained everything made her feel insignificant. She nodded over to the cello to take her mind off that feeling. “How come I haven’t heard you play?” “I didn’t want to disturb you. I don’t know if you like that kind of music.” Octavia said and cast a glance to the other mare. “I can appreciate the classical genre. Don’t mind me if you want to play a bit.” “Another time maybe. Come on! I have got to show you the best part of the entire place!” Vinyl didn’t quite know how Octavia would trump the music room. Did she have a private racing track with a couple of Wonderbolts in a hidden room somewhere? Curiously she followed her back into the living room and towards the projector on the far wall. Octavia pushed a button next to the projector and part of the wall next to it slid open, revealing dozens if not hundreds of movie reels. There was a glint in Octavia’s eyes as she turned to Vinyl. “Well? What do you think?” “That’s a lot of movies. You watched them all?” Vinyl stepped a bit closer and read some of the labels on the cases. A few of them she knew by name or by having seen them at some point. Most of them were unknown to her however. “Yes. I always keep looking out for new ones to add to my collection.” Octavia was grinning widely and ran a hoof over some of the cases. “So you really like movies?” Vinyl asked rhetorically. “Can you tell?” Octavia smirked back at the unicorn. Her eyes lit up as she had an idea. “How about we spend the day watching movies? Just get a few snacks and start watching. In the evening I can order something to eat and we won’t have to move one inch from the couch!” Vinyl felt that she couldn’t get out of it even if she wanted to. The thought of spending a day lounging about eating stuff and watching hopefully good films seemed too good to not take. “I’ll prepare the snacks?” she asked and saw Octavia’s grin become even wider. “Fantastic! I’ll just hop into the bath and later we can get started.” Vinyl watched with amusement as the grey mare nearly hopped towards the bathroom with anticipation. She felt that this was going to be a strange day. __________________________________________________________________ Preparing some snacks was an easy task for Vinyl. A couple of crackers with cheese, some cut up bits of fruit and an assortment of other tasty tidbits were prepared in just a few minutes. Vinyl brought a plate full of them into the living room and set them on the table. On the way back to the kitchen she heard a surprising sound coming from the bathroom. Octavia was singing. And she was doing so terribly off-key. Vinyl listened with surprise at a few verses. When Octavia hummed the tune it sounded perfectly fine and melodic, but as soon as she started to sing things turned ugly. Vinyl stifled a laugh at another revelation about the cellist she had not seen coming. At least this time it was something that they both had in common. Vinyl too was a terrible singer and was fully aware of that fact. She snorted with amusement as she left Octavia singing without any witnesses and brought the last batch of snacks into the living room. Vinyl wondered if there would be any more surprises awaiting her in the near future. She had no idea what was in store for her.