//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: From Scratch // by Kaldanor //------------------------------// Octavia rolled sleepily off the couch before grumbling to herself about the awful cushions. Somehow, Vinyl’s nice plush couch was less comfortable to lie on for extended periods of time than the cheap collapsed one in her own apartment. She stretched out her back while hoping that the guards would find Sharp Note soon. Not so long ago, it would have been impossible to convince her that she would miss her stiff mattress, but at least that thing was intended to be slept on. The springs of Vinyl’s couch had a tendency to uncomfortably poke at her side, causing her to wake up and roll over every few hours. Octavia froze in place and raised her eyebrows when she realized that she had been worrying more about the sleeping arrangements than, what she previously would have found more shocking, being stuck with Vinyl for several days. Upon second thought, it made sense given how much the two of them had grown closer. Vinyl even seemed to be honestly trying her best not to push her buttons too much while she was still recovering and supposed to be taking it easy. Vinyl had even got on Aegis’ case a bit last night for teasing Octavia too much. While she had no hope that this sort of behavior would be permanent, it was still a nice break from having to deal with Vinyl constantly harping about something. Octavia trudged down the hallway towards the bathroom to clean herself up, still trying to stretch the kinks out of her back. At the very least, her mane needed some attention after her night on the couch. A quick glance out of the window showed that it was late morning, but there were no sounds coming from anywhere else in the apartment. Hopefully she would have enough time to soak up the hot water from a shower and let her joints loosen up. It had been tempting for Octavia to spend a whole lot more time in Vinyl’s shower, especially since it gave her the rare luxury of having enough space to turn around without constantly bumping her head against the wall. Still, it had been nice, and she definitely felt a lot more refreshed as she hobbled down the hallway on three hooves while the fourth ran a brush through her mane. The complete lack of Vinyl or Aegis was strange, now that she thought about it. She would have assumed that making noise in the bathroom would have triggered some semblance of life in the apartment. Even though she’d only really seen Vinyl in the mornings after rather dramatic events, Octavia had still figured that Vinyl’s morning laziness wasn’t typical given how much responsibility she must have to deal with. Octavia was distracted from staring in the direction of Vinyl’s bedroom by the sudden opening of the apartment’s front door. She turned with a sharp gasp, only to see Oliver striding inside with a set jaw and furrowed eyebrows. “Hey, Tavi, don’t mind me. Just need to roust Vinyl,” he said in a casual tone as he carefully squeezed past her, conscious of the brush that she was running through her wet mane. “Vinyl! Wake up already, Vinyl!” he yelled at Vinyl’s bedroom door, ignoring the not-so-quiet grumblings that came in response, and pounded on it several times with his hoof. “It’s ten o’clock, Vinyl. Get up!” “Hey!” Aegis yelled as she burst out of a room further down the hallway. She flew straight up to Oliver and placed her face inches from his. “Who the hell are you?” she asked in an authoritative tone that made even Octavia take a step backwards. Oliver took another step back to get some space, but Aegis interrupted him with another fierce yell before he could speak up. “Did I say you could talk? Just who do you think you are, barging in here like that?” “Aegis—” Octavia said through her teeth as she repressed the urge to facehoof while holding the brush. “You a friend of Sharp Note?” Aegis continued, ignoring her quiet protest. “You here to shut Vinyl up? Want me to take you down to the station and ask you some questions?” Aegis demanded as she kept taking a firm step forward on every other word so that Oliver eventually backed up against a wall. “What the hell is this?” Oliver finally snapped back. “I already talked to the guards about everything. Why the hell am I getting harassed again, in Vinyl’s apartment of all places?” “Aegis!” Octavia said in a louder voice to interrupt what appeared to be an angry response. “You know this stallion, Octavia?” Aegis asked while keeping her gaze fiercely locked upon the tan unicorn in front of her. “That’s Oliver; he’s Vinyl’s assistant,” Octavia said before wandering into the bathroom to replace her brush. “Oh… Sorry about that, buddy,” Aegis said with a quiet laugh as the serious face seemed to immediately give way to a grin. She gave him a hearty slap on the shoulder before turning to find Octavia. “Is anyone going to tell me what in the name of Celestia’s royal flank is going on here?” Oliver said while he stood stock-still and his left eyebrow twitched dangerously. “Sorry, Oliver, this is Aegis,” Octavia explained as she returned to the hallway. “She’s a guard that was assigned to protect us until the other guards find Sharp Note. I wasn’t expecting you to storm into the apartment and start banging on Vinyl’s door, so I didn’t really warn her.” “This is a pretty normal occurrence. Well, that is until you started hanging around recently. If I don’t wake Vinyl up when nothing is planned, then sometimes she won’t wander down into the studio until noon,” Oliver explained with a roll of his eyes before storming back down the hallway to pound on the door a few more times. “Urf… While arranging a shouting match outside of my bedroom was definitely effective, I’d prefer if you stuck to just banging on the door in the future, Oliver,” Vinyl said as she wandered past the ponies gathered in the hallway and shut herself in the bathroom. “You’re welcome!” Oliver yelled at the door before casually turning to face Octavia. “I’ll be downstairs. Let me know what’s going on later, Octavia.” He eyed Aegis rather carefully as he walked past her on the way out of the apartment. “So, were you just waiting in a closet to ambush somepony or what?” Octavia asked with a slight grin. “I’m glad to see you taking your job so seriously, but I’m not sure that you need to take it to such extremes.” “What? I was just in the guest bedroom,” Aegis said before motioning behind her with her head. “I was just sort of lying in bed. Nobody really sounded like they were awake until a short while ago, and I didn’t know how long until you two wouldn’t be annoyed by me walking around.” “Guest bedroom?” Octavia asked in a dangerous tone as her eyes narrowed. She stomped over to the bathroom door before even giving Aegis a chance to answer. “Guest bedroom? You have a guest bedroom, Scratch? Why the hell did I sleep on the couch, then?” she asked loudly through the door. Vinyl appeared a moment later, rolling her eyes as she ran a brush through her mane with her magic. “Yeah, maybe if you’d let me talk instead of, once again, refusing to listen to me, then maybe I would have had an opportunity to tell you about it,” she said before shutting the door with a loud snap. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, Scratch?” “Listen to me, Octavia. I consider you a friend at this point. Let that sink in for a moment before I say this next bit,” Vinyl answered as she shoved her way past Octavia and out into the hallway. “You really need to stop assuming the worst of me and actually let me talk sometimes.” Octavia opened her mouth and took in a deep breath as she got ready to shoot back a scathing response, but she was nudged by Aegis as the pegasus stepped by light-hoofedly to escape the ensuing argument. The gentle nudge, though, was enough to make her pause and reconsider her response. She took a moment and then turned her attention back to Vinyl with her eyebrow raised, inviting her to continue. “Last night. You were so busy insisting that you wouldn’t sleep with me again. What was your wording again? Oh right. ‘I need to stop using you as a crutch. You won’t be here every night. So, I need to stop giving you the puppy eyes so that you would “cuddle with me for comfort”.’ And while yes, you are correct, having you nearby at night makes me comfortable, it’s more about how it makes me feel safe…” Vinyl said in a softer tone of voice. She glanced down at her hooves after the admission, refusing to meet Octavia’s gaze as she continued. “I’m not so reliant on it that I was going to argue about it, though. If you had just let me respond, instead of stubbornly insisting that you would sleep on the couch, I would have told you that you could use the guest bed. Since you didn’t, though, I let Aegis use it.” Vinyl finished with a quiet huff and then strode off towards the kitchen. Octavia stood there for a moment before she sighed and followed after Vinyl. She strode into the kitchen shortly afterwards and found Vinyl bustling around, apparently getting ready to make herself some coffee. Vinyl didn’t even say a word as she passed by Octavia and yanked a cupboard open. “I’m sorry, Vinyl,” Octavia said with another quiet sigh and sat down at the table. “Huh?” was the only noise that Vinyl made to acknowledge the statement. She sat down at the table opposite Octavia to sip at her mug while stolidly ignoring her. “I said I was sorry, Scratch,” Octavia repeated. “Are you really? You always apologize. You say that you’re sorry, but when it comes down to it, you just do the same things over again. You never let me talk when you’re in that mood, Octavia. You just take complete control of the conversation, and nothing will make you relinquish it. Sure, I can yell and get your attention, but sometimes that’s too much effort. It’s almost like there are times when we talk that you refuse to even consider that you might be wrong.” Vinyl paused to take a long sip of her coffee. “I’m left here to wonder if you really are that sorry. Aegis said she was fine sleeping on the couch, by the way, so you can use the guest bed tonight. I’m going to go down to the studio; if you decide that you can talk to me like an equal, you can come join me.” Vinyl stood up suddenly enough to make the chair screech loudly across the tile floor before she swept past Octavia and caught Aegis’ expression out in the living room. She made a frustrated noise and then turned around. “Fine! I’ll be sitting on the couch waiting since we’re not allowed to split up. Make yourself some tea or something, but please be quick about it. “Will you please just listen to me?” Octavia pleaded as she walked behind Vinyl down the stairwell. Vinyl seemed to make a point of stomping on the stairs in response, appearing to take an almost foalish amount of pleasure in creating the loud echoes, which forced Octavia to raise her voice to even be audible over the noise. Every time she started to annoy Vinyl, the unicorn would speed up and leave her behind for a few steps. It got to the point that the simple act of trying to make herself heard seemed to be enough to annoy Vinyl. When Octavia tried to pick up her pace to cut in front of Vinyl on a landing, she was simply pushed aside as Vinyl ran down the entire next set of stairs. Octavia turned her gaze to Aegis for a moment as she flapped behind the growing spectacle like a silent observer. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m staying well out of this,” Aegis said and then stuck her tongue out at Octavia. “Vinyl, I’m trying, alright?” Octavia finally yelled out of frustration when Vinyl tugged the door open to the fifth floor with her magic. Vinyl seemed to freeze in place at the statement. She stood there halfway through the doorway before she slowly turned in place to glance back at Octavia. The upset frown that had dominated her expression slowly faded as Vinyl raised an eyebrow and let Octavia continue. “You were right. I haven’t been fair to you, and I’m really sorry,” Octavia said in a weak tone as she approached Vinyl. “I’m not perfect, but I’m trying to get better. Please keep telling me when I mess up. I want to keep improving myself, but you need to talk to me and then let me talk afterwards. It’s not fair to just give me the cold shoulder. You’re my only real friend in Canterlot; you can’t just ignore me like that… You have to let me try to show you that I’m sorry and make it up to you.” Vinyl cracked a smile and then strode out into the hallway, holding the door for Octavia with a hoof. They made their way into the studio in silence before Vinyl spoke up again. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I just wanted you to know what it’s like. It’s frustrating, you know? And I get that you’re trying, but every time you backslide, it makes me want to grind my teeth in frustration. I know you’re a better pony than that, Octavia.” “I’ll keep trying, Vinyl. It seems so funny to say this after the way that we started out, but you’re a good influence on me,” Octavia admitted with the tiniest of smiles as Vinyl hesitated on the way to her office. “Hey, Oliver!” Vinyl called out from the hallway and then waited for the tan unicorn to appear. “I’m going to get some things in order and plan out my schedule for the next few days. If Octavia wants to play, since it’s been a couple of days, then could you fetch her bass from my apartment and get her set up?” Vinyl said as much to Octavia as she did to Oliver. “And don’t give me that look, Aegis. The studio only has one entrance, if you’re concerned about watching both of us, then you can sit out in the waiting room. You could even sit and listen to Octavia play through the headphones if you wanted. As long as the door is open, you can see my office from there.” “Sure thing, Vinyl,” Oliver said after Octavia gave him a slight nod. Several minutes later, Vinyl was successfully ensconced in her office as the sounds of electronic music leaked into the hallway, and Octavia was starting to toy around on her double bass. Aegis had positioned herself on the little stool in the recording room, having pulled it a bit closer to the doorway, with the headphones over her ears. Octavia wasn’t entirely certain what she wanted to play, just that it felt nice to get back into the swing of things after a few days off. Just the act of practicing her craft was enough to calm her down after the fitful start to the day. Her mind wandered a bit as she idly shifted between pieces, her hooves gliding across the strings by their own accord as she eventually turned to a more introspective mood. She considered everything that had happened since she started working for Vinyl as the music flowed freely from her hooves. It really was remarkable how much their relationship had changed now that she thought back on the events that had happened since she had met Vinyl. As her mind wandered, only a small part of her noticed that the tone of her music was shifting back and forth with her mood. Anypony that knew her well could probably have picked up on the confusion and uncertainty that was starting to fill her mind as she thought. However, that didn’t seem too likely with the ponies that were around, so she continued to let the music express the emotions that she was having a hard time of putting into words. Her hoof started to play across the neck with more energy as the bow danced across the strings when her thoughts turned more upbeat. Things were, for the most part, looking up for her. The thought of what would happen when everything with Vinyl and the concert was over and done with gave her pause, though. The song drifted off to a slower, more sedate melody and eventually trailed off at the thought that she might even miss Vinyl when they inevitably parted ways. ”There’s no way that I could actually stay and work for Vinyl once I’m back into the full swing of things, could I? It’s not like I couldn’t make the time, but I would be terribly busy…” she found herself thinking as she held the bass close and considered the strange thought. ”No, that’s not true. I would definitely make time for Vinyl, but would I want it to be in a professional sense? Vinyl might not want to keep us involved professionally.” “Is Aegis’ teasing that far off the mark with Vinyl? She has been rather touchy recently, sure, but that’s just because she’s still hurt and needs the comfort, right?” Octavia’s hooves ran slowly across the bass as she kept pondering. She hadn’t even seriously considered that Vinyl might actually want to start a relationship with her until now. It wasn’t really the time to entertain the idea. Vinyl was still too hurt to take any proposition too seriously, but it was enough to make her wonder. ”Would that really be so bad?” Octavia opened her eyes a bit wider as the treacherous thought echoed in her mind. She suddenly resumed playing and picked up the pace, driving the song to a stormy tone as she tried to distract herself but was ultimately unsuccessful. The song slowly returned to a more upbeat tune, seemingly without her realizing it. She stopped playing, looked down at her hooves as if they had just betrayed her, and then let out a sigh. Sure, it wouldn’t be the most traditional relationship, but it was impossible to deny that they had been good influences on each other. At the very least, she’d have to make time to remain friends and visit. That was good enough, right? Her previous mentality of being done with Vinyl the moment she no longer needed the unicorn seemed completely out of the question now. Interestingly enough, that didn’t seem to really bother her. In fact, the idea that Vinyl would remain a friend, that they would continue to see each other on a regular basis, brought a smile to her face as she started to play again. At least with Vinyl she knew where she stood. There wasn’t any silly posturing or extra layers of drama lined into every sentence. She wasn’t left wondering, even hours after the fact, if the other pony actually meant what they had said. Things were so much simpler with Vinyl, even when their regular butting of heads came into the equation. They still argued but, these days, there weren’t really any hard feelings afterwards. Perhaps Resonance had a point when she had said that they acted like an old married couple. Octavia shook her head to clear the treasonous thought, only to realize that she had, once again, completely stopped playing. She heaved a dramatic sigh before starting to pack her instrument away. No matter what happened next, things were improving for her. She was certain that Vinyl was willing to be her fallback if things went sour, but she really didn’t want to make Vinyl have to do that. The idea that Vinyl would be there for her, even if things didn’t work out for the concert, was comforting at least. It gave her the peace of mind that she wouldn’t have to fall back to that level of complete despair that had overcome her outside of the hospital. Thinking back, it seemed like that had been months ago, even though it had only been a few weeks previous. A smile graced Octavia’s face as she set her instrument down in the waiting room and pondered that thought. She walked back to Vinyl’s office and knocked loudly on the open door to make herself audible over the music. It surprised Octavia to see Vinyl sitting there with her purple sunglasses on for once. She was looking rather busy behind the disaster area of a desk. Octavia hadn’t seen the DJ’s trademark sunglasses much since they had both dropped their acts around each other. It seemed that once Vinyl didn’t need to use the tough persona of the boss around her, she had simply left them behind. Octavia idly wondered for a moment how much truth there had been to her accusation that Vinyl was using them as a mask to hide behind, before Vinyl finally spoke up. “Hey, Tavs. I thought you’d want to play for longer,” she said after turning the music down to a dull roar. “Give me a few more minutes here and I’ll be ready to go out. I can get Oliver to carry your bass up to the apartment before we go.” “I kept getting distracted,” Octavia explained with a light shrug and then sat down in a chair that she had dragged over to the wall from in front of the desk. “My mind kept wandering to the future and where I’m heading.” There was a quiet click as Vinyl switched the music off completely in response to the statement and then lifted her sunglasses off to set them on the desk. She gave Octavia an earnest look before finally speaking up. “Don’t worry about that, okay? There’s no way we’re not getting a gig set up for you. I’ve got a solid plan, but even if that doesn’t work out for you in the end, I’ll still be here. If worst comes to worst, I’ll have a bed and somewhere for you to stay until you can get on your hooves again.” “I know, Vinyl, and I really appreciate it. I really do. I’ll get out of your mane and let you finish up here. I’ll be out in the waiting room,” Octavia said with a smile and a casual wave of her hoof. It took several minutes of sitting on the couch, trying very hard not to spend the entire time staring at the damaged wall, before she heard the music start up again. “So what is your grand plan, anyway, Vinyl?” Octavia asked after several minutes of walking down the street with no real announced destination. Aegis swooped by with an audible giggle as she took the opportunity to stretch her wings and have a bit more fun than was strictly necessary. “Nothing complicated,” Vinyl said nonchalantly and then added a wave of her hoof. “I’m going to go pressure an old business acquaintance of mine to let me set up a show. I’ve done this before, but just not usually in one of his more traditional music venues. It might take a little bit of convincing, but my gigs with him have always done well. It shouldn’t be too hard to swing something beneficial.” “You are going to talk to him?” Octavia couldn’t help but ask. “Yeah, you’re going to sit in the waiting room while we chat. He doesn’t need to know it’s for you immediately.” “What, do you think that it’ll be problem if he knows the show is for me?” Octavia asked, unable to prevent her eyebrow from arching dangerously. “No, actually that’s a point in our favor,” Vinyl said as she put her sunglasses on with a flourish to hide the mischievous glint in her eyes. “You’ll see.” “Remind me to never enter into a business venture that you might consider competition, Vinyl,” Octavia replied with a quiet laugh. “Better not,” Vinyl said with a raucous laugh. “I’ll run you into the ground so hard that you’ll have to come crawling to me for somewhere to sleep.” Octavia remained silent as Vinyl continued to lead them deeper into the well-to-do area of Canterlot. They picked their way through a forest of office buildings as Vinyl walked ahead and took the lead with authority. “Buck up, Tavi; we’re almost there. You know I don’t mean anything against you, but business is a different deal,” Vinyl said as she let her grin shift to a kinder expression. “We just have to make sure that it never comes up.” Vinyl held the door open for Octavia and then shot a stern look at Aegis over the top of her sunglasses until the pegasus landed and then trotted along a bit more sedately behind Octavia. Vinyl gave a slight nod and then strode confidently past the receptionist at the front and led the group to a wall of elevators down a short hallway. “Okay, I’m going to talk to him alone,” Vinyl said as she exited the elevator and waited for the others in the hallway. “I’m not going to tell him that you’re involved unless he specifically asks. I’m pretty sure that I can convince him, but if he wants to talk to you, follow my lead, alright?” Vinyl didn’t even wait for the weak nod that Octavia gave in response before leading them down the hallway to a particular set of cushy offices. She walked right up to the desk as if she owned this building too and stood in place, tapping her hoof on the wood until she was acknowledged by the receptionist. “Do you have an appointment, Ma’am?” the rose unicorn asked, trying her best to keep a professional tone. “Nope, tell Blank Label that DJ PON-3 is here with a business opportunity for him,” Vinyl said as she wiggled the sunglasses around on her face a bit with her magic and flashed the receptionist a grin. “He’s a bit occupied at the mom—” “Trust me; he’ll want to know that I’m here. He owes me a big favor, and, being such the wonderful pony that I am, I decided to give him an opportunity to make some money out of it.” “He might just ask you to come back another day…” the receptionist said, her eyes darting around to every place they could except the confident smile plastered across Vinyl’s face. She finally got up and disappeared into the office. “What did I tell you? Easy,” Vinyl said, turning her grin back towards Octavia. “He says to tell ‘Miss Scratch’ that he will see her in five minutes…” the receptionist said in an astonished tone when she reappeared a few minutes later. “Just what I expected, he doesn’t want to seem too eager, but I’ve got his attention,” Vinyl said as she practically cantered over towards the few chairs in the corner to sit next to Octavia. “Now that he’s curious, he’s ours,” she added to Octavia and leaned her chair against the wall behind her. “If you say so, Vinyl,” Octavia said, holding back a smirk at the foalish way of sitting in the chair. “This kind of thing is your ballpark, not mine.” Vinyl nearly fell out of her chair, barely catching her balance and setting all four legs back on the ground when she saw a light blue unicorn stallion stride confidently out into the waiting room to greet them. “Vinyl! What a pleasure, it’s been ages…” he started to say in a booming voice, but trailed off when his eyes fell upon Octavia sitting there and barely moving. “So, is she the business opportunity that you meant? That’s a hard sell, Scratch.” “Listen, Blanky,” Vinyl said in a confident tone, ignoring the way that the stallion’s eye twitched at the nickname. She chuckled quietly and took the opportunity to get up and stand next to him. With the extension of her left hoof, she directed his gaze back to Octavia and then motioned vaguely towards the horizon. “Think about it, Blanky. You’re privy to what’s been going on. There’s been this huge fuss over Octavia here, but it’s been dying down recently. It’s the perfect timing. Everything is still fresh on everypony’s minds, but there hasn’t been a negative opinion piece about her in a while. Everything is set just right for her to reappear on the big stage; there’s just the right amount of curiosity for this thing to work. We’re going to set her up with a show, either way, so I came here to be nice and offer you the first shot at the venue.” “That’s pushing it, Vinyl,” he remarked as he raised an eyebrow but refused to let his glance stray from Octavia. “Nonsense! Think about all of the buzz that this will cause. The return of Octavia to the big stage! Organized and promoted by a DJ, no less. Completely unheard of. The media will be completely split on if it’s a good idea or not, and the controversy will just draw more attention to the show. Popular ponies will speak out on both sides of the hot new debate, but all of the scrutiny will fall on myself and Octavia. I’ll be the one with my name attached to the event doing all of the promotion. Meanwhile, you get a sold out house from the deal because the media buzz won’t lead to any other possibility,” Vinyl explained as she kept waving her hoof around in broad motions. “There’s something to your pitch here, Vinyl… I’m just not sure on it,” he said in a conflicted tone. “If there really is as much of a buzz over this as you say, then it might even carry over to a few of the other shows scheduled around it.” “Exactly! And don’t even think of putting us in one of your crappy venues, we’re talking the big stage here. How many other shows can you guarantee a full house for?” “You’re not going to stop bothering me until I say yes, are you, Vinyl?” he asked with a defeated sigh. “Nope!” “What do you want out of this, Miss?” he asked, ignoring Vinyl for a moment as he returned his focused gaze on Octavia. “Why is that even impo—” Vinyl started but was cut off as a blue hoof appeared in front of her face. “I want to hear from her, Vinyl,” he insisted. “I just want my life back,” Octavia said after a moment of thought. “You’re not after revenge of some kind? A vengeful musician can do a lot of damage…” he said with narrowed eyes. “The only revenge I want is to see the looks on the faces of those ponies after I work my way back up to the top. I want to see their faces the moment they realize what’s happened, to see their jaws hit the ground so hard that they won’t be able to speak for a week when they realize that I proved them all wrong,” Octavia said in a casual tone, but with narrowed eyes that remained locked on the stallion. Blank Label stood silent for a solid minute before he said anything more. He turned towards Vinyl when he finally did. “Fine, you’ve got a show, but if this goes south, you owe me one this time. The next up and coming musician you pick up gets sent my way,” he said as he kept his stern gaze locked on her. “Of course, of course. I’ll be in touch to talk dates. Remember, the big stage,” she emphasized as she walked over to Octavia and Aegis before gesturing towards the door with a tilt of her head. “Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise, Vinyl,” he said in a defeated tone as he turned around and shuffled back into his office while shaking his head. The moment the three of them were in the elevator and the door closed, Vinyl burst out into raucous laughter. “I told you that it was going to be easy,” she said between laughs that shook her entire body. “That’ll show you to doubt me, eh?” “He didn’t seem very happy about it, Vinyl,” Octavia said with a slight frown. “Oh don’t even worry about that, Tavia,” Vinyl said with a dismissive wave of her hoof as she nearly danced in place. “That was way easier than I thought it would be, even with him coming out and seeing you immediately. He’s just posturing, playing business, basically. He’ll be smiling really wide when he’s got a big stack of bits on his desk out of the deal.” “If you say so…” “Can we go to the hospital yet?” Aegis whined loudly in order to be heard over the music that was pouring out into the hallway. She had taken position outside of Vinyl’s office and was currently splayed out on the carpet while she occasionally complained of boredom. Octavia glanced over the top of her magazine to the doorway from where she was sitting off to the side of Vinyl’s desk. She couldn’t quite stop the laugh that escaped her lips at the ridiculous position that Aegis had put herself into. “Vinyl told you when we’d be going to visit Resonance. You’re just going to have to wait a bit longer.” “Ugh, and I thought Vinyl’s personal life was boring,” Aegis complained even louder and then rolled onto her back so that she could cover her face with her hooves. “Really? Because you can never seem to shut up about it,” Vinyl called back without looking up from the clipboard that she was busily scribbling on. “Are you sure that you’re a guard? I think they might have given us a little filly instead. I know that you seem to think that we should be dating, but acting like you’re our foal isn’t really the proper way to go about it.” Octavia laughed at the remark before tossing the magazine that she had been reading at Aegis. “Read something. Hopefully that can stifle the complaints for five minutes,” she said before reaching over to Vinyl’s desk to pick up something else to read. “Ugh, a gossip rag? How can you even read these?” Aegis asked as she wrinkled her face, seemingly at the very sight of the magazine in front of her. When Octavia ignored the question, she eventually started to flip through the pages and settled down to read something. Aegis’ complaints fell to more of a dull roar over the next hour as she seemed to keep herself mostly occupied with the magazine. Vinyl’s music had long since faded into the background for Octavia, so the audible click that came with it suddenly being shut off snapped her out of her reverie. The sudden cessation of the noise made her realize that she had been just staring at the magazine in front of her for quite some time now. It took a moment for her to even recall what the article she had been supposedly reading was even about. “Alright, that’s enough for today. I’m certain that Aegis is about ready to start climbing the walls, right?” Vinyl said with a smirk, ignoring the fact that Aegis was still silently occupying herself out in the hallway with something in the magazine. When the joke failed to even trigger a response from Aegis, Vinyl trotted over and loomed over her for a moment to see if it would snap her out of whatever she was focused on. When that failed, a small smirk spread across Vinyl’s face as she leaned down and positioned herself as if she was about to whisper something into Aegis’ ear. “Hey!” Vinyl said loudly out of nowhere, stifling a giggle at how it made Aegis nearly jump backwards into the wall. “You up for visiting your marefriend or what?” Aegis took a moment to catch her breath before the question seemed to fully register in her mind. Once it did, though, a smile spread across her face and she stood up next to Vinyl. “She’s not my marefriend yet, though.” “Details; you sent her a bouquet of roses after you met her for the first time. Close enough,” Vinyl said with a quiet laugh. “Yeah, but I haven’t asked her out yet.” “Teasing you about Resonance isn’t going to get me anywhere, is it?” Vinyl asked with a slight frown. “Why would I get embarrassed about it? We talked about this in the hospital.” “You’re no fun,” Vinyl said with a quiet huff. “Come on, let’s get going before it gets too late.” Octavia took the lead down the streets of Canterlot. Her stride took on a faster pace than usual as she kept pondering over the thoughts that were bouncing around her mind. Vinyl and Aegis automatically fell into step behind her and, surprisingly, didn’t really seem to be in the mood to talk much as they walked. The combination of being occupied with her thoughts and the quick pace ensured that the hospital came into view rather quickly. Octavia couldn’t stop her gaze from wandering over in Vinyl’s direction every now and then as she kept wondering about whatever it was Vinyl had planned. Octavia found herself slowing her pace as she entered the hospital so that she was soon walking by Vinyl’s side while she kept shooting questioning glances at Vinyl. The words to the question that was bouncing around in her head were finally starting to come together, but right as she was about to speak up, they found themselves coming to Resonance’s room. Resonance was lying in her bed, taking the opportunity to crane her neck over towards the bedside table to sniff at the newly placed bouquet of lavender roses. The assortment of mixed flowers, which Octavia had assumed were from her family, had been pushed to the far side of the table to allow for the roses to take the place of prominence instead. The sudden lack of a neck brace on Resonance was brought into sharp relief by the odd angle that she was craning her neck to get a good sniff of the lavender blooms. The bright smile on her face suddenly turned to a blush as she heard Aegis bound into the room past Octavia and Vinyl with a giggle. “Hey, cutie!” Aegis called out with a bright smile as she walked up and gave Resonance a friendly hug. Her smile intensified when she peered over to the table and saw what Resonance had been occupied with. “Enjoying the flowers, huh?” Octavia shook her head and smiled as she walked around to the far side of the bed and threatened to tickle Resonance with the tip of her hoof. Aegis laughed when Resonance tried to shuffle away from the threat and only wound up nuzzling deep into the fur of Aegis’ chest. A quiet squeak was the only sound that came from Resonance as she blushed furiously and rapidly shot her eyes back and forth between Octavia and Aegis. “Hey, Resonance, we brought your marefriend for a visit,” Vinyl said with a smirk as she passed by the foot of the bed. “I see you’ve already noticed, though. Sorry for taking so long to get her here today,” Vinyl added with a playful wink. All of the ponies except for Resonance laughed when she responded to the teasing by burying her face into Aegis’ chest. She mumbled something into the white fur, but it wasn’t loud enough for anypony besides maybe Aegis to make out. “What was that?” Vinyl asked as she pulled one of the chairs up to the window and sat down with a grin. “I said everyone’s picking on me…” she mumbled again, a bit louder. Octavia and Vinyl giggled at the complaint before Octavia finally relented her teasing and went to sit in her usual chair. “So, you like the flowers, huh?” Aegis asked with a quiet giggle as she looked down at the face still buried in her white coat. She reached down and playfully flicked her hoof across Resonance’s ears a few times before speaking up again. “Did you, uh, know that that color of roses has a… special meaning? I wasn’t really aware of it when I sent them.” Resonance slowly withdrew and stared up at Aegis for a long moment before nodding her head and letting out a quiet noise of assent. Octavia couldn’t stop the frown that passed over her face as she watched Resonance’s reaction. Her eyes furrowed slightly, followed by a barely noticeable trembling of her lower lip. Aegis seemed to pick up on it pretty quickly, though, and tugged Resonance back into a hug before Octavia was able to speak up. “No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious if you knew what they meant and if, uh, you took them for that meaning when I sent them? I didn’t know that they had such an… intimate meaning, but I had a chance to stop the delivery when Octavia told me,” Aegis paused for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she playfully flicked at Resonance’s ears a few more times. “So, even though it wasn’t exactly my original intention, I wasn’t averse to the idea.” Resonance stared wide-eyed up at Aegis for a long moment, trembling noticeably from her spot on the bed. “What are you trying to say, Aegis?” she finally managed to vocalize. “Well, I guess I just, uh, wanted to know if you wanted to go out to dinner sometime? Obviously once you’re out of the hospital that is,” Aegis said with a grin that only intensified when Resonance let out another quiet squeak and buried her face in the white fur again. “Is that a yes?” Aegis asked with a quiet laugh that took all of Octavia’s might to avoid interrupting the scene with her own giggle. Resonance gave an enthusiastic nod and then stopped to giggle at the displeased frown that Aegis gave her at having her fur suddenly ruffled. “I’ll be out of the hospital pretty soon too…” “That’s great; how long?” Vinyl asked so suddenly from beside Octavia that the other two ponies jumped in place and turned their heads to look over towards the two chairs. Both of them stammered quietly and looked at each other for a moment before Resonance very carefully withdrew from Aegis and lied back on the bed in a more normal position. “Uhm, the doctor said maybe a week? Apparently my body wasn’t being very receptive to the healing magic at first, but it’s starting to work better now,” Resonance said quietly. Her eyes darted between Aegis and the two other ponies sitting by the window several times before Aegis spoke up again to break the awkward moment. “That’s great news. So will you be able to walk around freely once you’re out?” Aegis used the question to draw Resonance’s attention back as she sat down and let her head rest on the edge of the bed. Resonance glanced over at Octavia and Vinyl for a moment before turning to face Aegis and automatically falling back into a hushed conversation. Octavia turned and glanced out the window for a moment before she looked over at Vinyl again. The question from before kept resurfacing to the point where it was making it difficult for her to sit still. She waited for Vinyl to glance over in her direction before she finally spoke up. “Vinyl, was that really it? I thought you had much grander plans than going out to bother one stallion…” “Oh, we’re not done yet, Octybaby,” Vinyl said with a grin that fell away at the reaction to the old nickname. “Sorry, I mean we’ve got a few more people to bother still, Tavs. That’ll be easier than what we did today, though. They’re mostly just some ponies that I need to bother so that they’ll help us promote it. We only really need to get the promotion to the point where the news media picks it up. That’s when the circus will start.” “So the whole plan really is to start a controversy around the concert? Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Octavia asked as she returned her gaze to the city that was laid out in front of her. She let out a quiet sigh and then put her face down on the windowsill. “I’m not sure if I can handle having everypony ganging up on me like that again, Vinyl…” “Don’t worry about it; it won’t be the same this time. Plus, I’ll be here for you the entire time. Once the arguing in the media starts to settle down, we’ll hold a party before the event. We’ll treat it like I’m introducing a completely new pony to the scene.” “A party? Wait, you never mentioned anything about a party, Scratch,” Octavia said suddenly as she opened her eyes wide and directed her stare at Vinyl. “Relax, it’ll be fine, Tavsters.” “Don’t just tell me to relax! You have no idea how awful they were at the parties before… I’m not sure if I want to be forced into a situation where I have to interact with them before the concert.” “It’s needed, though, Octavia. The entire point of all of this is to get you work in the industry, right? If we don’t go through all of the motions, then we won’t get the results out of it that we want. This isn’t just to create a huge fuss but to make sure that you get put back into everypony’s minds. If we only go halfway with this, then we’ll probably just be right back where we started.” Octavia kept her fierce gaze locked on Vinyl for a long moment, furrowing her eyebrows as she refused to look away. Finally, she let out a quiet sigh and curled up a little bit in her chair. “You’ll be there the entire time, right?” she asked as she buried her face into her legs and huddled herself into a ball. “I can’t handle being alone in an event like that right now, Vinyl. It would be like getting tossed into a shark tank.” “I won’t leave your side, no matter what. Just trust me, alright? I promise that everything will be fine,” Vinyl said with a kind smile as she leaned closer and hovered a hoof over Octavia’s curled up form before she apparently thought better of it and sat back into her chair. “Do you have anything else that you need to do today, Vinyl?” Octavia asked and uncurled a little bit to direct a nervous glance at the other two ponies as they continued to whisper and giggle excitedly together. Their faces were still turned towards each other as they carried on their conversation, seemingly lost in their own little world. “Not really. We can let them keep going for a while.” “Hm, alright,” Octavia said, her gaze lingering on Aegis and Resonance for a moment. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face upon seeing Resonance so obviously happy. After a moment, though, she curled herself back up and draped her tail over herself. “Are you sure you’re okay with the idea? I don’t want to make it sound like I’m forcing you, but I think that it’s the best idea for moving forward,” Vinyl said as she watched Octavia. “It’s fine… I just need some time to get used to the idea. You’ll have to give me plenty of warning after you come up with the date for the party. I’ll need some time to mentally prepare…” “Make sure that you bring up any concerns you have about anything, Octavia. I’d be happy to go over the details with you to make sure you’re comfortable with everything.” Vinyl said with a smile before turning to look out the window. “I will.” Octavia rolled over on the guest bed and brought a hoof up to rub her eyes. She wasn’t entirely certain what had caused her to suddenly wake up, but it was clearly still pretty early. There was absolutely no light coming in through the window on the far wall, and the clock on the bedside table showed a time that was far too early to ever be allowed to exist. The bed wasn’t quite as comfortable as Vinyl’s, but it was still a major step up from the couch, or even her own bed. Her musings were interrupted by a soft knock on the door that seemed to repeat every couple of seconds. “What is it?” she asked with another rub of her hoof to her face, trying her best to avoid the still-slightly-tender area under her left eye. “Octavia?” Vinyl asked in a hushed tone as she peeked her head through the doorway to confirm that Octavia was awake. “What is it, Scratch?” “Um, I’m sorry for waking you…” Vinyl muttered as she shuffled her way into the room and kept her head tilted down to stare at her hooves and the carpet. “I had a dream about him and I was hoping you’d let me sleep here? Every time I close my eyes, I see his face… I can’t handle it, Tavi.” “Vinyl, you need to—” Octavia started to answer in an annoyed tone but stopped short when she saw the expression on Vinyl’s face. She was standing there just inside the doorway, trembling noticeably from head to hoof as she completely refused to look at Octavia. The sight was so pathetic, and Vinyl seemed to be so close to tears that Octavia reconsidered. “Get over here, Vinyl,” she said in a slightly defeated tone before she shuffled over to the very edge of the small bed. It would be a bit of a squeeze, but, given Vinyl’s habits, it was probably not going to be too much of an issue. “Thanks… I know that you want me to not rely on you so much, but I just can’t tonight,” Vinyl mumbled as she climbed into the bed next to Octavia. “I can’t…” she added as a shiver ran down her entire body. Vinyl sniffled a few times and stubbornly ran a hoof across her eyes in a desperate attempt to stop the tears that had started to run down her face. “Hush, Vinyl; it’s completely fine,” Octavia said with a slight frown. She only hesitated for the briefest of moments before she pulled Vinyl into a tight hug. “You can stay here as long as you need to.” “Why am I so weak when it comes to him?” Vinyl asked between heavy sobs. “Even the memory of his face is enough to turn me into a complete wreck. I thought I was stronger than that, Tavi…” “You are not weak, Vinyl. He did something awful to you, and it’s completely understandable for you to not feel safe until he’s caught,” Octavia said as she ran a hoof through Vinyl’s mane. “I’m sorry…” Vinyl whispered as the tears slowly started to trail off. “I really am. I just feel so safe like this; it helps me deal with the fear. I lied to you the first time this happened too… You thought I was asleep and I nudged my way into your grasp so that you’d be holding me after you finally fell asleep. It was stupid, and I should have asked, but I was too scared and I couldn’t sleep. Then I even made fun of you for it…” “You wha— I mean, it’s fine Vinyl. I can’t say it’s really a surprise to hear that after the way you behaved the next night. I completely understand, though. You’ll feel better when the guards catch him. I shouldn’t have tried to make you deal with it on your own. Just get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning, and I’ll still be right here.” Octavia stared down at Vinyl and couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle when Vinyl gave her the smallest of hugs before nuzzling her face into the gray fur and making herself comfortable. Eventually, even the trembling stopped as Vinyl lied still with a slight smile on her face. Octavia hugged Vinyl again and then let her head lie down on the pillow. Thankfully, Vinyl’s face was still tucked neatly into her neck, so she didn’t have to deal with the awkwardness of them lying nose to nose. There was something nice about having another pony this close to her and sharing their warmth, even if that pony still annoyed the daylights out of her from time to time. “Goodnight, Vinyl,” Octavia whispered, only to receive the tiniest mumble in response.