//------------------------------// // The First Lunch // Story: Tagged // by Alien Bronco //------------------------------// Blissful sleep. Octavia awoke and wiped the crust from the peaceful night's sleep with her fetlock. She peered out of her window and noticed the sun peeking past the horizon. The baton was being passed from Luna's beautiful night to Celestia's equally exquisite day. A masterpiece made by the two most respectable ponies ever. And this day had to be ruined by a certain streetwise DJ. It was nearly time for the white unicorn to arrive so Octavia rolled herself out of bed and crawled into the bathroom. After squirming herself into the shower she turned it on the feel the rush of cold water instantly spring her to her feet. As she enjoyed the jolt of cold that woke her up she began to shampoo her body. She took pride in her soft fur and bouncy hair. Standing on her hind legs did a thing or two to tone her flank. She was rather skinny with a muscular backside, creating what many believed to be the perfect figure for a mare. She turned the shower off after rinsing her tail and plot and peered into the mirror. She smiled at the mare staring back at her. Her mane and coat was wet and hugged her body. It left the soaked gray musician with a weird, almost erotic feeling. "Well hey there beautiful." Octavia turned in shock to see a still very loud Beauty Brass starring at her. Octavia rushed to grab a towel and dry herself off, only to realize that she was now flashing the snickering Tuba player. She blushed a deep rose red, embarrassed from what she had just done before she began to frown. "What they hay are you doing in my bathroom Beauty?" "Sorry! But your girlfriends here to see you." "You mean the street-thug DJ? I'm going to finish up in here, tell her to wait for me." Octavia finished toweling off and began to brush her hair. "GOTCHA!" she galloped downstairs to tell the Artist what she heard. Octavia finished with her comb, and brushed her teeth. As she headed down the stairs she saw the DJ and Harpo sitting beside a computer, watching what appeared to be a cat dancing to some electronic trash. "Octavia, why didn't you tell me that THE DJ p0n-3 was the one who painted our house?" Harpo had a glint in his eye and a strange optimism in his voice. Octavia walked over the over-exited harpist and closed the laptop. "She is here to clean, not to socialize." Octavia gestured towards a bucket, latter and sponge sitting by the door. Vinyl got the hint and without a word picked the supplies up in her magic and headed out the door. <('.')> "Vinyl!" Octavia called the mare that was hard at work, furiously scrubbing at the wall. The white mare looked over a little surprised at hearing her first name. She saw a large pitcher of lemonade in the cellist's fetlock and a glass in her hoof. Vinyl hopped of the latter and quickly went to the sweet liquid being poured from the frosty mug. Vinyl tried to grab the glass in her magic just to remember she was drained. She instead grabbed the glass and gulfed it down. With a nod of her head she cantered back over the wall and continued her work. "Still not talking? Ok then that’s perfectly fine, we can talk at lunch. Speaking of which, i will be back in an hour so you can grab a shower and then we will go to the pub you suggested. Now back to work please." Octavia set the lemonade down on the pavement in case the unicorn got thirsty. She trotted back inside to continue her cello practice. She had been at it all morning. Fredrick needed to know what her range was so he could compose accordingly. She didn't mind. Her cutie mark was a treble clef after all. This didn’t really make sense now that she thought about it. You don’t use a treble cleft in cello scores. Shaking the thought from her head Octavia hoisted herself onto her strong hind legs and met the cello. Their intricate dance. If the cello leaned slightly left or right than Octavia was sure to fall. This is why Octavia has trained herself in this dance. In the ability to sway with the cello to stay up and continue making the blissful music that drew the fans in by the thousands. She lost herself playing a piece she loved more than any, the Sonic Rainboom. This intricate piece was actually written by Fredrick himself in his early teens. He saw the most amazing rainbow flow across the sky and filled him with inspiration. A bountiful, inspirational, fast paced song was the product of this phenomenon. After realizing she had just spent nearly an hour and a half playing she dropped her cello and began to trot outside. She was stopped by a white unicorn sitting on the floor, watching the cellist. "Wha... why aren't you working on the wall?" The cellist was more puzzled than she was mad. In fact she was quite... surprised that the white mare didn't interrupt the playing. The unicorn tapped the zoned gray musician on the shoulder and gestured towards the door. "Ok you ready for lunch?" Vinyl nodded her head, trying to resist the urge to talk. Vinyl didn't talk not because she was sad, or mad, or even just being arrogant. She stayed silent because she was scared. She believed that her words only brought pain. "Ok let’s go then. I don't really know where were going so i guess i will just follow you." The two mares walked down the street, past the police, through the middle class town houses scattered through the city, and into the area of the city nopony wanted to go. Octavia sped up a bit and planted herself firmly against vinyl. Octavia wasn't used to the city, and the city was most likely not used to her either. The pair walked down the street, every now and the getting stopped by a fan of vinyl’s saying 'Vinyl my little homey, wassup' or 'Yo DJ, digged the last track. Keep it up!' Most encounters ended in a casual hoof-bump and then the passer byes went on their way. The pair finally reached the pub and vinyl nodded her head at the cook. He threw what looked to be a pile of beans and peas mashed into a patty onto the grill. "Ok now please talk to me if you will, i need to know why you did it. And why aren’t you speaking?" Octavia sat ready for an answer. Instead she received a sigh from the eighth note marked mare sitting next to her.' "Fine. I am a DJ. My name is Vinyl Scratch. I did it to feel, and i don't talk because it only causes pain. Good enough for you?" Vinyl spoke as if she was forced to, saying the lines like she had just read them off of a script. "Please miss scratch, i know we are not really friends but you have a rather enjoyable voice to listen to. Why would it hurt anypony?" A small blush crept up on the cellists face. She wasn't used to giving compliments, especially to street mares whose company wasn't really wanted. "Listen I’m not going to spill my guts out to you... let’s just say I’ve done things with this voice I’m not proud of. Please, I’ll answer your questions but don't expect too much musicbutt." Vinyl gave a wink to the cellist who looked away in a blush. Why she was blushing? The world may never know. "Here you go girls, to mean greens." The rather untrimmed stallion handed the pair of mares there concoctions. They looked greasy, with a bun on the bottom, a dark green patty in the middle, a slice of lettuce on top and a slice of spinach on top of that. Guacamole was spread across the top portion of the bun. Octavia looked in disgust at her 'Mean Green'. She wasn't used to lower class food. After looking across the table vinyl appeared to be done with hers. "My Luna Vinyl, how did you eat that so fast?" Octavia was absolutely puzzled at the mare who was dabbing her face. This was the first time shed seen vinyl use magic and it was positively stunning Vinyl had a mixture of dark and teal blue for her aura. Octavia couldn’t look away. Normally an aura was dull and boring but this mare’s was vibrant and lively and beautiful... Wait, no this isn't right. I shouldn't be thinking positively about this mare. She painted my house. Granted it was an amazing work of art for... NO OCTAVIA STAHP, STAHP RIGHT NOW. "Hmm yea sorry for eating so fast. I kinda haven't eaten for three days." Vinyl looked at Octavia apologetically. She seemed lost in thought, and was rather cute like that... She seems to be blushing. No vinyl. Not again, Never again. "Try yours, the burgers here are amazing!" Octavia looked at her burger in a mixture of disgust and intrigue. She took a bite and OH MY CELESTIA THIS IS GOOD. She ate a few more chunks before she finally took a breath. Vinyl had a grin across her face, one that screamed 'i told you so' Octavia spoke up with her mouth full. "Oh shut it this is the best tasting 'burger' I’ve ever had." Vinyl immediately broke into a hearty laugh at Octavia’s pronunciation of the word 'burger'. "Oh look at miss prim and proper! You have a bit of something right there." Vinyl gestured her hoof towards a smear of guacamole placed on Octavia’s cheek. "Here?" Octavia attempted to wipe off the greenery on her cheek but missed. Vinyl just watched, laughing at every missed swipe. "Here Octavia, I’ll get it!" Vinyl used her magic to pick up a napkin and wipe the cheek of the cellist. "Thank you." said the cellist through a slight blush. "See you are a nice mare, why are you painting houses?" Octavia took another bite of her burger waiting for a response from her fellow musician. Fellow musician? Sense when have DJ's been musicians? "Fine I’ll tell you, but you’re buying lunch!" Vinyl mockingly glared at the cellist who was still consuming her burger. "Deal, but no leaving out any details! I want to venture into the mind of a graffiti artist." Vinyl began with a sigh "Ok, well i guess the best way to express this is by example. Remember back at the house when you were lost in your music?" Octavia returned a startled nod, her attention still engrossed in her delicious 'Mean Green'. "Well that feeling you get listening to the music you've made, i get that to. Whenever i make a new beat i feel this sense of freedom, this euphoric sense only matched by sharing that beat with ponies. I get to escape life, my problems, and my past troubles just for a few minutes of nonstop hoof pumping and thundering applause. I get a feeling of freedom, a feeling of absolute bliss. I gave up preforming at clubs after the ac... After i had fallout with one of the owners. I got blacklisted at most the big clubs and i slowly lost my sense of music. Well i missed that feeling of freedom; I didn't want to be controlled by society any longer. One night i went out with a friend and tagged a building with... well those sunglasses that were on your wall." The white unicorn gave an award chuckle as Octavia finished her burger and glared at the storyteller. "Well one thing led to another and i discovered that graffiti art gave me that same sense of freedom i longed for... so I kept going and tagged almost every abandoned building in mane row." Octavia interrupted "I'm sorry where is mane row?" "It's, well, it’s the area where all the abandoned war factories were converted into apartments or abandoned. Well now you heard my story, happy Tavi?" "I'm sorry did you call me Tavi? "Yes mam." "Can you please restrain from doing that any further?" "No sire i can't! You are from now on Tavi and will always be Tavi! So any idea what time it is?" Vinyl was trying to avoid eye contact with the earth pony, which was staring daggers so sharp at the street DJ she could feel it entering her skin and exiting through the opposite side. "It is around 2, and i have practice in about an hour so as enjoyable as this soirée has been i must be on my way. You did well today vinyl. I suggest you come and finish up in two days’ time and we can have our second lunch then. After we can rid ourselves of each other for a few days before we will meet again. Sorry for how demanding I’m being but i feel that in this particular case it is quite necessary." Octavia took a deep breath after her ramble. Vinyl shook her head in agreement before speaking in a fake Canterlot accent, sounding more as if her I's are E's and her r's are non-existent. "Ok Tavi, but i do say i shall walk you back to the police station as to help you avoid getting shanked." "No, vinyl, it’s quite alright i think i can make it back on my own." Octavia stood up and took out a bag full of bits out of a pocket on the back of her Bow tie. She takes a few bits out and leaves them for the lunch before placing her bits back in her bow tie. She then gets about half way out of the shop before she feels a cold hoof on her flank. She looks at a tall muscular stallion with a black coat and dark blue mane. “Ur a pretty mare you know that. How bouts I take you home and show you what it’s like to ride a bronco.” “I… I” Octavia was now shaking. She spent about 15 seconds away from vinyl and already was in trouble. “Common now pretty mare, let’s get outa here” The stallion pushed Octavia forcefully towards the door before a bottle of ketchup floated in front of the stallion surrounded in a beautiful blue aura. The bottle squeezed and the stallion covered from head to toe in ketchup. “Well all i wanted was a simple no…” The stallion ran out of the door with tears in his eyes. “You’re welcome! Now I’m going to walk you to the police station and you're going to keep your virginity.” Vinyl smugly walked next to Octavia and began pushing the shaken up earth mare. “Hey you don’t know I’m a “ “Please Tavi, you walk like a virgin, talk like a virgin, and even eat like a virgin. I bet if i put a grain of sand up your flank I’d have a diamond in a week.” “Oh, how original. Is it really that hard to come up with a new gag?” Vinyl stared at Octavia awkwardly for a few moments before the dam of curiosity finally burst. “What are you staring at Tavi?” “No one important, can we head to the station now? I really must go.” Not sure who the cellist was addressing VINYL decided to take her leave of absence, dragging the crazy uptight cellist with her. The two mares made their way down the street before either spoke up. “Hey that’s rude!” Vinyl stopped for a second to stare at the crazy cellist. After a moment of confusion Vinyl decided to drop it and continue towards the police station to drop of her fri… her parole officer so she could get back home and make a new beat. She was feeling rather inspired for some strange reason. A short walk and some idle chit-chat later and the mares went their separate ways. One back to the harsh inner city, and the other to her life of excess and luxury.