//------------------------------// // Expressway To Yr. Skull // Story: The Sound And Fury From Seaddle // by Nic-Fit //------------------------------// Chapter 4 : Exressway To Yr. Skull Mystery train, Three way plane, Expressway.... To your skull ~ Octavia stirred groggily, slowly opening her eyes and glancing around, vision still a little hazy. She was in an unfamiliar room, its was large, manky, and poorly lit. She had no idea where she was, or how she got here. Plus, her head absolutely killed. She brought a hoof to her forehead in an effort to relieve the pain, only to be greeted by a nasty stickiness. Confused, she pulled her hoof away. It was red. "Blood?" "My blood?" "Aaaaaaah. Aaaaaaaaaaaah." "AAAAAAH!" Panicked, she rolled over, and landed with a thud. She had apparently been laying on a sofa, though how and why were a mystery to her. "Oh, where am I? How did I get here? Is some pony trying to kidnap me? Did- Did they try to m-murder me? What do I do, What do I do?! Octavia's mental breakdown was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. She swung around to face the door, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble (which would be pretty useless, as that door was the only exit), only to be greeted by a friendly face. Vinyl put on a massive smile, and lunged at Octavia, trapping the grey pony in one of her signature hugs/strangulations. "OhmygoshTaviyou'reok!Weweresoworried!Ithoughyou'dreallyhurtyourselfwhenIsawyoubutI'msohappyyou'reok!" "...Uh, thats great..." Octavia struggled to say, attempting and failing to process any of what Vinyl had just said at all, "But do you think you can ease up a little, I can't breathe." "Heh, sorry..." A familiar awkward smile found its way to Vinyls face, only to be quickly replaced by a look of shock. "TAVI! YOU'RE BLEEDING!" "Woah, calm down Vinyl, a first aid kit is on the way as we speak." Lyra said as she came in, stopping lean on the door frame. "How're you holding up?" "Uh, not great, really. I have no idea how I... well I guess we, got here." Octavia glanced around the room. "Where even is here? How long was I out for?" A third voice chimed in from behind the door, it was familiar, but Octavia couldn't quite place it. "You're just in the back rooms of the venue. We saw you lying on the floor, and couldn't really just leave you there, could we?" A pale blue unicorn stallion entered the room, with a heavily beaten up guitar in tow. The voice now had a face it seems. "As for how long you've been out, I can't really say, but we found you out there about 10 or so minutes ago. Let me introduce myself, I'm No Wave. Your friends tell me your name is Octavia?" No Wave, No Wave....she had heard that name before. But where. Then it hit her, the familiar voice, this No Wave character, the fact she was in the back room of this 'venue'. She let out a small gasp. "You're from Sonic Foal!" "Yep, at least I was the last time I checked. So then, Ms. Octavia, care to tell us how you ended up on the floor?" "Okay, you know where you are and why, but what about how? Focus, you were watching the show, Vinyl and Lyra left for the front, and so did you after a bit. You got to the front and...THATS IT!" "Well, I'd made my way to the front to try and find Vinyl and Lyra, but when I got there somepony jumped off the stage and hit me right in the face." Octavia explained, wincing as she brushed her new wound. No Wave sighed, "Another stage diving accident? I swear these happen, like, every other show. Well, I'd like to apologies on behalf of Sonic Foal for this, Dissonance is just off finding you something for your head." "Oh there's no need to apologize at all! I mean, you could've just left me out there on the floor, but I'm very grateful that you didn't. Its not like it was your fault anyway." A tiny, tiny, shell pink pegasus mare came through the door, with a medical bag balanced on her back. "Point is," She said, sitting down next to Octavia and looking through the bag, "We all feel really bad about this, Hold still, this'll sting a bit." She set about cleaning the wound on Octavia's head. It did, as promised, sting. "Dissy is right, nopony has ever gotten hurt this badly at one of our shows before. Except that one time an amp stack fell on our manager, but that was pretty funny." Octavia was about to question how it could have possibly been funny, but was stopped short by Dissonance. "Trust me. It was actually pretty funny." "But anyway, we're really sorry about this whole thing. We've asked the venue to refund all your tickets for the trouble. Plus, we want you to have this, Octavia, to say sorry." No Wave presented Octavia with a copy of the new Sonic Foal album. It had been signed by all the members. "Vinyl here tells us you're somewhat of a record collector, we thought you'd like this. We all signed it too, plus its limited edition, check it out!" Octavia slid the record out of the sleeve, revealing that it was marbled light pink in colour, with flecks of grey and white. It was a work of art in its own right. "This is...I-I can't accept this! You've already done so much, if anything I owe you!" "Nonsense, I can't let anypony leave a show feeling disappointed, let alone hurt! At any rate, I thought you could probably use some cheering up after what happened." No Wave offered a reassuring smile. Octavia paused, glancing up at No Wave and Dissonance. "Thank you so much, for everything. I mean it." "She's getting emotional again." Vinyl whispered to Lyra. "She did it when I gave her free stuff too." ~ The three spent the next hour or so hanging out backstage with Sonic Foal. Vinyl had decided that 'hanging out with Sonic Foal" was probably the coolest thing to happen, ever. Many photos were taken. Many ever so slightly drunk conversations were had. "Wait wait wait, lemme get this straight, you all play instruments, and you all like similar music, but you're not a band?" Octavia, Lyra and Vinyl all nodded in unison. "Pfft, thats dumb. You should totally start a band." The drummer had a point, even though he was a buzzing a bit. It was pretty stupid that they weren't a band. To be fair though, Lyra and Octavia had only known each other for about 18 or 19 hours, tops. Still, it was something that should be considered. "Oh, we really should!" Vinyl interjected. "That would be soooo fun!" "Go for it, there's no reason not to, I mean, we did and it worked out pretty great." "I would totally be up for that." Lyra said between sips of her drink. "YESYESYES!" Vinyl pretty much exploded, turning to face Octavia with the biggest smile probably ever. "Taaaviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?" It would be pretty great. And, unlike normal, she couldn't really see any downsides. If it was really that bad, they could just stop. Unable to find a flaw, she decided. "Yes. Yes, this is a good idea." "YES! THIS IS HAPPENING!" Vinyl grabbed Lyra and Octavia into a group hug. "THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT EVER!" And so, with the majority of the band members unable to move or breathe, the band was started. ~ Soon enough it was time to leave, the venue had closed for the night, plus the band needed to get going, unless they wanted to miss their next gig. Thank you's were exchanged, and the groups went their separate ways. "I can't believe we just hung out with Sonic Foal!" Vinyl beamed, "And Tavi, can't believe you got a signed record! And I can't believe we started a band! This night has just been the coolest!" "Yeah, its been pretty wild..." Octavia brought a hoof to her head in an attempt to ease the sharp ache she felt now that the painkillers had started to wear off. "I think I would like to go to the hospital tomorrow, though..." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, that cut looked pretty nasty..." Lyra replied, suppressing a yawn. They continued along for a few more minutes in relative quiet, until Octavia broke off from the others. "Well, this is my house. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight!" Having said her goodbyes, Octavia made her way inside, setting down her precious musical cargo, and headed straight for her bed. She was asleep in seconds. ~ Lyra and Vinyl continued on, slowly making their way back to the record shop. As it turned out Lyra didn't really have anywhere to stay, but Vinyl had said it was cool for her to crash in the living room above the shop. Vinyl fumbled at the door, struggling to work it as a result of the tiredness/inebriation combo. Finally, the mechanism worked with a satisfying click. Proud of her victory, she pushed the door open and walked in. Alone. ~ Lyra grumbled a little in her sleep. On the side walk. Tiredness had gotten the better of her between Octavia's house and the record shop. It was going to be an uncomfortable night. ~