Chapter 9 : The Money Will Roll Right In
In which things start going too fast
~
They were all starting to get bored of doing nothing all day now. Work had started on re-doing the shop front now, but it would be a few weeks before it would be finished. Vinyl had started a temporary mail order record service to keep cash flowing in while the shop was out of action, she would send out lists of her stock, and ponies would reply by sending cash and their requested titles back to her, and in return she'd mail out what they ordered. This operation was run from Octavia's kitchen table, unless there was food on it.
Vinyl was sure she'd lose a lot of business to the other record shops in the area, but for anypony wanting something over than classical or cheesy pop music, she was pretty much the only way. She always had a reliable core market, she'd just have to work harder to win the other customers back after the shop was fixed up.
But for now, she was incredibly bored of the whole thing. Vinyl had her head rested on the table surrounded by paperwork, Octavia opposite her finishing off some tea. Lyra trotted into the kitchen wearing a trench coat and hat she'd acquired from Celestia knows where, and slowly made her way towards Vinyl, keeping her face behind the collar of the coat at all times and the hat low. Eventually they were side by side. Lyra's eyes were shifting all over the room, she put her muzzle up to Vinyl's ear.
"Psst, hey. Wanna see something cool?"
This piqued Vinyl's interest. Yeah, damn right she wanted to see something cool! Who was saying she didn't want to see something cool? She'd show them! She'd show them all! Nothing would stop her from seeing something cool!
"YEAH!" Vinyl exclaimed after a few moments, slamming a hoof down onto the table, making Lyra jump.
Lyra's eyes shifted around the room again.
"Come with me."
With that she grabbed Vinyl and led her out the front of the house. The adventure ended as abruptly as it had started; Lyra had led her to the little alley between Octavia's house and the building next door.
"Behold!" Lyra beamed, pointing a hoof to a dumpster.
Vinyl was not impressed.
"That's it? Lyyyraaaaaaaaa, this isn't cool! This is the opposite of cool!"
"No, look inside it you cretin."
"So what? You brought me out here to look at other pony's trash? Lyra, this is lame beyond- Ooooooooooooooh!"
~
Lyra and Vinyl stuck to the walls inside Octavia's house, various shushes were exchanged between the two. Lyra had her discovery (poorly) concealed under her coat, they didn't want 'Tavi to find out. Octavia was still in the kitchen, cleaning up at the sink. This meant she was facing away from the kitchen entrance. Ensuring the coast was clear, Lyra and Vinyl quietly made their way to the other side.
"What are you two doing?" Octavia said, not even turning her head to see.
"How did she-"
"I dunno..."
"Nothing..." Lyra and Vinyl replied in unison.
Their excellent deception was ruined when a large object fell from Lyra's trench coat with a thud and a twang.
"Ugh, smooth move." Vinyl said with a hoof on her face.
Octavia came away from the sink to inspect the scene, the two mares were now bickering with each other. She rolled her eyes and continued out. There on the floor between Lyra and Vinyl was a battered red guitar. Several of the strings were broken, the paint was scratched and chipped, and there were several stickers on the front. The name on the head stock identified it as a Splendor Mustang, favored by many underground bands for its ruggedness and cheapness.
"And just where did you two come across this?" Octavia asked with a scowl.
"Trash." They answered, again in unison.
"Rifling through waste, such class..." Octavia dead panned and took a step back from the guitar.
"Can we keep it? Huh, huh, huh?!"
"Do either of you even know how to play a guitar?"
Lyra and Vinyl both cocked their heads.
"Of course...And I don't know why you're asking me about keeping it, I'm not your mother! You both have your own homes and lives!"
"Oh yeah..."
Octavia turned back towards the kitchen.
"DIBS!"
"NUH UH! I FOUND IT FIRST!"
"YEAH, I CALLED IT!"
"TAVI! TELL HER!"
Octavia sighed.
"I might as well be their mother...
~
Tavi was reading the paper in the living room, one story in particular stuck out to her.
'FACTORY TORCHED IN ARSON ATTACK'
"Guess they're still out there then..." Octavia cast a worried glance out the window. It was dark outside now, it wasn't particularly late, but as winter drew in the days were getting shorter.
The slamming of the front door indicated Lyra was back, having gone out a few hours earlier to do...something? She didn't really say. What was clear, though, was that she was in a very good mood, evidenced by the fact that she had just moontrotted into the room.
"Well well, somepony seems very happy..."
"Yep!" Lyra replied while continuing to reverse, circling the sofa Octavia was seated on. "Guess who just got us a gig?"
"Wait, really?"
Lyra nodded, and continued on her backwards path.
"So, when it it?"
"Next week."
"NEXT WEEK?!"
Lyra stopped and gulped in response to Octavia's outburst.
"Next week, as in next week next week?"
"Y-yes...you don't seem very happy about this..."
"Lyra, how many songs do we know as a band?"
Lyra looked at the floor. "One and a bit..."
"What is the name of the band?"
"We don't have one..."
"How many shows have you been to where a band with no name played a single song and left?"
"I get the picture, Tavi."
Lyra lowered her head and left. Octavia head the spare room's door close, followed by sniffing and muffled whimpers through the ceiling.
"Oh buck, did I just do that?"
~
Octavia was still on the sofa, feeling pretty sorry for herself for upsetting Lyra like that. She could still hear her through the ceiling. She'd messed up this time. Vinyl came down the stairs with a disapproving look on her face.
"Well Tavi, what can I say. You messed up this time."
Called it.
"I know..." Octavia replied, looking anywhere but at Vinyl. "But I still have a point."
Vinyl shot her a funny look, and came up face to face with her.
"Octavia, do you know why Lyra went and got us a gig?"
She shook her head. "I dunno, experience?"
"She did it so she'd be able to pay you back for letting her stay at your house."
Octavia blinked a few times in realization, and bolted up the stairs to the spare room.
"Hey! Wait! I'm not done berating you yet!"
~
Lyra was curled up on the bed whimpering quietly to herself. She'd drawn the blind in the room, the only light was the soft glow from the street lights out side skirting around the edges of the window. 'I'm So Tired' by Fugrazei was playing on Vinyl's DJ decks, Lyra using her magic to move the needle back to the start of the song every time it finished.
She didn't hear the door open, but it was hard to miss the noise of somepony clambering over Vinyl's poorly placed drum kit. Glancing up, she found Octavia sat next to her on the bed. They both sat there wordlessly for a few moments, before Octavia wrapped Lyra in a hug, which caused her to tear up.
"I'm sorry." Octavia whispered to Lyra.
"W-why can't I d-do anything right?"
"Oh hush, enough of that now." Octavia wiped the tears from Lyra's face.
Both mares sat in silence for a minute or two, before Octavia turned to Lyra with a smirk on her face.
"So then, how about I start teaching you how to play that guitar?"
~