It was later the following afternoon that Rarity found herself trotting across Canterlot. Above her the sun was shining but the large yellow sunhat she was wearing shaded her nicely from the heat. She stopped a moment as she pulled out a map from a small, but elegantly designed, set of saddlebags that rested on her back. Holding it in her magic she studied the route she was to take and then looked up at the streets. She was worried she had become lost, this area of Canterlot was not one of her common visiting locales, but thankfully that was not the case. Putting the map away she trotted on, rounding a few more corners before coming to a stop.
In front of her was a sizeable but low set building. It looked a little worse for wear, some of the paint peeling and one of the letters in the neon sign on the front remaining unlit. Rarity pulled a face, she didn’t much care for the state of repair the building was in, truthfully she found it rather insulting to Canterlot’s well-kept streets and pristine décor. Even so this was the right address and there was little choice in the matter if she wanted help. As she approached the door she remembered back to a few hours before when she had proposed her idea to Octavia.
“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” asked Octavia slowly, nursing a fresh cup of tea around her hooves.
“I’m not entirely sure my dear but given the situation I think it’s the only option. I have worked with her before on a few projects and her work, whilst different to yours, is good,” replied Rarity before taking a sip of her own tea.
“But her? I don’t know if I would feel comfortable…”
“Darling don’t worry, we will make sure to explain everything to her before we agree to anything. Just trust me on this, please?”
“Well…alright…”
“Tell you what darling, if you’re feeling uncomfortable why don’t you stay here this afternoon. I will speak to her and see what I can work out. How does that sound?”
Octavia paused for a moment, seemingly studying the tea leaves in the bottom of her cup as she considered the proposal. At length she finally gave a small nod. Rarity leaned over and gentle rested a hoof on Octavia’s.
“Have faith my dear, we will find a way.”
“And we shall!” announced Rarity to herself as she pushed open the door to the building and stepped inside.
Inside the building was much the same as the outside, slightly uncared for but not completely dilapidated…yet. The doors opened into a small reception area, a corridor leading off to the right. There wasn’t much in the way of decoration in the room apart from a few pictures of famous musical ponies and a slightly ill looking potted tree in a corner. A desk sat at the back of the room, behind which a young blue pegasus pony was sitting. He looked a little bored, aimlessly flipping a yoyo around in his hoof as he attempted to perform a few tricks. As Rarity walked in though he snapped his attention forwards, a beaming smile filling his face.
“Hi there! Welcome to the DJ Hole, what you looking for today?” he called cheerfully.
“Oh uh, well,” began Rarity as she glanced around the room, “Is Miss Scratch available?”
“Pon-3? I’m sure she’s around here somewhere, think she was out on the town last night so she might not be too talkative. That going to cause a problem?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” sighed Rarity as she shook her head, “I will have to speak to her to find out.”
“Sure thing, if you’ll follow me I’ll see if I can find her. What’s your name by the way? I’m Star Blitz.”
“Rarity.”
Star Blitz flashed her a broad smile once more as he gave a quick flap of his wings and catapulted himself over the desk, landing only a few paces from her. As he landed his spiked yellow mane flipped forwards into his eyes causing him to raise a hoof to throw it back. He grinned again and then motioned for Rarity to follow him. Rarity did just that, wandering along behind the Pegasus as he made his way down the corridor. Rarity continued to look around taking note of each door as the passed by. Despite having worked with Vinyl Scratch on various occasions in the past she had never visited her place of work. She was less than impressed and began to wonder just what the pony had spent all the bits on that she had paid.
“Ah hah! Here we go,” announced Star Blitz as he stopped next to a door.
On it was a slightly crooked nameplate that read ‘Vinyl “DJ Pon-3” Scratch’. Star Blitz rose a hoof and knocked loudly. There was no response. Pulling an irritated face he tried the handle and found the room unlocked; pushing it open he stepped in. Rarity poked her head in too, catching the sound of snoring almost immediately. Flopped over her desk was Vinyl, the white unicorn drooling slightly as she snored loudly. Star Blitz didn’t bat an eyelid as he walked over to the sleeping pony.
“Hold on this won’t take a moment,” he said quickly with a glance at Rarity before turning back to Vinyl.
He lowered himself closer to the sleeping pony before he spoke again.
“Vinyl Scratch!” he cried loudly, his muzzle no more than a few inches from Vinyl’s ear.
The sleeping unicorn jump like she had just been zapped by lightning.
“Yes mommy!” she cried loudly in shock before going silent and clutching her head, “Uuuuuh! What….Blitz? Oooooh, by Celestia! Why’d you…oooooh, why are there three of you? Wait never mind? Whichever is the real you get me something for this headache alright?”
“Sure thing Pon-3,” replied Star Blitz as he headed for the door, “Oh you got a visitor too, her names Rarity.”
With that the young Pegasus turned and headed from the room leaving a rather unimpressed Rarity to stare at the hung over DJ in front of her. Vinyl just continued to groan as she rested her head on the desk. Rarity sighed, this was going to be much more difficult than she had planned. Trying to think of an icebreaker she glanced around the room. The walls were decorated with all manner of records and certificates in frames; the collection being very impressive.
“Interesting selection of décor my dear,” commented Rarity.
“Huh? Oh, right…” replied Vinyl as she slowly raised her head to look at Rarity.
Despite her mind being full of fog she couldn’t help but think of the name, it was definitely familiar to her.
“R-Rarity…that name sounds familiar…” she mumbled to herself as her mind finally clicked, “Oh hayseeds!”
Vinyl’s head shot up quickly as she remembered who Rarity was. The sudden movement caused her head to spin and as quickly as it had risen it crashed back to the desktop. She moaned again and slowly raised a hoof to her face to rub her eyes. This time she raised her head a lot more slowly, blinking hard to bring the world into view. Rarity gave a sigh and shook her head.
“Uh sorry,” continued Vinyl as she took a deep breath, “Wasn’t expecting company this morning.”
“Afternoon,” corrected Rarity, “Late afternoon.”
“Afternoon? Geez, what did I drink last night?”
“I doubt it’s a question of what but rather how much.”
“Yeah, most likely,” replied Vinyl as she rubbed her head, “Blitz! Where’s my headache relief?”
“Coming boss,” replied the Pegasus as he swooped into the room and landed in front of Vinyl’s desk.
He promptly plonked a glass of water and two white pills down on the table top. Vinyl didn’t need prompting, sweeping up the pills in her hoof and chugging them down with water. She continued drinking until the glass was empty and then sat back in her chair. For a moment Vinyl remained still and then finally pulled herself to her hooves.
“Thanks Blitzr,” she said pleasantly.
“No worries boss, I’ll on the front desk if you need me,” replied the Pegasus with a grin before dashing from the room.
Rarity watched the Pegasus leave, smiling slightly to herself, “A pleasant pony.”
“Yeah Blitz really helps out a lot around here. Couldn’t keep up with it all if it wasn’t for him.”
“Maybe you should lay off the alcohol then, you do realise the effect it can have on us unicorns.”
“Yeah I guess so,” replied Vinyl with a blush.
It was very true that most unicorns didn’t drink alcohol, or at least didn’t drink a lot. The chemical imbalance it created in the body had a tendency to disrupt the passive movement of magic in and out of a unicorn’s body. The results varied greatly but severe hangovers unlike anything a Pegasus or earth pony could imagine were one of them.
“Well, now that is all said and done,” commented Rarity, “I need to talk to you.”
“Uh sure, what about?” asked Vinyl.
“Two items. Firstly are you available for hire in two days’ time?” asked Rarity.
“Two days? Yeah I think I’m available. I’ve got a gig at the Hardhoofs Bar tomorrow and next weekend I’m playing at the party after the national chilli eating contest.”
“National chilli…oh nevermind,” Rarity rolled her eyes.
“So what’s the gig then?” asked Vinyl.
“Well that brings me to my second point. Unlike the previous time I’ve hired your expertise you won’t be working alone this time. Actually I want you to play as a backup and support for another artist.”
Vinyl frowned, “Support? Seriously? DJ Pon-3 is the best pony you could ever hire. She drops more bass that a fish vendor! Who could you possibly want me to play support for?”
Rarity pondered for a moment, debating on if she should tip toe around the issue or just come straight out with it. Given the disgruntled look on Vinyl’s face though she doubted the unicorn would settle for any fancy stepping.
“Octavia Melody,” she replied finally.
Vinyl’s eyes dilated rapidly, her jaw dropping a moment later. For a moment she stood in shocked silence before her hind legs finally decided enough was enough and collapsed under her sending her rear plummeting to the floor. The impact jolted her back to her senses but even so it took her a moment to regain the ability to speak.
“Oc-Oc-Octavia…man…” she murmured slowly, “…that was unexpected.”
Rarity bit her lip slightly, “I uh…understand that you two…got a little close at one stage.”
Vinyl blushed bright red and quickly looked away, obviously embarrassed by the mention of such things.
“Well uh…I guess…kinda…but not really,” she replied slowly.
“Whatever do you mean darling?”
Vinyl still looked a little embarrassed to be talking about such a subject forcing Rarity to go on.
“Look I’m sorry to bring this up and well the truth is…”
Rarity spent the next twenty minutes explaining everything that had happened since she had met Octavia a few days before. About Octavia’s struggles, her problems and her broken friendships but most of all the event that lead to it all coming to a head. Through it all Vinyl sat and listened, nodding as Rarity spoke. Vinyl usually found talking like this to be boring, she was a pony of action and fun, but right now you could have mistaken her for Twilight. As Rarity finally came to the end of her story Vinyl could only say one thing.
“Woah…” she murmured, “And all that happened because they think we…”
“…yes,” replied Rarity, cutting Vinyl off before she could say anything too graphic.
“Woah, I didn’t think anything like that would happen. In my line of work it’s pretty common place to be honest. Mad parties, loads of beer, casual sex…life of a DJ. Never occurred to me to think that other ponies might frown on it.”
“Well I think most would my dear if they knew the full extent of it but in Canterlot…well the level of tolerance for such things is a little lower. But I do have one question, what did you mean when you said ‘kinda’ earlier?”
“Oh that…well you’ll probably find this a little amusing honestly now that I’ve heard that story. That night after the wedding party when Octavia and I supposedly, well you know, we didn’t.”
“You didn’t? But Octavia…”
“Octavia was so drunk that night I’m amazed she remembered as much as she did. Truth be told she came onto me like a pony in heat but…well we retired to a private room but before anything actually happened she fell asleep. Totally out cold, she could have slept through holy Armageddon and not woken up. Worse part of it all was she collapsed on top of me, you ever tried to move a sleeping earth pony? Take it from me, don’t bother trying, I was stuck there all night. Total mood killer.”
This time it was Rarity’s turn to be shocked, “But then…”
“Heheh! The look on your face is priceless!” chuckled Vinyl.
“This is no laughing matter! This is serious!” snapped Rarity as her senses returned to her.
“Oh, yeah…right.”
This changed everything! All the problems and turmoil that Octavia had faced since the wedding party, all of it was based on something that didn’t even happen regardless of how close it was. She had to tell Octavia, she had to…
Rarity paused in her thoughts, did this really change everything? Was Octavia’s situation likely to change just because one pony said it wasn’t true? If anything it would likely make it worse! Dredging up past problems was never a way to make things right…at least not in this case. The Canterlot elite was hardly going to believe a story that came from a ‘disgraceful’ member of Equestrian society. Having worked with Vinyl on multiple occasions Rarity knew that much that was said about her was untrue; despite her tendency to party hard she was a good natured creature at heart but that didn’t mean a thing to those in the upper circles.
“Uh…hey, you alright?” inquired Vinyl, her voice cutting through Rarity’s internal monologue, “Looks like you’re getting a headache too.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” dismissed Rarity with a wave of her hoof, “Just thinking, I just don’t know if this revelation makes things easier of harder.”
“Uh yeah…I guess that’s an issue,” replied Vinyl as she scratched a hoof across her temple, “…say, it Tavi here? I don’t know if she’d want to see me but after hearing about everything that’s happened guess I should apologise.”
“She’s not here no, she was a little nervous about meeting you again, she still think the two of you ‘did it’.”
Vinyl nodded slowly, “Well I’ll take the gig, it’s the least I can do for Tavi. She was such a fun pony to hang out with at the party. I kept meaning to find out what she was up to but I was always too busy.”
“Or drunk…” murmured Rarity to herself with a small shake of her head, “Alright, why don’t you come back with me? You can apologise and we can discuss what we’re going to do next.”
“Awesome!” cheered Vinyl, the DJ pony punching the air with a hoof as she spoke, “Oh and don’t worry, with DJ Pon-3 at your side nothing can ever go wrong!”
--------------------------------------
Octavia paced back and forth across the small room. Ever since Rarity had left she had been unable to keep still, her mind racing from one concern to another. Was this the right thing to do? What would happen? Could Vinyl be trusted? Could she herself be trusted? Her mind kept going back to that night when it had all started. Much of it was a haze, a mass of swarming images that made little to no sense. She remembered playing during the opening song of the night and some of the party that followed. She remembered watching the white unicorn as she bobbed her head to the beats she was playing. What had possessed her to speak to her? She didn’t even like ‘wubs’.
She sighed heavily and looked towards the door once more. She couldn’t do much until Rarity returned and worrying wasn’t going to help. Crossing to the table she poured herself another cup of tea. The liquid had long since gone cold but Octavia didn’t seem to notice as she sipped slowly. She hated to admit it but she was scared. Scared of what might happen but more so what wouldn’t happen.
Before she had been trying her best to make things right; to bring her friends back together and to apologise for the events of the past. She knew now that it was a far flung dream that only existed in her mind. Perhaps a part of her had known all along but she had refused to admit it to herself. Even if this grand event that Rarity had planned out actually work…even if her reputation was restored…what good would it do now?
She was about to take another sip of tea as she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching from the other side of the door. She placed her cup down, trotting quickly towards the door.
“Rarity, I’m so glad you…” she began as she flung the door open.
The rest of her sentence caught in her throat as she saw not one white unicorn but a pair standing before her. Rarity was trying her best to look calm but the other was looking a little sheepish as she slowly removed the pair of shades she was wearing.
“Uh…hi Octavia…long time no see,” Vinyl spoke in an oddly out of character chuckle.
For a moment Octavia stood still in the doorway. She could feel her cheeks flushing with sudden embarrassment as the memories that she did have of that night over a year ago flooded back to her.
“V-Vinyl…” she stammered slightly as she looked quickly at Rarity, her eyes pleading for an explanation.
“Don’t worry my dear,” replied Rarity as she noticed the earth pony’s growing nerves, “we have plenty to discuss and I’ll explain everything in due course. Come along now Vinyl.”
“Uh…yeah” replied Vinyl as they both stepped over the threshold and into the room.
Octavia backed off slightly as they entered, the earth pony still trying to stammer words but quickly closing her mouth as incomprehensible gibberish was all they came from it. She raised a hoof to cover her face as the ruby red blush continued to spread across it. Her mind was confused, why wasn’t she angry? Why was she just standing there like a small child? Lowering her hoof she found Rarity and Vinyl slipping into a pair of chairs at the table. She took a step before hesitating, why was she hesitating?
“Octavia darling…are you alright?” asked Rarity in a concerned tone.
Octavia shut her eyes and took a deep breath. With almost perfect precision she let the breath go and opened her eyes as the blush faded from her face and the calm exterior Rarity had seen many times before crossed her face. It was an act, a well-rehearsed way of coping with stress that any performer would be accustomed to seeing. Rarity couldn’t help but smile slightly as Octavia joined them at the table.
“I know this must be hard for you Octavia but we have a lot of important matters to discuss and I need you to be strong,” she said slowly with a mild apologetic tone.
“Of course,” replied Octavia, the musician still maintaining the façade that surrounded her, “But may I ask…what is she doing here?”
“During our discussions I found out some rather important information but I felt it best if Vinyl tells you herself.”
“Yeah, rockin’,” added Vinyl, “Rarity told me all about what’s been going on and well…you know that night when you think we…?”
Octavia gave a small cough, a fracture appearing in her calm exterior. Vinyl didn’t even seem to notice, as with everything in her life she was presenting her information garnished in fireworks and rave music…well figuratively speaking of course.
“Well we didn’t!” she continued, “Actually you sorta fell asleep on top of me. Most uncool by the way but I can forgive you as your music is great. I mean it’s not exactly my thing you know but I can tell a great musician when I see one and you got some serious beats going on!”
In the background Rarity found herself facehoofing. It seemed that all the instructions she had given the DJ regarding being gentle with what she said and not going off on a tangent had been completely forgotten…or hadn’t even gone in to start with. As Vinyl continued to chatter on the walls that Octavia had built around herself were beginning to crumble. First her lower jaw began to quiver, then her eyes widened and finally her hoofs hit the table top with a bang.
“What do you mean we didn’t?!” she exclaimed loudly.
Vinyl stopped mid-sentence and as she looked back at the earth pony.
“Just what I said, we didn’t do anything. You fell asleep,” she replied casually, “I must have added too much alcohol to those drinks I gave you, man you must be the lightest lightweight I’ve ever known. Even Rising Star can hold more than that and that guy is usually dancing on the tables after a couple of ciders!”
Vinyl gave a chuckle but Octavia looked far from being in a laughing mood. Her chair flew backwards and clattered to the floor as she stood up, the noise silencing Vinyl instantly.
“This is nothing to laugh about…this is…if we didn’t…but I was going to…but was it the alcohol or did I want to?”
Octavia started to pace back and forth, rambling as she went. Rarity could see the rising sense of panic filling her face and quickly got up herself. However it wasn’t the white hoof of Rarity that landed on Octavia’s shoulder a moment later, this one belonged to a different white unicorn.
“Octi! Can I call you Octi? Yes? Good!” Vinyl looked a little concerned but mostly irritated, “Octi you gotta relax a little! I mean you are an awesome musician, not exactly my style you know but…when you were playing at the wedding I could tell how much it meant to you. That’s rare you know, not every pony takes their skill as seriously as that. But what good is it if you can’t enjoy yourself? If you can’t be you? I mean look at me! Your friend Rarity here just loves poking fun at my drinking habits but you know what? That’s how I enjoy myself! Sure I’ve had my spell of bad times and run into more than a couple of problems but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it!”
Vinyl paused for a moment and grinned, Octavia meanwhile had calmed down and was listening intently. It was true, she had lived her life in a way that had always been aimed at making those around her accept her…but was it really who she was? She always enjoyed her music and she never doubted that would ever change…but what about the moments between? She had only ever interacted with the other members of her ensemble on a personal level and even then only Brass really knew who she was.
“So yeah, you need to lighten up a little, go with the flow you know,” continued Vinyl, “For a start living like that is boring, secondly it’s not healthy, thirdly…um…well I can’t think of a third thing. Anyway, I came over to help out and that’s just what I’m going to do. Why don’t you lay some on me?”
“P-Pardon…?” stammered Octavia, the earth pony face twitching in pure astonishment.
“Oh by Celestia,” Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Not like that, play me some music! You know, that string instrument you play, what you call it?”
“….A ce-cello.”
“Huh…always though it was a bass. Anyway, don’t just stand there, play me something. If I’m going to do backing work for you I’ll need to know what sort of stuff you’ll be playing so I can match in some wubs of my own.”
Octavia looked towards Rarity for support and found the other unicorn nodding slowly at her. Octavia took a deep breath and held it for a moment as she tried to settle her nerves. What Vinyl had said still spun around and around in her head as she went about getting her instrument ready. As she started to play a weight seemed to lift from her mind. Why was she doing this? It wasn’t in the hope of getting her ensemble back together any more. So why? Why would she risk more heartache and ridicule? Why was she still trying to prove she wasn’t a failure? There was only one answer to that question…because she loved to play. More than anything else in the world she enjoyed the sound of music, the expressions that drifted across her audience’s faces with each note she played. The power and emotion she commanded with every pluck of a string. She was doing this for herself, to prove to herself and every pony else that Octavia Melody would never give up and to thank the one pony who hadn’t given up on her. The past was past and couldn’t be undone…but the future was unwritten and she was going to forge it in her own way.