//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Octavia's Lesson 
// by Detrail 
//------------------------------//

As the grey mare slept, the sun outside began to climb higher in the sky. Outside of her window, the streets were filled with ponies going about their lives. While their mundane lives played out, the little mare dreamed of grandiose dreams. Dreams of an audience in a large stadium, while she was standing in front of the crowd with her bow in hoof and everyone cheering her on. Soon the dream takes a turn for the worst as she realizes her cello is no where to be found, the crowd’s cheers are replaced with unapproving boos, and the entire dreamscape is dyed yellow.

        Octavia’s eyes shot open, her heart still beating rapidly. This was a dream that she was familiar with. Agitated, she muttered, “It always goes the same, I always dream of performing, always crushed by my self doubts, and then I wake up and-,” Octavia’s mind froze. She had forgotten something vital. She quickly leaped out of bed and pulled the sheets off, looking down at them in horror. You have got to be kidding me! This can’t be happening! It hasn’t even been a day yet, and I may have already squandered my chances. There on the once white bed sheet was that same yellow that she saw in her nightmares. 

        When Octavia was a young filly, she had a slight problem: she had the unlucky habit of wetting the bed. As time went on she grew out of it, but recently the stress of her recent mistakes had caused that little habit of hers to return. For the past few weeks she had spent every day waking up to that same wetness and cleaning her sheets. Eventually, she had to use a plastic mattress cover to protect her bed. After a while she had begun to use some ‘protection’ her mother was kind enough to buy her. Soon she fell into a depressive slurry, unable to even get out of bed. The only reason she had forgotten about her problem was the sudden letter she had received from her master requesting she go to Ponyville. Now that she had ruined Miss Scratch’s furniture it was only a matter of time until her master found out about her problem. Soon, not only was she was going to get kicked out, but end up as the laughing stock of the academy.

        She knew she had to be quick in order to avoid being caught. She began by opening her window slightly. She then opened her door and peered into the hallway to make sure Vinyl was not outside. Once her fears were put to rest, Octavia ran back and grabbed the soiled bed sheets, which seemed to slide off without any resistance. She made it out the door, closing it, and raced across the hall, making it into the bathroom. She began to lay out her plan in her mind, Okay Octavia relax. All you have to do is take a shower to get rid of that urine smell, then get down to the laundry room and wash Miss Scratch’s sheets, and no one will be the wiser about your little bedwetting problem. I just have to make sure to wear some protection for the remainder of my stay here and make sure she doesn't enter my room. Her planning was quickly interrupted by hoof steps outside the door.

        “Hey Tavi, are you alright in there?” Vinyl asked while facing the bathroom door. 

        Octavia knew she had to be careful not to raise any suspicion. “Um, y-yes I am fine, thank you for your concern for my well being, Miss Scratch. I just woke up so I was just about to take a shower and get ready for your lesson today.” In response she heard an exasperated sigh come through the door, raising the fear in her mind.

        “Tavi, I told you my name is Vinyl, so stop calling me Miss Scratch, it’s soooo annoying.” 

        Not wanting to offend her host, she quickly complied. “Y-yes V-Vinyl, I am sorry for forgetting your instruction.” She paused for a moment, remembering the soiled linens. “Vinyl, could you please tell me where I may find your washroom. I happen to have some effects that need to be washed as soon as possible,” she said, half lying.

        “Hmm… Oh, you mean my washing machine! Yeah I got one. Just down the stairs to the left, you can’t miss it.” 

        Although Octavia was a bit confused to find that there was a functioning washing machine here like the one she had back at home, this did simplify the matter of washing the sheets. “Thank you Vinyl.” 

        Vinyl smiled, pleased her new housemate was friendly enough to avoid formality. “Sure no prob Tavi. Hey, I just woke up too. I’ll be making some breakfast, so drop by when you’re done.” Vinyl trotted down the stairs and to the kitchen. 

Seeing her chance, Octavia quickly jumped in the shower. She turned the hot water on to wash away the cold drying urine, that was soaking her coat. She began to mentally review Miss Scratch. Well she is certainly hospitable, and she seems very kind. Considering how late she was working last night, she must certainly be a hard worker. As long as I am able to keep my problem under control, this might actually be an enjoyable learning experience. Octavia quickly finished up and turned off the water, exiting the shower and once again peering out a door to make sure Vinyl wasn’t nearby. After ensuring she was no where to be found, Octavia put phase two of her plan into action.

        She grabbed the soiled sheets, and galloped down the hallway and down the stairs. She quickly turned left and made it to the washing machine, tossing in her sheets with a sense of urgency. She looked around and saw some detergent on the shelf. She grabbed it and tossed a cap full of it in and turned the machine on. As the machine filled with water, the yellow began to fade. Octavia felt more at ease, her secret safe for another day. Closing the lid on the machine she began to walk to the kitchen, trying to calm herself down. After a few steps she managed to find the kitchen.

        Looking inside, she could see that the kitchen was simple in its construction but had all the necessities. A fridge, sink, stove, dishwasher, several devices for cooking such as a toaster, and a dining set. As she entered, she saw Vinyl’s head peek up from behind the counter. She was using her unicorn magic to put some slices of bread in the toaster. Vinyl soon noticed the appearance of the grey mare, “Oh hey Tavi, hope you found everything alright. By the way, where was the fire just now?” Vinyl asked, laughing at the grey mare’s expense.

        “Oh, pardon me Vinyl. I just wanted to make sure I washed my effects as quickly as possible, so as not to take up any of your time while you are instructing me.” Octavia knew that if she got anything out of her time here, it was definitely her improved ability to lie while keeping a straight face.

        Vinyl was lost in thought for a moment but then spoke up, “Right… ‘instructing.’ Freddy did mention that I was supposed to be teaching you something… but he never really said what. Then again, being all mysterious and cryptic is something that never changes about him,” she said, laughing as if she was being reminded of fond memories of the past. “Okay, tell you what,” she continued. “How about after breakfast I’ll come up with something to ‘instruct” you on.” 

As Vinyl moved to grab a few mugs from the cupboard she remembered a final piece of info she should tell her guest. “Oh, before I forget, I’m going to be out tonight. I got called up on this gig at Dodge Junction, some sort of huge celebration or something. So I’ll be out of the house at 8pm, and won't be back till waaaay later. So help yourself to anything in the house while I’m away.” Vinyl finished up by pouring coffee into the mugs, and setting them down on the counter.

        Octavia nodded, feeling as if she should say something, but as Vinyl continued to get some plates out of the cupboard, she smelled it again. That same smell of ammonia. I guess I was correct in my assumption that the smell was indeed cleaning supplies. Miss Scratch must take great effort to keep a clean home, seeing as how after her late performance she still found time to clean her kitchen. Even tonight, she has been called out to another performance, and trusts me enough to leave me at her home, alone. Yet, here I am unable to keep a clean bed! Surely I could learn a thing from her and her ample maturity.

Octavia looked on with newfound respect for her host as she collected the now cooked bread from the toaster, placing them on a plate and grabbed a few jams and jellies from the cabinet. Not wanting to be an ungrateful guest, she walked up to the counter and picked up the food and drinks to transport them to the table.

“Hey thanks Tavi!” Vinyl said in response to the kind gesture.

Octavia was getting a little annoyed by constantly being called “Tavi”, a name restricted solely for her parents, but needed to be careful not to upset her host. “It is not a problem, I am happy to be of assistance.” Pausing for a moment she continued, “Vinyl, just to clarify for you, because of how late we met last night, my name is Octavia Melody.” She said, hoping that would be enough to end the nickname.

“Yeah, yeah Tavi I know, and I am Vinyl. Don’t worry about stuff like that here, I hate being formal about things, alright?” She said, entirely missing the point of why Octavia had once again mentioned her name.

Sighing, Octavia sat at the table with her plate, realizing this was one fight she wasn’t going to win. I may as well let the mare call me what she wants, it’s only for 30 days anyway. Octavia waited as the white mare collected her own piece of toast and began to walk around the counter to the table. Seeing this, Octavia relaxed and reached down to pick up one of the pieces of toast to take a bite. As Vinyl rounded the corner of the counter, Octavia saw something that caused her to immediately drop the food the had in her hooves back onto the plate.

There on the white mare’s flank were two bridged eighth notes, but they weren’t what caused the shock in the grey mare. It was what was around the mark. 

“Mi-mi-mi-miss Vinyl. What is that you are wearing!?” She exclaimed, shocked over what she was seeing.

Vinyl set her plate back on the counter. “Look Tavi, I am glad you are comfortable enough to call me Vinyl, but PLEASE don’t throw the ‘miss’ part in front of it.” Vinyl stopped for a second to think about what Octavia just said to her. It took a moment before she looked at her waist and realized what she meant. Hugging Vinyl’s waist was a large puffy diaper which had a slight yellow colored sag around the front. “Oh, wow, sorry, totally slipped my mind. I’m not used to having company over so I forgot I was still wearing this. My bad.” She responded nonchalantly.

“Your bad!? Why ever are you wearing that thing!?” Octavia spat out, bewildered over what was going on.

Vinyl shrugged. “Occasionally I get call out on long gigs, and when I say long I mean loooooong. Heck! Can you believe they don’t even give you any decent bathroom breaks, I mean wow. Like they give you one every few hours, and the drinks won’t stop coming in. So whenever I have to work at one of these gigs I just wear one of these, and no one’s the wiser. Then when I finally get a break, I just change into a clean one,” She explained, rather proud of her strategy.

Vinyl stopped for a second and looked like she was concentrating. A hissing sound could be heard as the diaper gained more yellow and began to sag. In response to this, Vinyl let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I guess I over shot how many changes to do last night and was left wearing a clean one, so since I didn’t want it to go to waste, I kept it on. I figured it could take a bunch more wettings, so I’m still wearing it.” She stopped to poke the diaper with her front hoof. “Talk about quality! This thing still could handle waaay more, but I guess I’ll need to change out of it and take a shower. Too bad, I’d like to see just how absorbent these things are one of these days!” Vinyl proceeded to pick up her plate and walk over to the table to sit in front of Octavia, who was visibly disturbed.

Octavia was left at a loss for words. What is going on? Is this another nightmare? Is the master getting back at me for my failure as a student? Is he watching me right now, laughing at my misery? This all threw her into a loop and she responded by slamming her head into the table in frustration.

Vinyl, upon seeing Octavia’s dismay, attempted to quell her frustrations. “Hey Tavi are you ok-” she was quickly cut off by Octavia,l who picked her head up to lecture the white mare.

“Stop calling me Tavi! Don’t you have any shame being a former student of Master Horseshoepin! I thought he sent me here for a second chance to prove I am still worthy as a student. But now I see this is all a farce!” She replied, unable to comprehend the events she had just witnessed. 

Vinyl became agitated. “What is there to be shameful about, don’t you wear these too on account of your bed wetting? Actually, I’m willing to bet this morning's 40 yard dash to my washing machine was because you leaked, right?” Vinyl said with a smirk.

Octavia was stunned; her mind raced a mile a minute, What just happened? How did she know? How did she know? How did she? How? How? D-Did my parents tell her… no that doesn't make sense. Unless master knows, oh sweet Celestia if he already knows then who else does, maybe this is his way of kicking me out of the academy. It’s all over, my life, my good name, and even my right to play the cello, all over. Soon she felt it return, the ball of stress. It was growing inside of her, she couldn’t stop it, it was too much for her. The world started spinning around her, her vision went blurry, and she quickly fell unconscious. The last thing she saw before she fell into darkness was a worried Vinyl calling out her her by that nickname, “Tavi” before it all faded to black, and soon that darkness was dyed a bright vibrant yellow.