//------------------------------// // Small Talks go Great with Tea // Story: Lady Octavia // by Cyber Clash //------------------------------// Suppertime came by, and Vinyl Scratch had just finished preparing the table. She placed an ornate white tablecloth over the coffee table and placed a tea set on it with three cups, just in case she was asked to join. The servant had also placed out madeleine biscuits, and some bruschetta for her mistress and guest. Octavia walked into the living room and looked at the set, “This is perfect, Vinyl. Thank you,” she said with a forced smile. “I tried,” shrugged the unicorn. “You ready for your dad?” “Of course I am. He should be arriving soon.” Vinyl stepped closer to her mistress. “Hey, if things don’t go so well, just know that I’ll be right here, okay?” she said in an assuring tone. “Thank you, Vinyl. I’ll keep that in mind,” the grey mare smiled. The doorbell rang, shattering the moment that the two were sharing. The servant trotted toward the entrance, to open the door for the expected visitor. Standing on the threshold, was a grey stallion with a cyan-streaked mane. “Good evening, Mister Piano Forte” greeted Vinyl. “Good evening to you as well, Miss Vinyl Scratch,” he responded, kissing her on both cheeks. “Miss Octavia is in the living room. Follow me, please,” she requested before turning to lead the stallion indoors. The cellist stood up from the couch when she saw her father, “Hello, Father.” “Good evening, my little princess,” he greeted, kissing both of her cheeks. “Please have a seat,” she ordered. “Vinyl has prepared madeleine biscuits, bruschetta, and a simple green tea for us. You have already eaten dinner, correct?” “Yes, don’t worry. This is perfect for me,” he said, as Vinyl began pouring tea into two cups. “Sugar? Milk? Honey? Lemon?” the blue-mane pony asked. When she received no answer, she spoke a little louder, “Anyone?” “Sugar and lemon for the both of us, thank you,” Octavia responded. The white-coated mare nodded and followed her orders. Once she had poured the tea and added the condiments, she stepped back a little, “Well, I hope you both have a lovely chat. I need to go do butler stuff. I’ll still be in the nearby rooms, though, so call me if you need anything, okay?” “Thank you. You are dismissed,” Octavia stated, waiting for her servant to leave before turning to her father, “Now, you know why I invited you here, don’t you?” “I do, my dear,” he responded. “You are misunderstanding the situation if you think I wanted the doctors to tell your mother she would live.” “Alright,” the mare sighed, “I’ll believe you, if you tell me who did lie to her.” Piano took the cup of tea, and drank from it, “Surely you remember your Auntie Pearl Posh, yes?” Octavia groaned as she brought a hoof to her temple, “Father, you are simply bantering with me, right?” she scoffed when he only responded in silence, “Really? You would let Mother’s sister do this? And you just went along with it?” “L-listen, Tavia,” he stuttered before clearing his throat, “I had absolutely nothing to do with this, okay? She bribed the doctors to tell her she would be fine. I was against it, but…when Pearl told your mother… If you had seen Crescendo’s smile, you would have done the same thing,” he stated in a soft voice. The cellist noticed her father’s eyes tearing up, “Father…this isn’t right. No one trusts Aunt Pearl Posh because she thinks she’s always right simply because of her wealth. You know mother would prefer the truth, and you know better than to lie about something like this!” The stallion took a deep breath, and swallowed the lump in his throat, “Sometimes…a lie is better than the truth, Octavia. I can’t tell her now, not now when she has so much hope.” The cellist scowled, a tear ruining her fierce gaze, “Well, if you won’t tell her, I will.” “No!” he choked. “No, Octavia, please! I love your mother too much to let her know I lied to her.” He buried his face in his hooves and sobbed loudly. “Listen, Daddy,” the cellist whispered, going around the coffee table to place a hoof on her father’s shoulder, “Mummy will still love you if you tell her the truth. I know it’ll be hard for all of us, but I don’t think you want her to die, remembering in her final moments that her husband had told her she would live.” “Oh Octavia,” he whimpered, throwing his arms around his daughter, “You’re right, my darling! I sh-shouldn’t have lied to her! I feel like such a f-fool!” “Don’t be so harsh with yourself, daddy.” The cellist cooed, running her hooves through the pianist’s mane, “Just tell her the truth. I could come with you, if you’d like. It will be tough, but she will know that we love her enough to be honest, even when the truth isn’t exactly beauteous.” The grey stallion pulled away from the embrace, tears streaking his aged face, “Thank you, Octavia. You are the most wonderful daughter a father could ever ask for. I want you to always remember that.” He then kissed the cellist on her forehead. “Thank you for understanding.” “That means a lot to me, Daddy,” she said with a quivering voice, fresh tears adorning her face. “I promise we will get through this, okay?” “Of course, sweetheart,” he said before kissing her hoof. “I love you so much.” “I love you too,” she whimpered before embracing her father once more. After a few minutes of pure silence in each other’s arms, the father and daughter separated. Piano spoke barely above a whisper, “Listen, I need to go home. I have a lot of work to do. Make sure Vinyl Scratch continues to take care of you, okay?” “Okay,” she sniffed, “thank you for coming, Father.” She led him to the door. “Of course, sweetie. Goodbye,” he whispered before leaving. Octavia turned around, ready to break down when she saw a pale-coated unicorn slowly stepping toward her, “Are you okay, Miss Octavia?” she asked. “Yes,” the cellist answered said, clearing her throat. “I’m fine.” “Hey,” Vinyl Scratch whispered, putting a hoof on the sensitive mare’s shoulder and taking her shades off, “I overheard a few bits of the conversation. You guys were talking a bit loud…If you need anything, just tell me.” The grey earth pony’s lips trembled, “Thank you, Vinyl.” She finally broke down into tears, clinging onto her servant’s chest and sobbing wildly, “Oh, Vinyl! I-I don’t want h-her to leave me!” The unicorn sat both of them down on their haunches and hugged her tightly, “I know, but you can’t go against fate. Still, I’ll always be by your side, Tavi.” “Wh-what did you just call me?” she asked, confused, lifting her head to meet her friend’s face. “Sorry,” Vinyl shook her head, “I called you ‘Tavi.’ That was really informal of me. Forgive me.” “No, I l-like it,” she tried to say firmly, but her sobbing defeated her tone. “Keep it.” The unicorn smiled, garnet eyes watering at the cellist’s amiability, “Okay, Tavi. I like it, too. It sounds…cute.” The classical musician smiled, her head returning downward to Vinyl’s chest. She sighed into the mare’s fur, listening to her heartbeat, relaxing as she felt her hair being stroked by gentle, white hooves. She’s so soft, and her hooves feel like heaven in my mane! And the way she talks to me, telling me she’ll be here for me… Octavia wanted the moment to last forever, and she would have allowed it, if she hadn’t perceived what she was doing. The earth pony opened her eyes suddenly and pulled away from the servile mare with a magnificent blush painting her cheeks. “Sorry, I just need to be alone for a while.” The unicorn got up after her mistress, and watched her go up the stairs. She yelled, “Wait, what do I do with the food? You guys didn’t even eat anything!” “Umm, store them in the fridge, I could eat some tomorrow for breakfast!” Octavia called back before closing the door to her room. The mare closed her door, heart pounding as if it could burst out of her chest. What was that? Some pony hugs me, and I feel like snuggling up to their chest? Octavia wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes. She figured it would be best to go to sleep and forget the incident had ever happened. The cellist walked over to her bed, lied down, and forced herself to sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day, the grey earth pony walked to work, argued with Beauty Brass over having the twins as singers, and walked home. She felt like life just wouldn’t let her rest for a second. She was always busy with the same things. The cellist walked to the music room after a lovely lunch only to be pestered by the unicorn. “Hey, Mi—Tavi, I mean, do you think we’ll be able to meet with Melody and Harmony tomorrow?” The grey mare set down her quill, “Sure, I suppose. Will they be able to?” The servant nodded, “Yeah, I checked with Harmony; she said they’d be able to, but only for a while.” “Where are we going to see them?” the musician asked. “The plaza. They wanted to go shopping,” Vinyl shrugged. The black-mane cellist smiled, “Okay, we can go.” “Awesome. I’m gonna go dust the shelves,” she said enthusiastically, about to walk out when a voice stopped her. “Wait, Vinyl, I need your opinion.” The shade-wearing mare walked backward toward her mistress in a comedic act, “Yes?” “I made a new composition, and I want you to hear it,” Octavia requested. The unicorn shrugged, “Alright. Play it for me.” The strings musician smiled, grabbing her cello and setting herself up, “Okay. Now, Vinyl, take off those hideous shades; you look like a blind pony.” The servant frowned humorously, but did as she was told. Her scarlet eyes set themselves on the cellist, waiting for the first note. Once Octavia began to play her piece, the unicorn smiled warmly. The performer closed her eyes to concentrate better. --- Two minutes passed and the earth pony ceased her playing, opening her amethyst eyes again. She carefully set down her cello and turned to the spectator, “That was all I had written down before you came in. What do you think so far? Is there anything I should change?” Vinyl Scratch brought a hoof on her chin, using her magic to levitate a quill and the parchment toward her, “Grab your cello and come here, I want to show you something.” The grey mare did as she was told and looked over the unicorn’s shoulder, “Okay, I found it. See those three measures right there? I think it would be good if you switched this one and this one.” “So, like…” Octavia played the improved section, “that?” “Yeah, exactly like that. You want me to mark it down?” “Yes, please.” she nodded, “I like it. Thank you.” The white mare wrote down the corrections, and placed them back on the stand. She then turned to grin happily at Octavia, who was now sitting next to her. The cellist chuckled at her silly expression after a few moments of silence, “What is it?” “Nothing, just looking at you.” Octavia blushed and stuttered, “Why?” “You’d be amazed at how different the entire world looks when I take off those shades,” she explained. “Well, of course, you dunce. You’re always wearing them as if they’re some sort of charm,” the cellist said, sitting on a nearby cushion. “They kind of are, in a way. Still, I never realized how…purple your eyes are. I mean, I knew they were purple, but—I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.” The echelon blushed at the compliment. “That’s alright, Vinyl. You said something about those shades being a charm. How is that?” “Well, these things have always been with me.” she explained, looking into the tinted lenses. “And I always said they were my lucky shades, because when I was changing my image, my best show was in these. Everything would go great with these. Or, well…I used to think so before I ended up on the streets.” “Come now, it couldn’t have been so bad. You went from living in the streets to living in a mansion.” Octavia licked her lips. “Of course, I may have been pretty harsh on you at first, but…” “But… you trust me now, right?” the unicorn asked slowly. The cellist sighed, feeling hesitant for a moment, “Yes. It’s true, I felt threatened by you at first, but now, I trust you the most of all ponies.” “Why’d you feel threatened by me?” she asked. “I don’t know, Vinyl. I guess that since I had just told you that I liked mares, I was afraid you would use that against me.” “Octavia, listen to me,” Vinyl said in a soft, but stern voice, “I would never hurt you. I’m here to protect you.” The cellist pulled her servant into a strong embrace. She knew that Vinyl had assured her many times that she was by her side, but Octavia loved to hear her say it. So she asked, “Why are you so concerned about me?” “Because I—“ the red-eyed mare gulped. She felt something strange stir inside of her, but recovered after the realization, “Because I want to make sure you’re okay. That’s what I’m here for.” Octavia drew back from the embrace in hopes of avoiding last night’s awkwardness. The small glimmer of disappointment in her servant’s eyes went by unnoticed. She cleared her throat, “Well, I appreciate your concern. I care about you too, so if you ever want to get back to your old career, don’t hesitate to ask for help.” The unicorn nodded, “Thanks, Tavi. I’ll keep that in mind.” She got up and helped the other mare do the same Both ponies exited the room and got back to their own works, each thinking about the other quite a lot. Of course, it wouldn’t cause any trouble. They were just sparks, nothing more…or so they thought.