"Ahh, it's so nice to wake like this in the morning...", said a familiar voice as it got up from bed, "Surely this is going to be a nice day".
I beg to differ
BOOM!
"Gah!" yelled Quarter as he rolled over his bed, falling to the floor with a loud THUD. The loud noise ceased as it echoed from the outside. The pegasus remained on the floor, mumbling some incomprehensible words.
"Well, well. Look at that," he thought as he continued his intimate moment with the floor, "I think we should hang out more, ground. After all, I'm always falling for you". Quarter got up and positioned himself in a sit up position and rubbed his template slowly, "Who the heck did that? It's only..." he checked his clock next to his bed that had somehow survived the fall as well, "....9 a.m... Wait a moment..."
Quarter narrowed his eyes as he remembered something important.
"OH NO!" he yelled, standing up grabbing his head in despair, "I completely forgot! Octavia's class! I'm late!". The green pegasus ran towards the closet and pulled a white t-shirt, some black jeans, a pair of sneakers and a dark jacket as he quickly changed clothes. With that done, he headed towards the bathroom, which was a complete mess after a lamentable incident that involved a soap and lots and lots of pain... followed with an awkward moment with his roommates that checked up on him. Quarter kept the memory for a little longer and shuddered about what happened next.
"Now that's something I don't want to remember" he mumbled as he was brushing his teeth in a hurry. He spat the now used toothpaste from his mouth to the sink. He drank a bit water after that and spat it out as well. Quarter proceeded to open the bathroom's drawer and sprayed some colonge on him. After taking care of the hygiene issue, he ran out the door and slammed it behind. He just hoped he could make in time, "Wings, don't fail me now! .......Why do I feel like I forgot something?"
Octavia silently tapped his hand on her arm repeatedly as she had her arms crossed. She held a mocked look even though she had her eyes closed. The other ponies in the room were randomly looking around as they waited for something or.... someone to come by. A few yawns now and then could be heard and the room remained silent for a few minutes. Soon after, a slamming door surprised everyone (except Octavia) and they looked to the source of an upcoming, panting pegasus.
"I'm here!" he yelled, catching his breath all the while, "Sorry I'm late!"
"You are an hour and a half late, to be precise," said Octavia breaking her somewhat long silence, "Do you have a excuse for this?"
Quarter gulped, thinking of an excuse to say. He came up short and sighed, "No, Octavia. I don't have any excuses..."
Octavia simply snorted and opened her lavender eyes, staring piercefully at him, "I thought so. I hope this doesn't repeat.... am I clear?"
"Yes, Octavia...." he said as he lowered his head trying to ignore the stare from everypony in the room.
"Glad to know. The guild doesn't tolerate this kinds of things, so it's for your own good to keep that in your mind.", Quarter nodded. "Well then, now we are all gathered here, let's start our meeting, shall we?". Octavia turned away from the audience, giving them her back and pointed towards a chalkboard with some musical notes and a tempo on it, "Let's begin today with rhythm, okay?"
The grey mare pointed the chalkboard with a long stick, looking at the crowd in front of her, "First rule of music, everything needs to have a tempo. A rhythm to be more precise. If the music is just a bunch of random notes-"
"Why do I get the feeling she is talking about somepony we both know?" Quarter thought, still looking at her roommate across the room.
"-That doesn't have any rhythm, it's hardly music. That's why we are practicing today a few rhythm exercises to sharpen your timing skills.". A few whispers could be heard as she finished her statement, "Am I clear?"
"Yes ma'am!" said the crowd as they raised their voice.
"Please, call me Octavia." she cleared.
"Yes Octavia!"
"That's better" she whispered as she led the ponies into another room. Quarter was the last one to leave before stopping at the door. He frowned a bit, unaware of what at the other side of the door.
"When I asked Octavia to teach me, I didn't meant this....", a familiar scent reminded him of a certain day....
---------------------A WEEK AGO----------------------
"All right! Let's do this!" said an inspired Quarter imitating a few boxing punches and jabs, "So, when do we begin?"
"Tomorrow, at 7:30 a.m., at the Guild's building,"
"And that place is?" he asked, ignorant to the mare's directions.
"It's just a semibig building with a musical note on top of it," said Vinyl as she bumped into the conversation, "Not that it makes more interesting or attractive anyway..."
"You are just jealous," stated Octavia.
"Bite me,"
Octavia paid no attention to her insult and simply giggled. She turned to Quarter who was listening with attention to the whole conversation, "Well, I suppose that leaves the way they are. I expect you to arrive there in a couple of hours,"
"Wait, won't you lead me there?" he asked with a bit of concern of his tone.
"What? Are you some kind of colt requiring to be guided by somepony else? I'm pretty sure you will find your way around,"
"Aww... Not even I small hint?" said Quarter, trying to look as adorable as possible.
"No."
"Pwease?" his pupils expanded even more. Octavia stared at him for a few more seconds, and a questionable look appeared on her face.
Seeing how big can Quarter's pupils could expand, she thought if they could pop if they grew a few more inches. A friend of hers had a similar experience. Poor fella, the pony was never the same ever since then. Perhaps because the doctors made Octavia's friend wear an eye-patch on the right eye. Also, the doctors swore never to eat veggieballs again. Don't ask why. "Arrg, mate".
A small sigh escaped Octavia's lips as she placed a hand on her forehead. "Don't make me use Oblivion on you again"
"Pfft! Who needs hints anyways? BYEBYE!"
In a blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Hmph. Serves him right." said Octavia, crossing her arms in the process. Vinyl, who was watching from the sofa, glared a sharp look at her friend. The grey mare noticed this and shot back a confused stare, "What?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just that I was thinking that what you did was exactly what your grandma would have wanted you to do, that's all,"
Octavia couldn't help it but to look away in shame at her statement. "It's not really my fault. That old mare wanted nothing but trouble. After her denial at my request, who wouldn't be upset with her? And to top it all, my own mother backing her up. How could they...."
"Well, in any case, I gotta meet up with him," the standing mare began towards the door and as soon as she took hold of the door handle, she turned towards her rather lazy roommate, "Are you sure you don't want to give other genres a try, Vinyl?"
She didn't return the gaze, but she did return something, oh yes she did. She simply gave her the bird and a low groan, "Dubstep for life, biatch!"
Octavia closed her eyes and sighed, "Heh, suit yourself... whorse..."
Silence reigned inside the house as Vinyl was left to her thoughts. Having nothing better to do, she got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen, searching for something to fill her small hunger. Once near the fridge, she didn't hesitate and took her time to reach for the fridge's handle. Just before the mare grabbed the handle, she noticed a small note written on the face of the fridge's door.
"Hmm? What's this? I haven't seen this before..." Vinyl thought, curiosity plauging her mind.
Taking a better look at it, she grinned mischieviously and ran to the door, ignoring any previous ideas. What was written on that note? Celestia knows. But it can't be good.
"............................."
"Huh, Octavia was right. It wasn't that hard to find!"
"Ummm, Quarter?", Quarter's ears perked at the new voice and turned to it. He spotted a light-grey mare with both eyes aiming at different directions (Which made him wonder which eye was looking at him) fidgeting in her spot. He inmediately developed a smile on his lips and called her out.
"Hey, Derpy! What's up?" he asked with a reclutant tone behind it.
"Um, it's Ditzy, but that doesn't matter. What are you doing?" she asked.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, what are you doing?"
"Um.... I'm standing right next to the Music Guild?"
"Quarter, this is the Rhythm Guild."
"....Eh? But this one has a musical note on top of it!" he said while pointed at the very distinguished sign on top on the
Derpy pointed to the opposite direction and let out a small giggle.
"Silly! The Music Guild lies inside that building over there!"
If it weren't for goofy face he was making right now, he would have swore fate was playing around with him. Which it was. Keep your mouth shut.
A red building was standing out by it's unique musical note on top of it. Corchete, ma'am. Several banners with different symbols stood out from the roof to the ground, almost touching it. The windows had a rather different style and the were placed two by two. Other than that, the building semmed like a normal one. If you lived in Manehattan, that is.
"Okay, how could I possibly MISS that!? It's clearly right in front of me!", thought Quarter, suddenly placing his hand on his chin, "Okay, now I'm beggining to wonder since when that was built. It's practically three stories tall! .... Could use a little remodeling, though."
"Oh thanks Derpy!" he said. Derpy Ditzy walked away mumbling something about "My name is Ditzy..."
"HEEYYAAAH!"
"Huh?"
A rather large shadow was bypassing a little ahead of Quarter as he observated the guild's HQ, shrinking bit by bit as it slowly approached Quarter's position. "It's gonna be one of these days, huh...", cursing his bad luck, he slowly turned around and looked up at the incoming object from the air. Groaning internally, he braced himself for whatever was coming. Aaaaaaaannnnddd...... it crashed. Poor face.
Quarter's body was dragged several feet away from his position as he clinged to the object that hit him. Yup, one of these days.
"Gah! What the hay...?" his eyes hazing from one place to another, he focused on the object above him in this very moments. Taking a better view of the thing, he noticed it was not a inanimated object, oh no siree, it was a pony. A very familiar pony.
"Sup, dude?"
"Hey.... Vinyl,"
"Bad time?"
"Not really. But I have one question though, WHY IN TARTARUS WOULD YOU FALL ON ME AT CELESTIA'S KNOWS SPEED!?" he yelled, hoping to get a rational answer from her part. Too bad life doesn't work that way.
"Ummm, dramatic entrance?" she replied, showing an apologetic smile in return. Quarter sighed and shook his head... well, he tried to, he simply didn't care anymore.
"Sure... anyways, do you need something? You know, other than crashing towards me?"
"... actually, there is something I'd like to ask you,"
"Oh really?"
"Don't join the guild,"
If there was ever a time where someone went completely numb by something they told them, this would one of those times. Of course, Quarter wasn't the exception.
"Huh!? Why would I do that!?" said Quarter, giving Vinyl a really confused stare. Vinyl's eyes darted nowhere as she focused on the stallion below her.
"Cuz'," she folded her arms, looking away for a brief second, "You are cool the way you are. I don't wanna see you become like one them,"
Quarter's cheeks heated, seeing how a friend cared about him that way. Sure, he had his share of friends before, but no one has ever asked him to stay the way he is. Flattered as he was, something had to be done. It either had to be listen to one of his roommates or-
"I would gladly think of it," said Quarter, placing his arms behind his neck, "but WOULD PLEASE GET OFF OF ME?"
Vinyl kept staring, almost as she was thinking what to do. "Nah, you are comfy right now," she ignored any warnings and rested her body on top of him. The young pegasus was burning with passion as his roommate layed on top of him. The mare shuffled a little and rested her head on his chest, "Besides, I won't leave without an answer. Your choice dude,"
The male musician was about to lay down and enjoy the warmth his roommate was giving, but very strange feelings sprouted to his mind. The ponies around.
Glacing around his environment, he noticed a lot of ponies were staring at him and Vinyl with several expression, including confusion, jealousy, or non-caring. He didn't liked the attention as much as others when doing something other playing music, so, being as gentle as possible, he shoved Vinyl's butt to one of his sides and got up. Much to Vinyl's dismay and dumbfolded situation, she looked at Quarter who so carefully decided to shove her aside.
"Hey, what's the matter with you?" she asked while standing up, with a hint of irritation in her voice, "I asked for something nicely like anypony would have done and you shoved me away? Cruel, dude. That's not cool,"
"I haven't answered yet, Vinyl. Don't jump to conclusions yet," he replied, shaking the dust off his clothes, "I just wanted to get up,"
Vinyl raised an eyebrow at his selfishness, but shook it off with her head, "So, what do you plan on doing? Are you gonna-"
"I'll join the guild,"
"...... eh?"
"You heard me," he repeated, hanging his stuff over his shoulders, "I plan on becoming one the greatest alternative musicians on Equestria. If I can't handle a small guild, I couldn't possibly handle the whole fame. Sorry Vinyl, but my answer is the same as before. I'll join the guild, and that is that,"
Giving Vinyl his back, he scoffed her attempts to stray him, only earning a dissapointed look from Vinyl. "You are making a mistake Tone. I won't be the one who told you so. Good luck dude, you'll need it,"
As the unicorn left the scene, Quarter couldn't help it but feel awful for what he did. But somethings are meant to be done. This is one of those things. With his mind clear, he stepped inside the building.
Once inside the place, the decorations shoned like anything he had ever seen before, making him go blind for short amopnt of spare time. From to the beginning of the hallway to its end, a lot of trophies and doors leading to rooms of the sort could be easily seen. Other than that, it was shiny. Real shiny.
"Holy cow, this is awesome! .... and a bit blinding,"
"I'm glad you liked it," said a voice from behind Quarter. Expecting to see Octavia, he turned around to praise such place. The downside, was that Octavia wasn't behind him. Another mare with a voice just like hers was standing in front of her.
Taking a good glance at her, he noticed a slighty grown unicorn. Her most obvious features were the light purple coat and her gorgeous amber eyes. Her hair was a golden bobcut hair style and she was wearing a fancy suit, a dress if he had to guess. The dress was guided through the interesting curves the mare provided. It had a gold tone just like her hair and a even more golden and darker tone on various parts of the dress. Needless to say, she was a beauty.
"Hello, who may you be?" Yup, she has the exact same voice as Octavia. Well, sorta.
"Uhhhh... I... uh..." Quarter noticed his drooling and slapped himself a couple of times to regain himself, "Um, hi! I'm Quarter Tone, but my friends call me Quarter,"
"Hello to you Quarter, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, bowing a little. Talking about education! "My name is Sapphire Circlet. Welcome to the Music Guild, where we focus solemnly on exploiting the many talents of many young ponies and bring out their best potential. If it is not trouble, may I ask what are you doing here on this lovely day?"
"Me? I, well... Octavia told me that-" His phrase was suddenly interrupted as the mare placed a hand on his lips.
"Octavia? As in, the Octavia Melody?" she asked. Quarter nodded and the mare bursted a little cheer, "It's so lovely to see that my fine cousin has finally brought a coltfriend with her!"
"You are her cousin? Well, she actually- Wait a moment, what? I'm not-"
"It's really relieving to see that she turned out just fine and brought such a wonderful stallion with us! And a very tasty one too," Sapphire said, licking her lips.
Quarter's cheeks bursted into flames once more as the fancy pony in front of him was praising him, "W-well, I'm really not that-"
"Instead of that dirty, music-lacking, two-toned haired mare of hers," So much for first impressions. Doing a little research, the pegasus figured out she was refering to Vinyl nonetheless. Instead of letting his emotions get the best of him, he suppressed the urge to talk back at the comment. A different approaching is all he thought he needed to keep the situation under control.
"Wait, you mean Vinyl?" he asked, faking a surprised tone in his voice.
"So her name was Vinyl... well, it is easy to forget names like hers when they aren't that big of a deal," That's it. Time to fight fire with fire.
"Please, do not refer Vinyl as dirty or music-lacking, if you may," he replied, placing a hand on his hip and leaned to his left, "She isn't that bad when you get to know her. And she is NOT music-lacking,"
"Oh really? All those wubs, as she likes to call it, are not musical notes. They are just random sounds,"
".... Aja, yeah right. Well, I don't know about you, but I like those random sounds," he stated. Sapphire gasped out in shock as if she just witnessed her makeup draining with the rain.
"Oh my! How can you like such thing?" Circlet said, with her hand hovering in front of her mouth, "That is not music! Why would you.... Ahh, I see,"
Quarter raised an eyebrow as the mare showed a devious smile, "What do you mean by that?"
"It is obvious that Octavia brought you here to remove that awful taste of yours," she replied. Quarter couldn't stand this mare. First insulting his friends and now assuming illogical things? This mare needs a lesson or two.
"Hey, she didn't bring me here to-"
"Hi there Quarter!" a new voice called out, approaching the two of them. Taking a better look, it was plain obvious. Octavia. "Oh, I see that you met my dear cousin, Sapphire,"
"Yeah, she is a real charm," he replied. Octavia thought she sensed a hint of sarcasm, but shook it off.
"Well, I certainly had the pleasure to meet such fine stallion like him," she said, licking her lips once again. Only this time, Quarter wasn't unfazed by her good looks, "I can see why you fell to his hooves, dear cousin,"
Octavia's cheeks flustered just like Quarter's did. Waving her arms in front of her, she began babbling incoherent things. Inmediately, she finally managed to speak normal and plain Equus, "H-Hold on just a second, he is not- I mean, he isn't- we don't-"
"Shush, Octavia," she interrupted, dismissing her actions with a waving hand, "I know you haven't been lucky with stallions lately and you must be very nervous to have one again, but I can perfectly understand the two of you. Oh, the adventures you'll share! A knight in shining armor with her lovely mare, cruising in the beautiful strings of music! Oh, I can see it now!"
Octavia, as speechless as she was for the mean time, decided to take a good look at Quarter. What surprised her the most was that Quarter wasn't fazed by Sapphire's tale. Not at all, he was focused on Sapphire and a frown could be seen. Wondering why was he frowing, the grey mare kept her stare at him.
"There, you see? You are hypnotized by his good looks! Just look at you staring at him like that!" said Sapphire. Quarter, interested by her most recent comment, turned around to see such thing. Which surprised him of course. The grey mare didn't took long enough to realize what was she doing.
Two things happened in that moment. One, she blushed like she has never blushed before. And two, she looked away with her hands on her face. Her cousin thought of the situation as priceless. The pegasus, on the other hand, stared with incredulity at his roommate.
"I knew you had a thing for stallions! You had me worried there Octy,"
"Worried about what?" aksed Quarter, curious by most part.
"Well, since she always hangs out with that..."
"Vinyl,"
"Right, her, we were beginning to think she was a... fillyfooler as they would say in school,"
Quarter stared dumbfolded at Sapphire, "But what does that have to do with you being worried? There is nothing wrong with being attracted to the same gender,"
"I'm worried because I couldn't allow the Melody family to have a stain on its history," she stated, without a single worry in her thoughts. Quarter didn't know what to think of this. Just how much is there to know about the Melody's?
"But any family has its differences. There isn't a single family without a stain on history, you know such thing is impossible, right?" he said as a matter-of-fact. Sapphire scoffed at this and shook her head.
"Then it is pretty obvious you haven't known the Melody family then," she replied, extending a hand. "This family has been perfect ever since our grand-grand-grand mother was born; I doubt we have a stain on our history,"
Octavia, meanwhile, was cooling off from the heat of the moment until she could finally have the courage to look at Tone, which was having a heated debate by the looks of it. She knew something had to be done, otherwise...
"Now, let me get this clear. You can't-" the pegasus was shortcutted as a grey hand was placed on his lips.
"Now, now, Quarter.... I didn't brought you here to argue," she said, showing a sheepish expression.
"She is right, let this argument behind, shall we?" Sapphire backed up, swatting a blink of an eye towards him. Quarter listened to better judgement and agreed. Still, that didn't ignore the fact that Sapphire was in his 'Bitches never to get involved with' list.
"... Fine," he replied, moving Octavia's hand away from him, "Let's get this over with, please?"
"Of course, Quarter, my coltfriend. Let's go," the grey mare added, leaving a very confused pegasus looking at her. Sapphire let out a small squee at this display and giggled like a little kid. Taking hold of the stallion's hand, she merely pulled him away as they left Sapphire's sight. Quarter looked back during the running and witnessed how was Sapphire winking and giving air-kisses at him. Well, it is certainly a bitch he never was to get involved with.
"Tata~, handsome," she managed to say, loud enough for him to hear.
Hiding behind a wall, Octavia forcefully slammed him against the wall and leaned towards the door they just came from. Quarter had enough of this and decided to speak up.
"Octavia, what do you think you are doing?"
"Hiding," she replied. The pegasus facepalmed and groaned at the same time.
"I know that. What I want to know is why you are," he said, raising a hand and lifting finger by finger each time he pointed out something, "one, slamming me against a wall; two, calling me coltfriend out of nowhere; and three, hiding from Sapphire, which I don't mind, but still,"
"Because," she said, returning to her original position and looking at the pegasus in the eyes, "if we didn't get out of there, we would have been in a plate with nothing else than trouble on it. Trust me, I love my cousin, but she can be a pain if you are not careful,"
"Oh, yeah, she is real trouble alright," he whispered.
"What?"
"Nothing!" he said. With an awkward glee pasted on his face, Octavia ignored her suspitions and carried on.
"Well, now that she is gone, care to take a good look at the guild?" Quarter nodded and Octavia smiled, "Good, I need a break anyways..."
---------------------PRESENT----------------------
Other than that, everything went just fine. Well, except that Quarter found out Octavia had a class of her own. What a way to surprise someone.
The whole incident became a whole mess.
"But that story can wait for another time. Right now, a music exercise is about to begin...." Thought Quarter as he headed to the music room, "I wonder if we are gonna practice eletric music, cuz my guitar is blow their minds! ...... Hold on..."
Quarter looked around and found nothing.
"NIIIIIXUUUUUSSSS!!!!"