//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: ...The Crash // Story: Vinyl and Octavia: Ponyville Duet // by generalsnaz //------------------------------// Chapter 15: ...The Crash "If I had kissed you, would it have been so bad?" Vinyl Scratch cleared her throat. Her companion, Octavia Melody, hadn't answered the question that lingered in the air around them. "Um, Octavia?" the DJ prodded awkwardly, hoping for some sort of response. "My apologies, Vinyl. My mind was elsewhere. Did you say something?" the unflinching cellist asked in a distant tone. "Oh- um. I was- um. I was just asking if- well if- ...*mumble*" Vinyl trailed off, too embarrassed to ask again. 'Please... just give up...' Octavia begged in her mind. 'You should give up and just answer her,' a devilish little voice in her head commented. "It was not anything of importance, I hope," Octavia stated, desperate to change the course of the conversation. "I am eager to arrive at our destination, and I fear we have done quite enough side-tracking for today." "Oh, no... it... it wasn't important," Vinyl shook it off. Her attempt to break the ice on that subject had failed miserably. Disappointed, but not showing it visibly, the DJ strode ahead, shepherding her friend along. "Come on, it's this way." 'Oh, thank you, Celestia!' Octavia thought, relieved. The two ponies continued their stroll towards the record shop. The awkward tension still hung between them. Octavia had clearly heard Vinyl's question and knew what must have been on the unicorn's mind in that very moment. She clenched her teeth as this led her to an uncomfortable conclusion. It was the very fear she'd been dreading all night. 'Vinyl is interested in me... She likes me like...that.' The cellist locked her eyes on Vinyl, who was leading the way in front of her. She stared intently at the back of the DJ's head and a queasy sensation boiled up in her stomach. 'Oh, no... No. No. No! No! What am I to do?' 'Maybe you should have answered her,' the voice pointed out. '.......maybe I should have.......' Octavia responded quietly, with the tiniest glimmer of hope amongst the turmoil of guilt and shame that constantly circled her head. The tiny thought shot a bolt through her, turning her stomach even further. 'No!' she immediately cried, as she physically shook her head to chase the thoughts out. 'No- I can't- I cannot be like that... It is not proper, it is not appropriate... It is not what mother wants from me.' 'But what about what you want?' 'What... I want...?' Octavia found herself beginning to listen to the voice that had bugged her for many years. She fought it and ignored it all that time, but with Vinyl... Why did its words suddenly become so convincing? Did it bother her because this time... this time, was it worth listening to? (Yes. Yes is the answer to that.) The two arrived at the music store and Octavia still hadn't found an answer. (Well, after a lifetime of searching, odds are she's not going to find it on a stroll down the street.) "Well, here it is: Harmonic's Music," Vinyl announced as they approached. "The best and only music store in Ponyville. They got everything a musical pony needs from albums to instruments to- HOOOOOOLY CELESTIAAAAAAAAAA!!" Vinyl's exclamation startled Octavia, who was still lost in thought. Vinyl then galloped up to the window pane that displayed Harmonic's newest merchandise to passersby and put her hooves up to the glass. She veritably drooled in delight to the splendor and awe of what she beheld. "It's... so bucking beautiful..." Octavia joined her at the window in a casual attempt to see what the fuss was about. Behind the glass stood the most massive and awe-inspiring stereo system on the face of Equestria. The two large dark speakers sported jagged and diagonal metal designs on their sides. Both of them had several circular drivers that vigorously pumped out some radical beat as neon lights flashed along. A flat controller box with innumerable buttons and switches of incomprehensible arrangement sat between the speakers. The design of the whole thing was daring and aggressive (and so very modern.) Despite her friend's elation at the system, Octavia didn't quite get why it was so spectacular. To her, it looked the same as the one Vinyl blew up. (Which was, for the record, old and nasty.) "Is this... a suitable replacement for your broken system?" Octavia asked, trying to reestablish normal conversations with the DJ. Her tone was somber and uninterested as she asked, as she couldn't hide the fact that she was deeply troubled. "Suitable!? Filly, this is the FiM-9001X!" Vinyl exclaimed, never looking away from the system and not catching Octavia's worrisome demeanor. "It's the newest design by Tweeter Woofer himself! State of the art, 9,000 watt power, distortion filtering crystals, subwoofers the size of a colt, magical memory drive compatible, not to mention it has the DiaMand­™ battery system! I don't even have to use my own magic to run it!" "So... it is good, then?" Octavia replied with an unconvinced look. Inside the store, a young filly had heard the commotion and wandered over to the window. The filly paused when she saw the full-grown white unicorn pressing her whole body up against the glass, rubbing it and moaning, "It's perfect... I want it sooo baaaaad..." The filly recoiled uncomfortably, and backed up slowly out of the story. "Well, if it is truly that wonderful, perhaps you should purchase it, Vinyl," Octavia stated matter-of-factly. She gave a weak smile to support her half-interested statement. "Maybe... maybe I should..." Vinyl's eyes spun around in a hypnotic daze behind her shades. The speakers were calling to her and, well, she couldn't resist. She slowly dragged her eyes down to the price tag. ... At that moment, it was if the incredible number of zeroes on that price tag leapt off the paper, skyrocketed through the air and, in a vicious rapid fire motion, smacked Vinyl across the face. In slow motion, she recoiled from the pain and fell backwards to the dirt from the (very descriptive) attack. "Vinyl!?" Octavia cried, baffled. "I... I can't afford it..." Vinyl replied while she covered her face with her hooves and began to rock back and forth on the ground like a child. Octavia glanced at the price and grimaced. It was pretty expensive, even for her. After a few moments of her little pouting episode, Vinyl laid still. She sighed and stared up at the sky. Before long, Octavia stood over her, looking down and frowning slightly. Vinyl smiled. "Even if I don't have the FiM-9000, at least I got you." Octavia blushed and turn away quickly. "Perhaps there is something inside you can afford," she coldly proclaimed as she walked over to the door. Vinyl bolted up and exclaimed, "Oh, come on! That was the sweetest thing I've ever said, EVER! Can't a best friend at least get a sympathy hug!?" Octavia closed the door behind her and the jingling of the entrance bell became Vinyl's only answer. "What's with that filly today?" the DJ muttered to herself. 'She is not going to stop, is she?' Octavia groaned mentally. Upon entering the shop, Octavia, the very sophisticated Canterlot cellist, was blown away by the immensity of strange sights. There were rows of records filling up the majority of the main area. Each album cover had something different to see on it: bizarre artistic designs, musicians wearing odd fashions in uncomfortable poses, and the most unusual of names for albums and bands in interesting typefaces. The far wall of the shop was lined with speakers and other audio equipment that was far too modern for the concert-attending pony to understand. At the right side of the store, a bored looking unicorn stallion sat at a counter reading a magazine. His horn glowed as it powered a stereo that blasted out some aggressive rock song that was more for his entertainment than the customers'. To Octavia's left, there were glass cases lined with both classical and modern instruments. She spotted some percussion, brass, and woodwind instruments as well as something that looked like a hoofheld piano. And guitars of course. Lots and lots of guitars. Octavia looked around to see what kind of other ponies shopped there and was pleasantly surprised. Mostly normal looking citizens perused store, with one or two exceptions among them. Not that there were many customers that day, but Octavia was glad to see that there weren't any gangs of angry delinquent ponies like she secretly feared. The door chime jingled behind her to signal Vinyl's entrance to the store. Still feeling uncomfortable about everything, Octavia started to trot down the aisles to get away from Vinyl. Not so swift as to appear as if she was avoiding her, but not so slow Vinyl could catch up. (It's a tricky speed to achieve!) As she evaded Vinyl, Octavia quickly browsed the tags that sectioned off different areas of musical genres. She began to grow excited at the unfamiliar categories and rapidly tried to ascertain what each could be. Rock 'Rock? Music made by rock farmers? Music made for rock farmers?' Octavia thought quizzically. Metal 'Music made with only metallic instruments? Brass instruments are metal, I suppose.' Punk 'Hoodlums must gather around these! I had best be careful.' Rap 'To rap is to hit lightly... Like... harp strings? How obscure. They should rename it "Pluck." Much more appropriate.' Country 'Oh, those must contain Equestria-themed compositions, like the national anthem! ...I would imagine that would be fairly repetitive, but... that section is enormous!' Trance 'Does that kind hypnotize you into a trance!? Why? How is that achieved!? Is it magical? Who would listen to it!?' Techno '...Tech...nology? Is that even a genre? Shouldn't this label be next to the stereo systems?' Dubstep '...As in dubbing a knight? Why- What does that have to do with stepping? I am thoroughly confused. These categories are becoming bizarre. I must ask Vinyl about them.' And thus, as if by some cosmic coincidence, the thought of Vinyl stopped Octavia in her tracks and her unplanned gaze ended upon a certain record. Far above it stood the tag labeling the genre. Pop The cellist picked up the artsy album cover featuring two twin mares with brown manes. Large letters protruded out from the white designs spelling out the title and artist: Tegantail and Saramane: Hearttrotter. 'This is... the album Vinyl and I argued over yesterday...' Octavia caressed the cover as if it contained the most precious item in the world. A flood of unpleasant memories came crashing down upon her. Excitement was replaced with nervousness, once again. 'I promised myself... I would forget about Vinyl's... issue... However, it keeps coming up... Every time we talk, I think about it. Every time I see her... And... she is always trying to get close to me...' Octavia squeezed the album close to her chest. 'And she likes me... Oh Celestia, she wanted us to kiss...' 'And what do you want?' the voice asked her, right on cue. But Octavia didn't have a snappy response to silence that voice. She listened to it. 'What I want...' Octavia flashed back to the emotional moment when she had overcome Vinyl's eyes. In her joy, Vinyl had planted a kiss on Octavia's lips. And Octavia... for that very brief moment... how did it make her feel? "I do not know what I want..." Octavia muttered aloud. "Really? 'Cause this one's pretty good," Vinyl stated abruptly as she reached around Octavia to point at the Tegantail and Saramane record she was holding. "Gah!" Octavia bounced sideways at the ninja-like appearance of her friend. "Woah! You are so jumpy today, Octavia," Vinyl noted. "Or, wait... maybe you're just jumpy in general...?" She pondered deeply for a moment in an attempt at humor. Octavia groaned lightly and turned away. Vinyl waited for Octavia to make a clever comeback, but the Canterlot pony just stared down at the record she held. "Um..." Vinyl started to inch closer, but Octavia quickly placed the album back on the shelf. "On second thought, I do not really want this..." Octavia mumbled loudly before trotting down the aisle away from Vinyl. She stopped to look at a different selection, hoping her unicorn friend would walk the other way. After staring at Octavia for a moment, Vinyl caught up, "Octavia... are you sure you're okay? You're acting kinda weird." "I assure you, I am fine," Octavia answered as she took a step to the side to distance herself from Vinyl. The usually unobservant DJ noticed this movement. She raised her eyebrow in disbelief and moved in closer to Octavia. The cellist repeated herself, scooting away from her friend. "Nothing wrong with you, my flank!" Vinyl grumbled, inaudibly. "Well, I am going to look over there," Octavia stated as casually as she could, and started to trot off again. Before she could get far, however, Vinyl pounced on her. "SURPRISE HUG!" Vinyl cried, as she squeezed tight. "Come on, Octavia! Gimmie a hug!" The unicorn looked to her friend hoping to see the same embarrassed smile that she would always see before Octavia reciprocated the affection. She hoped to see the same Octavia that had always been so sweet to her, the same Octavia that put up with her antics and teasing. However, there was no cheerful mare there when she looked. All she saw was a pony with a cold, distant fog hanging over her eyes. "...Do you mind?" Octavia muttered. Vinyl didn't release Octavia, but instead held her in place. Her baffled expression slowly changed to anger and her cheeks turned red. "Okay, that's it!" the unicorn bellowed out. She forcibly grabbed one of Octavia's forelegs and tugged her away. "Come on, filly! We're gonna talk!" "Wait, Vinyl!" Octavia cried as Vinyl dragged her down the aisle. The cellist hobbled along to keep pace with the DJ. She began to sweat nervously, both because of Vinyl's aggressiveness and her fear of what would come next. She didn't even notice the gossiping of the other customers as they watched her exit the store. The two of them ended up behind the shop in a small back-alley before Vinyl released Octavia. "What is the meaning of this!?" Octavia shouted nervously, backing away from Vinyl. "Octavia, you've been acting really weird all day," the unicorn pressed. "I mean, weirder than usual. Normally you're just uptight and stuff, but what was with that freak-out? Now it's like you're avoiding me, even after we made up!" "I'm not avoiding you," Octavia blurted, ignoring the DJ's subtle jabs. "I'm- I am- I was... just trying to choose some records for myself, and you- you just dragged me out here, abruptly and rudely." The Canterlot pony turned her head snobbishly. "I am going back inside." "No," Vinyl stated authoritatively. "You're being cold to me, and you're gonna tell me why." "I am not being cold," Octavia replied, in a very cold manner. "I am leaving." "For Celestia's sake, please just talk to me! You haven't been yourself." "And how would YOU know?" Octavia snapped loudly, causing Vinyl to recoil. The cellist reversed her direction, started approaching Vinyl and continued to shout, "We have barely known each other for two days! How could you possibly understand what I am like! Maybe this is how I normally am! Have you ever considered that?" Octavia didn't even know what kind of things she was yelling. With a rapidly beating heart pressuring her, she was just desperately trying to end the conversation, although the words she chose weren't helping. Vinyl looked Octavia over in disbelief at this aggressive outburst. "Octavia..." Vinyl stated calmly, "We haven't known each other long, but... that was enough time for me to learn what kind of pony you are. And this... this isn't you." "Oh, ho-ho!" Octavia laughed antagonistically. "Pray tell, what kind of pony is that, HMMM?" "...The kind I want to be my best friend..." Best... ...friend. That particular combination of words would have meant nothing to Octavia just a few days ago. But now... they resonated, like nothing else Vinyl had said. 'My best friend...' Octavia thought mournfully. Her eyes began to water as they darted around trying to find something to focus on. 'I am fighting with my best friend again... I do not want to... I do not want to be this mad at my best friend again. I do not want to be so afraid of her... So afraid to talk to her... So afraid to even be near her...' The pony closed her eyes. 'I do not want to ever feel this sick inside when I think of her again.' Octavia sat down on her flank and just breathed slowly for a short while. With worry furrowing her brows, Vinyl stared intently at Octavia who sat very still in front of her. The DJ could tell her friend was thinking deeply, so she didn't interrupt to pry any further. She waited with uncharacteristically good patience for a reply. 'If I tell Vinyl what has happened... everything I have seen and heard... She will confess to me... Perhaps not right now, but she will... but what is the alternative? Hide it forever? I cannot keep running from it like this. Even if I avoid it today, tomorrow it will come up again... and again after that. I cannot keep this charade up indefinitely... So do I only have one choice...........?' '.......' '.....' '...' "Alright, Vinyl," Octavia said softly. "...I will tell you." Vinyl's ears perked up at this quiet voice. She sighed out in relief and sat down, placing herself across from Octavia. "Tell me what, exactly?" Vinyl asked, as comfortingly as she could. With great worry, and a nervous sweat, Octavia answered, "...Everything I have been keeping from you..." "...Okay," Vinyl replied simply. Octavia looked at the ground for a while, contemplating how to word all the things she was about to say. 'I suppose I should start with...' "Well, Vinyl... to begin, last night I was... confronted... by Miss Berry Punch," Octavia started to explain slowly. Vinyl's eyes widened behind her shades for a moment, but she didn't say a word. "She was... intoxicated, it seemed... and she told me that you were a... well, a 'freak,' as she put it." Octavia waited for Vinyl to respond, but the DJ kept quiet. "She said you would 'ruin' me. ...She was... full of so much hatred, Vinyl... It scared me." "That... doesn't surprise me," Vinyl finally commented, rubbing her neck in shame. "BP and me had a... well, let's just say I had a weird relationship with her... Heh." Vinyl tried to laugh, but it came out plain and desperate. "You loved her?" Octavia asked without hesitation. A spike of nervous horror struck her heart in the moments after she spoke. She had just blurted out the one thing she was most afraid of revealing, completely by accident! It was an unthinkable slip up, yet it had just occurred as simply one would say "Good morning." Octavia's face burned red at what she had just done. Her gaze, slowly but surely, drew up towards Vinyl. It was now Vinyl's turn to be flushed red and sweating nervously. The words had stung her just as they had with Octavia. She was undeniably taken aback and caught off guard. This was not the conversation she was expecting to have, at least not this soon. Vinyl had hoped to keep her history with Berry away from Octavia for as long as she could. If Octavia ever found out the truth... (Well, she's already found out the first part of the truth, Vinyl.) "Love is... a pretty strong word..." Vinyl found herself stuttering as she stared down at the dirt. "But you liked her, didn't you, Vinyl?" Octavia accused. She had no idea where the courage to continue to say such things was coming from, but it was there nonetheless and it pressured her to continue. "You were... a couple." "Where are you getting these ideas, Octy!?" Vinyl spouted in a panic, flailing her arms to try to shake this all away. "Heh, heh! You- you can be pretty funny, if you try, you know!?" "It is not a joke," Octavia whimpered. "You are attracted to mares... such as Berry Punch..." 'Or... me...' Octavia finished the thought silently in the privacy of her own head. "No! I- I-..." Vinyl started to defend, but once she saw the look in Octavia's eyes, she knew it was useless. It was over. Octavia was not playing around. She was serious. She obviously knew. "Well?" Octavia asked. "I want the truth, Vinyl." The truth... The word haunted Vinyl. It was a guilty word. It was a word she once tried to hide. But it became a word she grew ashamed of. She never wanted to lie to her best friend again. Not after Berry... Vinyl took a long pause (a long long pause) before she decided to respond. She inhaled deeply. She hadn't ever prepared for this speech, but she knew it would have to be said eventually. And this pony in front of her... this pony was the one to say it to. "You know what, Octavia? Yeah! Yeah, it's true! I like mares! I like girls!" Vinyl stood up proudly and removed her sunglasses. She met Octavia's eyes as she confessed. Her deep red eyes burned with a passion Octavia hadn't seen in her before. "I once liked Berry! I'm not ashamed that I'm gay!" Octavia's gaze never left Vinyl's. In her heart, the cellist knew all this was coming, but she wasn't prepared to hear it all come out. Her lips quivered as if to tempt her to interrupt, but Octavia stayed silent. "I've been keeping it to myself ever since I came to this town, because it was nopony's business but my own. But the one time, the one bucking time I acted on it- Berry... she just- ...and I just- ...we... we never were a couple, okay? It never got that far." Vinyl swallowed nervously. There was no stopping her now and there was no need to hide anything anymore. "But you know what, Octavia? You know what? I want to be a couple with you." Octavia's already rapidly beating heart sped up tremendously at those words. It had come down to the very moment she dreaded. Her eyes were on Vinyl. Her ears were on Vinyl. Her heart was focused on Vinyl. These were the words she feared to hear... or were they the ones she desperately wanted? Vinyl continued and began to tear up, "I don't just... like you, Octavia. I think I love you! You are... the most beautiful pony I have ever seen, and I've spent time with Celestia, okay? I can hardly hold myself back when you're around! Every inch of your body tempts me in ways I don't understand and I just want to touch you, hold you, even kiss you! But it's not just about how you look, Octavia, or how you walk with the grace of an alicorn, or how every time you breathe, my heart skips a beat! You're also so sweet and kind and... you have this passion for music that'd make anypony envious! You know so much and you care about all these tiny little things I'm too stupid to ever think of! But you're also so innocent and naïve about the silliest things and sometimes I can't stop myself from hugging you just to hear that cute embarrassed squeak you make!" Octavia began to form tears of her own throughout this confession. It was not how she ever imagined it would be. Vinyl was being more passionate and poetic than she thought possible. It was overwhelming. "I want you to be there every morning when I wake up, Octavia! And I want you to want to be there beside me! I want you to feel about me how I feel about you. I know I annoy you... I know you've been frustrated with me... And I'm sorry I've kept all this from you, but I've been so afraid that you'd run away like Berry did! I don't want to make the same mistake I made with her, I want you to love me back!" Vinyl moved in close to Octavia and took her hooves, gripping them tightly as if she was afraid the cellist would vanish before her eyes if she let go. "Please, please give me a chance, Octavia! Go out with me!" The two of them sat in their little private space behind the record store in the silence after the confession. Nopony was around besides the two of them. There was no need for anypony else. This was between the two musicians who were, not too long ago, just strangers, but had become such fast and irreplaceable friends. Octavia had finally heard everything straight from Vinyl's mouth. All that she was dreading came to bear in front of her. It was more powerful than she anticipated; she had no clue what to do. How does onepony prepare for such a point in their lives? How does a pony so young answer such a declaration when she has so much growing still to do? Will what she says in response be a true reflection of how she feels now, or how she will continue to feel in the future? Octavia turned to her inner voice. She had nopony else to ask in that moment. She begged with it, she pleaded. She needed help, some direction, an answer. It was quiet. She knew why. Octavia slowly opened her mouth and, in a small voice riddled with nervousness, she answered with the only thing she could in that moment: "No."