//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Siblings // Story: In the Background // by Harold_Genhi //------------------------------// The sunrays crept through the blinds and drifted up my bedside, slowly caressing my eyes open. Their refreshing warmth was enough to softly wake me from my slumber. I smiled with the happiness from the night before, still burning within my senses; my heart still swollen with renewed pride. I sat up only to be reminded that Vinyl was awake. I observed the picture frame resting on the ledge of my wall vibrate in pulses down to one side. I had on occasion laid in bed to watch it slide back and forth on the wall, performing its laps. Vinyl convinced me that it would keep the dust off, and she did not disappoint though the dust remained in the air. On certain days, I had to question the structural integrity of the house, and if the constant reverb of the base had loosened the foundation. I popped the large earplugs out of my ears just as the song’s bass stopped, letting a sweeping trance hit my ears. I always enjoyed the moments in the storm where it calmed into a surprisingly peaceful and brilliantly harmonic sprinkle. I silently left my room and trotted down the hall. Softly, I pushed Vinyl’s door open to find her wrapped in her towel, still wet from her morning bath. She shuffled in the middle of her neon decorated room, which pulsed to the music. Morning entertainment was pretty rare for me, but watching the intricacies of Vinyl’s hoofwork had always been enjoyable. In one final build up, the song quickly ceased just as my roommate managed to do a back flip, and land on her front hooves with her hind legs sticking up in the air like some sort of ninja or karate pony from the East. My hooves clopped together as I applauded her new move, drawing her to my presence. She snapped the record off of the player and smiled at me. “How did you like that one?” Vinyl paraded around the room. “Wonderful. Quite wonderful, indeed.” I grinned as she rested her leg on my head and looking down at me. “You know, I’m just that,” she placed her hooves on her hips, “awesome!” “Whatever you say Vinyl.” I pulled out from her hoof and rested myself on her back. “I just need to think, and weigh your ‘supposed’ awesomeness.” I hummed in false thought. “Hey now!” She bucked me from her back, “You think you can judge my awesomeness?” She scoffed playfully. “And ‘pray tell’ how does my awesomeness compare to your classy pony standards?” My face bent in thought as I tossed around the answer that I had already made, just the look on her face searching in my face for the answer was almost as enjoyable as watching her dance. “Out with it girl!” She laughed. “Well…” I rolled my eyes back. Her red eyes pierced through me, still searching for the answer. “Awesome.” I whispered into her ear. The look on her face for the brief second of getting a dance move called more than ‘Interesting’ was simply priceless and exactly the face I was hoping for. I trotted out of the room just as I heard her hooves leave the ground and her voice pierce the silence. Looking back, Vinyl pumped her hoof and jumped back toward her equipment. The room quickly exploded with light and the ground began to shake as the music began to blare and vibrate the floor. It felt wonderful on my hooves, but it must have blown my eardrums out. I could have sworn that my hair was blown to the side by the concussive force of twelve bass amps disturbing the fabric of reality, sending a ripple through the house. It gave me only a second to realize that the doorbell was ringing. Over the din of Vinyl’s celebration, I opened the door to see a gray pegasus pony with a messenger bag slung over her back, filled with various letters. Her head was in the side pocket digging for something. I stepped outside and closed the door so as to have a conversation with the messenger. “Hello Ditsy. How is work going for you?” Her head popped out of the side, covered in crumbs as she munched away at the existing food in her mouth. She thought for a second and shook her head, her yellow crossed-eyes becoming serious. “No. I wasn’t dropped by the stork.” She laughed slightly. “That is just absurd Octavia… I mean do storks even exist?” “Yes.” “Oh," She thought for a second, "that kinda puts things into perspective.” her mood became surprisingly thoughtful. “Uhh.” I rattled off, confused as to what was even going on. “You got a letter!” She smirked quickly, procuring a small scroll from her pouch. “Thank you Ditsy. I very much apprecia-“ I began. “You gonna read it?” Ditsy cut me off. “What?” “Read it.” “Now?” Ditsy stared at me, or was it the pebble at my foot and the flock of seagulls flying overhead, I couldn’t tell. “Okay. Ahem. Dear Octavia Pie, I just wanted to ask you if you would like to hang out today. Yours truly,“ I sighed at the name. ““Ditsy Doo.” “Yes?” “Yes what, Ditsy?” I had to ask about the random question. “You said my name. I thought you had something important to say to me. Maybe that you had found my bubble wand or found the key to my muffin stash. Both of which feels increasingly important.” “No. It was your signature on your letter.” I tried to explain. “My letter? No, no, no. That is the letter I delivered to you.” She closed her eyes and stuck her nose up in the air. “I would love to hang out today.” I answered. “You got my letter?” Ditsy asked, a wave of excitement flooding across her eyes. “You just handed it to me.” I started to giggle. The excitement quickly melted into being dumbstruck. Her mind retraced everything that had just occurred, and her hoof came up to meet her face. “Gah, I’m sorry Octavia. I just lost track of everything, but I am glad that you can come! I’ll place the order for three dozen muffins, and we can make it a party!” She started to bolt away. I snagged her tail and pulled her back. “Where do you want to meet?” I asked. “Oh! Uh, here? Yes.” Then she vanished into the distance flying to the center of town and looking in random directions, obviously lost and trying to figure out her bearings. Her eyes always were in my mind. How can she even see? I could only shake my head and walk back into the house to dispose of the message given to me. My head instantly hit another pony’s nose. Before my body realized what my face had bumped into, I collided into Vinyl falling forward onto the ground. “Hey, hey, beautiful.” Vinyl joked. “Now, this is kind of sudden, and the door is open, but I guess whatever floats your boat.” She rolled next to me with laughter. I chuckled sarcastically. “You wish…” I rose back to my hooves and stepped over her, picking the paper up and dropping it inside of the trash. Vinyl laid on the ground, her head stretched back, looking at me, her glasses falling from her face and hitting the floor. I looked back at her, and it almost seemed pathetic, almost pouting, but it quickly changed when I saw that what I thought was a frown was just her perpetual smile. I had to shake my head and smile at her, which felt weird given that it wasn’t a conscious laugh, but one that just tickled up from my chest. I tossed her a playful smile before trotting into my study, looking at my spare cello sitting on its stand in the corner beside a large number of crumpled sheets of paper. “Right. A masterpiece to present to Equestria. Better said than done.” The weight of my task began to rest on my shoulders, and given how much was left, I knew the weight wasn’t even full yet. My legs wobbled in response, but a quick change in attitude, and a correction to my posture helped me get over to the chair and paper. But once seated, the blank paper felt intimidating, and the weight almost pushed me out of the bench forcefully. “Having problems?” Vinyl asked, as she walked into the room, headphones on, bobbing her head. “No! I- can you even hear me?” My ears perked up. “Of course I can! I’m not listening to any music. I kinda needed a break from it so, I came in here to listen to you serenade me.” She jokingly smiled again. “I don’t think there is going to be any serenading Vinyl. I need to write a masterpiece for this next coming event to save my reputation.” Vinyl chewed on a pastry. “Then write something beautiful like you always do.” “It needs to be more than beautiful. It needs to be au-delà des magnifique!” I moaned. “Ah, what?” Vinyl almost dropped her pastry. “Beyond beautiful.” “Oh, well, why didn’t you say so in the first place without all that foreign pony flair?” I felt defeated. Why didn’t that paper have anything written on it yet? Where was my inspiration? I hadn’t even noticed that Vinyl was silently walking over to me, her headphones glowing with a magic aura as they lifted from her ears and levitated above my head. I continued to complain to myself. It was only in a split second that I felt the headphones squeeze around my ears and a wave of bass to wipe all the memories from my head. My muscles tightened as I fell backward out of the stool and thudded onto the floor. “Tavi…? Are you alright?” Vinyl mouthed at me, her first ever look of concern. I stared blankly up at the ceiling, my legs still outstretched awkwardly “Tavi?” Vinyl slid the headphones from my head allowing for my body to relax. “What was that about?” I looked over to the music player that the headphones were plugged into and saw that the switch was set on an etched “11” marking past ten. I answered in almost a scream. “Maybe you should check the volume!” I could barely hear my voice. “Geez, no reason to yell. Oh! Oopsies.” She smirked guiltily. “Habit… and I thought it would kinda loosen you up.” “I’m pretty loose now.” I shakily reached up and pulled myself up on the stool, my balance still faltering. My ears slowly began to pop as the sound in the room began to return to me. It brought a slight smile to my face as the pent up pressure evacuated, and the last of the pulsing, residual bass left my system. Before too long, I realized that my ears were numb, and that they were popping from Vinyl rubbing them slowly. She guiltily smiled more as I crossed my hooves, still annoyed. “I didn’t mean it, you know that, Tavi. I just thought I’d help you out.” “Oh, you did help me, but not in the best of ways. Now, where can I find some inspiration to write this piece?” I tapped my hooves in thought as I relaxed more to Vinyl’s wonderful ear massage. “You could go try to find Eyn Spyyr the Inspirational.” Vinyl answered. “Something realistically plausible, not some old filly tale about that pony.” I scoffed. “He’s real, Octavia. You should trust me more.” “I do trust you, but that is just- It’s just not plausible.” I argued. "A pony who gives inspiration to the needy ponies of the world when they have the most trouble?" I shook my head She slowed her massage. “Everything is plausible, Tavi. Some of the music you’ve written, I would have deemed impossible if I didn’t see you write them, just as I make things that others believe to be impossible. Some things are merely improbable though never impossible.” She leaned in next to me and winked. “Just like the idea that storks deliver little fillies to their mothers?” Vinyl retorted, “Hey now, don’t ever bring that up with Ditsy; it’s a touchy subject.” A wave of shame flooded my cheeks. “She was dropped by a stork?” “The hay, if I know. I don’t think she rightly remembers what exactly happened to her, or she doesn’t want to tell anyone about it. I won’t pry about it.” “That would seem best.” I nodded. “Unless the answer was exciting.” a voice teased beside us. I turned to see Ditsy lounging beside me, looking out my window while eating a chocolate chip muffin while a blue berry one sat next to me on the chair. Vinyl’s hooves stopped massaging as she stared at Ditsy wondering how she managed to sneak in without being noticed. “How did yo-“ Vinyl began. Ditsy cut her off. “Hey Octavia! I brought you your favorite muffin, Bouncing Blueberry, and I ran into your relative that you don’t like so much.” “Oh?” I asked nonchalantly and irritatingly. “Yeah. She was hanging out with her friends or something. Maybe she was holding a party of some sorts.” “Can we please stop talking about her?” I droned. “The Pony Po-“ Ditsy tried to continue. I cut her off just as she had cut Vinyl off. “Never speak of that around me and I won’t talk about the storks.” Ditsy stared at me. She had to take a heavy gulp of the muffin in her mouth to clear her throat. “Deal.” Ditsy leaned back and casually ate her muffin as Vinyl stared over her glasses at the lounging grey Pegasus. “And how did you sneak in here, exactly?” Vinyl asked, still in amazement at Ditsy’s strange amount of agility. “Simple. I flew through the window, saw you two were busy playing freeze tag, or something and decided to wait until you finished.” She grinned, innocently; crumbs fell from her face and onto her chest. “I still don’t know how you were just lounging there while I rubbed Tavi’s ears, and I didn’t notice you.” “I’m just sneaky.” Ditsy answered, obviously enjoying her muffin to a great extent as she curled her back legs up and wiggled in joy. She sighed happily. “You can’t beat a delicious muffin. Eat up, Octavia, best not let the muffin wait.” I grabbed the blueberry muffin and dug into it. I had forgotten how delicious the muffins were from Sugarcube Corner. “Yup, specially made by Pinkie herself. I tell you what, that pony is one proper pastry preparer with all the prim, proper portions to please even the most pastry-passing pony in all of Ponyville.” Ditsy answered. I groaned heavily and stopped eating the pastry. “She made it as an apology after she heard that she had caused you to be fired.” I could only groan again. “You sound just like her…” “She actually said that when I went to deliver a letter to her, right before she gave me that blueberry muffin for you. Pinkie hopes you feel better soon.” Ditsy pulled another muffin from her bag and quickly stuffed the entire morsel into her mouth, almost choking on its dryness. “Maybe you need to forgive Pinkie, Tavi. It might be what is clouding your mind.” Vinyl explained. “I’m not goin-“ I stubbornly began, but felt the soft pads of Vinyl’s headphones be placed back onto my ears. She leaned over me and magically moved her glasses out of the way. “Don’t you dare make me, Tavi.” “You wouldn’t-“ My stubbornness caught up to me as I felt my ears go numb again and my body tense. I fell back to floor, completely frozen by the colorful, concussive force of five brand techno distortions with at least three ultra-bass power basses beating in the back. My hair twitched with each blast from the subwoofers. I barely managed to move my eyes to the side before my face hit the floor, my rear managing to stay stuck in the air, my tail following the twitches to the bass. “Come on Ditsy, we have to deliver Octavia to Sugarcube Corner.” She laughed at the situation. Ditsy stood up quickly and saluted. “Yes Ma’am!” Before she descended into extreme of laughter, she bit onto my tail just as Vinyl did. I couldn’t believe that I was being dragged out of the house, my chin scraping the dirt from the floor and eventually the dirt from the dirt once they had managed to get me onto the street. The best I could manage was to toss Vinyl angry looks. By the time we arrived at Sugarcube Corner, my chin had gathered quite the collection of various dirts and grasses. “Ditsy, go get Pinkie. I’ll guard, Tavi.” Ditsy saluted again, and flew toward the door to the small, popular pastry store. She struck the wall on either side of the door a few times before she managed to get through the passageway only to cause a ruckus to burst from within. Vinyl decided that she didn’t want to get her rump dusty so she decided to sit on my hindquarters. “Turn. This. Off.” I gritted through my teeth. I knew I was beaten. I saw Vinyl’s lips move, but I couldn’t hear a word she said. Obviously, she wasn’t going to take off my “restraints”. Before long, I saw the pink feet of Pinkie walk in front of me, the headphones slid off my ears. My body instantly collapsed to the ground in a puff of dust. I sat up slowly and looked into the smiling face of my spontaneous and pink sister. Again, I only saw her lips move, but I couldn’t hear anything. I leaned back and sat on my rear in the dust, folded my arms and stared unamused at what was transpiring. Vinyl rubbed my ears again, as I waited for sensation to return to them before I even tried to hold a conversation. The popping slowly stopped, and I dusted off my chin and chest before regaining my normally regal pose and looked at Pinky. How I remember the first time she snapped. It was fun at first, but I had grown quickly tired of the party atmosphere and wanted a calmer approach. I was glad that the one gift I got for Winter Wrap Up was a cello. Oh, how I had fallen in love with it. The more love I felt for it, the more I played. My cutie mark appeared not too long afterward. “Pinkie…” I could feel the words that I needed to say, stuck in my throat. “Heya Octavia! I hope that blueberry muffin made you feel goo-oo-ood!” She spoke in her regular higher pitched voice. “Yes… I did very much enjoy it. Thank you for making it for me Pinkie. I greatly appreciate it.” Vinyl nudged me forward causing another wave of annoyance and a careful sigh to get the lump out of my throat. “Pinkie, what I came here to say to you is-“ “You were dragged here silly. If you wanted to come here, you would have walked.” She joked. I had to sigh at remembering all of the jokes and observations that Pinkie enjoyed to pull out as a way of cheering ponies up. I gathered my senses to remain civil and worked toward what I was forced to come here for. I cleared my throat. "I wanted to apologize for how mad I was after the Gala. I know you were worried about me, but I pushed that all away as I saw my only chance to be seen among the higher culture as a great, deserving of their respect. I let that get in the way of our sibling relationship." "Octavia. It's fine, I was hoping to cheer you up. I knew you liked blueberry so I sent that muffin for you. You need to loosen up and have a bit of fun. Par-" "Pinkie. It isn't just about the Gala. It's for my constant avoidance of you and the family. I just became so caught up in all the reputation and prestige that came from what I love that I forgot how much I love my family, even you, amid how opposite we are." The truth of my words surprised me. It felt warming and comforting to me. "I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for you Octavia! You are the best at cellos no matter how boring that instrument is." She laughed and I joined her at first half-heartedly, but it grew the more I opened up to her. I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed my family. "Are we good?" I held my hooves out for a hug. "Are you kidding? We are the best!" She hugged me tightly, lifting me off the ground. "That was the best Pony Pokey I've ever heard." "You really liked it?" "You betcha! Your Pie family desire of having fun truly shown through that moment." "I did enjoy it very much so. It was better than that ambiance I had to play." "Ooo. I know! Then we got that place bumping! Well sorta, those stiffs are pretty stiff." She laughed again. "I loved when you increased the intensity of the song, it was like you wanted them to start dancing as much as me." “I loved watching you bouncing around and trying to get those stiff sods to shake their rears to my music.” I laughed. I didn’t even notice Ditsy and Vinyl leave Pinkie and me alone. “Uh… I know. I mean I tried my best and even got them moving to the beat, but nooOOooo. They just wanted to be boring.” I lost my regular inhibitions as the Pie family broke out of me. “Uh… I know… Normally I get the chance to play at least a bit of a more upbeat song than what those ponies wanted.” It felt good to let everything out and begin to connect with my sister and all it took was ruining my reputation in Ponyville by being dragged through the dirt. The seriousness returned and my eyes dropped low again. “Octavia?” Pinkie asked. “Hey sis, you want to help me get a bit of revenge on Vinyl and Ditsy.” I smirked. “You mean like a prank?” Pinkie almost jumped out of her hooves. I crossed my arms, “The best prank you have.” I smiled with thoughts of the incoming satisfaction. “Oooo… I have just the one.” Pinkie winked. We arrived back at my duplex to see Ditsy and Vinyl lounging in the study. “I can’t believe we dragged her through Ponyville.” Ditsy commented. “It was for her own good.” Vinyl put her headphones on and sat back in the lounge chair. “Stubborn pony that one is, not enough rave in her.” I snuck in the door and climbed up the stairs slowly, grabbing my cello from my room and walking downstairs to my awaiting sister who had a large box shaped device under a cover. “Ready?” She asked me. “Pinkie? What is this thing?” She pulled the cover from it to reveal a large amp with two numbers scribbled by the volume: “11” and “12”. She cranked it up to the little “12” mark and grabbed a suction cup and stuck it to the side of my cello. She grabbed my attention real quick and demonstrated the plan with her hooves. Sneak into the room. Stand behind them. Wait till the ear dropper is in place. Apply noise-cancelling headphones on self. Hit the highest note possible. Reap the benefits. I slide myself into the room without making a noise. Ditsy sat with a muffin wrapper over her face and Vinyl faced the opposite direction of the door. It wasn’t long before I managed to arrive at the middle of the room and put the headphones on and grab the bow. I placed it on the highest string and looked back at Pinkie who slid the amp into the room. I began to feel a tingling sensation inside my chest well up. Sweet, sweet revenge would be mine. Pinkie nodded once and hit the deck. I played the loudest sharpest note I had ever played and watched as both Ditsy and Vinyl seized up and fell awkwardly to the floor. I started to laugh at the scene, but Pinkie only made it better by putting the icing on the cake. She decorated both of them in cupcake frosting. I couldn’t hold the bow any longer from laughing at the scene and immediately when I stopped they were freed from my grasp. “Aww… That is not cool Tavi, not cool at all!” Vinyl complained as she shakily stood up. “I mean a twelve?” Right when Ditsy could move she flew straight up and hit her head off of the ceiling and fell back to the floor, the muffin wrapper stuck to the ceiling a bit before it softly drifted back down to the ground, landing back over her eyes. She looked up dizzily. “Wha- happened? Who am I? Ditsy asked. “Hmm. I look good.” Vinyl strutted in front of the mirror. “Rave paint! Haha! Why didn’t I think of that?” Pinkie laughed in the corner. “You all look ridiculous!” She rolled on the ground laughing. “I’m blind!” Ditsy ran into the wall, sending the cupcake wrapper off of her face. “Oh.” I walked over to my sister and high-hoofed on a job well done. Just to see them freeze on the ground was all that I could have asked for, and Pinkie did not disappoint. I felt much better and my mind filled with ideas of new material, or at least a solid opening sound, but beyond that it was sort of hit and miss which irritated me somewhat. The few marks I placed on the sheet still lifted my spirits and seeing Pinkie jump around the room and talk to a laughing and entertained Ditsy and Vinyl only heightened my spirits more. I felt as if The Great Eyn Spyyr had touched me. Sometimes friendship is hard, especially when they are related to you. I knew my sibling rivalry was bad with Pinkie, but I had never known that I had practically disowned her from my life. Friendship is hard and I couldn’t agree more with it, but amid the difficulties, the pay out has always outweighed the effort put into it. I could only sit and smile at my sister, Ditsy, and Vinyl. Their laughter helped me concentrate only helped tune my senses to an inner music that I could hear building each day though still too quiet to hear, but I knew it was getting there. I left my stool and cello and joined my friends and joined in their laughter.