That heat, it was unbearable. But even though the fire's temperature seemed like a brick wall, I still found myself running in there. I tapped into my magic to try to get the door opened, it turned out it was unlocked, so it slammed into the wall behind it causing a few burning piece of wood to land in my fur. It burned but I had to keep going, I ran up the stairs to where Octavia had been. But there was a large portion of the stairs missing, that would explain why she hadn't ran out herself.
I shouted as loud as I could up the stairs, "Octavia!" There was no response, so I tried again, my throat feeling like it would crack from the strain. I gagged as the smoke traveled into my lungs. But there was still no answer. I backed up a few steps before leaping forwards over the gap in the staircase. Not a good idea, as the entire upper level was completely filled with smoke. It caused every part of my insides to sting, my eyes shut naturally in an attempt to protect themselves. But I forced them back open, or I would die here, and so would Octavia. That wasn't going to happen, so I ran in the direction I remember seeing her only to knock into something head first.
"Vinyl help, please." a mutter came from in front of me, a voice so soft I barely heard over the roaring fire engulfing the building. My magic grabbed her and began to carry her down the stairs before I saw the entire staircase was nothing but ash. With a jolt I turned around and rushed back to the room I had seen her at. Carefully I put down her unconscious body before smashing my hooves on the glass. It didn't budge, turns out she didn't have glass, but plastic. For some reason it didn't open either, it had no latches or anything. With a furious roar I used my magic to splinter the wood around the plastic before withdrawing the plastic sheet from the wall.
A familiar blue glow enveloped Octavia and gently levitated her down to the ground below. For me it would be a bit more difficult, I had to jump. My hooves buckled painfully as I landed on the hard stone ground. I remember laying next to Octavia, she was just opening her eyes and saw me laying there. I coughed and a small plume of smoke came out. Her look of adoration quickly morphed into one of concern, but when I held up my non injured front right hoof she smiled again.
"You didn't honestly think I'd let you die, did you?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. It was actually surprisingly romantic, except that the small fire that should have been lighting us, was in fact a raging inferno.
"Of course I didn't, I knew you would help, whether it was the smart thing to do or not. But for now, you need your rest, don't worry." Octavia replied, and with a light kiss on my cheek I fell into a void.
***
My eyes opened slowly, only to find we were back in school, me in my bed, Octavia in a bed across from me. I remember thinking to myself, too bad she's not in this bed with me. Octavia just stared blankly at me, I had said it out loud. Immediately we both began to blush at this sudden confession of sorts.
After a few minutes Octavia moved again, she stood up and trotted over to my bed. Carefully laying in it next to me, "happy now?"
I was speechless, but it wasn't like what I had meant at all and she knew it.
"Vinyl, I think you're a great friend, but I can't go into a relationship with you right now." Octavia said sadly.
Saddened, and kind of angered at the same time, I replied. "Why not, is there somepony else, what is it?"
"It's simple my dear friend, we have to explain our story,a dn why I was late to school, than you have to heal." Octavia replied teasingly before lightly kissing me on the lips.
That was one of the best days of my entire life. After that morning we got up and Octavia explained the whole thing. After she had gotten home, her parents were angry at her, like my parents were at me, for switching instruments. They said she couldn't go back to the school the day before she was going to leave. She acted all depressed but said ok, than after missing one day without complaint, her parents decided to go shopping the next morning. She made a plan to sneak back to the school then. She waited a few minutes after her parents had left and was jsut getting ready to leave, but somepony walked in her house downstairs and with an axe wielded by magic destroyed part of the stairs before smashing a lit lantern against the wooden floor. A few minutes later, I'd shown up.
After I fell unconscious, she had begun to drag my body back, only for us to be found by those drug dealers again. They recognized me and decided to be kind by helping Octavia, who was still carrying me and her instrument, back into the nicer part of the city. There we were found by some police officers who helped us back to the school's hospital wing.
After explaining it to the principal he was all to willing to put it all behind everyone and jsut carry on like usual. We didn't even have to ask him to give us the same room, he said it would be cruel for me not to put two mares who care so much about each other together. Besides, they would find a way if we didn't.
That night we talked like we had never before. We didn't study, or even practice our instrument. The conversation finally ended at five in the morning, we had class in only two hours. With a sigh I walked to my bed and flopped in, only to feel a second pony flop into it next to me. I turned to face Octavia who simply said, "you like me right?"
With a slight nod, she leaned in and kissed me deeply, before pulling back. Without another words she closed her eyes and fell asleep, I layed there for a few minutes before falling asleep next to her.
The next day went by fast, me and Octavia's schedules were almost the same. This allowed us to see each other a lot more, and always have somepony else near we could talk to that we could trust. Our schedule seemed mostly the same as the semester before, but at the same time somehow different. The first semester seemed so long ago, a kind of golden age. I quickly found what had changed, me and Octavia had both matured. Me with my newfound experiences, and something had happened to her, more than she was willing to tell me.
But nonetheless, the conversation was just as fun as it had been before. If not even more so, and now instead of sitting on two beds we sat on one. Stopping every so often to share a quick kiss, we were madly in love, at least that's what I thought at the time. During the night we made amazing music, the likes of which neither of us had ever heard before, I guess it's because we had our hearts behind it. Or it might have been the ecstasy I had told Octavia to try that I was on at the same time. But something in the back of my mind reminded me, I had to bring Octavia to meet Lyra, and soon. But like I usually do, I decided to put it off until tomorrow.
The next day was intersting, to say the least. I actually didn't put it off again and decided to have Lyra meet Octavia. It turned out to be better than I imagined, especially after I told Octavia how Lyra had made me feel. She was all to eager to meet this new mare. So, with a spring in my step and Octavia next to me I knocked on Lyra's door three times. Bonbon answered the door instead before calling Lyra to the door. Immediately Lyra and Octavia got off to a good start. What I mean with this, is they were at each others throat. As soon as Lyra walked to the door Octavia stood on her hind legs and punched her in the face. Lyra was knocked on hher flank while me and Bonbon just stood there amused.
Afterwards Lyra got up, asked what that was for, and kicked Octavia onto the ground. The entire conversation happened as they shared blows with each other. Octavia explained Lyra had hurt me then bit Lyra. Lyra responded with a quick apalogy, and pushed Octavia away before walking up to me. I could have sworn she was going to hit me, but at the last second Lyra leaned in and kissed me.
After that Octavia got so mad, but luckily not at me. Pushing Lyra off me was the best decision in my entire life, if I hadn't I'd probably be dead right now. Octavia's mane looked like it would burst into flames as I pushed Lyra off me and into her. At that point all conversation ceased and the battle they waged carried on for another good twenty minutes. Me and Bonbon shared an occasional glance at each other and began exchanging pleasantries over the rackus. In fact, the fight brought quite a crowd, but finally I had enough. I shut and locked the door, and seperated Octavia from Lyra with my magic while Bonbon held her own marefriend back. Octavia was enraged, but as they say, music soothes the savage beast. So I used my tongue as a bow, and Octavia's mouth was the instrument, that calmed her down real quick. I looked back over at the other two mares in the room only to find them looking back at us. After another sorry, Lyra and Octavia actually found they had quite a bit in common. But for obvious reasons, they never really got to be as good friends as me and Bonbon became.
Sometimes Octavia or Lyra would complain to me about me and Bonbon being friends, but I always assured them that was just it. Sometimes we had to have a third opinion about something from somepony who didn't think almost everything we did was great. Finally the suspicions eased and we could all enjoy our seperate relationships.
Two nights after the whole fiasco Lyra invited us to come to her room sometime at night for a late night jam session. Always eager for more music, I convinced my slightly hesitant brown maned friend that it would be a good time. She agreed to go, on a condition. She didn't tell me what the condition was but I agreed to it nonetheless, as long as it wasn't something outrageous.
That night me and Octavia knocked on their now fairly familiar door. We quickly gained entrance, once inside me and Bonbon said hi while Lyra and Octavia gave each other a quick glare. "Now, Octavia, I won't do whatever you want me to do, if you don't play nice." I said.
Apparantly Lyra had forced Bonbon into the same kind of deal. Something more than just a jam was going on here. But for now we each got out our respective instruments and started playing random songs we knew. But Lyra couldn't leave it there, she brought out a clear bottle with what looked kind of like water inside. There was no label or indication of what was really inside, until she opened it. The pungent smell of alcohol invaded my nostrils. Without a care for legal ages, Lyra grabbed 4 glasses from beneath her bed and poured some of the potent liquid in each. Her magic handed a glasses to all of us. "This is going to make the night that much more interesting." I remember Lyra saying pointedly.
I expected Octavia to object, but she stayed quiet. It seemed strange at the time. On the harp pony's mark we all tipped the glasses slightly, the liquid poison searing down our throats. It was easy for me and Lyra, but for Octavia and my new friend Bonbon, they had to grab the glasses with their teeth. Something they wouldn't be capable of soon, so we would have to raise the glasses for them.
A second round was poured and I tried to drink the shot the same way Octavia had, it required way more skill than I first expected. The fire burned my throat further as I gagged. Octavia didn't seem to react at all other than a quick shake of her head. "So, Octavia, did you ever drink before?" I tried to ask cautiously, but the strong drink was already affecting my brain.
"Sometimes ya, but usually stronger stuff than this." Octavia responded, pouring herself another glass and downing it.
"Ha, I knew there was a less uptight side of you." I responded, a small hiccup coming up near the end of the sentence.
"I guess you don't drink that much," Octavia jeered.
"Ya, you're right I don't drink much." I replied honestly. The blue magic surrounded the bottle of heavenly liquor, pouring me yet another glass. After that drink, well, for the ratings sake let's say I don't remember much. Except for the ultimate pleasures that went on in that room.
The next morning, I woke up with a pounding headache. Everything seemed ok, except when I looked down I saw Octavia's head between my legs. I quickly remembered what happened the night before and gently rubbed Octavia's cheek, yet sternly enough to wake her up. It worked, and her beautiful eyes fluttered open lazily. We didn't care if we had class or not, this was going to be a good day. She crawled slowly on top of me and kissed me deeply, her tongue wrestling with mine for a second and then backing off.
Once back in our room I asked her curiously, "when did you and Lyra agree to do that, anf more importantly, why?"
She simply smiled her innocent smile and said, "because it would be lots of fun."
The rest of the day was spent listening to smooth jazz and playing along on our own instruments. A perfect day by any standards, but something was missing. So we went over to Lyra and Bonbon's room. As we opened the door, we saw they were very busy and waved us out, I shouted I was taking the liquor and left, the half full bottle held in my magic.
I left the room as Lyra began to moan loudly. "Crap, I forgot the glasses!" I shouted as I closed the door. Octavia smiled and held up the two glasses held in her front hoof, gladly I took them with my magic too. We arrived back at my room, and the rest of the day I won't recall either.
The next day we went to calss as normal, except for the fact that our heads felt like they had been split by an axe. The math was boring as usual, but somehow the teacher seemed more attentive today.
***
The weeks soon resumed a regular pattern. On weekdays we would practice and study, then on friday we would have our fun nights. The teachers seemed more receptive of me and my instrument as I got better and better. Finally I approached the principal, who agreed on adding synthesizers with a turntable an official instrument recognized by the school. I also suspect this had something to do with my newfound status among the teachers.
Me, Octavia, Lyra, and Bonbon had all somehow reached schoolwide fame of sorts. We played together so much more than any other ponies, our skills increased together. Our melodies became more complicated, and the rumor of us using prerecorded tapes began spreading. Of course this was put to rest when we played our own songs, our own rhythms, and our own masterpieces.
I still don't know if we were extra special, but I think that it was jsut our ethics. We got together every day to play music and have a good time, instead of only to practice our assigned pieces. We found music on our own and brought it to the others to play and practice, those who had doubted Octavia and Bonbon because they were earth ponies quickly disappeared. This was our highpoint. But one night we had our usual party, which nopony knew about yet.
I mentioned at one point, at how the teachers were talking about and to us. As if we were protoge's, some kind of masters. This could only mean one thing, they didn't have anything left to teach us.
It was a harmless enough comment, but it planted the first real seeds of ambition in any of us. But for now we were content in drinking, and playing until our throats were killing us, and our hooves were sore. It was a pleasant time, but like all good things, it had to end eventually.
The half terms came and passed uneventfully, but a week after is when everything began to fall apart. It was friday, which always meant party day, but someponies had gotten to curious. They apparantly had followed us to Lyra's room and hid around for hours outside until they heard our giggling. They came in to see us in the middle of our sweet throngs of pleasure. The alcohol had dulled our minds too much, and we had gotten overcocky, jsut that once we hadn't locked the door. Those two ponies ran out without saying a word, shutting the door behind them. After that we stopped for the night. Each of us returning to our own rooms.
Only a day later, the rumors had already started. These rumors were completely overblown, but not untrue. They claimed we were all completely lesbians who made love every single night, getting drunk in the meantime. All that respect for our ability, and from the teachers. It was gone, our teachers began to treat us like druggies who ahd trouble understanding anything. It was completely demeaning, so the next day we met again. This time we did lock the door.
***
The conversation had immediately dropped as we all knew the reason we were here. We had to know each others suggestions for this situation.
I spoke first, "remember how the teachers couldn't really teach us anything more about music? That's why I'm dropping out after this year."
My declaration shocked everypony present, especially Octavia who spoke next. "I'm going to stay the rest of the school year, then I will continue to study here, I can get a job in the breaks to pay for it."
"I'm going to open a candy shop, or at least try." Bonbon stated out of the blue.
"Why did you come to this school Bonbon?" Lyra asked.
"Simple, I like music, so why not learn to play. But my talent isn't music, and it gets dull, so candy it is." she explained plainly.
"hmm... I'm going to stay here with Octavia, you can't be a famous concert pony with only 1 year of education." Lyra stated matter of factly.
"Ah, well it looks like we won't be seeing each other for a while after this year than, eh? So let's make this last quarter a good one." I said before turning on my computer which I used for most of my songs now.
The music began to flow as it had before, but there was a sadder undertone to it all. The weeks continued on and our reputations built to what they were before. Our parties continued, but in more private locations now. At one time we rented out a nearby hotel room for a three day weekend, all we had to do in return was play music every night. A good trade, and an even better one because we could be as loud as we wanted in those rooms and on those beds.
***
It was three weeks before the school year ended when the principal called us all in for a meeting. He had heard rumors that some of us were planning to leave the school and offered a full ride scholarship for each of us. I remember his exact reasoning, I know you want to be a DJ but imagine how much better you will be after three more years.
I also remember me laughing in his face saying, I don't need three more years, your professors can't teach me anymore about music. He nodded slightly, dissapointment evident on his face before he stood and shook my hoof tightly.
Octavia and Lyra had been overjoyed by the oppurtunity of a full ride scholarship and quickly took it. There was a catch though, no more alcohol or parties or sex either. They gladly promised to give both of those up starting next year. I could never have done it, I was in love with the out of control lifestyle we had been living before we were caught by those stranger ponies.
Bonbon didn't want much to do with the principal so she just said no to him. At least he ahd the common sense not to try and convince taht earth pony, when she set her mind to something, she wouldn't be swayed easily. Even with three years of education, which she detested almost as much as I did.
Finally the end of the school year came, finals were easily passed, and everything seemed good. Until we had to leave for our houses again. It turned out all four of us were homeless, so we decided on a new plan of action. We would go to the industrial side of town, find a warehouse, do odd music jobs, and spruce it up.
It worked, and the warehouse was soon looking pretty decent, but it wouldn't last. I knew I had to go and soon. The night after we got a sofa I walked to the door, only to find it blocked by Octavia. She simply said to me, "I love you, don't ever forget that." she kissed me one last time before walking back to her mattress. It layed next to Lyra's bed. Bonbon was the only with a seperate room, so she could make candy.
The door swung open silently and revealed a road illuminated by street lights. But only a few feet from the warehouse, it went completely dark. And in that warm summer night I walked forwards, unsure of my future, or what would ahppen to anypony else.
I remember the panic that soon overcame me as I heard a twig being broken nearby. A hoof covered my mouth in the darkness and pulled me away from the road. I could feel the cold blade of a knife held against my neck.
I gargled out that I didn't have any money. My head struggled to turn and I got a quick look at the assailant. It was the same pony that had lit Octavia's house all those days ago. But this time I could see under the hood.
It was Bonbon.
***
Sorry to not update in so long, I am currently working on chapter 5, and I will post chapter 4 once I get home.