//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Mixing Relationships // by Aryn240 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 “HEY, TAVI! That you?” “Who else would it be, Vinyl?” “How should I know? Why don’t you ask them?” Octavia, entering the back room of the apartment, shot a confused look in Vinyl’s direction. “Ask who?” “The ponies who come into my apartment! Ask them who they- nevermind!” A week had gone by since the two musical ponies had set out on their quest to prove their superiority. Octavia had not run into Lyrica again, and since she didn’t know what her coltfriend looked like, she didn’t have to worry about avoiding him, either. She was quite sure Vinyl hadn’t run into them, too; otherwise the papers might have had a story more interesting than “FANCY PANTS DECIDES NOT TO TRIM MOUSTACHE”. The music, originally so simple, had proven to be a bit of a handful, yet both ponies were determined not to give up. Lyrica’s not-so-subtle taunts had done that much. The difference between the two musicians was apparent here, however: The DJ was in favor of working nonstop to come out on top, while the cellist knew that life had to have breaks. The earth pony had, in fact, arrived after an early-evening band rehearsal to try to convince Vinyl to take a break and go out for a dinner date. …’date’. Octavia realized it had been a long while since she had even thought that word. Before she met Vinyl, and had entered into their current… arrangement, she had only been on one date, and that had been a fiasco she’d rather not even think about. She had never really thought of what she and the white DJ were doing as ‘dating’. It just... was. Well, she thought, a name’s just a name. A rose is a rose is a rose, and that same rose by any other name would smell as sweet… some famous pony had said that, she knew , but she couldn’t recall who. Not that it mattered too much; whatever was going on in her life made her happy. It would have to be named and discussed sometime, but now was not the time. Now was the time to get Vinyl to stop working. “So Vinyl, I was thinking…” “Uh-huh. Hey, do you think we need to re-record that bridge? It was a little quiet and-” Octavia tried again. “No, Vinyl, I think you’ve been working too hard-” “Yep. So, if we transpose it up two-” The cellist sighed. She should have known better than to try to reason it out. She trotted over to where Vinyl was still talking. The pony looked beat, and even her trademark shades were askew. Octavia reached down and, with her mouth, pulled the plug on the console. She knew there would be backup copies. The white DJ’s mouth abruptly stopped moving, her eyes panning crazily over the now-black console. She was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong when she noticed the plug in Octavia’s mouth, and the deadpan look the earth pony was giving her. “What, Tavi?” Octavia dropped the plug. “Vinyl, you’ve been at this all week. The times you weren’t at work, you were working here. Now, look. I made reservations at Le Equine Foin for two for 7:15. I don’t have to work tomorrow till later, and you never have work in the mornings. Why don’t we take the night off? We’ll go out to eat, and… Well, we haven’t been to my place in awhile.” The unicorn pushed her shades up and rubbed her eyes. Slowly she spoke. “You’re probably right, Tavi. I’m tired of these dials and sliders, anyway. Also, how far can those rich snobs have gotten? Probably not as far as us! We’re nearly sorta kinda done!” “Definitely probably not that far. Now come on, go get ready and we’ll be off!” Vinyl got to her hooves and trotted to the bathroom to freshen up. Octavia watched her go, then turned the light off in the small recording room and shut the door. *** *** *** “No, Vinyl! The main course comes first. Stop complaining that they made your pie wrong.” “Well, I can’t help it if they tried to put hay in my pie!” Octavia grinned in spite of herself. No pony was as uncultured as Vinyl; why she kept bringing her to these upper echelon places was beyond the cellist. Maybe it was because the white unicorn always managed to provide some comic relief among the stuffiness of the ‘posh’ ponies; to put Vinyl with a crowd of the upper crust was always terribly embarrassing, yet often so entertaining that the grey earth pony couldn’t resist doing it repeatedly. “Just eat it.” “Fine. But on the way home can we get some pie?” The dinner was going fairly smoothly. Vinyl had ordered without too much of a hassle, though all the options the waiter had prompted her with had made the unicorn so confused she attempted to hide behind her menu in the hope that he would go away. Octavia had stepped in with a barely suppressed laugh and finished ordering for her. The two had, as the unicorn had noted, just received their main courses. If I’m lucky, Octavia thought, we’ll get out of this one with dignity intact. Just then, she glimpsed the waiter heading their way, leading two ponies. Those colors, that blue… Oh, Celestia, the earth pony thought. Can my luck really be that awful? Vinyl, who was just about halfway done devouring her food, noticed the sudden blanched look on the other pony. She swallowed. “Hey, what’s the prob-” The cellist realized she had one lifeline left. The other pony didn’t know what either of their rivals looked like. If she could play it cool, and hope neither of the other two would notice her, they might still have a chance to pull off that entire “with dignity intact” thing. “Oh, nothing! Nothing at all. I- just tasted something disagreeable, that’s all.” Octavia hoped her eyes didn’t show her gaze flicking between the DJ in front of her and the party of two the waiter was leading dangerously closer each second. The seconds stretched out in front of the apprehensive earth pony until she felt she could hear them passing. Her heartbeat was fast and pulsing, and she tensed herself to leap between Vinyl and the other two ponies should they get close enough to do battle. Six tables… five… four…. three… Oh, thank you Celestia. The waiter finally stopped, and showed Lyrica and Vibrant to their table- two tables down from where Vinyl and Octavia sat. The table in between held two very elderly, formal-looking ponies. Vibrant lived up to his name. His coat was a flawless white, but his bright red and yellow mane was spiked and his tail was flashing everywhere he could show it. Lyrica, by comparison, looked more refined; her dark blue coat shimmered as she sat herself gracefully on one side of the table. Octavia could only hope the two ancient ponies in between the two tables would continue to obstruct the view. Vinyl, on the other hand, had noticed nothing, and was just finishing her meal. Her ever-insatiable hunger tamed slightly for the moment, she settled back on her haunches and looked at the earth pony across from her. “So, how was your day? How was rehearsal?” Octavia blinked. Rehearsal…  she thought. What had happened again…? Not important, anyway. “Oh, well, just the usual, I’m afraid. Nothing interesting.” The cellist hoped the unicorn across from her wouldn’t notice the tremor in her voice. Calm down, she thought. There’s no problem here, just enjoy your meal. Vinyl hadn’t noticed anything, and continued, unheeded. “Well, that’s alright! I spent the day trying to up the quality of those tracks we did last time, so I can mix the next beats I’ve got planned in. It’s gonna be great, I just know it!” Octavia managed a wan smile. “Of course, Vinyl.” The DJ paused, studying her face. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little… y’know, sick.” Octavia sighed. She knew she couldn’t hide much from Vinyl. Her earlier plan was ridiculous. Realizing there really wasn’t a way to get them both out of this one without confrontation, she steeled herself for the white unicorn’s reaction. “You remember that pony I told you about? Lyrica?” Vinyl tensed. She remembers, alright. “...Yeah?” “Well, she and her coltfriend are sitting two tables down from us.”  Rethinking what she had just said, she added, hissing, “No! Don’t turn around!” Vinyl, who was already in mid-turn, froze. Octavia continued in a low voice. “Turn back towards me. Good. Now, relax. No, you’re still tense. Relax. There’s nothing to worry about.” “But Tavi, she insulted you, she’s a –” “Don’t worry about it! I’m fine; I don’t care what somepony like her thinks.” “Are you sure? I could-” “But you’re not thinking ahead. If you go over there now, you’ll give them exactly what they want, and might be humiliated in the process. Act with some discretion for once. If you know what it means, that is.” The slight  jab at the end of her speech raised Vinyl’s spirits a little, and her red eyes flashed behind her shades. “Know what it means? I can’t even spell it! But I can do.... this!” The unicorn pony picked up her water glass in her magic and balanced it precariously atop her muzzle. The waiter, who happened to be trotting by, gave her a withering stare as he passed. Vinyl responded with a radiant smile that made Octavia laugh. The rival pair was forgotten for a peaceful moment. The DJ’s attention span could be limited at times, and the cellist was charmed by her whimsy. All the same, had the grey earth pony not distracted her, the other pony may have stormed over there. “What am I going to do with you? I can dress you up, but I can’t take you anyplace, can I?” Vinyl winked and balanced Octavia’s drink next to hers, speaking very carefully to avoid upsetting the glasses on her muzzle. “But Tavi, we’re not dressed… we’re not wearing anything besides that teeny little bowtie of yours!” “Well… there’s nothing wrong with having class!” “Besides wearing bowties, you mean.” “Much classier than those pieces of plastic over your eyes.” Vinyl grinned, then assumed a pompous air another white unicorn would have been proud of. “Well, I never! Insulting my style when you, my dear, clearly have none yourself?” Octavia gasped theatrically. “You dare! Whelp! I have more class than you ever will!” Just then, Vinyl over adjusted her balancing act. Gravity set to its work, and one of the drinks began to topple. Just as the glass was about to hit the ground, it was caught- In a dark blue aura of unicorn magic. *** *** *** ***Author’s note: Don’t worry, you will get to meet Vibrant. Also, just wanted to say that with spring break over and AP exams coming my way, updates might be a little sparser. I think I can get one more in before the tests start in earnest, but after that there may be a break. Nevertheless, the only way to make me stop writing this story would be [error 404: not found]. So make sure to stick around. :) ***