//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Preludes of Greatness // by MathChomp //------------------------------// “Wait! What are you doing?” Vinyl ignored the protest as she dragged the grey mare alongside her as she jumped into the hallway, slamming the door behind her. She reached into her bag with another round of telekinesis and pulled out a bulging yellow drawstring pouch and brought it into her mouth. Vinyl let go of the earth pony’s foreleg and began running unhindered. She turned to make sure the egghead was following her and to her dismay, she saw the grey mare had stopped. She forcibly halted as well and spun around towards the halted pony. They had barely made it to the end of the hallway from the classroom. “Yo, we donf hagh hime oo uhhp!” yelled Vinyl with the bag between her teeth, backtracking to the halted mare. Said mare stared at the white unicorn with quite a cross expression of her own. “You had no right to butt in like that,” exclaimed the earth pony, her brows furrowed and violet eyes glinting with annoyance. Vinyl gawked at her. This was not the attitude that she was expecting from the pony she was trying to save. She then glanced down the hallway where, as if on cue, the rose pony burst out of the door, coughing and looking royally pissed as diluted smoke clung to her body. Her head swung violently towards their direction and for a moment, Vinyl and the pony beside her froze as fury incarnate glared them down. Vinyl felt her hooves moving before her brain even told her to start running. She vaguely registered the realization that the grey mare was also hot on her tail. Her ears twitched as she heard the heavy galloping of the tall pink earth pony with flaming red hair begin her descent upon them. When she turned the corner, she remembered the pouch clenched tightly between her jaws and she pulled it out mouth with magic, just barely slowing down enough for the grey pony to catch up to her. As they bounded down the hall, their hooves shattering the holy silence of a seemingly empty school, Vinyl turned her head to see redhead closing in with a startling amount of speed. She fumbled with the sack and readied herself. The timing had to be perfect. Her eyes met the uncomprehending eyes of the mare beside her before she glanced back and turned over the sack while loosening the drawstring. Countless small glass spheres of various colours and patterns fell and scattered across the speckled hallway floor, the pitter and patter sounds not unlike the sound of rain filled the featureless hallway. Before redhead could understand what was going on, she found her hoofs slip underneath her as she lost control of her balance and skidded right head first into a closed door with a sickening thud. Vinyl resisted to urge to go back and check if she’s okay and kept pressing forward. After a few more hurried steps, she realized she had no idea where she was going. She slowed down a bit and silently let the grey mare lead. Soon, they leapt out from the front doors and their hooves now clopped on cold sidewalk pavement. They did not stop until they had run all the oxygen out of their lungs so many times that their bodies finally shut down and staged a revolution against any more exertion of their of limbs. They collapsed at a dark corner of an unfamiliar side of town. The moon hovered morosely over the horizon. The streets were ominously empty and more than half the shops had shut down for the day. Vinyl lay on her back letting the coolness of the concrete seep into her burning, aching body as she panted furiously. The grey mare was panting heavily as though she had chosen to just sit on her haunches instead of lying on the ground. After a few minutes, their breathes softened and Vinyl finally gathered the energy to speak. “Why did you stop back there bow tie?” Irritation laced her voice. The grey mare looked over to the unicorn sprawled over the pavement with bright magenta eyes that pierced through the darkness. Finally, she broke the eye contact and let out a long sigh. “My name is not ‘bow tie’,” she said a curt tone. A few moments of silence. “Uh, are you going to tell me your name?” Silence. This time accompanied with a glare directed towards the unicorn. “Look if you don’t tell me your name I’m just gonna keep calling you bow tie,” Vinyl said with great exasperation. “Octavia, my name is Octavia,” she spat out with a surprising amount of vehemence. Vinyl blinked. “O-Octavia?” She repeated, a brow raised. A memory flitted past and Vinyl stared stupidly at the mare before her. “Octavia? As in Octavia Melody?” Shiiiiiiitttt. “No way, you can’t be Octavia,” Vinyl protested. How could this mare be the filly she knew so many years ago? Ponies couldn’t possibly change so much… right? Vinyl’s eyes moved to the crimson bow tie around Octavia’s neck and winced at the answer her mind had formed. “Why ever not Vinyl?” Octavia replied. Her soft, silky voice was now somehow chillier than the sharp autumn wind that cut through their coats. Vinyl grimaced, guilt weighing her stomach down. She vaguely remembered the grey mare sitting in the front of the room look rather surprised when Vinyl strode in. Vinyl thought nothing of it but Octavia had recognized her on sight and the tone of her voice made Vinyl think that she probably remembered Vinyl before the teacher’s introduction. Of course she would. Vinyl would have expected nothing less from her. “I-I’m sorry.” Octavia averted her gaze out to their surroundings. One of the street lights flickered erratically, threatening to die out. “It’s fine. I did not expect you to remember me anyways.” It was a very rare moment in Vinyl’s life when she had nothing to retort back with. Those words damaged her more than anything the red headed pony could have done if she had caught Vinyl. Octavia got up to her hooves and with a flick of her tail she headed off down the street. “Wait!” Vinyl scrambled to her hooves and trotted off after her. “What?” Octavia did not slow her pace, nor even turn her head to acknowledge the pony coming up beside her. “Er,” Vinyl hesitated, trying to find the reason why she called out. She had to say something, anything! “It’s dark out. I should walk you home.” She finished a little lamely. “No.” There was no hesitation before the short reply and Vinyl faltered a bit before continuing. “Look, let’s talk a bit,” Vinyl continued, a strain of desperation leaking out of her intentions. “No.” “C’mon Tavi, it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. This isn’t how I pictured our reunion to go.” “This was not how I expected things to be either,” Octavia replied softly, her fragility of her voice was enough to break Vinyl’s heart. “Please, just leave me alone.” Octavia’s bangs shielded her eyes from Vinyl’s view but Vinyl could see the small trickle of liquid drip down Octavia’s cheek, leaving behind a faint streak of dampness. Her legs seized up at the sight and she stopped right in mid hoof step. She watched helplessly as the grey figure continued down the street, her shoulders hunched and looking so weak and fragile that Vinyl feared that the icy wind may shatter her to pieces. *** “Give me another drink Shaker!” Vinyl yelled as she drunkenly pushed her empty mug towards the bartender. She was at sitting at one of the hottest clubs of the Canterlot night life and looking totally sloshed as she draped her body over the counter. On her face was a pair of large purple shades that glinted constantly from the shifting lights that reached them from the dance floor. ‘Shaker’ the bartender sighed. He was a dark blue unicorn with a spiky white mane and a crystal glass filled with deep amber liquid as a cutie mark. “Vinyl, you do know you can’t get drunk off clean apple cider right?” He had to yell over the bone rattling music in order to be heard. Vinyl glared at him. “Yeah, I know. Maybe you can stop giving me regular apple cider and give something a little stronger then huh?” “You know I can’t do that,” Shaker frowned. “You’re already only allowed here through special circumstance. Have you forgotten that you’re still underaged?” Vinyl groaned in frustration. “Yeah I know,” she grumbled, too quiet from Shaker to hear. It has been annoying her many years of how restricted her movements and actions were due to her age. The array of lights coming from the stage along with vibrations of the music set her at ease some. This was where she belonged yet her freedom was limited, even here. “Hey, could I get some scotch over here?!” A sweaty light earth pony called out and Shaker moved over to start on his order. After a few mins, he came back to Vinyl with some bits which he threw casually into the register. “Why don’t you just spill what’s bothering you,” said Shaker, levitating out a bottle of apple cider to fill Vinyl’s glass. He had known Vinyl since she was young filly and rare was times that she let things bring her down to the state she was in tonight. “It might make you feel better.” Vinyl paused for a moment, watching her glass slowly fill up with sweet scented liquid. “I met an old friend today,” she said, quietly. The bartender raised a brow, realizing that this club may not have been the best choice to have a heart to heart chat. The blaring sounds completely swallowed her small words in a sea of sound. “Wait one sec!” He told Vinyl before his began glowing. With a small flash of blue light, Vinyl found the assault of music had muffled into background noise. “Alright, continue,” Shaker smiled, glad the spell had worked so well. He no longer had to yell over the noise to be heard and neither did Vinyl. Vinyl smirked as well and restarted. “I met an old friend today. She’s actually in my class at the new school I’m going to. ” She took a small sip from her glass. “I didn’t recognize her at first,” continued Vinyl. “Heck, I didn’t know it was her until she told me her name. But she remembered me… And she totally hated me. Heh, it’s not like I can blame her though.” Shaker wiped down the counter with a rag, but his ears slightly twitched to indicate that he was still listening. “The memory is a bit blurry since we were really young when we first met, but our dads were really close friends…” Vinyl paused for a second, gathering the memories she had not treaded upon for many years. “You may not believe me when I say this but I was pretty anti-social as a kid.” Shaker raised a brow. “Oh really?” “Yeah dude,” Vinyl nodded and took an earnest swig of apple cider. “I made no friends at school cause I refused to talk to anyone. My parents eventually noticed and got all worried about it.” Vinyl vacantly stared at something past Shaker’s head, her eyes glazed over. “One day we visited Manehatten. One of my parent’s friends owned a summer home just outside the city and at some point of our trip, we took a carriage out and visited him and his daughter.” “Vinyl, this is Octavia.” “…”
 “Why don’t the two of you go and play together?” “…” “Sorry about this… Our filly is a little shy.” “It’s no trouble. I’m sure they’ll warm up to each other in time. Octavia, why don’t you go show Vinyl your room?” “Yes papa.” “I spent the next few summers over in Manehatten after that,” Vinyl said softly, eyes brimming with fond memories. “And every summer I spent with her, the more outgoing I became. She was amazing Shaker. She had this… awesomeness about her y’know? Like she was smart, kind, caring but at the same time, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and get things done. Being with her made me feel like I was all those things too. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have become the awesome mare before you today. Heck, I’d probably still be a prissy little filly too shy and scared to talk to anypony.” Shaker nodded as he mixed another drink for an awaiting stallion who was giving Vinyl a funny look. “Hey, aren’t you a little too young to be here?” the sweaty stallion asked. Vinyl tossed him an annoyed glare. Shaker took over. “She’s here on a special permit. She’ s one of our DJ’s.” The stallion whistled, impressed. Shaker passed him his drink and the stallion thanked him before taking a sip and nodding approvingly. He gulped the rest in rapid succession and handed back the glass before returning to the dance floor. “She sounds great,” Shaker said. But he had listened to countless stories and he knew that there was more and the rest would not be as happy. He waited patiently for Vinyl to continue. “But we lived in different cities y’know? I was in Canterlot and she was in Manehatten. We sent each other a bunch of letters and stuff but it wasn’t the same as actually talking to her. But I was just a filly back then and I had no grasp of how large the distance actually was.” The peaceful reminiscent facial expression on Vinyl’s face darkened. “Until one summer, my parents didn’t take me to Manehatten. Octavia’s family was going under some hard times and my parents said they didn’t have the time to house us. I didn’t believe them and threw a big tantrum about it. I ended up deciding to just go by myself. I headed to the train station but I got lost and just wandered around for a while, asking for directions and getting less and less sure if I was doing the right thing. Eventually, I got there though it took me a few more hours that I had expected. That was long enough for my mom to notice I was gone. And she knew exactly where I would have gone. She caught me right before I bought the ticket. ” Vinyl let out a long exhalation and straightened up her back. “So I didn’t go. Instead, I just cried the whole way home. I cried as I went back into my room and crawled into bed. I cried till I fell asleep and the next morning I just cried some more. That’s all I freaking did. Cried.” Vinyl bitterly looked at a chip in the counter top. “Vinyl, you can hardly blame yourself for something like that,” Mixer frowned. “I mean, you were just a filly. Going to Manehatten on your own would have been crazy. That place has not been the safest place to be since the Crash.” “Yes it is,” Vinyl snapped. “I wasn’t there for her Mixer! I lost contact with her after that and we never visited her again. Then I heard what happened to her dad and I still didn’t do shit for her. I didn’t even find the courage to go look for her. It drove me near mad to think that even if I could find her there was nothing I could say that could make anything better!” Mixer didn’t say anything. There was nothing that he could say to soothe the frazzled mare. She needed somepony, any pony to blame and for her, she was the best candidate. There was nothing that Mixer could say to make her think otherwise. “What happened to her dad?” Mixer quietly asked though he had a good idea of the answer. Vinyl hesitated slightly before answering. Her eyes were hidden behind her shades “He… passed away.” There was a heat in her voice, a different kind of anger from the self directed one from before. Mixer barely registered the thought as he sighed. He scratched his chin for a moment before reaching under the counter and bringing out a unlabelled clear bottle of amber liquid. He took away Vinyl’s empty glass and replaced it with a fresh one. “What’s that?” “Apple cider,” Mixer replied simply before pouring a generous portion into Vinyl’s glass. “Please tell me it contains alcohol,” Vinyl said, peering into the depths of the liquid. “No,” Mixer shook his head. “It’s a bad habit to drink your sorrows and troubles away. It’s better to drink in celebration. Though I can’t give you alcohol, this stuff’s the next best thing.” “Celebration? Yo Mixer, were you even listening to me this past hour?” Vinyl asked in disbelief. “Yup. And I’m telling you to drink up. You’ve been reunited with your friend from the past. That’s plenty reason for some cheer.” “She hates me!” “Maybe. Still, there’s always more to a story than what’s been said Vinyl and it seems to me you two haven’t had a proper conversation yet. There’s nothing you can do about the past but it’s not too late to do something about the future.” “But- but…” Vinyl’s buts fell into empty air as she could find no words to follow them. Mixer gave an understanding smile. “It’s scary, I know. Talking is the scariest thing in the world sometimes. But if you even want a chance to be friends with this mare again, you’ll have to do it.” Vinyl grimaced at the weight of task before her. Was she even allowed to hope that she and Octavia could be like how they were as foals? She took a long draught from the glass as her answer. The taste was crisp and clear. So different from the fogginess of the thoughts that hazed her mind. "It's delicious Mixer," Vinyl murmured, her voice slightly broken. She was glad her shades covered her eyes for it allowed her to freely shed a tear. “So your name is Vinyl? It’s a beautiful name.” “…” “My name is Octavia.” “…” “You’re really quiet aren’t you?” “…” “Well I don’t want to force you to talk. Do you like music? We can listen to some of the records papa gave me for my birthday.” “…” “…” “…” “…” “This is my favourite song.” “…” “Oh… you’re smiling! Do you like this song too?” “…” “You should smile more. You’ve looked so sad since you’ve arrived, I was worried we weren’t doing very well as hosts.” “…” “You really like this song, don’t you?” “…” “If you want… I can lend you the record.” “…” “No, it’s fine. Really. As long as you take good care of it, I don’t mind at all.” “…”
 “Don’t worry about it. Just think of it as a sign of our new friendship.”