//------------------------------// // Part 7 // Story: Friendship is Music // by Earl Grey //------------------------------// I've been ill lately, found it hard to get in the mood to write. This chapter is rated Teen for scenes of Drunken Shenanigans and Crackpot Philosophy * * * Octavia felt dreadful as she entered the concert hall, which only made what she was about to do even worse. There was no way of avoiding it though, she couldn't very well focus on two demanding musical projects. She knew that her band mates would be getting ready for practice and it would only be fair if she told them all together. The main stage in the Fillyharmonic Hall was one of the most prestigious places a classical musician could ever hope to play in all of Equestria. Octavia could remember the day she got her acceptance letter vividly. Her mother and father were waiting in the dining room eating a plain, nutritious breakfast, Octavia had come downstairs with her sister, Pinkie having already left home by this point. “You have mail, Octavia.” Her father said, indicating a large envelope on the dinner table. “It's stamped by the Canterlot Arts Council.” Her mother added. Octavia could remember feeling tense, her muscles seizing up to the point where she found it difficult to sit down at the table. When she calmed down, the tenseness was replaced by a feeling of dread, 'what if I don't get accepted, what could I possibly hope to achieve after being rejected by the Canterlot Arts Council.' Her father had instilled a deep sense of pride into his offspring, Octavia had always performed her best in whatever she had done and if her best wasn't enough then she obviously wasn't trying hard enough. “Open it.” It wasn't a request, there was no warming comfort in his voice to tell Octavia that even if she did get rejected, everything would be alright. As an earth pony, Octavia had always found it difficult to perform precise tasks such as opening letters and with the added nervousness, it didn't help her concentration. When she finally managed to fumble it open, a fairly thick booklet fell out, a picture of the Canterlot Fillyharmonic Hall on the front, it seemed to be an information guide of some kind, but Octavia ignored it for now, she focused on the envelope and pulled out the letter. Carefully unfolding it, her eyes dismissed all unnecessary distractions and instead looked directly at the first line of the letter. ...We are delighted to inform you that you have earned a place... That was all she needed for the time being, disregard details, she had made it. Her ultimate prize was within her grasp, nothing could stop that now. “I've been accepted.” Her father cracked a very rare smile, “Hard work breeds achievement, Octavia. I'm proud of you.” And here she was again, just about as nervous as she was was back then. Except this time, instead of joining, she was leaving. She entered the practice room and all eyes turned to her. One pony in particular, a light brown earth pony with an off-white mane, greeted her enthusiastically, “Ah, Octavia! We were wondering if you would arrive, no one has seen you for days.” Octavia forced a smile, “Good afternoon Frederic. I can't stay for long, there's somewhere I have to be.” Octavia felt her mind going back to Vinyl's apartment, replaying their conversation in her head, reinforcing her guilty feeling. A purple pony with a cobalt mane interrupted her train of thought, “What do you mean, 'somewhere you have to be?' What can be more important than your job?” “That's what I've come to discuss.” Octavia took a few steps forward and looked at each of her three band-mates in turn, “I'm resigning.” Beauty Brass, who had been casually practising breathing exercises with her sousaphone, let out a short trumpeting blast in shock. Harpo almost snapped a string on his harp and Frederic hit a series of uncomplimentary keys on his piano. “Resigning!?” Frederic managed to choke out, he got up from his place at the piano and walked over, staring incredulously at his colleague, “Whatever brought this on?” Octavia hated the looks of shock and disappointment on their faces, she hated knowing that she's let them down, “I'm sorry you had to hear it like this, but I had only just made the decision myself. I don't enjoy playing traditional music any more, it's like the will has been sapped from me. I got an offer to play with somepony else and I accepted, I can't focus on two separate projects, especially ones as demanding as they are, so I had to make my choice.” “You didn't win.” Octavia turned away, she didn't want to see their faces any more. “Octavia wait.” It was Frederic, “We may not be able to sway your decision if you feel the way you do, but I don't think any of us would want to anyway. Just know that, if you ever change your mind, you're always welcome here.” Octavia looked at Frederic, the stallion who had taken her under his proverbial wing, provided her with expert tutelage, endless criticism and praise. He was as much a father to her than her biological one, “Thank you Frederic, I really appreciate it.” She looked over his shoulder at her former band-mates, “Thank you all for giving me the skills to perform and for giving me a chance. If it wasn't for you I probably would have gone insane a long time ago.” Frederic placed a hoof on Octavia's shoulder, “Every bird has to leave the nest eventually, it's only natural. Just make sure your new nest is one filled with happiness.” “I hate to do this to you all, I really do.” The light brown earth pony smiled, his eyes watering slightly, “It will be hard to replace someone of your talent, but we'll manage. We certainly managed before you came along and we'll do so again. I, and I'm sure the band will agree, wish you luck in whatever you do and we'll follow and support your music wherever it goes.” A rousing “Hear hear!” came from Beauty Brass and Harpo. Frederic offered Octavia one last smile before she left, she returned it two-fold, her eyes threatening to fill with tears also. Upon getting home, Octavia slammed the door to her apartment and crashed onto her sofa, she didn't bother going to her bedroom, instead falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. The entire day up to this point had been exhausting for Octavia, both physically, mentally and emotionally. Waking up early and the trip home, dealing with Vinyl, quitting her old band, all of it seemed to combine in her head until she simply couldn't function any more. So for now she rested and hoped that it would do her some good, even if that good is only putting off her problems for a little while. -- Across town, Vinyl could feel the sleeping pills wearing off. The sound of heavy breathing fell into her ears, she focused on it, listening for its pitch and tone when she heard something very interesting. There were two separate sounds in there, two completely isolated sets of breathing noises that would be indistinguishable to most ponies, but not for Vinyl Scratch. A combination of her natural talents and partial blindness have blessed her with excellent hearing and her mind was currently running through plans of how she could use this knowledge. She wasn't an expert on pegasus anatomy, but she had read various articles on the applications of the anatomy of the trachea in singing. It was partly a factor in her choice of Rainbow Dash as a vocalist, a pegasus that was innately talented could be a force to be reckoned with. Vinyl rolled over to face the pegasus and chanced a small bit of magic, her horn glowed slightly and Dash's outline in the bed appeared before her. Dash's breathing caused vibrations in the air which allowed Vinyl to get a good look at her face, 'If only circumstances were different. I wouldn't mind waking up to a face like that more often.' The DJ grinned and rolled out bed, shivering slightly in the cool air. She lifted her sunglasses onto her face before shutting off her magic to keep herself fresh, Vinyl opened the door to her bedroom, wincing as it creaked loudly. The unicorn looked behind her towards the bed, but it seemed that Dash hadn't noticed it. When she entered the living room, she looked immediately out of the window, noticing that the sun was dangerously close to dropping behind the horizon. As much as Vinyl needed the rest, she really hated sleeping during the day, there was just so much she could have done in those hours and she had lost that opportunity. At that moment, her stomach rumbled and the sound of a door opening came from behind her. “I thought I heard someone open the bedroom door, guess you were checkin' in on me.” Vinyl chuckled, “Yeah, sure. Er... you hungry?” She asked, quickly changing the subject. She felt kind of bad that she had woken Rainbow Dash up, but it was convenient in itself, she could get something proper to eat now that the pegasus was awake. “Don't know if you're aware of this, but us pegasi are pretty much always hungry.” Dash still seemed to be shaking the sleep off of herself, her wings were tucked close to her sides and she walked slowly and purposely, “Flying is hungry work and I suppose a faster natural metabolism probably helps as well.” “Great.” Vinyl smiled, Dash seemed like her kind of pony, “I was about to go get some pizza, you in?” “I never turn down free pizza.” “I'll just go grab a few things and we'll be off, I can give you a mini tour of Canterlot whilst we're out.” Vinyl trotted over to a chest of drawers on the side wall and began rummaging through them to find what she wanted. “Oh hey, where's that Octavia pony? I want to thank her for helping me out, I think I went a little crazy with the caffeine.” Dash stretched her wings and began hovering slightly to work her muscles back into motion. Vinyl chuckled, pulling a leather pouch from the drawers and placing it on a stand where her saddlebags were resting. “Don't worry about it, caffeine gets the best of us. Sweet, sweet caffeine. I suppose Octavia went home, she said she had to do some stuff and I'd imagine that she'd have done it by this time.” “You guys don't live together? I thought you did.” Dash flew over and sat on the couch, resting her back hooves on the coffee table. “Nah, we only just met actually, the band just kinda fell together after a gig I played.” “So it's just you all alone in this huge apartment?” Vinyl paused, looking over at the cyan pegasus, “Well it sounds bad when you say it like that... but yeah.” She used her magic to secure the saddlebags across her back, “I don't mind though, it gives me room to relax after a hard day.” “Don't take this the wrong way, but I've heard your music and Octavia doesn't seem like the kind of mare to go to one of your gigs.” Vinyl laughed loudly, startling the pegasus slightly, “You're probably right on that account, but it's my understanding that she was dragged there against her will by some colleagues. She plays in this fancy band see, they actually played the Grand Galloping Gala this year.” “Ugh. The gala...” Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “Ha. I just remembered, you were the one who knocked over those pillars. Classic.” “You were there as well?” “Yeah, wasn't much of a party until you and your friends turned it up a notch. Property damage in the castle, that's quite a story.” Vinyl angled her head towards the door and unlocked it with a flourish of her magic. Dash got up and flew over, landing next to the DJ, “I'm just glad I didn't get jail time.” Vinyl rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, “Instead you get free pizza, how does that make you feel?” Dash grinned, “Makes me feel like I should trash that place more often.” == Octavia's eyes burst open, she didn't know why or how, but she could feel something ominous stirring in the back of her mind. Somewhere, bad things were happening and knowing her friend, it was probably happening to or around Vinyl. Or worse, her Double Bass. To the outside observer, Octavia's next step, which involved rooting around for some bits and charging out of her apartment, would seem illogical. The grey earth pony had come to rely on her instincts however, they were very rarely wrong, some might even say they were uncanny. Either way, Octavia had no doubt in her mind that something she wasn't going to like was happening in Vinyl's apartment. She walked out of her building to be confronted with the darkness of late night. Luckily, Vinyl's apartment wasn't as far away when compared to the concert hall. She flagged down a taxi cart and tossed the driver an extra few bits to make him go that little bit faster on her way there. She rumbled along the near empty streets of Canterlot tapping her hooves on the side of the cart. The city had a notorious night life, but only in certain areas, Octavia had never seen the need to indulge in those kinds of pleasures and so had found a quiet place that was close enough to her work so that she didn't have to worry about being late, but far enough away from the night life hotspots that she could lead a relatively quiet life. Then Vinyl trots into her life and she finds herself being dragged towards the lifestyle she didn't want. Worst of all, she finds herself enjoying it. 'Rushing off to make sure Vinyl isn't in any trouble. Are you just trying to ease your conscience or do you actually care about this unicorn?' Her mind conspiring against her wasn't exactly helping matters. It was perfectly okay for her to feel worried for Vinyl, they had become friends and despite the initial deception regarding the trip, the visit to Ponyville had done their friendship a world of good. It should be natural for her to be worried if she gets a bad feeling about her friends well-being. “This is yer stop, missy.” The cart puller brought Octavia from her thoughts. The grey mare could see Vinyl's apartment building just in front of her. “Thank you kindly, sir.” She handed over her fare and jumped onto the pavement, trotting swiftly into Vinyl's building. The security pony looked up but grunted in recognition. Octavia climbed up to the top floor and found Vinyl's door. Octavia took a deep breath before continuing onwards, trying to compose herself so it didn't seem like she had rushed over. She knocked and the first thing she heard was loud music, a rhythmic electronic beat that seemed to shake the walls, then she heard faint giggling from the other side of the door. There was a clicking sound of the door unlocking before it swung open, revealing Vinyl, whose mane looked a lot messier than it usually did, “Oh hey!” She turned and began shouting to someone else, “It's Tavi! She's back!” The door Octavia knew lead to the bathroom burst open and a pegasus flew lazily over towards them, landing with a wobble, “Yeah, thanks for helping me earlier, it was super awesome of you!” She smiled with a manic euphoria that seemed a little much for an apology. “Oh, you have to come in!” She began laughing uncontrollably, clutching her side, “Vinyl bought so much pizza!” The DJ joined in the laughter, laying a hoof around Dash's shoulder, “We trotted into the pizza place and we were like, I don't know what toppings I want. Then Rainbow Dash here said, why don't we get all of 'em?” She gestured as if this was the obvious thing in the world, “My mind was totally blown. All the toppings.” “So many toppings!” Dash added with a grin. “The pizza guy wouldn't give us a pizza with all the toppings though. So I bought five different pizzas, each with different toppings, then combined them here!” Vinyl pointed towards a positively grotesque creation on the coffee table, it was hard to tell where the toppings ended and where the pizza base began. Octavia could feel the disgust crawling up her throat. “You gotta try a slice, Tavi.” The grey mare smiled politely, “No thank you Vinyl, I just came by to check if you were okay after yesterday and now that I know you're both... content, I can go home.” She tried to slip away, but Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the forelegs and dragged her towards the seating area by the huge window that served as Vinyl's back wall. “At least have something, we've got so much left over.” Dash pleaded. “Why did you think it was a good idea to buy so much pizza anyway?” Octavia questioned, turning to Vinyl who she knew could be liberal with the purse-strings when she wanted to be “How else were we supposed to create this culinary marvel? Oh and I suppose we may be the slightest bit drunk.” Vinyl visibly swayed as she said this and unless Vinyl had installed moving floors, Octavia believed that this was probably the reason why they were acting as they were. Dash jumped into the conversation, almost literally, she landed between Octavia and Vinyl, looking glad for herself, “Vinyl was giving me a tour of Canterlot, then we passed this club and Vinyl was like, it's so awesome in there, we should check it out. By this point I was still pretty hungry for pizza, but they had two-for-one cocktails! That's like, double your normal cocktail amount! So we had a few drinks, talked to a few ponies, listened to the awesome music, then we got some pizza and brought it back here. This part of Canterlot is way cooler than the stuffy old castle.” Octavia rolled her eyes, “You only had a few drinks? Why are you both so... out of it?” Vinyl stepped in and slumped next to Octavia on the sofa, “You get super drunk, super fast on an empty stomach. That's why we went to get some pizza.” “Okay, that I can understand, but...” Octavia had a frightened look in her eyes as she gazed at the monstrosity before her, “Why did you have to make that?” “Did you not hear the story? All the toppings, Tavi! All the freaking toppings!” Rainbow Dash sat opposite the other two and grabbed a slice of the unholy feat of pizzatecture, showing no fear as she sunk her teeth into it and actually sighing in pleasure at the taste. Vinyl grabbed Octavia's attention once more, “You wanna know what's not on that pizza?” “A warning label?” Octavia quipped. “This pizza shows those fat cats down at the pizza place that we don't play by their four topping limit rules. This pizza is freedom. Freedom from the tyranny of oppressive topping selection!” Vinyl had a look of utmost seriousness on her face, one that made Octavia hope to Celestia that this was the alcohol talking. “This pizza is like life, you know? When you're just a little pizza base, no one knows what you're going to be or what you might achieve, then you get a little older and they give you a tomato purée education and sprinkle you with conformity cheese. This is where you define yourself though, you get your first topping, a special topping just for you, a topping that fits perfectly with who you are as a wee little pizza. Then.... THEY try to force toppings on you, they tell you which toppings to put on so they can shoehorn you into a little filing cabinet, make you nice and indoctrinated so you won't get any ideas about picking your own damn toppings. Then when you get too free, they try and limit you at four toppings, telling you it's impossible to make yourself unique... special.” Vinyl reached down towards the table and grabbed a slice, holding it high above her head, “When they do, you tell them no. Tell them that you will have as many damn toppings as you please and there's not a damn thing they can do to stop you. Only then will you be free... and delicious.” She took a big bite, chewing through all of those toppings and emerging on the other side with a smile on her face, “Do it, Octavia. Take a bite... for freedom!” The grey mare looked over at Rainbow Dash, she had just finished her slice and hadn't died yet, so it can't be fatal, at least not immediately. “Fine yes, give it here. Oh, Celestia why am I doing this?” She held the dough based metaphor in her hooves, staring at the amount of seemingly uncomplimentary toppings just scattered everywhere. “That's it, one bite will set you free.” Vinyl and Dash looked on with interest, the pegasus reaching slowly for another slice without tearing her eyes away from the scared looking earth pony. Closing her eyes, Octavia went for it, taking a big bite out of the pizza slice, within seconds her mouth had been assaulted by an array of flavours and textures that was weird beyond anything else she had ever eaten. She swallowed quickly and began to hyperventilate slightly, wondering whether she had seen the last of the pizza. “I feel... I feel...” “Liberated?” Vinyl offered. “Nauseous.” Octavia added. “Dude.” Rainbow was taking the final few bites out of her second slice of freedom pizza, “I didn't think you could do it, but you made her eat it. That's impressive is what it is. How much do I owe you?” Vinyl laughed, “Just take that damn pizza and make sure it goes nowhere near my mouth again, the lengths I go to...” She shook her head, but the smile on her face overrode anything else. Octavia however was following this brief exchange and feeling her anger rising at every word, “You made me into a bet?” “Yup.” Rainbow replied unabashedly, “Vinyl said she could make you voluntarily eat the pizza, I said that it was a load of horse-apples. Although to be honest, I just wanted more pizza for myself, this stuff is good.” “How did you know I was going to come over?” Octavia asked, flaring up. “Didn't.” Vinyl replied, “We were just about to contact you when you arrived.” “It was like fate delivered you to us, so we could make you eat pizza.” Dash added. Vinyl turned to the pegasus, “Woah. That's deep.” “Deep dish.” Vinyl burst out laughing, falling off the sofa and rolling onto the floor near the coffee table and it wasn't long before Rainbow Dash joined her. Octavia rolled her eyes, she couldn't leave these two alone, not like this. It looked like it was going to be a long night. * * * So... that chapter was needlessly fun to write. I had intended to put a much bigger emphasis on Octavia story at the start of the chapter, but I kept getting stuck, so I switched to Vinyl and Dash. If you'll notice, Dash so far in this fic has been 1) Pepped on caffeine 2) been "just woke up" tired and 3) drunk. Will we see her in a normal state of mind at all? Maybe in the next chapter if she isn't too hungover.