“So you do know her then!” Lyra exclaimed, her voice echoing loudly through the phone’s speaker.
Octavia ran a hoof through her mane. “Yes, it’s just been quite some time since I’ve seen her.” She furrowed her brow. “Though I thought she was with her father still.”
“Do you think something happened to him then?” Lyra asked worriedly.
“Possibly,” Octavia said dully.
Ignoring this, Lyra went on. “How did you know her anyways?”
“It was because of my mother that I met her actually,” Octavia said. “She was collaborating on a project combining their mutual talents.”
“So, a sales pitch or something like that then?” Lyra asked.
“Not quite,” Octavia frowned, glancing at her cello case. “Mother hadn’t gotten into that field yet. Anyways, you wanted to know know how we met.”
~-~
9 Years Ago
“It’s so good to see you again,” Octavia’s mother said, pulling someone unfamiliar to Octavia into a hug.
The warm summer air of Canterlot’s Central Park put her at ease though, as well as the other filly sitting next to her mother’s friend. While their parents ranted on about something, Octavia was surprised to find the other filly suddenly directly in front of her.
“My name’s Vinyl Scratch, what’s your name?” She asked enthusiastically.
Taken aback by the abruptness of her speech, Octavia spoke hesitantly. “Uh- Octavia.”
“Octavia, huh?” Vinyl said, tilting her head. “That’s a nice name.’
“Your name is nice as well,” Octavia said politely.
“Thanks,” Vinyl replied.
They fell silent for a little bit after that, their parents still locked in conversation. Octavia with little else to do, looked Vinyl over again. Aside from her vibrant blue mane, another thing caught Octavia’s eye; her cutie mark. The fact that it was musically related already pulled her in, but the fact that the eighth notes were backwards really annoyed her.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why is your mark backwards?” Octavia asked, pointing at it.
Vinyl looked hurriedly down, seemingly panicked before relaxing. “What do you mean?” Vinyl asked in confusion. “It’s the same as it’s always been.”
“So you didn’t have some kind of freak accident with an accordion then?” Octavia asked.
“Uh, no?”
“Why are the eighth notes backwards then?”
“Are they?” Vinyl asked even further purplexed. “I didn’t know that.”
“Do you not know what eighth notes look like?” Octavia stared at Vinyl in disbelief.
“Nope,” Vinyl replied, smiling now.
“How in Equestria did you ever get your mark then?” Octavia seethed.
Vinyl shrugged. “It just kind of happened while I was screwing around on my mom’s computer.”
This was the last straw for Octavia. “How could you possibly even dream of composing without a basic understanding of sheet music?”
Vinyl seemed unphased by her outburst and simply said, “I’m gonna be a DJ of course!”
“Do they even let fillies into clubs?” Octavia chuckled.
Vinyl deflated a bit at this, before perking up again. “It’s a work in progress.”
“I’ll bet,” Octavia snorted.
“Well, what about you then?” Vinyl asked indignantly. “I don’t see you mark at all yet.” Octavia offered no response. Retreating slightly, Vinyl asked, “What do you think your mark might be?”
Octavia looked uncertain at this. “I’m not sure.”
“Well what would you like it to be then?” Vinyl persisted. “This should be easy to answer.”
Octavia smiled, it was easier to answer. “Something musical of course.” Octavia raised a hoof in thought. “Maybe my mother could help me with it, I could learn how to play a violin or something.”
Vinyl chuckled. “I kind of got that classical vibe from you anyways.”
Octavia tried not to let on just how much Vinyl’s words actually meant to her, restricting herself to just a smile instead of an excited, “Do you think so?”.
“Octavia, Dear, it’s time to go.” Her mother had finally stopped her conversation with Vinyl’s mother.
“Already?” Octavia whined.
“Yes, already. Come on now, we’re going to be late.”
“Bye, Vinyl,” Octavia said, being pulled gently away by her mother.
“See you soon, Tavi.”
‘Tavi,’ Octavia thought. ‘I kind of like that nickname.’
~-~
“And that was the first time we met.”
“It sounds like you two were adorable as fillies.” Lyra’s voice game though the phone cheerful and light-hearted. “I take it you saw her pretty often after that?”
“At least twice a month,” Octavia replied. “The release dates for their project always kept on getting pushed back for some reason, so they worked on it for years.”
“What happened then?”
Octavia pursed her lips. “I don’t think I am at liberty to say as it might infringe on Vinyl’s privacy.”
“C’mon, Octavia,” Lyra groaned. “If I’m going to be living with her I should at least know more about her if I need to help or something.”
“Then you can ask her yourself,” Octavia retorted.
“But they are your memories of this event as well,” Lyra shot back. “Please?”
‘I’m going to regret this.’ Octavia sighed. “Fine. I reserve the right to leave out what I need to though.”
“Fair enough.”
~-~
6 Years Ago
Octavia and Vinyl sat next to each other in Vinyl’s livingroom, talking softly. Octavia’s mom was somewhere upstairs with both of Vinyl’s parents. The day’s sunshine had gone away about an hour ago making everything seem darker in the house with just lights illuminating everything.
“How bad is it, Vinyl?” Octavia asked worriedly.
Vinyl looked completely grief-stricken, a shadow of the mare Octavia had come to know over the past couple of years.
“It’s really bucking bad,” Vinyl sniffled. “The doctors said they can’t do anything about it now.” Vinyl’s sniffles turned into full blown sobs as Octavia pulled her into a hug. “She’s terminal.”
Vinyl stayed in Octavia’s embrace until Octavia’s mother came down the stairs sometime later with Vinyl’s father. The look on Octavia’s mother’s face was almost a mirror of Vinyl’s, while Vinyl’s father maintained a stoic complexion. Vinyl reluctantly separated herself from Octavia, making room for her father on the couch, while Octavia’s mother took the armchair.
Octavia opened her mouth to speak, trying to think of anything to say, but quickly shut it unable to come up with anything that fit the current situation. When Vinyl’s father finally spoke, Octavia wasn’t listening anymore. She was watching her mother’s expression. To a casual observer, her mother might appear to be calm and collected now, but Octavia saw something different. To her, the look of disgust and hate was evident on her face. Octavia followed her mother’s gaze to find it on Vinyl’s father. It was obvious she knew something Octavia did not.
Vinyl motioned for Octavia to come with her to one of the other rooms to give their parents space. As Vinyl tried to get up thought, her father made her sit back down. “Keep out guests company, will you?”
Vinyl seemed to grimace. “Okay, Dad.”
Octavia’s mother intervened quickly. “We’ll be fine. You and Octavia can go play.”
Octavia started in confusion at her, but Vinyl was already halfway out the door, so Octavia quickly followed her out instead.
A couple hours later, Octavia and her mother were standing outside the front door after saying their goodbyes. Her mother looked dejectedly at the house. “I don’t think you’ll be seeing much of Vinyl anymore, Octavia.”
“Why not?” Octavia asked in shock.
“Without Juniper anymore…” Her mother trailed off, an unreadable expression on her face. “Her father wants her to focus more on other things rather than being with friends now.”
Octavia sniffled quietly, taking one last look back at the house.
“It’s probably for the best,” Her mother said softly, as if trying to convince herself.
~-~
“That was the last time I saw her,” Octavia said quietly. There was no response from the phone. “Lyra, are you still there?”
“Yeah, I just,” Lyra trailed off, her words faltering. “It’s a lot to take in.” Octavia nodded, even though Lyra couldn’t see her. “What do you think happened with her dad?”
Octavia scowled. “Nothing good, that’s for sure.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go,” Lyra said, “We can talk more tomorrow.”
“Goodbye, Lyra.”
“Bye.”
Then the line went dead, leaving Octavia feeling completely alone in her room. She was tempted to walk into the other room and make amends with her mother at that very moment, but felt it wouldn’t be the time for it.
Spotting her cello again, her idea from before popped back into her mind. Opening her door and making her way down the hallway, she found herself at the closet. She clicked the latch, and pulled it open, her eyes scanning its dark interior.
On the floor of the closet she found what she was looking for, an amp. She dragged it out of the closet, and with some effort, into her room. She was satisfied with it, until she realized she was missing something. Making her way to the closet again, she looked for a microphone. Finally after a moments searching, she saw it on the top shelf of the closet next to a brown cardboard box.
Stretching to pull it down, she took at swipe at it and missed, accidently hitting the box and making it fall from the shelf. She tried awkwardly to catch it with her other hoof, but only succeeded in possibly breaking its fall. It made a noise similar to glass breaking as it hit the ground. Octavia stood as still as she possibly could.
“Octavia, what was that?”
Buck. “It was a box falling,” Octavia called back hesitantly. Honesty was the best policy in her mind, but maybe not in this case. She could hear her mother jump to her hooves before hearing more quickened steps coming down the hallway.
Her mother instantly scooped up the box, checking to see if it’s contents were unbroken. From Octavia’s view, she could see rounded black edges poking out of the top of the box, while the side had a label on it with, ‘Col. w/J. Alb. 1-3’ squeezed onto it.
Her mother sighed in relief. “Oh, thank Celestia they’re fine.” Octavia’s relief was short-lived as she looked suspiciously back at her. “What were you trying to do anyways?”
Deciding honesty was the best policy in most situations, Octavia replied, “Nothing, Mom.”
She seemed to let Octavia’s flimsy answer drop, Putting the box back at the top of the closet. “Just remember to do your homework at least, Octavia.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Octavia called over her back, sprinting down the hallway back to her room.