Vinyl eyes remained locked on Octavia for a moment. The face of the mare she had spent the whole day with, this gray beauty who sent her heart racing, she was now looking at Vinyl with a look of shock and disgust. Vinyl stepped away from her, shaking her head as if it that would empty out all the bad ideas and terrible emotions that were swelling up inside of her.
“Vinyl, I-” Octavia never got the chance to finish that sentence. Vinyl mouth started to move, yelling out apologetically and fervently saying this and that. And yet, not a sound came from her. Her whole body shuddered as tears fell from her eyes to the floor.
“Oh my,” Octavia said as it finally dawned on her. “You cannot speak.” She reached a hoof out, a kind gesture to comfort a hurting pony.
Vinyl lurched back as the hoof touched her shoulder. The sudden, unexpected motion sending her back and her shades off her eyes. The purple lenses fell to the floor with a dramatic clink, with only a small crack in the right lens to show for it. And for the first time, Octavia got to see Vinyl's eyes. The mystery behind the lenses.
Red. They were red. She had most beautiful ruby red eyes Octavia had ever seen. And yet, there was nothing in their beauty now except a terrible sadness and river of tears. They ran down her cheeks, with each tear only making Octavia feel worse and worse. Vinyl quickly turned and raced for the stares. She only looked back once, and Octavia could see the tears streaming down her face coming from behind her glasses. Vinyl was gone in the next instant leaving Octavia down there alone with nothing but her own thoughts.
What is going on with me? She- She kissed me. I mean, I only just met her today. Does she- Do i- Why did I react the way I did? I was just so surprised. But why? The kiss most certainly caught me off guard, but was there something else?
Octavia's mind raced with all these thoughts. They were tormenting her as these new thoughts and feelings rose up like a tidal wave crashing against what she had already known and believed. She was content with her life up until now, and then she met Vinyl. And Octavia slowly came to a realization as she stood there.
I liked that kiss. I wanted to kiss her back.
Her heart was beating faster and faster the more she thought about it. She could feel her body heating up. She didn't know what exactly was going on with her. IT was a strange and new sensation, but she knew one thing for sure. She just couldn't let Vinyl leave.
Vinyl had run up the stair and onto the stage. She stopped only once to look back at Octavia, and mouth to her a final, silent apology. She reached the end of the stage, ready to jump off into the many rows of seats. She felt stupid, so very stupid. She yelled at herself on the inside. It was only a day. She had only known Octavia for a single day. How could she go and kiss her? And the way she reacted, the face she made. It just made everything that had been built that day crumble and fall away. Vinyl violently shook her head again. She wanted to shake theses thoughts loose, to forget this whole day. But that didn't work. And she just trudged along on her way out.
“Vinyl, wait!” Octavia raced up after her and shouted the words from the edge of the stage. Vinyl was halfway to the exit by now. She heard what was said, but ignored them. With her head low she kept moving, farther and farther away. It was quickly becoming clear to Octavia that words weren't going to help her at all. An idea emerged, but she to move quickly if it was going to work.
Vinyl trudged along. She had reached the exit. The gate opened up in front of her. She barely lifted her head up as she saw the forms of the two security ponies standing in front of her. They stepped aside as she walked by.
“We were just about to come and get ya,” One of them said. “Time's almost up. Where is Miss Melody?”
As if on cue, a sound came from behind them. Music. It was soft a first, a low melody being played from somewhere behind her. Vinyl stopped in her tracks and just listened. She lifted her head and listened deeply to the music. Such sweet sounds washed over her. It was like she was missing a piece of herself before and this was filling her up, filling that empty space. She had never heard anything like it. It was beautiful. Vinyl turned around to see Octavia on stage.
Octavia stood on the stage of the amphitheater. She had an instrument on her hooves, but Vinyl didn't know what it was. It looked like the same one that made that awful noise before, but now it wasn't. In Octavia's hooves it was making the most sweet and lovely sounds Vinyl had ever hear.
She watched Octavia. She couldn't look away at this point. Every move she made, every note she played. It was beauty and grace given form. Vinyl saw how she played, eyes closed and full of focus and yet calm. Vinyl quickly approached the stage again. Octavia's playing never stopped as Vinyl ascended onto the stage. Octavia only opened her eyes one she was close, close enough to talk to. She stopped playing and set the instrument down.
“I'm so sorry, Vinyl,” Octavia said with all her heart. “Your kiss took me by surprise, but what was more surprising was just how much I wanted to kiss you back. I didn't know what to do, and I made you feel terrible for something that wasn't your fault.”
Vinyl lunged at Octavia, wrapping her hooves around her and toppling them both over onto the floor. Octavia laughed as they went down and Vinyl was smiling once again. The both them rolled over and Vinyl got a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. IT was tucked away in the corner and hidden in the shadows. She wished she had seen it sooner, but better late than never.
She used her magic to light up the area around the small DJ booth. Octavia didn't know much about it. She knew it was just recently installed, but that was about it. Vinyl certainly seemed excited about it as she bounced behind the booth. Her horn lit up as bright, neon colored lights flashed into being as a pair of disks materialized in front of her. Vinyl pointed at the instrument on the stage next to Octavia.
“First, you need these,” Octavia said as she held up Vinyl's glasses. Vinyl was surprised at first, but took them and put them back on her face, cracked lens and all. She smiled happily and set to mixing up some beats.
Whatever Vinyl was doing, it was shaking the whole stage. Octavia could feel the vibrations reverberating through the floor and even the air. It was a strange, yet welcome feeling. The beat of the music was unlike anything Octavia had ever heard before. Vinyl gestured for her to start playing her instrument again. The sounds coming from the booth were not what Octavia was used to, but she played anyway.
Together they made a strange duet. Their music echoed out from the stage of the theater. Vinyl did her thing from behind the booth and Octavia finally understood. She was finally beginning to see it. The strange motions Vinyl was doing in the hotel room. The love of music. Octavia poured her heart and soul into what she was playing and she could see Vinyl was doing the same. And as their strange duet played out they attracted a crowd.
At first it was just a few of the security ponies. They had come in to tell them to keep the noise down and that the time was up. The other shift had arrive and they all walked in, but they couldn't speak. The music being played enchanted them as it fell upon their ears. They slipped into the seats. The music echoed out from the amphitheater, cascading outward over the city streets. More and more ponies were attracted this new sound that they had never heard before.
As more and more ponies came they too slipped into the seats. It started with the security but it came to include so many more ponies. A lot of them were just off the street walking by when they heard it. Some were workers from nearby places who were attracted to the odd, yet lovely sounds of music that had drifted by. Before long the whole of the amphitheater was full and the two mares were putting on their own concert, but they didn't care.
The two didn't even noticed them. Their world ended where the stage began. They didn't play for the ponies in the seats. They played for each other. Octavia played for Vinyl. Her every movement of the bow a direct sign to Vinyl, whole and heartfelt. Vinyl played her music for Octavia, to show her the power of music can surpass any words a pony can speak. She was broadening her mind with every move her hooves made. And together, the night melted away with the music they played.
This went on for what seemed like and endless night of music, one that neither of them wanted to end. The ponies in the crowd, some left and some new ones came to listen. The night went on. At one point, Vinyl jumped out from behind the booth, letting her magic spin the disks and mix the beats. She moved right up next to Octavia. Octavia's eyes opened up just a little as she saw Vinyl coming. She lifted her head up and looked longingly back at Vinyl, her eyes drawing her ever closer. And so, closer she came. Their eyes locked onto each other. Their hearts beat together as one with the rhythm of the music. This time it was clear. They both wanted this. And so they ki-
“Octavia Melody!”
The world around them crashed. It was like reality had finally caught up to them and invaded their fantasy, tearing it asunder. The sudden cry of Octavia's name shook Vinyl. Her magic stopped and therefore, the booth stopped as well. The beats died down quickly. Octavia lurched forward, doubling over as if she had gotten a punch to the stomach. Her eyes were wide and her heart raced, but for a new and much less fantastical reason. She knew that voice, and a stark terror crept up her spine.
“Come now, child,” Her mother said, cold and emotionless. “We are going home.”
“M- Mother?” Octavia said, her voice shaking. “W- W- What are you doing h- here?”
“I have come to retrieve you, child,” Said her mother. “We are leaving this place at once.”
Octavia's whole body was shaking. Her heart was beating in her chest. Her words were stuck in her throat. She was gripped by the cold hand of fear. And yet, there was an unusual warmth at her side. Octavia couldn't even bear to move, but this warmth was calming. It was familiar. Octavia glanced over to see Vinyl.
She was standing close to her. Octavia could feel the touch of her white coat on her own. It was the only thing keeping her together at the moment. Octavia looked over at her, at Vinyl. She was clearly worried. Even from behind those shades Octavia could tell. And yet she was standing next to her still. Octavia felt every ounce of fear in her rise up as Vinyl laid her head on her shoulder for a moment.
“Leave the filth behind, Octavia,” Her mother said.
“N- No, Mother.” Octavia said. All the courage she could muster was in those words. Every fiber of her being was screaming to run away. She was never the confrontational type, especially with her mother. But now. . .
“I don't want to leave,” Octavai said as strongly as she could.
Octavia's mother stared hard at her daughter. Her gaze was cold as ice. Her eyes were nothing but dark orbs hovering against a much darker void. A void where there was no warmth, no emotion, no caring of any sort. Or at least, that's how Octavia saw it. She was staring down this dark void with nothing at her side but Vinyl Scratch.
“Octavia, my daughter,” She sighed. “You leave me no choice.”
Vinyl stepped up closer. She stepped forward and placed herself in between Octavia and her mother. She stood as a wall between them with nothing but a look of sheer defiance on her face.
“Take my daughter away from this place,” She said as she turned around. She stepped back and headed for the exit as four ponies entered the amphitheater aisles. “And leave the trash here.”
Of the four ponies that entered the amphitheater two of them were Unicorns. Their horns glowed with magical energy. A bright light filled the air between Octavia and Vinyl. A magical wall of force pushed its way between the two. Vinyl was left on the stage while Octavia was being pushed towards the exit, and her mother.
“NO! NO! No, I don't want to go,” Octavia screamed as she pushed against the magical wall. She pushed and she resisted. She banged and pounded on it as it unrelentingly pushed back. She cried out as loud as she could, but it was useless. She held her hooves up to the wall, watching with tear filled eyes as Vinyl was getting farther and farther away.
“I'm sorry it came to this, child.”
Octavia said nothing as she came closer to the edge of the stage. She could feel it coming up, only to find herself lifted up into the air. Another of the four ponies, a large Earth pony, had taken hold of her and was setting her on the ground. Her hooves made contact with the ground, but she had no strength to stand. She collapsed into a heap on the floor.
“Come now, Octavia, stop acting like this.”
“No, Mother,” Octavia replied. “I told you, I do not want to leave.”
“Quit your pouting, Octavia. Stop acting like a child.”
Octavia didn't even look up at her mother, but instead turned her head to look at Vinyl. She pounded on the other side of the wall, yelling out in silent anguish. Her horn flared up intensely. She flooded the area around her with neon magical energy. She pushed against the wall with everything she had. Octavia's mother said a few words and the fourth and final pony advanced on the stage. Another Earth pony, the Unicorns let him pass through the wall with ease. He put himself between Vinyl and Octavia. He wasn't going to let her pass.
“No, Vinyl!” Octavia shouted. “Don't touch her! Leave her alone!”
All the screams in the world were useless. Octavia was being pushed back by the pony her mother brought. She screamed and she screamed, but it was no use. She pushed against the pony, she hit him with her hooves, she yelled as loud as she could. It was a useless effort. All Octavia could do was look back, watching with teary eyes as her and Vinyl were being torn apart. And there was nothing she could do.