The evening snowfall engulfed the air, as small white particles floated through the air, piling on the smoothened road of Canterlot. The frosty clouds, releasing the snow, covered the patched the early afternoon sky, coating the surface of the ground with a soft blanket of snow, in between the fallen and falling is a young mare, walking through the near empty streets.
Her grey coat told any passerby that she had walked under the snowfall for quite some time as she was spotted with white flakes, slowly shrinking. On her upper body was a thick winter jacket, matching the color of her hair in the faded afternoon light. Walking past the black lamppost on the sidewalk, the mare’s brisk pace was matched with the jostling of the case on her back, a case for a large instrument, one which was at least taller than her, even if she stood on two legs. The mare hurried off, trying to get to her warm and heated apartment as fast as possible. She walked past street vendors, restaurants, and the odd couple walking in the snow. I will never understand why ponies would like to go on a date in the middle of winter, She thought to herself as she never really grasped the concept of why the Pegasi must make it snow, I think that pegasi would be better of keeping the cold as far away from me as possible, she continued.
Her ignorance of weather’s importance can be attributed to her lack of a horn or a pair of wings, but aside from her earth pony ignorance, her physical fitness saw to it that she had arrived at her apartment before she had a mental breakdown on why magic is needed. Walking towards her door on the open air hallway, she found her number by memory, and fumbling through her pockets in her jacket, she found the grail of her quest, her apartment key. Hurrying to unlock the cold metal door, she pushed it open to be blasted by warm conditioned air, and a smart remark from her roommate.
“Oh hey Octavia,” the mare asked, “How was your rehearsal?” The mare asking, Octavia’s roommate, was her foal hood friend, Vinyl Scratch, a disk jockey unicorn with an angel white coat and a electric blue mane.
Walking in, Octavia closed the door. “It went well, since the three of us are about to perform without a violist, the work put in now holds a great amount of importance.” Wiping her hooves on the welcome mat, Octavia placed her giant bass to the small stand next to her shoe closet and took off her jacket and placed it neatly on the coat rack. Walking with an eased back, she entered the apartment living room, where she heard the voice originating from. The mare entered into the middle of the transformation of the living room into a small rave club. This movement of her furniture worried Octavia, “Um Vinyl,” she started.
“Yeah,” Vinyl Replied.
Octavia looked at Vinyl’s large turn tables and amplifiers, “Why is the living room being turned into a night club?” Octavia questioned as she lie down.
Realizing the delicate situation, Vinyl replied “Oh, well you see, I needed some new material for a competition so I asked an old college friend for help; he studied fine orchestral composition, he should be coming over in around five minutes.” Hoping off her platform, Vinyl left the living room, only to return with a cardboard box filled with random computer equipment. “You know, he used to play a viola in college, if you needed a violist, I could persuade him to join the royal quartet.” Vinyl offered as she finished the last of her recording stage.
Intrigued by her roommate’s offer, Octavia went to the front door and pulled out the music folder in the front pouch of her bass. Looking through it she found the recently returned viola sectional music which her fellow musician returned prior to his absence. “I’ll think about it, I’ll observe your interaction and see how well this goes.” As Octavia was walking back from her trip to her instrument, the metal knocking of the door echoed through the room.
“Oh, he’s here, Octavia could you let him in?” Vinyl requested as she placed the last couple of pages down, Octavia opened to cold steel door.
Past the entrance was a snow covered stallion, shivering with a rectangular case in his hooves. His small recessed eyes told of a lifetime of lack of sleep. His broad chest was thinly covered with a black jacket. His yellow fur was spotted with snow, and seemed to have soaked previous weathering. Octavia, dumbstruck by his features, stood in front of the doorway just staring at him, blushing at his largeness.
“Um, can I come in ma’am?” He asked, looking at the starring mare.
Realizing she was standing in between the door way, Octavia stepped back to allow room for him.
“So is Vinyl here?” He asked as he brushed the frozen snow on his body. After he saw most of the snow melted, he took of his jacket and placed it on a rack.
“Yeah, she’s in the living room,” Octavia replied, “So you are—?” Octavia inquired about him.
Looking at her demeanor, he realized that they didn’t really know each other, “Oh, I don’t think we ever met in person,” He stated, “My name is Leading Tone, and you must be Vinyl’s roommate, Octavia.”
Surprised that he knew about her, Octavia asked “Oh, has Vinyl talked about me when you meet each other?”
Smirking at Octavia’s interest in herself, “Yeah,” Leading replied, “You’re her child hood friend.”
Looking back at him, she smiled “I’m quite tired, so I guess I’ll go to my bed, but it was good to meet you.” She then quickly walked upstairs towards what Leading assumed was the bedrooms. After she had left Leading Tone pulled through into the living room, where he saw Vinyl finishing her music set up.
Vinyl heard the presence of the Leading. “Oh, Hey man,” Vinyl started as she walked towards Leading, “It’s been too long, thanks for helping me out with this.” Coming closer to him, she finished her greeting with a small hug, “Um, Where’s Octavia?” she asked as she realized her absence.
“She said that she was tired, so she went to her room.” He responded as he put down his instrument lightly to the floor and followed Vinyl towards her music rig. “So, what do you need me for?” He asked.
Vinyl picked up a small music player, tossing it to him, “I made this synth, but the problem is that it is based off of orchestral, so I needed you to check its composition.”
Catching the small player, Leading took out a pair of ear buds, and before playing the song, he inquired to Vinyl “Why did you need me to do this, from what I know, you have a roommate who plays in a orchestral quartet and can just as easily do this.”
Vinyl replied to Leading's question, “She might be a good contender, but we’ve been living together since college, I don’t think she really can bring herself to critique my work as well, so I thought that I might get you to help.”
Smiling at that thought, Leading said “Sounds like you two bonded quite a lot in that dorm.”
Lifting her head up to rethink of her time in college, “Yeah, since I had a night job, I really couldn’t hang out with many ponies, it was really just you, her, and a couple of others from the club, and that was it.” She took a seat on the rearranged couch, “I met you in music composition class, but even then I never really told you who she was.”
Thinking about the topic, Leading did realize that he and Vinyl had only interacted during class or final study sessions. “Yeah,” he started, “I never really asked you about her.” Taking a seat next to her on the couch, he asked “So how did you get along with her during you stay at the dorm?”
Giggling at his newfound interest in the grey mare, Vinyl recounted the stories she and Octavia had during college. “We were like polar opposites, I was nocturnal, and she woke up at six in the morning. I would be messy and disorganized, but she was all prim and proper. I guess we played off each other to the point of acceptance, and it was all uphill from there.” Pausing to think, Vinyl redirected Leading’s question back to himself. “So enough about us, what about you, what have you been doing the year and a half since Canterlot Collegiate Academy?”
Looking down at the ground, Leading’s expression turned depressed, “Honestly, it’s been a bit tough, two weeks before you called me, I had just lost my position as assistant musical director for Manehattan High school. I was kind of hoping you could help me around Canterlot for some job opportunities after I helped you.”
Noting this of the music player, Vinyl hatched an idea, “How about this,” Vinyl proposed, “If you help fix up this piece, I can show you to a group who may need your help, but you help me out first.” She lifted her hoof to him, “Deal?”
Smirking, Leading Tone shook with the out stretched hoof, “Deal, but is it okay if I stay the night?” He asked. “I kind of didn’t think of booking a hotel when I got to Canterlot, so I really don’t have a place to stay.”
Sighing at the need of Leading Tone, Vinyl got up and went to her turntable, “You can stay if I end up with a usable song.” Vinyl replied. Following suite, Leading got up and started his work on the music.
The two spent most of the night rearranging notes, shifting beats, and generally working on the song until both of them were too tired that they gave it a rest and both lazily rested on each other on the nearby couch.
Morning came with bright rays of sunlight casted through the windows of the living room. The light passed over the lone white unicorn on the couch, rudely waking her up from her short sleep. Lightly yawning, Vinyl got off the couch and stretched a bit, noticing that the other pony that was with her on the couch was missing. Now fully awake and aware of the missing member, she first concluded that he left early, only to see his instrument case on the floor, where he put it last night. Starting to wonder where he was, Vinyl started to notice the sounds of sizzling, and she walked towards the kitchen, where she saw Leading Tone, fully awake, cooking something that smelled wonderful. Walking in the kitchen, she was greeted by a hello from him.
“Hey, good to see you’re awake, I’m sorry if I woke you up, but I wanted to get you in a good mood so that we can finish the song.” Pulling a little plate out of the cabinet as if he lived there, he placed the recently made omelet on it. “I don’t know how good this is, I haven’t cooked a cheese omelet in a while.” He took out a fork and handed Vinyl, her breakfast.
Moving the fork, Vinyl inspected the omelet, and when she was sufficiently pleased with it, she cut a piece and tasted it. The immediate creamy flavor of the small piece sparked a feeling of enjoyment. “This is great,” she complemented him. “When did you learn how to cook this well?” she asked as she continued to eat the food.
Picking up some whisked eggs in a bowl, he poured it on to the oiled pan, and then looked at her and replied, “I learned it from my mother,” he started, “My parents own a restaurant in Manehattan. My mother cooked in the kitchen and when I was a colt, I would go down there and help out, later on she taught me how to cook.”
“That’s neat,” Vinyl replied, finishing up last bits on the plate, Vinyl picked it up and placed it next to the sink, “So, do you want to finish song?” Vinyl asked apprehensively as she moved to the music rig.
Placing the just cooked food on a nearby plate, He replied “Let me give this to Octavia, and then we’ll finish the song, okay.” Pulling out a small tray, Leading put the plate of food on it, placed a glass of orange juice, and balanced it upstairs.
Walking to the second floor, Leading realized that he didn’t know which room was Octavia’s. Shrugging it off, he started opening doors, finding the closet, then a bathroom, and then a bedroom which he assumed was Vinyl’s with the lack of order, random records on the shelves, and the bright electric-blue bed cover.
Yup, Vinyl is still as egotistical as a royal Leading thought as he closed the door. Moving on to the last unopened door, he turned the doorknob carefully as not to drop the metal tray.
Creeping through the door, He walked inside, firstly noticing the slight snoring of the grey mare resting on her side on top of the bed adjacent to the wall. Her body was covered with a simple blanket, which of course had some music notes and clefs embroidered on it.
Closing the door quietly, he paced through the clean room, making his way towards the side of the bed. I’ll just lie this on the night stand He planned as he tipped toed to the wall. Standing next to her bed, he noticed an opened small novel and an unused bookmark on her night stand. Using his free hoof, he put the book mark in the book and cleared it to the side, making room for the tray. As he placed down the metal tray, it made a short ring as it hit the furnished wood table, alerting the sleeping mare. She grunted undecipherable sounds, then reached out to the sound, only finding his hoof. Feeling the warm slender limb, the sleeping mare pulled in the hoof to her, snuggling with it.
Reacting towards the unwanted pull, “Hey Octavia, wak—,” he started to interdict until his felt his hoof cares her torso. His hoof rolled over her body, feeling her soft unclothed fur. Oh my gosh, she nake- oh wait no, she has laces, he said in his mind only realizing that having undergarments didn’t really help his predicament. Trying to slip his hoof out of her bodies grasp, he moved his hoof up above her fore hooves, crossing over her chest. “Don’t wake up, don’t wake up, don’t wake up,” He chanted to himself when he felt his hoof cross over her upper undergarment.
Somehow reading his mind, Octavia felt the lack of her new body pillow, and started to come to. Blinking a bit, all she felt was a hoof caressing her undergarment. Looking at the hoof touching her, she craned her head up, staring at him eye to eye.
Realizing what a bad situation he was in, Leading pulled back from Octavia, “Wait, let me explai-,” he tried to explain before he was cut off by a full force punch by her directed straight to his head.
WHAM.
The last sense of consciousness let him see his attacker, Octavia, near naked, with her face emanating the insatiable anger, powering the pulled in hoof for another hit.
WHAM.
He felt the hoof contact his chest, hitting him in the lung and causing large amounts of pain. Then he felt darkness.