Vinyl was at her workstation when Octavia finally returned home. When her shark-y housemate dragged herself through the door, she looked to be in a poor state. Her mane was disheveled, her limbs were shaking, and... apparently she’d been digging into some pomegranate recently, given the red stains on her teeth.
Octavia said nothing as she entered and dropped her cello case on her side of the house, before walking over to and slumping onto the couch. She turned to look at Vinyl, whose gaze did not stray from her since she entered.
Eventually, she found it in herself to speak.
“I... I ate a bunny.”
Vinyl stared at her friend, sliding her glasses down enough to expose her eyes as she raised an eyebrow.
“I-it was a service!” said Octavia, rather hastily. “The pest was stealing somepony’s produce! I was just so hungry as well, and nothing else was doing anything for me, so it seemed like... two birds with one stone?”
The deejay continued to stare, silent. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be — once again — interrupted.
“The concert went well, at least,” she continued, sighing and holding her tail to her chest as she curled up on the couch. “Had an encounter with a certain mare, but everything — everything was fine. Just fine.”
Octavia was silent, before her eyes widened at a realization. “And my parents!” she shrieked, leaping to her hooves in an instant. “They’ll be here any minute! I — I need to prepare! Food, cleanliness, and — ahh! Conversation topics! Answers to potential questions they will doubtlessly have! I haven’t prepared any!”
The doorbell rang, making her let out a small scream of alarm. “AHHHH NO TIME THEY’RE ALREADY HERE!” yelled Octavia, quickly running to Vinyl and pushing her through the doorway to her room with surprising strength. “Get yourself presentable, already! You had all day!”
Vinyl was likely about to reply before the door was slammed shut in her face, leaving Octavia to hurriedly go about organizing the room as best she could. It was not much, but alas, it was all she could do.
Once more, the doorbell rang, and Octavia gulped. “J-just a moment!” she called out, whimpering as she approached the door.
Breathe, Octavia, breathe, she repeated in her head, taking several deep breaths one after the other. Everything will be fine. Completely fine! Never mind the fact that you’re part-fish now, no, that’s irrelevant. Stick to the excuse, assure them it won’t last... Everything will be fine.
She sighed, then forced a smile — without showing her teeth, as much as she could help it — before pulling open the door.
Only to find someone unexpected standing there.
“S-Symphony?” she blurted out, blinking in shock. “What in Equestria are you doing here?”
The blue-coated mare rolled her eyes. “Is this how you normally welcome your guests?” she chided, sighing. “No wonder you hardly get visitors.”
Octavia scowled, only barely resisting the urge to slam the door in her prissy little muzzle. “What do you want from me?” she demanded. “Here to gloat and to taunt, as per the norm, I imagine. More so, considering my current status. Those fish jokes were simply fintastic.”
“No.”
The shark-mare blinked. “...No?”
“There are better times and places for such things,” said Harp, shaking her head. “Look. I feel as though we’ve gotten off on the wrong hoof. I’m not even wholly sure why there’s such animosity between us, as rivals.”
“Considering you my ‘rival’ would imply you were ever on the same level as I,” Octavia shot back, glaring down at her. Whether in stature or actual height, now that I think about it.
Symphony gritted her teeth at the remark, biting back a retort. “At any rate,” she hissed, “I feel as though we should ‘try again’. As proper colleagues. Like it or not, petty differences do not attribute well to a constructive environment.”
Octavia was silent, staring at her with narrowed eyes.
“I still find it constructive, however,” Symphony continued, frowning at her, “to criticize that truly jawful pun you made earlier.”
“All I’ve had to eat today was one rabbit. Do not tempt me.”
The harp-flanked mare grinned at her. “So I take it we have an understanding, then?”
“I understand that you are a gigantic pain in my flank, so, I suppose I do.”
“Always with the biting wit, Octy. Why, I feel as though I might bleed out from embarrassment.”
“You’ll be bleeding out for real if you don’t remove yourself from my property in the next ten seconds.”
“Oh, fine. At least consider the offer, though. All this zeal going around about encouraging friendships and whatnot.”
Octavia’s reply was to slam the door, shaking her head. “We’ll discuss it over tea sometime, I’m sure,” she muttered, turning and heading away from the door. “Of all the times Symphony elects to be somewhat courteous, it has to be after I’ve turned into... this. Hmph, probably knows I could easily and messily devour her, if I so chose.”
She caught herself, and grimaced, shaking her head. No, no. I may not like her, but I could never bring myself to do THAT to her. It’s dreadfully uncouth. And messy...
Not a minute passed by, and the doorbell rang once more.
“Oh, for crying out...”
Octavia rolled her eyes and sighed, stomping back to the door as she opened it. “Ms. Harp, I am warning you, stay off—” She stopped, noticing a completely different mare standing there. “—mother?”
“Sweetheart!” came the immediately reply, as an older mare stepped through the door and embraced her daughter in her forelegs. “It’s so wonderful to see you, again!”
“Oh, mother,” said Octavia, shaking her head and gently returning the hug. Her mother bore a rather striking resemblance to herself, apart from a slightly darker coat and differing manestyles. “It is good to see you, as well. You’ll have to pardon the state of the house, today has just been so hectic.”
Her mother nodded, gently running a hoof through her mane and patting her back. “It’s alright, my darling,” she said, reassuring her. “Believe it or not, the same is true for us as well. Hardly any time to rest at all, what, transporting your father here and all. Countless loopholes to exploit, favors called in, the works. Airships are insanely expensive these days.”
Octavia raised an eyebrow, nodding slowly. “Uh, I see. Well—”
“Oh, my! Now isn’t this a surprise.”
“H-huh? What is?”
Her mother smiled, running a hoof along her tail and fin, and giggling. “So it finally happened, hm?”
Octavia's heart sank. She knew she would notice sooner or later, but the sudden call to attention of it made her start to babble and stammer fearfully. “M-Mother, I can explain!” the mare blurted out, curling her tail against herself nervously. “I-I woke up like this, I have no clue as to how it occurred, but it’s not as bad as it looks, I swear! It was magic! B-bitten by a radioactive shark! Something in the water! Ninjas! I—”
The older mare’s laugh interrupted her, to her bewilderment. “Oh, sweetheart, calm down,” she said, patting her head. “It’s none of those things. You’re just going through your second puberty!”
...
What.
“What,” came the dry, toneless word from Octavia’s throat, blankly staring at her mother.
“Well, maybe that’s a teensy bit oversimplified,” she explained, giggling. “Shark genes are quite recessive in ponies. Any traits won’t show up until later in life, if even at all! It’s nothing to be ashamed of, though. It's just a part of growing up. For your case, at least.”
Octavia blinked, then shook her head, trying to force the thought from her mind. “N-never mind that, mother,” she muttered. “Where is my father? You said he would—”
“And he is!” her mother piped up, stepping out the door and leading her by the hoof. “His tank is right outside!”
“His what? ‘Tank’? What do you mean by—” The words hitched in her throat and died there as she looked at what her mother was leading her to. A large, glass tank was placed on the house’s front yard. Shaped like an extremely wide, flat cylinder, and full to the brim with water. Less of a tank, and more of pool, but technicalities didn't quite seem to matter much at that moment.
Inside of it was... a shark. An honest-to-Luna, very real and very big Great White shark.
“Wh—what? This is — this is my father?!”
“You don’t remember? You used to ride him all the time as a little foal!” Ms. Melody sighed dreamily, smiling at the shark in the tank as she rested a hoof on it. “Oh, those were the days. So carefree, so innocent. And so... passionate.”
Octavia gaped and gagged at the thought, tripping over her words as she stammered incredulously. “Wha—but how—why is—what—?!”
The aquatic predator continued to swim around its tank, seeming completely oblivious to the world outside it. For as bizarre as Octavia’s wake-up call this morning had proven, this somehow topped that many times over, in her mind.
At that moment, Vinyl trotted out into the yard. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of the massive shark tank, easily able to piece together everything after some moments of silence.
“So,” she said, taking a bite of a doughnut she carried as she looked between the three of them, “your mom got knocked up by a shark, huh?”
“VINYL!”