Violet Eyes

by ShadestepWarrior

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

Inkie groaned as she woke up, and wondered if there was possibly some way to keep dew from forming on herself as she slept. Her blanket was soaked, so she crawled out of it grumpily and laid it on the ground to dry.

“Ah, you’re up.” Octavia said from behind her. “I’ve been waiting forever.”

Inkie rolled her eyes. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

Octavia continued. “Whatever. I’ve had lots of time to think while you’ve been snoring away.”

“Thinking about what?”

Octavia paused. Inkie turned around to face her. “Well?”

The warm gray pony shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Inkie shrugged. “Okay. Should I make some breakfast?”

Octavia nodded. “Yeah, do that.”

Inkie turned back to the other pony. “You’re not very nice, are you?”

Octavia shrugged. “Hey, I’m your boss. It’s my job to be tough on you the first couple of weeks. I need to see if you’re good material.”

“...Of course.”

Inkie made some more sandwiches and handed one to Octavia, who chewed it thoughtfully.

“Ya’ know.” she said after swallowing a bite. “We might actually be able to make it in the world.”

“I though we established this last night.” Inkie said, staring down at the sandwich in her hooves.

“Yes, but now I’ve officially established it.” Octavia said firmly.

“Okay.”

“We’ll make a ton of money at Manehattan.”

“Right.”

“And yes, I’ll pay you.”

“Good.”

“And then we’ll go to Cloudsdale- I’ll need some unicorn to put a spell on us so we can walk on clouds- and then... and then the Gala!”

“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?” Inkie asked incredulously.

“Of course not.” Octavia said, brushing her hooves together to clear them of crumbs. “If you aim high, then even if you fall a little short, you’re still up there.”

Inkie played with a piece of grass. “I always went with ‘Set low standards, then if you hit higher you’re better off than you were.’”

Octavia laughed for the first time. “Well, I guess that works, at least.”

Inkie grinned. “Yeah, all I ever though I would end up doing is working at a rock farm, and look at me now!”

Octavia froze. “Did you say... rock farm?”

Inkie nodded. “Yeah, I lived there with my sisters. Why?”

Octavia shook her head and gave a fake smile. “Oh, no reason. I just... didn’t know there was such thing as a rock farm.”

“Where did you think rocks came from?” Inkie asked in surprise.

Octavia shrugged. “I just thought they- you know- were.”

“Oh.” Inkie said, this making a startling amount of sense. She had never actually seen rocks growing- in fact, they never seemed to change shape or size. Oh well, maybe they just grew very slowly.

Octavia stretched. “Well, shall we be going?” she asked, gazing down at the long road. Inkie nodded, stuffed the last piece of her sandwich in her mouth, stuffed her blanket into her saddlebags, and stood.

“How much longer until Manehattan?” the cool gray mare asked Octavia.

The cellist shrugged. “Oh, we’ll probably get there tonight.” she answered. “I think we’ll have enough money for a cheap room in a hotel, then maybe we can perform in a few places... we’ll need business cards....”

“Business cards?” Inkie exclaimed with a jolt. “We’re dirt poor, will just maybe have enough money for a single hotel room in the worst part of the city, are living off grass sandwiches, and you’re concerned about business cards?!”

“Well, we need some way to promote ourselves.” Octavia replied indignantly as they plodded down the road.

“I hardly think business cards is the way to go about ‘promoting ourselves’.” Inkie said with a roll of her eyes.

“Whatever.” Octavia mumbled. “Later, I’ll have those business cards.”

They walked on for about a mile in silence before the warm gray mare spoke up.

“What about your family, Inkie?” Octavia asked.

Inkie froze for a heartbeat and her eyes grew wide at the question. She should have known Octavia would ask someday; that she was caught off guard was, to her, a little bit surprising; but, wanting to please her boss, she cleared her throat and lurched back into step.

“Well, um, they’re just... normal people. My dad’s strict and works a lot, my mom’s strict and is mad at my dad for being a workaholic, and my sister pesters me to no end.”

Octavia gave a small chuckle under her breath. “So, is your sister younger than you, or what?”

Inkie nodded. “Yeah, she’s younger... I mean, we’re triplets- Blinkie, Pinkie, and I- but she was born last.”

Octavia raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so you have two sisters?”

Inkie pricked her ears; why was Octavia so interested in her sisters? She shook the question away and answered the question. “Yeah, Pinkie just went off to live with the Cakes’- I guess you don’t know who they are.”

Octavia shook her head. “No, I don’t- oh, wait, do they run that cute little bakery down in the center of Ponyville?”

Inkie nodded, surprised that Octavia would know of such a place.

“And what, Inkie, was your sister’s talent, that she went to work at a bakery?”

Inkie rolled her eyes. More sister talk. “Well, her talent was parties, but seeing how sweet food is so often served at said gatherings, the talent of cooking was thrown in.”

“Excellent. And your other sister?”

“Blinkie? Her talent is singing.”

Octavia stopped short. “Singing, eh? You should’ve told me that earlier, then maybe I could’ve hired her, too.”

Inkie sped up, instantly glad that her boss hadn’t asked her about her family earlier. She did not- did NOT- want to have Blinkie following her around everywhere. Oh, great Celestia, if that nuisance were here-

“You’re getting left behind, Octi.” Inkie called back to the warm gray mare. The cellist huffed and quickly caught up.

“Why are you so interested in my sisters, anyway?” Inkie asked, unknowingly letting her voice drifting into accusation.

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Keep your mane on. It was just a question.”

“A lot of questions.”

Octavia flashed Inkie a disapproving look that made the younger mare want to melt- a look so full of bored contempt, that so clearly spoke ‘I’m too good to partake in this petty arguement’- that Inkie didn’t press the subject.

“Lunch.” Octavia said a few hours later, knocking her hoof against the ground for emphasis. Inkie, recovered from the other mare’s ‘death stare’ and wondering why she had actually fallen under it’s spell, just nodded and made the sandwiched, deciding that they might as well eat the fruit before I went bad in the hot summer weather.

She was just taking the apple out of her saddlebag when she looked up and happened to see a small cloud of dust coming up from far along the road. It grew bigger and bigger, until Inkie realized it was some sort of cart being pulled quickly along the road. The cool gray mare looked at her boss to see if anything was to be done and saw Octavia’s eyes shining. A second later, the gray mare was bouncing up and down, yelling out to the cart to stop.

Looking at her boss now, Inkie just stood with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Yeah, she would never be able to take the death stare seriously again.

Slowly but surely, the cart stopped; it was being pulled by four muscular stallions, all with an equally grateful look on their faces; Inkie calculated in her mind they had been running since, maybe, nine in the morning; well, no they had been walking since six, and she was only slightly winded, so maybe more like nine-thirty-

The mare was pulled out of her thoughts when she noticed Octavia standing with her front hooves on the edge of the seat of whoever it was inside the cart. Inkie slapped her face with her front hoof.

“Hello, good sir, you seem like the sophisticated type. You like classical music, yes? Maybe you’d like some music with your lunch? I see your stallions are quite tired. Why don’t you give them a breather, mm? It’s a beautiful day. Why don’t you come out here on the grass and eat your lunch to some nice music. Won’t that be lovely? Yes, that’s the spirit.”

A few seconds later, a grumpy looking stallion emerged from the cart. His light brown mane contrasted nicely with his pale blue coat, and, altogether, he looked rather well-to-do.

The stallion sighed and took a basket out of the cart with him; probably his lunch. “Well, let’s have it.” he said almost grumpily as he plopped himself down on the ground.

Octavia nodded and quickly unfastened her cello case; in a minute or so, she had set it upright and was aligning the bow to the strings. Inkie’s heart stirred as the slow, melodic note trickled off the cello.

The warm gray cellist began a quick, cheery melody, which for some reason reminded Inkie of birds and peaches. The cool gray mare sat back on her haunches to listen.

The song went on for about an hour as the stallion ate. Inkie guessed that Octavia must have made it up on the spot, seeing how it was so long. But finally he was done and had packed up. The warm gray cellist stood, waiting, until the stallion gave her ten bits.

“I certainly hope that’s sufficient.” he said as he stepped into his cart. “Good luck in whatever it is you’re doing.”

The ponies pulling the carriage snorted and pulled off in a puff of dust.

Octavia shook her mane and tossed the bits to a surprised Inkie. She tumbled backwards, tripped on some trees roots, and caught the bits in her hooves.

“Ow.” she mumbled, rubbing her back.

“You okay?” Octavia asked as she held out a hoof to help Inkie up.

“Yeah.” Inkie grumbled in reply as she took the mare’s hoof.

Octavia dropped the cool gray’s hoof, and Inkie plopped back down. “I guess you won’t be needing any help then. Good. Pack up, Inkie. We’re almost at Manehattan.”

The younger mare sat up and narrowed her eyes in an unamused fashion. “Yeah. Okay.” she said, trying to make her voice so obviously miffed that Octavis would notice.

Octavia looked up. “What? You told me you were fine.”

“That doesn’t mean-,” Inkie slapped her face with her hoof. “Whatever.” she finished. “Let’s- just get a move on.”

“That’s the spirit.” the cellist said with a smile as she hoisted her cello case unto her back. Inkie just shook her head and the corner of her mouth twitched up in an exasperated smile as she followed the mare down the road.

Comments

[ShadestepWarrior]

Meh, I'll edit this later, I'm tired~

[FlutterStar]

Cliff hangers...