Time Well Spent
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CHAPTER FOUR: TIME WELL SPENT
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Vinyl’s obnoxious snore echoed throughout their hotel room, which gave Octavia a very rude awakening. This was a common occurrence that happened every time that they stayed in a hotel room, or staying in their apartment back home; Vinyl snores loudly, Octavia wakes up, disheveled. Octavia groaned, one eyelid opening slightly. “Vinyl,” she complained, her voice muffled by a snow-colored pillow.
The DJ answered simply with another snore.
Octavia growled, irritated by her roommate’s ability of heavy sleep. “Vinyl, get up,” Octavia snapped, her voice sharp and disturbed. She prodded the sprawled unicorn’s side pointedly. “You always do this! Every. Single. Morning!” She jabbed an agitated hoof into Vinyl’s side as she said the last sentence.
Vinyl replied again with her hoof swatting Octavia away, ‘’Just five more minutes!’’
Octavia raised her voice at Vinyl and flashed, ‘’You think that I enjoy dealing with this every morning? I so do not enjoy doing this!’’ Vinyl, still bound and trapped in the thick, black blanket of sleep, mumbled dissonantly, “But Tavi, I don’t wanna piece of cello cake….”
“That. Is. IT!” With all the strength Octavia could muster, she shoved Vinyl off of the bed and onto the scraggly, gray carpet.
‘’What was that for?’’ Vinyl rubbed her forehead on the way down. She glared daggers at the professional cellist. They looked into each others’ eyes.
Octavia wore an arrogant expression as she turn pointedly away from Vinyl, rolling gracefully off of the bed and landing delicately on her four hooves. “Well, it serves you right for being a snorer. Can’t you fix that problem? It’s really annoying, you know.”
Octavia walked into the kitchen, where she saw a gargantuan pile of dirty dishes left unclean. Of course, she knew immediately who did this. ‘’Vinyl, what have I told you about cleaning the dishes and not leaving them out?’’
The white unicorn entered the room, her eyes still partly glued together from sleep. She picked up her glasses that she had left on the kitchen island the night before and shoved them adroitly onto her muzzle. She turned to Octavia, a groggy smirk plastered on her face. “I dunno, babe, but you look terrible right now.”
‘’What do you mean by that?’’ Octavia asked, running to the bathroom mirror for a better look.
Vinyl chuckled, entertained by Octavia’s reaction, and responded, “I mean, you need to brush your hair.” She hadn’t left the kitchen.
Octavia rummaged through the bathroom for her brush, hitting herself on the forehead, distraught. ‘’I can’t find my brush, Vinyl. Where did you put my brush?’’
Vinyl’s head appeared in the mirror as she stepped into the sleek, marble bathroom. A suspicious smirk was plastered on her face, causing Octavia to narrow her eyes skeptically as she watched her roommate walk past her. “I didn’t do anything with your brush,” Vinyl replied, feigning innocence. Octavia stuck out her lower lip.
‘’Are you so sure about that?’’ Octavia raised her eyebrow at her musical equal, wondering about the whereabouts of her brush.
“Mh-hm,” Vinyl nodded as she scanned her reflection, adjusting her glasses. She licked her lips and slyly turned to Octavia, one of her eyebrows raised in a suggesting gesture.
“Although, you might want to check your cello case.”
‘’But, I didn’t bring my cello because you said that we should go on vacation without worrying about our musical careers, remember?’’ Octavia shook her head in disappointment, demonstrating the shape of her cello with sign language.
“Exactly.”
“VINYLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!” Octavia screeched in rage when the meaning of Vinyl’s words processed through her puzzled mind. Vinyl had hidden her brush in the cello case...back home! Vinyl had obviously known that she would need it! Why, the nerve….
Vinyl rolled her eyes as she watched Octavia fume; it always amused her to see Octavia’s reactions.
‘’For a pony who is as fancy as a stallion in a suit, you really know how to express your anger.’’ With that, a light blue aura surrounded the mirror and caused it to swing forward, identical to the movement of a door; it revealed a hidden compartment, hosting cobwebs, identifiable spiders, and...Octavia’s brush.
Octavia’s muscles loosened as she sighed in relief to see her brush. Extending her neck to grab it, she cast a quick, infuriated glance at Vinyl, who was casually leaning against the wall.
“Very funny,” Octavia mumbled, embarrassed at her overreaction. After all, it was just a brush.
Vinyl chuckled and adjusted her glasses again.
“You’re right. It was very funny.”
Octavia rolled her eyes.
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‘’We should be getting ready to go to the Bridleway Theatre. Coco would be upset if we stood her up, and dressing in formal clothing should do the trick.’’ Octavia adjusted her pink bowtie and collar, giving Vinyl the stinkeye.
‘’Why are you looking at me like that?’’ Vinyl placed her glasses on her muzzle and looked at Octavia, confuzzled, ‘’You’re not trying to make me dress all fancy, are you?’’
Octavia flashed her a quick, slim grimace, finishing the final touches on her appearance for the evening, and replied, feigning innocence, “Oh, no, no, no.”
It was a lie.
‘’Good. We wouldn’t want a DJ walking around like an emotionless doll, or a stuck up Canterlot stooge.’’
Octavia whipped her head around, strongly offended. “And just what do you mean by that?” she grasped her brush in her hoof and began brushing it (for the millionth time), her strokes bitter and harsh; they caused tears in her eyes.
‘’Look, I’m sorry that I said that, Tavi. You know that I don’t mean it like that. You’re one of the most talented musicians out there. Not many ponies can say that they’ve played and toured with the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra.’’ Vinyl walked to Octavia’s side and wiped her dried tears away. She wrapped her arms around her, thinking deeply about what she said and how she should’ve realized how Octavia would react.
[/hr]
Octavia and Vinyl walked out of the hotel room together and entered the hallway. They took the stairs down to the lobby of the hotel, seeing as the elevator was still requiring maintenance. They each nodded quickly to the bellhop, Octavia smiling gratefully, and they exited the building, out into the frigid night.
‘’I told you that we should’ve brought our coats,’’ Vinyl said, putting her hooves under her armpits. Her whole body shivered, the cold wind blowing in her face and wrapping around her; a blanket in a parallel universe.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon,” Octavia replied flatly, ignoring Vinyl’s accusation. Her teeth chattered as she started to trot down the sidewalk on her right side. Vinyl expeditiously followed, falling into step with her roommate.
Most ponies were indoors due to the chilling weather; either in their furnished apartments, heated shops, or inside bus stops and supermarkets, waiting for their mode of transportation to arrive. Despite the radiant moon and the stunning stars, jeweling the midnight-blue sky, nopony seemed to want to come outdoors.
They walked down the street towards the Bridleway Theatre, until a group of stallions, similar to lurking shadows, emerged from the shadows in an alleyway and grouped silently behind them. One of the stallions said, ‘’Hey, you two!’’
Vinyl’s heart began to race inadvertently and her pupils began to dilate as she turned around to the stallion’s call. There could only be one other reason that the three ponies she stood in front of were not in someplace heated, other than her own. Determined to protect Octavia from the horrifying sceptacle that she knew would occur, Vinyl sugar-coated her voice with arrogancy and courage. ‘’What do you guys want?’’ She tried her best to sound uninterested.
Maybe then they’d leave Octavia alone.
The stallion who had shouted drew a black poker card from his midnight-colored, tattered saddlebag, full of moth-eaten patches and unpleasant holes. This stallion had an enormous build; he loomed above the two mares, one of which was about to faint, and the other fighting to not cry. He an eyepatch on his right eye, and a lengthy, ragged cream-colored mane. Vinyl recognized him with a pang. His name was Eyepatch.
He was accompanied by a mare and another stallion, both equally menacing. The other stallion, on his left, seemed to be almost identical to Eyepatch, minus the eyepatch and the fact that his mane was shadow-black instead of cream-colored. The mare on Eyepatch’s right seemed unfazed by what was occuring, her eyelids drooped halfway. She was an unnaturally skinny female, with an extremely short dark gray mane, and a faint turquoise coat.
‘’We’ve heard about your musical success and expertise, but that, my friends, is not why we’re here. Your friend,” Eyepatch gestured to Vinyl, a cold sneer spreading across his mouth, “right there sells drugs to my gang. Illegal drugs. After every gig that she has, Vinyl conceals herself and hides away all of the guilt.
Octavia cocked her head to the side at Vinyl, her eyes burning with molten lava; the molten lava of fury. She glared straight into the DJ’s glasses, somehow breaking past the barrier and staring intensely into her roommate’s eyes. ‘’Vinyl, why have you kept this secret from me after all these years?’’ Her voice was a desperate, cracked whisper.
‘’You must be really disappointed in me, aren’t you?’’ Vinyl lowered her head down, her voice filled with despair and regret. She traced the gravel of the sidewalk as she felt the lava stored in Octavia’s eyes scorch the back of her neck.
‘’Not only did you keep this as a secret from me, but you also sold drugs illegally to a gang called…er...what is the name of your gang, exactly?’’ Octavia craned her head back. She glared at Vinyl and looked at the gang.
‘’We’re called the Aces and Eights. I’m Eyepatch, this mare right here is Sinister Melody, and the stallion to my left is Black Night,'' Eyepatch stated, rotating his attention back to Vinyl and Octavia.''
‘’Look... I know that what I did to you guys was reprehensible, but that doesn’t give you the right to get back at me,’’ Vinyl retorted, rolling her eyes at the threatening stallion. On the outside, she may appear a roaring lion, but on the inside, she felt as vulnerable as a butterfly.
‘’All I have to say is, thank you.’’ Eyepatch grinned at the two musicians in front of him, w a perfect plan forming in his deceiving to get back at Vinyl for the unforgivable deed.
‘’Thank us? For what?’’ Vinyl rubbed her chin with her hoof, looking back at Octavia and back at the gang. Her stomach fluttered; Vinyl wondered, with a mental, nervous laugh, if there really was a butterfly in her stomach.
‘’For this!” Eyepatch threw out his hoof, punching Vinyl square in the muzzle. Vinyl flew back, landing with a dangerous CRUNCH, that suggested broken bones. Her entire body aching from the impact, Vinyl lay on the sidewalk. Sinister Melody and Black Night laughed maniacally as they grabbed Octavia’s forelegs to force her into the brick wall of the alley. “No!” Vinyl cried out weakly, attempting to rise to her forehooves...but it was impossible. Octavia struggled to break free from their grip, but that was out of the question when Eyepatch reeled his hoof back and punched her in the stomach. Vinyl gasped, choking as wheeze caught in her throat.
“Octavia!”
Eyepatch slapped Octavia across the jaw, the impact from the slap sent her to the ground.
“OCTAVIA!”
Eyepatch made a disgusting retching noise.
Then he spat on Octavia’s face.
‘’Both of you are just the dirt under my hooves, meaningless to me. But if you ever cross us again, the next thing you’ll be seeing is a hospital bed.’’ Eyepatch walked over to the DJ and dug his hoof into her stomach, grinning, enjoying her reaction. He kicked her forward as she spat thick, crimson blood from her mouth. The Aces and Eights members left the scene, as quiet as shadows, as the crowd applauded Coco’s performance before she exited the theatre.
The night was quiet.
Coco galloped down the street where she saw two bodies laid out on the sidewalk. She surveyed the scene before her, horror filling her heart. She recognized their faces and dropped down on her knees next to them, she yelled out into the silence of the night, her voice cracking with tears. ‘’Help! Somepony help them!’’
They saw their lives flash before their eyes. An empty, white image came into their minds. Coco Pommel sat there, tears filling her eyes; a void devoured her soul as they fell, as heavy as raindrops. They’re going to die, she thought, the void swallowing her whole. They’re going to die.
So absorbed in her own mind, she didn’t even realize what was happening when she was being hauled into an ambulance, the DJ and the cellist thrown in after her, placed on white stretchers. She didn’t even realize what was happening when they got to the hospital.
All she could remember was crying.
All she could remember was the endless, swirling void.
Her only company.
The one light in her life was now no more.
Coco left a bottle of Flank Daniels and a bouquet of flowers near their hospital beds. ‘’You’ll always be in my heart.’’
The fashion designer left the hospital room, tears streaming down her face.
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- Gleaming · 1.5k words · 37 4 · 1.2k views
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Yay! Read it again, read it again!
4731631 Thank you so much for your help! I thank you and the other editors.
4731634
No problem! It was really quite enjoyable to read and write!
4731645 Glad to hear that!
4731646
You deserve it! You are gifted, my friend. Gifted!
4731655 You're gifted as well, my friend.
4731658
Oh, me.
I'm nothing compared to you.
4731668 But you fixed my mistakes, added more details, and really impressed me.
4731696
You...you've just made my day...
I...I...impressed you?
I...I just don't know what to say...
4731722 No problem. Should I add the Tragedy or Sad tag and Gore?
4731733
You should probably add the Tragedy tag, seeing as there isn't exactly a...happy ending.
4731740 Oh okay. So, Vinyl and Octavia died?
4731745
Well, you're the author.
Do you think they died?
4731892 Uh, yeah.
4731897
Then they are dead.
4731907 Got it. We should do a collaboration together.
4731925
WE SHOULD START RIGHT NOW!
YES, YES WE SHOULD!
4731927 If you want to, we can discuss it in a message.
4731931
YAY!
That would be awesome!
4731944 I'll send the message, don't reply to this.
EDIT: Nevermind.
I'm sorry to say this, but the ending of the story prevents me from putting it in my favorites.
It's not because it's a downer. I've favorite several stories that have sad endings.
It's more that, up until that point it was a mostly funny slice of life story, and the ending seemed kind of abrupt.
5710917 I'm glad you brought this up to my attention, readers have the freedom to say and show how they feel so I'm okay with your decision.
5710923 You're welcome.
Have you ever considered doing a sequel about Vinyl's and Octavia's adventures in the afterlife? I think it could be really interesting.
5710933 I never really mentioned this but sequels to stories that I've finished so far have never been considered or written but if someone else wants to write one they can.
5710946 Oh...
5710959 Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble.
5710978 It's okay