Chapter 2 - New Friends
Octavia didn’t know how to react. In front of her sat a near perfect replica of the pony who was possibly her biggest idol, and one of the few reasons that she ever took up a string instrument to start with. Yet, she was so obviously not her due to the two toned mane rather than a single colour, as well as the difference in style. Melodia, graceful and with a mane falling gently down around her head, framing her face an only adding to the elegance of the violinist. This Vinyl, however, had a mane that looked like she had gone apple bobbing in a tub of gel, then taken a run through a wind tunnel. So different, yet so...
“Similar,” Octavia said aloud, finishing her trail of thought as her eyes still stayed glued to the DJ.
Vinyl rubbed one of her ears with a hoof, and leaned forward. “Sorry, what? Oh! Gimme a sec.” Her horn flared to life and a small, translucent barrier appeared around the three of them, becoming completely invisible after a faint pulse. Almost instantly, the music fell significantly in volume, becoming little more than background noise than the near deafening levels it had been before. “There,” Vinyl said, puffing her chest out proudly, “that should help a bit.”
Nodding, Octavia looked around, finding the act of such magic performed seemingly without difficulty to be, to say the least, astounding. “Really well done, Miss Vinyl.”
Vinyl, chuckling, said. “Thanks, not to brag, but that wasn’t all that difficult.”
“Showoff,” Lyra muttered sourly, though smiling.
“Sure I am, Piano-butt.”
“My cutie mark is a lyre, Vinyl,” the lyrist grumbled, dragging a hoof down her face.
“Right… right. Anywho!” She looked at Octavia, grinning. “What was it you were trying to say before? Didn’t quite hear ya.”
“I was just, well, speaking to myself. It’s just that you look so similar to Miss Allegrezza, the violinist. I can’t help but wonder if you’re related to her? Sister, cousin?”
Vinyl froze, as did Lyra. Both mares turned to Octavia, twin stares boring into her eyes. Nopony said anything for several moments, the two unicorns simply staring at Octavia while she looked back and forth between them, wondering if she had said something wrong.
Finally, after that seemed like hours, Vinyl spoke up. Her tone was low and dark, sounding more like the voice of someone about to threaten another. “You’re right,” she said. “I am the Batmare.” And just like that, the tension was gone. Lyra slammed her forehead down on the table, her entire body shaking from barely suppressed laughter. Vinyl didn’t even try to hide her laughter. Rather, she let the other two know just how hilarious she thought it was.
Octavia, however, just sat there with a dumbstruck expression on her face; features stuck between the anticipation she had felt when she had asked the question, and the complete and utter confusion that was the result of Vinyl’s ridiculous—albeit somewhat entertaining—reply.
“Wha… what?”
“Octavia… I-I knew bringing you h-here would be a good idea,” Lyra said, gasping for air. It took a few moments, but she finally managed to stop laughing and get her breathing back under control. “Holy… T-that was hilarious.”
“Right...” Octavia said, looking back to Vinyl, who were currently waving a bartender over to them. “So, that’s a no? No connection between the two of you?”
Vinyl ordered a drink for each of them, giving the bartender her best smile as he turned around to mix the cocktails. “Not really,” she replied, spinning around on her chair until she faced Octavia again. “Yeah, I look like her—or she looks like me—but aside from that there’s really nothing. I’ve never talked to her, or met her for that matter. I bet you ask because I look so much like her, right?” The bartender came over with the drinks, handing one to each of them before trotting off to the next customer. Vinyl took hers in her magic and took a sip. “Yeah, I know who she is. Kind hard not to when so many ponies think you’re her, right?”
Lyra hopped on the chair to Vinyl’s right, taking her own drink, downing almost a quarter of it in one gulp. “You should see her when the journalists are after her after a gig, constantly asking if she’s actually Melodia, or if she’s her secret twin sister or something.” She took another sip of her drink, this one much smaller. “The last one who did that is still having occasional headaches from what I hear. You did hit him pretty hard.”
Vinyl winced, the grimace on her face. “I didn’t mean to, you know that. He was just getting a bit too close, so I panicked and… threw him against the wall.”
“You did that?” Octavia asked, eyes wide and drink forgotten in favour of the conversation.
“And he was an earth pony,” Lyra added. “So holding him in her magic couldn’t have been easy.”
Groaning, Vinyl rubbed the bridged of her nose. “Could you stop saying that every time we get on this topic? I panicked, alright?”
“And earth ponies are known for being difficult to hold in telekinesis thanks to their strength, right? I… never thought you’d be that powerful.” Octavia never looked away from Vinyl while she climbed up onto the chair next to Lyra, leaning over the counter to look past the mint green unicorn. “If I may ask, how?”
Vinyl smiled wryly. “I do my own light shows and lasers, so when I DJ I’m in charge of every light and such going on. I control what lights and lasers and such are in place, but I also add my own beams if I think it’s getting a bit stale which, honestly, happens more often than you’d think.” She chuckled. “Those so-called prop light crews aren’t always as good as they claim. Don’t know how to match the songs, y’know?”
Lyra leaned towards Octavia, whispering in a voice which was ‘coincidentally’ loud enough for Vinyl to hear. “She’s actually quite proud of that.”
“No I’m not.”
“How exactly do you train your magic? I thought it simply stayed the same since you were born?”
This time it was Vinyl who spoke up, shaking her head. “Not exactly. It’s true that we are born with a certain amount of magic, but it steadily increases as we get older. You’ve heard of those things called Surges, right?” She waited a bit for Octavia to nod. “When we have them it’s our magic pool getting bigger, and it results in us momentarily losing control of our new, and more powerful, magic. They usually stop coming by mid-to-late puberty, depending on certain factors I’m not quite certain of. Aside from that, magic is like a muscle, so the more you use it the more magic you’ll eventually get.”
“It does often result in magical exhaustion, though. You won’t believe how many times I’ve had to haul her ass back to her apartment because she overdid it with the lightshow at a gig,” Lyra said, trying to sound exasperated and annoyed but not quite managing to remove the smile from her lips.
“Like you’d know how much it takes to run an entire lightshow only with your magic and no crew to help you,” Vinyl retorted, smiling playfully as she took another sip from her drink, and sighed in satisfaction. “So, what about you, Octavia, what do you do for a living?” She suddenly asked.
“I’m a Cellist,” Octavia replied with a smile. “Up and coming, as it were. While I did acquire a little bit of… fame, I guess you could call it, for playing only with my hooves, I haven’t been hired for a lot of social gatherings. Mostly I’ve played at small garden parties for some of the lesser nobles, or played other such small concerts. Still, it’s getting better: more and better paying concerts and such are coming in by the month. You could say I’m steadily rising in the ranks of the music world, if slowly.” She took her drink in her hooves, first taking a small sip to try it out, then taking a larger gulp when the pleasant, if strong, taste met her tongue.
A whistle came from her left, causing her to look and meet the bespeckled gaze of Vinyl’s. “Little miss famous, eh? Well,” she lifted her glass, “here’s to future fame, then?” All three mares lifted their glasses, clinking them together before drinking deeply.
In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best idea. The strong drink caught in Octavia’s throat, forcing her to cough out what she could and soak the counter in front of her, as well as losing her grasp on her glass.
“Woah! You okay there, Octavia?” Lyra asked, quickly reaching out to keep the mare on her chair while gently patting her back, trying to ease the cough out of her. Meanwhile, Vinyl picked up the shards of glass from the fallen glass in her magic, passing them to a unicorn behind the bar who then came back with a glass of water as well as a rag. Vinyl took the latter of the two, immediately going about cleaning up the spilled drink.
“Bit stronger than I expected,” Octavia said between deep breaths. “Burns like tartarus.”
Lyra chuckled. “Yeah, some drinks tend to do that. Guess you’re not used to drinking?”
“No, not really,” the cellist replied as she re-adjusted her seating on the chair. “I generally avoid alcohol, so you could say I’m a bit of a lightweight.”
“Aren’t earth ponies supposed to have a really high alcohol tolerance or something?” Vinyl butted in, one eyebrow raised above even her glasses.
“Most earth ponies are, yes, but I’m not really that tolerant. Blame it on my lack of partying.”
Lyra snorted. “No surprises there. She was so ‘diligent’ that she even studied during recess, is what some of her classmates told me once.”
“That was only the week before exams, Lyra. You know how brutal the Musical History teacher was,” Octavia retorted, pouting slightly.
Lyra cringed, shuddering all over in what could only be called a comical display of terror. “Please don’t remind me. That mare would make Nightmare Moon look like a cutesy bedtime story!”
It was Octavia’s turn to chuckle this time around, resulting in a glare from Lyra and a questioning look from the DJ. “She’s overreacting by the way,” she said, nodding towards Lyra. “Yes, Celestine, our teacher and not to be confused with Celestia, was really strict, but she was also a good teacher and one of the reasons I ever got so good at playing with my hooves only. She’s the kind of pony, you could say, that doesn’t give up on her students no matter what... even if she did drive us to the edge and beyond.”
Even as she spoke, Octavia could feel… something about this white mare. She was friendly, that much was for certain, but there was also something else about her. It wasn’t because she was overly attractive, even if she did have several characteristics that could mark her as pretty, nor did she seem to just open up everything about herself and let everypony in. No. It was something about her eyes, even covered as they were. The way she looked at Octavia gave her a sense of belonging, of not simply being a stranger or a random passerby. Just the way that Vinyl looked at her while she spoke gave her a distinct feeling of being with a friend, someone who cared to listen regardless of how inane her monologues were.
She was, however, suddenly broken out of her reverie by a soft tapping on her forehead. “Oi, Octavia?” Vinyl said, looking up at her from where she stood beside her chair.
“What? Sorry, what did you say?”
A lazy smiled bloomed on the unicorn’s lips. “I said that, when it came to music and such, maybe I could help you?”
“Please, Vinyl,” Lyra chuckled. “She’s a classical cellist, I doubt you and your Push-Button-To-Music equipment would do much to help her.”
“What? I can do plenty with classical instruments! Didn’t you hear that sample track I played last week? Had violins and even freaking bagpipes in it! And the crowd loved it!” Suddenly, a mischievous grin replaced the smile that had previously been on her lips. “Or could it be that you’re just jealous? Or, should I say, green with envy?”
A loud thud of Lyra’s forehead meeting the counter was all the response she received, as well as the thoroughly unamused stare from Octavia. She ignored both, though, in favour of chuckling to herself. “Never gets old,” she muttered.
There are times in ones life when you just want to shut off your brain and bury your head in your pillows, letting the outside world know that you don’t care, or have had enough of it for the time being. It would be a lie to say that Octavia did not have such a day, as she fought with all her will to not smack herself from the sheer stupidity that was Vinyl’s earlier comment. Octavia groaned loudly, rubbing her forehead in an attempt to not follow Lyra’s example of denting the counter.
“That was abysmal, Vinyl.”
“I know. And I regret nothing!”
“Not to mention that bagpipes aren’t even a classical instrument,” Lyra muttered into the counter, only loud enough to be heard over the still present background noise that was the club’s music, being filtered by the sound reduction spell around them.
Vinyl blew a short raspberry at the other unicorn, using her magic to also steal a sip from her drink before she returned her attention to Octavia. “Anywho, the offer still stands if you want to. If nothing else, it could always be an excuse to chat it up some more. You seem friendly and I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better.” Even if she couldn’t see it, Octavia could feel the playful wink Vinyl gave her.
“Careful, Octavia, she’s going to hit on you,” Lyra warned playfully, having finally removed her head from the counter. “Before you know it you’ll be in her bed, begging for more.”
Octavia, already red as an apple, could do nothing but stare at Lyra with horror in her eyes, as if asking how she could say such a thing. Vinyl, however, just laughed, waving it off with a hoof while shaking her head. “Don’t worry about that, Octavia. I’m not gonna hit on you. You have my solemn promise!”
She breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the stars above that Vinyl wasn’t as crude in her humour, nor got as much fun out of tormenting her friends, as Lyra did. Counting her lucky stars, Octavia let of a sigh of relief, the blush rapidly fading. “Thanks. That… I needed that. Which reminds me, can I hit Lyra?”
Vinyl only grinned. “Sure. I don’t mind. She deserves it, too!”
“Hey? Wait, wha-Ow! Hey!” Lyra rubbed her shoulder where Octavia’s hoof had connected, shooting the cellist a displeased glare. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Neither was making Vinyl sound like a sex fiend.”
“...Touché.” Lyra sighed, then chuckled and drained the rest of her drink. “Anywho, what about you two? Gonna stay, or?”
As if on cue, Vinyl yawned, futilely trying to cover her open maw with a hoof.
“What? Tired already?” Lyra teased.
“Nah… Was up ‘till early morning yesterday night, got three hours of sleep before I had to get up again.” She yawned again. “So yeah, not a lot of sleep the past two days. I think I’m heading home. It’s been a long day and I’d like some sleep right about now.” Then, to Octavia, she said. “About that offer, it still stands even after Lyra interrupted me twice. Whatcha say?”
“I think I’d like that,” Octavia said almost immediately, smiling. She still wanted to know exactly what was up with Vinyl and her similarity to Melodia, but she also wanted to just get to know the DJ herself in the event that she was wrong. “How about noon tomorrow? Oh, and where should I meet you?”
“Just meet me here at the club.” Octavia nodded. “See you then, I suppose?” She waved once then trotted away, leaving the other two mares to their own devices.
“What about you? Going home as well?” Lyra asked.
“I think so, yeah. I’m a bit tired and would like to sleep. I’ll see you some other day, I suppose?”
“Only if you want to,” she said, waving as Octavia jumped down from her chair and made her way to the door. “See ya!” She waited until the cellist was out of the door before lighting her horn, brows furrowed in concentration. “Now… how do I dispel this sound bubble thing?”
The crystals in the streetlights were slowly starting to brighten as Octavia made her way home, images of her bed already surfacing in her mind. Just as she had told Lyra, the day had been long, and she longed for sleep—as well as an easy dinner, her stomach reminded her, its loud rumble piercing the evening night.
Yes. Today had been a success. Not so much in the sense that she had gotten a business deal, which she didn’t, but more because she had reunited with an old acquaintance, as well as possibly gotten herself a new friend. Tomorrow would, she decided, be a good day. At least as good as this one had.
And to think so many ponies judge the middle class. Vinyl may be a DJ and not a noble—I think—but she’s definitely pleasant company, if a little… unorthodox, Octavia thought as she rounded a corner. Continuing her train of thought. “She’s strange, though. Even from only the glances I got at some of the other ponies in the club, she’s far more… civilized, I dare say.
Her destination closed in, and before she knew it she was already at her apartment door in the second floor. She gently pushed open the door and trotted inside, heading for the bathroom where she immediately went about washing off her make-up and letting her hair down as well.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” she told her reflection, a gentle smile on her lips.
And here we go! Chapter 2!
The dialogue here should be a bit more... "alive" according to my editor, Taranasauruso_o!
I will try to keep updates somewhat regular, hopefully 1-2 updates a month if all things go as planned. I've been guilty of sporadic updates when it came to The Fate of Clover and Walking on Clouds (cancelled), and I want to redeem myself a bit with this one. Not to mention that this will be my biggest project to date.
Enjoy! And, by all means, leave a comment with your thoughts! While I may not respond to every single one of them, I do read all of them 
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GASP
Why didn't you let me proofread your Author's note?!
What have you done?!
Updates! Yay!
5040045
I think he/she fixed it
Good follow up... Wonder what tomorrow will bring on the shenanigan side of life.... Keep writing
5040145
He did, the sly devil
Awesome chapter. Waiting with no patience at all for more.
You seem friendly and I wouldn’t mind getting you to know better.” Even if she couldn’t see it, Octavia could feel the playful wink Vinyl gave her.
Might wanna switch these two words.
Other than that I look forward to chapter 3.
5040630
Fixed
Thanks for pointing it out
That Batmare joke killed me, it really did. Hell I'm already a ghost! XD
5040694
Nothing relieves the tension like a badly timed, yet oddly hilarious, joke
I'm liking this story more and more.
A much better second chapter.
Nice update, hope to see more soon!
5039307
You're right, I shouldn't assume I know how a story is planned when I've only read the prologue. Even if I already have three theories within relative reason of accuracy.
I'm not quite expressing what I mean about the perspective very well. It's not bad that the story is told from an outside perspective, but the way it is being said sounds a bit more like the Telephone game instead of someone telling me the story from their perspective.
5043844
It's okay for the readers to guess, that's sort of what I want 
And on that note, what are those theories? I'd like to hear them, even if I won't spoil things 
No need to take it so seriously
Also, if you have any suggestions to how I can make the narrative better, feel free to say it. I don't pretend to be a Dan Brown level author, so if you think I can somehow do better... don't hesitate to speak up and tell me what exactly could be improved
Granted, I'd like a few examples rather than just a "this isn't so good," as it helps me far more to actually have my mistakes pointed out.
5042506
I thought so too xP The setting made it much easier, too. Glad to have the approval of the Teemo-ImeanBadger!
Okay, I thought you got their interaction done nicely there. It's rather... unique to see Lyra with these two, and I like it. :) And I think I like where this story's going, too.
5044299
The writing thing, it's just minor details. From what I read in Chapter 1, when it narrates the thoughts of Octavia, it sounds like some other, unknown being is relaying the information to the reader. There's the reader, then this narrator who isn't in the story but is telling it to us, and then there are the characters who either told the narrator or are currently being telepathically read by the narrator (which would be pretty cool, actually. Kinda scary, too).
Maybe I just personally have difficulties with 3rd-person omniscient perspective.
As for my theories, you've already heard the first; Melodia=Vinyl. The physical similarities and apparent personalities (Lyrica referring to Lyra's opinion on Melodia) match up well enough to at least consider the idea.
The second would be that they are siblings. Again, the similarities could be simply because they're related, but it would still be different from them being alternate personas (ponysonas?).
My third, more outlandish theory would be that Vinyl is Fleur and Fancy's daughter, but Melodia is their creation, like a Vocaloid.
All three of them have an equal chance of being the right (or wrong) answer, but I'll just have to read and find out what the real answer is.
Seems a little bit redundant. How about just 'the shards of fallen glass'?
one's, actually.
Again, we know all of this already. You could cut this down to 'heard over the background noise' and nobody would be confused.
I think Vinyl and Lyra are hiding something.
8736184
D’ya think maybe...no! It couldn’t be! The two of them are secretly a crime fighting super duo that haunt the streets of Canterlot by dark of night, striking melodious terror into the hearts of petty wrongdoers and scaring them back onto the straight and narrow?!