Chapter 4 - Best Laid Puns
It seemed, to Octavia, that her luck had run out for the day. The breeze which had previously made the heat more tolerable was now gone, and the sun being at its zenith, made absolutely sure that the streets were as hot as possible. Had she not known better, she might have thought that Celestia had some sort of personal vendetta against her, or at least held a grudge. Perhaps the karma from Grand Galloping Gala a few years prior had finally caught up to her?
She chuckled lightly at the thought, waving off the questioning glance she received from Vinyl. No, that thought was absurd. Even if such a thing as karma did exist she doubted it would be aimed at her, and after four solid years, even. The truth was more likely that she and Vinyl had simply chosen the hottest part of the day to go out for lunch, rather than be subject to some sort of divine vengeance for something that was out of her control.
A sigh escaped her lips and she looked up. Ponies of all shapes and colours were everywhere; on the paved walk and in the air—Some even on the streets themselves, dragging carriages and carts. A few steps ahead of her Vinyl had stopped in front of a nondescript restaurant, glancing over her shoulder at Octavia.
“You alright there? You seemed sorta spaced out,” she said, holding the other mare’s gaze as she came to a stop beside her.
Octavia smiled, shaking her head. “It’s nothing, just thinking- wondering why it has to be so blasted hot outside.”
“Well,” Vinyl began, a cheeky smile creeping forth on her lips. “There’s this thing called the sun, and when its light passes through our atmosphere, then—”
It was all Octavia could do not to roll her eyes, albeit unable to hold back a smile at Vinyl’s teasing. “Hardy har har. You must be fun at parties.”
“Oh, you have no idea!” The DJ exclaimed, grinning as she pushed the door to the restaurant. She cocked her head to the side as if indicating that this was their destination. “You know, there was this one time when I was doing a gig for some 16 year old brat at her birthday, and she asked me why I wore sunglasses inside when there was no sun to block out. Wanna know what I told her?”
“I get the feeling you’re going to tell me anyw—”
As per Octavia’s predictions, Vinyl continued undeterred. “I told her that it was to keep her annoyance out of my eyes!”
Octavia blinked, stopping for a moment before she caught up to Vinyl again, following her as she lead the two of them towards a table near the back, away from prying eyes and ears. Not that there were many patrons aside from the two of them. She only kept from groaning thanks to years of practice on how to hide her outward reactions. It was something she could thank the nobility she had spent so much time around for.
“Vinyl… That was horrible. I hope you know that.”
To her credit, the unicorn had a sheepish smile and flushed cheeks as she sat down at a table, facing away from the wall, looking at least a little embarrassed. “Yeah… it was.” She chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head while looking off to the side. “Sorry about that. Not that I regret it, but…” She paused. “Okay. I regret it... a little” Even as she said the last bit she looked Octavia straight in the eyes, then bowed her head and said, in a Canterlot accent so perfect that even Octavia could not hope to replicate. ”My sincerest apologies, Miss Octavia. It shall not happen again.”
Octavia was at a loss for words. Her jaw was hanging, eyes wide, and brain function had ceased. She was completely and totally stunned, a critical hit some might say. She’d had her doubts before, but this removed any such doubts. With an accent like that, and being able to pull it off to that degree… she’d let herself fall from the sky before she believed that Vinyl was not Melodia now, or at the very least a twin sister.
It was with some effort that she closed her jaws with a click, amethyst eyes doing their very best to bore through the purple lenses that so taunted her. “Vinyl,” she said, placing one hoof on the table between them, leaning forward almost imperceptibly. “I have to ask, because that accent… it can’t be a coincidence. Are you Melodia Allegrezza, or a sister of hers?”
Vinyl seemed to deflate at the question. “Not you too,” she moaned, forehead meeting the table with an audible thud. She straightened up again after a short while, looked at Octavia, and said in an pleading voice. “Please, please tell me you’re joking.” Octavia’s continued stare, inquisitive and demanding as it was, made her feel like slumping together again. “I’d hoped you would have dropped it after yesterday night.”
“I’m sorry Vinyl,” the cellist replied, shooting her an apologetic look. “But it’s something that’s been plaguing my mind the past two days. Or, well, since yesterday when I first saw you, actually… but still… You look so similar and yet you act so different. And with her cutie mark being unknown, it’s… confusing—I don’t really know what to think, but I just want to know.
Vinyl dragged her hooves through her mane, eyes shut in concentration as she tried not to get too annoyed with Octavia. Sure, she had posed a question that she’d been asked a million times—give or take a few hundred—but she couldn’t find it in herself to get truly annoyed with the cellist. She was a kind mare, and it was only her curiosity getting the better of her. She wasn’t any obnoxious reporter or journalist, nor any would-be noble who thinks that he can get some dirt on Melodia by trying to get her to confess to the two of them being the same.
She opened her eyes again and saw that Octavia was about to say something. Raising an ivory hoof, Vinyl stopped Octavia in her tracks before she could say anything. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts in the following silence, thankful that Octavia stayed silent, even if it were only for a few seconds.
“Look,” she said, lowering her hoof. “I know you’re just curious, but please… It’s a question I’ve been asked a million times and I really, really don’t like the question, nor like to answer it.” Octavia looked almost apologetic at this point. “I don’t hold it against you but… Wait.” She looked off to the side, her eyes glazing over as if in deep thought. Her lips pursed, and Octavia couldn't help but think that she'd just suffered some sort of epiphany.
“Wha—”
“Wait,” Vinyl commanded, raising her hoof to silence Octavia again, her face a mask of pensiveness, with brows knit together in thought. She sat silent for several long before she eventually exclaimed out loud. “Aha!” She slammed her hoof down on the table, a grin on her lips.
“I take it you got an idea for… something?” Octavia offered, seemingly thoroughly confused at the moment. One moment she feared that she had damaged what friendship there was between her and Vinyl, and the next Vinyl seems almost ecstatic because of… something.
“I did.” She looked back to Octavia, nearly beaming. “I have a suggestion for you. See, I think Lyra talked about Melodia having another concert the day after tomorrow, and one where she sings, to boot. She invited me along but I declined. If, however, she still has her tickets I can ask if the offer is still up, and ask if you can tag along with Lyra and I. Melodia and I being in the same room would be evidence enough that I’m not her, wouldn’t you say so?”
Octavia remained silent for another few moments, waiting to see if the unicorn in front of her had anything further to add. When it seemed that a long enough time had passed she finally spoke up. “I guess it would,” she admitted. “After all, it would sort of prove that you’re not her.”
“You sound hesitant,” Vinyl remarked, tilting her head slightly.
“I guess I am… at least a little. Probably because I don’t want the search to end?” She chuckled a bit at that, not quite awkward but not entirely sincere either. “It’s a strange thing, really. I wanted for the two of you to be the same so much that I didn’t even consider the fact that I may be wrong. I’m… sorry if I offended you in any way.”
Vinyl’s radiant grin from before dimmed down to a faint smile at Octavia’s downtrodden expression. Not out of any maliciousness or joy in seeing somepony sad or apologetic, but simply because she could see how sincere she was, and that the apology was heartfelt and not at all like the half-assed apologies made by the journalists who thought they would be the ones to find out her “secret,” but were forced to leave after it was made clear to them that she had no secret to tell them.
“Don’t worry,” she said, reaching over to pat Octavia on the shoulder. “Apology accepted, if that’s what you want to hear.” She grinned a bit as Octavia seemed to lighten up again, the shame she felt washing away. “Now, how about—”
A cream coloured earth pony stallion with an incredibly light blue mane stepped into her view, interrupting her and—with a gentle voice—asked. “Can I take your orders, please?”
“Right on time!” Vinyl exclaimed. She picked up the menu card and quickly glanced over it, settling on one of the numerous descriptions for a moment. “I’ll have the Red Salad and some water.” She looked at Octavia. “And you?”
She hesitated as she answered, eyes still fixed on the menu. “The same as her, but juice rather than water.”
“Right away,” the waiter replied, scribbling the orders down before trotting off.
For almost a full minute silence reigned, with neither of the two saying anything, content with waiting for the moment. Like all other things, the silence had to end. “What exactly is a Red Salad?” Octavia asked.
Snorting loud enough to receive perturbed looks from the nearest patrons, Vinyl leaned back in the chair, an incredulous look on her face—as far as Octavia could see. The shades made it quite difficult to see. “You ordered something without even knowing what it was?” She asked, a short chuckle following Octavia’s affirmative. “Well, it’s red pepper, tomatoes, apples, pomegranate. It’s really just a bunch of red vegetables and fruits mixed together with a bunch of some red lettuce—And please don’t ask me where they got it from, I have no idea. I think it’s good. Here’s hoping you will as well.”
“Sounds… strange. But good, I suppose?”
“Come on! Look at it this way, ‘Tavi. Think of the street lights. You’re not allowed to cross the street when it’s red, only when it’s green. And you know everything is better when it’s forbidden!”
For the next several, long moments Octavia simply stared at Vinyl, face set in a thoroughly unimpressed scowl. She had heard quite a few bad analogies in her time, partly thanks to the fact that her parents sometimes had a penchant for bad jokes and puns. She was lucky to avoid the infamous Dad Jokes, now that she thought about it. “That, Vinyl, was quite possibly the worst analogy I have ever heard in my entire life.”
“Yeah, I know.” To her credit, the DJ had the decency to actually look slightly ashamed. It lasted all of five seconds, however, at which point the shame evaporated, replaced instead by what Octavia had come to know as her signature grin. “But you gotta admit, it makes sense!”
“No.”
“Aw. Come on. It was funny!”
“No it wasn’t, Vinyl. Please, at least have some standards,” Octavia said, rolling her eyes in spite of the small smile playing across her lips. While she did think that Vinyl’s analogy was a bad one, she still found the way the unicorn acted to be somewhat humorous.
“And yet you’re smiling,” Vinyl pointed out, a victorious smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.
At this Octavia couldn’t help but chuckle, despite her attempts not to. “Yes… Yes I am. Happy, Miss Scratch?”
“Sure am! But… I asked you not to call me miss. Makes me feel old.” Her nose scrunched up in distaste. Evidently she didn’t much like the idea of getting old.
“That reminds me. How old are you exactly?”
“Tw—”
“Your orders, ladies,” a voice interrupted, causing Vinyl to look up. Octavia, on the other hand, fixed her gaze firmly on the table.
The appearance of the waiter did surprise her, causing a shiver to run down her spine. She almost missed everything passing between the waiter and Vinyl, only picking up the bare minimum such as the mandatory thank yous and you’re welcomes. Judging by the light blue glow visible in her peripheral, Vinyl had taken the food in her magic and placed it in front of her.
She was met with a strange look from the mare opposite her, blue-maned head tilted to the side and lips held in a neutral line. “What’s the matter?” She asked, her voice subdued as to not attract undue attention. “You looked really uncomfortable for a second.”
Octavia shook her head, and took a deep breath. She let it out as she straightened again, giving the plate in front of her an appreciative look before she turned to Vinyl. “It’s… nothing.” Judging by Vinyl’s continued stare, she wasn’t convinced.
“You’re not fooling me, ‘Tavi. Ponies don’t suddenly stare at a table when a waiter comes with your food, nor do they refuse to look at them when they ask for your orders—yeah, I noticed that, too.”
Violet eyes narrowed slightly, Octavia’s gaze fixed firmly on Vinyl in what might be called a disapproving glare, although it wasn’t quite a glare. In truth it was more of a firm stare. “I understand that you may be worried about me, Vinyl, but we have not even known each other for two days yet. Just like there are things that you have yet to tell me, there are things I have yet to tell you.”
Vinyl seemed taken aback by the sudden outburst, granted it wasn’t much of an outburst but more of a reprimand. Even then Octavia could see more than a little surprise the features not hidden by the shades. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she leaned back, her brows rising up from under her fringes.
That face quickly morphed into an apologetic one. She awkwardly rubbed one foreleg with the other, eyes downcast. “I… You’re right. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to pry, and I was only worried about you.”
The annoyed expression on Octavia’s face melted away within seconds of the confession, replaced instead by a slightly surprised one, followed by a smile. “I appreciate the sentiment, Vinyl,” she said, the smile staying strong. “But you must understand that, like every other situations, there are things you just don’t ask.” A sudden, devious smile found its way to her lips after a few seconds. “It’s like how you don’t ask a newlywed couple when they’re going to make the bed creak.”
For several seconds Vinyl sat in complete silence without moving a muscle. She didn’t blink, didn’t breathe. She didn’t even flick her ear as a fly landed on it. It was right when Octavia was starting to get worried that the dam broke, and laughter erupted from the DJ. It wasn’t quite the raucous and uncontrolled laughter Octavia would have expected. It was high pitched, but still tempered by Vinyl’s slightly deeper than normal voice. All in all it sounded much more girly than Octavia would have expected.
So lost was she in her analysis of Vinyl’s laugh that she didn’t even register when it stopped, nor did she notice the hoof that rapidly approached her face before it was too late. Her nose scrunched up as Vinyl’s hoof pressed against her muzzle for a brief moment.
“What?” She asked, having been pulled out of her reverie by Vinyl’s ‘boop’.
“You spaced out… did my laugh creep you out?”
Octavia was quick to answer, waving her hoof in front of her in an attempt to wipe away the notion that Vinyl laughing could be creepy. “No, no. Not at all. I was just surprised by how, well, girly you sounded. You don’t exactly strike me as a feminine type of mare, pardon my saying so.”
“It’s cool. Don’t worry,” Vinyl replied. “In fact, it kind of makes me happy. Most ponies I know associate me with a stallion because of how I act and speak. It’s nice knowing that somepony sees my feminine sides.”
“You’re welcome, then. At any rate, shall we eat? I’m famished.”
Vinyl nodded and dug in, using the knife and fork with an efficiency she’d come to learn was a trait with most any unicorn. It wasn’t that she envied them, but being able to eat without having to use magnetic horseshoes, or take bites directly from the plate or bowl would certainly make things such as eating easier. She had tried to use a knife and fork with just her hooves before, holding them like she would the bow for her cello, but the utensils proved too small to be gripped comfortably in the ankle joint.
Well, I’ve lived my entire life without a horn so I’m sure I’ll survive the rest of it, too, she thought, shooting small, quick glances at Vinyl as she ate. I wish she’d let her mane down. She’d attract less attention that way, not to mention that it’d look prettier on her, I think.
Several more minutes passed during which they continued their lunch in companionable silence, neither Octavia nor Vinyl wanting to break it. Like all good things, however, the silence had to end. It did so with Vinyl suddenly perking up as if having heard or remembered something. In this case, it seemed, it was because she remembered something.
“Say. I didn’t get to answer when you asked me my age, did I?”
Octavia looked up, a piece of lettuce comically sticking out from between her lips, though it was quickly swallowed. “No,” she said, giving her head a small shake. “You didn’t. You were about to answer when the waiter came, however.”
Vinyl nodded, head bobbing up and down sagely a few times, before she stopped herself. “Right. But to answer your question back then, I’m twenty four... and you?” A faint, teasing grin took its place on her lips. “I did tell you that I wouldn’t just give you information without being told some in return.”
“I’m twenty two, and I see no problem with… repaying in kind, I guess you could say. So, do you have any other questions? I guess I owe you a little after I bombarded you with questions early on, especially so considering the more annoying ones”
“You got that right,” Vinyl replied, chuckling. “So I guess I’ll ask how you got into music? You play really well if I do say so myself—” Octavia couldn’t quite keep herself from blushing at the praise—”and it’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t curious as to how you started on that cello.”
“It’s not quite the most exciting story, but I guess you could get a good laugh out of it.” Octavia reached out for her juice, holding the glass between her hooves as she dug through memory before speaking. “It all started with my mom. She was a violinist, and while she wasn’t really of any fame she still managed to get a small private concert here and there; playing for a wedding or somesuch. I wasn’t much older than ten, I think, eleven perhaps, when I saw my mom playing. I got curious and started to listen to her play every time she did.”
“Naturally I got interested and eventually expressed interest in playing myself. That was when she found me a tutor. Together with a group of other foals my age, we practiced the Cello. It went on like that for two years before I got my own cello on my fourteenth birthday.” She chuckled a little. “I think I literally knocked my parents off their chairs as I rushed to hug them.”
Vinyl chuckled as well, Octavia’s prediction proving true; it was a story good for a laugh. “I can only imagine how cute it must’ve looked.”
Octavia tried, and failed, not to roll her eyes at the comment. “I think we got a picture of it at home,” she said. “So you may get to see it some day if you’re lucky.”
Vinyl let out a fake gasp, raising a hoof to her chest and leaning back in faux surprise. “Already inviting me home to see the parents? You sure do move quickly. We only just got to know each other, after all.”
“Such a joker you are,” was all Octavia said, downing the rest of her juice in an attempt to hide the otherwise poorly hidden smile. “But if you insist,” she continued, setting down her glass on the table and fixing Vinyl with a stare that she, for some reason, could not look away from. “I’m sure they’d allow us to… borrow one of the rooms in the back?”
For what was possibly the first time on Vinyl’s life, she was the butt of a joke and the one shying away from advances. That much was obvious even to Octavia, the cellist doing her best not to burst out laughing at the almost panicked expression on Vinyl. “What do you think?” She breathed after a few moments of silence, letting her smile break through the act.
“I think,” Vinyl began, breathing deeply and heavily in a vain attempt to combat the blush on her cheeks, “that it’s very, very unfair of someone as pretty as you to use your feminine wiles to play a joke on me like that!”
Octavia blinked once, then twice, and then two more times for good measure. “Pretty?” She asked, almost hesitantly.
“I—” Vinyl stopped dead on her tracks, looking almost mortified. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Octavia nodded. “Well… Alright.” Her hoof colliding with her forehead created a not-so-subtle thud. “There you have it, then. I think you’re pretty.”
Octavia couldn’t do anything but smile bashfully, a faint darkening of her cheeks. “Thanks.”
They sat like that for what felt like several minutes. Neither said anything, one embarrassed due to an unforeseen compliment, and the other for giving said compliment. It was only thanks to a ringing sound that the awkward atmosphere was banished. Vinyl perked up at the sound and lit her horn, producing a teardrop shaped gemstone with a small machine attached to it, as well as two plastic hooks extending from the tip of it. It was from this thing that the ringing came from.
Vinyl levitated the small piece up to her face, looking it over for a few moments before she pushed at what looked like a little button. She then placed the gem at the entrance to her ear, the hooks placed around her ear to keep it there.
“Hello?” She asked into thin air, brows furrowed in concentration. “Yes… What? Alright. Ten minutes.” She took the gem-machine-thing off of her ear and banished it from whence it came with a small pulse of magic.
“What was that?” Octavia asked, her face a mask of perplexion. “I’ve never seen anything like that… and why did you sound like you were talking to someone?” As Octavia spoke, Vinyl had produced a small stack of coins which she placed on the table, and stood up.
“Sorry, ‘Tavi. I can’t stay. That thing is a new... thing that Rarity Belle is experimenting with. Long story short: It uses the vibrations of gems as well as a small bit of magitech to make very long-ranged Voice Casting spells. They basically allow you to speak to ponies who are in an entirely different city. They’re still in the testing phase, but I got a few to distribute among my closest friends and family as payment for a favour I did her a while back. I think only six exist currently. Anyhow, let’s go get your cello. I paid for everything already.”
To say that Octavia was worried would be an understatement. The frantic way with which the unicorn spoke was enough to cause more than a little worry. “You okay, Vinyl? You look… scared?”
“I am scared,” she confessed, all but dragging Octavia out of the restaurant. “Someone I know got hurt pretty badly, and I want to be there.”
Octavia was about to say something but the world flashed blue before she could so much as open her mouth. She stood groggily, blinking and swaying after the suddenly teleportation. She barely registered it when the door beside her opened, only to be shut again barely seconds later, a black cello case being placed against the wall besides the door.
“I’m sorry, ‘Tavi, but I gotta go. I’ll see you at the concert.” And with that she flashed away again, blue filling Octavia’s already blurry vision once more.
She blinked forcefully several times, forcing the colourful dots out of her vision with as much willpower as effort. After more attempts than she cared to count the dots finally disappeared, allowing her full view of the entrance to the bar they had been at the previous night, and played at earlier that day. She looked almost mournfully at the door, wondering what exactly happened.
“I hope she, and whoever it is who got hurt, will be okay,” she muttered. She stood there for another minute before she decided to head home. She hoisted her cello onto her back and started down the sidewalk.
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awesome update!
ooooh
Great job there were a 2 little error that's stood out to me. nothing big but thought i'd try and help.
She stood groggily, blinking and swaying after the suddenly teleportation. should be sudden not suddenly
“You spaced out… did me laugh creep you out?” should be my not me (unless you were wanting it to read that way)
Again little things just trying to help. Great story though and i'm looking forward to the next chapter
5401343
Heheh... whoops. My editor caught 3 of those very same mistakes. Seems like I was in a bit of a pirate mood when I wrote the chapter
Although the word choice could be deliberate, I have to point this out in case it was a slip-up.
You did a great job here. I like how smoothly the questioning about Melodia went--I thought it would cause some unpleasant friction.
I still think Vinyl is Melodia, though, even with the upcoming concert. There are ways she could appear both on the stage and in the audience. She could play the song beforehand and magically record it--a good illusion would make it look like she was really performing. She could also arrange different seats for herself and Octavia, then quietly switch herself with another white pony in a wig. And a few other, less feasible options... but she could still be Melodia.
Or, if actually a relative of Melodia, it could be her that was hurt in... whatever the accident was.
Hope things turn out alright. Regardless, the next chapter looks to be... eventful.
5401446 haha everyone has to have a pirate mood at some point Yar-har (I wish they had some sort of pirate pony emoticon) but this is a great story and has me asking a lot of question but I'm trying to avoid jumping to conclusion, something tells me there is a delightful treat in store for us hehehe
Wild speculation: Umm, wouldn't seeing the two in the same place not mean as much since Vinyl Scratch has already admitted to being good with light based magic? Maybe it's just my understanding of physics but bend light around horn while playing violin and project image on seat. Ensure no one touches image and good. Or at least that's a possible idea. Could rely on Lyra who would be in the know if they were actually the same person.
My original guess was either they are the same person or some type of Jekyll and Hyde relationship. Not necessarily as antagonistic but that type. Otherwise, I can't really think of too many other ways to make them connected and it actually be interesting as well as satisfying for the story.
Exist.
"Had she not known better, she might have thought that Celestia had some sort of personal vendetta against her, or at least held a grudge. Perhaps the karma from Grand Galloping Gala a few years prior had finally caught up to her?
She chuckled lightly at the thought, waving off the questioning glance she received from Vinyl. No, that thought was absurd. Even if such a thing as karma did exist she doubted it would be aimed at her, and after four solid years, even. The truth was more likely that she and Vinyl had simply chosen the hottest part of the day to go out for lunch, rather than be subject to some sort of divine vengeance for something that was out of her control."
MEANWHILE, AT THE CASTLE OF THE ROYAL PONY SISTERS...
Luna barges in on her erstwhile sister, only to spot Celestia leaning out the window. The Solar diarch was intently staring through her telescope, muttering darkly about cellists incapable of performing under pressure.
"For Faust's sake, sister, it has been FOUR YEARS!!!" exclaimed the Princess of the Night, promptly deciding to make her exit. It was like this every Thursday...