A Different Rhythim

by Arcanum -Phantasy

House Guest

It was a nice quiet night and Octavia was enjoying it the best way she knew how after a long performance; a good book and a glass of strait scotch by the fire. Vinyl was off at one of her late night gigs, giving the classical musician a break from her almost constant dubstep barrages. Make no mistake, Octavia loved her sister dearly, in spite of her "questionable" choice of music, but she also loved having these small moments of peace.

Still reading her book, Octavia took a small sip of her drink, letting out a satisfied sigh as she felt the burn of the alcohol travel down her throat.

"Perfect," she sighed.

Yes, this truly was a perfect moment, and like most perfect moments, it didn't last nearly long enough.

The front door flew open, slamming hard against the wall to its left as an thoroughly hammered Vinyl staggered in. Not far behind her was an equally inebriated blue Pegasus stallion.

"Hiya Octy," Vinyl slurred, her trademark shades hanging lopsided across her face.

"Really Vinyl?" Octavia sighed as she marked her place and set her book down onto a nearby coffee table.

"What?" Vinyl demanded, almost falling over.

"This is the third time this week you've come home like this,"Octavia groaned. "Honestly, can't you show a little self-control?"

"Hey," Vinyl growled. "What I do after work is my business. If I want ta have a few drinks, then thats what I'm gonna do!"

Octavia face-hoofed.

This had been an almost continuos routine whenever Vinyl had late night gigs, especially on the weekends. Once the job was done, she would go bar hopping for a couple hours and when she finally drank herself stupid, she brought a stallion home as a "souvenir" to enjoy for the rest of the evening. Thankfully, she didn't drag ponies home with her often enough that it became a problem, but it was still a portion of her sister's ritual that Octavia found especially irritating.

Looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight, she thought, lightly glaring at the Pegasus behind Vinyl.

"Fine," Octavia sighed. "Just keep it down, please?"

"I promise nothing," Vinyl smirked.

Before Octavia could say anything else, Vinyl grabbed her guest and dragged him to her room.

With an exasperated sigh, Octavia walked back to her spot in the living room and her waiting glass of scotch. As she brought the glass to her lips, she thought about what the rest of the evening was destined to become and, instead of taking a dainty sip, downed the entire glass.

Perfect! she thought bitterly.

***

The rays of Celestia's sun peaked through the living room blinds, bathing the room in dim light. Sprawled out on a sofa set next to the coffee table was a grey Earth Pony mare with a black mane. With a groan, she opened her eyes and after determining her location, grimaced. Last night, Vinyl and her new friend had decided to be especially rowdy, with her sister being more vocal then Octavia was comfortable with. Though she was slightly impressed that the fellow could keep up with her. Eventually, Octavia had to take shelter in the living room to escape the racket.

I swear, one of these nights I'm going to kill that mare and not a single court would convict me! she thought, yawning.

Grudgingly, she got off of the couch and made her way into the kitchen. After brewing a pot of coffee, Octavia took a moment to enjoy another moment of peace, though she knew better than to expect it to last. Sure enough, no sooner had she poured herself a mug did she hear a loud yelp and thud come from Vinyl's room. Octavia casually looked at the kitchen clock.

Hmmm, 9:43am. A new record.

As she was about to take a drink, the sound of a door slamming made her pause. A second later a terrified Vinyl Scratch ran into the kitchen.

"TAVY! TAVY! WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!"

Octavia set her mug down on the kitchen counter and walked towards the panicked DJ.

"What's wrong? You look like you murdered somepony."

Vinyl tried to speak, but in her panicked state, all she could do was stammer incomprehensible chatter.This terrified Octavia. Normally, nothing short of a massacre could get under the ivory Unicorn's skin. For her to be scared this badly, something huge must've happened.

Octavia grabbed Vinyl by the shoulders and shook her.

"Vinyl! VINYL!!! Calm down and tell me what happened."

Vinyl seemed to get some of her senses back and took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"O-Okay. S-So, you remember that guy I brought home last night, right?"

Octavia gave her a flat expression.

"I slept on the couch last night Vinyl," she grumbled, taking her hooves off of Vinyl's shoulders.

"Oh...." Vinyl blushed. "Sorry about that."

"It's alright," she sighed. "I've grown rather use to it by this point. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh! Right! Well, ya see when I woke up there was a bucking Changeling laying next to me!"

All the blood drained from Octavia's face as Vinyl's words sunk in. Of all the things Vinyl could've brought home with her it had to be a love-eating bug-pony! To top it all off, the poor Unicorn had actually slept with one! It was then that she came to another unpleasant realization.

Octavia looked at her shaken sister, then down at her own forehooves.

"Octy?"

Octavia said nothing as she trotted towards the kitchen counter and shoved her forehooves into the sink and with her mouth turned on the tab.

"Ew. Ew. Ew! Gross!"

"Hey!" Vinyl barked. "How do you think I feel?!"

"point taken," Octavia said, drying her hooves. "Now, where is it?"

"St-Still in my room."

"Did you lock the door?"

"N-no!" Vinyl gasped. "I-I didn't think to!"

Suddenly, the two heard a deep groan come from the direction of Vinyl's room. They gulped as they crept out of the kitchen and towards Vinyl's bedroom door. Along the way, Vinyl grabbed a metal bat that they kept by the door with her magic and Octavia grabbed a fireplace poker. Cautiously, Octavia opened the door. It creaked open and everything was quiet. Octavia looked around, poker gripped firmly in her mouth, ready to strike out at anything that moved. A slight movement brought her attention to Vinyl's bed and what she saw filled her both with dread and wonder. Just as Vinyl had said, there was indeed a Changeling in her bed, but it looked a lot different from the ones that attacked Canterlot. It had a deep sapphire blue exoskeleton and long crystal wings. Its frame was also longer and more slender than the other ones were as well, and she could see both the lack of holes on its body or a horn on its head. One new feature that made her a little more eager to use her makeshift weapon was the Changeling's tail. It was about a yard long and resembled a lizard's, but when one got to the end the similarity ended as a large curved foot long stinger came into view.

Vinyl stepped beside Octavia, her bat ready to strike. With a determined glare, the two nodded at each other and quickly brought their weapon's down on the sleeping Changeling. A second later, a strong breeze shot through the room and the Changeling disappeared. The two mares stared at the messy bed, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, Octavia dropping her weapon as a result.

"W-Ware'd he go?" Vinyl stammered.

Octavia was going to answer but a loud crash from the kitchen cut her off. The two of them bolted back to the kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen counter was the same Changeling drinking a cup of coffee.

"Ah," it sighed as it pulled its lips away from the mug. "Sweet necture of life."

The two mares stayed quiet as they snuck up on the invader. Luckily, it chose the seat facing away from the kitchen door, giving them a clear advantage. As the two of them got within striking distance, Octavia made sure not to take her eyes off of that tail, knowing full well that that stinger would spell instant death if it was put to use. Vinyl Kept her attention centered on the rest of the Changeling, ready to strike with her bat if it so much as twitched a wing. Then, just as they were about to attack, the Changeling spun in its chair, a board look on its face. They froze, both mares two scared to move as the Changeling's neon-green eyes burned into theirs. Then, its posture became more relaxed and in a slightly mocking tone said, "Want some coffee?"

***

In all of her life, Octavia could not remember a more awkward morning than the one she was having at that very moment. On one side of the dinning room table sat two still very shaken mares while the other catered to a blue Changeling. In front of each of them sat a mug of fresh coffee, but the only one actually drinking there share was the Changeling. The three sat in awkward silence for a few minutes until their "Guest" ran out of coffee and decided to break the ice.

"So," it started, making the two flinch. "Sorry about last night. I tend ta get a little loud when I've had a few."

"N-No problem," Octavia squeaked.

The Changeling grimaced.

"Look, I'm not gonna eat ya guys or anything so just chill, alright?"

The two of them nodded but still looked a bit unsure.

"Besides," it smirked. "I know at least one of you was happy I came over last night."

Vinyl glared at it.

"Oh come on! You know you liked it."

Vinyl levitated a bat.

"Okay, okay, just chill out," it said, putting its claws up defensively.

"Could we at least get a name?" Octavia said, gradually getting back her courage.

"Meh, I guess, but first, could you help me out with something?"

Octavia narrowed her eyes.

"What is it?"

"I'm looking for a pony named Octavia Philharmonic. Do you know where I can find her?"

Octavia's eyes widened.

"D-Depends," Vinyl said, failing to hide her worry. "What do you want with her?"

"Just a bit of guard duty," it shrugged.

"F-From what?" Octavia asked.

The Changeling looked like it had just ate something bittier and with as much venom as it could muster said, "The Three Queens."

The two looked at each other in confusion.

"Who are The Three Queens?" Octavia asked.

"Bad news," it said coldly. "Especially for this Octavia mare. If I can't find her before they do, she could be in a whole heap of trouble."

"How do we know your telling the truth?" Vinyl asked, once again grabbing her bat with her magic.

It grinned and said, "Because you're still here. Not in some hive somewhere getting your love milked out of you like a cow."

Both of them shivered as the thought passed through their minds.

"Good point," Vinyl sighed.

For a few minutes the two thought carefully about what they were going to do next. All the while, the Changeling sat with its front legs crossed over its chest, an impatient scowl on his face. Eventually, Octavia let out a sigh and with weary tone said, "I am Octavia Philharmonic."

The Changeling smiled.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Blue Vibe."

As it said that, it held out a claw for her to shake. Reluctantly, Octavia accepted the friendly gesture. With an weary moan, Vinyl rose from her seat and started walking out of the kitchen, leaving her bat propped up by the kitchen door.

"Vinyl? Where are you going?"

Vinyl turned and a death glare aimed at Blue Vibe said, "Taking a shower."

With that, she stomped out of the kitchen leaving her older sister alone with their new house guest.

"Geez," Blue grumbled. "What stung her flank?"

Octavia deadpanned.

"Really?"

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why doesn't this story have a dark tag?

[The Bricklayer]

7159942 Maybe stories can have gore without being outright dark?

[Arcanum -Phantasy]

7160233 yep. I'm going for an action based romantic comedy. The gore tag is to give readers a bit of a head's up.

[Jatheus]

And I would have pictured Octavia as more of a red wine kind of mare...

I don’t like carousing in these, though I appreciate that you kept it somewhat tame and “off camera”.

Interesting premise.