3 - Drop the Beat
He considered smashing it in his mouth, but it was made of metal, no, pewter. Did pewter have lead? He thought not, but why take chances with that? He gave a rough twist of his neck and let it go, flying for the far wall in a blur of speed.
But it never struck. It was held in glowing magic a few inches from its destruction.
He turned to see the source of its salvation to see Octavia and Vinyl Scratch looking at him. Octavia looked a little worried, while Vinyl's head bobbed to some unseen music. Her horn glowed, clearly the source of the interference.
"Aqua... I'm sorry." Octavia approached slowly. "This was my idea, and my fault. I just thought... You deserved the recognition."
Her words confused him. "W-what? What was your idea?"
"Why, you joining us, for this performance." She tilted her head faintly. "Did you really forget?" She raised a hoof to touch his cheek gently. "After all that work composing..."
"Composing?"
Vinyl nodded her head, outside her gentle bobbing.
"Of course." Octavia nodded as well. "We love performing, but you've given us so much music to do it with. I love the classics as much as any mare, but you... You kept it new."
Who had he replaced? What pony was it that he had slipped into the life of? This could be a tragedy for two people, not just one.
Vinyl gave an emphatic hooves up at Octavia's words.
Octavia smiled gently. "Look, if you don't feel up for it, consider it canceled. Your health and well-being are far more important to both of us." Vinyl nodded in agreement. "After all this songwriting... I thought you might like to perform, just once..."
Aqua had composed before, but that was all he had done. He didn't know how to play any instrument, and last he had checked, his voice was fit only to raise the dead. Had the real Aqua been as 'talented' when it came to actually performing? "Hey, look, thanks." He didn't hold anything against Octavia or Vinyl. They seemed like nice ponies, and he liked them before he even met them in the flesh, or fur. He realized he had a chance. "I don't suppose..." He started blushing. "Could you?"
Octavia examined his colored face a moment before it seemed to come to her. She drew out her cello from nowhere in particular and rose to operate it. Despite being a quadrupedal animal, she looked quite natural as she tuned it with deft motions of her hooves. Vinyl took off her earphones suddenly, clearly listening to Octavia as she prepared.
With the gentle sound of wood and the vibration of those strings, she drew the bow across the cello and began a song. It was hauntingly enchanting and he let out a slow sigh as he listened to the notes issue forth under the expert guidance of the talented player. Vinyl was bobbing her head, in tune to the cello's music instead of whatever music she listened to.
Suddenly something dropped on his head. It was the figure. Vinyl nodded at him. He accepted the figure with a little sigh. He could smash it later. For now... He wanted to know more. "Thank you, both of you."
Octavia drew to a slow stop in her song and looked down at Aqua. "Feeling better?" A little smile graced her dignified features. "Good. Now, we've brought some treats to help you recover, playing or not."
Vinyl's horn glowed as she produced several containers and her headphones slipped back on. Octavia dropped to all fours as she put her cello away carefully, then took one of those containers. "Some hot soup will help, but you simply must go to bed. Sick or not, you're clearly unwell. You need to rest."
Aqua looked to Vinyl. Was she really mute? "Can you talk?"
She blinked at him a moment, an uneasy silence in the room building a moment. "... yeah?"
Octavia cleared her throat softly. "You really have taken leave of yourself. Vinyl prefers to not speak. She prefers the language of music."
Vinyl gave a hooves-up at Octavia's words.
"And, in this case... I think she was correct. Music is what spoke to you, when all my words failed."
Aqua felt warmth burning in his cheeks. She played wonderfully. It really... It had eased him. "There's something to be said for that." Nevermind the fact that he was speaking to two ponies from a show he liked. They were even cooler in person than figures in a television show. "I'm... probably going to ask a lot of questions, please don't be offended by them."
Vinyl shrugged softly as her horn glowed and he was tugged a little towards his room. He was being tucked in by them, want it or not.
He let out a resigned sigh and got to walking. They meant well, they really did. If laying down would make them happier... "How long have we been friends?"
Octavia raised a brow as she followed along. "Well, we've been acquaintances for about a decade, but I wouldn't use that term for our relationship until about six months ago."
He glanced back to Vinyl. "About the same?"
She shrugged and wobbled a hoof. Close enough.
Octavia pulled back the sheet from his bed. His bed looked unchanged, a bastion of his human life. The ponies were entirely unaware of anything odd as she worked to direct him up onto it. "Have you truly forgotten everything?"
He could lie, but they weren't stupid, or so he figured. They would learn he was fibbing quickly enough. "Yes."
Octavia looked a little hurt. "Everything?"
Oh snap. Had he, er, Aqua, said something important? "I know I like you two."
She smiled thinly. "It's good to have friends. Now, rest here, eat up." She set the Tupperware beside him. "I'll check in on you in the morning. You don't worry about the show, we'll handle it."
She walked out a little stiffly, and Vinyl didn't follow her. She just looked at him, head bobbing to whatever music she was listening to.
"Did I just mess up?"
Vinyl nodded.
"Can you tell me how?"
Vinyl took off her headset and dropped it on Aqua's head, mid-song. ~--ever gonna leave you,~ sung out. ~Always gonna be there for you, baby!~ She took the headset back and plopped it back on her head with magic.
Were Aqua and Octavia? "Were... Are we?"
Vinyl flashed a bright smile, but said nothing. The swish of her tail seemed lively and mischievous.
"Come on, tell me more than that, please. I'm begging." He put his hooves together and waved them at Vinyl.
She seemed to consider a long moment before her horn flashed, then began to glow, moving the headset back over. ~I would do anything... anything at all to be with youuuuuuu~ She popped the headset off.
"Is... that what she feels?"
Vinyl shrugged softly, then pointed at him.
"That's how I felt?"
She nodded.
"Did... she know?"
She shrugged and wobbled a hoof.
Aqua popped open the Tupperware, thoughts bouncing around in his head. Who was Aqua, the pony, that he had... That soup smelled delicious, if unidentified. It wasn't chicken, which made sense. Whatever it was, he wanted it. He slurped it down quickly and settled with a warm happiness in his belly. "Did you make that?"
Vinyl shook her head.
Why was Vinyl staying? "I... is there something I forgot about you too?"
She shrugged a little, but it seemed less sure, as shrugs went. The way her tail flicked as she did it...
"Were we?"
She colored a little and shook her head then got a curious expression as she lifted her headset and returned it to him. There were no words, it just sounded like a bad porno track.
He had to laugh. He had just suggested he was involved with the both of them. Perhaps he deserved that. "Sorry, forgive me. I'm just.., trying to figure out where everything is."
She gave a hooves up, smiling with obvious good humor about the whole thing.
"If you see Octavia, please tell her I said I'm sorry." Would sorry make much different in that situation? "Hey, she shared her music... You want to?"
She nodded and walked away suddenly, only to return from the front room with a small black box that she set on the ground and stepped on. It suddenly unfolded into a full DJ station, ready to go and strobing with bright lights. She ran her hooves over it with obvious affection before looking up at Aqua.
He gave a... hooves up. It wasn't like he had a thumb anymore, and he had seen her do it enough times.
She nodded and began a remix, scratching as her name dictated and mixing together musics in a bit of a jangled and confused mess. It... It was a song just for him. It perfectly represented the confused mess he was at the moment. She broke away from that and played a lively beat that had two sub-rhythms in it, approaching a slower one that made uncertain noises. One of the beats wavered away, but one of the beats continued along with the slow one.
Aqua smiled a little. Vinyl was playing their meeting. "I really am being the slow one right now."
She shrugged.
"I'll try to be better." Would he? He... had a life to get back to. Who was he to be making promises to these mares that he might not even be around to fulfill or break?
She accepted it though, nodding as her horn glowed and the entire DJ set folded back up into a box.
She reached into a pocket and pulled out a vinyl record that seemed too large to fit there and held it out to him.
"What's this?" He raised a brow high.
She just held it out.
He accepted it with a sigh. "I'll try it out. Hey, look, I get it. I was at least talking to Octavia fondly. Why are you here? I mean, not that I'm upset that you are. You see--"
She had dropped the headphones back on him. ~I would do anything for a friend.~ She popped it off of him and slipped it back on, nodding at him firmly, as if an important message had been related.
Perhaps one had. He smiled at her. She was a good friend, looking after Octavia's interests like that. "Look, whether I figure this out or not, I hope we can be friends."
She smiled and nodded as she tucked away the black box. She set a second Tupperware on the end table, but when he reached for it, she gently slapped his hoof with her magic. She pointed at the bed, then at Aqua directly.
"You too?"
She nodded.
He snuggled into his familiar sheets after he set the record on the whimsical-looking end-table beside the bed. So long as he didn't finish the figure, he had time to figure this out. He closed his eyes and heard Vinyl walking away after a moment.
He had a lot to learn, one way or the other.
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7263619
I can understand that, but that's detrimental to the reading experience. It can be confusing, that's fine, but combine it with the fast pacing and you have something akin to an incoherent mess.
No offense.
tupperware - Tupperware (There was an Earl Tupper in Equestria too?
)
beats wavers away - beats wavered away
*****
Blocked at every turn by ponies he doesn't want to distress. The jaws of this trap are padded with velvet.
Still, I have to admire Aqua. He may eventually surrender to circumstance, but he'll do it on his own terms or at least reach a favorable compromise.
to see Ocatvia - to see Octavia
cancelled - canceled
well being - well-being
Was Aqua and Octavia? - Were Aqua and Octavia?
Found a few more on the second pass. My fault for trying to rush it.
7263662 So many typos, you eat well today! Aqua attempts to come to grips with the situation he's been dropped in without being a total jerk to everyone around him. The ponies he's dealing with certainly are being nice, returning the favor with spitefulness just feels wrong, even if the situation is thoroughly out of his control.
Will smashing the statue send him flying back?
Hmm. Aqua seems to have made more of an impact on those close to him than the human did... assuming the voice in his head can be trusted. Still, it does feel like he's struggling against the inevitable. Reversing the spell probably isn't as simple as smashing the figurine or dousing it in paint thinner. Probably.
Still, if the poor protagonist really is in Ponyville, he has one of the best magical minds in the world available to examine the thing, assuming that Twilight has the free time and the magic is of a sort she can analyze. And that may be a very big assumption indeed.
7263672
I'm presuming that there is some sort of sympathetic magic going on here, in which case destroying or altering that figure would probably go very badly for him.
One wonders what happens if he solders a horn onto it...
7263698 As the picture of the story implies, the pegasus he's painting isn't exactly him, besides being a pegasus. Attaching a horn may not result in cosmic powers.
7263691 Hey now, be fair. He said he had friends and a life. We just didn't get to meet his human friends very much since the story gets to his adventure in pony land. We don't even know what he did for a living, which is likely going to come up.
7263707
Ah, then that's fortunate since I seem to recall the figure he's painting is a mare. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
WUB WUB WUB WUB
JUST PLAY IT
7263629 After some thought, I realized I should thank you. You at least said what you thought was wrong, which is better than at least 3 other -1s that left their downvotes with nary a whisper.
7264220
No problem. Just offering critique in as friendly a way as possible. I try not to be an asshole.
7264415 So, what events were confusing?
My friends would not miss me I hear what they say about that" psychopath" when they don't think I'm around. But hey I'm a neutral party for their problems so they stick around. But I would not be missed or remembered for long at all. Another plus for being me I guess.
7264438
Honestly? Everything.
7265260 So his conversation with David at the convention?
Him painting a figure?
Him turning into a pony?
Was it Octavia showing up?
7265328
Like I said, everything. There were only a few moments that I was able to understand.
7265635
Did that make sense? If not, what didn't?
7265638
That one paragraph isn't too bad, but
That's a little confusing. I don't know how to fix it, so don't ask.
this story is looking to be really interesting.
I must say this just starts as a strong story and builds on it from there.
TITLE OF CHAPTER IS OVERWATCH REFRANCE!
7293061 That would be a talent, not having played it. I was more thinking Dubstep.
That's my line of thinking too.
for that, you get a half point extra. 
Loved the interpretation of Vinyl here.
I'm starting to get kinda borded!
Wouldn't that be 'on'?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/4/30/1143079__safe_screencap_animated_vinyl+scratch_dj+pon-dash-3_starlight+glimmer_headphones_discovery+family+logo_no+second+prances_spoiler-colon-s06e06.gif
You caught one but there were 2 more hiding. Brand name should be capital, could have called it Tapperware.
7670065 Fixes applied. The music of the story flows more smoothly as a result. I do hope you enjoy this melody.
7670220 D: I am heart broken that Vinyl's tail wagging hadn't had a deeper meaning! D:< </3
Still love you and your stories though <3
7817353 The horse words continue!