Resonance and Subversion

by PhysicalSound

Chapter 2

Octavia slowly opened her eyes, her head pounding. All she could see was the white roof of her and Vinyl’s apartment. She blinked a few times and sat up groggily. Her apartment was in it’s usual state; Everything owned by her --Her cello, her CDs, her music sheets-- was in it’s proper place, and sparklingly clean. Vinyl’s things, --Her own CDs, her computer, her trademark goggles-- were strewn about, causing havoc for Octavia’s clean personality. But Octavia wasn’t overly bothered, as she was just happy to be living with Vinyl.
But... What had happened? Octavia still had a pounding headache, and she had a feeling she was forgetting something important. Something that had happened right before she blacked out. Something about... A telephone box? What? But Octavia’s thoughts were interrupted when Vinyl walked out of the bedroom, a bemused look on her face. But her face lit up when she saw Octavia staring at her from the couch.
“Tavi!” She leapt towards the couch and hugged Octavia tightly. When she pulled back, there was something odd in the light gray mare’s eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Wh-what... What happened? I-I...” Only then did Vinyl realise how worried her friend looked. She was pale, and she was shaking slightly.
“Tavi! Octavia! Listen to me! What’s wrong?”
“I-I... What... What... Happened...?” She sounded so distant, Vinyl felt a small stab of worry. But she pulled herself together for her friend’s sake.
“Octavia! Listen! Octavia!" Vinyl was getting worried. So she did the only thing she could think of that would help. She kissed Octavia, full on the mouth. Vinyl noticed the slight shaking slowly abate, and pulled away slowly, and looked into Octavia’s pink eyes once more. They seemed more focused.
“V-Vinyl... S-sorry for that. Wh-what happened?”
“I’m not really sure, Tavi.” Vinyl was trying to hide her relief as she said this; She had been afraid that something bad had happened to her marefriend. “I found you outside, in the street. You were out like a light! I was hoping you knew what had happened.”
“W-well... There was something... A... A telephone box... I don’t know why I can remember that so... Vividly, but... I don’t know.”
They stopped when they heard a clatter come from their kitchen.
“D-did you invite somepony?” Octavia says, with a slight edge of worry.
“No... Let’s have a look.” Vinyl says, her normal calm, carefree nature gone. Octavia had always admired the way that Vinyl could go from calm, and laid back one second, to determined, and strong the next. Not very many ponies saw that side of her. In fact, Vinyl only ever showed it when they were alone, and threatened.
Vinyl held out her hoof, and Octavia took it gratefully. The DJ helped her off the couch, and Octavia had to stand still and close her eyes as she got a major head rush.
“Come on, Tavi.” There was an edge of worry in Vinyl’s voice as she said this, but she still looked determined. Octavia slowly nodded her head, and they approached the kitchen cautiously, Vinyl in the lead. She put her ear against the door, and frowned.
“It sounds like two people just talking. Alright, on three!” She hissed. She turned around, and crouched, ready to kick the door open.
“One...
Two...
Three!”
She kicked her legs out as hard as she could, just as the door swung open, revealing a brown colt, who had an amused expression on his face. That was, until Vinyl’s rear hooves connected with his chin and sent him flying across the room. He landed with a crash in front of the kitchen sink, causing the dished resting inside of it to rattle madly.
The colt got up, a dazed expression on his brown face.
“Wh-what was that for?” Vinyl looked surprised at this. Octavia, however, trotted past her and held out a hoof to the fallen colt. She had seen the mare Derpy Hooves trying to hide in the corner, and knew that she wouldn’t be there to do anything bad. The colt took her hoof, and she pulled him up.
He still looked pretty dazed. --Vinyl could kick a wall in if she was determined enough-- But he looked less angry, more on the confused side.
“Wh-why did you do that?” He asked.
“I thought you two were burglars! I was going to kick the door in, but you opened it before I could.”
“Well... I don’t think you would have kicked the door in... More kicked it off.” He said, before turning around and searching through the cupboards of the musicians’ kitchen.
“Let’s see... Muffins... Muffins... Where are you?”
Octavia looked at Derpy, who had given up trying to hide behind the toaster and was now standing in front of the musicians, a sheepish grin on her face.
“Why is he looking for muffins? No wait, why is he looking for muffins in our kitchen?
“Um... Well... When I found him he said he was hungry, so I gave him a muffin I had in my bag. He said he liked it, and wanted some more. I saw Vinyl buying some earlier today and brought him here. We did knock... But he was hungry... Sorry.” Vinyl locked eyes with Derpy, a bemused expression on her face.
“Do you keep tabs on everypony who buys muffins, then?”
“N-no! I was just flying past... And... Yeah... Sorry.” Octavia just sighed and said;
“Derpy, Vinyl, just go and sit down. I’ll get him some muffins. Maybe then we can find out where our hungry friend came from.” If it was anypony else, Octavia would have kicked them out. But kicking Derpy out would be like kicking Applebloom on her birthday. No, worse. And there was something about the colt that made her feel at ease. He just seemed like an amiable --if slightly odd-- colt.
“Excuse me, I doubt you’ll find any muffins in the dishwasher, sir.”
“You don’t know!” Came his muffled reply.
“Actually, I do. I’ll get them for you.” His head shot out, and he looked Octavia in the eyes. There was something slightly manic about them, but for some reason Octavia still felt perfectly at ease.
“Just sit down and I’ll get you some, Mister...”
“Um... Haha, call me Doctor Whooves.”
“Very well then. Just take a seat, Doctor Whooves, and I’ll get those muffins for you.”
He turned around with an amused expression evident on his brown face, and sat down at the table.
Octavia noticed he had a bit of trouble at first. Almost as if he isn’t used to it, She thought. But she dismissed this and got the muffins out of the pantry, and put them on the table in front of Derpy and the Doctor. They looked at it with hunger in their eyes, until the Doctor reached forward. None of the three mares could agree what happened next, but in the space of a few seconds all that was left was a few crumbs and a torn bag.
“But... I wanted muffins...” Derpy said, her face falling.
“Oh, I’ll get you two bags later Derpy.” Vinyl said. Derpy smiled at this. But as she opened her mouth to reply, Octavia interrupted her, and said;
“Well, Doctor. Who are you?”
“Well, that’s a bit complicated.”
Vinyl looked slightly more frustrated as she said;
“Try us. We’re smarter than you’d think, muffin boy.”
“Alright... Where to begin...”
“The start.”
“Well, where the start is is entirely subjective.”
“Let’s say it starts with you, Doctor.” Octavia said, a hint of irritation slipping into her own calm voice at the Doctor’s evasiveness.
“Very well... You would be wrong, but very well... You see... Hm... I’m not sure how to put this...” Vinyl couldn’t help herself, and she practically yelled at him;
“Try! Just put it in a way you think we’ll understand!”
The Doctor looked at Vinyl in surprise, then nodded his head slowly.
“Very well then. I’m a Time Lord. And I wasn’t always a pony, either.”

Comments

[FireFlash13231]

all the awesomeness. this has it.

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Universal Mind - Liquid Tension Experiment

[DianaWinters]

1194399 Buck yes!

[Blaze Spectrum]

8/10

[Capulus]

Thank you for crediting me. And, thanks for the chance to work on this. You're awesome, man!