Journey to Hope

by Not Enough Coffee

Chapter 6: Frivolous Pursuits

Dear Journal,

I had the most horrendous dream last night, and I must write about it now before I forget. It was about Vinyl before we met, back when she was still an orphan on the streets of Canterlot. I saw her trying to steal some food from this shop owner, of what I can’t remember, but I do remember the terrified look on her face. One of a pony so desperate, and full of regret. The worst part was when she dove into a dark alley, and when she thought she was safe, she turned to see a shadowy figure lunge at her, stabbing her in her chest.

I woke up after that in a sweat, short of breath. I know exactly what that meant, dreams like that have meaning, and I need to investigate the matter further. I know I have been in my own funk as of late, but I regret to say that I’ve been ignoring Vinyl because of it. She takes care of me more than I take care of her, and it’s about time I do something to repay her.

We’re going to visit Lyra for this very reason. I know her and Vinyl are much alike with their interests, so maybe she could shed some light on this situation. Hopefully I only need to talk to her to fully understand how to combat this problem.

Don’t worry Vinyl, I’m there for you.

* * * *

Octavia got up from her seat and stretched her aching joints, popping a couple of vertebrae in the process. She sighed in relief, and made her way towards the door, a goal in mind. Octavia wasn’t feeling the usual emptiness in the pit of her stomach that morning, but instead she was worrying for another, her closest friend who’s been there for most of her life.
When she shut the door behind her it was like declaring to the world that the day had begun, and that she committed herself to the long process digging down deep inside Vinyl to find what could be troubling her below the surface.

Each step Octavia took down the hallway was another step of confidence to her. She felt the drive to do what she wanted and needed to do, marching onward with a passion unmatched by any other mare that morning. As she reached for the door to Vinyl’s room, she gave it a couple knocks to let the occupant know she was there.

“Vinyl, dear. Are you up?” Octavia asked, but received no response. “Don’t make me knock this door down, love. You always sleep way into afternoon, and that’s a terrible habit to have, you know?” It was still silent behind the door. “Well, I guess I’ll be knocking this door down after all.”

“I’m up, I’m up. Sheesh, can’t get any sleep around here, can I?” Vinyl finally responded to Octavia’s call, but the tone of her voice suggested she was not happy in the slightest. The sound of magic being used came from the otherside of the door, a clicking noise escaping from the doorknob. “Come in, Tavi. It’s unlocked.”

The door shot open like a speeding bullet, startling Vinyl as she jumped back like a cat. She raised an eyebrow before letting out a pregnant yawn. “Could have gave me five more minutes, at least,” she grumbled as she looked around her mess of a room, finding her signature shades on a dresser off to the side of her bed.

“Vinyl, do you ever clean up in here? There is no excuse acceptable for the pile of trash littered next to your bed,” Octavia pointed towards the rubbish, letting Vinyl, who now had her shades on, follow her hoof. Vinyl just turned to her friend and shrug her shoulders. “You’re a major pain sometimes.” Octavia face-hoofed, but was met with a raised eyebrow when she looked up. “What?”

Vinyl tilted her head towards the door in response.

“Well, you see, oh come on that’s not fair, I’m in here for your benefit.” Octavia gave Vinyl pleading eyes, but it was to no avail, Octavia could almost swear she could see Vinyl’s eyes roll through her glasses.

“Why do you do this, though? Why do you make such a mess, stay up late, and hide away from the world unless it’s absolutely necessary for you to show your face?” Octavia stared straight into the alabaster mare’s rose-tinted glasses, unwavering. “Why must you pursue such frivolous things?”

Vinyl flinched, then shrugged her shoulders before looking towards the window.

“Would you please look me in the eyes, Vinyl. This is serious, I need to know why. This isn’t a healthy way to live. You’ve been helping me all these years, yet I’ve failed to even consider what’s been going on with you. Just please answer me.”

“Octavia, if I knew the answer to that, I would have told you by now.” Vinyl said slowly, turning to face the mare once again. “Can we please drop this, at least for now. I’m not comfortable talking about it further, you feel me?”

Octavia’s eyes wavered, before she sighed and looked towards the ground for answers. “I suppose, but that ain’t stopping me from at least cleaning that pile of garbage from the floor over there.”

Vinyl simply walked past Octavia, leaving her alone in the room by herself. “I’m going to help you, love.” Octavia began to speak to herself aloud, a sort of declaration to push her motivation for helping her friend to the limit. “You will understand yourself, even if I don’t understand you myself”

* * * *

Octavia and Vinyl walked in silence through Ponyville, neither of them knowing what to say or how to follow up on the conversation they had prior. They even went without breakfast and coffee, which was unheard of from the two. It was in that silence that tension between the two seemed to rise, a sort of string that grew tighter and tighter until it was about to tear itself apart. It never came, however, since they both stood in front of the music store they were heading towards, causing the tension to finally loosen. The place was called “Vintage Vagrants,” and it’s name was lit with neon lights that gave it a modern look that Octavia knew appealed to Vinyl.

“This is the place, Vinyl.” Octavia looked to her companion, only to notice her staring up at the neon letters above. “I see you’ve already taken a liking to the place.” Octavia joked, trying to alleviate any negative feelings from before. For the most part, it seemed to work, Vinyl nodding her head in agreement.

They then proceeded to head inside, their first steps sending a jolt of shock up their bodies from the base of their tails, to the tips of their heads, as they were filled with surprise. The place seemed to be larger on the inside from what the outside lead them to believe, each and every inch the place decked out to look as appealing as possible. There were sections dedicated to different genres, instruments, and in the back there was even a mini-arcade.

Vinyl was gone in a blink of an eye, as Octavia had to swivel her head to and fro in order to catch a glimpse of her looking over the electronic music section. She giggled to herself, not surprised in the slightest that’s where she’d gone off to first.

“Hey, Octavia. Over here,” called a familiar voice.

Octavia turned her head to meet the voice, “Lyra, this is a lovely place you got here.” She then proceeded to walk up to the counter Lyra stood behind. “Me and Vinyl here decided to pay you a visit, since you did mention this place last time we talked. Figured today was a good enough day as any to say hello.”

“Glad to hear, though go have a look around, girl. I put a lot of work into this place, I’m positive there’s something out there your willing to buy.” Lyra beamed with glee.

“You just want my bits, don’t you?” Octavia raised an eyebrow, which was met with a wink from Lyra. “Well, I’ll take a look in just a moment, for now I just wish to talk to you for a moment.” Octavia looked back towards her companion, “Preferably in private, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Sure, just follow me into my office,” Lyra laughed after she said that, causing Octavia to look at her in confusion. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to say something like that, makes me seem like a real professional, don’t you think?”

Octavia lightly shook her head, “I suppose.”

Lyra rolled her eyes in response, before they both made their way into Lyra’s office, which was hidden away behind the counter, which seemed like a smart enough choice in Octavia’s mind. What didn’t seem like a smart choice, however, was just how disorganized the place looked with papers and litter scattered about her counter and filing cabinets.

“Oh my Celestia, you’re just like Vinyl,” Octavia face-hoofed for the second time that day. “Would it kill you to pick up this place just a little? So much for professionalism.”

“Rude, what you think is disorganized is actually what I call my organized.” Lyra leaned up against her desk on her hind legs, crossing her front hooves. “So besides insulting my way of life, what is it you want to discuss?”

Octavia looked back towards the door, then back to Lyra. “It’s about Vinyl, I know she’s having some sort of issue going on in that head of hers, but she refuses to talk about it with me every time I bring it up. At first, I just sort of forgot about it for awhile, too caught up in myself, which is selfish now that I think about it, so I want to give back that same generosity she showed me. I want to make her problems go away, I want to be somepony important in her life, much more than just a friend. She’s family, Lyra.”

Lyra’s eyes went wide with how much passion went into Octavia’s mini-speech. “Well, umm, why are you asking me this? I don’t even know the mare, so how could I be of any help?” Lyra ran a hoof through her mane, “All I can really tell you is to try and be subtle with how you approach her, just trying to be there all the time is not enough to get her to open up, I’d think. From my experience, ponies tend to close themselves up when something close to their heart, that they’ve been hiding for awhile, is exposed to somepony they care about. She probably wants to talk about it just as much as you do, it just falls short each time she feels that bit of courage welling up inside her chest.”

This time Octavia’s eyes went wide, “Do you really think so? I mean, I think you may have a point there.” Suddenly, she remembered the first thing Lyra said in her moment in the spotlight, “Oh, and I wanted to ask you, because I know you’ve been in some rough situations yourself. Figure you’d be good pony to chat up for some advice.”

“So tell me more about Vinyl. You’ve mentioned her before when we lived in the same dorm room at the conservatory, but if I’m gonna be able to help you at all with trying to get her to open up to you, I need to know more about her.” Lyra looked past Octavia, “I mean, I could just walk out there and ask myself, but flooding her with questions after coming out of this room with you might look a little suspicious.”

Octavia walked over to Lyra, standing on her hind legs as well, leaning against the office’s desk. Lyra just smirked at Octavia’s action. “I guess the first thing you’ll notice about her is just how quiet she can be. You think Fluttershy is hard to hear, just wait till you meet Vinyl, she’s in a league of her own.” Octavia slowly raised her head towards the ceiling. “When we were younger, I was the only pony she would talk to, the only one she’d share her secrets with, and the only one she seemed to trust. She’s gotten better at being more open with others, but it still seems like I’m the only one she’s truly herself with.”

“Yet she has something hiding underneath what she’s telling you?” Lyra asked, as Octavia turned her gaze back to her.

“Yes, there’s always been something bothering her. I’m not sure even she knows what, but I see it in her eyes. The way she acts, the way she lives. Her room is a mess, and I know some ponies like their rooms messy, but Vinyl used to be so organized. It’s so unlike her to have so much apathy for keeping a clean environment. She also used to be so motivated by her music that she’d wake up early in the morning, before me, and practice till the sun dipped below the horizon. I always imagined her chasing after the sun for the sake of it all, something there that’d hold something she cherished more than anything in life. Now, I can barely get her out of bed without a fuss.” Octavia exhaled, taking a deep breath to compose herself. “I don’t know what to do, Lyra. Please, I need something, anything to help her out. She’s been carrying me through my rough patch as of late, and I’ve been too selfish to even consider helping her out until now.”

Lyra put a hoof on Octavia’s shoulder, “Hey now, no need to beat yourself up over this. You were having a rough time, everypony has a rough time every now and then, there’s no need to blame her issues on you. Trust me, you do that, and you won’t be able to live with yourself.”

They both went back to standing on all fours, before Octavia replied. “Yes, I know, it just hurts to know I could have done something earlier.” Octavia had a few tears streaming down her face, the vent she was going through letting the emotions flow through her.

“Hey, I think the best thing to do is just slowly approach the topic with her. She needs to open up to you, and you can’t force your way in unless she gives you permission. Maybe go visit some places you used to as fillies, have a laugh or two, because that’s always helped me when I’ve been itching to tell someone close about my issues.” Lyra looked into Octavia’s eyes, the tears ceasing to drip down her face.

“Thanks, Lyra. Truly, this means more than you might imagine.” Octavia rubbed her eyes, trying to dispose of any evidence of her previous spout of emotion. “I guess we should go say hello to the mare of the hour, considering how long we left her out there by herself.”

Lyra simply nodded her head in agreement, before she made her way towards the door, opening it up, and beckoning for Octavia to depart from her office. Octavia took the gesture, and left the room as instructed, noticing that Vinyl was now playing one of the arcade games at the back of the store.

“Seems to me she kept herself occupied while we were doing our thing,” Lyra spoke, making Octavia shake her head to clear her mind of her reverie. “Say, seems she set something down on the counter here.”

Octavia looked at what she was referring to. “Oh, seems she also left the necessary bits as well. I think we might have been in there longer than we might have thought.”

“I guess,” Lyra simply replied.

Octavia turned her gaze back towards Vinyl, “Vinyl, dear!” Octavia exclaimed, “You mind coming back over here after you finish that game of yours?” She received an enthusiastic nod in response. Looking off to the side, she took note of the store’s name once again, this time plastered onto a nearby window. “Say, where exactly did you get the name for this place from, anyway?”

“Oh, glad you asked. Remember how I told you about the time I was without a home, and what not?” Lyra did not wait for a reply, “Well, you see, I figured I’d name the place ‘Vintage Vagrants,’ because the store holds a lot of vintage items, and that there’s a lot of musicians out on the streets playing music for money. They’re all vagrants, kinda like how I used to be.”

“Mmhmm, then that makes it a wonderful name.” Octavia stated, but failed to notice that Vinyl was now in front of the counter staring at her, Octavia knowing behind her glasses lied a quizzical look. “Oh, Vinyl!” She said in surprise, taking note of how she was still on the casher side of the counter. She then exited from beyond the counter, taking her place beside the unicorn. “I see you found some records you were interested in. Say, could you show me what you got?”

Vinyl grinned, before levitating the records in front of Octavia.

“Oh, Trotvinsky, can’t say I’ve ever heard of him before, though I suppose that goes for most music you’re interested in. I’d be happy to give it a listen when we get back home.”

From the looks Vinyl was giving Octavia, she could tell that she was beyond enthused at the prospect. It was not everyday Octavia offered to listen to Vinyl’s music, given that it wasn’t exactly her cup of tea. Octavia suddenly remembered she hadn’t introduced her two friends. “Oh, Vinyl. This is Lyra, the mare I was telling you about the other day.”

“Hey,” Lyra said. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Octavia couldn’t shut up about you back at the conservatory.” She then gave Octavia a wink, as the mare blushed in embarrassment.

“Yeah, quite,” Octavia replied, feeling Vinyl give her a bump on the side, and a cheeky smile. It only made Octavia’s blush more furious. “And Lyra, as you already know, this is Vinyl.”

Vinyl took her cue, “Hey, right back at ya.”

“Whoa, the mare speaks. Octavia just got done telling me how shy you can be before you walked over here. Glad I didn’t scare you off.” Both Lyra and Vinyl stared into each others eyes, though Lyra just got an eyeful of Vinyl’s shades. It was silent for a moment as they just continued to stare, some sort of battle going on between them.

Vinyl turned to Octavia, “I like her, can we keep her?”

Octavia had to summon all of her will not to fall over from the shock that question sent throughout her body. “Wait, what? No, of course not. What are you on about?” She tried to see past whatever game her friend was playing at. Unfortunately for her, she was easy to mess with.

Vinyl shook her head over Octavia’s antics before looking towards Lyra, then back at charcol-maned mare.

“She’s messing with you, you silly pony.” Lyra answered for Vinyl. “Also, speaking of Vinyl, here’s you records.” Lyra used her magic to lift Vinyl’s purchased goods into a nearby bag, before passing it over to Vinyl’s own field of magic. “Hey, if you don’t mind, could you put in a good word for this place whenever you get the chance? Still trying to get the business off the ground, and what not.”

“Of, course. You can count on us,” Octavia declared, before making her way towards the store’s exit. She noticed Lyra waving them off, so she followed up with a wave of her own. As they exited the place, Octavia turned to her companion to ask, “Say, Vinyl. How’d you’d like to visit mom? A trip to Canterlot sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

The mare simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Come on, dear. I need an answer, because if you don’t want to, then maybe we shouldn’t. After all, that is a rather large trip to make, especially when half the party is uninterested.”

“Yeah, sure. It’ll be nice to see mom again, and all, I just hate the locals.” Vinyl groaned as the memories of Canterlot flooded through her. “God, they’re intolerable sometimes.”

“We’re in agreement there, and I’m glad to hear you’re on board with this. Umm? When do you think it’d be best to leave? I’d say in half-a-weeks time. It’d help save costs, cause if we decide to stay for a week, I wouldn’t have to travel far for my first performance with The Canterlot Royal Orchestra.” Octavia saw Vinyl nod her head. “Perfect.”

With that, they headed back home, to listen to Vinyl’s purchased music, and to think about the upcoming trip.

Author's Note:

Been far too long since I've updated this story, but I finally got around to finishing this chapter. Well, not quite, since this was originally gonna lead into a second part, but I felt it was best to split that up into its own chapter. This did feel like a natural cutting off point, after all.

Anyways, here's to being back, everybody. Cheers!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

8453081
I could've sworn this had a sequel. How was All Art Is Quite Useless able to preread the latest chapter? I'm sure he's still alive, but his account seems dead right now.

[Not Enough Coffee]

8828891
The answer is he didn't pre-read this chapter at all. Rest in peace.

[Not Enough Coffee]

8829145
You flatter me. Funny how I imagine myself writing something grandiose and epic, but end up sticking to slice of life for the most part. Guess there's a zen like feeling I get when I just write about characters living out their lives, either having a good time or bad, but in the end learning something and becoming better because of their actions.

Looking forward to your thoughts on later chapters.

[Ice Star]

Octavia's voice is incredibly strong here! Good job!

[Ice Star]

The new cover art is beautiful!

[Not Enough Coffee]

8842700
Did some remodeling to better fit the story, and make it more pleasing to look at.

[Ice Star]

8842707
Very pleasing to look at!

[Lortee]

Reading this story is very soothing if that's the right word for it. Calming, maybe. Sad to see it cancelled.

[Not Enough Coffee]

10166616
Woah. Someone actually read this?

Sorry to say I don't plan to write it anymore. My world view and life has changed considerably since, and I am no longer able to write what this was meant to be. Thanks for reading all the same.