Harmonic Melody

by Nailah

Chapter 4: School Blues

Dylan headed to school, but his mind was anywhere but on homework. What was he going to do about this pony? Why was this happening to him? How in the world was he going to explain this to his band and more importantly his girlfriend? He was sure he’d figure it out, or so he hoped...

“I’m hiding a pony in my room. How can this be normal? This is anything but normal. This is weird…” Dylan said to himself, scratching the back of his head as he hopped onto the bus, and immediately headed all the way to the back to take a seat next to Rebecca.

“Hey Nerd, it’s about time you showed up.” she smirked, wrapping her arm around him, and leaning against him. Dylan blushed slightly, as he leaned over to kiss her. He pressed his lips against his, able to taste just a hint of her lipstick.

“Hey Becky, it’s nice to see you too.” Dylan smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. As long as he acted like everything was normal, then things would be okay. But...he couldn’t just pretend like there wasn’t a pony in his room. What would happen if his mom found out? Or worse yet his little sister...he could only imagine, and he was certain that neither of them wanted that.

“You seem distracted. More so than usual…” commented Rebecca, running her hand upon my thigh.

“Me? Well it’s just you know. Exams are coming up.” He quickly tried to think of something other than the truth. Would she even believe him? What if she thought he was crazy or something? Rebecca and he had been dating for a few months now, and things were great, but he wasn’t about to let some random magical pony ruin that for him. He had to proceed with caution.

“Since when do you care about exams?” questioned Rebecca, giving him a look.

Dylan felt the sweatdrop running down his face, as he took a gulp of a breath. She always could figure him out. He didn’t know why he was trying to lie to her.

“If I tell you, promise you won’t think I’m crazy?” he asked her.

“Seriously? You know I won’t judge you, after all you didn’t judge me when we met in detention.”

“That was the best detention I’ve ever been in, and I would get in trouble any day if it meant getting to be with you.” replied Dylan, leaning his head against his girlfriend and holding her close.

“You are such a nerd. A cute one though.” Rebecca smirked as she closed her eyes, and held onto him, not caring if the others stared at them. Jealous. They were all upset they didn’t get to be with this up and coming rockstar. She could see Dylan had talent, and she planned to use it to her advantage.

“You’re far cuter. I still remember that day like it was yesterday.” began Dylan as he thought about how they had first met.

“It was just another boring day at school. I was listening to some tunes on my mvp paper, and I ended up bumping into this guy. He totally took it the wrong way and got all up in my face, and well punched me. I got up and slapped him right in his fat ugly mug. That’s when the teacher came out and gave the both of us detention. I had never gotten in trouble before, I was so ashamed of myself.” sighed Dylan remembering. But then he looked at his girlfriend.

She had been sitting on top of her desk with one leg over the other, using a nail filer to keep her nails nice and smooth. She wore a leather black jacket, with a plain pink blouse with a skull on it, and a black mini skirt. Her whole attitude gave him bad ass vibes and he felt his heart pounding a mile a second. He had been swooned, and he just walked right up to her and asked her out on the spot. He was shocked when she said yes.

He was so distracted in telling his story he didn’t realize they were almost at school. He wouldn’t have time to explain to her about Octavia, without making things even more awkward.

“Okay. So um...I’ll let you know at lunch alright?” he asked to herself as he heard the bus coming to a stop, signaling it was time for them to get off and head into school to learn. School was annoying, but at least it got him out of the house. Dylan kissed Rebecca before heading to his locker, putting his backpack away, grabbing his books he would need until lunch, and headed to learn. However, his mind was still distracted.

He could picture Octavia on his bed, curled up into a ball like a kitten, and how cute she would look asleep on his bed, he didn’t even realize he was blushing slightly. His pencil lead snapped, and he cursed under his breath as he had to get up to go to the sharpener, but it gave him time to clear his thoughts.

“She’s just a pony. There’s no reason for me to feel this way. Why do I even care? I could just let mom know, but what would she do? She’d probably send me to the meadows…” he shivered, he heard stories of a few classmates that had gotten sent there. They were never heard from again. He couldn’t, not he wouldn’t let that happen to him.

“Octavia is my responsibility, I have to take care of this, no matter how difficult it might be.”

“Dylan...please take your seat.” the teacher instructed, tapping her foot and giving him a bit of a stare. It was like teachers could see into your very core. It was weird. Teachers were like psychics or something.

“Of course.” replied Dylan, as he returned to his seat. As he sat down, staring at the chalkboard, he couldn’t help but wonder how Octavia was doing at home. He hoped she wasn’t causing too much of a stir. She seemed like a calm pony with an intelligent mind. Surely, she wouldn’t do anything crazy right?

“Time for a pop quiz on what you’ve learnt in the past week.” the teacher said suddenly. The students all groaned. Dylan didn’t groan, he wasn’t even thinking about tests. He was thinking about a gray pony with black silk locks back home on his bed all curled up and as adorable as ever. He sure hoped Octavia was doing alright, and staying out of sight.

~~~~~

Octavia sighed heavily, the computer has not been helpful to her so far. She managed to find quite a lot of information about a game called Magic the Gathering, and the only other magic related articles were about fantasy creatures, including dragons. That was a start for sure, but she was sure that dragons didn’t exist in this world. After all if he was freaking out about her being a pony, she could only imagine what his reaction to a dragon would be. The answer was simple enough;not good at all.

His room was very simple to navigate, but she couldn’t possibly just stay in his room forever. At least she was out of that dreaded closet. She shook her head, her whole body smelled of male musk from being in there for even a few minutes. She wasn’t sure what she’d smell like if she had to spend a good amount of time in there. She had remembered he spoke about a shower. She didn’t know if his parents were home or not but she had to take a chance.

“I’m not going to remain musky until he gets back. I still don’t understand why I couldn’t go with him. It’s not like I’ve never been to a school before. I’m sure it can’t be that much different from our own.” she spoke as she dared to open the door, and tilt her head from side to side, ears twitching, listening and watching for any signs, any sound, any signal that she wasn’t the only one here.

“Phew, what a relief.” she spoke as she stepped out of his room. The hallway was long and narrow. Octavia noticed the carpet was a mossy green, and the walls were covered with photos of children. She immediately noticed the one as Dylan, there were also pictures of a younger girl. Carefully she opened the door to the right side of Dylan’s room. As soon as she opened the door, she was relieved to see this was indeed the room she was searching for, the bathroom.

Octavia didn't want to fiddle around, she needed to get clean. Though this bathroom was laid out in a similar enough manner, that she could easily figure out how it worked. Humans didn't seem to be that different from ponies. Sure, they walked on two legs, and wore clothes, but they both had to eat and drink, and keep a clean coat, for humans she guessed they didn't call them a coat, but right now she didn't care. She hopped under the hot steaming water and began lathering herself up. She couldn't help thinking about Vinyl as she washed up, hoping she was okay.

She hopped out of the shower, and brushed her mane with the comb laying by the sink. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t see herself though, she could picture Vinyl’s expression. She could almost feel her concern. She felt the slightest drop of a tear running down her cheeks. No...she couldn’t cry.

“I am Octavia, and I will get through this. Vinyl wouldn’t expect anything less.” she retorted stubbornly, as she then exited the bathroom, and considered exploring. Surely if no one was here she could have a look around at her new place of residence. She didn’t plan on telling Dylan. She might not be as wild as her roommate, but she could be a bit curious. Octavia opened up the door to the left side of Dylan’s room, to find it turned out to be another closet. She quickly shut that door, already learning quite early on in her experience here, she didn’t like these places. And she wasn’t about to get her mane dirty after having just gotten clean.

She walked further down the hallway to the living room. She saw what looked like a loveseat in the center, with a coffee table in front of it, she could see two end tables with lamps on them beside the couch. Then to the left of the couch there was a recliner. In front of the couch, a good distance away was the television. She could see more pictures on the walls, above the couch, this time of two older looking humans. She could piece together, they were Dylan’s parents. The house was oddly quiet.

“I do believe he was worried over nothing.” she spoke to herself, relieved to be able to stretch out her legs a bit. She was stiff from how much time she had spent on the computer to no avail. If she wanted a solution, she clearly was going to have to look elsewhere. Octavia decided to continue onwards into the kitchen.
The kitchen area was finely laid out, the table in the center, and the cupboards around it. She could see the sink attached to the wall, and more countertop space, a stove, and a fridge.

She felt her stomach rumble, almost begging her to raid the fridge. She felt like it was rather improper of her to just take food without asking, but her stomach rumbled again. Surely, he’d understand her need to eat. After all if he was going to help her, why would he allow her to starve?

“I’m overthinking this. I need to relax and just pretend like I’m home.” she reminded herself. Though seeing the magnets on the fridge, brought a few more teardrops to her face. She could see what reminded her so much of Vinyl’s studio setup. It had her flare to it, she had to keep focused. She opened the fridge to see what was inside.

She saw milk, eggs, and condiments. Most normal things any person would have in a standard fridge. She looked towards the bottom where she knew there might be fresh fruit, and sure enough, luck would have it, there was a bag of macintosh apples. She couldn’t help scoffing at the name a bit, reminding her of Big Mac from Apple Acres. Why was this place constantly reminding her how much she missed her home? How much she missed being with Vinyl. Mrs. Cake’s words rang in her ears, and she found herself flushing as she took a hoofful of apples and trotted back into Dylan’s room. She shut the door, not wanting to take any more risks for today, she was just happy to get food in her stomach.

“Oh Celestia...how did I find myself here? What sort of cruel torture is this? Am I supposed to learn a lesson about Friendship?” questioned Octavia to the nothingness that surrounded her. Eventually she drifted off to sleep after a while of just laying on Dylan’s bed, curling her tail around her, trying to find some solace in this. It wouldn’t last forever, she was going to find her way back to Vinyl, find her way home.

Author's Note:

Phew! I was really pushing this close. Like too close for comfort, but I managed to get it out before midnight. This challenge has certainly been interesting so far, and getting me to write something I never thought I'd write. I do hope you all enjoy it.