Harmonic Melody

by Nailah

Chapter 5: Lost and Found

Vinyl dashed to the train station as fast as she could manage. She wasn’t the most altethic of ponies, she was no Rainbow Dash. She felt her dance moves helped a bit, but she still felt out of breath by the time she arrived.

“Huff...Huff...Huff…” she panted, halting to a sudden stop in front of the station. She immediately sought out the conductor.

“Hey there Vinyl, what brings you here today? Can I help you in any way?” the conductor questioned her politely, tipping his hat out of respect.

“Have you seen Octavia? Did she take the train to Canterlot?” she questioned him.

The conductor considered her inquiry, pondering, rubbing his forehoof against his chin. Vinyl fidgeted in place, groaning under her breath awaiting an answer.

“I can’t recall seeing her, though to be fair there are many ponies boarding trains all day long. It’s possible I may have missed her.” he replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He scratched the back of his mane, coughing against his other hoof.

“Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. I will let you know if I hear anything though.”

“Chill my friend, totally out of your control.” she gave him a pat to his shoulder, before shaking her head and moving on. Seems Octavia hadn’t been here. Man...what was she going to do now?

“Hmm...this is tough. Like what would Octavia do if I went missing out of nowhere?” she asked herself, pondering. Then suddenly her eyes widened as she facehoofed. “Duh. I feel totally stupid. Twilight. If I suddenly vanished, she’d go to Twilight for help.” With that in mind, Vinyl headed immediately towards the Castle of Friendship. Hopefully Twilight hadn’t been called off on a friendship mission and was actually home. She lifted her forehoof to knock on the door, and waited anxiously outside for a response.

“The theory of universal science is known as the…” Twilight mumbled to herself when her ears perked up hearing the doorbell. “Oh someone’s here. Spike would you mind going and seeing who it is? I feel like I’m on the verge of a new discovery!”

“Yeah...sure.” groaned Spike, as he went through the many hallways of the castle until he reached the front door, opening it to see Vinyl Scratch. “Hmmph. What’s up DJ Pon-3?” questioned Spike giving her a high five. She couldn’t help but chuckle. Spike was always full of childlike wonder and he was adorable in his own way.

“Is Twilight home? I need to talk with her.” answered Vinyl. Spike smiled and ushered her in.

“Twilight!” he shouted down the hallways. “DJ Pon-3’s here to see you. Not sure about what, seems like it’s important.”

Vinyl’s ears lowered slightly at the surprised shout from Spike. He’d make a great addition to her club. She’d have to talk to him after she figured out what the heck was going on.

“Oh hey there Vinyl. What brings you here?” questioned Twilight Sparkle as she glanced towards her.

“Octavia is missing. This morning I woke up and she was gone.” she began.

“Well did you check to see if she went to Canterlot? As I recall she does take the morning train. Perhaps you simply overslept and missed her?” questioned Twilight. Afterall, that’s the first place she would look if she was her.

“Yeah, already checked. No signs of her there. I figured the best thing to do now was talk to you.” Vinyl answered honestly, scratching the back of her vibrant blue mane, letting out a heavy sigh. It wasn’t like Octavia to just up and vanish with no note, no trace, nothing. Just poof.

“Hmm...ponies usually don’t vanish without a reason. I’ll have to see if I can find anything in my library here. Do you mind helping me look?”

“Yeah sure.” replied Vinyl without any doubts in her mind. Books might not be her jam, but Octavia meant the world to her. Vinyl searched the library with Twilight looking for anything that might seem like it would help. Granted she really had no idea if the books she was picking were helpful or just blocks in their way of figuring this out. Vinyl Scratch sighed as Twilight began shifting through the pages with a speed reading spell.

“Octavia...where are you?” she questioned the emptiness around her, kicking at the ground beneath her.

~~~

Octavia groaned waking up from her little nap.

“Ugh, how did I drift off like that? I wonder when Dylan will return from school. He sure has been gone for some time.” she noted to herself. She straightened out her mane, and fixed her bowtie. She glanced towards the computer once more.

“Hmm...might as well keep looking for clues, but that didn’t help me earlier. It would be helpful if I had access to a library, but I highly doubt a young boy like Dylan here would have a library of books in his room.” she stated as she glanced up to the scantily clad women on the posters.

“Human boys certainly are strange…” she muttered to herself. Perhaps she should explore the house more? No...too risky. She had no idea when his parents would be home. She wasn’t as worried about the little girl in the pictures, she was likely also at school. All she could really do was wait, as annoying as it was.

“Ah, what I wouldn’t give to have my Cello right about now.” she sighed as she looked around the room, noting something in a case, it certainly didn’t look like a cello’s case, it was much too small, but it had somewhat of a circular shape to it. Curiously, she walked over and unhooked the locks on it, opening it to reveal a pair of drums, with sticks on top of them.

“Drums? He plays the drums. How typical…” she huffed and whined a bit, eyes narrowing and quickly shoving the case away from her, shaking her head.

“Dylan, you remind me of a dear friend. A treasured friend, perhaps we can get along after all, if only you would return from school, then we could talk more on what to do next. I simply will not stay in this room forever. First of all it’s drafty, and it smells of musk, not to mention I feel cramped and isolated from the rest of this wonderful place. And why am I talking to myself? Am I going mad? No...Calm down. Breathe.” Octavia focused herself, closing her eyes, and simply breathing in and out, in and out until she felt tranquil.

Octavia would wait for Dylan to return, right now their really wasn’t much else she could do. She noticed he did have a small section in one corner of the room, that appeared to be books or magazines, but upon a closer look, at least it wasn’t porn. They were magazines about Games.
“Game Former” and such. She knew nothing about them, but she had a feeling a young teenage boy like him would like games, so she began reading. She crossed her hindleg over the over, almost sitting like a human on the bed, and began to read.

~~~~

The bell for lunch finally rang and Dylan bolted out of his seat like the school was on fire. Not because he was starving, but because he really wanted to tell his girlfriend about the strange pony in his room. I mean he wasn’t sure exactly how to tell her. If he simply said he had a talking pony in his room would she think he was mentally unstable? He shook his head as he got in line to get his food.

“Man this bums…” Dylan stated as he began to decide what he wanted. At least one nice thing about this school, they always gave you three options for meals other than the “daily” special. Which the special always seemed to be the thing that tasted the best. He really wasn’t sure why though.

He took his seat and waited for his girlfriend to join him. In his mind, he was fiddling and fidgeting over how to tell her. What made the most sense. He practiced in a low whisper to the chair beside him.

“Um...well Rebecca I woke up this morning and suddenly there was a talking horse in my room.” He quickly shook his head, and began running his hands through his hair.

“No I can’t tell her like that can I?” he questioned to himself.

“Tell me what nerd?” questioned Rebecca taking her seat beside him. Dylan gulped and felt like the weight of the world was suddenly thrust upon his shoulders. Man, why him? Why did he have to be the one to get a pony in his room? It was just his dumb luck….

“Um...well you see I have a talking horse in my room.”

“Hahahaha. Okay, seriously what did you want to tell me.” she asked again. Great, he knew she wasn’t going to believe any of this. Heck, he wasn’t sure he’d believe it if it hadn’t happened to him.

“Rebecca, you know I would never lie to you. I’m not making this up, it’s not a joke. I really do have a talking pony in my room.”

“Okay...first of all, since when do either ponies or horses talk?” questioned Rebecca.

“Never?” I spoke, a slight sweatdrop running down my cheeks, I felt my throat clenching up, and I shook nervously, it was hard to keep still. It was hard to focus.

“Exactly. So how can I expect to believe you?” she asked of him.

“You’re right. You would have to see it to believe it. Wait! That’s it. Come to my house after school. I’ll tell mom I invited you over for supper and I’ll show you. I’ll prove to you it’s not just a lie.” suggested Dylan. It was perfect, this would kill two birds with one stone.

“Sure, I’d love that. And you do know how much I adore your mom’s cooking.” Rebecca replied, leaning in to kiss Dylan on the lips. Dylan leaned in to return the kiss, lips grazing against each other as they held each other close for a few moments more.
“See that wasn’t so hard was it?” she questioned. Though in the back of her mind, she was already thinking about the possibilities of what if this was true. Think of the profit they could make if they sold this talking horse to a scientist or researcher, they’d be able to afford college bills easily.

“Don’t worry, I promise you’ll like her. She’s kind of quiet, but she’s cute in her own way.” Dylan smiled, rubbing the back of his head.

They both ate their lunches together, kissed goodbye for now to attend to the rest of their classes and the two agreed to meet up later. Dylan couldn’t wait for this day to be over. Man he still sort of wished the whole thing was just a dream, but it was very clear to the both of them, this was real, and he had to deal with it.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by quickly enough, Dylan felt much more relaxed now that he could finally share his secret with someone he trusted. He met Rebecca by her locker after grabbing his stuff from his. He took her by the hand, and the two walked together to the bus. As soon as they hopped on, the both of them went straight to the back and sat down.

Rebecca sat right on Dylan’s lap, not caring if anyone stared at them. Let them look. They were all jealous. The whole lot of them. Rebecca adored Dylan, he saw more than just a girl, he was able to see her quirks, and that’s why she didn’t intend to let this nice piece of arm candy go.

Besides, this way the person she really wanted to avoid would have less reasons to try anything if she was already with someone. His name was Jack Lockett, and he was known all across the school as the “chick” magnet. He took interest in Rebecca a long time ago, but she had given him the cold hard turn down of disinterest. Dylan was far more interesting, she could use him to her advantage.

Once they arrived, Dylan and she got off the bus, and Dylan led her straight to his room, but he stopped her a few feet short.

“Let me just talk to Octavia for a quick minute so she doesn’t freak out at seeing another human.”

“Whatever you say doll.” smirked Rebecca, crossing her arms, and simply waiting.

Dylan opened the door and quickly shut it behind him and looked towards Octavia. She was sitting on his bed, almost human like reading a book.

“Hey I’m back, how was your day? I hope you didn’t mind being in here too terribly.” he smiled gently, rubbing the back of his brown locks, doing his best not to stare. He didn’t know why, but just the way she was sitting and how composed she seemed to be, it was quaintly charming.

“It was certainly eventful, I learnt quite a few things while you were away, nothing to help me figure out how to get home. But if I dare say, I’ve learnt more about this world from exploring than the computer could possibly tell me.”

“Wait what? Octavia, you were supposed to stay in the room. What if someone had seen you?” he asked terrified.

“Don’t worry, no one was home. Besides, there was no way I was going to smell like….your garments all day long. If I must say, you really ought to clean that closet, and do laundry. It’s such a mess in here.”
“However, I can attend to my room later, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. Rebecca you can come in now.” smiled Dylan. Octavia’s ears raised slightly, and she glanced in the direction of the door, as it opened and a young female human stepped inside. Octavia felt a stiffening as she entered the room, something in her gut telling her this wasn’t good at all.