Day 21: Departure
As I write this, I am pleased to say that I am no longer in Ponyville. Of course, I will have to return in a little over a week, but right now, I am free. Free from that wretched forsaken town and able to live my life without that doom hanging over my head. This sense of freedom is tempered somewhat by the fact that I am surrounded by the greatest bunch of developmentally delayed mare-children in Equestria, but I am not in Ponyville, and that fact alone deserves to be celebrated, preferably champagne or a selection of hard alcohols. In fact, I think I will spend some time at the hotel bar after I finish writing this entry, so let’s keep things short as my hoof is cramping, and a bourbon or gin would be the perfect way to end this night. Or better yet, two bourbons and Vinyl at my side. Ah, it feels so good to be back in a proper metropolis I can hardly contain myself.
When I awoke this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing terrible had happened. There were no shadowy organizations sneaking into my bedroom and I managed to make it through the night with only one panic attack. While I would normally avoid admitting to any displays of optimism, since I am no longer in Ponyville, I will risk it. This morning, I found myself looking forward to my day and ready to bid adieu to the town. Unfortunately, Vinyl had other plans.
“Vinyl,” I said as I tapped her on the shoulder, “Wake up, its almost 8:00 and we have to be at the train station in an hour.”
“Do we have to?” She groaned, “The train doesn’t leave until nine and I we can make it by then.”
“Yes, if we left now, we would have plenty of time to spare, but we have to shower, groom ourselves, and presumably meet our friends at some point, and all those things take time, so let’s get going.”
“Alright,” she said, rolling out of the bed, “What has you so excited anyways? I thought you absolutely hated the idea of going to Anthro Con.”
I smiled, “Oh, I do, but I love the chance to get out of Ponyville, and I would hate to spend a second longer in this town than possible. I am sure that as we speak this town is planning something nefarious.”
She rubbed her eyes and looked at me, “You are aware that this town isn’t a living being right? It doesn’t think or plot, you just have really bad luck. But, on the subject of plots, I would like to take this opportunity to say that you have a really nice one.”
Now it was my turn to groan, “Just go and take a shower, we will be on a very long train ride, so I’m sure you’ll have ample opportunity to embarrass me in front of our friends.”
“Yeah, well I planned on doing that too. In fact, you are in such a good mood I think we will have to celebrate soo-”
I quickly raised a hoof to shush her as my pupils contracted, “No! No talking about celebration, the town might hear you and then we will never escape. We can… speak freely once we leave the town’s borders.”
“Okay,” Vinyl said, a concerned look entering into her eyes, “Yeah, but when we get back lets go and get you to a psychiatrist, I am kind of worried about you.”
I narrowed my eyes, “I am perfectly fine, Vinyl, it is this town that is trying to ruin my life, and by extension, our lives.”
Vinyl just nodded, “Of course, anyways, I am gonna go get ready. I’ll see you later.” She walked off, murmuring something under her breath, and I went about a very truncated version of my morning grooming routine, although still managing to make myself look presentable in only half an hour.
“Wow, you’re finally ready,” Vinyl said as I walked down the stairs. Somehow, she had managed to make herself look absolutely splendid in far less time than it took me. Of course, I might be slightly biased in describing her appearance and a more impartial observer might have noted that her hair was intolerably greasy and that her eyes were slightly too puffy, but I thought she looked absolutely splendid. Although, now that I think about it, I am slightly confused about how I could know what a more impartial observer might think and… I think I will just chalk this up to lingering Ponyville madness.
“I will have you know that I cut out over half of my morning routine to be ready on time, and I still made myself look presentable, so if you could keep the complaining to a minimum, I would appreciate it. Not all of us can be content with taking a quick shower and putting gel in our hair,” I said as I took a seat on the chaise next to her.
Vinyl moved to nuzzle my neck, “Hey, you don’t just look presentable, you look totally sexy right now, like, if we didn’t have to meet Lyra and Bon Bon right about now I would-”
She was interrupted by a knock coming from the door. “Come in,” we both said in unison.
“Hey girls,” Bon Bon said as she opened the door, “Lyra is just doing a last run through of the house to make sure she has all of her outfits for Anthro Con.”
“You see Vinyl, even your friends packed a few changes of clothes, although I didn’t think Anthro Con would be such a formal occasion,” I said, feeling supremely satisfied with myself at that moment.
Vinyl seemed nonplussed at the news, and she actually started to smile during my pronouncement. “Uhh yeah, these aren’t formal outfits, Tavi, they are more like…”
“Costumes.” Bon Bon finished for her, “Lyra calls them cosplays, and they are actually really well done, but they are still basically just really elaborate Nightmare Night costumes.”
My marefriend glared at Bon Bon whose face was quickly turning a vivid shade of crimson, while I felt my left eye begin to twitch. “I see,” I said, working to contain my growing panic, “Tell me, will these cosplays be rather common, or are they just another one of Lyra’s peculiarities.”
“Well,” Vinyl said, “I was hoping to just ease you into the news, but I would guess that about a third of the people there will be wearing a costume.”
I took a deep breath in the hopes of calming my nerves before speaking again, “Wonderful. Is there anything else I should know about Anthro Con or is that it?”
“No, I think that’s about everything,” Bon Bon said, before gesturing towards the door, “Now let’s get going, Lyra’s already nervous enough about missing our train, if she has to wait for us, she is going to positively freak out. Do you have everything?”
“I think that’s everything,” Vinyl said, looking at the pile of luggage next to the door, “Unless Tavi forgot to get something last night.”
My mind ran through a quick mental inventory of all the things we would need, we each had four formal outfits, three decidedly more casual outfits, one overcoat in case things suddenly, and of course I had my… Oh no. “One second,” I said as I raced up the stairs. I had forgotten my cello, the very idea that I had almost gone a week and a half without Philharmonica by my side made me sick to my stomach. Thirty seconds later, I was heading back downstairs with the cello case securely strapped to my back.
“Uhmm Tavi, are you sure lugging that around is such a great idea, I mean you are still recovering, and now you want to carry your cello across Equestria?” Vinyl said as she wrapped the rest of our luggage in her telekinetic field. “I’d be happy to carry it for you along with the rest of the stuff, it’s no issue for me.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” I said as my back howled in protest, “I thank you for offering, but I always get nervous if anyone besides me touches my cello, even if that pony is you.” I did my best to smile and hoped that I hadn’t offended her. While I did genuinely appreciate her offer, I don’t think I could have forgiven Vinyl or myself if something happened to my cello while she was watching over it. Besides, a little bit of exercise would probably help me recover.
“Okay then,” she said, shrugging, “If you change your mind just let me know.” The three of us finally headed out of the house and onto the streets where Lyra was waiting for us with several bags next to her.
“Come on everypony, I don’t want to miss our train like we did last year, you know how the registration lines get, and I don’t want to miss the analysis panel again,” Lyra said, pacing outside our door.
The three of us merely nodded our heads and followed off after her as she led us to the train station. After several minutes of walking, I found myself lagging behind the rest of the group and struggling to put one hoof in front of the other as the cello continued to weigh me down. Vinyl quickly noticed my absence, and trotted over to me.
“Come on Tavi, let me carry the cello. You still need to rest,” she said while trying to unfasten the straps that held the cello to my back.
“I would prefer it if you didn’t take it,” I said, “As much as I love you, I don’t trust anypony else with my cello. If something were to-”
She cut me off, “You mean the cello we made for you that was specially enchanted to be borderline indestructible? That one?”
I sighed and undid the fastening on my cello, “Yes, that one. Just please be careful with it.”
“Please,” she said as she levitated the cello off my back and added it to the rest of the items she was carrying, “Safety is my middle name.”
“Will you two please hurry up?” Lyra yelled back to us, “The train is leaving in fifteen minutes and if we miss this one then we won’t be able to reach Baltimare until tomorrow morning.”
Bon Bon patted her on the shoulder, “It will be fine, sweetie, I know you are excited about Anthro Con, but we shouldn’t take our frustrations about last year out on our friends.”
Lyra closed her eyes and took a breath as we walked towards her, “You’re right, Bonnie, I’m just so excited about this years panels I don’t want to miss a single second of it, and that means getting to the train on time.” As we resumed walking, Lyra excitedly bounced around us. “There are so many exciting panels this year, I read through the little pamphlet they sent me with all the events in it and I think we will go to the Fact or Fiction panel first, then go to the History of Anthropology, and then…”
I tuned her out as she continued to talk about all the many things she planned on doing at Anthro Con and instead reveled in the feeling of no longer having a giant weight on my back. Soon enough we had reached the train station, and by 8:50 we had boarded the train out of Ponyville. “You all right Tavi?” Vinyl asked as we were ushered to our booth. “I don’t think I’ve seen you smile this much in… ever, actually.”
I quickly contained my smile before answering Vinyl’s question, “You will have to pardon my enthusiasm, it’s just that,” I paused to suppress the laughter that was building in my throat, “I am quite excited to see other parts of Equestria.”
“You mean you are excited to leave Pony-”
“Don’t say it while we are still in the town,” I said, cutting her off, “The town might hear you and decide to stop us.”
“Uhmm, yeah, of course. Silly me,” Vinyl said before looking back at Lyra and Bon Bon and exchanging a look with them.
The four of us then fell into conversation, with Lyra and Vinyl enthusiastically discussing Anthro Con while Bon Bon and I spoke about the other attractions near the Baltimare Harbor. “Oh, there is this wonderful bar next to the convention center. I always go there when all the Anthro stuff gets a bit overwhelming to me.”
Lyra wrapped a foreleg around Bon Bon and drew her close at that, “Don’t sell yourself short Bonnie, you had a lot of fun last year. You even won the human dancing contest.”
“Human dancing contest?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.
“Yeah,” Lyra said, positively beaming, “It’s like a dancing contest, but you have to dance on your two back legs like a human would.”
Bon Bon’s face was turning a very vivid shade of crimson, “It’s nothing, I just like dancing, and all the time I spend on my back legs making sweets gave me a bit of an edge.”
A sudden shrill whistle pierced through the air then and a few seconds later the train was pulling away from the station. “Whoo! Baltimare here we come,” Vinyl said, cheering. “I can’t wait to get to the Mareiott, our room… you’re gonna love it Tavi.”
“What is so special about our room?” I asked. “I would assume it is very similar to most other rooms in most other hotels.”
“Yeah, but…” She trailed off for a few seconds before waving a hoof in the air dismissively, “You will see.” Vinyl turned her attention back to Lyra and they resumed talking about all the many things they could do at Anthro Con while I closed my eyes and focused on the clacking of the wheels.
A few minutes later, the conductor’s voice crackled on the speaker system, “Mares and Gentlecolts, we have just left Ponyville’s city limits. Pl-”
My ecstatic cheering drowned out the rest of his announcement, “We’re free. I’m free. You thought you could break me, Ponyville, drive me to the edge of sanity, but you were wrong and now I’m free of you for almost two entire weeks. Free to recover and grow stronger and prepare for your inevitable counter attack, because Octavia Melody will not be beaten by the likes of you!” My attention turned to the three friends who were in the cabin with me, and I suddenly became aware of just how eccentric my outburst seemed to them. “I apologize,” I said, bowing my head in apology, “Perhaps my enthusiasm at the prospect of leaving Ponyville got the better of me and my sense of decorum.”
“It… it’s alright,” Vinyl said, patting me on the back, “You’ve had a very rough week and it’s only natural that you’d be excited about spending some time away from… things.” Things like the chaos god that was conspiring with Ponyville to drive me insane. Unsuccessfully conspiring, I feel compelled to add.
For the next several hours we talked about a great multitude of issues, with Vinyl graciously occupying Lyra when she wished to talk about Anthro Con and allowing Bon Bon and I to have an appropriate civil conversation.
“Oh hey, Tavi,” Vinyl said as the sun reached its mid point, “We are in the Appleachian Mountains, the heart of the Apple Family’s mercantile empire.”
“I’d hardly count having a monopoly on all apple related products to be a mercantile empire.”
Vinyl laughed at that, “They don’t just do Apples, they’ve been branching out for years. I mean, they struck big with Apple Records when they signed on the Beat-Tails, but just recently they started branching out with Apple Technologies which makes… something or another. There are other things too, but if you want to do business in Equestria, you are going to have to do it with the Apples.”
“Huh, that hardly seems fair for other business owners and… wait, did you say Apple Records?” I asked as my mind finally caught up with my mouth.
She nodded.
“The fastest growing upstart in the record industry that my father once charitably described as ‘a gnat nipping at the heels of giants?’ That Apple Records?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
I permitted myself to smile at that revelation. “Oh, no reason really. Just putting some puzzle pieces together.”
Vinyl let out a very undignified snort at that, “Fine, keep me in the dark then, see what I care. I mean, it’s not like I am going around being mysterious and keeping secrets from you.”
“I’m sorry Vinyl,” I said, frowning, “It’s just I am not sure how to properly process this news. On the one hoof, the chance of seeing my parents be humbled feels incredibly cathartic, but on the other hoof, I just want the three of us to put the past behind us.”
She smiled and pressed her lips again mine, “It’s fine, you have a lot going on and I can’t even begin to figure out how I would feel in your place, I mean, my parents loved and supported me.”
I glared at her.
“Not to say that your parents didn’t love you, but you have to admit that they didn’t really support you… like, at all.”
With a sigh, I nodded my head in agreement. “I understand your objections, and I will admit that objectively they were probably some of the worst parents in Equestria, but a small part of me still hopes for a happy reconcilliation, even though I admit such a thing is an implausible foal’s dream.”
“Hey,” Vinyl said, patting me on the back, “I kind of get it. I mean, I don’t understand what it is like, but I get that your feelings on the matter are probably pretty mixed up. Does that make some sense?”
I nodded my head, “Of course, and the only reason I am able to see them at all and attempt reconciliation is because I know you will be by my side throughout the ordeal.”
After that, Lyra and Bon Bon voiced their support, and soon enough the conversation had moved back to Anthro Con while Bon Bon and I occasionally managed to steer it towards the topic of just what we would do on the cruise, with the near universal consensus being to relax and take in the view. Eventually, the other three drifted off to sleep, with Bon Bon professing that she and Lyra were used to a nap in early afternoon, and Vinyl still being tired from having to get up before noon, even though she and I went to bed at the exact same time last night, and I feel perfectly fine.
With the three of them asleep, I decided to take a tour of the train and carefully removed myself from our cabin. After only a few minutes of searching, I managed to find the bar, and and take a seat (Granted, finding a bar on a train is not an impressive feat as there are only two directions that I could explore in).
“Well hello, little lady, what can I get you?” The bartender said while polishing a glass and I was struck by how utterly cliche the situation was. If I hadn’t desperately wanted a drink, I might have just turned around and left.
“Let’s see, I am being dragged to Anthro Con, and then after that, I have to meet my parents who I haven’t spoken with in several years. Also, I am still working to suppress the memory of a series of traumatic deaths, so let’s go with something strong.”
The bartender barely batted an eye at that as he pulled out a glass bottle containing a clear fluid. “I’m sorry to hear that, were the ponies who died close to you?”
“Very.”
“You know, if you want to talk about what happened, I’d be more than happy to listen,” he said as he poured my drink.
I shook my head, “I appreciate the offer, but I am trying to repress the memories, not relive them. Besides, discussing my problems with a bartender strikes me as something more at home in a bad story than real life.” I raised my glass up after he finished pouring, “But thank you very much for the drink.”
Eyeing the unknown substance with a sense of unease, I drew it closer to my lips, and then took one of the tiniest sips imaginable. It was actually a rather lovely drink. Quite strong, but it managed not to overwhelm the palate as long as I didn’t do anything idiotic and attempt to consume the entire glass in one gulp. “This… This is quite good,” I said, taking a slightly bolder sip, “Tell me, what is it? There is a faint taste to it that I don’t recognize.”
He smiled and nodded as he put away the bottle, “That would be the juniper berries, drinking gin is probably the only time most ponies actually taste them these days. To be more specific, that was a glass of Hayeater gin, although if you are willing to try something a bit more refined, I could crack open a bottle of Original Blue Gin.”
“This will be fine for now,” I said after taking another sip. “If I want anything more, I will let you know.”
There was some non-commital mumbling on his end and I went back to sipping my gin. After a few experimental tastes, I concluded that I preferred it to the wines I had sampled previously. While the wines were fine, they struck me as trying to hard, as if they somehow desperately wanted you to enjoy them. Gin, on the other hoof, was quite content to be itself. It didn’t care if you liked it and if not consumed properly it would very easily overpower and burn your taste buds. It was a confident drink, and I found myself thinking that it possessed that same ease and sophistication that first drew me to Canterlot and the cello all those years ago.
I spent the next several hours sipping my gin while the bartender spoke to other patrons before looking at the clock and seeing it was almost three in the afternoon. I decided to head back to our room to see if Vinyl and the rest of the group had awoken from their nap yet.
“Hey,” Vinyl said as I walked back into the room, “Where were you off to?” As she spoke, she groggily rubbed the last bit of sleep out of her eye.
“I decided to take a walk around the train and I might have had a drink or two.” I stumbled into my seat, the gin affecting my coordination and managing to take the edge off of the last few days. As I sat down with my friends, I felt the tingling combination of optimism and friendliness that only comes from a few drinks.
“You had a drink in the middle of the afternoon?” Vinyl asked, a look of concern entering into her eyes.
I nodded my head enthusiastically not concerned about how improper such a display of enthusiasm might be. “Yes. After our talk I was feeling… a little nervous, so I thought a glass or two of alcohol might to calm my nerves. It did. Also, I can’t believe I never tried gin until today.”
“You had gin?” Bon Bon asked, lifting her head up. “How many glasses did you have?”
“I only had a couple of glasses, well, I suppose three doesn’t constitute a couple, but not many, that is the point.”
“Yeah, you realize that proper distilled gin is like… 40% alcohol right? You might want to just relax for a minute, or an hour, you know, just… stay calm and don’t do too much. You get kind of funny when you drink,” Vinyl said, stroking my mane.
“What do you mean?” I asked, “The last time I had a few drinks we had a lovely time and I believe that actually started our relationship.”
“True,” she said, nodding her head, “But you always freak out once you sober up and in four hours or so you will be chastising me for allowing you to be so affectionate in front of Lyra and Bon Bon.”
“It’s fine,” Lyra said, “Oh! On the subject of being overly affectionate, the sound-proofing spell you have on our walls, it was designed by you to only work one way, so we can hear any loud noises you make in Tavi’s bedroom. I tried fixing that, but I don’t want to interfere with the spell matrix you used and cancel out both of our spells.”
“Wait,” I said, suddenly feeling the blood drain from my face, “Do you mean to say that you have been hearing us whenever…”
The two of them nodded.
“Well,” I said, trying to smile, “I suppose that makes us even for the time Vinyl cancelled her sound proofing spell when I first moved to Ponyville.” Vinyl was right, I would be absolutely mortified by intoxicated me’s actions now that I have had a chance to sober up. Thankfully, I will rectify that situation as soon as I am done writing this entry by heading to the hotel bar and sampling some more fine gins.
Lyra and Bon Bon stared at me in shock. “Vinyl?” I asked, “I didn’t tell them about that incident did I?”
She shook her head. “No. No you didn’t.”
“Listen, it happened on…” I searched my brain for when exactly that incident had happened, “I think it might have been my fourth or fifth day here, and I really can’t hold it against you. In fact, I am almost nostalgic for the days when hearing two of my best friends being intimate with each other was considered unpleasant. I’m sorry for not telling you about the incident, but I thought such a thing would be improper and would just create an unnecessary tension in our relationships.”
Finally, Bon Bon mustered up the courage to speak. “You, you didn’t… How much did you hear?”
“Not much, I think I fled the room at about the time you were mentioning something about magic fingers. Now I have to ask what you heard from Vinyl and I.”
Bon Bon responded, but I have decided to omit this section of the day’s events. Let us just sum up and say that Lyra and Bon Bon heard quite a few things and that I was appropriately mortified by the discovery. On the upside, Lyra and Vinyl didn’t talk about Anthro Con for some time as we instead sat in an uncomfortable silence. I actually quite enjoyed not being the only one who was terribly embarrassed for once.
“Hey,” Vinyl said, valiantly trying to dispel the uncomfortable silence that had befallen our group, “Like Tavi said, we both heard some things we would rather not hear, and its not like anypony got hurt, so you know, let’s just move on.” Ah Vinyl, I love the way you try to fix any terrible situation you find yourself in, even if it can be a touch annoying when the problem has no easy solution. However, in this particular instance, it seemed to be effective, as our friends quickly fell back into conversation with each other, and soon enough I was being subjected to tales of Anthro Con past. Thank you, Vinyl.
“Oh, Vinyl, remember that Anthro Con like… five years ago, where it was us and Homage? We stayed up until four in the morning playing Cards Against Equanity and drinking… Hey Vinyl, what were we drinking that night? Remember, it was that weird blue stuff?”
Vinyl had gone completely rigid, her continence turned into a grimace. “Lyra, I hadn’t spoken about Homage to Tavi yet... I was planning on doing that once we got to the hotel room.”
“Homage?” I asked, “Based on your reaction, I would guess that she is an old marefriend.”
“Not just an old marefriend,” Lyra said, speaking before Vinyl could think of a response, “They dated kind of on and off for years. Half the time they were in their room working on DJ stuff, and the other half of the time they spent fighting.
“Lyra,” Bon Bon said, “Maybe we should let Vinyl do most of the talking and give the two of them some space.” Her tone left no doubt that this was less of a question and more of a demand, and the two of them walked out of our room.
“Vinyl,” I said, “I understand that you have had multiple marefriends in the past, and I don’t ask you to tell me everything about them, in fact I would prefer to be left in the dark about some details, but I am concerned about why you are having such a reaction to the mention of her name.”
She took a deep breath to steady herself before speaking, “Right, and… wait, you aren’t upset?”
I shook my head, “You dated ponies before we met, and the fact that you had substantially more life experience than I did was one of the things that first drew me to you. Well, that and the fact that you seem to have this general unflappability that is currently missing, which brings me back to my question of: Why did the mere mention of your former marefriend make you so stressed?”
“You see,” she began, “We kind of had a rocky relationship. Like, half the time it was wonderful and we were spending all this time together and doing stuff and the other half of the time we just kind of fought with each other and bickered and we would stop seeing each other for a while, then a month or so later we would run into each other and the whole thing would start again.That went on for about four years, until I eventually got tired of doing the same thing over and over.”
“So you broke things off with her in a firm fashion making it clear that there would be no future reconciliation and she didn’t take that well,” I said, thinking I had finally figured out why Vinyl was so stressed at the mere mention of her name. If the two had parted on less than amicable terms then it was only natural that she would-
“Not quite,” she said, interrupting my train of thought and destroying the sense of satisfaction that came with having solved the mystery.
“It was more like I decided to just stop seeing her ever. Like, I haven’t taken a gig outside of Ponyville in months cause that is when we usually run into each other.”
“But she doesn’t come to Ponyville?” I asked, not wanting to make any assumptions.
“Nah,” she said, shaking her head, “She’s kind of like you that way. Would much rather be living it up in a big city than spending any time in Ponyville.”
“I wonder why.”
“So anyways,” she continued, “I figured if I didn’t leave Ponyville for a while, I would have some time to sort my life out.”
I groaned, “Vinyl, I adore you, but why in Equestria would you exile yourself to Ponyville? How can running into an old marefriend be worse than staying in that town?”
“Because,” she said with a sigh, “I wanted something more than what I had, I mean, I am 26 years old, every time I visit my parents they ask if I found somepony nice, and I guess I just decided that I would rather have a mature relationship as opposed to something fun and volatile.”
“You know,” I said, still feeling the alcohol clouding my judgment and lowering my inhibitions, “A lesser mare might be upset with you for implying that our relationship isn’t fun. However, I understand the intent and have decided not to hold it against you this time and will instead applaud your efforts to mature as a mare.”
She started to say something and raised a hoof, “And yes, I am aware that, considering my bouts of instability, praising for your maturity might seem a touch hypocritical.”
“Actually, I was going to say that our relationship is way more fun than the one with Homage. I mean, maybe it’s not the same type of fun you’d have in a rave at three in the morning, but it’s like that feeling of satisfaction that comes from doing a knock-out set at a gig.”
“Could you translate that for those of us who don’t speak DJ?” I asked unsure of whether or not I should be upset at the comparison.
Vinyl tapped her chin in thought, “Well, you know that silly mindless fun you get from going to a party or like when you have a one night stand with this mare who is really good in… No, bad example. It’s like the difference between hearing a song and performing a song. One is quick and easy to digest but not rewarding in the long term and the other takes a lot of practice and work and isn’t easy at all, but also makes you feel like you did something important.”
I finally gave in to the temptation to be difficult. I blame the alcohol. “So what you are saying is that your relationship with me is less fun and more taxing hard work.” I smiled and leaned against the window in our room (There has to be a better word to describe those little rooms in trains. I must look into this later for future journal entries).
“Yeah, that is exactly what I am saying,” she said, returning the smile, “Its just work all the time. It’s actually pretty maddening.”
“Well, thank you for talking about all of this with me. But I still don’t see what caused you to get so upset when Lyra mentioned her name.”
“Oh right,” she said rubbing the back of her head, “Well, the thing is that Homage pretty regularly DJs for Anthro Con and we might possibly run into her. So… probably should have led with that, actually.”
“It’s… It’s fine, “I said, “There are going to be thousands of ponies here right?”
She nodded.
“So the odds are that we won’t even run into her and everything will be fine.” I would like to blame the alcohol for my blatant tempting of fate. If I was still in Ponyville, Homage probably would have barged into our room that instant. As it was, I still had a few hours left before I felt absolute hatred. “Anyways, we should probably go find Lyra and Bon Bon.”
“Actually, we probably shouldn’t. If Lyra and Bon Bon are alone on a train, they are probably very alone.”
“You mean they are…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
“Most likely,” she said, nodding, “The two of them are… It’s always so cool how into each other they are even though they’ve been dating for like years.”
I nuzzled her neck, not needing to say anything and fearing that if I did speak I would engage in some gross sentimentality such as saying that we could work on having what they have, although without the train sex. Just thinking about either the display of sentimentality or the public acts of… affection makes me shutter. Instead, we were quite content to sit next to each other and let the minutes pass away in silence until our friends returned.
“Thank you,” Vinyl said after some time had passed.
“For what?” I asked, still resting my head against her neck.
“For… I don’t know, not being totally insane. I mean, compared to most of my other marefriends you are like a bastion of reason.”
“That’s… actually incredibly sad.”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding, “But I mean, you have your issues sure, but you’re heart is always in the right place, and I guess that is what matters to me.”
I smiled at that, “I know I’ve already thanked you quite a bit for supporting me both physically and mentally the last few weeks, but I just wanted to…” I trailed off as my thoughts slipped away from me, “Thank you, you are the one shining light that keeps me sane in Ponyville.”
She laughed at that, “Come on, it’s not all bad.”
“Well, Lyra and Bon Bon are lovely if a bit eccentric, and I suppose I am rather fond of Rarity and a few other ponies as well. The town itself can burn though.”
“Okay, but the town has some other charms right?”
I shook my head. “Sorry Vinyl, I can’t same I’m overly fond of the myriad ways the town keeps trying to break me.”
Her smile immediately shifted into an expression of concern. “Can you stop saying things like that? It makes me worry that you actually think the town is some malevolent entity.”
“But it is! You’ve seen what it’s done to me, how could you possibly think otherwise? Maybe it doesn’t have a vendetta against you, but it hates me with a passion.”
“Alright,” she said, rubbing her forehead, “I can see why you would have some… decent reasons to think that, just… I worry you know? About how you are coping with all that’s happened, and when you start talking like that I can practically see the cracks forming.”
The expression of concern calmed me to an extent and I decided to relent in my accusations, and moved to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for looking after me, and I promise you that I’m… well, I’m still not fine, but I’m trying to keep everything together and I promise that I won’t go stark raving mad. After all, I am the only sane mare left in Equestria.” In hindsight, saying that out loud probably didn’t help my claim, but Vinyl let it pass without comment. After that, we passed the time until Lyra and Bon Bon’s returned by listening to the faint clacking of the train’s wheels as my head rested on Vinyl’s side. If I must say anything positive about the town, it has certainly taught me to savor the fleeting moments of idle perfection and to treasure them during the ensuing maelstrom of madness.
The maelstrom of madness ensued as Lyra and Bon Bon barged back into our room, with Lyra bouncing around excitedly, “Gals! Did you hear? Our train is only a half hour away from the station. Thirty minutes! That’s thirty minutes until we are in Baltimare and only an hour until we are in the registration line for Anthro Con!”
Bon Bon looked at us sympathetically, “We might have had some coffee while we explored the train and…” She brushed an errant hair off to her side and I noted that both of their manes were in a state of disarray, “Well, she is rather excited about Anthro Con.”
“I would have never guessed,” I said.
If the earlier hours of hearing Lyra speak about Anthro Con had been unpleasant, this last half hour was absolutely unbearable as she absolutely refused to let anypony else get a word into the conversation, but thankfully, I managed to tune her out until the train came to a complete stop and Vinyl tapped me on the shoulder to bring me back to reality. “You alright Tavi? You were just kind of staring off into space for a while.”
I nodded and looked around to find Lyra and Bon Bon missing. “Where is everypony else?”
“Lyra bolted out of the room about five seconds before the train started slowing down, so let’s go find her before she reaches the convention center.”
We walked out and got our baggage before heading out into the streets of Baltimare. As cities went, I had seen better. The city reeked of the ocean and raw fish, but the streets were all paved and it was an actual city, so I couldn’t complain too terribly much. I walked down the city streets simply happy to be in a city that had some degree of culture, even if it paled in comparison to Canterlot or even Manehattan.
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of being in an actual, honest to goodness city was marred by the groups of poorly dressed mares and stallions who were heading in the same direction we were. If their costumes hadn’t been so absolutely outlandish and ridiculous looking, they might have brought back unpleasant memories from an event which shall remain rather nameless and hopefully out of every last recess of my mind.
Most of the ponies were wearing pants, an article of clothing I am made to understand is traditionally worn by the minotaurs for formal occasions. However, as Lyra explained repeatedly and enthusiastically whenever I asked a question, humans are bipedal and have a peculiar nudity taboo, meaning they wear pants at all times, even when they are sleeping and showering if Lyra is to be believed. I must make a note to ask Twilight about this when I return as she claims to have visited humans, or I could completely forget about this issue and try to do something productive with my time.
“So, Vinyl, do these ponies actually believe humans exist or are they just…”
“They are mostly just fans of the movie serials,” she said as we moved several paces behind Lyra and Bon Bon, “There aren’t many diehard fans like Lyra.”
“Then, just to make sure we are clear,” I said, “Even the other anthropologists think Lyra is a touch eccentric.”
“Sure,” she said as we were surrounded by more and more anthropologists, “But you know Lyra is one of the nicest ponies around and completely harmless.”
“I know,” I said, muttering, “Like I said earlier, she is a dear friend to me, but I am still having trouble getting used to the idea of a grown mare being interested in humans. Just look at these ponies, some of them look relatively normal, but most of them just look odd.”
“Come on, these are normal ponies, if they weren’t dressed up you wouldn’t even know they were anthropologists.”
I let out a sigh as we entered into the Mareiott, “Of course I wouldn’t, I don’t normally suspect ponies of being anthropologists.”
We then checked into the hotel with Lyra prodding us the entire time to hurry up. I didn’t really see why she was so anxious, but then, I don’t think humans are real, so I suppose there is a very fundamental difference in viewpoints that I have yet to bridge. As promised, our room was lovely and the view of the Baltimare Harbor was… perhaps stunning is too strong a word, but it was definitely gorgeous. I look at it now and it is a ring of lights surrounding a black inky void, but at sunset when the last rays of Celestia’s sun were reflected off the harbor surface, then it was something to behold. At least the view is noteworthy, I thought as I started unpacking my luggage.
“What are you doing?” Vinyl asked while I made sure that all of my bowties were neatly arranged in one of the dresser drawers.
“Unpacking of course, we can’t let our clothes stay inside our suitcases this entire trip can we?”
She shrugged. “Why not?”
I rolled my eyes, “For reasons of basic hygiene and standards. Now I want to have at least one night on the town before all of this anthropology business starts in earnest.”
“Well you can do that after we register.” She gestured towards our door. “Come on.”
“Can’t you register for me? Unlike some ponies, I didn’t get to take a nap on the train ride, and I would like to see what Baltimare has to offer.”
She just smiled and kissed me again, “Stop complaining, I promise it will be fun.”
Registration was not fun. The second I was walked in I was assaulted by the odor of a thousand unwashed bodies, and I felt as if the stench was somehow permeating my coat. Thankfully, I managed not to wretch as we walked up to Lyra and Bon Bon, who were both dressed as, humans, I suppose. They were both standing on their hind legs while wearing a shirt and pants. They also had fitted prosthetic gloves to their forehooves to imitate hands. To make things worse, they weren’t the only ponies walking around on two legs. “Just… I have so many questions,” I said, “But I suppose they can all boil down to just… Why?”
“Well,” Lyra said, not picking up on my disdain, “I always dress up as a human for Anthro Con, see, I have this back brace to allow me to walk around on two feet and then we have these prosthetic hands to complete the effect. I made them myself. You should totally go to the vendor store and pick up a shirt or too. Not many ponies are walking around without wearing any anthro-merch.” She gestured over towards Vinyl and I looked behind me to find that my roommate was currently wearing a shirt with a cartoonish human and the phrase “Friendship is Science” on it. Traitor.
“I will do that after we registered,” I said, doing my best to be diplomatic. “It’s fascinating how much work you put into this one costume.”
“Thanks!” Lyra said, positively beaming, “But its not just this costume, I brought a whole bunch of them with me. In fact, I could probably loan you one of my old back braces and…” She pulled a notebook and pencil out of her pocket with her magical abilities and began to draw furiously. “There,” she floated the notebook over to where I could see it, “What do you think?”
It was… Actually, the drawing wasn’t that terrible on a conceptual level. The human depicted was obviously meant to represent me, wearing my bowtie and carrying herself with my signature pride and dignity. However, this version of me was wearing a white dress shirt, a grey vest, and a black suit. “That’s… that’s actually not bad. You drew all this just now?”
“Oh no,” she said, shaking her head and laughing, “I have anthro versions of all of my friends, I just made a few quick changes to your version, your hairstyle was all wrong in the drawing and I had to fix it.”
“Well, it’s very well done, and I suppose it wouldn’t kill me to dress up. Just… don’t tell anypony I know.”
“Really?” She asked, her eyes lighting up as she cartwheeled around us. The mare certainly knew how to walk and move like a human, and I imagined her spending many an evening practicing walking in her basement. Such a guess probably wasn’t too far off the mark. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, thank you!” Without thinking she wrapped me in a tight embrace and I let out a whimper of protest as she pressed against my still mending ribs.
“Right, sorry,” she said as she let me go, “It’s just nopony but Bonnie has ever agreed to cosplay with me before. I guess Vinyl tried, but she is no good at walking on two legs and she pretty much trashed our hotel room. I’m so excited!”
Vinyl leaned in next to me and whispered, “You realize you pretty much have to dress up with her now, right?”
I sighed and nodded, “It’s what I get for being diplomatic. Still, when in Roam, right?”
“That’s the spirit,” she said, patting me on the back. “Who knows, we just might make an anthropologist of you yet.”
I scoffed at that.
We slowly made our way through the line, inexorably advancing towards what I assumed to be the end of the line before discovering that there was still plenty of more line left for us to suffer through. Lyra’s constant enthusiasm as she explained every part of the human mythos and what things she thought the creators got wrong actually managed to calm me and distract me from this never-ending line.
“Hey Vinyl,” somepony from behind me said. I turned to find a pair of dark blue forelegs wrapped firmly around my marefriend’s waist. Vinyl’s expression of shock and surprise neatly mirrored my own.
“Homage,” she said cooly as she removed herself from the other pony’s embrace, allowing me to see the mare I was quickly developing an intense dislike for. Her coat was a dark blue and her shockingly purple mane was styled into a mohawk. A closer inspection revealed other things for me to dislike, such as the her nose and eyebrow rings, the arrogance she carried herself with, and, of course, the fact she just hugged my marefriend so casually. Still, a calmer voice inside of me argued, we shouldn’t be so rash to make our judgments.
I reluctantly agreed with myself and thought that perhaps my own jealousy was tainting my view of the mare. After all, friends hug each other all the time.
As if reading my mind, Homage leaned in to try and pilfer a kiss from my marefriend who had the good sense of stepping out of the way. The voice in my head urging me to withhold judgment grew substantially quieter.
“Hey, what’s the matter? You’re acting like I’m a stranger or something,” Homage said.
“Homage,” Vinyl said with far more civility than I would have, “This is my marefriend Tavi.”
She turned to face me and I could practically feel the distaste radiating from her. I did my best to match it. “Huh,” she said, “You don’t look like one of DJ-P0N3’s typical fanfillies, but maybe she is looking for a bit of variety in her rebounds.”
Alright, the better angel of my nature said, feel free to kick her flank.
“Actually,” I said, doing my best to remain cordial while fantasizing about her suffering through any one of the gruesome deaths I had experienced first hoof. Apparently all I needed to do to be able to think about Nightmare Night without having one of my episodes was imagine all of the terrible things that happened to me happening to someone I well and truly detested. “I had never heard of DJ-P0N3 until after I moved in with-”
“Oh, I get it,” Homage said, “Vinyl must have finally cracked and gotten a Prench maid. She always did have a weakness for servants.”
“Homage, please,” Vinyl began to say, but I cut her off.
“A maid? Listen here you sullen wench, I don’t know who the buck you think you are, but allow me to educate you about who I am. I am Octavia Melody, hoofpicked by the Princesses to form the second royal orchestra. I have gone through tribulations your tiny mind couldn’t even begin to conceive. I am not a maid, I am most certainly not a rebound, and I will not suffer your insults a second longer, so GET OUT!”
My friends and approximately half of the line looked at me, shocked by my outburst while Homage just rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. Geeze, psycho much?” She walked away before turning back to face us. “And Vinyl, if you want to spend time with a mare who isn’t completely nuts and perhaps relive some old memories, you know where to find me.”
Before I could chase her down and beat her into a purple and blue pulp, she had faded into the crowd and I was left to fume whilst staring at the spot I had last seen her. “Do you think she managed to register before us?” Lyra asked, “Because if not, she is totally going to lose her spot in line.”
“Lyra, do you remember our discussion about the appropriate time and place for comments?”
She nodded.
“Do you think that now is the appropriate time to be asking if Homage managed to register before us?”
“Probably not,” she said, looking back towards me. “Hey, Tavi, are you alrigh-”
“No I’m not alright,” I said, turning to face her, “When Vinyl was discussing her old marefriend, she neglected to mention the fact that she was completely insufferable and…” I moved to massage my forehead with one hoof. “You know what, just forget it.”
“Hey, I know what will cheer you up.” Her head bobbed up and down head rhythmically, a piano began to play from… somewhere, and she started to sing.
Human beings fascinate me, being just the way they are.
“Please tell me she isn’t about to start singing,” I said, turning to face to Vinyl.
As if to answer my question several ponies joined in for the second line.
Tell me, little pony, can you push a cart or drive a car?
“Of course they are,” I said before Vinyl could appropriately answer. In fact, the traitor had started to sing along. By the fourth line, half of the crowd had joined in and some were to engage in choreographed dancing.
It’s a mystery, anthropology!
“Oh that’s it,” I said to nopony in particular as I turned towards the exit, “I have to get out of here.”
Fingers, toes, and tiny noses, brownish hair and tannish skin
Would it be too much to ask to see the world they’re living in?
Everybody tells me that it’s old and fake mythology.
It’s a mystery, anthropology!
“Excuse me,” I said as I worked to jostle my way past the singers, “Step aside, sane mare, coming through, make way.” By now, most everypony had joined in with the choreographed musical number that my friend had started in an effort to cheer me up. It probably would have been kind to stay around and listen, and the readiness with which these ponies joined the song was impressive, but on the other hoof, I wasn’t about to listen to a thousand off-key voices singing about humans.
Aren’t you bored of brushing your coat, styling your mane with your hooves?
I don’t mean to butt in and gloat, but ancient history prooooves!
The door was just a few feet away. Of course, those few feet were positively packed with dancing ponies, but if I timed my movements just right, I should be able to slip through an opening.
Humans don't have wings or magic. They don't need it; they don't care!
All they've got's imagination, new inventions everywhere!
Babies, children, teens and elders, all alike have clothes to wear
It's so real to me, anthropology!
Albert Einstein, Cleopatra, William Shakespeare, Elton John,
Michael Phelps, Barack Obama...who's to say that they're all gone?
Maybe humans like us too and dress like us at BronyCon?
It's so real to me, anthropology!
Yeah, they've had a couple of fights,
Nobody's perfect you see,
Still I say I'm born with the rights
to study whatever I please!
There it was, the opening I needed. With one last frantic dash, I rushed through the swirling mass of dancing ponies, carefully weaving through the opening they had created while running the risk of being completely surrounded by a single misstep. Thankfully, I managed to reach the door within a few seconds.
I don’t need to horse around now. I can stand on two legs!
I would trade my magic powers for a pair of new legs!
Grab your camera, come on, zoom in
‘Cause your favorite mare’s a human,
ME!
I turned back to look at the group of singing ponies one last time, At the center of the impromptu musical number, Lyra was being held up by a group of ponies. “You’re all crazy!” I shouted before walking out the door.
That is who I’ll-
I slammed the door and walked out onto the Baltimare streets, relishing the sounds of normal city life filling the air while walking back to my hotel room. If the next three days are going to be like this, I might just stay in my room drinking. In fact, I am tempted to do that anyways.
However, it’s currently getting late, so I think I will go downstairs for a nightcap and wait for Vinyl to get back from registration as it is currently almost midnight, and I am wondering what is taking so long. A small part of my mind worries that she went to visit Homage, but I am doing everything I can to drown that voice out. Hopefully, the next few days will be a touch less insane, and the nagging fear that is developing in my gut will prove unfounded.
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a few things I can see in the future for octavia. octy getting into a fight with homage, not needing a back brace to stand on to legs and winning the dance contest that bon bon won the year prior. oh and please, please when the inevitable fight happens octavia needs to be a total bad ass
EDIT: I forgot to add that I see what you did there with homage and vinyl scratch
You know now I'm beginning to wonder whether or not Moldy truly was sentient or if Tavi completely snapped and imagined a blob monster talking to her. After all she does seem to think Ponyville is a malevolent entity akin to Rarity's view of Everfree Castle. Don't worry Tavi it will get better, and look at it this way now you have a way to channel your panic when you think about death or costumes.
Looking forward to the next chapter :).
3888300 I thought the same thing but then I remembered that vinyl talks to it as well
I just about lost it at the musical number. Yeah, Octy is slipping. Pretty much a Silent Hill complex now.
3889891 I think we might be slipping into unreliable narrator territory, not because I think Tavi is lying about her journal entries but because the reality she perceives differs somewhat from the actual world around her.
okay seriously that song has been stuck in my head fro the past two days
3898210 That's only partially my fault.
3886226 Responding to your Edit. Do you mean the fact that Homage is clearly an homage to Homage?
3898253 from foe yea,
3898236 I know, I am the one who looked up the video to listen to it
must withhold "Thanks Obama!" jokes.
Barack Obama made me an anthropologist.....THANKS OBAMA!
Private Dangle approves this story.
3901830 Hmm, I thought I had deleted all references to Dire Wolves in the revised draft. I'll have to look through soon and fix it.
Since you asked, I wanted to do something kind of different for Nightmare Night and not use a monster seen in the show. I initially wrote it as dire wolves, decided that was too similar to Timber Wolves, and so I changed them to the iron bulls because I am not particularly creative.
3927226 Thank you for the compliment. I tried coming up with a joke about how you were in for a disappointment since there are still about a hundred thousand words left in the chapter and that they now have no hope of being as good as that one line, but I couldn't quite make it work. Hope you enjoy the other chapters.
is it sad that I have been thinking of occurrences where octavia goes to a bar for a drink and gets into a conversation with somepony who seems normal at first, tells her that they find anthro con amusing because of how they view humans, and then telling her in hushed tones that they used to be one
As much as I love going to conventions and hanging out with my fellow social misfits, I agree with Octavia about the smell of Con Funk. Social skills aside (or lack thereof) is it too much to ask to take a shower before coming to the con? That many entities in such an enclosed space only makes it worse.
And yes Octavia, Ponyville is out to get you. Being so close to the Everfree has given it a collective sentience. Give yourself time to build up antibodies to it and the town will gradually ignore you in favor of whoever moves in after you.
There was a song in anthropology?
Lol phelps...
4497550
this story started out great, and fun to read. now... Its not, there is just so much drama and angst going on and there dose not seem to have a point to it. it seem like you had to many idea and you just tired them all.
if you wanted discord to be the bad guy then you should have stuck with it.
4738179 I did have a lot of ideas in this story, and I admit that as a traditional narrative it fails. However, I never designed this story to be a traditional narrative, instead I view each chapter as an episode of a TV show with a lot of creative freedoms, and the whole of the story details all the things that happen to Octavia in her first few months in Ponyville and how she grew as a pony. Yes, it gets dark, but in my mind, it's all so the good can shine brighter.
Obviously, I'm not trying to say your opinion is wrong or invalid, if you think the stories tone shifts too wildly for your taste, that's absolutely fine. I was merely trying to offer my own perspective. If you at least want to see this story have a happy ending, read chapter 30 and Weirdly Wed, and if you now think I'm a terrible writer and don't want to read anymore of my horse words, then that's also okay, but I'm deeply sorry to have lost your readership.
I lost it at the song when it said "maybe they like us too and dress like us at BronyCon?" My only response after a laughing fit was "they know". But how would they have named it BronyCon instead of PonyCon if they didn't know we call ourselves Bronys?
4754118 I was actually using a song in the fandom. It's been posted here several times.
Homage! I laughed a tad bit when you mentioned her name. Fallout Equestria will always be in the back of my mind, and that instant connection right there made me smile. I think Octavia is going to have quite the fun time at AnthroCon with all those crazy ponies. Still a fun story, and now I'm on to the next chapter.
~SolidFire
4953312 Fun might not be the right word to describe the next chapter. It's actually probably closer to the exact opposite of fun for Tavi... and everypony else, actually.
Also, I guess you could say Homage is my homage to Homage.
I think you meant "makes me shudder." I suggest you invest in a dictionary and look up the words you write to see if you are using them properly.
kinda expected anthropolgy to make an appearance :)
Aaand now I'm going to spend the rest of today listening for the last note of anthropology because somepony had to shut the door before the singers in my head went back to tonic.