Chapters The sun began to rise over the horizon of Ponyville, casting its rays across the town. The Apple family was already up and started work on the farm. Across town, a magenta unicorn arose and went about in her own home- a tree- rousing a young dragon unwillingly from his bed and starting breakfast. All across the town ponies started to awake from their dreams to start their days, save for a few like a certain blue pegasus who snoozed away in her suspended cloud home.
Near the center of the town in a house which appeared much like those around it- two stories, thatched roof, bright plants around the windows and foundation- a grey mare stirred in her sleep, mouth and ears twitching slightly. In her mind’s eye she saw a large crowd in front of a brightly lit stage where she stood, waiting for her cue. The mass waited patiently, hushing their neighbors as they watched the refined pony on the stage.
The music started, and she drew her bow across the strings, beginning her part. The back and forth motion, the heavy instrument leaning against her, the slight vibration of the strings- it all felt wonderfully natural to her.
She heard the notes rising and knew the crescendo was coming. She shifted her hoof on the neck of the cello and prepared for the climax-
But the culmination never came.
Unbidden, somewhere far beyond her blissful sphere came a noise that had become too familiar to her. She awoke with a cry, disoriented by the rapid change of standing to lying down. The noise continued, shaking the walls of her room and the frame of her bed. Her sigh was lost in the drumming beats as she swung her body out of bed, feeling the vibration of the floor under her hooves. She muttered darkly to herself, also unheard over the pounding bass.
After a quick session in the washroom, enough to check over her mane to make sure it wasn’t too frazzled and splash some water on her face, she started down the stairs to the kitchen of her house. When she entered she was greeted with the same scene that was there every morning.
A white unicorn with a beautifully styled mane stood was at the counter, manipulating various kitchen utensils with her magic. One of her hooves tapped to the beat of the music (she used that term loosely when referring to her housemate’s tastes) that was emanating from the contraption to the unicorn’s right. Upon further observation, it also appeared that she was singing to the noise- an ironic feat considering there were no vocals.
The white mare turned and saw her friend. “Morning Octy! Sleep well?”
Biting back the dry comeback in her head, she simply replied. “Fairly well, yes. Vinyl, do you mind turning that down a bit? I can feel my teeth vibrating in my hooves.”
“Sure thing, no problem.” Vinyl reached out a hoof and shut off the dishwasher. “Dishes were probably clean a while ago, but I didn’t want to turn off the music.”
Multiple responses came to mind, but Octavia denied each of them. She knew what she was getting into when she decided to share a house with Vinyl. Well… she thought she knew, but it was all water under the bridge now. “Thank you. I see you’ve already started breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure did. I was just finishing up when you came in; here, have some!” She levitated a plate of food in front of her friend’s muzzle. It smelled delicious, but Octavia was a little worried nonetheless. Vinyl was a good cook- a great one actually, she normally did the cooking in their household- but the DJ was also a bit of a prankster. Octavia still remembered the last time she had been on the receiving end of her friend’s shenanigans; come to think of it, that time had involved food as well.
In the end her hunger got the best of her. She took a tentative bite of the food; she didn’t know what it was called. It was flat and seemed to be a kind of cake or bread- based fare. Vaguely she recalled hearing of things like this, but she had never seen or eaten one before. Leave it to Vinyl to cook it for breakfast.
The scent hadn’t lied. The cake was delicious, soft on the outside and fluffy on the inside. After the initial brace for some unpleasant surprise, Octavia couldn’t suppress a moan of satisfaction. She swallowed and took another bite, savoring the new flavor. “Oh Vinyl this is great! What is this?”
“Thanks Octy. I heard about it a while back when I was in Fillydelphia. It’s called a pancake, kind of like a biscuit except flat.” She seemed pleased with the success of her experiment and her housemate’s reaction. “Oh I almost forgot- here, they said syrup goes great with it!”
Octavia eagerly added the molasses to the pancake. Once again, Vinyl was right; the addition of the sweet syrup greatly improved the taste. In the middle of her savoring, she abruptly remembered her manners. Blushing slightly, she swallowed her recent bite and took her plate to the table, ignoring Vinyl’s snickering. Soon enough the unicorn joined her and they ate in companionable silence.
When the last bites had been taken, Vinyl levitated the dishes towards the dishwasher. Octavia noticed and rose slightly from her seat in anxiety. “Oh there’s no need for that, Vinyl. I can do the dishes myself.”
Vinyl cocked an eyebrow at her curiously. She knew that Octavia didn’t like to clean the dishes, owed mainly to her dislike of handling the messy tableware, which is why she tolerated the dishwasher in the first place. It was most odd for her to offer this. “Really Octy? I know how much you hate washing dishes, and the dishwasher could do it much faster.”
“Yes Vinyl, I’m sure.” Octavia really wasn’t, but she was willing to do it to avoid that machine’s noise for a little longer. The price was a relatively small one to pay if she was being honest, and she could always wash later. “It’s my thanks to you for cooking such a wonderful breakfast.”
‘She ain’t fooling anypony; she just doesn’t want to listen to the dishwasher. Well if she really wants to…It might be fun.' Smiling a little to herself, she nodded. “All right, if you really want to, here you go.” She set the dishes down beside the sink.
Octavia winced a little at the clatter, but got up and started regardless. Vinyl remained at the table, smirking while she watched her friend tentatively grab a plate and start scrubbing. About halfway through, the fun began to wear off and she went over and helped her out- this was a job more suited to a unicorn after all. Octavia gave her a grateful smile as the filthy load was lightened.
With both of them working on the chore, the stack quickly lessened until they were left with a pile of sparkling clean plates, cups, and pans. Smiling in victory, the two friends retired to their den, settling into their favorite seats.
“So what do you got going on today Octy?” Vinyl casually flipped through a magazine that had come through the mail recently. Her days were often empty of obligations- a result of mostly being a night life DJ.
“Oh, nothing especially important.” The grey mare also rarely had daily commitments other than practicing her cello both for purpose and pleasure. Occasionally she had an important performance or audition, but they were fewer and farther between than she would like. She didn’t complain though- she enjoyed what she did and the music she played, which was enough for her.
Vinyl mumbled in acknowledgement, used to the response. She knew her friend’s routine well and didn’t comment on it. In truth she wished Octavia would get more opportunities to play; she didn’t really care for classical music but Octavia was passionate about it, and that was enough for her.
A few minutes passed in mutual silence before Vinyl broke the silence. “Octy I’m bored.” The grey mare rolled her eyes, but before she could reply the unicorn saw the motion. “No I don’t mean like that. I mean I’m bored of this place- our house, Ponyville.”
Octavia regarded her friend with greater interest. “What are you talking about Vinyl? I thought you loved Ponyville?”
“I do, but it’s getting boring. We’ve been here for a long time without any change since that trip to Canterlot a while back for the Gala.” She bit back a laugh at her friend’s expression; Octavia didn’t like to talk about the Gala. “That was pretty interesting though.”
After recovering from her flashback, Octavia was still skeptical of what her friend was saying. “So what Vinyl, are you saying you want us to move? Move away from Ponyville? To where?” a thought struck her that darkened her expression. “This better not be an attempt to get us to move to Los Pegasus.”
“Aw man that would be awesome!” The DJ’s eyes lit up with the thought of moving to Los Pegasus. Shaking her head, she continued. “No, that’s not what I mean Octy. I still love Ponyville; no way do I want to move out of it. I was just thinking maybe we should get away for a while, like a vacation!” She smiled expectantly at her friend.
Octavia pondered her words. A vacation did sound rather nice, something to shake up the daily routine- which was rather nonexistent to be truthful. But just the fact that it was Vinyl suggesting it made her wonder what the unicorn had in mind. “What were you thinking of Vinyl? “
“Well, I know this guy who has a sweet cabin up in the mountains. It’s really peaceful and stuff up there, and it won’t cost much, just enough to get there and back and food!” Her eyes sparkled and pleaded her friend. “C’mon Octy it would be so much fun! Just you and me up there relaxing in the mountains, how could you say no to that?”
Octavia had to admit, that did sound rather nice. But spending years as Vinyl’s friend and more housemate had caused her to learn her friend didn’t really do ‘peaceful and relaxing’ well. However Vinyl’s pleading expression proved too much for her- Vinyl always knew how to manipulate her, Celestia curse her. “Oh very well.”
“Yes!” She pumped a hoof in the air. Quickly she leapt up from her seat and started towards the door, levitating her famous shades to her as she walked. “I’ll go talk to him right now, and we can leave by the end of the week! I’ll take care of everything Octy, don’t worry about a thing!” The door closed shut loudly, cutting off her words.
Octavia sighed, and then put a hoof to her head. “‘Don’t worry about a thing.’ Oh what have I done?”
Author's Note
I didn't really know what to do for their breakfast. My own breakfast usually consists of pop tarts and the occasional pancakes/ bacon combo. I wanted Vinyl to be a cook, and she struck me as the kind of person to bring something fresh and new to the table. And although I don't buy the idea of pancakes being fresh or new to Equestria, it was the most believable thing I could come up with. Yeah, that's how creative I am.
The sun was rather high in the sky as the Equestrian Land Transportation Express- known colloquially and affectionately as the “Friendship Express”- idled at the Ponyville station. A few ponies milled about the platform, but per usual the station was rather dead by other cities’ standards.
Octavia stood in the shade of the veranda while Vinyl chatted up a stallion that had appeared a few minutes ago. Their luggage was stacked beside her, leaned precariously against a nearby pole. Missing from the pile was the distinctive shape of her own cello, something she had dearly wished she had brought. Her previous arguments of weight and distraction from spending time with her friend seemed feeble and hollow in the midst of standing and listening to Vinyl’s (to her ears) comical flirts.
Sighing, she dug into her saddlebags and pulled out the book she had brought with her. It was one of the renowned Daring Do novels- not her typical cup of tea, but she had been intrigued nonetheless. While she didn’t care as much for the action sequences, she did find the character and personal life of the mythical adventurer to be extremely engaging. It was something she regarded as something of a guilty pleasure- especially when she had discovered others’ personal tales of the heroin’s more… intimate encounters. She shuddered, wishing she had never found those stories.
Just as she finished the telling of Daring’s escape from the Crystal Isle she heard the telltale whistle of the train announce its imminent departure. She stowed the book in her saddlebag and readied herself to board just as Vinyl bid goodbye to the stallion and came back to her side, giggling slightly. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the nearest bag and pulled it behind her to the train. A unicorn staff member noticed her and graciously used his own magic to assist her. She smiled and nodded her thanks before boarding.
The two friends chose a bench near the back of the car and settled on the seats just as the train began to lurch forward. Vinyl took off her shades and placed them inside her saddlebags before sighing and leaning back against the bench. “This is gonna be great Octy. Just me, you, and a whole week in the mountains together.” Something seemed to jog her memory and she rummaged in her saddlebag for a minute before producing a camera. “Oh, and I got this so we could take pictures of the whole thing!” She fiddled with the device for a moment and then leaped over to sit beside Octavia. “Let’s get one right now! The start of our trip together!”
Octavia smiled despite herself. “Very well, let’s start it off.” She shifted so both of them would be in the frame.
Vinyl returned and the smile and put a hoof around her friend, levitating the camera in front of them. “Ok, say cheese!” They both did and the camera flashed, taking the first picture of their week-length journey.
After the picture, Vinyl returned to her seat and pulled out a pair of headphones. Octavia could hear the pounding music much like their dishwasher from across the space separating them and shook her head to herself. She briefly considered pulling out her book again, but she decided against it. Tuning out the music as best she could, she rested her head on her hooves and let the train rock her to sleep.
After checking to make sure Octavia was asleep, Vinyl turned off her music and reached into her saddlebag once more, this time taking out a very well- kept secret on her part. She had made sure to keep it hidden from her housemate as long as they had known each other- an impressive feat considering how long a time that was. Octavia wasn’t the spiteful type, but she knew the grey mare wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she ever found out about this.
Pulling a pen out along with the book, she began to write.
Dear Diary,
Me and Octy started on our trip today. Man am I excited! We haven’t had a real vacation together since that trip to Los Pegasus years ago when we were still barely out of fillyhood. That was a really weird trip, and it’s a good thing Octy doesn’t remember most of it.
Anyways, we’re on the train right now, and she’s already fallen asleep. Wish I could sleep as easily as she does on trains- the shaking is too much for me to relax. She seems to be able to relax anywhere! Must have to do with that music she listens to. I don’t care for it much, but it is pretty relaxing.
Also, note to self- get a new phone before talking to stallions. I don’t know what I was thinking when I threw my last one in the fireplace.
Satisfied, Vinyl stowed the pen and book back in her bag and donned her headphones and shades once more. Smiling when the music resumed, she settled in for the rest of the trip.
Author's Note
Short chapters... the bane of my writing existence. Why must my mind be so painfully compartmentalized?!
Octavia leapt forward, leaving the roiling magma column that sprang up just shy of her tail. Clutching the strap of her dangling saddle bag in her teeth, she jumped from stone slab to stone slab, narrowly missing more bursts of magma, primitive darts, and falling chunks of rock as she made her way to the exit. She heard a hiss and looked to see the beginning of a massive pillar of red hot lava churning between her and the portal to sunlight. She just smirked and settled her hat over her still-meticulously groomed mane. Taking one last death-defying leap, she cleared the explosion with inches to spare, enough to feel the heat on her back as she escaped the depths of the earth.
She swung out and landed magnificently on all four hooves before a yellow pegasus with a grayscale mane whose eyes were swimming with tears. “You did it Octavia!” She cried out and ran towards her hero. “You retrieved the legendary golden cello!”
Octavia dropped her saddlebag to have a stunningly crafted cello about a foot high tumble out. “Oh it was nothing, Daring. Another day, another dungeon.” She recited the catchphrase with a winning smile, mane and tail flowing slightly in the wind.
“Oh Octavia! You are such a hero!” Daring Do’s eyes fluttered flirtatiously as she smiled. “Is there any way I can repay you?”
Octavia returned the smile and moved forward slowly. She closed her eyes as she got closer to her reward, just a few more inches and…
“HEY OCTAVIA!”
“AHH!” Octavia flinched as she awoke. Her head swiveled from side to side, seeing only the interior of the train and Vinyl across from her, hiding a smile. She sighed and dropped her head, making a reminder in her head to not read Daring Do before sleeping. She shuddered slightly- her barn door didn’t even swing that way.
“Jeez Octy, I wondered why you could sleep for so long with the dishwasher running. You’re impossible to wake up.” Vinyl was still fighting to hide a grin, and Octavia had a sinking feeling she knew why. “We’re almost at our stop.”
Octavia nodded in acknowledgement, unable to speak for the moment. She turned away from Vinyl and pretended to collect her things, but she could feel her face burning as hot as the magma she had dreamt of. She swore she could here suppressed laughs behind her, but she refused to turn around.
Finally the train came to a halt, mildly jolting its passengers. The pair filed out with the rest of the ponies, moving towards where they could collect their luggage. Passing by the luggage car, Vinyl levitated their bags out of the crowd, negating the need to fight their way in and out. Pausing for another moment to have their tickets checked, they moved out to the open country of the Macintosh Hills.
Both mares took a moment to breathe the special air only found on mountains; they turned their eyes to the always-red leaved trees that gave the hills their name. After the moment of immersion, Vinyl hailed down one of the wagons nearby, which promptly stopped and waited for them. She loaded their luggage onto the coach before hopping on beside Octavia and telling the driver their destination.
As the cart started to move, Vinyl looked over slyly at her friend. “So who’s the lucky stallion Tavi?”
Octavia closed her eyes and felt her face begin to warm again. She groaned and rested her face in her hooves amid Vinyl’s snickers. “Vinyl…”
“Aw c’mon Octy, you can tell me? Is it that musician we saw passing through last week? He must have really made an impression on you!”
Octavia ground her teeth in frustration. “Vinyl, don’t for one second think I have forgotten about your encounter with Neon.”
This time it was Vinyl’s turn to turn red. Her jaw dropped as she struggled to stutter out an answer. “H-hey, that’s not fair! You know that cider was spiked, I wasn’t acting like myself!”
“Yes Vinyl, I am aware, but I also remember who the one to spike it was.” She gave her beet-red friend a pointed look. “And for the record, you were acting perfectly like yourself. Just a bit less…” she smiled slightly. “Inhibited.”
The driver glanced back briefly to see the two mares staring each other down, one smiling cheekily and the other with a smoldering gaze. He looked forward once more and shook his head. Mares.
The pair spent the rest of the trip in silence, which wasn’t very long. When the stallion pulled up and announced they had arrived, both mares got out and began to unload their bags. Vinyl paid the driver and thanked him before he left.
Octavia and Vinyl entered the house and looked around. It was a nice place, just as Vinyl had promised- they currently stood in a large main room which consisted of a kitchen, dining room, and den. The den, which was on the far side of the room, had several chairs and couches that all surrounded a small table, with a fireplace in the corner. Beyond that were several large windows which revealed a porch wrapping around the building. They walked out onto the porch and saw a breathtaking view of the Macintosh Hills, a flaming red expanse complimented by the far off Mild West.
Wordlessly they both walked back inside the house to check out the remainder. They found to the left of the main room was a door which branched off into two individual bedrooms and a rather small bathroom. Finally, a staircase near the den led downwards to another living area, complemented with its own set of chairs, couches, and tables.
After looking around this basement area, the pair walked back up to the main floor and took places at the chairs near the fireplace. Vinyl took off her glasses and Octavia took off her tie, both sighing with relief at the feeling of being on vacation. They both looked at each other for a moment, and then began to smile. Pretty soon they were chuckling, which evolved into full-fledged laughing. Fueled by each other their mirth grew uncontrollable until they were leaning over their chairs and holding their sides. At last once the noise began to die down and they wiped away the tears brought on by their merriment, they went out to begin packing away their bags.
“Hey Octy, did you pack any food?” Vinyl called from her arbitrarily picked bedroom. “I think I forgot it!”
“Yes Vinyl, I took care of that.” Octavia smiled to herself as she finished stowing her belongings away. “Enough for a few days, but we may have to make a trip to a market at some point.”
“No worries then, I think I saw a place on the way up. Thanks for that!” Vinyl yelled amidst a crash from her room. Octavia flinched at the sound before running in to see the unicorn lying on the ground surrounded by her bags.
“What were you doing?” Octavia asked, stunned. She began to push some of the bags off her friend.
“I… Uh….” Vinyl seemed a bit dazed from the fall. Shoving aside the last suitcase, Octavia grabbed her friend’s shoulders and shook her a little- which probably wasn’t the best idea. Vinyl’s eyes focused and she pointed a hoof straight up past Octavia’s shoulder. The grey mare followed the line indicated by the hoof to see a spider the size of a dinner plate (at least it seemed to her) on the ceiling above them.
“AHHHHHHH!!” Octavia screamed at a high enough octave to make the windows visually shiver. She dropped Vinyl and ran out of the room still screaming until it the sound was abruptly cut off by the sound of a door shutting.
Vinyl got up, massaging her head slightly. She rummaged in her bags for a second before producing a red ball about an inch and a half in diameter. Turning her gaze upwards she threw the ball gently at the spider, hitting it right on target. The bug fell limply at her hind hooves. Smirking, she picked up the rubber spider and tossed it in the air before catching. Laughing quietly to herself, she stowed the prank item in her bags and got up to check on Octy.
After several knocks yielded no response, Vinyl opened the door and looked around for her friend. She stepped in softly and searched the room more thoroughly. Finally, as she was looking in the closet, she heard a noise behind her. She turned and saw the tip of a black tail poking out from under the bed; Vinyl grinned and walked over quietly. Leaning over, she lifted the bed skirt to reveal Octavia under the bed, eyes wide and ears folded, looking much like a cat. Vinyl couldn’t suppress a snicker as she cajoled Tavi out from her hiding spot. “Jeez Octy, I knew you didn’t like spiders, but I forgot you hated them that much!”
Octavia still looked on edge but she tried to muster up some dignity nonetheless. She failed. “Did you see that thing Vinyl? It was enormous!” A shiver went down her spine remembering it. “Is it still in there?”
“Nah, it’s gone. I think you scared it off.” Vinyl laughed, heedless of her friend’s death stare. She grabbed Octavia’s hoof and tugged gently. “C’mon I’ll show you.”
Octavia jerked away quickly. “N-no vinyl, I’ll take your word for it.” Ignoring the unicorn’s laughter she turned back to the bed, straightening the sheets which had been upset by her retreat. How could Vinyl not be terrified of that… thing? Her friend seemed to be immune to such fears, as evidenced by many, many instances during their friendship. To date, she didn’t know if Vinyl had any fears compared to hers, as long as they didn’t count Vinyl’s early case of stage fright at her very first public performance. Incidentally, this was the event which started their friendship.
Once the bed was re-made, Octavia turned back to face Vinyl. Suddenly, something did come to mind- not a fear exactly, but definitely something to wipe that smirk off Vinyl’s face. Octavia grinned and edged closer to her friend. “You know Vinyl, I’m not the only one who squeals at times.”
Vinyl’s smile did indeed drop off her face at her friend’s sudden change of behavior. “Wh-what are you talking about Octy?” She tried to smile again, but the nervousness was evident. “You’re not going to bring Neon back into this are you? I thought we were past that.”
“Mmmm, no, that’s not what I was talking about.” She continued to creep closer to her friend. Briefly she dropped the act. “And I did not need that image in my head.”
Vinyl lowered her guard for a moment and opened her mouth to respond, and Octavia had her opening. She leapt forward and jabbed a hoof into Vinyl’s side. Whatever Vinyl was going to say was lost in her yelp as she jumped back and tried to run out of the room. Octavia followed her, laughing with glee. She had learned how ticklish Vinyl was about a year after her stage fright was cured during a party she didn’t really want to attend, and ever since Octavia had saved the knowledge for times like this.
“C’mon Octavia this isn’t fair!” Vinyl cut into the main room, using her magic to catch a lamp that had been jostled. Octavia didn’t listen as she continued to chase Vinyl around the room, dodging pillows and cushions thrown magically at her. Eventually she cornered the unicorn in the basement, hooves raised menacingly. Vinyl pressed back against the wall and raised her own hooves in defense, eyes darting as she searched for something to levitate as ammunition.
Octavia dove forward, seeing her distraction. They both yelled and fell to the ground, rolling and flailing. Finally, as they broke apart and rose from the floor, manes and tails mussed beyond recognition, they each raised a hoof to signal surrender. Coughing and still laughing, they walked back up to the main floor together as the sun began to descend below the horizon, marking the end of their first day on vacation.
Author's Note
This chapter does not promote shipping in any way, shape, or form. Please consult your local forum boards before attempting to mix volatile characters.
And props to whoever got the slight Fallout: Equestria reference. Not my most graceful insert, but I couldn't resist.