Half Past Octavia

Chapters

Chapter 1 - So you wanna get some excitement?
Chapter 2 - Tag her and bag her!
Chapter 3 - And so it finally sinks in...
Chapter 4 - "Inspections"
Chapter 5 - Welcome to the club
Chapter 6 - The cellist
Chapter 7 - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Chapter 9 - Before the Storm
Chapter 10 - Things just got Complicated...
Chapter 11 - Chaos over Time
Chapter 12 - Half Past Octavia
Chapter 8 - You've only "Scratched" the surface!

Chapter 1 - So you wanna get some excitement?

April 14, 2012

The day started off flawless, the sky was without a cloud, the sun was still rising over the horizon and the birds were chirping a happy-go-lucky melody. I opened my eyes and stared down at the foot of my bed as the simple blue sheets just stare back at me. I grabbed the end with my hand and tossed it from on top of me to sit up with a yawn and then quickly check my calendar. “Saturday morning? At least there’s a spot of good news.” I managed through my yawn, my words sounding slightly contorted. Saturday meant no school, which was a miracle for me as I was a Pre-Med student at Jansford medical college in New Jersey. It was a dormitory college in Clifton, though it wasn’t the most prestigious it was pretty good none the less and we even got our rooms all to ourselves. Thing about that was visitors were never allowed, so it was always pretty dull here. I got up and walked across the room towards my computer, the laminate wood floor absorbing the heat from my feet making me shiver.

As I plopped down in my swivel chair I turned on my laptop and the Windows logo materialized on the screen and after another moment the screen changed into a background sprawling with color, several equally colorful figures in it. That’s right, I’m a brony. Those figures were not the mane six though; they were actually the most popular background ponies of the show. This was because honestly I like the background ponies more than the main characters of MLP because they’re so unknown. I always liked mystery, even if it is minor like the personalities of the six background ponies that’s why I wanted to be a writer but my mother said it was a waste of my talents and that I should go into something that I had a future in which was medicine. I hate my major but what else can I really do? I can’t just drop everything and disappoint my mother.
I stared at my screen for a moment inspecting each pony one by one.

First Lyra, her sea foam green coat was stunning. Next was Bon Bon, her rather original multi colored hair was quite the sight. Then Vinyl Scratch who I always rather liked…she seemed like the pony I wish I could be as a person. After was Ditzy Doo, or as many call her: Derpy Hooves. ‘Still as charming as ever,’ I thought to myself. Derpy’s image was the one before her censorship which was honestly how I preferred to remember her as. No amount of complaining soccer moms could ever change that. Next was Doctor Whooves, the long suspected pony timelord crossover of the show ‘Doctor Who’, I had to admit that his cutie mark was a bit convincing. And finally my eyes fell upon the last pony, her smoky coat and soot gray hair beautifully maintained. I always kind of admired Octavia; she was talented, professional, and well dressed. Even if the only clothes she wore was her bowed collar. ‘I guess I’ll watch the new episode online.’ I thought to myself as I pulled it up and began to watch.

“Dear Princess Celestia…” rang Twilight’s soothing voice from my computer as it always did at the end of each episode. Once it ended I closed my laptop and stared at the wall, what else was there to do today? I hated my profession so it’s not like I’d really do anything around campus and most likely my friends were with their parents or something. “I think I’ll get some food at the cafeteria.” I whispered moodily to myself, after all I was kind of getting hungry. I walked to my door and opened it and then closed it behind me, making sure to lock the door before setting off down the hallway and striding down stairs. As I opened the glass door leading outside, I inhaled the smell of the outdoors. I never really liked being outside but it was so nice out even I couldn’t find something bad to say.

I began to walk down the cement path through the campus garden, it was the best shortcut I knew to get to where I wanted to go but as I neared the fountain I heard a crunch under my shoe. Curious I lifted my foot and looked at the bottom and there I saw a crushed snail. I didn’t feel bad, after all it was just a snail not anything to really mourn about. Just as I was about to put my foot back down a loud boom went off in the distance sending every bird for miles rocketing from their perches and the sky began to flash an ominous pink! The unexpected phenomenon made me loose balance and fall to the floor. “Shit!” I exclaimed remembering the snail. “Is it ‘cause I killed a snail?!” I shouted out loud. There was no answer, only continued thunderous noise and the pink flashing heavens. I had to say, I was scared shitless! ‘Is this the end of the world?!’ I thought to myself frantically. ‘Oh no, no, no, no, it can’t be! I’m still a fucking virgin!’ I screamed in my head as I starred at the sky wide eyed, ‘cause that fuckin’ sucks. But soon the sky’s pink began to fade into a light lavender and then was normal once again, not a cloud in the sky and the sun still shining.

As I gathered myself, the random aroma of fudge began to tickle my nose. I love fudge but after what just happened I wasn’t too keen on staying outside but where there’s the smell of food there’s sure to be people and maybe someone knew what was going on. I began to run through the lightly wooded portion of campus, ducking under branches and stepping over roots following my nose to the source of the smell until I reached a clearing. What I saw was the last thing I’d ever have expected. The clearing was pretty scorched, like if lightning had struck leaving broken branches, scorched tree trunks and ash. However in the midst of the chaos lay a woman. She looked untouched by whatever happened here but didn’t seem to be moving. As I crept near, I saw her in better detail. She was beautiful I had to admit, she was light skinned with dark gray hair, almost black that seemed to come down to her mid back and seemed very well kept aside from the leaves and twigs inside of it from her being on the floor. She was wearing an elegant and expensive looking tuxedo, her collar adorned with a feminine pink bow.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” and hollered as I rushed over to the woman and shook her by her shoulders but she did not respond, her hair strewn about as I shook her. I set her down and quickly took out my cell phone to dial 911. I sent the call but it didn’t go through, whatever that was earlier must have knocked out the phone towers. “Time to put that Pre-Med training to good use…” I sighed to myself before dropping to my knees beside her. “Call 911, get the A.E.D.!” I yelled towards the campus as my CPR instructor told us to do. I preceded the grab her tuxedo by the edges and rip it open and then grab her dress shirt under and rip that open also. I felt my face heat up and I knew I was blushing as this beautiful woman’s chest was now revealed to me…she wasn’t wearing a bra! She didn’t have the biggest breasts ever but at least a B cup I assumed.

Despite this I had to pull through as I began compressions, placing two hands between her boobs on her sternum and blushed even harder as I felt them rub against my hands, feeling her warmth creep up my arm. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-” I cut off as I did the thirty compressions, once I finished I pressed my lips against hers and blew. As we made contact I hardly thought I couldn't blush any harder until I tasted the soft supple flavor of her lips. They tasted like Jasmine tea one of the few flavors I actually enjoyed. By this point it was pretty safe to assume that it wasn’t my jeans that made it look like I had a stiffie as they are notorious for. I did this for the required five cycles, but on the fifth cycle something that I hardly expected had happened. As I blew into her I felt something long and wet slide into my mouth.

My eyes widened in shock as this was the last thing I expected, this woman was French kissing me! I felt her tongue dance inside my cheeks as it slid up and down my own tongue. I just couldn’t help it, I closed my eyes and kissed back with great vigor…she was so beautiful. After a moment her eyes fluttered open while we were still kissing revealing her deep violet eyes as they looked at me groggily but then they shot open in shock. I felt her tongue yank out of my mouth and her pull away with a loud gasp. “Oh my Celestia, what ARE you doing?!” she screamed, her voice sounding as if she came from a high class society; distinguished and professional. All I could do was stare at her with the worst poker face I have ever done in my life.

To be continued…

Chapter 2 - Tag her and bag her!

“I-I…you-you…” was all that would come out of my mouth as I pointed between us randomly; I couldn’t form a proper sentence as she stared me down looking seriously pissed, her face bent into a scowl. Before I could vocalize further she rose to her feet and let out a loud and furious shout as I saw her eyes close shut and draw a hand back far behind her. At first it I just looked at her totally perplexed but I soon learned what her intentions were as she jetted her hand towards my cheek. Her palm met my face at seemingly astronomical speed as I saw the world spin and the loud echo of the impact thunder through the clearing. The slap made me fall back from my kneeling position onto my butt as I looked at her wide eyed and my hand pressed to where she hit me, covering the bright red hand print.

“You…you…” she began as drew her hand back again her ripped tuxedo and dress shirt flapping in the breeze that passed revealing her breasts every now and again, but then stopped as her look shifted from anger to confusion and she lowered her impending smack. “What are you?”

I had to admit, the question caught me off guard since I was busy waiting for another attack but once it registered I looked up at her. “What do you mean ‘what am I’?” I managed as I continued to stare at her, still dumbfounded as to her making out with me out of nowhere. She took a step closer to me, looking me over warily. “It’s an obvious question. What are you, I’ve never seen anything like you before in Canterlot and their zoo is rather extensive.” She retorted as she kneeled in front of me but then spotted her hands. She lifted them towards her face and then shrieked in terror. ‘Okay, this bitch is just crazy…’ I thought lamely as I watched her circle around inspecting herself and screaming at everything about herself she saw. “What am I?!” she shouted, her voice trembling as she passed her hands through her smoky hair. She looked as if she were on the verge of a nervous breakdown!

“Umm...a human?” I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes at her. That was just plain common sense.

“Oh dear-” she began as she began to fan herself with her hand but cut off once her legs buckled from under her and she collapsed to the ground.

I immediately shot up from my position and rushed to her and put my fingers around her neck to check her pulse. She apparently fainted, most likely from freaking out the way she did. “Well shit…” I sighed to myself as I looked at her out cold on the floor. I had to take her somewhere and no doubt the hospitals and police departments had their hands full after what had happened moments before. I began to pick her up to carry her towards my dorm when I second thought it. ‘I can’t bring a half naked unconscious girl into my dorm! That screams rape, I’ll go to jail!’ I placed her down and began to think of a plan. Suddenly I had it! I put her in a little hidden spot to make sure no harm came to her and then rushed back to my dorm. Once I got inside I yanked the blue sheets from my bed and ran out the door, not even bothering to lock it. As I shot down the stairs I stepped on a piece of the sheet and nearly tumbled down the steps but kept going never the less.

I quickly found her again under one of the not burned up trees where I had left her and laid the blanket out on the grass. If I couldn’t carry her in I’d have to sneak her in like a boss. I picked her up and placed her on the edge of the blanket and then began to roll her in it until she was wrapped in a large blanket cocoon (maybe not my best plan ever but hey, it’s something!). Once she was wrapped up securely I picked her up and began to move back home. I quickly made it upstairs and to my door where there were a few people in the halls trying to get to their own dorms just as I thought they would which made me even more glad I thought of this plan even if it was stupid because they didn’t even glance over. I began to walk into my room but forgot to turn to the side to get her inside properly and accidently knocked the portion of the blanket cocoon where her head was at against the door frame, the impact making a dull thud. ‘Shit.’ I thought apologetically but then shrugged it off. ‘Eh, she won’t remember anyway…’

I fixed the positioning and then shuffled in, closing the door behind me with my foot. I placed her in my bed and rolled her out of the cocoon so that she was just comfortably covered. I sighed and sat myself on my trusty swivel chair and bit my finger lightly becoming engrossed in thought. I glanced at her while I was thinking a few times, she looked so peaceful and even more beautiful in her sleep but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. She looked at graceful as a ballerina but they don’t wear suits. Who was she? Where did she come from? Can I bang her? Were all the thoughts that shot through my mind as I looked at her, though that last one I kinda shot down due to her reaction in the clearing from her kissing me. Then my mind fell upon the kiss. I’ve done CPR on people before and not one of them ever did that before which was actually a relief because most of them were fat people that ate to fast in restaurants. What caused her to even do that? Was it on purpose? After a while I figured I should be a good host and go get her something to drink and eat from the cafeteria before she woke up. I opened the door quietly and left, locking it behind me. After about half an hour I began to climb the stairs to my building again with two cups of hot tea and a few bagels.

I held the platter with all the food on it in one hand and took my key from my pocket to unlock my door when I heard rustling from inside. At first I figured that she was probably just waking up but then the rustling was accompanied by loud shuffling and some thumps. I quickly unlocked my door and burst in, the platter of food still in my hand as I caught my guest rummaging through my closet. I closed the door behind me and placed the platter on the desk next to my computer and ran over to her. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, what’re you doing?” I asked irritably pointing at her as she sifted through my clothes.

“You ripped my clothes so I need new ones and since you dragged me,” she paused as she looked around with an unimpressed expression and put continued with distain. “Here, I will use yours.” Then she turned and said mockingly looking at me with a snobby expression, “If you don’t mind that is.” Then turned back to continue looking through my selection. I just rolled my eyes and turned around to attend the food I brought up. ‘What a bitch…’ I thought to myself as I began to decorate my bagel with cream cheese. After I finished the bagel I picked up my cup of tea and turned while sipping on it. I was about to offer her some when shit had just gotten real!

She was there, completely naked placing clothes on my bed to wear. I suddenly felt my tea rise from the back of my throat and all shoot towards a nearby wall in one massive spit-take. Her head snapped to me startled and then her tone melded into disgust. “What was that?” she asked now facing me entirely, her hands on her hips sassily.

I dropped my cup on the floor as it was empty now anyways from my spit-take and placed my hands over my eyes just leaving small slits between my fingers to see out of. “W-w-what are you d-doing?!” I croaked as I gazed upon her naked body through the cracks of my fingers. Truly flawless from head to toe she was, from her stunningly styled hair, her subtle and complementing curves and her breath taking violet eyes. But one thing however, I found particularly interesting aside from her sexiness was a medium sized purple tattoo of a treble clef on the side of her rear. I had seen that before but from where I had no clue.

“What has gotten into you? You’re quite odd.” She mumbled in her distinguished accent as she turned back to the clothes on the bed making sure that they matched and looked good.

“What’s gotten into me? You’re naked for Christ’s sake!” I exclaimed though careful not to shout it loud enough to get us noticed.

“And why is that an issue? Ponies are always naked…we only wear clothes on special occasions.” She answered back calmly as she slipped on one of my old black sweaters, her breasts jiggling slightly the jacket was pulled down.

My mini me liked the situation because he was beginning to stand at attention and honestly, I agreed with him but I had to ignore it for the time being. “Wait what? What do you mean ponies are always naked? Who are you?” I asked after being snapped out of my mesmerized state by her response one eyebrow cocked curiously. “Well, if you must know my name is Octavia. Pleasure to meet you mister umm…I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch your name.” she noted staring at me quizzically as she tilted her head to one side, her hair falling suit. “My name is Felix,” I started but then trailed off as I realized she still wasn’t wearing pants and could see her sacred region. My face began to flush a bright red. “And please put on some pants!” I seethed out of embarrassment.

To be continued…

Chapter 3 - And so it finally sinks in...

She shrugged casually and slipped on a pair of my jeans that hugged her figure and complimented her very well also covering her purple tattoo. I was finally able to lower my hands from my eyes and look at her normally, though she was just staring at me like I was weird. The moment drew on awkwardly for what seemed like an eternity until I found it unbearable and broke the perpetual silence.

“So you said your name was Octavia?” I asked her unbelievingly, as I put all she was saying together and finally determined that it was insane.

“Well, last time I checked it was. Octavia of Canterlot, renowned cello player and composer.” She chimed confidently with a beam.

“So you’re from like Equestria or something?” I asked mockingly, my expression saying ‘yeah right.’

“Yes. Is that so hard to believe?” she hissed at me as she put her hands on her hips, now on the defensive.

“Actually yes, how do I know you’re not some weird fan of the show or something? I mean who gets a tattoo of a treble clef on their ass just like Octavia from My Little Pony?!” I snapped waving my hands in the air to emphasize it.

She just looked at my dumbfounded, an eyebrow cocked and her arms crossed. “What show…?” Then her expression turned into genuine worry. “Are you saying you know me?”

Something poking at the back of my head told me that this conversation wasn’t going to end very well but I didn’t listen and I pressed on. “The only ‘pony’ I know named Octavia is from a cartoon. Which means that can’t possibly be you; you’re a human being for the love of god!” I shouted at her now clearly irritated. I turned on my computer and pulled up the episode that Octavia aired on in the Grand Galloping Gala and moved out of the way to show her. She stayed quiet as her purple eyes scanned the computer screen, but her expression said it all; it was a look of horror as she witnessed her pony self playing the Pony Poky. After it ended she sat on my bed and just starred at nothing for quite some time, her pupils wide with disbelief. At first I figured that was that and began to stand but what happened next broke my heart. At first it started as a series of low sniffles and then I saw her hands clench into fists on her lap and finally I witnessed drops falling onto her jeans, soaking into it and leaving moist darkened spots.

‘Oh no…what have I done?!’ I thought to myself frantically as I merely watched her weep. Her head was hung low but that did nothing to stop the sound of her crying as wave after wave of tears fell into her lap. There was nothing much I could really do at this point but sit down next to her and try to console her. I got up and walked across the room and sat on my bed next to her, though she hardly took notice through her wails.

I began to wrap and arm around her as she made a futile struggle to escape my embrace whimpering as she did so. “Get away from me…get away-” she began but then cut off as she figured it was useless and pressed against me in a hug, burying her face in my shoulder. I didn’t know what to really do; I’d never been in a situation like this with someone who wasn’t family.

I began to stroke her hair and coo in her ear at barely a whisper. “Hey, it’s okay…it’s going to be fine. I’m sorry if I hurt you. What’s the matter?”

She answered back, her voice shaking in and out between sobs. “I remember…that! How…what is…going on?!”
As her tears soaked my shoulder it finally dawned on me that maybe…maybe she wasn’t crazy, maybe she was really Octavia. The proof was pretty convincing, she had a treble clef tattoo on her, she had the same clothes even to the pink bow and the exact same hair style as well as hair color. I continued to hold her comfortingly as she cried, resting my cheek on her head letting her warmth seep into me and vice versa. When subconsciously I began to run my hand down her leg though she did nothing to stop me, she probably didn’t even notice through the tears.

I tilted her head up by her chin and looked into her lavender eyes its deep color entrancing me and chimed. “It’s okay…it’ll be fine…” Without another moments thought I pressed my lips against hers, her soft tender pink lips still baring the taste of Jasmine. At first, her eyes were wide with surprise as she obviously didn’t expect it but then…then her eyes closed slowly as she kissed back, tears still streaming down her rosy cheeks.

It was nice, nothing serious, just a little pop kiss but the sensation of her pressed against me and having my lips pressed against hers was enough to send me over the edge of ecstasy. What? Penis is evolving! Penis has evolved into boner! It was true, within moments I was subject to my own body as a raging boner came into play. Things were steering into a direction where several hours ago she would have probably slapped me but I guessed under the circumstances it was okay. After several minutes, things got a bit more intimate as we both fell to the mattress me on top of her and the pop melted into a make out. The tears were still streaming down her cheeks and her hair was strewn about but she didn’t seem to care as I toyed with her tongue playfully, enjoying every second as low whimpers of moans were emitting from Octavia.

I slid my hand under her sweat shirt and began to fondle her breasts and she broke off from the kiss, looking me in the eyes. Her eyes were glazed with pleasure as her face began blush. Even if she was a pony at some point, sex seemed to be a universal thing. She nodded to me and that was all I needed to get started. ‘Awwww yeahhhh!’ I thought in triumph. ‘Today, I become a man!’ I slid off my pants and undergarments, revealing myself to her. Her expression was still one of sadness though the sadness had been replaced by momentary lust, the need for comfort. I slid off her jeans as she lifted a bit to help me, her plot clear in sight. My first time actually seeing one not in anatomy classes or in videos and it was much better than I could have dreamed. It was time. I began to prepare myself for the plunge when the biggest cock block in the world began.

A series of bangs came from the door and a deep masculine shout came from my door. “Hey, open up! Campus dorm inspections!” the voice boomed sternly. Then a memory about Jansford policy rang though my head, ‘no visitors inside of dorms what so ever.’ I was so fucked!

To be continued...

Chapter 4 - "Inspections"

I was at the edge of the bed when the bold thuds on the door echoed through the room causing me to lose my balance and fall off the bed and onto the floor with a loud crash. My face was stinging as I picked myself off of the laminate flooring and looked around in panic as a perplexed Octavia looked at me. “Oh shi-” I began before being interrupted by yet another bang and the repeated words.

“Open up, I said!” bellowed the voice from the other side of the door.

I quickly pulled up my pants, buttoned them messily and with strength I didn’t even know I had I pretty much picked up my guest off of the bed to which she reacted with a shocked gasp, her purple eyes widening. “What are you-” she had begun to shout only to have my hand placed firmly over her mouth with a look that said, ‘Bitch, shut up before I back hand you!’ and the message seemed to transfer because she did just that.

I ran over to my closet with her in my arms and tossed her inside, mind you not hard enough to hurt her but just enough to quickly get rid of her. She was flung into the closet and landed on a pile of clothes that she had knocked down recently in her snooping with a small swish and then looked up at me furiously. She obviously didn’t like being treated like dirty clothes, being tossed into a closet like nothing but I didn’t feel like getting in trouble over her so I could care less. I closed her in the closet and hissed through the door. “Do not come out no matter what! If they find you here I’m screwed!” I clenched my teeth as I pushed off the closet door and sprinted over to the front door only to trip over my own feet and crash to the floor.

My tumble may have been funny if someone had seen it as I hit the cold floor and slid about two feet all the way to my intended destination and finally my head bumped the door painfully. As I began to lift myself with an aching groan I heard something irritably familiar from outside…a sort of snickering. I knew that snicker anywhere; I could never forget it as it had been burned into my brain. “For fucks sake!” I cried angrily as I swung my door open to find a man wearing a Jansford uniform basically sprawled on the floor laughing away. “Adrian you dick!” I shouted angrily, my face turning visibly red with anger as I glared at my friend. It was the infamous Adrian, though I hated my life as a pre-med and what not I did have a life as well as friends, Adrian being one of them. He’s pretty chill most of the time but he does like the occasional prank, no matter how stupid it is as long as he’s entertained.

He stayed on the floor practically choking from laughter, straining to get in air as his belly clenched over and over. He looked up at me with his hazel eyes while his shoulder length jet black hair mopped the floor and tears streamed down his cackling face, a large smile plastered between his cheeks. I watched him as he continued, I was not amused and he could tell which made his giggle fit continue on with renewed vigor. Once he finally recovered somewhat he staggered to his feet and cried out while using the wall for support. “Oh my god, that was so fucking pro! I heard you bust your ass in there like five times, bro! Oh my god! Dorm inspections? bah ha ha ha!” He scoffed in his light Jersey accent, hugging the wall in a fit of giggles.

“You scared the living fuck out of me, dude! ‘The hell!” I shouted at him angrily, cocking my fist back in a threatening manner aimed at his arm.

“Calm your nipples, just a bit of fun.” Adrian retorted bluntly after he finished laughing and then added. “On another note, I actually wanted to see what you were doing?”

I lowered my arm and eyed him suspiciously. “Why?” I inquired, squinting at him with distrust. I figured he might have heard what was going on in my dorm and just wanted to cock block me on purpose like a jerk.

Adrian put on a serious face and then imitated the voice of a generic salesman for some reason that I didn’t really care to know about “Why? I’ll tell you why good sir! For a limited time only I have enough money to get us both into a rave about twenty-miles from here on 95th street and you, my dear Felix, have a car!” He ended with a series of nods. This was true, I was one of the few people that actually had a car in case I wanted to go somewhere in the parking garage across the street from campus. As I thought about it I instantly became hesitant once I remembered Octavia was still in my closet! I had begun to back up into my dorm as I put on a falsely remorseful face.

“Oh, dude, I really can’t…I got to um…study for finals…” I stated meekly, this wasn’t a total lie as I did have finals soon but I already studied for them a few days ago and committed a lot of it to memory. Though he didn’t seem to pick up on it because he just looked at me disappointed as his smile turned into a frown.

“Aw man, what a buzz kill. Fine, go study…I guess I’ll just-” he began with a drawn out sigh but then cut off as I saw him lean to the side and peer around me. “Hooooooly shiiiiiiit, you gotta be kidding me!” he gasped as his eyes widened at what was behind me. At first I was really lost and began to follow his gaze, only to see what he was talking about. Half of a face was peeking around the corner of the wall that hid half my room from the door way, its long soot gray-black hair falling in a vain attempt to touch the floor. Octavia had a hard ass head apparently and didn’t know the meaning of stay put as she watched Adrian curiously. I shut my eyes tight, bit my bottom lip and cursed my luck.

‘So close! Damn it, why didn’t she stay put?!’ I thought irritably to myself as I turned back around to Adrian. “Umm….I can explain…” I began though honestly I couldn’t and I knew it. I mean who can explain finding a chick in the middle of campus unconscious and then taking her into one’s home against their will?! Then his eyes snapped back to me, his frown from earlier mutating into a sly smile that slowly made itself known and his eyes began to glint with the fire of mischief.

“I see what’s going on here!” He stated boldly with his smile in full effect, eyebrows rising and falling in a suggestive manner.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, it really isn’t what it looks like!” I pleaded, waving my hand in front of me as if trying to disperse his thought. I knew that he knew what it was but I was trying to make him think otherwise!

He took a step forward and then put an arm around my neck, closing the door slowly behind us and began to lead me away. “I know what I know, Felix. You were in there tryin’ to get some play, I’m not dumb.” He spoke slowly as he looked at me with an intense gaze which made me remain silent. “And you know Jansford policy about visitors inside the dorms, sooooooooo,” Adrian paused, most likely for dramatic effect like he always does as his gaze shifted from me to the main office and then back to me. “How about instead of me walking my jolly ass to the office and filing a complaint like the good friend I am; you, me and your lady friend in there hit that rave.” He ended with a malevolent grin.
I hated when Adrian did this, I really did. He’s a blackmailer and a damned good one at that, he’s a good friend, he really is even though this doesn’t make him seem like it. I sighed deeply at his demand and then put a hand to my face, pinching between my eyes in frustration. “O-okay, fine, fine! You win…” I finally announced as I threw my hands up in a defeated fashion.

“Atta boy, we’ll leave in about two hours. Night’s when all the shit goes down,” he mused as he patted me on the chest and began to walk down the stairs that we were near and then called up them before disappearing to the first floor. “You’ll thank me!”
I turned to my dorm and shuffled back gloomily, ‘Looks like me and Octavia are going on a surprise trip…so much has happened in one day it feels surreal.’ I thought to myself as I treaded through my door way, pressing the door shut behind me. As I turned I was met with the stunningly beautiful Octavia’s face close to mine, her eyes nearly drenched in curiosity.

“Who was that?” she asked as she stared, me feeling her lavender eyes burn into mine. Her voice had a hint of instigation in it behind the curiosity, this made me cock and eyebrow but I said nothing about it right away.

“A friend of mines named Adrian…he invited us both somewhere, want to come?” I asked, though it was more of me insisting than me asking.

“What is it? It is like an orchestra?” She asked, tilting her head almost innocently in wonderment.
I shrugged at this, figuring it was the best option to get her to say yes…if she really was anything like the real Octavia she would never agree to go where Adrian had really invited us.

“Umm…sort of…” I retorted with a bad poker face, I’ve always been a terrible liar.

“I suppose,” she began as she put a finger to her chin thoughtfully but then looked out the window to see the sun that had began to be sucked up by the horizon leaving the sky in shreds of orange. “But it will have to wait until tomorrow; the sun seems to be going down.” She ended with a blank stare out the window.

“Nope, night is the best time to go.” I said flatly.

“But-”

“Nope, no buts, you’re going.”

She opened her mouth again as if about to protest until I shot her another ‘shut the fuck up’ look to which she crossed her arms and began to pout. This was going to be a long night.

To be continued…

Chapter 5 - Welcome to the club

***

The time had finally come once Adrian had stopped by my dorm again like he said he would. He seemed hyped and ready to go but Octavia sure didn’t. It took a lot of convincing and a few white lies here and there on both me and Adrian’s part and us enduring a lot of whining before we actually got her out the door. But once we got her out, we didn’t let her go back in as we headed out of campus. We made our way out to the campus gates, though not to the actual front because of the night guards that swarmed there. We went to a little known portion of the tall fencing of Jansford and snuck under a gap large enough for a person to crouch through.

We finally made our way across the street and to the parking lot that was there. The lot was quite plain, it was white walled all around and the front had an automated fence that had a vehicle sensor on it for passing by cars. We made our way to the back of the lot once we entered, not really speaking much save the occasional whine from Octavia, until we finally came across it. My car was nothing special really; it was a red 2009 Nissan Sentra with a few nicks and scratches but no real dents.

The interior was a nice, plush vinyl that was an enticing dark gray color, almost like Octavia’s hair. We soon all got in, me helping Octavia a little bit who had seemed like she’d never been inside of a car before because she was staring at it in a perplexed manner. Once in, I slipped the key into the slot and turned it and the Nissan purred to life, the lights inside flickering and shining. Finally, we pulled out and drove out of the garage towards Adrian’s directions.

“Make a left on 87th and then keep going, then you’re gonna come to an intersection and you wanna make a right. Then keep going for a few miles and you’re there.” Adrian announced confidently as he made a little simulation of the turns with his hands.

I just nodded and drove accordingly keeping to one side to make that left soon. We had been driving for about five minutes when the silence apparently became unendurable and my mischievous friend decided to do the honors.

“So…” He began, leaning back in his seat and placing his hands behind his head nonchalantly as he closed his eyes. “What’s her deal? Random girl nobody’s ever heard about?”

I opened my mouth as I was about to explain, I was going to try my best to make a bull explanation but was cut off by the distinguished feminine voice in the back seat.

“I can speak for myself, I will have you know.” She lashed out sassily, glaring at me with indignation
This for the first time made me shut my mouth; she seemed to mean business though I kinda figured she was still cranky about being made to go so late. I even saw Adrian raise an eyebrow quizzically.

“If you must know, I am Octavia. Renowned Cello player.” She stated in a matter-of-fact way, closing her eyes as if expecting praise.

Adrian turned in his seat to face her with a blank expression and retorted. “Cello? What’s that?”
I was pretty sure I saw her eye twitch a couple of times through the rear view mirror and I saw her expression turn into a scowl as she crossed her arms.

“How do you not know what a cello is? It is by far the most beautiful instrument you could ever think to play!” she exclaimed defensively. “The feel of the bow in your hand, gently prodding at the nylon cords as you pour out every ounce of your soul, every fiber of your being into one passionate piece that may make or break your career, nay your existence as a lover of the fine art of classical!" She went on with a passionate fire in her eyes as she relayed every feeling that she could.
I looked at Adrian for his response with my peripheral vision only to see a cheeky grin on his face…this wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Look sweetie, there’s only one thing I’m looking forward to prodding, ‘kay? And that would be some pu-” he began to reply but only to have me cut him off as I knew all too well what he was going to say out of spite.

“Ooooookay, how about some music? I like that idea!” I interjected with a nervous chuckle, I was glad I could stop him before he added the rest. God, or for lack of a better term, Celestia only knows what Octavia would have done had he finished. I switched it on to something neutral to where neither Octavia nor Adrian could complain about.

***

After several moments, we had finally arrived to our destination and the party had already started. We got out and began to walk to the building, all manner of people were flowing in. Some were very oddly dressed, ranging from Mohawks to glow stick jewelry and everything in between. As we neared I could feel my core rocking from the sheer vibrations of the blasting music inside as it threatened to shake the entire building to its foundation. Even the beams of the place protested to the racket with the occasional groan. I looked over to Octavia and I had to say, if she wasn’t pissed before she was REALLY pissed now.

“What is this horrible racket, a dying animal? Someone should put it out of its misery!” She shouted over the loud base of the music that was oozing outside the building.

“That’s the magic of dub step!” called Adrian as his eyes gleamed with anticipation. “Let’s go!”

We began to move in, except Octavia who I personally had to drag in. She was making a real effort to move in the other direction but luckily I was stronger. I heard several faint grumbles from the elegant looking woman as she trailed behind me, the soles of her sneakers that she borrowed from me making a dragging sound. When Adrian opened the door we were hit with a barrage of beats that made Octavia cover her ears to shield herself from the incessant racket. Adrian turned to us and gave us a mocking salute as he disappeared into the ocean of people decorated with glow sticks and dancing like they had no sense.

The place reeked of alcohol and musk as the seizure inducing lights began to strobe and gyrate about, shinning in all different directions. I lead Octavia over to the bar and we both sat down on a stool. We both sat in silence at a moment until the bar tender came over to us and broke the quiet between us, shouting loudly over the earsplitting music.

“What’ll ya have?” she screamed almost at the top of her lungs

“I’ll have a water and she’ll have…umm…” I glanced at her questioningly.

Octavia turned to the bar tender, giving her a drudging look. “Strongest you have, please…” she said flatly.

The woman simply nodded and turned away to prepare our drinks. I eyed her with a look of worry as she only looked me back, her face bent into a scowl as she rubbed her temples.

“Are you…umm… sure?” I asked as I scanned her face anxiously.

“Yes…the sooner I can drown out this ear rape the better.” She barely shouted as she continued to rub her temples irritably. As the music played on, the bar tender set down my water on the table and a alcoholic concoction that honestly didn’t look entirely safe to ingest with its odd variety of colors from a deep pink to an electric blue that seemed to be layered on one another in a shot glass. Without a seconds thought Octavia picked up the glass and knocked it back as if it were a shot of juice! Her cheeks instantly turned a light pink as within seconds the extremely potent mixture seemed to take hold, though other than that she seemed entirely normal.

“Another one…” she hollered over to the tender who soon met up with the demand.

I had to admit I was becoming rather enticed by the beat of the music, the smell of the crowds, the pace of the lights flashing on and off, and the several very alluring women dancing to and fro. In an instant all my self control was ebbed away as I felt my body lift from the stool, me not telling it to and walk over to the masses. I was soon among the many, lost in a tide of ecstasy.

***

Hours had passed and soon the memory of who I had been with drifted back into my mind once the party antics had found its way out and I began to stroll back to the bar to check up on Octavia. Things had indeed taken a turn for the worst according to what I was now witnessing. As I neared, I saw a girl talking to her and from the looks of it, the talk was intimate. They were only inches, maybe even centimeters from each other’s faces and I got in range just in time to see the girl’s lips lock with Octavia’s. My eyes widened at the scene, what was I seeing?! Was Octavia a lesbian? It couldn’t have been if she was practically about to have sex with me earlier…unless she’s bi? The girl became more daring and frisky as she ran her hands up and down the length of her body, her hands now even beginning to venture under Octavia’s sweat shirt.

I witnessed the lump that was her hand slither up her shirt slowly up onto her chest and begin to writhe about in a sensual groping fashion. If that wasn’t hot I don’t know what was, it felt like the umpteenth time already but lil’ Felix felt the need to poke out and say howdy ho! The next series of events about to unfold, however, caught me off guard completely!

In the midst of the thunderous frenzy of the music and almost completely surrounded by people talking and dancing in the dim strobe lights I was able to witness the girl slide her hands down way too low to her nether regions and that was that. Apparently, Octavia is a rather violent drunk as her face which was soft with the buzz of pleasure instantly shifted to a look of unimaginable anger. I honestly was scared for that girls life and I had a feeling that her look at that moment could make a mountain move if she wanted.

Octavia cocked a fist back quickly and jetted it forward so fast I almost missed it. The girl tumbled off the chair and smashed against the floor as a large portion of the dancing mob froze, looking over curiously and muttering under the music.
“Never, ever, ever do that again in your life! ONE and only ONE female can EVER touch me there and that will NEVER be you! Celestia help you if I ever catch you doing that again I will break your nose!” she screamed in a blind furry that was so loud even the music of the rave had ceased, leaving only the uneasy muttering of the crowd to be heard. Octavia gave a light hiccup and then continued her violent alcohol fueled rant. “Do you understand me? Never again! Do. You. Comprehend?!”

The woman who was wide eyed from fear on the floor holding her nose stifled an answer, though her voice was trembling. “Y-y-yes!”

Octavia then turned and set off in a hurried pace towards the exit of the building as the music soon boomed back to life. ‘Oh no…this is my fault. I better go after her…’ I thought to myself grimly. ‘Before she punches the shit out of someone else…’ and I set off towards the door as the music grew fainter behind me.

To be continued...

Chapter 6 - The cellist

I trotted through the door way, forcing my way through the crowds of people who were still flowing in despite the time. Once I finally got out I began to scour the parking lot and outside of the building for her, but unfortunately with no success. I had almost given up when as I was turning a corner I heard muffled cries coming from behind a bush. I crept around to get a better view and sure enough, the musical woman was there sitting on the floor. She was curled up, her legs brought up and her knees pressed against her mouth as she hugged her legs. As I drew closer, her weeping become more apparent and I saw hot tears streaming down from what little of her face I could see.

This was second time so far I’ve had to see her cry and honestly, though I didn’t know her all too well; it broke my heart. All I could do was sit next to her with a heavy sigh as she wept. After some time, I wrapped an arm around her to console her much like I did earlier in the dorm, though this time in a more sincere manner, even I have principles. I wouldn’t take advantage of an intoxicated woman. Eventually, her tears had stopped and she began to question aloud though I presumed the questions were more alcohol induced than anything.

“I do not undershtand, I do not know why I am here in thish…plache! I do not know what I am or for that matter how I keep getting myself into theshe shituations.” She cried as the effect of the alcohol showed its face in her speech pattern as well as making her cheeks a light shade of crimson.

By this time she was looking at me, her purple eyes locked on mine while continuing to hug her legs tightly. I honestly didn’t have an answer for any of that; since she got here I would hardly call her experiences the best humans had to offer. I closed my eyes as I laid my head back, letting out a long drawn out sigh.

“I don’t know. But sitting out here in the night isn’t the way to find the answer. I think there’s been enough excitement for one night, it’s time to go.” I said solemnly as I looked back to her as reassuringly as I could.

It seemed to work, I suppose as she began to wipe her tears with the jacket sleeve as I stood, offering my hand to help her. She took it and began to rise in a wobbly fashion.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. Now, let me see a smile.” I cooed to her in an attempt to cheer her up.
At first she only looked away, but once she saw that I was intent on getting one out of her she kicked at the ground shyly and then began to attempt to smile. When I saw her attempts at smiling I recoiled a bit.

“Umm…” I began with a nervous chuckle. “Never mind, that’s a bit creepy.”

She smacked my shoulder lightly and let out a small giggle. “Quiet, you.”

That was the first time I actually heard her laugh, it was like the gentle, refined pitch of a violin and the fact that I was the one who made her laugh made me feel a bit fuzzy inside. We began walking back to the front, since I had to go find Adrian. As we walked I thought it appropriate to finally question her.

“Okay, it’s about time I start asking. How exactly did you get here from Equestria?” I asked as I kept looking forward.
She glanced at me and then responded, doing her best to keep the inebriation out of her speech. “To be honest, I do not know. I was preparing for an instrumental escapade with my ensemble. We were to depart for Manehattan to play at a prestigious gathering that only occurs once every three years. There were ensembles around all of Equestria that were in fierce competition with one another to be chosen and as fate would have it, it was us.” She explained as we rounded the corner of the building, she had been looking down in despair the entire time as she walked beside me.

“Do you reca-” I began, only to be cut off by the sound of some commotion near the entrance of the building.

I looked over to see the building doors fly open, flooding the night air with the bass filled beats and a pair of muscular men wearing black uniforms toss a man out.

“And stay out!” snarled both men in unison as they quickly shut the door.

Adrian was face first in the concrete of the lot, just laying there still. Fearing the worst I broke out into a run over to him, Octavia close behind. But as we neared I saw him begin to rise, making me sigh with relief. As he got into a push up position he vomited on the floor, leaving a puddle of vile things I was sure humans weren’t meant to ingest. He stood up finally, swaying side to side and stumbling back a few times. His eyes seemed almost bloodshot and his clothes were all messy. He turned back to the rave doors not even bothering to acknowledge us and screamed at the door.

“Yeah? Well fuck you too! I’ll make my own rave…with booze…and bitchesh…and...bitchesh!” He hollered into the night as he swiveled around back to us as wobbly as ever with a mischievous grin. “I shure showed them!” he stated proudly before making like a tree and going timber.

I only sighed at the wasted mess of a man out cold on the floor before picking him up by the arms and beginning to drag him to the car.

“Ish he okay?” asked Octavia with an expression that was mix of disgust and worry despite her own drunkenness.

“I don’t think so, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.” I mumbled.

We walked to the car where I then stuffed Adrian into the back seat and allowed Octavia to sit in the front and began to trip back to Jansford. It had been quite the night indeed. When we finally arrived, we snuck in the same way we snuck out with a bit more difficulty due to the unconscious man but we managed. Once we got to his room which was on the first floor of my building we put him on his bed, when I put him down he threw a few unconscious swings at me but luckily he missed so we left.

“Would you be up for a walk? It’s nice out at night.” I inquired sweetly to my companion.

She had sobered up just a bit to talk normal now and accepted my suggestion. “I would be delighted.”

We began to walk through the garden portion of the campus, careful not to be seen by anyone lest we get in trouble. As we walked through the dimly lit path I brought up the same topic I had at the rave before we left.

“So you and your group managed to get a spot in Manehattan then? I asked, a bit eager to bring up the topic again.

Her expression shifted to a gloomy one again as she was reminded. “Yes, it was the most joyful of days as my ensemble and I were invited to play at the gathering. But as we were about to board the train for Manehattan, something went horribly wrong.” She whimpered barely above a whisper as her purple eyes filled with fright at the remembrance.
I walked beside her listening intently with a completely stoic expression. “What happened?”

She took a short breath to calm herself and proceeded. “The sky had begun to flash an odd pink and it was horrifying as that never happens, we instantly scattered. From that point I lost sight of my ensemble when we began to run through the crowds of frightened Canterlot ponies then the smell of pastries began to flood the area…then all I remember is-” she cut off as her face flushed a bit of red and she tried to hide her cheeks with her hands as she looked away. “Being…woken up by you.”

My cheeks turned a bit rosy themselves, I could feel it but I just ignored it. As we continued on we passed a building that seemed to catch Octavia’s eye.

“What is in there?” She asked with curiosity.

“That’s just the band room. Not really anyth-” was all I could get out before she took off toward it. “H-hey!” I hissed a bit above a whisper. “Come back!”

But she was already gone so I figured I’d go get her. When I arrived, I pushed open the door to see Octavia had already gotten busy. She had something rather long in her hand, though it was hard to tell in the dark. She was sitting in a chair and I could just make out her silhouette as she placed the long object between her legs. My face instantly exploded into a deep crimson yet again.

‘Is she doing what I think she’s doing…with the…b-band equipment?!’ was what raced through my mind as I saw the silhouette of her arm rise and fall rhythmically from between her legs.

Though, instead of my ears meeting the sound of expected moans it was met with the angelic tone of…an instrument! Indeed, as my eyes adjusted to the dark of the band room I confirmed that she was holding a cello. I have such a dirty mind, I should be ashamed of myself. I only stood in the door way as she began to rub the angel hair strings of the instrument with the bow as I was enticed by a piece that was near indescribable in beauty.

Its epic dramatic rises and then slow almost eerie declines all perfectly timed and with just the right amount of emotion that it could bring even the most impassive of people to drop to their knees and weep in joy. That is just what happened to me, as I felt my eyes well up and the image of the room become blurry as the dam that was my eyes broke open and over flowed letting hot tears stream down my face. It was by far the best thing I’ve heard, I dare say in my entire life. Though I wanted to stop my tears, I felt frozen in place as the music pressed on, meeting her melodic strokes with the bow.
Then finally, her music began to fade as she struck her last tone with a long slide and then concluded.

To be continued…

Chapter 7 - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

She gave a final sigh as she lowered the bow and then looked at me. I was literally speechless as I could only stare at her with manly tears streaming down my face. She opened her mouth to speak but cut herself on once I saw a light turn on from behind me followed by a slow, steady clap. I got worried and turned quickly with my face pale, fearful for what would happen if we were caught here at such an hour. There stood a rather refined looking woman, much like Octavia herself though instead of soot grayish black hair, she had long blonde hair. She was wearing a Jansford staff uniform so I assumed that she was the band teacher, though I’ve never been into band so I’ve never seen her.

“Stunning, simply stunning!” she exclaimed excitedly after she finished clapping, her eyes twinkling like stars from wonderment. “Darling, who ARE you?”

I looked back to Octavia who exchanged a nervous glance with me and she opened her mouth to speak. “O-Octavia, ma’am.” She managed respectfully as she stood to give a well mannered curtsy.

“She's a…um…new student from…” I added only to find myself stuck on the location.

“Equestria!” Octavia chimed in confidently.

I face palmed so hard I think I may have left myself a mark.

“Equestria? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that place…is it European?” asked the woman curiously, a finger to her chin as she looked up.

‘Are you kidding me? Is she stupid?’ I thought to myself flatly in disbelief but shrugged it off and decided to go with it.

“Oh yes, a r-rather small country in…umm…Eastern Europe. A bit new so it’s not…umm…likely to be on present day maps until much later. Yes, that’s it.” I stated while crossing my arms and nodding to try and reinforce my blatant lie.

The woman only squinted in my direction for a moment, so intensely that I almost thought she wasn’t going to buy it. It felt so intense that sweat began to bead on my forehead though barely visible in the dim light.

“Oh, okay then” she exclaimed cheerfully with a smile.

I sighed in relief; I thought we were screwed for sure.

“Miss Octavia,” she began with a smile as she strode over to her in the chair. “That was simply splendid, you have a true gift!”

“Oh than-” she began only to be cut off by the instructor who placed a finger against her lips to silence her which was effective as Octavia only stared at her with wide eyes. I could have sworn I saw a hint of seduction in that, but I could’ve been wrong.

“Not done.” She said with a cheeky smile as she leaned in. “Anyhow, you have a true gift, but you have both violated Jansford rules. No usage of band equipment after hours of operation.”

Octavia glared in my direction and I only give a look that screamed ‘I’m so, so, so sorry! I forgot about that!’

“I can have you both in serious trouble…unless we come to an…agreement?” the instructor ended with a cheeky smirk as her glance shifted between us both. “Do me the favor of playing for my ensemble, Miss Octavia.”

We both stared at her wide eyed for a moment and Octavia answered with an unsure smile, “Uhh…v-very well. When do I start?” I could tell she didn’t want to get into trouble.

The instructor beamed at her as her face lit up. “Great!” she exclaimed and then ran to the room she had come out of real quick, only to come out a moment later with a sticky note with an address on it. “Here, you will meet me at my appartment at Eight o’clock tomorrow. See you then!” she chirped excitedly as she began to turn to walk out, but stopped at the door before opening it. “By the way, my name is Miss O’Neal.” And then she exited leaving us in the dark.
After a moment or so, Octavia turned back to me looking very irritated.

“How could you not tell me that we weren’t allowed in here?!” she exclaimed with her arms crossed over her chest, the action pushing up her breasts though I hardly think she noticed however I did.

“Well, you didn’t exactly let me tell you before running off…” I said flatly as my eyes began to slowly drift down from her face.

She sighed and then mumbled under her breath, I was barely able to catch wind of what she said which was: “Well…at least he is a bit more competent than…her.” As she rolled her eyes a bit.

I perked up a bit at that in interest though my eyes stayed locked on her chest. Unfortunately for me, I must have been staring a bit too hard as I heard her cry out.

“Oh my Celestia, are you serious?!” and then the heat of pain pierced through my skull as I felt her hand impact my head.

***

The morning had begun as a stream of light shone on my face and my eyes slowly opened. I was on the floor with just a pillow and some covers. I stared at the ceiling clueless for a moment but then the event that had transpired yesterday came back to me; the rave, the flashing sky, the girl, the band room, and the part where I gave her my bed. It all came back. I lifted myself and peeked over the bed sheets groggily. She was asleep still, the sun’s rays shining over her face giving her an almost unreal addition to her beauty.

I realized it was about time to go as I looked at the clock and say that it was seven thirty. I poked her awake and we got ready and went on our way. We finally pulled up to a quaint looking apartment building on the east side of town not far from Jansford and got out. As we stood in front of the building, a car pulled up beside us and the window rolled down revealing Miss O’Neal’s face.

“Well, well, well! Octavia and…umm…you.” To which she began to blush from embarrassment “I’m so sorry dear, I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“Felix Saunders.” I announced respectfully with a nod.

“Well, Felix and Octavia, let me park my car for a moment and then we’ll head up to the apartment.” She called as she zoomed to the back of the building and then reappeared a few minutes later walking to us.

She walked to the door and opened it, beckoning us in. “After you.”

As we walked in, the slight hum of music struck our ears causing us to look about curiously though Miss O’Neal hardly acknowledged it as she looked up and then head for a staircase nearby with a glare. We followed close behind climbing the steps carefully, every step we took the music grew louder until when we reached the second floor, the melody was blasting. Miss O’Neal only sighed.

“I’m sorry about this; I’ve had a guest over for since yesterday’s event. I’m sure you know what I mean. She likes to play music…and loud too.” She told us as she looked on apologetically.

“Oh, no problem at all.” Chimed Octavia as she smiled a bit.

We finally reached the instructors room, the door marked with brass letters and numbers ‘2-C’ and was a deep cyan. When she opened the door after fumbling with her keys she revealed a rather neat looking home aside from the CD’s tossed about the living room floor as the music blasted. As it drummed through the hall I couldn’t even hear myself think and then it happened.

As we walked in, the door closed behind us and then a woman slid from another room into the living room facing away from us. She was only sporting what looked like shades, a really short tank top that only went down to her mid back and purple frilled panties. Both I and Octavia’s jaws dropped as we stared on, Miss O’Neal only face palming as she saw it.
The woman quickly turned, showing us her front though her eyes closed behind the deep purple tint of her shades as her electric blue hair swayed from side to side as she danced to the beat. Soon enough the song began and she lifted a brush to her mouth and began to sing along.

“Ahh yes, well looky here looky here ah what do we have? Another pretty thang ready for me to grab, but little does she know that I’m a wolf in sheeps clothing ‘cause at the end of the night it is her I’ll be holding!” she sang melodically as she continued to dance about sending her hair about messily.

I had to admit, her singing was pretty impressive. Her voice was outstanding and she was gorgeous…in an exotic way to boot. As the song dragged on she continued to sing with it.

“To every girl that I meet here this is what I say: Run run run away, run away baby before I put my spell on you! You better get get get away get away darling 'cause everything you heard is true, your poor little heart will end up alone 'cause what knows I'm a rolling stone! So you better run run run away run away baby.” She chimed as she swiveled around in the heat of the beat.

Suddenly, Miss O’Neal shouted over the volume of the music. “Miss Scratch!!”

Miss Scratch jumped nearly a foot in the air and toppled over a nearby sofa to the floor with a shout. “Oh my sweet merciful Celestia!”

Octavia shook her head to snap out of her awestruck state. “Vinyl?!”

“Octi?” called the woman who had tumbled over the couch.

To be continued…

Chapter 9 - Before the Storm

It had been almost six weeks since we had found out that another Equestrian refugee was very close nearby and Octavia’s best friend no less. In that time frame, I had finally finished up my curriculum in Jansford and got my own apartment in a building near Miss O’Neal until I got started with the next semester. My place wasn’t the most luxurious but it was more than enough for two people, in fact, it even had enough room where Octavia could have her own small studio which also doubled as my study so I often had soothing classical music while I wrote my resumes. At some point, Octavia also found out that humans were…umm…omnivorous.

The concept of eating meat to stay healthy didn’t go over well with her. Unfortunately I found out the hard way seeing as one night I brought over horse steak, a personal favorite of mine and I had completely forgot who I was dealing with here. When I set it up on the table she asked what it was and when I told her she shrieked and started throwing things at me. It got so bad that I had to leave for a while and take the meat with me. I was basically kicked out for a couple hours and had to go to Miss O’Neal’s where Vinyl kinda just stole it from me. She didn’t even ask questions…just ate. To be honest, I didn’t know which was scarier; the fact that she ate it or the fact that she liked it…

Vinyl and Octavia had also been spending a lot of time together. In fact, more than I felt comfortable with but I quickly shook off the thought as I recalled that I’m not her care taker. But for some reason, I can’t help but care. Things have been a bit complicated for me in the emotional sense since I’ve been living with her, but that’s a topic for another time. I had been looking up things about humanized pony characters but to no avail, I mean it’s to be expected. That’d be ridiculous if there were actual cases. The only thing that ever came up was crudely drawn rule thirty-four pictures which I didn’t entirely disapprove of but for my sake I did not linger on lest a certain cellist walk in.

As of late, I had got a job at a nearby Star Bucks just to keep a small cash flow coming in seeing as I was the only one working out of us both. I had just come home from the interview that Thursday and was told I would start on Monday; I had to admit I was pretty stoked. I had finally gotten to my front door, shoving the key into the lock merrily whistling a song I had stuck in my head all day, though as the door creaked open I was greeted by hushed grunting and panting. I figured it was maybe something on TV but when I strode into the living room the TV was off. As the door closed silently behind me and I walked further into my home, the huffs and groans grew more and more apparent and seemed to be coming from the studio.
My face took off to a scarlet as I walked to the closed door and pressed my ear against it, making out words in between the very, very carnal gasps.

“It’s t-too much!” cried a voice which I recognized as the only classy sooty haired girl I knew.

“We’ve barely even started…” sighed another female voice in what I can only describe as disappointment. It was definitely Vinyl.

“B-but…it’s so h-hard!” she cried through another series of huffs.

“Trust me,” Vinyl voice paused as I heard a giggle “You’ll feel real good after!”

Instantly, the jimmies had been rustled though in the best way I can possibly describe.

“I can’t k-keep up,” she huffed and then her voice became shrill and forced “I’m going to-” Octavia let out a sharp ‘eep’ and I heard a thud.

I couldn’t take it anymore; I had to know what was going on. I quickly swung the door open, scanning the room. Octavia was face first on the floor, a sweaty mess. She was wearing things I had no clue where she got. She was sporting leg warmers, a sports bra which hugged her small frame delicately, a gray headband and a pair of tight sweat pants. Her sides were rising and falling at a tremendous rate, her normally flawless hair a mess. Vinyl stood over her, her hands on her hips shaking her head in disappointment. She was wearing almost the same set of clothes, minus the head band and leg warmers but in a delicate violet color.

“You’re never gonna get in shape for your Orchestra thing like this,” Groaned Vinyl. “Push ups aren’t even that hard!” she ended flatly as she raised her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation.

Push ups…I knew that. No I didn’t, but I tried my best to play it off, even though my face was redder than an apple.

“I…see you two are um…having fun.” I said cautiously as I stood in the door way trying to calm down.

“I was trying to get twinkle hooves here in shape for her big show this week.” Vinyl grumbled as she tapped Octavia lightly with her foot.

Octavia was apparently out cold on the ground, pale like if she had seen something horrible. My brow furrowed with worry.

“Is that supposed to happen?” I asked, pointing to her.

Scratch looked at me questioningly, slowly following my gaze and then poker faced.

“Hoh my gosh!” she screeched, quickly scurrying out of the room and to the kitchen her glasses almost falling to the floor. She returned with a cup of water, kneeling down and lifting the face of the pale unconscious mess on the floor, splashing water in it.

Octavia’s eyes opened wide, gasping in shock as her eyes shot about the room and her color instantly exploded back in place.

“What in Equestria would possess you to do that?!”

“You being practically dead on the floor.”

Octavia quickly gathered herself, brushing off her pants and stamping to the bathroom.

“I am going to bathe…” she hissed over her shoulder.

“Well, I guess I’ll make something special since you guys have been working so-” I began, holding my chin with my index and thumb in thought but then paused. “Wait….what the hell are you doing here?” I questioned, squinting in Vinyl’s direction.
She looked at me blankly, staring at me with her magenta eyes and just shrugged.

“I got bored.”

***

Some time had passed, roughly ten minutes or so and I had the mix set. I was making a fish stew kind of thing. I wasn’t the best cook but I could mix stuff that just wound up tasting good sometimes. I had just defrosted a fish that I had bought a few days prior when I heard a loud crash come from the bathroom. Immediately my Spidey senses began tingling and I turned to Vinyl who aimlessly wandered into the kitchen a few minutes ago, shoving the fish in her hands.

“Hold my bass! I need to go see what happened!”

I turned and sprinted to the bath, swinging the door open. Octavia was on the floor of the tub, her hand on her back as she winced painfully. The shower head was still running and made her peachy skin glimmer in the light, her hair hanging low from the weight of the sponged up water. Her breasts cradled atop the forearm of her free arm. If this was an anime, I dare say I would have died from blood loss via nose bleed. Sexual “misadventures” seemed to be happening a lot lately with these damned pony people.

Then there was a faint plop and a short gasp from the kitchen.

“What happened?” I called over my shoulder, trying to keep the embarrassment from my voice.

“Um…I dropped it…” I heard her call back.

***

After some effort, I got the food ready. Octavia got cleaned up after her fall and Vinyl…well…she was kinda just there. I served everyone some food and we dug in hungrily. Though some of us preferring to exercise table manners while others not so much. The table had gotten kind of quiet so I decided to break the silence.

“So,” I started, looking up to Octavia. “Think you’re ready for this week?”

“Most definitely, I have my sheet music memorized and I’ve been practicing ever since Miss O’Neal told me I would take part.” She answered with a small nod, clearly confident if not cocky.

“Don’t get full of yourself now, Octi. Remember what happened at your Hoofington recital?” Scratch asked with a mischievous grin, poking at her side.

Octavia’s face flushed with shame and began to twirl the end of her hair with her finger.

“I told you never to speak of that again…” she muttered sheepishly.

I looked between the two questioningly.

“What happened at Hoofington?”

Vinyl glanced at me with an expression that said ‘Shit went down, bro’ and took in a breath ready to tell me everything but was interrupted by a fist in her face. I wasn’t expecting it, me nearly hopping out of my chair as Vinyl tumbled over holding her nose tenderly. Octavia lifting another spoonful of stew to her mouth neatly, though her eyebrow twitched irritably.

“If you like, I am more than willing to play some for you.” She suggested, her voice eerily calm as she side glanced the neon blue haired woman writhing on the floor in pain with a satisfied smirk.

“O-okay…” I retorted, hugging the back to my chair in both shock and genuine fear.

Octavia rose, striding over to the studio with me following behind her. All the while replaying the punch in my head, my brain even had the courtesy to add some sound effects. As her fist made contact with Vinyl’s face, I heard loudly in my head: “FALCON PUNCH!” When she hit the ground I heard: “FLAWLESS VICTORY!” We reached the room and she pushed open the door, walking inside and gathering her instrument. I just went over and sat at my computer chair.

She applied a coat of rosin to her bow and then placed it firmly on the C chord, getting into position and then swiping the bow along the instrument. Instantly a lovely melody began to ooze out as she played, her arm rising and falling with each note struck perfectly and her other hand pressing down and releasing with accuracy and grace that would rival even the most talented of people. Her eyes closed as the music lulled her into a state of what would seem like no return and she swayed her head with the rhythm. The cello’s moans and coo’s all mixing together in a batter of euphoria and sprayed about for the rest of the world to embrace with a loving kiss. This piece put the one she merely put together on the spot in the music room on campus to shame as I felt almost pulled into Octavia’s mind, or maybe even her very soul. Beautiful, benevolent and lovely.

To be continued...

Chapter 10 - Things just got Complicated...

She screamed loudly as they held her in place, one man on either side of her as pain after pulse of choking pain was barreled into me. I coughed blood onto the unforgiving pavement as the gentle tussle of the wind seemed to mock my petty state, basically groveling on the ground. The one man stood over me, sending his foot into my gut repeatedly, his face bent into a wicked smile as the dimness of the moon light hung over him making him seem twice as malevolent. Octavia’s elegant tuxedo being messily undone by the men as they sadistically glanced to me and then back to her. She tried to resist but to no avail as one of the man sent a hand to her face and the loud echo of the impact shot through the darkness of the alley.

‘Was I going to die here?’ I asked myself as my eyes began to glaze over. ‘Are these men going to kill me…and…take her?’

The glow of the moon began to become blurry as I began to slip into unconsciousness, then a flicker of movement caught my eye. Probably a cat is what I figured at first as my body went numb, basically just twitching from the impact of the man’s foot. Octavia’s screams becoming more and more distant. But as time progressed, it wasn’t just a cat. A figure emerged from the shadows, it balanced on one foot and send the other into the man above me and sent him flying off me. The other two men let go of Octavia and turned to the mystery shrouded individual, running at it shouting.

Within minutes, they were defeated in the same fashion. Octavia was on the floor, clutching her tux where her heart would be and panting heavily while I simply bled. The figure walked toward Octavia, still in the shadows and apparently said something since Octavia’s lips began to move in worry as she pointed over to me. I couldn’t make out what they were saying; all I could hear was a low ringing. Seconds later the figure walked up to me, revealing their face. I didn’t recognize it but their hair…it was unmistakable…

***

*2 Hours Earlier*

Starbucks had been better than I actually thought it would have been. It was enjoyable and had a very friendly working environment. Of course there was the occasional grump who shouted if their order was wrong but other than that all was well. My shift was about coming to a close and I was left to lock the place up.

“First day was a success, I’d say.” I whispered to myself cheerfully as I shoved the key in the door and locked it up, walking to my car while swinging the key on my finger.

I pulled up home, quickly stripped down and changed into something fancy. I rented a nice suit from a store in downtown. Once I had it all on I had to say I looked rather spiffy. I stared at myself in the mirror, nodding in approval as I looked over my black suit with my light blue dress shirt under and a nice bow tie adorning my neck. My slacks around my waist and held in place with a fancy looking belt that I borrowed from Adrian same as my black dress shoes. Octavia’s ensemble recital was today, Miss O’Neal was going to be directing them as they played at a theatre where music is often show cased. Just as I finished I heard the studio door creak open and a figure walk out into the living room from the corner of my eye.

I didn’t realize she was home and figured I should greet her since today was her big day. I strode out with a grin on my face but as I stood in the door way my smile disappeared. As I looked on at the figure standing there, my jaw dropped. Octavia stood there in an elegant dress though she a little less than elated as she irritably fixed and adjusted it. The silky mocha dress began at her shoulders and stopped at her ankles, accompanied with her magenta eyes and dark hair it was near indescribable.

“I…I don’t like it.” She huffed, her face in a bit of a pout.

I shook my head to snap back into reality.

“What? You look amazing!” I encouraged her with a beam.

“I never liked dresses, I would much prefer adornment such as yours.” The cellist retorted with the makings of a frown as she walked towards me her frown shifting to a faint smile and a pleading look in her eyes, almost seeming to make her pupils enlarge and sparkle as she adjusted my tie for me. “Please?”

That was honestly too cute, my heart was on the verge of explosion as that was waaaay too much for me to handle. All I could do was give a heavy sigh, roll my eyes and submit. We headed to Miss O’Neal’s house to get what we came for but also to meet up with them seeing as they were going to ride with us to the theatre. When we walked up to their apartment and knocked on the door, it creaked open to reveal two equally stunning women. Miss O’Neal with her blonde hair in a neat bun as she wore a thigh-length black dress, her squared glasses giving her an almost librarian look about her and Vinyl just behind her with an irritated expression as she tugged at her deep red outfit.

“I hate this dress, Martha…” Vinyl whined as she continued to tug at it.

Miss O’Neal only glanced back, answering flatly with a false smile to hide her impatience. “Hush, Miss Scratch or you go naked.”

“Umm, I hate to be of trouble but would you guys happen to have a tuxedo around? Octi doesn’t seem to like dresses.” I inquired, gesturing towards Octavia who waved at them.

“I really doubt it, dear. What wrong with what you have on? You look gorgeous!”

“Yeah, lookin’ sharp there, Octi.” Vinyl commentated with a series of nods.

Octavia only furrowed her brow.

“I’ve never been one for dresses, Miss O’Neal. I’ve rather preferred suits even though they are colt oriented.” She explained, emphasizing on her distain for dresses.

“Well if it means that much to you I suppose I can have a look.” Miss O’Neal sighed, turning to Vinyl quickly. “Go check for me, if you’d be so kind.”

She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to protest but then paused as Miss O’Neal smiled at her eerily, her expression of sweetness seeming to mask something more sinister. The DJ basically tucked her tail between her legs and scurried off to check. Moments later she returned with a suit wrapped in plastic.

“I dunno if it’ll fit though.” She said, looking at it in an unsure fashion.

Octavia walked into the living room, seemingly satisfied as I followed behind her to sit on the couch. Vinyl sat down on the one across from me sipping a juice box she had pulled from who knows where and Miss O’Neal had walked to the kitchen. As the cellist unwrapped the tuxedo, she gave several approving nods and then slipped off her dress, the mocha fabric falling to her ankles. Both Vinyl and I were taken aback. As I gawked, Vinyl seemed to inhale her straw in the midst of a gasp while she stared and choked in silence. Octavia stood there in bra and panties, her treble clef cutie mark fully visible on both sides as her hair lightly touched her bare back. She clearly didn’t notice our burning stares or didn’t care as she bent over to pick up the discarded outfit, revealing a hell of a lot more than I expected to see for a while.

Miss O’Neal walked out of the kitchen, her eyes widening upon what she was witnessing and letting out a loud nervous laughter before calling her over.

“Aha…Octavia, dear, Come here.” Her tone morphing into an embarrassed hiss, “Now!”

Octavia only cocked an eyebrow curiously before gathering her things to change in the kitchen and leaving a DJ gasping for air and me to have to give her the Heimlich.

***

We had finally pulled up to the theatre, space was limited but since we had performers we managed a reserved slot. We climbed out of the car and slowly filed toward the entrance while Octavia went on about how excited she was.

“Oh, I’m so elated I can’t stand it! I wonder how many ponies are inside! What do you think they’ll be like?” she questioned endlessly as she fixed her tuxedo up.

I shook my head, taking in a small wisp of air before sighing, having to remind her yet again.

“People, Octavia. Not ponies.”

“R-right. People, not ponies…” she muttered as if committing it to memory.

Though as we neared the entrance, a group of men poured out from the theatre clearly intoxicated as they were escorted out by the staff. Their nice suits messed and their presumably once neat hair now scruffy and unkempt. As they walked by, stumbling in their intoxicated stupor, the door closed, allowing the staff and any prying eyes to be shut away from the scene. They approached us, their eyes showing a bit of interest, though not directed at me.

“Why hello, lil’ missh.” One of the men, with a moderate country though upbeat and professional accent, spoke in a slurred manner towards Octavia.

The other two men displayed similar lustful interest, though their eyes scoured about the other two women beside me. Though the two of which who were of equine origins looked fucking clueless, though I couldn’t have expected much seeing as they came from a place where I imagine rape is rare, if not unheard of. While I don’t too much condone playing the hero, shit was about to go down so it was time to nut up or shut up.

I took in a small wisp of air before puffing out my chest slightly and stepping forward.

“Hey, back off! We don’t want any trouble.” I hissed towards the men, blocking their way to the three.

Miss O’Neal’s expression seemed rather troubled as she gathered Octavia and Vinyl behind her. Suddenly some movement caught all of our eyes as the familiar red and blue lights flashed in the distance only to grow closer and halt a few feet away. A stocky man with a black uniform climbed out half way from the white police cruiser.

“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” he questioned almost daringly at the intoxicated trio, clearly more than aware of their intentions.

This seemed more than enough to discourage the group as they backed off hesitantly.

“Shertainly not officer…” one of the men called out submissively before shooting a glare my way and stalking off in the opposite direction.

The officer gave a smug grunt in reply as he watched them go before turning his attention to us.

“Be a little more careful next time.” He stated bluntly before climbing back in his car and cruising off. We didn’t even get enough time to thank him properly other than our relieved glances towards him.

Soon enough we walked in, our little encounter seeming to have shaved the only few minutes we had for socialization before the show leading to Octavia and Miss O’Neal having to take their places.

Scratch and I slowly made our way up the stands as the cellist and the conductor disappeared into the crowds to prepare with the rest of the mentioned ensemble. As we finally found our seats the mumbling of the crowds went on for several long minutes before the theatre went dark as the stage lit up. The lovely velvet curtains slowly slid aside to reveal the performers. Octavia, gingerly hugging to her cello was the only person I recognized apart from Miss O’Neal who stood at a podium facing the musicians and lifting her conductor’s wand in the air gracefully before waving it about. There were several other people playing different instruments all dressed wonderfully. In a sense, I suppose I was eager to meet them at some point.

Soon the melody began to reverberate through the stands, starting off strong with the sound of an almost metronomic beat before Octavia lifted her bow, swiping across the chords firmly, her eyes closed in deep concentration as she picked up her pace a bit. The sounds of the strong ballad settling into the crowd of spectators like that of hot coal settling in a furnace. It gave an almost spine-tingling atmosphere as the viewers fell silent, some with their mouth agape in awe from the unexpected theme: a battle.
The symphony went on as Miss O’Neal waved her wand about majestically towards the performers as they looked up periodically from their sheet music for the tempo and the music poured on, filling the ears of the viewers like bittersweet honey, the jagged beats of the music making its way throughout the auditorium and back again in a seemingly infinite euphoric loop threatening to turn the tides of the mind itself. Astounding really, that after all the music I have listened to by her, despite me hearing her play her piece for the millionth time, I could never get tired of it. It was almost as if each time Octavia put a new spin on the way she played her music, it was almost like listening to a whole new song played by the same magnificent woman.

Finally the piece came to an end with a soft yet tactical beat before the theatre was flooded with roaring and near ear shattering applause. The ensemble stood taking their bows as they soaked the attention with an air of content. I stood, nudging Vinyl to do the same as we joined the crowd clapping madly and occasionally I lifted my fingers to my mouth to give a loud whistle of approval. The stage lit up again as all the viewers rose from their seats, walking back to the magnificent lobby for snacks and socialization.

“I’m gonna go find Octi,” Vinyl stated, her expression riddled with disdain as she turned, walking away before calling over her shoulder. “Everypony is too stuck up for me…”

It was just then that I saw a brief flash of soot grey hover out of sight towards the door way from the corner of my eye, I had turned to call out to the DJ but she had already been engulfed by the crowd. Though due to the sudden departure, my curiosity sparked up more than anything and I figured I’d follow. As the crowds congregated, I managed my way through with by this point, overly used “Excuse me’s” and “Pardon me’s”. Once outside I saw her striding towards the car with a misplaced expression, her pace increasing with the coming seconds as I noticed her glance around before I called out to her.

“Tavi, hey, what’re you doing out here?” I commented as I broke into a jog to minimize the distance between us, giving a small wave.

She turned, placing a hand on her hip as she tilted her head and answering in a bored tone. “Oh, Martha instructed me to fetch something for her in the car that she left behind, that’s all.”

I furrowed my brow and dug into my pocket, jingling my keys in front of me. “You can’t get in without these anyways.”

Just then, three figures seemed to slither from the shadows as they wrapped around the car, approaching us in finely dressed attire, though sloppily maintained. As they made a stagger toward us, the jolt of recognition struck me and as I glanced aside to the young Cellist, I could tell she realized it too though it was too late as one of the men drew and object from his pocket, it letting out a click as the swift steel glint of a blade shot into place above the hilt. The same men from before when the officer had saved us, but this time, not only were we fewer in number but there was no officer to help us this time. The man didn’t even utter a word, only glaring at us and nodding his head towards the alley nearby, signaling for us to move to it. With a sigh and a bow of my head I grabbed her by the arm, ushering her along to comply, as she only looked up at me with a puzzled expression. It was a shame her innocence made her so naïve.

As I entered the sinister darkness of the alley, I turned, my expression growing grim. “Look, we don’t want any trouble, man…” I managed as the unarmed man advanced, cocking back his arm and jetting a powerful blow towards to face.

For a moment, all went dark as I stumbled backwards, gripping my face as the drops of scarlet trickled to the floor and the woman beside me let out a horrified gasp, pressing her hands against her mouth. Once I regained my footing and shook off the initial shock, I lunged forward in retaliation only to be punched back yet again; this time falling to the ground completely from the force. The two men rushed over to Octavia, snatching her arms away from her mouth and holding them against the wall as they lustfully licked their lips. Though my situation was dire enough, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it as the rage and overall disgust boiled in my belly. I did my best to lift, using a nearby wall as support only to have another wallop of pain course through me as the man’s dress shoes met my rib cage.

All I could do was clutch my midsection, curling in agony as he drew his leg back even farther, almost to his back before accelerating it back towards the same location. Though this time, a sickening crack rang through the alley, though for the most part muffled by Octavia’s shrieks of confusion and fear.

“What are you doing?!” She cried, kicking her legs as the other two held her against the wall. “Leave him alone-”

She was abruptly cut off by the armed man placing the switchblade against her throat and covering her mouth with his hand roughly.

“Shut up, bitch.” He said flatly, not batting an eye.

I soon began to see stars as another kick was sent to my face as the taste of blood flooded my mouth. She screamed loudly as they held her in place, one man on either side of her as pain after pulse of choking pain was barreled into me. I coughed blood onto the unforgiving pavement as the gentle tussle of the wind seemed to mock my petty state, basically groveling on the ground. The one man stood over me, sending his foot into my gut repeatedly, his face bent into a wicked smile as the dimness of the moonlight hung over him making him seem twice as malevolent. Octavia’s elegant tuxedo being messily undone by the men as they sadistically glanced to me and then back to her. She tried to resist but to no avail as one of the man sent a hand to her face and the loud echo of the impact shot through the darkness of the alley.

‘Was I going to die here?’ I asked myself as my eyes began to glaze over. ‘Are these men going to kill me…and…take her?’
The glow of the moon began to become blurry as I began to slip into unconsciousness, then a flicker of movement caught my eye. Probably a cat is what I figured at first as my body went numb, basically just twitching from the impact of the man’s foot. Octavia’s screams becoming more and more distant. But as time progressed, it wasn’t just a cat. A figure emerged from the shadows, it balanced on one foot and send the other into the man above me and sent him flying off me. The other two men let go of Octavia and turned to the mystery shrouded individual, running at it shouting.

***

I heard the steady sound of beeps, though saw nothing. As I opened my eyes, the plain white of a ceiling came into view, lit up by the bright radiant morning beams though I only stared at it, listening to the rhythm of the beeping. My body ached, the pain considerably measureable to having been hit by a car and backed up on. After a while, I figured it time to inspect my surroundings, looking to my right and spotting the source of the beeping; a heart monitor. Though just beyond it was what really caught my attention, sleeping in a set of chairs was them. Octavia's sooty hair was frazzled and messy as she donned the same dress from the night of the concerto, beside her was the electric blue haired DJ dressed in a hooded jacket and a pair of jeans as she fiddled about with a small machine in her hands, her attention completely absorbed by it. Adrian was even there, completely out of it as his head rested against the wall, a line of saliva dripping out his mouth in slumber. Miss O’Neal stood by the window, looking outside with a forlorn expression before giving a sigh and turning to me, then her eyes widening.

“Oh my goodness, he’s awake!” she exclaimed, trotting towards me with a reassured look in her eyes.

Everyone in the room jumped up from the startle, though Adrian instead woke up in a coughing fit, presumably having choked on his own spit. I only had time to give a weak smirk before pain shot through me once again as Octavia spared no time throwing herself at me and wrapping her arms around my neck. For a moment, everyone’s eyes seemed to gloss over as they backed up in recognition, though Miss O’Neal was noticeably concerned that the cellist would harm me further. Immediately I felt warm droplets fall on my shoulder, only to realize…she was crying…for me!

“H-hey…” I called out to her, my voice hoarse and strained.

She released her grasp, looking at me in the eye despite her nose red from grief, eyes dazzled with hot tears and her lip quivering.
I let out a brief, cough like chuckle at the irony of my following question though wincing from the pain of effort.

“A-are yo-you okay?”

She smiled through her tears, stroking a lock of messed hair behind her ear before looking at me again, pushing her head forward and locking me in a kiss. Something inside me at that moment seemed to shift. Almost mend something that I didn’t even know was broken. Unlike the other ones, this felt…real. As she broke it, I gave a smile in return though the moment was cut short as I spotted a silhouette in the glass of the tinted hospital door window, followed by a strangely familiar tone.

“Ah, awake I see! Phenomenal!” the voice announced, the accent quite unmistakable, being from European origins as a neatly dressed man jiggled open the door knob, striding inside with a cheeky smile, his hair organized in chaotic neatness, if that would even suffice as a description.

This was going to be interesting…

To be continued…

Chapter 11 - Chaos over Time

The girl sat, peering across the lake with blank, unseeing eyes as the wind-ruffled waves lapped at the shore. The yawn of dawn was ending as the sun began to peek its all-seeing eye above the blink of the horizon. Despite her much wanted bliss, even she could not shut out the resentful glares that were shot by those who wandered by on the sidewalks of the small town park. People were awake before daylight, as was usual in the sleepy town of Applecross. Tears began to well in the girl’s eyes as she focused more on her lap. Ever since that day, the town never saw her the same way; it was the day that changed her life and the day that lingered like a stain in the back of everyone’s mind.

As hot tears of frustration and loneliness rolled down her cheeks, she couldn’t help but cast a forlorn glance beside her. There sat a doll, though something about it, something she couldn’t quite place her finger on coursed through her. The makings of a smile crept across her face, and she didn’t have to understand; she recognized it and that’s all that mattered. She leaned aside and picked up the doll by its arm, setting it on her lap, looking to it expectantly until, as if on cue, it whispered hushed comforts to her. It was her only friend these days, ever since her real friends had turned their backs on her; their once comforting hollers of joy morphed into sneers of spite and scorn.

“I’m your friend, I’m all you need. Everyone has turned their backs on you and I’m all you have. But listen to me, and you’ll never be alone again because you and me, we’ll reinvent everything!” the doll whispered into her ear cynically, egging her on until the girl nodded her head in agreement. It was all she could do now…

***

“Brilliant, simply brilliant!” the strange, well dressed man exclaimed as he paced across the room to me. “I don’t suppose you’re in too much pain, yeah? While I don’t usually resort to violence, you seemed like you needed the help.” He gently patted at my chest area as he rocked back and forth in a ponderous manner.
My mouth was still agape from the shock of seeing him, it had to be him! I winced a bit at the patting but carried on, propping myself up in the bed on my elbows a bit.

“You can’t be who I think you are can you?” I began, still awestruck.

He paused for a moment as he lifted a hand to his chin and looked me dead in the eye. “Well, I reckon that depends on who you are thinking of me thinking you think I am.”

“Are you…Doctor Whoo-” I stammered before being quickly cut off by the man.

“Ap pa pa pa,” he interjected before twirling around briefly as I just barely heard him mutter under his breath while he inspected his hands. “Okay, okay…hands; good sign…that means I have a human form, yes? Good, equine was so complicated! Human means…normal name, yes, right! John Smith, that is indeed who I am!” he blurted out cheerily as he whipped back around with a more sure expression.

I opened my mouth to reply but Miss O’Neal’s voice shot in first.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she paused to place emphasis on the name to show she didn't think that was who he really was, “Mister Smith, but what exactly were you doing there and who are you really?”

“I know him,” Vinyl chimed in unexpectedly, lifting her hand to point at the man. All eyes fell on her as she stood there with her gaze fixed recognizably on him. As she placed her hand on her hips she spoke again. “I don’t really know his name or anything, but like, a friend of mine always talked about him.” She glanced over at Octavia who met her gaze in puzzlement. “Y’know, Derpy! She always talked about him.”

“You know Derpy Hooves?” I ventured. I swear it was like everypony knew everypony!

“Why wouldn’t I? Hello, I know Pinkie and if you know Pinkie, you know everypony!” Vinyl objected, nodding to reinforce her point.

“Wait, wait, wait- hold on a minute!” the man shouted unnecessarily loud before lowering his voice to a more calm volume. “You just said everypony…” she glanced over to Adrian with his sharp glare. “She just said everypony!” He nodded before bolting around the bed and up to Vinyl, looking her up and down crossly. Vinyl narrowed her eyes as she side glanced Miss O’Neal who only shrugged in response.

“Dude, what’re you doing?”

He raised a small black wallet with a card inside, showing it to her. From my angle, I could just make out what it said: John Smith; Licensed Physician.

“Licensed physician; don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Shut up.” He chirped before pulling out a slender object with a strangely lit blue tip. He pointed it to her and passed it along her as it made a peculiar noise. “Ah ha! Just as I thought, you’re the reason I’m here!”

I laid back down and pressed my hand against my face in indignation, what was he going on about?

“Me?” Vinyl squeaked as she pointed to herself.

“Yes, love, you! And…anyone else who might be from where you’re from…and who is this ‘Derpy’ person- or pony or whoever you mentioned?”

“Oh stop it,” I snapped before staring up at him, “I know you’re Doctor Whooves and all but you can try to make a little more sense.” For a moment, the look her gave me made me think he was just going to straight up deck me in my bed but then for a moment, I thought I could see genuine interest in his eyes. He took a pace forward, but I kept my ground with my chin up as I stared him in the eye. Octavia gripped me tighter, shooting me a warning glance as if telling me to be careful.

“Doctor Whooves, you say? And how do you know that?” he urged.

“I’m…” I stammered hesitantly before answering, “I’m a brony, but more importantly, why isn't Derpy with you?”
“I would be more than happy to answer that, mister…?”

“Felix.”

“Felix! Molto bene, fantastic name, I mean it! Mister Felix, I would more than happy to answer if I knew exactly who ‘Derpy’ is…” I blinked at him for a moment in disbelief, he was Doctor Whooves, how did he not know Derpy? I mean, I know the fandom invented the pairing but it seemed so legit, I had thought it’d be true.

“You know…Ditzy? Ditzy Doo?” I tried. Maybe he didn’t know her by her nickname, it certainly couldn't hurt to try. At that moment his eyes stretched wide and his slapped his forehead repeatedly before turning back to me with a wide grin.

“Ditzy! Yes, Ditzy! How did I not know that? I really thought I would have…curious, really. Ah well, I suppose I’m not used to calling her that…” he chuckled for a moment as he seemed to space out. “Quite the funny name though, I can see why she doesn't like me using it. I tried once, not the best experience I can say, but life moves on. More importantly,” he turned to Vinyl with a clap but then stopped again with his eccentric sights set on Octavia. “You! You’re one too, aren’t you? I knew there was a reason I was here. Two in one spot explains a lot…”

Octavia’s short temper was already well at work as I spotted her tapping her foot on the ground moodily. She rolled her eyes a bit before growling towards him. “Let me stop you right there, Doctor whoever you are! What in the name of Celestia are you talking about?!”

The Doctor sighed, his expression melting from his natural cheekiness to one more serious. “Don’t you see? You know it as well as I do, you both do. You aren't from here and what brought you here is a problem that can in essence tear the dimensions apart as they collapse into one another. You are the first ones I've found and I have to find the source of what brought you here. You both radiate cross-dimensional fields that if manipulated correctly can lead me right to her.” He went on, running a weary hand through his hair before it snapped back into place.

“Her?” Octavia echoed, her eyebrows rising in interest.

The Doctor didn’t meet her stare, avoiding the question as he went on.

“I need you both to come with me we’ll be on our way to take you home and save Equestria.”

This time I rose up, shaking my head in resentment. “No way, she’s not going anywhere, Doctor!”

Octavia looked at me with longing in her eyes as she spoke with a low pleading tone, “But, it’s to save Equestria. I have to, Felix.

“But-”

“But nothing, Felix.” Vinyl broke in, pushing her shades up her face so that they rested on her electric blue hair and leering at me with her hypnotic magenta eyes. “This is our home we’re talking about! We can’t just abandon it and Celestia knows I won’t!”

“Good girls or…fillies…I don’t know, whatever, just come on!” he went on, twirling around to stumble out the entrance but I couldn’t accept that. I wouldn’t let them go. If I couldn’t stop them then I was sure as hell coming too.

“Wait. I’m going too.” I announced with a determined look about me as the Doctor whirled back around to face me, his stare boring into me with uncertainty. I was almost certain he was going to turn me down, but the only thing that may have swayed him is when Octavia herself stood her ground to support me.

“He goes, Doctor, or we don’t.” she challenged, crossing her arms across her chest the way she often did when she had made up her mind.

Doctor Whooves gave an annoyed groan, wiping his hand along his face before turning aside and pacing with his chin cupped in between his thumb and his index finger. I could hear inaudible mumblings coming from him as he did so, obviously weighing his choices before his arms went limp and he turned back to us.

“Fine! Just fine! Let’s go,” he rasped, whipping around and out the door and muttering curses under his breath. “Blasted ponies… always so difficult! Stubborn as a mule is what they are!”

***

I had managed to get outside, and it hurt, but my wounds weren't as severe as I had anticipated. It was more like the feeling of intense sore muscles than anything, apart from the piercing pain that stabbed at my chest when I strained myself too hard. I had a broken rib but according to them I had been out for at least two days so a bit of healing had happened. Miss O’Neal and Adrian stayed behind due to their unease and unwillingness to trust such an odd man. The Doctor lead the way out the hospital doors after I checked out and down the parking lot and to an old looking police box that I was sure they didn't make anymore. He glanced back at us for a moment before beckoning us forward. As we advanced, he shoved a key in the door and turned it before pushing it open.
For a moment, I thought I was seeing things or that I had gone completely mad. It couldn't be possible that all that could fit…in that little space! Dear god, I thought as my mind reeled, the fandom was on to something for once! The interior was mind blowing; it was like a warehouse of bright glowing lights and tantalizing consoles with various buttons and knobs. He began to usher us in briskly before looking at us and shouting sternly.

“And don’t touch anything! So help me if you do,” he shut the door before scampering to the console with a quick slide. “Both of you fine and lovely equestrian human hybrid thing-a-whozits, come over here, please.”

The cellist and the DJ exchanged glances nervously before the Doctor called to them again and they reluctantly advanced. My eyes were trained on him like a hawk. Just because he was Doctor Whooves doesn't mean I trusted him, especially around Octavia. He drew his glowing device from a coat pocket before passing the buzzing tip just at eye level to the two.

“What is that?” Octavia questioned with a dash of concern in her eyes.

“This,” he began, passing the device over from Octavia and on to Vinyl, “is a sonic screwdriver. I am going to use it on you two to transmit the inter-dimensional radiation to the TARDIS to get a fix on the anchor that is holding you both in place, so to speak.”

“It’s not going to hurt us, is it?” Vinyl broke in.

“What else can it do?” Octavia ventured right after.

“Where can I get one of those…?” Vinyl asked.

“Shhhhh,” Doctor Whooves hissed before adding more quietly and irritably, “blimey you two ask a lot of questions!”

Octavia’s mouth flew open to retaliate but the Doctor had already flicked back to the controls and was actively pressing buttons and pulling knobs.

“Anyway, I’ve got a fix on the source…more or less…I think…I’m pretty sure, soooo,” he conceded before a daring grin spread between his cheeks and he slammed a hand on a final button. “Geronimo!”

The ground beneath me felt as if we were cast to sea as it slammed to one side, forcing everyone on board to lurch to the side. The only thing that caught us was the conveniently placed railing, but even that felt flimsy and unreliable and the force made my ribs ache even harder. The Doctor had managed to stay in place as he had clung to the center console for dear life, but the rest of us weren’t as fortunate. The room tilted violently in the opposite direction, as if was being shaken by a giant, though this time we were more ready, able to hang onto the railing and not be flung aside like ragdolls.

“What’s going on?!” Octavia shrieked in surprise, I could just make out her face turning pale but I couldn’t tell if by fear or motion sickness.

“You equines,” the doctor shouted over the loud tumbling of random supplies about the TARDIS. “Don’t you know anything? We’re obviously using the TARDIS to travel through the time vortex to another location instantly…well, for us anyways and-” he cut off as there was a loud bang outside and the stomach churning rocking of the TARDIS ceased. “Oh, good enough I suppose. We’re here!”

“Where?” I pressed, only just gaining my bearings as I pushed myself shakily off the rail and gripped my side.

“That’s a good question, Felix. Where indeed.” He echoed as he paced over to the center console and began to pan about the screen that was built into it.
As the Doctor stared into the screen, I noticed the absence of a certain soot-haired woman.

“Octavia?” I called, looking around.

“Over here…” she replied back, though her voice sounded muffled and distant.

As I walked down the platform I noticed a pair of legs sticking out from under the railing. As I neared, she was hanging from the platform by her legs, her hair reaching desperately to touch the floor. I couldn’t help but chuckle even though it hurt.

“Need some help?” I teased as I rested my arm on the top of the rails, looking down at her.

She met my gaze with burning frustration. “Oh, how lovely of you to offer; you’re such a gentlecolt.”

I rolled my eyes in good humor before bending down and grabbing her legs, though my face grew hot and reddened as I noticed her dress had flipped down with the gravity and I could see her panties very well. You’d think by now I’d be used to it, but I doubt I ever would be. I had to fight every fiber of my being from wanting to bury my face into that spot and I succeeded – barely. As I pulled her to safety, she wrapped her arms around me, her face unnecessarily close to mine.

“Thanks.” She whispered seductively, her eyes threatening to drown me in a sea of adoration.

The moment was spoiled by a deliberately loud cough. “I don’t mean to interrupt,” the Doctor broke in. “But there are dimensions to save…just saying…”

Way to cock block, doc… I growled in my head indignantly.

As we rose, Doctor Whooves sailed to the entrance of the TARDIS, pushing it open and revealing that we had really moved! I stared in awe. That thing actually took us somewhere, yet it had no wheels or jets or anything for that matter. Once Octavia, the Doctor, Vinyl, and I filed outside, the aroma of clean, country air swirled around me. Back in the city, the air seemed so foul in comparison with all the vehicles and machines everywhere, but something seemed off. The Doctor glanced around warily, down the slope of a hill rested a sleepy looking town with its residents stalking around, so far away they looked like ants.

“Come on.” He called over his shoulder before striding downhill, his trench coat flapping in the wind of the stretch of highland. Growing ever nearer, I could feel the unease drifting through the wind like a thick fog and my awe ebbed away, replaced by worry. What could be going on? We eventually made it to the streets; I could just make out a sign not too far away that read, “Applecross”.

“Where are we?” I heard Octavia whisper to the Doctor just behind me.

The Doctor didn’t answer right away, when I turned around I could see him concentrating on the faces of those who paced by but then he spoke in a low tone. “If I’m not mistaken, I’d say we’re somewhere in the United Kingdom…Scotland to be more accurate.” He paused thoughtfully before walking forward, beckoning us to follow. “But something isn’t quite right. Look at everyone. They all have the same expression.”

I glanced around only to notice with surprise that he was right. They all bore the wary expression, even the children; which was something rarely seen. Everyone kept their sight trained forward, scuttling about with grim faces as if avoiding something.

“Why do they all look so…angry?” I explored, looking to the Doctor expectantly.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out. If you look over there.” He added, nudging his head as inconspicuously as possible. “Notice how the population density drops dramatically? I bet my bottom dollar that the problem is there.”

I couldn't argue with that, the observation was so acute that I didn't even notice but he was right. Everyone seemed to be concentrated on one half of the town while the other was practically deserted. Maybe whatever was going on was over there, but I still couldn’t understand what could possibly be so wrong with such a small town and have such importance that Doctor Whooves would come here. We walked in silence for a bit, only our foot steps on the pavement making gentle patting sounds until we finally came to a halt. There was nobody around – nobody, except a little girl. The sun was leaning down, making its descent to disappear under the horizon, dyeing the lake under it a deep pink; I could just make out her figure sitting on a bench and watching it.

I glanced aside and noticed the Doctor staring at her, a wave of emotion flooded from him; I could feel it, but what was it? Was it…regret? Unsure, I simply brushed it off as if I had imagined it.

“Who’s that?” Vinyl whispered to Octavia. She only shrugged in reply and turned to the Doctor to transfer the question but he was already gone. I watched him walk to the bench she sat on and the orange tinged light of the setting sun made her blonde hair look like strands of gold. He kneels down next to her and was moving his mouth as if talking; I had to lean forward and strain to listen in.

“Who’s your friend?” the Doctor asked innocently as I saw him point to something out of my view. The little girl didn’t turn her head to him as she replied, her voice sounding frail and high pitched.

“You shouldn’t have come here. He doesn’t like you here…” I just made out her mutter.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed though he kept his voice soft. “Who doesn’t?”

The girl muttered something just out of my range of hearing but she pointed to the thing next to her that was blocked by the bench back. Suddenly, his eyes flew open wide as a maniacal chuckle echoed across the lake as if carried in with the tide. The Doctor shot up and sprinted toward us, alarm shot through me and thrashed in my chest like a landed fish. What was going on?

“Get back to the TARDIS! Now!” he commanded urgently.

“Why? And what the buck was that?” Vinyl challenged, crossing her arms.

The Doctor looked ready to give a sharp reply but the chuckle sounded off again, this time louder as if closer than before.
“Go!” he repeated, but it was too late.

The water of the lake swirled up in a water spout, spraying us until our clothes clung to us tightly. The alarmed shrieks of the towns people as they bolted away behind us. Whatever this was, it was too real. As quickly as it came, the water fell and before me was a sight that made my eyes bulge. The slender figure of a man floated above the lake, his gray hair waving in the wind. His clothes were abstract to say the least, a suit comprised of pieces of fabric from other clothes like dresses and coats and mismatching shoes and gloves. His stroked his long gray beard that only covered his chin cheekily.

“Well,” the man rumbled, “If it isn’t the colt from Gallifrey himself. I see you took human form too. Glad to see I wasn’t the only one,” his gaze flicked to the little girl who sat on the bench before adding. “But then again, I already knew that.”

“Who the hell is that and why is he flying?” I gasped, unable to hold in my shock any longer.

“No, silly human, he’s clearly floating. Flying is much higher and moving.” The Doctor corrected coolly never taking his sight off the man before speaking louder. “Discord, I see you haven’t changed. What have you done to her?”

Discord?! I shrieked inwardly, Oh, fuck we are so dead! Oh god, oh god, oh god! The god of motherfucking discord and chaos was right in front of me. A god versus an alien, two ex-horses and a normal person…these fucking odds are AMAZING.

Discord frowned, turning his head to the girl who still sat on the bend unmoving. “Come.” He ordered her.

The little girl rose, standing barely four feet off the ground and shuffled over to Discord as he lowered himself to the ground. He placed his hand on her shoulders and made her face us. Instant recognition hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew those golden wall eyes anywhere!

“It’s…it’s Derpy!” I gasped quietly

“I haven’t done anything to her, Doctor. I’m hurt and appalled that you’d think I would!” Discord answered him defensively but the blank, glazed stare of Derpy proved otherwise.

“Then why is she so young? What did you do, Discord? I won’t ask again.” The Doctor pressed on threateningly.

“Oh, what’s the fun in telling you that, Doc? You really are boring when you get serious, you know that?” Discord teased. “After all, you out of everypony should know what happened.” He added before giving a blaming leer and hardening his tone. “You did bring us to this cursed dimension.”

My eyes widened as I glanced over to the Doctor, Vinyl and Octavia mirroring my action with the same shocked expression. Doctor Whooves’s expression gave away nothing as he stared at Derpy. I was just able to see his hand slowly slipping into his pocket; I guessed he was going to whip out his sonic screw driver.

“Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. I don’t fall for the same tricks twice. When will you learn?” the god of chaos chuckled as he lifted a hand, twirling the sonic screwdriver between his fingers.

“Oh, you are a clever one, Discord.” He began before looking up to Discord. “You’re right; I do know what you did to her now. She’s been discorded, has she not?”

Discord smiled toothily, “Sharp as a knife, Doctor.”

“I’d have to say though, taking a hostage is low, even for you.” He started, “But where you’re wrong is that you seem to always fall for my tricks. If there’s one thing you should know about me is there is one word that will always lead to your defeat. This one, small word is what will send you back to Equestria where you will be set in stone again. Do you know what that word is?”

Discord’s smile faded, replaced by a cold, unbelieving glare. “Do enlighten me.”

Suddenly I could see the Doctor’s eyes burn with renewed vigor as he grinned from ear to ear.

“Allons-y!” he shouted, snapping his fingers.

In that instant the sonic screw driver that floated in Discords grasp screeched loudly as the tip flashed erratically. Discord threw himself aside, gritting his teeth as he covered his ears and the screw driver plopped into the grass.

“Get Ditzy!” The Doctor shouted towards me as he raced to the screwdriver.

“Curse you, Doctor!” Discord growled meekly, still covering his ears the screeching went on.

Vinyl and Octavia were on the floor as well covering their ears. The sound was unbearable and it scrambled my mind but I narrowed my eyes and ran forward, gripping Derpy by the arm and dragging her away from Discord. She offered no resistance, practically a dummy. Suddenly the screeching stopped. As I glanced over my shoulder I could see the Doctor with it in his grasp and Discord regaining his footing, scowling angrily.

“You think I will just let you get away so easily? Too much chaos to spread to be beaten just like that!” Discord boasted indignantly, raising himself in the air.

The Doctor didn’t even answer, pressing down on the sonic screwdriver and pointing it over to Derpy. She blinked for a long while, when she reopened them, her gaze had changed from dull and sightless to bright and bubbly. Her knees wobbled as they gave out from under her and I caught her in my arms. Her size had also dramatically increased, growing a foot and a half. Her body had filled out more and actually made her look like a woman, but the size increase in her children’s clothing made them stretch and rip, revealing most of her body.

My mind raced and my heart thumped as I stared down at the tight and ripped clothing that bound her body and showed her naked chest almost completely. My thought shot back to when I had first met Octavia on Jansford campus that day and how their breast sized were pretty comparable before my thoughts were cracked in two by a splitting pain that jolted through me. Octavia was standing over me, her eyebrow twitching irritably and clenching a fist. I drew a hand up to my head, covering where she had punched me. I could never catch a break; this is the thanks I get for catching a fainting girl.

Derpy roused in my arms, looking up at my with her shifting eyes in confusion. “W-where am I? Who are you?”

There was no time to explain before Discord enraged howl pierced my ears. “No!” he hissed, his eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at the Doctor “What have you done?!”

“What I’ve done is stop the dimensions from collapsing in on each other, Discord.” The Doctor answered briskly, taking strides toward him. “You know, saving people, stopping disasters, not causing chaos. That kind of stuff, it’s really lovely, you should try it.”

Discord gave a threatening growl before his human form began to melt. My jaw stretched wide as it unfolded before me. His face began to melt, his hair plopping off in matter clumps while his clothes began to sag with his skin slowly lopping off. I felt the tang of bile rise in my throat; I thought I was going to be sick.

I saw Vinyl smiling at the scene we were watching before she commented in awe. “Coooool!”

Suddenly his melted physique began to puff up as if inflating. The realization dawned on me swiftly... he wasn't just puffing him. He was going to blow!
“Doctor!” Derpy’s high pitch tone called in shrill alarm from in my arms as she stared after him in horror. “Get out of there!”

Doctor Whooves was already fully aware, pelting towards us as fast as he could but it was already too late. He barely made it a few yards away before the Discord bomb exploded, knocking everyone off their feet. As I tumbled over I was just able to make out the Doctor flying and slamming into the bench Derpy had been seated on when she was still discorded.

Everyone began to slowly pick their way up, moans and groans coming from everyone as they rose. The spot where Discord had been standing was now a black scorch but in the horizon I could just make out a multi colored figure - not human looking at all - flapping off into the now darkened night sky.

“Where is the Doctor?” Octavia echoed the question that burned through everyone’s mind. By the time I had found him, Derpy was already making a break for where he lay motionless. I drew in a wisp of air sharply. Was he dead? I jogged over to his side just in time to see golden, sparkling grains of light emanating from him but just faintly. As I glanced aside at Derpy, I could see hot tears streaming from her wall eyes as she gripped tufts of grass in her fists pressed against the ground.

“It’s gonna be okay, Doctor…” Derpy cooed softly into his ear, I could tell her tears were blinding her but she made no effort to wipe them away and her voice shook with dismay. I could just barely see the rise and fall of the Doctors chest. “We’re gonna get you back to the TARDIS and we’re gonna keep traveling like we always did. I’m gonna bake you a big muffin when we get inside,” she pleaded, her voice shaking even more. “Just- Just get up. Please! Don’t change, please! You’ll be fine, just c-come with me to the-” she couldn’t finish her sentence as he shoulder shuddered, her tears coursing down her face at full stream and her sobs loud.

I could only stare at the Doctor; the golden grains of light whizzing around him grew brighter and more abundant with each passing second. He would be fine, wouldn’t he? He just regenerates and he’s fine? But for some reason, it didn’t feel that way. Octavia and Vinyl had joined us, both kneeling around him. Octavia clung to me, her breathing now erratic as the tide of emotion began to overwhelm her until she began to weep as well. Vinyl and I only bowed our head mournfully before the blast of light exploded at full brightness, the grains whizzing around blindingly. Derpy shrieked in despair as the light died down and the Doctor began to stir. He raised himself into a sitting position before looking up at us, his face completely changed and hair from messily styled to neat and swept aside.

He pressed his hands to his face, spreading them all over. “Nose…mouth…eyes…ears – oh yes, those are important - hair” he began to list off before lifting his legs up, pulling on his pant leg to look it over. “Oh, well hello you sexy legs, you!” he then turned to us, his smile fading as he saw Derpy still crying though her sobs had hushed to sniffles now. He lifted a hand and pressed it against her cheek but she shrank away from the action. “Ditzy?” he called gently.
It was a while before she looked up at him but her eyes were still glittered with tears. “I’m still me, Ditzy…well…for the most part.” He told her cautiously, trying not to upset her further. “We can still travel the stars, nothing will change. I promise.”

She looked up and finally wiped away the liquid from her eyes and smiled but despite her display I could see the sadness pooling in her eyes. It was as if this wasn’t the first time she watched him die…

***

The repeating sound of the TARDIS filled my ears for the last time as it slowly began to fade away until nothing was there; leaving dead leaves stirring around were it had been. The Doctor and Derpy had been kind enough to leave us just outside our apartment. We had left Vinyl at Miss O’Neal’s already and we wearily climbed up the steps to our apartment. The death of the Doctor kept replaying over and over in my mind but I couldn’t help but remember the figure fading into the horizon. Discord had gotten away…what would happen now?

Chapter 12 - Half Past Octavia

The warmth of the sunshine reinforced my mood as my excitement was close to bubbling over. Today was the day to top all days. It had been a year since the incident with the Doctor. The very memory made me shudder, and I longed to put it behind me, but that was the least of my concerns. I had talked to Adrian about my plan the day before and he wished me the best of luck. I promised him the best spot at the event. As I walked down the crowded street, the sounds of cars zooming by and unintelligible mumblings of the crowds roaming the streets, I couldn’t help but slip a hand in my pocket. I gripped a box-shaped object and twiddled it nervously in my hand; the contents would change my life forever.

I didn’t dare tell Vinyl or Miss O’Neal, they had big mouths and were bound to tell her before I could bother to get around to it, but the very thought made my heart pump. During that year after the experience with the Doctor, Octavia and I grew much closer. It was only then that I could finally identify what had been churning in my mind since I met her: I loved her. Everything about her was perfect. She was beautiful, her usage of her hand was amazing (in more ways than one), especially when playing the Cello, her personality was sweet and caring but she could care for herself if she needed to, and her deep violet eyes stunned me to no end. It was only recently that I realized that I couldn’t get her out of my mind no matter how much I tried and that led me to my decision.

As I opened the door to the apartment complex, the cool rush of air conditioning hit me and I took the box from my pocket. I tilted the top open, and there sat a silver ring with a small but lovely diamond in place at the very top. I had always feared marriage, something that I was never ready to even think about, let alone actually go through with, but Octavia made me so sure, it was insane not to go through with it. As I walked into the elevator and pressed my floor, the sound of it lifting was strangely soothing, but couldn’t distract me from my mission. What frightened me the most was what if she said no? What then? The awkwardness that would loom from then on would be fucking catastrophic!

A flare of worry seared my chest but I forced it away. What reason would she have to not say yes? She obviously loved me as much as I loved her, right? I finally made it to my floor and to my door, but just as I was about to open it, the door flung open and Adrian bolted out, crashing into me. The ring flew from my grasp and landed on the floor.

“What the fuck, Adrian?” I groaned, rubbing my forehead where he had hit me.

“Your bitch is crazy, man!” he began frantically but suddenly his eyes rolled into the back of his head as the sound of a breaking mug echoed through the hall and I could see the ceramic splinters fly from behind his head. She totally just broke a mug against his head. He fell onto his back, his leg twitching.

I scooped up the ring and slipped it back into my pocket just in time to see Octavia in the doorway, her sides heaving with anger as she stood over him. I could see the fire of burning hatred in her eyes as she lifted another mug, ready to break it on him. I shot up, gripping her arm and snatching the mug from her.

“Give me that before you kill him!” I gasped.

“He started it.” She whined before hugging me and giving me a pleading look. “You believe me, don’t you?”

I despised that look with a passion. Accompanied with a hug or a kiss it was like a figurative leash, getting me to do almost whatever she wanted. I simply rolled my eyes in amusement.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just see if he’s not dead…” I replied flatly.

I strode over to Adrian before slapping him on the cheek lightly, once he gave an annoyed moan he seemed okay. Honestly, I just hoped she wouldn't be like this if children ever came into the picture. I froze for a moment in mid-thought. Children? How would I even begin to cope with that, and what if she did? I simply shrugged it off for the moment, it would just be one of those things we’d need to talk about. I carefully lifted Adrian’s arm and slung it around my shoulder before shakily carrying him into the apartment and tossing him onto the couch so he could get some rest.

Suddenly my heart began to pound like a rabbit hopping through the prairie as Octavia closed the door. With Adrian unconscious for the umpteenth time, we were totally alone and it was the perfect time to raise the question. I slipped a hand in my pocket as I sheepishly twiddled the box in my hand, how would I even begin?

“Is something the matter?” Octavia sliced my train of thought in two as I noticed she had been staring at me with a worried expression.

I gave a rather uninspiring smile before taking in a sharp breath, “Fine, perfectly fine. Hey, uh, listen…I need to ask you something important.” I began, my voice trembling slightly.

She tilted her head aside a bit before prompting, “Go ahead.”

I paced forward towards the sliding glass door leading the balcony before beckoning her forward. I could feel the wariness emanating off her in waves. She was suspicious, I could tell that much. She obviously didn’t know what was going on, which was good; I had the element of surprise. Once I slid the door open I stepped out, waiting for her to join me.

“What is this about?” she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

I said nothing at first, only getting to one knee. She glanced around unsure for a moment, blinking cluelessly.

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say it.” I stammered before pulling out the box from my coat pocket and opening it to reveal the glittering gem. “Octavia, will you marry me?” For the moment she didn’t react I felt my blood freeze solid and the knot that was already tight in my stomach churn. What would she say? How would she react? At first her jaw dropped, staring at me with a blank expression and I was almost certain she’d have said no. As the seconds floated by as slow as decades, a smile crept across her face, beautiful and bright; the most genuine smile I had seen from her maybe even since I met her. This was it.

“Yes!” she shrieked, pure joy flooding her voice and making it rise to a higher pitch than normal. I could make out the tears of happiness welling in her eyes as they gradually poured over her cheeks. All the built-up anticipation melted away as that single word left her mouth. I gripped her arm to pull her in close and locked my lips with hers where we held it for quite a while. It was the happiest I’d been in a long time. Suddenly, a familiar scent filled my nose and a cold stone settled in my belly.

T-that's not possible... my mind raced as the memories of the day I had found her shot through my mind as if it had happened yesterday. That smell was…was fudge! I pulled away from her and looked deep into her eyes, I saw only sorry and remorse. She knew more than she let on. What could it be, she obviously knew something about the smell.
Her voice began as a faint tremble before I could actually begin to make it out.

“I-I have to go.” She stuttered.

I blinked, terribly confused. “What? What do you mean?”

“The Doctor…he instructed me not to explain.” She murmured, doing her best to avoid the question.
At that moment anger flashed through me as the pungent smell of chocolate grew more and more apparent.

“To hell with the Doctor!” I snapped, “What’s going on?!”

I instantly regretted it as Octavia visibly flinched but continued to stare me in the eye, the waves of regret and sadness drowning me with each passing second. “We are going back to Equestria…” she started, “After Discord’s human form was destroyed, the binding magic was undone. He told us we would be taken back to Equestria, but he never said when-” She cut off as what seemed like starlight danced around her feet, almost seeming to tease me scornfully. I stared down at it but I just couldn’t believe it. This was too much to take in.

“B-but,” I stammered, doing my best to snuff emotion from my voice with very poor results, “But what about…us?”
The twinkling starlight around her ankles gradually began to rise, becoming brighter with each passing minute. “I can’t thank you, Felix. You are the first human I have ever met and by far the best. I have never truly met someone so wonderfully brilliant…until I met you.” She consoled me. Her voice tender and wistful but she was beginning to sound as if she were echoing. She was being transported; the smell of the fudge was overpowering enough now to confirm that.

“You-you can’t leave, though.” I begged as my vision began to go blurry from the tears beginning to pool in my eyes. I could just feel them rolling down my cheeks before I saw her starry arm reach out and swipe the tear from my cheek. The touch felt mystical and tingly, but it couldn’t even begin the mend the hole that was being torn into my heart right before me. But as the seconds drew on, her ebbing embrace began to wane even more. “What happens now?” I asked, my voice now eerily calm despite the mix of betrayal and longing that clashed inside me, grinding every other emotion I could have felt to a fine dust.

Her starry eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as if looking through me, her fading visage going blank before returning her attention to me. “Forget. The Doctor said that once the fracture is repaired, every trace of us that once existed will be gone. Like-” her voice trembled for a moment before pressing on, trickles of silver moonlight rolling down her misty cheeks which I could only assume was tears. “Like it never happened.”

“No,” I began, pressing my hands against my ears and squeezing my eyes shut. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. It was a lie, I was going to open my eyes again it was all going to be a bad dream! But when I reopened them, the same slowly fading body of starshine still stood there before me. “No, no, no, no, no!” I shouted in dismay but it was too real.
Octavia was almost gone before she grabbed my face in her hands, looking me in the eye though at that point I could barely make her out.

“I have to tell you this now before I go back.” She announced suddenly with a determination that made her spirituous figure flicker like a candle before dying out. “Felix Saunders, I lo-” she cut off abruptly as she suddenly burst into dense glimmers of light that lasted only heartbeats before burning themselves out.

My mouth was left agape, staring into the empty spot in which she had stood. And for a moment, part of me wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there until the end of my days, withering away in loneliness. But as seconds turned into minutes I could still remember her clear as day. My mind was reeling. Octavia said I would have forgotten…so why haven’t I? In my stupor, I walked to the railing of the balcony, staring into nothingness as my despair began to eat at me, but my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a flit of movement down below.

For a moment there was nothing, just a dank alley way but then the familiar sound of a repetitive whizzing tackled my ears. Just then, the famous blue box began to materialize in that same spot and the door opened slowly. For a moment, my hopes soared high above the clouds that perhaps the Doctor took pity on me and brought her back but alas these were only empty dreams. Out walked the Doctor, his new neatly combed hair waving in the cool air as he was backed by Derpy, her wall eyed stare failing to focus on one spot though she seemed to be facing me. Both of them wore a sympathetic expression but the message was clear. They had allowed me to remember.

Thank you, Doctor. At least I can live knowing that I’ll never forget. Thank you so much…

Author's Note

Pssssst...ending it totally a Doctor Who reference. Ending of Rose Tyler as companion.

Chapter 8 - You've only "Scratched" the surface!

Vinyl poked her head over the couch just enough for the top half of her face to be visible, showing her sunglasses that had messily migrated from place with one shade over her eyebrow and the other on her nose, revealing her eyes to scope the room. As she looked our way I got a good glimpse of her eyes, this couldn’t be Vinyl Scratch! My eyes widened as I stared into her deep magenta irises, the sudden wash of color that matched her sunglasses seeming to sweep me away in a mind boggling tide of astonishing captivation. I looked over to Octavia whose jaw was still on the floor, obviously in shock from running into someone she actually recognized.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it!” I interjected as I crossed my arms looking from Octavia to the obvious imposter behind the sofa disbelievingly. “That can’t be the Vinyl Scratch. It’s just not possible.”

Octavia only closed her eyes, as her expression softened then reopened them with a small smirk. “I’d know those eyes, that hair, and that terrible taste in music anywhere. It’s her.”

The would be Vinyl shot to her feet, her expression seeming to be irritated in a good nature. “You’re one to talk, Octi!” then made a falsely sweet smile and cupped her hands together, mocking Octavia's accent. “Oh Vinyl, when will you learn that Cornelius Symphony is the best music group around far surpassing your measly wubs.” She quickly dropped the charade and placed a finger half way into her mouth and made a gagging sound.

I shook my head unable to accept it. “First off, that can’t be Vinyl. Her eye color is all wrong…her eyes aren’t magenta, they’re red!”

Vinyl’s expression became cross as her attention turned to me as she walked around the couch, hands on her hips. My face flushed a bit once my sight fell on her very lightly clothed body, her boobs weren’t that big, a bit smaller than Octavia’s which added to her tom boyish demeanor but she was still sexy none the less.

“Well looky here, looks like we have a braniac who knows more about me than I do. And just who in the name of Celestia are you supposed to be?” she seethed with one eyebrow raised as she spoke in a surprisingly sarcastic way.

I had to admit, I was taken aback by her hostile sounding tone; so much so that I couldn’t even answer.

Octavia took a step forward, her smile growing with each step as I saw tears begin to well up in her eyes. In an instant, she charged up to Vinyl and hugged her. Though her face was hidden over the electric blue haired beauty’s shoulder it was obvious she was crying based off her muffled sniffles. Miss O’Neal only leaned against a nearby wall casually watching the touching reunion. Once Octavia had made contact with her, Vinyl’s hostility seemed to be ebbed away as her expression melted into a calm and almost comforting face.

“There, there. It’s alright, lil’ Octi. What’re you crying about? I should be the one crying, I missed you so much.” She cooed into Octavia’s ear as she stroked her long soot black hair softly, obviously embracing the feeling of having the lovely cellist in her arms.

Octavia drew back a little, looking into Vinyl’s magenta eyes. Her own seeming to glitter with overflowing emotion and in that instant, Vinyl leaned in and planted a kiss directly onto Octavia’s lips as they both stood there for a moment enjoying the moment. Miss O’Neal only bared her teeth not in anger but in awkwardness and looked away, stroking her own hair as if playing cool as I only gawked like a dumb ass.

“Well,” Miss O’Neal interrupted with a clap as the two pulled away from each other. “Before this turns into an underwear party or something seeing as one of you is already there,” she pointed out with a glare towards Vinyl who only looked away whistling inconspicuously. “I think I should take Octavia to the studio to rehearse a bit, after all I have something big planned for her!” she ended with a small wink, turning to the small hall way that Vinyl had exited earlier and motioned for Octavia to follow.

Shortly after, the two disappeared into the next room leaving me and DJ queen alone.

“So…” I began as I looked around, struggling to think of something to say. “Umm…nice weather we’re having…?” I had to admit, that was a pretty corny conversation starter.

She only looked at me with a disbelieving stare.

“Really? You’re really asking me about the weather?” she began with a sigh as she shook her head. “I don’t bucking know, its weather. Who cares?! I’m going to tell you straight up right now, human. I don’t like you.”
I blinked for a moment, unsure of how to react and then looked her in the eye. She was serious, no doubt about it.

“What happened to loving and tolerating?” I asked with a grimace.

Vinyl only turned around and walked towards the sliding glass door at the end of the room leading towards the balcony muttering under her breath, “There’re exceptions…” As she turned, I caught a glimpse of her music note tattoo on the side of her cheek. It was indeed her, in the flesh.

***

It had been about two hours or so already and sitting was making me antsy so I decided to take small chance and join the hostile DJ on the balcony to see what she was up to. Little to my surprise I found her sitting in a small chair with a bottle of Jack Daniels next to her; half emptied. Although she had obviously been drinking, she seemed pretty normal though deep in thought. Her cheek was rested in her palm as she looked like she was pouting while looking over at the passing cars and busy street travelers. I slid open the door, it making a distinct dragging sound as it drifted to the right.

“What do you want?” she asked, not even looking in my direction though her expression didn’t seem as antagonistic as before, in fact she seemed rather saddened.

Maybe it was the alcohol. I’m sure as a DJ she’s had more than her fill of Equestrian beverages that’ll set you just right that she’s used to being drunk or tipsy, then again assuming they have any. If anything, the alcohol seemed to calm her down and make her much more approachable.

Just as I was about to speak, the sound of a relaxing classical melody flooded from the nearby window on the left of the balcony, the ever sweet harmonic combination between a piano and cello. That must be the studio where Octavia and Miss O’Neal were rehearsing. As I looked towards Vinyl she seemed to be grinning lazily as she continued to look toward the world, a gentle breeze pushing a lock of hair over one of her hypnotic eyes as she tenderly brushed it back into place with a hand. Then with a light chuckle she looked at me, no real aggression in her eyes this time (probably from the booze and maybe even from the music).

“Ya’ know, me an Octi go way back. I’ve known her since I was a filly; we both grew up in Canterlot believe it or not.” She said precariously as her soft expression shocked me to no end. This was nothing like how she was earlier.

I only chuckled and looked over the edge of the balcony in a melancholy state. “You two seem to be good to each other. She’s really something, a real catch. You’re a lucky girl…or err…mare?” I ended with a subconscious blush at the thought of talking about Octavia in such a way. I felt kind of strange.

Vinyl shook her head a bit. “We’re not really going out. She’s only like…a best friend with benefits kind of thing. Relationships cramp my style.”

Suddenly, a specific topic I had asked Octavia yesterday loomed in my mind like an eerie thick fog.

“Vinyl, what happened in Equestria? You know, on the day you came here.”

Instantly her eyes glazed with grief as she looked back out over the city.

“I was called in to prep for the Royal Wedding after party by my favorite party mare,” she began and then smirked a little at the thought. “She’s a bucking animal, I swear to Celestia. Ya’ gotta love her though, sweetest thing. I think she does blow though, I don’t see any other way for her to have so much energy all the bucking time. I swear, she’s like a pink flash of lightning!”

I assumed she was speaking of the pink destroyer of fourth walls, Pinkie Pie.

“But yeah, I was called in to prep up and set up my booth for the event. I had Glow Stick with me since he was in charge of the effects like strobes and other bull like that when stuff started goin’ down outside. Me and Glow went to check it out but when we got outside every pony was scattering everywhere. It was horrible, ponies being trampled left and right as the sky started bucking seizing!” she exclaimed, her voice having been raised significantly as she lifted her hands to emphasize. “Like, what the buck! Then we started smelling chocolate, then ponies started just disappearing from the crowd I couldn’t see where but me and Glow just turned and started hoofin’ it! Then everything just went white and I woke up in an alley. That mare or whatever you call females around here found me. I was a jerk at first but she didn’t seem too bothered. I guess she kinda grew on me so I crashed at her place. ‘Been here for a bit now, s’all good.” She concluded with a small sigh as she looked back toward me.

This seemed very similar to what Octavia had told me, at this point I wonder if there’s even an Equestria to go back to. Then the music had stopped and I saw movement in the corner of my eye as Miss O’Neal approached the door. Our conversation must have dragged on longer than I thought seeing as the sun was already resting its chin the horizon turning the sky into a deep tangerine.

“We’re done for the day, Felix. Octavia performed flawlessly just as I expected, I gave her some sheet music to study for the symphony in six weeks time. She’s sure to master the song probably by memory judging by her sheer talent.” She ended with a large grin, her eyes twinkling.

Vinyl snickered, “He he, Felix huh?” and then seconds later she dozed off. I guess the alcohol finally took its toll on her. She looked much more peaceful sleeping than when she’s awake.

I only smiled a little, I was pretty sure she’s just a softie who put the big bad tough girl act just to look cool. “C’mon Octavia, we’re outta here.” I called as I walked inside, Miss O’Neal at my heels.

Octavia rushed out with a handful of sheet music, “Where’s Vinyl?”

“Asleep.”

“But I want to take her with us; the poor thing is my best friend!”

‘Yeah, judging on what happened when you saw her I’d say you guys are real good friends’ I though slyly to myself but voiced a different matter.

“She can’t Octavia; she has to stay with Miss O’Neal. I’m already sticking my neck out by having you with me.”

She looked on at me moodily and then looked over my shoulder toward Vinyl with a smile and nodded agreeing. “I presume that would be best.”

With a final good-bye to Miss O’Neal and a wish for her to tell Vinyl that we both said good-bye we set off home. Things were about to get a lot more interesting with another pony-human around. I wonder just how many there are…

To be continued…