Special Requestby Poetic JusticeChaptersOverture Remix (Vinyl)Let's Party (Octavia)All-Nighter (Vinyl)Plan B (Octavia)Desperation (Vinyl) Dress Up (Octavia)Evening Star (Octavia)Overture Remix (Vinyl)Looking back, it wasn't that smart of me to leave my information the day before the school had a huge break. It was the longest break the school had. I think it was for some festival in downtown Manehatten. I didn't really think that would be a problem. My plan was to spend the week out of school getting to know her and hanging out. She didn't text me that first night. But hey, I figured her parents took her phone away or something. There were a ton more ponies there than usual when she got in my face like she did, and the employees were acting very differently. I only saw that waiter stallion pull out his coloring book like, thirteen times to show off his stuff. The next day was weird though. When I went in and sat down, I got the stink eye from the old mare that threatened to kick me out the first day I went. The same stallion from the past few days came to take my order. He had that sketchbook with him. I don't know why he always insisted on showing me his drawings. I usually had my ear plugs in and I say the same thing every time he comes over. "Hello, ma'-" "Usual, please." "But ma'-" "No, I don't want to see your book." "Listen." I looked over to him. I was always looking at him, but it has been made clear to me that unless I turn my entire head to directly face somepony, no one knows who I am looking at through my glasses. "The cake you always order is off the menu, and Octavia is no longer playing with us." Octavia, huh? That's useful to know. Wait, she's no longer playing? "Did she get sent to another restaraunt?" "No." "Is she sick?" "No." "Well, where is she?" "I can't say." If anypony knew how to annoy me, it was this guy. I did have an idea though. I took my glasses off and passed my hoof through my mane. I then pulled him close "You know, I would really appreciate it if you told me where Octavia was." He stumbled on his words. Easy. "I-I-I can't say." Damn. "Please? For me?" "B-B-But my mother will." "You're mother?" "Yea. The mare that that threatened to kick you out." "She's your mother?!" "Yea. All the employees are family." "Oh. Crap." I left the restaurant quickly after that. I wish I knew that they were family, I would have treated them better. Heck, I would have actually eaten that disaster they call a cake. But what's done is done. All I can do now is wait for her to call me. Until then, I have a party to get ready for. I pulled out my phone from my saddlebag. Thirty missed texts and ten missed calls. I always have my phone on silent, otherwise that thing will never shut up. I quickly looked through the texts and calls though, None of them were unknown. After a heavy sigh, I scrolled through my contacts, then hit dial. "Hello?" "What's up, Lemon?" "Hey Scratch, nothing much, about to close down the coffee shop. Unless there's a reason you called." "Want some extra bits tonight?" "You're bringing your own sound equipment this time." "You're helping me bring it." "I'll send somepony." "No, you." "Why?" "'Cause I like to see you suffer." "Give me two hours." "See ya." I called a few other ponies and told them about my party at the coffee shop. I called the usual ones, the ones that had the most friends to tell and could draw the biggest crowds. But this time, I called a few more. I told each of them, "If you know somepony named 'Octavia', make sure they hear about it." It was a long shot, but hey, I had to try something. All I could do now was set up for the party, and whether or not Octavia showed up, it was going to be great. I didn't have to wait long as home for Lemon to show up. Even though he said two hours, I could always guarantee that he will be a lot earlier. Unfortunately, he caught me in the middle of a good book. I debated if I should leave him outside for an hour or so, since he was ahead of schedule, and I was getting to the climax. Unfortunately, his constant knocking would throw my concentration. After ten minutes or so, I gave in. "Ready?" He asked. "You bet." He and I each took a wagon and headed for his coffee shop. I could have done it myself, but I had my own intentions. As we went down one of the streets, I stopped him in front of one of the buildings. "Listen, I need you to do something for me." I looked back to Lemon "What now?" "Can you go in there and ask for somepony to play a song called 'Evening Star'?" "Um, why?" "Please?" "Can you tell me why?" "Pplleeaassee?" Lemon took in a deep breath. "Fine," he said as he disconnected the wagon and went inside. I pulled my phone out to check for any messages. Nothing, at least nothing from anypony important. Just a few dozen texts and calls from fans or managers. I replied to a few of them to help time go by. After half an hour, he finally came from the restaurant. "Well?" "It was an okay song, I guess." "What do you mean? Did a grey mare play it?" "No. Some stallion did." "Damn it." "Language." "Sorry." We reattached the wagons and went to his coffee shop. "What time is the event starting?" Lemon asked as he unpacked the music gear. "Sundown." "Well, that gives us plenty of time." He didn't unpack all of the stuff, he had to go set up for tonight. He made tons of food. He's awesome like that. I went ahead and set up my stuff. It probably went by a lot faster since I did it by myself. Lemon's shop already had some speakers set up near the stage, and he usually got annoyed when I drug my amps in, probably because it leaves marks all over the wooden floor. On second though, they did cause a power outage once, so that's another possible reason he hated them. Although they weren't as big as mine, his speakers did carry my music past the cheering crowd, so I couldn't complain too much. It made life easier on my hooves, since I only needed to carry a few soundboards and the cabinet for them. "Why don't you bring your stuff in with your magic?" Lemon asked as I drug the cabinet in. I didn't need to look at him to see him staring at the wooden floor. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to handle delicate stuff like this with magic?" "No, please explain." He did not sound the least bit interested in knowing. "You see, when a unicorn levitates something-" I paused to lift the cabinet onto the stage. "-they put a lot of force on the object. I don't levitate this stuff so I don't mess up the circuit boards." "I see you levitating your phone all the time." "Phones are a different case. They make them so unicorns can levitate them." Lemon didn't believe me, he probably thought I was making something up so I had an excuse to drag heavy stuff on his floor. I can't say he was entirely wrong. When I finished, I checked my phone one last time. I actually had a voicemail. "Hey, Scratch. That mare you were asking about? I passed her up a second ago and told her about the party. She didn't really have a reaction though, so I can't tell you if she's going to show. Anyway, can't wait to hear ya tonight!" I tried to hold in my excitement, but I'm positive I got an odd stare from Lemon when I fist-pumped into the air. I did have my headphones in though, so maybe it didn't look too odd. Let's Party (Octavia)This goes without saying, but I was punished rather harshly for my actions last night. After that scene with the white unicorn, my parents said that I was no longer allowed to play on stage. I had to wash dishes and clean after closing every night. I was not allowed to see the customers during business hours. Also, when I was not in school or sleeping, I had to be at work. I was lucky enough to keep my cell phone, my parents would have a heart attack if I was out of their sight and they had no way of contacting me. But yes, I was furious that I was no longer allowed to play on stage, but I understand their anger. I did make a fool of myself and of my family that night. Starting today, I was to clean the restaurant and wash dishes. I woke up an hour before the restaurant opens. As soon as I had full conscious thought, I took the paper with Vinyl's number on it and dialed it into my phone. I did not want to have a conversation with her, but I figured I should at least tell her not to show up if she expects me to play. Unfortunately, the last two digits were smeared. Luckily, I could still read them. If the paper was anymore rubbed, that may not have been the case. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, the number you dialed is not in service" "That's odd." I thought to myself as I compared the number on my phone and the one written down. After typing it again, I tried calling the number. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, the number you dialed is not in service." I laughed as I tossed the phone on my bed. A fake number. A cute prank. It isn't the first time it has happened to me, stallions used to do this all the time. I didn't care. For every one fake number, I could receive ten real ones. After that, I went on my usual morning routine. I took a shower, put my bowtie on, ate some breakfast. However, before leaving, I removed my bowtie and left it in my room. If I was to be washing dishes and doing janitorial duty, there was no point in wearing it. I grabbed my saddlebag and made my way to the restaurant. "You're late." That's with what I was greeted with as I made my way into the kitchen. "We agreed 8:00am, that's what time it is." I responded. "Mom told me to remind you to get here early." "So why didn't you?" "I forgot." I just brushed that comment off. It was my younger brother after all, and this was how siblings treated each other., so it is not like I was going through this alone. I went over to the sink and cleaned it out. The sink was on the far end of the kitchen, so even if I wanted to, I would have to move across the room to even see out of the window. I suppose my parents really did not want anypony to see me. My mother came into the kitchen for a few seconds. She wanted to make sure I was back there and not in the band room. After staring me down for a few seconds, the bell on the front door rang, and she started up the oven. My brother came from the break room, sketchbook in hoof, of course, and went to greet the customer. It did not take long before he returned to the kitchen. His face was flushed. Something happened, and I was not the only one who caught it. "What happened?" My mother asked as he returned to the kitchen. "Oh, um. It was that white unicorn again." I turned the water off. "Why is she here?" "She asked to see Octavia play Evening Star." "And what did you tell her?" "That the cello player was not playing on stage here anymore." "Good boy." My mother went back to cooking food and my brother returned to the break room. It was around this time my sister came through the doors. She had a bag in her mouth, which she proceeded to throw onto the table next to the fridge. I could tell that her eyes were focused on me, and my suspicion was confirmed when she approached me. "Do you know anypony named 'DJ Pon3?" She asked. "No, I can't say that I do." "Somepony approached me on the way back and said that she was throwing a party at the coffee shop tonight." "Interesting. Why are you asking me about it?" "Because they called me by your name." "Again?" It was not the first time that me and my elder sister were confused for one another. We are both grey earth mares with black hair. However, if you were to actually meet us both, there are subtle differences, such as eye color and cutie marks. Unfortunately, I have no idea who this DJ is, and I am uncomfortable that they asked for me by name. After discussing it with my sister, we figured that it was somepony from university that knew me from class. It would explain the confusion, they would only see me from afar and the first grey mare with black hair they saw, they would figure it was me. The rest of the day was spent with the occasional customer, me staring at my phone, and my mother constantly shouting for my brother to put down his drawing pad and go greet the customers. Something interesting did happen though. About an hour before closing, my brother came into the kitchen. "Somepony wants to hear Evening Star." "Tell that white mare to get out." My mother told him. "It's not her, it's a yellow stallion." My mother looked over to me, as if I had something to do with it. She look around the room, as if trying to find something, then took in a deep breath before making eye contact with me again. "Do you know anypony in the band that can play cello?" I thought for a moment, nopony in the ensemble knew how to play cello exclusively, but they did have a violin player. I hoped that it would work. "I would try the violin player." "Good. Go fetch the violin pony and tell them to play the song for the guest. After tonight, that song will no longer be available." My brother left, there was an uncomfortable tension in the air after that. I suspect my mother told that stallion to request the song so I could go on stage and my the cello. I would defend myself, but I have learned that it is useless trying to have a reasonable argument with my parents, especially my mother. I heard the familiar notes of Evening Star. As the song played, I couldn't help but pull my phone out and dial the number again. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, but the number you dialed is not in service." I put my phone back in my saddlebag. With a heavy sigh, I went back to washing dishes. Time flew by after I heard that song. It seemed like only minutes before my mother called for the end of the day. My siblings and parents left me to finish the dishes and clean up the restaurant. It did not take long at all for me to finish the dishes, after all, it was a very slow day. As I went to take the trash from the break room, I saw that the band was still there. "Hey, Octavia!" They shouted in unison. "Hello, everyone. Good day?" "You wouldn't believe it." The eldest of the boys spoke up. "Oh really? What happened?" I asked. "We learned a new set, would you like to hear it?" The father picked up. "Well, you shouldn't. It is past closing and I should be cleaning up." "We insist!" The father said as he stood up and took his violin. "Just listen to us as you clean." The eldest boy said as the family made their way to the stage. "I suppose one song shouldn't hurt." I said as I took the trash to the seating area. I started to wipe down the tables, I could hear the father pounding on the piano. It was unlike other music I was familiar with. The piano took the lead of the song, but it was accompanied with saxophone, trombone, violins, things that I would expect to hear from classical. It was a very upbeat song, but that was only the start of it. When the youngest colt, who barely spoke two words the entire length I've played with him, started singing into the microphone, I was, for lack of better words blown away. His voice was magnificent. The song lasted the duration that it took me to finish cleaning the room. When they finished, I applauded them. As I took the trash out, they met me around back. They wanted to say good-bye, for they were leaving the city the next morning for a few days. "What was that music you played?" I asked. "It's called Swing." The father said. "I will definitely look into it. Maybe I can play it with you guys one day." They all agreed. I don't think anypony knew this, but they hated playing classical. However, they were When I got home, my parents met me at the door. They were usually in bed by this time, so I immediately knew something was not right. "Where is your sister?!" They asked me. "I am not sure. I've been at the restaurant since you left." "Are you sure you have no idea where she is?" They asked again. "I assure you, I have no idea." "I'll call the guards." My father ran inside. "Is she really-" "We have not seen her since we all left the restaurant. She said that she was going get something to eat, then she would meet us home." My mother interrupted. "Anything I can do to help?" I asked. "No, Octavia. Just...just stay in your room." On any other night, I would raise my hoof in protest. I wasn't useless, but my family sure acted like I was sometimes. However, I at least understood this time. I pulled my phone from my saddlebag and handed it to my mom. "Call the guard." I said. "I already did, Octavia. Just please, let the adults handle this." Oh no, I'm just a straight A college student, I'm not an adult at all. Still a child. ... Breathe, Octavia. Breathe. I hoped that my anger didn't lead to my face. I put my phone back in my saddlebag and went to my room. Once inside, I closed the door and tossed my bag onto my bed. I paced around the floor, trying to think where my sister could be. I became more anxious the more I thought about it. Knowing my sister, she could be in an alley somewhere with a stallion that flashed a bag of bits and promised everything she ever wanted. After minutes of pacing, I heard pounding on the door, followed my an exchange of voices unfamiliar to me. The guards are here, they will find her. I started to calm down. I found myself eyeing my saddlebag as I held my face against the door. It kept calling my eyes, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the conversation occurring in the other room. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the conversation, I kept looking over to my saddlebag. The conversation got fainter and fainter. It was not because they started to speak more quietly, it was I found myself leaving the door and going to my bed. I dug my hoof into my saddlebag and pulled my phone out. I saw I had an unknown number. I quickly redialed it. ... "Th---Lyra---W---t---up?" "Lyra?" I nearly shouted into the phone. "You called?" " ---sorry Octavia! I m-- called you---sat on--bag!" "What's that noise? It's giving me a headache from here." "Oh!---M---Bon-bon---party! Dj. Pon3---shop----fun!" There's that name again.. "Well, it sounds like you're having fun. Tell Sweetie Drops I said Hi." "I w--! When---sobers up! Lat--!" The phone clicked off. I kind of hoped it was her... I didn't take my eyes off my phone as I sat it on top of my bag. I went through the conversation, trying to fill in the gaps. The more I thought about it though, the larger my headache grew. I don't know what that was in the background, but it was annoying. I dug around in my saddlebag, then pulled out that piece of paper. I dialed the number, double checking each individual number with the paper and my phone. After feeling satisfied with my seventh check, I hit "dial". ... ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is not in service." Are you buckin' kidding me?! All-Nighter (Vinyl)That party, without a doubt, was one of the best I've ever thrown. I played a new set of music that I recently wrote. I'm pretty sure I even saw Lyra and Bonny get in the crowd and jump with the music. It was great seeing all the ponies there dancing to my music. However, as great as it was seeing everypony there having a good time, my night really got exciting when I saw a familiar grey mare go into the side room. I tried to keep my head facing the sound booth, but under my glasses, I eyed that room. I wanted to make sure that she didn't get away from me again. The song I was on was drawing to a close. Luckily, I invited a few other DJs to the party. In the nightclub business, there are a few motions that we use that only we know. I pumped my hoof in the air a handful of times, and one of the other DJs I invited came to my side. "Hey, I need you to cover for me." I said as I reached to the side he was on. He picked up a spare set of headphones and gave me a nod. "Thank you so much." I took my pair of headphones off and made my way to the side room. As the door closed behind me, I was amazed how much of the music was drowned out from the ponies breathing. The side room was marked off from the rest of the party. The room was used when a drunken pony needed somewhere to crash until they were sober enough to make it home. It was actually Lemon's idea. Honestly though, I think that the only reason he came up with it is so no drunk ponies led the guard back here. As I looked around, I noticed that a lot of the mares were underage. If a guard were to come in here, LemonDrop would be in a world of trouble. I'll have to repay him for doing this. I scanned the room for the grey mare, being careful not to step on anypony lying on the ground. I saw her passed out in the last booth. Luckily, she didn't have a stallion hanging on her; I didn't have to worry about competition. As I made my way to her, I noticed her black mane was covering her face. I could feel blood rushing to my face. I couldn't help it, it was really cute. Before I knew it, I was face to face with her. The thumping from the music outside and the loud breathing from the other ponies faded away. I could only hear the grey mare in front of me. I resisted the urge to kiss her right there. I placed my hoof on her side to try to wake her up. "Octavia?" I tried to be quiet enough to not wake anypony else up. She stirred a little. I shook a little harder. "Octavia? Please wake up." As she picked up her head, her black mane fell away from her face. Her eyes were still closed. "Who is it?" She said, still half asleep. She pushed her mane from her face, and slowely opened her eyes. I was greeted with those adorable, big, orange....orange? Wait, Octavia had purple eyes. I took a few steps back from shock. I didn't get it. She looked exactly like Octavia. I did a double take to her flank. I covered my mouth, and tried to find my breath. Instead of a purple musical note, a cloth patch was printed on her flank. Whoever this pony was, it was not Octavia. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were-" "Octavia? No. That's my sister." Her head fell back to the cushions of the booth. "Your sister?" That's right. I remember that stallion mentioning that everypony at the restaurant was family. "Yeeaa. She's grounded though. Can't do anything." "Out of curiosity, how old are you?" Please don't say, please don't say, please don't say.... "Not old enough." The grey mare nearly fell out of the booth, she was laughing so hard. Shit. A million thoughts raced inside my head. That mare was obviously wasted beyond all conscious thought. I felt the need to get her home. I felt responsible, but I also didn't know if I seriously wanted to help, or if I just wanted an excuse to see Octavia. My question was quickly answered as I made my way out of the room. Two stallions shoved by me and made their way to the back of the room. Oh please don't go for her. Anypony but her. "Hey, ain't you a little young to be here?" Damn it. I turned around and grabbed that grey mare's hoof. "We are leaving." I said as I pulled her out of the booth. She barely had enough time to get on all four hooves. She swayed back and forth as she tried to keep up with me. I'm pretty sure we woke up everypony in the room, either with her kicking or bumping into them, or by the stallions shouting, "Where are ya going?" I hate stallions like them. I pushed past the front door. I caught Lemon Drop's eye. I felt really bad. He gave me a look that said, "You owe me, big time." I could only nod, hoping he got my "I know" message. "Where do you live?" "Thatta way." I had to repeat that question down every street, and that was the same response I got every time. She would occasionally point somewhere that was not directly in front of us, but it felt like we were walking aimlessly. She got into the habit of leaning against me for support. This is not the first time I've had to walk some drunk pony home, but this was the first time this mare was underage, somepony I didn't know, and definitely the most annoying. I normally wouldn't mind if she was leaning on me, but she was nearly climbing onto my back. I kept having to push her away and keep on. "That's my house." She said after what seemed like hours of walking. "Finally." It was freezing out. I really did hope the mare I was with wouldn't get sick from all of this walking in the snow. I approached the house and pounded on the door. I took my glasses off, out of respect. I then realized how bad of an idea it was to try the front door. "What are you doing with my filly?!" A shrieking voice greeted me as the front door flew open. "Ma'am-" I tried my best to be polite. "-I was throwing a party downtown and she found her way in." "You get away from her!" The mare pushed me away as she grabbed her filly and pulled her inside. "Sweetie, are you okay? Do I smell?...Are you drunk?! Did that unicorn give you alcohol?!" The mare's eyes came back to me. If looks could kill. "Ma'am, I promise you, what she did at the party, I had nothing to do with." "The guards will hear of this! Honey! Get the phone!" The mare slammed the door shut. I could only hope that she didn't see my note, otherwise, she had no idea who I was. The weather finally hit me. I started to shiver. In my haste, I left my scarf and boots at the coffee shop. I could go back to the coffee shop, or go straight home. Either way, it was an hour walk in both directions. I didn't waste any time debating where to go, the guards could be around any second. "You there." A whisper broke through the wind. I looked over to the front door, but nopony was there. "No, over here." It came through again. I looked over to the side of the house, and saw somepony go around the corner. After looking around and making sure nopony was in sight, I made my way to the source of the voice. I was led behind the house. The entrance gate was open. There was nothing back there. It was just a large flatland of snow that was cut off with a wooden fence. As far as I could tell, it was empty. The snow made it hard to look very far. I did hear hoof prints around me though. I could tell they were behind me, after a bit of focus. I turned around, and was greeted with a sharp pain across my face. The force sent me lying into the snow. I put my hooves on the side of my face. Whatever hit me, it hurt, and the cold weather was not helping. After I opened my eyes, I saw somepony standing over me. The mix of snow and darkness did not let me tell who it was. Fighting back tears, I choked out, "Why?" "Why? You're not the one who is allowed to answer questions. Let me ask you this." The pony bowed her head. Their face was a few inches from mine. My vision was still hazy from getting hit in the face, but I was able to make out those big, purple eyes. "Octavia?" "Yes, it's me. I'm surprised you know my name. Now tell me. Why did you come into my restaurant?" "B-Because I didn't want to approach you at schoo-" "Shut up." I was honestly scared. "You come into my restaurant, mock my music, mock my mother's food, make me make a fool of myself, and then-" Her face got closer. Her eyes resemble her mother's. "-to top it all off, you give me a fake number." "Fake number?" I had no idea what she was talking about. She stomped her hoof near my head. "Don't you dare play stupid with me, Vinyl." She reached into her saddlebag and dropped a piece of paper on my face. I used my magic to pick it up. It took a lot of courage for me to take my eyes off the grey mare standing over me. "...this is my number." "Liar!" She stomped her hoof near my head again. She seemed satisfied when I reacted. "No, no, listen! What makes you think it's fake?" She snatched the paper from the air and read it out loud. The number did sound odd at the end though. "Say the last 4 digits again." With a heavy sigh, Octavia read from the paper. "3281" I smiled. "What?" I tried not to laugh. "What?! What's so funny?!" I failed. "Tell me!" "Octavia, the last two digits is -37, not -81. The ink is smeared, so you must have seen the wrong numbers." "Wha-.." She looked back at the paper. Her eyes filled with disbelieve. "Y-You're lying!" She dropped the paper on my face. "I swear." She pulled her phone out and started pounding on the screen. I was afraid she would break it. "Oh sure...We will just see-" She held the phone to her ear. "-about that." ... zzzzzzz... Her eyes got big. ... zzzzzzz... Her mouth opened. ... zzzzzzz... She started to shake her head. She whispered "no" repeatedly to herself. I could hear it from here. "Hi, you've reached Vinyl Scratch. I'm most likely working on music right now, and I respond much faster to text messages. Anyway, leave a message. -BEEP-" Aside from her purple eyes, her face became more clear as blood rushed to it. Her emotion changed drastically, from anger to embarrassment. I could also tell she was fighting back tears. She tried saying something, but kept choking. She failed at holding her tears back, I could feel drops of water hit my face. She was frozen. I reached my hooves up and touched the side of her face. I worked up a smile. She couldn't bring herself to look me in the eyes. She looked everywhere except my face. I had to use my other hoof to make her look at me. "I. I. I. I. I'm s-s-s-s. I'm sor. I-I'm so sorr-" She was a mess. Completely a different mare than what I was used to seeing on stage. "It's okay. I'm not mad." I said over and over again, but it didn't help. She kelp studdering on her words, trying to say the same sentence. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the scarf she was wearing and pulled her on the ground next to me, then just gave her a hug. She buried her face in my neck until she stopped crying, which took a while. We both stood up, she wiped tears from her eyes every few seconds. "Vinyl, I-I-I-" I put my hoof over her mouth, I didn't want to go through that again. She nodded her head, taking my hint that she should stop trying to say the same sentence. I lowered my hoof, and we just stared at each other in the snow. "I, uh, need to get home. Can I borrow your scarf?" "O-O-Of course!" She pulled her grey and black scarf off and wrapped it around my neck. I pulled it over my mouth. I had to hide the fact I was blushing, it smelled just like her. "I'll see you later, Octavia." I walked past her and made my way down the street. When I looked back, she was still standing in the snow, looking down at something. Halfway home, I put my hooves over my ears. Crap, I dropped my headphones. Plan B (Octavia)"Oh my Celestia, I hit her." "Calm down." "I hit her across the face, a-and she fell into the snow." "Octavia-" "My hoofprint was imprinted on her face." "Octavia!" "I-I-I just don-" "OCTAVIA!" The voice on the phone snapped me back into reality. I've been pacing back and forth in my room since I managed to get myself inside. I could faintly hear my mother and my sister going back and forth in the main room of the house. My mother would shout something, then my sister would say some incomprehensible string of sounds, followed by laughing. Other than that, the only sound that was in my room was the constant squeaking from the ceiling fan waving back and forth. "You there?" The voice came through the phone again. "Yes, yes. My apologies." "You need to calm down." "But, I-I hit her." "So you've said. I also ran into Vinyl a few minutes ago. She looked like she was in a ton of pain." My legs lost the strength to support my body. I collapsed to the ground. "Don't worry, I'm joking." "W-what?" "I did run into Vinyl, but trust me, I couldn't see her face." "What do you mean?" "Her face was buried in that scarf." I could feel my face getting hot. I looked at my door, making sure it was locked. The last thing I wanted was one of my family members walking in on me like this. "Trust me, Vinyl's not mad at you. If you really felt bad, you'd call her." "You think so?" "Definitely. I know Vinyl." "Okay.. Thank you, Lyra." "No problem! I gotta go now. I'm about to head home." "Tell Sweetie Drop I said 'Hello." "I will as soon as she wakes up." I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed. I went back to pacing back and forth. I would occasionally look over to my bed, debating if I should take Lyra's advice. Should I really call her now? It has been a little over an hour since we had our...interaction. I should wait longer, she's probably still walking in the snow. Alone. With nothing but a scarf. ... ... Why didn't I offer to walk with her? She'll get sick for sure. I wonder why she didn't ask for something more than a scarf, like a jacket or at least a blanket. She didn't even look at me after she put my scarf on. I started to walk faster, like I was trying to catch up with my thoughts. I was startled when my train of thought was interrupted with a pounding on the door. "Octavia, it's your mother. Open the door." I was still shaking from the shock of what happened earlier. It took a few tries until I managed to unlock the door and let my mother in. Her white coat was almost blinding against the black walls of my room. She did not come into my room often, but when she did, it was never good. "Octavia," she stood next to my bed, eyeing my phone. "did you know anything about this party your sister went to?" "I promise you, I had no idea." My mother looked disappointed. However, I think she believed me. "Well, the guards will be here soon to talk to your sister. I would like you to stay in here." "Sure thing." "Good girl." She approached me and planted a kiss on my head. I stayed facing the same way as she walked past me. I waited to hear the sound of the door closing behind her. "One last thing." She halted in the door frame. I turned around to see her. "I found this in your sister's saddlebag." She paused to levitate a pair of light blue and white headphones. "Because of your sister's actions, she's grounded. You can keep these until she earns them back." "Oh...um...thank you. I-I was looking for that." I stuck my hoof out as the pair of headphones were lowered into them. "Mmhm." My mother left the room and closed the door behind her. I observed the pair of headphones more closely. They were wireless, and they matched the mane of Vinyl Scratch. I was certain that they belonged to her, but that became a guarantee when I noticed her cutie mark design was on one of the sides. After a second of thinking about what I should do, I got an idea. I placed the headphones and on the bed and picked up my phone. I went to my recent numbers list, then started typing a message. I found a pair of headphones, I believe they are yours. Would you like me to bring them to you? I hit the send button and stared at my phone. In all honesty, I just wanted an excuse to text her I waited for seconds. I waited for minutes. I stared at it for hours. At least, that is what it felt like. I'm positive in the real world, I only stood there for a moment before tossing my phone back on my bed. I went back to the headphones. I've never been great with technology, and I've certainly never seen a pair like these. I flipped the headphones around, looking for a place to plug a wire into. I did not find such a place, but I did see some buttons along the left ear. I pressed the buttons, against better judgement. After fumbling with them, the headphones started to vibrate rather violently. I almost dropped them from the surprise. I put the pair of headphones on. For the amount it was vibrating, not much music came through. I could hear faint pulsing, but the raw noise of the headphones vibrating overpowered the actual music. Useless set of headphones. The only reason I could think anypony would wear these would be for the style. I put the headphones on my dresser. I heard a door open in the other room, a few voices, then the same door closing. The guards have arrived. I put my ear up to the door, and tried to hear what they were saying. "...ma'am, please calm down." "My sweet little filly is drunk! I want the pony responsible for this!" "Do you have a name?" Water rushed through the pipes around the house. Instead of hearing their conversation, I could just hear the water running through the pipes. No. No. No. I pressed my head against the door. Please Celestia, what are they saying? "...coffee... lemons... night.... party...." The words I heard made no sense. I decided to open the door. "Thank you, ma'am. I assure you that everything will be handled." Oh no. I retreated back to my room and picked up my phone. I saw that I had an unread message, but I ignored it and started typing a new message. I think the guards are going to some coffee shop with lemons. If that makes any sense to you, the guards will be there soon. Before I could hit send, a loud voice made me drop my phone. I looked over to the door. My father stood in the doorway with a large pegasus in gold armor standing behind him. "Octy, this is Cloud Runner. He wanted to talk to you about the party your sister went to." "I-I have no knowledge of it." I tried to keep my eyes focused on them as I reached for my phone. "Don't lie to me, Octy. I know that white unicorn gave you her number." "Oh." I couldn't help but giggle from the nervous energy. "Yes, about that..." Desperation (Vinyl) Desperation (Vinyl) I hope I don't look stupid with half of my face buried in this scarf. It's just...the way it smells is so....wow, I sound like a clingy loser. Still though. hhhnnnnn.... I didn't really pay attention to where I was going, but I snapped back into reality pretty quickly after slamming into light post number three. Lucky for me though, I was close to Lemon's coffee shop. Most of the lights were off, except for a few dim ones that were attached to some appliances. I put my face to the window to see if anypony was there. The DJ that took my place all ready wrapped up. There was nopony in the building and my equipment was shut down. I looked around the lobby. It looked as if nothing happened, except the large DJ booth. The place was unrealistically clean, I eyed a few spots that I was positive I saw a stallion or two puke, but there was nothing. Lemon really outdid himself. "You there!" A loud voice came from my side. Oh no. I quickly turned my head to see a large figure. I couldn't see who it was, but the figure pretty much gave it away. Shit I took a step back and ran the other way. "Stop right there!" They shouted again. I didn't look back to see if they were chasing me. The snow was at least five inches, and all of my focus was spent trying not to fall. What's funny is that, since I was a filly, I've been told I don't have a lot of focus, and that came back to bite me in the flank. My hoof caught onto something in the ground, buried on the snow, and I was brought down to my knees. I remember always laughing in horror movies, when the pony falls and they just scoot back instead of getting up and running. It's not nearly as easy as I thought it was. I don't know if it was energy or fear, but I just stared at the figure following me instead of doing the smarter alternative. "Thought you could outrun me, eh?" They said. I turned my head and shut my eyes. "Typical Vinyl. Just like prom." I looked up to the figure standing above me. Their muzzle was barely an inch from mine. I looked into his dark green eyes. I buried my face into the scarf. Not because of why I was doing it earlier, but I couldn't help but feel blood rush to my face. "Lemon, what are you doing?" "You owe me." "W-What for?" "The guards came earlier." "A....And what did they say?" "They asked about a certain white unicorn." The pause he took was uncomfortably long. All he did was stare into my eyes, with some kind of smile on his face. As much as I hate being in this position, at least when she did it, it was....ugh....focus. "Get off me, Lemon." "Or what?" He had a mischievous look in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. "Or I'll..." I froze. It wasn't because I didn't have anything against him, I had loads of ammo I could use. However, he does let me play at his shop, he did take the fire from the guards for having underage ponies at my parties. Maybe I do...somewhat owe him. I slowly closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen. "Hey, Lovebirds!" A voice shouted. I felt Lemon's weight shift off me. I turned my head to look whoever shouted. I was extremely relieved when I saw a teal unicorn a few feet away approach us. She had a huge smile on her face. "What's up?" She said. I hid more of my face in the scarf. We both looked over to Lemon. "S-She fell in the snow, and I was making sure she was okay." He said. Against better judgement, I didn't say anything at the time. Lyra kept her happy expression on her face. She was obviously oblivious to what was about to happen. Probably for the better though. Lyra would have torn Lemon to shreds. She did just stand there though. She kept staring at Lemon, with a look on her face like she expected something. I looked over to Lemon, he shuffled around nervously. His head would go in all directions, except towards me or Lyra. "I'm...going to make sure everything is locked up." He broke the silence. "Sure thing!" Lyra cheerfully said. Lemon nodded his head and made his way to the front of his shop. Once he was out of view, I was nearly blinded from a floating yellow object. I looked back to Lyra. She used her magic to form some ghost claw to help me up. I held my hoof out, and her claw grabbed onto it. "Thanks." I said as her claw pulled me up. "You're lucky I came back." Her smiling face was swapped for a very grim expression. "You're right. I am . Thanks, Lyra." I thought about it for a second. "Why are you out here anyway?" "I decided to hang around after the party for you to come back. I have some good news." Lyra couldn't help but smile. "What good news?" "That grey mare you have an interest in..." "Yea?" I got excited. "She thinks she hurt you and is too scared to see you face to face ever again." "That's....not good news." "Don't worry, I calmed her down for the most part, and I told her to text you. Have you checked your phone?" "Oh, no." I used my magic to dig my phone out of my saddlebag. "I'll check it right now." .... "What did you tell her to send?" I focused a little more on the contents in my bag. .... "I...feel....OH BUCK ME." I slammed my hoof against my head. "What?! What's wrong?" Lyra asked. "I left my phone on my booth when I got the other DJ to cover for me." Lyra couldn't help but laugh. "So go inside and get it." She said between breaths. "Yea, sure. I'll just avoid Lemon as I walk through his entire shop and back." "Oh, that's right." She looked down for a moment, then beamed back up. "Just use your magic to levitate it out!" "Oh, right. Duh. Come with me to the window." She nodded, and we made our way to the side window. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when Lemon was nowhere to be seen. Lyra pulled out her phone and called mine. I looked around the shop, trying to spot it. It definitely got off the DJ stand. Lyra put her phone down when mine went to voicemail. At least I could count out somepony stealing it. Lyra dialed the number again and held the phone to her ear. "Hey, I think I see it." I said, pressing my face against the glass. "Then get it." Lyra sounded impatient. It was hard to focus my magic, I saw my phone light up from the side room. I managed to get the phone, and I started to pull it towards me. I could feel my magic pulling it, but what I saw said otherwise. The light stayed in the same place beyond the door. I focused harder and tried pulling as hard as I could. I hit my head against the glass in exhaustion. I gave up on the phone. "Umm, Vinyl. Look." Lyra said. I lifted my head to see Lemon holding my phone. Ugh, that's just great Lemon tilted his head, saying "Come Here" as he did so. I looked over to Lyra. She offered to come in with me, but I knew that Lemon wanted to talk alone. I walked through the front doors and up to Lemon. He had my phone in his hoof, he was going through it. Normally, that wouldn't bother me. I had nothing to hide on my phone, but just the way he looked at me, then back to it. "What do you want?" I didn't wait until I was close to him to ask. "Well, you see. I feel that you kind of owe me after what happened last night." "That may be, but this is blackmail, Lemon." "No, this is me getting even. For all the parties. For all the guards. For all the damn mess you leave behind at every single party." The anger I was feeling started to turn into guilt. "F-fine. What do you want me to do in return?" "Oh, that's simple. You see, there is a large event coming up..." Dress Up (Octavia)Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Evening Star (Octavia)I didn't really recognize her at first. She was just another customer. The only reason she drew my attention was because that rather annoying bell my parents decided to attach to the front door. If I remember right, my younger brother, Painted Sketch, was the one that greeted her and showed her to her seat. I don't know what she did after that, I put my focus back to the piece I was performing with the small band that played with me on the stage. Although the restaurant is run by my family, the band is made up of friends who knew my parents, and need a place to practice. I'm the only pony that plays an instrument of any kind. However, if you asked the youngest of us three, he would say he is rather talented at the triangle. The piece I was playing was not difficult, especially for me. It was only four different notes. I was next to the piano, which was situated to the right and further back from the other five. I would occasionally look up to see the crowd. Any good musician knows how to adjust according to the audience's emotion. Unfortunately, the audience was rather busy with personal conversations and food. There was, however, one pony that maintained eye contact with the band, that white unicorn. I can't say for sure if she was truly looking at us though, she had obnoxious purple glasses on. Her head was looking my way though. At the end of the piece, we all stood up and bowed. We did get some applause, but I'm sure that the majority of the ponies there didn't notice. I couldn't help but look back at the white unicorn, I knew that I knew her somewhere, I just couldn't tell. When I turned my head back to see, she was looking at the menu. Painted Sketch likes to tease me, saying that I looked disappointed. I deny that. There was nothing to be disappointed about. The white unicorn was there to eat, not admire the band. Why else would she enter a restaurant? I was used to sitting in the back room for an hour or two before being called back to the stage. I couldn't practice my cello, the sound would enter the main room. I usually just read novels or even slept on the slower nights. I had enough time to take a sip of water before my elder brother, Stylish Treasure came into the room. "Octavia, you're wanted on stage." I almost choked on the water. "Already?" "Yes. They want to hear you play 'EveningStar'." I was certainly surprised. I was familiar with the song. It was exclusively cello, and one of the first songs I've learned. "I'll be there in a second." I put the glass down and walked back on stage. I was alone up there. I cannot recall a time before this has happened. I grabbed my cello, which was still next to the piano near the back, and placed it near center stage. Before taking my place, I scanned the crowd. Nopony was looking at the stage. Well, except one, that white unicorn. I bowed, then assumed my position. I was used to closing my eyes while I perform, it wasn't an ego. I grew up learning that the greatest musicians are not ones that can hit one-hundred notes in five seconds, the greatest ones are the ones who can mess up every five seconds, but no pony will notice. I closed my eyes to pay more attention to the music. At the end of my piece, I opened my eyes. Nopony applauded. A few fillys and colts stared blankly at me, so I guess I can't say I got no attention. I looked back to the white unicorn. At least she applauded at the last song. Sadly, she was not there. I walked back to the waiting room. The rest of the night was spent with my lying on the couch and sleeping. I'm not sure if I was wanted on stage, but I surely would like to thank the other ponies who played with me, for not disturbing me. The next day, as soon as I left university, I went straight to the restaurant, as usual. When I got there, there was, quiet literally, nopony there. Stylish and Sketch were sitting at one of the tables near the stage. Stylish was drawing in his notebook, no doubt it was a clothing design he came up with. Sketch was on her phone. My parents were discussing something behind the bar. It was nothing that I would worry about, so I paid no mind to it. I went to the waiting room. The band was there, of course. The five of them sat in a circle playing some card game while they talked about what they did that morning. I laid onto the couch and closed my eyes. I would have loved to practice my cello, but then I would have both my siblings shouting at me to be quite, then my parents would shout at them. It's a vicious circle that I'd prefer not starting. I heard the bell, followed by my family shuffling around. "Welcome!" "Can we help you?" "Really?" Hoofsteps approached. "Can we get you anything to eat?" "I said, can we get you anything to eat?" Slightly louder. I could tell it was my mother. "If you're going to keep up this behavior, I will have to ask you to leave this building!" I'm positive the people next door were calling the guards as I speak. "Octavia." My brother came into the room. "Evening Star. Now." He left before I could respond. I sighed as I took my place on stage. The cello was placed behind the piano. It took a few seconds for me to find it. Once I did though, I got a good look at the pony that came in. I didn't know who I expected, I'm not even sure if I was surprised to see who it was. It was her, that white unicorn from yesterday. I turned my head to my cello, then played the same piece as yesterday. When I finished, I did feel some relief, since she was still there. Her purple glasses were aimed at me. I was never nervous on stage, don't get me wrong. However, there was something odd about her face. As I walked back to the waiting room, I looked back to the white unicorn. I froze in my tracks. My mother brought her a cake, but that was not what caught my attention. As my mother put the dessert down, I saw the while unicorn remove something from her ear. At first, I thought it was an earring or something of that nature. However, when she pulled something else from the ear that was on the side of the face facing me, I knew what it was. She was wearing ear buds. I fought back tears as I ran back to the waiting room. The next few days was the same thing. She would come in, my mother would take her order, then she would have my brother fetch me to play that damned annoyance of a song. It was an embarrassment. It got to the point where the other members of the band would not bother me after I played that piece. They would leave me as I silently cried to myself on that couch. Day after day, like clockwork. I show up, I wait in the waiting room, play one or two songs with the band, then she would show up. Everytime I finished, I watched her pull those things from her ears. Friday showed up. I was thankful. Friday was our busiest day, and with the addition of events happening downtown, our restaurant would be flooded with upper class ponies that would actually enjoy listening to the orchestral band. I was so excited, I actually purchased a bow tie on the way to the restaurant. I was a few minutes late because of this, but thankfully no song that was requested needed a cello. As soon as I entered the waiting room, my brother was waiting for me. "When they are done, Evening Star." "But, everytime I play-" "I don't care." "But." "No." "But!-" He left. That's normally how "discussions" went on with my family, I was used to it. Before the band returned, somepony else came through the door. "You must tell your friend that she is no longer welcome in our establishment!" It was mother. "Who are you talking about?" "That white unicorn that orders my cake everyday. She never eats it!" "I assure you she is not my friend." "Regardless, after you perform your piece, you tell her!" With that, she left the room. When the band returned, I took the stage. My cello was already set up for me. I looked back to the band. The piano player, the father of the group, met my eyes and smiled. I closed my eyes as I took the cello into my hands. I didn't need to focus anymore. I played the notes the same way as I had the last few days. I opened my eyes as I held out the last note. The new ponies applauded, but I didn't mind them. I looked to her. She had her purple glasses faced my way. When I put my cello down, she looked down to her cake, then put her hooves to her ears. However, I didn't go back to the waiting room. I stepped off the front of the stage, and walked directly to her table. She did not notice me, not until I placed...more accurately slammed...my hooves on the table. She looked up to me, startled. "You have some nerve!" I shouted at her. The entire building was silent. "Every day, you come in here and ask me to play. Why? You wear those ear plugs every time you request me to perform. I am not some pony that was brought from the streets to play for a few bits a day. Have you seen my cutie mark? I am a musical genius. I've practiced everyday since I could stand on my hooves. You humiliate me by coming in here, ordering food, which you do not eat, and watching me play a simple song with plugs in your ears. What kind of joke is this to you, because it is not funny!" I was breathing rapidly. I've never raised my voice like that. My entire body was aching. I hated that feeling, but I needed to maintain my ground. I couldn't go back on what I said. I needed an answer. "Wow. Never knew you could shout like that." The white unicorn removed her glasses. Past her blue hair, I saw her red-violet eyes. They were rather beautiful. "I don't like classical music." She said. "W-What?" "Yea. I hate it. I like more exciting stuff." I took my hooves off the table and placed them on the ground. I'm sure my eyes were the size of my head and my face was more red than the cherry on my mother's cake. "I-I...So why do you come here everyday and ask me to play?" "Well, you're like, the smartest girl in music class at university. I couldn't just approach you, I would've felt like an idiot. So I come here and ask you to perform so I could see you." "But what about the cake?" "Don't get me wrong, I like chocolate, but this thing, this is too much. The old mare said she'd kick me out if I didn't order food, and this is the cheapest thing on the menu." I didn't know how to respond. I ran to the waiting room. The band was not there, fortunately. I locked the door as I passed through it. I expected to hear somepony pounding on it. Father, Mother, one of my siblings, or even the guards. I thought I was embarrassed when I played that song everyday. I was wrong. This is what embarrassment felt like. I won't lie, I cried. I'm not sure what over though. It could have been raising my voice, disrespecting a customer, humiliating myself in front of such esteemed guests, or maybe, the possibility I lost a friend. I spent hours in that room alone. It was past closing by the time I left. The lights were shut off and all the tables were cleaned. All except one. The one she was sitting at. When I passed it, there was something on the table. Upon closer inspection, it was a piece of paper. It read "Vinyl Scratch" and her phone number. What was more surprising was what was under the piece of paper. It was a plate, with remnants of a certain chocolate cake. I never tried my mother's sweets, and there was a piece on the plate. I got a fork from a clean table and placed the piece of cake in my mouth. It was dreadful.
Overture Remix (Vinyl)Looking back, it wasn't that smart of me to leave my information the day before the school had a huge break. It was the longest break the school had. I think it was for some festival in downtown Manehatten. I didn't really think that would be a problem. My plan was to spend the week out of school getting to know her and hanging out. She didn't text me that first night. But hey, I figured her parents took her phone away or something. There were a ton more ponies there than usual when she got in my face like she did, and the employees were acting very differently. I only saw that waiter stallion pull out his coloring book like, thirteen times to show off his stuff. The next day was weird though. When I went in and sat down, I got the stink eye from the old mare that threatened to kick me out the first day I went. The same stallion from the past few days came to take my order. He had that sketchbook with him. I don't know why he always insisted on showing me his drawings. I usually had my ear plugs in and I say the same thing every time he comes over. "Hello, ma'-" "Usual, please." "But ma'-" "No, I don't want to see your book." "Listen." I looked over to him. I was always looking at him, but it has been made clear to me that unless I turn my entire head to directly face somepony, no one knows who I am looking at through my glasses. "The cake you always order is off the menu, and Octavia is no longer playing with us." Octavia, huh? That's useful to know. Wait, she's no longer playing? "Did she get sent to another restaraunt?" "No." "Is she sick?" "No." "Well, where is she?" "I can't say." If anypony knew how to annoy me, it was this guy. I did have an idea though. I took my glasses off and passed my hoof through my mane. I then pulled him close "You know, I would really appreciate it if you told me where Octavia was." He stumbled on his words. Easy. "I-I-I can't say." Damn. "Please? For me?" "B-B-But my mother will." "You're mother?" "Yea. The mare that that threatened to kick you out." "She's your mother?!" "Yea. All the employees are family." "Oh. Crap." I left the restaurant quickly after that. I wish I knew that they were family, I would have treated them better. Heck, I would have actually eaten that disaster they call a cake. But what's done is done. All I can do now is wait for her to call me. Until then, I have a party to get ready for. I pulled out my phone from my saddlebag. Thirty missed texts and ten missed calls. I always have my phone on silent, otherwise that thing will never shut up. I quickly looked through the texts and calls though, None of them were unknown. After a heavy sigh, I scrolled through my contacts, then hit dial. "Hello?" "What's up, Lemon?" "Hey Scratch, nothing much, about to close down the coffee shop. Unless there's a reason you called." "Want some extra bits tonight?" "You're bringing your own sound equipment this time." "You're helping me bring it." "I'll send somepony." "No, you." "Why?" "'Cause I like to see you suffer." "Give me two hours." "See ya." I called a few other ponies and told them about my party at the coffee shop. I called the usual ones, the ones that had the most friends to tell and could draw the biggest crowds. But this time, I called a few more. I told each of them, "If you know somepony named 'Octavia', make sure they hear about it." It was a long shot, but hey, I had to try something. All I could do now was set up for the party, and whether or not Octavia showed up, it was going to be great. I didn't have to wait long as home for Lemon to show up. Even though he said two hours, I could always guarantee that he will be a lot earlier. Unfortunately, he caught me in the middle of a good book. I debated if I should leave him outside for an hour or so, since he was ahead of schedule, and I was getting to the climax. Unfortunately, his constant knocking would throw my concentration. After ten minutes or so, I gave in. "Ready?" He asked. "You bet." He and I each took a wagon and headed for his coffee shop. I could have done it myself, but I had my own intentions. As we went down one of the streets, I stopped him in front of one of the buildings. "Listen, I need you to do something for me." I looked back to Lemon "What now?" "Can you go in there and ask for somepony to play a song called 'Evening Star'?" "Um, why?" "Please?" "Can you tell me why?" "Pplleeaassee?" Lemon took in a deep breath. "Fine," he said as he disconnected the wagon and went inside. I pulled my phone out to check for any messages. Nothing, at least nothing from anypony important. Just a few dozen texts and calls from fans or managers. I replied to a few of them to help time go by. After half an hour, he finally came from the restaurant. "Well?" "It was an okay song, I guess." "What do you mean? Did a grey mare play it?" "No. Some stallion did." "Damn it." "Language." "Sorry." We reattached the wagons and went to his coffee shop. "What time is the event starting?" Lemon asked as he unpacked the music gear. "Sundown." "Well, that gives us plenty of time." He didn't unpack all of the stuff, he had to go set up for tonight. He made tons of food. He's awesome like that. I went ahead and set up my stuff. It probably went by a lot faster since I did it by myself. Lemon's shop already had some speakers set up near the stage, and he usually got annoyed when I drug my amps in, probably because it leaves marks all over the wooden floor. On second though, they did cause a power outage once, so that's another possible reason he hated them. Although they weren't as big as mine, his speakers did carry my music past the cheering crowd, so I couldn't complain too much. It made life easier on my hooves, since I only needed to carry a few soundboards and the cabinet for them. "Why don't you bring your stuff in with your magic?" Lemon asked as I drug the cabinet in. I didn't need to look at him to see him staring at the wooden floor. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to handle delicate stuff like this with magic?" "No, please explain." He did not sound the least bit interested in knowing. "You see, when a unicorn levitates something-" I paused to lift the cabinet onto the stage. "-they put a lot of force on the object. I don't levitate this stuff so I don't mess up the circuit boards." "I see you levitating your phone all the time." "Phones are a different case. They make them so unicorns can levitate them." Lemon didn't believe me, he probably thought I was making something up so I had an excuse to drag heavy stuff on his floor. I can't say he was entirely wrong. When I finished, I checked my phone one last time. I actually had a voicemail. "Hey, Scratch. That mare you were asking about? I passed her up a second ago and told her about the party. She didn't really have a reaction though, so I can't tell you if she's going to show. Anyway, can't wait to hear ya tonight!" I tried to hold in my excitement, but I'm positive I got an odd stare from Lemon when I fist-pumped into the air. I did have my headphones in though, so maybe it didn't look too odd.
Let's Party (Octavia)This goes without saying, but I was punished rather harshly for my actions last night. After that scene with the white unicorn, my parents said that I was no longer allowed to play on stage. I had to wash dishes and clean after closing every night. I was not allowed to see the customers during business hours. Also, when I was not in school or sleeping, I had to be at work. I was lucky enough to keep my cell phone, my parents would have a heart attack if I was out of their sight and they had no way of contacting me. But yes, I was furious that I was no longer allowed to play on stage, but I understand their anger. I did make a fool of myself and of my family that night. Starting today, I was to clean the restaurant and wash dishes. I woke up an hour before the restaurant opens. As soon as I had full conscious thought, I took the paper with Vinyl's number on it and dialed it into my phone. I did not want to have a conversation with her, but I figured I should at least tell her not to show up if she expects me to play. Unfortunately, the last two digits were smeared. Luckily, I could still read them. If the paper was anymore rubbed, that may not have been the case. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, the number you dialed is not in service" "That's odd." I thought to myself as I compared the number on my phone and the one written down. After typing it again, I tried calling the number. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, the number you dialed is not in service." I laughed as I tossed the phone on my bed. A fake number. A cute prank. It isn't the first time it has happened to me, stallions used to do this all the time. I didn't care. For every one fake number, I could receive ten real ones. After that, I went on my usual morning routine. I took a shower, put my bowtie on, ate some breakfast. However, before leaving, I removed my bowtie and left it in my room. If I was to be washing dishes and doing janitorial duty, there was no point in wearing it. I grabbed my saddlebag and made my way to the restaurant. "You're late." That's with what I was greeted with as I made my way into the kitchen. "We agreed 8:00am, that's what time it is." I responded. "Mom told me to remind you to get here early." "So why didn't you?" "I forgot." I just brushed that comment off. It was my younger brother after all, and this was how siblings treated each other., so it is not like I was going through this alone. I went over to the sink and cleaned it out. The sink was on the far end of the kitchen, so even if I wanted to, I would have to move across the room to even see out of the window. I suppose my parents really did not want anypony to see me. My mother came into the kitchen for a few seconds. She wanted to make sure I was back there and not in the band room. After staring me down for a few seconds, the bell on the front door rang, and she started up the oven. My brother came from the break room, sketchbook in hoof, of course, and went to greet the customer. It did not take long before he returned to the kitchen. His face was flushed. Something happened, and I was not the only one who caught it. "What happened?" My mother asked as he returned to the kitchen. "Oh, um. It was that white unicorn again." I turned the water off. "Why is she here?" "She asked to see Octavia play Evening Star." "And what did you tell her?" "That the cello player was not playing on stage here anymore." "Good boy." My mother went back to cooking food and my brother returned to the break room. It was around this time my sister came through the doors. She had a bag in her mouth, which she proceeded to throw onto the table next to the fridge. I could tell that her eyes were focused on me, and my suspicion was confirmed when she approached me. "Do you know anypony named 'DJ Pon3?" She asked. "No, I can't say that I do." "Somepony approached me on the way back and said that she was throwing a party at the coffee shop tonight." "Interesting. Why are you asking me about it?" "Because they called me by your name." "Again?" It was not the first time that me and my elder sister were confused for one another. We are both grey earth mares with black hair. However, if you were to actually meet us both, there are subtle differences, such as eye color and cutie marks. Unfortunately, I have no idea who this DJ is, and I am uncomfortable that they asked for me by name. After discussing it with my sister, we figured that it was somepony from university that knew me from class. It would explain the confusion, they would only see me from afar and the first grey mare with black hair they saw, they would figure it was me. The rest of the day was spent with the occasional customer, me staring at my phone, and my mother constantly shouting for my brother to put down his drawing pad and go greet the customers. Something interesting did happen though. About an hour before closing, my brother came into the kitchen. "Somepony wants to hear Evening Star." "Tell that white mare to get out." My mother told him. "It's not her, it's a yellow stallion." My mother looked over to me, as if I had something to do with it. She look around the room, as if trying to find something, then took in a deep breath before making eye contact with me again. "Do you know anypony in the band that can play cello?" I thought for a moment, nopony in the ensemble knew how to play cello exclusively, but they did have a violin player. I hoped that it would work. "I would try the violin player." "Good. Go fetch the violin pony and tell them to play the song for the guest. After tonight, that song will no longer be available." My brother left, there was an uncomfortable tension in the air after that. I suspect my mother told that stallion to request the song so I could go on stage and my the cello. I would defend myself, but I have learned that it is useless trying to have a reasonable argument with my parents, especially my mother. I heard the familiar notes of Evening Star. As the song played, I couldn't help but pull my phone out and dial the number again. ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, but the number you dialed is not in service." I put my phone back in my saddlebag. With a heavy sigh, I went back to washing dishes. Time flew by after I heard that song. It seemed like only minutes before my mother called for the end of the day. My siblings and parents left me to finish the dishes and clean up the restaurant. It did not take long at all for me to finish the dishes, after all, it was a very slow day. As I went to take the trash from the break room, I saw that the band was still there. "Hey, Octavia!" They shouted in unison. "Hello, everyone. Good day?" "You wouldn't believe it." The eldest of the boys spoke up. "Oh really? What happened?" I asked. "We learned a new set, would you like to hear it?" The father picked up. "Well, you shouldn't. It is past closing and I should be cleaning up." "We insist!" The father said as he stood up and took his violin. "Just listen to us as you clean." The eldest boy said as the family made their way to the stage. "I suppose one song shouldn't hurt." I said as I took the trash to the seating area. I started to wipe down the tables, I could hear the father pounding on the piano. It was unlike other music I was familiar with. The piano took the lead of the song, but it was accompanied with saxophone, trombone, violins, things that I would expect to hear from classical. It was a very upbeat song, but that was only the start of it. When the youngest colt, who barely spoke two words the entire length I've played with him, started singing into the microphone, I was, for lack of better words blown away. His voice was magnificent. The song lasted the duration that it took me to finish cleaning the room. When they finished, I applauded them. As I took the trash out, they met me around back. They wanted to say good-bye, for they were leaving the city the next morning for a few days. "What was that music you played?" I asked. "It's called Swing." The father said. "I will definitely look into it. Maybe I can play it with you guys one day." They all agreed. I don't think anypony knew this, but they hated playing classical. However, they were When I got home, my parents met me at the door. They were usually in bed by this time, so I immediately knew something was not right. "Where is your sister?!" They asked me. "I am not sure. I've been at the restaurant since you left." "Are you sure you have no idea where she is?" They asked again. "I assure you, I have no idea." "I'll call the guards." My father ran inside. "Is she really-" "We have not seen her since we all left the restaurant. She said that she was going get something to eat, then she would meet us home." My mother interrupted. "Anything I can do to help?" I asked. "No, Octavia. Just...just stay in your room." On any other night, I would raise my hoof in protest. I wasn't useless, but my family sure acted like I was sometimes. However, I at least understood this time. I pulled my phone from my saddlebag and handed it to my mom. "Call the guard." I said. "I already did, Octavia. Just please, let the adults handle this." Oh no, I'm just a straight A college student, I'm not an adult at all. Still a child. ... Breathe, Octavia. Breathe. I hoped that my anger didn't lead to my face. I put my phone back in my saddlebag and went to my room. Once inside, I closed the door and tossed my bag onto my bed. I paced around the floor, trying to think where my sister could be. I became more anxious the more I thought about it. Knowing my sister, she could be in an alley somewhere with a stallion that flashed a bag of bits and promised everything she ever wanted. After minutes of pacing, I heard pounding on the door, followed my an exchange of voices unfamiliar to me. The guards are here, they will find her. I started to calm down. I found myself eyeing my saddlebag as I held my face against the door. It kept calling my eyes, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the conversation occurring in the other room. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the conversation, I kept looking over to my saddlebag. The conversation got fainter and fainter. It was not because they started to speak more quietly, it was I found myself leaving the door and going to my bed. I dug my hoof into my saddlebag and pulled my phone out. I saw I had an unknown number. I quickly redialed it. ... "Th---Lyra---W---t---up?" "Lyra?" I nearly shouted into the phone. "You called?" " ---sorry Octavia! I m-- called you---sat on--bag!" "What's that noise? It's giving me a headache from here." "Oh!---M---Bon-bon---party! Dj. Pon3---shop----fun!" There's that name again.. "Well, it sounds like you're having fun. Tell Sweetie Drops I said Hi." "I w--! When---sobers up! Lat--!" The phone clicked off. I kind of hoped it was her... I didn't take my eyes off my phone as I sat it on top of my bag. I went through the conversation, trying to fill in the gaps. The more I thought about it though, the larger my headache grew. I don't know what that was in the background, but it was annoying. I dug around in my saddlebag, then pulled out that piece of paper. I dialed the number, double checking each individual number with the paper and my phone. After feeling satisfied with my seventh check, I hit "dial". ... ... ... ... ... "We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is not in service." Are you buckin' kidding me?!
All-Nighter (Vinyl)That party, without a doubt, was one of the best I've ever thrown. I played a new set of music that I recently wrote. I'm pretty sure I even saw Lyra and Bonny get in the crowd and jump with the music. It was great seeing all the ponies there dancing to my music. However, as great as it was seeing everypony there having a good time, my night really got exciting when I saw a familiar grey mare go into the side room. I tried to keep my head facing the sound booth, but under my glasses, I eyed that room. I wanted to make sure that she didn't get away from me again. The song I was on was drawing to a close. Luckily, I invited a few other DJs to the party. In the nightclub business, there are a few motions that we use that only we know. I pumped my hoof in the air a handful of times, and one of the other DJs I invited came to my side. "Hey, I need you to cover for me." I said as I reached to the side he was on. He picked up a spare set of headphones and gave me a nod. "Thank you so much." I took my pair of headphones off and made my way to the side room. As the door closed behind me, I was amazed how much of the music was drowned out from the ponies breathing. The side room was marked off from the rest of the party. The room was used when a drunken pony needed somewhere to crash until they were sober enough to make it home. It was actually Lemon's idea. Honestly though, I think that the only reason he came up with it is so no drunk ponies led the guard back here. As I looked around, I noticed that a lot of the mares were underage. If a guard were to come in here, LemonDrop would be in a world of trouble. I'll have to repay him for doing this. I scanned the room for the grey mare, being careful not to step on anypony lying on the ground. I saw her passed out in the last booth. Luckily, she didn't have a stallion hanging on her; I didn't have to worry about competition. As I made my way to her, I noticed her black mane was covering her face. I could feel blood rushing to my face. I couldn't help it, it was really cute. Before I knew it, I was face to face with her. The thumping from the music outside and the loud breathing from the other ponies faded away. I could only hear the grey mare in front of me. I resisted the urge to kiss her right there. I placed my hoof on her side to try to wake her up. "Octavia?" I tried to be quiet enough to not wake anypony else up. She stirred a little. I shook a little harder. "Octavia? Please wake up." As she picked up her head, her black mane fell away from her face. Her eyes were still closed. "Who is it?" She said, still half asleep. She pushed her mane from her face, and slowely opened her eyes. I was greeted with those adorable, big, orange....orange? Wait, Octavia had purple eyes. I took a few steps back from shock. I didn't get it. She looked exactly like Octavia. I did a double take to her flank. I covered my mouth, and tried to find my breath. Instead of a purple musical note, a cloth patch was printed on her flank. Whoever this pony was, it was not Octavia. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were-" "Octavia? No. That's my sister." Her head fell back to the cushions of the booth. "Your sister?" That's right. I remember that stallion mentioning that everypony at the restaurant was family. "Yeeaa. She's grounded though. Can't do anything." "Out of curiosity, how old are you?" Please don't say, please don't say, please don't say.... "Not old enough." The grey mare nearly fell out of the booth, she was laughing so hard. Shit. A million thoughts raced inside my head. That mare was obviously wasted beyond all conscious thought. I felt the need to get her home. I felt responsible, but I also didn't know if I seriously wanted to help, or if I just wanted an excuse to see Octavia. My question was quickly answered as I made my way out of the room. Two stallions shoved by me and made their way to the back of the room. Oh please don't go for her. Anypony but her. "Hey, ain't you a little young to be here?" Damn it. I turned around and grabbed that grey mare's hoof. "We are leaving." I said as I pulled her out of the booth. She barely had enough time to get on all four hooves. She swayed back and forth as she tried to keep up with me. I'm pretty sure we woke up everypony in the room, either with her kicking or bumping into them, or by the stallions shouting, "Where are ya going?" I hate stallions like them. I pushed past the front door. I caught Lemon Drop's eye. I felt really bad. He gave me a look that said, "You owe me, big time." I could only nod, hoping he got my "I know" message. "Where do you live?" "Thatta way." I had to repeat that question down every street, and that was the same response I got every time. She would occasionally point somewhere that was not directly in front of us, but it felt like we were walking aimlessly. She got into the habit of leaning against me for support. This is not the first time I've had to walk some drunk pony home, but this was the first time this mare was underage, somepony I didn't know, and definitely the most annoying. I normally wouldn't mind if she was leaning on me, but she was nearly climbing onto my back. I kept having to push her away and keep on. "That's my house." She said after what seemed like hours of walking. "Finally." It was freezing out. I really did hope the mare I was with wouldn't get sick from all of this walking in the snow. I approached the house and pounded on the door. I took my glasses off, out of respect. I then realized how bad of an idea it was to try the front door. "What are you doing with my filly?!" A shrieking voice greeted me as the front door flew open. "Ma'am-" I tried my best to be polite. "-I was throwing a party downtown and she found her way in." "You get away from her!" The mare pushed me away as she grabbed her filly and pulled her inside. "Sweetie, are you okay? Do I smell?...Are you drunk?! Did that unicorn give you alcohol?!" The mare's eyes came back to me. If looks could kill. "Ma'am, I promise you, what she did at the party, I had nothing to do with." "The guards will hear of this! Honey! Get the phone!" The mare slammed the door shut. I could only hope that she didn't see my note, otherwise, she had no idea who I was. The weather finally hit me. I started to shiver. In my haste, I left my scarf and boots at the coffee shop. I could go back to the coffee shop, or go straight home. Either way, it was an hour walk in both directions. I didn't waste any time debating where to go, the guards could be around any second. "You there." A whisper broke through the wind. I looked over to the front door, but nopony was there. "No, over here." It came through again. I looked over to the side of the house, and saw somepony go around the corner. After looking around and making sure nopony was in sight, I made my way to the source of the voice. I was led behind the house. The entrance gate was open. There was nothing back there. It was just a large flatland of snow that was cut off with a wooden fence. As far as I could tell, it was empty. The snow made it hard to look very far. I did hear hoof prints around me though. I could tell they were behind me, after a bit of focus. I turned around, and was greeted with a sharp pain across my face. The force sent me lying into the snow. I put my hooves on the side of my face. Whatever hit me, it hurt, and the cold weather was not helping. After I opened my eyes, I saw somepony standing over me. The mix of snow and darkness did not let me tell who it was. Fighting back tears, I choked out, "Why?" "Why? You're not the one who is allowed to answer questions. Let me ask you this." The pony bowed her head. Their face was a few inches from mine. My vision was still hazy from getting hit in the face, but I was able to make out those big, purple eyes. "Octavia?" "Yes, it's me. I'm surprised you know my name. Now tell me. Why did you come into my restaurant?" "B-Because I didn't want to approach you at schoo-" "Shut up." I was honestly scared. "You come into my restaurant, mock my music, mock my mother's food, make me make a fool of myself, and then-" Her face got closer. Her eyes resemble her mother's. "-to top it all off, you give me a fake number." "Fake number?" I had no idea what she was talking about. She stomped her hoof near my head. "Don't you dare play stupid with me, Vinyl." She reached into her saddlebag and dropped a piece of paper on my face. I used my magic to pick it up. It took a lot of courage for me to take my eyes off the grey mare standing over me. "...this is my number." "Liar!" She stomped her hoof near my head again. She seemed satisfied when I reacted. "No, no, listen! What makes you think it's fake?" She snatched the paper from the air and read it out loud. The number did sound odd at the end though. "Say the last 4 digits again." With a heavy sigh, Octavia read from the paper. "3281" I smiled. "What?" I tried not to laugh. "What?! What's so funny?!" I failed. "Tell me!" "Octavia, the last two digits is -37, not -81. The ink is smeared, so you must have seen the wrong numbers." "Wha-.." She looked back at the paper. Her eyes filled with disbelieve. "Y-You're lying!" She dropped the paper on my face. "I swear." She pulled her phone out and started pounding on the screen. I was afraid she would break it. "Oh sure...We will just see-" She held the phone to her ear. "-about that." ... zzzzzzz... Her eyes got big. ... zzzzzzz... Her mouth opened. ... zzzzzzz... She started to shake her head. She whispered "no" repeatedly to herself. I could hear it from here. "Hi, you've reached Vinyl Scratch. I'm most likely working on music right now, and I respond much faster to text messages. Anyway, leave a message. -BEEP-" Aside from her purple eyes, her face became more clear as blood rushed to it. Her emotion changed drastically, from anger to embarrassment. I could also tell she was fighting back tears. She tried saying something, but kept choking. She failed at holding her tears back, I could feel drops of water hit my face. She was frozen. I reached my hooves up and touched the side of her face. I worked up a smile. She couldn't bring herself to look me in the eyes. She looked everywhere except my face. I had to use my other hoof to make her look at me. "I. I. I. I. I'm s-s-s-s. I'm sor. I-I'm so sorr-" She was a mess. Completely a different mare than what I was used to seeing on stage. "It's okay. I'm not mad." I said over and over again, but it didn't help. She kelp studdering on her words, trying to say the same sentence. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the scarf she was wearing and pulled her on the ground next to me, then just gave her a hug. She buried her face in my neck until she stopped crying, which took a while. We both stood up, she wiped tears from her eyes every few seconds. "Vinyl, I-I-I-" I put my hoof over her mouth, I didn't want to go through that again. She nodded her head, taking my hint that she should stop trying to say the same sentence. I lowered my hoof, and we just stared at each other in the snow. "I, uh, need to get home. Can I borrow your scarf?" "O-O-Of course!" She pulled her grey and black scarf off and wrapped it around my neck. I pulled it over my mouth. I had to hide the fact I was blushing, it smelled just like her. "I'll see you later, Octavia." I walked past her and made my way down the street. When I looked back, she was still standing in the snow, looking down at something. Halfway home, I put my hooves over my ears. Crap, I dropped my headphones.
Plan B (Octavia)"Oh my Celestia, I hit her." "Calm down." "I hit her across the face, a-and she fell into the snow." "Octavia-" "My hoofprint was imprinted on her face." "Octavia!" "I-I-I just don-" "OCTAVIA!" The voice on the phone snapped me back into reality. I've been pacing back and forth in my room since I managed to get myself inside. I could faintly hear my mother and my sister going back and forth in the main room of the house. My mother would shout something, then my sister would say some incomprehensible string of sounds, followed by laughing. Other than that, the only sound that was in my room was the constant squeaking from the ceiling fan waving back and forth. "You there?" The voice came through the phone again. "Yes, yes. My apologies." "You need to calm down." "But, I-I hit her." "So you've said. I also ran into Vinyl a few minutes ago. She looked like she was in a ton of pain." My legs lost the strength to support my body. I collapsed to the ground. "Don't worry, I'm joking." "W-what?" "I did run into Vinyl, but trust me, I couldn't see her face." "What do you mean?" "Her face was buried in that scarf." I could feel my face getting hot. I looked at my door, making sure it was locked. The last thing I wanted was one of my family members walking in on me like this. "Trust me, Vinyl's not mad at you. If you really felt bad, you'd call her." "You think so?" "Definitely. I know Vinyl." "Okay.. Thank you, Lyra." "No problem! I gotta go now. I'm about to head home." "Tell Sweetie Drop I said 'Hello." "I will as soon as she wakes up." I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed. I went back to pacing back and forth. I would occasionally look over to my bed, debating if I should take Lyra's advice. Should I really call her now? It has been a little over an hour since we had our...interaction. I should wait longer, she's probably still walking in the snow. Alone. With nothing but a scarf. ... ... Why didn't I offer to walk with her? She'll get sick for sure. I wonder why she didn't ask for something more than a scarf, like a jacket or at least a blanket. She didn't even look at me after she put my scarf on. I started to walk faster, like I was trying to catch up with my thoughts. I was startled when my train of thought was interrupted with a pounding on the door. "Octavia, it's your mother. Open the door." I was still shaking from the shock of what happened earlier. It took a few tries until I managed to unlock the door and let my mother in. Her white coat was almost blinding against the black walls of my room. She did not come into my room often, but when she did, it was never good. "Octavia," she stood next to my bed, eyeing my phone. "did you know anything about this party your sister went to?" "I promise you, I had no idea." My mother looked disappointed. However, I think she believed me. "Well, the guards will be here soon to talk to your sister. I would like you to stay in here." "Sure thing." "Good girl." She approached me and planted a kiss on my head. I stayed facing the same way as she walked past me. I waited to hear the sound of the door closing behind her. "One last thing." She halted in the door frame. I turned around to see her. "I found this in your sister's saddlebag." She paused to levitate a pair of light blue and white headphones. "Because of your sister's actions, she's grounded. You can keep these until she earns them back." "Oh...um...thank you. I-I was looking for that." I stuck my hoof out as the pair of headphones were lowered into them. "Mmhm." My mother left the room and closed the door behind her. I observed the pair of headphones more closely. They were wireless, and they matched the mane of Vinyl Scratch. I was certain that they belonged to her, but that became a guarantee when I noticed her cutie mark design was on one of the sides. After a second of thinking about what I should do, I got an idea. I placed the headphones and on the bed and picked up my phone. I went to my recent numbers list, then started typing a message. I found a pair of headphones, I believe they are yours. Would you like me to bring them to you? I hit the send button and stared at my phone. In all honesty, I just wanted an excuse to text her I waited for seconds. I waited for minutes. I stared at it for hours. At least, that is what it felt like. I'm positive in the real world, I only stood there for a moment before tossing my phone back on my bed. I went back to the headphones. I've never been great with technology, and I've certainly never seen a pair like these. I flipped the headphones around, looking for a place to plug a wire into. I did not find such a place, but I did see some buttons along the left ear. I pressed the buttons, against better judgement. After fumbling with them, the headphones started to vibrate rather violently. I almost dropped them from the surprise. I put the pair of headphones on. For the amount it was vibrating, not much music came through. I could hear faint pulsing, but the raw noise of the headphones vibrating overpowered the actual music. Useless set of headphones. The only reason I could think anypony would wear these would be for the style. I put the headphones on my dresser. I heard a door open in the other room, a few voices, then the same door closing. The guards have arrived. I put my ear up to the door, and tried to hear what they were saying. "...ma'am, please calm down." "My sweet little filly is drunk! I want the pony responsible for this!" "Do you have a name?" Water rushed through the pipes around the house. Instead of hearing their conversation, I could just hear the water running through the pipes. No. No. No. I pressed my head against the door. Please Celestia, what are they saying? "...coffee... lemons... night.... party...." The words I heard made no sense. I decided to open the door. "Thank you, ma'am. I assure you that everything will be handled." Oh no. I retreated back to my room and picked up my phone. I saw that I had an unread message, but I ignored it and started typing a new message. I think the guards are going to some coffee shop with lemons. If that makes any sense to you, the guards will be there soon. Before I could hit send, a loud voice made me drop my phone. I looked over to the door. My father stood in the doorway with a large pegasus in gold armor standing behind him. "Octy, this is Cloud Runner. He wanted to talk to you about the party your sister went to." "I-I have no knowledge of it." I tried to keep my eyes focused on them as I reached for my phone. "Don't lie to me, Octy. I know that white unicorn gave you her number." "Oh." I couldn't help but giggle from the nervous energy. "Yes, about that..."
Desperation (Vinyl) Desperation (Vinyl) I hope I don't look stupid with half of my face buried in this scarf. It's just...the way it smells is so....wow, I sound like a clingy loser. Still though. hhhnnnnn.... I didn't really pay attention to where I was going, but I snapped back into reality pretty quickly after slamming into light post number three. Lucky for me though, I was close to Lemon's coffee shop. Most of the lights were off, except for a few dim ones that were attached to some appliances. I put my face to the window to see if anypony was there. The DJ that took my place all ready wrapped up. There was nopony in the building and my equipment was shut down. I looked around the lobby. It looked as if nothing happened, except the large DJ booth. The place was unrealistically clean, I eyed a few spots that I was positive I saw a stallion or two puke, but there was nothing. Lemon really outdid himself. "You there!" A loud voice came from my side. Oh no. I quickly turned my head to see a large figure. I couldn't see who it was, but the figure pretty much gave it away. Shit I took a step back and ran the other way. "Stop right there!" They shouted again. I didn't look back to see if they were chasing me. The snow was at least five inches, and all of my focus was spent trying not to fall. What's funny is that, since I was a filly, I've been told I don't have a lot of focus, and that came back to bite me in the flank. My hoof caught onto something in the ground, buried on the snow, and I was brought down to my knees. I remember always laughing in horror movies, when the pony falls and they just scoot back instead of getting up and running. It's not nearly as easy as I thought it was. I don't know if it was energy or fear, but I just stared at the figure following me instead of doing the smarter alternative. "Thought you could outrun me, eh?" They said. I turned my head and shut my eyes. "Typical Vinyl. Just like prom." I looked up to the figure standing above me. Their muzzle was barely an inch from mine. I looked into his dark green eyes. I buried my face into the scarf. Not because of why I was doing it earlier, but I couldn't help but feel blood rush to my face. "Lemon, what are you doing?" "You owe me." "W-What for?" "The guards came earlier." "A....And what did they say?" "They asked about a certain white unicorn." The pause he took was uncomfortably long. All he did was stare into my eyes, with some kind of smile on his face. As much as I hate being in this position, at least when she did it, it was....ugh....focus. "Get off me, Lemon." "Or what?" He had a mischievous look in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. "Or I'll..." I froze. It wasn't because I didn't have anything against him, I had loads of ammo I could use. However, he does let me play at his shop, he did take the fire from the guards for having underage ponies at my parties. Maybe I do...somewhat owe him. I slowly closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen. "Hey, Lovebirds!" A voice shouted. I felt Lemon's weight shift off me. I turned my head to look whoever shouted. I was extremely relieved when I saw a teal unicorn a few feet away approach us. She had a huge smile on her face. "What's up?" She said. I hid more of my face in the scarf. We both looked over to Lemon. "S-She fell in the snow, and I was making sure she was okay." He said. Against better judgement, I didn't say anything at the time. Lyra kept her happy expression on her face. She was obviously oblivious to what was about to happen. Probably for the better though. Lyra would have torn Lemon to shreds. She did just stand there though. She kept staring at Lemon, with a look on her face like she expected something. I looked over to Lemon, he shuffled around nervously. His head would go in all directions, except towards me or Lyra. "I'm...going to make sure everything is locked up." He broke the silence. "Sure thing!" Lyra cheerfully said. Lemon nodded his head and made his way to the front of his shop. Once he was out of view, I was nearly blinded from a floating yellow object. I looked back to Lyra. She used her magic to form some ghost claw to help me up. I held my hoof out, and her claw grabbed onto it. "Thanks." I said as her claw pulled me up. "You're lucky I came back." Her smiling face was swapped for a very grim expression. "You're right. I am . Thanks, Lyra." I thought about it for a second. "Why are you out here anyway?" "I decided to hang around after the party for you to come back. I have some good news." Lyra couldn't help but smile. "What good news?" "That grey mare you have an interest in..." "Yea?" I got excited. "She thinks she hurt you and is too scared to see you face to face ever again." "That's....not good news." "Don't worry, I calmed her down for the most part, and I told her to text you. Have you checked your phone?" "Oh, no." I used my magic to dig my phone out of my saddlebag. "I'll check it right now." .... "What did you tell her to send?" I focused a little more on the contents in my bag. .... "I...feel....OH BUCK ME." I slammed my hoof against my head. "What?! What's wrong?" Lyra asked. "I left my phone on my booth when I got the other DJ to cover for me." Lyra couldn't help but laugh. "So go inside and get it." She said between breaths. "Yea, sure. I'll just avoid Lemon as I walk through his entire shop and back." "Oh, that's right." She looked down for a moment, then beamed back up. "Just use your magic to levitate it out!" "Oh, right. Duh. Come with me to the window." She nodded, and we made our way to the side window. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when Lemon was nowhere to be seen. Lyra pulled out her phone and called mine. I looked around the shop, trying to spot it. It definitely got off the DJ stand. Lyra put her phone down when mine went to voicemail. At least I could count out somepony stealing it. Lyra dialed the number again and held the phone to her ear. "Hey, I think I see it." I said, pressing my face against the glass. "Then get it." Lyra sounded impatient. It was hard to focus my magic, I saw my phone light up from the side room. I managed to get the phone, and I started to pull it towards me. I could feel my magic pulling it, but what I saw said otherwise. The light stayed in the same place beyond the door. I focused harder and tried pulling as hard as I could. I hit my head against the glass in exhaustion. I gave up on the phone. "Umm, Vinyl. Look." Lyra said. I lifted my head to see Lemon holding my phone. Ugh, that's just great Lemon tilted his head, saying "Come Here" as he did so. I looked over to Lyra. She offered to come in with me, but I knew that Lemon wanted to talk alone. I walked through the front doors and up to Lemon. He had my phone in his hoof, he was going through it. Normally, that wouldn't bother me. I had nothing to hide on my phone, but just the way he looked at me, then back to it. "What do you want?" I didn't wait until I was close to him to ask. "Well, you see. I feel that you kind of owe me after what happened last night." "That may be, but this is blackmail, Lemon." "No, this is me getting even. For all the parties. For all the guards. For all the damn mess you leave behind at every single party." The anger I was feeling started to turn into guilt. "F-fine. What do you want me to do in return?" "Oh, that's simple. You see, there is a large event coming up..."
Evening Star (Octavia)I didn't really recognize her at first. She was just another customer. The only reason she drew my attention was because that rather annoying bell my parents decided to attach to the front door. If I remember right, my younger brother, Painted Sketch, was the one that greeted her and showed her to her seat. I don't know what she did after that, I put my focus back to the piece I was performing with the small band that played with me on the stage. Although the restaurant is run by my family, the band is made up of friends who knew my parents, and need a place to practice. I'm the only pony that plays an instrument of any kind. However, if you asked the youngest of us three, he would say he is rather talented at the triangle. The piece I was playing was not difficult, especially for me. It was only four different notes. I was next to the piano, which was situated to the right and further back from the other five. I would occasionally look up to see the crowd. Any good musician knows how to adjust according to the audience's emotion. Unfortunately, the audience was rather busy with personal conversations and food. There was, however, one pony that maintained eye contact with the band, that white unicorn. I can't say for sure if she was truly looking at us though, she had obnoxious purple glasses on. Her head was looking my way though. At the end of the piece, we all stood up and bowed. We did get some applause, but I'm sure that the majority of the ponies there didn't notice. I couldn't help but look back at the white unicorn, I knew that I knew her somewhere, I just couldn't tell. When I turned my head back to see, she was looking at the menu. Painted Sketch likes to tease me, saying that I looked disappointed. I deny that. There was nothing to be disappointed about. The white unicorn was there to eat, not admire the band. Why else would she enter a restaurant? I was used to sitting in the back room for an hour or two before being called back to the stage. I couldn't practice my cello, the sound would enter the main room. I usually just read novels or even slept on the slower nights. I had enough time to take a sip of water before my elder brother, Stylish Treasure came into the room. "Octavia, you're wanted on stage." I almost choked on the water. "Already?" "Yes. They want to hear you play 'EveningStar'." I was certainly surprised. I was familiar with the song. It was exclusively cello, and one of the first songs I've learned. "I'll be there in a second." I put the glass down and walked back on stage. I was alone up there. I cannot recall a time before this has happened. I grabbed my cello, which was still next to the piano near the back, and placed it near center stage. Before taking my place, I scanned the crowd. Nopony was looking at the stage. Well, except one, that white unicorn. I bowed, then assumed my position. I was used to closing my eyes while I perform, it wasn't an ego. I grew up learning that the greatest musicians are not ones that can hit one-hundred notes in five seconds, the greatest ones are the ones who can mess up every five seconds, but no pony will notice. I closed my eyes to pay more attention to the music. At the end of my piece, I opened my eyes. Nopony applauded. A few fillys and colts stared blankly at me, so I guess I can't say I got no attention. I looked back to the white unicorn. At least she applauded at the last song. Sadly, she was not there. I walked back to the waiting room. The rest of the night was spent with my lying on the couch and sleeping. I'm not sure if I was wanted on stage, but I surely would like to thank the other ponies who played with me, for not disturbing me. The next day, as soon as I left university, I went straight to the restaurant, as usual. When I got there, there was, quiet literally, nopony there. Stylish and Sketch were sitting at one of the tables near the stage. Stylish was drawing in his notebook, no doubt it was a clothing design he came up with. Sketch was on her phone. My parents were discussing something behind the bar. It was nothing that I would worry about, so I paid no mind to it. I went to the waiting room. The band was there, of course. The five of them sat in a circle playing some card game while they talked about what they did that morning. I laid onto the couch and closed my eyes. I would have loved to practice my cello, but then I would have both my siblings shouting at me to be quite, then my parents would shout at them. It's a vicious circle that I'd prefer not starting. I heard the bell, followed by my family shuffling around. "Welcome!" "Can we help you?" "Really?" Hoofsteps approached. "Can we get you anything to eat?" "I said, can we get you anything to eat?" Slightly louder. I could tell it was my mother. "If you're going to keep up this behavior, I will have to ask you to leave this building!" I'm positive the people next door were calling the guards as I speak. "Octavia." My brother came into the room. "Evening Star. Now." He left before I could respond. I sighed as I took my place on stage. The cello was placed behind the piano. It took a few seconds for me to find it. Once I did though, I got a good look at the pony that came in. I didn't know who I expected, I'm not even sure if I was surprised to see who it was. It was her, that white unicorn from yesterday. I turned my head to my cello, then played the same piece as yesterday. When I finished, I did feel some relief, since she was still there. Her purple glasses were aimed at me. I was never nervous on stage, don't get me wrong. However, there was something odd about her face. As I walked back to the waiting room, I looked back to the white unicorn. I froze in my tracks. My mother brought her a cake, but that was not what caught my attention. As my mother put the dessert down, I saw the while unicorn remove something from her ear. At first, I thought it was an earring or something of that nature. However, when she pulled something else from the ear that was on the side of the face facing me, I knew what it was. She was wearing ear buds. I fought back tears as I ran back to the waiting room. The next few days was the same thing. She would come in, my mother would take her order, then she would have my brother fetch me to play that damned annoyance of a song. It was an embarrassment. It got to the point where the other members of the band would not bother me after I played that piece. They would leave me as I silently cried to myself on that couch. Day after day, like clockwork. I show up, I wait in the waiting room, play one or two songs with the band, then she would show up. Everytime I finished, I watched her pull those things from her ears. Friday showed up. I was thankful. Friday was our busiest day, and with the addition of events happening downtown, our restaurant would be flooded with upper class ponies that would actually enjoy listening to the orchestral band. I was so excited, I actually purchased a bow tie on the way to the restaurant. I was a few minutes late because of this, but thankfully no song that was requested needed a cello. As soon as I entered the waiting room, my brother was waiting for me. "When they are done, Evening Star." "But, everytime I play-" "I don't care." "But." "No." "But!-" He left. That's normally how "discussions" went on with my family, I was used to it. Before the band returned, somepony else came through the door. "You must tell your friend that she is no longer welcome in our establishment!" It was mother. "Who are you talking about?" "That white unicorn that orders my cake everyday. She never eats it!" "I assure you she is not my friend." "Regardless, after you perform your piece, you tell her!" With that, she left the room. When the band returned, I took the stage. My cello was already set up for me. I looked back to the band. The piano player, the father of the group, met my eyes and smiled. I closed my eyes as I took the cello into my hands. I didn't need to focus anymore. I played the notes the same way as I had the last few days. I opened my eyes as I held out the last note. The new ponies applauded, but I didn't mind them. I looked to her. She had her purple glasses faced my way. When I put my cello down, she looked down to her cake, then put her hooves to her ears. However, I didn't go back to the waiting room. I stepped off the front of the stage, and walked directly to her table. She did not notice me, not until I placed...more accurately slammed...my hooves on the table. She looked up to me, startled. "You have some nerve!" I shouted at her. The entire building was silent. "Every day, you come in here and ask me to play. Why? You wear those ear plugs every time you request me to perform. I am not some pony that was brought from the streets to play for a few bits a day. Have you seen my cutie mark? I am a musical genius. I've practiced everyday since I could stand on my hooves. You humiliate me by coming in here, ordering food, which you do not eat, and watching me play a simple song with plugs in your ears. What kind of joke is this to you, because it is not funny!" I was breathing rapidly. I've never raised my voice like that. My entire body was aching. I hated that feeling, but I needed to maintain my ground. I couldn't go back on what I said. I needed an answer. "Wow. Never knew you could shout like that." The white unicorn removed her glasses. Past her blue hair, I saw her red-violet eyes. They were rather beautiful. "I don't like classical music." She said. "W-What?" "Yea. I hate it. I like more exciting stuff." I took my hooves off the table and placed them on the ground. I'm sure my eyes were the size of my head and my face was more red than the cherry on my mother's cake. "I-I...So why do you come here everyday and ask me to play?" "Well, you're like, the smartest girl in music class at university. I couldn't just approach you, I would've felt like an idiot. So I come here and ask you to perform so I could see you." "But what about the cake?" "Don't get me wrong, I like chocolate, but this thing, this is too much. The old mare said she'd kick me out if I didn't order food, and this is the cheapest thing on the menu." I didn't know how to respond. I ran to the waiting room. The band was not there, fortunately. I locked the door as I passed through it. I expected to hear somepony pounding on it. Father, Mother, one of my siblings, or even the guards. I thought I was embarrassed when I played that song everyday. I was wrong. This is what embarrassment felt like. I won't lie, I cried. I'm not sure what over though. It could have been raising my voice, disrespecting a customer, humiliating myself in front of such esteemed guests, or maybe, the possibility I lost a friend. I spent hours in that room alone. It was past closing by the time I left. The lights were shut off and all the tables were cleaned. All except one. The one she was sitting at. When I passed it, there was something on the table. Upon closer inspection, it was a piece of paper. It read "Vinyl Scratch" and her phone number. What was more surprising was what was under the piece of paper. It was a plate, with remnants of a certain chocolate cake. I never tried my mother's sweets, and there was a piece on the plate. I got a fork from a clean table and placed the piece of cake in my mouth. It was dreadful.
