The Music of Harmony

Octavia didn't wake up until 3:00 in the afternoon, so she had limited time to prepare. She stumbled down the stairs slowly, careful not to fall. She walked into the kitchen, and was caught off guard by what she saw. She had expected Vinyl to be feeling just as bad, if not worse, than she did. But there she was, cooking food and humming to herself.

"Vinyl? How can you possibly have any energy? You drank more than I did," Octavia said, clearly confused.

"Good morning, Octavia," she said brightly. "Do you really think that I would perform at clubs for my entire life and not learn an anti-hangover spell? I can cast it on you if you want me to."

"Yes, please. I feel awful."

Vinyl concentrated and cast the spell. Octavia felt as if her brain was being beat by an electric mixer, and then reassembled back to normal.

"Thanks. I feel a lot better now."

"I thought so. Do you want something to eat? I figured since you've been asleep all day you would be hungry."

Octavia was starving. She grabbed some food off the stove and started eating. Now that she no longer was hungover, she started to remember the dream.

"Hey Vinyl," she called. "Did you have another Luna dream last night?"

She stopped to think about this.

"Oh, yeah. That one. She said to meet her at the Everfree Forest at six."

"That was it. We only have a couple of hours to get there then."

"But what about the other four? They're probably still hungover from last night,"

Vinyl contemplated.

"You will need to come with me and cast your spell. Then we'll all go to the forest together."

"Alright. Let's go find them."

They left the house and went around Ponyville. They first looked for Derpy, and they found her flying happily through the streets of town. Octavia waved and told her to come down.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as Derpy landed.

"Oh, just great, Octavia," she said. "I haven't felt better."

"Are you sure? Even after last night?"

"That was fun, wasn't it? I feel fine. I think it was the brand of drink I had. The Doctor said it would be the best for me."

Vinyl was curious. "What brand was it?" She asked.

Derpy tried to think. "I forget. He said it was called... non... nonalcoholic? Yeah. That sounds about right. Why? Did you guys have it too?"

Octavia was relieved. The Doctor wasn't stupid; letting Derpy get drunk was like putting out a fire with gasoline.

"No, not exactly," she said. "We came to bring you to the Everfree Forest. Did you have that dream last night?"

"The Luna one? Yep. We should probably hurry if we want to get there in time."

"First, we need to get the other three."

Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, and Derpy went off to find the others. The next pony on the list was The Doctor. They went to his house and knocked on his door. When there was no reply, they opened it and went inside. He was lying on the floor, under a blanket. He looked up a little to see them there.

"Oh, thank goodness you guys are here," he said nervously. "Could you please tell the lights to shut up? They scare me and they won't leave me alone."

Vinyl saw his frightened state and burst out laughing.

"This is too funny!" She said between laughs. "I wish I had a camera."

"No! No flash! No lights please!" He exclaimed.

"Come on, Vinyl. Just cast the spell," Octavia said.

"Aw, really? Can't we just leave him like this for a little while? It's hilarious!"

Octavia held her ground. "No. We don't have time. Cure him, and then we need to go."

"Okay, okay. Fine. You don't need to get all mad at me."

She walked over and cast the spell. The Doctor immediately bolted upright.

"Um, thanks. I should probably go now. I'll meet you there," he said.

He walked out the door and headed to the Everfree Forest. This made Vinyl Scratch start laughing again. Even Octavia couldn't resist a smile.

"Now we just need to find Lyra and Bon-Bon. They live about a half mile down from here," she said.

The three ponies left The Doctor's house to find the last two of Luna's allies. They were almost there when Derpy tripped over a rock in the street. She fell hard and started crying.

"Octavia sighed. "For goodness sake, Derpy. Can't you stay on your feet for five minutes?"

Octavia turned and went back to help the hysterical pegasus.

"Vinyl, can you go get Lyra and Bon-Bon? Their house is right over there."

She pointed at a small house nearby.

"Sure thing. I'll be out in a second," Vinyl said leisurely.

She went to the house and entered. Octavia did her best to console Derpy, and eventually she got her to stop crying. She sniffled a little and rubbed her eyes. After Octavia had calmed her down, Vinyl came out with the final two ponies. She looked pale and shocked.

"Are you okay, Vinyl?" She asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost. What was going on in there?"

"I don't even want to picture it."

"Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to warn you," she said sheepishly.

"Warn me about what?"

"Well... Lyra and Bon-Bon are... you know..."

Octavia leaned over and whispered something in Vinyl's ear.

"My god, they really are weird."

Lyra and Bon-Bon were talking quietly and giggling to each other. They all grouped together and started walking to the Everfree Forest. Lyra was the first to speak.

"So, why are we all walking together again?" She asked.

"We're going to meet Princess Luna. We all had the same dream that you two had," Octavia said.

"Well, yeah. I knew that already. But we could have gone by ourselves. It's not like we were going to get lost."

"Yeah, right," Vinyl said. "You two would have been so hungover that you wouldn't know which way was up."

"I really don't like you."

"Well, I don't really like you either. Now we have something in common."

Octavia lightly hit Vinyl in the shoulder.

"Calm down, Vinyl. We need to be nice."

"See," Lyra pointed at Octavia. "At least some ponies are respectful."

"Shut up, Lyra. I don't need an ethics lesson," Vinyl said.

Octavia interrupted. "Both of you just be quiet. I promise that as soon as we save the world, you'll never have to speak to each other again."

"Now that is a day I can look forward to," said Lyra.