The Room mate

Octavia looked up from the bow resting lightly in her grasp to the bay windows. Internally, she sighed again, slowly piecing together the blurry morning, and remaining listless as a sense of weightlessness floated through her limbs. The last tangible thought she could remember was of her lying down to sleep in her bed. Now with one leg draped over her cello, the other hoof had the bow just out of reach.

"What an odd..." Morning. she meant to say, looking around the living room, only to sense from the light shining through the bay windows that it was well into the afternoon. Her eyes grew open wide and she sat upright. The note tucked in between her cello's strings only caused for a moment of hesitation as she read it, setting Vinyl's note down on the coffee table when she saw her little black calender book as well. The items 'Jog around the park' was thoroughly scratched out, along with the words 'Already taken care of -V' written next to the task where she was going to hunt down a pair of new bedsheets for Vinyl.

"Well, from the notes, I must've missed her..." Octavia thought aloud, lying her cello next to her on the couch as she rolled onto her hooves.
"And my medicine!" She said, reminding herself. Only to see that she had scribbled 'Sleepiness' onto the side of her prescription bottle under the list of side effects. Octavia stared at the bottle for a moment, "They were rather strong." She mused, trying to remember any faint detail about her morning.

Octavia placed her medicine back into the refrigerator door, and closed it, "Perhaps I'll tell Dr. Barrel in the morning about the strength of the anti-biotics."

With a glass of water in hoof, she returned to the living room, setting her glass on a coaster. With a tender ease, Octavia fit the cello back into its case and carried it upstairs. After returning downstairs, she took two sips of water before frantic pounding on the front door made her pause.

"OCTAVIA!" A pony shouted, followed by more knocking. Octavia rushed to the door, sparing only a moment to peek through the eye hole. The pony standing two steps back from the front porch was flustered, head cocked towards the upstairs windows, scanning to see some sort of life coming from the upper floors when Octavia opened the door. His head snapped down, and Octavia recognized him, but before she could say anything, the stallion broke out his smile and ran up to her and grabbed her right hoof. "Octavia! So good to see you! Please, you, wouldn't happen to be busy tonight would you? We need a strings pony."

Octavia's cheeks blushed for a moment before lightening when she picked up on the word 'we'. "My, it's certainly a good night to see you too, Parish, now tell me more about why you need me?"

"Okay, so, it's something we, Brass Beauty and Symphony, and even Frederick, and myself have wanted to do, but Symphony was offered an interview in Manehatten for second chair, and this is super important to her, because their past first-chair was traded to Maritonia as part of a big culture exchange event that's coming up next season, that and I heard he was slipped a few thousand bits on top, so then their second become first, but now the Manehatten Symphonic's need a second chair. Even if she doesn't get it, this is the only day where all of our schedules sort of meet up, and you'd be the only mare who knows the songs."

"Slow down, Parish, what's the event?" She asks, curious to know more details.

"A few weeks ago, we all got really excited about the idea of doing a live free show, right in the middle of the Canterlot market, for fun. Do you know how to play Moore's 3rd? The violinist piece?" Octavia bared her teeth, unsure of her response.

"Well, I know that piece for the cello, I'd have to play through it a few times before the show. If you really need a violin part, I could play it, it's been a while since I've picked up the violin, and I just need to dig out the sheet notes before hoof."

"Great! Could you please? Do you have a violin here with you?" Parish asked, leaning to the right and looking over Octavia's shoulder, expecting to see the instrument on display.

"Yes- how much of a rush are you in to get me to the market?" Octavia asked.

"Oh, well, we were actually going to be playing next week, but I heard from Tempo that the talent scout for the gala this year is Charity Case, and I just so happen to know that his assistant, Ink, who is Brass Beauty's BFF, told her that he's going shopping for his wife today at 6:30 P.M., so we wanted to bump up the performance for today."

"Does Symphony know?"

"That we're playing today? No, but from what Ink told Brass, Symphony was giving her audition within the same time-frame that Charity Case was slotted to sit in at the Manehatten Philiharmonic hall."

"So she's not on her way back?"

"Diamondzello went to support Symphony, and then yesterday came back and said that Symphony was in a second round of auditions, Ink told Brass it was because of something Charity mentioned to the maestro." Parish explained.

"So she might not even play the Gala at all if she's in Manehatten?"

"We'll see, but if she has an even greater chance of impressing Charity because she's played for him one-on-one and if she gets picked up for the Gala, we still need to play."

"Keep talking, come on in, I'll grab my violin." Octavia said, trotting upstairs.

"Brass said that aside from the Manehatten Symphony, Charity Case is having a gay old time Broadway, went to seven different shows, four of them weren't even classic! He even looked at your roommate Vinyl." Parish yelled up the stairs.

"What?" Octavia yelled, emerging from her own room.

"Your room mate, Vinyl. Brass Beauty heard from her BFF, Ink, his assistant-slash-daily planner, that Charity Case saw her four days ago in Manehatten at a show she put on at the Andromeda theater off of Southwest Beetsdale, do you know the place? Is she here or still out touring?"

Octavia looked down from the second floor to Parish, he often played the role of a pony with all the details, and certainly knew how to dominate a conversation. "Andromeda, no. Vinyl? I haven't seen her in months, but you just missed her too, she left me a note no more than two hours ago."

"Darn, I've wanted to meet her." He said, casting another glance around the foyer.

"What about Copper Stings...or-"

"Copper lives in Ponyville, and I don't know where Perfectia lives."

"Shall we go?" Octavia asked, the violin was strapped to her back and music sheets stuffed into her saddlebag.

"Yes, we're warming up at Fredricks." Parish said, leading Octavia out.

The heart of Canterlot Marketplace was accentuated with a white limestone fountain that depicted a pony from each race, water coming from beneath the pegasus' wing trailing down to the earth ponies, and then the unicorns. There was a two meter gap of concrete where no stall could set up on, and was intended for hoof traffic. With market stalls crowding close to every available plot of land, offering fresh watermelons, mangoes, apples, and pears, carrots, grapes, celery, pablano peppers, and coconuts. Rice, wheat, oats, nuts, breads, berries, salts, and spices took up half the district. It was split along a fine line that carried over into linens, fabrics, watches, outdoor art, beads, decorations, flowers, trees, glass ware, and beauty products ranging from bath salts, water detoxification, and body butters. Brass Beauty stood in front of the fountain, eyeing Octavia sporting a violin and Fredrick with a stand up rolling piano. Parish's harp was on top of the piano, with one of his hooves resting against it as they waited for Brass to begin.

The smile on Octavia's lips was coy as she waited, she couldn't think of very many performances or songs that began with the tuba, but as Brass Beauty puffed up her cheeks in anticipation, the first note she played immediately caught the attention of Fredrick, Octavia, and Parish; they mentally counted and waited for their queue before jumping out from in between stalls and join in on the next measure. Fredrick's head dipped with every second note, his lips reading, 'One...and two...and three...and four and...' He listened to the clack of his metronome swing back and forth, set to 120 beats per minute. The timing for his piano stanzas were written in 8/8ths time, in comparison to Brass Beauty's 4/4ths time on the tuba.

Parish obsessively compared a version of Brass Beauty's sheet notes to her actually playing, "Go." He said, Octavia quickly cantered up next to Brass Beauty, violin and bow in hoof, with a music stand clenched in her teeth. Octavia felt her own head dipping as she saw Brass Beauty eye her, raising her instrument up a few instruments on the fourth note before bringing it back down on the transition to the first note again. Octavia joined in and smiled, watching Parish and Fredrick quickly wheel the piano and harp out to join them. They were almost stopped by the seven ponies blocking the path to watch Brass and Octavia. Forcing their way through, they 'pardon me' and 'excuse'd us' through the group to quickly set up along side Octavia, where they waited for their measure to join in. With all four ponies playing at once, classical music in the market place, the moving crowds of ponies passing near the fountain dropped conversations and turned their heads towards the musicians. After reaching their second chorus, they heard the sound of hooves stomping on the ground as they quieted their instruments during the rests, before playing again at fortissimo to compensate for the growing number of ponies who now crowded around them to listen. It only took them a moment to hear each other's queues as the ponies around them grew quieter in response.

Parish strummed away at his harp, eyes scanning the crowd for Charity Case's yellow coat and orange mane, cringing internally at the several ponies with the exact same color scheme that ranged from creamy yellow, butter yellow, sun yellow, golden sun, sandy, lemon yellow, orangish-yellow, crayon yellow, tan, and blonde coats with manes that were fruit-orange, stained orange, reddish-orange, sun orange, hazy orange, carrot orange, and neon orange. Nandermane tried to push the creeping thoughts of dozens of Charity Cases watching him and the rest of the group while mentally kicking himself for not asking the cutie mark and a more exact color scheme to match. At the end of their second song, Brass Beauty unscrewed the spit valve and dumped it, scanning the crowd for Charity Case, only to sigh-Ink said that his orange coat and yellow mane made it very easy to pick him out of a crowd, but she couldn't see any pony that fit the description. Fredrick played the first two notes to lead them into the next song as his metronome kept ticking away. Octavia felt elated that she was finally doing something outside of her house, in public, getting some fresh air.

'That house-' She mused, 'I've been locked up for far too long.' It was the only real thought she had between pieces before mentally switching into performance mode again. Ponies stomped and cheered during their rests, but the four music practitioners ignored it, waiting on small signals from each other-an ear twitch, a nod of the head, raising eyebrows- anything they could do to communicate to each other with the growing crowd of thirty ponies making it difficult to hear. At the end of their third set piece, they quickly dispersed, leaving the fountain in a state of shock as a final round of applause carried with them through their departure.

"They loved us!" Fredrick Horseshopin said, looking back over his shoulder- a few ponies were looking for them, and a majority of the crowd was still slowly filtering their way back into the market.

"Did anypony see Charity Case?" Brass Beauty asked, the others shook their heads.

"Even if he wasn't there, we'll still be the talk of Canterlot by tomorrow morning." Octavia said, glimmer's of hope shone through their eyes after she spoke, drawing smiles as they all imagined the next day.

"We'll be on every pony's lips, four learned musicians, playing classical songs in the middle of Canterlot Market? I guarantee that tomorrow, the less practiced will be swarming that fountain tomorrow, hoping to catch our coat tails." Fredrick said.

"What now?" Octavia asked, Parish spent a second thinking about anyplace nearby.

"There's a new hole in the wall call 'Root Works', not far from here. This place has everything- all the chairs are carved from a single tree, the bartender is secretly Princess Cadence, and the twittermite colas are to die for."

"What's a twittermite cola?" Fredrick asked.

"This hot new club uses sphereification to encase twittermites into iced cola balls. With a straight pour down of rum, this drink will jolt you awake and take the edge off things at the same time." Parish pitched the idea, the other ponies were hesitant towards trying it.

"Or for something more wholesome, anyone care for tea at my place?" Octavia offered.

"I'd love to, but I do have a long walk home-this piano isn't going to wheel itself." Fredrick said, politely declining.

"Maybe after I drop my tuba off, I'll swing by." Brass Beauty said, her back legs were

"I hate to decline, but you're the only one with an instrument that doesn't weigh as much as we do." Parish said, the case for his harp was larger than he was, and the shape made it very awkward to carry.

"Well then, Parish, Fredrick, thank you for inviting me out to play, it was wonderful playing with you. Brass, pop by anytime you want, and bring along Ink, she still deserves our appreciation for the tip about Charity Case."

"That's very nice of you, Octavia. Oh shoot-I haven't even thought about dinner." Brass Beauty said, looking around the market place for a hot plate of food.

"I'll probably end up grabbing a few ingredients from here, and make something at home." Octavia said.

"You have enough time in your day to make dinner?" Fredrick teased. "I think the last time i used my kitchen...I burnt the water I was boiling?" he ventured, trying to remember the details of his last attempt at cooking.

"My culinary skills range beyond instant oats, and toast. I'm thinking about a rice stall we passed by, and maybe picking up some basmati, cabbage, and a few of those big portobello mushrooms." Octavia said, "Oh, and then drizzle an aioli with green onions, garlic, and apple cider vinegar on top." The other musicians looked at Octavia as if she sprouted another cutie mark in cooking.

"That sounds better than everything I have in my pantry." Fredrick said, "I might be persuaded to try a plate of that, if you're offering and need me to bring anything."

Octavia only thought about it for a brief moment, making friends with food is better than making a meal by herself and reading all night. "Bring Chardonnay, it pairs nicely with the flavor profile." She said to Fredrick.

"Sounds like I'll definitely have to swing by, anything you want me to bring?" Brass Beauty eagerly asked, Octavia thought back on how she might prepare dinner.

"Well, let's see, I do need an extra vegetable, how about raw brussle sprouts? I know a quick recipe that you can help me with." Octavia said, Parish frowned, looking to his harp and feeling left out.

"You're planning a dinner party, like I'm not even here? Octavia, what do you want me to bring?" Parish straight-up asked her. Octavia could see Parish's excitement for a socializing opportunity growing, and decided to play with it by being indecisive. "If you really wanted to come...let me think...hmm...you could bring-wait, no, I already have that." Octavia pondered for another moment, casting glances at Parish the entire time. He was on the edge of his hooves, eager to zip halfway across Equestria and back in time for the get-together if need be.

"Do you have any vinyl albums?" She asked, Parish's cheeks grew red.

"She's my favorite artist!" He said excitedly, "Of course I do!" He tried to recover.

"Then bring a few over, let's hear what the harp player listens to in his spare time." she said, Parish's eyes lit up as he nodded his head. "I'll be over as soon as I can." he said, moving his harp into the black case.

"Octavia, where is your house?" Brass Beauty asked, realizing that only one of them knew where Octavia resided..-p-pp.

"North east, Parish knows, Limestone district, it's white, not much of a front yard, the small iron gate, big concrete wall. Very modernistic. Big windows, it's the the third house on the left after coming to Mercury and 5th if you're walking up from the market place. It's about a twenty minute walk from here. Don't forget to bring Ink."

Forty-five minutes later, Octavia opened the door to her home and welcomed in Fredrick. He smiled as he entered, deeply smelling the crushed garlic and parsley in the air. He extended the bottle of Chardonnay to Octavia, her mouth drew in as she suddenly realized that she might have a higher income than the rest of her fellow musicians, being paid a double salary-one involves picking up after a socially dependent, extroverted mare and being paid a months salary in an hour, and there were a few times it took all day to clean up-especially when she moved in.

Then she remembered that Fredrick's house was exceptionally large to accommodate a small theater of twenty ponies, and he owned two pianos and one organ- Fredrick was just being cheap. "A good year for grapes," Octavia commented, "I don't believe I've tried this brand. Come on in."

She lead him to the kitchen, the island with the stove top faced the counter lined with thin steel framed chairs with black felt material. Octavia set the wine in a bowl of ice, "Nice place." Fredrick said, "Need any help?"

"Rice is cooking, how about slicing cabbage? I'm just waiting on Brass Beauty to arrive with the brussle sprouts, and the portobellos will only take a few minutes."

Fredrick came around the counter, stepping up to the cutting board Octavia set in front of him. "As thin as possible," She said, reaching into the refrigerator to grab the cabbage. Slicing it right down the center, she placed half of it to the side and demonstrated the cut Octavia wanted.

Everything Fredrick cut went into another bowl as Octavia checked the oven temperature at 165 C, then she went back to crushing garlic and mincing fresh dill weed so thin, that it was nearly a paste. "What are you preparing there?"

"A garlic, parsley, and dill aioli, I whipped the olive oil and egg yolks into a mayonnaise and then added the herbs."

"Do you cook for yourself like this on a regular basis?"

"Healthy living and being independent." She said, "Yes, it's a chore, but when I can sit down and eat something that is actually filling, it really helps finish out my day."

Parish rapped his hoof twice against the door, pushing it open with a loud "Hello?"

"Come in! We're in the kitchen." Octavia called out. Parish strolled in, brandishing a box of records and two bottles of Chardonnay on his back.

"I grabbed some more wine from my own shelf, anyone else thirsty?" He showed the label towards Octavia and Fredrick, and she smiled more than he did. Parish noticed Fredrick's wine and raised an eyebrow, Octavia pointed twice at Fredrick and mouthed 'Thank you'.

"Hold off before you open them, Ink and Brass Beauty haven't arrived yet." Octavia said, "I set the record player in the living room, if that's where you want to set your things down, feel free to put anything on, I trust you have a good taste in music." Fredrick snorted, stifling a quick laugh.

"That's funny Octavia, almost as funny as Fredrick's taste in wine." Parish teased.

"My wine isn't funny! It's got great flavor." He argued, pointing the tip of his knife at Parish.

"Is that what the advertizement above the wine said at the discount store?" Parish asked, he browsed through his record collection and stopped at one with a print of Vinyl's cutie mark, and kept looking before deciding upon a smooth jazz record; good for background noise at a small dinner party.

"Ha. Ha, Mr. and Mrs. Wine Snobs." Fredrick said, he set down the knife and went to his bottle of wine and peeled off the wrapper. "It tastes perfectly fine. Let's prove it. Octavia? Where are your glasses?"

Octavia pulled three glasses out and set them on the counter, "If you want to let it breath, I have a decanter." Fredrick looked across the kitchen to Octavia, holding an oddly shaped and bulbous glass wine pitcher, and then to the label of his wine-

"It should be all right without the decanter." He said, "Do you have a wine key?" Octavia searched through two drawers before finding it, Parish returned from the living room with music playing behind him and sat at the counter.

"So how did you manage to snag this place?" Parish asked, glancing at the prep work being done.

"Vinyl and myself were..." Octavia paused for a moment, and drew a blank stare as she tried to remember the day she signed the lease and moved in. "Vinyl bought this house originally, and she needed someone to keep an eye on things while she was off touring-or just not here- and I convinced her to let me rent out the guest bedroom."

"Are you friends with her? For her to let you stay here like that?" Parish asked.

"I wish I could say more, but there really isn't anything else to the story. Vinyl definitely likes having a place to come back to, someplace that is away from the parties, the fast life, mates, drama, stress, and if anything, she comes here to recover~ and if Vinyl needs something, I'll probably be the one to go-" Octavia was only distracted by the knocking of hooves against her door, "-to go out and grab it-Come in!" She poured a good amount of Fredricks wine onto the portobello mushrooms and looked to the front door, waiting for the handle to turn. A second round of knocking made her set down the bottle and skip to the front door. Octavia smiled, opening the door for Brass Beauty-and to her right- Ink.

Brass Beauty drew in a breath before Octavia could welcome the pair inside- Her head bobbed in back and forth between Octavia and Ink, her pitch was antsy as she leaned on the "Sorry we're late- I grabbed the brussel sprouts, and then I went to Ink, and she-" Brass Beauty jerked her head to Ink and bit her lip, trying to hold back her excitement.

Ink encouraged her with a nod. "Tell her." Brass squeed, and jumped on the tips of her hooves.

"Are Nander and Parish here?" She asked, looking around the foyer, her eyes widened at build of the contemporary residence.

"In the kitchen, darling." Parish called out, head popping around the corner to greet Brass and Ink.

"Octavia, this is Ink, Ink, Octavia- now come on!" She said, dragging Ink inside. Octavia looked down at Ink's cutie mark of two pieces of paper with a quill dripping black ink onto them, and her roan style coat. The front half of her body was white, speckled to red on the lower half of her body. Her red mane was slightly darker than the red from her barrel down. Brass pushed her head into Octavia's ribcage to get her to move faster as they all converged on the kitchen. Brass only stopped for a moment to give Octavia the bag of fresh brussle sprouts before taking in a massive breath to calm her nerves.

"Charity's coming. Here. And everyone, this is my BFF, Ink. The only one you haven't met is Fredrick." Brass said, the other three musicians grinned and shared expressions of shock, relief, and excitement. Brass gestured with her head at Ink so that she could fill in the rest of the story.

"Hi Parish; nice to meet you, Fredrick. After your performance in the market, Charity Case came straight to me and asked me where I could find them-the four of you ran off pretty quickly after the set and he didn't get a chance to speak with you face to face."

"So...does that mean we're playing the Gala?" Fredrick venturing a guess.

"You four are the only ones who Charity specifically asked me to track down." She said with a grin. "Brass Beauty walked in less than a minute later after he arrived, and she told him everything. He said he would be right behind us, and that he needed to run home for just a moment before coming here." Each musician swallowed the lump of excitement in their throat and tried speaking up.

"And he wants to hear Octavia play the cello." Octavia rolled her head up towards Ink as if she were just blindsided, 'Repeat that again?' Octavia meant to ask-but her voice rose to a pitch inaudible for ponies to hear. The others looked at her as if she just sprouted wings and a horn. Octavia's every fiber wanted to scream in joy, but the only noise that managed to escape were small gasping, choking sounds like a fish out of water would make.

She knit her eyebrows, trying to think of how or why Charity Case knew about her cello skills, when she was playing the violin during the market performance; why would Charity ask her to play the cello anyway?

"Don't worry, I totally geeked out after we left Ink's, I nearly kissed him when he said he wanted to meet all of us." Brass Beauty said.

Octavia recovered after Brass's comment, "I believe I left my cello upstairs, who would care for a tour of the house?"

Octavia led the crew around the ground floor, up the stairs and letting everypony peek inside Vinyl's room, then leading them through her room while picking up her cello, into the master bathroom, then back downstairs past the office which was a glorified storage room filled with filing cabinets packed with receipts, forms, posters, documents, even a few drawers were solely filled with autographs-pictures, CDs, and letters to and from fans. Octavia ventured a guess that given enough time, anypony could follow the complete paper trail on Vinyl and find out where she's been, what she's bought, who she's played for, and things she's eaten for the last five years. Letting them explore the living room, the wine cooler, and outdoor deck. With a flick of a switch, Octavia turned on the outside fireplace while everypony took a grand look over the valley, "Hell of a view, Octavia." Parish said,

"There's just one more room I haven't shown you, but that bit of fun comes later." Octavia said. Parish snickered to himself, but nopony took notice.

"It's a very nice view," Brass Beauty said, her eyes were following a train heading due north, the light coming from the cars and the headbeams shining out from the front made the train easier to spot, but it was the moonlight reflecting off of the metal siding that let Brass pick out the train from such a distance. It was loaded with workers, rails, pylons, and digging equipment to cut through the snow and lay track.

"Excuse me for a moment while I start the sprouts, dinner should be ready in ten." Going over to the wall, Octavia checked the four switches on the wall to see which one had the desired effect of making the outside deck brighter and more inviting, then she moved inside. Quickly quartering Brass Beauty's brussel sprouts, Octavia cut away and discarded the cores, rinsed the leaves, and tossed them in a metal bowl with coconut oil, spices, and a light dusting of chili powder. Into the oven they went while she placed six glass blue plates stacked neatly on the counter, Octavia cooked off the portobello mushrooms and pulled corn tortillas from the warming drawer by her hooves, pushing it shut with a nudge. Gently easing the hot pot filled with basmati rice out of the cooker with her teeth; biting into a hot pad, Octavia placed a plastic serving spoon inside and covered it with aluminum foil.

"What do you think of Octavia?" asked Brass Beauty, both she and Fredrick were leaned against the deck railing overlooking Equestria and the tiers of Canterlot.

"She's nice, deftly skilled with the cello and violin, and I think this is the most I've ever heard her talk." Fredrick replied, looking down at the ground below the deck.

"That's what I think too, she's a great musician, but I don't get where this whole nice thing is coming from. It's like a completely different vibe then when she's at practice. Octavia's always so set in stone, and she's never done anything like this."

"It's called making friends, bitch Parish sung, Brass gasped at his accusation. "The reason she's trying to be nice is because we invited her to play with us, she did, she liked it, and now she wants to show her appreciation. An odd concept, I know, is anyone in Canterlot familiar with the term?" He paused for a moment, looking over his shoulder at Octavia and Ink, chatting. "If you're tired of putting on a fake smile, instead of a genuine one because you can't stand the thought of somepony doing something for you out of the goodness of their heart, then go."

"Parish, I was having a priva-"

"Private conversation," Parish finished for her, ignoring Brass's protests. "Or is your private conversation about Octavia's reserved answers about her life? Let me ask you this," Parish's voice changed pitch to a positive note. "How did you make all your money? What's your love life like? Stallion, mare? Come on now, I want all the juicy details. Are they famous? Can I meet them? How did you get to be so lucky?" Parish finished his line of questioning before switching back to his more aggressive voice. "Of course she didn't talk about her relationship with Vinyl, whether it's more complex than roommates or not, they're personal questions. Should we have asked them? No. Did we? Yes. If you were dating a celebrity, would you tell anyone? Living in their house? Reporters would be swarming this house like flies on shit. Now I'll keep the rest of my speculations to myself, as should you." He said, walking back inside.

"Octavia." Ink said, Brass Beauty and Fredrick were still outside, Parish was browsing through his collection for another record to put on. Octavia set down the slaw and aioli next to the rice and turned her attention to Ink, she was quick to notice that Ink nor Brass had a drink in their hooves.

"Ink, would you care for something to drink? Parish brought along a fine Chardonnay, I can only have a nip right now, or I have a few other drinks in the fridge-water, tea, juice, a few ales- want to try a brass donkey?"

Ink shook her head, "Not right now, I wanted to ask you something. Brass said that you wanted me to come?"

"Yes, of course! I thought that since you gave us a small tip that Charity Case was going to be in Canterlot Market, and since we've interested him enough into meeting us, that you should at least get credit and our thanks." Octavia said, pulling the portobellos from the stovetop. She sliced them into strips as Ink held her breath tentatively.

"Do you know why Charity Case was shopping in the Canterlot Market today?" Ink asked, "Why he suddenly decided to do this on his own rather than send somepony out to do it for him, like me?" Ink pressed, Octavia set the portobello strips in a bowl and grimaced while trying to think of an answer.

"If he didn't send you out, then he must've wanted to shop for something particular, or a special gift, or something more private." Octavia replied, she looked over the spread of food, and the counter separating her from Ink.

"You're right about the gift, but as for the reason why-..." Octavia waited on Ink's next word, only to see her pause. "It was because of something you and your roommate said."

"Vinyl? Me? When? What did we say?" She asked,

"I've spoken with Charity twice today, once around two, the next around seven before Brass Beauty arrived, and I'm only asking this because I'm a little out of the loop on Charity's attitude towards you, but what happened at the Birch Bark?"

Octavia blinked back her confusion, "The Birch Bark? I haven't...I haven't been there in ages. I've only been there three times, and none of them were with Charity Case." Octavia explained, Ink's lips quivered.

"It was this afternoon, around one-ish? You and Charity, his wife, Stellar Ball, and Rain Dance?" Octavia was silent for a moment as her neck craned back towards the refrigerator, the knife fell from her hoof onto the cutting board, only making a small clatter as Octavia pulled open the door, ignoring Ink's inquisitiveness, and grabbing the bottle of anti-biotics from the side. Her eyes bugged at the one word that was underlined twice with black pen- 'Sleepiness'.

Ink's gaze tuned from Octavia, to the medicine bottle in her hooves- "Octavia?" She asked, the mare looked up, a blank expression on her face-

"I can't remember anything about this morning." She said, her face tried to convey humor for the irony of the situation, or shock from not being able to remember; what muscles responded contorted her smile into a look of plea, begging to know what she said only hours ago.

Ink was surprised as Octavia, now focused on the medication Octavia set back into the refrigerator, and closed shut. "Are you okay?" she asked, Octavia quietly nodded.

"...I don't know..." She said fruitlessly, trying to come up with a possible scenario for the missing memories and what happened during them. Jogging around the park she could rationalize about forgetting, but to completely draw a blank when it came to arranging something at the Birch Bark and meeting Charity Case with his family all in one day? The gap made her head hurt, and she craved water.

"Are you okay?" Ink asked again, she quickly looked over her shoulder to Brass and Fredrick walking through the living room towards them.

"I'm drawing a massive blank in my head, I'm shaking-I can't remember what happened this morning." Octavia said, her tail flicked out twice to each side, showing only a hint of her nervousness. "I know I went jogging, and...everything was crossed off..." Octavia couldn't help but let her thoughts drift.

Ink rethought her approach, "Octavia-were those pills..." The comment snapped Octavia back into reality.

"Pills?" She shook her head, casting out all the cluttering thoughts. "No, those are just anti-biotics...nothing serious but my doctor said they were strong...and I can't help but wonder if it caused a minor lapse." she finally said, feeling off thrown off balance. "Could you please tell everyone that dinner is ready? I'm going to run upstairs for just a moment." Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird, as she briskly trotted up the stairs and to Vinyl's bedroom, throwing open the door.

"Vinyl?" She called out. The bed was hastily made, but there wasn't any sign that Vinyl had slept on it recently. The equipment stacked around the room was turned off and even the balcony door was locked. Think, where could she be? Then it occurred to her-the basement. But, before she went back downstairs, Octavia eased the growing tension in her skull by drinking a glass of tap water from the bathroom. Sighing as she looked in the mirror, it felt like in the past two minutes she ran a marathon, but the only thing out of place were the rings around her eyes. The hairs on her neck decided to stand up a moment before the double chime of the doorbell rang out through the entire house.

Octavia could feel her eyes dilate-excitement, anxiety, stress, curiosity, and elation crashed over her in waves. She rubbed both of her eyes, trying to look more awake and presentable as she moved downstairs and to the front door. Swallowing twice, then clearing her throat, Octavia put on her best smile and pulled on the handle, easing it open as Charity Case stood firmly on the front porch, he was breathing slightly heavier than normal, but he had one thing held out in front of him- Vinyl's glasses.