Frosted Memories

by ShadoHawk

Rating: teen
Tags: Bon-Bon, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3, Alternate Universe, Sad, Lyra, Romance, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Octavia
Length: 18902

Memory can be a fleeting thing. One moment you forget your keys, another you forget your childhood friends. What happens when you forget your whole life?

"Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this information in the present."
-Sternberg (1999)

What happens when you can't call up any of your past experiences? What happens when your entire life is just erased from your mind? Memory can't be destroyed, but the connection needed to call up certain memories can. In times of physical trauma, the brain can be forced to sever that connection from an outside force. Whether it be a car accident, falling down the stairs, or being tackled into a light pole by a good Samaritan pushing you out of the way of an inattentive driver.

A young, aspiring cellist must brave the harsh city has found herself in after an accident has left her with Retrograde Amnesia. Left in an unfamiliar city with no family or friends, and with no idea who she is, where she is, or why she's there. With no place to call her own, can she get by and survive on the hospitality alone with the worst blizzard in recent history baring down upon her?

Published 2017-11-22 16:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-12-25 12:00:34 UTC

Prologue: The Mare

Cold. Dark. These are just two of the words that can be used to describe that night. As the snow blanketed the city and ponies retreated into their homes for warmth, one mare stumbled through the ice and snow covered streets. The snow bit at her unprotected hooves as she shuffled to the park she had come to call home.

A month prior, she had come to the city for some reason she doesn’t remember. She didn’t know what she was doing there, where she was, or even who she was. All she knew was she had to get to warmth. She had to get to her tent in the park where she was found. As she shuffled down the dark streets, the wind picked up, it nearly blew her off her hooves; it kicked up snow into her face. White accented her grey coat as she shivered.

How long had she been wandering? Minutes? Hours? Days? Perhaps she had been wandering aimlessly since she woke up in a hospital bed with no recollection of who she was. However long it had been, the dark grey mare grew tired with every step she took. It had been the coldest evening of the year and she was ready to lay down and let the day end. She neared her destination, the park in the middle of the town. She could almost feel the heat from her enchanted tent. Some generous pony had donated the tent to her to help stave off the cold and give her some modicum of privacy as she slept, though that didn’t stop the odd fellow homeless pony from staying with her now and then. After all, homeless folk have to look out for each other in this cold, cruel world.

Just a little further, she thought to herself. Her legs started to get heavier with each step. The cold bit at her legs, the fatigue of being out in the cold so long tired her. Why did I walk so far? She had entered the park. Why didn’t I just stay close to my tent? As her thoughts came and went, so did her strength to continue walking. Just a few more meters. One step, then another, then one more, and she fell to her knees. Her breath caught in her throat, visible as she exhaled in the cold winter air. She was so cold, she was so hungry, and she was so tired.

*****

The mint green unicorn laughed with her friends at her favorite tavern. She loved to go out and have a drink after her set at the establishment. She received many discounts as the local entertainment, and the pay was great for her too. She can frequently be seen playing her lyre until the late hours when she could grab a drink, or several, before taking her leave. The crowd was exceptionally energetic tonight, they jumped around and sang shanties to their hearts content with their favorite music pony. Lyra was truly happy with her job and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Something on the radio caught her ear however, “Everypony quiet! Frothy, turn the radio up.” The crowd quieted as the pony behind the counter, ‘Frothy Mug,’ turned the knob on the radio.

“…the coldest night in the last hundred years or so. All residents are advised to stay indoors as a massive blizzard is making its way south towards Manehattan. The blizzard is bound to hit at approximately 2 A.M. If you have any plans to go out dancing, you may want to cancel them as it appears to be the worst blizzard in recorded history. Back to you D…” The unicorn began to pack up her lyre in its case.

“Sorry guys, looks like its last call for me. Bonny can get pretty worried with me being out as late as it is.” With a chorus of groans from her fellow bar patrons, Lyra slammed back her last drink with a single gulp that left the fellow barflies stunned. She then collected her pay with a generous amount of tips from her fans. “See you all next time!” With that farewell she collected her boots and scarf and left the bar as she began her walk in the cold night.

The snow had begun to pick up, reigning true to the newscast on the radio. As the care free unicorn walked she started to whistle a tune to herself as she thought about coming home to her loving marefriend. Just as she came up to the park she decided to pull her phone out to call her mare when she looked over and saw a figure lying in the snow. With a sense of urgency she rushed over to the figure’s aid.

“Hey! Are you ok? Hey!” When no response came she picked up her pace as she came upon the laying figure. She was an earth pony with dark grey fur and charcoal black mane. She was covered in snow, so much so that her cutie mark, a magenta treble clef, was barely visible by the white. She put her hoof to her neck to feel for a pulse, grateful to find one there. “Oh thank Celestia. You’re not dead.”

With her phone already floating beside her she dialed the number for emergency services. When the signal failed to go through she cursed the snowstorm. On a whim she dialed another number, she hoped beyond hope the call would go through. At the very least she could have help on the way as she tries emergency services again. She looked around for anything that could help her, the line connected and she could hear music in the background.

“Heya! If it isn’t my favorite harpist! Wassup Ly?” Her gaze fell upon a tent nearby, a set of glowing runes along the top alluded to a heat and weather charm to help keep the inhabitants warm. “Hello? Lyra? Alright I get it, you’re not a harpist you’re a lyrist. Does that really call for the silent treatment because, if so I’m so-“

“V!” The unicorn began to drag the earth pony to the tent. “I need your help. Now!” She was desperate for some help. “I was walking home from work when I spotted a pony in the park. It looks like she’s unconscious and its freezing out here. There’s a blizzard on its way and I couldn’t get a hold of emergency services. I need you to help me move her. We’re at the park near ‘Dice’s bar.’”

“Ok, I’m on my way. You keep trying for help and I’ll be there in five.” With a click the line disconnected and Lyra once again tried to call for help. And again. And again.

“You’re gonna be ok. Stay with me.” She stripped off her boots and scarf and slipped them onto the frozen mare as she continued to drag her into the nearby tent.

*****

What’s that sound, the earth pony thought? Why am I moving? She could feel herself being dragged, but her vision was too hazy to make out by whom. She could feel the familiar warmth of her tent, just enough to stave off the frostbite but not enough to make a significant difference. I’m still alive, how? The grey mare was sure she would perish in the cold. Voices could be heard outside her tent, the wind outside her tent making them inaudible.

Just as she started to get comfortable she felt herself being moved by some invisible force. She felt her tent moving with her as well. Not knowing what was going on, and having no strength to do anything about it she just lay there and let the darkness take her into a dreamless sleep. She passed out.

Author's Note

This is my first story, I have no idea how well this is going to be received. If my friends' words are any indication then this story should be met warmly. I want to thank any and everyone that gives this story and look and I welcome all feedback and criticism (please go easy on me, ;P).
I wanted to start with a Vinyl and Octavia fic mostly because for the past two weeks I've been doing nothing but reading TaviScratch stories and couldn't resist. Another reason was many of my peers that have read my random short stories have encouraged and supported my writing with nothing but kind words and the odd bit of criticism here and there. The main reason was I wanted to challenge myself; I didn't want to start with just a one shot or a simple 5k or so story. I wanted to start out with a story, something I could be proud of. Also me being a huge fan of Vinyl and Octavia, and my love of Alegrezza and University days I know I'm going to hold myself to a much higher standard than if I were to start with something simpler. I know that if I can make a story I can be immensely proud of then I set a good standard for future stories I may write.
Thank you once again for giving this a once over and a fair shot, and thank you for sitting through this lengthy, ramble filled author's note.

Chapter 1: Nameless

Sunshine. Warmth. It was a bright sunny day in Manehattan, the temperature had begun to cool and snow began to fall, yet the sun shining down on the city brought a comfortable and familiar warmth to those upon which it shone. The very air itself alluding to a cold and beautiful winter being brought from the majestic city in the clouds. All was peaceful and calm, to those who found themselves in the right place at the right time. That is to say, every moment in life is a matter of perspective, and perspective can be a different thing for those in the wrong place at the wrong time. Couples laughed and loved over a cup of cocoa or coffee. Children played in the parks and playgrounds after school. The day would seem perfect to those blessed with a fun filled afternoon. However, for others, that day would be remembered as a tragic sight to be seen.

Pain. Agony. The cold gravely tarmac of the road pressed uncomfortably against the mare’s side as she lay in the street immobile, an overturned carriage just a few meters from where she lay. She couldn’t feel any her limbs nor could she move her head, yet she remained conscious no matter how painful it was for her. It did not, however, last long for her, as her mind started to slowly slip away. Onlookers stopped to view the scene of the crash as sirens blared nearby and paramedics rushed on scene. Her eyes passed over the concerned faces, then there was nothing. Nothing but black.

*****

The grey mare’s eyes fluttered open as she was roused from her dreamless sleep. As she slowly returned to consciousness she felt the bed she had found herself in. Such an alien feeling to her, as she’d slept in a simple bedroll on the ground for well over a month. Blankets had been carefully placed atop her to keep her warm. As she sat up, a damp wash cloth fell from her forehead, still cool to the touch. She raised a hoof to the spot it had rested upon her head and felt a heat emanating from herself, she had developed a small fever from the cold.

Part of her wanted to feel guilty for burdening a stranger so much, while another part wanted to cry for the fact that someone had gone to such great pains for her. The latter won out, she slowly and quietly sobbed from the amount of kindness she was experiencing in this cold world and she wished she had been awake to see whomever had helped her. After a few moments of crying she wiped away her tears and took account of her surroundings. The room was dark, but enough light flowed through a nearby window to partially illuminate the room. There wasn’t much to the room itself, next to her an alarm clock sat on a night stand next to a lamp, the clock displayed 2:30 as the time. To her right sat a simple dresser, next to it was what appeared to be a writing desk upon which rested her rolled up tent, her bedroll, and the lantern she had kept in her tent to illuminate the small dwelling. Perpendicular to the desk was what seemed to be another desk but with several buttons and levers that seemed strange to her, atop of which sat a pair of headphones. Putting two and two together, she assumed it to be some sort of rudimentary mixing table of sorts.

At last her gaze fell upon the window. As she stared out into the snowy night, she eased herself out of the bed and walked on shaking legs to the window. The snow was falling quick, the wind whistling audibly behind the glass. She looked out upon the city, the view wasn’t anything special, but she admired it nonetheless. Any view was welcome when it wasn’t from a tent out in a cold dark park. As she stared out the window she noticed her own reflection in the glass, her mane was disheveled and filled with leaves and small bits of twig. Her fur matted in places from the snow that had melted to her body. Her coated was covered in mud in some areas. The contrast from her messy appearance and the well-kept room made her feel out of place, as if she still belonged on the street.

As she continued to stare into the night she could hear a voice outside her door. She turned as the door began to open revealing a green unicorn with a turquoise and white mane. She held a damp cloth in her magic as she entered the room and noticed the mare at the window. He magic around the cloth dissipated as she leaned out the doorway, clearly addressing another pony.

“V, she’s awake.” The unicorn turned back to the estranged earth pony and approached her slowly. “Hey there. How’re you feeling? You gave us quite the scare, lying there in the snow and all.” Just as the unicorn had reached her, another had come into the room. Her coat as white as the snow outside the window, her mane an unkempt nest of two shades of blue, a pair of aurora purple sunglasses resting upon her face. “I’m Lyra, and this is Vinyl, this is her place.”

“T-thank you. I don’t mean to be a burden upon the two of you.” The grey mare bowed appreciatively. “I’m fine, I think.” She started walking toward the bed before she stumbled, nearly falling over if it weren’t for Lyra being there to catch her. “I…I’m sorry.”

The green unicorn giggled lightly, “Its ok. Let’s get you back to bed.” She shuffled over to the bed with the mare leaning against her. “You’re not a burden at all, neither one of us can just sit by and watch a pony suffer.”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. You can crash here as long as you need.” The white unicorn, Vinyl, smiled warmly at her. “We never got your name.” The only reply she got was the mare staring down sheepishly. When no answer came, Vinyl decided to prod a little. “You do have a name…right?”

“I…think I do.” The mare in question shook slightly.

Lyra carefully helped the mare into bed. “You think? You mean don’t know?”

The mare seemed to be struggling as she thought to herself. Still nothing. Why can’t I even remember my name? After a moment had passed the mare finally answered. “I can’t remember. I…I don’t know who I am.” The two unicorns exchanged looks at that.

“Don’t remember?” Lyra asked. The grey mare just shook her head slowly at that. She started to feel the despair she had become so familiar with start to creep back into her heart. Sensing this change in mood the two decided not to poke any further.

“Hey don’t worry about it. You can crash here as long as you like, we’re not gonna send you back out there, especially not in this weather.” Vinyl walked over and put a hoof on her guest’s shoulder. “I’m sure your memory will come back.”

“Yeah, we won’t let anything happen to you.” Lyra rested her hoof on the mare’s other shoulder. “We’re gonna let you get some more rest. It’s been a long day for you. C’mon V. Just let us know if you need anything” The two exited the room and closed the door behind them.

The mare was alone in the room once again. She felt like crying once more from the hospitality she has been shown, but resisted the feeling. As she lay there she tried to recall something from her past but to no avail. I still can’t remember anything before waking up in that hospital.

*****

Vinyl looked through an electronics magazine as Lyra sat there reading a music magazine. “I’m telling you V, it can’t be easy being in her situation.” The green unicorn commented.

“I never said it was easy. Man, I can’t imagine not remembering my own name.”

“You kidding V? Last week you thought your name was Charlene.” Lyra quipped.

“I was drunk, not amnesiac. There is a distinct difference. Plus I was trying to impress that one chick.”

“The one that shot you down? Or the one that gave you the fake number?” At that the white unicorn stopped talking. “Chalk one up to Lyra.” The green unicorn gestured with her hoof as if she marking a point on a scoreboard.

“Hey if we’re keeping score, how about that time you tried to hook up with Neon and threw up on him after having too much?” Vinyl clearly was determined not to lose.

“That was over a year ago!” Lyra responded.

“I’m talking about last month.” This time the lyrist didn’t have a response. “Lyra one, Vinyl one.” They giggled at their little quarrel and continued reading their respective magazines. “Hey Ly, do you think she’s the one?”

Lyra looked up at her friend and cocked her head. “One what?”

Vinyl set her magazine down as she elaborated. “Y’know, the one from the papers? About a month ago. There was a cart accident, the pony lost control when one of the axes broke. The cart dragged him down a hill by the park you found her at and slammed into a pedestrian.”

“I don’t know, it’s plausible. We’ll just have to wait and see if her memory comes back. In the meantime, it feels good just to help somepony in need. I’m glad I was able to get through to you, I don’t think my magic would’ve been strong enough to carry her here and Bon sure couldn’t carry her.”

“Don’t let either one of them hear that, I don’t think Bon-bon would appreciate you saying she wasn’t strong enough to carry someone, nor do I think our guest would like being called heavy.” Lyra stuck her tongue out at the unicorn. Both mares broke out into laughter.

As they laughed at their own conversation the bedroom door opened. “Hey there, couldn’t sit still? Come on out, we won’t bite unless you’re into that.” Realizing that what she said might’ve been incredibly stupid Vinyl slammed her own hoof into her own face.

“Ignore her, she doesn’t have a working filter from her brain to her mouth most of the time.” Vinyl leered at her friend as the mare walked into the apartment proper. The place appeared to be well kept. A couch and two comfortable looking chairs surrounded a decently sized coffee table, all of which were angled toward and entertainment system with a large T.V. and two very large, very menacing looking speakers. The dining area was comprised of four chairs circling a sizeable dining table. The kitchen was a homely little alcove with a counter and sink on one side and a stove and fridge on the other side.

“I was wondering, um, if it’s not too much of a bother…” She looked between the two mares feeling like she was nothing but a burden. “…if I could use your shower?”

Vinyl stood up from where she sat and walked toward the grey mare. “Here I’ll show you.” She walked the mare to the bathroom as Lyra continued flipping through her music magazine. She helped the mare down the hall and let her into the bathroom. “It’s not much but the hot water works fine. Towels are under the sink, and feel free to use my shampoo if you feel like it. Also, if you need one, there is a spare toothbrush in the medicine cabinet, not even opened.”

“Thank you, really. I’ve never seen such hospitality in my time.” The mare felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, don’t sweat it. This ain’t the street, this is mi casa. And mi casa es su casa, which means, ‘heck yeah you can use my shower.'” The grey mare stared at her as she contemplated whether or not the unicorn actually knew what that phrase meant. “When Lyra called and told me there was an unconscious mare in the snow, the first thing I thought to myself was ‘Vinyl, babe, you WILL do whatever you can to help this pony.’” The unicorn patted her guest on the back. “In this city, ponies get over looked too much. Ponies are always too busy or too stubborn to lend a helping hoof. But not this Disc Jockey.”

“You’re a DJ?” The mare asked.

“Not just a DJ, the DJ. There ain’t nopony better at mixing than DJ-PON3.” The mare couldn’t help but chuckle at that boldness. “Hey, it’s not funny. C’mon I was being serious.” Vinyl couldn’t help but laugh with her new acquaintance. “A smile’s what I like to see. Now go on and shower filly, no offense but you look like you swam in mud and washed off in a storm then got hailed on.” The DJ laughed once more as she gave her guest a light swat on the flank eliciting a gasp and a blush from the pony as she walked back to the living room.

*****

Half an hour had passed before the mare had emerged from the shower looking and feeling so much better. She entered into the living room to find the DJ sitting on the couch reading a magazine, alone. She looked around and noted that the green unicorn was nowhere to be seen. She approached the couch where Vinyl was sitting and took note of the glass on the table and the bottle of scotch next to it.

“Where’s Lyra? I wouldn’t assume she would go out in this blizzard.” The grey mare startled the unicorn who was oblivious to the presence of the other mare until then. After Vinyl recovered from her fright she took the sight of her guest in with a sharp whistle.

“Somepony cleans up nice. Yeah, she left. She lives in the apartment below us so it’s not like she took a brisk evening walk in this storm.” She took a sip from her liquor. “Feeling better?”

The strange mare in question simply nodded, feeling a tad more comfortable in the presence of the DJ. “Much better. I haven’t felt this refreshed in quite a while.” She took a seat next to the unicorn, keeping a bit of distance from her out of habit. “It feels like years since I’ve been clean.” She looked down solemnly, as if trying to remember a time she wasn’t covered in dirt, but to no avail. After a while she started to shake as the memories failed to come to her. What is wrong with me? Before she could begin to cry, she felt a hoof resting on her shoulder. She looked up to see the DJ smiling at her reassuringly and immediately began to calm down. She had never had someone to talk to other than the odd homeless pony that sought shelter within her tent for a night.

“I wouldn’t think you would understand, but it’s so hard not remembering a single thing about your life.” She sat up straighter and looked at Vinyl. “I don’t know who I am Vinyl. I don’t know my passions, I don’t know if I was a good pony or a bad one. I-I…” She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the tears begin to well up once again. When she opened them she saw a glass floating in front of her filled with ice and scotch. She took it and gingerly sipped the liquid, the burn tingling her throat causing her to cough a few times. As her coughing fit ceased she felt that reassuring hoof on her again as Vinyl spoke up.

“You’re right, I can’t come close to understanding what you’re going through right now. One day you’re going about your business and enjoying life and the next, BAM, you can’t remember what you had for breakfast, let alone your own name. And to add insult to injury, you have no place to stay, no friends in town to help you out, and no family to contact. It’s hard, I don’t need to tell you that. But what I can tell you is you don’t have to be alone, filly. Me and Ly, we got your back. You just focus on finding out who you are, we’ll help you every step of the way. You’re my filly now, I ain’t gon’ let you sleep on the streets while others pass you by and ignore you.” Vinyl shifted over and wrapper her hoof around new friend’s neck with a big smile. “Saddle up filly, this is the start of what I hope to be a long and beautiful friendship.” She clinked her glass against the mare’s glass before knocking back the rest of her drink in one go.

“Ya’ know, now that a think about it…” Vinyl began to say as she filled her glass up again. “…you need a name. As much as I would enjoy it, I don’t think I could just go up and introduce you to ponies as ‘filly’ or ‘my filly.’ What should we call you?”

The mare thought for a bit as she drank from her scotch, letting the warmth of the alcohol wash over her tongue and throat. When nothing came to mind she simply shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought of it until now, I guess it was never a big concern that others know who I am if I couldn’t recall my own name.”

“Lemme think. Your cutie mark is a treble clef so…something musical perhaps. Do you remember at all what you used to do? Like an instrument or write any songs?” Vinyl asked hopefully. The grey mare shook her head. “Yeah, I should’ve guessed that.” The DJ noticed the mare’s head lower apologetically at that and decided to quickly add. “That’s not a big deal though. We can just think something up. Hmm, stanza? No, notes? Maybe scales? No that makes me think of dragons.” After a moment of self-deliberation about whether or not a name that would make ponies think of a fierce fire-breathing lizard would be awesome, she finally settled on one. “I’ve got it. Octavia.”

“Octavia?” The mare looked at her puzzlingly.

“Yeah, like, as in an octave. A series of eight notes occupying the interval between two notes.” She sat back against the couch drinking more of her liquor. “Rolls off the tongue nicely and I think it fits you.”

“Octavia.” The mare repeated the name she was just given. “I like it. Greetings miss Vinyl, I am Octavia.” She giggled as she just thought of her name and how in just one day her life had gone from being full of despair, to being full of friends and joy. She finished her scotch and the unicorn poured her another one.

*****

“Really?” Octavia couldn’t believe what she had just heard from the DJ. “Surely you must have more friends.”

The two new friends had continued drinking and talking for well over an hour. Their faces flushed and their heads more than just a bit light from the amount of alcohol consumed by both parties.

“Nope, I only have Lyra and Bon-bon, and even then I only met them recently.” Vinyl was now laying back on the couch trying to balance the empty scotch bottle on her horn whilst Octavia sat on the arm of the couch amused by the sight of the unicorn effectively shoving her horn into the bottle. "I had just moved in to the building and was mixing some new songs. I have a spell to soundproof the room but I forgot to enchant the floor so next thing I know I have furious knocking on the door. I open it up to see these two angry mares, and I’m thinking I’m about to be evicted in the first week. As it turned out, they were mad because they thought there was a party going on above them and they weren’t invited. Sure enough we had a party then and there just the three of us.” She tilted her head to the side and the bottle slid off her horn. With a curse she reached for it and tried to do it again.

“I would love to meet this ‘Bon-bon,’ she sounds fun to be around. You say she’s a candy maker?”

“Oh yeah, she makes some awesome stuff alright. You name it, mints, chocolate, taffy, gummies, gum, licorice…” As the unicorn continued on to list off different types of candy, Octavia tilted her glass against her muzzle only to find it completely devoid of any liquid and realized that the bottle that Vinyl had been trying to balance on her horn was indeed the empty liquor bottle. “Hey, hey, hey, look. I’m a lamp.” With her horn once again stuck in the bottle, Vinyl ignited it, the light from her magic glowing in the bottle like a weird bottle shaped orb above her head.

Octavia clapped her hooves together and laughed at the delightfully drunk unicorn, only to lose her balance and fall off the couch and onto the floor. “Aw geez, Tavi are you ok?” The unicorn jumped of the couch and went to the grey pony’s aid. Octavia, in her drunken state, just laughed. “Ok, I think we’ve both had enough.” She helped Octavia to her hooves and helped her hobble to the bedroom. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Octavia continued to chuckle as she was led to the bedroom on wobbly hooves. “But Vinyl, you may have bought me a drink, but you haven’t even bought me dinner yet. Plus I don’t remember if I have a date or not.” She burst out laughing at her own joke as she was lowered carefully in the bed and a blanket pulled over her. She looked at the unicorn with pleading eyes, “But mom, I’m not even tired.” She continued to giggle as she yawned and snuggled under the blanket.

“Alright Tavi, I think that’s enough liquor for a while.” Vinyl smiled as the grey earth pony started to drift peacefully to sleep. As she turned away a grey hoof reached out and stopped her. She turned back to see her new friend smiling with tears once again in her eyes. “Tavi?”

“Thank you Vinyl. I had so much fun, and for once I have a memory. A memory I will never forget, one I’ll always cherish.” She once again yawned as she slowly pulled her hoof back.

With a smile, Vinyl brushed Octavia’s hair out of her face. “Goodnight Octavia.” She slowly and quietly walked back out of the room. Octavia turned over and looked out the window as she lay there on edge of consciousness. The howling blizzard had slowed somewhat to a more peaceful snowfall. She watched the snow with a smile on her face and joy in her heart as her eyes grew heavier and heavier. I’m no longer alone. She thought as her eyes drifted more and more, sleep finally claimed her.

Author's Note

Whoops, almost forgot to add an author's note here. After my prologue for this story I was surprised to see my story game such a decent sized following. After about a day of my story being up I had the pleasure of speaking to a few of the people that gave my story nothing but kind words. In those conversations I have met someone who had gladly agreed on being my proofreader so now I can stop stressing about being perfect in my writing and I can get a little sloppy with it. I also now have someone I can bounce ideas off of when I get a terrible writers block that can't be solved with a bottle of hard cider.
This chapter was proofread by my new friends, the legendary, ZephyrForWriting. If I had just thrown this chapter out you would've been met with a pleasant chapter full of missing words, added words from previous drafts and draft edits, and even a missing quotation mark at one point. I hope those of you that read this chapter enjoyed it. And to those that celebrate it, I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and to everyone else I hope your day was fantastic nonetheless. /)

Chapter 2: Remember

The morning was bright and warm, the snow melted giving way to a perfect spring walk. Octavia basked in the sun’s light as she trotted happily in the street, not a care in the world. She didn’t know when or why she had gone out, she just found herself enjoying the warm glow of the sun and the smiles on the faces of those she passed. Her mind began to wander as she walked, until she heard the high pitched din of a whistle in her ears, the sound an unpleasant constant ring. As she looked around for the sound she looked up in time to see a cart careening down the hill. As she tried to move out of the way she found herself rooted to the spot by what seemed to be literal roots. The whole world turned to black as the cart slammed into her. She lay there, broken, alone, and afraid as her mind drifted away. In her blurry periphery she saw a flash of grey, then, all that remained was the black of the void.

*****

Octavia was shaken awake, the remnants of her dream slowly fading away as all dreams do. Sweat beaded on her face as she panted, her heart beating in time with the pounding in her head. Slowly, Octavia sat up and climbed out of bed, dizziness from her hangover nearly knocking her off her hooves.

Octavia tried her best as she kept her balance, making her way slowly and shakily to the door. She opened the door into the rest of the apartment and nearly fell over multiple times on her way to the bathroom on the other side of the apartment. A deep snore nearby sent a surge of pain through her head. Once she recovered she looked toward the offending noise and saw Vinyl fast asleep on the couch with a pillow and blanket. A pang of guilt lurched in her heart, but was quickly squashed as her stomach began to turn over. With renewed vigor, Octavia made her way to the bathroom as quickly as her wobbly legs would allow.

Her stomach settled as she made her way to the sink and began to fill it with cold water. Once the basin was filled Octavia splashed water on her face to help refresh her and wake her up. After a while of just throwing water on her face the mare dipped her entire face in the water. Fully refreshed and headache dying down slightly, the grey mare drained the sink and walked slowly back to the living room.

Vinyl had sat up and was stretching when her friend entered the room. “Morning Tavi, how’d you sleep?”

“Horrendously. I think I had way too much to drink last night.” Octavia sat down on the couch rubbing her head.

“Here, I’ll make some coffee, the caffeine should help.” Vinyl got up and walked to the kitchen.

“How do you not have a debilitating headache?”

“Please, half a bottle of liquor ain’t enough to give me a hangover. I play in clubs all the time, it be rude to turn down drinks everypony offers me.” Vinyl returned with a mug and a prench press in her magic. She set it down on the table and let the coffee slowly brew in front of them.

Staring at the black coffee grains at the bottom slowly turn the water above it black, flashes of her dream invaded Octavia’s mind. An alabaster hoof on her shoulder snapped her out of a daze she didn’t realize she was in. “Tavi, you ok?”

“Yes…no…I don’t know. Last night I had the strangest of dreams, almost nightmarish.” The dream slowly came back into her mind. Vinyl just stared at her, silently encouraging her to continue. “I was walking through the city, I didn’t know where or why I was there. I was crossing the street and…I was hit by a cart. I couldn’t move out of the way, there were these root things keeping me in place. I lay there in the middle of the street and everything went...black.”

Vinyl just rubbed her friend’s back as she listened. Her mouth moved to speak but when she couldn’t find any words to say she pulled her friend close to her and held her. After a moment of sitting there Octavia leaned in and rested her head on her friend’s shoulder. “You’re so warm.”

Vinyl shifted awkwardly and slowly pulled herself away. “Hey, you hungry? How about some breakfast to go with this coffee?” Octavia nodded as the unicorn walked to the kitchen, a little disappointed to see her friend go.

*****

After breakfast Vinyl had excused herself to work on her music in a makeshift studio the unicorn had made out of a second bedroom, while Octavia took the liberty to clean the dishes. After the dishes had been cleaned the grey sat in the living room so as to not interrupt the musician at work.

After not being able to settle on a book to read from a small bookshelf next to the couch, Octavia began to examine the room around her. The living room was kept clean and the furnishing rather miniscule. Two tall lamps stood on either side of the couch connected to a switch on the wall that turned both on to illuminate the room at night. Across the room a moderately sized stereo system sat on a table with two monstrously sized speakers on either side connecting it. Octavia was sure if Vinyl had ever turned it on she was sure to be evicted if it weren’t for the glowing runes around the edges and molding of the walls alluding to a powerful soundproofing spell. In front of the couch was a simple oak coffee table, upon which rested another cup of coffee for Octavia and…her eyes lingered on the copy of ‘Musician’s Monthly.’

A familiar, energetic voice spoke in the grey pony’s mind, your cutie mark is a treble clef so…something musical perhaps. As she reached for the magazine the voice spoke again. Do you remember what you used to do? Like an instrument or write any songs? She pulled the magazine closer and gazed at it for a second. As she flipped open the magazine a voice rang through her mind once more, this time it was her own. Could she have been onto something? She began flipping through the pages, skimming through the articles, trying to see if anything jumped out at her.

The magazine was full of all sorts of articles and music charts all separated by genre. In the electronic music section Octavia was pleased to see her new friend placing second in the listing, and was equally amused to find the number one slot scratched out, giving light to Vinyl’s passion and competitiveness for her music. Octavia was about to give up she flipped through the classical section. Images of orchestras and ensembles and intricately crafted instruments resonating with something deep in her chest. This section had been separated by category of instruments, brass being in the front and strings in the back.

Octavia read each article carefully, sipping her coffee as she continued, urged on by the feeling of familiarity. Page after page turned until she finally reached the strings section of the magazine. There in the front, in all its beauty, an image of a cello resided on the page. Octavia gazed at the image for what seemed like an eternity, instantly feeling a connection to the instrument. Her mugged slipped from her hoof, falling to the floor as an image of a cello scroll falling to the pavement, shattering upon impact flashed in her mind. The piece lying in shards away from the rest of the smashed instrument in her mind’s eye.

Vinyl entered the room as the mug shattered on the ground, the sound not reaching Octavia’s ears as she stared blankly at the page. “Tavi, everything alright?” The concerned unicorn looked at her friend as she stared with wide eyes at the magazine. “Tavi?” She approached the mare and noticed the image of the cello she was staring at. “Are you ok, filly?”

Shaken out of her daze she looked up at the unicorn and saw the look of concern on her friend’s face. She slid the magazine to her as she shook her head clear of its fog. “I-I think I had one of these with me. I think I was carrying a cello on the day of the accident.”

Vinyl looked from Octavia to the image and back again before closing the magazine and smiling. “Are you sure? I, mean, I kinda figured you didn’t get your cutie mark by becoming a blacksmith.” Vinyl sat next to the mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“I’m positive Vinyl. I don’t know, maybe I was a cellist or…maybe I was carrying it for someone? I don’t know, but I had one with me, I know it.” Octavia placed a hoof on her head as she tried to remember more than the sad image of a shattered scroll. “It’s still hazy, but I feel if I could get my hooves on one I might remember more about myself.” Octavia looked to her side and saw a grin creeping onto Vinyl’s face. “No, no, no, no, I couldn’t possibly let you to purchase one on my behalf. Cellos are terribly expensive.”

“Aw c’mon Tavi, you’re no fun. You finally have a lead about figuring out who you are and you don’t want to follow up on it? More importantly, you don’t want me, your best friend, to help you?” Vinyl feigned an expression of hurt on her face. After a second she dropped the expression and smiled at Octavia. “Alright, I get it. You want to find a job and purchase it yourself instead of having little ol’ Vinyl doing you a solid. At least you finally remembered something, it’s a start.”

Octavia wrapped a hoof around Vinyl, pulling her into a side hug. “Thank you, if it weren’t for you this never would’ve happened. You’re my angel from Celestia.”

Vinyl blushed at the high praise she was being given, “It’s no problem, really.”

*****

“Are you sure about this? It sounds like she could be upset if you do this for her.” A few days had passed since Octavia made her big discovery. The snow had long been melted, allowing the DJ to exit the apartment complex freely. Vinyl had made the executive decision to buy Octavia a cello despite her wishes to earn the bits herself to pay for it. Along with her was a Bon-bon, a cream colored earth pony with a blue and pink curled mane and tale. Her cutie mark was a trio of wrapped candies.

“Nah filly, it’s cool. Hearth’s Warming is coming up in a few days, I can totally get this for her as a present and she couldn’t argue with me. It’s the perfect plan!” The two had turned into the main shopping district and began looking for the telltale signs of a classical music store. “Besides, I know a guy that owes me a favor. I saved a party he was hosting when his DJ came down with a wicked bad stomach bug. Dude was probably just drunk, but eh. He owns a shop around here but the napkin I wrote the address on tore in half.”

“So what, you think he’d just give you a cello for free? Do you really think you’re musical prowess is good enough to finance such a thing?”

“Hey, step off dude, I once banked double off a gig with after the entire left panel on my board got drenched! My ‘prowess’ is more than enough, and if not I’m sure I can get him to budge at least on the price. It’s not like I’m selling an arm and a leg for a piece of wood and some strings.”

“I don’t know Vinyl, what if she isn’t a cellist and this all goes downhill? Then you have wasted time, wasted money, wasted effort, and imagine what it could do to her if she found out she was the one who wasted your hard earned bits on something she probably has never played in her life?” Bon-bon, ever the voice of reason in Vinyl’s small group of friends, had a few good points. However, when Vinyl had a hunch she was often right. Bon-bon was typically the first one to always question Vinyl’s gut when it came to important things, but even she couldn’t deny that Vinyl could be right most times. Still, the candy maker had to play Devil’s Advocate in the event that Vinyl was wrong, however rare that may be. She was just looking out for her friend, especially when money was involved.

“I hear what you’re saying, I really do. I don’t know Bon, you should’ve seen the way she stared at that picture. Maybe it’s a music intuition thing, or something, but the way she looked at it was like, I dunno, like she found a part of her that was missing. Maybe she doesn’t know it yet, but as a fellow musician I can say with ninety percent certainty that she is someone who can play, and I owe it to her to help her along the way.”

“And the other ten percent?” Bon-bon didn’t seem completely convinced, but appreciated that her concern was noted.

“Then I have a new decoration, or I could give it away to somepony who could put it to good use. Or maybe I could find a way to work it somewhere in my music. I’ll figure something out.” Vinyl pondered this conundrum as she continued along the street, before getting distracted by the idea of classical music being woven into electronic music. “Hmm, that’s not a bad idea…”

“Alright Vinyl, as long as you know what you’re doing then I’ll support you all the way.” Bon-bon smiled reassuringly at Vinyl, her smile slowly turned into a mischievous grin. “Are you sure you don’t have any ‘other’ reasons for buying such a big gift?”

“Very funny, I just met her a few days ago and you know that I’m not that easy.”

“Says the mare that just a few weeks ago was getting shot down so much and so badly. Yeah, you’re not desperate at all.”

“Hey, not cool Bon, I said I’m not easy, there’s a clear difference between desperate and easy.” Vinyl looked up the street and ran toward a building with a sign on a on it that had an image of a bass clef intertwining with a treble clef. “Here we are, man I never thought we’d find this place. It’s a good thing we got directions or we’d have been wandering around for hours.”

“Well, I can’t wait to meet the mare that actually managed to get Vinyl Scratch to walk into a classical music store with the intention of seriously buying something. At least now I can go and get Lyra a present while you find the Octavia a cello. I’m gonna find her a pretty dress and take her to a lovely dinner on Hearth’s Warming.” Bon-bon turned to leave when she felt magic start to drag her in by her tail.

“Actually…” The unicorn blushed sheepishly. “Did I forget to mention that I asked you here because you’re about the same size and build as Tavi?” The cream colored mare looked at the unicorn with an expression of perplexity. “Cellos are made in different sizes for different sized ponies, and I REALLY need your help with this.” The unicorn chuckled sheepishly as it dawned on her that she probably should’ve told her friend why she had asked her there. When no response came, the white unicorn dropped to the ground. “Please? I’ll go with you to the dress shop and help you pick out your gift for Lyra.”

Bon-bon didn’t find anything about her situation amusing. “Fine, but you’re splitting the bill with me.” Bon-bon walked past Vinyl and stopped in front of the door. “Let’s go and get this over with.” The two nearly walked in the store before Bon-bon stopped and turned to Vinyl. “You know, helping this filly as much as you can won’t fix what happened to her.”

“I know Bon-bon, but at least I can try to help her figure out who she is…or who she can be.” Vinyl walked past the cream colored mare and entered the store.

Bon-bon followed after Vinyl mumbling under her breath so Vinyl couldn’t hear, “I wasn’t talking about Octavia…”

*****

Octavia sat at home reading a thrilling book when the front door opened and her roommate entered with a very large wrapped gift box. She placed the box in the corner where a small plastic pine tree sat, along with another, mush smaller box floating to rest on top of the larger box.

“I’m back Tavi, how was hangin’ out with Lyra?” The white mare flopped down onto the couch next to her roommate, clearly looking exhausted from an eventful day.

“I had fun, I also got you a gift as well. A little way to say ‘thank you for everything.’” The grey mare closed her book as she turned toward Vinyl. “How was your day?”

“Oh my Celestia, Bon-bon could not settle on a dress for Lyra, it was ridiculous. I’ve never seen a pony look at dresses for two hours before.” Vinyl slowly sat up and looked to the book. “Watcha readin’?”

“Oh this? Oh it’s exciting, it’s a fictional story about a colt who has the ability to see into the minds of the dead. He’s able to communicate with them and give them so form of clarity and respite from the afterlife. He’s able to learn so much from communicating with those that have had naught to do but think for many years.” Octavia cleared her throat as she realized how excitable she was at the moment. “Sorry, it was a really good read. The cover is a bit ghastly and off-putting but the story is captivating.”

“I might have to give it a read sometime.” Vinyl stretched and let out an audible yawn. “Well, it’s been a day. I think I’m gonna get ready for bed.”

“Don’t forget our arrangement Vinyl.” The white unicorn turned to see a pouty Octavia.

“I’d never forget, saving my back a heap of trouble.” The unicorn ducked into the hallway as Octavia made her way to the bedroom.

*****

Darkness swirled around Octavia as she stood motionless in the void once again. All her senses stripped from her, all except sound. She could hear hooves walking passed her, some calm and steady, others frantic and trying to get to their destination as fast as possible. There was a scream and then the sickening sound of a cart colliding with a full grown pony. Immense pain flowed through Octavia, causing her to drop to the ground, convulsing in pain. When she looked back up, she was surprised at the sight before her.

Octavia saw herself on the floor in the void, facing herself, blood pooling around her, her eyes focused on the Octavia before her as she spoke. She said one inaudible word. Octavia couldn’t tear her eyes from the gruesome scene playing out before her. The mare on the ground spoke again, this time louder, no sound reached her ears. She shouted the word and once again Octavia heard nothing. The injured mare gave up trying to speak and just grinned sincerely at Octavia. She looked at something off to the side as red a tear rolled down her cheek. Octavia looked at where the mare on the ground looked and saw the remains of a destroyed cello, its scroll still falling slowly to the ground. When it finally reached the ground and shattered as Octavia had seen before, she heard the word the mare tried to convey whispered in her ear. Remember. The grey mare on the ground before Octavia slowly faded away, once again leaving Octavia in the darkness.

*****

Octavia jerked awake, rising to a sitting position on the bed panting in a cold sweat, a nightmare once again plaguing her mind. She looked off to her side to see her roommate undisturbed from her slumber. The two mares had made a mutual agreement to sleep in the same bed as Octavia after she had woken with a scream in the middle of the night from another one of her nightmares. Nightmares were a common thing with Octavia as a piece of her brain tried to force her to remember something that isn’t there, instead burning the image of her left for dead in the middle of the street. Vinyl had been so worried for the troubled mare that the two came to a mutual agreement that would help Octavia have some semblance of security and spare Vinyl the pain of sleeping on such a stiff couch every night.

She took a few deep breaths and rubbed her face with her hooves to calm herself while that one word repeated itself in her mind. Remember what? Is my mind trying to tell me something? After a few moments her shaking started to slow as the dream started to leave her mind. It’s OK Octavia. It was just a dream. She reassured herself and looked around the room to remind herself that this was reality and the dream wasn’t. Just a dream.

Octavia looked at her friend and noted, with a small tinge of regret, that this was the first time she had seen Vinyl without her glasses. Vinyl normally woke up before Octavia and was normally the first of the two to fall asleep. As she took a moment longer to compose herself from her own psyche, Octavia once again laid back down to sleep, easing herself closer to the DJ out of need for comfort from her fear of abandonment. Now mere inches from the unicorns face, Octavia closed her eyes and drifted slowly to sleep as Vinyl’s warmth radiated against Octavia. As sleep slowly claimed her mind, Octavia idly lay a hoof across Vinyl and pulled her closer too tired to notice her action, drifting further into sleep once again.

Chapter 3: Unspoken Words

Sunlight peeked through the crack between the curtains. Vinyl's eyes fluttered opened, gazing at her friend cuddled up against her, hoof draped around the unicorn, a look of contentedness upon the grey pony's face. Vinyl awoke in the middle of the night to the grey earth pony unconsciously wrapping a hoof around her. She, in response, wrapped her hoof around her as well and pulled her close, careful not to wake her so late at night. Vinyl slowly unraveled herself from Octavia and rolled carefully out of bed before levitating the covers over her friend and her own signature glasses to her eyes.

Vinyl made her way to the kitchen after a brief early morning shower. She set to work making breakfast for the two of them. The unicorn enjoyed cooking, she found it to be a relaxing way to pass the time as well as a good way to clear her the noise in her mind so she can filter through it to make her next track. With pancakes slowly cooking on the stove, Vinyl turned to set some coffee to brew when a faint ding could be heard. She trotted to the source to find a text on her phone, from Lyra.

"Sup V! I got another set at Dice! You should totally come and drink with me after my set! We haven't had a girl's night with the two of us in like forever. You game? Or are you chicken?" The text was followed by a small image of a chicken to accentuate the green unicorn's petty insult. Vinyl sat down and wrote back to her friend.

"Oh, I'm game Ly. I also challenge you to a drink off! I'll drink you're ass under the table!" Vinyl almost instantly regretted her poor choice of words when she hit send. As if on cue, another message popped up.

"Hey, save that talk for Octavia. You know I'm a taken mare ;)." She could almost hear her friend's obnoxious laughter as she read that.

"Hey, me and Tavi are just friends and you know that!" The words left an empty feeling in chest as she typed them. She couldn't figure out why they hurt, or why she couldn't bring herself to hit send, so she just deleted the message and started again. "That's it filly, loser has to pay for the drinks AND buy a round for the whole bar!"

"Oh, you're on V. Get ready to lose all your bits, I am not losing this bet!" Vinyl smirked as she looked forward to her challenge with Lyra later. She put her phone away when Octavia came out of the room rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Mornin' Tavi!" Vinyl piped up from her position on the couch.

"Morning Vinyl." Octavia took a few tentative sniffs before looking at Vinyl in concern. "Is something burning?" she asked.

In a blur of white, the DJ jumped up from the couch and bolted to the kitchen where smoke started to pour out. "NOOOO!!! MY PANCAKES!!!"

*****

"Are you sure you don't want to join us? It'll be a blast having you there." After breakfast had been salvaged and swiftly devoured, the two sat next to each other on the couch. The two had been listening to music as Vinyl tried to get Octavia interested in her genre, with a relative degree of success. The DJ had succeeded in making Octavia laugh as she danced in the middle of the living room like the goofy awkward mess she was. After she had exhausted herself trying to get Octavia to get up and dance with her Vinyl decided to turn the music down and join her friend on the couch.

"I'm quite sure, but if you insist on me getting out of this apartment then I suppose I could pop downstairs and visit with Bon-bon." Despite living directly above, Octavia had yet to meet the colorful candy mare in her time residing with Vinyl.

"Alright, sweet! The four of really should get together and have a party tomorrow for Hearth's Warming Eve! Wouldn't that be awesome?" Octavia couldn't help but giggle at her friend's enthusiasm. Vinyl felt her heart melt seeing Octavia smile so much that day. She wasn't used to have anypony over for an extended period of time, let alone living with her. I could get used to this everyday. She thought to herself as she stared into those amethyst eyes, time almost seeming to slow.

"Yes Vinyl, that would be...'sweet.'" Octavia giggle once again. She stared into her reflection on Vinyl's sunglasses before asking a question that had plagued her mind since the day they met. "Vinyl, why do you always where those sunglasses? I never see you without them on."

"Oh? You haven't?" Vinyl smiled sheepishly at her. "Well sorry to disappoint, but that's a mystery I'm going to have to keep." She poked Octavia's nose as if to accentuate her point.

"I'm going to find out eventually Vinyl." Octavia replied by poking Vinyl's nose as well. Oh, I'm sure you will. Vinyl seemed confused at that thought, not knowing where it came from.

*****

A few more hours of music, dancing, and laughter passed and Vinyl made her way inside the pub in time to catch the end of Lyra's set. The crowd hooted and hollered at Lyra as she finished her set, tossing bits into her lyre case which had accumulated more than what could be held. Vinyl sat at a table drinking a very frothy cider as Lyra sauntered over with her lyre tucked away in its case and her day's pay along with all the tips she accumulated through the night in a large satchel.

"Great set Ly, you're getting better with that harp, maybe soon you can start playing in real bars." The mint green unicorn slugged Vinyl in the shoulder as she took the seat opposite her, laughing. "C'mon, my grandma hits way harder than that. Seriously, grandma Scratch is freakishly strong for a unicorn, it's scary."

"Glad to see you too V. And I'll have you know, this is a real bar, as far as the drinks and pay are concerned." She didn't bother correcting Vinyl on her harp comment, as she had to do it far too frequently to not assume Vinyl just did so to get to her green friend. "How's Octavia? Bonnie told me about your gift, are you sure that this won't turn around and bite you in your ass?"

"You should've seen her Lyra, if you were there I think you would agree with me on this." Vinyl took large gulps from her cider before slamming an empty mug to the table. "Besides, I managed to talk the guy down. 65% off, that's what my favor was worth, Bon-bon couldn't pick her jaw up off the floor after hearing that." Vinyl waved a waitress over who came and placed two more mugs of cider on the table. "Now are we gonna talk, or are we going to drink?"

"Now you're speaking my language V!" She picked up her mug and started drinking. "I do have to ask though, is there any other reason you're doing this?" Vinyl nearly inhaled her drink, causing her to go into a coughing fit. After a few pats on the back the coughing subsided.

"Damn filly, why do you and Bon think there's an ulterior motive? I just met her!" Lyra raised her hooves in defense.

"Alright V, gosh. Bonnie and I thought you might still be-"

"'Be' what?" She cut the green unicorn off. After a moment of silence Vinyl dawned a look of realization. "Wait, are you serious? You think this about 'her?'" Lyra looked away awkwardly, blushing. "Of course you do. Look, I'm over that ok, let's just drink, ok?" Vinyl started drinking while Lyra stared at Vinyl, concerned. Stop looking at me like that, it wasn't my fault dammit. The thought was almost screamed in her head. It's not.

"Vinyl, we know you tried your best." Lyra responded, almost reading her friend's mind. "We just want to make sure you aren't doing this BECAUSE of 'her.'" Tears started to roll down Vinyl's face from behind her glasses as years old memories full of pain started to play in her mind. "If you're sure, then I won't push anymore, WE won't push anymore. We don't want to see you hurting anymore about something that happened years ago." Vinyl felt a hoof wrap around her chest and another stroke her mane. She looked up to see Lyra trying to comfort her, she leaned in and sobbed quietly as old wounds were opened. "We don't want to see our friend hurt so much anymore, last time was so bad we thought we'd never see our old Vinyl come back."

"I understand, I'm sorry. I promise this isn't about...about..." the words caught in her throat as she tried to choke out the name. The strumming of a lyre reached her ears as she looked up to see said instrument floating in front of her in a haze of yellow magic. The music started to slowly soothe the DJ as all the patrons stopped to turn and raise a mug, silently giving Vinyl their support.

"Wow, you command the attention of a bar almost as well as I do. Almost." A green hoof slammed into her shoulder at that, leaving both mares laughing, the tension melting away with the music. "Thanks Ly, I promise this is different. We're friends, and besides I don't think she's into mares anyway."

Lyra packed her lyre away once again and magically levitated a bottle of clear alcohol and two shot glasses from the bar to the table with no complaints from the bartender. "Alright V, I hope you brought your bits, because you're about to owe this bar a full round." She half shouted that last sentence, drawing the attention and a small crowd to the table with the promise of free drinks. As she poured moved to other side of the table once again pouring two shots the crowd started placing bets on the two mares, most of them in Lyra's favor.

"Sounds more like I'm going to be buying myself some new sub-woofers when I win." With that, the two mares knocked back their drinks, the crowd cheered, and the game began.

*****

The crowd was dead silent as the two mares drank. They were halfway into their second bottle, a chalkboard had been set up next to the table indicating they were on their eighteenth round. The two mares lost control of their magic from the alcohol a few shots back and were resorting to carefully picking the tiny glasses up with both hooves. More bets had been placed, some moving over to Vinyl's favor.

"Gif up Ly. Aif wun thish." Vinyl slurred her words horribly as she knocked back her eighteenth shot.

"Not a chanshe Finyl." Lyra quickly downed her eighteenth, coughing from the horrible burn creeping down her throat. A unicorn stallion used his magic to pour another round as the two mares couldn't lest they pour the bottle all over the table. Another betting round went on as the two mares reached their limits. Once all bets we made the chalk board was remarked to indicate round nineteen had begun.

Once all was quiet once again Vinyl fumbled for her glass, she slowly lifted it between her hooves to her mouth and drank the offensive liquid, the crowd cheering all around her before they quieted down and turned to Lyra. The green unicorn attempted to grab her glass but missed entirely several times. Her head fell to the table as she yielded the contest to Vinyl who started cheering until Lyra lifted her head with an evil smirk and her glass between her lips. She tilted her head back and let the liquid slide down her throat effortlessly before spitting the glass out onto the table.

"Top that Finyl." A loud hiccup escaped Lyra's diaphragm as the crowd made more bets around the two once again. The chalkboard was updated once again, the glasses refilled, the second bottle drained, and the crowd quieted once again. Both mares were intent on making this the final round, lest they both end up passed out on the table.

Vinyl focused, closing her eyes and trying to summon strength to finish this silly game. The image of bright amethyst eyes accentuated by a bright, the feeling of a soft grey hoof around her rounded to the surface of her mind. She took a deep breath and placed a hoof on the table. In one quick motion, the DJ brought her hoof up and slammed it back onto the table tilting it and launching both glasses into the air. She leaned back and caught one glass in her mouth, the drink flowing down her throat as she brought up a hoof and caught the other glass only spilling a single drop from it.

The crowd erupted into a chorus of cheers as Vinyl passed the still full glass to Lyra without a word. Lyra was dumbfounded at the display of skill Vinyl showed. She carefully set the drink down and placed her hoof on the table as she prepared to try to do the same trick. She wouldn't let herself be beat by Vinyl. The crowd quieted down as Lyra took a deep breath and hit the table the same way Vinyl did. She leaned back to catch the drink only to have the glass land on her horn spilling its contents all over her. A mix of cheers and groans erupted from the crowd as bits were passed out, a cut of which going to Vinyl for her victory.

"Thank you, thank you eferypawny! Whoo!" Vinyl jumped up and down as she cheered. As quickly as she started, Vinyl had to sit down as dizziness overcame her. "Jrinksh are on Lyrah!" The crowd cheered once more and slowly started to disperse.

"How the hell didjyu do that?" Lyra lifted the glass off her horn and shook the alcohol out of her mane before grabbing her head from the dizziness from the action.

"How shud I know? Whoo! That wuz AWESHUM!"

*****

An hour had passed as the two sat and talked still recovering from their contest. The two had order coffee out of concern out of their livers and tried to sober up before going home. Vinyl lay across the bench with her head in Lyra's lap as they spoke, still quite inebriated.

"I'm not saying she's not pretty dude. You kiddin' me? If I wasn't into mares I'd be changing that tune right away be all over her dude." Vinyl reached up and booped Lyra's nose.

"I KNEW it! You got the hots for Octavia! And you just met her to!" Lyra snorted back a laugh. "Wait until Bonnie hears this."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey...hey. I have no idea what you're talking about, I never admitted to anything you can prove." Lyra floated up her phone and played back a recording of Vinyl's voice repeating what she had said only moments ago. "Dude, you better delete that right now or I'm going to ram that phone so far up your ass your heart is going to make a call every time it beats."

"Yeah, not gonna happen V. I kinda like having leverage against you." Vinyl tried to grab Lyra's phone before a rolled up paper floated up and smacked her on the nose. "Bad, bad Vinyl. I'll erase it, when you admit you have feelings for a mare you literally just met."

"OK, fine, I'm into Octavia, you happy now? Now delete it."

"Nope, I think you're just saying that. I want you to put some feeling into it V, what about her do you like?" An evil grin dominated her face as she stared into her reflection in Vinyl's glasses.

"You're evil, you know that right?"

"Thank you V, but flattery will get you know where with a taken mare."

"Fine, I like Octavia. She's fun, ok?" Lyra just stared at her, unimpressed. "Ok, you want more? She's cute, she thinks I'm funny and has a pretty smile." Again, a silent unimpressed stare. "Those big purple eyes are beautiful enough to get lost in, she's an enigma shrouded in mystery and having her around makes me feel less lonely. I feel like I was back when Pitch was around. I'll never admit it to her or even myself but I miss her so much." A tear started to roll down her face before she wiped it away.

"Ok, you don't have to say anymore." Lyra deleted the recording, feeling bad for leading the conversation toward such a sore subject. "Do you really mean that dude?"

"Dude, I'm so drunk I don't think I have the capability to lie anymore. Since she showed up I don't feel lonely anymore. She laughs at my corniness, she likes my cooking, and she likes my music dude. The least I can do to repay her for making me happy again is help her remember who she is, no matter what I have to do or how much I have to spend to do so."

"I understand V, trust me, Bonnie and me miss Pitch as well, but you can't let her affect what you have with Octavia right now. We're just worried for you and don't want you to running her off or trying to make up what happened by trying to help this mare. In the end you won't feel any better and you won't have any closure, you'll just end up running yourself ragged trying to fix a problem that's not there." Lyra stroked her friend's mane and smiled down at her. "I do think it's admirable that you are helping her, and I feel like if anyone could help her it's a tenacious DJ that refuses to give up on making somepony smile, just don't lose yourself in it. Who knows, if your feelings are real and not some sort of projection of your feelings for Pitch on Octavia then Bonnie and I will help you any way we can."

Lyra always knew how to make Vinyl feel better when she was down. Somehow the unicorn always knew what was running through Vinyl's mind, most of the time before even Vinyl knew it. She sat up and hugged her friend. Vinyl didn't always get emotional, but when she did she always had the overwhelming urge to hug the nearest warm body.

"Thank you Ly, you always know what to say. I love having friends like you and Bon." She sniffed back a tear.

"We love you too V. You always know how to give ponies a good time. You're a lovable goofball who knows how to throw a hell of a party."

As the words hit her ears Vinyl remembered one important subject she forgot to bring up. "Crap, I almost forgot. Tavi and I decided we wanted to throw a party and you and Bon are invited. It's tomorrow night, bring plenty of eggnog and maybe some chocolate covered cherries. I don't know why, but I have a huge craving for chocolate covered cherries!"

*****

Vinyl shuffled into the apartment in the late hours of the night, the only light coming from the bedroom with the door wide open. She slowly made her way to the room on wobbly legs, when she entered she saw a mare with a light blue cute and a long teal mane laying seductively on the bed surrounded by rose petals. The room was illuminated by candlelight as Vinyl stepped through the door.

"Welcome home Vinyl. Did your show go well?" She gave Vinyl look that said, "come hither."

"They always go well Pitch, you're looking at the best DJ in Equestria." She clambered onto the bed and lay parallel to the mare, propping herself up on her hoof as she looked deep into her eyes. "And I'm looking at the best mare in Equestria, Perfect Pitch." Vinyl caressed Pitch's face with her hoof.

"Oh Vinyl, you say the sweetest things." The two leaned in to each other and shared a passionate kiss. Vinyl closed her eyes as she embraced the mare and deepened the kiss. The finally broke away for air, Vinyl's eyes remaining closed as she leaned in for another kiss. "Oh Vinyl, I could hold and kiss you all night." The voice wasn't that of the mare she held, it was more refined and slightly deeper.

When Vinyl opened her eyes a pair of amethyst purple eyes stared back at her, the coat of the mare was grey and her mane charcoal black. Upon seeing Octavia after such a passionate kiss her heart skipped, threatening to stop altogether from the sight. Vinyl was surprised to say the least, a huge blush creeping on her cheeks as the candlelight started to dim as the flames reached the melted wax.

*****

Vinyl's eyes shot open. As she began to wake up from her bizarre dream a strange feeling drew her attention. She could feel Octavia's breath on her muzzle, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw a grey muzzle merely inches from hers as Octavia slept. She felt the grey hoof around her body and blushed as she realized that she, in fact, was the one that had leaned in so close to Octavia. She carefully leaned back trying not to wake the grey mare. When she felt she was far enough away she could've swore she heard a small, almost imperceptible whimper. Slowly, Vinyl wrapped her hoof around Octavia and felt her shift closer to her touch in her sleep.

She studied her friend's face in the darkness. She looked so peaceful as she slept. To her knowledge, Octavia no longer had those nightmares that had plagued her in the first days of her living with Vinyl. The closeness of them sleeping together, however, had only exacerbated her slight feelings for Octavia. As she stared at the mare she felt her eyelids slowly start to lower as she was once again dragged into the land of dreams.

Author's Note

Oh hey, would you look at that. Another chapter is out so soon, never thought I'd see the day the author would be so competent.....Oh wait, I'M the author. Well it still stands. Bit of an odd chapter this one, not in the sense that this chapter was weird but more in the sense of HOW this chapter was born. I abandoned all my conventional writing methods and went completely off script and let the characters write the story. Basically, I had a chapter planned and it didn't come out that way. Two scenes in this chapter are COMPLETELY different from what they were SUPPOSED to be when I started typing, and one scene wasn't even supposed to exist PERIOD. That's why I love writing so much. Much like life, writing can take all sorts of turns and deviate from what was supposed to go down. You can't predict it and you most certainly cannot control it fully. Sure I could make the story and twist it in the way I like it, but what happened in the making of this chapter is a great example of how little control we have over inspiration and even over creation. I'll be getting on to the next chapter shortly and honestly even I can't wait to see what I'll type next.

Chapter 4: Spoken Words

Octavia stared up at the ceiling as she lay in the darkness. Her heart pounded as the events of the past twenty minutes replayed in her head. Octavia had awoken from another one of her chronic nightmares, and was about to go through the tedious task to trying to unravel just what her brain was attempting to tell her when a strange feeling caught her attention. When she was roused she watched as her sleeping friend leaned forward so close. Vinyl had just been mere inches from her face, their muzzles almost touching.

What had she been dreaming about? She still felt her friend's warm breath against her muzzle as the memory played over again. Was she dreaming about me? Octavia's thoughts raced, robbing her of her ability to sleep. She rolled over to face away from her sleeping friend as heat crept up her face in a faint blush. She didn't know how to feel about the unicorn or about the situation she has found herself in. She didn't really know why this was such a big deal to her. She went out drinking, maybe it was the alcohol? She hadn't been awake after all.

She turned back over and stared back at Vinyl for a few more minutes before closing her eyes to try to drift back into sleep. After she had consolidated her thoughts she decided to pay a visit to Bon-bon in the morning to ask her for her input. Talking to someone about this may shed some light on th-, a sudden realization once again brought a crimson blush to her face. Did I whimper when she pulled away? She felt as though the heat would melt her skin as that particular part rose to the forefront in her mind. Oh dear...

*****

"Here's your tea Octavia, two sugars like you wanted." Bon-bon set a steaming cup of tea in front of Octavia. Octavia sipped it, grateful to have something to soothe her mind. "I didn't expect you do drop by, I honestly figured you thought I was a bit boring when we met yesterday."

After she woke up, Octavia excused herself to visit the cream colored mare after breakfast. The two had gotten to know each other when Vinyl went out with Lyra the night prior. The two gossiped and joked well into the night while Vinyl had taken the opportunity to take Lyra and go out and have a night out. Octavia was grateful to have time to spend with Bon-bon alone so she could discuss more sensitive subjects.

"Thank you Bon-bon, it really is quite delicious." Octavia took another sip as she mentally steeled herself for what may become a very awkward conversation. "So, you've known Vinyl for quite some time, correct?"

"Yeah, we've known her for a couple of years. She forgot to soundproof her floor and so one day we heard this really loud rave music." She chuckled as the memories came back to her. "Oh you should've seen the look on Lyra's face. It was a mix of sadness and anger. She was so upset that she wasn't invited to a party in the building and that it was right above her head. She dragged me up there to crash the party and I just rolled my eyes and followed to keep her out of trouble. Those two have been close rivals and best friends ever since." She snorted back a laugh. "I swear I'm the only voice of reason between those two, I had to talk a guard out of giving them a ticket one time after a snowball fight got a bit too heated."

Octavia let out a laugh at the thought of her roommate getting into so much trouble over something so small. When the laughter stopped she looked up to see Bon-bon giving her a genuine smile.

"I can honestly see something like that happening with Vinyl." She looked down at her tea as she searched for her words. "Has Vinyl ever...liked somepony before?" Bon-bon's smile slowly faded.

"Why? Did something happen?" Bon-bon frowned in concern at Octavia. The grey mare didn't know how to respond, just staring into her tea. Just as she was about to explain what happened the night prior, Bon-bon began to interject. "She had a special somepony before. Her name was Perfect Pitch, she was a singer for a rock group. They met at a bar that Vinyl was playing at and they hit it off fast. That's all I feel I SHOULD say, Vinyl and Lyra know the rest of the story but..." Bon-bon trailed off, trying to pick her words carefully as she thought. "What happened to bring this on?" Bon-bon looked at Octavia with concerned pleading eyes. The feeling of hot breath on her lips returned as she recalled the events of the night prior.

"Last night, I had a nightmare. When I awoke I felt her breath on my muzzle, I opened my eyes and there she was, her muzzle right in front of mine. She woke up and, I didn't know what to do so, I pretended to still be asleep, she pulled away from me and went back to sleep." Her blush deepened, becoming visible even through her dark coat.

"She kissed you?" Bon-bon seemed alarmed and slightly confused.

"I don't know, I woke up right when she pulled away." She stared once again at her tea which began to cool off. "And...don't know how to feel about it..."

"Don't know?"

"It wasn't as though it was and unpleasant sight." Octavia decided to leave out the part of her whimpering as Vinyl pulled away. She was too embarrassed to reveal such a thing to someone she had only just met the night before. If her blush hadn't been visible prior, it was then. Bon-bon was at a loss for words, her mouth moved as she began to say something but stopped and closed it again. After a while she finally settled on what she wanted to say.

"Does Vinyl know about this?" She almost whispered the question, as if afraid they might be overheard. The only response she received was in the form of a nod from the grey mare. "Alright, do you have feelings for her? You haven't know each other long and I don't know as much about you as Lyra does but, from what I've seen and from what I've heard from Lyra I can tell you two are close."

"Honestly, I don't know what I feel. Before Vinyl there was only the cold and the hostility of the city streets and, as if to insult to injury, I couldn't remember anything. But ever since she came into my life none of that matters anymore. I have a home, I have friends that care about me, and for once I don't care about my memory." That realization had been a recent one to her. "I've been busy making new memories to care about who I was in the past. I still want to learn about who I am but, I feel like even if I never remember, I'll be alright." Octavia smiled at her own words and felt tears begin to well up.

"That's really good to hear, Vinyl really does care about ponies, and I know she cares about you." Bon-bon passed a box of tissues to Octavia who used them to dry her eyes. "Don't let these confused feelings of yours affect your friendship. Vinyl has been hurt before, bad, and I know she would never do anything to hurt you or anyone else intentionally. I'm sure these feelings will sort themselves out if you're just open and honest with yourself." Bon-bon moved to sit next to Octavia on the couch. "I hope your memories come back, I really do. Just remember, you're not alone anymore." Bon-bon hugged Octavia.

"Thank you. You really are good friends." She hugged the candy mare back.

*****

"You're an idiot V!" Lyra groaned as she held her aching head. The green unicorn still had a massive hangover from the night before, one that Vinyl had almost fully recovered from, and the simple act of talking sent her into a world of agony. She wasn't happy with her white counter-part dragging her all the way upstairs, nor was she pleased with the idea of going shopping for party supplies at any point of the day.

"You're the one that wanted to go out for drinks Ly." Vinyl made sure to speak in soft tones so she didn't disturb her friend's hangover.

"You're the one that turned it into a drinking contest that caused this." Lyra lay on the couch, hoof over her eyes. The roaring sound of a blender nearly caused her to fall off the couch, sending her pounding head into an even more painful fit. After the noise stopped Lyra panted hard before groaning in pain. "Bitch." Was all she could muster up the strength to say.

"That's what you call a friend who's trying to help you feel better?" Vinyl walked out of the kitchen with what appeared to be a large glass of green slime. "Here you go, and by the way, you're the bitch after your stunt last night. Don't think I was too drunk to forget." She floated the drink down to Lyra.

"What is that? It looks like you just threw up a bunch of cilantro." The smell alone made the mare gag as she prayed to Celestia that it wouldn't come anywhere near her mouth.

"This, is the cure to all your problems. Mama Scratch's hangover fixer elixir! Patent pending." Lyra's eyes never left the glass of green horror.

"You were allowed to take that to the patent office and they took you seriously enough to not laugh you out of the room?"

"Oh just shut up and drink it you baby, whether I actually managed to give my idea to them seriously or not is neither here nor there." She brought the lip of the glass to Lyra's lips. Sighing in defeat, Lyra took a sip from the glass. The moment it entered her mouth she was overcome with the urge to throw up. She rolled off the couch and ran to the bathroom as quickly as possible. "See? Already put that pep back in your step!"

"What was in that!?" Lyra trotted back into the living room after throwing up the offending concoction. She did notice that her head stopped pounding and her lethargy had subsided. "Huh, I do feel better."

"Told ya! Oh ye of little faith, you shouldn't doubt the DJ that has no doubt had many hangovers through the years. As for the contents, this lovely elixir is a loving blend of Rage energy drink, bananas, ginger root, Fun-Yuns, grease, AND a super secret Scratch family ingredient." Vinyl brought over a glass of water to Lyra before continuing. "Many years ago, a stallion named 'Vinert Scratchenheimer' ran the 'Too Many Manehattens' project were he tried to create the-"

"Nope, didn't happen." Lyra cut the unicorn off, making it very clear she had heard many of Vinyl's fake history lessons and wasn't in the mood to hear another one.

"Fine, it didn't happen." Vinyl poured the green liquid down the sink's drain and began cleaning the glass. After she cleaned the glass out and put it in the dishwasher she walked over to Lyra and sat next to her. "Hey, can I ask you for some advice?"

"Sure V, though I think Bonnie is better at giving advice than I am." Lyra replied as she tried to focus on anything but the taste in her mouth.

"Yeah, but this is about what we talked about last night and I wanted to talk to someone that knows what's going on." Lyra looked at her quizzically.

"What's up V?"

"I think I may have...kissed Octavia last night." Vinyl blushed deeply as the words left her mouth.

"What do you mean MAY have kissed her?"

"I'm not sure if I did. I was asleep when it happened." Vinyl took a deep breath as she tried to remember exactly what happened. "I had a dream last night. Perfect Pitch was still here and she was laying in bed all sexy and such. I climbed into bed and held her and we kissed. When the kiss ended it was Octavia there and not Pitch." She looked to Lyra who was listening intently. "The dream ended and when I came to I was about and inch or so from Tavi's muzzle. I don't know if I did kiss her or not dude."

"V, if I may make an observation for one second?" She waited for Vinyl to nod. "You're an idiot."

"And this is why we go to your girlfriend for advice." Vinyl felt a hoof swat at the back of her head playfully, knocking her glasses loose.

"I mean, when you get hammered and start thinking about the mare that's on your mind, the last thing you should do is hop into bed with her." She looked Vinyl in the eye as she readjusted her shades to their proper position. "Alright, well, does she know about this?"

"I don't think so. She was asleep."

"Then there you go, she doesn't know. Nothing to worry about, business as usual, ya know?"

"What if it happens again? What if she wakes up then?"

"Then tell her. Look V, I don't know everything about the two of you, and I certainly can't tell you what to do. The only thing I can say is don't scare her off. If your heart tells you to tell her then do it, but don't let your heart ruin the first good thing to come into your life since Pitch. Look, take your time, everything will sort itself it for better or for worse. And trust me when I say me and Bonnie will be here to help out when you BOTH need it."

"Thanks Ly, I'll do just that. It's no biggie, just take my time and keep her around."

"Anytime V, now let's get this party set up."

*****

Vinyl and Lyra had barely managed to get the sound system set up after coming back with party fare and some mild Hearth's Warming decorations when Bon-bon and Octavia came to the door in a laughing fit from the conversation they were having. Vinyl figured she was the subject of conversation when the two mares laughed even harder at her after she inquired as to what was so funny. At least she assumed it was about her until Lyra came in and they started laughing even harder.

The small party was in full swing, Lyra had attempted to invite other residents of the building but had been turned down by all, leaving their party just a party of four. The four friends had little to do other than karaoke, which Lyra and Bon-bon had their fill of, earning uproariously laughter from the DJ and applause from Octavia, and dance to Vinyl's energetic music. In that time Octavia came to a realization that she had real and genuine friends to keep her company and not just the company of homeless ponies who sought nothing more than to use her tent which she had donated after realizing she may never need such a thing again.

Octavia stood next to Vinyl as she watched her work her magic on her mixing board, effortlessly flipping switches and toggles to create amazing sounds that made it hard for her to resist tapping her hoof. As she watched Vinyl enthusiastically create music out of meaningless sounds, clearly trying to impress the mare watching over her shoulder, Octavia couldn't help but notice the two other mares talking quietly to each other. Lyra whispered something in Bon-bon's ear which caused her to stare their general direction with a shocked expression. After a moment Bon-bon whispered something into Lyra's ear which caused her to do the same, after which the two shared some suppressed giggles. After watching Vinyl for a while Octavia decided to attempt to converse with her friend.

"How do you make it seem so effortless? I can barely make heads or tails of all the switches and buttons." Octavia had to half yell over the music seeing as they were next to the main speakers. Thankfully Vinyl hadn't turned them up loud enough to cause Octavia to develop hearing damage.

"Years of practice Tavi, it also helps that I built this from the ground up." She look back at her friend with a wide grin.

"You made this!? How does one even go about attempting to build one?" Octavia was a little taken aback at the fact that her friend had the technical know how to build such a complicated machine.

"It's not really that hard. I would go into detail but I don't want to bore you with an hour long explanation of the specs in this thing. Just so I'm clear, that's an hour per piece of hardware in this thing." Octavia was baffled at this new revelation of her friend's skill. The unicorn was becoming more and more complex in her mind as she thought of just all the things she's shown she could do.

After the music began to wind down, Lyra grabbed a chair and sat by a microphone that had been hooked up for karaoke and started to play a few songs on her lyre to wind the mood down to a more relaxed one. Octavia and Bon-bon sat on the couch as they listened and embraced the soothing melody whilst Vinyl began cleaning up messes and dishes from the party food they had consumed.

"You really are a lucky mare Bon-bon. You get to listen to such beautiful music whenever you please." She looked to the candy maker as she stared lovingly at Lyra.

"Oh if only you knew just what else she could do." She replied almost absently.

"Pardon? What else can she do?"

"Oh, n-nothing." Bon-bon looked away sheepishly as she blushed.

"Well whatever it is I'm glad you two are happy together. You two are a wonderful couple and I'm glad to have met the two of you." Octavia smiled warmly at Bon-bon who smiled back genuinely. Life was good for Octavia, such a short time had come since she was in a Hell all her own. She no longer could remember the feeling of being frozen as she trudged through the snow, nor could she remember the fear that when she went to sleep she may never wake up again.

*****

Midnight approached, only minutes away. Lyra and Bon-bon had left prior. The two had a tradition of counting down the minutes until Hearth's Warming Day and swapping gifts at midnight. Vinyl had picked up the same tradition since meeting the two and convinced Octavia to join her as she held a bottle of champagne in a magical grasp. Octavia was hesitant upon seeing the bottle after her last experience with alcohol but Vinyl had insisted it as a great way to celebrate and reassured her that it was non-alcoholic. The seconds ticked by, each bringing the new day closer. With only a few minutes away the two dragged their respective gifts toward them, ready to exchange at midnight.

The seconds of the last minute crept toward the twelve on the clock, drawing the minute hand toward the top position and bringing with it a chime followed by the loud pop of the cork popping off the champagne. The loud noise and sudden hollering from the unicorn startled Octavia, making her heart race from adrenaline. The two laughed as Vinyl poured two glasses with the sparkling fluid.

"Happy Hearth's Warming Tavi!" Vinyl exclaimed, holding up a glass.

"Happy Hearth's Warming Vinyl." Octavia replied as she tapped her glass against Vinyl's.

The two mares drank their respective drinks before Octavia passed her gift to Vinyl. It was a small square shaped item. Vinyl opened the gift, inside was a record, the sleeve was decorated with all sorts of vacation paraphernalia, from dice to cards, roses to guitars and even the words "Permanent Vacation" all clad in red.

"Aw sweet! Mareosmith! I don't have this one yet! How'd you know?" The unicorn was giddy with her gift, no matter how small Octavia thought it was.

"Lyra helped pick it out. I didn't know what to get you since I don't know you that well so she helped me pick out something from a record store." Octavia was glad to see the excitement on her friend's face, no doubt thinking how she was going to remix the songs within.

"Filly, you're awesome! Go on, open mine! I know you're gonna LOVE it!" Vinyl magically slid the large box toward her friend, eager for her to open it. "It's not really wrapped, it's a box that's decorated to LOOK like I put a lot of effort into it." Octavia pulled the lid off the box and peered inside. What the box contained surprised her.

"Vinyl, you didn't."

"I did, I know what you said, but I couldn't resist. The owner owed me a favor so he gave me a sweet deal on it and I just know you're meant to play it." She levitated the cello out of the large box and rested it and a bow in front of Octavia. "If it means that much then you can pay me back AFTER you take Equestria by storm."

Octavia looked over the cello with a familiar feeling in her chest. The main body of the cello was hoof carved out of mahogany, the scroll, peg box, and neck were carved out of a single piece of maple whilst the pegs themselves carved from a dark rosewood. The whole instrument had been varnished a dark brown while the back had strips of dark oak purfling to accent the intricate instrument while providing structural support should the cello be struck or damaged. Along the back of the scroll were faint glowing runes alluding to a rudimentary spell. Octavia ran a hoof along the chromium strings as a sound resonated deep within her. The instrument felt...right.

"I managed to get it for two-hundred ten and the bow thrown in for an extra thirty. Normally this would've costed about six-hundred bits, but of course I'm me so-" Octavia threw her hooves around Vinyl. "Hey, it's no big deal Tavi. Go on, give it a play."Wordlessly, Octavia pulled herself away and stood up with the bow in the crook of her foreleg. She held the bow against the strings but hesitated before lowering the bow.

"I'm not sure how." Octavia felt empty as she stared at the instrument, as if a breeze blew through her soul as the familiarity of the instrument rang true but the knowledge of how to play fell short.

"Here, I'll show you." Vinyl stood up and walked behind Octavia. She lifted her hoof up and positioned herself behind her friend raising her other hoof to the hoof board. "These runes are a tuning spell. It's a weak spell that keeps the cello tuned, it needs to be touch up every two months to keep this tuned appropriately." She moved Octavia's hoof around the board, naming of the notes of the strings. "This is the C string, here's G, D, and A." She dragged Octavia's bow hoof across each string as she named the off letting her friend come cellist hear each note. "And if we move a little lower we have C-sharp, A-flat..." She continued listing off notes and positions as she stepped closer to the novice cellist.

"How do you know so much about the cello? I thought you made electronic music?" Octavia blushed as she felt herself subtly lean into her friend's touch.

"I spent years learning two things growing up. Culinary Arts, I love to cook as you already know and you have yet to have my banana pancakes. And I studied Advanced Musical Theory since as long as I can remember. I learned many instruments in my time as I tried to find my talent, cello happened to be one of those." Vinyl slowly pulled back as she realized her close proximity to Octavia. She walked around to the couch and sat down on it. "Go ahead, play something. Don't think, just close your eyes and play what feels right. If I'm right then it should start coming back to you."

Octavia took a deep breath and did just as Vinyl advised and started playing. She wasn't perfect, she missed more notes than she hit and didn't have a proper flow, but as she played she felt the sounds resonate with her. Slowly her movements were filled with purpose as muscle memory returned to her slowly. Something about the instrument felt right with her. Tears flowed from her eyes as she felt joy overcome her.

Many long minutes passed before Octavia lowered her bow and stopped playing altogether. The minutes felt like an eternity to Octavia. The mere playing of the instrument was enough to leave Octavia exhausted as many emotions came over her. She set the cello aside on the stand that came with it and sat next to Vinyl.

"Well? Did anything come back to you?" Vinyl asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not." Just as the unicorn started to feel a small sadness creep up Octavia continued. "But I know it's right. I'm meant to play this, it's my destiny."

"I knew it, I could tell on some level. Must be some kind of musical intuition." She filled their glasses once again. "I'd say that calls for a celebration. Welcome Octavia, back to the musical world."

*****

The two mares leaned against each other on the couch, heads slightly fuzzy as they drank more of their non-alcoholic drinks. An hour had passed as Octavia continued to play for Vinyl before becoming too tired and resorting to leaning against her on the couch.

"Vinyl, why did you take me in?" Octavia asked a question that had been plaguing her mind since the day she met the DJ.

"I told you. You needed help and I wasn't going to let you suffer out in the cold when I could do something about it."

"No, the real reason." Vinyl looked surprised at that. "There has to be more than just wanting to help somepony. You don't just look at a homeless stranger then agree to let them sleep in your bedroom when you have no other room of your own." Vinyl seemed to be at a loss for words from that deduction. True, she hadn't welcomed the strange mare simply to help out, but she never gave it much thought as to why she had.

"I don't know really. I just felt like I needed to do this. I don't know. Helping a suffering pony, wanting a new friend, making up for past mistakes?" Why did she let her into her life? The question began to eat away at her as she thought back to her dream. Was I just lonely?

"Whatever the reason I'm glad you did. I might've died out there and no one would've paid me attention until the snow melted and my corpse was found." She looked at Vinyl with grateful eyes. She saw a golden opportunity as she had a good position to remove the unicorn's sunglasses. She remembered how she had never seen them and how Vinyl hadn't answered her about why she always wore sunglasses. "Vinyl...why do you wear those sunglasses? You never told me."

"I didn't?" Vinyl gulped as she looked at the earthpony's pleading eyes. She sighed as she began to speak. "It's stupid. I don't like ponies being able to see my eyes. I have trouble looking others in the eye and...they give me confidence. I got picked on because of how my eyes looked when I was in school and I-" She felt Octavia shift as she rolled onto her stomach and began to climb up Vinyl, eyes looked on those polarized lenses. "-don't...want...uh...Tavi?"

Octavia slowly reached up to take the glasses in her hooves. She stopped when Vinyl winced, but soon continued as she made no move to stop her. She lifted the glasses off her head and and gazed at Vinyl's closed eyes. Slowly her eyes opened, revealing two shining ruby red eyes. Vinyl look suddenly vulnerable and nervous as she saw her eyes reflected in Octavia's amethyst eyes.

"Vinyl?"

"Y-yeah?" The word was no louder than a whisper. Slowly Octavia climbed over Vinyl, eyes locked on those two ruby orbs.

"I don't think that champagne was non-alcoholic." She whispered in reply.

"What do you me-" Vinyl's sentence was cut off as Octavia drew closer and closer, now only centimeters away from Vinyl's lips.

*****

Octavia found herself outside in an all too familiar place once again. She looked to see an all to recognizable hill with a familiar cart barreling toward her. She braced herself for the painful impact as it knocked her from her hooves once again. She was surrounded by darkness once again, the same ringing sounding though her ears. She saw her injured form looking up at her once again, mouthing the same word over an over again.

The dream was the same as it always had been, Octavia staring at her bloodied form smiling sadly at herself. Just as her prone form was about to fade out of existence she heard hoofsteps. The unfamiliar sound drawing her attention as she saw an all too familiar white coat and two tone electric blue mane approach the injured form of Octavia. Wordlessly the mare placed a hoof on her mane and started to stroke it. Octavia closed her eyes as she felt that hoof against her own mane, comforting her. The distant sound of a cello accompanied by a lyre broke through the loud high pitch ringing and soothed Octavia to a better sleep.

Author's Note

For those that don't read my blogs, I set myself a deadline to have this chapter done and published on Christmas morning at 6 am-ish CST, I figured it would be a good contribution to Christmas especially since this chapter is Horse Christmas. Again this chapter just wrote itself and I like when that happens because it throws ME off, and I'm the author! Truth be told I feel a chapter could write itself and totally bomb and I wouldn't mind mostly because my mind and subconscious seem to know what they're doing better than I do when I TRY to write. If a chapter sucks then it has to be some sort of setup for a later time. That's not to say I don't try to put a lot of love and effort into these, the last thing I want is to write a terrible chapter.
Anyway, this one was difficult to write as this is the halfway point of the story and the turning point. Things are gonna be different and start to change at this point. I'm not going to allude to anything of course, spoilers and whatnot. I had fun writing this as I am bringing a couple things to a head but also because this is a good way to compress the story and make it easier on me while also giving me more to work with.
I noticed I doubt myself and my writing a lot. I'll throw something out there and be surprised when my proofreader tells me there isn't any major thing wrong and that I can upload as is. I of course go through and fix typos and change a few sentences to work better, but then again you'd be surprised how many people DON'T do that. I need to have more confidence in my work despite how bad I think it is, I'll always disagree with my own work.
One thing I know some (not all) will disagree on is my take on Vinyl's eyes for a couple reasons. Yes I know her eyes are magenta and not red, but that's close enough to me. There are two things from WAY back in the day for the brony fandom that I am a traditionalist on through and through, one of them being that Vinyl having red eyes. Don't like it, look at the tags and note the Alt. U. tag on there, boom, now you can stop ruminating on it. Another thing I've noticed is in a lot of fanfiction there is a constant theme of Octavia being stunned to see Vinyl's eyes for the first time (in fanfics where she hasn't already seen them) and I never really understood that. It adds a nice touch in the feels department but to me Octavia isn't the type of gal to just be flabbergasted at seeing someone's eyes for the first time, even if their the eyes of her best friend and they're an unconventional color such as red. Either way you look at it, I feel like it works and brings things together just fine.
Last, as some may noticed, I filled this chapter with references. Some are subtle and some are in your face, kudos to anyone who can see them all. And no I'm not sorry for that painful Aerosmith pun. That pun made ME mad, so of course I left it in to piss people off. Thanks everyone, next chapter should see a large change and should start moving even further forward and even slightly faster as I start to continue current unexplored arcs and start bringing more seriousness to this story.