The Gray Area

“You know, when the Princess signed us up for this, I didn’t realize she made you the boss.” Vinyl’s voice was low and obviously quite irked, repeating clacks of her hoof upon the floor offering a white noise of irritation. Violet eyes belonging to the “boss” rolled with repaid frustration, bitterness lacing the voice that followed.

“I am the boss because I am ALWAYS the boss Vinyl. You have proven time and again that you cannot be trusted.” Octavia’s nose dipped in a curt nod, as if it settled the matter entirely. This of course provoked a reaction from the unicorn that involved no less than three different expressions of offense. The DJ cycled through them as dramatically as possible, making sure the gray musician saw each and every one of them.

“Can’t be trusted? Pft. PFT! PFFFFT!” She was practically spitting with how aggressive she was being, making it somewhat hard to mask the intent of getting a reaction from the earth pony. “How can you say that when Krysta here speaks so good now thanks to my bodacious mouth words? I’ve totally given her a boss vocabulary, dig?” A white hoof shook towards the human who had remained silent up until this point, that signature smirk planted firmly upon knowing lips. The purposeful butchering of the language caught Octavia so off guard that she couldn’t find her own words to correct it.

Krysta violently shook her head from behind a piano, causing the collection of braids adorning her crown to light slap against her neck and shoulders. “No no no! I am not part of this. Neutral, neutral!!” She crossed her arms in front of her in an ‘X’, her lips exposing her clenched teeth in a fearful grimace. A little over a month now of lessons and music and the human still couldn’t fathom how these two fought so often. Having a much stronger grasp of the language only confused her more as such events rarely held sense thanks to Vinyl’s antics.

“You can’t use that! That’s mine!” Vinyl whined to the human as her “neutral” tactic was used against her. Octavia snapped out of her lingual misery and turned the tables when the opportunity presented itself, prodding the DJ in the ribs hard enough to extract a small yelp.

“Ha! You have no power here, Vinyl Scratch. Now begone! Return with what we seek or perish in the attempt!” Octavia made sure her tone and emphasis fell into the right places, making it obvious she was quoting something specific. It was an ongoing game of theirs involving references to popular culture, each one a challenge to the other to guess the works they originate from.

Vinyl recognized the challenge and pursed her lips, whatever amusement she had garnered now quickly evaporating. In what barely constituted more than a growl she admitted defeat and turned about, grumbling heavily about obscurity as she pushed through the double doors of Octavia’s palace room. Krysta watched her go with a gentle laugh while Octavia was positively beaming at her victory.

The human’s own amusement was just as quickly vanished as the earth pony turned her attention back to the piano. “Now then Krysta, while Vinyl fetches us drinks let us try again. This is a simple exercise and you are a smart girl. Control your fingers. It is no harder than simple math.” The musician was confident in her advice, obviously having given it numerous times in the past. It was equally obvious that Krysta had heard this same advice numerous times, the deadpan she wore only betrayed by a small twitch in her cheek.

Octavia said nothing and merely smiled at the human’s expression, patiently waiting for her student to begin. The musician had dealt with worse in the past. It was a simple matter of repetition in her book, and Krysta was the one who wanted to learn, so she was content to wait. As predicted the human could only huff before she adjusted her posture and laid out her fingers upon the keys.

Ascending notes began to fill the room as part of a scale, their rhythm and timing strained thanks to a lack of confidence. Despite this she worked her fingers over the keys and coaxed her practice sheet out of them, her eyes rarely looking away from the motions. Normally Octavia would point out the bad habit of watching one’s keys while they played but she was well aware of how timid Krysta could be. That, and the fact that this particular attempt numbered somewhere in the eighties. At this point Octavia was willing to give Krysta any benefit she could if it meant hearing the piece played correctly at least once.

Progress was not to be found however as fumbling fingers played out wrong notes, a groan of frustration almost growling from the human’s chest. Octavia matched the groan with a sigh, peering at the clock tower through one of the windows. They had been at it for several hours now on Krysta’s insistence, yet the earth pony was feeling more and more unsure. This much practice should have shown some sort of progress, yet there was almost none to speak of. If Octavia didn’t know any better she might think the human was doing it on purpose.

Krysta’s frustration proved her sincerity well enough however, lithe fingers wishing they could curl up into fists and teach these keys a thing or two. Octavia waylaid this plan by walking behind the girl and resting her chin upon her shoulder. “Relax. Deep breaths. We can do this.” A gray hoof urged one of Krysta’s hands back into place, hoping the physical connection would help the young lady in some way as it did her when she was a filly.

The human nodded and took her breaths, adjusting her hands before once again starting the piece.

~~~~~~~~~~

A few more hours had passed with little success, especially after Vinyl’s return. Distracting was only one of many words Octavia lovingly used to describe the unicorn, but even without the DJ’s antics this evening had seriously drained everyone involved. Krysta looked ready to strangle something, Octavia couldn’t stop a particularly adamant eye twitch and Vinyl was in the middle of making a couch fort. It was as if progress had decided to take a day off.

Octavia thought about the situation until she loudly clopped her hoof onto the tile, snapping the other two out of their own thoughts/fort construction. “Vinyl, I think tonight requires some stress relief.” Her tone was that of a general suggesting the use of a secret weapon, serious and grave. A couch cushion flung across the room as Vinyl shot up from under it, glasses pulled down on her snout so the musician could see her widened eyes.

“Woah… Are you sure? It has only been like, two months since last time.” Vinyl extracted herself from the cushions, leaving her fort for later. “I know of a place tonight that opens soon but it is pretty heavy. Is it ok for Krysta?” The DJ’s voice lacked any kind of jovial intonations, instead it matched the gravity of Octavia’s own.

Krysta for her part looked as though something crawled up her leg, eyes hurriedly glancing between the two of them. Her lessons had taken her far up to this point, and she understood the words more or less, but the confusion that lingered about their topic worried her. Both ponies looked upon the girl with appraising stares, eventually leading Octavia to nod.

“Yes. If nothing else it will be good to experience it. Your vocal lessons are important but they hardly express what you are, as you say, ‘about’. Wouldn’t you agree?” Vinyl nodded and Octavia stood from behind the piano and stretched. “Very well. I am going to start getting ready. In the meantime please offer Krysta a brief explanation.”

Trusting Vinyl to know what she was doing in this particular regard Octavia made her way into the bathroom, grabbing a large bag on the way in. When the door clicked shut Vinyl sat in front of Krysta and lifted her glasses off her face, an unsettling grin firmly planted upon her lips.

“Krysta, tonight is the night I blow your mind. Tonight, we are taking you to a rave.”