The living room was near silent, with only the crackling of the fireplace filling the air with noise and warmth. After a few moments of exchanging awkward glances, Octavia cleared her throat and stood up from her chair. “Well, I think I’ll go make myself a cup of tea. Does anypony else want tea? I’m making tea.” Octavia hastily maneuvered into the kitchen as Vinyl sat there with the two fillies.

“Uh, mom,” Spark said, looking to Vinyl. “There wasn’t anything in there about the hotel room…”

“I didn’t hear anything like that either!” Ballad added. “Did you make that part up at the start?”

“Uh…well, ya see…it’s kinda like…um…hey, Octy, need help making that tea? You girls just chill in here by the fire, I’m gonna go help your mom.”

“But mom didn’t call-“Ballad tried to say.
“Chilling by a fire doesn’t make sense, mom!” Spark yelled out.

Ballad deadpanned at her sister. “…Really? That’s the part you picked up on first?”

“What? Fire doesn’t work that way, sis.”

Vinyl rushed into the kitchen and, after assuring her girls were out of earshot, spoke. “Hey, uh, Octy, listen, I’m sorry about-“

“Bringing up the truth?” Octavia answered for her. “We had agreed never to bring that up in front of the children, Vinyl! You said you’d stick to the lie to avoid embarrassing me in front of our own little fillies!”

“Octy, I swear, I’m sorry!” Vinyl cried. “I wasn’t even thinking about that when I was reading it back just now. I wanted to write it one-hundred-percent true, and it completely slipped my mind.”

“I don’t think you should continue reading the story, Vinyl,” Octavia said monotone. “I think that’s more than enough for one evening.”

“Octy…”

Octavia walked past Vinyl and began heading up the stairs. “Vinyl, if you wouldn’t mind, please put out the fireplace. Or don’t if it’s too cold. After all, you’re staying down here tonight.”

Vinyl remained silent as Octavia bucked her door shut. She somberly walked back into the living room, where her daughters were still sitting in front of the fire, arguing about one thing or another.

“And so then he said…oh, hey, mom! What happened?”

Vinyl sighed. “Well...your mom and I had a bit of a fight, and I’m gonna stop the story. I shouldn’t have told you girls how your mother and I really first met.”

“But…what was wrong with it?” Ballad asked.

Vinyl’s ears perked up. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, all relationships get off to a rocky start, don’t they?” asked Spark. “You told us that back when I first asked how you and mom got together.”

“Well…yeah, I guess that’s true,” Vinyl said, absent-mindedly nodding in agreement. “But I made a promise to her…I swore I’d never speak of that night again. What I did wasn’t the worst thing a pony could do, but it wasn’t all that good either.” Vinyl sat silent for a few moments, trying to take in the situation. “Hey, either of you girls wanna go see if your mom’s okay? I don’t think she’d be too happy to see me walk into our room.”

“I’ll go check on her!” Spark exclaimed, rushing up the stairs immediately. Vinyl blinked, staring very confusedly at the stairs.

“Uh…you know why she jumped up so quickly, Ballad?” Vinyl asked.

“She wants to hear more of the story,” replied Ballad.

Vinyl sat in silence again for a few seconds, then chuckled. “It would be that simple, wouldn’t it?”

“Mom, are you okay?” Spark said in a slightly loud whisper, leaning up against the door to her parents’ room.

“Who’s there?” Octavia replied. “Is that you, Spark? Did Vinyl send you up here?”

“Kinda-sorta,” the filly said.

“Well, then you can leave, because I’m not coming back down no matter how badly she wants me there.”

“But I want you to come back down too, mom,” Spark said, “And so does Ballad. We wanna listen to the rest of the story together.”

“But…you heard what she did to me,” Octavia said, her voice audibly quivering slightly. “She abandoned me that night. She didn’t even consider showing up.”

“But it was before she really knew you, mom! You’re still with her now, what difference does the past make?”

Octavia shifted, hopping off the bed and moving towards the door slowly. “…I suppose you’re right. Very well, I’ll return to the living room and continue listening to the story. I’m still not happy with Vinyl, but…” Octavia opened the door and pulled the filly into a hug. “I’ll do this much for you, dear.”

Octavia and Spark walked back down the stairs, and Vinyl quickly rushed to the foot of the steps. “Octy, I’m so glad you’re back down here, I-“

“I don’t want to hear it, Scratch,” Octavia scoffed. “I came down again for my children, not you.”

Vinyl retracted and her expression dropped. “Oh. Okay. That’s fine, as long as you’re here. So you don’t mind if I continue with the story?”

“If my girls want to hear the rest of it, then I suppose I don’t have much of a choice, now do I?”

Vinyl sighed deeply and returned to her chair in the living room, and Octavia and the two fillies sat back down in front of the fireplace. “So, before I keep going, anypony have any questions?”

“Did you ever date anypony else?” Spark asked suddenly, and then suddenly received a swift hoof to the back of her head. “Ouch, Ballad, what was that for?”

“It was for asking a stupid question!” Ballad replied. “Mom already feels bad about telling the story. I think any further inquiries of-“

“A few, actually,” Vinyl finally replied, both interrupting and shocking Ballad.

Ballad quickly followed up her question with another. “And…you’re okay with talking to us about them?”

“As long as your mom doesn’t mind,” Vinyl replied, looking to Octavia. “Octy…what do you say?”

Octavia scoffed. “You’re actually asking for my input after what happened no more than an hour ago?”

Vinyl frowned. “Octy, please, I don’t wanna keep going unless it’s okay with you. I’m sorry about before, I should have come to you before I started reading the story.”

Octavia took a deep breath before speaking. “Oh, fine. If it will satisfy you, I don’t mind you talking about your…other relationships.”

“Okay, then…thank you, Octavia.” Vinyl cleared her throat. “So, anyway, after the night I did my first set, I started hanging out with Neon and his crew a lot more …y’know, on those rare chances the club had to be closed, or somepony else had the sets for the night. After a few months of just spending time with them…I started falling for Neon Lights.”

Author's Note

First intermission! This one took as long to write as one of the actual chapters because writer's block. So, next up is probably Boundary of Friendship and Magic. I hope.