Light as a feather

• Chapter 19 -

A huge grin was plastered on Vinyl’s face as she bobbed her head to the music wafting through the still Canterlot air. Amber couldn’t help but watch her, wondering just what it was she was listening to and why he couldn’t hear it. The soulful heart rending composition which Octavia was currently playing wasn’t worthy of a smile much less a head bob.

“What are you doing?” Amber whispered nudging her gently in the ribs.

“This song is perfect,” Vinyl replied in a hushed whisper. “For the wicked sick beat I’ve been working on.”

“Wicked sick…beat…” Amber wondered aloud before sighing in resignation. He gave a trivial smile ignoring Vinyl’s continued head bobbing the remainder of Octavia’s set, which lasted another thirty minutes. He watched intently as the grey pony bowed, appreciative of her audience given how small a crowd had gathered. Her eyes found his and she smiled, nudging her head to one side. He took that as an invitation and prodded Vinyl again. “Come on, there’s somepony I want you to meet.”

“Is it over already?” The unicorn muttered confusedly, looking as if she had just woken from sleep.

“Were you even listening?” Amber muttered.

The pair made their way along the edges of the gathered ponies, many of whom remained where they had been eager to watch the next pony, a cream colored filly with a purple mane carrying what looked to be a violin. Octavia was behind the temporary stage amid a group of admiring fans.

“You know her?” Vinyl squealed, realizing who Amber had intended her to meet. Before Amber could explain that it had only been for a couple of hours two days ago, the grey earth pony excused herself from the huddle of fans.

“Did you enjoy the performance?” The grey mare asked as she approached them.

“That was perfect!” Vinyl burst quivering from nose to tail tip. Amber had half expected her to fall asleep during the show, not silently arrange music while listening to Octavia perform, and even less so get excited over meeting the classical musician. Amber wouldn’t have pegged her for the type to appreciate it much less incorporate it into her own composition.

“P…Perfect?” Octavia stuttered. “It was far from perfect…”

“I’m telling you it was!” Vinyl insisted. “What you just played, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

“What is she talking about?” Octavia wondered giving Amber a questioning stare as Vinyl rambled to herself. “She makes um, music…” Amber explained. “Not like you, it’s more uh…electronic? She’s been composing something in her head for the past thirty minutes.”

Octavia smiled slightly, the smile of a mare unsure of whether she should be grateful or disappointed. Vinyl had scampered off somewhere and before Amber noticed had returning with a quill and a slip of sheet music. She wrote her name and address on the paper, ignoring the lines and notes already on it.

“Go here tonight. It’s the club where I work and sleep usually, so odds are I’ll be there, unless I’m with him.” Octavia flicked her eyes in the colt’s direction a moment before returning them to the blabbering unicorn beside him. “If I’m not there wait, get a drink, and mingle with the ponies! If the blowhard behind the bar gives you any lip tell him to put it on my tab.” Vinyl said quickly as she handed the paper to Octavia.

“You want me to meet you here,” The mare began her eyes quickly scanning the paper. Amber wondered if she could even understand what was written as he peered at Vinyl’s atrocious hoofwriting. “And you want me to bring my instrument?”

“And I won’t take no for an answer!” Vinyl amended. For a moment it looked as if Octavia was about to run but slowly her uneasiness became approval and she nodded her smile returning, albeit hesitantly. “I guess…I guess I could use a change of venue.”

“Thank you!” Vinyl shouted throwing her hooves around the startled grey pony. After a moment of uncertainty Octavia quickly patted her on the back, before the unicorn nonsensically trotted away, a giddy smile on her lips.

“She’s um, interesting?” Octavia said watching Vinyl’s retreating form a moment.

“You have no idea.” Amber said with a smile. “My name is Amber by the way. I didn’t introduce myself when we met the other night.”

“Octavia,” The mare replied with a casual bow, “But you can call me Tavi, if you’d like.”

--

The white unicorn was walking slowly beside the taller colt, her hooves scrapping the cobbled pathway on which the pair walked. The park was bustling with a myriad of activities, from family outings to couples dates. Amber flicked his ears around listening to the laughter of foals as they played, catching snippets of conversation as they passed mares discussing the latest gossip. A light smile played on his lips as he watched the pegasi creating the cloud formation above that was to be the venue for that evening’s event.

Being an earth pony, not known for walking on anything but the solid ground he wondered just how he was meant to accomplish such a feat. Was it a disqualifier meant to sort the contestants in favor of the pegasi?

“Hey,” Vinyl said quietly, stealing the colt’s attention from the sky. She was chewing on her bottom lip, a frown on her face. “Did you really mean it?”

“Mean what?” He asked his brow furrowing. Vinyl had moved toward a patch of grass vacant of anypony else and flopped down onto it her shades flipped up onto her mane. The contrast of her eyes was shocking and hypnotic and Amber quickly turned his gaze away lest he get pulled in again.

“You weren’t lying when you said you liked me?” She inquired her voice worried. The colt sat near her, returning his gaze to the sky. “I meant it.” He answered. “Does it bother you?”

“A little,” She admitted rolling to her side so she was facing away from him, her hoof tracing shapes in the grass idly. “It might sound strange but stallions have always repulsed me, even when I was a little filly. I’ve never been attracted to them, not like I am with you, but there’s something about it that just, feels wrong, like it’s something I shouldn’t be doing. Last night, when I realized just how much I liked you…it scared me.” Vinyl admitted. “It still does.”

“Then why did you do it?” Amber asked an aching tightness in his chest. He wouldn’t say he was ‘in love’ but the thought of losing Vinyl hurt too much to think about. She understood more than anypony else what it was like to be hated.

“You’ve done more for me in three days than anypony has my entire life and I don’t know how to repay you for it.” She mumbled. “I guess I’m just afraid I’ll never get the chance to show you how much it means to me having you as a friend.”

“You can start by calling me Amber.” The colt answered a laugh clearly evident in his tone. “Calling me ‘Feathers’ draws far too much attention to my flank.”

“But I like your flank,” She answered as she got to her hooves. “So instead of that...”

Amber’s abashed smile quickly turned to surprise as her field magic enveloped him. He let out an astonished cry as he was lifted off of the grass and into the air, the difficulty of lifting his weight evident in the strained expression across Vinyl’s face. Her bubble of magic popped quite suddenly dropping the colt into a rather small body of water, larger than a pond, yet to small to be a lake. He broke the surface moments later, his mane plastered to his forehead, water dripping into his eyes. A wicked grin teased his own lips as he quickly made for the shore.

“Oh it’s on!”

--

“Is this your first time up?” The pegasus stallion observed noticing the nervous discomfited gait with which Amber walked. The rusty colt smiled sheepishly at his companion, a pale blue stallion with a blue and white mane, acting as his tour guide in Rainbow Dash’s stead. The vibrantly colored mare was currently indisposed with her search for the various members of the Wonderbolts, an autograph book and pencil in hoof. “Don’t worry your scruffy little head; I’ll be sure to catch you should you tumble.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Amber answered as he cast his attention toward what appeared to be socially gathered groups of the remaining contestants whom he recognized by looks alone. The stallion at his side was one of them, a talkative pony who had a serious wing issues. He couldn’t seem to settle on whether or not to hover or walk and his wings seemed to constantly shift between folded and spread. He offered up a cheeky grin and an apology as he barely missed clipping Amber with one of his wingtips. “I don’t know about you but I didn’t think I’d make it this far.”

“This far?” Amber wondered. So much had happened in the short time he’d been here that he had no idea what day it was much less where in the contest they were. He hadn’t even bothered looking at his scroll in the time between playing with Vinyl and seeking out Twilight as the start time of the contest drew near. The magically gifted unicorn had lifted him up to the clouds with relative ease, an amazingly nauseating sensation he recalled. He could still feel a slight tingle in his hooves, lingering effects from what she explained was a spell allowing ponies not of the pegasi variety to traverse the clouds.

“This here’s the semi finals.” The stallion clarified.

“That would explain the significantly dwindled contestant ratio,” Amber thought out loud as his gaze trailed over the last of the recognizable contestants, fifteen if his count was right. There were far fewer unicorns than he’d hoped, but seeing as it was such a strenuous undertaking to get up here he supposed he was just lucky Twilight Sparkle knew a cloud walking spell and had been more than willing to use it on him.

“Be lucky you aren’t one of them.” The stallion said as he nudged Amber in the ribs and swung his wing toward a couple of ponies leaning into buckets. The earth pony gave a wry smile at that, his own quelled nausea rising at the sight of the pair. Before he could succumb to his urge to vomit he was gratefully interrupted by a familiar winged blue mare.

“Hey Amber got a minute? I ran into a pony looking for you,” She said, ignoring the stallion at Amber’s side. “A grey unicorn, said you owed him a favor and he was looking to collect.”

Amber let out a groan.

“Does it have anything to do with last night?” The mare questioned after a moment of hesitation, the inner struggle visible in the expression on her face and the note of bitterness in her suspicious tone. Amber blinked, taken aback by the sudden accusation. “Why would you think that?”

“Because Fluttershy has been crying her eyes out since she got back from there,” Rainbow explained her tone softening a bit as she realized she may have revealed too much. Too late to take back her words she decided that it warranted an explanation if nothing else. “She’s locked herself in the bathroom and won’t come out.”

“She’s been in the bathroom since last night?!” Amber asked genuine concern in his voice as he cast his eyes to the sky. Night had already begun to set in. Rainbow felt a twinge of relief at hearing his concern, immediately berating herself for thinking otherwise. She couldn’t let her loyalty to Fluttershy get in the way of her budding friendship with Amber as weak and near nonexistent as it was.

“More or less...” The mare responded. “Look, I don’t know what exactly happened between you two but I’m worried about her alright? Can you just, I don’t know, talk to her or apologize or something?”

“You think she’ll listen to me?” Amber asked.

“Well, she’s not listening to any of us,” Rainbow Dash replied, “And it is kind of your fault…” The colt gave her a withered glare which she answered with a sheepish smile, “Guilt trip too much?”

--

“Come on out sugarcube.” Applejack said gently, doing her best to coax the yellow filly out from the bathroom in which she had ensconced herself. The door was locked and short of bucking it open, assuming that was something three non pegasi ponies with cloud walking abilities could accomplish, her three worried friends were out of ideas.

“This is my fault.” Twilight replied with a sigh as she paced discontentedly. “I shouldn’t have left them together! If I had gone instead…”

“I don’t see how that would have made a lick of difference.” AJ replied. “If Amber’s gone and found himself a filly other than Fluttershy then there’s no way finding out later would have hurt the poor thing any less.”

“Fluttershy dear, other ponies need to use the restroom,” Rarity coaxed, looking as if she genuinely meant what she was saying. Rainbow slid to a stop in between her friends while Amber stumbled over the tufts of cloud until he too was among them. “Do you mind if I try?”

The three mares watched as Amber stepped up to the door resting his hoof on the cloud surface. Normally it would have sunk in; dumping his entire body through the cloud layer then through the cloud floor before plunging headlong to the ground waiting far below, but as it was the cloud reacted like any solid door would and held his weight as he leaned against it. He spoke softly realizing from previous encounters how fragile the filly was. “Fluttershy, it’s Amber. Can we talk?”

He got no spoken response from the filly but he could hear her sniffle from beyond the door. He pressed his ear against the cloud finding that unlike his hooves his face was not immune to the effects of the clouds. He pulled it out flicking the built up moisture away with a swift shake.

“I’m sorry about Vinyl.” He said aware of the curious stares burning into his back. Only Rainbow Dash understood fully what he meant, even better than Fluttershy. No pony caught the flush across her face as she recalled the previous night’s events. Amber took a breath before he continued, thinking on his words carefully. “I know she didn’t mean to hurt you and were she here now I’m sure she would apologize. She’s a good pony, but her life is a little messed up right now. She…She meant nothing by it.”

Amber waited for a reply but like before he received nothing. “If you want to talk about it, then I’ll listen, okay?” Disappointed by her lack of response he waited only a moment more before slowly backing away from the door. Applejack placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder noticing the visible disappointment in his stance. “You’ll be late for your shindig ifn’ ya don’t hurry. We’ll keep an eye on her and let you now if she changes her mind, that all right with you?”

Amber nodded smiling slightly appreciative of the gesture. Rainbow Dash watched him trot away her head aching with misplaced aggression. She vented her frustration with a hoof strike on a cloud pillar, puffs of misplaced condensation sprinkling to the clouds surface. “Damn!”