Chapters On a day much like the rest, the young fillies and colts of the small town of Ponyville were hard at work in the small schoolhouse. Today, however, was a very special day indeed.
It was a test day.
One particular filly was hard at work, scribbling furiously on her paper. At the top, next to the name section, was the name “Octavia,” but most of the other ponies called her “Tavi.” Mostly because “Oct” sounds weird. Still, it was written in very neat cursive and was colored a lively pink. Her answers were well-written, neat, and thorough. Though she did enjoy the occasionally mathematical problem, she felt slightly disappointed at the lack of difficulty.
Still, she thought, it’s better than any physical exam. She shuddered, thinking about the dreaded “fun run” that they were sometimes unfortunately sentenced to. There was nothing fun about it, nor did it involve any running for that matter. However, the fact that they were forced to participate in vigorous activities such as these was quite terrible.Such activity is for the thick-headed neanderthals that are also referred to as, “jocks.”
She looked down at her test and paused for a moment, almost losing her train of thought. Octavia shook her head quickly, letting her focus on her paper. Examining it, she smiled slightly as she realized she had finished. She set down her pink pen and looked out the window, waiting for the rest of the class to be done. She sighed, yearning to be back home with her cello so she could try her hand at a new Beethoofen piece she’d been practicing.
“Alright class, time is up! I have a feeling this batch will be the best tests we’ve had so far!” Several writing utensils were heard to be slammed against the desks, and a few ponies groaned miserably. One brown colt in front of Octavia dropped his head to his desk, making a dull thud. To her surprise, he didn’t move at all, even after the teacher pulled his paper from under his head. It wasn’t that hard, was it? She wondered silently, watching her teacher make her way around the class, collecting all their tests.
When the teacher returned to the front, she set all of the papers neatly on her desk. Instead of beginning a new lesson like she usually did after a test, she brought everypony’s attention to the door. “Ahem! Class, today we have a big surprise in store for us. Would any of you like to guess what it is?”
A pink filly quickly jumped onto her desk, raising herself onto her back legs and proceeded to wave her forehooves in the air. “Is it a party?! I love parties! They’re so fun and have lots of food and streamers and cakes and balloons and dancing and-”
The teacher had to shout loudly to be heard. “Pinkamena! It is not a party! Now please, sit down and take your seat before you hurt yourself or somepony else.” The teacher then sighed,”like last time.” It was a known fact in the schoolhouse to avoid the pink pony when she was being wild. Which was all the time.
The pink filly then slowly brought her forehooves down and climbed off her desk back into her seat, amongst a small amount of snickering.
“Would anyone else like to guess what the surprise may be?” Several hooves shot up in the air, and one particularly brave colt decided to shout his guess out. “Is it the Wonderbolts??” The class started to get extremely excited at the thought. Octavia tried to cower in her seat as many of her classmates started to throw things and shout wildly. She looked around and noticed that someone had thrown a small book at the teacher, who narrowly avoided the book.
“ENOUGH!” she shouted, which was indeed enough to silence the class. Everypony slowly settled down back into their seats, much to Octavia’s relief. The teacher then huffed loudly before continuing. “Would anyone ELSE like to venture a guess as what it might be?”
Everypony was silent, with no hooves in the air. After a small pause, a voice was heard closer to the back. “Is it a sex scene with Princess Celestia?” The class erupted in fits of laughter as the teacher stood dumbfounded, blushing profoundly. She quickly regained her composure and got her students under control.
“Alright class. Since we couldn’t guess, I’ll just have to tell you it is: We have a new student! Isn’t that exciting?” She announced excitedly, waiting for any sort of enthusiasm to match her own. The whole class was silent, save for one cough. Even Octavia was less than enthused when she heard the news.
Slightly dejected, the teacher continued. “Class, I’d like you all to meet our new student. Come on in.” The door opened up, and in came a white unicorn filly with just a hint of yellow that you had to examine closely to notice. Her mane and tail were two shades of blue. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class?”
“Hey everypony, my name’s Vinyl Scratch, but you can call me Vinyl if you’d like. ‘Cause, you know, it’s shorter and stuff.”
“Thank you, Vinyl. Why don’t you take that open desk over there next to Octavia? Maybe she could be your first friend in class!”
Vinyl Scratch walked over to the empty desk and took a seat. She began to drum her hooves on the desk and hummed. Octavia had never heard such a beat as the one coming from the unicorn sitting next to her. She continued to watch the filly as she started to get increasingly intense with her drumming. At one point, Vinyl used pencils as drumsticks until she accidentally threw one. The pencil sailed through the air and hit the brown colt in front of Octavia, who then proceeded to let his head fall back to the desk with a slightly louder thump than last time. Again, he laid there, motionless.
Octavia stared at Vinyl with wide eyes, who had frozen in place. Vinyl slowly turned her head towards Octavia and smiled widely. Octavia smiled weakly back and looked towards the teacher, who had started a new lesson. She then slowly hopped her desk a few times away from Vinyl.
Vinyl noticed that Octavia was quickly getting away, and watched her until the two made eye contact. Octavia froze and stared back.
“Do you have any extra paper? I kinda don’t have any right now...” Vinyl asked Octavia.
Octavia stared blankly at Vinyl until she realized she was actually talking to her. Duh, she’s staring at you, Octavia thought. “Umm, yes. I should have an extra sheet or two.”
She lifted her desktop slightly to reach her school supplies. Amongst the various amount of pink pens, she had a plethora of other necessary and random school supplies. Locating the sheets of paper, she pulled a few out and shut her desk. Handing them over to Vinyl, she quickly returned to watching the teacher.
“Hey, thanks!” said Vinyl. She looked at the paper on her desk for a moment before looking back at Octavia. “Hey, uh... You wouldn’t happen to also have a pencil, would you?”
Octavia rolled her eyes slightly, realizing that she should have thought of that as well. Opening up her desk once again, she noticed a lack of pencils. She pulled one of her pink pens out and showed it to Vinyl, smiling uncertainly.
“That pink pen?” Vinyl stared at Octavia, who was worried that Vinyl wasn’t pleased. “That pink pen... Is totally awesome!!! Thanks!”
She sighed with relief as she gave the pen over to the grateful pony. Octavia then sat lazily back in her seat for a moment before grimacing at her posture. Sitting straight up, she quickly adjusted her small bow tie and looked at the teacher. Before long, her gaze slowly shifted over to the new pony next to her. The filly quickly noticed that Vinyl was watching the teacher, but absentmindedly chewing on the borrowed pink pen.
Octavia turned her attention back to the teacher, blanching at the thought of her newly chewed pen.She can have the pen, she thought mildly. It can be her gift of welcome. But never again will I proceed to let her borrow my pens.
After the teacher finished the lesson for the day, all of the young colts and fillies began to have conversations about what their plans for the rest of the day were. All of them were planning on being with their friends; all except Octavia, who was just fine with it. She would rather go straight home and play her cello. She had always dreamed of playing in the Royal Canterlot Orchestra, so she wanted to practice as much as possible. But just when she was about to leave the schoolhouse, Vinyl stepped in front of her.
“Hey, everypony else has plans with their friends, and I was wondering if you wanted to maybe hang out? You know, because we’re friends now?” Vinyl asked with wide, starry eyes. She had just moved to Ponyville the other day, and since Octavia was her first friend in Ponyville, she assumed this meant that they were entitled to hang out right away. Before Octavia could even think of an excuse as to why she wouldn’t be able to spend time with her new “friend,” Vinyl began talking again. “So do you wanna come over to my place, go to your place, or what?”
Octavia stared at her blankly, shocked by the way Vinyl was so blunt. Composing some form of thought, Octavia started, “Ummm, as much fun as that sounds, I-”
“Or maybe we could even venture into the-- Everfree Forest!!! That would be so cool! Let’s go!” Vinyl began to gallop away, towards the Everfree Forest, and Octavia just stood there watching her. As she watched Vinyl, Octavia thought of all of her possible options at this point.
One one hoof, if I start in the other direction, I may just be able to get away before she dares to see if I follow her. She grimaced at the idea of the small white pony surrounded by the Everfree Forest by herself. On the other hoof, Vinyl must have someone to watch over her, lest something bad happen. The conflict in her mind began to get more and more complicated every second. However, she’s a big filly... Octavia realized the irony of that thought, and conjured up an image of Vinyl being shadowed by a rather large beast. She needs a friend there.... Wait, did I just assume myself as her friend?! The thought of Vinyl and her as friends was both a sweet and scary notion. She is nice and all, but I fear for the safety of my precious pens! At this, Octavia began to notice a small dust cloud quickly growing from the direction Vinyl Scratch had headed. Worriedly, Octavia began to assume the worst. Maybe she is being chased! Perhaps it is an angry animal, maybe--- The dust cloud was now getting pretty close to Octavia. So close, in fact, that she could vaguely make out her “friend’s” small form in the dust.
What in the world---
Vinyl Scratch finally got into shouting distance of Octavia. “Hold on to your bow tie!!!” Vinyl
yelled to Octavia.
Octavia was only able to let out a small “Huh?” in confusion before Vinyl reached her and tackled her to the ground, upon which Octavia let out a quick “Hmph!”
“So, are you coming or what?” asked Vinyl. “The Everfree Forest isn’t going to explore itself, you know!”
The weight of the filly on top of her was making it rather hard to breathe, not to mention the tackling had left her without breathe. Octavia managed to wheeze a small reply. “Can’t. Breathe!”
Vinyl realized that her weight probably wasn’t helping and smiled weakly, embarrassed. “Oh, right. Sorry about that,” Vinyl said while getting off of Octavia. “So, Everfree Forest?”
After managing to gain precious air into her lungs, Octavia got up from the ground and dusted herself off vigorously before straightening her bow tie with an air of righteousness. Satisfied, she looked at the other pony with a resignation. “I assume I have no choice but to join you, don’t I?”
“That’s the spirit!” exclaimed Vinyl. “Come on! The Everfree Forest isn’t going to explo-”
“I believe you have already said that,” Octavia told Vinyl.
“No! I was gonna say... That the... That the everfree forest isn’t gonna explode !” said Vinyl, blushing slightly.
Octavia stood there, silently staring at Vinyl with a raised eyebrow. She was obviously not convinced. “It just so happens that explosions of the Everfree Forest are common occurance, is that it?”
“Maybe!” Vinyl said quickly. “So you comin’ or what?”
Octavia sighed resignedly and nodded slowly, eyes closed. She had a feeling where this was going: Nowhere good.
“So, if you haven't noticed yet, the Everfree Forest is...” Vinyl paused for a moment to look around. She finally pointed her hoof towards the obvious treeline of the Everfree Forest. “That way! Let’s go!”
As Vinyl raced towards the treeline, Octavia hung her head and slowly started towards what she felt might be her doom.
“Check it out, Octavia; the Everfree Forest.” Vinyl looked at the forest in awe, almost as if she hadn't just seen it from a distance before.
“Yes, it’s just as... Forest-y as it was five minutes ago.” Octavia replied sarcastically. Throughout their trek towards the forest, she had noticed many times where she could’ve made a hasty escape. Why didn’t I escape when I had the chance?! I could be at home performing a nice sonata, or part of a symphony... “Are you positive this is a good idea, Vinyl Scratch? I mean, we could have just as much fun at Sugarcube Corner. We might even be enticed to a cupcake or two.”
“Sugarcube Corner does sound good right now...” Vinyl put a hoof to her chin, in thought. “We should totally go there-” Octavia began to smile. “-after we’re back from our adventure!” The smile was short lived and replaced quickly with a frown. So close! Octavia thought bleakly.
Octavia gave in to her fellow pony, asking her next question bluntly, “So, what shall we do now that we are at the forest?”
“We’re going to explore, of course! Let us begin by heading that way!” Vinyl pointed her hoof towards the river that runs through the Everfree Forest. “We’ll follow that river further into the forest! You know, so we won’t get lost when we want to leave.”
Octavia thought this was actually a decent plan considering what she thought might be in Vinyl’s mind. So, she started to follow the white pony to the river. “You know, I had expected you to come up with something a lot crazier.”
“What? Why would you expect that ?” asked Vinyl, a little offended.
“Oh, I don’t know, I just felt like you would try to make this into some sort of ‘Daring Do’ adventure,” replied Octavia, cautiously starting into the forest next to the river.
“Daring Do? Never heard of it,” said Vinyl.
Octavia stopped in her tracks after carefully clambering over a large tree root. Mouth open, she was stunned. “Never heard of the adventurer Daring Do? Do you for some reason not know how to read a book?”
“What kind of accusation is that ? Of course I know how to read books!” Vinyl retaliated.
“Well then you would know who Daring Do is. She is only every filly’s role model growing up once they start reading.” Octavia narrowly avoided a low hanging branch that Vinyl released, not noticing Octavia was following closely.
“Obviously not every filly’s role model. My role model is MC Pony D.”
Octavia stared at her blankly. “Who is MC Pony D? I’ve never heard of anypony with such a strange name.”
“Who’s MC Pony D!? Are you kidding me!? MC Pony D is only the most awesome DJ EVER!!!” Vinyl said with a huge smile on her face. “When I grow up, I wanna be just like him!”
Octavia looked at her, a little scared as they continued walking. “But, what is a DJ?”
“You don’t know what a DJ is? DJ is short for disc jockey. They play the most radical music in the whole world!” Octavia continued to stare blankly at Vinyl. When Vinyl stopped to look back at Octavia, she smiled weakly at Vinyl in response and shrugged. “You know what? forget it. You’ll see when I become an awesome DJ! Now, what exactly does this ‘Daring Do...’ do?”
Octavia walked past Vinyl and flipped her mane. “Daring Do does everything. Not only does Daring Do explore the most exciting locales, she also finds hidden temples and treasures, lost civilizations, facing all manner of foes along the way and-- Are you listening to me?” Octavia looked back at Vinyl and noticed she was snoring loudly as she moved through some foliage. Annoyed, Octavia quickly swung her head back to the front and stuck her muzzle in the air petulantly before storming onward, making a loud hhmph! "How rude! At least she does something of value besides jockeying discs, whatever that means!”
“Yeah? Well at least MC Pony D isn't just some stupid storybook character!” Vinyl snapped at Octavia.
“I’ll have you know that she is a real pony!” Octavia countered, then quietly added, “I think.”
“Hold that thought,” said Vinyl, stopping and pricking up her ears. “Did you just hear something over there?”
Octavia stopped dead and started to look wildly around. “Where?! What? Something? Oh, I knew this was going to be a bad idea!” She quickly moved to Vinyl’s side and cringed. “Do you see anything?”
Blushing slightly, Vinyl put her hoof on Octavia’s head and stopped her from looking around. “Stop looking around all crazily like that; you’re gonna break your neck or something!” Vinyl moved Octavia’s attention to where she was pointing her other hoof. “Over there.”
Octavia made a small squeak before slowly backing away from where Vinyl was pointing. “Oh, this is about as much adventuring as I can take for one afternoon, so why don’t we start heading back and forget this ever happened.” Octavia turned back to where they had come from and was about to start running when she heard a noise coming from that direction. Jumping back at the noise, she resumed her hiding place by Vinyl, peeking over her and shaking.
“I think we’re being surrounded! Maybe we can get away by going that way!” Just as Vinyl and Octavia were about to make a break for it, another noise happened in that direction.
Another squeak escaped Octavia’s muzzle, and she slowly started backing up. Suddenly, her hoof slipped on the dirt and she looked to see that she was standing at the edge of the river. She looked down along the river and noticed no noise from that area. She called to Vinyl before running that way, “Vinyl! This way!”
Noticing Octavia making her way, Vinyl followed suit quickly. Immediately after they left the small clearing, the bushes started rustling ominously before several shapes moved out of the darkness... Several small bunnies came out and sniffed around, looking for the two ponies that were there just a moment before. Vinyl looked behind her in time to see the bunnies.
“We’re all doomed!!!!” she screamed, continuing to gallop behind Octavia.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Octavia screamed as she galloped as fast as she could along the riverbank, trying to avoid foliage as much as possible. She skidded to a halt when she saw what was up ahead: A fine drop directly into the river.
“Bunnies!!! Don’t stop!!!” yelled Vinyl Scratch, coming in behind Octavia. Octavia heard Vinyl and started to turn around, a look of confusion that quickly turned to panic.
“It was only bun--” Octavia was cut off when she was caught in yet another Vinyl tackle, but this one landed right into the river with a large sploosh .
The water shocked Octavia’s system, but she noticed it wasn’t too cold. She quickly found her way to the surface of the water and broke through with a loud gasp. However, her surfacing was being cut short as a heavy object was pulling her down. Panicking, she tried to push it off, but it was climbing up her body. A blue head broke through the water next to her, with a huge grin on its face.
“Ah yeah! That was totally AWESOME!” said Vinyl Scratch, whose mane was drooping down on her face. “We should do that again!!!”
Octavia stared at Vinyl, mouth wide open in utter astonishment. Recovering herself, she flipped her mane out of hair and then froze again. She felt her now soaking hair, then her soggy bow tie and gasped in shock. “My-my mane. My glorious mane! And my bow tie! Ruined! Absolutely decimated! I---” She stopped, and glared at Vinyl, who was staring at her wide-eyed. “You. You did this! You just had to tackle me into the river, because of bunnies! Do you have any idea how long it took me to do my mane? And my bow tie! I just had this dry-cleaned!” Octavia stopped and started to splash Vinyl furiously. “You she-devil!”
“Aaah! Stop! You’re getting the water in my eyes! It burns!!!” Vinyl began to rub her eyes vigorously. “You’ve blinded me! Now I’ll never become a DJ!”
Octavia did one last splash before stopping and crossing her forehooves while lifting her muzzle in the air. “Serves you right for bringing me into the forest and dragging me into the water.”
Vinyl stopped rubbing her eyes and opened them to look around. “Oh, I can see! Thank Celestia! And come on! You know that was fun!”
Octavia and Vinyl stared at each other, Octavia with a glare and Vinyl with a cheeky smile. Then Octavia splashed Vinyl one more time.
Before long, they were floating down the river past Ponyville. “Well, this looks like our stop,” said Vinyl Scratch. The two fillies swam themselves to the river bank and pulled themselves out of the river.
As they both got on the bank Vinyl shook vigorously, sprinkling Octavia with more water, who gasped in surprise. After Vinyl finished shaking, all her fur and mane fluffed up to give her a fluffy appearance. Octavia quickly shook off as well, and after ending up as fluffy as Vinyl, she set about wringing out her bow tie and straightening out her mane.
“What’s up with that little bow tie anyway?” asked Vinyl Scratch.
Octavia looked over at Vinyl as she was working on her mane, and decided to answer honestly. I guess she deserves to know. Clearing her throat, Octavia began, “Well, it was my mother’s. She would always wear it when she was a filly, and it was a sign of being sophisticated. She of course grew out of it, but I decided I wanted to be just like her.”
“That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard...” began Vinyl, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“It’s not that sweet," Octavia started, but noticing that Vinyl was tearing up decided to get up and sit with her. Blushing slightly, she rubbed a hoof on Vinyl’s back. “Come now; no DJ I know tears up over marestuff like that.” Standing up and fixing her bow tie again, she looked at Vinyl. “Now, you said you wanted to go to Sugarcube Corner. Are you prepared for that, you little soft filly?” Reaching her hoof out to Vinyl she asked, “friends?”
Vinyl Scratch looked at Octavia, wiped away the last of her tears, put her hoof against Octavia's, and said, “Of course! I just have something I've got to ask you.”
Curiosity piqued, Octavia looked at Vinyl questioningly, ”Yes, what is it?”
“Wanna go into the Everfree Forest again!?!?!?” With that, Octavia sighed, facehoofed, and shook her head.
House Sitting for Dummies
"... and that was the beginning of our friendship," Octavia finished the story. She quickly rested a glass down on the table beside the couch she and Vinyl were sharing. Their living room hosted the two on the couch and three fillies all doing their best to look as bored and sleepy as possible on three chairs.
A small orange filly with a purple mane said frustratedly, shifting herself on her seat on the left ,"I asked how you both got your cutie marks..."
"Oh, you were serious about that? Isn't it already obvious enough?" Vinyl Scratch asked the filly. “I mean, we’re musicians. How else would we get our cutie marks?”
Another small filly with a fluffy purple and pink mane looked at Scootaloo from her center seat, ”Yeah, Scoots, isn’t it already obvious enough?”
Scootaloo looked back at Sweetie Belle. “Well maybe if somepony hadn’t made me the one to ask about their cutie marks!”
“Ah’m pretty sure you’re the one who came up with this plan, Scootaloo,” said a third filly from her seat on the right. This one was yellow, had a reddish mane, and had a pink bow on top of her head.
Scootaloo glared at the filly in reply and quickly responded, “Well, at least somepony comes up with ideas to get our cutie marks, Applebloom!” This comment elicited a sharp gasp from Applebloom.
“Are ya lookin’ to tussle, Scoot? ‘Cause ah’m feelin’ like yer callin’ me dumb!” This caused all three fillies to jump at each other in unison and start brawling. This quickly became a cloud of dust on the floor as they fought it out, yelling at each other in a cacophony of sounds and voices.
Octavia frowned and looked at Vinyl, who shrugged back and continued to watch the three fillies. Slowly, she got off the couch and went into the kitchen before returning to her seat with a bag of popcorn. Vinyl offered some to Octavia, who shook her head politely. They both looked back at the brawl occurring on their living room floor, until Octavia cleared her throat loudly and addressed the group. “Excuse me Cutie Mark Crusaders, but would you mind-” She quickly ducked a stray bottle that was thrown from the fray as it smashed against the wall beside her head. Frowning even deeper, she turned to Vinyl and asked, “Would you mind?”
Vinyl responded by quickly shoveling a hooffull of popcorn in her mouth and chewed quickly before swallowing. She then yelled “Hey little fillies! I got some popcorn here! You gotta stop if you want some!” Octavia facehoofed at the attempt.
Vinyl flashed a bit of anger on her face before trying again. “Hey Scootaloo, wanna be my apprentice or something?” The three fillies continued to brawl, starting to knock over the chairs and shouting things about, “paragliding, stripping, and the uselessness of Sweetie Belle,” to which Sweetie Belle screamed and threw an elbow into Applebloom’s eye.
The two mares looked at each other before Vinyl visibly brightened with an idea. Hopping onto the couch, she quickly whispered into Octavia’s ear. Upon hearing the idea, Octavia quickly shook her head and crossed her forehooves, looking away.
Vinyl began to plead with Octavia, putting forward her hooves in a pleading gesture, to which Octavia quickly shook her head at. Vinyl then intensified her pleading, even lying on Octavia’s lap and shaking Octavia’s head. Dizzy, Octavia pulled away from the white pony’s grip and proceeded to push her onto the floor. Recovering quickly, Vinyl put her muzzle on Octavia’s lap and started pouting.
Just then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders smashed into the chairs and a coffee table with loud crashes. The two mares looked at each other after watching the ensuing scene unfold. Octavia facehoofed again and slowly nodded her head reluctantly. Vinyl raised her head with a huge grin, nodding vigorously in response. Octavia gestured with her hoof to the other room, to which Vinyl galloped quickly into. The sound of rustling was quickly heard from the other room as Octavia looked into a nearby nightstand, fishing around in the drawer.
When the sounds in the other room stopped, another sound began. This was the sound of something big scraping on the ground, getting closer and closer. Octavia hurriedly found two small earplugs and put them in her ears quickly, right as a giant subwoofer slid halfway through the door before stopping. There was a brief silence before Octavia dashed over to a nearby doorway and clung to it.
A song began to play in the room Vinyl was in, the bass being obviously louder for the ponies in the other room. After some time, Vinyl spoke. “Wait for it...” she said. “Waaait for iiit!” All of a sudden, a gigantic blast of bass came flying out of the subwoofer and straight into the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ faces. They got sent from the floor and crashing through a window. Octavia was barely able to hold on to the doorway, gripping for dear life as her hooves were lifted from the floor. Vinyl quickly pressed a button and turned off the large subwoofer, sending Octavia to the floor with a heavy thud .
Octavia sat up, taking out her earplugs before starting to fix her slightly frazzled mane and readjusting her bowtie quickly. “Well, that was at least sufferable this time through. When you are done putting away that monstrosity, will you please fix the window? I would rather them not try to attempt at reentry.”
“Broken window? What?” Vinyl walked through the door after putting the subwoofer back. She caught sight of the shattered remains of the window. “Ooooooooohhh... Well there’s also these gigantic scratch marks on the ground here; I have no idea where they came from... ” Vinyl looked at Octavia, who was beginning to look angry. “And why do I have to fix everything? Why don’t you ?” Octavia began to get red with anger. Vinyl took this as her cue to book it out the door. “You’ll never catch me alive!”
Octavia cursed the day she decided to share a house with the DJ mare. She jumped up and proceeded to chase after Vinyl, shouting as she did so. “You better get back here or I’m throwing your repulsive music in the oven!” She saw that Vinyl was taking the long road into Ponyville Square, so Octavia went down a different street, determined to cut her off.
Galloping as fast as she could, Octavia jumped over a small greyish blue colt and narrowly avoided the gangly orange colt next to him. She thought about apologizing, but knew that any delay might cost her her prey. How uncouth and unsophisticated I must look, she lamented. However, she knew it was a necessary evil.
Upon reaching the corner before the fountain at Town Center, Octavia slid to a stop and looked around. She had a feeling that Vinyl was here as she noted a small amount of chaos in the square. Several ponies were reorganizing their market stalls, and some were grumbling about a certain “blue-maned pony.”
Casting a gaze about the area, Octavia tried to figure out where the white mare was, but couldn’t see where she might’ve gone. She hadn’t gone past the fountain since no pony over there was upset. Looking to the sides of the fountain there were no doorways that were entered or anypony upset. She looked around behind her and couldn’t see any conspicuous ponies or possible hiding places.
Defeated, Octavia slowly approached the fountain and looked at the cascading water. She sat on the edge of the fountain and dipped her forehoof in, swirling around slowly. How could I let the scoundrel get the best of me? When she gets back to the house.... Octavia fumed, about to leave. Suddenly, she felt something hard in the fountain. Curious, she turned and looked to see a small piece of bamboo sticking out of the water.
What she realized was attached to it gave her grim satisfaction, seeing a white mare breathing out of the bamboo. However, as soon as she was about to pull Vinyl out of the water, Vinyl’s forehooves shot out and grabbed Octavia. With a quick squeak and a large splash, Octavia was pulled into the water.
As Octavia quickly sat up from the water, drenched, Vinyl tried to make a quick getaway. Unfortunately, Octavia was not going to lose her chance this time. Seething, Octavia quickly grabbed Vinyl by the waist and yanked her back. As Vinyl was pulled back, Octavia used this time to put Vinyl in a headlock, and began to furiously administer noogies.
“Stop! You’re killing me!” Vinyl screamed. She looked over at the ponies who were walking past the fountain. “Hey! Somepony help me from this mad mare!” None of the passersby even glanced towards the pony crying for help. “I hope you all enjoy my death being on your consciences!”
Octavia began to speak in a fed up tone. “How dare you drag me into this disgusting fountain after running away from your mess. You are about this -”
“Umm, Vinyl, Octavia, what are you two doing ?” The two mares froze and looked towards the source of this voice which was a bewildered purple unicorn with a pink streak in her mane.
Octavia slowly released her grip and both of them stared blankly at the mare, slowly turning red in embarrassment. Clearing her throat, Octavia smiled nervously before replying. “Oh, well good afternoon, Twilight. I was just, mrmmm-,” she quickly looked at Vinyl before looking back to Twilight, “-Saving Vinyl Scratch. She was drowning. Right, Vinyl?”
Vinyl was rubbing her head from the vigorous noogie. Looking at Octavia with confusion, she started to reply, “If by ‘save’ you meant ‘brutally murder,’ then you’re corre-” Octavia cut her off quickly with an elbow jab to the ribs which made Vinyl yelp and jump a little. Octavia gave a wider smile to Twilight, who stood there just as confused.
“Okay... Well, I was just wondering if you two would be willing to do me a big favor.”
“Does this favor happen to include becoming spies and performing high-end espionage?” Vinyl stared at Twilight questioningly.
Twilight looked back at Vinyl Scratch with a very confused look on her face. “...No...”
“I’m out!” Vinyl started to jump out of the fountain, but Octavia quickly grabbed Vinyl and pulled her back in, keeping her there. She glared at her friend before turning to Twilight.
“We would be delighted to help out a friend. However, what is this favor?”
“Excellent! Just what I was hoping for. Anyways, due to a freak Cutie Mark Crusader Unicyclists accident, my assistant Spike is unable to keep up with the chores at the library. I was hoping you two could do it for today, since he should be well enough tomorrow to resume his duties. What do you say, girls?” Twilight looked at the two excitedly.
Vinyl breathed in, about to decline the favor, but Octavia looked at her with narrowed eyes. Vinyl Scratch sighed and gave in. “I will accept, but only after you answer two little questions: First, what’s in it for us?” Octavia glared at her counterpart, but realized there was no harm in asking, so she kept quiet.
“ Well, how about a dozen of Pinkie’s Finest, and a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres Cider?”
“You had me at ‘a dozen!’ I’m in!”
“And your second question?”
“Oh yeah; will we be susceptible to freak accidents like the one Spike was injured in? Because I swear that seems like some kind of a requirement for working at the library.”
Twilight’s face dropped and she started to be nervous. “What? Pssh, no; no accidents in the library. What would give you that idea? You will be perfectly fine.” She was now the one smiling in an eery fashion, giving Octavia second thoughts.
Vinyl stared Twilight in the eyes for a few seconds before smiling widely and saying “Sounds good to me! Let’s go, Octavia!”
Octavia started to hesitate, but Vinyl quickly grabbed her by the hoof and started to energetically pull her towards Twilight’s house.
“--- And finally this shelf goes in alphanumeric genre order. Easy! Any questions?”
The two mares were so bored listening to the instructions, but now with a string of complicated tasks, they were both standing there in the library, dumbfounded. Octavia was the first to recover. She closed her mouth, and cleared her throat before replying. “So, I understand completely, but if Vinyl were to forget, is there anywhere where all the instructions are written out?”
“I will not forget, Octavia!” Vinyl Scratch was offended by Octavia’s assumption that she would forget, even though she already had.
Octavia glared daggers at her companion before whispering to Twilight, “Just in case.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I have them all right here!” She used her magic to bring over a scroll. Unrolling it, the scroll quickly unwound and released what could only be described as the longest scroll in history.
Vinyl definitely did not want to read that whole scroll; she would only be halfway through it when Twilight got back. Vinyl just then realized that she had no idea where Twilight was even going. “Hey, what are you even doing?” she asked.
Twilight was already gone.
“What the- When did she leave? She was standing right there just a second ago, and then...” Vinyl looked down at the scroll. “How long was I looking at that scroll for!?”
Vinyl looked around the room and noticed that Octavia was gone as well. She blanched and dropped the scroll, kicking it away as she proceeded to go find Octavia. Vinyl climbed up the stairs to Twilight’s bedroom, calling for Octavia.
“Octavia, where are you? This isn’t funny; this is actually a really creepy library!” Vinyl heard a low rumbling noise. “Who’s there!?” Vinyl called out. The sound happened again. “I swear to Celestia, I will attack you! Show yourself!”
Octavia peered around the door, immediately regretting the decision as Vinyl shot a bolt of blue magic at the wall next to her. “Celestia’s mane, Vinyl! What do you think you are doing, shooting at a mare like that? What were you even yelling about?”
Vinyl put a hoof to her mouth to shush Octavia. She then pointed her other hoof towards the basket at the other end of the room. “There are some weird noises coming from that basket over there.” Octavia carefully entered the room while Vinyl slowly walked over to the basket and looked at the mess of blankets inside of it. “What are you?...” She whispered, raising a forehoof to touch the bundle.
The blankets suddenly started thrashing about wildly, causing Vinyl to jump back and Octavia to scream and throw a nearby book at the mass. Upon a heavy impact, the bundled mass grunted loudly and slouched, unmoving. Octavia slowly approached, stopping where Vinyl was staring wide-eyed at the basket. Octavia whispered to her friend, “D-do you think I killed it?” Vinyl shrugged and crept over to the basket, quickly giving a light tap to the basket. The blankets didn’t move, so Vinyl decided to tap them. Heavily.
The blankets still didn’t move. Vinyl turned her head to look at Octavia. “You killed it! You murderer! We’ve got to hide the body!” She began to pull the blankets off of whatever was underneath them, and Spike’s unmoving face was revealed. “Oh, hey, it’s just Spike; he’ll be fine.” She covered Spike with the blankets again.
Octavia looked at the mare, stunned. “I- He- You- don’t you want to know if he’s alive? ”
“Are you kidding? Didn’t you read Twilight’s scroll?” Vinyl asked Octavia. “It specifically stated that ‘Spike may appear dead, but you shouldn’t worry because he’s just a deep sleeper.’ ”
Octavia glared back at Vinyl, ”Of course I didn’t read the scroll; you were too busy trying to read the first line. But do you really think Twilight wrote that with the idea that we would throw a book at him?”
“Come on, Octavia; Twilight thinks of everything .”
Octavia was now uncertain, looking worriedly at the basket. “So, should we just leave him there? I mean, he is not going to get very far."
“Get very far? What’s he doing, running a marathon?” Vinyl paused for a moment, getting what seemed to be the best idea she ever had in awhile. “Stay here.” She immediately bolted from the room, leaving a confused Octavia to stare at the unmoving Spike. Not too long after that, Vinyl came back levitating a marker with her magic and grinning wickedly.
Octavia looked at her first in confusion, but then realized Vinyl’s evil plan. She started shaking her head, “Vinyl, don’t you dare think of drawing on Spike’s face. Not only is he injured, he is also unconscious. Because of us. Don’t you think that would be a little cruel?”
“Hey! He was sleeping to begin with, therefore he was already unconscious.” Vinyl looked at Octavia. “You can’t prove otherwise!”
If Vinyl Scratch is busy with Spike, I will be able to clean without her constantly bothering me, she thought. She then shrugged and turned away from Vinyl, who was now reaching Spike’s basket. “Well, whatever you do, I didn’t see anything. I will be organizing the books if you need me after your...” she paused, “foalish behavior is over.” Octavia walked out from the room and descended the staircase to start the mundane task before her.
Vinyl reached Spike’s basket, and stifled a snicker as she quickly opened the blankets to reveal a huddled Spike. Before she was able to begin her artwork on Spike’s face, Spike turned over and stared Vinyl in the eyes with a large grin on his face. “I’ve been awake this whole time...”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Vinyl dropped the marker and quickly galloped out of the room. “‘Tavi! I don’t mean to frighten you, but there’s a zombie up here!”
Octavia had just finished organizing a small pile of books when she heard a loud scream. Turning, she saw Vinyl bolting down the stairs at her. When Vinyl reached Octavia, she jumped up and was caught by Octavia.
“As a matter of fact, I did say- wait a minute... Did you just say zoinks? And my name’s not Shirley...” Random laughter was quietly heard by both mares.
Octavia looked at Vinyl, terrified. She then dropped the white mare and ran into the kitchen to hide. “AHHH, random disembodied laughter!!!!”
“This place is definitely haunted by some crafty spirits.” Vinyl looked at the stairs. “See! The ghosts stole the banister from the stairs! Somepony could fall and hurt themselves!” Vinyl then turned her attention to nothing in particular. “Is that what you want, ghosts!? Pain?!?!”
Octavia called from the kitchen, “are the ghosts and zombie gone, yet?” Vinyl was busy climbing back up the stairs to confront the zombie and decided not to answer Octavia. It was zombie killing time.
Octavia built up enough courage to climb out from under the kitchen table and peeked around the corner. Upon seeing Vinyl returning to Twilight’s room, Octavia went to the foot of the stairs and called up, “Vinyl Scratch, you better not have been joking around about the zombie and the ghosts, or I will resume your noogies in the town fountain!”
Vinyl turned around and began walking back down the stairs. “Do I look like I’m kidding about this-” She then promptly fell off of the stairs. “Aaah! The ghosts have gotten me! They knew! THEY KNEW!!!”
As Vinyl landed face down on the floor spread-eagled, Octavia facehoofed and walked over to Vinyl. “You tripped on your own hoof as you were coming back down” Octavia reached Vinyl’s still body and prodded her with a hoof. “ Are you alive, Vinyl? I’d rather not explain two dead bodies and uncompleted chores to Twilight.”
Vinyl rolled over and looked at Octavia. “Because one dead body is much easier to explain,” she responded sarcastically, which received a glare from the grey mare. “Octavia, I don’t think that we should go battle the zombie.”
“Fine, Vinyl Scratch. What do you propose we do in order to stop the zombie while we get the chores done?”
“Don’t worry, Octavia; I have an idea...” Vinyl said, to which Octavia just shook her head in resignation.
As Twilight approached her house, she felt the ground beneath her rumbling more and more. What is going on? she thought. Once the library was in view, she saw that there were colorful flashing lights coming from the lower story windows. What the!? she began to gallop towards her house. Once she got to the door, she opened it up and was immediately assaulted by a heavy electronic song that pushed her back with loud volume. When she was adjusted to the loud music, she walked in and saw a two-mare dance party. Vinyl was sporting a lampshade that Twilight didn’t recognize, while Octavia was wearing a tie around her head.
Upon seeing Twilight, Octavia froze and stared, mid headbang. Vinyl Scratch proceeded to dance wildly until Octavia unceremoniously punched her in the foreleg. Stopping, Vinyl rubbed her injured leg and lifted the lampshade from her head. “Why are you constantly injuring me, Octavia!? One of these days you’re gonna-” Vinyl saw Twilight standing at the door.
Vinyl quickly used her magic to turn off the music and the lights. The regular lights instantly returned and the house was plunged in eerie silence. Giving Twilight an embarrassed smile while removing the tie from her head, Octavia quickly cleared her throat, “H-hello Twilight. We were just waiting until you got back so we could show you our handiwork. How was your time away?”
Twilight recovered from her initial surprise and looked at the interior of her house. “Well, you didn’t destroy anything, and it seems your partying didn’t hurt anypony.” Twilight stopped to scrutinize several shelves before continuing, which caused the two mares to start feeling a little nervous. “Impressive! You even did some labeling and cataloging. Good work, girls!” Twilight turned back to the Vinyl and Octavia, who both visibly relaxed and exhaled.
Twilight then used her magic to bring the mares’ payment of cupcakes and cider from the kitchen, setting it neatly in front of the two mares. “Thank you two so much for helping me out. If you ever need anything, I’d be more than happy to lend a helping hoof!”
The three mares exchanged gratitude and goodbyes as the two musical ponies started to head out. Vinyl was shaking with excitement at the prospect of a cider, cake, and music party at their house that she had just devised. She was so excited that she started to dash out of the house, until she realized she hadn't removed the lampshade on her head. As soon as she realized this, she ran right into the doorway, slowly sliding down to lie motionless on the floor.
Octavia facehoofed while Twilight ran over to Vinyl’s side, shaking her furiously. “Vinyl! Vinyl, are you alright?” Twilight looked at Octavia with shocked eyes as Octavia was looking obviously careless about the situation. “Why aren’t you worried about her, she could be very injured!”
The grey mare looked at the two mares and shrugged slowly before replying, “This isn’t the first time that she’s done this, nor the first injury she’s had today.” Hefting the cupcakes and cider into a saddlebag on her back, Octavia trotted over to the prone figure and started dragging her away. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. But in the meantime, mind giving me a small bit of help?”
Twilight returned to her house, sighing with relief as she could finally rest. That Vinyl Scratch isn’t the lightest mare, Twilight thought jokingly. Jokes aside, Twilight decided it was time for rest and proceeded up the staircase slowly.
Upon reaching her room’s doorway, she noticed that her door looked different. Really different, in fact. Usually, her door was simple and was only made up of the wood to make it. However, her door had somehow managed to get five new boards nailed onto it and the doorway. Not only that, the new boards were hastily painted the same color as her door. Finally, a small yellow sticky note adorned the center board. On it was blue scribble that read, Zombie inside. Enter at your own risk!
Twilight looked at the note strangely and decided to see this “zombie” for herself. Using her magic to rip off the boards, she opened the door and looked inside. On top of the bed, there was a small crouched figure, which was obscured in the darkness. Twilight lit up the room and looked worriedly at what she assumed was Spike. “S-Spike, is that you?”
The figure didn’t move for a little while which caused Twilight to proceed into the room a little more. Suddenly, the figure turned his head around with a jolt, which startled the mare. Spike looked at her with wild eyes, revealing a mouthful of feathers, and a ripped pillow in his claws. Twilight, taking a step back from the graphic sight, said, “Spike, what’s wrong with you?”
Spike stared at her before answering, “Hours, Twi’. It’s been hours. I must... FEED .”
Spike proceeded to eat the rest of the pillow and comforter much to the horror of Twilight, who started to scream in mourning of her precious bedspread and pillows. Although Ponyville heard a terrible scream break the peaceful night, none could comprehend the terror that Twilight had to observe as Spike devoured most of her furniture in an effort to satisfy his hunger.
After thanking Twilight for helping her drag the unconscious white mare to their house, Octavia slowly opened the door to their house and turned on the lights before dragging Vinyl into the house and closing the door. Sighing contently at finally being home, Octavia slowly slid the saddlebags off her back and proceeded to head to the couch to relax. Suddenly, she stopped at the doorway and looked at the broken window. She had completely forgotten about the window, and gave it a glare before turning around to Vinyl who was just now waking up. “Now that we are back home, I expect you to clean up your mess by fixing the window.”
Vinyl stared at the broken window, then at Octavia. She then made a break for the door and ran outside into the moonlit Ponyville. “You’ll never catch me alive!”
Octavia went to the door and watched the white mare dash into the darkness and sighed with resignation. However, as she started to get some boards and nails to cover the window, she smiled wickedly to herself. Unbeknownst to Vinyl, that marker prank had given Octavia some good ideas for revenge as she was dragging her home earlier....
Octavia stared at the page in deep thought, her brow creasing under her mane and her tongue on her lip. Slowly, she brought her pink pen down to the page and slowly etched a circle. Satisfied, she looked at her companion triumphantly. ”I win again. Best 5 out of 9?”
Vinyl stared at the paper in shock, no words coming from her. Finally, she crumpled the paper and threw it back into her saddlebag. “I would have won more if you hadn’t cheated!” Vinyl crossed her forelegs and looked out the window at the scenery passing by.
Octavia scoffed, pointing a hoof to herself with her mouth open in shock. “Me? I did no such thing.You just have no idea how to play the game.” She looked at Vinyl who obviously was not paying any attention. Octavia pouted visibly and started to turn to the aisle. “At least I would be less of a sore loser.”
Vinyl slowly turned her head to face Octavia. “How dare you accuse me of being a sore loser! And of course I know how to play four square!” She looked back out the window. “Oooohh! Check it out! There’s a tunnel coming up!”
Octavia quickly turned around and climbed over Vinyl to look out the window. “Really? I must see this.” She stared outside for a moment before sitting back down. “Tunnel; hold your breath!” She proceeded to gulp in air and froze in her seat.
As Octavia froze looking forward, Vinyl quickly sucked in air and held it as she continued to look out the window. As the train proceeded to enter the tunnel, the train coach they were sitting in descended into a darkened state. As the two fillies sat still in their seats, their teacher walked down the aisle. She looked at Octavia and Vinyl curiously, “How are you two doing?”
The two fillies just looked at their teacher silently, then at each other. They both knew that the first one to start breathing while they traveled through the tunnel would lose. “Are you two doing okay? Is there something wrong?” The teacher was concerned. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on. Octavia, did Vinyl Scratch do something to you that you’d like to tell me about?” Octavia looked at the teacher and shook her head before looking straight ahead. “What about you, Vinyl? Did Octavia do something to you?” Vinyl looked at the teacher, her face visibly turning slightly blue. The teacher approached her with concern visibly on her face. “Vinyl Scratch, what’s wrong?” She turned to Octavia, “What did you to Vinyl Scratch?
Vinyl couldn’t take it anymore. She quickly took a deep breath of air. “This tunnel is taking forever!!!!” Just then, the train left the tunnel. Vinyl’s head fell into her hooves, and she let out a wail.
Octavia let out a large sigh and pointed at Vinyl, smiling smugly. “It’s alright, Vinyl. Not everypony can perform under pressure. Thankfully, it is in my blood. “ She then turned to the teacher, “I am sorry about not replying to you earlier, Vinyl Scratch and I were having a competition. Everything is perfectly fine.” She added an innocent grin to prove her point.
“I would have won if you hadn’t cheated!” Vinyl crossed her forelegs once again and looked at the teacher, who was staring back at her. “What’re you lookin’ at!?” Octavia’s mouth dropped astonishment, looking at Vinyl. She then looked at their teacher, who was looking at both of them with an intense glare.
She cleared her throat angrily, “Well, I am looking at two fillies who get to have recess in the classroom tomorrow.” Their teacher proceeded to walk away as Octavia shot an angry look at Vinyl.
“Vinyl, what in the world was that for? Now I have to sit in the classroom because of you. I’m not talking to you.” Octavia then crossed her forehooves and stared madly at the seat in front of her.
“You know you can’t stay mad at me for very long. And staying inside for recess could be fun!” Vinyl enthusiastically looked at Octavia, but she was still looking forward. Vinyl began to frown and looked out the window again. “Hey, look! We’re here!”
Octavia climbed over Vinyl again and looked out the window at the approaching city. She then glared back at Vinyl before poking her on her snout. “This. Isn’t. Over.” Octavia sat back in her seat and pulled her saddlebags onto the seat to get ready to go.
Their teacher called out loudly from the front of the train car, “Alright, everypony. We will be arriving at Canterlot Station very shortly. Make sure you have all your belongings and your buddy. That goes for you two especially, Candle Wick and Strong Winds.” Octavia turned around and peaked over her seat to the back where the two colts were sitting in the back seat.
The light blue pegasus on the right was staring dumbly at the ceiling with his mouth open while the brown colt to his left was huddled in his seat. Suddenly, he swung around to face the pegasus and grasped the pegasus’ hoof tightly. The brown colt stared at the bewildered pegasus and uttered one word, “Forever.”
Vinyl poked her head over the seat as well to look at the two colts. “Five bits says they get lost.”
The two fillies continued to watch the others, but Octavia quickly replied. “You’re on.” They both slowly slid back down in their seats.
The train slowly entered Canterlot Station where outside the windows all manner of ponies were seen making their way around the large building. The two fillies heard the train car’s door opening, and turned to see the train conductor trotting in slowly.
The conductor was a large grey stallion with a bushy brown mustache and was always smiling. He removed his cap to show his balding head, running a hoof through his receding mane before returning the cap to his head. The conductor called attention to himself in his light hearted voice,”Alright my fillies and gentlecolts, we are arriving in the Canterlot Station. Time to get off! Before you leave, check for all your belongings.” He paused to look at one small filly in the front who looked back at her seat to realize she left her stuffed pony on the seat. “Wouldn’t want you to lose your traveling companion, would we?”
The little filly shook her head quickly, grinning. “I wouldn’t want to have to look for my Rosie. Thanks, mister!”
The rest of the train car came alive with the class getting all their belongings and preparing to get off the train. Octavia hopped off her seat and quickly ran through a mental checklist of the items in her saddlebag, all the items neatly placed inside. That looks like everything, she thought as she closed her bag. She looked over to Vinyl who was having troubles with her saddlebag. Octavia noticed that the bag seemed lumpy and disorganized, occasionally seeing random items haphazardly shoved in there. She smirked and shook her head at her friend’s obvious lack of organization, but made no effort to help her. Serves her right for calling me a cheater.
Once more, their teacher called the class’ attention to her at the front, calling loudly over the chaos of fillies and colts trying to get ready. “Now, listen once more. We are leaving now, so if you haven’t checked for all your items and we leave it, chances are it won’t be here when we get back. Anyways, find your pony pal and follow me out in a neat, organized fashion. No pushing, shoving, or any sort of foalplay.” With that, she walked by the conductor through the doorway.
Quickly, the class formed a mostly organized line and proceeded to go through the door. Octavia looked to Vinyl to see if she was ready. Seeing that she was right behind her, Octavia started to get into line. However, Vinyl quickly pulled her tail to stop her from continuing. Octavia looked back at her friend questioningly, to which Vinyl said, “I think we should wait for some ponies to pass us so we can be towards the end of the line.”
Octavia looked at Vinyl with some skepticism, but shrugged nonetheless. The two fillies then waited for a majority of the class to trot slowly past them before Vinyl pushed Octavia roughly out into the aisle. Octavia then glared at Vinyl and promised to herself that there would be revenge for Vinyl’s many transgressions, but continued to amble along with the line.
As Octavia and Vinyl began to exit the train, Vinyl stopped and began fumbling around with her saddlebag some more. Octavia noticed her friend’s sudden halt and turned around, starting to get a little impatient. “You know if we don’t hurry up, the class will be back from the field trip before we even get off the train. Are you coming or what?”
“You go on; I’ll be out soon,” Vinyl told Octavia. Octavia was only able to see her friend take a piece of paper out of her saddlebag before she stepped off of the train.
Octavia entered Canterlot Station and was amazed at the size of the large building and the seemingly cacophonous sound of many ponies in one place. She quickly got out of the line and sat fairly close to where she got off the train so she could wait for Vinyl. She then started to adjust her bowtie, fluffing it in very specific ways that she wanted while she watched the crowds of ponies move around the station. Once that was done, she tried to occupy herself with other mindless tasks, like smoothing her mane and dusting off her hooves.
After what seemed like five years of waiting, Octavia got impatient with Vinyl and decided to go in and drag her out if need be. Just as Octavia was about to put a hoof on the step of the train, Vinyl quickly appeared in the doorway right in front of her, startling Octavia and making her rear up on her hind legs and almost fall backwards. “Whoa, calm down there, Octavia! It’s just me; no need to jump for joy.”
Octavia settled back onto her hooves and glared at the smirking filly in front of her. “Jump for joy? You nearly made me jump right out of my skin. What on Celestia’s continent took you so long?”
“Oh, uh... I was just making sure I had everything. Again. You can never be too sure.” Vinyl gave a quick grin to ease Octavia’s mind, but she noticed that Octavia seemed unamused.
“Considering you have half of Ponyville thrust into that large and uncouth bag of yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot at least one thing. Regardless,” Octavia continued, looking around for the rest of their class. “We had better catch up to the rest of the class, or else we’re going to have more problems than recesses inside.”
“I already said recess inside couldn’t be that bad, but alright; let’s catch up with them.” Vinyl trotted alongside Octavia until they finally reached the rest of their classmates.
Vinyl didn’t notice the small shudder that passed through Octavia at the thought of indoor recess. A worse fate I couldn’t even fathom, she thought grimly.
The teacher stopped in the middle of the station, quickly counting all her students. Satisfied, she gestured for them to gather around her. Vinyl and Octavia moved closer but still remained behind everypony. “So, it looks like we’re all here. That means it’s time to head to the museum. Keep an eye on your partner, watch out for other ponies, and follow my lead. We’ll be there shortly. ” With that, the teacher began leading the class out of the busy station and onto the street. Vinyl and Octavia made sure to keep up, but found it slightly difficult to weave around other ponies.
As the class drew closer to the museum, Vinyl looked to her right and saw something shiny that caught her eye. “Oooohh, what’s that?” Vinyl left the line of students to go investigate this object.
Octavia noticed her friend’s sudden departure from the group. “Vinyl! Get back here this instant” Octavia quickly looked at the line, biting her lip while she turned to see her companion running into the crowd of ponies walking on the street. She took one last look at the class before giving chase to Vinyl.
Octavia called after her friend, but Vinyl was already out of distance. Huffing angrily, Octavia chased after Vinyl as she got further and further away from the class, attempting to catch up with her and bring her back to the line. She quickly weaved through a few ponies that were in a group together, which earned her a bit of shouting. However, this move caused her to get really close to Vinyl, almost close enough to reach her. Although she was starting to get tired, she couldn’t give up now. Almost... Octavia thought, right behind Vinyl. She started to reach out, and....
Unfortunately, Vinyl decided she couldn’t find the sparkly item she had seen earlier and stopped abruptly, causing Octavia to collide right into her. Needless to say, what followed was a brutal scuffle involving a confused white filly being strangled by a seething grey pony with a pink bowtie askew. All the ponies around looked at them with questioning and concerned looks, but continued on their ways.
After a few minutes of particularly violent actions, Octavia sat away from Vinyl and started to collect herself, sticking her muzzle into the air and adjusting her bowtie and mane. Vinyl Scratch continued to lie face down spread-eagled on the ground, and didn’t move. After a few seconds of playing dead, Vinyl finally began to move. She slowly got herself back up on her hooves and looked fearfully at her companion, to which Octavia returned with cold silence.
“It was right here! I swear!” Vinyl frantically looked about for the illusive sparkly item in question, dashing to and fro, often resorting to interrogating innocent bystanders in her quest to find her lost beloved shiny. Meanwhile, Octavia discovered the ability to double facehoof. After a moment, she got up and waited for Vinyl to pass her. As her friend dashed by her once more, Octavia reached out a hoof and caught the white filly by the tail.
With a yelp, Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks. She looked back at Octavia with anger and said, “Unhoof me, you foul beast! Unless you’ve found my shiny, I insist you let me go!” Octavia returned Vinyl’s glare with mild surprise, raising her eyebrow slightly.
“Vinyl, that was just about the most intelligent sounding sentence you have ever managed to string together. Nonetheless, I would like to point out that it’s entirely possible that the shiny thing you’re searching for could have very well been attached to any one of these ponies.” Octavia waited for the revelation to dawn on her friend.
“You’re right! We’ve got to search every single pony in Canterlot for my shiny!” With renewed vigor, Vinyl Scratch attempted to pull away from Octavia’s grasp. Octavia resisted the urge to facehoof again, but instead waited for Vinyl to pull once more before releasing Vinyl’s tail, allowing Vinyl to go speeding into the nearest group of passing businessponies. Smirking, started trotting back the way they came, choosing not to address the ensuing chaos from the ponypile behind her.
As Octavia started making her way, Vinyl somehow managed to extricate herself out of the pile and came speeding towards her, grabbing her by the collar and pulling her quickly away, screaming, “Oh my Celestia! They’re coming after me; we’ve gotta get outta here! Quickly; into that alleyway!” Vinyl dragged Octavia toward the alleyway and spotted a formidable hiding spot. She proceeded to swing a screaming Octavia into the air and throw her into a dumpster. Vinyl jumped in after her and closed the lid.
Vinyl then held Octavia’s muzzle closed and shushed her which received a glare from the grey pony.
Octavia started to reach for her companion’s throat, but froze when she heard shouting coming from outside the dumpster. The two fillies listened in to the approaching sounds of what they guessed were the businessponies.
One businesspony said in a deep voice, “Where did those fillies run off to?! They can’t have gone far.”
They heard another stallion throw something against a wall before shouting in a higher voice, “They think they can just run away from us! They’ve gotta be around here!”
The sounds of the stallions searching around the dumpster was heard, causing the two fillies to grow fearful. However, they heard a quick trotting of another pony. “Hey boss, I think I saw ‘em go that way, let’s get ‘em before dere gone!”
The sound of many hooves leaving caused Octavia and Vinyl Scratch to relax a little bit. They stayed motionless for a little longer before getting out of the dumpster. However, they heard a small crunching coming from the other part of the dumpster. They slowly turned to find the source of the noise, and were shocked at the sight of a large, shabby rat chewing on part of a used diaper as it stared at them hungrily.
Octavia practically exploded out of the dumpster and ran the opposite way they came through the alleyway, screaming loudly. Meanwhile, Vinyl crawled slowly out of the dumpster, her back hooves dangling off the side of the dumpster. She let go of the dumpster and fell unceremoniously onto the ground. She sat up and looked up at the dumpster. “Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. Rat!” The rat’s head poked out over the side of the dumpster and hissed menacingly before disappearing into the dumpster, the lid closing over it once more. Vinyl wrinkled her nose in response, “How rude!”
The white filly rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof and looked around the alleyway for her companion. I wonder where she ran off too, thought Vinyl. I better go look for her.
Vinyl Scratch proceeded to go the way Octavia went and started to search the crowds for her. Although there were no signs of her friend, Vinyl continued to search the busy streets. However, she began to notice that many of the ponies passing by were looking at her in confusion and disgust, often trying to avoid her as she passed. Vinyl started to get discouraged and confused, wondering why they were avoiding her. What’s wrong with everypony? Thought Vinyl sadly. What’s wrong with me?
Fairly soon, Vinyl started to pass a cafe when a pink mare with a pearl necklace burst out of the door, screaming “My eyes!” and disappeared into the busy street. Vinyl stood wide-eyed and watched the mare disappear before deciding to investigate the source of her repulsion.
Inside the rustic cafe, the peaceful sound of orchestral music playing and the sweet aroma of roasted coffee. Despite the welcoming atmosphere, there was something rather off about the cafe. All the customers were braced against the far wall, staring at the opposite part of the room. Curiously, Vinyl looked over at the object in question and was happy to see Octavia sitting in a wooden chair facing outside.
Vinyl quickly made her way over to the table Octavia was seated at and took a seat across from her, smiling in excitement. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!”
Octavia didn’t respond to the white filly’s presence and instead continued to stare straight ahead, both hooves shakily resting around a rather large white mug filled with steaming tea. One of her eyes was twitching slightly, and she murmured quietly, “I’ve seen dreadful things.” Vinyl looked at her friend with furrowed brows.
Before Vinyl was able to question her compatriot further, a pony cleared their throat to get their attention. Vinyl turned around and saw that a dark green mare barista with a short brown mane was standing cautiously behind them, her wide eyes showing that she was scared of both of the two fillies. “Excuse me, little fillies, I don’t mean to bother you,” she smiled weakly,”but you’re scaring our other patrons. I was hoping that maybe you two to could go outside?“
Vinyl looked at the barista and then at the other ponies in the cafe. “You think we’re too ugly?”
“What? No, that’s not what I said!” The mare physically backed up in shock at the remark.
“I’m sorry if our ugliness has offended you.” Vinyl quickly put on a pouting face towards the mare, who upon looking at Vinyl, looked immediately guilt-ridden. The barista started to reply, but Vinyl interrupted, ”We will remove our ugliness from this cafe, so you and your customers can go about your day. I’m sorry if we have inconvenienced you.” With that, Vinyl grabbed on to Octavia’s bowtie and began dragging her out of the cafe.
Octavia frantically grasped after her mug of tea and the comfort of the table she was at, but to no avail. Suddenly, she stopped and turned her head towards Vinyl, glaring. What can only be described as a menacing hiss halted Vinyl’s progress towards the door, along with further frightening the rest of the cafe occupants.
“Uuuhh... Octavia? Are you okay?” Vinyl asked. When she turned to look at her companion, her facial expression immediately changed to a fearful one. What stared back at Vinyl was the epitome of hatred. “Is this because I touched your bowtie?”
Octavia lunged at Vinyl. “Oh no, Vinyl Scratch. This isn’t just about touching my bowtie.” Octavia continued to advance on her compatriot. Her eyes were piercing into Vinyl’s soul, while everypony in the cafe was too scared and absorbed in this confrontation to move. “This is about how you managed to drag us away from the class for a shiny object. Then, you dragged me into a dumpster where we had to lie in wait in filth. Not to mention that whenever anything is going according to plan, you manage to completely and utterly ruin it. Now , we’re utterly lost and separated from our class. That is why I’m standing here seething at you, drinking this filth and having to put up with these--”
Octavia pointed at the crowd behind Vinyl, still glaring at her. Vinyl was leaning away from Octavia, which allowed her to tower over her more. Octavia paused to think of a fitting word, which Vinyl volunteered, “Proletarians?”
“Proletarians, yes. I cannot believe that this is what my life has become and I-- Wait, what word did you just use?”
“I don’t know.” Octavia looked at her angrily.
“What do you mean you don’t know?! This is another thing. You have random spots of intelligence, but just as quickly as you get them, they disappear, leaving me with a basically primitive filly that can’t even spell to save her life, and I can’t believe that I’m stuck with you here in Canterlot and I--”
Vinyl looked at her companion in bewilderment. Octavia had stopped shouting, and was now sitting on the floor on her haunches. She also seemed like she was on the verge of tears.
“I just can’t stand the idea of being lost forever in Canterlot, and I-I don’t want to get in trouble, and I smell terrible, and I just want my parents, and-and-and--”
Now, Octavia was crying heavily, tears freely streaming down her cheeks. Vinyl stepped closer to Octavia. “Oh no; don’t cry!” Vinyl began to hug her friend. “Look, I understand that I got us into this mess, and I’m gonna help get us out of it!” Vinyl ended the hug and held Octavia by the shoulders, looking her in the eyes. “We’re gonna go find our class; but first we should get ourselves cleaned up so we don’t stink-up all of canterlot.”
Octavia looked down and sniffled for a bit before looking back at Vinyl Scratch. “Alright. Thanks, Vinyl.” She giggled a little, and wiped her eyes. “I bet I look like quite a ruffian. A nice bath would do me wonders.” Vinyl laughed a little at the grey filly, both smiling happily.
Now that the crisis was defused, the other patrons of the cafe started to relax. One particularly brave orange stallion looked at the two fillies with disdain. “This is all well and good,” he commented, “but can I go now?”
Octavia responded by turning her head towards him and glaring menacingly. The stallion backed away, frightened, and then bolted out of the cafe.
Octavia then turned back to Vinyl. “I feel like we should do the same.” Vinyl responded with a smile and a nod.
The two broke the embrace and started towards the door. However, upon passing the barista, Octavia went over to the tip jar. Carefully, she fished out a bit and put it in her saddlebag, glaring back at the barista. “The service was terrible.” With that, she followed the white filly out of the shop.
The two fillies started to walk through the streets, but remembered that they still stank very badly due to the hateful comments and averted paths of many worried citizens. As they continued walking along in a half-hearted attempt to find their class, the duo spotted a gran fountain down the street and then looked at each other. “Do you promise not to make an attempt on my life? I’d hate to be drowned after all of this...” Vinyl looked at Octavia, concerned.
Octavia stared at her and gave her a shrug before galloping towards the fountain. Vinyl soon started to follow her.
The two fillies jumped into the fountain with large splashes and immersed themselves in the refreshing water. Vinyl grinned at nearby passers, and ruffled her now wet mane.
As Octavia emerged from under the water, Vinyl watched with wide eyes as her grey counterpart tossed her black mane gracefully away from her face. The sun shone on her waterlogged mane and coat, giving her a beautiful glow.
That’s when Vinyl decided to splash her with a big dose of fountain water.
Coughing and spluttering, the grey mare glared back towards Vinyl, and furiously started flinging water in her direction. Soon enough, an all out water war was underway, eliciting giggles from both the fillies as their troubles seemed to wash away with the water.
However, their merriment caused more ponies to stop and look at them, some even holding shocked conversations about the two fillies. Octavia paused her watery assault as she noticed all of the stares they were getting, and grew increasingly annoyed with the attention. She yelled at them, “Do you mind!?” With that, the audience that Octavia and Vinyl had attracted began to break up and continue what they were previously doing.
All but five ponies in suits.
Vinyl stopped splashing her friend and looked at the five remaining stallions, her face paling as she realized just who they were.
The businessponies from earlier, she remembered with dread.
The smallest of the stallions, a brown one with a greased back grey mane, sneered at the two fillies. “There they are! Get ‘em, boys!”
To Be Continued
Octavia stared at the group of businesstallions with her mouth wide open, shock written on her face. She shook her head slowly and cleared her throat before speaking. “W-well hello, there. Ummm, I’m sure we can talk things through, can’t we?”
One of the stallions sneered at her. “Oh, we’ll talk this through alright. Right after we cut your tails off!”
At that, Octavia had two choices: Faint or run. Being the intelligent filly that she was, she only partly fainted, her legs buckling slightly. This caused the water in the fountain to splash her. Immediately she became alert again, and decided that running was the best option. Quickly she looked at Vinyl. “Well, I hope you have fun settling this, Vinyl. I’ll see you back at the train station!” With that, she hopped awkwardly over the fountain ledge, grabbed her saddlebag, and starting running down the street.
Vinyl watched her friend run away from the fountain. “Wait!” She looked at the stallions running towards her, then back to Octavia. “Hey! Wait for me!” Vinyl jumped out of the fountain and almost ran off without her saddlebag. At the last second, she stopped and returned to grab her saddlebag, laughing nervously at the angry stallions quickly approaching, and ran to catch up with her friend.
The two fillies proceeded to dodge through the various ponies in the streets, listening to the group of angry stallions hot on their hooves. They turned a corner and immediately spotted various stalls that were set up as a marketplace. “Octavia, look!” Vinyl stopped her friend then pointed a hoof at the stalls. “We could lose them amongst the daily marketplace crowd!”
The two fillies continued on through the marketplace, having a hard time getting through the crowd that was occupying the streets. Chancing a look back, Octavia noticed that the businesstallions were having a worse time, often shoving ponies aside to try and keep up. Octavia looked forward and tried to come up with a good plan of action. Unfortunately, she noticed that the path split into two up ahead. But that might be a good thing, Octavia realized. “Let’s dodge around the corner and hide in a stall!”
“Good idea!” The two immediately turned to the right and looked for a stall to hide in.
Octavia quickly gestured to a full rug stall, complete with a cloth covering the opening under the stall counter.. “There! Quickly, get under the stall.” The two fillies dove under the stall without hesitation. Thankfully, the merchant was busy with a customer and did not notice two small blurs hide underneath his makeshift shop.
Under the covered stall, Octavia huddled against her companion. The two tried to quiet their breathing to try and listen for the sounds of the stallions. After what seemed like an eternity, Octavia began to hear the sounds of a commotion approaching the stand.
“I saw them go this way!”
Smash.
“They couldn’t a gone far!”
Thump.
“Hey, watch it!”
“You watch it, mare! I’m walkin’ here!”
“How rude!”
Squish!
“Mah t’maters!”
“Ay, Quiet old timah!”
The voices grew in volume until they seemed like they were right on top of the stall. Much to the fillies’ relief, the voices passed the stand and continued on, often accompanied with more shouting from other innocent ponies.
Octavia let out a sigh of relief. I believe they have left now, she thought to herself, allowing herself a small smile. Just then, she froze up once more, intensely listening at the sounds that she started hearing.
Sluuurrrppppp.
Crinkle crinkle, crunch, crunch, crunch.
Slurrrrppppppp.
Octavia started to turn towards the source of the noise, “What in Celestia’s bonnet---”
What she saw was her blue-maned friend huddled in the corner with a bag of what seemed to be kale chips and a small drink, greedily reaching a hoof into the bag while taking large gulps of the drink.
“Vinyl Scratch, what--where on Equestria did you get that?”
Vinyl looked at the stuff she had in her hooves. “Some food stall over there.” Vinyl waggled her hoof in various directions.
Octavia looked at Vinyl with utter confusion. “But--how--we--” She shook her head. “Did you even pay for it?”
“Wait, these weren’t free!?!?” Vinyl took one look at the soda before drinking some more of it.
Octavia facehoofed and shook her head. “You are absolutely incorrigible, Vinyl. You are the reason we can’t have nice things.”
Vinyl threw her food and drink on the ground. “I was hungry! Leave me alone!”
“Even if you dispose of that stolen food, you can’t throw out the fact you had a bunch of angry businesstallions chasing after us and got us lost!”
“So this is all my fault now!?” Vinyl thought about the facts. “Huh, I guess it was me, wasn’t it? Oops.”
“Exactly. I hope you’re happy.” Octavia sat on her haunches and started stroking her mane. “I just hope we can remedy our situation soon.”
“Wait, what about that Canterlot map you brought in your saddlebag? We could use that to find the train station and subsequently find our class as a result!”
The only response Vinyl got was a wide-eyed stare from her grey companion. “I don’t even...” Octavia maintained eye contact with Vinyl as she pulled her damp saddlebag to her and dug through it for the map, Vinyl only giving a lopsided grin in response. Octavia quickly pulled out the map and looked at it. After a few seconds, she frowned and gave it to Vinyl without saying another word.
“What? What is this? This is just the paper we played tic-tac-hoof on. Why did you give this to- ooooohhhhhh...” Vinyl just realized that the paper they played tic-tac-hoof on was the map, and that the map was now unreadable due to their unfortunate choice of writing material. “Okay, this one was both of our faults.”
Octavia stared straight ahead and sniffed once before slowly leaning forward until she fell face first into the ground and laid there motionless. Vinyl poked her once with a forehoof, which just elicited a small groan before Octavia mumbled into the ground, “For once, you’re right.” A small sob was heard before she continued. “Now we’re never going to find our way back.”
Just then, the backflap of the stall opened to reveal the merchant that owned the stall, who jumped at the sight of the two fillies sitting on the ground. “Oh! You two startled me! What are you little ones even doing in my stall?”
Vinyl looked at the pony with wide, sad eyes and said, “I’m hungry.”
The merchant’s face softened into one of concern. “Well, let’s remedy that shall we?” His head disappeared from under the stall, returning quickly with a small bag. He dropped it in front of the white filly, revealing a dandelion sandwich and an apple.
Vinyl Scratch stared at the food, then back up at the merchant. “For free?”
“Well, yes; I’m not hungry, so why not let you eat my lunch? I can just go to the local cafe when I do get hungry.”
“Thank you, kind sir, but I wouldn't go to the cafe if I were you; I heard it stinks there,” Vinyl said before devouring the sandwich in a matter of seconds. She smelled the apple, hissed, then threw it at Octavia.
Octavia squeaked in surprise and narrowly avoided the cataclysmic fruit that came hurtling by her muzzle. She glared at her companion and barely resisted the urge to strangle the white filly. She then turned to the stallion and smiled sweetly at him, blinking her eyes quickly. “We are very grateful for your kindness. My name is Octavia Philharmonic, and this... filly with me is Vinyl Scratch. Maybe you could help us find our way?”
“Why of course, little fillies. My name is Ruginold, but you can just call me Rugsy. Where are you trying to get to?”
Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other with gleeful looks and back at him. “We’re trying to get to the train station; do you know where that is?”
Rugsy looked questioningly at the two fillies. “You didn’t notice it on the way to my stall? It’s right down the road; you can see it from here!”
Vinyl Scratch climbed on top of Rugsy and looked down the road. “This stallion does not lie, Octavia, for the train station is down this road yonder!”
Rugsy narrowed his eyes. “Get off.”
“Oh, sorry about using your body as a stand, Rugsy.” Vinyl looked at Octavia, who was excited that they finally weren’t lost anymore. “Come on Octavia, it’s just down this way!” Vinyl led Octavia out of the rug stall and pointed at the train station. “See, it’s right there! We’re saved!”
Octavia let her overjoyed emotions get the best of her as she immediately hugged Rugsy. Then she realized her mistake and quickly recovered, blushing. “I-I’m sorry, Mister Ruginold. I’m just happy to finally be headed home. We are forever grateful for your help.” The grey filly turned to her counterpart. “Come along Vinyl, let’s blow this rug stand.” The two quickly made a mad dash through the groups of ponies.
Rugsy watched the two fillies run into the crowd, filled with joy. He smiled and called to the duo, “Take care, little fillies!”
The two fillies scrambled through the market, narrowly avoiding many disgruntled ponies. However, the two could see the train station growing ever closer.
After a few minutes, the two made it out of the market crowds and were close enough to the station to see a group of foals and a mare outside the station. “That’s the class! Hurry, Vinyl! I bet they’ve been worried sick!”
“I’d be worried about me if I were them!“ The two fillies continued to close the distance to the station.
Unbeknownst to the two fillies, the class had also noticed the two quickly approaching. The class was in a state of panic, but their teacher quickly ushered them into the station. “Hurry, students. We need to get to the train immediately!”
“Teacher, they’re gaining! They must’ve seen us!”
“I’m scared!”
“Where’s my shoe?”
“My leg!”
As the class quickly made it to the train, Octavia and Vinyl caught up to them as they were quickly getting into their seats.
“Hey, we’re here! We were lost and scared, but now we’ve finally made it back to you! Aren’t you all happy that we made it!?” Vinyl Scratch was smiling widely. The class let out a unanimous moan, followed by scattered complaints.
One colt was heard saying, “I was sure we had lost them.”
With a sigh, their teacher spoke loudly. “Well, it looks like we have almost everypony-- Wait, where are Candle Wick and Strong Winds?”
With a shout of victory and a raised forehoof, Vinyl Scratch turned to a seething Octavia. “Yes! Woohoo!!! Yeah! I won the bet! HAHAHA!! In your face, Octavia! You know what you owe me!?!? Five whole bits! Hand ‘em over, chump! No excuses. No! I SAID NO! Don’t you make that face at me! You know what? Keep making that face! It doesn’t change the fact that five of your bits are now mine! YES! I am the master commander!!!!”
Angrily, Octavia threw five bits at Vinyls face. “You cheated, you ragamuffin! You scoundrel! You...”
In another part of the city, Strong Winds and Candle Wick were utterly lost. The small brown stallion clung to the shivering blue pegasus. The two were sitting on a fountain surrounded by passing ponies.
Candle Wick took the note that Vinyl handed them back in the train out of his saddlebag. “It says right here that Octavia would meet us at the fountain!”
Unfortunately, a group of stallions in suits approached them. One smirked at the two scared colts. “Well, well, well, whudda we have heah?”
