He was awakened the next day by two sounds. The first being a slightly muffled argument from the room next to him, along with noises he couldn‘t quite place. The next was the loudest thing he had ever heard. It sounded like somepony had just taken a bass drum, and managed to bash it over and over again with a hammer without the drum breaking while brutally scratching a record. “What in the name of Celestia is that racket!?” he yelled, barely able to hear himself over the sound from next door. He got out of bed, stiff and in pain from the beating he had received, and walked out the door, fully intent on giving his neighbor a piece of his mind. His head was killing him, and he didn’t have the patience to deal with such nonsense at the moment. He began to bang loudly on the door with his hoof. “Open up!” he yelled, thoroughly annoyed. After what sounded like a brief struggle, the offending sounds were cut off, and the door answered by a white unicorn mare with a lightning blue mane and purple goggles on.

“’Sup?” she asked him, to which he became even more annoyed. He wasn’t angry, he was just disappointed that somepony could have such utter disregard for others.

“Well, as I’m sure you can guess, that racket coming from your room woke me up, and made my already splitting headache worse. I came to ask you to stop, but it seems you already have.” he said, putting a hoof to his temple and rubbing it lightly. Then he heard another voice from within the hotel room.

“Vinyl, I am going to murder you!” said another mare as she walked up to the door, only to stop short when she looked at Crimson. He looked at her, getting the feeling he knew her, but couldn’t remember where from. Then she spoke. “Crimson? Is that you?” she asked, and he recognized her immediately.

“Octavia? By Celestia, it’s been to long! How are you?” he said, both of them moving closer for a hug.

“I’ve been fine, how about yourse- Oh dear! What happened to you?” she asked, noticing how beat up he was. He chuckled a little bit as he explained what happened upon his arrival.

“But don’t you worry about me, I’m fine. You remember how father was.” he said, still embracing her. Then they heard a cough from behind him and looked to see a very confused looking Vinyl.

“Uumm…. Not that I’m not all for sappy reunions and all that, but would anypony care to explain this to me? You two know each other?” she asked, to which both Crimson and Octavia laughed.

“Ha! Oh, that’s to much… wait, you’re being serious, aren’t you?” he asked, to which Vinyl nodded. He sighed. “Well then, Octavia, could you be a dear and bring us some drinks? This is going to be interesting.” he said, to which Octavia laughed as she trotted towards the kitchen.

“You’re explaining it this time. I’m tired of having to explain to my orchestra mates who you are, and why I write you so many letters.” she said with a laugh. Crimson and Vinyl both sat down, him on the couch, and her in a chair she pulled up across from him. Octavia brought in three bottles of water, which were taken with thanks, and sat next to Crimson.

“Alright, well… this is actually the first time I’ve had to explain this… well, first things first, my parents died when I was young, my father died of a heart attack when I was just a colt of eight. After that, my mother took me, and we moved…. Here, actually, to Cloplin. Then, when I was fifteen, mother passed away. The doctors couldn’t discover what was wrong with her, and thus there was nothing they could do. Now, before my father died, we lived in Canterlot, and were actually neighbors with the Philharmonica family for many years. Our parents were good friends, and in mothers last will and testament, she requested that I be sent to live with them until I was old enough to move away.”

“sssssooooooo……. You grew up together?” Vinyl asked.

“I guess you could say that.” Crimson told her with a slight laugh.

“Well how else would you explain it?” she asked again, scratching her head in confusion and taking a sip of her water.

“I would say that she’s my sister.” at this revelation, Vinyl sprayed the water in her mouth onto the window to her right.

“WHAT!? Octy, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?” she asked, to which Octavia merely shrugged.

“ ‘Octy’? that’s a new one, sister. Is there something you haven’t been telling me?” he asked, looking at his adoptive sister with a questioning expression. It took Octavia a moment, but she soon understood what he was getting at.

“W-What? N-No, of course not, it’s not like that! Me and Vinyl are just friends!” she exclaimed, panicking.

“Octavia, you’re my sister, if it is like that, you can tell me.” he said, unable to tell if she was lying, or just flustered at the mere suggestion. Octavia had always been very sensitive as a child, and would always get flustered at the slightest thing.

“It’s not, trust me. And I’m getting kinda tired of ponies assuming that it is.” said Vinyl with a menacing glare.

“My apologies, it’s simply that I would feel hurt if Octavia failed to mention something such as that to me. I didn’t mean to offend either of you.” he said, hoping he hadn’t. he was shocked when Vinyl simply burst out laughing.

“GOTCHA! Oh, that one never gets old. Honestly, I don’t care what people think. They wanna think I’m a fillyfooler, let ‘em. I know I’m straight, so I don’t really care.” she said, receiving a cold glare from both of the ponies across from her. “Heh… I guess it wasn’t as funny as I thought it was…..”

“Anyway, what brings you here, Crimson?” asked Octavia when they were done glaring at Vinyl.

“I received an invitation to audition for this years gala! Can you believe it? How about you? I can’t imagine you’re here on vacation.” he said with a slight laugh. Octavia on the other hand, became much more serious.

“Oh really? Well, if you must know, I am also here for that audition. I guess we’ll finally see which of us is the better musician, won’t we?” she said, a sly grin upon her face.

“Oh? Well, I must say, I am proud of you, little sister. Just remember, this isn’t a competition, and whichever of us gets the part, I will still be proud of you.” he said, giving her another hug, which she shrugged off.

“That’s what you’ve always said! Yet, when father asked us to play for him, you always seemed to try and outdo me! I will not stand for it! Not this time!” she yelled, to which Crimson could only laugh.

“I wasn’t trying to outdo you, sister, I was trying to play as best I could. It’s like I always say, true music doesn’t come from the mind, or a piece of paper. It comes from the heart. And when music comes from the heart, there is no way it can be outdone. Remember that Octavia.” he said, looking at the clock. “Well, I must be off. It was good seeing you again sister, and a pleasure meeting you Vinyl.” he said as he stood and walked out the door and back into his own apartment. When he got there, he unpacked his violin, and began to play a very bittersweet melody.

Next Chapter: A bad habit. Estimated time remaining: 6 Minutes