CHAPTER 2
After all these years, Octavia knew that silence was bound to be a rarity when a house lodged two musicians. Especially when one of them liked giant subwoofers. Unfortunately for her, silence is a crucial component of many of the activities the she liked to do, like reading, meditating, or even more common yet; sleeping. It is, in fact, very hard to sleep when not in silence. Well, Octavia had a hard time doing it anyway.
So she couldn't help it. No matter how hard she tried, her brain refused to shut off the incoming sensory inputs from her ears. No matter how flat on her head they were, no matter how hard she pressed on her pillow-shield, she kept hearing the overwhelming bass-lines filling her apartment.
After rolling around in her bed, the ex-sleeping mare finally removed the pillow from over her snout and violently opened her eyes, glaring at the roof, not waiting for any particular event. She just lay there, trying to ease her waking as much as she could; taking deep breaths and convincing herself that a quarter past eight was late anyway, and that she should have been awake already.
Octavia rolled out of bed, landing on the hard wooden planks of the floor. Or at least they were usually hard; right now they were vibrating.
In the small basement, a white unicorn was lazily bobbing her head to the thumps, in unison with the walls and furniture. She had worked on this piece for a couple of days now. The bass-lines were already perfect, but she woke up this morning with a way to finally complete her second riff and possibly bridge the finale correctly. It simply couldn't wait.
Still half sleepy, Octavia straddled the minuscule hallway separating the couple's room from the kitchen and living area, unconsciously trotting along with what she could hear of the music. Just the bass really, everything else was absorbed by the floor. The DJ's craft was certainly an annoyance when trying to sleep, but Celestia bless her they actually had a separate basement to spare her dignified ears from hearing the multitude of weird electronic sounds and wubs her marefriend composed her music of.
Octavia chuckled at her own thoughts. Not so long ago, she would have argued hooves and teeth that DJs didn't actually compose anything, and that whatever they were producing certainly couldn't be considered music. Not that she would admit she was thinking otherwise, but she did respect her marefriend's craft slightly more than two years ago.
Two years. Already, she thought.
Well, less than a month short of two years in fact, but they were never really clear on the definite start of their relationship. Vinyl argued it was when the shared the same bed (In total abstinence, of course, with the unicorn passed out drunk, and the earth pony reconsidering her whole life) while Octavia preferred thinking it was when they first kissed.
All in all, almost two years.
The pony rummaged for some time through the cabinet looking for coffee, reluctantly abandoning the search after the second unsuccessful pass. She'd have to contend with orange juice and take a note to buy more as soon as possible.
As Octavia finally sat down from her search, fruitful beverage in hoof, she heard a joyful knock on the front door.
***
"Hey Octavia! How is it going?"
"Well enough Swift, thank you." Octavia paused a moment in the doorway, looking at her mailcolt with a hint of confusion. "I don't mean to sound rude, but why exactly are you here?" She issued a soft chuckle to stress out the lack of malice in her words, the stallion before her smiled in return.
"Mail! What else?" he joyfully answered.
Octavia frowned slightly.
"Mail? On a Sunday?"
"We do the priority mail on weekends sometimes when there isn't much work back at triage," the stallion reached inside his saddlebag while talking, muffling the sound of his voice to a slightly confused Octavia. "Here you go, judging from the name I'd bet its from your mother. Your last name is Philarmonica, right?"
Octavia cringed a bit.
"I never actually use it. It sounds way too snobby and complicated."
The two ponies looked at each other for a moment.
"Even for me, I mean," the mare added, provoking a small laugh from the mailcolt.
"Alright, Octavia. Have a nice day!" Swift replied with a smile before turning away and trotting down the balcony stairs.
The cellist saluted her mailcolt before bending to pick up the letter, getting a closer look at the return address. It was indeed her mother's. The mare suddenly grew excited to the prospect of receiving news from her family, but joy got immediately replaced by doubt. As much as she loved her family, her relationship with Vinyl never quite passed the rank of reluctant acceptance to her mother, and her father never cared for anything else than Octavia's career.
So family relations were always awkward when they talked about it. And since between her career, her relationship and the activities related to the latter, Octavia didn't live a very anecdotal life, they always ended up talking about it.
And it usually ended up with at least somepony yelling or mistreating a door.
Nevertheless, Octavia bit the envelope and carried it back to the living room. Depositing it on the coffee table before unceremoniously ripping off the top with both her hooves and extracting the note, revealing her mother's refined calligraphy.
The mare sat back lazily on the couch, her eyes slowly narrowing as she kept reading her mother's words. A small hint of panic made the pony jump up. Re-reading the letter to make sure she didn't hallucinate, Octavia cursed silently.
***
"Meh... This isn't right."
Vinyl stopped the recording and put her earphones back on her head, sampling through what she had put together, trying to find what was unwanted or lacking in her composition. When she had thought about it earlier, everything fit together so well, but now that she had put it into actual sounds, it clashed horribly. She ran the loop for what seemed like the hundredth time - through her headphones, this time - toying a bit with the filters on her main riff, trying to get it to sync better with the bass-lines.
Octavia paused in front of the basement door for a moment, searching for a way to actually bring the news without it sounding off. Vinyl didn't usually need to be handled with caution, even when talking about more serious or personal matters, but there were so many ways this particular conversation could go in the wrong direction - she wanted to be sure it wouldn't.
After what felt like an hour, the pony finally knocked timidly on the door. She was not hearing sounds anymore, which probably meant her marefriend was using headphones or was simply between takes. In the latter case she would answer to her knock, else Octavia would know to be very silent when entering the room. After a couple of seconds she tentatively pushed the door open, slipping inside the cool room filled with posters and electronic equipments. "The Teenage Room" they called it. Part for the actual look of it, part for the temper of its primary occupant.
Octavia smirked to herself. Truth be told, she never had quite the "normal" adolescence per say. Ironically enough, she only started feeling like a teenager when she started dating the unicorn. So as much as she hated to admit it, her marefriend was more likely to be growing out of said phase sooner than her, everything put in perspective.
The mare then remembered her purpose and, taking a deep breath, approached the mixing tables, central focus of all the wiring and consequently the whole room, taking great care in not tripping any loose cable or kicking a stray speaker or piece of equipment. After navigating the unusual minefield, she finally reached Vinyl, whose closed eyes and bobbing head suggested the earth pony had been successful in her subtle approach.
Octavia waited a few moments, trying to gauge when would be the best time to interrupt. As she was finally going to bluntly notify her presence to the unicorn, Vinyl seemed to suddenly take notice on her own. She opened her eyes and turned towards the cellist, startling both ponies but most notably herself, somehow out of her chair and onto the floor in a disgraceful fall accompanied by a short shriek and a loud thump.
"For Celestia's sake Tavi, don't sneak up on ponies like that!" the unicorn clamored dramatically, exaggerating her words and movements in a very typical Vinyl Scratch fashion.
"Oh my. Sweetheart are you okay?" Octavia inquired as she circled the chair to help her marefriend get back on her hooves. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just didn't want to interrupt."
"Well, I guess it's the intention that counts." The DJ smirked, getting back up with Octavia's help. She looked back at her setup, noticing she managed to yank a couple of cables when falling.
"You should really get that wheel replaced, this chair is dangerous." Octavia pointed at the missing wheel on the computer chair, effectively depriving it from one of its support points.
"Meh, it's no trouble usually, when I'm not being startled to death by my marefriend." Vinyl stuck out her tongue jokingly. Octavia sighed softly, the corner of her mouth rising at the unicorn's carelessness. There was a short moment of silence, only deranged by the music escaping from Vinyl strayed earphones. Octavia opened her mouth reluctantly, trying to form her next sentence in her head.
"I.. um.. I got mail from my mother. I think we'll need to talk a bit about the next couple of months," she finally stuttered, not even looking at her interlocutor. Vinyl's expression immediately hardened.
"What do you mean? Is everything alright. She's not pitching a fuss again about us two now is she? Because if she is I'm goin-
"No she's not, Vinyl," Octavia cut her off. "Well, not directly."
The unicorn sighed loudly and rounded back her equipment, taking care of saving her work and putting relative order in her setup, for the next time.
"Alright, I was done for today anyway. This damn track just doesn't want to work." Vinyl jabbed at the gray pony. "Kinda like your mother with our relationship, I think I'll name the song after her once its finished, for all the troubles it will have given me."
"I already told you she got over it Vinyl, kind of. Stop being so aggressive towards my parents," Octavia replied dryly.
"Not your parents, only your mother. Your father don't care for me, I don't care for him in return."
Octavia glared at her friend. Usually she would play along with the mare's teasing, but the mix of bad news after her rude awakening was doing marvels at completely ruining her patience. She decided it was best not to fuel Vinyl further.
Both mares finished climbing the stairs leading back to the living room and both took place on their respective reading chairs in silence. After a moment of waiting, Vinyl shrugged.
"Uh.. Well?" she simply asked, raising an eyebrow.
Octavia considered for a moment summarizing the information but decided to simply nod towards the open letter on the coffee table and let Vinyl grasp the situation herself. It was usually the best way to go when the Cellist wanted her other half to take things seriously on the first try; let her get worked up over it.
Vinyl bent over and levitated the letter to her eye level, squinting heavily as soon as she started reading. A couple of seconds later she violently threw the letter aside, looking at nothing in particular.
"Oh the bitch!"
Octavia cringed for an instant but remembered it was more or less what she had though, too, after reading the letter herself. Vinyl paused a moment then looked directly at the earth pony.
"Seriously what the hay?! Did you know she was about to do that?" Vinyl's expression was slightly more angry than Octavia was previously panicked, but she did have a shorter temper.
"I swear I didn't Vinyl" she pleaded. "I was probably as... as ticked off as you were when reading this." She waved a hoof around. Vinyl brought back the letter before her.
"Well, I don't know about that. At least she's not insulting you in it. Apparently I need to find a real job, like DJing is not a real job!" Vinyl motioned to throw the letter back on the floor somewhere but remembered she was likely to have to reference it again - if only to fuel her rage more - so she simply let it fall on the table.
"Look, Vinyl. I don't want to defend my mother in this, but she is right on some points regarding our long term future. My younger sister is entering college next year. We should have known they wouldn't be able to pay for this apartment forever." The earth pony mustered her most calming voice, almost rivaling Celestia's in order to mark her point as pacifically as possible. Vinyl looked back at the letter.
"Still, she is only telling us a week in advance, by mail, while insulting me in the process. She is still pretty much a bitc-"
"Yes, I got that the first time Vinyl." Octavia cut off once again.
The two mares looked at eachother for a moment. Vinyl finally bit her lip and calmed down, letting herself fall in her chair.
"So, what now? Can't you like negotiate a grace period of some sort? Get us at least some time to get our game together," the unicorn finally asked, her voice hinted with slightly more worry and less hate.
"I highly doubt it. My parents have money, but they are not that rich. They can't put Bemol through college and give us an apartment at the same time," Octavia replied, relieved to see her marefriend somewhat calming down.
"Uhg.. Couldn't she get a scholarship or something? Like, you know, both of us did?"
"Back then, I was talented and you were incredibly lucky." Octavia replied cynically before continuing. "Besides, you're circling the issue. We may have never really though about it, but like I said, we knew this day would eventually come and now you're not ready for it."
Vinyl opened her mouth to begin a new sentence but stopped short, just realizing Octavia's last words. The unicorn frowned deeply.
"Wait, what do you mean 'I'm not ready'? Last time I checked the two of us pretty much sailed the same boat Tavi..."
"Yes, of course sweetheart, I'm not saying otherwise," the other mare replied. "But as far as I'm concerned, my income is enough to cover my eventual part of the rent and then some. The same cannot be said about yours." The pony tried to avoid taking too much of an attitude saying that, but old habits die hard. Vinyl waved a hoof around.
"Oh pff, come on. Its not my fault if all your stuck up pony friends like paying way too much to listen to boring music."
"No, indeed, but it isn't mine either. Some career paths are more lucrative than others, that's all." Vinyl rolled her eyes. Octavia ignored her, running short on patience. "And it doesn't change much in the end. If we want to keep this apartment, you'll have to get a job."
Vinyl sighed violently at Octavia's last words. "I already have a job, Octy." she deadpanned.
"I mean a job that will earn you more than barely enough for drinking money."
"Hey! I can't help it if I need my two mugs to get the show going, sweetie."
Octavia lifted a stern hoof, prompting her friend to stop.
"Look, Vinyl. We've lived together for almost two years now. There are things you do I've grown used to or at least stopped caring about."
"Likewise."
Octavia ignored the stab. "Wasting the slim amount of bits you earn is one of those things I stopped caring about." Vinyl grinned victoriously as Octavia continued. "But for right now - and probably the rest of our lives for that matter - we need to get ourselves a plan. Because as it is, with our combined salaries - and that's assuming you will be able to spare some - I've saved barely enough to get us going for a year."
"Wait, you actually saved up some money?" the unicorn half-jokingly replied.
"There is only so much food a pony can eat. I pretty much put away all the rest."
Vinyl's eyes grew wider "Octavia, you are my idol. I love you."
"Oh, quit the melodrama. I'm trying to make you understand how serious our situation is Vinyl. That's our future we're talking about, our whole lives. You need to get another job, or at least actually try to sign some contracts instead of crawling from club to club."
"Never, record companies are evil. I like my soul thank you very much."
"Well, there is only one other option left then."
"Yeah about that, I could just - I dunno - stop wasting my money, like, you know, actually take time to make insurance claims for the speakers drunken dudes break at my shows instead of just buying new ones," Vinyl tentatively proposed.
"Knowing how much you despise actually having to take time to write stuff and talk to those boring insurance ponies, I highly doubt it's likely to happen."
"I am hurt, Tavi. Deeply hurt by your lack of faith in your marefriend."
"Cut it out will you." She waved a hoof at the unicorn. "I don't get why you've always been reluctant to get another job, even now that you don't really have the choice anymore. At least something part time. Why don't you ask your parents for a job at their record store for a couple of weeks? That would give us some breathing room."
"They kicked me out Tavi, we're not exactly in the best of terms," the unicorn deadpanned.
"Come on Vinyl, its been more than 5 years now, I'm pretty sure that is enough time for ponies to get a shot at a fresh start. Besides, I would like to meet them, yo-"
"Yeah can we just get my parents out of this? Okay, thanks." Vinyl dryly cut off. The genuine anger in her voice startled Octavia.
"Yeesh, sorry. Its just sad to know that if we ever have kids they won't get to meet their grandparents because one of their mothers is an egotistical rancorous pr-"
"Uh-hun, no." Vinyl stabbed a hoof at Octavia, cutting her off. "You're not going to get the cutesy 'sad kids' emotional response out of me. You're lucky I didn't straight out refused to even have foals eventually, don't make me regret this choice."
The two mares stared at each other with somewhat of an uncomfortable animosity. After a long pause Vinyl sighed loudly, releasing the tension in her neck and shoulders, slightly putting Octavia at ease.
"Look I'm sorry, forget what I just said. It's not what we need to be talking about right now."
"Yes, indeed. Sorry I brought it up." Octavia's ears flattened as she looked down at the floor.
"Now, I love you very, very much, but you cannot just ask me to give up on my life's aspirations just because they aren't lucrative enough." Vinyl's tone was almost pleading. Octavia nodded slightly. "I mean, how much is our rent anyway? I'm sure we can work things out."
Octavia shifted her eyes, looking at the wall and lowering her voice as if she was afraid somepony might hear them.
"According to the letter, its just shy of twelve hundred bits per month..."
Vinyl jumped out of her chair
"Holy bucking sh-" She stopped at Octavia's accusing glare. "For a three rooms apartment?"
"Three rooms with running water and magic taps, in midtown Canterlot, with a basement and no adjacent neighbors... that's actually pretty cheap all things considered," the other mare noted.
"Pretty che- ung.." The unicorn sighed loudly and interrupted herself before continuing. "And now that I think about it, why exactly did we need a place in midtown Canterlot in the first place?"
Octavia knew the question was very much rhetorical, and she also knew where this stab was going to bring them, but there was no way to dodge it now that the subject has been brought up.
"We got it, because it was a great apartment, close to commodities and both of our jobs." The mare tried to muster her most convincing tone, knowing too well it was a lost cause.
"Aha, no," Vinyl replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We got it because it was closer to your job, not mine, and because you didn't want to have to walk through the downtown streets everyday."
"I'm very sorry I have a serious, pathological and documented fear of crowds and being mugged."
"Oh that's bullshit. I work in clubs dammit. I cope with crowds and potential muggers almost every damn night and I'm still pretty much alive."
"Look Vinyl, we already talked about this..." Octavia pleaded.
"That was before we actually had to pay for the damned thing Tavi."
"I am not moving downtown Vinyl. It's either safe neighbors or the countryside, and there aren't jobs for either of us in the countryside."
"Well I'm not fucking changing jobs, so I guess we're running out of options now aren't we?"
"Vinyl, language, please."
Vinyl's eyes narrowed. "What, I can't swear in my own house now? Is there some kind of unwritten rule stating that you can't fucking swear in overpriced apartments or what?"
The unicorn tone was getting more and more angry by the second. Octavia sat up in her chair, trying to fight the discomfort brought by the tone of her marefriend.
"Well if it was actually your apartment maybe I wouldn't pitch such a fuss about it, but since I paid for most of the furniture here..."
"Wait, are you really planning on going there? Because if you are just tell me and I'll pack my stuff and leave." She angrily pointed at the door.
"Oh come on Vinyl, that's not even remotely what I meant. Stop acting like such a filly will you?"
Vinyl buried her face in her hooves, sighing loudly. Trying to regain composure somewhat, she took a couple of deep breaths before looking back at Octavia.
"I make enough money as it is now. There are great downtown studios for rent at less than three hundred bits a month. You're the one who needs to lower your standards, princess, that's always been your problem."
Octavia cringed and broke eye contact, feeling a bit ashamed, but mostly enraged. Vinyl was right in a way. Twelve hundred bits was well over what most ponies could ever afford, but now her patience was completely exhausted. This conversation was deteriorating way too much way too fast and for the first time in a long time, she felt completely helpless about it.
"Vinyl, please. We can afford it here, we just need to work a little harder." Her tone was unequally shifting between annoyed and pleading. Octavia wasn't sure which one she was even trying to muster. The unicorn sighed again.
"Listen to me Octy; twelve hundred bits is an insane amount of cash. I know we weren't raised in the same way, and we probably have different notions about money, but back home, even with the four of us busting our flanks at full time jobs we couldn't even remotely afford to live like this. This is insane to think we'll be able to make it."
Octavia turned to look Vinyl straight in the eyes. In retrospect, she couldn't remember why she decided to stab again - effectively sending the conversation straight downhill - when she could have done anything else. Her words slipped right through every single drop of common sense and inhibitions she had. She just told what ran thought her fatigued brain.
"Oh, because you are able to have a real full time job? I would have never guessed," she replied in an unusually sarcastic tone. The kind of sarcastic that is not meant to be teasing or funny, the kind that is meant to hurt somepony. Vinyl's mouth hung wide open at her friend's words.
"E-Excuse me?" the unicorn muttered, confused at the gratuitous stab. Sure, they were throwing each other insults since the beginning of this conversation, but this one was not only uncalled for and totally out of character for Octavia, it was an incredible regression in the already weak argument-to-fussing ratio of the conversation.
Taking advantage of Vinyl's confusion, Octavia carried on. No use turning back now.
"Well, I mean it's not like you had one for all the years I've known you. As far as I'm concerned you never actually needed to work for anything." Octavia continued, "Even now that you don't even have a choice you're still clinging to your little hobby you want so bucking hard to get me to think is real work."
The earth pony was looking straight at Vinyl, her face sporting the same snob and cocky expression she used to fake when they first met, except this time it was very much real. Octavia, for the first time in her life, had willfully insulted another pony with the cruel and clear intent of hurting them.
Vinyl sat down on the floor in disbelief, her eyes wide open. The silence that ensued might as well have been made of lead for all the weight it brought down on both the ponies. After a couple of seconds, Vinyl finally looked away, nodding slightly while biting her lower lip, apparently trying very hard to contain her rage. Octavia looked down at her marefriend, slowly realizing what she just said.
"What. The. Fuck, is it with you damn stuck up ponies NEVER recognizing what I do as real work? What do you think I was doing this morning in the basement? Having some private time and drinking?" Vinyl paused. She slowly stood up and brought her snout within inches of Octavia's, pointing an accusative hoof at the earth pony's forehead. Octavia was terrified, she had never seen Vinyl this enraged before. For a moment, she thought the unicorn was going to hit her, but the white hoof just barely poked her head.
"I'd have you know, 'princess', that I work as fucking much as you do. And very probably more. And it's not because you actually have what other stuck up bitches call a 'decent' or 'respectable' career that it's any better than mine. You only play one instrument for Celestia's sake. I juggle with dozens of them. And sounds. And voices. I work hours upon hours to get my equipment in shape and take said equipment from club to club, by myself. Every. Fucking. Time."
The unicorn's voice was getting harsher and louder at every word. Octavia was feeling the tears coming up as her marefriend yelled at her. Vinyl took in a small breath before continuing.
"Then, once I'm there, I must deal with the most lowlife of ponies drinking their problems to death and not actually giving a shit about the music playing as long as its loud. And everytime I need to walk through the crowd, I'm absolutely terrified at the idea that one of those colt could just knock me upside the head and rape me right there for how much anypony else would care. Yet, I still work whole days preparing those damn tracks, for those damn shows, because its my job, and I love my job, and my job is the only other thing in life that gives me meaning beside you and your sorry stuck up flank."
Vinyl's voice was slowly breaking as tears started to fill her own eyes, Octavia was already sobbing and trying to bury herself in the couch, unable to bear the sheer amount of pain and rage getting thrown at her. Vinyl finally backed off, taking a deep breath while she looked through the living room window.
"And all that for a ridiculous amount of money, which is usually way less that was first promised by the way, because club owners are fucking whores. When they're not straight up pimps offering me other kinds of jobs." She turned back to Octavia. "And you have the guts to tell me this isn't hard work?"
Vinyl hit the floor with her front hoof, closing her eyes in a vain effort to refrain her tears. The small apartment filled once again with the distant sound of foals' laughter and carriages riding the stone streets complementing Octavia's sobbing. Vinyl finally walked to the door, putting on her signature glasses.
"I'm going out."
"Vinyl, wait..." Octavia whispered.
"I just need to vent this out, you should too. Don't wait for me to come back, okay."
The two mares looked at each other for a brief moment before Vinyl closed the door quietly.