A World I Wasn't Meant For

by Abstract Spectrum

Chapter 12: A Day To Remember

"Vinyl. Vinyl. Vinyl! VINYL!" Octavia yelled, vigorously shaking her stunned partner.
"Yeah... okay..." Vinyl responded in a monotone, hanging up.
There was a short silence in the room before Vinyl pounced on Octavia, their foreheads touching.
"TAVI! WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE HAVE A BIG FREAKIN' SHOW IN CANTERLOT THAT WE'RE NOT READY FOR!"
Octavia's body shook.
"Now Vinyl, calm down, darling!"
"DON'T 'CALM DOWN DARLING' ME! BOTH OF MY DJ SETS ARE BURNED TO SHIT AND PONIES HATE YOUR CELLO! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"
Octavia looked around the room nervously.
"I... I don't know..."
Vinyl sighed. "Exactly... this is it Tavi, we're done for."
The grey mare rubbed her chin, looking up.
"Actually..." she began.
"WHAT?" Vinyl's eyes sparked.
"I did actually... um... have a new DJ set on layaway for your birthday..."
Vinyl grabbed Octavia, hugging her tightly.
"Oh Tavi! You shouldn't have! Actually, you should have, because it'll save our careers, anyway, c'mon! Let's go get it!"
Octavia sighed and looked down. "Unfortunately, I don't have the money to pay the rest of the bill in time."
"Well I'm sure we can manage, how much was left?"
Octavia rubbed her shoulder nervously. "Well uh... just a little, teeny tiny... um... four thousand bits..."
Vinyl's jaw dropped. "How in the wide world of Equestria did you expect to make all that money by next month?"
"Vinyl, darling, you wouldn't believe how much my performances payed in Canterlot."
"Maybe we can... ask for help?" Vinyl suggested.
Octavia looked behind Vinyl when she heard the doorbell ring. Behind the door stood a familiar brown stallion on his blonde-maned marefriend, along with a particular pair of mares consisting of a mint colored one and a cream colored one.
"Got four thousand bits?" Vinyl leisurely asked the group outside.
"Uh... not exactly Vinyl but-" Bon Bon responded, the door being slammed in her face.
"Well this is just great." Vinyl sighed, slouching against the door. Her ears perked up when she felt a knock on the door through her back. Opening the door to the same group of ponies, she asked again more sarcastically,
"Four thousand bits?"
"No but-" Lyra stuck her hoof in the door frame, Vinyl slamming against it trying to cut her off in mid-sentence. Lyra cringed in pain, as Vinyl opened the door again, this time to actually listen to her friends.
"No but what?" She groaned.
"We've got something cheaper." The Doctor insisted.
"What are you talking about?" Vinyl rubbed her chin, perplexed.
"We overheard you guys through the door. Lyra and Bon Bon told us that you two had gotten back together..."
"We won't say how we know that..." Lyra added.
"So we were coming over here to show you something!" Derpy finished. "C'mon! Hurry!"
Vinyl shrugged and called over to Octavia to follow her and the gang.

LATER, AT THE HOOVES' RESIDENCE...
The Doctor unlocked the door and invited everypony inside, leading them to a room in the back of their house.
"Come take a look!" The Doctor insisted, pointing Octavia and Vinyl to go into the room first.
Stepping inside the room, they saw a large square-shaped structure under a blue cloak. Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, and Doctor grouped behind the structure.
"Vinyl, we know you've got an important show, so we'd all just like to say that we know how important this is to the both of you." Bon Bon started.
"Yes, and hopefully-Vinyl, Octavia-you'll know what to do with the tools that we're giving you."
Vinyl and Octavia stared at eachother, perplexed. Turning back to their friends, Vinyl asked, "What do you mean?"
The four ponies behind the cloaked object grabbed hold of the cloak, biting down on it's cloth. Throwing their heads back, revealing what was underneath the cloak.

Octavia's jaw dropped to the floor, while Vinyl fell over on the ground with an over-dramatic faint.
"I-it's... beautiful..." she uttered. Vinyl crawled over to her newly revealed gem, caressing it lovingly.
"How did... you all do this?" Octavia stuttered.
"When you two broke up, we thought that maybe someday, when you got back together, you could use a fresh start!"
"I polished your cello, too!" Derpy added, unveiling it from behind Vinyl's new DJ set.
Octavia followed Vinyl in caressing her new instrument lovingly. Before Octavia and Vinyl both got... dirty... Octavia shook her head out of her trance.
"Vinyl! We have a show to do!" She remembered.
Vinyl stood up shook her head and nodded, "Right! C'mon, let's get going!"
"But wait..." the grey mare pointed out. "How are we going to get these instruments out the door? Especially your DJ set! It's huge!"
Vinyl sat down to conjure up a plan, rubbing her chin. A spark struck in her mind with an "AH HA!".
"What is it, Vinyl?" Lyra questioned, the white mare positioning herself next to her.
"Lyra, you and I need to use our magic to teleport these to Canterlot!" The white mare declared.
"What? That sounds impossible! That's too great of a distance!" Lyra debated.
"For ONE mare, maybe. But two horns are always better than one!"
"Hmm... you may just have something... I'll give it my best, then." Lyra nodded.
The two mares charged their horns, the rest of the group standing back from the force-field their magic created around their instruments. Both mares made struggling grunts as they pushed their magical prowess over the threshold, sweating violently.
"Just... a little... more..." Vinyl squeezed out of her throat.
A loud burst of energy scorched the room's interior wallpaper and carpeting. Vinyl sprung up when she saw the instruments weren't in the room.
"It worked!" She cheered.
"I hope so. Do you have any idea where it went?"
"Let's hope Canterlot, but there's no time to confirm! We need to go now!" Vinyl rushed.
Octavia nodded as she and Vinyl ran out the front door, waving thank you and goodbye to their friends.

LATER, IN CANTERLOT...

Neither Octavia nor Vinyl wasted anytime sight-seeing. The very symphony hall Octavia fell apart in was where they needed to go. Only this time, a full house. At the entrance of the symphony building, Octavia blocked her marefriend with her leg.
"What gives, Tavi? We need to get in there!"
"I know, but listen to me for a sec. When we go in there, we really need to give more than our best. We need to improvise, since we haven't written anything new, but it needs to be our best instinct at heart. This could either make or break us both, Vinyl. And if it breaks us, there's no piecing us back together."
Vinyl looked down doubtfully at the ground. Raising her chin, she confidently nodded at Octavia, both mares facing towards the double-doors as they stepped in.

The quiet crowd cheered viciously as they stepped in, making their way to the stage. Vinyl leaned in close to Tavi, pointing out that their instruments arrived safely.

The two musicians made their way down the isle, waving a blowing kisses to the crowd, as they continued to cheer them on.
"Does it feel good, Tavi?"
"Does what feel good?"
"The fame, the attention, isn't it just like it used to be?"
Octavia looked around and observed the fans all around her, jumping out of their seats just to get a glance at their beloved performers.
"No... it's nothing like it used to be...."
Vinyl looked confused over to her grey marefriend, Octavia returning the look with a more cheerful expression.
"It's so much more." She smiled.
Vinyl returned the smile as she jumped on stage, lending a hoof to help Octavia on as well. As Octavia setup her cello, Vinyl grabbed the microphone at the front of the stage. About to announce their arrival, she stopped for a moment, a turned to Octavia. She gave Octavia a sly look, pointing at the microphone, and nudging her head at the crowd. Octavia lit up, excited to be the mare to address the crowd.
"HOW'S EVERYPONY DOING TONIIIIIIIGHT?" Octavia yelled, pepping up the crowd. "Well that's just marvelous! Because we sure have a HUGE PERFORMANCE READY FOR YOU!" she yelled again, the crowd responding accordingly. Octavia stepped away from the microphone, Vinyl quickly taking the position.
"Alright everypony, settle down for a second..."
Octavia looked confused over at her white marefriend, wondering what she was doing. The crowd simmered down, allowing Vinyl to speak.
"I want to say a couple things before we get started. A couple things about... the amazing experiences I learned throughout the last few months."
The crowd sat patiently, allowing Vinyl to continue.
"I've learned... that there's something that all artists fear the most, the new generation. Some can't keep up with it, other just adjust to it and live on through their artistry. I know... one mare in particular that couldn't keep up, she didn't want to. She loved the music she played and she didn't want that to change. I noticed that as time went on, her time in the spotlight slowly faded away. Time went by, time brought changes, and the ponies around us changed, too. Myself, along with a few other ponies were the only ones that still believed in her. But, just like the old genres and generations of yesteryear, those thoughts and beliefs faded away. But did Octavia give up? No. Granted, she went through some tough times to climb back up the ladder to super-stardom, but she made it, didn't she? Look at her now, she's here to give you all a show, but not alone. What I'm trying to say is, just as it all may seem hopeless, you don't let go of your dreams. You've got to carry the weight, as the strength such gives you, helps you make your way to the top."
Octavia stared with her jaw dropped and eyes wide open at what Vinyl was saying. She was surprised that she understood it, she understood what her life was like, and it seemed so apparent to Vinyl that if it hadn't had been for the crowd, she would've tackled her and got busy right there. But such a thought flew out of her mind quickly, there were more important matters at hoof.
As the crowd stood up and cheered as Vinyl nodded her head and waved, she looked back at Octavia.
"You ready to give 'em more than what they came for?" She said, turning and walking up to her grey marefriend.
"I can carry the weight." Octavia nodded, standing up and trotting towards her cello. Vinyl trotted to her designated instrument as well, grabbing the microphone and placing it by her side.
"NOW ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THIS SHOW OR WHAT!?" Vinyl's voice boomed through the building.
The crowd cheered viciously, Vinyl and Octavia nodded at eachother. Tavi lifted her bow, and Vinyl readied her hooves to spin her sick beats.

Silence fell over the crowd,

and jaws dropped.

Comments

[QuickFix]

Time went by, time brought changes, and the ponies around us changed, too.

Aha, I see what you did there.

This chapter really had some deep emotion. Sorta felt like it got cut short though. Maybe it's just me.