A World I Wasn't Meant For

by Abstract Spectrum

Chapter 6: If It Means A Lot To You

Octavia woke up before Vinyl did, for once. Why? Well, judging from the large amount of WUB coming from downstairs depriving Vinyl of her sleep, she guessed Octavia was probably happy that Vinyl was taking her to her first gig that night. Of course, she wasn't going to just throw her on stage with a wink and a "good luck", Vinyl was going to be right there by her side. It'd been about 2 months since Octavia took up dance music with Vinyl, who wasn't surprised to see how fast she learned. Octavia was getting good, great in fact. But Vinyl thought... perhaps too great. Though the thought was minor, and nearly impossible judging by the experience Octavia had with REAL parties (which was none, mind you), Vinyl feared that Octavia might steal the show away from her. Vinyl was always the life of the party, wherever she went. She was the one to yell to across the dance floor when the crowd pumped their hooves for "another wubly experience" as she liked to call it. Still, the thought of Octavia depriving her of such was next to impossible. At least, that's what she hoped. Octavia was good, very good in fact. If a pony can make the one and only Vinyl Scratch faint, "then you've got somethin' going with that beat in your heart." Vinyl had a lot of faith in Octavia. And she knew that together, they'd be unstoppable.
Together.
Eventually, Vinyl slid out of bed. The lack of breakfast gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. The kitchen floor shaking wasn't helping that feeling, either. While the grey mare was having her own dance party in the middle of their kitchen, Vinyl looked up towards the cupboard as she opened it. Maintaining a tired look on her face, Vinyl sat back as she observed her cereal pour itself into a cracked bowl. With Octavia creating her own mini-earthquake behind Vinyl, she slumped her head into the bowl, eating tiny bits of it. Finally, Octavia stopped her wubs for a moment, and Vinyl could think. She lifted her head out of her cereal, and turned towards Octavia as she took her headphones off and shook her mane out.
"WHOO! Oh my, what a RUSH!" The grey mare said, about to fire up "The Ol' Wubinator" again.
That name. "The Ol' Wubinator". It's what made Vinyl somewhat regret getting Octavia her own DJ set. Regardless, she was glad Octavia found something just as fun for her to substitute orchestral performances.
"You know Tavi... there is a time when you have to STOP, you know?" Vinyl chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh, I know what you mean!"
"Now see, Tavi, I-... wait... what? You do?"
"Why yes! With so much bass in the ground, it really shakes up your bladder!" The grey mare said, making her way upstairs to the bathroom.
"Actually Tavi, that's not what I-"
"Ooh! Excuse me Vinyl, duty calls!" Octavia finished, rushing upstairs.
"Ugh... I'm not sure I can take much more of this. Hopefully she won't get too crazy at our gig tonight." The white mare whispered to herself. She picked up her cereal bowl and ate what was left in it that hadn't already fallen on the floor. Suddenly Vinyl's head flew back when she heard a loud thumping noise from the stairs. She rushed over to see what was the problem, noticing Octavia at the bottom of the staircase.
"Oh my God! Tavi, are you okay?" She gasped.
Octavia quickly stood up and shook her mane out, making it frizzled rather than prim & proper like it usually was.
"Oh, I'm alright! Now 'scuse me, gotta get back to wubbin'!" The grey mare said excitedly.
Vinyl peered over her shoulder at Octavia, who slapped her headphones on and returned herself to scratching vinyl. Now Vinyl was beginning to worry. The changes were started to surface, and she didn't feel comfortable with them. They make Octavia not behave like herself. Vinyl knew that HER Octavia would never say "wubbin'" in her life. She'd also never leave her mane frizzled out, it made it look a lot like... her own.
"Tavi, are you feeling alright?" The white mare asked, looking down at Octavia and her DJ set from the stairs.
"Are you joking? I've never felt better! WHOO!" The grey mare shouted, dropping a heavy bass that nearly woke up the entire neighborhood. Vinyl cringed, then sighed. She returned to her bedroom to try sleeping again, though the fact that the music was hurting her ears from upstairs, in a room, with the door shut was a bad sign. Luckily, Vinyl had a special pair of noise-cancelling headphones that she had originally worn because their neighbor's dog wouldn't shut up. She thought that maybe they'd serve this purpose just as well.

Vinyl stood behind the curtain. She eagerly awaited the announcer to call out her name as a signal for her to walk on stage and get the party started. She took deep breaths when the announcer began speaking.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, please, put your hooves together for the great, the one, the only..."
"Vinyl Scratch!" Vinyl said to herself.
"OCTAVIA!!" the announcer shouted.
"What?!" Vinyl gasped.
She peeked her head through the curtains and saw Octavia smiling and waving to the crowd as she walked out. Octavia slid behind the DJ set and slapped her headphones on. Grabbing the microphone, she announced the start of the party.
"GOOOOOOOOD EVENING PONYVILLE!" She shouted.
"Hey, that's my line!" Vinyl cringed.
"Are you ready, to DROP THIS BA-BA-BA-BASS!?" Octavia shouted again.
The crowed roared viciously as Octavia began to scratch the records. Vinyl slipped her head back behind the curtains and fell to her knees.
"This... this can't be happening! This has got to be a crazy dream!" Vinyl shouted, hitting her head repeatedly. She kept doing so until she couldn't feel her head. She began crying, begging out loud that she be pulled out of her nightmare. Suddenly she heard a familiar sound, much like... curtains opening. Vinyl slowly turned around. She noticed the music stop. She heard nothing but a high-pitched ring in her ears. Everypony in the audience began pointing and laughing at her. Even Octavia, who she noticed was wearing HER signature glasses. Vinyl looked down, quickly covered up the bow tie she was wearing, and pushed away the cello that sat next to her.
"No... NO!...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Vinyl shouted.
Suddenly she had a very sick feeling in her stomach. Octavia was desperately trying to shake her awake.
"Vinyl? Hey, Vinyl, wake up!" she said.
"Huh... wha... what happened?" Vinyl said, rubbing her head.
"Nothing really, you were just screaming in your sleep."
"Oh... huh..." Vinyl pondered.
"Now c'mon, get up, we got a gig to get to!" Octavia cheerfully said, patting Vinyl on the back.
Vinyl shook her head, and grabbed her glasses off the nightstand, following Octavia out the door.

LATER...

It'd been a few minutes after the party, and Octavia and Vinyl were now on their way home. Except, for Vinyl, it wasn't much of a party. She spent most of her time off-stage while Octavia butted in and started dueling Vinyl, trying to beat her at her own game by playing her own beats right when Vinyl was in the middle of her's. It was quiet. The sound of hooves clopping on the ground, followed by an occasional gust of wind that rustled the trees was all that was heard. Octavia kept her head held high, facing forward, while Vinyl kept her eyes near the ground. She peered over to Octavia, who seemed overly happy about tonight's events. Vinyl returned her eyes to the ground, and slumped her neck down a bit with a sigh, remembering how competitive Octavia was tonight.
"Something wrong, Vinyl?" Octavia noticed.
"Hm? Oh... nah. I'm just... concerned." Vinyl paused.
"Concerned? About what?"
No turning back now. It was time Vinyl told her about a matter that she feared since she began teaching Octavia.
"I'm concerned... about you."
"Me? What about me?"
"Ever since I began teaching you, showing you the ropes of my talent... I've feared that you might... take that away from me." Vinyl said, her cheeks puffing up.
"What? That's crazy talk! There's no freakin' way that I would ever-"
"AND THAT! You NEVER talk like that!"
"Well listen, hon, I-"
"Don't hon me! This is what I was scared of most! That you'd change!"
"I haven't changed at all!"
"YES YOU HAVE!" Vinyl cried. "You... you're not the Octavia I used to know. You're not... prim and proper, you're not clean and tidy, you're not classy, you're not the Tavi I loved!" Vinyl yelled.
It was at this point that Vinyl was completely crying. All Octavia did was sit back and watch a once strong mare wallow in her own tears. She'd never seen Vinyl so... destroyed. Just looking at her crying on the ground made her heart cringe, and her eyes slightly begin to water.
"I never wanted it to be like this. I never wanted to see you become me. I wanted you by my side, for us to play together, as best friends."
"But... w-we did!" Octavia stuttered.
"Are you joking? Is butting me off the stage to play your own crap and steal the show your definition of playing together?"
"I didn't steal the show!"
"Every time I got behind the DJ table, the crowd STOPPED CHEERING. DEAD FREAKIN' SILENCE. But then when you shoved your fat-flank up there you started scratchin' discs like you thought you were a professional!"
"Well Vinyl, if popularity really means THAT MUCH TO YOU..." Octavia trailed off as they approached their home. She quickly rushed inside and grabbed a few speakers from their room. "THEN MAYBE YOU'D BE BETTER OFF GETTING IT BY YOURSELF!" Octavia shouted from the window on the second story of their home, throwing out a few of Vinyl's speakers.
The very moment that the speakers shattered on the ground, Vinyl ran inside, got behind Octavia's DJ set, and waited for her to come down the stairs.
"VINYL, DON'T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING TO MY WUBINATOR!" Octavia cried.
A cocky smile emerged on Vinyl's face, when she had a plan to use an old trick she'd learned the hard way at a gig one night.
"Well, Tavi, if it means a lot to you..." Vinyl said, her cocky smile becoming bigger. She began to push the needles down on the records firmly, and rubbed the records repeatedly, faster and faster; until they ignited. "...then I guess you'd be better off without my help, then." Vinyl chuckled, leaping out from behind the burning DJ set.
"NOOOOOO!" The grey mare screamed, leaping towards her "Wubinator", which was now nothing but ash.
Octavia shook, she whipped her head around and yelled with tears in her eyes,
"GET OUT! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
"FINE! BUT WHEN YOUR CAREER COMES CRASHING DOWN, DON'T COME CRYING TO ME!" Vinyl yelled back, grabbing a group photo of themselves off the wall and throwing it on the ground. She slammed the door, and stomped down the walkway, ignoring the crying sounds she heard behind her.
"I bet Lyra and Bon Bon will take me in. I don't freakin' need Octavia." Vinyl said to herself, grinding her teeth. In her mind, it somewhat saddened her, just imagining Octavia sitting in the middle of that house, with nothing. But she digressed, Octavia had it coming.
"I'll... s-show... y-you..." Octavia sniffed, shuffling through the ashes of her gift from a mare she once loved.

Once.

Comments

[QuickFix]

Oh my Celestia.... What have they done!!!

[ForlanceAbice]

Ehh.... You rushed this waaaay too fast dude.
Slow down a little will ya?

[Nima55]

Well that escalated quickly too quickly. Slow it down. Your good at this, no need to rush

[Cecildarkknight]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO how could u