> Of Wubs and Strings > by ThatAwkwardDJ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Crescendo > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of Wubs and Strings. Wub; Noun. An extended wobble bass note, characteristic of dubstep music, which is manipulated rhythmically to create an oscillating sound. Wub; Verb. A childish mispronunciation of love. Strings, Stringed Instrument; Noun. An instrument, usually of classical origin with strings along the body, such as a cello, or violin. Strings, "tugging at your heartstrings."; Verb. To tug at one's heartstrings; Feeling strong love or sympathy for one. Chapter 1: Crescendo The music was so beautiful. It was expressed through every fiber of her being; the soft, sweet sounding melody echoed through the entire stadium. Each note had been practiced and perfected over years and years for this very moment, and oh, how she embraced it. Eyes tightly squeezed shut, and needing not of a music sheet. She had the song permanently stitched in her mind; having played it every day since she was a filly. In front was a crowd of hundreds; but there was only one voice to be heard, as all others were quiet. "Go, Tavi! Woo!" Octavia fringed her brow, continuing to play, but she felt herself knocked down a peg, her face now flushed red with embarrassment. Not only did Vinyl yell out during her moment, but she called her that...ruffian name, 'Tavi'...how uncultured and rude could that mare possibly be? She could practically feel the eyes on her now. The high class and sophisticated mares and gentlecolts of Canterlot, those judgemental eyes, watching her every movement and every slip of the bow. 'Tavi', they knew who that was. At least, in Octavia's mind they did. They knew she had invited her rowdy, loud, and unfitting roommate to such an event, and that would be a penalty. Be quiet, Vinyl... "Awww yeah! That's my best friend up there!" The bow emitted a loud screech on the strings as she craned her neck to glare at the mare in the front row. "I swear to Celestia, Scratch!" The cellist hissed, narrowing her eyes with a menacing scowl. "I did not invite you here for...this!" She tilted her head upwards, taking a sharp inhale. Calm down, Octavia...It's only Vinyl. Keep playing... Octavia counted to ten in her mind to keep her temper and exhaled. "Excuse me, I do apologize." The cellist spoke softly in her unmistakable Northern Canterlot accent. She slowly started the song up again, trying to relax. The DJ, unable to sit still, managed to disrupt once again. It was a simple cough. It was enough to earn a few glares, the most frightening one from Octavia. At this point, she had lost what part of the song she was on, and simply stopped. She was too good for this. "Hey," A soft voice asked. "wake up...you're talking in your sleep again." Octavia opened her eyes again, but to darkness, and a pain in the back of her head. She knew who it was; Vinyl Scratch, her Disk-Jockey roommate. The two had known each other for quite some time, but Octavia was slowly starting to resent her. If asked on the spot, she could come up with a book of reasons why she absolutely hated Vinyl Scratch. "Why in Equestria are you still up? Go to bed." She said harshly, earning an amused chuckle from the other mare. "It's 10:00. Only snoots go to bed before that." Vinyl said nonchalantly, turning around to get back in her bed. Octavia huffed, still angry from her dream. "Well, you could at least have the manners to turn your music down...ugh! I swear, I'm even having dreams of you being so disrespectful." Octavia closed her eyes again, rolling over and pulling the blanket over herself, her back facing Vinyl. The other mare chuckled. "Dreams? Damn, Tavi...at least I made an impact, huh? So unforgettable~" She rolled her eyes playfully. "If that's what you call it, I suppose so." She sleepily agreed, nodding her head softly as she began falling back asleep. The next morning, Octavia was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and Vinyl smelled the delicious omelets. She sniffed softly, it was motivating her out of the bed, which few things could. She groggily trotted out to the kitchen, starting to brew herself a cup of coffee. Octavia wrinkled her nose. The very smell of coffee beans made her nauseous. Vinyl sleepily yawned and adjusted her shades in which she never removed. "Mornin' Tavi." Octavia cringed even more. "Good morning, Scratch." She responded hesitantly, pouring her tea into a small mug. By now, Vinyl was half used to her grumpiness. She was, however, unaware that it was from her doing. Vinyl rubbed her temples, the previous night catching up to her. "I told you to stop calling me that. It's too formal." She replied with a sigh. "What are you doing today?" Octavia was far above small talk, but went along to not be rude. She took a sip of the tea, having not added any sugar or cream, instead a splash of honey. She could tell Vinyl only was asking so she would ask the same back. "I have practice later. How about you?" "I gotta' gig tonight!" The other mare responded quickly, shoveling enough sugar into her coffee to make Octavia feel dizzy. "I'm gonna be playing at the same club as Neon Lights!" "Splendid..." Octavia said with little enthusiasm. The two fell in silence for a bit as they ate breakfast. Things were normally quiet when Vinyl hadn't gotten into trouble. They rarely spoke face-to-face. "So, I gotta' surprise for ya!" Vinyl said after she finished. Before the other could respond, Vinyl interrupted. "Y'know how the dishwasher has been busted? Well, I fixed it!" Octavia looked up from her tea in shock. "You...really did fix it? Why, thank you." She smiled a bit. Maybe having Vinyl as a roommate wouldn't be so bad. Seemingly ignoring Octavia's appreciation, she continued on. "I fit two eight-inch subwoofers in there! It took me forever to get my hooves on ones that would be waterproof! Wanna see?" She asked excitedly. Octavia hadn't understood a word she said, but agreed with a nod. The DJ happily jumped up and put their dishes into the washer, messing around with something that Octavia couldn't see inside it. "Drop it!" She declared, closing it and pressing start with one swift motion. The whole kitchen started rattling with pure bass. "When you can't feel your hooves, that's when you know it's loud enough to clean them!" Octavia stared with disbelief before moving out of the line of bass, allowing her heart to beat on its own now. "Scratch, this is absolutely unacceptable! Remove those sub-whatevers out of my washer this instant!" She demanded, fixing her bowtie in displease. "Aww, c'monnnn! Just wait until you see the dishes!" Vinyl opened the washer, pulling out a spotless, albeit partially cracked plate. "Oops...maybe it was too high this time..." She scratched her chin while studying it closely. Octavia was fuming now. "You've ruined my dishwasher and broken my plates!" "Well, technically it was already broken. And they're clean now, right?" She said calmly with a warm, friendly smile. Octavia found it infuriating when she acted so nonchalant about things. "You'd better take it back apart!" "Well, that's kinda not gonna work. I already cut out some stuff, so it's either this or nothing..." Vinyl lowered her head with a nervous chuckle. "Did it not cross your mind once to consult me about this?!" She asked, still raging. The bill to replace it would be far more than she could afford... Vinyl changed the topic quickly, partially ignoring her question. "Uh...Don't use the garbage disposal." The cellist tossed her head back and brought a hoof to her face, clearly even more displeased. "How many more appliances of mine have you ruined?!" Vinyl finally frowned, sensing her frustration. "Chill, Tavi...I was only trying to fix them..." With a loud huff, Octavia stomped her hoof. "This is horrible! You've made everything worse!" She whined, sneering at Vinyl, who in return, glared through her glasses. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to stea-" Vinyl caught herself and feigned a cough, turning away for a moment. "Sorry. How long it took me to find those subwoofers?!" She continued. Octavia blinked in utter disbelief. "You thief! You cannot steal whilst in my house!" "It's our house!" Was the last thing Vinyl said before storming off out of the house. Probably to some ruffian place like a grimy bar, Octavia supposed. After an evening of quiet reading, Octavia sighed softly to herself. She had a cup of warm blueberry tea and was relaxing in the living room. Things were perfect. Too perfect. Where's Vinyl? She looked up at the clock that read 11:00 PM. This was later than Octavia normally stayed up, and she was expectant of her roommate being home hours ago. She found herself worried, but wasn't sure why. Why should she care in the first place? Vinyl works at a nightclub for Celestia's sake; of course she'd come home late. She thought that was good enough reasoning to go to bed, and did as her exhausted mind urged her to. She walked across the creaky floor that had driven her insane since she moved in. She remembered the gorgeous spiraled stairs she used to have that led to her large room, how the window lined perfectly with where the sun rose every morning anf filled up the lavishly decorated room with sunshine. She recalled how high the ceilings were, and the huge dining room and kitchen, and how clean it had always been kept by the maids. How tasteful the décor was, the soft carpet under her hooves. There was not a single creak anywhere. As that thought came to mind, she also remembered something else. How Mother and Father made her practice every day, how she was forbidden from eating sweets, how the tutors that came over daily were so rude and forced her to learn things exactly the way they wanted. They would call her a stupid filly. She remembered how lonely it was. Her mother bragging about her being a musical prodigy over the phone, later yelling at her for not trying hard enough. "Standard. Do it again." She would always say, making her repeat the song until her hooves hurt. She was eventually molded into a robot, only following the rules and doing what others told her. Never anything she wanted. No, those are bad thoughts, Octavia. Things are different now. Octavia found herself standing in the middle of the hall for far too long and tore herself from the memories, continuing into the shared room. One bed on the far right, one on the far left. She hated that this old, shabby house didn't even have two rooms. Yet, she was lucky to afford it at all, barely able to keep up her half of the rent. She sat on her bed and pulled the covers over herself. After what felt like hours of forcing her eyes shut, pleading for sleep to come, he was still very much awake. She picked up her phone, which she rarely used beyond work purposes. She still had Vinyl's contact in it. Scanning over their recent messages, she saw that even over text, Vinyl was obnoxious. She just studied the picture absentmindedly while thinking. She just needed to talk to somepony, to keep her very sanity. She didn't know why she felt so terrible. Maybe it was a realization. She thought it was pathetic to call her, but she ran a check through her other contacts and found nopony else whom she was actually on speaking terms with. With a sigh, she pressed call. It rang for a few moments before her eardrums were blasted with loud music. She winced and held it away from her ear. "V-Vinyl? Are you there?" She asked quietly, starting to regret her decision. Her question was answered by a few giggles in the background, followed by the familiar, husky voice of Vinyl Scratch. "Yeah, yeah..." Vinyl said, followed by some shuffling. "Hello?" Octavia smiled softly, then frowned again when she realized she hadn't actually planned out what she was going to say. After all, you couldn't just start a conversation so easily. At least, not in her mind. She stayed quiet for a few moments before deciding on what to say. "Hello, Vinyl," She started professionally. "I was just wondering when you were coming home." That was far from the reason why she called, but as she considered this, she couldn't think of the real reason. "Oh, hey Tavi! Uh, I dunno...it looks like this party's gonna stay alive until at least 8AM! Can you hear this madness?!" There were several ponies yelling things Octavia couldn't understand. "Wait, are you serious?! You're staying that long?!" She asked, shocked. She didn't want to be alone. Even if they wouldn't talk, she just wanted somepony there with her. "Probably not that long, chill." Octavia could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "I got some time to talk if you wanna. What's up?" She perked up at that, a smile curling her lips. "Splendid! Perhaps we can-" She was interrupted by a loud sound on the other end. "Oh crap...Look, Tavi, I actually gotta go, OK? Later!" With that, the phone hung up. Octavia's smile fell and she curled up with her pillow. The steady beeping of the phone remained for several seconds until she hung up also. Something about hearing Vinyl's voice made her feel better, maybe it was because she never had a friend she could call. Was Vinyl her friend? > Fortissimo > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: Fortissimo Octavia awoke with a jump when she heard a crash coming from the living room. She took a few moments to realize what was happening before a scary thought crossed her mind. She gasped softly, looking around frantically for a weapon of defense on the intruder. Eventually she settled on her cello bow, holding it upright. She closed her eyes and gulped, starting to walk out of the room slowly. Her heart dropped when the floor in the hallway slowly creaked under her weight, ruining her stealth and letting out a long, loud squeak. She saw the shadow approaching around the corner. She clutched the bow tightly and decided to strike first. She swung it as hard as she possibly could in that moment, letting out a frightened squeal as she did so. She heard the figure fall to the ground, and followed by a smaller thump. Taking another opportunity, she began to hit the pony repeatedly while it was down. "Luna's sake, Tavi!" With one swift shove, Octavia was easily tossed back like a ragdoll. With that, her fear was replaced with regret. "Oh, dear! I'm sorry, Vinyl..." She quickly pulled the string on the lamp to see her roommate doubled over on the floor, her eyes closed and rubbing her head. "I-I thought you were a thief..." It took her several seconds for her to realize that she was missing her shades, and they were lying on the floor next to the DJ, one of the lenses broken. "Jeez!" Vinyl sat up before having a mini heart attack when she felt around for her shades and her hoof brushed over the broken lens. "W-Wha?! Oh man...Oh man oh man..." She quickly stood up and swiftly brushed passed Octavia and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her near silently. Octavia bit her lip, now feeling more guilty. She lowered the bow to her side and knocked on the door. "Vinyl! I said I'm sorry!" Part of her wondered why it bothered her so much about why she wasn't getting a response. She recalled how easily she used to be forgiven; ponies blaming the situation on themselves instead. Back in Canterlot, everypony kissed up to her. She was almost angry that Vinyl wasn't saying anything, wanting to demand for her to say it wasn't her fault. She, now mad, banged harder on the door. "Come out here! You're making me feel guilty!" She heard a small sniffle in response, followed by the shower starting to drown out the sound. Octavia's ears folded back, confused about why she was crying over something like this. She eventually decided to leave her be and trotted back into their shared room. She laid down on her bed, setting the cello bow down. She waited for Vinyl to come out in her own time, but fell asleep before she did. Later that morning, at a decent hour, Octavia awoke once again. Vinyl still wasn't in her bed across the room. She quickly stood up with renewed vigor, marching out to the bathroom, only it was empty. She continued past it, peering into the kitchen and saw Vinyl sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal. She was noticeably turned down a notch, not seeming nearly as energetic as usual. She had duct tape messily strewn around her glasses, yet it still was effective at hiding her eyes. Octavia walked closer to her carefully. "I'm really sorry for breaking them..." She said in a soft tone. When there wasn't a response after several seconds, her ears fell back. Finally, Vinyl shook her head, still not looking in her direction. "No, it's fine. 'Not your fault, they're just shades." She said lowly, playing around with her spoon. Those words made Octavia breathe a sigh of relief. "But...why do you seem so down then?" She asked, tilting her head. Vinyl stirred in her seat uncomfortably. "None of your damned business..." She mumbled, using her magic to start the coffee maker that was across the room. Octavia stomped her hoof. "Well, that's rude!" She raised her voice a little, becoming enraged. "I'm only trying to be polite; it's not like I actually care about how you feel anyway!" Vinyl, with a menacing scowl, slowly poured the bowl of untouched cereal onto the ground, followed by dropping the dish before she stormed out, slamming the front door. Still baffled at the act, Octavia slowly realized she'd have to clean up the mess and let out a loud groan, having a small tantrum to herself. As she got a rag, she yelled in the empty house. "Ugh! Vinyl, you're so weird! I wish I'd never agreed to move in!" She found that it was actually making her feel better. "Your grammar is terrible, you ruffian! And your mop of a manestyle...your noise you call music..." She shook her head and sat down, just staring at the half-cleaned up spill. "I just want to go home..." She sunk down more, growing mad again. She'd always had anger issues, it being one of the few emotions she felt. She briefly recalled how when her mother sent her to her room when she was younger, she'd have a fit; screaming into a pillow and knocking things down. She remembered that her room would be in shambles, and how she'd furiously pick everything up before her mother checked on her. She took a few breaths to calm herself. She shouldn't be this angry...it's only Vinyl... They'll eventually get over it. They've had their tiffs, and this was just another one. She finished cleaning up and decided to practice. It had been a few hours of her playing her cello and getting lost in thought. Suddenly, and idea struck her! She knew a way for them to get along; they could have lunch in a diner! There would be ponies around, so an argument couldn't get too heated, and why would they fight with delicious food in their mouths anyway? They could just talk and get to now each other... perfection! Octavia was very happy with her idea, and couldn't wait to tell Vinyl. Where was she anyway?