//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Shattered // by PessBont //------------------------------// Celestia’s sunlight shone through the blinds of Octavia’s bedroom, shining into the grey mare’s eyes and slowly rousing her from her sleep. She lifted herself up, still feeling emotionally drained from the day before. It still hadn’t fully hit her yet, that her most prized possession had been so quickly and abruptly taken away from her. She had even moved passed being outwardly angry at Vinyl; years of experience taught her that holding grudges rarely ever alleviated the pains of reality, and that it was best to accept things as they came along. Still, her cello...the very essence of her being to be so suddenly destroyed in front of her had certainly taken a toll on her. She stared down at the purple clef that adorned her flanks and let out a small, sad chuckle, still able to appreciate the irony of her immediate situation, if only from a superficial point of view. She then turned her attention to her bedside table, an empty bottle of Jura and a glass sitting on top of it, which probably explained the mild headache she had. Of course, she could hardly blame herself for wanting to drink last night, given the circumstances. She took the empty bottle in her teeth and made her way to the kitchen, depositing it in the recycle bin under the sink. She took a moment to look around her humble apartment, lonely and empty, and sighed to herself. The missing cello certainly took away from the feel of the place, but she couldn’t help but be particularly cognizant of the loneliness of her abode, aware of how vacant her home was, despite the ornate furniture that occupied her living room. In all honesty, she couldn’t lay all of the blame on Vinyl; she, too, felt partly responsible for what had happened. Destroying her prized cello was certainly taking it several steps too far, but Octavia thought back to the awful things that she said to Vinyl in their argument. She may not have shared the same tastes in...music as her friend, but she had no right to so harshly insult Vinyl for it, the very thing that she had built her livelihood on. Especially coming from one musician to another; had she no sense of professional camaraderie or kinship? Remembering her words so vividly, Octavia felt slightly sick to her stomach. A knock came from her front door, rousing Octavia from the small trance that she had fallen into. She looked at the nearest clock, seeing that it was 8:43 in the morning, and wondered who in the world would possibly be knocking at her door so early in the morning. She walked to the door, unlocked the latch and opened it. Octavia’s eyes widened at the sight of Vinyl Scratch, bloodied, beaten, tired, hungover, perhaps still a bit drunk, and very much in low spirits, sitting in front of her. Her arm was wrapped around her midsection, and was clearly in a good deal of pain. Vinyl aimed her head down towards the ground in shame, unable to look at Octavia, clearly fighting with all her strength to not break down in tears right then and there. “Holy sweet Celestia, Vinyl? Oh my goodness, what happened to you? What...are you-” Octavia said, worry in her voice. “Just hang on a sec, Octy, don’t say anything, I just...I need to say something,” interrupted Vinyl, holding out a hoof to stop her worried friend. The basic tasks of breathing and moving still hurt considerably for Vinyl, but she didn’t care. “Listen, Octy, I...I...I fucked up yesterday,” said Vinyl, losing control of her emotions and breaking down into tears. “I fucked up, I fucked up so bad...I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Octy, I didn’t mean to...” Vinyl struggled through her tears, eventually losing grip of herself and weeping openly. Octavia had no words to respond to what she saw. She was still considerably angry at Vinyl, yet couldn’t help but take pity on the rather pathetic sight in front of her. A tear fell from one of her eyes, yet she still remained silent to let Vinyl finish. After a loud sniff, Vinyl continued. “I...here.” Vinyl summoned her magic and gripped the large cello case standing behind her, bringing it forward Slowly, she unlatched the buckles and opened it, revealing a brand new, beautifully polished cello. At the bottom-right of the body was an insignia delicately branded into the wood, the image of a clef that matched with Octavia’s cutie mark. Octavia gasped, carefully inspecting the instrument. “Vinyl...” she breathed, still handling the cello with the utmost delicacy, running her hoof along the clef insignia at the bottom. She turned back to Vinyl, who was a crumpled mess, sitting on her haunches, burying her face in her hooves unable to control her crying. Octavia brought the cello into her home and rested it against the wall next to the door. Vinyl managed to bring herself to speak again. “Octy, I’m so sorry, please...p-please forgive me, I can’t...I d-don’t know what’s wrong with me, Octy, I...I’m so sorry, I’ll never d-d-do anything like that again, but please...p-please don’t hate me...” she wailed, barely able to get the last few words in before, again, breaking down in sobs. Octavia promptly put a hoof around Vinyl and guided the limping unicorn into her apartment. By this point, Vinyl was a complete wreck, crying openly in Octavia’s arms. Octavia carefully guided Vinyl to her couch and laid her down, grabbing a blanket from the hall closet and wrapping the unicorn within it. Vinyl continued to cry, and Octavia softly ran her hooves through her mane, trying to calm her down. “Octy, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please forgive me-” said Vinyl through tears. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Vinyl, it’s okay...” whispered Octavia, stroking Vinyl’s mane, which was partly crusted with dried blood. She observed her friend’s face, her left eye was almost swollen shut in a deep, purple bruise, dried blood streaked the bottom of her muzzle, and her left cheek swollen to almost the size of a large gumball. “Heavens, Vinyl, what happened to you?” Octavia whispered, almost rhetorically, but by then, Vinyl’s whimpers had dissipated and she had finally drifted off to sleep, tears streaming her cheeks. Octavia couldn’t help but cry herself at the sight of her friend in such a state, raising a hoof to her mouth to keep her cries quiet. In spite of everything that had happened between them, she never would have wanted this to happen to Vinyl. Never in a million years. She stayed with Vinyl for a few more minutes to gather herself and make sure the unicorn was completely asleep before turning her attention to the cello standing next to her door. She grabbed the instrument and brought it over to her seat, quietly strumming the strings. They hadn’t been tuned yet, but thankfully, Octavia’s perfect pitch allowed her to properly tune the instrument within a matter of minutes. She noticed a bow sitting inside of the case, a beautifully carved one with a particularly ornate shape. It was made from a dark kind of wood, she guessed mahogany, but wan’t entirely sure. It was sanded and polished to a smooth finish, and it felt so comfortable in her hooves, as if it were designed specifically to fit the difficult manner in which she had learned to hold her bow in order to play. She lightly ran the bow across the fresh strings of the cello, the beautiful whole notes filling the room. Vinyl, so used to the loud, pounding sounds of the dubstep she mixed and performed on a regular basis, was undisturbed by the noise. Octavia smiled at her new instrument and peered over at her sleeping friend, who had begun lightly snoring in her sleep. Feeling inspired, Octavia began to play. She didn’t know what she wanted to play at first, opting to improvise for a little bit before moving into one of her favorite Buch cello suites. She managed to play softly enough to not rouse Vinyl from her much-needed sleep, yet loudly enough that she hoped that she could help to soothe the battered mare and bring her some measure of comfort amidst her obvious pain. Octavia soon lost herself in her music, a feeling of personal catharsis washing over her as she expertly hit each note, silently blinking back tears. She held the last note for longer than normal, taking in the perfection and beauty of the cello’s sound. She had owned her previous cello since she was a filly, and knew that nothing could truly replace it, but she was still taken aback by the quality and craftsmanship of the one she held in her hooves, and determined that she could very quickly get used to playing this one. Delicately, she placed the cello and the bow back into its case and placed it against the wall where her previous one had lived. She sat back down next to Vinyl, sound asleep, and wrapped her hooves around her, burying her face into her shoulder, smiling warmly as she was unable to stop a few of her own solitary tears from falling.