//------------------------------// // Part 2 // Story: Friendship is Music // by Earl Grey //------------------------------// I know there are numerous debates that rage over exactly what instrument Octavia plays, but for the sake of this fic, I've made it so she plays a Double Bass. There will be reasons why I chose the Double Bass, so it's not a choice made out of ignorance. And as you've realised if you read Part 1, I run a version of Fanon where Scratch is Partially Sighted, not entirely blind. I just prefer it for character development reasons. And now we return to our regularly scheduled reading Part 2 Octavia woke up that next morning, not with the headache she had predicted, but with a sense of anticipation. She looked over at the clock eagerly, it was seven-fifteen. Despite the night she'd had, her natural body clock had insisted she wake up. She grimaced, unless they had to be, very few ponies would be awake at this time and Vinyl didn't seem to be the pony who would wake up early for the sake of it. Octavia thought about that for a few moments whilst climbing out of bed, folding the covers back and flattening them out as she did, 'Vinyl's night probably went on for a few hours more after I left.' “I'd probably seem like some crazy stalker if I turned up at half past seven in the morning, anyway.” Saying it out loud seemed to validate her indecision, Octavia grabbed a nearby brush and straightened out her mane and tail, she turned to leave but spotted her bow-tie sitting on the desk near her bed, 'After breakfast. I don't want to accidentally stain it.' Breakfast was much the same as every other day, she'd fill a bowl with various cereals and eat in relative silence, she earned enough bits through her work to buy her own place in an up-scale area of Canterlot, not that the apartment itself was any good, it was just in a good area. Sometimes she wondered if she should get a room-mate, if only to stave off the boredom of being alone. On occasion, she would play some music to make the apartment seem less empty, but after last night, she didn't feel like listening to anything in her collection and in her excitement about meeting Vinyl, she had forgotten to ask about getting a copy of the show. Octavia sighed, she had finished her breakfast, attached her bow-tie, making sure it lay neat and tidy around her neck, but was at a loss as to what she should do for the morning. She had already decided that no matter what, she was going to visit the address she had been given the night before and she had settled on twelve o'clock as a respectful time to arrive, but what to do in the hours that separated her from midday? She sat on her couch looking out of the window for a few minutes, but it didn't look as if the clock was moving, she got up and flicked through her bookcase, nothing tickled her fancy, the clock had barely moved. Octavia sat on the couch again, this time at the other end and stared out of a different window, the scenery was pretty much the same, except she could see the castle through this window, the princess would be up, having raised the sun not too long ago, this small realisation placated her tension a small bit. Bored again, Octavia's eyes fell on the bookcase once more before she dragged her gaze away, she could look through her music collection, even though she knew it by heart. Octavia collapsed onto the couch again, this time in the middle, her tiny living room held little else to entertain her... except, maybe her double bass. She could spend hours playing on it, but not here, the acoustics were terrible. Octavia sat up immediately, yes, that's what she'd do. Five minutes later, Octavia had a saddlebag tied to her waist full of whatever she might need whilst she was out, the piece of card with Vinyl's address was in it's own side pocket. Next came the hard part, the large, heavy string instrument. Luckily it was stored in it's own personal protective case, with attached wheels. That didn't make it any easier when it came to not dropping it, she had stairs to contend with, honest to goodness stairs. Considering the case was taller than herself, even when she stood on her hind legs, it was a miracle that she got it down three flights of stairs without any major incidents, a security pony sat behind a desk gave her an appreciative nod as he watched her struggle past. Octavia even put on a show of having troubles, but no 'can I help you?' or even 'good day madam' escaped his lips, apparently reading Modern Stallion is so interesting it takes precedence over helping your fellow pony. Octavia wheeled her case outside of the building, a taxi cart came rumbling by and she stuck out a hoof, the cart puller stopped, “You need help with that lady?” He asked, preparing to unhook himself. “Yes please, driver. Be careful though, it's fragile.” Octavia climbed aboard the cart, preparing to secure the case once the driver passed it up to her. All credit to him, the burly, yellow pony lifted it with relative ease, his wide back providing ample room to carry such things. He lifted it to Octavia and she did the rest, lying it down next to her, “Canterlot Fillyharmonic Hall, please.” The driver hooked himself back into the reins and began pulling the cart onwards, Octavia lurched backwards slightly as they took off, she made sure to keep a hoof on her double bass just in case. == It was almost eight o'clock by the time she set up her double bass in one of the rehearsing rooms, a small stool stood by the double bass on it's stand. Octavia got the bow in her hoof and sat down, bringing her other hoof up to the instruments neck, she began to feel each string in turn, almost like shaking hands with an old friend. Gently, Octavia brought the bow across the strings, letting her muscle memory take over, before she knew it, she was playing a few choice classics from her collection. Even as she was playing, her eyes closed and ears pricked, she couldn't focus, her mind kept slipping onto other topics. Octavia winced as she missed a note, then another, after a while she got disheartened and stopped altogether. “Why can't I concentrate?” She sighed exasperatedly. Of course, she knew why she couldn't concentrate, every time she thought about music, the face of that unicorn popped into her mind, her neon blue mane and big sunglasses proving ample distraction from following chord progression. Vinyl almost seemed mocking in how she just appeared, making everything more complicated than it needed to be. Then something she said floated to the forefront of Octavia's mind, “tearing up the decks with full control of the sound never fails to put me in the mood for having fun.” “Control.” Octavia repeated, “Maybe she was trying to tell me that I need to focus on creating original works instead of labouring under learning others.” She really thought she was onto something with this. Octavia carefully played a few random, complementary notes but winced as she recognised famous classical style and structure, “I need something new, fresh and innovative.” Octavia's mind immediately drifted to last night's show and what she could remember of it, a remix as Vinyl would call it, it was a wobbly step down the path of originality, but it was one in the right direction. She closed her eyes and thought back, her dawning appreciation as she recognised the gentle sweeping of the Double Bass, she tried her best to emulate the style. She could imagine the drums in the background, spurring her onwards as she built up to the crescendo, laying heavy on the bass before cutting into a faster, lower pitched version of the previous melody. On her own, it wasn't fantastic, but it made her feel good regardless, at least as good as the first time she learnt to play a classical piece note perfect. For someone who was playing and improvising from memory, it was decent enough. After straining to remember anything else about the performance, she began adding to where she felt it needed adding to and trying to see if she could improve on her execution, as a classically trained player, trying to defy all of the conventions she had grown up learning was a difficult task. So she sat, composing silently in her head. A scroll of paper on a nearby desk was filled with random notes and obscure shorthand pointing to various changes she had tried to make, any pony looking at it would probably see the deranged ramblings of a lunatic. By the time Octavia had a solid few minutes of music down and accounted for, a rough guide hastily scrawled into her notepad, she looked up at the clock to see that it was already half eleven. Octavia shot up, she suddenly realised that she had built up quite the appetite during her stay and she'd need all the time she could get if she wanted dinner before heading to Vinyl's place. Octavia pulled her saddlebag on and rooted through the side pocket to look at the address, her heart fell, it was nowhere near where she was. “Perhaps Vinyl will be nice enough to offer me lunch, it is after all, only good manners.” Octavia secretly hoped that Vinyl was a dignified mare behind closed doors and not the glorified party pony her image presents. Carefully sealing her Double Bass back into it's protective case, she wheeled it back outside and waited for a taxi-cart to pass by, she didn't have long and the trip would take it's time. Of course, Octavia was working against a self-imposed deadline that didn't have any consequences if she was late, but she wasn't the kind of pony to be late, even if she was the one to enforce it. As with before, the cart driver helped her get the instrument on board, after making sure it was secure, she told the driver where she needed to go. == Octavia knocked on the door, hearing a slight echo. The address had lead to a three storey building which had turned out to be a small apartment block, except that each floor was it's own apartment, a vast improvement over Octavia's tiny room. Vinyl's apartment was on the top floor, it hadn't been easy lugging her Double Bass up those stairs, but she wasn't going to let it out of her sight, no sir. After twenty seconds and nobody answered the door, Octavia knocked again, there was a brief rustling sound and a faint clip clopping of hooves. Octavia ran over what she was going to say in her head, 'nice and casual'. The door was unlocked but only opened a few inches, caught on a latch, but there she was, her mane a complete bird's nest, “Who is it?” She asked, her voice was slightly raspy. “It's Octavia, I was in the coffee, do you want to go for a neighbourhood?” She faltered slightly at the end, realising too late that she'd messed up. Vinyl merely chuckled, “You sound like I feel. Wait there, I'll let you in.” The door shut and the chain rattled as it was taken off, opened wide, Octavia could see Vinyl's apartment properly. Not one to openly criticize, especially of someone who was fast becoming a friend but also someone who was visually impaired, Octavia kept it to herself that she thought it looked like a bomb had gone off. The front room was huge, yet it still looked trashed, the kitchen to the left had bottles lined up along the worktops, the living area just in front of her had various things littered between the furniture, even the massive window that almost covered the entire back wall had stains running up it several feet higher than should have been allowed. 'This amount of mess in my place and it would be up to my knees.' “Sorry about the mess,” Vinyl said, walking to the kitchen and opening the fridge, “I had a little get together and it went on for a few hours longer than I expected, not had much chance to clean up yet.” Octavia wheeled her Double Bass closer, she didn't want to lose it amongst the rubbish, “Are you sure you're okay, I mean, there are quite a few trip hazards.” Vinyl appeared from the fridge, milk moustache barely visible against her white coat, she tapped her horn coolly with a hoof, “No need to worry.” “I'm sorry,” Octavia flushed with embarrassment, “I just don't want you to get hurt.” “A very admirable attitude, yet an unnecessary one.” Vinyl sat on one of the stools by the breakfast bar, using her magic to sweep away a layer of detritus, she lay her head on the table, “Could you perhaps get me an aspirin from the medicine cupboard in my bathroom, it's just through your door on the right, then turn right again.” Octavia thought it best to help her, standing her Double Bass against a clean bit of wall near the door, she carefully stepped over empty bags of food and discarded drinks to reach a door on the side wall, there were only two doors on a small corridor, Octavia went through the right one and into a spacious bathroom. The bathroom was decorated pretty much like any bathroom Octavia had seen before, not that she had seen many bathrooms nor considered herself and expert on bathroom interior design. It was predominately white, with the odd black accent thrown in for good measure, Octavia found the medicine cabinet, a mirrored cabinet hanging above the sink and quickly found the bottle labelled 'aspirin'. She turned to leave and caught a noxious smell in her nose, she didn't turn around to see what it was. “Here you go, Vinyl. You must have had a crazy night, huh?” Octavia returned to the living room to find Vinyl looking at her case. “Not really, just a few people I know from the business, kinda threw it together last minute.” 'Not that crazy? I don't think I want to see her definition of crazy.' Octavia thought as her eyes widened a little in disbelief. “So what's in the case?” “That's my Double Bass, I was practising before I came over.” Vinyl turned to Octavia, “Ha, I bet you liked the intro to my show last night then.” Octavia laughed a little, “I liked your show in general, but yes, the intro did catch me off guard. That's actually what I was doing whilst practising, I was trying to emulate the opening, it took me a few goes but I think I got it.” “Oh really?” Vinyl smiled appreciatively, “That's something I'd like to see” If she weren't wearing sunglasses, you probably could have seen that her eyes betrayed mild scepticism. “Would you like to hear it? You're probably the only pony who could tell me if I got right or not anyway.” Octavia grabbed the case and began wheeling it over to the stool where Vinyl had cleared some of the rubbish. “I'd love to, do you need any more room to set anything up?” Octavia unzipped the case whilst it was still stood up, she pulled it out and leaned it against herself so she could get a comfortable grip, “I'm fine here, you just sit back and listen.” Octavia took one look at the notebook she had stored in the case to remember the melody and began to play. Vinyl's first reaction was 'damn, she's not half bad' but as Octavia's impromptu performance went on, Vinyl amended that thought to 'damn, she's really good.' Octavia finished and saw a visibly impressed Vinyl Scratch looking back at her, “You got all that just from memory?” “It's been on my mind almost non-stop since last night, I just experimented until I thought it sounded right.” Octavia blushed again. “It was damn near note perfect, that's quite the feat. Okay, so the piece I used wasn't overly difficult, but capturing it after one listen is still damn good, you have some real skill with that thing.” “Thank you, but I'm nothing special, there are plenty of ponies better than me.” Vinyl walked over and put a hoof on Octavia's shoulder, “If you help me clean up, I'll tell you a secret, I might even get you some lunch. Sound fair?” “I suppose so, do you have a brush I could use?” There were two loud bangs as doors to their right flew open, a brush being levitated by Vinyl's magic flew towards the pair. “Operation Morning After is a go!” Vinyl announced, raising a hoof in the air like she just didn't care. As Vinyl got started with the kitchen, using her magic to marshal the rubbish into a line before they jumped into a black trash bag, Octavia took to sweeping the living area, gathering the stuff on the floor into a corner where it would be easier to get rid of. Soon after she had finished sweeping, Vinyl came over with a trash bag and Octavia swept the pile into the trash bag that Vinyl was holding open. “What's next?” Octavia asked, wiping her brow with a hoof. “Just the bathroom really, but that isn't as big a job as this area.” Vinyl stopped to catch her breath. 'Using all that magic must have put a strain on her,' Octavia thought as she looked around the living area, it still wasn't spotless, but at least it looked liveable now. “I think someone owes me lunch.” Octavia said, grinning. Vinyl laughed good naturedly, “Fine, we might as well go for that coffee as well whilst we're out.” == Octavia and Vinyl were sat in a small café a short walk from Vinyl's apartment, both had a cup of coffee in front of them and both were waiting for their food to arrive. Octavia took a sip of coffee, it felt good after the day she'd had, “I'm surprised, I thought somepony would have asked you for an autograph or something by now.” “I'm a DJ, people recognise my music not me, it's a kind of anonymity I like. Of course, you're going to get ponies who know you by sight, but they're few and far between.” “I think that's where we're different in a way, I have an ensemble, ponies hire us to play various events like formal balls. We, oddly enough, were hired to play at the Grand Galloping Gala this year, our music therefore is pretty much designed to slip into the background, so I have a better chance of being recognised for playing on stage than for my actual music.” “You were at the Gala?” Octavia blushed, “I didn't get to mingle much, I just played and got offered a few drinks and snacks. It wasn't exactly the best night ever.” Vinyl laughed, “I personally think they sent me an invitation by mistake, but who knows, maybe one of the Princesses is a fan of my music. Gala's aren't usually my thing, but a party is a party, ended up being pretty interesting don't you think? Octavia thought back, “I assume you mean the flying cake and all of the animals that got chased into the main foyer?” “That's the one, my favourite was when that rainbow pony knocked all of those pillars down.” Octavia looked rather serious despite the conversation, “I don't mean to criticise our leaders, but I thought it was awfully irresponsible of Princess Celestia to leave Luna with the duty of supervising the clean-up.” “Perhaps one of the only times that ol' Luna has missed the moon, eh?” Vinyl joked. Octavia giggled, “Quite.” Before she had a chance to say anything else, a waiter had arrived carrying their food, a simple vegetable salad for Octavia and a jacket potato for Vinyl, conversation ceased as they ate a fair chunk of their food. “So do you come here often?” Octavia asked, a piece of radish half way to her mouth. “I'm not exactly the best cook, for... obvious reasons, so I tend to eat here a lot, yeah. They offer a wide variety of meals, it's close by and the food is delicious, even if I was a good cook I'd still probably come here.” Vinyl took a big bite of her jacket potato and a small sliver of butter ran down to her chin. “You told me that you were going to tell me a secret if I helped you, so what was that about?” Octavia looked serious again. Vinyl took time to lick up the stray bead of butter before answering, “It was something I was going to tell you later, but I don't think there's any sense beating around the bush about it, honesty is the best policy right?” Octavia nodded in agreement. “The thing is, I really like your sound, I want to work with you, collaborate if you will.” Octavia almost choked on a carrot, “Wh-what? Me? Collaborate? My sound?” “Yeah, I think we could have a great synergy, elements of the past and the future, combining to make something just as great, if not greater than either.” “I don't think I can, I don't know anything about modern music!” Octavia protested. “I do. I also know enough about classical music to be of some help to you, helping you adapt your style perhaps, expand your horizons a bit.” Octavia was taken aback, this offer had come out of left field after all, “Say theoretically, I do decide to join you, how would we go about doing it?” Vinyl finished the last bite of her jacket potato, “We'd meet at my place, I have recording equipment and it's where all my stuff is, we'd jam a bit, make some noise, test the waters, then see if we can make something a bit more concrete. Once we've got a few songs recorded, we start putting on shows and making some money. That's about what I have so far.” “At least your goals are somewhat realistic, if optimistic.” “Optimistic?” Vinyl said, incredulously, “Two talented mares like us, what could go wrong?”