A HIBAA Special, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica in:
The Memory’s That Haunt Us
There’s a few things people in this world never forget; things that are special to you like birthdays or holidays you spent with your family. Things that make you smile like the first time you got a puppy, or when you got a good grade in school and your parents put it on the fridge and gave you some kind of dessert as a reward. Or those magical moments where you make a genuine friend and you feel so happy you could burst. But there’s also bad things you can’t forget too. Like when those holidays always end in arguing, and every birthday ends in a fight between you and your twin sibling over what presents you got. Or when your father takes away the puppy you just got and gives it away to the local shelter because it was ‘too much of a hassle’. Or when just after they put that grade up on the fridge and you walk off with your dessert in hand your brother knocks it out of your hand and you see your mother toss the paper in the bin just as he knocks you down. Or worst of all when the only time you were able to escape the prison you call a home and go to a summer camp YOU choose, you make a friend, spend the entire summer laughing, playing and having so much fun you thought you’d finally died and gone to heaven, you wake up a month later in a hospital with nothing but blurry memories and a small flash drive with two initials engraved on the back of it and a song that never stops playing in your head. Oh, and we can’t forget the mark of your one true destiny that had appeared on the top of your right arm.
A backwards eighth note… very well suited for the backwards minded girl who was so cloudy headed she could barely remember her name. Victoria Harmonia Scratch. She shuddered at the name. She hated it more than anything. Even more than her eyes or that thing she called a brother. She preferred the name her friend had given her much better. Vinyl. She smiled at that. Vinyl Scratch. That had a nice ring to it. If only she could remember the name of the girl who gave it to her. For what had to be the thousandth time since she had woken up in that hospital bed an hour ago she reached over on the night stand and picked up the small flash drive. She turned it over and ran her thumb over the pink initials and the treble clef above it. ‘O.P.’
Vinyl chuckled a little and stared up at the ceiling a smile crossing her face. “I wonder if I’ll ever find her again…” she mused. Then the door slammed open and she saw the piercing red eyes of her brother staring back at her behind the muscular form of her stone faced father. A woman in a posh looking white dress complete with a scarf made of mink and a purse that probably cost more than the average person made in a year slung over her shoulder daintily. It was obvious she’d been crying as of late since her bright blue eyes were tinted red, the layers of mascara she wore was running down her cheeks, and her normally pristine two toned white and pink hair was out of place and seemed to sag a bit in the high top bun she kept it in. Upon seeing her daughter awake and staring at her eyes wide Harmony Step rushed forward hugging her tightly.
“Victoria! Your father and I have been worried sick for almost a month! Are you feeling alright? Does your head hurt at all? The doctors all said you used quite a bit of magic and it sent you into a coma! But no body from your camp can remember anything about the incident except for this song and… and that you used the song to save that girl some how.” She explained never letting her daughter go. Vinyl quickly pushed her mother away confused in multiple aspects. Since when had her mother given a rat’s tail what happened to her? And what was this about her saving someone with music?”
“Mom, chill I’m fine. Look, my magic even works fine.” She said as a box of tissues from across the room over to them and handed it to her mother who took it in her own soft pink magic and dabbed at her eyes with one of the tissues.
“Well that’s good I’m sure… are you sure you’re alright? You’re not light headed or feel faint…?” she asked the genuine concern obvious. Vinyl might have thought she was acting if there was anyone else in the room, but there wasn’t. and the concerned look her mother had gave her the impression she wasn’t faking this time.
“Yes, I’m sure. But… I can’t remember anything. It’s all just gone… I mean I get these little bits of memory but they’re blurry… and there’s huge gaps in between them. I don’t even remember that girl you were talking about. Or anything about a so-“ her sentence was cut off when something came back to her in vivid detail, composing. Nights sat in their cabin writing out sheet music and practicing it on their instruments until they fell asleep holding them. And a mixing table. Oh that beautiful piece of equipment, she remembered that mixing table perfectly. And the girl… kind of. Her face was still mostly blurry but there was one thing she remembered, that smile that she had every time she had called her name.
“Come on Vinyl! Wake up! If we’re late for class again we’ll have to do lines!”
“Vinyl! You’re holding it wrong! You’re supposed to angle a violin like THIS!”
“Can’t you do anything right you silly girl…?”
“I don’t think I’d have stayed if I didn’t get you for a roommate… you’re special Vinyl.”
“Friends? I suppose we are aren’t we…? Odd considering your lack of tact.”
“You need something to store it on? Here use this. I never use it anyways, and my brother is always trying to steal it. So I put my initials on the back of it so he couldn’t say it was his.”
“Skip class…? What for? … To play in the river?! Are you crazy?! We have our performance tomorrow Vinyl! We can’t just blow off this last night of… oh fine, you win. But only for a few hours okay?”
“Vinyl… Do you hear that? It sounds like water rushing… I think we should go- VINYL!!!”
The voice cut off after the scream and the only thing Vinyl could remember after that was the music. The song that had filled her ears while she lay unconscious for so long. The song she now remembered was contained in the flash drive she now held in her hand. She looked down at it in shock her two toned blue hair getting in her eyes slightly. Something else was tossed in her lap.
“Here, when they brought you to the hospital you were wearing those and clutching that thing. They got these off you to rush you for surgery but you wouldn’t let go of that jump drive.” Her father said as he tossed a pair of goggles in her lap. She picked them up and examined them. They were odd, shaped like the kind of goggles she’d seen the weather team use, but instead of clear glass they had purple tints on them for lenses. Closer examination revealed that there was writing on the inside of the strap that would hold the goggles to her head.(If you need a visual reffrence use THIS)
‘To Vinyl, I know you don’t like wearing those cheesy sunglasses everywhere you go so I got you these instead, the color reminded me of your eyes whenever you’re happy. Here’s to hoping we knock them dead tomorrow. (Not literally of course, I’d rather not be arrested for murder.) –Tavi’
Vinyl blinked a few times and re-read the words over and over again in her head a smile slowly forming across her face.
“Tavi…” she whispered.
Her mother furred her eyebrows. “Speak up Victoria, you know I hate it when you mumble.” Her mother ordered.
Vinyl smiled and pulled on the goggles so that they covered the eyes she hated so much. “Her name was Tavi. And stop calling me that. I hate that name Mom.” She stated firmly staring her mother in the eyes adjusting to the now tinted world around her. Her mother huffed and crossed her arms.
“Well what am I supposed to call you then dear…?” she asked her daughter curiously.
Vinyl looked down at her arm where the backwards eighth note sat declaring what she had always known. The voice came back to her once more.
‘If you hate your name so much why don’t you change it…? You seem to have no issue shortening my name. Don’t you like playing with those old vinyl records in the music room…? Well then… how about I call you Vinyl? Vinyl Scratch… yes it does have a nice sound to it doesn’t it…?’
Her eyes focused on the present once more before she responded to her mother “Vinyl. You can call me Vinyl from now on.” She mused with a ghost of a smile crossing her lips.
***
Vinyl Scratch sat up with a wide yawn and looked around at her surroundings. The inside of a limousine, with a driver hired by her mother at the wheel driving them through what looked like a bustling small town. She looked further out the window and saw the towering structure in the center of the town… well, center was a little bit of an over statement since the building was easily three times the size of the entire town itself. The memory of a few days prior came back to her sharply.
***
“But Moooooooom, you can’t just take me out of school like that! You promised you’d let me stay the entire year!” Vinyl whined at the dinner table, her mother to her right and her father to her left and her ass of a brother thankfully absent.
“No but’s V, the deal was that if your grades IMPROVED while in that music school you chose I would let you stay. But they didn’t so now I’m sending you to the school your father and I choose.” She stated cutting into her grilled salmon daintily. Her mother had not approved of the name Vinyl chose for herself so she had resorted to simply calling the girl V to appease her. Her mother hadn’t been as bad as she used to after the accident but she was still as hard as a rock. Her father usually chose to stay out of their spats since he had found out what his daughter had been through at the close of her middle school years. It was his way of trying to make up for everything he had missed. By not adding to the problems that arose her opinion of him stayed neutral.
“Ughhhh…! I can’t help it! All of those classes are so BORING, and they don’t even have my kind of music there! It’s just a bunch of stuffy old guys who complain about how kids now a days will never be able to know ‘REAL’ music!” she groaned as she flicked a couple of pea’s around her plate with her fork.
“Don’t play with your food dear, and if you’re so gung ho about the classes there then why don’t you want to leave…?” she asked before taking a bite of her food.
“Because I have connections there! I’m thiiiiiiiis close to convincing the broadcaster of the radio club to play one of my songs!” she replied illustrating her point by bringing her pointer finger and thumb so close together they almost touched.
Harmony looked to her husband for support and he cleared as he pulled out a pamphlet from his shorts. “When we uh… went to go check out the school earlier there was a pink haired girl running around the campus handing these out. She bolted off before I could ask her about them but it looked like something you might like.” He said as he slid the paper towards her. Vinyl blinked and picked up the pamphlet and squinted finding it nearly impossible to read because the font was almost the same shade as her tint. She pulled her goggles up to her forehead and read it properly.
‘WANTED: DJ WHO CAN PERFORM ON THE SPOT JOBS AND CAN PERFORM LATE INTO THE NIGHT. NEEDS TO HAVE EXPERIENCE IN MIXING SETS AND KNOW HOW TO PARTY. THE ONE WHO RECIEVES THE POSITION WILL BE OFFERED A SPOT IN THE BOOTH AT OUR SCHOOL’S NEW RADIO STATION EVERFREE RADIO’
A logo was stamped in the corner of the paper and the inside of it was filled with a few more details but the set up was enough to bring a smile to her face. She turned it over to see one more note on the back side.
‘For information on the position please contact Pinkie Pie or Octavia Philharmonica.’
“Huh… wonder what kind of snob has a name that long.” She commented off handedly. “This Pinkie Pie character sounds like a blast though. I’ll look into it over the break but I’m NOT making any promises.” She said waving her fork at both her parents. But her mother just smiled.
“Trust me darling, if there’s ever been a time mother’s intuition would come in handy it’s now. I’ve been assured you’ll love it there. And we even got you a room on the top floor! It was the last one that had a vacancy! And to top it all off your roommate is a musician as well! Isn’t that lovely?” she asked cheerily. Vinyl thought back to what her professors had considered ‘musician’s’ and visibly shuddered.
“I’ll be the judge on whether or not she’s a musician. Anyone who thinks a guy named Tchaikovsky was better than the Beetles had another thing coming.” She noted with a straight face. Her father seemed to nod his head in approval only for his wife to send him a sharp glare.
“Now dear, I know you love the piano, why don’t you like any of the famous composers that wrote so many beautiful compositions…?” She asked her daughter.
“It’s not that I don’t like their work Mom. I just seriously can’t stand when people compare them to modern day stuff. You can’t take Bach’s compositions and hold them up to something like Metallica and expect there to be a fair argument why either is better than the other. Opinions don’t mean crap and you can’t compare something that wowed people three hundred years ago to something that makes people nowadays dress up in leather outfits and wear makeup that makes their ages unidentifiable. Because it’s just going to end in people ripping out their hair and screaming and that’s just not my style. They like it? Fine. But don’t try and compare it to the stuff I like.” She replied with a huff. Buff Scratch whistled and had a small smile on his face.
“Can we put the kid in a debate class? I’m pretty sure she’d bring home enough trophies to put my wall to shame.” He chuckled. Vinyl chuckled at the comment as well but a frown from his wife made her father stop laughing and look back down at the steak he was eating. Harmony summoned a packet in a small burst of her soft pink magic and she levitated it over to her daughter.
“I already picked out the academic courses you’ll be taking but I thought I’d leave the electives and club activities to you.” She explained as Vinyl took it in her own magic and removed a loose choice sheet from the packet to examine it. The classes were standard, math, science, history, English. Although the history was advanced because she found that normal stuff like baby food to her. She could at least give her mother credit for that. She sighed and opened the packet to look at what kind of music classes they had to offer at whatever rinky dink boarding school they were sending her to. She looked down through the table of contents and her eyes widened. For freshman there was over fifty pages of classes and clubs she could attend for music alone. Fifty pages. Her last school had had only ten and the entire school was FOCUSED on music. She quickly turned over the book to see what school could possibly have so many activities.
“Ponyville Academy…?” She asked aloud glancing up at her mother.
“Oh yes! It’s a beautiful campus in such a nice little town. Some of the best minds in the world graduated from there you know? The princess herself is head of the school committee there! And I heard her protégé is attending classes there as well! As well as the daughters of the most prestigious families in Cloudsdale! Isn’t that amazing…?” she asked happily. “V…? Darling are you alright…?” Harmony asked when she saw the stunned look on her daughters face. It slowly turned into a smile as she lowered her goggles back over her eyes and then she smirked.
“No Ma’am… on second thought this school sounds like it’ll be… a blast.” ‘From the past’ she added in her own mind.
Little did she know just how right she was.
***
Octavia lived a simple life. She grew up in a nice family that loved her, in a house that accommodated them nicely, in a city that was simple and quiet just like her. Sure her little brothers bothered her from time to time, there being three of them they often tried to overtake her but she was clever and out witted them every time, and her older brother had been off to college in Cloudsdale for the last year so had some amount of quiet in the house. Her father was a well-known musician in the town, his voice often brought ponies coming for miles when he performed concerts in the local tavern and the pay was fantastic. Many had always asked him why he didn’t move onto bigger cities like Manhattan and Canterlot with a voice like his, and his answer was always the same:
‘I don’t think my wife would like the idea of traveling with our kids. They’d probably destroy the city.’
His wife was a beauty to behold, she’d come from Cloudsdale and had actually been on the same Olympic volleyball team as Sunny, as such the two were great friends. Her beauty though was what got her the reputation she had as ‘The Blue Angel’. If her finely groomed blue-grey wings, sleek and soft charcoal colored hair, and stunning light pink eyes weren’t enough to draw you in than her calming voice and witty personality certainly would. Her friends had always told her she belonged in Canterlot with the elite but she liked the small town life much better, which is why after her career as an Olympian ended Grace Skylark retired to the small town of Ponyville where she was swept under the spell of Baritone’s singing and the two were wed not even a month later. Less than a year later their first son Thunderlane was born, five years later Octavia Philharmonica was born. It was a deal that Grace would name the boys and Baritone was to name the girls. Octavia being his only girl he was thankful he took the chance while he had it. Since six years later the triplets came along and all hope at having a normal life again was flushed down the drain with the steady crying of the three little boys, Rumble, Shady Daze, and the youngest Button Mash.
With the money from her winnings at the Olympics, and a little flirting with the real estate salesman, she had gotten them a very nice six bedroom, four and a half bath house with a large plot of land for the price of a regular town home. For a woman with a cutiemark of a dancing cloud the woman had a silver tongue that could make dictators see reason. Needless to say they were well off.
Yes Octavia had the good life, she had her cello, she had nice friends and band members, she went to a nice school, and had a nice room on the top floor that over looked the courtyard just right, all to herself. Life for her was perfect, calm, and serene. Or at least it was until she woke up to the entire school pounding with the sounds of an electronic bass being dropped so hard it shook the foundation. She didn't know it but this was what could be called foreshadowing.
She ran to the window and opened it up sticking her head out and looking around frantically to see if they were being attacked by some sort of sound monster. Her brilliant pink eyes that many had often complimented her on were scanning the courtyard until her target was in sight. There was something with two toned blue hair under one of the trees in the court yard that was standing at some kind of machine. She grabbed the closest thing she could find, which just so happened to be a softball her friend Lyra had left in her room the last time she had been over, and with the precision of a sniper threw it hard enough that it should have caught fire. She squinted her blurry eyes to see if it hit the bass demon and when the music was cut off and the blue haired creature fell onto the grass and she smirked satisfied with herself for apparently saving the school from an untimely demise.
She crawled back into her bed and covered herself with her sheets so that she could get a few more hours of precious sleep. But alas her mind would not allow it. She sighed and brought herself back out of the bed and walked out of her room into the living room/dining room area and passed it by for the kitchen. She flipped on the stove so that the kettle would start to boil and opened up her cabinet which was stocked with many different kinds of teas. She only very rarely drank coffee; she was more of a tea person herself. Her grandmother, who was from London and who she had also picked up her accent from, was the one who had instilled such great etiquette and customs in her. She chose her favorite, Earl Grey tea and let the packet sit in the bottom of her mug letting the string dangle perfectly along the rim before she poured the steaming boiling water over it and let it sit. While she was waiting she glanced around the apartment type dorm to make sure everything was in order.
Her movie collection was intact, so was her many records and CD’s. Her cello stood proudly on its stand from where she had left it after last night’s practice, her music compositions and sheet music were all still stored neatly on a bookshelf beside her work desk and a mirrored bookshelf on the other side of the desk held her personal book collection as well as her text books. Her backpack was hung neatly on a hook that was on the broom closet that was right by the front door. She knew that inside the broom closet her winter coats were hung neatly and a canister held her favorite umbrella as well as a few spares was waiting for her should she need them. Yes. Everything was still in order despite the thundering bass that had awoken her.
She sipped from her tea and started to wonder about that. Now that she was more awake she started to realize that probably wasn’t any sort of monster. Well, not by biological definition anyways. It was more than likely someone from that Electro-Music club practicing a set for one of their ‘gigs’ at the local dance clubs. She rolled her eyes. She had nothing against them, she was sure they were nice people, but she found their taste in music off. It was too loud and in your face, she didn’t see the point in it. But people had their tastes just like she had hers. She normally would have never resorted to a method like striking the offender with a softball to the face but she HAD been rudely awoken and she was sure many others had as well. She had probably done them a favor by knocking out the blue haired offender. She tried to pull up her recent memory of when she had seen the club walking around with their equipment strapped to their backs to see if there was anyone with blue hair. She couldn’t remember anyone but she wouldn’t let it bother her anymore.
She finished her tea and set about her morning routine. Shower, dress, grab a bagel with some cream cheese for breakfast, sit down for a bit and go through her lengthy music collection to find something to listen to. There was still a day left before classes started again, she had come back to the school last night after having dinner with her family. They lived in town, it wasn’t like she couldn’t go and see them whenever she wanted, and they still came to all of her performances so she was quite content leaving a day early. Besides, it was nice to get away from the three boys fighting over the game controller. Although it had been nice to see her older brother for a change. He had flown in from Cloudsdale for a few nights to see the family before he went back to his college. Apparently a pair of twins had been flirting with him lately. She could never understand how he got so much attention. He was nice and all, but her brother had a tendency to screw things up pretty badly with people.
A prime example would be that when he was still in high school, which was just last year mind you, he had been dating a girl named Airheart; a patient girl who was known for her gentle nature but funny personality all the same. Thunderlane had asked her out and the first couple of times they went on a date it had been perfect. But then Thunderlane kept missing them. He’d have something come up in his weather duties, or he’d sleep in, or he’d get caught up hanging out with his friends. Over and over and over again. He was always conveniently busy or had one excuse after another. And Airheart waited, and waited, and waited, ever so patiently for him to come to their dates. But even her steel strong patience was starting to wear thin after the sixth month of them dating and him only making it to a very select handful of their set dates. Needless to say, she blew her top.
She had circled the skies for an hour before she found him at a local café with his friends, swooped in on him and dragged him to nosebleed level heights. She set him down on a cloud and yelled at him for an hour straight until he was nothing more than a quivering pile of feathers and then broke up with him and flew off. She transferred schools the next day and no one had seen her since. But the lesson she had taught him stayed. Don’t blow off the important stuff or you’re going to crash land in a heaping pile of manure. But of course he still had a lousy sense of timing, was still terrible with girls, and was all around a pretty big mess-up. But he was lovable and he tried to make up for it. Octavia couldn’t fault him for that.
Drifting out of her thoughts Octavia realized she’d been listening to the same song for almost two hours now and she quickly shut off the sound system and stood from the couch to stretch her limbs. She heard a knock at her door and jolted a little.
“Huh… wonder who that could be. Could be Lyra or Bonnie… But Bonnie woud have texted me first and Lyra would never dream about getting up this early on a weekend…” she thought aloud as she walked towards the door. She opened it to find her Music professor Dr. Noteworthy standing at the door. He oddly reminded her of her father somehow. “Oh! Hello professor, what brings you up here so early in the day…?” she asked curiously. The blue haired man smiled at her usual politeness.
“I am here, Miss Philharmonica, because we have a new transfer student and she’s been assigned as your roommate.” He explained with a small chuckle. Octavia’s eyes widened slightly. She would have expected this were it the beginning of the year and not only a few short months away from summer vacation. Whoever she was must have had a very good reason for switching so late in the year. Well, at least now that room across the hall from hers wouldn’t seem so empty. “Come on Miss Scratch, yes keep the pressure on that ice pack I’ll get the luggage.” He said as he motioned an unseen figure towards the door. There was a grumble as a girl stepped towards the door revealing herself to Octavia, she had a pair of glossy white headphones around her neck the chord leading to the front pocket of her white denim jeans, a black tank top with an open dress shirt the same color as her pants with the sleeve’s rolled up to just above the crook of her arm covered her torso, and a pair of black combat boots covered her feet and made loud stomping noises as she walked up to the door and nodded at her. But what caught Octavia’s eyes weren’t the violet tinted goggles she wore over her eyes, but the two toned blue hair that was styled like she’d been head banging to one too many songs and it had frozen in place like that, and the large bump on her forehead that was mostly covered by a large icepack. Her nails were painted the same shade as the lighter blue in her hair.
She didn’t quite put two and two together yet. “Well that looks dreadfully painful, whatever did you do to get a bump like that?” she asked the new girl. The blue haired girl groaned and waved her hand.
“I brought out my mixing table to practice and forgot to hook it into my headphones first. So it played my music through most of the school and apparently pissed off someone because five seconds later I get pelted with THIS thing and get knocked unconscious until Doc here found me and got me to the nurse.” She said holding up the very same softball Octavia had used to ‘slay the sound beast’. Octavia put on her best poker face and managed a small giggle as she took the ball.
“Well, that just sounds awful… I admit I was awoken by the disturbance myself but for someone to throw this at you…? Would you like some tea?” she asked getting a little bit nervous as she quickly walked over to the kitchen and set the ball on the counter.
“Nah, not a big fan of the stuff. I’ll take another ice pack though, this one’s losing its touch.” She said moving the pack a bit in an attempt to find a good spot. She could feel her crest melting the ice quickly as it leaked magic trying to repair itself. Octavia acted quickly grabbing an icepack from the fridge and filling it with ice from the box. She brought it over to the girl just as Noteworthy was carrying in the last of the luggage. There wasn’t much material wise but Vinyl had brought ALL of her equipment with her, and it was pretty heavy. She smiled taking the new ice pack and setting the old one down. Octavia then noticed for the first time that her new roommate was a magic user. And her crest was leaking light blue magic like blood. She cupped a hand over her mouth as she gasped. Vinyl chuckled a bit at her reaction. “Relax, it’s not as bad as it looks. The magic is just repairing the crest, like dry blood with a scab only a lot faster. It’ll be fine in an hour or so.” She stated with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Hey thanks for bringing in the luggage Doc, I would’ve done it but my magic’s shot and my arms are like noodles.” She explained waving her free arm around loosely to emphasize her point.
“No problem Miss Scratch, I’ll leave you two to get to know each other.” He said as her was backing out the door. “Oh, hello Miss Heartstrings.” He commented as he saw a girl in a mint green hoodie walk past him and into the room. Her white and mint hair contrasted pretty spectacularly with her golden eyes.
“Yo Note, what are you doing up this early on a holiday?” she laughed.
“Just dropping off our newest member of the band to her new room. What about you?” he asked after a hearty chuckle.
Octavia was sweating bullets now as she watched Lyra’s lips move in slow motion. “Oh, just came by to drop off something I left here at Octavia’s last night.” She responded. Her eye caught sight of the ball on the counter and she smiled. “And here it is! Thanks’ for watching it Octy see you tomorrow at practice!” she called over her shoulder as she walked out ball in hand. The door clicked shut and silence ensued. Octavia counted a full sixty seconds before her new roommate spoke, she didn’t even catch her name, not her first one anyways.
“So… Octavia huh…? You’re the one that pelted me…?” she asked without looking at her. Octavia hung her head slightly.
“Y-yes… you see I had just woken up and-“
“From all the way up here…?” She continued.
“W-well yes… but I don’t really have a steady brain function when I first wake up-!”
“And you managed to hit me, square in the forehead and knock me unconscious from over half a mile away…?” she asked.
“Ummm… yes…?” she offered timidly not knowing what exactly this girl was going to do to her.
She was silent for a couple of seconds before she burst out laughing while still clutching her head. Octavia stood in stunned silence. “Y-you should see the look on your face!” she cried through her laughter. “You look like I’m about to go all God-Father on your ass…!” she laughed wheezing a bit as she did so. She stopped suddenly and clutched her head a little harder wincing as her laughter slowly died down. “Ow, ow, ow… okay… note to self, don’t laugh when you’re crest is broken. Hurts like hell. Whew, sorry about all that. I won’t hold it against you. I’ve done some pretty bad stuff when I first wake up, stuff that makes something like this look like a scrape.” She laughed casting a glance at her roommate.
“Y-you’re really not mad at me Miss Scratch…?” Octavia asked curiously.
“Nah, it’s cool. But I WILL be mad if you keep calling me my mother. Name’s Vinyl, not Miss Scratch.” She said offering out her hand to the girl. Octavia carefully reached out and shook it.
“Octavia Philharmonica. Or just Octavia if you would.” She added. Vinyl made a face and squinted at her through the tinted goggles she wore that made her eye color unidentifiable.
“Nope. Too long of a name. Breaks my three syllable rule. And I’m not digging that name that heartstrings girl gave ya either. Makes you sound like you’re supposed to be on a plate of sushi.” She responded. “So let’s see… Octavia… Ah! Got it!” she announced with a snap of her fingers. “Tavi, I’ll call you Tavi.” She announced proudly.
Octavia blinked in surprise. No one had called her that since… she gripped her head in pain as blurry memories swam behind her eyes. She shuddered and Vinyl quickly knitted her eyebrows in worry.
“Hey, you okay…?” she asked lowering her head a little. She was only an inch or two taller than her but it was added on since she was in her boots. Octavia opened her bright fuchsia eyes again to meet the oddly colored lenses of her roommate staring back at her.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just tend to get dizzy spells from time to time and that name seems to have set one off.” She explained as she walked back towards the kitchen so she could make a new cup of tea for herself. This time it was Lemon-Balm tea, something her grandmother made her often after she had first been hospitalized. It helped clear away the headache and keep her calm. With the steaming cup in hand she came back into the living room and sat down on the couch tucking her feet underneath her as she sat. Vinyl carefully took a seat next to her.
“Sorry I can call you Octy instead if you want.” She offered. Octavia glanced over from her tea a small smile forming on her lips.
“No, the name won’t be an issue once I get used to hearing it again. My therapist said it’s good for me to be exposed to things that trigger the headaches. It’ll help me get over them faster.” She explained.
“Oh… wait, you go see a therapist?” she asked curiously. Octavia blushed slightly.
“Well… not so much anymore. Maybe once every few months. I had an accident when I was little and it was pretty devastating. I didn’t wake up for a full week after it.” She explained. Vinyl surprisingly wasn’t fazed by it.
“Yeah, had something like that happen to me too. ‘cept I didn’t wake up until a month after it. Magical exhaustion isn’t something most people survive, yet alone recover from.” Vinyl added with a slight shudder of her own. “But apparently whatever I did to exhaust myself so bad landed me a spot in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns so I couldn’t really complain too much. Well I could, but not for that reason.”
Octavia raised an eyebrow curiously.
“Brother issues.” Vinyl responded simply.
“Ah, I can understand those.”
“You’ve got one too?”
“Four of them.”
“Yeesh, don’t your parents know the meaning of the word ‘birth control’…?” she asked half-jokingly. It earned a laugh from Octavia all the same.
“My three younger brothers are triplets. And my older brother was the first born.” She explained.
“Ouch. I bet your mom is about ready to pull her hair out.” Octavia shrugged.
“Not particularly. When they were much younger yes, but now all she has to do is glare them down and they’re angels.” Octavia giggled as she sipped her tea.
“Sounds like your mom’s a bonified badass. Wish mine was anywhere close.” Vinyl noted her gaze wondering around the room for the first time. “Whoa! You seriously own all these records?” she asked noticing the shelf. Octavia nodded.
“Them and more. Those are just the favorites I brought with me to school. My CD collection is by my work desk.” She explained pointing over to the area that was covered in very tidy stacks of paper. Vinyl walked over looking at the titles that were alphabetized.
She noticed a pretty fair amount of it was all classical collections. But there were also things like AC DC, Aerosmith, The Beetles, Pink, a few Katy Perry, My Chemical Romance, a Sapphire Shores CD (Which she gagged at), and even a single Metallica CD in the back. “Whoa, pretty snazzy collection you got here Tavi, you’ve gotta have pretty weird tastes if you can have Taylor Swift and Tchaikovsky on the same shelf.” She laughed. Octavia blinked in surprise.
“You know Tchaikovsky…?” she asked curiously. “Most of the band members don’t know him…!” she exclaimed in surprise.
“Yeah, I mean I’m not really a big classical fan, I like my wubs better, but I still know where music started. Back with cavemen rubbing sticks together and banging rocks against each other like drum sets, all the way to today where we have every instrument from a piccolo to a freaking harp on one big beautiful machine called a mixing board. That and Piano was like the first thing I learned how to play when I was like two.” She added scratching her cheek a bit and adjusting her goggles slightly. Octavia had to stop herself from hugging the girl. Finally someone who wasn’t a complete musical dunce! Or a once sided fan girl! She couldn’t have asked for a better roommate! Wait... did she say wubs…? As in Dubstep wubs?
“You work with electronic music…?” she asked carefully.
“Oh yeah, it’s my muse. Here, let me show ya!” she said grinning a crooked smile. She jumped up abandoning the icepack on the couch and running to her luggage. She dragged out a bigger looking suitcase somehow and kicked it open. The next few seconds reminded Octavia of those Transformer movies her younger brother Button was obsessed with. The heavy case moved and slid pieces around until a full mixing board complete with speakers stood in its place. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Vinyl noticed and her grin grew. “Yeah, she’s my baby. I bought her originally online and tricked her out myself last summer. She’s my pride and joy and I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world, no I wouldn’t.” she cooed rubbing her cheek against the sleek machine.
Octavia made a little face at the gesture. Even she wasn’t that affectionate with her cello, and she had grown up with it. It was like a sibling to her. But Vinyl had said this machine was more like a child so she could understand the difference. Wait… she BOUGHT something like this…? And improved it?! Who WAS this girl?!
Vinyl adjusted a few settings on the board, mostly bringing the sound down to a level that wouldn’t kill everyone in a direct blast zone, and then she pulled out something from her pocket and plugged it into the machine. She also took unplugged her headphones from her mp3 and instead plugged them into the machine. She clicked a few more buttons as Octavia snuck around behind her to peer over her shoulder, well around since she was short, and look at the screen. It had what looked to be a light blue screen with a sound table showing the levels in the song. Each one seemed to pulse like a heart rate monitor. Vinyl grinned and took off the headphones and offered them to Octavia.
Now that they were off her head Octavia could hear the song a bit. She carefully took them and listened properly. (See song HERE) After a few seconds she decided it wasn’t so bad, it still wasn’t her cup of tea but it was a hell of a lot better than most of the stuff she heard that club pour out of their speakers. She smiled at Vinyl and moved one of the ear pieces of her ear.
“It’s not my cup of tea but I’ve heard worse. A lot worse. This is tolerable.” She noted. That made Vinyl grin.
“Aw thanks Tavi, coming from a classical junkie that means a lot.” She chuckled. Octavia rolled her eyes.
“And for an Electro Nut you’re not a half bad composer.” She admitted setting the headphones down as the song ended.
Vinyl kept her grin plastered her grin on her face. “I think you’re gonna make an awesome friend Octavia Philharmonica… wait a second… Philharmonica… I know I’ve seen that name somewhere before…” she muttered a concentrated look on her face. She looked over at her luggage while Octavia looked confused. Vinyl’s hand started to tap her side in thought and like a flash of lightning the memory came back to her. She quickly reached into her back pocket and pulled out the pamphlet her dad had given her. She turned it over and read the name on the back of it and her grin returned. She spun around quickly and pointed straight at her roommate. “YOU! You’re one of the girl’s who’s running this contest right?” she asked holding up the pamphlet.
Octavia squinted for a couple of seconds before laughing. “Ah, yes. I am. Pinkie’s out until later tonight still so I’m supposed to be handling the questions people have until she gets back. Why? You want to enter?” she asked a little surprised when the girl nodded quickly.
“Oh hell yes! A position as DJ and a place in the booth again? It’ll be cake for ol’ Vinyl Scratch.” She snickered jabbing a thumb in her chest. Octavia blinked a couple times noticing a few uncanny similarities between the unicorn and a certain brash pegasus that was a part of Rarity and Fluttershy’s group.
“Does the name Rainbow Dash mean anything to you…?” she inquired to be sure they weren’t related or something.
“Uhhh, no, why? Is she like one of the judges or something…?” Vinyl asked tilting her head obviously confused by the sudden question.
“No, you just reminded me of her for a couple of seconds there. I’m sure you two would get along swimmingly. Now, back to the contest at hand…” Octavia mused walking over to her desk and flipping through a few sheets of paper before she selected one and handed it to Vinyl. “Fill that out and then I’ll give it to Pinkie in the morning. The actual contest is going to be on Friday but we want time to look through all the entry’s and pick out which one’s look promising enough to actually add them to the trial board. And when I say We I mean her and the other judge, I’m just the paper handler.” She explained as she fished out a pen for Vinyl and handed it to her. Vinyl took it in her left hand and pressed the paper against the wall so she could write on it. Octavia blinked a little in surprise. “You’re left handed…?” she asked. Vinyl looked up a bit from filling out the sheet.
“Huh…? Oh yeah. It’s pretty weird considering no one else in my family is a lefty. Then of course no one else has this color of hair either, well my uncle kinda does but it’s not really that same.” She explained teetering her hand a bit.
“Wait, so that color is natural too?!” Octavia asked in disbelief. Vinyl frowned at that.
‘Yeesh, if she didn’t believe my hair color was real she’d have a panic attack if she saw my eyes. Better keep the goggles on.’ She noted mentally. “Yes, it is. Wait a few months. When you see it grown in the same color you’ll believe me. And no to answer your next question it ISN’T naturally styled like this. That takes an hour of styling and half a bottle of hair gel.” She responded as she continued to fill out the paper.
“Brilliant… and I thought I took some time with MY hair.” She mused as she took a seat in her soft black office chair.
“Yeah well I’m not too big on appearance otherwise, in case the goggles weren’t a dead giveaway when I walked in. Kudos for not asking about them yet by the way.” Vinyl chuckled as she flipped the page over and discovered there was a back side. These guys were being thorough.
“I didn’t know if it would be polite or not. I’ve seen a lot of people who are pretty sensitive about their accessories. Me for example.” She said adjusting the small pink bowtie that matched her eyes. “I don’t like people handling this bowtie. It was a gift from my late grandmother. As was my cello. Both are off limits to others. You get one warning or mishap before I snap at you, that’s your fair warning.” She explained with a small gesture to the well-kept cello in the corner. Vinyl shrugged.
“That’s cool. I’ve got my own rules too. You don’t touch that flash drive I have plugged into my station right now, and you don’t even TRY to remove or touch the goggles, unless I’m specifically asking you to get either item.”
Octavia glanced at the obviously expensive piece of equipment. She wanted to protect the flash drive of all things…? “Why the flash drive and not the mixer itself…? I thought it was your baby.” She inquired. Vinyl’s writing slowed and then stopped as she glanced over at the earth-bound girl.
“I can fix the machine. But the goggles and flash drive are both from someone very special and I can’t replace or fix them. That’s why the goggles are enchanted so that even if an elephant decides they’re hideous and wants to rid the world of them it would break its foot trying to stomp on them. And the flash drive has layers and layers of fire walls and passcodes protecting it too. You’d have to work for hours to get into it and even by then I have a detection spell on it so I’d already know someone was trying to get into it.” She explained as she walked over and removed the drive from the machine after clicking a few buttons on it. She tucked it away in her pocket and looked back over at Octavia. “I’m not really one to make a big deal out of things normally Tavi, but those two things are my exception.” She insisted gently but firmly.
“I understand Vinyl. But I have to ask, the one who gave them to you, are they… you know, playing with Faust up in the angel orchestra…?” she asked. Vinyl blinked at that mental image and laughed.
“Nah, don’t think so at least. See, I kinda don’t really remember her really well. But she’s the reason I got my cutiemark and the first real friend I ever had. So she’s special… I mean I’ve been looking for her since my accident so I really don’t know what happened to her. All I really actually know is that she was somehow involved in getting me my cutiemark.” She explained with a sheepish grin as she scratched the back of her head.
Octavia giggled a bit. “I never would have guessed you as the sentimental type Vinyl.” She commented. Vinyl shrugged.
“Guess you shouldn’t judge a book by her cover Tavi, here.” She said as she handed the form back to Tavi. Octavia glanced it over and smiled. She picked up a pen and scribbled something down on it before setting it on a stack of identical papers. Vinyl noticed something in the motion. “You’re a lefty too…?”
Octavia smiled up at her pink eyes gleaming slightly. “Yes, and for your information no one in my family is left handed either.” She mused. Vinyl whistled a little.
“Impressive. You’re winning more and more awesome points and I haven’t even known you for an hour. Well, admittedly you’ve had to make up for the negative points you got by thwacking me in the head with that ball first, but I think that’s covered already.” She chuckled. Octavia blinked blushing slightly at the reminder at her little outburst. She then quickly noticed that the crest that was mostly hidden by Vinyl’s hair had stopped leaking the blue aura.
“Oh… I think your crest is fixed now.” She noted pointing at it. Vinyl looked up to her forehead and ran two fingers over it to feel the bump fading away as the energy inside her took care of the rest.
“Oh, would ya look at that. Sweet, now I can put my stuff up! Wait… okay, let’s test it first.” Vinyl stated stopping in her tracks. Her hand was surrounded in the blue aura as she pulled out vinyl disks from where Octavia kept them on her shelf. Vinyl’s eyes narrowed on them and slowly the records began to spin in her control moving faster and faster until Octavia began to hear something. It was a symphony! A symphony of all the records Vinyl was floating around her. She looked at the magic and slowly she started to see blue streams flow out of them like water. Each one carried a set of notes in them as they played in the air around her and harmonized together perfectly. She closed her eyes and listened. She heard Mozart’s piano, Hayden’s Cello, Tchaikovsky’s violin, Schubert’s symphony, and subtle but beautiful voices of Wagner’s opera all mixed together in harmony around her. But just like that it ended and she felt her soul itself weep a little. She looked over at Vinyl who was smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, it was just a test to make sure my magic was back. I can mix that myself if you liked it so much.” She offered.
“Could you…?!” Octavia asked in disbelief.
Vinyl almost laughed at her enthusiasm. “Yeah, easy. Here, I’ll do it right now.” She said as she levitated the disks with her over to her mixing stand. She also brought over a back pack that was at the top of her luggage. She removed a blank CD from it and put it into the machine. She typed in a few commands to the glowing blue touch screen of the machine before she used whatever spell she had before on the records except this time instead of the streams floating through the air on their own they wrapped around a tall metal antenna and drained into the machine. This continued for a few seconds while Vinyl looked to be leveling some readings on her control panel and then the stream ended and the loading bar on the screen was full. She carefully returned the records to their places on the shelf and removed the CD from the slot. She pulled a sharpie from her pocket and scribbled something on it handing it to Octavia when she was finished. “There, all mixed and ready to go for you. You can even burn it onto a playlist if you want. I’m gonna go move my stuff into the room now, I’m gonna assume it’s the door without a full symphony’s worth of sheet music painted on the door.” She mused as she levitated every item of her luggage with her towards the white door across from Octavia’s room.
Octavia was still too busy staring in shock at the ritual she had just seen to ponder how her roommate could possibly carry so much weight in her magic’s hold. She was by no means a unicorn, no one in her family was either. Well, she was sure she had a cousin somewhere but that wasn’t the case in point. The fact was that she had been in music for years and studied all about it, and what magical oriented composers could do with their magic towards their music. None of them could do THAT. No one in the history of music could take music and turn it into something physical that could be seen. It was like an aurora filled with beautiful music that danced in your ears and played your heart strings like a harp, not to be confused with either of her band members Harpo or Lyra Heartstrings. She would have to ask later how she did it.
For now though she bent down and picked up Vinyl’s contest application form and scribbled something down in the margins of it under the mark she had drawn earlier. After she finished that she sat down at her desk and opened the dark grey laptop she left on the desk. When it booted up she inserted the music disk and let it automatically burn the list onto her playlist. She opened up a browser deciding to surf the web a little to pass some time. The next time she looked up from the computer it was past one in the after noon. She blinked in surprise and felt her stomach growl loudly. She stood from the desk shutting the laptop closed and walked towards the kitchen. Remembering she had a roommate now she decided to ask if she wanted something to eat too.
“Vinyl I’m making lunch! You want anything?” she called.
There was a heavy bang and a groan but the response was fast. “Uh, yeah. Grilled cheese sounds pretty good!” Vinyl called back. Octavia looked concerned for a second.
“What was that noise…?” she asked trying to decide whether or not to investigate.
“Oh, I just dropped a speaker on my foot! No worries, happens a lot when I’m moving my stuff around!” she replied back through the partially open door.
“Alright then…” Octavia muttered as she set to work on making the sandwiches. She buttered the bread with a garlic spread as the pan heated up. She poured a small amount of truffle oil into it and let the oil spread while she got out the cheese slices from the fridge. Layering the sandwich with two slices each she set it in the pan to cook while she made the next one. She didn’t know how many Vinyl would eat but she’d make a few just in case. When she had the sandwiches all made she set them off on a plate and went into the pantry and got out a large can of tomato soup to warm up as well. Half way through doing so Vinyl came in finished with her unpacking and attracted by the smell of food. She used her magic to bring over a paper plate from the stack near the paper towels and served two of the sandwiches onto her plate. When she noticed Octavia bring over the soup and set it down on the counter before turning back to the cabinets she noticed a lack of a little addition she often put in this particular soup.
“Hey Tavi do you have any-“
“Goldfish?” Octavia offered holding out the bag and balancing two bowls in her other hand without realizing she was finishing her roommate’s sentence. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done. “I-I don’t like eating tomato soup without them…” she explained slightly startled by the discovery.
Vinyl grinned that crooked smile again as she took the bag and one of the bowls pouring tomato soup in the bowl and then shaking some goldfish into it. “Me too. Didn’t think anyone else liked it like that… you don’t have a thing for Oreo’s and peanut butter too do you…?” she asked the black haired girl as she passed the goldfish back to her. Octavia made a face.
“Ew… no. I’m afraid that’s where our similar tastes stop.” She replied.
“Good, because I was about to make us take a blood test to make sure we weren’t related. Seriously, you don’t even look like me.” Octavia raised an eyebrow at her statement.
“While I seriously doubt that we’re genetically related, why did you word that sentence like you’re older than me…?” she asked the blue haired rebel type.
Vinyl looked up just before she could take a spoonful of soup and smirked a little. “Probably because I probably am. Don’t know many people in my grade who are older than me considering I just turned 15.” She explained with a small smirk.
Octavia blinked in surprise. But hid the smile on her face. “Oh really, then I have two questions for you, one, how are you almost a whole year older than most freshmen here and how long ago is this supposed birthday of yours…?” she asked setting her chin in her folded hands.
“Uhh… well for starters, that smirk you have scares me, second, my mom had me in these special music classes when I was five so I didn’t go into kindergarten until I was six, and lastly about two and a half weeks ago. On the first of March.” She replied taking a sip of her soup. Octavia smirk grew.
“Oh good, that makes me a whole day older than you~!” she giggled. Vinyl choked on her soup and had to pound on her chest to get it to go down.
“H-how did you?!”
“I lived in England for my first few years, the education system over there is different as a result I had to wait until I was six before I could enter in an Equestrian school. My birthday is February 29th by the way, not the 28th.” She added with a small smile. Vinyl quickly got her momentum back at that addition.
“Then you’re not older than me! You’re only three! You get to turn a whole four years old next year leap year baby.” She mused reaching over and patting Octavia’s head like a puppy. Octavia frowned and swatted her hand away.
“Hardy har har, I can assure you that I celebrate my birthday on the first of March when it ISN’T a leap year. So I’m still fifteen.” She countered. She saw Vinyl narrow her eyes at her.
“Time of birth…?” she asked.
“By this time zone’s standard…? Let’s see… that’d be 7am sharp. I was punctual even from birth.” Vinyl frowned slamming her fist into the table.
“Damn it all… I’m 11 at night… I was a night owl from birth.” She added with her grin returning. Octavia rolled her eyes and picked up her sandwich.
“Charming.” She replied simply. “Now that we’ve established that I’m older, eat.” She ordered pointing at the food. Vinyl looked down at the sandwiches and picked one up to examine it. She sniffed it carefully.
“This stuff smells weird… what’d you use in it…?”
“Truffle Oil, goat cheese spread on the inside, two slices of Swiss cheese, and a garlic spread on the outside. So unless you’re allergic, lactose intolerant, or a vampire you’re safe.” Octavia responded biting into her own sandwich. Vinyl flinched at the use of the term Vampire. She’d been called that along with a demon far too often for comfort. That and the vampires that most girls fantasized over nowadays sparkled like glitter dolls in sunlight instead of burning. It made it really hard to use the Vampire name in her favor when THAT was associated with it. She looked back down at the sandwich and took and experimental bite. Her senses were quickly over whelmed with pleasure and she quickly devoured the sandwich in a record three bites. She finished the second one just as fast. And stopped to drain her soup. She grinned leaning back in the chair with her hands on her stomach.
“Okay Tavi… you just won me over with that. A roommate that can cook…? Hell yes. I wouldn’t even care if you were some kind of secret cultist that worshiped Nightmare Moon and sacrificed virgins every Sunday at dusk. You’re okay in my book.” She said with a rather goofy looking grin and a big thumbs up thrown Octavia’s way.
Octavia however was slightly appalled at her roommate’s table manners but had seen worse in the school cafeteria. That Apple girl made her look like an amateur. She slowly nibbled on her sandwich instead choosing to savor her food. She swallowed and dabbed her face before responding. “Thank you Vinyl, although the graphic example was unnecessary. Especially while I’m eating.” She hinted.
“Ah, sorry, I’m uh… not too good with all that etiquette stuff.” Vinyl admitted.
“That’s quite alright, I don’t really expect many to have the same standards I do. If I wanted that I’d be going to school in Canterlot. Not Ponyville. But moving on, I’d like to know why you’re transferring here so late in the year.” Octavia prompted as she once more picked up her sandwich to eat.
“Ah… see that’s kinda a long story. See, last year I made a deal with my parents…”
***
“And so then Dad showed me the pamphlet for the contest and that pretty much sealed the deal for me coming here, and now here I am.” Vinyl finished after a detailed recount of her music school incident.
Octavia was still in disbelief. “Did you really give all your professors that vulgar goodbye card…?”
“Actually I gave it out to the entire student body too, I tinkered with this old war cannon that they had on display in the courtyard and got it working again, I loaded it with the cards and set it off during passing period. I bet they’re STILL cleaning them all up!” she laughed throwing her head back as she did so.
“I don’t know whether to be appalled or amused. I believe I’ll settle for a mixture.” Octavia announced as she finished her tea and set it down on the coffee table. They’d since come back to sitting in the living room and Vinyl lounged on the love seat while Octavia leaned against the arm of the long couch she sat on legs tucked neatly under her. “You’re not going to attempt anything like that here are you…?” she asked.
Vinyl shrugged. “Meh, depends on if I’m feelin’ it or not. Maybe not photo copied cards of the principal’s ass, but I think shooting some kickin’ music out of a canon would do. Might liven this place up a little more. Hey, there’s an idea. A bass canon… huh. I’ll have to remember that one for later. Might make a song out of it too…” Vinyl gave a wide yawn before she stood up stretching her limbs. “Well, it’s time for siesta.” She announced walking towards her room.
“Siesta…? You do realize this is Equestria right…?” Octavia asked watching her roommate walk away. Vinyl peered back over at her one of her blue eyebrows raised.
“And you realize that makes absolutely no difference to me right…? As far as I’m concerned I’m sitting in a hammock along the coast of Spain right now. And that midday sun is making it way too difficult to keep my eyes open.” She yawned again widely. “Wake me if there’s a fire or someone’s dead.” She called over her shoulder before she walked into her room shutting the door behind her.
Octavia could help but keep a small smile on her face. ‘Well she’s quite the oddball… I’d best be on my toes with this one. Call it permeation but I get the feeling this peace isn’t going to last. Hm… I wonder what I’ll do until she wakes up…’ she thought looking around her living room. Movies were out of the question, as was practicing her cello. She noticed her iPod ear buds sticking out of one of her desk drawers. She shrugged and walked over to it determined to have a quiet afternoon listening to her music and reading that book she’d been meaning to read during the break.
She opened the drawer to surprisingly find her iPod was covered by several sheets of composition paper that had music notes scrawled across it in a rush. She gave a confused look and picked up the papers. “I don’t recall writing these… but that IS my handwriting… what’s this song…?” she asked herself in a quiet whisper. She read through the notes composing the song in her head as she went. She recognized the melody itself and it seemed to dance in the back of her mind but the name to it alluded her… if it even had a name. No. It had a name. She remembered it had a name. But she couldn’t remember where she had heard this song. She kept reading it a little and determined after a few more seconds of reading that it wasn’t written for just a cello piece. A piano trickled along beside it in the margins. She squinted trying to read the notes further. This was odd. She didn’t play piano. Why would she compose a song for one…? She squinted a little harder and noticed that the shape of the notes were off... they weren't written in her handwriting.
Another wave of dizziness over took her and she was soon knelt beside the desk grabbing her forehead in pain and shutting her eyes as blurry memory’s danced at the front of her mind. And a voice. A child’s voice, talking to her.
‘I’ll make you a deal Tavi, you write the cello part and I’ll do the piano! Since I stink at string instruments and you wouldn’t know a G from an F on a piano I think it makes sense we do what we know!’
‘Hey!’ a younger version of Octavia protested. ‘I do SO know the difference! I just like my cello better is all!’
‘Yeah well if you love it so much go marry it. But AFTER we’re done writing this music for the first recital. Then you and your cello can go get married on a mountain or something.’ The other girl snickered.
Young Octavia’s cheeks puffed out in response as she flailed her arms in protest. ‘I’m NOT marrying my cello Tori! Just write already! But in the margins since the cello is supposed to be the main part of it.’ She ordered. ‘Tori’ complied taking the papers from her and wrote on them using a pen clutched in her left hand while her right hand drummed along the keys she scribbled down on the piano. Young Octavia blinked in surprise. ‘You’re left handed…?’
The present came rushing back to Octavia like a wave. She gasped for air as she noticed her lungs had shut down on her during the relapse. When she regained enough oxygen for her brain to restart she started to ask a thousand questions a second.
‘Who was that other girl?!’
‘What WAS that exactly?!’
‘Where were they that they were composing like that…?’
‘Why is that song still playing in my head…?’
All of these and so many more rushed through her mind. But… that girl. She had called her Tori. She finally had a name to the voice that often haunted her memories. And even a blurry picture too. There was something that was engraved in her mind though, her eyes. They had been the only clear thing she could see on her. They were a striking crimson color and in her mind’s eye she could still see them in vivid detail. When she had called her by her name they had darkened slightly, like she disliked the name. When they were exchanging snappy comebacks however they had shifted and changed into a gentle fuchsia. Both looked absolutely stunning, more so than any eyes Octavia had ever seen. She could understand why they would be the sharpest thing in her memory; if that was even a memory at all.
Octavia sat there on the floor a little longer before she collected herself again. She rose up and grabbed her iPod from the drawer before shutting it and pulling a small key out from a small compartment under the desk. She locked the drawer and put the key back where it belonged. She didn’t want those papers to be disturbed. How they got there was a mystery but now that she knew they were there she didn’t want to lose them. She put her music into her ears deciding to go for a walk through the campus to clear her head. Anticipating Vinyl to wake up before she got back she wrote a quick note and left it on the counter for her.
In her room Vinyl lay on her bare bed, goggles on her night stand and eyes shut as she listened carefully. She heard the door close and steps echo down the hall. She even heard the elevator too. When she was sure Octavia was gone her crimson eyes snapped open and the hand she had curled in a fist over her chest unfurled to reveal the flash drive in her palm. She turned it over to stare at the initials carved into it. She set it down on the table and picked up the goggles instead. She read the writing on the inside of the strap that had faded slightly since she learned the preservation spell that kept it from fading it anymore. She read the name that completed it and felt a ghost of a smile return to her face.
‘Maybe… just maybe…’ she mused before setting them down and turning over in her bed to face the wall and close her eyes to drift off into the sweet dream land where her music played with her like dolphins in the sea.
***
As it turned out Pinkie Pie was every bit as awesome as Vinyl imagined. The first thing the girl did upon meeting her was shower her in an explosion of confetti and shove a white frosted strawberry cake in her face with icing spelling out ‘Welcome Vinyl Scratch’ in bubbly blue letters. The very next thing she had done was explode into an energetic rant that she only caught about half of while Octavia stood behind them along with four other girls and the kid Vinyl recognized as Twilight’s younger brother. A girl with prismatic colored hair leaned over to a blonde sporting a sick looking stenson.
“I say the new girl lasts two minutes with Pinks before her head explodes.”
The blonde tapped her chin in thought before shaking her head and speaking in a thick southern accent. “Nah Ah’d give her at least five. That hair tells me she’s a little used to folks as wacky as Pinkie.”
As it turns out the farmer was right, Vinyl went exactly five minutes and thirty two seconds before she grabbed a piece of the cake off and shoved it in Pinkie’s mouth in attempt to make her stop. Of course the party lover only swallowed it whole and licked the frosting off that was around her mouth and then beamed casting a glance over at her friends.
“You win again AJ!” she cheered. AJ grinned as the rainbow haired girl grumbled and handed her a few rolled up bills which she quickly pocketed. Vinyl looked confused for a few seconds before Octavia came up beside her shaking her head.
“Don’t. Trying to ask to explain anything at this school is like trying to count the stars. Just accept it and move on. And if Pinkie’s hair stands on end run. Or if she tells you to do otherwise just do what she says. It’ll save you a lot of hassle.” She explained calmly. Vinyl retained her confused expression for a few seconds before she shrugged.
“Well okay, I can get behind that. So Pinks, I hear you’ve got some kind of wacky contest going…?” she asked casually. Pinkie quickly turned her head her long pink curls whipping just past Vinyl’s face as she did so.
“Yes! I am! Wait, which one…? The baking contest, the jam making contest, the party-off, or my DJ competition…?” she asked completely serious about all of them. Vinyl took Octavia’s advice and didn’t ask, just grinned and responded casually.
“The DJ competition.”
“Oooooh~! I’m really looking forward to that one! Are you a musician Scratchy?” she asked jumping up and down excitedly. Vinyl grinned and set her bag down on the ground so she could unzip the jacket and lower it so that the backwards eighth note was visible on her upper arm.
“Hell yeah! And a pretty rockin’ DJ too, if my gigs back at my old school are anything to go by.” She chuckled with a big grin plastered across her face. Octavia came up beside her holding a folder out to Pinkie.
“Here are all the entry forms that came in while you were gone. Vinyl’s is on top.” She said tapping a paper that had a small symbol drawn in the corner and circled. Vinyl couldn’t clearly see what it was but it made Pinkie grin as her bright blue eyes seemed to glow a little with something she couldn’t identify, but it made her stomach churn nervously.
“Uhhh… Tavi… why is the pink ball of energy eying me like I’m the last cupcake at a bake sale…?” she whispered to her fellow musician. Octavia didn’t respond only giggle. That worried Vinyl only all the more. But Celestia bless her savior came in the form of a certain bookworm pushing her way through the group of girls.
“Pinkie who are you dragging into your shenanigans this ti- Vinyl…?” she asked after she saw the two toned blue hair and signature goggles.
“Sparkle! Oh thank the eternal sisters, I think the party demon was about to jump me!” she exclaimed rushing over and hiding behind the purple haired girl to deter the pink earth-bound. Twilight blinked in surprise and looked over her shoulder at the music lover.
“YOU’RE the new transfer student her Pinkie Sense warned me about…?” Twilight asked still in disbelief.
“I don’t know what the hell a pinkie sense is but yeah, my parents did just transfer me here… now hellllllllp…!” she yelped as Pinkie snuck up behind her and dragged her backwards her eyes gleaming like a cat’s. Twilight’s magic surrounded Pinkie as she was levitated in front of Twilight like a puppy that was misbehaving.
“Pinkie why are you dragging Vinyl off when she has classes to attend today…?” she asked her face neutral. Pinkie beamed and as a response thrust the paper in front of Twilight’s face. Twilight took it in her magical grip reading it and then noticing the symbol in the corner and glancing over at Octavia and surprise. “You’re sure…?” she asked in surprise. Octavia simply smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder and then nodded slightly. Twilight shrugged and released Pinkie from her hold giving her back the paper which was tucked away in the depths of her curls before zipping over to Vinyl and picking her up slinging her over the shoulder and grinning over at the others.
“I’ll see you all at lunch! Twilight, you’d better warn Vinyl’s teachers ahead of time!” she called before she ran off Vinyl crying out to them all to save her. A few others in the courtyard looked at her when they heard her scream that she was being kidnaped but when they saw it was Pinkie Pie doing the kidnaping they laughed and carried on with their day.
‘Why does no one in this school care that I’m being kidnapped by a wild pink haired party animal with syrup running through her veins?!’ Vinyl thought angrily. Five minutes later Pinkie kicked in the door to a small brick building on the outer ring of the school's main buildings. It had a large familiar looking broadcasting tower on top of it.
“Neon! Stop napping! I’ve got HUUUUUUGE news!” she exclaimed tossing Vinyl to the ground like a sack of flour. An older teenager in a room that was boxed off from the rest of the larger room with large glass pane windows separating it and a slightly ajar door bolted up right from his seat and looked around with reddened sapphire blue eyes and when he spotted Pinkie he groaned running a hand through his spikey black hair. He picked up a pair of dark black sunglasses from the desk he’d been sleeping on.
“Someone had better be dead or the school had better be in anarchy Pinkie Pie… Well more than usual. Who’s the broad?” he asked jabbing a thumb at the groaning pile of Vinyl. Pinkie beamed and removed the paper from her hair and shoved it in Neon’s face. He lowered his glasses as he read them his jaw slowly dropping as he continued reading. He looked at Pinkie and then his gaze flickered to Vinyl for a split second. He quickly grabbed Pinkie and dragged her into the booth slamming the door behind him. Vinyl finally sat up groaning and rubbing her head. She stood and saw the two in the booth apparently in a deep conversation. But the room was soundproof so even with her sharp ears she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Both their gazes struck her at once and she flinched standing up a little straighter. Neon pulled something off his desk and opened the door marching over to her. “You kid. Scratch. Play this.” He ordered shoving a CD in her hands. She gave him a skeptical look.
“Uh look dude, I don’t know what you and Pinks are hyped up about but if you think I’m dumb enough that you’re testing me by telling me to play a CD then-“
“Not with a machine! Do whatever you did with Octavia! She said you made the music ‘Come Alive’ with magic. Show me.” He explained making wavy lines in the air with his hands.
“Ohhhh, that? That’s nothing. It’s a spell I came up with a long time ago, just after I got my mark actually.” She dismissed waving a hand and blowing a small razzberry. “But if you’re so hyped to see it sure.” Vinyl said with a casual shrug. She took the CD out of its case and took it in her magic instead. It spun around and around so that it looked like a spinning silver saucer and then the music started, first as a faint whisper but then the streams of blue energy poured from the CD in an explosion of sound that filled the room shaking it to its core. Vinyl was grinning as the glow around her hand intensified and the other songs that were stored on the CD began to harmonized with the one that was already playing. Neon Lights and Pinkie Pie were both watching as the room was filled with the blue aurora’s that were decorated with strings of dancing music notes. The sound of the harmonized songs filled the room until they all slowly faded into a decrescendo and eventually just faded completely. Vinyl put the CD back inside the case and grinned at both of their shocked expressions. “See…? Easy.”
Neon was the first to recover and he quickly dragged Pinkie back into the room slamming the door behind him and locking it this time with his own magic. Vinyl shrugged and took the opportunity to look around what was apparently the radio station for the school. It was a lot bigger than the one she had worked with back in Celestia’s School, it also had shelves and shelves of records and CD’S lining it. Most looked pretty dusty like they hadn’t been used in a while. Actually the entire place looked pretty dusty. Well, all except the actual booth that Neon and Pinkie were feverishly speaking in. It looked tricked out in some of the most advanced machinery you could have. It was quite the opposite to the room she stood in which looked to be stuck in the dark ages. She heard the door open and she looked up to see a more composed looking Neon standing before her with Pinkie grinning and bouncing up and down behind him.
“We’re calling off the contest.” They stated in unison. Vinyl blinked in surprise before Neon held up his hand.
“Before we explain about it let me explain a few other things first. First off, hey. Name’s Neon Lights. I’m a junior here and I and my partner, who isn’t here at the moment, are forming the radio broadcasting club here at Ponyville Academy. There used to be one about thirty years ago but it was shut down and this building got abandoned afterwards. I found it last year and quickly tried to push for it to be opened again. It wasn’t until this year when I met my partner in crime that she convinced the head master to approve the funding for us. She even got him to spring for new equipment too.” He said motioning towards the booth behind him. “Well we had an issue setting up, first we had to wait for the equipment to come in, which believe me took MONTHS, and then when we finally got it in and installed we realized we had a really big problem. See the new equipment is great and all, but it’s highly advanced and requires two people to run it. I’m great with it, but she’s… not so much. So we needed a third person in the process, and maybe a few others to keep the place lively. So through a mutual friend she discovered Pinkie Pie here.” He stated with a chuckled and a grin as he ruffled the short bubbly girl’s hair playfully. “This angel here is the social butterfly queen. She knows everyone in this school, their names, their talents, and with her crazy partying habits she was in desperate need for someone to take care of the music for her parties. So we compromised. If she helped us run a contest to get our third member she could use them for her DJ needs too.”
“And it was suuuuuuper fun too! Handing out all those flyers around campus! But then I saw these two adults walking around looking really lost and my Pinkie sense was totally screaming at me to talk to them! So I did, they were looking for the administration office so I pointed them in the right direction and handed the big guy who had this crew cut and scary looking eyes one of the pamphlets! And apparently my Pinkie sense worked because it brought you here!” she explained beaming.
“Okay… so you knew to give the paper to my dad… and that got me here… but why is the contest called off…?” Vinyl asked still not understanding.
“Well… that’s… it isn’t exactly called off. But we already found the grand prize winner. You see my partner had the secret vote of confidence. If she saw anyone with the special potential we were looking for she’d tell me and we’d test them from there. You’re it kid. You passed, with literal flying colors.” Vinyl was about to break out in her victory dance when something else popped in her mind.
“Wait so… who’s your partner…?” she asked tilting her head curiously.
“Well she’s supposed to be here by now…” Neon commented looking down at Pinkie. She shrugged then froze. Her ears wiggled, her eyes fluttered a few times and then her knee’s began shaking. She stopped suddenly and grinned.
The door slammed open behind Vinyl and she quickly turned around to see the offender. Octavia stood in the door way smiling brightly.
“My ears were buzzing so loud on my way here I almost had to run Neon, couldn’t you have toned down on the foreshadowing just a smidge…?” she giggled as she walked past her slack jawed roommate.
“Hey! That fourth wall breaking thing is mine!” Pinkie complained loudly. Octavia gave her a confused look but shook her head deciding not to question the sweets lover. She turned back to face Vinyl who was just starting to sputter a few words.
“Y-you’re the… but you said you… HUH?!” She exclaimed loudly to express her full confusion. Octavia winced slightly.
“Honestly Vinyl, if you’re going to be so loud at least have the decency to go into the sound booth first… I don’t like having my ear drums shattered. And to explain properly, it was a little white lie to throw you off my tracks. No one who entered the contest knows I was involved as anything more than the delivery girl. I have very honed eyes and ears you see, and my mother gifted me with a sliver of her silver tongue as well. So I’m quite good at noticing things most others don’t. Like how even through those goggles I can see you’re your eyes have darkened considerably since I came in. And it happened just after I told you I lied. Which means you don’t approve of it and it shows you have a better character than most would think at first glance. Also, getting more on topic here, last night when you first showed me your music you had a spark in you. It’s the same thing Neon gets when he’s playing his tracks, or that I get when I’m playing my cello. And the spark grew into a blinding solar flare when you used that spell of yours to make me that CD. Which by the way is something I’ve never heard of being done before in the history of music. No one can bring it alive like that Vinyl. No one. But you did. And that sealed the deal for me. I just needed to get Neon’s okay too. And by the looks of it I’d say he’s already in the same boat as me.” Octavia finished with a giggle her pink eyes glinting playfully.
Vinyl was stunned. She was trying to process this all at once. She however had one advantage to that, she could focus it on the end product. “So… I’m in?” she asked looking at the three before her. They all exchanged looks and nodded each grinning, well Tavi just smiled brightly but the concept was the same.
“You’re in.” they replied in unison. Vinyl grinned and jumped up in the air spinning sharply and landing before doing a moonwalk backwards through the maze of record shelves. Pinkie was laughing hysterically at the display, Neon was trying to hold back his own hysterics, and Octavia was just smiling and shaking her head. This was certainly going to be an interesting school year now that Vinyl was there.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!! We can’t end this special there! Are you crazy?! There’s one HUGE thing we’re missing here!” Pinkie shouted into the air. Neon looked around confused.
“And that would be…?” he prompted leaning back a little bracing himself in case the girl decided to explode into confetti. It had happened before. Twice actually.
The next thing the other three knew they were standing on a large stage in what looked like masquerade outfits, only instead of masks they all wore techno looking goggles much like Vinyl’s. And by ‘they’ I mean the thousands of students and teachers that filled the open auditorium they were in. Neon and Vinyl stood at a large mixing table in matching blue and white suits, and Octavia stood a few feet away on the stage in a knee length grey and black masquerade dress with her bowtie still in place and matching the pink tint of her own set of goggles. In her hands was a electronic cello and bow. The three all looked at Pinkie who was grinning like a Cheshire cat in her frilly pink masquerade dress and bright blue and yellow goggles.
“A Party! Techno Masquerade style! Hit it you three!” she called as the crowd cheered and she leapt into the cheering crowd which carried her with a sea of hands. The three exchanged a glance but shrugged and quickly started playing a fitting song for the theme of the chosen party. (See it HERE). Vinyl had to give Pinkie credit, for an insane girl who probably wasn’t even actually human she knew how to throw the best parties. And her taste in music was pretty Kickin’ too. Vinyl grinned and grabbed the mike on her side of the stand ready to say something she’d been wanting to say for years now.
“Who’s ready to drop the bass?!” she called. When roars of approval came her way she grinned and raised her hands magic surrounding them as she took control of the music in the air around them. In an instant the music became visible in the air through her blue aurora’s and its beats went through each of them like a heartbeat. Everyone watched in wonder as the music dropped down to almost nothing and then boomed to life again filling their ears with its powerful energy. Soon enough there wasn’t a still body in the room as everyone broke out dancing to her music. Vinyl grinned and closed her eyes. This was real. She wasn’t dreaming it this time. She was standing on a stage with thousands of people dancing and LOVING her music. It was real. All of it was. She opened one of her eyes to see Octavia playing her electronic cello beside her and her smile grew When Octavia noticed her and smiled back. And now she had a true friend to share it all with. She smiled and closed her eyes again pouring herself into her music. Nothing could ruin this for her. Even if her idiot brother barged in the door right now she wouldn’t care. This was her home now, on the stage and in the spot light. It was where she was born to be and she had no intention of letting anyone ever tell her otherwise again.
