//------------------------------// // Maybe She Is My Friend...? // Story: Changin' Hooves // by OneTrickPon3 //------------------------------// "Pssst, Octy." "...*grumble*..." "PSSSST, Octy." "Mmmmm, five more minuets..." "Oh geeze, that pun was bad. Hellooooooo, Equestria to Octavia, it's time to wake up." "Mmmmm...." "Ok, I tried being nice." "WAAAAAAH!" Octavia blinked drearily, bringing the foliage of the tree above her into view. From what her still groggy mind could piece together, the last thing remembered was she fell asleep on a park bench using Vinyl as a pillow, and now she was on the ground staring up at the grinning earth pony. "Vinyl...did you just flip me off of you?" "Indeed I did," came the overly cheerful reply, the grin on Vinyl's face just growing larger. "Ok, next question; why?" "Because it was fun!" Octavia glared daggers at Vinyl. "Ok, it was fun and I tried to wake you up peacefully, but you wouldn't wake up." Vinyl's smile faded a little bit, "seriously though, you didn't want to wake up." "So I wouldn't wake up to you saying my name, so your next logical step was to flip me like a pancake?" Octavia asked, cocking her eyebrow. "Your lack of logic and common sense still amaze me to this day." "Like I said, it was fun," Vinyl teased, hopping down from the bench. "Now c'mon, as much as I would have loved to stay on that bench and have my legs go to sleep, we need to get back before it gets dark." With a heavy sigh, Octavia righted herself and shook off the dust that had accumulated on her coat. Looking towards the sky, she could see the colors changing from a bright blue to shades of pink and orange as the sun began to lower towards the horizon. Although she hated how she was woken up, she did agree with Vinyl; it was time to go back. Trotting briskly to catch up with the earth pony (who didn't even bother to wait up for her), Octavia let out a stifled yawn. "Geez Octy, you still tired?" Vinyl teased, nudging the unicorn a little as they walked side by side. "Oh hush," Octavia spat back, "anypony would be tired after being woken up that abruptly." "And whose fault is that?" "Yours, obviously." "NOPE! I'm not the one who refused to get up." "But you are the one who decided to flip me off of you instead of waking me up like a normal pony." "I tried that, remember? It didn't work so I went for the more fun option." "Well you should have tried harder!" "HA! You sound just like my...my..mother..." Vinyl said, her words becoming quieter. Octavia glanced over at the earth pony, who was lively as ever just moments ago, but now wore a sullen look on her face. "...Vinyl?" Octavia asked quietly, concern hinting in her voice. "Present!" Vinyl blurted excitedly, a huge grin adorning her face in an instant, causing Octavia to jump a little at the sudden, and very unexpected, reaction. "Vinyl, are you ok?" "Never better!" "But, just a moment ago-" "Never. Better." Vinyl said more firmly, strongly hinting that Octavia drop the subject. The hint was not lost on Octavia, who quickly dropped the subject, and indeed any manner of conversation, as the two of them walked the rest of the way to Vinyl's apartment in silence. By the time the two of them had reached the run down building, the sun was just about to set completely, signaling the street lamps to being lighting up the city. "Home sweet home," Vinyl said softly as the two of them entered the threshold to the apartment. "Well, now down to business," Vinyl said suddenly, clapping her hooves together. "Business? But we just got here, what could there possibly be to do?" Octavia asked as she looked around. "Well, other than extreme cleaning, probably with bleach and preferably with fire." "Oh come on, this place isn't THAT bad," Vinyl said. Octavia just shot her a look before lifting up a pile of random pizza boxes. "Oh really, and when is the last time you've seen the carpet in here?" "This place has a carpet?" Vinyl asked, perplexed. "I think I've made my point here." "Anyways, that's not important!" Vinyl exclaimed, a bit embarrassed at the state of her home, "What IS important is that I drill the basics into you!" "The basics of what, exactly?" "The basics of being a DJ of course!" "There are basics?" Octavia asked. "You mean, there's more to it than dressing like an idiot, waving my hoof in the air, and saying random things into the microphone while I let a recording do all the work for me?" "Octavia, that is so wrong that I'm beyond insulted. Well, looks like we need to start from square zero." "I think the expression is 'start from square one.'" "Usually it would be, but you don't even know the stuff that should be common knowledge, so I have to drill that into you as well." "Oh really," Octavia said, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice. "Yeah. For starters, the music IS recorded, but I make it first. I make the tracks first, then I mix them together. Depending on the show, I will have between fifteen and thirty different tracks that I can pick and choose from. Most of them aren't really anything that you would listen to by itself because they usually have a repetitive sound to them, but that makes it easier for me to overlay more complex tracks on top of them. Are you with me so far?" "Um, let's see. You make boring music to fuse together with more boring music, but somehow in the process, the boring music becomes garbage," Octavia droned back at Vinyl. "Work with me here Octy, sheesh," Vinyl said as she rolled her eyes. She moved behind a table with a bunch of foreign looking equipment on top of it. "I'm just gonna assume you understand thus far. Now then, each track gets its own record, and each of these records is played on a turntable attached to my deck." Vinly gently placed her hooves on top of the equipment, "This is my deck. I sometimes like to experiment with these new electronic decks that let you just have all your tracks on it at once, but I prefer the feel of vinyl when I spin." "Now then, as far as each record goes," she states as she moves to some boxes behind her. "I don't really name the tracks I have other than the style of music it is and the number for the track itself, for example Electro-house 12 is the twelfth track I've made for my electro-house mix. To make it easier on myself to choose tracks on the fly, I color code my discs; yellow is for the tracks that work to drive the beat; aka not the main thing you'd listen to in a song. You can compare that to say the bass instruments in a symphony, to put it in terms you will understand. And blue is for the tracks I overlay on top of those, which will have things like lyrics or more technical sounds in them." Vinyl held up a disc of each color to show the difference between them. "I keep these color coded so I don't accidentally make a bad mix when I'm in the heat of the moment." "Finally, the center of the deck is where the magic happens," she said as she placed a hoof onto a part with a bunch of knobs, sliders, and switches on it. "With each of these pieces, I can change the tracks to what I want them to be, be it subtle or dramatic. It's like a pottery wheel; I'm molding the raw music into art." "Pffft, calling that noise music or art is an insult to both," Octavia muttered, earning a dirty look from Vinyl. "Anyways," Vinyl said through gritted teeth, "that's the basic explanation of the equipment, you just need to spend some time to practice with it. You don't have to worry about making the music itself, I've already taken care of that. All you need to worry about is making sure it sounds good. That's it really, half the work is already done for you." "Gee thanks, because making the music itself must have been so hard," Octavia droned. "You know what Octy, I'm not even going to retort to that. I think I'll just go to bed," Vinyl said, turning her nose up as she started making her way to her bedroom. "Wait just a moment," Octavia said, stopping Vinyl in her tracks. "Where do you think you're going?" "To my bed, duh." "Wrong, you're going to my bed. Your bed is back at my place, remember?" "Oh...right..." Vinyl said, blushing a bit from embarrassment. "Well I'm still going." "Fine by me, maybe I can finally get some rest without being flipped like a pancake. Just make sure you don't trash my house like you did this poor apartment." "I'll have you know I can be very responsible Octavia," Vinyl huffed. "Yeah, and I'm the Princess of the moon," Octavia said, rolling her eyes. "I assume you can find your way there, just know my house key is under the third flowerpot from the door. Make sure you put it back when you leave in the morning." "Fine mom," Vinyl whined, before exiting the apartment. "I swear, that Vinyl," Octavia muttered after the door shut. After locking the front door, Octavia turned around to look at the boxes of records and the turntables. "Well, I might as well try to learn to use this." "Mom..." Vinyl muttered as she trotted through the lamp-lit streets. "I can't even remember the last time I've visited her...maybe I should..." she continued, her hoofsteps slowing with each word until she came to a complete stop. Finally, after a few moments, she began to trot again, heading neither towards her apartment nor Octavia's abode. It was late when Vinyl arrived at the entrance, the streets were completely empty, leaving each hoof step to echo loudly before dissipating. Breathing deeply to steady herself, Vinyl crossed the threshold. "Hey mom, it's been a while..." ... "It's me...it's...your little Staccato. I know it doesn't look like it, but...it's me..." ... "I...I'm sorry I haven't visited much lately...I've been...busy. And I know that's no excuse...you always made time for me when you were busy..." ... "But...I...gosh, I...I don't even know what to say...My life...hasn't been the greatest ever since I ran away...I've been barely getting by with how little I make doing shows. I barely have enough to pay Neon, let alone buy me food or pay my rent. Oh who am I kidding, there are times where I can't even eat...but I guess that I should be thankful I'm alive, despite the hardships..." ... "Well...I guess it hasn't been all bad lately...Despite this," Vinyl pointed to her new body, "happening to me...I...I actually don't mind it anymore. I mean, I think I gained a friend because of it...a real friend that is... I mean sure, she's rude, bossy, a bit prudish, stuck-up, and insults me all the time...but she actually cares about me for me, not because of my status. She doesn't really seem to mind my personality, I actually think she has fun with it. Fun...ever since this happened, I've had a lot of that...more than I have before actually. You know, mom, thinking about this...I think...this situation might be a blessing in disguise, you know?" ... "You're right, it's getting late...I should probably get going..." ... "...I love you mom," Vinyl whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I promise I'll visit again soon, I really mean it this time." Tears were now streaming down Vinyl's face, and her words were becoming strained. "Goodbye mom, I still love you, I really do." With those words, Vinyl slowly leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on the gravestone before quietly departing.