Chapter One : Endtroducing
In which Octavia first encounters the percussion section
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Octavia stormed through the door. Not a second later, the door slammed shut behind her, rattling the entire house. She was angry, angrier than she had ever been before. For her, this was an unheard of say-anything-and-I-will-dismember-you level of fury. It was entirely justified too, at least she thought so,
"How could they pick that...that...IMBECILE over me?!" She exclaimed, venting her rage to the thin air around her.
"I poured my heart and soul into that composition," She slammed a hoof on the floor, tears now building up in her eyes, "But nooo, it 'strains the boundaries', its 'too wild', never mind the months I've spent on it."
She paused briefly, and began pacing around the kitchen in a effort to calm herself. It was useless, she wanted to be angry. She had never experienced a feeling like this. Sure, she had been mad before, but nothing like this!
"And then to present the prize to HIM!? He didn't even play his own song! Anypony could have gone up there and played Beethoofen's 5th Symphony. I tried to make something new and beautiful, but I guess the world just doesn't want that..."
The grey Earth pony sighed, her anger now giving way to depression. She had to fight it, she had never felt empowerment like what her anger had brought. She wanted more of it, and anything was better than sadly moping around for who knows how long. She had to do something about it. She was going to do something about it. Racing to the door, she grabbed her coin purse and left the house just as quickly as she had entered.
She lamented at how light the purse was, she was depending on winning that contest. She wanted her music to be heard all over, but the prize money would also have been really nice to have. Maybe she could just slip something out of the shop with her and hope nopony notices. "No, that's wrong. You know better. You were raised better." her mind told her.
"Yeah, you were also better than the other contestants, but that didn't seem to matter." A different part of her mind retorted, causing her anger to steadily rise again. "Stupid musicians guild, can't accept change..."
Now left feeling conflicted, her target finally came into sight: the record store. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what she would be looking for once inside.
"...Well...you could just ask whoever is there..."
This was true, but she would have to calm down before she could talk. This was counter-productive, Octavia wanted to prolong her anger, but considering that she really, truly had no clue what she was doing, she was left with no choice, other than going home, but she was here now. A pause, and a few deep breaths later, she was through the door.
She had never been to a record shop before, she opted to just order her music and have it delivered, rather than having to search around for it, but she couldn't order an album if she didn't know what it was she wanted. The shop itself was large, but by no means spacious. Crates of records covered every available surface, leaving only a small path to allow movement. Luckily, she was the only customer at the moment, meaning she could avoid waiting and awkwardly brushing past anypony else in the narrow clearings.
Scanning around, she spied the counter, and the mare sitting behind it. "Okay, step one complete, you're inside, but you still have no idea what you're looking for. Step two, ask her for help" Mentally reading off her instructions, Octavia slowly made her way over to the check out, glancing occasionally at albums by bands she'd never heard of. Then again, until now, she never really listened to anything the world of modern music had to offer. She was genuinely excited by this prospect, the sheer volume of music out there that had yet to grace her ears. All she needed was a point in the right direction.
The pony behind the counter was a white unicorn with a blue mane, and despite the fact that it was cloudy, and she was indoors, a pair of sunglasses resting on her forehead. She greeted Octavia with a grin.
"Heya, Welcome! I've never seen you in here before, can I help with anything?" She spoke very fast, her grin growing wider.
Octavia winced a little at the mare's enthusiasm, but she had offered to help her, so she might as well continue as planned.
"Uhm, actually yes. I'm looking for something...angry." She hesitated, suddenly thinking this might not be such a good idea after all.
"Angry huh, world got you down?" The unicorn asked, not allowing Octavia to voice her hesitation. "Yeah, I sure have angry stuff, are you looking for anything in particular?"
"Well, I'm not particularly...knowledgeable, shall we say, with regards to music like this. However, as you put it, yes, the world has got me down today, and I really need some way TO VENT MY FRUSTRATION."
The unicorn stared at Octavia, a little bit shocked.
"...Sorry..."
"S'alright, you're certainly not lying. Angry stuff huh? I got a few ideas, follow me."
She came out from behind the counter, and led Octavia to a section of the store labeled "Punk and Alternitive". Octavia was sure she had heard the term "Punk" used before, to describe a few less-than-reputable individuals.
"My name's Vinyl, by the way, Vinyl Scratch." She said, glancing over to Octavia while simultaneously digging through the crates.
"Octavia" She returned, Vinyl smiled and nodded in response. "Thank you for your help, Vinyl, I'm truly lost with regards to music of this sort."
"Oh, its no problem at all, I love helping ponies find new music!" She replied, pulling a record out and laying it down with three others. She reached the back of the crate, and turned back to face Octavia, picking up the records with her magic.
"Okay, so I think you'll like these albums, at the very least they'll open your world to new sounds." Vinyl brought the records out to face Octavia, and pointed at the one on the left.
"This is Damaged by Black Flank, very angsty and shouty, and quite politicized too. Lotta meaning behind all the screams,"
Octavia had never heard screaming in music before, this should be...interesting to say the least.
Vinyl's magic lay the first record down, bringing the second one closer.
"Okay, this one is a bit different from the last one. This is II by the Mare Puppets. Its an odd mix of country, punk, and a whole bunch of other stuff too. And finally..."
She brought the final record over, stacking the second disc on top of the first.
"Big Mac, Songs About Bucking."
The album cover was, simply put, vulgar. Octavia wasn't sure about this one, and apparently her face made it known.
"Hey now, I know what it looks like, but trust me on this. You asked for angry, and this, my friend, is as angry as they come. You should prepare yourself though, its pretty abrasive."
Abrasive. That was a new term to her, music wise at least. She was a little unsure of the unicorn Vinyl's final choices, but Vinyl certainly knew what she was talking about a whole lot more that Octavia did.
"Very well, if you say these fit the bill, who am I to argue."
"Great! Just follow me back over then!" Vinyl picked up the small stack of records and placed them in a bag, then set them down on the counter top.
"That'll be 27 Bits."
...
"PONYFEATHERS! I didn't bring enough, What do I do, what do I do?"
"Duh, put one back."
After another internal conflict, and feeling the anger she'd suppressed building back up, she opened her mouth to speak.
"I...Uh..I..bleh..."
"Smooth..."
"I...uh, sorry, I only have 22 Bits, I'll just have to leave one here."
"Nonsense! its absolutely fine, take 'it, free of charge!" She levitated the bag to Octavia. "I mean, you seem to be having a pretty rough day, I don't wanna make it any worse. Consider it a gift!"
Octavia was a little taken aback by this kindness from somepony she barely even knew the name of, all in an effort to make her day better. This, led to her current state of emotions becoming even more unbalanced. She sniffed a little, and looked up at Vinyl.
"Hey, uh, you okay?" Vinyl said, looking rather concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine." Octavia replied, wiping a small tear from her eye, "I...thank you, Vinyl."
"Hey, it was my pleasure! Be sure to come back and tell me what you think once you've given those albums a spin!"
"I certainly will. Thank you, again."
And with that, Octavia left to walk home. Slowly. Very slowly, apparently having mellowed out a bit.
And with that, Vinyl continued her lunch. Rather quickly, being very hungry.
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