The night still echoed in my head as I walked the quiet and lonely night streets of Ponyville. There were the occasional sounds from inside of the varying houses of young couples talking or friends laughing and enjoying each other company. I couldn’t let such joyousness inside of my head given the failure of the night. I had been commissioned to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala, a prestigious gift that wasn’t bestowed unto many of the musical ponies. I remember the first time I received the letter, sent by Princess Celestia herself, and how my heart fluttered, eyes widened, and my hooves nervously clopped against the wood floors of my duplex living room.
“I, Octavia Pie, would be able to play at the Grand Galloping Gala!” I had to contain a squeal of delight. Vinyl had given me such a look when she witnessed my excitement, and had left the room without a word. I hadn’t understood her irritation, if there were any, as to my renowned position, but she vanished to her side of the duplex and cranked up those electronic noises. From my time living the with disc jockey, I evolved an appreciation for the more delicate and intricate syncopation of her beats. More surprising was her ability to play what I have seen take an entire orchestral set.
The night of the Gala started wonderfully and the band was in full swing. I caressed the strings with my hoof and let it sing to the hall with my bow, a key to its musical melodies. The sound billowed from my heart, amplified by the resonation of my cello, and cast into the room rewarding the people with soothing emotion that they would not soon forget. I had already grown exceptionally nervous as to playing in front of all the Canterlot gentlecolts and mares along with my magnificent Princess Celestia, but training my entire life for this very moment, maintained my composure.
That didn’t mean anything, however. Part way through the fourth song, a loud, obnoxious pony tried to get the other ponies to “party”. I attempted to ignore her, seeing her as my more annoying sister, Pinkie Pie, but before I knew it, she had the band playing “The Pony Pokey.” I didn’t even know what to do; do I play what my bandmates were now subjected to playing and support the shenanigans, or do I cease play and let the music sound unfulfilled? I conceded against my better judgment and played along. This was not my field and Vinyl should have come to give what my sister wanted despite the scenery demanding my steady and delicate hoof.
The night quickly escalated, and before I knew it, the Princess had vanished, her statue laid in pieces on the ground, and a garden-full of animals scurried around on the floor. I couldn’t bring myself to stay there any longer. I retreated to a hidden away alcove and slung my cello onto my back and tried to leave the party. Sadly, I ran into Marquis the Magnificent Music Manager, the pony that had chosen me to play for the event, the pony that fired me from the event and other high-ranking events. Devastation quickly set in at the news. My face burned with embarrassment at the debacle and my quick and unexpected unemployment.
Now here I sulk, walking to my house, downtrodden and mentally fatigued. I could feel myself wobbling on the edge of breaking down or smashing my innocent cello. Both felt wonderful in my head, but it clearly wasn’t the time, or the place to vent the frustration. I could only force myself to think of the past and where my adamant determination had led me.
Depressingly enough, such thoughts were driven from my head as I neared my house, and I could hear the walls shaking with the thumping bass from Vinyl Scratch. It was almost painful to open the door as the sound amplified and caused my mane to pulse with vibrations. I could even feel the concussive force inside of my chest, breaking the rhythm of my heart and wiping all possible thoughts clean. I could only drone forward through the din of the house and hope I arrived at the door to the bathroom so that I could submerge my head in water dulling the noise. I desperately wised to drown out the noise and my frustrations in the soothing waters of my tub. My eyes strained to open as I desperately searched for the bathroom door. Like an immaculate light shining in the distance, I picked out the bathroom door and galloped toward it, home free.
To my shock, I stumbled into a candle lit bathroom. Every open space had scented candles burning, and from the looks of them, none were mine. I swiveled to the tub to see the neon-blue-haired pony and roommate laying in the water with a mud facemask and two cucumbers on her eyes. Her eyebrows were flexed in a thoughtful way as her lips pursed and stretched in thought. The sight alone was enough to put my mind at ease. I slowly closed the door to the bathroom and let the noise die behind it.
“How was your big shindig?” Vinyl Scratch questioned, her ears snapping at the sudden change in volume.
“Horrid. Simply dreadful.” I answered as I set my cello in the corner of the room.
“Horrid you say?” I watched as Vinyl flipped herself over, popping the cucumbers from her eyes giving me her red-eyed glare of concern. “What popped their party balloons?”
“Pinkie Pie tried to make it into a ‘par-tay’.” I groaned.
“Oh…” She laughed. “I could just go for one of them right now. It just burns me up when the Gala is happening.”
“Not me! This was my chance to shine and receive a proper place in the classical prestigia, which is pretty much ruined now.”
“Oh please, I know you, Octavia. You'll bounce back better than a bass drop. You are a purple power machine that would never let bad beats bounce badly. You are the best cellist in all of Equestria! One day, they will find this out; they just need to see how bad everything is when it goes downhill now that they don’t have your acute skills.” Vinyl lectured, in her own special way.
I had to admit, she preached a strong argument amid the swath of alliteration and techno metaphors. She always managed to cheer me up in the worst of times, and even now she succeeded to cause this pouting pony to feel better about herself.
“Thank you, Vinyl.” I smiled, putting my head past hers and giving her a hug. “You are a dear friend.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Just remember we have to get back to work on the radio tomorrow. Maybe we can clash our music together, have that classical techno awesomeness! No more talk about that boring Gala.” My roommate suggested in her usual fashion.
“I don’t know how well that will sound.” I tried to dismiss the suggestion in my own usual fashion.
“Please, please, please, please! I want to hear that cello grind with my bass.” Vinyl jumped out of the tub onto a pre-laid towel and began drying off.
“No. We are not going to 'grind' together.” I stated more bluntly.
“Please… I just want to have some Octavia and Vinyl grinding. Cello-Bass. Ah yeah!” Vinyl’s glasses materialized onto her face with her usual smirk.
“We aren’t going to be grinding.” I saw her smirk, and I quickly discovered the other reason through the little banter. “Nor are we going to grind physically. Such an unnecessary and inappropriate action to participate with such a good friend.”
“Exactly! We are such good friends that would make it fun with no emotional ties. Not like you thinking about that one guy.” Vinyl teased.
“Which ‘one guy’ are you talking about?” I tried to play stupid.
“You know… the handsome hunk of a stead you had in here a few years ago?” She winked at me.
My face blushed from the realization of the time that I had had the pianist over. I had liked him, and there was no question about it. I had also thought he liked me, until he missed all of my hints at intimacy, and I realized he had to have been missing part of his brain. I stopped trying to impress him; he loved his piano more than he ever loved me. That was the same day that Vinyl had taken residence in my house and where our love for music brought us to a quick and adventurous friendship. We had tried mashing our music together, which normally led to mixed results that Vinyl really “digged” that made me cringe. This is not to say that every time we tried to combine the two different instruments it sounded horrible, sometimes it is off the wall and I enjoyed it greatly, though I never told her.
“Hey there, silly head. Get out of your brain and quit with your run of internal dialogue, your eyebrows get all jumpy. Wait.” She galloped over to the door and opened it, letting the bass poor into serene bathroom. “Excellent! Resume thinking!” She yelled over the blaring beats.
“Vinyl!” I tried to yell back.
She instead stood in the doorway, bobbing her head and moving her hooves to the left and the right in some sort of intricate dance pattern, her usual smear of a smirk plastered on her face as she enjoyed herself. I guess short-term memory loss would be enjoyable. I shook my head to get out of the internal dialogue, seeing her red eyes lock back on me, her glasses holding her jostled and pointy hair back.
She chuckled. “Dance with me!"
I rolled my eyes in slight annoyance.
“Right, right. I’ll leave you alone."
“Good night, Tavi! Let the bass be with you.” She grinned, before trotting off to her side of the house. I listened as her hooves clopped slowly up the wooden stairs, and the door shut, the music quieting almost immediately.
“Thank you for headphones.” I sighed to myself.
After cleaning the bathtub out from Vinyl’s hair, I managed to get myself cozy inside of its warm embrace, and shared in Vinyl’s relaxation techniques, covering my face in the therapeutic mud and slapping two cucumbers onto my eyes. I laid in peace, deep in thought, tracing out my possibilities of where I could perform to get my reputation back. A heavy sigh answered me immediately and I set about in just relaxing. Instead of being able to hold up my own thoughts Vinyl's voice crashed back into my head through my memories.
I couldn’t help but smile at her comments and advice. How did she do it? How could she make me forget about all the dreadful things in the day so easily? Maybe there was something to these ‘raves’ that she perpetually attends and hosts. She says that even Ditsy shows up and not be her usual self. Vinyl called it her dance style; I still think it is her being ditsy, but I still enjoy conversations with the grey pegasus. She is one of the more enjoyable pegasi to hold company with in Equestria; she always has something to say or does something that cracks plenty of laughs from me.
The oval room sat in a serene state of dim lighting cast by the flickering flames around the tub. Almost like some occult shrine, I laid in the tub, the offering to some Pony-deity. I relaxed once more and opened myself to my thoughts and pictured the events in my head. Rows of groveling ponies in robes, eyes averted and dirt on their noses as they awaited for if their god would take their offering. A wave of somber music ripples through the crowds as the ceremonial orchestra kicked in, using the amazing acoustics of the cave to amplify it to every nook and cranny. I squirm to escape, but the knots are too tight and swollen from the water. I can’t escape the blindfold and can only hear as the violins begin to crescendo. The nerves in my body flare, as the tensed music grinds into my senses and inspires panic and fear.
The raw emotion felt wonderful and when I opened my eyes and took the cucumbers from my eyes, it made me feel as if I had been reborn a new pony. I also noticed Vinyl was in the room, her head resting on the other side of the tub, a familiar smirk stretched across her face.
Before I could even say anything, she spoke. “You finally smiled for real.” She laughed.
“Vinyl. Get out.”
“Yes ma’am, Miss Octavia Ma’am!” She joked, as she clopped back to the door.
It barely registered in my head that Vinyl was wearing a pink bow around her neck. She took my bow!
“Vinyl Scratch! Give me back my bow!”
“What? I can’t hear you over the bass!”
“You don’t even have the music turned on!”
“Give me a sec… I- Okay I got it!” The bass kicked in and shrouded her voice heavily.
“What --- y-- say?” Her voice barely could be heard.
My ears lowered in frustration as I buried my face in my hooves.
“Why me…?” She was an enjoyable pony to be around, could always make me laugh, which almost no other pony besides Ditsy Doo could do. It is what held our friendship together the strongest, and had only refined itself, pulling us closer. We were practically sisters, walking in on the other bathing was innocent in our eyes knowing that the other must have been in a hurry. Innocent.
The more I looked back on the circumstances, the more I realized that there was no other pony in Ponyville, Canterlot, or anywhere in Equestria that ever made me smile and feel good about myself than Vinyl. Plus, her taste in music wasn’t so distasteful, just not the route that I would have taken given her musical talents, possibly percussion, maybe.
I had to chuckle at the thought of Vinyl outfitting the bass on her drums with a million amplifiers and some sort of distorting machine on it, and just converting it back into her techno. I grinned at the thoughts again only to slowly open them and sigh. The realization of the future hit me, and it was my job to find a new job so that I could help Vinyl with the taxes and any other expenses that developed, like groceries. I angrily groaned to myself. Maybe I will still get paid for the Gala?
I finished with the bath, feeling much calmer and more relaxed. The bass had stopped shaking what was left on the shelves, and everything seemed to be much calmer than usual. It calmed my senses increasingly more. Suddenly, a loud crack smashed against the door, causing me to nearly jump out of my hooves.
“Who in Ponyville?” I wandered over to the door and glanced out the window to see two golden clad guards standing, the royal guards. I slammed my back against the wall, outstretching my front hooves as if they were trying to break through the door. My heart beat through my chest, and my breathing was heavy and strained.
“Oh my! What do I do? What do I say? Why are they here? Did I mess up that bad? The Princess? Why?” I started to pace. “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” No matter how much that question broke through my lips I couldn’t find an answer.
Another knock caused my hair to stand on end and my eyes to widen. I turned toward the old oak door and took a big breath. “Just apologize calmly. You've got this.”
I straightened my back and took a deep breath. I composed my senses and opened the door with as much dignity that I had left.
I immediately threw myself to the Princess’s feet. “I’m so sorry for the Gala. Pinkie Pie- The Pokey- it wasn’t my fault.”
Princess Celestia gazed down upon me, her rainbow hair perpetually moving when no breeze was present.
“My dear Octavia, what ever are you talking about? I actually quite liked it.” Princess Celestia spoke.
“I know it was horrible, but- I… what? Y-y-you liked it?” I stuttered.
“Very much so. It had quite the rhythm to it, and a nice tone in the background; the tone of a cello if I remember correctly.” She smiled, with her regular magnificent.
I could feel my lips quivering as I searched words, any words, but none were ever produced, causing me to lay at her feet in silence.
“I came to request something of you, Octavia, and Vinyl.”
Vinyl poked her head around the corner, her trance glasses shining with a wide smirk spread fully to both ears. She snapped down the stairs, leaving a dust trail behind as she sprung beside me.
“Yessiree Ma’am! Whatcha be looking for? Trance? House? Electro? Pop? Ooo, or are you more interested in some faster stuff? Dubstep? Drum and Bass? Or do you just want some terrorcore and speed-“
“Vinyl, that is enough. I was hoping to have such musically inclined ponies on reserve for the next party. You know,” She leaned in close, “to spice it up a bit.” And then winked.
“Aww yeah!” Vinyl yelled before beat boxing her techno, and magically shifting her glasses off of her eyes.
“And Octavia. Octavia? Oh yes, still apologizing on the ground I see… Keep up the good work. You are talented on your cello, don’t let anyone tell you differently.” She flashed smirk and flew away just as quick as she had come.
I spoke first. “I really don’t know what to say.” Rising from the dusty floor.
“I know what to say! Party like there is no tomorrow!” Her horn lit up and before I knew it the house was flooded with the booming bass again.
Seeing how happy Vinyl was made me almost miss the swelling feeling in my own heart as the happiness flowed back into me. I just wanted to jump around with her, and before I knew it, she had jumped over to me and lifted my front hooves. We jumped on our hind legs together, laughing and cheering. It felt freeing as the last of the stress burned through my muscles. She eventually broke off from our hoof hold to initiate her own intricate dance moves as I watched, bobbing my head and adding in my own side sounds. Being lost in my thoughts, I jumped when I felt Vinyl run into me and send me crashing to the floor where we both laid on our backs, laughing to the ceilings, the floor, and the walls, to each other and to ourselves.
“We need to get some radical music together!” Vinyl hollered.
I could only smile and agree with her observation. There was plenty of work to be accomplished in the time before the Princess’s next party, and I hoped to write some new pieces for it. I just needed to find more inspiration, which will be an adventure in itself. I know that if I stick with my friend that we can accomplish anything that comes our way.