My Composition For You

by scorpclawFF

A Loving Melody

My Composition For You
Chapter 4 - A Loving Melody

Octavia entered her home shortly after... and it seemed even emptier than before. Octavia was obviously happy that Vinyl was happy after all of these years, but she just wished that she could have more than this week to spend time with her. She closed the front door behind her and walked into her private playing room, seeing her cello leaning against the wall. Just the sight of it always seemed to make her smile.

Octavia rubbed her hoof against the recently polished wood of her precious instrument and went to reach for her bow. She retracted her hoof shortly after, remembering Vinyl's request for her not to play all day. Though, she decided to grab the bow, anyways.

A little bit of playing can't hurt, Octavia whispered to herself. How would Vinyl know?

Octavia grabbed her cello and gripped the bow in her right hoof. She pressed the bow into the strings and began playing one of the symphonies that she had to prepare for next week's concert. Though, as she played, her mind began to drift away from the music and settled onto thoughts of Vinyl. One thought that she particularly caught onto was her conversation with Vinyl about composing music.

That thought stuck with her for a few more moments, and her music began to deviate from the symphony and went into something entirely new. Octavia smiled when she heard the soothing melody from her imagination begin to bellow out from her cello. It was just a slight variation of some songs that she had heard before, but she then put in her own little twists. After only a bit of playing around, the melody became entirely her own.

Octavia smiled brighter every moment that she played. Not just because she was creating something of her own, but because she was creating it through her thoughts of Vinyl. Though, after a moment of messing around with the cello, she realized that she needed to write some of these melodies down. She grabbed some blank manuscript paper off of the shelves and got to work.

After about an hour of playing and writing down her thoughts onto the manuscript paper, three and a half pages of the cello music were complete. Octavia expected it to be difficult, but once she had the music in her head, it didn't take her long for her to put it down on paper.

She put her name on the top-left corner of the first page. She was satisfied with her work, but her eyes went over to the empty title slot at the top of the page. Octavia didn't know what she should call her piece. She thought it would be too formal to call it a symphony with an opus or anything, and she didn't have a story or driving force connected to the piece.

Well... I do have one bit of motivation for this piece, Octavia whispered to herself. It was mostly obvious for her, since the whole time, she was thinking of… Vinyl. This piece of work was based off of a suggestion that Vinyl had made. The one special thing that Octavia could do in return was dedicate the song to her.

Octavia went into the inner sanctums of her mind to find a title to fit this “dedication”, but she couldn’t find one that was just right. After a few minutes of thinking of a name, Octavia ended up writing ‘My Composition For You’ as the title. Octavia immediately thought that the title wasn’t much, but she felt that it served its purpose nicely. It was her composition to Vinyl.

Octavia smiled at her accomplishment of creating a portion of music. In fact, as soon as she was done with it, she picked up all of the scattered papers and placed them in order on the stand. She grabbed her cello and began playing her piece, feeling every emotion that she had put into it.

After a couple minutes of playing it all the way through, Octavia felt completely satisfied with herself that she would create such a piece. She didn’t know that she had the capability of doing so, but she was glad that she finally went and did it. She was about to play it again when something struck her.

“Vinyl isn’t going to want to listen to this,” Octavia said to herself. “It has too many ‘boring’ classical aspects and not any, what would Vinyl call it, ‘dropping the bass’.” Octavia put a hoof to her mouth and tried to think of a way to try and make this sound more interesting, experimenting with different sounds that the cello could make. Despite her efforts, she didn’t find anything that satisfied her, so she gave up quickly.

Octavia, frustrated with herself for going through all the trouble for a song that her friend won’t even listen to, decided to go in the kitchen to clear her mind. She grabbed herself a glass of water and a leftover sandwich from the fridge. She leaned against the counter, eating and drinking away. She didn’t normally let herself become so irritated, but sometimes things don’t go her way.

However, when Octavia went through the cupboards to find herself another snack, she noticed something on the counter that stood out to her. It was the large ‘PonyBook’ which contained the contact information of several companies and ponies, specifically in Canterlot. Octavia put a hoof to her face again and thought about what she could do with it and a thought hit her.

She grabbed the book and flipped to a page with ponies whose names started with the letter ‘N’. When she finally found the number she was looking for, she immediately grabbed a phone and made a call.

A couple of hours later, Octavia was standing outside of a studio, owned by a pony named Neon Lights. Octavia remembered Vinyl extensively talking about how Neon Lights was her partner and that they did just about everything together. Octavia called and they agreed to meet at his studio.

Octavia entered and was amazed by the amount of technology that surrounded her at the entrance. Everything seemed so complicated to her, but she thought it was interesting that some ponies might know what’s exactly going on in this area. She kept moving forward and her eye finally caught onto three ponies who were crowded around a mixing board, a piece of pizza in each of their hooves. Octavia went in to introduce herself.

“Hello,” Octavia said politely.

One of the ponies raised his head and smiled. “Ah, you must be Octavia Philharmonica, the one I spoke to on the phone earlier.”

Octavia smiled and went over to the three colts. “That’s me.”

Neon Lights shook Octavia’s hoof with his own greasy hoof, making Octavia cringe slightly. “It’s great to meet you. I heard you were good friends with our Vinyl before we even met. That makes you special.”

“Yes, well. I used to live in Ponyville, but I moved to Canterlot to join the symphony.”

Neon Lights nodded his head. “Interesting. Oh… and meet my friends Psych Delic and Fire Cracker. They’re going to be helping us out today with your little composition.”

Octavia waved to the two colts as they waved back to her. “That’s great. I could use all the help I could get.”

“Well, that’s what we’re best at. So… I guess we can get down to business. I heard you already have yourself started with a cello solo, and I like what you’re going with that. So we won’t get rid of it. Instead, we’ll just infuse the theme that you have already with some of our own beats.”

“Alright, that’s sounding good. Hopefully one won’t overpower the other, though.”

Neon Lights shook his head. “Don’t you worry about that. Electronic classical compositions nowadays are really cool, and I want to show off both aspects. Besides, I know what Vinyl likes, so I’ll definitely see to it that she gets something that she likes.”

Octavia smiled even brighter. “Oh, thank you so much. Vinyl and I haven’t seen each other in ages and I wanted to do something special for her.”

“That’s what we’re hoping for. So you brought your cello with you, correct?”

Octavia nodded, indicating with the heavy cello case in her left hoof.

“Great. We have a chair, stand, and microphone set up for you in the recording area. Why don’t you get yourself set and we’ll start recording.”

Octavia gladly nodded and set off for the indicated ‘recording area’. She closed the door behind her, leaving the three colts to themselves.

Fire Cracker smiled. “Neon, man. I think we’ve done it.”

Neon Lights looked over to Fire Cracker and smiled back. “If by done it, you mean we’ve found Vinyl a marefriend, then I agree with you.”

Psych Delic shook in his chair with mild excitement. “Oh, we are most definitely going to bring those two together. Vinyl has been alone for much too long.”

Neon Lights put his right hoof up. “One step at a time, guys.” Neon Lights went to the sound controls and looked through the window to see Octavia warming up. “We have to make sure that Octavia makes this very special song for her future love first.”

Psych Delic and Fire Cracker accompanied Neon Lights at the sound board. Fire Cracker tapped on the microphone to make sure it was on, and said, “Alright, Octavia. Are you all warmed-up?”

Octavia stopped her bow and looked up to the window to see that the three colts were looking at her. She nodded her head in their direction, and said, “Yeah. Do I just start whenever?”

Neon Lights nodded his head. “Whenever you’re comfortable, go for it.”

The recording session lasted a good 45 minutes with Octavia constantly starting and stopping. Neon Lights gave several comments about changing Octavia’s technique to make the piece feel more alive. Octavia didn’t really get it, but after several minutes of trying different things, Neon smiled when she finally grasped the concept. He called her back into the other room.

“You’re definitely one of the better ponies that I’ve worked with, Octavia. You actually pay attention to what I’m telling you and you don’t get offended when I tell you something is off.”

“Do you get ponies that don’t pay attention or get offended?” Octavia curiously asked, not used to such behavior in an orchestral sense.

Neon Lights and turned back to Fire Cracker and Psych Delic. “We probably run into those “kinds” about once or twice a day. Just a bunch of musicians who think they know best, when they clearly don’t. We have to kick a pony or two out a week just because they were stubborn to work with us.”

Octavia gave Neon Lights a shocked look. “I guess I don’t know that much about this DJ world. We don’t encounter this behavior all that much with the symphony. Whenever we do, our director tends to shut them up right away.”

“You’ve entered a completely different world, Octavia,” Fire Cracker said.

“Yeah, I know. But… I kind of like it. I feel adventurous when I explore different types of music.”

Fire Cracker and Psych Delic looked at each other and smiled. Amongst all of the “fancy talk”, they thought they heard a little bit of Vinyl Scratch in Octavia’s voice. It was a bit of a positive revelation for the both of them.

“That’s the spirit, Octavia. I almost thought that this business may be too much for a cellist, but you are definitely a mare with taste.”

Octavia blushed slightly. “Heh, thanks.”

“So what we’re going to do now is the techno part. You’re going to tell Psych Delic what key we’re in and we can go from there. By the end of today, even you are going to be jamming to your little cello composition.”

Octavia nodded. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

The four ponies spent several hours getting the music the way they wanted it to be. Octavia cringed a few times, since some of the DJs’ styles were drastically than her own, but after a while, she began to get accustomed to it. By the end, she actually got into the different style.

Neon Lights yawned. “Alright, good job, gentlecolts.” He then looked to Octavia. “And mare. This is sounding pretty good. I can give you the CD of it right now and you can show it to Vinyl, alright?”

Octavia shook her head. “Actually, I was wondering if any one of you would like to accompany me at a concert with some of this equipment.”

Neon Lights gave Octavia a confused look. “What are you saying? You want to play this live?”

“Well, yeah. I can play the cello parts while you play the DJ stuff on the speakers. Is that a problem?”

Neon Lights smiled. “No problem at all. In fact, it’s better. Just give us a time and a date and we’ll hook you up.”

“Great! Well… I have your number, so I’ll call you soon.” Octavia brought her left hoof forward. “Thanks for helping me out today.”

Neon shook her hoof. “It is my pleasure.”

“Goodbye.” Octavia left the studio with a wave to the three colts. She was clearly satisfied with the work that she did with them.

Neon Lights sighed happily. “This can’t be any more amazing.”

Fire Cracker snickered. “Vinyl Scratch is getting a concert. Pure bliss.”

Psych Delic nodded his head. “I’m going to get the champagne for their wedding.”

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late release. School stuff got in the way. :)

Comments

[Diamond Sparkle]

Very sweet.

[Siras-chi]

Don't know why, but Octavia and Vinyl always make me want to listen to Lindsey Stirling. Eh, it fits.

[swift-blaze]

so cute !!!!!!!!! loved it :)

[Gentle Spy]

I could never see neon as a matchmaker mainly for the reason that ShadyVox plays his voice and he's like the whitest kid I know of.

[Probably Jesus]

Psych delic reminds me of Bill and Ted

[scorpclawFF]

3183073
I just watched that ShadyVox video again, and I totally agree with you. Though, I can still see it happening. :P

[Tarascha]

Well done bro. It was a nice chapter
I hope we will get the next one sooner than this
Also, matchmaker Neon? Why not. Sometimes you find talent for something in the most unexpected person

[Akiba]

Psych Delic nodded his head. “I’m going to get the champagne for their wedding.”