Chapter 1
“It’s not fair...” the gray earth mare complained under her breath as she stared at the large run-down apartment building in front of her with a miserable expression plastered across her face.
The building towered over her with a menace that caused a shiver to run from her head to her hooves. She lightly shook her head and set her shoulders square against the entryway, trying not to take too much notice of how most of the lower windows had been long since boarded up.
“No, I have not fallen so far that I will start talking to myself like some crazy mare,” she asserted proudly as she adjusted the double bass across her back.
Once she was inside the lobby, her eyes shot between the features of the common area. She took a double take as she looked around the room once more. Her eyes eventually stopped on one of the tables next to a couch; the table sported a large stack of magazines. Her own face glared back at her from the top with a nasty headline emblazoned over it. Even months after the first articles like it had started appearing, they effect of seeing them remained the same. She narrowed her eyes and barely resisted the urge to grab the offending publication and toss it at the one remaining window on the front of the building.
“Miss Octavia?” asked a male voice from behind her, mixed with wonder and awe.
She took a long slow breath and struggled to keep her face blank before she turned around. She glanced over the light blue stallion in front of her and tried her best not to step back in surprise. His mane and tail were clearly well-groomed. Even though he had no shirt or other fine clothes, it was clear that he was a step above the normal tenants of this building. She allowed her gaze to shift into an annoyed glare as she made a point of adjusting the large instrument across her back.
“Yes?” she responded curtly, leaving the rest of the question to hang unspoken between them.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry if I am interrupting... It’s just the landlord had told me that you were moving in and I didn’t quite believe him. I knew that after the Gala... with all the fuss and horrible press about that song and the pink pony that things weren’t going so well for you. Still, I never would have expected to have a celebrity such as yourself...” He interrupted his sentence with a loud gulp as he stepped several steps backwards in response to the icy glare being shot in his direction.
“I-I only meant to introduce myself... I’m terribly sorry if I am messing this up, but I am the building supervisor. If you h-have any problems, just let me know... I live on the second floor; c-can’t miss it...” he retreated several more steps and gave a polite little bow before he turned to run away from the vision of anger in front of him.
“Wonderful...” she grumbled as she turned to see a few of the lounging ponies watching her in surprise.
“What?” she demanded to a light-green unicorn mare that wouldn’t stop staring at her from across the room. “You think that since all of Canterlot society has had a go at me that it’s your turn too? Too bad,” she growled and turned away from the rest of the onlookers.
Octavia began the trek across the large entryway towards the stairs in a huff. She didn’t even bother to check if the elevator was working. It never worked when she used to live here as a young musician, and it certainly wouldn't have been fixed in the few days since she had moved in her few belongings.
“Those ponies are going to burn for this. It was just a stupid song,” she growled as she gazed up the stairwell and contemplated having to climb up and down ten flights with her instrument every day. “A stupid, stupid, song...”
She had of course climbed these steps with her instrument when she had lived here previously and, if anything, she was in better shape than she had been back then. Of course her current instrument was magnitudes more expensive, one of the few things besides the bow-tie around her neck that spoke of her former status. So, she took extra care as she began her ascent.
Octavia took the steps with a measured pace, making sure to shoot a menacing glance at anypony who dared to even consider passing her and her instrument on the stairs. She tried to breathe through her mouth to prevent the awful stench of the stairwell from getting to her, but the foul odor seemed to fill her mouth with an awful taste, it took all of her effort to keep herself from gagging. She used the anger that was steadily rising from the state of the building that she was being forced to live in by necessity to drive herself forward. Every bead of sweat that poured down her flanks was a drop of fuel in the burning machine raging inside of her.
“Those damned ponies will be the ones living in squalor when I’m done...” she grumbled before she bit her lip in anger to stop the crazy ramblings.
She placed her instrument inside the doorway to her new ‘home’ and looked around the living room with a glare. This place was every bit as horrible as Octavia had remembered it. Somehow the scale of it had failed to hit her when she had been moving the rest of her stuff in. It didn’t seem quite as final without her instrument, her pride and joy. A small part of her had still expected to find a way out of actually living here, even while lugging her few belongings to the tiny apartment.
“Dear sweet Celestia, what is that smell?” she complained as she wrinkled her face before wandering around the apartment. The walls stank. She wasn’t even sure how it was possible for the walls themselves to stink, but somehow the griminess had permeated the very walls around her.
The blasted cell of a living space wasn’t even big enough to house all of the posters from her old flat. She glanced over at the large box sitting next to the couch and shrugged. If hanging them on the walls here meant that they would smell like this hellhole, then it was probably just as well. She would have to look into an airtight container for her more prized possessions once she finally managed to secure a decent job.
The floor creaked audibly as she stalked through the narrow apartment and glowered at everything in sight. The bed was atrocious; she still wasn’t ready for the idea of sleeping on that piece of crap. Frankly, the couch was more comfortable, even if only because of the long since collapsed springs in the cushions. Her previous attempt to sit on the couch had resulted in a comforting, yet oddly alarming, sense of floating. The feeling of never quite being sure if she was going to fall through the bottom of the couch was difficult to deal with; so, she had cut that experiment rather short.
She sighed as she walked towards the bed. She was going to sleep in the Celestia-forsaken bed. It was the only choice she had; she would not be reduced to sleeping on her own bucking couch. It mattered not how comfortable it was. She wouldn’t be lowered to the level of some homeless cur sleeping on the couch of anypony that might take her. Thankfully, carrying the double bass up the stairs had tired her out, even this piece of crap mattress would be comfortable enough for tonight.
Octavia grunted as she laid herself across it and tried to force away the bad images flashing through her head from the magazine's headline. She pounded on the mattress a few times in the vain attempt to force the lumps to shift away from where she wanted to lie.
She was on the verge of sleep when a disturbingly clear image flashed through her mind. She was sprawled out on the stage of the Gala, staring up in shock at that stupid pink pony after the finale of her song. Octavia shuddered and shook her head wildly. The image instead shifted to one of her closest friends standing next to several other socialites as they ridiculed her for the incident loudly in the midst of a party. The look of shock across the mare’s face when she had realized that Octavia had been standing behind her the entire time sent shivers down Octavia’s spine.
It took all Octavia’s willpower to fight back the tears forming in her eyes as she pounded her hooves into the mattress several more times. Eventually the images faded away, but she was left staring at the blank wall beside her bed, all sense of weariness now gone from her body.
“It’s not fair...” she mumbled weakly as the tears started to flow down her face and she curled up on the bed, waiting for sleep to take her.
Octavia marched up to the front of the worn-down theater, known in this area of Canterlot as ‘The State.’ How anypony was supposed to identify it as such was a mystery, it was just something you had to be from around the area to know. The sign over the entrance had been in shambles for as long as she could remember. There were now only two letters still desperately clinging to the framework, and even those were barely doing so. The two ‘t’s from ‘State’ sat crooked upon the woodwork and swayed in the breeze.
Most of the windows had long since been smashed, with only a few boarded up, and only one of the many lights flanking the stairs leading to the entrance remained lit. A large orange flyer hung on the doors, advertising some long gone audition, and nopony seemed to have cared enough to remove it. A closer look at the flyer as she approached showed that one corner had come unattached and flapped slightly in the wind.
“I thought I asked for a musician! That drivel isn't even music; get out of my sight!"
Octavia ignored the yell coming from inside the theater proper as she passed through the lobby and continued her way through to backstage. Such outbursts were not uncommon for an audition, and she knew how to deal with them. Whoever it was that was looking for the talent was just making a point of breaking down any pony that made a mistake. It made an example of them and made the other musicians nervous. If anypony fell victim to their nerves, then they clearly weren’t the pony for the job anyway. She wasn’t even entirely certain what this job entailed, just that the posting for the audition seemed to be put together more professionally than the others. They had actually let her put her name down, as well. Overall, it was a step above her other recent prospects.
She adjusted her bow-tie self-consciously and unpacked her double bass. She made sure to check her instrument thoroughly, even though she had spent quite a long time earlier making sure that it was in tune. The ritual nature of checking her instrument always made her feel better, though, and it helped to relax her before an important audition.
“Miss Octavia?” questioned a voice from her right some time later. She looked up to see a tan unicorn stallion with a clipboard clutched in his magic. “They’re ready for you on stage now.”
She nodded her head and pulled the double bass across her back with composure. Grasping the bow in her mouth, she strode onto the stage with her head held high and the large instrument balanced carefully across her back.
All of the stage lights were on, far more than necessary in fact. Even while a show was running, a good half of the lights would be off. She could barely see the silhouette of the seats, let alone of what appeared to be a single pony sitting in the audience. The idea was normal, but taken to an extreme that Octavia hadn’t experienced before. She didn’t worry about the pony watching her, despite the fact that she was clearly supposed to be intimidated by their presence. Octavia was confident that she could impress them, no matter who it was.
She slipped the instrument off her back and carefully set it to stand on the endpin. It took a careful moment of shifting her weight so that she could stand up on her hind legs while clutching the double bass. It was a delicate balance; Octavia and her instrument relied upon each other to stand. If she didn’t get the transition right, then they would both tumble to the floor and make her look like a complete fool in the process. Thankfully, she was well practiced in the tricky dance involved. Once she was comfortable with her hoofing, she delicately slipped the bow from her mouth to the crook of her leg, just above the hoof.
“When you’re done making love to your instrument, you can start playing anytime!” directed a harsh yell from the audience.
Octavia took in a deep breath and slowly drew her bow across the strings. The first deep timbre of her instrument immediately filled the theater. She let the first note draw on for a long moment, playing with it to make sure that she had her viewer’s full attention. The piece she began to play was supposed to be accompanied by a piano, but she had played it enough times to do without. She merely had to make slight adaptations to the timing.
She began slowly, letting each individual note fill the hall as she played with them, making the sounds tremble under her adept hooves. She danced the bow across the strings with such ease that it might as well have been an extension of her leg. Finally, she started to move her free hoof up and down the strings and, as she did, the dance with her instrument began in earnest.
Each time she had to lean down to place her hoof particularly low on the strings, she tilted herself and the double bass to make up for the shift in weight. Whenever she did this, she made a show of going to the very tips of her balance, only to gracefully straighten right back up on the next note. She quite literally danced in place with her instrument as she stroked her hooves across the front of her dance partner.
After making her point, she picked up the tempo of the song and had to start stepping her hooves back and forth to further compensate for the more rapid shifts in her balance. Her neatly prepared mane started to flip around her as the heat of the lights caused beads of sweat to trickle down her face. She kept intensifying the dance, continuing to ply the music from the instrument in front of her. Then, as suddenly as it came, the intensity melted away. Her movements calmed and she stepped closer to her partner. Octavia let the melody fall back to a calmer more serene pace.
She drew the music to a quieter tone, making sure that it was still loud enough to be audible through the hall as she created the illusion of her instrument letting out the quietest whisper. She smiled slightly as she worked her magic. It was her own particular brand of magic that didn’t require a horn; no, this magic was fueled by passion alone. Nopony else could work it like she could either. In Canterlot, the double bass was her playground, all the other ponies merely foals aspiring to be more like her.
Octavia still couldn’t see the pony in the audience, but that didn’t matter; she knew that they were entranced. She drew out the final note of her song, and leaned over her dance partner in a pseudo-bow before pulling the bow away with a flourish. She finally straightened herself and gasped for breath as she attempted to focus her gaze through the bright lights to the silhouetted pony.
“And just what was that?” the inscrutable voice questioned.
“Music.”
“What if I told you that it was crap?” the pony asked in a gruff tone.
“Then I’d say that you either read the gossip rags too much or that you were lying,” she stated calmly and remained standing upright.
“Hmph. You’ve got guts; either that, or you’re really stupid,” the mysterious pony retorted. Octavia could see the mysterious figure rise from their seat and slowly approach the stage.
“I believe the music should speak for itself.”
“So it does. Oliver! Cut those damned lights! And tell the rest of these hacks that they can go home!” the pony suddenly shouted over towards backstage.
The excess stage lights shut off one at a time with loud, echoing slams, finally bringing the assault on Octavia’s eyes to an end. She still could not see the approaching pony through the floating spots in her eyes, but her vision was slowly adjusting to the more normal lighting. The pony coming up the aisle appeared to be a unicorn, a mare if she was not mistaken, and Octavia kept catching flashes of light off the glasses perched on her face.
“So, the great Octavia graces us with her presence. I figured your name showing up on the list was somepony trying to play a prank on me. This project doesn’t exactly seem quite your style. So, tell me: what exactly are you doing here?”
“It’s an audition ma’am,” Octavia said simply. Her pride preventing her from saying more. Nevertheless, the implications hung awkwardly in the air between them for a long moment.
“So, I’ve heard. I take it all those nasty articles about you after the Gala have been taking their toll?” the other pony questioned.
“Something like that...”
“Must be rather desperate to come to my audition. I mostly get young musicians, wet behind the ears and minds full of sunshine and rainbows about their budding careers,” the pony stated in a leading tone as she hesitated just before the steps up to the stage.
Octavia remained silent, holding her instrument in one hoof and the bow in another as she continued standing proudly next to it. When it became clear that she was not even going to dignify that with a response, the other mare cleared her throat.
“Don’t think that I’m going to pamper you because you’re some kind of bucking celebrity,” the other pony snarled.
“Of course not.”
“Planning on using this gig as some kind of launching point to make your comeback and get revenge on all those Canterlot snobs?”
Octavia’s face twitched slightly before she regained her control. “That’s the general idea, yes.”
“I see... I’m not a very nice pony when I work with other musicians, or, at least that’s what I’m told. I wouldn’t know, seeing as everypony I’ve worked with was a complete and utter moron. You’re not a moron are you, Miss Octavia?” she questioned as she finally began to climb the stairs to the stage.
The first detail that Octavia made out as the pony came closer was her two toned neon blue mane. Her eyes wandered down, taking in the horn and confirming her suspicions. The unicorn had a bright white coat that reflected the light back at Octavia, seemingly without any need for stage makeup and deep purple sunglasses rested right up against her eyes. The mare stepped closer and circled Octavia as if she was inspecting the earth pony at auction.
“I guess we’ll find that out, won’t we?” Octavia replied in her best stoic tone as she remained unmoving.
“I guess we will... Let’s hope you’re not a moron, though. Oliver will give you the details on where we’re recording. He’s the unicorn you met backstage. I expect you to be on time; if you’re late, I’m cutting into your pay. I don’t like wasting my time, Miss Octavia. Do you understand me?”
“Perfectly.”
“Good start. I’m Vinyl Scratch, and we’ll see how long you last,” she said as a devilish grin spread across her face. She lifted her sunglasses with her magic and Octavia was for the first time taken by surprise. Glinting back at her mischievously were two astonishingly bright red eyes that made her take a small step backwards.
“So you aren’t a robot after all. I’ll see you tomorrow,” the unicorn called over her shoulder after turning around with a chuckle.
“Don’t be late!” Vinyl yelled up to the stage from the front of the theater before she slammed the door shut.
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I like this even if the octavia/scratch has been done a thousand times already it is still a concept i can enjoy
Interesting concept. I'm interesting to see how this turns out, Liked and tracked.
I must say this is a great start, Tavi felt genuinely fierce and elegant, and the take on a more commanding and professional VInyl (so far anyways) was a nice touch I'm looking forward to reading more of this
TaviScratch once more. After Allegrezza and TCTAC I have never loved this couple more. I will watch this for great justice!
You have my attention!
I love Octavia and Scratch, so I'll be tracking!
Tavi/Scratch has been waaaay overdone IMO, but the start was interesting and I'm curious as to what Scratch's project is. Liked and tracked.
Octavinyl. Still my fav' pairing. Kind of interesting beginning.
Must.. Criticize. Just kidding.
Spike = Endpin
Way better than 90% of the Octavia/Vinyl fics out there due to the fact that they didn't meet in a bar and screw right off the bat.
Tracked.
326603
Thanks I was kind of really trying to set the tone here at the start
326979
Go ahead! People always just praise they never critique
327832
Ah Slorgy so refreshingly direct, but yeah thats kind of the idea.
Octavia/Vinyl Scratch is totally the next Lyra/BonBon! (By that, I mean they're starting to become the fandom's other OTP).
327919
Seriously. That was my only comment. Hahah
The spike on the bottom of a double bass/cello is called an endpin..
hmm... i didn't really like the premise of this, being that pinkie pie more or less ruined her life just because of the gala thing -_- so i'll just try to ignore it ever happened and just picture she went broke for some other more believable reason than something as lame as the whole pinkie thing... no offense ofc!
edit: doesn't she play a cello? oh well...
403137 naa, from what I've heard it actually is a double bass. Something about size appearently, though I will admit I am no expert in musical instruments so I can only repeat what I've heard.
Hmm... TaviScratch, what a surprise. Bet I can tell what's going to happe- *Starts reading*
... Okay, an idea that at least SEEMS completely unique, in that Vinyl isn't... *AHEM* Yes, I do believe you have my attention.
madmanbox.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/allons-y.gif?w=269&h=400
555298 Damn it Wolf! Is there a pairing that you have not already reviewed?
Just kidding! On to the next chapter!
I like the idea. however, a musician wouldn't be obliterated for something like what Octy did at the gala. If anything it would actually boost her fame. A musician who performs, is more than just some person who can make music. actually, it takes a great deal of versatility, and courage to be one. We take the phrase "The show must go on" literally. If the lights cut out, a musician would keep performing no matter what. So what Octy did, actually demonstrated strength. Trust me I know. I've been a performing musician for almost 7 straight years. but besides that fact, I like the story. I'll keep reading.
327919 vynal scratch being a bitch.... I LIKE IT
BY REQUEST OF THE AUTHOR! An overview and critique of the first chapter!
- Whoa. Didn't take Octavia to be the bitter kind of pony, but the explanation of how there is a slight bit of racism about her being an earth pony instead of a unicorn would seem to be reasonable.
- 'Expecting otherwise would be asking for the landlord to actually fix something.' I don't know why, but this sentence feels...awkward. I ti it should say something more along the lines of 'Expecting otherwise would be sheer stupidity. The landlord would just nod his head after you tell him about the problem and then do nothing about it..'
- 'She wouldn’t be lowered to the level of some homeless cur (add comma here) sleeping on the couch
of(that) anyponythatmight take her (to be).- Sorry if this is being 'picky'. The chapter is VERY intriguing and I'm just picking out individual sentences that I feel may need work, but believe me, this chapter has been handled very well.
- The actions of Octavia playing her double bass, just... poetic. The amount of detail behind this is sublime, no wonder this story is so well received!
- Wow. This first chapter. I don't understand why you said that it sucks, this is just... godlike. This deserves all the upvotes and the first chapter does indeed pique my interests. This is well done.
Alrighty, Rael. I'm reading this. See? I'm even commenting to prove it!
Anyhow, this first time through, I'm just gonna look at the story as a whole to see if the multitude of different editors did a number on the flow of the story. Once that's done, I'll come back to this chapter and give it a few more thoughts from as critical a standpoint I can get.
That said,
You know I'm not a fan of Romance. But this interesting enough, so we'll see.
Department of Redundancy Department.
Out of curiosity, where did the whole idea of Vinyl Scratch having captivating red eyes come from? I'm not demeaning your story for including this detail, but I see it in every single story she appears in. It's the strangest thing, since we've seen her eyes in the actual show and have confirmed they're not red.
Now, to actually talk about the story - or rather, the first chapter... I like this lead-in a lot. It has certain elements that I've seen done a lot before, namely the Pony Pokey having caused Octavia's fall from grace, but the quality of the writing makes it not seem so overdone. It feels good to be reading a well-written pure romance story about Octavia and Vinyl. They're such a likable couple despite not having met once in any canon story.
2094133
I'm pretty sure the red eyes come from Allegrazza, like almost everything else OctaviaScratch
Octavia plays the cello though....
2094133 Also, we've never seen Vinyl Scratch's eyes in the show, she shows up as background pony in like, 3 episodes, and in each one she is wearing her glasses.
2431093 We did see her eye's breifly during part two of the Canterlot Wedding, durring the party, and they are reddish/maroon/reddish magenta.
2431085 A double bass is a cello.
It's just a bigger version of the cello in simple terms.
2431093
You cab see her eyes in the movie and they're red.
2649887
A double bass is WAY bigger than a cello.
Great story so far I've had it read later for a while damnit I should have started reading straight away and I love your portrayal of the characters its different and all the more interesting for it
Well, I'm already enjoying this take on Vinyl. It's not quite what I'm used to seeing. She's almost a Simon Cowell level of mean here.
So because being in the middle of ONE story isn't enough, I'm off to find another. Have seen this a couple of times in the featured box, guess it finally caught my interest.
I wasn't always an OctaScratch fan. I didn't hate it at all, just thought it was overdone. But, after reading a pretty good OctaScratch by my pal, I saw how well their two personalities combine, the potential that they have to bounce off of each other. And I found it rather endearing, personally.
And I really like how you've handled their interactions so far. I'm such a fan of those cool, composed, witty back-and-forth moments between two confident characters. I think I am going to rather enjoy this.
first,
the
____________
Re-reading the fic ^_^.
3rd re-read.
I hope vinyl scrach doesn't act that way for the entire story. I understand some people like that but I don't.