A Storm and Its Beauty
I arrived back at my apartment, but I didn't go straight for something that I could sleep on, the first thing I went to go and do was to get Vinyl's glasses, I don't know why, it just felt like the right thing to do. I went towards the center of the living room and saw them sitting there, in the same place as where they were when she left.
No. Not when she left, she didn't want to leave, it was when I kicked her out that she left.
I didn't know why, but it seemed like ever since she was gone, my house felt dead. I felt lonely, and I had never felt lonely before, I had always felt accompanied by my thoughts when no pony was around, but since nearly all of my thoughts are on her, even they have left me to myself.
I tried to forget, to move on. I really and truly did. But it always seemed that no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts would wander back to her. I didn't like it, it was like being imprisoned, restrained, to think of her and only her. Not to mention how Shakes acted when she requested to talk to me. Of course I didn't hesitate to meet with her, I was hoping that for once, just once, that I could go an hour with being drawn back to that mare. I shouldn't have met with her, I shouldn't have tried getting things off my chest, because the more I tried getting them off, the more things got stuck on.
Harpo's solid logic on how she saved me so she must deserve at least one more chance. Shakes and her words of wisdom on my current situation; "Be careful how you play your cards" she said. Well right now it seemed like I had already lost those cards in her little card game, so whats the point in even playing.
I refocused on her glasses and picked them up slowly, taking time to admire their unique and stylish appearance. I was sure that anypony would look absolutely ridiculous wearing them, even Vinyl looked ridiculous wearing them if you thought about it, but she made them work with her unique appearance. I placed them on a stand near my cello, my prized possession. It was the only way I could be absolutely sure that I wouldn't forget about taking them with me when I woke up, even though I was sure that my thoughts would land on them somehow or another. I left them there to go and take a well deserved shower, and afterwards, to go to bed.
I went into the bathroom and started warming the water before I fetched a towel from under the sink. After the water had warmed up to a good temperature, I stepped into the shower and closed the shower curtain behind me, closing the shower curtain comforted me, it was as if I had just shut myself away from the world and its problems. But I still had my problems. Instead of getting right into the process of washing my body like I usually did when there was an upcoming event the following day, I sat down and started thinking.
I thought about all the things that happened ever since she came, both the good and the bad. On the good side, she brought a new light into my life, even if it lasted only but a few three days. She showed me how fun life can be if I would just loosen up and take things in stride, if I would just let my hair loose and go with it. On the bad side, she has shown me that not all lights are pure, some lights can carry a massive dark in their wake, one that can bring a pain equivalent to the light and its pleasure. It was entirely up to the one perceiving the light to decide which one outweighed the other.
I don't know why I felt mad now and not before, I guess this whole situation had made me reach my breaking point. I try to be tolerant, I really do, and most the time I am successful, but everypony has their breaking point and I think that I had reached mine. I was fed up with all of this chaos that was caused in the wake of one mare; the same one who brought the calm before this chaotic storm. It was as if she was playing mother nature with my life. No, she isn't smart enough to be doing that on purpose. She didn't seem like the type to try and control something, she seems like the type that would ride it out for as long it would last her.
I exhaled deeply.
"Ranting gets me nowhere in life..." I whispered to myself under the soft sound of the water hitting the tile of my shower.
I decided to finish my thoughts and begin washing myself. I really needed to get out more, mainly to get my mind distracted so it would stop thinking such deep, and sometimes very negative, things; I have heard that it is an unhealthy habit to have.
I turned off the water and reached out to get the towel I had fetched. I dried myself off and stepped out to get my brush to fix my mane so it dried in its proper position. Bed head was another bad habit of mine, one that usually resulted in me having to take at least two showers in a single day just for my hair. Simply wetting it with water and combing never seemed to fully work with me.
After I finished brushing, and applying appropriate mane care of course, I trudged myself into my bedroom. I was both mentally and physically spent from today. My head hurt from all the talk and my body hurt from all the walk, so I didn't hesitate climbing into my bed and wrapping myself in the covers, closing my eyes to embrace the comfort of sleep. The only thing I opened my eyes to look at were those glasses. I felt my eyes growing heavier, I maintained focus with those glasses until the weight was to much and I closed my eyes, falling asleep near instantly.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
I cracked my eyes open slowly, letting them take their time to adjust to the brightness of the, now sun-filled, room. I sat up in my bed slowly, scratching an itch I had atop my head, and releasing a monstrous yawn. I began to get up, but I decided to just sit in bed for a few moments, taking a few looks around my room and just enjoying the silence. Even if my house was silent most of the time, I usually found the finer side of it.
I felt good today, my body was relaxed and my mind was free of those thoughts for once. I guess a good nights sleep was enough to make anypony happy.
I removed my covers and fixed them back into their proper position, taking care of tucking in the edges of the lower half of the comforter. I trotted into the bathroom to take a quick look in the mirror to check my hair and to splash some water in my eyes to get my day going. After I splashed my eyes with the cold as ice liquid, I did steal a quick glance in the mirror and, to my lovely surprise, my hair was indeed in perfect condition, a rare occurrence these days. I smiled and trotted out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. I wasn't a good cook, I had never been one, so I decided to go for an apple flavored granola bar.
I was about halfway finished with said granola bar when a knock came to the door and, before I could even answer the door, Harpo fell through the door and flat onto the ground. He rubbed his head, most likely from the impact, and looked up to me, smiling sheepishly.
"Uh," He took a few glances around before his eyes landed on me once more. "Hi Octavia!" He said in his cheerful tone.
I was about to return the greeting until another one sprang up, one that I wasn't particularly comfortable with.
"Hello Octavia!" Said Beauty in an equally bright tone as Harpo as she stepped through the doorway. I raised a brow at her suspiciously chirpy tone before shrugging it off and finishing my granola bar. A happy Beauty is a good Beauty. After the last bit of the bar had gone down my throat I turned to greet my unexpected guests.
"Hello you two," I said in a warm and friendly manner "How are you both?"
They both nodded and said they were doing fine, so I decided to ask a question most ponies would have asked as soon as somepony barged into their house.
"Um, it doesn't really matter why, but, why are you two here?" I asked. It was true, I didn't really care why they were here, it was actually quite nice having others inside my home, it was a good distraction and an equally good way to pass time. They both put on looks of mild confusion before looking at each other.
"Oh, were you not coming to the piano thing today? I would have expected you of all people would come." Harpo said slowly, being careful to word the question properly, most likely in an attempt to not stir the beast waiting inside his mare-friend, who gave him a playful nudge.
"Oh, come on, I'm over it." Beauty said in a bright tone. Again, I raised an eyebrow, Harpo rolled his eyes, Beauty was usually happy, but today she seemed bright. She had been fuming over Vinyl for the past few days and hadn't been this happy since the day before she met Vinyl.
"I didn't expect it would start this early..." I said slowly. Again, they both gave me a look of confusion.
"What?" I said dumbfounded.
"Octavia, dear, it's one in the afternoon." Beauty said, confusion still in her voice. It took a few seconds for me to process the information, at first I just laughed, but when they didn't return the laugh I started panicking. I was always an early riser, it was the way I was raised and the way I liked it; it left more time in the day to get things done.
I turned and began a trot back to the only clock in the house: my alarm clock.
'Surely It couldn't be that late.' I thought to myself . I arrived in my bedroom and sure enough, the time read '1:14'.
'Maybe that's why I feel so good today...' I thought to myself as I heard the steps of my to guests approaching.
"We wanted to pick you up at an appropriate time. Harpo kept pushing for 9:00 so we could get some better seats, but I wouldn't allow him to be so rude." Beauty said in an attempt to defend herself before Harpo chimed in.
"The duel supposedly starts at 2:30 and we had planned on grabbing some lunch before hand. We wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to come with." He offered kindly.
As if on cue, my stomach rumbled and I pressed a hoof up to it. I guess that granola bar didn't quite do it. I looked up to them sheepishly and they only nodded and began to head for the door, I started following along until I remembered something important that had almost slipped my mind.
"Hang on one second, I need to get something real quick." I said before trotting quickly back to my bedroom and my eyes landed on a certain pair of purple glasses. I gathered my saddlebags and when I returned with the glasses in hoof, they both raised a brow.
"Octavia, it's cloudy outside, do you really need those ridiculous looking glasses?" Beauty asked. I only smiled and trotted past them.
"Oh, they aren't mine." I said casually halfway through the doorway.
"Well then who's are they?" Harpo asked, but I ignored them and walked out the door and down the hall towards the elevator. It took them awhile, but they both eventually joined me.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
We settled on a local coffee shop for lunch, or in my case breakfast, that sat on the corner of the street of the practice building. Even from here I could see the guests arriving one after another, even a small paparazzi was forming around the entrance, raising the suspicion of high priority guests. Once we had settled in and the waitress had taken our order we began idle conversation, most of which revolved around the competition.
"Fancy sure does know how to raise a crowd doesn't he?" Harpo said, in the middle of one of said conversations, to which I nodded in agreement.
"I bet that mare is going to get what is coming to her." Beauty seethed. I cringed, her attitude was really starting to annoy me, and I really wanted to keep me happy, go-get-em, attitude.
"And if she wins?" Harpo asked casually. Both Beauty and I turned to him with a look of confusion, one that he didn't notice at first, but eventually picked up on.
I knew Fredric didn't mess around on the piano, and he was quite capable on it too. He had been raised since he was a coIt and I assumed that Vinyl had never even touched a piano, or any classical instrument for that matter. It didn't fit her personality at all.
"What? You said that you bet, which means that there are some odds against you." He said with a sly smile.
"You really believe that half-wit could win?" Beauty asked with a sarcastic tone, I cringed slightly.
Beauty seemed to have the most hatred for Vinyl out of all of us, and by 'us' I mean her and Fredric. Harpo didn't really seem to care about Vinyl, but he did care about me enough as a friend to acknowledge Vinyl as a pony, not dirt.
"Anything could happen." Harpo pointed out, just before the waitress returned with our food and drinks. The rest of the meal passed with mostly silence, save for a few idle chats, until we were finished and leaving the shop.
"Should we head over there?" Harpo asked pointing to the practice building, only to be passed by Beauty who seemed dead set on getting to the building.
"Of course we are, I've waited long enough, I want to see that plebeian go out crying." Her tone was surprisingly harsh and hurtful, as opposed to her previous cheery demeanor at my apartment, and it was annoying me, so I spoke out.
"Beauty, please, just give it a rest." She paid me no mind and continued her march to the practice building, a fire of determination and anger rising in her eyes. I watched her storm away as Harpo sighed and turned to me.
"Sorry, she really dislikes that mare for some reason." He said with a small smile, I shrugged him off and we started trotting in the direction Beauty had set off in.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
It would have been a pain to get past the crowd if it weren't for the bouncers that Fancy Pants had hired, and since we were part of the Symphony, we got in for free and got to skip the line. The first thing that I noticed was the arrangement of tables and chairs that were set up in something similar to a restaurant. White table cloths blanketed circular tables and comfortable chairs sat around them, on the side there was a longer, more square shaped, table decorated with the same white cloth, only the chairs were organized in a more conversational manner. At the square table sat Fancy Pants and other high society members such as Prince Blueblood, even the famous couple Hoity Toity and Photo Finish were present at the table. I also noticed my parents sat at the table having a conversation with Fancy Pants, until my mother noticed me and waved me over.
"Excuse me." I said to Harpo before setting out to travel through the maze of chairs and ponies gathered into the small exercise complex.
On my way through the sea of upper crust ponies my eyes fell upon the pianos set up on a carry-in stage in the middle of the room. One piano was a midnight black, sporting the classical layout of an average piano, only it carried a since of importance, expense, and most importantly, elegance. The piano opposite to it was nearly the exact opposite in coloration, it shined a pristine white, nearly blinding to the eye. Its key pattern was inverted, leaving the main keys black while the smaller ones were white. It too carried its own aura, only this ones was a more unique form of refined. I wasn't an expert on pianos, but I could tell these were very expensive pianos.
They were both quite beautiful and it was nearly impossible to take my eyes off of them, but thanks to my mother's voice calling for me, I was able to break their hold on me.
"Octavia dear, there you are!" She called out in her ever present motherly tone as she made her way over towards me. I smiled and made my way to meet her near the square table, which I was now assuming was the VIP table.
"How are you sweety?" She said before she gave me small kiss on the cheek. I groaned and tried pushing her away, but her grip was as strong as iron itself.
"Fine mother, now please, let me go." It wasn't as much of a question as it was a command, she knew I hated hugging in public, it attracted the unwanted attention of others.
She grinned before letting me go and taking a good look at me.
"My, you're looking well this evening Octavia, did you do something with your hair?" I was about to respond until her eyes lit up like a torch and I stopped myself. I realized that look and I also realized that it meant she had something on her mind, something that will not go unheard.
"Oh, you simply must meet Hoity and Photo, they are the nicest of ponies!" She half suggested and half told me before pulling me off to the table, and to a few of the celebrities of Canterlot.
My eyes were starting to go wide. I didn't want to meet them, they were practically the life of Canterlot. What if I made myself look stupid? I planted my hooves on the ground in an attempt to stop her, but they didn't even slow my mother's pace. I clinched my eyes and tried planting my hooves even further into the ground, and then, we stopped.
I opened my eyes, only to be revealed to the sight of light purple and magenta lenses. I realized who they belonged to and quickly started to try and introduce myself. I opened my mouth, but before anything came out a thick Germane accent beat me.
"Oh my is this your daughter, Presto?" Is what I think she said as she began to circle me.
I felt slightly unnerved by her constant ogling. On another account, this was the first time I had ever heard somepony call my father by his real first name. Of course I have heard it used at home, but never in a place that didn't involve business. Though Presto was his first name, he was usually addressed as 'Mister Melody' but never by his first name.
"Why yes, Photo, it is." My father chimed in with a proud tone. After a few second of more unnerving ogling, Photo Finish came back into view with a sly grin on her face.
"Have you ever considered Modeling as a career darling? You would make a lovely model with that adorable plo-" Her sentence was cut off by a hoof belonging to Hoity, an interruption that I was thankful for.
"Love, please, do you have to harass and ogle every mare you see? Sometimes I think you're cheating on me with one of them." He said in a joking tone, earning a chuckle out of the group, myself included.
I was sure the conversation would have went on, and probably gotten more awkward, but the lights suddenly dimmed, something I didn't know they could do, and a spotlight turned on above the stage with the pianos, revealing one Fancy Pants armed with a smile and a microphone standing in between the two.
"Welcome you all, I would first like to say how wonderful it is to see you all here, but I would also like to ask you to kindly take your seats!" He said in his cheerful tone.
Everypony complied to his request and began to take their seats; I ended up being sat between both my father and Hoity Toity himself, I had put my saddlebags down beside my chair in between Hoity Toity's chair and my own. As soon as everypony had settled he began to speak again.
"Well since I know the reason why most of you are here, I won't stall you with mediocre humor, and cut right to the main event." He said, earning a few chuckles out of the audience, and pulling out a small slip of paper.
"Accepting the challenge, and pianist of the Canterlot Royal Symphony, is Frederic Horseshoe-pin ." Frederic rose from the audience just as cheers, whistles, and other forms of applause sparked up. He strolled casually up to the stage, gave a few waves to a select few in the audience, and took the seat at the black piano.
"And now we have the challenger of Fredric, Miss...um," He took a second to squint and look closely at the card, as if double checking to be sure he read the name right.
"Ah, yes, Vinyl Scratch." His tone was much less enthusiastic, and he somewhat sounded confused, as if he didn't believe the paper. The amount of cheer was, as expected, much lower, but there were a few clapping for her as she walked onto the stage from a place unknown to me. One of the few clapping was Hoity Toity and the white stallion sitting at our table, I wasn't sure why they would be clapping, but I eagerly joined in. I had to be supportive of Fredric since he was my friend, but honestly, deep down inside me, I knew I wanted Vinyl to win. I loved underdogs.
Vinyl looked more out of place here than I could have imagined; her hair was rugged and more messy than usual, resulting in it covering most of her face, though that might have been intentional so it would cover her eyes. Her hair looked greasy and her coat was ruffled in random places, giving her a truly trashy look. She took her seat at the white piano opposite of Fredric, the white of the piano would have matched her coat perfectly if it hadn't been for the brownish tint of dirt she had.
"The rules are quite simple, you will both play two songs, of your choice of course, and they will be graded by our judges who have been randomly selected and placed around the crowd to insure that there is no cheating." He explained.
"Magic is indeed allowed, and since we are competing between two different races, Fredric will be allowed one partner of the unicorn origin." He added, shifting a quick glance towards Vinyl.
An orange unicorn got up from the crowd and joined Fredric on the piano bench. I recognized the pianist from my Symphony; he was assigned the pieces that were deemed impossible for earth ponies, and was nothing to laugh at either.
I began to understand what had been said; they were allowing a handicap against Vinyl because of the fact she was a unicorn. I felt myself beginning to anger. I wasn't just unfair, it was unethical. I knew that Fredric knew Vinyl had no chance even with magic, but now they were giving him a partner, just because Vinyl had a horn.
I began to get up, and if it weren't for the hoof of my father and the soft glare he gave, I would have acted. But I knew that wouldn't do me nor Vinyl any good, so I calmed down.
"Since Fredric is the opposed, he will play first." And with that, Fancy trotted off the stage and took his seat back at my table.
The lights dimmed and the spotlight that Fancy had been standing under moved over Fredric and the black piano. It was silent for a few seconds, and then only Fredric began to play.
As to be expected, Fredric's piece was a beautiful classic, Beethooven if I was not mistaken. As he ended the piece the crowd filled with claps, I was very reluctant to join in, and only ended up giving about three claps. The spotlight shifted to the white piano, and to Vinyl who wore a flat expression. I shifted into a more at attentive position in my seat; I was curious to see what she planned on doing.
She lifted her hooves up to the keys and pushed in once, resulting in a rather unpleasant sound, though the crowd mostly remain quite, a few chuckled and laughed, one of them I could tell was Beauty. She did however re-position her hooves and began to play.
I heard a variety of laughs and chuckles from the crowd at Vinyl's choice of music. I, however, was impressed; I was amazed at just the fact that she even knew a song even if it was as simple as it was - even if she missed a few of the notes. As soon as she ended her piece I started the clapping, and was one of the few to even clap. I got a few stares and started to blush, so I sat back down before looking up at Vinyl. I thought that she turned her head slightly to look at me, but I could see clearly that she now had a smirk on her face rather than her blank expression.
Fredric clearly wasn't amused at the song, and probably took it as mockery, but judging from the look her had, he clearly wasn't happy. Fredric readjusted himself into a more professional manner, gave the orange unicorn a nod, and once his hooves started hitting the keys, I knew that he was done fooling around. He and his partner began their piece
They played a song that I thought was impossible for just an earth pony and a unicorn, it seemed like you would need extra limbs to hit keys in such a manner, even with magic, but in the end, I was star struck. By the end of the song, he was sweating and breathing heavy, as was his partner, and as they brought their hooves up to wipe the sweat from their brow, the audience absolutely lost it. Flowers were thrown as Fredric and his orange companion took their many bows. I even caught Fredric flashing a condescending and cocky smirk to Vinyl.
The light returned over Vinyl, and I honestly felt bad for her. Even if she was a unicorn, it would be hard to beat such a masterpiece. Something looked different about her though, something with her expression, and then I saw it.
She was smiling.
It slightly unnerved me, the smile wasn't a comforting one. It looked like something more akin to insanity. But then her horn sparked and a quick riff was played, silencing the claps and cheers, with my self included.
She placed her hooves on the keys and played the exact same jumble of keys she played before her first piece. She, once again, re-positioned herself and began to play.
The groove she played was a much more upbeat one than Fredric and his partner's, and despite it not having nearly the same complexity, it just sounded better. However, just a few notes into the song she stopped, turned her head to me, and smiled. It was barely noticeable, but I could see her bloodshot scarlet eyes underneath her hair, and for a quick moment, our eyes met, and then she began to resume her playing.
I watched on with awe, my mouth wide and eyes matching. Never, never, would I have guessed that 'a lowly street mare' would be capable of playing this piece. It wasn't only just complex, it was good. Vinyl played the notes in such a way that it sounded as if there were two other pianos playing along with her. I didn't only listen to her, but I looked at her too. I looked at her smile, that had now changed from an insane one to one of pure euphoria. She looked truly beautiful playing the piece, a unique beauty, but the most pure form of it.
I pried my eyes away from her just long enough to fish her purple glasses out of my bag. I took a look at them and then back to her and then I smiled. I thought back briefly on what Shakes had said about Vinyl's feelings with me and I realized something.
I realized that those feelings might be mutual.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
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Would you look at that... A TaviScratch I have not yet read. Now there's a rare sight.
I'm about to head to bed, but I will read it at some point... Dunno when, exactly, but I will
Awesome chapter with really great songs.
4473320
I fixed it, but that picture is just...amazing.
My God... DAMMIT, I WANT MORE!!!!
Amazing. I can't wait for the next chapter.
OOOOOOOOH BITCH JUST GOT SERVED.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121007165231/adventuretimewithfinnandjake/images/2/2b/Apply_cold_water_to_burned_area.jpeg
*sniff* This chapter almost took some of my liquid pride away from me!
It was touching!
4474173
Right in the feels. Hold it in man. Save the liquid pride for the end!
*looks at the description for vinyl's appearance in the dual*. *see's the part where octavia notes her as being beautiful*
Yeah Tavi's mad in love n shit. also I can't wait to see beauty brass's reaction.
4474539 *Sniff* Not sure if good thing or not....
*giggles* Alright. I'll wait!
I thought you were going to make Vinyl play Death Waltz when you described her as smiling insanely.
4480098
Gah, yeah I haven't had time to go back over and rewrite those chapters.
Anyways, thanks for the corrections! I'll edit them accordingly and work on fixing those mistakes in the future.
ahhhhh DAMNIT i love this story.
4482023
) but I have to tell you that I just read like 6 chapters, so I'm not much into the story.
I normally wouldn't anwser this (I'm on my english class
And, what I mean by typical is that is like a canon for almost every vampire story (Fic or not fic, pony-related or not pony-related), like is always the same thing.
~Biotsure
EDIT: I read till Flame chapter
I was scrolling through facebook, and found this:
(I have to link it because it's too big) Click HERE!
4488179 I know the origin of that picture. My Roommate Is A Vampire by Dennis the Menace.
HAHAHAHA!!! FINALLY!! :D (that is, an event took place which I wanted to take place, haha) Now excuse me while I continue reading... :)
You've repeated yourself here, and didn't you say previously that the other one next to Octavia was her father? Please say it's her father instead of making it sound like some random stallion sitting next to her.
That's attentive, and you have an 'at' where it shouldn't be, if you didn't already notice that is.
FINALLY! The love is real!!
to their makers and such.
One piano was a midnight black, sporting the classical layout of an average piano, only it carried a sense of importance, expense, and most importantly, elegance.
Have you even considered modeling as a career darling
Plase would you consider changing the piano "pieces" that you chose? Be more crative. And no generic midi hard remix of some songs. Making an impossible to play remix doesn't make it sound good and something like these would never be chosen for a piano contest. And take actual recordings and not computer generated piano songs with synthesia. I especially recommend "chopin etude op 25 no 11" for vinyls final thank you
7307087
Replaced most the songs, mainly the midi's you mentioned, and replaced them with what I think are better works. Thanks for the feedback and suggestion
I know that song! the second one Vinyl plays... but damnit, I can't remember where I've heard it used so frequently...
8415629
Unity by TheFatRat. Some YouTubers use it as an outro and there are some brony remixes of it.
7437537
I was briefly confused at the lack of Rather Be here and I kinda' miss it still, but the new one is okay I guess.