Rhabdophobia

by Lunar Dust

The Concert Hall Unicorn.

Chapter Two

Octavia Melody arrived at the Canterlot Concert Hall with her scratched cello case and looked up at the massive structure. Tall and wide, it was near impossible to miss; the stone foundations at the base were carved into with a massive array of bizarre patterns and details, each with faint remnants of colours in the scratches of the stones. Keeping the structure upright, columns of the darkest shade of wood sprung from the stones and captured the building in a delicate balance between the light of the walls and the darkness contained in the wooden structure. The walls were made of delicate white chalky bricks, and as Octavia walked through the door to the entrance, she brushed her tail on the outside wall, and left a chalky white outline on her tail. She brushed the mess off in the doorway and plonked her cello case it beside her. She breathed deeply and sat down beside her instrument, trying to catch her breath. It had been a long walk, and the thoughts that weighed down on her mind didn’t make it easier on her. She wiped the sweat off her brow and wiped some of the dirt off the cello case.

“Miss Octavia Melody, I presume?” a silky voice ran through the lobby and made its’ way down Octavia’s spine; she shivered in response and looked up to see a young white unicorn with neatly-combed electric blue hair. She sported a gorgeous sapphire blue dress and a simple magenta hairpiece that matched her eyes. She bore a nametag with the name ‘VINYL SCRATCH’ carved in gold, under the title of her occupation: ‘General Assistance’. Octavia raised her eyebrow, staring at the stranger in front of her.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. Let me show you to your room.” Vinyl told the earth pony, with a smile plastered on her face like paint on a lively canvas. She picked up the cello case with her magic of electric blue and Octavia growled.

“Hey, I can carry that just fine by myself!” She mentioned, and the young unicorn in front of her simply laughed.

“Of course you can; you did drag it here after all.” She said, prancing ahead of Octavia. She dropped the cello gently beside the earth pony and trotted out the door to the foyer, waiting to be followed. Octavia groaned and followed reluctantly, and as she crossed the threshold, her eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks. The room was stunning; far greater than any she had seen back in her home in Manehattan. The ceiling sparkled with diamond accents sprinkled over a glass mosaic of the regal alicorn, Princess Celestia, as she raised the sun above a desolate tangerine and turquoise sky. Four large wooden columns were placed on each corner, and on each were symbols made of glass. Octavia recognized one as the late Windsong Harmony’s cutie mark of three notes, held with a legato line. She was a brilliant vocalist and sang in only the most famous operas, performing in the concert hall eons ago, just after the Princesses rose to power. Looking around, she noticed other cutie marks adorning the wooden columns; Rivernote, Adagio Tangerine, and Bass Clef, amongst other famous musicians of their time. The sunlight shone from the glass and coated the walls in a faint, rainbow glow. Beneath her hooves, shining white marble paved the floors and the steps leading from the doorframe where she stood, and she gingerly stepped forward, down to the centre of the foyer.

“It’s beautiful.” Octavia breathed.

“It is, indeed. I’m Vinyl, by the way.” The white unicorn prodded Octavia with her horn. She took the earth pony’s dumbfounded silence as a weak acknowledgement and pranced to the wooden double-doors in front of the two. She opened them with a swift wave of her electric magic and walked through, waiting for Octavia to follow. She looked behind her and saw the earth pony glaring at her.

“Why don’t you just open it with your hoof like a normal pony?” Octavia asked.

“What’s a normal pony?” Vinyl replied with a flick of her neatly-combed electric-blue tail. Her voice held a jovial quality, which Octavia disliked. To her, it sounded as if the unicorn was making fun of her.

“A pony without… that.” She gestured to the top of Vinyl’s forehead.

“What, my horn? Don’t like, one-third of ponies own a horn?” Vinyl laughed carelessly, trotting down the corridor and into a dressing-room. She poked her head through the door. “Does it, like, threaten you or something?”

“Of course not, it’s just that it looks like all you unicorns do things the easy way with your magic,” Octavia spat the words like bullets from a gun, “While the rest of us do things with our hooves. We work hard and magic feels like you’re all cheating the system.”

“Magic is a skill we unicorns have to hone.” Vinyl peered from the room and gestured to Octavia to follow her in, “It’s like building up the muscles in your back-legs so you can kick a heavy door open!”

“I don’t believe you.” Octavia rolled her eyes and snorted slightly.

“Well, maybe some of us are blessed with a particular gift of magic…” Vinyl thought back to when she was just a foal, touring the Canterlot gardens, and a small purple unicorn filly only slightly smaller than herself was on the balcony above them picking up larger and heavier objects in the grounds with her magic alone, as the ruler of the land watched behind her with a keen eye. It was an impressive sight to behold. “But most of us don’t. We only have the magic related to our special talents.” Vinyl concluded, and levitated the hairpiece in her mane to demonstrate. Octavia followed wordlessly with hesitation in her usually confident stride, still struggling with her cello. Vinyl could only shake her head at the ridiculous spectacle.
“Will you at least let me help you carry that with my hooves, Octavia?”

“…Fine.”

-

The dressing room, Octavia thought, left a lot to be desired. With chipping brown paint, dusty mirrors and unstable cabinets, she didn’t quite know what to think. The foyer was so much more beautiful, so elegant, so classy. It was a work of art compared to this.

"This place is disgusting," her mind shrieked like an inexperienced cellist performing with a squeaking bow.

Entering the room with caution, she screwed up her nose as an assault of dust hit her muzzle. Suppressing a sneeze, she stared at the confident pony behind her. Vinyl nodded and whinnied happily, as she confirmed this was, indeed, her dressing room. Sighing, Octavia placed her hoof on a rickety wooden floorboard and it squeaked in frustration. She jumped back, startled, and sniffed at the wood. It smelled like pine; no hint of termites. She breathed a sigh of relief and stepped gingerly back on the floor and it squeaked in protest under her weight.
“It won’t bite ya; watch this!” Vinyl gleefully mentioned to her uncertain companion. She bounced onto the wood with the full strength of her slightly-ample frame as she held the heavy cello in her mouth.

“VINYL, NO!” Octavia screamed, her hooves flying to her face to cover her eyes on an undignified manner. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and the two mares plummeted downwards through the floor, into the newly-formed chasm below.

Thud.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading.

Comments

[Hobbestc]

Here's hoping that didn't break the cello.