Bass and Double Bass

by Solent Spray

Vinyl's Rule

Ok.....now maybe I'm lost.....

Vinyl was underestimating the situation that she had found herself in; she was completely lost. It had been a very long time since she had been to the Music District. Hell usually Vinyl had a rule; stay actively away from the Music District but this was probably the exception that proved her rule and there was no turning back now. And here she was in the center of the Music District just outside of the Celestial Square where Vinyl's bus had dropped her. It was her fault (well, partly) that the other girl had dropped and lost her music bow, and to Vinyl a person's belongings always belonged to them; no matter what, even if stuff got misplaced or stolen.

But Vinyl had lost time and ground on her bowtie wearing classical musician, having failed to wave her down on her own public transport Vinyl was forced to then try and communicate with the very uncooperative staff member; who didn't even seem to know what sign language was, let alone be able to use it. In the end Vinyl just wrote what she needed on a piece of paper that she had left from her collision. Thankfully that had worked and now that Vinyl was in the Celestial Square she had no idea where to go. Vinyl knew that it would be no point to ask for help, that would just lead to more time wasting and confusion from others.
Come on Vinyl think! There has to something you're missing. Umm...Ok, can I ask for help or information? Nope. Are most people here stuck up and self-absorbed? Yeah, probably..... Have I got any chance of finding Bowtie? Again, N-Wait.....

Vinyl was looking at the misplaced string bow in her satchel again, well more accurately she was looking at the leaflet beside the misplaced string bow.
That's not mine......
Pulling it out, it was a wonder that Vinyl hadn't seen it before now. But after her collision back at the train station and the running off of her quarry Vinyl had been hard pressed for time so she hadn't checked everything before stuffing it into her satchel.
It must have been moved to the top of my bag when I needed something to write on for the public transport staff.
To say the leaflet looked gaudy would have been a understatement, with excessive amounts of gold writing everywhere on it Vinyl could barely make out where one sentence ended and another started. But though it all Vinyl could make out the address.
Canterlot Music Academy? Well, that's right in front of me.
Hardly believing her luck Vinyl moved off towards to the Academy almost opposite her across the square. Vinyl finally felt that she was getting somewhere.
Now, all I need to do is find Little Ms. Bowtie, give back her bow. Ask what her name is, add on her on Social Media then go back to bed!

---

As Vinyl entered the Canterlot Music Academy, she could definite change in atmosphere to the hustle and bustle of the square outside, it was more subdued. Even more than what Vinyl thought it would be like but then again she didn't really have much experience with this type of crowd (a urban warehouse packed with people hungry for Dance/EDM/Dubstep music was more her scene), so shrugging Vinyl continued.
I don't see her anywhere, maybe in the next hall/room/or whatever this place has next?
Walking up the large staircase to what Vinyl presumed to be a concert hall, Vinyl noticed that she was getting a few stares from what looked like other classical music students that milling about around the place, none of them really caught her eye until one pair shouted out to her.

"Hey Electro-Buzz, nice haircut!"
Vinyl looked over to what appeared to be a pair of girls, both with two-tone hair like herself except one girl had long blue and light pink curls, the other had a rough cut of grayish blue hair with white highlight streaks. Both of them were now giggling at their joke at Vinyl's expense. Surpressing a growl and a few choice signings towards them (one of them consisting of just both Vinyl's middle fingers), Vinyl instead forced herself to calm down and communicated the following towards them.

"Hey, I'm looking for someone. Tall, long dark hair, double bass strapped to her back, maybe in a bit of a rush?"

"Hey look Bonnie, she's trying to psych us out with some weird hand thing." The girl with the white streaked hair commented to her friend.

"Ly-Ly, I doubt she'll be competition for you." The curled haired girl replied back.

"HEY! Just because I'm mute doesn't mean I won't take you down verbally!" Vinyl signed angrily back at them.
Reactions infront of Vinyl was almost instantaneous; the girl with the rough cut continued laughing but it was more a confused laughter now like she didn't know if Vinyl was crazy or not but the girl with the long curled locks of blue and pink looked mortified like she had just killed someone.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you had a disability. Errr...The girl your looking for ran past about five minutes ago, up to the main hall." To Vinyl's surprise, the girl with the curled hair replied back in sign language. This actually stunned Vinyl for a few seconds, seeing as pretty much everyone she met apart from Heavy Note and Passion Stripe didn't know sign language.

"Thanks, and thanks for apologising. You seem to have more sense and dignity than your friend."
Her friend was now ironically looked at the girl (which Vinyl assumed was called Bonnie) like she had gone crazy as well.

"Err...Bon Bon, what did you just do?" Asked the girl (Vinyl was assumed she was called Ly-Ly, as previously stated by 'Bonnie')

But Vinyl didn't wait for a reply from 'Bon Bon' as she had already diverted her attention back upstairs, continuing her walk up the staircase she could vaguely her voices coming out from the the double set of doors at the top.

"And pray tell, if I was to give you a bow, what would you 'grace' me with Ms Melody. With a performance of 'Yakety Sax' in G Minor, perhaps?"
Vinyl knew that voice, but she couldn't think where she knew it from.

"I was going to perform one of Mozart's compositions." answered another voice, one Vinyl could instantly place, it was the voice of the girl from the train station. The one she had collided with.

"Was I not clear on the rules? Only musical compositions from outstandingly well-known Canterlot-born composers are valid to be auditioned. I expected you to do classical music some justice. I expected you to work hard, be bold and to have wowed me"
Vinyl definitely knew that voice. It wasn't from recently, maybe from a quite a while ago?

"B-b-but I thought that Mozart was a well-known Canterlot composer......" Vinyl strained to Melody's voice again. Was she getting quieter?

"Canterlot-Born!" A disgusted snort was audible. "Expressly in my opinion; your 'experience' in such matters, I find quite lacking. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was originally born Salzburg before moving to expand classical music in Canterlot with such performances as his 'Requiem Mass in D minor', 'Piano Sonata No.11' and his 'Symphony No.41' to name but a few."
Where do I know that voice from, the beginning days with Heavy Note??? Or before......
It clicked, Vinyl knew.
Vinyl knew who that voice belonged to. Vinyl knew how much she hated and feared that voice and the person that belonged to it. Vinyl knew she had to leave. She had to go. She couldn't stay.

But what about......

No, run just run. Another part of herself was telling her. Just go, don't worry you don't have to see 'her' again. But Vinyl paused, listening to what was being said on the other side of the door. Inside Vinyl was torn between running away and confronting what she knew would be a painful experience for her either way. Vinyl wished she was still back at her apartment, She wished she was with Heavy Note or Passion Stripe, She wished she was back to last night at her decks in the club, Hell she wished she was infront of the twin rulers waiting trial for being to awesome for the sake of music. She wished she was anywhere but here.

"But that is beside the point, any 'real' student of the classical arts would have known that! I ask for professionalism from any student willing to study music, I asked for a well-known Canterlot-BORN composer! Am I making myself absolutely, one hundred percent, crystal clear?"
Silence, then a barely audible.

"yes......"
Something in Vinyl stirred back towards when she was spoken to like that from 'her' voice, it was demeaning, it was cruel and it was...unacceptable.
No, Vinyl had enough, she wasn't going to let 'her' bully around others like she had been. No, Vinyl was going to put a stop to this right now!

"I doubt that very much; as what I find from you is-"

BANG!!!

Author's Note:

Vinyl's Backstory

Comments

[mutualism_is_nice]

I really enjoy this story.

[Solent Spray]

6218955 Thanks again, if there is anything you want to suggest for the story just say!

[Solent Spray]

I've been thinking about a prequel chapter to finish the story. Either dealing with Lyra and Bon Bon or Heavy Note and Passion Stripe, to be honest I don't know which to pick and I would appreciate your suggestions.

Lyra and Bon Bon: Dealing with Lyra pursuit (or lack of) for music and Bon Bon supporting her
or
Heavy and Passion: Meeting Vinyl for the first time (If you don't know what I'm on about read this: Vinyl's Backstory)

I'm giving it two weeks for suggestions, as there will be at least two more chapters on the current story line. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I'm writing about it. Also I keep forgetting but anything that you guys/girls/ponies are not happy about or with just message or comment, I promise that I will try and respond as best as I can!

And finally, I'm really happy that I broke 100 people(ish) reading this!!! I just want to thank everyone who took time to read what I wrote down. I wouldn't be doing this without the fandom!
You guys are awesome!!!

[mutualism_is_nice]

6219136
How long do you expect this story to be?

[Solent Spray]

6220451 I was thinking about 3 chapters more but I'm going to cut it down to 2 instead
Classical Dubstep
A Written Apology (This title may change)
And then maybe a prequel chapter after.
Sweet Music or 3 Years Before

[mutualism_is_nice]

6221748
Not nearly as long as I'd like, but still one of the best stories I've read so far. Keep it up.