Song of Silence

by SmokeShadow95

First Contact (Rewrite)

Octavia walked down the streets of Manehatten. She had a smile on her face, and bit of a pep to her step. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, a gentle breeze was blowing through the air. It was a good day. It was the first day off she had been given in quite a while. After having practicing with the symphony for weeks on end she was glad for a rest. Not that she actually using this time to rest and relax. Instead, she was using to go and experience more music. You'd think a pony who just spent weeks with a classical symphony would get tired of classical music, but not Octavia.

She had heard that there were some young ponies performing at a local amphitheater, and that they were going to be playing the same classical music that she was into. She had to admit that she was curious. And so, Octavia decided to go and see these young up and comers. She wanted to see just how good, or not so good, they were. Maybe there was somepony from this group that would go on to be a famous musician someday. Maybe she would even get to meet one of them. Perhaps even mentor them. Octavia held up her head as these thoughts swirled around in her head. She took a deep breath in of the Manehatten air. Right away, she wished she hadn't.

While she was looking forward to this concert she wasn't exactly thrilled at the location of the venue. Because these ponies were amateurs at best, the only place they could perform was in slightly run down part of town. It wasn't a bad part of town or anything. It was certainly better than some of the places in this city. However, it was still a far cry from the comfort she was used to having in her life. And while she didn't mind going outside that comfort zone from time to time, it was always the smells that drove her back the fastest. In her haste to escape the stench of the nearby alleyways, Octavia rushed by one just a pony came crashing out onto the sidewalk.

“Hey! Watch it!” Octavia shouted as the pony nearly ran her over. She looked back at the pony, who in turn stopped and turned to look at her. Octavia was about to tear into her, but suddenly stopped when she saw her.

She was a mare, with what was at one point a white coat. All she saw now was the faded white colored with stains of filth and grime, all mixing together as a layer of sweat was rolling off of her. Her electric blue mane was a wild mess, but it seemed to always be that way. Beyond that Octavia saw the glasses she was wearing. They hid her eyes behind the purple lenses, and although somewhat strange to her, Octavia had to admit this strange mare pulled off the look quite nicely. They also appeared to be the nicest things she had.

“You should really be more careful,” Octavia said. Her tone wasn't mean or aggressive. She didn't raise her voice at all. She spoke to this mare like she she did any other pony. She wasn't sure why she was acting this way. There was just something about this mare that struck her. She couldn't explain why, but she was simply compelled to be nicer to her.

This white mare looked up at Octavia while panting heavily. She gave Octavia a quick flash of a smile in between pants. She was trying to keep her eyes on the alley, the street, and Octavia all at the same time. She turned her body to the side a little. She was still facing Octavia, but this was a little better in case she needed to start running again. At least the panting stopped and she quickly closed her mouth before looking back. Octavia was staring at her. Her cheeks grew a little red and she pawed at the sidewalk awkwardly.

“It's okay,” Octavia said with a kind smile, “You don't have to say anything right now.”

Just then two more ponies burst out of the same alley. A couple of stallions. One of was large with long legs and short cut mane. The other was smaller with a slicked back cut. They didn't really seem all that smart to Octavia. They were ignoring her in kind as they immediately set their eyes on Vinyl.

“Hey there, doll. You kinda ran away before. What was that all about?” The slick one asked. Everything about him was sleazy. His clothes were old, second rate and dirty. His mane was badly kept and even his voice sounded sleazy. And his friend wasn't much better.

“We just wanted ta talk,” He said. He was bigger, but all that did was make Octavia even more certain he was the dumber one of the two. She couldn't help but roll her eyes a little at these two.

The white mare with the shades backed up a few paces, and put her head down. Her mouth was twisted into a determined scowl as she faced down the tow. She wasn't giving up. She was simply moving into a better position to pounce. She was ready to fight these two. It didn't take a genius to figure out why, either. This was something that Octavia simply couldn't stand.

“Ahem, excuse me,” She called out. She was trying to get the slick one's attention. He was the closest to the other mare. The big one turned, as well as the slick one. He turned around and his face lit up in a disturbing way. It made her uneasy, but she kept her cool.

“Whoa, doll,” He said as he glanced back over his shoulder at the white mare. “I didn't realize you went looking for a friend.”

“Back off,” Octavia stated, almost interrupting him. Her voice was firm and heavy. It was unmoving, unwavering voice that held a tone that was used to issuing orders or commands. A gift passed down to Octavia from her dear mother. Her eyes locked onto the pair of ponies. She could feel the cold chill of fear creeping up her spine. She held back the shaking in her legs as best she could. She didn't want them to know she was scared. She wanted to stay right here, standing her ground with this mare.

“Hey there, doll. Calm down,” He said sleazily, “We were just talkin'. She din't say we couldn't talk to 'er. No biggie.”

Octavia stepped right up to him. Whether she liked it or not she had to get close. She shoved her face close to his, but not the way he wanted. She stood as tall as she could, even lifting herself up on the tips of her hooves a bit just to get to his eye level. She looked into his eyes, glaring angrily with her piercing gaze.

“Do not call me 'doll',” She said, although it sounded more like a threat. “And you need to leave me and my friend alone. Now.”

“Alright, alright. Calm down,” He said as he backed off. He turned back down the same alley he came from, but stopped after a few steps. “Come on, big guy. We gotta get back to work.”

The big one sighed. “Okay,” He said as turned clumsily and headed down the alley after the other. Octavia stood there at the sidewalk and watched them as they walked away. She stood her ground between the white mare and them. As the two turned a corner the small, sleazy one looked back and gave Octavia a wink. She shuddered at this and those two finally were gone. Octavia remained still for a moment longer before she sighed a huge sigh of relief.

“Well, now,” She said to the mare beside her. “That was. . . terrifying.”

The white mare seemed to calm down as well. Her body became less tense as she nearly collapsed right there on the sidewalk. She just kinda fell into a sitting slump with her own breath of relief. After which she looked up at Octavia and tilted her head. Even behind those glasses, Octavia could tell she was a bit confused. But this wasn't the best place to talk. She suddenly had a growing distrust of stallions.

“Come with me,” Octavia said. She pulled the mare by her leg and dragged her along the sidewalk for a short while. Octavia was so glad that the concert didn't start for another few hours.

Octavia dragged the mare alongside her for a few steps before she started to walk by herself, but she never stayed by her side. She didn't seem to want to walk next to Octavia, side by side. She was always falling a few steps behind her whenever they moved. Octavia wasn't sure why she did this. After a few attempts to walk next to her, Octavia just let it be. Besides, it gave her a few moments to herself to think.

What in the world am I doing?!And why? Why am doing this? This mare practically runs me over and the next thing I know I'm saving her from some of Manehatten's finest sleazes. Now I am taking her with me. Ugh, what is going on with me?

Octavia's thoughts were broken up by a sharp tug on her tail. She looked back to see the mare dropping the last few strands of her mane from her lips. She smiled with some slight embarrassment and pointed ahead of them. Her hoof was directed right at a large building.

“Yes, that's where we're going,” Octavia told her.

The mare looked at the building and her face drained of color. Her whole white body seemed to fade as she stared up at the building. A massive structure, one of the biggest in Manehatten, stood before them. From the outside the windows looked like dark pools of water against the white finish of the building itself. The sun was reflected off the perfectly shined building and only her shades were saving her. Octavia looked at it and the bricks quickly fell into place. This was one of he nicer hotels in Manehatten. They had walked a while to get here, and in all that time she didn't even realize it.

“You've never been inside of a hotel before, have you?”

The mare shook her head back and forth. That was a no. She had barely even seen the outside of these nice hotels. And now the thought of actually being inside of one, going inside of this one. It made her quite nervous. She turned on a hoof and faced the opposite direction. She didn't even make it a step before Octavia had raced to her side again. She stood with the mare and faced her with warm eyes and a kind smile.

“Don't worry,” She said soothingly, “Everything will be okay.”

Comments

[narusakufan]

This sounds very interesting.

[M4Tiger4014]

You have my attention!

And nice reference with the story name

[King of Kings]

Huh. Well...this looks to be a much darker take on Vinyl's character than I've seen before...I mean, from this chapter alone, she appears to be mute, homeless, and penniless. This story appears to be missing a tag...I'll read on, though.