A Scratch on the Surface

by DropTheBass133

The Ponyville Crew

On the other side of Equestria, a different Monday was beginning.

Octavia Rose Allegra was already up, washed and fed by the time the sun was rising slowly from the horizon. Today was a big day for the humble cellist; today, Mayor Mare would announce who would be running and organising the annual Ponyville Music Festival, and of course, Octavia was desperate to play a part.

Octavia was a prestigious musician; graduated from the Royal School of Music in Canterlot, and had won more classical music accolades than you could shake a stick at. In her hooves, the Music Festival would be a classy, elegant celebration that would attract custom from all over Equestria.

A gentle Mozart symphony played from Octavia's living-room radio as she tidied up her house. Tidiness was somewhat of a habit with the grey earth pony; everything always had to be neat and presentable, just like her immaculate coat and shining jet-black mane. It was a small secret of Octavia's that she wished she was a unicorn. Magic would not only make her appear more like the refined ponies in Canterlot, but would give her far more ability to play her cello - and tidy up her house.

Elsewhere in Ponyville, a very different musician was preparing for the same moment. Radio Melody, a red-coated unicorn with a bright blue and purple mane, was working in the Haven; Ponyville's most popular nightclub and the sort of place Octavia wouldn't be caught dead visiting.

Radio, or "Rad" as she preferred to be named, was an up-and-coming DJ, (her profession somewhat given away by the bass clef mark on her flanks), and although she longed for the sort of fame and publicity received by none other than DJ PON-3, she was popular in her hometown.

Humming a tune, the little mare checked her sound equipment was functioning, tapping a microphone gently to emit a loud booming sound from four huge speakers that lined the stage. She nodded to herself, before letting out a quiet squeal of excitement. To her, the Music Festival would mark the beginning of her career. She would make it vibrant, colourful, modern - and of course, it would attract musical ponies from everywhere. Somewhere in the crowd would stand a news reporter, or an agent, looking for some fresh talent to work with; and upon hearing Rad's musical concoctions, they would jump at the chance to make her a star. She sighed happily, switching off the electricals before trotting over to the bar and taking a seat.

A knock on the door interrupted the mare's thoughts, and after uttering a "come in", she was joined by a young colt with identical red fur and blue hair. She gave him a smile and beckoned him closer to her.

"Hey, little stallion. Come to wish me luck?"

The colt's name was Major Melody, Rad's younger brother. A tiny young unicorn, he was yet to earn his cutie mark, but carried with him an enthusiastic attitude and a never-fading smile. This he displayed widely to his sister as he trotted up to the bar, giggling as she picked him up in her hooves and placed him in her lap.

"You don't need luck, you're the best DJ in Equestria." he chirped, his little hooves resting atop the bar table. Rad grinned and nuzzled through his mane.
"Well... maybe. Second best, after DJ PON-3."
The colt thought for a moment before speaking again. "No, you're better than her."
A blush was merely visible on Rad's cheeks, but she felt her ears burn. She set the colt on the ground before getting up herself, smiling.
"I dunno about that. I try my best, I guess."
A moment of silence pulled itself between the siblings, before the colt clutched at his stomach with a forehoof.
"I'm hungry."
Rad heaved a sigh, running a hoof through her mane. Most everypony in Ponyville was hungry these days. The last harvest had been dreadful, dry and unproductive due to slip-ups in the weather, and it had caused a food and monetary shortage. The winter just passed had been one of the toughest in the town's history.
"I know."
The young DJ pulled her brother into a hug. "That's why I'm putting my all into this festival. So we can get some real money."

Another knock at the door of the club interrupted the pair, and in stepped two more ponies, grinning for all they were worth.

The first was a stallion by the name of Blueflash, a Pegasus with a cobalt coat and a cyan mane, tail and cutie mark of three lightning bolts. He was a rapper, and though his main job was in weather technology, his rhyming skills were impressive. He too had signed up for the festival organising committee, and had a similar vision of finding stardom to Rad.

The other was a earth pony mare named Sundial. She was sky blue in colour, her mane and tail a shining golden yellow, and adorning her flank was a bright yellow sun. She was the proprietor of the Ponyville Sunhouse, an inn at the north-end of the town which saw little custom in these harsher times. Originating from Appleoosa, her spare time was spent playing her beloved guitar and singing to entertain her guests. She had signed up to help with the festival as well, and hoped it would bring a little happiness back to Ponyville where it had recently been absent.

The ponies exchanged greetings before looking around the club together, tapping and scuffling their hooves along the ground awkwardly.
"Today's the day, I guess." said Blueflash, offering his friends a warm smile. It was likely that not all of them would get on the committee, meaning that one, two, or all three of them could be disappointed by the end of the day.
"All set?" asked Sundial, and Rad nodded.
"All set."
"Look, guys..." said the blue mare with a sympathetic look, "Does it matter all that much if not all of us get in? Ah mean, we're still gonna be besties, right?"
Blueflash chuckled. "Besties. I gotcha."
"Yeah. An' if one or two of us does get in, we can trust 'em to make the festival awesome!"
Rad smirked. "I'm not sure if I can trust you with that, Sundial..."
"Hay, watch it, smartie-flank."
"What, you're not the coolest pony in town..."
The ponies laughed and took one last look around the club, before taking their things and making their way out to the Town Hall.

The Town Hall was dressed for the occasion. Musically-themed banners rose up on the high walls, posters advertising the festival were stuck all over the room, and Mayor Mare had suitably decided to don a suit patterned with brightly coloured musical notes. The Major never liked to miss out on town celebrations, and this particular event would hopefully raise the spirits of the residents and help everypony to recover from the harvesting crisis.

Octavia was, as usual, one of the first residents to arrive to the meeting. Mayor Mare smiled at her approvingly.

"Octavia Allegra, if I recall?"
"That's right, Mayor." confirmed Octavia with a polite smile. "I am one of the candidates for the committee."
The Major gave a cheerful laugh. "And a very strong candidate you are, Miss Allegra! Your kind of musical talent is just what we're looking for on the team."
Octavia was flattered at the compliment, and her smile brightened before she took one of the front seats of the hall.

Soon enough, Ponyville's population began to arrive, filling up the seats and waiting patiently for the announcements to begin. Rad, Major, Blueflash and Sundial got seats in the middle of the hall, and Rad quickly sat her brother in her lap so he could see the front podium.

After about twenty minutes of idle chatter and ponies taking their seats, Mayor Mare stepped up to the podium and tapped the microphone as a way of asking for silence.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, mares and stallions. I would like to thank you all very much for coming along to this town meeting, concerning our annual Ponyville Music Festival."

Polite claps filtered in from the crowd, and Octavia turned her head to gaze over the rest of the audience. She had a lot of competition in there.

"As you know, the Music Festival is one of our oldest and most popular celebrations, and we strive to make it our very best each year."

Rad and Sundial, sitting next to one another, exchanged bored glances. Major Mare did this every year; a long speech on the importance of the Festival and how much it means to the town. The audience was usually half asleep by the time the actual announcements came around.

"The Festival continues to be a fun and exciting summer event, with guests and musicians arriving to join in with our musical performances from all over Equestria. It is a true show of the creativity and colour that resides here in Ponyville, and a chance for all of you to get involved with a spectacular weekend.

"However, this year we face a little more in the way of obstacles than we have previously. Due to the food shortages, we are all feeling a little under the weather, and it is only fair to say that preparing the Festival is to be a considerable struggle for those involved.

"But, if it is successful, it will give us our much-needed economic boost to get everypony back on their hooves. So, having read through all of your submissions, my advisors and I have come to a conclusion on who should be on the committee."

Mayor Mare turned over the piece of paper on her podium, and cleared her throat. At the front, Octavia's heart thumped in her chest. Towards the middle, Radio Melody's hooves shook as she held her brother close.

"At the head of the committee, leading the group is somepony capable of great musical collaborations and compositions. She will be responsible for organising the committee, making sure everypony does what they have been allocated to do, and watching the progress and development of the Festival as it happens. I'm pleased to announce that the role of head of the committee goes to Octavia Rose Allegra."

Octavia's heart leapt as she heard her name being called, and blushed faintly as the audience clapped for her. She had her wish - but who would she be working with?

"The next member of the team will be our Cloudsdale correspondent. This member has will be responsible for making sure the weather is good when the Festival happens, drumming up custom from the Pegasi, and providing as much musical talent from the flying ponies as he can. This title goes to a stallion by the name of Blueflash."

A stallion in the middle of the room suddenly stood up in typical confident Cloudsdale fashion, whooping when he heard his name. This was Blueflash, of course - and while some ponies found his gesture amusing, he earned himself a fair deal of strange looks. Sundial pulled him back down onto his chair, glaring at him with a hissed, "Shush!"

Octavia coughed a little in anxiousness, studying the bold Pegasus with a disapproving stare. Hopefully for her, the rest of the team wouldn't be as... loud.

"Our third committee member will be responsible for providing musical equipment and venues, finding and inviting musicians from across Equestria to take part, and allocating performance times for each of them. I award this position to Radio Melody."

Radio let out another quiet squeal, her heart lifting. Major giggled, and she pulled him close and clung to him tight. She had made it. This was her big break!

"And our final member of the Ponyville Music Festival Organising Committee will be somepony able to make our guests happy, comfortable and entertained. She will help provide catering, games and smaller events for foals, a helping hoof wherever needed and her ever so valuable kindness and bright spirits. This role goes to none other than Sundial."

Sundial gave a yelp and a squeal, before reaching over to Rad and hugging her tight. Blueflash rolled his eyes and muttered something about pots calling kettles black.

Octavia too rolled her eyes on hearing the second squeal from a pony on the committee that morning. She had the inclination that her new colleagues would be a lot of hard work, but she smiled through gritted teeth and clapped along with the rest of the audience.

Later that day, the team were led to a room around the back of the Town Hall, where Mayor Mare explained that this would be their "board room" for ideas and planning prior to the festival. They had three weeks to get everything done, which Mayor Mare explained was quite enough time. Octavia had to bite her tongue in order to stop herself from objecting.

The team had met briefly after the meeting, and Octavia couldn't help feeling a little like the odd one out. These ponies were all about "pop" music; electronically generated sounds and loud, harsh drum beats. Octavia was far more quaint; much preferring to spend her time practicing Bach cello pieces or listening to Vivaldi with a cup of green tea.

Soon, the team were left to themselves, and Octavia cleared her throat nervously, taking a seat at the table.
"Well," said the cellist, watching the other ponies intently as they joined her at the table, "We all heard what the Mayor said. We are going to have to put 110% of our efforts into this festival if we are to bring any kind of hope back to Ponyville."
"Agreed." said Sundial.
Blueflash placed his forehooves on the table and sunk his head into them with an audible sigh. "But how? How do we attract crowds from all over the kingdom? This is Ponyville. Not like anyone comes here or anything."
Rad nodded a little, before thinking. "If only we had the means to get somepony like DJ PON-3 on boa- wait. Who says we don't have the means to do that?"

A bright smile rippled throughout the group, but Octavia remained innocently solemn.
"DJ who?" she asked quietly, fiddling delicately with the bow tie around her neck.
The other ponies immediately gawped at her. "You don't know who DJ PON-3 is?" cried Blueflash, suddenly finding reason to lift his head and stare wide-eyed at the cellist.
"Listen, Bluebolt-"
"Blueflash."
"Blueflash. Listen. I am a classical musician, not some sort of pop pony."
Blueflash blinked, before shaking his head. "Dude, even my grandma knows who PON-3 is!"
"Was that some sort of insult?"
"Well ye-"
"Guys!"

It took a while for Octavia to realise she had begun to raise her voice. Hastily swiping a hoof through her mane, she coughed and tucked her chair further towards the table. Rad was the one to have interrupted them, firmly putting her hoof down on the table.

"We can't do this if we don't get along!" the red-coated mare explained. "Octavia, DJ PON-3 is a really famous musician. Like, really famous."
Sundial snorted indignantly. "Pfft, yeah, only the most famous musician in Equestria. A few years back, she took the music industry by storm. She is the music industry."
Octavia sighed. "Celestia help the music industry, in that case..." she muttered, before turning back to Rad. "Okay. This idea of yours."

"Like Sun said, DJ PON-3 is pretty much the most successful musician in Equestria. If we get her to come to the festival, she'll bring her fans - and she has a lot of fans. We'll make more money than you can imagine with her, and give everypony a blast."

Octavia thought for a moment. A long moment. It was a good plan - but she knew full well what these celebrities could have planned. Could they trust this DJ? Letting out a soft "hrm", she locked her eyes upon Rad's anticipating gaze.

"I think... In any other circumstances - and I mean any - I'd reject such an idea. I don't believe your kind of music will bring... erm... quite the desired "crowd" along with it. But considering we all seem to be sitting in the same slowly sinking boat... I'll see what I can do."

Rad whooped, punching the air with a hoof. "Can you try and contact her tomorrow?"

"I'll try my hardest. This festival means a lot to all of us."

"Way t'go, Octy!" exclaimed Sundial, before blinking. "Can we call you that?"

"In any other circumstances..." she began, before sighing. "You may. Call me Octy if you so wish."

Comments

[Roughhouse]

I sure hope Octavia and Vinyl Scratch don't kill each other before we even get to see them in the festival.

[DropTheBass133]

1029966
Don't we all.

[Fictional Critic]

A good story, I have not found any faults with it, and look forward to anything else you have planned for the story. However, I must inquire where you got the inspiration for Octavia's last name.
Sincerely;
The Fictional Critic

[DropTheBass133]

1033813
Well, thank you! And... I'm not that sure, I think "Allegra" is a word that generally is used for music (or 'allegro' at least; using Italian I placed an 'a' at the end to signify her femininity). I think it's something to do with the tempo. Musical surnames for Octavia seem to be a pattern throughout fics written about her. Hope I helped!

[Fictional Critic]

1033857 Okay I looked into it and your right about allegro so that is pretty cool. It is just that every time I came to her last name I kept thinking about this particular medicine called Allegra. So it really had me confused. Still an awesome story and look forward to more.
Sincerely;
The Fictional Critic

[Triforce of the Gods]

I saw this updated on DeviantArt yesterday and thought "I'll wait for the email from FimFiction." Of course, it never came cause my dumbass forgot to favorite this!

[Vinyl Scratch™]

1022388
The sound of this had me intrigued, this seeming that all except one of the Vinyl fan-fics I have read allow Vinyl to be kind but able to get harsh when needed, but either way seems to be a good idea

[asdfabaeradjargasdfasd]

1022051
Exactly. The same goes for Octavia, and the fact that they're both musicians and they (should) play opposite genres of music and to opposite audiences is the reason why VinylTavia is my favorite shipping couple.

[Fictional Critic]

I implore you to write more.