"Tavi, what the fuck is dubstep?!"
Had she not been used to this kind of outburst, Octavia might have spilled the cup of tea she delicately sipped at. Her eyes followed the unicorn as she slammed the door and stormed into the kitchen. "I believe it’s a new type of music... But shouldn't you already know that?"
Vinyl pulled out the chair with an ear-piercing grinding, not too dissimilar from hooves on a chalkboard. Octavia cringed, from both the noise and the thought of new scratches on her freshly laminated wood flooring.
"Okay," Vinyl started, leaning forward, "Do I look like a pony who knows what ‘dubstep' is?" As she spoke, she pointed a trembling hoof at herself.
Octavia shifted in her seat uncomfortably, taking another sip of her tea. "Well, I suppose you mi–"
"No!" Vinyl shouted, punctuating the word by slamming a hoof on the table. “So why is it that ponies keep coming up to me and asking me to ‘play some wubs’ or ‘drop the bass,’ whatever the hell either of those mean?”
“Perhaps you unknowingly look like a fan of the genre,” Octavia said, with a shrug. “It’s not too farfetched. I mean, come on, look at you.” She glanced over the unicorn and scoffed.
Vinyl pulled off her glasses and held them in front of her, looking at her reflection. Magenta eyes and a spiked, multi-colored mane stared back at her. "Okay, maybe you have something there, but have you even heard the music I play?"
"Too often," Octavia replied, glancing to the side and finishing off her now lukewarm beverage. "Such generic pop music..."
"Hey! It's not generic, it's just... I don't know, it's what ponies want to hear at their events, okay? It’s good background music, y’know? Like uh... amvi... no, amu... That's not it either..." She tapped a hoof against the table as she strained. "Ampu–"
"Ambience," Octavia said, furrowing her brow. "The word you are looking for is ambience. I would at least expect you to know that, being a musician." After a moment, she mumbled to herself, “how do you not know that?”
Vinyl pointed an accusing hoof towards the earth pony. "Look, princess, my job is to make music, not know any technical junk like that. I didn’t go to college to learn about words I can’t pronounce."
Octavia gave a concerned look and started to protest but was silenced by a raised hoof. Closing her mouth, she bit her lower lip and leaned back.
"But we're getting off topic here. Dubstep. I wanna know what this crap is and why they think I can play it." Vinyl snorted and looked towards the counter, immediately behind Octavia. "Gimme some of those peanuts."
Rolling her eyes, Octavia stood up, being careful to move the chair back without scraping. "I've already told you I don't know much about it. It's just a new style of music. Electronic, I’m pretty sure." She turned and picked up the jar of peanuts, then brought it to the table and pushed it across. Midway through the action, a thought occurred to her. "Wait, why didn't you just levitate these?"
"Lashzy," Vinyl said, through a hoofful of the snacks.
Octavia sighed and sat down again. "Typical."
"But sherioushly," the unicorn continued, "I gotta shtop this. It wash an all day thin." She swallowed the mouthful and grinned, then slid the jar away. "I swear this music just popped up overnight and suddenly I'm supposed to know what it is!"
Octavia steepled her hooves and rested her chin on them. "Now Vinyl, I know this is asking a lot of you, but did you ever consider trying to find out what it is on your own? You know, using your head for once. A tall order, no doubt."
Vinyl's eyes shifted to the sides. "What, like, research?" she asked, leaning back in the chair.
"Or even something as simple as talking to other musicians."
The room went silent, with the only noise being a soft creaking as the chair rocked back and forth on its back legs. Vinyl blinked, then motioned towards Octavia.
"Ugh, no." Octavia groaned, putting a hoof to her face. "I mean other electronic musicians. Ponies who do what you do! You have friends that do this too, don’t you?"
It took a moment, but Vinyl's eyes widened and she let out a long "Ohhh," as if some great revelation had dawned on her. So great, in fact, that she leaned back too far, sending the chair and herself toppling to the floor.
Octavia mourned for her lamination.
"I've got it!" Vinyl shouted, thrusting a hoof into the air. She clambered to her hooves and slammed one triumphantly on the table, and used another to hastily slip her glasses on. "I'm gonna talk to Neon and find out what dubstep is! Thanks, Tavi!"
Before Octavia could respond, the door had already slammed shut and Vinyl was nowhere to be found. The only indicator she had been there at all were a bunch of discarded peanut shells and an overturned chair.
With a sigh, Octavia stood up and walked around the table, then picked the chair up. She gently pushed it back into place, then looked down at the floor. While she didn’t notice anything immediately, she was certain she’d find marks on closer inspection.
Sweeping her hoof across the table, she collected the scraps of peanuts and brought them to the trashbin. After they had been tossed, she looked back and gave a content smile as her kitchen returned to normal. Then, she decided it was time for more tea.
Approaching the stove, she took the kettle and filled it with water, then placed it on the burner. She then turned the heat on, hearing the sparks ignite the gas. Octavia then paused, and for several moments her hoof was stuck on the temperature dial. She glanced up, staring blankly at the wall.
"Why do I feel as though I've done something very wrong?"
Author's Note
This idea randomly came to me so I wrote it. In fact, most of it was written on my phone because it was that spur of the moment.
