It was now officially down to the wire with only four hours to go before showtime. The lights were down low and several candles were burning as she made her final preparations; since about ten or so years ago, this had become an official part of her ritual before she would leave her apartment in a historic building in downtown Ponyville and begin to get wherever it was she would be performing next. The same rules applied, as if it were something to bring good luck, when she packed for performances out of town but right before she would hop on the train that would take her to wherever that next gig would be.
Even if she had a long distance to travel and the gig was several days out, Octavia would always dim the lights and light several candles as she applied rosin to her bow, tuned her cello and ran through whatever the next set would comprise at least a couple of times. Once she was confident with what she had been through, Octavia would pack up her prized instrument, blow out the candles and cut off the lights, then head out of her apartment building bound for either that night's venue or the Ponyville train station. Even before the two kinds of ambient lighting came into play, a variation of this routine had been the mainstay of Octavia's life for as long as she could remember.
Music had just about been Octavia's whole life since she had been a little filly; that was when she started out playing the cello and quickly became very good at it. By the time she was in high school, she knew her devotion to playing and eventually making her own beautiful music would never wane. She kept at it, playing at least half of an entire day for most of her life; first other pony's work but eventually writing and sharing her own compositions. The latter was something she began doing in her second to last year at Ponyville High School; naturally, she was beaming with pride when the school orchestra's last concert of the year included not one, but two of her original compositions in the mix. For the first time in her life, Octavia was feeling the confidence and self esteem boost she needed to confirm that she had found her niche in life.
Despite that confidence, however, Octavia still was overthinking about how this or that could possibly go wrong. What if she were to get up there and realize that she had played an entire composition out of tune? What if she were to break a string while in the midst of playing something in that night's set? What if there was a heckler in the audience? Or, worst of all, what if Colorful Symphony, the president of Classy Horse Records or Claude Viola, the conductor of the Ponyville Philharmonic Orchestra absolutely hated how she played, let one the sound of her original compositions? If either of those things were to happen, or both for that matter, would that not be the kiss of death to her musical career as she knew it?
All of these thoughts kept racing through her head as Octavia got closer and closer to the Ponyville Auditorium, all the while carrying her cello in its case as carefully as she could behind her. She knew and accepted that was any which number of things that could go awry, and not just the specific ones she came up with in the process of her umpteenth bout of overthinking. But as she finally entered the venue through the back stage door, met up with the other musicians would be accompanying her, then took a few minutes to give an interview to an arts and culture reporter from the Ponyville Gazette, her thoughts finally turned positive with her repeating the phrase, “eyes on the prize,” in her head.
The build up had been years of hard work; she has amassed a huge following of classical music-loving ponies in Ponyville and even some beyond; there was somepony there from a record label that, when (not if...never if) it all went well, would want to sign her to a deal to record her and get her original compositions for sale on music store shelves all over Equestria. Oh yeah, there was that little part about possibly being on the verge of having a spot playing under one of the most respected conductors in all of Equestria, playing with one of the most prestigious and famous symphony orchestras anywhere on this pony planet.
Octavia was warming up again when somepony came in to inform her that not only had they spotted both Colorful and Claude out in the lobby, hobnobbing with select other members of Ponyville's niche music community, but that the numbers had come back and tonight's performance was completely sold out. Letting this sink in, she set down her cello carefully, went into the green room where fresh coffee was waiting for her and drank it slowly while relaxing in one of the fancy leather chairs.
Meanwhile...
For as long as she could remember, Vinyl Scratch, who was better known to a fair amount of the rest of Ponyville as DJ-Pon3, had a passion for all sorts of electronic music. That passion led her to get a hold of some of the necessary equipment, hone their skills, and pop up at random places in Ponyville, spinning the tunes for parties and shindigs of all sorts. When asked which was her favorite, Vinyl would always say something like, “hands down, the fashion show for Rarity many years ago when she was showing off her creations for a big time fashionista with a clothing store that was all-Equestria famous.”
Despite a big set back that she bounced back very nicely from, Rarity would recover and would, in turn, begin to make a name for herself in the fashion world; soon enough everypony would know her name. At the same time, so many ponies came up to Vinyl that night, praised for how awesome of a DJ she was and inquiring about her availability to DJ at this party or that party, this shindig or that wedding that was several months away. Before she knew it, Vinyl Scratch was playing two big events during a slow week, sometimes up to five in a typical one, raking up piles and piles of bits in the process. As a matter of fact, Vinyl had begun to do so well, make such a name for herself, that she was able to get a better apartment in a nice building in downtown Ponyville; the upgrades desperately needed to her equipment finally were able to be done; last but not least, Vinyl was able to acquire a new computer for her new apartment and get a hold of a certain type of software that could potentially take her career to the next level.
A lot of Djs like Vinyl Scratch that play near their homes or all over Equestria are perfectly content just spinning and throwing parties with other ponies' songs. Vinyl thought this for many years but in the last couple it stopped being enough. For the longest time, however, she had no idea what that something was until she saw a CD of electronic music being featured for sale in her favorite record store, which the clerk said was all original stuff that the artist pony had composed him or herself using a special software. Once she knew what kind of software that was, Vinyl eventually saved enough bits and bought it, installed it, and began getting familiar with it. It really did not take long for her to achieve that and before she knew it, she had created almost three dozen original songs ranging in genres from techno and trance, all the way out to more modern stuff like hoofstep.
Looking over exactly what she had, Vinyl realized that, as a matter of fact, had just about enough to create three distinct albums that could be put onto CDs and sold in the one record store in Ponyville, or even be sold digitally so that if anyone anywhere in Equestria had heard of her, they could participate in the sharing of her tracks or albums that way. Granted, Vinyl did not take many, or virtually any, gigs outside of Ponyville, so she never saw that many ponies downloading her stuff from the internet. On the other hand, Vinyl was always, every couple of weeks or so, getting calls from the owner of the record store telling her that she was just about fresh out of at least one, if not two or all three of the releases she created and desperately needed more CDs. This was how Vinyl began to be that much more content.
All three of her first three albums that she created all by herself and with no help from any other pony consistently sold well. Then, with that realization that ponies in Ponyville loved their electronic music but did not just want to go to a shindig to dance to other ponies' records, Vinyl began integrating their originals into all of the gigs that she played. Soon enough, with the exception of, say, weddings or parties thrown by the big wigs of the bigger businesses in Ponyville, the gigs consisted strictly of her compositions which turned the parties and shindigs she played into actual concerts where everypony there was eager to hear Vinyl's creations performed live. The pay skyrocketed almost as soon as she began playing only her originals; also, Vinyl began selling so many copies of her albums at shows and out of the record store that she had to hire out a company in Phillydelphia to create them for her and ship them out just to ensure that nobody would randomly run out.
A little over one full year later, Vinyl Scratch had played shows in about 2/3 of that total number of days, sold tickets to and entertained thousands of ponies all over Ponyville, with some other ponies even coming from places pretty far away just to see her show and dance to her awesome compositions. The sales of each of her CDs were also in the thousands with Vinyl somewhat regularly getting the words that ponies in Phillydelphia had sent out another shipment to the store or to her as per her request. At the end of that period, Vinyl knew something was starting to go on when someone from the CD manufacturer and distributor called her and let her know that they needed her okay to ship one full box of each of her current releases to a record store in Canterlot that wanted to get them on their shelves as soon as possible. This, she learned, was after some other ponies had taken the train to visit their friends in Ponyville who, in turn, took said friends to see Vinyl Scratch in concert. These ponies had gone home having purchased the regular techno and trance CDs, but the merchandise booth was fresh out of the hoofstep album. That was the first time that the record store owner in Canterlot had ever heard of DJ-Pon3 and called that day to place the order. Soon thereafter, now ponies in Canterlot were buying these CDs on the recommendations of others. Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch's reputation and celebrity was beginning to spread like wildfire, even if she was yet to ever play one concert there. She had a feeling, though, that things had a potential to change after she took a moment to get real about what was going on and what things everypony liked most that she did.
Ever since she had been first exposed to electronic music then got passionate about it soon thereafter, Vinyl Scratch had known that techno and trance had been around for a long time and had remained consistently popular for all of that time. But now, many considered that stuff pretty old school and, if they told other ponies that their choice of genre was electronic, there was a pretty good chance that what they meant is that they were in love with hoofstep.
Vinyl Scratch still could not pinpoint exactly how hoofstep started or exactly who got the idea to start doing music that way; that is, fuse a different kind of techno with rough beats and loud, abrupt sounds that repeated over and over. If everypony just wanted the techno our trance that everyone was enjoying for years and years until then, Vinyl would have been perfectly fine with that. But certainly, the CDs sales statistics and feedback on the internet from fans, both new and old, do not lie; certainly, they were screaming, loud and clear, that most everypony was into the stuff on her hoofstep album by far. It was clear where she needed to go from there.
Vinyl Scratch was no stranger to late nights since taking up the alter ego of DJ-Pon3. But now that she had an excuse to do so when playing a gig or grabbing a few hours of sleep here and there, there was definitely no light at the end of that tunnel. Only a couple of days after seeing information about what people were buying and wanting more of from both sources, the excuse not to sleep was in the form of logging many hours monkeying with her now favorite piece of software, cranking out awesome new tracks one after one.
Even before narrowing down what tracks were going to go on her new album, Vinyl began debuting the brand new tracks, test driving them to see whether or not the ponies that came to her gigs and rave parties were actually into them. After two or three more months of this, Vinyl finally released her second hoofstep album under her DJ-Pon3 moniker. Almost immediately after a large order of CDs were placed by the owner of the record store in Canterlot, Vinyl was just about begged to play a show at the biggest possible venue in Canterlot with a very generous offer made. Things were starting to happen at that point, but Vinyl still could not say that she had fully achieved her dream of taking the entirety of Equestria's electronic music fan base by storm. Now, another year later, as she was packing up the necessary equipment for the night, it felt like she could be just about there.
Meanwhile...
Being that Claude and Colorful were not only at the venue but were just being social and readying themselves to hear tonight's performance, Octavia gave serious thought in favor of finishing her coffee, going out to the auditorium lobby and chatting the two of them up herself. Luckily, she talked herself out of it before deciding to make her way out of the green room and out there. The big reason was not because she was too shy or she was truly afraid of making a terrible first impression. Rather, she was a full believer that an artist, whatever his or her art may be, should speak for itself. In other words, she did not want to be seen as either trying to brown nose the two gentlecolts who, quite possibly, held her future in their hooves. Or, at the very least, she did not want to spoil what they were about to hear.
After her extensive warmup ritual, Octavia just wanted to get out on the stage and show the whole sold out crowd what she was made of. But being now that there was quite a bit of time left before that was going to happen, this unfortunately allowed for a fair amount of overthinking to also commence. As she went to get herself another cup of coffee, this time with a little more than a splash of pumpkin flavored creamer, her personal favorite, she was thinking of some of the questions that the reporter she had just spoken to have posed to her.
These were really good and fair questions that illustrated what fans of not only classical music in Ponyville were curious about, but also those who had become fans of hers. Overthinking aside, Octavia was happy with and still confident about the answers to the reporters questions that she offered. All of them, that was, except for one: “So you've been playing for a long time both in groups and solos, and you have even composed your own pieces that virtually everypony absolutely adores when they've had the privilege to see you. Some of those people who have been at your performances on the nights you have played your own compositions have even said they are right up there with the likes of Beethoofen, Manezart, Shostrotkovich and many more of the greats. But for the fact that everyone loves it, but not everyone would be able to catch one of your live performances at Ponyville Audtorium or elsewhere, do you have any plans to resolve the fact that there are no known recordings of your compositions?”
One of the gentlecolts that could easily change her life and was in the audience was, of course, Colorful Symphony, who ran and helped acquire new talent for the roster of his record label that only signed artists to record deals in the genres of classical and jazz. While not a whole lot of ponies in Ponyville, or anywhere else in Equestria for that matter, really listened to either classical or jazz music, at least one thing that jazz had going for it is that every year, she kept seeing new CDs of original compositions cropping up in the jazz section of Ponyville's record store and youngsters with jazz music-related cutie marks playing shows to their own packed houses.
In regards to the genre that she called home, the other of the two that Colorful Symphony was known to have a passion for, Octavia then recalled reading an interview with Colorful for a recent issue of Rolling Hay magazine where he stated that the problem is that, unlike with jazz that will continue to have a devoted fan base and will most likely always be given something new, classical music has nobody stepping up to throw new works out there or take the effort to freshen it all up. He was also quoted saying that it is quite an awful shame that, while his jazz saxophonists, trumpet players and other bands in the genre are making new albums that sound just as good as the classics, the only “new” stuff that Classy Horse Records was pumping out on the classical side were acts recording themselves playing the same old pieces by Manezart, Beethoofen, Shostrotkovich, and, one of her personal favorites, Johannes Sebastian Clop.
Just like with most all of the rest of the performances she has given in her budding career, Octavia would begin tonight with, of course, a favorite composition by Clop, then ones she hand selected by Shostrotkovich and Manezart to follow that. But once the applause died down at the conclusion of the Manezart, she would tell the audience that she was now going to play originals for the rest of the show, hope that they were okay with that, then commence the seven new songs that she had been rehearsing relentlessly with her backup musicians for months. Certainly it was a good thing that she played well with her accompanying musicians as much as she did; upon first meeting all of them that she would be working with that first time, she learned that three or four of them used to play for the Ponyville Philharmonic Orchestra, while one currently did. So, if all as she was hoping so hard that it did, Octavia would be playing with that one on a regular basis; as for the other ones, she was thinking that they may have some pull power over the powers that be at the orchestra, or they could have some part in helping her secure her spot in it. No matter what, though, she knew that the key was finally getting her original compositions on record and use whatever exposure she could get to spread those recordings far and wide. This way, she could not only achieve her own long standing dreams, but also help breathe new life into an obviously ailing genre.
With all of this new anxiety wafting around in her head, Octavia was entertaining the thought of going out there and doing her own bit of hobnobbing with the other Colorful and Claude. But when she realized, once again, that it really could sour things, she poured herself another coffee with the pumpkin creamer and stepped out the green room's back door for some fresh air. Once outside, also making sure that the door back inside was propped open, she sipped this third cup even slower, taking in the scenery around her.
Before she were to go back in, get dressed, have dinner and make the absolute final preparations for what could be her big moment and big break, Octavia had to fleeting thoughts. First of all, she randomly had a recollection of another recent article in the Ponyville paper where another local musician, Vinyl Scratch, was being profiled and talking about how they were working to make a name for themselves in electronic music. Octavia did not know the first thing about electronic music, but she respected the fact that Vinyl, who the article said went by the stage moniker of DJ-Pon3, had started out spinning tunes at parties and various events of increasing size, but then used a software program to make their own music. The article, she remembered, make it sound a lot like Vinyl was a lot closer to her in achieving their ultimate goal; or maybe she was just envious of the fact that her music had not only been composed but also recorded and put on CDs that anypony could go and buy, enjoy over and over thanks to an increasing availability in Ponyville and now Canterlot.
After releasing her fourth total CD, the newspaper interview and profile stated, Vinyl Scratch began selling more albums than ever. This was especially after learned that a fair amount of ponies liked the techno and trance she first dabbled in, but then made the decision to diversify when she came to realize that most everypony, nowadays, was loving the hoofstep even more. Therefore, Octavia concluded, it is no small coincidence that the next paragraph of the article mentioned that, very shortly after the release of her second album of hoofstep tracks, Vinyl Scratch accepted the terms to come and give a rave party and concert at the biggest venue out in Canterlot.
Octavia knew that there was no way that she ever could think of selling nearly as many CDs that Vinyl Scratch would sell, or maybe even already had sold, and was completely at peace with that. On the other hand, the community of ponies who loved classical music around her and beyond was devoted, and the reporter who interviewed her made it sound like they all were clamoring for an album to add to their collection that was not the same old stuff...literally! Therefore, Octavia made a mental note to herself to, no matter what the night would bring, make a plan to get a hold of this Vinyl Scratch and ask her who it was that was responsible for recording and distributing her CDs, getting them into the stores.
The time then grew closer and closer, and Octavia realized that she had finished coffee number three and should probably make her way back into the green room. Before she did this, though, she did a visual scan of all of the other buildings around her: a diner, a carriage repair shop, a book store, a coffee shop, and one where many of the ponies in town went to get their hooves and manes done and styled. Bigger than all these, however, was a building that had absolutely no signage, was painted in dark colors and looked pretty run down in comparison to the other buildings featuring prominent signage and appropriate lighting. Given the fact that there was nothing indicating what that building was and did not seem to be any windows for as much as she could see, Octavia was pretty sure that it was a warehouse where some companies, or maybe multiple, stored and shipped whatever their goods are from.
Then again, if it was a warehouse, even one without the signing, why did the two doors out front just get open and someone went inside with box after box of big things? Were they allowed to be there? What kind of business stayed open so late that people were going in and out, assuming they are supposed to be there, from their giant warehouse building? And furthermore, since it was likely a place of business, why on Equestria was there a group of mostly young ponies, many donning silly costumes, neon colors and other very bright outfits standing outside of the warehouse looking as if they were waiting to get in to there?
Meanwhile...
Vinyl Scratch made it to the venue just under two hours before she was due to begin doing her set. As she safely hauled the last of her equipment from the carriage into the front service doors, she was happy to see that the small crew that was employed by said venue were just about done rigging up the lights, checking to make sure that their part of the sound system was working properly, and that the fog machine was filled with the necessary fluids and ready to go.
The venue that she would be performing as DJ-Pon3 tonight used to be a warehouse for a company that sold stuff on the internet. But when that company moved their entire operation to Phillydelphia into a much larger space, a group of other ponies bought the building in question and turned it into the Ponyville Event Center, which was now capable of hosting anything from conventions and large weddings to even big sporting events. Or, in this case, a large scale rave party that could be potentially attended by thousands of ponies.
Vinyl had been doing this for quite a while and knew that there had been a lot of chatter from ponies that had either been to one of the raves she performed at, or those you were clamoring for a chance to go either there or in Canterlot, on all of her social media pages. Since this was the first time that she would be doing a show at the Ponyville Event Center, as opposed to one of the other much smaller venues in town, Vinyl knew that it was likely that there would be a fair amount more ponies there tonight to dance and watch her perform. But when she stepped outside to enjoy some fresh air and the can of Red Stallion Energy Drink she was sipping from, Vinyl was absolutely spellbound by the sight that she was seeing.
“Oh, my gosh, are these ponies all here for my show tonight, or is something else going on in another part of the building?” This was the message that she sent on her phone to the producer who was responsible for getting most of the finer points taken care of, the loose ends tied up to make sure that tonight's pony rave went off without a hitch. To this, said promoter responded, “well, the maximum capacity for this building is around 15,000 ponies for this event. The girl at the ticket booth just checked and your show tonight is just about sold out. So, yes, if you are seeing a giant crowd, everypony there is definitely waiting to get in and is totally looking forward to your show tonight.” Vinyl Scratch had played some pretty good-sized crowds before, but could not recall playing one nearly big enough to fill a space as gigantic as the event center.
As she was about to go back in to make her final preparations for this pony rave party that was anticipated to go late into the small hours of the morning, two things happened. First, Vinyl Scratch got one more text message telling her that it was rumored that a big shot talent scout for Beat Stable Records, Equestria's foremost authority on all kinds of electronic music and the biggest distributor of the works of those in the genre they had signed, was going to be in attendance that evening. She had no idea where anyone would get wind of such a thing, especially since she had seen no mutterings anywhere on social media (including on the various pages of Beat Stable Records, which she had been following for years). True or not, Vinyl was now even more determined to bring the best game that she had ever brought. Of course this was because, on the off chance that a mare that was almost singlehoofedly responsible for making sizable chunks of ponies all through Equestria fall head over hooves in love with hoofstep, not to mention other subgenres of electronic music that predated that, he could almost surely blast Vinyl's music career into the stratosphere in no time flat as long as he liked what he saw and heard.
The other thing that happened was that Vinyl noticed there was an event also going on at Ponyville Auditorium. This building was just across the way from the event center, which only had signage on the side that was not facing the much fancier venue known for having comfortable seats and hosting plays, musicals, operas, the occasional comedian, but most of the time the not-so-rowdy kinds of concerts. Vinyl grew especially curious which one of those kinds of events was being held there tonight. Her educated guess was some kind of concert that, unlike the kind of music she loved, made and performed, was not the kind that somepony would get rowdy while listening to. She said that because, of all of the ponies that were milling outside and now trotting in, most everyone was well dressed in fancy dresses, full suits, or even the occasional tuxedo. She surely did not want to be judgmental, but she had it on good authority that the event over there was going to be a lot stuffier in nature than the one she was about to initiate.
Meanwhile...
The time was now right and, in an effort to not have possible delays, Octavia made her way to the stage from the green room. She felt a new wave of confidence waft through her as she ascended up the second half of the staircase from the lower level she was on with the big blue curtain now in view. Now as she was standing right in front of it, the stage hooves back there with her pulled the ropes to open said curtains, making for Octavia's entrance into a packed house. She had been informed that the show was sold out, but it did not really sink in until she actually saw it with her own two eyes.
As Octavia walked out to take her position in her chair located at front and center of the stage, the other musicians had already been out there since half an hour prior, making sure their own instruments were all tuned up on final time. Joining her this time were two violin players, one on the viola, one playing the upright bass, one pianist, and a drummer. Everyone else, of course, would have their own parts, but it was made sure that, in all ways, Octavia was the star of the show.
The six other musicians on the stage had each been playing in Ponyville for a long time, thus had earn the respect of the classical music-loving community in their own right. Therefore, the reception they received when they walked out and took their own places was very warm indeed. On the other hand, nobody had been there to introduce them or at least the star of tonight's show, which may have come as a pretty big surprise to those in attendance. But when a surprise came in the form of the curtain rising up to the ceiling and the lady of the hour came out, walked to her chair and positioned her instrument in preparation for the first number in the set by the composer, Clop, the cheers and applause were not just warm but almost deafening. When that died down and everypony sat down from their standing ovation, Octavia's bow began to meet the strings.
Meanwhile...
The rest of Vinyl's equipment was now set up, turned on, and queued up for her to do her first number, and loud and booming hoofstep track from her most recent album. The crowd had been let in, gotten to the concession stand or over to the one selling bendable glow sticks in a wide array of colors. Now they were all in position, eager to see their new musical hero, who would ultimately provide them with one epic night (and early morning) of dancing.
The time came finally for Vinyl Scratch to, once again, assume the role of DJ-Pon3 and get this show on the road. She finished her second can of Red Stallion, tossed the can in the recycling bin and made her way down the hall to the stage door. Upon reaching it and going through it, Vinyl was greeted by the loud cheers of the crowd that were about as loud as those anypony may expect at a typical sports stadium during such a contest. To all of this, she responded by very enthusiastic waves and kisses blown to the crowd. Finally, she made it to her set up, and the first notes of her first number were pumping out of the dozens of speakers, woofers, sub woofers, and other components of the humongous sound system around her.
Meanwhile...
The three pieces that were composed by others many centuries ago had been concluded with the audience reaction being overwhelmingly positive. Now, as the time came for the moment of truth, Octavia found herself scanning the crowd in hopes that she could scope out at least one of the very important ponies that she knew were there and could very well about to change her life forever. But, while she had read articles in various publications where either was being interviewed or contributing an article of their own, Octavia had no idea what either of the gentlecolts looked like. Trying to put that thought out of her mind, she set her instrument down gently, got up and went to the microphone on the stand in order to address her crowd.
“Well, I hope you all liked those renditions of the real classic classical music...especially the Shostrotkovich and Manezart pieces, as those two are my personal favorites that I have ever learned to play. But anyways, we would like to play a total of six more compositions for you tonight; all of these you are about to hear are pieces that I composed myself over the last couple of years. Five of them are ones that you may have heard if you've ever been able to catch one of my other shows before, but one of them is brand new and has never been performed before tonight. I am hoping that sometime, sooner or later, that I am able to finally get all of these pieces I've created that I am really proud of. This way so I not only can introduce more ponies to the stuff that I write who would not be able to make one of my shows; also, so that anypony such as you fine fillies and gentlecolts can listen to your favorite works of mine over and over again and it's as easy to take care of as going to the record store. Anyways, without further adieu, we are going to start with a piece that I composed about a year ago and has been played at all of my shows ever since; this one is my third cello concerto; I hope everyone likes it.
The rest of the instruments began playing their respective parts to create a suitable background that would leave room for Octavia's cello playing to be the centerpiece. As she played, she began to get lost in the sound, any anxiety pointing to her messing up melting away as she neared the end of the first movement. She had realized that she had been playing the last x number of bars with her eyes closed, so she opened them out of worry that she actually would play a wrong note. When she did, she looked up and noticed that, dare she say, the entire audience was captivated with some maybe even entranced by what they were hearing. As she realized this, Octavia's confidence suddenly soared through the roof and she was far beyond optimistic. She was now almost positive that, if the audience was so in love with her that Colorful Symphony and Claude Viola, wherever they were, were definitely taking note of this and readying themselves to gain a new cellist as well as a new star added to their artist roster that would turn the obvious deficit in the classical department of Classy Horse Records completely around; Octavia was now so close that she could feel it.
That was when the first people started to hear the loud thumping noises coming from outside. At first it was only those ponies in the clear back of the auditorium, but still it was only a mild curiosity. But within just a few minutes, the thumping got so loud and obnoxious that those in the back sections could not hear a thing from the show they had come to see. Within ten minutes of the first composition, which ran for about seventeen or eighteen in total, everyone in the crowd was hearing the aforementioned thumping; two more minutes later, just as she was starting to see the looks of sheer and utter disgust from those she was charged with impressing and entertaining, Octavia finally was hearing what was causing them all to do this.
Since nobody could hear her play anyways, Octavia stopped playing, went back to the front of the stage to address the crowd; those that could hear over the obnoxious thumping would hear the cellist apologize profusely to the crowd, assure them that they were doing everything they could to find the source and fix it so that the show could go back on as soon as possible. She seemed all calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside she kept on saying things such as, “great, this is JUST the thing I needed to happen of all nights on this one!”
The stage hands and the rest of the crew that was working the auditorium combed the entire building in search of the culprit. Despite a very thorough investigation, they were no closer to finding the culprit, let alone a resolution. On a whim, but thinking it was a long shot, two members of the crew stepped outside their venue. Much to their surprise, going outside actually did uncover the source of the thumping that was keeping their crowd from enjoying a set of Octavia's original compositions. There was loud, bass-heavy music coming from the dark building across the way; it still looked like a warehouse, but a member of the auditorium technical crew had remembered reading that it had been converted into a large scale event venue. When the other crew member had noticed that the former warehouse also boasted a canopy, that there were hundreds of ponies dancing under it, and that some unfamiliar type of electronic music was blaring out of the now open entrance, he knew that it was a rave going on at the same time as Octavia's show and that it was possible that that crowd was infringing on her crowd's right to enjoy a classical concert; something was about to be done, and pronto.
Trotting in from outside, through the foyer, across the lobby, and through the show room's door all the way to the stage where Octavia was now sitting next to her instrument, the two crew members informed her of what they now knew and that they were about to consult with their supervisor to see how they ought to proceed. But before the two of them could head off and attempt to find said supervisor and do just that, Octavia opted to take matters into her own hooves.
“Who do you all think you are to be blasting that noise so loudly?” Octavia blurted out towards the building that she understood now was currently not a warehouse. A few of those dancing outside heard what she had asked from outside of the auditorium and now were looking at her. “You heard me! I am trying to give a sold out crowd of these ponies in here a great show! They've all paid a lot of bits to hear my band and I play awesome original music; but you have the audacity to have a party there that is so loud that many people can't hear themselves think or even think of hearing me for that matter? Who is responsible for all of this?”
Almost as soon as the question left her mouth, Octavia could see that more than a small hoofful of the ponies that were dancing just a few minutes prior now looked especially annoyed. At the same time, Octavia noticed that two or three ponies that were dancing outside to the bass-heavy music had gone inside of the building. When she saw this, she was thinking that maybe they were seeking a member of that other venue's security staff, or maybe even a manager, if there is one. But while she was fully preparing to deal with someone like that, Octavia then noticed that a white pony with a two-toned blue mane donning pink goggles and with a music note cutie mark had now come out of the building and was walking across the way to her.
“Can I help you? Someone just told me that we were preventing you from putting on a concert over here at the auditorium?”
“Yes. Yes, that is what I said. And who or what are you? Security? The sound pony? The manager of all the operations over there?”
“Actually I'm the DJ, or actually the musician who not just plays all this kind of music at all my gigs, but I also creates it all on my computer. I'm Vinyl Scratch but when I am doing a show like this, everyone calls me DJ Pon3.”
As the two of them shook hooves, you could see the wheels turning in Octavia's head; she was definitely trying to think of the best way to express the fact that a resolution was absolutely needed and that it needed to happen fast so she could go back in and finish her set. She thought of asking Vinyl if there was any way that the volume of the music could be turned down, or if the hundreds or thousands of ponies that were there to rave all night to keep it down.
Of course, everypony coming to rave and enjoy the music that she learned is called hoofstep had just as much right to be there with their neon bright costumes and many colors of glow sticks as did the ponies who paid several bits each to mostly hear Octavia perform her original music that had never been recorded up to that point. By now, though, the patrons of the auditorium had mostly all spilled outside to where they learned the apparent action had all moved to, and none of them looked very happy at all.
“I wish there was something that I could do,” said Vinyl. “But there is no way I can, like, turn it down, as we need it for both inside and to be heard out here in the overflow party area. And just like your ponies who paid good bits to hear you, these ones paid good bits to rave all night and get to hear my new hoofstep tracks live and I can't exactly send them home angry!”
Octavia was completely in agreement with Vinyl Scratch and racked her brain trying to find a compromise that would not inconvenience anypony, regardless of what show they had chosen to go to. Nobody had turned down the music, which Vinyl explained she had put on auto mode so that tracks would still play in the event that she had to step away for any reason and would not be back before the next track was due to start. However, Vinyl had walked just about completely across the street to the auditorium where everyone could hear what was still going on inside the event center loud and clear, but the two musicians could still converse back and forth. That was when somepony who had come to hear Octavia play pointed out something that would take everything into an entirely unexpected direction.
“Hey, that beat almost sounds like something that could go with that original song you were playing!” the fan of classical music suggested. “Seriously, you should go and get your cello and see just how much it meshes up; I'm pretty sure that it would!” Now with a “I've got nothing left to lose” mentality floating through the minds of both Octavia and Vinyl, the two of them agreed to try to satisfy the curiosities of not just theirs but at least one more of their patrons.
While a crew member from the auditorium ran in to fetch her cello, Octavia quickly remembered that this was the pony that she read about in the arts section who was talking about the steps she took to bring her electronic music to the masses and who she went through to get her original tracks put onto CDs. But before that part of the conversation got too long winded, Vinyl Scratch texted a member of the sound team inside the building and asked them to restart the track that had just finished playing a couple of minutes prior, but pause it until she gave them the signal.
A crew member from the auditorium brought Octavia her chair and placed it a couple of steps where she was standing and waiting. By now the rest of her backing band had ventured outside, all in hopes that nothing bad had happened to their leader for the last several weeks or anyone else for that matter. But while they were all audibly breathing a sigh of relief, Vinyl noticed the looks of sheer and utter confusion on the faces of both violinists, the viola player, the pianist and the drummer. But then Octavia, now sitting with her cello in position gave Vinyl her signal which meant that Vinyl gave the guy inside their venue his; the familiar bass-heavy track started again.
Once a few bars of the hoofbeat track passed, Octavia began to play. Right before the track started, she was just about confident that this was going to be a lot of improvisation and it was all just a fan of hers pulling her leg. But then as she actually heard the start of the track, she realized that layering her composition on top of it just might work; upon doing just that she realized that it absolutely did mesh up with the electronic dance track. It surprised Vinyl and Octavia alike that everypony, whether they had come to rave or to get informed on some of the latest and greatest in classical music were still outside; even more shocking to all involved, everyone was completely enthralled by what they were hearing.
At the conclusion of that inaugural juxtaposition of electronic beats made on a computer with contemporary instrumental classical music played mostly on stringed instruments, the applause was thunderous within the range of either venue which, if someone had been scoping out the area above there in some kind of aircraft, the area covered by the combined number of event goers would have looked massive.
With what had just had been witnessed by so many, the accidental collaboration that worked beautifully, both Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were relatively confident that, any minute now, representatives with either record label that specialized in their respective genres would make their way to them and tell them they were being offered lucrative deals to sign with them. Also, Octavia was almost absolutely positive that a place playing cello with the Ponyville Philharmonic was as good as hers, considering that she had totally proven her extremely high skill level despite unforeseen circumstances.
As soon as the three supposed dream makers found their ways out of the crowd and came over to talk to both Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, anything and everything that both had been working for, the careers they hoped they were destined for, had been thrown out the window in that instant. In the end, though, this turned out to be a very good thing.
Just as soon as Claude Viola had introduced himself, he was telling Octavia that a snowball would have a better chance in the underworld than she would have of ever playing for the Ponyville Philharmonic Orchestra, mainly because of the negative image it would portray to their regular and long time patrons. This was also not the best time for both Colorful Symphony and Bass Dropper, the big pony in charge of recruiting at Beat Stable Records to inform the two now not-so-different musicians that they would not be offered deals to record their classical compositions nor continue making hoofstep records. Once again, this turned out to be a good thing.
While Vinyl would likely never make a hoofstep album for Beat Stable Records, he still found himself officially on that roster a few days later...as did Octavia. While in the crowd between the two venues on that faithful night, Bass was well more than intrigued by what he heard and knew that they were on the ground level of something fresh that would not only catch on almost immediately, but was not going anywhere anytime soon. In the meeting after the first one that saw Octavia and Vinyl Scratch sign the contract and agreeing to the terms of an especially good record deal, Beat coined the name “Four String Beat” for this new subgenre that he was predicting many more would be wanting into in the very near future; after all, hoofstep spread like wildfire shortly after it first came out, so why not this?
One week later, Octavia had played all of her new compositions for Vinyl, who then spent hours on end at her computer to make awesome electronic beats that she not only could be proud of, but that juxtaposed perfectly with his new band mate's work. They needed more, so Octavia first hammered out a few more pieces and Vinyl repeated the process.
Four months after that, Four String Beat was officially born when the duo's debut album was released. Since they were now signed to a big record label, the album was now available pretty much all over Equestria. Both musicians were afraid that everypony would be pretty divided over their sound, but that mostly was not the case; even ponies with a usual preference for either classical music or various kinds of electronic praised the work. Critics who reviewed the album overwhelmingly loved it as well, including a certain reviewer for Rolling Hay Magazine who usually does not have kind words for anything that is remotely different or tries to stray from an established genre.
Possibly as a result of all of this, record stores all over Equestria kept on needing to reorder, as the copies they got in kept on flying off of the shelves. One such shop owner in Manehattan seconded what the others said about not being able to keep the album in stock, but also added that it was awesome that a duo could come along and get so many, from all walks of life, curious about one or both genres that traditionally had extremely small yet devoted fan bases. Also, it was quite amazing that they not only got so many ponies of all ages curious, but that they did a lot to make either of such genres totally accessible to everypony. “Still,” he said when interviewed for the Manehattan Times' arts section, “with how they were able to combine two genres that you would think would never be able to go together or live in harmony in a million years, it's a good thing that they decided to call themselves Juxtaposition.”
The End.
Author's Note
This story and concept was inspired by Lindsey Stirling.
