Vinyl Scratch had returned from a late night gig to the apartment she lived in in Canterlot with her friend Octavia. The gig had been long and the crowd must have taken an entire continent worth of coffee since they were still kicking after four hours non-stop headbanging. She suspected some of them would be having very bad headaches the next morning. She kept quiet to avoid waking her friend as she took out what she needed for a hot chocolate. Vinyl had a craving for hot chocolate and it was almost a tradition for her to have one after every show she was at.
Vinyl finished making the hot chocolate and walked into their “sitting room” as Octavia had insisted on calling it. Vinyl set down her mug on a small table and began drinking it. She enjoyed the creamy taste of it and smiled contently as she drank away. However almost six seconds later she took a long gulp of the hot liquid and spat it back out loudly. Vinyl covered her mouth and looked around in fear. She and Octavia got along well but one of Octavia’s main rules was that Vinyl didn’t wake her up when she came home. Vinyl stopped and realised that she hadn’t heard a noise since she came in. The apartment they lived in had three rooms. A bathroom, a kitchen that opened out into their “living room” and finally a bedroom with two single beds. The bedroom door was wide open and nopony was in there.
“Uh, Octavia? Are you home?” Vinyl asked to the seemingly empty apartment. As she got up and looked around she heard the tapping of dainty hooves on the tiled floor of their apartment.
“Okay Octavia, I heard you, the games up,” Vinyl called. She spotted a light being reflected off the kitchen counter and walked over to it. She realised it was an envelope and it was addressed to Octavia. She noticed the Royal Canterlot Seal on the letter and began to read it.
“Dear Ms Octavia Clef,
you have been invited to participate in the International Collaborative Philharmonic Orchestra. The event shall take place in the Trottingham Orchestra Hall in two weeks. The expenses for your travels have been paid for in advance and a first class ticket to the show has been included for a guest.
Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“So that’s pretty cool, isn't it?” A calm voice asked Vinyl. Vinyl whirled around and looked at her friend.
“You don’t sound like a mare who’s been invited to the most prestigious musical event in the world,” Vinyl noted.
“I burned off the excitement before you got home,” Octavia told her.
“Well, that’s a good break for you, Congrats!” Vinyl shouted as she hugged her friend.
“Can you please keep this quiet? I’m going to end up missing some concerts with the group and I’d really rather they didn’t find out,” Octavia pleaded with Vinyl.
“Of course, cross my-” Vinyl started but was stopped when Octavia put a hand to her mouth.
“None of that childish horseapples,” Octavia told her. Vinyl looked at her friend. Octavia had some sort of aversion to those children’s oaths. Vinyl decided to steer the conversation away from the tickets and decided to move to foreign territory for both of them. Clothes.
“So, what are you planning on wearing to it?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t think I can get away with wearing my regular gear to it,” Octavia admitted referring to her white collar and bowtie.
“Well then what are you going to wear?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t even know what the dress code is,” Octavia confessed.
“Well, I happen to know two mares who could help us out, the only problem is that they don’t get along,” Vinyl smiled.
“Where are they?” Octavia asked ecstatically.
“Both in Ponyville,” Vinyl smiled only to wear a puzzled expression when a grimace formed on Octavia’s face.
“What gives?” Vinyl asked.
“You implied that there’s only one problem,” Octavia told her sourly.
“What the hay is wrong with Ponyville?!” Vinyl snapped.
“I just don’t like the place, or its residents,” Octavia sighed.
“What do you mean by that?” Vinyl inquired.
“The residents are nutjobs! It’s no coincidence that Discord chose there to be his chaos capitol!” Octavia raised her voice.
“Octavia, I’m holding back all my anger because you just insulted two of my old friends and also two of the nicest mares I know, I’d really appreciate if you took that back now and didn’t say anything stupid,” Vinyl whispered with a fiercely cold edge to her voice.
“I’m sorry Vinyl, I just really want to stay away from the place, I don’t know why,” Octavia sighed.
“Don’t worry about it, now let’s get some sleep,” Vinyl told her friend as she placed a sympathetic hoof around the grey earth pony’s neck. The two mares walked up to the bedroom.
“Good night Octavia,” Vinyl whispered.
“Good night,” Octavia whispered back. Octavia looked out the window of their room. She stared out into the distance, her mind wandering as she looked in the direction she assumed her home was and recalled how far she had gone. Telling anypony about her past would be career suicide. It was bad enough that she was a bassist and the butt of many jokes her band mates made but her past would stay where it was.
Octavia lay down as the rain beat down on the window. She closed the blind and lay awake as she realised what she was going to be doing in two weeks. She was the embodiment of every bassist stereotype and joke circulating the media and medium. None of her band mates cared about her unless she messed up badly, she was constantly focused on her music so she rarely did make mistakes anyway and she was the most boring out of all of the band members. A completely unexceptional musician and she was being invited to play in something that her band mates would kill for. Octavia giggled a little bit and decided to tell Frederic that she was going to be sick for a while. He wouldn’t care; they could pick up a replacement cello player off the street. Her vision grew hazy and unfocused and she fell asleep with a content smile
Author's Note
Nothing that the description hasn't already said. This is my first time writing something like this and I'm going to be diverging from Word of Faust a lot. So, If you feel it's warranted tear me and this story a new one. Just don't give crap like "YOUR PORTRAYAL OF VINYL IS DUMB!" or Give me some reason as to why my portrayal of her is dumb and just give a tiny bit of constructive criticism. And I'm not being specific. If there's a genuine fault or if you see a portrayal as bad and give a justifiable reason I'll take it to heart.
Philharmonic Chapter 2.
“OCTAVIA! GET YOUR FLANK OUT OF BED!” Vinyl Scratch hollered as she made breakfast for herself and her roommate. A mesmerising aroma of pancakes and syrup wafted through the apartment. Vinyl heard Octavia mumble into her pillow before giving a loud yawn that echoed through the poor acoustics of their apartment giving her voice a fragmented and airy quality. She walked down still wearing a dressing gown, bags under her eyes betraying the fact that her posture and facial expressions tried to hide, she had a bad night.
“Coffee?” Vinyl asked. Octavia only mumbled in affirmation as she rubbed the last traces of sleep from her eyes.
“Latte or Cappuccino?” Vinyl asked.
“Latte,” Octavia answered as Vinyl returned her attention to the pancakes that were now ready to be served. She piled them up on a single plate and put them at the table where Octavia was sitting. She returned her attention to making coffee as Octavia took a pancake and began cutting it with no finesse or prescribed pattern. Vinyl heard a whoosh of steam and poured out a Latte for Octavia as well as an Espresso for herself. She sat down and looked at Octavia.
“Where’d all that enthusiasm head, huh? Vinyl asked. Octavia looked at her for a moment before the question registered in her sleep deprived and tired mind.
“I’m just tired,” Octavia assured her and she yawned. Vinyl smiled and wolfed down her pancake. Octavia let loose a small giggle and sipped her Latte. There was a knock on the door and Vinyl rushed out to open it. A smile erupted on her face as she immediately recognised the couple at her door.
“May we come in?” A white unicorn with a blue mane and a small but noticeable moustache asked accompanied by a fragile looking white mare with slender legs and a mane that had a similar colour to cotton candy. Vinyl nodded and allowed the couple inside. Octavia looked at the couple for a while before either party said anything.
“Congratulations on getting in, dear,” FancyPants said to Octavia. Octavia looked at him, her face filled with worry, confusion and happiness.
“Yes, eet is tres magnifique,” Fleur De Lis told Octavia as she hugged Octavia.
“How did you find out?” Vinyl asked.
“We’ve been attending the event for several years, and when the Princesses asked us to recommend somepony we could think of no one else but you Octavia, and did you check the date on the invitation?” FancyPants asked.
Octavia’s eyes sparkled with glee. “Thank you so so much!” she shouted as she gripped the two of them tightly. Vinyl walked over to the envelope to check the date. The envelope said two weeks from yesterday. What was on then? And as Vinyl looked at a calendar it clicked.
“Octavia, the orchestra is on the night of your birthday!” Vinyl shouted. Octavia looked at FancyPants and Fleur with tears of happiness and hugged them even tighter.
“Thank you so much,” Octavia whispered.
“Don’t mention it dear,” FancyPants rubbed a hoof through her hair. Vinyl looked at the embrace and thought about joining in.
“Who’s she, Uncle?”
“That’s Octavia; she doesn’t have a home, so she’s going to stay with me and Fleur,”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know Vivi, but she wants to stay with us and she says she has no parents,”
“What’s her cutie mark?”
“It’s a bit blurry but it looks like a treble clef,”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a musical symbol,”
“Could I learn music one day?”
“I don’t see why not, by the way Vivi, how is school?”
“It’s really fun! But there’s this weird filly there, her name’s Midnight or something like that,”
“Is it Twilight?”
“Yeah, Twilight! That’s it! She doesn’t talk to other ponies,”
“Oh, do you know why?”
“No, she seems nice, she’s really clever too, did you hear that she gets classes with Celestia?”
“I might have heard about that, maybe you could try being friends with Twilight?”
“I’ll try; she doesn’t have a lot of friends,”
“Oh, that’s not good,”
“She said she was friends with Celestia’s niece,”
“Ah, Mi Amore Cadenza, yes, Twilight’s brother is also training to be part of Celestia’s royal guard,”
“Wow, she’s got a cool family!”
“Her father and I were friends when we were colts; we had a few escapades,”
“What did you do?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older,”
“Oh, I smell dinner!”
“Well then, let’s go get some Vivi,”
“Are you Octavia?” I asked. She nodded.
“Why’re you so quiet?” I looked at her; she had a scared, confused look on her face. As if she was unsure of what was going on. She turned and ran and I was left perplexed. If you told that me that she would be friends with this quiet mare she would have met the idea with some degree of scepticism. But times change and so do the ones that are carried by it.
The embrace between FancyPants, Fleur and Octavia had broken up and Octavia had uncharacteristic happy breakdown.
“C’mon Octavia, remember what we were supposed to be doing today?” Vinyl asked. Octavia composed herself and looked at Vinyl for a moment.
“Oh, yeah, shopping,” Octavia rolled her eyes. Vinyl walked over to her saddlebag with her money in it before she was stopped by FancyPants.
“Since Fleur and I have nothing on our schedule for today, we’d be more that glad to come with you to Ponyville and we’ll also pay for whatever expenses you might need, to an extent of course,” He chuckled.
“Uh, thanks,” Vinyl said sheepishly, not willing to decline such a generous offer. Fleur was giving an in depth explanation of what happened at the event to Octavia while Vinyl packed luggage for both mares. They packed lightly on the assumption that they wouldn’t be staying more than a single night with Vinyl even leaving her trademark glasses at home.
When the party reached the train station they had to wait another twelve minutes before a train to Ponyville would be arriving leaving Vinyl and Octavia to their own devices in the station. Vinyl looked in fascination at an assortment of knickknacks while Octavia wandered around a sweet shop. Both mares were caught up in window shopping and were surprised when they heard the whistle signifying their train had arrived. Both mares bolted to the platform with their tickets held out. They hopped on the train and it began moving. Vinyl wiped an imaginary drop of sweat off and walked to the compartment where FancyPants and Fleur were waiting. Vinyl had an ecstatic grin on her face while FancyPants and Fleur were talking about taxes and the diarchy.
“Hoo boy, this is gonna be a trainwreck,” Octavia whispered under her breath.
Author's Note
This chapter has been brought to you by blatant padding and the inability to do a phonetic french stilted English accent. And I just decided to make FancyPants Vinyl's uncle. I told you I would be diverging from word of Faust! And I feel like a horrible person for it. Nah, I'm messing. But I'm going to try juggling my stories and maybe they won't all end like shit with a capital S, H, I and T. Until next time, you're just gonna have to keep on waiting.