Author's Note: 'Staccato' as Vinyl's real last name is the idea of Two's Company creator Lithe Kamitatsy. Now that's out of the way... This is my first fanfic EVER and I'm sure it sucks. The idea has been in my head for a while and after massive convincing from a friend I finally wrote it out. Enjoy or... Don't?
Vinyl quietly stood outside the large symphony hall she had been invited to by her friends, Lyra and Bonbon. To most it was just another historical building, but to those few musicians who got the opportunity to play in the magnificent Staccato-Legato Hall, it was a masterfully built work of art. The exterior was built to appear plain, yet held a subtle look of grandeur in the form of the large windows and hoof-crafted doors. The intricate carvings in the arches that housed the windows hinted at the crafthorseship of the ponies that built the building 50 years ago. The doors also held that same intricacy with the carvings of the hall that lay inside, a picture perfect replica of what was on the other side of the doorway.
Yes, to most musicians it was a work of art in and of itself; to Vinyl, however, it was a large piece of her foalhood, a place where she discovered her special talent as well as where she learned several of the instruments she played. Before Vinyl could get too far gone in reminiscing about the past, however, Lyra had poked her sharply in the shoulder with a hoof and bounced up and down excitedly.
"Hey, Vee, aren't you excited to be seeing this concert?" The mint green asked her white counterpart while Bonbon blushed at her marefriend's embarrassing behavior. Vinyl raised an eyebrow before giving a nonchalant shrug.
"I guess. It's not really my kinda thing, ya know, Ly?" The white unicorn replied as she raised a hoof to rub at her right eye, lifting the purple shades she wore up slightly as she did so. Straightening her glasses out as they moved up to enter the hall, Vinyl couldn't help the small grin that tugged on her lips as she looked around at the front entry of the Hall.
While the exterior of the symphony hall was plain, the interior was far from the subtle grandeur of the exterior. The rich red carpeting was accented with gold trim and the walls were painted a soft cream. There were various pictures of famous composers and musicians hanging on the walls, with the composers ranging from Beethooven to Clopin and even some of the newer composers. The musicians, on the other hoof, ranged from old symphonies that had resided in the building to various newer and rising stars. One such star was the very pony they had come to see performing, an earth pony by the name of Octavia Philharmonica.
Unbeknownst to Lyra and Bonbon was that Vinyl was actually looking forward to seeing this pony perform, she had heard a lot of great things about her and was rather eager to see if her skills were up to par with the hype. While Lyra and Bonbon were busy reading some pamphlet on the hall, Vinyl was busy walking around and inspecting the pictures, finding a few she didn't recognize; she could only assume her parents had hung new ones up since her last visit.
After a half hour, the doors opened to the hall, allowing those waiting in the entry way to go to their seats. While Lyra and Bonbon were excited to be seated near the front row, Vinyl found it to be quite droll, being used to sitting in her family's private balcony. Vinyl smirked to herself at the thought of what Lyra and Bonbon would say if they knew about that little fact. Lyra noticed the smirk and turned to ask Vinyl about it, but was stopped when she ended up walking into Bonbon after not noticing she had stopped walking.
Vinyl gave a giggle as Bonbon quickly turned around and helped Lyra up with a barely suppressed giggle. Lyra scowled at the two before storming down the aisle to their seats and sitting down with a huff. Bonbon simply grinned as she took her seat to Lyra's right and Vinyl sat to her left.
"Aw, lighten up, Ly. No need to be so high strung." Vinyl said in a joking manner while keeping that annoyingly bright grin she always seemed to have. Lyra gave a snort before crossing her fore legs on her chest.
"Don't even start with me, Vinyl." She grumbled, causing Bonbon to give her a nuzzle in an attempt to soften her annoyance. Vinyl simply giggled once more before turning to watch the stage with growing interest. Bonbon had gone back to reading her pamphlet while Lyra rested her head on the cream earth pony's shoulder and read along with her.
Ten minutes after everypony was seated the lights started to dim as the spotlights turned on, signaling the start of the show. Despite the fact that she had been trying to act rather bored and uninterested in the show, Vinyl found herself sitting straight and watching the stage with rapt attention. Bonbon and Lyra noticed this and giggled quietly to themselves before turning their attention to the stage as a grey earth pony made her way towards it carrying a case that undoubtedly held her double bass.
Octavia took a second to straighten her pink bowtie before walking onto the stage and setting her case down. Vinyl took this chance to really watch the female closely, going so far as to lift her glasses to get a clear view of the other pony. Vinyl had to admit, Octavia seemed like she had some idea what she was doing; unlike most of the ponies Vinyl had seen get on that stage. Most had simply played their pieces and then left without so much as a second thought about how the audience had reacted. Vinyl snorted, Octavia was surely better than those other ponies, right?
Now that the grey pony had set up and was prepared to play, Vinyl leaned back in her seat and grinned once more, letting her glasses fall back into place on her nose. As Octavia started to play, Vinyl's ears perked up and gave a slight twitch. She recognized that piece she was playing, it was one of the compositions Vinyl had written when she was younger. Upon realizing this, a rather amused and proud smirk tugged on Vinyl's lips; she had to admit she liked this pony already.
Beside Vinyl, Lyra and Bonbon were seemingly entranced by the music the flowed from the earth pony's skillful playing.
Lyra's jaw had dropped long ago and refused to stay closed no matter how many times Bonbon tried to close it, which only made the cream mare giggle softly. Vinyl, on the other hoof, found that she was staring at the grey mare with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Watching the earth pony command the double bass and craft beautiful music that didn't seem practiced for hours made Vinyl miss her days as a musician, so to speak.
All too soon, to Vinyl anyway, the show was over and the earth pony was packing up her instrument and leaving the stage. Part of Vinyl wanted to go after her, to ask her why she played some of the pieces she did and if she was a fan of Vinyl's or, well, her secret identity. Before Vinyl could act on this particular urge, Lyra and Bonbon had nudged her in the sides to gain her attention from the spot on the stage she had been staring at for the past five minutes.
Looking up, Vinyl gave a nervous laugh at their confused expressions before rising from her seat and trotting out beside them. While Lyra gushed to Bonbon and Vinyl about how amazing it must be to be able to play like that without magic, Vinyl found her mind going back to Octavia's choice of music compositions. What amazed Vinyl was the way the grey mare had so expertly taken Vinyl's works and crafted them into something more than they had originally been. Before Vinyl could really get into her thoughts, however, Bonbon nudged her gently in the shoulder to get her attention.
"Vinyl, Lyra and I were thinking about going to Sardi's for dinner. Would you like to join us?" Bonbon asked when Vinyl had directed her attention to the cream mare. Vinyl had to suppress the urge to grin at the idea of eating at one of her favorite restaurants. However, a sudden thought caused her to frown slightly, before replying.
"Ah. No thank you, not really my kinda place to eat, ya know?" She said with a small smile as they passed out of the doors and onto the sidewalk. Turning to face her friends with a bright smile, Vinyl offered them an apologetic smile.
"Besides, can't really afford that kinda food. Tell ya what though, why don't we meet up later this week for dinner." Lyra and Bonbon looked a little sad at Vinyl's refusal but the offer to meet up later that week made them a little happier.
"Alright. See you later, Vinyl." Bonbon said as she gave her friend a hug before trotting past her after Lyra had said her goodbye.
"See ya, Vee." Lyra said, giving Vinyl a hoof-bump before walking away with Bonbon.
"Later." Vinyl whispered softly to the retreating figures before she turned to walk in the opposite direction, towards her apartment.
Meanwhile, backstage at the symphony hall, Octavia Philharmonica was busy discussing the evening's performance with one of the owners of the Staccato-Legato Hall. The grey mare felt very excited to be able to speak to her role model, Giorgio Staccato.
"I just want to thank you, Master Staccato, for allowing me the chance to play in your magnificent hall this evening." Octavia spoke in a soft tone, despite the excitement she felt at meeting the famous flutist. Giorgio waved away a hoof to dismiss her thanks as he smiled kindly.
"There is no need to thank me, Miss Philharmonica. You bring my family honour by playing my daughter's compositions with such grace and poise. You remind me of her when she would play her instruments." Giorgio spoke with a soft tone as he studied the musician seated across from him.
Octavia shifted slightly and blushed at his words, it was true that there was no need to really thank him, but she felt it needed to be said anyway. At his next statement, however, she had perked up slightly.
"I do?" She asked, quite surprised by his words. Giorgio chuckled lightly and nodded slightly before glancing at the clock on the wall. Octavia also checked the time before quickly rising to her hooves and clearing her throat slightly. Giorgio turned his attention back to her as she spoke.
"It was wonderful to meet you, Master Staccato; I do hope I get the chance to play here again. I hate to leave in such a hurry but I am afraid I have some business to attend to." She shifted slightly as she lifted her case onto her back and patiently waited for the stallion to dismiss her.
"Very well then, Miss Philharmonica; have a wonderful evening and Legato or myself will contact you in the future when we feel we can fit you in the schedule." He walked around his desk to the door and held it open for the grey mare as she departed with a thank you.
"Gerard, will you kindly show Miss Philharmonica the way out." Giorgio spoke to the rather short brown stallion that stood to the right of the door. Gerard inclined his head in acknowledgement of the request and led Octavia through the maze-like hallways that made up the back of the Hall. Five minutes later they were standing by a door that led to the main street and Gerard was bidding Octavia a safe trip.
"Have a good evening and a safe trip home, Miss Philharmonica." He spoke in a rather thick Trottingham accent that Octavia couldn't help but find amusing.
"You have a good evening as well, Gerard." She said before trotting off in the direction of her apartment. As she was walking home carrying her case, Octavia noticed several of the attendees passing by and discussing her performance. The grey mare couldn't help but to smirk as she passed by them, she was proud of her talents and the fact that others admired them made her happy.
Octavia continued on her way to her apartment, pausing only for a brief moment now and then to readjust the case on her back to allow for easier movement. After about ten minutes of walking she soon found herself outside of the building she resided in and let out a soft sigh.
"It is good to be home…" She said to herself as she looked up at the large structure. The building was only a few years old and retained a brand new look to it. As Octavia trotted through the front doors and past the pony sitting at the desk, she couldn't help but to look around at the lobby. There were many famous ponies that lived in this particular building, it was one of the reasons she had moved here; another being that one of those ponies was the Staccato heir.
Octavia blushed slightly at the thought; she must seem like an obsessed fan by this point with as much as she would speak about the young gifted composer and her fellow musician. If asked why she was so entranced by the Staccato heir she would often state that it was simply because of the gifts the other musician was blessed with, which was true.
Shaking her head to clear it, Octavia trotted up five flights of stairs until she arrived at her floor. Trotting down the hallway to her apartment number, 105, Octavia pulled her key out of a zippered pocket on her case and unlocked the door. Moving inside, shutting the door, and making sure it was locked before dropping her key in a bowl beside the door; Octavia trotted into the living room and gently placed her case in its usual location in the far right corner of the room.
Octavia's apartment was rather plain as far as decorations went, she had a few paintings hanging on the wall; as well as shelves with her awards and various plaques. As far as Octavia was concerned there wasn't much she needed to have out on display, she rarely had guests over. Giving a sigh and trotting into the kitchen, Octavia began preparing herself something to eat for dinner.