Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters from My little pony: FIM, the rights to each character belongs to their respective owners.
Harmony of the heart.
A young filly Vinyl Scratch stood in the doorway of Octavia Melody's bedroom, observing closely as the young grey filly stood on her hind legs so she could play the violin which allowed a sweet and gentle song to flow through the house.
She always admired her older sister, no matter how different they were. Octavia would always lay down everything within a heartbeat if it was for the good of her baby sister and Vinyl appreciated that so much that not even words would be enough.
The object Octavia adored most, though, would have to be her cello. It was a gift that their parents had given her for her birthday and she adored it, it even assisted her to provide a soft and soothing melody...
But it was a melody that Vinyl wished she could speak about and compliment, for you see Vinyl had been born a mute.
Not only that but she was a rare albino unicorn with irises as red as rubies and her coat was white as snow. The only thing that was colourful about her would have to be her spiky tomboyish mane which was blue with cyan streaks.
Her flank was even as bare as a newborn foal's bottom but she didn't care about that, all she cared about was her sister winning a performance that was really important to her.
Ever since the Manehatten school of gifted foals had announced an upcoming recital to see which act could go through to perform in front of Princess Celestia herself, Octavia had been working her flank off and practicing every other hour without giving herself a good long break.
It was obvious she wanted this more than anything, nothing could break her concentration.
What Vinyl concentrated more than anything, though, was the way the bow rubbed the strings of her sister's cello and the way it weaved through the air gracefully. Octavia's face was hard and filled with focus as she closed her magenta eyes to let the music soak into her mind, her throat softly vibrating to indicate that was she was silently humming the tune as she played.
But there was one thing that worried the young Vinyl about the young grey-furred earth pony's choice of music: nobody like orchestra very much.
Orchestra had basically been booted out to make way for rock and roll and jazz and stuff and Vinyl feared for her big sister getting made fun of and she didn't want her to be humiliated in front of thousands of ponies, but Vinyl had no idea what she could do.
It wasn't like she could change everyone's opinions on how Orchestra sounded all willy-nilly, besides Octavia's musical prowess was her passion and she couldn't change that fact. She wouldn't want to change her big sister in anyway either yet she still fretted about other ponies tearing her confidence to shreds. She was a bit of a shy pony and it took a lot for her to pluck up the courage so she could get up and play on stage.
Speaking of the devil, she then heard her big sister's voice bellow from the other room "Vinyl Scratch, I told you a thousand times not to disturb me while I rehearse!"
Vinyl scurried away whilst she grinned, she loved her sister and harboured no doubts about her musical talents. She was a tad worried about what would happen at that recital, though, especially since their parents were musical geniuses themselves.
What if the crowd turned on her, Octavia would probably never play music again if they all stomped on her feelings and her performance. She would be severely wounded...
Octavia swallowed fearfully as she stared out on to the stage from behind the scenes. She peered through the backstage curtain and her ears were down since she had been trembling ever since she had arrived at backstage.
She was constantly fumbling with the oversized magenta bow tie she wore around her neck and her hooves would constantly tug at the folded collars that decorated either side of her neck.
The bow was slightly too big for her and would constantly be knocked askew by some sort of invisible force.
Her chest was in a vice and she felt like she could hardly breathe as she stared at the stage she would have to go on with shrunken pupils and a mortified expression on her face.
Vinyl, worried for her older sister, proceeded to approach her and try and calm her nerves. She may not have had a voice to communicate via speech but her expressions were all she needed to try and express herself and her emotions. Her sister needed comfort and she could do nothing but try and assure Tavi and give her the encouragement to go on there and do her best.
Octavia seemed to sense her sister's encouragement and she smiled warmly at the younger filly "V-Vinyl..."
Vinyl sensed the warmth in her older sister's posh voice and she couldn't help but feel her heart glow in response. She smiled and patted Octavia on the shoulder with her eyes softening and Octavia, loving her baby sister for the encouragement, wrapped her foreleg around the small albino unicorn and she tugged softly at her pink bow tie to try and make herself look a tad more formal.
"Thank you, little sister, I am so glad you came to support me."
"Why look, Filthy! It is the riff-raff and her little freak of a sister~" A bratty suave voice called out.
Both Octavia and Vinyl glanced over and looked at a young earth pony colt whom had brown fur and a sleek black and oily mane. He had timid blue eyes and his brows were in a constant furrow, he had three moneybags as his cutie mark and he seemed to have been a generally nice little colt.
Standing beside him, though, was another young earth pony filly whom had a Persian pink coat and she had a dark purple mane. Around her neck was a necklace with pretty pearls that hung from it. She bore a diamond ring cutie mark on her flank and she had a mean look in her teal eyes.
She grinned evilly at the two fillies, especially at the younger albino unicorn whom hid behind her sister's legs for protection.
"Why hello, Tavi, what brings you here?" The filly inquired.
Octavia sighed and rolled her magenta eyes. She was already annoyed by this filly's presence while her friend, Filthy, looked down at the ground timidly without saying a word.
The two rich foals were, obviously, from fabulously wealthy families in Manhattan and they were even quite a polite bunch when they went to evening events. However the colt and filly of the factions were very spoilt and (excluding one of them) bratty due to the fact that they were showered with gifts on a daily basis.
Even if they, mainly the filly known as Spoiled Princess, committed murder the pair would have gotten away with it easily; thankfully Filthy Rich seemed to have been brought up to be more civil and polite.
His filly friend on the other hoof wasn't as nice.
Octavia replied stiffly yet calmly whilst she cradled her violin close against her chest "I'm going to perform in the recital. What else?"
Spoiled scoffed, presenting her own instrument to the two sisters. It was a diamond-encrusted guitar which had golden tuning pegs and it had a solid platinum casing on the back of it. The wood on front of it seemed to have been hollow and would have probably been enough to give an impressive echo effect once a string had been plucked; it seemed to have been crafted by the finest of hooves and everyone was impressed.
Needless to say the guitar was a labour of adoration, there wasn't a doubt about this. However the words the filly spoke made Octavia narrow her eyes a bit.
"Yes, well, you ruffians are going to bow before MY musical skills. My father got this jewel-encrusted guitar just for me and he made sure to pay the creators handsomely for this."
Octavia opened her mouth to retort but only for Vinyl to come out of hiding and storm right up to the pompous filly and point a emphasising hoof back over towards her sister. The little albino unicorn's sunglasses-hidden, red-rimmed eyes glared as her face had a look of defensive anger as she even stomped her other hoof for emphasis to whatever she was trying to say.
To the black-grey older filly, it seemed that her baby sister was trying to convey how much better she was at music.
Spoiled Princess sneered at the small filly and smirked evilly down at her whilst she reached forwards and snatched Vinyl's glasses upwards to reveal her crimson eyes "Stay out of this. You're nothing and you can't even talk back, can you you little red-eyed freak?"
Vinyl faltered and backed off. After Spoiled had spoken those cruel words, Vinyl's eyes betrayed the fact that the insult was like a cold icy stab in the heart. Her sunglasses were dropped back over her eyes moments before she took cover behind her big sister.
Octavia had to grit her teeth and remain civil all the while.
For some reason, all the foals gone after poor little Vinyl because of her unique eye colouration and because of her lack of a voice. She knew it wasn't fair for the poor young filly and she actually wished she could ram her hoof into that smug rich filly's face even though she had known she had to keep a cool head and maintain a proper composure as to not cause trouble and cause any negative influences on her baby sister.
Filthy intervened to avoid a nasty squabble as he gripped on to the other earth filly's hoof "S-Spoiled, we shouldn't be so mean."
The filly scoffed and rolled her eyes at her colt friend "You're no fun, Ritchie. You have to grow a backbone eventually..." She pushed the colt off her and was about to deliver unto the smaller filly another harsh comment when the filly came out of hiding and sneered at her with her little horn glowing a bright blue.
The air around them hummed softly as Vinyl's horn charged with some faint distinct trace of magic power. Clearly Vinyl was made of some tough stuff to bounce back so quickly after getting humiliated.
The three earth ponies stared at the albino unicorn with muted curiosity and they each wondered which object Vinyl's magic would pick up when a adult unicorn mare came on the scene whilst she wore a gentle smile on her muzzle, looking down at the small group of foals.
The school teacher pony smiled down at the children and asked Octavia, oblivious to the fact that the situation was seconds away from exhilarating into chaos and physical violence.
When she looked down at little Octavia, she smiled and asked "Octavia Melody. Are you ready?"
Octavia decided to turn away from the two spoilt ponies and her sister so she could answer the adult. She gave a curt nod to reply and she clutched the cello tighter to herself as if someone were about to snatch it away. She wore a fearless and calm expression on her face as she tried not to give away how frightened she was.
She slowly turned to face little Vinyl once more and gave her a small hug. She put the musical instrument down and wrapped her hooves around the small unicorn.
Vinyl started giving her big sister a supportive pat on the shoulder in turn, and it was then that Spoiled had leaned in and whispered in the older filly's ear "Orchestra isn't popular anymore, blank flank...your silly little audition is going to fall flat on its-"
"What was that, Spoiled Princess?" The mare called out with a furrowed brow, cutting the filly off.
The young rich filly immediately abandoned the bratty filly persona and smiled sweetly up at the teacher whilst grabbing Filthy's hoof in hers "Nothing Mrs Horseshoes. We were just wishing Tavi goodluck, weren't we Filthy?"
When the young colt didn't answer right away, he received a swift punch to the shoulder and looked over at his friend with shock written all over his face as his ears fell and his big blue eyes fell to the ground with shame. He didn't like it when his friend was a big bully yet he felt like he had to go along with it unless he wished to be a disappointment to his family.
Filthy Rich reluctantly nodded in agreement to what the filly said, mumbling under his breath "U-Um...yes, yes we were."
The mare gave the two a long look before she started to trot back out on to the stage to announce the next act of the night.
Meanwhile Vinyl had been looking sadly at her big sister who had a worried look shimmering within her lovely lavender purple pools. She knew that Octavia was worried now because of what that mean rich filly said and she knew that she was correct.
Again, orchestra was a dying genre of music and nothing or no pony could revive its popularity except for the elderly ponies who sought out some nostalgia.
Octavia craned her neck down and picked up the cello in her mouth and Vinyl could not do anything else but watch as her sister started to head off towards the stage. She took some very proud strides yet it was obvious that her posture was one insult away from faltering entirely and the young unicorn could only peer through the sidelines and watch with curious fear.
From what she could make out, the stage was crude but very well-crafted. The floorboards were hollow and with each hoof step that pounded against it, it made a slight creaking sound. The curtains behind it were made with fine crimson velvet and the lights hanging overhead were very expensive-looking.
The stage was a marvel to look at and the spotlight fell on Octavia as she walked and she stood right in the middle of the stage with sweat dripping down her head.
She froze when she saw how many ponies were there to watch.
The minority of the crowd were adults, clearly parents and other family members with the intention of watching their children perform to the best of their ability. They wore patient expressions as they watched the young pony stand there, Octavia scanned the big swarm of stallions, mares and foals even noticed that her and Vinyl's parents were mixed in with the crowd.
The spotlight shone dimly on the earth pony wearing the pink bow and her muzzle had been wrenched closed. Her legs had seized up and her throat closed up so she could hardly breathe, it was as if all those eyes looking on her had been painfully spot lit and were actually mocking her.
She was suffering from stage fright.
She was perfectly still until she received a light tap on the shoulder. Looking over at the teacher, she nodded at her sternly and this made Octavia start to try and calm herself as much as possible. She didn't wish to lose her composure.
So, exhaling heavily, Octavia repositioned her cello and grabbed the bow in her mouth before she started to stream it across the singular strings that straightened along the instrument. Her heart was pounding and she was constantly having to lick her lips to prevent her mouth from getting too dry.
Playing the cello made a beautiful sound glide through the air like a bird taking flight. It had a lovely tune, it carried such soft harmonies whilst she played a classical song that was like a river of the sweetest honey.
Although not all of the ponies saw it this way, unfortunately.
"Boo! Play something more original!" A voice from the crowd yelled, startling Octavia into stopping as she stared into the crowd with widening eyes.
Another pony joined in "Yeah! Play something more unique!"
Octavia was dumbstruck as she stared at the crowd worriedly. They wanted something more unique? She didn't know how she could oblige to the request but she narrowed her eyes in a determined glare, focusing herself, and she started to play her cello again with grace and passion.
She frowned as she played, trying not to let those ponies get to her and mess with her concentration.
Alas it still wasn't good enough.
"You call that unique!? That was boring!"
"Get off the stage! I might as well go home right now!"
"Boooo!"
The filly's ears slowly flattened against her skull as her jaw became slack which caused her to drop the bow to the ground. Her composure was crumbling apart and her eyes were starting to water with big fat tears as the crowd continued to boo at her. The musical young filly's heart shattered and she dropped her cello to the ground, it bounced beside the bow, and she couldn't help but lower her head in shame.
All the voices started to mix and combine in her ears and she started to feel cornered whilst all those negative shouts from every pony overwhelmed and frightened her.
"I...I-I..." She tried to speak despite her voice mellowing into soft whimpers.
From behind the scenes, Filthy and Spoiled and Vinyl observed the verbal pummelling of Octavia with hints of concern; it was possible that Spoiled rich was feeling sympathetic too but if she was, she did a good job at hiding it.
Spoiled Princess lifted her nose up high and gave a triumphant little smile.
"Hmph! I told her so..." Harrumphed the bratty Persian pink filly as she started to casually saunter away to polish her jewel-encrusted guitar. Her and Filthy proceeded to walk away to probably gloat or something.
Vinyl couldn't care less as her glasses-concealed eyes went wide with panic when she observed the scene with muted mortification and worry. She didn't know what she could do to help but she did know that she had to go and help her big sister!
But what could she do? It wasn't like she had a voice.
She couldn't give up either, Octavia needed help and it wasn't the kind of help from the sidelines she needed. She needed physical and emotional assistance and even though the little unicorn wasn't as musically gifted as Octavia, she was willing to try anything.
Her eyes lit up like lights in pitch black darkness when she suddenly hit upon a sudden idea and try to bring some creativity and flavour to Octy's performance.
Without a second thought, Vinyl Scratch quickly took off to quickly search behind the stage for a musical instrument of some sort. She darted towards a small stash of equipment and hurriedly shuffled and sifted her eyes through each and every object that she would hold in her hooves whilst she searched.
She dug relentlessly for something, anything, that she could use to help her elder sister and just when Vinyl was about to give up something strange happened; no one knew why or how it happened but the lights simultaneously gave out and suddenly the whole entire building was left in darkness.
A sharp gasp left little Vinyl's throat as she jumped, startled. She didn't expect that and she could swear that something had set her off when everything was swallowed in pitch black darkness. She didn't even have the sense to conjure a simple illumination spell since she panicked so much.
The screams and startled yelps of several ponies filled the albino unicorn filly's ears as her hooves skittered in all four directions as she ran around aimlessly and eventually her scurrying had led up to her losing her balance and doing an accidental sideways tumble and she suddenly found herself crashing into several things.
A very loud crashing sound resonated as Vinyl's side collided with the strange object.
The little pony found herself being flung into the air by some invisible force and she smashed into what felt like some sort of cold metal surface. She winced as she got to her hooves, yet her front hooves seemed to have planted down on some strange flat objects.
She gasped softly with shock as she almost pulled her hooves away from the cold flat things but she didn't, she couldn't draw them back. It was as if some invisible force was melting her two front hooves to these things.
She decided to literally shine some light on the situation as she closed her eyes and concentrated deeply on letting her horn let off a few bright magenta sparks that managed to shine a light to illuminate through the pitch black darkness.
It cut through the dark like a sword piercing flesh and Vinyl reached to her brow and raised her glasses so she could finally see whatever she had been gripping on to.
Vinyl was surprised to see that she was sitting with some sort of device perched in front of her. It was like a big box made of hardcore machinery which had two little black vinyl discs on top of it, her hoof was pressed against one of those discs. There was also a pair of headphones set aside and they seemed to have been collecting dust; it was obvious that this odd thing hadn't been used in ages.
The small albino unicorn was confused as to what to do. Certainly this could be her sister's saving grace yet she knew nothing about this thing. How does it even work?
She turned her crimson eyes to see a small little switch that seemed to have looked important as it was idly nestled alongside a big collection of buttons. So, very cautiously, Vinyl pressed against the switch and slowly pushed it upwards and it all seemed to have burst to life as the device switched on within seconds.
The little unicorn was dumbstruck.
This machine looked incredible! She couldn't explain how she felt right now and she started to feel a sudden instinctive oppression stir within her, begging and creaming out for her to use his thing to help her sister.
Vinyl knew that this plan was poorly conceived and probably not work but she refused to give up!
Octavia needed help!
The little unicorn pony let her instincts guide her when it came to operating this machine-music-thing although she did do a crash course before properly fiddling with it. She eventually pressed one single button and, once again, it burst into a strange type of music.
She quickly recognised it as dub step.
Dub step had been developed as early as a few years ago in the town of Fillydelphia and was still just finding its way on to the list of great types of music. While it wasn't highly praised yet and ponies were very indifferent about it, there were some (like Vinyl) whom became completely entranced in this strange new-age musical style.
Vinyl smiled as she felt the beat coming from the scratch discs pound against her hooves. She was most definitely liking the heavy beat of the dub step pound in her ears and she most definitely loved this sensation as it sent sonic vibrations up her hooves. She may not have been very familiar with the machine but she was quickly starting to realise that she was becoming sincerely joyful as she played this.
She even lifted her sunglasses to reveal her crimson irises that were alit with a happiness that couldn't compare.
Vinyl let her hooves did the talking as she turned the volume up to a near ear-bleedingly high volume and started to play with the discs; rubbing her small hooves against the vinyl-made scratching discs made long sounds ricochet with the booming sounds the boom box produced.
The speakers blasted the music full-on and now, everyone whom was still left in the dark was amazed about what these sounds were.
Octavia was confused about the sudden disruption to her performance and she looked around to try and find the source of the weird noises. She turned on her hooves, as did the teacher beside her, and her eyes went wide with awe when she found that a spotlight that found its way on to none other then her little sister whom was perched on top of the boom box and was bobbing her head along with the beat it made whilst she paused and looked over the top of it.
Vinyl paused when she spotted her older sister and, when she saw the older filly's eyes grow even wide, smiled as she nodded encouragingly and pointed her small hoof down low to the cello that laid idly on the floor of the stage.
Octavia lit up when she knew that Vinyl was trying to get her to play something and she didn't hesitate to pick up her beloved instrument and bow before she slowly started to play something, causing a marvellous melody to burst from it.
The song was old yet it was also quite pretty, the young earth pony was trying her hardest to maintain a cool and collected composure as she let the spotlight return to her small form.
Vinyl Scratch took the opportunity and started to fiddle with the device once more, creating a small yet quiet racket that somehow harmonised with the violin music her sister was playing. The dub step technologically slid into a soft symphony that beautifully complimented the music that Tavi was producing on her end.
The crowd watched, dumbstruck, as the two sisters created a sound with two styles of music that had never been heard before: dub step and orchestra.
Octavia grinned as she streamed the bow across the delicate ivory strings of her cello and Vinyl's dub step accompanied it, her heart swelling with pride whilst she tried to fight back tears of gratefulness of Vinyl's assistance; she had no doubt that if it weren't for Vinyl's intervention then she wouldn't still be on this stage.
The finale was grand as the dubs and violin music perfectly came to a soft mellow halt and, when the music had stopped playing, all the ponies whom were gathered in the audience had applauded the duo as Vinyl finally stepped out from behind the boom box and galloped up to her sister, whom wasted naught but a moment to wrap a hoof around the small albino unicorn and held her close.
The small unicorn filly's Crimson pools softened with affection as she nuzzled her sister's chest, the sound of Octavia's beating heart drummed in her ears and was almost soothing like a lullaby.
Vinyl Scratch and Octavia melody.
They were such a good team.
Time whirled by and eventually the best musical act of the recital would be finally named.
All the students that had entered found the atmosphere nerve-wracking as most of them chewed on their own hooves, some just paced around the whole backstage, others simply covered their ears and squeezed their eyes shut; Vinyl and Octavia were in the category of the latter.
The duo held each other close and awaited their fates. Would they be named the winners for their combined performance? Or would they simply lose and try again at a different musical audition? Either turnout was fine with them, as long as they would be together.
The teacher of the school, Mrs. Horseshoes, stood on stage and her voice boomed through the microphone "Alright. The best performance prize goes to..."
She paused, holding on the word "to" to make some dramatic effect. It felt like an eternity before she finally announced the winners.
"Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch!"
Neither fillies Vinyl or Octavia could quite believe their ears. They won? They seriously, seriously won!? Octavia smiled with tears in her eyes as she took her baby sister's hoof and led her out into the stage. Her throat was tight, her legs felt like jelly, she was overtaken by a series of quaky tremors and she could swear that her oversized pink bowtie felt even tighter around her neck.
Vinyl was grinning from ear-to-ear whilst she clasped on tight to the older earth pony's hoof like a security blanket. Her glasses were gleaming with confidence and tears of joy threatened to spill down her snow-white cheeks. Her small heart was pounding a mile a minute.
The slowly stridden on to the stage with their small faces beaming with pride and they both taken the centre of the stage.
The crowd applauded and the two sisters embraced each other as a spotlight shone upon the duo, they were so deep in a blissful silence even ignored a simultaneous flashes that came from their flanks. The crowd even gasped upon seeing the two musical sisters get their cutie marks at the very same moment; both of them being musical notes.
Vinyl's was a mirror image of two bridged eighth notes, and Octavia's was a purple treble clef musical note.
When the two fillies looked up with confusion upon realising that the crowd had fallen silent and was gawking at them, they looked down at each of their flanks and got the shock of their lives upon seeing the obvious cutie marks being etched upon them. Octavia let out a loud shriek of glee as she picked Vinyl up and spun her around out of pure joy. Surely this wasn't like her older sibling yet Vinyl didn't care, they had BOTH received their cutie marks!
This was surely the best day of their lives!
Meanwhile, in the back of the stage, Spoiled Princess was indignant. How dare those lower class ponies steal HER spotlight! She was so angry about it that she picked up her diamond guitar and slammed it on the ground, making it smash into tiny pieces.
She knew she had half a mind to claim what was rightfully hers but as she was going to step on to the stage to do so, she felt a sudden hoof land on her shoulder and jerk her back.
The young pink earth pony turned her head with a fire in her eyes with a plan to yell at whomever was preventing her from taking back what was rightfully hers...but she was shocked when she discovered that she was staring directly into a pair of familiar hesitating yet chilled blue eyes.
"F-Filthy, what are you doing!?" She asked, shocked.
Filthy Rich kept his firm grip on Spoiled and frowned "P-Princess...it's not worth it."
Spoiled was shocked when the young Colt said that and opened her mouth to bark out a harsh response but, even so, she found herself unable to. She had been entranced by those cool blue eyes and that stern voice was enough to flip her mind frame instantly, like a pancake in a frying pan.
She always was never one to turn down such a firm voice nor some pony standing up to her. It was still a foreign concept yet only a select few ponies knew that.
Spoiled Princess sighed with defeat and begrudgingly started to walk out the building with Filthy Rich trotting alongside her, refusing to leave her side. They had big plans for their future and they were social ponies; Equestria was huge and they wanted to climb right to the top of the social ladder.
They, like the two sisters on stage, had big plans with their lives.
Octavia pulled Vinyl in close and hugged her tight whilst she murmured in the small unicorn's ear "Oh thank you, Vinyl..."
Vinyl wrapped her own small hooves around Tavi's neck and buried her face into the dark gray fur on her chest. She felt that thanks wasn't necessary since she was just doing what sisters do, she would do anything for her older sister and she would do anything for her. Holy Celestia! Octavia once sacrificed a week of violin practice to stay by her bedside when she had caught the whooping cough!
But she wasn't too surprised about this because that's what sister's did.
A/N: Hi, guys!
This is my longest mlp story, I believe! I think Vinyl and Octavia are a good duo so I made a story about them and how they got their cutie marks. I even decided to add Spoiled Rich and Filthy Rich in there as foals, I don't think she got the name Spoiled Rich at birth so I made her birth name Spoiled Princess instead. She gets the "Rich" in her name after marrying Filthy.
I never really done a sister fic like this before so I thought, why not make a start?
Btw, I got the Vinyl/Octavia sister idea from watching the Fiery Joker's review on Slice of Life. I even made the dub step idea up for the story, I know that it's not really dying.
Anyways, please review and tell me what you all think about this.
-Chloemcg