An ongoing fanfiction series by DoctorSpectrum
, published sporadically on Fimfiction.net. Each one revolves around Vinyl Scratch and Octavia of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fame, as the title suggests. Although each can be read on their own, there are explicit and implicit references to the other stories in the series, and a few subplots which carry throughout the series. In reading order, the stories are:
- Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle: Vinyl and Octavia meet for the first time whilst on holiday to the Amarezon Jungle. After a less than brilliant meeting the two find themselves separated from their tour group and lost in the jungle. Before they know it, they're racing an evil baron and his bumbling assistant to find an ancient treasure and escape from the jungle.
- Vinyl and Octavia Move House: An interquel set between Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle and Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk, which details how Vinyl and Octavia ended up moving in together.
- Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk: Set a few months after Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle, Vinyl and Octavia are now living together. After Vinyl comes home drunk one night too many and Octavia complains, Vinyl convinces her to go out drinking with her. Intoxication Ensues.
- Vinyl and Octavia Are Forcibly Shipped: Around a year or so after they first met, Vinyl and Octavia are on another holiday when they find themselves kidnapped and being forcibly shipped by an unknown pony. It'll take all of their strength to get out of this one alive.
- Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas: A quiet evening at home for Octavia is spoiled when she's unexpectedly attacked by ninjas. She and Vinyl are then forced to work together to fight them off and discover who's behind the attack.
- Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates: Vinyl and Octavia have agreed to go on two dates, with each pony hosting a date for the other.
- Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay: After Octavia finds an old copy of the Pony Tales handbook, she convinces Vinyl to get into roleplaying.
- Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives': Vinyl and Octavia are unexpectedly hired to become private investigators, looking into a case involving a missing husband and a murder.
- Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny: After the events of Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' , Octavia has go to court.
- Vinyl and Octavia Bust Out of Prison: Vinyl and Octavia have been framed and sent to jail, but that doesn't mean that they're going to have to stay there!
- Vinyl and Octavia Join COBRA: In Manehattan after escaping from prison, Vinyl and Octavia have only one place to turn for money: COBRA.
- Vinyl and Octavia Break the Timestream: After a failed spell is activated, Vinyl and Octavia find themselves jumping around Equestrian history, with no sign of getting home.
- Vinyl and Octavia Rob a Casino: With COBRA running low on money, Vinyl and Octavia agree to take part in a casino heist in an attempt to acquire more funds for the organisation.
- Vinyl and Octavia's Freaky Day: Vinyl and Octavia have been together for longer than they can remember by now, but what happens when it turns out that they're not as close as they thought they were? What's the next step for the two mares? And what's with that strangely-worded piece of paper Vinyl acquired?
- Vinyl and Octavia Jump the Shark: Vinyl and Octavia have done it all: from macheteing their way through the jungle to swapping bodies due to an ancient curse. But now it's all come to a head in this, their final adventure. What is the important mission which only they can carry out? Who has returned from their past to wreak havoc? And which character, previously thought dead, has unexpectedly turned out to have never been dead at all? All of the answers are here, in the final Vinyl and Octavia story.
The Vinyl and Octavia Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Vinyl Scratch, although it's strictly Played for Laughs and not otherwise important to the series.
- All Men Are Perverts: Octavius and Bass Drop from Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas, whose romance foreshadows that which begins between Octavia and Vinyl Scratch at the end of the story. They're much more open about it than Vinyl and Octavia are several stories later, to the point that it's implied that Vinyl and Octavia would already have started dating long ago if they both weren't female.
- What's more, even though Vinyl and Octavia regularly have sex once their relationship begins and make no big secret of it, Vinyl either fails to pick up on Octavia's obvious seduction attempts in Chapter 7 of Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, or purposely trolls her by pretending as much; contrast that with Bass Drop, who responds to Octavius's much less obvious suggestions by immediately engaging in sex despite their alternate-universe counterparts still being present.
- To a lesser extent, Neon Lights, who flirts with Vinyl Scratch incessantly.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:Octavia hesitated as she looked around the cramped apartment. Piles of unwashed clothes lay everywhere, which was odd as Vinyl had never worn clothes in the short time Octavia knew her. The sink was filled with messy dishes, which Octavia suspected were several days, if not weeks, old. The walls were cracked, the ceiling was leaking in a few rooms, and the carpet didn’t match the drapes.
- Asshole Victim: Although it's downplayed, Switch Blade from Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' is mentioned to be a gangster in the employ of the Marefia.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Although Vinyl and Octavia do argue and bicker a lot, there's usually at least one scene per story in which one will do something especially nice for the other.
- Bait-and-Switch: In Vinyl and Octavia Move House, it's hinted at many times that Vinyl will just move into Octavia's house. Finally, the two realise that this is the best solution to their problem and are prepared to do it... and then Octavia's house is destroyed and they have to find a new house to move into.
- An earlier moment occurs in the same story: Vinyl and Octavia are discussing their houses. Vinyl lives in a bad apartment, but because it's cheap she has a lot of money. Octavia lives in a large house, but because of the rent, she can barely afford it. After discussing this, Octavia has a brilliant idea - for the two ponies to go out for ice cream, since she suddenly got a craving for it.
- Battle Couple: Not that they go around fighting all that much (though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise at times), but it certainly applies.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Mostly used as a source of comedy, particularly in Vinyl and Octavia Are Forcibly Shipped and Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas.
- Big Bad: Each fic usually has at least one antagonist.
- Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle: Baron von Darkhoof and Stumblefeather.
- Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk: The bartender, although he's a minor example. He gets an upgrade in the next story, though that too is quite minor.
- Vinyl and Octavia Are Forcibly Shipped: Baron von Darkhoof and Stumblefeather, again.
- Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas: Octavius and Bass Drop.
- Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates: Neon Lights.
- Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay: Natural Twenty, although that's debatable.
- Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' : Giovanni and Winter Snow.
- Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny: Giovanni again, alongside Prosecutor Milise Deauxnim for a Big Bad Duumvirate.
- Black Spot: Parodied. Octavia panics when she thinks that Vinyl has the Spot, only for it to be revealed to be some grease.
- Brick Joke: In Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, Octavia says that Vinyl sometimes has a slow reaction time, to which Vinyl replies that Octavia has nice hooves. Two chapters later, Vinyl suddenly bursts out "Hey, I don’t have a slow reaction time!"
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Octavia gets much more drunk than Vinyl when she drinks, although to be fair, whenever she does get drunk it's the result of her drinking a lot of alcohol in a short time.Octavia merely stood on the same spot, and stared off into the distance. “I just vomited a lot of stuff, Vinyl…” she said weakly.
- Character Development: Throughout the course of the first story, Vinyl and Octavia learn to put up with each other and become friends. Perhaps best exemplified by Vinyl calling Octavia by her full name for the first time. Aside from a few minor moments few and far between, it's stuck.
- Chased by Angry Natives: Once the natives of Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle realise that Vinyl is seeking out their treasure, all bets of friendliness are off.
- Chekhov's Gun: Almost literal example. At the start of Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, Vinyl is given a sub-woofer model known as a Chekhov's Gun by Octavia. It's seemingly just as a lead-in for the story. However, in Vinyl and Octavia Bust Out of Prison, it turns out that Vinyl manages to sneak it into the prison, and by overloading it she blows up the lock to the cell door.
- The Chessmaster: In Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny, Winter Snow reveals at the end that they were behind the events of the last two stories, with nopony realising so.
- Cliffhanger: For the first time in the series, one of the fics ends on a cliffhanger in Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives'. Vinyl is framed for the murder of Switch Blade.
- Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny has another one - both Vinyl and Octavia are sent to jail.
- Continuity Nod: Occur quite frequently. For example, in Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates, Octavia mentions that she's fought ninjas before, without any other context being given.
- Courtroom Drama: Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny in a nutshell.
- Crazy Enough to Work: In Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, some of the plans the two come up with. Perhaps the best example is tying thousands of balloons to a ship and flying it to Canterlot to kill Celestia.
- Darker and Edgier: Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' has the duo investigating a murder, which is fairly dark for a series which until now had been mostly light-hearted humour and had tended to downplay violence.
- It gets worse with Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny - for the first time in the series, a villain actually dies.
- Denser and Wackier: From Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk onwards, the series is much more comedic and has more handwavings used. Lampshaded.Octavia: Remember the days when we did normal things like getting lost in the jungle and going treasure hunting? I miss them.
- Detective Drama: Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' is/parodies one.
- Deus ex Machina: Lampshaded to the point of parody. Vinyl is saved from a sword stab by a subwoofer she apparently had strapped to her chest. The model of the subwoofer? The Deus Ex Machina 9000.
- Double-Meaning Title: Aside from the obvious, Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates can also refer to the fact that the story opens on Vinyl and Octavia eating a lot of dates (the fruit).
- Vinyl and Octavia Are Forcibly Shipped refers to both the pair being shipped in a crate in the cargo hold of a pirate ship and the fact that this story marks the first time the series seriously begins teasing Will They or Won't They?, complete with their first kiss.
- Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay sounds like a mere Double Entendre when the premise of the two playing a Tabletop RPG becomes clear near the beginning of the story. It doesn't become this trope until the story's very last line.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first story in the series is more or less a straight adventure story. Although there is comedy, the story itself is not one, unlike the rest of the series. There's no sexual tension between Vinyl and Octavia, and aside from a few mentionings of shipping, there is no hint that the two have feelings for one another. Vinyl spends most of the story referring to Octavia by the nickname "Tavi," a common staple of other fanfiction featuring the two but not this series. Finally, this story is around 40,000 words long and spread out over multiple chapters, unlike the rest of the series, which are all one-shots (with the exception of Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates and Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, but even the former is still only two chapters and is in fact shorter than some of the other stories).
- Although it appears to be the exception rather than the rule, Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay is also a lengthy fic (over 30,000 words) and is spread over multiple chapters, like Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle.
- Evidence Scavenger Hunt: There's a brief scene in Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' where Vinyl and Octavia look around the scene of Switch Blade's murder for clues.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The title of each story usually also serves as a synopsis.
- First-Name Basis: See Character Development.
- Foil: Neon Lights has a very similar personality to Vinyl, but unlike her he seems much more selfish and doesn't care about ponies other than himself. Admittedly, Vinyl can often seem selfish, but it's made clear several times that she cares about Octavia.
- Foreshadowing: Octavius and Bass Drop's relationship in Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas. At the end of the story, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia confess their mutual feelings for one another and agree to give dating a try.
- In both Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' and Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny, it's mentioned that Mr. F sounds androgynous, and until he mentions his name nopony is sure which gender he is. It's foreshadowing that Mr. F is actually a female, specifically Winter Snow.
- In Vinyl and Octavia Move House, Octavia suggests that she and Vinyl roll a d20 to determine who gets a particular room, foreshadowing her knowledge of and previous experience with roleplaying, which comes back in Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay.
- Friendly Enemy: Stumblefeather is quite friendly to Vinyl and Octavia. During the climax of Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle, he stops fighting Vinyl to sit down and friendlily explain to her why he works with Baron von Darkhoof. Offscreen.
- Game Master: In Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, Natural Twenty is introduced as one, having previously DM'd for Octavia whilst she was in university. He's also quite bad at it, though he makes an effort to improve after their rather disastrous first session.
- Genre Roulette: At time of writing, we have: an action-adventure (with little comedy), comedic slice of life, romance, murder mystery, courtroom drama, and prison break as the different genres in the series. With the exception of the first story, though, almost all of the stories are comedic to differing extents.
- Giant Spider: One captures Vinyl and Octavia in its web in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle.
- The Glomp“You finally called me Octavia!” Octavia squealed, leaping at Vinyl in some sort of hug attack.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The fourth story in a nutshell. In the author notes, the author flat-out says that he wrote the story because he wanted to write a story with ninjas in it.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: In scenes and stories which are less action-oriented, Vinyl Scratch is often drinking or mentioned to be hungover.
- Hidden Depths: Although Vinyl Scratch has a personality similar to hers in most My Little Pony fanfiction, it's strongly implied that, though scatter-brained, she's nonetheless very intelligent. Probably the best example would be in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle, in which she arranges to separate Octavia and herself from the tourist group after subtly testing Octavia to see whether she'd be a good help in the jungle, all the while making it look like a genuine accident.
- In the same story, Stumblefeather fervently denies Vinyl's assertion that Baron von Darkhoof only cares about himself, claiming that Darkhoof just seems that way before telling Vinyl a detailed story explaining why he willingly serves the Baron. Naturally, this happens entirely offscreen.
- In Vinyl and Octavia Move House, it's revealed that Vinyl is a very good cook.
- It's revealed in Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny that Giovanni enjoys crosswords.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Lampshaded. After stealthily breaking into Vinyl and Octavia's house, a ninja smashes a window on purpose, saying that leaping through windows is the sort of cool entrance ninjas should be doing.
- Hollywood Natives: In Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle.
- Hope Spot: Twice, both times in Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny.
- The first time, Octavia is given evidence which proves who the real murderer is. She's ready to use it... only to be disbarred from practicing law since it's inadmissible evidence.
- The second time, the courtroom doors burst open and it seems that somepony is about to come through and save the case... only for it to be revealed that Vinyl opened the door with her telekinesis in the hopes of invoking this.
- Hungry Jungle: The setting of Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every title of every story in the series is "Vinyl and Octavia..." followed by a general synopsis of the plot. To a lesser extent, as there's only two chapters, Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates has the chapters named Octavia's Date with Vinyl and Vinyl's Date with Octavia respectively.
- Intoxication Ensues: Sums up Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk quite nicely.
- Karma Houdini: Zig-zagged in Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny. The main villain, Giovanni is killed at the end, but The Chessmaster gets away with everything they've done, with nopony even realising that they were behind the events of the past two fics. However, in Vinyl and Octavia Rob A Casino, it's mentioned that Police caught the real culprit and found out that Vinyl and Octavia were not responsible for the murder and have been let off the hook, which means that Winter Snow eventually did get caught and punished.
- Killer Game Master: Although Natural Twenty is this, he claims that he does so to be realistic and that he's not being unfair. Nopony buys it.
- Lampshade Hanging: Occurs a lot. Possibly the best is a flashback which recaps the series - Vinyl and Octavia talk to a pony named Exposition, who asks them some questions which sum up what's happened so far.“Ah yes, I do recall speaking to Exposition,” Octavia said, as Vinyl finished explaining. “She certainly lived up to her name.”
- Like an Old Married Couple: Half of the fun of the series is reading the bickering and bantering between Vinyl and Octavia.
- The Loonie: Vinyl roleplays like this without even trying. Her character sheet is a mix of the skills which she likes the sound of, and some of the plans she comes up with are very out of the ordinary.
- MacGuffin: The treasure in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle.
- The Mafia: Or the Marefia, as Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' refers to it. Giovanni is revealed during the climax to be a high-ranking member of the Marefia.
- Munchkin: Octavia turns out to be one in Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay. She spends the entire game doing whatever she can to acquire loot.
- Narrating the Present: Done by Vinyl in Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' as part of the detective noir parody.
- The Natives Are Restless: At least, until it turns out that they're quite friendly.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: For a brief scene in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle, the two ponies find themselves wading through a river filled with crocodiles.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever motivated the friendly Stumblefeather to work with the evil and abusive Baron von Darkhoof. Vinyl Scratch is privy to the story, whereas Octavia and the audience are not.
- Off the Rails: The direction Vinyl Scratch and Octavia's game of Pony Tales takes, thanks mostly to the former; in the end, the two abandon their initial quest to find treasure in the Amarezon entirely in favor of using magical balloons to fly a pirate ship to Canterlot in order to murder Princess Celestia and usurp her throne - rationalizing that once they've assumed dominion over Equestria, they can just send servants to find the treasure.Vinyl Scratch: What's with this campaign?Natural Twenty: (mutters) You two joined it, that's what.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: In Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' Vinyl is talking to a pegasus who implies that he's the murderer, before the bartender tells her and Octavia to leave for their own good. Although it appears that he's doing so to protect them from the pegasus, it's really because the pegasus is a detective who knows information about the murderer, and the bartender works for said murderer.
- Overly Long Name: Pretty much every title in the series, although Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle takes the cake.
- Pocket Protector: Parodied; Vinyl survives a stabbing from a sword thanks to a miniature subwoofer she has strapped to her chest.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Prosecutor Milise Deauxnim from Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny. Sure, he's a bit of a jerk who ends up getting both Vinyl and Octavia put in jail, but he's only doing the job he was hired for, and everything he does and points out is entirely legal/true.
- Punny Name: It's My Little Pony, so naturally the name of the jungle setting of the first story is the Amarezon. There are too many examples throughout the series to count, particularly in regards to character names.
- Quicksand Sucks: Vinyl briefly gets trapped in some in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle.
- Railroading: Occurs in Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay a lot.
- Red Herring: Vinyl and Octavia both have several items with them in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle which are never used.
- Additionally, in Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives' , there's a pegasus at the bar who appears to be the murderer and nearly admits as much.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Vinyl is red, Octavia is blue. Both show shades of the other at times, however.
- The Reveal: The climax of Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas has the identities of the leaders of the ninja clan, who sent the ninjas to capture Vinyl and Octavia, revealed: Bass Drop and Octavius, their male counterparts from another dimension.
- Relationship Upgrade: At the end of Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Natural Twenty threatens Vinyl Scratch with this trope (by name, no less) if she tries to tell Octavia the magical ability of the sword they got from the village.
- Rule 63: In Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas, the leaders of the ninja clan turn out to be Rule 63 versions of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch from another universe.
- Running Gag: In Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas, ponies repeatedly question whether the plural of ninja is ninjas or ninja. This even carries on a little to subsequent stories.
- Vinyl referring to Octavia as "Tavi" in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle, despite the latter's annoyance and requests to the contrary. It also resurfaces on rare occasions in subsequent stories. ** Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- Both ponies getting drunk, but especially Vinyl Scratch.
- It's a small one, but in Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, Natural Twenty sporadically mentions his brothers. Each is named after a different type of die (e.g. Natural Six).
- In the same story, Vinyl has her character pursue alcohol and sex with Octavia at every opportunity. The latter proves successful roughly 50% of the time.
- Natural Twenty's terrible DMing.
- Vinyl's parodic Film Noir-style narration throughout Vinyl and Octavia in 'Dial D for Detectives'.
- Self-Proclaimed Love Interest:“Can you believe this mare, Octavia?” Vinyl laughed. “Just because you’d totally do me, she thinks that we’re in a relationship!”
- Sleep Cute: At the end of Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk, in a contrast to the opening of the story.
- Shout-Out: In Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas, each ninja name is an anagram of a character from Naruto.
- In the same fic, a DJ named the Hypno Hustler is briefly mentioned. Hypno Hustler is the name of a (very) minor Spider-Man villain.
- One of the chapters of Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through The Jungle is called Temple of Doom.
- In Vinyl and Octavia Move House, Vinyl's house is destroyed to make way for a bypass.
- Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates contains a reference to The Secret of Monkey Island, described under "You Fight Like a Cow."
- In Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, Vinyl and Octavia's characters manage to avoid drowning, and when Octavia fears that the death of Vinyl's character has seriously affected the real Vinyl, she reacts thusly:
- Aside from the Whole-Plot Reference nature of Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny, there's a subtle one - Judge Justice says that his friends call him Vance. The comic book character Justice has the real name of Vance Astro(vik).
- Vinyl and Octavia Join COBRA has Vinyl questioning whether love can bloom on the battlefield.
- Show Within a Show: Vinyl and Octavia get a novel written about their jungle adventure. It's implied to be quite badly written.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: The bartender from Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk. He was just doing his job. This no longer holds true in Vinyl and Octavia Are Forcibly Shipped, where he has sworn revenge on the duo and joined Darkhoof and Stumblefeather's pirate crew.
- Smoke Out: Several variants, both comedic and played straight, occur in Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas.
- To Be Continued: Several fics end on 'The End?'
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Vinyl and Octavia spend a lot of time arguing with each other, but they clearly get along with and like each other.
- Volleying Insults: Octavia and Neon Lights get into one of these in Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates. For bonus points, each insult they make is a music-related pun. Tragically, Octavia doesn't remember any of this the next morning, due to having been very drunk at the time.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After Octavia saves Baron von Darkhoof from the natives in Vinyl and Octavia Machete Their Way Through the Jungle, not only does he not thank her, he calls the guards on her and then flies off.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After the first story, Vinyl's father is more or less never mentioned, nor is his fate.
- In Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas, Octavius and Bass Drop basically give up at the end, at which point Vinyl Scratch and Octavia flee the scene and neither side apparently follows up on the other again. You'd think Octavius and Bass Drop would be a little more persistent after having gone through the trouble of assembling an army of ninjas, or alternatively would have made more of an effort to apologize to their alternate-universe counterparts who they weren't eager about hurting in the first place.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Vinyl and Octavia Duel Destiny to the Ace Attorney series.
- The name of the story is obviously a play on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies.
- In Case 1-2, Phoenix Wright has to defend himself because no one else thinks he's innocent. A similar thing occurs with regards to Octavia defending Vinyl Scratch instead of a real lawyer.
- The character Milise Deauxnim is more or less Miles Edgeworth. For a start, he's called the Demon Prosecutor, and the name is a name which Larry briefly calls Miles in Trials and Tribulations.
- There are multiple references to the game, such as Vinyl Scratch referring to the court record.
- Vinyl and Octavia have a conversation about ladders, nearly word-for-word from the first game.
- Just like Phoenix in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Octavia submits inadmissible evidence and is disbarred as a result.
- Characters bursting in with evidence that saves the protagonist at the last minute is mentioned.
- The judge is easily distracted and somewhat dim, just like in Ace Attorney.
- When Octavia loses the case, the judge uses the exact same words that he does in Ace Attorney when the same thing happens to Phoenix.
- Who Would Want to Watch Us?: Vinyl and Octavia are told that their adventures sound quite interesting, and that a book would sell quite well. They reply with this trope nearly word-for-word.
- Will They or Won't They?: Teased quite a bit from Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk to Vinyl and Octavia Fight Ten Thousand Ninjas.
- Wine Is Classy: When Vinyl convinces Octavia to go out drinking with her in Vinyl and Octavia Get Incredibly Drunk, Octavia tricks Vinyl into coming with her to a wine-tasting festival, the implication being that wine is one of the few types of alcohol that Octavia enjoys.
- You Didn't Ask: At the start of Vinyl and Octavia Engage in Roleplay, it's briefly revealed that Octavia has gone to university. She says that she never mentioned it because it had never come up.
- You Fight Like a Cow: In Vinyl and Octavia Have Multiple Dates, Octavia ends up getting into a pun battle with Neon Lights. Also includes a Shout-Out to the Trope Namer.Neon Lights: Yeah well, you… you… You- fight like a cow!Octavia: How appropriate. You fight like a dairy farmer.
