It was a lovely Sunday morning, Celestia's sun was shining brightly in the cloudless sky, tended carefully by Ponyville's pegasi. The couple was sitting outside Octavia's favourite cafe, having a cup of coffee and some bread and jam for breakfast. Octavia was having her usual decaf while Vinyl had a latte. They were chatting about the movie they had seen the previous night when a white stallion with an afro-like mane approached them.
"Pardon me, ladies, which one of you is Miss Octavia Von Clef?", he asked in a very well tailored British accent.
"Er, I am. May I ask, who you are?" Octavia answered. She recognized him from somewhere put she just could not place it where she had seen him before or heard about him.
"My name is Beethoofen, conductor of the Manehatten orchestra," he said, "We are short of a cellist and I have heard much about you, Miss Von Clef. I would like to offer you an opportunity to join us. So, what do you say?"
Octavia was stunned but came to her senses and responded politely, "May I have some time to think it over, first?"
"Of course, Miss Von Clef. Shall we make our next meeting tomorrow? Let's say at 10 o'clock, here?"
"Yes, sure, that'd be a long enough time, thank you," Octavia answered.
"I await your answer, Miss Von Clef," he said and walked away. He got into his awaiting carriage and was gone.
After a moment of silence and a nervous sip of coffee, Octavia said, "Well, what do YOU think, Vinyl? I'm not too sure about it myself."
"I think it's an awesome idea! You should totally go for it, Tavi!" Vinyl answered, a grin on her face, happy for her friend that she had just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime.
"But, I'm not really sure about it, though...", Octavia said nervously.
"What, why?! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, Tavi! C'mon, you HAVE to do it!" Vinyl said enthusiastically.
"Yes, I know it is.. But, if I do join, I've heard that they begin a tour 3 months from now and I don't think I can stand being away from you for such a long time, Vinyl," Octavia explained.
"Awww, I love you too Tavi!" Vinyl said, "But, like I said before, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm not going to let you give it up just because of me, ok? I want you to be happy doing what you love and you're definitely going to become a famous cellist, well more famous then you already are."
Octavia chuckled and thought to herself, that this mare, this wonderful mare with her outrageous blue and neon mane and purple sunglasses, was the one she had chosen and loved for many months now. Vinyl was constantly supporting, helping her make the right decisions and tough choices. Vinyl was the perfect mare for Octavia, not only because of her support but because she was a music maker too but of a very different sort and Octavia loved their trivial arguments between which of their music was better. She had enjoyed those so very much. Well, she is a little crazy but she is right, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should take it up while I can. But, what would I do without her? Months away from home and Vinyl was going to be tough.
"Well, I guess I'm going to have to go for it, don't I? You're leaving me no choice?" Octavia said, a smile forming on her face.
"Yep! You'd better believe it Tavi! You're going to be world famous! Haha!" Vinyl laughed.
"I want you to know that I'll be thinking of you throughout my entire time away from you and I won't let any colt or mare get in the way of what we have. I'll see if we can't have sometime together before they leave for their tour but I don't have any guarantees," Octavia said, putting a sad smile on her face.
"I know you won't, Octy! And I'm sure you'll always have time for me, no matter how short and you've never disappointed me before and I'm not counting on anypony getting in between us, not if I have anything to say about it," Vinyl said reassuringly and smiled back.
Octavia knew that Vinyl's faith in her was strong and would not waver, no matter what both of them went through nor how far apart they were. She knew that within the next 3 months, she could spend precious little time with her marefriend and she knew that their time was strictly limited to mostly weekends. Right now, all Octavia wanted wanted was to spend as much time as possible with Vinyl now. She looked at her dear marefriend, smiled and said, "Well, we're not going to have a lot of time to spend with each other from tomorrow onwards, so, why don't we make the most of it now?"
"Sure. What d'you have in mind?" Vinyl asked.
"Well, there's a new movie out tonight called 'Princess of Harmony', how about that?"
"Sounds great! And dinner's on me," Vinyl said.
"No MacPony's this time, Vinyl!" Octavia said, a smile in her voice.
"Awww! But I love their french fries so, so much! Plus, they have cheese fries now! C'mon, pleeeeease?" She pouted and lowered her head to make her best puppy dog expression.
"No, Vinyl! Remember what happened last time?"
"Ok, I'll avoid the ketchup dispensers next time! So, please can we go?"
"Uh-uh, Miss Scratch! I'm the one leaving here and I say we eat proper food at a proper restaurant."
"Fiiiiine," Vinyl grumbled.
"I knew you'd come around!" Octavia said, laughing.
"Yeah well, I'm paying so, don't order like, half the menu," Vinyl said, laughing too.
"Hey! I'm not THAT kind of pony! I don't eat that much."
"Sure you don't," Vinyl chuckled.
"What are you suggesting, Miss Scratch?" Octavia said, narrowing her eyes comically.
"Oh, nothing, Miss Von Clef, just the fact that you can eat quite a lot, sometimes and it's kinda scary. You ate more than me a few times and I am really surprised you haven't fattened up!" Vinyl joked.
"I do NOT! I have put on a LITTLE weight.." Octavia whined. She looked down at her stomach, poking it with her hoof, feeling for any signs of fat.
"Oh really?" Vinyl said, tilting her head to the side, a questioning look on her face.
"Yes, really!" Octavia pouted, crossing her front legs together and looking away from Vinyl.
"Whatever you say, Miss Denial," Vinyl laughed.
"Hmph!"
"Haha! Chillax! Just kidding around!", Vinyl said, smirking.
"I'm not talking to you!", Octavia said, pouting once again.
"Ok, fine. I guess you can just pay for you own dinner, then," Vinyl said, pretending to get up and leave.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! I'm the one leaving here!" Octavia said, looking back at the DJ's smirking face. "Oh my god, you just got me, again!" Vinyl laughed as Octavia facehoofed after realizing Vinyl hadn't been serious. "UUUGHHHHH! I feel so stupid. Thanks a lot, Vinyl, thanks a lot."
"What? It ain't my fault you keep falling for it," Vinyl was trying hard not to laugh.
"I keep falling for it! I can't believe I'm so.. gullible. UGH!" Octavia whined.
Vinyl moved her chair over so that she was sitting next to Octavia. She put her hoof around her marefriend's neck and tried to comfort her. "C'mon, Tavi! Cheer up! I was just kidding. Look, I'm sorry, ok? I promise I won't do it again." Vinyl said and smiled.
"Pinkie Promise?" Octavia grinned evilly.
Vinyl sighed and said, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, put a cupcake in my eye."
"Good! Now let's finish our coffee and be off! We've a lot to do!" Octavia smiled and gulped down the rest of her coffee, Vinyl did the same.
The 2 mares got up and headed off. They had a long day ahead of them and Octavia wanted to make sure they would enjoy themselves as much as they could with what little time they had left...
Octavia had worked for years to achieve near perfection in her skills as a cellist. Ever since she was a filly, she had been learning, studying and researching music. She spent many hours, practicing note after note, song after song until finally, after leaving college, she was given a spot at Canterlot's School of Music and Arts where she took a degree in music. She began her real career a year after leaving school and had her first performance at a small formal party in Canterlot. From there, her reputation snowballed, growing larger and larger, drawing even the attention of Celestia herself. Octavia played for the Princess during the Summer Solstice, before Nightmare Moon had returned. Even now, being offered such an opportunity was even bigger than playing for the Princess.