The sun shone through the window onto Octavia's face. Her eyes fluttered open to see that the curtains had been opened.
"Vynil," Octavia muttered sleepily, stumbling onto the floor.

"Did you open my curtains last night? You really need to remember that I dislike that very much."

Listening for a moment for a response, Octavia walked over the the window and closed the curtains. As she walked back towards the bed, she saw her cello on the stand. It seemed to glimmer in the darkness, like it was made of stars. Octavia glanced sideways at it and it stopped. She shrugged it off and opened the door to the hall.

As usual, Vynil's door was open wide to the hall. Inside, she could see the bed (more like a plain mattress) with the blankets askew and crumpled at the ends. The desk was covered in records and fan photos waiting to be signed. Even the floor was a mess, with left over cans of Fizzy Filly Energy Drink and half crushed boxes of donuts lying in various places. Octavia shook her head and smiled. Closing the door softly, as to conceal the mess, Octavia walked downstairs into the small kitchen they shared. Vynil was seated at the breakfast bar and munching on what seemed to be a breakfast burrito.

"Vynil, what on Equestria are you eating? That thing is not a breakfast food."

"Oh sure it is Octi." Vynil said, revealing the contents of she overstuffed mouth. Octavia grimiced in digust as pieces of daisy fell to the ground and crumpled sadly.

"It has all the vitamins and minerals to start the day off right!"

"And by that I assume you mean sugar and oil."

Vynil looked wounded at Octavia's snide comment. She set down the burrito and lowered her shades. Octavia couldn't tell why Vynil wore shades inside the house, the castle, and even when greeting the princesses. It was just awful and undignified.

"I suppose you want an egg white omelete, with spinach, tomatos, and rose petals. Like usual."

"Yes, of course. Thank you,Vynil. Oh, just one thing."

"Yeah?" Vynil was greasing the pan and pouring the Equestria's Best Egg White into the pan.

"Can you lay off the siracha today? I am not feeling the urge for a fire today."

"Oh come on! You know you love siracha!"

"Actually, no I don't."

"Fine. I only take special orders from one pony, and its you Octi."

Octavia smiled and took her usual place at the breakfast bar. It was a little scuffed up but she didn't mind. Though, she was annoyed that despite being an earth pony, she couldn't do the manual tasks like cooking without starting a small fire. Well, sometimes small fires. There was that one time, Octavia had tried to make daisy casserole for Vynil, and the house had been given a nice new paint job. Soot and Ash, number 500A, she called it. Just thinking about it made her blush.

"Wake up!" She heard Vynil's sharp voice call her out of the memory. The smell of eggs and spinach made her sigh in delight.

"Thank you Vynil. You truly are the best friend a pony could have." She said before digging into the eggs. An odd shine flickered by the corner of her eye, winding around the chair at the end of the table. It looked like the shine on her cello, only now, it had a purple tint. She blamed not enough sleep on the problem. Then, a crash echoed against the wood and stone.

Octavia jumped up and ran into the kitchen, where the serving plates lay in shards on the floor. Vynil was crouched in the corner under the open cabinet door. Her magic was causing the door to swing wildy, and the shards to perform impossible dances to unheard dubstep. The aura of Vynil's magic seemed to have a deeper shade of blue than it usually did, with white speckles flying off.

"I swear on Celestia that I am not doing this!"

"I know you're not doing anything wrong. You aren't sophisticated enough to tamper with magic."

"HEY!"

Vynil yelled and the plates fell again, covering the smooth wooden floor in white shards.

"Its okay! Just stop thinking about using magic!"

Octavia yelled past the slamming door and shattering plates. Vynil made a scrunched face, and after a moment more of the racket, the oddly colored aura faded and all was silent. Octavia picked up the porcelain shards in her hooves and began to cry softly. Vynil walked carefully over to her and looked at the mess.

"Octi, it isn't that bad. I can just sweep it up. I think my magic's okay. Don't worry about the plates. I can get us new ones. I have the mon--"
"Shh. Vynil," Octavia moaned,"These were a gift from the conductor of the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. One of a kind! And now, they are all broken!" Her cries turned to sobbing. Vynil put her hoof around her friend's shoulder. She looked at the mess and sighed.

"Octi, you know that this wasn't me right."

"Yes, I am quite sure it wasn't you. You wouldn't do something like this."

"But why did my magic go AWOL??"

Octavia looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"I honestly can say that I don't know."

Vynil nodded slowly and picked up a broom with her magic. The aura was a steady blue, normal. Just like how today was supposed to be.

"You do know that you have that solo of yours tonight right?"

Vynil said cautiously as she picked up the last of the shards. Knowing her, Octavia was bound to be even worse, but this concert was very important to her. She had never played solo before. Octavia, who had been sitting on the couch in shock shot up. Her worried look only made her puffed eyes look worse.

"That's right! Oh, how could I have possibly forgotten! That is going to be performed in the Center Street theatre for hundreds."

She began to hyperventilate as she collapsed back onto the couch. Vynil levitated the cello and sheet music down the stairs and set it carefully on the floor next to the couch.

"You know, it isn't until sunset. You can just chill and practice maybe."

Octavia jumped to her hooves and screamed, her hooves pulling at her face.

"You could say 'just chill' and improvise when you get where you're going! I, on the other hoof, have to show my talent at playing a piece that few ponies have ever completely mastered. In front of a crowd, by myself!"

"Well, you can practice still. It isn't hard."

As Vynil finished her sentence, the A string on the cello snapped. The string made a metallic clang, and fell limply. The D and G strings followed suit, as the strings snapped in two. A seam near to Octavia split, exposing the rough, raw insides of the cello. The familiar shimmer was there, weaving faintly through the cello. It looked as if it was playing a game, snapping each string and pulling the seams apart. Octavia took one look at the cello as the bridge fell over and hit the ground with a clatter. She began crying again. This had been her life savings. The cello was a Stradihoofius, over 50 years old. Now, it was ruined and would cost another life savings to pay for all of the repairs.

"I can't play tonight on this! It is completly ruined!" Octavia collapsed onto the couch again, the green cloth now damp with tears.

"Come on Octi... it surely can't be that bad."

"The BRIDGE is broken, Vynil! The BRIDGE! This means that I may as well get a new cello!"

"Don't worry about the cello," Vynil said as she levitated the cello with her magic.

"I've got this one."

"But..." Octavia protested, reaching sadly for her cello.

"No buts , Octi. I can fix this!"

"Okay," Octavia said, too exhausted ,even though she had woken up a mere half-hour ago, to fight.

"You really should go back to bed, because you look awful."

Vynil said, pushing Octavia up with her hoof. She complied, getting up and dragging her hooves as she walked up the stairs. Vynil sighed. She knew this one stallion that repaired instruments. He was pretty underground, which explains why Octavia didn't know about him. As she walked out the door, she wondered what had been going on that day. Everything was just a little off, in the dark kind of way.

Author's Note

I am so excited! This is my first story, so I hope that you like it! Also, this is my first fic so, there are probably many errors and I apologize for that. Also, if you know any good editors/proofreaders, I would love any recommendations. If you dislike it, leave the reason why so I can try to improve the story and/or make sure it doesn't happen in my later ones.