As Octavia Melody rang the doorbell of the antique residence, she shook slightly in anticipation. Vinyl Scratch noticed this, as it wasn't normal for Octavia to act anything other than calm and relaxed. However, Vinyl understood why she was acting like this, as it was because of her that they were at this house anyway.

Less than a week ago, Vinyl was hosting a party at her house, while Octavia was on a trip to a concert in Fillydelphia. It didn't take long for things to get out of control, and the aftermath involved apple cider stains on the carpet, an overflowing sink of messy dishes, and cupcake wrappers littering the entire house. But worst of all was the state of Octavia's violin, which was broken in half, stained with cider, pierced with glass shards, and missing nearly all of its strings. Luckily, Vinyl knew a pony who knew a violin maker, who was generous enough to help fix the violin. If Octavia had not arrived early from her concert, Vinyl could have pretended that nothing happened at all. However, it wasn't long before Vinyl had to explain everything. And since then, Octavia had been waiting anxiously for the day she could pick up her fixed violin.

The door to the house opened. Inside was a young mare with a pale purple pony with a dark-coloured mane. "Good morning," greeted the mare. "Wataru isn't at home right now. But if you have a broken violin, I can give it to him to fix it for you."

"Actually, we're here to pick up my violin," Octavia explained, trying to keep calm. "It is fixed, isn't it?"

The mare scratched her head before giving a reply. "Well, he was working on a few violins in the past few days. He just finished polishing one of the violins last night. Although I can't say for sure if that was your violin. If you don't mind waiting, Wataru should be back in a short while. Otherwise, you could come back this afternoon."

"Oh, we don't mind waiting a few minutes," said Octavia in the calmest voice she could, despite clearly being impatient.

"Sure," agreed Vinyl, shrugging casually. "It's not like we really have anything too important planned for today anyway."

The mare led Octavia and Vinyl to the living room. The walls were a shade of light brown, but not too light, which complimented the wooden furniture. To the side was an area for fixing violins, with tables filled with woodworking tools and violins in the middle of being repaired. But one violin stood apart from the rest. It sat in a display case, with a customized violin case and a framed photo of a violinist.

There was something oddly familiar about the photo. And although Octavia couldn't recognize that violin, she was sure she had seen that violin case before.

About half a set of stairs down, there was a bed and a small dining table. As Octavia and Vinyl sat at the table, the purple pony went into the kitchen to get some snacks. Octavia still looked toward the violin case, her head resting on her hoof in deep thought. Where have I seen that violin case before?, she wondered, taking note of the unique design of the black violin case, which was decorated with a large piece of light, long fur. It doesn't look like any old violin case, and I doubt there are many more like that one.

Vinyl, meanwhile, was getting slightly bored, regretting that she forgot her headphones at home. She decided to start a conversation. "So, how exactly did you learn how to play the violin, Tavi?" she asked.

Octavia turned to Vinyl. "Haven't I told you before?"

"Nope. You've told the story about how you learned the cello about a dozen times, but you never really talked about how you learned the violin."

The mare had just arrived from the kitchen with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a pitcher of orange juice. "That sounds interesting," she commented, sitting at the table with the two guests.

"Okay then. It will be a nice way to pass the time, I assume," said Octavia. She began to tell her story, as recalled her first violin class.

* * *

It started out as an average spring day. Octavia was a very young filly, but she was always intrigued by classical music. And since her parents were part of the Canterlot orchestra, she was always surrounded by it as well. In fact, she could hear beautiful violin music as she woke up that morning.

There was something wrong, though. Octavia could tell just by listening that it wasn't her mother or her father playing the violin. The tune was too unfamiliar. Octavia left her room and headed to the living room, where the sound came from.

In the living room sat a mare and a stallion. The stallion was playing the violin in the middle of the room, while the mare sat on one of the couches, listening to the melody while staring at the stallion with a dreamy look.

Yep, the mare was definitely Octavia's mother.

However, the stallion was a complete stranger.

Octavia quietly walked to the kitchen, where she found her father, who was bent over a newspaper. His eyes were twitching as he tried to suppress some sort of anger. Octavia tried to start up a conversation with him as politely as possible. "Good morning, father."

Mr. Melody's eyes looked up and toward her, brightening a bit. "Ah, good morning, Octavia." He didn't say any more after that, and he was still noticeably frustrated, so Octavia persisted to try to cheer him up.

"So, what is for breakfast?" she asked. She sat at the dining table, and reached for a piece of toast. It was whole wheat toast -- her least favourite -- but she knew how much her parents hated when she was a picky eater. Reluctantly, she took a bit bite. "Mmm, scrumptious!" she said, wincing as she swallowed, and reaching for the strawberry jam and peanut butter. "Okay, it didn't really taste scrumptious," confessed Octavia. "But you seem very upset today. I just want to make you happy. Or at least know why you're upset."

Mr. Melody gave a small smile, until he started hearing the stallion in the living room talk. "It's him," he answered, with a low voice.

Octavia listened with her father to the conversation the stallion and her mother were having. From the kitchen, she and her father also had a good view of the living room. The stallion had a light brown coat and a purple formal jacket. His dark mane was well-combed and fashionable, without being as fancy-looking as most of the high-class ponies in Canterlot. But what annoyed her and her father the most was the way he stood close to Mrs. Melody, with that romantic smile and those musical words that could entrance nearly any mare he met as much as it annoyed Octavia right now. Octavia could now understand why her father was so grumpy.

"Why don't you stop him?" asked Octavia.

"Because, for one, you know how your mother doesn't like being interrupted during meetings. And two, it would damage my reputation. That's Otoya Kurenai, one of the finest living violinists in all of Equestria."

Octavia took a moment to take in what her dad had said. "Alright then. I'll see what I can do to help," she told her father before trotting toward her mother.

"Good morning mother. Good morning, Mr. Kurenai," said Octavia with as much cheerfulness as she could. "Mother, what is Mr. Kurenai doing here?"

Otoya took a step back from Mrs. Melody and Octavia. "Uh, hello. Who are you?" he asked.

"Why, I'm Octavia Medley. Pleased to meet you! Mother, shouldn't be more polite and introduce your daughter?"

Octavia had a feeling she would be grounded for at least a week when she saw her mother's bewildered and speechless reaction, but she could not help but smirk as she she saw Otoya equally bewildered and speechless. She glanced at her father, who was trying desperately to mask his chuckles with a serious face.

"So, what brings you here to the Melody residence?" asked Octavia with genuine curiosity, adding "Father says you are a talented violinist."

It took a few moments for her to get an answer, which came from her mother instead of the guest. "We have arranged this meeting so that I could ask Otoya a very important question."

Octavia's smirk wiped off her face, as everypony turned to Mrs. Melody with confusion in her face.

"Octavia, remember those violin lessons I told you about?" Octavia nodded to her mother in response.

"Otoya Kurenai, would you become Octavia's violin teacher?"

Octavia and Otoya slowly looked at each other. Neither of them were particularly happy.

Author's Note

There are quite a few Kiva crossovers, but very few (if any) explore the 1980s timeline so far.
Just trying to get rid of some writer's block. Don't expect this story to be more than 5 chapters long.