A certain barrage of musical notes filled the dark and nearly empty room. It was Ode To Joy which had reverberated throughout the darkness. The music had a certain emotion embedded deep into it; not only a feeling of anxiety and confusion, but also frustration. This music came from a very particular mare's cello. The mare was covered head to hoof in grey fur, her well groomed mane the color of charcoal. Upon her flank was a symbol of her talent; a treble clef. The pony's hoof slowly came to a halt, as the music ceased. As she opened her eyes to show her amethyst irises, she noticed one thing. The sunlight which had shone through one of the windows had rained upon another pony, a unicorn, a bit less refined as her. The ivory fur and ruffled electric blue mane of this mare only magnified the affect of the sunlight which shone upon her. She began to clap for the cellist, her claps reverberating throughout the room.
As the grey mare stepped down from the stage, the white pony's clapping calmed and came to a stop. She approached her, more conflicted than ever for some reason, some of the emotion leaking to her face. "That was awesome! Tavi...?" She paused, in worry for her friend, "Are you okay?" She was anything but okay. How would she tell Vinyl? How would she react? The DJ's words snapped her out of her trance, but still left her stuttering. "I-I'm fine... I just... I just need some time to think is all. I'm sorry for worrying you, Vinyl Scratch." As she continued her trot, the clop-cloping noise of her hoofsteps bouncing across the walls, Vinyl stared at the cellist for a second, then responded. "Octavia?" she asked, deeply concerned for her friend. "Yes, Vinyl?" she replied. "If you need to talk about anything, I am here for you. Just please... Don't keep yourself all bottled up... For your own sake."
She stopped for a moment. "I'm sorry Vinyl. I really am. This is just something I have to deal with on my own," she said. She couldn't let Vinyl know. It would ruin their friendship if she found out. Or would it? She continued her trotting, Vinyl in tow. The cellist had developed a light headache. She had been plagued by these thoughts for weeks; no, months. "It would certainly change her opinions of me..." she murmured. Vinyl leaned in, "What does that mean?" Octavia's face filled with a bright red, partially out of embarrassment for saying her thoughts aloud, but also due to the sudden closeness of the DJ. This was too much. She was going to have to give Vinyl a lecture in personal space when they got back to their dormitory. Scratch that, she was too tired. She started to droop in exhaustion. "Oh no, not again!" The blue maned pony beside her exclaimed, grabbing the gray mare as she fell into her forelegs. "Looks like I'm going to be late to class. Again." The ivory pony began practically dragging her friend back to their room in the dormitories, sighing all the while.
As the DJ walked her friend through the hallways of the school, many of the students glanced at her, some in curiosity and a few in humor. She looked ridiculous. Here she was, struggling to hold her best friend in her forelegs, as if Octavia was drunk out of her mind. "Haheh... what'cha all looking at? Nothin' to see here!" Vinyl almost yelled at the students, obviously uncomfortable. After a few hallways and a double door, Vinyl Scratch was almost at the dormitories. As she walked the campus grounds, she came to appreciate the colorful scenery which covered the soil she stood upon. The path she was standing on was made of gravel and was surrounded by fields of grass and flowers with the occasional pine tree. Several ponies laid upon the grass, striking up a casual conversation. All of this left Vinyl Scratch's vision as she walked into the dormitories, the receptionist welcoming her. Vinyl pulled Octavia through the hallway for the home stretch into their dormitory. The door opened with a creak, then closed with a satisfying 'click' of the doorknob.
The DJ placed her friend upon her bunk, then tiphoofed over to her desk as she didn't want to disturb the cellist. She had a stack of her students' homework upon her table, and she planned on grading a decent portion of it before Octavia woke up. She sighed and levitated a red pen with her magic. She looked at the first paper and grimaced. It was Pinkie Pie's. She didn't get a single question right. Not a single one. It amazed Vinyl how the pony of parties could be so bad at making party music. "Mmm Vinyl..." Octavia mumbled. "Was she dreaming about me?" Vinyl Scratch wondered, "Better be a good dream." The cellist murmured about wanting to do a duet. The DJ pony took a mental note to ask Octavia about collaborating with her in the morning.
Vinyl Scratch's roommate stirred in her bed, snapping awake. "Hnng..." She had a massive headache, and piled on top of the earlier confusion she had a feeling of longing for something; something she couldn't quite put her hoof on. She just had the strangest and most surreal dream ever, but she wasn't going to tell Vinyl that. She was too busy with school and dealing with her current emotions to really give much of a thought about the meaning of the dream, let alone analyze it to the level her classmate Twilight could. Little did she know, that dream would change her life in the following weeks.