The Friendship Archives

Three firm, evenly metered knocks broke through the quiet of the library's interior, bringing a sudden injection of energy to the hazy warmth of a late summer's afternoon. All of the building's small windows hung open in a mostly successful effort to dispel the heat, and the quiet murmur of an active town could just be heard over the swishing of breeze-driven branches.

Twilight's hoof slipped out from beneath her dozing head, dropping her face-first into the book she had been reading with a weighty smack. Rebounding from the table with panicked haste, her still sleep-addled gaze darted about in search of a clock.

Oh no, I only meant to sit down for five minutes! I can't believe I dozed off! Twilight's eyes widened as she finally managed to direct them towards the clock on the wall, and then the door. Stupid warm summer afternoons!

Twilight quickly clambered upright, trying to will some feeling back into her legs as she scooped up the table's contents with her magic. Deciding that this absolutely qualified as an organisational emergency, she rapidly stacked the books in simple alphabetical order and teleported the pile into her bedroom. It wasn't an ideal solution, but she'd have to deal with it later.

Trying to brush the thought of the barely-organised books cluttering up her room out of her mind, Twilight made her way to the front door. She was already almost certain of who would be standing on the other side, and it wasn't exactly polite to invite ponies over and then leave them waiting around outside. As Twilight reached the doorway, a hushed conversation drifting in through the open window beside the door put paid to her doubts as to her visitors' identity.

"For Celestia's sake, Vinyl, you could at least try to look like you didn't just roll out of bed fifteen minutes ago." Even when she whispered, it was hard to mistake Ocatavia for anypony else in Ponyville. Her precise, clipped Bittish accent was, if not quite foreign, then at least very distinctive.

"C'mo"- Vinyl Scratch's half-hearted protest collapsed under the weight of what sounded like a truly jaw-popping yawn -"C'mon 'Tavi, 's way too early for this." Unlike her companion, Vinyl was making little effort to keep her voice down.

"It's four in the afternoon, Vinyl," came the unamused reply. "Now stand up straight."

Pushing down an amused grin along with the nascent butterflies in her belly, Twilight reached for the door. She was going to be needing the support of Ponyville's resident musical marvels to start filling out the billing for the Helping Hooves concert, and giggling at their bickering wouldn't be the best first impression.

On the other side of the door, the thoughts of one Octavia Melody were running along quite similar lines. Her coal-black mane was combed fastidiously into an elegant sweep down her grey-furred neck, which was adorned with a thin white collar and pink bow tie that had become something of a trademark of hers over the years. It was positively torturous to tie the blasted thing by hoof, but she was nothing if not committed to her public. They expected that little pink bow in the same way they did the bow with which she played her instrument, and in a strange way each was just as important to her performance. Of course the tie wasn't of practical use, but it was still important somehow. She didn't really feel like herself without it.

Normally Vinyl's antics would be amusing, and both of them knew Octavia's complaints about her partner's behaviour were born more of affectionate habit than genuine irritation by this point. However, she was about to officially present herself to royalty - and if a long career manoeuvring through the intricacies of courtly politics had taught her anything, it was that first impressions were absolutely vital.

Although most ponies of any real class wouldn't put too much stock in them, of course. There are hidden depths to every pony if you look hard enough, she thought, a critical eye sweeping over the frankly horrifying case of two-tone electric blue bed-mane stood next to her. She couldn't quite suppress a small smile at Vinyl's appearance despite her best efforts. The trademark purple shades did much to hide her tired eyes, but Octavia had long since discovered they contributed even more to hiding the mare behind the manic stage persona the world knew as DJ PON-3. Although, I must admit, for some ponies one needs to look a little harder than others...

Nevertheless, Octavia was well aware that some ponies in the circles of power were shallow enough to judge on a first impression, which meant making a good one was important. Not that she was implying Princess Twilight was in that camp before actually meeting her of course, that would be rather richly ironic in its hypocrisy. Making the effort also showed an appropriate amount of respect towards those you met, demonstrate that you were willing to go to some effort to work with them. Octavia could certainly do that in the context of a charity concert, regardless of the nature of the organiser's motivations. Charity events arranged by even the most self-aggrandising nobles would at least give something back to the community, even if they were only held for the sake of appearances.

The experience is altogether more pleasant when the intent to give is genuine, of course, but we must work with the tools we're given, Octavia mused. She was rather firmly of the opinion that those who had power thrust upon them were significantly more trustworthy than those who were born to it, and Twilight Sparkle was by all accounts an upstanding and diligent citizen before her elevation. There is, of course, always the odd case where newfound power goes to somepony's head - and Princess Twilight has also had a few... oh, how does one put this... 'incidents' with her already prodigious magical talents since arriving in Ponyville.

Octavia's focus was redirected away from her own thoughts as the door to the library opened. Lowering herself into an oft-practised formal bow, Octavia had to suppress an exasperated groan as beside her Vinyl greeted royalty with a slightly sleepy wave.

"Princess Twilight, thank you for inviting us to speak with you," Octavia said, fighting valiantly to keep an undertone of annoyance out of her voice. "We are honoured that you decided to consult with us regarding the upcoming Helping Hooves event."

"'Sup?" Vinyl supplied from beside her.

Octavia's left eye, still fixed on the ground in font of her along with its opposite number, gave a violent twitch. That's it, a disturbingly cheery internal voice declared, I'm going to kill her.

Somehow oblivious to her partner's mental threats of equicide, Vinyl capped off her greeting by letting loose another muzzle-cracking yawn. The angry little voice in Octavia's head started screaming.

I will stuff you inside your infernal noisemaking machine and "wub" you to death with my own hooves!

Risking an upward glance, Octavia realised to her relief that the Princess didn't appear to have been offended by Vinyl's appalling lack of manners. If anything, she actually looks... rather confused. Maybe even nervous. Then it occured to Octavia how the rather abrupt contrast between their two greetings might strike somepony on the receiving end. And now she doesn't know how to act, fabulous. Thank you, Vinyl. That does at least put some doubts to rest I suppose, anypony with an ego regarding their station would have instantly taken offence at that behaviour...

"Um, that's... thank you?" Twilight responded uncertainly, glancing between the two ponies in front of her before choosing to focus on Octavia. "For coming, I mean. I've never organised a concert like this before, and I like to make sure I've done my research before I start trying to schedule something," she said, the beginnings of a genuine smile touching her muzzle.

Although she hadn't formally been asked to do so, Octavia decided - for the sake of shortening what was becoming an interminably awkward moment - that that comment counted as a formal acknowledgement, and rose to stand before the Princess. "We'll gladly do anything we can to help, your Highness," she replied. "We're always willing to chip in for a good cause."

"Hay yeah," Vinyl added emphatically, "if my ponies need me, I'm there."

And now she's barging into the conversation before being acknowledged. Through a clenched jaw, Octavia growled, "Vinyl..."

Before Octavia could get any further, however, Twilight intervened. "Actually, I prefer, um... I'd rather things were a little more informal," she said. "I'm still a little new to this whole princess thing. I'm really just a pony looking for some expert advice, and, well..." the tentative smile on Twilight's face turned hopeful, "I'd rather be asking a couple of friends for help than giving orders to subjects."

And just like that you jump several levels up the respect ladder, Octavia thought, pushing away the lingering doubts she had been pessimistically holding on to. "I believe I could give that a try, Princess," she replied with a small smile of her own.

Octavia's smile only faltered a little when Vinyl bumped her shoulder and said, "See? Told you she was cool. Anypony with dance moves like hers has got to be pretty awesome." Twilight immediately flushed red, and began nervously trying to pour scorn on her dancing abilities before Vinyl interrupted. "No, come on. It doesn't matter how good or bad you think it was. You were out there, in the middle of the floor, just... in the music. Doing your thing. Doesn't matter what you or anypony else thinks, there was a whole lot of heart in that. Anypony tells you there's something wrong with that, they're just jealous they can't be that honest about who they are," Vinyl said passionately. "I wish I was half that brave."

"But you both get up in front of hundreds, thousands of ponies and perform right in the spotlight all the time," Twilight protested, "I just made a fool of myself at Shiny's wedding."

And while DJ PON-3 has certainly been the centre of public attention, Octavia thought to herself, a little sadly, Vinyl's telling the truth in a way. Her fans would be more than a little surprised if they met the pony hiding behind those glasses. She really is wonderful, even if she doesn't see it.

"Anywho, if we're done pandering to 'Tavi's hoity-toity sensibilities," Vinyl went on, ignoring the glare she was now receiving from the mare in question, "seeing as how you want to be less formal... Hi," she said, offering a white-furred hoof, "Vinyl Scratch, pleased to meet you."

Twilight's hopeful smile grew into something genuinely happy as she returned the gesture, shaking hooves. "Twilight Sparkle," she said, before offering the same hoof to Octavia. "Just Twilight Sparkle."

"Well in that case, 'Just' Twilight Sparkle, I'm 'Just' Octavia," the grey mare offered with a half-smile as she shook, earning an eye-roll from Vinyl mostly hidden behind her shades.

"Great!" Twilight said happily, before starting as she remembered something. "Oh, come on in, sorry! No sense standing around on the doorstep, even if it is a lovely day." Twilight retreated back into the library, holding the door open with her magic as she trotted towards her recently-cleared table.

"She, uh, doesn't know, does she?" Vinyl whispered as the pair entered, a knowing and amused light dancing in her eyes.

"If not she's an extremely talented actress. She's a smart pony, she'll figure it out," Octavia replied quietly, "You know I feel the same way about it that she obviously does, anyway. I'm just me."

She anticipated the reproachful look in Vinyl's eyes before it even surfaced, but it still made her feel that strange combination of wonderful and nervous and guilty all at once. Vinyl would never say it in public, and very rarely out loud even in private, but Octavia felt the protest that she wasn't 'just' anything in that look as clearly as if Vinyl had screamed it in her ear.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Octavia added softly. Vinyl bumped a shoulder against hers, a friendly nudge concealing the briefest of nuzzles as their heads moved together.

Twilight, meanwhile, was feeling rather pleased with herself. Despite some initial weirdness, everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Well, apart from the dozing off thing. That wasn't in the plan. Although to be honest I think it probably worked out better than the time I'd allocated for nervously rearranging things and tidying up places I already cleaned just yesterday.

After a brief pause to fix everypony a drink, Twilight sat herself down at the table opposite her two guests. "Sorry about the limited choice of drinks," she said bashfully. "Spike has banned me from attempting anything involving boiling liquids or fire in the kitchen, and I don't exactly make a habit of stocking the town library with alcohol."

Vinyl dismissed Twilight's concern with a wave. "Heh, it's waaay too early to start drinking anyhow. Hey, speaking of, where is the little guy?" she asked, before draining half of the orange juice in front of her in a single long pull. Vinyl either didn't notice, or chose to ignore, the disapproving look that earned from Octavia. Based on the number of those looks she had earned in the last few minutes, Twilight assumed she must have built up some sort of immunity to them.

"He's out gem hunting with Rarity again," Twilight replied. "The heat doesn't bother him, so he usually lends a claw when the weather turns warmer. She's probably looking to pick up some materials for the concert, actually."

"Oh, is she going to be lending a hoof with the proceedings?" Octavia asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, all of the girls already offered to help out. Rarity and Fluttershy are managing the stage decorations, and costume for anypony that needs a hoof on that front; Pinkie and Applejack are going to be representing Sugarcube Corner and Sweet Apple Acres, providing the food, and Rainbow... well, she doesn't really have a job at the moment. Not on the night anyway - she's making sure the weather is sorted out in advance, but during the event itself she's mostly just there if anypony needs an extra set of hooves."

"Sounds like you've got a bunch of stuff taken care of already!" Vinyl said.

"Well, yes, except for the most important part," Twilight said, "it's not going to be much of a concert if we don't have any music, after all. That's where I was hoping you two could help out. None of us really have much of a talent for music, or putting on a musical event of this sort of scale. To be honest, we're not really sure where to start when it comes to approaching ponies about this sort of thing." After a moment, she added, "Except for Pinkie, but she only has one way of approaching anypony about anything. Not that I don't appreciate her trying, of course, but I don't think she's going to get much of a response to the invitations she sent out."

"She can be a little... overwhelming," Octavia commented, before clearing her throat gently. "The best approach for more mainstream artists would probably be to speak to producers and management rather than the musicians themselves these days," she explained. "There are still a few independents around, but most ponies have somepony else to take care of that sort of thing for them now. I can get you the details of some of the larger organisations in that vein, and of course I'm familiar with quite a few conductors of various orchestras and smaller classical groups."

"And if you wanna try something that actually has a beat to it," Vinyl cut in, dusting a hoof against her chest idly, "I can take care of that. Oh, and I know some ponies too. Not that you're really gonna need anypony else, but y'know. Choice, if you want it."

Just as Twilight was mentally relating Vinyl Scratch to Rainbow Dash, Vinyl caught sight of the flat expression and raised eyebrow Octavia was aiming her way and started abruptly in her seat. "Okay, okay," she said quickly, hooves raised placatingly towards her partner, "I'm just messing around. Geeze." Turning back to Twilight, she said, "I can totally put you in touch with some ponies who'd be interested. Plus me of course, and don't even think about trying to pay me for it."

Relief, and a little gratitude, drowned the nerves still lurking around Twilight's belly. "I was going to ask about that a little later, but you'd be willing to perform as well as helping me out today?" she asked. "It would be a big help to get some names on the billing early, then we can start putting up posters and selling tickets. Once we get the ball rolling, we can put some of the money from the initial sales aside to pay the performers as well. I know it's a charity event, but, well, we can't just ask everypony to work for free."

Octavia and Vinyl shared a brief smile, before Vinyl hopped up out of her seat. "Heh, and this is the part where I run for the hills. 'Tavi can take care of all that stuff for ya," she said, patting the dark-furred cellist on one shoulder as the passed. "I've got a gig tonight I need to get ready for. I'll send a few letters, put the word out." Before Twilight thought to say anything, Vinyl had already reached the door - where she paused to call "Just give me a shout when it's showtime, and I'll come blow the roof off for ya!" back over her shoulder, before disappearing out into the summer sun.

"She's, um... certainly an unusual pony," Twilight said, still staring at the door.

"Personally I'd have gone with egotistical, rude and thoroughly aggravating," Octavia said, obviously unimpressed. Twilight turned back to the pony still seated across the table from her, eyes widening in surprise.

"Please don't misunderstand me Princess," Octavia clarified, "I do care for Vinyl a great deal. It's her... other persona I can't stand." Seeing the questions already forming behind Twilight's eyes, Octavia realised that she was going to have to risk a few more answers to dampen the mare's thirst for understanding.

"Princess," she began, before checking herself and looking the young alicorn directly in the eyes. Vinyl would probably have a panic attack if she found out, but if anyone could find a lonely pony a friend...

"Twilight. As... as a friend, I must confess that I had hoped to have a few moments alone to broach this subject with you," she said carefully, "but we should probably wait until after we have finished discussing the concert. I know it's hardly polite to be making demands on an offer of friendship that is a matter of minutes old, but..." Octavia hesitated, then forced herself to finish what she had started. "I do love Vinyl, but I'm worried about her." She let out a short, humourless chuckle. "I suppose you might say she's in need of a 'helping hoof' herself."

Twilight reached a hoof across the table to touch Octavia's own, halting their nervous shuffling. Octavia was obviously motivated by a genuine concern for her partner's welfare, and she was equally obviously embarrassed to bring it up. "Whatever's wrong, I'll do the best I can to help," Twilight said, trying to pack the sympathy and compassion she felt into her tone. "I meant what I said about wanting to be your friend, and that's what friends do."

Octavia's downturned eyes rose to meet hers, and the hope and gratitude Twilight saw in them was almost painful.

There's something else there too. Not quite fear... guilt? Shame?

Before Twilight could think on it further, Octavia sucked in a short breath and straightened up in her chair. She closed her eyes briefly before releasing the breath, seeming to push something back beneath the surface as her eyes opened again.

"My apologies, Princess," she said, voice approaching its normal confident strength once more, "you invited me here to help you, and here I am making demands of your time. We still have work to do."

"If you're sure," Twilight said.

"Yes, yes," Octavia replied, "I'm fine. In any case, I'll feel more comfortable accepting aid after I've done the job I came here to do, rather than before."

Twilight grinned. "Even though you don't need to 'earn' my help, we can stick to the plan if it makes things easier for you. I can definitely understand that. I've got one condition, though," she added lightly. "You start calling me Twilight. I'm not anypony special, I'm your friend."

"And I suppose I can understand that, Twilight," Octavia replied, a glimmer of humour returning to her eyes.

A brief burst of confusion flickered across Twilight's mind before being dismissed. What does she mean by- never mind.

"Now, back to the concert?" Octavia said, waiting for a nod of acknowledgement form Twilight before continuing. "I'm actually something of an old hoof when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been involved in organising charity events like this for years, so I know a trick or two."

"Really?" Twilight said, mood brightening. "That's great!"

"Your idea to get a sort of rolling fund pool going with early ticket sales is a good one," Octavia said, "although most ponies would like to give freely of their time, it's obviously not something they can always afford to do, so some small contribution towards their expenses is a big help in securing more performers. In fact I've seen it used successfully in a number of events I've attended as an audience member - but I'm afraid it's not going to work here."

Twilight's ears fell back. "Oh," she said, obviously disappointed and slightly embarrassed. "Umm... if you don't mind, could I ask why not? I don't like making mistakes, so if I can understand what I did wrong-"

Octavia pressed on, apparently unconcerned. "There's nothing wrong with the approach, but I have a small condition I impose on charitable events in which I take part directly. Call it a... personal affectation," she said, rolling a hoof in the air over the table. Twilight cocked her head to one side curiously.

"Everypony, on and off the stage, gets paid as they normally would for an event of this scale - unless they specifically decline, of course, in which case their fee should be added to the sum raised. All the money generated goes to the cause," Octavia said with a smile, "and I'm paying for everything."

"Oh, okay," Twilight replied automatically, before she processed what had actually been said. "Wait what?!" she exclaimed, "What are, how-" Clamping her mouth shut for a moment, she stared with honest surprise at the mare across the table from her. Once she had sorted out the link between her mouth and brain, she asked, "How can you afford that?"

"Ha. You really do mean it about the whole trust and friendship thing, don't you?" Octavia said happily, genuinely amused. "The first thing you do is ask how I can do it. You don't immediately assume I'm lying, or somehow mistaken. More importantly, you really didn't know, which means you've been genuinely friendly this whole time."

"Didn't know what?" Twilight asked, grabbing on to the last thing that was said in an effort to force some sense into her thoughts.

To her frustration, Octavia answered her question with another. "I suppose there's a copy of Berk's Peerage in here somewhere," she said, glancing pointedly at the bookshelves around them, "and given your reputation for study and recent elevation I presume you've read it. Does the name "Philharmonica" ring any bells?"

"Well, yes, of course, you could hardly miss that," Twilight said, information absorbed from the book jumping back into her brain. "Prince Blueblood's elder sister. If she hadn't been born an earth pony, she would have been heir to the-" Twilight's voice began to falter as her mind raced on ahead to the description and cutie mark depicted on the book's pages, "-to the Platinum crown, and... and princess of, of Unicornia. Oh my goodness," she finished weakly.

How in the hay did I miss that?! Twilight berated herself internally. Forget hiding in plain sight, that's ridiculous! She lives in a tiny little house down the road from Sugarcube Corner and, and... Suddenly Twilight began to see some familiarity in the other mare's situation.

...and just tries to live an ordinary life.

"I'm not anypony special," Octavia said quietly, "I'm your friend."

The words echoed out of Twilight's memory in her own voice, and she suddenly couldn't help but find the whole situation funny. A half-stifled nervous giggle became a chuckle, and as soon as Twilight began to laugh Octavia lost her own battle for self-control. Soon both mares were giggling merrily.

"I suppose turnabout is fair play, 'just' Octavia," Twilight said between breaths as she tried to control herself.

"When you-" Octavia forced out before dissolving into laughter again, "you, your face!"

Twilight managed to get herself fully under control, a contented expression settling onto her face. "So you just... live in a little house in Ponyville with your marefriend and play the cello?" she said. "This might sound a little silly, but knowing that's possible just makes me feel a bit better about the world, you know?"

"Well it certainly makes me feel pretty good," Octavia replied, still chuckling to herself. "I never was much of a one for all the pomp and circumstance. This town might be small, but there are a lot of honest and hardworking ponies here that really do their best to make life a little brighter for everypony else. I was serious about the money, by the way," she said, one hoof absently fussing at her tie, "I've never really had much use for it, so I try to use it to help out where I can. If you have an outline of what time slots you're trying to fill for the concert, and some idea of a theme, then we could go through that now and see what we can come up with. Vinyl and I can get to work on filling the gaps later."

"Oh, yes, of course," Twilight said, horn aglow as a large paper roll floated across to the table from a nearby shelf. Scanning back and forth across the lengthy chart as it unrolled, Twilight's eyes located the time slot for the first performance. Pointing it out with a hoof, she began, "We - that is, the girls and I - wanted to set a bit of time aside for the Ponyville Elementary students at the start, then a few local performers before we move on to..."

***

"All right, I believe that's most of it sorted out," Octavia declared with some relief. "I'll have to get in touch with some of those ponies to make sure they're available to fill the last few slots, and I suspect Vinyl will need to do the same. There shouldn't be any trouble, even if some of them can't make it we both know plenty more ponies that would be suited and willing to attend."

In contrast to Octavia, Twilight seemed as perky as ever after what had been almost an hour of laborious scheduling. "Great!" she said as she putting the finishing touches on an entry, tongue peeking out of one corner of her mouth as the quill danced across the page. "It's not really fully organised until everything is set, but it's nice to have a solid foundation to work on." She glanced up at the now significantly lower sun through a nearby window, eyebrows lifting a little in faint surprise. "Oh. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess." Her eyes settled back on Octavia, expression a little sheepish. "Sorry if that was boring. I know this sort of thing isn't everypony's idea of a good time."

"Not at all, that was quite an... intense experience," Octavia replied, impressed. "It was hardly what I'd do given a choice, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. I think I understand how you get so much studying done now. You really do throw yourself into things, don't you?"

Twilight paused a moment, expression introspective. "I suppose I do," she said, a small smile returning to her muzzle. "I just like to do things properly the first time. Minimises the amount of time wasted on do-overs." With a pleased murmur, Twilight rolled the now mostly-filled event plan back up. Lifting the parchment roll in her magic, she walked over to its rightful place on the shelves and slid it in amongst its fellows.

"So," Twilight said, turning back towards the table, "we're all done with that for now. If you still want to talk about whatever it was that was bothering you..." Twilight prompted, trying to look supportive as she reclaimed her seat.

"I don't want to take up too much of your time," Octavia hedged, glancing out of the window at the slowly descending sun.

Oh no, you're not allowed to lose your nerve now, Twilight thought. This was obviously really important.

"Don't worry about that," she said, "even if solving friendship problems wasn't my job - which it is - it sounded like something was really bothering you. I'd like to help."

"If you're sure?" Octavia asked. Twilight nodded, and Octavia visibly calmed herself before continuing. She spoke slowly, as if she needed a run-up to force the whole thing out. "It's about Vinyl. She-"

Octavia froze as her eyes locked on something behind Twilight's shoulder. Twilight turned her head to see Pinkie Pie looking in through one of the library's windows, the usually carefree mare's expression deadly serious. Pinkie stared in at Octavia while slowly shaking her head, then silently mouthed the word 'forever' and slid out of view.

"Oh, I think I recognise this part," Twilight said, turning back to Octavia. "She'll keep doing that," she continued, tilting her head to indicate the pink pony outside, "and popping up in increasingly improbable places too."

Trying to ignore the hard stare being directed at her from outside the window, Octavia replied, "I know. She does have a point though, I should probably be a little less blunt about this than I was planning. I would very much like to just tell you, but Vinyl would probably never forgive me if she found out." She huffed out a short breath. "This may sound like a strange request, but... do you think you could be her friend?"

Twilight's brow furrowed. "You're asking me to make friends with Vinyl?" she asked. "I don't get it. I mean, I know the three of us only really just met properly, but I did already say that I would like to do that. You don't need to ask."

Octavia shifted restlessly. "No, you... how do I put this?" She paused, obviously considering her words. "You just met DJ PON-3. I'd like you to try to be friends with Vinyl."

"I don't think I'm understanding this at all," Twilight replied.

"I'm sorry," Octavia said, "but Pinkie Pie is right. I can't explain any more than that without betraying her trust. I need to talk to Vinyl and see if I can convince her to go through with it. Even if I can, it's probably going to be a lengthy and difficult process, but if I can get her to open up..." A faint mix of compassion and conviction crept into Octavia's voice as she met Twilight's eyes across the table. "She only has one friend. And as much as I might want to be able to help solve all her problems, I think she might be better off talking to somepony besides me once in a while."

Twilight joined a few dots in her head. "If she's okay with it, then I think I'd like to meet her. The first thing I really learned about friendship was that you need it, whether you think you do or not. The first step out of yourself is the hardest, and sometimes you do need somepony else to give you a shove," she said, thinking back to her first day in Ponyville. "Or, you know, forcibly relocate you to a podunk town in the middle of nowhere so a bunch of crazy ponies can throw you a party for no reason. Still, can't argue with results!"

"I believe you did manage to save the world in there somewhere. At least once."

"Well, I don't-" Twilight began awkwardly.

"You're getting thanked for that whether you like it or not, Twilight."

"I didn't exactly go out looking to do that," Twilight grumbled. "What am I supposed to do, just sit there and let the world end?"

"Egads, I hope not," Octavia replied in mock fear, "that's where I keep all my stuff."

A high-pitched indignant "Hey!" drew both mare's attention back to the window, where Pinkie Pie had decided to reappear.

"References like that are my job, missy!" Pinkie declared, pointing an accusatory hoof at Octavia. "I don't play the cello, you don't steal my stuff, capisce?"

Octavia looked at Twilight, confusion plain on her face.

"Just go with it," Twilight advised, "it's easier that way."

Octavia turned back to Pinkie Pie, nervously rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. "I'm... sorry?" she said, uncertainly.

"Aww, 's no big deal," Pinkie acknowledged airily, folding her forelegs on the windowsill and leaning in. "They probably didn't get it anyway. Oh, and I got dibs on meeting Vinyl once Twilight's done. I've been holding this one in for years," she said emphatically, rolling onto her back - still draped over the windowsill - to thrust her hooves into the air. Her upside-down pleading gaze locked onto Octavia. "The suspense is killing me."

Knowing she would probably regret it, but unable to stop herself, Twilight asked, "Holding what in?"

"Her welcome party of course," Pinkie said, flipping herself right-side-up again. She slid back outside then propped her head up on one foreleg, elbow resting on the window ledge.

"Didn't you do that already?" Twilight said, confused. "I mean, she's been living in Ponyville for years now, and you throw a party for everypony pretty much the day they get here."

"Uh-huh," Pinkie nodded, "I sure do. I did one for DJ PON-3 a couple years after I moved here, and she's my number one go-to gal when I need a DJ. I've been waiting for Vinyl to arrive ever since. Can't throw a party for a pony I haven't even met, that would just be silly. Come on, say yes and hurry it up already. I want to meet her too. I bet she's super nice."

"Wait a second, what are you even doing here Pinkie?" Twilight said, "Aren't you meant to be working right now?"

"Oh I am working. I just put a batch of-"

Pinkie Pie's voice cut off as her tail let out a loud ringing sound and began vibrating. With a panicked squeal Pinkie lashed her tail, and a small oven timer flew in through the window, narrowly missing Twilight's head. The device landed on the table between Twilight and Octavia, and began merrily buzzing and ringing its way slowly across the surface.

"Oh shoot, that's me! Gotta go!" Pinkie cried, before zooming off down the street screaming, "Twilight, catch the timer for me!"

Twilight and Octavia stared at each other silently for a long moment, the small plastic timer still ringing and vibrating its way around the table between them. Then Twilight slapped a hoof down on the timer, shutting it off.

"So, I, um... I think we were having a conversation at some point there, maybe?" she said.

"Yes, I rather lost my train of thought as well," Octavia said.

"Pinkie doesn't so much derail a conversation as she does blow up the tracks, set fire to the station, and turn the engine into a coconut," Twilight said with a suppressed laugh. "I guess I should let you get going."

"Yes, I need to make sure I make it to Vinyl's performance this evening," Octavia said, rising from her seat. "I can make a start on some of those acts in the meantime, get some letters in the post. Always pays to give our beloved postal service an extra day's start."

"And if you do decide to go ahead with that other thing - or even if you don't," Twilight replied as the pair crossed to the door, "drop by anytime. Either of you."

Octavia paused beyond the door, and turned back with a smile.

"I think I might just take you up on that, Twilight."