A bit for your thoughts....
Octavia sat in her soft overstuffed chair, cup of hot tea in hoof, watching through the window. The snow was coming down steadily and she was happy to be inside, sitting near the fireplace which, with the tea, helped to keep the cold at bay. As she watched the snow slowly piling up in the streets of Ponyville, she smiled while thinking of memories from a few years past.
Her house-mate, a white unicorn mare with a short cut blue mane and magenta eyes, was sorting through sound tracks on her synthesizer just across the room. While she dubbed various tracks and sounds together for a dance party later in the evening for a Hearth’s Warming Eve party, she looked toward Octavia and noticed her smile.
"Bit for your thoughts, Octy.", she said to her.
Octavia stirred and glanced toward the mare, smiling wider, while brushing her dark mane behind her ear.
"Oh, I was just remembering my first Hearth’s Warming here in Ponyville. Do you recall that time, Vinyl?"
"Of course I do, Otcy! You sure had your tail in twist that night!", Vinyl Scratch added with a laugh.
Octavia’s eyes opened wide, her pupils shirking to pin-pricks and her cheeks turning crimson. "I most certainly did not!", she retorted, turning away and frowning. "I was just homesick and a bit blue, that’s all."
"More like stuck up, pretentious and grumpy, it seemed to me", Vinyl teased, laughter in her eyes.
"Hmph!" Octavia glared at her friend for a moment, then smiled slyly, her eyes twinkling with mirth.
"You owe me a bit."
"What?"
"You inquired as to my thoughts and I told you. Pay up."
Vinyl grinned and tossed her a bit. "Fair enough", she said, "but I know you had a great time by the end of that night."
"I did, indeed", Octavia replied smiling warmly. "As I recall, it started with you asking me about my thoughts that night, as well."
"It cost me a bit that night, too", Vinyl laughed.
Three years earlier
Vinyl walked into the living room to find Octavia slumped on the couch. Just as she had been two hours ago. And an hour before that. She looked disheveled and unhappy. Her usually well kempt dark mane and tail were a tangled mess. Her coat was uncombed and scruffy. She had a forlorn look in her eyes as she started out the window. She could sense that something was wrong, but hadn’t been able to coax and answer from her since she had arrived two days before.
They had been friends for a couple of years in Canterlot, having met in music college. Though they studied and enjoyed widely different styles, they found a common bond in their love of music it self. After school, Vinyl had traveled Equestria, playing popular music and her own dub and drop bass style in dance and night clubs. Her music style had become wildly popular very quickly. She enjoyed the fame and popularity immensely. But her friend, the dark gray mare reclining on the couch before her, had been her rock, her confidant, somepony she trusted through all the fame and attention she earned.
To see her in this state was just too much. Octavia was prim, poised and confident, always. Something had happened and Vinyl was determined not only to find out what but to cheer up her best friend.
Vinyl approached her and looked into her eyes.
"A bit for your thoughts, Octy."
Octavia stirred lightly, glancing up at the other mare. "You know I dislike it when you call me ‘Octy’. And they aren’t worth a bit."
Well it was a start, Vinyl thought to herself.
"Why don’t you tell anyway? It might earn you a bit.", she coaxed.
Octavia sighed and pushed herself up to sit up on the couch.
"I may well need that bit, you know.", she said sadly.
Vinyl sat silently, waiting for her friend to continue.
"I lost my chair at the orchestra, Vinyl", she whimpered, tears beginning to brim in her eyes.
Vinyl stared back, stunned. "What?! H-how could they..."
Octavia was the best cellist in the Canterlot Symphony. First chair, for three year running.
Tears were running down Octavia’s cheeks as she continued. "The head conductor asked me out on a date and I declined. Then he told me if I didn’t go out with him, he would terminate my position with the symphony. He had me fired, after he told the head of the company that I had been harassing him and attempting to move up in the symphony by offering him ‘favors’, if you get my meaning."
Octavia’s face was filled with a deep scowl and tears of anger. Her voice rose loudly.
"How could he even say things like that!? How did he convince them so easily that I would do such a thing?! It’s disgusting and deceitful and I-I thought they liked me, Vinyl!", she wailed.
Vinyl sat in shock for just a moment, then reached out and pulled her sobbing friend into a deep hug. She held her there while she cried, her sorrow and pain flowing out of her with each sob. They sat for sometime, until Octavia pulled away and started to compose herself.
"It feels better when you share. You always told me that you know."
Octavia wiped away a tear and gave a slight smile. "A little. Thank you."
Vinyl leaned back and reached down beside the couch. Pulling up her saddlebags, she produced a handkerchief and put it into her friends hooves, along with a bit.
Octavia looked back, puzzled. "What’s this then?"
"I asked for your thoughts and you answered. There’s your bit."
She gave a little laugh and grinned back at her. "You are just the best, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know!"
They sat in silence for a while until Vinyl asked, "So, what happens now? When are you getting your spot back?"
Octavia gave her a resigned look. "Well, of course I demanded a meeting with the board. My father went with me and I feel I made an excellent case for reinstatement."
"But...."
She sighed deeply,"Even though some of the board believed me, they are conducting a full investigation. Until it is complete, they removed me from the symphony and refused to allow me to participate in any of the holiday performances."
"What about the scum bag conductor?",Vinyl asked. "Don’t tell me he got to stay on?! Isn’t your dad a lawyer? Couldn’t he convince them you didn’t do anything?!" Vinyl’s voice rose a bit as her own anger came out.
"He did insist that they hold the investigation, Vinyl. The board was ready to just dismiss me out of turn. Neither of us can attend events or return to the hall until the investigation is complete."
"Well, there’s that, at least. It’s still not fair, Octy.", Vinyl huffed.
"No, but I believe I will prevail in the end. Though I quite agree, I shouldn’t have to endure this type of treatment."
Octavia hung her head again and muttered, "I just so miss Canterlot at Hearth’s Warming though. All the grand balls, the concerts, the decorations and lights and the fun."
"Why can’t you have that here? It’s till Hearth’s Warming, you know."
"Oh, Vinyl, thank you for trying but this is Ponyville.", she said a bit sarcastically. "It just wouldn’t be the same. It’s so...."
Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "So, what? Unrefined, uncouth?! Not good enough for you and your upscale tastes, Octy? Ponyville a bit too backward for you?", Vinyl growled angrily.
Octavia’s eyes widened and her ears lay back. "No, no! That isn’t what I meant at all!"
Vinyl glared at her skeptically. "So just what were you trying to say?"
She looked down at the floor and muttered quietly, "It just isn’t home, Vinyl. I miss being home for the holiday. I’m sure Ponyville has their own way of celebrating and that it is just as wonderful. It just would be what I’m used to doing and being a part of during this time of year."
"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.", Octavia offered quietly.
Vinyl smiled. "Yeah, I’m sorry, too. I just don't like to hear anypony put down Ponyville when they don’t live here and know how great it is. They should give it a chance, ya know?"
"Of course I understand. Someponies feel that Canterlot is full of snobby, stuck up ponies. It isn’t completely true in the slightest."
"Mostly, though!", Vinyl retorted, earning her an indignant look from her friend.
"Vinyl, you should really heed your own advice, don’t you think?"
"True, true."
Vinyl smiled warmly at her friend.
"So, where do you want to go first?", Vinyl asked.
"Whatever do you mean?", asked Octavia.
"It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve, Otcy. I’m not going to just let you sit in my house and have you miss it. Come on, let’s get going!"
"Oh, Vinyl! I don’t know. I’m liable to be very poor company, considering everything that has happened. Do g- go ahead, though, I’ll be quite fine here, alone.", Octavia said with a small but sad smile.
Vinyl only grinned wider. "Nothing doing, sister! No one in Ponyville is alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve." She grabbed her hoof and moved toward the door to her home. "Besides, once Pinkie Pie finds out you’re here, you’ll be a part of the town, anyway! So we may as well get started."
"Whom is Pinkie Pie? I don’t think we’ve met?"
'Don’t worry, Octy. She already knows you!", Vinyl laughed.
The rest of the evening was nearly a blur for Octavia, but more fun than she could ever remember having at Hearth’s Warming in all her years living in Canterlot.
From viewing the unusual and sometimes eclectic outdoor decorations of some of the residents (Cranky Doodle had the most varied collection of ornaments and decorations of anypony) to the grandeur of Carousel Boutique’s coordinated lighting display, Octavia could truly say she had never seen anything like it in Canterlot.
The party at Sugarcube Corner was, well, intense but warm and friendly. Vinyl had a huge crowd for the dance party. Even though it wasn’t her style of music, Octavia was happy to she her friend having fun and making the party swing! And Vinyl was uncannily correct about Miss Pinkie Pie and her knowledge of Octavia Melody. It was a bit unsettling at first, but she could tell Pinkie had a good soul and just wanted her to have a good time.
The most impressive event, though, turned out to be one she would have never guessed.
After all the wubs and confetti had faded from sight and sound, Vinyl insisted they go to Ponyville General. She was most secretive and mysterious about the reason, though. Octavia was getting a bit concerned until the nurse brought them to the foals ward. She still didn’t fully understand until they opened the door and all the colts and fillies saw Vinyl and cheered.
Vinyl was there to spend an evening with all these foals and their families, just to bring them a little happiness and warmth on a night Octavia knew they all wished to be in their own homes together. She sang Hearth’s Warming carols with Vinyl and all the foals and their parents. Even though they were out of tune and missed some of the words, it was still the best concert she had ever participated in with such good friends.
As they were leaving sometime later, she saw Vinyl give the nurse a large envelope and point to a closet down the hallway, with a whispered explanation and a shocked but warm look from the nursing staff. Vinyl motioned to Octavia that they should go and they quickly left before anypony could say much else to either of them except ‘Thank you!’
Once they were outside and away from the doors, Octavia turned and stopped her friend.
"Alright, then. What was that on about then?"
"What do you mean, Otcy?", Vinyl replied innocently.
"Don’t be coy with me. What were you up to visiting here? You never used to enjoy spending time with foals. Where has that come from?", Octavia queried, warmly smiling.
"Aw, come on, Octy. I’m just being nice. It’s good to be nice to foals on Hearth’s Warming. It brings good luck!", she said with a bit of flair.
"The famous DJ spends Hearth’s Warming with foals, entertaining them and giving them gifts and helping their parents. Yet no pony has ever heard of the generous Vinyl Scratch."
"Oh, so I’m just a partying jet-setter, right?", Vinyl laughed.
"Don’t worry, Vi", Octavia told her with a wink. "Your secrets safe with me."
"Thanks, Octy. I do it for them, not for me."
Back in the present
Vinyl started out the window, lost in thought while her friend recounted the story. Suddenly Octavia turned to her and noticed her contemplation.
"A bit for your thoughts, Vinyl."
Vinyl blinked and turned to her. "Oh, just thinking that it sure has been great that you stayed even when you could have gone back to Canterlot and the symphony after you won your case."
"You helped me see that where your friends are is where your home is. This is my home now."
Vinyl looked at her and smiled.
"And you answered my question.", she said, flipping the to coin to her. "Here’s your bit."
Author's Note
This I my very first story here on FimFiction. I hope you whom choose to read it enjoy it. Please help me learn by giving me your thoughts and critiques. Thanks.
Edited on 30 December 2017. Hope it reads a bit easier now! Thank you all for the feedback!
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