A Chapter Where The Title Comes Into Play
Vinyl grit her teeth and tried again, carefully pulling the bow across the strings with her magic. Yet another unpleasant noise slowly rose into the air, howling like a banshee. She immediately winced and drew back, baffled how the thick, furred, and massive hooves of an Earth Pony could serenade an Ursa with this instrument while the articulated, carefully calculated thaums of Unicorn magic could only create the dying throes of a beached whale by the same bow. She sighed and put it down again, aware that she would be trying again before too long by sheer stubbornness, and collapsed back, sinking into her girlfriends fur.
Octavia politely refrained from giggling at the frustration of the unicorn on her back, and kept trotting through the marketplace, occasionally leaning down and peering at the small fruits and vegetables being sold. Other ponies waved at her as she passed, long since grown used to the giant mare living among them, and a few fillies happily zig-zagged between her legs, giving her a mild workout in avoiding them.
"You were doing well for your first try at a new instrument and genre."
"Man, how do you do that? I barely moved an inch and it began screeching at me like my dad when I was 15."
"I don't know about that, but playing the cello takes time, precision, and grace. Really, if you're giving up after one try, it's a wonder how you stuck with EDM and Dubstep for as long as you did."
Vinyl stuck out her tongue, but made no further retort and picked it up again, closing her eyes and concentrating on psychically gliding over the strings. She continued trying, paying close attention to the notes each one emitted while Octavia awkwardly laid herself in the middle of the street, dropping her head between her hooves in front of a carrot stand and smiling at the owner. By the time she had bartered for a hooful of the vegetables, Vinyl had managed to simmer down the creature apparently inhabiting the instrument, and convinced it to settle for a quiet hum. Octavia smiled and left her to the practice.
~~*~~
Vinyl grunted as she struggled to grab onto tufts of grey fur, finally heaving herself on top of Octavia’s sleeping form. She took a moment to catch her breath and make sure the cellist was still sleeping, then slowly crept over to her mane, army-crawled over the back of her neck and leaned down in front of her slowly twitching ear.
“Octy. Octy. Octa-bae. Octaby. TAVI.”
“Mmfff…”
She stirred in her sleep, upsetting Vinyl’s perch, but kept her eyes closed. Perfect.
“What’s your favorite kind of cake?”
“Mmm...cheese..”
“Cool. Thanks Octy. You can go back to sleep.”
She muttered something else in her sleep before burying her head in the giant pile of blankets and pillows, throwing Vinyl off. Vinyl pulled herself off the ground, lightly kissed Tavi on the cheek, and silently trotted back to her room, thinking carefully. She lay awake in bed for several hours after- what else was she forgetting, what else could she do to surprise Octy when February came in a matter of weeks?
~~*~~
A loud creak echoed through the entire house as one of the double doors at the front of the mansion sloooooowlly creaked open. Vinyl winced at the sound, poking her head in and peek around, but no response came- the coast was clear. She closed the door behind her as quietly as she could, then scampered off through the toweringly large hallways, feeling very much like a tiny mouse trying to avoid the gaze of a housecat as she struggled to keep the package she had picked up from the towns local bakery balanced on her back. Several loud thumps resonated in the distance, and she made a sharp turn into a broom closet, shutting the door and crawling into a vent she had pried the lid off when she first found it.
Several claustrophobic turns later, she emerged directly outside her bedroom, pulled herself out, and ran to the door, listening for echoing footsteps. When she heard none, she levitated the package off her back and underneath her bed, taking care not to damage it.
Cello, Cake.. Flowers! She should visit Roseluck, see if she could get a bushel. Roses were traditional for Valentines Day, after all. now then, where could she keep the cheesecake cold without risk of it being discovered for several more weeks?
~~*~~
The mansion lightly shook as Octavia wandered around it, peering into the numerous nooks and crannies used by the smaller mare to sleep, hide, or occasionally eat in. She hadn't seen Vinyl for a few hours now, and was beginning to get worried now. It wasn't unusual for her to stay out of sight for extended periods of time, constantly finding new ways to navigate around the house, but this made her question if she was even in the house.
"Vinyl, dear, where are you? I need to head out to head out to the bakery again, I can't imagine how you used that much bread in less than a week."
Her ear perked up at the sounds of her cello drifting through the bedroom door, and she lifted her head to the banister, seeing Vinyl quietly experimenting with the strings. Her skill was growing obviously, and the music she was crafting, while far from expert, was much more finely tuned then when she had last been heard playing in the market. Upon noticing Octavia, she yelped and dropped the cello loudly.
"Did you write that?"
"I mean. I wanted to keep it a secret for a little longer, but...yeah."
"That was really good."
"Yeah. I mean, it's not as good as yours, but-"
"No, don't sell yourself short. You're never self-conscious when mixing tracks, don't treat this any differently."
"I- ok. Thanks Tavi. I appreciate it."
"It's never a problem reminding you how perfect you are, love."
Vinyl smiled warmly at her. As she lowered her head and turned to walk away, she heard from suddenly behind her- "Hey, think fast!" Octavia turned, opening her mouth to comment just as Vinyl jumped onto her with her hooves stretched out. She flew in, and Octavia caught her perfectly, choking at the sudden intrusion before reflexively swallowing her down. It took her a solid minute to grasp what had happened, as Vinyl lost her head laughing inside her.
~~*~~
"Today's the daaayyyy!"
Vinyl sang to herself as she happily cantered around her room, levitating out the cake, and cello. She had a plan for Valentine's Day; wake up early (check), grab the roses, finish scribbling the last notes for her cello performance, and...
"Presentation. Presentation is key, how am I going to hit her with gift after gift in the perfect order to stun her silent? End with the song, obviously, although I kind of spoiled that, start with the cake... Hmm. Does she like grand romantic gestures? I don't think she's ever stated her opinion on them. First things first; find Roseluck."
She would move as quickly and quietly as she could through the halls and out the door, then break into a gallop once outside into the town below, speeding into the market, anxiously waiting at Roseluck's stand in the long line, paying as quickly as she could for the deepest shade of flowers left, dashing back, and closing the door to her bedroom, all before Octy woke up.
Perfect.
~~*~~
Octavia groggily pulled herself out of her pile, remembering it was the weekend and she could take as long as she wanted, before yawning loudly. What was today again, some holiday-?
There was a trail of roses leading into one of the dining rooms. That answered that.
It was Valentine's Day, and her loving girlfriend was being as romantically cheesy as ever. Today was going to be great.
In the dining room, Vinyl was sitting on the table, excitedly vibrating upon seeing her enter. Before she could even get a word out, a bouquet of roses was levitated up and tucked behind her ear.
"Good morning to you too, love. These do look lovely, did the flower trio sell them to you?"
"Roseluck did! Look, I brought you cheesecake! It's kind of small, but I know it's your favorite!"
She levitated the circular container up to her, showing off the smooth yellow cake inside, the largest she could find and still comically small for the gargantuan mare. She smiled nonetheless.
"Thank you very much. Did you buy all of this yourself?"
"No, my giant invisible lagamorph friend bought them for me. Go on, try some of it!"
Vinyl had to be messing with her with that last statement, but she obeyed and popped the entire container in her mouth, swallowing it without batting an eye. The DJ stifled a laugh, and kept talking.
"Let's head over to that old diner you like, grab some breakfast, yeah, head over to the theatre and see what's playing, then BANG! Shuffle over to The Winchesters for shots; don't give me that look, I know you rarely touch liquor, but its a special day; and then we'll come back here and I'll show you the best part! Sound like a good day?"
"That sounds wonderful, Vinyl."
~~*~~
Octavia stumbled through the front door, giggling as Vinyl tried in vain to navigate her in by guiding her own hoof, occasionally jumping out of the way to avoid being crushed. Octavia struggled to stop laughing so she could get a word out.
"You held me back!"
"I have no idea what you're on about."
"You held me back from getting drunker, normally it's the other way around."
"That's not- not all the time. Go sit on your pile, I'll bring the surprise to you."
The giant mare kept laughing as she stumbled off to bed, while Vinyl ran off to her room. Reaching the messy pile at the center of the mansion, she collapsed in exhaustion, shaking the entire house. Vinyl rushed back, plopped down in front of her head, and whipped out the cello, much to Octavia's surprise. She kept watching as the electronic musician levitated the bow up, played a few quiet notes to get her bearings, and shredded.
"If it's groove you're looking for...
then you've come to the right place..."
Octavia watched, spellbound, as Vinyl pulled off a rock number with an instrument that had been crafted for slow classical and had done so for most of it's life, not to speak of the wielder who had been frustrated with it only a month ago- nevertheless, Vinyl played with such speed she feared a string may snap, but they held strong as she pulled it together for a powerful conclusion written for Octavia specifically.
"Your type of shoooowww, just let it go."
Vinyl dropped the instrument and panted heavily, looking up to Octavia expectantly with a reluctant smile. Octavia, meanwhile, was shocked and impressed beyond words, and could only hang her jaw like a hat her brain had hung up as it left the house. Finally, her vocal cords snapped awake and began working again.
"Vinyl- you- you wrote that, all by yourself?"
"I... I took some bits and pieces from the music pages you had lying around the house, but- Ack!"
She was cut off as Octavia suddenly snatched her up between her hooves, sat up, and fell backwards, cuddling Vinyl into her cheek as pillows fell around them. Before Vinyl even had time to react, she was pulled into a deep kiss, coming up sputtering.
"Octy, don't drown me..."
"Vinyl, love, that was amazing!"
"It.. was?"
"Yes! Yes, it was spectacular! I can't believe you wrote that by yourself and played it perfectly!"
"I've been practicing for a while..."
"And it payed off! I- you could play that at the next gala! The crowd would eat that up!"
"You think so?"
"I know so! It would be a smash hit!"
"I... Yeah, yeah it would! I was awesome, wasn't I?"
"Celestia, yes, you were! Do you have the sheet music written down?"
"Yeah, I do! This is gonna be great! I love you, Octavia. Happy Valentine's day."
"I love you too. Thank you so, so much."
They lied like that for the rest of the night, the cellist cuddling the DJ like a teddy bear until they eventually fell asleep, smiling happily.
Author's Note
I don't know girl. I saw the picture and thought it looked nice.
I wish I knew how to write action without abusing commas like a drunken father.
