Musical Love.

As me and Octavia walk down the street I can’t help but get a little excited at the thought of getting to see where she lives. Octavia is a lot more of an upper class mare than me, so I’m curious to see how differently we live. “We’re here.” Octavia announces, breaking me out of my thoughts. I glance up to see a small apartment building in front of us.

“This is where you live.” I ask, a bit of disbelief in my voice at the thought of Octavia living in a perfectly normal apartment.

“Yes.” Octavia says, walking forward towards the front door.

“I thought you’d live somewhere, fancier.”

“Don’t worry you’re not the first pony to think that actually.” Octavia reassures me as we step through the front door of the building. We take a right and start walking up a small flight of stairs. “A lot of ponies think playing in the orchestra pays a lot more than it does.” Octavia finishes as we reach the top of the staircase and arrive on the third floor.

Octavia reaches into her white collar and pulls out a small key before using it to unlock the door. Octavia puts the key back and walks inside. “I’ve been trying to find a roommate so I can afford a nicer place, but it’s hard to trust most ponies around here. At least back in Ponyville I would have been comfortable with almost anypony, but Ponyville is too far away from all the other cities to justify living there.”

“Just be thankful rent here in Detrot isn’t as bad as Canterlot or Manehattan.” I say letting out a small laugh. And stepping inside the small but nice looking apartment.

Octavia walks behind me and locks the door before moving into what looks like the kitchen area. “Tell me about it.” Octavia grumbles.

I take the time to look around while Octavia’s in the kitchen. The Apartment isn’t very special. The place has an open floor plan. The front door led right into the living room with a small couch and a TV mounted on the wall. On the right is an open doorway leading to the kitchen. Ahead is a small hallway leading to three closed doors, presumably the bedroom, the bathroom, but I can’t figure out where the third door would lead. Right before the hallway is a small dining area with an open archway also leading into the kitchen.

“The first time I went to find a place in Canterlot I almost punched the landlord when he said one month of my salary covered two weeks of rent.” I hear as I zone back into what Octavia is talking about.

“Oh I feel that.” I say walking over to stand in the kitchen doorway and watch Octavia work. “First apartment I lived in was in Manehattan. It was a three bedroom one bath that me and three other ponies shared. Which means there was a total of four of us. Each pony got a bedroom except Dream Coat, they were the one who ended up needing to sleep in the living room because they paid the least amount of the rent and bills.”

“I don’t think I could handle living with three other mares for that long.” Octavia says placing the kettle on the stove. “I'd probably end up pulling my hair out.”

“Oh no, it was me and three stallions.” I say taking a seat at the small two pony table in the corner of the kitchen.

“Really?” Octavia asks, a bit of concern in her voice.

“Yeah they were all Colts I knew back in school, which meant they had known me long enough to not touch any of my stuff unless they wanted me to beat their flank.

“Oh, that actually makes sense.” Octavia says absentmindedly.

“What do you mean?” I ask, a bit confused.

“In the short time that I’ve known you, that definitely seems like something you would do.” Octavia states placing a few herbs in the kettle that was heating on the stove..

“Ow, I’ve already made the impression that I’m the violent type eh?” I say joking trying to get a reaction out of Octavia.

“Oh. no no no.” Octavia stumbles trying to salvage her image. “I didn’t mean it like that you just…”

“Relax Tavie.'' I say, getting up trotting over and to place a hoof on her shoulder. “I was just playing around. What are you so stressed about?”

“I… I just don’t want to ruin your impression of me.” Octavia Clarifies. “I have a bad habit of putting ponies off from me because I’m not the best at reading situations, and sometimes my jokes come off as just mean.”

“And you think one little comment is going to shatter the way I see you?” I reach out with my magic and pull the whistling kettle off the stove and set it on the counter. “Just relax. Let’s sit down with some tea and talk okay.”

Octavia lets out a small chuckle. “Sorry. I just overreact sometimes. I hope you’ll forgive my loss of composure.” Octavia mixes a few more spices into the kettle and sets it on a small tray with the other tea supplies. Octavia picks up the tray in her hooves and puts it over on the small circular table just in the other room.

“Hey, don’t forget we’re both quite a bit drunk, the cold air sobered us up a bit, but we’re still not at 100%.” I walk into the other room and take my place at the table.

“I guess you make a good point.” Octavia takes her seat and begins pouring the tea. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” I say, taking my cup from Octavia with my magic.

“Did you really call me Tavie earlier?”

I think about it for a second and remember what she’s talking about. “Oh, I guess I did. Do you… not want me to call you that?”

“Oh no, I don’t have a problem with it, I just wasn’t sure where you got it from.”

“Nowhere really, it was just the only abbreviation for Octavia I could think of. No offence but your name’s a little long.”

“I get it, but it’s not very fair, is it? I can’t really shorten your name. Vinyl can only really be shortened to Vi, but Vi definitely doesn’t suit you. I’d have to give you an actual pet name to really shorten it.”

“You mean a nickname?” I Ask.

Once again that red hue peaks through Octavia’s grey coat. “Yeah a nickname, that’s what I meant.”

I finally pick up my cup and take a slow sip from the lightly steaming liquid. “What kind of nickname would you give me anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Octavia says, taking a sip from her own cup, “Vinyl already suits you perfectly, I don’t think you need a Nickname.”

“Can I still call you Tavie?” I ask, giving a gentle smile.

Tavie smiles and lets out a small breath. “I think I’d like that.”