Hard Day

by ManeBrony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Octavia, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1554

Octavia has had a very unsatisfying Heart's and Hooves day

Heart's and Hooves day has come and gone, and Octavia is less that pleased with how it played out. But perhaps something, or somepony, will make things better. (This story is not a sequel, but if you enjoy it I suggest reading my other story, Drastic Measures )

Published 2023-02-13 18:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-02-13 18:40:01 UTC

Great Night

After finishing the performance, Octavia placed her cello in it's case and began walking home. She could have stayed for the celebration but after the day she had just had, celebrating was the last thing on her mind. As she walked home, she thought about the events of the day, and why exactly she felt so down.

The previous day she has received an invitation to preform at some celebratory gathering in Ponyville, in honor of Heart's and Hooves day, for quite a large payment. She initially had no intention of accepting the invitation, after all who would want to work on a holiday? She would have much preferred to do something with her roommate, and best friend, Vinyl Scratch.

Vinyl...

Octavia looked down while she walked, remembering the conversation she had with Vinyl after talking about the invitation she had received.

"But of course I won't be going. The bits would be nice, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to be here all alone tomorrow," Octavia said, sliding the letter across the table, discarding it.

Vinyl then looked down at the letter, reading it, then after a moment shook her head and slid it back towards Octavia.

Octavia tilted her head, "Hm? What is it?"

Vinyl tapped her hoof on the letter in response.

"You... Think I should go?"

Vinyl nodded.

"But... Vinyl you know what tomorrow is. I couldn't possibly leave. I mean you'd be all alone here, and well, I suppose I..." Octavia trailed off. She didn't entirely want to admit how much she herself wanted to stay home, instead acting as though it was for Vinyl's benefit. Which was something she did very often.

Vinyl shook her head and waved her arm, dismissing Octavia's offer to stay with her.

Octavia frowned, "Well... I suppose I could... If it's really alright with you," she said, looking down towards the floor to hide her disappointment.

Continuing her walk, Octavia tried shaking off any of the negative feelings she had about the day, in an attempt to make herself feel better. She at least enjoyed playing her instrument, and she was getting payed well for it after all.

However, somehow despite that, the day had been very tiring. Her legs felt heavy as she walked, and her whole body was stiff. There was no bright side this Octavi at this point. She wanted nothing more than to get home, go to her room, and go to sleep, so that this would all finally be over with.

Octavia sighed as she grabbed the doorknob to her home. "Oh well...I suppose there's no point in dwelling on it..." She said to herself, and went inside.

However, once Octavia went inside, her previous train of thought screeched to a halt, seeing as how the entire house was dark. She had assumed Vinyl would have been there to greet her, considering she hadn't mentioned having any plans, and Octavia doubted she'd be asleep already. After looking around for a moment however, Octavia did notice something odd. There was a small light coming from her kitchen. A dim, orange glow, that intrigued Octavia, so she decided to go towards it.

Walking into the kitchen, Octavia was presented with a very interesting, and surprising, sight. The light was coming from a single candle set up nicely on the table, and the table itself, along with the whole kitchen looked like it could have been set by the highest quality restaurants of Canterlot. There was even a vase with flowers in it, although when Octavia looked closer she could see that there was no water in the vase and the flowers seemed to be sheets of paper folded to look like roses. Along with all of that, the stove and counters looked like they had just been used to make... something. She couldn't quite identify the smell. She stared at the light for at least a whole minute, not entirely understanding what she was looking at, until she was startled by a tap on her shoulder.

She looked over and saw, of course, Vinyl, but her eyes widened when she saw her friend. Vinyl seemed to have actually brushed her mane for once, and she wasn't wearing her signature glasses, but the most surprising part by far, was that Vinyl was wearing a suit.

Vinyl smiled and waved at Octavia, and Octavia waved back slowly, being rather stunned. Vinyl took Octavia's cello case and quickly put it away for her, before taking Octavia's hoof and leading her to the table, then pulling out a chair for her.

Octavia did not speak or move, she just looked around the room processing everything that had just happened. After a while of no response, Vinyl patted the seat of the chair, and this encouraged Octavia to finally sit down.

Vinyl then left for a brief moment and came back with a plate, and she placed it in front of Octavia. It looked incredible, not only in terms of being well made, but sheer presentation.

Octavia gasped and finally spoke, "Oh my goodness, Vinyl, this is for me?"

Vinyl giggled silently and nodded.

Octavia giggled as well, "Ah yes of course, who else would... Well uh, anyway," Octavia stopped trying to speak and started eating slowly. She was stunned by how well Vinyl had done, considering she has never seen Vinyl do anything beyond frying an egg.

Octavia gasped once again, "Oh my this is incredible..." She said, then quickly and eagerly, continued to eat. As she ate her eyes landed on the paper flowers once again, and she gently took one of them in her hoof to look at it closely, "did you make these yourself?"

Vinyl nodded in response.

"They're beautiful..."

Vinyl smiled widely and gave Octavia a gentle hug, then tilted her head, noticing how tense Octavia felt, so she stood up on her hind legs, using Octavia to hold herself up, and began applying light, but firm pressure on Octavia's back.

Octavia inhaled sharply, "Ah! Vinyl-! Oh... mmm. You're actually quite good at that..." Octavia exhaled, leaned back, and allowed herself herself relax for the first time since the previous day. She could feel all the stress, sadness, and frustration practically melt out of her body. Once Octavia was finished eating she simply closed her eyes, deeply enjoying the feeling of Vinyl's hooves pressing into her back. It was somehow soft, firm, and gentle all at the same time.

Vinyl interrupted the massaging with a few pokes to Octavia's side, making her giggle.

"Oh don't you start with that. you know what happened last time..."

Vinyl giggled silently once again and nuzzled Octavia from behind.

"Vinyl... You set all this up?"

Vinyl nodded happily.

"Wait a minute... is that why you wanted me to go preform at that party? So you could get me out of the house and I wouldn't know about this?"

Vinyl looked off to the side, and basically acted like she didn't even hear the question.

Octavia smiled, "I'm honestly kind of impressed," she said, standing up from her chair and facing Vinyl, "and might I say, you look absolutely astonishing in that suit," she stated, returning the nuzzling from a few moments ago.

Vinyl was nearly bouncing with excited happiness after hearing that statement, and she nuzzled back, although restrained herself from being aggressive.

Octavia looked around, "This is all lovely," she said, but was then interrupted when vinyl passed her something. Octavia looked down at the object and tilted her head. It was an envelope. Octavia hummed, wondering what it could be. She then smiled, "Oh now it all makes sense. You probably wracked up an absolutely ridiculous electric bill with your massive speakers, so you decides to set all this up so I wouldn't be mad. Well played," Octavia joked. Half joked.

Vinyl glared at Octavia and lightly shoved her.

"I'm joking I'm joking. let's see here..." Octavia opened up the envelope and unfolded the paper inside. It seemed to be a written letter, from Vinyl.

Octavia began reading.

Dear Octavia

You are the smartest, most talented pony I have ever met, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather be friends with in all of Equestria. Spending time with you is like all the best songs in the world out together times a hundred! I'm sorry I'm not as mature as you, and I'm sorry you have to put up with some of the dumb things I do, especially since I can't speak. But even though I can't tell you, I wanted to try and show you how much I care about you. Happy Hearts and Hooves day Tavi!

Octavia stared at the letter from a long while. Vinyl became concerned after a over two minutes of silence, figuring Octavia has surly finished reading by now. Vinyl reached her hoof towards Octavia, then was suddenly in a very tight hug. Vinyl took a moment but hugged back, becoming even more concerned when she heard what sounded like crying from Octavia.

"I love you Vinyl..."

Hearing that however, Vinyl smiled, and decided that whatever this was, it was a good thing.

The End

Author's Note

My tenth story, so I decided to do anything Vinyl and Octavia fic. Believe it or not this is meant to be platonic.