Wireless Connection

"Vinyl! I'm home!"

As Octavia took off her jacket and hung it by the door, she knew no response was coming. While Vinyl was actually home, she probably had headphones on, but not plugged in, as Octavia could hear the thumping coming from the ceiling. She was glad to have a sturdy house and a great roommate, she just wished she could be a little bit more considerate for her.

Up the stairs she went, past the two bedrooms and into the shared office. Once the door opened, the music was so much louder, but thankfully, there was a dial on the speakers, which Octavia turned down.

Vinyl looked up just then, wondering why her music was quieter, when she hadn't called for it. "Oh, you're home. How ya doin'?"

"I am "doing" just fine, thank you."

"Then why'd ya turn down the club mix I was workin' on?"

"Because I needed a word with you."

Vinyl reached over and turned off the turntables. the music immediately stopped, and she took off her headphones. "Okay, shoot."

Octavia snorted and shook her head. "I received a letter in the mail today."

"Yeah, I saw Derpy deliver it out the window. Along with a package for me. I know you don't like it when I mess with your mail, so I sent her to deliver it to you, personally."

Octavia nodded. "Thank you for that. Anyway, it seems that Thunderous Applause of the famed cello duet "Thunder and Lightning" fell and broke his wrist this morning."

Vinyl looked at Octavia's face, and she almost seemed happy. "You don't seem to be that broken up about it. Isn't he one of the top performers in your field? Is it really so competitive that him being out of the picture is advancing your career?"

The smile drained from Octavia's face. "What? No! I was going to say, "Lightning Strike has selected me as his first-choice replacement for tonight's show." Because he has. He wants me to go up on stage with him and perform for a theatre of two thousand ponies tonight!"

Vinyl slowly nodded. "Not bad, not bad..."

"Oh, come on," scoffed Octavia. "It's not like I pushed him off a ladder, or anything! I think he's great! I'm happy because I was their first choice for a replacement! Do you know how wonderful this news is?"

"Oh, I know," agreed Vinyl. "I just wish it didn't come at the cost of two other ponies' plans."

"Well, it... I'm sorry, did you say two?"

Vinyl bobbed her head back and forth. "I was going to take you out to dinner tonight."

After a long, awkward silence, Octavia chuckled. "You know, I can just tell them to find somepony else. Syrup Strings is pretty good, and she deserves a break."

"No, no, you go," Vinyl said. "I'll just reschedule. I shouldn't have sprung this on you, I just wanted to surprise you."

"You're sure?"

Vinyl nodded. "I was just being selfish. Tell you what, I'll give you a ride. The show's in Canterlot, right?"

Octavia shook her head. "Tomorrow night's show is in Canterlot. Tonight's is in Ponyville."

"Cool. Maybe we can still make dinner, after all..."

Vinyl followed the security guard backstage to Octavia's dressing room. She had wanted to wish her luck before the show, and more importantly, apologize for giving her a hard time earlier. It was ridiculous to think that she needed an escort, though. During one of her shows, Octavia could just come up onto the stage and talk to her. All of this extra protection seemed a little bit overkill. Having to ask the backstage guard to send a message with an assistant to Octavia's room, then wait for a return message, and then find another security guard to escort her in was just too much.

At the sound of rapping on her door, Octavia shouted "Come in!" The door opened, and Vinyl walked in, with the security guard escort holding her by the shoulder. "Oh, you can let her go; this is my roommate."

As the security guard stepped out of the room, Vinyl huffed. "Just your roommate?"

"It's a lot easier to explain. If I tell him we're sleeping together, then there's some inevitable follow-up questions, and he'll start looking at us with the thought "I could show her how great it is to be with a stallion." But if I tell him we're just roommates, who cares?"

"I care," snorted Vinyl. "Now I don't think I even want to give you your gift."

"Gift?"

"Yeah, I figured I'd give it to you at dinner, but it's something to help you relax, so I thought before the show would be best. But now..."

Octavia sighed. She walked over, opened the door, and said to the security guard "She's my lover; my fuck-buddy; my lesbian partner. We have sex. She's more than just my roommate."

As she closed the door, Vinyl's jaw dropped, and her sunglasses went up to show her deep crimson eyes. "You know I was kidding, right?"

Octavia sighed. "I'm under a lot of stress right now, Vinyl."

"I know," answered Vinyl, pushing the box into Octavia's hooves. "Like I said, I wanted to give you something to relax before the show."

Octavia took a deep breath and opened up the box. Inside, wrapped in a silken cushion, was a soft pink butt plug. "Are you serious?"

"You're always such a tight-arse," chuckled Vinyl. "You need to loosen up a bit. And I mean that both figuratively and literally."

Octavia closed the box and wrapped her hooves around Vinyl. "Thank you. I love it."

"I picked one the same colour as your bowtie."

"I noticed."

"Ahem." They both turned to the door, where a stallion with a puffy cravat was standing. "Are you almost ready? We still need to tune."

"Very nearly," breathed Octavia. "I was just... I was nervous, and my marefriend was trying to help with that."

The stallion nodded and extended his hoof. "Lightning Strike."

"Vinyl Scratch." She shook his hoof. "If that's all, I'll be on my way."

"You're not staying for the show?"

"No ticket," shrugged Vinyl. "I had other plans tonight. Tavi and I were planning on catching tomorrow's show. We didn't buy tickets for tonight."

"Well, we can't have you missing her performance." He turned toward the security guard. "Please escort miss Vinyl Scratch to Thunder's box and let him know that I sent her."