Wireless Connection

Vinyl chuckled as she helped Octavia stay upright as the two walked home. Aside from being overwhelmed by the plug, which was still in Octavia's butt, but turned off, Octavia wasn't used to being up this late. It was easy to understand why she would be a bit unstable on her hooves. "Did ya have fun?"

Octavia smiled and nodded. "It was very nice, actually."

"You looked like you were full to bursting with excitement when I put on Passacaglia. Tears running down your cheeks and everything."

Octavia jammed her elbow into Vinyl's ribs. "That wasn't fun, you know..."

"Oh, I bet it was. If you took out the fact that everypony was watching you and you were unable to move, it'd be awesome. We can do the whole thing again in the comfort and privacy of our home, and see if it truly is as bad an idea as you think it is now."

"We'll see," sighed Octavia, shaking her head with a small smile. "I think we'll have to try other pieces, though..."

"So, what changed your mind?"

Octavia shrugged. "I know more intensive pieces that will probably work better."

"No, no, I mean, what brought you to the party?"

"Well, like I said, I wanted to talk to you."

After several seconds of silence, Vinyl asked, "About what?"

"I just..." Octavia still hadn't come up with how she wanted to say this. She'd wasted all of her time being enamored with Vinyl's work, instead of thinking of what she was going to say to her. "Why don't you start?"

Vinyl shrugged. "Okay. I guess the reason I called you here was because I wanted to talk to you about the way you leave the toilet paper dispenser."

"What?" Octavia's jaw dropped. "I always replace the roll when I finish!"

"Yes, but you keep setting it to roll under. It should be set to roll over."

"You can't be serious..."

Vinyl shook her head. "You scoff, but having the tail of the toilet paper pressed against the wall like that is bad for the paint job, long-term."

"We have tile, not paint!"

"Still, ceramic tiles can be scratched, and the less often we have to replace those, the happier our home."

"It's one bit for five tiles."

"Plus spackle, when we could instead by a tomato and a half for the same price. Don't you like tomatoes?"

"I do."

"Then turn the toilet paper the right way."

Octavia sighed. "Is that really why you called me out here?"

"No, I legit wanted you to come out and have fun. It doesn't take even ten seconds to flip the toilet paper the right way; it's not a big deal. Seriously, though, what'd you want to talk about, Tavi?"

Octavia swallowed hard. "Before I say this, I want you to know that I love you, and I don't want these words to hurt you. I'm not saying this to make you mad or to start a fight, but I... I can't leave these words unsaid."

"I promise," swore Vinyl. "I won't take any of it personally, and I'll do my best to make it right."

"Well, I mean... don't do your best best, I mean... some of the things that would make me feel better about it are very mean things to do to somepony. So be reasonable, or I'm just going to have a worse problem."

Vinyl shrugged. "I can't do anything until you tell me, so spill it."

Octavia took a deep breath and stopped leaning on Vinyl, turning to look her right in the mirrored lenses. "You have been very good to me ever since we met. The very first time I saw you, you said I was the hottest mare at the party."

"And I meant it."

"And after meeting you a few times a week for a month, you found out I was moving from house to house, living off the generosity of Ponyville."

"Actually, I knew before you told me. Pinch told me you had fallen asleep in tears when I went to help install the microphone in his new office."

Octavia cleared her throat again. "Be that as it may, you invited me to stay at your place because of the low rent. And then I found out that the rent wasn't nearly as low as you told me when I tried to pay both our halves of the rent and found out I hadn't even paid half of it."

"Eighty percent, twenty percent, it all added up in the end."

"Yes, but... If something should happen to you, I would not only be separated from somepony near and dear to my heart, but I'd be unable to recover enough to even maintain our home." Tears began to run down her cheeks. "Vinyl, I need you, in more ways than one. I can't live without you. The reason I wanted to talk to you is that, because I've become so dependent on you, I don't know what I'd do if we were ever separated, either by my dad, by some argument about toilet paper, or even by the ravages of some weird disease."

She began to sob as she sat down on the curb. "It hurts me to see how little I contribute to our future. It's agonizing to know that, without you, I can't support myself. To know that if anything bad happened to you, that my whole life would be upended. Lastly, it's harrowing knowing that I owe you so much for taking me in, for keeping me fed and bathed, and for buying me all these nice things, with the added knowledge that I can't ever pay you back."

Vinyl lowered her head and thought for a moment before sitting down next to Octavia. She placed her hoof on Octavia's shoulder and gradually pulled her into a hug. She didn't know what to say. Most ponies would be happy to have somepony taking care of their needs. An easy solution would be to increase Octavia's rent so that they were equals, but all that would do is make Octavia indebted to her even worse. She had to come up with a solution.

"Come on," she sighed, picking Octavia up and leading her back home. "Let's put you to bed."