Like Music

Chapters

A New Beginning
Warm Welcome
Welcome Home
Dinner For Two
Happy Birthday

A New Beginning

The moon lurked just outside a large ballroom window in the palace's northern wing. Various upper-class ponies mingled and gossiped while a soft symphony set the mood. Among the musicians was a particularly bored young mare: a cellist with no desire to be there. She stood atop the stage as her bow gently glided across the strings of her instrument. A somber sigh fell across her lips as her gaze slowly drifted out over the sea ponies beneath her. Their dull, pretentious eyes rolling as they pretended to cast aside their own insufferable arrogance and sense of self-importance to make small talk sent chills up the young mare's spine.

Octavia glanced down at her own hoof to see her ankle tightly gripping her bow as it glided back and forth, almost involuntarily, while her forearm carefully balanced the instrument against herself.

Is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life? Am I doomed to a meager, background existence? A life of mediocrity? she wondered, her heartbeat quickening beneath her sudden anxiety.

These thoughts haunted her, wiping her smile away before it even had a chance to fully form. She closed her eyes and dwelled on the thought of becoming trapped in a repetitive, mundane existence.

Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek pierced the entire room as the devious mare slid her hoof up the steel-cored A string. The conductor glared directly at Octavia, who simply put on a questioning frown and shrugged.

WHAP

On a whim, she slapped her bow against all four stings of her cello, causing a loud pop to echo through the ballroom. The other musicians gulped and clumsily found their places to resume the song.

"Octavia Bellemare Oatsenburg! Whatever do you think you're doing?!" the conductor whispered forcefully into the ensemble, glaring at her.

"Oopsie, was that me?" Octavia grinned and cleared her throat, scheming what other ways she could entice such endearing reactions.

Knowing that she would be 'politely recommended' to leave the stage, the defiant mare concluded that she should not give them the chance to take control of the situation. She contemplated simply walking off, but there was no fun to be had in that; she now had a point to make, and she knew exactly how to do so.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gripping her bow sternly. She placed her other hoof tightly over three strings, pressing one with the tip, another with the base of her ankle, and leaving the center muted. With a forceful exhale, she began walking her hoof rapidly up the neck of the cello, creating an almost horror-inducing sound as the bass instrument painfully ached into a high-pitched tone.

Each and every mare and gentlecolt in the room fell silent, their eyes wandering to the source of the racket. Octavia slowly walked her hoof back down the length of the instrument, her bow gliding across the strings with acute precision. She began to wonder what she was doing, as she produced a song from her subconscious, playing exactly what came to mind.

She kept her eyes closed and sank into the moment as she expertly flung notes into the unusual song, a completely improvised and original piece. She twirled around and dragged her instrument with her as she played, smiling widely and lost in euphoria's charm. Faint sounds of her conductor demanding her to stop made it through her trance, and she smiled wider at the detestation.

As her song came to an end, she spread her forelegs and let her cello to fall to the floor. It hit with an eerie explosion of discordant sounds as each string fell out of tune. Extending her reach as if in the center of a spotlight, she felt as if she had just performed her best symphony yet. Striking another pose, she lost grip of her bow, and it flew straight into the stunned crowd of ponies. Just before it could crash into the face of an awestruck older stallion, he caught it in an aura of magic, his brow raised and a hoof on his chin.

"Thank you! Thank you all! No need for applause!" Octavia exaggeratedly bowed and blew kisses to the stunned crowd.

She leaped from the stage and loosened her bowtie, tossing it over to another older stallion who stared at her as if she were the spawn of Nightmare Moon.

"Yep, it's that kind of party." With a feeling of triumph, she exited the ballroom, grinning wolfishly.

***

Later that week – after several more outbursts – Octavia sat quietly in the dark, her tightly pressed against her bedroom door, listening carefully to her parents discussing her recent behavior.

"I just don't know what we're going to do with her." Beyond the door, a large gray stallion paced the room with a pipe in his mouth.

"Maybe... well, maybe we should let her find her own way? She is a grown mare after all," his wife said as she sipped from a levitating wine glass.

"She's hardly grown! She wouldn't last a day out there on her own, and you know it!" The stallion stamped the hardwood floor in front of the fireplace.

"Well, in a few short days it won't be up to us, now will it?" With a quick flick of her tail, the tall pink unicorn raised her eyebrows and closed her eyes as she finished her drink.

"Won't be up to us? She's my daughter no matter her age, and she'll do as I say!"

Angrily, Octavia burst from her room. She narrowed her eyes and stared her father down. Her mother scoffed as if she had predicted this kind of rash behavior.

"You think you can just order me around after my birthday? Ha! I've already started packing," Octavia shouted with a slick grin.

"And where will you go, child? Will you live on the streets like common alley-mules? Oh no, of course not! You're better than that, right? You'll likely bounce back and forth between your friends' homes, until they all get tired of your attitude. Then you'll beg us to let you come back here." The large stallion raised an eyebrow and glared down at his daughter.

Octavia swallowed her urge to snap back with a barrage of direct and unrelated insults, instead taking a deep breath and standing her ground. "Well Dad, for your information, I've already applied for a job, and they said I can start the day after my birthday. I'll be working my way through school—the school of my choice. I don't need you or anypony else to tell me what I can or can't do, and I'll be damned to the moon if I spend the rest of my life doing something I hate. I can do this on my own. I'd leave right now if I could."

"If that's truly what you wish, then go. I won't stop you, but don't expect to be welcomed home until you've learned some respect." The stallion walked over to his chair and sat, facing away from his daughter.

The young mare took a deep breath and headed back into her room, her confidence fading as she tried to decide what she should do first. She hastily threw a few things into a saddlebag and flung it over her back, then grabbed the handle of her cello case with her teeth and moved back into the front room, dragging it behind her. She stood on her back legs and placed her hoof on the top of the case to stabilize it.

"Won't be needing this old thing anymore." She gave the case containing her custom-made instrument a gentle nudge, and smiled as it crashed down to the floor.

"Thank you, Octavia. Now, please, try to leave without making any more of a scene."

The defiant mare lowered her eyes and trotted out the door, slamming it behind herself. Her mother then gave her husband a worried glance.

"Don't worry. She'll be back..." he said with a weak, raspy voice.

Octavia trotted down the brightly-lit night streets of Canterlot. A short list of friends in which she may be able to stay the night entered her mind, but she quickly shook them off. With a huff, she slid against a brick wall and opened her saddlebag, counting all the bits she had gathered. Holding a large gold piece on the tip of her hoof, the gleaming light of a billboard caught her eye. It was advertising the low rates of a near by hotel. With a spark of enthusiasm, she lifted herself to her hooves and headed down the road in its direction.

A chilly breeze pierced her coat as she trotted down the lonely city streets of the night. On her way down the street, she realized she was near the place of her future employment. A thought entered her mind, and she took a short detour on her way to the hotel.

She paused outside the tall building and looked up at the sign, a glimmer of doubt piercing her strong will. "Is this really for me?" she muttered, her eyes darting across the building's vivid luminescence.

"What a stupid name..."

eClipse

She shook her head and let it go as she pressed through the front doors, her chest out and her head high. Proving she wasn't just some hard-nosed filly, she headed down the hall and encountered a large stallion standing in front of another set of double doors. With the utmost sense of confidence, she tapped his chest and looked him in the eye.

"May I speak to whomever is in charge, please?"

"Sure thing, miss. Come with me." He turned and led her through a side door behind a curtain.

He pointed to another door with a dim light shining through its office window before returning to his post. As Octavia trotted through the hallway, she could hear a deep, thumping bass permeating the walls. Curiosity washed over her as she listened, trying to make sense of the muffled rumbling. Unable to recognize the genre, she wrote it off and tapped on the office door, which was already cracked open.

"What's up, kid?" a light blue mare said, skimming through a folder of files.

The nervous pony paused for a moment to clear her mind, and she took a deep breath before lifting her chin and standing straight up. "I was recently hired here, and I'm scheduled to begin working next week; however, I was hoping to start sooner, if that's possible."

The blue mare looked up at the nervous earth pony. "How old are you?"

Octavia gulped, her strong stance falling as she quietly mumbled. "My birthday is in less than a week, then I'll be of age. I just... I really need this job as soon as possible."

The office mare let out a deep sigh. "You're killing me, kid. What's your name?"

"My name is Octavia Oatsenburg, ma'am."

"Oatsenburg, Oatsenburg... Let's see here..." The mare pulled her application out from one of many poorly labeled files. "Birthday in six days? Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Just stay away from the drinks and the drunkards and you'll do fine until then. Come on in tomorrow night and I'll start your training, so you'll be ready once your birthday comes. Saves us both some time, right?" The mare then shooed her off with a hoof while returning to her paper work.

Octavia cheerfully smiled and nodded her head before trotting back outside. As she reached the exit of the building, the thumping bass once again echoed in her ears. It was so foreign compared to the genres she had studied. She lightly bobbed her head on the way out, immediately taking a liking to this new style and rhythm. Exiting the building, she glanced back at the doors, sighing forlornly as the shutting of the doors silenced the music.

As she walked, she looked to the dark sky; although it was a clear night, there were very few stars visible. The many city lights made it impossible to see most stars, apart from the brightest ones. She began to wonder what it would be like to see the many rural fields of Equestria beyond the Capital City of Canterlot.

"Maybe someday..." she whispered as she strolled through the city.

It didn't take long before she arrived at the previously advertised hotel: the Stabling Inn. She walked in and dug through her saddle bag for the bits to cover the fee. After signing her name on a check-in sheet, she received the room key from the friendly receptionist.

"Enjoy your stay, and let me know if you need anything." The friendly receptionist smiled as she spoke.

"Will do. Thanks." Octavia politely nodded, her exhaustion masking her kindness.

The fatigued mare collapsed onto the bed, exhausted as the clock approached midnight. She leaned up looking around the room, and was hit with a pang of loss when she realized her cello wasn't propped up against the corner in its case. Like a foal's blanket or a cherished stuffed animal, the cello had brought her comfort ever since she was a young filly. This would be the first night she could remember without it.

The pains of being on her own began to set in as she fell backwards and gazed up at the blank white ceiling. She closed her eyes and forced herself to look on the bright side: she was free, she was finally free to choose her own path, her life was now her own, and that was more than she could have asked for.

A thought crept into her mind as she lay awake: would her willpower and freedom be enough to survive? She shuddered, shaking the unpleasant doubts from her mind. She was determined to succeed; she wouldn't let her fears get to her now.

Octavia eased herself into a slumber, clinging to her hopes of what she could shape her future into.

Warm Welcome

A stunning white unicorn walked between tables carrying a large tray in an aura of magic. Her dazzling, vivid blue mane shone beneath the strobing lights overhead, and her deep red eyes caught the attention of every pony she trotted past. She paused at her destination and shifted all her weight to her left while brushing the mane out of her face.

"Good evening fillies and gentlecolts. My name is Vinyl, and I'll be taking care of you this evening." She placed the tray containing four glasses of iced water down in the center of the table.

She held her bright and shiny smile as the group gave her their orders, and jotted them down on a notepad attached to her foreleg. "Awesome, I'll be back with those drinks in a minute. Is there anything else I can get for you?"

After a couple of inappropriate remarks, Vinyl trotted off, still smiling. Having worked in the place for so long, she was quite accustomed to the less-than-charming crowd the business often attracted. However, despite that fact, she had never allowed herself to be affected by the rudeness of customers. She instead found her focus always fixed on the various ponies taking the spotlight atop the largest of the stages the building had to offer.

She shook her head, and looked forward with her chin up, knowing her chance to shine would come soon. As she trotted past one side of the bar, she spotted a familiar face trotting in.

"Raindrops! 'Bout time your lazy flank showed up! Longest break ever?" Vinyl teased.

A bright yellow pegasus with a tiffany-blue mane trotted up to her, shrugging. "What? I'm back early..."

Vinyl bumped her shoulder with a hoof and grinned as she trotted through the double-doors next to the bar, placing her table's order.

"Good evening Ms. Scratch. I've got some exciting news for ya." Vinyl turned and spotted a light blue pegasus looking at her. The mare lowered her glasses and chuckled at the unicorn.

"Lemme guess, am I fired?" Vinyl shook her head and leaned against a counter, crossing her hooves.

"We have a newbie starting tomorrow night, and you'll be taking her under your wing... or horn – whatever you unicorns say." She laughed again and fluttered her wings, before heading back towards her office.

"Psh, of course I have to train the new meat. Why do I always get these babysitting tasks? Hmm?" Vinyl smacked her chest and waved a questioning hoof at the cook behind the counter, who simply shrugged.

"Whatever, this won't be my life forever. Just one chance, and I'll show them what I can do..." The tired unicorn wiped her eyes and yawned before taking a deep breath and throwing her bright smile back on.

She grabbed a tray of drinks with her magic and pushed through the doors. "Here we go..."

***

Closing time. The illuminated sign above the establishment flickered off as the once-dark night sky began to glow an off-blue to the east. With a yawn, Vinyl stepped through the front doors wearing a large pair of purple sunglasses, followed by her friend.

"Talk about a long night, sheesh. I'm ready for bed, how about you?" The exhausted unicorn stretched her haunches and wiggled her tail.

Raindrops blushed and smiled at the sight. "Yeah, I... I guess I am."

A part of the pegasus wanted to invite her friend to stay over, or maybe to get some breakfast, or even just to stay and talk for a little while before they went their separate ways. Instead, she simply stood silently while the white unicorn trotted off down the street.

Vinyl could almost feel those aqua-blue eyes running up and down her back, but she pressed forward. As she reached her apartment, she gently nudged the door open and wandered in. She trudged through the mess of empty pizza boxes and plastic bottles. Entering her bedroom, she dragged the sheets off the floor and back onto her bed, then magically shut her curtains to block out the creeping sun.

"Another day, another... something." Vinyl climbed in and set her large purple shades on a small table next to the bed, before nuzzling her pillow and closed her eyes.

She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

How long am I gonna do this? It's been three years, and I'm goin' absolutely nowhere... She rolled back over on her side and faced the far wall.

A makeshift stage and turntable sat on a wheeled base, catching her eye. She stood up and trotted over to it, a sadness in her eyes. "Vinyl, maybe it is time to grow up... go back to school... get a real job..."

She stared down at the two black disks, placing a hoof on one and giving it a gentle nudge. "Who are you kidding..."

A tear began to form in Vinyl's eye as she turned away and climbed back into bed. With a painful sigh, she pulled the sheets over her head and forced her eyes closed. This wasn't the first time she'd had these kinds of thoughts. What once seemed like a sure thing, her dream of living a life of music, was fading away, as reality began to take its place.

Swallowing these uncomfortable thoughts, she drifted off to sleep with the intentions of changing herself, hopefully for the better.

***

Octavia inched her eyes open. She had forced herself to sleep through the afternoon, knowing she'd be up all night. She took the appropriate amount of bits downstairs to pay for another night in the hotel, then realized she'd be out of money long before her first paycheck. Shoving that thought away, she headed out. It was getting dark and the hot summer air had been replaced by a cool evening breeze.

It didn't take her long to reach her destination: eClipse. Octavia cringed and shook her head before pushing through the front doors. She trotted up to the large stallion standing in front of the entrance to the main area.

"Hello again." She patted him on the chest and smiled. "Tonight's my first night and I'm supposed to be getting trained, would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction?"

"Sure thing, little miss." He blushed and pointed towards a set of double doors leading into the kitchen. "Look for the blue-maned filly with a white coat, she's supposed to train ya."

Octavia nodded cheerfully and trotted through the doors. There were several ponies rushing back and forth, all carrying the necessary items needed to complete their tasks with the utmost sense of haste. Octavia felt nearly overwhelmed as she attempted to squeeze past them and find this blue-maned mare.

"Um, excuse me?" She attempted to stop a pony for help, but he rushed past without so much as glancing at her.

Rolling her eyes, she pressed forcefully through the crowd, and made her way to the other side of the busy hallway. Suddenly she spotted a vivid blue mane.

"Oh, oh! Hey, excuse me!" Octavia quickly cantered over to her and tapped the three water droplets on her flank.

Raindrops snapped her head backwards with a glare. "Hey! Oh..." She smiled, and laughed lightly. "Sorry, I thought you were that pervy cook trying to sneak a feel again."

"Oh, no of course not." Octavia blushed. "I was told that a white mare with a blue mane was supposed to train me here, but you're the only blue-maned mare I see around here."

"Ah, you're looking for Vinyl. I'll go see if I can find her for you, she's probably waiting tables right now." Raindrops trotted out onto the floor and Octavia waited, growing more nervous with every minute.

This was all so new to her. Such a frantic and upbeat environment was entirely unfamiliar, and this music even more so. It began to invade her body, causing her to tap a hoof and bob her head. Her nerves began to settle, and all she could focus on was this strange music. Suddenly two mares burst through the doors in front of her, startling her into a squeak.

"Newbie, this is Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl, this is the newbie. Have fun you two." Raindrops grinned and trotted back towards her end of the kitchen, readying drinks and supplies for the bar.

Octavia tilted her head, almost entranced by the bright red eyes in front of her. Vinyl resisted the urge to facehoof, weary of this routine every time she met a new pony.

"This is why I usually wear my glasses, but our boss says no. Anyway, what's your name?" Vinyl pulled Octavia off to one side of the kitchen so other ponies could more easily trot by.

Snapping back to reality, Octavia cleared her throat and spoke. "I'm Octavia Oatsenburg."

"Nice to meet you. Now, follow me and I'll show you what to do." Vinyl was in a hurry to get this young mare walking on her own four hooves so she wouldn't be slowing her down for too long.

The two trotted back towards the cook, and Vinyl peeled a small sheet of paper off the notebook on her front leg and clipped it to a wire above the counter.

Octavia took note of what was going on. She saw a pony carrying out a large tray piled high with plates of hay fries and seasoned potato skins. Glancing through the double-doors as the pony trotted past them, she saw the bright flashing lights and a group of ponies dancing beneath them to the very loud music.

"What is this place? I thought it was just a bar, or club, or something? What's with the food and stuff?" she asked, a little confused.

"Well, it's supposed to be 'Dining meets the club scene' or whatever. And it works pretty well even though we only serve appetizers," Vinyl explained, laughing as she grabbed a tray of drinks. "I've been here for almost three years and the place is packed every night."

"So will I be doing what you do then?"

"You sure will. Let me drop these off and I'll let you start your first table," Vinyl said cheerfully. She felt in an unusually good mood today, holding her normally sharp tongue and off-color attitude in check.

Excited to earn her keep, Octavia threw on her most friendly smile and followed the mare out onto the floor. She attempted speak over the booming bass, but struggled to be heard. "What should I do?"

Vinyl alternated between fluttering her lashes and nodding her head like a tough-mare as she saw fit while trotting past several familiar ponies, unable to hear a word Octavia was saying. Soon, they approached their table where three young stallions sat.

"Okay Ocavalia, you gotta lay on the charm if you want these scrubs to leave you a decent tip. You gotta make 'em think that tipping may lead to a little more later, which of course it won't, but they're stupid." Vinyl winked and turned to the table, setting the tray in the center.

Octavia blushed and glanced to the floor. "Um, it's Octavia, actually."

Vinyl ignored her, concentrating on the work at hoof. "Hey there boys, just let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Anything at all."

Octavia watched closely as Vinyl worked, the less-than-girly mare seeming almost like a different pony. She flicked her mane and batted her lashes, as if she were attempting to flirt with the brutish-looking colts. They all seemed to respond appropriately and Vinyl threw on a look of resentment as soon as she turned away, signaling Octavia to follow.

"So, uh... What's with all the flirty stuff?" The young somewhat naïve mare raised an eyebrow and followed her mentor closely.

"I wasn't flirting. It's just that sometimes you gotta play these chumps if you want decent tips," Vinyl explained.

Octavia looked around and saw dancers up on pedestals with stallions waving paper-bits at them. Other waitresses were trotting around with their tails high and their flanks wagging in a seductive manner. Gulping, she turned back to Vinyl.

"Tips?"

"Yeah, tips. They're what makes working here worthwhile. We can't survive on our salary alone, and if you play your part right, the tips are usually pretty good." Vinyl turned and looked down into Octavia's widening purple eyes.

It was all beginning to weigh on her. She had never really thought about exactly what she'd be doing here, but it was starting to become clear. Regret attempted to creep into her heart, and returning home was beginning to sound like a better idea than ever. She looked down to the floor and watched as it flashed beneath the strobes overhead.

Vinyl noticed the young mare's troubled expression and placed a hoof under her chin, lifting her head. "Hey now, it'll be fine. I don't know you or anything, but I can tell you're gonna to do well here. So chin up kiddo."

Octavia took comfort in Vinyl's words as if she were a foal being comforted and encouraged by a teacher. She decided to give it a go – it couldn't be worse than crawling back home and admitting defeat.

"Okay. So tell me what to do and I'll get started." She spoke lightly but with an air of responsibility in her voice.

"Right, see that table over there?" Vinyl pointed towards three young stallions just taking a seat across the dance-floor. "Go take them a tray of water and I'll meet you over there, okay?"

Octavia nodded and turned towards the kitchen for a tray. Vinyl smiled, shaking her head as she stood back to watch.

Standing on her back hooves, Octavia held the tray out in front of herself with her front ones. She struggled to keep her balance as she pressed through the double-doors. After a moment, she got used to it and made her way through the crowd towards the table.

She began to feel wobbly when their hungry eyes began scanning up and down her body. As she reached the table, she lost her balance and slipped, slamming the tray into the side of the table and sending the cups flying backwards into the crowd of dancing ponies. Vinyl quickly jumped up and caught two cups in her magic, but didn't manage to stop the water or the third, which crashed to the floor and splashed over the group. She groaned and nodded towards another waitress who grabbed a cloth and moved to clean the spills.

"Ocavelli! What the hay was that?!" Vinyl shouted, angrily stamping towards her trainee.

"I, uh... It was an accident!" Octavia attempted to defend herself while the three colts laughed.

With a deep breath, Vinyl placed her hoof over her horn and calmed herself down. "I'm so sorry gentlecolts. If you're ready, feel free to let me know what you want I'll be back with that as quickly as possible."

Octavia blushed and lowered her head behind her trainer's flank, feeling rather embarrassed. The two then trotted back towards the kitchen.

"Alright, you gotta be careful. The last thing we need is somepony getting hurt."

"Right. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to... to uh, fall." Octavia scratched the back of her mane and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'm not sure why she wants me training you, because I don't think you're cut out for this job." Vinyl shook her head and leaned against the wall with a hoof over her eyes.

Octavia looked completely crushed. She cringed away and looked up with wide, watery eyes while biting her lip.

Vinyl rolled her eyes and pushed off the wall, trotting past the young mare. "Look, you were just nervous right? And it's way easier with magic anyway, maybe you should try something else."

Upon hearing those words, Octavia stood straight up and whipped her head around to face the condescending unicorn. "Way easier with magic, huh? I should do something else because I can't do what unicorns do, right?"

"Well, hey! Come on now, I didn't mean it like that." Vinyl shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"I've been told that before, and I proved them wrong. I can do this too!" Octavia stood on her back hooves and puffed her chest out, now having something to prove.

"Wait, Ocova, you lost me." Vinyl raised an eyebrow and stroked her chin thoughtfully with a hoof.

"It's Octavia damn it!"

"Right, but what are you talking about? Are you saying you can do magic?" Vinyl wondered, now curious.

Octavia marishly flicked her hoof up and inspected the tip as she spoke. "Some call it a new kind of magic, others just say I'm an unusually gifted earth pony. Either way, I defy all unicorns who say I'm not fit to play a cello, or any other instrument for that matter."

"Oh, that's it? Not impressed." Vinyl turned away and began searching behind the counter.

"What?! Not impressed? I'll have you know that I performed at the Grand Galloping Gala the past three years in a row!" Octavia huffed. She was hardly proud of the fact, but needed to prove herself.

"Ooh, fancy," Vinyl replied, voice layered with sarcasm, as she pulled her big purple glasses out from her saddlebag and threw them on with a grin.

"You have no idea. So tell me, do my talents not impress you because you so greatly exceed them with your own amazing ability to carry a tray to a table using magic?" Octavia turned her nose up and placed her hooves beneath a second tray of water, preparing to carry it out with no real destination in mind.

"You ain't even begun to see my talents yet, little Oatsy. And I'm not impressed by you playing some boring old instrument for a bunch of tight-saddled old ponies. Every week on free-performance night, some pegasus comes in here playing her fiddle like some kind of pro, and she isn't using magic either. I doubt you can match those skills with your slow-paced Gala crap." Vinyl didn't withhold her disdain for the upper-class, not having realized her waitress-in-training was among them.

"I'll decide for myself when I hear her performance whether or not it reflects any sort of talent." Octavia held her nose in the air as she lifted the tray and began to trot out.

"And just where are you taking that?" Vinyl laughed, not really concerned.

Octavia didn't answer. She simply trotted out into the crowd, this time sure to keep her balance.

"Vinyl Scratch! What have I told you about those sunglasses of yours?" A blue mare came trotting around the corner.

"Right, right. I forgot. Sorry Breezy." Vinyl quickly tossed them back into her saddlebag.

"Don't lie to me Vinyl, I know you better that. Now where is Oatsenburg? Aren't you training her?" Breezy Blue asked, glancing around the kitchen.

Vinyl cringed and gulped, a drop of nervous sweat forming on her face. "Um... Yeah, well... She's having trouble adjusting, and said she'd much rather be a dancer."

"She did?" Breezy tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, she said it looks like fun." Vinyl grinned and wiped her muzzle with a hoof.

"Well, alright then, if that's what she wants. She better be good though, I don't need another goofball working up a laugh-fest out there." Breezy Blue shook her head and trotted off back to her work.

"Ha, yes!" Vinyl jumped and hoof-pumped the air.

"Whoa there. What's got you so excited, hmm?" Raindrops wandered in and noticed her friend's unusual enthusiasm.

"Ah, nothing. I'm just putting a snooty upper-class mare in her place. She's gonna love it." Vinyl grinned deviously as Octavia trotted back through the doors with an empty tray.

"Who, her? She hardly seems snooty to me." Raindrops shrugged and trotted away.

"Well, what do you know anyway? Get out of here, will ya?!" She shooed the already leaving pegasus away, and turned back to Octavia to deliver the 'good news'.

"Okay, so Breezy Blue, our boss, came in here sayin' she wants you to take over the empty dance table. You're pretty cute and you suck at carrying trays so this'll be perfect for you. Anyway, I told her you were looking forward to it. You can dance, right?" Vinyl placed a hoof on Octavia's shoulder and guided her out the doors, pushing her towards the empty stage.

"Wait, what?! I can't dance, no no no, there must be some mistake! Why would you do this to me?! I... wait, just hold on a minute!" Octavia lifted her hooves in protest with a slightly terrified expression on her face.

"Aw, it's easy. Best part? No magic needed, so get up there you." Vinyl dragged Octavia to the stage, hopping up and pulling the other mare up after her.

Immediately, Octavia began to lose what little cool she had. She looked out over the seemingly thousands of eyes staring up at her, waiting to be entertained.

"What's wrong? I thought you said you performed at the Gala, so don't tell me you have stage fright." Vinyl began to back away and climb down.

"That was different!" In a state of panic, she grabbed the unicorn and hugged onto her, refusing to be left alone up there.

"Octavile, what in Equestria do you think you're doing?!"

"I won't be left alone up here. You're my trainer, and if I'm to dance up here, then you're to teach me." Octavia attempted to rationalize her impulsive behavior as best she could, not quite willing to admit just how scared she really was.

Vinyl laughed, a bit surprised at how reasonable the request sounded, and how that meant she had just put herself in a very awkward position by mistake. "Okay okay, I see what's goin' on here. You wanna dance with me and this is your way of asking since you're so shy."

Vinyl grinned and leaned up, taking Octavia's hooves in her own and helping her off the floor.

"I... what?! No! You couldn't be more wrong. I am not a dancing kind of mare, and I just need a bit of help learning before I make a fool of myself, nothing more." Even as close as they were, Octavia still had to raise her voice to be heard over the pumping music. She glanced over her partner's shoulder to see all the eyes still looking up at them.

"Right, whatever you say Oatsy." Vinyl winked, knowing she was likely getting on the mare's nerves. "Okay, this isn't really regular dancing. Look around at the other mares and just do what they do, it isn't hard. But hay, while I'm up here I might as well earn some extra bits, right?"

Octavia opened her mouth to speak and instead found herself again staring down at the horde of ponies beneath her.

"Hey, don't pay any attention to them. Just feel the music and let yourself go." Vinyl felt suddenly responsible for the younger mare, and actually wanted her feel alright.

Octavia closed her eyes and began to slowly sway. Vinyl looked to the growing crowd beneath them and shrugged.

Dance with her! Smack her flank! Kiss!

The crowd of excited ponies shouted, in a near-frenzy. Two mares on one stage was not something they were used to seeing.

"Psh, just ignore them and focus on the dancing." Vinyl shouted, placing a hoof on Octavia's shoulder as she jumped up and shook her mane back and forth to the rhythm of the thumping bass.

Octavia opened her eyes and stepped back, noting how easily her trainer was getting into this. She took a deep breath and threw on a bright smile. The mare allowed her earlier musically-induced exhilaration to invade her body once again. She began tapping her hoof and swayed on the spot for a moment, then did her best to mimic the mare across from her, standing on her back hooves and whipping her mane around to the pulsing beat.

"You sure look like you're having fun," Octavia called, not sure if she could be heard over the music.

Vinyl nodded and pulled Octavia close to her, wrapping her hooves around her waist and forcing her to rock her hips harder than before. The young gray mare slowly and nervously loosened up, allowing her limbs to wave freely and her body to sway in the same way her trainer's was. Eventually, she even began to enjoy it. She looked out over the sea of ponies filling the club, at the bright, colorful lights shining down, then to the happy crowds beneath her dancing in similar ways. Surrounding the stage were dozens of groups of ponies tossing their bits up around their hooves, almost begging for physical contact.

"Just listen to 'em Oatsy, they love you! You're doin' great! Really not bad for a Gala-girl."

Vinyl pushed her trainee away and fell to all fours, before holding a hoof out over the edge of the stage and brushing it across the tips of all the spectators' muzzles. They seemed overjoyed at this, pulling out more bits and throwing them across the stage. She then spotted Raindrops, who smiled and winked at her, nodding towards the tables she should have been tending to. Vinyl pouted and watched her too-easy friend roll her eyes and silently agree to take over for her.

Octavia paid little attention to the pile of bits accruing beneath her. Instead, her eyes were fixed on a much larger stage at the other end of the dance floor, as she used a single hoof to hold herself up and twirl around a pole in the center of the stage. She jumped back and forth around it while whipping her mane about and rocking her hips to the powerful beat that she had allowed to invade and control her body.

She wondered why it was empty, and how she could make it her own.

Vinyl stood back up and span around, allowing her long mane to twist around her neck and batting her lashes as she looked back down into the eyes of the crowd beneath her. They ate it up, loving the sensuality in the mare's expression. Vinyl seemed like a natural, milking the crowd for all they were worth.

"Hey there, y'alright?" Vinyl wrapped a hoof around the clearly-distracted mare and turned her around so that their chests were touching.

"Oh, yes... yes. Sorry, I got a bit preoccupied. Tell me, what's with the big stage over there?" Octavia coyly smiled and blushed, realizing now was likely not the best time.

"Yeah, that's just for the big shots when we have bands and live performances and stuff like that. None of that tonight though," Vinyl explained.

"Ah, I see," she said with a slight pout.

"Maybe if you're really as talented as you think you are, you can get a spot up there sometime." Vinyl nudged her with an elbow and winked.

Octavia shook her head and turned back to the crowd, suddenly noticing the large pile of bits beneath them. "Wow, is that all ours?!"

Vinyl rolled her eyes yet again. "It sure is. Well... I'll explain later."

Another track started and the two mares continued jumping and dancing happily on stage. Several hours passed and the crowds began to thin as closing time approached. Eventually it was just the staff left, and a few drunkards wobbling through the exit doors.

"That was really good, you're practically a natural Oatsy." Vinyl forcefully smacked her shoulder and laughed, slipping on her glasses from the saddlebag.

"Me? You're the natural, it seems. I was very impressed by your style and fluidity. You really seemed to handle yourself well, while I was merely improvising based on the instructions you provided." Octavia looked up with a sense of humility.

"Well, I used to dance every night, but I got tired of it after a while. All the ponies staring at you like you're some kind of freshly picked cabbage just begging to be taken... it's just not for me. I'll admit though, it was fun doin' it up there with you tonight." Vinyl rubbed her mane down and slid a bucket of bits over to Octavia's hooves.

"Is this... mine?" she asked with starry eyes.

"Yup, that's half, minus the club's cut." Vinyl trotted towards the exit doors as she prepared to head home.

"Wait! Um, Vinyl. Thanks for this. I'll be honest, I'd have hated waiting tables. This is much more to my taste, as distasteful as it seems. I suppose I'm just built to perform." Octavia giggled as she considered what she had just said.

"You're built like a cute little tank, aren't ya?" The rambunctious unicorn delivered two playful punches to the young mare's chest and side.

"Haha, yes, well... that's quite enough of that..." Octavia tentatively stepped aside and pushed the exit doors open.

As they stepped out, they were stopped by a shout from behind them. "Oh, you two! Wait a moment please." They turned to see their boss walking out after them. "Vinyl, I realize you switched for a reason, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd love for you to stay with Oatsenburg while she learns to dance, and manage customers at her stage. You two have great chemistry together, and you really drew a crowd tonight. You made a good pile of bits, and I didn't see a bit of fighting over how to split 'em up. That's good workmanship, and good for the business, so I wouldn't mind having both of you permanently share that stage."

Octavia looked to Vinyl and nodded rapidly, hoping she'd agree.

"Permanently, huh? I'll have to think about it, but sure, I'll get up there with her again tonight if that's what you're asking. On one condition that is." Vinyl grinned as widely as she could.

Breezy rolled her eyes. "And what would that be?"

"Let me wear my shades while I'm on the clock." Vinyl lowered them cockily, her red eyes staring straight into her boss'.

"Ha, is that all? Go for it. I expect good things from you two in the future, and don't be afraid to give those pervs the show they want. Just keep it under control." Breezy Blue laughed and headed back inside, locking the main entrance behind herself.

"Well, looks like we're dance-partners then, huh?" Vinyl raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"I suppose we are."

Octavia nodded her head at the unicorn in farewell, and turned to head down the street in the opposite direction, her saddlebag now full of bits, and her worries of being unable to stay the week at the hotel no longer an issue.

As Octavia trotted merrily towards what was currently her home, a yellow pegasus fluttered up behind her and placed a wing over her back.

"Hey there newbie. Doing well? I just wanted to talk to you about a few things, if you don't mind."

Welcome Home

Octavia skipped merrily towards the hotel doors. She pushed through them, stopping for a moment to shake the chill from her coat and adjust to the much more comfortable temperature inside, a wide and peppy smile on her face.

"You're in early." The receptionist waved, looking up from some papers.

"Yes, I got off work early for my birthday, and spent some time with a friend," Octavia explained, eager to tell somepony about her experience.

"Oh, so you had fun?" The mare winked and placed her cheeks on her hooves, leaning on the desk.

"Yes, of course I... Oh... wait a minute, you." Octavia shot off a glare of disapproval. "She isn't that kind of friend."

"Right, right. Whatever you say." The teasing mare batted her lashes, and sighed happily.

Octavia frowned, and headed towards the stairwell. Glancing back, her curiosity got the better of her. "Why are you suddenly so interested in my personal life, anyway?"

The receptionist grinned and tilted her head. "I can see it all over your face. Somepony has a crush."

Octavia raised her hoof to speak, but only huffed, before turning and trotting into the stairwell.

A crush? On Vinyl? No way... She shook her head and made her way to her room, entering and placing her bits and bow on her nightstand.

She picked the bow back up with one hoof and twirled it around, her joint popping. A forlorn sigh escaped her chest. She missed her cello, and missed playing. She cast her eyes down at her pile of bits, where a slight glimmer caught her attention.

DonCello

Octavia snatched the reflective card up and dropped her bow on the bed. She read over the information on the back a second time, noting the contact address. She moved to the desk at the other end of her room, grabbing a quill and dipping it into an inkwell, then found a notepad and began to write.

To the esteemed gentlecolt, DonCello.

I am accepting your invitation to learn more about your company. I'd like to meet with you and discuss exactly what it is you want from me, and what it is I have to offer. Thank you for your time.

Octavia Oatsenburg

She folded the letter and left it at one corner of the table, not quite sure what to do next. Shaking her head, Octavia made her way to her bed. Thoughts of Vinyl crept into her mind as she climbed under the covers, feeling warmer than ever.

A crush... Is it true?

Octavia giggled and placed her front hooves on her chest. "No way." She rolled over and hugged onto her fluffy white pillow, nuzzling it affectionately as she drifted off to sleep.

"Impossible."

***

Tap Tap Tap

Octavia jumped out of bed, startled. She'd never had a visitor before, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. She picked herself off the floor and slowly made her way over to the door. Tentatively, she placed a hoof to the handle, gulping, and not quite sure why she felt so nervous.

Tap Tap Tap Tap!

Octavia shrieked and fell backwards, scurrying away from the door.

The sound of laughter came from the other side. "Bwahahaha! Oatsy?! Why so jumpy?"

Octavia groaned and rubbed her hoof down her face. She jumped up angrily and pulled the door open. "Vinyl, so nice to see you. Why, how did you... What's this about?"

"Ah, I have some news for you, kiddo. Looks like we get to go apartment shopping sooner than I thought." Vinyl grinned and scratched at the back of her mane.

"Oh... Okay then." Octavia raised an eyebrow and stepped aside to let Vinyl in.

"This is a nice little room you've got here. So clean and organized. Not like my place." Vinyl trotted around, lifting random things up and inspecting them, before dropping them sloppily back down.

"Yes, and as long as you stay out of here, it'll remain that way." Octavia trotted up to her friend and began pushing her back towards the door.

As she scooted past the desk, Vinyl spotted the letter dangling over the corner. "Ooh, what's this?" She grabbed it in her magic and began reading.

"That's just... Come on, you didn't see me trotting around your place reading your personal mail, did you?!" Octavia attempted to snatch her letter back, but Vinyl lifted it out of reach as she read it over.

"Oh, nice! You're going to check them out after all, eh? You should hook me up when you get famous." Vinyl winked behind her glasses and grinned.

"It's easy to see why you don't have any friends!" Octavia snarled and finally snatched her letter back, noting that it was now distastefully crinkled. "Look! You've ruined it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I have plenty of friends." Vinyl lowered her glasses, making sure Octavia saw her wink.

Rather than the expected retort, Octavia huffed, and turned away. "Come on, let's go already."

Vinyl chuckled and lifted her glasses back over her bright red eyes. "Right. So I looked a few places up, and thought you might be interested as well."

"Why's that?" Octavia asked, attempting to flatten her letter back out as she led the way out the door.

Vinyl shrugged and trotted ahead.

Octavia frowned and rephrased the question. "Why do you think that I, in particular, would be interested in these places? Do you know something I don't?"

"I know plenty you don't, Oatsy. It's just that they're close to work and seem... decent. Sheesh, why you gotta be so weird all the time?" Vinyl shook her head and pressed forward.

Octavia glanced back and rolled her eyes. "I'm not weird, just a little curious... Speaking of which, how did you find me here?" she asked, trotting after her friend.

"The receptionist was pretty quick to let me know. She actually seemed happy to tell me as soon as I mentioned your name," Vinyl explained.

"Oh, that little..." Octavia snarled under her breath.

"Easy, killer. Cheer up, it's a bright and sunshiny day." Vinyl pushed through the hotel doors and took a deep breath.

Octavia shielded her eyes. "I haven't seen the sun in days... It's blinding."

"You'll get used to it in a minute, stop bein' such a baby." Vinyl pointed at her sunglasses and grinned. "Maybe you should get a pair of these babies."

"Right, and I'll pick up some leather chaps while I'm at it." Octavia scoffed and lowered her hoof, looking up at Vinyl with a smug smile.

"There she is! I was waiting for a smile." Vinyl tapped her friend's cheek with a hoof. "And I was meaning to ask you, how many bits do you have saved up?"

Octavia stopped to think for a moment. "Well, I've hardly spent anything, other than my nightly fees and food here and there. Last I counted, I had just over thirteen-hundred, and my fee will take another one-sixty-five this evening."

"What?! You're paying a hundred and sixty-five bits a night to stay there? That's pretty pricey doncha think?" Vinyl cringed as she calculated how much had already been spent.

"Well, it's nice, and I don't see that I have much of a choice right now," Octavia admitted, defending her actions.

"I'd recommend getting your own place ASAP. You'll be paying a third the amount you are now, and you'll have at least triple the space."

"Well, that's why you're helping me get to that point, and I do appreciate it." Octavia smiled and placed her hoof on Vinyl's back.

Vinyl laughed and looked away. "Yeah, don't mention it. I'm glad to help."

"Oh, do you mind if we stop at the post on the way? I'd like to mail this letter." Octavia tapped her saddle bag.

"Sure, it's on the way." The pair made their way down the street, trotting in silence for a few moments.

"It sure is nice to see the daylight again. I'll admit that I've missed it these past few days." Octavia stuck her muzzle in the air and closed her eyes as the warm light washed over her face.

"The nightlife does get old pretty quickly, doesn't it?" Vinyl stood by her and took a moment to enjoy the beautiful day. "Come on, time's tickin' away."

Octavia nodded and turned the corner, spotting the post office down the block. "Ooh, I'll be right back!" She trotted ahead, then stopped to glance back at her friend, who stood watching her with a soft grin.

"Go on. I'll wait for ya." Vinyl shooed her away and smiled wider, feeling almost responsible for the young mare in front of her as she trotted away.

Vinyl made her way to the front door, taking a seat on an outside bench. Glancing down at her saddlebag, she began to wonder just how she was going to make it on her own. Very few bits lined the bag, and both she and Octavia were scheduled off for the next couple nights, so tips weren't an option.

"All set. Let's carry on then." Octavia appeared, lifting Vinyl off of her seat and instinctively twirling her around.

"What? Are you trying to earn some tips off the street?" Vinyl laughed, leaning backwards, supported by her friend's front hooves.

"Eh... Sorry." Octavia laughed and blushed, gently releasing her. "So like I was saying, let's go then."

They each brushed themselves off and made their way down the sidewalk.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Vinyl decided to speak up. "So, what made you decide to write the EME guy back? I thought you wanted to avoid a musical career."

Octavia stopped and looked away. "I suppose that isn't entirely true. I realized this morning that I really do enjoy playing, and I miss it. What I want to avoid is having my life dictated by my parents. As long as I'm doing this the way I want to, then I'll be happy."

"Well, that sounds awesome. I hope everything works out for ya. Maybe you can move on over to the nice side of town pretty soon," Vinyl joked, smacking her friend's shoulders.

"Yeah, maybe. Well, what about you? Your music is amazing. Maybe you should write this guy a letter as well," Octavia suggested.

Vinyl shrugged and casually waved her hoof in the air, dismissing the thought. "I'm sure they get a lot of letters, and I'm not exactly known for anything. Not yet, anyway. I have a gig lined up that I'm really looking forward to. I think it might actually be my big chance to get noticed. My cousin's pet dragon told me about a fashion show a few months back that Hoity Toity actually showed up to. I got to DJ for the event, but it turned out to be kind of a disaster. Next week is her brother's wedding, though. He's marrying Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

"Really?! A Royal Wedding? That's impressive. I'm sure there'll be plenty of attention there. Have you already composed a piece?" Octavia asked, genuine excitement shining through her eyes for her friend.

"I'm prepared, if that's what you're asking." Vinyl messed up her friend's mane and trotted ahead. "So, you miss playing music, do you? What did you say you played again?"

"I play a variety, but I prefer the cello."

"Cool beans. Follow me." Vinyl quickly rounded a corner, with Octavia sticking close behind her.

Down the block, there was a small music store with several instruments displayed in the front window. The two friends made their way to the shop, and Octavia placed her front hooves against the glass, eyeing all the beautifully-crafted instruments.

"Come on, let's look around." Vinyl opened the door and held it for her friend.

Octavia rushed in, wide-eyed as a filly in a candy shop. Vinyl laughed and followed her in, hoping the excited mare wouldn't break anything.

"These are beautiful. Just look at this!" Octavia pointed at a large grand piano with glossy black finish.

"Yeah, and just look at that price tag." Vinyl lifted it up with her magic and gulped.

"Can I help you two with anything?" An elderly-looking mare came trotting around from behind a desk.

"Just lookin', if you don't mind." Vinyl looked away and guided her friend towards the strings section.

Octavia looked up, slack-jawed and misty-eyed. Dozens of finely polished, brand-new instruments were displayed across one small section of the store. "I've never seen so many amazing instruments all in one place."

"Heh. Wanna try one out?"

"I'd love to..." Octavia gazed around with starry eyes.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Vinyl called out to the store clerk.

"Yes?"

"My friend here wants to try out that beaut of a cello right there." Vinyl pointed to the finest looking instrument of the bunch.

"You play?" the old mare asked, trotting up behind Octavia.

"I do." She lifted her hoof, lightly touching the strings with the tip.

"I haven't seen another earth pony musician in quite a while. I must say, I'm intrigued." The old mare tapped her own forehead, pointing out her absence of a horn. "Go ahead."

Octavia delicately lifted the instrument off its stand with her front hooves and rested it on the floor in front of herself. She stood up on her back legs and balanced herself, gripping a bow off a nearby stand. She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, softly running the bow across a string, sampling the instrument's unique sound.

"Woo! Yeah! Encore! Encore!" Vinyl cheered and stomped her hooves.

Both of the earth ponies glared at her.

"Sorry." Vinyl lifted her hooves as if to surrender. "I'll be quiet."

Octavia sighed and smiled. She looked at Vinyl's bright, reflective glasses and cleared her mind.

She began with three short, sharp staccato notes, followed by a long, drawn-out low one. She paused then, and tilted her head, like she was listening to something far off. With a small nod to herself, she raised the bow again, and started a simple, rhythmic tune, the two notes flowing easily into each other as she jumped from one string to the other. She repeated the phrase, increasing the interval between the notes and finshing it with a quick legato flurry, before returning to the first variation.

After the second time, she diverted suddenly into a much quicker tune, rapidly ascending and descending, scale after scale, each time stopping just before reaching the root note, and gradually allowing her hoof to creep up the neck of the beautiful instrument. As the pitch rose, she gently began applying more and more force with the bow, increasing the volume and biting into the string.

Suddenly, a memory ocurred to her, unbidden. An anger slipped into her playing, and she swept down into a low, warning tune as the thought of every time her parents had forced her to play for hours on end filled her mind. She held the bass note, slicing the bow back and forth, creating a rapid, tremolo effect, and slipping in a dissonant note at random moments.

Grimacing, she opened her eyes, not realising she had closed them, and caught sight of Vinyl staring at her. She had removed her glasses and was watching intently, her mouth hanging slightly open. Octavia felt her frown slowly melt away at the sight of her entranced friend.

With an octave leap, she jumped up the fretboard, slowing down and adding some swing to the new tune. It was light and airy, with a slightly jazzy feel. She smirked as she remembered the last time she had properly played, at the palace. She recalled the melody she had improvised that night perfectly, adding an echo of it into what she was playing.

With a fluid motion, she swept the bow around, lifting it out of the way so she could pluck the string with her hoof. She chuckled as her good mood grew, picking out a catchy pizzicato melody, and winked at Vinyl as she saw the mare realise that the tune was based on her own song, the one she had showed Octavia last night.

The grin on her face grew wide as she brought the bow back into contact with the stings for the final time, playing short, detached, double-stopped notes. She looked her friend straight in the eyes as she brought the piece to a conclusion with the same three sharp notes she had begun it with, followed by the long bass note.

"So," she said, lowering the bow, her smile playful. "Whaddya think?"

Vinyl swallowed, raising her glasses and clapping her hooves, a crooked smile growing across her face. "That was... really great, Oatsy. Just awesome. You've got skills, I'll give ya that."

The store-owner gently took the bow and cello away from Octavia, placing them back on their stand and shooting a narrow-eyed look towards Vinyl. "She has a lot more than that!"

Vinyl cringed away and looked to Octavia, who shrugged and returned her bemused expression.

The old mare shook her head and shoved her hooves beneath Octavia's forelegs, flexing her joints and simulating the movement of stroking her bow. "You see this? You can't do this with your magic."

Vinyl laughed and trotted closer, observing the movements. "Yeah, sure I can." She took Octavia's other foreleg in her magic and began mimicking the movement.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. I'm talking about an earth pony's magic. She lets the music flow from her heart and mind, through her hooves, and into the instrument. There's a physical connection between an earth pony and their instrument. From a cello to a lasso, an earth pony will bond with her tool until the two are one. This young mare was born to create. She plays from her heart, not from memory. What you heard was a musical reflection of her emotions, and it was beautiful." The old mare turned and placed a hoof on Octavia's cheek, looking down into her wide, purple eyes. "You remind me of myself at your age. Don't waste your talent."

Octavia nodded and looked back at the instrument, fighting the urge to pick it back up.

"You really like this one, don't you?"

Octavia nodded again, this time with a gentle smile easing its way across her face.

"That is a pretty hefty price-tag." The older mare began to look the instrument over, dusting it off with her tail. "Look, I don't normally do this, but I would be willing to negotiate with you if you were interested in purchasing the item."

Octavia's eyes lit up and she began rapidly nodding, but before she could open her mouth, Vinyl shoved her way between her and the instrument, wrapping a hoof around her neck and huddling away from the sales-mare.

"Psst," she whispered. "Look, I know you like that, and you look great with it, but this might not be the best time to invest in something quite so pricey. Trust me, I've been there."

Octavia's smile fell to the floor, and she nodded.

Vinyl looked to the sales-mare with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but we're a bit short on bits right now. We'll definitely be back, though."

With a sigh, Octavia dipped her chin and headed towards the exit, and the pair were waved off as they trotted outdoors. Vinyl looked over to see her friend moping, and couldn't help but feel partially to blame.

"Hey. Cheer up, Oatsy. I'll make you a deal: smile for me, and I'll buy that gorgeous cello for you some day. Deal?" Vinyl smiled as wide as she could, her teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

Octavia looked up at Vinyl, the wide and obviously forced smile bringing a grin to her own face. "Deal." She matched her friend's expression and giggled.

"Awesome! Now, let's go check out these apartments, alright?" Each mare nodded and trotted side by side down the road.

Vinyl glanced over at Octavia as she trotted, a thought occurring to her. Normally, she'd have been the one urging her friend to do what she wanted in the spur of the moment. Where's this sudden sense of responsibility coming from? she wondered.

She shook her head and cleared her mind as the first turn came about. "Come on, this way."

Octavia turned to see a group of large, dramatic-looking buildings at the end of the street, and Vinyl hesitantly led the way towards them.

"Check it out. Looks nice, huh?" Vinyl gestured ahead, each structure several stories high, and lined with countless windows and balconies.

"Golden Oats Complex." Octavia read the sign aloud. "It does look nice, but are you sure I can afford it?"

"At first I didn't plan on stopping by this place, but... Well, I was thinking about something." Vinyl looked down and trotted up to the sign.

"Wait. What is it? What's on your mind?" Octavia trotted up to her and placed a hoof on her friend's back.

"Ah, it's nothing serious. I just had an idea. Might as well throw it out there, I guess... Y'see, we could each probably afford to live here on our own, but it might be a lot more comfortable with a roommate," Vinyl explained. "And, well... There's something else. It's hard to explain."

Octavia placed a hoof on Vinyl's cheek, gently pushing her concerned frown into a crooked smile. "Would you at least try? For me?"

Vinyl sighed and backed away. "Gah! You're lucky I like you so much... Look, it's just that I think you bring out another side of me. A better side. I feel more responsible with you around, and I think that if you were relying on me, then I could be a better mare, and maybe I'd actually get something accomplished. I don't know. It's just an idea I had."

Octavia's eyes fell to the sidewalk as she processed what she had just heard. "I'm not sure. I mean, nopony's every relied on me for anything. I don't know what I'd do."

Vinyl looked to the sky and laughed. "Come on Tavz. You don't have to do anything. Just stick with me, and we'll be fine. It's just like dancing. Without you, I wouldn't want to. That song I played for you back at my old apartment was the first thing I've done so spontaneously in a while. It felt good, like back when I first got into music. I really feel like I'm finally finding the will to turn my life around for the better and become the mare I want to be, and somehow you seem to be at the bottom of it. This past week has been great, and I'm glad we're friends."

Octavia looked back up with gleaming purple eyes. "You've helped me this past week too. I probably would have quit or gotten fired by now if not for you and your strange methods. I don't really know where I'd be right now if I hadn't met you, and I'm very glad to call you my friend too."

Each mare stood quietly in front of the building, looking off in random directions.

"So uh... Wanna be my roommate, then?" Vinyl broke the silence, kicking at the ground and casually leaning on the sign.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. I'd love to be roommates, to be honest." Octavia looked up and nodded towards the front door.

Vinyl let out a deep breath and began trotting towards the building. "Thanks, Octavia. I promise I won't mess this up for you. And hey, maybe we'll only have to make one stop this way. Let's go check it out."

The two friends turned to head into the apartment's lobby, now in high spirits. Vinyl was quick to spot the appropriate pony in order to get things started.

"Hello there. My friend and I are both interested in renting."

"Ooh, very well then. Right this way." The young mare led them into her office, offering each a seat. "Hello, my name is Locksy. Are you planning on being roommates?"

Octavia and Vinyl glanced at each other, then nodded. "Yes, we are."

"Excellent. If you'll just fill out these forms, we'll get started." Locksy slid two sheets across her desk and stood up to leave. "I'll be just out here if you have any questions."

Octavia began filling her paper out, periodically stopping and skipping sections. Vinyl scanned over the contents, then her heart sank into her stomach.

"Uh, Tavz?" Vinyl glanced over to her friend.

"What is it?" Octavia looked up, detecting the worry in Vinyl's voice.

"This is a pretty big deposit. More than I thought it'd be. I... don't exactly have enough yet. We might have to come back in a couple days," Vinyl admitted, shame filling her stomach.

Octavia cleared her throat and skimmed down the rest of the paper, noting the amount needed. "Well, I can cover whatever you can't afford. You can just pay me back later. It's really no trouble, since I don't have anything else to spend the bits on."

Vinyl sighed and pressed her forehead against her hoof. "Okay... I just... I hate borrowing money from ponies."

"Well, I'm not just any pony, am I? I'm your friend, and what are friends for?"

Vinyl looked up, taken by Octavia's kindness. "You're probably the coolest mare I've ever met."

Octavia smiled, and returned to filling out her form. "What should I put where it says references?"

"Just put N/A, unless you feel like putting your parents' info there." Vinyl considered writing her old landlord's info there, then decided against it with a chuckle.

"Okay. This wasn't so hard after all." Octavia signed the bottom of the paper and stretched her hoof.

"Nope, easy-peasy." Vinyl did the same, standing up. "Excuse me, we're done in here."

Locksy came trotting back into the office with a bright smile. "Great! I'll just look these over, then."

Vinyl nervously twiddled her hooves while they waited. Octavia glanced over at her, noticing her agitation.

"I'll need to see your proof of income," Locksy said, looking the two over.

"Sure thing." Vinyl reached into her saddlebag and drew out two sheets of paper, spotting Octavia's crooked frown as she placed them down. "Don't worry, Tavz. I got yours for ya." She winked and slid the papers across the desk.

"Ah, excellent. So, will you be needing two bedrooms, or one?" she asked, her gaze shifting between the two mares.

"Two!" they chorused.

"Right then." The mare winked and wrote a few things down. "You both exceed the minimum income requirements individually, so there's no issue at all there. Then there's the matter of the deposit. You'll have twenty-four hours after I give you the keys to pay it in full, along with the first month's rent, which is the same price as the deposit. Now, if you're both ready, I'll give you a short tour of your new home."

They each nodded and stood up to follow her. Vinyl grabbed a pamphlet in her magic and began to read it as they walked.

"Psst. Tavz." She nudged Octavia with her hoof, getting her attention. "Check it out: these places come fully furnished and look crazy nice. The rent is pretty much triple what I was paying at my last place, but as long as we're dancers, it won't be a problem at all. We can make this rent in a week between the two of us."

"Oh, darn. Fully furnished, you say? I was hoping you'd bring that lovely couch of yours. The stains and tears really add character." Octavia giggled, then stopped to think. "You do realize I won't tolerate such filth if you're living with me, right?"

"Psh, that nasty couch was there when I moved in. The whole place was already trashed, and I didn't see a reason to clean it up. Plus, the crappy landlord kept raising the rent on me after I stopped dancing. So I think things will be different here with you. Things'll be better."

"I hope so. I really do." Octavia turned and looked into Vinyl's eyes, raising her glasses with a hoof. "I'll make sure to keep you in check." She smiled, reaching to hug her friend.

"Thanks."

"Ahem. You two need some privacy or something?" Locksy winked and carried on towards their apartment, entering an elevator.

Vinyl blushed and tried to pull away, but Octavia held tight. The embarrassed unicorn giggled and pushed Octavia down with her front hooves. "Settle down there, Miss Affectionate."

Octavia put on a coy smile and ducked away, scratching her mane as they followed their guide up the elevator and to their door. "Heh, sorry."

"Here we are, then." The mare placed the key into the door, pushing it open and letting the two new tenants enter first.

"Ooh, it's beautiful in here. I love it!" Octavia twirled around and made her way through each room. "Vinyl, come look!"

Vinyl chuckled and nodded towards Locksy, before heading over to see what Octavia wanted to show her. She entered the bedroom, where Octavia stood pressed against the window.

"Look, you can see the palace from here! Isn't it beautiful?" She pointed out over the city towards the mountain-side where the Royal Palace rested.

"It is. Definitely the best view I've ever seen." Vinyl sounded happy, but didn't smile.

She took a seat on the bed and fell over on her back. "This bed..."

"Well, you can bring the deposit back to me in the morning, or any time tomorrow. I'll leave your keys on the table here. Welcome to your new home." Locksy trotted away, quietly closing the door behind herself.

"Hear that? This is our new home." Octavia laughed and jumped onto the bed next to her friend.

"Yeah... I guess it is, isn't it?"

"Woo! I can't wait to show the place to Raindrops." Octavia bounced up and down on the bed, watching Vinyl's expression slowly becoming more and more disgruntled.

"Will you stop?! Jeez!" Vinyl jumped up and trotted into the front room.

Octavia placed a hoof over her mouth and giggled at her own immaturity. "Come on, Vinyl. Don't be like that."

"Why are you so eager to get Raindrops in here?" she asked, slouching down on the couch.

"Because I just had a great idea, that's why!" Octavia trotted up to her and jumped onto the couch.

"You and your great ideas... What is it?" Vinyl asked hesitantly, looking over with a questioning frown.

"What do you mean by me and my great ideas? When have I ever even said that to you before?" Octavia crossed her hooves and huffed.

"Doesn't matter. What's the big idea?" Vinyl raised an eyebrow, curiosity getting the best of her.

"Ah. I've decided I'm going to set you up on a blind date with Raindrops tomorrow night. Well, you'll know. That way you can get all the complaining out of the way before your date shows up." Octavia stood up off the couch and twirled into the kitchen.

"Whoa! Hold on just a minute. We already talked about this, and I thought you got it." Vinyl stomped off the couch and followed her.

"Right, and you said that you didn't want to risk losing your only friend. Well, take a look: she isn't your only friend anymore. And I think you could use a nice mare in your life to straighten out that hot temper of yours." Octavia began sifting through the cupboards and cabinets, noting that they were completely empty.

Annoyed, Vinyl smacked her hooves on her face and groaned. "Tavz, what is it gonna take to get you to let this go?"

"That's easy. Just give her a chance." Octavia winked and let out a deep breath, relaxing against the counter.

"Fine. One date then. What are you even planning? It's not like this place is set up for a good time, and we can't make a lot of noise or anything. Especially not at night."

"Just a nice little dinner, prepared and served by me, during which you two can talk and get on the same page. She clearly likes you, and you're single, so I don't see what the problem is." Octavia looked around again, then opened the refrigerator. "I'm going to have to do some shopping."

"A dinner, huh? Alright, fine. But as far as Raindrops knows, I had no idea this was coming. Got it?" Vinyl sighed and rubbed her forehead as she trotted back over to the couch.

"Sure thing, whatever you say." Octavia began writing out a list of things to pick up for the apartment. "Oh, and chin up. You're not gonna regret this."

Dinner For Two

Vinyl Scratch inched her eyes open and yawned. Her blurry vision slowly focused on the unlit light on the ceiling, and she yawned again before stretching out and tossing the blanket off of herself. Blinking the grogginess from her heavy eyes, she slowly slid off the bed and wearily wobbled into the front room.

"Good morning, Sunshine! Or... Good afternoon, I should say." Octavia winked as she returned to her routine.

Vinyl stumbled onto the couch and wiped her tired eyes. "How long you been up?"

"Few hours," Octavia said, bent down with her nose touching her front hoof. "I'm still kind of on a third-shift schedule, you know?"

Vinyl raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I gotta head out and do some stuff."

"Great! Can I come?" Octavia leaped up next to the couch, widening her eyes pleadingly.

Vinyl slid her shades over her eyes and frowned. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to say nnnnnn-of course you can! Let's go."

Vinyl chuckled and opened the front door, tossing her saddlebag over her shoulder.

Octavia frowned and pulled her back inside by the tail. "Wait, don't you want breakfast?"

"Uh, aren't the cupboards empty?" Vinyl asked, scratching her head.

"Nope! I picked a few things up while you were snoozing the day away," Octavia explained as she opened a cabinet stocked full of succulent-looking fruits and vegetables.

"A'ight. Toss me an apple and let's go. I'm kinda in a hurry."

Octavia lobbed a red fruit towards her friend, who caught it in her magic, and grabbed another for herself. Vinyl held the door open for Octavia, hurrying her out of the apartment. The pair then trotted out of the building and down the road out of the complex.

Octavia glanced at Vinyl's expression and bumped her shoulder. "Hey, something bothering you?"

"Nope." Vinyl sighed and shook her head, perking her ears and picking up her pace a little to keep up. "Just a little tired. You?"

"Tired?!" Octavia threw her hooves into the air. "How in Equestria could you be tired?! You slept for over twelve hours!"

Vinyl huffed and looked away. "I don't always sleep well in new places, I guess."

"Do you often sleep in new places?" Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, no? But... I don't know. Does it matter?" Vinyl coughed and pressed forward, trotting ahead. "Since when do you ask so many questions anyway?"

Octavia put a hoof in front of her friend, stopping her. "I don't. I just think something else might be on your mind, and I want you to talk to me."

"Nothing to talk about, sorry." Vinyl ruffled Octavia's mane and shouldered past her.

With a sigh, Octavia returned to her side. As they walked, she began to eye the sidewalk, intentionally avoiding the cracks in the pavement and any stray pebbles. Glancing ahead, she gulped at the sight of a almost completely demolished panel of concrete in their path. As they approached it, she stopped and backed up while Vinyl trotted over the crumbled mess. With a quiet yell, she rushed forward and leaped over the broken sidewalk, carefully landing on the freshly paved panel where Vinyl now stood, startling her.

"Whoa there. What the heck are you doin'?"

"I'm entertaining myself, since somepony feels like clamming up today," Octavia explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in Equestria.

"Heh, sorry. I guess I'm still a little groggy." Vinyl waved at a passing carriage and nudged Octavia across the street. "Whatcha wanna talk about?"

"Well... How do you like the new place? I love it! Everything is so nice and spacious, and there's so much room for... activities!" Octavia beamed, her eyes glazing over a little.

"I can tell. You seem pretty happy to be outta that stuffy hotel room."

"Oh, I am! Everything's great. Thanks for helping me get to this point, by the way. I really owe you." Octavia nodded and pressed the button at the crosswalk to stop traffic.

"You owe me huh? Wanna pay up?" Vinyl pushed her glasses down and winked, looking her friend straight in the eye.

Octavia recoiled and gulped slightly. "Eh, what did you have in mind, exactly?"

"Oh, nothing major. Just cancel this stupid dinner thing you have planned."

"Whoa. No way. I absolutely will not cancel any dinner plans for this evening. It's just too short notice, you know?" Octavia stuck her nose up and began crossing the street.

Vinyl groaned and stomped along behind her, kicking an empty can across the road. "Have you even told Raindrops about this thing yet?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Octavia glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "You're not weaseling your way out of this. It's set in stone. You promised..."

"Whatever." Vinyl picked up her pace and trotted ahead, her old apartment building in view. "But we're gonna go ahead and say you owe me two now."

"So be it." Octavia chuckled and began to hurry alongside her friend, when her eyes widened with sudden realization. "Wait a minute. Is that why you're so moody this morning? Is this dinner really bothering you that much?"

Vinyl sighed and lowered her head as they reached the front door of the old building. She levitated her key into the door and opened it up, signaling Octavia to go ahead of her with her hoof.

"Look, Tavz, I know you don't really get it, and who knows, maybe you're right and this whole thing will turn into some kind of great relationship. But I doubt it. I'm not really bothered to get my hopes up, and it's all kind of depressing when I really think about it, to be perfectly honest." Vinyl placed her hoof on the doorknob to her old home, and slowly wobbled it from side to side. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It should be around two o'clock, why?" Octavia shrugged, then rapidly shook her head and took a step back. "Wait a minute! Don't distract me, this is important stuff we're talking about here. Look, I think you're just reading too deeply into something that shouldn't be so complicated. This dinner is just so you two can get to know each other a little better outside of work. Or at least, well, I think that's what it's for. I'm not saying you two should get married, just hang out for a while and enjoy my fine cooking."

"Hmm, they're late..." Vinyl fidgeted for a moment longer, then opened the door and trotted in.

Octavia followed with her head tilted in bewilderment. "Huh? Who's late?"

"Ah, I called these guys yesterday morning and told them that I needed some stuff moved, but this cheap moving company is always super late. Serves me right for being on time, I guess." Vinyl shook her head and began kicking garbage off to the sides, clearing a pathway from the front door to her bedroom.

"Um, I thought we agreed that all of this furniture is staying here." Octavia cringed as her eyes locked on several dark grease stains and food remnants on the living room sofa.

"Yeah, that junk stays, but this baby goes wherever I go. I'm way too invested to part with it, no matter what." Vinyl delicately brushed the tip of her hoof across the top of her turntables, the dormant keypad looking potent beneath it.

"Oh, your instrument..." Octavia frowned, leaning against the wall.

Vinyl peeked out from her bedroom door and raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't like it?"

"No, no. I mean, yes. I do like it, but that's not what I was... Eh, what I mean to say is that the discontentment I'm currently expressing isn't directly related to your musical device. Although, its presence and your loyalty to it did inadvertently sadden me."

Vinyl scratched her head and tilted her neck as she lowered her shades. "Uh, you lost me..."

"Do you have this under control? I think there's something I should go do, and then I want to start preparing that dinner." Octavia waved with the tip of her hoof and ducked out the front door.

"Yeah, sure... It's all good." Vinyl muttered into the air as Octavia made her way out the front door of the building.

Octavia took in slow, deep breaths as she cantered down the city streets for several long minutes. Be strong. Be mature. Look good. You're great, you're doing great, your job is great, everything's great.

She spotted a familiar road sign and swallowed a deep lump in her throat.

'Burgundy Lane'

Taking a stroll down memory lane, Octavia headed up the hill towards the home she had grown up in. A small sign stood regally in her front yard, reading Oatsenburg Estates. She bumped the plank of wood being held by two chain links as she walked by, causing it to sway back and forth with a nostalgic squeak.

Tap Tap

She knocked and stood still, the habit of simply walking into the house quivering at the tip of her hooves. Before she could act, the door slowly opened, and a tall pink unicorn pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, Octavia! It's so good to see you again, darling. We've missed you so much." The unicorn lifted the small gray earth pony off her hooves and rubbed their cheeks together.

"Hi... Mom... I missed you too."

"Dear! Haynk! Guess who's home." The unicorn called out happily and carried her daughter inside.

The large gray stallion stood off his armchair and puffed on his pipe. "Hoho, you see? Didn't I tell you she'd be back?"

"Actually!" Octavia interrupted, sliding out of her mother's hold, "I'm just here to visit, as an adult. I'd appreciate a little respect from you two, or I'll be heading right back out the door."

Her parents glanced at one another, then back at their daughter. "Very well then, I'll fetch us some refreshments."

Octavia nodded as her mother trotted off, and took a seat at the desk facing the fireplace. "So, Father. How's life treating you these days?"

The stallion stared down at his once irritatingly rebellious daughter and stifled a skeptical chuckle. "Couldn't be better, unless you decided to come back home of course."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm well situated as of right now. Which is the real reason I'm here. Aside from a family visit, I realized it was inexcusably rude of me to have left all my old things lying around your home. I've decided to make an arrangement to have said things moved to my new residence." Octavia casually waved her hoof, huffing on the tip and shining it against her chest.

Haynk nodded respectfully and brushed his coat off before standing up and slowly stepping towards an old, oaken hutch. He leaned over it and faced away from Octavia, his large, golden hammer cutie mark gleaming beneath the overhead chandelier.

"So. It's finally happening, is it?" he muttered, his ears lowered.

"What's happening?" Octavia asked, as her mother returned with a silver tray of drinks.

Haynk sighed and took a glass in his hooves, taking a long sip. "Did you hear that, Mortrotia? Our little Octavia has become a respectable mare."

"Oh, has she now? Isn't that just precious. Do you need more bits darling? Is that why you're here? You do realize you can always just move back in if things are too hard or too scary out there. Would you like that?" Mortrotia asked, leaning down and rubbing her muzzle against her daughter's.

Octavia shuddered and backed away, beginning to turn towards her old room. "No, Mom! I don't need bits! I'm here to let you two know that somepony will be here to get my stuff later! That's it."

"Ah, there's the Octavia we know and love..." Haynk muttered into his wife's ear.

"I'm sorry darling, I didn't mean to upset you. Come give mommy a hug and make it all better, yes?" Mortrotia chased after the young mare, carrying two glasses of refreshments in her deep blue aura of magic.

Octavia slammed her bedroom door shut and latched a small lock on the inside.

Tap Tap Tap

The unicorn rapped on the door, her incessant pestering ringing in Octavia's ears. The young mare yanked her door open, and her mother stumbled forward, tripping over a small pile of bowties and dropping the refreshments onto the floor.

With her cello slung around her back, Octavia trotted out of the room and into the hallway. "I'll expect that mess cleaned by next week, Mother, I'd hate to make a bad impression on the movers."

Her mother following close behind, she stepped into the living room with her nose up high. Without a glance back, she placed her hoof on the front door and took a deep breath. "I'll take this off your hooves for now. And Mother, Father, I'd love to have you both over for dinner sometime soon. I'll have my address delivered when I send for my things. See you soon."

"Yeah, right..." Octavia muttered to herself as she closed the door. She shuddered and tightened the strap on her cello's case as she began her trek home.

Utter bafflement perpetrated the Oatsenburg Estates, as young Octavia confidently trotted down the sidewalk and out of the neighborhood she had grown so accustomed to.

"Dear Haynk, I do believe our precious little Octavia has become stricken with madness. I fear her mind is unstable, should we do something?" Mortrotia asked, clinging onto her husband as she fanned her face with a silk cloth.

"She'll be back in the safety of her room soon enough, respecting us the way she should, my love. I'll make sure of that."

***

"No! NO, NO, NO! Be careful, will ya?!" Vinyl bit down on the tip of her sunglasses as she anxiously supervised the ponies relocating her precious musical equipment. "Watch the sides!"

The two brutish stallions grumbled as they held the elaborate turntable in their magic, one a deep forest green and the other a vibrant sky blue. Sweat beaded around their necks as they strained to keep the heavy object steady through the thin corridors of the apartment building.

"I swear, you pair get ONE scratch on that thing, and I'm not paying you a single bit! That was the agreement, so be more careful." Vinyl placed her hooves to her temples and sighed. "And hurry it up will ya? I've got things to do."

Each stallion rolled his eyes and set the large contraption down.

"Whoa, what do you guys think you're doing? You don't get paid hourly, so move your flanks!" Vinyl clapped her hooves and tapped on the top of her turntables.

"We're takin' a break. You gots a problem wit dat, missy?" one stallion muttered as he lit up a cigarette.

"Yeah, I have a problem with it. I'm paying you chumps to perform a service, not to sit on your big, stupid plots all day. That's it, I'm calling your manager." Vinyl grabbed a corded phone off the wall and began bashing random keys.

The stallions glanced at each other as the angsty young unicorn held the phone to her ear.

"Hello, I'd like to report a problem I'm having with two of your movers, please. Yes, I'll hold." Vinyl glared at the two sitting at the bottom of the stairway. "You're in for it now."

"Fine! Hang up the phone and we'll move the dang thing." The green stallion dropped his cigarette and stomped it out.

"Make it snappy! And make it careful!" Vinyl dropped the disconnected phone and trotted after them.

She clung to her precious DJ equipment, placed snugly in the back of a large, open carriage, as the stallions carried it across town to its new home.

***

Octavia merrily cantered down the sidewalk of a more comfortable part of town with a bright smile on her face and her nose pointed to the sky as she neared her new home. The warm sun fell over her gleaming gray cheeks and she felt as if she might burst into song at any moment. The familiar sensation of her cello thumping against her back as she trotted sent jolts of nostalgia coursing through her limbs.

With the apartment complex in sight, she picked up her pace. She pushed through the front doors and made her way to the elevator as it was closing, but a young light gray pegasus held the door.

"Thank you for that." Octavia smiled and bowed her head.

"No problem. You play? Is that a viola?" the other pony asked, nudging Octavia's case with a hoof.

"It's actually a cello. It's a bit smaller than your average, but much larger than a viola. It was custom-made for me when I was young and just learning how to play, and I can't bring myself to let it go. I do intend to buy a new, more full-sounding instrument when I have the money," Octavia explained as she unbuckled the case.

She lifted the instrument out of its case and held it up for the pegasus to marvel at.

"Wow, this is very nice. I bet it cost quite a bit," she said, her eyes running down the neck as the light gleamed from its polish.

"I'm not sure. It was a gift."

"Trust me, this thing cost somepony a shiny bit or two. My name's Harmony by the way." The pegasus reached her hoof out and smiled.

Octavia glanced down at it for a moment, then hastily gripped it between her own two. "Oh, of course! I'm Octavia, and it's nice to meet you... I also happen to find you very familiar. Do you live here in the complex?"

"I do, but then again you may have seen me performing somewhere. I play violin and I've been touring around the city. I'm really hoping for a record deal, and to be able to travel around all of Equestria playing my music. Oh, but look at me rambling on about myself. What do you do?" The pegasus fluttered her lashes and took a step back while Octavia put her instrument away.

"I, well... I work in the entertaining business as well... Anyway, did you say that you performed at a place called eClipse?"

"I actually did pretty recently, is that where you saw me?"

Ding

The elevator opened up at Octavia's floor, where she saw Vinyl directing two clumsy stallions. "Come on, you lazy chumps. Move your flanks! You're taking too damn long."

Octavia smacked herself in the face, her hoof slowly sliding down and wiping her smile away. "Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you. This is my floor, so I guess I'll talk to you later. Bye."

The pegasus chuckled and took a step back as the doors closed shut.

"What's going on? Why so... rackety?" Octavia hushed the two stallions and smacked Vinyl's horn.

"Sorry, Tavz, but you gotta be stern with these brutes or they don't listen," Vinyl explained with an apologetic frown.

"I understand that, but you're making quite a scene here and we're still new. Seems kinda, I don't know... bad?" Octavia threw on a wide smile and waved at an older mare fidgeting to get her key in a door further down the hall. "Don't mind us, we'll be out of the way and quiet in no time." The mare glared back as she got her door open, and Octavia pretended to be looking elsewhere.

The two stallions finally maneuvered the cumbersome object into the building and Vinyl sighed a deep sigh of relief. "Alright, you two get out of here. And please exit quietly. Folks around here don't take too kindly to racket, apparently. Now, shoo. No tip for you slackers."

Octavia rushed in and circled the large, bulky turntables. "Are you going to need help moving these somewhere? And you do realize that you can't play them loudly or anything like that, right?"

Vinyl chuckled and snatched a pair of large, expensive-looking studio headphones off the side of the stand and wrapped them around her neck. "That's what these bad boys are for."

"Ear muffs?" Octavia giggled, trotting into the kitchen.

"They're headphones, dipwit. Jeez..." The unicorn began sliding her machine across the carpet and into her bedroom.

"Dipwit?" Octavia glared at her friend as she scooted her turntables across the floor. "Yeah, well. Feel free to help with this dinner if you aren't too busy being a name-caller."

The gray mare opened the cupboards and rifled through them, pulling out a sauté pan and several ingredients. She hummed a familiar tune as she lined the pan with olive oil and set it on the burner. With a bulb of garlic and a whole onion sitting on the counter, she lifted a knife in her hoof and set it down on the center of a cutting board, then began hesitantly peeling the dry, flaky skin from the shiny purple onion.

"So, how can I help?" Vinyl trotted around the kitchen island in circles as her friend shrugged and continued peeling.

Octavia then sliced the onion down the center, leaving its halves face down on the cutting board. "Here, you can chop this thing up. I hate cutting onions."

The unicorn lifted the large knife in her hoof, a trail of light sliding down the razor-sharp blade as she inspected it. "How small should I cut it?"

"Uh... It doesn't really matter too much, just imagine how it'll look when the meal's finished," Octavia said as she dropped a large red tomato on the cutting board. "Slice and seed this when you're done with the onion, but make sure you rinse the knife first. And hurry please."

Vinyl bit her tongue and nodded as she began roughly chopping the onion into random chunks and bits, using her magic to guide the knife. Octavia glanced over her shoulder and giggled at the mess as she crushed the garlic.

"That'll do." The gray mare snatched the onions and dumped them into the pan with the garlic.

They sizzled and popped as she stirred them around. "Mmm, smells good already. How's that tomato coming along?"

Vinyl snapped back to the cutting board and poked at the round vegetable with her knife. "How do I seed it?"

"Um... Here, watch me do it, and then you can do it next time." Octavia took the knife away and forcefully swatted down on the tomato, its halves slowly falling to each side.

She proceeded to cut the gooey centers out and dice the rest, hastily repeating the process with a second tomato.

Vinyl crossed her hooves and scoffed. "How did you learn to do all this? Aren't you from, like, a privileged family, or something?"

"Well, obviously, the butlers and servants showed me how to do this when I snuck out of my palace tower, duh."

"Palace... tower?" Vinyl cocked her neck and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be silly. My parents often had me prepare dinners for them and our house guests. I suppose it was my father's way of showing off his respectful, obedient daughter." Octavia's voice dripped with contempt as she forcefully scraped the tomatoes into a small mixing bowl and and turned to the rest of her ingredients. "I thought it was fun when I was younger, but for some reason I began to hate it, and just saw it as another chore... Well, needless to say, I got used to it pretty quickly. It isn't all that hard."

Octavia smiled brightly and gave the knife back to Vinyl.

"Now, we'll slice the rest of these similar to the tomatoes, but don't worry about the seeds. Keep them separate as well."

Vinyl slid her knife through the veggies and mimicked Octavia's previous dicing. "You're right. This isn't so hard at all. A little boring, but not hard."

Octavia shook the pan with a hoof. "Are those vegetables chopped? It's time to add them to the mix."

She took the cutting board and scraped the sliced eggplant into the sizzling pan.

"Why don't we just put it all in there at the same time?" Vinyl peeked over Octavia's shoulder and eyed the steaming food.

"Cooking them in the proper order will affect the texture of each ingredient as the meal cooks. For example, these onions are losing their bitterness and becoming quite soft, and this takes longer to happen than it does for the eggplant to finish. So, if I had put them in at the same time, the eggplant would be overcooked." Octavia placed the wooden spoon into the unicorn's hoof and turned to the rest of the ingredients.

"Ah, that makes sense. I guess. So, is this stuff really good? Because it's looking pretty nasty."

"Yes, it's rather disgusting. I'm hoping Raindrops will take one look at it and run for cover." Octavia shook her head and sprinkled thyme onto the mixture before dumping red and green peppers, squash, and zucchini on top. "Now, mix that up."

"Right... Well, I guess I'm not used to this kind of food." Vinyl shuddered at the sight of the wilting eggplant and covered it beneath a pile of peppers.

"We'll order you a pizza if this goes well."

Vinyl rolled her eyes and flipped the veggies around in the pan. "What about the tomatoes?"

"Just let that cook for a few more minutes and I'll dump them in when it's ready." Octavia trotted up behind Vinyl, mixing the bowl of tomatoes and basil together.

"How will you know when it's ready?"

"You can time it, or once you've cooked a meal a few times, you'll just kind of recognize the way it looks when it's ready."

Vinyl wiped the steam off her glasses and stepped aside as Octavia added the rest of the mix into the pan. She leaned back against the counter and watched her expertly tossing the sizzling vegetables around in the pan. The unicorn lowered her shades while Octavia wiped a drop of sweat from her brow and began washing her hooves.

"A pinch of salt, a dash of pepper, and voilà. Doesn't this smell good? Set the table, I caught Raindrops on her way home from work this morning and told her to be here tonight at six o'clock. So we have about fifteen minutes before she arrives." Octavia shuffled a few plates from the cabinet and dropped them onto the kitchen island. "First, we need to clean this mess up, since we don't exactly have a dining room table yet..."

Vinyl sighed as her smile slowly slipped away. "Tavz, why exactly are you doing this? I mean, why do you even care?"

Octavia stopped moving and turned to face Vinyl. "I'm not sure what you're asking me."

"I don't know. It doesn't matter." Vinyl shook her mane out of her face and spread the plates, two large and two small.

"Okay then? You alright?" Octavia slowly pulled the pan off the burner and covered it.

"Mm-hmm." Vinyl nodded.

"You nervous?" A devious grin formed on Octavia's face.

"About what?" the unicorn chuckled and slouched against the living room sofa, tapping on the cello case that leaned next to her.

"You wanna see that or something? Go ahead and open it up." Octavia trotted to the case and unlatched it.

Vinyl lifted the top, the hinges creaking as she slowly let it fall open. The setting sun's bright rays lit up the cello's glossy finish, the silver-plated steel strings gleaming.

"Ooh, shiny."

Octavia lifted it out of its case and twirled it around. "It's more than shiny. This was my best friend growing up."

"That explains your amazing social skills at least. Is this what you went to go do while I was busy busting my flank earlier?" Vinyl asked, falling backwards onto the couch.

"Yes, actually. I visited my parents so I could pick this up. It's pretty old and a bit small, but I still love it. When I played at the gala or other big events, I always got to use some other, more fancy cello, but this one is special." She lifted her bow and twirled it around in her hoof, her ankle popping as it stretched.

"So play something." Vinyl leaned up and grinned, her pearly white smile sparkling.

"Sure thing, just let me... Hmm..." Octavia cleared her throat and hummed a low pitched note as she tightened the C string back to its proper tune.

Vinyl flopped over onto her chest and propped her chin up on her front hooves as she watched her friend focusing on the pitch of each string. The cellist closed her eyes and carefully ran her bow across each string, fine tuning them to precision. The warm sun washed over her face as she leaned up and stroked the A string and opened her eyes.

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's see if you like this." She lifted her bow and took a deep breath, the notes she was preparing to play flashing through her head, her hooves ready to act on muscle memory.

She placed the bow to the string, and—

BZZZT

"That must be her!" Octavia quickly sat her cello down and skipped into the kitchen. "So, um, you just... uh, go get ready, and I'll go let her in, then I'll serve you two, and... Yeah, I'll go let her in now. Get ready!"

"Get ready?" Vinyl scratched her head as Octavia rushed out the door and into the elevator. "Eh... alrighty then."

She dragged her hooves into the kitchen and slumped into her chair, letting her face fall flat against the table and her hooves hang limp. The smell of freshly cooked eggplant filled her nostrils and she cringed as her stomach churned. Don't be nervous... It's gonna be fine.

"And here we are!" Octavia opened the front door and stood aside, winking at Vinyl as she did so.

The unicorn leaned up and rested her glasses over her horn as she watched Raindrops enter. She fluffed her wings and stretched her legs, loosening a long black scarf. Her mane was brushed neatly to one side and a silky black bow sat atop it, adorning her.

"Hey, welcome. Hope you didn't have trouble finding the place." Vinyl waved and put on her brightest smile.

Raindrops gulped and looked away, her eyes wide as she stared at Octavia and whispered forcefully, "You didn't say Vinyl was going to be here!"

"Oh, that's right. Vinyl is my roommate. I figured you two could have dinner together and talk about stuff. You know." She nudged the flustered pegasus into the kitchen. "Take a seat here, and I'll get you some food."

As Octavia scooped the fresh ratatouille onto their plates, the other mares fidgeted in their seats, glancing around the kitchen, looking anywhere but at each other.

"Mmm, this sure looks good." Octavia smiled wide and bowed her head as she backed into the other room. "Feel free to chat it up... in private... I'll be over here, in the other room. Eat up."

Vinyl forced her hooves against her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, we're good, Tavz. Thanks."

Raindrops cleared her throat and poked at her meal with her fork. "This looks good. Did Octavia make it all?"

"Pretty much, but I helped quite a bit." Vinyl took a bite and slowly chewed on it.

Octavia scoffed from the living room sofa. "Psh! Yeah, right."

"Hey, I did all the chopping, and I stirred it and stuff!"

"Yeah, you're right. I couldn't have done it without you. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to provide some romantic background music for your meal." Octavia lifted her cello and began quietly gliding her bow across the strings, a soft tone resonating.

Raindrops cleared her throat again and took a bite of food. "So, you knew I was gonna come over then?"

Vinyl shook her head. "Nope."

"Oh. Well, you didn't seem too surprised when I showed up."

The unicorn shrugged and took another bite. "I was a little."

"Ah..."

They sat eating quietly while Octavia's music grew louder and more complex. The cellist began practicing an elaborate and complicated scale, running her hoof up the neck and hitting a sour note, only to start from the beginning and repeat the process, always missing her mark at some point. With each off-note and pause, Vinyl's eye began to twitch. Octavia then began to repeatedly strike the note with her hoof, hammering it over and over.

"I think maybe my string needs to be replaced."

"I think maybe you should go do something else for a while!" the unicorn snapped.

Raindrops jumped in her seat and Octavia set her bow down. "Easy there. I'll go play with this somewhere else. I think there's a nice park behind the building."

She slung her case over her back and waved at her friends as she opened the front door. "Try and enjoy yourself a little, Vinyl. I worked hard setting this up."

The door latched closed and Vinyl sighed.

"So, how's it goin'?" Raindrops asked, her mouth full of eggplant.

"A'ight, I guess. You?" Vinyl twirled her veggies around with her fork and grunted.

"It's going well. I actually sent off my application to get into The Wonderbolts Academy today. It's not for a pretty long time, but it sounds like a lot of fun." The pegasus spread her wings and beamed.

"Huh, you don't exactly seem cut out for that sort of thing."

The pegasus' wings fell limp and her ears flattened. "Right, I just thought it'd be fun..."

"Sorry. I'm sure it will be. That is, if you like getting screamed at all day." Vinyl forced a smile.

Raindrops shrugged and took a deep breath, a smile returning to her face. "Okay, so Vinyl. I'm sure Octavia has told you by now that I like you, and want to get to know you better. We're pretty chummy at work, and I thought we could, like, go out together or something."

"Yeah, that'd be cool. I'll let you know when I have some free time." Vinyl stood up and scooped the rest of her food into the garbage disposal.

"Okay, great! Just let me know anytime, and we can do whatever you want." The pegasus placed her empty plate into the sink and leaned in front of the unicorn with her bright blue eyes.

"Cool." Vinyl turned away and headed into the living room, where she flopped down onto the couch.

Raindrops stood silently in the kitchen and waited awkwardly. She sighed and slumped down into a seat, resting her head on her front hooves. "So, should I leave now?"

"Do whatever you want." Vinyl muttered as she closed her eyes and stretched out.

With a deep, painful sigh, Raindrops tightened her scarf and fixed her bow, then headed to the front door. As she turned the knob and pulled it open, Vinyl called out.

"Hey, hold on."

"What is it?" the pegasus asked, latching it back shut.

"I don't know... Look, I'm sorry I'm not being like super-friendly and stuff. I just don't know how I should act around you, and... Guh, I don't know." Vinyl wiped her muzzle and let her head fall back flat against the arm of the sofa.

With a joyful grin, Raindrops fluttered to the opposite arm and took a seat. "That's alright. You can act however you want around me. We're friends, and I'm not gonna judge you, so... Just do and say whatever you want to? And if you feel like it, ask me anything."

Vinyl leaned up and removed her glasses, her deep red eyes meeting her friend's bright blue ones. "Why do you like me so much?"

***

Octavia took a seat on a bench beneath a tree, the rest of the buildings in the complex surrounding her, as if to encase the small serene meadow. Across the grassy clearing, she spotted a small playground with several young foals laughing and running. As the sun faded, mares and stallions called their foals back indoors, and a chilly evening breeze blew through the leaves overhead.

She smiled, and took in the fresh, cool air before unlatching her case and removing the instrument within. Already flawlessly tuned, she stood off her bench and began to play. Rather than a display of her mastery of the instrument, she slowly rocked her bow back and forth with her eyes closed. Her hoof gently walked up and down the strings as she twirled around the cello.

The deep notes flowed through the air, filling the silent evening with somber tones as she played her haunting refrain. She looked to the stars as they appeared one by one above the setting sun, her cycle of notes growing louder as the piece became slightly more symphonic. She imagined a violin playing along side her in perfect harmony, a third above the smooth melody she was coaxing from her cello. She dropped down an octave and began to play an ascending circle of fifths. To her ears, the violin followed into a perfect canon, just a single beat behind her.

Invigorated, the mare closed her eyes again as she reached the highest string, and she struck three soft staccato notes, which the violin mimicked as Octavia's hoof fell into a rapidly falling arpeggio. At the end of each phrase, she jumped back up, starting one note lower than the previous time. As she began to run out of lower notes to play, she changed the melody and started to pedal on the open low string, alternating between two short notes on it, and one longer one an octave above. The violin in her head began to ascend the minor scale, and this time, Octavia followed it, still pedaling the low note on the offbeats. The melody sort of sounded similar to the one that...

Abruptly, her eyes snapped open and she stopped playing, the final note echoing between buildings. The violin, however, continued the melody for a few more notes. Octavia glanced over her shoulder to see a gray pegasus standing behind her with a shiny black violin pressed against her neck. Harmony?

"Hey, why'd ya stop? I was diggin' that." She dropped her bow to the ground and frowned.

"Oh, I hadn't realized... I kind of thought I was imagining that. How long have you been out here?" Octavia blushed and fidgeted with her bow.

"A while. I saw you out here from my window, and thought I'd join you. It is a pretty nice day to play. You're pretty good by the way." The pegasus fluttered over the bench and took a seat.

Octavia nodded and sat next to the mare. "Thanks. You are too, but I already knew that."

"You should show me your best later, and maybe I can get you a spot on stage with me some night. Like a guest appearance or something. Could be good for you if you're looking to get your name out there. I realize I'm not exactly a star, but I'm known around the city, and that's a start."

"That sounds great, but I don't know if I'd be allowed to. Maybe if it falls on one of my days off," Octavia said as she placed her cello back into its case behind the bench. "Anyway, I should probably be getting back now."

"Aw, you can't stay for a minute? We just met, and I'd like to know you a little better." Harmony smiled and twirled her bow around.

Octavia put on a bubbly smile and leaned on the bench. "Okay, sure! What did you wanna talk about?"

"Well... How long have you lived here?"

"Canterlot? My whole life. This apartment? Since yesterday." Octavia answered and let her hooves dangle from behind the bench as she slouched over. "How long have you been playing violin?"

"In general? Since I was just a blank flank with a tiny fiddle. Professionally? For a couple months." She stood off the bench and leaned in close to the mare's face. "I think you seem pretty cool, and you're a good cellist too, which is definitely a plus by me. Wanna come hang out at my place for a while?"

Octavia stood up and backed away. "That sounds like a lot of fun and all, but I should really be getting back to my roommate and her friend. Maybe some other time?"

Harmony shrugged with a chuckle and fluttered over Octavia back to the door of the complex. "I'll hold you to that."

With a wink, the pegasus trotted through the door with her violin balanced carefully on her back and let it close behind herself. Octavia sighed and placed her front hooves over her heart, leaning her head back. Squawking, she flinched and stumbled backwards over the bench as she spotted Harmony giggling through the window. Blushing profusely, Octavia leaned up and peeked over the back of the bench, only catching a glimpse of Harmony's long blonde tail as she trotted down the hallway and away from the window.

"How rude. I could have been hurt." The blushing mare brushed herself off and slung her cello case over her back, heading back into the building and making her way to the elevator.

As she cantered down her hall, she spotted Raindrops, who was skipping in her direction with a girlish smirk and blush across her cheeks. Her mane was messy and her scarf was loosely dangling around her neck, and as she approached, Octavia noticed she was catching her breath.

"You look happy. So I assume it went well?"

The yellow pegasus nodded rapidly and fluttered into the elevator giggling. "Yeah. Thanks for dinner!"

"Sure, no... problem," Octavia muttered with a raised eyebrow as the doors closed.

She swallowed hard and trotted into her apartment, spotting Vinyl blissfully sprawled out across the sofa with her glasses on the middle of the floor. "What happened?"

Vinyl chuckled and shrugged. "Nothin'."

"Oh, okay then."

Octavia trotted into her room and leaned the cello up against the wall. She fell backwards onto her bed and closed her eyes. Images of Raindrops and Vinyl kissing and cuddling flashed through her head and she smacked herself in the face. She slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the blank white ceiling.

"You alright?" Vinyl opened the door and leaned against the doorway.

"Of course! Are you?" Octavia jumped up and fixed her mane.

"Yeah. So, the date thing went better than I thought it would, and I invited Raindrops to come back over later. Same time next week actually, because we'll both be off then." Vinyl fiddled with the knob and stared at the floor.

"Okay, that's great." Octavia mare forced a smile. "Should I cook dinner again?"

"Sure, which reminds me..." Vinyl jumped onto the bed next to her friend, causing her to fall over.

"What?" Octavia laughed and jumped back up.

"You promised me a pizza if this went well, so I'm collecting payment." The unicorn beamed a sheepish grin and poked Octavia in the ribs.

"You are absolutely right, I'll go and order that right away. Oh, and maybe we can play a board game!" Octavia rushed into the living room and grabbed a phone off the wall, glancing at the phone book, which had the name and number of a pizza delivery company on the cover.

"What kind of board game?"

"Shh." Octavia wagged her hoof and stepped around the corner. "I'd like one large pizza please. Extra mushrooms, extra onions, extra olives... and extra anything else you can think of."

Vinyl rolled her eyes and jumped onto the couch. Octavia hung up and followed her over, leaning on the back of the couch and wearing a soft smile.

"I've got Cloperation, Guess Whooves, Glue, Horsopoly, Apples to Apples, Unocorn, and Scraddle. The store down the street from where I lived used to sell a lot of these at unbelievably low prices." Octavia pulled the various boxes off a shelf and spread them across the floor, taking a seat. "You know, I never got to play these as a foal, since I didn't have any siblings or friends."

Vinyl stifled a pang of empathy and bumped her friend on the shoulder. "Well, you pick one then. We can play whatever you want. And hopefully that pizza gets here soon."

"Scraddle it is." Octavia opened the box and began setting up the game, shuffling the letter tiles in a small silver bag and turning the board so that it faced her.

Vinyl slowly took a seat on the floor with her and began rearranging her tiles into words. "You know what?"

"What?" Octavia looked up and tilted her head.

"This is nice. I mean, not being alone at night. I'm glad we did this."

Octavia stood up and moved over to her, giving her a quick hug and returning to her seat.

"Yeah, me too."

Author's Note

It's been about five months or so, but here we are with an update... one huge update...

Make sure to thank Silver Cloud for all the hard work he put into editing this, and the rest of the chapters. Fun fact: He helps out tremendously with all the musical scenes. I pretty much wrote the most basic version of what you see in each of the musical scenes of this story, and he amps it up to something amazing.

If you haven't yet, check out his making of Vinyl's song from the second chapter. Here.

If you like that, plenty more of his non-pony related music can be found here!

Don't forget to comment and let me know what you think of this. Peace!

Happy Birthday

One long walk home later. Vinyl paused, and took a moment to stretch out in the morning light. She felt her joints pop, and the subtle warmth soothed her aching muscles.

"Y'alright there toots?" A voice sounded from the near the apartment lobby.

"Yeah, Mr. Trotsloski, I'm fine. Just a little sore after a long night is all." Vinyl threw on a fake smile as her temperamental landlord stepped into view.

"Right, right... Look, I'll cut to the chase: I need that rent money, you're a week overdue, and this needs to stop. You got a three-thousand bit record player in your room, and you're tellin' me you can't pay the rent?" The older stallion took on a wide stance.

"Hey now, it's not a record player! Jeez... And yeah, no problem. I got the bits right here." Vinyl levitated the full pouch from her saddlebag, a pang of loss filling her chest as it fell into the stallion's hooves.

"I ain't gonna keep cuttin' you slack, ya hear? You gotta pay the rent on time just like everypony else 'round here. Got it?" He turned and pushed through the lobby entrance, then paused with a hoof on the door. "And the rent's goin' up next month, don't forget."

Vinyl nearly dropped her glasses. "What?! Again? That's crazy, nopony can afford another increase!"

"What can I say? Bad economy and all. Details are pinned to your front door." He let the double-doors swing shut behind himself without a second glance.

"Are you kidding me?" Vinyl muttered under her breath. "I need a new place to live..."

Broke, and more flustered than ever, the troubled mare headed in and up the stairs to her messy apartment, snatching the note off her door on the way in.

10% increase for all residents who have fallen below good-standing status.

She crumpled it up and tossed it behind her, then fell to all fours and trotted into her room, where her turntable was. Placing her shades aside, she gazed forlornly at the machine, and wondered how much she could actually get for it. It'd be nice to leave all this mess behind... Never look back... Where would I even go?

Vinyl placed her hooves over her eyes and fell backwards onto her bed. She lay still with her eyes closed for several minutes, her thoughts chaotic, then, slowly, a smile appeared on her face.

"Wait, what?! I can't dance, no no no, there must be some mistake! Why would you do this to me?! I... wait, just hold on a minute!"

She began to giggle at the memory. Octavia's shocked face was one of the funniest and cutest things she'd seen in quite a while.

Letting out an empty sigh as her mirth drained, she rolled over and stared at the empty pillow next to her, wondering if there'd every be a very special somepony in her life to fill that space.

"You're nuts, Vinyl..." she murmured to herself, before slipping into a deep sleep, exhausted from a long, but fun, night of work.

***

"Hey there newbie. Doing well? I just wanted to talk to you about a few things, if you don't mind."

Startled, Octavia jumped and turned her head. "Oh! Yes I'm well, and no, not at all."

"Calm down, calm down. I'm not gonna hurt ya. I just, uh... Well, we're going in the same direction anyway, so can I walk with you?" Raindrops smiled widely.

"Yes, I'd like that. We'll be safer if we stick together. This city is crawling with scoundrels just biding their time, waiting patiently to strike!" Octavia glared into the shadows in alleyways, clasping her bucket of bits tightly.

"We're fine, nothing bad ever happens in this end of town." Raindrops shook her head and started down the street, taking her wing off of Octavia.

"Well, we can't be too safe, that's for sure."

"Hmm, that's strange..." The yellow mare raised an eyebrow.

"What? What's strange?" Octavia looked up with wide, curious eyes.

"Oh, nothing. It just seems like a lot less than half of those bits ended up in that bucket of yours." Her gaze shot straight forward and she gulped, wondering what Vinyl would think.

"This is..." Octavia stuck her muzzle in the bucket as she looked more closely, taking in rough estimates to count. "Seems like more than my fair share if you ask me."

"Well, as long as you're happy." The pegasus fluttered her wings and let out a deep breath. "Okay, so here's the thing. You've only known her for one night, but Vinyl seems really open with you. You guys have done things together already that I've only ever dreamed of doing with her. I just... Well, I was wondering if you could maybe help me out... I really like her, and I want her to notice me more. Do you think you could put in a good word for me?"

Octavia grinned slyly as she trotted ahead, her bit-bucket clinking as it bounced against her flank. "Ah, so you have a crush? Well, you know what they say, right?"

Raindrops shook her head and shrugged.

"They say you should never get involved with your coworkers." Octavia nodded matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, whatever, so will you talk to her for me or what?"

"Okay, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. If things get awkward, don't go blaming me." The earth mare turned away toward her hotel.

"Hey, come on now ye of little faith, I really like this mare..." Raindrops sighed and let her ears droop.

Octavia felt a pang of guilt pierce her heart. She looked down for a moment, then turned around. "You're right, I'm sorry. I'll say what I can, but I barely even know Vinyl at all. I doubt she'll take anything I say seriously. I will try my best though, I promise you that."

Raindrops looked up into Octavia's pretty purple eyes, shining in the rising sunlight. She put on a genuine smile and reached out to hug the young mare, who tentatively returned the embrace.

"I think you and I are gonna be good friends." Raindrops rubbed up and down Octavia's back as she spoke.

"Good friends you say? I couldn't agree more." Feeling a little awkward, Octavia pulled away.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight. Thanks again newbie." Raindrops waved her off and took flight.

"Yeah, my name's Octavia by the way..." The young mare whispered to the air, before turning to head back indoors and get some much needed sleep.

She made her way upstairs and into her room, stopping at the miniature refrigerator for an apple. Trotting over to her nightstand with the apple in her mouth, she reached up to undo her bow-tie before realizing her neck was bare.

Heh, stupid... She shook her head and took a seat on the soft hotel mattress .

Staring at the floor, she slowly crunched her apple, an empty pit in her stomach that she couldn't quite explain. Finished, she lay back and stretched her front hooves toward the ceiling, twirling her ankles around. They were surprisingly loose, and popped as they rotated. Only a couple of days had passed without practicing her cello, and it was already quite apparent. She began to wonder how it would affect her playing, or when the next time she'd even have the chance to play would be.

A deep and forceful huff carried those thoughts away, and all that remained was a tired mare laying in a big, empty bed.

***

Several nights later, Octavia stood in front of the bathroom mirror in her hotel room. She fixed her mane up, brushing her bangs to one side and splashing water on her face. She then looked herself in the eyes, a crooked smile forming on her face.

"Happy birthday, Octavia." She stifled a chuckle and turned away to head out to work.

The walk was short, but her hooves ached by the time she reached the club. She stopped outside and leaned against the wall to rub them before going in.

Before she finished, a voice caught her off-guard. "Hey there Oatsy!"

Vinyl appeared, trotting up to her and wrapping a foreleg tightly around her neck. "Come on you, let's get in there and earn some bits."

The excitable unicorn trotted ahead and Octavia regained her balance before smiling and following after her.

"Vinyl, wait up. What's got you so excited today?" she asked as they went through the back room.

"Nah, nothin'. I'm just always in a good mood when they light up the center stage." Vinyl pushed through the double-doors and pointed to several musicians setting up for the night.

Octavia's eyes widened. She watched the ponies as they moved their equipment across the wide stage and mingled with one another.

"Wow... Are they all performing tonight? Individually?" She looked up at Vinyl questioningly.

"Yeah, and looky there. She's the fiddler I was telling you about."

Octavia's eyes followed Vinyl's outstretched hoof over to a light gray pegasus tuning a small violin with a black cord attached to it. Interesting...

Vinyl clapped her hooves and snapped Octavia out of her curious trance. "Alright you, we better get on our stage. Although I don't see us being the center of attention this time."

"Oatsenburg, happy birthday." Breezy Blue trotted across club floor, speaking almost absentmindedly as she scanned over a clipboard.

"It's your birthday?! Why didn't you tell me? How old are you?" Vinyl grinned widely as she turned to look at Octavia.

"I didn't think it mattered. I guess it just never crossed my mind." Octavia headed toward the dance-stage, trying to avoid the topic as much as possible.

"Doesn't matter? Oh, come on! We're friends now, right? We should celebrate when we get out of here!" Vinyl followed her friend onto the stage and began to stretch, since only a few ponies hung around the club so early.

"Thank you. I appreciate the offer, I really do, but..." Octavia cleared her throat and cringed beneath Vinyl's enthusiastic grin. She had never been the most social of mares, and friends didn't come easily.

"But what? You already have plans?" Vinyl asked, her face falling.

"No, not really. I mean, other than working all night tonight. I'm tired as it is, I doubt I'll be able to stay up long after the shift's over," Octavia confessed, a little embarrassed.

"Oh. Well, that sucks." Vinyl shrugged and continued her stretching. "Ooh! I bet I could get Breezy to let us go early tonight. Dancers aren't really needed on nights like tonight when the big-shots show up."

"I couldn't... I mean, that would be great, but I don't want to impose... I don't mind working the whole shift. I'll have plenty of birthdays to celebrate in the future, this one is no big deal, I assure you." Octavia blushed and backed away, worried that she was creating an unnecessary hassle.

"Huh. Well, that's a load. How old did you say you were again?" Vinyl asked as she cracked her neck and shoulders.

"I'm, uh... Well, technically I'm of age now..." Octavia blushed and lowered her ears, not sure why, but feeling self-conscious about her young age.

"Really? Wait, you mean... whoa. Was it even legal for you to be dancing up here all week?" Vinyl looked genuinely concerned as she lowered her glasses.

Octavia simply shrugged and smiled a little guiltily.

"Oh snap! This should be your best birthday ever! I'm definitely getting us out of here, trust me." With a devilish grin, the unicorn slipped her shades back into place and stood up. "For now, let's just dance for a while until the main attraction starts.

"... If you say so." Octavia nervously accepted her friend's plan, and began doing stretches of her own.

Ponies gradually began flowing in through the main entrance. There seemed to be some important patrons arriving, with elaborate outfits and small crowds hanging around them. They took seats in private booths on the second floor above the dining tables, straight across from the stage. A few began to look down at Octavia, who felt a nervous pit growing in her stomach.

"Vinyl, who are those ponies?"

The unicorn glanced up and spotted a few familiar faces. "They're not your average customers around here. Some thugs and criminal types right off the streets of The Flats."

"The Flats?"

"Yeah, the city behind the mountain. It's like crime central, where ya been kid?" Vinyl shook her head at the young mare.

"How am I supposed to know these things? I've never left this part of the city." Octavia stood up and and noticed that the music was turned unusually low today. "Why is it so quiet in here?"

"It always is when there's a big show. This only happens once or twice a month, and the tough crowds don't show up for free-performance night, which would normally be tonight." Vinyl sighed and grabbed Octavia's hoof, standing her up on her back legs. "Look, just don't worry about it. I gotcha, alright?"

Octavia nodded, her sudden insecurities slipping away.

"Close your eyes and follow my lead. Tonight'll be over before you know it. Happy birthday, by the way."

Vinyl wrapped a foreleg around Octavia's hip while the other hoof interlocked with hers. She pulled her around the beam and spun her about to the light background music. Octavia smiled, her eyes still closed, and let herself get carried away by Vinyl's flowing movements.

As they twirled around, a voice sounded from below. "Hey! You guys are hot!"

Vinyl dipped Octavia down backwards and leaned over her body, their chests rubbing together. "Thanks, we know," she said as she lowered her glasses with her magic and winked.

The small group generously placed their bits on the stage. Octavia nervously winked at a colt and blushed, flirtatiousness still not coming as easily as she'd have hoped. They waved and casually backed away toward a table to be seated, before a lone stallion approached the stage.

"Hey, you two! My boss says he wants to buy your eh, company for the rest of the evening." The shady stallion pulled a small wad of paper-bits from beneath his scarf and waved them back and forth.

Vinyl's eyes widened as she saw the amount of cash he was offering, but then her eye caught on Octavia's nervous expression. "Hey, um." She sighed and looked up toward the booth the stallion had come from.

There were several other large stallions sitting around a big black unicorn with a cigar in his mouth. "Is that Smokey?" She looked back at the would-be buyer.

"In the flesh." He raised his eyebrows and tipped his hat.

Vinyl gulped and let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry sir, but what you're asking is against the club's policy. I apologize for any inconvenience."

"Right, sure thing miss. I'll be sure to let 'em know." He tucked the bits away and headed back to the table.

"Crap." Vinyl placed a hoof on her forehead.

"What? What's wrong? Who's Smokey?" Octavia twirled around and lifted her friend into her forehooves.

"Ah, it's nothin'. That's just a bad crowd I don't want you near quite yet." Vinyl sighed and smiled a little.

She looked the young mare over, wondering just why she felt so protective of her suddenly.

"Why did you say 'crap' then? And why do you look so bummed out?" Octavia placed a hoof on her chin and cocked her neck.

"I just really could have used those bits is all." The unicorn shrugged it off and twirled around by herself for a little while, easing the tension she felt.

"Ahem!"

Octavia jumped at the sudden sound of a pony clearing his throat, and quickly turned toward the source of the noise.

An older-looking stallion wearing a black cloak and holding a pipe in his mouth stood in front of the stage, waiting for acknowledgement.

"Um, can I help you with something sir?"

Vinyl covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, amused by the jumpy mare beside her.

"Yes, indeed. I saw you dancing here at my son's bachelor party last night, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Little Miss Oatsenberg has become a dancer, how bizarre." The older unicorn chuckled and puffed on his pipe.

Octavia let out a disdainful huff and raised an eyebrow. "Did my father send you here?"

"No, no. This recognition is purely coincidental, I assure you. The reason I came back, however, was to return to you an item you seem to have lost." He levitated a bow from beneath his cloak and placed it atop the pile of bits on the stage.

"My bow? I..." Octavia blushed, a little confused as to why he'd bring it to the club of all places.

"Dear, you have talent. And I don't just mean your ability to perform classical pieces, but your ability to improvise and create. You're a natural musician and you're wasting a very unique talent here. If you want to be who you were meant to be, get in touch. I expect to hear from you soon." He dropped his card onto the bits, then turned and trotted toward the front door.

Octavia leaned down and picked up the small piece of card. DonCello – Equestrian Musical Enterprises

"Who was that?" Vinyl asked curiously.

"Just some guy from a thing," she said listlessly, staring at the card.

"Oh, okay. That explains everything." Vinyl leaned over and glanced at the card in Octavia's hooves. "Oh, EME. That's cool."

"You've heard of this?" Octavia snapped back to reality, glancing up, surprised.

"Yeah, who hasn't?" Vinyl looked down into wide, perplexed purple eyes. "Right. Well, they're a big deal in the music world. They own a pretty popular label that you've probably head of: HayMaker Records? They have a few others too, but they all focus around originality and innovation. If you have his attention, you must have made an impact."

"Hey yous two broads! Make with the dancin' already!" The shout from the floor made them both turn to see a rugged little earth pony glaring up at the two mares, clearly disgruntled.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Uh, excuse me? How about you get the buck outta here before I come down there and..."

Octavia placed a hoof over her friend's mouth and looked down with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry sir, she's having a bad day."

She scooped the tips into a bucket, then led the angry unicorn off the back end of the stage. "Whoa there, what's gotten into you so suddenly?"

"Ugh, nothing! This is why I stopped dancing in the first place! Slimy, no good..." Vinyl angrily trotted into the back room, the sound of loud music starting up drifting in from out on the main stage.

Octavia quietly followed, feeling a little nervous, not having seen her friend so angry before. "It wasn't even that... well, uh... Well, I've heard a lot worse said to you before."

"I'm sorry Tavz. I didn't mean to blow up like that." Vinyl huffed and crossed her hooves.

"Tavz?" She shuddered a little. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, I don't think."

"Right, like I'm gonna apologize to that piece of crap. Let's get out of here." Vinyl headed back out onto the dance floor and Octavia followed.

Breezy Blue was standing at the edge of the crowd, occasionally looking at a clipboard and glancing around to make sure every member of her staff was functioning appropriately.

"Hey, Breezy, Oatsavia is really sick and I need to take her home. Don't worry, it's no trouble at all, I'll get her home and I'll be back as soon as possible." Vinyl lowered her glasses and looked straight into her boss' eyes.

"You mean Octavia? She looks fine to me." Breezy stared past Vinyl and raised an eyebrow.

Vinyl snapped her head back and gulped, not realizing the mare was right behind her. "Yeah! No, I mean look at her!"

Octavia glanced side to side, then began holding her stomach and groaning. "Yeah... I'm... I'm gonna hurl. I do believe I'm quite sick. So sick, I've never felt so sick in fact, and nopony's ever been sicker."

"See? She's crazy sick. I'm gonna get her out of here before she grosses everypony out." Vinyl blushed and wrapped her hoof around Octavia's neck, slowly dragging her sideways to the exit.

Breezy immediately saw through their not-so-clever ruse. "Right, have fun you two. Just know, Octavia: I don't normally allow this, but it's your birthday and I don't need dancers anymore tonight, so I'll make an exception. Now go on and git before I change my mind."

"Right, thanks!" Vinyl pulled Octavia quickly toward the door, shooting their boss a grateful look as they left.

The two mares clumsily fell through the back exit and laughed together, both a bit stunned that they had actually gotten out of work.

"Wow, it's dark out here," Octavia noted as she regained her balance.

"Yeah, it is. Looks like the streetlights are out. Doesn't matter. Now, where should we go, what should we do? The birthday girl gets to decide." Vinyl eagerly trotted in place, grinning excitedly.

"I... well, uh... How about you pick for me?" Octavia blushed and lowered her ears.

"Well, you're of age now. Have you ever had a drink?" Vinyl asked, already guessing the answer.

"A drink? Well, my dad let me try a sip of wine at dinner when I graduated from the Junior Music Academy." The young mare smiled widely at her friend.

"Cute story, but that's not what I meant and you know it." Vinyl shook her head and turned away. "Let's head back to your place, we'll buy something along the way."

Octavia cringed, not wanting to bring her friend back to a hotel room. "Uh, how about your place? My place is... Yeah, your place would be good."

"Okay, whatever works for you." Vinyl blushed and turned her face away, fully aware that her apartment was embarrassingly messy.

With a sigh of relief, Octavia followed as the other pony trotted into the darkness. She glanced around herself, suddenly taken aback by the silence.

"Weird, it's so... creepy out here."

Vinyl gulped and slowly continued forward. "You're telling me. I wonder why the power's out on this block?"

"EEEEP!" Octavia jumped and wrapped her hooves around Vinyl's neck.

"Yikes! What's up?!" Vinyl asked, gently pushing the mare away.

"I... I heard a sound..."

"Oooooooh, a sooooound!" Vinyl giggled. "It's just trash, get used to it on this side of town."

A tin can skidded across the road in the breeze.

"Right... Trash." Octavia gulped and attempted to suppress her shivering.

"D'awwwww, is somepony afraid of the dark?" Vinyl teased.

"No! I certainly am not afraid of... of anything." Octavia puffed her chest out and pressed forward. "How much further to your home? I'm starving. I trust you have some kind of decent food? Or do you stock up solely on booze and pizza crusts?"

"What? Why would you... You mean because of my saddlebag? Yeah, one pizza crust got in there. Just wait and see." Vinyl began trotting faster, more nervous than offended. "That's my place right up there."

They headed up to the building and Vinyl unlocked the door. She sighed as they made their way upstairs, and stopped at her apartment door.

"Alright, I'll admit I'm not the most organized of mares. This place is uh... Well, it's probably not quite what you're used to." Vinyl shrugged, smiling nervously as she opened her door.

Octavia kept a straight face as she headed in first. "Hmm... Not so bad." She hesitated, holding her front hoof just above an empty pizza box.

"Oh, that's empty. Just step on it, or over it, whatever." Vinyl pushed forward, shutting the door behind herself and leaping over the mess onto her sofa.

"Step on it?" Octavia laughed. "You're really something else, you know that?"

"Uh-huh. Now dear, fetch us some refreshments." Vinyl tilted her nose up, waving her hoof in the air.

"Seriously?" Octavia kicked an empty pizza box off to one side and plopped down on the couch next to her. "How about you fetch us something that isn't disgusting."

"Fiiiiine. But only because it's your birthday." Vinyl jumped over the back of her sofa and headed into the kitchen. "Looks like I'm all out of the disgusting cheap booze, sorry."

"Whatever you have will suffice, I'm sure."

Vinyl came trotting back into the front room with a couple of glasses and a large clear bottle of some white liquid floating in front of her. "Smarenoff Ice," she said, shrugging. "I thought I had beers, but I guess they're all over there." She gestured to a small trashcan overflowing with empty cans.

"Classy..." Octavia frowned and felt a strange pit in her stomach. "You have party guests often?"

"No... not really. You're the first in... well, since I've been living here you're just the first." Vinyl admitted, not sure whether she should be ashamed or not.

"So, you drink alone then? That seems... unhealthy. I think."

"As cute as your concern is, I'm fine. Now come on, we're celebrating your big day. So tell me more about yourself. We've been dancing together for a week now, and I still feel like I hardly know you at all." Vinyl eased the cap off the bottle and poured them each a glass of the drink.

Octavia lifted her glass and placed it beneath her muzzle, taking a long whiff. "I'm... not quite sure what to say. How about you start?"

"Yeah, sure." Vinyl took a long drink from her glass and set it down, leaning back and taking her shades off. "I'm just your average Manehatten mare living in Canterlot. I ran into some trouble with my family over there, so I moved in with my aunt and uncle here for a while."

"You had a falling out?" Octavia queried, concern in her voice.

"You could call it that. More than anything it was that my parents and I were on different pages. I wanted to have a musical career while my parents wanted me to climb the corporate ladder of some business."

"And you're still pursuing that career?"

Vinyl was silent and looked down into her drink, then downed what was left. "I don't know. It feels like wasted effort."

Octavia sipped from her glass and thought for a moment. "That's a little funny."

Vinyl narrowed her gaze at the mare next to her. "Funny?"

Octavia smiled and waved her hoof back and forth as she took a larger swig of her drink. "No, I mean, it's a little funny that I'm in a similar situation. I had the same problem with my family, except I was being forced into a musical career. It's a path I'd rather avoid – I'd just like to find my own path through life for now. I have this dream, a distant blurry goal, with no clear trail leading up to it. I just know who I want to be, and where I want to be in life. The problem is that I have no idea how I want to get there."

"At least you have that much. So what, you didn't wanna be a Gala Girl?" Vinyl laughed and poured them each another glass.

"Absolutely not. It just isn't for me." She shivered and quickly downed her fresh drink.

"Hey, easy there Fido. Nopony's gonna steal it from ya." Vinyl refilled her glass, staring her down with one wide eye.

"Yes, well... What can I say? It's rather yummy." Octavia covered her mouth and giggled.

"Yummy, huh?"

"Yes, yummy. So tell me then, what do you do? Your cutie mark says you're musically talented, as does mine. I'd love to sample what you have to offer." Octavia stood up off the couch and glanced around. "I don't see an instrument of any variety..."

"Ah, follow me. I'll show you what I do." Vinyl jumped up excitedly and headed into her bedroom while Octavia followed closely.

"Oh, I see. You have a flat piano. How perfectly bizarre." Octavia placed the tip of her hoof on a key, expecting a sound but not hearing anything.

"That's a keyboard, and it isn't bizarre at all. That isn't what I wanted to show you anyway. Behold!" Vinyl flipped a switch, illuminating a large interface screen and several other parts of a peculiar setup, including a big button with a glowing blue ring around it, and a pad of several smaller buttons.

"Ooh, what is it?" Octavia stared at the equipment like a bewildered foal.

"I'll show you." Vinyl unhooked her keyboard from another device and plugged it into the console in front of her. "All set. Now, let's get this party started."

She hit the glowing button, starting a soft, arpeggiated intro that began to ring out as she slowly allowed the filter to open and added a light reverb on top. The quick but simple melody's pitch danced upwards just as she tapped a key and a kick drum entered, pounding out a steady, pulsing beat which made Octavia want to tap her hoof. Vinyl cocked an ear, listening to where the tune was going, then quickly set up a warm, fuzzy pad to sidechain with the drum, pulsing with chords and raising in volume on every offbeat.

Bobbing her head along, she let the rhythm sink in for a moment, then cranked a slider up, pulled another down halfway, and slammed a hoof down onto her custom keyboard, letting an acid bass rip through the mix. Octavia's eyes widened as Vinyl quickly hit another button, adding a bit-crusher onto the new sound and making it scream, while still fitting snugly with the main melody.

After a minute of letting that play out and gradually adding more percussion, she began to slowly push another filter, forcing the whole sound to become tinny and harsh, and adding a white noise sweep as well. The overall effect sounded as if the song was being shoved into a distant tin can.

Suddenly, Vinyl pulled every slider down except one, and the music went dead. Quick as thought, she tapped yet another of the console's buttons, and a mare's voice with a slightly robotic edge startled Octavia.

"Welcome. To my paradise."

The DJ unicorn grabbed all the sliders in her magic and shoved them back up, and the song fell back into existence, except it was different now. All the previous elements were there, but there was a deeper sound below it all, rattling Octavia's bones as it blew out of the speakers. The smooth sub-bass bounced along with the kick drum, shaking the ponies a little with its power.

With a final flick of her hoof, Vinyl spun a dial, adding a syncopated and chopped-up vocal line to the song. Octavia hadn't a clue what the words were meant to be; it just sounded like gibberish, albeit very catchy gibberish.

The white mare turned to her younger friend with a wide grin, dipping the volume, but letting the track play out.

"So, whaddya think?"

A vaguely familiar emotion washed over Octavia – she felt as if she wanted to laugh and cry and shout all at the same time. "That was... incredible. I had no idea music like that could be produced. It's as if there's an entire orchestra contained within that elaborate piece of equipment. I can't recall the last time I was so moved by a symphony."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it. It's a breath of fresh air after all that Gala crap, am I right?" Vinyl grinned and nudged her young friend with an hoof before shutting down her console.

"Right. I suppose it is. Actually, I've never heard anything quite like that at all. What they play in the club is interesting, and bassy, but more than anything it's just catchy monotony. You've really got something here." Octavia rubbed her chin with a hoof and thought for a moment, an idea sparking.

"I'll take that as a compliment then. But anyway! Let's get back to those drinks." Ensuring everything was in order, Vinyl trotted to her bedroom door and signaled her friend to follow.

Octavia glanced around one last time, then slowly stepped out. "Oh, I've been meaning to talk to you about something..."

"Well, don't sound so nervous. What is it? You tryin' to confess your love or something?" The rambunctious unicorn chuckled and poured a couple more glasses of the Smarenoff Ice.

"Not exactly. It's Raindrops." Octavia smiled coyly.

"Whoa, wait what? What are you trying to tell me?"

"It's just that she wants you, I think. She caught me a couple of days ago and wanted me to help her get you to go on a date with her. I don't know how to do that subtly, so I figured I'd just tell you now." Octavia dropped her smile and wondered if she had made the right choice by being so direct.

"A date? Why didn't she just ask?"

"She figured you'd turn her down, I'm guessing."

"She's probably right." Vinyl looked away and lifted her glass.

Octavia let out a huff. "What? Why?! She seems perfectly nice to me!"

"Yeah yeah, she's nice, whatever. It's just that... Ugh, I don't have to explain myself to anypony! Especially not you!" Vinyl snapped and took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Why are you yelling at me?! I just did what she asked me to do." Octavia stomped over to the couch and plopped down.

"I'm sorry... sorry." Vinyl sighed and placed a hoof to her forehead. "I just don't want to mess up our friendship – she's the only friend I have around here. Well, other than you," Vinyl explained, her voice now absent of all its previous anger.

"I see." Octavia twiddled her hooves, then lifted her drink. "Well, either way I think you should talk to her about it."

"I guess." Vinyl glanced away and looked to her wall-clock. "Wow, look – it's getting pretty late, huh?"

Octavia nodded and finished her drink. "I should really probably be starting to head home I do believe."

"Y'alright? I should walk you home." Vinyl stood up and stretched, popping her back and shaking her mane out.

"I'm fine. But if you insist."

"I don't insist..."

"Oh. Well, I'll be fine." Octavia pushed through the door and noticed the long dark alleyway leading to her road.

"You sure about that?" Vinyl chuckled and placed a hoof over the shaky mare's back.

"On second thought..."

"Right behind ya."

The moon was low and the sky was just beginning to glow a very dark blue to the east as the pair headed back out into the night.

"It's kinda chilly out here, huh?" Octavia shuddered and pressed forward.

"A bit. So, where do you live anyway?"

"I uh... Well, right down the street from the club, not far at all."

Vinyl placed a hoof to her chin in thought. "There aren't any houses or apartments on that road..."

"Eh, heh." Octavia blushed and smiled. "I don't live in either."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm staying in the Stabling Inn, actually," Octavia confessed, a little embarrassed.

"Really? Why don't you get an apartment or something? I mean, you can definitely afford it as a dancer." Vinyl gave Octavia a puzzled look.

The blushing young mare gulped and looked away. "I don't know how." Her quiet words were barely audible.

"What was that?"

"I don't know how to go about... I mean, I'm not quite sure how one would, uh, would go about... signing up." Octavia smacked herself in the face and trotted ahead.

"Signing up?!" Vinyl laughed, nearly dropping her glasses. "Seriously? Oh, you privileged types crack me up."

"Well I'm glad my ignorance is amusing to you. It's a change of pace, I suppose!" Octavia snapped and kept looking straight ahead.

"Heh, I'll give you the rundown tomorrow when I'm more... sober. Head on home filly." Vinyl continued laughing as she turned back around toward her own home.

"Right, well then... Goodbye."

"See ya later! Happy birthday, by the way. Sorry you had to spend it with me, but just be glad you didn't spend it all at work." Vinyl jumped up on her back hooves and waved with a bright smile as she walked backwards.

Octavia felt her anger and embarrassment slip away as she headed toward home. She lifted her head and smiled as she cantered back to the hotel.

Vinyl turned back around and landed on all fours. She picked up a quick pace as she made her way back to her apartment, but stopped at the sight of an unexpected face and cringed. Her landlord stood frowning with his front hooves set wide apart.

"That's it little lady. You done crossed the line this time."