It's been a long time since she left.
Years.
Octavia shook her torso, adjusting the saddlebag strapped across her back. The light shining from up above was almost heavy on the soft equestrian earth. The altitude shift from Canterlot meant much hotter days than she was used to, and her satchels were sticking to her back. Ironically, Ponyville seemed so much brighter and happier than "The Sun's City" she's grown used to. She's missed this place more than she thought.
It's been four years since Octavia had a "quarter life crisis". She had been playing local gigs since she was a filly at formal events, serenading the one rich kid in town or being first chair in a wedding's orchestra. They paid well enough and her clients were polite and grateful, but she couldn't help but feel unhappy with herself.
Vinyl's birthday rolled around. Somehow, despite months having been passed and probably to annoy her, she remembered Tavi's promise to go to one of her dubstep concerts for her birthday. To Octavia's dismay, it was worse than she thought. She was prodded and pushed and actually kicked at some point, all the while with robots screaming in her ear and seizuretastic lights dancing in her eyes. It was terrifying. She wouldn't hear straight again for three days. But while walking to the exit, grumbling to a grinning Vinyl, she noticed something she hadn't seen in a long time. The crowd was laughing and shouting, talking about how great of a time they had. Some were stopping to talk to Vinyl, hoping that against all odds they would snag an autograph from their musical idol. Some were still jittery from the music shivers that washed over them like a tidal wave moments before. All the ponies were smiling.
Nopony ever enjoyed her music that much.
She left three days later. The doubts she had been nurturing before had grown exponentially when she realized her problem. The fact was, she wasn't appreciated in her home. She had to move, to go where she belonged. To entertain the nobles, to collaborate with the pros, to be in the mountainside city where the sun and the moon met.
With an abrupt goodbye and a rushed hug one morning, she left Vinyl staring open mouthed at her sillhouette blending into the mountains she was travelling to.
She went to where she would be cared.
She was utterly wrong, of course. There it had been the opposite of before; ponies only enjoyed her music and not her. It took four trips around the sun and one phone call to her friend to make her realize the mistake she'd made, one that took years of her life away from those who loved her.
There was no choice then, she had to return to her true home no matter how nervous she was to see her loved ones. She was back, and time can heal wounds. Octavia gathered herself and rapped firmly on the door. Wounds leave scars, too, but she doesn't want to think about that now.
"Go away!" an angry voice wormed past the hinges.
"Vinyl, please let me in! It's me."
She could hear the scuffling of hooves coming closer. The doorknob shook, and a lone, naked eyeball peered out from an unwelcoming crack.
"I said no, I'm busy making a new -" Vinyl froze in mid sentence, looking up and down at the surely impossible sight before her. There was no way she could be here.
"Hi, Vinyl."
...
The door opened. Octavia's old friend broke into a wide smile and embraced her, patting her back and bouncing up and down at the same time.
"Please, Vinyl!" Octy laughed, hugging just as hard as her DJ. "I can't breathe!"
Vinyl pushed her crookedly placed shades back and started to speak, her smile still plastered on her face. "I guess ghosts really exist after all."
Seconds passed, both smiling and staring at each other.
"You, er, gonna let me in?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry." The door widened and Octavia finally walked into the house that held her so many years.
Octavia had to marvel at the sight. This had been her home for more than five years before she so selfishly abandoned it. She was such a fool for leaving it. It was just how she remembered it, but something was... off. The furniture was the same, and so was the wall ornaments, and nothing sounded or smelled strange, but...
"This looks exactly the same as when I left, Vinyl."
Vinyl walked past her and sat down on the couch. "I mean, I guess so." She waved a hoof at the walls. "Missed it all of the sudden?"
Octavia set her saddlebags down and joined her friend on the sofa. "I missed the ponies I love, not the houses. I'm just surprised that you never changed it up once my classical tastes and I walked out that door." She looked at the floor. "I'm really, really sorry about that, Vinyl. I just... didn't realize how much I had at the time."
Vinyl's smile disappeared. She joined Octavia in staring at their hooves. "No biggie."
...
She hopped up and hurried over to the fridge. "And that's not true, I've decorated the place with all the trash I didn't bother to throw away. You like it?"
Octavia laughed. She missed this so much. "Yeah, it's a real step up." She turned to look at Vinyl and stopped laughing. "Ew, it's a major step up. You haven't washed the dishes in weeks. And how many pizza boxes is that?"
Vinyl returned to the couch with some snacks for the two of them, as well as a guilty smile. "You always were the tidy one, Tavi. Don't you remember how much you complained about that?"
Octavia blinked. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm just used to the rampant OCD I saw all the time in the past few years."
The bag crumpled as they began munching on the junk food. Octavia was melting at the taste of it. Being seen eating something so "uncomely" in Canterlot was a career death sentence. She was chowing down on some Cool Ranch chips when Vinyl finally asked the question.
"So... why did you leave?" Vinyl took another chip. "Did you enjoy your time at Celestia's city?" Vinyl ate her chip.
Octavia swallowed her chip. It wasn't completely chewed, and it scratched at her throat. She coughed.
"Oh... I didn't really like it there. I mean, it was nice to be with people who liked the same things, but it wasn't nice to be with those people. You know?"
She hoped she wouldn't have to answer the first question. Vinyl was looking at her funny.
Octavia couldn't stand it any longer. "Vinyl?"
Vinyl laughed, hard. "You don't have to sound so nervous, Tavi. You're around a friend, not at a job interview!" She punched her bud's shoulder, like she used to so long ago.
Octavia let out a breath and giggled. "Sorry, I thought you'd be mad. I should've know better. What did you do while I was gone?"
Vinyl was the first to stop laughing. She shrugged. "Well, Carrot Top has a rock steady relationship with a nice stallion. I think they might get married soon!" She was using a lot of hoof expressions. "And Derpy has taken on painting as a hobby. Real colorful stuff."
"Oh... That's cool." It wasn't really what Octavia asked, but it was nice to hear of her friends. "Well, I've gotten into films recently. I know you used to get on my case about going to see them all the time. Have you seen The Reddest Romance? Oh, but you've probably are more interested in the new action movie thing."
"Oh, ha. I've been focusing on my own little creations too much to worry about that stuff." Vinyl stood and walked over to a corner of the room which held some shelves. "Check these out!"
Catching some carelessly tossed album cases, Octavia examined the covers. "This takes me back, but I'm not sure if it's in a good or bad way!" She examined the neon colored bolts of lightnening and shivered at the thought of more murderous robot screams. "I'm sure they're all great. Maybe I'll listen to them, eh?" More than six albums slipped out of the stack in her hooves. "Wow. How many of these have you made?"
Vinyl kicked them back to the bookshelves. "As much as I needed to land a gig at the newest club in the town over." She smiled widely, raising her hooves in the air. "How cool is that?"
Octavia couldn't help but smile herself. "Can't say I'm surprised, dubstep master." She squinted at Vinyl. "Is it too bright in here for you? You haven't taken off your shades this entire time."
"I'm the clubmaster dubstep pony, you said it yourself." She smiled even wider and gestured to the kitchen, past the sink with the towering stacks of pizza boxes and dirty dishes. "Want some water?"
Octavia laughed. "I'm more than just a fan, 'DJ P0N3'." She reached up and took off the glasses herself.
Vinyl's eyes instantly squinted, having been unaccustomed to the harsh light. Her eyes, as ruby as ever, were now tinged red past just the iris. The whites of her eyes were now a hellish pink, with veins clearly visible. They were watery and constantly blinking, only fuelling the waterfalls waiting to happen. They were the eyes reminiscent of a pony who hadn't had enough sleep, or were poked several times with a hoof. Octavia brows furrowed, and a very quiet gasp sounded from her mouth. She looked at her friend.
"Hey!" Vinyl grabbed the glasses back and shoved them back onto her face. "I said I'm..." She pawed at the ground, silence ensuing. "I, uh, I was told by the eye doctor to get real, actual glasses. I guess I should've done that, right? Now my eyes are all puffy! Heh..."
Octavia wasn't saying anything, but looked a little less worried. "Hey, I'm going to catch up with everypony else now. Why don't you go down to the optometrist while I do that?" She placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder as she talked.
Vinyl's shoulders dropped, they had been raised the entire time. "Sure, Tavi. I've been needing to anyway. Thank Celestia I have you to remind me, right?" Vinyl guided her to the door.
"Of course." Octavia stepped out to the entrance.
There was a moment of quiet as they waited for the other to say goodbye.
Octavia rubbed the back of her mane. "I..." She hugged Vinyl, squeezing her DJ. "I'll come back and hang out later, okay? We have a lot of time to make up!"
Vinyl hugged back, patting Octavia's back. "Yeah, yeah. I, uh... come over to hang out anytime. Crash here, if you need to."
Octavia walked down the path, waving to an ever smiling Vinyl Scratch. She crested the cottage's view, like she did four years ago.
"What did I do to you, Vinyl?"