Surprisingly enough, the room that Vinyl worked in wasn't that messy. Sure, it had a few things scattered here and there, but that was expected. Octavia had thought that it would've been a hoarder's dreamland, but equipment seemed to be nicely maintained, along with a nice and neat recording room off to the side. A couch, chair, and table, along with a television were situated in the middle of the room, the recording room to the left of it and the door. While the right was filled with monitors and a plethora of technology that Octavia would never dream of understanding, let alone being able to work.
The right side of the room had a large desk holding the monitors too, along with a few other things like a small fridge and a dresser-like piece of furniture, something that Octavia assumed was for extra clothes or holding equipment. She wasn't really sure, but wasn't curious enough to ask.
Vinyl plopped down onto the couch, “So, whatcha think?”
Octavia sat down on the chair next to Vinyl, “Very impressive. Granted, I wouldn't say I'm that qualified of a judge for something like this, but I do think that it is a very nice...how do you say? Set up?”
Vinyl chuckled at Octavia’s limited slang, “Yeah, I trick it out every once in awhile. New equipment is always comin’ in.” She paused, looking like she was contemplating something, “Ya know, you have a set up here too.”
“I do?” Octavia didn't understand how they would've had such things ready so quickly.
“Totally,” Vinyl huffed as she got up from her seat, probably annoyed that she had to get up. “Come on, I'll show you.”
Octavia gave a grunt as she got up, expecting yet another long walk with...interesting people to meet. “Ah, yes. Do show the way.”
The duo made their way out of Vinyl’s room...and right into the room next to it.
“Oh.”
Vinyl chuckled at Octavia’s reaction, “Heh, convenient right?” Vinyl opened the door to the room, gesturing for her to enter.
Once Octavia did, her breath caught. The whole room was filled with instruments, anything that she could imagine and want to use, even instruments that she'd thought she would never see. However, one in particular made her mouth fall open. The sleek metallic material reflected light from the large windows paralleling the wall that the door was on.
“You have an electric cello?!” Octavia rushed over to feel it, her body forcing herself to go over to it.
Vinyl meandered over to her, “Heh, actually it's your cello.”
Octavia’s eyes widened, “I-I can have it?”
“I mean, yeah. We got as many instruments and stuff ‘cause we weren't sure what whoever accepted would want.” Vinyl tapped her chin. “Though I suppose it wasn't the best venture money-wise.”
Octavia sniffed, tears welling up around her eyes, “Thank you so much, I'll be sure to use it to the best of my abilities. It's the least I can do.”
Vinyl chuckled and patted Octavia on the shoulder, “I'd hope so, can't have my partner using it wrong. I need some solid music for my new songs.” She paused, “Our songs.”
Partner, huh? I like the sound of it. “I won't let you down.”
“Anywho,” Vinyl began to make her way back to the door, “Let's go see where Lyra and Bon Bon went.”
They made their way back to the outside area they'd started their meeting at, but arrived to see no one was there. Octavia pulled out her phone and resorted to the easier way of finding them, texting Where are you? to Lyra. Octavia sighed once she received her answer.
Vinyl gave a curious glance, “What's up?”
“It seems we've been...what's the term?”
“Ditched?”
“Yes, that seems about right.”
Vinyl chuckled, “Where'd they go?”
Octavia sat in her previous seat, “They went, and I quote, ‘to dinner, don't expect us back’.”
“Mhmm, dinner.” Vinyl gave air quotes to accompany her skepticism. “Well, looks like we’ll have to fend for ourselves.”
“Do tell.”
“Seems like dinner's on me, you good with pizza?” Vinyl pulled her phone out and shook it as she talked, “What kind of toppings and all that?”
Octavia’s eyes darted around in nervousness, “I-I, uh, I've never had pizza.”
“What?!”
Octavia blushed in embarrassment, “I always thought that it wasn't something a Canterlot elite would eat, at least that's what I was told.”
Vinyl facepalmed, “We’re fixing that immediately.” She called a place to order, all the while mumbling about how absurd it was to not have eaten pizza.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The duo made their way back to Vinyl’s room once the pizza had arrived, along with soda and something called cheesy bread. Octavia was definitely curious about the pallet layer out on the table, as she hadn't been able to eat junk food with how much she wanted to maintain her figure along with too many prying eyes that could snitch to the elites and hurt her reputation. Now that she had spent some time seeing how the less sophisticated artists in the music industry acted and spent their time, she felt that the notion of not being able to choose what she wanted to eat was a really pretentious way to act.
With a plate of pepperoni pizza slices, breadsticks, and a cup of soda, Octavia began her first taste of a surprisingly liberating act of trying something new.
“Pretty good, huh?”
Octavia nodded vigorously, taking multiple bites as she did so. Gulping it down she paused for a breath and took a sip of the carbonated soda, the liquid tickling her tongue. “I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised at the taste of lower class food. Most unexpected.”
Vinyl laughed, “Oh I see, you were too good for this? I see how it is, I guess I'll just take those breadsticks back then, their soft, heavenly goodness are probably too good for you hmm? Wouldn't want the queen to get poisoned, better test them to see if they're okay anyways.”
Vinyl reached for the breadsticks, but Octavia smacked her hand away, “I think the queen will survive.” She took a bite of a random, fluffy breadstick, her eyes widened as she bit into it. “Ish so good.”
Vinyl laughed, “See, us lower class people do have a sense of class. Just not in the way you're thinkin’.”
Octavia continued to eat with Vinyl the large pallet they had compiled, their progress slowing as time went on, and the night creeped up on them. Eventually, the two were at their limit, Vinyl more so than Octavia as she hadn't eaten anything so greasy and unhealthy ever. Yet the amazing tastes goodness it provided won over the battle between her years of societal boundaries and want for trying something new. Her clothes had lost the battle against the food though, as she had tomato sauce on them and some of the greasiness from the pizza too.
She checked her phone for the time, “Ah, it seems I must depart. It’s quite late, and I'd like to wash these poor clothes. I'll see you in the morning, Scratch.”
Vinyl did the same with her phone, “Yeah, I guess you should.” She paused, “Uh, actually. Did you come here in the same car as Lyra?”
Octavia’s eyes widened as she realized what Vinyl was thinking, “I did…oh great, now what should I do?”
Vinyl shrugged, “You could grab a taxi or somethin’, shouldn't be that hard to get back yeah?”
Octavia shook her head, “I'm close, but not that close. Plus, my purse is in the car with Lyra.”
Vinyl tapped her chin in thought, “You could just stay here, I was gonna anyway.”
“That's certainly kind of you, but I don't have a change of clothing, plus I won't be able to cleanse myself too.”
Vinyl scoffed, “Don't worry about that. I've got some clothes and stuff, plus we've got our own shower room thing, I'm not really sure what to call it, but we have a shower. With all the gigs and partying we do, plus the gazillion overnighters we always do, there was eventually a need for one and bam, we got one.”
“I suppose that will work.”
Vinyl’s eyes lit up, “And we could have a slumber party!”
Octavia gave her a dubious look, “A slumber party?”
Vinyl began to bounce up and down on her seat cushion, “Yeah! It'll be awesome. I mean, it'll just be the two of us, ‘cause everybody is gone by now. But still, I'm one of the best party people, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do the best slumber party.”
Octavia sighed, “Alright, how does one go about doing this...slumber party?”
“What do you mean?” Vinyl gasped, “Have you never had a sleepover?”
Octavia blushed in embarrassment, “I was always busy practicing, I never had time for them.”
Vinyl gave another more exaggerated gasp, “That's unacceptable! We must rectify this immediately!”
And thus, Octavia’s first slumber party began.