Octavia watched in horror as six ponies- from her hometown, no less, destroyed the entire event, and the pink one (Pinky? Pinkie? oh whatever) even embarrassed her on stage by making her play a silly little song for fillies. She was a mare of music, real, musical masterpieces! Not little tiny rhyming songs...
As she was packing up her cello, still seething, she saw a white pony approaching her in the corner of her eye. She looked up, recognizing the deep red eyes that belonged to Vinyl Scratch- a pony she had met during her musical training. She was a talented guitarist, but she left early to pursue “Other options”- specifically DJ’ing at parties. Octavia never knew her very well, but she did know that Vinyl had been competing against her for this gig under the alias “DJ P0N-3” or something like that. She really did have strikingly red eyes.
‘Where did THAT come from?’ she thought to herself after that thought popped into her mind.
“Hi, I’m Vinyl Scratch. I heard you were still around, and I wanted to compliment you on your music. It was fantastic.”
Octavia was surprised- she hadn’t expected a “Hardcore” music lover to enjoy her classical cello tones as much as she did. Even more surprisingly, the cellist was happy to know this- mostly, she didn’t care about other’s opinions, but for some reason, the fact that a pony whose genre of choice is something completely opposed to hers.
“Thank you for that. I honestly felt bad about this gig- I didn’t do to well musically, and I was embarrassed when that.. Pink... pony requested a song.”
Vinyl smiled and nearly laughed, before saying “Yeah, that’s Pinkie Pie for ya. I DJ at a few of her parties every so often- I swear she’s made of sugar. I can’t even keep up with her!”
Octavia smirked, and before long they were going off on a long conversation. They talked for so long, in fact, that the guards had to tell them to leave and “escorted” them off the premises. They walked down the streets of Canterlot, still talking until they reached Octavia’s apartment, and Octavia ended the discussion with an “Oh.. this is my place. I guess... I’ll see you around.”
Vinyl looked surprised, before remembering something with a look of dread. “I... I actually don’t have anywhere to crash tonight. I normally don’t use hotels after I do gigs, it ruins the point. Think I could stay here? I mean, if you have a guest room or something. I’m cool with a couch, so don’t think I’m picky about where I stay.”
Octavia thought for a moment. ‘Do I really trust her? I only have really known her for one day... Although, we could be friends... You know what? Why not?’
“Sure, you can... how did you put it? ‘Crash’? Here. My guest room is rather nice, if I do say so myself. Come on in, my home is your home... For now.”
“Thanks, Octy. I can call you Octy, right?”
Octavia pondered this. Nopony but her own mother ever called her anything but “Octavia.” She assumed it was out of “Respect” for a “Celebrity”- yeah right.
“Sure, Why not?”
Octavia led her new friend into her apartment. As soon as they walked in, Vinyl blew off her “calm, cool” personality. Octavia didn’t live in the “best” part of town, but it definitely wasn’t the poorest part either. She enjoyed living where she did, the rents were low and the rooms were nice. Vinyl seemed absolutely in awe.
“This is an APARTMENT?” She said, bouncing happily on the couch.
Octavia didn’t mind, her couch was sturdy enough. In fact, the antics of her friend put a smile on her face. Was her home really that nice? She never thought much about it, but in retrospect she was probably one of the better off musicians from her school.
“Come along, I’ll show you to the guest room. It should suit you quite well, if the living room has you this riled up.”
Vinyl stopped bouncing and followed Octavia down a hallway and through a door. The room she entered was almost as big as the living room- Vinyl’s entire apartment could probably fit in this guest room.
“How about I live here and pay for your rent?” Vinyl teased, obviously amazed at the luxury that is a Canterlot apartment.
Octavia found herself seriously considering this, they had never met before today and it was obviously a joke, but it would be nice to have a pony with similar tastes as hers sharing an apartment with her. Also, the apartment WAS rather large.
Vinyl saw the other mare staring off into space, and she rolled her eyes and waved a hoof in front of her face.
“Hellooooo, Equestria to Octavia. It was a joke, man.”
Octavia snapped out of her stare, quickly coming back to reality.
“I knew that,” she almost shouted, “I was just thinking it might actually work- I DO have a rather large apartment, anyway.”
“Yeah, whatever, just show me where I can sleep. But first, why not have a cup of coffee or something?”
Octavia decided coffee would be nice, it is an excuse to continue talking from earlier.
“Sounds good. Make yourself at home- piano’s over there, if you want to play, but there’s also the TV in the corner- not sure anything good is on, though.”
Vinyl sat down at the piano bench while Octavia headed towards the kitchen. She played a song on the spot, devising and playing from the soul. She was always good at improvising, and she was lost in the music. Octavia walked back in with her mouth open. She nearly dropped the coffee before setting it down on the table in the middle of the room. She had never thought this DJ, a pony who only remixed other pieces of music and played them back, could play this well on a classical instrument like a piano.
She could feel the beat, pulsing through her like a torrential downpour. She walked to her cello and began playing with her, creating a harmony that could bring Celestia herself to tears.
After several minutes of playing, and several “call/respond” portions, the improv session ended. Vinyl turned around to see the grey earth pony smiling, before Octavia said “I never thought you could play that well- you were a good guitarist, but you lacked the precision you needed. I always thought that was why you left the music school.”
Vinyl remained silent, before changing the subject. “I see the coffee’s done.”
She walked over to the table and grabbed a cup, sitting down on the sofa and remaining silent.
Vinyl broke the silence, saying “Do you really think that little of me as a musician? Just because I enjoy doing something completely different than what anypony has done before. I didn’t leave because I couldn’t take it.”
Octavia glanced up, a hopeful look on her face. She could still salvage this... Maybe.
“I don’t think less of you, not any more. That performance was good enough for me. One question I DO have, why were you at the Gala anyway? I would think a pony like you would despise that sort of thing.”
“I would, normally. I was actually competing to do the music there, but then it would be a COMPLETELY different party. I wouldn’t have crashed it, but it would definitely have been louder; so they turned me down. I was one of two choices, though, so they gave me a ticket in consolation. You deserved that gig.”
Octavia was glad they were past the unintentional insult, and they started talking again. Deep into their conversation, Octavia casually glanced at the clock. Three A.M.
She gasped, before apologizing and rushing off to bed. She couldn’t stand being sleep deprived- she was glad tomorrow was a Sunday and she had no gigs.
Vinyl walked to the guest room, having been shown by Octavia. Usually, she was nocturnal- but today was different. She made herself wake up earlier and earlier so she could be awake during the day, so why should she stop? She went to bed. Four hours was enough sleep for her, and it would be nice if she could repay her host with breakfast tomorrow morning.
***
Octavia awoke to an intoxicating smell- this was the first time anything had happened to her since she left her mother’s house. She couldn’t cook worth a damn, so she usually just stuck with a toaster. She looked to her clock- 9 AM. Decent, 6 hours of sleep would do just fine for a day.
She got up to investigate the source of the smell, walking through her enormous living room, walking through the stacks of sheet music and instruments and eventually passing the double doors into the kitchen.
“Breakfast is ready!” a cheery white unicorn said. “Hope you like waffles!”
That honestly sounded fantastic, and Octavia sat down at the table where Vinyl had set a place for her.
“Thank you, Vinyl. This looks fantastic.”
“Bah, it’s the least I could do. You did let me stay in your room, after all.”
Octavia nodded. She DID let her stay with no charge- something not a lot of ponies would do- and had let her stay for coffee.
“Oh, Octy, I need to stay here for a while. I have a few gigs over the next few days, and I guess it’d be cool to stay with a friend.”
That last word shocked Octavia. She’d like to consider her a friend, but they had only met last night by chance.
“Umm.. Okay, I guess, just as long as you keep cooking like THIS.” The waffles really were delicious, and she was almost wolfing them down.
Vinyl smiled- she would be happy to as long as she got to stay with a friend and talk. She dreaded the day she would have to return to Ponyville.