Vinyl Scratch had returned from a late night gig to the apartment she lived in in Canterlot with her friend Octavia. The gig had been long and the crowd must have taken an entire continent worth of coffee since they were still kicking after four hours non-stop headbanging. She suspected some of them would be having very bad headaches the next morning. She kept quiet to avoid waking her friend as she took out what she needed for a hot chocolate. Vinyl had a craving for hot chocolate and it was almost a tradition for her to have one after every show she was at.
Vinyl finished making the hot chocolate and walked into their “sitting room” as Octavia had insisted on calling it. Vinyl set down her mug on a small table and began drinking it. She enjoyed the creamy taste of it and smiled contently as she drank away. However almost six seconds later she took a long gulp of the hot liquid and spat it back out loudly. Vinyl covered her mouth and looked around in fear. She and Octavia got along well but one of Octavia’s main rules was that Vinyl didn’t wake her up when she came home. Vinyl stopped and realised that she hadn’t heard a noise since she came in. The apartment they lived in had three rooms. A bathroom, a kitchen that opened out into their “living room” and finally a bedroom with two single beds. The bedroom door was wide open and nopony was in there.
“Uh, Octavia? Are you home?” Vinyl asked to the seemingly empty apartment. As she got up and looked around she heard the tapping of dainty hooves on the tiled floor of their apartment.
“Okay Octavia, I heard you, the games up,” Vinyl called. She spotted a light being reflected off the kitchen counter and walked over to it. She realised it was an envelope and it was addressed to Octavia. She noticed the Royal Canterlot Seal on the letter and began to read it.
“Dear Ms Octavia Clef,
you have been invited to participate in the International Collaborative Philharmonic Orchestra. The event shall take place in the Trottingham Orchestra Hall in two weeks. The expenses for your travels have been paid for in advance and a first class ticket to the show has been included for a guest.
Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“So that’s pretty cool, isn't it?” A calm voice asked Vinyl. Vinyl whirled around and looked at her friend.
“You don’t sound like a mare who’s been invited to the most prestigious musical event in the world,” Vinyl noted.
“I burned off the excitement before you got home,” Octavia told her.
“Well, that’s a good break for you, Congrats!” Vinyl shouted as she hugged her friend.
“Can you please keep this quiet? I’m going to end up missing some concerts with the group and I’d really rather they didn’t find out,” Octavia pleaded with Vinyl.
“Of course, cross my-” Vinyl started but was stopped when Octavia put a hand to her mouth.
“None of that childish horseapples,” Octavia told her. Vinyl looked at her friend. Octavia had some sort of aversion to those children’s oaths. Vinyl decided to steer the conversation away from the tickets and decided to move to foreign territory for both of them. Clothes.
“So, what are you planning on wearing to it?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t think I can get away with wearing my regular gear to it,” Octavia admitted referring to her white collar and bowtie.
“Well then what are you going to wear?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t even know what the dress code is,” Octavia confessed.
“Well, I happen to know two mares who could help us out, the only problem is that they don’t get along,” Vinyl smiled.
“Where are they?” Octavia asked ecstatically.
“Both in Ponyville,” Vinyl smiled only to wear a puzzled expression when a grimace formed on Octavia’s face.
“What gives?” Vinyl asked.
“You implied that there’s only one problem,” Octavia told her sourly.
“What the hay is wrong with Ponyville?!” Vinyl snapped.
“I just don’t like the place, or its residents,” Octavia sighed.
“What do you mean by that?” Vinyl inquired.
“The residents are nutjobs! It’s no coincidence that Discord chose there to be his chaos capitol!” Octavia raised her voice.
“Octavia, I’m holding back all my anger because you just insulted two of my old friends and also two of the nicest mares I know, I’d really appreciate if you took that back now and didn’t say anything stupid,” Vinyl whispered with a fiercely cold edge to her voice.
“I’m sorry Vinyl, I just really want to stay away from the place, I don’t know why,” Octavia sighed.
“Don’t worry about it, now let’s get some sleep,” Vinyl told her friend as she placed a sympathetic hoof around the grey earth pony’s neck. The two mares walked up to the bedroom.
“Good night Octavia,” Vinyl whispered.
“Good night,” Octavia whispered back. Octavia looked out the window of their room. She stared out into the distance, her mind wandering as she looked in the direction she assumed her home was and recalled how far she had gone. Telling anypony about her past would be career suicide. It was bad enough that she was a bassist and the butt of many jokes her band mates made but her past would stay where it was.
Octavia lay down as the rain beat down on the window. She closed the blind and lay awake as she realised what she was going to be doing in two weeks. She was the embodiment of every bassist stereotype and joke circulating the media and medium. None of her band mates cared about her unless she messed up badly, she was constantly focused on her music so she rarely did make mistakes anyway and she was the most boring out of all of the band members. A completely unexceptional musician and she was being invited to play in something that her band mates would kill for. Octavia giggled a little bit and decided to tell Frederic that she was going to be sick for a while. He wouldn’t care; they could pick up a replacement cello player off the street. Her vision grew hazy and unfocused and she fell asleep with a content smile