For years, the Grand Galloping Gala had featured, by tradition, a classical concert. This year, said concert was drawing to a close.
The room erupted in applause, and Vinyl Scratch leant back from her piano with an invigorating exhalation of breath and anxiety. The last notes of Trotchovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 were lost in the deafening sea of noise and she looked around the grand opulence of the concert hall at the ranks of loving patrons. 'Clientèle' even; she grinned at the thought.
Stomping and cheering still echoing around the chamber, Vinyl stood and tapped the conductor's hoof, nodding a thank you and receiving one in turn.
Then, finally, she bowed, and drank in the crowd's adoration.
It was glorious.
As a soloist, an encore had always been on the cards; but it was casual and easy and the pressure was off. Vinyl grinned and waved a flourish as the piece ended to further cries of approval from the enraptured crowd. And when the applause had finally stopped the concert goers began to shuffle their way from the hall happily. Most of them were attending the gala's dance, they didn't want to be late. Vinyl trotted backstage and smoothed out the creases in her dress, she always liked an excuse to get the old thing out. It'd been a gift from Fancy Pants to her, at her foal shower; the old rouge'd somehow known exactly what she'd want, and how she'd fit it.
Backstage was a happy place after any concert. Various musicians walked casually between rooms gathering their friends and belongings, and the organised chaos of the pre-concert preparations gave way to post-event happiness. It'd taken some work, but Vinyl had talked Octavia into coming along despite their breakup. After all, the unicorn had said, she'd bought the dress already, and the bars were spectacular.
The whisky, oh Octavia, the whisky.
It'd worked, just.
Octavia sat at the bar in the dance hall sipping a tumbler of the promised whisky, and smiling. The dress still felt odd on her, but it wasn't particularly unpleasant. She watched the dancing couples from her stool as behind her the barcolt, in the manner of barcolts everywhere, wiped some glasses with a rag and relaxed. A string quartet on stage was playing some waltz or another; Octavia listened appreciatively for a while, writing the score inside her head as she listened.
Hmm, She mused. It's no Freddy Mercoltry, but it's not bad.
Her reverie was disturbed by Vinyl, who, having approached unheard, tapped Octavia on the shoulder and startled her back to reality. The unicorn grinned at her surprise.
"How's the whisky then?"
"Every bit a as good as you'd promised, Vinyl." The grey mare smiled.
Vinyl grinned, "You don't regret coming then?"
"No, it's fun here."
Vinyl's grin grew wider. "Say it."
"Say what?" Octavia looked puzzled.
"Saaaaaaay it~."
Octavia, feeling put upon, rolled her eyes. "I don't regret coming, Vinyl."
"Yay!" Vinyl gave a squeak of excitement before refocussing on her surroundings. "Aren't you gonna dance? Everypony dances here, that's the point." The pianist clearly felt that the idea hadn't come across yet; "It's a dance." she added.
Octavia was clearly startled by the idea. "What?" she looked around nervously, then, seeing nopony nearby, leant in towards her friend. "Vinyl," she whispered, "I can't dance."
The unicorn gave an uncharacteristic snort, followed by a stifled giggle. "Sorry, sorry," she muttered between chuckles, "but you're a DJ, you must be able to dance. Besides, call this dancing? The hardest part is the standing on two hooves and you've got a partner to lean against for that."
"I, I never learned this kind of thing."
"I thought your parents were high society types?"
"Yes, and I never listened to them." Octavia looked concerned, "This's the first time it's ever been an issue."
"Well trust me, Octy: nopony here knows as much about dancing as you do. This's just the first waltz, somepony'll ask you up at some point." Here, the pianist's voice became a teasing sing-song. "It'd be rude to turn them down~."
Leaving her to ponder the implications, Vinyl trotted excitedly over to the barkeep at the other end of the bar and ordered herself a drink. She'd never liked the dancing much herself, and had, over the years, become rather good at avoiding invitations.
But it'd be funny to watch Octavia squirm.
The first dance of the evening concluded, and most of the stallions trotted away from the mares they had accompanied to find others who were willing to dance. Some took the opportunity to buy a drink, or to rest briefly; the room was warm and it would be unbefitting of stallions of such class to be seen to sweat. To Vinyl's glee, it wasn't long before a young stallion had trotted nervously up towards Octavia and proffered a hoof. The DJ took it, warily, and threw a final pleading look at Vinyl as she was lead away. The unicorn raised her whisky, and winked.
Soon after, she noticed a rather more self-confident stallion heading expectantly towards her. She pretended not to notice, then looked up suddenly towards the other end of the room as he approached.
"Oh, Keeper? Is that you?" She exclaimed, to nopony in particular, "Of course!" she chuckled. "I'll be right over." And with that, she vanished into the crowd.
Behind her, the swaggering stallion looked frustrated, but soon set off towards some new target, and Vinyl wandered casually back to the bar. The barcolt offered her a hoofbump as she arrived, which she took.
"Nice." He offered. "I feel sorry for whatever mare you've landed him with now though."
Vinyl shrugged. "Oh I don't know. If they can't dodge his type then they'd best learn to." The unicorn grinned. "Consider me an educator."
Chuckling, the barcolt nodded to Vinyl's glass. "Need another?"
"Sure. Why not."
The quartet struck up again with a second piece. It was almost indistinguishable from the first, but Vinyl's practised ear recognised it as Schoofmann. With an air of satisfaction and nonchalance, the pianist sipped at her drink and watched Octavia's first forays into the realm of dance. There wasn't the spectacular trips and falls that she'd been expecting: the stallion was clearly being kind and the dance was slow in any case. Nevertheless, Vinyl felt somewhat cheated.
Turning her attention away from the complete lack of a scene, she leant back on the bar and sipped her drink. 21-Year Glenlivery, she smiled. "La Maison" hasn't got nothing on this.
The music began to close once again, and Vinyl watched Octavia bow gracefully to her partner and trot from the floor, practically glowing with excitement.
"I can dance, Vinyl! I'm good at it!"
"What?" The unicorn was puzzled. "You said you'd never done it before."
"I hadn't! What's next? What kind of dance?" She looked about hurriedly. "Who can I dance with?"
Vinyl looked concerned. "Maybe you should take a break..."
"No! No I mustn't." Octavia grinned at her, manically, "I'm going to find another stallion," then she winked. "I could go alllllll night." Octavia trotted into the crowd, abandoning a confused Vinyl to wonder what she had unleashed on the event. As new couples began to form, Vinyl watched for anypony that might accost her for a dance. Once the music began, she relaxed. Being the concert soloist seemed to help, she mused; nopony had the nerve to talk to her.
As the music began again, the barcolt wiped the bar behind her. "It's a shame huh?"
Vinyl turned, surprised. "Hmm?"
"Looking Glass over there." He nodded to a wiry stallion, sitting on a barstool some distance away. "He's here every year; poor colt's too afraid to talk to anypony but his parents always drag him along anyway, silly sods."
"Why's he so afraid? It's a dance, he should be dancing." Vinyl explained.
"Who would he dance with? He doesn't bring a date, never has. I'm fairly sure he's never had one to bring." The barcolt shrugged. "He'll get there, it's just his parents that can't think straight."
"Smart is he?"
"Proper brainbox. Royal astronomer, or soon to be anyway. Invented some telescope or something."
Vinyl pondered something for a while, then nodded to her drink. "Fetch another would you?" she grinned.
The barcolt looked at her oddly. "What're you up to now, Scratch?"
Vinyl turned her tumbler in her hoof; the whisky had been good. She looked out at the dancing couples and watched Octavia's partner's expression, it alone was worth the work in bringing her here. "You know what they say:" She explained. "One good turn..."
"...Deserves another?"
Vinyl pondered this. "Nah." She concluded. "I was thinking two. That way you'll get a whole lot more back." She stepped down from the barstool and walked over to the stallion, who looked up in surprise.
Vinyl extended a hoof. "I know technically you're supposed to ask me." The mare began, confidently. "But would you care to dance?"
And with the tiniest smile on the stallion's lips, the good turns continued on their way.