The thought of Vinyl leaving, never to be seen again, frightened Octavia to her very core.
She realized there was no place for Vinyl in Octavia’s world. The one she had chosen to be part of. The cellist let out a whimper, a hoof pawing at the floor as a sign of inner turmoil. She had to do something, talk to Vinyl, try and find some way of bringing Vinyl along on her journey.
But the journey was over for Octavia. She had reached her lifetime goal and had to reap the rewards, both the good and the bad. To be part of this world Vinyl would have to go.
No….
The tiniest of words echoed through her mind. It was perhaps one of the most powerful words of them all. Her mind gave up the reigns and let her heart pick them back up.
Her reward of being part of the orchestra seemed insignificant compared to the loss of Vinyl, her very best friend.
No…not just a friend.
Vinyl was more to her, much more than she had foolishly been unaware of until now. Only now it was too late. In desperation she watched Bon Bon quietly argue with Vinyl in the first row. Her look briefly switched over to Lyra. The cellist hoped that she might have some kind of idea of what to do.
Lyra must have sensed Octavia’s emotion and met her look a split second later. The lyrist seemed worried about the strange discussion going on in the first row. Then she shook her head slowly, a clear signal that now wasn’t the time to do anything.
If not now when then?
Octavia looked back to Vinyl. She flinched forward a fraction as she saw that Vinyl was already half out of her seat, but still being held back by a now worried looking Bon Bon.
Octavia found herself at a fork in the road of her journey through life, beyond the stage she was standing on. One held fame and fortune, the other one none of those things, but at the same time maybe more. Her mind would have begun to weigh the pros and cons, but at the moment it was her heart that was in control and it had little input save for one simple thought.
I can’t let her go.
Octavia took a step forward. The musicians and Ictus beside her thinking she wanted to possibly take a bow. Then she took a second step.
“Octavia, don’t!” Lyra hissed from her position earning angry looks from the others on stage.
Octavia didn’t pay attention as she took a third and fourth step. A tear ran down her cheek as she sped up her steps now rapidly approaching the edge of the stage. She jumped off stage, aware of the very surprised looks of the ponies in the audience.
She landed hard on the floor and stumbled frantically to an equally surprised Vinyl, who had been forced back into her seat by the far stronger Bon Bon. Octavia stopped her approach a mere pony’s length away from the white unicorn.
“Tell me…” Octavia wiped a few tears from her eyes with a shaking hoof and tried to steady her voice. “Tell me what you wanted to say to me yesterday. I need to hear it.”
It seemed like an eternity to her as Vinyl remained silent. Still startled by the earthpony’s sudden actions. Then she smiled the saddest smile possible.
“I love you, Tavi.” Vinyl’s voice broke and just stared at the cellist.
Octavia laughed softly and wiped a few more tears from her eyes. With two last steps she closed the distance.
“I love you too.” Octavia said and kissed the mare in front of her.
Silence dropped of the crowd instantly, save for a double squee sound from Bon Bon and the tall mare beside her.
A display such as that, in a place such as this one and while the Princess herself was in attendance no less, was a breach of pretty much every ounce of decency in the eyes of the assembled ponies. A few gasps were clearly heard coming from the crowd. A few silent mutterings had already begun and might erupt into louder objections at any moment.
Octavia did not care as she wrapped her forelegs around Vinyl, intent on never letting the unicorn go.
“WOOOO! YEAH! WOOOHOOOOOO!” Lyra’s joyful outburst was very clearly heard throughout the conservatorium. She stomped her front hooves on the wooden floor of the stage creating even more noise and drawing everypony’s attention away from the outrageous display in the front row. It was enough for Octavia and Vinyl to break up their kiss.
“WILL YOU BE QUIET!” Ictus barked towards Lyra on stage.
“AH, GO STICK IT UP YOUR RUMP!” Lyra shouted back and just grinned at the now fuming conductor.
Ictus stomped off stage, his steps even louder than the noise Lyra was producing. Octavia didn’t notice as she still had her eyes and ears directed at the pony in front of her.
“Sorry I didn’t bring a sign.” Vinyl joked and smiled sheepishly.
“Don’t worry about that.” Octavia nuzzled Vinyl’s cheek. “You gave me plenty of signs already, I was just too blind to see them.”
Applause from Octavia’s right made her jerk her head up in surprise. Bon Bon, the strangely familiar mare beside her and the stallion beside her had resumed their applause. Obviously directed at Octavia and Vinyl.
“I think you should go back on stage, my Dear.” The stallion said and winked at Octavia.
“He’s right. Go back up on stage.” Vinyl gently nudged the cellist towards the steps at the side of the stage leading up.
“You’ll be here when I return?” Octavia asked with hope.
“I’ll always be here for you, you know that.” Vinyl gave her another nudge and Octavia complied.
As she made her way back on stage the applause very reluctantly returned from the rest of the audience. Once on stage Octavia saw that her gap in the middle of the half circle had been closed. She had reckoned with that anyway and even if it had still been there she would not have filled it. Octavia stopped her walk across the stage and stood beside Lyra at the very end of the half circle.
Lyra wore a big grin on her lips and could not have been more out of place amongst the other serious looking musicians. She briefly elbowed Octavia in the side.
“Welcome to the club.”
“Which club is that?” Octavia briefly glanced up to the Princess’ balcony only to find it empty. “The club for ostracized classical musicians?”
“Yeah, membership in that club is unfortunately mandatory.” Lyra chuckled. “Part of the package if you join the club for ponies that follow their heart. How do you feel?”
“Happy.” Octavia smiled down at the white unicorn now smiling back up at her from the first row. “Finally truly happy.”
The cellist let her gaze wonder over the rest of the audience. It was pretty clear that the applause and looks were not meant for her, but rather for the other well behaved part of the orchestra. She couldn’t care less and it felt great. The only ponies that Octavia cared for in this building were the mint green unicorn beside her, Bon Bon beaming up from her seat with tears of joy in her eyes and of course the mare beside the sweetmaker. The mare that she loved.
A snapping sound drew her attention away for a moment. Octavia glanced to her right and saw Ictus just off stage pacing back and forth. A large amount of snapped batons were strewn on the floor and he was steadily increasing the amount. Lyra took note of it as well.
“Listen. “ Lyra leaned closer to Octavia. “When the curtain closes again, grab Vinyl and leave the building.”
“Why?” Octavia asked with a sideways glance at her friend.
“You don’t want to be around for the fallout from your little action. Trust me.” Lyra chuckled briefly. “I have some experience in that field.”
“But my things are still here.” Octavia didn’t want to leave her cello anywhere near any of the other musicians. The last time she had left it unattended somepony had thrown up all over it.
“I’ll take care of everything.” Lyra thought for a moment. “Go to Donut Joe’s and wait for us there. It’s just down the street.”
“I know where that is.” Octavia turned her attention back to Vinyl and smiled at her. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Lyra smiled happily and blew a kiss towards Bon Bon below.
A few minutes later the curtains began to close. Octavia nodded once to Lyra and quickly trotted over to the stairs leading down. She quickened her pace as a few complaints reached her ears from both the staff behind stage and from the audience. Quickly she grabbed Vinyl by a hoof and made a beeline towards the exit, ignoring everything else.
They barged through the doors and immediately began dashing towards the donut shop. Vinyl followed Octavia’s lead and didn’t ask why they were so suddenly leaving.
___________________________________________________________________
The reasonably short sprint left Vinyl slightly out of breath, but the joy in her heart gave her plenty of energy to keep up with the earthpony.
The café was nearly deserted. A lone stallion was apparently asleep in one of the corner booths. Donut Joe himself nodded at the new arrivals and let them choose where to sit.
The mares decided to take a large booth more suited for a larger party, but it was secluded from any nosy onlookers and gave them some privacy. They each sat down opposite each other on the half circle bench. They looked at each other and giggled. Quickly they scooted towards the middle of the bench and embraced each other once they met.
Donut Joe trotted over to them and took their order. Neither mare had eaten much that day and were getting hungry. They tenderly kissed while their large order of a stack of donuts and two large chocolate shakes was being prepared.
“Are you ok?” Vinyl asked as they broke their kiss.
“Never better!” Octavia answered truthfully.
“It’s just…” Vinyl didn’t know how to phrase her question elegantly.
“Just what?” Octavia prompted her.
“You are not disappointed or anything like that?” Vinyl asked hesitantly. “Your dream of being on stage with the Royal Canterlot Orchestra now not really…well…a possibility.”
“Oh, Vinyl.” Octavia giggled. “That dream came true, didn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“Tonight I was playing on the grandest stage of them all.” Octavia giggled again at the confused look Vinyl was giving her. “For a moment I was part of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra. I had fulfilled my dream. So no…I am not disappointed. To be honest, it wasn’t really all that great. I would rather be happy with you.”
Octavia kissed her marefriend and wrapped her tail around Vinyl’s. It sounded strange in her mind having a marefriend, but she knew that she would get used to it very very fast.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that.” Vinyl let out a sigh of relief. “I have a lot I need to tell you.”
“Like what?” Octavia had been given plenty of hints by Lyra that Vinyl had given up a lot for her sake.
“Like that I love you.” Vinyl kissed Octavia’s nose. “I have been dying to say that for a very long time and have got to catch all of it up.”
“Sounds good.” Octavia kissed Vinyl’s nose in return. Her attention was drawn away as Donut Joe approached with their order. “But it will have to wait after food.”
As their order was placed in front of them they broke their affectionate display to ravenously attack their food. Occasionally pausing to share a kiss that was made even sweeter thanks to the donut glazing.
Finally full and with the feeling of sublime happiness coursing through their veins the mares leaned back and relaxed. Octavia’s head tucked under Vinyl’s cheek they just let the world outside be and basked in each other’s presence. They were so into their own little world that they did not hear the door opening or how Donut Joe greeted the new arrival.
The mares looked up as they heard hoofsteps drawing closer to their table. As the ever flowing mane came into view their eyes widened in shock. For a moment they thought it might have been some kind of prank. Once the ruler of all of Equestria stepped fully into view, they knew it wasn’t a prank.
Out of reflex they both bowed simultaneously, forgetting for a moment that they were sitting at a table. With two loud smacks they planted their faces firmly on the table with enough force to make the plates on top jump.
“Oh, Dear.” Princess Celestia eyed the pair with concern. “Are you alright?”
Very slowly the mares removed their faces from the table and looked up to the Princess.
“I am fine.” Octavia said entirely oblivious to the fact that she had a donut stuck to her forehead.
“Just great.” Vinyl added rather somberly. The impact had left her seeing stars for the moment.
“That is good to hear.” The Princess gazed at the donut sticking to the cellist with curiosity. “I wanted to talk to you.”
Octavia tensed up. While the Princess had said those words without any hint of malice, there was still a certain amount of dread that she might not have been too happy about the rather unorthodox interruption of her annual concert.
“I tried looking for you backstage, but I was kindly informed I might find you here instead.” Princess Celestia smiled. “I wanted to express my fondness for your musical performance this evening. Rarely has that melody touched me as much as it had done tonight.”
“Y-You’re welcome.” Octavia blushed and bowed once more, a slow and very careful bow. Vinyl chose to remain silent and just smiled awkwardly.
“There is one other thing.” The Princess lowered her head to be on eyelevel with Octavia. The cellist swallowed her rising feeling of dread down. “I would humbly request your unique musical talent to be part of the ensemble playing at the Grand Galloping Gala.”
“I..uh…bwuh?” Octavia glanced at Vinyl to verify that she had heard correctly. The unicorn just looked from pony to alicorn dumbfounded.
“As you might know I chose the musical talent for the Gala myself.” The Princess smiled down at the perplexed duo. “I think you would make the Gala truly grand with your presence on stage.”
Me? Really? After everything that happened tonight?
“I would be honored to be part of that ensemble.” Octavia had been offered a chance she couldn’t really let pass.
“Excellent!” The Princess nodded elegantly. “I will get in touch with you about the details later.”
The Grand Galloping Gala may have only been once a year, but it was by far the most prestigious event in all of Equestria. Perhaps the Princess had not been there for the little scene caused by Octavia and she surely wasn’t going to tell the ruler of all ponykind about it.
“For now just enjoy the rest of your evening.” Princess Celestia lightly bowed. An action immediately copied by the pair sitting on the bench. “Take care my little ponies.”
“Thank you!” Octavia called after the Princess after she had regained the use of her vocal chords. Still smiling the Princess left the little café and returned back to her castle no doubt.
“Wow.” Vinyl stared at the doors of the café. “That was unexpected.”
“You can say that again.” Octavia briefly wondered if the Princess would still want her performing during that event once it was known to her what had happened. Then again, perhaps it was her plan all along.
“I mean not totally unexpected.” Vinyl nudged Octavia in the side. “You were awesome on stage! That music you played….it wasn’t the one we had practiced. Where did you get that from?”
“It was you.” Octavia smiled and turned back to face Vinyl. “You helped me create that.”
“I did?” Vinyl raised an eyebrow. She had no memory of Octavia ever playing that music before and it wasn’t anything she had written either.
“I will explain later.” Octavia smiled and leaned in for another small peck on Vinyl’s lips.
Now alone once more then snuggled closer and held each other tightly. A cheeky smile formed on Vinyl’s lips as something occurred to her.
“There is something I have to do now. Can’t wait!” Vinyl bent Octavia head a bit further down. Then the DJ nuzzled the soft spot behind Octavia’s left ear. In response the cellist burst out in a fit of giggles.
“What are you doing?”
“I have been dying to do that for a very long time.” Vinyl explained and continued her affections.
The doors of the café opened once more. This time the mares had heard them and stopped their display in case it was the Princess returning. It wasn’t her, but instead some very familiar faces.
“There they are!”
Octavia and Vinyl grinned widely as Lyra trotted up to their table. Bon Bon followed closely behind her and had Octavia’s cello case on her back. Two other ponies also made their way over to the table. Octavia now recognized them immediately. They had been sitting beside Bon Bon in the first row and at the time the cellist had other things on her mind.
Everypony from Canterlot knew who Fancy Pants was. And his partner was equally if not even a bit more famous. Fleur Dis Lee was the premier model in Equestria after all. Her image adorning almost anything, from magazines to large billboards advertizing beauty products. Her face was on Octavia’s bottle of shampoo for crying out loud. Why there were here was a bit of a mystery.
“I gotta say that was one hay of a show!” Lyra jumped once in place.
“Took you two long enough.” Bon Bon said with a smirk and carefully put the cello case down.
“Did anything happen after I left?” Octavia asked the mint green unicorn who sat down on the bench beside them.
“You have something on your face.” Lyra grabbed the donut still stuck to Octavia’s forehead and gleefully plopped it into her mouth. “As for your question. Eh…you don’t really want to know.”
“That conductor had a few very choice words about the evening.” Bon Bon informed them and also took a seat beside Lyra.
“Yeah, but Bon Bon had some even more choice words in return.” Lyra laughed at the memory.
“If he insults my friends you can bet he will get it right back.” Bon Bon tapped her hoof on the table to emphasize her point.
“I had to stop her from going after him with your cello.” Lyra laughed at the now worried expression of Octavia. “Relax. Your cello is fine.”
“We heard some of the things he said.” Fancy Pants joined in on the conversation, but remained standing with Fleur at his side. “It is of little surprise why he had been expelled from Canterlot for his behavior. Hope we don’t see him so soon again.”
“I guess you know Fancy Pants and Fleur?” Lyra nodded towards the standing pair.
“Of course!” Octavia wiped a few left over crumbs from her forehead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“It is our pleasure.” Fancy Pants briefly bowed to the cellist. “I actually came here with a proposal.”
“A proposal?” The cellist blinked a few times in surprise.
“As you might know I host a variety of festivities. Garden parties and such for some acquaintances.” Fancy Pants said without any kind of pride in his voice. For him it was just an everyday occurrence. “I would be delighted if you might consider playing in the band we have for those events. If you do not have any other plans that is.”
“Heh, Celestia was in here asking Tavi for her to play during the Grand Galloping Gala.” Vinyl chuckled at the surreal event from before.
“She did?” Fancy Pants didn’t seem all that surprised. “Well the Princess has a very good taste in music and I must say that you play the cello beyond the capabilities of any cellist that I know of. It would be a great privilege to have you play. What do you say?”
“I would love to!” Octavia eagerly nodded. By all logic her career should have been doomed from this evening on. While it was true that one door had closed for her, now others had opened up.
“Excellent!” Fancy Pants smiled with happiness that his proposal was taken. “I shall be in contact with you as soon as I have scheduled the next event.”
“I also have a proposal.” Fleur spoke up and turned her attention to Vinyl instead of Octavia.
“For me?” Vinyl looked up in surprise.
“Bon Bon informed me that you might be looking for a new line of work.” Fleur nodded to the sweetmaker, who just smiled at Vinyl in response.
“Uh, yeah. I might be on the lookout for some kind of new job.” Vinyl ignored the curious look Octavia gave her.
“Well, in the fashion business we often have need for a pony with your talent with music. Bon Bon assures me that you are very good.” Fleur giggled at the little blush forming on the white unicorns cheeks.
“So like fashion shows and such?” Vinyl asked. She had no idea what actually happened during those shows.
“Yes, you would play a few select tracks during the actual show.” Fleur sensed a slight bit of disappointment in the DJ. “But it’s the after show parties where your talents would be truly required. Ponies like to dance after those shows and we could always need somepony capable of making them do just that.”
“Make ponies dance?” Vinyl smiled confidently. “Oh, I can do that, no problem.”
“Fantastic!” Fleur clapped her front hooves together. “I will let some of my colleagues know and they will get in touch with you.”
“Awesome!” Vinyl grinned and gladly shook the hoof Fleur extended to her.
“Well then.” Fancy nodded to each of the mares in turn. “We best get going. We will be in touch.”
The four mares waved and said goodbye to the high class ponies while watching them leave the café. Once they had left Lyra grinned at Octavia and Vinyl.
“Looks like things are looking up?” She knew the answer already and didn’t wait for any reply. “We best get going too.”
“Yes.” Bon Bon stretched for a moment. “We have to take the train back to Ponyville soon. And I think you two could do with some alone time right now anyway.”
“Yeah, you too have plenty of catching up to do.” Lyra winked at the pair and stood up together with Bon Bon.
“Thank you.” Octavia bowed to her friends.
“Yeah. You helped us a lot.” Vinyl would have loved to hug the pair out of thanks.
“What are friends for?” Lyra shrugged with a smile and began trotting towards the exit.
They watched the pair slowly trot towards the exit. There was still a small amount of sadness in Octavia and Vinyl knowing that their friends would be in Ponyville and not near them anymore. Then again, Ponyville wasn’t that far away.
“Do you think he wears that monocle when they are in bed?” Lyra asked Bon Bon with a cheeky grin.
“I don’t know.” Bon Bon rolled her eyes at the question, but couldn’t fight the smile forming on her lips. “Perhaps she wears it.”
“Oooh, kinky.”
Octavia and Vinyl embraced each other again once they were alone. Neither mare spoke and just remained still for a moment to let the things sink in of what had happened here in the café.
Both of them now had a bright future to look forward to. Octavia performing at the Gala and for Fancy Pants hosted events. Vinyl was still a bit weary about the fashion side of her new possible employment, but if it meant she could perform her music and make ponies dance then that was fine in her book. The brightest bit in their future was the knowledge that whatever the future may hold in store for them they would face and overcome it together.
“How do you feel?” Vinyl whispered quietly after a few minutes. Octavia smiled from her position of being snuggled up against Vinyl’s neck.
“Happy. At peace.” It was a new feeling for the cellist. Previously she would have thought about music or her career. Now her mind was blissfully blank.
She knew that her quirk of having to focus on something would return someday. Perhaps she should find something to focus on that she could share with Vinyl.
Octavia briefly drew her head back from the position to give Vinyl a quick peck on her lips and then returning to her place from before.
Kissing might be something good to focus on.
She had a sneaky suspicion that Vinyl would not object to that idea and would most definitely be eager to help her honing that skill. Octavia sighed in content and nuzzled the soft warm neck.
“Let’s go home Vinyl.” She said and stifled a yawn. The day had been eventful and fatigue was slowly demanding to be noticed.
“Good idea, just….” Vinyl paused for a moment. “Where is home?”
It was a good question. Of course they had Octavia’s apartment here in Canterlot to call home. But she knew that staying here might lead to a few scenes so soon after the concert. News of her behavior would most likely spread like wildfire and reach every last corner of the city. No doubt her parents would hear about it sooner or later, but Octavia knew them well enough to predict their reactions. Her father would be happy and her mother would laugh and most certainly rub it in Octavia’s face that she had been right all along. Opinions of other nobles wouldn’t matter to them.
It was best to lay low for a while. Perhaps go back to Manehatten. Ictus would make sure Octavia wasn’t allowed anywhere near him ever again and Octavia was glad about that. Perhaps she could ask in Smiles and Sorrow if they were looking for a cellist to help with their shows. Just as a means of doing something between social events in Canterlot.
Octavia smiled as she realized that it didn’t matter.
“I don’t care where our home is.” Octavia gave Vinyl a long drawn out kiss. “As long as it is together with you.”