Vinyl burst from the center of the rave. Her hooves were killing her, despite only an hour of dancing. She decided it was likely a byproduct of being stuck in the body of Octavia and slowly hobbled over to one of the empty stools at the bar.
The same pony who had tried to hit on her was still tending the bar. When he notices it was her approaching, he awkwardly looked down at the table, probably trying to find a glass to scrub.
"Cider," she barked, plopping down on the stool. He nodded, and disappeared to grab it,
It was then that Vinyl took notice of her surroundings, particularly the mare next to her. Blue dress, curves, indigo hair, and a face no sane fillyfooler would forget.
Okay, gotta be smooth... and no flirting. "Hey, Rarity," she shouted over the pulsating music.
She blinked and turned, cut from her thoughts. "Oh, hello, Octavia."
"Doing okay?"
"Just fine, why do you ask?"
"Well, you're sitting alone at the bar in the middle of a rave." Her cider appeared in front of her. "And you don't have any alcohol."
Rarity gave a tiny smile. "I'm just not entirely comfortable here is all."
Aw dammit, please tell me this isn't what I think it is. "Oh, uh, yeah... I feel ya." Rarity raised an eyebrow and Vinyl realized how un-Octavia she just sounded. "I mean, I understand completely. This loud music is frankly quite atrocious."
"Oh, it's not the music. I honestly have a bit of a soft spot for club music, truth be told." Vinyl hoof-pumped internally. "I'm just not one for dancing in this... manner." She glanced at the lewd scene behind her. Mares and stallions packed themselves together tightly in the center of the floor, rubbing against each other suggestively. Vinyl squinted, unable to make out the details through the spasmodic lighting.
"It does get rather... intense."
"Precisely, which is why I usually avoid these types of places. I'm only here tonight because of Vinyl."
They both looked over to Octavia. She had a pair of headphones pressed to her ears with one hoof and the other thrown into the air. Her head bobbed to the beat as the song slowly faded.
"All right, you psychopaths," she shouted, whipping a new record into the turntables. "Who's ready to kick it up a few notches?"
The crowd replied with a deafening roar, which was soon drowned out by more pounding music.
Vinyl grinned. Stage Three Tavi is a natural. She glanced at Rarity, whose eyes seemed transfixed on Octavia. She realized now might be her best chance to do a little reconnaissance.
"So... Uh, now that you've met her, I'm curious— what do you think?"
At that moment Octavia released another "woohoo", flinging both hooves in the air.
Rarity grinned. "Well she's certainly energetic."
Vinyl leaned in. "Yeah, and..."
"And funny... And a little stubborn."
"How so?" Vinyl asked.
Rarity raised her eyebrow. "You live with her, you should know."
"Well uh... yeah. I just... Er, Vinyl wanted... me to ask..."
Rarity blinked. "Vinyl wanted you to ask what I thought about her?"
Ah shit. "Uh... technically..." Vinyl winced internally and tried to read Rarity's expression.
She pinched her lips together, looking at the floor before staring at Octavia. Vinyl could tell she was deep in thought. Shooting a glance at the clock, she realized Octavia's shift would be ending soon and so would her buzz. She was already swaying with a little exhaustion. Stage Three Octavia was about to hit Stage Four.
Without giving Rarity a goodbye, Vinyl hopped off her stool and ran to catch her friend, knowing it was going to be a long walk home.
Bright lights — the last vestiges of an epic night — danced across Vinyl’s vision as she trekked home. Her hooves ached from dancing, each step shooting fire up her legs. Draped across her back in a seemingly lifeless heap was Octavia. Stage Four Octavia, to be precise. She snored heavily as Vinyl squinted to see where they were going. She was glad to have avoided any serious drinking earlier, or they probably would have gotten lost eight times by now.
Vinyl grunted under Octavia’s dead weight. Celestia, Tavi needs to work out more. Or maybe I’m just getting fat… Nah, definitely the first.
“Hey, Tavi? Snore if you think you need to work out more.” There was a brief pause, and then a thunderous snore echoed through the night. Vinyl grinned. “Yeah, I thought so too.”
Octavia’s body started to slip a little, but Vinyl shifted to the opposite side with plenty of time before her head hit the ground. Up ahead, their shared home was finally coming into view, having been obscured by the inky night for a long time.
Okay, few more steps. Come on body, don’t wimp out on me now!
She made it to the door mat and tried to turn the knob, only to get the most unwelcome surprise of the day — other than waking up in Octavia’s body, of course.
“Dammit all,” she seethed with a kick to the ground. “Locked.”
Instinctively, she tried to ignite her magic and unlock the door that way, only to remember that she didn’t have any.
“Double dammit.”
That means the only one who can get us in is Tavi. Gently, Vinyl wiggled Octavia off of her back and laid her on the ground, lightly tapping her cheek to wake her up. “Hey, Tavi, wakey wakey.”
Octavia mumbled something unintelligible but didn’t budge.
Vinyl decided to crank it up a notch to annoying. “Hey Tavi, Tavi, Tavs, Tavers, Tavinator, come on already.” She poked Octavia as well, multiple times. Eventually, Octavia grumbled, and stretched.
Her eyelids cracked open, and she glared daggers at Vinyl. “What?”
Vinyl was suddenly walking on thin ice. In the hysteria of the club, it had slipped her mind that when awoken, Stage Four Octavia was liable to enter into any of her previous stages, and it seemed now Stage Two was the winner. The next words out of her mouth had to be carefully chosen.
“Uh… we’re kinda locked out of the house right now.”
“Well I don’t have a bucking key right now,” Octavia grumbled. She brought up a hoof and rubbed her temple.
“Yeah, I figured… but do you think you can use my magic to get us in?”
Octavia sat up, grimacing. "My head feels like hell, I'm sleepy and my ears ache. What do you think?"
Vinyl raised her hooves in mock surrender. "Point taken, I'll just find a rock to break the window open."
"No!" Octavia growled. She reached over to smack Vinyl, but her muscles mutinied and her hoof fell limply. "Don't even think about it, you little shitter."
"...Okay, you got a better plan?"
Octavia grunted as she tried to stand. Her legs wobbled under her weight, but she managed to stand. With a contempt sigh, she pointed her dim horn at the door. "Fine, I'll open it."
"Uh, Tavi—"
"Shut it, I'm magicking over here."
Vinyl closed her mouth, willing to give Octavia the benefit of the doubt.
Twelve minutes later, that proved to be a mistake.
Her whole body shook — mostly from drunkenness, but partially from exertion — and her horn had yet spark even a little. Her face was contorted into an grimace, and the veins on her neck bulged with her effort.
"You sure you don't want me to rub it?"
"I got it!" Octavia snapped. She pressed her horn against the keyhole, as if that would some how work.
"Okay, enough." Without waiting for a reaction from Octavia, Vinyl grabbed her horn and rubbed it fiercely. Octavia's self-control was battered away by her drunkenness. And she couldn't resist laughing hysterically.
Vinyl grinned as she saw a small glow emit from the base of the horn. With only a little more effort, magic exploded from Octavia's forehead.
"Hah!" She yelled in triumph. A split second later Vinyl heard a click and the door knob unlocked. "First try!"
Vinyl shook her head, confident that Octavia was so wasted that she couldn't remember her previous eighty-nine attempts.
"Nice job, Octavia."
"I'm going back to sleep," Octavia declared, ignoring the praise. She closed her eyes and her legs gave out. Vinyl dove, barely catching her in time.
"Real nice job," she grumbled, hauling her unconscious friend inside.
The house was dark, but Vinyl was able to make out the stairs. They seemed like an insurmountable mountain and her legs wobbled at the thought of taking the first step.
"Hey, Tavi, good news. You're sleeping on the couch tonight."
Octavia gave a soft snore, which Vinyl took for an enthusiastic yes. Stepping in, she felt something papery crunch under her hoof. When she took another step, she heard it again and realized it was stuck to her hoof.
Vinyl grunted. Freakin' booze.
Glancing down, she noticed it was an envelope, which had probably been shoved in through the mail slot. She shoved it to the back of her mind and carried Octavia into the living room. Tossing her haphazardly, Vinyl heard Octavia mutter an "oof" and slowly move.
Wincing, Vinyl realized she may have just woken a sleeping beast. For a brief moment she debated fleeing, but thought better of it when Octavia didn't immediately snap at her.
"Tavi, you doing okay?"
Octavia sleepily opened her eyes. "Vinyl?" She turned her head, looking around. "I'm... home?"
Okay, we must be in Stage One. "Yeah, I brought you here after you crashed."
Octavia smiled warmly. "Aw, thank you, Vinyl. I really appreciate that."
Yep, definitely Stage One. "Well, I'm going to head up. G'night."
"Good n—" Octavia burst into a coughing fit. Vinyl backed up, eyes popping.
"You all right?"
She coughed again. "Throat... sore..."
"Ah, that's probably the vodka."
Octavia coughed. "Oh right. Thank you, I never would've been able to go on without it."
Vinyl grinned. "Uh, no prob." Whoa, Tavi actually thanking me for getting her drunk? That's a first.
She coughed a little more. "Could you get me a glass of water, please?"
"Sure thing." Vinyl trotted over to the kitchen, and heard the paper crunching noise again. She glanced down and saw the envelope still stuck to her hooves. Oh right, that thing.
Peeling the envelope off, she flipped it over to the front side. Her eyes lazily scanned it as she grabbed a glass and trotted over to the sink. It was labeled for Octavia — most of their mail was, so that wasn't all that special — but the real kicker was the return address: The Manehattan Philharmonic.
Vinyl's eyes bulged and she nearly dropped the glass. Oh crap, this can't be...
Vinyl bit her lip, and turned the envelope over a few times. If it really was Octavia's acceptance letter — or at the very least a callback — then that would mean she'd be going back up to Manehattan soon. For good. And with Zecora working on the reverse potion, that meant Octavia would have her body back and would have no reason to stay.
A lump formed in Vinyl's throat. The letter inside was thick, suggesting it wasn't one of rejection, but the only way to be certain would be to open it.
I can't do that... it's Tavi's... Her hoof inched up, poking at the sealed flap. Then again, I am... kinda Tavi right now... right? The paper gave way. Besides, I'm sure she doesn't want the anxiety of having to open it herself. With a rip, she tore into the envelope and yanked the letter out.
"Dear Ms. Octavia Melody," she read aloud. It was barely a whisper, with Octavia in the other room. "We are h-happy to inform you that..." She wanted to stop there, but forced herself to go on. "...that you have exceeded expectations with your initial performance, and we would like to extend to you the opportunity of a c-callback..."
Vinyl finished the rest of the letter in her head. Nothing else was all that important to her after that anyway. It merely went on to detail the time and place she was expected to show up and mentioned that she was highly favored to get in, so long as she didn't completely bomb at her callback.
Her callback...
Octavia got a callback...
Vinyl tried swallowing, but the lump in her throat felt bigger than an elephant. Shakily, she set the letter down and leaned against the counter. The room felt like it was spinning and not in the drunken way.
She blinked, and realized that tears lined the rims of her eyes. She's... really going to leave Ponyville... and me...
I'm going to lose my best friend.
In hindsight, she should've seen this coming. Despite all the times she teased her, she knew Octavia was talented with a cello. The fact that Vinyl of all ponies had stopped falling asleep during her practices was proof of that. She knew Octavia was destined for greater things than the tiny town of Ponyville... but why now? Why not in a year? Or two?
Vinyl knew she should feel happy for Octavia and on some level she was. It was just overshadowed by the realization that their friendship was going to be snuffed out. The realization that she wouldn't have anypony to tease anymore, or to slap her on the back of her head when she did something stupid. She wouldn't have her four stage drinking buddy, or the pony who constantly put up with being woken in the dead of night by her experimental wub ideas, or who would save her career when they accidentally switched bodies.
Each realization weighed on her like an anvil. Glancing down at the letter, Vinyl bit her lip. Her head whirled around to make sure that Octavia hadn't walked in. When she was certain the coast was clear, she crumpled the letter up, kicked open the nearest trash can and dumped it in.
A pang of guilt thumped in her chest, but she pushed it down. What, do you want to lose Octavia? she asked it. It softened, but didn't dissipate.
Wiping her eyes she quickly filled a cup with ice cold water and trotted back into the living room while wearing a tight-lipped smile, as if everything was okay.
Octavia hadn't moved, but sat up a little when she saw Vinyl. She smiled warmly when Vinyl extended the cup without a word.
"Thank you, Vinyl," Octavia said, taking a long sip.
"No big d—" Vinyl stopped short, nearly choking on the word. "No big deal, Tavi."
"It is to me. Thank you for being such a great friend."
Octavia couldn't have hurt Vinyl more if she'd shot her point blank. Vinyl's smile grew tighter to mask the pain.
"Hey like I said, no big deal. Listen, I gottagotomyroomrealquickfornoreasonsorrybye!" She bolted, leaving a slightly confused Octavia behind to eat her dust.
Vinyl bit back a few more tears, that pang of guilt coming back with a vengeance. She slammed her door, buried her head into her pillow and screamed until she fell asleep.