Latex and Lace

by starshine_dash

Double-booked

Neither mare slept well Friday night. The stress of the past two days coupled with the anticipation of being center stage the following night kept the two up far past their bed time. Saturday dawned bright and sunny, much to their displeasure. Exiting the apartment building together as they had, Octavia was surprised as she spotted two ponies standing nearby arguing. She approached the pair with a smile, Vinyl following behind out of curiousity.

"I told you, Berry, she lives here!"

"Nonono, It was apartment 42, 314..."

"You reversed the numbers, Punchy,"

Octavia giggled behind them as the magenta pony sighed and deferred to her ginger-maned companion. The two turned at the giggle and lit up with smiles, "Tavi! It's so good to see you!"

"Berry! Carrot! I'm glad you two could make it today. I'm so excited about performing on the center stage!"

"We're both excited too. We haven't gotten to hear you perform this entire time your house is being remodeled."

Vinyl's ears perked up, "You have a house in Canterlot!?"

Octavia turned to her unicorn friend. She hoped they were close enough now to be friends at least. The explanation of her home in Ponyville started to leave her lips before she was rudely interrupted by Berry Punch.

"Oooh, Who's this, Tavi? Did you finally find a marefriend?"

The cellist's eyes went wide and her brain and mouth got into a fight over what to say, resulting in nothing but a dumbfounded stutter. Vinyl looked at something she suddenly found incredibly interesting somewhere to the left of the group of ponies as a blush formed under her white coat, turning it pink. Carrot Top giggled and punched Berry softly in the shoulder.

Eventually, Octavia's brain got her mouth under control and managed to force it to spit out, "We-we're just friends."

The unicorn nodded in agreement and spoke in her defense, "Turns out we're both musicians and live across the hall from each other and we both have shows at the festival," she said, turning to look at her neighbor with a squint, "Now what's this about having a house?"

"Oh, I have a house down in Ponyville that's being remodeled. I was staying here in Canterlot for some orchestra concerts and now the festival."

"Why didn't you ever mention this before?"

Octavia shrugged, "It never came up."

"Well, girls, we'll be late for the opening ceremonies if we don't leave now," Carrot said, coming to her friend's defense before the conversation delayed them further. The foursome headed off in the direction of the festival grounds. They arrived just as Princess Celestia began her speech praising the performers and announcing her plan to spend more bits on artistic education in Equestrian schools the coming year. Somehow the funds had been diverted to things that some schools didn't even have access to. Luna stood next to her sister and made a speech of her own, about how she wished some of the artists she heard at night would come perform. The Princess of the Night also commented on how she was flattered that so many of the modern musicians and composers found inspiration in the night-time sky.

Octavia made a mental note to play one of her night inspired pieces at her center show. The speeches ended with some fireworks cast by the princesses themselves. The final day of the Festival had officially begun. The musicians said their good-byes to each other and the two earth pony visitors before scampering off to their first shows. Berry and Carrot wandered the grounds and partook of many of the snacks available.

After observing one of Vinyl's sets, the couple wandered in the direction of their old friend, talking amongst themselves, "They're a good match," Carrot said to her marefriend.

"Oh, definitely. Not the same, but not too different. Now the question is, will Vinyl be able to handle Tavi's secrets?"

The ginger maned mare shrugged helplessly, "Nopony can say. She looks like she has a good head on her shoulders. If the club scene is still like you used to tell me about, she's probably heard worse."

Berry got a look on her face and then nodded before proceeding to enter the line for the beer tent.

Carrot sighed and looked at her marefriend, "This early, Berry? C'mon, let's go watch Tavi play for a while first."

"Oh fine, Top."

The two continued their wandering, eventually stumbling across the cellist in the middle of a long and impassioned piece. They stood watching in rapt attention. Despite her exhaustion, the mare on stage seemed to have found a deep well of energy to pour into her music. Her face was contorted in concentration as her hoof and bow flew across the strings. Time had no meaning to the mare known as Octavia anymore. All that mattered was the music.

Hours later, the four were back together, having a small bite to eat at one of the diners that sprang up on the festival grounds only to vanish as soon as the show ended. They chatted amicably until an announcement came over the speakers, "Would Vinyl Scratch and Octavia please report to center stage."

The two groaned and stood, Octavia hefting her case onto her back as they all left for the hub of the concert arena. On approach, they noticed that Vinyl's rig was already set up, "Guess I'm up first," the unicorn smirked as they entered back stage.

Mr. Nash was there with a nervous look on his face, "Heh, hello, ladies."

"Mr. Nash," the two musicians said in unison.

"We have a slight hiccup in scheduling. Turns out you two are our last performers and you both have an hour... but you both have the same hour. Now, I really must be going!" he said, galloping off as the two stood there in stunned silence. Berry tried to follow the colt, but he managed to escape somewhere out of sight. Returning, she saw the unicorn and cellist facing off against each other. At a subtle signal from her marefriend, both of them subtly vanished off into the night.

"Well, Octavia... Seems we have a problem."

"Indeed we do, Vinyl. I submit that I should get the hour, since I play actual music."

"Actual music? You call the sound of a cat being used to play catch being pegasi music?"

Octavia's face remained stone calm, "Excuse me? I highly doubt that fiddling with old records and a soundboard really qualifies as anything other than being a wedding DJ."

Vinyl's eye twitched behind her ever-present shades, "What did you just say? I'll have you know that each and every one of my sets are mathematical perfection. Every note and tone is planned exactly down to the millisecond!"

"And you call that music? Please! Precision is another word for boring. Real musicians can simply play what comes to the heart and move pony's souls!"

The argument grew steadily more heated until they were shouting loud enough to almost be heard over the music of the current performer. Just before the disagreement would likely have come to blows, Octavia leaned in and kissed Vinyl full on the lips.

The unicorn stood there in shock before backing away with a blush covering her face, "Wh-what the hell was that?!"

"You mean... We were not flirting?"

"Flirting?! Where would you get that idea!?" Vinyl said, trying to recapture her stolen breath.

"It... It's the way my parents always did it..." Octavia said with a blush of her own, looking out toward the stage, "If... If you didn't like it... I can let you have the hour, you need the bits."

Vinyl just stuttered, trying to figure out what to say as the earth pony retreated from the room. Finally coming up with something, she chased down her neighbor, "Tavi! Wait!" she shouted.

"What is it? I thought I was perfectly civil."

"It's... It's not about that... I actually liked it," she muttered the last sentence, though the cellist's sensitive ears managed to catch it, "How about... you go on first for half an hour, and then I'll go on afterward. Even split."

"That... sounds like a fine compromise. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"It was just... unexpected is all," the unicorn said as the roar of the crowd rushed into the backstage area signaling their impending performance, "We can talk about that later. Get out there and wow those ponies, but leave some for me!"

Octavia smiled and nodded, trotting toward the stage as a trio of grungy, exhausted colts and an overly made-up mare exited the main stage. She entered the view of the incredibly large gathering of ponies of all types, including the princesses, and was greeted with soft applause.

She carefully took her cello out of its case and set it against her chest, balancing perfectly on her hind legs. They shook a little at first, discouraged after spending so much time in this position the last few days, but held. Ignoring the eyes upon her, she tested the strings with an experimental caress of her bow. Finding the tone satisfactory, Octavia begin to play. The half hour she had allotted flew by in no time at all. Her mind and body flew from piece to piece without pause until Vinyl appeared on stage next to her. She finished the song she had been playing before bowing softly and retreating back stage to applause.

Sitting in a chair and sipping some water, she listened to Vinyl's set and determined that she was being proven wrong throughout the show. Not wishing for a confrontation or an awkward discussion in public, the earth pony finished her water, hefted her cello, and took her leave.

Comments

[reader of the night]

Aaaaand its on.

[Zanmatsuken]

With this updated, how can sleep even be tried to be obtained. Nuh uh, this is more important.
Post-reading edit:
This chapter felt a little rushed but was definitely...interesting. The pseudo-argument was pretty amusing, to say the least. It reminds of of another OctaStratch argument scene from another fic that is escaping me right now(just remembered, it was University Days). I wonder how you are going to proceed from here though. Whether you aer going to go the awkward friends for a while route or the straight to relationship route. Well, can't wait to see.

-Zan

[Saffron Panther]

Interesting way of "flirting", I'll say that much.