Prologue
Octavia sighed and turned from the locked bathroom door, which was currently occupied by the brown earth pony's loud, obnoxious roommate, Vinyl Scratch. Octavia had yelled for Vinyl to hurry up and finish with the restroom, that she had a concert in an hour and needed to get ready. Vinyl had just hollered back, "Sorry, can't hear you over these massive wubs!"
Tavi did the best she could to brush her mane and tail without a mirror, irritable and tense. The concert wasn't irregular in itself, just a small performance, she wasn't even the main performer in the show. No, it wasn't the show that was different, it was the guests.
Octavia would be performing for the four Princesses of Equestria.
Vinyl burst from the bathroom, her blue hair soaked from the shower and her fur ruffled from where she had hurriedly dried it, "Tavi, the bathroom's yours!"
"Thank you, Vinyl," Octavia stood and smiled at the white unicorn before trotting into the restroom and closing the door behind her. She wondered for the millionth time how she had ended up sharing a flat with the most loud, uncouth, rambunctious pony in all of Ponyville, maybe all of Equestria, and, for the millionth time, she responded to herself with a smile, "Because she's my utter opposite, my other half, and my best friend." Octavia sighed huffily and finished prepping for the concert, brushing her hair properly and straightening her bowtie. She couldn't distract herself with thoughts of Vinyl on such an important day, and she always felt a twinge of guilt for fancying her absolutely-not-a-fillyfooler flatmate.
"Forget it, Tavi," the earth pony scolded herself, trotting from the bathroom and getting her cello, carefully carrying it out of the flat doors and hailing a cab, "Today's a very big day and you really do need to focus."
Vinyl watched from the small kitchen as Tavi ran from the flat and booked it to her concert. A smile played on the unicorn's lips as she trotted out the door, levitating a small box, and into the busy streets. She hailed a cab and gave them the address of Octavia's concert. Vinyl kept her magic wrapped in tight tendrils around the little gift, done up in a neat little bow, with a small tag that read For My Dearest, Tavi~.
Octavia had always scoffed at the idea of Vinyl being romantic, but since a few weeks ago when Vinyl had heard her roommate muttering about Vinyl in her sleep, and that had given Vinyl hope that maybe her crush on her friend wasn't so one-sided after all. It was a long shot, but it was a shot nonetheless and Vinyl just wanted a chance to confess to Tavi in the best way she could.
The cab pulled up right as Tavi trotted into the Ponyville concert hall, a young stallion carefully toting the earth mare's cello. Vinyl paid the cabbie and galloped into the hall, snaking through the crowds to nab a seat at the very front, where Tavi couldn't miss her. Vinyl settled the gift in her lap, setting her hooves on it gently for good measure, and waited through dreary old stallions playing dreary old songs, all for the excitement of seeing Tavi's face light up when she saw her best mate in the audience.
Tavi sat and waited as ponies trickled out to perform and exit on the opposite site of the stage. She would be one of the last people to perform, and her nerves were wearing her thin. Finally, when it was just her and an old, grey stallion with large, spectacle glasses, Octavia was finally called out. Toting her cello very carefully, she strode out onto the stage to polite applause. She did a quick sweep of the crowd and nearly fell over and off the stage.
Vinyl was here.