Octavia had to admit, Vinyl was good with the baby.

The white mare had come quietly into her room and summoned her downstairs, warning her to be quiet, she seemed anxious and Octavia was tired so there was no argument. When they reached the bottom of the stares Octavia's violet eyes were greeted with the sight of the young foal cuddled in a ball on the sofa. It let out a yawn and rolled over onto it's back, kicking it's legs in the air, lost in some dream.

“Vinyl...what is... what is..”

Vinyl put a hoof to her muzzle, “shh, jeez, you'd think you'd never been around a kid before.”
She trotted towards the kitchen to find something for the foal, Octavia couldn't help but stare, eventually she let out a strained whisper.

“On my doorstep? A foal?”

“Our doorstep Octavia.” Vinyl shook her head, not wanting to risk an argument and wake the kid. She found what she was looking for, an old, battered baby bottle. It was clean if a little used, and a mix of different shades of blue. She filled it with some milk and brought it over, sitting down by the foal and setting the bottle on the table nearby. Octavia was beginning to panic, she was pacing quickly from side to side and taking in deep breaths.

“There can't be a baby, no no no, why would someone abandon the baby? Who does it belong to. Maybe we can find it a home. Vinyl, Vinyl are you even listening?”

The DJ wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, she was cuddling the now awake foal, she pawed at it's belly with her hoof, the bottle lifted magically off the table and drifted towards the foal's eager mouth. It sucked greedily on the teat of the bottle, not wasting a drop.

“Your a hungry little dude aren't you.” Vinyl grinned approvingly.

“Vinyl I don't think that's a.. dude.”

Ugh, Vinyl's slang words felt so wrong in her mouth, whether it was how unbecoming it was to say them or whether it was due to her lack of sleep. She shook her head and looked at the pony and foal.

“We need a plan Vinyl, try find it's parents”

“Who left it on our doorstep? Yeah, I'm suuuure they'll appreciate us returning the foal they abandoned.” Vinyl's words were saturated with venom and Octavia took a few sudden steps back.

“Ok then, um what about an orphanage?”

“Not a chance, they're over crowded as it is, not to mention terrible places. So many kids, so few people to take care of them? That's no way for a kid to grow up.”

“Vinyl you can't just make that assumption...”

“It's not an assumption.”

Octavia wanted to press Vinyl for details but she didn't dare, her roommate was already in a foul mood from their fight earlier, any further questions could be seen as provocation, she would need to approach this gently if she wished to reach a compromise.

“Very well Vinyl, we will keep the child until we can find a nice loving home, ok?”

Vinyl gave her the slightest of nods before returning her attention to the foal, it had finished with the milk and Vinyl removed the bottle and smiled, using her hoof to wipe away the drops of milk around the foals mouth.

“Don't worry lil dude, I'll look after you.”

Octavia trotted up to her bed, falling into it again and rubbing her eyes, trying to make sense of the events of the night. She had planned to discuss Vinyl moving out in the morning try to find a new roommate once the uncouth slob was out of her house, but this foal complicated things. Vinyl seemed attached to it, and her behavior suggested that simply taking the foal to an orphanage would not be the key. She was looking at a busy day tomorrow, parent hunting, foal sitting probably and not to mention Orchestra rehearsal... She could see herself getting into trouble for not showing up tonight.

She was going to need her sleep, so she rolled over, pulling the blankets around her and quickly passed on to the dreamlike state the foal had been in only minutes before.

Vinyl remained awake with the child all night long.

The morning came and for once Octavia wasn't awoken by the DJ's infernal noise, in fact, there was perfect silence in the air of Ponyville. She looked out the window, greeted by the sunlight and the sound of birds and the distant chatter of ponies preparing for their days. She pulled her dressing gown on and stumbled slowly downstairs with all the grace of... well, all the grace of Vinyl. But eventually the tired pony made her way into the kitchen where she saw another sight that amazed her. Vinyl was not only making breakfast, but doing the dishes. Usually they would rotate, with one of them cooking and another cleaning and even then there were complaints from both parties. But now Octavia was greeted by the sight of the white coated mare scrubbing down a pan and pancakes on the table. She hadn't been aware that vinyl could make pancakes, in fact Vinyl's cooking had been downright mediocre.

“Stop staring Octavia and eat something.” Vinyl said as she turned around, drying her hooves and taking a seat at the table. Next to her was the foal, looking unusually happy for a child in the morning, it;s colouration was really quite shocking, white coat with bright red mane, and it's eyes were blue, startlingly so.

“So” Vinyl spoke between shoveling food into her mouth, pausing only to speak and help feed the foal. “How'd ja sleep?”

Ocatavia's jaw dropped. “Since when have you been interested in how I slept?”

“I was thinking, if we're gonna be roommates, we should at least try to get along, besides, we don't want to upset the foal.”

“Vinyl”

“Oh and that reminds me”

“Vinyl”

“It's getting weird saying 'the foal' we should probably name her.”

“Vinyl!”

The DJ stopped talking and gave her a stare.

“What?”

Octavia took in a gulp, breathed and.. she looked into her roommates deep red eyes, behind them was actually a flicker of intelligence, as much as Octavia had hated to admit it, and kindness, she hand seen that first hand, and although Octavia didn't like Vinyl's music, she could appreciate that other people did. And in a way, that was what being a musician was all about. She looked at the foal, it's adorable eyes, it's beautiful colours. She thought back, at how Vinyl looked at the foal and cared for it, it was bringing out a better Vinyl Scratch, maybe a better Octavia. She gulped again and said;

“I was thinking, maybe we, I mean you, I mean... The foal can stay.”