"Mommy?" Tambourine tugged her mother's electric blue mane impatiently, then mentally kicked herself for performing the foalish action.

She was following Vinyl Scratch through a crowded hall, full of fancily dressed ponies drinking wine and talking merrily. The red-and-gold-and-chandeliers theme of the music hall overwhelmed Tambourine a bit, as did the noise. She had never been to either of her mothers' concerts, and at this point Tambourine was wondering if all the years of begging were worth it.

She tugged at Vinyl's hair again, dodging a stallion in a grey suit carrying a strange beeping device who seemed to urgently need to go in the opposite direction as she. "Mommy, where are we going? When does it start? Can I get a juice, I'm thi-i-irsty!"

Finally Vinyl stopped at a big door flanked by ushers and turned to face her impatient filly.

"Jeez, kid, don't you ever run out of questions?" She ruffled Tambourine's mane affectionately. "We're gonna go in and sit - Octy'll start playing in about - " she glanced at an enormous clock on the wall - "twenty minutes."

"Okay. But can I get something to drink first?"

"No. They only sell alcohol here," Vinyl lied. "You can have water. There's a fountain right over there," She pointed toward the fillies' room.

"But Mum always lets m - "

"You can have water."

"Ugh. Fine. You're mean, Mommy." Tambourine walked halfway to the drinking fountain before turning around and coming back.

"Changed your mind?" Vinyl Scratch raised one eyebrow at Tambourine quizzically.

"I wasn't thirsty anyways," Tambourine mumbled.

"Good girl. Come on, lets find our seats."

An usher glanced at their tickets before hoofing them a pamphlet with a picture of Octavia and the rest of her orchestra on the
front before leading them to their seats near the front of the theatre.

Tambourine flipped through the pamphlet boredly, rearranging the overly glamorous pink dress that Vinyl had insisted she wear around her. She read the little note next to the picture of Octavia out loud in a whisper, wondering who had written it.

"Octavia Philharmonica played lead cellist for the Canterlot Royal Symphony for six years before moving to San Franciscolt and joining the San Franciscolt Symphony.
She has played the cello and the viola for all of her life, and she loves her instruments almost as much as her wife and two daughters.

"Hmph. I think she loves them more sometimes." Tambourine observed.

"That's not true, Tamby. She just practices a lot." Vinyl chided her daughter.

"You guys both spend more time making music then with me," Tambourine pouted.

"All grownups spend more time at work then they'd like."

"I won't. I'm going to write songs as a hobby and not ever work, because it sounds terrible and Rose said her mom told her that almost every job has math in it."

"Well, you'd better marry a prince or something then," Vinyl observed drily.

"Why not a princess?"

"Because there are only three of those that I know of, and one is married and the other two are over a thousand years old."

"Oh," Tambourine shut the pamphlet with a snap.
"Okay."
A dark blue stallion with a bow tie and a snooty expression stepped in front of the curtain and the audience clopped their hooves loudly.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts, welcome to the twenty-third annual San Franciscolt Symphony Winter Concert here in the Lunar Hall. I am pleased to present to you some of the finest classical musicians in Equestria..."

He went on in a long rant about the beauty of classical music and the prowess of their symphony (bested only by Canterlot's own), but neither Tambourine nor Vinyl were really listening.

Vinyl Scratch crunched quietly through a bag of chips she'd somehow managed to smuggle in, to the disgust of the uppity ponies around her. She didn't care about this conductor's speech, but when the curtains opened, she put away the obnoxious
snack and leaned forward on her seat to listen.

Tambourine settled deeper into the over-stuffed cushion she sat on, tucking in her forehooves like a cat, even though she knew they would fall asleep. Vinyl had warned her about the length of the performance, and Tambourine decided that she may as well be comfortable.

Octavia stood perfectly still in her place on the stage. Her cello rested on her shoulder, heavy but comfortable.

As the curtain opened she adopted her customary passive frown, a look she was famous for but seldom used offstage. The silence in the huge room flooded her ears, accentuating the pounding of blood through her veins. A few coughs and shuffling of ponies in the audience was all that interrupted it.

She wasn't exactly nervous - this was all exactly as it should be, exactly as it always was - but rather... excited? No, she was too calm for that word. Odd, it never seemed to describe her, but her wife seemed to never be without her trademark excitement.

Perhaps it was all built-up character, she thought, but somehow Octavia felt she had never been much for excitement even before she became her musical image.

Then the conductor tapped his baton lightly and she heard the violins start. A moment later Octavia and the other two cellists
would have to begin. She let go of her rather philosophical train on thought and drew her bow across the strings, drawing out the first note.

Vinyl watched in silence as the music flowed through her mind. Her eyes never left the grey mare onstage as the hour drew out. She was momentarily distracted by a weight on her shoulder, but it was only Tambourine. The little filly had fallen asleep with her hooves still holding onto the flyer, which gently slipped to the floor.

Vinyl hefted the sleeping Tambourine onto her back and made her way through the ponies slowly filing out of the concert hall.

A glare at the security guard and she passed backstage, where she was greeted with the rustling and zipping of instruments being packed away, as well as the soft dry whispers of the polite, proper ponies packing them.

She craned her neck, feeling out of place among the solemnly colored "classies" as she tried to spot her wife. Octavia was near the back of the room, apart from the others, silently loosening her bow with loving care.

Vinyl sidled up to her, standing silently for a moment. After a while, Octavia looked up at her, a tired but happy expression on her face.

"Hey," Vinyl said, almost shyly. She still didn't feel at ease around Octavia's co-workers.

"Hello Vinyl," Octavia replied, smiling slightly. She continued to pack her instrument, her tail absently brushing Vinyl's leg with gentle affection.

"You did well out there. Tambourine... well, she liked it while she was awake."

Octavia stroked her filly's head with a hoof before going back to struggling with the zipper of the cello's soft case. "Well, it's late for such a small filly."

"She isn't that little any more, you know, Octy." Vinyl sent a tendril of magic to aid Octavia with the zipper. She nuzzled her mane briefly before pulling away.

Octavia sighed. "Thanks. I know she's growing up but... I just wish she wouldn't, you know?"

"You have Grace. She'll be little for a whole lot longer."

"True. I guess you're right, I should stop being sentimental. I always get this way when I'm tired."

Vinyl Scratch put a hoof over Octavia's shoulder, careful not to disturb Tambourine, who was still asleep on her back. "Well, we can go home as soon as you're ready, and you can get some rest."

"I can't wait," Octavia yawned ungracefully and leaned her head against Vinyl's neck.

"A-hem," a polite cough interrupted the moment. Both mares turned to face the sound.

Standing framed by dusty light from the hanging lamp was a pale-haired pony with a sorry expression in her golden eyes, her tail curled almost shyly around one leg.

"H-hello," she said softly, her quiet, musical voice audible despite the various other sounds in the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but... your performance tonight was wonderful. I'm glad I came."

"Lyra?" Octavia looked shocked.
The pony nodded. "Yes, it's me. I wanted to say... well, I'm sorry I treated you so horribly. I guess I've always been kind of jealous of you, living your dream as a musician, and all."

"I really - I don't know what to say. I don't know, Lyra."

"Bonbon was shocked when she found out how long we'd been fighting. She's such a gentle pony, she didn't like to think anypony hated us."

The cream mare stepped out from behind a curtain, smiling warmly, and leaned up against Lyra like an affectionate cat.

"We just moved here from Ponyville to get away from some hostile ponies who had the wrong ideas about us," Bonbon explained. "Our house is just down the street from here. It would make Lyra and me so happy if you would join us for dinner some time, our treat. We both think we owe you an apology."

"You know, thanks, but no thanks." Vinyl said, stepping in front of Octavia. "We moved here from Canterlot to get away from ponies like you - we didn't mean for you to follow us. So, just leave us alone, okay? I think I speak for Octavia too when I say we've had enough."

"What? No, Vin', wait!" Octavia frowned at her wife. "They came to apologize. You don't need to fight them." She gestured at the sleeping filly on Vinyl's back. "Unfortunately we have a foalsitter waiting at home with our other daughter, and Tambourine is asleep, but I think the dinner is a wonderful idea."

Vinyl glared. "You don't have to do this, Tav'. Why forgive them after all Lyra's done to you?"

"Why not? I think she means well, and this argument has been weighing on my conscience for years. I think it'll be good to put it behind us."

"I don't know, 'Tavi... I don't trust her. She worked against us to try and take away our foal, for pony's sake! Do you really think she's worth your time?"

Octavia nodded. "I do, Vinyl. I really do. Thank you for coming, Lyra. I appreciate it more then you might expect."

Lyra nodded silently and led Bonbon away, disappearing through the door into the thinning crowd of ponies in the lobby. Vinyl watched them with a hard look on her face.

"You're too trusting, Octy. She didn't deserve that."

Octavia merely nuzzled her softly. "If I wasn't so trusting I would have run away from your house as fast as possible after that first night and never come back, Vinyl. And then where do you think we'd be?"

Author's Notes:

I Am Alive!

Well, sort of. I'm drowning in rain (Not to mention finals I have to worry about) because the pegasi hate san francisco, but other then that, I'm fine. Anyways, I promised a chapter near the beginning of december, so here it is. I hope you like it, I'm a bit out of practice.

Roar. I really don't think this is worth reading. Will you silly readers ever give up? (not that I'm complaining. lol)

But I feel like you wonderful ponies deserve a little teeny-tiny tide-you-over bit before I get my new computer. So, yeah. Hope it wasn't too shockingly terrible.