“Vinyl, you promised!” I said firmly.

“I did no such thing,” Vinyl protested.

“Last week, on Friday, you said that you would come with me this weekend and make things right with Lyra. Now it is this weekend, and Lyra said she would meet us for lunch at Canterlot Café at exactly one thirty. Here we are at nearly one, and you won’t put on your dress.” I was wearing a simple deep purple dress and my treble cleft earrings. Vinyl was going to wear a black dress…if she ever got around to putting it on that is.

“Vinyl put on the dress so we can leave.”

“Nope,”

“You promised,” I reminded her.

“Octy, she made my life terrible. Do you honestly expect me to go up to her and say ‘hey, Lyra, we’re going to be friends now’?”

“You could at least speak to her. She doesn’t think of you the way she used to, and she has a marefriend now…a real one, not like Bee. She’ll be civil.”

“Good for her, but I never promised.”

“I figured you would do this,” I pulled out the recording device Concerto had issued to me to keep track of my cello playing. “So, I took the liberty of recording you making the promise.” I hit play and my voice came from the speakers.

“You promise?”

“Yes, Octy, I promise,”

“Promise to what?”

“I, Vinyl Scratch, promise to go to Canterlot Café and talk to Lyra like the civilized pony I am. Can we go out for milkshakes now?”

“Alright, alright,”

There was a click and I flashed a triumphant smirk. I pointed at the dress and Vinyl reluctantly pulled it on. She muttered under her breath, but I had won this round. We left the room at a quick pace considering we were already running very late.

“Octy, wait up!” Vinyl called from behind me. “I can’t run in this stupid thing!”

~XoXo~

Lyra was waiting just outside the café, her blue dress ruffling in the light wind.

“There you two are!” She said when we arrived.

“I am terribly sorry, Lyra. Vinyl here was being stubborn,” I shot a glance at the white unicorn and she stuck her tongue out.

“Hey, Lyra,” Vinyl muttered stubbornly.

“Shall we go inside?” I suggested. Lyra nodded and Vinyl made a sound I could only assume was a huff.

“If you act civil, I’ll consider buying you that Sapphire Shores album you wanted to remix,” I whispered to Vinyl. Her ears perked up and her posture changed fully.

“So, how have you been, Lyra?” She asked when we had been seated.

“I’ve been fine. Bon Bon and I have some...big plans for this next weekend when she gets back from her family reunion in Ponyville. How have you been, Vinyl?” Lyra seemed tense, and I really hoped that things would run smoothly. The waiter took our drink orders and hurried off, his wings straining against his uniform.

“Disgusting,” I muttered to myself. Honestly, if a Pegasus stallion even thinks about the acts two mares could get up to, their wings stick out like Vinyl's mane. Vinyl was talking about the secret project she had been working on, and I found myself drawn to the conversation. Vinyl wouldn’t tell me a thing about this project, claiming that I would love it when I heard it.

“Are you working tonight?” I asked Vinyl, trying to get a conversation going that we could all be part of. There was a club not too far away and I had heard that a young DJ was going to be working there this very night.

“Yeah, you guys wanna come and see the famous DJ-Pon3 in action?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” Lyra seemed truly sorry. I figured that was a good sign. “I have so much work to…did you see that?” She looked out the window, her head tilted in confusion.

“See what?” Vinyl stuck her head past me and peered outside.

“A flash of light…perhaps I’m imagining things,” She gave her head a light shake. “Too much schoolwork I guess.”

“It’s too bad you can’t come, Lyra. You would have an awesome time at the club. What about you, Octy?”

“I suppose I could come. I have nothing else to do,” It could be fun. I had never been to any clubs other than Club Canterlot. It would be a nice experience.

“Awesome, we’ll leave at eight!”

~XoXo~

Turns out the dinky little club Vinyl was playing at was more well-known than I thought. Hundreds of ponies were dancing…I suppose it could be called dancing. I cringed at the loud music, waiting for Vinyl to start her set. The current DJ was a stallion called MC W1SH, but I was certain that was a stage name.

“Thank you, everypony!” He said loudly when the song ended. “I gotta hit the hay for tonight, but don’t you worry, I’ve got another pony taking my place. You know her, you love her, it’s DJ-PON3!” The club roared its approval and stamped their hooves. I sat at the bar, sipping at my drink lightly. Vinyl, wanting to make an entrance, waited until the last second to approach her machine.

“Hey, everypony, I would introduce myself, but you already know me. How you all doing tonight?” She screamed into the microphone. The crowd cheered, but Vinyl held a hoof cupped around her ear. “I can’t hear you! I said, how you all doing tonight?” This was answered by an even louder chorus of cheers and hoof-stomps. She pressed a button and began using magic to keep the sound steady. I took a large, unlady-like gulp of my drink. It burned as it went down, but it helped to deafen the sound.

“She’s quite good,” a male voice said. I turned my head and smiled to see the familiar face of Concerto. Symphony was with him, a smile across her face.

“Concerto, Symphony, what a surprise! I wouldn’t expect to see you in such a noisy place,”

“The same holds true for you,” Symphony pointed out. I bowed my head.

“I’m here as a guest of Vinyl’s,” I held out my hoof to show them the DJ stamp that I had been given. My friends had stamps as well, but their stamps showed that they paid to get into the bar. Mine showed that I was allowed free drinks as long as I was still capable of comprehensible speech.

“You two seem to be very close lately,” Concerto noted. I nodded slowly, picking my words carefully.

“We spend a lot of time together as roommates, and she was my first friend here, so I suppose we would be close.” The two ponies shared a smile as a barstallion placed two drinks in front of them.

“Octavia, you don’t have to lie to us. We won’t judge you,” Symphony said kindly. “Concerto and I have noticed you eyeing Brassy’s flank in class and in rehearsals. Nopony else has seen it, but we have. It’s alright if you confide in us for now. We won’t tell anypony,”

“Is it that obvious?” I admit, I had been looking at Brassy’s flank often, but only because Vinyl would comment on it so often. I had no romantic interest in the mare whatsoever.

“It’s alright you know. Many ponies on campus are very accepting, except Bee Bop, but she’s a dreadful mare.” Concerto wrinkled his nose. “She’s terrible to everypony and now she’s dating that paparazzi pony…what was his name?”

“Money Shot,” I said.

“Oh, not that one!” Symphony groaned. “I’ve heard rumors that he only dates mares that pay him to create awful stories about others.” She shook her head sadly. “Even I wouldn’t wish that misfortune on Bee,”

“I’ve met Bee, and she wasn’t very kind to Lyra,”

“Lyra Heartstrings?” Concerto asked. “A sort of blue mare, correct?”

“Yes, that’s her. Do you know her?”

“He knows her,” Symphony answered. “He had to…dismiss Lyra from our orchestra. Lyra and Lyrica didn’t get along very well at all. Lyra felt Lyrica was too snobbish, and Lyrica said that Lyra had no talent. They had a harp-off, and Lyrica won. We replaced Lyra with Harpo and now she’s given up the harp and chosen to play the lyre instead,”

”I’m glad to hear you’re on good terms with her,” Concerto said with a smile.

“Alright, everypony, I’ve got to head out pretty soon. There are these things called test coming up and, knowing my roommate, I’ll get my flank kicked if I don’t study.” Vinyl’s voice replaced the music and Octavia turned her head. “I’m gonna end things tonight with something I’ve been working on. I’m warning you, it’s way different than what I usually do!”

“She’s been working on something?” Symphony asked. “I haven’t heard about that,”

“It’s been a secret,” I replied.

“This is for my roommate, and my best friend, Octavia! She’s a pretty happening pony, even if she’s into classical stuff, and she inspired this baby. Hope you all love this as much as me!” She pressed a button on her machine and I instantly recognized the music that boomed across the club.

“Is this…?” Symphony’s eyes widened.

“I believe so!” Concerto seemed excited.

“She remixed Palladio,” I breathed. As much as I loathed Vinyl’s type of music, I had to admit that this combination of music was beautiful…in its own way of course. Everypony on the dance floor was moving in time to the quick-yet-classical piece. Concerto and Symphony joined the crowd, and I stared at Vinyl. She looked so serious up there, but her mane was shaking wildly as she managed the music. An electric blue light flashed over her as the song neared its end, splashing her white coat in blue. She tossed her head back, her glasses perching on top of her head neatly.

She was, to sum it up into a word, beautiful.

Octavia, don’t you dare start. You shouldn’t even like mares in the first place. Developing a crush on Vinyl will only make things worse for you.

How ironic that my biggest fear on the first day had been Vinyl falling for me, yet I was the one falling for her.

The piece ended and received much positive response from the crowd. Vinyl thanked them again before introducing another DJ. Once the new DJ had taken his place, Vinyl joined me at the bar.

“Did you like it?” She asked, looking at her hooves.

“It was a nice set,” I complimented.

“Not the set…the remix,” she shuffled slightly, not wanting to make eye contact. Her glasses now covered her eyes again, so I couldn’t attempt to read her emotions.

“It was wonderful, Vinyl. I loved it,” She looked up, beaming.

“Did you really? I wasn’t sure you would like it because you’re always dissing on my wubs, and I almost gave up a few times because I didn’t want you to hate me for it. I think we should do a collab sometime in the future. Classical and dubtrot sound pretty good together, don’t you think?”

“A collaboration would be lovely, Vinyl. Shall we return to the school now? I’m quite tired and this DJ is playing such awful music compared to the wonderful remix.” Vinyl gave me a lopsided smile and nodded. We left the club and I walked behind Vinyl on the narrow streets, only half listening as she rambled about the collaboration ideas she had. She turned around suddenly and wrapped her hooves around me in a hug.

“Thanks, Octy.”

“For what?” I asked, surprised by the hug.

“For being my best friend,”