Octavia didn't want to be in Hilltop for Hearth's Warming Eve. The remote mountain town was just a stopover, a distraction from her true home back in Ponyville. She just needs to wait for the blizzard to die down and the next sled out of town to arrive.

Unfortunately for her, the townsfolk are looking for a good Hearth's Warming show. Even worse, there's another pony from out of town more than eager to satisfy their craving.

And she just so happens to need an assistant...

Takes place during Season 6, after "No Second Prances" and before "To Where and Back Again".

This was written for Short-Tale as a part of Jinglemas 2020! For more information about Jinglemas, checkout our group!

Featured on Seattle's Angels #184! Be sure to check their group out if you want to find other lesser known stories!

[Long overdue update below]

Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch have been dating Sunset Shimmer for a while now. While they've known from the start that Sunset happens to be a unicorn from another world, they're finally going to get the chance to see that (and, hopefully, truly understand it) when Sunset takes them to Equestria over vacation.

All that follows is meta stuff that can safely be ignored unless you happen to be interested in it.

This was originally conceived as an entry for Oroboro's Sunset Shipping Contest: Journeys. I knew that I wouldn't finish it on time, but pretending that I was totally going to win if I entered --and therefore absolutely needed to finish before the deadline-- did allow me to actually write something in spite of my depression. (Sometimes silly solutions can achieve limited success.)

Much of what I produced wasn't particularly good, the prologue being the exception (at least I think it's pretty good), so I took it down for desperately needed revision. I thought that I had enough momentum to finish the revision before my depression fully reasserted itself.

That was over seven months ago, not even one of the chapters in question has been revised. So, obviously, that didn't work out the way I had hoped or expected.

This isn't on hiatus, but it is on "the author's clinical depression fuels her writer's block" which may be worse.

The end has come for Ponyville.

Octavia, frankly, could not care less.

In her off-time, when she isn't busy doing anything in particular, Vinyl Scratch is often found either sleeping, or roaming across Equestria, searching for... nothing in particular. It's an endless search-- not for the want of an object, but for the wanting of an experience.

And experience, is exactly what Vinyl writes her reviews on.

An anthology of various random encounters between Vinyl Scratch and miscellaneous circumstances.

Rainbow Dash uses a fake ghost made out of cloud to scare Vinyl Scratch in retaliation for an insult she threw at Fluttershy.

Octavia Melody enjoys a nice, quiet moment to herself until her housemate shows up. This is why we can't have nice things.

Octavia has always been an oddity among her fellow musicians. Whether it is because she lives in Ponyville as opposed to Canterlot or prefers to find inspiration in her own way, fitting in with the band hasn't been exactly simple, and feeling isolated has started taking its toll on her.

However, when Octavia visits a local pub after practicing with the band, she spots Vinyl Scratch waiting for her there, almost as if she knew Octavia would show up. Vinyl has an idea of what has been bothering Octavia lately and wants to have a chat with her.

Octavia has taken a big step in her career and has written her first full orchestra piece of music: "Requiem for a Nightmare." Now it is the night of her first performance, and in front of the very princesses that inspired it no less. If it goes well, it will mean accolades and a whole new chapter in Octavia's musical career. If this go badly or the princesses do not like it, it could be a massive blow to Octavia's career.

No pressure or anything...

During an interview, Vinyl and Octavia are asked a question: "Tea or coffee?"

So, tea or coffee?

Vinyl cuddles with Octavia.