Artist’s comment:
 
“Now, let’s see… Like this?” The grey mare placed a hoof to her chin, her brow furrowed in concentration.
 
The white-colored mare sitting across from her nodded, mimicking the action with her hoof and then lowering it while extending her leg outward. ‘Thank you.’
 
Octavia followed suit with the same gesture. “‘Thank you’. Is that what it means?”
 
Vinyl Scratch gave her a grin and nodded.
 
Octavia returned the smile and gave her a small nod as well. “Well then, thank you kindly Vinyl, for teaching me another word.” She brought a hoof up and repeated the gesture for emphasis.
 
Vinyl Scratch, to Octavia’s bewilderment, instead went pink and turned her head away, her muzzle scrunched up in a silent giggle.
 
Octavia could only blink for a moment. “What? What’s so funny?”
 
Vinyl Scratch met her eyes again and signed her response. ‘You didn’t say ‘thank you’.’
 
Another blink. “I beg your pardon? I made the right motion, didn’t I?” She brought her hoof up to her lips, ready to repeat the sign when Vinyl’s hoof stopped it and then moved it down to her chin.
 
“…Oh.” Octavia’s brow furrowed again as she realized she had done the sign wrong. “… What exactly did I do, then?”
 
Another small grin came from Vinyl as she signed out a series of letters. ‘K-I-S-S.’
 
A flush of heat rose onto Octavia’s face. “O-Oh, that’s what that means? Well-those are so similar! How could I have-”
 
Vinyl simply shook her head and waved her off, not having taken any kind of offense.
 
Octavia paused and took a small breath, although she still couldn’t quite shake the heat that lingered in her cheeks. “Right… Well, I apologize for the miscommunication nevertheless.” She took a moment to glance up at the clock. “Oh Celestia, is that the time? I’d better get back to rehearsing, I’m afraid.”
 
The grey mare quickly rose to her hooves and stretched her limbs before starting for the door. “We should definitely practice again soon, though. Thank you for your time!”
 
A tap of a hoof on the floor caught her attention, causing her ears to flick back for a moment before she turned back to Vinyl, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
 
Vinyl, who was still resting on the floor, brought her hoof up to her lips and extended it towards Octavia, a small but very sly grin on her face.
 
The heat that had previously been in Octavia’s face returned with a vengeance. “O-Oh, Vinyl you… You really are a cheeky one, aren’t you?” Her eyes darted up the clock once more. “N-Now, I really have to go and rehearse. You just-just stay out of trouble and don’t distract me, please.” She quickly turned back and half walked-half trotted back out the door, not waiting for a response.
 
Vinyl simply giggled quietly again and shook her head slightly. Celestia, she loved that mare so much.
 
 
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A tale of two music pones
 
 
So I randomly thought of this cute interaction between these two characters, and I simply had to draw and write it.
 
I really, really like the headcanon that Vinyl Scratch is mute too. I haven’t seen all of the newest MLP episodes, but I do remember some clips where Vinyl and Octavia were roommates (oh my god they were roommates), and Vinyl didn’t seem to speak throughout the entire scene. Ergo, Vinyl Scratch is mute in my headcanon. She expresses herself immensely through her music and communicates through a pony equivalent of sign language.
 
Pony sign language is taught at all schools, but Octavia found herself a little bit rusty when it came to communicating with Vinyl, and Vinyl being a good roommate offered to help her brush up her skills. It of course goes a little sideways when Octavia signs the wrong thing, but Vinyl is a chill pone who laughs it off and maybe uses it as an opportunity to flirt a little
 
Also fun fact that I just recently learned about: there are a lot of signs in American Sign Language that are very similar but carry different meanings. The sign for ‘thank you’ is almost exactly the same as blowing someone a kiss, the only major different is where you place your hand on your face to begin with. This twitter post that I’ll link below goes into it in more depth:
 
twitter.com/carodoodles/status…
 
As always, please enjoy!