Vinyl brushed her bright blue mane from her face, resting her head against the cool brick wall of The Club, resisting the urge to shiver. The summer night may have been warm, but a five hour set coupled with the heat generated by the crowd of ponies on the dance floor had caused Vinyl to drum up quite a sweat. Her white coat shone with moisture and strings of her mane were soaked and hung limply, sticking to the sides of her head.
“Whatta night,” she breathed, letting out a contented sigh.
Any other night, she would have stuck around and drank. One of the perks of working as a DJ was that there was never any shortage of alcohol; most ponies were more than happy to send a few drinks up to the stage if they liked the music. Even now, she had a decent buzz. She would have liked to keep it fueled, but even the promise of drinks on the house wasn’t enough to get her to sit through Neon’s mindless noise.
“Yeah. It’s been a good night.” She said cheerfully, not caring if anypony heard her.
Humming to herself, Vinyl trotted down the sidewalk, making her way to one of the more crowded roads. The Club was tucked away on a side street, and until The Club closed, no cabs would be nearby.
In any other city, ponies may have looked at her strange, for wearing her sunglasses this late at night. But as she turned onto the main road, where the bright signs turned night into day, she fit right in. She breathed in the city air, a small smile playing over her face.
Ponyville had peace and quiet, Canterlot had the class, but Manehatten was where you felt alive.
Vinyl decided to flag down a taxi further down the road. She felt the sudden need to experience the city. Her city. She had lived here her entire life, and she couldn’t stand to live anywhere else.
“Oh my. You look like you’ve had quite the night.”
Vinyl halted as she looked around. She was out in front of Manehatten Concert Hall. She’d seen it before, but she’d never been inside. She hated fancy dresses with a passion, and she was the kind of pony that would never be invited to play there. The sidewalk bustled with ponies, most of them in upscale clothing. Fancy dresses and tuxedos abounded. It was certainly as far away from Vinyl’s scene as she could manage to get.
That mare, however...
She stood elegantly. Unlike the rest of the ponies making their way from the concert hall, this mare only wore a simple bow tie cravat. Her dark, charcoal gray hair hung down one side of her head, contrasting with the lighter gray of her coat. Her lovely lavender eyes were staring at Vinyl, a demure smile on her face. Subtle, but it was there. And it was beautiful.
Vinyl’s heart sped up. She levitated her glasses off of her face, to get a better look at her eyes. Hastily, she brushed her still damp hair back, trying to coax it back to its normal, spiky look. She gave the mare what she hoped was a confident smile. A tendril of her mane slid across the side of her face, hanging down over her left eye.
The grey mare gave a giggle, pressing a hoof to her mouth in a cultured motion.
Upper class. She had to be. The thought hit Vinyl’s heart, making it nearly sink. The mare walked by her, giving her that sweet smile once more, opening the door of a carriage waiting by the side of the road. Of course she had her own private carriage.
Then the mare turned to face her, head tilted slightly to the side as if considering her. Finally, she smiled.
“Would you like a ride? Miss...”
“Scratch!” she said quickly, her voice several tones higher than normal. She coughed.
“I mean, Scratch. Vinyl Scratch.” Vinyl did her best to hide her confusion. An upper class pony like her offering her a ride out of the blue? This kind of stuff never happened, even in Manehatten.
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Vinyl Scratch.” The mare simply stood there, holding the carriage door open.
Vinyl gave another sweep of her hoof through her hair as she stepped up into the carriage. She sat down on the plush seat, pressing herself up against the opposite end to give the mare plenty of room.
“And you are?”
“Octavia.” She closed the door behind her, taking the seat across from Vinyl, tilting her head just a bit, that strange, sweet smile never leaving her face. “Octavia Philharmonica.”
==========
“A second date. You.”
“Yep.” Vinyl grinned from ear to ear, shifting left and right as she eyed her roommate with ruby red eyes, her trademark shades perched on her horn. Bon-Bon stared back with wide eyes, her jaw ready to hit the floor.
“But...but....but...” Bon-Bon was at a loss, the right words just out of reach.
“But...” Vinyl grinned, dragging out the word. Bon-Bon twitched.
“You don’t....you don’t do second dates! You’ve never done second dates! You barely even do first dates!”
Vinyl gave a casual, noncommittal shrug. “Hey, things change. Even for me.”
Vinyl understood her shock. She had never been very conservative. As an up and coming DJ in the club circuit of Manehatten, alcohol and sex were never very far apart. Vinyl had never exactly considered herself a slut, but if she met a good looking stallion or mare, she didn’t see the harm in jumping into the bedroom after a few drinks.
Bon-Bon hadn’t exactly had an easy time of it. In the few short years they’d lived together, Bon-Bon would find a strange pony in the kitchen or bathroom with disturbing regularity. Often, with Vinyl still in close proximity. The apartment was a cozy one, and Vinyl had never been known for being quiet even when outside of the bedroom. The relative thinness of the walls had simply become a fact of life, and earplugs were always a good investment.
“Vinyl...” Bon-Bon searched for the right way to phrase it. “You...”
“I know, I know!” Vinyl threw up her front hooves, before she began circling the couch. “But...I can’t help it! She’s beautiful, she’s funny, and she’s....I don’t know! She’s wonderful.”
Vinyl practically buzzed with energy, her legs twitching as she paced around the apartment. Her eyes were bright and shining, and her smile was unlike anything Bon-Bon had ever seen.
“Wow.” Vinyl’s energy was infectious, and Bon-Bon grinned as well. “She really got to you, didn’t she?”
Vinyl nodded enthusiastically.
Both of them knew how dramatic a change this was in Vinyl’s life. Vinyl’s philosophy on her love life could be best described by the phrase “buck it and chuck it.” Bon-Bon had never seen a previous partner of Vinyl’s return for a second round. Vinyl was never upset about it; they both simply shared a night of fun, and then went their separate ways.
“Did you...you know?” Bon-Bon asked tentatively.
Cheerfully, Vinyl shook her head. “Nope! We just had a few drinks! Nothing else!”
It was strange, and Vinyl could understand the look of confusion that crossed her roommate’s face, though she wasn’t sure what was Bon-Bon found more shocking; that Vinyl had gone out on a date that hadn’t ended in a bedroom, or the fact that she was so cheerful about that it.
Vinyl had finally stopped moving, opting instead for a flying dive onto the couch, lying face down on the cushions, her hind legs hanging over the hoofrest.
Bon-Bon gave a sigh. “Are you going to maybe, I don’t know, shower before you lay on the couch?”
“Nah. I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ve got time, after all.”
Bon-Bon sighed as she made her way to her room. Some things would never change.
==========
Vinyl couldn’t help but feel out of place. She knew that Octavia had been upper class from the private carriage they had taken to Vinyl’s chosen bar on their first date. She hadn’t expected Octavia to manage reservations at La Couronne De Luna. Vinyl had expected to be shooed away at the front door, regardless of who she was with. She didn’t think she’d seen so many dresses and tuxedos in her life.
“You look uncomfortable, Vinyl. Is this restaurant not to your liking?”
Octavia watched her from the other side of the table, a wineglass held between her hooves.
“No, It’s...amazing!” Vinyl said, doing her best to keep her voice down for once, to fit with the candlelit mood. “Just...not what I’m used to.”
Octavia did that lovely motion again, putting her hoof up to her mouth to cover her laugh. Vinyl’s heart gave a throb. It was so cute and refined at the same time.
Vinyl’s sunglasses lay on the table, next to her fork. She had worn them into the restaurant, naturally. They were so much of a habit, going anywhere without them was like forgetting her horn.
“Do not be self-conscious, Vinyl. You are not here with any of these other ponies. You are here with me, and I am more than happy to be here with you.”
Vinyl couldn’t resist reaching a leg up to brush over her mane, trying to smooth down her usual spiked hair. “I just...don’t fit in...”
“Who said anything about fitting in?” Octavia said, reaching over the table to take one of Vinyl’s hooves in her own. “If you had fit in with this crowd, I never would have offered you a ride. Have you ever looked at yourself, Vinyl?”
Octavia rolled her wine around in the glass, lifting it to her muzzle and taking a sip before continuing. “You stand out brilliantly against all that you are with. Your entire appearance cries out to the world that you are your own pony.”
Vinyl looked down, her eyes focusing on their hooves. As Octavia spoke further, she felt her cheeks fill with heat. She had never heard anyone speak about her that way.
“You’re saying a lot about a pony that you just met last night.”
“I have seen nothing that shines doubt on my interest in you, Vinyl Scratch.” Octavia gave her hoof a squeeze. “Now stop being concerned with everyone else, and let us simply enjoy our night together.”
Vinyl lifted up her own wine glass. She tried to drink it like she had seen Octavia, inhaling the scent as she took a sip. It smelled like...wine. Truth be told, she didn’t know what Octavia saw in wine. Vinyl preferred harder stuff. Shrugging, she downed the glass.
Octavia simply smiled at her. Vinyl smiled back. Octavia was right. Around her, Vinyl could just be herself.
“More wine, Vinyl?”
Vinyl held out the glass. “Fill ‘er up, Octy!”
Octavia laughed as she tilted the bottle, pouring more wine than usual for a wineglass. “Octy? Are we at the point where I get a nickname now?”
“Why not? It’s cute! What would you rather I call you?” Vinyl said, as she drank her wine.
“I would prefer that you call me your lover.” Octavia said, a playful, flirtatious tone in her voice.
It was all Vinyl could do to not choke on her wine.
==========
“By Celestia’s big royal flank, I have never had better food!” Vinyl laughed, leaning against Octavia’s shoulder. “Thank you so much. That musta cost more than I make in a year.”
“One of the perks that comes with being the first chair cellist of the Royal Canterlot Symphony.” Octavia leaned into Vinyl, nuzzling the side of her head. “My carriage will be coming around soon. Perhaps we can make our way back to my place?”
Vinyl considered things. She could easily admit the truth to herself; that she’d love to follow Octavia home and buck her until they were both exhausted. Vinyl stepped back, looking at Octavia. She looked back, slightly confused.
“Octy...” Vinyl started, before she hung her head with a sigh. Determined, she looked back up at her. “Look. I....Like you. A lot.”
Octavia watched her calmly, as Vinyl kicked a hoof at the ground. “I’m...I’ve had a lot of sex. With a lot of ponies. I used to just....you know. One night stands.”
When the look on her face told her that Octavia wasn’t judging her, Vinyl straightened herself up and continued. “I don’t want this to turn into that. I don’t wanna just buck it and chuck it again.”
She trailed off as the valet brought Octavia’s carriage to the side of the road. Octavia reached out to slide a hoof through Vinyl’s hair.
“I understand, Vinyl.”
Vinyl couldn’t resist. She leaned in, pressing her lips against Octavia’s in a sudden kiss, more of a quick and simple peck than anything else. The motion felt strange to her. Kissing had never been high on her list before. Sex may have been intimate, but it didn’t feel right to kiss beforehand.
“I have to return to Canterlot to perform in two days. I do hope we can get together once more before then?”
“Tomorrow night!” Vinyl said quickly.
Octavia chuckled. “Tomorrow night it is.”
Octavia turned towards her carriage, before she paused. She turned back to face Vinyl, leaning in and returning the kiss, lingering for just a few seconds more than Vinyl’s own.
“Do not keep me waiting for you, Vinyl Scratch.”
Vinyl blushed, nodding as Octavia once again caressed her mane, before turning and stepping into her carriage. Vinyl’s eyes trailed over Octavia’s flank as she moved, watching until the door closed.
It wasn’t until the carriage pulled away that Vinyl realized the sudden longing in her heart. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait for tomorrow night.
==========
Vinyl couldn’t resist giving a laugh as she stumbled through the door of her apartment. The haze of alcohol had settled nicely over her body, a familiar feeling. Less familiar was the thumping in her chest at the sight of Octavia, who closed the door as she stepped into the apartment behind her.
Vinyl had chosen their date location this time. Vinyl didn’t want to subject Octavia to some shady bar where Vinyl spent so much of her time, so she had chosen one of Manehatten’s casual clubs. It had seemed like a nice middle ground. They had gotten a booth in the back and simply talked the night away over several rounds of drinks. Vinyl had expected both of them to be drunk at the end of the night. Vinyl had succeeded in her own goal; she drank often enough to build up quite the tolerance. However, she was surprised that Octavia could still walk a straight line. It was as if she had been drinking nothing but water.
“You can really hold your liquor, can’t ya?” Vinyl wrapped her hooves around Octavia’s neck, leaning in close to look into her eyes, those hypnotic lavender baubles that she could stare into forever.
Octavia reached up and pulled Vinyl’s sunglasses off of her eyes, tossing them onto the couch with a flick of her hoof.
“You should not hide your eyes like that. Such a lovely and entrancing shade.” Octavia leaned in to plant a soft kiss on Vinyl’s muzzle, a quick and playful peck. “So...Shall we?”
Vinyl leaned heavily into Octavia’s mane, which held a distinct, sweet vanilla scent. She relaxed against her; she could breath that scent all night long. “Shall we...what?”
“Oh Vinyl, what else did you invite me here for? A cup of coffee?” Octavia leaned in close and trailed a not-so-subtle lick over Vinyl’s ear from base to tip, drawing a shudder from her body. “What you want is very nearly what I want.”
Vinyl pulled herself up as straight as her drunken body would allow. She looked into Octavia’s face. She wasn’t sure if the heat in her face was from the alcohol or from the blush that she always seemed to get when she looked at her. She gave a flick of her head. Octavia followed the movement, eyes settling on the bedroom door.
Octavia dragged her flank across Vinyl’s own as she moved past, treble clef meeting eighth note for a split second. Vinyl turned to follow her, watching Octavia’s tail swing back and forth over her flank, her eyes wide and staring.
“Do not make me wait too long, Ms. Scratch.” Octavia turned to look over her shoulder, her smile nothing short of seductive as she pushed open Vinyl’s bedroom door, vanishing inside.
Vinyl shook herself out of her stupor, tripping over her own hooves as she practically ran to the door. Thankfully, Octavia didn’t seem to mind the mess. She stepped deftly over piles of discarded clothing and records as she made her way to the bed, standing next to it as she turned and watched the door.
Vinyl didn’t bother being as subtle. She all but ran to Octavia, kicking up a storm of loose wires and CDs in her wake. Octavia’s hooves blurred, catching Vinyl’s body as she pivoted, throwing her with a bounce onto the mattress. Octavia threw her head back, giving an amused laugh as she pounced onto her, straddling the white unicorn.
Her mane hung down on either side of her head as she looked down into Vinyl’s face. There were no words. Vinyl’s eyes were wide and hopeful, her breathing heavy. As Octavia’s lips met hers, her eyes closed. She arched her back, her back hooves stretched out, kicking with every movement of Octavia’s tongue against hers.
Octavia broke off the kiss, looking down into Vinyl’s face with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Vinyl could have sworn that that they almost looked sad. Octavia leaned down, kissing her lips once more, a simple peck that slowly made it’s way down the side of her muzzle, to kiss at her neck and throat. Vinyl closed her eyes once more as Octavia’s hoof trailed gently through her mane.
“Vinyl?”
“Yeah Octy?”
“I am truly sorry.”
Vinyl never had a chance to ask why. Sudden pain shot through her neck as Octavia bit down, a pair of fangs piercing the side of her neck. Octavia’s hoof running through her mane suddenly pushed down with a strength far beyond that of an earth pony, holding her in place. Vinyl let out a sudden pained gasp, hooves lashing out to strike at Octavia’s body, but she could have simply struck the mattress for all the damage she inflicted.
Her horn ignited with a magical glow as Vinyl summoned her concentration, forcing it through the pain to levitate her away, but the magic simply sloughed off of Octavia’s body, unable to find any hold.
Vinyl let out a strangled scream of pain as Octavia slid her fangs forward, widening the punctures, her tongue pressing into the holes to coax more blood from the wounds. Vinyl struggled, but Octavia held her tight. Octavia let out a satisfied moan, deep in her throat with each swallow of blood.
Vinyl’s breathing became heavier as a numbness set in, the pain easing and being replaced by a twisted type of enjoyment. Each time Octavia’s tongue slid into one of the punctures, it forced a shiver of unexpected pleasure. Vinyl knew it should hurt, like it had when Octavia had first bit down, but something had changed; she couldn’t help but relax under her ministrations.
The ceiling swam above her head, the posters on the ceiling, her own posters from her original DJ sets, slowly slipped out of focus. Her heart was pounding, struggling to pump the thinned blood in her veins.
She gasped out, crying for help with a voice that grew progressively more soft. There was no one who could come to help. Bon-Bon was out for the night, and Vinyl couldn’t help but remember that it had been at her own insistence, wanting privacy when she asked Octavia upstairs. Vinyl let out a dazed laugh, a single “Ha!” as she realized that it had all but sealed her fate.
Her legs were weak. She struggled to lift one, her hit little more than a light thump against Octavia’s head. It rested there, feeling her soft mane against her hoof. She couldn’t help it. Vinyl slid her hoof through Octavia’s mane, before it dropped with a thump onto the mattress.
It was tough to focus. She didn’t want to stay awake any longer. Letting out a soft sigh, she closed her eyes, and sank blissfully into darkness.
==========
Birds. Vinyl could hear birds. The afterlife had birds? She blinked open her eyes, trying her best to bring things into focus. She could see herself. Posters. The windows showed that dawn wasn't far away. The sky was just beginning to shift into a shade of dark purple.
“Do not try to move. You will be slightly weak for quite some time.”
Vinyl turned to look towards the voice, a pain shooting through her neck. She lifted a hoof up to her neck, the soft feeling of gauze meeting her hoof.
Octavia was standing next to the bed, those beautiful lavender eyes focused on hers.
“You...You’re...” Vinyl croaked out, her throat and mouth dry, the wounds on her neck giving a painful throb as she tried to speak.
“Please, Vinyl.” Octavia said, pointing her hoof towards a glass of juice resting on the nightstand. “Neither of us wants to have that discussion.”
Octavia shifted back and forth as Vinyl drank the juice, wincing with each swallow. “There...was something between us, Vinyl. I truly did not wish to do this to you.”
Octavia looked down, focusing on the floor instead. Vinyl had seen that look before, on the faces of many of her drunken suitors. The look of shame and regret.
“There was simply no time to find another pony. Rather, another pony who would have what you were so willing to give.”
“I didn’t want to give you anything.” Vinyl groaned out, trying to raise herself up off of the bed, only for Octavia’s hoof to push into her chest, gently forcing her back down onto the bed.
“Do not overexert yourself.” Octavia said sternly. “You need rest.”
Vinyl settled back onto the bed as her head spun. She shut her eyes to attempt to regain her faculties.
“It was the blood of passion, Vinyl. It is difficult to explain to a pony.” Octavia paused as she tried to formulate the best way to explain. “Picture the most exotic dishes served at the finest restaurant in Canterlot.”
Vinyl simply stared at her, trying to ignore the feelings of exhaustion and dizziness running through her. She was unsure how to think about being compared to a dish at a fine restaurant.
“I felt what was between us, Vinyl Scratch. And for ruining that, I apologize.” Octavia turned towards the door. "I feel that you know enough to understand that I need to leave before the sun comes out. I enjoyed myself, Vinyl Scratch. Goodbye."
“W-Wait!” Vinyl called out, forcing herself to stand up as Octavia walked out of the bedroom. As she pulled herself to her hooves, dizziness exploded in her head, and she slumped to the floor.
Vinyl could do nothing but watch as Octavia opened the front door. She looked over her shoulder, her eyes meeting Vinyl’s for one last time. There was no expression on her face.
“Don’t look for me.” Octavia said simply, before she turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Vinyl shut her eyes tight, trying both to calm the nausea that ran through her body, and to stem the sudden, uncontrollable flow of tears that dripped from her eyes.
And that was how Bon-Bon would find her, two hours later.
Author's Note
Loosely inspired by the fic "The Unconverted One" by Mavinator5
While this story is labeled as incomplete, you can, at least at the moment, consider this a one shot. Depending on the reception, I may or may not continue the story. This was just an idea that had lodged itself in my head and needed to be written, nothing more.
Vinyl stumbled up the stairs, the sound of her breathless laughter carrying to the top of the apartment building. It had been a wonderful night. She had gotten the club moving tonight; her new mixes were quite obviously a hit. Neon Lights had no chance. She hadn't stuck around, but she was certain that the club was booing him, maybe even rioting and throwing him bodily onto the street.
“Heh. Suck it Neon!” She shouted, her voice echoing up the stairwell. “You can kiss my flank after tonight! Nopony likes the records that you play.”
Chuckling at her own joke, she continued to move her alcohol fueled body up the stairs to her fourth floor apartment. She grabbed the railing and swung herself dramatically, attempting a spin to land on her rear legs. As she landed, her hooves slipped and she flung forward, her muzzle taking the brunt of the impact.
“Ow.” Vinyl groaned into the floor. “Elevator. Right. Take the elevator next time. Bucking...ow.”
She pulled herself to her hooves as she rubbed at her nose with one hoof. Her horn lit up with its trademark glow, seizing the doorknob and opening into a silent apartment.
“Bons, you shoulda seen me tonight! It was....oh.” The living room was empty. She magicked the door closed behind her as she pushed open Bon-Bon’s bedroom door. “Bons, you shoulda seen me tonight! It was...oh.”
Her eyes fell on an empty bed. It was even made, as if Bon-Bon hadn’t even slept in it. Vinyl made some mental calculations; her set had ended at eleven and it had taken her half an hour to get home. Bon-Bon was usually up late, either calculating inventory or doing the books for her business.
“Huh. Guess I’m alone.”
Celestia, her muzzle ached. She rubbed it again, feeling slick wetness against her hoof. She looked at it, seeing the red blood clinging to her hoof, making it glisten in the light of the apartment.
“Elevator. Right.” She said again, making her way to the bathroom. As she ran her hoof under the sink, she tried to think where Bon-Bon had gone. Bon-Bon was never up much past midnight. It was like she hadn’t even been home. There were none of her usual papers stacked around, half organized as she tried to calculate expenses.
Wiping her hoof on a towel, she made her way back to the living room. There wasn’t even a note left on the table. She rubbed her still aching muzzle, feeling her hoof grow wet again. Looking down at her hoof, she saw blood again.
“Right. Face. Buck it all...” She muttered.
“Personally, I enjoy the look.”
Vinyl jumped at the voice, but didn’t turn around. That voice. Soft, sweet, dripping with class. She knew what she’d see when she turned around. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard that she could feel it in her hooves, and hear it in her ears. Slowly, she turned.
She looked exactly as Vinyl remembered her. That gentle smile, the beautiful lavender eyes. The mare giggled, and as she did brought a hoof up to cover her mouth in that motion that made Vinyl’s heart twist.
“Octavia.”
“Miss Vinyl Scratch. Delighted to see you again.”
Vinyl nodded, but didn’t move. She couldn’t. No matter how hard she willed her hooves to move, they stayed rooted to the spot.
“Where’s Bons?”
“Your roommate?” Octavia laughed again. “You sent her away, do you not remember? You wanted us to have...privacy.”
Octavia slid off of the couch and walked towards Vinyl, her eyes locked on hers.
“And she left. Think about that, Vinyl. You have been with so many mares and stallions before, and yet I was the one you wanted privacy with. Bon-Bon left because she had never believed that you would be able to actually form an attachment with a pony.”
The remark stung, and Vinyl opened her mouth to respond, but Octavia leaned in close. It wasn’t a kiss. Octavia dragged her tongue across her muzzle, pressing hard to coax the blood out of her coat.
“I was not judging you, Vinyl Scratch. I do not care how many other ponies you have been with. I only want...” She paused as she licked her again, a soft, gentle lick this time. “Well. I think you know what I want.”
Vinyl knew. Blood. Octavia needed blood. Vinyl knew that she should have felt frightened, she should have bolted from the room, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to. She looked into Octavia’s eyes. As the seconds ticked by, she nodded and tilted her head to the side, exposing the side of her neck.
There was a hint of a grin from Octavia, revealing long white fangs as she moved in, letting Vinyl feel the sharp points teasing against her, digging under her coat to slide against her skin. Vinyl closed her eyes, a shiver running up her spine as she felt them against her throat.
“Yes. Exactly what I want from you. What I wanted from you when I met you. All that I will ever want from you.”
Then she bit down.
Vinyl jerked awake with a grunt, an empty bottle of Bacolti falling from the hoofrest of the couch, landing on the carpet with a dull thunk. She looked around quickly, getting her bearings, before she let her chin rest once more on the hoofrest. The room was dark; the windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. The only light in the room was a streak of light from the open window in Bon-Bon’s bedroom, which had been growing shorter as the day progressed.
Vinyl stared at the line of light without really seeing it. Her mind was too focused on her dream. She tried to hold on to the details as they slowly faded from her mind. Octavia. Why her? What made Octavia so special?
“I’m not supposed to be like this.” She muttered. “Get outta my head, Octy.”
Vinyl knew that she was a different pony now, somehow. The Vinyl Scratch that had existed pre-Octavia had been a wild pony, the kind who would buck a pony if they caught her fancy, the kind who stayed up at all hours of the night and drank alcohol by the pitcher, the kind who laughed as she moved around the DJ booth.
Post-Octavia Vinyl Scratch was something else. Suddenly, the thought of taking a pony home felt impersonal, somehow. Vinyl wracked her brain, trying to figure out why she was so fixated on one pony. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, Vinyl knew next to nothing about her. Octavia was one big question mark. A mystery.
Don’t look for me.
Octavia had left her. Abandoned her after using her for...Vinyl shuddered as the memories of that night came back. Of the sudden, surprising pain that had snapped her out of her aroused stupor, and of how mind-numbingly pleasant the act had become. Of how she was certain that she was about to die. Yet, Octavia hadn’t finished her off.
I felt what was between us, Vinyl Scratch. And for ruining that, I apologize.
“You didn’t ruin anything, Octy,” Vinyl muttered into the couch. “You didn’t even stick around long enough to see that.”
It had been bad enough when Bon-Bon had found her. The bandages on her neck, the uncontrollable sobbing that had lasted for hours. She had thrown herself into Bon-Bon’s forelegs and cried even harder. There had been no awkward questions, thank Celestia, but she could feel Bon-Bon’s eyes on her every time they were in the same room. If Vinyl was quick enough, she could catch her looking at the bandages.
Vinyl had cried harder than she ever had before that night. She understood how much of a hypocrite it made her. All of the one night stands, all of the ponies who had come back asking for something more serious. Vinyl had always laughed it off, brushed them aside. And now, it was her turn to feel rejected and abandoned.
Vinyl reached under the couch and pulled up the second bottle. Her hoof slipped on the cap; she rubbed it across the back of the couch to wipe off the sweat. The heat in the living room was something that couldn’t be defeated by the only open window in the entire apartment, and even with most of the curtains drawn, summer held its grip. She tried to ignore the dull throb as her sweat stung the pair of wounds on her neck.
She failed. Growling, she grabbed the bandages with her magic, pulling hard until the gauze tore. She balled them up before chucking them the length of the apartment, letting them bump harmlessly against the wall and fall down behind a speaker.
Vinyl cursed her tolerance as she took a swig from the bottle. She’d gone through the first bottle in a few hours, and she was barely even buzzed. It was her own fault. Her time in university had been punctuated by all-night benders in lieu of studying, and The Club’s ‘free booze for DJs’ policy was one that Vinyl took advantage of every chance she got. As a result, the amount of alcohol needed to successfully gain the ‘drunk’ status effect was nothing short of ridiculous.
But Celestia be damned, she was gonna try.
“Dammit, this isn’t me!” She shouted to the empty apartment, leaping to her hooves. She gripped the bottle, put it to her lips and drank until the burning in her throat became too much to bear. She slammed the half full bottle on the table, before throwing her head back and letting out a laugh.
“This. This is me!” She laughed again. She didn’t know what she was laughing at, but it felt good. She needed to be cheerful. Happily, she made her way to the front door of the apartment.
It opened before she got there, Bon-Bon peering cautiously inside. “Everything alright in here? I haven't heard you laugh that hard since your turntables caught fire...”
“Bons!” Vinyl ran over to her and threw both forelegs around her, pulling her tightly into a hug. Bon-Bon blinked up at her, sitting down suddenly in the threshold.
“I’m off to find a random pony to buck until I can’t move! Isn’t that great?” Vinyl didn’t even wait for a reaction. She skipped out the door, pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes as she jumped down a flight of stairs.
“I’m happy!”
==========
“I’m drunk.” Vinyl groaned into the bar top.
Vinyl had tried being energetic. She had charged headlong into the first bar she had seen with lust burning in her eyes, ready to grab the first pony who showed interest in her and give them a choice; buck her here, or buck her at home.
It was then that she realized that she had never really been in a bar on a monday before. The place was nearly empty, with only two ponies in the bar. The first was the bartender; an extraordinarily polite brown earth pony with a black mane who introduced himself as Bottlecap. The second was a white furred, brown maned unicorn sitting at the far end of the bar, scribbling on a scroll and muttering to himself a lot. Even in this heat, he was wearing a scarf wrapped around his neck.
Her fire sputtered and died. Bottlecap looked far too serious to take advantage of an opportunity like her, and the unicorn seemed far too wrapped up in his scroll to pay attention even if Princess Luna herself had asked to her chambers.
So she had ordered a drink. She’d sat down at the bar, looked Bottlecap right in the eye and told him to surprise her with something strong. Bottlecap had risen to the challenge. So she had ordered more. Until finally...
“I’m drunk.” She said again, lifting herself to a more upright position as she savored the feeling of the room spinning.
“One more.” Vinyl slammed the empty glass down on the bar with slightly more force than needed as she looked Bottlecap right in the eye. She was ready to make him eat a bottle if he so much as started to utter the words ‘you look like you’ve had enough’. Thankfully, he didn’t bat an eye as he grabbed a hoofful of bottles and poured a delightful mixture of clear alcohol into the glass.
Vinyl slumped back down, her chin on the bar as she considered the slowly filling glass. “Oh ‘Badcolt.’ Where would I be without you?”
Vinyl hadn’t asked what was in The Badcolt. All she knew was that it looked impressive, tasted better, and could knock her on her flank after drink number four. A mixture of various intoxicating substances and colored a very lovely dark purple that reminded her of her sunglasses.
The bartender set the new drink down in front of her. He had once again added a straw. Heaving a dramatic sigh, she flicked the straw aside into a pile of five similarly discarded straws. Vinyl wondered if he was doing this on purpose to irritate her, or if it was some kind of ingrained habit. She lifted it a hoof, contemplating its color in the dim light before ending its existence in the span of four gulps.
“Another.”
“Ma’am, If you start talking to the drink again, I’ll need to cut you off.”
“Hey. Hey.” Vinyl pointed a hoof at him. “Shut it.”
This sort of bar was not Vinyl’s usual fare. It didn’t have a DJ booth, just a simple jukebox in the corner. It didn’t even have a dance floor. It was the sort of bar where a pony would come to drink and nothing else. Exactly the kind of place that she needed. Well, not when she had come in. But now, she needed it. She was drunk. Finally.
Badcolt number seven was placed in front of her. She stirred it with the straw as she looked down into the glass. “I really need this right now.”
“I’m not here to judge. But if you need to get something off your chest, I can be here to listen.” He said, popping the cap of a bottle and sliding it down to the stallion at the end of the bar, before mixing another Badcolt. He leaned against the bar, taking a drink of it as he watched Vinyl stir hers.
Vinyl gave a short laugh. “Like I’m gonna talk about this to a bartender. Mix the drinks, pal.”
Vinyl let out a satisfied sigh. She stared at the glass. It seemed a bit fuzzy. Vinyl gave a giggle. It had been a very long time since she had managed to feel this drunk. She considered the drink. “You...You find a nice pony. And you invite them home for a little private time. And you’re actually feeling stuff for this pony. You like this pony, really like this pony.”
She looked up at Bottlecap, who nodded. “I really, really, really like this pony.”
“I’m getting that, yeah.” He took another drink from his own Badcolt. Vinyl noticed with a bit of satisfaction that he wasn’t using the straw.
“An-an-an then!” She muttered, pausing to take a drink. She took a deep breath. “Then she sucks the blood outta you and ditches ya! Just leaves ya on the damn floor as she walks away. Damned vampire what she was! She got into my head with her creepy vampire magic an’ I can’t stop thinking bout her!”
Did I really just tell him that? How drunk am I?
Vinyl shut her mouth as the unicorn at the end of the bar raised his hoof. Bottlecap reached under the bar for another bottle. Bottlecap didn’t seem to notice anything....amiss. Vinyl stared at her drink. Half full. She was approaching her limits. It was rare that she ever approached them, but she knew she had them. She could always tell when she was reaching that point by her inability to keep her mouth shut.
“Ma’am, I think I can say we’ve all been there.” Bottlecap gave her an encouraging sort of smile. Vinyl gave an inward sigh of relief. “So what’s the real issue? You mad because you got used, or you mad because you’re still hung up on her?”
Vinyl rested her cheek on her hoof, considering. “She didn’t stay. She said she ruined it all...an’ then didn’t stick around to know that I...well...I didn’t understand exactly. But I wanted to.”
Bottlecap swept the remains of her drink and his own empty glass away, putting them in one of the sinks behind the bar. “I’ve been runnin’ this bar for a few years now. The one thing all the ponies who come in here to drink away their relationship problems have in common? They never took the simple option.”
“Which is?”
“Find her and tell her this yourself.” Bottlecap shrugged as he rinsed out the glasses.
“She...she told....” Vinyl hesitated as Octavia’s last words came to mind again. “She told me not to look for her.”
Bottlecap looked up from the sink, watching her with a knowing smirk on his face. “Ma’am, somehow I don’t think that’d stop you.”
Vinyl gave a laugh. “I think...maybe. We’ll see. So, do I leave a tip for the advice, or what?”
Bottlecap slapped a piece of paper and a quill on the bar. “Just sign.”
“What’s this?”
“You came in here without any saddlebags. Started running a tab for you as soon as you came in.”
“Right. Bits.” She leaned over the bar, levitating the quill as she signed her name.
“By the way ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking...what happened to your neck?”
Vinyl dropped the quill, looking up at him. “My..My what?”
“Your neck. You got marks on it.”
Vinyl’s heart pounded as she remembered throwing the bandages across the living room. The bite marks. Octavia’s bite marks. On display for the world to see. She had been so determined to be cheerful that she had forgotten to cover the damned bite marks!
“Just...”
Don’t tell the truth, don’t tell the truth, don’t tell the truth....
Vinyl looked around, her eyes settling on the scarf that the unicorn was wearing.
She forced the words out of her mouth. “No! Thing!”
Bottlecap blinked. The unicorn’s scarf began to glow, unraveling itself as Vinyl grabbed it and pulled it off of the pony, throwing it around her own neck and pulling it tight.
“...The buck?”
“Put it on my tab!” Vinyl said as she bolted for the door, adrenaline allowing her a mercifully straight line into the heated air of the streets of Manehatten. What if Bottlecap hadn’t noticed? What would Bon-Bon have thought? Her coat was white. She was surprised that Bottlecap hadn’t noticed sooner; the red marks were so obvious.
Vinyl let her alcohol fueled panic carry her from the bar, until the sudden burst of drunken activity got the best of her, and she felt herself go down in a tangled mess of limbs. She let out a groan, pulling herself into a heap against the cold stone of a building. She looked down at the scarf. Blocks of black and red.
“Oh. Wonderful. Very subtle.” Vinyl sighed. “Now I’m a thief. I mugged a pony for his scarf.”
Vinyl turned her gaze to the sky, Luna’s moon beginning its slow crawl across the sky.
“Thanks a lot, Octy.”
==========
Vinyl had chosen the elevator this time. Stairs were a challenge for her even while buzzed. Now, her drunken state had turned itself into a truly unpleasant spinning sensation that rendered stairs impossible for the time being. She had spent a full minute contemplating them, before remembering some of the non-Octavia related aspects of her dream. And so, elevator it was.
Vinyl pulled her newly acquired scarf tighter around her throat. Bon-Bon would be there. And she didn’t want any awkward questions being asked. Not just yet. As the elevator crawled upwards, Vinyl considered her position.
“The one thing all the ponies who come in here to drink away their relationship problems have in common? They never took the simple option.”
“Which is?”
“Find her and tell her this yourself.”
“C’mon, Vinyl, think. Solve this mystery.”
Vinyl thought about how interesting the ceiling of the elevator was. The way it was spinning had an interesting kaleidoscopic effect. A ding pulled her out of her thoughts, the doors of the elevator sliding open with the squeaky groan of a lazy maintenance staff. Pulling herself up from the floor, she made her way down towards the apartment door.
“Find Octavia. You can do it, Vinyl. Find her. Think.”
Vinyl thought about how much she’d be regretting this the next morning.
Vinyl threw herself bodily against the door, resting the side of her face against the wood. Her hoof fumbled against the door knob until it gained traction, twisting and letting her body weight throw the door open, stumbling to the floor for the fourth, perhaps fifth, time that night.
Bon-Bon lowered her papers as she stared at her. “Have a good time?”
“It was alright.” Vinyl giggled.
Bon-Bon eyed the door, leaning forward to peek out into the hallway. Letting out a sigh, she moved from the couch and reached down to heave Vinyl up from the floor.
“I can smell the alcohol on you. How much did you drink?”
“The bar? Possibly.” Vinyl gave a shrug that almost caused Bon-Bon to drop her.
Vinyl couldn’t smell the alcohol, probably because she was the one soaked in its aroma. She gave a sniff anyway. She smelled something...sweet. She took another sniff. Vinyl wrapped her hooves around Bon-Bon, pressing her muzzle into her mane and taking another sniff.
She smelled like perfume, and candy, and something...else.
“...Really, Vinyl?” Bon-Bon sighed. “You’re sniffing me? You’re seriously doing this.”
Something smelled good.
“I’m trying to get you in bed here.” Bon-Bon groaned as she heaved the pair of them across the floor. “A little effort on your part would be...nnngh!...appreciated.”
Something that was making her hungry.
Held so close to Bon-Bon like this, she could hear her heartbeat. More than that. The rush of blood through her body. Bon-Bon’s blood. A never ending waterfall-like sound as each heartbeat shoved blood through each and every artery and vein...
“Um...Vinyl?”
Vinyl could feel them, long and sharp in her mouth as if they had always been there. She couldn’t resist. She didn’t want to. She didn’t think about it any more. A level was pulled, and her body acted on its own accord, driven by instinct.
She opened wide and drove her new fangs down into Bon-Bon’s neck, ignoring Bon-Bon’s sudden scream of pain as a rush of delightful crimson flowed into her mouth. Vinyl swallowed it and sucked more out, her body shivering as the blood satisfied a craving hidden deep in her mind.
Vinyl’s stomach heaved as she jolted awake. The room was still spinning, but the nausea she felt wasn’t entirely from the alcohol. She clamped a hoof over her mouth, looking around before she spotted it on her nightstand.
Vinyl grabbed it and pulled it close and with a sudden heave, let loose a torrent of alcohol laced vomit into the bucket. She panted, holding the bucket with both hooves before she leaned down into it with another heave.
Once her stomach had halted its assault, she flicked on the lamp on her nightstand and stared down into the bucket. Vinyl gave a relieved sigh, setting it carefully next to the lamp. Not a single trace of red.
“This brings back memories...” Bon-Bon said tiredly as she trotted into the room, stepping over the accumulated clutter on Vinyl’s floor, a glass of water in her hoof. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to drag you into bed.”
Vinyl didn’t even try her magic. She reached out and took the water, taking a mouthful and rinsing with it, before leaning over and spitting into the bucket. Then she took a cautious drink, setting it on the nightstand.
“Whahappen?” Vinyl lay down against her pillow, closing her eyes to block out the ceiling that had turned into a form of poster laced spin art.
“No clue. You passed out as soon as you opened the door. I really don’t even want to know how much you drank tonight. I haven't seen you like this since university.” Bon-Bon grabbed the bucket, carrying it at leg’s length as she headed for the door. “Your new scarf is on the doorknob. Try to get some sleep.”
“Yeah...sure.” Vinyl turned over on her side to face away from the door, her mind reeling with things that she had never considered.
Vampires. She had been bitten by a vampire. And everypony knew that you turned into one after being bit. Right? Suddenly everything seemed a bit more frightening. She closed her eyes tighter, trying to block everything out.
Octavia had even said that she needed to leave before the sun came out. What did sunlight do to vampires? Vinyl had always heard that it burned them, but it had been mostly daylight when she walked to the bar, and she hadn’t felt a burn.
Or did it take time? Vinyl forced her thoughts through the alcohol, trying to figure out how long she’d have. A week? A month? Would she feel it coming on?
Your new scarf is on the doorknob.
Bon-Bon had taken off her scarf. She had to have seen the bite marks; with how brightly they stood out, there was no way she could have missed them. The thought hung over Vinyl’s head. Bon-Bon hadn’t asked her yet, but she would in the morning.
Vinyl’s momentary panic was tempered under the alcohol still buzzing through her body, and she let it take her. She let her body relax, forcing every thought out of her mind as she absorbed the warmth of her blanket. She let herself drift to sleep. Before she finally sank into dreams, however, she heard Octavia’s voice echo through her head; a snippet of conversation from the mysterious mare.
One of the perks that comes with being the first chair cellist of the Royal Canterlot Symphony.
Author's Note
Been sitting on this for a few days. I got tired of tinkering around with it, so here it is.
A big thanks to everyone who looked over this and gave me feedback: Mavinator5, Cola_Bubble_Gum, Midnight Herald, and Fictional Critic.
