Bridges

Bridges

The Fifth Bridge

"Vinyl, you came!"

Octavia sobbed into the white fur, the cold biting her as the two mares stood outside, Octavia crying her eyes out, and Vinyl just standing there, as a silent support, not touching the cellist, the flowers still firm in her telekinetic grip. "Vinyl, I-I-I'm sorry! I'm so, so, so, so so so so so so SORRY!" Octavia practically shrieked, making Vinyl wince. "I... I'll never call you that again, and... and I-"

"I brought flowers," Vinyl said finally, the first thing she'd said to Octavia this night. This made the grey mare break into sobs once more. "Um... Don't cry, Octavia. I... It's all right. I mean, it's not." Vinyl winced. "Just don't call me that any more, okay? I forgive you." It felt so easy. Her soul was a feather, flying in stratosphere. Forgiving was easy. Time and forgiveness, without time. Life as we know it. Coffee and cigarettes, without coffee. No helicopters.

Speaking of cigarettes... Vinyl levitated a pack out of her saddlebags. Octavia finally let go of her, and the DJ managed to light up a cigarette. The soothing, pleasant smoke caressed her lungs and throat. She, finally, relaxed.

"These roses are so beautiful." Octavia took the bouquet, sniffing at it. "Thank you, Vinyl. You are so nice to me, I... I can't believe I made a move on you without your permission and-"

"I didn't say no." Octavia blushed fiercely at the white mare's smile. "You were drunk, though. I'd rather you were sober for something like that." The two mares stood in silence, Octavia blushing, Vinyl looking at her out of the corner of her eye. Testing her? "So... That message of yours..."

"That wasn't a trick to get you to come," Octavia replied firmly. "If that's what you asking. That's true. I... I wasn't sure of that when I was typing it, but... I'm sure now. At least. I know. I know I love you, Vinyl." Octavia stepped closer to the mare.

Vinyl took a step back. "That's... That's a strong word, Octavia. I'm not sure it's the word you want."

"I want you!" Octavia blurted out, covering her mouth in fear immediately upon saying that. She was coming off possessive of what she did not have the right to. An usurper. Vinyl just stared. "I love you, Vinyl," the cellist whispered. "I... I just want you to know that, regardless of your reply."

Vinyl sighed. Reply. Reply. Reply. What reply? Hadn't she decided it was worth a try, regardless the hurt? She'd been hurt a lot of times, but... Octavia seemed different. Well, at least, that's what she wanted to believe. "I'd invite you on a date, but I remember how bad you are with alcohol."

Octavia giggled. "Silly, we can go somewhere else." Vinyl blinked. "Without alcohol." There are places like that? Vinyl thought in amusement. Octavia deadpanned. "A cinema."

"Oh." Vinyl chuckled sheepshly. "Yes. That'd be lovely. Um..." She scratched the back of her head. "Octavia, would you like to go see the pictures with me tonight?" Vinyl glanced at the starry sky. "Um, right now?"

Octavia smiled. "I'd love to."

***

"Do you want to know why I love you?"

Vinyl couldn't help a smile at Octavia's passionate whispering as they sat in the back row, alone, watching a film that managed to contain every single cliche of a romcom and still be worse than any other cliched film she'd ever seen. Not that she'd seen many: cinemas weren't her thing. "I want to watch the film," the DJ evaded the question, feeling Octavia lay her head on her shoulder. A feeling of divine warmth spread in her chest, a rotten warmth, spoilt by a chill of fear. Fear. Everpresent, omnipresent. Reeking of cabbage and sour potatoes. "And, Octavia... That's a strong word."

"This. This is why." Octavia nuzzled the white mare, Vinyl's fur tickling her nose. "You are so cautious. So mysterious. I don't know you at all, right?, and I want to know you." Cryptic. Tiptoeing around the question. Round about midnight. Time and Space. Woo.

"Sometimes, I want that too," Vinyl mumbled. The act. The stage. The empty audience. The actor who doesn't know his role. Doesn't even know if he's playing or performing or what?

Vinyl Scratch (frowning):

To be or not to be? That is the question.

The conductor (waving):

Presto!

Vinyl Scratch (rubbing her chin):

To be or not to be?

The conductor:

Brass! I can't hear the brass!

Vinyl Scratch (angry):

Look, I'm trying to perform here!

Judge #1 (sternly):

Are you?

Judge #2 (with a fatherly smile):

Drop it, Vinyl, like you drop your bass.

Vinyl Scratch (teary-eyed):

I'm not a musician! I'm an actor!

The filly:

Vinyl, are you here?

Vinyl Scratch (trembling in fear):

No! Go away!

The filly:

Vinyl, you said you loved me...

Vinyl Scratch (backing down):

Go. Away!

Judge #1 (putting on glasses):

The protocol says-

Vinyl Scratch:

Fuck the protocol!

The Judges (chanting):

Jura novit curia. Vinyl novit curia. Jura novit Vinyl.

Vinyl Scratch (screaming):

Stop!

Vinyl shook her head. "That's attraction, Octavia. Not love."

"I know it's love." Octavia leaned in and placed a peck on the white cheek. Intruder! Put her under arrest! Look, look, LOOK, she's the criminal here! She, not me! Get her up against the wall! Shoot her in the mouth!

Vinyl chuckled. "Just on the cheek?"

Octavia threw her front hooves around Vinyl's shoulders, tossing her lips upon the mare's, her tongue breaking in, seizing the wonderful mouth. Vim vi repellere licet. Defying force with force. Octavia broke the kiss, panting, a goofy smile on her face. "Did you like it?"

Vinyl licked her lips. Like a magic speeding cab. A collision in the dark. You cannot ignore the stimuli. "I did." She averted her eyes. "Let's watch the film."

***

"I can't believe they're doing that. Again."

Octavia sighed, rubbing her temples. The sounds of passionate love-making resonated all about the flat. Vinyl giggled at the thought of Harpo sweating over a mare. He's probably taking off-hoof notes in the process.

Octavia blinked. Did she- "Do it again," she pleaded.

"Huh?" Vinyl blinked in reply.

"Laugh. You have a wonderful laugh." Octavia shifted closer to the unicorn on the couch. "I can listen to it for hours."

Vinyl rubbed her forehead. "Octavia, I can't laugh on demand." Apartheid. Know your place. Divided, we stand. Don't cross the frontier of the skin.

The cellist leant against the mare. "Vinyl, kiss me." It wasn't an order. Of course it wasn't.

Vinyl kissed the mare. Harmonise. You're into older mares now, Vinyl? Shut up. You were four years older than her, right? Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Vinyl broke the kiss. "Octavia, I have to go."

The cellist grabbed the white hoof. "Vinyl, please... stay."

Vinyl winced. "Octavia, I can't. I... Look, you're a beautiful mare. Gorgeous, sexy, and amazing. But... You act very... possessive." So do you, Vinyl. So you did. Shut up. "I don't feel at ease. Look..." Tell her, Vinyl. Shut. The fuck. Up. "I was very badly hurt by... a relationship. In the past." A relationship? Is that what you call it now, Vinyl? Shut the fuck UP! "I need to take slow, easy steps." Baby steps, Vinyl. ... "I can't rush it like you do."

Octavia nodded. "Vinyl, please... I understand that. I'm sorry for doing everything so quickly. I... I'm ready to wait. I don't  want to lose you. I'm ready to wait till you're ready."

"And if I'm never ready?" The test. Eighty-nine points. One more. Damn.

Octavia smiled in determination. "Then I'll wait forever." She pecked the mare on the cheek gently, carefully. "I love you, Vinyl. I really do." Where in the holy fuck did that come from? Do I want Vinyl so badly as to... Never... Maybe... Ah! Argh! Yes. Yes I do. Telling herself that. Propaganda. Becoming true in time. Quality and quantity, bonded with one another. Choose one. Choose two. It's a sale.

Vinyl pressed her nose against the grey cheek, stood up, and walked out of the door.

***

Vinyl closed her eyes.

Unts. Unts. Unts. The blaring sound. The lights of the club. Her territory. Her domain. Ponies dancing wildly, giving up their sorrows in exchange for some artificial, drunken, narcotic pleasure. Oh yes. That was her way. But now... Without the club? Unts. Unts. Unts.

Octavia. What was she now? What were they now? There was no pact, no signature, but there was a draft. Most laws did make it past the draft. Some didn't. What would their draft become, what would their law state? Vinyl yawned. The law. The judges. The trial.

Judge #1:

Vinyl Scratch, stand up.

Vinyl Scratch (rising):

Yes, Your Honour.

Judge #1:

Do you love Octavia Philarmonica?

Vinyl Scratch (frowning):

I...

The prosecutor:

Death penalty!

Judge #2:

Calm down.

Judge #1:

Do you, or do you not?

Vinyl Scratch:

I don't know.

The prosecutor (yelling):

Death penalty!

Judge #1:

Vinyl Scratch, you have denied your best friend, Neon Lights, in his request to stay overnight because of the date with Octavia Philarmonica. Do you love her?

Vinyl Scratch (shouting):

I don't know!

The barrister:

Objection! Your Honour-

Judge #2:

Objection overruled.

The scientist:

Love is a matter of hormones and our perception of hormones; thus-

The prosecutor (shoots the scientist):

Death penalty!

Judge #2:

Vinyl Scratch, we are calling the first witness.

Octavia Philarmonica, wearing a tuxedo and a pink bow tie, comes onto the stage.

Judge #1:

Octavia Philarmonica, do you love Vinyl Scratch?

Octavia Philarmonica:

I do, Your Honour.

Judge #1:

Vinyl Scratch, do you love Octavia Philarmonica?

Vinyl Scratch (voice breaking):

I do.

Judge #1:

You are hereby pronounced mare and bride. You may kiss each other and go to prison together.

Octavia Philarmonica (shocked):

What?

The filly:

That's what you get. That's what you get.

The prosecutor (shoots the filly):

Death penalty!

Judge #2 throws the body off the stage.

Vinyl opened her eyes. White. Well-like, veiled vision. Trembling hooves. Fillies, they were just fillies. She didn't know. She did. She could. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe! Walls, each one pressing her breathe hooves trembling breathe sweat pouring down breathe how long can you stay without breath its not underwater when youre underwater the water pushes you up up and away and you float then your legs start twitching BREATHE theyre already twitching strangling the noose the loops BREATHE whats the difference grab the phone dial dial dial who dial who shes texting always texting no she did called she called she had to make a call to call BREATHE neon cant call neon too hard to BREATHE harpos there with beauty beauty and beautiful octavia call octavia dial BREATHE call Octavia.

Fighting to breathe, Vinyl placed the phone next to her ear. "Octavia?"

"Hello?"

"Octavia, I need you to come over. Sermon's, nineteen, floor ten, seventy-five. I need you. Now."

Vinyl rolled over, taking sharp, shallow breaths. The test? The test. Putting her life at stake. A difficult bid to put it on either red or black or zero. Put it on grey.

See what love means.