Psychoacoustics

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

White coat. Blue mane. Piercing red eyes. Anonymous stood at the doorway, looking his new roommate over. She was a unicorn, still Amazonian sized, just as Octavia was. It was silly to think that the ponies would be any smaller or larger, but it was a strange thought the human held on to all the same. This ‘Vinyl Scratch’ was no different, the human’s head coming up to the crest of her chest.

“Ummm… Hi?” Anonymous offered, waving. The strange albino pony only looked at him, thinking who knows what. Her eyes were full of curiosity, almost glowing with energy, but she said nothing. Anonymous was starting to worry that the Lyra encounter would repeat itself and that Octavia had made a mistake, until the unicorn displayed a weak smile. The human let out a sigh he didn’t know he’d been holding back, continuing this semi-awkward introduction.

“You’re Vinyl, right?” The unicorn said nothing, only nodding in affirmation. Well, it’s something… “I’m Anonymous. Nice to meet you.” Octavia had sent the human’s things to Vinyl prior to his arrival, leaving the human with little to do in terms of breaking the apparently thick ice. “So… Nice house you got here.” Again, the unicorn only smiled, seemingly content with silence. “You play in Octavia’s orchestra?” A shaking of her head signaled a ‘no,’ but she continued her silence.

“…is something wrong?” the human asked, the silence getting to him. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you haven’t said a word since we’ve met.” The unicorn went wide eyed, shock or fear striking her, whichever one Anonymous couldn’t quite say. She quickly shook her head no, however. “Then what’s up with the silent treatment?”

Still looking a bit frantic, Vinyl reared up on her hind legs, bracing herself against the wall with her right hoof. Taking her left hoof, she pointed at her throat. Upon further inspection, Anonymous found that it indeed looked as soft and lovable as Octavia’s. Staring a bit longer than he’d care to admit, the human finally figured out what Vinyl was trying to point out.

“Ooooohh,” he said, cuing the unicorn to return to her previous stance. “If you don’t mind my asking, what happened?” Upon the question leaving his lips, Anonymous realized just how little the unicorn could actually convey. Ponies had hooves, not sign-language like on Earth. Even if they did though, the human would still be up a creek without a paddle. He didn’t know sign language.

His embarrassed state was apparently realized by the unicorn, as she bent down, nuzzling him. His thought process broken, he looked up into her bright red gaze, startled at being so close so suddenly, then relaxed by her expression. Though she could not speak, she managed to convey a sort of understanding relatively well.

“Right… sorry about that. Do you have a place we can sit down? I’d like to get to know you a bit, but I think we’ll have to play twenty questions before I make any headway, and my legs are getting tired.” Vinyl backed off from her nuzzle, her horn lighting up with a light blue aura. The human was quickly enveloped as the unicorn carried him through her house.

As she did so, the human took note of the extremely smooth ride her magic provided, almost like wafting across water. Looking around, Anonymous found Vinyl’s house to be very Spartan. A painting here or there, but no musical instruments about like Octavia had at her apartment. No extra pillows on her couches, no stands for decorations… Very bare, if not somewhat isolating. Nothing like the homey feel that Octavia’s apartment had to it. Vinyl jumped up on the couch, depositing the human on the cushion beside her. Turning around, she laid down, keeping her head upright as she waited for the human to do something.

“Well… first things first. We need a better way to communicate. Do you ponies have something like a sign language?” he asked, unsure of what to expect.

In response, Vinyl’s horn lit up. Looking at the space separating the human and herself, Vinyl concentrated. Using her magic, she led streaks through the air like a sparkler would smoke, spelling out ‘kinda.’ After she’d gotten the word out of the way, she unclenched her jaw, relaxing her muscles. Evidently this was not her forte, nor her preferred form of communication. Not to say she really had a choice in the matter.

“Excellent! How much can you write in one go?”

Again Vinyl’s face contorted in one of concentration. Her horn aglow, she spelled out ‘a little,’ in the air. After the words were written, she opened her eyes, relaxing as the words faded from view.

“Alright, we’ll make it work,” Anonymous said, relieved that they’d found a method of communication other than yes or no questions. “Have you been mute all your life?” Vinyl shook her head ‘no’ in response. “What happened?” Once more the unicorn concentrated, a great deal of strain on her features this time. She spelled out ‘an accident,’ in the air, then ‘permanent’ below it. “I’m sorry to hear that,” the human responded.

Vinyl only smiled, giving off a warm effect that contrasted the room in which they sat. Using her magic, she scooted the human closer to herself, pulling him up to sit next to her shoulder. Her coat was exceptionally soft, just as Octavia’s was. In this position, Anonymous’s head came up to just barely under her throat. He was close enough now that he could feel her body rising and falling with her steady breathing. After they’d settled the more comfortable position, she wrote out ‘continue’ in the air.

“Right,” Anonymous said, a bit surprised by her second display of closeness. He’d only just met her, and already she was starting to act like Octavia did. Strange that they would seem so similar; Octavia had left the impression unto Anonymous that she and Vinyl weren’t the best of friends. Not enemies per se, but not on the best of terms. She made sure to re-iterate however, that had she not trusted Vinyl, she wouldn’t have left him with her. “So, what instrument do you play?”

Her calm breathing was replaced by labored breath as she closed her eyes to concentrate once more. Gradually, she spelled out ‘I don’t’ in the air. Being next to her as she did so, Anonymous now had a slightly better understanding of the strain this was putting on her. While she wrote, she would hold her breath, shut her eyes; even her muscles would tense up, making the soft surface that he was resting against firm.

After the words dissipated, Vinyl took a moment to catch her breath. While she did so, Anonymous was swarmed with questions his mind was producing. If she didn’t play an instrument, how did she know Octavia? Why would she have a musical cutie mark if she didn’t play something? Does she not work in the field that her cutie mark suggests?

“Then,” Anonymous said, finally voicing one of his questions, “What is your cutie mark?”

Her laborious processes was repeated, spelling out ‘music.’

“But—“ before he could continue, Vinyl sat up, looking around the room for something. The human had no idea what it could be, seeing as there was very little in the room in the first place. Eventually though, she found what she was looking for, bringing a slim, square envelope over. Laying back down, she extracted a record from the envelope, placing its container on the floor beside the couch. She spun it around a few times, lowering it over to Anonymous so that he could better examine it should he so desire.

Anonymous didn’t need to examine it, he knew what it was. It still didn’t make sense though, you don’t play a record, you put it on a turn table and the table plays it. Why would someone have a cutie mark for putting records on a table? Seeing his confusion, Vinyl spelled out ‘record’ in the air.

“I know what it is, but it’s still confusing,” he said, crossing his arms.

Vinyl set the record aside, looking to where she’d retrieved it. Quickly another record was produced and slipped from its envelope, now to levitate in front of the human. “Okay? You put records on a turntable? I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s what your cutie mark is supposed to represent.” Vinyl rolled her eyes, something the human wouldn’t quite see from his angle. She took the first record and suspended it next to the second. Nudging the human to get up, she pushed him towards the two discs.

Anonymous, having little choice in the matter, proceeded to get a front row view of the levitating records. Looking at them, he found nothing out of the ordinary. They looked identical, save for the label. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more the label stood out… He stood up, examining them closer. Finally, it clicked that one was the original, the other was a remixed version. As the realization dawned on him, Vinyl put the records back in their envelopes, setting them back where she’d retrieved them.

“Ooooohh. Why didn’t you just write ‘DJ’ then?”

Vinyl blinked for a moment before slapping her hoof to her face. Had she the vocal capacity, Anonymous was sure she would’ve groaned. Her face was red with embarrassment, realizing her trivial mistake. She offered up a shrug to the human, a weak smile on her features.

“Oh well. Now I know, at least. That explains why Octavia wasn’t your biggest fan. Could we perchance listen to one of your records? I’d like to hear what you can do.”

Vinyl’s smile weakened at the mention of Octavia’s name, but returned a bit stronger when the human asked to listen to her music. ‘Later,’ she wrote out in the air, now panting from the exertions that air writing was putting on her. ‘Food,’ she wrote under that, getting off the couch. Her legs were a tiny bit shaky after all the writing, but after a good stretch she was fine. She leaned up to the side of the couch, looking to Anonymous.

Slowly he put two and two together, carefully climbing onto her back like he would Octavia. Scooting up, he laid against her neck, clenching at her lower neck with his legs. He’d fallen off of Octavia once or twice before, and it had never been pleasant. The drop wasn’t much, but it left him sore and out of breath, like landing face down in a pool from a diving board. An unpleasant experience, to say the least.

Once he was secure, Vinyl began walking towards a different part of her house. Her muscles shifted below the human as she walked, her shoulders rising and falling just behind his position. Her mane was electric blue, offering an easier security than holding onto her neck. Anonymous mentally slapped himself for never doing this with Octavia. She took note, but didn’t seem to mind much as the human repositioned.

As she walked, the human could hear her breathing. Apparently the air writing took more out of her than he thought, her breathing reminding the human of a long oust jogging. As she carried him through her house, the human began thinking about how communication would work between himself and this mute, musical pony. Something better would have to be conjured up, surely. He hoped that he could figure something up that would not be as strenuous for her so that they could partake in longer conversations.

All thoughts were cast aside at the introduction of a familiar smell: Food. Vinyl placed Anonymous on the counter with her magic, now focusing on the beeping oven. The human watched as she removed two entre dinners that had apparently been cooking while they ‘chatted.’ Both were a cheese lasagna, though one was significantly smaller than the other. She hurriedly set them aside to cool, closing the oven with a gentle kick from her rear right leg.

As she went about removing the food from its metallic containers, Anonymous took the opportunity to observe yet another room of Vinyl’s House: her kitchen. It was Spartan like the rest, very little in terms of color or decorations. A kitchen table of a similar fashion was off towards the empty, left side of the room, apparently having been set prior.

Looking on, he failed to see Vinyl carry two plates of lasagna over to the table, setting one down on either side of the rectangular structure. Once the food had been set out, she walked over to the counter she’d place Anonymous on earlier, leaning down so that her snout was just under the counter. Her large red orbs watched the human, waiting for him to take the hint.

Eventually he did, jumping forward onto her head. Small or not, the human considered it rude to walk on someone’s face. After landing, he slid right into her horn. While it stopped his movement, there was another reaction that came from his grabbing said horn that he didn’t catch. Vinyl bit her lower lip, inhaling sharply. He couldn’t have known what touching a unicorn’s horn did or what it represented, so she let it slide. For now.

Gingerly, she looked up to watch for the human, should he slip off of her head. Not to mention he was holding onto her horn for stability. She wanted to cease the… intimate contact the human was having right now, as soon as possible, lest she make a fool of herself. Once she’d arrived at the table, she lowered her head towards the smaller of the meals, allowing the human to step off. At his size, the silverware was somewhere between a third and half his size, so it might make eating difficult. She hoped not, as she didn’t really have any other silverware to offer.

Standing at the edge of the plate, the human looked down at his food and the utensils provided. While they were larger, they were also not the toothpicks he’d grown accustom to. Octavia, being concerned for his maneuverability and ability to function on his own, had provided him with toothpicks to use in place of forks. It had taken a bit of getting used to, but he had managed. Being given a proper fork and knife… that was going to prove a challenge. Using something half your size to eat was certainly going to be interesting.

Working the fork up, the human managed to hurdle it into the lasagna. Picking up the knife, he held it like one would a joust, plunging it into the lasagna. Vinyl, having been silently giggling at the human’s efforts, couldn’t help but snort when he attacked the lasagna with the knife. The human stopped what he was doing to see where the strange noise had come from, only for his bewildered expression to throw Vinyl into another silent giggle fit.

As she slid out of her chair in a silent fit of laughter, the human resumed attacking his food. It might be unorthodox, but he was going to get it done. As he worked the knife back and forth, deeper into the lasagna, it was enveloped by a light blue aura. Relinquishing his grip, Anonymous looked back and up to find Vinyl. Tears in her eyes and a not-so-subtle smile on her face, she cut some of the lasagna up for the human.

The human approached his more manageable sized bite of lasagna, biting at it much like a hamster would lick at water. As he was eating, albeit a bit messily, Vinyl levitated her silverware over from the other side of the table, eating from the other side of the human’s all too large portion. While she was consuming entire bites, Anonymous was still working on his first. He’d made significant progress, but he didn’t have the physical capacity to eat as much as she could, not even close.

After finishing off Anonymous’s plate of lasagna, Vinyl leaned back in the chair that was at that end of the table. Anonymous, sitting down beside the fairly cleaned fork that had been set aside for him, looked over to Vinyl’s own plate. It was still full, only a corner having been cut off, but never having made it to her mouth. Vinyl huffed at the sight of the plate, levitating it over to the counter.

Today had been a bit of an odd day, more so than most, but overall it had turned out pretty good. Now that dinner had been served and both Vinyl and Anonymous were content, there remained but two things: sleep, and to hear Vinyl’s music.

“So, do I get to hear some of your music now?”

Vinyl turned red again, her horn lighting up to write in the air. She tried to focus, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so after eating. She was far to content and far too settled to write in that manner. Giving up, her horn fizzled out and she shook her head ‘no.’

“What? Well why not?”

Vinyl shifted uneasily in her seat, eventually sitting up straight. She looked around, her eyes eventually landing on the dirty dishes and leftover lasagna. She levitated the plates over to the sink, letting them clatter into its basin. Satisfied that that should get the message across, she leaned back in her chair, eyeing Anonymous warily. She performed for throes of ponies, why was it that one little creature was giving her butterflies in her stomach?

“Oh, right, the dishes. Do you need any help?”

Again, Vinyl shook her head ‘no.’

“Well, alright. Is there anything I can do? At all?”

Vinyl put her hoof to her chin in thought, considering the human’s offer. At his size, there wasn’t really all that much he could help with. At least, not yet. His being helpful would require a bit of modification around the house so that he could be mobile on his own, but until that happened… Eventually she shrugged, gently levitating the human onto her back as she got off of the chair.

Anonymous held on like before, gripping her electric blue mane instead of her neck. She had a scent to her that he couldn’t quite place… It wasn’t unpleasant, rather appealing actually, but he couldn’t quite pin down what it was. The journey this time took them upstairs, down a hall, and into a room. This room turned out to be the most colorful room in the house, having streaks of dark colors running along the edges of the walls.

In the center of the room was a bed, a deep velvety purple comforter atop some plush white pillows. Looking around the room, Anonymous eventually came to the conclusion that this was Vinyl’s bedroom. Why had she taken him here? Expecting the question, Vinyl walked over to an end table to answer it. Upon the table was a pillow and a small towel. Gently, Anonymous was placed upon the miniature bed via Vinyl’s magic. After making sure the human wasn’t going to fall off or get himself injured, Vinyl smiled and left the room.

Strange that she would have him sleep in the same room as her, though it did make sense. It was a bit odd when Octavia did something similar, but it wasn’t something that really concerned him or made him worried. Looking around, the human took in the refreshing brush of color from the rest of the house. The walls weren’t white, instead a dark grey, lined by dark colors. Purples and blues mostly, with a little dark red here and there. It was certainly a sight to behold, and, judging from the state of the room, not one many others were allowed to witness.

Sitting on the bed-pillow with not much to do, Anonymous continued to observe the room. Everything here had been nearly silent, yet now he could hear the faintest of musical notes. Some were almost electronic in nature, others were more akin to simulated instruments, and others still bore a striking similarity to the actual instrument. Closing his eyes, the human focused on the sounds, guessing that Vinyl was playing a record downstairs.

His curiosity got the best of him though, and the human slid off of the pillow. Carefully, he climbed down the end table, jumping the last foot or so. Standing up from his little tumble, he walked across the floor to the door, laying down to listen through the gap at the bottom. The music wasn’t like anything he’d heard before. Instruments that sounded electronic were mixed in with what sounded like an orchestra. The orchestra was playing… something, and the electronic music was backing it up. It wasn’t at all unpleasant to listen to, and the human wanted to hear more.

Taking on a rather foolish endeavor, the human looked around for a way to open the door. Vinyl had closed it on her way back out, and he was too big to squeeze through the gap. Looking around, Anonymous’s eyes landed on the bed as he formulated a plan. After taking one of the pillows, he leaned it up against the wall, climbing up to the knob. It was still a bit of a jump, but at least he could make a soft landing now. Leaping forward and grabbing onto the knob, he promptly lost his grip and fell right back down onto the pillow.

Trying once more, he repositioned the pillow, climbing up and lunging once more. This time he managed to keep his balance and grip, getting the knob in a death grip. Panting, he now realized he had to turn said knob. Carefully, he worked himself around the knob, eventually winding up upright atop it. Leaning forward, it was a simple matter to twist the knob, the lock opening easily. As it was opened, Anonymous was presented with yet another hurdle: actually opening the door while the lock was released.

Holding the knob, he began to hump wildly against it, trying desperately to push the door open. When it didn’t budge much at all, he looked over to find that his pillow was against the door, preventing it from swinging open. Groaning at his own plan’s detrimental effects, he began humping again. If he could just get it to the point where it wouldn’t slide back, he could open it…

Soon enough, he succeeded. His thighs were sore and he was panting, but he’d gotten the door wedged. Quickly he leapt off towards the pillow, realizing on the way down that his landing might very well close the door. Landing with a soft thud, he looked up, watching the door slide forward ever so gently. When he didn’t hear a click, he shoved the pillow to the side. Kneeling down, he reached through the gap, pulling the door towards him. As he tugged, it slowly pulled open towards him.

Jumping for joy, the human ran to the side of the door, pulling it open with ease so that he could get through. Now in the hallway, he could focus once more on the music he was hearing. Following the sounds down the hallway, he came to the stairs from earlier. He had to be careful here, one slip up and he could be in for the rug burn of his life. One by one, he sat down on the edge of one stair to slide down to the next. It was a slow, careful process, but it worked.

Eventually he made it to the living room at the bottom of the stairs. Following the sounds, he turned a corner and wound up in the kitchen. The sink was running, and the orchestra music was playing just loud enough to be heard over it. Then, as he listened, he picked up on the electronic music overlaying the orchestra he’d heard earlier. Peering around the corner of the counter, he found Vinyl.

She was scrubbing away at the dishes with her hooves, a smile on her face and her eyes lidded with contentment. Her horn was aglow, but the human couldn’t figure out what she was manipulating with it. He looked on, trying to figure out what she was doing with magic, when it dawned on him. Her magical aura around her horn was pulsing in time with the electronic music overlaying the orchestra. She was humming, with magic.

Chapter 2

The human didn’t say much of anything, instead walking out to the middle of the kitchen floor. From there, he had a front row seat to Vinyl’s ‘humming.’ She continued to pitch in her own melody along with the orchestral music, cleaning dishes as she did so. Something so incredibly simple, she was probably doing it without much thought at all.

Why though? Why would a magical humming be so easy, when something like air writing was so difficult? Magic was something the human didn’t fully understand. Having been living with Octavia for most of his time in Equestria, he’d actually had very little exposure to it. The earth pony had been extremely protective of the human, especially once she’d gotten to know him a bit more. After his experience with Lyra, Anonymous had very little desire to study magic at all.

As she continued humming and cleaning the last of the dishes, it dawned on Anonymous as to why this type of magic would be so much easier for her than something like air writing: her cutie mark. Octavia had tried to explain cutie marks to the human once before, but his understanding was something along the lines of they were to represent a specialty for ponies. Seeing Vinyl hum helped the human figure them out a bit more though.

Vinyl could ‘hum’ easily, possibly without a second thought, like he would writing back home. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense: humming like that was musical, and her cutie mark was that of music. Something related to music anyways. Both Vinyl and Octavia had very… non-specific musical cutie marks. Octavia’s had been a cleft, while Vinyl’s was a pair of connected eighth notes. Both were related to music, not a single instrument or style, just music.

Octavia could play several instruments, she simply preferred the Cello. What could Vinyl play if she put her mind to it? What did her cutie mark tell about her? She was good at music, but how? Composing, perhaps, but what else? All questions ground to a halt once the human realized the music had stopped. Vinyl was red in the cheeks, her horn no longer lit. The human continued to simply stare at the embarrassed unicorn, not sure of how to proceed. They’d both been ‘caught,’ so to speak.

Had he offended her by leaving her room? By listening to her humming without announcing himself? Was she actually offended? Was she angry with him? New questions began to swirl around the human’s mind, garnering a mild headache. Neither of them moved for several moments; lost in trying to figure out what to do. Finally, the human spoke up.

“S-sorry,” he said, awkwardly fumbling over the word. It almost felt foreign to say.

Vinyl of course said nothing, still blushing profusely. She could make no decision as to what she should do or how to act. Her isolationist lifestyle meant that she had very few, if any, house guests. When she went on tours or concerts, she only barely communicated with her staff. No pony had ever heard her hum before, she was certain of it. Not even Octavia.

The unicorn was utterly baffled as to what to do. What did the human think of her now? So crippled that she needed magic to hum… She was so confused, so lost in this position that she momentarily forgot she was mute, attempting to speak to the human. As she mouthed the first bit of ‘it’s okay,’ the silent air flowing out of her mouth caused her to cease that course of action almost immediately.

Now the human was just confused even further. Vinyl had tried to say something, despite being mute. No words came, only a quiet breath. When she’d realized what she’d done, she looked away from Anonymous. Looking carefully, he was certain he could spot the tell-tale signs of tears starting to form. Cautiously, he approached her. Another disadvantage to being this size relative to the natives, was that it wasn’t easy to comfort them-especially ones you don’t know.

But, he made the best of the situation that he could, eventually winding up staring her right in the chest. Well, the curve of her chest. Looking up one more time to see if he’d been noticed, he did the next thing that came to his mind. Leaning forward, he hugged her as best his form would allow. His right arm tugging on her lower shoulder, his left gripping at her soft chest.

Vinyl was, once more, stunned at the human’s actions. Looking down, she found him in some kind of awkward hug on her left leg and chest. What did she do now? Should she hug him back? Should she reject hi-no. The more she thought about that, the more upset she became. Deciding to go with what came naturally to her, she returned the hug with her right hoof, gently pinning the human to her.

When she returned his gesture, Anonymous sighed in relief. At least she wasn’t pissed. Well, so far. “I’m sorry,” he repeated into her chest. Backing out of the embrace, he pushed back against her hoof which easily gave way. Looking up, he continued his apology. “I didn’t mean to stare at you like that. I heard some music that I hadn’t heard before, so I followed it down here.” Vinyl did nothing, the faintest hints of tears still in her eyes.

The human stood awkwardly, feeling more like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar or something. He shuffled on his feet before finally speaking up to break the silence. "For what it's worth, you uh... hum? I don't know what else to call it, but you hum pretty good for a mute unicorn," he said, half-chuckling. Vinyl smiled ever so slightly, warming up to the compliment; something that made the human a bit more at ease. "So, I don't mean to be a spoil sport or anything, but why don't you just 'talk' like that?"

When Vinyl furrowed her brow in confusion, the human elaborated. "If you can make sounds like that with your magic, why don't you just talk with your magic?" As Vinyl processed what the human had said, he thought about what he'd seen so far of this unicorn. Music was her specialty, not so much sounds. Going on a hunch, he figured that the reasoning for her humming so easily was because it was related to music, unlike speech. Then again... While the thought of living in a musical didn't exactly appeal to him, it was something to consider.

Vinyl had taken a look of determination, shutting her eyes as her horn lit up once more. Some strange sounding low resonance sounds emanated from... somewhere, but they were cut short by some pops and sizzling noises. After her first attempt failed, she opened her eyes, panting. "Well, it was worth a shot," the human said, pondering his ideas further. "Maybe you could sing?" Vinyl's blush was reaction enough to figure out her stance on that idea. She shut her eyes, hastily spelling out 'no singing' in the air. For whatever reason, she was not a fan of the idea of singing. Anonymous was only slightly relieved to know that he wouldn't be living in a sing song musical, but his mind twisted and churned away at this new found insight to Vinyl's magic.

If it was music related somehow, she had an easier time with her magic. Ergo, writing something in the air was extremely difficult, but possible; while humming was almost second nature at this point. "Well, at least now I have a project," Anonymous mumbled to himself, hand on chin as he contemplated possible methods of communication. He had this sinking feeling that air writing would only go so far for so long. Vinyl yawned, signaling that it was indeed getting late, despite the human's discovery. She walked forward, turning out the light in the kitchen as she levitated the human to her back.

A brief moment of panic later and the human was secured in her mane once more. The short walk up the stairs, with the human lost in thought, gave Vinyl some time to her own thoughts. She had been against this idea of watching Tavi's little human. At first, anyways. She figured if Tavi liked him, then he was probably just as stuck up and boring as she was. He could wind up to be just as boring, but so far he'd managed to get her heart pounding at least once the first day since they'd met. For such a stupid reason too! It's not like humming was taboo or something!

Vinyl snorted at the thought; humming being taboo... It's just plain silly! Still... If it was so silly a thought, why was she so embarrassed to have a human catch her doing it? The little devil had been talkative up till now. Most ponies were sorta awkward around Vinyl if they were alone with her; not being able to verbally communicate left a somewhat awkward silence more often than not. Vinyl wasn't completely friendless though. More than a few ponies knew her when she could speak, and most of them held onto that friendship after she became mute.

As she snuggled down into the bed though, she became more and more aware of what her new friend was also realizing. She may be mute, but she could still communicate effectively. It had barely been an entire day with Anonymous, and already she was getting ideas in her head about this and that. If the two weren't careful, they were going to wind up being friends.

Despite rumors from other ponies with disabilities, Vinyl’s hearing hadn't really improved after becoming mute. Be it one reason or another, she was the same pony, save for the lack of speech. At nearly three in the morning though, she was still wide awake. Though her hearing hadn't improved, she knew that the smaller human had fallen asleep. She should be too, but the reason she wanted to sleep was the reason she couldn't. Someone had to rely on her. She hadn't really been put in a position quite like this since she'd become mute. Sure she'd had deadlines before or run errands for someone else, but this? This was different.

The human currently on her nightstand was going to have to rely on her for food, shelter, protection, and who knows what else! She turned over in her bed, looking into the darkness where the human's pillow was. Octavia had said that the little guy was more than capable of looking after himself, but the way she said it made Vinyl think that Octavia didn't really mean it. He wasn't super tiny, but if a good sized cat wanted a fight, Vinyl wasn't so sure who would win... The level of responsibility loomed over her head, staving off the need to sleep.

Sighing, she rolled over again, twisting the comforter as she put her back to the nightstand. What a mess she'd gotten herself into this time...

Author's Note

Quite a bit shorter than the previous chapter, but it felt like a good place to stop.

Chapter 3

Tossing and turning all night is no way to sleep. It tends to indicate a significant lack thereof, actually. Still, Vinyl rose from her disheveled bed, scratching her ear with a hind hoof as she sat up. One day down, three weeks to go... Sighing, she looked over to where the little demon was sleeping. Rather, where he was supposed to be sleeping. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized the door had opened and that Anonymous was no longer in his little bed.

Jumping out of bed, Vinyl’s legs lazily informed her that she wasn't quite that awake yet. Standing up properly, she shook her head, clearing the dust that had no doubt stuck to her face after that frontal impact. She walk/tripped over to the open bedroom door, worrying with every step that she would somehow squish the little alien. He was bigger than that, certainly, but that didn't stop her mind from wandering to the dangerous realms of what-if.

Having finally gotten her legs to cooperate with her mind, she made her way down the steps and into the kitchen. Having arrived there, she briefly paused to wonder just why she'd thought to look on the bottom floor first... Her stomach, or some kind of intuition? Going with the latter for posterity's sake, she looked around, eyes scanning franticly for Anonymous.

Appliance after appliance, the realization that a small alien would not hide in a toaster dawned on the mare. Mentally, she cursed her muteness. Had she been able to call out, surely she would've found him by now. The near luminescent light bulb that populated itself over her head almost gave off enough light to blind the unicorn. Without really thinking much more about it, she started to hum. When mere sparks flew from her horn, she realized it wasn't that easy. Nothing ever was when it needed to be...

"Vinyl?"

The sound of her name caused another heart skip as she turned on a dime, finding the human at the bottom of the stairs. As he wiped sleep from his eyes, he continued his previous thought.

"What are you doing?"

Stricken with relief over fears she'd created all her own, the white unicorn plopped to the floor. Letting a wayward sigh escape her lips, she cast the human a glare that was somewhere between annoyed and grateful. It was all her own stupid imagination, but she was still worried about him. She watched his little feet carry him over to her, still in the same clothing he'd worn the previous day. His head of hair indicated that he'd had the same issue she did sleeping. When he arrived at her front, he reached up and placed a hand on her foreleg.

"Everything okay?"

She turned her head to the side, sighing as she thought it over. Yeah... she was fine... The warmth of the human's hand slowly brought her back to reality. The feeling she had now was one of many she didn't know the name for. Idly, her horn lit up, and a warm, soft electronic sound began to play. As she hummed, she rolled her eyes at her own silliness. Blowing a lock of her mane from her face, she stood up. Still humming that same, soft tune, it started to fluctuate.

The quick little beat suited the morning well. Anonymous was obviously affected by it, his tiredness quickly departing his body. The unicorn wandered around, gathering some bowls and some cereal for breakfast. She had acted rather silly, the tune from her horn was silly, and... well, this whole morning was plain silly. Fair to say though, however silly it might be, Vinyl's mood was definitely better than it had been in quite some time.

The morning chase now tucked away, Vinyl went about making something to eat. Normally a fairly easy task for the unicorn; she would simply sleep right through breakfast time and skip to an early lunch. Being up early enough to eat breakfast was throwing her off. How do ponies figure this stuff out? What's good for breakfast? Toast, right? Yeah, toast sounds good. The magic humming was cut in volume, but not enough that it couldn't be heard by those paying attention.

While Vinyl was going about her business making something to eat, Anonymous tasked himself with a much more daunting feat: sitting down at the table. Well, not really daunting anymore. After living with Octavia for a while, the human's upper arm strength and overall athletic ability had improved quite a bit. Reaching up to the seat of the chair, he jumped the last little distance to get a good grip and hoist himself upwards. Being now chest high with the table, he repeated the process and got himself onto the cool surface.

As he went about cleaning up the table-what little there was to be cleaned-he pondered a question that he'd caught himself dwelling more and more recently. What would become of him? It was a question that plagued the human from time to time, especially on nights where Octavia had come home late and he was left to his own devices. Simple tasks like feeding yourself aren't so easy when you're the relative size of a smaller house cat. Having to rely on these ponies for the rest of his days was a rather... unsettling thought.

Not to say that he doubted their abilities; rather he doubted fate and happenstance. He now knew, or at least thought he knew, what it might be like to be disabled. He didn't consider himself disabled, but he could not deny that he was at the mercy of these ponies, for better or for worse. Shrugging the rather grim thought to the back of his mind, he shifted to focusing on the more positive morning that had sprung up. Tavi had been right, despite his initial hesitations and begging to go with her.

Vinyl was turning out to be not that bad after all. The only thing Octavia had said about the unicorn was that she was sure the two would 'get along quite well.' As if to confirm the thought, Anonymous was stirred by the plates of toast being set down. He quickly glanced from his two slices to Vinyl's four, to the unicorn herself. She was still humming, but the tune had slowed and decreased in pitch ever so slightly. She nodded her head towards the human's plate, encouraging him to dig in as she took her seat.

Reaching for the first slice, the human tugged it off of its companion, pulling the slice to the edge of the plate. Easier access now acquired, he prepared to begin his argument with the butter knife. Vinyl watched the entire spectacle, entranced by how well the human had taken to utensils and food that were far out proportioned for him. She had to give Tavi credit, the little guy could probably rough it on his own if he really needed to. Even still, house cats...

As the human spread some butter unto his toast, he was directed to something he'd yet to deal with: a squeezable condiment container. Toast wasn't complete without jelly, but this jelly wasn't in a jar like Octavia kept it. Still, he worked the hefty beast into submission, eventually maneuvering the head to the edge of the plate. As he started squeezing the bottle, Vinyl decided to pitch in and help, giving it a gentle squeeze of encouragement with her magic. Had Anonymous been expecting it, he probably wouldn't have landed on his buttered toast.

Thoroughly coated in the greasy substance, Anonymous sighed as he slid down the slice of bread. Picking his head up, he began crawling off of the toast and onto the plate. Vinyl watched, halfway between stifling laughter and choking on her own breakfast toast. If she'd been less careful, something would've probably come out of her nose. She had been idly humming away, enjoying the free feeling she got when doing so around Anonymous.

She wasn't paying the utmost attention to her humming, it had almost faded into a background bodily function, not unlike breathing. The tune became airy and bubbly, the tone shifting to something akin to bells. As the sound grew more intense, the more Vinyl's body started to enact the laughing. As Anonymous stood up, wiping the butter from his body, he picked up on the new tune. Unsure how to feel, he turned around, now getting a full view of Vinyl making all the physical signs of laughter, only for the sound he expected to be replaced by the bubbly tune.

Seeing Anonymous’ face threw Vinyl into a harder fit of mute laughter. After swallowing her mouthful of toast, the tempo of the giggle-tune increased, pausing only when Vinyl snorted. Hearing her body make a sound like that gave cause for Vinyl to pause in her laughter, slowly realizing what she'd done. Though she may be mute, that didn't mean she didn't have air pipes. Or that she was immune from the fit of laughter that followed someone snorting during laughter.

Her hooves now on her belly, she leaned back, tears in her eyes. The giggle fest, although not traditional, was still just as infectious. Soon Anonymous found himself unable to avoid chuckling, despite his butter coated state. This entire morning, if not existence, was absurd. But here, right now, gave light to the revelation that not everything has to be figured out now. Not everything has a deadline, and not everything need be so serious. He felt a warmness he'd only felt a few times before, most of which had been when cuddling with Tavi.

Eventually, the two did manage to stop laughing. Vinyl had made it to the floor in a fit of laughter; Anonymous was sitting down on the table, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm his diaphragm. As the laughter faded, Vinyl briefly wondered why she was 'laughing' so hard. Replaying the scenario in her head, she decided it was best not to dwell on that thought too much, lest the giggling return.

Making it back up to her chair, she looked around the table for the butter covered human. She was still smiling so hard it hurt, but she'd calmed down enough to focus. Anonymous had still made a mess of himself, and the poor human hadn't gotten a chance to actually eat breakfast. She found him right where she left him, sitting in a pool of butter on the table. Most of it had melted, likely soaking through to his bones, but he was otherwise fine. Inhaling, she focused on continuing to calm down, eventually exhaling to blow a lock of her mane out of her face.

After finally calming down, the human made it to his feet, slinging off decent sized globs of melted butter. Vinyl wasn't too sure what to do now, and the more she thought about the human covered in butter, the more her mind dared her to re-think the situation that led to this. She resisted though, as difficult as it was to fight off the giggles. Instead she focused on a new problem: the human was now soaked in butter, and that certainly had to feel not so great to wake up to. Being soaked in butter was only really useful for a couple of things, both of which she was sure Tavi would have her head on a platter for if she attempted on the human. Though...

"Well, so much for breakfast," the human said, peeling his shirt off.

Vinyl shrugged, having not really spend too much time on breakfast before anyways. Such is the life of DJ that works on their own schedule. More or less. Concentrating, she wrote out a proposal to the human: 'bath?'

"If you put me in a pot of water and call it a bath, I swear I'll sabotage your bedroom with Legos."

Not a hundred percent sure what Legos were, Vinyl still snickered. She shook her head though, re-assuring the human that she would do no such thing. He made a good point though, there wasn't any really good way for him to bathe. Not on his own. What had Tavi done to resolve this dilemma? For some reason, thinking of asking the human this question made her feel all sorts of awkward, so she held off in doing so. Maybe she should just bathe with him? It was that or the sink, which was really making her feel weird. Maybe if she let him pick, it'd make her feel a little... less skiddish.

She gripped his shirt with her magic, holding it in place as she offered her back to the human. Taking the offer, he climbed aboard and held on to her mane. As she carried him up the stairs to the bathroom, a funny thought struck her mind. While he was distracted with not falling off, she gave his buttered shirt a quick lick. The flavor was... different. Something she hadn't tasted before. The fact that she wanted to taste it again almost made her trip over her own hooves. Pushing the thought away for further investigation later, she opened the door to the bathroom and moved to the counter for Anonymous to hop off of her.

With the human now on the counter, she closed the door and set his shirt on the other corner of the counter. She wrote the two choices for the human above their respective appliances: 'sink' and 'shower' both held in the air for as long as she could muster. They fizzled out after a few seconds, her ragged breathing evident that that was all the time the human was going to get to examine his options.

"The sink is a bit small, and I'm too small to work the shower. Not sure where you were going with this," he said, giving Vinyl a quizzical look.

The unicorn sighed, trying to think of a way to better describe his options. She moved to the shower herself, turning to face him from within the still open shower door. Once more, she wrote his options in the air. This time, her heart beat increased as the human appeared to process what she was offering.

Anonymous gulped. On one hand, he didn't want to offend his host. On the other, he didn't want to offend Tavi, should she find out. Which, she would, because he couldn't live with himself if he did what he thought Vinyl was suggesting and didn't tell Tavi. She was going to bathe him? Tavi hadn't even done that before. Ponies were naked all the time, but he was hardly naked around them, and the thought of showering with Vinyl was... exciting. And terrifying. Maybe he was over thinking this? Maybe it was just an innocent shower? Right. Shower, with Vinyl 'cleaning' him. Innocent. Maybe it would be innocent to her, but certainly not to him.

"I don't mean to sound rude," he said, careful around his words. "But maybe I should take the sink."

Vinyl was understandably confused, given his recent expressed distaste towards the sink previously. Yet, at the same time, she was disappointed. A part of her really wanted to share an intimate moment with the little guy; but she wasn't too sure why that was. Was she crushing on him? That would be just fan-freaking-tastic. Still, she managed to prevent herself from showing too much disappointment, or so she hoped. She nodded her acceptance to the human's suggestion, walking over and turning on the faucet for him. She focused on getting the temperature to something that she thought would be comfortable, filling the sink for Anonymous.

Anonymous simply stood in place as Vinyl drew his sink bath. He wasn't sure if he was feeling shame for wanting to shower with Vinyl, or if he was feeling guilty for trying to keep his distance from her. Whatever it was though, he didn't like it. So much for a light hearted morning... Maybe after this bath he could think without the hormonal influence of a teenager.

Of course, bath wasn't exactly the appropriate term for what the human was doing in the sink. Was it the most accurate? Sure. The most appropriate though? Sure as hell didn't feel like it. Using hand (hoof?) soap, the human went through the motions of bathing just as he did with Octavia. While she took a more personal role in cleaning him, it was that very interest and involvement that prevented him from getting into the shower with Vinyl. As much as he wanted to, it rubbed him all sorts of wrong ways.

To think, this week wasn't even half over, and it was the first of three...

As the human went about cleaning himself, he began to question what exactly he and Octavia really had. Was he in a relationship? Kind of? The more he thought about these questions, the more upsetting they became. Vinyl, who had since started her own shower, was plagued with her own version of similar questions. She stood on her hind legs, one hoof on the wall of the shower so that she could wash her face. It was a comfortable pose, more or less, but it led her mind to thoughts regarding the human.

Did she really have a crush on him? How was that even possible? She was a pony, he wasn't, it was as simple as that. Hell, she wasn't even sure Octavia felt that way about him. She'd always thought Tavi had talked about Anonymous more as a close pet than a companion. Did she though? Was this pet sitting to her? It didn't feel like any pet sitting she'd done before... and the human didn't strike her as something to be kept as a pet. Why would she have a crush on something so small? Something so alien?

Her own mood shifted and grated over this thought, more so what she was going to do about it. She had been tasked with the human for three weeks, and this first one wasn't even close to being over. Should she even be in the same room with him right now? What did Octavia do to clean him? Did she do anything, or did she leave him to his own devices? Was she being over bearing? Was she being to forward or open? Why was this so hard?

She tried to not think about it so much, instead focusing on cleaning herself. This made the time go by just a little bit faster for her, bringing her back to reality when she shut the water off. She had to face the human again. Calm. Just focus. There's nothing complicated about this. Sliding the shower door aside, she stepped out and pulled a towel from the counter adjacent to the shower. As she dried herself off, she approached the sink where she'd left the human. Wiping her face one last time, she draped the towel over her body and gave her attention to the human.

Something Anonymous wasn't exactly expecting nor wanting, especially in his current thought process. Seeing Vinyl's head next to the counter startled him, causing him to swim to the closest side of the sink in an attempt to hide his unmentionables. Vinyl hadn't really been paying enough attention to see anything, but he didn't know that. She did notice his strange behavior though, and cocked her head to the side with a rather inquisitive look on her features.

"I uh... I'm still naked," the human said, still trying his hardest to make himself as decent as one could while bathing.

Vinyl continued her gaze, raising an eyebrow at his explanation. So what? Ponies were naked all the time.

"Can," he said, shuffling along the sink. "Can you look away? For a minute?" he asked, desperate for her to indulge in his request.

She did just that, though she was still confused about the whole situation. Having figured the clothing was more of a formality for the first night or something, she thought he would be naked like a pony was more often. Apparently not. This would be a topic for 'discussion' later, one she would certainly have to bring up.

That thought struck her. She'd never looked forward or even really thought about conversing with someone before. Sure they'd never stayed at her house either, but even still. Casual conversation had become alien to her after she'd lost her voice, the closest she'd gotten since then being Octavia or screaming fans during a concert. While she was lost in thought, the human found a washcloth and wrapped himself in it.

"Okay, I'm decent now," he said, more relieved than he expected to be.

Vinyl turned back to face the human, her face contorted in thought about this that and the other, all having been brought up by the human. Maybe not directly, but he'd played a major role in bringing them up. She moved so that her side was to the sink, waiting for Anonymous to climb aboard. Once he was secure, she carried him back to her bedroom, shutting the door as she moved to the dresser where his bed was.

The human said nothing, getting dressed as fast as possible. He didn't want to think about Octavia's reaction to knowing that he'd been naked in the same room as Vinyl. Last time he was naked with another pony, he was almost used as a toy. Violently. Pushing Lyra's assault out of his mind, he continued to dress himself. Once he was decent, he turned to face Vinyl once more; a bit more relaxed about the whole situation now that he had a layer of cloth between his skin and the air.

The sight he was greeted with shouldn't have affected him, but it did. Something about her inquiring gaze and wet mane made Anonymous feel like he shouldn't be looking at her. Like she was naked. This was true of course; if she was like most other ponies, she was naked ninety percent of the time. The wet mane and towel draped across her back though...

"Should I uh," he said, his hand approaching the back of his head. "Do you need me to look away?"

Vinyl stared at him blankly, completely oblivious to why she would need him to look away. Apparently humans were awkward about nudity. Had she been making him uncomfortable all day? That thought further deteriorated her mind's state. Focusing, she wrote a question in the air for the human.

'Should I wear something?' hung in the air, a question that Vinyl wasn't sure how to feel about. While she was unsure of it, the human was having an even tougher time. Should she? Does she really need to? No! Of course not! Why was he getting aroused at the question!

"N-no!" he said, sitting down in an attempt to hid his body's reaction to the question.

Sighing relief, mostly at the thought of having to dig something up from her limited wardrobe, Vinyl shrugged off the towel, letting it fall to the floor. Her coat was dry enough, but her mane was still weighed down by water, retaining the wet mane look effectively. She had no intention of drying out her mane though; it seemed to have a mind of its own when she tried to fight with it.

'So,' she wrote in the air, realizing just how much daylight they had left to spend together. 'Now what?'

This question wasn't quite what Anonymous had been expecting.

"What? Well, what do you normally do during the week?"

Vinyl’s solemn response was a shrug. Typically she was still asleep right now, so she was lost as to what to do.

"Tavi is usually gone for the entirety of the day; I don't see her very much until the weekends or if she comes home early."

'What do you do?' she wrote, sitting down in the middle of the floor while she awaited a response.

"Whatever Tavi needs me to do. I'm too small for any decent paying job, so I try to help out around the house." Vinyl's gaze picked away at the human's defenses. Eventually he broke down and added "and she doesn't feel comfortable with me going out on my own."

That sounded more like Tavi. If she was as protective of this human as she was her cello, she knew where he was and what he was doing more often than not. Which, ignited a thought. A deviously fun sort of thought.

'Wanna see the city?' she wrote.

Chapter 4

Canterlot. Now, this was a place Anonymous hadn't seen very much of. Octavia had taken him on trips every now and again, but nothing like this. Octavia's house had seemed so large, so all inclusive that it could be its own world. Of course this wasn't the case, and the human knew that. He still wasn't prepared for just how large the city was. It was nothing like he remembered. The more Vinyl trotted around, the more wonder-filled he became. With the human clinging to her mane, she continued her mute tour.

It was something she herself hadn't done very much of. Explore, that is. She knew the city and she knew how to get to where she needed to, but she'd never taken the time to look at what else is going on in the royal city. The place seemed to never sleep, just as busy now as when she usually was out and about. Walking about now, she was considering if it had been a mistake to wear her goggles. Only a few ponies seemed to recognize her, and even then they seemed too busy in their own business to offer more than a nod.

Not that she was complaining. It felt good to sort of blend in like that. The attention and everything was great, but she'd found herself spending more and more time alone lately. Not depressed or anything, she just wanted to sit back and relax a bit more. The Sun high in the sky, the sound of ponies hustling about, discussing all manner of things... It was a white noise. One that she wasn't unfamiliar with, but she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. It was busy, and it seemed to get louder if she focused on it.

So, in keeping with her tour idea, she focused on the human on her back instead of the noise of the city. She would turn her head and point to various buildings, enjoying hearing the human's comments. He knew what some of the buildings were, but he was clueless when it came to the ones Vinyl frequented. With, one exception of course. That would be her final stop during the tour though, no need to spoil her favorite recreation area so soon. For now, she decided to treat the human to a treat, maybe make up for how goofy and silly she's been acting.

"What on Earth is this place?" he inquired, looking up to try and catch a glimpse of the sign.

Vinyl was too quick though, and he was left to guessing as Vinyl found a table. It was a restaurant, that was for sure, but it was one he'd never been to. He wasn't sure if it was fancy or ironic or some twisted combination of the two, but whatever was cooking in the back smelled delicious. His thought process was interrupted as Vinyl found a seat, plucking him up with her magic. The non-corporeal embrace was one that still freaked him out, but he was getting more and more used to it as he spent time with Vinyl.

She pulled up a menu that was at the side of the table, splaying it out so that the human could get a better look. He tried his best to not walk on the thing, but it was becoming more of a chore to avoid doing so towards the middle of the menu. While he investigated, Vinyl shrugged off her saddle bags, setting them on one of the empty chairs. The menu boasted the restaurant’s name, something fancy and pompous that Vinyl wasn't too interested in getting correct. She was more interested in the food rather than the name, anyways.

"This place has burgers?"

That... hadn't been what Vinyl was expecting. Knowing full well that the human had essentially lived with Octavia since he'd arrived in Equestria, she figured he would have acquired similar tastes in food. Heck, that's why she picked here instead of places she normally went. She nodded, albeit slowly, to confirm the humans question.

"I haven't had a burger in a long time," he said, trailing off. "Ah, I bet the filly's meal portion is still bigger than I am."

If the human wanted a burger, then by the stars Vinyl was going to get him a burger. She retrieved her pen and paper that she carried around; a method of ordering that had become quite handy after losing her voice. Setting the notepad to the side of the menu, she took down some notes for the waitress, whenever she finally decided to show herself. It was an odd request, but Vinyl had mustered up this reputation of being just a little odd herself, so it didn't really bother her too much.

Deciding to go ahead and indulge herself as well, Vinyl decided to order a burger too. She'd been sticking to salads and the like lately, but that was more for the simplicity of ordering than anything. Maybe a small salad... Scribbling her order down, she added two glasses of water as the waitress finally showed up. Before she even had a chance to go through her welcome speech, Vinyl moved the paper over to her.

"My apologies for taking so long, I'll get this right out!" the unicorn said, quickly heading back towards the kitchen.

She'd been so fast, the human didn't even notice until she was running off.

"Did the waitress already come by?" he asked, walking to the edge of the table to peek. "I haven't ordered yet," he grumbled, looking back to Vinyl for help.

Smiling, she nodded and folded the menu up, placing it alongside the others. She'd given the waitress very specific instructions, wanting to make sure that she improved whatever relations she had with the human. While she was likely making a mountain out of a molehill, she couldn't shake the urge to be absolutely sure.

When the orders came out to the table, Vinyl was relieved to see that the special order she'd placed had been fulfilled accurately. Though, the waitress still passed on the question from the cook: "What is this, a meal for ants?"

She took no offense, merely nodding towards the human as the plate was set down. The waitress glanced at him and didn't seem to give him a second thought, instead returning to her duties with other tables. Seeing that Vinyl had ordered the same thing he had, save for much larger, the human proceeded to dig in. Best not to tempt fate by turning down yet another offer from the unicorn. Plus, it was a burger! A delicious one for sure, and something he hadn't had in quite some time. His time to savor it was cut short though. While Vinyl was chewing her second, rather large and unlady like bite, another voice gathered her attention.

"Vinyl? Is that you?"

The voice alone was enough to make the human set down his food and run directly towards Vinyl. He knew that voice, and he didn't want to be anywhere near its owner. Vinyl looked down, her goggles since propped up on her head as she chewed her bite and swallowed. This human was strange, but she could see that he was on edge, for whatever reason.

"Hide me," he hissed, looking back towards where the voice had come from. "Please, don't let her see me."

Vinyl wasn't sure exactly why he needed to hide from a pony like Lyra, but he seemed more than sincere in his request. Though, she didn't have many options in terms of a place to hide him... Her saddle bags were in the other chair, and Lyra was approaching fast. She opened her mouth in some kind of 'where?' gesture, and Anonymous seemed to take that as an offer. He jumped upwards, catching her teeth; this motion in turn caused her to jerk her head downwards, around the human's head.

She gagged for a second, completely unsure of what to do in this situation, but the human kept working himself into her mouth. He was a tight fit, a bit of him dangling down into her throat, but he did fit. Her lips practically kissing the table as the human adjusted himself inside her mouth, Vinyl slowly picked her head back up. It made enough sense: she wouldn't have to open her mouth being mute, but had their positions been reversed, she couldn't say that it would've been her first choice.

Her mouth watered at the new occupant, the human's legs in her throat daring her to try and swallow. She didn't though, retaining a rather incredible amount of self-control as the human tried to squeeze the life out of her tongue.

"I'll explain everything later, just do two things: don't let Lyra see me, and don't swallow," he hissed, holding her slimy appendage close.

Several feelings hit Vinyl at once. First off, that the human tasted absolutely divine. The squirming and shifting in her mouth and the incredible desire to gulp was doing something for her, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. She was confused, starting to get maybe just a hint of arousal, and now her stomach was growling despite the massive bites she'd been taking. This was going to take quite a bit of explaining, from everyone involved, after this was over...

Carefully, she pressed Anonymous against the roof of her mouth. Holding him in place as hard as she could, she swallowed around him in an attempt to not drool all over herself. Now she was tasked with making 'conversation' with Lyra while something in her mouth squirmed about.

"Hiya Vinyl!" Lyra said, finally having made it over to her table.

Vinyl offered a small smile, careful to not press more of her mouth against Anonymous.

"What brings you here? I never see you out this early!"

Once more, Vinyl stuck to simple gestures for responses, going with a shrug.

"Well, it's good to see you one way or the other. It's been a while!" Lyra said, taking the seat in front of Anonymous's plate. She of course noticed this after she sat down, looking at the tiny meal. "What is this, a burger for ants?"

The sheepish grin was all the mute unicorn could think to offer to Lyra. Had she more time and less distraction via a human in her throat, she probably could've offered a better explanation. Maybe.

"Say, have you seen Tavi lately? She's been acting weird."

This one was going to require more concentration from the unicorn; needing an answer she couldn't shrug or smile off. Lyra knew Tavi was Vinyl's friend, and a simple response like earlier would seem suspicious. Taking her notepad from earlier, she flipped it to a new page to start scribbling down an answer. Her concentration slowly shifted from keeping Anonymous still to writing out the answer to Lyra's question. When she leaned forward to push the answer over to the green unicorn, she involuntarily swallowed.

Anonymous's world instantaneously seemed to slow down. Vinyl's throat contracted around his legs, while her tongue started to push him back towards her throat. He held on tight, gripping the slimy tongue as hard as he could. Something not going down like it should though, caused her to start coughing. As her body spasmed, her throat demanding more of Anonymous, she mashed her tongue against Anonymous as hard as she could, determined to not let him slip away.

As she thumped her chest in an effort to clear her coughing fit, she picked up her glass of water and give it a little sip. Anonymous wouldn't like it, but it helped calm her throat.

"You okay there?" Lyra asked, pushing the notepad back over to Vinyl. A quick confirmation nod, and Lyra resumed her previous line of questioning. "And yeah, I would be with her and the orchestra right now, but there were a few things I had to take care of before I left. Don't worry though, I'll catch up to them in time for the first concert," she said, winking. "Besides, she needed me to check up on some pet or something at her place."

Vinyl knew exactly what she was talking about now. Octavia didn't have a pet, Lyra was referring to the human currently violating her throat. Pieces of the puzzle were still blatantly missing, but she was starting to put a picture together that didn't cast Lyra in such a great light. Before she could probe with any more questions though, Lyra continued.

"Speaking of which, I gotta go take care of that," she said, standing up. As she walked past Vinyl, she gave her a quick strike to the back, "see a around, Scratch!"

The thump to her back had caused Vinyl to gag again; to which she responded to by holding her breath and mashing Anonymous even harder. Once she was certain Lyra was far enough away, Anonymous was almost violently expelled from her mouth. As he made a solid 'splat' onto her plate and burger, Vinyl coughed and wiped her mouth with her hoof. All the while giving Anonymous an intense 'you've got some explaining to do' glare.

"Sorry," Anonymous said, rising to his feet. As large globs of saliva oozed from his clothing and down onto Vinyl's plate, he looked back up to the unicorn. "Thanks for hiding me though. I owe you, big time."

Yeah, that was for sure. At least now they were even for any sort of awkwardness that she'd caused him. The human walked over to the side of the table, still dripping saliva as he scouted for Lyra. The mess of saliva that trailed him made Vinyl realize just how much she'd been savoring him. He tasted delicious, something she couldn't quite place; and something she certainly wouldn't bring up unless he did.

"So," the human said, walking back over to his side of the table. He proceeded to wipe the saliva from his body, starting the process of explaining what that whole mess was all about. "A while back, Lyra broke into Tavi's apartment and stole me. One thing led to another, and I wound up," the human paused for a moment, a hint of blush on his cheeks. "...inside her. Obviously I made it out, but since then both myself and Octavia have made it a point to avoid her."

That explanation certainly wouldn't do. How had he wound up inside Lyra? Did she try and eat him or... oh. Vinyl could feel her own cheeks reddening as she thought of just how the human could wind up inside a pony. It was an interesting idea, but one that would probably remain in a fantasy for Vinyl. She wasn't so obnoxious to do what she pleased with the human, especially when she was still trying to figure out what their 'relationship' was, if anything at all. Stupid hormones... At any rate, from the way the human was shuffling around and blushing, this would probably be a conversation for back home, away from prying ears.

Bearing that in mind, Vinyl wrote her offer into the air for the human. 'Home?'

He seemed to consider this for just a moment, still wringing his clothes dry. "While your breath was fairly pleasant, and I think I could bear smelling like it for a day or so, I do need a change of clothes."

Was that sarcasm or was he being sincere? Vinyl harrumphed and stuck her tongue out at the human. It had been his idea anyways! The human chuckled, setting the now very damp napkin aside as Vinyl produced bits from her saddle bags to pay for the meal. She made a mental note to come back here later and get a meal for each of them before the day ended. They would both get to enjoy their burgers, darn it!

Though their time was cut rather short at the restaurant, they'd at least gotten to taste some rather good food. Vinyl carefully placed the damp human on her back, the sensation reminding her of her mother placing a damp cloth on her forehead when she had a fever. He really was pretty wet... Had she done all that to him? Nah, couldn't be! She drank water too! Feeling her cheeks blush again, she placed the bits on the table and headed out the door. The more she tried to not think about the little human on her back, the more she realized that she was going to have to do something she didn't want to.

She had to know. Before Octavia got back from her trip, she had to know how Anon felt. Was she moving too fast? Was she so desperate for affection that she would latch onto the first creature that spent time with her and expressed some inkling of interest to her? Was this crush happening because she knew she could never have him? That thought made the pit of her stomach churn. All the more reason she had to know. As she walked down the street back towards her neighborhood, it dawned on her that she'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts she'd been ignoring Anonymous.

"You okay?" he asked, climbing up to scratch at her right ear.

Instinctively her ear firmed up, enjoying the attention. Right along with her ear, her heart thumped back into existence, the pit of her stomach not seeming so heavy anymore. Should she just let whatever happens, happen? Could she live with herself if she didn--

"Vinyl?"

Damn that scratching was feeling good. She stopped walking, giving the human a gentle nod to reassure him. Doing so caused him to roll down onto her muzzle, his eyes now even with hers as his body dangled over her lips. She cocked an eyebrow, waiting for the human to respond.

The human didn't seem completely satisfied with the response, but he offered no resistance when she placed him back where he had been previously. She was probably just rushing things, getting a little too excited at meeting someone new. Yeah, that made sense.

So why did that pit in her stomach return?

The walk back home proved less interesting than the initial trip to the inner city. They'd already seen everything on the way in, and the ponies around them continued about their business just as they did before. Living alone was quieter, far less stressful than this was turning out to be. Why did she even decide to do this for Octavia anyways? Had she just said no, she would be completely fine right now. Probably just waking up, making a deliciously routine banana and cheese sandwich...

If Octavia knew what has just happened with her little human, she probably would've burst a blood vessel. She had to relax more, learn to loosen up a little bit. Though, having spent a couple of days with him, Vinyl could see why she would want to keep him close. She couldn't help but feel like he was fragile, he was about the size of a teddy bear which made him perfect for holding, and... Yeah, might as well stop trying to fight it. He was kinda cute. These thoughts permeated her mind as they arrived back at her house.

"Just drop me off in the bedroom. I'll only be a second," he said, eagerly peeling away his damp shirt.

Vinyl walked over and let him make his way to his dresser. Stepping back, she silently watched him go about changing his clothes, each article plopping heavily to the dresser top when it was tossed aside. She couldn't help but watch in wonder. How could something his size be as intelligent as a pony? And why did she have to get a crush on it? The more she stared, the further any answer seemed to get. Confounded emotions. Eventually she let her mind go blank, simply admiring the human.

In a sort of trance, she sat down, barely noticing the humming she had started. It was a very soft tone, holding steady and unwavering. Almost hypnotically, the tone started to fluctuate up, then down, then up again. The fluctuations were barely noticeable, but they were there. When it started to increase in volume, Vinyl caught herself and shook her head. She wasn't given too much time to examine what her magic was trying to tell her though, as the human had finished changing clothes.

"Gah!" he said, finding Vinyl's gaze a little unsettling. "I wasn't aware I had an audience," he said, cheeks now burning red.

The unicorn stared for a moment, trying to figure out what else she was supposed to be do-- oh. Right. Humans don't like being naked in front of someone else. This realization now hitting her, Vinyl's features quickly adopted a rather apologetic tone. Her horn reflected this, a sort of high pitched bell sound emanating from it in some attempt to convey emotions with sound. Judging by the human's reaction, it appeared to be successful.

"No no, it's alright!" he said, stepping forward. "I wasn't expecting you to watch, that's all."

Right. Because she was ogling him. Great. Managing to shut her horn up and get her act together, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. Deep breaths, Scratch. Deep breaths. Finally having a somewhat clear head, she looked at the human again. A small smile creeping onto her face, she concentrated and wrote something out for him in the air.

'Movie?'