“Uh…so, yeah-“

“What do you mean, ‘it’s exactly what it looks like’?! What is going on here?!” For the first time in a while, Octavia lost her cool. It wasn’t a common occurrence, yet the right trigger could cause her to blow everything completely out of proportion, whether or not it was justified.

“Okay, look, Octavia, I owe you an explanation, but this is not the right place for it. Can we step outside?”

“No, we’re going to talk about this right here and-“She stopped, replaying what Vinyl said in her head. “Did…you just call me ‘Octavia’?”

Vinyl nodded. “No nicknames right now. No nicknames, no bullshit, no lies. Let’s step outside and I’ll explain everything.”

Octavia silently nodded and followed Vinyl out the doors of the club. As soon as they were out, the music began inside, but it was much quieter than Octavia expected. “Silencing spell on the walls, windows and doors. Let’s us DJs play our music as loud as we want without any complaints from the snobby rich folk.” Vinyl sighed. “Okay, so my explanation. First, I wanna say sorry. I shouldn’t have kept this a secret from you. Secrets are bad. But anyway, let me get to the point here. The reason I didn’t tell you about this is because technically, this isn’t my second job. Mine and Berry’s club is my second job.”

Octavia had never felt so confused. “What?”

“When I was just thirteen, I wandered away from a social gathering my mom dragged me off to and found this old place back when it was first kicking off. At the same time, however, I stumbled onto the stage and knocked out the DJ who just took over for me in there, W1SH. His real name’s Neon Lights, and I was so excited to find someplace like this that I just rushed up and tackled him into a subwoofer on stage. The club’s manager was pretty pissed at me, so I did what I thought could fix the situation: I tried to take his place. I popped his shades on, which are the ones I’m wearing right now, and tried to do his job. At first, I took a look at the turntables and thought to myself: ‘Celestia’s beard, what the hell am I doing?’ No, really, those were my exact thoughts. I was not a well-off teenaged filly, Octy. I was as vulgar ten years ago as I am now.” That got Octavia to chuckle. “Now, I looked over the controls a bit more and realized: this is the same setup I read about in one of the magazines my dad sends me while he’s traveling: The Amplideck 6X Theta, one of the most advanced turntable systems a DJ could get their hooves on. Once I remembered how everything worked, I kicked it into high gear and played Neon’s set. Apparently, he woke up about two hours in, but when he saw what I didn’t, he kept on pretending he was out cold: my cutie mark popped up right then and there.”

“So…your special talent is…being a DJ?”

Vinyl shook her head. “Not exactly. I’m just really good at organizing music. That’s why I opened the club, and why I hired you. I see a lot of potential in you, Octy. You just got dealt a bad hand recently. I wanted to help you get past it. And even though you’ve never played a bass guitar before, I have confidence in your skill and your determination to make anything happen.” Vinyl sighed. “I shoulda just told you from the very beginning. I’m sorry, Octy.” Vinyl frowned. “I understand if you don’t wanna forgive me.”

Octavia stared for about a minute while Vinyl sat there in silence. After that period of quiet, Octavia reached her hoof out and bopped Vinyl on the forehead with a significant amount of force: enough to knock her out of her stupor but not enough to seriously hurt her. “Ouch! Octy, what the heck was that-“

Vinyl then found herself wrapped in a hug by the mare. “The first part was for you being stupid and thinking I wouldn’t forgive you for something dumb. This part is me forgiving you for something dumb.”

Vinyl’s face turned a deep shade of red as she hesitantly returned the hug. ‘Why am I feeling like this? It’s just a hug, right? I mean…Octy’s cute and all, but…okay, take a few steps back, Vinyl Scratch. Just talk. Say words.’

“…thanks, Octy.” The two broke the hug and began walking back to Vinyl’s club. “So, make any progress with the guitar?”

Octavia shook her head. “None whatsoever. But Berry said she’d teach me some of her bartending balance techniques.”

“Good, good…then once you’ve got that down; I can teach you how to play it. I mean, based on what you said earlier, I can assume you handle a bow no problem, despite being an Earth Pony. With a bit of practice, a pick will be just as easy to hold.”

“I do hope so.” Octavia sighed. “I don’t think I could go anywhere else if this doesn’t work out.”

Octavia felt something reach across her neck and over her shoulder, and found Vinyl hanging onto her as the two walked. “Don’t you worry Octy…with me helping you through it, you’ll be a pro in no time! I promise!”

The grey mare flushed. “T-thank you, Vinyl…that truly means a lot to me.” Octavia’s mind sought to pull away, but her body refused. ‘What’s going on here? Normally, I’m not all right with ponies being so…so touchy-feely. But Vinyl’s…different. What is it about her that I find so interesting?’

The two continued to walk side by side until they arrived back at the club, where they parted and entered one after the other. They were both welcomed back by Berry, who stood before an empty bar. “Whoa, Ber, what happened here? It’s a Saturday night and we have an empty bar. What gives?”

“Nopony’s come into the bar since the last guy left a few hours ago. I actually had time to organize the bottles under the bar by alcohol content. That’s how bored I was!”

“Well, I hate to say it, but if nopony else is gonna come in and drink our stock, then we’re gonna have to.”

“So…you’re giving the approval? But what about the funds? The cheapest stuff we keep under here is worth five bits a bottle!”

Vinyl smirked as she levitated a bag up onto the counter. “That won’t be an issue.” She untied the string holding the bag tight as it slipped off, revealing a huge pile of golden coins.

“Whoa…how much did you get paid this time?”

“Three hundred bits. Told ya that encore last Sunday was a good idea!”

“This is…astounding, Vinyl! You made this much…in a week?”

Vinyl flushed and gave a light chuckle. “Hey, what can I say? I’m good at what I do. Also helps that I worked crazy hours last and this week.” Vinyl looked to Octavia. “Not to sound selfish or anything, but that’s another reason I want to see this place liven up a bit. I’ve seen the inside of every club a hundred miles out from Canterlot enough times to know where every room is in each of them, and the brands of booze they all carry. It might be what I’m best at, but it’s been a grueling three years working almost forty hours a week. I really hope you don’t think I’m using you or-“

“Vinyl, just stop worrying about my feelings and have Berry pour me a drink. You offered the alcohol, now deliver.”

“Well, Tavi, I’d say by that declaration that you’re ready to do battle.” Vinyl focused and brought forth two shot glasses from behind the counter. “Care for a little game?”

“Octavia, you’d better be careful.” Octavia looked at Berry inquisitively. “Last pony who accepted one of Vinyl’s drinking challenges not only lost, but he stumbled out of this place dancing with a bar stool.”

“Yep, Upper Crust is one heck of a lightweight, let me tell ya.”

“Trust me, Berry.” Octavia placed her hoof at the edge of the glass closest to her. “I can hold my poison.”

Vinyl grinned. “Well then…Berry; start us off with some rum.” Berry nodded and pulled up a bottle from behind the counter and poured the first two shots in. Vinyl lifted her glass up with her magic. “You ready to rumble, Octy?”

“Bring it on, Scratch.”

An hour later, Vinyl and Octavia were almost staggering in their seats and Berry had started to light the drinks on fire. “All right, ladies. Last one. This is the Inferno Shot. I’m not pouring any more after this. We’ve already gone through a hundred fifty bits worth of our alcohol.”

“Totally worth it,” Vinyl slurred out, waving a hoof in the air and then pointing it at Octavia. “C’mon, Octy! You’ve gotta be ready to pass out at this point!”

“As I…said before…many Earth ponies…make this stuff…it’s expected that all of us…can handle it!” Octavia shotgunned the flaming drink and set the glass back down, grinning at Vinyl. “Your move.”

Vinyl lifted the glass in her magic aura, which trembled slightly as she moved it closer to her mouth. As she prepared to down the drink, she took a long, hard look at it and carefully set it back down. “No more. I’m done.”

Octavia smiled as she grumbled out a ‘victory’. “I knew…I would win.”

“Y’know, somethin’, Octy?” Octavia mumbled inquisitively. “You’re kinda…cute when you’re drunk.”

Octavia felt her face start to burn, but she couldn’t tell if it was her blushing, or the fact that the last half a dozen shots she’d taken were practically straight vodka. “W-what?”

Vinyl hiccupped and smiled. “You’re…cute.”

She could now confirm that it was a blush…although the alcohol in her system was definitely not helping. “T-that’s just the alcohol talking, Vinyl, you don’t really-“

“N-no, no, I really…I really mean it. You’re, you’re cute and junk.” Vinyl rolled off her seat and stumbled into a nearby table. “You’re totally…hot when you’re smashed and drinking flaming vodka.”

Octavia couldn’t help but giggle. “I suppose you’re just as cute…stumbling around like that.”

“Okay, time to get you two to your homes.” Berry hopped down from behind the counter and walked over to the two. “Octavia, where do you live?”

“What are you talking about, Berry? I live…right here.” Octavia patted the table Vinyl was leaning against. “Home sweet home.”

“O…kay, then. All right, neither of you are going to be happy about this, but I’m taking you both to Vinyl’s, since I know where that is.”

With only a little bit of effort, Berry managed to haul Vinyl over her back and begin dragging Octavia along with her tail in her teeth. ‘Oh, they so owe me for this.’ After exiting the club, Berry carefully leaned her body to get Vinyl’s horn to touch the door, which sent a wave of blue light over the entire building. ‘Okay, all locked up. Now to get these girls out of my mane before they throw up in it.’

The following morning, Vinyl awoke to a sound she was much more used to hearing from herself: the retching echo of somepony puking into a toilet bowl. The lights weren’t on, but she recognized her own bed as she lay sprawled out across it. The next thing she saw was a note attached to the tip of her horn. As her vision came into better focus, she was able to read it:

Vinyl: Carried you and Octavia to your place. You two were drunk beyond all recognition. I'd have waited until you woke up, but last time I did that, you thought I was an alcohol demon or something. Whenever you two get sober, give me a call. I tapped the door with your horn to lock the place up last night and can't get back in without you, so the club's closed for now. See you then.
-Berry Punch
PS: Do not ask how I wrote this, being an Earth Pony. Just DON'T.

Vinyl groaned as the memories of the previous night flashed before her eyes. “Celestia, did I really…? That’s how I scared off the last mare…just great, Vinyl. You challenge your newest friend-slash-employee to a drinking contest, and now she’s making out with your toilet because you just had to be a big shot.”

“Urgh…V-Vinyl? Is that you? Where are we, and why does my head feel like a bowling ball?”

Vinyl struggled to her hooves and walked over to the bathroom door. “We’re at my place, Octy…Berry brought us here after I made us make total mules of ourselves. I challenged you to a drinking contest, you accepted, we blew through over a hundred bits of booze and-“

“I think I get it, Vinyl, thank you…” Octavia stumbled out the door, holding one hoof to her head. “Oh, Celestia, this is the worst hangover I’ve ever experienced…”

“If that’s the case, the other club I work is not the place for you.”

Octavia chuckled lightly, only to feel a surge of pain overcome her again. “Ah…no jokes right now, Vinyl…only sleep.”

“Uh…Octy? Are you mad at me?”

“For what, Vinyl?”

“Well, I…I mean, last night. I sorta pushed that challenge on you out of nowhere and-“

Vinyl found herself interrupted once more. “Vinyl, I have no reason to be angry.”

“Y…you don’t?”

“This isn’t the first time I so hardheadedly took on such a challenge. It’s just the first time my opponent nearly drank me under the table. And I have to say…” Octavia used what little strength she had to pull Vinyl into a half-hug. “Well done. Most other unicorns I’ve faced would have blacked out before even half of what you pulled off.”

“Octy, I never took you for a party sorta mare.”

“Well, my first two years of High School were a bit of a…rebellious phase.” She giggled out of nostalgia. “Oh, you would have liked me much more back then. Hanging with a gang of punk rockers, pretending we knew how to play musical instruments to get popular…a red streak through my mane.”

“Well, I like you now, if that makes any difference.”

“Really? Even for a ‘classy Canterlot mare’?”

Vinyl smiled as she finally returned the half-hug, wrapping her foreleg around Octavia’s body. “Guess there was a side to both of us that the other didn’t expect, huh?”

That earned another laugh, and in turn, another wave of pain. “Vinyl, as much as I would love to continue this conversation…could we perhaps sleep first?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a thing that ponies need sometimes…”

“I’d hit you, but it would take too much energy.” Octavia glanced around the room. “I suppose I’ll sleep on your couch. Where is it?”

“Uh…I don’t exactly…have one?”

Octavia stared blankly. “What.”

“Yeah, I kinda never have anypony over, and I’m not really here that often, so I’ve just got one bed for myself. I mean, I guess we could…share it?”

A hot blush crossed both their muzzles as they both realized what Vinyl had just said. Luckily, it faded before either could notice it on the other. “I…suppose if we have no choice.”

The two walked into Vinyl’s room and Octavia immediately noticed what set it apart from any other bedroom she’d ever seen. Albeit limited space, over a dozen guitars were lining the walls: each a different make, all individually unique and two behind glass cases with signatures. “Well…this is very...quite a collection you have here, Vinyl.”

“Been collecting for three years. I got a lot of them from tours as DJ PON3. And the two signed ones were gifts from the lead guitarists of Nightmare Show and DCGD.”

Octavia scanned the room again. “And…what about the one at the club? ‘Your’ guitar?”

“That was my first bass.” Vinyl smiled nostalgically. “Saved up six months to buy that.” She looked to Octavia, still smiling. “That’s why I only let the most trustworthy of ponies even look at it, let alone touch it.”

Octavia flushed again, but something clouded her thoughts suddenly. “Wait…how is it you’re so coherent right now? We both drank the same amount of alcohol last night.”

“Actually, Berry started to water it down as we kept going. I noticed it just before she started lighting the shots on fire. But that was still enough booze to put a full-grown stallion in a spin, and despite the fact that I’ve handled my fair share of drinks, and your Earth pony body is built for it, I’d say we’ve got about a half hour before our brains catch up with our bodies and start to crash.”

Octavia stared in disbelief. “I…I think I’ll just sleep now.” She climbed up into the bed and immediately crawled under the covers. In an instant, Vinyl had joined her and wrapped her legs around the Earth pony’s body. “Vinyl, what in Celestia’s name are you doing?”

“Mmm, cuddling…Night, Octy…” Vinyl immediately let sleep claim her as she began snoring right away. Octavia examined her position, seeing no way to free herself from the mare’s grasp.

‘I swear, she has absolutely no sense of boundary, no tact and no censor…’ Vinyl let out a high-pitched squeak of a yawn and Octavia smiled, not at all being able to deny that the unicorn mare’s sleeping form was one of the most adorable things she’d ever seen. ‘But I suppose…I can get used to that.’ Octavia yawned and shifted only slightly in Vinyl’s grip, getting herself comfortable as she allowed the sandmare’s spell to take her as well.

Author's Note

They're getting longer! AND THEY'RE BEING RELEASED WITH CONSISTENCY. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL GRIMOIRE?!

Anyway:

Okay so I know I said it'd be Friday, but I don't have a lot to do tomorrow, so I figured I'd toss the next chapter up here now and spend all day tomorrow working on the next ones. Also, I have determined exactly how long I intend to make this story. So with a designated number of chapters in mind and intention to release weekly, I can almost guarantee that this will be my first full non-holiday, non-one-shot story that I ever finish!

Grimoire Fantasia is out! PEACE!