Octavia awoke to the rays of the morning sun. She lay in bed for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth creeping across her sheets. Few things could match the feeling of staying in bed just a liiiittle longer than was truly proper. Especially when the walls weren't shaking because of that accursed dishwasher for once. She took a deep breath, sighing contentedly.

The last few days had been wild and strange, but she could hardly be happier.

Slipping out of bed, Octavia trotted towards the kitchen for breakfast.

As she passed through the living room, she noted that the couch was taken, but didn't think much of it. Vinyl always had a tendency to crash after a night out, and finding her roommate curled up on the couch after a long night of partying was nothing new to her. She smelled better than usual, though.

Octavia grabbed a blanket from a nearby shelf and gingerly spread it over Vinyl. It wasn't the first time Vinyl had crashed on the couch after a long night. "Spaz," she muttered, smiling as Vinyl's ears twitched. The scene was adorable. She couldn't resist patting her sleeping friend on the head before moving on to the kitchen.

It was one of those mornings that just cried out for an elaborate breakfast. Maybe some waffles? They were Vinyl's favorite. Octavia groaned inwardly at the thought. She didn't feel like putting in the work with those eggs, plus the iron was a pain to use.

Now pancakes... There was a thought. Freshly cooked buttermilk pancakes, topped with just a smidgen of maple syrup dripping off a slowly-melting pad of butter, maybe a bit of whipped cream and some strawberries... Octavia could feel her stomach gurgle at the thought.

She looked back at the unicorn on the couch, and sighed, remembering how they'd been treating each other over the last few days.

Waffles it is, then.

By the time Octavia returned to the living room, Vinyl had stirred somewhat. She was rolling back and forth on the couch, muttering something in her sleep. Octavia placed a plate of piping-hot waffles with whipped cream and syrup on the table in front of her, and Vinyl's nose twitched.

Awakening with a start, the unicorn promptly rolled over and collapsed to the floor.

Octavia smiled sweetly down at her. "Good morning, Vinyl!"

"G'mornin'," Vinyl groused. "What smells so nice?"

"Breakfast," Octavia replied matter-of-factly, and held out a glass of water. "Made your favorite. Might help with that hangover."

Vinyl slowly rose from the floor, carefully shaking out her haunches, and sat down on the couch.
"Aw, 'Tavi, you shouldn't have," she said, looking at the stack in front of her hesitantly.

Octavia sighed peacefully, placed her own plate down next to Vinyl's, and took a seat beside her.

"How was the show last night?" she asked, "Seems like you had fun. Usually, you make it to the bed." She flashed her her best innocent smile.

Vinyl sat there, saying nothing. Her downcast look seemed to intensify, gradually morphing into a droopy-eared frown. She levitated her fork and poked at the stack listlessly.

"...That bad?" Octavia winced and put a hoof around her withers.

Vinyl dropped the fork and shrugged her hoof off. "The show was... fine, I just..." She lapsed into silence for a moment. "Thanks for breakfast," she muttered.

Octavia's face fell. Vinyl was almost never like this. The only pony she saw with a more consistently upbeat mood was Pinkie. Certainly, she wasn't the type for much self-reflection.

"Come on Vi, it can't have been that bad…" Octavia consoled, "Eat your waffles. That'll cheer you up. I made enough for both of us, plus some extra." She giggled slightly. "I'm gonna surprise James at work. Do you think he likes waffles?"

Vinyl’s eyes scrunched up and she groaned slightly.

Octavia waited on an answer. When none was forthcoming, she asked again.

"Vi?"

Vinyl’s eyes shot open, and she blinked twice.

"Uh... Err... Maybe?" Vinyl turned a bright red before burying her head in her plate.

Octavia lifted one of her eyebrows in suspicion, but then chuckled inwardly at the mess of whipped cream and maple syrup this was bound to leave in Vinyl's mane.

"You seem really off this morning. Had another one of those nights, eh?"

Vinyl sat there in silence, so Octavia continued. "Well, you enjoy your waffles. I'm going to see if I can convince him to take lunch early."

She trotted off to the kitchen to prepare a treat for her special somepony.

Her special somepony.. How long had it been since she had been able to say that without a sense of trepidation creeping into her voice? Octavia whistled a jaunty tune as she carefully packed a box full of treats for her... Special somepony.

She giggled to herself at the thought.

James awoke to a very loud, very obnoxious ringing noise.

He tried to open his eyes and failed. Having given that the good college try, he groaned and rolled over... Or attempted to roll over, at least. His body didn't seem to want to do what he wanted it to do.

He decided instead to take stock of his surroundings.

He could feel something hard and phenomenally uncomfortable against his forehead and stomach. Upon realizing that his forehead existed, James also began to feel a dull, throbbing pain, like the mother of all hangovers.

This led him, however slowly, to deduce something.

He was lying face-down on the floor, rather than in his bed.

And then there was that noise. That very loud, very obnoxious, very enduring ringing noise. It wasn't making his headache any better, that was for sure.

What the hell happened last night?

Bits and pieces swam through his head. Something about a club, and Skittles...

Skittles?

James tried - and, in what was quickly becoming an uncomfortable trend, failed - to lift his head. He then decided that the smart move would be rolling onto his back, which he somehow managed.

On the bright side, his eyes were now able to open. On the really bright side, they were staring directly into the light of the rising sun. He opted to quickly close them again.

He rolled himself back over, this time with considerably more ease. His mind was fuzzy, as if someone had inserted a cat into his skull and shaken it vigorously.

Slowly but surely, James managed to raise himself to his knees and find the jug of water he kept near his bed. He drank greedily, enjoying the revitalizing liquid, and thanked the stars that the pain in his head was receding.

He gradually got to his feet and decided that for now, the wisest course of action was to turn his alarm clock off. Which he, with surprising competence, did.

"That'll do it," he rasped, sitting on the edge of his bed as the throb in his head slowly receded.

As it did, images of blue fur surrounding a reddened, creamed asshole replaced it.

It took about another minute before things started to click in his head.

James grabbed his hand, cursing in pain. Taking out his frustration on the wall was not the brightest idea. Pony architecture was surprisingly stable.

He thought about what had happened the previous night, and slumped forward in shame.

Great, he thought to himself, Just great.

He banged his head against the wall and groaned, regretting it immediately as the pain resurfaced.

And of course there was the knock on his door.

Of course.

There was always a damned knock on the damn door when it was least convenient.

"Everything okay in there?" came a muffled voice from behind the wall. Sounded like Lyra.

No, everything is not okay in here!

"Just fantastic," he shouted back. "Just fucking fantastic!" He started to trudge across the room when he heard another voice.

"James? I came to bring you lunch..."

James stopped mid-stride, his heart lurching in his chest. That wasn't Lyra or Bon-Bon.

He managed to croak out, "Octavia?"

He stumbled to the door, swinging it open wildly and collapsing on his face in front of two shocked mares. He glanced weakly up.

"Octavia," he rasped, "I... Uh..."

His marefriend glanced down at him, a look somewhere between disgust and pity on her face.

"By Celestia, James, what happened to you?"

"I..." He let his forehead sink to the floor. "I had a few too many drinks last night."

"I'll... Just leave you two alone then," said Lyra, who had been watching in silence. Giving a last glance over her shoulder, she awkwardly shuffled away.

Octavia offered James a hoof, and he took it, slowly getting to his feet. That dizzy feeling still wouldn't leave him.

"Seems like you really overdid it," she said. "And you missed work because of that?"

"Work. Dammit." James smacked his forehead, and immediately regretted it as his headache flared up again. "Ow..."

Octavia shook her head and tapped against his chest. "I expect my coltfriend to not be a lush," she chided.

A moment later, her face softened, and she gestured to a small package she was carrying on her back.

"Hey... I made you breakfast," she said. "And Jim's not unreasonable, or particularly bright for that matter. I'm sure he'll give you another chance"

James broke the embrace, looking at Octavia abjectly. "She didn’t tell you, did she..."

Octavia stared at him. "James, what's going on?" she asked, the worry in her voice apparent. "First Vinyl was acting strange and didn’t want waffles, and now I..."

She stopped mid-sentence, frozen still for a moment, and looked up at James.

"You slept with Vinyl?"

James sighed and nodded, mentally awaiting whatever she had to throw at him.

She took a step forward and slammed her hoof across James's cheek.

James, for the second time that morning, found himself sprawled on the floor. This time, though, he knew why.

"Yeah, I had that coming," he muttered to himself. He raised his head, then slumped back down, and muttered to the floor, "Octavia, please, I didn't know what I was doing!"

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let me guess, she seduced you."

She poked him, and when he rolled over, she offered him a hoof, which he cautiously took. He looked up at her, and she stared back at him, her eyes seemingly more filled with annoyance than anger. He measured his words carefully.

"She gave me something... I don't know what. I couldn't think straight..."

Octavia’s face was a picture of haughty disdain. "How typical that she’d do that. And of course, the moment I get something nice, she can’t wait to get a piece of it herself."

James tried to hold back his surprise. He wondered... could he actually get out of this unscathed?

"So... you're not mad at me?"

"Oh, a little bit." She tossed her mane back, then pressed a hoof against him. "But I’ll get over it. Wouldn’t be the first time."

James shook his head. "So this keeps happening, huh?"

She strut around him lazily, speaking in a far more lackadaisal tone than James would expect. "Anything happens a dozen times, you get used to it."

James did what came naturally. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling her into a hug. She stiffened briefly, then brought her own forelegs up to return the gesture.

"You're still not off the hook," she murmured into his shoulder. Pulling away, she snorted, "Plus, you smell just awful."

"Yeah, I probably do," he laughed softly to himself.

Octavia smiled. "Well then, come on, let's get you cleaned up. Which way to the bathroom?"

James pointed the way, and Octavia's eye glinted. "Let's scrub that stench of nasty skank off you."

Octavia breathed in the steam of the hot water. Lyra's bathroom wasn't quite as spacious as her own, but it was quaint, clean, and what some ponies might call "cozy.".

James stood there, still in his pants, and she couldn't help but groan.

"Come now, are you going to shower in those?"

James jumped to attention and started quickly shucking off his pants while his mare waited impatiently.

Useless, unnecessary work, Octavia thought to herself. Humans can be so silly.

Slowly the pants fell, and Octavia was pleased to see him not wearing the usual undergarments - As if form-fitting clothes needed an additional layer below them.

She still couldn't get over how cute he looked down there. Not much of a sheath; just a small, floppy thing, with dangling balls, and a thin layer of skin covering the head. She suppressed a giggle at the sight of it, remembering how it had been when he had actually used it.

As soon as James was free of the constricting fabric, she roughly pushed him forward into the shower stall.

"Roomy in here," he shouted over the running water.

Octavia stepped into the booth after him. "It's not that big," she said, grabbing a large, wooden brush with her mouth, and rubbing it over a bar of soap on the floor.

She held it up to James, and using the flat side, smacked his hairless, pink ass. The resounding yelp was thoroughly enjoyable.

She watched him jump, and gently pushed him into the stream of water, resulting in another yelp.

"Hey! Are you trying to cook me alive?" James shouted, jumping back out of the shower. "That's way too hot!"

Octavia nodded. "Yeah, I know. C'mon, let's get you cleaned up."

After tweaking the knob slightly, she pushed him back under the showerhead. Keeping him there, despite his protests, she got to work with the business end of the brush, rubbing it over his shoulders, pressing into the soft skin just a little harder than she thought she ought to.

"Hey!" he shouted, "Careful with that!"

Octavia paused.

"I'd like to be sure," she mumbled through the brush in her mouth, "To get the smell of Vinyl off you."

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" James responded, looking at her incredulously.

"Oh, just now caught on?" Octavia gave his ass another whack with the brush. "Not that you haven't earned it. Turn around for me, will you?"

He glanced at her with an eyebrow raised, and she met it with a haughty, domineering glare; one mastered through years of socializing with the canterlot elite. His face softened, and she swore she could see a smile creep up on the edge of his vision.

After seconds that felt like hours, he shrugged.

"...Yeah, okay, I did earn this. Go ahead, I can take it."

"Good. Be good, and I’ll give you a treat." She smiled sweetly.

She went back to scrubbing, applying a slightly lighter touch as she ran over his armpits, and a slightly firmer one as she ran across his back, leaving the skin reddened from the coarseness of the brush. A short moment of nothing, a brief wind-up… A loud smack, but not the noise she had hoped for.

He gave her nothing. Not a peep out of him as she delivered the blow.

Perplexed, Octavia gave another swing of the brush, only to be met with merely a short slap of impact, but nothing else.

Another whack, more silence.

Again. Naught but a stifled whimper.

"Impressive," The mare breathed, slowly stepping around to stare at James from the front. His member, previously floppy and soft, was starting to firm up.

"Thank you, Mistress," he groaned, his arms still firmly pinned to his sides.

Octavia smirked. The last time she had gotten to do something like this was back in her Academy days, and dear celestia, she had missed it. It had been far too long.

She shook the thought from her head, and pushed James forward, out of the flow of the water until his back hit the tiled wall. She sauntered through the stream herself, slowly bringing her muzzle to the tip of his cock. Resting it there, she slowly breathed in and out, sniffing in the aroma of the previous night. The stench of Vinyl was rich, but beneath it, a delicious aroma that made her loins twitch, bringing her back to the previous day...

She stretched out her tongue and gave it a long, languid lick, running her tongue up from the tip to the base, where she lazily rolled it around the shaft to press against his testicles. She noticed his stance loosen as she caressed his cock, and smiled.

"Wash my mane?"

A hand reached down with measured speed, brushing past her cheeks to her scalp, parting her long, dusky hair. Another reached for a bottle on the wall, and carefully poured the silky white liquid onto her. As he started to rub it in, she slowly parted her lips and let the tip of his cock slide between them, savoring the salty taste and smooth, soft texture.

She slowly started to slide down the shaft, her tongue pressing gently against the bottom as she wrapped her muzzle around more and more of him. It wasn't until her nose pressed against his soft belly that she stopped.

Sitting there for a moment as he gradually lathered up her mane, she slowly started to pull back, dragging her tongue against his base. She could already feel him twitching in her mouth.

"Octavia," he moaned softly, his hands tugging, emphasizing his need, "You feel so good..."

Instead of following his hands' motion, Octavia instead pulled away, leaving him hanging. Instinctively, he pulled his hands away from her hair, earning him a scowl.

"Keep going," she growled. "Just because I tire of pleasing you doesn't mean you should stop."

James started to protest, but his words died in his throat as Octavia directed her gaze to the brush, a mean glint in her eyes. Instead, only two words left his throat.

"Yes, mistress."

"Good."

His hands started to work their magic again, and Octavia couldn't help but shudder with delight as he rubbed his dextrous fingers over her ears. His well-trimmed fingernails scratched at that particularly lovely spot behind them, and she couldn't help but let out a light gasp.

I'm glad I'm so good at bluffing, she thought to herself, barely controlling her hind legs.

"Am I doing this well, mistress?"

"Keep going," she moaned.

No way... she thought. I can't be so turned on already... I've just... got something in my throat.

It was exceedingly difficult to suppress her disappointment as he moved on, running his fingers through her hair to spread the lather.

"Your mane is so wonderful, mistress..."

The tugging and rubbing was even gentler than Vinyl’s magic, and with each gentle touch against her scalp, it felt so soothing and wonderful.

Having finished, he removed his hands, and Octavia smiled. She turned her rump to him, and leaned her head under the water, rinsing the lather out.

"Do my tail as well," she said, flicking it in his face.

James complied, running his lathery fingers through the strands. His fingers unfurled knots she hadn't even realized were there, and she purred gently at the relaxing sensations.

As he worked and massaged her tail, his hands started to drift south, and Octavia allowed it, brushing her tail aside to allow him easier access.

"That's it," she cooed, "Clean off all that filth."

His fingers danced across her crotch like a harpist searching for the right string. Slowly brushing against the skin, feeling, touching, but never anything more substantial. Octavia bit her lip at the sensation, and couldn't stop her hips from pushing back, grinding against the fingers that barely kept their oh-so-delicate distance.

Oh, you tease...

Octavia swatted at him with her tail. "You little..."

"Does it not please mistress?" He hid the smugness in his voice as well as the best of the Canterlot socialites, but her trained ears still caught it..

She growled, inwardly cursing at how fast he had managed to turn things around. That is not the hoof that horseshoe is on right now!

"James, you are making your mistress ang-Ah!"

Her forelegs buckled. Two fingers at once, right up to the knuckle, curved down against her sweet spot. His fingers felt too good; it was hardly fair.

Crap, that is the hoof that horseshoe is on, isn't it!

She tried to speak, but all that came out were unintelligible moans as he continued to attack her marehood. Her cries of pleasure only grew louder and throatier as a third finger joined the first two, and his other hand started tweaking her swollen button.

"Does it please mistress?"

No hiding that smug tone. He wasn't even trying. Octavia tried to muster a witty retort, but she could barely open her mouth before it was interrupted by a gasping moan. Her orgasm growing near, she bit into her forehoof, trying to keep herself from being degraded further.

"So sorry," he murmured, as he lowered his face towards her crotch, "I'm a terrible submissive... It starts out fine, but eventually I just..."

He took a long, hard sniff of her asshole.

"...lose my patience."

His tongue snaked out, licking at the sensitive flesh around her asshole, prodding gently against its rim.

Octavia screamed in pleasure. The fingers pounding and wriggling inside her. The firm touch on her clitoris. And now this? She wasn't so much walking towards the edge as being flung over it. The orgasm crashed over her like a wave of electricity bursting from her most intimate place. She writhed on the tile floor, whinnying and squealing.

And he wasn't stopping! He just kept pushing into her, prolonging the ecstasy.

"Oh CELESTIA!" she screamed, clenching around his fingers and leaking copious amounts of fluids down her legs. Her whole figure shuddered with the force of the orgasm, her eyes rolling back into her skull and tongue lolling out. She prayed with one breath for it to stop and another for it to last forever. The intense pleasure was impossible to withstand.

Slowly, the sensation receded, as did James's ministrations. Octavia panted on the floor, slowly regaining her composure. It took a while before she was able to stand up, legs wobbling but holding.

"Was it good?" he asked, the tone in his voice unreadable.

She turned to James, who was looking at her with a goofy, loving smile, rather than the smug smirk she would have expected.

"Y-yes," she stammered, caught completely off-guard by his reaction.

She was caught slightly less off guard when he kneeled down to hug her barrel.

"I'm truly sorry, Octavia," he murmured. "I’ve never met anypony who understands me as well as you do. I really hope I didn't mess everything up between us..."

Octavia pulled away, and screwed up her eyes in concentration.

Finally, she let out a deep breath. "You truly are a spectacular kind of idiot" She laughed, a far less bitter laugh than before.

Stunned silence filled the room. James looked at her, a glimmer of hope stuck beneath his suspicion.

She looked down at him, chuckling softly. “I think I’ve punished you enough for that. You don’t even know the real reason why I’m mad at you, do you?”

“...What?”

Octavia sighed.

"I’m going to be honest with you: I already knew Vinyl wanted a piece of you, and I personally gave her permission.”

Seeing his look of utter disbelief, Octavia could help but to giggle.

“I just would have thought she’d be smart enough to tell you about it, and maybe not jump you the same day. I’m not really that mad at you,to be honest"

"You mean," he grumbled, still a little hesitant, "You slapped me for no good reason?"

Octavia matched his annoyed gaze. “Well...You didn’t ask me first. Sure, she asked me, and I was okay with it, but you were ready to go at the drop of a hat? What if I hadn’t been okay with it? This is about trust after all.”

James took a deep breath, mollified somewhat. “I just… I just totally forgot everything and lost myself after the drug hit. I really fucked up.”

Carefully looking up, his tone slightly more hopeful, he asked, “So… does this mean you can forgive me?”

“You dummy,” she responded, tousling his hair, “Of course I forgive you, I wouldn’t have done all this otherwise.” With a weird look to the side, she continued, now muttering under her breath, “I think I like you too much for my own good. But there will still be consequences.”

The relieved, kind smile on his face said it all.

James breathed a sigh of relief, and let her go. "Good," he chuckled, "because Bonbon is gonna kill me for wasting so much hot water, and the last thing I’d need is to die single."

In spite of herself, Octavia couldn't stifle a giggle.

"Serves you right, you jerk." She licked his neck, then stood up.

"You wanna... finish me?" he asked, trying desperately to hide the need in his voice.

Octavia just smiled up at him, and took his still-hard member into her mouth. The feeling was still so wonderful. Unlike stallions, the human's member just seemed to slide right in, no flare to accommodate. Less of a challenge, but considerably... tastier.

She once again enveloped the flesh with her mouth, her nostrils pressed against his pubic hair. She could feel the heat of his cock against her tongue, the stifling sensation a welcome feeling in her throat. She moaned into it, gently rubbing his testicles with her hoof. His reactions turned her on even further. Twitching and moaning, gently pushing against the back of her head, muttering praise of her technique… She couldn’t help but be pleased.

She pulled away, letting her hoof rub up and down his cock. "I can feel you twitching," she murmured, watching the stiff flesh pulse in the cool air. "Are you getting close?"

"Yes," he moaned, "Please don't stop..."

Octavia complied, latching herself around his shaft. Her tongue rolled graciously around, and she could feel him tensing up inside her mouth.

"I'm so close," he moaned, grabbing Octavia's mane to pull her closer. "Oh god, I'm going to..."

She pulled away before he could, leaving his shaft twitching and throbbing against the open air, with an agonized look on his face.

"All clean," she said, turning away from him. She walked across the room and turned the shower off, flashing her rump every step of the way.

Turning back, she saw his hands reaching down towards his crotch, intent on finishing the job.

"Oh no you don't," she barked. If looks could kill, her glare would have done some significant damage to a dragon. Victory was sweet, and she wasn't about to have it taken from her.

James obediently snapped his hands back to his side.

"Good boy," she said, giggling slightly. She trotted up beside him, and nuzzled her head against his side. "I said I'd wash the filth off you... No point in getting you dirty again now. It would be a shame, wouldn't it?"

The downtrodden look on his face was simply too beautiful, and Octavia let out a hearty laugh. James eventually stopped pouting and joined in. "I’ll get you back for this," he chuckled.

"I look forward to it."

"Christ, it's been a long morning," James sighed as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "Where are those waffles Octavia brought me?"

Lyra looked him dead in the eye in a manner that seemed a bit too much like a staredown for his liking. Eventually she shrugged and looked away.

"Bonbon did it."

James moved his gaze to Bonbon, who had turned very red and hidden herself behind her newspaper.

"You know very well she's lying," she grumbled.

"Lyyyyyyraaaaaa..." James sighed. "You ate aaaall my waffles?"

"Jaaaaaaaames," she responded, "You used aaaaall the hot water?"

"Touché," he groused, stretching. A grin spread over his face. "Bon, you might want to cover your ears..."

After she buried her face further in the newspaper he paused, looked back to Lyra, and put the pouting look back on his face. He could barely mask his grin as he said the next sentence.

"I thought she punished me enough, what with the beating, and the scrubbing, and the scalding water, and the blueballing, and the being a total jerk to me, but yes, I guess not having breakfast is awful as well."

Lyra turned a bright red color.

"What's this I hear about someone eating all of my waffles?"

The playful, yet stern demand from across the room froze both of them. James turned slowly to look at Octavia. She looked stunning. Even with her typical annoyed smirk, her dark mane shimmered in the midday light, her coat as radiant as he had ever seen it and her eyes glimmering.

"Oh, wipe that goofy smirk off your face," she chided. "I also overheard someone mentioning our private time..."

She couldn't keep a straight face, and snorted, laughing. James, considerably more relaxed, joined in, and so did Lyra, giggling softly.

Octavia smiled sweetly at her. "Well, I guess I know who's making me and James lunch," she said in a saccharine, sing-songy voice.

A warm breeze wafted through the air as the mismatched pair departed. Octavia gently nuzzled James's side. The difference in size which had seemed so imposing before just seemed adorable to her now as they walked side by side.

James broke the peaceful silence.

"I still have that gig, don't I?"

"Hmm?" Octavia quizzically responded.

"With Vinyl."

Octavia's face lit up. "She wants to play a concert with you?" She bopped him on the arm. "Slut."

James grinned. "If you want, I'll cancel. Can’t be cheating on my practice buddy."

"That’s ‘marefriend’ to you, sir. Besides, I can’t wait to see what you two come up with."

"Audiophile," James chuckled teasingly, tousling her mane a little.

"You know it." Octavia rolled her eyes anyway, more out of force of habit than anything else.

"Wouldn’t want you any other way."

Author's Note

Well that took way too long. Writing your way out of a corner is hard.

Big thanks to Laury and Belgerum again. Next chapter: hopefully this year. :V At least I know where I'm going with it.