... and so is Vinyl Scratch
Octavia smiled. It had happened suddenly and completely out of the blue, but the electric-blue maned unicorn sleeping next to her was the best thing to ever happen to the cellist. She’d been sheltered, anti-social, and frankly, more than a little up-tight when she’d stumbled across the DJ and a side of life she didn’t know existed. A whirlwind of mistakes, miscommunications, and missed dates later, there were no ponies more surprised they were officially a couple than the mares themselves. It had been about seven months now since they’d moved in together, and, though occasionally they fought or argued as any couple might, Octavia was in love and she knew it.
One thing continued to bother her, though. They’d been together so long, and she had never seen Vinyl without her glasses. Even in the shower and when she slept, she still wore them. She’d asked about it a few times, but her marefriend had always dodged the question, mumbled some excuse, and either changed the subject or outright ran off. Octavia could tell the subject was something of a sore spot, and so she never pushed it further than that. It didn’t stop the question from consuming her, what this beautiful, smart, silly mare could possibly be so afraid of showing the world behind those glasses. It was fun to speculate – perhaps she had a burn, like the Phantom of the Opera, or some horrible birth defect left her without eyes entirely! That couldn’t be true, though, it was obvious that Vinyl could see, from the way she had reacted when-
Octavia giggled at the racy memory, the slight shaking of her body pulling her partner out of a light sleep. The unicorn moaned slightly and pressed herself into her lover, nuzzling into the base of Octavia’s neck. Octavia’s giggling grew into a more full-bodied laugh when Vinyl’s ear flicked against a rather ticklish spot on her chest, and the white mare was shaken awake in her marefriend’s embrace.
“Mornin’ Tavi,” she mumbled with a smile. Octavia smiled back and kissed Vinyl gently on the forehead – that nickname was something she loved more than most of the little things the unicorn did. No one had ever given her a nickname when she was little; it was all ‘Miss’ or ‘Octavia’ or ‘Miss Octavia.’ Everyone was formal and professional all the time. Within five minutes of meeting Vinyl Scratch the mare was calling the cellist Tavi, without having even asked first.
“Good morning, Vinyl,” Octavia replied, with a slight whimper as Vinyl extricated herself from the bed and the soft, fuzzy warmth left her. “Sleep well?”
“Always do when I’m with you,” the sweet words floated back to Octavia as Vinyl magically straightened her glasses. “Hey, is it alright if I use the shower first?”
“If you don’t mind if I join you,” Octavia said as she sat up in bed, a wicked smile on her face.
“Oh Celestia, Tavi, that feels amazing,” Vinyl moaned in pleasure as her marefriend’s hooves did their work, “Every time… every time I forget how nice this- oooooooohhhh…”
Octavia blushed a bit at her partner’s erotic sighs and whimpers, the mare putty under her masterful hooves. That was one of the big advantages earth ponies had over unicorns – unicorns so often grew so dependent on their magic so soon after they learned it they forgot how to use their hooves. As Vinyl Scratch could attest to, this left Octavia something of a magician with hers.
“Right… right… there’s an itch right… yesssssss,” Vinyl hissed as Octavia’s hooves slid along her scalp, working the thick shampoo into her mane.
“Vinyl this is hardly an appropriate response, I’m just washing your mane,” Octavia looked away, unable to keep looking at Vinyl’s face, the unicorn looking almost as though in the throes of orgasm.
“Octavia you really – uhn – have no idea how good this – ah – feels,” the DJ said through the grunts of pleasure, “I’m not half this good with my hooves and it is absolutely unfair to you.”
“It’s fine, dear,” Octavia muttered as she worked out a particularly stubborn knot in the DJ’s mane.
“No, it really i-” Vinyl Scratch began as she tried to turn around to face her lover… and slipped on the floor of the tub. A terrified flailing of hooves later, she managed to knock over her marefriend as well, and landed rather heavily on top of her. Octavia wheezed out a pained breath and gasped in another one, and Vinyl stood to get her weight off of her.
“Vinyl…” the cellist wheezed, “you… are such a goof…” Octavia trailed off, giving her best attempt at laughter while her diaphragm was still being uncooperative. The staccato of gasps and pants seemed to comfort Vinyl somewhat, and soon the unicorn laughed too. She stopped laughing, suddenly, as she felt her glasses begin to slide off her face, and, as though in slow motion, fall, tumble, twist, and land right on the bridge of Octavia’s nose, covering her eyes perfectly.
Octavia’s laughter stopped just as suddenly.
“Vinyl… how do you even see out of these? It’s completely black.”
“Give them back!” Vinyl said, with a bit more volume and a bit more anger in her voice than she had intended. Her horn glowed briefly and the purple shades teleported back to her own face. Another brief flash and for a moment a soapy water outline of her remained in the shower before gravity took over. Vinyl had teleported herself out, but only herself, leaving any suds and moisture behind as she went. Octavia sputtered and spat as some of the soap landed in her mouth.
“Vinyl-” Octavia slid open the door to the shower, but the DJ unicorn was already gone.
Lacking the magical benefits of a horn, Octavia took a couple minutes to wash off and towel off, even hurrying as she was. She dashed out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, hoping Vinyl hadn’t left their apartment.
To her relief, Vinyl sat at the kitchen table, her mane substantially frizzier than normal, likely due to the instantaneous drying. A coffee mug sat on the table before her, and, to Octavia’s shock, so did Vinyl’s glasses. The unicorn had her eyes closed, and it looked almost like she’d been crying.
“Vinyl-”
“Please don’t hate me, Tavi,” the white mare interrupted, turning her head towards Octavia, but keeping her eyes closed, “Please promise me that.”
“Vinyl, I could never hate you. I am completely in love with you, and honestly I don’t think either of us are too far from outright saying ‘I love you,’” Octavia reassured her. “In fact, I am ready. I love you, Vinyl Scratch, and I think I have for a while.”
Vinyl’s eyelids flickered open in surprise, and her mouth hung open a bit. For the first time Octavia was allowed to see her partner’s eyes – a gorgeous magenta, the color of a primrose, wide and full of wonder and love.
“Tavi, I…” Vinyl trailed off, a lump rising in her throat. She wanted to say it so badly, but…
“You don’t have to say it if you’re not ready,” Tavi said with a smile, “Just think of it like you don’t have to worry about saying it too soon anymore.”
“This right here is exactly why I didn’t want you to know about my glasses,” Vinyl said.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You’re so… perfect, Tavi,” Vinyl told her, looking away from her marefriend, “I’ve just been trying so hard to make you think I’m worth your time and I’m terrified you’d think I wasn’t if you found out about my achromatopsia.”
“Achromatopsia?”
“It’s a type of color-blindness,” Vinyl explained, “I pretty much only see in black and white, and the shades of gray between them. It comes with a hoofful of other eye problems, too, mostly really bad eyesight and sensitivity to light. The glasses can help with the light sensitivity and the blurriness of my vision, but there’s nothing modern medicine or magic can do about the color-blindness,” Vinyl Scratch finished with a heavy sigh, still pointedly avoiding Octavia’s gaze.
“Oh,” Octavia said. It was a simple enough explanation, but it didn’t seem to tell why Vinyl was always so secretive about it. So, seeing as the discussion was finally on the table, she asked, “Why have you always tried so hard to hide it, though? It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want you to know I’m broken,” Vinyl said with a quiver in her voice, refusing to make eye contact with Octavia, “Damaged. Incomplete. And look at you, Tavi, you’re perfect. Everything about you. You’re smart, you’re talented, you’re beautiful, and you don’t have any stupid medical problems like I do.
“Vinyl…”
“Plus when I take them off, my eyes are really sensitive to light, which makes it a bit hard to look at you with how radiant you are,” Vinyl said with a smirk, trying to hide her insecurities behind a joke.
“Vinyl,” Octavia began with a chuckle, “That is, without a doubt, your worst attempt at a pick-up line yet. You’re lucky we’re already together.”
“We’re still tog-”
“You sell yourself short so much, love. You might not know as much about the history of Equestria as I might, but you understand how the world works so much better. And talented? Celestia, Vinyl, I couldn’t write a song a tenth as good as your music to save my life.”
“Tavi, that’s n-”
“That is absolutely true, Vinyl, all of my so-called ‘talent’ is in playing music, I have never been a skilled composer,” Octavia spoke over her lover, not about to let Vinyl keep degrading herself, “And besides, if I’m beautiful, you must be drop-dead gorgeous. Vinyl Scratch, I love you, and if you think something as silly as being colorblind is going to change that, you need to get your head examined.”
She stepped over, took the unicorn’s face in her hooves, and kissed the mare.
When their lips parted, a slight blush was upon Vinyl’s cheeks, and suddenly she was crying.
“I’m s-so sorry Ta-tavi. I’m s-orry…” Vinyl sobbed and buried her head in Octavia’s neck and chest, unable to stop the tears.
“It’s fine, shhh, shhh… it’s fine,” Octavia ran her hooves gently through Vinyl’s mane, “You don’t have to say it now. I can wait. I can wait forever if I need to.”
And so she waited until Vinyl’s crying stopped, still holding her softly. They sat together quietly for a few minutes, Octavia still stroking her partner’s mane soothingly.
“Feeling better?”
Vinyl nodded. “A bit, yeah.”
“Good. Because now I know you’re colorblind, we can do something about that ridiculous mane of yours.”
“What’s wrong with my mane?” Vinyl said defensively, pulling away enough to look Octavia in the eyes, but not far enough to leave her embrace.
“It’s bright blue, that’s what’s wrong with it,” Tavi said with a giggle.
“It’s blue?”
