Vinyl Scratch sat bolt upright in bed, dripping with sweat; she'd had the nightmare again. She looked at the sleeping figure beside her. She was glad she hadn't woken her; she knew that Octavia was already worried, but she'd worry even more if she knew how frequent the nightmares were becoming.

After her heart rate had slowed down, and she no longer felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she carefully and quietly got out of bed and, by the soft light of her horn, made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. The wine bottle was where she'd left it. She found a cleanish looking glass and used her magic to tip the contents of the bottle into the glass. She was surprised to see the glass was still half empty; had she really drunk almost a whole bottle that evening? No, Octavia had had a glass too, or at least Vinyl was fairly certain that she had. She downed the glass in one gulp, feeling the sharp sting of the potent red wine go down her throat, and looked for another bottle.

Once — it now seemed so long ago — night had been Vinyl's favourite time; a time for partying, sure, but afterwards also a time for cool, calm reflection. Far more mellow than daylight hours. Perhaps Nightmare Moon had been onto a good idea? But now the night was a time of fear and loneliness. She knew it was silly really, because it was during the daytime when it had happened, when they had come for her. But for whatever reason, she could cope with day times now. She could keep herself occupied. It was the night time, when she had time to think, that the fear took hold of her.

She found the bottle she was looking for and opened it, pouring herself another glass of wine. She drank this glass more slowly, savouring it while flipping through her record collection. She'd agreed to DJ at a birthday party the next afternoon, and she wanted to try out some different tunes. She'd felt that her sets were becoming a bit stale. She liked to work because it kept her occupied, but her heart wasn't really in it. She put on a good show and seemed to be the life and soul of every party; nopony suspected the truth; nopony but one.

❧

Octavia awoke to an empty bed, not for the first time that week. She felt the sheets on Vinyl's side of the bed, finding that they were soaked with sweat — it must have been another of the nightmares.

Octavia got up and opened the curtains, letting in the first few rays of Celestia's morning sun. She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, finding Vinyl asleep, face down on the table, surrounded by records. She picked up her wine glass and put it in the sink. She put the two empty bottles by the front door, ready to take back to Berry Punch to be recycled.

She started preparing a breakfast of boiled eggs, toast, porridge, and chopped fruit. When she was nearly finished, Vinyl started to stir. Octavia slid a cup of strong coffee along the table to the sleepy unicorn, who looked up at her, nodding her head in gratitude.

Vinyl took a sip of the hot, soothing liquid. Her head felt like it was being pounded, but she knew from experience that Octavia's coffee was strong enough to cure even the worst headaches. She looked around her for her empties, but saw that Octavia had already cleared them away. "I— err…"

Octavia interrupted. "You got up early and decided to do some preparation for your performance this afternoon?" She gave Vinyl a half-hearted smile.

Vinyl nodded. "My gig, yeah." She gathered together the records that she'd chosen and stacked them in a neat pile at the side of the table.

Octavia laid the table and the two mares sat down to have breakfast. Conversation was thin on the ground, and rather one-sided.

As they finished up there was a knock at the door. "Special Delivery!" Octavia went to the door. Vinyl peered around the corner to see her open it to a blonde-maned grey pegasus.

Octavia was chatting to the pegasus and they both burst into laughter — clearly somepony had said something amusing. Vinyl thought she seemed to be being a bit too friendly towards the mailmare. A pegasus too — she knew that Octavia had always had a thing for wings. It was only a matter of time before Octavia would find herself another mare. Vinyl didn't know why Octavia had stuck by her for so long — she knew she was only a shadow of her former self. Ever since the attack, she'd lost her lust for life, her very spirit. The mare she had been was long gone. She didn't know if Octavia was still around out of some misplaced sense of loyalty, or whether it was pure stubbornness. Octavia was the stubbornest mare she'd met (and Vinyl had met several mules), but even that was not going to keep her around forever; she'd find somepony else — a mare as beautiful as Octavia was bound to. Part of her even wished it would happen sooner, so she could be alone, and would no longer have to pretend to cope.

"Good news!" announced Octavia, beaming; Vinyl hadn't even noticed she'd come back into the room. "Well, aren't you going to ask me what it is?"

"Sorry," said Vinyl, "I was miles away. What's the good news?"

"Well…" Octavia hesitated. "The band and I have been invited back to Cant— back to play at the Grand Galloping Gala."

Vinyl smiled a rare smile, the twinkle in her eye showing Octavia how genuine it was. She felt proud of her marefriend, even if she knew she had no right to take pride in somepony else's achievements. "That is good news. It's a big thing to be asked just once, but this is… what… your fourth time?"

"Third. I am greatly honoured of course, but it really isn't such a big thing," Octavia said, downplaying it. "Anyway, I should go out now and tell the other band members. They'll be so excited!" Octavia adjusted her bow tie and went out the door, leaving Vinyl alone with her thoughts.

❧

Vinyl returned from her gig with an unusual sense of optimism. The party had been organized by Pinkie Pie, and Vinyl had spoken with her a lot, both before and after the event. Somehow that mare seemed to know how to brighten up anypony's day, even Vinyl's. Pinkie had reintroduced Vinyl to Twilight Sparkle, who had apparently been dying to see Vinyl. Twilight and Vinyl had sat and talked for a while, and the two ponies had come up with a rather interesting arrangement that Vinyl couldn't wait to tell Octavia about.

Vinyl opened the door to find Octavia sitting across the table from the sousaphone player in her band, Beauty Brass. This immediately put a damper on her mood. Beauty and Octavia had been in a relationship years ago, before Vinyl had even met Octavia, and as much as Octavia insisted that they were just friends now, Vinyl was sure that there was more to it than that, at least from Beauty's side.

Vinyl kept her shades on and walked up behind Octavia. "Hello, Beauty," she said. That mare's mere name was a source of annoyance for Vinyl. "Hi, Tavi." She nuzzled her marefriend's ear, in a way that could be regarded as affectionate, but Octavia recognized was as blatant an attempt to mark her territory as urinating all over her would have been.

Vinyl sat down. Octavia gestured towards a cafetiere on the table. "We were just having a celebratory cup of coffee. After the news about the Gala, you understand."

A celebration deserved a proper drink. Vinyl glanced at the wine rack. She had been sure that there were several bottles remaining, but it was now empty. She used her magic to pour a cup of coffee instead.

Beauty Brass stood up. "It's about time I headed home now. It was nice to see you, Vinyl. Always a pleasure, Octavia." Beauty walked down the hallway and let herself out, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Octavia looked scornfully at Vinyl. "I do wish you'd get it through your head that Beauty isn't out to seduce me or something. And even if she were, I wouldn't be interested."

Vinyl took off her shades, stared at her coffee cup and said nothing.

Octavia tipped her own cup back, finishing the last of her drink. "Now, I appreciate that you won't want to come to Canterlot with us, so I've asked Lyra to come past once or twice while I'm away. She said that she and Bonny would be absolutely delighted to have you round for dinner, and—"

"You shouldn't have done that, Tavi," Vinyl interrupted.

"Oh, I know how you find Bon Bon a bore, but I think she's really very nice in her own way, and a great cook of course. I can't have you living on takeaways and frozen meals while I'm gone, can I?"

Vinyl defended herself. "I'm perfectly capable of cooking for myself!" And it was true — when she could be bothered, she could outcook most ponies. "But that's not what I meant anyway. I'm coming to Canterlot with you."

"You're… what?" asked Octavia in shock. Her surprise gave way to concern. "Are you sure that that's a good idea?"

Vinyl paused. If she were to be honest, then no, she wasn't sure it was a good idea. It could be a disastrous idea. But she knew she couldn't go on the way she'd been living. "I need to do this, Tavi."

Octavia gave Vinyl a moment before speaking. "Well, if you think you can handle it, then I think that's a very good decision. Besides which, you don't have to go anywhere or meet anyone while you're there. You can just stay in the hotel room if that would make you feel more comfortable being there."

Vinyl laughed, a genuine laugh. "It would be kinda hard to DJ the Gala afterparty from our hotel room!"

Octavia beamed; she knew that work was good for Vinyl. "The afterparty? That's fantastic news, Vi!"

Ever since that disastrous Gala a few years ago, with the cake and the rampaging animals, Celestia had asked Twilight Sparkle to organize a second smaller, less formal party after the Grand Galloping Gala was over. The first couple of these afterparties had been hosted in, of all places, a small doughnut shop in Canterlot, but recently they'd become so popular that they'd had to move into bigger venue. Octavia had never been to one, but she had heard from friends that they were very enjoyable.

Octavia walked around to the other side of the table, and nuzzled against Vinyl's ear affectionately. She was cautious of course — returning to Canterlot would be hard for the white unicorn — but she couldn't help feeling that this was a positive step for Vinyl. "Let's go to bed," she suggested.

"But we haven't had dinner yet."

Octavia tutted. "Screw dinner! I'm offering you my body, Vi, and all you can think about is your stomach?"

Vinyl smirked. "Well, I suppose if you put it like that…"

Author's Note

This chapter is not quite over. There's a sex scene coming up. If you want to read that, continue on to Chapter 1½. Otherwise, you can skip straight to chapter 2.