The atmosphere was perfect. Now was the time. The light jazz music the pianist was playing sounded lively yet relaxed. The ponies at the other tables were happily conversing in a low chatter. It was altogether a pleasant night to be enjoying the dimly-lit and smoke-filled Speakeasy Lounge, and that's exactly what was filling Octavia with such an odd sense of foreboding. If somepony made a move against her, everypony would see it and remember it. It would be one Hell of a sent message. But if any messages were sent here, in her own territory, Octavia would be damn sure that it was she who was the one sending that message. She shook her head, trying to rid her head of this trepidation as if it were droplets of water clinging to her mane. There was nothing to worry about until there was something to worry about, right? She was here to enjoy herself. And that's just what she was going to do, all other worries be damned.
"...and so I said buck it, right? There's no way I'm dealing with that kind of shit. Telling me I can't see your concert because I 'violated the dress code'? Buck that. I told the idiot that if he didn't step off and recognize the fact that I was there at the personal request of the first chair and best cellist in all of Las Pegasus, that there would be a problem." boasted Vinyl Scratch, who was sitting across the table from Octavia. "Well, apparently he had have a problem. He grabs me and tries to drag me out of the hall, right? So what do I do? I sock him one right in the stomach. Then I whispered in his ear what I did the last time some piddly-ass usher tried to weep me from watching you perform. He walked away all hurt and wheezing and shit, it was hilarious!" she continued, grinning triumphantly and chortling somewhat at the recollected image.
Octavia grinned back, chuckling amusedly at her friend's story. "I'm quite astonished that he didn't have security eject you from the concert hall." She said, idly tracing a hoof lightly around the rim of her cherry wine.
"Oh a security mare tried to come up to me." replied Vinyl dismissively. "But I just gave her a death stare and she backed right the buck off. If they or anypony else thought some stupid dress code was going to keep me from you, then they had best be ready for a buck upside the head. HA! You know, saying that reminds me of this one time I was DJ-ing- remember how I said..."
Octavia smiled and sighed happily, watching her talk. This is what she loved about Vinyl. The energy, the enthusiasm, the zest for simply being alive. Maybe there was a thing or two to learn from her friend's carefree approach to life. Her eyes darted anxiously around behind Vinyl, scanning the room and everypony in it. Something was giving her this nervous feeling, but everything appeared to be in perfect order. Maybe it wasn't any sort of threat... Maybe it was just her gut telling her not to pass up this opportunity.
"... so I said just buck it and..." Vinyl went on, not noticing that her friend's eyes had glazed over.
Yes... thought Octavia. It was time to take a leaf from her friend's book. Hopefully soon, more than just her friend. She stood up and strode around the table, keeping her half-lidded eyes trained on Vinyl.
"... so that's when I... I... Octy? Why are you looking at me funny?" the DJ asked, watching her walk over. "What're you..."
But her question was interrupted as Octavia knelt down and kissed Vinyl very softly on the lips. Vinyl sat, frozen, her eyes wide in shock. Octavia, her best friend was... kissing her...
Octavia straightened up, placing her hoof gently on Vinyl's and looking her deeply in the eyes. "Come with me..." she said, barely above a whisper.
"I... I... okay..." Vinyl whispered back,the gears in her mind still working too furiously trying to figure out what just happened and why to think of much else to say. The two stood up and began a brisk trot toward the exit of the lounge.
"Put it on my tab." Octavia called back to their bemused-looking waiter.
She led Vinyl out the doors of the lounge which led directly into the massive lobby of a luxurious casino hotel. Octavia drank in the sight of the ornate marble floors and high vaulted ceiling. It never really ceased to impress her; even thought this hotel was her home. She grabbed Vinyl's hoof in her own and galloped off in a sort of bizarre seven-legged race, practically dragging Vinyl behind her. The two ran across the lobby, then into the elevator which was conveniently open, having just been vacated.
Tapping the appropriate button with her back hoof, Octavia waited for the doors to slide shut before she advanced on Vinyl and began kissing the unicorn passionately and wildly, a wild fire behind her closed eyes. Vinyl was too surprised to put up any sort of protest, and let Octavia take control of her lips; her tongue writhing almost violently throughout her mouth as if she were gasping for air. Meanwhile her hooves were sensually caressing Vinyl's body. She smoothly stroked her supple curves; from her hips, to her cutie mark, to between her legs...
Vinyl yelped at the sudden introduction of pleasure. She backed away and up against the wall; more out of surprise than discomfort. "Octy! What's gotten into you?" Octavia, however, only smiled hungrily and growled, regarding Vinyl with the same expression a starving dragon might regard a bloody steak. This is bizarre... thought Vinyl. She was used to a classy and elegant Octavia. One who spoke with a prim and proper voice and beheld her with a calm and smooth gaze; not this wolfish one...
"Hopefully, you'll be the answer to your own question..." She answered, still staring down the DJ like a piece of fresh meat.
Vinyl gulped, quite taken-aback by the innuendo. "Tavi, listen. I..."
"Oh, Octy, Tavi, pick one already, will you? I want to know what I'll be hearing you scream later, Scratch."
The unicorn blinked, disarmed yet again by another broken precedent. Before she had a chance to answer, Octavia had seized her by the shoulders and tossed her roughly into the wall, kissing her violently again.
"Tell me you don't love this..." the cellist smirked, breaking the kiss.
So yes, Vinyl had in the past advised the otherwise seemingly rigid and reserved Octavia to be a little more... boisterous. A little more willing to forsake what she felt was expected in lieu of what she knew she wanted. But all this? Calling her 'Scratch'? Marehandling her so roughly? It was completely unlike Octavia...
And Vinyl would be lying if she said it didn't turn her right the fuck on...
"H-hey..." Vinyl started, smirking back. "being snarky and over-confident is my job!" she said, leaning forward and kissing the cellist back in an equally passionate and vaguely carnivorous manner. Making out with a mare was nothing new to Vinyl. Hell, not even making out with a mare in an elevator was new to the avid partier. But she and Octavia had never done anything like this before. In fact, before a few moments ago, she wasn't even sure Octavia was capable of things like this. She didn't have any idea what was making the earth pony act like this, but Hell if she wasn't going to enjoy it while it lasted.
The two continued their tongue battle. Octavia was good, Vinyl had to admit. She didn't have the air of honed experience that a practiced kisser like Vinyl had, but what she had was a sort of natural talent and an underlying intuition for what Vinyl wanted out of a kiss. This, coupled with the wildly passionate way that she pursued Vinyl's lips with sexual abandon lent to some very pleasurably intense kissing between the two.
With what felt like a great effort, Octavia broke the kiss, looking at Vinyl, who looked quite dazed with her eyes partially closed and her tongue poking from her mouth somewhat. "I'm going to fuck you tonight, Scratch..." she said, breathlessly.
"You're going to ... fuck me?" Vinyl repeated, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Yes." answered Octavia simply. "It's something I've always wanted to do... since the day I met you, in fact..."
Vinyl stared, unsure of what exactly she was hearing and whether to believe it or not.
"I ... I love you, Scratch... Always have, I think. Always will."
Vinyl blinked and shook her head. This was so unexpected! Sure, Vinyl and Octavia had been known to surreptitiously flirt on occasion (usually whenever one or the other had a bit too much to drink), but love!? She wasn't sure what to think of this. Luckily, she didn't have much time to think seeing as Octavia was viciously attacking her face again, pressing her against the elevator doors. The bell dinged and the elevator shuddered to a halt as it reached its destination floor. The two of them tumbled out of the elevator and onto the floor. Octavia giggled as she gave Vinyl another quick peck before getting off of her. "Come on!" she said giddily, cantering over to her door and sliding a keycard into the lock. The door opened and Octavia tucked it back behind her collar. Vinyl looked up at her from her position spreadeagled on the carpeted hallway floor, an expression of bemused amusement on her face. Obligingly, she straightened up and followed Octavia into the hotel room, which Octavia had since made her permanent home.
Vinyl barely had a moment to get her bearing in the room (which was only illuminated by the lights of the neon-infused Las Pegasus Strip coming through the window) before Octavia had hooked her hooves around her, spinning her around and leading her to a nearby couch.
Octavia knelt down beside the couch and slowly removed Vinyl's signature purple goggles. She bent down and began kissing her once again. Calmly this time. Softer. Soothingly. Intimately. It was the sort of deep and sensual kiss that served as a conversation as much as a show of affection.
"All I want..." Octavia whispered as she kissed Vinyl's cheek, "is to make you as happy tonight..." she went on, kissing her chin, "as you make me..." she kissed her neck, "every second of every minute we spend together." she finished, kissing Vinyl's collarbone. She began slowly trailing her kisses down her chest, onto her belly, then lower still.
"Oh Octavia..." Vinyl sighed, unable to think of anything else to say. "I think I love you too..."
Octavia smiled as she heard the words, but did not falter in her descent. She conytinued kissing and licking until she reached between her lover's legs. This would be it... Octavia thought. This would be the night she made Vinyl her's... She delivered her most important kiss yet with a wide smile on her face. She felt on top of the world right now. She had admitted her love to the mare of her dreams and had her love requited. There was nothing else in the world now. Just the two ponies in that room and the love between them. And Octavia was going to show her exactly how much she loved her. Vinyl had just begun to let out a moan of ecstasy, when suddenly a large bang at the door made both of them jump. They looked towards the entrance of the small apartment and saw the door rattle as another loud bang shook it violently.
"Stay here." Octavia said shortly, getting up off the couch and slowly inching towards the door. The door continued to shake, someone was obviously trying to get inside.
"What is it, Octy?" Vinyl asked. "Who is that?" She got off of the couch and walked over to behind where Octavia had stopped, just a few feet away from the entryway. "What's going on?"
Octavia said nothing. She stood almost perfectly still, her whole body tensed, poised, legs slightly bent. "Octy, wha..."
Vinyl's question was both interrupted and answered when the door suddenly flew open. It crashed against the wall and snapped off one of the hinges. Under the threshold stood an absolutely massive dark orange stallion, almost obscenely muscular. He wore a crooked fedora on his head and a poorly tied neck tie underneath his collar. He also wore an evil-looking crooked smile, which only widened as he raised the tommy gun that was in his hooves.
Octavia's eyes widened. "VINYL, DUCK!" She screamed as the stallion opened fire. Octavia dove out of the way of the bullet stream, nearly missing a bullet as it rocketed past her mane. She was now lying in the little space in between the kitchenette and the dining area, she looked up towards the stallion and saw him beginning point his gun at her again. In the split second that it took the stallion to compensate for the submachine gun's recoil, Octavia desperately scrambled to her hooves and lept behind the kitchen counter, barely missing another volley. She backed herself up against the counter and hurriedly pulled open a drawer above her. She hastily felt blindly in it until she pulled out a pistol, which she always kept loaded and at the ready. Taking a moment to breath, she leaned out from behind cover and aimed her gun right where the stallion had been standing. But he wasn't there.
Octavia immediately retreated back into cover and held her breath. She listened, but couldn't hear anything. Suddenly, the stallion leaped out from the other side of the counter. He dove over it and pulled Octavia up by the neck; choking her with his tommy gun. Octavia's forelegs flailed wildly. She couldn't get a good enough angle to shoot her attacker, and he was steadily choking the life out of her so roughly, that he actually might break her neck first if she didn't do something about it. Octavia's vision started to go dark. Her eyes darted wildly around the room, searching for something - anything that she could use to escape. A glint caught her eye, and she saw her struggle reflecting in one of the decorative brass plates that lined her living room wall. It was a Hail Mary Pass, but Octavia was a pretty good shot. She aimed her pistol towards it and steadied her arm. A single shot rang out as Octavia pulled the trigger. The plate clanged as the bullet hit it, and ricocheted back towards them. She heard a grunt as the stallion's grip tensed, the suddenly slackened. A loud thud could be heard as he fell back over the kitchen counter. Octavia fell to the ground and gasped violently. She walked around the counter and flipped on the light for the kitchen. She looked down at her attacker. A small bleeding hole had appeared just an inch above his left eye. Octavia looked down at his cutie mark. Sure enough, just as she expected, it showed a playing card... the 10 of Clubs.
"Pfft." She scoffed looking disgustedly down at the dead body. "And after all that talk ol' 10... and you were a piece of cake. Fucker." She snorted mirthlessly. She spat on his cutie mark then added a kick for good measure. She turned away and walked out towards the living room again.
"Whew, I thought for sure that they'd send more than one guy after me... But there may be more on the way; that'd be more in line with what I estimated... We should get going just in case that is the case. Whew... But at least we're alright right? Aren't we? Aren't we, Vinyl? ... Vinyl?"
Octavia looked behind her. There, just a small ways away, the small crumpled form of her lover laid still. Her once pearly white coat was now speckled with the red of blood ... her blood. It had begun to collect into a small pool in front of her, casting a ghostly reflection.
Octavia launched herself across the room to her fallen friend. She took Vinyl's hoof in hers and shook her, placing a hoof on her chest. "Vinyl! Vinyl! Speak to me! Vinyl!" She shook the little pony as hard as she dared. Vinyl didn't move, though. This wasn't happening. It was impossible. There was no way this was happening... she pulled off the shot. Vinyl was okay. She was okay. She was okay. She was okay. She was just having a little trouble opening her eyes.
"Vinyl... Vinyl..." Octavia cooed; "Please open your eyes for me... Could you do that? Could you please just open your eyes for me...?"
But Vinyl's eyes did not open. She laid motionless. The warmth from her chest was gone now. Octavia recoiled her hoof from the cold skin as if it had suddenly electrocuted her. She knelt down and pressed her face into the DJ's neck.
"Oh... oh Vinyl, no... No please... Don't do this to me... don't do this to me... Not when I just ... I ..."
She couldn't talk anymore as her tears began to choke her up too much... The little gray pony began to cry. Tears silently rolling down her cheek.
She fell over, unable to hold herself up any more. The pool of blood made a soft splash as she landed in it. She opened her eyes again and looked at her lover's eternally sleeping face. It seemed so peaceful. So indifferent to what had happened to its owner. Gently, Octavia lifted Vinyl's eyelids with her hoof. Her eyes were blank. The love, the passion, the joy, and pure happiness just to be alive that had so recently occupied them was gone. Like a candle whose wick had suddenly been extinguished. They stared right past Octavia, uncaring, unfeeling, and unrecognizing. Octavia placed her hoof gently on Vinyl's cheek. She stared into the empty pupils, and wondered if any of this was worth it. She decided it wasn't. Closing her eyes, she began to sob, quietly at first but soon hysterically. The sight of Vinyl's brilliant red eyes would never leave her. Those hollow eyes, the same color of the blood that was now running beneath them...
Rainbow Dash leaned her head up against the cool glass of the train's window. She stared out at the desert landscape speeding past unimpressed. She was bored and this whole vacation she was going to be nothing but boring. 'Vacation' barely even described it. This was a business trip, plain and simple. She sighed out her nose, watching the window fog up momentarily as she did so.
"Cheer up, Rainbow Dash." came a bright voice from her side. She turned to look at Rarity, her travel partner and the reason she was even on this trip in the first place. "Las Pegasus is world renowned as a vacation destination. I'm certain we'll be able to have fun!" Rarity was looking at her sideways, wearing the sort of smile somepony wears when they're trying remain positive for somepony else's sake. "I'll just be tying up loose ends to prepare for the boutique's grand opening. It shouldn't take more than a day, and we've got the entire week reserved in the newest and most luxurious palace of a hotel! Now doesn't that sound exciting?"
Rainbow Dash didn't answer; instead she looked idly back out the window again. In truth: no, it didn't sound exciting. An dreary afternoon as part of the Ponyville Weather Patrol's afternoon drizzle division sounded more exciting than this. Granted, she was a pegasus, and Las Pegasus was (as could be easily deducted) a pegasus town. While pegasi in general typically enjoyed visiting the lofty pegasi settlements located in the clouds, Rainbow Dash would much rather be visiting any other city for any other reason. Though she would never blatantly admit it, she found Rarity's profession very boring. She guessed it was pretty cool and stuff, being able to make clothes for all kinds of ponies and having those clothes be so popular that the demand for them in even the most remote and desolate places in Equestria warranted a store dedicated to them be opened. And Rainbow couldn't deny that Rarity's designs were often about as awesome as Rainbow herself. Creating anything that came even close to Rainbow's level of awesomeness was quite an accomplishment in her eyes.
But regardless of how talented Rarity undoubtedly was, that didn't change the fact that the vast majority of her designs were high-end fru-fru nonsense only sought after by high-end fru-fru ponies. The grand opening of Rarity's boutique would attract those sorts of insufferably boring ponies as well as the sort of scum that infested Las Pegasus. She snorted quietly to herself. Not that she'd admited it to Rarity or anypony for that matter, but she had her own reasons for hating Las Pegasus. The pegasus was no strict follower of rules in any sense (much to the chagrin of friends like Twilight Sparkle or Fluttershy) but even she found Las Pegasus' version of law too lax for her. And by lax, she meant corrupt. It was well-known that ponies who went to the desert town to party went there to party hard. Drink, drugs, sex. It was omnipresent throughout the city and controlled and regulated by whatever shadowy individuals or organizations who stood to profit from them the most with the joke of an EUP outpost there having been bought or threatened into submission long ago.
Rainbow would be a bit hypocritical if she said these were her only reasons for disliking the resort paradise. She was no stranger to black-outs during cider season. She had abused her fair share of substances during her wilder, more youthful days; and in truth, wouldn't be totally adverse to it if somepony were to offer some to her, though she did try to stay clear. She had even been to her fair-share of seedy red-light Canterlot erotic shows, though she had never gone so far as too hire a prostitute. Bits were best spent on Wonderbolts swag, after all. But her greatest and deepest reason for never wanting to visit Las Pegasus was the gambling. Making a gentlemare's wager with Applejack to prove a point was all well and good, but the sort of gambling exclusive to Las Pegasus was far darker and more insidious. She had seen take hold of ponies and change them like some sort of fever, seen ponies obsess over the next spin of the slots or the next roll of the roulette wheel or the next card drawn from the deck as if their lives depended on it. More often than not, you could count on the fact that their lives did depend on it.
Ponies would spiral into debt spending the hard earned bits of of their families and seek out insidious loan sharks to somehow help them out of the hole they'd dug themselves. And the loan sharks would welcome them in like a spider welcoming a fly. Broad gold-toothed smiles and soothing words to get ponies to sign their way to what seemed like a way out. But if one of those ponies missed a payment... the consequences were somewhat... dire. Rainbow shut her eyes tightly. They were stinging now and she pushed the reason for that out of her mind. Instead, she tried to focus on Rarity, who had begun speaking with her again.
"... that even some of the elite in Canterlot might have to think twice about once they saw the price tag. Lest we forget, Rainbow, these are high-rollers we're dealing with here." Rarity giggled lightly as she said high-rollers as if the term commanded an odd sort of respect for her. "Celebrities in their own right. And like celebrities they like to both dress and spend extravagantly! Oh yes, Rainbow, I think opening a boutique here could be the start of something great for me! And you know how competitive these casinos are with one another. See something in the other's mall and suddenly they have to have it too; whether they wanted to have it in the first place or not!" Rarity chortled appropriately at the fact. Rainbow's mouth was slightly ajar, her eyes out of focus. It was going to be a whoooooole week of this. "Meaning, of course, that soon enough I might not have just one boutique in Las Pegasus but several! Oh, think of how fabulous everypony will look! Not even to speak for the amount of bits that'll be rolling in for me. Maybe it'll even be enough to work my way out of the debt I'm bound to accrue in the casinos this week." Rarity laughed heartily at her own joke, not noticing how Rainbow had winced.
Had Rarity not been one of Rainbow's best friends, the pegasus would never have even considered going. In truth, friendship alone hadn't enough to persuade her, it was the the fact that Rarity had practically begged her to accompany her. Why she hadn't been more keen to bring along avid-partier Pinkie Pie, cards-playing Applejack, or even earnest spa-goer Fluttershy was beyond Rainbow. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked out the window again. "Yeah, look Rarity, you've got to be careful in a town like Las Pegasus." She said to the passing cacti on the other side of the glass. "Most ponies there... especially when it comes down to bits, well... they're not very nice." she finished lamely.
Rarity raised an eyebrow to her. "I'm more that capable of handling of handling subversive businessponies if that's what you mean." said Rarity steadily, just the faintest hint of indignation showing through her voice.
"That's not really what I meant." said Rainbow. "I mean like the kind of ponies who won't like the fact that you're making more bits than they are. The kind of ponies who would just as soon burn one of your stores to the ground as look at it. It's all about bits to these ponies. They care more about the size of their wallets than the lives of other ponies." She looked grimly round at Rarity, whose eyebrow had been raised even higher.
"Las Pegasus's reputation is... well-known. And not always entirely flattering." she said steadily. "But something you must remember Rainbow, is that every town has its seedy underbelly. Even Ponyville's not immune."
"I've never seen anyone in Ponyville be murdered in cold-blood over a gambling debt." Rainbow muttered darkly.
"Even Ponyville's not immune." Rarity repeated, plowing on stubbornly. "But that's not why I'm here, I'm here for the glitz and glamour of the highlife. For brilliant multicolored neon signs that light up even the fathomless desert night sky. For the adrenaline rush while facing subtle and dignified opponents at the high-stakes tables where charm and tenacity win the day. For the endless parade of culture that the city nurtures with foods and shows. For the way ponies who go there have more fun than they thought possible and return with stories that they'll tell for a lifetime."
Rainbow scoffed. After a visit to Las Pegasus, a lifetime may not be very long at all, Rainbow felt like saying but she held her tongue. She pursed her lips and glared at the floor. Rarity wasn't the kind of mare to just change her mind when she had stars in her eyes like this. Silently, Rainbow Dash hoped that nothing would ever happen to disillusion Rarity and that she would just go on believing that Las Pegasus was the end-all-be-all of high-life, high-fashion, and high stakes. But a small part of her also wished that something would make Rarity see Las Pegasus for what it really was: a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Just as the thought ran through Rainbow's mind, a sudden gasp from Rarity caused her to look up and at the unicorn who was pointing giddily out of the window. Rainbow looked out the window towards where she was pointing to see the object of her woes. Las Pegasus stood (or rather, floated) on a large collection of clouds. However, unlike other pegasus cities located high in the sky, this on floated on ground-level in the middle of a massive desert gulch. The train tracks extended on a bridge over the entirety of the gorge with Las Pegasus acting as a sort of oasis in the chasm. The city itself was dazzling with the many mirrored-windows of the various high-rise hotels reflecting the sun's light.
"It looks like a shimmering diamond beset by pearls!" fawned Rarity.
It looks like a glimmering knife about to be thrust into an innocent pony's back... thought Rainbow.
In a way, they were both right.
