Author's Note

This is the last *clean* chapter!
You have been warned!

Glorious Nights

Chapter Three: Glorious Nights

I had no idea how long I had hugged Tavi. I had no idea how long it took before we broke and continued on our way. All I knew was that I would’ve never traded that moment for any other.

What I noticed, however, was that all the rest of the way, Tavi walked closer to me. Not close enough to brush coat to coat, but much closer than before.

Soon enough we neared the club. To describe it with words would be meaningless. The neon lights radiating off every corner. The modern steel accenting stone walls. The doors with a red carpet that could only be opened to the worthiest… Yes, you can say what you want about clubs, but this one was gorgeous.

Not as gorgeous as Octavia, though. She marched boldly past the queue, in her lingerie, collecting whistles and looks from everypony around. Especially those who were taken.

It took me a few moments to glare at them before quickly catching up to Octavia. “Wait, you won’t get in without me!” I tried to say, just to see that the bouncer had already bowed and waved her in.

My jaw fell agape. Octavia was indeed beautiful, sexy, and alluring, but I’d never realised before just how beautiful, sexy and alluring she was. I trotted meekly after her, losing the last bits of my confidence.

“Thanks for letting my friend in, Jery,” I nodded to the bouncer, who just laughed.

“A beautiful mare like her always gets in, Vi.”

I couldn’t help myself but feel a tiny frown form on my face.

She’s my friend.

Friend?

Friend!

I groaned, shaking my head violently at the weird ideas filling my mind. I need a drink, and I hope Tavi does too.

I tried to locate the mare in the club but the surge of colourful ponies rushing around me prevented me from seeing my new… friend. If she ever would consider me a friend, that is. I stumbled towards the bar counter - and there she was, sipping on a cider already! “Wouldn’t take you for a drinking mare, Octavia,” I said with a smile.

She turned and actually showed me the hint of a smile. “Well,” she replied, throwing her nose up, “I have to counter the terrible music with the fine taste of alcohol and…” She winked. (She actually winked at me!) “Camaraderie.”

I blinked. Now, you see, my vocabulary is well-rounded. But sometimes there are certain evil words that make me stumble over them. And cama-word was one of those.“Cama-what?” I asked.

“That’s a synonym for…” Octavia sipped on her cider, as if trying to savour the moment. “Friendship.”

My heart leapt to my throat. Friendship! A little pony in my head did a victory dance. “Bartender!” I announced loudly. “Two whiskies, for me and my friend here.”

Octavia frowned, cradling the cider in her hooves. “I don’t know, Vinyl. Do you really think hard drinks are all right?” She waved her hoof in the air. “I mean, I know I like cocktails, but straight whisky?”

“Well…” I grinned, trying not push our newfound friendship too far. “Straight whisky for a straight mare, right?” Now it was my turn to wink.

Octavia smiled and took the glass. The party was just getting started.

***

“V-Vinyl! Whai… whai did you make me drunk? I… I think I never was drunken. No… so drunk?” It was actually funny how Tavi tried to speak properly, even after five whiskies and a few hard ciders.

“Tavi, you’re not drunk, you’re wasted,” I chuckled back. “And I did it so you would enjoy the music more.”

“But this music is… baaaaaaad,” she drawled.

I smirked. “Well, then wait till ya hear mine!”

“Whua?”

“I’m a DJ, remember?”

That got her attention. “You’re here to DJ… DJing?”

Wow, that sobered her up quick!

“Nah, I just wanted to go out with you.” I grinned. “But since you don’t like the usual music here, I thought I would try to do something good for ya.”

“And you think I would… *burp* pardon me… like your music more?”

“Of course you will!” I assured her with a grin. “Just let me—”

“Heey!” I suddenly felt a slap on my flank from a, let’s say, rather inebriated mare. Yes, I know the word “inebriated”. “Nice flank!” the mare said with a wink, practically drooling over me.

Suddenly Octavia was shoving herself between me and the mare and shouting at her, “It’s my flank!” Okay, not even shouting. She practically roared!

The mare backed down. “Sorry,” she slurred drunkenly. “Didn’t know you were taken.”

Once the mare left, I looked at Octavia very slowly. Should I take advantage of the situation or— Of course I shouldn’t. Octavia was wasted, and if I wanted to keep our friendship alive, I needed to somehow keep my urges at bay. Even if those urges included kissing her on the spot for standing up for me like that.

“I-I’m ssorry,” Octavia tried to explain.

I just couldn’t help myself. Drawing her closer, Octavia’s eyes went wide, even in her intoxicated state, but I quickly restrained myself and pecked her on her cheek instead of her muzzle.

Octavia just stood there, eyes still wide as she lifted a hoof to her cheek, touching it slowly. “You… kissed me?” she wondered softly with an unreadable expression.

I backed down a little. “It was a friendly gesture,” I explained.

“Well, it was on the cheek, so I think it was okay,” Octavia said, smiling.

Now I was a bit confused, “You sound really clear now, what was with that slurred drunken speech just seconds ago?”

“If I concentrate, it works. A lady can deal with her alcohol,” she just replied smugly. Then stumbled. Over her own hooves.

Of course, I quickly grabbed her, propping her up against my shoulder, while the gorgeous mare just hiccupped gracefully. To think about it, only Octavia could hiccup gracefully. “Okay.” I sighed. “It seems my awesome music will have to wait. Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

“I’m perfectly fine walking on my own!” Octavia protested, but, as soon as I eased my grip, she stumbled again.

I chuckled and took her up again. “Let’s get you to the hotel.”

“No! You wanted to play music for me.”

“I still can at the hotel room. We don’t have to be here. Also I can better keep an eye on you there,” I replied sincerely.

“You… you just want to look at me,” Tavi accused me with a smile.

Smiling back, I gently whispered, “Maybe,” into her ear.

“You… You want to touch me?” Octavia gulped, turning a fine shade of pink, the kind of shade that made her features so much more adorable. And sexy. “I-I don’t think I can let you touch me. Yet.”

Even as my heart fluttered at the “Yet”, I knew that it was probably the alcohol speaking. Even if I wasn’t that drunk. But apparently, Octavia was. She tried to take a step on her own, but stumbled, and, once again, I offered my shoulder to her. “All right. Let’s take you back to the hotel. I promise: no funny business.”

Why on earth did I make such a promise? Maybe this mare was really somepony else, somepony who wasn’t just a one-night stand… One way or another, we made our way through the (rather hot) street. Despite it being night, the warm, humid air was permeating my fur, and I felt the faint scent of pleasant sweat on Octavia. I tried not to show just how pleasant her scent was to me.

“Viiiiinyl~” Octavia cooed, while I struggled, step by step, to lead us to the hotel. “C’mooon! The night’s still young! Let’s go somewhere!”

“We’re going somewhere,” I grumbled in reply, feeling Octavia’s weight on my poor shoulder. Anything for that mare, a little pony in my head whispered. I glared mentally at that little pony and promised to hit it with a stick. “And this somewhere is your hotel room.”

It seemed that Octavia had sobered up somehow. She stopped, prompting me to stop as well. “Vinyl. I, I meant it when I said I didn’t want you to touch me… like that.” She blushed, and, by Celestia, that blush was the prettiest blush I’d ever seen.

“No touching,” I promised, arguing with myself. “I’ll just get you to the hotel room, and that’s it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Okay, what is your problem?” I asked, shrugging her gently from my shoulder. “I told you no touching. Just to your hotel room so you can sleep and sober up. If you want, I even play some music for you!”

“Not so loud,” Octavia whimpered before laying against my shoulder again. “I’m sorry!”

“What are you sorry for?” I asked in surprise. This mare had hit me and it’d taken her some time to apologise, so why was she being apologetic right now?

“I’m sorry, I just, I just can’t.” Octavia pressed her chin against my shoulder. “I know you want me—” I opened my mouth to protest, but she shushed me. “I know you want me in that way… But I am just not that kind of mare. I, I’m rather glad I made a friend, but… Vinyl, I can’t sleep with you. I’m sorry.”

I groaned and tried to facehoof, before remembering that there still was a drunk Octavia on my shoulder and, if I were to perform the gesture, I would lose balance. “Octavia! Nopony is saying anything about sleeping together! I will just take you to the hotel room and that’s it!”

“But…” Octavia sighed, breathing alcohol on my cheek. “I want you to stay. I just don’t want you to... “ She looked around. “I don’t want you to sex me.”

I must admit, I giggled. A mare so refined she, even in her inebriated state, can’t say the word “buck”? That’s both silly and very funny. “Octavia, chill out. I’ll sleep on the floor in your room, deal?”

Octavia smiled, putting her head on my shoulder, setting it on fire with that simple gesture. “Deal.”

***

Pain. It was the first thing I felt as my eyelids were assaulted with the light of the day. Groaning, I pulled my forehooves up, shielding them, not wanting to leave the warmth that was at my side.

Warmth?

Curious, I shuffled around, just to stop in confusion.

The bed is awfully hard and… weird.

I even took a short sniff, just to wrinkle my nose in disgust.

Alcohol, sweat and pineapple, not my favourite combination. Wait…

My eyes sprung open and I immediately shrieked, jolting up, putting as much distance between me and the spot where I had lain as possible. “WHAT IS GOING ON?!”

Vinyl awoke with a start, looking groggily around before focusing on me. “What’s the yelling for, Octavia?”

“You… you broke your promise!!!”

“What?! NO!”

“Then why was I on the floor, lying all over you?” I asked, glaring daggers at the unicorn.

“You were what?” Vinyl asked, confused. “If you were on me, who says you didn’t come down here on your own? I certainly didn’t drag you from the bed to the ground and then on me!”

“How in Equestria would I come down on my own?!”

“Well,” Vinyl reasoned, “Maybe in the ‘Oh, Vinyl, buck me now!’ way?”

My jaw fell agape. “What.”

“You were pretty wasted,” Vinyl explained. “Wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“What.”

“You saw my sexy body,” the incorrigible mare continued, “and you just couldn’t resist.” She grinned. “I didn’t make a move on you. You made a move on me!”

“I did not!” I shouted, then winced as pain assaulted my temples. “Can I have a glass of water?”

Vinyl grinned, levitating a glass to me. “Knew you would be thirsty!”

I tried to sip the water gracefully but downed it in one go. Vinyl chuckled at me, looking sideways. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Horrible,” I admitted. Then pointed an accusing hoof at the white mare. “But not as horrible as you seducing me!”

“I didn’t seduce you!” Vinyl waved her hooves in the air. “If anything, you tried to seduce me! But you know what?” She frowned. “I was a gentlemare, so nothing happened!”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked defiantly. Then groaned and crawled onto the bed. “You know what? I don’t care. Even if nothing happened, that still doesn’t mean you didn’t violate me!”

“H-how did I violate you?” Vinyl’s voice was full of hurt and concern.

Too bad that my hangover prevented me from showing mercy.

“Well, you entered my suite! And you slept with me!” I lay on the bed and looked away. “I cannot comprehend what was going through your mind.”

“Well, I’ll tell you,” Vinyl’s voice reached my ears after a moment of silence. “I wanted to get you home because you were so drunk you couldn’t walk on your own. Because I thought we were friends. I laid you on the bed so you could sleep well. Because I thought we were friends. I lay on the floor myself. Because I thought we were friends. But now I don’t think we are.”

I heard hoofsteps and almost sprung from the bed, groaning as my head ached miserably. Why does that mare keep guilt-tripping me?.. “Vinyl, wait!”

The white mare lingered in the doorway without turning to me. “What.”

“I… I am sorry. I am not thinking straight.” Wrong phrasing, Octavia. Wrong phrasing. “I am too hungover to… form decent thoughts. But we are friends. And I can prove that.” Oh no I am not going to do that.

I am SO not going to do that.

“And how?” Still, her back was turned to me.

I sighed and patted the spot next to me on the bed. Immediately, Vinyl turned around, her eyes wide open. I patted the spot again. “Here. I will sleep off my hangover and I want you by my side. As a friend. I trust you enough not to do anything sexually.”

I am really doing that, aren’t I? Oh Celestia, I SO am.

Vinyl growled before a smile spread over her muzzle. “Sometimes, you make no sense, Tavi,” she gently said before approaching me. “But that makes me like you even more.” With that, she crawled onto the bed and lay next to me.

For a moment, I thought that she would hug me - and felt both fear and excitement at the mere thought. But she didn’t, so I closed my eyes and, with a sigh, began drifting off to sleep. Just before blackness covered me and offered blue-maned dreams, a thought reached my head:

I would feel so much better in her embrace.