Scratched

“You alright?” The human asked Vinyl, as they walked slowly back to his house.

The pony was walking alongside him, levitating her bundle of equipment. He could feel her push up closer to him each time he scratched her flank, running his hand against her back. King could still feel the sweat on her back cooling quickly in the chill of the winter night.

“Just talking with a friend. Somepony I’ve known for a long time.”

“She looked like she meant a lot to you.” He replied.

“Yeah. At one point she did.” She said softly.

He decided not to push too much farther on the matter. They walked along in silence on the deserted street, Vinyl’s hoofsteps being the only sound as they echoed softly off the brick facades.

“You were amazing at the show tonight.” He finally said. “You didn’t dance like that before.”

“Heh. Thanks. I just felt like I needed to let off some steam.” The filly replied, grinning.

“I could tell everyone loved it. I know a few patrons around the club, and the word is really good from what I hear.”

“Yeah. But it was good for Jet too, I’m sure…” She said, chuckling.

“Maybe.”

Arriving at his house, he opened the door, allowing her to bring her things inside. The pony trotted up the stairs to place her things in her room.

King moved around the house, carefully lighting some lamps, before tending to the still smoldering fire. He opened the bottom vents, allowing a fresh burst of air to bring the coals to life before placing a few thin logs on top.

He headed to the kitchen, grabbing a couple white mugs form the cupboard, placing an old green tin teapot on the stove. He lit the burner, busying himself with a canister of coffee.

After a few minutes, he had a couple steaming glasses of coffee. He added a generous splash of cream from the fridge to each mug. With a grin, he took a bottle from above the stove, adding a couple shots of whiskey to each mug.

He headed upstairs, finding the filly’s door open. She lay in her bed, paging through the voluminous manual that came with the new synthesizer.

Handing the mug to her, she took it gratefully, holding it in the air in front of her. “Thanks.” She said with a small smile.

“Do you want to join me downstairs?” He asked.

She looked back at him with a slightly uneasy look on her face.

“Look, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about this. We had some fun this morning…” She said, blushing slightly. “I’m not sure if I can do anything serious right now. We can be friends…maybe spend some more time together..."

"I just don’t know very much about you.”

“Hm. So let’s change that.” He said, suddenly grabbing her hoof. He pulled her firmly from the bed, hoisting her into his arms.

“H…hey!” She cried, struggling to hold onto her drink with her magic. The pony didn’t protest as he carried her downstairs, placing her in a chair next to the fire. She gave him a look as he sat down next to her, placing his own drink on the end table.

“You’re lucky I’m still in a good mood from that show.” She said, glowering at him.

“Sure.” He replied. “I just was hoping we could talk for a while. You’re right. We don’t know much about each other.”

“Well I can already tell you’re a night owl. What kind of guy makes Irish coffee at three am?" She said coyly, taking a sip of the warm drink. She could feel the warmth through her chest. The fire felt amazing, as her coat slowly warmed up in the glowing heat.

“I’ve always been like that.” He said “I’ve been going to that club since I was a child too, just like you. Although you wouldn’t have seen me. I’m not really a performer.”

“What did you do there?” She asked.

“Mostly just barkeep stuff. They didn’t want me behind the bar, but I move the crates of alcohol and keep the cider lines working and the barrels tapped. I’m strong enough and good enough at fixing things to be more than useful around the Argos.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.” She said

“It’s not all bad. I get to see everything, working behind the scenes. I’ve got everything working well enough that I can watch the shows for the most part.”

“Seems like a nice perk.” She said. Vinyl suddenly grinned at him. “Were you there when I did the filly competition? Did you watch me?”

He brought his mug to his face, shielding his expression from her. “I mean…I see all the tryout competitions. Those are the best parts. The new talent is always the most interesting.”

After a short silence, the pony decided not to push him on it.

Vinyl hopped down from her seat, walking over to a nearby rounded table. A strange wooden carving sat on top of it. She could see the intricate design in the low light of the fire. It showed a strange horned creature, being shackled and bound to the rock it was sitting on. Even though the subject was very strange to her, she had to admit it was beautiful in its own way.

“You’ve got some really weird stuff around here.” She said.

“Hey! I made that you know!” He said, getting out of his chair. He walked over, turning it slightly for her. “I do some carving too. That’s probably where I get most of my bits. They paid for this house, for sure. I guess hands account for something in this city.”

“What is it?”

“This guy? I’m not really sure. The ones that end up around the house, I made them for myself. I just carve what I think I can get from the wood.” He said. He carefully brushed a few errant motes of dust from the statue, turning it back to its original position.

Vinyl moved to another table, seeing a much lighter colored hunk of wood, carefully carved into some strange winged creature, which appeared to be escaping from some sort of prison. King had carefully formed the base into a square looking cell, showing the creature ascending from it as the wood flowed upwards.

“They’re beautiful.” She said, examining it. She turned it slightly to see the back. “I can see why you’re able to sell them for so much.”

“Thanks.” He said, moving quickly to position the statue back to how it was. “What about you? I really only know you from the club. Do you do anything else during the day?”

“No. Not really. Although I need to work on that. Something to do during the day. I have debt to pay off, and the Argos isn’t paying much for a first week performer…” She said, moving back to the fire, she took another deep drink of her coffee.

“I can ask around tomorrow. I’m sure I can find you something.” He replied. He reached down, scratching her head affectionately. He could feel her push against his body as he smoothed her mane down against her neck.

“Thanks. I’d appreciate it.” She said. They sat in silence for a while as he slowly ran his hand along her neck, scratching her coat.

“So what was it like, being the only human growing up?” She finally asked, breaking the silence.

He just chuckled at the question. “Not great. There’s a system in town to help foals and fillies that get found on the street. But not one for young humans, of course. Social services tried to place me with a few families, but I usually just left. They always ended up treating me as some sort of beast. Not like one of their own.”

“That sounds awful.” She replied softly. The filly looked up at him, seeing a sudden softness in his complexion. It was hard to read him though.

“Ah, it’s alright. I made my own friends, and took care of myself. I couch surfed a lot as a kid. Finding odd jobs that fit my…unique traits.” He said. “Eventually I ended up making enough connections that I could start selling my art, and I moved in here.”

“That’s why I like calling myself ‘King’. I’m the king of the humans as far as I can tell. And now I’m king of my own little castle in town.” King said, walking to take another drink of his coffee. "It's also strangely therapeutic to have others call you King."

“So you have friends at the club? You must know someone there to be able to get in like you did.”

“Well, sure. I know Treble and a few other colts that hang around there. Nothing major.” The filly replied

“Who was that grey filly? I know I’ve seen here around. She doesn’t play the Argos, but a lot of ponies know who she is. Who her family is, at least…”

Vinyl sighed, pulling away from him, leaving his outstretched hand in midair. She placed the empty mug down on the coffee table. “Not right now, okay? I don’t want to get into that.”

“Sorry.”

“It…it’s nothing. Just not tonight.” She said softly, walking up the stairs. King could hear her door close on the second floor, and the soft creak of springs as she lay down on the bed.

He quickly gathered her mug from the coffee table, making sure it left no mark behind. He moved to both statues, making sure they were exactly as they had been before. Placing both cups in his old farmhouse sink, he washed them carefully, placing them on the drying rack.

He sat back down at the fire, watching the dancing flames until he was sure she was asleep. Only then did he walk up the stairs, gently pushing her door open.

The excitement welled over him as he took his first step inside, seeing the room still lit with the light of a nearly full moon streaming through the large windows. She had pulled the comforter aside, sleeping on top of the covers. He could see her white fur shine in the moonlight, as her chest rose and fell softly.

He watched her for a few minutes, listening to her quiet snoring. Sleeping on the bed, he could get a sense of how petite and fragile she really was. He’d had company before in the guest bed, but all curled up as she was, she looked quite small indeed.

Thinking to himself, he realized he didn’t know much about the differences in anatomy in ponies, really. Maybe she was small and light because she was a unicorn? Or was she younger than he thought? As he watched her sleeping form, his mind flashed back to just how easy it was to lift her up…

Looking like he was second guessing himself, he stepped back and closed the door behind him. He yawned, walking down the hall to his own room.

Vinyl’s eyes snapped open as she lay on top of the bed, hooves sprawled out to her sides. She glanced around, finding the walls even blacker than usual. She could barely even see the edges of the room. Searching, she looked out the window, finding the sky outside pale and fading out.

The edges of the room blurred together, the dark wallpaper merging into one shadowy canvas. She couldn’t make out the door any longer. Looking up at the ceiling, it felt like it fell away into the sky.

Vinyl became acutely aware of a leaden feeling in her limbs, as she found it difficult to move on the bed. She craned her neck and looked down at her hooves, seeing nothing binding them. She concentrated, trying to will them to move, but found she could not.

Lighting her horn, she searched for some way to move herself, but suddenly found her magic failing her. Although her horn still glowed brightly, she felt a wall she could not push through gather around her.

She saw a dark shape looming over her. An intense pressure on her chest as she bore down into the mattress.

Unable to act or speak, she could feel a heavy touch on her nethers, as she felt digits stroking along her tail and dock, working around to her sex. She felt a familiar touch as the figure ran along her folds and started gently rubbing her clit. Pushing her magic at the attacker, she felt it dissipate in the air as it reached him.

A strange mix of desperate fear and anticipation welled in her throat as she felt the figure clamp one of his limbs down on her throat. She could see a hand pressed against her now. Thoughts of King flashed through her head, but she could not see for sure.

With strange feelings of not being able to fight back or even move, she felt herself resign to let the figure do anything they wanted. She felt a strange fullness as they pushed more digits inside her. Vinyl struggled against the hand around her neck, feeling herself start to become light headed from the lack of oxygen. She could feel the shadow push all four digits inside now, filling her up, leaving the thumb to gently stroke her. The filly clamped down hard on him as he started thrusting inside.

Breathing quickened from her state, Vinyl felt an electric twinge of fear as she fought for breath. She closed her eyes as she felt the whole world greying out as she neared her orgasm, head flopping back against the bed as she arched her body.

Coming to her senses, Vinyl opened her eyes once more.

She immediately found she could move her limbs once more, as she thrashed her legs wildly as she woke. The blinding white light of early morning streamed in through the window.

Without the shades pulled shut, the beams of sun the next morning fell directly on her as she woke with annoyance, trying to cover herself with sheets. Pulling hard, she found she couldn’t quit reach her muzzle, deciding instead to just turn around and burrow into the blankets and sheets, leaving her plot sticking out from under the blanket. She found she had to make a concerted effort to avoid the large damp spot on one side of the bed.

She grumbled at the pent up feeling after the dream. Exposed to the air she could feel her tail still damp and plastered to her plot, thighs matted and sticky.

Mumbling, she nodded in and out of sleep for a while longer, enjoying the feeling of a bed after spending the few evenings trying to sleep in the Argos. Even after she woke, she found herself just content to close her eyes and stretch out on the sheets.

Yawning loudly, she hopped down out of the bed, popping open her door and wandering down to the bathroom. The house seemed quiet that morning. She had no idea where King might have gotten to.

Vinyl was shocked slightly at how the bath was set up. She never had really considered everything would be different. In contract to the rest of the place, the bathroom upstairs was quite plain, most likely owing to the strange modifications made to it. Done in mostly white tile, there was a large walk in shower near the back. The shower head had been moved to the ceiling, so that a much larger creature could use it.

She stared at the toilet for a moment, puzzled. Every one she had used before was simply a squat type affair on the floor, but there was some strange white stool fashioned onto this one, presumably so he could sit?

Sighing, she tried to mimic a human, sitting on the tall stool. She was grateful of her magic helping to hold her tail and keep her balanced on the cold seat. After hopping down, she searched for a moment, finding the lever. The stool made a satisfying noise as it flushed, filling up the bowl again with water.

Searching for towels, she came up empty in the storage space under the sink. She decided to just air dry once more. She needed to shower. Badly.