Author's Note
This is an experimental story.
The title might also change at some point in the future, but we'll see.
I've thought about it for quite some time, but I think I'll come back to write when I can. It's something to do and it keeps me from getting sloppy, so I guess it's my best course of action to keep me in the loop.
Anyway, thanks for choosing to read the story and I hope you like it!
Wub At First Sight
Wub At First Sight
By FireRain
The Present
A lone candle flickers next to me, sat in a pool of its own wax. The red liquid had long since hardened and the fading light of the fire threatened to burn out of existence and plunge the bedroom into a pit of darkness.
Thick white curtains sealed the windows from the glimmering light from the moon and the only occupant in the room was myself, accompanied with only a sheet of parchment and a vial of ink, quill at the ready in my hoof.
Splotch after splotch dripped from the end of the quill and touched down onto the blank sheet in front of me. It remained stationary in my hoof, unmoving and frozen. My blue eyes would occasionally glance from the quill and paper to a small clock on the wall.
9:43
I've been sat here for three hours on end, clueless and not once picking myself from my seat. My back had long since grown stiff and my spine ached, crying to be laid to rest in my bed that was sitting behind me from where I sat at my desk.
Yeah, sleep seemed like a good idea. I should really get myself to bed. I've been up too long. The night seem longer now since she...
No! No, no!
Come on, don't think of her! Try not to think about her!
Her with that dazzling head of electric blue mane and smooth and soft white coat.
Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch.
The mare of my dreams.
Even now, with her gone, it felt like she was still with me. Stalking me and haunting me with her crazy antics that I found adorable and enticing. I could still remember the first time we met. Oh, how could I forget? We hit it off in the fraction of a heartbeat.
She owned a club in the middle of Ponyville. The Scratch Shack. It wasn't a large building, but it was spacious enough to accommodate the town's population. Every weekend would transform into a memorable party that would become the talk of the town.
The Past
I was a loner and a loser in general as a pony, but I can still remember how that one weekend changed my life. After entering through the doors of the club that doubled as a bar, beyond the loud, pumping and throbbing music, the smell of strong booze and spirits, chatter and drinks clanking together combined with the stomping of hooves on the hardwood floor, I saw her.
She stood dominantly behind a large set of dual turntables, each side snuggled with a larger pair of speakers and amplifiers. A neon sign of a vinyl record glowed a bright hue blue and pink on the front of her setup. Her hooves worked around the records and numerous buttons and toggle switches and graphic equalisers as she headbanged to the beat.
Not really planning on doing much, I found myself to be seated at a booth after ordering an alcoholic beverage from the bar. It wasn't anything too fancy. It was only a glass of Fire Goblet whiskey, a drink brewed and matured in the very heart of Canterlot. Apparently, it was a rather popular drink to enjoy at parties and raves. However, it did leave a dent in my wallet. Ten bits for a single serving.
The music was still pounding away and GEL lights were flickering and strobing away as I sipped on the whiskey, feeling the warm but not overbearing heat wash down my throat and into my stomach where it pooled like the warm blood of a phoenix.
As the music began to die down, I found myself staring towards the stage where I could only just make out the figure of Vinyl through the blinding lights. Her horn was ignited with a purple aura and a record was hovering in the air beside her.
Another record was levitated off of the turntable and inserted back into a sleeve underneath the turntables before the one in her glow was inserted and on standby.
Her dazzling purple-tinted shades were raised from her eyes by her magic and placed behind her horn, revealing a pair of light magenta eyes that scanned over the crowd, a cocky smirk and smile gracing her lips as she addressed the crowd.
''Alright, everypony, are we having a good time?!'' She asked, her voice at a holler. In response, everypony in the room began to cheer and stomp on the ground with their hooves. Vinyl gave a short chuckle. ''Well, of course you are! You've got the best DJ in Ponyville keeping you happy and entertained!'' The crowd roared again with applause.
''Yeah, we do!'' A stallion called from somewhere within the crowd.
''Woo! Vinyl Scratch rules!'' A second stallion called out.
''Ha, you know it,'' Vinyl said with a laugh before she placed her shades back over her eyes and turned her attention to the turntable. ''Let's get this party started!'' She shouted, placing the arm of the needle onto the record, a wave of deafening wubs and electronic pulses of energy immediately blasting through the speakers.
That was the very first time I saw Vinyl Scratch perform. I don't know what it was about her, but I seemed to have some form of attraction towards her. There was just something about her energy that I found compelling and intriguing to behold. She had this rather charming and charismatic tomboyish attitude and personality that gave her the grip of the moment.
She was the type of pony that could make any crowd eat from the tip of her hoof, and I found that to be alluring.
The next weekend, I returned to the club and sat in the very same booth as before with the exact same glass of Fire Goblet whiskey as before. However, instead of entering a club of deafening and headache-conjuring music and wubs, the atmosphere was rather...formal. Half of the time of sitting in that booth all by my lonesome, I almost forgot that I was seated inside of the club of the notorious DJ.
On the stage located at the far end of the building, in place of Vinyl's setup, there was instead a cello being played by a grey earth pony with a charcoal mane and pink bowtie.
Her eyes were closed as she delicately brushed her bow against the strings of the ancient instrument, her eyes closed gently in concentration. The song she was playing was far from anything I recognised, but it brought with it an atmosphere of etiquette and warmth. It was slow and rhythmic, a sort of repeating pattern. It was actually rather enchanting and soothing.
If I remember correctly, the one playing is Octavia Melody, a friend of Vinyl.
It was strange, really. To me, it seemed rather queer that somepony of such high standards and status would place themselves into a friendship circle with a pony like Vinyl Scratch, especially given their individual tastes and personalities.
Well, I suppose anything could happen in Equestria if it was truly meant to be. However, this one was not without its unpredictability.
I was about to take a sip of my drink, but before I could, a voice called over to me.
''Hey! Mind if I take a seat with you?'' I looked up to see who the voice belonged to, and when I did, I nearly dropped my glass in surprise. Actually, no, I did drop my glass. However, before it could hit the floor, it was caught in a well-timed glow of purple. ''Whoa! I know I'm breath-taking, but there's no need to waste the booze!'' She said with a warm chuckle as she lightly placed my glass back in front of me. ''Name's Vinyl Scratch.''
She slid herself into the booth across from me. Unlike when she stands proudly behind her turntables, her shades were nowhere to be found, allowing me to gaze into her magnificent and heavenly eyes that were sparkling with life and energy.
''What? Something in my teeth?'' She asked, showing her gloriously clean and pristine white teeth. ''No?''
I coughed nervously into my hoof. ''N-No, you're good,'' I said, forcing myself to remain composed and collected. ''Name's Honeydew,'' I introduced myself. ''Nice to meet you, Ms Scratch.''
''Oh, come on, who am I, your grandma? You can just call me Vinyl,'' she said with a hearty chuckle and giggle. ''So, howcome you're alone? New in town or something?'' She asked, resting her elbows on the table.
''Well, I've only lived here for about five months, so I guess,'' I said before taking a sip of my whiskey. ''I heard that this club's one of the best around, so I figured I'd give it a shot.''
''Ha, well, you won't be disappointed!'' Vinyl said. ''What do you think of my friend, Tavi? Real character, huh?'' She asked as she motioned with a hoof towards the formal unicorn, whom was only just wrapping up her performance. She took a regal bow and addressed the audience with a grateful nod of her head both left and right before exiting the stage by the wings as the audience lightly applauded.
''Yeah, she sure is something,'' I agreed. ''So, what's the deal? Are you two friends, or something?''
''You bet! Housemates, actually. We've been living together for over a year and it couldn't be better!'' She said.
Ever since then, the two of us continued to have conversations almost every weekend, soon developing into a friendship and something much more. We hung out during some days in the week when we both had the time and we eventually became best friends.
We sat on the couch in my living room, sitting next to each other as we made conversation over mugs of cider with soft and soothing music playing in the background.
I used to live on my own without any form of company beyond my own thoughts, but after around a year of getting to know both Octavia and Vinyl, I eventually asked her to move in with me, although it was a question not without its consequences.
Before I asked, Viny had been living with Octavia, so it naturally conjured up some heat between the two friends. Apparently, Octavia got all sappy and a little angry at the proposition. However, it was made no secret that Octavia, being a formal pony of high etiquette, didn't appreciate the daily ruckus Vinyl would cause with her antics.
From what I've heard from the mouth of the regal pony, almost every morning would start with booming bass waves that Vinyl insisted on utilising to clean up the dirty dishes in their house, often breaking them to pieces and leaving them without any cups, glasses or plates. There was also one day when Octavia had scheduled a practice session with her orchestra, only to be rudely interrupted by Vinyl's turntables that caused a series of earthquakes in the house.
Naturally, there was an inevitable meltdown with Octavia and, as a result, she booted Vinyl from the house.
So, here we were - sat together and enjoying each other's company as two housemates.
The living room was concealed in a darkness that was only broken by the dim light of various candles positioned around the room, freshly lit and beginning to drip. Vinyl told me that they were a present from Octavia as a form of anniversary present for their second year of being best friends and they complimented her colour scheme by corresponding with her mane colours - light blue and electric blue.
According to Octavia, she gave them to Vinyl in both a way of saying ''thanks for being my friend'' and encouraging her to have at least one form of formality and class.
I took a sip of my cider from the mug, licking my lips afterwards and enjoying the appley tone and tang of the beverage.
''Thanks for allowing me to stay here, Dew,'' Vinyl said gratefully, taking a sip from her own mug. ''You're a true friend, you know that?''
''I do my best,'' I said with a hearty chuckle.
''So, hey, listen, we're cool now, both you and me, right?'' She asked, almost tentatively.
The question alone caught me slightly off guard. It wasn't like Vinyl to say or ask something of this nature, especially given how close that we've gotten. In my mind, I thought that our relationship spoke for itself in where we both stand.
I stared at her intently for a moment and looked her over, wondering what she was feeling on the inside. Eventually, I spoke up, ''Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't we be?'' Once my response left my mouth, Vinyl placed her mug of half-drank cider onto a small table placed beside the couch and she scratched her neck nervously, as if something was on her mind.
''Heh, right,'' She began softly. ''Anyway, we've been friends for an awfully long time now, right? It's just that there's something that I've been meaning to ask you for a while now.''
''Oh?'' My ear twitched as I placed my mug down onto the floor next to my hoof, my attention fully focused and centered onto the white unicorn. ''What's that? Is everything alright?''
''Huh? Oh, yeah! Of course everything's alright! Best ever, in fact. But, seriously, there's something that I want to say,'' She said, her cheeks beginning to heat up with a wave of crimson against her pearly white fur. ''Dew, I think I...I...'' She hesitated and turned her head away for a moment, averting her gaze from mine.
''Vinyl?'' I asked, lightly cupping her chin and gently turning her back to face me, our eyes meeting. ''Hey, if anything's troubling you, you know you can talk to me.''
Her lips tugged into an uncertain frown and she spoke softly, ''Thanks, Dew,'' She said gratefully. ''I'm just not used to admitting these kinds of things to other ponies, but with you, it's...different.''
I took my hoof away from her chin, letting it sit on my lap as I kept my eyes focused upon her. ''Different? What do you mean?''
''Well, you see,'' She began, scratching her forehoof with the other as she looked away from me. ''Dew, I think that I...I lo-love you,'' She said, her cheeks instantly flaring into pockets of rosy fire as the last words floated out of her mouth and into my eardrums.
The words were quiet and softly spoken as they drifted into my ears. I only sat there, slowly allowing the words to be processed by my brain. Did I really hear what I thought I heard? Was I dreaming or hallucinating? Was the cider drugged?
However, my thoughts were immediately ceased as I felt a warm sensation on my lips in a flash. I blinked in surprise and came to face Vinyl Scratch's muzzle pressed against mine to the point where I could feel her fast and nervous breaths pulse on my face and brush my fur with their warmth.
Both of her hooves were lightly clasped on my cheeks as she pushed herself a little deeper into the kiss.
It was then that it clicked: Vinyl Scratch was kissing me.
So, I heard her right. I wasn't dreaming nor hallucinating, and the cider was definitely not drugged. However, this felt so surreal and millions of emotions were running through me as I witnessed and experienced her lips against my own.
They were surprisingly soft but firm, the taste of the apple cider lingering on her lips and transferring onto my own.
We both sat for a while and savoured every last second of the moment we were both sharing. I slowly rose my hooves up to rest on her cheeks as I too pressed into the kiss.
After a while, the kiss broke and the moment ended, much to my disappointment. When I let myself sit back up, I found myself staring into her glorious magenta eyes.
''W-W-Wo-Wow...'' I breathed, my chest and cheeks heated up from the moment. ''That was incredible. So, that's ho-how you feel about m-me?'' I asked and Vinyl giggled.
''Of course. I've been wanting to tell you for a while, actually. I just never had the chance,'' She said, her lips curved into a small smile, her cheeks still ablaze. ''I love you, Dew.''
''I...I love you too, Vinyl.''
End of Installment One
