"Just a little to the left!"
"Yes, Vinyl, I'm absolutely certain that I don't need your help," Octavia huffed, throwing her eyes in an effort to debunk such a ridiculous question.
"Alright, alright, if you're so adamant." Vinyl shrugged her withers where she sat, apparently indifferent but most likely still watching her behind those annoyingly opaque shades.
"That I am," Octavia answered with a curt nod, looking from where she stood—her left forehoof wrapped around the bridge of her cello—to the floor below, her broken right forehoof hanging limply beside her. Octavia was stuck. She was stuck, and she had absolutely no clue how to get down.
Standing on her hind legs had seemed like a good idea at the time. That said, buying two hundred identical bowties had seemed like a good idea at the time, things often do. Of course, Vinyl had told her it was silly, and that she would hurt herself, and that her tendency not to listen was the reason she had broken her hoof in the first place and other such nonsense, but Octavia had persisted, determined to get her job done. The prospect of proving Vinyl wrong had its allure too, but Octavia would never openly admit that.
Just like how she would never admit that she was a small gust of wind away from toppling over.
Looks like she didn't need to worry about admitting it. Merely thinking about her standing brought about vertigo, and Octavia began swaying on the spot, instantly turning Vinyl's head. In an act of desperation she lunged for her bow, trying to style out her stumble as an attempt to reach for it, but instead was only met by the rapidly approaching ground.
The impact never came. Instead, she was wrapped in a sheer of neon-blue magic, and quickly found herself upright again, Vinyl holding onto her barrel with a pair of hooves. "Certain my fuzzy white flank," she snorted.
Octavia as a rule wasn't especially fond of contact. This went doubly so when it came to a pony touching her while she was trying to perform, triply when that same pony was in the midst of proving her wrong about something. In light of that, Octavia did what any rational pony would and tried to shake her off, but Vinyl held on tight. "L-let go of me!" she moaned, squirming against Vinyl's steadfast hooves.
"Not until you admit you're not up to this and call it a day, Tavi. This isn't healthy."
"I can't!" Octavia protested, trying to bat Vinyl away with the side of her cello to little effect—she could barely move it with one hoof.
Vinyl popped an eyebrow over her shades, beginning to look strained from holding her still. "Can't or won't?"
At this, Octavia stopped struggling, sighing as she felt the tenseness in her body begin to relieve itself. She deflated like a balloon, spent from the sudden exertion, but luckily Vinyl had a strong grip. "Can't," she repeated, "I need to record my sonata tonight if I wish to send it to the label in time. I only get one chance at this, if I miss it I'm unlikely to get a repeat with this company."
A frown began to appear on Vinyl's face as she held her, more softly now. "Does that matter? There are gonna be other companies, Tavi, you shouldn't work yourself past breaking point just to get this done, it's alright to take a break sometimes." Smiling, she went to slowly maneuver Octavia to a three leg standing position, but Octavia tensed up, gripping her cello and rooting her hind legs in place.
"No, Vinyl," she shook her head vehemently, motioning to her bow with her broken hoof. "Usually I would bite my tongue and concede, but this is important! I've put so much work into getting this label's attention, I'm not throwing that all away over a silly, inconsequential injury." When Octavia looked at her, it was with all the determination she could muster. "So while your concern is appreciated, I'm afraid I have to persist. Now, could you pass me my bow?"
Vinyl said nothing. Her face was mollifying, but with her eyes obscured it was difficult to tell how she was really feeling, and that bothered Octavia. With barely a sound on her part, Vinyl reached down and picked up the bow, presenting it to Octavia, who now stood without assistance once more.
Octavia reached out her broken hoof, attempting to grab the bow from Vinyl. At first she balanced it atop her hoof, but it quickly fell. Vinyl remained silent as she picked it up once, twice, three times, but each and every time Octavia fumbled. Eventually, Octavia realised that the only way around this was to do the inevitable, and with a stifled wince began to bend her hoof until there was a slight crook, perfect for handling her bow.
She slotted her hoof underneath, attempting to take it, but her hoof was numb, and she needed to grip it tighter. Bending further elicited a howl of pain from her, and before she knew it Vinyl had taken a protective stance behind her, one hoof on her side and another against her back. Her bow clattered to the ground.
Octavia panted, focusing on keeping her hoof completely still as the pain began to subside. Tears fell from her eyes, and she was unsure whether they had been brought about by the shooting pain running up and down her leg or her predicament. If Vinyl saw her cry, she didn't comment on it. Sniffling, Octavia turned as far to Vinyl as she could, her tone desperate. "What am I going to do, Vinyl? I..." suddenly, something that had been so difficult to admit came out in shaky breaths, clarity illuminating her mind as she saw just how screwed she was, "I can't stand properly, I can't play my cello, I can't even hold my bastard bow!"
Vinyl levitated the bow back into the air, lightly pressing it against the strings.
It only took a second to pick up on her implied meaning. Octavia stifled a laugh. "You play? But you don't know the first thing about my cello." It was a lovely gesture, but Octavia was sure it could go nowhere, the notion felt futile.
Slowly, Vinyl nodded. "I mean, yeah, I've never used a cello, but I've played a little violin in the past. How different can it—"
Octavia's eyebrows were suddenly straight as razors. "Careful."
Vinyl cleared her throat, chewing her lip. "Alright, I don't know what I'm doing, but you can help!" a moment's pause, "Or I can help, or something. Point is, your good hoof can still do the hard part, with the string bits—"
"Hoofboard," Octavia interjected, more by compulsion than a desire to interrupt.
"Don't be pedantic. The point is that while you're doing that, all I need to know is which strings to play and how." Moving her body around to better support Octavia's broken hoof as she rose to her hind legs behind her, she smiled. "Sound good?"
Octavia couldn't help but marvel at how close her face was. Any closer and she'd be able to count the hairs in her mane. Not just that, but the contact. Vinyl's chest was now pressed against her back, and while she turned to face her, her side, one hoof on her lower back and the other hooked under her damaged hoof. As uncomfortable as Octavia attempted to convince herself she felt, it was reassuring to have the security—a warm, snowfuzz security, to be exact.
"...Tavi?"
Octavia soon realised she had been staring. "Sorry," she shook her head, playing it off, "I was just thinking about how we might go about this." Now that she'd said that, she actually had to think of something. Luckily, a thought quickly occurred. "You shouldn't use magic. It'll be harder for me to instruct you if you're playing the unicorn way. If you use your hoof, I can watch the way you move and offer suggestions based on that."
"Alright, sure thing," Vinyl nodded, stretching forwards and taking the bow in hand, brushing her chest all the way along Octavia's back in the process then gradually drawing back, producing a small shudder from Octavia. That was... Pleasant.
What wasn't pleasant was the screech that sounded from the instrument as she ran her hoof across it. Octavia limply placed her hoof atop Vinyl's as she tried to get the ringing out of her ears. "No no, like this." With all of the force she could muster—which wasn't much—Octavia began to softly guide Vinyl's hoof along the delicate strings, producing a short but much more pronounced note.
Vinyl seemed to tremble a little, her breath quickening. "That was awesome! You totally made my slip up sound great! How did you do that?"
Octavia looked up to her left hoof, which was clutched halfway down the neck of her instrument, controlling the pitch. "A lot of the sound you produce comes from the angling and force you put into your strokes. Think of your body as an instrument, and the cello as an extension, if you will."
"So you want me to, uhh, play my body?" Vinyl offered.
Octavia felt her cheeks beginning to darken. "In a manner of speaking, yes." Octavia looked down to their entwined hooves, both supporting the bow as Vinyl helped her to stand, "Or in this case, I suppose it's our bodies."
Octavia had expected a snicker, but instead received a nod and a smile. Together, their hooves glided over the strings as Octavia moved her left down the fret, creating a dissimilar, lighter sound. "Is that good?"
"Very good, actually, but how about we try something a little more complex?" Despite herself, Octavia could feel herself smirking at the suggestion as she offered it. This really was more joyous than she expected.
Another nod, and they set to it, producing a trio of notes as Octavia's left hoof slid up and down the neck of her cello, her right bolstering Vinyl's attempt. Vinyl was gentle with her maneuvers, something Octavia wouldn't have imagined, but it played to her benefit here. Vinyl finished on a double stop with Octavia's assistance, and the pair turned to each other, grinning like idiots.
"Why haven't we done this sooner?" Vinyl asked, accidentally sounding a staccato with her next movement.
"Oh, so you have an interest in the cello now?" Octavia grinned.
Octavia felt Vinyl pressing firmer against her back, her breath brushing against her ear. "I never said that."
This was definitely pleasant.
Right, head out of the clouds, time to get something done. "Vinyl, go and get the recording device, I've had an idea."
Things felt cold and naked without her roommate shaped safety blanket, but she managed to survive for thirty seconds. Sure enough, as soon as Vinyl returned, she was latched around her again. "So what's the plan? I doubt I can play more than a few notes of your song yet."
"Yes, but you know what you can do?" Octavia chuckled, it was so brilliant. "If you can manage to help play the entire song one small section at a time, you could edit them all together."
Octavia swore she saw a little glint behind those opaque shades, but she couldn't be sure. "I can do that!" Vinyl gasped, "Why didn't I think of that? That's a brilliant idea! I don't know how easy it'd be to make the entire thing seamless, because it's gonna be a pretty amateur performance, but maybe I can tweak the sounds so they resemble your usual work? A little oscillation, a little reverb..."
Maybe it was the intensity of her excitement or the words Vinyl was using, but Octavia could feel a strong fluttering in her chest. She chose not to quantify it right then. Vinyl's muzzle grazed her neck as she focused on the instrument once more, taking the bow in hoof. Oh, Celestia, why was she trapped in this bliss?
The piece was lively and bombastic in nature, and that was right in Vinyl's element. With Octavia's assistance, the pair began to move faster and faster in tandem as the composition went along, running through the motions, briefly stopping to catch their breaths and switch positions as they moved further and further towards a mutual climax, the vibrations from the instrument reverberating in their cores as—
"Vinyl! You're standing on my tail!"
"...Shit, sorry."
It didn't matter, they quickly returned to heaven. Vinyl was in all fairness a competent player, but Octavia found it so easy to utilise her, it was almost as if she was designed with the explicit purpose of being an extension of her.
"Oh, Celestia that's good," Octavia cooed, her voice becoming husky as Vinyl strummed her instrument, plucking the strings with unpracticed skill.
"Mmm, no, a little to the left..." Vinyl acquiesced, shifting her hoof and increasing the speed of her motions, her mane askew, her body sweaty, her movements constantly switching between frantic and focused.
"Yes! Right there! More of that!" Octavia cried out as Vinyl ground against the small nub of sweet musical energy with a forced precision, creating a euphoric and beautiful sound.
"Keep going!" Octavia practically begged as she felt the intensity of Vinyl's hoof movements threaten to stagger her. With her broken hoof, she pressed as hard as she could against Vinyl's bow hoof, not caring about the pain, not caring about anything but the perfect cacophony before her, willing to push her body to the limits to get it. Her chest heaved as Vinyl's hoof broke away, her left hoof slowly sliding down the string as she rode the piece's crescendo, desperate to hold on to it for a little longer.
In moments, the pair collapsed, Octavia landing on a luscious, panting pillow of fur. Octavia wasn't fond of contact, but right now it was her favourite thing in the world. Crawling a few inches up Vinyl's chest, she turned her head to face her, watching as she caught her breath.
"So," Vinyl said between breaths, "was that pretty damn fun for you as well?"
"More than you can imagine," Octavia laughed, her hind legs shaking from the continuous standing.
"I... I dunno," Vinyl panted, "I've got a pretty vivid imagination." A few seconds of simply breathing, and she spoke up once more. "We should do that again sometime."
"Without the cello, I assume?" Octavia winked.
Vinyl flinched in place. "Huh?" Slowly, a smirk settled on her lips, "I never said that."
"But you were thinking it," Octavia prodded her with her good hoof, "Were you not?"
"I mean... were you?"
Octavia opened her mouth, managing to produce exactly no noise.
"It's alright," Vinyl laughed, "I know what you meant."
"You do?"
Vinyl began to stroke Octavia's mane with a hoof. "Sure! You let me play with your instrument, it's only fair I let you play with mine."
"Your instrument?" Octavia's brows furrowed, her muzzle twisting. "I wasn't aware that you classed your decks as an instrument. Furthermore, I—"
"Are you always this dense?" Vinyl giggled, moving her hoof down to her barrel, "Just come and kiss me already."
