Sunlight peeked through the crack between the curtains. Vinyl's eyes fluttered opened, gazing at her friend cuddled up against her, hoof draped around the unicorn, a look of contentedness upon the grey pony's face. Vinyl awoke in the middle of the night to the grey earth pony unconsciously wrapping a hoof around her. She, in response, wrapped her hoof around her as well and pulled her close, careful not to wake her so late at night. Vinyl slowly unraveled herself from Octavia and rolled carefully out of bed before levitating the covers over her friend and her own signature glasses to her eyes.

Vinyl made her way to the kitchen after a brief early morning shower. She set to work making breakfast for the two of them. The unicorn enjoyed cooking, she found it to be a relaxing way to pass the time as well as a good way to clear her the noise in her mind so she can filter through it to make her next track. With pancakes slowly cooking on the stove, Vinyl turned to set some coffee to brew when a faint ding could be heard. She trotted to the source to find a text on her phone, from Lyra.

"Sup V! I got another set at Dice! You should totally come and drink with me after my set! We haven't had a girl's night with the two of us in like forever. You game? Or are you chicken?" The text was followed by a small image of a chicken to accentuate the green unicorn's petty insult. Vinyl sat down and wrote back to her friend.

"Oh, I'm game Ly. I also challenge you to a drink off! I'll drink you're ass under the table!" Vinyl almost instantly regretted her poor choice of words when she hit send. As if on cue, another message popped up.

"Hey, save that talk for Octavia. You know I'm a taken mare ;)." She could almost hear her friend's obnoxious laughter as she read that.

"Hey, me and Tavi are just friends and you know that!" The words left an empty feeling in chest as she typed them. She couldn't figure out why they hurt, or why she couldn't bring herself to hit send, so she just deleted the message and started again. "That's it filly, loser has to pay for the drinks AND buy a round for the whole bar!"

"Oh, you're on V. Get ready to lose all your bits, I am not losing this bet!" Vinyl smirked as she looked forward to her challenge with Lyra later. She put her phone away when Octavia came out of the room rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Mornin' Tavi!" Vinyl piped up from her position on the couch.

"Morning Vinyl." Octavia took a few tentative sniffs before looking at Vinyl in concern. "Is something burning?" she asked.

In a blur of white, the DJ jumped up from the couch and bolted to the kitchen where smoke started to pour out. "NOOOO!!! MY PANCAKES!!!"

*****

"Are you sure you don't want to join us? It'll be a blast having you there." After breakfast had been salvaged and swiftly devoured, the two sat next to each other on the couch. The two had been listening to music as Vinyl tried to get Octavia interested in her genre, with a relative degree of success. The DJ had succeeded in making Octavia laugh as she danced in the middle of the living room like the goofy awkward mess she was. After she had exhausted herself trying to get Octavia to get up and dance with her Vinyl decided to turn the music down and join her friend on the couch.

"I'm quite sure, but if you insist on me getting out of this apartment then I suppose I could pop downstairs and visit with Bon-bon." Despite living directly above, Octavia had yet to meet the colorful candy mare in her time residing with Vinyl.

"Alright, sweet! The four of really should get together and have a party tomorrow for Hearth's Warming Eve! Wouldn't that be awesome?" Octavia couldn't help but giggle at her friend's enthusiasm. Vinyl felt her heart melt seeing Octavia smile so much that day. She wasn't used to have anypony over for an extended period of time, let alone living with her. I could get used to this everyday. She thought to herself as she stared into those amethyst eyes, time almost seeming to slow.

"Yes Vinyl, that would be...'sweet.'" Octavia giggle once again. She stared into her reflection on Vinyl's sunglasses before asking a question that had plagued her mind since the day they met. "Vinyl, why do you always where those sunglasses? I never see you without them on."

"Oh? You haven't?" Vinyl smiled sheepishly at her. "Well sorry to disappoint, but that's a mystery I'm going to have to keep." She poked Octavia's nose as if to accentuate her point.

"I'm going to find out eventually Vinyl." Octavia replied by poking Vinyl's nose as well. Oh, I'm sure you will. Vinyl seemed confused at that thought, not knowing where it came from.

*****

A few more hours of music, dancing, and laughter passed and Vinyl made her way inside the pub in time to catch the end of Lyra's set. The crowd hooted and hollered at Lyra as she finished her set, tossing bits into her lyre case which had accumulated more than what could be held. Vinyl sat at a table drinking a very frothy cider as Lyra sauntered over with her lyre tucked away in its case and her day's pay along with all the tips she accumulated through the night in a large satchel.

"Great set Ly, you're getting better with that harp, maybe soon you can start playing in real bars." The mint green unicorn slugged Vinyl in the shoulder as she took the seat opposite her, laughing. "C'mon, my grandma hits way harder than that. Seriously, grandma Scratch is freakishly strong for a unicorn, it's scary."

"Glad to see you too V. And I'll have you know, this is a real bar, as far as the drinks and pay are concerned." She didn't bother correcting Vinyl on her harp comment, as she had to do it far too frequently to not assume Vinyl just did so to get to her green friend. "How's Octavia? Bonnie told me about your gift, are you sure that this won't turn around and bite you in your ass?"

"You should've seen her Lyra, if you were there I think you would agree with me on this." Vinyl took large gulps from her cider before slamming an empty mug to the table. "Besides, I managed to talk the guy down. 65% off, that's what my favor was worth, Bon-bon couldn't pick her jaw up off the floor after hearing that." Vinyl waved a waitress over who came and placed two more mugs of cider on the table. "Now are we gonna talk, or are we going to drink?"

"Now you're speaking my language V!" She picked up her mug and started drinking. "I do have to ask though, is there any other reason you're doing this?" Vinyl nearly inhaled her drink, causing her to go into a coughing fit. After a few pats on the back the coughing subsided.

"Damn filly, why do you and Bon think there's an ulterior motive? I just met her!" Lyra raised her hooves in defense.

"Alright V, gosh. Bonnie and I thought you might still be-"

"'Be' what?" She cut the green unicorn off. After a moment of silence Vinyl dawned a look of realization. "Wait, are you serious? You think this about 'her?'" Lyra looked away awkwardly, blushing. "Of course you do. Look, I'm over that ok, let's just drink, ok?" Vinyl started drinking while Lyra stared at Vinyl, concerned. Stop looking at me like that, it wasn't my fault dammit. The thought was almost screamed in her head. It's not.

"Vinyl, we know you tried your best." Lyra responded, almost reading her friend's mind. "We just want to make sure you aren't doing this BECAUSE of 'her.'" Tears started to roll down Vinyl's face from behind her glasses as years old memories full of pain started to play in her mind. "If you're sure, then I won't push anymore, WE won't push anymore. We don't want to see you hurting anymore about something that happened years ago." Vinyl felt a hoof wrap around her chest and another stroke her mane. She looked up to see Lyra trying to comfort her, she leaned in and sobbed quietly as old wounds were opened. "We don't want to see our friend hurt so much anymore, last time was so bad we thought we'd never see our old Vinyl come back."

"I understand, I'm sorry. I promise this isn't about...about..." the words caught in her throat as she tried to choke out the name. The strumming of a lyre reached her ears as she looked up to see said instrument floating in front of her in a haze of yellow magic. The music started to slowly soothe the DJ as all the patrons stopped to turn and raise a mug, silently giving Vinyl their support.

"Wow, you command the attention of a bar almost as well as I do. Almost." A green hoof slammed into her shoulder at that, leaving both mares laughing, the tension melting away with the music. "Thanks Ly, I promise this is different. We're friends, and besides I don't think she's into mares anyway."

Lyra packed her lyre away once again and magically levitated a bottle of clear alcohol and two shot glasses from the bar to the table with no complaints from the bartender. "Alright V, I hope you brought your bits, because you're about to owe this bar a full round." She half shouted that last sentence, drawing the attention and a small crowd to the table with the promise of free drinks. As she poured moved to other side of the table once again pouring two shots the crowd started placing bets on the two mares, most of them in Lyra's favor.

"Sounds more like I'm going to be buying myself some new sub-woofers when I win." With that, the two mares knocked back their drinks, the crowd cheered, and the game began.

*****

The crowd was dead silent as the two mares drank. They were halfway into their second bottle, a chalkboard had been set up next to the table indicating they were on their eighteenth round. The two mares lost control of their magic from the alcohol a few shots back and were resorting to carefully picking the tiny glasses up with both hooves. More bets had been placed, some moving over to Vinyl's favor.

"Gif up Ly. Aif wun thish." Vinyl slurred her words horribly as she knocked back her eighteenth shot.

"Not a chanshe Finyl." Lyra quickly downed her eighteenth, coughing from the horrible burn creeping down her throat. A unicorn stallion used his magic to pour another round as the two mares couldn't lest they pour the bottle all over the table. Another betting round went on as the two mares reached their limits. Once all bets we made the chalk board was remarked to indicate round nineteen had begun.

Once all was quiet once again Vinyl fumbled for her glass, she slowly lifted it between her hooves to her mouth and drank the offensive liquid, the crowd cheering all around her before they quieted down and turned to Lyra. The green unicorn attempted to grab her glass but missed entirely several times. Her head fell to the table as she yielded the contest to Vinyl who started cheering until Lyra lifted her head with an evil smirk and her glass between her lips. She tilted her head back and let the liquid slide down her throat effortlessly before spitting the glass out onto the table.

"Top that Finyl." A loud hiccup escaped Lyra's diaphragm as the crowd made more bets around the two once again. The chalkboard was updated once again, the glasses refilled, the second bottle drained, and the crowd quieted once again. Both mares were intent on making this the final round, lest they both end up passed out on the table.

Vinyl focused, closing her eyes and trying to summon strength to finish this silly game. The image of bright amethyst eyes accentuated by a bright, the feeling of a soft grey hoof around her rounded to the surface of her mind. She took a deep breath and placed a hoof on the table. In one quick motion, the DJ brought her hoof up and slammed it back onto the table tilting it and launching both glasses into the air. She leaned back and caught one glass in her mouth, the drink flowing down her throat as she brought up a hoof and caught the other glass only spilling a single drop from it.

The crowd erupted into a chorus of cheers as Vinyl passed the still full glass to Lyra without a word. Lyra was dumbfounded at the display of skill Vinyl showed. She carefully set the drink down and placed her hoof on the table as she prepared to try to do the same trick. She wouldn't let herself be beat by Vinyl. The crowd quieted down as Lyra took a deep breath and hit the table the same way Vinyl did. She leaned back to catch the drink only to have the glass land on her horn spilling its contents all over her. A mix of cheers and groans erupted from the crowd as bits were passed out, a cut of which going to Vinyl for her victory.

"Thank you, thank you eferypawny! Whoo!" Vinyl jumped up and down as she cheered. As quickly as she started, Vinyl had to sit down as dizziness overcame her. "Jrinksh are on Lyrah!" The crowd cheered once more and slowly started to disperse.

"How the hell didjyu do that?" Lyra lifted the glass off her horn and shook the alcohol out of her mane before grabbing her head from the dizziness from the action.

"How shud I know? Whoo! That wuz AWESHUM!"

*****

An hour had passed as the two sat and talked still recovering from their contest. The two had order coffee out of concern out of their livers and tried to sober up before going home. Vinyl lay across the bench with her head in Lyra's lap as they spoke, still quite inebriated.

"I'm not saying she's not pretty dude. You kiddin' me? If I wasn't into mares I'd be changing that tune right away be all over her dude." Vinyl reached up and booped Lyra's nose.

"I KNEW it! You got the hots for Octavia! And you just met her to!" Lyra snorted back a laugh. "Wait until Bonnie hears this."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey...hey. I have no idea what you're talking about, I never admitted to anything you can prove." Lyra floated up her phone and played back a recording of Vinyl's voice repeating what she had said only moments ago. "Dude, you better delete that right now or I'm going to ram that phone so far up your ass your heart is going to make a call every time it beats."

"Yeah, not gonna happen V. I kinda like having leverage against you." Vinyl tried to grab Lyra's phone before a rolled up paper floated up and smacked her on the nose. "Bad, bad Vinyl. I'll erase it, when you admit you have feelings for a mare you literally just met."

"OK, fine, I'm into Octavia, you happy now? Now delete it."

"Nope, I think you're just saying that. I want you to put some feeling into it V, what about her do you like?" An evil grin dominated her face as she stared into her reflection in Vinyl's glasses.

"You're evil, you know that right?"

"Thank you V, but flattery will get you know where with a taken mare."

"Fine, I like Octavia. She's fun, ok?" Lyra just stared at her, unimpressed. "Ok, you want more? She's cute, she thinks I'm funny and has a pretty smile." Again, a silent unimpressed stare. "Those big purple eyes are beautiful enough to get lost in, she's an enigma shrouded in mystery and having her around makes me feel less lonely. I feel like I was back when Pitch was around. I'll never admit it to her or even myself but I miss her so much." A tear started to roll down her face before she wiped it away.

"Ok, you don't have to say anymore." Lyra deleted the recording, feeling bad for leading the conversation toward such a sore subject. "Do you really mean that dude?"

"Dude, I'm so drunk I don't think I have the capability to lie anymore. Since she showed up I don't feel lonely anymore. She laughs at my corniness, she likes my cooking, and she likes my music dude. The least I can do to repay her for making me happy again is help her remember who she is, no matter what I have to do or how much I have to spend to do so."

"I understand V, trust me, Bonnie and me miss Pitch as well, but you can't let her affect what you have with Octavia right now. We're just worried for you and don't want you to running her off or trying to make up what happened by trying to help this mare. In the end you won't feel any better and you won't have any closure, you'll just end up running yourself ragged trying to fix a problem that's not there." Lyra stroked her friend's mane and smiled down at her. "I do think it's admirable that you are helping her, and I feel like if anyone could help her it's a tenacious DJ that refuses to give up on making somepony smile, just don't lose yourself in it. Who knows, if your feelings are real and not some sort of projection of your feelings for Pitch on Octavia then Bonnie and I will help you any way we can."

Lyra always knew how to make Vinyl feel better when she was down. Somehow the unicorn always knew what was running through Vinyl's mind, most of the time before even Vinyl knew it. She sat up and hugged her friend. Vinyl didn't always get emotional, but when she did she always had the overwhelming urge to hug the nearest warm body.

"Thank you Ly, you always know what to say. I love having friends like you and Bon." She sniffed back a tear.

"We love you too V. You always know how to give ponies a good time. You're a lovable goofball who knows how to throw a hell of a party."

As the words hit her ears Vinyl remembered one important subject she forgot to bring up. "Crap, I almost forgot. Tavi and I decided we wanted to throw a party and you and Bon are invited. It's tomorrow night, bring plenty of eggnog and maybe some chocolate covered cherries. I don't know why, but I have a huge craving for chocolate covered cherries!"

*****

Vinyl shuffled into the apartment in the late hours of the night, the only light coming from the bedroom with the door wide open. She slowly made her way to the room on wobbly legs, when she entered she saw a mare with a light blue cute and a long teal mane laying seductively on the bed surrounded by rose petals. The room was illuminated by candlelight as Vinyl stepped through the door.

"Welcome home Vinyl. Did your show go well?" She gave Vinyl look that said, "come hither."

"They always go well Pitch, you're looking at the best DJ in Equestria." She clambered onto the bed and lay parallel to the mare, propping herself up on her hoof as she looked deep into her eyes. "And I'm looking at the best mare in Equestria, Perfect Pitch." Vinyl caressed Pitch's face with her hoof.

"Oh Vinyl, you say the sweetest things." The two leaned in to each other and shared a passionate kiss. Vinyl closed her eyes as she embraced the mare and deepened the kiss. The finally broke away for air, Vinyl's eyes remaining closed as she leaned in for another kiss. "Oh Vinyl, I could hold and kiss you all night." The voice wasn't that of the mare she held, it was more refined and slightly deeper.

When Vinyl opened her eyes a pair of amethyst purple eyes stared back at her, the coat of the mare was grey and her mane charcoal black. Upon seeing Octavia after such a passionate kiss her heart skipped, threatening to stop altogether from the sight. Vinyl was surprised to say the least, a huge blush creeping on her cheeks as the candlelight started to dim as the flames reached the melted wax.

*****

Vinyl's eyes shot open. As she began to wake up from her bizarre dream a strange feeling drew her attention. She could feel Octavia's breath on her muzzle, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw a grey muzzle merely inches from hers as Octavia slept. She felt the grey hoof around her body and blushed as she realized that she, in fact, was the one that had leaned in so close to Octavia. She carefully leaned back trying not to wake the grey mare. When she felt she was far enough away she could've swore she heard a small, almost imperceptible whimper. Slowly, Vinyl wrapped her hoof around Octavia and felt her shift closer to her touch in her sleep.

She studied her friend's face in the darkness. She looked so peaceful as she slept. To her knowledge, Octavia no longer had those nightmares that had plagued her in the first days of her living with Vinyl. The closeness of them sleeping together, however, had only exacerbated her slight feelings for Octavia. As she stared at the mare she felt her eyelids slowly start to lower as she was once again dragged into the land of dreams.

Author's Note

Oh hey, would you look at that. Another chapter is out so soon, never thought I'd see the day the author would be so competent.....Oh wait, I'M the author. Well it still stands. Bit of an odd chapter this one, not in the sense that this chapter was weird but more in the sense of HOW this chapter was born. I abandoned all my conventional writing methods and went completely off script and let the characters write the story. Basically, I had a chapter planned and it didn't come out that way. Two scenes in this chapter are COMPLETELY different from what they were SUPPOSED to be when I started typing, and one scene wasn't even supposed to exist PERIOD. That's why I love writing so much. Much like life, writing can take all sorts of turns and deviate from what was supposed to go down. You can't predict it and you most certainly cannot control it fully. Sure I could make the story and twist it in the way I like it, but what happened in the making of this chapter is a great example of how little control we have over inspiration and even over creation. I'll be getting on to the next chapter shortly and honestly even I can't wait to see what I'll type next.