Choice of Differences

Chapters

The First Night
The Choice
Classical

The First Night

I hate places like this. The damn music is always too loud. You can't even hear yourself think, let alone have a conversation with a friend of yours.

Of course, I came here alone. I didn't work today because the boss got sick or something, and I thought it'd be fun to go out for once. I asked some of my friends if they wanted to come, but they all declined.

I gave this place another shot since one of my co-workers brought me here for my 21st birthday and they felt like getting me wasted. It was really generous of them, but I just couldn't stand the club with all the Celestia-awful music that doesn't even have lyrics to it.

But, I decided to come back, and I have regretted it so far. Everypony else is dancing and having a fun time while I just sit here with my cider. Even in a nice and quiet place like Ponyville, you can get real lonely.

I am just about ready to leave until this unicorn sat at the table I am lounging at. In all honesty, I've never seen a pony like her. She has a pure white coat, but what really strikes me is her mane. It's a combination of blue and neon blue or something like that. I really can't describe it. And I really can't tell if it's natural or not.

She saw me looking at her. "Hey, pal. What are you looking at?" She seems pissed.

"Uh, nothing. I was just looking at your mane. I think it's really cool."

I prepare myself for a drink thrown in my face, but instead I hear laughter. "Haha, you like mane, boy? Not a lot of ponies ever really tell me that." She's smiling, so that means I didn't offend her.

"Really? I was just thinking about how unique and bright it looks. Like it has a light source of its own."

"Heh, wow, you're a really player, you know that?" She scoots closer to me. She looks me in the eyes, but I can't see hers because they're covered by these sunglasses. I don't know why you'd need to wear sunglasses inside though.

I laugh nervously. "I'm a player, am I?"

"Yup, you sure are." The mare gives me a big toothy grin. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Fix 'Er Up."

Like she just heard the funniest joke in the world, she laughs. "Fix 'Er Up? What's that suppose to mean?" It looks like she's wiping tears from her eyes from the laughter. I still don't get a good look at them.

"Well, I work in construction. See?" I point to my cutie mark, which is a hammer. The mare leans real close to my flank, which makes me a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense then. Hehe." As the mare pulls herself straight up, I try and get a good look at her face. Save from eyes, which I can't see, I think she's really cute. A bit sexy, even.

I ask, "What's your name?"

The mare grins proudly and answers, "Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch. Ponyville's best DJ."

"You're a DJ?"

"You bet your flank I am!" She points to her cutie mark, which is some kind of musical note.

I smile at her, politely, and say "It's pleasure to meet you, Miss Scratch."

"Miss Scratch? No no no, you call me Vinyl. I'm ain't a mom yet!" I'm kinda taken aback by that comment, cause it doesn't look like she's the kind to have kids.

"OK, Vinyl. It's nice to meet you."

"You too, Fix 'Er Up."

I laugh and say, "You can just all me Fix 'Er. It's like "fixer" and everyone can remember it."

Vinyl laughs to and asks, "So, you having fun here, Fix 'Er?"

"Well, I'm having fun now, talking to you. But earlier, I was just sitting here drinking some cider alone."

Vinyl frowns and exclaims, "Well, won't be having any of that in my club!"

"Wait, your club?"

"Well, duh, of course this is my club. I'm the DJ here. I came over here for a quick break, but..." Vinyl scoots closer to me. "... I think I'm through for night." Finally, Vinyl raises her glasses and places them over her horn, and BAM I see them. Pure red eyes looking straight into my green ones. They're magnificent.

"Um..."

Vinyl yells over into the crowd, "Waiter, get us two Applejack Daniels here, stat!"

"You're not going to be able to get a drink like that."

"Dude, I own this club. I get anything I want here." She momentarily puts her hoof on my chest. "Anything."

I want to try to get this conversation going somewhere else and say, "Um, I'm not really that much of a drinker, you know. I think Applejack Daniels is a bit too much for me."

Just then, as if one cue, a mare delivers our drinks to the table. "Oh, c'mon, Fix 'Er! Loosen up a bit! Have fun!" Vinyl takes her mug and chugs the entire drink right in front of me. She flattens the mug by pressing it against her forehead and tosses it aside. All I did was take a sip.

"Um... it's good." I reply sheepishly.

Vinyl brought back that wide grin on her face. "Hey, waiter! Two more over here!"

Vinyl and I clumsily walk into her house. We're both pretty wasted. It wasn't until I felt a bit sick from the drinks that we left.

"You uh... OK there, Vinyl?" hiccup

"Whoo! I'm so hiccup hammered!" A huge grin them appears on her face. She taps my cutie mark. "You know, I hiccup wouldn't mind getting hammered in another way, if you hiccup know what I mean. Hehehee..."

Now, I'm getting confused. "What do you mean, Vinyl?" hiccup

All of a sudden, Vinyl's tail is wrapped around my neck. "Oh, c'mon Fix 'Er. You hiccup know." She starts pulling me up the stairs and leads me to a door.

"What are we hiccup going to do hiccup here?"

Vinyl pulls me closer, this time with her hooves. "You're a cute guy, you know that? Why don't fix me up?" A few seconds later, she hiccups again.

I'm drunk and Vinyl's drunk and I'm being courted by a hot unicorn. I guess today's my lucky day.

Vinyl opens the door and throws herself on the bed. It's too dark, so I don't really see any of her room. I walk over to her bed and lean my head onto hers.

She kisses me.

Ugh, my head hurts. What happened? Wait, this isn't my bed. And who has their leg wrapped around me? I look down and there's Vinyl. She's resting her head on my chest like a pillow. Celestia, she looks so cute. I remember now. I went to the club, talked to her, and then we did it.

I guess I'm not a virgin anymore.

What do I do anyways? This has never happened to me before so I don't know what to do. Do I go? Do I stay? Does this mean we're going out?

Vinyl starts waking up. Her sunglasses are gone. She opens her eyes, showing those gorgeous red eyes of her and says to me, "Mm, good morning, my little fixer."

'Uh... good morning."

She sits up straight and stretches her front legs. "Wow, last night was great." Vinyl glomps me and says, "You were pretty good. The best I had in a while, if you ask me." She's smiling at me. Was I really that good? It was my first time after all.

"Uh, yeah. You were pretty great too."

"Vinyl, are you here!? I'm back!"

Vinyl and I immediately look at the door where the voice is coming from. It sounds the exact opposite of Vinyl's. It sounds all posh and sophisticated.

"Crap, it's my roommate!" Vinyl jumps out the bed and starts cleaning up. Now that I think about it, I didn't get a good look at her place either. It looks like a bunch of techno music equipment with spin tables and speakers. She's definitely a musician.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"Shh! You gotta hide! My roommate doesn't like 'guests' without her knowing." She sounds really panicked so I got off the bed.

There's a knock at the door. "Vinyl, are you there? If you are, open this door right now!"

Vinyl starts motioning her head to under the bed. I move under there and make myself as small as possible.

I hear Vinyl walk over to the door and open it. "Octavia! You're back from Canterlot! How was the concert at the Gala?"

I hear nothing until the posh voice, Octavia's I guess, says "Did you do something, Vinyl? You never ask me about my performances."

"Whaat? No! Hehe... It just that, you've been gone for so long, and I missed you!"

"...I've been gone for two days and you never miss me."

I'm guessing Vinyl's not a good actress.

I see grey hooves enter the room. "Did you bring a date here again?"

"Uh..."

"Vinyl! You know how much I hate it when you bring random stallions here!"

By that statement, I hope I didn't catch something.

"Where is he!?"

"Octavia, nopony's here. I swear!"

I'm really trying to make my presence unknown now.

A pair of two grey hooves stand right in front of my face while I'm still hiding. Then, a grey face lowers to my eye level. She looks serious.

"Get. OUT."

I scurry out from under the bed as fast as I can. She looks like she was going to kick my flank any second. I zoom past Vinyl and out of the room.

As I'm on the stairs, I hear Vinyl yell, "I'll call you!" Huh, I guess I get out a marefriend now.

I walk out of Vinyl and, apparently now, Octavia's house. I really do wonder if I'll ever see that DJ pony again.

The Choice

I have to see her. I have to, I have to, I have to. After Octavia came by, I couldn't sleep. I felt like my mind was trying to escape my very skull. I can't let this go on.

I mean, isn't it impossible? To have feelings for two different mares? It seems wrong, ya know. I hate it. I hate myself for feeling this. I grew up wanting to have a wife and kids and living the good life. I'd meet that special somepony and that'd be the end of it. And I thought I did meet that special somepony. Vinyl. Funny, sexy, nice Vinyl. Sure, she may not be a complete lady most of the time, but that brings on her charm. Her music, however, is just awful.

But is that what I'm willing to do? Break up with somepony just cause I don't like all the electronic crap?

And Octavia. I hated her when I first met her. I hated her when I met her the second time. But her music... that wonderful music. It's just amazing how she does it. And when I told her I liked it, she did a complete 180. She was shy and kind and nice.

But then there's that. That. The kiss. That kiss. The kiss that messed up my head.

I hate it and I love it. Love and hate. Two polar opposites, yet similar in this situation.

I think I should stop now. No more thinking. Not 'til morning.

"Fix 'Er Up! Where you been, you lazy flank!" That's one way you don't want to be greeted in the morning. Especially if it's from your boss.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Toolshed. I had some trouble sleeping last night."

"Well, if you keep this up, you'll be sleeping in the streets! Now punch in and get to work!"

"Yes, Sir." I punch in and begin working. I may hate my boss, but somepony's gotta build these homes.

It's almost time to leave, and I had a relatively calm workday.

Smack! I feel a hoof smack me across the plot.

I turn in angry since I really hate it when ponies touch me there. I always have.

"Who the hell did tha-!" I stop mid-sentence to see Vinyl backing away from me. She looks a bit scared. "Oh, Vinyl.... I, uh..."

"What's wrong with you? I was just playing..."

"Ugh! Listen, I'm sorry, Vinyl, sweetheart. It's just... you kinda surprised and I didn't know it was you and I don't really like.... um... other ponies touching me there."

Vinyls is standing for a few seconds in silence. She finally says, "Nah, man. It's cool, you know. I get it..." She's saying this, but I can still tell that she feels uncomfortable by my sudden outburst.

"OK, then." I ask, "So, what's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see if you were available tonight. The club's closed and I was wondering if we could go somewhere a bit more fancy to eat." You know, despite being one of those party ponies, Vinyl still seems to want to go to a high-class sort of place.

We're sitting at the very middle of the restaurant in a table. All the high-class ponies, though very few, are here. Rarity, the ever famous fashionita mare, is sitting a table across from us near a window. She's talking to another unicorn; one with a silver mane and a light blue mane. He's dressed up in a red, velvet suit.

Why the hell am I describing a colt in such vivid detail? I better look over at Vinyl now.

Oh, those eyes. Those beautiful, red sea eyes. I'm in love with them.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your eyes?"

Vinyl smiles and looks down at her hoof as if she's wearing a watch. "Oh, about a dozen times already, Mister Fix 'Er Up."

"Well, maybe I should tell you a dozen more because I want them... SO MUCH." I'm smirking like a bastard and I'm proud of it.

"Well, Sir. Maybe you should stop looking at my eyes and gaze upon this." She points with down at her dress. One of her hind legs crawls out of a break in her neon blue dress. Sexy...

I take my left front leg and run down over her cutie mark. "You really should stop doing that. I might go berserk. I don't care if it's in front of all these ponies."

By this point, we're gazing in each others eyes, smiling, as my hoof is reaching for her sweet spot.

We kiss.

And then it all comes back to me. The night before. The kiss. Octavia. Damn it.

I break the kiss abruptly. I start rubbing my temples together. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."

I look over and see Vinyl. It's unusual of her to seem genuinely concerned about something. "Fixer. is something wrong?"

"Yes! Something is wrong!" I'm so anxious. I have to just tell her. "Look, Vinyl, there's something you need to know."

Now she looks pissed. Like I cheated on her or something. "What?"

I bury my face in my hooves. I can't even look at her now. "Umm, look. Last night, after dinner, I went to go to bed at my place. And... there was a knock at my door. I went downstairs and..." I stop talking and look up at Vinyl.

She's giving me a You-better-tell-me-what's-going-on look on her face.

I look down again. "... It was Octavia." I sigh. "I opened the door and Octavia was there. I asked her what she was doing there and... She, umm..."

"What!? What HAPPENED!?"

I snap back into the story. "She kissed me!"

A few moments of silence. I thank Celestia nopony else was looking over to out table.

All of a sudden, Vinyl has my shoulders in her grab. "ARE YOU TELLING THE TRUTH? ARE YOU TELLING ME THE TRUTH AND DID OCTAVIA KISS YOU?"

My eyes are wide open in horror. "Y-yes..."

"IF YOU ARE LYING TO ME, I WILL BUCKING KICK YOUR PLOT RIGHT HERE AND MAKE THE SORRIEST STALLION TO EVER BE BIRTHED. SO I'M GOING TO ASK YOU AGAIN. DID OCTAVIA KISS YOU?"

I can't take this anymore. "Yes. Octavia kissed me on the lips."

Vinyl. Looks. PISSED. She gets up from the table and trots out of the restaurant. I know where she's going. I quickly pay the waiter and run after her. She's gone.

I get to the house. Vinyl and Octavia's house. Screaming. I hear screaming from inside. I don't feel like going in. Call me a worthless excuse for a stallion, but I'd rather not get into an argument between two grown mares.

Most of the screaming I hear is from Vinyl. I can barely hear Octavia in-between the shouting. It seems like she's trying to explain what she did, but Vinyl's not having any of it.

I feel sorry for her. I wouldn't want to be shouted at, I've dealt with plenty of that in my life already. Anger, anxiety, bad feelings in general. Maybe that's why I love Octavia's music. It's calm. It's beautiful. It's caring and loving.

The door opens wide as the light shines from inside of the house.

"I HATE YOU! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! AND YOU TAKE YOUR STUPID CELLO WITH YOU!!!

A gray mare stumbles outside of the house. Tears. All I see are tears from her. Then she looks over to me. She looks into my eyes and I look into hers. More tears spray from her eyes. And then she runs. And runs and runs and runs.

Now I'm crying.

Octavia moved and Vinyl moved in with me. She said she couldn't stand that house anymore and she wanted the convenience of being closer to me.

I told Vinyl later that she was too aggressive towards Octavia. Vinyl explained that her love life was scorned with cheating boyfriends and drunken one-night stands. She felt threatened and that's why she acted out.

Octavia moved to Canterlot and is the first chair cellist for the Royal Canterlot Symphony. I'm glad she's happy doing what she loves.

Fortunately, Vinyl and Octavia made up. Turned out, Octavia never had as much luck with stallions as Vinyl and which caused her to do what she did.

We're going to visit Octavia real soon, me and Vinyl. I'm glad I'm with her. She makes me happy and I make her happy.

Sometimes, when she's at the clubs, I put in more Marezart on the record and listen away...

***

Ladies and gentlemen, The Buzzcocks:

Classical

It's been about two days since my encounter with Vinyl and I really hope I see her again.

As I'm working on this new house in lower Ponyville, I hear a voice behind me.

"Hey, do you know where Fix 'Er Up is? I can't find him anywhere in this damn construction area."

I turn around and there she is in all her living, sexy glory. I mock and say, "Duh, I dunno anypony named that 'round these parts. Duuuuuh."

Vinyl snickers at my joke and jabs me in the shoulder. It actually kinda hurt. "Always the joker, eh?"

"Well, I'm not sure I should be called that on account I've never told you a joke in my life, eh Vinyl?"

She laughs at this and leans a bit closer to me. "You know, I really did have fun the other night. And I think you're a really cool colt. Maybe we could..." she wraps her foreleg around me. "...Catch up?"

I decide to play in with the whole naughty-talk bit. "Yeah, that does sound... acceptable." I lower her sunglasses, which she still wears, and look in to her red eyes. "Celestia, I love those eyes of yours. They're like a red sea."

Vinyl chuckles at this a bit. "Uh, I never heard that before. But maybe some time later, you can look at these two beauties all you want."

"I like the idea of that."

We stare into each others eyes smiling pervertedly until something snaps inside of me. "Wait, what about your roommate? The ever-famous cock-blocker?"

Vinyl's eyes widen until she says, "Oh, don't worry about her. I'll take care of it."

"How?"

She stifles a laugh. "You're not that smart, are you?" She leans in it and whispers in my ear. "We'll just do it at your place."

I stare at Vinyl for a while. "... Oooooooooooh. That's right."

Vinyl lowers herself next to me as we finish satisfying each other. We're panting like mad and she gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Wow, that was great."

"Yeah, not too bad for an amateur, eh?"

She smiles seductively and says, "Oh, trust me. You're a lot better than some... veterans that I've met."

I slant one of my eyebrows. "What does that mean?"

Vinyl looks nervous now. "What? I'm just saying... I've just had a lot of experience in this sort of thing."

I straighten myself up against my bed post. "So... how many have you had?"

"Umm... four?"

"Four!?"

Now she looks mad. "Hey, listen! Those guys from before, they don't mean anything to me." She leans herself against my chest. "Besides... you're different. Those other stallions, they weren't anything special, you know. Fixer, I actually like you."

I smile at her. She pretty much confessed to me. I nuzzle against her head. "Well, that certainly makes me feel better, doesn't it?"

She nuzzles back. "You know it."

We kiss each other lovingly.

"Hey, I was thinking..."

I reply, "What is it?"

"Well, I just don't think we've ever been on a date. You know, like a date date."

"Oh..."

"So, I was just thinking. Maybe we could have dinner somewhere. Like, your place."

"Uhh..." I scratch my head against the back of my head. The last time I cooked, the pink pony baker got sick and threw up on me. I did get free cupcakes out of it, though.

Vinyl leans her head and asks, "What? You're too scared to cook for your marefriend?"

"Actually, yes."

Vinyl pauses for a minute and starts laughing her flank off. I love her laugh so much. It was cute and contagious, that is to say.

"Well, what about my place?"

"Your place? What about Madame Cock-blocker?"

She giggles again. "Oh, don't worry about her. I told her about you, ya know?"

Now I was confused. "You told her about me?"

"Yeah. Like, you're not one of those one-night stands like before." She wraps one of her forelegs around me. "And that you're sweet and nice and different..."

I joke, "What, all that but I'm not sexy?"

Vinyl laughs at this a bit. "Oh, I'll tell Octavia how sexy you are later..." She plants a kiss on my cheek again.

I walk into the house looking for Vinyl. The place is more clear since I wasn't stumbling through it in the dark with a crazy mare or running out from an even crazier mare.

On my right is the kitchen with a set up table for a rather fancy dinner and probably fancier night. To my left is the living room with two couches and a bookshelf right next to the window. The staircase is right in front of me and is the only thing keeping the kitchen and the living room from basically being the same room.

I walk over to the bookshelf out of pure curiosity. I gaze at the bindings to see if I recognized any titles. Marezart: A Life and Beethoofen: The Music and the Life. There are nothing but music books on this entire shelf.

I walk away as I hear a voice coming from upstairs. "Fixer, are you here!?"

I yell back, "Yeah, I'm here! Is that you, Vinyl!?"

I get a sarcastic answer. "No, it's Princess Luna here to take you to the land of fairies and gumdrops!"

"Oh, OK. That makes sense."

Despite my sarcasm, I hear a chuckle. "All right, I'll be right down. I just gotta put this stupid thing on! You came early, you know!"

I reply, "Well, I wanted to surprise you!"

"Well, you failed miserably, you dork! Now just wait a second and I'll be right with you."

The Vinyl/Madame Cock-blocker household still interests me, so I went up the stairs to look around.

On the second floor, there are three doors. I'm guessing one of them was for Vinyl and her room mate, but I don't what the other one is for. I head over to the nearest door on the right to see what's inside. I open it and pear inside.

The room is painted red with handles on the walls holding burning candles. There were bookshelves among bookshelves that were separated by the candles. A fireplace is at the very end of the wall with actual fire in it and a bed adjacent to it.

Right in the middle is a gray mare standing on her hind legs playing the cello. And it's beautiful. I stand right outside the room and take in these lovely notes. It's as the song is talking to me. It just sounds so wonderful.

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

The music stops and I open my eyes. Right in front of me is a different gray mare who isn't playing the cello, but instead is staring me in the face with the eyes of a dragon.

"I asked you a question. What were you doing in my room?" She sounds pissed beyond all imagination.

"Uhh..." is all I can muster.

" 'Uhh' is not an answer!"

OK, now I'm scared. "M-maybe I could give you answer is you weren't yelling at me..." How pathetic I am, letting this mare scare my like this.

I hear a sigh and open my eyes. I now see a different gray mare with her arms cross and with an almost genuine look of regret in her eyes.

"All right... I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just don't like people in my room."

I start getting my cool back. "Well, I wasn't really in your room. I was just peeking in."

"Do you want me to start yelling at you again?"

"No! It just that... um, I looked inside and heard your music. And I thought it was just... really good. Like, beautiful, you know?"

The gray mare strikes a look at me. "W-what?"

"Um... your music? The thing you just played on your cello? I just really really like. It might just be the best thing I've ever heard."

Now, a new gray mare appears before me. One that seems more timid and kind. "You-you really think that way? You like it?"

I reply to this gray mare. "Yeah, it's way better than all the other stuff I've heard. I mean, all the songs they play at clubs are just blaring noise. I think the music you play had, like, heart or something like that."

"Wow... that's very nice to say."

"Yeah. Oh, by the way, my name is Fixer 'E-"

"Fixer, I'm ready! Are you downstairs!?"

I turn around to the source of the noise from the the farthest room down the hallway.

"Uh, no! I'm right up here."

I see Vinyl walk out her room. And she looks stunning. She's wearing a tight, neon blue dress and red high heels. Her hair isn't as messy looking as normal and is kind of parted to the side. She isn't wearing her shades. Her deep, deep red eyes are visible.

She sticks her tongue out at me. "How do I look?"

"... Gorgeous."

She pouts. "What, is that all? No, 'you look damn sexy'?"

I blush a little and say, "Yeah. You look sexy too."

She brightly grins. "Thanks! Oh, did you get to meet Octavia?"

The gray mare replies. "Why... yes, Vinyl. We were just introducing each other." She nudges my shoulder.

"Uh, yeah! I was just looking for ya, and she walked out of her room and saw me. Then we started talking."

Vinyl makes her way to the gray mare, or Octavia, and says, "So, Octy, tell me. Is my colt the 'shameless, perverted prostitute of a colt' you said he was when you chased him out?"

Now Octavia was blushing, "Why, most certainly not!" She looks at me and says "I think he's... quiet the gentlecolt."

Vinyl laughs and says, "Well, now that we all know and love each other, let's eat!"

I left after dinner. In the middle of it, Vinyl got a visitor from her club and was told she had to write something for next week. In the end, I had to go because she had to go work on her music and we didn't do it. Octavia and I said goodbye.

I'm lying in my bed. I'm confused right now. I felt something when I first heard that music from Octavia's cello. I'm not sure what I want now.

All of a sudden, I hear a knock on the door. I get out of my bed and head for it. As I reach the doorknob, I grab a baseball bat, just in case.

I open the door and there she is. The gray mare. Octavia.

"Octavia? What are you doing here?"

I don't get a response. Instead, the gray mare walks a few steps towards me. Her eyes are facing the ground and I can't see them.

"Octavia, I'm gonna ask this again. What are you do-" My sentence never gets out as another pair of lips press against my own.

The lips leave as I hear a voice squeak from her. "I-I... I just wanted to say... thanks for liking my music so much."

I'm still in shocked as to what as just happened, so I replied, "Um... you're welcome?..."

Octavia turns around and whispers, "If you ever... um... wanna get together..." Even in the dark, I could still the blush on the gray mare's face. She runs away before completing her sentence.

I have no idea what just happened or what I feel about it.