My Life on a Cassette Tape

Double Time sat, not having ordered a thing, not wanting to start without Crescendo as he went back for his wallet. He played with his phone, scrolling up a text chain that lasted several years. He wasn't really reading, that was, until he got to the last few days.

I'll be heading out for basic in two months

Wait? ur bein srs?

Uh
Yeah, 'totes srs'

I thought you were joking!

No

Are you joking with me now?

I'm goin to go join the guards
No, I'm not joking
I'm dead serious

But I thought you loved me!

Woah!
I never said I didn't!
I do!

Then why are you leaving me like this?

Trust me, if I could stay I would
I wanna be with you

DON'T LIE!

I'm serious about us!
I'm not lying!

We're through, it's over!

Come on, we can talk this over!
Thyme?

His last text was over a week old, and still it was left on 'Delivered'. His heart ached. Thyme and him had been going out for over three years, had talked seriously about getting married, and even the possibility of foals. Thyme loved foals, and wanted to have at least a half dozen of her own, but above that desire it seemed, she despised the idea of being a guard. She called them 'legally sanctioned murderers', and had joined a variety of marches that protested the existence of a standing guard force. He had hoped by joining the local guard as opposed to national that she'd understand and would be fine with it. Local guards were little more than specialized police units, and despite her antiguard stances, she firmly supported the police, having attended every bake sale she could.

Thyme was, in a word, complicated, but in more words, a rough assemblage of beliefs that seemed contradicting, but would find their way of somehow being sensible when she spoke them. One breath she was decrying how Celestia and Luna allowed the guard to exist, the next, soliciting donations for the local police cordon. She loved art, but hated museums. She loved dressing pretty, but complained endlessly how makeup commercials effected young fillies' minds. But even with all this, Double loved her, despite their disagreements, and, so he thought, she loved him too.

That was what was in question as he weighed whether or not to send a message to her. Should he email her instead? He did have a lot to say, but he wasn't sure if she'd take the time to read all he wanted to say. For the first time he could recall in a while, he hated that it was summer. If it was any other season, they'd be in school and they'd talk there. But now school was out and they were on the brink of going off to college.

Looking at the time on his phone, he realized it was nearly five, and still Crescendo wasn't here. He thought about sending him a text when he saw the stallion jogging up the street, entering the lonesome diner.

Slipping inside, I found my cousin and sat down across from him, grabbing a menu from the rack at the end of the table. I flipped through the menu, which was actually fairly expansive for a diner like this one. It had appetizers, sides, entrees, desserts, and all of it at decent prices. I was surprised this place wasn't a bigger deal in the wider area. Based on the number of ponies gathered, either we hit them before a rush, or this place was a truly lazy diner.

"Already finished?" I asked, turning a few pages back as I hit the dessert page.

"No, I wanted to wait for you." He said, grabbing his own menu from the rack, thumbing through its pages with an expression that spoke of the minor annoyance he felt. "Told you that we should've ordered on my bit, you had to wait for her to finish lunch, didn't you?" Oh yeah, she had to eat first, but it wasn't just the hay fries and sandwich that she had on the table when I followed her to the back. "You did find your wallet, right?" I smirked, knowing full well it was in my... pocket? Patting my leg, I found to my increasing panic that it wasn't there.

I mentally retraced my steps, wondering where I could've dropped it. It wasn't while the three of us were fucking, I stripped before that. And I was wearing my pants still when... oh. The dawning realization hit me. Periwinkle had removed my wallet when I first entered the back of the store. She had set it on the table before we got started, and there it had stayed. I sighed, reaching into my other pocket to grab my phone. Pulling it out, I heard the clinking of some coins. The bet!

I had slipped the coins into my pocket after I won the bet against Double, and so I did have coins. Flashing one up at Double, I smirked.

"Almost freaked out there, I put it in the wrong pocket." I said, putting the coin back in my pocket. He seemed to buy it. Feeling a good bit of tension still, I opened my phone and texted Berry.

I need you to bring my wallet to the diner up the street

Who is this?

I blinked a few times, only to realize that, though I had gotten their numbers, I hadn't given them mine. I knew what I had to do, but it was still risky - not to mention embarrassing.

Is this Berry Punch's number?

Yeah
Who is this?

I sighed, my fingers hovering over the screen of my phone. I finally got my resolve together.

Master

I waited for a few moments, concerned as it was left on 'Read' for a few more minutes than I had anticipated. Just as I set my phone down, I got a notification, and so, unlocking my phone, I saw not another message, but an image of Berry with her clothes on, and a wallet nestled in her cleavage.

This wallet?

yeah

I sighed, rubbing my temples. She was sexy, aggravatingly sexy. My dick loved that about her, adored and worshiped it really, but the rest of me - especially the more logical part - was less than pleased. Well... that wasn't true. The rest of me was also pleased, but only when it decided it wanted to be pleased, the rest of the time it wasn't excited to be dragged along by my dick.

Wait outside, I'll text you when you can come in.
Just act natural while waiting

yes Master.

She'd be here soon, so I'd have to see about getting Double distracted. I could always use the tape recorder... but that felt wrong. Odd how it felt wrong to make my cousin go to the other room with the device I had used to fuck and enslave two beauties - though the last part wasn't my idea. Plus, it was a rather dangerous idea to do it when he was right across the table from me.

Before I even realized, the waitress appeared. She was a cute filly, probably around my same age, with a well rounded shape, with good plumpness to her. Her old style dress, though it so rarely seemed to work on others, worked perfectly on her. 'And off her.' I blinked away the thought. I had had my first real mare, and then my second mare a few minutes after. I did NOT need to be seeking out another mare.

We made our orders, watched the waitress head to the back, and leaned into the old pleather upholstery of the benches, waiting for the order to come out. I then came up with an idea on how to get Berry in here and out of here before Double would even notice.

"We should probably wash our hands." I started, looking mine over as if they were covered in muck. "We've been digging through so many second hand shops today, and I don't want to think how bad some of the items we touched were."

"Yeah..." Double said, unenthusiastically, not really having been listening. I stopped, and looked at my cousin, who dejectedly was looking at his phone, slowly scrolling through something. I, not so slyly, leaned over the table in a way that usually would earn me a slap, but instead was not met by any resistance. On the screen was a text chain, and judging by its content, it was Thyme's conversation with him. I sighed, sitting back down, feeling a tad down myself, when I realized I could help.

"Hey," I waved a hand at Double, "wake up! Ground Control to Major Tom!" He blinked a few times, looking at me confusedly. "Thank you for rejoining us in the land of the living. Do you want to go wash your hands or are you willing to risk the germs of the past few second hand stores we've been to?" He seemed to consider this, apparently still adjusting to life within a body, as opposed to being a floating mind.

"Uh, sure... yeah, I'll go to the bathroom." He muttered as he stood, walking away, taking his phone as I had hoped. Watching him enter the bathroom, I quickly fished out the tape player, pressed the record button, and whispered into the mic - cupping it with my hand so that no background noise would be caught up.

"After finishing washing his hands, Double Time found his phone going off. On the other end was Thyme. She had been thinking, as only a torn pony could. She loved him, but she didn't love what he was becoming. This all considered, she had spent the last week thinking, and finally came to the reali-" My tape player clicked. I looked at it, seeing the play button slowly depress of its own volition. The head phones around my neck began to speak, and I slipped them on with no small measure of trepidation.

"... hadn't known it, but his words were truth even before he had spoken them. The mare was truly conflicted, and now was calling Double Time. Her heart ached, but she knew she loved him. Without requiring intervention, she reached out." The play button snapped back up, leaving me slack jawed. Apparently if I wanted to add something that was already set to happen, it would let me know. Either that or something equally as weird was happening.

Finding myself with some time, I stood up, looked out the large window that was the front of the diner, and saw Berry standing out front, leaning against a stop sign, fiddling with her phone. I quickly moved outside, and walked up to her. She glanced up from her phone, her expression initially quite harsh, but it softened as she saw it was me. Putting her phone in her bag, she brought out my wallet and passed it over to me.

"Here's your wallet, Ma- mister." She had almost slipped. I nodded, a blush touching my face. She must've notice, because she put on a sly look. "Want to do something fun?" She asked. Oh goodness, she was acting like a hooker. In broad daylight she was acting like a hooker, and she had just passed me a wallet. I was her pimp, and she was a hooker, and oh FUCK!

"N-no, maybe later." I stammered, rushing back inside, away from her predatory gaze. "Thanks for getting me my wallet!" I called out before slipping inside. I moved back to the table and did my best to be unnoticeable. I would have to get back at Berry for this, which would be difficult due to her particular sexual preferences, but something would have to be figured out. For now, Double Time was walking up and I could tell he needed a shoulder to lean on.

I knocked on my parent's door at the hotel. Looking at my watch, I smiled as I noted it being only a quarter after seven. My dad opened the door after a moment, and he looked more worse for wear than I had ever seen him. His eyes were red, as if he had been crying, and he had a general disheveled look about him. I was about to start talking when he started first, by reaching forward with surprising speed, and hugging me deeply. I was shocked to say the least, but eventually returned the hug.

My father was never like this, he was always so austere. He never showed any of the things he called 'weaker emotions', and hugging me like this was also unusual. I had a dropping feeling in my stomach, but I couldn't assume the worst yet. He eventually pulled out of the hug, sniffled slightly, and cleared his throat.

"I'm... sorry. Sorry that you've had to see me like this." He said, his voice quavering. "Everything's alright, it has just been a trying night. Here's your room key, it's right across the hall." I looked him over, but was entirely unsure how to feel. Here was the man that had raised me, and had, through it all, rarely shown any signs of great sadness, much less what I currently saw before me.

"R-right," I said lamely, grabbing the key card from him, "if you need anything, or if mom needs anything, you can be sure to ask me, alright?" I resolved finally. My dad nodded.

"Of course. Now head to your room, tomorrow is going to be a rough day. We visit the doctor's at nine, so we'll want to be awake by seven." He said, I nodded, flipping up my phone to set the alarms. I looked in his eyes, and gave a simple nod, moving away to my room. "Crescendo..." My father started, causing me to turn, "No matter what it may have sounded like before, no matter how harsh of words we may have used... your mother and I want you to know that we are proud of you, and that we support you all the way. Whatever you want to do with yourself and your talents, we'll back you up as best we can. Don't ever forget that."

I was stunned. I had always figured myself to be the unofficial family pariah, the outcast that was only held on to because he was an only child, much like how Double was with his parents. I felt a tear trickle down my cheek, the first of many, I could tell. I smiled at him.

"Thank you." I said simply. I looked down at the floor, thinking back on what I had done that day, how he'd feel about it. "Dad..." It was his turn to turn around, "What... how would you feel if... I did something stupid." Stupid was softballing it to an extreme. "What if I..."

"Crescendo," he said, sympathy and care in his voice. He paused for a moment, working out his words, "You are your own stallion. I may not approve of some of your choices, but in the end, you are my son. Don't think for a second that I'm not here for you no matter what." His smile seemed to warm up slightly. "It isn't like I'm clean, I've had my share of 'stupidity'. Especially when it comes to the fairer sex." He winked at me. "Now get some rest. We'll meet you down in the lobby, text us if you leave your room before we knock on the door." He slowly closed the door to the room. "Good night, Crescendo."

I stood in the hallway in shock. My father was a fooler? There was no way that that could be right! And yet... it was genuine. He had bared his heart to me despite the fact I had failed to do so for him. I blinked a few times, some weight seeming to lift off me. The world looked brighter, and as I crept into my hotel room, I popped my phone up and texted Berry.

Do you have anything important tomorrow?

No
Neither does Periwinkle
Master

I sighed. Today was an emotional roller coaster.

Just call me Cresh

Okay, Master
*Cress
*Cresh
Sorry, Cresh

I sighed, not in anger, but in some emotional rawness that I couldn't explain if I tried.

Can you two come over to Room 913 in the Neighbourgia Hotel?

Of course, Cresh
We'll be there in five

I fell back on my bed, not tired enough to sleep. Time flew, for in what seemed like seconds, I heard a knocking at my door. Opening it, I found Berry and Spry. Inviting them in, I directed them to the bed.

"So what are we going to do, Mas- Cresh?" Berry asked. I plopped down, patting the bed either side of me.

"I just need somepony to be with me." I said earnestly. The two mares looked at each other, and entered the bed, no sexy strip tease, no pretty fluttering of the eyes, just smooth grace as they entered the cushioned confines of the bed. With me in the middle on my back; Berry lay on her side to my right, one hand placed on my chest, the other under her head; Spry on my left simply ran her fingers through my hair, a gesture of no sexual charge, but of simple tender kindness.

The day suddenly crashed on me full force. My mother was dying. We just weren't admitting it; though perhaps my dad had and that was why he was in the state he was. Double had lost a special somepony, but had been fortunate enough to get her back, and had, in his vulnerability, spent nearly the entirety of the free time we had left crying tears of joy and unexpressed sorrow into my shoulder. Then there was me. I had found some arcane artifact, had unrestricted sex with two mares I barely knew, had turned them into slaves on accident. And now I found myself in the center of a web of decisions and pain.

I broke into tears and sobs. The two mares tried to comfort me, hugging me tightly as the day's pain and emotional weight came crashing down on me all in one moment. I had held it back. I had been the bulwark for other ponies. The shoulder for Double as he dealt with losing the mare he loved, and then the overwhelming joy of getting her back. I had been putting on a brave face for everypony so that they could go on without the extra worry that was me. I had pretended to be dispassionate towards it all, but in the end, my heart was straining under the weight that pressed ever harder down on me. But now, crying in the hotel room, surrounded by two mares, I found my pain being relieved in small part, but even that felt so much better.