Of A Finer Taste

Octavia’s apartment was shaken awake by the loud, pounding bass she had become reluctantly used to. She buried her head into her pillow, groaning. It was two in the morning and she had yet to get a minute of sleep. Her long, black mane was strewn around her body and bed, her usually well kept coat now frizzy and ruined.

“I told you lazy fuckers to jump!” The DJ’s voice was ear-splitting. Even over the loud, pulsing bass it dug at her mind. “One! Two! Three!” A huge increase in bass, followed by screams of enthusiasm and approval. The drop… Octavia thought, giving up all hope of getting a decent amount of sleep that night. Slowly, the mechanical noise faded into a familiar sound. A cello? Surely this blue-maned maniac couldn’t actually play anything? Slowly, however, Octavia recognised the chords. The riffs. Her riffs!

“What the buck?” Octavia exclaimed angerly, storming to her door, “Surely she isn’t using MY music in that… mechanical nonsense!”

Octavia barged into her neigbor’s apartment; if she would have knocked, it couldn’t be heard. And, surely enough, the DJ stood behind a mountain of instruments, Octavia’s beautiful cello used as a back track for her horrible music! Her trademarked purple glasses resting on her muzzle, though the room was darker than Nightmare Moon herself. Octavia stormed to the DJ, catching her attention. She could see her set a few dials and knobs before meeting Octavia.

“Hey there! My name’s Vinyl Scratch! And who are you? Ain’t ever seen you around, filly.”

“Octavia. I live next door and I was wondering-“ Vinyl cut her off, a look of confusion on her face.

“Next door? As in to my place?”

“Well, I see no other ‘next doors’ around, Miss Scratch.” Vinyl just looked at her in awe for a few moments, before shaking her head and quickly returning to her equipment. Quickly, she shut it off, receiving many boos from her small crowd. She quickly swept them out her door, closing it behind them.

“I’m sorry about that, Octavia. Nopony has lived next to me for almost ten years and I usually do this-“

“Every Friday.” Octavia finished with a chuckle. “It is understandable. I only assumed you were the kind to play loud to upset ponies.”

“Cool. I’m glad you understand” Vinyl said with a smile. Something about Octavia seemed to charm her. “Anyway,” she said, removing her glasses, “You’re welcome to stay a while if you-“ She stopped, seeing Octavia’s look. Vinyl blushed a bit before putting her glasses back on. “And that’s why I hide my eyes…” she said, pulling up a large rum bottle with the word “Lunakin” on the label.

“Hide them?” Octavia exclaimed, “Why in Equestria would you hide them?” Vinyl seemed shocked,

“Well… Most ponies say they’re a discraction or weird.”

“Oh, they’re distracting, Miss Scratch,” Octavia said with a blush, “They’re beautiful.” Vinyl chuckled slighly at this, waiving her hoof, dismissing the comment.

“Well, most don’t think they’re cool. It’s a birth defect or something. Either way, I usually wear my shades so as to not creep ponies out.” Vinyl poored herself a glass of Lunakin, offering some to Octavia as well.

“Well, I’m not usually a heavy drinker…” she said, inspecting the bottle, “But I could not pass this up.” Vinyl thrust a hoof into the air,

“Let to booze commence!” She hollared, getting a well deserved laugh from Octavia.

Octavia awoke with a splitting headache and a dull ringing in her ears. She opened her eyes and looked around, actually able to take Vinyl’s home into perspective properly. Posters of Deadhor5, Fillex and Daft Kolt littered the walls. Though she only recognized Deadhor5, she was sure she’d heard of the other two on TV. The next thing to hit her senses was the soft, fluffy bed she was on. Rolling over, she saw a note on the nightstand next to her, picking it up.

My Dearest Octavia,

Thanks for the ‘fun’ last night. That was dirtier than my bass. Haha. Anyway,

I have a show to play today, so I’ll see you tonight. Keep the bed warm. ;)

A rush of heat rushed over Octavia before she flipped the page over, noticing writing on the other side;

P.S. Just bucking with you. Coffee’s on the table if you drank too much. Stick

Around if you want or head home. My place is yours for the day. The least I could

do for keeping you up all night… Five weeks in a row.

-Vinyl

Octavia sighed at the DJ’s jokes. Her signature was actually quite well written; Very fluent and fancy, for lack of a better word.

“Well…” She sighed, “At least we didn’t do anything… dirty. God knows what she’d try if she knew I liked her already…”

“What did you say?” Vinyl asked from the bathroom behind Octavia, making her jump a good hoof or two in the air.

“Uh… I was… I was sleep talking…”

“Still can’t hear you, Octavia! Hold up a sec.” Octavia had only just realized that the shower was running. She breathed a sigh of relief before speaking up;

“I was only talking to myself, Vinyl!” The door opened with a burst of steam as Vinyl came out with her mane stuck to her face and her eyes glazed over somewhat from the heat. Octavia waived a hoof around,

“Either you take very hot showers or you are just naturally steamy, Miss Scratch.” Octavia blushed as Vinyl cocked her head, not quite sure until now how that came across.

“Well, if you find me “steamy”, that’s fine.” Vinyl said with a sly wink. “And just call me Vinyl, bro.”

“But of course, Vinyl.” Octavia said, ignoring the first part of the sentence. Vinyl levitated her glasses over as she shook herself clean. Octavia was almost sad to see Vinyl’s beautiful eyes hiding behind the glasses. However, they were her trademark. Octavia sat on the bed shuffling her feet for a second before she felt Vinyl sit down next to her.

“What’s the matter, Tavi?” She asked, cocking her head at Octavia, who was somewhat bewildered.

“Ex-Excuse me, Vinyl?”

“Come on, Tavi, I can see through most any façade. I’ve been with enough chicks to-“ she cut herself off, “I mean I’ve seen enough colts to learn all kinds of different tricks” she said awkwardly.

“Well, Firstly, Vinyl, you do not have to hide your sexuality. Between you and me, I am bisexual. Secondly, it is a tad awkward, but, you were right. Nopony has been ‘living’ next to you, persay. I haven’t a proper home, or at least a proper bed.” Vinyl was taken aback at first, but slowly regained her coolness.

“How could somepony look like you do and not have a home?” she asked,

“Well,” Octavia started, “I use a broken shower pipe and I work as a cleaner to buy the basics. After the little… Incident with my friend Pinkie at last year’s gala, I was pretty well out of work. So I haven’t had anypony offer me a job playing.” She finished, as Vinyl looked for any hint of a joke. No smile, no supressed laughs, however there was a small twinkle in her eye. Something about those lavender eyes couldn’t let Vinyl say no.

“Wow, Octavia. You know, I have a spare bed in the basement I can drag out. I make enough to pay for the two of us living here, so you can keep what you earn cleaning. A mare like you shouldn’t be working in that field anyway,” she paused for a second. Well THAT was sappy she said, mentally facehoofing. “Anyway, don’t worry about paying it back. I can take care a lot. I have a separate shower in the basement aswell, if you’d rather.” Octavia never took her eyes off the floor, instead letting a huge smile across her face before jumping up and hugging Vinyl,

“Thank you so much!” she said, “I’ll pay you back some how, Vinyl!” Vinyl felt a smile as she hugged her back, I can think of a few ways for ‘pay back’… Wait, what the BUCK am I thinking?