Canterlot High

This one goes to MechaLump: I’m making your “painful wait for ch.5” a bit shorter. (I was totally seduced by your duckface Rarity btw.)

Canterlot High

Chapter 5: On Dancefloors

As so often before Octavia and Vinyl sat on their respective beds in their room. It was a calm Saturday afternoon, the 6th Saturday in their life at school. Not much had changed in the one and a half month they now visited this strange school. They had made more friends, met the first ponies they couldn’t stand, and had a now set movie date every Tuesday afternoon.

Vinyl loved these movies. It always gave her a chance to get closer to Octavia, even if not as close as she wished it would be.

Their relationship hadn’t changed much, to Vinyl’s regret and relieve at the same time. Vinyl had decided not to make the first step. Not because she was afraid to ask her out, but because she was afraid of losing her best friend. She would keep these selfish feelings of Tavi and her being more than friends deep inside. She was happy as it was now. Why risk that?

Sadly her mind gave her an answer to that too; Because somepony might take Octavia away from her.

There had already been advances. Multiple colts had already asked her out, but Octavia had politely rejected them all.

‘Stupid colts’ Vinyl thought ‘as if they would love her… they are just after her (sexy) rump!’

Vinyl knew that Octavia didn’t care about the looks of the stallions asking her out even if it were the most handsome colt in school. If those hormone driven colts would take the time to actually get to know her better, they might have a chance.

Luckily for Vinyl, nopony did. Or at least, those who did didn’t show any signs of wanting to ask her out. She couldn't take it if she really had to see someone else together with Octavia...

Vinyl pushed all the ‘mights’ and ‘maybes’ out of her head and decided she would just try to get closer to Octavia some way or another.

“Hey Tavi?” Many of their most meaningful conversation started with these two words.

“Yes Vinyl?”

“It’s Saturday. A pal of mine is DJing in this club downtown and got me and friends free entry. Wanna go? We could get some drinks and chill out down there.”

“Vinyl. You know I’m not old enough to drink yet.”

“Come on Tavi! You turn 16 in three weeks. Nobody cares for three weeks. Let’s just go and have some fun! Live a little. I haven’t been to any club since school started, and I’m starting to feel the withdrawal.” Vinyl tried to convince her shy friend. She was actually still thinking about what she could give Octavia as a present.

Octavia giggled. “Ok ok, I’ll come with you to the club, but please don’t try to make me drink if I don’t want to.”

“Of course not. I just thought it would be fun, but I would never force you to do something you don’t want to do.” Vinyl said sternly

“Should we ask the others to come along?”

Vinyl thought about it for a second. There would be ponies in the club. They wouldn’t be romantically alone there anyways, so she just said “Yeah, why not. Let’s fill the club.”

***** same day. Just after dinner. *****

A group of five ponies walked down the streets in Canterlot, in direction of club “Bass drop”, where Vinyl’s friend was scratching the plates that night.

Apart from Vinyl and Octavia, the usual suspects were tugging along. Blue and Pine walked leaned against each other in the back, the white and the gray mare were in the middle, and the group was lead by Tony who didn’t seem to mind walking alone from time to time.

They arrived at the club just at sunset, and the red light of the setting sun bathed the dark blue front of the club in a spooky purple.

“Well, there we are.” Announced Tony. “But why in Celestia’s name would you call your club ‘Bass  drop’?”

Vinyl smirked. “You’re not listening to a lot of dubstep are you?” Tony shot her a quizzical look “Not really no. I prefer psychedelic minimal, trance or house. But I like D&B for parties, it can’t be that different, can it?”

They entered the club, just when a new song started to play. The strong but rhythmic bass filled the room, but it wasn’t too exciting

“I don’t get it.” Meant Tony. “the bass isn’t even that strong-“ that was the moment Vinyl had waited for. When the bass dropped, Tony had a dumbstruck look on his face.

The bass was omnipresent.

Increased tenfold by the strong speakers of the club it felt like the ground was shaking.

Blue, the only one who actually understood something about architecture, wondered how the walls could stand the vibrations. They didn’t look very stable, and the music was so loud, he feared it would shake Canterlot off the mountain.

“HEEEEY EVERYPONY! ARE YOU READY FOR THE BASS?!” Came the voice of the DJ through the speakers.

Pine pulled Blue to the dancefloor, and Tony followed suit.

Octavia looked at Vinyl with a scared look on her face. She leaned closer and whisper-… yelled into her roommates ear “Vinyl, are you sure the drinks here are safe? All these ponies look like they have seizures.” She looked over the crowd with worry in her eyes.

Vinyl laughed out loud. The music muffled it mostly, but a lot of ponies close to them still turned their heads in their direction.

Slightly embarrassed, but still laughing, Vinyl pulled Octavia over to the bar, where the music was a bit quieter, and they placed themselves on two of the empty bar stools.

“You’re a laugh Tavi. Those ponies are dancing. That’s what you do when you go to a club.” She pointed over to the dancefloor, where Pine, Blue and Tony were rocking their bodies. Octavia had a point; it looked a bit like spasms, from an objective point of view.

“Anyways, let’s start by ordering a drink, shall we? What would you like?”

“Vinyl… I’ve never had a drink before… I’m not so sure this is a good idea.” The gray mare spoke her concerns.

“I promised I wouldn’t talk you into drinking, so I won’t. I will order me something qite weak, and you can try a sip from me. If you like it you can keep it, deal?” Vinyl offered.

The other mare’s purple eyes looked at the white mare. She trusted her. Vinyl wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, so she agreed with a nod.

Vinyl ordered two Caipirinhas, promising Octavia she would down them both if she didn’t like it.

Surprisingly for Octavia, the drink tasted only like lime and sugar and not bad at all, like she had expected. There was only a slight lingering aftertaste, a slight tingling taste on her tongue.

She had only wanted to take a small sip from the straw, but before she knew it, the glass was half empty (or half full, if you’re an optimist).

Vinyl grinned “I take it you like it then?” The earth ponies amethyst eyes looked up to her and she nodded sheepishly.

“It may not taste like much, but that doesn’t mean it’s not potent. Since it’s your first time drinking, don’t get carried away.” She warned.

“I always thought alcohol would taste really bad, but this is quite good.” Octavia admitted.

“Why would I drink it if it tastes bad? I’m not one of those ‘Oh look at me, I’m so cool because I can drink Vodka pure and get drunk’-teens….” She glanced at Octavia who gave her a surprised look “you totally took me for one of those, didn’t you?”

Her companion looked back to the ground “Sorry.”

“Well, I admit sometimes being drunk has its perks.” ‘like getting enough courage to admit your feelings for somepony’ “But I never drink anything I don’t like. I don’t see the point in that when you can get drunk on good stuff too.”

They sipped away on their drinks, containing a more or less stable conversation over the loud booming of the music.

Vinyl wanted to bring Octavia to join the dancefloor, but the pleading, scared look in the purple eyes quickly made her stop trying. If Octavia didn’t want to dance, she wouldn’t force her to.

Instead she ordered new drinks.

It was only about 10pm and they had only just finished their second round of drinks, when Vinyl let out a stifled yawn. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and was now almost resting her head on her hooves.

Two clots chose that moment to join them at the bar.

“Oh are the ladies tired?” Asked the light orange unicorn colt, with a metallic golden mane.

“Should we bring you ladies home?” asked the other one, a light green unicorn. He had a dark, dirt-gray mane. Both were bulky and well groomed. They could have probably been called handsome, but Vinyl was in no mood to be annoyed.

“Or even better; we bring you to our home. We live very close to here, and we know you would love that.” The orange one said with a suggestive tone and grin.

“Yeah, you two have been sitting here for the whole time. Admit it; you’re just waiting for two handsome, rich and perfect gentlecolts like us to take you along.”

“Not really sorry.” Vinly quipped back at the arrogant, clearly noble unicorns. “But I was wondering; How do you get out the door? Your egos are so big you must be stuck in here.”

She would have said more, but Octavia next to her seemed terrified out of her mind, as she only looked back and forth between the two colts with a very scared look on her face. Vinyl just wanted them to leave. If she provoked them further, they could do something that would harm Tavi, and that was the last thing Vinyl wanted.

“Ah now you two are just playing hard to get.” The green guy said, quite forcefully pulling Vinyl closer to him. She tried to push him away, but he was stronger. “Stop touching me! And if you even only dare to touch Tavi you’ll regret it!”

Not listening, the other one tried to pull Octavia to him, but a white hoof that didn’t belong to Vinyl interjected.

“Guys I believe the ladies said they don’t want your company.” Tony stood at the bar. He smiled, but his usually friendly and warm brown eyes were cold.

“And who asked you?” the orange one asked.

“Nopony did. I just don’t like my friends being molested. I’m sure we’re reasonable enough to accept the rejection and not to start a fight in the club. That wouldn’t be profitable for anyone.” He said with a head motion to the enormous unicorn stallion guarding the door.

The two colts looked pissed, but there wasn’t much they could do. They were only just courageous enough to try and force fillies to join them, they wouldn’t start a fight with anyone who could be stronger than them.

The green one let go of Vinyl, and the two moved away from the bar, while shooting daggers with their eyes at Two Tone.

“Thanks Tony.” Vinyl said. “But I think I could have handled them.”

“Yes. You probably could have. But I didn’t want to take a risk, and not because of you.” His eyes shifted over to Octavia.

“Vinyl does something like that happen often in clubs?” Octavia asked, still a bit scared.

“That’s what you’d call ‘getting hit on’. About the frequency; well, the cuter the mare is, the more guys will try to hit on her.” Tony explained. “So you two will be prime target in here.” He added with a smirk. Vinyl’s cheeks were already a bit rosy from the alcohol, otherwise she would have blushed.

She looked around, and had to admit he was right. Especially Octavia’s sophisticated charm and fine figure stood out like a head banger at a Bethooven concert.

“I think this place is nothing for me yet, I’m sorry Vinyl.” The Earthpony said shyly. “Can we just go back to our room?”

“Of course Tavi. I take the blame for this one. I should have known better than to bring you to this club…” She let her head hang.

“Don’t worry about it Vinyl. I know you just meant well. You couldn’t have known that would happen.”

“I should have thought that far… it’s not like getting hit on is rare in a club.” ‘Especially when the mare is as beautiful as Octavia’ she thought.

“Eh. Those two were jerks of the lowest class. Usually most colts understand the meaning of “not interested”, but they were too full of themselves, I can’t believe their ego had enough space in this club…”

Octavia smiled. “Vinyl said the same thing to them.” She turned to Vinyl. “Thank you for defending me Vinyl.” And her smile got even bigger at these words.

Vinyl didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She couldn’t. Her heart felt like it was melting inside her chest at Octavia’s smile.

When she caught herself again she could only say “I need another drink.”

Octavia agreed, so they ordered another round, while Tony excused himself and went off to search one of his friends. They had ordered a bit stronger drinks this time, but Octavia seemed to enjoy them nonetheless.

Another round later, Vinyl started to feel the effects of the alcohol in her blood slightly. She only just tipsy, but she started to worry about Octavia. For a first time drinker, the gray mare seemed to do quite well. She did not yet show any signs of being drunk. Or so she thought.

When the two mares left the club and decided to leave for their dorm, Octavia leaned her body ever so slightly against Vinyl.

The white mare almost had a heart-attack, but when she turned to her friend, she noticed in the pale light of the streetlamps, what she hadn’t noticed under the flickering strobes of the club; Octavia’s face was adorned by a goofy grin and a significant blush.

The cute, innocent gray mare was drunk (Or at least highly tipsy).

-There are many kinds of reactions to alcohol. Some ponies get noisy when they’re drunk, some get emotional and some get quiet and thoughtful. Others (and this is my least favorite kind) get aggressive.

Octavia, on the other hand, got very, very snuggly.

Vinyl had to find out that fact that night by first hoof experience.

“I didn’t thank you properly before, for defending my from those jerks. I think now is the time to do that.” Even drunk, Octavia managed to keep up her perfectly sophisticated way of speech.

Vinyl wondered what she meant, when her roommate and crush started to nuzzle her neck and face. She gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then she rubbed her muzzle at the very same, once white, now rather red, cheek.

It took Vinyl some, highly enjoyable, minutes to gather her thoughts back into some halfway logical shape… and then some more minutes until she reluctantly said: “Tavi! You’re drunk. Stop it.” It pained her to say it, but she knew it was the right thing to do. She liked her too much to just take advantage of her current state of mind.

“I’m not drunk!” The gray mare said, and just that moment she almost stumbled over her own hooves. “Ok, maybe a bit tipsy.” She admitted.

‘This might be the perfect chance to tell her how I feel.’ Thought Vinyl ‘If she doesn’t like me back, I can just blame it on being drunk tomorrow.’ “Octavia, there is something I would like to tell you…” Big amethyst eyes looked at her curiously. “I… Ever since… Tavi I-“ but before she had any chance to go on, they were both violently tackled into a small alley between two houses.

Vinyl looked around. The alley ended with a high wall; a dead end.

She angrily turned around “What in tartarus is wrong with you!?”

In front of her and the still shakily rising Octavia stood two colts. The same ones as before.

“Look who we have here Gold.” The green one said to his friend with disgust and malicious glee in his eyes. “Now we know why they tried to reject us before: They are a pair of dirty fillyfoolers.” “It sure looks like it Platinum. We should show those two dirty little fillies how wrong their choice was, and bring them on the right track.” The orange one suggested. “It’s best we do that by showing them how pleasurable the right was is, right my friend?”

With every word they spoke, they came a step closer. Vinyl and Octavia took a step back, for every one they advanced, but they soon ran out of room. When their tails brushed against the wall, Vinyl stepped in front of the trembling Octavia.

“Stop it right now!” She shouted. Commanded rather. “You have no idea what you’re doing. For the sake of all of us, just turn around and go!”

The two colts looked confused for a second, but then they took another step forward. They were now almost muzzle to muzzle with Vinyl. “Looks like she lost her mind… Poor thing, that’s what you get for filly fooling.” “Yeah, but don’t worry. In a few minutes you will feel better...” He looked menacingly “Or at least we will feel better.” They laughed.

Vinyl looked furious. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with. Just stop it now; it will save us all a great deal of pain.” She worriedly looked back at Octavia. The latter was now cowered behind Vinyl in fear.

The colts just laughed again. “Oh and who might that be?”

Vinyl didn’t want to say it. She really didn’t want to say it. Octavia might hate her. Their friends might hate her. She would probably be taken from the school. She would maybe never see her friends again, only because she said it.

She looked at the gray mare. She was crying.

Protecting Octavia was worth all that and more.

She started to fill her lungs with air and just wanted to say the words that could ruin and save her life at the same time, when somewhere behind the colts came a loud angry “That’d be us.”

The two jerks quipped around just to face Two Tone and Blue standing in the entrance of the Alleyway with glowing horn and flaring feathers.

“Oh it’s the knight in shining armor again. But this time, there’s no big guard to help you out. Your magic is never strong enough! We both go to the school for gifted unicorns, a puny little middle class unicorn like you has no chance against us!” Said the orange. If it weren’t for the slight, uncertain waver in his voice, the others would have almost believed it.

“Eh… I’m gonna take my chances.” Tony spit back with a menacing look in his eyes.

“So… Who of you two wants to get beaten up first?” Blue looked at them with a fury in his eyes neither Vinyl nor Octavia had ever seen before.

“You… you can’t beat us up!” yelled the green unicorn. They suddenly sounded much less confident than before. “We’re nobles from the Rich bloodline! If you do anything, you’ll get into trouble!”

“You were threatening our friends. You could be Clestia’s nephew and we would still do the same thing.” Blue stated coldly “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time we get into trouble with nobility and it won’t be the last time.”

“You just have to know how to handle them.” Added Tony.

The two took a step forward. Tony determined, and Blue grinning somewhat evilly.

Suddenly, all the two mares saw was a white light.

The next thing Vinyl felt was the familiar pull of being teleported, and when her sight returned, they were back in their room at the school. It was dark, but Vinyl could make out some blinking lights from her musical equipment.

Octavia then surprised Vinyl by pulling her into a bone-crushing hug and then she started to quietly sob into her shoulder.

Not sure what to do, Vinyl started stroking her roommate’s mane as she whispered soothing words into her ear.

They were still in that position, when almost 10 minutes later 3 flashes of white light flared up in the darkened room and the shapes of their friends appeared in front of them. Pine immediately rushed in and joined the comforting hug around Octavia.

Suddenly, Tony collapsed in front of them. Blue quickly rushed to his side. “Don’t worry.” He assured the mares “He only fell asleep. He just teleported 5 ponies halfway across town, and he had to help me beat up some bullies before. Just took too much out of him.”

He pulled his friend over his back, said his goodbyes and left the room to bring Tony to his.

It took only minutes for Octavia to fall asleep as well. Still in a tight embrace with Vinyl, she felt comforted, warm and content and just let her mind wander off into dreamland.

The two other mares in the room looked down at the sleeping form of Octavia in Vinyl’s hooves.

“You love her, don’t you?” Pine suddenly asked out of the blue.

“Ye- eh no wait what, what makes you say that? No, how do you get the idea? How could I possibly-… Is it that obvious?”

Pine giggled “Yes kinda.”

“…Do you hate me now?” Vinyl asked dejectedly.

“Oh Vinyl, why would I hate you?”

“But the two noble jerks were right; I’m nothing but a dirty fillyfooler…” Vinyl suddenly had a yellow hoof in her mouth (it tasted like pineapple).

“Don’t you dare to ever say that again.” Pine threaded “Love falls where it does. Genders don’t matter in Love, and Octavia couldn’t be a better choice. If I were into mares, I would fall for her in seconds.”

This made Vinyl laugh, mostly out of joy, that her friend hadn’t rejected her for what she was.

With that, Pine wished her a good night, and  with a “See you two in the morning.” She left the room to search for her coltfriend.

The white mare was still sitting on the warm rug on the floor, tenderly stroking the sleeping mare’s mane, thinking about Pine’s words.

Yes.

Yes, she was indeed in love with the sophisticated little mare in her hooves.

She had no idea how the mare thought about her, and her feelings were bound to get her into trouble sooner or later…

But right on that moment, she wouldn’t have it any other way.